“Same here. I’ve been trying to figure out how Rose has been able to find us so easily,” Thaddeus said.
“Oh, that’s not so difficult. I believe the caped woman we’ve been seeing had something to do with that. We must shift our focus to the bigger picture and stop looking at each individual kingdom,” Seline offered.
“I see your point, but we must find the Seven Sworn or the final battle will be lost. We’ve come too far to see it lost now,” Thaddeus argued.
I sat back in my chair, accepting that I would never again have a normal moment in life. It made me miss the criminals in Jacksonville. They were something I had some control over, a way to manage the insanity, at least.
“I’m as lost as you are. My time being a hostage was of little help. If anything, I think it sent my mind in a downward spiral. The things they plan to do...” Seline shuttered at the thought. “If we thought Bianca using children was in poor taste, we’ve seen nothing yet. The woman has ambitions of ruling the world, and she’s not afraid to kill anyone who gets in her way, especially Princess Autumn.”
I shivered at the thought. “I won’t allow that.”
“We know,” Thaddeus said. “Your love for her is quite clear. It’s in your eyes when you look at her.”
I dropped my head into my hands, wondering if Ophelia had seen it as well. Seline patted my arm. “No worries, dear one. We’re just accustomed to seeing what true love looks like. I don’t believe she has any idea how you feel. I must say, I do believe she feels the same way though. You and Jordan were all she was worried about while we were captive. It was Parker this and Parker that. When she wasn't worried for her brother, of course.”
I smiled, feeling a warmth fill my heart.
“S-Seline? Is... is that you?” a shaky voice asked.
Seline stiffened and slowly turned her head. I glanced over my shoulder to find a woman standing in shock, a cup of coffee clutched tightly in her hand. She wore a maid’s uniform from the very hotel we were in. Her clothing was disheveled, and her face worn. Her blonde hair was tied tightly in a bun, but wisps of it escaped and framed her face.
Seline stood. “What are you doing here? And in a maid’s uniform?”
“I... I left your father. I just... I’ve been looking everywhere for you and your brother and sister,” the woman said. Thaddeus and I sat still watching the two interact. The woman was cautious as if Seline would run off at any moment. Seline was stiff as a board.
“Funny, you wanted nothing to do with us years ago. Did he take all the money and leave you with nothing, just as he did us?”
The woman swallowed with difficulty, then said, “I chose to walk away with nothing. I wanted none of his dirty money. I made a mistake, Seline. I should have stood up for my children instead of cowering. All I want is a chance to make it up to you. Please, will you let me try?”
“You work here now?” Seline asked.
The woman glanced down at her wrinkled uniform. “Yes. A friend of mine works in management. This was the first job available in the city.”
“Seline?” Thaddeus asked, growing weary of being in the dark.
Seline glanced at him, then to me. “Gentleman, this is Caroline Manchester, my former mother.”
Chapter Eight
Thaddeus and I thought it was best to allow Seline time to speak with her former adoptive mother alone, so we found our way to the elevator.
“Is it okay to leave her completely alone?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder.
Thaddeus looked back. “Perhaps I will send a message to Henry. Princess Susanna is quite capable, but just in case,” he said, then pulled a phone from his pocket.
We were quiet the entire ride in the elevator, and when it dinged and opened on our floor, we walked down the hallway in silence. It was comfortable silence, like the kind you have with a good friend. We didn’t need to talk. There was an unspoken agreement that we were cool, and there was no reason to fill the silence with awkward conversation.
I’d made it halfway down the hall when my room door flew open, and Ophelia ran out. She looked to her right, then her left. When she saw me, she ran down the hallway with a terrified look on her face. I was sure something had gotten into the room and harmed her or Jordan, but I soon saw her brother walking down the hall after her. He seemed fine, perhaps a little rattled.
“Parker!” Ophelia screamed, then flung herself into my arms. She practically climbed me, her arms tight around my neck.
“What the—what happened?” I asked, taking her in my arms protectively.
Jordan sighed. “She woke up and freaked out when she saw you weren’t in the room. I told her you probably went to eat or something, but...” His voice faded as he watched his sister reduced to a sobbing mess in my arms.
“I was so scared,” she whimpered. It broke me. She was not the strong, confident, independent Ophelia, I knew. In only one day she had been reduced to a terrified woman who couldn’t let us out of her sight. It wasn’t fair, but it was the hand we were dealt. Somehow, I knew she would grow strong again. Somehow.
Thaddeus stood watch beside us, blocking any view of her to passers-by. Jordan gently rubbed her back, and she began to calm. She released my neck and rested her forehead on my chest, taking deep, soothing breaths to regain her composure. She sniffled a few times, so I offered the only thing I had for her to wipe her nose—my sleeve. She rubbed her nose back and forth a few times, then wiped her cheeks with her hands.
She sighed, then said, “I’m such an idiot.”
“You are no such thing, your Highness,” Thaddeus said. “You have been kidnapped, tossed around by necrosing hounds, attacked by vile princesses, informed you are a lost queen and all manner of other hogwash that would send even the most stable of mind into a downward spiral. Do not be hard on yourself.”
She glanced up at me, eyes swimming with tears. I nodded my agreement and kissed her forehead. The instant my lips landed on her skin, I realized what I had done, but it was too late. At that point, all I could do was play it off as a simple gesture of care and affection. She didn’t seem to take it any other way, but Jordan arched an eyebrow. I narrowed my eyes, a warning he heeded.
“Sis, let’s go back to bed. Parker was only—”
A blood-curdling scream shook the quiet of the entire hotel. It was followed by more screaming, then people up and down the hall opened their doors. Sleepy people looked around, wondering what on earth happened. Jemma and the others all flew from their rooms, likely assuming as I did—whatever was going on was somehow our fault.
Thaddeus turned and ran toward the elevators, but Jemma caught him.
“Take the stairs. I don’t trust Rose didn’t do something crazy to the elevators.” Jemma jerked open the door to the stairwell and disappeared.
Jordan went back into the room and grabbed his shoes and Ophelia’s, much more on top of the game than I was. All I could do was stare at the place Jemma and the others disappeared while holding tightly to Ophelia’s hand. The screams grew louder, and people on our hall began to panic. A small boy peeked his head around his father two doors down from us.
“Daddy, what’s going on?” he mumbled through his sleepy haze.
That was all it took for Ophelia’s courage to kick in.
“Go back in and lock your doors! Everyone, hurry!” Some followed her advice, others continued to stare at us like we’d lost our minds. “Unless you want to be eaten alive by rabid dogs, get inside and lock your doors!” she screamed again. Every door closed and I could hear deadbolts sliding into place all around us.
Ophelia pulled me by my hand as Jordan followed us. On the stairs, my mind came back to me. “Seline and her mother are in the restaurant. We need to hurry,” I said, kicking into high gear.
The stairwell was wide open, but when we finally reached the ground floor and flung open the door, it was total pandemonium. People flooded out the front door screaming as they went, while others seemed to run in circles. Things crashed e
verywhere—chairs, crystal vases, even a marble bust of some guy I didn’t know went flying by. I saw a flash of color—pastel pink—and I knew Nikola was somewhere nearby.
“Come on!” I called and tugged on Ophelia who still had not released my hand. Jordan followed her closely, his eyes wide as he took in the chaos. I followed the light until I reached the restaurant where the rest of our group members were fighting hounds.
“Crap,” Jordan said. “What do we do?”
“Do you see Clara anywhere?” I asked. I scanned the crowd, but Jemma’s mother was nowhere to be found. I dodged a screaming hotel patron who was running from a rotting dog. I looked at Ophelia.
“Should I—”
“Yes! Shift! A flying snow leopard and a few wolves are probably a lot less scary than hellhounds!” she screamed.
I glanced at Jordan. “Shift, Jordan, but be careful. I’m not sure if your curse is the same as theirs. You might not be invincible. Do what you can to protect the humans,” I said. Jordan and Ophelia both shifted, then I moved to a larger open space and did the same. Thank goodness for atrium-style lobbies. A few people screamed at us, but they were on to other things in a second—primarily, running from scarier monsters.
Ophelia and Jordan ran toward the restaurant. I lifted from the ground and flew low, which was difficult since objects sailed everywhere. I was nearly hit with a chair but managed to dodge it and move into the dining area of the restaurant. Jemma and Seline had also shifted, and the four wolves fought off the hellhounds valiantly. People began to realize who was good and who was bad and moved toward our side of the room. While they were terrified of the wolves, they seemed to like them a lot more than the hounds trying to eat them.
I caught sight of Seline’s mother crouched behind the bar. She held her arm tightly, but blood oozed between her fingers. She’d been injured, perhaps bitten by one of the hounds? I scanned the rest of the room, searching for our people. Thaddeus and Henry had swords drawn, cutting down creatures as quickly as they could. I wanted to know where they kept swords while walking the streets of New York, but I was glad they were prepared all the same. The cousins Nikola, Alorna, and Petra, used their magic to herd the dogs toward the others, but it was easy to see they were tiring. They probably hadn’t used their magic that much in a long while.
I finally spied Clara in a far corner of the lobby. Her eyes darted around the room. She seemed frozen, unlike the woman who rescued us in the subway. I flew in and landed beside her, gaining her attention.
“I need space. I can’t suck in enough energy to do anything in this small space,” she yelled over the screams. I struggled to understand how the restaurant and lobby of a massive hotel were different from an underground subway station, but I took her at her word and tried to devise a plan. If the wolves could somehow herd the hellhounds away from the humans, I could just scorch them. I’d risk setting fire to the room, but one would assume there was a fire suppression system in place. However, speaking my idea aloud was the problem.
Grr... How do I tell them? I thought, and Jemma snapped her head in my direction. Her wolf eyes narrowed.
Can you hear me, Parker?
I was a bit shocked, but I forced myself to focus on the task.
Yes, I hear you. Round them up, and I’ll fricassee them to death.
She let out a series of yips, then the others began circling the group of hounds in the seating area. It took a few minutes, but most of them were huddled in a corner with no innocent humans nearby. The wolves backed off, and I burst flame from my mouth, still a little surprised I had that fun new talent. The creatures howled in pain, but that soon died down as the scent of burned flesh permeated my senses. The fire system kicked in and sprayed us with heavy foam, but our work was not done. I shook the foam off and flew into the main lobby.
Clara was already there. She held her hands over her head and energy flowed toward them in steady streams of iridescent light. The chandeliers and sconces in the lobby began to flicker as people continued to run around like decapitated little chickens in search of a hiding place.
The front doors burst open, and a gust of wind blew toward Clara, igniting her hands in a glorious display of light. The fairies joined her, their own hands glowing in a rainbow of colors. Whatever they were about to do would surely be on front page news in the morning.
“Everyone get down!” I heard Henry scream. Humans fell to the floor all over, save a few that kept running around screaming as the rest of the hounds chased them. Alorna flicked her hands a few times, and the remaining humans fell against their will, then Clara dropped her hands from the sky with force, bringing all the energy down to the ground.
The floor shook, and marble floor tiles began to crack. Further and further they opened until the crack was wide enough to shove the hounds into. And that is exactly what the fairies did. They magically plucked the hounds one by one from the floor and viciously tossed them into the opening. When the lobby was cleared of rotting dogs, Clara screamed and thrust her hands upward again, sealing the crack.
When she was done, it was silent. No one dared move or speak, not even breathe. The soft flapping of my wings broke through the silence, and I landed beside the women as they peered up at me. The wolves gathered around, followed by Henry and Thaddeus. Chris and Ross, who had been helping people escape through the front doors, wandered over to join the group. People began to stir on the floor. Sirens echoed in the vast lobby. Blue and red lights flashed against the white marble walls. There was no explaining our way out of what had just happened, and every human eye in the room was on us.
“Um...” Chris said, “I think we should run.”
“I can’t,” Seline responded after shifting and scaring the crap out of everyone around her. “My mother, she was scratched by one of them. She’s sick.” Seline darted back to the restaurant and behind the bar where her mother hid.
“What are we going to do?” Ross questioned. His eyes darted around the room, devising an escape even as he spoke.
“I’m thinking,” Jemma said, looking around at all the people. “Can you spell them to forget?”
“No, unfortunately not,” Nikola said. “But we could try that portal thing Clara did.”
Clara shook her head. “Our souls would remain here. Only your physical form moves through the portal in bilocation, remember?”
“How did you get Seline and Ophelia then?” Chris asked, reminding me Clara never did clarify how her magic worked.
“I can still use my body. Think of it as splitting yourself in two. The soul stays behind like an anchor while the body moves through the portal. I can feel, breathe, do anything through the portal that I could as if I were all there, but my essesnce stays behind, preferably guarded by a trusted ally.”
“Right, but we both know there’s a way to portal an entire being. It’s a minor adjustment to the bilocation-portal spell you used,” Alorna said, clearly the more edgy, risk-taking fairy.
“That hasn’t been done successfully in nearly... Well, not since the last time I did it, and I nearly died,” Clara said. “I’d say after fifteen centuries, I’m a bit rusty.”
“What if you siphon our magic? You can add it to yours and super boost it, maybe?” Petra asked.
Clara seemed to consider it while police swarmed the building. Paramedics began assessing patients, and there we stood, waiting to be caught and stuffed in a cage somewhere where we’d be poked and prodded and tested until we died. Henry had picked up Caroline Manchester and carried her to our group. We were all there just waiting. Police officers began looking at us when people pointed, telling their story. We had to do something and fast.
“Can we get our magic back or is the siphoning permanent?” Nikola asked.
“No, I can funnel it back once the portal is closed, but you’re not hearing me. It is dangerous magic, not exactly crystal-clear light magic either. There’s a bit of darkness in opening a portal, and the more I do it—”
“My mother is dying!
You must do something!” Seline cried, tugging on Clara’s heartstrings.
She looked to Seline, then to Jemma. “Please, Mother. If we don’t do something, we’ll be—”
“Alright,” Clara said. “I won’t lose my daughter again. Give me your hands.”
The fairies offered their hands, and one by one, Clara drained them of magic. Some officers gasped, but none had grown brave enough to approach the group of crazed-looking people in the middle of the hotel lobby. Once she had absorbed their magic, Clara recited three words repeatedly.
“Hier nach dort. Hier nach dort. Hier nach dort...”
A faint light appeared and began to grow with each repetition of the phrase. The room charged, and I felt the hair on my arms stand on end. Ophelia slipped her hand into mine, our fingers tightly interlaced. I felt her palm slick with sweat, pressed against mine. She held her brother’s hand tightly in her other while we waited and watched.
“Stop them!” an officer yelled, breaking the quiet in the room.
“Nah-uh! You do it!” I heard another reply.
Clara recited the words faster, and the portal grew. Through it, I could see a forest growing, a castle in the distance. It was unfamiliar to me, but the others knew it.
“Yes, it is the Salien castle!” Henry shouted.
Clara seemed to struggle, but she sucked in a breath and pulled her arms wide apart. The portal grew enough for a human to fit through.
“Go now!” Clara cried.
Henry quickly entered with Caroline, followed by Seline. Thaddeus ushered Jemma through, then Chris and Ross. The fairies jumped in as it grew smaller. Clara fought to bring it wider, but her strength was waning.
“Hurry!”
Thaddeus reached for Jordan. He jerked away. “My sister first!” he yelled.
Ophelia balked. “No, my brother first!”
Autumn Awakens Page 11
