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Gideon attempted to be reasonable. “Why not just let me make another talisman to hold the powers in check?”
Echo shook her head. “We’re beyond that.” Well beyond. Dark Ryder would sleep no more. He would live and rule the body he possessed, or he would die. If he lived, the man she loved would disappear. The body would survive but the soul, the essence of him...that would be gone for good. “There’s going to be an attack...” She’d explained this already.
Again, Gideon shook his head. “There can’t possibly be enough of the Ansara left to mount an attack.”
She explained what she’d discovered, that those who were coming were not true Ansara, but independents who had taken on that name. Like her, he didn’t think that distinction made much of a difference.
“How many do you think it would take to run over this village?” This wasn’t a mecca for the most powerful of strays. Most of the people here had just enough magic in their blood to make them different. Enough to make them long for others of their kind and the comfort of the stones.
His expression went dark. “Not many, if the people here are not prepared. But you’re here and you have prepared them.”
It was the change in Gideon’s posture that told Echo Ryder had entered the room, coming through the door behind her. Her cousin was angry and suspicious. She could tell by the way his fingers curled that if Ryder made one wrong move he’d be on the receiving end of a powerful bolt of lightning.
That hand soon dropped.
“She’s here,” Gideon whispered.
Echo stood. “Ryder’s mother? She came without being called?”
“Not exactly. She’s been here all along. She’s attached herself to her son.” He frowned. “And she won’t leave until I fix her mistakes. Great. Just great.”
* * *
Rye had found himself in control long enough to allow Echo to duct tape him to a chair. Without his help an entire roll of duct tape wouldn’t be enough to restrain his other half, but if he could hang on for a while longer it would suffice. He thought of his daughter; he thought of Echo sleeping in his bed. He fought for his very life, for Cassidy and for Echo.
Gideon Raintree looked like an insane man, pacing the room and talking to himself. More than once he ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end at one point. He continued to occasionally glow blue and...hell, there was no other word for it. Sparkle. But he wasn’t insane, and he wasn’t talking to himself. He was carrying on a conversation with Rye’s mother. The Gypsy who had cursed him before she died.
“Sorry is not good enough!” Gideon shouted to an empty space behind Rye. After a short pause he continued in a slightly lower voice. “Well, it was a curse, not a gift, and now see where we are.”
Another pause, then, “Tell him yourself.”
Echo had been watching, silent and pensive, as her cousin did his thing. Now she spoke up.
“Does she know how to remove it?”
Gideon looked at her. “Yes.”
She took a deep breath. “Can it wait until after we take care of the attackers who are coming?”
Gideon threw his hands into the air, frustrated and angry. “Really?”
It was Rye who answered. “This town needs me. It needs the power this curse has given me if we’re to win.”
“What happens when the cursed part of you decides it might like being aligned with the invaders? What happens when you switch sides in the middle of the battle?”
Rye wanted to argue that wouldn’t happen, but he couldn’t. Not if he were being entirely honest. He didn’t know what his dark side might do.
If Gideon removed the curse, and with it Rye’s enhanced abilities, could they still win the battle?
Did he want to take the chance that he might turn on his friends and neighbors, or worse, his family?
“Can you ask her if she also cursed my daughter?” From beyond the grave, or through him, somehow, but...anything was possible.
Gideon shook his head. “No. Your mother saw a gifted child of her blood, and she thought it was you. She wanted to help you along, that’s why she did what she did. But that child she saw wasn’t you, it was her granddaughter.” His head snapped to the side. “All these sorries are not making things any better!”
He waved a hand at Rye. “So, without the curse what are your abilities? What would you bring to the party?”
Rye answered honestly. “I don’t know. I was so young when my mother started working with me...I don’t know.”
