“Ready? Let’s go. I’m worried about my family.” Shade tugged at him and approached Camulus, who had been waiting patiently nearby. She gave him a nod as the three gripped each other’s hands, waiting for the jaunt. A moment later, they found themselves at the edge of the forest near her home. Shade hurried across the grass and up the back porch steps where she almost ran into Benton.
“Whoa, it’s about time you came back. Where the heck have you been? Mom’s been sick with worry!” He let the back door slam behind him, blocking her way into the house.
“At my grandmother’s. Get out of my way!” She waited, but Benton didn’t budge. Instead, he waved her closer as he whispered in her ear.
“She remembers, Shade. Mom remembers everything now.” He glanced over her shoulder to Camulus and Soap. Camulus waved at them as she turned back to look at him. She watched him disappear, leaving nothing but a misty cloud where he’d once stood.
“Not one for goodbyes, huh?” Benton snickered. Soap came up the steps, now dressed in glamour to cover his fey looks. He looked like a regular grunged-out teen in a black tee and ripped jeans. Benton eyed him and rolled his eyes. “You might not need a disguise. My mom is fully aware of the Land of Faerie. She’s almost in hysterics at realizing how much she’s forgotten. She’s been waiting for you to come back. Don’t worry, you’ll like what she has to say.” He pulled open the back door, letting Shade and Soap enter the house.
Shade approached her mother, Jade, who sat quietly at the kitchen table. Anna waltzed in and smiled at seeing her sister. She ran over to Shade and gave her a bear hug as they shuffled into room.
“Shade, you’re back! Benton said you would be. Where’d you go? Why are you gone so much?” Anna pulled back to stare at her sister’s face, her own flashing full of suspicion.
“Hey, kiddo, missed you too,” Shade laughed. “Just had some stuff to take care of. I’m back for a little while, I hope. Mom?” She glanced over to her mother, who sat fingering her cup of coffee and nervously waiting for them to finish greeting each other.
Jade sighed as she began rubbing her forehead. She was looking very weary. “Anna, I need to speak with Shade, Benton and their friend privately. Could you please go watch TV with James or go to your room? It won’t be too long. Okay, pumpkin?” She motioned for Anna to leave. Anna pressed her lips together, frowning at the order. She sighed and glanced back toward her sister.
“You better come see me afterward. I got lots to tell you about!” She smiled again and flew out of the room as quickly as she had entered. Shade turned to sit at the table across from her mother. Benton occupied the seat next to their mother, and Soap sat next to Shade.
Shade wrung her fingers nervously in her lap as she peered up, waiting for someone to start talking. Jade watched Shade intensely. Jade’s brown eyes were dark with a depth Shade had not seen before. Sighing, Jade started talking, softly but sternly.
“Shade, I have to ask you where you’ve been going that you feel the need to stay away so long. There are things out there that aren’t natural, and some strange things are going on I don’t want you involved in.” She glanced at Soap but quickly flashed her eyes back to her daughter.
“Mom, Benton says that you have something to tell me about what you remember. He says you remember everything. So I guess I can assume you know where I’ve been going all this time.” Shade gulped, hoping to not piss her mother off. Instead, Jade continued to stare at her. She seemed to ponder what to say next. The conflict swam around her eyes and made Shade want to just hug her. She knew exactly how her mother was feeling.
“I—I’m not sure what you mean, Shade. I….”
“The Land of Faerie, Mom. You know about the Land of Faerie. My real father was from there. I’m not sure if you’re from there too, but I know about your abilities, your fire affinity. Benton has them, too.” Shade sucked her breath in, hoping she hadn’t blurted out too much.
Jade gasped. The shock slammed into her like a direct hit. She stood with her mouth agape and glanced between Shade and Benton. Her hands went to her face as she sat there collecting herself. Sighing, she laid her hands on her thighs and slumped down in her chair.
“I never said anything about anything to Shade. Apparently she knows a lot more than any of us do.” Benton shrank back in his chair.
“I see that you do know more than it seems,” Jade sighed. “Yes. Your real father was fey. And yes, I’m a human-born Fire Witch. Benton is also human-born, but we are not fey. We are not restricted to living in Faerie.” Jade sucked in her breath, waiting to see if anyone would stop her. “I’m sorry I never told you this before, but for some reason I couldn’t remember. Lately, it seems I have started to remember things that have been buried in my mind somehow, and for some reason or another, I couldn’t remember them at all for years.” Jade bit her lip as her thoughts ran through her head.
“Mom, I know about your memory. Lana—my grandmother—she told me what happened.” Shade reached for her mother, laying her hand on her shoulder, hoping to comfort her.
Her mother looked back at her. Surprise and concern seemed to struggle across her face. Shade watched as she fidgeted in her chair, looking a bit older than she had a few months before. It seemed something was bothering her more than she let on.
“Yes, Shade. Lana would know. She probably told your father to erase my memory to keep me safe.” Jade’s bitterness echoed in her voice as she spoke of Lana. Shade wondered what had happened between them which would make her speak of her that way. Lost in her thoughts, she realized her mother was now staring at her.
“What?” Shade asked. The rest of them were staring at her too. She felt the weight of their eyes boring into her and suddenly felt naked. “What is it? Do I have food in my teeth?”
Benton let out a laugh, but Soap and Jade remained silent and stoic in their places.
“I see you’ve met her. Good, maybe she explained most of what happened to you already. All I know is that one moment your father and I were madly in love, and the next, I’m a soccer mom with four kids. And now a single mom at that.” Jade shook her head, closing her eyes as the memories washed over her. “I find it hard to imagine life without your father, Varenis, but seeing he never consulted me in his decision to wipe my memory of him, I find this even more difficult to discuss. Benton, you, Anna and James are part Fire Witch Elementals. We are human, but we have powers like any witch to cast spells and use magic. Mainly our powers lie with the manipulation of fire.”
“Fire Elementals.” Soap spoke softly as he let the words roll off his tongue. He looked up at Jade, suddenly excited as he continued. “That’s why! Shade, that’s why fire has no effect on you! All this time, you’re a Changeling and a Fire Elemental Witch! Wow. What else does she not know?”
“Soap!” Shade elbowed him, signaling for him to shut up.
“Ouch! Sorry, I was just thinking how great this is, Shade!” Soap grinned as he rubbed his ribs, sore from her blow.
“Yes, that would make Shade impervious to fire or heat. I take it that you have run into some fire-wielding fey?” Jade glanced at her. “Can I ask what kind of faeries they were?”
Shade glanced at Soap and looked back at her mother. “Teleen. Soap is part Teleen and Changeling. I had a run in with a Teleen warrior named Darren at the caverns they live in. He tried to kill me, but his fire was useless on me. He was really surprised I didn’t burn up into ash. He’s insane.” Shade shuddered at the thought of Darren. She hoped he was still tucked away in the Teleen Caverns.
Jade’s eyes widened in horror, but she remained where she was as she digested the information. Her face turned serious. She sighed as worry creased her smooth skin. She furrowed her eyebrows and pressed her lips tight.
“Shade, I had no idea you were in Faerie getting attacked. I don’t want you going there. There are things you wouldn’t understand happening right now in Faerie.” She shuddered and rubbed the goose bumps rising along her arms. “I can feel the magic i
n the air, flowing wild, with a wisp of evil. I know Aveta has probably become more powerful than ever before. Her evil leaks out of Faerie like a balloon waiting to burst. I don’t like you treading through there.” She glanced at Soap as she spoke. “Even with such powerful escorts.”
“But, Mom, I….”
“No buts. I mean it, Shade. You have no idea what her twisted, evil creatures are like.”
“Yes I do, Mom. We’ve just come back from fighting her horrific horde of vile things. I know what to expect. I know what they can do. Corb and Evangeline, her lieutenants, scare me more than her army. They are the ones I’m afraid of running into again.” Shade licked her lips. She had to make her mother understand how far she’d come in the last few months. If it meant telling her everything, so be it.
“What did you say?” Jade’s concerned look now turned into one of absolute shock.
“Which part, about Corb and Evangeline or Aveta’s army?” Shade waited impatiently for her to answer.
“Evangeline is one of her lieutenants? No, that can’t be. Are you sure?” Jade grabbed Shade’s arm, gripping it tighter than what was comfortable. Shade gulped, feeling a surge of panic jump in her chest.
“Yes, Mom, Evangeline is one of her warriors. Why does that matter?” Shade’s hand slipped onto her mothers, hoping the warmth of her hand would ease her grip. Slowly Jade loosened her grip and pulled away, shaking her head in disbelief.
“No, no, no. It can’t be. Vange? Why would she do that?” Jade leaned on the table, her hands covering her eyes.
“Mom, you know her? How do you know her?” Shade was getting a feeling the story wouldn’t end there. She bordered on wanting to know everything and not wanting to know anything else. Ignorance is bliss. How would her mother know the Witch Faery? Why did she seem so upset about her being Aveta’s second in command? Nothing was making sense to her anymore. Her mother wasn’t being too forthcoming, either.
“Mom?” She repeated, hoping to snap Jade back into the present.
“Evangeline is….” Jade paused, breathing in and sighing deeply. “She’s my sister, Shade. She’s your aunt.” She eyed her daughter, watching her reaction with increased interest.
Shade felt like someone had just slapped the air out of her chest. Her face morphed into a scowl. How could she believe that? Everything which had happened to her, and one of the leaders of the evil Unseelie Queen’s army is her own flesh and blood? Her aunt? No, this has got to be a mistake!
“What? You’re kidding, right?” Shade shook her head, wanting to stand up and shake some sense into her mother. Mom’s off her rocker. She has to be. No other way to explain all this! “How can you and she be sisters? She’s fey and you said you’re fully human, so that isn’t sounding right to me!”
“Shade, she’s my half-sister. We share the same mother. Our mother was a human Fire Elemental Witch, and my father was also. Her father was a faery. A powerful Sidhe faery. Vange is quite powerful, but we share many of the same powers. She’s immortal, but I am not.” Jade sighed, rubbing at her forehead again, willing the headache pounding in her temples to recede.
Shade sat back in her chair, chewing on her lip as she played the conversation over and over in her head. Everything was quite possibly true. Yet it all seemed so unreal, so impossible. She listened to the others quietly breathing and shifting in their seats as the silence hung thick and syrupy in the air.
“Does she know who I am, Mom? Does she know I’m your daughter?” Shade watched her mother open her pretty, tiger brown-colored eyes at her. Her grief filled them and gleamed with the edge of tears.
“I don’t know, Shade. I don’t believe so. If she did, she would’ve come here and taken you long time ago.” She studied Shade’s face. Her eyes lingered, taking in her daughter’s features as if it was the first time they had ever met. Her gaze slipped down to the necklaces dangling around Shade’s throat. Reaching out, she fingered the amulet of Santiran Water, which dangled next to her memory charm, a flower carved in jade.
“Where did you get this magic?” Jade inquired. “I can feel it vibrating under my skin like ice cold water.” Shade reached up, unsnapped the necklaces and dropped them into her mother’s hand.
“The water in the ampule is from the Santiran Fountains. I can wield water with it. The other is a memory charm. Soap told me to get one in case a faery attempts to charm my memory away. So far, I think it’s working. No memory is missing from me!” She chuckled nervously but stopped as she watched her mother study them. She seemed so engrossed she was barely listening to Shade.
“Mom?” Benton reached out and nudged Jade’s arm.
“Hmm?” Jade pulled her eyes away from the charms and handed them back to Shade. “I see. You must be quite powerful, Shade. I have never known anyone who could wield water and fire, be they fey or human.” She sighed. Her exhaustion resurfaced on her face as she reached out to sip on her coffee. “I know this is a lot to take in, sweetheart. I must ask you to do something else before you are even ready. You too, Benton.” She turned and stared at her son, almost not recognizing him for a moment.
“What is it, Mom? What do you want us to do?” Benton stood up at that moment, eager to sprint into action.
“Shade, Benton, you need to help me with a protection-barrier spell. Tonight.” Jade stood up. She straightened and now looked at the group with determination in her eyes.
“What do you mean a protection-barrier spell? I don’t know how to do one of those. Do you, Shade?” Benton’s face fell at hearing the word “spell.” He’d expected something more physical than metaphysical. Shade shook her head as she turned toward her mother.
“What do you need us to do, Mom?” She joined her brother, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans as she looked at her mother, who was serious and ready for whatever else was coming.
Jade finally smiled at them, a twinkle of pride spilling into her eyes. “Okay, well, let’s get started then.”
Chapter Eighteen
THE SHIELDING AND protection spell had been more draining than Shade had initially anticipated. She rubbed her arm where a still-sensitive pink line lay as the only evidence of what she’d contributed to the spell. The flesh wound burned where she’d used her dagger to drag its blade across her skin, letting her warm, crimson blood drip along the large perimeter circle her mother had traced with salt. Shade and Benton had walked along the trail sprinkling drops of blood along it, strengthening the spell their mother chanted as they proceeded behind her around the grounds of the house. Shade was thankful they weren’t close to any neighbors. The nearest house was a few blocks away, and they were in no danger of being seen or heard.
Lucky for us, Shade thought, or we’d look pretty darn crazy out here waltzing around the house bleeding all over the place!
She sat on a tree stump in the front yard, moving one of her little brother’s bouncing balls around with her sneaker. The sun hung low in the afternoon sky, and there was a slight chill to the autumn air. Shade rubbed her arms, wishing she’d brought a hoodie out with her to keep her warm. The tree stump was big enough for one other person to sit on, which is exactly what Soap was thinking as he plopped down next to her.
“Hey, gorgeous.” He winked at her as she turned and smiled back at him. He still made her stomach flip when he shined his glistening green eyes at her. She pulled her gaze away from him, again feeling slightly guilty about her feelings for him and Dylan. Her heart lurched at the thought of Dylan missing from her life. It threatened tears at the back of her eyes, making her blink faster in hopes of keeping the tears restrained when Soap reached over and rubbed her back. She tensed for a moment but relaxed, feeling the warmth spreading from his hands and across her back. She felt the cold slip away, and the warmth embracing her like fire.
She turned toward him, surprise filling her face. “I didn’t know you could do that. Thank you,” she said softly. His face was calm and remained still as he gazed back at her. His eyes were full of things unsaid. Desi
re swirled in his irises, and flared them to an iridescent emerald.
She felt the heat radiating from him like the sun, almost sweltering in intensity. She liked how it felt. She had to admit that much, but her confusion hit her like a swift kick in the head.
Shoot, shoot, shoot, thought Shade.
She wanted to give in and let his magic envelope her, and to hold on tight. How could that be so bad? Plus, what if Dylan didn’t come back? She’d spent more time with Soap lately than she’d ever had with Dylan. Even so, her heart was holding onto Dylan’s steel grey eyes, which remained emblazoned in her mind. The way he would look at her had told her all she needed to know about how he felt. That alone was what stopped her from running into Soap’s awaiting arms. Something about Dylan had her holding onto his memory so tightly, it made her feel unfaithful when she let Soap embrace her.
Soap’s strong arms circled her shoulders. His lips moved dangerously close to her face as he breathed her in, letting her hair tickle his nose and cheeks. Shade gulped, afraid to ruin the moment by letting her feelings overtake her.
“I’m a Changeling, remember? I burn just like a Teleen, but I can control the heat I emit much better than they can. They just torch things. I can make someone feel cold or hot and anything in between. Um, Shade?” He waited for her to answer him, but was met with silence. He sucked in a deep breath as he continued. “Shade, I—I know you’re in love with Dylan. I can see that much. But I’m here, and he’s not. I’m here, and I would never leave you like he did. I promise you that.” His soft voice sent shivers down her spine as she let her head rest against his chest. He smelled like pine and sage. The comfort he gave her made her bite down on her lip to hold the well of tears threatening to explode.
“I can make you happy. I love you so much. It feels like a dagger in my heart to see you suffering because of him. Why won’t you let me in, Shade? We get along great, and I’m sure Dylan can’t crack a joke like me. Who’s gonna make you laugh like I do?” Soap ran his fingers through her brown hair, letting the smooth waves slip through his fingers. He turned his face to her hair, inhaling the sweet honeysuckle scent of her shampoo. He wanted to remain in that moment forever. Breaking contact with Shade would be a torment he could not endure.