Chapter Fifteen
Finding out that my reality was an illusion was scary but during all my alone time I came to a few conclusions. One, related or not I loved Sidney, my Grandma Sidney, and she loved me too. Second, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for me. The most important of what I had come up with so far, I had endangered her by attracting the Siths to her home.
Seraph, Nicholas, and Madric returned only a few moments after I had pulled myself together. Once I realized what was actually happening I knew I was going to have to apologize in a major way. I stood up and bowed my head like I’d seen Nicholas do. “I’m very sorry for batting at the hands of your clan.” She did not appear any more pleased. “I also apologize for calling your home a con artist palace.”
“I see you’ve come to realize you need our help?”
“Please.”
“Have you accepted your place in this clan?”
I looked at Nicholas hoping he would give me a clue as to what to say. He didn’t. “I don’t know anything about this clan. I don’t know much of anything at all right now. I just know that my Grandma Sidney doesn’t deserve the danger she’s in. I’ll do whatever I have to do to help her.” Seraph’s smile surprised me.
“I appreciate honesty.” She nodded toward Madric and turned her attention back on me. “I’m going to tell you some more truth.” My stomach clenched, but I didn’t stop her. There was not a whole lot she could say that would be more life altering than what I’d already learned.
“It is part of our history, but you’ll need to hear it to understand. One of our earliest clans migrated to Scotland. Once they were there they came across a Baobhan Sith. Nicholas told you they were the walking dead, but he failed to mention they feed upon the living. The gaje call them vampires, but they are much more.
“Because of our gypsy blood and knowledge we learned some of the Sith weaknesses. We began to hunt them, and they began to hunt us. Our secrets cannot be shared with the gaje, and therefore, we are all that stands against them.” She looked me in the face. “If you want help with the Siths you must go through the ceremony to awaken your gypsy blood and become a permanent member of this clan.”
“What does that entail exactly? And what is all this talk of Marime, what does it mean?”
Would I have to live here? Would I be forced to abandon my old reality completely?
“You will have to learn our ways. You will have to become one of us.”
“Will I ever see Sidney again?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “This is not a prison.” Seraph’s dark olive green eyes darted over to Madric and then to me before she told me, “Marime is a gypsy curse. Mostly, it is for gypsies as it wipes out their gypsy blood, its purity and the abilities therein. To the non gypsies or gaje it poisons the blood. We consider it one of the worst of our curses.”
Curses?
“I’ll do it,” I agreed before I could chicken out.
Seraph’s posture and tone was so regal. I’d never met someone so confident. “First, you’ll have to find a sponsor.” My eyebrows shot up. “It is an honor to become a full-blood gypsy.” I sighed noisily, and Seraph’s lips made a straight line.
“I figured that since both my parents are gypsies the blood I have is already gypsy.”
She shook her head, and dark black hair peeked out at me from beneath the crown and lavish headdress she wore. “You have not gone through the ceremony. It sleeps within you.” She reached out and touched the red strand in my hair. “It looks as though it longs to wake.” Seraph withdrew her hand.
“Becoming a gypsy is not something one does just for the moment. It is a lifetime commitment. The Gaje way of instant satisfaction does not work here as it does in the Senator’s mansion.”
I forcibly swallowed my anger and asked, “How do I get a sponsor?”
“One of the clan will have to vouch for you.” She shook her head when I started turning toward Nicholas. “The werewolves cannot sponsor a new member.” The doors opened up, and people started pouring in. “We planned a celebration and just because you don’t deserve it does not mean we don’t.” She stood up, and music began to play.
“You want me to ask my birth mother to sponsor me, don’t you? Fine.” I threw up my hands and stomped my foot instead of swearing at her. “Where is she?”
“You had your chance to ask to meet her, and you refused. Now you will meet her if she decides to make herself known to you.”
“Ch-yeah, that’s a shocker.” Seraph obviously didn’t like me. Well, the feeling was mutual. I watched her walk away and join in their celebration. Nicholas was stiff at my side. “So how do I get a sponsor?” I asked turning toward him.
“Convince one of these people that you deserve to be here.” When he looked at me at the end his eyes were cold and dark. “Just stay away from her.” He pointed to a woman who was vaguely familiar to me.
“Who is she?”
“The woman you batted away earlier, my mother.”
Well, crap. No wonder he’s so mad.
“I’d better apologize.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“Stay away from her.” He spoke slowly, each word enunciated and laced with fury. I had smacked her hand. Now that I knew it was his mother, I could not believe I had done that.
I wiped my sweating palms on my pants. “I’m really sorry, okay?”
His bottom lip pushed forward, and he shook his head with an expression that said he did not care what I did. “You haven’t made a good impression. This won’t be easy for you.” Especially since he didn’t seem to be rooting for me. “Our culture is much different than yours. My family is sacred. Your disrespect for both is not something I will soon forget or forgive.”
“Your honesty is so refreshing.” I put my hands on my hips. “You didn’t prepare me for this in any way. I was terrified. You led me into a huge building full of people reaching out to touch me. I’d like to see anyone else do better.”
“She’s got a point.” I turned to see a woman with green eyes and long dark blond hair. Her face was the same shape as mine. I looked away from her and down at my hands.
“This is Brea. Brea this is Piper.”
I needed a sponsor.
I made myself look at her, but I couldn’t make myself smile. “Hi.”
“I’m Seraph’s sister.” Oh good, then she was sure to be a fan of mine. “She’s being too hard on you. You were raised by the gaje after all.” She shrugged and patted Nicholas on the back. His shoulders were nearing the bottom of his ears. I apparently really ticked him off. “Why don’t you go and get our guest something to drink?”
“May I get you something, Brea?”
“Thank you.” She smiled, and I saw much of myself in her face. Nicholas walked away, and I tried to tell myself that this woman with a name very similar to my middle gypsy name was not my mother. “You’ve grown up to be so very pretty, Piper.” She touched my hair, and I leaned away from her hand.
At least, I didn’t bat it away.
“Oh, Pipey you’ve got to relax.” She laughed and put her arm around me. “I’m not going to be scared away by your rude gaje ways, little girl. I love you too much.”
I shrugged out from under her arm. She was probably my best chance for a sponsor in this place, but I had to get away from her. I rushed into the crowd and did not look back. There were people dancing with twirling objects that were on fire, and I watched them, amazed at their skill. The fire appeared to be beneath their hands but there was no pain on their faces or lack of control.
I started for a group of girls, but Nicholas arrived with a cup of what looked like fruit punch. “Don’t try that group.”
“Why not?”
“They hate you.” I looked at the group and sure enough I found half of them glaring at me. I could not have popped all of their mothers’ hands.
Why do they hate me?
He waved at them, and their glares changed into big smiles.
/> Bingo.
“Seraph’s sister is probably your best bet.”
“Well, I want to find someone else.” The group of girls were still glaring at me. “Go away. You’re making those girls hate me.”
“I told you they already do.” This honesty thing was not as fun to hear as I would have hoped. I started looking around for a friendly face. “I’ll be right back.” Nicholas went over to the girls, and they immediately surrounded him.
This really shouldn’t bother me.
Nicholas and I were entirely incompatible. Our lives were from two different worlds, and I had every intention of trying to go back to mine, if at all possible.
A young man with dark blond hair was looking at me with a friendly expression, so I approached him and did my best not to check on Nicholas. “Hello.”
“Hello, Kellan.” He kissed the top of my hand. He had that scruffy look that Nicholas had, and I figured it must be a gypsy thing.
“Piper, please.” I folded my hands together. “What’s your name?” Now that I was closer I could see a deep cleft in his chin and a ring of green around the brown in his eyes.
“I’m Toryn, and I wish you well in your task.”
Did everyone know?
“I cannot sponsor you. I’m a werewolf.” He was seriously tall and really buff. I guess I should have guessed as much.
“Oh.” I didn’t recognize him from the group I’d seen on the mountain. “Do you have any hints as to who could?” He was looking me over, and I was wondering if everyone was going to be like this.
“If you want a gypsy to back you, you have to participate in the festivities.” He held his hand out to me. “Perhaps if we dance?” I had serious doubts that dancing with Toryn was going to help me find a sponsor. I saw Nicholas and the jealousy written all over his face.
“Okay, but only for a moment.” I took his hand, and he began to spin me around the ballroom.
“Nicholas is lucky to have obtained a beautiful jewel such as you.”
I raised a brow at him. “Obtained?” His smile grew.
“He has not tried to have you for his own?”
Wow, really? You just asked me that?
“If ‘have me’ means the same thing in gypsy as it does in the gaje, then no, he hasn’t tried to have me.” That was a really personal question wasn’t it? Was I so uptight that I didn’t know how people spoke anymore? I couldn’t get insulted either because it would probably offend Seraph. Regardless, he was very happy with the answer I gave him.
“Uh oh.” I followed his gaze to the group of girls Nicholas had disappeared into. He was entirely visible to everyone.
A very beautiful young woman was beating on his chest with a closed fist, and though I could not hear her, she appeared to be yelling at him. “Brynn isn’t letting him off the hook.” Toryn chuckled and dipped me. That was when my eyes drifted to Nicholas’ face. He was looking at me and Toryn, and his face was close to purple.
“I’ll bet my mom would sponsor you, Piper.”
“Really?” He twirled me and brought me in close. His chest was vibrating and his shoulders shaking. “What’s funny?”
“Nicholas is not happy that we’re dancing.”
I tried to look, but he was holding me close. “Are you and Nicholas friends?”
His eyes seemed to look right through me and the walls all around us. His smile strained but held as he answered, “Not anymore. My mom is over this way.” He turned and led me. A firm hand encircled my free wrist.
“What are you doing?” I turned to find it was Nicholas. “Where are you going?”
“Toryn’s mom might sponsor me.”
“No.” Nicholas was smoldering with his eyes locked on Toryn. “Your family is suffering a suspension from privileges because of your actions, Toryn,” Nicholas said. “Seraph wouldn’t want you tainting a new would-be member.”
Toryn’s smile stayed securely in place. “She invited us. She wants me here. Think about that.” Nicholas’ mouth slid into a sneer.
“Find someone else,” he told me. Nicholas led me back onto the dance floor. Toryn let go and winked at me.
“So does his mother not qualify or do you just not like her?” This was no time to be picky. His face was still very red. “You’re almost as popular as I am tonight, Nicholas.” He just wasn’t answering me anymore apparently. “At least Toryn was trying to help me. You’re just being mad, and that is the complete opposite of helping. Look, I can do this myself. Why don’t you go back and fight with your girlfriend, Brynn, some more?” His tight features stretched into a smile that was nothing close to friendly.
“Leave her out of this.”
“Sorry.” I tried to pull away from him, but he didn’t let me.
There was no teasing or question in his eyes when he stated, “Do not associate with Toryn.”
I noticed Seraph was watching us, so I smiled sweetly at him, and his expression grew darker. “Why not?”
“Because it makes me want to hurt him.”
Well, I had wanted the truth hadn’t I? The song ended, and a huge circle opened up in the middle of the ballroom. “What’s going on now?”
“Entertainment.”
I found out as I watched that Nicholas’ one word answer was adequate enough. The clan was taking turns in the center performing for each other. People ate fire and juggled daggers. It was incredible to watch.
Brynn entered and began to dance. She was wearing a filmy half shirt and a long skirt with high slits up the sides. Brynn was moving her hips in such a fluid motion I felt embarrassed that Nicholas had ever seen me dance.
He was watching her, and I could feel my face heating up. I wanted to stomp on his foot but knew I’d have to apologize to Seraph again if I did. She hadn’t exactly accepted my first apology.
I walked away instead, looking for someone who wasn’t caught up in watching Brynn. Surprisingly, Toryn wasn’t but he couldn’t sponsor me. “Careful,” Brea said, smiling when I looked at her in surprise. “You’ll upset Nicholas if he sees you with Toryn again.”
“So what? I doubt he’d notice anyway.”
She shrugged. “Find a sponsor, that’s what you’re here for.”
“I’m trying.”
“Participate in the entertainment. Then anyone will sponsor you.” I looked over in the center and found that it had shifted, and Brynn was dancing a sensual dance around Nicholas. “I’ve heard you have a beautiful singing voice.”
I shook my head and swiped at the loose strands of hair that tickled my neck. “I’m not in the mood to sing.”
“Didn’t you tell Nicholas that he was beneath you?” Again, she surprised me. How did she know about that? Had he just spilled everything while I’d been left alone in the ballroom?
“He said it. Not I.”
“He’s considered a sort of prince or king here.”
“Yeah? Then why is he taking orders from Seraph?”
My tone did not waiver her easy smile. “He rules over the werewolves, not the gypsies.” I refused to look in his direction again.
“She’s almost finished. Are you going to sing?” I did not want to sing, but she said anyone would sponsor me if I sang. What was I supposed to sing? Love potion number nine?
“Sing what?”
“Something beautiful. I wouldn’t let Brynn outdo me if I were you. You’re ten times the woman she is.” When she said things like that I couldn’t help liking her. “Go on, she’s done.”
I turned and walked to the center of the circle thinking that I would come up with a song before I got there. My mind was a blank when I reached the center. Everyone was quiet, all their eyes on me, waiting.
I could hear my own heartbeat the room was so silent. Toryn was moving. I watched him reach the instrumentalists, and he said something to them. Music filled the silence. They were playing a song that Trina played on her stereo all the time, a pop song about a gypsy.
As soon as I started singing the clan b
egan smiling and even erupted with applause when I sang the part about being a gypsy. Singing had relaxed me, and I had actually enjoyed it. The music ran through my veins, and I could not stop smiling. I tried to dance like I’d seen a pretty dancer do at Tara Square and earned more applause.
Brea was grinning from ear to ear and started dancing too. I mirrored what she was doing and everyone cheered. As long as I came in on the part that was about gypsies, they didn’t care that I messed up some of the other parts.
Nicholas was at the edge of the circle, and his smile was so bright I almost forgot that I was mad at him. The circle closed in on us when the song ended. Everyone was hugging me and patting me on the back. I felt amazing and was hugging back these complete strangers.
“I want to sponsor Piper,” Brea said and everyone started pushing me toward Seraph. I couldn’t fight it, and she had helped me.
“You sponsor Kellan?” Seraph asked Brea. Her expression was one of stone. “Are you certain she will be a loyal and participating member of this clan?” Brea smiled at me and put her arm across my shoulders. She nodded enthusiastically to Seraph. “So soon you are sure of this?”
“Absolutely.”