Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (53 page)

"You need to know something," he said. "I am the asshole in the room. And I always will be. Don't mistake my concern for your future for genuine feelings. I couldn't care less about you until I need you to do something for me. And I do, which is why I do the things I do. Do you understand?"

Syney's mouth fell wide open. "What do you want?"

"I'll let you know when I need it."

She snapped her mouth shut. He was lying. He had to be. There was no way he could be that cruel. Or maybe he could be.

The two were silent when Hunter and Noelle got back in the car. Noelle handed Syney a bag of food. Syney opened it and pulled out a Devil Dog. Her mouth started to water.

"These are my favorite," she said, pulling off the plastic packaging.

"That's what Hunter said." Noelle stared at the chocolate treat skeptically.

Syney almost smiled at that. He had remembered from months ago when they had first met. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," Hunter said quietly.

"All that tension over a fat-filled junk food? Disgusting," Gabe said, pulling onto the road.

It didn't take long before Gabe pulled into the driveway of an old Victorian house with a wide wraparound porch. It was Syney's dream house. She used to imagine getting a house like this for her own family. Gabe led the way up to the door and knocked heavily. A few lights went on in the house, and soon a beautiful woman with dirty-blond hair answered the door.

She gave Gabe a big smile and wrapped him in a hug. "I was worried when I hadn't heard from you."

He pulled back. "I've been busy."

She nodded and looked at the other three, who stood on the porch.

"This is Noelle and Hunter. And Syney," Gabe said, pointing out each in turn. "This is Becca. She's a friend."

Becca's gaze paused on Hunter for a moment before she turned to stare at Syney. Syney thought the older woman's eyes were filling with tears, but she couldn't be sure, because she quickly turned and led the way into the house.

"Any other guests?" Gabe asked, when they had all filed into a formal sitting room.

Becca shook her head. "Joseph left last month. It's been just me since. But now I have a full house." She smiled at all of them.

"We won't be here long," Hunter said, scanning the windows on one side of the room.

"You're safe here. I have a Psyche's charm on the house. No violence allowed," Becca said.

Hunter looked at her but didn't say anything. Syney could understand his concern for both the house and their hostess. Becca seemed very nice, but what was she doing in the Human Realm? Those in the Village looked down upon anyone who lived here.

"We need your help," Syney said, stepping toward the woman. She put a hand to the spot on her side. "I have a curse here, and I need it off."

"A curse?" Becca's eyes widened and looked over at Gabe. "For how long?"

"We're not sure," Gabe said pointedly. "Noelle only just did the spell to find it. But she said the mark was fading already."

Becca's eyes narrowed at Gabe. "Really?"

Syney looked between the two. The exchange was interesting, but she didn't have time for this. "Can you help?"

Becca looked back at her. "Of course.
Revelare caeca,"
she said with a wave of her hand. "Oh, my goddess. This is serious. Have you felt depressed lately? Suicidal?"

Syney nodded. "It's the curse, right?"

"Yes. This is a very serious curse. Whoever put this on you wanted you to kill yourself."

"I almost did," Syney whispered. "Can you take it off?"

"I just need..." Becca wandered out of the room and returned a moment later with a bowl of what looked like red paste. She painted some onto the spot with a small brush then said something Syney didn't understand. For a moment the spot burned, and Syney cried out. Hunter grabbed her before she fell to the floor.

"Are you OK?" Noelle asked, rushing up next to her.

Syney looked at her and thought about that. The burning had stopped, and so had the other pain she had been feeling. She felt good—much better than she had been feeling. And it wasn't only the physical pain that was gone; the darkness was too. She took a deep breath and smiled. "I feel good actually. Really good." She looked over to Becca. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. But you should rest, Syney. The removal of the curse takes a lot out of the body. And the rest of you look like you might fall over. You need some sleep. Come. I'll show you to some rooms," Becca said, leading the way upstairs.

She gave each of them a room and some clothes to sleep in. Syney changed into the thin white nightgown and collapsed into bed. She wanted to celebrate the fact that she was back to her old self again, but she was too damn tired. She fell asleep almost the second her head hit the pillow.

Only minutes had passed before she woke up, though. She felt something brush her neck firmly. She gasped and sat up, coming face-to-face with Gabe. He ran a hand through her hair before pulling her forward by the back of her neck and kissing her. He laid her back on the bed and climbed on top of her, his mouth hard on hers and his hands everywhere else.

"Wait," she breathed, as his mouth moved down to her neck.

He didn't listen and kept going, pulling her nightgown up to her hips. She wanted him to stop, especially after what he had said in the car and, of course, because of Noelle, but everything he was doing felt so good, and she didn't feel like she could stop him. It was as if she had no will of her own. This was wrong.

"Something's not right," she said, pushing him off her.

Syney shot up in bed, awoken for real this time by the dream. She was breathing fast, and her face was flushed. That wasn't any ordinary dream. She
jumped out of bed and opened the door to her room. The hallway was silent; all of the other doors were closed. She looked at the room directly across from hers, which was where Hunter had gone. Gabe had taken the room next to his. She bit her bottom lip as she looked between the two doors. Gabe's door opened slowly, and he smiled as he leaned against the doorframe. She narrowed her eyes at him. He knew she would be out here, the ass. "Stay out of my head," she said, before walking into Hunter's room without knocking.

Hunter was sitting on the window seat, staring into the night. He looked over at her and jumped to his feet. "Is everything OK?"

She nodded and closed the door behind her. She sat down on his bed and crossed her feet below her. "Just bad dreams."

"Like the ones before?"

She shook her head. "More like implanted ones."

Hunter looked at the wall. "I could take care of that for you."

"It's OK. As long as Gabe stays in my head and not in my bed, I'm fine." She regretted saying it the second she saw Hunter stiffen up and turn back to the window. "I was thinking we should just go back to Colchin—or maybe even stay here."

"We can't."

"I know. But a girl can dream." She stared at his back. She wanted him to hold her. She always felt safer when he did. But that wasn't going to happen again, not with his duty and honor. He was a warrior through and through. His feelings came second to that. She never was going to win. She sighed and stood up. "Good night."

"Wait."

Syney stopped at the door and glanced back at him. He looked at her for a moment before walking over and kissing her. "This isn't allowed in the Village, remember?" she said after a while.

He shook his head, the beginnings of a smile crossing his lips. "We're not in the Village yet. We have one more night. No charms or curses or any damn magic."

She smiled up at him. "I could go for one more night. Just make sure you project it really hard over that a-way," she said, gesturing to the wall between his room and Gabe's.

"I plan on it." He kissed her again.

Syney woke up the next morning alone. She stretched out her arms but found nothing but a cold bed. She frowned and pulled on her nightgown before making her way across the hall to change into her clothes. She found Noelle and Becca in the kitchen, both eating some eggs and bacon. Syney's mouth watered as she dug into the plate that Becca handed her.

"Where's Hunter?" Syney asked through a mouthful of eggs.

"He said he needed to take a run," Noelle said. "And Gabe is still upstairs."

Syney rolled her eyes. "He can stay there," she mumbled.

Noelle gave her an odd look, which Syney shrugged off.

"So, Becca, you obviously do a lot of magic. I'm assuming you're a Magic User," Syney said, dropping the topic of Gabe.

She nodded. "Yes. But I was raised here in the Human Realm."

"Really? That's interesting," Noelle said.

"Not really. My family has lived out here since before the Great War. There aren't many who do it, but we aren't the only ones," Becca said, sipping at a mug of coffee.

"Gabe mentioned you have magical books," Syney said, trying to be nonchalant. She didn't want to come right out and ask to see whatever books Becca had, but the moment Gabe had mentioned them, her interest had been piqued. She was sick of being a Magic User who knew squat about magic.

"A lot actually. My family started collecting them three generations ago. They believed it was important for future generations to not only study the magics but also practice them when they could." Becca gave Syney a smile. "Would you like to learn?"

"That would be OK," Syney said, nodding.

Becca showed them to her library, which filled an entire room. The walls all had built-in bookshelves that held books of different sizes and colors.

"This is amazing," Noelle said, sliding a finger along a shelf of books. "There's way more here than in the secured section of the library."

Becca laughed. "I'm not surprised. If you want to start playing around, I suggest starting with some conjuring." She pointed to the far shelf of books before she headed out of the room.

Syney eyed the books, not really knowing whether she should "play around." Noelle had no such preoccupations, as she pulled some books down and flipped through them. Syney walked over to the section Becca had indicated and retrieved a small green book. Inside were spells meant for conjuring. As she read she sat down at the round table in the center of the room. The book taught her more about magic in five minutes than she had learned in months at the Village. The only magic she ever had experienced were natural things she had done—like her lightning and the healing—and she couldn't seem to make either of those work when she wanted to. After about an hour of reading, she grabbed an empty glass on the table and placed it in front of her. Holding her hands over it, she closed her eyes and repeated some words from the book.
"Adducam aqua."
The second the words came out of her mouth, she felt something surge within her. It felt amazing. She opened her eyes and watched as water filled the glass all the way to the top.

"That's was amazing," Noelle breathed.

Syney smiled at her. "Pretty cool."

"Way more than cool. What you just did—that hasn't been done in hundreds of years. You just stably called forth an element." Noelle looked at her with wide eyes. "You really are the One."

Syney stared at her. "I'm just trying hard. I'm sure you could do it as well."

Noelle smiled. "Maybe. What did it feel like?"

"It was a rush. All that power. You've got to feel it." Syney picked up the book and flipped through it again.

They stayed in the library for the rest of the day, reading and even trying different spells. They successfully conjured water and fire and performed some spells, such as creating light and opening and closing doors. Syney could do the spells by herself easily, but Noelle had to use Syney's life force to make them happen. At least that was what Noelle said she was doing. Syney merely held her hand while she performed the spells. Becca brought them lunch, which they ate while doing a spell that made the room colder then hotter. The entire process was a thrill. Syney could no longer imagine a life without magic. Hunter had passed by the room a couple of times, casting a look in their direction. Syney knew he was checking on them, which she appreciated. Gabe had gone by once as well with Becca, the two whispering to each other. Syney was beginning to get unnerved by Gabe. After the stunt he had pulled the night before, she wasn't sure who he was anymore. She really did care about him, which made the whole situation even worse.

Syney looked up at the little blue lights that were hovering over the table and smiled. "Now that is cool. But I think I need a little break from the magic," she said with a yawn. "It's taking all of my energy, which I need if we're leaving tonight." She got up and looked over the shelves again. "Do you think we can take some of these with us?"

"If we want to die."

She looked back at Noelle surprised. "Excuse me?"

Noelle looked up from the book in front of her. "Books like these are what they found with Raine. If we get caught with them..."

"Right. Got it." She looked back to the books. "It's a shame, though. I think we both could get even better."

"At least you could. I can't even get the small stuff to work. I've been trying to make this book change color for the past half-hour," Noelle said, waving her hand over the book in front of her and repeating the spell. Nothing happened.

Syney looked over at the blue book and thought of the color red. A second later the book changed to red. Her mouth gaped open as she stared at the book. Had she just done that? No way—she hadn't even said the spell.

Noelle looked at her. "Did you do that?"

Syney shrugged. "I just thought of the color red. That's crazy, though, right?"

Noelle smiled. "Not for you."

Syney sighed and looked back at the books. Doing magic felt really good, but it still scared the crap out of her. And being able to do a spell without even knowing the spell? She wondered what else she could do. She looked over the books again. Most of them didn't have any titles on them, just odd symbols. One book caught her eye, though, mostly because it did have a title and was leather bound, while most of the other books were cloth. She pulled it off the shelf. A smile slowly formed on her lips as she read the title out loud, "
Treaty of Allegiance of the Great Races."
She looked over at Noelle, whose eyebrows were raised in interest.