The 13th Witch Complete Trilogy (11 page)

Once we were over the hill, the river came into sight. It was like a black mirror with lights around it. I could see the younger Fae gathered at the waters edge, tossing something into it’s darkness. When we got closer, they stopped to stare at the humans coming towards them. I wondered if most of them had seen people like us before, but I didn’t dare ask.

“Which one of you is Eli?” I didn’t wait for Connor to ask.

“I’m Eli,why?” a young man with blond hair answered. He was still standing close to the water and threw a stone in, causing ripples in the darkness.

“Can I talk to you?” I didn’t want to just blurt out our reason for being here, but he did need to know. What if Eric found him and used him against us.

He didn’t move, but the others started walking past us and back to the market. It seemed odd that there would be a market at this time of night, but we weren’t in our own world. A part of me wondered if it was dark back on Earth.

I walked closer to the edge of the water and gazed into it. A part of me found it comforting and warm. I bent down and let my fingers skim the surface. The dark water lit up where my fingers touched it, leaving a trail of white light inside the darkness of the water. I smiled at it. This really was a great place and this was probably why so many people decided to stay. Even if they were considered outsiders.

“What do you want?”the blond said, standing over me. I finally got a good look at him and was not prepared for what I saw. He was handsome in every way. His blond hair hung loose around his face. It was slightly shabby, but in a kind of sexy way. He wore dark slacks and a light blue shirt. It shimmered slightly and I wondered if it was some kind of silk.

I lost my thoughts for a minute, until Connor spoke up for me. “There are some serious bad guys looking for you. We came here to help you.” I hadn’t realized he was standing next to me until he spoke. “You have to come to the human world for a little while.”

“How long?” he said, looking at me instead of Connor.

 

I stood before I answered him. “Hopefully, not too long. Just until it’s safe.”

He glanced back to Connor before looking my way again. “I don’t know anything about you two and I’m just supposed to agree and go?”

“I’m sorry to ask you this, but we just don’t have that much time. If we stay here too long, we may not be able to get back.” I looked back at the water rushing past in the river.

“Do you really want to go back?”

His words cut through me. Did I? All the last couple of months had brought was pain and I wasn’t sure I was ready to keep dealing with it. I glanced up and met his eyes. He raised his eyebrows in response.

“It really doesn’t matter if we want to go back, we have too,” Connor said for me. “The new moon is coming. That will be the best time for Eric to get what he wants. It’s best if you and us are not even on this plane.”

“Do you think he’ll look in the human world?” I hadn’t thought of that possibility and a little bit of panic started to take over. Last time he hatched a plan, I’d been the missing piece. Now it was Eli. I didn’t know him, but I also didn’t want someone hurt because of my family.

“You can’t control what your family does, only you,” Eli said, as though he could read my mind. I glanced at him and gave him a confused look. He answered with a half smile.

“I don’t think Eric will figure we went looking for Eli.” He made a face at the blond and reached for my hand. He practically dragged me to the dirt path before turning around to face me.

“I don’t trust him,” he blurted out. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

 

I couldn’t help but smile. “Are you jealous?” He turned away a little faster than he should have and stomped back to Eli.

“Look, you have two choices. You can stay here and wait for Eric and his guys to grab you or you can come with us for a few days and then come back home in one piece. You pick.” Connor was clearly getting tired of the back and forth game.

Eli took a breath and glanced at Connor first, then me. “I’ll go on one condition.”

 

“What’s that?” Connor said, crossing his arms.

“She stays close by.” Eli didn’t elaborate on that, but something told me, it would be a whole lot of trouble.

Four

We didn’t walk long before we were at Eli’s home. He needed to pick up some things and assured us it wouldn’t hurt anything. His home was a lot like the ones in town. It was small on the outside with brown brick creating the walls, but when you opened the door, you could see it was much bigger. I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped in the door behind Eli.

The first thing I noticed was the table and chairs sitting off to the right of the door. It was made from the trees and still looked like the branches of an oak tree. I ran my hand over the wood and realized how smooth it was to the touch.

“We make our own furniture here. Really, we make everything,” he shouted from around the corner. Eli walked out a few seconds later with a small duffel bag on his arm. He seemed a little distracted, but quickly got over that. “I can’t forget anything. Once I go to the human world, my magic won’t be as strong.” He glanced up and me and then Connor, who was messing with some kind of statue near the door. “Need to be prepared for anything.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but the Fae seemed to know what they were talking about. Even Oni was more aware of things than I ever was.

“Are you ready?” I asked, as nicely as possible.

He started for the door, but took one last look at his home. “Yep, I think I’ll have everything I will need.”

“You do know you won’t be gone too long, right?” Connor stepped into the grass in front of Eli’s home as he spoke.

“You never know,” was Eli’s response.

Connor made a face and created a circle around us with salt, he’d carried here for this reason. We all sat down and closed our eyes. I felt my stomach to a flip flop as the energy around us started to shift.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the wall of The Oracle’s home. I took a deep breath and glanced around myself. Connor was already standing and Eli was sitting quietly beside me. He met my eyes and smiled.

“That’s not so bad, is it?” He said, standing and putting his hands out to me to help me up. I took them, much to Connor’s dismay.

The Oracle was sitting in a chair at the far side of the room. I noticed her out of the corner of my eye. She didn’t say anything, but she seemed pleased we’d made it back alright.

“How long were we gone?” I was curious.

“You were gone for three nights. I wondered if you would make it back in one piece. The Fae are good for the most part, but there are always ones that look for a bounty.”

“They can’t come here, can they?” I suddenly felt a chill up my spine.

 

“That I don’t know, but they haven’t been in this world recently.”

There was something in her eyes that made me worry. I didn’t want to think about another supernatural being coming after me, especially one I didn’t understand.

“We’ll take him back to the house,” Connor said and turned to the Oracle. “Thank you for helping us.”

She smiled and patted him on the back. Her expression instantly changed when her hand touched him. It twisted to something dark and scary. I took a step back, running into Eli. When Connor walked past her, she glanced at me. There was a warning in her eyes. Something I needed to know, but couldn’t figure out.

She took a step away, as though she knew I was afraid to walk past her. I felt Eli’s hand on my shoulder and felt better, but there was something for sure, I needed to know. Now whether Connor would tell me what it was, was a different story.

***

It wasn’t long before we were back at Connor’s home. I still had a hard time calling it my own. Seemed he only kept it because he was waiting for his sister to come back. We both knew the truth. She never would.

“There’s an extra room upstairs you can stay in,” Connor said, motioning up the stairs.

Eli smiled, but didn’t say anything. When Connor glanced at him, he took the hint and headed up the stairs with his bag in tow.
“What’s up with that guy?”

“He’s just in a strange place. Give him a chance,” I said. It wasn’t really an answer, but it felt like the right thing to say.

“Hopefully he won’t be staying long.”

I closed the door behind me and pulled a chair up to the kitchen table. Connor was busy charging a crystal to help protect the door and I just started to let my mind wander.

I thought about everything we’d been though. Connor saved me from the person I thought was my friend. He helped me to understand who I was, but a part of me wondered where that same man went. He was so consumed with bringing the sister he lost back into his life, he was ignoring the one life in front of him. He was letting me slip away, even though I wanted to be with him. I was scared for him and what he was doing. A random thought popped into my mind. One I never considered until he became so obsessed with bringing his sister back. What if he was dipping into the dark side of magic? What if that was what the Oracle felt when she touched him? I sighed and pushed the thought away. He couldn’t do that, not my Connor. Not the man I loved. I refused to believe it.

“I’m almost done with this, but you don’t have to stay up and watch me,” Connor said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “You’re probably tired. Why don’t you just go to bed.”

I was tired and sleep sounded so good to me. “Will you be up soon?”

“In a little while. Don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.” His voice was a little colder than normal and I could feel the alarms going off inside my gut, but I didn’t know why exactly.

I pulled myself up the stairs and practically fell into bed. Sleep came over me almost instantly and pulled me into my dreams.

I heard somewhere in the distance a door opening and hitting the opposite wall. I thought I opened my eyes, but it wasn’t Connor I saw. It was Eli.

He held his finger to his lips to keep me from asking questions. That was exactly what I wanted to do, too. I wanted to yell at him for being in my room at this time of night. That was until I heard the commotion downstairs.

My first thoughts were of Connor and what could be happening to him. I loved him and didn't want to lose him, even if we were not totally put together as we should be.

Eli grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the door. “You can't go out there,” he said.

“Why?” I protested almost too loudly.
“It's not safe.”

I thought about his words for a moment.
Had Eric found us?
I swallowed hard and nodded back to Eli. If Connor was downstairs, he would be already captured. There was nothing I could really do for him.

“What do we do?” I asked Eli.

 

“I thought you were protecting me?”

I sighed and pulled him from the bedroom door. The intruders were banging loudly on the wood, trying to find a way to break it down. I knew deep down we didn't have much time. I'd have to use a travel potion to get out of the house.

“When Connor and I first met he told me to keep one of these with me at all times. You never know when you may need it,” I said rolling the bottle in my hand.

Eli glanced down at it and then at me. “You don't need magic to use one of those. It's in the potion already.”

I threw it down and thought about my father. My hand slid around Eli's as I thought of my dad and getting to him no matter where he was. When I opened them, I was standing in a living room, with my adopted dad staring up at me from his favorite recliner. Somehow he had managed to get it before all hell broke lose with Eric.

His dark eyes met mine and then slid to Eli and back to me. “Lucy, you sure know how to make an entrance.”

Five

We sat down on the couch across the room from my dad. He just seemed to keep looking at Eli for some reason. A part of me knew there was something he wasn't telling me, but I couldn't figure it out.

“This is the Half blood the Oracle was talking about?” He didn't look at me as he spoke, only to Eli.

“I guess. We need someplace to stay where Eric won't find us,” I said, trying to get my dad's attention back to me.

“You can't stay here. This will be the first place they look and if I go with you, They'll know you were here,” he said, finally meeting my eyes.

“The last time you stayed behind, you almost died. I don't think I like that idea. Plus I don't know where to go or anything.”

“You can do this.” He put his hand on my arm and walked past me to the kitchen.

“What aren't you telling me?” I was tired of not knowing what was going on. It started with my birth and now there was clearly something else going on with Eli.

“I can't talk about it.”
“It's about Eli, isn't it?”

“You need to keep him safe and away from Eric. It's not just his magic he's after.” He turned and walked away from me back into the living area. I was getting tired of games, but if my father tells me someone is important, then he had to be. I just wished I knew what it was all about.

“You can hide out in the Bluffs again. There is an old commune not far from here. It's deep into the Bluffs, but it's also magically protected. Eli should be able to sense it.” My father shoved some canned foods into a bag and pushed it at me. I hadn't seen him grab any of it from the kitchen, but that was the only way it could have gotten there.

“What about you?” was all I could get out.

“I'll be fine. Eric thinks he's got lots of magic protecting him, but you have to remember, he has none of his own anymore.” He smiled and pushed us towards the back door. “Be careful and take care of each other.” He glanced at me and could see the sadness in my eyes. “Don't worry about Connor. He's a cunning kid and I bet he can get though anything Eric could throw at him.”

“I hope so,” I whispered. A part of me felt that he would be okay, but there was still that nagging feeling I'd gotten at the Oracle's place. The feeling that something was way off with Connor.

I remembered the layout of the Bluffs area well. When I was a kid, I'd played in the trees and followed the many paths through the area, but finding this place was proving to be a lot harder than I thought it would.

“I think it's this way,” I said, looking at a fork in the path we were on. Eli just watched me and then smiled and pointed to the other path.