Crimson Dahlia (22 page)

“Lila!”
Adelaide’s
panicked voice crashed into her mind.

Lila
was in the middle of explaining to the High Council all the events she’d been
directly a part of in the battle. The debriefing had been going on for the past
week, but today was the first time she’d been called in.

“What?”

“He’s
leaving. Something’s wrong. I know it,”
came Adelaide’s panicked reply.

Lila
searched through the minds in the castles until she found Nate’s. And what she
found there made her sick.

“
Selene…
Selene!”

The
Queen, who was in the middle of talking, gave a slight nod. She was listening.
“I
have to go. Emergency with Adelaide.”

Another
small nod.

Lila
grabbed Ramsey’s hand and stood up. “Excuse us for a moment, please.” Trying to
not to cause a scene, she quickly dragged him out of the room.

“What’s
going on?” he asked.

Lila
took off at a run, knowing he’d follow her.
“Nate’s making a break for it,”
she thought to him.

“Shit,”
he muttered beside her.

“I’m
coming, Delia. Where?”
she mentally called to her sister.

She
got a flash of images back. Lila picked up the pace as they made their way
through the castle. Muscles burning and breathing hard, they sped around the
final corner into the hallway where Zara’s cell was located. Adelaide was
already there standing in the doorway. Her skin was so pale she looked waxy.
Lila thought her sister might faint at any moment.

Lila
and Ramsey hurried to her side and saw Nate, Zara, Talia, and Corin in Zara’s
cell. Clearly Maddox’s healer wasn’t quite as good as Hugh—Corin still bore the
scars of Ramsey’s fireball the night she and Maddox had tried to take Lila at
the cottage.

“Don’t
do this, Nate,” Adelaide begged. “Don’t go.” She held her hand out to him
imploringly.

“Talia’s
my
te’sorthene
,” Nate said. “I have to go.”

Lila
gagged on the bile that rose in her throat. What had happened to him? She’d
never seen him look so cold. So distant.

“
I’m
your
te’sorthene
,” Adelaide said. Pleaded.

“Are
you?” he asked. A sneer curled his lip.

Lila
watched her sister as Adelaide engaged her ability to see relationships. She
used her telepathy to watch what Adelaide was seeing.

Adelaide
shuddered beside her. “It’s still there, Nate. It’s faint but it’s…”

“Goodbye,
Adelaide,” he said. And he was gone.

Through
Adelaide’s eyes, Lila saw the barely- there thread of the
te’sorthene
line connecting Adelaide and Nate snap in half.

At
the same time, a wall of Adelaide’s terror and heartbreak slammed into her.

“No!”
Adelaide screamed. She fell to her knees, sobbing. “No! No! No!”

Adelaide
turned to look at her with eyes so tortured that Lila flinched. Her entire body
was wracked with a terrible trembling. “I can’t… I can’t… Please help me,”
Adelaide sobbed.

Lila
wrapped her arms around her sister. She could feel bones under her hands. She
hadn’t realized that Adelaide had lost so much weight. Using the power inside
herself, Lila pushed serenity into her sister until her sobs stopped and her
head lolled on Lila’s shoulder.

“I
saw what losing his family – his
te’sorthene
– did to Maddox. Her mind,
her spirit, might not survive this,” Lila whispered to Ramsey.

“Maddox
didn’t have you. Or Lucy and Hugh. Dexter, Charlotte, Ellie, Alex, Griffin,
Selene, me. He lost his entire family. Adelaide has us. We’ll help her survive
it,” he said.

“Yes,
we will,” Lucy said from behind them. Tears streamed down her face, but a
mother’s determination was in her eyes. The rest of the family stood behind
her. Griffin had heard Lila’s summons.

“And
we’ll get Nate back,” Charlotte said. The same look of determination in her own
teary eyes.

Lila
nodded. “And Maddox?”

“We’ll
survive him too,” Selene said.

“The
same way,” Alex said.

Ellie,
finally well enough to walk, stepped forward.

“Together.”

Key Concepts

Svatura
– Any person
with extraordinary powers. The term was coined by Ellie and Griffin’s
great-grandfather who lived with a group of gypsies. It is a Roma term.

Powers
– Primarily
powers are genetic, passed down through generations. But each new generation
has a slightly different take on the power(s) they inherit. Most Svatura marry
humans (there’s not a ton of Svatura out there) and so most offspring only
inherit one power. Multiple powers are unusual. Powers also kick in around
puberty and gaining perfect control over them takes time (centuries sometimes).
In addition, if a baby may inherit more than about three powers, usually that
results in twins, who split up the powers.

Aging
– Svatura age
at a slower pace. It kicks in around puberty and slows down exponentially for
the first thousand years and then slowly speeds back up. They can live as long
as two-thousand years.

Vyusher,
Timening, etc.
– Some tribes of Svatura people give themselves a more regional name. Vyusher
means wolf. Timening means jaguar.

Te’sorthene
– another Roma
term. In this series, it means fated souls bonded by heart and spirit.

Core Svatura
Family

Lila Jenner
–
Relationships: Hugh’s and Lucy’s daughter, Adelaide’s sister, Ramsey’s
te’sorthene
,
Alex’s adoptive sister. Powers: inherited – sees when people are telling the
truth, senses and heals emotions; received – falcon morph, telepathy, dream
control.

Ramsey Pierce
–
Relationships: Charlotte’s and Dexter’s adoptive son, Lila’s
te’sorthene
,
Nate’s adoptive brother. Powers: firestarter.

Ellie Aubrey
Jenner
– Relationships: Descendent of the original Svatura/gypsy line and Svatura
Princess, Alex’s
te’sorthene
and wife, Griffin’s twin sister. Powers:
Metamorph forms include dragon, jaguar, wolf, and falcon (she gets more forms
when she touches other metamorphs), controls others’ powers if she’s touching
them, linked to her twin’s power of telepathy.

Alex Jenner
–
Relationships: Ellie’s
te’sorthene
and husband, Hugh’s and Lucy’s
adoptive son, Lila’s and Adelaide’s adoptive brother. Powers: freezes objects
(not into ice, but stopping motion).

Selene
–
Relationships: Queen of the Vyusher, Griffin’s
te’sorthene
, Gideon’s
twin sister. Powers: inherited - wolf metamorph, dream visitor, turns off
others’ powers (including hiding Svatura from trackers in small numbers),
enhances others’ powers around her; received – falcon morph.

Griffin Aubrey
–
Relationships: Descendent of the original Svatura/gypsy line and Svatura
Prince, Selene’s
te’sorthene
, Ellie’s twin brother. Powers: telepathy,
invisible shield (can be used both physically or to make himself invisible),
linked to his twin’s falcon shift.

Adelaide Jenner
– Relationships:
Hugh’s and Lucy’s daughter, Lila’s sister, Nate’s
te’sorthene
(?),
Alex’s adoptive sister. Powers: inherited - sees relationships between people;
received – telepathy, falcon morph.

Nate Pierce
–
Relationships: Charlotte’s and Dexter’s adoptive son, Adelaide’s
te’sorthene
(or Talia’s?), Ramsey’s adoptive brother. Powers: super strength and speed.

Hugh and Lucy
Jenner
– Relationships: each other’s te’sorthene and spouse, Lila’s and Adelaide’s
parents, Alex’s adoptive parents. Powers: Lucy – senses the essence of a person
(good/bad) and tells if they’re Svatura, premonitions; Hugh – physical healing.

Charlotte and
Dexter Pierce
- Relationships: each other’s te’sorthene and spouse, Ramsey’s and Nate’s
adoptive parents. Powers: Charlotte – teleporter; Dexter – turns things to
metal (including gold).

Vyusher

Gideon
(deceased)
– Relationships: previous King of the Vyusher, Selene’s twin brother, Maddox’s
protégé. Powers: inherited – forces people to his will and makes them think it
was their idea; received – wolf metamorph.

Oren
–
Relationships: Vyusher High Council member, Selene’s second father. Powers:
astral-projection.

Desmond
–
Relationships: Xavier’s son, Selene’s good friend. Powers: invisibility.

Xavier
–
Relationships: Vyusher High Council member, Desmond’s father. Powers: moves the
castle to any location.

Maggie
– Powers:
projects sound and the wolf pack’s thoughts.

Sheila
– Powers:
tracker.

Others
– Jason –
telekinetic who can crush, Darius – controls earth (dirt, rocks, etc.), Megan –
creates a vacuum, Angelica – soothing presence.

Maddox’s Forces

Maddox
– Relationships:
The big bad. Gideon’s mentor and lieutenant. Powers: inherited - dragon
metamorph, dream control. Received – wolf metamorph.

Zara
–
Relationships: supposedly Maddox’s te’sorthene. Powers: unknown.

Corin
– Powers:
teleporter.

Talia
–
Relationships: Nate’s te’sorthene (?). Powers: feels others’ emotions, unknown.

Melanie
– Powers: puts
people in stasis/coma with a touch.

Others
(Unnamed):
lasso guy, strong guy.

Louisiana
Svatura

Marcus
–
Relationships: Leader of his tribe, Lila’s friend. Powers: toxic gas.

Stephen
–
Relationships: Marcus’s lieutenant. Powers: Creates steel bands.

Dane
– Powers:
inherited – bear metamorph; received – wolf metamorph.

Seamus
– Powers:
inherited – lava bombs; received – wolf metamorph.

Ariel
–
Relationships: missing, kidnapped by Maddox and taken away. Powers: Nerve
control (removed by Selene).

Others Named
– James –
telepath, Beau – alligator metamorph, Sylvie – creates tornadoes.

Others Unnamed
– pink
bubble-gum blog maker, 2 tiger metamorphs.

Other Characters

Unnamed Timening
(Brazilian Svatura)
– the leader of the tribe, a woman, unnamed.

Gustavo
– Timening
(Brazilian Svatura) who buries people alive.

Unnamed Timening
(Brazilian Svatura)
– anaconda shifter.

Unnamed African
Svatura
– lioness shifter.

Unnamed Russian
Svatura
– freezes (ice) with a touch.