by Lia Davis
I shrugged. "Yes, of course, but I don't eat much. I don't need much. Neither does Tala. It's like our elements sustain us. In contrast, Meda eats a ton. We think her fire burns up her energy and she needs more sustenance than we do."
"You ready?"
He nodded. "Let's get everyone gathered and test my theory."
We walked toward the beach, to the same spot we'd been training. On the way, I texted my sisters. Gino had an idea. Gather all the mates. Everyone. No exceptions. Beach.
I sent a similar message to Harper and Noah, then we sat near the water and waited.
Harper and Meda turned up first. Judging by their clothes, they'd been jogging on the beach. I smiled at them, squashing the flash of irritation at seeing my mate and sister together. Normal-Ami would never be irritated at that. Harper and Meda had jogged together since we were kids, and probably always would. They were friends, just like Tala was friends with Meda's mate, Peter. And though we weren't close, Randell and I had been known to watch a movie together or read in the same room. He didn't want to spread it around, but he enjoyed a lot of the same books I did. They weren't particularly manly, and he was afraid the guys would give him a hard time.
So, when the irritation flared, I pushed it away. It was just the curse.
"What's the big idea?" Harper asked. I was proud that I didn't see one flash of jealousy from her.
She plopped down beside us. "I hope it's a good one, cause I'm starting to feel a freak out coming."
Meda snorted. "Same."
I looked at Gino. "It was your brainwave. Want to tell them or wait for everyone?"
He grinned. "Make them suffer?"
The water lapped closer as the tide came in. It was almost to our toes. "I agree." I took off my shoes and socks, then turned my head around to look at Meda, sitting behind us on the beach. "Suffer," I hissed, twisting my face into a comically crazy expression as I tossed my shoes well up the beach, away from the incoming tide.
She couldn't help but laugh at me. "You must have a great idea if you're in this good of a mood."
Randell and Tala came into view down the beach as the water touched my toes. I giggled and wiggled them in the wet sand.
"There's Phenex, walking with Fenton and Sterling," Meda said, shielding her eyes. "And there's Dorian with Kevin." She squinted. "Peter and Noah are bringing up the rear."
That was all of us. Maybe we should've invited our parents there for the big moment, but it felt almost private. This was our time. If it worked, it would be our big moment. A way we could defeat the massive threat against us. Against our people.
She'd killed too many people. Trinity had to die.
When everyone joined us, Gino stood and held his hand out to me. Of course, I didn't need help standing, but a hand up from the sand was a sweet gesture. It told me he'd been thinking about me as much as the news he was excited to deliver.
"Okay, I know I'm new here, and as the last to join the group, let me just say, you could've given a warmer welcome." He grinned broadly to show his good humor.
"He's joking, but he's right," I said. I did not smile. They'd been cool toward him at best. Hell, even I had.
Meda pursed her lips in a look of contrition. "We'll make sure to make up for it once our lives are back to normal." She reached out and squeezed his arm. "Welcome to the family. Now, will you please tell us the big news?"
Tala narrowed her eyes and blurted out a question as Gino opened his mouth to speak. "Are you pregnant?"
"What?" I exclaimed. "No, of course not! Will you hush and let him tell you what he figured out?"
She closed her mouth, but her expression didn't change.
I rolled my eyes and looked at my newest mate. His brown eyes flashed and he opened his mouth to speak again, pausing for a split-second to make sure nobody wanted to interrupt him again. "So, we were all pretty beaten up just yesterday. Trinity and her demons—and that Nian—wiped the floor with us."
Randell grunted, looking supremely irritated. Tala scowled, and Meda opened her mouth.
I held up a finger and shot her a warning look. Let him continue. I wouldn't interrupt him by reprimanding her out loud, but I'd gladly do it in her head.
Sorry, but we need to have a serious convo with the niswi about that Nian.
I rolled my eyes and nodded, but didn't respond.
Gino wasn't fooled. He waited until my gaze returned to him. "Finished?"
I nodded, shoulders sinking. My attempt to not interrupt him hadn't worked after all.
"So, we woke up this morning, after all thirteen of us slept in close quarters with each other, mostly healed." He rolled his shoulders and flexed his muscles. "Anybody still significantly hurt?"
I did the same, checking the muscles in my body to see if any pain hit me. "We're fast healers anyway," I said, just to play the devil's advocate.
"You are, yes, but some of our injuries were significant. Besides, Fenton, Sterling, and I aren't. We heal at the same rate as humans if we don't have magical intervention."
"I'm sorry," Meda said. "If I had my power I could've helped."
Peter put his arm around her while Gino smiled at her. "Thank you. But look at us. The worst of our cuts are small and scabbed over." He pointed at Fenton. "Didn't you have a broken rib?"
Fenton nodded. "Yeah, and it's just kinda bruised now." I'd had a broken rib for sure, and barely felt it now.
"And vampires heal fast, but a broken leg overnight?" He pointed at Dorian, who'd had a broken leg the day before.
"I was pretty sure my ankle was severely sprained. Maybe even a muscle or ligament injury. I was going to ask for the shaman today. But it's fine. Like it never happened." Gino rolled his ankle to show it didn't hurt. "I believe it's because all thirteen of us slept together. We likely shared power and healing in our sleep, the way Phenex healed when he was injured."
The reactions from the group ranged from instant acceptance—Phenex—to confusion—Tala—to surprised delight—Fenton. Fenton's eyes lit up. "And if all thirteen of us makes such a difference while we sleep—"
Meda gasped. "What will it do while we're holding the immense power of Hell?"
Gino grinned in triumph. "Exactly. Anybody game to try?"
"Hell yeah!" Tala crowed.
"Okay, come here." I held my hands out to my sisters. "It might be easier if we touch. "Phenex, in the middle."
We circled our hound, clasping hands around him. "Should we touch him?" Tala asked. "He's our catalyst, right?"
Phenex shrugged. "Do what feels natural."
I let go of Meda and Tala and stepped closer to Phenex, wrapping my arms around him. My sisters did the same.
Turning my head and resting it on Phenex's arm, I looked at my mates. "Felt right." They gave me amused looks.
"Okay," I said, taking charge. It didn't always have to be Meda. "Let's do this slowly. We don't know exactly what will happen." Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to find my connection to Hell. It was a slippery bastard. "If someone connects, say something."
I'd been the one to connect the fastest so far. Probably because I'd done it more. This time, Meda surprised us. "Got it," she called from the other side of Phenex. Tala grinned at me, her ear pressed to Phenex's chest. "Pull us in, Meda," she said. I hadn't seen such a pure, excited look on her face since before Elijah died.
The positioning of our bodies meant her boobs were squished into my arm. I wiggled my arm, remembering the phase we'd gone through in high school. "Remember when we'd hide and punch each other in the boobs?"
She snorted, but couldn't reply. Meda connected to us and power rushed into me. I closed my eyes and breathed deep. She'd already pulled Phenex in. "Okay," I said, my voice echoing in our heads as well as out in the salty beach air. "One at a time now. Let's get the witches first. "Sterling." I ignored the murky black of the curse, snaking around like a blob of flying black jello.
Opening my eyes, I watched Sterling step forward and put his hand on Meda's back. As he
touched her, he popped into my consciousness, as if joining us in a room in another realm. Shoot, as much as we truly knew about this, maybe that's exactly what it was. The addition of his inherent power increased my capacity to hold power marginally. That was a good sign. I didn't think we'd connected in this way before, one at a time.
"Fenton," I called. When he touched Tala, my power increased again. "Every time someone joins us, I feel my capacity to hold power increase, as if there's a jar inside me, and the jar holds magic. Every time one of you connects, the jar grows bigger and fills with more power." Unfortunately, the curse seemed to grow as well, filling the background of our minds.
"That's a perfect analogy of this," Meda said. "I noticed it, too."
"Me, three," Tala said, turning her head away from me to look at Meda.
"Gino?" I asked, and he touched my back. When he did, the jar grew considerably larger. "Ohhh," I breathed.
Tala flipped her head around on Phenex's chest. "That was a big difference."
"We've been connected like this before," Meda said. "And never noticed."
"Yeah, but not one at a time. It was more obvious this way."
"Okay, who wants to go next?" I asked, still taking the lead.
"Me," Dorian said, sounding excited.
I nodded and smiled at him, so he stepped forward.
Vampires and Lycans had magic, for sure, but it wasn't the active kind of witches. When he joined, the imaginary jar grew, but not as much as it had with each witch. The process repeated with Kevin and Harper. I smiled at her over my shoulder.
"Okay, moment of truth," I said. "Peter?"
It was getting hard to see everyone with most of the mates circling us so close. I didn't see him put his hand on Meda's back, but I felt it. He popped into my mind, and the power increase was about the same as the vampires. Randell stepped forward without being asked, then I looked at Noah. "Ready?"
He nodded.
"This is the moment of truth," I said.
"I'm so excited," Gino said. Everyone laughed. I loved seeing this silly side of him. He'd been cocky before, but this was a streak of child-like behavior that was sexy on him.
The instant Noah touched my back, the jar shattered into a million pieces. Meda, Tala, and I cried out in unison. Power flowed through us, more than we'd ever held before. The amount we'd wrangled during the battle with Calista suddenly felt like child's play.
"Shit," Gino whispered behind me. "I can't control any of it, but I can feel it." He panted behind me. "How are you controlling it?"
"I have no idea."
Phenex, who had been quiet for the whole thing, spoke up. "You can't hold this level of power. You've got to let it out."
"Meda," I said, the power inside me beginning to make my skin feel tight. "He's right."
"Take control, Meda," Tala said. Meda had more witchy powers than Tala or I did. Tala had the visions, I had the weird time-freezing thing.
"I'm trying," she grunted. "It's not easy."
"We'll help," I said. I had no idea how, though.
Fenton groaned. "It's starting to hurt," he said, his voice strained.
I focused on the massive flow of power, like a rushing river headed through all of us. All I could do was try to will it into a tunnel. "If I had my air, maybe I could help contain the power with air pressure."
"Meda," Tala said through a gasp. "Direct it at the curse."
Redirecting the power was like trying to redirect the sun. Grab hold of the rays and push them in a certain direction.
As we had joined, the inky blackness of the curse had joined as well. It floated around us, staining the background of our psyche. I pushed at the power where it felt like Meda was. "Tala, push," I said, my voice coming out as if I were physically moving a mountain. I felt her join us, and the power began to budge. Instead of flowing up and down like a waterfall going both ways, it sprayed out onto the black magic keeping us from our elements.
The disgusting, oily curse evaporated when the magic touched it. I gasped. "More," I cried. "Fenton, Sterling, Gino!" I clutched Gino's essence inside my head, pulling him to the edge of the tsunami of power. Push here. Witches, push here!
Our witches helped, more magic spraying out onto the darkness, pure white light shining through. White magic.
It took a while, but eventually, the darkness was half gone. Then, it was more gone than it was there. Soon, I smelled it.
"I smell smoke," I whispered.
Tala laughed. "I feel a breeze!"
Meda poked her head around Phenex to look at us. "Water, Tala. I felt it on my face."
"Keep going," I shouted. We pushed harder, but I began to feel the strain. My body tired with every minute that ticked by. The power ate away at my energy. "We can't stop," I grunted. "Not until every drop of curse is gone."
We kept at it, but when there was barely any blackness left, I felt one of the hands on my back shift.
"I'm having a hard time standing," Gino said faintly.
"I got you," Harper whispered. They shifted behind me, and his hand pressed into me again. "We've got each other," she said. "That's the point."
I wasn't sure if he'd be pulled away from the magical battle if he let go of me, but I didn't want to risk it. "Don't let go!"
Ignoring the tears streaming down my face, I focused on the compassion and acceptance I'd just heard from Harper when speaking to Gino. Using it to bolster my strength, I pushed harder, focusing on the last blob of curse clinging to our combined aura.
It disappeared with a sizzle, and our elements were freed. Air slammed into me. "I can breathe," I said, the tears really flowing now. "I can feel again!" Without removing my arms from around Phenex, I blasted my air out onto the beach, circling our group. Meda and Tala let out strangled yells at the same time I did. I didn't hear what they said over my own excited words, but my air was suddenly filled with fire that warmed and comforted but didn't burn. Rain fell from the sky inside the circle, keeping us from heating too much.
As soon as the three of us had our elements, suddenly the massive, rushing river of power wasn't so unmanageable. I grabbed hold of it like a big blanket, whipping it around.
"It's easy," I breathed.
Meda laughed, unwrapping her arms from around Phenex and pointing at the sky. Fireworks erupted, filling the bright sky with neon sparkles and impossible explosions.
Tala and I let go as well and I realized that with our elements protecting us from the power, we could move independently and direct the power however we needed to.
"Ami," Harper yelled. "Stop!"
I turned to see Gino on the ground in Harper's lap. Noah was shaking him. "He won't wake up," he said, looking up at me.
Inside, he was still with me, his essence clinging to me.
Stop. We have to let the power go. It's hurting our mates.
Meda and Tala froze, looking around. The witches were failing, and the Lycans and vampires looked pale and weak.
On three, direct it into the sky and let go. Close the connection. They nodded at me. One. Two. Three.
I slammed my connection to Hell closed and pushed the power still coursing through us up into the sky. Meda grabbed my air and directed it, sending it high to explode in one last massive firework that covered the entire island.
Once the power dissipated, Gino opened his eyes. I dropped to my knees beside him. "Are you okay?" I asked. "I'm so sorry."
Smiling, he grabbed my hand. "That was so fucking cool."
Everyone laughed. He'd been the most affected, but he'd also not connected to us as much as everyone else. Hopefully, with time, we'd improve our abilities.
"We have enough power to go after Trinity," I said. But, we can't use it until the last minute."
"Agreed," Meda and Tala said in unison.
Meda stood her expression hard. "Let's go fill in the parents. It's time to settle an old score."
Chapter Eighteen
After filling our parents in on our development, we had
to take a day to finish healing and let our witches recuperate from the toll the massive amount of power had taken on them. In the meantime, we gathered volunteers from the Collective to go with us and mount a strike against Trinity.
The next afternoon, we were finally ready. We stood in the common area of our hotel suite, waiting for the niswi to decide who was staying behind with Mom so she wouldn't worry herself into giving birth months too early. Finally, I spoke up. "Because of his connection to Hell, I think Dad should come with us."
The three of them turned their heads in my direction at the same time. Paw nodded. "I just said that." then he faced Papa. "It's between us."
Papa glanced at all thirteen of us. I could see the desire to go fight in his gaze as well as sense it through our family bond. Paw felt the same, though. They wanted to be with us, help us. "Rock paper scissors?" He held out a fist.
I rolled my eyes and caught Tala and Meda doing the same. Then, we laughed. It was wonderful to be near each other without wanting to claw one another's eyes out. On that thought, I moved closer to them. Meda reached out and grabbed my hand then Tala's. She gave a squeeze. "We're going to win this."
We nodded and several of our mates said, "Hell yeah."
"We're going to kick her ass," Tala said.
Papa cursed, drawing my attention. He lost. At least he got to spend time with Mom alone. Then again, making sure she was relaxed and not pacing their rooms freaking out was a task I didn't wish on anyone.
When Dad and Paw joined us in the center of the common area, Meda nodded to Phenex. "We're ready."
We couldn't go in guns blazing like we'd tried to do when we attempted to rescue Kinsley. The amount of power we could hold now was too hard on our mates. We had to rely on our inherent power and elements until it came time to confront Trinity directly.
Phenex formed the portal to open in the large field outside our dorm at the Collective University. We looked at each other, our mates and niswi worried, my sisters and I excited. We knew now that we could handle her. We would be able to save our people. And get revenge on the evil creature that had wreaked havoc on our family since before we were born.
