Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5) (29 page)

“He stole Gabrielle’s magic and left her to die.”

Mick’s eyes darkened. He didn’t need for me to explain how I knew this. “Did you see where she was?”

“Out there.” I waved my hand vaguely in the direction of the night. I pinned my gaze on Emmett, still inside the mirror and looking down at us with interest. “Where is she?”

Emmett only shrugged, his smile thin. But the mirror had given me a clue where to start.

“We’ll find her.” Mick’s voice took on the gravelly note of the dragon, and his tatts began to move.
 

“We’ll need help,” I said. “There’s a lot of desert out there.”

“Then we’ll get it.” Mick rose to his feet, pulling me up to mine. He gave me another long kiss, his excitement and battle need giving the kiss strength. “We’ll find Gabrielle, and then we’ll kick Emmett’s sorry ass.”

I always envied Mick his ability to pare a problem down to its simplest parts.

***

I at least made myself pause to get dressed. I felt better once I had jeans on my butt and a sweatshirt warming my back.

Emmett remained inside the mirror—he’d watched Mick march me out of the bathroom. I did not at all trust him in there, but at least I knew where he was.

I rounded up Pamela, in case I needed a nose to sniff out Gabrielle, and the two dragons, Drake and Colby, who were hanging out—not together—in the saloon.

Nash would be another powerful ally, but Carlos told me he’d taken Maya home after she’d consumed her free drink. I called Nash’s cell, got no answer, and had to leave a message. I wondered if Maya had flushed his phone.

Our small posse headed east from the hotel, over the railroad bed toward the wash I’d found in my dream. Cassandra had wanted to come, but I’d tasked her with watching Emmett. If he got out of the mirror, I needed a formidable witch to stop him or stuff him back inside.
 

Elena and Grandmother agreed to help Cassandra keep an eye on him. I left the two older women tapping on my bathroom mirror at Emmett, like kids teasing fish in an aquarium.

The landscape I hiked through with Mick and the others looked different than it had in the dream. I’d explored most of the ground out here since moving into the hotel, and I didn’t remember that particular wash.

I didn’t have to, as it turned out. Pamela caught Gabrielle’s scent after we’d searched for about half an hour, and led me to the edge of the canyon that housed Clear Creek.

Mick had taken me kayaking on this creek this summer, and we’d camped out along its banks. While I was not as rugged and outdoorsy as Mick, I’d enjoyed floating between narrow canyon walls, seeing only cliffs, reflecting water, green trees, and blue sky. I’d also liked sleeping under the stars with him, in so much wilderness just minutes from our own front door.

Clear Creek was west of the hotel, while my dream had taken me east, but we’d circled around for a long time before Pamela had caught the scent.

She also found the trail down to the canyon’s floor. It was narrow and precipitous—I suspected it was more of a wash than a trail—and we had to traverse it in the dark. The flashlight I’d brought for myself had to be kept off, Pamela complaining that it night-blinded her. The three dragons didn’t need flashlights, being perfectly able to see by the moon’s now faint light. Mick was kind enough to send a tiny ball of flame hovering at my feet to illuminate the rocks I was about to trip over, but that was the best I got.

We made it to the bottom without mishap. Pamela, as wolf, roved the narrow banks of the creek then sat on her haunches, her nose wrinkling, gray eyes frustrated. I suspected the water kept her from homing in on the scent.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Gabrielle!”

No answer. The wind had increased, the clouds thickening, thunder rumbling to the south.

Colby had hung back at the top of the gorge, and not long after the rest of us reached the creek, an orange and red dragon swooped overhead. He let out a stream of fire, which lit up the sandstone canyon walls and glittered on the water. He soared about half a mile north of us before he bellowed.

“He’s found her,” Mick said, his black eyes glittering.

Without another word, he led the rest of us at a rapid pace along the creek, Pamela bounding ahead. I stumbled along after Mick, and Drake brought up the rear. Drake’s firm grip kept me from falling numerous times, and I heard his exasperated intake of breath whenever he caught me.

Colby settled on a rock at the top of the canyon—the narrow creek bed would be a tight squeeze for him while he remained dragon. Pamela halted, her low growls leading us on.

I started to run, slipping on the sands of the creek’s bank. Where the canyon widened slightly, we found Gabrielle.

She lay in a crumpled heap in the sand, facedown, the sagging branches of a cottonwood shielding her. The shirt and jeans she’d taken from my room in Many Farms were tattered and creased with dirt.

Mick was on his knees beside her when I reached them, and I put out my hand, my heart pounding, and gently turned her over.

Gabrielle was alive, awake, and weeping. She cracked open her eyes when I rolled her onto her back, her body shaking with sobs.

“Janet.” The word was weak and cracked.
 

I gathered Gabrielle against me, much as my father had cradled me. She lay limply in my grasp, her head on my shoulder, her strength gone.

“He broke me in two,” she said in a trembling whisper. “He took me apart, and I couldn’t stop him.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I held Gabrielle while she continued to weep, terrified and frail. My crazy little sister, so dangerous and unpredictable, was now pathetic and frightened in my arms.

Mick laid a soothing hand on her back, but I knew he was also testing her aura. His eyes were grim in the light of Colby’s renewed fire.
 

Mick sent me a nod without a word, confirming our fears. Emmett had stolen Gabrielle’s magic.

We got Gabrielle up the trail, she shaking and barely able to move. Drake helped her most of all, half carrying her to the top in his strong arms.

Colby offered to fly her back. Drake relinquished her and Colby lifted Gabrielle gently, then took off. While I knew that Colby could fly in erratic and stomach-dropping patterns, this time he only sailed low and straight the twenty miles back to the hotel.

Pamela refused to put her fate in the talon of a dragon, so she ran back while Mick flew with me, followed by Drake.

It took only a few minutes for Mick to reach the hotel again, even if he had to land far enough away so he had room to change back to his human form.

By the time I made it inside, Colby had taken Gabrielle to my bedroom and laid her on the bed, removed her boots, and pulled blankets over her. Colby watched her with intense concern, as did Drake, who strode in behind Mick.

Gabrielle’s face was wan, defeat in her eyes. I sank down to the edge of the bed and took her hand.

“Gabrielle,” I said, my voice as stern as my grandmother’s. “I’m going after him for doing this. Trust me.”

Gabrielle’s fingers were limp in mine. “It’s my fault, Janet,” she said, her voice a weary scratch. “I’m sorry.”

“How is Emmett hurting you your fault?” I asked angrily.
 

From the shamed look on her face, I had another insight into my sister. I remembered my dream of her father and Anna, the snarling man and the woman who only wanted a child to love.
 

I remembered her father threatening to kill her stepmother and how he’d wanted to leave Gabrielle in the woods to die—a stark contrast to my father, who’d fiercely protected me. I’d known kids who had been abused by parents who’d come to believe the abuse was their fault. Gabrielle had the same worried look on her face—if she’d only been good, she’d not have been hurt.

“It’s
not
your fault,” I told her firmly. “Emmett is a bastard who will do anything to get anything he wants. It has nothing to do with what you did.”

“But it does.” Gabrielle’s fingers trembled as she closed them around mine. “I was going to kill him for you. I snitched a shard from the mirror when Fremont and Don were moving it before the spell. They never saw me. I slipped away while everyone was concentrating on Flora, and called Emmett. I told him I had a shard, that I could help him take the mirror from you, that I hated you enough to help him.” Gabrielle’s mouth shook, her eyes red with weeping. “I wanted to trick him into meeting me alone, away from the vortexes, and kill him for you. I wanted you to be proud of me.” She echoed the words from my dream, her voice as sad.

“Oh, sweetie,” I said. I squeezed her hand between mine and lifted it to my heart. “Sweetie, next time you want to be brave, tell me. We’ll rip him apart together.”

She shook her head. “He met me as planned, but he smacked me down with magics I’d never seen before, and he took the shard away from me. I tried to fight him. But he was too strong. Too wily.” She gave me a haunted look. “Then he did a horrible spell and split me in two. He took the best part of me away.”

“Not the best part of you.” I squeezed her hand to my chest. “You’re more than your magic, Gabrielle. You’re my
sister
.”

Gabrielle’s dark eyes welled with fresh tears. “It was worse than anything my father ever did to me. Worse than what those guys in Winslow wanted to do.”

“I know,” I said quietly.
 

Emmett had violated her the same as if he’d raped her. For a mage to strip another of power was a terrible thing. Magic was part of their essence, an integral piece of who they were. Even when Mick’s dragon had been split from him in my dream, he’d still had latent powers that he’d trained his human self to hone.
 

Gabrielle, however, didn’t have even that. She’d identified herself with her magic for so long that she was terrified of facing the world without it. Like being stripped and put on display, she’d have nothing to hide behind, no defenses.

And now Emmett wanted to take everything I was away from me.

“I’ll take care of you,” I promised her. “I’m going to fix this.”

Whether I could put back Gabrielle’s magic even if I bested Emmett I had no idea. But whatever the outcome, I’d protect her.

“I couldn’t fight him,” Gabrielle repeated. “I tried so hard.”

“I know, sweetheart.”

Gabrielle’s vast confidence had come from her equally vast power, an awareness that she could hurt anyone who messed with her. Now she was shivering like a newborn chick, weak and alone.

“I want you to let Grandmother take you back to Many Farms,” I said. “You’ll be safe there. When it’s over, I’ll come get you, and we’ll decide what to do.”

Gabrielle shook her head, a little of her old fire rising. “No. I’m not running away from him. If he kills me, so what?”

I scowled. “Don’t you dare talk that way. Don’t act like you don’t matter to anyone. I want you alive and well.”

“Why, so you can get back at me for all the things I’ve done?” Gabrielle flared. “I bet you’re loving this. I’ve done a lot of bad things to you.”

“And you’ve already paid for most of them,” I pointed out. “You’ve had to live with Grandmother—that should be payback enough.” I gave her a brief smile. “Families forgive, Gabrielle.”

“You didn’t know my family, then,” Gabrielle said darkly. “My stepmom forgave my dad many times, usually right after he beat her up again.”

“Not the same thing,” I said, my tone brisk. “And you know it.” I stood up. Nothing to be gained by us sitting here mourning. “If you insist on staying, then you can help. I need someone to escort the hotel guests somewhere safe—I suggest the diner in Magellan. And let Barry know that something very bad is going to go down here, in case he wants to lie low.”

Gabrielle struggled to sit up. “Seriously? You want me to play babysitter?”

I gave her a calm nod. “You’re good at motivating people to do things. Plus you need to find Nash and tell him to get his ass up here. I don’t care if he’s banging Maya right this second. Just find him.”

Gabrielle looked a little more cheered by that errand. “Okay.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’ll take your sheep to safety and find Nash.”

She stumbled out of bed, brushing off Colby’s offered hand. She rummaged in my dresser drawer for clothes, then ducked into my walk-in closet to change.

Drake, who’d stood in silence since his arrival said quietly, “I will alert the barkeep,” and ducked out.
 

Colby remained, a frown in place. “You need to fix this, Janet. If you don’t, I’ll rip his head off myself.”

“Help Gabrielle take the guests to safety,” I told him. “If I need head ripping, I’ll let you know.”

Colby growled, but I could see he agreed.

Mick had grabbed clothes from his own drawer and slipped them on. “You want to face him here?” he asked.

I pressed my palms together. “Might as well. The mirror has him cornered, and we’ll have the home-team advantage.”

My original plans when I’d decided to take the fight to Emmett had
not
included battling him in my own hotel. But somehow I realized having a showdown with him here was inevitable.
 

If I couldn’t stop him here, I wouldn’t be able to stop him anywhere else. Mick and I had sunk so much magic into this place—and so had Cassandra, not to mention Elena—that I’d have a lot of power backing me up.

It meant, of course, that if Emmett beat us, he’d have ready access to the magic mirror, Elena’s pool of magic, and all my powers—but one thing at a time. I’d be dead or Emmett’s slave if he won anyway, beyond worrying about it.

I thanked Colby, told him to get himself dressed so he didn’t terrify the guests, and went out with Mick.

***

An hour later saw my hotel quiet and nearly deserted. Most of the guests had followed Gabrielle and Colby into the minivan that Mick had procured to evacuate the hotel. They’d been told there was a gas leak, but the more magical of them understood that something truly bad was about to happen. A few wanted to stay and help, but Cassandra firmly shooed them away.

Ansel, however, refused to go. “This is my home now,” he said in his quiet voice as he met up with me in the lobby. “And so I will help you defend it. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you while I ran away like a coward.”