by Abigail Owen
Selene took a deep breath and shook her head. “I can’t let you do that,” she whispered.
“You should know by now that no one lets Ellie do anything,” Alex said. “She just does it.”
“And we agree with Ellie, anyway. We’re coming with you….We can help.” Lucy insisted.
“This situation could easily degrade into outright war. You understand this?” Selene looked at each one of them directly, gauging the strength of their convictions. She couldn’t allow herself to rely on people who might abandon her in the end.
“We won’t walk away from this, or from you,” Ellie assured with a squeeze of her hand. If Selene didn’t know for sure that her shields were up, she would’ve sworn that Ellie had just read her mind.
Indecision clouded Selene’s thoughts. She turned to face Oren, who gave her a small nod. “All right.”
“What’ll we do about classes?” Adelaide asked. “Spring semester starts next week.”
“I, for one, refuse to let this situation take away from my opportunity to go to college,” Selene finally answered. “Maybe Charlotte could take us back and forth. I want to at least finish my first year.”
She glanced around and was relieved to see nods of agreement. The fact that these people trusted her gave her a much needed morale boost.
“Gather what you need for a long stay. We leave tonight,” she said.
Oren’s form disappeared, and the Jenners and Pierces began to prepare for their travel. Through all the hustle and bustle, Selene noticed as Ellie and Griffin engaged in a mental conversation.
After a little while, Griffin looked directly at Selene, his expression unreadable. “I have something I have to do,” he said.
“I understand,” Selene answered, though she didn’t really. She just assumed he didn’t want to be a part of helping her.
With a curt nod, he turned and walked away. Her hope shriveled and died with every step he took away from her.
Chapter 30
“They still at it?” Lila asked Ellie. They were perched outside the massive doors of the main chamber where Selene was sequestered with the Vyusher High Council.
Ellie couldn’t break her concentration to answer. Without Griffin close by, she wasn’t able to read any minds, so she had to rely on the good old-fashioned strategy of listening through the key hole.
“Twenty-seven hours and counting,” Alex muttered and flipped a page of the book he was reading.
Lila grinned. “You still here too, Alex?”
Without turning to look, Ellie put her finger to her lips. “Shhhh. I can barely hear as it is.”
Alex just shrugged and whispered, “I’m here to make sure she behaves.” He reached across the hall with a booted foot and tapped Ellie’s behind.
Ellie did turn this time to wrinkle her nose at her te’sorthene. She suddenly did a bit of a double take as it registered who was standing there.
She waved her over. “Lila, come here.”
Lila leaned down and stage-whispered, “What?”
“Can you feel any part of what’s going on in there?”
“Are you asking me to use my powers in nefarious ways?” Lila pretended to twirl an imaginary mustache like a villain in a cheesy old movie, receiving a stony glare from Ellie in return.
“You might not want to tease her right now,” Alex warned, only half-joking.
“Oh, all right. Sheesh!” Lila was silent for some time as she tuned in her abilities on the debate happening in the next room.
Finally, Lila relaxed from her intense stance and shook her head. “No one is lying, that’s the only obvious thing I can feel. They all believe their words with conviction. Emotions are all over the place… fear and frustration, especially.”
“Do you think you could help Selene out?” Ellie asked. Then she slashed her hand through the air. “Never mind. We can’t have them claiming that we interfered. She has to do this on her own.”
“Now your frustration is practically overwhelming me.” Lila clutched her chest dramatically.
Ellie gave her a playful swat. “Ha ha.”
“Someone’s coming,” Alex coughed.
“Hearing anything interesting?” a deep voice asked.
Ellie and Lila turned to see a tall, blond, green-eyed hunk of man staring down at them. He flashed a pair of perfectly white, straight teeth.
“And you are?” Lila inquired.
“Desmond O’Moore. But you can call me Dez.” He leaned against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other and casually stuffing his hands in his back pockets, the muscles in his arms flexing at the small movement.
“Ahhh…” Lila looked up him up and down. “Selene mentioned you.”
His full lips tilted up in a lopsided grin. “She did, did she? All good, I hope.”
Lila just shrugged. “I’m Lila. Ellie. Alex.” She waved a hand in their directions.
Ellie gave him a quick wave. Alex stood to shake hands and then sat back down.
“How’s it going in there?” Dez tipped his head toward the double doors.
“It doesn’t appear to be wrapping up any time soon. That Xavier guy just won’t lay off,” Ellie grumbled, as she pressed her face back to the tiny keyhole.
Dez gave a dry chuckle. “Yeah. That guy can be a major pain. Well, gotta run. Nice to meet you. Oh, and when she’s finally let out, tell Selene I said welcome back and I’ll see her later.” With a wink he wandered back down the hall.
“Are you looking at his butt?” Ellie squeaked.
“It’s worth looking at,” Lila replied unrepentantly. “I never could resist a surfer’s build.”
*****
Selene ignored the urge to run her hands over her face, fighting her mental and physical exhaustion. As soon as Charlotte had teleported them to the castle, Selene had called a gathering of the High Council. And had been met with immediate resistance.
“While we have permitted you to come here, that does not, by any means, give you permission to rule,” Xavier stated before the entire Council had even finished gathering.
Selene looked him directly in the eyes. “Let’s wait for all of the Council to be assembled, Xavier.”
Xavier’s mouth tightened, but he took his seat and waited in sullen silence. Once all the members had gathered, Selene stood and faced them.
“Just to make sure I understand. After essentially being disowned as untrustworthy and abandoned by my family, I am allowed to come here. I am allowed to bring my very powerful friends who defeated our entire pack, including my brother, whom not one of the Vyusher – myself included - could defeat. I assume that we are also allowed to fight for you? Defend you? Die for you? But leading you is out. Is that correct?”
For a good minute, no one in the room spoke. They were not used to their Princess being anything but polite.
“My Lady, I am sure that Xavier meant no offense,” Mireilla said, attempting to smooth over the situation.
“Then perhaps he should consider his words more carefully in the future,” Selene snapped. She paused to regain her composure. “I am here for the Vyusher. For my pack. I will never turn my back on them. I will never walk away from them. But I am no longer subject to the rulings of this Council.”
No one responded to that statement. After a few moments, Selene gracefully resumed her seat and folded her hands neatly on the table in front of her. “Now what, if anything, has been discussed so far?”
That had been twenty-seven hours ago, and still they sat there debating. Selene, for the most part, had remained relatively silent, preferring instead to see what arguments were put forth.
Xavier and Mireilla were determined that Maddox was not trying to hurt the Vyusher, but that in trying to apologize to the other tribes, he’d unwittingly stirred up the current conflict. Selene had just managed to cover her snort of disbelief with a discreet cough.
Others were still debating their options. They’d apparently already sent envoys to the tribes in an attempt to negotia
te a truce. Not a single one had returned successful.
At least two of the tribes were considering declaring war.
Every time Selene had offered an opinion, she was shut down. The fire of her original outburst, stoked by impotent anger at everything in her life that had led to this moment, had burnt itself out. Her history of submission, with Gideon, with these Elders, all worked against her, despite her short bout of confidence. And the immensity of saving her people while dealing with these bureaucrats weighed heavily on her.
Even when Gideon had ruled over her life, she’d never felt as small and alone as she did at that moment.
“Council,” Oren spoke up. “I suggest that we adjourn this meeting temporarily. We all need rest, and perhaps a little distance will shed some light on our path.”
Rising gratefully, Selene hid her fatigue. Oren took her elbow and held her back so that they were the last to leave.
“I have placed the unconscious young lady in a very comfortable room near yours. While your friend Hugh says she’s somehow surviving without relieving any bodily functions, we went ahead and set up some basic medical care, like an IV. We think it’s magically induced. She’s frozen in some sort of stasis. Angelica is staying with her,” he murmured.
Selene raised her eyebrows. “I hadn’t thought of that. Angelica’s gift of soothing whomever she comes into contact with might just help the girl to wake up.”
Oren nodded as they exited the chamber. Selene was unsurprised to find Ellie and Alex lingering in the hallway, and she led them toward her chambers.
“We need to talk. Can you gather the others without anyone noticing?” she asked once they were safe inside her room.
“Yes, that’s easy enough,” Ellie nodded.
“There’s a clearing about two miles southwest of here. I’ll show Charlotte, and then we can all meet there tonight. Let’s say midnight?”
They all nodded, and Selene ushered them out of her room. She quickly found Charlotte and showed her where to bring everyone later that night. She returned to her room alone and gratefully collapsed onto the vast four-poster bed. She’d been waiting impatiently for this moment for several days.
Selene closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and concentrated on her gift. Sinking into a trance-like state, Selene opened her eyes to find that she was standing in a gloomy, misty nothingness. She knew exactly where she was… on the edge of dreams where she could pick and choose whom she visited. So Selene willed herself into Griffin’s head.
“Griffin?” she called.
Before she could enter the dream, Griffin shocked her as he came walking toward her in the mist. He’d never found her there before.
“I’d hoped you would contact me,” he spoke without preamble. “But I can’t talk right now. Where I am, I need to keep half my mind aware while I sleep in case I need to wake quickly. I can’t do that when I talk to you in our dreams.”
“I understand. Can you just tell me –?”
Griffin jerked his head to the side, as though he was listening to something.
“I have to go, Selene. You have to let me wake up.”
The urgency in his voice spurred Selene to act quickly. “Go. Be safe,” she called and let Griffin’s mind drift away from her.
She opened her eyes and stared at the intricately embroidered canopy above her bed. With a long breath she flipped onto her side, determined to get some sleep before she met her friends in the clearing. As she drifted back to unconsciousness, she had one final thought,
Please let him be okay…
Chapter 31
“Hey, watch it!” Lila dodged as a fireball flew past her and crashed into a tree.
“Sorry!” Ramsey called from across the clearing. He turned to Selene with a sheepish grin and shrugged.
“You do realize the goal is to try to herd our opponents, not to actually light them on fire, don’t you?” she asked, her tone dry.
He held up his hands in surrender. “I know, I know!”
Charlotte silently teleported in, appearing beside them. She had Lucy in tow. “I still don’t understand why you can’t just turn off all their powers,” Charlotte said as she pushed back her dark hair that the wind had blown into her face.
This had been a constant debate among the family members for the last two months. Two very long months with Griffin nowhere to be found. “These are not our enemies, Charlotte,” Selene said patiently. “No matter how much Maddox tries to make them so. They’ve suffered enough at Vyusher hands, and I won’t perpetuate that situation.”
“Besides,” Ramsey chimed in, “Do we really want to be responsible for significantly decreasing the numbers of our own race?”
Lila rolled her eyes, and Ramsey frowned. Selene’s lips twitched in amusement as she cleared her throat.
“Is everyone here?” she called out to the group. After receiving a round of nods and yesses, she signaled for Ellie to go ahead.
“Defenders, you know the drill,” Ellie reminded everyone. They’d been secretly practicing battle techniques for a while now. It was the defenders’ role to direct, guide, or manipulate the offenders in such a way that no one got hurt.
“And remember, the goal is to keep a full on battle from breaking out and, fates willing, gain enough time to convince them of our relative innocence and future good intentions. Ready? Go!”
Ramsey, Selene, Lila, Nate, and Charlotte stood shoulder to shoulder. Ellie, Alex, Lucy, Adelaide, Hugh, and Dexter charged, running straight at them. But they were stopped short by a wall of flame that sprang up, blocking them from their intended targets. Just as swiftly, the fire was doused. Selene nodded at Ramsey. They’d discussed the use of his powers very specifically, finally deciding that any action he took should cause no harm and be removed as soon as any immediate threat was reduced.
Adelaide and Hugh threw everything they could up in the air, directed at the defenders. Dexter instantly turned those items into lead, and Alex used his power to thrust them into a greater speed. The result was a steady barrage of heavy missiles.
Nate caught every single object launched at them. His inhuman strength and speed allowed him to easily deal with all their projectiles. Rather than tossing them back, though, he dropped each one to the ground.
Ellie shifted into the form of a massive midnight black jaguar. She gave a terrible scream and charged at them, fangs bared.
“Hands!” Charlotte yelled. As soon as they were all connected, she teleported them behind the offensive line and out of harm’s way. As soon as they reappeared, however, something froze them completely in place. Held immobile by Alex, they watched as the offensive team charged yet again.
Selene reached out with her mind. She saw Alex’s bright golden light and turned it off, like flipping a switch. Or more appropriately, like cutting the power.
Free of the force that’d been holding them, the defensive team backed up. Seeing their movement, the offenders slowed their attack and then stopped altogether. Then Selene saw Ellie’s eyes ignite, becoming twin flames of blue. She knew what was coming next.
The dragon.
Selene reached for Ellie’s powers, seeing a violet-blue glow inside her. Flipping this switch, however, would prove to be much more difficult. The two women locked in on each other in a silent battle of wills.
Suddenly, Ellie stopped fighting and turned off the dragon morph herself. The offenders’ expressions became peaceful, almost zen-like. Selene glanced at Lila who nodded, confirming that she was using her emotion-mending power on them.
“That’s enough I think, Lila.” Selene laid a gentle hand on her friend’s shoulder. “We don’t want the other tribes saying that they only agreed to peace because their emotions were manipulated.”
Selene glanced up and saw Oren’s image shimmer next to a nearby tree. She held up her hands in a T, which she’d seen Nate do a couple of times when he was teaching the younger Vyusher wolves how to play football.
“That’s it for now. I have to return t
o the castle,” Selene said. She walked over to Oren’s transparent form. “Is it time already?”
He grimaced. “Unfortunately, yes.” With a nod she started to turn away to go to Charlotte, when Oren’s voice stopped her. “My Lady?”
She turned back. “Something else, Oren?”
“One of the Svatura can turn items to metal?”
“Yes. Did you see that?”
He nodded and then frowned. “I vaguely remember that your brother had access to someone who could manipulate metal like that. I believe it’s one of the reasons we have so much gold in our coffers. I’ve only ever known of that one person with that ability in all my years.”
“Ah,” Selene said, comprehension dawning. “Dexter would’ve told me if he’d been associated with Gideon, so I doubt it was he. But I admit it’s a little odd that we’d meet another one. Worth checking into further. Thank you, Oren.”
Oren gave a formal little half-bow. “My pleasure.” And then his image faded away.
Selene made her way over to Charlotte so she could teleport back to the castle.
“Um, Selene?” Nate cleared his throat. “Do you know your eyes started glowing blue a minute ago? Like Ellie’s do when she goes all dragon?”
Selene blinked. “No… but maybe that happens when I’m trying to turn off a particularly strong power?”
“We should test that theory out,” Ellie suggested.
She nodded. “Worth a try. But we gotta get back now. Charlotte?” She held out her arm, and the others reached toward her. A moment later they were standing inside the library.
Selene didn’t betray by even a twitch exactly how much she dreaded returning to the castle. She’d lost count of the times she’d gone head to head with the Council, and they were still no closer to making any progress or decisions. Selene’s feelings of ineptitude in regards to her ability to influence the Council also continued to escalate.
“You’ll be fine,” Lila murmured for her ears alone, as they walked through the corridors. Selene raised her eyebrows, and Lila merely shrugged. She tapped her heart. “I can practically feel your emotions as physical waves beating against me. Despite the fact that you shield me from most of what you feel. Won’t you please let—?”
