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As I stared out at the growing dawn, I tried to comb every inch of what had happened, but the beauty of the experience kept flooding in and pushing logic and thought to the side. Within half an hour, I found myself dozing off, and in my dreams, I soared with the great horned owl, still gliding the night sky.
Chapter 20
The next morning, I was so stiff I could barely climb out of bed. At least, my arms were stiff. My shoulder muscles throbbed with a deep, pounding ache that I'd never quite felt before. I flashed back to the night before, wondering if it had been the transformation--if somehow my wings had been virginal and needed to stretch and carry me to build their strength.
Rhiannon was waiting downstairs, along with Leo and Kaylin. They all looked up at me and I realized Kaylin had spilled the beans. Eh, well, it kept me from having to explain again.
"So how was your night?" I asked, sliding into my chair as Leo set a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me. I glanced up to find them all just staring at me, silent. "What? Okay, so I turned into an owl, went gallivanting around the yard, and boom, here I am, hungry and sore as hell. What more can I say?"
"So Kaylin told us. What do you think it means?"
I stared at my plate. "What it means," I said softy, "is that I'm not who I've always thought I was, for one thing. Otherwise . . . How can I possibly know everything this signifies? I don't even understand. It's going to take me a long time to sort this out, to assess what impact it's going to have. I always knew I was of the magic-born, but, Rhiannon . . . if my father is Cambyra Fae . . . does that mean yours might be, too? We were born on the same day. Neither of us ever met our fathers. And now, we can't even ask Heather."
Rhiannon paled. "I didn't even think of that. But wouldn't I know?"
"I didn't." My childhood had been a freak show of abnormality, so I'd always attributed feeling out of place to the environment I'd grown up in, rather than blood. After all, I wasn't fully human--I was a born witch--and had never felt "the odd one out" due to my magic.
"Should we tell Anadey about this? She might be able to shine some light on our heritage." The look in her eyes told me she was hopeful of finding out more about her past, too. Heather wasn't likely to tell her anything, now. Heather was lost to us.
I considered the idea. Anadey was the closest thing to an advisor we had. She was Marta's daughter, though not to the core, and she'd known our mothers before we were born. For a brief moment, I wondered if we could trust her, but tossed that worry out the window. We were long past the trust/don't trust stage. We'd passed it the moment we told her about Grieve and the Indigo Court.
"Yeah. I think so. It's Sunday, nobody here works today, do they?"
"About that . . ." Leo shifted uncomfortably. "I woke up to an e-mail that one of my tasks today is to chauffer you in for your first blood offering. Lannan wants to see you at seven tonight."
"Crap, I'd almost forgotten about that. I guess I wanted to forget."
Leo winced. "I feel trapped in the middle. I have the option to leave my contract without retaliation. I'm thinking of giving up my job as a day runner. Especially now that you're working for the vampires, Cicely. I have a feeling you're going to have it harder than any of us, and I don't want to be put in a position to make it worse. I'm afraid that might happen."
I glanced up at him. I hadn't thought about that before. What if they ordered Leo to do something to me--or with me--that neither of us wanted? He'd have no choice but to obey if he was still contracted by them.
Don't let him. Ulean's voice was urgent, prodding. You'll need him there. I promise you that.
That took care of that.
"Ulean just told me to tell you: Keep the job for now. I won't say that I trust them, but they aren't stupid. I doubt if they'll put our friendship in jeopardy, considering they believe I'm the key to their upcoming war."
"No, they aren't stupid. I suppose you're right," he said.
"So tell me, what happened at Anadey's? Did she start your training?" I wanted to forget about vampires and Vampiric Fae for the moment and concentrate on the living.
Rhiannon smiled, her face lighting up. "Yes, and it's not as difficult as I feared it would be. I already know quite a bit--I've learned a lot over the years from helping Heather with her spells and wortcunning. I have a lot of practice to do, but Anadey taught me one valuable lesson last night--how to pull back the fire when it starts getting out of control. It was far easier than I thought."
She looked so proud of herself that I jumped up and gave her a hug. At least we had solved one of our problems.
"What do we do today?"
"I thought about going out to find Peyton again, but we barely escaped the first time. I think we should spend the day working on protective charms."
"Are you going to talk to Grieve?" Kaylin gave me a long look.
I bit my lip. "How can I? I'm giving blood to Lannan tonight. Grieve would sense something's up and he'd try to stop me. I need to file a report with Lannan, but I can do that via e-mail. I'll have to tell them about Heather, of course. But I think first I want to take a walk. I won't go in the wood, but I want to find the owl again. See if I can get some answers. Why don't the rest of you start on the charms? I'll be in to help in a little while."
I finished my breakfast and, grabbing my jacket, headed out to the backyard. The oak towered over me and I gazed up through the branches, amazed I'd been able to climb so high the night before. I slowly began to make my way up the lower limbs, cautiously watching my step, and was about halfway up when I heard a quiet susurration, a whispered Hello. Looking around for the owl, I realized there was no one--be it humanoid or winged creature--around.
Who are you?
You're using me for a perch.
