Kristie Cook - Purpose

As soon as I opened the doors and stepped onto the balcony, a wave of cold air blew over me, causing a chill to run down my spine. It wasn’t because the air temperature had become nippy. Early April in the Keys provided ideal temperatures with highs in the low eighties and even now, with the sun beginning to set, it had to be at least seventy-eight degrees. That cold blast came from Sheree.

This was the closest I’d been to her yet and I felt the evil energy surrounding her. The feeling wasn’t my sixth sense sounding my Daemoni alarms, either. This was a physical feeling, as if malevolence emanated from her every cell and froze the air around us.

Owen sat next to the young woman, their backs against the railing bars, his arm around her shoulders. I almost thought Tristan might have been right about Owen’s motivations, but the look on Owen’s face told me he didn’t hold her out of sexual want. His eyes were filled with sorrow and his nose wrinkled in disgust. His mouth twisted, as if he were suffering deep internal pain. He looked like he wanted nothing better than to let go and flee from her as far as possible.

Sheree’s body quaked uncontrollably with more than just the loud sobs, groans and growls escaping her throat. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face puckered in concentration, like someone does when they’re trying hard not to physically lash out at someone else. I didn’t know if she fought the Daemoni power or the Amadis power Owen tried to give her.

“Will she shift if she loses control?” I asked. The Weres in my books would and since I’d been right on so many other things, I had to know.

“Possibly,” Tristan said.

My heart pounded with the thought of a tiger bursting out of her body in this small area. Even if she didn’t mean to, a wild paw could severely injure any of us. Tristan and I would probably be okay, though it might slow our ability to fight back while we healed. But not Owen. He didn’t have the same level of healing ability we did.

“I’m ready if she does,” Tristan added, his palm already facing Sheree.

I nodded and took a deep breath, thinking about exactly what to do. I remembered how Rina could just take my hand and I would feel her Amadis power wash through me. Mom could do the same, though her power wasn’t quite as strong as Rina’s. Mine was still very weak, but it might be enough to at least get Sheree through the night. I sat down in front of her and started to reach out for her hand.

Pop! Pop! The sounds were muffled, but unmistakable.

Owen jumped to his feet. Sheree’s body slackened, as if released from some unendurable agony. She pulled in a deep breath, her first in a long time, and exhaled with relief. Until the musical voice rang across the property. Vanessa’s voice. We both started shaking. Tristan and Owen just stood there, at attention, their eyes scanning the landscape.

“There,” Tristan said quietly, lifting his chin toward a giant entanglement of bushes, vines and mangrove roots near the water’s edge, but not on our property. Two white figures stood in the dark shadows.

“They can’t get in,” Owen said.

“Th-they’re here for m-me,” Sheree said, her hoarse voice full of terror.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tristan muttered. “But thanks for bringing them.”

“There’s no way they’d know,” Owen said. “I’ve been careful with the shields.”

“Then how did they find us?” Tristan seethed through clenched teeth. “I knew this was a bad idea. It’s stupid, Owen. You should have never brought her here.”

Owen dropped his head and his shoulders sagged. He crossed his arms over his chest. His body language contradicted itself, as if he acknowledged Tristan was right but still defended his actions. He remained silent, his mouth drawn into a scowl.

“We need to leave now, before more come,” Tristan said. “Morning will be too late.”

Owen lifted his head and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his pocket rang. He dug the cell phone out and flipped it open, walking toward the other end of the balcony as he spoke.

Tristan stared at Sheree, his normally full lips pressed into a hard line.

“Please don’t make me go back to them. Kill me first,” she pleaded. “Just don’t send me back.”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know how tempting that is. You’d be a nice distraction for them while we attempt to leave…but it’s not going to happen. I’m Amadis now. Only they would do something so despicable.”

“Is it even safe to leave?” I asked. “We’re protected in here, right? Can’t we just stay?”

“Looks like we’ll have to,” Owen said, returning to us, his phone already put away. “That was Julia. Atlanta’s not safe. The house is surrounded.”

“Who’s Julia?” I asked, momentarily distracted by the unfamiliar name.

“One of Rina’s council members, her closest advisor after Solomon. She went ahead of Rina and Sophia to check security. Good thing, too.”

Movement in the brush caught all of our eyes. All four of our heads twisted at once. We watched Vanessa and her brother walk the perimeter of the shield, testing it every now and then. Eventually realizing they couldn’t get through anywhere, they sunk into the shadows.

“Call Rina and Sophia and make sure they know,” Tristan said. “And try to get some soldiers here immediately.” He jerked his head toward Vanessa and her brother. “They won’t leave without a fight.”

Owen pulled his phone back out and headed to the other end of the balcony as he dialed. Tristan paced our part of the balcony, his eyes constantly moving from Sheree to me to the darkness outside. He mumbled under his breath, wondering how Vanessa had found us. Again.

Owen finally came back. “I couldn’t reach Sophia or Rina, but I did talk to Solomon. Rina and Sophia boarded the plane from London to New York hours ago. I’m sure they’ll call as soon as they land. Solomon’s sending soldiers, along with Julia. But there’s no one close by to help Sheree. Not until Rina and Sophia get here.”

“They can’t come here!” I shrieked. “It’s too dangerous! Especially now that they know they’re coming!”

I flipped my hand toward the last place we saw Vanessa and her brother.

“Someone can slip them in or I’ll go out to cloak them myself. And they—” Owen nodded toward the same place “—can’t hear us, so they don’t know anything. The shield silences us. We can hear them, but they can’t hear us.”

None of his explanations calmed me. I didn’t know if I could rely so completely on magic, something I hadn’t believed truly existed until just this morning. Though he’d proven himself repeatedly, for some reason, Owen’s powers felt different to me now…less him and more something else I didn’t fully understand. My own sixth sense had been a part of me for as long as I could remember, something I could rely on more than any of my other senses because it had never been wrong. Thinking Owen’s shield was similar must have allowed me to trust it so much, but knowing now that magic lay behind it all…that we trusted our lives with something out of fairy tales…it was just a lot to try to accept in one day.

I could almost feel Vanessa’s eyes boring into us, whether she could actually see us or not. I didn’t see how Mom and Rina would ever get past her. I didn’t know why they would even want to try. They weren’t reckless by nature…which meant they did trust Owen’s magical capabilities. And if they could, I needed to. I really had no choice right now anyway.

I took a few calming breaths, trying to blow the anxiety out of my body. At least, the anxiety about Mom and Rina. I still had this task in front of me. Literally sitting in front of me, her eyes wide and her lower lip trembling.