Silver

by Talia Vance

  “Bloody hell.” Austin backs up a step.

  I’m unable to do anything but stare. Jonah stands before us, bathed in the light of a thousand stars. He wears only a tartan cloth draped around his waist, with a long swath of cloth across one shoulder, accentuating his bare chest. Silver light dances in his eyes. He’s a living oxymoron, simultaneously beautiful and scary as hell.

  Austin moves in front of me.

  Jonah laughs, a melodic sound that rides the wind blowing around us. “You shouldn’t get involved, Montgomery.”

  A glint of silver draws my eye to Jonah’s right hand. He raises his hand, revealing a hideous serrated knife. The handle is covered in jewels, making it look more like a ceremonial relic than a weapon of war. He wields the jagged blade with smooth strokes.

  As he steps closer to Austin, Jonah’s eyes get bright with a cold, harsh light. He lunges, a movement that’s barely perceptible. The knife slashes at Austin’s chest.

  Austin laughs as he steps back, nearly crashing into me.

  Then Jonah disappears. Vanishes, throwing us into darkness. I blink, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Before I can acclimate, there’s a flash to my right. Jonah appears directly behind Austin, the knife poised to slice his neck.

  “No!” I finally scream, a true scream, high and loud.

  Austin swings his arm, knocking Jonah off balance. He twists away and grabs Jonah’s wrist.

  Jonah recovers quickly, turning the knife to graze Austin’s shoulder with the sharp edge. Austin lets go with a curse. Blood spreads across his ripped shirt sleeve.

  Jonah steps closer, grinning. He raises the knife to strike again.

  “Get back!” I yell. A swirl of wind grows around me as I move forward. “Back!” A rush of air flies away from me, straight at Jonah. It picks Jonah up, sending him flying into the fountain. His right leg hits the base hard, pitching him forward. He lands in a heap on the ground, his silver eyes closed.

  Austin falls to the ground, grabbing his shoulder.

  I kneel beside him. “Are you okay?” The question of the night.

  Austin grins at me. “About bloody time.” He sits up, still holding his arm. His shirt is torn. Blood spreads along the fabric.

  I take off my jacket and press it against Austin’s shoulder.

  A bright flash of light forces our attention back to the fountain. Jonah is on his feet. He limps toward us, his right leg barely touching the ground.

  “We need to get out of here.” I tug at Austin’s arm.

  Austin curses and falls back down on the grass. I wrap my arms around his chest, trying to help him up.

  Jonah fixes his silver eyes on me.

  “Stay back!” I try yelling again. Nothing happens. I try to remember what I did before. I put my arms out. “Back!”

  Jonah curls his lips in a smile. Then he disappears again. I spin around in the dark.

  “Get out of here, Brianna.” Austin sits up, still holding his arm. “I’ll be fine.”

  I reach for the knife, still lying in the grass next to Austin. The jeweled handle is hard to grasp, and the blade is heavy. It takes both my hands to lift it. Silver light flashes to my right, and then Jonah is next to me.

  He grabs my arm with such force that I’m pulled off my feet. I fall toward him, turning away from the teeth of the blade in my hands.

  The wind whips harder around us, and for a second I wonder if I’m doing something. There’s another burst of silver light and I’m pushed away from Jonah, the knife falling to the ground between us. I land in the grass beside it.

  “Stay out of this.” Jonah’s honey-laced voice has a sharper edge to it.

  I turn to see Jonah fly back against the house.

  When I finally look over to where the silver light appeared, it’s almost too late. I only catch a glimpse of him, bathed in the same otherworldly light as Jonah, his blond hair glowing white.

  “Blake?”

  Then he’s gone, leaving no trace he was ever here. I see Jonah’s glowing body slumped in a flowerbed next to the house; then Jonah disappears too.

  Before I can say anything, Jonah appears again in the same spot, surrounded by perennials. Not the bright, beautiful version of Jonah, just the plain old petulant jerk, in dress pants and shirt, his hand pressed to a bloody wound on his leg.

  Austin sits up on his elbow and tosses me a cell phone. “I suppose you’ll want to call an ambulance.”

  TWENTY

  Wild dogs. That’s what we tell the paramedics. A couple of wild dogs jumped the fence and attacked Austin and Jonah. The jagged cuts look enough like bites that the story seems to hold up. The ambulance takes both of them to the hospital. Austin still has my jacket, leaving me in a white tee splattered with his blood. I nurse a glass of orange juice in Joe’s kitchen. As if the natural sugars can stave off shock. No hope of that.

  Christy watches me from across from the table, worried.

  Haley sits next to me, her eyes holding nothing but accusations. “So are you going to tell us or not?”

  Is it that obvious that the dog thing is a lie? I hold the glass tighter, swirling the orange liquid. “I told you what happened.” The familiar dull ache in my stomach has returned with a vengeance.

  “Dog attack, whatever.” Haley leans forward. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

  I have no idea what her problem is.

  “I can’t believe that I fell for it when you said you didn’t know it was Austin, that night you disappeared with him.” Haley’s tone is cold.

  Are we really going to get into that? Now?

  “And then you were going out with Blake, and I was glad you finally had a boyfriend.” The emphasis Haley puts on the word “finally” is not flattering. “Just because Blake dumped you or whatever, it’s no excuse for what you did tonight.” The knives flying from her eyes are even sharper than her words.

  I hold my glass up like a shield. “He didn’t dump me. We were never together.” Unless you count that whole soul-bonding thing. I’m not sure how to begin explaining that one. Okay, so Blake dumped me.

  Haley’s blank stare tells me that my relationship with Blake or lack thereof is of little concern to her. “So it didn’t work out. You don’t have to be a skank about it.” She pats Christy’s arm. “And you had to involve Jonah too?”

  Christy’s lower lip trembles. “I thought you were my friend.”

  “I am.”

  “Right. That’s why you went off with both Jonah and Austin? Because you’re such a great friend.”

  Leave it to Haley to assume that the only possible reason I could have been alone with two guys is to broaden my sexual horizons. They can’t seriously think that I went off with Jonah and Austin for some kind of weird orgy. And anyways, Jonah ? Totally gross.

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  Haley’s eyes narrow. For the first time, I can see the resemblance between her and her mother, and it scares the crap out of me. “You think I haven’t seen the way you look at Austin?”

  Christy’s hand is over her mouth. Her eyes are huge and wet.

  The glass shakes in my hand. “I … ” I want to deny it. I shouldn’t have to deny it. But I can’t exactly deny it, either.

  Haley stands and turns to Christy. “Come on. Brie can’t even come up with a decent story this time.”

  They walk out of the room, leaving me with my half glass of orange juice. Not that I will drink anymore. It might be the only friend I have left.

  “You shouldn’t frown like that.” Sherri Milliken saunters into the room like a fashion model. “It’ll give you wrinkles.”

  “Hey.” I know I should comment on how great she looks, but I’m not really in the mood to chat at the moment.

  Sherri sits down in one of the wood chairs, leani
ng back until the front legs are off the ground and the back hits the wall behind her. She puts both her legs up on the table, crossing her ankles. “You never called me.”

  “I texted you tonight.” Not that joining the Mathletes is at the top of my priority list right now. “I’ve been busy.”

  Sherri laughs with the kind of confidence of someone who is gorgeous and knows it. It sounds strange on her. “That’s a bit of an understatement, don’t you think?” The shakiness in her voice is completely MIA.

  “What do you mean?” Has the speculation about me and Jonah and Austin already made it through the entire party?

  Sherri lets her chair fall back to the floor, leaning in until her face is just a few inches from mine. “From what I can tell, you’ve already started to access your power even though your birthday isn’t for another week. And you’ve managed to engage a Son of Killian and survive.” Her full lips curve into a gorgeous smile.

  “What?” I whisper.

  “Oh, get over it already. Is this awesome or what?”

  “But,” I stammer, my entire vocabulary apparently now that of a two-year-old.

  Sherri reaches into the front pocket of her shirt, pulling out my bracelet and dangling it in front of me. “Lose something? It’s much better than mine. It doesn’t alter your appearance at all, it just makes it irrelevant. I was always so jealous.”

  “Yours?”

  “My talisman. I hated the way it made me look. Like a total geek. It did its job, but you have to admit, the last four years sucked for me.”

  I reach over and take the bracelet from her. Once it’s back around my wrist, I rub the flower charm between my thumb and finger. “You’re?” I’m still struggling for words. “Like me?”

  “We can’t talk here.” Sherri stands up. “Follow me.” Sherri leads me outside to a gray hatchback.

  I’ve always felt guilty about abandoning Sherri the way I did. She never seemed to hold a grudge about it, but somehow that made it worse. Then Haley took me under her wing and that was it. No pheromones required.

  We get into the car. “Where are we going?” I ask as we head south on the freeway.

  “It’s time for you to meet Sasha.”

  “Who?”

  Sherri just smiles and turns up the radio.

  We get off the freeway in Mira Mesa and pull into the empty parking lot of a nondescript office building. There are no locks on the main door. Inside, a large atrium with planters and sparsely lit floors opens to two hallways on either side of an elevator. Sherri leads me to a plain brown door with a sign that only says Suite 111. She punches a series of numbers into a keypad on the door. When a light on the panel goes green, the door clicks open. She flips a light switch, revealing a dark walnut receptionist desk in a bland office.

  I pick up a People magazine from about six months ago. The address label has been blacked out with marker. The office is devoid of anything that would indicate who works here or what type of business it is. There are no signs, no framed diplomas, no personal photographs.

  We move to a conference room in the back. It’s just as sterile, with an oval wooden table, eight leather chairs, and a plant in the corner. Sherri walks to a small mini-fridge and pulls out two Diet Cokes.

  A beep sounds from the front room, and within seconds a young woman bursts through the door. Her white-blond hair flows past her shoulders and sets off her luminous blue eyes perfectly. She’s not thin, but voluptuous in a way that says pure sex. No one, not even Parker Winslow, would call this woman fat.

  She frowns at us as she closes the door, her lips forming a seductive pout. “So this is her?”

  “Brianna, meet Sasha Westley.”

  I hold out my hand to shake, but Sasha grabs my left hand instead, turning over my palm to stare at my bracelet. I pull my hand away.

  “There’s nothing to worry about.” Sherri pops open her can of soda. “Sasha’s on our side.”

  Our side of what?

  TWENTY-ONE

  “Show me,” Sasha says, still eyeing my bracelet.

  I set the bracelet down on the table and fold my hands in my lap.

  Sasha takes a seat across from me and grabs the bracelet. “Amazing!” She holds it in her hands and closes her eyes, then lets out a squeal. “Ohmigod!” She sounds like a sorority girl.

  “What?” Sherri stares at her.

  “It’s hers,” Sasha says.

  Sherri’s mouth falls open.

  “I know it’s mine.” I reach over to take the bracelet back, but Sasha leans away from the table, keeping it out of my reach. “Give it back,” I say.

  She ignores me, staring at the charm, turning it over in her hands. “It’s not possible. Gwyn’s line is supposed to be dead.”

  “Give it back!” At my words, the silver chain flies from her hand and sails across the table, landing in front of me. I close my hand around it and pull it against me.

  Sherri laughs out loud. “I told you.”

  “How old are you?” Sasha asks.

  “Sixteen,” I answer automatically, although I’m not sure I owe this woman anything.

  “Impossible,” Sasha says to Sherri.

  “She does have the charm.”

  “What about it?” I tighten my grip.

  “That charm,” Sasha says, “was made by Danu herself. For her oldest daughter Gwyn.”

  “You’re a Seventh Daughter,” I say to Sasha.

  “Your family told you, then.”

  “Sort of. And a boy.”

  Sasha inhales. “A boy?”

  Something keeps me from saying Blake’s name. His secret isn’t mine to share. “He just told me the story about Danu. It wasn’t hard to figure out the rest, given the weird stuff that’s happened to me.”

  “Who is this boy?”

  “Just someone I talked to at a party.” Not a complete lie. “I told him about the weird stuff, and he told me he knew a fairy tale about women with powers.” Less true.

  Sasha’s expression doesn’t change. I have no idea if she believes me or not. “What was his name?”

  I take a breath. “I was pretty wasted.” A total lie.

  A shadow passes across Sasha’s face. She tries to cover it with a brilliant smile, and I’m reminded of Blake. The smile is a mask. “I’m sure you’ll remember it in time. Perhaps when your powers are more fully in your control. For now, it’s important that you understand that the ‘fairy tale’ you heard is a lie. The true story of Danu is known only by her ancestors.” She leans back in her chair. “Danu was a goddess, but she was born on Earth, the descendant of a human mother who had enchanted a god.”

  Sounds like the same story to me, but I keep my mouth firmly shut.

  “When the Milesians banished the gods to the underworld, the demigods were the only hope to bring the gods back to their rightful place on earth.”

  “The Milesians?” The men who would burn me as a witch.

  “Mortals who came to Ireland speaking of one true God. The gods had ruled Ireland and its human inhabitants for centuries, but the Milesians fought against them. After our gods killed their leader, they retaliated, tricking the gods into sharing Ireland equally. The Milesians divided the earth between the underworld and the corporal world, taking the top half for themselves. Effectively banishing the gods from the earth.”

  “Where does Danu fit in?”

  “The gods left a legacy. Demigods, like Danu, who might someday conquer the mortals and set the gods free. But there was no tolerance of magic in the human world, and the Milesians hunted down the demigods, killing them when they were young, before they had the power to strike back.” Sasha leans back in her chair. “Danu let her heart get in the way of her fate. She fell for one of the killers, so much so that she brought him to the spirit realm, inten
ding to bind him to her for eternity. It worked too well. Killian claimed a piece of her soul, and with it something even more precious. Magic.”

  She purses her lips. “Even after Danu made Killian a demigod in his own right, he didn’t love Danu. He confessed his plans to marry another woman, and vowed to do so despite the magic that bound him to Danu.”

  I might know something about Killian’s rejection. I keep my head down and let her keep talking.

  “Danu ached for the loss of the part of herself that Killian carried. His absence left her feeling physically ill.”

  I almost say something. I bite my lip hard instead.

  “Danu returned to the spirit realm, seeking a way to break the bond.”

  I can’t keep quiet now. “Was there a way?”

  Sasha raises her eyebrows at me, not appreciating the interruption to her story. “No. They were tied to each other until death. When Danu returned to earth, it was many years later. She was still a young woman and she still ached for Killian. But it was Brom, Killian’s son, who lived on Killian’s farm then. When Brom smiled at Danu, the pain seemed to disappear.”

  “Because she loved him?”

  Sasha ignores my question. “Brom and Danu fled together, starting their own life in a village far away from Killian and his bride. They had children of their own and lived a peaceful, quiet life for many years.”

  “So there was a happily ever after.” I don’t add that Sasha has left out some important details, like Danu burning Killian’s land and causing a drought over all of Ireland.

  “Hardly. Killian’s rage only grew after Danu ran away with his oldest son. He used the power he stole from Danu to hunt down and kill the remaining demigods in Ireland. All that remained was Danu.”

  So Blake left out some important details too.

  “With the bond, Danu could feel Killian’s rage, and she knew that he would pursue her. She created protective charms to keep Killian from discovering her and her children.” Sasha’s eyes find my bracelet. “In the end, it wasn’t enough. It was Gwyn who found her mother’s body, laid out in a field, her heart cut from her chest.”