by Gabby Fawkes
The stranger raised their knife high above them and went to lunge for me. But they collided with the invisible barrier and stopped dead. The magic spell Nik had placed on my room was enough to hold them back.
Without missing a beat, my wanna-be attacker turned and hightailed it into the corridor.
I ripped off my covers and sprang out of bed. I ran for the window. My room overlooked the back garden, which would almost certainly be the intruder’s escape route.
I heaved my window open. Across the lawn, I saw the lights were on in Nik’s pool house. He was awake.
It took me half a second to calculate the distance from my window ledge to the ground. Then I leapt, soaring out the window like a cat.
I hit the ground hard, my knees buckling enough to cushion my blow, then gracefully rolled across the dewy grass.
I sprang up to my feet and bolted for the cover of shadows, pressing my back against an elm tree, my bow by my side.
My heart was drumming in my chest. I steadied my breath, keeping my Elkie focus sharp. There’d be time to work out what the heck was going on once I’d dealt with this asshole.
Just then, I heard the sound of the back door opening. It was followed by the thudding footsteps of someone on the run. Just as I’d predicted, the home invader was coming right this way.
I leapt out from behind the tree and planted my feet, raising my bow and arrow into a shooting stance. But before I got a good look at the face of the intruder, a huge flash of light immediately blasted me backward.
I flew through the air and hit the ground with a loud “oof”. My bow flew from my hands, skidding across the wet grass. I stretched for it but my fingertips couldn’t quite reach.
Suddenly, the would-be assassin loomed above me. Their features were so concealed by the shadows of the elm, I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or woman, a Demonborn or something else. What I did know was that I’d reached my limit of being attacked for one day. Trevor. The Incubus. Now this? Seriously?
As they lunged for my throat, I used my Elkie speed and strength to leap up onto my feet. My ribs felt like they’d been shattered by the fall and I winced.
I pulled my hands up ready for some hand-to-hand combat and glanced quickly to the right to see that my bow was lying several feet away from me. There was no way I’d be able to get to it without exposing myself. But I still had a full quiver slung over my shoulder. A sharp enough arrow with a strong enough force behind it was basically a dagger.
Gritting my teeth, I grabbed an arrow and lunged.
The intruder reacted immediately, dodging to the side. My arrow slammed into the tree trunk. The attacker ran.
“Shit.”
I grabbed another arrow, swirling on the spot as the attacker hightailed it across the lawn, heading for the wall.
I took off after them, snatching up my bow as I went, sprinting as fast as my legs could carry me.
“Nik!” I screamed, remembering that the lights in the pool house were on.
Barely a second later, the glass door to the pool house slid open. Nik peered out, looking bewildered at the sight of me in nothing but a thin camisole pounding across the lawn.
Heat crept into my cheeks - because apparently even in life and death situations my raging hormones didn’t wanna quit.
“There!” I cried, pointing at the dark figure hurrying for the wall.
Quick as a flash, Nik streaked after my attacker.
I planted my feet, pulled up my bow, positioned the arrow and drew back the string ready to fire.
The intruder jumped for the wall and Nik grabbed him by the ankle, pulling him down to the ground. They began to tussle. I couldn’t get a clear shot.
I dropped my arm and ran toward the spot where the two of them were grappling, ready to throw myself into the fray.
“Stay back!” Nik yelled. “I’ve got this!”
He clearly did not. The intruder was pummeling him with their fists in a frenzied manner.
I reached forward to grab the attacker by the shoulders to find out who this fucker was once and for all, when suddenly, something strange caught my eye.
I stopped, frozen to the spot with shock.
Coming from Nik’s gums were long teeth.
Vanpari teeth.
I gasped and recoiled.
Nik’s eyes locked with mine.
In the split second of us staring at one another, the attacker wriggled free. They were up on the wall in a matter of seconds, muttering in Latin, before leaping through a gap that appeared in the barrier.
I shook myself back to the present moment and leapt up, grabbing onto the edging of the wall and heaving myself up. But as I drew myself to standing, the rubbery barrier of Geiser’s curfew spell pinged back into place. I slammed into it. Hard.
“Shit,” I barked, frustrated, watching as my attacker became an ever-shrinking blob.
It was over. We’d lost them.
With the urgency of the fight now gone, my adrenaline started to fade from my body. I turned back around and leapt off the wall into the garden.
Nik was sitting against the wall panting. He looked up at me with worried eyes as his Vanpari teeth receded back into his gums.
So Nik was Vanpari. Or at least part-Vanpari. And for some reason he’d decided to hide it from me. I felt stung that he didn’t trust me enough to let me in on his secret.
“I was going to tell you…” he said in a defeated voice.
From the other side of the garden, the back door flew open. Mom appeared, dressed in a silky nightgown. There was a guard at her side - a Marchosias Demonborn, presumably, by their wolfish face and serpent tail. They both started running down the steps.
I looked down at Nik, disappointment swirling in my gut. “We’ll talk about it later.”
He nodded slowly, looking ashamed.
Mom reached me, her arms outstretched. “Theia? What’s going on?” She pulled me in for what must’ve been the first hug we’d shared in years.
The Marchosias guard came up beside us, speaking into his walkie-talkie, summoning the other guards.
Hovering at the open patio doors stood Gesier. His arms were folded and he was glaring at me. The eyes of his bald eagle familiar were just as piercing.
I didn’t even have to second-guess myself. It was so obvious he’d arranged to have me killed. The look on his face — of a sulky, petulant toddler who’d just been denied candy — told me everything I needed to know.
Geiser had tried to have me killed in my sleep.
16
We sat in the bright living room, every light and lamp turned on. Everyone looked bleary eyed and shellshocked. Heidi and Emerald had been roused by the noise and sat beside their dad with fearful expressions. Emerald — who still managed to look perfect without any makeup on and after only four hours’ sleep — stroked her quetzal for comfort. Meanwhile, Geiser’s eagle prowled the room like a sentry.
On the opposite couch, I sat perched with Mom. Her hand was clasped over mine in what must’ve been the most motherly display of affection she’d shown me in years. Even her woodpecker was nestled up beside me.
Nik sat in the armchair, arms folded, eyes fixed to the ground. Like me, he was covered in mud and grass stains. His owl had its eyes shut and its face turned a full 180 degrees away from the rest of us. They really couldn’t’ve looked more guarded if they tried.
The Marchosias guard finished his check of the grounds, returning to the room with a second guard — an Ifrit, recognizable by his charred skin.
“Everything’s safe,” the Marchosias announced.
“Now it’s safe?” Mom spat. “It should have been safe before!”
All her anger was directed at Geiser and I couldn’t help but feel a flicker of satisfaction inside of me. Not because of how distraught she seemed, but because I hadn’t expected her to be on my side. I thought she’d just sweep this whole thing under the carpet. I mean, half the time she acted like she wanted to kill me herself. Seeing her now
— doing the whole angry mama bear routine — made me question my long-held belief that she despised me for merely existing.
“I’ll ramp up our security measures,” Geiser told her. “Get more guards.”
“How do you know it wasn’t one of them?” Mom snapped back. “No offence.”
The Marchosias and Ifrit at the door shuffled awkwardly.
“It wasn’t any of my staff,” Geiser challenged, a line across his jaw flickering with anger. “They go through a vigorous vetting procedure!”
“Well, it was someone with insider knowledge,” Mom shot back. “Someone who knew how to get through the curfew spell around the garden. And someone who knew which room was Theia’s.”
On the couch opposite me, Emerald could barely conceal her smirk. She was just loving the idea that someone had tried to assassinate me in my sleep.
But Geiser seemed frantic. “Theia was not the target of the attack!” he exclaimed. “Surely they were trying to harm me and came across Theia’s room accidentally?”
I scoffed. Even Mom wasn’t dumb enough to buy that. It was clear the attack had been targeted at me. If Geiser had been the intended victim, they wouldn’t have wasted any energy attacking me in the garden.
Mom wasn’t listening to his excuses. She shook her head. Tears fell from her eyes. She dropped her face into her hands. “It’s because she’s Elkie,” she wailed. “I knew she’d have problems if we moved here. But you promised me… you PROMISED to keep her safe.”
Mom’s eyes sparked with such intense passion I felt it like a shard in my chest. I had no idea Mom cared that much, that she’d even thought about how hard it would be for me to come here. I thought she’d spinelessly moved me from Harriman to New York City for her own selfish needs without a second thought for mine. But it had been Geiser who’d convinced her I’d be okay. He’d probably realized we came as a package and had got his hands on a veiling necklace to change me before I became a problem for his campaign. Clearly he was expecting me to be the sort of girl who’d bend to his whim, who’d be grateful for his fancy clothes and expensive education. It must’ve been quite a shock for him when I’d rocked up in my ripped jeans and chunky boots with bright red hair and a bow at my side.
As Geiser glared at me now, I could see the utter hatred burning in his eyes. It was the same look that had come over him when he’d pinned me against my bedroom wall and threatened my life. William Geiser was a man who liked to be in control. Who liked to control everyone around him. I was the stick in the mud. He looked to be on the verge of snapping.
But in an instant he wiped the look off his face and rearranged his expression into something altogether more human. It was a disquieting thing to witness.
No one else seemed to notice but me.
“Vivian,” Gesier said, his voice turning to syrup. “No one is out to get Theia. I was the target. Suely you can see that? It was one of those hippy Vanpari-loving protestors who don’t want me in power because of their precious twilight hours.”
I looked at Nik. His teeth were gritted.
To my surprise, Mom flew to her feet. “We are not staying here. I will not put my daughter in danger.” She grabbed my hand and heaved me up off the couch.
Wow. This was amazing. Mom had a backbone after all.
“Where are you going?” Geiser cried, leaping up as well. He sounded genuinely pained.
“My parents’,” she said.
Oh crap.
She tugged my hand. I put up a moment of resistance, not sure I really wanted to meet the people who’d disowned Mom for marrying Dad. In a mud-stained nightdress. But then again, it couldn’t be any worse than staying here. If I could help facilitate a break-up between Mom and Geiser it would be worth it.
Mom gave my hand another harder, more insistent tug, and this time I let her drag me toward the exit.
I just had time to glance back at Nik before I was yanked through.
He didn’t even look up.
17
I sat in the passenger seat beside Mom as she gripped the steering wheel and drove through the streets with her teeth clenched. I’d never seen her look like this before. Or at least I’d never seen her look like this in support of me rather than as a result of something I’d done.
“So is the wedding off then?” I asked, rather too hopefully.
Mom didn’t say a word. She kept her gaze dead ahead.
I carried on. “Because if it’s over, I’ll totally support you. We could move back to Harriman.” I paused, thinking of Nik and Retta. In such a short space of time they’d become friends, providing a tether between me and this place. “Or just into an apartment, the two of us.”
Again, Mom didn’t respond.
“Maybe it’d be good for you to be alone for a bit,” I suggested, still trying to get her to see things from my perspective. “I mean, your relationship with Gesier was going pretty fast, wasn’t it? How well do you really know him?”
“Stop talking, Theia,” Mom said coldly.
Her woodpecker nipped me.
“Ow,” I muttered, rubbing my arm.
I fell silent. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to try to persuade her to leave Geiser, while the wounds were still fresh.
I changed tack. “So your parents, huh? You think they’ll be pleased to finally meet me? Looking like this?” I gestured to my stained nightdress.
Mom grimaced. “I understand this is far from ideal for you. Trust me, it’s worse for me.”
I felt for Mom. She hadn’t seen her parents for eighteen years. They’d barely spoken. Ever since she ran away from New York to be with my dad, they’d only ever exchanged cards at holidays, and even then they’d been really formal, dispassionate ones. You know, “seasons greetings” and “on your birthday.” Mom could be cold with me but through their greeting card choices her folks came across as emotionless androids. For her to turn up on their doorstep, eighteen years later, tail between her legs, must be pretty humiliating for Mom.
We pulled up outside an enormous mansion that would give Geiser a run for his money. No wonder Mom missed living in New York City so much. It was what she’d been raised with. Geiser’s house was like a weird replica of her childhood home.
I whistled. “This is where you grew up?”
Mom nodded, stiffly. She looked overwhelmed.
“What did you say Grandpa did for a living?”
“Federal attorney,” came Mom’s robotic reply.
I snapped my fingers. “Okay, now the whole Geiser thing makes sense. You need a man in government. You have daddy issues.”
Mom shot me a withering glance. Her woodpecker lunged for me but I snatched my arm out the way before it could nip.
We got out the car. I felt a little ball of nerves form in my gut. I was about to meet my maternal grandparents for the first time in my life. This was the Mage part of me. The hidden part, the suppressed part, the person I could’ve been had Mom made different choices.
A servant answered the door. She was a pretty Demonborn woman with two stubby horns and amber eyes lined with kohl.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m Vivian Delacour,” Mom announced. “I’m here to see my parents.”
The maid’s eyes grew round with surprise. “Mr. and Mrs. Delacour are sleeping,” she stammered.
“Then please wake them,” Mom said. “I’ll wait in the guest lounge.”
“Of course,” the maid said.
She scurried away from the door, allowing us inside. Mom waltzed into the hallway like she owned the place.
I glanced around. Mom’s childhood house was insane. It had the same waste-of-space foyer as Geiser’s did — two stories dedicated to nothing but a sweeping staircase — only there was also a chandelier.
Just then, two tired-looking people wrapped up in fluffy nightgowns appeared at the top of the staircase.
“Viv?” the woman cried.
Her delicate sparrow familiar flapped along beside her as she hurrie
d down the steps, tears glittering in her eyes.
When she reached the foyer, she wrapped Mom up in her arms.
“You came home,” she said.
I stood there awkwardly. It felt so intrusive to witness this reunion. Eighteen years was a long time not to see someone in the flesh. And now Mom had dropped in unannounced in the middle of the night.
The man, my grandfather, was a little more stoic. He strode slowly down the stairs, his movements stiffer than his wife’s. His familiar was a bright yellow canary that sat quietly on his shoulder, watching everything with its head tipped curiously to the side.
When he reached Mom, he placed a strong hand on her shoulder. “How are you?”
It seemed such a lackluster thing to say after eighteen years of estrangement. I got a real sense of sympathy for Mom. She’d left all this behind because she thought she loved my father.
“I’m well,” she said stiffly. “I’m back in New York City.”
My mouth dropped open. I knew Mom was a secret keeper — she’d kept her relationship with Geiser hidden from me for a year, after all — but she hadn’t even told her parents she’d moved back to the city? Come to think of it, there’d been no “new house” card from the Delacours. There hadn’t even been a “congratulations on your engagement” one. Maybe Mom hadn’t even told them about Geiser?
Mom gestured to me with her hand. “This is Theia.”
The Delacours looked at me. Then Grandma approached and cupped my face in her hands. “You look just like Heath.”
I felt a pang of grief deep inside at the mention of Dad. My poor dad stuck in Limbo.
In a rush, all my fear and anxiety came back at me. I felt myself sway.
“Come in. Take a seat,” Grandma said, looking worried. “You’ve clearly been through a lot.”
She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me to the couch. The feel of her was exactly like my grandma back in Harriman.
As we sat on the couches, Grandad poured us glasses of brandy. The maid lit a fire in the hearth, making warm orange lights dance about the place.
