River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (38 page)

Memories of those first
two weeks together swallowed her momentarily. They had hit it off
instantly, a bond created between them from the moment they had
met. A lot of those memories included laughter, lots of
laughter.

“
You know I
haven’t asked anyone about that faerie.” Jaeden shuddered at the
thought of her. “No one seems to want to bring it up. What was it
like, Cy?”

Caia turned back to her
with tears shimmering in eyes that blazed with hatred and anger.
“It was shocking and heinous. She was you, Jaeden. She must have
watched you for weeks, memorising your mannerisms, the way you
laughed...”

Jaeden gulped
at the thought of that
ghoul
pretending to be her, sleeping in her bed,
wearing her clothes, laughing with her friends. “No one had any
clue?”

“
None
whatsoever. It was Saffron, Marion’s faerie - she felt her in the
house, knew she wasn’t...”

“
Me.”

“
Yes,” Caia
answered hollowly. “Then I started getting the visions of you
through Ethan’s eyes.”

That someone had paid
witness to the scars on her soul was difficult for her to deal
with, but looking at Caia’s pained expression, the fury in her eyes
that was there for Jaeden because she genuinely cared, made it a
little easier to cope with. “Ryder told me you saw
everything.”

Caia nodded, blinking back
tears. “I am so sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”

“
Don’t be,”
Jaeden bit out, “You didn’t give up. That’s what
matters.”

“
I didn’t
save Sebastian.”

Like always his name set
off a fire of grief in Jaeden’s chest, her breathing laboured and
her throat burned with unshed tears. He had been her best friend
and he had died trying to protect her.

“
Sebastian
would have found a way to be there with or without you bringing him
along. I was his best friend and he did what either one of us would
have done for him.”

Caia choked on a broken
sob. “I miss him.”

She swiped at her own
tears. “I miss him too. But I’m glad you had each other through it
all.”

After a moment of silence,
one that now felt a little easier between them, Caia reached across
and squeezed her hand. “Thank you for believing in me. For being
willing to fight for me. It means more than you can know.” She
choked letting go of her hand. “I thought I was going to be doing
this all alone. You’ve all surprised me.”

Jaeden chuckled
humourlessly. “Well there are more surprises to come.”

“
Meaning?”

She braced herself.
“Something happened to me because of Ethan’s... torture of
me.”

Caia went on alert
instantly. “What?”

Just get it
over with; if anyone is going to understand feeling like a freak...
Cy has to be that person.

“
I have
telekinetic abilities.” And with that she concentrated on a plant
pot Ella had placed by the porch stairs and willed it to fly past
them and smash against the nearest tree.

She took a little
satisfaction in surprising Caia, her jaw dropping as the ceramic
lay in pieces, the plant pulp on the ground. And then her face
tightened with worry and she turned back to Jaeden with growing
panic in her eyes.

“
I think I
know who tried to kidnap you.”

***

“
I can’t
believe this.” Lucien ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the
ends viciously. “This is insane.”

Caia couldn’t believe it
either. She had called Lucien out from the house and had refused to
tell Jaeden anything until they had gathered at Ryder’s apartment.
Caia had insisted Laila and Vil be present as well. The six of them
sat staring at each other, the atmosphere thick with tension and a
terrible foreboding.

“
Caia, are
you sure?”

She shook her
head frantically. “No, I’m not sure. But Mordecai was very
interested in Jaeden, and then I overheard him and Marita
discussing Jaeden’s
‘abilities’ before
they bugged my room. They kept mentioning your abilities in
relation to the fact that the ‘children weren’t reacting in any
way’.”

“
It’s true,”
Lucien added in a defeated voice.

“
And you
think it’s because she knows about my telekinetic abilities?”
Jaeden asked angrily.

“
She has
trace,” Lucien replied.

She has trace,
yes, but not like mine. She tapped into Jaeden’s trace to find out
what she was up to – the illegal rogue hunting. When there, she
must have found out that Jaeden had telekinetic abilities because
Ethan had tortured her.

The mention of her trace,
however, made Caia’s heart pump rapidly. “Guys, Marita is keeping
tabs on everyone close to me.”

Ryder frowned. “What do
you mean?”

“
She told me
her trace isn’t like mine. It’s not as advanced.”

“
There’s a
surprise,” Jaeden muttered teasingly.

“
No, this is
bad, people, very bad. To find someone in Daylight Marita has to
tap into that person specifically. She’ll be watching me, through
you. I had Lucien on alert, he’s blocking himself from her, but I
didn’t think about you guys.”

Laila’s delicate eye brows
puckered into a frown. “What does this mean?”

“
No!” Lucien
shot out of his chair, his eyes filled with worry. “She
knows!”

Caia had to fight with
herself not to cry in frustration as she nodded jerkily.

“
What?” Ryder
and Jaeden were panicking. “What does she know?”

“
We have to
believe that Marita knows, through you two, about my plans to go to
the Council,” Caia explained. “I can’t wait around for their next
meeting.” She turned to Vil who suddenly looked flustered by the
attention. “Vil, you have to take me to Alfred Doukas
now.”

“
What, Caia,
wait.” Lucien crossed the room to her, taking her by the arm. She
felt his grip on her tighten, his eyes boring into her with fear.
“That could end up being a trap. I won’t let you risk
it.”

“
Who is
Alfred Doukas when he’s at home?” Jaeden asked.

Caia peered around Lucien
to answer her, “He’s a Council member I met at the Centre. We hit
it off.”

“
Caia.”
Lucien shook her. “Please, don’t do this.”

She reached up to wrap a
hand around his neck, drawing him down to place a soft kiss on his
lips. “I have to,” she whispered as she pulled away.

“
What if I
say no?”

“
Lucien. You
know this is our only plan now. Think of the pack. If Marita knows,
she could hold the whole pack as traitors to the Coven.”

“
Then I’m
going with you.”

“
You can’t.
Vil hasn’t even tried travelling with
one
other person before.”

“
All the more
reason for you not to do this.”

“
Stop
thinking like my mate and start thinking like this pack’s
Alpha.”

He growled in frustration
and jerked away from her to make his way over to Ryder, who placed
a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“
Vil, are you
ready to do this?” She asked, trying to appear as calm as possible.
Inside she felt as if all her nerves had snapped and her body was
barely holding it together. This was it, this was really happening,
she was really going to do this.

The Traveller had gone as
sickly looking as she felt, but he nodded determinedly. He glanced
around at everyone staring at him and tried to shrug it off as he
turned to Laila, cupping her face in his hands. “I’ll be right back
for you, I promise.”

Laila smiled sweetly at
him and reached up to press a kiss on his lips. “I’m proud of you,”
she whispered back.

Caia held her hand out to
him and he reluctantly let go of his girlfriend and strode towards
her, enfolding his cool hand in hers.

“
Good luck,
Cy,” Jaeden offered quietly.

She nodded gratefully and
squeezed Vil’s hand. “Ready, partner.”

“
Alfred
Doukas?”

“
The very
one.”

Vil blew out his breath
between his lips, readying himself. “OK-”

“
Wait!”
Lucien snapped. He looked ready to bust someone apart. “You better
get back here pronto or I will kill you.”

She grinned at him, trying
to appear confident. “I love you too.”

His face, along with the
rest of the room, suddenly streamed past her in a blur of colour
and movement, her stomach plummeted, and she felt as if she had no
control over her body. The only thing she could feel was the tight
grip of Vil’s hand. And then it stopped just as abruptly as it had
begun, and she found herself losing balance and falling into Vil’s
arms.

“
Are you OK?”
He asked frantically.

She shook her head trying
to clear it and clambered to straighten up. When she did she heard
the gasps and the spluttering coming from behind them. Vil tensed,
and Caia turned around in his arms to face Alfred Doukas, and what
she imagined must be his family. He sat at the head of a grand
dining table; men, women and children sitting around it with him,
eating their dinner. She barely registered the expensive but
old-fashioned decor of the room because Alfred Doukas was gaping at
her like a fish out of water.

“
What...
who...” a plump woman at the opposite end of the table was throwing
down her napkin, glaring at Caia and Vil as if they were
vagabonds.

“
Mr Doukas.”
Caia rushed forward and he pushed away from the table, his face
creased in concern.

“
Miss
Ribeiro... what on Gaia’s earth...?”

“
Please, Mr
Doukas, I must speak with you alone.”

Seeming to understand the
urgency, he assured his family everything was alright, and led Caia
out of the dining room and down a dark wood-panelled hallway to his
study. He turned on her as Vil shut the door behind
them.

“
What is
going on?”

Here goes
nothing
.

“
Mr Doukas, I
need you to call an emergency meeting of the Council.
Now.”

He paled.
“Why?”

“
Because I
mean to ask them for the right to run against Marita for Head of
the Coven.”

He stumbled back, his hand
going to his forehead, his eyes disbelieving. “You can’t be
serious.”

Please believe
me, please.

“
I am quite
serious. I believe that Marita is no longer the right person for
the job. Please, I’ll explain everything... to all of
you.”

“
Her family
have been Coven Heads for four generations. They are the Heads
because her great-grandmother uncovered the treacherousness of the
previous Head. You will have a hard time convincing the Council
that someone of her illustrious family name isn’t cut out for the
job?”

“
This is
extremely important. Please, I will explain...”

He gazed at her sternly
for what seemed like forever and then he nodded. “Fine. It best be
now before Marita catches wind of it.”

Shrugging up the sleeve of
his jacket, Alfred pressed one of the tiny buttons on his watch and
it made a beeping noise. He looked up to find Caia and Vil gazing
at him quizzically. “The watch was made in magik. All of the
Council members have one. When one of us wishes to meet we press
this button and the others’ watches beep to signal the
request.”

Caia was impressed. “The
CIA would love that.”

Alfred chuckled nervously.
“Yes well, they have their own little gadgets.”

Before Caia could reply
the room began to fill up with magiks she had never met before.
Penelope appeared beside Alfred and she smiled at Caia in
acknowledgement. The others glared and frowned at her and
Vil.

“
What is the
meaning of this?” One tall, elegant, male magik strode past her to
Alfred.

“
Is this
everyone?” Alfred searched the room. There were nine of them,
including Alfred and Penelope. “Very well, ladies and gentleman
I’ve called you here par the request of this young lady.” He
gestured to Caia. She felt their attention on her like burning
coals under her feet. She hopped back to distance herself from
them. The power emanating from them all together was unlike
anything she had ever encountered. These people were strong and
old. And they meant business. The nine of them filed into a line in
front of Alfred’s desk.

“
Is this who
I think it is?” a waifish female asked, her sharp eyes drinking
Caia in with fascination.

“
This is Caia
Ribeiro, yes.”

A murmur rippled through
them like one. It was really quite disconcerting.

“
And why do
you wish to see us, Miss Ribeiro?” Penelope asked her
warmly.

Be cool, be
confident... be persuasive.