The Day Human Way (10 page)

The families of the sidhe in the room rushed passed him and Maria. He held back against the wall and waited for them to go by. He felt their thoughts and cringed. They were all on the hunt for him. Every one of them was bound and determined to catch him and make him pay for what they assumed he had done. He couldn’t blame them; they had views that were deeply rooted in how they were raised. However, they weren’t his fight. Nessa would have to change them. He had enough troubles just trying to keep her safe.

Nessa sat in
Devin’s new house. It was foreign but familiar at the same time. He had made everything from nature, just like every other sidhe home. It was familiar, but different. This one felt like the day human world he came from. Even out of trees, bushes, and dirt, he couldn’t change his style into a sidhe. Devin was, and always would be, a day human. But Nessa was kind of proud of him for how much he had taken to heart the sidhe world. Admiration filled the eyes of the outcasts when Devin was around. He had found himself a place in the sidhe world, and she was sure it wouldn’t take much to charm the common people into Devin’s ways either. He didn’t even know he was doing it, but Devin was making allies just by being himself.

Nessa looked to the couch where the brown-haired girl was finally stirring. Devin and Maria were gone with Turner and Ronan, searching for the unknown witch sidhe. Last time Devin checked in, they were outside the city. It was likely someone that had come to the city for her coronation, and with their current theory, it was someone that was an admirer.

Cassie sat up and rubbed her head. Her hair was flattened against the side of her face she had been lying on.

“Are you okay?” Nessa asked. The younger witch still seemed dazed.

“Yeah, just takes a lot out of me to do that,” Cassie replied, yawning and trying to comb through her hair with her fingers at the same time. “Maria told me the more powerful of a spell I use, the harder it is to recover. Can’t wait until I can apprentice and this will all go away.”

Nessa nodded though she had no clue what Cassie was talking about. Rising, she moved to sit across from Cassie. It wasn’t often she had met outsiders, and they had never come to visit before. Of all the outsiders Nessa had ever met, Cassie appeared to be the youngest.

“This is a pretty cool place you have here. It’s like fairies, but in a grown up world. I always dreamed of a place like this as a child. I thought it would be so much fun to just live out in the trees. I never knew anyone lived like this.” Cassie was looking around the room now.

Nessa nodded. She wasn’t sure if she was to answer or just let the girl talk.

“So they say you are the queen?” Cassie asked, and yawned a second time. “Aren’t you a bit young to be a queen?”

Nessa didn’t quite know how to reply to that one, and she wasn’t sure Cassie was asking a question. The girl in front of her looked like she was barely a teenager herself.

“Sorry,” Cassie quickly added, “I tend to talk without thinking sometimes, especially when I’m nervous.” Cassie tried her best to smooth down her hair and sit up straighter. “Let’s try this again. Hello, I’m Cassandra Booth.”

“Vanessa McKinny,” Nessa replied, taking Cassie’s outstretched hand to shake. It was an odd greeting but since her trip into the day human world, Nessa knew what to do.

“I just finished my sophomore year in high school, but I guess from what I see around here you guys don’t go to a normal school,” Cassie added.

“No, I was tutored until I turned thirteen. Since then I have been training with my brother’s men,” she explained. Nessa was unsure about the grades in day human school, but she was sure a high school student had to be around her own age.

“Man, you’re lucky. They don’t let us train until we are out of high school. I can try for an apprenticeship anytime I want, but they won’t let me start until I’m eighteen. I still have two more years to wait. It’s about being a consenting adult or something like that.”

Nessa was still unsure what the girl was talking about, but doing the math in her head she figured that Cassie was sixteen. Nessa stared in shock at her. Thirteen was about the oldest she was going to guess.

“You’re sixteen?” Nessa asked. She had to have done the math wrong.

“Yeah,” Cassie replied with a shrug. Nessa was a little embarrassed that she was shocked by it. It wasn’t that she met many day humans, but even so this one seemed really young-looking. “I get that all the time. Maria says it’s just part of being in the Zeffer family. Maria’s my aunt, and over the past decade has never looked a day older than twenty-one.”

Nessa observed Cassie closer and tried not to take an obvious whiff of her. The only people Nessa ever met that aged that slowly were night humans. Was it possible that they had night human blood, and no one had noticed? Could they be night humans without Devin even noticing? Nessa doubted it. Devin was way too good at the night human life for that to have happened, but it was still strange. Cassie was certainly a day human, but how could she age slowly?

“Genetics,” Devin said as he entered the room. He had used that excuse before, yet it was a term Nessa wasn’t completely sure about, either. Maria, Turner, Ronan, and Keaton were right behind him. Nessa raised her eyebrows to Keaton, and Devin made a slight nod to her.

‘
We need him around, and I trust him,’
Devin told her silently.

‘
Need?’
Nessa asked. All she could remember of Keaton growing up was how much he disliked her brother. Nessa would have loved to befriend him and share stories, but he disappeared before she could.

‘
His gift is unique. I’m still learning how to do it,’
Devin replied.

Keaton nodded to Devin, as if he already knew Devin was telling her about him.

‘
What is his gift?’
Nessa asked, though she was wondering if she really wanted to know. The more unique their gift, the more likely it wasn’t a good one to have.

‘
The gift of honesty. If Keaton asks anyone a question, they have to tell the
truth,’
Devin replied.

While it was true, a gift like that would prove to be handy to use in various situations, Nessa was unsure if she wanted to be around someone like that. Sometimes it was good to keep things hidden. Looking across at Cassie, Nessa was pretty sure Maria didn’t want anything close to the truth told to the young girl, even if Nessa had no clue why. Cassie already obviously knew about the witches, why not night humans?

“So what did you find?” Cassie asked.

“Just as we thought,” Maria answered, sitting next to Cassie. You could see a slight resemblance as they sat together. While Maria was olive skinned with thick black hair, Cassie was pale with clear blue eyes that almost matched Nessa’s own. It was the difference in coloring that made it hard for Nessa to see them as family. Yet side by side, and ignoring the difference in eyes, hair, and skin tone, Cassie and Maria shared the exact same shape face. Their eyes and noses were an exact match, and only Cassie’s smile was slightly different. There was no doubt they were family.

“The trail ends at the glen,” Turner replied, informing Nessa and Cassie of what Nessa already knew.

“Ends? Can someone just mask their trail?” she asked Maria.

‘
In the trees,’
Devin explained what they weren’t telling Cassie.
‘They either came
from
or went to the trees after using their
magic.’

“We are sure the magic came with someone who recently entered the village,” Maria replied, trying to cover up the awkward silence.

‘
And it wasn’t their kind of witch magic,’
Devin added more secretly to Nessa.

‘
Not their magic?’
Nessa asked. ‘
Didn’t you say it was witch magic? And Cassie healed the guys from it. That makes no sense. Are there other witches out there?
’

‘
Oh, yes,
it’s
witch magic, just not their clan’s magic,’
Devin replied.
‘There are
two day
human
witch
groups out there. The sidhe with magic trained with the other group. That’s why Maria has no idea who it might be.’

“So what you think is that the person came into the village,” Cassie added, “and didn’t leave yet, right?”

“Right,” Turner replied, watching Cassie as she thought.

“They just aren’t using witch magic for the moment, but when they use it again we can tell, right? Then we still can catch them, correct?” Cassie asked.

Maria put a hand on Cassie. “This isn’t our fight. We are to leave as soon as you are able to travel.”

“Leave?” Cassie asked incredulously.

‘
Leave?’
Nessa asked Devin. She hadn’t thought about it when they came in because firstly she was surprised Devin could let them in, and secondly, they needed their help, but no one could leave the village unless they were a sidhe. There were spells that kept the non-sidhe in the village.

‘
They can leave at any time. I already checked into that before inviting Turner here. The spells that keep people in the village have to do with whoever asks them to come in. If they say the person can leave, then the spells don’t activate,’
Devin explained to Nessa’s thoughts.

“Yes, leave. We were given permission by the elders to come here and help Devin wake the sidhe that were infected by witch magic. We were not given permission to stay longer,” Maria explained.

“So we just leave Devin here to sort this out?” Cassie asked. She glanced at Devin, and her cheeks turned red as they had every time she had spoken directly to him since she had arrived. Nessa found it cute that Cassie was shy around him. “That’s not fair.” Cassie was sulking.

Maria gave her a soft smile and shook her head.

“What were you given permission to do?” Keaton inquired, looking into Maria’s eyes as he asked.

“To come and help Devin save the sidhe that were dying from the witch magic,” Maria replied, shaking her head like she knew exactly what Keaton was able to do.

“And do you think you are finished doing that?” Keaton asked, his blue eyes still keeping their hold on Maria.

“Yes. Those three men are better. We need to be on our way.” Maria didn’t turn away from him, but also didn’t mind answering. Was Keaton using his truth forcing power or not?

“How about you, Cassie? Do you think everyone is safe?” Keaton asked Cassie.

She glanced up at him, and her cheeks reddened more.

“I think we saved those three men, but I don’t think anyone is safe until we find the one using witch magic,” Cassie replied quietly as she looked back at the floor. Nessa was surprised by how quiet Cassie got around the group. She was fine and quite friendly only moments before they showed up.

“Cassie, we can’t stay here. This isn’t our problem. We helped Devin as he asked, but we can’t just become paranormal investigators,” Maria added. She wasn’t being mean, but more overprotective. Maria seemed to be like an older sister to Cassie than anything else. Nessa would have loved to have an older sister or a brother that was kinder than the one she had.

“And we can’t just leave Devin here to deal with this alone. He asked for our help, but what sort of help is it to put a bandage on a wound that needs stitches? He needs us to help find the witch,” Cassie argued. Nessa was surprised Cassie felt that strongly about helping Devin.

Maria sighed and looked over at Devin, who discreetly nodded. Non-verbal communication seemed to have passed between them.

“Fine. We help him find the witch sidhe, and then we go,” Maria told Cassie. “We don’t stay a day longer, and you don’t give me any trouble about leaving.”

Cassie grinned as she nodded.

‘
Maria says in order for them to stay, we have to make sure Cassie doesn’t learn about the night humans. It’s important that we keep that knowledge from her as Maria is unsure how she will take it when she does find out. Her power is quite unstable as it is! We don’t need her finding out there’s more power inside of her from something like blowing the village apart due to shock,’
Devin told the group silently. Everyone nodded to him, and luckily Cassie was back to studying the ground and didn’t notice.
‘Nessa? You’re the closest in age to her. Can you please make sure to keep her safe from the sidhe? I don’t want them to think she’s a treat to snack upon.’

Nessa looked up to Devin and noticed he was still talking to the group. All their eyes were on her.

‘
Of course,’
Nessa replied. She didn’t know why they were protective of Cassie, but she wasn’t about to decline any question of help from Devin.

“So what do we do to find this witch?” Turner asked, bringing everyone back into an open conversation. “I could track them outside the village as they left one trail, but they have been all over the village already. I can’t keep straight where their pathway begins and end.”

“If we can get close to them, Cassie and I can sense other witches even if they aren’t using magic,” Maria explained. “But that would require us in the palace. Maybe if we could see the whole group at once, but just wandering around wouldn’t be safe. If anyone finds us, it would be bad all around. The longer it takes us to search, the more likely that will happen.”

“What if we could get the visitors all in one place at one time?” Devin asked.

Everyone turned and looked at him. There was no way he could call the sidhe together. The nobles all wanted to hang him for hurting their sons. They weren’t about to listen to him and congregate in one area because he asked them.

“How would you do that?” Maria asked. She had picked up on the hostility as much as everyone else.

“At Nessa’s coronation, the whole sidhe village, along with visitors, will be there,” he answered.

Nessa looked around the room to all the nodding heads. She had already forgotten what the day was, and that she needed to be back in the palace getting ready.