Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3 (34 page)

“Sarah?”

“Full,” she said. Choking on the word, she
cleared her throat. “They are full and activated. Once activated,
they blaze like a beacon. I’m checking the other valleys.” Looking
toward the other valleys, she froze. Dread, more terrible than
death stared her in the face, flooding her soul with a primitive
form of terror. “All of them are all full.”

His dismayed curse reflected her growing
sense of helplessness.

Wait, wait a darn minute! She was Chi’Kehra.
Surely, she could do something. Taking a deep breath, she stepped
away from Nick and crossed the floor to an empty spot, before
sitting down on the cold stone.

“What are you doing?” Nick demanded, growling
uneasily.

“If I can manipulate a gateway, surely I can
drain the ruins. Give me a second,” she said, and looked toward the
nearest ruin, the one running below the edge of the Rocky
Mountains.

“Be careful,” he said, kneeling in front of
her.

Closing her eyes, she opened her senses to
the curling mass of power-filled ruins. With a tendril of thought,
she carefully touched the very edge of the glowing energy.

A single touch was all it took. The raw power
did not tingle through her body slowly. The unharnessed force of
synth crystal slammed into her with the intensity of an exploding
star.

Her body tried to absorb the hit, but power
scorched across her skin, ripping into her mind, tearing through
her body, destroying her as if she were a sheet of paper thrown
into a volcano.

Agony was such a pale word to describe what
she felt as something akin to a nuclear bomb exploded inside her
skull.

^____________

Nick cradled Sarah’s burning body in his
arms. Tiny flecks of power danced across her skin, burning him as
he held her.
Damn, arrogant girl, thinks she can fix
anything,
he snarled to himself, swearing they would have a
serious talk about taking stupid risks.

He would tell her exactly that, if she would
just open her eyes.
“Sarah, wake up.”

He didn’t know what happened, but if he had
to take a wild guess, he’d bet she was suffering from a power
overload. Her skin was burning, hot to the touch. It was the sparks
of power - coating her skin - that had him terrified. What if the
sparks were minor compared to what was going on inside her?

Lord Trellick knelt in front of him.

Before Nick could stop, he bared lengthened
fangs and growled at the man, harsh and guttural.

“Easy, Son,” the much older elf soothed him.
“What happened?”

“I think she got hit with a power overload,”
Nick said between clenched teeth.

“She’s flushed,” Lord Trellick said, reaching
for her.

Growling again, Nick’s lips curled back in a
snarl. “Sorry,” he said curtly, trying to control his instinct to
protect his helpless mate.

The man grunted. “I should know better. It’s
a normal reaction for most mates, especially vampires. I can feel
the heat she’s throwing off. I think we need to get her into a tub
of ice water.”

“I don’t think the ice would last very long,”
Nick said, but agreed the idea had merit. “Do you have a walk-in
freezer?”

Following Lord Trellick, Nick rushed across
the castle grounds to the compound’s kitchen. Broken dishes and
collapsed shelves covered the large area. A dozen people, dressed
in neat white uniforms, stood amid the disaster. The moment Nick
walked into the room, carrying Sarah, the entire place went silent
as a tomb.

Hours later, he sat on the floor of a large
freezer. His entire backside felt frozen. Moving her into the
freezer had not helped. Actually, they were no longer in the main
castle. The first freezer had started defrosting. They were
currently sitting in a freezer near the warrior’s barracks.

“
Sarah, you need to wake-up,”
he said
for what felt like the ten-thousandth time. His heart clenched. He
couldn’t lose her, not when he finally had her. If she died, he
prayed he’d die of a brain aneurysm. He simply couldn’t image life
without her.

Leaning down, he kissed her forehead gently.
Power flickered across his lips.

The door moved, opening to the heat of the
kitchen. As warm air rushed in, his growl echoed within the metal
walls. The sea of bodies in the kitchen parted.

Miranda hurried forward. A small hitch to her
gait was the only indication of her previous injuries.

He blinked, but the image of Sarah’s little
sister didn’t go away. Colin and Lord Trellick appeared at her
side.

Hope flared inside of him. Colin had promised
to help with the umbra problem, but Nick hadn’t thought his arrival
would be so soon, not with the possibility of elvish nobles
breaking their oath and attacking Elfheim.

“Jeez, Nick, what happened to her?” Miranda
demanded, kneeling in front of him. She reached to touch Sarah, but
Colin snatched her wrist in a restraining hold.

“Mia Cara, the power inside Sarah recognizes
Nick as her mate, but it might fry you to a cinder,” he said
gently.

“Oh, oh!” she exclaimed, understanding flared
in her eyes and she scooted backward.

“Tell me what happened?” Colin said. Frowning
as he appeared to study the power dancing across Sarah’s skin.

Nick glanced up.
“Lord Trellick, I think
we’d better have a little privacy.”

Lord Trellick, pure white-blond hair like
both his daughters, glared at him. “Son, you call me Lord Trellick
one more time and I will not be responsible for my actions. If you
can’t call me dad, my name is James. That goes for both of
you.”

As he slammed the door shut on the
concerned-looking crowd, Miranda hid a grin behind her hand.

“The valley had an earthquake,” Nick said,
stroking his fingers through Sarah’s static-filled hair. “We
thought the ruins might be responsible. She checked, and they were
full.”

“Back up,” Lord Trellick demanded. Hands on
his hips, broadsword strapped across his back, his stance reflected
the agitated warrior that he was. “The ruins are full of what?”

“Liquid synth crystal,” Nick said, and
continued explaining the situation to Colin, the one person who
might be able to help Sarah. “I was following her thoughts. She
barely brushed the crystal when her entire body arched up and she
screamed in agony. I don’t know if she shoved me out of her mind or
the power did, but we are no longer sharing thoughts.”

“It’s why I’ve never linked my mind with
Miranda. I’ve always been afraid the power within me might burn
her,” Colin said, as his eyes narrowed in thought.

“You could’ve explained that to me,” Miranda
huffed, smacking the lethal elf in the arm.

For a split-second, Colin’s face went blank
then twisted in pain. Turning to Miranda, he gently cupped her
face. Nick was too worried about Sarah to care, but he knew they
had to be having a fairly serious conversation.

When a large, beautiful smile crossed
Miranda’s face, Colin sighed in what sounded like relief.

The big, dark-haired elf kissed his mate and
turned back to Nick. “I’m going to try and siphon part of the
energy off of her.”

“Siphon? You’re a damn wizard!” Lord Trellick
exploded, naming the one group of Sídhí that could suck power from
another. The transfer of power turned the wizard’s skin a putrid
green.

Nick had heard how blinding fast full-blooded
elves were, but the speed with which Lord Trellick unsheathed and
lunged with his sword was more like mega-warp speed.

“No,” Miranda screamed, terror widened her
eyes.

As fast as Lord Trellick was, Colin was
faster. A synth crystal sword appeared in his hand. Slicing upward,
Colin deflected the man’s killing blow.

Colin surged toward his opponent, smashing
his fist into his father-n-law’s face. Lord Trellick’s body went
airborne, slamming against the freezer door that had begun to swing
inward.

Someone shoved the door inward, pushing the
dazed man across the floor. Shouts of concerned warriors erupted,
filling the room with ear-aching noise.

“Out,” Nick ordered, throwing as much
authority behind his voice as possible. When they hesitated, he
added, “It’s a family disagreement.”

A broad shouldered vampire with familiar
cobalt blue eyes and hair the color of midnight nodded once and
shut the door. Nick didn’t have time to process seeing his older
brother, not when Lord Trellick had the look of death in his
eyes.

“Lord Trellick,” Nick shouted, then hastily
corrected his form of address. “James, meet the Sídhí
Chi’Kehra.”

The blonde-haired elf froze. The pupils of
his elfin eyes dilated in shock.

“Colin is not a wizard,” Miranda snapped.
“Jeez, Dad, how could you even think such a vile thought? Does his
skin look green to you?”

“Chi’Kehra?” he asked, owl-eyes blinking
rapidly. “From Sídhí? One Chi’Kehra is amazing, two alive at the
same time is incredible, but both in the same family?
Unbelievable.”

Shaking his head, he sheathed his sword.

Colin chuckled. His sword simply disappeared
as he reached to clasp the hand Lord Trellick offered him. “Now,
let’s see to Sarah.”

Colin glanced at Miranda. “Whatever happens,
even if I hit the ground twitching, no touching any part of my
body. The power is wild, untamed. I won’t take a chance it might
not recognize you.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not have singed hair it
wouldn’t match my new outfit,” Miranda said with a snort. When
Colin approached Sarah, the worry tightening her face didn’t match
her flippant words.

Leaning forward, Colin brushed his fingers
across Sarah’s cheek. He hissed; a grunt of pain mixed with the
choked sound of alarm.

Surging up in Nick’s lap, Sarah gasped. An
instant later, she rolled out of his lap, ending up several feet
away in a half-kneeling position, looking like a sprinter getting
ready for a race.

“Sarah,” Nick said. Relief flooded him, and
he reached for her.

“No,” she jerked backward. A strand of hair
hung haphazardly over one eye giving her a crazed look as she
snarled at him, “I’m on fire. I’ll burn you.”

Behind her, a gate opened onto a field of
brown grass and dying flowers. Hot, brilliant sunshine filled the
meadow of late summer colors.

“Go,” Colin snapped the order through
clenched teeth as he motioned toward the opening, “We’ll burn off
the excess energy.”

Quick as a serpent’s strike, Sarah turned and
darted through the open gateway.

^____________

The instant Sarah cleared the gateway she
opened and shut a new gateway, expending energy the fastest way she
knew how. Rapidly, one right after another, a dozen more gates
quickly followed.

Behind her, from the billowing power
expelled, she knew Colin was doing the same thing.

Several hours later, her heart continued
racing. The jittering of her body felt as if she had downed a few
dozen caffeine-laden triple-shots on an empty stomach. She felt
wired to her eyeballs.

Crossing the field, she approached Colin.

Glancing at her, he continued creating
gateways on the edge of the silent meadow. The wildlife had
disappeared within moments of the first gateway opening.

“Thanks,” she said softly. The serious tone
of her voice must have grabbed his attention, because he didn’t
open a new gateway as he turned toward her.

“I’m just glad it worked. Miranda would’ve
never forgiven me if her big sister had died,” he said. He crossed
his arms, appearing to ignore the breeze, as it played with is
long, black hair. “Try not to do that again.”

A slight smile touched her lips. “No problem
there. I just barely touched the ruin in Trellick Valley when power
flooded me. I’ve never tasted such a wild surge of raw energy.”

“Hopefully, you never will again. Another
experiment like that and you’ll end-up as dead as the previous
Chi’Kehra.”

Sarah snorted. “I wasn’t that stupid. I knew
I couldn’t control that much power. I just wanted to open a spigot
that would drain into the valley’s reservoir.”

“Ah, that explains it. You believe in the
Second Dimensional Balloon Theory. I take it that you think
Chi’Kehra gathered the energy to him and thrust it into his command
to teleport his people to Earth.”

“That’s just the bare bones of the theory,
but yes, I agree that sums up what happened.” She looked at him
with curiosity. “Do you believe something else happened?”

“Something else did occur. The idea of taking
his people to a new world was literally driving the old Chi’Kehra
insane. Once he figured-out how to use and replicate the ruins
there was no stopping him. He filled the ruins and pushed his
command for them to teleport everything to Earth.”

“And it killed him,” she added, not seeing
any difference in what she originally believed.

“No, that’s not what killed him.”

Startled at his reply, she snapped her mouth
shut on her next question and waited for him to finish.

“Before I explain, I have a quick question
for you. When you give an order to the crystal, how long does it
take for the crystal respond?” he asked. His tone hinted at
full-blown teacher mode.

Sighing, she withheld a smart remark and
answered him, “Instantly. There is no wait.”

“How would you react if you gave an order to
a chunk of synth crystal and it just sat there, appearing
completely unresponsive?” he asked, opening a gateway into a
bedroom, one that looked extremely familiar.

Walking through the opening, she confirmed
her theory. Behind a delicate looking desk of pale blue furble
wood, an open window revealed the town surrounding Trellick
castle.

“I’d think something weird was going on and
mentally look into the crystal,” she said, and joined him as he sat
in one of the padded chairs in her sister’s room. The four chairs
sat around a small card table placed near the row of windows where
it could catch the morning light.