Hyacinth (8 page)

No matter how
painful it would be.

When Selene and
Ellie entered the room, Griffin carefully hid his mixed emotions. Selene’s grey
eyes looked almost silver, and she held herself with a regal poise. She looked
as beautiful in broad daylight as she did in his dreams, and Griffin had to
remind himself that he was looking at a killer—not an angel.

Selene’s heart
couldn’t decide where it wanted to be, in her stomach or in her throat. Somehow
it was managing to be both places at once. Or, at the very least, it was not in
her chest, beating steadily as it was supposed to. She still managed to keep
her cool mask in place and nod as Ellie introduced her to everyone. She noticed
Griffin from the corner of her eye, but didn’t need to look his way to feel the
waves of his hostility as he stared at the floor.

Selene sighed.
That bridge had clearly been burned a long time ago.

Ellie turned to
the others and started explaining her plan. “This will be a little different from
last time,” she began. “Selene has agreed not to block any of our powers. I’ll
be able to add Lucy’s and Lila’s into the mix. So you’ll all be able to feel
for yourselves if what Selene shows us is the truth and what her intentions
are. You’ll also be able to feel her emotions.”

“Ummmmm,” Selena
interrupted. “I should warn you about a few things. First, I’ve been blocking others
from knowing all of my powers for a very, very long time. It’s sort of an
ingrained habit now. I’ll do my best to drop all my defenses, but I might need
occasional reminders if you feel like something isn’t working right.”

Selene looked
from face to face, trying to gauge their reactions. She relaxed a little bit.
As far as she could tell, Griffin was the only person completely closed to her.

“Also,” she
continued more softly, “Ellie tells me that she’ll be sharing my memories with
you and the emotions associated with them.” Selene cleared her throat, trying
to decide how to express her concern. “I’m afraid that they are very… um…
painful,
for lack of a better word. I’ll do my best to remember things accurately, and
if I can lessen the discomfort for you, I will. But please just be prepared.”

Selene had no
idea how she was going to survive what she was about to endure, let alone be
able to protect anyone else. She’d never allowed herself to think about her
past, and for very good reasons.

“Are you sure
you can do this?” Lucy asked with a sympathetic smile. “I can sense that your
intentions are in the right place, but I don’t have to use a power to know
you’re afraid.” Selene nodded, grateful for the simple act of motherly concern.

“I want to do
this,” Selene confirmed. “But let’s get started before I chicken out.”

The others gave
a nervous chuckle, but all moved into a place where they could link hands with
one another. Selene placed her hand in Ellie’s, who was sitting to her right,
and then coughed as Griffin took her other hand, taking the seat to her left. She’d
assumed he would sit as far away from her as possible, if he participated at
all.

Selene looked at
Ellie and nodded. She closed her eyes and concentrated on picturing her
memories as clearly as possible. Even without consciously applying her ability
to see powers when they were in use, Selene could tell that Ellie was gathering
her own power within her. The glow of Ellie’s gift in action would likely be
almost blinding to Selene if she looked at her right now. She kept her eyes shut
and waited for Ellie’s first question. She didn’t have to wait long.

“Let’s start at
the beginning,” Ellie said. “Your parents?”

Selene smiled as
she immediately pictured her parents’ faces. Her father had been a mountain of
a man, with dark hair and a constant twinkle in his eyes. She remembered his
booming voice and the way he used to throw her high up into the air, making her
giggle.

Her mother was
almost a mirror image of Selene—blonde and petite with soft, silvery eyes. She’d
been sweet and affectionate. They had been the ruling family of their pack, attracting
people with powers to them as naturally as waves find the shore. People came of
their own free will, even without being sought or asked. They’d wanted to be a
part of this special clan.

She recalled watching
her parents rule from the same chamber where she’d met with the Council to
request permission to leave. Her parents had been good and kind and strong. They
treated others with respect and had been revered above all other leaders in
return.

“There’s a
sadness there,” Lila’s voice interrupted Selene’s thoughts. “What happened to
your parents?”

Rather than
answering, Selene moved her thoughts to her twin. Gideon had been older by
about twenty minutes. Until Selene turned ten, Gideon had basically ignored
her. She hardly had any memories of him in those years, just flashes of nothing
more specific than a vague feeling of uneasiness around him. But soon after her
tenth birthday, Selene had learned how to turn off another’s power. Gideon had
somehow realized it before she did.

The pain of
Selene’s next memory almost overwhelmed her. There was a collective gasp as her
emotions slammed into everyone in the circle.

Lila glanced
over at Ramsey’s tall, well-muscled form. She’d taken to heart Selene’s warning
about rough emotions and had deliberately positioned herself next to the volatile
firestarter to help with his control. Her green eyes darkened with concern as
she caught him staring directly at Selene.

Catching her gaze,
he gave her a crooked smile and whispered, “Don’t worry, Lily. I got it.”

Lila rolled her
eyes but smiled at his pet name for her, then closed her eyes again, focusing
on keeping him calm, regardless of what he’d said.

With
concentrated effort, Selene pushed the ache associated with her next memories
to the back of her mind and focused on the facts. Gideon had used his power for
manipulation and had hidden his true strength, not only from their parents but from
the entire pack. It was a power that he’d inherited from their father. The King
could only plant suggestions in people’s minds. He couldn’t… and wouldn’t have
thought to… force them to do something against their will.

But Gideon was
something else altogether. He was not only able to force people’s cooperation,
he was able to make them think it was their idea. He would sweep aside their
convictions, their moral fiber, their very spirit, in order to get what he
wanted.

Only Selene had retained
awareness of his influence. While Gideon was able to force her to do his bidding,
he wasn’t able to fool her into believing it was her idea. Others around her had
followed Gideon blindly, unaware of the evil they were made to do. And Selene
had been unable to stop any of it or talk to anyone about it. So many times she’d
wished that Gideon could brainwash her too, just for the peace it could
temporarily provide.

“You loved your
parents very much. I can feel that,” Lila murmured. “What happened to them?”

Selene grimaced
and then focused her thoughts on what’d happened to them. What
she’d
done to them. Selene’d relived this memory so many times she’d lost count - trying
to figure out if there were a way it could have gone differently. So many times
that she almost disappeared inside the memory is it came on.

She lost herself
in that ghastly, fateful moment…

“Gideon, what
are you doing?” a ten-year-old Selene pleaded. He dragged her down the cold
stone hallway, his rough grip bruising her delicate wrist.

“You’re going to
do something for me.”

She breathed a
sigh of relief as he pulled her into her parents’ chamber.

“Gideon?” Their
mother opened her eyes and groggily sat up in the bed. “Do you need something?”

“Stop talking!” he
snapped. It was hard to believe that voice came from a ten-year-old boy.

Shivers ran down
Selene’s spine, but her parents seemed unconcerned.

“Sit on the
couch,” Gideon instructed. And they did. With robotic movements and blank
faces, they pulled back the covers and walked to the couch where they sat
side-by-side.

Gideon turned to
Selene. “Remove their powers.”

“What?”
How
does he know I can stop people’s abilities?
She hadn’t even shared that
with her mother yet.

“I know what you
can do, Selene,” Gideon continued in an eerily soft voice. “And you will use
that gift until you’ve turned off their powers. Forever.”

Pressure invaded
her mind… pressure to submit… to do exactly as he’d said. It was almost as
though a small voice in the back of her own mind was saying,
You’ll feel so
much better if you do. You want to.

Selene pushed
back. “I can’t!” she wailed. She wrapped her gangly arms around her midsection
as she struggled against the weight of his will.

Gideon focused
his black, pitiless gaze on her with a new intensity. “You will!”

Selene doubled
over from the weight of the pressure bearing down on her. “No,” she gritted
through her teeth. She reached out her small hand to her parents who continued
to sit on the couch with docile expressions. Oblivious to what was happening. “Daddy?”

“Do it, Selene.
Do it, or I’ll kill them.”

She crumpled
into a ball on the floor, her mind in agony. Tears slipped down her cheeks. She
had no choice. She reached out with her fledgling gift and found the glow of
power inside both of her parents. She had to use every ounce of her
concentration, but eventually the glow inside them started to dim. Finally,
after another slam of pressure from Gideon, she managed to douse their powers entirely,
leaving a void where light could no longer enter.

Selene gasped
for air, her mind whirling with what she’d done. And what she needed to do now.
Survive.

“Good girl,”
Gideon patted her on the head. “Now, go sit next to them.”

Selene mimicked
the same robotic compliance of her parents and wondered if she’d share their
awful fate.

Gideon cleared
his throat and smirked, “You will abdicate your rule to me. Call the High Council
together tomorrow morning and tell them.”

Then he sent
Selene back to her bed.

The King and Queen
apparently complied the next day, for Gideon took lead of the Vyusher. He was
only ten years old, but he’d managed to seize complete control—and compliance—with
Selene’s help.

They started
with the High Council, one at a time, because that’s all Selene could manage. Gideon
had her hold their power at bay, and then he manipulated them. He worked from
the strongest to the weakest until all of the Council was under his control. He
then proceeded with the rest of the pack until every single member was a
submissive servant.

Selene never saw
her parents again and had always assumed that Gideon had them killed. Her
brother never did do the dirty work himself. That night with her parents was
the beginning of a nightmare that never ended. At first she’d been too afraid,
too young, too weak. And too alone. But as she’d grown both in age and in
power, she’d at least managed to hide her other developing gifts from her
brother. That had been her first form of defiance.

Once he had the
pack under his control, Gideon put into action the next phase of his plan. He
started by ridding the tribe of anyone who couldn’t morph into wolf form. Then
he methodically added more wolves, creating the pack, earning them the name of
Vyusher. The pack, under Gideon’s full control now without any forced
manipulation from Selene, was put into action against groups of other people
with powers, the
Svatura
. Gideon had used Sheila, a young wolf with
ability to find people with powers. Sheila had better luck finding groups
larger than about twenty, and Gideon had started organizing the pack to attack
groups that size.

Selene’s
involuntary role in the attacks was to turn off the most threatening ability in
the group. Fortunately, Gideon hadn’t made her fight or kill, and for that she
was grateful. He wanted her protected, as she was one of his greatest weapons.

As Selene’s
ability to control people’s powers expanded, Gideon increased the size of the
groups they attacked. Scenes started flashing before Selene’s eyes: scenes of
the carnage, the terror, the devastation she’d been forced to not only witness,
but in which she had to unwillingly participate. There was nothing she could do
to stop Gideon and no one she could turn to for help.

Selene heard
someone sob, bringing her out of her memories for a second. She felt the wet of
the tears on her cheeks and the pressure of the grips of both Aubrey siblings
squeezing her hands. But it was Griffin’s grip on her that gave her the
strength to keep going.

Selene gathered
her thoughts and concentrated on what had been her first ray of hope. In a short
period of time, she’d developed several abilities in succession. Selene already
had the ability to hide her emotions and thoughts from her brother and everyone
around her. In fact, Gideon wasn’t aware that Selene had never been susceptible
to his brainwashing. She’d been savvy enough, even at ten, to know that pretending
to be under his influence was key to her survival.