Black Orchid (3 page)

“Okay,
Lila. We’re here,” Ellie said.

Lila
had called the others as soon as she’d left her father and asked them to meet
her in the main courtyard. Ellie, Ramsey, Selene, and Alex appeared from the
shadows, along with a massive golden-coated wolf.

Lila
walked over to crouch down in front of Griffin. Looking into his amber eyes,
she sent him a thought.

“How’s
it going in there?”

“Still
a wolf, thanks,”
came the dry reply.

Telepathy
was Griffin’s strongest ability, which had been extremely fortuitous while in
his wolf-form, allowing him to communicate with the others. While the girls
could all read minds and project their own thoughts, Griffin could also project
anyone else’s thoughts. And, according to Ellie, he’d eventually be able to
control other people’s thoughts as well.

“Karin
still insists that Griffin will figure it out eventually and morph back to
human,”
Selene joined the mental conversation.

Lila
nodded. She’d befriended Karin during her own captivity. Karin had also been
one of Maddox’s prisoners. The wolf morpher had the additional and very unique
ability to turn someone else into a wolf metamorph.

“At
least you’re not dead,”
Lila reminded Griffin. Karin’s gift killed as often
as it succeeded. About half the attempts resulted in the person’s body
rejecting the genetic change she forced on it.

“True.
Then again, six months is still a helluva long time to walk around as a mutt,”
Griffin
grumbled.
“But if it means that someday I can join the Vyusher and openly be
with Selene, then it’s worth it.”
He glanced up at Selene, who gave him a
soft smile and ran her fingers through the fur along his back, earning her a
rumbled sound of pleasure.

“Remember
that some of us can’t hear you,” Ramsey leaned down to remind Lila. Alex nodded
in agreement. It often drove them a little nuts when they missed out on
conversations because the telepaths forgot to project their thoughts.

Lila
gave him a little half-smile and then turned back to Griffin.
“Can you do
this?”
she asked him, making sure everyone could hear her. She didn’t need
to explain what she was asking him. They’d all discussed this possibility so
often that they knew exactly what she was asking.

“With
Ellie’s help,”
Griffin answered.

With
a deep breath she said, “Then we’d better get ready, because she’ll be here any
minute. Let’s get a basic plan in place because I don’t think she’s going to
just let us.”

*****

Adelaide
cleared her mind, allowing it to go completely blank as she soared through the
clear blue of the cloudless sky. She lazily looked over the still, white vistas
below her.

Xavier,
a member of the Vyusher High Council, had the power to move their castle home
anywhere in the world. After the last battle with Maddox, he’d moved it to the
Ural Mountains in Russia.

Adelaide
felt a communion with this place, despite the constant sting of the cold. She
almost preferred the feeling of solitude the silent mountains provided. There
was a peace about the stark but pristine landscape that surrounded them here.
And there was a comfort to be gained in knowing that throughout history, humans
had never conquered this land. Napoleon had tried, and so had Hitler. All had
been turned away, driven to defeat by the bleak Russian winter.

And
maybe that was why she liked it here. This place mirrored Adelaide's frozen state.

The
castle eventually came into sight. Adelaide timed her descent to allow her path
to bring her over the top of the wall of the main courtyard. She splayed her
wings as she landed and shifted to human at the same moment, gracefully
stepping down with feet rather than talons.

As
soon as Adelaide was on the ground, Lila stepped out from behind a nearby
archway. Adelaide inwardly groaned. She hadn’t forgotten about how their
training exercise had ended, but she’d hoped she wouldn’t have to address it so
soon. She crossed her arms over her chest but stayed where she was.

"I
guess Dad was able to heal your arm pretty quickly," she called across to her
sister.

Lila
said nothing as she walked over. Instead she took a deep breath. "I'm
sorry."

Adelaide
frowned. "For what?"

"What
I did to you. For what I
made
you."

She
tilted her head. "What's going on?"

"I
want to try to fix this," Lila said.

Adelaide’s
entire body stilled. "Fix this," she said slowly. "Fix
me
,
you mean."

"Don't
look at it that way. We’re going to give you your emotions back but take away
your memory."

"And
in the process I’ll become… what? I’m finally able to help. You’re going to
take the only thing I have left away from me.” Adelaide got right in Lila’s
face, her voice eerily soft. “What other way
should
I look at it? You
want to fix me, but I'm
not
broken." She slashed her arm through
the air in her agitation.

Lila
put her hands on her hips. "Really? You could’ve killed me today, but I
bet you don't feel a damn thing about it. You even tried to justify it. That's
not
the
Adelaide I grew
up with. That's not my sister."

"So
you want the weak
,
sniveling
little girl back, huh? The one you could push around and tell what to do? I
finally have a backbone and a say in things, and
you
don't like it.” She
poked Lila in the chest with her finger and sneered. “Why don’t you turn that overly
anxious little mind on yourselves instead of me? Selene barely has control of
the Vyusher wolf pack. They question her leadership daily. You definitely have
no control over the Louisiana tribe of Svatura you now claim to lead. And
Ellie? Has anyone else noticed that her powers don’t quite work the way they
used to?”

Lila
rocked back on her feet and frowned.

Adelaide
smiled grimly. “Yeah. Work on yourselves if you must, but I'm not letting you
fix
anything about me. Not again."

At
that moment Adelaide’s mind discovered the silent hole where no sounds or
thoughts existed. And then she knew…. Griffin was blocking her telepathy. Which
meant they were close by. All of her family.

Before
she could defend herself, she felt every part of her body freeze into place,
completely immobile.

Alex.

A
cold determination burned deep inside her. It felt like bile rising up through
her system. She pinned Lila with a malevolent stare.
"What do you think
you're doing, Sister?"

Lila
wrapped her arms around her stomach and regarded Adelaide only with sadness. Selene,
Ellie, Alex, Ramsey, and even Griffin moved into view and came to stand beside
her.

"What
I should’ve done months ago," Lila said quietly.

The
little band of traitorous friends joined hands, and Adelaide felt them pressing
into her mind. She pushed back, hard. When Lila had turned off all Adelaide’s
softer emotions, the sudden lack of fear that came with that change had
unlocked a strength within her that she'd never known existed. And she used
every ounce of that strength now.

"I'm
not going to let you do this."

No
one said anything in return. But she felt the force of their collective effort surge.
They pushed back and forth mentally for some time. Suddenly, Adelaide felt
something snap inside. All of the rage and despair and hopelessness that had
been held at bay for all these months flooded through her like a dam breaking.
And despite Alex's ability to hold her, the violent trembling throughout her
body escalated.

Something
within her, something colossal, was demanding to be let out.

Adelaide's
vision suddenly went completely black, although she was still conscious of her
surroundings. She heard Ellie say, "Lila, you’ve got to get her to calm
down or—"

Then,
a pinpoint of light appeared. It moved nearer and nearer, like headlights in
the dark, until it became blinding. Adelaide wanted to put her hands up to
block it out, but this was happening in her mind. And Alex held her immobile
anyway.

And
then, abruptly, images beat at Adelaide’s mind. They flipped so quickly through
her thoughts that the blur of motion was almost sickening in its speed. She
couldn’t really comprehend what she was seeing. Colors and faces and moments. Emotions
seemed to pulse through her in waves in time with the images. Fear. Anger.
Despair. Rage. Heartbreak.

Can’t
breathe.

Everything
slowed and then centered on that one debilitating thought.

Can’t
breathe. Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.

“Her
heart’s going a mile a minute. How much longer?”

The
comment didn’t quite break through Adelaide’s panic.

Can’t
breathe. Can’t breathe.

“Almost
done.” Who was that talking? The fact that she suddenly didn’t recognize any of
the voices around her sent her panic even higher.

Can’t
breathe. Can’t breathe.

“Adelaide?
Can you hear me?”

The
question snagged a small part of her attention. She knew
that
voice.
Lila?

She
tried to call her sister, but she couldn’t open her mouth. In her mind she
started screaming.

“Lila!
Lila!”

“I’m
here. I’m here, Adelaide.”

But
she wasn’t there. Adelaide couldn’t see anything, anyone. She felt tears on her
lashes as they squeezed out of eyes jammed tightly shut. Her entire body was
wracked with a shuddering so awful her teeth hurt from the rattling.

“What’s
happening to me?”

She
heard an unrecognizable voice say, "Lila, you’ve got to get her to calm
down."

“I
can’t contain her,” another grunted.

Adelaide
felt her body start to change. A force that had been buried inside her felt as
though it were tearing her apart… as if her flesh were being shred off her
bones as the pressure pushed outward.

Voices
filled Adelaide’s ears, so many she couldn’t keep track, and nothing they were saying
made any sense to her. But she heard the alarm in their words, and it fed her
own.

“Hold
her, Alex!” someone shouted.

“I
can’t!”

“Griffin,
get your shield over her. Help Alex pin her down.”

“I’m
still working on her memory. I can’t do both.”

“Ellie,
help her shut it down!”

“I’m
trying. She’s blocking me.”

“When
the hell did she get that power?”

“LILA,
FLOOD HER EMOTIONS!!”

“They’re
already flooded. There’s no room for anything other than panic inside her.”

“Selene,
turn her off. We can’t let her morph.”

“She’s
not letting me.”

“Together
then. Everyone hold onto me and Adelaide. On three… One. Two. Three.”

Adelaide
felt her body bow up and twist. Intense, blinding light flooded her vision, and
air filled her lungs. She sucked in a long breath that burned her throat. Her
eyes flew open, and she saw the brilliance of the blue sky. With the return of
her senses, she was able to release some of the terror that seemed to hold her
in its claws.

She
collapsed, her body going completely limp like a wrung-out rag doll. But at
least she could breathe.

What
just happened to me?

Adelaide
forced herself to sit up. She glanced down, slightly shocked to see that her
skin was still in place and she wasn’t lying in a pool of blood.

“Adelaide?”

She
looked up and felt a small bit of relief. “Lila?” But then she frowned. The
girl sitting beside her
was
her sister. But something was different. She
looked… older.

Lila
reached out, but Adelaide jerked away. “What’s going on?”

 “What’s
the last thing you remember?” Lila asked.

Adelaide’s
gaze swung from her sister to look at another face - an unfamiliar girl with
violet-blue eyes and long black hair who was kneeling on the ground beside her.

Adelaide
scooted backward. “Who are you?”

The
girl held out her hands. “I’m Ellie.”

When
Adelaide said nothing, but stayed where she was, Ellie quickly introduced the
others around them: another woman with pale blond hair named Selene, a man with
dark hair and bright blue eyes named Alex, and a red-haired man named Ramsey.
And incredibly, a massive golden-colored wolf they called Griffin.

Overwhelmed,
Adelaide struggled to her feet. She took a moment to steady herself on wobbly legs.
When everyone surrounding her stood as well, she held out her hands. “Don’t
come any closer.”

“Look
at her eyes. They’re glowing yellow.”

Adelaide
searched frantically among the group standing before her. No one’s mouth had
opened, but she was sure she’d heard someone speaking.

“The
dragon is still close the surface.”

Adelaide
slammed her hands over her ears. “Who’s saying that? Who’s talking?”

Desperately,
she focused on the one person she knew she could always depend on. “What’s happening?”
she whispered brokenly to Lila.

Lila
started to move toward her, but so did the others. Adelaide stumbled back. “No.
Just Lila. I… I don’t know who any of you are.”

Her
sister looked over her shoulder at the guy named Ramsey, who shook his head as if
he didn’t want her to go. Adelaide frowned as her ability to see relationships
kicked in. The line she saw connecting Ramsey to Lila was the same one she’d
seen between her own parents. But that made no sense. Lila didn’t have a
te’sorthene
.

“She’s
my sister,” Lila said to Ramsey, interrupting Adelaide’s thoughts.

He
pinned Adelaide with an unsmiling gaze. “We don’t know
who
she is right
now.”

“Stop
it. Can’t you see you’re scaring her to death?” Ellie broke in, earning a glare
from Ramsey.

“I’ll
be fine,” Lila assured him quietly.

Adelaide’s
soft heart constricted. Why would he think she’d ever harm her own sister?

Lila
turned back to her and took a step forward but stopped when Adelaide held up a
hand. “Wait. Am I dangerous?”

Lila’s
mouth drooped, and her brow furrowed. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

Adelaide
took a deep breath, and then another. “Don’t come any closer. Just… just…
please tell me what’s going on.”