Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Oh, no. Grandma is way sneakier than that.” Evan started walking again. “She smuggled Jade out, but not before giving her a whammy. Jade was languishing at the reconditioning school one day and in the back of a van the next, and she didn’t know anything except that she trusted the people driving her. That was part of the whammy. Jade didn’t know a lot about her powers until she came here. Relda taught her most of what she knows. Myrddin wouldn’t allow her to be trained until she’d proven her loyalty.”
“Were either of them close to Alvis?”
“Everyone knew him, but I’m not sure how close they were,” Evan admitted. “I’ve stayed in Frelsi most of the time for the last two years. We’ve run raids from there. Since we started actively fucking with Myrddin, we’ve stayed away as much as we can.”
“But Trent was here when we got back.”
“Well,” she began.
I knew the kids and the adults had a disagreement about when we would potentially return. They’d needed an enormous amount of magic to break into the Coven House, and storing it up had taken them years. They’d had three dates, and Sasha and Trent had agreed to expend all of their magic on one.
Not the one Rhys Donovan-Quinn had decided was the right one.
Sasha would have been easy to handle. He spent his days in a vampiric coma. It was Trent they had to deal with. If they waylaid Trent, Lee could easily steal what they needed, and Eddie would take them anywhere. Especially if they presented it to him as a life or death, no time to think scenario.
“How did you get rid of Trent?” I couldn’t be mad at them. They’d been right. If Sasha and Trent had their way, we would probably be in a cage somewhere in Dallas being tortured by my old bestie. So my questions were strictly out of curiosity. There would be no lectures from me about respecting authority.
She stopped before we reached the end of the hallway. This section of the nest looked like I was walking into a soothing spa. There was a rock wall to our left, and water flowed down it, the sound rhythmic. Dark green ivy sprouted all around, and we walked on a carpet of perfectly kept grass.
“Rhys had the gnomes tell Rufus there was a serious problem. Sometimes the gnomes hear things from the grapevine.”
“Grapevine?”
“Yes. It’s not literally a grapevine, but it is a vine,” she allowed. “It’s how the gnomes communicate on this plane. All underground. Like an earth-friendly telephone. So the gnomes said they heard a rumor about Myrddin preparing a raid on one of the safe houses, but they wouldn’t talk until Trent got there.”
It was the oldest trick in the book. “He should have known.”
“I can be convincing when I want to.” Her eyes went wide and tears formed there. “Please, Trent. I have friends in safe houses. I could go instead. I could take care of it.”
My hand drifted to my stomach, the reality of being a mom washing over me once again. “I’m going to have to be the authoritarian with this baby, aren’t I?”
The tears were gone. “Absolutely. And I’m sure he’s annoyed with us, but we took the chance that Rhys was right. He’d read the signs. I know the academics think they’re good with prophecy, but give me a Green Man and a wriggly mystic pig any day of the week. Here we are.”
We stood in front of an ornately carved wooden door. The arced double doors were adorned with a massive tree of life.
I’d seen that tree once when Gray and I had been transported to a place where all fates were possible, where the world was nothing but a seemingly endless string of prospective futures. It had been the place that imbued my demon husband with his dark prophet powers.
It was also the first time I’d thought of having children. Because I’d seen them in that space, seen their smiling faces and felt the love I had for them and their fathers.
Where the hell was Gray? What was I going to do about this boy’s father?
“Kelsey? Are you okay?” Evan asked.
I wasn’t but it didn’t matter. I had a job to do. I steeled myself and nodded and Evan rang the bell.
* * * *
“I can’t believe he’s gone.” Relda Tolk was a statuesque woman, the long gown she wore gliding over her slender limbs. She definitely had a hippie witch vibe, but then that would describe her whole domicile, as Eddie would put it. “Alvis has been a member of our community for as long as I can remember.”
“Which isn’t long compared to the life of a primal.” Jade looked like a typical teen/young adult in her jeans and T-shirt, long curly hair in a pile on her head. She settled a tea set on the table that sat between them and Evan and I in their living room.