by S T G Hill
Yeah, and all it costs is my life.
Ellie glanced around at the others, her back going tight when Thorn mentioned the Omenborn. From the looks on their faces, they all knew who and what she was.
Or what I used to be, the stray thought brushed across her mind.
Thorn stepped back from her when he saw the impression he made. His jaw worked. "Yes they know. But no one from the Council forces does except Belt. He's playing this one close to his chest."
"How do you know all this?" Ellie said.
"We have a mole at the top level of the Council," Ira broke in with a raised finger.
Thorn waved at him to stop. "We knew something weakened Belt, and I thought—hoped—that you got the Gem from him. Ellie, we need that gem to beat him. Whatever else it is, it's incredibly powerful. Enough to turn the tide in our favor."
Ellie pushed down at her feelings. Part of her wanted to leave, to have no more part in this.
"So what does that make you guys? You're not part of this Council. And you're not Errants."
The four of them shared glances with each other.
"Belt and the Council recruited most of the able students from the various academies, Sourcewell included," Thorn said, "I was able to convince some people from there and from the other schools that it was all a trick on Belt's part. We're rebels, I guess."
"He's being modest," Matilda hopped down from the lawn tractor. "The Council named Belt leader and he immediately conscripted every sorcerer he could from every academy.
"Thorn figured it was going to happen so he escaped Sourcewell after rounding some of us up and went recruiting wherever he could."
She smiled at Thorn and Ellie noticed something more than friendliness in the expression.
Her stomach twisted. Matilda was such a jerk to everyone. It's a good thing Sybil—
Sybil!
"Right, okay," Ellie held up her hand and miraculously Matilda shut up, "What about Sybil? Is she with you guys?"
"Yeah," Thorn replied, "She is. Just not here. We keep our cells small and split up so that they can't catch too many of us at once."
"Oh," Ellie sighed and looked around at them. She wanted to see Sybil. She missed her.
But she also wondered if maybe it was a good thing to not see her. She already felt nervous.
This little question period/interrogation had already gone on too long.
Thorn nodded, as though sensing her mood, "She's safe. But Ellie, we need the Gem, we need the Omenborn, if the Resistance is to stand a chance. Pretty much everyone in the magical world is involved—"
“So it was all for nothing, then?” Ellie interrupted, roiling heat in her chest, “We kept what I was a secret to protect everyone from Belt, and we couldn’t even do that?”
Thorn started to speak, but then closed his mouth.
Ellie shoved him. He was taller and bigger, but she had surprise on her side. He stumbled back a few steps.
Then magical restraints grabbed her, pinned her arms to her side.
She glared over at the red-head girl, who'd rushed to Thorn's aid so quickly. "Let me go! I don't even know who you are!"
She didn't know who any of them were. Not even Thorn. So much had changed.
Thorn lifted a hand, "Moira, release her."
The red-head, Moira, gave Thorn and incredulous stare.
Thorn repeated his order. She frowned, but the bonds holding Ellie in place relaxed. Thorn reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder.
Ellie jerked back. "No! You all saw what happened in the alley! I don't have any magic anymore. I don't have Belt's gem. I'm useless. You all see it. You all know it. So just leave me alone."
She went over to the big rolling door and started looking for a button or handle to open it with.
"Ellie, we have no idea what happened to you. And neither do you. Maybe there's a way to get your magic back," Thorn said.
Ellie spun around. "I don't want it back! I don't want to be a part of this anymore! Don't you get that? Maybe my magic is gone for a reason? Did you ever think that?"
"Ellie, you can't really believe that," Thorn said. He stayed back a few steps, his hands raised slightly as though she were a wounded dog threatening to bite the help.
"No," Matilda said, "I think she's right. Come on, Thorn, let's get out of here before that guy we ganked tells Belt one of our cells is nearby and he sends a bigger force after us. Little Miss Orphan here wants to go back to her new life. I say let her."
For once, Ellie agreed with Matilda. Though she didn't say anything out loud.
She just wanted to go back to the Williamsons' brownstone.
She just wanted to go home.
Thorn looked back and forth between Ellie and Matilda, the frustration and resentment gone from his face, replaced by something like surprise.
It hurt Ellie to see that. "I'm sorry, but I'm no help to anyone now. Can I leave? Please?"
"Just let her go. If she's no use to us then I doubt she's any use to Belt," Ira said.
Thorn turned his attention to Ellie. She could see him chewing everything over, wondering if he should continue pressing her.
She set her jaw in turn and crossed her arms.
He relented. With a wave of his hand, the door rolled upwards and the sounds of the park came in clearer. "Fine."
It wasn't fine. They both knew it. But they also knew neither could convince the other.
Ellie stepped out and took a deep breath, not intending on looking back.
However, the hair on the back of her neck prickled with that entirely non-magical sensation of being closely watched.
She ignored it and started away. Behind her, the door rolled shut.
"Ellie, wait," Thorn said.
Her back tensed, but she stopped. She didn't turn around. "I don't want to be a part of this anymore. I can't."
"Ellie, I'm not the only one watching you."
Her skin prickled. Who knew how long that Belt's guy had been watching her?
She still didn't turn around, instead focusing all her attention on a park bench in front of her. It had a little dedication plaque she couldn't read.
"You heard what that Ira guy said: he'll tell Belt I have no powers and then he won't be interested in me anymore, either."
The silence hung with static potential between them. She could tell he didn't believe her.
She wasn't certain she believed it herself. The difference was that she wanted to.
"Stay safe, Ellie. Be happy," Thorn said.
Something wrenched in Ellie's chest, but she refused to turn around and look at him. "I will."
She walked away with the final, unspoken portion of Thorn's farewell strong in her thoughts.
Be happy. Because you don't know how long this will last.
Chapter 9
When Ellie walked in through the Williamsons' front door her shoulders sagged and she sighed. When she closed the door behind her and kicked off her shoes, that relaxed feeling intensified.
Sort of like when you hold a heavy weight for a while but then it gets taken away. She liked it.
"Cat incoming!" Walt called from upstairs, the clatter of dishes accompanying his voice.
Chauncy, his long, thin tail stuck straight up in the air, bounded down to the landing and twined his narrow body between Ellie's ankles.
"Hey, boy," Ellie reached down and stroked the smooth fur on his back.
He seemed especially pleased with her decision to stay, even though he couldn't know about it. Ellie took it as a sign.
"It just feels right here, doesn't it?" Ellie asked him.
He purred and rubbed the sides of his face against her ankle.
"What was that?" Brenda poked her head into the hallway, smiling when she saw girl and cat.
"Nothing," Ellie said, "Just happy to be home."
"I guess everything went okay with your friend?" Brenda said.
Ellie frowned, "Sorry?"
"Peter came by to let us know you'd be a b
it late. Meeting someone from your old school, wasn't it?"
Ellie blinked, remember that she'd asked him to do that. Then she smiled up at Brenda, "Yeah. All fine. I don't think I'll be seeing him anymore. He lives pretty far away. Just by chance we ran into each other on the street."
Brenda's smile grew, "You know, I think that'll make Peter happy when he hears that."
Ellie's frown deepened, "What do you mean?"
"Oh, I think you know. Peter's a nice boy."
Brenda disappeared back into the den before she saw the way Ellie's cheeks went red.
Chauncy made a questioning sound.
She went back to petting him, "Just ignore that. I don't need any more guys in my life."
This pleased Chauncy.
Ellie started to go upstairs, but then turned back around. She tugged aside one of the curtains that blocked the tall, thin windows that flanked the door and peered out into the street.
She couldn't see Thorn. She couldn't see that other guy, either. Or anyone who looked like they shouldn't be there.
Still, her stomach tingled as Thorn's final warning echoed through her mind.
Chauncy peered out as well, then up at her.
"It's nothing," she told him, "Everything is okay now. It has to be."
Still, it took more than a little effort to turn away from the window and discover whatever delicious thing Walt cooked up upstairs.
Chapter 10
Darius Belt leaned back in the sumptuous chair behind the desk in the office atop the Panopsys skyscraper.
In front of that desk stood a man in a dark robe, gripping his left arm. He smelled of ozone and of singed fabric.
"You are certain about this?" Belt regarded the man, "She has no magical ability?"
The man's name was Clarence. Like many in Belt's employ, he worked for Panopsys both in magical and mundane contexts.
Clarence sucked in a breath through clenched teeth when his wounds pained him, "Certain. Examine my memory, if you want."
Belt leaned forward, "I didn't realize I required your permission."
He allowed none of his magical employees to ward their thoughts from him. Clarence dropped his eyes to the floor.
Magic flowed through Belt. Still so much of it. But not near so much as before.
And always less... Belt thought. Less since the girl took the Gem from him. Not only could he feel the effects, but see them as well. He looked older. Every day he looked older.
He put all that aside and examined Clarence's memory. The corner of his mouth quirked up in something like a smile when he saw Thorn.
But his heart lurched with hope when he saw what Clarence said was true.
He released him. Clarence stumbled back a step, shaking his head. He kept his eyes down. "I did as you asked. I kept watch on her. Then I tested her, like you wanted. May... may I go now, sir? To have my injuries healed?"
"Why did you wait for Thorn to interfere?" Belt asked.
Clarence swallowed hard and then cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at the man behind the desk. "I thought he might take her somewhere I couldn't follow, sir."
Belt waved him away and sat back again, steepling his fingers together and staring out into nothing.
With a thought, he called Caspian into his office. Battle had hardened the boy into a young man, but he still walked with that impudence that Belt couldn't seem to stamp out of him.
Which was well enough, since Belt believed that if he managed to remove that trait, he would no longer find the boy interesting or useful.
"Yes?" Caspian stopped in front of his desk and leaned against it.
"I've confirmed it," Belt said, "The girl has none of her former power."
Caspian frowned, "Ellie? But why? What happened to her?"
"I don't know," Belt said, a slight frown creasing his forehead. The whole business troubled Belt. How had she touched the Gem and lived? Did it really speak to her? Where did it take her and why?
He didn't like not knowing.
It never spoke to me. He slammed the thought aside.
Belt stood up. "These are answers we'll get from her. This is an opportunity we can't waste. We'll fetch her tonight."
Caspian began turning away, "I'll get a team ready."
"No," Belt stopped him with a word, "I will lead it personally. There can be no mistakes."
For just a moment, Caspian's eyes narrowed and his jaw worked in frustration. "Of course."
This will all be over soon, Belt thought.
He could put an end to this sham war and set the entire world right once more.
Chapter 11
"Ellie? Will you come into the living room for a moment?" Brenda called.
"Coming!" Ellie said, pushing up from the easy chair in the den and closing the Williamsons' handsome copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. She had a report due for English in two weeks.
The living room was separate from the den. It was upstairs on the middle floor and opened into the kitchen. A couple of nice couches and a coffee table angled for good view of the corner fireplace.
"Everything okay?" Ellie said when she found Brenda and Walt sitting on the couch.
Chauncy had curled up on Walt's lap, and the cat purred noisily as Walt administered an apparently incredible head massage to him.
A tug of nerves signalled her anxiety. Brenda and Walt looked happy but serious.
"Sit down, sweetheart," Brenda motioned to the vacant couch across from them.
Ellie did, shoving her hands between her knees to keep her fingers from fidgeting. A million thoughts flew through her head.
The topmost of which was: CPS is moving me to a different foster home. She didn't want to go.
Brenda and Walt glanced at each other and Walt gave her a nod.
She turned her attention to Ellie, "I know you've only been with us for a couple of weeks."
Oh God, it is. They're sending me away. What did I do?
Ellie swallowed hard and tried to keep her feelings from her face. "A really good couple of weeks."
Brenda and Walt smiled. Chauncy raised his head and peered at her with those intelligent green eyes. She got the impression he wanted her to know everything was okay.
That helped. A little.
"Great weeks!" Brenda said. She put her hand on Walt's knee and he put his hand over hers, as though offering support.
What's going on? Ellie wondered.
"We know," Brenda continued, "That it's been so short a time. But Walt and I have been talking and we have something we'd like to ask you."
"W-what?" Ellie stammered. She pushed her knees together into her knuckles, barely feeling the pain of it.
The two of them looked at each other again. Ellie couldn't take the suspense.
"We want to know if you'd like to stay with us," Brenda said.
"For good," Walt added, his fingers eliciting more purring from Chauncy.
Ellie's chest went tight. For a few hot moments, she couldn't take a breath. Pressure pushed at the back of her eyes.
"You want to adopt me?"
Brenda and Walt spoke at the same time, "We do."
This time Ellie squeezed her hands even harder, made herself feel the pain. It hurt.
This isn't a dream, then.
She ignored the memory of the Trial, which had felt so real but turned out to be an illusion in the end.
This isn't the same at all!
"What do you think, Ellie?" Brenda said.
Ellie realized that she hadn't spoken for a good space of time. She shook her head, clearing the glaze from her eyes and her mind.
"Yes. I'd like that very much."
"It's settled, then," Walt said, "You and the cat, I assume, are a package deal?"
Ellie nodded, too overwhelmed to say anything.
She couldn't recall a happier moment in her life.
And yet, behind all that, some sour note lurked in the back of her thoughts. It contained Thorn's final, unspoken warning. The one that told her
Belt wouldn't give up on her so easily.
The one that told her that this new life of hers couldn't last.
Brenda came over to her couch and sat down beside her, hugging an arm around her shoulders.
It will work. It will last.
That nagging voice didn't go away.
Chapter 12
Ellie slipped beneath the smooth sheet, wriggling her toes against the coolness of the bed.
As soon as she settled, Chauncy jumped up and curled himself into a fur ball between her knees. His green eyes stared up at her.
"Don't give me that look!" Ellie grinned at him.
It felt like he knew what had happened. Knew that she had told Thorn and the others no.
It was just so nice at the Williamsons'.
And her whole body still sang with that conversation she'd had with Walt and Brenda earlier.
A real home. Real parents.
"It's a million miles ahead of that crappy little bed back at Mr. Fichtner's, isn't it?" Ellie said.
Chauncy glared at the bedroom window a moment before Ellie noticed the strobing of light on the other side.
Before she could finish turning her head, thunder clapped.
Her chest tightened. More flashes. More thunder.
She couldn't remember there being a storm in the forecast.
"But then I guess that weathermen are known for being wrong... I wonder why more prognosticators don't become weather people—Hey!"
Chauncy leapt from her lap, going low to the floor and watching the window. The lightning came so quick that each belt of thunder bled into the next. The pane rattled in its frame.
"It's okay," she told him, "It's just a storm. I don't like it much, either, but it'll pass."
She slipped out of bed and went down on her knees beside the cat. But when she tried to touch him he bolted from her room.
Silly creature. She figured he'd gone to hide behind the toilet or in a closet.
She picked herself up and went over to the window, hoping to catch sight of some of the lightning.
She pushed the curtain aside, flinching at the brightness of the flashes.
Then she looked up towards the sky.
I don't understand.
Not a cloud hung in the darkness above. A fat-faced moon watched over the city, with a couple of the brighter stars fighting against the light pollution that blocked out their dimmer kin.
