Thankfully I didn't have a weak stomach, because Kyle was taking great joy in hacking Alex to bits. Nate came over to me and wrapped me in a big hug. He started kissing my face all over, ending with a very thorough tongue wrestle.
"How badly are you hurt?" he asked, stepping a little away from me, but keeping me held in a hug.
"On a scale of one to ten, maybe a two. He caught me off guard and hit me with an energy ball, but I don't think that did any damage. I have a cut on my leg; other than that, I think I fought everything else off," I assured him.
"Are you sure nothing else got through, and the energy ball didn't cause any damage?" he asked.
"Not even a mark on my shirt from where it hit. He was hoping it'd do more damage, and I was happy to expertly deflect the hundreds that followed."
"Hey, Avery, you want to help with the burning part of the killing a warlock equation?" Kyle asked, finished with his chopping expedition. I didn't expect there was a lot of Alex left.
"Sure. What do you want me to do?" I asked. I hadn't been able to separate his head from his shoulders, but I could catch him on fire.
He kicked the detached head, so it was about twenty feet away from the body. I unwrapped myself from Nate and walked over to the headless body. The snow around it was soaked in blood.
"You can burn the pieces now that they're separate," he answered.
I looked at Kyle and saw a light glow around his body. I was checking to see if he'd made a mess of himself while he worked, but I wasn't expecting the glow. He saw me studying it and shrugged his shoulders. I left it alone and moved on to my task at hand.
I concentrated and produced a nice little fireball in my hand. I usually tended to just think the fire into existence where I wanted it to burn, but creating the fireball, and then hurling it was just a tad more personal. I made short work at catching all the pieces on fire and verified sure not even a drop of blood was left unscorched.
"You sure you're okay, baby girl?" Rick asked as he took my hand.
"Yeah, warlocks aren't that tough. He had a spell that stopped my telekinetic abilities from working on him. If that wasn't in place, the fighting would've been over within seconds," I told him.
"So did he spill all his secrets on what's going on?" Liam asked.
"He was a little talkative, but no real specifics. There are people out there doing similar things, all trying to get my attention. It sounds like his 'master', as he called him, wants to take over the world, but for some reason I'm in the way. The master has issued orders to his minions to find me and kill me while I'm still weak. He told me if I had my full powers, I would've been able to feel the uniques' pain."
"That's a new one. You were always strong, but you never felt other people like that. I'm guessing he wasn't kind enough to explain that theory," Nate said.
"For some reason he just wasn't that accommodating," I said.
"I'm curious how you ended up beating him. I didn't get a good look before blood-thirsty Kyle moved in," Joseph said.
"Even though the telekinesis wasn't able to get through, I could still read his mind. I found a spell he was thinking about using on me and I just used it first. It was meant to take away someone's power and that's apparently what it did, because the energy balls stopped and the wall dropped."
"You guys ready to get out of here?" Rick asked. "I'd really like to get back to the house before any other surprises, like a giant bubble blocking us, magically appear. Just in case you're wondering, if a message says you're supposed to go somewhere alone, I'm going to be glued to your side. We tried it the other way once, and no matter the outcome, the ulcer I got tells me it ain't happening again."
Nate didn't have to tell me he felt the same way. It was still a mystery why he'd let me go off on my own. There had to be a story behind his lapse in sanity.
Everyone was in agreement that we wanted to get out of there, so we rambled back to the snowmobiles. By the time we reached them, I was a little pooped from the walking and fighting of the day. Thankfully for the rest of the trip I could sit back and let the snowmobile do all the work.
"So, any more hints on what we're having for dinner?" Liam asked.
"Can you seriously be thinking about food after that mess you just saw?" I asked him.
"It's your fault. Before you came around I actually thought about all sorts of boring stuff. Then you show up promising home-cooked meals and everything changed," he replied.
"If you come back to New York with us, I'm going to have to keep you busy, so you can put your mind to good use." I was sure he'd be interesting to spar with. It'd probably take some convincing to make that dream come true, but I'd been practicing my puppy dog eyes.
"I imagine New York has a lot more to do than Eek does, so maybe that won't be much of a challenge," he replied.
"Since we've met, you seem to be keeping yourself plenty busy," Rick said.
"Well, we have you guys to thank for that. I think that's part of the reason why we want to go with you. You guys live such interesting lives," Kyle said. "It's been a long time since our skills have been useful."
"It usually isn't like this. In fact, we really like to live low-key lives. I was even more low-key before Nate found me. All this excitement is new to me," I informed them. I didn't want them to get their hopes up that we went around looking for fights on a daily basis.
"I don't think you're going to be able to go back to low-key after this. Uniques around the world are going to find out what's going on and I'm sure they'll be uniting behind you," Joseph said.
"Why do they have to unite behind me? I think they'd be in much better condition if they followed one of you guys. I barely know who I am."
"You've been named a key player by the opposition, so that bumps you to the top. We have no problem standing behind you as lieutenants," Nate told me and I wished I was in a position where I could kick him.
"Really? Because a couple of you are kings among your kind. I can't imagine you want to sit back as some woman takes over."
"There's not a woman out there who I'd rather stand behind," Joseph said, and the rest of the group mumbled their agreement.
"Whatever," I said. "Let's just get back to the house and we can discuss this mess later. I'm going to ask Elizabeth to check each of you for brain damage."
We made it back to town relatively quickly. I shut off the snowmobile and went to get off, but before I could Nate was there picking me up.
"What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm capable of walking and I'm going to have a shirt made indicating that."
"I know, sweetheart. I just want to get that leg looked at. The bad guy thought you could be killed, so I want to make sure you get it disinfected and sewn up, if it needs it," he replied.
"You do remember I just walked miles in the wilderness and I'm still alive," I pointed out. Sometimes he really didn't make a lick of sense.
"Let him be, Avery. He was still in shock at that point," Rick said. "You should've seen him freaking out when he couldn't get into that bubble. That was a scary fifteen minutes for him, and it's definitely not something I want to witness again."
"Fine," I said, being carried into the house.
"What happened?" Frannie asked the second she saw me. She and Gary were hanging out in the sitting area. She rushed over, worry spread across her face.
"See, your craziness is scaring Frannie," I told Nate. "Nothing happened, other than a little scratch. Nate is just being his overprotective self. You've seen how he gets. I'm lucky I'm not prone to paper cuts, because he'd wrap me in bubble wrap."
"Frannie, would you mind taking a look?" Nate asked. "I imagine Elizabeth is busy with the others still."
"I think she's sent everyone home, but if you want I can do it," she replied.
"Please, I don't want to have to bother her," he dropped me off and headed back outside.
"It really isn't anything. Just a little scratch. I'm surprised he just dropped me off after making a big deal about making me get it looked at."
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"That's because he knows I have mad skills. Now, just sit still a second and I'll get you all healed."
I did as I was instructed and she inspected the cut. It was only about a quarter of an inch long and just skin deep. I'd cut myself worse shaving. I didn't see any dirt around the area, even after walking and riding home.
"You're right, this is nothing. I'll go ahead and seal it, though, to make Nate feel better," she said.
She held her hand over the cut and I felt the skin start to warm slightly. She mumbled a few words, and then removed her hand. I looked down and saw no sign of the cut.
"Wow. That's awesome. What did you do?" I asked, amazed that the cut had totally vanished.
"Oh, nothing really. It's just one of the benefits of being Cat Sidhe, or Faie in general. We have healing powers." She shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal. Evidently to her it wasn't, and if I had all my marbles it probably wouldn't be for me. "So what happened out there?"
"Can you ask later? I'm really tired. The short version would be that the bad guy was killed and we didn't learn much to help us find the guy calling the shots," I replied.
"No one else got hurt?" Gary asked. He'd been sitting off to the side, watching his fianc? slash mate work. "If something made its way through to you, I would've thought there'd be other injuries."
"No one else was involved in the fighting," I answered, yawning. I knew I felt tired, but I hadn't thought I was close to falling asleep where I sat.
"Okay, no more questions. Off to bed with you," Frannie said, shooing me out of the room.
I made my climb up the stairs. I didn't bother changing my clothes, and just crashed on the bed, falling asleep immediately. When I started to dream it was similar to the one I had about Elizabeth when she was a child.
I'm in a one-room hut by myself, sewing up holes in clothing. In my past lives, I was way too domestic for my liking. As I continue unwillingly sewing, I hear some noises outside. I put the sewing down and go out to investigate.
I make my way out of the hut; evidently doors weren't big in whatever time period or location I am in. Outside I find a little boy talking with Rick. I check the mental database and know the boy is Omar, my first son.
"Mama," he says running towards me. "Look what Uncle Zaccheus got for me." He holds out his little hand to show me the jacks I have sitting in the shoebox. Maybe this means I will get more memories when I wake up.
"That's great," I tell him.
"Omar, why don't you run along and play with your friends," Rick tells him. Omar follows the suggestion and runs along.
"So, baby girl, what have you been up to today?" he asks me.
"You know I hate when you use that nickname. Why after all of these years do you insist on calling me that?" I ask.
"Sorry, but being born an hour after me will always make you a baby in my book, Sis," he replies. He comes over and gives me a quick kiss on my head. "Is my brother-in-law around?"
You have got to be kidding. The dream had to be some kind of joke. Rick is going to have a lot of explaining to do when I wake up.
"He's around here somewhere. I think he took the girls out hunting," I reply.
"So I can play hide-and-seek. That just happens to be one of my favorite games," he says heading off into the woods.
I woke up surprised to see only fifteen minutes had passed. I walked over to the shoebox and picked up one of the jacks. As I was hoping, just like with the doll, memories started flashing in my mind.
After ten minutes, I came back to myself, not only with the memories of my first son, but also equipped with the memories of my idiot brother.
"Freddie!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. That man was going to get a beating for acting like a romantic interest off and on for months. The only plus side was that I'd get to tell Joseph he was totally off base.
CHAPTER 22
Being bored is the most frightening thing in the world