Sitting around our never ending fire later that night, I am tucked into Cam’s lap fighting sleep, but I don’t want to go up to the room yet. If I go then they will all follow and I have been avoiding facing this all day. “Well, one more to go Little Bit. Do you think you can handle that tomorrow? That will give us two full days to mess around with this fire. We need to figure it out. I still don’t totally understand what you are doing with the pentagram plants either, but I do know I feel better and you have never done anything bad to me…well except that time you beat my take down time…”
“Oh and she beat you at capture the flag…” Sierra helpfully points out.
“Do you remember the time she beat you at Martha’s eating all those pancakes.” Mateo laughs.
“Fine I take it back, you beat me at everything and do it graciously, so I still trust you. Better?” He asks the six of us still hanging out.
“I feel better today. I am tired, but it’s nothing like breaking down the first two. I think the spells were stronger on the first two, but as the magic weakens the effects are still strong and hard to deal with.” I told them about what I saw today as the magic fought me and reluctantly I told them about the other two crops’ reactions. I’m trying to hear what the guys told me the other day. Even Oliver, who sees me and basically knows what I’m thinking at all times, said I keep a lot of things to myself. I really wanted to throw up at the looks on their faces, but I told them every detail of the visions I got. “I don’t know if I will be ready to battle with the magic tomorrow, but I do want to train. I feel like I’m so off and I just need to run or something. I just need to move.”
“I’m sure they could move you around plenty.” Sierra laughs at me
“Shut up!” I take that as my cue and stand up. I need to leave before any more s*xual innuendos start. “Wouldn’t matter anyway. I don’t work like that right now.” I say flippantly walking inside the house before anyone else can add their two cents.
I make it to the stairs when a voice stops me. “Skylar, can we talk?” I freeze, one foot hovering over the first stair. I set my foot back on the landing but didn’t make a move to turn around though. I take a deep breath, I have to still be in some part of the magic induced dream. “I wanted to know how you felt about my being mated to Elena.”
“You have never cared for my thoughts or opinions before. They don’t matter now. The Moon Goddess decided you needed each other and now she’s here.” I go to move again, but his words stop me. “She never would have entered our pack if it weren’t for you. So I owe you a thank you at the very least.”
“Umm…accepted. I’m going to go to bed now. We still have work to do.”
“No, wait. Don’t go. Not yet. How are you doing? With all of this, I mean?”
I finally turned around to face him and tilt my head like a confused dog. I couldn’t help myself. Who the hell is this guy?
“No.”
“What do you mean ‘no?””
“Let me be perfectly clear then. No, you do not get to ask me how I am when I didn’t matter for the first sixteen years of my life. You now see what and who I am, so now you care. You are too late to make up for any of that. I have a job to do. Stay close to Elena and keep her protected, she is important to me.” I turn to move up the stairs. Cam, Kota and Oliver are standing there waiting in silence for me.
Like always, they follow my lead and say nothing to my dad. I can’t believe he wants to talk to me now. I mean, I guess I can. Having a mate changes your whole world according to Sierra and Jena said that even she feels less angry just being around Mateo. So why not let my dad have his happily ever after? But, most of the sh*t I dealt with was because of or encouraged by him. He didn’t include me in anything unless he had to. I don’t owe him anything. I just roll my eyes as we make it to the second floor landing.
On instinct I move to the bedroom I share with Lil and start to search the door. Oliver was right and he shouldn’t be the only person looking for the bundles of herbs. I’m too short to reach the top of the door with even my hand, but Oliver doesn’t let me struggle for long and he comes over to help. Nothing. Huh? The twins find nothing over Wyatt and Nathaniel’s rooms either. I haven’t seen Kaley for a little while either though. That can’t be a coincidence, but I don’t think about it too long. I need to sleep and Sam is right. I have to get the last crop so we can look into this fire pit.
Nothing out of the ordinary plagues us over the next two days and we were able to get rid of the Wormwood, which it turns out is a hallucinogenic as well as a fire element. Gentry thinks it was the last crop to be incorporated into the spell and most likely allowed the forever fire to start. What we don’t know for sure is if this will weaken the fire. Once it was started, it is going to be the hardest thing to put out or transform.
My wolf has been quiet in my head. I know that she’s still there, but she has been taking on as much magic as I have and she feels tired, but not weak. As I’m standing around the fire with Elena and Gentry talking through all of the magic that we had to dispel and what we could possibly be going against Nathaniel comes running out breathing heavily.
“Sh*t’s going down. I think they know we shut down their spells.”
