Gray Dawn, page 12
Softly fading notes of an old lullaby tickled the edges of my memories. No. Not a memory.
The rich voice singing rasped to a final hoarse note that was too raw to be fogged by time.
“Your mother will kill me if you don’t open your eyes soon.”
Pain radiated through every part of me. Every. Single. Inch. Even the ends of my hair hurt.
Slowly, I propped open my eyes and got a face full of Dad, who was cradling me in the dirt. “Ouch.”
“How do you feel?” His grip tightened around me. “Are you still in pain?”
“Crunchy.” I smacked my lips. “And yes.”
Apparently, when your own magic got cut off and someone else filled you with theirs like a vase, the end result was your insides burnt to a crisp. I could now sympathize with pellet grills everywhere.
Splaying his fingers, Dad gripped the ball of my shoulder and pushed healing magic into me.
The faint taste of hydrangeas hit the back of my throat as he channeled Mom’s magic, and stupid tears prickled the backs of my eyes as sweet relief coasted over me.
“I warned your mother I wasn’t a healer.” He jerked his hand back. “Should we—?”
“It’s not that.” I sniffled. “I can feel Mom. In your magic.” I wiped my face with the back of my hand. “It’s just…nice. Knowing she’s still with us. That you guys get some kind of happily ever after.”
Not the one they deserved, but I doubted either of them would complain about the nature of their second chance.
“None of us have had time to fully appreciate what you’ve done for your mother, and me.”
“One foot in front of the other.” I let him help me into a seated position. “We can feel our feels later.”
If that last part confused Dad, well, that made two of us.
The world spun and dipped as I righted myself and coughed up a smoky aftertaste.
A prickle in my palm convinced me I had planted it in an ant bed, and I jerked my hand against my chest.
“What’s wrong?” Dad gripped my wrist, his expression tight. “Your magic is waking.”
“Can you tell if you loosened the Hunk?”
“There are seven anchors,” he reminded me, “one in each of your chakras.”
“How many did you remove?”
The seam of his lips gathered into a purse. “One.”
“Oh.” I tested myself, marveling at how well Dad had channeled Mom’s pure energy into healing me. “Do you think we have time to go again?” I checked my phone. “I was out for what? Thirty minutes?”
A glimmer of pride spread across his features before a darker emotion tempered it.
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way.” He cradled my cheek. “I vowed the day Howl told me she was expecting that I would never harm our child. I haven’t honored that promise.”
“You and I understand better than she ever will, what it was like being raised by the director.” I covered his hand with mine. “You’re not like him.” A phantom twinge in my hand where he used to rap my knuckles with his cane made them ache. “You’re not cruel for the sake of being cruel. You’re not hurting me out of spite. You’re helping me. And if it hurts, well, then, it hurts.”
The pain was worth ridding myself of the parasitic Hunk for good.
“One more,” he agreed when it became clear I wasn’t letting the matter drop. “That’s it.”
“For today.”
“Your mother is going to have words for me,” he muttered, his gaze swinging skyward.
“I’ll handle Mom.” I considered how we began and where I ended up waking. “Should I lie down?”
Before he nodded, I had made up my mind. I didn’t need to make this any more stressful for either of us.
“Are you ready?” His exhale whistled through his teeth. “I’ll choose a lesser one this time.”
With a jerk of my chin, I prepared myself for the pain to swallow me whole.
Lucky for me, I blacked out before I felt the first tug.
A tickle brushed across my upper lip as consciousness paid me a reluctant visit.
“Quit that.”
“Haven’t you heard of smelling salts?”
More grains sprinkled over me.
“Smelling salts. Not smell salt. Table salt doesn’t work.”
“Derry?” I choked when my mouth flooded with granules. “Marita?”
“Ha.” Marita patted my cheek. “I told you it would work, Derriere.”
“Here.” Derry pressed something cold into my hand. “Rinse out your mouth.”
As my eyes got on board with the idea of opening, I got an eyeful of naked warg on either side of me.
I decided it was best to shut my eyes until the view improved, but I let Marita angle my head for a sip.
“You’ve seen my boobs before.” Marita forced open one of my eyes. “Stop being a baby.”
“It’s not that.” I gurgled as she poured liquid down my throat. “Marita.”
“You’re the problem,” she blamed Derry. “Your junk is too close to her elbow.”
Jerking my arm in tighter against my chest, I shoved upright, spluttering and hacking. “Where’s Dad?”
“A black car has driven around the block twice.” Derry backed up to give me room. “He’s investigating.”
“We heard the screams,” Marita explained before I could ask, “and we came running.”
“Thanks,” I rasped, my throat thick with emotion—and mucus. “You guys are the best.”
“Remember that after we get your faux bestie back.”
Her certainty choked me up for another reason entirely.
“We will get him back.” Derry misread my quiet for distress. “I promise you that.”
A fresh wave of dizziness swept through me, prompting me to ask, “Did Dad leave any instructions?”
“Only if you died on our watch, he would rip our tails out through our jaws.” Derry snorted. “Funny guy.”
“He wasn’t joking,” Marita and I said at the same time.
As I sat there, I ran an inventory of aches and pains, determining if I could sense…well…anything.
“What was he doing?” Marita braced me when I swayed. “Unlocking your magic?”
“He can’t do that.” Derry yawned. “The Hunk would take her over, remember?”
“I meant unlocking the Hunk from her magic, obviously.”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t decide what the tingles in my limbs meant, and without magic to call on, I couldn’t check the threads for answers either. “He figured out how to remove it.” I rubbed my chest. “Or loosen it anyway.” I winced at a faint twinge. “Time will tell.”
“You sounded like someone was ripping your soul out of your body.” Marita helped me onto my feet. “Are you sure you want to keep going?”
“The alternative is going my whole life without magic.” I grimaced as she helped me walk toward where Dad must have gone. “Even if he does nothing but lessen its hold, I’ll get a reprieve.”
On the other hand, with magic already eroding the bindings, if we didn’t act, the Hunk might kill me first.
“Are you sure it would be safe to use magic then?” Derry kept pace with us. “It sounds dangerous.”
“Dad won’t lift the binding unless he thinks I can handle it.” A smile crept up on me. “Mom would throttle him otherwise.”
A slow burn spread down my arms and into my hands, but I wasn’t calling magic.
“You okay?” Marita quit walking to check me. “You look pale.”
“I’ve got that same feeling like when I knew we had to go to Charlotte.”
“I can guess why.” Head tipped back, Derry scented the air. “We’ve got company.”
“Please don’t tell me Asa caved and brought Colby out here.”
“You ask people not to tell you things—a lot—but you don’t leave us much wiggle room, and I’m too hungry to get creative.” He rubbed his stomach. “Yes, it’s Asa. And yes, Colby is with him.”
Five minutes later, Asa prowled into our midst, and Colby glided to the top of the nearest tree.
“If you were anyone else,” he said, warm eyes locked on mine after checking Colby was out of hearing range. “I would question finding you laid out in a clearing with a naked married couple.”
Oops.
Guess he saw that part.
And here I had been hoping he only spotted us after I got my legs working again.
“We would have waited until you arrived if we had known you were coming.” Marita batted her lashes. “You guys ready for round two?”
Derry turned his back on us, hunched his shoulders, and cupped his junk.
“Not sure if he’s turned on at the idea of swinging with you guys, or if he’s that afraid Asa might break off his pee-pee if he so much as pretends to go along with the gag.” She let Asa take over supporting me. “To be on the safe side, we’ll begin our changes. He always feels safer freeballing it when he’s got fangs.”
Happy to lean into Asa, I raised an eyebrow at Marita. “I’m starting to think you just like saying pee-pee.”
“We have a nephew who’s potty training,” Derry explained. “Marita has become a little too invested in his success.”
“There’s a betting pool,” she countered. “Picking up potty training lingo is a small sacrifice when the prize is all you can eat ribs from Merle’s Meat Shack.”
“I found Saint.” Colby landed on top of my head. “He’s to the right, about half a mile out.”
“Marita mentioned a black car?” I smiled when she leaned over my forehead to see me. “Before you ask me, I’m fine. I have some good news even. Dad has figured out how to free me from the Hunk. Probably. We’re taking it slow, but it’s the most progress anyone has made since this started.”
No one had been willing to hurt me enough to try, though plenty of folks had suggested death as a solution. It wasn’t fair this unsavory task fell to Dad, but he was the equivalent of a surgeon when it came to his precision with black magic. If anyone had a shot at removing this tumorous growth, it was him.
“That is good news.” She sniffed then coughed. “You smell like burnt hair.”
“Yeah.” I wrinkled my nose. “The binding is causing magic to go haywire when it hits my system.”
Gentling his hold on me, Asa tucked me in closer. “Do you want to wait for your father?”
“Do you mind scouting one more time, Colby?” I wanted to buy a moment with Asa. “Look for the car.”
Colby shot into the air, determination shining in her dark eyes.
“You’re hurt worse than you want Colby to know.” Asa read me with ease. “How can I help?”
“Dad can channel Mom. He patched me up after he removed the first anchor. He can do it again.”
When his confusion became evident, I explained Dad’s revelation about chakra points to him.
“What happens when the last anchor is gone?”
“Hopefully, the Hunk shrivels and falls off my neck like a cauterized skin tag.”
“As evocative as that description is, I would prefer a more concrete answer before we reach that point.”
“There are several more to go.” I checked on Colby. “Dad has a baseline reading of my normal magic and my bound magic. He’ll examine me between rounds to make sure all is going according to plan.”
The pinch of his lips betrayed how much he wanted to argue against it, but he knew as well as I did we had no better options.
A thunderous boom shook the ground under us, and a pillar of flames gouted into the sky.
Something told me Colby would have no trouble locating the car now.
“I see the car.” Colby swooped overhead before settling on my shoulder. “The engine is smoking.”
Yep.
Sometimes I hate being right.
Beside me, Asa gave way to Blay, who cracked his knuckles.
Antennae aquiver, Colby readied for takeoff. “I’ll go—”
“No.” I cupped my hand over her wings. “Stay close until we figure out who’s behind the wheel.”
“Okay.” A shiver rippled through her she couldn’t quite contain before she locked down her fear. “Can I try something?” She read my unease and hardened her expression. “I can heal you. Not through the familiar bond. Just me. Loinnir magic.” Her fluff stood on end. “Will you let me?”
Clay had warned me that once our familiar bond was cemented, there was no going back. Colby had to use her magic, or it would build up and kill her. I wasn’t sure how that worked now that our connection was clogged, but I figured better safe than sorry.
“I would appreciate that.” I eased away from Blay. “Just don’t hurt yourself in the process.”
A subtle warmth pulsed under my skin where she sat, spreading through my body like a sigh.
The aches and pains dulled to manageable levels, and I blew out a long breath of relief.
“That’s incredible.” I smooched the side of her head. “I feel like a new woman.”
“See?” She was winded but smiling. “I did it.” Her wings drooped, and she melted onto my shoulder. “I’m fine.” She threw off my attempts to help, her breaths coming fast. “I just need to rest for a second.”
Either the kink in our bond or the sheer amount of damage I had done to myself, via the Hunk, had put a bigger strain on her than usual. “Rest all you want.”
“Blay protect Colby.” He reached for her, and she reclined across his open palms. “Blay keep her safe.”
“Thanks, big guy.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “I’m going to check on Dad.”
“Blay come too.” He walked with Colby caged between his thick fingers. “Rue not go alone.”
A short yip brought my attention swinging back to the pair of wolves with tongues lolling.
“I won’t be alone,” I promised him. “The Mayhews will protect me.”
With that, Marita bared her teeth in a vicious grin, clearly on board with the plan.
Beside her, Derry snapped his jaws, allowing drool to slide down his chin.
Which he flung at Marita before bounding away at breakneck speed.
Strings of slobber crisscrossing her face, Marita bristled from head to toe and gave chase.
Oy.
This was not shaping up to be the stealth mission I envisioned, but that was wargs for you.
“Rue sure Derry wolf and Marita wolf keep Rue safe?”
“We’ll be fine.” I peeked in at a sleeping Colby one last time. “Stay put, and we’ll be right back.”
“Rue scream if Rue needs Blay.” He sat with his back against a tree. “Blay come to rescue.”
Warmed inside and out, I smiled at him. “Thank—”
“Just like Boom Hammer in Super Mystics.”
“Colby has been back five minutes, and you’re already spouting infomercials.”
“Boom Hammer swings a gods-blessed hammer that can smash through anything.”
“I notice you two never mention the price.”
“You can’t put a price on happiness.”
The sincerity with which he delivered the line had me peering closer at the moth in his hands, but she was out cold.
“We’ll discuss this later,” I promised Blay. “Then you can tell me all about this newest expansion pack.”
Ever since Mystic Realms released its first spin-off, they kept coming faster and faster.
How did they expect kids to keep up with the expense of purchasing the latest editions?
Oh.
Right.
They knew exactly who would foot the bill.
Parents.
And who would be at the head of the line? Me. I tended to do better with showing my emotion through purchases made under duress, so this latest expansion pack had timed its release well.
Over the tears my credit card wept in fear of the coming charges, I imagined I heard mothy cackles.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Mayhews and I padded toward the fiery remains of a black car identical to the one used to drive the wig around Dallas. Eager to search for clues before they were consumed by flames, I got three feet away before another blast rocked the metal frame.
“Stand back.” I retreated to a safe distance before the fire could melt off my face. “Goddess.”
There would be no evidence left in that smoldering mass, no hints as to where its occupants had gone.
A glint in the distance caught my eye, and I rocked forward, seconds from launching a pursuit.
Marita and Derry stepped in front of me, their furry bodies penning me in, refusing to budge an inch.
“For all we know, that could be the director.” I shoved them, but they didn’t cave to my pleas. “He’s getting away.”
The wargs shook their heads, growling softly at me, then Derry broke away.
“I don’t have access to my magic, but I’m not useless.” I set my jaw at Marita. “I can still fight.”
She set a paw on my foot, I thought to comfort me, but she was staring past me.
Following her line of sight, I swallowed as a rock dropped into my stomach.
Clay.
He was here. Right there. Behind me.
Our gazes clashed and then held for an eternity I spent searching for any hint of my friend. Neat rows furrowed his brow as he stared at me. Maybe he was doing the same. Looking for answers within me.
Stubborn hope I had never quite managed to stamp out resurfaced. He didn’t know me. I knew that. I knew it. I wasn’t delusional enough to believe I could talk to him, break through to him, but I stood there with my heart in my eyes for as long as he could stand it before ripping his attention away to assess the other threats.
“That’s Rue.” Derry walked up behind me on two legs. “She’s your best friend.”
Clay didn’t speak, but he didn’t attack or flee either. That was a good sign, right?
“She was your partner once, at Black Hat.” Derry held his ground. “Do you remember?”
“This is ridiculous.” I kept crushing my hope, grinding it down to dust. “You’re wasting your breath.”
“Rue.”
The buzz in my ears kept me from pinpointing who, exactly, was yelling my name.
