On Wicked Ground (Solsti Prophecy Book 4) (2 page)

A giggling group of female nymphs passed them and headed down a street leading to a strip of clubs and bars. All around, voices chattered in festive conversation. Small pops echoed as portals opened and closed, announcing creatures leaving or coming to the city.

They passed a tall glass building with a crown of oversized fire bulbs on the very top. Though Alina couldn’t see it from the ground, she was well aware she stood at the base of one of the city’s most beautiful landmarks. She should know—she’d broken into it once.

Turning onto a street lined with bars and eateries, they walked into a big restaurant. A sign directed them to seat themselves, so Sebastian headed for a dark corner and slid into a booth.

He ran a hand through his short blond hair, then drummed nervous fingers on the table as she sat. “Now, what was so important that you couldn’t wait for me?” His tone was low, but full of reproach.

“What’s so dangerous about that mirror?” she countered. “I’ve never seen you like…” she waved her hand in front of her, “this.”

He sighed and dropped his head back, then lowered his gaze to hers. “It has a counter spell, of sorts.”

She froze. “What kind of counter spell?”

He leaned forward, elbows on the table. “You’re not the only one who saw the images it showed you.”

“What do you mean?”

He paused, like he was searching for the right words. “You know my father was a thief. He taught me everything I know. Everything I taught you.”

Alina nodded.

“He acquired that mirror as payment for a particularly tough job. It was for a mage. My father said he’d only do the job if the mirror was his payment. The guy didn’t want to give up the mirror, but he wanted my dad, since he was the best.”

A purple-haired elf walked over, bouncy and cheerful. Her hair was in two pigtails twisted high on her head, displaying her pointed ears. “What can I get you tonight?” She set two glasses of ice water on the table.

Alina eyed her dad. “Breakfast food is good any time of day or night, right? Scrambled eggs and coffee, please.”

Sebastian ordered eggs too, with steak and a side of chocolate cake. He rubbed his thumb over the condensation on his glass, eyes darting to the waitress’s retreating form. When she was out of earshot, he took a deep breath. “So my dad pulled off the job, obviously, and earned the mirror. But the mage was pissed to have to give it up. So he added a spell to it—”

“Whoa.” Alina held up a hand. “Added? I thought you couldn’t do that to an already enchanted object.”

“Yeah, well, this guy could.”

“Makes me wonder, if he was so powerful, why couldn’t he get whatever he wanted himself? Why hire someone?”

“It was dirty and dangerous, I assume.” Sebastian toyed with his fork. “Anyway, when you use the mirror, it seems to work as you expect. But the counter spell works in the background, unbeknownst to you. It displays the user, and also who or what the user is looking at.”

Dread crept up her spine. “Displays it to who?”

“The person who you’d least want to know what you’re doing.”

“Huh?”

“The person who stands to be harmed the most by your search. Or who will be threatened, or lose something, if the user gets to the place she’s looking at. Or meets up with the people she sees.”

Alina’s jaw dropped. “How would they know?”

Sabastian leaned back in the booth. “They’ll get a vision. They’ll see you, and whoever you were looking at. And they will get a strong sense of the locations of both.”

“Shit,” she muttered.

“So the mage was able to spy on my dad. Did it for retaliation. He saw all his planned heists and blocked him, at first to mess with him, and then…”

Alina knew the rest. She’d never met her grandfather. He’d been killed on the job. “I’m sorry.”

“What the hell was so important that you’d use it? Why now?”

She shoved a hand through her short pixie-cut hair and finger-combed the longer front layers. “I told you I fell down a ravine, trying to get away from our location.”

He nodded.

“And I must have blacked out or something. When I woke up, I was pinned under a huge tree, and there were boulders all around. I couldn’t get out, and I was wishing I could move the stuff off me…and then…” She shook her head. “This sounds crazy. But it all moved.”

Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up. “By itself?”

“No.” She bit her lip. “I think I did it.”

He narrowed his eyes. “How—”

The waitress returned with their food, all cheerful smiles. “Can I get you anything else?”

A boatload of answers?
The food looked good, but knowledge of the counter spell unsettled Alina’s stomach. “No, thanks.”

When the elf walked away, Alina pushed her food to the side and leaned in close to Sebastian. “At the party—Mulvari’s house—when I was in the jewel room looking for the amulet, I overheard two women talking about…the Solsti.”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “There’ve been rumors, yes. And I’m sure that’s all they are.”

“Yeah, that’s what they said. But they also said one is missing.”

 Her dad looked at her expectantly. “So?”

“And then I fell down a ravine and was able to move the earth.”

He stared at her like she’d spoken a long-dead Earth dialect. “You think you’re—”

“Shh.” She put a hand on his arm. “I don’t know. That’s the problem. I don’t know anything about my early years. And neither do you. So, I asked the mirror. I had to know.”

His eyes pierced her. “And what did you see?”

“Three women. And when they were children, there was a fourth. And a mom and dad.”

He shook his head and frowned. “Alina, this is a big jump…”

“I need answers. I’m twenty-four years old and half of my life is missing. You found me in a freaking cave when I was twelve. I need to know where I came from.”

He sipped a glass of mango juice. “I wish I knew. I always figured you were some kind of fae hybrid. But a Sol—”

“Shh,” she said again. “I’m afraid to say it out loud.”

“Okay.” He chewed a mouthful of steak. “If you want answers, we can start digging. We can see if any sorcerers, or a mage or a witch can discern lineage…though usually only Elders can, and they require huge payments.”

“But we’re in a big city. Surely we can find someone who knows someone?”

“True. We need money anyway. I grabbed what we had, and a few items to pawn, but it won’t last forever. You know the drill.”

She did. Move to a new place, then steal so they’d have enough to pay for whatever temporary roof was over their heads.

“Problem is, that mirror,” he continued.

Her throat went dry. “The counter spell?”

He nodded. “Someone saw you use it. Right now, someone is probably on their way to the house we just left.”

“But who could possibly be harmed by me looking for my family?”

Sebastian dug into his chocolate cake. “Well, this could go one of two ways. One, the women are your biological family, and someone else who knew all of you hid you away for some nutty reason. They may be threatened if you find out.”

“Or?”

“Or those women are your biological family, and your hunch is correct.” Sebastian’s voice thickened with dread. “That means, your power, if you are indeed…that
type
of creature…is needed to fight something awful.”

“Fight…” Realization dawned. The old legend stated that the four Solsti together could defeat an evil that no one else could. “Oh, shit.”

“
Oh shit
could be right. We don’t know yet.”

“So someone is after us and it could be either a pissed off relative or the worst monster the realms have seen in thousands of years?” Her voice came out as a squeak.

“Yes, someone is after us. As for who…if the person is the one thing the Sol—the
women
are destined to fight, then…”

“Oh my god.” Alarm chilled her blood and she drew a shaky breath. “What are we going to do?”

“For now, do what we do best. Blend in and keep a low profile. Work the crowds and pick pockets. We need money and we have to stay one step ahead of whoever it is, at least until we know who we’re dealing with.”

“I’m sorry.” She met her dad’s eyes, hating how simplistic those two words sounded.

His blue eyes softened a fraction. “If you are…one of
them
, we’d be facing this sooner or later.” He nodded at her food. “Eat. You’re gonna need to keep your strength up, whether you square off against a street crook or a mega-monster.”

Alina forced down several mouthfuls of eggs as she tried to quell the panic that had erased her hesitant joy at seeing the three women
. Panic won’t help. Being smart will. Do what you do best
. The mantras repeated on a loop in her mind. She couldn’t steal, or work on her possible new ability, if her thoughts were all over the place.

She squared her shoulders and looked at her dad. “So we’ll get rooms somewhere, and then I’ll head to…” she paused to recall the city’s clubs, “Hell’s Gate?”

“Good choice.” Sebastian set a pile of coins on the table. “Let’s go.”

Elegia jolted awake with the force of her vision and gasped, nearly falling off her chair. The resulting cough and constriction of her airways had her clutching the cool edge of her lab desk. A high pitched wheeze kept rhythm in her lungs, an irritating reminder that her goddamn asthma was here to stay, as her vampiric lung tissue proved stubbornly resistant to any of her biological advances. She fought to regulate her breathing as she focused on the beautiful, vibrant, black lily plant in front of her, its petals curled open to her as if recognizing its creator.

Glancing around, she took in her long work tables full of healthy plants and the dark surface of her desk. She was alone. Good.

She pushed out a slow breath and recited a spell that would relax her airway. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, body buzzing from the most powerful vision she’d ever had. They were so rare, and this one, so potent and vivid…could only have originated from one source.

The mirror.

The one that had been in her family for decades and which her thieving brother probably hoped she’d forgotten about.

Images, colorful and clear, formed and shifted in her mind’s eye as she recalled the vision. A blond female sat on a bed, using the powerful reflective surface to scry. She held her hand above it, scored her palm with a blade, and spoke. Though Elegia couldn’t hear her words, she’d seen exactly what the female had seen.

A hallway, dimly lit with electric sconces, and lined with many closed doors. Chaos erupted as doors flew open and pairs of men and women rushed out. Three of the women converged in the center of the corridor, looking at one another with surprise, shock, and wide, teary eyes. Hands flew to mouths, jaws unhinged. The three hugged.

The image shifted. The woman on the bed stared into the depths of the mirror until her focus jerked to her own door crashing open. Sebastian stormed in.

The vision ended.

Elegia rubbed her hands together. So, her useless brother, Sebastian, had the mirror all this time. It hadn’t been lost, as he’d insisted the last time they spoke. When was that? Eighty years ago? Elegia couldn’t remember. But it didn’t matter. If the mirror had alerted her, then she needed to find him, and that would be easy.

Southwest.
The energy traces left by the vision were as obvious as bloody footsteps in new fallen snow. Her brother had been hiding from her for as long as they’d been estranged. She shouldn’t know which way to go, but now the mirror’s enchanted pull would lead her to his door. Next would be questioning him and that blond female, and then finding those three women.

She didn’t recognize them, but the resemblance in their facial features implied they were related. Their presence was significant. The mirror only granted visions to creatures whose motives were diametrically opposed to those of its user.

Those four were a threat. She needed to kill them, starting with the little blonde who’d opened this can of magical worms.

C
HAPTER
T
WO

N
ICOLE
STOOD
IN
THE
SECOND
floor hallway of the old mansion, staring at her two sisters, shaking with a mix of shell-shocked joy and confusion.

“Alina,” her youngest sister Gin whispered. “It was her. In my dream. I
know
it.”

“I saw her too. Grown up.” Nicole’s voice sounded scratchy and sleep-roughened as it pushed through the lump of emotion in her throat. The reality-shattering dream that woke her as well as Gin sent hope and disbelief curling like vines around her heart.

Because Alina had died before she turned two.

The youngest of the four Bonham sisters, she had been born with a heart defect that her body wasn’t able to fight.

“So did I. I-I don’t understand how it’s possible, but it had to be her.” Brooke shoved her dark, sleep-mussed hair out of her face and leaned back into the arms of her mate, Kai.

“She was searching for us,” Gin said. “She was sitting on a bed. Alone.”

“Yes. I got the sense that she was desperate to find us. You know how, in dreams, you just understand certain things to be true?” Nicole glanced at Brooke, who nodded in agreement.

Another door opened, and Ashina and Raniero stepped out of their room. “We heard the commotion. What’s going on?” The two Lash demons were the sisters’ maternal grandparents, though through the magic of demon physiology, they looked to be only about thirty years old.

“We all had a dream about Alina.” Brooke reached for Ashina’s hand. “Only not as a toddler. As she would be now, if she…if she were alive.”

“You all had the same dream?” Ashina’s eyes moved over each sister. “At the same time?”

Nicole, Brooke, and Gin nodded.

“What was the dream?” Raniero asked.

Gin took a deep breath. “She had blond hair and green eyes, just like she did when she was…” she looked to Nicole as if searching for the right word, “with us. She was sitting on a bed, and it was like I was sitting there in front of her. She was looking at me, looking
for
me. For
us
. I couldn’t hear her, but I could feel her words, her emotions. And she desperately wanted to find us. I tried to tell her I was right here in front of her, but she didn’t hear me. Then I woke up.”