Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight (10 page)

He was staring back at me,
expectant. But all I could see was a memory, a similar situation
when his face was filled with something else. Sadness or...
disappointment? I couldn’t seem to pull it to mind, couldn’t find
the clear, solid memory, and I found myself forgetting my need,
overcome with frustration. My hands came up, knotting in my hair as
the base of my palms pressed against my temples. I could feel
myself rocking back and forth again but I was too overwhelmed to be
embarrassed.

And then, suddenly, I was
jerked from the bed to standing. At first, my eyes shot to his hand
on my wrist, surprised at the tightness of his grip; it was almost
painful. But then, when I realized he'd pulled me close to him, our
bodies nearly touching, they slowly trailed to his face. But he
wasn't looking at me. I opened my mouth to speak and he reached up,
placing his fingers on my lips to still them. His head was turned
away as he listened intently, and so I concentrated to hear what
had his attention. It was distant and slightly muffled, a strange
noise, and then the pitch rose and I realized it was animals. And
then a clearer sound, the wolves. A warning cry.

I was jerked from the tent
so fast I could barely keep my footing. I tumbled forward, losing
my last step and I was airborne, pulled off the ground completely
as Chevelle carried me. He was running, away from the temple. Panic
seized me but I couldn't see behind us. I looked at his face but he
was only watching forward, intent on his path. We kept moving but I
had to know, what was behind us? After us?

I used the only tactic I
could think of, jump to the wolves to see what they were seeing,
why they were calling out, warning us. I searched, locating one
but, though I could sense where it was, I could not find its mind,
could not enter it. Confused, I sensed the second wolf and tried
again.

Nothing.

I didn't
understand.

"Frey." Chevelle's voice
brought me back and I opened my eyes to find his face in front of
mine. I realized we had stopped as he looked down at me, still in
his arms. "Are you all right?"

I stared back at him.
Nothing had happened to me. Had it? I took stock but aside from the
frantic beat of my heart and labored breathing, I could find
nothing wrong. I nodded to him in reply.

He put me down and I
started toward a nearby rock to sit when it hit me, the wolves. I
couldn't get to them. Was it council, had they bound me from the
animals now?

Chevelle must have seen the
dread return to my face as I stepped away because he grabbed my arm
and pulled me back to face him. "What is it?"

I couldn't answer. I knew
my face had paled.

"Frey." He shook me a
little as he waited for a response.

A small squirrel jumped
from a limb in my peripheral and I felt it, falling into its mind
with ease, satisfied I'd not lost the ability. But just as I
started to relax, my vision went black... when its neck snapped. I
opened my eyes in time to see its body tumble to the
ground.

I was standing with my
mouth hanging open in disbelief as I saw Chevelle look back at me,
only then realizing he'd been watching the squirrel. He had been
distracted at first, worried about my agitation, but the noise had
alerted him and he'd focused on the squirrel a breath before it had
dropped.

"Did you kill that
squirrel?" I sounded outraged in my accusation.

He looked confused. Now I
waited for an answer. His expression smoothed and he finally
answered in his careful tone, "Frey..."

I was instantly angry.
"Tell me
now
."

He was indignant. "Did you
have a personal relationship with that squirrel?"

He'd never spoken to me
that way, it threw me off for half a second. And then I was
incensed. "Tell me right now."

"Tell you what?"

We were suddenly arguing.
"Tell me whatever it is that you're hiding from me. What now, what
else?"

He was tight-lipped for
several moments but my expression must have finally convinced him.
He sighed and began, "We are simply taking every precaution. To
protect you."

It infuriated me. "To
protect me? How many times do I have to hear that? Oh, it's just to
protect you." I wanted to strike him but arrested the perverse
thought. "What is it now? What are you doing to protect me now?" I
spat.

He just looked at
me.

I waited.

"The animals." He was
watching me like I'd missed something obvious and my anger flared,
until I realized the implication.

The fury rushed out of me
in a huff. I was winded, like I'd been punched in the chest. How
could I have been so oblivious? They were lining up in my head, the
details that I'd so blatantly missed. Some more apparent than
others but they were all there. The battle with council, when I'd
felt someone else in the mind of the bird, the glaringly obvious
fact that there had been practically no animals on our path,
Fannie's apparent abilities that I had seen so clearly in my
dreams.

Fannie. Suddenly, my head
was spinning, joining the images from my dreams with the last few
hours, minutes. I was speaking before I was aware of it. "We were
running." I felt his hand grip my arm and knew he could hear the
change in my voice, as I had. "Running from Fannie." I'd known she
was coming for me. Coming. Something to look forward to, worry
about later. Not that she was already here, not now.

I looked into his eyes and
I didn't know what he saw on my face but he was abruptly trying to
calm me. "Frey, she hasn't gotten near you at all." I felt my
features twist at his words. "The wolves are taking care of
them."

The wolves. Taking care
of
them
. How many
times had she tried? How long had this been going on? I opened my
mouth to speak but I couldn't process the anger. The humiliation.
The irritation. I growled in rage, throwing my fisted hands to my
sides, when the sound of shattering stone caught my
attention.

And then I realized it had
been me. I sighed, ashamed that I'd unintentionally exploded the
rock that had been my intended seat moments ago. I loosened my
fists, throwing my hands up in surrender.

I started walking back to
the temple, or at least in the direction I thought it had been,
unwilling to look at Chevelle. I heard his quiet steps behind me as
he followed my slow progress. I remembered his words from the time
I had been attacked by council, when they'd found me and rebound my
magic. He'd said they had known council was close but they were
mistaken in thinking council intended a physical attack. They had
been prepared for that, and I now knew more than capable of defeat.
But they had not been prepared for the binding, not prepared for
the direct attack on my mind. He'd assured me that council would
not get so close again.

And now they were, what,
destroying every animal that came near because Fannie was tracking
me too? The wolves were my guard dogs? I was too far gone to laugh.
I could see their first demonstration of power, hear their vicious
snarl, see their jagged fangs. Ruby's words came back to me
now
. No, silly, no one can
control
animals. The
wolves attack who they want,
protect
who they want.

I kept walking, slowly,
attempting to process it all, struggling to find a place for it.
Twice I spun on Chevelle, ready to fling accusations at him, but
each time his expression was such that I could only look at him, my
mouth open ready to speak, before I turned and continued
on.

Eventually, the hot sun was
directly overhead and I knew I'd been walking far too long. I
couldn't decide if I'd passed the temple or gone in a completely
different direction. I sighed and turned, finding Chevelle standing
quietly behind me, exactly where I'd expected him.

He waited.

I took a deep breath. "I
don't know where I am."

His face was pained as he
took a step toward me. "I know, Frey. We are trying to help
you."

I put my hands up in front
of me, a "stop" signal, embarrassed and annoyed. "No. I mean I
don't know
where
I
am," I said, emphasizing my point by waving my hands toward the
surrounding trees.

He almost smiled as he took
another step closer. "They will be waiting for us." Before I could
respond, he pulled me up, carrying me again, as he spun and stepped
into a run toward the temple.

I hadn't even been
close.

Chapter Six

Compliant

So, now that I knew I was
being hunted down by the remaining members of Grand Council
and
my crazy Aunt Fannie
in various animal forms, it was considerably easier to forgive the
seven others who were willing to help me, regardless of their
reasons.

It was in that state of
mind that I resumed my training with Grey upon returning to the
temple. The others were planning again, something about moving
since Fannie had likely found us. I wasn't sure what "likely"
meant, since the wolves had apparently slaughtered various beasts
throughout the morning, but I ignored their discussions, confident
that they would not have let me join in even if I
preferred.

We found a quiet spot near
the center of the temple. The floor was open so I hoped I'd have a
better chance to follow Grey's movements as he flitted around
trying to lose me. But I was often disappointed. I readied myself,
standing motionless, eyes and ears on alert when he stepped in
front of me, wearing a temperate smile.

I stiffened, certain he was
making fun of me, though I had no idea for what.

"I never thanked you for
the assist."

I was lost for a moment
before I knew what he was referring to, and then smiled back at
him, only to have it cut short as the memory came fully back. The
battle with council. I'd missed the majority of it, at first tied
to a wall and then overtaken by blackness, but I had fought a
little. A bird had flown over and I'd jumped to it, able to see
them all below in the fray. Grey had been trapped as I was, vines
wrapping him in place, the long thorns piercing his skin, flames
surrounding him. I had found his attacker and gave Grey the few
precious seconds he needed to escape. The horrid scene filled my
mind now and as I looked at it with the fresh knowledge, it had
changed slightly. I couldn't help but wonder if they actually had
been fighting to protect me.

And then the last little
bit of the memory came back, the moments just before the blackness
had taken me. Asher, watching from outside the battle. I could see
his lips moving swiftly, a quiet flow of incoherent
words.

"Frey?"

Grey had been talking to
me, though I had no idea what he'd said. I answered anyway. "Yes,
of course."

He laughed. And then he was
gone.

I shook my head, trying to
focus, because I knew I was about to be smacked in the back of the
head or have a leg pulled out from under me when he
reappeared.

I was wrong. A punch in the
gut.

Yet, to my surprise, he was
still standing in front of me. He was confused, as was I, and we
both looked down to see that I had my hand wrapped tightly around
his wrist. He was lightning fast, I'd usually only known he'd
attacked because of the actual strike, but somehow I'd grabbed him,
almost unthinkingly.

We stood there, staring at
the offending hands, unable to relax at first. And then I breathed,
a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding. Grey flexed his
fist open and I finally eased my grip on him.

We didn't speak.

"Frey," Ruby started as she
bounced up to us. And then she noticed the uncomfortable
atmosphere. "What's going on?"

Grey spoke up, smiling a
genuine smile at her without looking me in the eye. "Hey, Red. Just
finishing up here." He gingerly reached up to pat me on the back of
the shoulder. "The girl's really picking it up.
Impressive."

Ruby looked at me,
perplexed. I smiled and squeaked out a nervous laugh. She glanced
back and forth between us a few times before she shook it off and
resumed her original announcement. "We've decided to move on. Frey,
I'll get your things together. You can keep practicing until we
have everything ready."

She threw one distrustful
glance back to Grey, an eyebrow raised inquisitively, before
bouncing off in the direction of my tattered hut.

When I turned back to Grey
he was watching me. I felt my shoulders come up in
shrug.

"Do it again," he commanded
and I wondered if I heard a hint of excitement in his
voice.

Almost too fast to see, his
fist was coming at me again. And then it stopped as my palm came up
to meet it automatically.

Grey smiled.

My hand still blocking his,
he twisted to take my fingers, leading me by the hand as he walked
from the center of the temple. Further from the others.