“There is nothing wrong with you,” he said again with much less force in his tone. “Telling you that they want to help is great until they imply that you’re not perfectly fine as you are. You are not a problem that needs to be fixed.” Sebastian took another deep breath, feeling the air fill his lungs and blew out some of his tension with his exhale.
“Now. Are we going to go set up a party or not?” he asked.
12
The breeze was cool across their skin as Sebastian let them into Sarah’s house. He smiled sadly at the realization that he no longer thought of it as Miss Rosie’s house, but then a lot had happened since Miss Rosie died.
“Come on in, we’ll open up the house and start getting things in order before I go out and clean up the grill, sound good?” he said over his shoulder as he led them inside.
“Nice place,” Gabe said, looking around. “I like the yellow, it’s very cheerful. Very Sarah.”
“Wait till you see the garden,” Cassie chimed in. “She’s been learning how to take care of it and it looks amazing. She’s got a total green thumb!”
“Well, Ellie has been helping, so it’d be tough for her to mess the garden up too badly.” Sebastian walked the length of the living room and past what Sarah called the breakfast bar— the section of counter that stuck into the room dividing the space from the kitchen. “The yellow is pretty new, too. When Sarah moved here in January her mom didn’t want to let Sarah out of her sight. It got pretty intense, and the crazy woman ended up hiring a guy to harass Sarah into moving back east. He broke in one day and spray painted nasty messages all over the wall there.”
Gabe ran his hand over the wall and when Sebastian glanced over he caught a shiver run though the boy’s frame.
“People suck,” Gabe said.
“Sometimes,” Cassie agreed, her own eyes glassing over with memory. She sighed. “I still have dreams about it sometimes. Not so much about the kidnapping, but that, too, a bit. Mostly about Mom’s death and the running.”
Gabe turned to her and looked puzzled. He bit his lip and started to speak but then fell silent. Cassie took a cluster of tomatoes from Sebastian and turned to the knife block. She shrugged when she looked up at Gabe again and offered a small smile.
“It’s been a pretty exciting time around here recently,” she said. She started slicing the tomatoes and laying the slices on a plate. “A few months back— after the stuff with Sarah’s mom— I got kidnapped. It got all tangled up with the guy who spray painted the wall there, and my mom’s murder back in Florida last year and the people who wanted Dad dead.”
“And with Eric.” Sebastian knew his anger came though his voice, but didn’t care. He had every right to be angry.
“Yeah. And Eric.” Cassie nodded.
“Who?” Gabe asked.
“My other brother,” Sebastian answered.
“This sounds… complicated.” Gabe blinked at them and then joined Cassandra in putting together the burger toppings tray. Sebastian sighed and started to tell the story, starting with how they had a brother— well, Kai’s step and Sebastian’s half brother, his father’s son from a previous marriage— who had been jealous of them because their maternal grandmother had left them in charge of the Village at Rancho San Calafia among other reasons, and how he had joined forces with the lunatics who had decided to hunt down Marcus and his family for reasons that were best known to the lunatics themselves.
Cassie picked up the story there, and told Gabe how Eric had tricked her into going with him and used her to lure Kai out to an abandoned cabin where they’d planned to later lure Marcus as well. Kai had been half crazed with the betrayal of his step-brother and in pain from the modified bear trap they’d lured him across, but had somehow still managed to protect her until the police showed up. She fell silent after that.
“Damn,” Gabe broke the silence after a few minutes. “I can’t wait to meet this Kai dude. He sounds badass.”
“Well, I don’t know about badass, but I do my best.” Kai was just stepping through the back door and grinning widely. “And let’s give credit where it’s due. Cassie saved my leg, and gave me a ‘shape up’ lecture any parent would have been proud of.”
“Kai!” Cassie smiled back. “Where’s Dad?”
“Still sleeping, I bet. Haven’t talked to him today.” Kai glanced over at where Gabe was standing with lettuce in his hand, about to start building a salad. “Marcus is pretty much a night owl, he’ll be by later on. I’m Kai, you must be Gabe.”
“It’s nice to finally put a face with the name,” Gabe smiled over at him. “These two have been talking a lot about you just now.”
“Uh oh,” Kai said. “Should I be worried?” He leaned over the counter to reach around Gabe and steal a tomato off the plate in front of him and in so doing, put his hand on Gabe’s shoulder for support. It was a natural, easy thing to do, but Sebastian watched Gabe stiffen and start going pale. Then a look of complete confusion crossed his face and he turned to watch Kai move away again, chewing on the tomato slice and asking Cassie about something.
Gabe’s confused eyes darted between Kai and Sebastian, and his frown deepened. The furious thinking was almost visible as he tried to sort through whatever it was. Sebastian tried to keep up with the conversation for a few minutes but then Kai noticed his slightly absent replies and glanced over.
Kai and Cassie both followed Sebastian’s stare back to Gabe who was still holding the lettuce forgotten in his hands and had finally settled for gaping at Kai.
“Um, Gabe?” Kai asked slowly. “Are you okay?” Kai shot a glance at his brother and approached Gabe slowly, when the boy just shook his head and shivered, like he was approaching a skittish animal. Sebastian felt Kai start to weave magic out into the room, carefully wrapping the four of them in an intangible blanket of safety and comfort. The air in the kitchen took on a slightly opalescent quality, as if there was just too much color around them to be contained by normal laws of physics.
“Gabe,” Kai said, his voice pitched low. “Gabe, we’re all friends, you’re safe here. Can you tell us what’s going on? Are you okay?” He stopped right in front of the boy who was starting to tremble. He reached out slowly and took the lettuce from Gabe’s hand and put it back on the cutting board.
“He doesn’t like being touched, but I haven’t seen him react like this before,” Sebastian said keeping his own voice quiet and steady. Cassie stepped back. Sebastian could see the desire to help written plainly on her face, but she also realized that it might be beyond her own ability.
“How did he react?” Kai didn’t take his eyes off Gabe’s when he spoke, and Gabe just stood there shivering.
“He went a bit robotic, talked for a minute to the lady who’d touched him in this really odd, flat way, then ran into the back room. Remember I told you he had a panic attack? That was why,” Sebastian answered. “Cassie, could you go grab the quilt on the bed? The really thick, heavy one?” Cassie nodded and ran out of the kitchen.
“Gabe? Gabe, are you still with us?” Kai asked. Sebastian could feel the magic he wove into his words, and saw Gabe’s reaction almost immediately.
“What…” Gabe’s eyes grew huge and the shaking was getting out of control. Cassie skidded back with the quilt. Sebastian stepped forward and threw it over Gabe’s shudders, hoping that the weight would help the boy’s panic and the thickness would counteract his aversion to touch. He left his arm wrapped around Gabe’s shoulders and felt the boy shrink into it.
“Gabe, I need you to rest now. We’ll take care of you, don’t worry. You’re completely safe here, but you need to sleep and come back to us when you can talk.” Kai’s voice was full of power and Gabe’s body sagged like his strings had been cut. Sebastian caught him easily before he fell to the floor and swept him up, cocooned in the quilt, and carried him into the bedroom.
“Didn’t know you could do that,” Sebastian commented. Kai shrugged.
“Yeah. Me neither, really,” Kai a
nswered. “Just kinda went with instinct, you know? I honestly meant it as more of a suggestion, but I guess all that magic I was pushing out put too much power into it. But that kid was about to freak out and that wouldn’t have been very healthy for any of us, least of all him.”
“Is Gabe going to be okay?” Cassie asked. “I really don’t like that he got scared like that. You’re not scary at all, but he was really terrified, wasn’t he?”
The three of them looked at the thin boy wrapped in the bright pink and white quilt. Gabe was breathing slowly and steadily, but his eyes were darting around wildly behind his lids, deep in the grip of a dream.
“He got sick after a dream a few weeks ago,” Sebastian said.
“I’ll get a waste basket.” Cassie darted off again and came back with a plastic lined bin and a tall glass of water.
“We need to solve the mystery of this kid,” Kai said.
“Yeah. Between the being sick and the panic attacks and the people who seem to be after him to ‘help’ him…” Sebastian actually used his hands to make air quotes and the disdain that dripped from the word was clear.
“Well, he’s not going to enjoy waking up with all of us staring at him. We’ll leave the door open so if he needs help we’ll hear him, but come on. We have a party to pull together,” Kai said. “Let’s give Gabe some privacy to recover in peace.” Sebastian let his brother shepherd them out of the bedroom, but cast a glance at Gabe’s quiet form on the bed one last time before they left.
They had plates full of burger toppings and salad and several bowls of chips and dip and other assorted snack things lined up on the counter half an hour later, ready to be distributed around the house and back yard for the folks that would stop by. The Apothecary didn’t even close for another hour, so the barbecue didn’t officially start until eight. All they had to do now was make sure the beers and sodas were chilling and the meat was thawed. Cassie was handing Sebastian cans to stuff in the fridge while Kai joked about helping them out by drinking something when they heard a muffled thud from the bedroom.
Sebastian was right behind Kai through the door, and almost yelped when he slammed into his brother’s back. Cassie stood behind him, having followed at a somewhat more dignified pace.
“Gabe, are you okay?” Kai asked in his gentle voice. Gabe was sprawled on the floor and tangled up in the quilt.
“Can I help you stand up?” Kai asked.
“No!” Gabe yelped. He scrambled around a bit, but got his feet under him and yanked the quilt so hard that Sebastian was almost afraid it would rip, but nothing happened other than Gabe standing in front of them, wild-eyed. Nobody missed the fact that he kept the blanket pulled tight around himself.
“Okay,” Kai said. He held his hands open and out for a moment, then dropped them to hang loosely at his sides. “I’m sorry I touched your shoulder earlier. Sebastian’s told me now that you don’t like being touched, and I didn’t realize that. I apologize and I promise I won’t do it again.”
Gabe stared at him for a long moment, then his eyes transferred to Sebastian and a small frown started to form.
“If Kai says something, he means it, Gabe. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell him beforehand,” Sebastian said. And he really was sorry. He liked Gabe and didn’t want to scare the boy off. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Gabe was safer with them than on his own and vulnerable to Olivia and David.
Gabe swallowed and stepped back, almost falling over again when his legs his the edge of the bed.
“But I didn’t… When you…” Gabe stumbled as his thoughts ran too fast for his language to keep up with. “What… what are you? What did you do to me?” Sebastian blinked, the old fear spiking cold through him to settle like a brick in his stomach. There was an awkward silence and the air felt thick and hard to breathe, but this time there was no magic to blame. Neither of them were using their power right now. He felt Cassie’s hand on his arm, a slight pressure to make him step out of the doorway.
“Kai calmed you down before you completely lost it,” she said, moving into the room. “And I think we can probably all use a little less secret keeping around here.”
She stepped forward now, one hand going up to the necklace she wore. It was a gift from Kai to help keep her safe, and make sure that Kai could always find her if she was in trouble. Sarah and Doc had each enchanted a charm to add to it, but the main component of the protection was one of Kai’s own coyote teeth. He had made it after the one his father gave them had disintegrated when they’d used it to call for help. Kai had made sure his father taught him how to make one himself as soon as he’d been able to pin the guy down, which was never an easy feat.
Right now, however, Kai and Sebastian watched as the eleven-year-old girl approached Gabe with the serenity of the high priestess they joked she was, as she put the necklace down on the bed and stopped in front of Gabe. She reached out a hand, palm up, and asked, “Would you touch my hand, please? Then tell us what you can tell us, okay?”
Gabe blinked and his eyes got wider, which shocked Sebastian. Any more and they’d pop right out of the boy’s skull. Gabe sank down to sit on the mattress and took a deep, shuddery breath, but then he reached a hand out from his blanket armor and with the very tips of his long, delicate fingers he brushed across the skin on her palm.
His reaction was immediate. His eyes unfocused and the dull voice Sebastian remembered from the Apothecary rolled out of his mouth
“You will be sought out. A friend, a fool, and a man who is lost.” Gabe blinked and tried to snatch his hand back, but Cassie was faster and was surprisingly strong.
“Thank you. I’ll watch out.” She said, smiling. Then she reached out and handed Gabe the glass of water from the nightstand, and stepped back, putting the necklace back on.
“What the hell was that?” Kai asked.
“A prophecy,” Cassie said. She hopped up on the bed to sit next to Gabe who looked slightly green and entirely frightened.
“A prophecy,” Kai repeated. Sebastian knew his jaw was working to find the right words, but the sense of well of course it is was too strong for him to express it.
“Um, yeah,” Cassie said, smiling up at Gabe. “He’s a seer.”
13
“Wow,” Kai said. “Jeez, no wonder you don’t like touching people if you give prophecies like that every time. Man, that’s got to be exhausting! And you still look a little ill, are you going to be okay?”
“I—” Gabe was bouncing his attention from Cassie to Kai back to Cassie. “How…?”
“Please. My name is Cassandra and I hang out with these guys. If I can’t tell a prophet when I find one, what good am I?” she said, shrugging. “Do you want an aspirin or something? Maybe a ginger ale. Kai’s right, you look a little green.” She hopped off the bed and left the room.
“What did she mean she hangs out with you two? And…” Gabe’s gaze went back to Kai, his eyes getting wider again.
“Um… remember the other day when I said that my family was kind of special?” Sebastian ducked his head and ran his hand through his hair. Kai glanced over at Sebastian and shrugged himself. With a breath Sebastian, felt the magic flow and Kai’s body shimmered for a moment. Between one blink and the next, Kai’s human form gave way to his coyote body.
“Holy fuck!” Gabe scrambled back on the bed and gaped at the furry creature. Kai was usually a bit bigger than a natural coyote, but generally stayed within the realm of explainable in case a human spotted him. Right now, however, he stood as tall as he normally did as a human, the top of his head just a bit higher than Sebastian’s as they stood there. With a canine shrug, Kai flopped down to the floor and tipped his head like a curious dog, then let his tongue flop out of his canine grin.
“Jackass. You’re freaking him out,” Sebastian went over and shoved Kai’s shoulder. Gabe swallowed audibly, but started inching back towards the edge of the bed.
“How…?”
Sebastian sighed and braced himself. It
was his turn. Kai tipped his head to look at his brother, and Sebastian shrugged and glanced at Gabe.
“So yeah. My family is really different,” he said. Sebastian took a deep breath and pulled on his own magic. It was always a strange feeling to him— different for him than it was for Kai, from what they could tell— the way the magic of the transformation tingled over his skin as his mass folded in on itself and his perspective on the world dropped and shifted.
“Oh my god. You’re Red! You’re the fox!” Gabe shouted. Cassie stepped back into the room and raised an eyebrow at the brothers in their furry forms taking up most of the floor space.
“Kai, do you mind very much? I can’t get back to Gabe with you taking up all the room in here.” Kai and Sebastian both eased back into their normal human forms and Sebastian felt his face heat. He couldn’t meet Gabe’s eyes, afraid of what he’d see there.
“Here. This can didn’t make it into the fridge so it’s a bit warmer. It’ll be good for your stomach.” Sebastian heard the pop and hiss of the can opening.
“So what are you, then?” Gabe’s voice was quiet, but at least not frightened. Sebastian looked up and saw curiosity, and a bit of anger, but it wasn’t anger based in hatred of the unknown or the different, and Sebastian started to relax again.
“We’re spirits. Well, I’m only about a quarter spirit, really. Our mother is half kitsune.” Sebastian answered. “My father and grandfather were one hundred percent human, though, so…”
“And my biological father is… not human. He’s a very old, very powerful spirit.” Kai shrugged.
“Kai’s being stupid.” Sebastian turned to his brother. “Your father is a god, Kai, just say it. And that’s still underplaying it.” He turned back to Gabe. “Kai is a demi-god, on his way to full godhood, and he’s being stupid.” Sebastian grinned. Cassie rolled her eyes and sighed and Gabe started gaping again.
Finding Insight Page 8
