Legacy & Spellbound (38 page)

Alex and Luna: En route to Seattle

Alex sat beside Luna on the plane to Sacramento. A call from one of her covenates before they left L.A. had redirected them here. The plane was nearly empty, and they were the only ones flying first class. Alex looked … nervous.
I would be, too, if I were about to meet a long-lost branch of my family and join them in combat against evil.
He turned and smiled at her.

The rest of his coven had stayed behind in Los Angeles, though with extreme objections. In the end, Alex had not ordered them but persuaded them. They had agreed to stay behind at last, not because what he was doing was dangerous, not because he should meet his family alone, not even because he wished it. They stayed because the show had to go on. They had an
understudy who could play the Phantom for a few days, but they did not have enough understudies to allow them all to leave. So, with much sighing and ritual blessings, they let him go, bidding the Goddess speed his way back. The bond between the members of the group had astounded her.

It made her nervous that his coven had been operating for several years beneath the Mother Coven's radar.
How is that possible when we both worship the Goddess?
It was a mystery, and she knew she would get no answers from Alex. There would be time enough for the priestesses to puzzle over this. Now she just had to join Alex with his cousins.

They hadn't even been on the plane yet a half hour and it was already painfully clear that one of the flight attendants found Alex irresistible. He seemed to have an energy that radiated from him, and his face shone with an unnatural light. She was not surprised that young women were drawn to him.

To his credit, he did not encourage the young lady. In fact, he barely seemed to notice her at all, as though she didn't even exist. Luna's eyes narrowed as she watched him.

“Would you like something to drink?” the attendant asked, at last turning her eyes to Luna.

“Ginger ale,” she said, and under her breath she added, “forget him, child.”

The woman blinked and stared at her for a moment blankly before regaining her perky no-one-on-this-flight-has-annoyed-me-yet smile.

The flight seemed interminable, but at last the plane landed. They made their way to baggage claim. Luna pulled out her cell phone and called a member of the Mother Coven who had stayed behind in Seattle when the rest had withdrawn to Santa Cruz. The other woman answered on the first ring. She spoke only three words:
moving, cabin,
and
Winters
.

Luna pressed “end” on her phone and hung up without even saying a word. After retrieving Alex's luggage, they walked outside and hailed a taxi.

“Where to?” the driver asked, looking them over.

“Winters.”

“What country you from?” the driver asked, speaking around the gum in his mouth.

“Canada,” she said briefly.

“Ah, Canada. Pretty country. You here on vacation or what?”

With a flick of her wrist, Luna dispelled the driver's interest in them and sat back to enjoy the ride. Given the luck of the Cathers Coven, she would need her energies when they met up.

Tri-Coven: Winters, California

Richard had won the argument: Of all those present, he had been selected to enter the Dreamtime and go after Jer Deveraux. He had argued that he was in excellent physical condition, and thus more able to withstand the rigors of the place. Armand had wanted to go, but Richard had vetoed that: If those Golems showed up, he wanted him protecting his little girl.

Now, in the cabin Kari had shown them—it belonged to her family—Richard could feel his pulse accelerating, as though he were preparing for battle.
Which I might well be,
he thought. He wished they had been able to get something from Holly about the Dreamtime, but she had only babbled about fire. That and, of course, demons. He grimaced. Barbara had not been much more help. All she had really been able to tell him was that she had been trapped in some sort of cave. Or so she thought.

He stood and accepted the markings as the shaman placed them on his body. He had been warned that, in the Dreamtime, his mind was his most powerful weapon. That worked. He had no magic abilities whatsoever, but he could certainly imagine carnage. Quite a lot of it.

He had mixed feelings about going in to find Jer, but then everyone around him seemed to also have
mixed feelings about it. All except for Sasha and Barbara, that is. Barbara had insisted they could not leave him there. She herself had spent more than a year there before Jer and Holly had rescued her. She couldn't stand the thought of someone else being trapped and suffering the hell she had.

In his gut, he had to agree with her. He had been a Ranger, after all.
Rangers never leave anyone behind. We can't afford to have the bodies identified.

He took a deep breath and lay down in the circle. He exhaled slowly, allowing his mind to become acutely focused while at the same time emptying it of all exterior distractions.

He closed his eyes and opened them in another place. The earth beneath his feet was scorched. A hot wind whipped past him, causing his hackles to rise. Evil was afoot; it permeated the air like moisture until he was afraid it was coating his skin in its dank decay.

He shook his head to remove the fanciful thoughts buzzing there. He had a job to do. He turned slowly in a circle, taking in his environment. He smiled. Not too far away was a huge mountain of rock. That had to be where Barbara had been trapped and therefore was the last place that he knew Jer had been.

He walked toward it slowly, senses alert. In his mind he cast barriers about himself, impenetrable
walls. And beyond those he placed alarms that would warn him of the approach of any creature. A year in the jungle had taught him how to put up barriers in his mind, to be master of his thoughts when he chose. He had never dreamed that he would have to go back to that.

He knew Marie-Claire had hated that control. She often complained when he first returned from the war that he wouldn't “let her in.” God knew he had tried. She had grown tired of waiting. He had often wondered of late if she would have been pleased to know that his barriers had crumbled around him once she had died, leaving his mind exposed to all.

Those thoughts had no part of him now, though. He had picked up the pieces of his life, and it was time to embrace his instinct for survival.

He reached the mountain quickly. Even the stone had been burned by whatever fire had swept through. Slowly, deliberately, he began to walk clockwise around the mountain, looking for an opening, a fissure, anything.

He had been walking for several minutes before he saw it. It was an outcrop of rock that was shaped like a human hand. Scalp tingling, he stepped in for a better look.

It didn't just look like a hand, it
was
a hand. It was
as though it were pressing out against the rock, trapped inside and seeking to break through. He lifted his fingers to touch the hand and closed his eyes. He reached with his mind, past the layer of stone and inside.

He felt pain, rage, and … surprise. He smiled knowing that he had found Jer. He pushed his thoughts from his head, down his arm to his fingers, through the rock and into Jer's hand, up his arm and to his mind. He connected, he felt it.

Are you all right?

The answer came, faint but clear.
Not hurt, but going a little nuts.

Good, I'm here to help.

Who are you?

Amanda and Nicole's father.

The sense of surprise became almost overwhelming, and he couldn't help but chuckle.
Never count the old man out.

I won't make that mistake again,
Jer answered.

So, what happened here?

Didn't Holly tell you?

She didn't make much sense.

There was silence for a moment, and he could tell Jer was wondering what to make of that. He didn't ask, though.

Well, the rock turned into two snakes who were battling
each other. One of them swallowed me, and then they froze back into stone.

Richard stepped back for a moment and took another look at the stone. It looked like any mountain. He was looking with his eyes, though. He closed his eyes and saw the image again in his mind. Slowly he began to make out two different forms, serpents, biting each other. Jer was trapped in one of them, only a few feet down from its mouth.

He stepped back to touch Jer's hand and felt the other's panic at having been left suddenly alone again.

It is all right. I will not leave you,
he reassured him.
The Fire …

It is not burning here now. I'm going to disconnect for a moment, but I am not going anywhere.

Jer didn't respond, but Richard could feel his reluctant acceptance. He pulled his hand back again and studied the mountain.

He could see the serpents now with his eyes. He studied them, the position of Jer in the throat of the one. He focused his gaze on the rock around Jer's hand. He imagined the snake's skin stretching, growing thinner, and at last rupturing, spilling forth its prize.

The rock groaned in anguish, and then with a sharp scream began to part around Jer's hand. Slowly, as though it were being born, the hand pushed its way
through a tear in the rock. It was horribly scarred, barely human. The tear widened and was followed by the rest of the arm. Then a second hand appeared, and then the arm.

At last the head burst through, and Jer let out a strangled gasp. He looked hideous, but Richard had prepared himself for that. The kid had been burned by the Black Fire, and Sasha had told Richard that it was only because of incredibly strong magic that he was still alive. After gulping in several breaths of air, he yelped, “Help!”

“Help me help you,” Richard said calmly. “Imagine the rock parting, imagine the neck of the serpent rupturing and freeing you.”

Jer closed his eyes, and Richard could
feel
him helping. He could feel the stone parting faster. In moments, Jer was spilling onto the ground, retching.

Richard gave him a moment to collect himself before moving forward to help him stand. The young man stood slowly, on shaking legs.

“How long have I been trapped in there?”

“Just a few days,” Richard assured him.

“It felt like an eternity.”

“I'm sure it did. Can you move? We should get out of here,” Richard said. As though on cue, one of his trip alarms went off. Something was coming.

Some in fire go to their death
Some by water are bereft
Air may bring death, not birth
But they all return to Earth

So of these three I choose the fire
To dance aflame in death's desire
And as the flesh melts from my bone
You will hear me blissfully moan

Witches now are on the run
Beaten by the great god, the sun
They scream and die from the fright
Fading now into the night

Cahors dancing shall return
As we make the Deveraux burn
Someone new within our sight
Hails the watchfires of the night

Tri-Coven: Winters

I hate waiting,
Amanda thought as she sat, keeping watch over her father's still form.
That's all I seem to do is wait.

“Then maybe it's time to stop,” said a male voice she didn't recognize. She jumped as the High Priestess of the Mother Coven appeared on the inside of the door accompanied by a gorgeous guy.

“We have to get better wards,” Tommy muttered.

Amanda rose hastily to her feet. “High Priestess, blessed be.”

“Blessed be,” the older woman said solemnly.

Everyone else chorused in.

“Amanda, may I introduce Alex Carruthers, your cousin.”

Amanda blinked twice. “My what?”

“Your cousin.”

“I never knew you had so many relatives,” Tommy quipped. “Cousins have just been popping out everywhere.”