He grabs my head and pushes it down. I back up laughing.
"What's up with you guys? Everyone is laughing and enjoying themselves lately. Something's up?" Lorri crosses her arms and stares me down.
I look around. The tension's cut. Even Marcus has pants on. The kids are gaming and the house feels content.
"Jonathan is dead." Giselle says as if that is the obvious answer. Like we are too stupid to see it. "That’s been a pretty big deal to everyone. Aimee killed him. That’s pretty much the most important thing to happen yet."
I narrow my eyes and look around.
Sam is beside me, "Henry." He whispers.
Marcus snaps his head around, "He's cast something on us." He looks down at his pants and mutters, "I'll kill him."
Giselle points at the pants, "No, that’s an improvement. I was about six seconds away from tackling you with a garden hose."
Shane laughs, "You were pretty funky man."
Ben looks around, "Where is Henry?"
"He left obviously. After he cast the happy cloud over us." Lukas snorts.
"ENOUGH!" Lorri shouts.
We all snap out of it.
She froths at the bit, "We have to get out of this house."
Everyone but Ari comes into the room one by one. Lorri looks at Marcus, "Stay here in happy land with the kids and Ari, if you want to."
"I'm not staying." My head swings around to see Ari in military boots and skinny jeans.
I swallow hard. She meets my eyes and then turns away.
Lorri looks at Luke. He shakes his head, "She should stay."
Ari shoots him a look. "You don’t get to have a say in every aspect of my life Lucas."
Aleks steps beside Luke and puts a hand on him, "Take a breath." He whispers.
Luke shakes his head and mutters, "Let's just go."
Lorri holds up her phone. I grab Giselle and Shane and Ben and wink fast.
"That was awkward." Shane says. I nod, "Super." I point up the bright green hill, "We're going this way. If she is doing the magic now, she's outside. She's stronger outside." I remember Henry saying that once.
Hanna and Sam wink up to us. "I sent my dad and Roland a text. They're heading to Marcus's right now. To stay with the kids." Hanna says quietly.
I glance at her and catch Marcus in my peripheral. He's beside Lorri and slightly pissy looking.
"He came?"
Hanna nods, "He's pretty mad about the lab."
"I feel bad. I just couldn’t think of another place."
Sam laughs, "He just wants to kill some people."
Shane points up to the wall around the castle, "Well I guess that’s lucky. Look."
"Frig. Reinforcements."
Lorri growls, "Where did you think they all were. The whole army is here. I have a slight fear that the stupid snow globe was glamour and she hasn’t ever really left here. I am not sure she was ever in Alaska." I don’t say anything but I have a terrible fear Jonathan was telling us the truth. The only thing stopping her from taking over and destroying everything was Jonathan.
Aleks shoots Lorri a glare, "Thanks for the heads up."
She shrugs, "Wouldn’t have helped. I have the Asian Roses and the African Roses coming now. The European ones are already here."
"I feel like the Power Rangers." Ben mutters and phases mid air.
I laugh, "You totally stole that from my lips."
He sniffs at me and runs up ahead. He hides in the bushes. I look around and try not to let the beauty of it all overwhelm me. We are at a huge brick and stone castle with a wall all the way around it and turrets. The extensive grounds lead up into the hillside, which turns into a thick forest. It's stunning and everything is emerald green.
"This castle is built on a forest the Fae believe is guarded with magic. They believe it's where the Fae originally came from. If Lillith is evil, she tricked the strongest of the Fae just to be here." Marcus says skeptically.
We follow Ben into the woods and look around.
Lorri starts the lecture, "The army is inside. Shifters, Fae, Witches, Vamps, Nephilim and god only knows what else. There will be no Ari, Aimee, Hanna and even the succubuses aren’t like Giselle. But everything else exists inside of there. This is the real deal." She points to a turret, "The other side of the castle is where everyone else on our team is hiding in the woods. I don't think Lillith is expecting us. They will likely think Jonathan has finished us off or tricked us once again. If we catch them off guard we should be able to take them down before the sunsets completely. We move in five minutes. Aimee, Aleks, Sam and I are going for the Shifters. Be right back. Don’t move."
Confusion fills me, "We're going for the shifters?"
She looks distant. "We are since Henry joined the ranks of the deserters."
Hanna points to the castle, "What if Lillith is good and there is something else in there?"
Lorri snaps, "We take our chances. No matter what we end the magic." She flashes a picture of where Lucas and Ben are from but I remember it all. We wink and flash and the whole council is there ready. We each grab our maximum and flash them back. At least fifty, maybe seventy-five shifters fill the woods around us. The chatter grows with all the new people. They shift quickly. I glance at Ari and grin, "Yay. The wolf council. Janine is here."
She bursts into a laugh, "I'm pissed at you. Don't make me laugh." I grab her and pull her in.
"I love you."
She sighs, "I know. I still hate you. I get to hate you for like ten minutes."
"I'll be dead in ten minutes."
"Five minutes."
"Dude, think about the world we live in. All those Nephilim kids are orphans. It's no life for a kid. Besides what would we do without you?"
"Shut up."
I laugh and pull away, "Okay. Five minutes. Then we wrestle."
Shane pokes his head into the conversation, "In Jello?"
Ari grins, "I don’t actually like Jello. I ate lots of it at the orphanage." She shivers. I do too. I can't help it when she talks about that place.
The dusk lighting is perfect. Most of them see better in the dark. Ari, Hanna, Giselle and I don’t.
"Is this the pow wow for girls who don’t fit in?" Hanna and Giselle walk up. I laugh, "Pretty much."
"Stay close to each other okay."
Giselle takes a deep breath, "I just want you guys to know if we die. I love you bitches. This shit is the best shit that ever happened to me."
We stare at her and laugh. We do the big group hug. It feels fake. I still hate Hanna in a twisted way, but we hug anyway.
"Henry healed me before he left." Ari whispers.
We all look at her, "What if he hurt you?"
She shakes her head, "He told me he was healing me because he could feel the pain inside of me and he felt badly. He said he knew what they did to me and it wasn't kind. He seemed disgusted. He said that the poison they put in me was slow. They wanted to get my power from me or learn to control me. If they couldn’t I would have died anyway. If not for Henry. He also said he met my mother. Even knew her a little."
The look of remorse lifts from my eyes, "What?"
She nods, "He was there. He was there when I was born. He went with Marcus. Marcus knew Dorian had reproduced, even though Dorian didn’t. Marcus had to see me, he knew I would be different. He was the reason my uncle left with me. He convinced him to take me and runaway. He saved my life. Henry was there with him."
"He could have saved your mother?" Hanna says astonished.
Ari shakes her head, "No. He said she was dead already when they got there. He had seen her before. When she was pregnant. She was newly pregnant then. Dorian didn’t know but Henry could tell. They broke up before she ever told him she was pregnant. He said Dorian really liked my mom. Not love, but he really liked her a lot."
I grab her hand and look for something in the black eyes.
"You okay?" Giselle asks sweetly.
Ari nods, "It made me feel better."
Lorri snaps her finger. We all look.
"Let's do this." She holds her hand in the air with three fingers. Two. One.
I grab Giselle, Hanna and Ari and wink. We are standing on top of the roof of the castle. I see the guards roaming, "Them." I point to the men on the wall of the castle.
I wink us again. We start the fight fast. Fists fly at me. A gunshot hits me in the gut. I wince and rip the souls fast. Blood sprays and splatters. Giselle is wooing and leading a group of them like the pied piper. I shake my head. As she walks them to me I flash my hands past and rip their souls out. Ari is doing the same by pinning the men to the stonewalls. Only Hanna is just ripping heads off and tossing bodies down below. Shots are fired at us. I pull an arrow out of my thigh. My black blood spills into my red boot. I see the archer. I wink behind him and rip his soul.
Screams are everywhere. The shifter Fae are biting and gnashing. Lorri is biting throats out. Several of the shifters are hurt. I can't see if it's Ben and Lucas. Things like Shane are everywhere. He and Marcus fight like it's UFC.
Aleks is with Sam. They're doing the ever annoying winky-flashy-fighting-thing that pisses everyone off.
The Asian Roses are obvious. Beautiful Vampires and Nephilim. One girl makes a light with her hands and blinds a group of people, until one of the witches shoots lightning at her from a window. I feel the ground rumble beneath my feet. I wink into the window and rip the witch's soul, just as spikes shoot up from the ground. Lighting is striking everywhere. There is dust and chaos and blood in every direction. The last bit of daylight is gone and as if strengthened by it, the vampires and wolves start going savage. I see less and less. I snap my fingers making snaps of light.
There is a flash of something. I duck against the wall and wait. Someone is in the hallway with me. I wink out to the roof again and then instantly back in. I grab and spin the person. Aleks plants a huge kiss on my lips, "Ass." I shove him. He flashes us again as light fills the dark hallway.