by Lola Kidd
It was also how she was going to make her decision. If the portal was still open or opened while they were there, she wouldn’t do anything to help the fae. As much as even thinking it pained her. If their rescue had failed, she would open a portal to their dimension with Sophia. Unless she could come up with a reasonable way to decide on their way, then she would do that. She just couldn’t see that happening.
“What’s on your mind?” Cross asked as they walked. “You haven’t said anything.”
Rory hesitated before speaking. “I don’t know how to make this choice. I know you think we should just go, but that just doesn’t sit well with me. I wish I had more information.”
“You mean like you wish your fairy godmother would show up and tell you if Sophia was lying and what actually went down during the supernatural purge?”
“Something like that.”
“Too bad. That isn’t how it works. You have to decide. You know what I think, but that doesn’t matter. Or what Sophia wants you to do. Or the Cleary Coven. The only one who can choose is you.”
He sounded as distraught about that as she was. He really wasn’t that bad. She sighed. As soon as she made her choice regarding the Northlands Fae, she was going to have to decide what to do about her and Cross. She used to pride herself in her ability to make tough choices when other people caved under the pressure. Pride goeth before the fall and all she guessed because she was feeling sick about all these decisions.
They were across the stream. She stopped and tried to clear her mind for a minute. “I don’t feel anything yet.”
Cross nodded. “Me either. So far, so good.”
As they got closer to the village, the smell of burned wood was strong. She coughed and gagged on the thick smoke that was covering the village.
“You ok?’ Cross asked.
She spit a few times. “Yeah, but we can’t stay here long. There’s no wind to carry the smoke away. I can’t blow it off without choking all the fae in the woods.”
“Damn. I was just going to suggest that. I think our dwelling is fine though. It looks like the fire stopped before it got there.”
Rory could barely see the door when they were a few feet in front of it. Once they got inside she took a deep breath and leaned on the shut door. Everything was exactly how they had left it. Since the windows were closed, only a small amount of smoke got inside. There was no portal in the main room, but she didn’t feel any magic either.
“I don’t think it’s happened yet,” Rory said, after Cross looked at her, confused. “We have to wait and see.”
“Fine by me. I can wait all night,” Cross said, going to sit on the couch. Rory went to sit on the opposite side of the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest. She rested her head on her knees and breathed deeply. The air inside was fine, but there was still a heavy tightness in her chest.
***
“Why haven’t we seen anybody on our way back?” Cross asked, looking out the window. Rory was still curled up on the couch. He didn’t know how to help her and it was making him cagier in the small room. His wolf wasn’t telling him to get out, but it was anxious. Something felt off in the village.
“What?”
“We haven’t seen anybody. They implied that the ‘bad’ fae were hot on our tail. That’s why we were all running through the woods.”
Rory looked up at him finally. “I don’t know. I guess they passed us?”
“If they did, there can’t be very many of the ‘bad’ ones.”
“Maybe they went back where they came from,” Rory suggested. Even she didn’t sound convinced of that. “I didn’t see anyone in the village either.”
Cross paced in front of the window. It was no use looking outside. The smoke was too thick to see anything. “What if they were running from the fire and not from some advancing fae evil army?”
Rory stretched out her legs and cracked her knuckles. “Maybe. But the twins said there was someone out there.”
“Yeah. The twins and Sophia, but you didn’t hear anyone else screaming about some evil fae army.”
“Wrong,” she shook her head. “The guy I ran into on the street said it too.”
Cross tried to remember who she was talking about. He put his hands on his head. “No, that guy didn’t. He said ‘they’ were coming. He didn’t say who. We really need to get the fuck out of here. Why isn’t the portal open yet? It should have been minutes and it’s been clear over two hours now.”
“Beatrice might have gotten lost on her way back. It’s not like she left breadcrumbs to follow or anything. Be patient,” Rory chided.
He was being patient. He had gotten her away from Sophia and back to where the portal should be. The fucking Coven needed to keep up their end of the plan. They couldn’t sit here all night. Someone was going to come looking for them. There was no way Sophia went through all the trouble to get Rory here only to let her slip away.
“You’re right,” Rory added a few minutes later. “He didn’t say who was coming. But what does it matter?”
“You know damn well what I’m getting at,” he snapped. He would have asked her to blow the smoke away, fae in the woods be damned, but that would have only made her mad. She was still clinging to some hope that Sophia and her fae weren’t all evil. It was pretty damn clear what was going on. The maddening part was that he had no way of contacting the coven or anyone else and telling them to hurry it the fuck up.
He needed to get Rory to the other side. Everything would be fine once she was safe and out of this dimension. Cross didn’t care what they had to deal with at home or if she wanted to break the claim once they got back. At that second, he just wanted her to be safe. He had worked so fucking hard to keep her out of harm's way and now he was so close to succeeding it was driving him crazy. All he could do was wait and stop anyone from hurting her before the portal opened.
He was pacing again when his wolf perked up. “Shit.”
“What?” Rory was standing at the window looking at the smoke. She must not have felt anything yet. Her magic was so keyed up on this side he expected her to be well ahead of him on the danger front. Since she wasn’t casting yet, it was possible his wolf was wrong. The magic hit him and he realized he had misinterpreted the signal. Magic from the other dimension was creeping into the room.
“I think that’s the rescue mission,” Cross said, relieved. It was about goddamn time.
“It sure is,” Rory said, smiling brightly. He hadn’t seen her that happy since she was at the diner last.
One of the lamps in the room burned out as magic came in from their dimension. It was pinpointing to the spot they had seen Beatrice in first. They stood near, ready to jump in the minute the portal fully materialized. Cross’ wolf growled. He shook his head. The magic must be getting to him. His wolf growled again and barked. Cross tried to ignore it, but the wolf was persistent. Rory was looking at him with round eyes.
“I think something’s coming,” she said, eyeing the portal nervously.
“I know. Shit.” He didn’t want to turn again even though his wolf was yelling for it. He wanted to be able to talk to Rory when they got through to the other side and showing up naked in front of the Coven wasn’t going to win him any friends. Shit, or maybe it would, but he wasn’t willing to test that theory. It was only a few more seconds until they would be able to pass through.
“Aurora!” the door to the dwelling opened and a very angry looking Sophia was standing in it. Smoke poured into the room around her. Her face wasn’t as bad as Gavin’s earlier, but her eyes were hollow sockets in her face. “I came back to look for you and you’re leaving? Just like that?! You weren’t even going to say goodbye to me?”
Rory’s mouth opened and closed a few times. Wind picked up in the room as the portal started to open.
“Don’t do this. Please,” Sophia begged, coming closer. “We’ll all die if you leave. Is that really what you want? For all of us to die like Gavin?”
Cross wasn�
�t going to give her the chance to get any closer or talk Rory into doing anything. He grabbed Rory around the waist and jumped through the portal as it fully materialized. It wasn’t like when he was following the tunnel earlier. This was like jumping through a window. One second he was in dwelling, the next he was falling into crunchy grass.
“Close it now!” he yelled, before he even had his bearings. He kept one hand on Rory, but it was over. The portal was closing as he savored the smell of home.
Eight
Rory looked up at the night sky trying to catch her breath.
“Aurora!” Magda was leaning over her. Her mom. She was home. She went through the portal. “Are you hurt?”
“She’s fine.” Cross coughed and spat. “I think we got a little smoked out before we crossed over.”
Magda’s jaw clenched. She wanted to say something awful to Cross but was holding back.
Rory sat up. “I think I’m ok.”
With that, Magda wrapped her arms around Rory’s neck and pulled her close. She took a shaky breath. “I thought I would never see you again.”
“Oh, come on. Have a little faith in me,” Rory joked. “I do have some magical skill. I think I would have been able to get us back eventually.”
“I don’t think so at all,” Beatrice said. The ghost was kneeling in the grass next to Cross. “It was much harder to find my way back than I thought.”
“It worked out,” Cross said. “I never thought I would say this, but thank you, Beatrice. You did a great job and probably saved our lives.”
Cross told them about the fire and going into the woods.
“Sophia?” Magda asked.
He looked uncomfortable and rubbed the back of his neck. “Aw, man. I think you should talk with Rory about this.”
“Your father’s inside with a few more of your brothers and you can tell the ladies it’s alright to come out now. I think Rory can take the welcome,” Magda said, brushing Rory’s hair over her shoulder.
Cross stood up and brushed grass off his pants. He gave Rory a lingering look before heading to the house. No sooner was he inside than the rest of the Cleary Coven came tumbling out. Rory was a little overwhelmed by their emotional welcome back, but she was glad to see them all. She told them all about the other dimension while they listened, rapt.
She told the story straight through without stopping to ask her mom the questions she had. She almost didn’t want to know. Not now anyway. She wanted to take a shower and then go to sleep in her own room. The last time she had slept was the nap at the cabin. Since then, she had fought vampires, gone to different dimension, and found out about her long lost family. Just telling the story made her exhausted. She didn’t have it in her to do anything else. Strangely, Cross seemed just fine.
“I think you should rest some,” Jamie said when Rory had finished, but before any of the other witches could say anything.
“I think so too,” Rory agreed, relieved. The other witches looked disappointed but didn’t say anything. Magda followed Rory to her room.
“We’ll talk when you wake up?” There were more questions in Magda’s voice.
Rory smiled. “I would like that.”
She closed the door and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. There were so many questions. None of the witches had looked shocked when Rory said Sophia claimed to be her half sister. They hadn’t even pretended like they didn’t know or like it wasn’t true. Sophia was her sister. She hadn’t been lying which also meant Rory was half fae.
Her sleep was fitful and filled with nightmares. Most of them were of Sophia dying in various ways, impaled by a faceless evil fae, burned to death in a magic fire, and the like. When she woke and looked at the clock, Rory was surprised to see that almost nine hours had passed since she had lain down. She still felt tired, but she got up anyway. Sleep wasn’t going to get any easier until she talked with Magda.
Cross was stretched out on the couch in the living room. She stopped to look at him before going to the backyard. He didn’t seem to be having any trouble sleeping. The witches were outside as she expected.
“You didn’t wake up Cross, did you?” Sarah asked concerned.
“Nope,” Rory said, sliding into an empty lawn chair.
“Good,” Ursula said not looking up from her knitting. “The boy needs his sleep. He was up ‘keeping watch’ until Jamie slipped him some enchanted water.”
Rory made a mental note to find the spell for the sleeping enchantment. She had never used one on herself, but it might be worth a try.
“How are you feeling?” Jamie asked.
“Like road kill,” Rory said in a cheery tone. She shrugged. “How would you feel if you learned you had a half-sister and then killed her less than twenty-four hours later?”
Deanne leaned forward and put her hand over Rory’s. “I know it's hard now, but you and Cross did the right thing. There’s so much you don’t know.”
“And whose fault is that?” Rory asked, giving her mother a hard look. She wasn’t in such a magnanimous mood after the nightmares. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I didn’t know,” Magda said. She looked Rory in the eye. “You have to believe me. I met Prescott once and we had a one night stand. I didn’t know his background and I didn’t care to find out even after I got pregnant.”
“You didn’t think I would want to know one day? You knew he was fae. That alone would have been nice to know.”
Magda looked down. “I did know he was fae. I just didn’t think it was important. I’m sorry. It was selfish of me, but you’ve always been my daughter. I never thought you would care to meet your father and you never asked.”
“I didn’t ask because you never talked about him. Of course I was curious!” Rory looked around the table. “I know Jamie knew, but did anyone else?”
Jamie shook her head. “No. I was the only one. Nobody else was part of the coven before you were born. We were still pulling everyone together.”
“From what Cross tells us, you were becoming attached to Sophia,” Deanne said.
“I was,” Rory said, drawing a shaky breath. “I didn’t trust her outright, but she wasn’t trying to hurt me. Cross was the one who was suspicious of her.”
“I never thought I would say it, but thank god for the wolf,” Ursula said, setting down her knitting. “He saved your life and likely all of ours.”
“What are you talking about?” Rory asked, wiping her eyes.
“Rory much has happened since you’ve been gone,” Jamie said. Deanne squeezed Rory’s hand before Jamie continued. “The Council is in Cleary and you two are going to have to speak to them. Also, Prescott is here too and he’d like to meet you.”
***
Cross was on his bike heading to Jamie’s house. It was only two blocks over. Rory was in the back talking to the coven when he woke up and he didn’t want to interrupt them. He didn’t want to leave but, she seemed fine and they all needed to talk. The coven had been great to him since they had come through the portal. He knew the good feelings wouldn’t last once Rory told them about the claim, but he was enjoying it while he could.
The head witch had offered her home to the Moon Brothers while they waited for the Council meeting. Cross had insisted he and Rory go together. He had already told his story to one of the Council member’s assistants. He knew there were guards watching them too. They weren’t even slick about it. There was a bear shifter chilling on the corner of Rory’s block and two ghosts across the street from the Silver’s. The ghosts must have been getting bored because one kept materializing to scare cars passing. The council must not have been too concerned about them being a flight risk if they sent their C-squad guards.
Cross braced himself before going into Jamie’s. The Brothers had been weird since he got back, especially his dad. Grizzly had hugged his son more in the last twelve hours than he had for the entire time before as far as Cross could remember. The Brothers were treating him like he was some kind
of hero. It was unsettling. He had saved his mate, that was it. Any of them in his situation would have done the same. He was no different than any of them.
“Hey! Cross is here!” Grimace said when he opened the door. He had survived the vampire attack thanks to the witches. Jamie and Magda had worked hard to keep the enforcer alive. You couldn’t even tell he had been beaten and drained by the vamp. “Everyone’s in the kitchen.”
Grizzly, Charlie, Ozzy, and Pete were in the kitchen. Ozzy was only there because he was Cross’ best friend. He couldn’t really add anything to the conversation when they were talking strategy, but Cross liked having him around. Ozzy was so chill it made Cross relax more. If he ever had a pack of his own, he would want Ozzy to be his beta. He couldn’t imagine going through anything like this without him around.
“Sleep good?” Charlie asked Cross.
“Good enough,” Cross answered. “Rory was talking to the coven so I figured I’d come down and check in with you.”
Ozzy looked at Cross concerned. “You think she told them about the claim yet?”
Cross shook his head. “I don’t think so. They would have kicked my ass out if they knew.”
“That’s going to need to be addressed soon,” Charlie warned. “You want to let it stand?”
“I do. I’m not sure where she stands now though.”
“Because of you killing her sister and all,” Pete said, absently looking in the refrigerator. The skinny shifter was always looking for food. He pulled out a block of cheese and started eating.
“Her sister was a damn evil fairy,” Grizzly snapped, giving Pete a warning look. “If Cross hadn’t gotten them across when he did, we’d all be dead. And don’t you forget that.”
“Now as long as the Council believes that, we only have one problem on our hands,” Charlie was smoking next to the kitchen window. “If not, your little claim dilemma is going to be the least of our worries.”
“Anybody talked to Prescott yet?” Cross asked. He heard Rory’s dad was in town. There were two other Northlands Fae in town to talk to the Council too. He wanted to know what side the fairies were testifying for.
