Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
O nce he’d seen the frozen fairy prince safely stashed in the foyer of Mom’s enormous house, Tony dragged me back outside. The determination in his eyes did not dim the determination in mine.
I was home again, only to a home I’d never seen yet. “Come see my house,” I said with a smile.
Tony’s long-suffering sigh was loud. “That’s not going to happen today.”
My fists went to my hips as I so often saw my mother doing. I used to think she looked like a two-year-old throwing a fit. After dealing with so many paranormals working against me, I was going to be much less judgmental going forward.
“Please. Just a quick walkthrough. It will take like ten minutes tops.”
“No,” Tony said firmly. “We’ve got someplace to be and important work to do. I couldn’t fly you here, but I can fly you to save the witches.”
“But I haven’t seen my house since Mom bought this property. I was in Ireland with Gigi when they all moved in. Can’t I have five minutes?”
Tony shook his head. “We have witches to save.”
“What if I refuse to go with you? What if I gave you back the ring? What if you stop nagging me?”
His laughter over my questions held no humor. “Try pulling the ring off.”
Still mad that he wouldn’t let me visit my house, I yanked at the ring. It stubbornly refused to leave my finger. I stuck my finger in my mouth to wet it, ignoring the angel’s groan as he laughed for real and looked away from my action.
Was I blatantly flirting with my wicked angel to get my way? You bet I was. But it wasn’t working. The stupid ring wouldn’t budge.
“You used the ring’s power to heal me. Your soul is pure, Fiona. It’s not going to let you go.
“Oh, come on,” I said to the ring, gritting my teeth as I tugged at it.
Nothing you do will remove the ring. Given your youth, we expected this sort of cold feet reaction would take hold of you eventually. Go with your trainer, Fiona. The witches are still under the fairy’s control and must be freed. Work must always come before pleasure.
I dropped my hands and mock-screamed my annoyance. If I’d screamed, Mom would have come running and cut Tony’s head off.
When I fell silent, I glared at the wicked angel as hard as I could. It amazed me I’d only known him for a short time. He’d been nothing but trouble since the moment I laid eyes on him.
Chuckling now at my frustration, Tony popped out a set of shiny silver wings, snatched me up, and off we’d flown to fix the witches that Mom’s snake man enemy hadn’t eaten.
Mom ran outside just in time to watch Tony and me disappear into the clouds. She never waved, just stared up at us. I think she knew it wouldn’t do any good to complain. Tony had been as bossy with her as he’d been with me. At least he’d saved her. It was more than I could have done.
The demon couple Conn had hired—or so they informed Tony—hadn’t even blinked at making the frozen Ezra part of Mom’s foyer furniture so they could keep an eye on him. The couple followed Mom outside to see what my wicked angel was planning to do with me. I guess a lot had changed while I was in Ireland. Three worried gazes followed us until we were out of sight.
I could have told them all not to worry. The only thing Tony planned to do was make me as miserable as possible with his training. Between him and the ring, I was going to learn to wield my magick or die from not being able to.
Flying was not as great of an experience as I thought it would be. It got us there fast but Tony held me under my arms the whole time like he was lifting a child. I was relieved when he finally set me down in a clearing. My armpits might never be the same. I certainly wouldn’t be asking him to fly me anywhere again.
I spent some time stretching my arms and walking off my shakiness. The reach around of his large hands put his fingertips against my ample breasts that I’d inherited from my mother. His touch was as disconcerting as the flying had been.
Pointing to a barely visible trail between the trees, Tony waited until I started walking in that direction before falling into step behind me. He seemed determined to be my shadow until this was done. Yet his expression grew stormier with every step we took.
I stifled the urge to roll my eyes and demand he tell me what he knew. But my eyes were tired from rolling them so much in the last few days. Things were moving fast, which I normally didn’t mind, but my frustration level was off the charts today. At least I moved rapidly from irritation to resignation at being forced to come here.
Where was the excitement of using my magick? Where was my sense of having a magickal purpose? The feeling I now had about my magick was like when I wanted to grow up as fast as I could as a child. I had wanted to escape feeling controlled by my parents and assumed that could only come with adulthood.
Now I wanted to be away from the angel who’d come to train me. I wanted that more than I wanted to learn the secrets of the magick still hiding inside me.
Tony’s dread of what we were doing was so heavy that I felt it too. The knot in the pit of my stomach didn’t bode well for the situation.
Mom called an energy sword when she marched into trouble. Her sword was her talisman. I had none. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this job.
My lack of suitability remained on my mind as I kept walking. My doubts left when I heard a woman screaming.
“Cut deeper. I need more blood,” an older woman called.
“ Stop ,” I called out as I emerged from the trees.
A dozen people in dark hooded cloaks turned in my direction. One lifted a palm and sent a bolt of lightning toward me. I screeched and held out my ring hand. A shield as tall as me appeared and the magic bounced off it.
I stopped to stare at it. It hummed against my wrist. “Thanks,” I said to ring.
Command us and we will help you , the voice of the ring said.
Unsure of what kind of help I needed, I looked around for Tony to ask him, but didn’t see him. It was only me facing the witches.
Well, it was me and the shiny shield the ring had provided.
I pulled myself up as tall as I could and strode forward with the shield held in front of me. “Put down the knife and let her go.”
The witches—a mixture of women and men—glanced at me and my shield. None scoffed, but I know I heard some snickering. Maybe I didn’t look scary. Or even intimidating.
The Shadow Breakers who abducted me hadn’t worried one bit about my powers.
If I had to fight bad guys for a living, I was going to need some sort of badass bad girl look.
I was pondering what to do when one of them, an older woman, spoke to me. “Be gone, human. The spell has begun and cannot be stopped. All must be ready when the prince returns.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, but that’s not going to be happening. Prince Ezra of Airingdale is currently imitating a frozen statue in my mother’s house. You see, he picked the wrong witch to try and kill. Mom is going to send him back across the veil as soon as possible.”
They turned to me as one and raised their hands. I winced and held up the shield higher in front of me. At least they’d stopped carving on their victim to marshal their magick against me. “Stop. You’re being compelled to do what you’re doing. Try to shake off the spell. Your magick is stronger than his.”
“Who are you to command us?” the older woman demanded.
I paused. That was an excellent question. Who was I? I squeezed my eyes shut to focus better. Hey ring, is there a name for what I am? Maybe something these witches would fear?
The witches started chanting. The centers of their palms glowed red. An urge to run hit me, but my feet wouldn’t move. I knew Tony had the power to hold me in place because I watched while he did it to my mother. What the hey, hey . Was he hiding in a bush and watching me get my butt kicked by a coven?
I looked around. “Where are you, Tony? I need your help. I’m about to get zapped here.”
The protectors of the rings are shedu. Some call themselves negative angels.
“I’ve never heard those terms. Are negative angels like fallen angels? Or like guardians?” I asked, voicing my question aloud.
You cannot understand that which is unexplainable. You may call yourself whatever you wish. It is your willingness to protect that matters.
The coven’s chanting grew louder.
What is most important for you to remember is that you can shut down their power. That is your truest magick.
“Sounds great, but how do I do that? Is there a magickal word I have to say or something I need to do?”
There is magickal thought. There is magickal counter-thought.
I was trying to figure out what counter-thought was when their magick hit me. I flew back, dropping my invisible shield in the process. The magick shattered on the ground like a sunbeam bursting.
The chanting began again. This time their palms glowed blue. Red magick hadn’t killed me. I guess they planned to try blue.
“Tony!” I yelled. “The witches are trying to kill me.”
Stand up , the ring ordered. He is rounding up the others. You must stop these witches with no one’s help.
The wounded witch had now joined the others who were chanting. I blinked at her stupidity as I climbed to my feet.
Declare yourself and command them to stop.
“Stop,” I called out, holding up my hand until they could see my palm. What was that first term? Oh. Right. “I’m a shedu. Hear my commands and be still .”
Two burning knives stabbed both of my shoulders when protrusions burst from my back. I screamed at the pain of skin and bone ripping apart in an instant.
Was I turning into a spider? Had the witches put a spell on me? I remember Mom explaining how my Dad had used science to turn himself into a monster.
Say it again. Order the wicked ones to be still.
It was hard to talk properly when my teeth were grinding together to fight the pain of what was happening to me.
“ Silence ,” my voice boomed in the air. “Be still.”
The witches stopped and froze in place.
Even still in pain, I pumped my fist in the air several times. “Yes. Yes. Yes! Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
Your voice can be a powerful weapon. Why has your trainer not taught you this?
A week ago I thought I wasn’t magickal at all. Now I had wings and could stop witches with just my voice. My entire body hurt and I had a whopper of a headache, but I’d stopped witches from casting a spell. That was definitive proof my father was wrong about my skills.
I held up my hand to look at the ring. No being ever showed itself to me from it, but I knew they were in there. I could feel them more every time my power grew. “You could have warned me how much it would hurt to get wings.”
What wings? The protectors of the ring do not get wings. A protector receives a weapon crafted especially for him or her. Perhaps the wings are because you are female. There have been fewer of your gender over the years. Perhaps the power of the ring recognized you were not a natural warrior.
Tony sure had noticed. I wasn’t a fighter. I was a talker. My talents were more like my father’s, who was a plotter and planner by nature. I outsmarted people with my wits, including both my parents.
And I enjoyed doing it.
Mulan’s staff fascinated me and I would have loved to have learned her magick. But I couldn’t train to be a Wu Shaman and be a protector of the ring. Given a choice, I preferred working in the background for the actual warriors, like Mom and Conn. I enjoyed doing their research and arranging what they needed for their work.
But then I stared at the frozen witches. I’d taken a magick hit from a coven and then stopped them with the power of my awesome voice. Nothing in my life had ever felt so satisfying.
Could I do it again? Because I enjoyed having that kind of power.
My gaze shifted to the ring. It was still a pretty cinnabar stone sitting daintily in a silver filigree setting. It felt the same to me now as it had when I first put it on my finger. Whatever a shedu was, I wanted to keep being one.
But if the ring hadn’t been the reason for my wings, what had caused them?