The Witch Is Back (28 page)

“I think she’s coming to.”

There were voices—three of them, one woman and two men. And they all sounded tense. I could hear the sound of pacing—footsteps going to the far end of the room and back again, only to repeat themselves. I groaned as I opened my eyes and rolled my head to the side, feeling the prick of goose down from the pillow my head was currently lying on. I rolled my head upright again and spotted a thatched ceiling just above me. I had to still be dreaming.

“Jolie?” It was Rand’s voice.

I turned my head and my focus went blurry as I tried to look at him. He hurried to me from across the room and I guessed he was the “pacer” I had heard walking back and forth when I woke up. He appeared as a brown blur at first, but after a few seconds, this delineated itself into the insanely handsome man I was coming to know. “What … what happened?” I asked.

He grasped my hand as he smiled down at me. His smile reminded me of the dream I’d had when we were kissing in the heather, feeling the sea breeze wrap around us and caring about nothing besides each other.

“We’ve healed you,” he said softly before turning to face someone else in the room. “Mathilda?”

I glanced beyond him at the little old woman who was
now hobbling up to my side. There was something about her that was also familiar—something that tugged at my memory. She smiled down at me and held her hands above my face. I felt my eyes focusing on the lines etched in her skin, hinting at just how old she was. That was when it hit me. She was the same old woman who had come into my store. Just like the first time I’d met her, she was wearing the same ill-fitting, outdated long dress, and her hair was just as unruly in its extreme length. And she still possessed that same aura of age-old beauty.

“The block has been removed,” she said simply as she dropped her hands, turning to take a seat just beside the bed.

“But …,” I started, still staring at her. “You … you were in my store.”

“Yes, child,” she said and smiled softly, her voice again reminding me of the ringing of bells. “Yes, that was I.”

“You’re a witch?” I asked as I focused on the blaze of blue light emanating from her. How had I missed it before? I tried to remember if there had been any indication she was otherworldly when I first met her. Try as I might, though, I could think of nothing.

She shook her head and Rand patted my hand, pulling my attention back to him. “No, Jolie. Mathilda is one of the oldest and wisest of the fae.”

“The fae,” I repeated, shaking my head as doubt seized me. “You mean, like a fairy?”

“Aye,” a man’s voice called from the corner of the room. I craned my head and swallowed hard at the vision of an incredibly tall, broad, muscular man who stepped out in front of me. “I am Odran,” he said simply.

“Odran is the King of the fae,” Rand said, smiling as I regarded the King of the fae with openmouthed astonishment.
He was just so … so … big! Big and beautiful … stunningly so. His long blond hair fell about him in a mass of waves, pale against the bronze of his body. His eyes reflected the tan color of his skin, flecked with rays of amber. He was wearing nothing but a kilt, and his chest, though riddled with muscles, was completely hairless. His face and overall stature seemed reminiscent of a lion.

And that was when feelings of dread descended on me. I was completely at their mercy now. If Rand and Mathilda had evil intentions where I was concerned, I was as good as dead. God, I’d been so stupid. Why had I trusted them? Why had I allowed myself to get into this predicament?

Because you were dying and Rand saved you
, my conscience announced.

So what, maybe he just saved me so he can kill me later
.

You know that isn’t true
.

Well, you can’t tell me what the truth is so why listen to you anyway? And dammit all, how is Sinjin going to find me?

I turned to face Rand again, needing to know where I was and what was happening. “I don’t understand what’s happened and where I am …”

“Ye are in oone ah me villages, lass,” Odran responded in a thick Scottish brogue. It was as if he’d crawled off the cover of one of those Highlander romance novels they sold at the grocery store.

“Jolie, I will explain all of this to you in time but suffice it to say you’re safe now. No one can harm you.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed down the relief that suddenly washed over me at his words. Relief that was immediately replaced with fear.

No one knows where I am
.

I felt like I wanted to sit up again. Rand tried to hold
me down but I adamantly shook my head. Admitting I’d won the tacit argument, he assisted me. He pushed the pillow behind my back so I could prop myself against it. “Am I still in Los Angeles?” I asked, wondering where a fairy village could exist in the city.

Rand shook his head. “No, we’re in the sequoia forest.”

I swallowed hard. “The what?” I asked, thinking to myself that the sequoias had been a good four-hour drive the last time I’d ventured up there. And that had to mean that at least four hours had passed since I blacked out at my house … Oh my God. Four hours!

“All fae villages exist in forests,” Rand continued, but I couldn’t say my mind was on the habitation and villages of fae.

“How long have I been here?” I inquired, my voice laced with worry.

Rand nodded in understanding and when he spoke, his voice was soft, compassionate. “A day.”

“A day?” I repeated, shaking my head. How could I have been out of it for a whole day? And furthermore, what was going through Sinjin’s mind? He must be worried sick because as far as he was concerned, I’d basically vanished. I swallowed down the worry that suddenly plagued me and tried to think of a way back. “I’ve been asleep all this time?”

Mathilda nodded. “You had to overcome the magical block, child,” she said.

“What is a magical block?” I demanded, feeling as if the weight of the world was now descending on my shoulders. I didn’t know what any of this meant, nor what to make of it.

“Your sickness was of magical origins, Jolie,” Rand explained, taking my hand and rubbing it as if that could help ease my frazzled nerves.

“Whose magic?”

“Well, we aren’t exactly sure, just yet,” he admitted. “All we know is that you had a magical block in place that made you very sick. We were able to remove it; but in order for you to regain your strength, you need your rest.”

At the thought that they expected me to stay here and “rest,” I started to freak out. I needed to get back to Sinjin, to let him know I was okay. “I can’t stay here,” I protested. “Sinjin …” But at the expression on Rand’s face at the mention of my vampire, the words died right on my tongue.

Rand swallowed hard. “Jolie, you will come to realize that Sinjin is not the person you believe him to be.”

I shook my head, not wanting to listen to Rand’s words, refusing to believe there was any truth to them. He just didn’t understand the connection between Sinjin and me—Sinjin was my protector, my teacher. “He has no idea I’m here.”

Rand took a deep breath. “No, he does not.”

Even though there was something within me that had let Rand in, and allowed him to come to my aid while I sat wasting away in front of Bella, I couldn’t say that I trusted him. Not while my heart still belonged to Sinjin. Not while I still believed in Sinjin.

“I know this is a lot for you to take in,” Rand started.

“I don’t trust you. I don’t believe that everything you say is true.”

Rand was quiet for a second or two, and then I heard his voice in my head.

I don’t know how I can prove anything to you, Jolie. But what I can tell you is that you and I have a long, shared history
.

If that’s true
, I thought back,
tell me something about myself that you shouldn’t know
.

He was quiet for a second or two and then smiled victoriously.
Your father is dead and you were never
close to your mother. You once told me that she just didn’t understand you—she never had, perhaps because she was too involved in religion to understand the fact that you could see things that didn’t make sense. And you have been able to see auras since you were a small child
.

I took a deep breath but said nothing, stunned by his statement. Everything he’d just said was true. The only other person who knew any of it was Christa. True, he could have somehow bewitched Christa into spilling the beans, but I somehow doubted it. He just seemed so genuine.

“Please, Jolie, just trust me, this will all make sense to you shortly,” he said. “For now, I need you to rest and regain your strength.”

I was incredibly worried, especially as I thought about Sinjin waking to find me gone and not knowing where to even begin looking for me. Rand’s words must have acted as some sort of magical command, though, because I felt myself suddenly relaxing, lying back on the bed. He helped me get comfortable, fluffing the pillow before I dropped my head on it. I took a deep breath, realizing I could breathe much more easily now. The headache had vanished. Even though I still felt tired, it wasn’t the same sort of aching exhaustion I felt before with Bella. “What was wrong with me?” I asked, my voice already heavy with sleep.

“We do not know for certain, although we believe it was Lurker magic,” Mathilda responded.

“Lurker,” I repeated, starting to sit up as realization dawned on me. Rand immediately pushed me back down again.

“You need to rest, Jolie,” he said softly.

“Lurkers … That was the word that kept going through my head during those dreams,” I said as I battled
with my heavy eyelids. “They are rallying, building their numbers. They’re going to attack us.”

“Dreams?” Rand repeated and glanced up at Mathilda, a question in his eyes. “That’s how they must have attacked her.”

“In exactly the same fashion they did the first time,” Mathilda added.

“What first time?” I started just as I felt myself drop off only to wake up with a start a second later. “What are you talking about?”

“Jolie, tell me about this dream you had,” Rand said. Then he added, “Awake unless I tell you otherwise.”

The exhaustion that was relentlessly trying to claim me instantly vanished. I took a deep breath, thinking about the dream images, feeling fear begin to bubble up within me once again. “There was a battlefield with dead soldiers; and others who were still alive, in combat. None of them was human—they were witches, vampires, and the fae, I think. Then I saw a throne with a crown and a scepter. Both the scepter and the crown later melted into the throne.” I glanced at Rand with an expression that said I was at a loss as to the rest of the images.

“I see,” Rand said softly and smiled at me.

“What did you mean by the ‘first time’ I had this dream?” I asked, turning to face Mathilda.

She glanced at Rand as if seeking his approval to answer, but he shook his head. “We will explain everything in time, Jolie, but for now, I just want you to sleep.”

Before I fell back into unconsciousness, I caught an expression of worry that passed over Rand’s face as he eyed Mathilda and Odran.

“The dreams were one and the same” were Mathilda’s last words before I lost the struggle and drifted to sweet sleep.

*  *  *

When I woke up, it was dark. I opened my eyes and saw the same thatched ceiling. Sitting up, I yawned with relief as I realized I felt completely healthy again. The intense sickness I’d experienced was now just a distant memory. Discovering I’d been left unattended, I stood up and stretched my arms over my head, wondering if the feelings of dizziness would return. But they didn’t. Encouraged, I took a few steps, still testing my body. But I was fine. One hundred percent restored to my former self.

Glancing around, I took in my strange accommodations—there was a stone fireplace in one corner, with a little wooden stool placed before it, somehow welcoming in its austerity. Looking up from the fireplace, I noticed a circular window, complete with muslin drapes on either side. Outside the circular window were flowers of a species I’d never before seen. They were lemon yellow and as tall as me. I continued scanning the room, taking in the dirt floor, which was covered by a large rug that looked to have been woven of straw. The furniture in the room, including a bed and a table with two small chairs, was completely constructed of hand-hewn logs.

I heard the door open and turned to face my visitor, tension riding up my neck. When I realized it was Rand, the tension disappeared, replaced by relief. Well, that was until I remembered Sinjin had no idea where I was and that I was basically being held hostage. Yet something within me still didn’t believe it—it felt as if I were right where I was meant to be. “You have a lot to explain,” I said simply.

“Are you feeling better then?” he asked as he handed me a wooden mug of what appeared to be water. I accepted it but didn’t bring it to my mouth, just swirled the contents around in the cup.

“I feel like I’m back to my old self,” I announced and glanced up at him with a slight smile of thanks. I couldn’t
deny that I had a lot to thank this man for—namely for restoring my health.

Yeah, but you also have to think about the fact that you are now Rand’s pawn, that he has you right where he wants you and Sinjin has no idea where you are
, I reminded myself.

I dropped my gaze to the mug in my hands and studied the contents, wondering what he’d brought me.

“It’s water,” Rand said softly.

Suddenly feeling parched, I held the wooden mug to my lips and drank. It tasted strange—almost like well water, as if it hadn’t been treated by any sort of plant, which I guess made sense since we were out in the boonies otherwise known as fae.

“I do want to explain everything to you, Jolie,” Rand continued. “Are you feeling well enough to listen?”

I nodded and sat down on my bed, as if to prove that I was ready and willing to hear his side of things. I needed to understand what sort of threat the Lurkers were and what my dream signified. Rand took a seat beside me and smiled. It was strange, but I could suddenly feel the heat radiating from him, heat that was such a contrast with the coldness of Sinjin’s skin. I had to swallow down the sudden urge to feel Rand’s warmth on my skin, to taste him and experience for myself what it meant to be with someone supernatural who shared my own temperature.