“That’s not true,” he said. “Forget about it. You aren’t like them.”
“But I am one of them, right? At least half?”
“By blood only. Everything else…well, for all intents and purposes, you’re human. You have nothing to do with them.”
“Except killing and banishing them. How could you set me up for that…if I’m…?” One of them, I wanted to finish. But I couldn’t get the words out.
“Because you have a talent for it. One we need. You know what they can do.”
“Yes. And you’ve made sure I do, telling me all the horror stories growing up. But there’s a hell of a lot more than that. They’re weird, yes, but not all evil.”
My mother suddenly joined the conversation, eyes wild and frantic. “Yes! They are! You don’t know what you’re talking about. When did you have this revelation? A day ago? A week ago? I lived with them for three years, Eugenie. Three years.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Three years, and I never once encountered a decent one. No one who would help me. No one who would keep me from Tirigan.”
“Who?”
“Storm King,” said Roland. “That’s his name. Was his name.”
“They say you saved her from him.”
He nodded. “I was there chasing down a kelpie when I heard rumors of a captured human woman. I went to investigate and found her and you. You were a baby. I slipped you both out of there and hid you.”
“But Dorian…someone I met…said Storm King came looking for us.”
“He did. And he found you.”
I frowned. From what Dorian had said, I should have been a young teenager then. “I don’t remember that.”
Roland nodded again. “Once close enough, he could reach out and call to you. He summoned you to him. By the time I tracked you down, you were out in the desert, very near a crossroads. You’d walked miles to get to him.”
“I don’t remember that,” I repeated. In some ways, what Roland told me now was crazier than what I’d learned at Aeson’s.
“His magic spoke to yours. He wanted to take you back with him, and you fought against him. You were struck by lightning in the process.”
“Wait, I know I’d remember that.”
“No. I hypnotized you and repressed it. I killed him, but your magic had still been awakened. After seeing what I’d seen, I was afraid you couldn’t control it-that it would control you instead.”
“I don’t have any magic. Not gentry magic anyway.”
“Not that you know of. It’s hidden away. I made you forget. After that, I started teaching you the craft in the hope of protecting you. I didn’t know if others would follow him or if someone else could reawaken you or summon you. I needed to give you the tools you’d need for defense.” He suddenly looked tired. “I never realized how well you’d take to them.”
I felt as tired as he looked, despite all the sleep. I pulled up one of the chairs and sat; they continued to stand. So I had met Storm King. I had answered his summons. And I had been struck by lightning? That was interesting, because in a lot of cultures, shamans are called to their art through some traumatic event. Lightning strikes are actually common ones. Many of the local Indian shamans-already skeptical of the plethora of New Age white shamans-did not consider me authentic since I’d had no such profound initiation. Turns out I had. Score one for me.
“You made me forget. You got inside my head, and you made me forget. All this time…both of you have known and never told me.”
“We wanted to protect you,” he said.
“And what then? Did you think I’d never find out?” The heat rose in my voice again. “I had to hear it from gentry. I would have rather heard it from you.”
My mother closed her eyes, and one tear trailed down her cheek. Roland regarded me calmly.
“In hindsight, yes, that would have been better. But we never thought it would actually come out.”
“It’s out,” I said bitterly. “Everyone knows it. And now everyone wants a piece of this prophecy-and of me.”
“What prophecy?”
I told them. When I finished, my mother sat down and buried her face in her hands, crying softly. I could hear her murmuring, “It’ll happen to her. It’ll happen to her too.”
Roland rested a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t put much stock in gentry prophecies. They come out with a new one every day.”
“Doesn’t matter, if they believe it. They’re still going to come after me.”
“You should stay with us. I’ll help protect you.”
I stood up, glancing at my mother. No way would I expose her to more gentry. “No. This is my problem. Besides, don’t take this too badly”-I felt myself start to choke up-“but I don’t really want to see you guys for a while. I guess you meant well, but…I need to…I don’t know. I need to think.”
“Eugenie-” I saw raw pain on his face. My mom’s sobs grew louder.
I stood up, averting my eyes from both of them. Suddenly, I couldn’t stay here anymore. “I’ve got to go.”
Roland was still calling after me when I practically ran out of the house. But I needed to get away, or I’d say something stupid. I didn’t want to hurt them, even though I probably had. But they’d hurt me too, and we all needed to deal with that.
While opening my car door, I looked up and saw a red fox watching me from the same spot as last time.
I strode toward him, close but not too close.
“Go away!” I shouted.
He stared at me, unmoving.
“I mean it. I’m not speaking to you. You’re as bad as the rest of them.”
He lay down, resting his chin on crossed paws while he continued to regard me solemnly.
“I don’t care how cute you are, okay? I’m through with you.”
A woman working in her yard next door gave me an uneasy look. I turned my back on the fox, got in the car, and drove home. Yet, as I did, I couldn’t help but feel relieved Kiyo had survived. I honestly hadn’t known if he would. Strong and vicious he might be, but Aeson had been slinging fire at him. The question was, had Kiyo merely escaped? Or had he managed to kill the king? What had happened to Jasmine?
Tim still wasn’t back when I got home. I decided then I didn’t want to leave my house that day or make any pretense of productivity. I wanted to hit the sauna, put on pajamas, and then watch bad TV while eating Milky Ways. It seemed like a pretty solid plan, and I set out to make it happen.
Twenty minutes later, I sat immersed in hot steam, draped in humidity. Heat was great for loosening muscles, although that only made me realize how much I’d hurt them. At least I’d made it out alive. That was the real miracle, considering what a disaster last night had turned into.
I didn’t want to think much about it or about Mom and Roland, but it was hard not to. Part of me still believed-still hoped-that all of this was a mistake. After all, wasn’t it just everyone’s say-so? Of course, somehow I doubted my parents would make all that up. But really. Where was the DNA test? The photographic evidence? I had nothing tangible. Nothing I could see and believe.
Except my own memories. The memories Roland had covered up for me. Hypnotism wasn’t uncommon in our line of work. It was just another state of unconsciousness. Shamans who served as religious leaders and healers used similar techniques on their followers and patients to heal the body and mind. Roland and I, as “freelance shamans,” didn’t really have much need for it. Our contact with the spirit world often became more physical and direct. But I had done some healings and soul retrievals, so I knew the basics.
Leaning my head against the wall, I closed my eyes and thought about the tattoo of Selene on my back. She was my earthly connection, the grounding of my body and soul and mind in this world. I focused on her image and what she represented and then slowly altered my state of mind. Rather than slipping out to another plane, I crossed inward, back into the far reaches of myself and the parts of me buried in my unconscious.
