Page 62

7

HANK

No matter what I do, sleep won't come, even though I'm exhausted. I just lie on the top bunk, my thoughts whirling in my mind. Every muscle in my body tense for reasons I don’t understand.

Callie and James are snuggled up together in the bunk beside me. I don't know what went on with him out by the ocean, but it's rattled him. It almost seemed as if he was going to say no to Callie when she started climbing into the bed with him. I’m grateful that he didn’t. It means that whatever darkness had made him risk his life, his love for Callie was still stronger.

They were asleep within moments, naturally. It's been one of those evenings.

Again.

I try to count sheep in an attempt to lose consciousness, but Will's constant snoring below me makes it almost impossible. I should be used to it by now. I've known him long enough and have spent enough nights with him between sleepovers as kids and fire station shifts as adults. But I can’t forget seeing my mom tied up at the king’s feet, covered in blood. And I can’t help imagining that the blood that soaked the circle might have been, in part, hers.

A tremble moves over my body. I picture my mom laughing. I imagine her setting down a beautiful dinner on the table, then placing her hands on her hips and scolding us all over some nonsense we’d done. If anything had happened to her… my throat seems to close. No, I can’t think about that. If I do, I’ll snap. I’ll run from this damned place and kill Robert with my bare hands.

Or at least try. And then I’d be dead, and nothing would have changed.

I had to fucking stop this. I had to stop thinking about if my mom was okay, or I’d drive myself insane.

A small giggle sounds close to my ear. Then, the bed shifts as someone climbs on.

My sandpaper eyes don't want to open, but the giggling insists I do. Cracking them open, I find a familiar face only a few inches from my own. "Hey, Uncle Hank," my nephew Rider says.

"Hey, buddy," I exclaim. I had no idea he was here in the cave. I didn't find him when I did a cursory lap of the cave yesterday, but then, I hadn't seen many children at all. They must be sleeping in one of the other caverns Fran told us about. Rider is my oldest sister's son. "Where's your mom?"

"They sent me to wake you up." His five-year-old voice is sweet and a nice way to be woken. Kind of.

Knowing that if I don’t, I'll only end up being pestered until I do, I swing my legs out and jump off the bed with a groan. Once I'm down, I hold out my arms for Rider. I'm sure he can get down on his own, but this is way more fun.

His eyes light up, and he jumps. I catch him with ease, then set him down. He glances back at me with a mischievous look, then runs across the cavern, leaving me no option but to follow.

I follow him into a smaller hollow where there are more beds and places to sit. "Whoa," I mutter as a blur of my sisters ambushes me.

Two of my sisters are here and squealing to see me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask when they finally release me.

"We just got here," Hannah says breathlessly. Ah. That's why I didn't find them. "We went to Mom and Dad's timeshare in Florida to wait this out, but when they took Mom, we headed back."

"Probably smart. If he wanted to get to us, he could get the address too easily."

As I look around, it really hits home how widespread this is. Since the king made his proclamation, the number of people here has grown. Now, there are even people sleeping on the ground. I won't sleep in a bunk again, not when other people need it more.

My sisters chatter at me, together like they share one mind. They've always done that, but I can't focus on them. All I can see is the number of lives that are dependent on us getting this right.

"Have you heard anything at all about Mom?" Hallie, my youngest sister, asks. My attention zeroes in on her and away from the room.

Her beautiful face, so much like mom's, has lost its excited expression. I realize they're chattering and laughing to cover their intense fear.

"No, nothing." I can't bring myself to tell them about the blood at the circle. It might not even be hers. I have to keep thinking that, or I'll lose all hope.

Jenny, our middle sibling, buries her face in my hair. Her husband, Charlie, is holding their little baby, Skye. Even so, he manages to put a comforting hand on my sister's back. I'm glad she found someone who treats her this well.

Her sobs slam into me, cutting straight to my heart. I should've done something by now to get Mom back. I should've come up with a plan already. But it always seems to feel like the king is one step ahead of us. We never have any time to do something.

Tears prickle the back of my eyes.

"Here," a new voice says. "Let me take the baby."

I look up to see a woman I don't recognize.

She smiles down at little Skye. "My granddaughter is a little bit older than her. Her parents, my son..." She trails off and presses the tips of her fingers to her lips. "They decided to stay. They're going to stay neutral as long as they can, then pledge their loyalty to the king." The older woman seems as if she's about to cry into her hand but holds it back.

I want to find the words to comfort her, but I can't. With everything going on, it's like I'm out of comfort for anyone.

When she looks over at me, her eyes are full of tears. "They don't support him, you understand. They don't want to. But they have my little granddaughter to think of. They're sure that when this is over, if the king is defeated, the new queen will show mercy. But they don't believe the king will if they show their loyalty to Queen Calliope."

"I understand," I tell her kindly, finally finding my voice. "We’ll figure out a way to make it work when this is finished. There are some who are truly loyal to him. And there are some that are like your family." I know Callie won't treat anyone badly for supporting him when they have to. She's too good for that. I think the people of Blackwater will be surprised to find out just how merciful she is now that they've gotten used to King Robert's rule.

"Thank you," the woman whispers. "For fighting for us. You will be our king?"

My jaw drops. "I?—"

Jenny's husband, Charlie, saves me from explaining what I can't explain. "I’d be grateful if you'd hold Skye for a while. She just ate, her diaper is freshly changed, and she’s ready for a long nap."

The woman nods and points to a bunk nearby. "I'll lay down with her there. We won't move from that spot."

Jenny still has her cheek pressed into my chest as I hold her on my left and Hallie on my right, but she's stopped sobbing.

"We're not the only ones hurting," she whispers.

Charlie puts his arm under mine, and Jenny turns away and into his arms. I wrap myself fully around my baby sister. She only just turned sixteen. Mom and Dad sent her to Florida with Jenny and Charlie to keep her out of the area. I can't decide if coming back was a good idea or not.

"I kind of wish you guys had gone somewhere else, at least for a while," I say.

Charlie grimaces. "I know. But when your mom was taken, wild horses couldn't have kept these two away."

He looks over at Rider, playing on an iPad I got him. I enchanted it to never lose battery power before I gifted it to him, a neat trick I learned in my teens and have used on all of my electronics since. It's a simple spell. I should get parents together here in the cave and teach them. They didn't have WIFI, but their kids could band together for whatever movies or games they had available.

Charlie sighs as he watches his son. "I'll stay with the kids in hiding. I'm no good to anyone in a fight anyway." It had been a bit of a lark when Jenny fell in love with Charlie. Mom and Dad work in the human world, anyway, so we were always around them. But nobody expected anyone in the family to marry one.

I was there when they told Charlie about the magical world. He took it damn well, having always been a nerd. He wanted to know if we could make him a witch, poor guy.

But then something hits me, and I frown. “You guys are staying with the kids, too, right?” I ask my sisters.

They look at me like I’m nuts.

"You two are going to fight?" My heart explodes in my chest. It's bad enough that Mom and Callie are in danger. I don't want my sisters there too. “Why don’t you go wherever the rest of our family is hiding?”

I hadn’t asked where the rest of my sisters were. As long as they were safe, I didn’t want to know.

Hallie holds my gaze. "You know I'm strong."

She's right. She's the strongest of all of us. "You're also sixteen. You're too young."

"She has the right," Dad says, having walked up during the conversation. "We all do. In this time and situation, we have to fight. We have to stop him. It's the duty of every adult witch in this coven to fight."

Our witches come of age at sixteen. Making Hallie old enough to make the decision herself. That doesn't mean I'm happy with it, just that there's nothing I can do about it. Short of tying her up. But even if I did that, I didn't trust Dad or Jenny not to come to her rescue. Heck, even Callie would probably untie her.

As I look around the room and hold my little sis tight, I can't help but wonder who the blood in that clearing belonged to. Is the family of the lady holding my niece safe? Or are their bodies being burned right now, all their blood in the ground?

The more I consider how many people are here because they have missing loved ones and how they don't know that they're likely dead, bled out in the hot summer night, the closer the walls of the cave become. I disentangle myself from Hallie's hug.

"Excuse me," I whisper.

Stumbling a little, I make my way to the long hallway between the two large caverns. In a near run, I burst out into the room with all the crystals. Miraculously, there's nobody nearby. I move to the corner of the cave to try to get a little privacy and calm down. I nearly gag from the smell. I'm not far from the makeshift kitchen; maybe it's coming from there. It smells like rotten eggs or something. Pulling my shirt over my nose, I look around and try to find the source as my eyes water.

In an instant, I'm in another place. Based on the stone walls and dampness in the air, I've been teleported somehow to the castle. My mother is in a wooden chair with her body rigid, but her head slumped.

"Mom," I whisper and stumble forward. When I try to touch her hand, mine goes through hers.

It's a vision. I'm not really here. Damn it!

"Wake up," a harsh voice from behind me makes me jump and whirl. I don't recognize the man glaring at my mom, but he's got a knife in his hand. "If you don't start talking, I'm going to start carving."

"No!" My shout fills the air, but neither the man nor my mom makes any indication they've heard it.

I run through all the spells I know that can amplify noise, trying each and every one until my ears ring and my voice is almost hoarse from the effort of screaming. I need Mom to hear me. Even if it's just so she doesn't have to go through this alone.

"I love you, Mom," I whisper, not having the energy for more. She can't hear that either. But this time, it's not as bad. She knows how I feel. How much we love her.

I scream at the top of my lungs as the knife touches the top of her hand, and Mom's head rises. She's fully awake now, with a tortured expression on her face. Her screams fill my ears and overwhelm my senses. I know it's a vision, but the details of my mother's face and body are so real, so accurate, that I believe it's happening.

In another flash, I'm back in the cavern. My throat is raw from yelling, and people are all around me, trying to get close. I realize I'm facing the stone wall. They're glowing bright, and an infinite sadness rolls off of them in waves. I look down to see my knuckles are shredded, and my blood is all over the sharp crystals on the wall. I'm also filled to the brim with magic.

Still reeling from the vision, I roar my frustration and shove all the excess magic I've called up into the stones. They absorb it and give it back, but the power that returns is calmer. Less panicked. It helps me get a grip on myself.

I lose my balance. My knees won't hold me up anymore, and I crumple to the ground. Hands touch me, and arms wrap around me. I bury my face in Callie's chest and sob, but she's not the only one. I know James and Will have their arms around me, too. Leaning to the side, I let one of them hold me up as my fears and anguish come out through tears and sobs.

When I calm down, I see I'm leaning on Will. Callie is pretty much in my lap, and James has his legs spread to get close and put his arms around all of us.

Someone healed my knuckles as I cried, and the corner of the cave where I broke down has cleared of any other onlookers, leaving me with my friends and the woman I love.

"We're going to save her," Callie says. She sits back and looks me in the eyes. "If she's alive, we'll find her."

I know she can't promise that, but I choose to believe it anyway. There’s no other option. Anyone still alive, we will save.