Page 88 of Dragon’s Rebel

Chapter 39

Rebel and Thorne were driving along a two-lane highway in southern Oregon when Thorne’s phone rang. He answered it with his Bluetooth.

“What’s going on?”

It was Zane. “Let’s see,” he said. “Jean-Claude is working with Corwyn. They tried to capture Blaze and me to torture information out of us. And they especially want to capture Rebel. Because of the Seal, and something about her being the heir to the Coven of the Waves.” He paused. “Other than that, not much.”

Thorne swore loudly in what sounded like Draken. “Fuck it all. Are you okay?”

“Yep. A couple of scratches from smashing through his terrace doors on the way out, is all. So what the hell is this Coven of the Waves?”

Thorne looked expectantly at Rebel.

“Why are you asking the person raised in hiding while people tried to wipe her memories? As far as I know, I’ve never heard of it.”

“Well, let’s hope the email scammers at Farnham & Peabody know. And you better wake them up, because Corwyn said he wants the Seal, and he needs to get to you before you activate it. So the sooner you grab it and get back here, the better.”

“Okay,” Thorne said. “We’ll get the info from the law firm tonight, one way or the other. If this estate is real, we’ll go there and look for the Seal. Hopefully, we can find it before Jean-Claude and Corwyn have a chance to catch up to us.”

Rebel broke in. “How’s Tempest?” she asked. “Is she okay now?”

In response, Tyr got on the phone. “No,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell to do. She says she’s still sick, but she’s been scribbling in her notebook ever since you talked to her this afternoon. And she keeps locking me out of the room.”

“How can she lock you out more than once?”

“I might have picked the lock a couple of times.”

“Bad move.”

“No shit.”

Rebel bit her lip. Tempest was seeing something, and it seemed like it was coming soon. “You have to see what she’s writing,” Rebel said. “It’s important.”

“Oh, sure. Why didn’t I think of that?” Tyr’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “She just yells at me to go away, and says it doesn’t work when I’m there.”

Comprehension hit Rebel like a thunderclap. That was why Tempest had been keeping Tyr at arm’s length. Whatever allowed her to see the future, his presence somehow interfered.

And she was afraid of not being able to fix things.

“Let me talk to her.”

“Fine,” Tyr said. “I’ll send Zane in, since she runs screaming from me.”

Rebel waited while Zane got Tempest on the phone. “Tempe, what do you see?”

“They’re coming after us,” her sister said. “Big dogs with glowy eyes.” Fuck. Hellhounds. “Where? When?”

“I don’t know!” Tempest said, sounding panicked. “And I can’t figure out how to fix it. I’ve been trying for hours.”

“You have to tell the others,” she said “It’s time.”

“They won’t believe me.” There was years of ridicule and psychiatric treatments behind that simple statement. It wasn’t just an excuse, it was a fact.

Except before, they’d been dealing with normal people. And before, they hadn’t known they were witches. “Give the phone to Zane.”

When he got on, she said, “Zane, listen to me very carefully. Tempest has the ability to see the future in her stories and paintings. What she writes and draws happens. And if she sees something bad happening, she’s compelled to keep creating different versions until she finds one where she can fix it. So whatever she is about to tell you, believe her. Or I’ll come back and poison your cake.”

“Holy fuck,” Zane said. “Okay. We’ll take her seriously. Now Find the Seal.”