"Hanna's. You okay? You look like shit."
He nods, "I know. I just feel so empty without it. The magic was more than I knew it would be."
I spin him and plant a huge kiss on his lips. He shoves, "What the heck Aimes. I didn’t switch teams. Gross. You got lip-gloss on my teeth. Gah." He coughs and wrinkles his face.
I grin, "Okay. Now that you're awake, let's do this." I drag him into the office. Everyone gives him a slanted look. He doesn’t look right.
"Didn’t realize I was missing a team meeting."
Lorri rolls her eyes, "You're missing lots of things these days."
"Is it possible Philip has switched to the bad guys?" I ask the question I don’t want to.
He looks at me and then crumples to the floor in a sobbing heap. I look at Lorri. She mouths several swear words.
Hanna drops to her knees and holds him to her.
"It's okay Trist. It's okay."
He shakes his head, "No it's not. Shane and Marcus wiped him. He's a nasty fucker now. Hateful bitch. He doesn’t love me anymore." His words are wet squeals. I feel sick for him.
"He made me give him my blood. He took it and left. He hasn’t come back. He's gone to them. He's one of team Darth Vader and I am Princess Leia." He laughs at his own joke. I laugh too.
"Honey, you need to help us end this. Your eighteenth birthday is in like two days. We are out of time and out of allies." Lorri pats the top of his head.
He sighs and slumps.
"Hanna, go shower and clean him and get him pretty. He looks like shit. The rest of us need to come up with some sort of a plan."
Hanna lifts him off the ground and carries him princess style from the office.
Blake crosses his arms and sighs, "What if he killed the O monster and took back his magic. It's just like Highlander right? He kills and takes the magic?"
I laugh.
Lorri nods, "We could do that. But the prophecy states that Lillith cannot be killed by a man."
I point, "He's her son. He isn’t just a man. He's a witch."
"What if the prophecy is made up or wrong? What if Jonathan wrote it? How do we know any of it is true? Lillith could be just as strong today as she was a thousand years ago."
I cross my arms, "I say we try. We can't control O monster and besides, she won't do anything to help us. We get her here and let Trist cut her head off."
Lorri rolls her eyes, "He doesn’t cut her head off. It isn’t actually Highlander. Jesus save me from this. No. He just needs to reason with them. Make them believe it is the greater good." Blake snaps his fingers, "Chaotic good. Of course, they are the chaotic good. If they think it's for the best they'll do it. We tell them he is still in with the baddies. He has an in. He has been invited to go meet up with the bad ones. They give him the magic and we go as a group and kick ass."
Lorri nods, "All that but you stay here. You're delicate."
Blake looks annoyed.
Dr. Jekyll looks at Roland, "We can help."
Roland looks grave but nods, "As you wish sir."
Lorri claps, "Excellent. Let's get Tristan back to being Tristan and get the magic back."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Aimee
Tristan smiles and nods politely. He isn’t lying. He just isn’t telling the whole truth. Only Lorri and I are allowed to be apart of it all. No one else can hold their thoughts.
"You will kill our mother, brother?" The voice still freaks me out.
He nods, "Of course. You ladies know how I feel about it all. I want Jonathan dead. I want him to pay for what he's done to us all."
The sparkly dead glow in her eyes make my skin crawl. She looks at Lorri and I and then nods. "Take my hand."
Tristan takes a breath and puts his hand into hers. She looks up into the sky. The clouds hovering above us clear, except for one dark cloud. A bolt of lightning strikes their hands. They both lift off the ground, shaking and convulsing. Tristan drops to the ground on his knees, as O drops in a heap.
"They're gone." He whispers. He moves his hands making the magic sparkle through them. He grins, "Guess I'm ready then."
His eyes are sinister.
I have a bad feeling.
We flash back to the mansion and gather the forces. We wink in groups to the forest in Florida, where the wolves wait. I drop to my knees and let them maul me when I see them.
"I missed you guys." I whisper. Luke whines and stomps his wolf feet.
"I know. We're going now."
Lorri leads us through the woods.
"This is where you came last time?" I look at Sam and ask.
He nods.
Roland leaps into the air and phases mid air. He is a huge black wolf. Hanna gasps. None of us have ever seen it.
I look back at Aleks. "I love you." I mouth.
"Me too." He says softly.
"Do it now Sarah." Lorri says softly. We can see each other but nothing can see us. Sarah has worked hard at developing the talent and is finally able to make us all invisible.
I can feel the line when we cross it. The darkness hovers in the air like a black cloud. I instantly feel uncomfortable. The wolves growl softly. Hanna and the doc look savage. He won't change into the beast either. He and her both will be the beast but in control.
My insides hurt. I just want Ari. I want her so badly. I know Lucas feels the same. He is skin and bone almost and his fur is not glistening like it does. He looks exhausted and lackluster.
We cross a dirt path. Ben is out front. He walks, sniffing and searching it out.
We stop when he stops. Lorri looks at little Sarah, "Still good?"
Sarah nods. She looks like she is concentrating very hard. She is the only one who can control her talents completely. The other kids are still a little nutty when they get scared..
Her tiny face makes me distracted. I'm scared one of us is going to die protecting her.
Sam stays close to her.
I hear them before we can see anything. A man laugh and talking. It's Jonathan. My skin shivers.
I wink into a tree just above us. There is a small village in the forest. Just some shanty huts with dirt paths between them. The houses are old and decrepit looking. Jonathan is standing outside next to a girl with dark hair. She is tied to a pole in the middle of the path. She has whip marks that look like they're healing. I feel instantly angry and sickened. It's Ari. She is filthy. Her clothing is torn and gross. After everything she has been through, this is too much. Phillip isn’t there. No one else is. It's Jonathan and Ari. He rubs something down her cheeks and then stops. The wind changes. He lifts his face into the air like a dog smelling.
"Shit." I whisper and wink back to the ground. "He can smell us I think."
Lorri nods, "Guaranteed. What are you getting Trist?"
"Bad juju. These witches are bad. They're almost as strong as I am. Phillip is here. I can feel him. The earth might not fight with me here. It's tainted." He puts his hands out, "Ari is sick. We need to hurry." He makes a face.
"She's tied to a pole in the middle of the road there. It's a dirty little village of sorts. Gross. I saw Jonathan but no one else."
Lorri flexes her fingers, "Chances are he knows we're here and is ready. Are we ready?"
We all nod. We have no real plan. Ari always wrecks our plans anyway.
We creep from the damp forest and into the village. The electricity in the air is too much. I gag from the stench of the humidity and dead animals. To the right carcasses and skins make a pile. In the distance I can see Ari.
Lorri looks at me and nods, "Aimee you get Ari and Tristan and I will get Jonathan. Sam, you come with me in case he winks. We track him." Her whisper is so silent I almost miss it.
She holds a hand up with three fingers. She lowers one. My heart races. She lowers two. My palms sweat. She lowers the third and I wink. I touch Ari and am blasted across the dirt yard. Lorri has Jonathan in her hands but he just stands and laughs.
Tristan blows the pole where Ari is tied up, sending her flailing. I wink and catch her. Lucas is instantly with me, nuzzling her.
Suddenly they come out of the house. We must be visible because they raise their finger, chanting. They look like regular women but their eyes are black.
They all point at Tristan.
His fingers and hands shake.
"Lorri!" He cries out. Lorri winks to him but is blown across the dirt road. Ben is attacking one of the witches. He kills her on the road. Her body becomes a black blood puddle.
I look around at the pandemonium.
Lorri is being held to the ground. Jonathan is still standing laughing. He seems to not be real. Ben leaps at him but he doesn't wound. He doesn’t budge. He laughs. The witches chant. Aleks is flashing and killing but the witches don’t stop. The ones still standing don’t defend themselves. They chant. There are at least twenty of them still standing.
"He's glamour. Jonathan's not really there." Lorri shouts.
Hanna and her father are ripping and tearing. Both are covered in blood. It looks savage and disgusting, watching them kill unarmed women who don't fight back. They chant even as they are ripped limb from limb.
Tristan screams again. His fingers twitch, "LORRI!" He screams. His hand whips from his own neck and shoots a bolt at the ground in front of me.
"MOVE." He screams.
I grab Ari and Luke and wink. I leave them in the living room at Marcus's and wink back. I grab the first witch and suck. She tastes like the best thing I ever ate. Dirty filthy death.
We murder every one of them to the sound of Jonathan laughing his head off. As the last witch drops dead, Tristan vanishes.
Jonathan stops laughing and grins, "Thanks for finishing it for me. I didn’t know how I would get him to get the magic from his sisters." And then he too is gone.
Lorri screams and her and Sam are gone.
Sarah is crying in the middle of the dirty road. I can hear her but not see her. She isn’t making anyone but herself invisible. She must have panicked and dropped the guard.