He spooned another bit of broth into my mouth, and after I swallowed, I took the spoon. The longer I was awake the more I recovered my faculties. I wasn’t a baby in need of that kind of care. We were taught to be self-sufficient as fast as we could be.
“Thank you.” I nodded, and he handed me the bowl. He had beautiful blue eyes to go with his dark-brown hair. I’d not noticed earlier because I’d only given them all a cursory glance. Small details were starting to come out. Like Neil’s cheekbones, Ren’s biceps, Gordon’s determined stride, and Lennon’s expressive mouth. Wayne had blue eyes that I bet I would always notice.
He ran his hand down the blanket, smoothing it out. “Sorry about the feeding you. My mother was sick from the time I was ten until she died when I was twenty. I get into a caretaker mode, and I… that’s just what I do. I didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything. You just took out a monster; you can obviously feed yourself.”
I’d made him uncomfortable when he’d been nothing but kind. I touched his arm, and he raised those blues to meet my gaze. “Thank you. I need food when I wake up from a mess like that. Most of the time, I have to practically crawl to get it. You’ve done me a great kindness.”
A small smile crossed his lips. “Would it be okay if I asked you some questions?”
I answered his grin with my own. “If I can ask you some, too.”
“It’s a deal.” He put out his hand, and I realized he meant for us to shake. I clasped his offering, and we made a quick movement of cementing the question asking with physical contact. “Go ahead, ask me anything.”
I hadn’t realized I’d have to go first. “What is your skill? I mean, do you work on plumbing?” I really, really hoped he did. Getting hot water had become such a preoccupation in my life that I was rather fixated on the subject. Even thinking about my cold showers made my already frozen self worse. I tugged on my blanket a little bit.
“I’m a master carpenter.” Okay, so I couldn’t pester Wayne about the water. Still, that was an amazing skill set.
“So you’ll be the one who makes everything work, fit, and look incredible.” We’d had craftsmen at the other Sisterhood. We never spoke to them; it was forbidden. But they’d been there.
He smiled. “Hope so. My turn. The legends about you guys—obviously some of them are very wrong—but you always have helpers, Guards. Where are yours?”
How much to explain? “Boy did you just ask a loaded question…”
“You don’t have to answer.” He squeezed my knee, and a slight band of heat traveled from the spot right up my spine, warming me just a little bit. “I didn’t know it was bad…”
I shook my head, effectively cutting him off. “It’s not a bad question. Let me see how quickly I can sum this up so you don’t have to listen for hours and hours. We were born to be Sisters, with the powers that we have. Yet, we agreed to our existence in the life before. Chosen by divinity and matched to men who are meant to be our loves, our Guards—our forever. It’s a joint destiny. All in, together. But there was a woman running things for a long time who ruined everything. She’s fallen in with the demons. So I don’t have Guards who love me. I should, but I don’t.”
He scrunched up his nose. “Well, I mean, if they agreed in some other world to be born and do this, shouldn’t they be here doing it? What kind of guy would leave a woman like you to face this alone?”
“Anything could have happened to them. Death. Assigned to someone else. Turned away from the Sisterhood. Maybe they took one look at me and changed their minds. I don’t know.”
He squeezed again. “Mika, if I may overstep, no man would look at you and change his mind.”
I shook my head. “I spent most of my life covered in robes and a hood that you couldn’t see my face through.”
“What a terrible waste. A face like yours? The world deserves to see it. Beauty should never be covered up like that. It’s a gift. From divinity.”
I had nothing to say. No one had ever offered me such a compliment before. After a second of absolute quiet, he scooted up on the bed to stretch out next to me. His body heat did what his hand had earlier: it started to warm me. I was never so grateful to have someone lying next to me. I couldn’t remember it ever happening before.
“We had a Sister come to our island once. She took a baby. It was devastating. Said the child had been called. Some Oracle had looked and seen her. The father fought back. I wasn’t quite born yet. Another two months until I would be. Dad died and Mom was left a mess. Ms. Miranda. She was never fine after that. My mom used to bring them eggs and things before she got sick. We made a law on the island that Sisters intent on taking children would not be welcomed again. We don’t have a huge military, but we’d handle that.”
I tried to picture it. I didn’t want to argue. But the truth was that before Anne went and weakened Katrina by calling her out publicly as a sham, the other Sisterhood had been so powerful and the Guards so well trained that I had a hard time imagining anyone on Peter’s Isle defeating them. But what did I know? I hadn’t even realized such a place existed. People fought harder for their homes than anywhere else in the world.
“That’s how I was taken. I don’t know from where or any circumstances. But that’s my story, too. All Sisters have the same story. We were all, at one point, taken from our families.”
He nodded. “And there’s been a big change? That’s what the townsfolk were telling us.”
“Now, that is too long a story.” I beamed at him. “Besides, it’s my question time. What were you doing at the gate? I told you guys to stay back.”
“Reinforcing it. None of us realized you were about to suddenly become like a ghost and not have physical shape. You and the demon. But we thought we could help keep it back.”
I leaned inward. “That was the nicest thing anyone has ever tried to do for me.”
His eyes widened. “Really? Are all the people you know terrible?”
The question made me laugh. “Not at all. I should probably say it’s the second nicest thing.” Teagan had pulled me out of the darkness. For now and always, that act would win any contest in kindness.
“Hey.” Lennon poked his head through the door. “She’s up? Why didn’t you tell us?”
Wayne gave him a slow smile. “Because I wanted to talk to her all by myself.”
After a second, Lennon scowled at him. “That’s not fair. I think we’d all like to talk to her by ourselves.”
“Then I guess you should have made soup and waited for her to wake.” Wayne shrugged and made no sign of moving. “Ya snooze, ya lose, brother.”
Lennon strode further into the room. “Well I might have thought to do so, but I was, instead, checking all the roofs to see which ones leaked and where.”
His words made me aware that it was still raining. I hated the sound. Goosebumps broke out on my body with each pit-pat. I looked at myself. I wasn’t wearing my pajamas but a blue shirt and flannel pants I didn’t recognize. “Who changed me?”
“Krystal. She shooed us out of the room. We had to take care of you,” Wayne spoke quickly. “You saved all of us. It was the least we could do.”
“Oh, don’t make it out like you didn’t hover like a hen over her chicks.” Lennon sat on the other end of the bed. “Wayne’s a healer at heart.”
With a quick smile, Wayne kicked Lennon who swatted away Wayne’s foot. “And Lennon’s a pain in the ass.”
Lennon ignored the jab. Or at least he seemed to. “I’m so glad you found us, Sister Mika. This place is going to come down around your heads if we don’t get started on it soon.”
“Who does the plumbing?”
It was finally Lennon who answered, “That would be Ren and Gordon.”
I would start to pester them as soon as I had the energy. Wayne uncrossed his arms and pointed toward my bowl. “Eat before you pass out.”
I did and managed to hand him my bowl before sleep took me back under. I’d never fallen into dreamland with two strange
rs watching before. But they were calm, and I believed, maybe naively but what did that matter really, that I’d never been safer than I was right in that moment.
3
Whatever peace I found in sleep fled the second I opened my eyes. Why was I lying around in the guesthouse letting men I didn’t know take care of me? Why had Krystal let this happen? I would have been there for her. Where had Anne gotten off to that she wasn’t back yet?
I swung my feet over the bed, searched for and didn’t find my shoes, and eventually padded out barefoot to the main room. The smell of food cooking wafted toward me, and my stomach rumbled loud enough that all five of the men turned to look at me. I swallowed my nerves. They were an impressive bunch, that was for sure.
I couldn’t have decided which one I found more attractive. I tugged on the end of one curl, knowing that my hair must be wildly out of control. It took a tremendous amount of time to tame it every day or I ended up looking like I was a nightmare come to life. Not that it mattered, really. I’d battled back an Original demon and lived to tell the tale. My hair should have been the least of my concerns.
Right then and there, I knew I was in trouble. These men were making me… sort of mushy feeling, and I’d known them only a little over a day. This must be how Anne, Teagan, and Daniella felt, except those were Guards and these were highly skilled workman whom I had no business lusting over since they would be leaving when the job was done.
Gordon took a step toward me. “Are you okay? Wayne said you were feeling better. Your color is good. When we got you in here, I wasn’t sure if you were going to be okay. You kind of became a ghost out there.” He walked the final steps toward me and put his hand on my arm. “Okay, good. You’re solid.”
He smelled fresh and clean. I forced myself to stay totally still instead of throwing my arms around him and begging him to hold me until I didn’t feel like I was going to float off the world. Gordon seemed like the kind of person who was strong enough to keep me where I needed to be. Of course, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know any of them. So I stayed where I was.
“I…” It was usually at night I couldn’t think of anything to say. “I can’t thank you enough. So above and beyond. And trying to keep that gate up in the face of a demon was so brave. You should not have been in that situation, and to take care of me afterward—”
Ren interrupted me, striding over with a mug that he stuck in my hand. It was a strange moment. I hadn’t asked for anything to drink, but now that I held the hot tea, I was certainly grateful he’d thought to brew. He raised his eyes. “Where we are from, people take care of each other. Families look out for each other’s kids. Or at least the best of them do. When someone needs something, they get it. When my parents died, Gordon’s dad invited me to live with them. You needed help. It never dawned on us not to give it.”
I took a sip of the tea to give myself a second to find a response. “That sounds like a really nice way to live. That hasn’t been my experience in life. Let’s hope the rest of your time with us is a lot less drama infested. Shall we? Do you happen to know where my shoes are?”
If I had to flee barefoot, I would, but I really preferred to cover my feet since the grounds would be muddy. I had to be practical, even when I was completely distracted.
I found Krystal in the kitchen. She raised red-rimmed eyes to meet my gaze, and my anger softened. My fellow Sister looked like hell run over. Krystal was tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and curvy in all the right places. I envied her breasts. I might be a little fixated on how tiny mine were.
She threw her arms around me. “You’re okay.”
“I am.” I let her squeeze me for a second. “How did I end up in the guest house?”
Krystal drew back to regard me. “At first, I tried to argue. I told them to bring you into your rooms, but they insisted rather forcefully that they could and should take care of you. I can’t really explain it to you, Mika. I’ve been trying to make sense of it myself. I just… I believed them.”
Well, there was no harm done. Maybe in the pouring rain after the mess of the demon battle and everything that happened, no one was thinking clearly. I didn’t really understand it, but arguing after the fact was pointless. I stepped back. We weren’t really huggers. Or at least I wasn’t. Maybe Krystal was.
“Should we be worried about Anne or Daniella yet?”
Krystal wrinkled her nose. “No. We knew they’d be gone for a stretch. Anytime the trains are involved, things get complicated, and who knows when Teagan will be back from the other Sisterhood.”
She was right. But this was Anne’s Sisterhood. I was hardly able to manage without her. They’d taken their baby or I’d have had to think about him the night before, too. Daniella’s daughters were here, but they were older and could be left for periods of time with the capable child care Daniella had found.
Still, with Krystal powerless, I couldn’t help but feel that all of this rested squarely on my shoulders. While I walked back to my room to take a cold shower, I tried to imagine a place called Peter’s Isle, a spot somewhere on this planet that had no demons. I wondered if the breeze was cool on hot days and warm during cold times.
Were such places possible?
The five contractors followed me around the property. I’d point out what I thought had to be fixed. They would find ten more things in that location alone that I’d not noted, desperately in need of repair. The main house was my most pressing concern, and we saved it for last. The guys had been quiet, commenting only on technical, construction things. It wasn’t until we were at the front door that Gordon asked anything other than about structure and use of the buildings.
“How did you find this place, Mika?” He slightly mispronounced my name. Pronounced Mee-ka, he said my name like he added an extra ee so that it was Me-ee-ka instead. I kind of liked it. I’d hardly heard my name spoken other than with the name Sister attached to it for most of my life. Said by Gordon, it sounded somehow musical.
I pointed to the house. “This specifically or the grounds themselves?”
“The whole thing. How did you guys choose it? Did you search around for a while?” He had a clipboard in his hand, and he’d been making notes and drawing sketches. Most of it looked like a foreign language to me. I had no head for design.
I looked back at the house. “I was still living at the other Sisterhood at the time. But the story is that during the year that Anne was locked in a cage, her Guards were brought here by the spirits. So when they finally rescued her, they returned to this place.”
Ren interrupted. “She was locked in a cage?”
We had to go through the dark to reach the light. “Yep.”
I turned and walked into the house. I didn’t know if I was going to have a dark time—I might have already had mine considering I’d been cursed—but if I still had one coming, there were no Guards who were going to appear out of nowhere to save my life. If I got locked in a cage and couldn’t unlock it myself, I wasn’t getting out.
I walked them through the house, through rooms I didn’t usually go into like Anne’s private quarters. When we were done, I waited for their response.
“We can fix it,” Neil answered for the group, “but we’re going to have to hire some more help on a day-to-day basis. It might be better if you just knock the whole thing down and start over.”
Anne had told me I had the power to make decisions but that seemed too large a choice for me to make. I touched the side of the old house. “She’s from a different time. This was a school. A boarding place where kids from all over would came to learn.” I stepped a bit away. “Until it was overrun by demons and everyone had to leave, it was the gateway to future potential. I hate the idea of demolishing it. She’s been through a lot. Maybe she just deserves a chance to shine again.”
“She?” Lennon raised his eyebrows. “Boats are usually shes. I don’t know if people usually assign a gender to buildings.”
“I like it as a she.” I touched the railing
. “Feels like a she.”
“Then a she it is.” Lennon’s grin was huge. “We can do this. If you want us to.”
“I do.” I rocked back on my feet, turning my attention to Ren and Gordon. “How long till we can have hot water?”
Ren beamed, and I was pretty sure that was the first time I’d seen him smile. “Well, I need to get under the house. And that involves a demon, right?”
It was. “Why does that make you happy?”
“I’ve never been under a house with a demon before. I like new experiences.”
Gordon rolled his eyes. “Yeah… he’s slightly out of his mind.”
Neil laughed, shoving both of their shoulders. “She’ll figure that out if she hasn’t yet.”
They were so easy with each other. All of them laughed regularly, and now with Ren’s lips turning upward, they all smiled, too. So few people in my acquaintance found joy in anything. Life was hard and got worse all the time. Where did these five find their hope?
“Should we go look now?”
Ren unlocked his ankles. “I’m game.”
I just bet he was.
I’d not been under the house before. Teagan had been the one who’d discovered Bob the Demon and we’d all been giving it a wide berth ever since. We’d thought that Bob had been disrupting the hot water, but when he’d moved, it still didn’t work.
I crawled ahead of Gordon and Ren, although each of them was only inches behind me and on my left and right. They looked up at the pipes, making verbal notes to each other as they went.
“No one builds like this anymore. I mean, some of the older buildings on Peter’s had similar systems.” Ren must have been trying to explain this to me even though I hadn’t asked. “We’ve seen some similar things in other areas. The farther we got into the Badlands, the older everything seems to get. But this takes the cake.”
I stared at my feet. “You think we should knock down the house.”
Right at that second my powers activated, a flash fire of energy racing through my veins. One second I was normal, and the next I was entirely charged as though I was ready to battle.