Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) Read online

  I scrambled to my feet and ran as fast as I could for the perimeter fence, fearing I could be found any moment, despite the darkness shrouding me. The fence was in poor shape, and I threw a few small rocks from the ground at it to check and make sure it wasn't electrified. Reassured it wasn't, I groped with my hands until I found a large enough hole that I could wriggle through. Thorns on both sides scratched my bare hands and arms, and I winced at their stings before I was through. Trying to stand upright, I called my magic as I prepared to shimmer. Miraculously, magic surged into me as if I'd just broken the dam, but it was so weak. I focused on Étoile, hoping I arrived wherever she was. She could track my movements and send reinforcements, I rationalised. When I opened my eyes, I was in a field, with nothing in view around me and nowhere near safety. I called my magic, ready to shimmer again, but nothing came, not even the tiniest amount. I was empty. There was nothing left. I couldn't save anyone. Not even me. With a scream of pure frustration, I slammed my hand against the ground, causing one of the small stones on my ring to break off.

  In an instant, a rush of heat surrounded me before I was lifted, then embraced by something hot and brimming with power. Suddenly, we were gone.

  Chapter Four

  My sleep was deep and dreamless, but when I awoke in the dark room, I could smell the fear, and hear the echoes of the screams of those I left behind. Guilt bubbled inside me until it burst out in thick sobs. Arms wrapped around me, pressing me so hard into a chest, I thought I might suffocate from affection.

  Wriggling free, I wiped my eyes with the backs of my hands and forced my eyes to focus. I was in the white room again.

  "You're annoyed," I said, "I can feel your heat. How long have I been asleep?"

  Evan sighed. "I'm not annoyed with you. I'm annoyed at what happened to you."

  "Étoile told you?"

  "The short version. You've been asleep for the last five hours."

  "I feel drained, but also..." I felt better. Healthy, even. I searched inside myself. The holes in my memory were gone. Whatever Lisette did, it broke the barrier surrounding my memories; and even though I didn't want to recall them, it was a relief just to know they were there and accessible once more. "I feel stronger," I decided.

  "You should. The longer you're here, the better you'll feel."

  "No, it's not just my thoughts. I feel whole again. Where is everyone?" I looked around, surprised we were alone and no one waited stealthily in the corners, or perched quietly on the couch to catch me by surprise. "What happened?"

  "You passed out after Lisette did her thing, so we brought you back here to rest. Seren checked you for any injuries and decided you needed sleep, not healing, so Kitty and Seren waited with you while Étoile called an emergency Council meeting."

  "The High Council?" I guessed and Evan nodded.

  "She had to tell them what you saw when you were captive. It's not only witches under attack by Auberon and Georgia, but all of us. They've been very busy."

  "The werewolf I saw? And the witches? Do we know what happened to them?"

  "Étoile is investigating how many of the witches are currently known to be missing. Gage is trying to track down the werewolf's pack from the image he saw. We'll know who they are soon."

  "What next?" I asked.

  Evan slid off the bed. "We're taking a larger group back to the warehouse to start tracing the captives."

  I scrambled off the bed, relieved my clothes were still intact. All I needed were a pair of boots and a jacket. "I'm coming with you. I know these people. I spent two months with them. I have the best connection to track."

  "It's not safe. You haven’t fully recovered yet."

  "You won't let anything happen to me," I said, with absolute certainty.

  "No, I won't, but you're still not coming. You're a liability."

  I had to keep my poker face so he couldn't see how his words wounded me. "I'm your best chance."

  "No."

  "You can't stop me."

  Evan loomed over me, angry heat prickling from him. "I can and I will!"

  "He can't, but I definitely will," said Étoile, a trace of amusement in her voice. It was hard not to jump. So much for no one waiting to ambush me! I must mention that her unexpected appearance did nothing to calm my nerves. "Evan will return to the warehouse with Seren so she can run traces for our missing. You, Stella, are needed here. I have a job for you."

  "What kind of job?" I asked, turning from Evan. It didn't escape me that he still bristled with annoyance at my challenge, but at least, the heat was fading.

  "The world didn't stand still when you disappeared. We had to continue looking into the issues that arose when you were last here. We've made some headway, but it would be more useful if you could turn your attentions to that, instead of dwelling on the past."

  "I'm not dwelling on the past! I only just remembered it; and I have to help them!"

  "You are not getting in Auberon and Georgia’s way again. We still don't know why they kidnapped you, only that they experimented with your magic. Keeping you safe is one of our highest priorities and best hopes for rescuing our brethren."

  "But..."

  "No, Stella, that's final. As your leader, I order you to remain at The Amethyst," she finished, her edict delivered with an icy brittleness she rarely used with me.

  "Are you serious?"

  "Deadly."

  I crossed my arms, not caring how petulant I looked. "Fine. What's the job?"

  "Astra located Ariadne Chapman, and she agreed to come here to help decipher the prophecies we found."

  "Athene's prophecies?" Astra and I had already spent a substantial amount of time reading about the prophecies that we traced to Athene. Some we already knew were accurate, while others appeared to be no more than rambling notes. Athene correctly predicted our battle at Hawkscroft, Auberon's family home, forty years before it happened. Towards the end of Athene's notes, she described her visions about a superwitch who was supposed to herald The Brotherhood's downfall.

  "The very same."

  "Where's Clare?" I asked, naming Ariadne's daughter and Étoile's assistant. We discovered Clare Starkwell's true identity only days ago — months now, I reminded myself — and it was no less than a stunning revelation. I wasn't quite sure why she kept her heritage so secret, or even if she knew anything about her grandmother's predictions.

  "She's here," said Étoile. "I've set up a space for you to work in. Come with me."

  I nodded, since now was not the moment to argue. When Étoile was determined, that was it. Plus, she'd already given her command, and I couldn't defy her as leader. Not so openly anyway. Besides, part of me knew she was right. My fear of going back to that awful prison wasn't something I could articulate. Instead, I shot a glance at Evan as we left the room, hardly surprised to see he had already dematerialised, and the room was empty.

  "When can I leave the hospital?" I asked.

  Étoile looked around at the corridor and frowned. "Now?"

  I restrained a smile. "No, I mean, permanently. I don't need monitoring."

  "I'll have a room set up for you."

  "Thanks." I paused, wondering if I should challenge her. We were alone, so I said, "Are you serious about making me stay here? I can't leave?"

  "Absolutely. Don't even try to leave, Stella. I mean it. These are troublesome times for us, and I don't want to waste anymore of it by having to search for you again."

  I winced. "Okay."

  "I mean it."

  "I said okay!"

  I switched topics. "Did you find anything other than the prophecies while I was missing?"

  Étoile shook her head lightly, causing the ruby drop earrings she wore to shake. "No, they remain our best options at present."

  "So what do you need me to do? Read them while you guys do all the hard work?"

  "It's all hard work; it's just different work. I need you to work out which of Athene's prophecies are sure things, and find out who the hell the super
witch is that she predicted. Astra will help you, and you can quiz Ariadne when she gets here to learn whatever she knows."

  "It sounds easy."

  "Since when did those words ever work out for anyone?"

  I gave her what I hoped was a rueful smile. "Never?"

  ~

  Astra's head was buried in an ancient book. Little plumes of dust rose from the stacks of centuries-old books around her, casting a grey pallor inside the room. "Stella!" she yelled, looking up when we entered. Dropping her pen, she pushed back her chair, flying to me in quick steps with her arms outstretched. "I've been so worried."

  "My ribs," I squeaked as she gathered me into a bone-crushing hug.

  "Sorry," she whispered, not releasing me.

  I patted her back. "Can't. Breathe."

  "Sorry for not stopping them," she sniffed against my ear before finally letting me go.

  "You weren't there!"

  "It doesn't matter. I should have known. I should have suspected something! I shouldn't have gone for burgers with Kitty, like we were normal."

  "None of us suspected anything. It was an ambush, and I don't blame you at all," I told her, feeling a rush of sympathy for Astra's misplaced guilt. I hoped the sincerity in my voice would be as apparent as it felt. Not for a moment did I blame Astra, Kitty, Evan, or anyone else. There was nothing they could have done. Despite the memory recall, the last clear image I had was of Georgia disabling me before rendering me entirely helpless. "They could have killed you if you were there," I told her with no doubt in my mind. "I still don't know why they didn't kill me. Then, or later." I shivered, the footage of my own mind replaying again. Finding the time to make sense of it all would be a hurdle though. My mind felt strange, but that must have been because the memories weren't fully mine yet. They were there again, sure, but not yet my own. I'd seen them, but hadn’t experienced them. I felt removed from the whole ordeal, like it happened to someone else, another me. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like when my lost memories flooded my brain, or if that would even happen. How would it feel when those memories belonged only to me again? Then I could begin to understand exactly what happened. None of it would be in slow motion. None would be in fast forward. I just hoped, when it happened, it wouldn't hit me like a sledgehammer. Of course, that was assuming I got anything back beyond the knowledge that I could recall those memories. Maybe I would never truly understand what happened to me. Most puzzling of all, why was I still alive? Why didn't Auberon kill me when he had the chance?

  "What's going on here?" I asked, temporarily abandoning the troubling thoughts occupying my mind. "What did you find while I was gone?"

  "Not nearly enough. Here, take a look. This is all the information we garnered," explained Astra as she waved a hand over the assembled books and notepads. "I went back to the archives to look for anything more that could be connected to the prophecies."

  "Étoile seems really interested in the prophecies."

  "She told me we had to find out if they were genuinely serious, and if there were any real truth behind all of it. If there is, if we have a chance at stopping an all-out war, we need that superwitch."

  "It could be Clare," I said, reaching for the most obvious solution. "She is Ariadne's daughter, and Athene's granddaughter. They made that star sister pact before she was even born, so she's connected to everyone, really."

  "But she wasn't given a star name like the rest of us," pointed out Astra. "Étoile, Seren, me, you and... Clare?"

  "Does that really matter?"

  "Unless we knew the exact spell they cast at the time, it's impossible to say, and my mom's memory isn't exactly terrific. Clare should have a stronger link to us, but we've been experimenting these past few weeks, and it's just not there. Maybe because..."

  "I wasn't there," I finished for her, knowing I guessed correctly when Astra nodded. "Maybe we need all of us together."

  "Maybe. For now though, we have this." Astra spread her arm across the books and papers cluttering the large table and stacked them onto the floor. She stopped, turning to me. "We have one other thing too."

  "What?"

  "The herbs that the prophecy say weaken demons. When I told Étoile that Georgia had demon in her bloodline, Étoile had Seren and David search all over until they found it. They've made a potion that they think will work."

  "That's great... Wait, think will work? They don't know for sure?"

  "Not without someone to test it on. Given that we're all supposed to be on the same team now with the High Council, we couldn't tell the demons what we were doing."

  I gulped. I couldn't imagine any demon volunteering themselves. Very few had ever been willing to work with us. I could only think of two; and one, although powerful, wasn't a full-blood demon, while the other would hardly be eager to assist. I was sure of that. "Evan and Micah?" I asked, pulling a face as I waited for Astra's rebuttal.

  "No one dares to ask. Besides, no one wanted to disable Evan. He was hellbent on..." Astra stopped, pinching her lips together.

  "Hellbent on what?" I pressed.

  "Finding you," she said, dropping into a chair. "He's been so worried. He never said it, but anyone could see."

  "He's my friend. It was natural for him to be worried. You all were."

  "But his... he was something else while you were gone; and any idiot can see he's not just your friend!"

  "We're nothing but friends." I swallowed hard, remembering one of our many conversations. It all seemed so recent to me, but for Evan, weeks had passed since we last spoke. When we ended our relationship, the pain was bad enough, but after learning he'd been working as a double agent for Étoile, and conducted the semblance of a relationship with Irina, (literally his demon ex), I had felt worse. I didn't know how to react to all of that, and I still didn't care to know all the details.

  Sure, I admit being a hypocrite. I had my own fling with Gage and the choice about what to do there was ripped from me the moment Gage ascended in rank to lead his pack. He told me rules could be broken — maybe, eventually — but I refused to be anyone's secret. I had to decline his offer to string me along on the possibility that things could change when there was no guarantee they could. I had too much self-respect for that. Besides, we were better as friends so I pushed my emotions aside. My decision to end things with Gage always felt right, even if it was sad.

  What I felt toward Evan was harder to deal with, but we were still on the road to rebuilding friendship and trust. In the days after I returned to my home in Wilding, following Gage's inauguration as packmaster, Evan was one of the few people I didn't avoid. That had to count for something. Of course, he was just my friend. But even as I thought about it, I knew it wasn't true.

  I dropped heavily into the opposite chair, realising the friends line was little more than hollow words. I was grasping for a reality that I wasn’t sure existed. Would we ever truly be friends with our shared past hanging over us? Could we manage to be anything more to each other as long as that past kept toying with my emotions?

  "Sure," said Astra softly as if she could hear exactly what I was thinking. "That's why he's been going crazy trying to find you."

  "He has?"

  "There was nothing he wasn't willing to do, Stella. He loves you. Any fool can see that."

  "Idiots and fools, huh?"

  "Listen to me, Stella. You can fool all kinds of people, but I see you. I feel your hurt when you're near him, and I would be surprised if others didn’t too. They’re just too polite to say anything. He messed up. He knows that."

  "You've spoken to him?"

  "A few times. He came to the house as soon as he knew you were gone and tracked Kitty and me down. I feared he would destroy Wilding with his unbridled fury."

  "I was on the phone with him when I opened the door," I recalled.

  "He's been desperate ever since. He volunteered for every task force, and every tactical team. He worked tirelessly to find you; and the longer it took, the more determined
he became. He never once gave up on his quest to rescue you. I was with him when he got your signal."

  "Evan told me my ring broke, which is why it activated. I remember that, sort of."

  "We were in the midst of a meeting with Étoile when he got to his feet, and said he knew where you were before flashing out of there like a puff of smoke. Moments later, you were in his arms, in the room, and both of you were on fire."

  "On fire?" I stroked my arms, the prickle of heat having subsided some time ago.

  "I've never seen anything like it!"

  I looked up, finding her studying me. "Why are you telling me all this?"

  "Because Evan is too proud to admit it and you should know. Sure, you both messed up, but when someone loves you like that, you should know."

  "I can’t... I don't know. I don't know what to believe. He's my friend. He doesn't love me. He lied to me."

  "He took Irina's blow for you," she reminded me. I winced as the image of Irina launching magic at me flashed through my head. Evan thought nothing of putting himself in the middle, safely shielding me.

  "He didn't trust me."

  "He couldn't tell you anything."

  "I..."

  "Do you remember what I told you before you disappeared? When we were talking about being with someone that might not be potentially acceptable?" Astra asked. I shook my head, no, so she continued, "I told you to get your own power. I said do what you want and to hell with everyone else."

  The words briefly resonated in my head until suddenly, it was there, a pure memory. Having just spoken with Gage, I decided there was no future to pursue with him. I was sad, but I knew I made the right decision. It didn't end the feelings I had for him, but it managed to put them into a place that I could heal from. I asked Astra about Étoile and Matthias, and their years of an on-off relationship, and Étoile gave me her own version. That wasn't something I wanted either, but Étoile had power. Even she couldn't change things for her own love, a vampire.