by Abigail Owen
Lila heard his words, but her anxiety consumed her entirely. She couldn't begin to try to shift back to human.
Ramsey could see her distress. "Look at me. Look in my eyes. I'm here."
Lila drew on Ramsey’s steadiness. She focused on his face and willed herself to be rational and in control.
"Good," he said. "Now use that emotional control on yourself, like when you help me calm down when I’m on the verge of losing it."
Lila took a deep breath and focused, projecting an aura of calm and peace. She let the feelings wash over her own body.
"Better," she heard Ramsey say. "Now, I'm not sure how this works. But I imagine that if you picture yourself in human form, that'll—”
Suddenly Lila was sitting there, back to her old self.
"Thank heaven," Ramsey breathed.
He yanked her into his arms in a great bearhug. "You scared the crap out of me."
"Out of you? I don't think I'll access any of my powers for days after that." Lila let out a nervous laugh. She pulled out of his embrace and sat back on the couch.
"Well, you'll definitely have to talk to Ellie and Griffin about how that works," he said.
"You ain't just whistlin’ Dixie," Lila said. "You'd better believe after this is over, Ellie and I are going to have a long talk."
"How many gifts is that now exactly?" Ramsey asked.
"Too many," Lila grumbled.
Something in her voice caught Ramsey's attention. "What do you mean by that?"
Lila shook her head. "I can feel the growing power within me. It's as if all these different abilities are battling for space and dominance. I'm being stretched to hold them all."
Ramsey sat back, thinking. "I remember Selene once told me that twins happen to our race of people when too many powers would be passed on from both parents to one child. It’s why she and Gideon were twins, and why Ellie and Griffin are twins.”
“That’s concerning,” Lila said. “Ellie and Griffin both have, what, two each, I guess?”
“Plus they access each other’s powers. They must have a little of those inside them, or Ellie wouldn’t have been able to pass on the telepathy to Adelaide. Right?”
Lila nodded her agreement. “And Selene has…”
“Three,” Ramsey ticked off Selene’s abilities on his right hand. “Stopping powers, including blocking trackers from seeing Svatura or hiding her thoughts from telepaths, visiting people in their dreams, and enhancing other’s powers… No! Four. You have to count the wolf metamorph too.”
“I thought the stopping powers and hiding people were separate?”
Ramsey shook his head. “Ellie worked with Selene on some of it while you were gone and determined that those both come from the same basic power.”
“Okay. So, I can see if people are telling the truth, heal or control emotions, and now I can control dreams and morph into a falcon. That’s four.” She looked at Ramsey, fear in her eyes. “What happens if I get one more?”
“All the better for me, then,” a voice spoke from the back corner of the room.
Lila gasped as Maddox stepped out of the shadows.
Chapter 30
Ramsey jumped up to put himself between Lila and Maddox. His hands erupted in flames, but he didn’t release them.
Maddox wagged a finger. "Impressive. But that fire won't hurt me." He turned his attention to Lila, who rose slowly from the couch. She squared her shoulders and faced him.
"What do you want, Maddox?"
"You, my dear,” he replied with a chilling smile. Lila shuddered, and Maddox glanced over his shoulder. "Ready when you are, Corin.”
Lila knew what was coming next. Corin was probably Maddox’s teleporter. Ellie's warning to not let Maddox’s teleporter touch her in any way rang in her mind. Instinct kicked in, and she spun and stepped away just as a woman appeared at her side. Catching her foot on the coffee table, Lila fell backwards, her arms flailing wildly, and landed on the couch.
The woman suddenly froze in place, her arms outstretched, still reaching for where Lila had just been standing. Lila blinked, and then saw that Maddox was also still as a statue.
Alex, who’d used his power to freeze anything, sounded as though his voice was coming from a tunnel. "Ellie, Selene, do what you've got to do quickly. I don't think I can contain either of them long. Both of them are putting off more energy than I’ve ever felt… even more than Ellie in her dragon form."
Griffin suddenly dropped the invisibility shield he'd been holding up. He, Selene, Alex, and Ellie had been sitting in the corner of the room the entire time, rendered invisible by Griffin’s power. They'd taken several precautions such as this to make sure Maddox wouldn’t realize he was walking into a trap. Lila had suspected that if Talia had some kind of power over Nate, Maddox or one of his followers would show up in the cottage shortly after Adelaide told Nate where Lila and Ramsey were hiding.
Ramsey helped Lila to her feet, careful to keep her out of reach of Corin’s outstretched hand. Ellie hurried across the room to Maddox. She’d barely touched him, about to take over his powers, when Alex said in a strained voice, "I can't hold them. Selene, can you turn off the telep—"
Suddenly Corin disappeared, only to reappear a few seconds later, right beside Lila. She reached out to grab her, but Griffin slammed his shield up around Lila, preventing the teleporter from seizing her.
"Freeze her, Alex!" Griffin shouted.
"I can't. I'm barely holding on to him," Alex gritted through clenched teeth.
The teleporter disappeared again, only to reappear beside Ellie. Corin grabbed Ellie's arm. And that was her big mistake. Ellie controlled the power of anyone she was touching. They vanished, only to immediately reappear again. Corin appeared slightly dazed.
Ellie flashed her attacker a wicked grin. "Now, now. Let's play nice."
"Selene,” Alex said, “you've got to turn off Maddox."
"I've been trying. But I can't see what power he's using," Selene answered.
And then chaos erupted. Maddox broke Alex's hold on him. He knocked Ellie away from Corin, and the two of them blinked out of sight before anyone could stop them.
They made one more grab for Lila. Some sixth sense – perhaps a remnant of her mother's abilities – warned her only a second before they appeared by her.
"Ramsey, fire on me now!" she yelled.
Ramsey didn't even hesitate, blasting an inferno right at where Lila was standing. Only she wasn't standing there anymore, because she’d dropped to the ground as a wall of flames exploded around Maddox and Corin.
And then they were gone, but not before the sound of Corin’s ghastly screams filled the room.
Nobody moved. Nobody even breathed. Every single person in the room remained where they were, their senses on high alert, waiting for another attack. After a good ten minutes had passed, they finally started to relax.
Ramsey looked at Selene. "Couldn't you stop them?" He reached down to help Lila up off the floor again.
"I was trying to," she said in a shaken voice. "That teleporter was too fast for me to get a lock on her power. And after that first moment, I had all my concentration on Maddox."
Alex crossed to Ellie’s side. "You okay?" he asked his wife softly. He was probably the only one who noticed her slight hesitation before she nodded.
"Did you catch anything, Ellie?" Lila asked.
Ellie grimaced. "Not enough. The dream control that we know about already. Maybe something more, but I didn't get enough time to find out what."
"Well, he definitely has something else. Something strong," Alex said.
"What about you, Griffin?" Ramsey asked. “Hear anything?”
"The only thing I caught was that he really wants Lila. Badly. It's why he bothered to come himself," Griffin said.
Lila shivered, remembering that cold smile Maddox had given her. "Could you see what for?"
"It has something to do with your ability to control emotions. He needs you to calm somethi
ng down. At least I think so. His mind is a jumble of thoughts, kind of like when the Vyusher are in wolf form."
"Well, one thing is for certain," Alex said, a grim look on his face. "Nate can't be trusted."
Lila felt the burn of unshed tears in her eyes. Nate had been a close friend for so many years. And what was she going to tell Adelaide? This would shatter her sister's heart. "What do we do about it?"
"It has to be Talia. She's got to be controlling him somehow," Ellie said. "We need to separate them."
"Or… we use them," Lila said, a determined glint in her eyes.
Five pairs of confused ones stared back at her. "How?" Ramsey asked.
"Maddox probably suspects that we know about Nate and that we are smart enough to figure out that Talia is most likely involved. He'll come get them if he can," she explained. “What if we plan for that?”
"He hasn't come for Zara yet," Selene pointed out.
Lila tipped her head. "My guess is she's no longer useful to him. But if Talia has that much control over Nate that she can make him betray us, then she’s still a valuable asset to Maddox."
"The Council is going to have a fit about this," Selene muttered.
Griffin crossed to her side and wrapped an arm around her waist. "It definitely won't help the Vyusher to trust the rest of us."
"Also, we need to get Lila out of here and somewhere else," Ramsey said.
"We know the castle isn't safe," Griffin said. "Three more Vyusher have gone missing over the last few weeks."
"We are preparing to call a conference for as many of the Svatura tribes throughout the world we can convince to come talk to us,” Selene added. “If my guess is right, other clans are probably missing a few members too, but may not have linked it to Maddox yet. That might help persuade them."
"I should be there for that," Lila said.
Ramsey turned to her. "It won't be safe,” he said in a hushed voice “for you in particular."
Lila's heart warmed at his obvious concern. "I know that. But if I can help keep discussions calm, it might be worth it." She turned back to the rest of the group and ignored their raised eyebrows. "Okay. Ramsey and I hide until the conference with the tribes. You guys work on the Nate situation. Let me know when to show up. Did I miss anything?"
"You and I might want to discuss the whole falcon thing at some point," Ellie added.
Of course, Ellie had seen Lila’s uncontrolled shift while she was hiding under Griffin’s shield. Lila grimaced inwardly. She’d known they were there. It was why she hadn’t wanted to talk through their issues right then. Ramsey had known too, for that matter, but he’d pushed, and she’d laid into him, thinking it would shut him up. Which meant they’d heard everything. The altercation with Maddox had put all of that clean out of Lila’s head.
“We couldn’t hear you,” Griffin’s voice sounded in her mind.
She threw him a surprised look. “Why not?”
“I caught both of your thoughts early on and made the shield soundproof to give you a little privacy.”
“Remind me to give you a huge hug later.”
Griffin just gave her a subtle little smile.
To Ellie, Lila said, "Oh, yeah. Tips about falcon-morphing would be good too.”
“First things first,” Ellie said. “We need to figure out where to hide you next."
Chapter 31
Alex waited patiently in their bedroom for Ellie to return. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with her, and it had been bugging him since the fight with Maddox and Corin. Something about the way she’d hesitated when he'd asked if she was all right. She hadn’t said anything since then or made any other indication the rest of the day. But he knew his wife, possibly better than she knew herself. And something was wrong.
And right now she was doing something that Alex didn’t envy at all.
After the fight they’d situated Lila and Ramsey in a new place. Then they'd returned to the castle.
“I’ll need Ellie and Griffin to help me inform the High Council,” Selene had said. Alex had gone along to share his view as well.
They’d spent most of the rest of the day sequestered with the Council, discussing the issues and their plans to deal with them. Alex thought it was nothing short of a miracle that Selene had been able to convince the Council to go along with her ideas. Selene was determined to organize the Tribal Conference to meet at the earliest possible moment.
“We agree that if Maddox has taken any of the other clans’ members, they’ll be more open to uniting against him than they have been,” Xavier said. For once, he offered support for the plan. The Council had finally approved. Oren was busy contacting the various clans through his astral projection ability at this very moment.
But the Tribal Conference had only been one part of Selene’s plan. The other part involved leaving Nate and Talia alone. In order to use them, they couldn’t lock them up or kick them out. And they had to be especially careful about tipping them off that something was up.
After the meeting with the Council finally wrapped up, they’d had one final task to complete before they could stop for a moment and catch their breaths… telling the rest of their family about what had happened, and what it meant for Nate. They’d started with the parents.
Charlotte had already filled in Dexter, since she’d had to teleport everyone back and forth from the cottage. They both still came to Hugh and Lucy’s room to hear the details. Both of them were on the quiet side, and Charlotte’s eyes were red-rimmed. Nate was like a son to them.
Telling Hugh and Lucy hadn’t gone well.
Lucy had cried both for Adelaide and Nate, who was just as precious in their family. Hugh had reacted with an almost cold fury at Talia, whom they all blamed. Despair hung heavy in the air as they’d discussed how to tell Adelaide. Lila had wanted to be the one to tell her, but given the danger she was in, she agreed that Ellie was the next best person. Lucy and Hugh had decided to join her, to be there to support their daughter.
Alex didn't envy Ellie’s task of delivering the bad news to Adelaide tonight. He felt sick about it. Out of all of them, Adelaide was the purest, sweetest person he’d ever known and Nate one of the happiest. For a te’sorthene to turn against his bonded other half was unheard of. Despite the incredible array of powers among them, they all felt completely powerless to deal with this. How could they fix it?
So Alex was waiting – still patiently, but also anxiously – for his wife to join him. Finally, the creak of the door alerted him to her presence.
"Thanks for staying up, babe,” Ellie said as she closed the door behind her. She sounded exhausted.
"How’s Adelaide?"
Ellie flopped down on the bed beside him and flung her arm over her bloodshot eyes. "Not good. Just imagine how you would feel if I suddenly changed everything about who I was, and then betrayed you."
"I know. I've been thinking about that. I don't think that I could survive that. And Adelaide is such a sensitive little soul."
Alex reached out and pulled Ellie close. He felt the shudder of a sob move through her body. "I never want to see somebody I care about that heartbroken ever again. I don't even know how I'm going to face her in the morning."
“Maybe we should get Lila. She could help heal Adelaide’s emotions, maybe relieve the pain a little,” Alex said.
“Uh-uh,” Ellie said. “I suggested that, but Adelaide wouldn’t even hear it. She refuses to put Lila’s life at risk.”
Alex was silent for a moment. "Someone should be with her."
Ellie nodded. "Lucy is going to stay in Adelaide's room tonight.” She was silent a moment, reliving the last hour or so. “I thought I was going to have to call you to come keep Hugh from going and taking Nate’s head off. Or Talia’s.”
"I can imagine," Alex murmured. "But they understand, right? About the plan with Nate and Talia?"
Ellie gave a big sigh. "Yeah. They get it… I think I'll stay with Adelaide tomorrow night.”
<
br /> “Good idea. And the only reason I would allow you out of my bed." Alex snuggled closer to Ellie and softly kissed her temple.
Ellie tilted her head and gave him a halfhearted smile.
Looking into her beautiful violet-blue eyes and feeling the warmth of her body pressed up against him, Alex was suddenly incredibly grateful to have his te’sorthene at his side.
"I don't know what I would ever do if I lost you,” he murmured and caressed her cheek. “I'm pretty sure that I would go mad. I know I tell you every single day… but I love you. With every part of me."
Ellie rolled over to face him and placed her hand on his heart. "I know we haven't been together long, but you are my entire universe. Without you everything would turn to nothingness. I love you too." She gave him a kiss that expressed her passion and need better than words ever could. They held each other close, each lost in their own thoughts.
Finally, Alex cleared his throat. "You probably don't want to think about this right now, but I know that something was bothering you after Maddox's attack. Want to talk about it?"
Ellie propped her head up with her hand. "I caught a flash of something in Maddox. It was familiar. It was… I don't know… big. I mean massive big. I can't put my finger on it, but I've felt it before."
"Maybe when you were living with your own family?" he asked. Ellie’s birth family dated back to some of the oldest known Svatura in history. She and Griffin had been part of a massive tribe, all of whom had been massacred by the Vyusher when they’d been under Gideon’s rule. That was before Ellie killed Gideon.
She frowned. "Maybe."
"Not since you’ve known the Vyusher though, right?”
"No. I'm pretty sure not since then."
Alex rubbed his chin on top of Ellie's head. "So it had to be when your family was still alive. You didn't meet that many other Svatura between the time they were killed and when you met us, right?" After their family was destroyed, Ellie and Griffin had gone into hiding together.
"I know. That does make the most sense. It is so frustrating. I feel like if I concentrate long enough, it'll come to me. This must be what amnesia feels like."
