Everspell (17 page)

Eden herded us all into the kitchen. “I understand there has been a confrontation again.” She addressed Logan. It pleased me how much more often she had interest in what he had to say. It meant she accepted him as our equal and more importantly, as a leader in our coven. It made me proud to be his partner.

“Yes. It was interesting, though. At first, I thought they were demons. In fact, I don’t know that they weren’t,” Logan appeared thoughtful in his answer, “but they didn’t use any powers on us. We had a fair, old fashioned fist-fight.”

“I can see that.” Eden glanced meaningfully at Skylar, who by this time evidenced a large purpling bruise on the right side of his face where one of the Hoodie’s fists had connected.

“Hey!” protested Skylar. “I got in a shot or two.”

“I didn’t see any,” muttered Sully. I saw Logan shoot Sully a look and I had to laugh to myself. Even with warlocks, boys were still boys. Gypsy caught my amused expression and we winked at each other. It seemed someone needed his wounds licked.

“Well, I’m sure you boys would have figured a way out of there one way or another. I was just showing off.” Gypsy said matter-of-factly.

Sully jumped. “You got that right. I almost turned that Hoodie-Hood into a pavement pancake when you showed up. Appreciate the help, and all, but I could have handled him, and his freaky friends.”

Skylar joined in. “Yeah, mine had the upper hand at first, but I’d got my second wind and just about started to whale on him.” Skylar puffed up like a peacock and it was all Gypsy and I could do to keep straight faces. I wondered where Skylar had picked up his tough-guy talk. I pinched Logan in a warning to keep quiet and not blow this for the guys. He and I both knew Gypsy saved the day, but it had been fun watching Skylar show off for Gypsy.

I saw Eve noticing it, too. If I thought she’d be unhappy about my brother showing interest in her daughter, I couldn’t have been more wrong. She watched this mating dance with great interest and it seemed, her approval. She smiled and nudged Eden and made no attempt to intervene. I caught her eye and she nodded at me in a motherly manner, making it clear she was quite happy with this match-up.

About this time, the front door burst open and Lily came rushing in. Apparently, the coven grapevine had been working overtime. Behind Lily came Jade, Prudence, the twins Echo and Aisling, Cordelia, Finola, and Elizabeth. I wanted to ask where everyone else might be when the front door opened again and the rest of our coven trailed in; Raven, Libby, Rochelle and Tabitha made up the remainder of our crazy troupe.

Jade rushed to Sully’s side. She did
not
look happy.

“Can I not even go buy a crib without you getting into trouble?” She stopped in front of him and stood there with one hand on her hip and the other resting on her huge stomach.

“Did you take this army with you to buy it?” Sully waved his arms to indicate the large group of women in the kitchen that did, indeed, resemble a small army.

Eden stepped forward. “I don’t think I have to remind you that Christophe is out there and would be very happy to kidnap your wife again, given the added bonus of your twin progeny. Considering those circumstances, she needs an army, don’t you think?”

Chastised, Sully lowered his head and barely nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” he murmured.

“Now, then,” continued Eden. “Logan, would you care to tell us what compelled you and Mr. Starr to return to your former home in the first place?”

I realized Logan had never told me the reason he had been there yet, either. The last thing he told me before everything went crazy was that something happened there that I wasn’t going to believe. In the excitement of what followed, I had forgotten all about it.

But, it wasn’t Logan who spoke, it was Skylar.

“It was my fault, Eden. I’m the one who wanted to go there. I had to. There was something there I had to check on. I needed Logan with me.”

I had wondered why Logan was involved, but hearing the way he said Logan’s name, I realized how close they had become; like brothers. And it made sense. Besides me, Skylar had no strong bonds with anyone else. At least I had Elizabeth and Tabitha. Elizabeth might be my real aunt, but I had grown up my whole life believing her to be my sister. Without having anyone to confide in, it would be natural for Skylar to go to Logan. Probably just as natural for Logan to keep his confidence.

“Yeah. I guess you did. I understand, man. It’s okay.”

“Thanks. That could have been way too much for me to handle on my own.”

I felt about to burst. “What? What’s too much for you?”

Strangely, Logan scanned all of us, looking for someone. His eyes settled on his mom, Lily. “Mom, you better get ready for this, it’s a biggie.” Elizabeth scooted over and wrapped her arms around Lily’s waist. She’d always been there when Logan’s mother needed a friend.

Logan began again. “Skylar told me he received a contact of some kind from our computer at our place. We went there today to see if we could get it to do it again.”

Prudence leaned in. “And did it?”

“Oh, yeah. It seemed almost as if it had been waiting for us. Like it knew we were coming or something. It talked to us by printing on the computer screen for a little while but I’m having some real trouble with accepting the identity.”

“Why?” sing-songed the twins, Echo and Aisling. It seemed everyone had gotten involved in this story.

Logan shot another look at his mother before answering.

“Because I think it’s my father.”

Lily gasped once, loudly, and her legs crumpled underneath her as she fainted. Elizabeth helped catch her as she went down and Sully scooped her up in his arms. Logan looked more than distressed.

“See? See? I knew this would wipe her out.” He watched as Sully gently placed his mother on a small chaise lounge and Elizabeth applied a cool cloth to her forehead.

Even Eden looked taken aback. “Logan, are you sure about the identity?”

Logan whirled around. “Heck no, Eden. I am
not
sure of it. What I am sure of, is that I went to my dad’s funeral and his gravesite, thank you very much. I’m sure that I nearly fainted myself when the computer screen told me I had been talking to my father. And I’m sure that I have no way of knowing who I actually communicated with, really.”

I reached out and slipped my hand into Logan’s, squeezing it as tightly as I could, reminding him that I was here. The tension left his body, as he leaned closer into me.

Eden spoke up. “That is a practical view, Logan. Given that Christophe is not above trickery, deceit and deception, a thought process that disallows blind faith in the unbelievable is not a bad course of action.”

“Logan.” We turned to see that Lily had come to and now sat up on the small single sofa. “Did the person on the computer say anything personal to you?”

“Not really. In fact, it didn’t say much at all. But, it knew my name. And I knew it
was
him. Don’t ask me how, Mom. I just got an overwhelming feeling.” Logan turned to face Eden. “That’s how I know it isn’t Christophe, Eden. Because in my heart, I know it’s my dad. ” Logan gave me a helpless look and he seemed so much like a little boy, I wanted to gather him in my arms and never let him go.

Eden stared at Logan for several minutes without speaking. None of the rest of us said anything, either. We understood this importance. She weighed the gravity of Logan’s words and her willingness to believe him. Abruptly, she turned to Lily and said, “Are you prepared for this to be true, Lily?”

Logan’s mother took the same amount of time to answer before she said, simply, “Yes.”

“Good. So am I.” She turned back to Logan. “The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

Chapter Twenty-seven

SERENA

We ended up talking about it for several hours. All of us. After all that time, we came to the same conclusion Eden came to in the first thirty seconds of hearing about the possibility of Logan’s father contacting him. But, I still loved that we all got together to chew it over for him. And I know he loved that we all cared about him so much that we would do that. He could pretend to complain about being cooped up in the big house as much as he wanted, but I knew secretly he loved being a part of the coven. I would never tell. His secret would be safe with me for as long as he would have me.

After the elders in the coven went to bed, the youngest of us gravitated to our back patio as usual. Logan and I were joined by Gypsy and Skylar, Echo and Aisling, and Sully and Jade, at least for as long as her pregnant self could handle it. She got tired so early these days.

Logan started a lovely fire in the fire pit. Gypsy disappeared and then returned in a moment with a tray full of iced teas.

Gypsy set it down and passed out the drinks. Just then Raven came out with another tray filled with appetizers. Of course, several of the dogs and cats trailed behind her.

“Hey, kiddies. I’m not too old to join the cool kids, am I?”

Laughing, I patted the chair next to me. “Would you just be quiet about that and get over here?” Raven chose a cold drink for herself and soon she became one of the crowd. The guys appreciated her tasty offerings and shortly they were all happily munching away.

“So, what’re we all talking about?” asked Raven.

“Well, obviously, the two topics of the day are the guys and their adventure earlier today and the question about our Dad,” supplied Jade.

“Pretty exciting stuff, Logan.” said Raven. “What’s your take on those attackers? What did you call them?”

“Hoodies. Because they were all dressed in black hooded sweatshirts that covered their faces. We never got a chance to identify them.”

“If they even had faces,” interjected Sully.

“Yeah. I mean, whether or not they were demons hasn’t really been established.”

“But they fought you pretty fairly?”

“Yup. No sorcery or demon tricks. All fists and flying feet. Like ninja-style. Not at all what we were expecting.”

“I did.” Sully piped up. “I mean, that’s really all I
can
expect, you know.”

“I get it.” Raven understood. “Not being a supernatural must have tremendous disadvantages when you’re fighting demons.”

“No kidding.”

“So, what I don’t get is why they didn’t use any powers? Is it because they didn’t have any? And if so, why would they send ‘hoodies’ with no powers in the first place?”

Logan answered. “Excellent questions, Raven. That’s what I don’t understand, either.”

Raven looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe they were trying to find out how powerful you are naturally, Sully. Consider that they already know you aren’t a warlock from when they kidnapped you the first time last year. We know that they may be aware of Jade’s pregnancy. And from your closeness to Jade last year, it wouldn’t be a leap for them to figure out you are the babies’ father. Since they know you can’t protect her supernaturally, they may be assessing your natural ability.” Now she looked hard at Sully. “And you didn’t disappoint, did you?”

“Nope.” I couldn’t help but hear the pride in Sully’s voice. Glancing behind him, I saw the same thing in his wife’s eyes. Jade’s were welling up with tears as she realized the implication of Raven’s supposition.

Logan walked around and placed a calming hand on his sister’s shoulder. “That’s an interesting theory, Raven. I hadn’t thought about it that way. You could be right. If they
were
trying to find that out, they only scratched the surface. He never even got started.”

Sully pumped his fist in the air in agreement. “You got that right! They wouldn’t have gotten away if I had unleashed the beast on ‘em!”

“Calm down, hotshot.” Logan laughed and clapped his best friend on the back.

He looked around, waiting for Skylar to add his two cents worth, but he and Gypsy had slipped away and were having their own private conversation at the edge of the garden. Their heads were bent close together, and they were talking and laughing softly. Logan caught my eye and jerked his head in their direction. I followed his gaze and saw them together. They looked like they considered themselves the only two people in the world. I felt a slight pang of nostalgia. I remembered when Logan and I were in the first days of being together, long before Christophe and his demonic desires interrupted the bloom of our love. How I longed for those days again! I was pulled from my musings by Jade.

“Serena? Where did you go?” I glanced up and realized Jade had been calling my name more than once. I smiled my apology.

“Oh, Jade, I’m so sorry. I got lost in a memory.”

“And I’m sure it featured my brother, right?”

“Well, yes, as a matter of fact, it did. I saw Skylar and Gypsy over there by the roses and they reminded me of when Logan and I were just starting out. So new and unbothered by anything or anyone around them. Like no one else matters but the two of you.” I sighed. “It’s so romantic to watch someone fall in love.”

“Do you think that’s what’s happening with them?”

“I do. Being Skylar’s twin, I know him better than probably anyone. I’ve never seen him act like this with a woman before. He may not know it’s love yet, but I recognize it and that is definitely love.”

“Wow. Single men don’t last long around here, do they?”

I laughed. “No, I guess they don’t. But, you have to admit, the single men around here are quite eligible as far as bachelors go.”

“That’s for sure.”

We were both still laughing when Sully and Logan wandered over with fresh drinks for us both, an iced tea for me and a new soda for Jade.

“What’s so funny over here?”

“Don’t worry, Sully. We aren’t laughing at you. We were just commenting on another one biting the dust.” Jade pointed over at Gypsy and Skylar, now sitting with their arms around each other’s waists.

“Can you blame him? He’s just thanking her for saving his life.”

“Sully, will you just give it a rest?” Jade’s voice had a hint of annoyance in it and I looked over at her.

“Are you okay, Jade?” I asked her.

“Yes, but you know what? I’m exhausted. These boys are kicking me like mad and I think I’m done for the night. Sully, I’m going to bed. You can stay if you like.”