I found myself in the kitchen before I really knew where I was going. I was hungry, that was true, and I focused on the needs of my body. Better than thinking about where I was and all it meant to me. All the energy I’d spent in the Pit needed to be refueled. I slipped the dark purple cloak off and pooled it on the counter. I set Oka onto it and covered her up a little, then turned back to the fridge.
“Rylee will have my hide if I don’t take care of myself,” I said. That made me smile, though it slipped from my face before I took another step. Perhaps it was best not to think of my friends, right now. How many of them were lost and the rest were far away from me?
I drew a breath. That wasn’t entirely true. Will was here in London, though after the battle, I wasn’t sure he wanted anything to do with Rylee and her crew. He’d lost his sister, and so many of his friends. We all had.
But maybe I would get the chance to see him.
I shook my thoughts off and went to the tall stainless steel ice box. I opened the left hand side portion that was the freezer. Anything that was left in the fridge would have gone rotten by now. It was hard to believe it had been over a year since we’d lived here. Rylee had inherited the place, but she hadn’t wanted to come back. She’d instead hired someone to check on the mansion a couple times a month, and kept the electricity going so as to keep the mold away. In our world you just never knew when an emergency safe house was going to be needed.
Stacked inside the freezer was all the baking and cooking I’d stashed away while we’d been here. Even though Alex had been a glutton, I’d always managed to put aside at least one small container from everything I made.
I pulled out some frozen rolls, and a single portion of lasagna. I stuffed them into the microwave and turned it on. The buzzing of the machine filled my ears and when it dinged, I jumped as though I’d been shot in the ass.
I ate mechanically, not bothered by the parts that were still frozen, or the parts too hot. I mixed them together and forced them down. I wanted to eat and find a place to lie down, that was what I needed. My eyes drifted though while I ate, and with the sights, memories flowed to me. Memories I didn’t need right now.
One of the last times I’d been in the kitchen, I’d thought I was alone. I’d been so upset, so torn because of what Liam had asked me to do. How could he ask me to kill him? Did it matter we both knew it was for the best, that his sacrifice and mine would allow Rylee a chance to save so many? But someone had found me there, hidden against the cupboards. The food in my mouth seemed to solidify as the past washed over me.
“Pammy crying?” Alex pushed his cold nose under my folded arms, the smell of his musky fur surrounding me. I sat with my back to the cupboard and my head tucked to my knees. I slowly lifted my head.
“No.”
He tipped his head to one side. “Yuppy, you is.”
I moved to push him away. “Go on.”
“Nope.” He shifted his big furry bulk, all awkward limbs and ridiculously long tongue, so he could sit beside me. He tried to sit upright, like a human which had to be uncomfortable the way his limbs were so twisted. But he mimicked me right down to bending his knees and setting his elbows on them. And then he looked at me with those golden eyes and winked.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Alex, you’re my best friend, you know that?”
“You my best friend, too, Pammy.” He dropped his chin to my shoulder and rolled his eyes so he could look up at me.
I sniffed and glanced down at him. “What about Rylee?”
“Rylee my boss. Love her different. But Pammy is Alex best friend.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. “Alex. Promise me you won’t ever leave me alone.”
His clawed hands reached around me. “Alex promises.”
I slid to my knees in the very spot we’d clung to each other. A sob escaped before I caught it, and I slapped my hands over my mouth. Curling down over my folded knees, I pressed my forehead to the tile floor. I couldn’t stop the tears, couldn’t hold them back. I lay there and gave in to the grief that had chased me for the last six months. I’d run from it, taken Marco and flown across the continent looking for other supernaturals, but what I’d really been looking for was Alex.
He couldn’t be gone. My best friend. And just when he’d finally been able to shift and be both human and wolf . . . “It’s not fair.” I curled onto my side and closed my eyes. Sleep took me there on the floor, a testament to just how tired I was.
Hands scooped me up and held me tightly to a warm body.
“Come here, cat. You’re supposed to be taking care of her.”
I curled in tighter to whomever held me as they shifted my body and a tiny weight was placed on my middle. Instinctively, I put an arm around Oka’s body as we were taken from the kitchen. Somewhere between sleep and wakefulness I knew that Raven had found me on the floor. That he’d come looking for me, to check on me.
I was put into my bed and I rolled to my side with my back to him. I didn’t want to like him. Didn’t want to think he was my friend because he’d said it himself. He was the bad guy.
“I’m not a good familiar.” Oka put her paws on my side, and even with my eyes closed I knew she was looking up at Raven. Her words were quiet and uncertain.
“You were chosen for her for a reason. She’s the strongest witch this world will see and has elemental blood running through her veins. Which means there must be something special about you, too,” Raven said, not unkindly.
“I don’t want to let her down.” Oka curled in tightly to me, against my belly, and I put my arm around her.
“Then don’t. It is that simple.”
The sound of the door closing with a click, and then Oka wormed her way under the covers. We both fell asleep, and for a wonder, it was dreamless and peaceful. Just sleep.
I woke however many hours later, rested and more comfortable than I’d been in a long time. Maybe that had to do with Oka snuggled tightly to me. She was a small purring warmth that made me feel safe. She tucked her head under my chin.
“You got us out of the Pit.” She blinked up at me and then gave a jaw-cracking yawn.
I ran a hand over her back. “We got us out. I couldn’t have done it without the energy you gave me.”
She shrugged. “That’s my job.”
I pushed the covers off and then in a sudden fear I reached around to my back. The sword was still there, strapped to me. “He didn’t take it?”
“What?” Oka squinted up at me.
I explained how Raven wanted the sword, and how we’d made a deal. “He said he was the bad guy, Oka. How can I trust him?” And yet here it was, the sword was still with me when he could have taken it easily. He was a series of contradictions I didn’t know what to do with.
I stood and slid out of the clothes I’d taken from the Pit. My bathroom was connected to the bedroom and I headed straight for it, still talking to Oka. “What do you think about Raven?”
“Elementals are not known for being straightforward. Most have ulterior motives and it’s only at the end of whatever they are trying to do that you understand the full situation.”
I blew out a sigh as I turned on the hot water to the shower. The steady stream quickly fogged up the mirror. “Well, that’s shitty.”
“Yes. But I think that as long as you can learn from him, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. If he really does carry all five elements, I believe he is right. He can teach you.”
I stepped into the shower and scrubbed at my skin while I thought about that. I’d proven myself pretty well; it was about time for another lesson as far as I was concerned.
Wrapped in a towel, I stepped back into the bedroom. Oka just watched me as I went to the tall armoire and cracked it open.
“Do the clothes from the Pit not fit you well?” she asked.
I looked at her. “They’re dirty, I wore them through an awful lot.”
She touched her tongue to her nose before she answered
. “Well, they aren’t really dirty. They’re elemental-made, same as the sword and its sheath. They don’t get dirty. You can wear them over and over.”
I picked up the edge of the top and held it to my nose. It smelled floral, like cherry blossoms, not like sweat and fear at all. I slid it back on, and then stepped back into the leather pants. “I guess while I am with Raven here, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use these. Hard to say what he’ll ask me to do next.”
On my bed sat the book I’d taken from the Pit’s library for myself. Witchcraft and Elementals. I leaned over and picked it up. I opened it to a random page, my curiosity once more getting the better of me.
On the right was a picture of a woman in a full skirt pinned up on a large stake; below her flames roared up and around her. Her head was thrown back, and for a moment, I thought I could hear her screaming. Mouth dry, I forced my eyes to the left side of the pages I’d opened.
“What is it?” Oka stood on her back legs so she could put her paws on my arm. I tipped the book so she could see.
I read the passage. “There are many rare and dangerous magicks that witches are capable of that must be considered a violation of nature. If a witch should be found to carry more than two types of elemental powers, she shall be taken to the stake and burned, or dismembered and her body scattered to the four winds. The humans have been made aware of the power of witchcraft and have been given the knowledge of how to end a witch’s life. That being said, they are fools that have been killing many of their own. Thus, it is up to those of us who truly know to be sure that any of the powerful witches are destroyed lest they be shown the ways of the darker magicks and come on us in our sleep.”
My voice grew softer and softer with each word. “Oka, I carry all five elements in me. Raven said so, and even if he didn’t, I already knew I carried four.” I sat on the edge of the bed.
She pinned her ears back flat to her skull. “You don’t think he means to kill you, do you?”
I stared at the book in my hands and thought back over the words Raven and I had exchanged. He wanted the sword, and he wanted me to gather things for him. But I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t kill me.
“I’m the bad guy, Pamela.”
I swallowed hard. “I think we have to believe he will. That as soon as he is done with me he will end my life.”
CHAPTER 11
I SAT ON THE bed in Jack’s mansion and stared at the book in my hands. Could it teach me what I needed? Or did Raven know more? If Raven intended to kill me at the end of this venture, was trying it even worth anything?
“We have to flee, we have to go now.” Oka pawed at my arm, hooking her front legs around my elbow with her claws retracted, as if she could physically force me to do as she said. “If Raven will try and kill you, then we have to get far away.”
I carried all five elements as a witch, and as such I was a danger. The book in my hands said so loud and clear.
I stared at the pages in front of me, my mind racing. “No. He can still teach me. We know what his game is now, and we can be ready for it. He doesn’t know that we know. We have the upper hand.”
A knock on the door brought both our heads up.
“Pamela, are you finally awake?” Raven’s voice was muffled through the door.
I snapped the book shut and stuffed it into my carry-all at my side. I spun as he opened the door and I glared at him.
“Do you mind? I could have been getting dressed!”
He frowned and shook his head. “I put you to bed with all your clothes on, and you haven’t stirred in twelve hours. I doubt very much the first thing you would do when you got up was strip.”
Oka puffed up beside me, her fur so bristled, she looked like a tiny orange porcupine. “She had a shower which requires the removal of clothes, you idiot.”
He had the decency to look chagrined. But was it all an act? That was the question rolling around in my head that I had no real answer to. Faris had been a master at fooling people. I had no doubt Raven was the same.
“I want to learn something new today.” I picked up the sword and sheath and strapped them to my back, then scooped up the purple cloak and slid it over my shoulders. Oka leapt up to me. I lifted her to my shoulder but she slid back into the scoop of the hood. From there she put her front paws on my one shoulder and peered out at the world.
Raven gave a tight nod. “Come to the library. I will give you a lesson and then we will discuss the book you brought back and what I have learned from it.”
He turned away, and for a moment, I thought he meant the book that I’d just stuffed into my carry-all. But of course, that wasn’t the book. He meant the one he’d sent me for. Breaking the Veil.
I hurried after him, not that I needed him to lead the way to the library. I knew these halls like the back of my hand. The tapestries along the walls were old and depicted battles and conquering heroes that I didn’t know. My favorite was the one where a giant snake coiled around a hero. I didn’t think the hero would make it, but there was no way of saying how the story ended.
I suppose the hero would have to win.
That was how stories went, right?
I swallowed hard. Was I the hero now? Would my actions be seen as helpful and good, or as monstrous as a two-story giant snake?
“Do not fuss, Pam.” Oka batted at my ear. “You have made a decision, that’s good. Now we go forward with confidence.”
I reached up and touched a finger to her nose. “You’re awfully smart for being so young.”
She sniffed and nipped at my finger. “That makes two of us.”
The smile on my lips faded as I stepped through the doorway and into the massive library. The tall windows that stood as high as the ceiling were the same, and the sun coming through them was the same muted light as always. But it felt weird without Rylee and the others. I glanced at the table Alex had liked to hide under, but of course, he wasn’t there.
I swallowed back the emotions stirring in my chest before they could do so much to irritate my eyes into tears. I needed to focus on the task at hand and remember who I was dealing with. Speaking of which . . .
Raven leaned over the main desk in the middle of the room, a book flat open in front of him. “Do you know how to blend all five powers to create a single pulse of energy?” He didn’t look up from the book.
I stopped where I was, only a few steps into the room. “I’m not sure. Maybe?”
He turned and beckoned me closer as he leaned his butt against the table. His other hand rose chest level, palm to the ceiling. Over his open palm, curls of light began to flicker and rise. Red, blue, green, white, and pink. They spun faster and faster until they were nothing but an orb over his hand. I couldn’t take my eyes away.
“Can you see this too?” The tone in Raven’s voice was curious, but I could barely look at him.
“Yes.” I breathed the word because I just wanted to stare at the colors and the spinning orb. Slowly I lifted my own hand, mimicking him move for move. The five powers rose in me easily and I sent them all to my palm. I looked at my own hand and watched as the five colors began to spin and blend, but the orb was different than Raven’s. Where his was smooth and calm, mine tumbled and tangled in on itself. Tiny forks of color shot out of the orb like miniature lightning bolts.
“Why—”
“Because you are a witch, and I am not.” Raven dropped his hand. “Your power is meant to destroy first, heal second. An elemental is meant to heal first, and never destroy. That is why there are some spells that require both an elemental and a witch of great power to complete.”
His words were not surprising. My ability to fight, injure and kill had been instinctual; as easy breathing. Learning to heal had taken much more time and effort before I’d been able to master it.
“What do I do with it now?” I rolled my hand and the orb followed as if attached to my skin. “And is this not the same as when a bolt of pure power leaves me?” I’d done that before but it had felt very di
fferent than this.
“I suggest you reabsorb that energy. Combined like that, it is ten times stronger than any pure power that you are mumbling about.” He shook his head. “Pure power, ridiculous.”
I drew a breath and imagined the elements sliding back into my skin, which they did without much effort.
“Well done,” Oka said.
I smiled and looked up at Raven, but he was just staring at me. “You are a fast learner.”
“I am.” No point in denying it.
He cracked his knuckles. “Something harder then, shall we?”
I nodded and tried not to look too eager. Standing there with him, it was easy to forget he was the self-proclaimed bad guy. That he would likely try and kill me the second he was done with my help. And I realized then that was exactly what was going on. Not only did he need me to gather the book for him, but I had no doubt he would need me for some spell he didn’t want me to know he needed me for. I shook my head ever so slightly.
“No?” He raised both eyebrows. “You’ve changed your mind?”
“No, I haven’t.” I crossed my arms.
He grinned suddenly and I had the feeling that I knew him. That flash of teeth, the way his lips turned up at the edges. Where, though, had I seen him? That was the question I could not answer.
“Can you read people?” He pushed himself onto the table and sat staring at me. This was so different than anyone else who’d ever taught me.
I drew a breath and shook my head. “I am no mind reader.”
“No, I mean can you read people? Can you tell how powerful they are? Surely you’ve been around others who can do this.” He wasn’t being condescending, so that much was good. I think.
“Yes, some of the witches could do it. But they never told me how.”
He laughed. “Probably they were worried you would see how weak they were in comparison to you. It’s a hard skill to learn. It might take a bit for you to gain it because it is not a skill of magic but of your second sight.”
Pamela (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 3) Page 9
