Darkest Day (13 page)

“You have the carafe?” Alina asked.

Mac held out the mug she’d taken after she tucked Caroline into my car.

Alina leaned down toward the contents. “Ah, yes, yes, very well, then. A sleeping draught. A very rudimentary, basic combination, and the mixture of the same with grape Kool-Aid is not a first. That drink has been around for decades, and, with the amount of sugar inside, it’s easily a cover-up. And very tasty.” She tipped the cup over as if to pour. The liquid streamed down into her waiting palm and formed into a block. “There. Now, no one else will be exposed … accidentally.” She winked at me, bright eyes sparkling. “You said the other young lady drank it as well but did not fall prey to the devices of the contents?”

Mac flopped onto her favorite red chair in the living room. “Hers wasn’t smoking. I think it was just plain old Kool-Aid because she brought it and knew what it was. I’m sure of it.”

“And you did not imbibe of this?” Alina asked.

“Nope,” Mac said. “I sealed off my sinuses when I fake-drunk mine, and she just stood there staring at me, waiting, probably, for me to keel over.”

The cup floated away from Alina and down the hallway. She gave a soft, little nod. “’Tis what a sleeping draught will do. Mind you … what would she need you under her spell for?”

I wanted to know that, too.

Mac sat up and swung her legs from their draped position over the arm to the floor. “Because she hates me? Isn’t that reason enough?”

“I can’t imagine she would dislike you so thoroughly.” Alina moved into the living room and waved me toward her. “It wouldn’t have worked on you anyway, Mackenzie.”

“Huh?” I said as Mac said, “What the—”

“The draught simply had no power for non-humans. Humans are, of course, the most easily influenced of all creatures. While yes, they have the power of free will, their minds are easily manipulated. And that drink was made for humans.”

So, Maddie doesn’t know what Mac is?
“Still doesn’t answer what her purpose was,” I said.

“I cannot fathom why anyone would believe Mackenzie anything but a human.” Alina’s smile and tone suggested she’d she been joking as she said that.

Mac pressed her fingers against her lids.

“There is a larger question here,” Alina said. “Why would your friend have come with this magical drinking potion?”

Mac tilted up to Alina, turned to me and went back to her mom. Alina sat as still as a mouse in a cat’s line of sight. “I don’t know,” Mac finally said. “She doesn’t like me, for some reason. Since I don’t think she’s human—or not totally.”

“That makes sense given the contents of this drink; there are several ingredients within to which humans are not privy. Does your friend know who and what you are, darling?”

Mac blew out a loud breath. She sat forward, elbows on her knees, hands clasped. “Okay, here’s the deal. Winn told me that Maddie’s mom is Moira.”

Alina jerked back, confusion in her creased brow like I’d never seen before.

She didn’t know Moira had a daughter? Or something else?
“And,” I jumped in. “I learned the other day that Maddie’s dad is Phelps, my doctor at the hospital.”

Alina nodded, lips tight.

“So,” Mac said, “I think she’s a crossbreed of sorts. A halfling.”

Alina stood and glided to the window, facing out. “Many a human and non-human have conducted their lives together.” She turned back to Mac. “Why would she come after you? Did you tell her you are the Changeling?”

I stared at Mac waiting for that answer.
What had she done that would make Maddie want to knock her out?

“I didn’t say anything to her about me. I thought the Council couldn’t do the deed with humans.”

“As you know, there are many rules which some … do not … follow. I-I—” Alina pinched the bridge of her nose, swaying as if preparing to topple over.

Mac jumped to a stand and stormed her way to Alina’s side, taking her by the hips, but her gaze landed on me.

I knew the answer to the unasked question. “She can’t answer. None of them can. To you, anyway.”

“Is this why Raven’s sick and Felix was bleeding?” Mac asked, letting Alina go as she waved Mac away.

“What do you mean?” I cocked my head.

Mac relayed what she’d learned from Suze and experienced with Felix.

“Anyone directly associated with you isn’t allowed to tell you, or these ‘safeguards’ will affect them.” My smile came naturally, though I didn’t intend for it to. “But I’m not bound by that anymore, so I can tell you everything. Which I did. In my email. You did read it, right?”

Mac’s eyes darted away from me.

“Oh, come on, Mackenzie! You said you would!”

“I know, I know, but I got sidetracked. A lot.”

I palmed my forehead. “I loaded that entire message with all the facts. Like halflings, Maddie and Moira, about human-and-non-human relationships, and you being allowed to choose human. Like, that you can be the thirteenth Council member and make another Council member choose to leave. And …”

Her eyes opened wide.

A glance to Alina showed her smiling. “I’ll just take this one with me to the guest room, and you two can find your way.” With a flick of her wrist, Caroline’s body floated, dangling as if on Suze’s arm, out of the living room and toward the stairs. In all the time I’d hung out with Mac and around Alina, she hadn’t done so much magic all at once. Normally, she acted just as human as everyone I knew. A requirement, I figured, of being Mac’s surrogate.

When she disappeared, I said, “And for the last freakin’ month, you’ve been avoiding me, hiding from me, and I didn’t know why until Suze kinda spilled the beans tonight.”

Mac’s mouth opened, her jaw dropping.

I moved to her. “Moira. Phelps. Cleo and Robin. They all said something when I was talking to them. They called their partners ‘converts’. All of them.” With my hands on Mac’s arms, I rubbed up and down, loving the feel of her under my palms. “It’s a code word. Alina can hook up with a human with no repercussion. Council members can’t, but they do. They call their partners, their husbands, wives, whatever … converts, even though they are still human.”

She shook her head. “Council members can’t have human families. That’s the rule. They … said.” Her voice ratcheted up in pitch and decibel as she spoke.

“Of course they did. They all lie in order to get what they want. Even my dad. But, don’t you see? This means you and I have a shot past July.”

Mac poked me in the chest. “Raven.”

“What about her?”

“She sent me an email.”

I gripped Mac’s biceps. “You read hers and not mine? No, never mind. Keep going.”

A small grin breached her lips. “I was going to read yours, but hers was there first, and it was a few weeks old. Anyway, she said some on the Council want change, and I shouldn’t give you up. That I can be on the Council and keep you. I thought she’d gone off her rocker.”

The idea alone made me want to kiss her, to get back the last month of our life together. I ran my hand along her cheek and into her hair. It tickled my fingers as it flowed through, strands falling all around my skin. Resting my forehead against hers, I said, “Tell me why you’ve been avoiding me. Tell me it’s not because you knew all this.”

She shook her head. “Even with this revelation about the Council, you know I have to give you up. That’s like picking a teacher, like renouncing access to the in-between. The last is giving up what I value most. That’s … that’s you. And once I do that, they
will
take your memories. How am I supposed to get you back after that?”

“Let’s not think about it now. Just tell me about what’s been going on with you.”

She closed her eyes, and an urge to pull her in to me, to lay my lips along hers filled me. “I just wanted to prove to you that I could do things for you. Like you. I—I had a plan, and tonight totally screwed it up.” She pulled away and walked to the window, arms crossed over her chest.

Frustration replaced the moment we’d had. Knowing Caroline would be safe with Alina, and assuming Lucas hadn’t yet come home, I said, “Let’s go to Suze’s place. Where things are private, and we can just talk.”

Mac didn’t move. “I can’t leave Caroline. I owe it to her for all her help.”

“This isn’t about her, anymore. This is about …” I wanted to say ‘me and you’ but knew the truth rested in only one of us. “You. Your life. What you have to decide soon. Whatever’s going on in that head of yours right now.” A low breath exited on a rush. “Don’t play games, Mac. Let’s just get it all out. Then we can go back to being friends, if that’s what you really want.” It hurt even just to say the words. I thought she’d had other ideas.

She swiveled to me, pain reflecting across her features.

We both knew it would happen—that, eventually, we’d be just nothing more. Had we moved on, already? Had I completely misinterpreted Suze’s words? Had she really meant for us to just study and prepare for our presentation?

She mumbled words I couldn’t catch with her back to me.

“What?” I leaned forward, straining to hear in case she repeated it just as softly. On tiptoe, I scooted closer. “Mac? What did you say?”

At her side, with the moonlight shining through the window, her features took on a timidness I’d never seen in her before.

She turned her head my way. “I had a plan.” Seriousness and ferocity came with the words. “Me. Just me. I’d worked it all out, knew what steps to take. Had an advisor. I did exactly what I was supposed to do for the last eighteen years.”

“I don’t understand. You’ve picked a form? You had another teacher?”

“Caroline. She’s been teaching me how to win you back. How to …” Her lids closed, lips trembling. “How to—what to do to be someone you’d really want.”

I slipped a hand against her neck and tugged her forward. “You are what I want.
You.
Mac Thorne. The most unique girl in the world. The one I might or might not know in a few more weeks.”

A small chuckle escaped her along with the curve of her lips. “I was being human. You know … testing that possibility out by doing things the human way.”

Oh, god. She’s considering it? Don’t let her do it. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.
“I’ve missed you, Mac.”

Her hands lay against my chest, kneading into my shirt. “Winn?”

“Yeah?”

“I—” Her eyes closed. “I love you, Winn. And I just—”

I crushed my lips to hers, melting away any other thoughts. When we both pulled back and breathed, I said, “I never stopped loving you, Mac.”

“I really did make up all my homework. And until tonight, I didn’t shift into any other form. And I’ve been getting lots of answers on my own—or with Suze’s help. Or Zoe’s. Or Mom’s. Well, I guess that means not by myself at all.”

“You don’t have to explain.”

“I do, though. Caroline was helping me, showing me how to be more like you. To show you how much you mean to me. To make sure you would know what you meant to me when I did the whole ‘give up’ thing. I wanted you to be proud of me. In my human form, at least.”

She’s not going to pick human.
No way would I have prevented the grin that pulled at my lips. “Mac?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I had good intentions, too … to make it easier on you for later. Guess I made it harder.”

Her lips touched mine again. “So this is all your fault?”

My laugh burst out. “I wouldn’t say that exactly.”

She snorted. “I love you, Winn.”

“I love you, too. And nothing is going to change that.”

13

Winn

The clock struck midnight as I returned home. I’d left Caroline with Mac, expecting Alina or Mac to call me when she woke, or to give me a signal about next steps. Figuring Zoe would be asleep since Suze had brought her home hours before—per our deal at the doughnut shop—I traipsed to my bedroom, closed the door and lay on my mattress.

Mac and I had found each other again. My almost-altruism hadn’t ruined everything as I’d initially thought.

A tap on my window, like a pebble against glass, made me jolt. Mac had used that method to get my attention before, so I rose and moved to wall, waiting for another signal.

It came two seconds later.

I raced out of my room, down the stairs and to the front door, pulling it open and stepping out onto the front porch.

Mac stood, in her usual black, on the sidewalk.

It only took three steps for me to reach her, to slide my hands behind her neck and merge my lips with hers.

The need for air seemed an excuse but did make us stop.

I said nothing.

Mac didn’t either.

Chests pressed against each other, lips moving to an unsung song, a soundless rhythm, we stood, silence our greatest gift.

Mac slipped her hand to mine and drew me toward the house. I hadn’t turned on any lights, but that didn’t stop her. With a kick to the edge, I shut the door, trusting it to auto-lock.

We walked in silence, our hands linked, up the stairs and to my room. At my bedroom door, we stopped. Each gave a nod to the other before we entered.

Mac waved her wrist, sending the door to meet its frame without even a click. Standing next to her, staring at her with what light came through my window, I wanted her more than I ever had.

Taking the lead, I nudged her toward the bed, sitting when she stood and tugging her onto my lap. Our lips met again, her taste a lingering scent that had never left me.

Her hands wove into my hair as mine rested on her hips. Falling back, I brought her with me, laying side by side on my bed, lips entwined with each other as much as our fingers and legs.

I dipped down, inch by inch, taking her in. Her beauty. Her power. Passion. The life we could never have stretched before me with one opportunity to take.

From lips to cheek.

To ear.

To neck.

I moved lower, my hands rising up into her shirt, hers descending, trailing fingertips into the waistband of my jeans.

My skin burned with her touch, desperate for more, wanting everything about her.

“Mac—” My first audible word came out a whisper.