Loch

by Amy Star

  “Help me,” a voice rasped. Female.

  With a gasp, Holly looked down. She saw nothing. She was starting to think she had imagined the voice when it came again.

  “Help. I’m hurt.” It was most certainly Elise.

  “Elise,” Holly called back, careful not to be too loud in case there were any dark shifters trying to sniff out the house. “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes,” came the strained reply.

  “Can you see me?”

  “No.”

  “I’m on the deck. Stay still, and I’ll come to you.”

  “What other option do I fucking have?”

  Holly pressed her lips together. Whether it was to avoid laughing or lashing out, she wasn’t sure. At least, Elise wasn’t seriously injured.

  Before leaving the deck, she picked up her bow and grabbed a couple of practice arrows. They wouldn’t pierce hide, but they’d hurt like a bitch if she fired them at anything.

  Holly grabbed a flashlight from the drawer in the entryway table before stepping outside. Walking down the porch steps and driveway wasn’t too bad, but as soon as she moved off the paved road, she wished she’d stopped to change her shoes.

  She picked her way around the side of the house until she stood directly in front of the deck.

  “Elise?”

  “Still here,” she replied.

  “Can you see me now?”

  “No.”

  Holly turned on the flashlight and shone it on the ground. “Can you see the light?”

  “I’m not at death’s door yet.”

  “I mean my flashlight.” Holly sighed.

  “Yes. I’m to your right. Ten paces.”

  Holly did as she was told, nearly losing her footing as her heels sank into the uneven earth. Her pendant bounced against her chest. She glanced down at it and froze.

  All of the color had leeched from the stone. She shone her light on it to be sure. The gem was now as clear as glass. There was someone nearby she shouldn’t trust.

  The only person in the area was Elise.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—Holly

  “Are you close?” Holly whispered.

  “Yes.” Elise’s voice came from directly beside her. “One more step and your stiletto will be buried in my arm.”

  Holly shone her light downward. She stood less than an inch away from a small ridge where the earth suddenly gave out. It wasn’t a steep fall, half a foot at most, but it would wreak havoc on unsuspecting ankles.

  Sure enough, Elise sat on the ground just on the other side of the ridge, gingerly touching her ankle.

  “Can you not shine that in my face?” she asked.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “Do you really think they’ll be able to hold back?” Elise snapped.

  Holly blinked in confusion. “What?”

  “The shifters. They hate Golden Oak. They hate my brother now that you’ve gone and told them about him. Do you really think they’ll be able to stop themselves from seeking revenge?”

  “They will because I’ve told them to,” Holly said with more confidence than she felt in the moment.

  Elise barked out a laugh and rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, please. They don’t give a damn what you say,” she said. “The only ones who really care are the ones who get to fuck you.”

  “That’s not true,” Holly muttered.

  “Oh, really? Do you think anyone would do anything you asked if there weren’t such a huge prize at stake? You showed up in town two months ago. You didn’t even know we existed until then. You know nothing of shifters or their lives. Maybe you hear the voice of one of our deities, maybe you’re just insane. I’m not risking my brother’s life on your word.”

  Holly’s face hardened into a mask of stone. “Have fun getting to the mines like that,” she said. “If you do manage to make it, you’re risking doing permanent damage to your ankle. Tell me, do injured shifters who can’t shift last long in a fight?”

  Elise glared up at Holly. “Are you going to leave me here?”

  “I don’t see why I shouldn’t. You’ve proven yourself to be a liability.” Holly raised her bow and nocked a practice arrow. “I wonder how much damage this will do.”

  “You preach about avoiding bloodshed, yet you hold a weapon to an injured person,” Elise sneered.

  “I don’t want to hurt you. Truly. But I can’t trust you.”

  “If you can aim for my eye, I’d appreciate it,” Elise seethed.

  “Actually, I have something else in mind. Get up.”

  With some difficultly, Elise struggled to her feet.

  “Walk,” Holly commanded. Though her voice was steady and commanding, her legs shook beneath her long skirt.

  Elise hobbled over the small ridge, wincing with each step.

  For good measure, Holly pressed the tip of her practice arrow into Elise’s back. Their progress was slow, but they made it back to the house.

  Johnny, Keller, Garret, and Loch were waiting just inside the door.

  “What the hell?” Garret muttered.

  “Found her,” Holly said. “She was trying to warn her brother when she fell. Get her to the couch.”

  Keller and Johnny stepped forward to help Elise.

  Loch approached Holly. “You look a little green,” he said.

  “I’ve never threatened someone before. I feel a little queasy.”

  “You used to threaten me all the time.” Loch chuckled. “I kind of miss it, oddly.”

  “Yes, that is odd. Can you do me a favor?”

  “Anything.”

  “It’s a pretty bad one,” she warned him.

  “Anything,” he repeated, his eyes locked on hers.

  “Break her ankle.”

  Loch’s brows drew together.

  “Break it, then make sure it will heal properly. Give her whatever she needs to take away the pain. This isn’t about torture. This is about making sure she can’t ruin our plan. She’ll surely try to warn Trevor again, first chance she gets. If he disappears into Golden Oak, we’ll never find him again.”

  Loch’s mouth tightened into a harsh line.

  “Okay.” He nodded. “The others aren’t going to like it.”

  “They’re going to have to deal with it.”

  Loch disappeared into the study and returned with a paperweight the size of a grapefruit. Silently, he approached Elise on the couch. Before anyone thought to ask what he was doing, he brought the weight up and slammed it down on her ankle.

  Elise let out a blood-curdling scream.

  “That’s enough.” Holly nodded. “Bind it and get her something for the pain. Maybe a shot while you’re at it.”

  Loch quickly did as he was told.

  “What was that?” Keller demanded angrily.

  “I need to make sure she’s not going to run off to tell Trevor our plan,” Holly said. “If she found another chance, she’d leave. A sprained ankle wasn’t going to be enough to stop her. Isn’t that right, Elise?”

  She fixed Holly with a vicious glare.

  “You might as well tell the truth,” Holly said, touching the pendant, and Keller’s eyes brightened with understanding. “It’ll only help you.”

  “She’s right,” Elise said through gritted teeth.

  “I want her to make a full recovery,” Holly said. “Which one of you is the best at binding injuries?”

  “I’ve patched myself up from enough scrapes,” Johnny said. He took the bandages and medicine from Loch when he returned and set to work.

  “Whiskey or rum?” Loch asked Elise.

  “Whiskey.”

  Loch disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two shots of whiskey.

  Elise grabbed one and took it with a wince.

  “Thanks,” she muttered.

  “For you,” Loch offered the second shot to Holly.

  “What?”

  “It’ll settle your nerves.”

  Holly drank it quickly so the bitter li
quid wouldn’t touch her tongue for too long. She sputtered and coughed, her eyes watering.

  “Have you never done that before?” Loch smirked.

  “No,” Holly whimpered. “That was terrible.”

  “I’m going to get you a snack in case you don’t hold your liquor well.” Loch patted Holly on the shoulder.

  “If I just got taken down on the orders of someone who can’t handle a single shot, I’ll never forgive myself,” Elise mumbled.

  “Wow, those pain killers worked fast,” Johnny mused.

  “Whatever you gave me, give me ten more,” she demanded.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “We need her head clear sooner rather than later,” Holly said. “She’s going to scry for us.”

  “You’ve just shattered my ankle, now you want me to do things for you?” Elise frowned. “That’s messed up.”

  “Every part of this is messed up. If you’d trusted me, like I asked you to, your ankle wouldn’t be the size of a citrus.”

  “If I trusted you, my brother would be dead by tomorrow,” she spat.

  “That’s not true. I don’t know what else I can do to convince you that I don’t want anything bad to happen to Trevor while I can still help him.”

  Loch returned with a sandwich and a tall glass of juice. “For the lightweight Maiden.”

  “I’m not drunk,” Holly pointed out. “Give half that sandwich to Elise, please. We need to get her in shape to scry.”

  “How do we know she’ll tell us the truth about what she sees?” Keller asked.

  “Because if she doesn’t, she’ll only be hurting herself,” Holly reasoned. “I plan on using whatever she sees to help Trevor.”

  “Bullshit,” Elise snapped.

  “If that’s what you think, fine.” Holly shrugged. “Whatever happens to him after this is on your head.”

  Holly eyed the remaining half of the sandwich just as her stomach made an alarmingly inhuman noise. When was the last time she’d eaten? It must’ve been breakfast.

  As she dug into the sandwich, Elise righted herself on the couch.

  “If I’m going to do this, I need a few things,” she said. “First, I need a bowl of water. Silver bowls work best. Do you have any fresh rosemary?”

  “I think so.” Garret nodded. “So long as you don’t mind store-bought.”

  “Not the best, but it’ll do. It’s a clarifying herb. It’ll make whatever I see more vivid.”

  “No silver bowls, but I found some stainless-steel ones,” Loch offered.

  “No good.” Elise shook her head. “Steel is a murky metal. Glass is better.”

  “I can do that.”

  Loch returned with a glass mixing bowl as Garret fetched the herbs.

  “Do you need holy water or something?” Loch asked.

  “Springwater, if you have any.”

  “Sure, I’ll just pop over to the local spring,” he muttered. “Can you work with tap water?”

  “I hate to, but I can.”

  “So sorry for the inconvenience.”

  Elise gently rotated her freshly bandaged ankle. “Don’t talk to me about inconvenience.”

  Loch considered her for a moment. “Okay, you win that one. You’re still getting tap water, though.”

  “There’s bottled in the cabinet,” Garret said.

  “Bottled is better than tap.” Elise shrugged.

  When everything was assembled in front of Elise, she slowly sat up.

  “How long does this usually take?” Holly asked.

  “It depends. What is it that you want me to look at?”

  “I want you to look through the veil between here and Golden Oak,” Holly said. “I want to know what they’re up to.”

  Elise frowned. “That might be difficult,” she said. “I’ve only done this a handful of times.”

  “Just do what you can,” Holly pled.

  Elise poured the water into the bowl and crushed rosemary between her palms before adding it to the water. She held her hands above the bowl and closed her eyes.

  At first, nothing happened. Holly was about to ask if Elise needed anything else when the surface of the water began to ripple.

  Silently, everyone moved closer.

  The ripples turned into a small whirlpool. Something was definitely happening, but Holly couldn’t see anything within the depths of the water.

  Elise gasped. Her hands began to tremble. The swirling water in the bowl turned black. She shook violently like she was trying to pull away, but something had her in its grasp.

  “Move the bowl!” Holly commanded. “Dump out the water!”

  Johnny grabbed the bowl, but it wouldn’t budge from the coffee table. He yanked his hands back with a cry. His palms were red and raw as if he’d been burned.

  “Loch, can you help him?” Holly pled, unable to take her eyes off Elise.

  For once, Loch didn’t argue.

  “What can we do to help her?” Holly asked.

  “I don’t know,” Garret replied. “I’ve never seen someone scry in person. I don’t know what it’s supposed to look like.”

  “We just have to wait,” Keller said heavily. “And hope she makes it out of this.”

  “I never would’ve asked her if I knew it was this dangerous!” Holly cried. What had she done to this poor girl?

  Elise let out a sharp cry and flew back against the couch. The water in the bowl shot straight into the air before evaporating into steam.

  “Is she all right?” Holly cried, rushing to Elise’s side.

  “She’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t yell so close to her ear,” Elise muttered.

  Holly let out a sigh of relief. “She’s being a bitch.” Holly laughed. “She’s okay!”

  “If only all women were so easy to read.” Loch smirked.

  “How many women are you trying to read?” Holly placed a hand on her hip and arched her brow.

  “Two, technically.” Loch shrugged. “Though, I’m already good at reading you. I’m also trying to get a read on the actual Maiden who whispers into your mind. I think of her as a mother-in-law.”

  Holly let out an incredulous laugh just as Elise groaned.

  “Excuse me!” she said from the couch. “Can we get back to what’s important? I’ve almost died twice in one day.”

  “Having your ankle broken doesn’t count as almost dying.”

  “Says the asshole who fucking broke it!”

  “She’s right,” Holly said. “We need to focus.”

  “I’ll tone down my witticisms.” Loch nodded.

  “We’d all appreciate it,” Keller muttered before turning to Elise. “What did you see?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I seriously pissed off the veil by trying to scry through it.”

  “You mean figuratively, I assume,” Keller said.

  “No.” Elise shook her head. “Literally. The veil was literally angry. It dug into me and didn’t want to let me go. It tried to turn the spell around on me, but it wasn’t sure how. I don’t think it had ever encountered an unnatural witch before. It didn’t know how to fully negate my magic.”

  “Is that what made the water go black?” Holly asked.

  Elise nodded. “When it couldn’t force me out, it muddied my vision.”

  “I’m starting to understand why crafting this spell killed half of the Silver Spruce coven,” Holly murmured. “It’s not a barrier. It’s a guardian.”

  “Exactly.” Elise nodded. “And it’s not on our side.”

  Holly furrowed her brow.

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s protecting Golden Oak. It didn’t want me to see what they were doing. There are hundreds of shifters training. They’re going to attack soon, but I couldn’t tell when. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an army waiting for us tomorrow night.”

  “Do you think they know of our plans?” Keller asked.

  “They know the Maiden has returned to Silver Spruce,” Elise con
firmed. “They—” Elise stopped herself, casting a wary glance at Holly.

  “Just say it,” she urged. “We need to know.”

  “They were burning your effigy.”

  “If they aren’t stopped, they’ll come right for Holly,” Johnny said through clenched teeth. “Keller, you need to summon the shifters. We have to go to the silver mines tonight. We’re going to scare the life out of them and send them running for Golden Oak.”

  “I’ll make some calls.” Keller strode off to the dining room.

  Garret followed after him.

  “I’m going to give him a hand. That’s a lot of calls.”

  “Shame I have a broken ankle. I’m pretty scary when I want to be,” Elise huffed.

  “Loch, can you dig out anything of value from the family armory?” Holly asked, still having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that Pearl had an armory.

  “There’s not much,” he frowned, “but I’ll see what I can scavenge.”

  “Holly.” Johnny moved close to her and took her by the shoulders. “You’re going to hate this, but there’s something I need you to do.”

  “What?” Holly asked, brow furrowed.

  “Stay here.”

  “No way!”

  “Yes! Everything we’ve done, we’ve done to keep you safe. Taking you into a fight is the most counter-intuitive thing I can think of.”

  “But I have to be there for Trevor,” Holly insisted. “He’s not going to listen to anyone else.”

  “What makes you think he’s going to listen to you?” Johnny said. “One of us will grab him from the mines and bring him back here. I swear on my life that we won’t harm him.”

  Holly narrowed her eyes.

  “All right, we may knock him around a bit, but he won’t die from that.”

  “I don’t like this plan,” she said.

  “Normally, I’d do whatever I could to come up with a plan you like, but this time, we’re going at it the smart way for your own sake.”

  “What are you going to do? Lock me in the house?”

  “All the doors lock from the inside. It would be incredibly stupid of me to lock you in,” he said. “Instead, I’m going to trust you.”

  Holly’s breath hitched in her chest.

  “If I ask you to stay put, will you?”

  Holly looked up into his gray-green eyes and sighed. “If that’s what you need, I’ll do it.”