Isolation Read online

  Thanking her, I headed out to return to Xavier so I could show him the daggers and see what thoughts he might have about finding me someone to train with.

  Chapter Ten

  Eager to accomplish something while Celeste did research on my behalf, I asked Xavier to spar with me. He may not be able to hold a weapon, but I could begin practicing my form. Just as I happened to look out the window, a figure caught my eye. I dropped to the floor, carefully so as not to impale myself on my new daggers, and whisper-shouted to Xavier.

  “Someone’s outside.” I gestured to the window facing the clearing.

  “You can get up,” he said with a snicker, “remember, the cabin windows are not see-through to outsiders as they are to us.”

  “Oh, yeah.” I shrugged and picked myself up off the floor to stare at the stranger. “Who is he, and what do you think he’s doing here?”

  “He looks somewhat familiar, but I can’t place him… However, if he belonged here, the cabin security would let him through.”

  “He doesn’t even look like he is trying to get in,” I observed. “He just seems to be watching.” I snatched up the journal from its resting place on the table and checked to see if my mom had forewarned us of having company. The pages, however, were empty.

  The intruder did not make any obvious attempts to enter the clearing. He planted himself at the base of a large tree, his long legs in plain blue jeans, stretched out before him, and closed his eyes as if he intended to nap. Even knowing that he couldn’t actually see me, and that I was magically protected from being identified, it made me uneasy to have another person lurking around out there, especially after being basically alone here so far.

  For an intruder, however, he was awfully handsome. Dark, unruly, hair matched the shadow on his face, and his physique was muscular. I could certainly enjoy watching him for a while. The more I looked at him, however, the more I felt drawn to letting him in.

  Explaining what I was feeling to Xavier, I worried that this might be some sort of Jedi mind trick that I could fall victim to, and eventually I would open the door and invite him in, despite knowing that I shouldn’t. He cocked his head at me and didn’t have a definitive reason as to why I might feel that way. At the very least, he could keep an eye on me and ensure that I didn’t do anything I shouldn’t.

  I can’t say how long I stared out the window at him, but I was intent on committing as many details as I could to memory in case I wound up needing them in the future. His attire suggested a casual outing, although he wasn’t dressed for a hike.

  Aside from the blue jeans, he had on a dark T-shirt and plain tennis shoes. He carried a small backpack, and although I obviously couldn’t see into it, it appeared to hold only a few things as it lay mostly flat when he set it beside him.

  Most of my concern, though, came from the tug I felt to let him in, to bring him closer to me. I was absolutely certain that wasn’t natural, and I didn’t have the faintest idea what to do about it.

  I dashed off a brief note to my mother in the journal in case he wound up being someone malicious.

  He was either non-magical and out for a stroll (which I deemed unlikely, seeing as he found his way here in spite of the wards in the woods, and seemed to know he couldn’t pass the barrier), magically aware and friendly, or not. Two of the three scenarios would not be helped by my mother emerging from the portals without knowing he waited out there.

  I received a response from her almost immediately, letting me know she would be headed back within a couple hours and would deal with it then. Somewhat mollified that she didn’t seem in the least bit concerned, I set about for the most important task of my daily life. Food. Yep, I was starving again. Absolutely ravenous. Also, eternally thankful that the cabin harbored no scale, and that my jeans still buttoned.

  Xavier may not have been a good candidate for weapons training, but he certainly had the skills to give me a good cardio workout. His reflexes and extremely high physical acuity made him the perfect sparring partner to keep me on my toes. He could spring from the floor to the rafters and back again before I had barely noted his change in position.

  So, we moved the more delicate items out of the living room for safe keeping and left the big sturdy ones to make it more difficult on my end. Once my baking was in the oven we got started.

  My goal was simple. I just wanted to keep him from making any moves on me that could prove fatal, or even cause injuries, should I be involved in a real hand-to-hand combat situation. The point was to learn to avoid contact without using a shield.

  He did his best to catch me by surprise, and I did my best to not allow him to get the better of me. He’d jump from place to place, intent on putting a paw on me, so I could practice evasive maneuvers. Sometimes he just knocked me flat on my ass, which required me to practice my ability to get back on my feet as quickly as possible. Once I had gotten fairly good at that, he began pinning me, teaching me how to counter the weight and strength of whoever had gotten me in a position where I was held down.

  It felt like we had barely gotten started when we heard a faint rumbling throughout the cabin. Both of us raced to the window to look at the falls. A brief glow emanated, then nothing.

  I looked at Xavier, concerned. “What do you think is happening? Is Mom all right?”

  He pondered silently for a moment, the nodded and said, “Yes. Your mother is capable of handling far more than we are aware of. She is extremely powerful. The only solace I can offer you is that if she were actually to perish, you would know.”

  “But what if she is just injured or captured? How am I supposed to know if she needs my help?”

  He sighed. “For now, we will rely on our communication with her. Try not to worry overmuch. It is a bridge we are only able to cross once we arrive at it. She will return.”

  The rumble from the falls had put a damper on my desire to spar, so we returned the living room furniture to its rightful place, then I went to check on my treats still baking.

  True to her word, in spite of the difference in the way time passed in the other realms, my mother returned not long after we received her journal entry. I happened to catch her silhouette passing by the front windows as I headed to the kitchen to remove the final batch of cookies from the oven.

  As she neared the edge of the clearing, the very handsome stranger—what? I’m a loner, not blind--stood and raised his hand in greeting. Obviously, they knew each other, and I had to admit, I was a little excited that I was about to know him too. As they met at the barrier, my mother simply reached her arm through to grab his hand. Once she did, he walked right through and they hugged.

  They stood for a moment, deep in conversation. Whatever my mother had said to him caused him to jerk his head this way and stare at the cabin for a moment. Hmm. I wondered if the two of them had something going on, and I shouldn’t be ogling him. Yikes.

  I heard Xavier’s chuckle in my head and turned to him, curious.

  “You look like you just swallowed a fly!” he exclaimed, still laughing at me. “What on Earth is going on inside that head of yours?”

  I blushed and shook my head. Before I could even formulate a sentence, they made it to the door and stepped inside. We just stood there, waiting.

  As they entered, she headed straight for me and gave me a hug. “Everleigh, I’d like you to meet Taryk. Taryk, this is my daughter, Everleigh.” She looked between us for just a moment, and I thought she might say something else, but ran out of time.

  He shook my hand and smiled. Unable to help myself, I grinned back. “Nice to meet you,” we said at the same time. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, not even realizing we were still holding hands until Xavier gave a little growl, and my mother laughed. I thought I’d felt a little zing at first contact, but maybe it had just been my imagination. Intuition told me he wasn’t involved with my mother after all.

  “Everleigh, I asked Taryk to join us here for a couple reasons. First of all, he is a mage,
and his mother was Fae, so hopefully this will help with your magical training. Since he is not fully Fae, there will be things that are beyond his skill set, but we have Xavier to help with that as well. I believe any help we can get is something we need to take advantage of.

  “He is supremely talented in many areas of magic, despite spending most of his time here on Earth, as well as being highly trained in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry, and will be a wonderful ally when it comes to our defense.”

  With all that, his appearance here took on a whole new meaning, and I eyed him speculatively. Magical and skilled in weaponry, plus he happened to be gorgeous. There might be a small chance I would find myself over my head before we ever got started.

  “The timing is excellent. Celeste had a gift for me when I was in the study earlier.” Picking up the daggers from where I had laid them on the table, I held them up for my mother’s inspection. She stared at them silently for so long, I began to wonder if there was a problem. Just as I began to form the question and ask, she replied.

  “They are beautiful. Those are the Chosen daggers, are they not?”

  I nodded and explained to her what Celeste had said.

  “Well, that does indeed make Taryk's presence with us even more timely than I had imagined when I asked him to join us here.”

  Announcing that I had just been about to have lunch, I offered to make a meal for everyone so we could sit and get to know each other. Xavier took the opportunity to make fun of my appetite, and Taryk was quick to come to my rescue.

  “Magic burns thousands of calories,” he said. “If her body is not properly fueled, it will not be able to perform all the feats it is capable of. Not to mention, our physical training regimen is about to tax her as well. Besides,” he glanced my way, “it doesn’t look like she is in danger of becoming overweight at this time.”

  Turning to face the stove to hide my blush, I couldn’t help but smile a little. The isolation factor had decreased just slightly, and I might have been a little happier than I needed to be.

  In the interest of getting to know Taryk, I inquired about his favorite foods. He claimed to be easy to please, insisting he would eat anything I put in front of him. Deciding pasta made the most sense, I quickly got a loaf of garlic bread into the oven and water going to boil the noodles. It didn’t take long before I had chicken alfredo on the table, and we all sat around companionably.

  “So,” I asked my mom, “what on Earth was going on over there?”

  She sighed and looked at me sadly. “I had hoped we had more time before we would have to head to the other realms. I had wanted to safeguard you for as long as possible, to give your powers time to grow, and you time to master them. However, it looks like we are running out of time faster than I had envisioned. That is part of the reason Taryk is here now. So bear with me, I’m going to give you a brief version of the most recent few decades, then we will begin to formulate a plan.”

  She explained the stability had been slowly crumbling in the other realms for the better part of the last century. The dark mage who had killed our father so long ago had been making every effort to grow in strength as time passed.

  Her desire was to control all the magic in the entire universe, and all who resided in it, magical and non-magical alike. All the realms, as well as Earth, were becoming vulnerable to her dark arts. She became more powerful by siphoning abilities from others, either willing victims or by stealing their gifts after she stole their life.

  “At one point,” my mother explained, “we had her contained in a magical prison put there by my mother, your grandmother, Lienne. The battle to capture her had been ferocious, and we lost many brave souls. But once we had triumphed, we believed she would be in there for centuries, if not forever. Taryk’s father, Quinn, had been one of the mages who helped us succeed. He gave his entire life force and magic to bind her within. It took everything he had; even back then she had become supremely powerful.”

  I glanced at him in surprise. He sat quietly eating his lunch, his face expressionless. My mother, who hadn’t taken a bite of her pasta, stood, and paced the small room.

  “We grew somewhat complacent, believing we had bested her. We had stripped her of all her stolen power and didn’t believe she would be able to regain enough to be a problem. Instead, we focused our resources on the lookout for what the great darkness would prove to be, since we agreed it couldn’t be the mage we held in captivity. We were wrong, and we paid for that mistake.

  “To this day we are unsure exactly how she escaped her prison. Many believed she still had the ability to siphon magical powers from those who came within reach of her magic. Only a little at a time, and very slowly, so that it took her years to regain enough to break free.

  “There is also speculation that she had assistance, but nobody could prove that to be the case, and if so, who it may have been. Once she had escaped, however, she disappeared for quite some time. We believe she began gathering power again, and that has become apparent by her recent attempts to breach the portals.”

  The lines of strain and worry on my mother’s face tugged at my emotions, just as the expressionless look on Taryk's face made me want to hug him. I had been born just a couple short decades ago, and I couldn’t help but be concerned about the responsibilities about to be resting on my shoulders. My best would be all I could do, and I hoped I had the abilities they believed I had. To know what they had sacrificed, and still not have been successful, worried me.

  There seemed to be so much loss, and yet, this bitch of a dark mage was still causing trouble. How could one person be so evil? Why should she have the power to create misery for the entire universe? I let that sink in, and there, I found my strength.

  She would pay for all the pain she had caused, and I would be the scribe to see to it, one way or another. I looked up and met my mother’s eyes, and I’m sure she saw my determination because she gave me a smile. We could do this. Together, those of us here would end her.

  Chapter Eleven

  In light of our ever-dwindling time to get my magic up to speed, we agreed I needed to begin my training with Taryk immediately. We decided to focus on getting my magic under control, because I could use that for my own defense as well as offense, and then we would work on training with the daggers and other weaponry.

  My mother had already given the plan some thought. “Taryk, I think the best place to work on her magic would be the training room. No matter what kind of response you get, it will be contained there.”

  I looked at her in surprise, unaware that such a room existed. Taryk, however seemed to know exactly where to go. Obviously, he had been here before. He headed down the hallway and waited for me to open the door to the study.

  The door swung open for me and he followed me, headed directly for one of the bookshelves along the back wall. Upon approaching, he grabbed the sconce mounted to the side, pulling it downward. Instantly the shelves swung outward, revealing a hidden passageway that led straight into the mountain. I stood immobile for a minute, staring alternately between him and the dark hallway.

  “Illuminaire.” He waved his hand and light filled the space. The hallway sloped downward as we walked. Passing two closed doors along the way, he led me directly to an enormous cavern, which must have been deep under the mountain. Weapons of all types lined the walls along with other items I did not recognize.

  Stepping into the center of the room, he began his explanations. “This is the safest place for us to practice your magic. It is protected not only by the wards laid upon it from previous generations, it is also buried so deeply under the mountain that it provides a natural and effective barrier from the surface. Whatever disturbances we create while figuring out your magic will be contained here, and not give your presence away.”

  He stared at me for a moment. I can’t say how long we stood staring at each other, but he broke eye contact with a quick shake of his head. He reached for my hand, pausing to ask permission. “I’d like to see
what kind of read I can get on your magic before we start,” he explained. “My mother was part Fae, and I hope that will give me an idea where to start.”

  Nodding, I held out my hand. The instant our skin met, the tingle I thought I'd felt when we first shook hands exploded into sparks, and I jerked my hand back with a yelp. He stared at me incredulously, and I stared back at him in shock.

  “What the hell? That has never happened to me before. Do you do that to all the people you touch?”

  My exclamations were met by moments of stunned silence, as all he did was shake his head in wonder. There didn't seem to be any physical effects from the encounter, and I didn't feel any pain. He stared down at our hands, then looked at my face.

  “Can we try that again?”

  Hesitantly I offered him my hand, palm up, and waited while he seemed to be contemplating whether he wanted to try again or not. Extending a single finger, he gently nudged my palm with the tip, which he whipped back after the first contact.

  There was a slight zing, but no sparks, and not nearly the force of the first time. He glanced at me with a small smile and hovered his palm over mine. Even though there was no touching at first, I felt the electricity between us.

  Slowly, he lowered his palm to mine. I closed my eyes, and, using my sight, pictured his soul. I gasped at the sight of it. Stunningly beautiful! While it had fewer colors than my own, every strand shimmered and shined. It appeared both solid and opaque, deep and vibrant.

  Even more astonishing, I watched my strands and his weave themselves together, knotting and intertwining without my assistance or my guidance. I struggled with the temptation to try to stop it, for I had only just met him, and didn’t think I was ready to be tied to him in this way.

  Knowing so little about my powers yet, I had no idea what this meant for me, for us, or in general. Assuming there had to be a way to sever the bond if we so chose, I allowed it to carry on. The intricacies of this weaving were far superior to the bond I had with Xavier, and the strands seemed to solidify as they joined together.