by Lan Chan
“You’re not just a hedge witch, though, are you? By the looks of it, neither was your great-grandmother.”
I stared at him as something unlocked in my mine. I was a bone witch. Hilary must have also been one. What if her spirit was still holding on to the bindings around Gaia? What if…what if she’d been the one to bind Nanna?
Kai sensed the turn of my thoughts. He leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine. I clung to him. “Thanks,” I said when he pulled away.
“I know I haven’t been around,” he said. “But I’ll always be there for you, Blue. Now let’s talk about this birthday thing.”
I groaned. “Don’t start. I’ve told you I’m not interested.”
“I don’t like that you’ll be at Terran for it. Makes no sense. Especially since it’s the same night as the treaty negotiations.”
“They won’t agree to a swap.”
“I don’t care. I’m done being told what to do.”
“Kai!” I’d thought he was joking but the look in his eye said the opposite. The thing that worried me was that he had the kind of pinpoint focus that made him dangerous. If he was beginning to push back against the demands of the Sisterhood, it meant he’d figured something out. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said.
He just grinned at me like stupid was his middle name. And I was the idiot who was in love with him.
30
By some miracle, Kai didn’t kick up a stink when I had to return to Terran the weekend of my birthday. He was absent for it anyway. Astrid was now on official teleportation duty. In some ways I was relieved. It lessened the separation anxiety even if it was disappointing not to see him.
I was unpacking my suitcase when my hand scraped against the sharp edge of an envelope. The handwriting with my name on the envelope was atrocious. I smiled thinking of Basil. It felt like a card, but there was something inside that made it padded. I sat down on the bed and carefully opened the flap. Half a dozen hundred dollar bills fell out onto the floor. There were more of them inside the card. I stared at the sudden windfall. My manna account hadn’t even hit triple digits yet. The new schedule and all the other issues had put an end to my short stint as a guard.
I didn’t even have a human bank account. Just one of these notes was more than the sum of all that I had ever owned. I held the card and let the rest of the money fall onto my lap. There was a lot of it.
Lex, Thanks to some very poor judgement on behalf of almost everybody we know, I won’t be able to wish you a happy birthday on the actual day. So in the tradition of every absent father figure, I’m throwing money at the problem. I hope this gift will make life at Terran better for you the way you’ve made my life so much better for having you in it. Love, Basil.
I was sniffling when Harlow’s voice entered the room. “Holy shit!” she said. “How much cash is that?”
She was standing at the doorway with Alison. They were both wide-eyed. I didn’t bother to count or collect the cash. “I’m not sure,” I said. When I sat there just staring at the words in the card, they traded glances and then slunk away. Only after they were gone did I move to pick up the money I’d dropped.
There was two thousand dollars in the stack. More money than I even knew what to do with. It was unthinkable. Basil had clearly not been thinking straight. I smiled when it occurred to me he probably never thought straight. He was such an odd character. I glanced at the floor-length mirror beside the built-in closet wishing it was one of the ones at Bloodline that I could use to communicate. But I was cut off, and I couldn’t sit around here moping about missing people all day.
“Any more news on trying to find Gaia?” Matilda asked me during our next training session.
“I’m trying something, but I haven’t had much success so far.” It didn’t help to elaborate. I didn’t think she would be impressed that I’d solicited the assistance of the supernaturals.
“Do you know anything about being a bone witch?” I asked her as we sank down into the lawn beside the cutting garden.
“About as much as I know about any other speciality. How’s your hedge magic?”
The face I made said it all. So far there had been no sign of this regeneration Samantha had assured me would happen. Matilda sensed it and redirected the conversation. “Is there anything helpful in your great-grandmother’s diary?”
I shook my head. “Not unless you want a recipe for some unknown potion,” I said. I had a feeling Hilary Hastings was a bit of an experimentalist witch. It would account for all of her eccentric abilities. Sophie was trying to sneak into the library in Seraphina when she was there, to look up some reference books. So far she hadn’t found anything.
“You haven’t had enough time to figure anything out,” Matilda said. “Let’s get started. I want you to try and focus on your heartbeat. Once you’ve done that, drop into the Ley dimension and sync the beat with the pulses that run along the web. When you can get a proper rhythm, that’s when you’ll learn how to phase at will.
We spent the entire day attempting to get it right. And the next two days. I had a feeling the Sisterhood were trying to speed up my induction given the current circumstances. I wasn’t sure whether they were more afraid of the supernaturals having an advantage over us or Gaia being in a destructive rage.
By the end of the third day I was improving slightly. I still freaked out a little whenever something would pass through me. It was only the garden beds that we were using at this stage, but I was terrified of getting it wrong and ending up with a rose bush growing out of my stomach.
“You’re getting the hang of it,” Matilda said. She refrained from comparing my progress to the Evil Three.
“Another six months and I might not squeal while I’m doing it,” I said.
“We can only hope.”
Samantha appeared around the edge of the cutting garden. Storm clouds raged across her face. “The supernaturals have left something at the soul gate for you,” she said. “We’ve placed it in your room.” I could almost see the steam billowing from her ears.
“Thanks. I’m sure they didn’t mean to trespass. It’s just that it’s my birthday and –” She held up her hand.
“It’s not just about today,” she said. “They disregard any agreement whenever they feel like it. We are an afterthought to them. I hope you’ll remember that tonight.”
Matilda blew out a breath after Samantha left. “Phew,” she said. “Sam can get a little intense sometimes. But she means well.”
Everybody meant well but that didn’t mean they actually listened. I was banging my head against a wall trying to get both sides to see reason. We kept going with the lesson until late afternoon. Then it was time to get ready.
Many of the others were now dressed and ready to go. They were gathering in the kitchen. There were other cars in the parking area that I didn’t recognise.
Rachel was absent from the room when I closed the door. I had just planned on wearing something in my limited wardrobe. There was a cream dress box on my bed with a sapphire blue bow around it. I opened it tentatively thinking Kai had done another run to Madame Familiar. But when I read the card, my slack expression softened into a smile.
Dear Lex,
No matter where you are, you will always be one of us. We love you, snark and all.
It was signed by all of my friends. I swiped away the tears and gently unwrapped the dress. It was a shimmering, delicate blue material interspersed with glittery thread. The effect made it appear like a blue sky dusted with starlight. The structure wrapped around and then sort of knotted at my right hip. It was just long enough to touch my knees, but it whispered around my legs and appeared to be floating. I was literally a walking cloud. There were matching sapphire-coloured strappy heels.
I left my hair down but splashed water on my face. When I arrived at the kitchen, everyone else was already waiting. I almost did a double-take when I saw the transformation in Rachel. Her dress was black, of course, but the thin straps and cinche
d waist softened her lithe figure.
Samantha caught me as I stepped through the doorway. “Remember what I said earlier this evening,” she said. “We really need to present a united front tonight.” Who was she kidding?
My mouth was opening to say something when Jessica stepped up to us. “He’s here,” she said to Samantha. The grand mistress almost bowled me over in her haste to get to the door.
“I take it from her reaction that the he is her husband?” I snarked to Rachel. To my surprise, she rolled her eyes.
“If you could call him that. He spends more time at work than with her.”
If Samantha minded, you couldn’t tell from the way she was smiling as she came back into the room on the arm of a man wearing a tailored dark Italian suit. If that was the look on my face when I was around Kai, I deserved an ass kicking. There was something truly disconcerting about a woman of that age giggling the way she did. When I glanced up to get a look at him properly, my whole body tensed.
I turned my head slowly towards Rachel. There was just enough time to watch her try and smooth out her scowl. “Is that…? I mean, is he...” I couldn’t finish my sentence but Rachel’s unenthusiastic nod confirmed it.
It was like the universe thought of me as a punching bag. Hit after hit. Samantha led her husband towards the middle of the kitchen. “Try not to implode,” Rachel barked in my ear. Easier said than done. Why wouldn’t I be okay with this? I mean, Samantha had only just walked into the room with Ben Cochran. The honourable Benjamin Cochran to us mere Australian citizens. Minister for Environment and Planning. I wouldn’t have known who he was if not for Basil’s collection of newspapers. Samantha was bringing a human politician to the treaty. The supernaturals had no idea what was coming.
The Minister cleared his throat and the room went quiet. He scanned the room and his eyes came to rest on me. There wasn’t really much about him to distinguish him from most other stuffy, middle-aged politicians. At least his slim frame meant he hadn’t given himself over to the good-life. His light brown hair was greying on the sides. He stood only just slightly taller than Samantha. But when I looked into his eyes, they wrinkled at the edges.
“I’m so glad you could all be here,” he said. “For too long we’ve been mistreated by these so-called benefactors. When we were no longer needed they attempted to eradicate us. Well, no more. We will make our demands heard.”
This was followed by enthusiastic clapping. Beside me, Rachel snorted.
“What are we demanding?” I asked.
She looked down at her hands. “They’ve gotten it into their heads that we would all be better off if the general public knew about the supernaturals. He’s going to demand that they reveal themselves.”
I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. “Just like that?”
“Yep.”
“But that’s going to cause mass hysteria.”
“Yep.”
I followed her out the back door towards one of the cars. “What if they refuse?”
She shrugged.
“You don’t agree with this, do you?” I wanted to know.
“Those are our orders.” She slammed the door shut. Sean slid into the driver’s seat. I stood there watching as one by one the others disappeared into the cars. Ashton walked up to me. He opened the back passenger door and waved for me to get in. I did so in a stupor. They were legitimately crazy. Half an hour towards the Grampians, Sean flipped the rear-view mirror so he could get a better look at me.
“You’re very quiet,” he said.
“I told her about the plan,” Rachel explained. Ashton nodded. He regarded me for a second.
“So what’s it going to be?” he asked.
“What’s what going to be?”
“If the time comes. Having you with us would change everything.”
It took me a second to work out what he was asking. When I did, the only thing that stopped me from laughing was the absolute stillness of his face. He was deadly serious. They were preparing for war and they expected me to pick their side. To them, species loyalty was everything. It didn’t matter if the supernaturals had been kind to me.
I zipped my lips and pretended to stare out the window. It was better than letting on that if a war started, I would probably be on the wrong side of it. My thoughts drifted to the prophecy Brigid and some of the other supernaturals swore they’d seen. The irony of it was not lost on me. At this point, I didn’t even know if I wanted to help this damn universe.
31
The negotiation meeting point clearly used to be some millionaire’s country retreat. It was perfectly positioned halfway up a natural incline in the otherwise flat expanse of greenery. It wasn’t yet dark, but lights–the solar not the Fae kind–had been set up all along the driveway. The big French doors at the back of the house had been left open. If I craned my neck I could see the buffet tables set up inside.
My heart squeezed in my chest at the sight of the Academy bus sitting squat in the middle of the driveway. This was a long drive for them. They had to have come through a portal pretty far away given the Terran’s mandate for everything supernatural to be removed.
I had to dig my nails into my palms to stop myself from leaping out of the car and running inside. Sean parked as far away from the bus as possible.
There were other vehicles in the lot. I’d bet my life that the two stretch limousines belonged to Orin Harcourt and one of the Nephilim. The Councillor who had been chosen to replace Artemis Gilbert was a traditional jerk. I had it on good authority from Sophie that he had a huge stick up his butt.
When we finally got inside the doors, I spotted Sophie’s mop of dark curls first. Something inside my chest decompressed. Not caring if I was supposed to stick with Terran, I raced over to her. She turned, saw me, and squealed. Her arms were around me a second later.
“Happy birthday,” she said. “I feel like I never see you anymore.”
I squeezed her so tight I think I heard her inhale. When she pulled away, her brows creased.
“Hi, Lex!” I heard Mani say. “Happ –” Sophie tugged me away.
“Not now, Dad. We’re going to the bathroom.”
My head was turning every which way trying to find Kai. So it was a surprise when I felt her concealing circle knit around me. “Soph?”
Instead of the bathroom, she led me down a corridor and into what would have been a guest bedroom complete with ensuite. It had obviously been designated as the cloak room. There were coats layered on top of each other all over it. Locking the door behind us, she rounded on me. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
Her left brow raised. Ah shit. “Nothing. I just found out something I hadn’t bargained for...”
“Lex.” She took my hands and led me to the queen bed. We shoved the coats aside and sat down. “You know you can tell me anything.”
Oh I knew that. It was the reciprocity of it that I had niggling doubts about. She’d been missing just as much as Kai had these past few months. Both of them had been tight-lipped about what they were doing.
My mouth opened. I had every intention of blurting it all out but for some reason, nothing happened. It wasn’t like when I tried to speak about Lucifer. Those times there was an actual physical barrier. This was completely guilt related. It was so stupid. Of all the people I could say something to, it was Sophie. Yet I hesitated. Her parents were Councillors now. If I told her, she would feel obligated to say something. Why did that even matter? We were on the same side.
I found myself contemplating the viscous look on Rachel’s face whenever she mentioned the supernaturals. Whatever had made her hate them so much, it had to have been something terrible. She was too strong to be bothered by meaningless vendettas.
In the end, I told Sophie as much as I could. Even those small bits were enough to make the colour drain from her face. “There’s no way the Council are going to agree to revealing themselves.”
“Terran believe the best wa
y for humans to defend themselves is if they know the truth about what’s out there,” I reasoned. And then I thought of that demon. Of those poor shifters.
“It makes sense,” Sophie said. “If the humans knew about demons, they might be able to condition themselves to resist possession.”
“You think? Even most supernaturals don’t have that kind of willpower.”
She bit her lip. Maybe she was thinking back to the time when there were demons at Bloodline. They had taken hold of most of the students. Sophie and Max managed to beat them back but it was dicey. If supernaturals couldn’t fight demons, did humans stand a chance?
“If they do agree to reveal themselves, it would have to be gradual,” she said. “Not in the shocking way this Minister wants to happen.” She bit her lip. “Don’t even get me started on how messed up it is that the grand mistress of the Sisterhood happens to be married to the Minister for Environment.”
She reached up and ran her finger along my puffed-up eyelids. “C’mon, let’s get out of here before someone comes searching for you thinking you’ve been kidnapped.”
There was a knock on the door. “Blue.”
Sophie didn’t say a word as she opened the door and sidestepped around Kai. How she managed to get out past his broad shoulders was beyond me. My pulse jackhammered at the sight of him. The night had barely begun and his tie was already hanging loose around his collar. The top two buttons of his pristine white shirt were undone. He was scowling when he stepped into the room. For a second I thought he’d caught me out. The lie was on the tip of my tongue when he held out his hand.
“Come here.”
I balked at the implicit command. He grinned at my reticence. “I don’t have much time before the talks begin, Blue.”
That damn smug bastard. Despite knowing I was conceding something, I moved towards him. It was only when I got close that I saw the already-healing scratch drawn across his collarbone. “What happened?”
