Seduced by Magic (23 page)

Tears came out of nowhere, rolling down Copper's face as she nodded. She couldn't speak. Instead, she ran toward her sister and flung her arms around Silver's neck, almost hitting her with the wand, and held her tight. Zeph buzzed his annoyance at just about being crushed between the two, but Copper couldn't begin to think about the little familiar.

She felt her sister's tears against her neck as Silver said, “I can't believe it! I can't believe it!”

“Goddess, I've missed you,” Copper said in a choked
whisper. Silver still smelled of lilies, a scent that brought back so many memories and had a comforting effect. “I love you so much.”

They pulled away but continued holding on to one another. “You're really here.” Silver stared with amazement at Copper as tears continued to leak from her eyes. “I can't believe you're standing right in front of me! That I can touch you!”

“Me, too.” Copper reached up and brushed Silver's tears from one cheek. “It's been so long. I'd begun to think I'd never get back.”

Silver bit her lower lip and shook her head. “This is like a dream.”

Copper rubbed her thumb along her sister's cheek, wiping away more tears. “It's real,” she whispered. “I'm real. You're real.”

While the sisters hugged and cried and laughed, Copper heard Tiernan explain about their ending up within the Fomorii lair and their escape. From the corner of her eye she saw the dark-haired man's face harden and his jaw tense. “We must gather our brothers and sisters and go at once. Perhaps we can catch them before they escape.”

Tiernan nodded. “My thoughts as well.”

“You stay with Copper,” Tiernan ordered Silver.

“Well,
no kidding
,” she snapped at him. Then, “Arrogant jerk,” as he closed the door behind them. Silver hugged Copper again. “I have no intention of letting you go. Ever.”

Copper laughed. “Not even to go to the bathroom?”

Silver rolled her eyes, then shook her head with a smile. “I've missed your sense of humor.”

Polaris, Silver's familiar, wrapped his body around Copper's bare feet, just avoiding her injury, and she felt the mental warmth of his own pleasure that she was back. Zephyr buzzed from Copper's ear and landed on Silver's shoulder.

“It's good to have you back, too,” Silver told the little bee familiar.

After another quick hug, Copper and Silver separated. Copper didn't bother to brush away her own tears.

Silver's expression of mingled joy and shock turned to one of dismay as she noticed all the blood and scratches. “What happened to you? Are you okay? We need to treat these wounds.” Her expression was still one of disbelief as she looked into Copper's eyes. “I feel like you're going to disappear again.”

“I'm fine, I'm here for good, and I'll tell you everything that happened.” Copper stepped over Polaris and let Silver lead her to the kitchen of the apartment. It was bigger than the one Silver lived in before Copper ended up in Other-world, but not by much. The furniture and the décor were the same and that told her Silver lived here now instead of in the apartment above Moon Song.

Zephyr landed on the edge of Silver's pewter cauldron, that was perched in the middle of a table. Silver pushed Copper onto a chair beside it, then immediately went to the kitchen.

Silver started rummaging through cabinets and pulling out small jars, a little bottle, and then grabbed a soft cloth and some cotton balls. “Where on earth have you been?” she asked as she returned with everything. The jars and bottle hit the table with a thump as she set them down.

Copper managed a smile as she set her wand next to the jars. “I haven't exactly been on earth.”

Silver paused in the act of opening the bottle. “What?”

With a shrug that was more casual than she felt, Copper said, “It's a long story.”

“I think we have time now for you to tell me everything.” Silver finished opening the bottle and Copper caught the strong scent of tea tree oil. “Well, time enough to get started.”

Silver tended first to the foot the demon had bitten. Silver
took the bottle of oil and poured the contents over the slashes on Copper's foot. “This must hurt.” She glanced up at Copper. “What happened?”

The tea tree oil burned and Copper flinched. “It was one of the Fomorii that Tiernan and I just ran into.”

Silver looked stunned and horrified. “The Fomorii? Were you clawed by one of the demons?”

Copper shook her head. “It bit me.”

Silver breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Thank the goddess it wasn't their claws.”

Copper scrunched her eyebrows. “Why?”

“A lot of them have tipped their claws with iron,” Silver said with a sigh. “Iron's deadly to Fae and Elves both.”

“Huh?” Copper blinked. “Um, you're not making any sense. We're witches, not Fae or Elvin.”

Silver bit her lower lip.

“Tell me, whatever it is.” Copper hissed in pain as Silver cleansed one of the deeper gouges in her foot. “You're either scaring me or pissing me off. I'm not sure which.”

“Mother . . . Mother . . .” Silver took a deep breath and more tears spilled down her cheeks as her gaze met Copper's.

Copper's own tears returned. “I know. Tiernan told me that she—that she passed on to Summerland.”

“It was horrible,” Silver whispered. She wiped away some of her tears with the back of her hand and tried to compose herself. “Did he tell you she was half Elvin?”

Confused, Copper stared at Silver with wide eyes. “What?”

“I couldn't believe it either.” Silver repeated as she reached for a jar and opened it. Copper caught the scent of yarrow. “A
lot
has happened. After she died, Father told me that Mother was half Elvin. That's why you and I tend to lean toward gray magic.”

“Really?” Copper blinked. “That means we're a quarter Elvin.”

With a nod, Silver put the yarrow cream on her sister's
foot. It soothed the pain and some of the tension left Copper. “It's a long, long story,” Silver said, “but I promise to explain more.” She looked up at Copper. “First you've got to tell me where in the Goddess's name you've been. And where Tiernan disappeared to and how you came back here together.”

Copper gave the condensed version of her story while Silver tended to her foot. She started with the attempt at the ceremony on the beach and her spell hitting a shield, and moved on to her time in Otherworld. She explained how another spell had brought Tiernan to Otherworld rather than help her to escape. She left out the part about the wonderful sex with Tiernan and moved on to how they were able to break the barrier, freeing all the captive beings, and how they ended up in Darkwolf's lair.

Silver had just finished wrapping Copper's foot when Darkwolf was mentioned. Polaris the familiar hissed, and Silver stilled, a strange look on her face.

Copper explained the battle with the warlock and the demon Junga, and their narrow escape. She told Silver about the library.

“I scried as much in my cauldron—except you weren't in the vision,” Silver said. “We were on our way there just now. Hawk was trying to make me stay here.”

“I'll bet they'll change their base of operations now that we've discovered their location,” Copper said.

“No doubt.” Silver gently set Copper's bandaged foot on the floor. “But we can hope the D'Danann make it before they do escape.”

“Darkwolf said you walked the line, close to the dark,” Copper said softly. “I didn't believe it for a second.”

Silver took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling. “No, I would never turn to black magic. But I do have a lot to tell you.”

Copper waited, but Silver said instead, “Your dress.”
She touched a leaf and fingered it at Copper's shoulder. “It's all vines and leaves.”

“The Faeries made it for me.” Copper gave a wry smile. “I wasn't wearing a darn thing because I was going to perform the ‘new moon' ritual, and that's when Darkwolf showed up and I was spelled into Otherworld.” Copper brushed at the leaves and vines of the skirt. “All the Fae were so mad about being imprisoned—they blamed me—that I had to run around naked for days. Eventually I made friends with the Faerie queen, Riona, and she had the dress designed for me. It's magical—it never gets soiled.” She gave a big sigh and a grin. “I'm glad I had something to wear all this time, but you don't know how badly I want to get into T-shirts and jeans!”

“I still have all your clothes and belongings.” Silver hugged her sister. “I knew one day that you'd return. I just knew it!”

“Thanks for not giving up on me.” Copper gave Silver a tight squeeze. “It's more than wonderful to be back home. It's
incredible. Unbelievable!
”

While all of Copper's scrapes, scratches, and cuts were being tended to, Silver and Copper spent time trying to catch up on everything that had happened in the fifteen months or so that Copper had been gone. Once Silver finished doctoring Copper's wounds—which had all nearly vanished due to Silver's magic—the sisters settled on one of Silver's overstuffed couches, within touching distance, neither wanting to be very far from the other.

When it was her turn, Silver explained who Hawk was and how he had appeared to her one night, warning her about the Fomorii being summoned by Darkwolf and his Clan of warlocks. Hawk told her she must perform a ritual to bring him and other D'Danann to San Francisco to battle the Fomorii. Silver had tried to convince their D'Anu Coven of the dangers they were about to face, but they refused
to believe her until it was too late and the demons had taken all but Silver, Eric, and her apprentice, Cassia. Eric had later been murdered by one of the Basilisks the demons had brought with them.

While Silver continued to tell Copper the condensed version of what had happened during the time Copper had been gone, Zeph buzzed around Polaris's head and the python playfully stuck his tongue out as if to catch the bee. The two familiars had almost always gotten along well, and had shared their magic with both Silver and Copper more than once.

“What happened when the Fomorii and Darkwolf took the D'Anu?” Copper asked with dread in her belly.

“A lot.” Silver looked beyond sad. “Some of the witches and apprentices were murdered, a couple turned to black magic because they had no hope left—like Sara. Can you believe she turned to black magic? The others . . . they were traumatized and injured, but they're alive.”

“Witches murdered and turning to black magic. I just can't believe it.” Copper laid her hand on Silver's arm. “Where are they all now? What about Rhiannon and Mackenzie—are they all right?”

Silver nodded. “They're okay. As a matter of fact they're living here with the rest of us—Jake Macgregor, the D'Danann, along with Hannah, Sydney, and Alyssa.”

With a frown, Copper eased back on the couch, flinching when her foot hurt at the movement. “What about the rest of the D'Anu? Surely the Coven hasn't split. That would destroy the balance of white magic with the other twelve covens in the U.S.”

“I was banished.” Silver's voice was soft as she spoke. “I used excessive gray magic and the Coven saw me performing it.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I killed, Copper. I didn't mean to, but I killed a demon. And I also used my gray witchcraft to aid the D'Danann in slaying what Fomorii they could.”

Copper stared at her sister in shock. “Surely you didn't turn to black magic. Darkwolf said—”

“No!” Silver's features darkened. “I walked a little too close to it, but I never turned to the black.”

Relief flushed over Copper in a warm wave. She hadn't believed it, but when her sister said she had killed . . .

“When I killed the demon it was in self-defense,” Silver said as if reading Copper's mind. “And my gray magic—I think the Ancestors blessed me in what I had to do. Otherwise I shouldn't have been able to summon the D'Danann, or banish many of the Fomorii back to Underworld. I think the Ancestors believe as I do that gray witchcraft is needed to fight these demons.”

“What has happened to the Coven?” Copper fidgeted with the hem of her vine-and-leaf dress. “What about the balance?”

Silver crossed her legs at her knees. “Apprentices from other parts of the United States and the world have come to San Francisco to replace those who are gone.”

“So Rhiannon and the others left our old D'Anu Coven, too?” Copper asked.

“Yes.” Silver pushed her long silvery-blond hair over her shoulder. “They believe the D'Anu are far too conservative and will not use the power that is needed to defeat the Fomorii. So we have started our own D'Anu Coven of gray witches.

“But something surprising happened,” Silver continued. “Janis Arrowsmith visited me a couple of weeks ago.”

Copper couldn't help the surprise in her voice. “What did she want?”

“It was kind of surreal,” Silver said, “finding Janis on my doorstep. She has appointed herself as representative from their Coven to ours. She is still angry with me for using gray witchcraft, but their D'Anu Coven is doing what they can with white magic. They are praying, chanting, and trying to heal whatever damage they find—taking the
cleanup end, because it's more consistent with their beliefs. They will come to heal after battles, restore plants and so forth.”

Silver still looked somewhat mystified, when she added, “The part about helping us after battles surprised me, because that was almost like approval of what we're doing. They just won't have any part of actually destroying the demons.”

“Interesting.” Copper raised her brows. “Of all the witches, Janis must have found that hard to do.”

Silver gave a quirky smile. “You should have seen her. She was looking down her nose at me as if I were the lowest of the low, yet obviously giving an inch while we take the mile.”