Surrender (THE DRAGONFLY CHRONICLES) (37 page)

Moghadam had called himself her guard, or actually “his queen’s guard” to be exact, despite Kailin telling him that she had gifted the orb to Jackson. Perhaps when she actually passed the orb to Jackson, Moghadam would stop guarding her. Although Kailin doubted Jackson would take too kindly to having the man following him around. A small smile touched Kailin’s lips as she thought of that scuffle.

“Do you think he’ll jump in with us?” Anthony asked as he lifted Kailin into the open carriage he’d hired for the night. The driver eyed the large Egyptian with a mix of fear and annoyance and then cursed when he saw Tenebris. When Moghadam climbed upon a horse to follow, the driver tapped the old gelding to move on.

Anthony settled back opposite Kailin. He exhaled long. Kailin knew that look and the knot in her stomach twisted again.

“So,” he began, his graying eyebrows raised. “Still not talking about…” He pointed to her bag and then Moghadam. “And Black, his whole role in this and why I shouldn’t have the guard lock him up when I see him tonight? Slippery fish that he is.” Jackson had been eluding Anthony since his return. Although until just recently, Jackson had been camped out in the Highlands.

Hell. What could she tell him? The man who was the closest family she’d ever had. The man whose life was put in danger on account of the orb and the mess that followed. A man who loved her and wanted to understand what was causing the nightmares plaguing his dear Cleo.

Kailin sighed. “Anthony,” she started and paused, then opened her mouth, then shut it. The horse clopped down the street toward the lit house belonging to Jackson and his sister. “I found out where I came from.”

Shock and concern lost to fascination. “Where? When, I guess I should say.”

Kailin smiled. It wouldn’t be too difficult to convince her father that time travel could exist.

“I saw my mother.” Her smiled faded as she remembered Gilla’s desperate work to save her children. “I saw my father killed.” Her eyes shifted to Anthony. “My biological father.”

Anthony nodded and squeezed her hand.

“I lived in that stone circle on the coast of Scotland at the very turn of the millennium.”

“One thousand A D?”

She nodded. “There about.”

“Fascinating,” he whispered. “Your clothes pointed to that time period.” He eyed her bag. “Did the orb take you there?”

She shook her head and took a deep breath. “There’s this…” How to explain Drakkina? “This spirit woman, a witch of some kind who seems to be trying to save the world from a group of thirteen demons. I saw them. They are more powerful than me.”

“Impossible,” Anthony swore but worry deepened the lines of his face. Kailin didn’t know if it was concern of the demons or concern for her sanity. “You are the most powerful being I’ve ever encountered or could be verified,” he whispered so the driver couldn’t hear.

Kailin’s face told him that he was wrong. “The demons are drawn to my magic; they want it, and killing me,” she whispered, “seems to be how they can get it.”

“And the orb?”

“The orb enhances my magic, calls them like a beacon. They want it too.”

“You need to get rid of it then. I knew I should have left that place buried, orb and all.”

“The orb only belongs to one person at a time,” she continued. “I’ve…I’ve gifted it to Jackson. It is his and I need to return it to him.”

Anthony slammed back in his seat, dumbfounded. “But that’s what he’s been after all this time. Why, he helped Dallinton and whoever he was working for in the US government to kidnap me, why he lied to you.”

Kailin’s stomach tightened so much she thought she might double over.

“And you’re just giving it to him?” Anthony asked. Kailin recognized tightly held anger in her father. By nature he wasn’t violent but this was stretching his limits.

“The witch said that Jackson Black needs to be at the final battle with me against the demons. My sisters will be there too and their…soul mates.”

“Soul mates?”

“My sisters are apparently spread across time too. Drakkina says I can meet them someday soon. Won’t that be amazing? Maybe you can talk to them about their worlds.”

“Black is your soul mate?” Anthony almost squeaked. Unfortunately the huge hook she had tried to snag him with hadn’t been enough distraction. If that didn’t work, nothing would.

“Drakkina, that’s the witch’s name. She says he is.”

“And you believe her?”

The carriage rumbled and jerked to a stop before the large, lit house the Blacks had been leasing while in Egypt. Music poured out into the night from the open front doors. Tuto flew in a silent arc around the house and landed on one of the chimneys. The stars were out, her silent friends. Unfortunately they seemed to also be Jackson’s friends. Could she ever confide in them again?

“Cleo? You believe her, this Drakkina?”

Kailin looked down at her gloved hands folded in her lap. “I don’t know.”

“Why does he want the orb?”

She shrugged. “He said he’s a treasure hunter.” She looked up into Anthony’s concerned eyes.

“But you think there’s more,” Anthony finished for her.

Tears burned the back of her eyes. “I really hope so.”

Anthony rubbed her clasped hands between his big paws. “A true scientist doesn’t stop at what seems to be the obvious. It’s in your nature to ferret out the whole truth, Cleo.” He touched her chin making her look up. “Kailin, daughter. Find out the truth and if it’s not to our liking”—he tipped his head to Moghadam and Tenebris—“we’ll set your watchdogs on him.”

Kailin grinned a little, the weight of not telling Anthony anything, lifting. Questions would follow for certain, but the beginning had gone well. After a lifetime of seeing her own magic, Anthony was able to handle the bizarre information she had just dumped in his lap. Her adopted father had also always been on a constant quest for the sensational. Even if he didn’t personally possess magic, it was in his nature to accept it. Had it been an accident that Gilla and her sacred Earth Mother had sent her to Anthony? Kailin’s grin spread. She’d been an orphan, but she’d had the best father.

“I love you,” she said, her throat dry.

Anthony looked startled but a soft smile filled his face with such vivid happiness. “And I love you, my Cleo. Now let’s go find that soul mate of yours.”

“Anthony!” she gasped in rebuke as he chuckled and helped her up. Her father saluted Moghadam after lifting Kailin to the ground, giving the stoic zealot a pause. Tenebris loped off into the bushes on the side of the house. Moghadam recovered quickly and followed behind, his gaze scanning the dark bushes for demons most likely.

Kailin’s smile faltered when she heard Samantha’s high-pitched laughter from the punch table. Memories of creating Champagne geysers at the last ball made Kailin cringe. She tucked her hand securely into Anthony’s elbow.

“We’ll just fade into the other room,” Anthony said, reading her stiff spine.

“It may make the night a more pleasant one,” Kailin said.

Anthony laughed. “Heaven help this soul mate of yours.”

“Seems my magic doesn’t work on my soul mate,” Kailin grumbled low.

Anthony tripped on an imaginary step and a chuckle punctuated the shake of his head. “This gets better all the time.”

“Hmmm, not from this point of view.”

Anthony led Kailin around the dancers to the far side of the room. Her heart felt higher up in her chest as it pounded. He should be here. It was his house. Jackson’s sister seemed anxious to wring everything she could out of life despite her illness. Having a ball made sense with that in mind. The invitation had come from Cassy but Kailin had assumed Jackson would help her.

“We should find Cassandra Black,” Kailin told Anthony and he nodded.

Kailin felt the prickle of eyes along her form. Whispers and behind-fan discussions about her were probably ensuing with vigor. She shouldn’t have come. Her name had been linked to the explosion at the site as well as the disappearance of Henry Dallinton and his men. Even though nothing could be proven, she was still a suspect. There was also her disappearance for months to cause conjecture. Some had thought that she’d run off to the States with Jackson Black or Henry Dallinton.

Ugh, why am I here?
Because she needed to pass the blasted orb to Jackson, that’s why. She wasn’t about to visit his home on an ordinary day when she’d be cornered alone with the man. She didn’t want to endure his silence, its crushing weight again like that night in the stones.

“I don’t see the scoundrel,” Anthony said, picking up on Kailin’s tension. He seemed ready to whisk her right out of there. “Wait here,” he added. “I will check the outer rooms for his sister.”

She nodded. “Watchdog there will keep an eye on you,” Anthony added. Kailin gave a small snort of indignation that went along well with her ice queen persona. It had been easier to slip it on amongst the gossips than slipping on her crinoline an hour ago.

“Kailin! You look well.” Kailin turned to see Ian McGivens striding through the dancers to her side. He must have run into Anthony in the hall. Samantha’s father squeezed her shoulders as an embrace. “Anthony was so worried when you disappeared. He thought you had traded yourself for him.”

Kailin allowed a more sincere smile for her father’s friend and co-investigator. “I was in the Highlands visiting some friends near my dig site. I had some delays finding my way home.”

“How you got out of Egypt without any of us knowing, to journey alone up to Scotland…” He didn’t look convinced.

Kailin patted his arm. “Have you seen our hostess tonight, Cassandra Black? I wish to pay my respects.”

Ian continued his stare for a long moment before seeming to break out of his engrossing thoughts about Kailin’s missing time. “Ah…yes. She was in the main hall looking rather pale. I think she may have retired to rest for a while.”

“Is her brother here?” Kailin held her breath. Was Cassy getting worse? Where was Jackson then? He wouldn’t abandon his sister, not when he’d brought her all this way to try to help her. Could that be why he had to have the orb? Had he given up on it when he realized that he couldn’t use it himself to save Cassy? Because it didn’t belong to him. Was that why he tried to find Kailin when she was missing? To ask Kailin to heal his sister? Why then did he not follow her to the Macleans at Kylkern?

There were too many questions she couldn’t answer without Jackson. “Jackson must be here.”

Ian shrugged. “I haven’t seen him at all. Have you seen Henry Dallinton? He seemed to disappear the same night you did. We thought he might be with you.”

Kailin mimicked his shrug and capped the fire burning up into her cheeks. “I haven’t seen him either. Excuse me.” Kailin swept her skirt around as she turned to exit the room. Moghadam followed as usual. Anthony met her at the arched opening into the front hall.

He shook his head. “Can’t find either of them. Cassandra asked Samantha to hostess while she rested. Samantha’s lording it over the room in there.”

Kailin couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I have to get to Cassy. Jackson might be with her if she’s not feeling well.” Anthony glanced at the flight of stairs off the main room. “Yes, I need to get up those long, exposed stairs without Samantha noticing,” she said. She needed a distraction.

Tuto
, Kailin called in her mind and envisioned a distraction. A loud squawk came from outside the front doors. Kailin waited, a smile on her face. What would Tuto bring, clever owl?

In a flash of white feathers, Tuto’s large wing span swooped through the front doors to soar up into the vaulted ceiling among the chandeliers. Kailin gasped and covered her mouth as hanging from her pet’s beak was a two foot long sand boa. The snake was not venomous but most of the room apparently didn’t know that or didn’t care. Tuto flew overhead and dropped the snake in the far corner of the room.

Screams erupted as a stampede for the door made it fairly easy for Kailin to slink up the steps. Tuto kept Samantha busy by diving down to tickle the bun loose on her head. The shrew shrieked. Very distracting.

Kailin trudged up the stairs; the heavy orb banged against her leg in its bag. As she clipped along the hallway, she opened and closed doors to empty rooms. The second to the last room on the right was cracked. A flowery smell wafted out of it. “Cassandra?” she called softly and pushed the door open.

Cassy lay on her side across her bed. Ruffles of pink wrapped around her legs as if they’d tripped her, tying her there. “Cassy!” Kailin grabbed her own skirts to get to her new friend.
Please be alive. Oh God please!

“Kailin?” a little voice came from her.
Alive!
You can’t talk when you’re dead.

Kailin gingerly lifted the slight frame of Cassandra Black into a sitting position. She looked worse than the last time she’d seen her. Much worse, close-to-death worse. Her skin was pale, not the pale of someone avoiding the sun but of someone who’d lost all vitality. Dark circles marred the paper thin skin under her eyes. She could only lift her lids half way, making her look almost asleep. She tried to wet her lips but her tongue seemed to stick in her mouth and she gave up. She might not be dead, but she was close.

“Where is Jackson?”

A small smile cracked her dry lips. “He thinks my party is foolish.”

With the way Cassy looked, Kailin had to agree. “He should be here.”

“He’s in his study underground, with the sulfur pool. He’s there always, trying to find a cure.”

“Under this house?”

Cassy nodded but it looked like it took a lot for her to do so. “He’s always trying to save me.” She finally produced enough moisture to wet her lips. She smiled. “When I was five I wandered off into a blizzard on the prairie. I was lost for sure. Jackson and my older brother were out looking for me. William gave up, but Jackson refused. He found me, said he heard me whimpering somehow in that wind and snow. I was so cold.

“He took my soggy, frozen coat off and stuck me up under his shirt to warm up against his hot skin. He rode us home through that storm like that, guiding the horse even when it wanted to give up. He wouldn’t let it. Jackson saved me, saved us. He always has.”