Completely plausible, since it was pretty much impossible to tell an Elemental’s true age by looks alone. Only the truly old ones—like the Firsts of Clan Zi—started to show any true signs of aging. Not that you’d guess them to be centuries or millennia instead of decades old.
“Let me guess. You bought your fake IDs from his team back when you started getting tutored.”
She gave a little giggle that made her seem even younger than her mid-20s. “Yeah. And given that Mama looked 20 years younger than she was, nobody ever questioned it too much. At first, I needed the fake IDs to bring in enough money to just stay afloat. Then, I kind of got used to people taking me more seriously. When Mama got sick, I fought like hell to keep current on all the bills. And Isaac agreed to keep things on the hush until Mama’s health calmed down.”
Dia huffed out a breath and began toying with a stray curl. “I can admit it now, but it was just too much, too soon for me back then. Mama’s illness, all the working and struggling, the shame of not being able to pay everything and then Lord. When that man gave me a $10,000 ring like it was nothing more than a day’s paycheck…”
My lips twitched again, because for Isaac—entrepreneur extraordinaire—that was only a portion of his daily paycheck.
“I was stressed out, overworked, worried to death about Mama, insecure as only a 23-year-old woman can be, and I’ll be honest. I’d never even had a healthy romantic relationship before Isaac. So when I saw him and Avani disappear into that room at two in the morning a few hours after he and I had a fight…and then I heard some weird-ass noises when I put my ear to the door…I assumed the worst.”
This time I reached over to pat her arm. “I’m not hugely surprised, to be honest. Not given everything you had going on, all the things you’d gone through in life, and to top it off, you were a 23-year-old trying to act older than I am now. No wonder you got spooked and ran. You were not in any damned shape to get married.”
She gave another bark of laughter. “Yeah. Most 23-year-olds have no business getting married just in general.”
I shot her a curious glance. “What about you specifically? Were you really ready to marry and bond for life at the tender age of 23? I only did it so quickly because Jake was losing his mind, no thanks to the stupid wildness, and it was the only way to stop Garrett when we faced him at that downtown warehouse.”
A frown crossed Dia’s face. “Shit, Cass. I thought—you two seem crazy about each other.”
“We are! But we’ve only known each other a few months. Under other circumstances, I would have made him woo me a lot longer before I said yes. Hell, I mighta gotten a $10,000 ring out of him.”
She let out a much more sincere laugh. “Touché, sister. And that makes a lot of sense.” Her mother’s picture caught her attention again. “Truth be told, Mama’s being so sick is the real reason I ran. I felt guilty all the damned time she was sick, and there I was head over heels in love with Tall, Dark, and Handsome. And when it started to be obvious she wasn’t going to be there for any of it…Not to shop for my wedding dress, not to help throw my bridal shower, not to walk me down the aisle…”
Tears shimmered in her eyes that were the spitting image of my own. The only physical feature we shared. For the first time since I’d met our sperm donor, I didn’t completely resent those pale blue eyes. They made me feel a little closer to this woman who had been through similar hardships to my own.
“She sounds like an amazing mother, Dia. I know she’d love to see you walk down the aisle.” I waited a beat, then added the punchline. “Unless she decided she wanted Tall, Dark, and Handsome to herself.”
Dia let out a laugh, tears still slipping down her cheeks. “He really is F-I-N-E fine!”
“Indeed. I assume he had an explanation for his late-night rendezvous with Avani?”
She looked like the last thing she wanted to do was respond honestly, but she finally bit the bullet. “They took on a client who suspected his wife was cheating on him. What I heard was them watching some video surveillance feed they hacked into.”
My mouth dropped open, and I let out a horrified giggle. “Sounds like they found all the proof their client needed.”
“You are very much correct.”
“So you listened long enough for him to explain his side of the story. Where does that leave the two of you?”
She gave me the first helpless look I’d seen on her face. “I really don’t know.”
I snickered. “Well then, you’re in pretty much the same shape as everyone else in this world. Love can be glorious—but it can also confuse the shit out of things.”
“Amen,” she fervently agreed, and then got a concerned look on her face when I was attacked by a fit of the yawns. “You look like hell warmed over, Firebird. Maybe we better cut our slumber party confessional short so you can get some sleep.”
One of these days, I was going to have to come up with a nickname just as awesome for her. I couldn’t argue with her suggestion to sleep, thanks to the fact another huge yawn split my face. So instead, I bid my sister goodnight and left her feeling a hundred times less lonely than before I barged my way into her door. And I slept a hundred times lighter.
Chapter 9
Morning saw Jake waking me way earlier than I preferred, thanks to the fact his mother and aunt insisted. Apparently, they intended us to keep up our magical experimentation sessions despite our new surroundings. They commandeered the kitchen to prepare a breakfast fit for a small army, aided by their husbands. They barely gave us enough time to choke our food down before Wen and Shan started cleanup duty. Jake and Liam disappeared with Isaac and Avani to work on our reverse ambush plot; which left Nic, Dia, and me to be dragged to the attic where Isaac’s safe house had a magical workroom.
“Oh no, time for Breena to channel her inner drill sergeant.” I groaned and stuffed the fourth muffin I’d grabbed on the way out of the kitchen into my mouth, resulting in crumbs flying onto the back of Nic’s shirt where he walked in front of me. Dia caught me red-handed, and we both snickered. When Nic turned a curious glance our way, we just smiled at him innocently. Sisterly solidarity felt strange but really good.
Breena was having none of my lip, however. After my complaint, she just tossed us a get your asses in here look, which worked just as well as always. Jake’s mom could be terrifying without trying. When she actually put forth a little effort…
We three reluctant siblings filed into the room so she could close the door behind us. The wards meant to protect the outside world from magic gone awry kicked into effect. My pulse picked up speed when I realized what the two older Elementals likely had in mind. They wanted us to pick back up where we’d left off, experimenting with the active channeling of Spirit that had proven so difficult for me the last time we’d attempted it. Given what we were facing in the form of my father, we didn’t have the luxury of time. I had to learn how to consistently channel Spirit soon.
My hunch was confirmed when Ju Hai stepped forward with her iPad, having no doubt unearthed more of Hikaru’s writings. She swiped to the right and the photos of an ancient-looking Chinese scroll filled the screen.
“They found more documents written by your liegelord?”
Ju Hai nodded solemnly. “Yes. Another group of his liegesworn, from a Japanese Clan, were willing to share these photos of letters he wrote.”
I modified my identification as half of the writing being more likely written in Japanese script than Chinese. Maybe I’d live long enough to have Jake or his family teach me both languages. Surely even I could earn a certain profiency in other languages with a life expectancy in the centuries. “That’s amazing! I assume you can translate what they say?”
Ju Hai simply smiled and swiped right again. The unfamiliar script faded, only to be replaced by an English translation. Likely done by Chin, who was fluent in more languages than Jake. My fascinated gaze skimmed the lines of text and excitement thrummed through me. Hikaru was describing a little of his m
agical abilities to an old friend of his in this particular letter. He had a lyrical way with words, describing the glittering shards of black that interlaced the four physical elements in a way that sent shivers down my spine. He could have been a poet, had his mother not turned to the Dark Side and tried to take over their corner of the world.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, I thought with a rueful headshake. Here we were centuries later and history was repeating itself in the form of our biological father. And just like Hikaru, we have the chance to stop his evil ass. My stomach knotted up as the thought I might have to similarly go kamikaze struck.
But then Nic and Dia pressed to each side of me so they could read along, and my anxiety faded slightly. I doubted Hikaru had enjoyed the presence of siblings like mine, ones who had also been magically and scientifically enhanced. Add in the fact they were now my liegesworn, and we had a double advantage. Now, we just had to keep figuring out what magical marvels we could pull off together.
Breena and Ju Hai bustled around the room setting up Elemental candles while the three of us read Hikaru’s letters. There weren’t many, just eight in total. The first six discussed plans for battles with his mother’s forces. I filed those techniques away for future use. Two of the letters were extremely short missives sent to his children the evening before he went into his final battle, prepared to give his life in order to end his mother’s reign of terror. The missives didn’t seem to contain anything of use; they were basically the loving goodbyes of a father to his children. One of whom, I noticed, was named…
My head snapped up and my eyes widened. “Wait. You’re the daughter of Hikaru!”
Ju Hai finished fussing with the candle she’d settled at the northernmost point of the room and turned with a solemn smile. “I am indeed.”
I blinked, thinking back over everything I knew about the genetic predisposition for magical abilities to pass on to children far more often than not—even if they were expressed in slightly different ways. “So there is a very good reason that you are the most talented and accurate at Foretelling of all the Selkies.”
Ju Hai’s lips twisted slightly. “If you mean it’s possible some small token of my father’s Mindbending abilities passed on to me the way a not-so-small token of his mother’s passed on to him, then yes. It has certainly granted me a huge advantage at mastering a volatile discipline.”
Wow. I’d never suspected her parentage, but it made a ton of sense given how everyone seemed so in awe of her Foretelling skills. It also made me feel even less like a freak of nature, just like learning about the existence of my siblings had. And perhaps Nic and Dia would uncover a souped-up magical talent similar to Ju Hai’s. That could only benefit us greatly in the coming war. Suddenly, I found myself eager to get back to magical experimentation.
Good thing my attitude changed, because Ju Hai and Breena put us through the magical ringer over the next several hours. They had each of us go back to the basics, channeling our elements separately, and then together: first two of us and then three; and then the opposite two and back to three again. They had us perform the most elementary (pun intended) of magical exercises and then moved us to increasingly more difficult spells. At first, I didn’t really notice anything special or different from usual. But then they tried a different strategy, lighting all of the candles they’d elaborately staged at all four cardinal points around the room’s central ceremonial circle etched into the hardwood floor. They told us to clear our minds and begin to meditate.
Once upon a time, I’d loved to do yoga but hated to meditate. Typically during that part of my favorite yoga class, I would mentally prepare my grocery list rather than clear my overactive mind. But the Clan’s Phoenixes had drilled me on the importance of being able to clear one’s mind in order to obtain the greatest magical results, even when under pressure. I expected my siblings to roll their eyes or have trouble with the whole meditation thing, but I should have known better. Despite being my younger siblings, they’d been using their powers far longer than me.
Once the three of us sat with our legs crossed, inhaling and exhaling as best we could in unison, Ju Hai shut off the room’s lights at the same time Breena lit all the candles with multiple tongues of Fire. Somehow, that actually made it easier to match the timing of my breaths with my siblings. The outside world faded as I stared into the flames of the nearest candle positioned just a foot away. My muscles began to tingle with a thousand pinpricks of awareness. Ironic because the world felt so distant and yet…and yet I’d never been more aware of the magical threads tying me to Nic and Dia.
Breathe in…All four elements flowed around the room in a beautiful pattern that ebbed and flowed, ever changing. Breathe out…Those glittering shards of ebony shot through with a dozen shades of vibrant color began weaving themselves even more strongly throughout the four bands of Elemental energy that bound me in turn to each sibling. They’d always been there, I just hadn’t had the clarity to discern them before. Something Hikaru had written flashed into my mind. Those who have never beheld the beauty of the starshot shades of pure Elemental essence that bind each liegesworn to me can never truly understand the strength of our bond. He inhales, and I inhale. She exhales, and I exhale. They strike, and I strike. My mother holds the advantage of sheer psychic strength. I, however, hold the infinitesimally more valuable advantage of being part of something greater. She is she, but I—I am we. She may be the master of the fifth element that runs through every fiber of creation, but we are master of all the elements. Come the dawn of day, we will inhale; we will exhale; we will strike—and she shall fall.
All at once, I felt it. Nic inhaled, and I inhaled. Dia exhaled, and I exhaled. They struck—and I struck.
Or rather, we struck. The beauty of the multicolored lights binding us together pulsed ever brighter as our connection strengthened. The colors reminded me of the firewall spell I’d created, and I found myself compelled to perfect it. While channeling Spirit, I pulled Air and Water through my liegesworn and then Earth through my bond with Jake; willing the firewall I summoned to become more, to conceal us from outside threats, and to protect us if concealment failed. The flows answered with a dozen times their usual power and speed. A firewall leapt into place around us, leaving Breena and Ju Hai on the outside looking in. Or at least they would have looked in if they could. By the panicked looks on their faces, and the way they ran toward the edges of the circle, it appeared they could not see us.
Excitement that Spirit had helped the firewall shape itself to fit my will flared. This firewall shone exponentially brighter than any I’d yet summoned. The flames making up its base flared a full three feet into the air, far taller than usual. All four flows of Elemental energy shot up atop the flames, touching the ceiling a good six feet above. Glittering black cords of Spirit covered every gleaming expanse of the firewall.
I sent tendrils of thought toward each sibling. ((Can you see Breena and Ju Hai?))
((Yes,)) they mentally responded.
And then Dia: ((Why can’t they see us?))
Which was when it hit me. This firewall was permeated with so much pure Spirit that we had for all intents and purposes disappeared off the radar for Breena and Ju Hai. They were no longer liegesworn, so they were as blind to this as anyone else save my father (or maybe other liegesworn) would be.
Breena and Ju Hai ran smack into my firewall—and bounced straight off. Impossibly, given that each had their own immunity to Elemental Fire, flames rushed from the firewall onto their clothes, beginning to eat fabric with lightning-quick speed and intensity. Each let out panicked cries as Ju Hai began channeling Water, summoning a rushing stream of liquid to douse the flames—all to no effect. They continued to burn.
We three jumped to our feet, and I felt horrified panic reverberate through our bond. As someone who had suffered agonizing burns as a child—and then again when my evil father burned me on a real-life funeral pyre the first time he killed me—I knew very well the
horror Ju Hai and Breena were enduring. And I was having none of it.
((Calm down so we can fix this!)) I ordered Dia and Nic in true big sister fashion.
Fortunately, it worked. Their panic faded to a whisper of its former self, and I was able to leap into action. Grasping hold of the Spirit threaded throughout the other four Elemental flows making up our fearsome firewall, I ruthlessly yanked them out. At first, the flows of Spirit resisted, but I gritted my teeth, drew upon the strength of my two liegesworn, and tugged all the harder. With one audible pop, the firewall faded into one of the much weaker and manageable spells I usually cast, and the relentless flames eating at Ju Hai and Breena dissolved. Then I banished the regular firewall as well.
The two women were seasoned warriors who had been working Elemental magic for centuries. They had cried out in pain when the fire first struck, but nothing like what I would have done were our roles reversed. Even now, they merely sank heavily to their butts, panting through the pain, more concerned for each other than themselves.
We three siblings wasted no time in rushing over to them, falling to our knees, and apologizing repeatedly. They brushed off our words by beaming at us as if we had performed an impressive magic trick rather than nearly burning them to death with a freaky, scary magical fire infused with the fifth element most Elementals could apparently neither see nor counteract.
I shuddered at that thought. What horrifying abilities had Hikaru’s mother been capable of that someone who could do what we had just done only succeeded in stopping her by killing himself? There was still so much I did not yet know and sure as hell did not understand.
Although one thing I did know. My father would need every advantage he could get, because we had everything to lose and would fight him with every weapon at our disposal. Even this beautiful, terrible firewall. And while Garrett could potentially be immune to our using Spirit to enhance our Elemental magic, his minions wouldn’t be. Despite the fact I hoped to find a way to defeat him that wouldn’t involve the word kamikaze and me becoming intimately familiar, you damned well believe I would make it my new best friend if that’s what it took to stop him. And thanks to the bond between us, I knew Nic and Dia felt the same way.
Forged from Flame Page 10
