Souls of Three: Book Two of the Starseed Trilogy

by Ashley McLeo

  “That’s so thoughtful. Thank you. I love your side, too,” Lily said finally. She crossed the barrier into Sara’s half of the room where warm reds and oranges dominated what looked to be a mash-up of a yoga studio and bedroom. A large mandala hung above Sara’s bed. In the corner between the dresser and the tartan chair was a small mat, cushion, and low bench. The bench was decorated with candles of all shapes and sizes and photos of the McKays, Lily, Evelyn, and Sara. Lily recognized it as a meditation alter, much like Rena’s partner Annika’s at home.

  “Why’d you keep your chair tartan?” she asked, walking over to drop into the new plush velvet covering her chair.

  “Tradition. Something had to stay the same, and I kind of like it. Plus since the divider doesn’t extend that far it goes better with your chair than red or orange. That would look too Christmasy.” Sara wrinkled her nose.

  Lily nodded in agreement.

  “We did Evelyn’s room, too. Very posh, blue and gold tones, but not too gold. I think she’ll like it.”

  “Sounds very Evelyn. I’m sure she’ll like it way better than what she had,” Lily grinned thinking of the plain single room the heiress had occupied before.

  Sara lowered herself into her tartan chair as Lily set her bag on the bed. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence and Lily knew exactly why. May as well get this over with . . .

  “It was so weird, being home without Em. Knowing she’ll never come back and that I was the one to make it final,” Lily said without looking up.

  Sara let out the breath she’d been holding.

  “I needed the time to mourn Em but I’m glad to be back. If I’m being honest, it was a little overwhelming, so many emotions running high and nothing I could do about it but talk and listen. At least here I can do something, learn more, and fight again to avenge Em’s death. Most of the time, I just felt sad at Terramar.”

  “You know a little bit of that sadness will always be there, right?” Sara asked, the concern evident in her voice.

  “I know, but it will dampen. And it will be easier here than there. Did Brigit tell you that Rena, Annika, and Selma are coming here to visit?” she asked, careful not to drop the ‘M’ bomb with Sara before Brigit heard her say it. “They want to see where I’m living and meet you and Evelyn. Selma is especially excited. She doesn’t get to socialize with others that have siren powers often.” Lily stifled a laugh as a vision of Selma, the Spanish Siren of Terramar commune, chatting Evelyn’s ear off rose in her mind. “I’ll have to warn Evelyn that Selma can be a chatterbox.”

  “That’s great,” Sara beamed. “I can’t wait to meet them. Two sirens in one little cottage? Good thing there are never any men here.”

  Lily nodded in agreement. “When does Evelyn get back?”

  “Mom talked to her yesterday and said she was planning on telling her parents after work today that she need to return to Ireland. Evelyn will bring the family jet over and hire a driver so we don’t have to worry about making arrangements to get her all the way out here. I think she’s trying to avoid any of Morgane’s wacky conversations. She’ll show up sometime next week.”

  “What a life.”

  “Seriously.”

  The sound of the front door opening traveled down the hall.

  “Sara? Is Lil here yet?” Brigit called from the entryway.

  Now’s the time. “Hi, Mom!” Lily yelled. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sara’s mouth fall open and then snap shut and widen into a smile.

  Brigit had barely kicked off her rain boots when Lily pounced on her. Hugging and breathing in her mother’s scent of cinnamon and lavender, a profound sense of coming home washed over her. Nearly two weeks in Oregon had been more than enough time for Lily to consider what she thought of her new family and what she found surprised her. So far from the anger and denial she felt when they’d first met, now there was deep love for the family that gave her up so she could live in safety and love another.

  “You’ve no idea how happy that word makes me. Thank you, Lil,” Brigit said hugging her daughter tight. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

  “Did you—?” Brigit asked, her brown eyes latching on Sara’s copper ones.

  “Yup. She loved it.”

  “Good. Something a bit more personal and new. You three deserve it after all the work you’ve been putting in. Mary’s been trying to get me to redo those rooms for years. Wanted to try her hand at interior decorating, but I was waiting until I met you,” Brigit pulled away and smiled at the pair of them. “Would anyone like a cuppa? I’m desperate for one. The Gallagher birth was quite problematic. I may even need something a bit stronger.”

  Sara and Lily glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows. Mary, their blonde bombshell aunt, had eclectic taste and Lily could only imagine what a room she decorated would look like. Probably sequin curtains and all sorts of crazy colors.

  “How’s the new baby?” Sara asked as they followed Brigit into the kitchen.

  “She’s fit now. Mary and I have been up since dawn hoping to pry her out. The wee thing was a bit willful. A lot like a few other wee ones I knew.” Brigit winked and set the kettle to boil.

  “That was your last birth for a while, right?”

  “Aye. I thought it best not to take on any new clients while you three are studying. Mary will take on the excess and I’ll help when I can. Gwenn will step in if Mary really needs help and I can’t. Gwenn hasn’t attended a birth since she started her internet business but she knows the basics. We think it best that one of us is always here in case of a new development. We can’t predict when a babe comes and Goddess knows we may need to be ready at a moment’s notice should anything arise in the supernatural realm.”

  “Are we going to resume our studies again soon then?”

  Lily smiled at the excitement in Sara’s voice. Two whole weeks without lessons must have been torture for her.

  “I’m thinking we could start you two tomorrow or the next day. I’m still waiting to hear from Evelyn as you know. Can you believe she’s been working the entire time she’s been home? Child must not like rest. No idea where she got that from, certainly not me.”

  Brigit placed three tea bags in mugs and began filling them with her homemade cinnamon and spice loose leaf mix.

  “It’s Thanksgiving tea,” Lily said as the smells of the holiday wafted over. Back at the start of summer, before she’d found out she was a witch fated to rescue humanity from an ancient magical race, she’d been looking forward to a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner.

  “Oh my gosh! It’s Thanksgiving isn’t it?” Sara looked stunned. Apparently, she’d forgotten about the holiday.

  “Yup. In Oregon everyone’s at Selma and Richard’s. Rich is cooking a huge turkey, Annika is making the vegetarian version plus sides, and they’ll all indulge in homemade mead,” Lily said with a sigh.

  “You know I kind of miss Thanksgiving, too. It’s been years since I celebrated with a full dinner. I never go home for holidays anymore. Hey! Maybe when Rena, Annika, and Selma visit we can have a late Thanksgiving! What do you think, Mom?” Sara asked her eyes shining with the thought.

  Lily’s eyes popped open. That would be perfect. She held her breath for Brigit’s answer.

  Brigit tilted her head in consideration and her auburn hair fell over her shoulder. “I’ve never cooked an American Thanksgiving—being Irish and all it’s not done here. But since you three celebrate, I suppose we must. Aye, when your family visits would be best. I’ll need help preparing such a large feast.”

  Lily smirked imagining Rena and Selma in the kitchen. Neither of them had the culinary skills to fill a teacup. “Sure! Annika is a great cook. Healthy, too.”

  “Well that’d be grand. We need more healthful food and activities about here don’t we, Sara?” Brigit teased the petite redhead. “You wouldn’t believe what this one here had me doing while you were gone, Lil! I couldn’t walk normal for days.”

  “It was only a few sun s
alutations.” Sara waved off Brigit's playful jab. “I could teach you too, Lily.”

  “That sounds awesome! Maybe before classes?” Her mind always felt clearer after her body had been worked.

  “That’s the spirit! I bet Evelyn would like them, too. I heard her talking with Mary about Pilates once. Yoga and Pilates aren’t that different.”

  Brigit deposited two steaming mugs of tea in front of them. The aroma of cinnamon permeated the kitchen and Lily relaxed back in her chair. It felt good to chat easily again. Though she’d done a lot of catching up at Terramar, the conversation always turned back to Em. There was no way Lily could deny the people who loved Em the story of her death. She wasn’t the only one seeking closure for a loved one lost. The entire community had been grieving with her. At least at Fern Cottage it would be easier to bury her grief in work and the comings and goings of family. Things were rarely slow at the cottage.

  Lily sipped her tea. Warmth slipped through her and the hearth fire, so large it separated the kitchen-diner from the sitting room, burned hot at Lily’s back. Lily’s muscles loosened and a weariness overtook her.

  “Did you put a sleeping draught in this tea,” she joked.

  Brigit shook her head. “I expect that’s the travel catching up with you, love. Did you sleep at all?”

  Lily laughed at the question. For weeks sleep had felt impossible, and on a good night she’d manage four hours. She hadn’t even closed her eyes on the flights over.

  “Not a wink. You’re probably right. I think I’ll finish this in my room and then lie down. Is anyone coming for dinner?”

  “Your aunts will be here at six.” Brigit's voice brightened as it always did when she spoke of her sisters.

  Lily rose with more effort than she felt should be necessary. God, I am tired. She was about to round the hearth when the question she’d been dying to ask for weeks, but somehow had forgotten the moment she’d seen Sara, popped into her mind. “Hey, did anyone find anything else in Hypatia’s book?”

  “I expect your aunts will want to be here for that chat. Especially Mary, she’s been studying that thing obsessively. Go get some sleep, Lil. We’ll wake you for supper.”

  She awoke to a soft knock on the door.

  “Lil? Everyone’s here,” Sara said peeking into their room.

  “I’ll be right there,” Lily answered, throwing her arms into a wide stretch and flexing her long legs.

  Despite many hours in bed since Em’s death, she hadn’t slept so hard in weeks. At Terramar lying in bed equated to thinking and second guessing herself until daylight approached.

  Being back at Fern Cottage is like taking a sleeping pill. She rose from bed and opened her drawer, a sense of purpose she hadn’t felt in weeks budding within her.

  Five minutes later she strolled into the bustling kitchen and was pulled into a bear hug by her curvy, blonde aunt Mary and a smaller, toastier hug from her fire witch aunt Aoife.

  From Aoife’s arms Lily grinned at her look-alike aunt Gwenn, who had picked Lily up from the airport hours earlier.

  “Alright. Alright, you lot. Break it up. The girl just woke up from a sizable nap. She’s probably starving,” Brigit said, guiding Lily to the table and setting a plate of roasted chicken, vegetables, and potatoes in front of her. “Eat up, Lil. We need to beef you up, make you three big and strong.”

  Lily grinned impishly. Eating was the one thing she’d never had trouble doing.

  “She’s been saying that to me ever since you two left,” Sara said, nabbing the seat next to Lily, her own plate heaped high with food. “There must have been some hulking vamps in that mansion.”

  Lily stiffened at mention of the mansion. Here we go.

  “Most I saw were slight and beautiful. They were still super strong, though,” Lily said, trying to act normal and breathe through the tightness in her chest.

  “They always are. That’s one thing popular culture gets right. You will never find an ugly or weak vampire. Even the few I’ve seen that were turned in their mature years are still lovely looking. Something in the blood makes them that way, irresistible to their prey.” Aoife’s voice was tight as she pulled up a chair next to her fire witch mentee and doppelgänger, Sara.

  Lily’s nostrils filled with Aoife’s spicy ginger and pepper scent as she took in her aunt’s words. Well, that does explain a lot. An image of Em’s cruel red eyes surrounded by wrinkle-free, lustrous skin flashed in Lily’s mind. She felt everyone’s eyes on her, taking her measure. Lily wasn’t ready to talk about Em again yet, but she knew that wasn’t likely who they were thinking about, anyway.

  “Like Amon,” Lily said.

  Brigit’s mouth flattened into a thin line and Gwenn’s shoulders tightened, but no one spoke.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before I left. Everything hurt too much.” Lily took in the solemn gazes of her family. “Amon and I dated during my last year of college. He was my first boyfriend and, I thought, my first love. I went to Bryn Mawr so the fact that no one knew him didn’t seem strange to me. He went by Liam there.”

  “Bryn Mawr is an all-girl college,” Sara explained as confusion clouded Aoife and Gwenn’s expressions.

  “I have to ask, Lily,” Brigit said, looking afraid to hear the answer, “Did you sleep with him?”

  “No. He’s the first guy I ever dated. I’ve . . . I’m still a virgin,” Lily admitted, her face dropping to her plate.

  “Thank the Goddess.”

  Lily’s head shot up. “Why?”

  “For one thing it took extreme force of character not to give into Amon’s seductions in the first place. I do not doubt he was working his vampiric charms to get what he wanted. Vampires exert their strongest emotional powers over those they’ve mated with. It’s an intense bond and one Amon would have loved to exploit. I'll wager it made him right furious that you weren't completely in his thrall,” Brigit explained, a smug smile growing on her face.

  Lily nodded remembering the feel of Amon’s arm gripping her shoulder as his parting words rang in her head.

  “You’re hiding something. Rest assured, I’ll uncover your secrets. You can’t remain silent forever. You’ll slip up soon, I can feel it. If you don't give them to me, I can force them from you.”

  “He was furious one night, the last night I spoke with him before we met again in Alexandria. We didn’t even officially break up, I just left in the middle of the night and drove home to Terramar. He talked about forcing secrets out of me. I thought he was crazy.”

  “Leaving like that was the best thing you could have done.” Brigit’s said the words without a hint of doubt. “I’d wager Amon thought you’d come back. He would have been sure of his sway over you. But you felt something in him that was off, didn’t you? Something that scared you more than even his words?”

  “His presence that night was animalistic. Terrifying. Almost as terrifying as when I found out what he truly was.”

  “That’s the one good thing about vamps. They’ll charm the pants off you but can never hide their predator side for long. Makes them easier to weed out once you know what you’re looking for,” Aoife’s voice became more gravelly than normal as she stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork.

  The sound of forks scraping plates and throats gulping down water filled the conversational lull until Lily couldn’t take it any longer.

  “Did you find anything about Hypatia’s book?”

  “Was wondering when you’d want to talk about that.” Mary’s soprano voice was muffled through a mouth full of food. She swallowed and took a swig of her wine. “We’ve each read through at least a half dozen times. It’s been subjected to many magical tests to reveal any secrets that may be hiding in the ink or even the fibers of the paper itself. Bahati visited while you were away. She read it, too. For her, the book appeared in Egyptian so we compared notes to see if anything was lost in translation. Not a single detail was altered. That means the text had been written in lingua primum, the first languag
e of magic—which makes sense, considering its ancient origins. Seraphina and her daughter Esther could not be sure that their language would be around by the time the second coming of the three occurred.”

  “Any other spells or enchantments?” Lily asked, her breath tightening in her chest.

  Mary shook her head. “We found nothing magical in the text to indicate it was more than a story or history. No hidden magical properties or underlying text.”

  There’s nothing magical about the book we risked our lives for?

  “So we began reading for information we didn’t know of that negated common folklore. Like, for instance, how a fata can die.” Mary’s blue eyes glimmered with the thrill of discovery, reminding Lily that while Mary might be a midwife by training, she was a researcher at heart and the primary reason they knew anything about Hypatia, the prophecy told at the triplets’ birth, or fata.

  Lily’s ears perked up.

  “What? There were no instructions. I’d remember that!”

  “Instructions no,” Mary continued, “But Seraphina died, right? Her soul leaked from her body, Lil. If we can puncture through their skin all the way to an inner membrane to their soul, or pneuma as they call it, the fata will die.”

  “Alright. Maybe Noro knew how to that because he was a fata, but how do we do it? And what if it was just because Seraphina was transforming?” Lily asked, her voice dripping with skepticism.

  “We’re still working on that,” Sara said. “But it’s a start isn’t it? It gave me hope that if we come into contact with a fata, we’ll stand a chance. Better than going in completely blind.”

  “As none of us are experts in fata, or any other magical creatures really, we’ve been chatting with witches and wizards who know more about the specifics of other species,” Gwenn jumped in. “We’re hoping to find commonalities between species that may be little known among other magical creatures. For example, everyone knows silver is fatal to vampires and fae can’t touch iron. There’s speculation in reviewing the few folklore tales Mary came across that fata could be sensitive to iron as well. What if we learn most daemons, elves, and incubi are sensitive to it, too? Then it’s a good guess that the folktales are right.”