Call of the Raven (40 page)

Nixon and Ari watched too, and they were just
as shocked when he drew back his hand and sent a fireball across
the room at such velocity it smashed into the white wall, and sent
a spray of fire back at them. Nixon rushed forward out of the way,
and Ari drew his legs up into the chair. With a yelp and some
tricky head movement Elle ducked just in time to avoid a chunk of
burning wall.

“Good God, Asher, what was that?” Ari
exclaimed.

“I told you it amplifies the firestorm spell
by combining the spell and what magic I have left together.” Asher
closed the books. “And it appears to work.”

Nixon stomping out a flame on the carpet
flashed eyes at him. “You think? You mean you didn’t know?”

“Wait, you’re trying something,
new,
as in something you have never tried before?” Ari asked. “My God
Asher, what would have happened had all your magic been stored
up?”

“Get dressed. We need to go.” Asher
commanded, choosing to overlook the question.

“Are you out of your mind?” Ari jumped to his
feet and headed for the door. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m
not leaving her or Grant’s kid in the hands of anyone else. I’m
staying behind and then seeing them personally to Brokenridge, and
Lake Manor.”

It’s your duty to protect me!” Asher
stood.

Ari stopped and spun around. He shook his
head back and forth and his sad eyes lowered from Asher. “I’m sorry
but this battles your own.”

“What about the manor?” Asher demanded. “What
about the children?”

Ari threw a hand up in his departure. “Don’t
try that manipulation. Linn and Vince will protect them if anyone
tries to get in, and the last thing I care about is the manor. It’s
never been a home, and you’ve seen to that.”

Asher stood with his back to her, watching
Ari go and only when a door slammed in the other room did he turn
to Nixon.

“I’ll go,” Nixon nodded. “I know you need me.
And dude, that flame throwing was a-a-awesome!” he sang the
last.

“Then collect Kennedy, it’s time to go,”
Asher said.

Nixon’s gaze fell on her as he grabbed his
coat from where it lay across a chair. “See you soon,” he mouthed
and hurried from the room.

“Do you still believe this is a dream, Elle?”
Asher stood with his back to her, still and unmoving, head
lowered.

“No, I don’t.”

“Good because nothing about it feels like a
dream to me. Life with us, with me will be hard and sometimes
complex and frightening. Are you sure that is what you want.”

“Life was all of those before.”

“Then…you’ve made up your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Then so be it. I will see you in a few
days.”

Unsure of Ari’s cooperation, Asher left her
in the care of someone named Martaugh, who would arrive later in
the day. She would stay behind with Mary, just long enough to
obtain certain essentials. She would travel then the distance to
Brokenridge, a place she only knew in name to Lake Manor, her
future home.

Asher left and Elle was alone.

The Lake’s left, taking their noise,
excitement and mystery with them. They left her in the quiet with
nothing but her thoughts to pacify her time.

She missed their noise.

She missed their intensity.

And she missed the way they made her
feel.

When she was a child and shared such foolish
notions and dreams, she thought about her future. She thought of
children, a home and a husband. She thought of how it would feel to
know a man wanted her bad enough that he would ask her to share his
name and life. In that dream though, she never thought it would
seem so…cold.