T*Witches: Destiny's Twins (11 page)

Cam focused her laser glare on the two-timing — make that four-timing, she thought — boy’s hands. Narrowing her metallic-gray eyes, she sent another searing jolt of heat to his fist.

Stubbornly, stupidly, Shane clung to the sword. His face turned bloodred. The sweat that had pasted his scorched hair to his skull increased. It rained down his straining face, soaking his shirt and torn vest.

Even as wisps of smoke curled from his hands, he kept trying to bring the sword down on them. Caught in Alex’s gaze, the weapon was slowly turning back on itself. It looked more like a scythe than a sword now. Its shape, fittingly as far as Alex was concerned, was reminiscent of a curved quarter moon.

“Shane,” Cam said quietly and calmly. “The battle is over. Thantos is not the true leader of the DuBaer family —”

“And, if I read Karsh’s journal right,” Alex explained,
“it was only the male leaders that Antayus sons were sworn to kill.”

“So, whoops, your bad,” Cam added. “Killing us won’t fulfill anything.”

Alex brightened. “Whereas
our
saving your miserable carcasses
does
.” She turned toward Cam, gesturing for them to leave the baddies behind.

“You’re right! We did it!” Cam exulted. “We helped those who deserved no forgiveness.”

“Now don’t forget,” Alex looked back and shook her finger at Thantos and Shane, who both wore identical expressions of disbelief. “It’s not nice to bite the hand that freed you!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE RECKONING

“Well, well,” Rhianna greeted them as they arrived at the Unity Dome on Saturday morning. She motioned them forward. “Do you have any idea what you did?”

Yesterday, a line like that coming from the feisty Elder would have set off a stress attack. Today, the hard-to-please old witch was wearing a hundred-watt smile.

“We did what we were supposed to do?” Alex guessed.

She glanced over her shoulder at Ileana, who’d been trying to hide a grin all morning. As opposed to Miranda, who sat beside their guardian, inexplicably teary and honking into her handkerchief.

Neither woman had explained her over-the-top emotions that morning. And Alex and Cam had learned not to ask.

The crowd that ranged around the stadium was bigger than yesterday by two. Thantos, his cheek scarred, now sat in the family section. And between the couple who were obviously his parents was Shane, his burnt hair neatly trimmed.

The buff blond boy looked glum compared to his parents. They, too, had caught happy fever. They were watching the twins with expressions of glowing gratitude.

“And a great deal more!” Lord Grivveniss chimed in when they turned back to the Unity Council. The gangling old warlock also looked delighted — but then, he usually did.

Lady Fan leaned far over the judge’s bench so that she could see and be seen by the twins. “You ended a blight on our community!” she announced.

“Well, good,” Cam said. She and Alex looked at each other, mystified.

For the first time that morning, Rhianna displayed irritation. “Apolla and Artemis, don’t you understand? A DuBaer, in this case two, saving the life of an Antayus, has broken the Antayus curse.”

“Cool,” Cam said, trying to be discreet as she glanced at her watch. “So … should we get started on today’s stuff?”

“She’s nervous about making it back in time. Emily, our … Marble Bay mother-type,” Alex confided, “is throwing this ‘surprise’ sweet sixteen soiree for us —”

“Oh, yes. Happy birthday, Apolla and Artemis!” Grivveniss cried out enthusiastically.

Like tag-team disapprovers, Rhianna and Lady Fan each raised an eyebrow at him and shook their heads.

“She’s been so good to me — to us,” Cam said. “And she’s so excited about this party, and —”

“Right,” Lady Rhianna broke in. “Let’s get started, then.” She cleared her throat and changed her tone. “Are the Elders ready?” she called out commandingly. In the first row, heads nodded. Voices answered, “Of course,” “Yes,” “Certainly.”

“Oh, you’re going to like this, I think.” Lord Grivveniss shivered with pleasure. “Nothing to do. Just stand here and listen.”

One by one, the Exalted Elders came forward to address the twins. Each told of the good Alex and Cam had done, separately and together, on and off the island. The deeds went back to childhood, when a premonition of Cam’s saved Beth’s life, and Alex befriended Lucinda, who’d been a lonely outcast in grade school.

After the first dozen recitations, Alex was blushing furiously but, despite herself, was still eating it up. Cam became increasingly jittery and had to work hard to concentrate on what was being said instead of how long it was taking.

There were still several old-timers waiting their turns when Rhianna surprised everyone by calling a halt to the “Witnessing of the Good,” as it was called.

“With your permission,” she said to the twins, “we can proceed to the final activity.”

Thrilled, Cam lost it. “You go, girl,” she told the imposing witch.

Rhianna didn’t blink. “In keeping with tradition, those witches and warlocks with whom you have come in contact during the Initiation period have also been viewed,” she announced. “Their behavior and obedience to the rules have been evaluated. As have your own. Your last task is to complete your relationships with them.”

Grivveniss was studying a long document. “The renegade witch Sersee … and, oh, Amaryllis, as well. I think we can consider them to have been fairly dealt with,” he decided. “Shane Antayus.” He turned to Rhianna. “I’d say they’re more than finished with him.”

Rhianna gave a curt nod.

“Fredo DuBaer … He’s to return to the Peninsula,” the still-smiling old man continued.

“Let’s make short work of this,” Lady Fan interrupted, snatching the list out of Lord Grivveniss’s pale hands. “The only one left is Thantos DuBaer. He has been viewed and found in contempt of Coventry’s creed and spirit. Let’s see …” She studied the paper. “Turning against his nieces after they rescued him. Telling their mother that they were dead?!” The short old witch’s eyes blazed. “That alone qualifies him. And there’s more here … too much more. Taking away their birthright… Oh, yes, and the years he denied and neglected his only child, their guardian, Lady Ileana —”

“Goddess,” Rhianna corrected her colleague. “She prefers that title.”

“Goddess?! Never heard that one before.” Grivveniss laughed merrily.

“If it was good enough for Lord Karsh, it is good enough for this council,” Rhianna said firmly. “Lady Fan, you are right and wise. Far too much treachery has been visited on Apolla and Artemis DuBaer by their uncle. It is fitting now that they decide his fate.”

Thantos jumped up. “How dare you?” he shouted. “I did what I did only to save this family. I alone held it together after their father’s untimely death. I have managed their fortune and kept up their home. Have you any idea what it’s cost me to take care of that drafty stone
fortress? Or how much I paid, year after year, to keep their mother safe and well, to get her the care she desperately needed?”

“I wouldn’t have needed it if you hadn’t led me to believe that my children were dead!” Miranda stood suddenly and slapped her brother-in-law’s face.

Thantos gasped and held his cheek. She had struck him where Shane’s sword had left its mark yesterday.

“Enough,” Lady Rhianna called. “Apolla and Artemis, you have been told that what you choose shows who you are. Your choices and actions define your character. You are now in the position of making a powerful and perilous decision. According to our laws and rules, you must decide what is to become of Lord Thantos DuBaer.”

Still holding his stinging cheek, Thantos stood. “I’ve tried to protect you for years. If that meddlesome old warlock Karsh had not carried you away from Coventry the day you were born, I would have treated you as my own daughters!”

Cam and Alex glanced quickly at Ileana. Her father’s lie was so outrageous that their guardian had burst out laughing.

“You
did
treat us like your own daughter,” Alex said.

Cam finished her sister’s thought. “You wanted us out of your way, too!”

“You were as scared of us as you were of Ileana!” Alex added.

Ileana’s mother had been an Antayus. Fearing that his child might somehow trigger the Antayus curse, Thantos had abandoned his daughter when she was an infant.

“You
are
like her,” the furious tracker muttered under his breath. “Ungrateful spawn, all of you.”

Rhianna, who’d taken offense at Thantos calling her dear friend Karsh “meddlesome,” had let the twins vent. Now, slamming her fist down, she called for silence. “Lord Thantos! You know the procedure. You are obliged to stand before the Initiates!”

After a moment’s hesitation, a moment when it looked as if he was going to storm out of the dome, their uncle drew himself up to his fearsome full height and made his way across the row. Fredo, the brother he had used and abused for years, was the last family member he had to get by.

Alex heard “Have a good trip,” followed by a high-pitched giggle. Cam spotted Fredo sticking his foot out. A split second later, Thantos stumbled and tumbled down the aisle, ending up sprawled at their feet.

Half the stadium gasped. The other half chuckled. Lady Rhianna’s jaw rippled as she held back her own laughter. “You may stand, Lord Thantos,” she announced.

As he got to his feet and dusted himself off with as
much dignity as he could muster, Lady Rhianna said, “Apolla and Artemis. The Council has viewed that you are wise. We have also found that your uncle Lord Thantos DuBaer owes you profound amends. Weigh your decision well. You must decide what to do with him — banishment or death or —”

“To banish me from my home, from Crailmore, from the land where my ancestors are buried,
is
death!” Thantos broke in theatrically.

Kinda over the top,
Cam telegraphed Alex.

An Oscar-worthy rant,
her sister granted. She’d had no problem reading the hulking tracker’s mind. It was the fortune he’d stashed at Crailmore and in the haunted caves beneath the island that he was afraid of losing.

“Kill me — rather than send me away from Coventry forever!” he passionately declared.

Cam shook her head.
What a performance. Next to big bucks, the unc
loves
an audience.

Especially one that cowers and cringes as it claps. The big guy feeds on fear and attention,
Alex agreed.
Gotta have it twenty-four/seven
—

Now there’s an idea!
Cam said, stoked.

Rhianna cleared her throat. “I thought you girls had —”

“Elsewhere to be?” Cam blurted. “We do, your Ladyship. And I think we’ve got a plan. Right?” she asked Alex.

“Call it a compromise,” Alex suggested. “We’re definitely opposed to killing our uncle.”

“Or letting anyone else do it,” Cam said, trying not to look at Shane. “And Crailmore is so not our dream house. So —”

“Thantos can stay there. He can live here on Coventry —”

“But he’s gonna be …” Cam looked at Alex, checking it out one last time. Alex nodded. “Ignored,” Cam finished.

Thantos blinked at them, not getting it. “Ignored?”

Rhianna thought about it for a moment, then beamed. Lord Grivveniss looked around the arena to see if everyone understood. “They do,” Lady Fan assured him. “All but Lord Thantos —”

Their uncle was laughing with relief. Arms outstretched, he turned to take in the crowd, circling the stadium for a victory lap.

As he approached, row after row, tier by tier, the witches and warlocks of Coventry stood and turned their backs on him.

By the time he reached the family row, the triumphant smile had slipped from his face. “Miranda,” he pleaded, “you know I never meant you harm.”

Without a word, Alex and Cam’s mother stood and turned her back on him. And so did Fredo, chortling.

Last of all was Ileana, the daughter he’d deserted and disparaged. The child who’d never existed for him, who might just as well have been buried with her mother, who’d died at her birth.

“Ileana.” Thantos swallowed hard, looked down, took a deep breath. Even now the words were hard for him to say. “I’m sorry.” He spat it out quickly, shuddering afterward as if it had been a bitter pill he’d had to swallow. “I acknowledge you as my true daughter. From this day, I will love, cherish, and protect you.”

Ileana had waited a lifetime to hear those words.

Alex and Cam held their breath as they watched her. They could feel their throats tighten, their eyes sting with waiting tears.

Ileana stood and turned her back.

There was no one left for him to plead with, except for Cam and Alex. He turned to them, his features distorted with anger and fear. “Apolla, Artemis. We are of the same noble blood —”

Cam and Alex gazed at him with pity — and then turned their backs.

When and how he left the Unity Dome, no one knew. But when Lady Rhianna cleared her throat, the twins turned back around and saw that Thantos DuBaer had gone.

*        *        *

“W-I-T-C-H!” Alex spelled it out. Her face half hidden by her silver hood, she was sitting at the edge of the ferry dock. Her robe was bunched up in her lap; her bare feet swung inches above the choppy waters of Lake Superior. “Do you get it?” she marveled, studying the parchment sheet Lady Rhianna had presented to her.

Gripping her rolled-up scroll, Cam was pacing, glancing impatiently at her watch. They were waiting for Ileana, because Alex had to have her steel-toed, lace-up boots before she’d leave for home. “Yes, I know. Very cool,” Cam answered impatiently. “Wisdom. Intuition. Trust. Courage. Honesty. It spells
witch.
But I still don’t see why you got more trust points than me. You’re the most suspicious person I know. You don’t trust anyone —”

“Maybe it’s because
I
trust that you’ll get to your birthday blowout on time, while
you
are having a meltdown over it,” Alex noted. “Anyway, the Council gave you more stones in courage than I got — which is radically off. You’re the total squeamish sista. But who cares?”

“I care,” Cam snapped. “It took a lot of courage to unmask Amaryllis, resist Shane’s spell, and wrestle with Sersee. But I can’t believe we broke even on honesty. I mean, I totally stretched in that category —”

“But I aced intuition,” Alex reminded her.

“And I got more points in wisdom,” Cam shot back. “So we broke even. Big whoop.”

“It is a big whoop,” her sister insisted. “We made it, Cam-parison! We are the total witches. And today’s our birthday —”

“Was,” Cam said, “if we don’t get going now!”

“Yo, leave,” Alex grumbled. “It’s your party, anyway.”

Cam shot her a look. “You don’t mean that,” she said. “Just ’cause we’re not being viewed anymore doesn’t mean you get to be dishonest.”

Holding Alex’s grungy Doc Martens as far away as her slender arms would stretch, Ileana raced onto the dock. “Okay. Let’s review,” she said, tossing the boots to their eager owner. “You’re both going back to Marble Bay. The Council has given you permission to stay on the mainland at least until you graduate, as long as you do there what you were born to do —”

“Help, heal, learn,” Cam recited, trying to hurry things along.

“And we can return to Coventry whenever we want or need to. And every witch on the island is pledged to have our backs,” Alex added.

“With some exceptions,” Ileana said, “like my daddy dearest —”

“And others of his kind,” Cam said, thinking of Shane and realizing that she was over him. Totally. For the first time since she’d met the sneaky, steamy warlock, her pulse hadn’t quickened, her heart hadn’t ached at the thought of him.