Paige was well aware of all of that. She had received an eye-opening view of politics and what that even meant. Politics was a word that encapsulated so many things. Money, war or peace, welfare, and so much more. Politics was like this grand chess game where the players understood that in order to obtain the power needed, they had to make bad choices for the better good.
Those few Google searches were the reasons she knew she could not do this job justice. She simply wasn't a politician.
"I understand how much weaker you’ll be when we leave. I understand why you’re going to fight so hard to keep us. I also understand how far you'll be willing to go to keep us. How many hundreds of thousands of us you will be willing to kill in order to keep our resources and your power. How many millions? When will enough be enough?"
Understanding dawned in the President's eyes. "What are your terms of peace?"
Paige outlined them as briefly as she could. "We remain free. We will not be treated as prisoners. We will not be incarcerated for being who we are. We will have our own legal systems. And we will protect everyone. Human and paranormal alike."
"But as your own nation."
Paige took a step toward her. "You're the one who took this too far. We could have had all of that. We still could. You could pull back. You could save face. You could tell the nation that you had no idea what we are, that you reacted poorly to that information and that you now understand that we’re just people like everybody else. You could still save this."
"That is not likely to happen."
Paige understood all of that. "You are going to take this to war. You think that you have all the power. Maybe you do. You think that you will smite us easily. You will not. We are going to make this as painful for you as possible."
The President said nothing, her expression merely stating she was listening.
"But understand, the world is watching. The world is waiting. We want peace. But we will not be treated like criminals. As soon as you threaten our rights, we will stand up and fight, and we will not be easily supressed."
The President took the list of terms and glanced at them. "I will consider these."
"That's all I can ask." Paige motioned to Bonnie to open the door. "But ask yourself how much innocent blood is too much? What price you’re willing to pay? You swore an oath to protect us, the people of the United States of America. All of us. Not just the ones you wanted to protect. Remember that."
Paige didn't wait for a response. She stepped through the door and listen to it zip closed behind her. She hoped she hadn't just made the situation worse.
33
As far as bit battles went, this one sucked the most. Everyone waited on pins and needles while the government officials discussed things beyond their control that would affect almost all of them.
Hours turned into days. Days felt like weeks or months.
The Government’s inaction helped in other ways, though. Troudale was gaining traction.
Originally, it’d just been the state of Oregon making a bid to secede from the Union, even though they knew it wouldn’t work. Families were already making plans to vacate if they had to. Social media was flooded with posts proclaiming hate for the paranormals who had made this day happen for them, or spewing hate at the government for forcing this issue to come to a head like this.
However, as the call to action spread like a festering wound, more states joined them. Washington, California—first north, and then south. Idaho, Montana, both the Dakotas. Basically, all of the western and mid-western states except Utah.
The President called for stiff action to be taken against secessionist states . She fought and called her militaries back.
Not all of them answered.
More than a few of the ships refused to leave their western harbors, something Paige knew wasn’t supposed to be legal. She knew the men and women on board might be court martialed and sent to the Federal prison indefinitely. The federal government owned their souls until their contracts were up, and that meant answering the President’s call.
Paige wanted to dive into her work and just disappear. She wanted the “politics” conversations to stop. She wanted the hate to stop.
But the idea that “politics” didn’t affect her was over. She couldn’t even pretend anymore. The politics of life was too heavy for her to ignore, too big for her to hide from. She couldn’t simply ask people to stop talking about it so she could have a peaceful afternoon. She couldn’t simply “unfollow” people and make their opinions go away when they caused her stress.
Which they were. They were all causing her a great deal of stress.
But this stress was brought on by her.
She’d been unwilling to stand down.
She’d been the one to invade a prison and free the inmates.
She’d been the one who had instigated this.
That wasn’t to say that things were all sitting around and waiting. No. They were buying time until the President decided what she was doing. In the meantime, they had to prepare.
It gave her a little time to see how her twins were doing, though, and that was good.
The two raced through the castle halls, now rampaging around as the size of five-year-olds. One was a bear and the other was an elephant.
Cawli walked beside Paige in his small cat form, his large-for-his-frame paws silent. They are doing well.
“But are they slowing down?”
No. If anything, they are speeding up their growth cycle.
“But why?”
Cawli pounced to the side and caught something small and rodent-like.
Paige kept her attention focused on her kids. She didn’t need to watch her spirit animal eat a mouse. She wasn’t sickened by it, but at the same time, it wasn’t cool either.
When he was done, he continued to walk. I believe their bodies are growing in order to physically house the energy of their spirit animals.
“Weren’t there previous cases of this somewhere? Some other kids were born with spirit animals this big?”
He looked up at her with his kitten eyes.
He really did look cute in this form.
He glared and then looked away. No.
She didn’t believe him. In all these years, the answer was just no.
We had never had an opportunity like this one before, he explained as they passed a display of metal armor whose head swiveled to watch the twins pass. It took a great deal of effort to create your bloodline.
That certainly didn’t make her feel any less anxious. Her kids were born of some of the strongest bloodlines in the U.S. Well, at least those that she knew of.
But at least she was starting to feel a little better. Hiding from stress did that. It gave the brain the ability to reset a little.
She was reading a lot of nonfiction in order to help her deal with her stress. Okay. She was skim-reading a lot of nonfiction to help with that. She didn’t have time or the brainpower needed to comprehend all the words.
She was so ill-suited for this new part of her life. What had she been thinking?
Aunt Paige, Kammy’s voice called telepathically.
What was he doing there? Paige assumed that someone had brought him to Cyn’s house to get her. Not everyone liked coming to the Library because, apparently, it didn’t like everyone, including Leslie. She’d come once.
Once.
That’d been enough.
Yeah, Kam.
Mom says, “Get her ass up here. But not like that, Kammy. You—”
Kammy was developing as a person and he’d taken to recording or mimicking exactly what the other person said. It was uncanny, yet hilarious. Tell her I’m on my way up.
When am I going to be able to play again?
She heard his unspoken meaning. He wanted to play with the twins. When their growth doesn’t hurt you, buddy.
When will that be?
She wished she had an answer for him. Te
ll your mom I’ll be up shortly.
He sighed petulantly in her mind, but left.
You’re being called away, Cawli said as he padded beside her.
Yes. She didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay here and remain in hiding in this castle in another dimension where the spirit animals were able to walk as real animals and not as passengers in a human host. She wanted to be away from the politics and a battle she had no idea how to fight.
What she faced was so much bigger than she was.
She went to the twins and forced them back into human form.
Rai’s long, dark-blonde hair trailed down her back in waves as she studied her mom through eyes so like Dexx’s, except hers coursed with sparking electricity.
“Be good.”
She shrugged and gave Paige a hug.
It wasn’t the hug of a kid who loved her mom, though. It was the hug of a kid hugging a stranger.
Damn it. Why was her parenting always like that? She’d fought so hard to have moments like this and… she was fucking it all up. Again.
Ember bounced up to her, tall and gangly and wearing a dress and a floppy hat. He grinned up at her with his dark chocolate eyes. “Be good.” He threw himself at her.
She chuckled and wrapped him in her arms. He didn’t need much to build a deeper emotional connection, unlike his sister, which was a surprise because when they’d been babies—just a day or two ago—it’d seemed to be a much different case.
Paige remained kneeling and stared at both her kids. “Things will be safe again and we’ll bring you back up again, I swear.”
“And if we don’t?” Rai asked, her five-year-old tone on point for her tiny body.
Paige didn’t want to think about it because that meant she’d failed, but if they didn’t stop growing, then…
“We’ll move down here. Me, Leah, Bobby.” Paige paused wondering where in the Hell Dexx was. “Dad.”
Rai blinked, her lips flat, as she nodded once.
Such a solemn kid.
“Don’t blow up,” Paige said as she stood. Her advice to her kids was so great.
That was so much sarcasm. Her advice was horrible.
Paige didn't wait any longer. She wasn't the type of person to stand around and say goodbye eighteen times before leaving. When she was done, she was done. Too many other things needed to be accomplished that day. She just didn't know exactly what those were.
By the time Paige made it out of the castle and into the bedroom and Troutdale, she managed to get most of her mental wards and shields back in place. That was a good thing. Yes, she needed to be sympathetic to the plight of people, but she didn't need her raw heart to be on her sleeve.
Leslie waited for her. "We have a growing situation."
Paige had waiting for this. She wasn't sure what the battle would look like. Would it be the full force of the United States military up against the citizens of Troutdale? Would it be a bunch of prison guards making Troutdale into a reservation of sorts? She just didn't know.
Leslie gave her as much information as she could on the way, but it seemed as though most people had no idea, including Leslie.
DoDO had absolutely no qualms about keeping everyone in the dark. The only person they seem to want to speak with was Paige.
So, they drove to the entrance ramp and met Mario.
The National Guard had been stationed at the highway. Several Humvees and a few other troop transport vehicles block the highway. Obvious soldiers in camouflage moved with purpose, but none of them carried their rifles.
Paige understood that this was their reality, yet she was having a hard time comprehending it. How had their lives come to this? How had the President of the United States talked people into believing that this was the right course of action? Was she really so privileged as to be surprised by this? Was this a reality that others faced and she just didn't understand it or feel it?
Those were morality questions for another time. Right now, she only needed to know if she was preparing her town for battle.
Mario twisted a little with a crooked grin. "This is a pretty intimidating sightt, I bet."
Paige was certain that if he was on this side, he wouldn't be nearly so flippant. However, it really did appear as though he was on the winning side. She had to keep in mind that the President had the military. "What are we doing here?"
He rubbed his chin for a moment and then looked around again. "I am here to formally invite you to the White House. You’re being called the informal leader of the paranormal peoples."
She wasn't certain how or why she got that particular designation. But it was something she was going to have to work to rectify. She had no idea what she was doing as a leader. And that could be dangerous.
Mario crossed his arms. "The leaders of your nation would like to discuss options."
"We already have the mandates and terms the president has provided." Paige narrowed her eyes a smidge. What was Mario getting at?
"And they need to be discussed. We cannot allow this to continue."
Had that one right. "We have a deadline. We fully intend to meet it."
"And there are parties concerned that your decision will not go our way." His lips twisted as he said that. "There are government officials who want to speak with you directly. This is not an invitation by the President."
Now, that was certainly a new development. "Give me their information and I'll make an appearance."
"We've already made the arrangements for your transportation."
She smiled at him. She wasn't about to allow him to take charge. "I'll make my own."
"I don't think you fully understand the situation."
Oh, but she really did. "I don't think you fully understand just how much I fully understand. Give me the names and I will make my own arrangements."
The smug look fell off Mario's face.
Five minutes later, she had the names and an address. It was time to see if they could bring some maturity to the situation. Paige really didn't want to be the person who broke the United States.
But if the president continued to threaten her family, that was exactly what Paige was going to do.
34
Paige and Leslie drove onto Main Street, and people were already there to meet with them. Everyone had the drill down, now. She saw the people she needed to speak to the most knotted in a loose circle. Whoever was coordinating this effort needed to be paid in gold.
Within moments, Paige had a Blackman witch, a reporter, a dryad, and Leslie held her to go bag.
“Don’t worry about Bobby, I’ll take care of him and Leah. Just be amazing. You got this.”
Leah bounced on her toes, ready to go. She refused to take no for an answer. “I can help, you know I can.”
“Sure. But you’d be my biggest liability. That’s kind of how traps work.”
“You shouldn’t go then.”
“I have to. To check the possibility. If we had Dexx, there might be a discussion.”
Paige wasn't even going to consider it anyway. She realized that as a parent, she should be more willing to leave her daughter behind.
However, they were going to the capital of the United States. She should be able to take her daughter and be safe.
She also realized just how naïve she sounded inside her head. This had to be a trap.
When she stepped through the Blackman door, she was met with three surprised faces and about a dozen others who were so engrossed in discussion, they didn't even react.
It was obvious that she had stepped into an important meeting. " Congresswoman Jacobs? We need to talk. Paige Whiskey."
One of the people who hadn't been surprised by her sudden appearance stood. She flicked a look to Paige but continued speaking to her group. “—doesn’t like it then her can piss up a tree. Got it?”
The four others didn’t look happy at all, but one by one they nodded. Once she made sure each had acknowledge
d her, she gave Paige her full attention. "I am so glad you were able to make it. And in such a timely fashion." She walked to the end of the long conference table and offered her hand.
Paige stretched her witch senses to see if the Congresswoman was any kind of paranormal. However, she appeared to be one hundred percent human.
In which case, she needed to read every micro nuance emanating from the woman.
With her detective senses on high alert, Paige took the other woman's hand and gave it of good shake. "I have no idea what to expect."
"Good, then." Congresswoman Jacobs was a Frank woman and didn't appear to want to mince words. "Neither do we, and we would love to get to the heart of this as quickly as possible." She led the way to her small group. "We find ourselves in a dire situation."
Paige had to agree with that. "Tell me the President is over-stepping her bounds."
"In short, yes. However, your actions are only helping her."
That wasn't exactly what Paige wanted to hear. "Tell me what the real situation is in as broad strokes as you can. And remember, I don't have a law degree or studied law outside of police procedures."
Basically, the President did not have the power to raise the US Armed Forces against the paranormal citizens of the United States. So. There was at least a law that protected Paige and the other paranormal's.
To an extent.
The fact of the matter was that they appeared to be raising and insurgents that could lead to a revolutionary war.
In that instance, the President was within her rights to apply the full force of the US military against the paranormal insurgent forces.
"That would be bad." Paige wasn't an idiot. She knew that they had magick, but even magick could not defend against missiles. At least, not for long.
"Indeed it would." Congresswoman Jacobs wasn't the only one with a frank attitude. Congressman Allen was equally frank. "There is a very real possibility that this could ramp to civil war. And if we did, the power of the United States would not nearly be as great as the President seems to think."
Whiskey Storm Page 29
