The desk chair had been turned around and placed near the bed and on it sat her purse. On the bedside table– which matched the dresser– sat a bottle of water and a bottle of what seemed to be painkillers. As if she was going to take pills left by some unknown person when she was in a strange place like this.
Where the hell was she, and where was Kaylee?
Faith scrambled off the bed and snatched up the water bottle. A careful examination revealed that it was still sealed, so she unscrewed the cap and drained half of it in one gulp. She still ached, but she had more important things to worry about. Grabbing up her purse, she dug around in it, making sure that she still had all her things. Her phone was missing, but her wallet and keys and all the rest of her mess were all still there.
"Where's my phone?" she muttered. She frowned at the bag for a moment. Her shoes were neatly tucked just under the edge of the bed and... had they been cleaned?
Faith was pretty sure her boots had been covered in mud after Kaylee's adventure with the frogs. They'd cleaned the soles to avoid tracking too much into the cabin, but the sides and the toes had definitely needed a scrub. Having super clean boots now was just weird.
"Whatever," she muttered again and stomped her feet into them, and crept over to the window. Pulling the curtain back just enough to peek out she saw what looked like a large backyard with a child's playset to one side, a deck right below the window with a large barbecue grill covered up, and woods all around.
She frowned again and turned to the door. Hopefully, it wasn't locked and she could sneak out and find her niece. Poor Kaylee must be terrified– first attacked by those dog things then kidnapped and separated from her family... Faith snarled. Clearly trusting that guy just because he took out those monsters was asking too much. Faith was going to find Kaylee, then that guy was going to get it, she would make sure of that.
She looped her purse over her head so she could keep track of it and carefully reached out for the knob. There was only a faint noise from the other side of the door like she was in a house and people were around but not nearby. She carefully twisted the knob, which turned easily in her hand and eased the door open a crack.
The sounds were slightly louder now like there was a television on somewhere. The hallway was pleasant, with a couple of paintings hung up and several more doors leading to the stairs. One door stood slightly open and revealed what seemed to be a linen closet, but the other door across from her was pushed closed, though unlatched. In the other direction, away from the stairs, there were three more doors, spaced out enough to make Faith think they were bedrooms similar to the one she had just left.
What to do? Where was Kaylee? Should she peek into the rooms up here or head for the stairs and try to sneak around near whoever was down there? Someone had put her in that bed and placed her things nearby, which meant that somebody was around, somewhere.
She crept into the hallway and was still pondering the mostly closed door when a shriek erupted from downstairs. Kaylee!
Faith dashed down the stairs, heedless of what she might run into and skidded around a corner, following the sound of the TV and where she thought Kaylee's voice had come from. When she cleared the doorway, she turned, ready to launch an attack of some kind at whoever was hurting her Kaylee-bee and stopped dead.
Kaylee was on her back, on a pile of sofa cushions, screaming again, but now that Faith was in the room, she could hear the laughter threaded through the shriek. A big, beefy guy– barefoot, but in a grey t-shirt and jeans– loomed over her small form, wiggling his fingers at her. A boy who looked about the same age as Kaylee, with the same sparkling brown eyes as the giant was clinging to the man's back and trying unsuccessfully to pull him back and away from Kaylee, who wasn't helping at all.
"Kaylee! You have to escape! The evil ticklebeast is going to catch you!" the boy shrieked. Kaylee giggled then squirmed off the top of the pile of pillows, grabbing one and whirling to smack the giant square in the head with it. The huge man, in turn, groaned dramatically, staggered on his knees, then fell sideways onto the pile of cushions, clutching his chest. Faith couldn't help noticing how careful he was not to crush either child as he fell.
"Nooooo!" he groaned at great length before collapsing and lying still.
"I think I got him! We win!" Kaylee crowed.
The boy cheered with her and danced around the giant, who was watching both kids from under his mostly closed lids. There was a distinct smile tugging at the corners of the giant's lips. Kaylee laughed again and spun around in her celebration dance, and when she turned, she saw Faith gaping at the scene from the doorway.
"Aunt Faith! You're awake!" Kaylee shrieked and launched herself at Faith who barely had time to brace herself before she was being wrapped up in an aggressive five-year-old's hug. "We were so worried! You fell over and then you didn't wake up even when Mr. Aldric carried you to his truck and then you slept the whole way here and I was so scared but then Jake and Mr. Marc were so nice and we watched Moana and then we made a couch fort and we were playing video games but then the giant ticklebeast attacked and we had to defeat him and protect our fort, and we beat him, but I think we didn't save the fort."
Kaylee's shoulders slumped at the end of her stream of words and she frowned at the pile of cushions on the floor that looked nothing at all like any kind of fort.
"Um..." Faith said.
The giant grinned at her and stood.
"Kaylee, why don't you and Jake clean up the couch stuff and I can fill your aunt in a bit. She just woke up and could probably use a cup of coffee and some explanations," the giant said. "We'll bring you snack in a little bit, okay?"
"Oh good idea," Kaylee said very seriously, nodding. "Without coffee, Aunt Faith turns into Aunt Monster when she wakes up."
"Oh, well. That's no good," the giant said, stifling another grin. "We'd better get a fresh pot brewing. I know that Aldric and Tamika will probably like some when they get back, too."
"Um, who are you?" Faith managed to get her brain rolling again, after what felt like years. What the hell was going on?
The giant laughed. It was a cheerful, open noise, and he reached out his big hand. "Marc Keller, at your service, ma'am. Call me Marc. And that's my son, Jake."
Faith reached out and shook hands more out of habit than anything. "Faith Latham."
"So Miss Kaylee told us," Marc said. He held his arm out, guiding her attention to a wide arch, through which was a sunny kitchen. "I hope you don't mind, we made soup for lunch and I went ahead and gave Kaylee a bowl. She said she wasn't allergic to anything, but I stayed away from the common allergen stuff anyway, in case. Kids aren't always that reliable about this stuff, I've discovered."
Marc led her to a farmhouse style breakfast table that would easily seat ten people and sat her down while he talked. He then started bustling around the kitchen, grabbing a can and grinding some beans and filling the reservoir on a fancy-looking coffee maker.
"Um, no. No, she's not allergic to anything that we've found," Faith said faintly.
"That's a relief. I'd hate for y'all to go through that sort of scare this morning and then accidentally make the poor kid sick," he flipped a switch and turned to lean a hip against the counter. "I have to tell you, Faith, that kid is a trooper. I can't think of too many kids who would go through that and be able to horse around just a few hours later. Heck, I can't think of too many adults who could do that! Of course, I think a lot of that is thanks to you. She said you didn't let her look at what was going on. Smart."
"I'm sorry," Faith shook her head, trying to clear her mind a bit of the flood of chatter that flowed from Marc. "But where are we? Who exactly are you? I know your name now, but that doesn't tell me much. What were those things? Who was the guy who showed up and why was he there? Where is that guy now? What–"
Marc held up both hands, trying to slow her down a bit.
"Woah, okay," Marc nodded his understanding, then turned to grab a couple of mugs from the cu
pboard. "Okay, you're absolutely right. First things first. I'm Marc and I'm a single dad and run my own web design business. Jake and I live here, along with Aldric and Tamika and a couple others who are out of town right now, but anyone in our clan's welcome to drop by just about any time which is why we have so much room. We're just about twenty minutes as the crow flies from your cabin where Aldric found you. I hope you don't mind but I put Kaylee's stuff in Jake’s room for the time being, since they hit it off so well. He's got a trundle bed, so I figured they'd be okay sleepover style unless you want her in with you, which is fine also, or we can get her her own guest room. Whatever you're both comfortable with."
He rummaged in the fridge and came out with a carton of milk and some flavored creamer. Held them up in a silent question and Faith pointed at the milk. He put it down on a tray next to the sugar bowl and two steaming mugs of coffee and brought it all over to where she sat.
"Okay, what else did you ask? Let's see... Oh! Aldric. The man that brought you guys over here is named Aldric Donnelly, and he was out there because he sensed those rogues. We'd heard there was a disturbance near the northern border of our territory, so he was out there anyway and followed their trail to your place. He's got a damn good sense for trouble and we try to keep as many rogues out as we can. Don't like them in general, and definitely not in our territory. We're not that kind of clan."
"Clan?" Faith blinked at him.
"Yeah," Marc shrugged and looked slightly nervous. "We're a mixed clan. Our parents and grandparents banded together when Aldric's family asked for asylum. Safety in numbers, and all that. So we all grew up pretty tolerant, even though it's not terribly common these days. Well, I did, anyway. Aldric was already technically an adult when he got here, but his family's pretty cool, so..."
He poured a dollop of milk into his cup and offered the carton to Faith, who took it and doctored her own coffee. Marc sounded sane, speaking in a matter of fact way as if he expected her to understand what he was referring to. And he was clearly referring to something but...
"I'm sorry. You've completely lost me," she said. She waited until Marc took a sip of his coffee before sipping hers. Oh man, it was good coffee, too. Not the cheap stuff they had at the cabin.
Marc grimaced. "I'm sorry. Where should I back up to?"
"Oh boy, where to start. Well, let's start with the important bits. This Aldric guy was hunting the... rogues?” she frowned over her mug.
“Rogues,” Marc grimaced. "Let me tell you we're not real happy to have found them in our territory, at all, let alone attacking people inside their own home. I'm damned glad you could hold them back until he got there. Thank god you two weren't hurt." He reached out and put his hand on her arm, and it felt kind like he was comforting himself as much as he was comforting her. She glanced down at where she had felt the monster's claws, even though her shield and saw it was just slightly red, now, except for the two bandages that she hadn't even noticed earlier that were stuck over where the claw marks seemed to start.
"Thanks," Faith wasn't sure how much this Marc guy knew about how she held off the attack. Did this Aldric guy tell him? Aldric had seen her shield, had addressed her by some funny word, but she had the vital importance of keeping her magic secret at all costs drilled into her from a very young age. The idea that anyone besides Crissy knew about it was making her stomach hurt.
"Anyhow, like I said, Aldric sensed those rogues and went chasing after them, and when he found you two, he brought you here for safety's sake instead of continuing his hunt," Marc said. "He was very serious about making sure you were both safe and sound. He put you in his own room where nobody would dare to go, left me on guard in here and sent a few others to patrol around the woods outside, and then went to meet up with Tamika to see if he could track down your sister. Kaylee was very worried, and he promised to find her. I hope she didn't go back to the cabin." Marc looked truly concerned about that possibility.
"So..." Faith blinked slowly. Everything felt foggy, almost like Marc was talking in half statements. "So Aldric– the guy who showed up in our cabin and killed two monsters and moved way the hell too fast– brought me and my niece here to what? Hang out? Have a sleepover?"
Marc chuckled. "Well, he sure as hell wasn't going to leave you there all alone. He said that you went down like a house of cards in a strong breeze. And he killed five of them. There were two inside and three more circling the cabin."
"I..." Faith carefully set her mug down because she wasn't sure she was going to stay upright much longer. This was a lot to take in, and her vision was starting to get fuzzy.
"Okay, Faith. I need you to breathe, okay? Breathe with me, nice and slow," Marc's voice was suddenly coming from somewhere right in front of her face. She felt a hand on her shoulder and another guiding her hand to what felt like someone's chest. "That's it. Feel me breathe and try to match me, okay? In and out."
Faith focused on breathing like Marc said, and after a moment she blinked the fog away. Marc was crouched by her chair, holding her hand to his chest so she could feel him breathe.
"What the hell have we gotten sucked into?" Faith whispered.
6
"So, Aldric. You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do, my friend," Tamika dipped her head slightly in a show of respect as she climbed into his truck, the beads in her braids clacking softly, one tinkling like a bell.
Aldric took a deep breath and considered what to tell her. He wasn't going to tell anyone but Marc about Faith's magic unless he needed to. Certainly not before he could discuss it with her. It was too significant, and if the information was overheard by the wrong sort of person, it could put her and her niece in danger. Even though he trusted Tamika completely, it was not his secret to reveal.
Although, it was possible that secret was the reason they were attacked in the first place. He scowled at the thought that those two were being hunted, but the idea gave further urgency to his search for Christina Latham.
"Woah, that's a scary face. Now tell me what's got you hissing like that. You flash any more fang in town and we're going to start having bigger problems," Tamika's voice cut through Aldric's thoughts and he startled. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen your eyes go red like that, not even when you go hunting.”
He took a deep breath and held it, counting backward from five to regain his control. He felt his fangs retract and released the breath slowly.
“I find that I am angry about the situation. Miss Kaylee and her aunt were attacked, inside their cabin, by rogue wolves,” Aldric said slowly. "I got there just in time to kill the rogues that were attacking them and after Faith lost consciousness from the effort of her defense of Kaylee, I took them both back to the clan house for protection."
That should cover it for the most part. It was the truth, after all, just without a few key details.
He felt, rather than saw Tamika raise an eyebrow at him.
"A human woman held off a rogue wolf on her own while wrangling a child?”
“Two. Two wolves. Three more outside circling the cabin,” Aldric said. “It was no random attack.”
The shock in her face said everything, but that didn’t stop her. “She faced off against five rogue werewolves? I would imagine she passed out. I'm shocked as hell that she isn't dead,” Tamika said. "what aren't you telling me?"
Aldric didn't answer. He pulled the truck into a parking space behind the hardware store and turned to his friend and second in command.
"We need to find Cristina Latham. She goes primarily by Crissy, according to Miss Kaylee. I have a photograph of Kaylee, and I have her scent and Faith’s– I brought small samples of them for you as well– but we didn't linger long enough at their cabin to get anything of Cristina's. I am hoping that it will be a simple matter of walking through the shops looking. She was supposed to be buying baking supplies."
Tamika raised her eyebrow at him again, but let the subject drop. "So with a little luck it will be a matter of poking around the
grocery for a minute."
"Indeed."
“But you don’t think it will be so easy, do you?” Tamika’s eyes sparked with understanding.
“I do not,” he answered. “I have the suspicion that this is going to be quite difficult.”
“Is this something the Clan ought to be messing with? Should we just call the human cops?” Tamika’s question was reasonable, but Aldric still bit back a growl.
“I suspect that this is the beginning of something that we would regret not taking sides in,” he said slowly. If there were more magic-wielding humans out there, they were going to be hunted again. Possibly by the same people that hunted Faith and Kaylee. The Frostwalker Clan fought against those forces once, and if Aldric had a say in it, they would do so again.
Aldric got out of the truck and locked it as soon as Tamika's door shut. Together they walked casually down the sidewalk, not chatting but looking comfortable in their silence. Two friends hanging out was much less trouble to explain than two predators hunting in a town full of unsuspecting humans.
He sighed and let his mind wander back to the woman he had tucked under a blanket less than half an hour ago. The woman who, not long before that had tried to protect him from a threat she herself was terrified of.
Faith had actually dropped that magic shield long enough to yank him behind its protection, while an angry rogue werewolf charged at them. She had no reason to do that, no connection to him whatsoever, but still she had put herself and her niece at risk to try to keep a stranger whole.
A stranger who was very obviously just as dangerous as the beasts that had broken through her door.
Magaestra: Found: An urban fantasy series Page 4
