The Wild (Book Four The Hayle Coven Novels) Read online

  “I want you to be okay!” The last came out in a wail like a lost and wounded animal looking for her mother. “I don’t want you to go and I don’t want to go either and I want your demon back and I want the stupid Sidhe to leave us alone.” She spoke between sobs, and by the time she reached the end I had to shake her a little so she could catch her breath.

  “I’m sorry, too,” I said. “I should have talked to you before.”

  “I didn’t want you to feel bad.” She snuffled and hiccupped. “You wanted to be a regular person and you were one and I thought you didn’t love me anymore.” The wail was back, but sharper this time. More like a needle right through my aching heart. “So I stayed out of your way and I tried to not worry. But Syd... I’m so afraid.” Her lower lip trembled, more tears falling.

  She had to run out eventually, didn’t she? If she cried much more she’d die of dehydration.

  “Meems,” I said, “of course I love you.” I felt fiercely protective all of a sudden and squeezed her hands. “And I’ll get my magic back. I promise.”

  “But Mom.” She wiped at her nose with a corner of one fluffy pillow. “She gave you an order to go.”

  I nodded, grim. “I’ll be here when she needs me,” I said.

  “But I need you now!” She collapsed onto me again. “Please don’t go. They’re sending me away too! If you stay, maybe they’ll let me.”

  That’s what she was afraid of. As much as I was afraid of the same thing. How could Mom and Dad send us both away knowing it might be the last time we ever saw them? They weren’t exactly giving us a choice in the matter.

  It also meant there was no way I was going to the lake house. I had to go with my sister. Witch or not, powerless or not, I had to protect her. I knew the coven would object. She’d probably be going with the weakest members as protection. I’d just have to convince them.

  Rather than telling her so and getting her hopes up, I tried to offer what comfort I could. “Sassy will be with you,” I stroked his fur as he snuggled up to her, “no matter what. Right, Sass?”

  He didn’t say anything, just fixed me with those amber eyes. In that moment, I knew after what she had been through with Nicholas and the Chosen, he would give his life to protect my sister.

  That was when it hit me. Of course she was terrified. She probably still hadn’t recovered from being kidnapped and held by the evil vampire clan. Was Mom even aware?

  She had to be. I was the only selfish one in this house, turned out.

  I hugged her again. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered, glaring at Sassy to stay quiet. “I promise.”

  She finally let me go. “Pinky swear?”

  We locked little fingers in the age-old dealmaker of siblings and best friends.

  “Pinky swear.” I got up, headed for the door. Turned to see two sets of glowing amber eyes staring at me from the gloom.

  It was very, very hard to close her door behind me.

  Back in my room, I went straight for my computer. No messages from Quaid. What a shocker. I was beginning to lose hope, that he’d forgotten about me. I fired off an email I edited about ten times before I managed to write all my anger out of it.

  Seconds later, I had mail. All that was in it were two letters: IM.

  I opened my instant messenger.

  Anything?

  I could see him typing. Not yet. But getting closer.

  Yeah, right. It was hard to tell if he was handing me a line or not. He must have known what I was thinking because he followed it up with, Sunny isn’t giving up. And neither am I.

  Okay. That made me feel a little better.

  I filled him in on what happened with Pain and my weird dreams.

  What do you think it means? Maybe he could give me some insight.

  There was a long pause before he started typing again. Not sure. But the whole Wild Hunt situation may be part of it. Have you thought of that?

  I hadn’t. What could I possibly have to do with the Wild?

  It’s much more likely whoever did this to me also did the same thing to Pain. That made way more sense to me.

  He paused again and I realized he was probably talking it over with Sunny. I felt the sudden urge to cry. I missed them both.

  Quaid started typing again before I could dissolve into a follow up act to Meira.

  Whatever the cause, if your mom is right about Pain’s walls coming down when she turns eighteen, it could be messy. Miriam knows that, right?

  Naturally. She says she can’t interfere. Coven law.

  Right. He paused one last time. Just keep an eye on her if you can. Sunny says she has another lead she wants to check out.

  Be careful. I hugged myself as he answered.

  You too.

  I almost typed something I shouldn’t, involving the word love and him. Before I could, the connection icon winked out. He was gone.

  Why did that feel so personal?

  ***

  Chapter Seventeen

  Their beautiful faces are masks of anger as Cydia points at me and declares, “Death.”

  “Death,” comes the echo.

  “Death,” my beloved says.

  The skies darken at once, the rage of the elements called down on me for the most hideous of crimes, the very one I did not commit.

  “My love,” I whisper as thunder rumbles, chasing giant forks of lightning across the sky.

  “Befouled one,” he snarls, no joy or happiness in his face, his love for me gone. “Death is too good for you.”

  Of all of them, he is the last I would believe could order my death and yet there he stands, Cydia beside him now, her hatred twisting into a secret smile as she calls down the lighting, guiding his hand, my darling Gwynn, to deliver the killing blow.

  I feel it strike my body, the sudden rush of agony cut short as I rise above my body, my soul free of its substantial form. As I rise I hear them gasp, see their horror, his most of all. In my love, I see the understanding in his face, in his eyes, that I am innocent of the crime. For, as my soul rides the now calming air, it does so in perfect harmony with the elements, something impossible if I were, indeed, a blood mage.

  His cry of agony chases me upward into the sky and out of this life.

  “SHAYLEE!”

  ***

  You’d think I’d be used to waking up in tears by that point. Not so much. I lay there for a long time, listening to the howling wind rattling my windows, the drum like thud of rolling thunder as lightning struck again and again.

  It was a long time before the storm faded. I snuck down to the kitchen and watched from the darkness of the hall as exhausted witches emerged from the basement and quietly left the house.

  In their faces I saw nothing to bring me comfort. Only fear and weariness.

  I waited for Mom, even letting Dad pass me by, so tired he didn’t notice when I slid into a darker patch of shadow so he could pass.

  When the basement door opened for the last time, I stepped out into the light and confronted her.

  I’d never seen her so tired, her face aged from her weariness. For a moment she looked so much like Gram I shuddered. The magic she was using took a massive toll on her body. And while I knew she would recover her more youthful glow with rest, I also knew that kind of rebound only worked so many times before the signs of strain became more permanent.

  No time for concern for her. I had my sister to think of.

  “I’ve changed my mind.” I didn’t give her a chance to protest. “I’m going with Meira instead of Alison. I need to watch over my sister.”

  Mom didn’t say anything for a long moment, swaying slightly, her long shadow cast by the single small light over the stove looming like a threat.

  “That won’t be possible now.” The edges of her words were ragged, throat raw as if she’d been screaming for hours.

  “Anything is possible.” I refused to back down. This was too important.

  Mom’s sigh came from so far inside her it was like her
body crumpled in on itself by the time she’d finished. “It’s been requested that you not accompany the other children.”

  Just punch me in the gut some more, why didn’t she? “Requested.” Credit to me I stayed so calm when I really wanted to confront the entire coven and call them cowards.

  “I agreed.” She passed one hand over her face. “You’ll be safer with normals.”

  “And if this goes bad,” I said, “which both you and Dad seem to think it will… Mom, you’re really going to let Meira and Sassy go off alone?” I didn’t voice the rest of it. To die. I couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come out. But Mom nodded slowly, clearly knowing what I was thinking.

  “I have no other choice. And neither do you.” She looked away before pinning me with her gaze. “The full force of the storm will hit here, in Wilding Springs. Everywhere else should be safe. For a while.”

  “But not for long.” I knew the stories about the Wild, the natural disaster designed to destroy the world when it was time to end, a magical cleansing so nature and the Sidhe could start again. Nothing would remain, no sign of civilization or that we had ever been on earth. There would be nowhere to run or hide, not for me, not for Meira and Sassy.

  She shrugged. “It’s the best I can do.” Heat in her words at last, the dead, flat tone giving way to her rising anger. “What else do you want from me?”

  I shook my head and took a step back, knowing she wasn’t herself, but still holding it against her. “I want you to trust me enough to let me stay.”

  Instead of answering, she stormed past me, actually shoving me aside. I heard her footsteps pause at the end of the hall.

  “You’re going,” she said, “and I will do what I can, what I must. Stop making this harder than it has to be.” I stayed where I was, heart pounding as my own rage built, listening to her make her stomping way up the stairs and the final slam of her bedroom door.

  I stood there for a long time in the near dark, letting my anger seep out of me until only sadness was left. I slunk back to my room, pausing at my door, not wanting to be alone. In the end, I crept down the hall to Meira’s door. Unlocked this time.

  Unashamed and needing the comfort now more than ever, I slid into bed beside my sister. She sighed softly in her sleep and snuggled up to me while Sassy’s golden eyes eased open a crack. His tail flicked once when I stroked his fur ever so softly before he went back to sleep.

  I wished it was that easy for me.

  ***

  Chapter Eighteen

  The last day of school for the year was supposed to be fun. Just a half day where some teachers showed movies and the cafeteria made real pizza instead of the cardboard they usually served.

  Not so much this year. I should have been enjoying myself. I’d made it through a whole year with friends and everything. I was even pretty sure I’d passed my courses despite all the interruptions in my life in the last nine months. For the first time ever, the last day of school was going to be as fun for me as I always imagined it was for everyone else.

  Maybe if my friends weren’t totally bummed out over Pain. Or if the whole town, heck the whole eastern seaboard, wasn’t about to be demolished by a ‘hurricane’. It was all everyone talked about. Not their plans for the summer or what their marks were like, but just the stupid storm.

  It grated on my nerves. Mostly because I moved past being able to worry about everyone else and focused on my family. I could barely look at my friends without a spike of fear going through me. Made for a very pleasant morning, let me tell you.

  So why did I go? And stay for that matter? Because I was out of the house. And not alone. It was the better of two awful choices.

  Blood was the worst of the group. Simon and Beth may have been worried about the storm, but he pined for his girlfriend.

  I finally risked it and asked how she was.

  He offered one of his characteristic Goth shrugs. “Her mom put her back in treatment,” he said. He made it sound like she’d been sent to prison. “She’s a mess, you know? But it’s worse for her, being in there.”

  “We should go visit her.” We were free now anyway and I needed an excuse to see her. This was perfect.

  Blood immediately perked. “She’d totally take that in.”

  “I can’t,” Beth said. “I’m sorry, but we’re leaving as soon as I get home.”

  Right. Auntie in St. Louis.

  Simon’s head bobbed. “Me either. Mom and Dad decided we’d go on vacation early because of the weather.”

  Blood nodded slowly. “Completely understand.”

  Alison shook her head at me, smile strained. “We can’t either, remember? We’re leaving too.”

  Wow, that was selfish. How long would it take us to stop at the hospital and check on Pain? “I want to go.”

  Her face scrunched into a momentary scowl. She hooked my arm and led me a short distance from the others while Blood’s hopeful look sank.

  “I’m not going.” It came out of her in a harsh whisper. “Forget it.”

  I jerked my arm free. “Well, that’s very sweet of you,” I shot back. “She’s our friend, Al.”

  Her lips were almost white as her mouth thinned out, whole face pale except for two bright pink spots on her cheeks. “I just can’t.” She shuddered slightly. “Syd, please. I can’t.”

  “Because of Suzanne?” Yes, that had been traumatic, I got it. But it was Pain we were talking about.

  Alison shrugged, gaze dropping away. “There’s nothing we can do for her.” She kept her voice down, so low it didn’t sound like her at all. “We need to just leave her alone. She’s got issues, you know?” Alison rubbed her arms with both hands, almost hugging herself. “She’s obviously lost it and I just can’t watch it happen again.”

  Any other time I may have reacted differently. I might have understood and even sympathized. After all, I was there for the whole mess with Suzanne, just like Alison. And I knew because of her mother’s drinking issues dealing with stuff like this couldn’t be easy for her. But it was Pain and she needed my help. And as much as Alison didn’t want to go and using the excuse she wasn’t strong enough to handle it, I knew she was just being selfish.

  “Fine, I’ll go myself.” I left her standing there so she had to chase me. She caught my arm and turned me around.

  “You can’t. Mom’s picking us up at one.” Was that desperation in her eyes? Why didn’t I care?

  “That’s nice,” I said. “Have fun.” Problem of the lake house solved after all. Mom wouldn’t have a choice now but to either let me stay or send me with Meira. I’d tell her I was no longer invited. I didn’t want to fight with Alison, but this situation did kill two issues with one argument.

  Blood and the others were already gone. Damn, I’d missed him. To find out what hospital Pain was in, I’d have to text him.

  I glanced back only once as I left, trying not to feel guilty about the tears of rejection on Alison’s face.

  I stormed through the front door with enough momentum Mom knew I wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  Without giving me the time to argue, she deposited a suitcase at my feet and scowled at me so darkly I lost my nerve. She handed me the phone and mouthed the word, apologize.

  Damn it. The receiver was warm against my ear. “Al?”

  She was crying still. “Please come with me. I’m sorry I said that about Pain, I really am. It was wrong and I feel terrible.”

  I rolled my eyes at Mom. “Al…”

  Mom’s foot tapped on the floor. “You’re going.”

  I could have fought her. Wouldn’t have won and I knew it.

  I sighed, defeated. “It’s okay, Al,” I said. “I’m sorry too.”

  As she babbled her joy at my change of heart, I glared at my mother who glared right back.

  “One condition,” I said, knowing Alison would agree to anything.

  ***

  Chapter Nineteen

  I gave Mom the silent treatment after I hung up, running to
my room for a few extra things. By the time I returned downstairs, she was conspicuously absent. I waffled between angry and hurt while I glanced down at my suitcase, the hateful thing, and wished I had options.

  It turned out I didn’t have time to decide which one suited my mood the best. Just as I stuffed my favorite T-shirt into the front of the bag, a big black car pulled into the driveway. A limousine.

  Seriously? Now I needed to get away without my parents noticing. I knew Alison’s mom was pretentious, but a limo?

  I unkindly wondered who she was trying to impress. This was going to be one hell of a stay.

  The door slammed shut behind me, the wheels of my overnight bag humming on the pavement. The black suited driver was out of the car, holding the back door open for Mrs. Morgan as she climbed out.

  What? Why? Alison was right behind her, making a terrible face like this wouldn’t end well and she was already sorry.

  Uh-oh. I fixed a smile on my face and stood right in the woman’s path.

  “Hi, Mrs. Morgan,” I said, forcing cheer into my voice when cheer was the very last thing on my mind. “Thanks for picking me up.”

  Her answering smile was absent as her eyes roved over our house. It wasn’t a mansion, but it was home and I resented every eyebrow arch the woman made.

  “I’m dying to meet your mother.” Mrs. Morgan’s eyes finally settled on mine. “After all, I’m stealing her daughter away for a few days.”

  Oh crap. Alison was right. This was not good at all.

  “She’s pretty busy.” What was it with me a weak excuses? I’d have to sit down and work on some for the future.

  Mrs. Morgan brushed past me to the door. “It will only take a moment.”

  I followed her with great reluctance, Alison trailing behind me. She mouthed I’m sorry.

  “What’s going on?” I kept my volume at a tiny hiss just for her ears.