The Changeling (35 page)

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I heard a sigh and a whimper escape my open mouth. He was staring so intensely when I opened my eyes, the breath caught in my chest again.

“Why…” I said weakly.

His lips curled at the edges. “I had to tell you in person.”

I swallowed a quick breath and fought to pull him closer. “What?”

He cradled me with one hand in the small of my back and slowly caressed the side of my face with the other, his warm fingers igniting the nerves in my skin. “I love you, Maggie O’Shea. I’m yours.”

The air left my lungs again and warm tears rolled down my cheeks. I tried to control my breathing, but it was useless. I’d wanted to hear those words for far too long. My heart beat out of control and I couldn’t keep a full breath in my lungs. He pulled me closer, lifting me off the floor, and I clung to him, pushing my face into his neck. His skin was warm, smooth, and his scent, clean, with a hint of sandalwood, filled my nose. “I’ve missed you. I can’t believe you’re really here.”

He laughed lightly, “It wasn’t easy to arrange, and I can’t stay long, but when I heard about Rachel I had to risk it.”

When he said it, I realized the Seelie guards were still missing. Extending my mind, I couldn’t sense them anywhere.

“You can thank a couple of old friends for that. Your escorts are off chasing a clever spider and a rather fierce looking black bird with a penchant for lightning.”

I pulled my head back and stared into his eyes. “Thank you.”

“I’m so sorry about Rachel.” The warm emotion in his voice caught me off-guard, and the concern in his eyes made me forget for a moment that he was actually Fae. He’d always been freer with his emotions than the rest of them, and it was a powerful component of the spell he had on me.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes again. “I tried…to protect her…I tried…”

Pressing his face next to mine, he whispered in my ear, “I know, but Cassandra is driven, cunning, and much more formidable than Chalen. She hit you where she thought it would hurt the most. She wants you to give up, but you cannot.”

“I know,” I said, nodding my head. “There’s too much at stake. I have to find her.”

“Maggie, you cannot bring harm to her, unless you leave no trace.” He moved his face and stared at me grinning. “The Unseelie get what they want if you do.”

“It’s what half the Council wants, you know.”

A frown formed on his face. “No, I don’t.”

Despite the memories of Billy’s warnings ringing in my mind, I told Gavin about Pete’s journal and what I’d learned by listening in on the Council. He nodded his head as if he’d expected it.

“Tse-xo-be told me about the journal. Since you’ve learned the technique, you’ve found Mitch?”

My chest heaved and I looked away, “No, I’ve tried following Cassandra to him for months, but she disappeared the night she murdered Rachel. I don’t know where Mitch is.”

His voice was gentle. “Maggie.”

“What?”

“You’re focusing on the wrong thing. Tracking Fae is difficult, even for Fae. I should know—I’ve recently become an expert at evading them. All you need to do is concentrate on Mitch. Focus on him and him alone and you’ll find him.”

I felt my face wrench. “What?”

“Yes. It’s that simple. You’ve been concentrating on physical places, haven’t you?”

“Yes. I…”

“Tse-xo-be said to concentrate on people. The technique will take you to whomever you’re focusing on. I’d venture a guess that had you been concentrating on Cassandra, and not just where she’d been, she wouldn’t have eluded you.” He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “Someone is coming.”

Reaching out with my mind, I held the door shut. “She can wait.”

“You’re full of tricks.” He grinned and then bent forward and kissed me again. My inner voice whispered,
this cannot be real,
but my flesh countered the statement with evidence of its own
.
My heart lurched when the tingling sensation spread through my body again. He spun me around, pressing me against the lockers as I ran my fingers through his hair and pulled him closer. A sexy, low-pitched sigh rumbled from his chest, setting off the pleasure centers in my brain. My body shuddered when his muscles tensed and his lips gently caressed the base of my neck. His breathing came faster and his body was generating heat. A spasm rocked through my chest, and I clung to him when his lips brushed against the skin where my collarbone met my shoulder.

My mind raced to sort through the different things I felt: relief, happiness, disbelief, excitement. As my hands slid over the smooth skin of his back, I surrendered to the idea of running away with him, of finding someplace in the world just the two of us could hide. The beautiful, sublime ache I felt throughout my body was intoxicating, and I never wanted it to end. I begged him not to let go when he gently pulled back.

“I have to go,” he said breathlessly. “Get Mitch back and then find me.”

Fighting to catch my breath, I whispered, “Where will you be?”

With an intense, smoldering expression, he said, “You’ll find me.”

“I’ll do that…Adonis.”

A devilish grin spread across his face. “I didn’t give myself that name, you know.”

“I know, and by the way, you do look good in pink.”

“No, I look great in pink,” he said, flashing a half smile. “I love you.” His smile broadened as he walked around the corner.

I whispered, “I love you, too,” as he disappeared. I knew he heard me.

I slid to the floor, pulling energy from the room around me. I traced his essence as far as I could until he finally slipped away. My body was still tingling when I got dressed, and the smile I couldn’t seem to find since the night of the prom refused to leave my face.

TWENTY-FOUR

UPPING THE ANTE

Sara and Sherman met us at the airport, and after assuring Mom and Dad that
Mitch’s
condition hadn’t changed, they drove us home. On the way, Sara silently informed me that Ozara had called a meeting of the Council and wanted to meet with me afterwards. Immediately, I feared the Ohanzee interference with Smokey and Gusty was the catalyst for this meeting. Gavin had made his escape long before they showed back up, and after listening in to their conversations, I knew they had no idea he’d been there. Nevertheless, with the Ohanzee’s interference, Ozara would be furious and even more paranoid than before.

The moment we got back to the cottage, I excused myself and went upstairs. A few minutes later I hovered in the clearing among the Council. They were debating as rigorously as I’d ever witnessed, and they weren’t alone. Eight additional Fae were there answering questions about the Second. I began to understand that they were trackers of some kind.

The Council continued to debate whether there was a Second, and by a slim majority, led by Ozara, they agreed there simply wasn’t enough evidence. It seemed that my ability with all four elements was the only evidence. While I was comforted by their conviction, my gut told me they were wrong. Beyond that, I didn’t understand the significance of their decision until Ozara ordered the trackers to find the Ohanzee.

She didn’t say what the Seelie intended to do when they found Tse-xo-be and the others, but I was afraid for them.

Ozara said, “There is something I must do.” She left the Council, transforming into Naeshura and moving quickly to the north. I lingered in the clearing for only a moment before I felt it: she was in my room.

My tether snapped me back into my body so quickly my head was spinning when I came to my senses. My body reacted and I sat up on my bed, gasping, my heart lurching in my chest. Ozara stood at the foot of my bed, bent over and grasping my left foot, staring intensely at me. Shock turned to panic as I locked onto her amber eyes.

“You did it,” she said, a slight smile forming on her face.

“What…I did…I uh…” I muttered, pulling my duvet up around my neck. My mind was screaming,
she caught me, she caught me
, and my lungs couldn’t remember how to fill, forcing each quick breath back out as quickly as it entered.

A broad smile formed on her face, and I prepared myself for what would come next. Her kind expression unsettled me.

“Congratulations on winning, of course. I didn’t mean to frighten you, Maggie. Forgive me. I would have waited had I known you’d gone to sleep so early.”

Relief tingled through me when it became clear she had no idea what I’d just been doing. “No, that’s all right,” I said, taking a deep breath and finally allowing my clutched hands to drop from my chest. “Thank you. Sorry, I was just startled, that’s all.”

“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” she said.

Her words sucked the air out of the room and my nerves came racing back. Bad news? What could that mean? Had something happened to Mitch? Did she know about Gavin? The last thing in the world I wanted was more bad news.

“I’ve been searching tirelessly for your brother and I’m afraid I am no closer to finding him now than I was in January.”

The word “tirelessly” struck me—it was an odd choice. After having spent hours eavesdropping on the Council, I knew at best it was an exaggeration. My mind reeled with what she said next.

“I think the time has come for you to consider the rogue’s terms.”

“I don’t understand…you want me to agree to have my memory erased…to sell the Weald?”

“No, I do not, but under the circumstances, I do not see that you have a choice. Your brother will not survive much longer,” she said in a sympathetic tone I didn’t believe.

“As soon as we have him back, you’ll restore my memory and deal with the rogues?”

She looked perplexed for an instant. I’d caught her off-guard.

“That would not be my first choice, I am afraid.”

“Why?” I said quietly, but firmly.

Without missing a beat, she answered. “The last year has involved one tragedy after another. Why should more perish? The Council is unanimous. We believe it best if your family’s connection to the Weald is severed.”

“Unanimous?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head.

That was not the case, I knew, but I let the comment go without a challenge.

“And the Second Aetherfae?”

She paused briefly, studying my face before she answered, “We do not believe there is a Second.”

That also struck me as an exaggeration. I had just heard seven members of the Council disagree on that very point. There was no emotion on her face and I fought to keep any from showing on mine. I considered the possibility she was simply generalizing, but my intuition told me otherwise, so I pressed her.

“Well, what if you’re wrong. What if I move back to Florida and the Second shows up, what are you going to do then?”

“We have ways of knowing when there is a Second, Maggie, and I am confident there is no danger.”

“I accept that, and trust me, I hope you’re right. But what if you’re not, hypothetically speaking? What will you do if another has evaded your detection? Isn’t the risk to you, the Seelie, and the human race, too great to chance not having a Maebown fighting alongside you? Ozara, I know the previous Maebown sacrificed himself to save not only the human race, but you as well. I am willing to do the same thing, and die if necessary.”

“You scarcely know what that means,” she said. It was the wrong thing to say, and before I could reel my emotions back in, I lashed out.

“Don’t lecture me on death,” I seethed.

Her face softened. “Yes, of course. Under the circumstances it was a poor choice of words. Forgive me. One point remains, Maggie: you can postpone yours and your brother’s by leaving this place. You have a bright future
away
from the Fae, but among us…”

She was right, of course. I stared out the window of my bedroom. The moon was full and remarkably bright in the eastern night sky. It cast everything in warm shades of blue, and staring at it, I found peace for a moment and allowed my shoulders to relax.

Ozara studied me before she turned to face the window herself. “Maggie, I give you my word. If you go through with this and it turns out your fears are correct, that a Second Aetherfae exists, I will seek you out. I will restore your memories and I will show you the secret to Aether.”

I stared at her lithe silhouette and didn’t say a word as I wondered whether she meant what she said.

“If we’d found your brother in time, I’d never suggest it. The truth is, Maggie, I really do not want you or your family to leave the Weald. Relationships mean a great deal to me, but I see no alternative. The decision is up to you, of course.”

Relationships? Really? Who was she trying to kid? I stared at my hands hoping I could hide my emotions from her. She was lying to me, and I knew it. She’d turned her back on the Ohanzee after thousands of millennia. She’d started a war with Zarkus who, according to Tse-xo-be, had been her closest companion, and I’d just heard her order the trackers to hunt down the Ohanzee Clan. Keeping my anger at bay, momentarily, I realized she was trying to persuade me to leave the Weald without telling me to.

There was something wrong, but I had no idea what it was. Wanting my family and me off the Weald didn’t make sense—she, personally, had kept us here in the first place. My mind was spinning and I wanted to solve the puzzle. For the moment, though, one thing was crystal clear: I wouldn’t find an answer with her staring at me from four feet away. Forcing a sad look on my face and projecting confusion, doubt, and desperation, I looked up into her blazing eyes.