Devotion

But when she's with the council members–which is a lot, they've been holding so many meetings lately–she's completely different. She doubts herself and even agrees with some of their points about you two not being entirely trustworthy. She's been spending a lot of time with Julia, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.'

'Of course it's not! Julia and her little group are the problem,' I said. 'They're obviously a negative influence on her.'

'Julia's always been supportive, though,' Owen said. 'She and Rina have been close almost since the day she came over to the Amadis.'

'I think Solomon is the only vampire you can fully trust, though,' Mom said.

'Very true,' Owen admitted, and Tristan nodded in agreement.

'I've never been able to lock onto any truths with Julia,' Mom said, 'which tells me her loyalty changes with her best interests.'

'That's exactly what I get from her,' I said. 'You knew that and still doubted me?'

'At the time, yes, and I'm sorry, honey. Rina's always trusted Julia so much. Even if I didn't trust her completely, I never thought she would betray Rina so blatantly. I'm still not so sure …'

'I am,' I said firmly. I had no doubts at all about Julia. 'Has she told anyone about Dorian yet?'

'Is it true? Does Dorian really have powers?'

'We don't know, actually,' Tristan said, glancing at Dorian's sleeping lump under the covers of one of the beds. 'He revealed a couple things when we were on the island, but hasn't since then. We were hoping the magic of the island was boosting what little bit he had, and he'd lose it after we left.'

'Hmm … hold on.' She kept silent for a few seconds. 'I'm not feeling that truth.'

Mine and Tristan's eyes locked with dreadful understanding.

'Keep an eye on him,' Mom said. 'You'll be in even more danger if anyone finds out. There are already nasty debates about providing you protection at all. Many of the village mayors say they won't take you in. People are scared, and it will only be worse if Dorian has powers. The Daemoni's hunt will intensify.'

'So Julia and the others still have two threats they're holding against Rina–Dorian and our daughter,' Tristan said.

Mom started to say something–another denial–but I interrupted her. 'Did you ever find out who else was with Julia and Rina in the Council Hall, right before we left?'

'There was no one else,' Mom said. 'None of us sensed anyone and, in private, when Rina is more herself, more honest and direct, she still says there was no one else there–not in body or in mind. She didn't detect any other thoughts.'

I looked at Owen and Tristan, and they both shook their heads.

'She's a powerful blocker, then. I heard someone else in that room. Or at least in the building.'

'Things are such a mess here, I honestly don't know what to believe,' Mom admitted. 'But I do know you misunderstood at least one thing. Rina is not hiding your daughter from you.'

'She may not be hiding her. She may not be aware of her location,' Tristan said, 'but it sounds like she knew the girl exists.'

'No, you have it all wrong. If you heard right, Alexis, if they're even blackmailing Rina in the first place, that's not the secret she's been keeping–' Mom paused. 'Someone's coming. I have to go. I don't want anyone knowing I've talked to you. It's not … stable enough here.'

The line went dead.

'Son of a witch!' I pounded the table, cracking it in half. 'What the hell was she saying?'

'Rina's not part of the conspiracy,' Owen said with an I-told-you-so tone. He thrust his hands at the table and fixed the damage.

'But she is hiding something,' Tristan said. 'Something about our daughter.'

Chapter 14

Trees, rocks and land blurred into streaks of green, brown and gray beyond the rental car's window as we raced along the highway pointed southeast. Once our identification documents were finished in Utah, we flew to Nashville, and now we headed toward Chattanooga. Tristan wanted to make a stop before heading south to Florida.

'We all need to be on alert,' he said as we began climbing into the foothills. He kept his voice low enough so only Owen and I could hear–too low for Dorian's still-human hearing. 'You can't trust faeries.'

'Then why …?' I started to ask. 'Wait–did you say faeries? We're going to see real-life faeries? They exist?'

Tristan chuckled, apparently finding it amusing that I could still be shocked at some things. I found it annoying.

'We'll only see one, maybe two, if they're there. They come to our world more than most faeries, but they're also in the Otherworld a lot.'

'There were no faeries in my history book,' I said, hoping no one else heard the growl in my tone. I'd been living in and studying our world for three months, and still I hadn't learned everything. Still I felt like an alien. Or, at least, like an idiot.

'Because they're neither Amadis nor Daemoni, and they haven't played a significant enough role in your life or history.' Tristan peered at me. He probably heard the annoyed growl after all. 'They're spirits, usually evil, but some are … not good, exactly, but more neutral. But even those enjoy wreaking havoc among humans.'

'People are their playthings,' Owen muttered from the backseat. 'Good thing they spend most of their time in the Otherworld.'

'Why?' I asked. 'I mean, why do they prefer the Otherworld?'

'In the Otherworld,' Tristan said, 'they can be free spirits, not bound to physical bodies.'

The Otherworld was a concept I found difficult to grasp. I imagined it as a different dimension–my history book called it the spiritual realm–occupied by Angels and Demons (and apparently faeries, too). From what I'd learned, those in the Otherworld could see right into our physical realm. Be close enough to touch us without our realizing they were there. To watch over us. To spy on us.

'So if they're not good and we can't trust them, why on earth are we going to see some? What if they bring the Daemoni?'

'Faeries, like most denizens of the Otherworld, tend to stay out of our earthly wars. Besides, these two lean toward our side and they might have answers, information from the Otherworld that can help us.'

'If they want to share,' Owen said. 'Or tell us the truth.'

I didn't know what, exactly, I expected. Admittedly, the images of a tiny, winged Tinkerbell-like creature and a ghostly, disembodied presence crossed my mind. But that's not what we found.

Tristan turned the car into a driveway in the mountains and pulled to a stop at a cute little cottage hidden in the woods. Ferns and other plants hung in baskets on the front porch and wine-colored tulips lined the beds in front of it. The late afternoon sky hid behind tall pine and oak trees, and little lights twinkled among the greenery–I wasn't sure if they were lights or magic, because I couldn't actually see the source.

'Who's come to say may?' chimed a sweet voice from inside the cottage. She'd really said 'see me'–her southern accent was heavy, and that was the first thing that caught me by surprise. Then she appeared in the doorway, and I stared at her stupidly as she bounded down the two steps toward us. 'Oh, yay! Ah'm so happy to say ya'll!'

I barely noticed the glance Tristan and Owen exchanged, mesmerized by this … completely normal human. Or so she seemed, at first glance. She stood several inches taller than me, perhaps five-eight or five-nine, and had a body that belonged in bikini ads. Her blue hair hung in ringlets past her shoulders, and her silver eyes were bright and playful. But something about her was obviously different, besides the blue hair … I just couldn't pinpoint what it was. Something Otherworldly, I supposed. She looked normal, yet somehow you knew she wasn't.

'Say, I knew ya'll were comin' when I saw you leavin' Nashville. I was in the Otherworld, but it only made sense that you'd be comin' to say may. And it's about time.' She eyed Tristan as she said this. 'Last time you came, you had all kinds of questions I couldn't answer.'