Taliesin Ascendant (The Children and the Blood) (31 page)

He froze. “What?”

The old woman’s sneer widened and behind him, he heard Geoffrey scoff.

Magnus cleared his throat. “Bernhard witnessed no less than two separate groups quietly asking around about you this morning, while endeavoring to keep from being noticed by the populace at large.”

“Taliesin?” he repeated.

“Do not make us ask again, Cole.” Magnus pressed. “Who did you contact?”

Heart pounding, he shook his head. “No one. We’ve been locked upstairs, remember? You’ve been watching us day and night. We haven’t been able to talk to each other, let alone anybody else.”

“You sided with them, didn’t you?” Florence said as though he hadn’t spoken. “They killed your own mother and you sided with them to save your skin.” Her lips twisted with revulsion. “You coward.”

He stared at her as rage and incredulity tried to decide who got to come out first. “I
didn’t
–”

“Enough,” Florence snapped. “The truth was obviously too much to expect from you.”

She motioned dismissively as she started from the room.

Swiftly, Geoffrey snagged Lily and threw her to the side. Ignoring the girl as she tumbled into the corner, the man stalked toward Cole, magic crackling around his hands.

“What the hell are you doing?” Cole demanded as he backpedaled. “We didn’t contact–”

“As the Taliesin are suddenly searching for you only miles from our location,” Magnus interrupted calmly. “You obviously did. And the risk that presents simply cannot be tolerated.”

Florence paused at the archway and glanced to her son. “Oh, and do be sure to leave the bodies somewhere
easy
for those miscreants to find. We need their attention dealt with quickly, after all.”

Cole’s eyes went wide and he retreated as Geoffrey continued toward him. His hands brushed a display table and, with a quick glance to it, he reached out, snagging the painted ceramic bowl on top.

Louise gasped, making Florence turn. The color vanished from the woman’s face, while Magnus froze.

“Back off,” Cole warned, holding the bowl up as he tried to watch them all at once. In the corner, Lily struggled to her feet. “We didn’t do this. You’re making a mistake.”

Magic around his hands strengthening, Geoffrey’s expression darkened hatefully.

“I’m warning–” Cole began.

Nothingness roared at him. Flinging himself to the side, Cole crashed to the ground as a glass case shattered behind where he’d been. Toppling from his hand, the bowl clattered away, cracking madly as it bounced across the floor and then disintegrating as it slammed into the wall.

Florence shrieked. Geoffrey’s magic grew stronger.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Cole shoved to his feet and grabbed the nearest object at hand. The ornamental vase smashed against the wall as Geoffrey sidestepped sharply.

“Run!” Cole shouted at Lily as he hurled another vase at the wizard. Staring, Lily didn’t move, her back pressed against a glass case and her face white with terror.

Lightning crackled across the room, narrowly missing his head as Cole hit the ground. The cream-colored wall behind him turned black.

“What are you
doing
, Geoffrey?” Florence cried. “Outside, you stupid man! Magnus, do something!”

Cole scrambled up again. A book landed under his questing grasp and swiftly, he let it fly. Another followed, ripped from its display stand atop the desk. Twenty feet behind him, the parlor doors waited, though Lily was still paralyzed in the opposite corner of the large room. And Geoffrey was winding through the tables, heading straight for him.

Grabbing the display stand itself, he flung it at the man. “Lily, get out of–”

He registered the pain rushing him from the side, and then it was there, slamming into him, around him, through him, and there was nothing it didn’t destroy. The ground came next, adding insult to agony, and then the world went white.

His skin was on fire. Muscle and bone screamed as if on the edge of being exposed to the air. Something gripped his shirt, hauling the pain that was his body up from the excruciating tile, and slowly, the white noise scream of the world resolved into color and sound.

Geoffrey smirked down at him. Past the man’s shoulder, Magnus stood, regarding him expressionlessly. Cole turned his head, the movement torture, seeking out Lily on the far side of the room.

“Run…” he begged her, his voice barely a whisper.

The little girl looked around desperately, as though seeking a weapon too. He fought down another breath, trying to plead with her just to go while they were distracted with him.

Geoffrey jerked his grip on Cole’s shirt, cutting off the words he’d wanted to say. With a gasp, Cole pulled his gaze back to the man, staring up as Geoffrey bent closer.

“I’ll tell you something,” Geoffrey said, his voice low. “Ordinarily, I’d just shoot one of your kind. I’m not interested in killing some pathetic cripple for power. And your grandfather held back to keep from doing the same. But,” he grinned humorlessly, “you’re special.”

Magic rose, making Cole choke.

“This is for your father, boy.”

The world became a hurricane of light.

Whiteness surrounded him, drowning everything in its glare. Winds shoved him over, rolling him with their force. Instinctively, Cole’s arms wrapped around his head as Geoffrey’s grip tore away and the smashing noises of innumerable heavy things breaking sounded nearby.

The wind vanished. Shaking, Cole lowered his arms.

Nothing was left. Bookshelves, artifacts, display cases and tables – they were all gone. The thick carpet beneath him had rolled in the blast, covering him mostly with its bulk. He pushed the weight of it away, and then blanched.

The room was on the other side of the room.

In a mountain of shattered wood and broken pottery, the bookshelves and displays were piled like flotsam on the far end of the parlor. Pockmarks from flying debris scored the empty walls and overhead, he could hear the groan of masonry and wood, interspersed with the hiss of shattered glass raining to the floor. Half-buried in the rubble, Magnus and Geoffrey stirred, their magic flickering visibly around them as they struggled to regain consciousness.

A small gasp carried through the wreckage and he turned.

Backed tightly into the corner, Lily stared at the destruction. In her bloodless hands, she clutched Merlin’s staff, while blue-white light pulsed from between the twists of wood.

Another gasp escaped the girl as, unsteadily, Cole struggled to rise. Everything ached, though the pain was receding. Gritting his teeth, he shoved the rest of the way to his feet and then tottered briefly, fighting for balance.

“Lily,” he said, pushing the word out. Swallowing, he started toward her. “Lily, look at me.”

Trembling, the little girl turned her gaze to him. “I… I…”

Her gaze slid back to the room. He could see the panic beginning to bubble up.

“Lily,” he said again, reaching out carefully. “You have to breathe. Look at me. Come on.”

Cautiously, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist. The little girl tensed.

“I…”

“Come with me, Lily.”

She didn’t resist as he pulled her along. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, bringing her closer, and quivering, she rested her head on his side as he led her past the destruction.

Several yards away, Magnus groaned. Through the archway, Cole could see Florence stirring on the floor two rooms back. Behind the cover of a pockmarked wall, Louise sat blinking in dumbfounded shock, while by the splintered wreckage of the parlor doors, Geoffrey lay half-pinned beneath the vintage sofa.

And the man was still breathing, Cole realized. On some level, that almost seemed like a bad thing.

Pushing the thought away, he bent and tugged the man’s keys and wallet from his pocket. Tossing another glance to the wizards, he pulled Lily with him as he stepped past the shattered doors and headed onto the patio.

Three cousins rounded the corner and, at the sight of the broken windows, they gasped. Their gazes swept the house, finding Lily and the glowing staff.

Electricity crackled up around them.

Lily’s fear was faster.

Wind and light exploded outward, sending the men flying into the bushes on the far side of the lawn, while behind them, the walls of the house groaned.

Lily whimpered.

Cole blinked and swallowed hard. “Come on.”

Tightening his grip on the girl, he hurried down the patio stairs and onto the grass. Around the corner, the brick carriage house of the garage stood. Two pristine sedans sat in front of it, parked like they were waiting for a camera crew. Releasing Lily just long enough to fumble with the key fob, Cole smashed down the unlock button.

The lights of the leftmost car flashed.

Making small noises of panic, Lily raced for the passenger door as he headed for the driver’s side. Clambering in, the girl struggled with the staff and then finally wedged it between the seats with the base braced by her feet and her hands clasping it tightly.

Swinging into the cushy leather seat, Cole slammed the door and then searched frantically for the ignition before spotting a button on the dash. Muttering a curse, he mashed the button and then swore some more as, like an oblivious kitten, the sedan purred to life. With a grimace, he yanked the gearshift into drive and then crushed the pedal down. The engine roared, sending the car charging onto the gravel path.

Magnus stumbled from the house, his bleary eyes widening at the sight of the sedan. Magic surged around him. Gripping the steering wheel, Cole flattened the pedal farther into the floor.

Bark and pine showered the car as it sped between the trees.

Blind turns passed in rapid succession. The black metal gate surrendered to his frantic jab at the controller clipped to the visor, and as the fence pulled back, he raced the car through the gap onto the country road.

Drawing a breath for what felt like the first time in years, Cole loosened his chokehold on the wheel and glanced to the girl.

“You okay?”

She didn’t answer.

“Lily?”

“Uh-huh.”

At her tone, he looked over at her again.

“I-I barely let any out,” she said, her voice inching toward hysteria. “I mean, I thought I could just scare them, but when he…” Her gaze dropped to the staff and then darted away. “I couldn’t stop it. But it was just a bit…”

Unnerved, he didn’t know what to say. In her hands, the staff still pulsed with light.

“Are you letting any out now?”

Her mouth tightened nervously as she looked at the staff. The glow faded till nothing but dead wood remained.

“I don’t think so…”

Cole nodded, casting quick glances to her between navigating the rough back roads.

“It was just a bit,” she repeated.

He couldn’t read the tone. Somewhere between apology and fear, it contained plenty of shock too.

Which really just made two of them.

“Yeah, well,” he said, attempting to sound calm. “Thanks. You did great.”

She looked down. “Can we go back to Sue and Ben’s now?” she asked, her voice small.

He shook his head.

Desperation spread across her face. “Why?”

“It’s not safe. That’s the first place the Carnegeans will look.”

“But…” she protested helplessly, “we have to warn them. What about those people they said were after us?”

“The Taliesin?”

She nodded.

“They won’t bother Sue and Ben,” he said, trying to sound certain.

“You don’t know that.”

Cole glanced over. She met his gaze insistently.

“I know that if the Taliesin come and we’re there, Ben and Sue might get hurt. And if the Carnegeans come and we’re there, my dear family will kill them just for possibly being a threat. That’s what I know.”

Pained, she looked away.

He grimaced, but there was nothing for it. Trying to bury his guilt, he glanced down at the dash.

An incredulous curse escaped him.

“What?” she cried, panicked.

“Nothing.”

She glared.

“The car’s almost out of gas.”

Lily bit her lip.

“It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll just stop for a second. They won’t find us.”

From the corner of his eye, he could see her shifting anxiously, looking unconvinced. He glanced at the rearview mirror.

Odds were even as to whether the Carnegeans would come after them. Lily had done quite a bit of damage, but if his grandparents’ anger superseded their panic at the destruction, the two of them could be in trouble.

Checking the gas gauge again, he eased up on the pedal as he guided the car around another turn.

They’d stop for a moment. Just long enough to get the tank full. Then they’d get the hell out of Washington. It wouldn’t be a problem.

Flexing his hands on the steering wheel, he cast another look to the rearview mirror, trying to make himself believe the words.

*****

“Come on… come on…” Lily urged softly, clutching his arm and the staff alike as she watched the numbers on the dial climb.

Gripping the pump handle, Cole said nothing. Despite the time of day, the tiny country gas station was bustling, and it made him nervous. They’d driven till the warning light on the dashboard had glowed for more miles than he could count and the car itself had started to feel heavy. He’d wanted to order the girl to stay inside when he finally spotted the gas station, though he’d known there wouldn’t really have been any point.

She could see wizards. He couldn’t. It was simple as that.

Barely breathing, he scanned the area again, trying to keep his face from the cameras on the main building. Cars were parked in nearly every space by the door, while by the parking lot entrance, a group of bikers leaned on their Harleys, smoking and watching the road as they waited for some of their number still inside. A family from Illinois pulled up at the pump next to him, obscuring his view of anything beyond their bumper-stickered minivan.

Cole turned away as the bikers looked toward him.

“Come on…” Lily continued.

He glanced at the dial. The pump couldn’t have gone slower if it had been broken.