“You need to make a plan, and get the hell out of here. Whose idea was this?” One side of his mouth rose in a snarl. “I don’t care if the order came from Maxwell himself. I don’t need a babysitter, and I sure the hell don’t need a witch partner. Another witch. So much for diversity.”
Alice’s response died in her throat. His continuing nonsense caught her off guard. “Maxwell?” After Chester muttered something about it being against policy, she added, “I should be mad, not you. Policy? I thought it was against the rules to hurt a witch. And punishable by death, if they are in your coven. You sent me for that nettle, didn’t you? You nasty man. Did you want the monsters to chew on my bits? Have you seen what lives in those caves?” As her anger rose, a soft shimmer appeared around her. “I want food, rest, and some help with healing Davina.”
His brow arched. Confusion filled his face. “You aren’t with PPK?”
“What is that?” Alice again thought he might be crazy, or maybe he was privy to some of the dark secrets she needed to know about. Her gaze flicked to the door. Why had he locked them in?
Chester’s expression softened, and he took a step back. “I told them I needed time before meeting with the elves. You weren’t sent by the PPK to handle the elf side? You went in that cave for nettle for real?”
Alice stared at the door. Did she want to be alone with this lunatic? Could she get past him? “Nettle, I thought you sent me, since you’ve been so pleasant. What is going on? I almost died. Really. The elf who runs things, he’s…” Decker was a list of things, all of them bad, but there was no denying that witches were trying to hurt him, and maybe her.
“You can’t be part of this coven.” Chester’s brows bunched. “You’re also Ljósálfr. Witches would never let you cast with them.”
Her mouth dropped. How many witches knew? Decker was right. “What do you know about that? You better start talking.”
He looked toward the door. “I can’t, not now. We will have to… let me handle it. I can’t lose anyone on my watch. You are not safe here. Does he know his father sent us? Listen, don’t say anything yet.”
“I don’t know anything to say.” The muscles of her jaw twitched. “I want answers from you, or I’ll ask someone else. How can I trust you? You’ve been the worst of them all.”
His eyes grew wide, and his head jutted in a way that said, don’t tell, then his shoulders slumped, adding an unspoken please. “I’ll tell you what I know, but you can’t blow my cover. I’ve been here for months. If we have to start over, there will be war. Witches, you, and elves will die.”
Her hands trembled as the stress of everything settled over her. “Please, why was I sent there? What war? Is this about what happened to his water?”
“This is about someone wanting to end the long break in violence. His father issued a complaint about the water, after they sealed him off. There is a real threat of retaliation. I’m on a deadline. If I don’t get answers soon, the fighting will begin. People in neighboring towns will be affected. Are you really Davina’s niece? You are an elf. How is that possible? Are light elves involved in the war effort?” His demeanor was less aggressive than she’d ever seen.
“I need answers, not questions. I’ll help you if I can, but you have to help me.” She closed her eyes and tried to sort out the jumble of questions in her head. “What is PPK, and why are you here and not in the cave?”
“I can’t tell you about the PPK. It’s classified. Trust I’m here for the very best reasons.” He looked toward the door. “I need an element of secret just a little longer. The guilty witch will cover her tracks otherwise. She will be held responsible, trust me. You can’t mention PPK again. Witches know what that means.”
“So, it’s not that secret. You aren’t inspiring my faith in you.” Her eyes grew hard.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “All I can tell you is we keep paranormal disputes from bleeding into the normals’ reality.”
Alice’s face wrinkled, and she blinked slowly. “You are a peacekeeper? I find that hard to believe.”
“I’m a witch. I have to blend in this coven, which means I have to act as a witch would. Suspicious and malicious. I frankly thought you were a noob, because of how awful you were doing at blending.” He chuckled. “You make a lousy witch.”
She made a sound of disgust. “I am a witch.”
“Half.” He shrugged.
“How do you even know that?”
“Same way everyone else does. I can feel it in your magic.”
“They don’t all know.” The unsteadiness in her voice made it more of a question than the statement she intended it to be.
“Maybe. I’ve met light elves. I knew as soon as I stood near you. Your elf is more dominant than your witch, when you get agitated.” Chester tapped his fingers together. “Someone knows. I would wager that is why you were sent down there. If you were killed, that would trigger an elf war, and a witch war.” He muttered and continued talking to himself. “Maybe it’s light elves and not witches. Damn it.”
“The water was spelled by both.” Should she have admitted that? “I think. Well, the elves thought it was witches.”
His eyes grew wide. “Light elves? You’re certain? You told them it was light elf and witch?” He paced. “I can’t see light elves working with a witch any more than dark elves. There has been a break in the bloodshed in modern days, but the three have always been at odds. That’s too long and complicated to get into, and not relevant to this potential dispute.”
“My mother and father must have loved each other.” Alice couldn’t decide if she was more angry, confused, or scared. “How can you be here to make peace and not be aware of the light elf involvement?”
“They haven’t taken me to the swamps. I didn’t need to see it. I was informed it had been spelled. There shouldn’t be light elves in the area. I’m not privy to everything as an apprentice. I wasn’t even aware you were really related to Davina. I guessed she was part of your cover and the nettle was another lousy story, because you’re a novice.” He chewed his lip. “I did doubt the wisdom of sending a witch to settle elves. The clan leader let Gretchen take you?”
“No one let me do anything.” She sat back down in the chair. “Sounds like you do need a partner. I’m not it. I have to find out who sent me, and why.”
“So do I.” His foot tapped rapidly. “First, I need you out of here. You are not safe. If you die, the war will have justified cause. They didn’t kill you. Can you go back and buy me time? I’m so close.”
Her mouth opened, and crinkles formed at the corners of her eyes. “You didn’t even know about who enchanted the water. Those elves are not happy. I hardly made it back. They kept talking about my bloody parts. If I don’t have a spell to fix his water, he will eat me.”
“We will find who spelled it, get you their grimoire, and then you have to go. Brave those elves, and together we can stop a war. This is so much worse than Maxwell thought.” His eyes pled with her. “I need your help. When Gretchen gets back, cling to her.”
“Her? You can’t be serious. If anyone is at the core of spelling his water, it’s her. What was she doing in the swamps anyway?” Alice stood up and paced.
“I suspect you are right, but I need her to trust me, so I can help you, so you can help me.” He waved both hands outward. “Trust me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t. I can’t go back there and I can’t stay here. I need to help my aunt and leave.”
He shushed her and unlocked the door. “Cling to her.”
Alice felt Gretchen approaching.
Chester threw the chair against the wall, smashing it, and spoke in a raised voice. “You know something, you dirty half-elf.”
Alice shrunk back as he hovered over her. “What…”
Gretchen slammed the door open. “What is this? What happened?”
“She knows something. No way did they just let her go. Dirty little half-elf is probably a plant.” He op
ened his hand to strike her.
Gretchen grabbed his arm. “Not yet.”
“Yet?” Alice looked from one to the other, noticing Gretchen looked disheveled, like she’d been exerting herself. “I was taken. You, crazy people, sent me.”
Chester flashed her a look. “Leave me with her tonight. I’ll miss a moon. While everyone is distracted, I can thoroughly question her.” His eyes rolled toward Gretchen, telling Alice again to go to her.
“No, don’t leave me with that animal.” Alice stepped behind Gretchen. The tremble in her voice was real. Anxiety washed over her at the thought of not knowing which of these witches would be worse to be alone with.
“There, there, child. He won’t hurt you, if you answer his questions.” Gretchen didn’t look at her. “Do what you need, but leave her alive.”
Alice felt the air suck from the room. Decker was looking like her best option. “Wait.”
Chester narrowed his eyes. “A word?” he asked directed at Gretchen.
Alice stood stunned as they walked out. The door lock clicked into place. It wasn’t the kind of lock that should have worked from the outside. A jolt of pain raced up her arm when her fingers touched the handle. “What have you done?”
She let out a growl. They treated her the same as Decker. Locked her away behind a magic spell, because they didn’t trust her. Why had her mother sent her to them? Why had her mother left to begin with?
Gretchen and Chester’s voice grew fainter. Alice paced a lap and stopped, staring at the door. It was witch magic. She had magic. Opening doors was something she could do. She rubbed her fingers together and concentrated. When a basic unlocking intention didn’t work, she edged closer.
There were swirling words. They were fast, like at the water. Gretchen. Alice was convinced she was the one who spelled the water, and her fear grew with her certainty.
Relaxation wasn’t going to happen, but she tried to still her mind enough to pull out the words holding her in. When that failed, she remembered that intentions helped her do something against Decker’s magic at the cave.
She sat on the carpet in the middle of the floor, and stared at the doorknob. With her mind’s eye, she envisioned the knob turn. It jiggled.
When the door flew open, it wasn’t due to Alice’s casting.
Gretchen took two long steps, and smacked her. “Behave yourself. Your aunt is ill and can’t help you.”
Chester followed seconds later. Alarm flashed across his face for a moment. “I’ll teach her. She’ll be placid when you return.”
“Do that. I want to know everything.” Gretchen spun. “Chester will rip it from you if he has to.” A darkness danced behind her eyes that remained locked on Alice while she asked Chester, “do you need help taking her to the interrogation room?”
Alice gasped and scooted back.
“No. You lead the ritual. I’ve got this.” He strode over, and yanked Alice up by her shoulder. “Don’t fight me, elf.”
“Watch her close. We don’t know what she’s capable of. Or how she got away. For all we know that elf is lurking.” Gretchen hesitated. “They are waiting.”
When Gretchen left, Chester put a finger to his lips. “Yell and scream as I drag you away.”
It wasn’t a hard request. She also kicked, as well as tossed magic.
Chester was stronger, both magically and physically. He dragged her to the door that led downstairs, and held her tight, while he yanked it opened.
“Stop! Help me. Davina.” Alice let her knees go out from under her and fell to the ground.
Chester watched her a second, and turned around.
Alice felt his magic reach out and caress her.
“I said yell and scream. You hurt me.” He looked stunned, and offered her a hand to her feet. “Hurry. Time is short.”
Alice flicked her gaze from his hand to his face. “Are you nuts? You hit me. You are working with them. I knew it. PPK, what the hell was that all about?”
She backed against the wall, and stood.
He stepped closer. “Please, don’t waste time. We have to search every room, find the offending witch, get their grimoire, make it look like you kicked my butt, and get you out of here. We have to do all of that before Gretchen finishes the full moon rites.”
Alice froze. Again, she noted that he sent less alarm signals than any of the witches or elves.
Instincts.
She hated him, and his personality, but that didn’t make him evil. “What are we doing first?”
Chapter Eight
“WE SHOULD SEPARATE and search each room. Time is not on our side.” Chester hurried down the hall. “You can unlock doors, can’t you?”
Alice slipped up behind him. “Yes, but what am I looking for?”
He stopped at the first room. The sound of the lock clicking was loud in the empty house. With a finger, he pushed the door opened. “Come here. I’ll show you, once.”
She bristled at the return of his snarky tone. “Fine.”
Alice let her gaze drift around the room, fighting off the feeling that she was invading someone’s sanctuary. The room wasn’t like hers, there or at home. It held a darker sensation in the air, as if the thoughts of the occupant over time became one with the environment.
Instead of a cushiony comforter, the bed was made with a blanket that appeared to have been knitted with straw. One flat pillow, without a slipcover, rested on top. Alice frowned without realizing it, as she thought about trying to sleep there.
Chester broke her thoughts when he muttered something. He stood with his eyes closed in the middle of the room.
His abrasive magic pressed against her. Searching?
She continued to survey the room.
The furniture was wood, plain, with papers and jars of various things scattered on the surfaces. The only color came from the altar in the corner. Alice guessed the feathers, and stones were left from a pre-moon personal casting. She didn’t step closer, not wanting to find the owner of the feathers, dead in the cast iron bowl that took up most of the space.
Chester walked across the room, toward the altar. After standing still a moment, he turned to Alice. “Okay, I’ve found it. You reach out for the magic in the room.”
Alice walked passed him, and let her mind drift over the vibrations of the room. It was something she recently started doing. Most of her life she had been an introvert, and letting her energy flow out didn’t come naturally. While she was getting better and had felt her aunt outside the cave, there were still times witches walked up and startled her, if she were distracted with other things.
Once she had a good idea what the energy in the room felt like, she let her aura blend with it, looking for anything that was more intense than the ambient vibrations.
A soft tug came from the nightstand. When she opened the drawer, she found a small bowl with ash. “This spell wasn’t nice.”
He laughed and cocked up the side of his lip. “Most aren’t. Try harder. This is going to take all night.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Are you really a peacekeeper? You have a seriously abrasive personality. You don’t exactly inspire kindness.” Alice knelt on the rug, and peered under the bed. “Is it what I am feeling under here? There is a darkness. It’s cold and prickly.”
“Yeah, grab it.” Chester watched as she shimmied under the bed. “Not bad considering I sent you cues to misguide you toward the altar.”
“Seriously? You are testing me? Now?” Alice grabbed a leather-bound book, and wiggled her way out. “This feels like a raid. Aren’t these all family heirlooms?”
“Yes, they are. You are a water witch, right? Just flip to the back and look for a water spell. If someone worked a spell that affected his water, it will be inscribed. We aren’t plundering their whole history.” He waved, gesturing her to hurry.
Alice untied the ribbon closure, and scanned the spells in the back. “No, I guess not. These are so dark. He was right, witches are vile.” She closed th
e book, and crawled under the bed. When she scooted out, she wiped the dust from her hands onto her pants.
“I’m a witch, thank you very much. So are you. Half a witch anyway.” His mouth pulled back in a sneer. “Why don’t I go ahead and find all the books? You can search the spells. We have to speed things up.”
“Are all the creatures in the PPK from the darker side of the supernatural spectrum?” She took the hand he offered to help her stand.
He walked out, talking loudly as he did. “Dark and light are in the eye of the beholder. Would you consider a human a creature of light?”
She hurried behind him and waited as he locked the door. “No, non-magical humans are awful. Mom said they would destroy us, if they knew what we were.” She watched as he walked in the next room and found the book in seconds.
He handed it to her. “Fine, say a lyra then. Sweet little critters. Their songs grow things and relax most creatures.”
Alice flipped the pages, scanning the last few spells. It was hard to ignore that anything with a recipe, required parts of living things. Bloody bits as Decker called them. “So I’ve heard. I haven’t had much interaction with anything.”
“Did you realize that the sound of their voice is so disturbing to a merinth that it can make them violently ill, and almost always kills them? Not so light after all.” He shrugged, watching her as she read. “All I’m saying is especially with what I do, you learn to keep judgments to a minimum.”
“So how do you solve disputes if you don’t take sides?” She handed him the book. “Not this one.”
Chester put the book where he found it, and arranged things as they were before he’d pulled out the book. “Most times I don’t have to take a side. I stop the parties from killing each other or doing whatever it is that will affect the reality of others, and then I move on.”
They stopped at the next room, which was unlocked.
Inside, Alice closed her eyes and frowned. They all looked the same, but even more disturbing, they all felt the same. The feeling she didn’t belong there hung heavy on her heart. She’d been trying to ignore it from the day she arrived, hoping she could connect with her aunt. No matter what happened with her and the witches, her mother would always be gone. Alone might be something she needed to adjust to. Light elves probably wouldn’t accept her either.
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