Healing Hands (The Queen of the Night series Book 2) (8 page)

I sighed. As I did, he captured it with his mouth. His lips pressed insistently onto mine. It wasn’t an urgent kiss. He didn’t crush my mouth. His lips just wouldn’t take no for an answer. He took his time, exploring my mouth with his own. When he let me breathe again, I felt dizzy.

The first time he’d kissed me it had been an act. We were trying to avoid being shot for trespassing on a bad man’s property so we pretended to make out. Those kisses had left my lips swollen, this kiss left them tingling. I wanted more.

Unfortunately he started talking.

“You know, the kid’s powers of premonition are so good, it’s spooky.”  He chuckled with admiration, but the words were like a splash of cold water on my face. I didn’t want Corey to have powerful magic. I would’ve preferred it if he really had no magic. I wouldn’t have to worry about him destroying the world.

The warmth of Evan’s arms outside of me, and the single-malt scotch inside of me, were suddenly less appealing. It didn’t matter how good this felt. In the eyes of the clan, we could only be friends. I needed to keep it that way.
When had the movie finished
?

I put space between us on the couch. “I think we’d better go to our own beds.”

“This is my bed,” he stated. “Rose left blankets earlier.” 

I looked in the corner of the room, so she had.

“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.”  I got up, pleased to realize I could walk. I made a beeline for the door as he whispered, “Good Night, Maggie.”

***

I doubted I’d slept two hours before an extremely wrinkled, white-haired, stooped woman beat me with pine branches.

“What the hefalump?” I mumbled. I briefly acknowledged privately that I’d been kissing Evan in my dreams and the realization woke me up faster than the old woman.

“Rise and greet the New Year!” she cried.

I smelled pine scented smoke drifting up the stairs. The redding had begun. The woman, whom I assumed was Evelyn Macgregor, waved a sage smudge stick all around my room making it rather smoky and hazy. I followed her out noting I’d fallen asleep in my party clothes. I vowed silently to never drink scotch again.

When I reached the hallway, she was beating Corey out of his room. I wondered what time he’d gotten to bed since the hair on the left side of his head stuck straight up and he could only open his right eye.

As we trudged behind the highly energized woman down the stairs, I became aware that the house was full of people. Rose had not had the pleasure of being beaten out of bed with branches, because she worked in the kitchen with Ginger. Fiona stood in the living room with Duncan and his four sons. As I had assumed, the evergreen branches from the hearth burned in the fireplace. The whole house was smoky and my eyes started to water. I reached the living room in time to see Evelyn beating Evan good-naturedly out of the den. Satisfied that she’d sufficiently stunk up the house, she approached Fiona, who gave her a cruet of water and a handle-less cup.

She started walking through every room in the house. As she did so, she sprinkled water from the cruet around and intoned, “Mother Earth and Father Sky, we ask your blessing for protection from evil; grant prosperity and happiness for all the residents of this home. May the hearth keep away cold and danger, may the beds be soft and warm, and may the pantry be full so they never hunger. We ask you to banish all sorrow and evil from this place and bless it with love and good will. Your servants: Rose, Maggie and Corey will live here in peace. They pledge themselves to follow the rules of the land and the clan. They will always strive to keep the balance of nature intact. Blessed Be.”

When she’d finished with the water, she approached each of us in turn, saying, “Drink from the Usque-Cashrichd, the dead and living ford, and be blessed.”  She poured water from the cruet into the cup and made Rose, Corey, and I drink it.

I mumbled, “What’s a dead and living ford?”

Corey answered me. “I know, ‘cause I’m the one who gathered the water!”  He seemed really proud of this and I became instantly suspicious.

“What did you do?” I whispered.

He grinned. “Ken hung me by this harness over the place where the Cacapon and Potomac rivers meet, over near where they buried Mom, and I scooped up the water into a jug. Then they hoisted me up.”

“Was it dangerous?” I asked tentatively.

“Oh yeah,” he grinned hugely.

“How much cider did Mike give you?”

“They didn’t give me cider. We drank straight from the bottle.”

“Oh my heavens…does Rose know they let you go drinking?”

“Yup. She said ‘never again’.”

“Thank goodness for that. Hey is this water safe to drink?”

“Duncan boiled it, so probably.”

We returned our attention to the Crone.

She shouted, even louder, “Now open all the windows and greet the fresh air of the New Year with confidence!” 

We did as we were told and ran around the house opening all the windows. The smoke dissipated and the freezing 6 AM air replaced it. Then the Crone called us all into the kitchen. She’d poured a shot glass of scotch for each of us.

I made a face.

Evan warned me, “You have to drink it or you’ll have bad luck.”

Evelyn toasted us all by saying, “Slainte mhath!”  She downed the shot in one.

“Huh?” I said to Evan. He repeated, “SLAN-jay vah, it means good health.”

“If you say so,” I grumbled.

Chapter Twelve

New Kids in School

I sat outside the guidance counselor’s office, alone and stressed. Rose had taken Corey to settle into his new school. For me, things weren’t going well. None of my classes from Samohi lined up with the offerings here. At the first bell, I’d walked into what should have been AP Physics but turned out to be Biology 1. Clearly lost, I’d headed to the guidance office. Nothing on the little printout the school secretary gave me made sense. There was no mention of a choir or music period and no Latin class on my schedule.

I decided to go to medical school when I was Corey’s age and had thought about being a doctor even before that, so my academic path through high school had been mapped out in the ninth grade so I would easily get accepted into a UC pre-med program, preferably at UCLA. Now the plan had shattered.

The door opened and a decidedly terrified kid in glasses and a huge parka stumbled out, carrying his backpack and a slew of loose papers in his arms. A nice, if slightly frazzled, lady, wearing her hair in a bun and a slim skirt with a cardigan sweater, called my name. I grabbed my class schedule printout and my backpack, and entered her office.

“It’s Maggie, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Call me Mrs. Donnelly. I had the pleasure of speaking to your mother over the phone about a month ago. I am so sorry to hear about her passing. How are you doing, dear?”

“As well as I can, I suppose. It’s been hectic moving to a new home, and the funeral, and now this…” my words trailed off as I held out my printout in a gesture of despair.

She smiled sympathetically and looked down at a file folder on her desk containing my transcripts from Samohi.

“I’m afraid the first thing you’ll have to accept is we’re a small county in a rural community. We don’t have the same programs you had at Santa Monica High School. You are going to have to make a few decisions regarding your class options. Since we’re in the middle of a school year, it’s going to be difficult, but I want you to know, we will do everything we can to keep you on the path toward medical school. I must say, your academic record is very impressive.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Donnelly.”

***

By the time I’d finished straightening things out with the guidance counselor, it was lunch period. I only had two classes left in my day afterward. I asked a random jock in the hall to direct me to the cafeteria.

After checking me out, he obliged.

Luckily, a familiar voice called out from behind me.

I stopped and waited for him.

When he caught up with me, he put a hand on the small of my back to guide me away from the jock-guy lounging against his locker still looking at my butt. Evan speared him with a vicious dirty look and I felt like the prize in a mud wrestling competition.

Wriggling my back, I dislodged his hand, still upset at what had happened on New Year’s. I’d had a couple days to think about it and had decided it was unfair of him to kiss me, liquor or no liquor. We had agreed to be friends. There had to be boundaries.

He looked curiously at the way I’d walked away from his touch, but since we’d reached the cafeteria, he needed the hand to open the door, anyway.

I brushed past him into the requisite standard high school cafeteria.

Evan led me over to a table away from the food line. He said without preamble, “Okay, what’s going on with you.”

“We shouldn’t talk about it here.”  I looked down at my boots.

“No one’s listening. Tell me what’s on your mind?”  Then after a few beats he said, “You didn’t like the kiss, right?”

“Of course I liked it,” I said a little too quickly. “But I’m confused. Are we friends?  Or are we trying to start a war with the whole clan and a goddess?  I don’t want to be the girl who followed in her parents’ footsteps and couldn’t control herself.”

He ran a hand through his gorgeous thick, black hair and huffed out an exasperated breath.

“You’re right. Of course, you’re right. We’re friends. I promise I’ll never do it again.”

“So what happened?”  I looked up into his face to see his eyes when he answered me.

“Hogmanay happened. Expensive, single-malt whisky matured in sherry wood casks in the Scottish Highlands for twenty-one years happened. Sappy old movies happened. Let’s just chalk it up to one of those things. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He took a relieved deep breath. “So, tell me how your day is going. Let me see your schedule.”

I sat down and pulled out my lunch bag. He pulled out his, and then went to the soda machine and bought us both a couple of soda cans. I showed him what the counselor and I had worked out.

“Here’s what I was taking in Santa Monica.”  I pulled out the old piece of paper.

“Valkyries Choir in Period A, followed by Latin 3, U.S. History, break, AP Pre-Calculus, AP Physics, lunch, AP English and Psychology.”

“Holy Macha!” he said. “You must be really smart. I didn’t realize…”

“Well, I want to prepare for med school. When I got into the Valkyries Choir instead of the Viking Ensemble, it freed up another period, since they meet at 7 AM before school starts.”

“And you sing, too…” he seemed in awe.

“Yes, I sing too. What about you?  What are you taking?”

“That’s not important. Show me what your schedule looks like now.” 

I showed him.

“I had to drop choir altogether and I’m really bummed. They have Homeroom here, we didn’t at Samohi. I kept AP Physics, but instead of AP Pre-Calc, I’m in Trig/Pre-Calc. I still have AP English, Psychology and U.S. History, but this school doesn’t offer Latin, so Mrs. Donnelly signed me up for a distance-learning class on-line. None of these classes line up exactly with what I’d been doing before winter break at Samohi, but once I get all my textbooks, I can work it out and keep up with the class.” 

Mrs. Donnelly had explained, this was a small school in a rural community, but they still managed to offer the important things. I’d still have a good chance of getting into a decent pre-med program in college. The only thing I’d really lost was choir.

“Well, I can help you catch up in one class,” he said encouragingly.

“Which class?”

“We’re both taking Psychology.”

***

After lunch, Evan helped me find Pre-Calculus. He told me he’d wait for me by the flag post after seventh period and he’d drive me home. I had no idea which bus to take or where to get it. In Santa Monica we all rode the Blue Bus. As students we received free passes, but we used the same mass transit system as everyone else in the city. Riding a school bus was going to be a transition.

***

I left AP Physics and went straight out the main doors. When the doors opened, I was carried along in a current of students all crisscrossing each other at top speed trying to get on their particular buses. Craning my neck to look over the sea of heads for the flagpole, it was a surprise when Evan came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hey,” I said, relieved.

“Hi. You ready to go?”

“How’d you find me so fast in this crowd?”

“I scanned for your aura. It was easy.”

I looked at him, dumbfounded.

He shrugged and said, “Go ahead, take a look around, you’ll see what I mean.”

I opened my Healer vision and did as he’d suggested. There were clusters of gold here and there; it seemed kids from the clan tended to hang out together, or perhaps they all lived in the same neighborhoods since almost everyone was sorted into their buses now. Several of the teachers and a majority of the staff had magic. About half of the bus drivers were also in the clan. My gaze swept around back to Evan. I understood. Evan’s aura glowed with a brilliance that outshone everyone else’s. That’s why Healers and Seers were at the top of the pecking order. Our magic was just stronger than other professions.

I nodded. “I get your point.”

“Good, can we go now?”  He tilted his head off to the right.

I looked in that direction. My Healer vision was still open. One person stood next to a car in the far end of the parking lot, staring at us. Gold and purple and brown emanated from the person. I turned off my vision and spotted a petite woman with short black hair with a purple stripe painted down one side of it.

“Is that Madison?” I said, shocked.

“Yes,” he replied, grimly. “She’s here almost every day, watching me leave.”

“That’s just creepy,” I said, shaking off a shiver running down my spine.

“Tell me about it.”

***

When we got back to the happy, yellow house, things were not so relaxed. I could feel the tension in the air even before reaching the kitchen.

“Corey, OhmyGoddess!  What happened?”  Corey sat at the table.

Rose put together an ice pack for his left eye.

He didn’t answer.

Evan answered for him. “He got in a fight with one of the Wallace boys walking home from school.”

“The guy’s an air hole,” Corey complained.

“Corey!” I chastised him, shocked. “Watch your language!  Why would you get in a fight?”

Again, Evan did the talking. “The Wallace boys have always been a problem. This one said something inappropriate about your mom. You threw a great punch, by the way. He definitely deserved it.”

Corey tried to grin at the praise, but grimaced in pain instead.

“Are they Deputy Wallace’s boys,” I asked, curious.

“No, they’re definitely not from his part of the family. I suppose they’re distant cousins of his. They live near River Road and shouldn’t have been anywhere near Corey’s walk home, unless they waited for him. Next time, let him throw the first punch.”

I gasped in shock. “You threw the first punch?  What on earth did he say to you?”  I couldn’t imagine what would make my brother start a fight.

“Don’t tell her, dude,” he growled at Evan. “Or I’ll tell her what I know, and good luck keeping your promise, by the way.”

Evan’s attitude toward Corey instantly switched from admiring to antagonistic. “Keep out of my head, Corey,” he said with a hint of menace.

“Likewise, dude. I can’t help it, you know. We have something in common that links us together.”  He glanced pointedly to me. Then he turned to Aunt Rose. “Can I go lie down in my room until dinner?” 

She nodded.

Before he left the kitchen, carrying his ice pack he lamented, “The worst part about the fight was that they picked on me because they thought I have no magic. If they only knew what I could do,
they
’d be afraid of
me
!”

Evan kept staring at the spot where Corey had stood for several moments after his departure. Finally he said, almost to himself, “That kid’s got too much magic for his own good. We’re gonna have to get him trained as soon as possible. He’ll have to be taught in secret, of course, like you.”

I agreed. The sooner Corey learned to control his gifts, the easier it would be for him. The last thing we needed was an over-stressed, grieving, pre-pubescent boy with unimaginable powers described only as ‘the Destroyer’. I looked at Rose. “So, aside from the trip home, how do you think the rest of his day went?”

She shrugged. “When I left him, things were going pretty well. It turns out sixth grade is pretty much the same all over the country. The subjects were the same at least. He seemed to be farther advanced in the material covered this year, but Santa Monica schools are ranked as one of the best in the nation. Morgan County schools aren’t as good. He was talking to a few Roman kids in his class, and getting along with them. I had no idea this was going to happen.” 

Evan spoke, “Now that I think about it, we should have anticipated something like this.”

“What do you mean?”  Rose and I both looked at him.

“Our solution to protect him made it look like he has no magic. Rose, you know how non-magical children are treated in the clan. They’re thought of as second-class citizens, like they are less than everyone else. That’s why they almost always move away as soon as they’re old enough.”  He looked thoughtful for a few seconds. Then he said, “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.”  Evan had gone into council member mode. I could see why he intimidated other people. The waves of authority rolled off him. “Rose, you call Deputy Jimmy. I have his home number if you need it. Explain what happened today. Ask him if he could patrol Corey’s route home tomorrow. If Jimmy has a talk with those boys, my guess is they’ll leave Corey alone. Maggie, you talk to Corey. Suggest to him that he try to make friends with the Romans. He can see auras, so just tell him to talk to the kids who don’t have any gold. I’ll talk to my mom. She knows all of the kids because they visit her at the library. I’ll find out which ones are in Corey’s grade at Warm Springs. I’ll ask her to contact their parents and see if these kids can’t make a special effort to include Corey in their activities. If he’s surrounded by people who like him, the kids who are bigoted against non-magic folks will be less likely to cause trouble.”

“Corey won’t like your interceding on his behalf. He’ll want to make friends on his own,” I said understanding my brother well.