"After you met the first time I saw what would happen should it grow beyond control. I warned him to stay close and to touch you skin to skin as often as he could." She grinned. "I don"t think he minded the instruction once he"d met you."
"I don"t understand. We can connect to the Source. Big deal. You can touch the Source."
"This is more complex than a simple channeling of power. When the nexus opens you become a living embodiment of the energy in its raw form. A Source in your own right."
I frowned and chewed my lip. "Sounds intense."
She barked a laugh and rubbed at her eyes. "You have no idea."
I sensed her close up on the subject and thought of something else. "Why does Devlin want me to go with him? He seemed very insistent that I go home with him."
"This is where it gets complicated. Has Breandan or Conall explained the limits of the Source yet?"
"I can get better at wielding magic with practice, but can never draw more than my limit." I said, proud of myself for remembering.
"Clever girl, but for you and Breandan the rule no longer applies. You"re bonded."
"Oh," I said, neatly put in my place. "I see."
Ana gazed above and her face was frightened. "There are three ancient items of magic in the form of golden amulets pure fairies - Priestesses, whose purpose is to keep the balance of life - can wield to make themselves extremely powerful, and become more connected to the Source. For nearly two thousand years the balance was maintained. But then one Priestess forgot her purpose, and it got out of whack. The dark outweighed the light, and things that never should have been possible occurred." Her face took on a sour look. "The Rupture was a side effect of her failure. If she was doing job and keeping the balance, it never would have happened. The vampires would have been stopped. But the result of that failure is clear to see, look at the world we live in."
"You"re looking for these amulets," I said, "to try and bring back the balance. But Devlin has other plans. It"s like a race."
She nodded. "A b.l.o.o.d.y sprint to see who can ama.s.s the most power before inevitable war. The grimoire, a book of spells has been in the Tribe"s possession since before anyone can remember. It would be horrific if a force of evil was able to open it." She shuddered delicately in the gra.s.s. "The grimoire is locked, and the key is the three amulets combined, wielded by a pure fairy."
"Why are you guys so worried then? If you have to be pure to-"
"It doesn"t matter which type of pure you are. Pure evil can unlock the book just as pure good can."
"Who"s the dumba.s.s thought that gem up?"
"You did. Rather, one of your past reincarnations did."
"Ah," I said.
"Breandan lost an amulet piece this morning. It gives protection to the possessor." She smiled at a spider scuttling across her leg. She picked it up and held it in her palm, moved her hand this way and that as the hairy brown arachnid searched for a place to get off. "Its guardian gave it to him for safekeeping as he felt he could no longer conceal it."
The implications of what she was saying hit home. "So, the Tribe now has one amulet, and the rebels have-"
"Officially, none," she said and grimaced. "Lochlann will not forgive Breandan easily for that screw up. He became its protector, and left it unprotected to run around after you since you got lost. Like I said before, I"ve saw that sticky spot you slid into with Maeve."
I scowled darkly. Everyone sounded so ready to bend over and take it from this fairy Lochlann, but I didn"t see him risking his hide to guard the amulet piece. Where was he? He was needed here.
Ana set the spider on the gra.s.s, and waved goodbye as it scurried away into the undergrowth.
"Rae, the next time we hear strange noises in the forest, what do we do?
"Go the other way," I mumbled.
"Correct." She beamed at me. "Don"t worry, all is not lost. We can even the score. There are two more, hidden with their guardians and we"ll find them, just you watch."
I let it all sink in. My hand unconsciously strayed to the pendant, no, the amulet piece lying under my tee shirt. Ana honestly didn"t seem to know that I had it. But Conall, Breandan and Devlin did. Ana was a witch and gifted with the Sight. How could she not know that I was a guardian too? Something was off. There were still large gaping holes in the tapestry that was being woven in my mind. Devlin was an evil fairy-lord. Pure evil and he wanted my amulet piece so that he could try to open the grimoire. Lochlann, another bad a.s.s fairy and Breandan"s older brother was leading the revolution to bring back the balance, and was therefore fighting against Devlin, which made him the good guy, right? The grimoire was a scary powerful book that Devlin had, but couldn"t open because it was locked. Somewhere in the middle of this myself and two other fairies had been chosen as guardians of the key, the amulets. I a.s.sume to keep them safe from evil, because though my moral compa.s.s was dubious at the best of times, I didn"t feel evil, which made me good too, right?
But then why did I not know any of this? Why had I been dumped on the steps of a Temple Priests house, glamoured as a human baby with no memory or knowledge of whom or what I was? Surely, if this amulet were important it would be madness to entrust it to someone who may have just thrown it away one day. Everything was falling into s.p.a.ces, but some bits didn"t fit.
One thing I knew for certain, though I was curious - who wouldn"t be - I didn"t want a part in any of it. No matter what Ana thought it was too big for me. The whole political battle between the rebels and the Tribe, and the battle between good and evil. The only reason I could see I was a part of it was because of my connection to Breandan. After all, no long lost relative had come forward to claim me.
The macabre tone of my thoughts had me scrambling around my own head for a distraction. "Uh, the way you talk," I said, "you consider yourself part of the fairy rebels?"
She snorted. "The G.o.ds created the Source and we all came from that. I don"t care they look different to me. We"re made of the same basic stuff."
"But you"re human," I said stubbornly taking in her normal ears, skin and lack of other limbs. There was no glamour over her; I"d looked hard for it.
"If you want to get technical about it I"m the white witch, but for the most part yeah, human. You are most definitely fairy."
"So it"s true then. All witches are bad? Barring you, I mean."
Sadness flickered across her expression. "Fairies are magical. It is the essence of what they are, and for the most part it protects them from influences that can rot a person to the core - jealousy, greed and spite to name a few. Humans who can touch the Source, witches, do not have these natural safeguards."
"What makes you different?"
"The same thing that makes you different." Her eyes lingered on my wings. "The will of the G.o.ds."
Stunned by her knowledge I pried without thinking. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
I thought back to when I was fifteen three years before. Trying to work out why my body was so developed, and why I didn"t want the boys to touch me like the other girls did. I compared myself to this powerful girl and cringed. I went to pull my hood up but at Ana"s stern look I rested my fingers on the fabric, and my stomach clenched.
"I am in so much trouble. I don"t think I can do this."
She glared at me with a face of thunder. "You know what, this "oh no poor me" routine has to stop, Rae."
"What?" I wailed. "I have a right to be upset."
I raised my palms helplessly and swallowed the excess saliva building in my mouth.
"You don"t have time to mope, or be worry about what"s coming, because it"s already here. Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it"s crunch time. I wish you had more time to prepare, I do, but fact is you don"t. You need to face who you are and accept your place beside Breandan. The Tribe has stolen the amulet of protection. They grow more powerful, and now they have one of the four. In many futures you try to run but trouble finds you. If you don"t accept this-"
Clamping a hand over my mouth, I leaped up and dashed into a corner before emptying my stomach onto the ground. I heaved until nothing but clear, acidic liquid dribbled from my lips. My mind scuttled over everything and I retched, puking air. Leaning my head on the cool stone I clung to the trailing ivy rooted to the wall, and breathed in the light scent from flowers sprouting in-between the gray bricks.
Pushing away from the wall I swayed back over to Ana. I let my legs give way so I was seated, leaning forward limply.
"Chew this." She pushed something green into my hand.
I stuffed it in my gob and chomped down. A clean taste exploded in my mouth, down my throat, and into my belly until the nauseated feeling subsided. I spat the wad of green out of my mouth and raised it in my upturned palm.
She motioned to the lump of weedy gra.s.s. "I laid a spell to help you."
With bigger things to be upset about then a bit of magic, I tossed it and pushed hair out my eyes. "How am I supposed to react to this?" Thinking on it I came up with nothing. My wings flexed behind me and I sighed. "This is too big for me, it was too big when I found out I wasn"t human." My hand drifted to touch an elongated ear; it twitched beneath my touch. "You"re telling me that I have to be with Breandan or he and his brother will fail in their quest to overthrow Devlin. I don"t even know why they are against him."
Though I could guess. Devlin seemedcruel.
"I wish I could say something wise and comforting, but that"s not what I"m here for. That"s not my purpose. But I know you"ll make the right choice." Leaning over to give me a hug she pressed her cheek to mine. I stiffened. Moving away, she laughed quietly. "Oops, sorry. I forget."
Shrugging it off, I plucked at the gra.s.s. "How do you manage with all this?"
She grinned. "It"s cool. My strength is my Sight, but I can draw some power from the Source should I want. I have known who and what I am since I can remember. The rebels are the only real family I"ve ever known. I don"t want to be without them." We shared a smile before Ana looked up to the night. "Nothing can compare to fairy kind." She lay flat on her back, and I paused trying to figure out how settle beside her.
A few minutes of unsuccessfully lying down and shifting into awkward positions I leaned up and thought move out a little, and my wings moved out a little. I leaned back and the gra.s.s p.r.i.c.ked the skin between my shoulder blades. My wings folded up against my body to coc.o.o.n me; curving overhead. The overall effect was snug as we watched clouds roll across the sky.
"Tell me about them?" I asked.
"They"re all different, living solitary lives for the most part, even those sworn to the Tribe. The majority remains Outside, but there are those who live within the Wall disguised as human, like me."
"You"re not a slum girl," I said. "You talk like an upper dwell." I wondered how many other demons were living as ordinary humans. "It"s strange to think of demons as so civilized. I"m used to thinking of them as, well, something close to animals."
Ana snorted a laugh. "Do you consider yourself as animal?"
I chose to avoid answering that.
"Can you tell me how many demons there are?"
"My, my counting a.s.sets already." She laughed at my blush. "The other demons have their own laws, and I have no idea about their numbers. We believe the fairy number to be teetering at a thousand," her voice was proud. "There may be others hiding in the regions across the seas. Then there are the outcast fairies."
My tail curled around my waist to jiggle in front of my eyes. I clasped the tip in one hand and pushed it behind me. "You"re going to get bored having to explain every comment to me really soon, but outcast fairies?"
"It"s nice to get a new perspective on things. Don"t worry; you deal with all this rather well." She spoke with confidence, and scratched her nose. "Where was I?"
"The, uh, outcast fairies," I reminded her.
"They hold no allegiance to the Tribe or us rebels, around three quarters of our kind."
"Why so many? Don"t they like having someone to guide them?"
"Well, you have to think about it without taking sides. The fairies are divided into two squabbling factions," she made a sweeping gesture, "and wedged between the rest of the supernatural kingdom. Make no mistake, we are the most powerful race."
"Proud," I said.
"Honest," she said back. "The vampires launched the Rupture, and we had no choice but to fight since the humans tarred all demons with one brush. It was either fight or be slaughtered. Devlin has made relations between fairies and other demons terrible, unbearable. Made mistakes that got us stuck in mess we are in now. If you were the outcast fairies, who would you trust?"
There were once only two people in the world I trusted, I could relate. But still. Lightening split the picturesque sky and the hairs on the back of my neck rose.
"Crazy," I said.
"No, I am not and neither are you. This is the way it is." She paused. "It could be worse."
"Time is up," a voice said from behind me.
Breandan had arrived with Conall a few steps behind. Streaks of mud dirtied his face and sculpted chest, as if he had been rolling around on the floor. I didn"t see any serious wounds on him, but it was hard to tell under all those tattoos. I wondered again why he had so many. My gaze drifted up his chest and locked with his. I picked up his intoxicating scent of earth and sun, and I dragged in a lungful like it was a drug.
"Breandan," someone squealed from a distance.
The world shunted back into focus and my eyes left his. Ana launched herself onto him and he scooped her up into a bear hug, swung her round in a wide circle. I managed to keep a semblance of calm, keep my expression neutral, and I"m proud to say I did not drag her off him by the hair.
"Ana," he said solemnly. "Whatchasee?"
"Everything," she said, laughed.
"You made a joke," I said then stood and busied myself brushing bracken off my jumper, refusing to meet the curious stares. It was just that Breandan didn"t seem the kind to crack a joke, and the fact he was doing it with her and not me was irritating.
Beaming up at him, Ana swung her arms and smiled coyly. I was getting a definite crush vibe from her. He dropped his hold on her and extended his hand to me. I stepped forward to clasp it, felt contentment. He didn"t ask about my missing glamour or make reference to my changed form, and I was grateful. His eyes rested for a long while on my wings then my tail. Heat crept up my neck and spilled into my cheeks. I ducked my head down so my hair covered my face.
I peeked up, and Breandan"s face was set, but glowing.
Ana rolled her eyes and ran her hand through her hair. "I"ll see you soon, Rae. Try to remember it"s pointless to run from yourself." She paused as the lightening above struck again. Taking a last look at my face, she shook her head. "Be safe," she called and made her way into the gloom of the trees.
I barely heard or acknowledged her. The clouds darkened and the air hummed with electricity. The panicky, manic urge to run made my breath come in shallow pants. I loved storms; already I could feel my skin p.r.i.c.kling.
Conall"s face was turned to the sky. "Rae," said and he looked at me. His eyes sparkled and cheeks glowed with two spots of colour. "I still have much to show and tell you, but now is not the time. I will see you soon and we"ll frolic. Enjoy the storm."
He winked at me then the pale soles of his boots flashed through the trees, ponytail streaming until he was lost to sight. Man, he was fast.
It was hard to concentrate with the ruckus overhead. My palms began to sweat. My wings twitched madly, and my tail thrashed so quickly it almost vibrated. I concentrated hard on a single action before turning to face Breandan. I brought my fist hurtling forward and encountered air. His face creased with amus.e.m.e.nt as he moved with the fluidity of water. My punch missed him by a mile and in a move to fast for me to defend against Breandan spun to my front, grabbed my leg and opposite arm to hold me taut above his head. I wriggled and writhed unable to break his hold. The first fat drops of rain landed on my cheeks and neck.
"You have not been taught to fight well," he said calmly despite my tail thumping his face.
"I cannot believe you didn"t tell me you arrogant, stupid sonofa-"
"Oh, you"re mad," he said and dropped me.
I landed lightly on my feet, wings jack-knifing out to beat hard beside me. Straightening in a flash I got in his face. "Stop throwing me about."
"You are not a weakling. To treat you as such would be an insult."
As if channeling my anger lightening flashed. Thunder crashed behind it and the rain started to fall harder. The trees began to sway in the wind, boughs bowed steeply.
"You moron," I said and seethed with anger.
His face flickered with hurt before falling blank. "What exactly are you upset about?"
"I looked like a fool. I didn"t even know there were rebels or amulets that could sway the balance of power into the hands of evil," I sucked in a breath. "You told me nothing. Nothing." Regulating my voice to conversation level, I thrust my hands into my pockets and pulled my wings back, embarra.s.sed. The fire to fight left me and I felt an urge for the comfort of four walls. Rain plastered my hair to my head, dripped from my nose and fingertips. I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of the wet soil beneath me. "I"m the guardian of one third of the key, aren"t I? That"s what this thing is hanging around my neck. But why didn"t Ana know and why do you, Conall and Devlin know?" My voice was barely a whisper. "I feel lost."
Breandan drew me into him and his chest heaved with a sigh. His hand met the skin at my shoulder blades, between my pinions, and he started there. He stroked my wings in long, sweeping movement. I relaxed and let his touch soothe my body and mind. I was too stressed to deny myself this pain relief. No matter how twisted a message it gave.
"We should be enjoying the storm," he said gently.
I looked into his face and unsuccessfully tried to hide my shock. "We like storms?"