Chapter Three
––––––––
ZOE’S INTERNAL ALARM woke her up just before eight as usual. The remnants of a dream clung to her as she pulled some clothes on. While it hadn’t been a full-blown vision, she knew it was a message from Fate.
Amaros sent her a telepathic question. Another of my men arrived last night?
I think so, Zo replied. I’ll fill everyone in while we’re eating breakfast.
Okay, love, he thought back, then resumed training with his team.
Grace emerged from her bedroom as her bestie stepped into the hallway. “Snap!” the kid said with a grin. They were both wearing ladybug slippers this time.
“Great minds think alike,” Zoe said with an answering grin.
Wynter was in the bathroom when the two girls entered the room. “My skills have been boosted after bonding with Tolas,” the redheaded cambion said in pleased surprise.
“What new tricks do you have?” Grace asked.
“I just found out I can manipulate water so it won’t freeze even after a snowstorm like the one we had last night,” Wyn said and gestured at the toilets. The water in the tanks and pipes tended to freeze up at least a bit if they weren’t used for a few hours.
“Nice work,” Zoe said. “You’re already an awesome addition to our family.”
“I’ll get started on breakfast,” Wynter said, grinning happily as she exited from the huge stone bathroom.
All of the females except Qiana converged on the kitchen once they’d taken turns using the facilities.
Vic ended her session in the gym to join them for her second breakfast. Amaros herded the knights to the dining room when his mate gave him a mental nudge.
Kochab was still asleep with his female, but they would fill him in later.
This time, Zoe had piled a plate with bacon that the males could eat from instead of stealing food from their mates’ plates.
“Good thinking, Zo,” Cam said in admiration.
“That’s why mama bear is our fudging queen,” Vic said, proud of their pregnant matriarch.
“I had a dream this morning,” Zoe said casually as she poured coffee from the gigantic thermos they used to keep it hot. Grace immediately tensed up in her chair next to hers.
“Who did you see?” Tor asked excitedly.
“I didn’t see their faces,” Zo said. “But I saw a gold comet descend somewhere to the southwest. It was just a jumble of images, but I remember a cambion who lived in a big house that was surrounded by a forest.”
Grace’s shoulders slumped, accurately guessing the latest warrior who’d just arrived didn’t belong to her.
“I take it we can’t teleport to them and bring them back here?” Tolas figured wryly. He’d felt as if he’d been abandoned by his brothers after being locked up in a cell for almost an entire month.
Amaros shook his head. “I have no idea where to start looking this time even if I wanted to defy Fate.” He’d scanned his female’s mind to see she didn’t have enough clues to go on yet.
“They’ll be fine,” Grace said, hiding her disappointment that once again her knight hadn’t shown up. “Fate will guide them to us eventually.”
“Wynter worked out that she can stop water from freezing in the pipes,” Zoe said to change the topic. “I’m sure that’s going to come in handy.”
“We should take a walk to the holes we keep boring in the lake,” Grace suggested, suddenly feeling claustrophobic.
She kept her tone light, but it was hard to pretend she didn’t feel like she’d just been kicked in the stomach.
“Maybe you can stop them from freezing over,” she added.
They collected water and kept it in containers in their pantry so they didn’t have to repeat the task daily. This would be a big help, though.
“Sure,” Wyn agreed. “It will be nice to take a walk without any crazy humans or Soldiers of Chaos chasing me.”
The females snickered at her joke, while the knights scowled. Their mates had been in jeopardy too many times for them to find that jest amusing.
“Don’t loiter outside for too long,” Victoria warned them. “I want to see if Wyn has any fighting skills.” The newbies had barely settled in yet, since they’d only been here for a couple of days. But Vic was keen to see what the water wielder could do.
“I froze a soldier solid from the inside out, like a reverse microwave dinner,” the cambion reminded her.
“That’s impressive,” their trainer agreed. “But what if your talents are disabled? How are you going to keep yourself alive if someone comes at you with a fudging knife?”
Wynter shrieked when Vic lunged out of her chair in a mock attack. Tolas caught his mate when her chair tipped back when she tried to stand up too fast. “I’ve got you, beloved,” he said, righting her chair with a scolding glance at Vic.
“Not cool,” Wyn said shakily, then pointed at the ex-wrestler’s mug of coffee. Power flowed from her and froze the liquid solid. “That’s what you get for pranking someone who can manipulate liquid,” she said in satisfaction.
Camriel changed his snicker to a fake cough when his mate glared at him in annoyance. “I’ll get you a new mug, female,” he said and wisely hurried to the kitchen.
“I’ll make you pay for that,” Vic warned their newest recruit.
“We’re not allowed to use our power in the ring when we spar.
We’ll see how well you do against a fudging warrior like me.
” Wyn gulped in trepidation, then the girls all cracked up.
“I’m just kidding,” Vic said. “We all use whatever talents we have while we’re training.
We just try not to hurt each other, or destroy our equipment. ”
“You only almost swore once then,” Jac said in amazement.
“I’m weaning myself off,” the wrestler said as Cam returned with a fresh mug to pour her some more coffee. “I want to clean up my fudging act before the babies are born.”
“Good fudging luck,” Grace said with a smirk.
Vic flicked her a look, but kept her mouth shut so she didn’t immediately prove her right.
Grace and Wynter changed into ski jackets, ski pants and snow boots before heading out through the makeshift back door after breakfast. They had to reforge the path to the nearest hole in the lake since it had snowed heavily last night. Eight inches taller, Wyn took the lead.
Their first stop was to the closest edge of the lake to the spot they gathered water from.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” Wynter said in amazement, peering around at the pine trees and beautiful snowy scenery. The lake was completely covered, but she could sense the water lying beneath it.
“This place is the first real home I’ve ever had,” Grace told her. “Mom moved around a lot when I was a kid,” she added.
“What happened to her?” Wynter asked curiously.
“She overdosed on drugs when I was fifteen,” Grace said. “It was a relief when she died,” she went on. “She was abusive like your mom.”
Wynter shuddered that they had something else in common. “It’s amazing we both turned out okay considering our backgrounds,” she said.
“Yeah,” the teen agreed, then pointed off to the left side of the lake. “We keep the tools to bore a hole in the ice in a box beneath a tree over there,” she said.
“I won’t need them,” the newest recruit said confidently.
“It’s completely frozen over,” Wyn said, then crouched down.
She dug the snow out of the away, then took a glove off and touched her fingertip to the center of the hole that had become solid.
The ice melted in a perfect circle about sixteen inches wide.
“That should do it,” she said in satisfaction, standing and donning her glove again.
The opening was large enough to lower a bucket into.
“It really won’t freeze over again?” her tiny companion asked.
“Nope,” Wynter confirmed. “Where’s the watering hole?”
“We need to follow the edge of the lake along the left side,” Grace said.
Wynter led the way again and came to a stop when she saw animal tracks. “I can sense the watering hole is half frozen,” she said, then melted it so the wildlife could drink from it whenever they were thirsty. “Jac mentioned there’s a fishing hole somewhere, too?” she queried.
“It’s on the far side of the lake,” Grace said, pointing in the opposite direction. “It’ll be a lot faster if we cut across the ice.”
“Follow me,” the taller cambion said, then began to slog her way through the chest deep snow. “What the hell am I doing?” she muttered after a few steps. Lifting both hands, she sent her power out in a straight line.
Grace gasped in shocked wonder when the deep snow parted. “Fudge me!” she breathed in awe. “You’re a modern-day Moses!” Both girls cracked up at that claim.
“I’ll hold it just long enough for us to pass through,” Wynter said, then took the lead again.
Grace followed her and glanced back to see the snow already resuming its original position. “It would be impossible to track you through the snow if you didn’t want to be followed,” she said enviously.
“I have a feeling I’ll be learning a lot of tricks as I play with my power,” Wyn said in anticipation. She knew Tolas was picking up on what she was doing. She could feel how proud he was of her.
They reached the far side of the lake and she altered the fishing hole so it would also remain unfrozen.
“We’d better hurry back before Vic comes looking for us,” Grace said.
Once again, one of her sisters had just proven how superior her skills were to hers.
Feeling slightly hollow inside, Grace hid her emotions well.
It was hard to keep up the pretense that she was the same happy, bubbly teenager her family still believed she was.