“Shit! Sorry! Are you okay?” David was bright red, and trembling as he reached for my hand.
I glanced down at my hand. There was a red spot across the knuckles. “Yeah, I’m fine. It didn’t hit that hard. I was more surprised than anything.”
He rubbed his fingers over the red spot, while staring at my hand. He seemed to be struggling with something.
“What’s wrong, David?”
He jumped, and said quickly, “Nothing.” I narrowed my eyes at him as I scrutinized his face. I didn’t believe him, and was trying to decide if I wanted to call him out on it when he said, “Where were you going?”
“Upstairs to get more food. I’m starving. Your mom said I would be abnormally hungry for a while, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. I feel like a literal bottomless pit.”
“I’ll go get you some chips and more pop. Anything you want in particular?”
“No, and I can go get it.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “That’s why I was coming down here. We are going to move a bed down here. We think you are better off staying down here for a while.”
“Who is ‘we’ and why? We need to discuss this.” I wasn’t happy about this latest development. It was bad enough I was stuck staying with David, and I had practically given up the rest of my life. I wasn’t going to be held prisoner down here, too.
“Let me get the food. Travis is here, and he can explain what we found out and what we think our next step should be.”
“Okay. I have something I need to ask you two as well.” I crossed my arms and sulked as he ran back up the stairs. I hated that I felt trapped here. I had no way of finding out any information on my own, and no way to defend myself. With no magic, no idea of how to use said magic if I had it, and no contacts outside of David, Travis and their families in this world, I was at a loss as to what to do.
By the time David and Travis came back into the room, I was almost in tears. I looked at them, angrily. “You know what? This is ridiculous. I am tired of all of this. I am NOT staying in this room all the time. This needs to end now!” My voice had started out quiet, but I was yelling by the end.
Travis put his hands up. “We are working on that. That’s what we wanted to talk to you about.”
David smiled. “Think of it as witness protection, not forced solitary and it will help.” My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe David was trying to make a joke.
“Really?? You’re going to joke, now. Of all times.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and turned away from them. As usual, I was on my own. I heard a gasp behind me. The tears started to run down my cheeks.
“I didn’t mean it like that. You are not on your own. Please don’t feel that way.” David was begging me. I had forgotten he was a fricken mind-reader.
I sighed. “You understand why, right? I deliberately chose a college far away from my family so I could be independent. This,” I gestured around me, “is not what I call independent.” Basically falling onto the couch, I rubbed my tears away with one hand as the other reached for my braid.
Travis reached out hesitantly to me. “We get it. We have a plan.”
My hand stopped twirling the braid. “Really? Like, really, really? You’re not just saying that?”
His smile lit up his face, and I had to remind myself to breathe. “Yes, really.”
I leaned back and smiled. The relief I felt was amazing. “So, what is it?”
“Well, like David said, we decided to look into what else we can do to protect you so you can go back to your life. First, we want someone, preferably one of us, to go with you everywhere. Second, we would like you to sleep down here. We are beefing up the wards upstairs significantly so, after today, you will be able to hang out upstairs, but we still want you sleeping underground.” He paused and seemed to be gauging my reaction. When I didn’t freak out, he continued. “Sibhre is going to continue your lessons, and she thinks she can bring down the door that is blocking your powers. She is going to come over in the morning and she will try to break through the door then.” He stopped. I waited for a moment, thinking there was more, but he didn’t continue.
“That’s it?”
“Yep. But we think you can at least start getting back to normal.”
While it was a step in the right direction, I had been hoping for a lot more. I said so, then added, “What’s the plan for the future? This has to be stop-gap measures, right? I can’t go on like this indefinitely.”
“Sibhre is going to include defensive and offensive magic in the training, so you will be able to defend yourself better, as well as teaching you how to clear drugs from your system, and light healing. The plan is to get you trained enough to defend yourself, then you won’t need us. In the meantime, I have people in Shadoewynne looking into what they want from you.”
I shuddered as I thought about my brief time in Shadoewynne. “Okay. I guess it will have to do for now. Moving on. I called my mom.” I gave them a brief overview of the conversation with my mom. I tried to stick to just the facts, but I think some of my bitterness seeped into my voice, because by the time I was finished both Travis and David were lightly rubbing my back. I finished with, “I wanted to ask you two if you know, or have heard of, this person before I call them. I want to make sure I’m not getting myself into more trouble if I call them.” I held out my phone, with the text from Mom displayed.
Travis and David shared a look, and then looked at the contact info my mom had texted me. Travis’s brow was furrowed above his piercing blue eyes, and he looked troubled as he looked back into my eyes. “Let me call my dad.” He pulled out his phone, stood up, and stepped out the door while dialing. Hmm, I guess they have some kind of phone in Shadoewynne. I filed that away for later.
David was staring at me, but he looked scared and his face had very little color in it. I sighed. “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He ran his hand through his hair. “I just hate that we can’t figure this out, and you feel like you are stuck here.”
I patted his arm. “It’s fine. I would rather be here than in the hands of that weirdo in Shadoewynne.”
Travis came back in. “Can you send me that text from your mom?”
“Sure.” I sent it, and he fiddled with his phone for a second after the notification.
“I sent it to my father’s vizier, who is also my uncle. I’ll let you know when I hear back from him.”
“Okay. Can we eat now?” I practically whined. I really felt like I was starving, and my hands were starting to shake from hunger.
They laughed. “Sure.” David said, as he handed me the chips and dip.
Chapter 12
Soon we were sitting on the couch, munching away on chips and dip. I love chips and dip. Well, I love food in general. There’s not much that I won’t eat. In a very short period, we had decimated two bags of chips and almost a whole container of dip. The gnawing feeling in my stomach was gone, but I wasn’t full. I got up and headed up the stairs to rummage in the cabinets for something else.
David and Travis had followed me. David laughed as he said, “Mom said you would be starving, but seriously, you need to slow down. OH! She said we should feed you protein. That’s what you need to replenish what your body took for the enhanced healing.”
Travis opened the fridge. “I’ll cook, then. We don’t want David burning down the house.”
David looked embarrassed and said, “I’m not that bad.” He rubbed his neck. “Am I?”
Travis and I said together, “Yes.”
“How about scrambled eggs? Or I can make an omelet with some diced ham and cheese.”
“I made a vow to never turn down cheese.” I said solemnly.
They both laughed at me, and Travis said, “Omelet it is. David, you want one?”
“Ew. Eggs are gross.” He made a face at Travis.
Travis just shrugged as he went to the stove, ingredients in hand. “Ok. Your loss.”
Tr
avis quickly made a super-sized omelet. I gaped at it when he set it in front of me. I thought he was making two omelets, with the amount of ingredients he had gotten out. There were at least four eggs and a cup of ham and cheese in the plate sized omelet in front of me.
“I know I said I was hungry, but how much do you think I can eat?”
Snickering, he said, “I’ve seen you eat. Even before you were injured, you could eat that easily.”
Yeah, he was probably right. I picked up my fork, and dug in. After I put the first bite in my mouth, I froze. It may have been the hunger, but it was the best thing I had ever tasted. Travis was watching me as I ate. Once I finished, I pushed the plate away from me. “That was good. I’m full now. Thank you, Travis.” I glanced at David, and pulled back from the anger in his face, which he quickly hid when he noticed I was watching him.
“Let’s go back downstairs. We’ve been up here too long.” David was adamant as he put my plate in the sink and threw away the empty bags of chips.
“I was going to do the dishes. It’s not fair to your mom to make her clean up after me.” I moved to the sink, but Travis blocked me.
“Go downstairs. David is right. I’ll do the dishes and be down in a minute.” He held his arms out, keeping me from reaching the sink.
“I am not comfortable with y’all doing all the chores. I want to help.” I pleaded with them. I didn’t want to be a burden and I really didn’t want to go back downstairs.
“You’re not a burden, and you will be much safer in the man-cave. Please, do it for me?” David tried to give me puppy dog eyes. I really needed to remember that he could read minds, although it seemed to be easier for him than he said earlier. He turned red as I glared at him. I’m pretty sure he heard that thought and he had lied earlier. The deepening blush confirmed that.
“Fine. Just know it’s under protest, and I am going to call you out on your explanation about your powers when we get down there. I don’t think you were entirely truthful with me.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “Fair enough. Come on.”
We went downstairs. He sat on the couch, and I pointed my finger at him. “Spill.”
“Yes, I can read thoughts easier than I said. It’s even easier with people I care about. Your thoughts have been fairly clear to me for a while, when you weren’t blocking. As I said, I don’t advertise it, and for all I knew, you could tell. Some Shadoewynne can tell when their mind is being read. When you have your block up, I only get snippets.”
“Block? What’s that?” I thought I knew what he was talking about, but I didn’t want to jump to any more conclusions.
“You know, like you put up a wall in your mind so people can’t read it.” He shrugged again. “I’m sorry.” There was genuine regret in his voice.
“Uh huh. Sure. What other powers do you have?” My voice was flat. He had betrayed me too.
“Sugar. I didn’t betray you, I just left something out. They are my powers, and I don’t have to explain the full extent of them to anybody. I should have told you, but I am so used to downplaying that particular power, I didn’t even think about it.” Now that, I believed. He continued, “My powers involve plants. I can make them grow, and I can hear their little planty thoughts, when I try. Plants have thoughts, but they are not words, really. They are feelings mostly, about the state of the soil, and if they need water. Some bigger plants, like trees, have thoughts that are closer to human, but they are still mostly about plant things. I can also make them bloom. It’s really kind of useless.”
Travis came downstairs. I pointed at him then at the couch. “We are sharing. Sit, and tell me what your powers are.” I was being a bit of a bossy bitch, but I was done with this being in the dark shit.
“My powers are air based. I can create winds, lift objects and levitate short distances. I can create balls of air that I can use to punch opponents or through walls. They are still developing, so we are not sure what else I will be able to do once they’ve matured. I can feel when a person has Shadoewynne ancestry. I don’t know if anyone has told you this yet, but Shadoewynne blood does not dilute like your mom implied. Your powers may not be as strong as your parents, but it wouldn’t dissipate in just two or three generations.”
I had already figured that out. Now the question is if my parents were deliberately lying to me, or if they actually did not know. That was a question for another day. I couldn’t ask my dad, and I wasn’t going to call my mom again. “Is there anything else that you two have intentionally kept from me?”
Travis turned red. “Please don’t be like that…”
I held up a finger. “Stop. Just answer the question.”
He looked down at the ground and shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”
David nodded. “That’s everything, Sugar.”
I rubbed my eyes. “You both understand why I’m mad, right?” Neither looked at me as they nodded. “Good. Now. Let’s get a bed down here so I can sleep.”
They both jumped up. “Got it. We will be right back with the bed. We’ve already taken the one upstairs apart and it’s all ready to bring down here.” David said as he pushed the couch closer to the TV.
In a very short period, they had the bed frame downstairs, and put back together. I was putting the sheets back on the mattress as they milled around the room, still unsure of themselves. I shooed them away. “Go. I’m going to sleep now. Maybe I will feel like talking to you tomorrow, but not right now.”
“But…” I didn’t even look up at Travis’ voice.
“No. Go.” I heard his sigh, then the soft sound of the door closing. I glanced around, making sure they both left. After throwing my glasses on a side table, I flung myself down on the newly made bed. I frowned as I laid there, playing with my braid and thinking it all through again and again. The best I could figure, my parents had consciously kept me from knowing about my heritage, and my powers. I began to wonder if they had arranged The Door to keep me from them. From everything I had learned so far, it would make sense. They could have put it in place once my powers started to show. But if they did that, who is reinforcing the ward now? I fell asleep pondering it. I woke up once from a nightmare about a faceless being poking and prodding at me, but exhaustion dragged me back under quickly.
When I woke up in the morning, I was still tired, but felt much better emotionally. The anger I had felt at David and Travis had faded away to just irritation. I could sort of see their point, but I wasn’t going to admit that to them, and I made sure to lock it away in a vault in my mind, so David wouldn’t be able to ferret it out either. I was going to let them stew for a bit.
A timid knock on the door drew my attention. “Yes?” I looked over and saw a white hanky waving through the cracked door. I laughed. “Come on in.”
David stuck his head in. “I can’t express how sorry I am, and I can’t make any more excuses. You are right, I was wrong to keep things from you. Can you ever forgive me?”
With his last words, he draped his arms around my shoulders from behind, pulling me to him, my back to his front. He wrapped his arms around my neck, giving me a weird, backwards hug. I patted his arm. The last of my irritation faded, but I wasn’t going to admit that to him.
“We will see. I’m still mad at you right now.” I disentangled myself and turned to glare at him, too, just for good measure. “I need to put my contacts in, but there is no mirror down here.”
He laughed, but it sounded forced. “Go on up. Mom is up there with Sibhre. I was coming down to get you.”
“Great. Thanks.” I went upstairs, stopped in the half-bath and put my contacts back in. It was much better now that I could see. Janelle and Sibhre were sitting in the living room talking. I told them I would be just a minute so I could take a shower. I did my thing and was back downstairs in less than fifteen minutes. I was braiding my hair as I walked into the living room where they were waiting for me.
Sibhre looked at me kindly. “Are you prepared for this? It may be p
ainful.”
I gulped. “No time like the present, right?”
She stood, and we went into the family room where she again had pillows in the middle of a salt circle. Candles were evenly spaced around the circle. After I sat down, she ensured I hadn’t smudged the salt, and chanted under her breath as she lit the candles in a clockwise direction. As she lit the final candle, they all flared in a blue light, and a dome of blue light appeared over my head, connecting to the salt line.
Sibhre said, “We are going to go to the door now. When it is time to leave, close your eyes and follow your energy back to your body. Please try not to deviate this time. Once the door is gone, we must return to this dimension as quickly as possible. When you arrive back at your body, open your eyes, but do not leave the pillows or break the circle until I close it. You will know it is closed because the dome will be gone. Do you understand?” She must have been agitated, because the quick movements were exaggerated today. Watching her was making me dizzy. I closed my eyes, swallowed hard, and nodded. “Okay, let us go.” Once these words were out of her mouth, she began the chant that allowed me to go to the energy dimension.
I quickly spiraled down, landing in front of the door with a grunt. That was new. She must have been in a hurry. Sibhre had already set up what she needed in front of the door.
She glanced back at me. “You need brace yourself. Once the door is gone, all of your power that has been withheld from you will return at once. It will be a physical blow as well as a mental one. Imagine you are by the lake again. Find that calm place within yourself.”
I did as she asked. Once I could feel my power again, I nodded.
“I will begin.” She began chanting in that lyrical language again, but this time, instead of soothing, it sounded angry. I opened my eyes to see the eye in the door glowing red. The glow spread outward, until it enveloped the entire door.
“Brace yourself.” The strain was evident in Sibhre’s voice.
I barely had a moment’s notice before the door exploded in light. The lake I was picturing began to rise, white caps forming as the surface rose and became turbulent. The waves were quickly taller than the trees.
A Glint of Shadoewynne: Book 1 of the Shadoewynne Series Page 11
