Mine to Fear (12 page)

Jack glares at us all. I don't know why he
even bothered to come, though he said it was because Councilman
Daniel would have his head if anything happened to Annabelle. I'm
surprised he didn't tie her to a chair instead.

The sun will be coming up in an hour or so.
If we're going to do this, we have to do it now.

“
Tawny?” I ask. “Are we
ready?”

“
Ready as we're ever going to
be.”

Which doesn't feel good enough at all. But
Annabelle's right. We have to do something. We can't sit back and
let them think they can get away with this. We need to take this
fight to them.

I move through the shadows of the buildings
until I'm hidden in the darkness right across the street from the
law office. My hands go clammy, but I lift them anyway. We have to
do this in one swift hit or we'll get caught or end up doing no
damage at all, which is entirely unacceptable.

I glance over to see everyone else is in
place. Even Jack is helping out, protectively close to Annabelle,
hands raised.

Now's the time, but I can't bring myself to
say the words. Once we do this, there will be no going back. I'll
have attacked someone. A lot of someones. There's even a
possibility of people getting hurt. I don't want to hurt anyone.
I'm not that type of person. If only there was a more peaceful way
to bring this about. But being peaceful about things only resulted
in my brother being taken and tortured. We have to do this.

No one else is saying anything. Maybe
they're having the same reservations that I am. But we can't let it
stop us. We have to move. We have to show our strength. We just
have to.

“
On the count of three,” I whisper.
“One. Two.” Please don't let this be a mistake. “Three.”

I let my power surge out of me. It flows
yellow and red next to purples and maroons from the others helping,
straight toward the law office. Two spell beams split off to the
right, the others to the left. They hit the building with a flash
of color and deadly silence.

There's a creak, like the building is
cracking, but then nothing. Noise from inside tells me that the law
officers know something is going on, but not what. We haven't much
time, but I don't want to leave this place without having
accomplished something.

“
Again,” I say. “Now.”

I burst out the spell again, letting it tug
my magic toward the building and crashing into it. There's nothing.
Nothing but the noise growing louder. We can't stay here. We've
failed what I wanted so badly to do. What we all wanted. Then all
at once, the entire front of the building is crashing to the
ground.

Bricks are flying everywhere, dust billowing
up.

“
Go,” Tawny says.

There isn't time to see the rest of the
result. We're running, hurrying out of the city as fast as we can.
If we can make it out of here, we'll have done the job
successfully. There are still the loud sounds of something crashing
behind us. I can't believe it worked.

Then, that's not the only sound. People are
calling out, footsteps hurrying about. Law officers, most likely.
My breathing comes in shallow gasps, heart pounding.

There's still a block of houses to go when
we hear the sound of footsteps following us. Jack curses just loud
enough for me to hear. I know exactly what he's thinking. We
shouldn't have done this.

Maybe he's right. Did I just hurt someone?
How much damage did we do? And does this make me too much like them
now?

“
Over here,” a man calls out behind
us.

Lands no! “Move it,” I say between
breaths.

We pick up the pace even more, though who
knows how long we can continue like this? A spell flies over head,
bright orange. Now they'll have seen where we're at and won't miss
a second time.

Tawny shoots several beams of light at them,
hitting them to the ground and hopefully blinding the others. But
no, they get up off the ground and keep chasing. There's more
distance between us now but not nearly enough to save us.

Tawny can't be captured. Neither can
Annabelle. These two women mean too much, not only to others but to
me. A bright orange spell flies toward Jack. I block it with a
burst of green. Too much fear clouding my emotions. No one has to
know that except me, though.

I flash a spell back at them, yellow and
green, ready to knock them to the ground like Tawny did before. I
don't know what else to do, what else will save us. A blue spell
zips to me, wrapping around my ankle, knocking me to the
ground.

After a stunned moment, I turn and kick at
the spell still holding me down. Out of nowhere, Jack appears,
slicing into the spell with a green one of his own. As soon as I'm
free, I jump to my feet.

“
Thank you,” I say between
huffs.

But we're not safe yet. It doesn't feel like
we'll ever be safe again. They are too close, and we are too far
from safety.

There's only one thing I can think to do. I
picture a barrier between us and them, solid and firm. I thrust the
spell out behind us in a wave of dark green. Thankfully the color
is dark, glowing in the night, so as not to give us away any
further than it has to. Before I face forward, a yellow spell
splashes against the shield.

“
Faster,” Jack demands, like we aren't
already going at our fastest pace.

We reach the woods separating us from safety
and dart in. Annabelle slows.

“
Not yet,” Jack says. “Keep
going.”

She hurries again but says between breaths,
“I don't know how long I can.”

We dodge through the trees, gasping for
breath. A green spell slams into a tree to my right. This wasn't
such a good idea after all.

I turn, blasting off another shield spell,
putting all my power into it, hoping to give us enough time to run
off. There's shouting from behind us, but it grows more distant as
we run. And run we do. We go and go and go, everything in me
aching, especially my side. I grasp onto it and keep going as fast
and as far as I can. The further we get, the more we slow, but we
still don't stop. By the time we reach our packs, there's not
another sound besides us.

We wait there a moment, and I don't dare
believe we actually got away with it. Any moment, the law officers
will be back, attacking us again. But no, there's nothing and no
one. Somehow, we escaped.

“
We did it,” Annabelle
says.

We sure did
something
.

T
he next day,
after traveling out of our way to make certain no one's following
us, we make it back to the safe house. Everything is as we left it.
I can't believe we really did that. We put our things away and go
back to stewing over nothing. There's too much time on our hands
this way. If something doesn't change, due to boredom, we're going
to end up risking our lives by attacking another law
offi
ce
, and maybe this time
not be so lucky.

Several hours later, Chadwick strides
in the ro
om
and, without
closing the door, comes straight to me, wrapping his arms tight
around me. I can't see anything but his shirt. I can't even move,
he's wrapped me so tight. I must make some sort of noise because he
lets go with such sudden force, it takes me a moment to catch
myself while he's hurrying back several steps.

“
Sorry,” he says. “I was just worried
about you when I knew what happened to Zade in the house you were
staying at. I didn't know if…”

“
I'm fine. We're fine.” I motion to
the others, but really I'm thinking about Tawny because she's too
close to the line for the Envado throne. Of course, he wouldn't hug
someone of her importance like he just did me. Must be why he felt
the need to squeeze me extra tight.

“
Have you heard anything about Serena
or Cynthia? I sent them a warning as soon as I heard, but I haven't
heard back from them yet.”

“
They're safe.”

This time, I don't even try to pretend to be
strong. I sink into the closest chair, all the pressure built up in
me deflating. “Thank all of Envado.”

“
They have a surprise for you. They
will be here soon. In fact I need to return to them and make sure
they get here without a problem. I only came to scout it out so I
could be sure it was secure and make sure you really were
safe.”

I'm already on my feet headed toward the
door, though it's raining outside. “I'll go with you. We'll be back
soon,” I tell the others. “Make yourselves comfortable. Cook
something if you’re hungry. Make yourselves at home here.” If any
of them even know how to do more than pull out dried meat.
“Hopefully, we'll figure something out when I get back.”

What is there to figure out, though? I don't
know what we can possibly do at this point. At least those I care
about here are safe. What I want is to help Zade and Daniel, but
storming in to rescue them will end in my own capture, not helping
them.

What's more, I haven't any idea where he's
being held. Why did things have to get so complicated? Why can't my
brother just be safe?

“
Of course,” Annabelle says. “Take
good care of them and yourself.”

“
I will.”

“
And I will take good care of the
house,” Tawny says. And by house, I know she means the
household.

“
It would be best if you waited here,”
Jack says.

That doesn't even deserve a reply.

“
He's right,” Chadwick
adds.

I whip open the door and storm out. “They
may need help.”

Jack glares at me, but Chadwick sighs like
he knows there's nothing he can do to stop me. At least one of them
has some sense.

I watch for rocks scattered through the
forest as the water patters down on us. It's not too far to reach
them, only about a ten minute walk in the rain. Only, when I get to
them, it's not just Serena, Cynthia, and Lukas, but a couple of
warlock guards as well. My girls, all my girls are here. Each and
every one of Serena's sisters is here, hovering in a circle with
Serena in the middle.

“
You're all here,” I say as I run to
them. “How I missed you all!”

The girls look up at me, relief filling
their faces but a tension remaining. They don't seem nearly as
happy to see me as I am them. What's going on? Is there some danger
I missed? Something more than just the threat of their father?

“
Quick, get the girls to the safe
house,” Serena says.

The guards hurry forward, and with the
help of Bethany,
Cynthia's next youngest
sister,
usher forward the youngest girls. Chadwick
doesn't waste any time doing as she asked, helping the guard to
clear the girls. As they move aside, I realize the problem.
Serena's mother is on the ground, hunched over in pain, a stick
between her teeth. Sweat drenches her, and the rain makes a mess of
her face paint.

She's having her baby, right now, in the
middle of the forest. Why could the little one not have waited ten
more minutes to enter this world when she was at least in the
cabin?

“
Don't we have time to take her to the
cabin?” I ask.

“
There's not time for anything,”
Serena says.

“
I've never helped a birth
before.”

“
Luckily, I have.” But her voice says
it's anything but lucky. “Do you know any spells that can help with
her pain?”

One of the guard stays behind but discreetly
looks everywhere but where the action is currently taking place. I
wish I could do the same.

I do what I can, zapping a blue spell
of calm and pain relief. Pernil
la
whimpers like it's not enough, but I don't know how to do
more. I wasn't trained for this.

It all seems to be over in a matter of
moments. Serena takes care of the baby girl while I try and say
soothing things to Pernilla. Telling her how beautiful the baby is.
How cute, sweet, and pleasant this little girl is. At first
Pernilla smiles contentedly, but then her face grows strained. She
whimpers again.

“
What's going on?” I ask.

“
Don't worry,” Serena says, handing
the baby to me. She's been wrapped in the bottom of Serena's torn
skirt. “It's just the after birth. It won't be as bad.”

Pernilla lets out a shrill cry.

“
That sounds worse.”

Serena's forehead furrows. With my free
hand, I cast another pain-reducing spell, but I'm afraid it's not
enough. If she needed her dress spelled a different color, I'd be
so much more helpful. I let her squeeze my hand long past the time
it aches while I rock the newest little girl.

“
Mother,” Serena's voice is uncertain.
Scared.

The only response is a groan.

“
Serena?” I prompt.

“
This isn't the after birth,” she
says. “She's having twins.”

I can't help but give a little smile. There
may be too many girls to easily take care of, but I love them all
so much. Even this newest sweet one in my arms has stolen my heart.
I'm certain we can all make room for a little more love to
share.

There's a cry of a new babe that brings a
smile to my face. I glance at Serena. She's holding the new baby in
her hands, staring down at it as if she's never seen a newborn
before. But that clearly isn't the case since I'm holding the twin
in my arms.