Hyacinth (25 page)

Selene ignored
him. Instead, she desperately searched for a sign of a power in use anywhere
around where Griffin should be. Something was wrong. And Griffin wasn’t talking
to her anymore.

Realization
smacked into her almost like a physical blow. Her gaze flew to Maddox. “Your
blocker still has his power.”

He crowded in
closer, and Selene realized her mistake at the last minute - letting him get too
close. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Yes, though just barely. And I
really can’t have you around ruining my best people, love.”

Pain, sharp and
ragged, sliced through Selene’s abdomen. As Maddox stepped back, she looked
down to see the blade of his knife sliding out of her. Lila gasped. Selene
looked up and caught Maddox’s smug smile just before he disappeared from sight.

Selene sank to
her knees, her strength seeping out of her body along with the blood. Lila knelt
beside her.

“Block the
pain,” Selene told her as she pressed her hand to the oozing wound.

“What? We have
to get my dad!”

“Block … the … pain.”
Selene gritted through her teeth.

“Fine,” Lila
grunted, clearly unhappy. A numb feeling washed through Selene’s body.

The relief gave
her a small amount of strength. Selene pulled her mind into herself, bolstering
her power. She’d fought this blocker before. She concentrated on creating a
small bubble of space in the dungeons and then moved that bubble…searching….calling
for Griffin.

“Selene,”
she suddenly
heard Griffin’s voice.
“Where’d you go?”

“Get out of
there now… The blocker. He’s there somewhere.”
Despite the
pain control from Lila, Selene could feel herself growing weaker. Griffin’s
voice sounded in her mind, but it was as though he were a long way away, down a
tunnel maybe. She could barely make out his words.

“Lila, you’ve
got to get them out of there,” Selene insisted.

She sank back
against the wall. Then she suddenly felt a surge of power move through her and
then out of her. Selene opened heavy lidded eyes and glanced at Lila.

“Your eyes are
glowing,” Selene mumbled. Her lips felt glued to her teeth.

As soon as he’d
entered the dungeons, Griffin could feel something was wrong. He reached out
with his telepathy, only to be greeted by silence.

“Stay close,
Ellie,” he murmured in a low voice.

“I feel it, too,”
she said. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure.” Griffin’s
gaze swiveled from side to side as they moved deeper into the long hallway
lined with doors. Cautiously, they glanced in each room but found each one empty.

“Try bolstering
my power,” Griffin suggested.

He felt his
sister’s small hand slip into his. And then nothing.

“Not good. Can
you hear anyone?” Ellie asked.

“Griffin!”
The sound of
Selene’s voice blasted into his mind.

Griffin winced.
“Selene?
Where’d you go?”

“Get out of
there now… The blocker. He’s there somewhere.”

“Get Charlotte,”
he called back,
but her presence was already fading.

Griffin tugged
on Ellie’s hand. “Move!”

Together they
ran back toward the door they’d entered through. Just as they were nearing the
exit, a mammoth, misshapen thing
s
tepped into their path. They couldn’t
tell if it was a man or some sort of metamorph. Ellie and Griffin skidded to a
halt and started to back up carefully.

“Any bright
ideas?” Griffin whispered to Ellie.

Suddenly a wave
of power, almost like a jolt of electricity, pulsed through the entire castle.
Griffin and Ellie were knocked to the ground. When they looked up, the giant
was gone, and Griffin could hear Lila calling him.

“Selene’s hurt.
Come quick.”

Griffin and
Ellie jumped to their feet. They’d started to move toward the door again when a
small sound caught his attention. Ellie must’ve heard it too, because she
stopped and turned.

“I think
someone’s down here,” she whispered.

They hurried as
quickly as they could, searching each cell. Griffin’s focus stayed with Selene
the entire time. Finally, they opened a door and found a woman huddled in a
corner, filthy and shivering from cold.

Griffin gently
picked her up in his arms.
“Charlotte, we need you,”
he called.

“Just a second.
I’m getting Hugh to Selene,”
she replied.

A few seconds
later, Charlotte silently appeared beside them in the cell.

“Where to?”

“Get us to Hugh.
I think this woman needs help,” Ellie directed.

With a nod,
Charlotte placed her hands on them, and then they were standing in the middle
of the Council’s chambers. Griffin could see Hugh bent over someone on the
floor. The second he realized who it was, Griffin passed the woman he was
holding off to Alex. Then he was kneeling beside Selene before he’d even made
the conscious decision to move.

“What happened?
Is she all right?” Alex asked.

“Maddox stabbed
her,” a distraught Lila told him.

“It’s all right.”
Hugh’s calm authority kept Griffin from becoming unhinged. “Nothing I can’t
handle. Just give me a few minutes.”

The room
remained shrouded in a tense silence as everyone watched Hugh work. After ten
miserable minutes, Selene opened her eyes. With a little help, she sat up.

Selene rubbed at
where the knife had slid into her stomach. She grinned at Hugh. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

Selene looked around
the room. “Have they gone?”

Hugh nodded.
“Vanished.”

She said nothing…
only held out a hand to be helped to her feet. “Desmond is against the wall
over there. Please help him,” she said to Hugh.

“Do we know how
many we lost? Who’s hurt?”

“Still
tallying,” Alex said.

Selene frowned
and then glanced over at where Hugh was still working on Desmond. “Hugh, please
do what you can for the injured. Ellie can you—?”

Ellie nodded. “I
can help him move through everyone more quickly.”

“Who’s this?” Selene
moved to the injured woman Griffin had carried in earlier. Selene crouched down
beside her and took her wrist to feel for her pulse.

“We found her in
the dungeons,” Ellie explained. “Do you know her?”

Selene shook her
head. “No.”

“I do.” Dexter
had just arrived with Charlotte. By the sound of his voice, something had
severely shaken him. Selene looked over her shoulder to see that he was as
white as a sheet.

“Who is she?”

Dexter sank down
on the floor beside them.

“My mother.”

Selene sat on
her throne – her back straight, her hands draped elegantly along the arms of
the chair. Her father had once received dignitaries from other tribes in this
room. Now it was her turn. Although where the doors had previously been, now
there was a giant gaping hole from the day’s attacks.

Before her stood
Marcus, Stephen, and James. Surrounding them throughout the chamber were the
rest of the Louisiana tribe, Griffin and his entire family, the Vyusher High
Council, and many other Vyusher who had fought that day.

Marcus swept
Selene an old-fashioned bow. “Having witnessed your past, we are now in
agreement that those who were truly responsible for the attacks against us have
paid with their lives and are gone. Having fought side-by-side with you against
Maddox and his assailants, we hope we’ve proven our trustworthiness. We will
withdraw, of course. But first we would prefer to negotiate a treaty of peace
between our tribes.”

Lucy says their
intentions are true,
Griffin’s voice sounded in her head. She glanced at where he stood and gave him
a tiny nod. She turned her attention back to Marcus.

“Thank you,”
Selene accepted simply. “Peace is what we wish for as well. I couldn’t ask you
to join us as allies, but would you consider speaking on our behalf should
other tribes attack?”

“My Lady,”
Xavier interrupted, but stopped when she held up an imperious hand.

Marcus nodded. “Of
course. It’s the least we could do. However, I also believe that we are already
in danger. I’m guessing that if Maddox doesn’t know that we helped you today,
he’ll find out eventually. We would like to call on the Vyusher powers and
numbers for protection when, or if, we ever need support.”

Selene sighed.
“I appreciate your honesty. And our protection is something we will absolutely
offer. Why don’t you all stay for a little while so that we can take the time
needed to form a treaty that will, hopefully, benefit us all?”

Marcus rubbed
the stubble in his jaw. “We wouldn’t want to impose.”

“I have an
idea,”
Selene heard Ellie’s voice in her head.

Selene’s eyes
moved to where her friend stood a few feet off to the right. “Ellie? You have a
suggestion?”

“My
te’sorthene
and I planned to be married in the very near future and this castle would be
such a lovely setting we’ve decided to have the wedding here. With Selene’s
permission, of course. We would consider it an honor if you and your clan would
join us as our guests.” She flicked a glance at Selene, who gave her a mental
thumbs-up. “You can also spend that time negotiating the treaty.”

Selene peeked
over at where Alex stood, a huge grin spread across his face. She turned back
to Marcus and was pleased to see him smiling as well.

“We would be
happy to stay and help Rene’s grandson celebrate such a momentous occasion,” he
said. “Although I do have to say that attending a wedding was definitely not
what we had in mind when we came here.”

Laughter – part
amused, part relieved – echoed through the hall.

“Come…” Selene gracefully
stood and offered him her arm. “Let’s find you all places to stay.

“Do you have
enough room for all of us?” he asked, as he walked with her into the hallway.

Selene laughed. “It’s
a very large castle,” she assured him.

*****

“Selene?” Lila’s
voice sounded from behind her.

Selene was
seated at the large oak desk in her bedroom. She looked up. “Come in.”

Lila poked her
head around the door. “Hi.”

“Hey, Lila. How
are you?” Selene waved her further into the room. She watched her closely.
Something was off with Lila, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what.

“I’m fine.” Lila
closed the door behind her and walked over. Peeking at the Selene’s computer
screen, she wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. I thought you’d finally wrapped that
treaty up?”

“We have. I’m
just reading through the final draft.” Selene passed a weary hand over her
eyes.

On top of
helping Ellie plan the wedding on short notice, Selene had been occupied with
sorting through the aftermath of the fighting. Funerals had to be arranged and
many hours spent negotiating not just peace, but a coalition, with their new
allies. Thank goodness she’d decided against summer school—one less thing to
deal with right now. And, of course, there was still Maddox…

“Still no luck
finding Maddox?” Lila asked.

 “When did you
start reading minds?” Selene sat back, grinned and shook her head. “Nope…no
luck just yet. Sheila’s having trouble tracking them down.”

“What does the Council
say?”

“They have no
idea where he would’ve gone or what his next move will be. We can’t even figure
out what they took. Finding Dexter’s mother in those cells implies there were
others with her and they took them. But no one here knew anything about any
prisoners down there. It’s a waiting game now. At least we’re gathering
allies.” She waved a hand at her computer screen.

“Speaking of
Dexter’s mom,” Selene continued, “How is she doing?”

“Fine.
Considering she’s lost decades of memory.”

Not even Griffin
and Ellie together had been able to unlock her mind. She had no memory of her
life after her capture – at least they assumed she was captured – by the
Vyusher. She definitely had no memory of how she’d ended up in those dungeons.
It was a mystery Selene feared they’d never solve.

“How about we
talk about something happier? Why did you come visit me?”

“I’m afraid I’m
here about one of our other mysteries.” Lila frowned. “Sorry.”

Selene laughed.
“Well, I needed a break from all this legalese anyway.” She stood up and
followed Lila out of the room. “What’s this about?”