Seduced by Magic (24 page)

She continued her story, explaining how their parents, Moondust and Victor Ashcroft, had been taken hostage by the Fomorii and warlocks. Her voice choked when she mentioned their mother's name, and when she got to the part about Moondust's death, Silver fell apart and so did Copper.

They comforted one another the best they could. When Silver explained her talk with their father, Copper had a hard time believing that their hard-as-nails father had opened up so much. Oh, he loved them, but he wasn't one to show emotion. She couldn't wait to talk to him. The fact that Moondust had been half Elvin was amazing, but when Silver explained how they could move between Earth and Otherworld because they too were part Elvin, Copper shook her head in amazement.

“So it's only a matter of being taught by Cassia how to use the entryways?” Copper asked.

“I've taken Hawk across several times to see his daughter, and to visit his home.”

Copper noticed the way her sister looked every time she spoke Hawk's name. She grinned and interrupted Silver. “You and Hawk have a thing going.”

Silver gave a radiant smile. “I'm in love with him. He can be frustrating and overprotective at times, but he's mine.”

“So he has a daughter?”

“Her name is Shayla, and she is so precious.” Silver's expression grew animated and her tears dried. “She chatters like a little bird. I adore her and she acts the same with me. When Hawk and I are bonded, we'll live part of the time in Otherworld, and part here in San Francisco.”

Silver's smile disappeared and anger filled her voice next. “Once we rid this world of the Fomorii, that is.”

The door opened with a crash that made both sisters jump in their seats and their gazes to shoot toward the door.

Hawk and Tiernan stormed in, both looking furious.

“They were gone.” Hawk scrubbed his hand over his stubbled jaw. “They managed to escape before we made it there.”

Tiernan looked like he wanted to kick something, and Copper was going to jump all over him if he did. Instead he rubbed his hand over his head and the tie holding back his hair slipped off.

His hair immediately sprang up into a blond Afro with braids, and for a moment Hawk and Silver just stared at him. Then Hawk snorted and gave a laugh. Silver started giggling. Copper couldn't help but laugh, too. The big, arrogant warrior looked like he'd been electrocuted. Well, he sort of had been.

Tiernan snarled and snatched the tie off the floor and drew his hair back again.

“The braids,” Hawk said in a choked voice, as if holding back more laughter, “are an especially fine touch.”

Tiernan glared at all of them. “I need to bathe.”

“We have to make up some dandelion shampoo.” Copper grinned at Silver. “Although back in Otherworld, the Faeries may have used some magic to help get rid of the frizzies.”

“Maybe my shampoo will do.” Silver left to go into the bathroom within her bedroom, then returned within moments and handed it to Tiernan. “Let me know if this works.”

While Tiernan stomped out the door to his own apartment, Copper explained the electrified wall that had kept them prisoner and how the Pixies enjoyed teasing Tiernan whenever he tested the barrier. Hawk and Silver laughed out loud as Copper told them about the Brownies clinging to his boots and nipping at his knees while the Pixies added flowers to their hair artwork.

Hawk snorted again while Silver and Copper couldn't stop laughing.

“The big bad warrior with a Pixie Afro and an attitude,” Copper said between giggles.

When they settled down, Copper talked about the Drow and King Garran, and how Tiernan had helped the Elvin warriors battle the giant. “It was thanks to Tiernan,” she said, “that they finally brought him down.”

Tiernan eventually let himself back into the apartment, his wet blond hair subdued but still wavy. He looked clean and refreshed, even if he was grumpy.

“Definitely need dandelion shampoo,” Copper said with a grin and Tiernan scowled.

“I've got to take you downstairs.” Silver smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Everyone will be crazy to see you again. And we need to call Father!”

“I can't wait to talk to him.” Copper looked down at her vine-and-leaf dress. “Can I clean up first? I'm dying for a nice warm bath and
real
clothes!”

Silver was all smiles as they went to her bedroom, and she brought out one of Copper's old chests from under her bed. The smell of cinnamon, spice, and cedar swirled through the air when Copper opened the chest. She smiled at her sister. Silver had put sachets in with the clothing to keep them from smelling musty.

After Silver left the room, Copper dug out her favorite pair of worn jeans, a cropped T-shirt, jogging shoes, a thong, bra, and socks. When those items were piled on the bed, she paused and drew out one of her thigh-high boots and a sexy silk mini-skirt. Wouldn't Tiernan just die to see her dressed to kill?

As she put the skirt and boots back into the trunk, Copper grinned at the thought of being out on the town with Tiernan. Now wouldn't that be interesting?

She stripped out of her vine-and-leaf dress, folded it, and put it into her trunk. She winced from the pain in her foot as she walked to the bathroom. The aged knobs squeaked as she turned on the hot water, and soon the room was filled with warm steam and the sound of water rising in the bathtub.

Copper climbed into the tub, careful to keep her bandaged foot raised on the side of the tub. She closed her eyes and reveled in the warmth of the water as it surrounded her skin. She'd had nothing but icy cold hand baths for so long. And this felt soooo good she didn't want to get out. She shampooed her hair with Silver's lily-scented shampoo, soaped her body, and scrubbed herself with a luffa sponge and lily body gel. She hadn't had a decent bath for ages. Well, over fifteen months according to how long Silver said she'd been missing.

When her fingers and toes started to wrinkle like prunes from being in the water so long, Copper knew she'd better get out. She let the water out of the tub, got up, then grabbed one of Silver's fluffy sea-blue towels and dried herself from head to toe.

It felt so weird putting on clothing. Everything seemed just a tad bigger after her sparse diet over the last year or so. And after wearing just that short little dress all the time, she felt as if she had on too much clothing. No matter, it still felt good.

It did hurt like crazy to pull her shoe over her bandaged
foot, but she was determined. She was a witch and she'd heal very fast, but right now she couldn't help but cringe.

The steam finally cleared from the mirror as Copper blow-dried her hair using her fingers as a comb. She paused. She hadn't seen her own reflection for so long. Her cinnamon eyes stared back at her, her hair was long now, not shoulder-length, and the freckles across her nose seemed lighter. She looked different. A little older. Maybe a little wiser?

She had to snort at that one. Wise—she didn't know about that.

As soon as Copper came out of the bedroom, Silver handed her the telephone. “It's Father. I broke it to him slowly—didn't want him to have a heart attack or anything.”

Copper took the phone, her hand shaking. “Father?”

“By the goddess and the Ancestors.” She heard the tears in Victor Ashcroft's voice. “I have missed you so much, my little witch. It seems but a dream that you are back. That you are real.”

“It's me.” Tears coursed Copper's cheeks. “I missed you so badly. I thought about you and Silver and Mother every single day.”

“As you have never left my thoughts, daughter.” She heard a honking noise and knew her father was blowing his nose. “I must fly out there at once.”

Panic welled up within Copper. She didn't want to take the chance of losing her father—the Fomorii were still in San Francisco. “No. I'll catch a flight and come home. Just give me a week, okay?”

Victor finally gave in, obviously respecting her need for a few days to gather herself before she joined him in Salem.

After her conversation with her father, she found herself being swept down to the new shop, Enchantments, and into the kitchen where she was hugged, exclaimed over, and bombarded with thousands of questions.

She was fed
real
food—cooked by a part Elvin witch named Cassia, and plied with fruit drinks. Everything smelled so good and tasted even better—dumplings, ambrosia salad, asparagus with toasted pine nuts, honey-nut bread, and so much more.

By the time she had finished eating, her head was spinning and she was so exhausted she could hardly keep her eyes open. Cassia seemed to be the one in charge and she told Tiernan to take Copper upstairs and put her to bed. Tiernan scooped her up and she gave a squeal, then insisted she could walk on her own. But with Silver leading the way, she was taken from the shop to the apartment building and into a vacant apartment with a wonderfully soft bed.

When Tiernan left for his own apartment next door, she wanted to fall facefirst onto the bed and pass out, but Silver insisted on helping her get out of her clothes first. She was wrapped up in a nice satiny robe and then put to bed like a child and tucked in.

The last thing she heard was Silver's voice saying, “Don't you dare leave me again, Copper.”

Copper snuggled into her pillow and murmured, “Don't worry, I won't,” before everything faded away.

She was in the passageway. Walls crowded in on her as she moved. Smells of damp earth, sulfur, and the stench of rotten fish crawled up her nose. She sniffed again. Wolfsbane, too.

Down, down, down the tunnel she walked. She kept waiting for the blood to come rushing toward her, but all her wand light showed was more of the passageway ahead.

Confidence rose within her. This wasn't so bad. Nothing she couldn't handle. She was a witch.

She frowned. Ahead of her was a corner, red light bleeding around the turn, blending with her golden wand light and turning her light to a foul shade of crimson. Was that—was that a being with flames for hair?

No. That was crazy. Nothing was there.

Yet her confidence drained away, and her heart jumped back into her throat.

When she rounded the corner she came up short. She was on a narrow pathway. Below her was a massive cavern with stalagmites and stalactites jutting from ceiling and floor. She'd never seen such an incredibly huge place.
The walls were hewn of rough stone that glistened in the now red light of her wand. The entire cavern was bathed in red light.

She started down the pathway. The trail was smooth and her jogging shoes didn't make a sound as she crept forward.

This place was old. So very, very old.

Her journey seemed to last forever. She walked. Walked. Walked.

Goddess, why was it taking her so long?

And there! Those dark shapes again. She knew what they were.
Knew
it. So why couldn't she quite grasp it?

The shapes blended with the darkness and she pressed ahead.

Finally she came closer to a massive stone door. An ancient door that had stood for thousands and thousands of years—she didn't know how she knew, but she did.

Red light seeped from cracks around the door, the same red light that filled the cavern and blended with her wand light.

Intense pressure emanated from the door—as if something were fighting against it and trying to get out. The mere thought made her skin crawl. Whatever it was, she couldn't allow it to be freed.

She gripped her wand tighter. Her heart pounded faster. What could she do?

Her gaze moved to the floor and she saw that she was standing in a circle. A circle ringed by a larger circle. Within the two, crude runes were etched into the stone floor. Familiar runes, but nothing like the spiritual language of the trees, the
Ogham
. Nor were they as beautiful as Elvin or Fae runes.

No. These were evil.

And then her gaze dropped to see what was beneath her very feet. She was standing on an eye. A lidless eye. It was moving, glowing a deep red.

Her breathing came shallower. Her limbs weakened. She wavered, felt herself begin to lose consciousness. Through her hazy gaze she stared at the eye . . .

The red of the eye was blood.

And the eye was draining that blood from her.

Copper screamed out loud. When she stopped, her breathing came hard and heavy and the darkness seemed oppressive. The dream—it had been even more terrifying than the times before.

Dazed, she expected to see the rock of her shelter above her, feel rock beneath her along with the dried grass, vine, and leaf bedding.

But no . . . she was in a soft bed, wrapped in clean sheets that were twisted around her as if she'd tossed and turned in her sleep.

Relief flooded her. She was home! She was in San Francisco.

Yet that knowledge did little to push away the fears still gripping her from the dream.

She was in the strange apartment that Silver had arranged for her to live in. Even though she was happy to be back where she belonged, she felt so alone. A strange thought occurred to her. It was the first time in a long while that she had woken without Tiernan's body fitted snugly around her like she had every night in the shelter in the Otherworld prison.

A knock sounded at the front door, startling Copper. She sat up in bed and her heart beat a little faster. The clock beside the bed said two
A.M
. Who could it be?

The knock again, this time louder.

Copper stumbled from the bed, almost tripping in the tangle of sheets, and hurting her bandaged foot a little. She managed to rid herself of the sheets and sleepily staggered from the apartment's bedroom to the front door. She
peeked out the peephole and saw Tiernan in the lighted hallway.

A rush of pleasure came out of nowhere, and she quickly unlocked the door.

He pushed his way through and grabbed her by the upper arms. “Are you all right?” he asked, the dim light from the hallway showing concern on his features. “I heard you scream.”