Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
On my way out the door the next morning, I scooped the flytrap up and settled her into a small plastic tub, tucking old newspaper around the pot to keep it secure. But as I carried the tub to the car, the flytrap wiggled and jumped clean out, landing with a hard crack on the ground.
I gasped and dropped the tub. “No! Are you okay?”
But the plant ignored me and thumped over to the edge of the greenhouse where it reached down with one of its traps and nudged at the ground.
I hissed. “Be careful! What’s wrong with you?”
Bending, I gently scooped up the plant and brushed away the dirt where she’d been digging. Something small, round, and iridescent glinted up. At first, I thought it was a pearl, but when I reached for it, a living hum of magic pulsed from the ground.
Curious, I carefully picked up the round object and held it in the palm of my hand.
“A seed,” I murmured. A kind I’d never seen before.
“Why’d you bring me to this?” I asked.
No response from the flytrap. “Come on, then. Let’s get to the shop. Maybe someone else will know what it is.”
The drive to Little Shop of Florals was uneventful, though the plant vibrated the tub in excitement. I reached over and stroked her traps.
“Hannibal is a good name, but you aren’t a boy. At least according to Caelan. How about Hannah?”
More quivering traps. I laughed and pulled into the parking spot right in front of the store. “Hannah it is then.”
Moira held the door open and locked it behind me when I walked in. She greeted Hannah with a smile and a wave. Tess floated over and scooped Hannah up, taking her over to the shelf by the window. “You can’t jump around when people come in, okay? Not if they’re human. Do you know what a human is?”
Hannah bounced her pot.
I grimaced. “Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her here. If she starts thumping around the shop, we might have an incident on our hands.”
“She understands,” Tess said.
Moira and I exchanged a look that said, is it me or is she getting stranger?
“How do you know?” Moira asked.
“She was created from a piece of Evie, and I know Evie’s soul.” When Tess glanced back, her eyes shone silver.
Yep. Definitely stranger.
“Well. Alrighty then,” Moira said. “Thumper, no thumping.”
Hannah waved her traps around as Tess adjusted her position so she could get more light. “There you go. That should be perfect for you.”
Ash came in from the back and stopped abruptly. “What is that?” His words weren’t a question.
“Hannah?” I pointed to the shelf. “She’s hanging out for a little while until Caelan comes around to collect her.”
“No. Not that.” His eyes glowed. “You brought something into the shop. Something new. What is it?”
I blinked. “Um. The tub? It’s plastic which I normally don’t use, but it’s good to transport plants around in.”
Ash came closer, his gaze sweeping over my face. “No. You’ve brought something dangerous into this store, Evie.”
“Dangerous?” I laughed and flexed my biceps. “Just these two guns.”
“Evie. I’m serious.”
He rarely sounded so grim, so I stopped joking around. “Um.” I patted my pockets. “Oh! I forgot.” I dug into my pants pocket and pulled out the small seed. Perfectly round, a shimmer of magic surrounding its hard shell. “Hannah dug it out from close to the greenhouse.”
Ash sucked in a breath. “Evie. Do you know what you have?”
“A seed, but I’ve never seen its type before.”
“Because there’s only one.” He tipped his hand palm up. “May I?”
“Of course.” I carefully tipped the seed into his hand.
Ash’s lips pursed into a silent o. A boom of sound came from outside the shop.
“Say nothing,” Ash hissed, the seed gone in the blink of an eye.
I opened my mouth to speak, but the door crashed open, glass shattering into fine powder. Moira barked a command, an impenetrable, transparent wall appearing a split second before we were sliced into a million pieces.
No one said a word for a long moment.
My mother stood right outside the doorway.
I needed more coffee for this.
“Invite me in,” the goddess Cliona said. No good morning, no platitudes, no pretending she was here to see how I was doing.
Mom was pissed.
I responded accordingly. “You just broke an expensive door, and you want to sit down for tea? That’s not how it works.”
“Evangeline. Drop your wards and invite me in. We will not have this conversation with me standing in the street.”
Cliona was a stunning goddess. Dark shining hair spilled down her shoulders, and her azure eyes, the same as mine, sparked with both magic and temper. Her face looked like the work of a master sculptor, every part of it smooth and lovely.
Too bad she was a massive bitch.
“Again. No. If you cause a scene, you’ll scare the humans. What do you want, Mother?”
Cliona’s delicate nostrils flared. “You have something of mine.”
Fee. Had she found out about the phoenix? “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I covet nothing of yours.”
“Open the door,” Cliona growled, the first real sign of anger she allowed herself to show.
“I don’t have anything of yours. There. See? No need for us to sit down and chat.”
“Where is it?” Magic glowed around my mother.
The first stirrings of real unease churned in my stomach. I was very glad it was early enough for everyone in Joy Springs to still be tucked into bed. If Mom got it in her head to destroy my wards, she’d have a chore on her hands, but they would fall.
I wasn’t a goddess. Mom was ancient, extraordinarily powerful, and pissed off at me.
“Tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll tell you if I have it.” A dangerous game, but I’d perfected my lying game over the years. Even she could rarely tell when I was lying through my teeth.
“A seed,” Mother said. “It is mine.”
What in the actual hell had Hannah unearthed? I frowned. “I have a ton of seeds in the shop, but none of them are important enough for a goddess to seek.”
“Do not play games with me, child. I am your mother. You belong to me.”
“Ah. I was wondering when you’d drop all pretense of being a loving, caring mother. I don’t have what you seek.”
“I tracked it here!” she snapped.
Note to self. Do not pick up shiny seeds and bring them to work.
Moira stepped forward. “There has been more car traffic than usual this morning. Do you still sense the seed?”
I stepped closer to Moira in case Mom struck out at her.
Mom’s brow furrowed. She tried to step into my shop and was repelled by the warding.
Her eyes glowed with rage. “Evie! Let me in!”
I stepped in front of the vampire. “Answer Moira’s question. Do you still sense the seed?”
Mom’s jaw tightened. “You are hiding it from me. Do not make me hurt you, daughter.”
“Over a seed?” I laughed even as horror sparked in my veins.
“It is not—” Mom pressed her lips together and went silent.
What the hell was this seed and why was it so important to her? If Mom wanted it so badly, I knew she could never have it.
“I’m hiding nothing. Whatever you sensed must have passed by the shop. There’s nothing in here but the plants I’ve nurtured and created.” I held a hand out and swept it across the shop. “You’re welcome to scan if you’d like.”
I hoped and prayed Ash had hidden the seed well enough to escape her notice. When the dryad didn’t react, the first stirrings of hope unfurled within me.
Mom’s cold magic brushed over my skin, the power seeking something I no longer had. She did the same with Moira, but when she got to Ash, I held my breath until her power slipped away and swept through the shop. When she pulled her power back, no one said a word.
“I know you have it,” she said in a cold voice.
I lifted both arms in a casual shrug. “Whatever you’re looking for isn’t here.”
Another boom of sound from outside. Cliona stiffened and slowly turned.
“There you are.” Neit’s masculine drawl from somewhere on the street. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were avoiding me.”
My mother’s posture went liquid, her magic silent. “Neit. How wonderful to see you.”
His snort of disgust made my mother’s slim shoulder stiffen.
“You’ve always been good at pretty lies, Cliona.”
Neit came into view. His dark eyes were filled with lazy amusement as his gaze raked over me first, then settled on my mother. “Your daughter has your eyes,” he mused. “Though her temperament is far different from your cool grace.”
Um. Thanks. I think?
“Evie has always been full of fire,” my mother said. “But you aren’t here for Evie.”
“No,” Neit agreed. “I am not.” He held out his arm, elbow crooked at ninety degrees. “Come, Cliona. It is time for us to catch up.”
Mom didn’t take his arm right away. Her posture stiffened. “This is not a good time for me.”
“Whatever it is you’re looking for, Evie said she does not have it. She has no reason to lie.” His head cocked, a violet spark in his eyes as he turned his attention to me. “Is there?”
I swallowed. Mom was turned away and couldn’t see my face, thank goodness. But Neit somehow knew I was lying through my teeth. “Of course not.”
“See?” he said to Cliona. “Now come. There are things we must discuss.”
When my mother still resisted, Neit’s eyes tightened. He moved close to her and leaned in. “Do not make me force you in front of your child.”
Mom turned, her face in profile, and for the first time in my long life, a touch of true fear touched her face. “Very well,” she said, not an inch of the emotion in her voice. “Since you are so insistent.”
Neit’s lips tilted. With a lingering look at me, he disappeared with Cliona, the overwhelming power stifling the air finally gone.
I spun. “What the hell is that seed?”
“Not here,” Ash said quietly. “We’ll meet you at your house after work.”
“Where is it?”
Ash’s eyes glowed. “Safe.”
He refused to answer any other questions and finally said he was going to get more coffee, leaving us standing there staring at each other with befuddled expressions.
“He doesn’t want us to talk about it, so we should respect his wishes.” Moira shook her head when I opened my mouth. “Ash rarely gets so serious.”
“Tonight then. I’ll order pizza.”
Tess floated after Ash without responding.
“Neit is hot,” Moira mused.
“Mmm. They’re all hot, aren’t they? Everyone with magic rolling through their veins is hard to look at.” I rolled my eyes. “The men are so pretty. It’s ridiculous.”
“The women are too.”
“The men have a dangerous edge, though. We’re just pretty.”
Moira laughed. “That’s because we don’t use violence unless we have no other choice. Men are just naturally pissed off all the time.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “Moira.” The urge to spill all my secrets rose. I was keeping so many things held tightly inside and more and more anger rose every time a situation I was involved in spiraled out of control.
The vampire leaned forward and put her hand over mine. “Do you want to wait until tonight? Or is this something you only want to share with me?”
I’d always been closest with Moira, but what was happening with me affected everyone. “Alright.”
Moira rose and brought me in for a tight hug. “Maybe add some booze with the pizza,” she said against my hair.
“Another doozie of a night,” I agreed.