Cold wind blasted my face when we stepped through the front door.
"Ugh," I moaned, gripping the neck of my coat tighter.
Heads down, we hurried out to Cal's Explorer. "Maybe we should call your folks and tell them you're having a sleeping over," he suggested with a grin.
I laughed, thinking of how well that would go over with Mom and Dad, then carefully placed my beautiful birthday presents on the backseat. But as I was about to climb into the front, the sound of a car arriving made me pause, I glanced at Cal. His eyes had narrowed. He looked alert and tense, his hand on the car door next to me.
"Is it your mom?" I asked.
Cal shook his head. "That's not her car."
Using magesight, I squinted into the approaching headlights, staring right past them. My heart lurched. It was a gray car. Hunter's car.
He pulled to a stop in front of us.
"Oh God, what's he doing here?" I groaned. "It's one in the morning!"
"Who knows?" Cal said tersely. "But I need to talk to him, anyway."
Hunter left his car running as he stepped out and faced us. The headlights put him in silhouette, but I could see that his green eyes were solemn. His cold seemed to have gotten better. His breath was like white smoke.
"Hello," he said precisely. Just hearing him speak made me clench up. "Fancy meeting the both of you here. How inconvenient."
"Why?" Cal asked, his voice tow. "Were you going to put sigils on my house, like you did Morgan's?"
A glimmer of surprise crossed Hunter's face, "Know about that, do you?" he said, shifting his gase to me.
I nodded coldly.
"What else do you know?" Hunter asked. "Like, do you know what Cal wants from you? What you are to him? Do you know the truth about anything?"
I glared at him, trying to think of a scathing reply. But again the only thought was: Why is he tormenting me like this?
Beside me Cal clenched his fists. "She knows the truth. I love her."
"No," Hunter corrected him. "The truth is, you need her. You need her because she has incredible, untapped powers. You need her so you can use her power to take over the High Council, and then you can start to eliminate the other clans, one by one. Because you're a Woodbane, too, and frankly, the other clans just aren't good enough."
My eyes flashed to Cal. "What is he talking about? You're not a Woodbane, are you?"
"He's raving." Cal muttered, staring at Hunter with pure contempt. "Saying anything he can think of to hurt me." Cal put his arm around me. "You can forget breaking us up," he said. "She loves me, and I love her."
Hunter laughed. The sound of it was like glass shattering, "What a crock," he spat. "She's your lightning rod—the last surviving member of Belwicket, the destined high priestess of one of the most powerful of the Woodbane dans. Don't you get it? Belwicket renounced the dark arts! There's no way Morgan would agree to what you want!"
"How would you know what I would do?" I shouted, infuriated by how he was speaking as if I weren't there.
Cal just shook his head. "There's no point to this," he said. "We're together, and there's nothing you can do. So you can go back to where you came from and leave us alone."
Hunter chuckled softly, "Oh. no. I'm afraid it's much too late for that. You see, the council would never forgive me if I left Morgan in your clutches."
"What?" I practically screeched. What the hell did the council care who I dated? I hardly even knew about the council. How could know know so much about me?
"You should know about forgiveness," Cal snapped. "After all, the council has never quite forgiven you for killing your brother, right? You're still making up for that, aren't you? Still trying to prove it wasn't your fault."
I stared at the two of them. I had no idea what Cal was talking about, but his tone terrified me. He sounded like a stranger.
"Go to hell," Hunter snarled, his body tightening.
"Wiccans don't believe in hell," Cal whispered.
Hunter started toward us, his face stiff with fury. All at once Cal ducked into the car and snatched the athame he'd given me from the pile of gifts. My pulse shot into overdrive. This isn't happening, I thought in panic. This can't be happening. I watched, immobile, as Cal backed away from me. Hunter glanced between the two of us.
"You want me?" Cal taunted Hunter. "You want me, Hunter? Then come get me." With that, he turned and sped straight for the dark woods bordering the property. I blinked, and he was out of sight, hidden by trees and darkness.
Hunter was wild-eyed as he scanned the woods' edge.
"Stay here!" he commanded me, then he raced off after Cal.
I stopped for just a moment. Then I ran after them.
CHAPTER 20
The Seeker
February 12, 1999
With help, now, I can walk across a room. But I am still weak, so weak.
My trial is starting tomorrow.
I have been telling my story over and over, what I remember of it. I woke in the night and saw Linden was gone. I tracked him to the fell, and found him in the middle of calling a taibhs, a dark spirit. It is something we had talked about in the past year, in out search for answers about our parents. But I had not counseled Linden to do it, nor would I have ever condoned his trying to summon the evil thing alone.
I saw Linden, his arms upstretched, a look of joy on his face. The dark taibhs moved toward him, and I rushed forward. I could not get through the circle without magick so I conjured a break in the force. The rest of what I remember is a nightmare of reaching for Linden, of finding him and having him sag in my arms, of being surrounded by a choking wraith, then being smothered, unable to breath, and sinking down to the cold ground to embrace death.
Next I woke in my bed at Uncle Beck and Aunt Shelagh's, with witches around me praying for my recovery, after six days of unconsciousness.
I know I did not kill my brother, but I know that my quest to redress the harm done my family is what caused his death. For this I could be sentenced to death. Except that I know Alwyn would grieve for me, I would welcome it, for there is no life for me here anymore.
— Giomanach
By the time I reached the edge of the woods, K had started to snow again. While Cal and I were inside, the sky had been consumed by thick gray clouds that blotted out the moon and the stars.
"Dammit," I whispered. Cal had obviously led Hunter away to protect me, but how could he expect me to stand around, waiting to see what happened? I didn't know what was going on between the two of them. All I knew was that I would never forgive Hunter if he hurt Cal.
The woods were dense and untamed, the undergrowth thick and impossible to run through. I ran into a low-hanging branch, and I stopped. I had no idea where Cal and Hunter had gone. It was absolutely black here, and for a moment I demoted. I had to breathe slowly, to focus and concentrate. I clenched and unclenched my fists and squeezed my eyes shut.
"One, two, three," I counted. I breathed in and out. A moment later I opened my eyes and found that my magesight had locked in and I could see. Trees stood out as dark verticals, the undergrowth was defined, and die few nocturnal animals and birds who weren't hibernating flowed with a pale yellow light. Okay. I scanned the area, and easily picked up the rough track Hunter and Cal had made as they crashed through the woods: the forest floor was scraped and disturbed, and small branches ware snapped.
As quickly as I could, I followed their trail. My feet and nose were freezing, and snow began to fall and bleach the surroundings. Slowly I became aware of a dim, rhythmic pounding. It wasn't the blood in my veins. Then it came so me: of course. Selene and Cal lived at the edge of town; their house was practically on the Hudson River. The surging waters were dead ahead. I quickened my pace, grabbing trees to push me forward, stumbling against rocks, cursing.