chapter 31
“Hey, watch it!” Lila dodged as a fireball flew past her and crashed into a tree.
“Sorry!” Ramsey called from across the clearing. He turned to Selene with a sheepish grin and shrugged.
“You do realize the goal is to try to herd our opponents, not to actually light them on fire, don’t you?” she asked, her tone dry.
He held up his hands in surrender. “I know, I know!”
Charlotte silently teleported in, appearing beside them. She had Lucy in tow. “I still don’t understand why you can’t just turn off all their powers,” Charlotte said as she pushed back her dark hair that the wind had blown into her face.
This had been a constant debate among the family members for the last two months. Two very long months with Griffin nowhere to be found. “These are not our enemies, Charlotte,” Selene said patiently. “No matter how much Maddox tries to make them so. They’ve suffered enough at Vyusher hands, and I won’t perpetuate that situation.”
“Besides,” Ramsey chimed in, “Do we really want to be responsible for significantly decreasing the numbers of our own race?”
Lila rolled her eyes, and Ramsey frowned. Selene’s lips twitched in amusement as she cleared her throat.
“Is everyone here?” she called out to the group. After receiving a round of nods and yesses, she signaled for Ellie to go ahead.
“Defenders, you know the drill,” Ellie reminded everyone. They’d been secretly practicing battle techniques for a while now. It was the defenders’ role to direct, guide, or manipulate the offenders in such a way that no one got hurt.
“And remember, the goal is to keep a full on battle from breaking out and, fates willing, gain enough time to convince them of our relative innocence and future good intentions. Ready? Go!”
Ramsey, Selene, Lila, Nate, and Charlotte stood shoulder to shoulder. Ellie, Alex, Lucy, Adelaide, Hugh, and Dexter charged, running straight at them. But they were stopped short by a wall of flame that sprang up, blocking them from their intended targets. Just as swiftly, the fire was doused. Selene nodded at Ramsey. They’d discussed the use of his powers very specifically, finally deciding that any action he took should cause no harm and be removed as soon as any immediate threat was reduced.
Adelaide and Hugh threw everything they could up in the air, directed at the defenders. Dexter instantly turned those items into lead, and Alex used his power to thrust them into a greater speed. The result was a steady barrage of heavy missiles.
Nate caught every single object launched at them. His inhuman strength and speed allowed him to easily deal with all their projectiles. Rather than tossing them back, though, he dropped each one to the ground.
Ellie shifted into the form of a massive midnight black jaguar. She gave a terrible scream and charged at them, fangs bared.
“Hands!” Charlotte yelled. As soon as they were all connected, she teleported them behind the offensive line and out of harm’s way. As soon as they reappeared, however, something froze them completely in place. Held immobile by Alex, they watched as the offensive team charged yet again.
Selene reached out with her mind. She saw Alex’s bright golden light and turned it off, like flipping a switch. Or more appropriately, like cutting the power.
Free of the force that’d been holding them, the defensive team backed up. Seeing their movement, the offenders slowed their attack and then stopped altogether. Then Selene saw Ellie’s eyes ignite, becoming twin flames of blue. She knew what was coming next.
The dragon.
Selene reached for Ellie’s powers, seeing a violet-blue glow inside her. Flipping this switch, however, would prove to be much more difficult. The two women locked in on each other in a silent battle of wills.
Suddenly, Ellie stopped fighting and turned off the dragon morph herself. The offenders’ expressions became peaceful, almost zen-like. Selene glanced at Lila who nodded, confirming that she was using her emotion-mending power on them.
“That’s enough I think, Lila.” Selene laid a gentle hand on her friend’s shoulder. “We don’t want the other tribes saying that they only agreed to peace because their emotions were manipulated.”
Selene glanced up and saw Oren’s image shimmer next to a nearby tree. She held up her hands in a T, which she’d seen Nate do a couple of times when he was teaching the younger Vyusher wolves how to play football.
“That’s it for now. I have to return to the castle,” Selene said. She walked over to Oren’s transparent form. “Is it time already?”
He grimaced. “Unfortunately, yes.” With a nod she started to turn away to go to Charlotte, when Oren’s voice stopped her. “My Lady?”
She turned back. “Something else, Oren?”
“One of the Svatura can turn items to metal?”
“Yes. Did you see that?”
He nodded and then frowned. “I vaguely remember that your brother had access to someone who could manipulate metal like that. I believe it’s one of the reasons we have so much gold in our coffers. I’ve only ever known of that one person with that ability in all my years.”
“Ah,” Selene said, comprehension dawning. “Dexter would’ve told me if he’d been associated with Gideon, so I doubt it was he. But I admit it’s a little odd that we’d meet another one. Worth checking into further. Thank you, Oren.”
Oren gave a formal little half-bow. “My pleasure.” And then his image faded away.
Selene made her way over to Charlotte so she could teleport back to the castle.
“Um, Selene?” Nate cleared his throat. “Do you know your eyes started glowing blue a minute ago? Like Ellie’s do when she goes all dragon?”
Selene blinked. “No… but maybe that happens when I’m trying to turn off a particularly strong power?”
“We should test that theory out,” Ellie suggested.
She nodded. “Worth a try. But we gotta get back now. Charlotte?” She held out her arm, and the others reached toward her. A moment later they were standing inside the library.
Selene didn’t betray by even a twitch exactly how much she dreaded returning to the castle. She’d lost count of the times she’d gone head to head with the Council, and they were still no closer to making any progress or decisions. Selene’s feelings of ineptitude in regards to her ability to influence the Council also continued to escalate.
“You’ll be fine,” Lila murmured for her ears alone, as they walked through the corridors. Selene raised her eyebrows, and Lila merely shrugged. She tapped her heart. “I can practically feel your emotions as physical waves beating against me. Despite the fact that you shield me from most of what you feel. Won’t you please let—?”
“No.” Selene shook her head. “I need to face them alone. It’s the right thing to do. I’ll just have to find a way.”
“You could at least let me work with you outside of Council hours on controlling your fear. Maybe while we’re at school… away from here?”
Selene was so surprised by that statement, she did a bit of a double take. “What do you mean? I’ve been controlling my fear all of my life. I had to with Gideon as a brother.”
Lila grimaced. “From what I can tell, it’s not that you control your fear. It’s more that you push it so far down inside you that it just doesn’t show. But you’ve been doing that so long it has built up in your system, like a toxin. That’s what’s holding you back. We need to find some way to purge that poison from your soul.”
Selene stopped walking and turned to her, trying not to laugh. “You think my soul is poisoned?”
Lila frowned and rolled her eyes. “Me and my big mouth. That’s not really what I meant, exactly. You’re a good person, inside and out. My mother, my sister and I— we all have gifts that allow us to see this about you. But what your brother put you through —and I know you haven’t shared even a fraction of the reality with us—has left a wound inside you that continues to fester. Maybe poisoned isn’t the right word, but you’re definitely hurting, whether you realize it or not. And we want to help you.”
Selene gulped. “You think you can fix me?” she whispered.
“Not on my own yet, not completely. It’s a skill I’m still developing. But with Ellie’s help, yes, we can heal you.”
Selene took a deep breath, shocked at how much these words affected her. She’d always assumed that she was damaged goods, but having it confirmed had been like having an icy-cold hand reach inside her chest and squeeze her heart.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she hugged her friend. “Tonight? After the Council meeting?”
“I’ll meet you in your chamber and bring Ellie. Adelaide, too,” Lila replied.
Selene smiled briefly and then headed off to argue with the Council yet again. But this time with a lighter heart.