It was over. I knew, even as my body trembled with cold and pain, it was something I would never be able to put behind me.
Not ever.
One
Present Day
“Fire in the hole!”
I bellowed the words as I let loose a torrent of fire, aiming it toward the small creek in front of me. While I wasn’t trying to burn down the world, the Spriggans that had taken control of the area had become more than a nuisance. They had turned deadly.
Spriggans? Basically think the Ents in Lord of the Rings, only a lot smaller and meaner. They look like a bunch of tree branches slapped together. Oh yeah, they have teeth, too. And they bite. They’re nasty little buggers. Before moving to Hawthorne Hollow, I’d never encountered one. Now I was trashing them twice a week. This particular nest was ugly.
“Oh my—!” The screech from my left had me diminishing the fire I was throwing and turning to scope out whatever new catastrophe was threatening to take us down. There, Marissa Martin, my fellow Spells Angels co-worker, stood. She was completely drenched from the water the fleeing Spriggans had churned up and her shirt, which was white when we landed, was stained a putrid brown color.
“What happened to you?” I asked, genuinely curious. I wasn’t Marissa’s biggest fan, but I couldn’t understand how she’d ended up in this sorry state.
“You happened to me,” she fired back, fury on full display. She was in her early forties but carved off a good ten years when introducing herself to anyone. Honestly, she looked good for her age, but she was a royal pain in the behind.
“I didn’t do that.” I stopped throwing fire and gave her a weary look. “I know you hate me and everything, but you can’t blame this on me.”
“Oh, but I can.” Marissa’s expression was pinched and tight, beyond furious. “When you tried to burn them, they ran to shore and trampled me in the process. Look at me! This was a new shirt and you’ve ruined it.”
I pursed my lips, unsure what to say. In truth, I didn’t give one fig about Marissa’s shirt. She was a shrill woman, though. If she didn’t take it down a notch we were likely to attract looky-loos, and not of the paranormal variety. That was the last thing we needed. If random humans saw what we were doing they would likely gossip in town, and then we would find ourselves in whole mess of trouble, not of the fun variety.
“You should probably speak now,” another voice spoke. This one belonged to Bonnie Jenkins, another co-worker, who had just stumbled out from between two trees to join us. She was also filthy.
“Um ... did you get trampled by the Spriggans, too?” I asked.
She arched an eyebrow. “What do you think?”
Unlike Marissa, I genuinely liked Bonnie, and I wasn’t keen on arguing with her. I also wasn’t keen on spending the entire day in the woods fighting mutant twigs. “Apparently I didn’t think it through,” I offered, sheepish. “This time I’ll put even more muscle behind it.” I moved to raise my hands but Bonnie’s dark glare as she stalked in my direction had me pulling up short. “You’re not going to kill me, are you?”
“No, but not because I think you’re great and awesome. I’m not killing you because I’m pretty sure you’re stronger than me.”
“I’m not sure of that,” Marissa groused. “I think together we could take her.”
“Yet I’m still not willing to try.” Bonnie smoothed the front of her simple T-shirt, which was damp and gross. “We need to come up with a plan that doesn’t involve ... whatever it is you just did.” She used her best “I’m being reasonable so you must as well” voice. “There has to be another way to deal with this.”
Honestly, if there was, I couldn’t think of it. “They’re trees,” I argued. “That means they’re frightened of fire.”
“Yes, but you aimed the fire at the creek. Water doesn’t catch fire.”
“No,” I agreed, hoping I sounded patient rather than exasperated. “I figured pushing the fire on top of the water would still burn the Spriggans, but make it so the fire didn’t spread.”
“I ... huh.” Bonnie’s brow furrowed. “I hadn’t really considered that, but it makes sense.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Marissa hissed, her eyes glittery slits of hate. “She’s just saying that to cover for herself. She didn’t need to do this.” She gestured toward her shirt. “This was completely uncalled for.”
“To be fair, I didn’t realize that was going to happen,” I said. “I mean, they’re basically sentient twigs. Sure, they bite and make disgusting little noises, but they’re still just twigs. I didn’t think they would trample you when getting out of the water.”
“So you thought they would just sit there and burn to death with smiles on their faces, did you?” Marissa drawled.
I scratched an invisible itch on the side of my nose, debating. “What answer do you want to hear?”
Marissa made as if she was going to throw herself at me and start kicking and scratching, but Bonnie smoothly slipped between us. Mud clung to her hair on one side — something I hadn’t noticed — and she was feigning patience, although it looked to be a great struggle. “Turning on one another isn’t going to fix this situation.”
“Nothing is going to fix this situation,” Marissa shot back. “Look at me! She’s completely ruined my shirt and we have to report back to The Rusty Cauldron when we’re done here. Rooster is expecting us.”
Rooster Tremaine was technically our boss. Thankfully, he wasn’t the sort of boss who barked orders and expected us to live in fear. He was reasonable and I knew how he would react if we were late for the meeting. “He’ll understand.”
“Well, I won’t!” Marissa’s eyes filled with the same fire I’d been expending from my fingertips only minutes before. “He says it’s an important meeting. He doesn’t throw around that word willy-nilly. That means we have to be on time.”
“You’re not going to think the meeting is important,” I insisted, not realizing until it was too late that I should’ve probably kept my mouth shut. That was my greatest weakness. I was the sort of person who spoke first and thought about it almost never.
“How do you know what I’ll find important?” Marissa challenged, her hands balled into fists as she swung toward me. “Wait. Do you know what this meeting is about?”
Why can I never keep my lips zipped? Never. Not even when it’s in my best interest. Things like this always blow up in my face. You would think, eventually, I would get it together. “Um ...” I looked to Bonnie for help but she appeared equally curious.
“You do know what the meeting is about,” Bonnie noted, shaking her head. “What’s up with that? Why would Rooster tell you and not us?”
I held her gaze for a beat, and then a hint of movement registered out of the corner of my eye. “Hold that thought.” I pulsed a bolt of magic, this time blue, in the direction of the attacking Spriggan and froze him in place. I stepped wide of Marissa, took a long look at the leaping Spriggan, and then used my fist to punch through the creature. It turned to dust the second I made contact. “Okay, what were we talking about?”
Marissa rolled her eyes so hard I worried she might take a tumble in the creek. She was already in a bad mood. A wet fall would send her over the edge. “We were talking about the meeting at the Cauldron,” she gritted out. “Bonnie and I are in the dark regarding what it’s about. You, however, seem to know everything.”
“I wouldn’t say everything.” I leaned around Bonnie and blasted another incoming Spriggan, this time using my magic to send a rock through it after unleashing the freezing spell. It would take forever to take out the creatures using this method but at least there was no risk of my co-workers getting wet and dirty, which was apparently the absolute worst thing that could ever happen.
“You know what the meeting is about,” Bonnie pressed. “Perhaps you should tell us.”
“Drake is coming.” Even saying his name was difficult. I took advantage of two Spriggans deciding to double-team us and sent twin
bolts of freezing magic out to the right and left, picking up a branch from the ground and using it like a bat to destroy the creatures before turning back. “You remember Drake, right?”
Of course they remembered him. How could they forget? He’d come to town weeks before, aligned with another group of wolf shifters who wanted to cause trouble, and basically threatened my life. Eventually, even though he was reticent to admit it, Drake explained how the pack alpha and his son had taken his sister and were using her as a bargaining chip. We stepped in to save the sister and he’d split ties with the pack. Since then he’d been quiet while taking care of his sister, nursing her back to health.
“I don’t understand why we need a full meeting for him,” Marissa replied with a scowl. “I hope Rooster isn’t going to invite him in. That would suck.”
I hadn’t even considered that. “I don’t know that Drake is ready for that. I believe he’s agreed to the meeting because of me.” I ducked my head as an incoming Spriggan flew in low and cringed when he landed on Marissa.
“Omigod!” Marissa, who was supposed to be a badass fighter, screeched like a teenaged girl and smacked at the creature as it made gnawing noises and went for her throat. “Get it off!”
“Oh, calm down,” I said, grabbing the Spriggan by the back of its neck and dosing it with the freezing magic before dismantling it and throwing it to the ground. “They’re not all that dangerous.”
Marissa was practically apoplectic. “Excuse me! They have teeth. Also, these specific Spriggans have been attacking hikers in the woods.”
“Nobody has died,” I argued calmly. “We’ve got that going for us.”
“Nobody has died yet,” Bonnie countered calmly. “That’s the operative word. Yet. Spriggans are dangerous in groups. They nest, which is what’s happening here. You don’t have a problem with them but the rest of us do.”
“Yes, not all of us are Children of the Stars,” Marissa sneered, causing my stomach to twist. “Not all of us are being touted as the second coming of ... whatever strong witch made everyone freak out.”
It took everything I had not to attack Marissa. Although I couldn’t stand her, not even a little, she wasn’t exactly wrong. A lot had been made about my past. One term — Child of the Stars — had been repeated over and over again. I had no idea what it meant. Drake claimed to have at least an inkling. Given what his sister had gone through at the hands of tyrannical jerkwads, we gave him time to tend to her before demanding answers.
Now he was joining us, and the secrets of my past felt somehow closer, and yet also a million miles away. I hadn’t yet made up my mind to trust Drake. Even if he did provide information, would it be something actionable? Would it be more mumbo jumbo? It was impossible to know.
“I didn’t realize he was back and ready to spill his guts,” Bonnie noted, her eyes speculative as they roamed my face.
I did my best to avoid eye contact. “I got the word yesterday. I didn’t realize when Rooster set the meeting that he’d invited everyone.”
“Of course not.” Marissa rolled her eyes. “In your opinion, we’re not as worthy to hear the information as you.”
“That’s not true.” I shook my head. “That’s not even a little bit true. I think you guys have a right to be there. It’s just ... I don’t know what to make of it. The entire thing is hard for me to digest.”
“It must be doubly hard after what happened with the vampires,” Bonnie remarked.
I swallowed hard but kept my face immovable. That was another thing I wasn’t sure I could talk about. The vampires.
They’d stolen into town weeks before and set up shop at an old house on a hill. I’d met them before. Er, well, I’d interacted with the head vampire before, and his mouthy little minion. They’d already created a small army of half-vampires before we realized what they were doing. Then they stole my friends, leaving me to my own devices to fix things.
I was determined when I broke into the house. I knew what had to be done. Still, it wasn’t easy. When I made it to the basement where the vampires were sleeping the afternoon away, I ran into what could only be described as a vault and came face to face with ... something else.
Emma.
Her name was a whisper on the wind. She hadn’t really introduced herself. I had no idea who she truly was. All I knew was that the vampires had enslaved her to work on their behalf during the day and she was stuck there until someone freed her. I turned out to be that someone, although she didn’t hang around to thank me. Instead, she dropped some cryptic hints and disappeared into the night. I hadn’t seen her since.
She was still around. I felt that to my very bones. She hadn’t left, she was simply laying low. She was another one with answers about my past, although anything she volunteered to give would come at a price, and likely a steep one at that.
“I’m dealing,” I reassured Bonnie, quickly dropping another Spriggan. There had to be at least twenty of them left. At a certain point they would stop messing around in small groups and attack in a large one. That was the moment I was waiting for. “I don’t know what to expect from the meeting tonight.”
“I just can’t believe it’s about you,” Marissa groused. She was never going to be my biggest fan. In her mind I’d swooped into Hawthorne Hollow and stolen something from her. What that something was remained a mystery, although I was convinced it had something to do with attention. Marissa was an attention whore, and she didn’t care if it was positive or negative. She wanted to be the primary focus of everyone in the room. Tonight, a meeting about my past and potential future, would be pure torture for her.
“Well, believe it.” The Spriggans were moving and I hurried to jump in front of Marissa. I was determined to keep her out of the mess for once. “This one is completely on me.”
“How lovely.” Marissa hadn’t yet noticed the Spriggans. “Do you know what bothers me about this?” The question was directed at Bonnie, not me. “Ever since she’s joined us absolutely everything that has happened is all her fault. It’s all about her.”
“You can’t blame her for everything,” Bonnie argued as I narrowed my eyes. The Spriggans had broken into three groups but they were going to attempt a mass rush from all three directions. This was their last chance to take me down, and I was ready.
“I can blame her,” Marissa growled. “She’s made everything about her since she walked through the door of the Cauldron.”
“Actually, I think you’ve made everything about me,” I countered, blasting a bolt of magic to the east. The Spriggans expected it, basically sacrificed one of their own at the front of the charge, and then kept coming when the magic missed them. “You’re the one who is obsessed with me.”
I planted my right foot and pivoted, sending out another stream of magic. This time I managed to hit the Spriggans I missed with the first shot. There were only four total. I finished my turn and took on the next group. They were coming too fast to freeze so I sent out a bolt of purple fire. It burned so fast that the Spriggans were essentially incinerated, all but a small clump of wood that was a little too close for comfort when passing Marissa’s face.
“What was that?” She waved her hand in front of her nose, as if proving to herself that nothing was crawling on her face. “Seriously, what was that?”
“Just a second.” I finished the final pivot and found four Spriggans on top of me. It was too late to take them out with magic, so I instinctively threw my hands over my face when they attacked. They were strong enough to take me down, something I allowed until we were actually on the ground. Then I grabbed the nearest Spriggans and slammed their heads together while dosing them with the freezing magic. I did the same with the next two, and when I shifted to regain my footing, I lashed out with my boot and caused all four of them to poof at once.
“Is that all of them?” I asked, glancing around. I was wary, coiled and ready, but it felt to me as if the crisis had passed.
“I believe that’s all of them,” Bonnie confir
med, her expression hard to read. “Do you realize how many Spriggans you just took out?”
I held out my hands and shrugged. “I haven’t really given it much thought. Does it matter?”
“It was a freaking lot of them, and you’re not even sweating.”
I smiled because it seemed the thing to do. My mind was already back on our meeting with Drake. The Spriggans honestly weren’t a concern to me. “I just happen to have a knack with them. It’s not a big deal.”
“Would you listen to her?” Marissa snapped. “She just happens to have a knack with them. You’re just perfect, aren’t you? You can do no wrong.”
I was at my limit. When I turned to start yelling at her my eyes automatically went to her eyebrows. I’d noticed the smell when the flaming Spriggan flew past her face but I didn’t register the damage left in its wake. Obviously she hadn’t noticed either because I had no doubt she would be screaming if she realized one of her eyebrows was now missing, having been burned off her face.
“Um ... ” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Bonnie giving me a definitive head shake. She obviously recognized I’d seen the eyebrow situation and was warning me not to open my mouth.
Oblivious, Marissa went on. “Seriously, I’m going to tell Rooster I don’t want to work on cases with you any longer. I’m completely and totally over it.”
“Speaking of cases, we should probably get going,” Bonnie said. “Whether Drake is coming to join the team or just dump information on us, I’m betting it’s going to lead somewhere. We shouldn’t be late.”
I nodded dumbly and glanced around, making sure there were no remnants of fire left to spark an inferno. Marissa and Bonnie were already back in the woods, heading toward the area where we parked our bikes, when a dark feeling washed over me, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end.
Slowly, deliberately, I turned around. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. There was nothing there. The leaves didn’t move, the underbrush didn’t crackle, the birds didn’t stop singing. I had no reason to believe someone was there ... and yet I did.
Cut to the Crone Page 2
