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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

FRANKIE

There were two things I hated about this meal. One, there weren’t nearly enough of us seated at the table. Two, it wasn’t Em’s fried chicken on my plate. Not that I didn’t understand why our Empress hadn’t cooked, I just hated the why behind it. I hated how badly she’d been injured. Losing your vision was a torture I wouldn’t wish on anyone. So, there were actually three things I hated.

But none of this I hated more than Everest not being here.

That moment with him in Seelie did something to me. Whatever part of me that was managing with him still being with Sweyn had snapped. It was taking every ounce of self-control to not blow that castle up and drag my man out of there. And if I was being honest with myself, that self-control was only coming in the form of my Coven Leaders forbidding it. They had their reasons, perfectly logical and smart reasons. I didn’t want any innocent person to get hurt because of me, and the idea some of those vampires weren’t on Lilith’s side was too strong a hope to disregard. Everest was a big boy. He’d been playing this espionage game a long, long time. I had to trust he would know when it was the right time to bail, even if I wanted it to be right now.

I pushed my macaroni and cheese around my plate, trying to work up the desire to eat. I wasn’t hungry. Nausea had a firm grip on me. But Constance had cooked for everyone. Her daughters, whom apparently she’d adopted from the former Sun Card before she died, had requested this special macaroni from the blue box for lunch—the kind with the pouch of powdered cheese. I hadn’t had this kind since middle school, and judging by the smiles on Mei-Ling’s and Tai’s faces, I knew they were at least enjoying the nostalgia of the meal. You need to eat, Frankie. You need to have strength to fight. I scooped a spoonful and shoved it into my mouth. I didn’t taste it. That was fine, better than being disgusted or nauseated by it. When I reached up to grab the pepper shaker, I saw Constance smiling at me. Great, she was upset I wasn’t eating. Good job, Frankie.

“Tennessee Wildes, you have to eat. I don’t care who is in charge or how strong you are.” Mona literally dragged Tenn up the stairs from the infirmary, then shoved him toward the table. Granted, I was positive he was letting her, which said a lot about his affection for his father’s soulmate and fiancé. “You will not insult your father by not eating just because he’s injured. Sit. Eat.”

“Ma—”

“This is not up for discussion.” She followed him until he sat in his seat at the end of the table. Then she grabbed a bowl and scooped him a hefty serving. “I want this licked clean.”

Tegan snort-laughed from the kitchen. “ That’s my line ,” she whispered between laughs.

Royce spit his drink onto the table, his face already red from laughing despite the fact we couldn’t hear it. The rest of the table chuckled. Mona rolled her eyes.

“Ma, this is a lot of food?—”

“For a child. You’re six-foot-five.” She scooped another spoonful from the serving bowl and held it over his already full bowl. “Start eating or this macaroni becomes a hydra.”

He shoved a spoonful into his mouth, then swallowed dramatically. His mismatched eyes locked on her. “You have to eat too.”

“I’m not Michael’s grandson with a destiny to fulfill. We are not the same.” She dropped the serving spoon into the big bowl, then sighed. “And Katherine made us breakfast a couple hours ago, so I did eat.”

Tegan strolled over and climbed into his lap with her own bowl of macaroni. She took a bite, then let out a happy little dance with a moan. “Bettina and I used to crush this mac back home. Remember, Benny?”

“It was the only food you two were allowed to cook without supervision.” He giggled between bites. “There’s a certain nostalgia to it.”

That was when I noticed Jackson had just been staring at the bowl of pasta in front of him. It was completely untouched. I frowned. “Jackson?”

He cringed. “She’s been wanting this for months. This silly pasta with powdered cheese from a pouch. I teased her for it, said it sounded disgusting. Now I’m sitting here supposed to eat it without her. Feels wrong. Feels insulting.”

“Or maybe this is the universe’s way of helping us feel like she’s here with us.” Tegan’s eyes were glassy, and her cheeks were flushed. She ran her fingers through Tenn’s long black hair as he cringed. “Besides, think how excited she’ll be that you tried it.”

“And if you hate it, you’ll have time to prepare to lie.” I grinned.

Tenn chuckled. “And you’ll want to lie if you hate this. It is her favorite. Dad used to make it for us any time Mom was busy.”

“That was intentional, you know,” Tim said with a tight voice as he walked into the room and sat in the open seat between Tenn and Jackson. He reached out and served himself a bowl. “You two loved this stuff so much so they knew only serving it the nights your mother wasn’t around would keep you happy.”

“So devious. I love it.” Tegan giggled. “Bottoms up, Lancaster. It’s garbage and it’s delicious.”

“You really are such a conundrum.” Warner laughed. “You’re basically an American with a slight accent, since you’ve spent the majority of your life here . . . and yet, there’s just some British shit we can’t beat out of you.”

He sighed. “I think I’ll need Earl Grey tea for this.” He pushed from the table and hurried into the kitchen while we all laughed.

It felt good to laugh. As I took another bite and the flavor hit my tongue, I sighed with relief.

Constance cleared her throat and leaned back in her seat. She watched her two blonde daughters eating macaroni faster than any human should have, then smiled and turned her attention to us. “Okay, I know Tegan is back, which means our official leaders will be taking over, but if I may, I’d like to request that everyone stay rested and fed. This means sleeping and eating whenever we can. I suspect this will be like Salem and we need to take care of ourselves whenever and however we can so we’re always ready to move.”

Tenn groaned and tried to sit his bowl down, but Mona snapped her fingers, so he grumbled and picked it back up. He was still grumbling as he shoved a heaping spoonful into his mouth.

Tegan watched him, then nodded. “First of all, Tim and Constance, thank you for stepping up for us, but actually, for the time being I’d like for you two to be our co-leaders. I need to use every ounce of my brain power on saving our lives, and Tenn needs to be . . . well, Tenn.”

Tenn looked right at Mona and arched one eyebrow.

Tim shook his head. “Nephew, despite Royce’s claims, you are still mortal. You have to eat.”

“ See? That’s what I mean.” Tegan grinned. “If you two amazing fully grown proper adults can keep doing exactly what you’re doing now, that would be amazing.”

Tim shook his head and smirked. “So, trouble, you want us to be the voice of reason to keep everyone alive and functioning while you two non-humans focus on the non-human parts?”

Tegan nodded. “Yep.”

“Please, yes.” Tenn sighed. “Maybe I’ll have an appetite if I can turn my brain off a little.”

Tim frowned at his nephew. “I really need to finish that manual.”

Tenn pointed his spoon at him. “That’s right, Hermit boy. Get to work.”

Tegan laughed. “I think Connie’s right, by the way. I fear we’re in another Samhain in Salem situation.”

Jackson strolled back in and sat down, holding a steaming teacup. “What does that mean exactly? I wasn’t in Salem.”

Warner and Lennox both snapped their fingers and pointed to him.

I grimaced and held my hand up. “Seems a few of us agree on that question.”

Tegan grimaced. “It means that we have to be prepared for an attack every day at sunset, by either demons, vampires, or Unseelie. Or anything else they throw at us. We also have the added stress of fallen angels who are not harmed by the sunlight and could become a problem at any given second. And then by day we also have to work on solving the puzzle that is in front of us, which is how to rid our world of these?—”

“TEGAN!” Cooper screamed from above us, his footsteps thundering down the stairs. “TEGAN!”

Everyone gasped and jumped up but didn’t move.

“I’M HERE!” Tegan leapt out of Tenn’s lap, flicking her wrist at the same time.

A white box flashed and then Cooper slid through it with Savannah draped in his arms. She was thrashing wildly, every limb shaking and waving around like she was having a seizure. Her blue eyes were milky white as if there was a film across them. She gasped and threw her head back, her eyes rolling back with it. We all cursed and rushed to them, dropping to our knees to help support Savannah’s thrashing body against the floor. Hunter slid in and rested her head in his lap, his golden magic spilling over her, yet the thrashing didn’t subside.

“I don’t know what’s happening!” Cooper yelled in a rush, his voice and hands shaking. “I can’t get into her mind. It just started out of nowhere?—”

“Everyone, back up! Don’t touch her!” Tegan flicked her hands, and everyone else was thrown back from Savannah’s body. Tegan’s pale-green eyes were sharp when they turned to me. “Frankie, grab her with both hands.”

I didn’t hesitate. I trusted Tegan unconditionally. I dove forward and gripped her forearms with both hands so her skin touched mine. There was a flash of light, then darkness surrounded me. I didn’t move. This darkness was not Everest, of that I was sure. It was thick and heavy and dense. It felt wet, almost like being under water. It was drowning on air. On hot and sticky air, even while I shivered from being cold.

“ I can’t see . . . what is this . . .” I shook myself to try and pull myself out of whatever this was. But then rainbow magic wrapped around me and it cleared. My breaths came easier until the pressure on my chest was gone. “Tegan?”

“I’m here, Frankie. I’ve got you. You’re not going anywhere.” Her voice was calm and steady. “Where are you? Check Savannah.”

I looked down at my hands to find I was gripping Savannah’s arms still. My breath left me in a rush. “Oh no.”

“What? Oh no what? ” Tegan asked in my ear.

“It’s like before,” I heard myself say.

“Before . . . what ? When?”

I tried to get the words out, but they were stuck in my throat. I wasn’t even sure I was breathing. I’d seen Savannah like this before. That memory had scarred me when it happened. I was afraid to look up, afraid to see what I feared I’d see. I didn’t want that to be the answer. Last time she’d been screaming in a weird language, but now she only whispered it over and over. Black smoke swirled around her body. She thrashed and convulsed. Savannah screeched and lifted off the ground, right out of my grip. Smoke was shooting out of her body like it was coming from her pores. She screamed and threw black magic out of her palms.

“Savannah!” I screamed and dove for her, tackling her back to the ground, using my body as an anchor.

“We can hear you, Frankie, tell us what you’re seeing,” Tegan shouted. “Where are you?”

I peeled my gaze off Savannah and looked up to see my fears were warranted. There was no question on the where, I just didn’t understand the why. I wasn’t physically there so the forest siren magic was sweeping over me, their words a whisper in the wind that had no effect on me. But there had to be a reason Savannah was dragged here, astral projection or— OH NO. NO, no, no, can’t be.

“ FRANKIE!” Tegan shouted.

I pushed off Savannah enough to look behind me and my heart dropped. My whole body went ice-cold, goosebumps sharp against my clothes. Ten feet away, there she was. Devon Bishop. Just like last time, her entire body trembled. And I hated the parallel I saw in Savannah. Devon’s head jerked left and right, up and down, making her dark hair swish around. She mumbled a stream of words, but they weren’t coherent. Her eyes rolled in different directions. She gasped and her back arched. Her whole body convulsed and twitched. She collapsed and flopped on her back like a fish out of water. Her arms and legs thrashed. She swung her head back and forth. Even from here I heard her teeth rattling against each other.

“It’s the same. It’s the same,” I heard myself whisper. Then I saw something new. “No, wait, not the same?—”

“Frankie, talk to us!”

Devon’s body was blue. I opened my mouth to ask Tegan what that meant when the blue lifted off of Devon’s body in the shape of Devon. I choked on a gasp. That was her soul. I knew it with every fiber of my being. The glowing blue form of Devon thrashed above her body and a pained wail left her spirit-form. Her soul dropped back into her body, causing her limbs to thrash against the ground, but it was only a second before her soul began to lift again.

“NOOOO!” I screamed so loud my voice cracked.

Her soul wasn’t touching her body at all. She was dying. I was still screaming when Devon’s spirit looked right at me. Then her ghostly gaze dropped to Savannah in my arms and back to me. I had no idea what I was doing or where the idea came from, but I jumped to my feet and dragged Savannah’s trembling body with me.

“HOLD ON!” I screamed to her. “I’M COMING!”

I’d never met this woman but that didn’t matter. My heart was breaking. I had to save her. I had to stop her soul from getting too far away. I’d heard the others talking about the Strait of the Dead for our afterlife. If I didn’t do something right now, her soul was a blink away from the express pass to the afterlife. I couldn’t let her die. Devon’s soul was a fighter unlike I’d ever thought to see. Her spirit form was being dragged away by an entity I couldn’t see, yet she grabbed ahold of her own body, looking like a flag desperately holding on to the flagpole in a hurricane. I dragged Savannah’s body over to her and threw her on top of Devon’s glowing blue soul.

The blue soul vanished.

“DEVON!” I screamed.

Her eyes flew open. Her real eyes. They were barely green still. She took a ragged breath, then whispered, “ Please . . . ” Her breath cut off.

“HUNTER! HANDS!”

“GRAB HER HANDS, DAD!” Tegan shouted. “NOW!”

There was a flash of rainbow, then warmth covered my hands. I lifted mine and covered Hunter’s hands with my own. Golden light billowed into the air around me. It covered Devon’s body in the beat of a second. Her body stopped shaking. Her breaths evened. She was still weak, too weak.

“ Hunter . . .” she whispered, her lips cracked and bleeding.

“SAGE!” Tegan screamed. “SAGE, GET HERE NOW!”

I moved Hunter’s hands higher up to cover Devon’s soulmate glyph. The red glow radiating between us made my stomach turn. Devon squeezed her eyes shut. I cursed and pushed my magic into her. “NO! Stay with me. We’re coming, Devon. We’re coming! Just hold on.”

She tried to speak but nothing came out.

“You’re so strong. I see it. I see it. You’ve got to hold on a little longer. We’re coming. Just save your strength.” I looked around as if there were an answer sitting in front of me.

Devon cringed. “ Tegan ?— ”

“Tegan’s coming. I promise. I promise. Just hang on,” I whispered through the hot lump in my throat.

“Frankie, let go. Let go so we can go to her?—”

“No,” I interrupted her. “If I let go, she won’t be here.”

“Frankie—”

“Let me go, Tegan.” I licked my lips as realization hit me. “Like in Seelie. Let me go. My body will come here.”

“Frankie—”

“NOW, TEGAN! LET ME GO!”

“We’re coming,” she all but growled.

Rainbow magic flashed around me and then it was just me, Devon, and Savannah. Devon’s eyes widened as I sank onto her. The cold dirt stung my skin through my jeans. The air pulsed around me. Fingers dragged through my hair and down my spine. Something gripped my body like it was trying to move me. Then I heard talking just like before, except the voices weren’t soft, they were strong and almost screaming. They were feminine and high. The voices sang but not in words, just this range of notes that seemed to move around me and tickle one ear at a time.

Devon coughed. “ You’re here but she’s not, ” she whispered.

I grimaced. “I don’t know how either. But I’ve got you, so you just hang on.”

“ Frankie, ” Everest called to me.

My heart pounded. That was Everest’s voice, but he wasn’t here. I knew that. I’d learned it last time. Yet my body didn’t get that memo, as my heart did weird flips in my chest. Every nerve in my body was begging me to run to him.

“ Frankie, over here. ”

My head snapped in that direction, but I squeezed my eyes shut. “ You’re not Everest, ” I whispered.

“ Frankie, come here. ”

“NO,” I said with a growl. I pushed with my magic, visualizing the pink flames in my mind and then letting them roll out of me. Inch by inch, my magic silenced the whispers and the pressure, but I felt it lingering in the distance. I snarled into the darkness. “You want us? You’ll have to do better than that.”