

Book four of the Avery Clavens series

Amber Lynn

Copyright © 2012 Amber Lynn

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.
Author's note

Prepare yourself for a wild ride

So this story really did come out of nowhere. I had stopped writing and was trying to come up with a walkthrough type companion book, when ideas just started flying into my mind. First came a location. Then the twists and turns the book could take. Sometimes I think Avery is really an evil witch and making me write about her. Okay not really, it was a joke. Put down the phone and throw away the number to the psychiatric hospital.

Again, this took place in a location I've never been before, so I may have made portions of it up. I'm hoping by the time I get to the last book, I'll be ready to have at least part of it take place in my hometown. I'm finding as I think about it, it's difficult to pick a single place, but there are a lot possibilities.

Well, I won't keep you from this story as I yammer about ones to come. Thank you for continuing to read Avery's tale. There's still a lot of fun to come.

Amber

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

CHAPTER 1

Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy

"You may now kiss the bride," the minister said, just before Frannie and Gary started earnestly making out. It was gross, and it looked like they were about to eat each other's faces off. I really hoped me and Nate didn't look like that when we kissed, because if we did, I was going to have to put an end to it.

I glanced over at Nate and saw that he was chuckling at the expression on my face. Next to him, Rick was doing the same. Come on, it was a gross abuse of a wedding kiss. Couldn't everybody see that?

I stuck my tongue out at them and telepathically asked, "Should we put a stop to this? There are kids in the audience and I don't think they should have to witness this."

"They can't last much longer, sis," Rick mentally said. "I mean, even though they're pretty much immortal, they do need to breathe sometime."

The minister started clearing his throat to get their attention. "I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Heinz."

Thankfully that did the trick and they separated. The crowd cheered as we made our way down the aisle behind them. As the best man and maid of honor, Nate and I got to walk together.

"You still sure you want to go through with the whole wedding thing?" he asked quietly.

"Ours is going to be nothing like this. No huge church, no five hundred guests, and definitely no ice sculpture of the two of us holding hands. I don't know who thought that was a good idea, but it's really creepy," I replied.

"Thank God," he said, laughing softly. "Have you even told Frannie yet? It's just a month away."

"No, I wanted her to get through her own wedding without taking the spotlight away from her. I'll let everyone know when she comes back from the honeymoon." As far as I was concerned, telling them five minutes beforehand was enough warning for the kind of wedding I was planning. The smaller the crowd, the better.

"Do you know what they're serving at this reception?" he asked, focusing on the present.

"Probably just about everything you can imagine. I'm kind of surprised she opted for a buffet-style dinner, it's not really her style. Lobster and steak served by an army of waiters is what I figured we'd be stuck with," I replied.

"It is a little strange for her, but I have a feeling she did it to make it a little less stuffy for you. How about the all-important question, how long do you think we have to stay?"

"We have to give the toasts, but maybe after an hour or so we can disappear unnoticed. I won't be eating anything, because I'm still afraid of food I didn't watch being prepared, so that may give us an excuse if we need it," I said. "Just tell everyone I picked up a stomach bug, and you have to take me home."

"Sounds like a plan to me. It's cute that they've found each other and decided to mate, but I'm tired of how stressed this wedding has made you. It'd be one thing if it was our wedding."

"Life is just stressful right now, and helping to pick out dresses and flowers didn't make things easier. It will get better starting tomorrow."

We made our way to the reception area, which had white and pink flowers everywhere. It was over the top girlie for my tastes, but it fit Frannie perfectly. I saw arrangements of roses, daisies, lilies, and that about did it for my knowledge of flowers. Around the room were at least thirty large round tables for the guests. We were stuck sitting at the main table in front of everyone. Even if I was willing to eat the food, I wouldn't have been able to with all the people watching me.

"I'm going to go grab me a plate," Nate said. "I won't get much, because I know we have meal plans for later."

"Okay, just don't get anything that's disgusting-looking. If you come back with snails or something like that, we'll have issues." Even if Frannie was trying to make things less stuffy, I was sure she had all the best cuisines, according to her.

"Nothing disgusting, I promise," he said and walked off.

When he came back, I inspected his plate and deemed the fried chicken and macaroni and cheese acceptable. It didn't take long for the other guests to get their plates and settle down. After about twenty minutes of quiet conversation, while people stuffed their faces with free food, Nate hit his water glass with a fork and stood.

"Can I get everyone's attention?" he started. "As you may know, I'm Nate, also known today as the best man. Sadly for you guys, that means you have to sit there while I give a speech about our dear friend Gary on his wedding day. I deliberated long and hard on whether to go the funny or sentimental route. After about five seconds, I remembered I was a guy, and I, of course, believe sentiments are for wimps.

"So without further ado, let me describe in detail what Gary did during his bachelor party. First, we headed over to Rudy's Bar & Grill to try to get him drunk to celebrate his last night of freedom. You'll notice we didn't take him to a strip club. That's because we sort of value our lives and his little lady and mine would've probably chopped off parts we consider necessary." That earned a big laugh from the crowd. I hoped everyone realized it was a true statement.

"We weren't in the bar more than five minutes before Gary started talking about Frannie nonstop. Ten minutes after that, the rest of us guys were ready to leave, so we called it a night. Frannie, dear, the man must love you a whole lot to make a night out with the boys that unenjoyable. As much as we all love you too, there is such a thing as too much information. Seriously, I'm really glad you two found each other, and I wish you many years of wedded bliss. Congratulations," he said as he raised his glass for a toast.

The crowd clapped and I heard a few whistles. Nate was always good with a crowd. That was something I really wished would rub off on me.

"It's your turn," Nate said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek as he sat back down. I wasn't ready for it, but there wasn't a way for me to get out of it. At some point, Frannie was going feel my payback for making me give a speech.

"Hey, everyone," I managed to get out when the ruckus settled down. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Avery. For those of you who do, you know how much I'm currently freaking out about having to stand in front of all these people to give a speech. I'm pretty sure Frannie did this on purpose for me giving her the nickname Jelly Bean. I always thought she liked it, but that could've been my imagination."

I smiled and looked over at my best friend. I didn't know the sayings about a bride glowing were possible, but Frannie's smile was so bright I swore the edges of her face blurred a little and expanded outward, like a halo.

"Unlike my better half here," I said, nodding to Nate, "I'm not really good at speeches, so I didn't even ponder the whole funny versus serious route. For me, this was my best friend's big day and I wanted to make sure everything went off without a hitch for her. So the thought of me trying to tell a joke where I'd have to remember a punchline, didn't come into the equation.

"I've watched the relationship between these two grow into something really special. I even played the third wheel on many of their early dates. When she told me they were engaged, it came as no surprise, because really, where would you ever find such a perfect pair? I wish you guys a bright, beautiful future, full of happiness. Congratulations on your big day, and Gary make sure you don't make her late to Spinning class, or we're going to have problems."

I quickly took my seat and let out the breath I'd been holding. Speeches were horrible, and if I ran the world, they'd be banned. I looked down at my hands and saw them trembling. I closed my hands into fists to try to get them to stop. It was just a speech at a wedding. It wasn't like I was trying to promote world peace in front of a live TV audience.

"That was great, my little butterfly," Nate said as he rubbed my back, trying to calm me down.

"I'm just glad it's over. Do you think everyone will start dancing soon?" I asked. "I think that's the best time for us to try to sneak away."

"We could move them along by getting out on the dance floor ourselves," he suggested, knowing that wasn't going to happen.

"You and Rick can go right ahead. Then you'll have difficulties figuring out who should lead, and not wondering if you're ever going to be able to walk again because I've crushed your feet. I don't know how things were in the past, but my feet don't move to the music."

"You don't weigh enough to 'crush' my feet, so the choice between dancing with you or your brother is pretty simple in my mind. Shoot, even if you could crush my feet, I'd still pick you over Rick. He's a horrible dancer. I know you currently dislike dancing, so I'll be kind and wait until you have the memories back of how much you love to dance," he said.

"You're lying. There's no way in any lifetime I have ever enjoyed dancing. I just don't see the point in it, and I'm fairly certain I remember my past self echoing that sentiment when I've been stuck dancing in my memories."

"Darn, I was hoping if I planted the thought, you might twist your memories a little to make it true. You're right; we've never been big on dancing. At least not vertically," he said the last part with an evil grin.

Slugging him in the shoulder for his dirty thoughts didn't seem right at a wedding, so I settled for stomping on his foot under the table. I didn't doubt he thought the setting saved him from my wrath.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. You've got a month until your own honeymoon, so you better behave or there isn't going to be any dancing in either direction," I said, shaking my head. I wasn't sure exactly how our honeymoon would work out, but giving him hope would keep him on his best behavior.

He laughed and grabbed my hand. "The dance floor is filling up; let's make a run for it."

We slowly made like we were going to dance, and slid out a side door. Not hearing anyone yell at us to stop, we made a mad dash for the parking lot. Sadly, because of the dress I was wearing, we didn't bring our motorcycles to the wedding.

Riding Winnie would've probably rearranged the dress to a more suitable design, adding a little road dirt could only improve the horrible orange color. We had planned on escaping as soon as possible, and neither of the bikes had baffles, so a quiet getaway was impossible with them, not that the alternative was totally silent.

We climbed into the new addition to our garage, a shiny black Camaro. It wasn't Winnie, but it was still fun to zoom around in sometimes. It had a 580-horsepower V-8 with a supercharger on it. She really had some get up and go when you pushed that accelerator down.

"You don't think the guys will be mad we snuck out, do you?" I asked.

"Nah. We left them with free food and drunken bridesmaids. I don't think they'll even notice we're gone," Nate said as he pulled out of the drive and headed for home.

I had a feeling there were a lot of decisions about the wedding made in my consideration. The fact that it had taken place in the city was another big surprise when Frannie started revealing the details. When she started thinking about places for Nate and I to get married, France was her first thought, so I didn't think it was presumptuous to say her decision to stay in New York probably wasn't her first choice.

We made it home in record time and skipped into the house. There, we found our friendly robot, Vinnie, waiting for us.

"It took you long enough. I thought you guys would've figured out a way to get away quicker," he said. Out of all the robots in the world, I was stuck with the impatient one.

"We got out of there as fast as we could. We were pretty lucky I made it through my speech without fainting," I replied.

"You could've used that as a reason to leave, but I imagine we wouldn't hear the end of it from Rick, so it was good you made it through. How soon before the rest of the guys get back?" he asked. "I think I got something, and it isn't that far away."

"You really think it's warlocks causing problems?" I asked.

Since we apparently had enough money that we didn't have to worry about jobs, no one in the house had been working regular jobs. We'd been devoting our time to finding out where the forces of evil, as we called them, were gathering to cause mischief. So far, we hadn't found anything that fit the chaos we were looking for.

With all the odd stuff going on daily around the world, it was hard to sift through everything. If we didn't have Vinnie taking care of the sifting, we'd never get anything else done.

"Without a doubt it's them. The town of New Bedford, Massachusetts has been reporting all kinds of unusual crimes. People picking up cars and carrying them away, lots of robbing little old ladies and a couple kidnappings, where the children were returned later that day and the kidnapper had no idea how they got the child," he replied.

"That sounds like something worth a look. You said it was close, just how close are we talking?" I asked. "Do I finally get out of flying?"

"It's about four hours away, probably four and a half with a couple stops for gas," he replied.

I looked over at Nate hopefully. "We'll take the bikes," he said. I immediately jumped up and down in joy. I couldn't wait for the guys to get home, so I could tell them the good news.

CHAPTER 2

Let's just face the facts, I am smarter than you

During the waiting period, I got the dress off as soon as possible. I contemplated burning it for a few minutes, but the idea of Frannie maybe one day asking to see it again saved its sorry life. In its place, I put on a pair of jeans and a black shirt that mentioned that I refused to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

Feeling much better, I ran downstairs to wait for the rest of the gang. I wasn't sure where Vinnie and Nate went off to, so I settled for relaxing in one of our new recliners while I waited for them to reappear. We had to buy new furniture for the living room when we brought four people home to live with us.

Our house had become one giant clubhouse for the uniques in the area. Having the king of the wolves as a resident meant wolves in the area kept stopping by for visits. It was a bit overwhelming realizing how many people I walked by on a daily basis who were uniques. I didn't necessarily recognize anyone, but the amount of people showing up told me I probably rode the train every day for years with people who knew I was special and never said anything.

Surprisingly, I'd been enjoying the extra company the last week. We were planning to start some training groups that I got to help teach. If we got enough teams together, we'd be better equipped to go after the warlocks, wherever they decided to cause problems.

Along with the training plans, we'd also been loading up on weapons. That very day we received crates of grenade launchers, fully automatic shotguns and flamethrowers, just to name a few of my early Christmas presents. I wasn't sure who Nate knew, but I assumed they weren't selling those things in the pawn shops. Even though I was a knife girl, I couldn't wait to try a few things out. I'd heard the automatic shotguns were loads of fun.

As I was sitting, pondering what to use as a target, the rest of my roommates returned home. The guys had all become brotherly figures. I already had one of those, so adding three more made things interesting. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about introducing boyfriends to them.

"Finally, you guys are here," I said, jumping up from my seat.

"We watched you sneak out only about an hour ago, so you couldn't be going through withdrawals already," Liam said.

"You're right, if it wasn't for the news I found out when we got home, you guys could have stayed out all night. I heard the bridesmaids were easy pickings."

"So Vinnie found something?" Rick asked, ignoring any implication that he could've gotten lucky.

It seemed to be engrained into phoenixes that they needed to find a mate, but Rick resisted, and had for eons. It hurt knowing I was the reason he wasn't out there looking. I wanted to change that, but before I could, I had to save his life.

It was ironic that he'd been born to be my protector, and in the end, I was praying I could save his life. Remembering the brief vision I saw was a bad idea around mind readers, so I hurried to think about what awaited us in Massachusetts.

"Yes, I did," Vinnie said as he and Nate walked into the room. Neither one of them showed any indication of what they'd been up to, which usually spelled trouble for me.

"Hey, it's my news to tell," I announced.

"How is it your news, dollface?" Kyle asked. "If Vinnie found it, it seems like it would be his news."

"But he's already told it once, so now it's my turn," I said. Before anyone could say anything else, I rushed to say, "Crazy things that can only be caused by magic are happening in New Bedford, Massachusetts. We think it's the minions we've been looking for, and I don't have to fly to get there." Getting it all out, I took a deep breath before filling them in on the specific things that had drawn Vinnie's attention.

"That's not fair," Rick whined, like a two-year-old getting his favorite toy taken away. "The best thing about any trip is watching you go all nuts about getting on a plane."

"I could just do what I did the last time and basically teleport myself wherever I want to go," I suggested.

"You will do nothing of the sort. Until we find a sorcerer or sorceress we can trust to help train you, or you somehow figure out what's going on from your memories, you're only allowed very limited use," Nate scolded me.

"I know. I'm the one who feels the headaches, and believe me, I'll try to avoid them at all costs." After the last big magic trick left me feeling dazed and confused, I'd only preformed minor miracles as I worked to see where the limit was.

"Good. I know the spells may give us a nice advantage in a fight, but if it weakens your ability to fight hand-to-hand, it isn't worth it," he added.

"So how much time do we have to pack before we take off?" Rick asked.

"We won't be leaving until tomorrow. Miranda, would you mind staying behind with the dogs? I don't think we'll be gone more than a couple of days," Nate said.

He'd moved into the room and had wrapped an arm around me. It was rare for us to be in a room together without touching. I didn't like to admit I liked the touch as much as he did.

Miranda wasn't really a fighter, so I liked the idea. Our other option was to call my parents, but I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. I had gotten over the fact that they lived within a few hours driving distance, but I still tried to stay as far away as I could from my mother.

"Sure. I have some reading I want to finish up, and then I want to start following Avery's suggested workout routine, so I won't be as much of a burden on future cases," she replied.

"I know of a small wolf pack in the area. I think I'll give them a call and see if they've heard anything," Joseph said, taking out his phone. He walked away to make his call.

"So you guys ready to take your new toys on the road?" I asked the berserker brothers.

Since we were a motorcycle riding family, as soon as we'd returned from Alaska, we made sure the new arrivals all went out and got something decent to ride. The blonde bombers, as I started calling them, both got new Softail Deluxes. Liam's was red, while Kyle's was black. They were still deciding on the custom paint schemes they wanted on them.

Miranda ended up getting a Sportster SuperLow, because she was just learning to ride. With how small she was, we thought anything bigger might be too much bike for her. Her bike was also black, waiting on a new paint job. Joseph's bike was a Softail Blackline in flat black. It was actually a really sharp bike and it sounded like he wanted to keep the color, but maybe add some wolfy bits here and there.

"Of course we are," Liam answered the question. "The little short rides we've been on are nowhere near satisfactory. We should have enough miles from those short rides to consider the engines broken in, though."

"That isn't good," Joseph said, coming back to our circle.

"What's going on?" I asked. Joseph didn't get worried unless someone was dying, at least that's what I'd witnessed.

"There was no answer," he replied. His words didn't match his furrowed brow.

"Maybe whoever you called was in an important meeting or going to the bathroom," I suggested.

"Doesn't matter. If the wolf king calls, you drop everything to pick up that phone," he said. "And everyone has my number on speed dial, so there's no chance someone was just screening calls and didn't know it was me. I even have my own ringtone."

"Do I want to know what it is?" I asked.

"Leader of the Pack, of course," he answered, shrugging his shoulders.

I laughed. "That's really good actually. I'll have to set it for you on my phone too. I've never really played around with ringtones, but it sounds like it might be fun picking one out for all of you. I have the perfect one for Miranda already, Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady."

I saw a lot of heads nodding in agreement. "I might just have to use that one for her, too," Joseph said. He and Miranda had been spending a lot of time together, and I thought it was just a matter of time before they announced they were boyfriend and girlfriend. It was kind of cute to watch the relationship develop, especially since it hadn't been that long since Miranda was almost pronounced dead.

"So, back to the issue of the wolves not answering, any legitimate causes you can think of?" I asked. I'd studied up a little on the general kinds of uniques out there, but I hadn't got into the books that explained how different species operated.

"No, someone has to be preventing them from taking my call. They're a group of ten, so it'd take a lot for all of them to be incapacitated," he replied. The look of worry I'd noticed was quickly changing to anger.

"You don't think they're doing the no shifting, remove the heart trick on them, do you?" I inquired. I'd assumed the warlocks had change tactics after we learned what they were up to, but the "master's" original plan had been evil enough that they could still be trying it out in different cities.

"God I hope not. Let's just hope the other oddities that are going on up there have somehow affected them," he responded.

"Since we aren't leaving until tomorrow, what do you want to do with the rest of the night?" Liam asked.

"You mean you don't need all that extra time to pack?" I asked jokingly. I knew the only reason we were waiting was because we wanted to see things by the light of day, and the sun was quickly setting.

"Sometimes you're just so funny, little girl," Liam responded. It was hard to get mad at a giant for calling me little, but I usually managed it. "You're the female going on the trip, are you sure you don't need the extra time to pack all your shoes?"

"All five pairs? You know it would take me hours just to find them all," I said with a dramatic sigh.

"With a group of ten wolves M.I.A., are there any concerns of them going rogue?" Rick asked, directing the conversation to more serious matters.

"Outside of books and movies, I've never heard of any group of uniques going rogue," Nate said.

"They'd be picking a very odd time to be attempting it," Joseph responded. "I'd say not one of my wolves would ever contemplate such anything, but I'd also say that about not answering the phone when I call for them. Wolves are probably the group of uniques who have the most trouble with authority and following the rules, so you never really know. I know no one has ever disrespected me in such a way."

"Do you think the six of us will be enough to battle whatever is creating magical havoc in the town, plus a group of potentially hostile wolf shifters?" Nate asked.

"Our group is made up of well-trained warriors. Even Miss Bossypants could put most of the uniques I've met to shame, and I'd say that without knowing who she really is," Joseph said, indicating me with a little smile. It wasn't like anyone needed him to point me out. "I don't think ten wolves will be a problem for us, but I could ask Sean and Trey to come along for some added backup. They're the two best-trained among the local wolves."

"I don't see how it could hurt anything. If they don't have their own bikes, they could either borrow a couple from our garage or they could drive a breakdown truck," Nate replied.

"I'll give them a call and ask what they prefer," Joseph said, taking out his phone again.

It was a little surprising that Trey and Sean weren't there. They and a female wolf named Elisa had practically moved in. Because of that, we were in the process of turning the basement into kind of a dormitory. Since it was a huge amount of space, and we had no need for the massive wine cellar, we had plans drawn up for an extra ten bedrooms. Each set of two rooms was connected by a bathroom.

When the training started up, it would be nice for my exhausted students to have a place to crash. With the beatings I was planning on putting them through, I didn't think they'd be able to make it to their homes without falling asleep.

"They'll be ready first thing in the morning," Joseph told us, coming back to the group. "I liked the idea of them driving a breakdown vehicle, so I didn't give them an option to ride."

"Meanie," I said, sticking my tongue out at him. "How about I make us up a quick supper, and then we can hang around and have a movie night. It will give us a chance to unwind and get to bed early, so we can leave first thing."

"Dollface, you always have the best ideas," Kyle said.

"You're just saying that because, like your brother, any mention of food is a great idea to you," I replied, heading off to the kitchen. It was easy to bend the berserkers to do my bidding, and I liked that.

"How, after only a couple of weeks, do you have us figured out so well," Liam asked.

"It's not hard when your subjects only have a one track mind," I retorted.

"Avery, wait up," Miranda said, running after me. "I want to help you with dinner."

With all the additions to the family, I rarely ever found myself alone in the kitchen. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it had made for some very interesting food fights. I was sure one day I'd want to be alone again, but until that day happened, I was going to enjoy sharing my love of cooking with the others.

CHAPTER 3

Excuse me miss, is that a baby or are you stealing a watermelon

"So what sounds good to you?" I asked Miranda as I opened the fridge door to see what I had to work with.

Even when I didn't have the time to run to the store, anything I used ended up being replenished by the next time I opened the door. I was getting used to having all my needs met without asking for a thing, but there were times it could still be annoying.

"I thought I heard Nate say you had dinner plans. I figured that meant you already knew what you're making," she replied.

Thinking back I remembered Nate mentioning dinner at the reception earlier and I didn't remember Miranda being anywhere around at the time. I couldn't think of any other time dinner had been mentioned.

"How in the world did you hear that? There were tons of conversations going on in that room when he made that comment," I said as I gave her a skeptical look. She was at the wedding, so it wasn't impossible, but it was surprising.

"I've seen you with your nose in books about uniques, so I'm sure you've read about how we have specialized abilities. Mine just happens to be super hearing. It doesn't always help when ninjas are sneaking up on me, but I guess it's better than nothing," she responded.

"I'll have to remember that when I'm saying bad things about you," I said with a laugh.

"I don't listen in to others very often. I was just bored and started scanning around the people I knew."

"I can relate with the being bored at a wedding. As beautiful as everything was, the only thing keeping me awake was the fact that everyone was staring in my general direction. Back to food ideas, Nate was meaning in general that I planned to cook something later, not that I already had it all mapped out," I explained.

"In that case, Joseph really likes your lasagna. Do you think that would take too long to make?" she asked.

It was cute that she based her answer on what Joseph wanted. I needed to do some digging into just how serious their relationship had become. Not only that, but I needed to start figuring out romantic interests for the blonde bombers. I hoped I could find some uniques to pair them up with, so they didn't end up in a relationship like their mom and dad, where one of them eventually died. The thought of me as a matchmaker totally boggled my mind.

"That will work out fine. It will take an hour, but I imagine that will be just enough time for the wedding food to digest," I said as I started grabbing ingredients. "Do you mind browning some Italian sausage and hamburger, while I roll out the noodles?"

"Of course not. I said I wanted to help, not just stand around and watch you," she replied, going to work at the stove.

"Also, while you're by the oven can you flip it to three-seventy-five?" I asked.

"Will do," she answered in her eager-to- please voice.

I was hoping she'd eventually lose that part of her intonation when she spoke to me. I liked when people did what I asked, but it was different with the guys. I always felt I was taking advantage of Miranda's "I'll do anything for you" attitude.

We set about our tasks, not talking much because my electric pasta roller made a lot of noise. When I had all my pasta sheets rolled out, and the meat was cooked, I started up my questions as I begin layering the meat and meatless lasagnas.

"So, you and Joseph seem to be getting pretty close," I said, making it more of a casual statement than an opening to a grand inquisition.

She responded by giving a little girlie laugh. "He's a really nice guy when you get to know him. In Eek, we had of course met, but we didn't really spend a lot of time together. Him being the head wolf, kind of frightened me, so I steered clear."

"So now you just see him as a big, cuddly puppy?" I asked.

"I don't think anyone would see him as a cuddly puppy. He's still more the Doberman type, but having real conversations with him has made me not afraid to speak to him," she replied. "You're at the top in the world of uniques, so you've never had to defer to anyone."

"It seems like there's a little more than just talking going on in between you two. I heard rumors back in Eek that Joseph had a thing for you." I ignored the topic of hierarchies. It wasn't something I liked to get into.

"After that whole deal with the warlock almost killing me, I did notice he started hanging around. We haven't done anything more than share a couple of kisses, but I'm all for moving the relationship along. I mean have you seen him? He's totally drool-worthy," she stated.

"Sorry, I have a fiancé, who may or may not be listening in, so I have to plead the fifth on any commenting about your guy's looks," I said.

She laughed. "Yeah, it can be hard having a significant other who can read your mind. About your fiancé status, from what I've heard from Rick, it seems you're acting more like Ozzie and Harriet than previously witnessed. You getting any closer to setting a date?" she asked.

"Not you too. We've only known each other for like a week and you're already in on the hurry up and get married bandwagon? I had hoped there'd be at least one person out there who was fine waiting until I was ready to get married."

"Well, when you hang around Frannie long enough, it's hard not to join the bandwagon," she claimed, causing me to sigh.

"If my best friend is turning people against me, then she will just have to be the last to know about the event she's dying to witness. I think Nate and I will have to make a little announcement over dinner."

The lasagna layers were done, so I put the pans in the oven to let the heat do its thing. The meatless one got extra cheese and tomato chunks, so it didn't look too wimpy next to its meaty brother. I'd played around with cooking little things with my own fire, but I needed to perfect that art.

"Okay, now you can make a salad up while I get the garlic bread ready," I said, starting my task.

"Okay, boss. I think I can get that done without asking you a million questions."

She'd asked every question she could think of the one other time I tasked her with a salad, so I hoped she was right. I cut up an Italian bread loaf. As I slathered butter on the slices, a question popped into my mind.

"So, if you and Joseph end up happily married and all that jazz, what happens when you go to have children? Will they be some kind of hybrids?" I asked.

She looked up at me with a sad expression on her face. "Technically, the wolf genes would beat out my fox ones, so they would be wolves. But if you recall, no unique babies are being born, so I don't think it will ever happen."

"Everyone keeps telling me that, but for some reason I have this strong feeling that isn't going to be the case very much longer. I definitely see children in this house's future. I'm not sure who they belong to, but they aren't just one species."

I'd had vivid dreams of four or five children running around the place. Nate had told me many times that I could see the future, and I believed that was what the dreams were. For no reason other than I wanted it to be true.

"Really? I'm pretty young in the grand scheme of things. I was in one of the last generations born, and as the years went by and no more children were born, I gave up hope of having my own. You won't believe the number of uniques who would love to hear the news you just told me," she said, practically jumping up and down.

"Let's not go crazy and alert the media. When we start seeing women we know all of a sudden look like they're stealing watermelons from the supermarket, then we can let everyone know things are looking better," I told her as I put my finished garlic bread back into its foil package and threw it in the oven.

"Fine. I imagine we won't see a change until this war is finished anyway," she said with a little pout. She was clearly spending too much time with Frannie.

"You never know. I still think it's just a spell this jerk cast to temporarily sterilize us. I have to believe something is going to come along and break that spell. Maybe even before we get to the real battle."

We took some time to start cleaning up the mess we'd made. Usually a couple of the guys came in after me to straighten up, but I thought I'd give them a little break. We had a big day planned for the next day and I wanted them all in tip-top condition. Mainly, I didn't want prune fingers to be used as an excuse. Sadly, Liam had attempted it before when trying to get out of taking the garbage out.

I checked on the lasagnas and saw they were golden brown and bubbly, so I pulled them out of the oven to cool just a little. I took out the garlic bread as well, and set it on the counter. Miranda grabbed the plates and silverware, while I cut the lasagnas. When everything looked ready, I rang the dinner bell. Yes, we had an actual bell we rang when it was time for food. I'd deemed it a vast improvement over yelling all the time.

The guys came running and dished up before they headed to the dining room. Dinner had become the one meal we for sure all sat down to talk about strategies and any new information we'd found from our respective groups. So far, we hadn't found the so-called lost prophecy we were sure existed somewhere, but it was interesting to see what other groups had to say.

When everyone was settled, and had at least gotten a couple of bites, I decided it was time to share the wedding news. I didn't think Frannie needed much time to prepare, but the guys had to find dates, I supposed, and that would at least take a week or two.

"So everyone, now that Gary and Frannie's wedding is over, it's time for me and Nate to announce when ours will be," I said.

The chewing in the room stopped as all eyes focused on me. Nate cleared his throat before cautioning me.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to tell anybody before Frannie? I know you had to tell me, to make sure my schedule was clear, but Frannie might throw a little fit."

"I told you I'm waiting for the day before to tell her. Plus, other people might want to make plans to attend, and she's currently unavailable to tell. So, everyone, mark your calendars for March second. We'll have a nice small gathering here at the house," I explained.

The part about the house was something that just popped into my mind. I was sure we could dress things up enough that everyone would be happy when I met Nate in front of the justice of peace, or whoever we could get to become an online minister.

"March second of what year?" Rick asked.

"That would be the one coming up in about a month," Nate told him.

Rick's jaw about hit the table. I really wished I had a camera to capture his shock, as well as a doctor handy to tell me if it was natural for a jaw to dislocate like that.

"You're joking, right?" he asked. "How in the world did you talk her into that?"

"It was my idea. He's been trying to talk me out of it, but I'm standing firm that I want to get married on that date."

If I thought the jaw dropping was great, the dumbfounded look that combined the jaw drop and the bugged out eyes was the cat's meow. I couldn't help but start laughing. It got even worse when I glanced around the table and saw identical looks on most of the occupants. Only Vinnie and Miranda stood out as appearing only mildly intrigued.

"I tried to talk her out of a human wedding, claiming it wasn't necessary. I'm still for the phoenix ceremony that rebinds us taking place as soon as possible," Nate clarified. "I didn't think we needed to go through the fanfare of an event like we all witnessed today."

The guys were still a little speechless, so much so they hadn't resumed shoveling food in their mouths. The two cats in the group were off on their honeymoon, so I couldn't have fun by asking if a cat had gotten everyone else's tongue. Miranda was kind enough to break the lingering silence.

"So, are you going to wear an actual wedding dress or is this a casual affair?"

"Just to satisfy that little girlie part buried deep inside of me, I will be wearing a dress. As far as everyone else's attire goes, jeans are totally cool with me. I want a laid back feel," I said.

"Thank God," Liam said. "I was afraid I'd have to dress up again like I did today."

Talk slowly resumed as we finished dinner and tried to figure out movies we'd all enjoy watching. I ended up making the executive's decision of putting in the original Die Hard trilogy. Miranda and Joseph decided to take care of the dishes, and they ended up disappearing for the rest of the night.

I made it through about half of the second movie before I found my head propped up against Nate's arm and my eyelids closing. Shortly after that, or at least what I deemed shortly, because I was asleep, I felt myself being carried up to bed.

CHAPTER 4

Clowns. Need I say more?

In the morning I woke up curled next to Nate. As sappy as it sounds, I'd grown so used to mornings with Nate. I'd probably even be sad to find him missing one morning.

"I love you too, Avery," Nate said kissing the top of my head.

"It's no fair reading my mind this early in the morning. One of these days you're going to find thoughts you didn't want to know after I wake up from a hot dream about another guy."

"Since I can influence your dreams, I don't think that will be much of an issue," he replied.

"Yeah, well there's one thing I'm thankful for this morning and it sure isn't the idea of you trying to have sex with me in a dream," I retorted. "Those first dreams of you without your clothes weren't for the faint of heart."

"Is what you're thankful for the thought of me having sex with you in real life, because I can totally arrange that too." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, and I smacked his chest.

"It's definitely not that," I said, shaking my head. "I'm thankful for the fact that we're experiencing an abnormally warm winter this year. It's February and I actually get to ride Winnie on a decent trip. I don't believe that's happened before."

"It's still going to be chilly when we head out this morning," he pointed out. Overnight temperatures had been in the low forties, with the daytime highs reaching the sixties.

"True, but what's forty degrees to a person who can turn into a flaming bird? We just have to let the bikes warm up a little and we should be good to go." I climbed out of bed so I could head to the bathroom.

"You still have to wear enough clothing so people don't stare at you and wonder why you aren't turning blue," he called after me.

"Duh," I replied, not feeling the need to give him a more dignified response. "And don't think I don't notice I'm somehow without pants. I have a feeling they didn't just walk off my body." It wasn't a worst case scenario since I still had a top on.

I heard him snicker as he got up and headed towards his portion of our bedroom suite. I considered taking back any comments or thoughts about how great it was to wake up next to him.

I took a quick, but enjoyable warm shower. It was hard not to take pleasure in a shower with multiple massage showerheads, shooting at you from all directions. The gentle beating on my muscles they provided was great after a sparring match with one of the guys.

Learning how the new housemates reacted in combat situations had been a lot of fun. They stopped taking it easy on me after watching just one real match between Rick and me. I was happy about it, until I took one solid punch from Kyle and ended up flat on my butt with the wind knocked out of me. Needless to say, from that moment on, I hadn't let anyone land a good punch.

Out of the shower, I quickly put on my usual attire and headed downstairs to see if anyone else was up and about. Since Vinnie didn't really sleep, it was no surprise that I ran into him first.

"Good morning, Avery. I take it there were no issues with your sleep," he greeted me.

"You would be correct, my robot friend. You ready for the big trip today? You haven't been out much on your bike with all the searching you've been doing."

"I may not have had a chance to take her for a spin, but I have been working on a motherboard paint scheme for her and I think it's just about ready to find someone to carry it out. I've also been doing some different tweaks to the engine to rev up the power just a little," he said.

"That's what I love about you, Vinnie. You're always thinking about ways to improve things. Most of the other guys here are too busy beating their chest, pretending to be Tarzan," I replied.

"Well, everyone has their uses," he stated as we walked into the kitchen.

"That's true, and for this war, I have a feeling we'll need both brains and brawn." I grabbed the box of Grape Nuts and a bowl. While I poured my cereal, Vinnie got me the milk and a spoon. As I was taking my first bite, Trey and Sean walked through the door.

Trey looked at me and the box, still sitting next to me on the counter. "Seriously, you're eating that? With all the stuff you can cook, you choose eat rocks for breakfast," he said, shaking his head. "That just doesn't make any sense."

"Good morning to you guys too. What are you doing here so early?" I asked. I wasn't expecting to leave for another hour or two.

"The King says be here first thing, we're here first thing," Sean replied.

Both wolves were about six-feet tall, with Trey being maybe an inch taller. Sean had the dark features pretty much everyone, except the blonde bombers and Miranda, seemed to share in the household. Trey had the beach bum look going for him, with shaggy, bleach blonde hair and blue eyes. Both of them were sadly easy on the eyes, so to speak. I was beginning to think there wasn't a male unique alive who wasn't a heartthrob.

"Sadly, that is true, my little butterfly," Nate said, joining the party. "Uniques, in general, tend to be appealing to the opposite sex, or same sex if your boat floats that way."

"Haven't I told you once already this morning to quit reading my mind?" I asked as I savored crunching on my cereal loud enough to make Trey shiver. I didn't know what he had against the little nuggets, but it was fun messing with him.

"You may have mentioned it, but I chose to believe that only meant while we were in bed," he replied.

"If you aren't nice, I'm going to start sending scary thoughts your way. Imagine old people without teeth gumming their food or clowns," I told him as I finished my cereal and rinsed out the bowl.

"Clowns don't have the same effect on me that they do you, but I'll try not comment on or answer things you haven't actually spoken out loud. Can you live with that?"

"You know I'm forced to live with it pretty much either way, but it'd be a lot easier on me if I didn't have to be constantly reminded that you're listening in," I responded. "So when do you think the rest of the group will be up and ready?"

"I doubt it'll be too much longer. They were all excited about the trip. I think they're looking forward to having something to fight. It only takes a little blood to get the berserkers in a frenzy," Nate responded.

As he finished, Rick joined us, getting his own bowl of cereal. He gave my box of Grape Nuts a revolting look and instead reached for the Lucky Charms. If coffee wasn't within reach, sugar was a good substitution for him.

I watched as he took out a bottle of chocolate syrup from the fridge and drizzled it on top of the cereal before adding some milk. It was my turn to pretend to gag.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just see that. Did you have a bad night?"

Rick dipped his spoon in and took a bite that pushed the limit of how big his mouth could open. I didn't understand how he could be my brother sometimes. The fact that I'd only known that was the case for a week made it easy to forget.

"Let's just say you don't want to know. I'm pretty sure I dreamt that you were getting married in a month."

For someone who usually had no filter at all, the evasiveness was a little strange. The fact that he didn't want to talk about something made me positive I didn't want to know what potentially kept him from getting all his beauty sleep.

"I'll go ahead and let you believe it was all a dream. Maybe after the sugar gets in your system, you'll remember it's not. So, do we think this is just another warlock out causing problems or could it be something else?" I asked, moving the conversation forward.

"Honey, you've read the books. There are quite a few options we could be looking at. Thankfully, all of them can be killed, or at least caged," Nate replied.

I was lucky enough to finally get my hands on the books my son had written. Sadly, they were so interesting I read everything in two days and still felt like I was missing all the important points. It was a good overview for someone who knew nothing, but it didn't replace millennia of firsthand knowledge.

"But do you think another type of being would side with the warlock? I mean, if they're a unique, I'd think they wouldn't try to bring about the destruction of others of their kind, but I know people don't always have their heads screwed on straight. With the right promises, some people are even willing to turn against their own family."

"You never know what people will do with the right motivation," Sean said. "Some people get out of bed three hours before usual, so they can accompany you on a monster hunt because if they don't, their leader would skin them alive."

"You better believe I'm capable of that. I spend all my spare time sharpening my knives," Joseph said, entering with Miranda on his arm.

She gave me a little wave and a wink. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I was guessing she got the relationship past the kissing stage if she was cuddled up next to him in front of everyone.

"You two got something you want to tell the rest of the group?" Rick asked, he didn't bother looking up from his cereal.

"Might as well," Joseph said with a sigh. "It's not like it's been that big of a secret. Miranda and I are together. She has been marked and we'll be doing the official binding ceremony at the next pack meeting." He said it pretty fast, sort of like ripping a Band-Aid off.

"Oh, Miranda, he's just so romantic," I said in a mocking tone.

Miranda didn't look like she cared, and frankly I didn't think there was anything wrong with what he'd said. I was used to Nate trying to be romantic, and it tended to be a little much for me.

"What do you expect, Avery? We live with a group of Neanderthals. I'm pretty sure the berserkers were literally called that at one point. Probably around the time they clubbed women over their heads and dragged them back to their caves," Miranda responded.

We broke into giggles as the berserkers entered the room and looked around. Funny how timing works sometimes. With the gang all there, we could get some planning done. Before I could open my mouth to ask how soon everyone would be ready, Kyle raised his hand and made his way towards the fridge.

"Don't even speak until my stomach has been satisfied," he grumbled while he grabbed a yogurt. I couldn't help but start laughing again. It was the last thing I would've imagined him pulling out of the fridge.

Liam made his way to the cupboards and found some Pop Tarts. That was a more logical choice for them, and evidently Kyle agreed, because he grabbed a pack on his way to get a spoon.

"So, while they try to reenergize their brains, we can try to figure out how today is going to go," I said. "How soon before everyone can be ready? I don't think we need to take a ton of clothing. I'm hoping it's get in, find the bad guy, kill the bad guy and enjoy the nice ride home down I-95."

"I'd say plan for at least a week. We don't know what we're up against and it might be difficult to pinpoint the bad guy," Nate said in his bossy tone. He didn't mind when I tried to take charge, but he liked letting everyone else know that he got final say.

"Do we have any idea where we'll be residing?" Vinnie asked. "I've downloaded all the most recent maps of the area and I'd like to get an idea if there'll be any traffic issues."

"I'm supposed to have wolves in the area, so I say that should be our first stop. The pack house will be big enough for all of us, and we need to figure out why they aren't responding to my calls," Joseph supplied. He was still agitated that he hadn't received any calls.

"Are you able to sense when other wolves are close?" I asked. "What if someone has taken them; will we be able to easily find them?"

"If they're close enough, I can call to their wolves," Joseph replied. "And they better hope someone has them, or that skinning that was mentioned earlier will become a reality."

I didn't doubt that one bit. The wolves seemed to be the roughest, toughest group of shifters, according to the reading I'd done. I didn't know a lot of specifics, but if Joseph was the mold for those that followed, it was clear they learned by example.

Everyone who hadn't eaten breakfast quickly scrounged around for something before we headed off to pack. Nate and I threw some stuff into a single bag. No use having two if they were going to the same place. When we were ready, he carried the bag out to the truck that Sean and Trey would pilot. Slowly, everyone else emerged with their things and we were set to get the show on the road.

CHAPTER 5

Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends

As I was about to mount my bike, I started to feel lightheaded. I sank to my knees, trying to realign my head without the fear of falling over. It didn't seem to be helping, so I shook my head to clear the cobwebs. It wasn't the way to start a trip, especially one where balance and clear vision was needed.

"No, but it's the only way I could speak to you right this second," I heard a woman's voice say.

It was soft and sweet. Kind of like a stranger offering you a piece of candy, right before they kidnapped you. After being kidnapped multiple times, I didn't want anything to do with whatever candy the woman was offering.

I looked around and I was no longer in my garage. I stood to try to get a better idea of my situation. I was in kind of a dark void it appeared and I saw nothing around me, person or thing. It was weird, even for a person who was used to having visions of the past.

"Where am I and who are you?" I asked the mystery speaker.

"We're in a pocket of time that I like to visit if I ever need to speak to someone in private. I can tell you that doesn't happen very often," the voice replied. "It's not often I find someone worth all the hassle."

"Great, now who are you?"

"Why, Avery, I'm shocked you don't remember me. Oh, that's right, you currently don't remember hardly anything about your past," she said with a chuckle. "You know that's your own fault. I think you could've worked a better deal. Anyway, back to your question. I've been called many things over the years, but originally people called me Clotho. These days when I meet with people, I tend to like the name Eva."

"Well, Eva, what can I do for you? I was in a bit of a hurry back on Earth," I replied.

I didn't know what was going on and I hated the fact that I couldn't see who was messing with me. If I needed to fight, I wanted to know what I was up against.

"Now, Avery, we've always been very close. So close, that if you quit being so whiny, I'll end this little gathering by giving you a gift," she replied.

"I'll see what I can do, but you can ask anyone who's ever met me, I'm not exactly known for my patience," I said. "Do I get to see what you look like, or do I have to keep talking to this phantom voice?"

"Very well," she replied, walking out from the shadows. "You really need to get those memories back. You never use to be this pushy."

As she walked closer to me, all I saw was a relatively small figure in a cloak. When she got three feet away from me, she stopped and drew back her cloak. A small, young woman with long blonde hair and fair features stood before me. I still didn't recognize her, so I waited for her to fill me in.

"I see there's still no spark to remind you of who I am. Oh well, though I was hoping not to have to explain myself. I'm the youngest of the three Fates. I'm the one who brings life to this world. You being the queen of the phoenixes, and able to resurrect multiple times, has made us great friends over the years. I may have even facilitated you and that king of yours in populating the phoenix race a time or two."

"So bringer of life, what can I do for you on this day?" I asked as I wondered if time had stopped back home or if Nate was totally freaking out.

"Technically, the answer isn't either of those options. I've just slowed it down so much that when you get back only a second will have passed," she said, obviously reading my mind. "As for what I want, I should think it was obvious by what my claim to fame is. I'm the source of life and that warlock you've been battling has stopped me from being able to do my job among the uniques. I've tried everything I can think of to counteract his magic, but it seems you're the only one who can."

"Just what do you expect me to do? I'm pretty sure I would've tried to fix the problem already if I had a solution. I have some general ideas about what needs to be done, but I have no idea who I'm fighting."

"But the answer is in that head of yours. You're gaining back those memories slower than I expected. Did you set some kind of timeframe up before you could get them all back?"

I looked at her like she had lost her mind, which I was fairly certain she had. What in the world did that question even mean?

"You really don't know? I'm sure none of the people you hang around with knows either then, or they may have been kind enough to tell you," she replied.

"Have you met Nate? He doesn't like to tell me anything about my past. I evidently wrote a letter to myself, cautioning how fast I try to get my memories back."

"Then it must have had a timeframe. Dang it. Since me and my sisters were there when you burned up, we witnessed most of the spell. I didn't get it all, but I know that to get your full sorceress powers, you gave up your memories.

"I wasn't sure if it was permanent or not, but the fact that you're regaining some would indicate it was temporary. What really surprised me was the fact that you were able to look into the past and see part of your bonfire. I know for a fact you weren't supposed to remember that," she said with a smug grin.

"And what is that supposed to mean? Not only that, but how do you know what I've seen in my visions?" I asked.

I felt like I was talking with someone who knew way more than any one person should about another. I already had Nate and Rick to fill my quota of people who knew more about me than I did. I really didn't need another person to add to that list.

"Maybe I do. I have a very keen interest in how your life turns out Ms. Avery. Being one of the Fates, I know when people are destined for greatness, and, babe, you are at the top of the list. As for why you weren't supposed to remember that day in particular, I can't ruin that surprise for you. Let's just say that becoming a full-blown sorceress wasn't all you accomplished that day," she teased.

"So, since I can't wave a magic wand and turn you back into baby maker extraordinaire, is there anything else I can do for you? You obviously know more about what's going on than I do." My time with her had been way more confusing than helpful in my book.

"I could probably help with some of that confusion, you know," she said with a smile. It made me think of a bubble gum commercial where an actress showed off her pearly whites.

"Okay. If you're feeling like answering questions, I have one that you just brought to the forefront. You said I didn't become a full sorceress until I said some spell, how in the world was I able to charm the knife that should kill the warlock prior to saying that spell? On top of that, how could I even do a spell to become a sorceress?" I asked. "I was under the impression you had to be born one."

"Good questions, both of course have the same answer. You've always been a little witchy. Okay, maybe little is an understatement. You were a dang good witch, but you've never really practiced your arts. If you remember your ABCs of the magic world, witches can read spells, and when you got a vision of a future that didn't appeal to you, you spent three years finding the spells you needed to alter that future," she explained. "Next question."

"If I tell Nate that I met you, will he know who you are?" I asked. I wanted a second opinion on whether she was just some lunatic who broke out of an asylum.

"Probably not. We have met in passing, but I've never had one of these meetings with him, or any long meaningful conversations."

"Do you know why I gave up my memories for the spell?" I asked. "That seems like an odd thing to have to do."

"I know I mentioned thinking you should've worked a better deal earlier, but really for all the power you have, and the fact that you're regaining your memories, you probably got off easy. I guess choosing to stay absent for so long was probably why you even got the option to have them returned at all. As you've been finding out with your little headaches lately, all magic comes with a price. At least the kind of magic that you sorceress types tend to dabble in," she explained, by not giving me a direct answer that made sense.

"Do you know how I can learn to control it? I imagine when I get my memories back I'll know more, but until then, I'd like to be able to use everything I have in my arsenal without having to hot pack my head."

"Hmm. When your nasty business in New Bedford is over, head north to Salem. A sorceress named Nadine lives there, and she can show you the ropes. She isn't as strong as you, but she has you beat in experience."

"Seriously? You're sending me to Salem, Massachusetts to learn how to use magic. Could you get any more cliché?"

"Why not? Sorceresses aren't born every day, you know, so there aren't a ton of options. Plus, I think you'll get a kick out of Nadine. She's just a little on the eccentric side. Now, if there are no other questions, I think it's time we get you back on your journey. You have important work to get done."

"I'm not really sure if what's been said has been useful, but I suppose it has. Having a trainer will be greatly appreciated, if your eccentric friend can actually teach me something. How am I supposed to find her when I get there? I don't think walking down the street yelling her name will work."

"Don't worry, she'll find you," Eva responded with a little laugh. "Now, back you go, and I didn't forget my promise of a gift."

The next second I was in the garage back on my knees. "Talk about trippy," I said, standing up. Everyone else was still getting ready to leave, and no one seemed to notice anything had happened.

"What's trippy?" Nate asked.

"I just spent the last thirty minutes with one of the Fates, at least it felt like thirty minutes."

"Really, which one?" Joseph queried.

"She wanted to be called Eva, but said she used to be called Clotho."

"Well, if you have to meet one of them, she'd be the one I would choose. I hear they're all a little nutty," he replied.

"Evidently she and I are great friends from way back. She said her and her sisters were there the day I went into the fire. She claims that I instituted the memory loss and extended vacation in exchange for the new powers I have. She wants me to get my memories back as soon as possible, so I can break whatever spell is causing uniques to not be able to breed. Evidently, the bringer of life is getting tired of only working with humans," I informed them.

"So did she actually answer questions for you?" Rick asked. "That has got to be a first in this lifetime."

"You're so funny," I said, walking over to smack him on the head. When I did, I noticed a piece of paper fell from my hand that I didn't realize I was carrying. I hurried to pick it up and unfold it.

"What do you have there?" Nate asked, coming closer to get a look. Not wanting to have to pass it around, I went ahead and read it out loud.

"There will come a day, in the year that the calendars end, that a bird will rise up and rule the nonhumans. Under her rule, peace will be known among the humans and those born with special abilities. She will form an organization that will battle the evils of this world and puts an end to the soulless amongst us. From her and her king, the next great oracle will be born, so they must be protected at all costs," I read in my best narrator voice.

"What do you think it means?" Trey asked.

Since he hadn't been with us that long, I refrained from saying "duh". Instead I said, "If I were to guess, I think it means we now have the missing prophecy."

"You putting an end to the soulless. I can see why a warlock wouldn't be too happy with keeping you alive, sis. He wouldn't have any friends by the time you got done," Rick said.

"Well, we aren't going to fight him sitting around here talking. Let's finally get this journey underway." I didn't want to meet anyone's eyes as I climbed on Winnie. I didn't know how reliable prophecies were, but I didn't like the instant feel of the weight of the world on my shoulders.

"Great idea, dollface," Kyle said as everyone else got ready to leave.

I felt Nate's eyes burning a hole into me as I started my bike. I glanced over his way to see what emotions he had going on in his mind, since I wasn't really sure what to think. He pushed down the start switch as his smile widened when he saw he drew my attention.

"We're going to have a baby."

I rolled my eyes and let my clutch out as I rolled the throttle. I needed a few hundred miles to sift through the things I'd learned, and I didn't need Nate jumping for joy because there was talk of a baby. The guy hadn't even gotten to second base.

CHAPTER 6

There is never anything good lurking in the shadows

After we made it through the early morning traffic, we were able to relax and enjoy the scenery. Well, sort of. Most of the scenery was still dead because it was winter, but I could imagine the flowers and the wildlife everywhere. After bitter cold and snow had ruled for a few weeks, it was going to take more than a single week of warm weather to bring nature back to life.

Even though Nate, Rick and I could communicate while we rode without any outside assistance, we had the bikes equipped with CB radios and headsets. If we weren't wearing our full face helmets, interference from the wind sometimes happened, but the radios came in handy when someone needed a potty break. I'd tried to teach everyone a set of hand signals, so we wouldn't have to worry about the headsets, but it didn't go over very well with the guys.

They thought making up their own was a good idea. I couldn't think of a logical reason to need a signal that indicated a cloud looked like an elephant. I tried to give the new guys to our group a little leeway before I ruled them as nutty as Rick, but they were well on their way.

With my Cliffs Notes version of the meeting with Eva, I forgot to tell the guys I was planning a trip for when we were done in New Bedford. Evil me took a second to decide whether to tell them while we were driving down the road or wait and spring it on them. I was feeling generous, and I needed to figure out if we'd have any accommodations.

I wasn't sure how long we'd need to stay for whatever training Nadine could give me. I liked having a plan when it came to travel, and with the well-travelled group of men I was with, I assumed one of them would know someone in Salem.

"Who has friends in Salem?" I asked over the radio.

"Salem what, Oregon?" Kyle answered back.

"No, Salem, Massachusetts," I replied, confused why in world would he'd think Oregon when we were travelling the opposite direction?

"Oh well, Oregon would have been a yes, Massachusetts is a no," he replied, as did the rest of the group.

"Are you guys joking? I thought you'd covered every speck of dirt on this planet."

"That's true, and you've been there too, but it wasn't called Salem when we've visited in the past. I highly doubt anyone we interacted with is still living there. We can make some calls if you want to talk to someone about the area." I didn't doubt Nate could find someone, but I was sure he'd figured out where my original question was going.

"I guess we'll all be tourists then. We're going take a trip up there once we're done in New Bedford," I told them.

"Did you want to see if they'd try you as a witch? We don't have to go all the way there for a test. Since we're close to the ocean, we can just tie you up and throw you in to see if you float." Rick suggested.

I heard the rest of the guys chuckle at his joke, and thought about driving along next to them and trying to kick each of them. Telling Rick he told horrible jokes didn't have the proper effect when everyone else egged him on.

"Sometimes I can't believe we're related, unless the oxygen got cut off to your brain for a little while in the womb. Eva was nice enough to give me a name of a sorceress who could help me learn to control my power better. She claimed Nadine was the closest one, and it sounded like she wouldn't be against teaching me the ropes," I explained. "Of course she hasn't met me yet. So there's still a chance she might not help."

"As long as she doesn't have evil plans for world domination, I think we'll be fine," Vinnie said. "I know how frustrated you're getting about not being able to tap into that part of your power source, so any help will make our lives better. Did she mention anything else about your magic?"

I didn't think my frustration had been that apparent. If Vinnie was subtly complaining about it, I was doing a poor job of covering it up. I'd barely started using my sorceress powers and they were sidelined. I was more frustrated about not understanding things than missing an ability I'd lived my whole life without.

"The only other thing she said, which I'd already figured out, was that doing magic comes with a price, hence my headaches and the memory loss. She seemed to think I had great potential and that the memory loss was worth the power boost. So far, I'm not in agreement."

"Well, we need to get it all figured out so you can use the rhyming book I'm getting you as a wedding present. No sorceress can live without one," Rick said.

"What did you eat this morning, Dumb Flakes? With Vinnie around I don't think I need a book to rhyme? I'm pretty sure he could figure out something that rhymed with orange, even if it's in a foreign language," I replied.

"When you get your memories back, that won't be an issue, since you know every language there is to know," Nate supplied. "If you get the sorceress stuff figured out and have unlimited words to use for spells, we're all in trouble."

"So, back to that prophecy we've all been skating around and trying to digest," Joseph steered us towards another topic. "It's twenty-twelve and the Internet is full of lunatics talking about the Mayan calendar and such ending this year, so I'm guessing this big swing of power is fixing to happen soon. What I don't understand is the whole part about peace amongst us and humans. Humans don't even know about us, so why would Avery have to do anything to make it better?"

I'd been curious about that myself. I wasn't sure how humans didn't have proof we existed. There were movies that hinted, but most of them included things like vampires, which of course weren't real.

"I agree, that part doesn't make any sense," Nate said.

"With the warlock army out doing silly stuff in towns like the one we're headed to, isn't it just a matter of time before the humans get suspicious?" I asked. "Maybe that's the warlock's goal, to reveal us and force us to fight on two fronts. It makes a little bit of sense. He didn't do too well trying to thin the herd in Alaska, so he has to regroup and find another way to weaken us."

"But how would humans really know who to be scared of? It's not like they've noticed us living amongst them all these years," Liam stated.

"True, unless he has some kind of spell that makes us glow," I said while I thought of other explanations. "Maybe it won't really be outing us per se, but it might make the humans suspicious of everyone. Imagine even within families, a husband wondering if his wife can really change into another shape or cast a spell on him. Everyone will start believing the stuff they read in books. It would be chaos, and that seems to be exactly what this guy wants."

"What do you think we can do to stop it? We can't travel to every city and magically fight the bad guys and wipe everyone's mind," Joseph stated.

"No, even when we get our teams set up, that will be impossible. Although the wiping of people's mind idea makes me think Vinnie and I need to spend some time thinking about biological type weapons that could potentially make a room of people forget what just happened. How awesome would that be?

"Back on track, I really think our first step is going to have to be a reveal of some sort under our own circumstances. What do you think the other uniques would say about going public?" I asked.

"As you saw in Eek, a lot of us hate having to hide who we are and changing our names every twenty years or so. That being said, I don't think many would like to have to go into some government database," Joseph said.

"No, that will have to be avoided at all costs. I want us to be able to reveal ourselves in a way that's nonaggressive, but at the same time strong, so we don't end up as lab rats," I responded.

"Any ideas on how to do that? I doubt changing into a phoenix in the middle of the Times Square is the best way to go about this," Kyle said. "Us berserkers don't really have a big reveal like you, unless someone ticks us off, so no matter what you decide, we can only provide moral support on this venture."

"Changing in public isn't exactly what I'm thinking. What we need to do is get access to a high ranking official. Someone we think may be sympathetic to the cause. We need to pick people amongst our groups who would be good representatives. I know we have people on police forces and I imagine in the military. Those would be good people to show a sense of patriotism. That goes a long way in this country," I said, just spouting off ideas that came to mind.

"I think any leader of their group should be involved in some way. We'll need everyone's support on this matter," Nate said. "And, Avery, the prophecy says you lead this, so you better be prepared to sprout your own wings."

"I am," I said, even though the thought made me a little nervous. A year ago, I would've laughed in his face, but I'd have to put my big girl pants on and get prepared to finish what the stupid warlock started. "How soon do you think we could get the leaders together when we return home?"

"For something this important, I'm thinking it would take only a week. There are at least thirty people we'll need to call in just to cover the shifters this would mostly affect," Rick said. "I don't know what to do about just run of the mill magical beings like Pegasus. They can't exactly fly in for a visit."

"No, and I think for now we make a phone call and let them know what we're doing, but let's not hint to anyone that they exist. I think sticking to just a shifter reveal at first will be more acceptable," Nate said.

"Being the voice of reason here, are you really sure this is a road we want to go down? What if the prophecy is just a bunch of crap?" Joseph asked. "We could be exposing ourselves for no reason."

"Maybe you're right," I said. "I personally know nothing about these things, but you have to admit, if enough reports get out about people being able to carry cars around, humans aren't going to sit quiet for long. We live in a world of social media and I'd be surprised if there isn't already a blog out there collecting all these weird phenomena."

"You're right, stupid computers. Sometimes I wish they were never invented. No offense to you, Vinnie," Joseph quickly added.

"None taken. In this case I agree. Social media adds about fifty minutes to my daily downloads, and maybe only a percent of the information is something I'd be able to use. The fact that little Jimmy learned to use the potty today, isn't something I care about," Vinnie replied.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. The thought of Vinnie scanning through everyone's tweets on a daily basis had to be one of the funniest things that ever crossed my mind. The fact that he could catalog all the new social media posts within a single day spoke to how well he'd tweaked his processors.

"You should write a book about all the stupid things people say on Twitter. I bet you'd make a killing," I told him. He'd shared a few of the more idiotic things he'd found during his downloads and most of them made me worry about the mental well-being of the human race.

"I could probably make a whole series out of it. I'd call it something like 'Think Before You Tweet'," he replied. "So, about this high ranking official you guys want to reveal yourselves to, any ideas on who it should be? I can run some background information, so we can decide if they're a good match. I'd like to verify we aren't outing Avery to an idiot. I've lived with scientists poking me, and I won't allow the same thing to happen to her."

There were times when Vinnie's protection of me was a little creepy. No matter what everyone else said, I still didn't think his interests were romantic. He just wanted to keep me safe since I offered him freedom.

"Well, with Avery and me working for the FBI, I imagine getting in to see the director wouldn't be that difficult. I've been with the Bureau for a little while now, and I'm not exactly at the bottom of the ladder. I've worked some high profile cases over the years and can use one of them as an excuse to get us in the door," Nate informed us.

"I actually like that idea," I said. "I knew we wouldn't be getting in to see the President, but Director Milton is the type of high-ranking person I was thinking about."

"Great, so we have the beginnings of a plan. We can start making our calls to the group leaders when we get into town, and when we get back home, we can iron out the details. Right now, though, I'm running low on gas, so we need to stop to refuel and stretch our legs," Joseph said.

We did as he commanded and stopped at the next exit. After we refueled and regained the feeling in our butts, we got back on the road. New Bedford was only another hour away. We finished the trip in radio silence as we each pondered what the world would be like if we revealed ourselves. Personally, I thought it was probably past time we came out of the shadows.

CHAPTER 7

Every superhero needs a great costume

When we pulled off the interstate before travelling into New Bedford, we stopped on the shoulder of the off ramp and turned off our bikes to get our bearings. I stood up straight and stretched my legs. It was still pretty chilly out, but the sun was shining and there was no snow, so you wouldn't hear me complaining.

With my ability to heat myself a little from the inside when I felt a chill, only snow or a heavy downpour kept me off the roads. I was looking into getting some tires with better traction, so nothing would keep me from going for a spin.

"Anyone feel anything crazy? I'm only feeling the stares of people wondering what we're doing riding motorcycles in the middle of winter." I knew that Liam, Kyle and Rick all had abilities to sense uniques in close proximity.

"I can feel a single semi-strong energy source other than us in the vicinity," Liam said.

With me glowing next to him, Liam sometimes found it hard to use his abilities. If he was able to feel something else out there, semi-strong was more than likely an understatement.

"I'm better at picking up uniques in closer proximity, so I can't really say for sure what I'm feeling. It kind of feels like there's a unique out there, but I can't pick up a particular flavor from this distance," Kyle said.

"Thankfully, my talents are a little more defined," Rick said with his usual cockiness. "Anyone else getting the strong smell of tobacco?"

"I am," Joseph said.

Once it was mentioned, I picked up the smell of pipe tobacco, and wondered how I'd missed it. It reminded me of a guy who used to ride the train with me most mornings. I didn't know what significance it had on the side of the road, but I didn't see anyone around it could belong to.

"With the tobacco and the trickery I think we are dealing with a Kapre. I've only run into one before. They're a very rare breed of uniques," Rick informed us.

"Would whatever that is group together with the warlock against us?" I asked. Whatever a Kapre was, it wasn't something that I'd read about.

"I doubt it," Nate answered. "Kapres are generally from the Philippines region. They aren't mean in nature, but they do love to play little tricks on people. Usually they fly under the radar more than this."

"So, what are we looking for? Even if he isn't with the bad guys, we need to get him to tone it down," I said. A trickster would explain the funny reports Vinnie had picked up, but I didn't know that it explained Joseph's missing wolves.

"Kapres are extremely tall, so he shouldn't be hard to find. A roughly eight-foot-tall person will probably stick out like a sore thumb," Rick said.

"Joseph, you know this area the best, do you know of any forests?" Nate asked. "That will probably be the place to go looking. Kapres prefer to live amongst the trees."

"There are a couple of places in the general area that might be wooded enough for him to stay out of view. My bet would be the Acushnet Cedar Swamp, if he's in there, no normal person would ever be able to find him," he replied. "Since we aren't exactly normal, we have a better chance."

"It's getting to be late afternoon and I don't think we want to be stuck looking in a swamp at night, so let's plan to go investigate tomorrow," I said, trying to establish a leadership role in our investigation. Hey, if a prophecy said I was going to be some kind a leader, I needed to get all the practice I could get. "How far is it to the pack house? I didn't hear anyone mention they felt wolves or other uniques in the area."

"That's because there aren't," Rick said. "There's only what we're assuming is a Kapre. I'm picking up no other unique signatures, which doesn't make a lot of sense."

"What does that mean for us? There's supposed to be uniques here according to Joseph, and I have to believe he would've been alerted if they decided to move," I said. The more I learned, the more I was surprised they didn't have to call to ask permission to use the bathroom.

"I only knew of the wolves for sure, and you're right, they wouldn't have relocated without talking to me about it. Some areas have packs that don't like unknown wolves in their territory, so I sometimes have to serve as a mediator."

"Well, let's head over to where these wolves are supposed to be living and see if we can figure anything out," I said, starting my bike back up.

"Okay, I guess you guys are going to have to follow me," Joseph said as he and the rest of the guys brought their bikes to life.

We followed Joseph south to a house on Cove Road. He stopped in front of a large, white house that looked like it was set up as a multi-family home. There was a cream colored house directly across the street that looked similar. Both were three stories and looked bigger than the other homes around. We parked and shut off our bikes, while we took note of the area. Trey and Sean climbed out of the truck they were riding in and joined us.

"These are both ours," Joseph explained as he got off his bike. "The white one is the main pack house, where they have meetings and the alpha and his betas live. The cream one is where the rest of the pack lives. At last check, this was a group of only guys, so I'll caution you it might be a mess. Without a woman around to keep us tidy, science experiments are known to start growing."

With that word of caution, we climbed off our bikes and trailed him up to the white house. The door looked to be in one piece, which surprised me a little. I was sure there had to have been some kind of struggle with the way Joseph had been talking about his pack not leaving without his permission. He knocked on the door, and apparently not caring if someone answered, he turned the knob and walked in.

We followed him in and were welcomed by a huge mess, not exactly the kind he'd warned us about. There were scorch marks in different spots on the carpet and walls. One half of a couch was blocking a doorway to another room and the other half was upside down in the middle of the room. An entertainment center was tipped over the couch half inside the room.

Altogether it was chaos.

"I'm hoping this is not what you meant by the guys being a little sloppy. Because if it is, they sure like to roughhouse a lot. I can only imagine what their remodeling bill looks like," I said while everyone else was still taking it all in.

No one made any moves to go further into the house. It could've been the couch blocking the door, but I didn't think a little thing like that would keep them out.

"No, Avery, my dear, this is not something they did themselves. None of them can produce the energy balls that left those scorch marks," Joseph responded.

Bringing up energy balls reminded me of my recent fight with a warlock who tried to use them against me. I was leaning towards another minion being behind the disappearances, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. Something else out there could throw energy balls around like a warlock.

"Can the Kapre thingy do something like this?" I asked.

"If you want to be technical, he probably could with an illusion," Nate said. "I've never heard of one who was violent. As you're already thinking, this stinks of warlock activity. I have to believe there were quite a few of them, or at least one who's a lot stronger than the one you met in Alaska."

"I don't see any bodies in the carnage, hopefully that means everyone is still alive. How far would they have had to been taken in order to fall off all of your guys' radar?" I asked.

"I can sense any wolf in a twenty mile radius," Joseph replied. For some reason I thought he was being a little modest about his ability.

"My radar tends to run about the same," Rick said.

"I can tell strong energy sources maybe ten miles away," Liam answered.

"And, as you know, I'm more of a up close and personal reader," Kyle said, completing the roundup.

"Okay, well twenty miles isn't that far away, and we already know they aren't north of here, or someone would've picked them up." I said. "You guys do want to try to find them, right?"

"I have no choice in the matter," Joseph stated. "They're my wolves and it's my duty to protect them."

"And he's going to need all of us to help. If whatever took them was able to grab ten wolves, we're going to have a major battle on our hands," Rick said.

I wished we had someone who could read residual energy that may have been left during the attack. It would've been useful to know exactly how many people we were dealing with.

"Good, I'm tired of having to pull my punches. You guys are fun to spar with, but I'm overdue to show you how a berserker really fights," Kyle said.

"Right on, brother," Liam said, raising his hand for a high five. Kyle's hand met his and they did some handshake things. It was weird and it disturbed me, so I focused on moving the investigation along.

"Do we bother checking out the other building? You never know, the bad guys could've been nice enough to leave a note."

"With how this place looks, I'm leaning towards the fighting all happening here. There wasn't a path of destruction across the street, so it's unlikely anything happened there. Sean, Trey, you guys run over and check it out, just in case," Joseph ordered them and they ran out the door.

"They're so obedient," I commented. "I need to figure out how to get Rick to be that way."

"You don't punish him enough for stepping out of line," Joseph replied. "Of course, our ways of leading are very different. For me, punishment is beating the crap out of someone, whereas for you, it's more like making him go to bed without his supper."

"Hey, have you ever seen us fight? I'm not exactly taking it easy on him," I replied. I tended to go all out and even pull knives on him.

"No, you don't take it easy, but believe me, you don't come anywhere near to causing the damage I have to some of my wolves. I'm not saying it's a bad thing either. If we're going to be revealing ourselves, it's better that you're in the front with your leading style, but at the same time, you'll need people behind you who can back up any of your threats, gleefully."

The way Joseph showed off his bright, shiny teeth made it clear he found joy in beating people up. I knew the berserkers were the same way. With a war on the horizon, I'd definitely networked with the right people.

"Are you interviewing for one of my enforcer positions?" I asked.

"Maybe I am," he responded. "I thought I already had the job, though."

"Will there be cool outfits involved?" Liam asked. "I've always liked those hats the British Royal Guards have to wear."

"What would you do if you actually had to fight?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure it'd fall off and just get trampled on."

"They're so big, we could hide weapons in them. That would be pretty cool. People would be staring at the hats, and we would take them off and be all 'say hello to my little friend' and pull out a machine gun," he replied.

I started laughing at the image he painted. If nothing else, for Halloween I'd have to get him a hat, just so he can replay the scene in real life. I couldn't imagine much more than a handgun actually fitting under the hat, but I was willing to watch him try.

"I'm going with no on the hats. If you really want some kind of uniform, we can talk about it. We'd need to have it be made out of something strong enough to withstand things like the energy balls or whatever left those marks on the walls. Vinnie should be able to help in that area; he's already made himself a skin thick enough to resist bullets," I said.

"That would be a project I would enjoy," Vinnie offered.

"Great, we can talk about it more when we get back home," I said. "I didn't think it'd take more than a minute to run across the street to see if anybody's home; shouldn't Trey and Sean be back by now?"

"You're right. A quick walkthrough to assess any damage and figure out if any clues were left shouldn't take this long. We better go see what's taking them so long." Joseph tilted his head as an odd expression clouded his face.

We headed out the door and across the street. The neighbors were close, so I was surprised that the police weren't called in with all the commotion that had to have occurred when the house got tossed. When we got to the other house, Joseph walked right in, not bothering to knock.

The scene before us had me almost rolling on the floor laughing, for the second time that day. As annoying as magic was in my life at the time, there were some things it could do that were pure comic relief, as long as you weren't the one caught up in it.

CHAPTER 8

In magic, the learning curve is steep

Trey and Sean were floating in the air, and seemed to be unable to move. At least they didn't look like they had the ability to swim around like fish. I took out my phone and started taking pictures. It was just too good not to document. Plus, if the two of them ever stepped out of line, I had a little bit of blackmail to straighten them out.

"Do you have to do that?" Sean asked. Apparently their lips weren't frozen like the rest of their bodies.

"Sorry, but no one is going to believe me otherwise," I replied snapping a few more photos. Vinnie was probably recording everything for me on his built-in computer, but I didn't need to rub that in.

"Be careful where you step. We triggered something as we walked into the room," Trey said.

"Any suggestions on how to get them down?" I asked finally putting the phone away.

"There's only one way I can think of, and I'm guessing it's going to hurt," Rick said.

"I really wish there was another way, but you're right," Nate agreed with whatever idea Rick was thinking up. I was sure the guys wouldn't mind a little pain, if it allowed them to get free. "It's not them who's going to feel the pain, sweetie. We need you to say a spell to release them and it would be nice if you could figure out one that will keep any other booby traps from attacking us."

"Oh, is that all? A little headache shouldn't be that bad. I haven't used much magic lately, so I doubt it'll be that bad. Give me a second to think up something." I really hoped the notion of little magic use equating to little headache proved to be true.

"I bet you wish you had that rhyming book right about now," Rick taunted me.

"Whatever, big brother. Stuck they are, but that is not how we want them to be; release them from this magic, and clear the house of anything we cannot see," I said.

I saw Trey and Sean fall to the ground right before a force of energy hit me like a truck. I felt myself fly backwards, and then the lights went out in my world. I'd lost count of how many times I'd lost consciousness, but I assumed it was more than a human had to deal with in a normal lifetime.

"Well, that was just silly," I heard Eva say. Didn't we already talk once that day, why in the world was I back in the black void? "Because you're going to be passed out for a while anyway. I just grabbed you before you were totally out, so we could hang out."

"Why would I have been passed out?" I asked.

I opened my eyes and looked around to verify I was back in the void. Eva had found herself a chair and was sitting there smiling at me. I was still finding it hard to believe her and I were friends of any kind. It reminded me of the relationship I had with Frannie, which had only recently begun to make sense.

"Because you didn't take proper precautions when you tried to disarm someone else's spell. You really are wet behind the ears when it comes to this magic stuff. You're lucky that I decided it was time for us to have another little talk, otherwise, right now you'd be just plain boring, lying there blacked out," she said.

"Didn't you say everything you needed to say earlier today? If you say too much more, I'd have to claim I learned something useful."

"Well, yeah, but that was all business. I've missed you over the years, and I thought we could play catch up now," she said, getting excited and clapping her hands together. She was a strange cookie.

"Has anyone ever told you how weird you are?" I asked. It wasn't exactly nice, but she was missing a big hunk of something between her ears.

She laughed. "Oh, Avery, you were always good for a laugh. Let's see what can we talk about? I figure your physical body will need to rest for at least twenty minutes after a blast that strong."

"So I'm not really here?" I asked, confused exactly how she did whatever she did. "The way you just said that sounded like my body is still back in the house with the guys."

"That's true this time. Last time you were all here; this time you're kind of just a holograph of yourself," she explained. I held out my arms and they seemed real enough to me.

"Are you saying I'm basically here to amuse you while my body recovers from the blast?" I wasn't sure whether to be happy about that or not.

"I would be happy," she said with a smile. I was just complaining to Nate about reading my mind, and he wasn't anywhere near as bad as Eva. "Yeah, sorry about that, I'm not really reading your mind so much as I can just hear everything like it's spoken out loud. Anyway, I don't get to make contact with non-deities very often, and without you around the last few decades, it's been a little boring."

"You're the bringer of life, right? Does that mean you knew who I was when I was reborn? Everyone else who should've known me didn't."

"That was the plan. I did, but not at first. I actually didn't have a hand in your most recent birth. Which was surprising to me. One day you just kind of popped up on my radar. You won't remember, but when you were ten, I tried to visit you like the old times. I was disappointed when you didn't recognize me," she replied, making a sad face.

She really over-exaggerated her emotions. I imagined she wasn't a very good poker player.

"Sorry," I said, not sure what I was apologizing for. "How did we come to be friends again? You said you don't talk to average people like me often, why did you choose me?"

"Actually, you're my only contact in the normal world these days. People just don't believe in us gods and goddesses like they did in the old days. Anyway, telling you how we became friends is so boring, when I can just show you. We should have enough time," she said, getting out of her chair and looking down at her wrist like she was wearing a watch. "Time for a trip down memory lane."

She walked over and put her hand along the left side of my face, like she was going to do some crazy mind meld with me. She giggled, evidently picking up that thought. I closed my eyes, because it seemed like the right thing to do, and when I opened them, I was in a time period I'd not visited yet. Things were bound to be interesting.

I'm walking through a market area. I see many people wearing things similar to togas, but not really the same. I guess I mean there's a lot of draping going on. I glance down and notice I'm wearing a bright red draped dress that looks like it could very well serve as a bed sheet.

Many of the merchants are waving to me, trying to get me to come take a gander at their goods. Apparently I'm just out for a stroll, so I wave and smile, but don't stop. It seems from my body's memories that this is the first time I've been out alone in months. As it appears to be a recurring theme in my past lives, Nate, or Vasilis, as he's known in this time, is being overprotective of his little butterfly and isn't letting me out to play.

"This is where it all started," I hear the female voice that I associate with Eva say in my head.

Not being able to control my body is difficult, because I can't see her anywhere that I'm currently focused. Her voiceover was a new addition to my little visions. It's a little like someone narrating my life.

"Sorry about that. We have to let the past play out, but we can both talk to each other while it happens," I hear her reply.

Okay this is really freaky, it appears that she's in the past with me, at least mentally. This will be the first time I'm able to communicate with someone in the past.

"Correct, isn't it so cool. Oh look, you should be able to see me now," she says.

Sure enough I see her at a stand, buying some jewelry. My body continues on its walk and as we pass her, she looks up and smiles. We smile back and continue on. Before long, I can feel her walking next to me.

"You're special," she says out loud to the past me.

"I don't know what you mean," I reply. "I'm no more special than the next person."

"Oh, but sweet Catherine, we both know that isn't true. You are a queen among your kind and meant for very illustrious things. I think we're going to be great friends," she states.

"I'm sorry, but you must have me mistaken for someone else," I say, and look around, trying to find an escape route. My body is confused by the fact that she called me by name. There's a part of me that wishes Freddie would pop out and save her from the crazy lady.

"Don't worry, my fiery friend, you don't have to run. I'm Clotho, by the way. I've had my eye on you for a while now, but you never seem to be alone," she says. "I can understand why that is, even if it makes things more difficult for me."

"My friends seem to like to keep me guarded from others. I'm starting to think they had the right idea. I really must be getting back," I say, still not feeling safe around her. It felt like spiders were crawling up my arms, and I knew she was to blame.

She chuckles. "It's okay, most people aren't sure what to make of us deities. That's why we tend to keep to ourselves, much like you do. I read a note not long ago, though, and I have a feeling it was speaking of you, so I wanted to get to know you a little better. See if you were really worth the effort to protect. If you are, I'll add what I can to strengthen your defenses."

"Care to share what this note said, and why you thought it spoke of me?" I ask, digesting the part about her being a deity. She said her name is Clotho and my body knows of only one deity named Clotho. It wasn't a stretch to assume I was speaking to one of the three Fates.

"Sorry, I can't reveal what the note said. I'm sure eventually you'll read it yourself. You'll find as the years go by that us Fates try very hard not to meddle that much in others' lives. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy changing the timeline here and there, but we never mess with the really important events in time," she says.

I had a feeling that claim had changed a little over the years. The woman I knew in the present hinted her and her sisters had helped me alter things in my timeline, and the past me had her own ideas on just how involved the Fates got.

"That isn't exactly what I've heard about you. You and your sisters get to decide when people are born, how long they live and when and how they die. I would think that means you have a hand in everyone's life, and they better hope they don't make you mad," I say. Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I don't seem to be as afraid anymore. There's still part of me that's leery, but I don't think she'll hurt me.

She just shrugs at my comment. "We all have jobs in this world, some are easier than others. I spend a lot of time making difficult decisions, but today I have decided I need a day off. What were you planning on doing with your freedom? I imagine it won't be long before your mate finds you, but we have a little while we can spend getting to know each other."

She seems determined to become my friend. I don't really understand why, but I have a feeling I won't be able to shake her either. If anything did go wrong today, I guess having the two of us together would be better than being alone.

"I was going to go down to the lake and sit for a while," I tell her.

"That sounds like a marvelous idea," she says, looping her arm through mine. "Let's go."

As she drags me off, the vision starts to get dark. "Oh pooh," I heard present Eva say mentally. "You're coming back around and have to go back to your current body. We really did have a lot of fun that day. Maybe we'll have a chance to visit it again later. You'll love how much trouble you were in when your friends finally caught up with you."

I doubted that. I remembered enough of my past that I knew I hated the never-ending lectures about how dangerous the outside world was for me. I had to be thankful they were just then learning there was a prophecy about needing to protect me.

The next thing I knew, I woke up in Nate's lap, and saw the worry that was too often in his eyes. I looked around and found myself on an unfamiliar bed. I wasn't sure which house I was in or really how much time had passed.

"Do you want to explain what just happened?" he asked. "I have a strong feeling you know the answer to that question."

CHAPTER 9

Only PG-13 fairy tales allowed

"It's funny you should say that, because for once I do actually know," I replied as I tried to sit up. Nate's arms firmly wrapped around me kept me in place.

"I don't think you should move around too much just yet. You've been out for twenty-five minutes, and I'm still trying to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, but I know better than to fight you if you find a need to verify that for yourself. I just learned a new lesson, one that I'm going to remember to ask Nadine about when we go visit her. With all the questions I have, I'm pretty sure she's going to get tired of hearing my voice within five seconds of our arrival."

"And if you would be so kind to enlighten me on this mysterious lesson, it would be greatly appreciated. We can deal with how annoying your questions can be later."

"Sure. Eva says that there are certain precautions one should make when disarming another person's spells. I didn't know that, so when I said my own spell, I got a blast from, I guess, an energy release or something. She didn't exactly explain what hit me, just why I was taking a little nap."

"So you got a visit from your new best friend Eva, again? Are you sure she isn't the one who caused the blast? How much do you really know about her?" he questioned.

"Just slightly more than you do. She was showing me a memory of the first time we met. I'm pretty sure we were in Greece at the time and my name was Catherine. I know that isn't really a big help, since I seem to pick similar names all the time. Anyway, I was walking through a market and she came up to me and started talking. Just before I woke up, we were headed to some lake," I informed him.

"That's who this Eva person is?" he asked. I thought it must be nice to be given a few details about a day that happened probably two thousand years ago and be able to remember it like yesterday. "I found you two running through the lake naked. She didn't give me her name, just said she'd find you later and you were all secretive about who she was."

I was kind of happy that I woke up early. I didn't want to know what Eva said to get me to do something crazy like that, although past me didn't seem to need a lot of persuasion when it came to doing crazy things. I hoped that it was a very, very secluded lake, and Nate was the only one who got to catch the show.

"Please tell me you're joking," I begged. "And please tell me that isn't something I did often."

He attempted to hold back his laughter when he looked down and saw the pained expression on my face, but as usual, he failed. I elbowed him in the side for his evilness.

"I wouldn't say often is the right word, but you were never afraid to go skinny dipping with the proper company. By proper company I mean me, of course. That time with your friend Eva was the only time I found you trying it out with someone else," he told me. "In fact, the other ten times I found you two together, you were always up to something and you'd never tell me who she was. I'd always let it go because we tried never to argue, but I'm glad to finally know who your friend is. You wouldn't even think about her to give me hints after she ran off. She's always been one of life's mysteries."

"She said you'd seen her in passing, but neglected to mention it was catching us doing silly stuff," I said, making a mental note to deal with her later. "What happened while I was out? I remember Sean and Trey being released, but that's the last thing that imprinted in my mind."

"We got to watch you fly three feet and hit a wall before sliding down it," Rick said, joining us in the room. "Totally wished I had the video camera rolling for that one. Vinnie says his started malfunctioning for some reason."

I didn't know if Vinnie was hiding the evidence for me or if there was an actual issue, but either way I was glad my misfortune wouldn't be handed over to Rick so he could watch it over and over.

"Not the most joyous thing for a fiancé to have to watch," Nate added. "After that, I brought you up here while the others searched the house for any clues."

"Please tell me you found a signed confession and the exact location where we can pick up the wolves," I said.

"Not exactly," Nate replied. "There was a note that said the wolves were not currently harmed more than what their struggles caused, and that they'd meet us in two days at a location they will decide on later."

"They seriously left a note? That's a bit of an unexpected turn. It sounds like it's a kidnapping rather than a plan to take over the world. When you say 'they'd meet us', do you mean they knew we'd be here or just whoever came along looking for the wolves?" I asked.

"It was addressed to, and I quote, 'The Fiery Hen," Rick informed me.

"They seem to like to call me hen for some reason. The fact that they expected us has me worried that we aren't really seeing what's going on here. Could all of the stunts have been a ploy to get us to the city?" I asked.

"I still want to believe that the Kapre is working on his own and just having a little fun, but you bring up a good point," Nate said. "One we won't be able to investigate until tomorrow. Vinnie is down making something for us to eat and there are rumors that the berserkers are trying to help. We should probably go check on them and see if the walls are still standing."

"As long as Vinnie is giving them precise instructions everything should be fine. If they were alone, I'd have to ask if you guys hit your heads," I said as I was finally allowed to get up and stretch. No lingering pain or dizziness, so I thought I was good to go.

Rick led us to the kitchen and we quickly found out my assumption was way off. Flour was everywhere. No joke. The floor, the ceiling, the counters, all covered with a dusting of flour. Vinnie was off to the side shaking his head and Liam and Kyle were standing in front of the stove conversing.

"Do I want to know what you guys are making?" I asked.

The blonde bombers spun around and smiled at me. They were covered in flour too. I looked at Vinnie to see if he had an explanation, and he continued to shake his head and pointed at the other two.

"Ask them," he said. I got the feeling he was just in the room to make sure they didn't catch anything on fire.

"We wanted to make you a 'get better' dinner," Liam said. "You took a pretty good lick there and we thought some fried chicken and mashed potatoes would make you feel better."

"It started off great, but then we argued over who got to coat the chicken and just how many coats we thought would make it the perfect crispiness. At one point, we may have played tug-o-war with the container of flour, causing the scene before you. Rest assured we had another bag and were able to use that to make you the best fried chicken you'll have ever tasted," Kyle added.

I was a little afraid to even try it, but if they did it just to make me feel better, I was a bit obligated.

"Don't worry, Avery, I'm your protector, so I'll make the sacrifice and try it before you do," Rick said, mentally assuring me.

"Thanks, guys," I told the brothers. "How soon before you think it will be ready?"

"It won't be long now. We've already taken a plate out to the other guys. They may not have eaten it all yet, so you might want to go check on it. If they have, another plate will be ready in about five minutes," Liam said.

We headed to the dining area and found Joseph, Trey and Sean chowing down on chicken parts. The fact that none of them had keeled over was a good sign.

"I take it the chicken won't kill us," I said, sitting down to grab a plate. I guessed I didn't need my royal taste tester if everyone else was already eating.

"Surprising I know, after seeing the mess they made," Trey said in between bites. "Somehow they got a nice coating on the chicken, as well as the ceiling."

"Yeah, just one week in the kitchen with you and they're culinary geniuses," Joseph commented. "You could probably make a killing if you decided to teach people how to cook."

I was happy to see they weren't treating me like a baby and questioning how I felt. I grabbed my own piece and took a tentative bite. The coating on it was nicely crisp with a subtle hint of some spices. The chicken itself was moist and tender, just like it should be.

"Holy cow!" I yelled. "Boys, if it weren't for the mess, I'd allow you in the kitchen at home more often."

"Thanks, dollface," Kyle hollered back from the kitchen. After a few more bites, he and Liam appeared with another plate and a bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Here's the rest of it. We're going to call this enough, so we can eat too," Liam said, putting the food down.

"So, what are the plans for tomorrow?" I asked. "Are we going to try to find the wolves before the meeting and attempt a rescue mission?"

"I'm all for that," Joseph said. "I know you guys want to go after the Kapre, so I was thinking Trey, Sean and I can try to find the point where I'm able to pick up the others."

"I don't mind that idea," Nate said. "With Liam and Rick we shouldn't have too much of a problem catching our guy, so we can talk things over with him, and then join you in the search by heading in another direction."

"I agree," I said. "I'd like to go up against the warlocks, or whatever has the wolves, with them safely out of the way."

"Good, I'm just hoping we can get a general location. I don't think the three of us should actually try to tangle with the kidnappers," Joseph said. After seeing what was left of the other house, I was happy to hear that.

"That's good thinking. Those energy balls can't feel good, and they don't seem afraid to use them, judging by the condition of the other house. What sleeping arrangements do we have for tonight?" Kyle asked.

"I really don't want to mess with cleaning up the other house tonight," Nate said. "Since it seemed to be the cleanest, Avery and I will crash in the room I took her to earlier. You guys can fight over the rest of the rooms in the house."

I yawned, giving away my next words. "I'm pretty tired. I'm for going to bed soon, so we can get a jump on things in the morning."

"We will, my little butterfly. Did you get enough to eat? You probably burned a lot of calories riding today," Nate said.

Not having to regulate my body temperature the old way, I didn't think I'd burned that many calories. That didn't mean riding long hours didn't drain my energy reserves.

"I'm good, a couple chicken legs are more than enough for me," I replied.

"Well then, gentlemen, we're going to head to bed. Try to get a good night sleep, so we can be ready to go Kapre hunting," he said, standing up and holding his hand out to assist me.

When we got upstairs to our room, I noticed our bag and thought about changing into pajamas. I ruled that the riding most of the day combined with the chicken had made me too tired and headed straight to the bed.

"Poor baby," Nate said, coming to join me. "Come here, and I'll tell you a story until you fall asleep."

I snuggled into his body and pulled the covers over me. "What's the story about?" I asked.

"A princess, of course," he replied. "Once upon a time there was this beautiful woman who was loved by all the people in the land. Sadly, for all of her suitors, her hand was already promised to another man. Happily for her, she loved this man very much. They spent many afternoons riding horseback through the lands in the kingdom. One such afternoon they came upon a lake that was so beautiful it looked like a sheet of glass."

"Hold it right there, this isn't a story about us skinny dipping is it?" I asked. Nate's fairy tales usually ended up a little different than most of the sterilized ones little kids read.

"Us? Of course not, the princess and her prince may be on their way to doing that, but who says this story has anything to do with us."

I pinched his arm where it was wrapped around my stomach. "I know you, and I know you're speaking from a personal memory. I think I'll try to sleep without a story tonight if you're going to immediately go into the naked version."

"Fine, have it your way," he said, kissing my neck. "Sweet dreams, my queen."

"Sweet dreams, my incorrigible king," I replied before closing my eyes and quickly falling asleep.

CHAPTER 10

My work here is done

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. It was sometimes amazing what a good night sleep could do for you. I found sleeping with Nate's arms around me somehow made my good nights multiply.

"So how long are you usually awake before I start to stir," I asked Nate after feeling his fingers drawing circles on my belly.

"Oh, usually an hour or so," he replied. "You know I've been thinking. That prophecy said we were going to have the next oracle. I'd think that if one of our five children were that oracle, we would've figured it out by now. Do you know what that means?"

I thought he'd already thrown a celebration about that fact, so I ignored it.

"Seriously, an hour? That's kind of creepy. Maybe you should start getting up and beginning your day instead of waiting for me."

"So no comment on us having a baby?" he asked. "I know I gloated about it before, but we didn't have a chance to talk about it."

"Well, since we haven't even had sex yet, and I assume even though we are uniques that is still a requirement, I don't think we need to rush out and get cigars," I responded. "Plus, you keep telling me that I predicted we'd have a kid this lifetime. That takes away the surprise of our little bundle of joy."

"Why do you not seem at all surprised about us having children?" he questioned. "I know about your prediction, but most uniques have given up hope of seeing children in any of our futures."

"So you don't listen to my conversations all the time," I said, remembering mentioning the idea of children to Miranda just the other day. "I've been experiencing dreams of our house with children running around in it. More than one of them bears an eerie resemblance to you, so I have to assume they're your offspring. And unless you're sticking your thingy in places it shouldn't be, that would also make them mine."

He laughed. "Wait a second; you said more than one of them. You couldn't have seen them together unless we have twins. How many were there, and what sexes are we talking?" he asked.

"Now, daddy-to-be, I can't go ruining all your surprises. You already figured out from the prophecy that we'd be having at least one other child, so I'm fine confirming that I believe that to be true, but anything more, you just have to wait and see."

"But you get to know, that's unfair," he whined. He rarely ever did that, but it made me smile when he did.

"Yup, and I have to carry however many children we have for four months, so it's only fair that I know in advance what I'm carrying. I have to say the four months incubation for phoenix babies is way better than the nine that humans have to go through," I said, recalling the memories I had of carrying two of my children.

"You know, I don't know how you do it, because you're already beautiful, but when you're pregnant, you surpass even glowing. I can't wait to see you that way again. Do you know how long it will be until these babies of ours are born?" he asked.

"No, and from talking with Eva, I don't think she does either. The curse has to be broken first, and no one knows how to do that, so you'll have to wait for me to be all sparkly," I replied.

"You know how happy you make me? Since the first day I met you, I knew I was a blessed being," he said, turning me to plant a kiss on my lips.

"How come our mornings tend to turn all sappy?" I asked when he finally separated from my mouth. "The rest of the day turns out all right, but in the mornings we always act like two love struck fools."

"Well, I have to take what I can get, and when you're still sleepy I can usually get a couple nice endearments out of you," he answered.

"Okay, enough lovey dovey stuff. Let's head downstairs and see if we can wrangle up some breakfast in the flour mess," I said, getting out of bed. He groaned the second my feet hit the floor, but he followed along.

We made it downstairs to find a kitchen with no hint of flour. In fact, I bet that was the cleanest the kitchen had ever been in a house of guys. There was no question who was responsible.

"Thank you, Vinnie," I said loud enough I hoped he was able to hear me.

I started looking through the cupboards and found a box of Cheerios. Looking in the fridge, I located milk that hadn't expired, so I grabbed it and tracked down two bowls. As I was pouring our cereal, Vinnie entered the kitchen.

"You are most welcome, darling. I didn't want you to have to wake up to that mess for a second time, so I thought it would be a good idea to take care of it," he stated. "Joseph wasn't joking about the wolves being pigs. I won't go into detail about what I had to scrape from where, but it took a few hours to get everything in order."

"There are literally days I don't know what I would do without you," I replied while I hunted down spoons. There they are, I thought, as I finally opened the drawer they were hiding in.

"So, Vinnie, knowing you, I expect you've been doing research on the FBI director who we're planning to talk to, have you found anything that's a red flag?" Nate asked.

"Actually, Nate, I think you made a good choice. I don't see any indication that he would immediately pull out a gun and try to shoot you. In fact, from what I can find, he's very interested in the fact that there may be something out there other than humans. He's been seen at a couple UFO conventions incognito. I figure if he even partially believes in aliens, he won't have a problem with crazy shape shifters, especially when you're putting one as beautiful as Avery as the spokesperson."

"Oh, Vinnie, you're going to make me blush," I said jokingly.

"Well, the director is known to be a ladies' man. I see no evidence of any infidelity, but he likes to flirt with the fairer sex as much as he likes to breathe," Vinnie informed us.

I didn't know if that was a good thing, but it would make convincing him that uniques were cool my second mission where I needed to use my female attributes to get my way. I didn't think I'd done a very good job with Jimmy, but that case ended up turning out okay.

"Good. After we talk to the other leaders, we'll head to D.C and see if we can't get a moment or two of his time," Nate said. "Has Rick been making the calls like I asked? I want to make sure everyone has been contacted before we get back to New York."

"Yes, dear brother-in-law, I've made all the calls and have received confirmation from twenty-five of them that they can be at the house in a week. The antelope, deer, yak and horse contingencies prefer not to be in a room full of predators, so they're opting to conference call in. The kangaroos have something going on, so he'll also try to call in instead of being here in person," Rick said. "The fox leader hopped on the first plane and is more than likely camped out at the house waiting for us."

I didn't know what that meant, but he said it in a way that it sounded like I should. I was stuck on the fact that Rick could always tell when he was being talked about and just magically appeared. It was either that or he stood outside the door waiting for the conversation to turn to him. The second thought was probably the more likely of the two.

"Everyone is making themselves available. That's great news. I thought with the little information we were giving them, we would've at least a couple who would blow us off," Nate said.

"You really don't know how the rest of us perceive you guys," Joseph said, walking in with Trey and Seth trailing behind him. "I've mentioned it before, all of the shifting uniques look to you as leaders. I imagine most of them were just honored to hear from you."

"I hope that will make what we have to say to them a lot easier to digest," I said, finishing my cereal and washing out mine and Nate's bowls. The rest of the guys moved in to get their own cereal.

"I imagine there may be a little bit of a debate. In the end, though, you'll get their approval. The fact that you're asking their opinions before just doing a reveal will also mean a lot to them. It proves to us that we're right in choosing you for our leaders," Joseph said with a smile.

"We didn't ask to lead anyone, I didn't even ask to be leader of the phoenixes," Nate stated. I knew it was something, even after all the years, that still bothered him. The fact that he was the first one created kind of just pushed him into the position. Evidently, he didn't understand how many people he'd ultimately lead.

"Do you think after this many years that really matters? I know you've never been asked to really step up to the positions, but you are our leader and your soul mate is going to be our spokesperson" Joseph said. "Between the two of you she has the stronger energy that will draw people to her. She will also be less scary, just because of her gender. As long as we don't let anyone see her with her knives, we can keep how frightening she can be a secret."

"We're beginning to understand how important our positions will end up being; it just takes some getting used to it all. Even as the phoenix leaders, we haven't had to really do anything. Now it appears we're going to be making a lot of really big decisions that will have an effect on thousands of others," Nate said. "I'm not trying to whine about it, it's just going to take some time to fully understand the enormity of it all."

"I know, and I don't mean to be rough on you, but I imagine you'll need some advisors as well as enforcers along the way and I'm hoping to point that out to you," Joseph replied. "Things are changing and it's not going to be easy to take the weight of the world on your shoulders. Planning things now, when it's still early, will help things in the long run."

"We're going to have to pick a whole governing body to make sure this is done right, aren't we?" I asked.

"It would be a wise idea. We can bring it up with the leaders during the meeting and see if they have any suggestions. I think the group we've already brought together is a good start, but I'm sure more species will want to be represented. If you weren't exaggerating about Mr. Fox, Rick, I'm sure he's going to want to be involved," Nate said.

"Who's Mr. Fox?" I asked. It seemed like I should know for some reason, but the meaningful glances between Nate and Rick weren't helping me any, and they seemed to be doing their best not to conjure up any pictures in their heads.

"Enough talk about politics, it always makes me break out in a rash," Rick said, scratching his arm. "Let's get on with our search for a Kapre and a mess of wolves. The sooner we get back home, the sooner Avery will have the answer to her question."

I hated when I got responses like that. I couldn't even really count it as an answer, since it wasn't directed to me.

"When we're done with our cereal, us wolves are going to head out. We'll start heading west, since we're about as far south as we can go, and make a big circle. If you guys get done early, you can head to the east and meet us in the middle," Joseph said.

"Since Joseph isn't going with us, do you have the lay of the land yet, Vinnie?" I asked.

"I downloaded all the maps of the area, so I can get us around. The swamp area we're visiting is well over a thousand acres, so hopefully Liam and Rick will give us a small chunk to work within," he reported.

"That shouldn't be a problem. With it being a unique, I should be able to focus in on him and Liam's ability works on anything emitting a power signature. We'll just have to wrap Avery in some plastic wrap to make sure she doesn't interfere," Rick replied.

"Where are the berserkers?" I asked after I stuck my tongue out at Rick for his comment. "They usually don't sleep in this long when they know we have plans for the day."

"Oh, they aren't here. They went out to scope out the town to see if they could witness any of the reported phenomena," Vinnie replied.

"We better go after them," Nate said. "They may end up causing more harm than good. The two of them together draws a lot of eyes."

"Good idea," I said as I climbed the stairs to change.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt that said All around me I see nothing but chaos, panic and disorder. At last, my work here is done! "I'll get changed in the bathroom," I told Nate, who'd followed me, as I headed in the direction of our room. I would've liked to take a shower to wash the road from the day before off me, but we had a world to save.

CHAPTER 11

April Fools! Oh it's February? Well surprise!

We met Vinnie and Rick back downstairs, grabbed a jacket and our helmets, and then went out to get on our bikes. The town wasn't as big as New York City, but I had no idea which direction to even start a search. So, I hopped on Winnie and waited for instructions.

"They're north of here, so at least they'll be on the way," Rick said. He led the way into downtown New Bedford, where we found the blonde bombers standing in front of City Hall. We parked our bikes near theirs and walked over to them. They seemed to be discussing something, and I couldn't tell whether the conversation was on the verge of turning heated.

"Oh, hi, guys," Liam said when we were close enough to talk without yelling. He looked like he was trying to hold back a smile.

"What have you guys been up to?" I asked in my stern, authoritative voice.

"Us? Nothing at all. We were just getting ready to call you guys down, so you can see what we found," Kyle said. "Follow me."

He led us up the steps to City Hall and directed us to one of the rooms. Inside the room, every piece of furniture was on the ceiling. There were already five other people in the room staring up at it, trying to figure out how it got there.

"Wow, someone is playing an April Fools' Day joke a little early," I said, laughing while I did my best to act like seeing furniture in the opposite place of where it should be was a common occurrence.

"Crazy stuff like this has been happening a lot around here," a man answered, coming over to us. "Hi, I'm Mayor Michaels. You guys don't look familiar, are you from out of town?"

"Yes, we're from New York and took the trip out here to see the Whaling Museum," Kyle responded for me. Since I didn't know the area, I had no idea what to use as an excuse.

"Well, welcome to our city," the mayor replied. "I hope the practical joker allows you to enjoy your trip."

The rest of his group was focused in our direction, so they missed when the furniture magically righted itself. Everything floated back down into its proper place, like nothing was ever amiss. I looked over to Nate to make sure I didn't just imagine it and he gave me a wink. I wasn't exactly sure what it meant.

"You aren't crazy," he said to me telepathically.

"That's good to know. I think I want to get out of here," I replied via the same method.

"Thank you for the warm welcome mayor. We really do need to be heading out. A lot of things to see and do in the area, you know," Nate said.

"That's true," he replied. "If you have any questions, feel free to come back and ask. We have all sorts of brochures out front by the door. Feel free to grab as many as you want."

We shuffled back out of the room and heard gasps and shouts when the group finally turned around and saw nothing wrong. When we got out to our bikes, bypassing the brochures, the berserkers couldn't stop laughing, and like a fool, Rick joined them.

"We've seen stuff like that all over town. It has been one of the best mornings ever. See look over there," Kyle said, pointing across the street.

What I saw was a woman talking to a loaf of bread. She was cradling it like a baby, so I assumed she thought it was her child. I hoped the real child was with someone else, and not sitting at the grocery store waiting for its mommy.

"That's not funny," I told the berserkers, smacking them both on the arms. "So we have larger audience pranks like we saw with the furniture and we have individualized delusions. We really need to find this being and ask him to either stop or move on and space out the pranks a little. Rick, Liam, are you feeling the extra power in the city north of us?"

"Yeah, I can feel Joseph west of us now and there's still something to the north," Rick replied.

"I can agree that there's something out there," Liam said.

"Good, now get on your bikes so we can go find this thing," I said, heading towards Winnie.

I didn't want national media outlets showing up while we were in town, and I feared word would eventually spread. If we were bound to have a showdown with some troublesome warlocks, we didn't need extra eyes on us.

We followed Vinnie in the general direction of north. It didn't take long before he led us to an empty parking lot. We dismounted the bikes and took a look at the forest before us. All I saw were trees everywhere I looked.

Most of them were tall, so a giant man didn't happen to tower over them. I could smell the tobacco aroma overly strong in the area, which I hoped meant we were in the right place. There was a hint of it all over the city, but it hadn't been to the level where I felt like taking steps backwards to get away from it.

"We have an issue," Rick said, looking around. I followed his gaze, but I didn't see anything.

"That's putting it lightly," Liam said.

"What now? Did gargoyles decide to swoop in and join the party?" I asked, knowing that wasn't the case.

"There are now two energy sources in these woods and they happen to be in opposite directions," Liam said.

"I can't tell them apart. They both feel the same to me," Rick added.

"Well that's splendid news. We're going to have to split up. Vinnie do you mind going with the berserkers? I don't think Nate or Rick will let me go into an unknown situation without them by my side."

"Not a problem. I trust them to be able to protect you, and I don't think we want Liam or Kyle running around in a forest by themselves," he responded. "They'd probably decide to be one with nature and run around nude without supervision."

"Hey, we've been wandering through swamps and forests before you were even a circuit in your mother's eye, and it's been years since we've done it naked." Kyle said.

"Hey, no arguing you two. So, which direction are we heading?" I asked Rick.

"It's anyone's guess. Left or right are the options," he replied.

"My executive decision is that our group goes to the right. Any complaints?" I asked.

"I didn't know we were allowed to challenge an executive decision," Liam joked. "I thought they were supposed to be set in stone."

"Well, we're still building this organization and we all have a lot to learn. I didn't say I'd actually change my mind on which way I was going, I was just giving you an opportunity to complain about it."

"That's so kind of you," he said sarcastically, which earned him a mocking head wobble from me. "I think we'll be fine going to the left. Should we just call you if we find anything?"

"That would be nice of you. How dangerous do you think the swampy parts of this place are, Vinnie?" I asked.

I didn't see any water, so I hoped the swamp part of the name was just for fun. I hadn't packed anything for walking around in a swamp, and I didn't really want to ruin my clothes.

"Wikipedia states it is 'one of the state's largest, wildest and most impenetrable swamps', so I think we're in for a fun adventure." For some reason hearing a robot say tromping around in a swamp was going to be a fun adventure seemed wrong.

"Let's go then," I said. If my motorcycle boots were swamp-proof, I'd be a happy camper.

"Can you give us a call in about a half an hour?" Nate asked the other team. "Since we're going up against something that can alter our realities, I want to keep in touch."

"Will do," Liam said, before leading his group off towards the left of the forest.

"Okay, lead the way, big brother," I said, following behind him.

"While we've been talking, the being I'm sensing on this side has actually gotten closer to us. It's still probably an hour's walk away, but it's kind enough that it's making our job easier," Rick stated.

"That's good news. Does it feel like it's continuing in our direction?" Nate asked. I saw him get his gun out, so I grabbed the machete from my back sheath.

"No, it seems to have stopped, at least for the time being. I definitely think it knows we're here looking for it," he responded.

I thought that point was obvious when it split into two energy sources. I was starting the journey believing only one of the teams were going to be successful finding a Kapre, and nothing had made me think any different.

"Have we discussed what can kill a Kapre, if it's necessary?" I asked.

"They're a unique, so nothing short of a charmed weapon would do any good. The knives and bullets may slow it down, but probably not for long," Nate replied.

"So what happens if it decides it doesn't like us telling it to leave town?" I inquired.

"Well, there's a spell that can lock his powers. I had Vinnie look it up in our texts, and if push comes to shove, I'll reveal it to you," Nate answered. "I don't want you to use it unless it's absolutely necessary, and I know you can be a little trigger happy."

"And what if this thing somehow separates us, or makes it so you can't pass it to me?" I asked. "I get to find out what it's like for two immortal beings to do battle."

"She has a point, we don't know what to expect out there," Rick said, agreeing with me as we continued walking through the swamp.

I about fell over as I stumbled at his words. I was going to have the mark the day on the calendar, "Rick actually says something smart".

"It may be a good point, but I watched her fly across a room yesterday from saying a spell, and I don't want to have to witness that again," Nate replied. "Kapres have never been known for violence, so I doubt we'll need it anyway."

"You better hope this one hasn't lost its mind," I said to him under my breath.

I explained to him the energy blast was just because it was against someone else's spell. I couldn't say for sure, but since it was a spell that they got from a book, I doubted that I'd even experience one of the headaches. I hadn't tried casting spells that someone else wrote, but for some reason I didn't think it was the same as making up my own.

After a while, Nate's phone rang and he answered it, hitting the speakerphone button, so we could all hear.

"Hey, Kyle," he said in way of greeting.

"Oh speakerphone, how fun. You guys find anything yet?" he asked.

"Nothing yet, but we're getting closer to our being's location according to Rick," Nate responded. "How are you guys doing?"

"About five minutes ago ours disappeared from radar. We think it was just a decoy to get us separated," he replied. I was surprised Rick hadn't alerted our group of that fact.

"I figured one of them would end up being a decoy. If there really were two, Rick or Liam would've probably felt them both earlier. You guys want to head our way? I'm sure Liam can pick up our Avery beacon," Nate told him.

We heard him pull the phone away from his mouth while he talked to the others. I didn't think there was much to discuss.

"On our way. Liam says she's glowing like her normal bad self and it will take us about thirty minutes to get in your vicinity," he said when he came back to the phone.

"Rick, how far do you think until we reach him?" Nate asked.

"We're about twenty minutes away now, he still hasn't moved."

"I don't want to wait for you guys to get here, so angle yourself in a way that will intersect with us about two miles north of our current position," Nate informed Kyle. "We'll hopefully already have made contact and be ready to leave by then."

"Sounds good, boss. See you soon," Kyle said, and then hung up.

We continued on our path for about ten minutes before I noticed my boot was untied. I tried to continue on, because there was little chance I'd actually trip over it, but it started to annoy me. I bent down to tie it real quick and looked up to see Rick and Nate had disappeared.

"Guys," I yelled. "Wait up." I started jogging in the direction they were headed and after five minutes I still didn't see them. "Come on, guys, this isn't funny, where did you go?" I bellowed.

I heard no sounds that indicated movement. I decided that I hated anything that could be classified as a swamp. I took out my phone to try to call Nate, but it indicated I had no service. "That figures," I said, putting it back into my pocket. I tried to call to him telepathically, and that also seemed to be blocked.

Deciding that I hadn't been turned around, I chose to keep walking straight ahead, and trust that I could at least find the Kapre. At the same time, I hoped the machete would be enough to subdue him until help arrived.

CHAPTER 12

You can't fool me

I made my way through the brush until I came to a clearing that seemed a little unnatural. During the excursion, we hadn't stumbled upon any clearings with solid ground under our feet. There was always a little bit of sludge, but I felt hard earth between my feet. Across the clearing, I saw Nate walking my direction.

"There you are. We got worried when you disappeared," he said, stopping a couple feet in front of me.

"Where's Rick?" I asked. "I would've thought he'd be the first to find me."

I didn't know what it was about the situation, but it seemed really off. Rick, being able to track my general uniqueness, should've been able to walk right to me. There was no need for them to separate.

"For some reason he was sure you were in the other direction," he replied. "I felt you were this way, so I let him go on his own."

"Hmm. It must be the Kapre playing a trick on us. We need to find him soon, I'm getting tired of the games. Can you call Rick and have him meet us?" I asked.

"Sure," he said, taking out his phone and making the call.

He started walking around the clearing, and when he turned his back to me, I sneaked my phone out of my pocket to verify I still had no service. The fact that we had the same carrier, and identical phones, made me believe that he was having a fake conversation. When he was done with his "call", he walked over and took my hand.

"He said he isn't far from us and if we walk to our left just about five minutes we should run into him," he said, trying to lead me away.

Having undeniable proof that he wasn't my Nate, I raised the arm with the machete to his throat and said, "You better release my hand right now. If you think I'm going anywhere with you, you're sadly mistaken."

"Avery, what are you doing? We need to go find the rest of our group, so we can find the Kapre," he replied.

"They told me you like to play pranks and could offer illusions, but they neglected to tell me you could put yourself into the illusions. I'm guessing you aren't a shapeshifter or they would've mentioned that. At least I hope they would have mentioned that, after recently dealing with a skin-walker. So what name do you go by?" I asked.

"You're no fun. You knew right away didn't you? I've never had someone see past the illusion. I had a feeling there was something special about you, and you've done a good job of proving it."

"Maybe that's true, but I like to think it's the fact that I've learned to trust nothing. Your first issue was the clearing in a middle of a swamp, where I haven't come across one so far in my journey, it made me feel funny.

"Secondly, my dear, sweet soulmate who you happen to be impersonating, once told me that we have a special connection, and you were nice enough to reinforce that. Anytime we touch, we can feel our soulmate bond. Grabbing my hand was a big no-no if you wanted to get away with your illusion," I said, feeling generous enough to explain everything.

"Darn, you're the only female in your group, and I was hoping we could have more fun together," he said as the illusion started to fade away.

"Depending on the fun you wanted, you would have probably got in trouble there too. The real Nate knows not to try to get it on with me in the middle of a swamp," I told him as I had to raise my eyes to meet his two-feet taller than me face. "Wow, they weren't lying about you being tall. You're literally built like a tree." I always felt short around the berserkers. With the Kapre, I felt like a child.

"At least they warned you about that. I tend to scare most women with my real form."

I shrugged. He was tall, but I didn't find anything scary about him.

"I imagine I'd scare most women at first in my other form, too."

"I knew you weren't human, but I don't have an ability that tells me exactly what you are. You said you were Nate's soulmate, so I'm guessing that would make you just a tad bit on the fiery side."

"I would be a phoenix," I confirmed. "If you didn't know who I was, how were you able to impersonate Nate and know my name?"

"Really? A phoenix, that's pretty cool. I haven't seen one of your kind in ages," he said. "I can pick up names and appearances, so I knew you were Avery and the names of the other people in your group. I actually know Nate and Rick by different names, but you and I have never had the privilege of meeting. I am Elan, one of only twenty Kapres in the world, and I am at your service." He gave me a little bow.

"Well, Elan, it seems you're causing quite a disturbance here and we were hoping to talk you into stopping." He seemed friendly enough that I didn't think I'd have any trouble persuading him to move on from Massachusetts.

"Are you saying I've worn out my welcome?" he asked.

"Since we were able to pick up reports from New York about all the odd things happening here, I would have to say that's an affirmative. We aren't quite ready for uniques to come out of the shadows, and I'm not sure your kind of uniqueness is the first thing we want people to witness," I explained.

"I can understand that; there's all sorts of more glamorous species out there. You say you aren't 'quite' ready to come out of the shadows, that sounds like you're making plans to do just that," he stated. "It may have been a slip of the tongue, but looking in those blue eyes of yours, I think you're cooking up something."

Nate always told me my eyes gave away my thoughts. Part of me had hoped that was his way of covering up reading my mind before I knew he could, but I'd studied myself in the mirror enough to know it was true.

"Those rumors have started to float around the last day or so. We seem to be building up a coalition of shifters to decide what the best move is," I responded.

I didn't know how much I could trust the guy. He claimed to know my fellow phoenixes, but words were cheap. Separating me from Nate had been a mistake if he was looking to make friends.

"I find that to be very interesting news, something I'd like to hear more about. What do you say we go get the rest of your guys and talk about it over lunch? I'm sure they're going to want an explanation for my games," he said, trying to lead me away again.

I stayed in my spot, not ready to go off with him just yet. Whether I found him to be nice enough or not, it could still be some kind of trap.

"Nate, can you hear me," I said, telepathically, hoping I could get through.

"Avery, where in the world have you been?" I immediately heard back from him. I rolled my eyes at the accusation that I'd somehow been responsible for the issue with our communications.

"Good, the lines have been reopened. I'm with the Kapre and he claims to know you, should I trust him?" I asked.

I could tell Nate was already heading in my direction, so I didn't bother telling him my location. Other than somewhere in the middle of the swamp, I wouldn't have been extremely helpful.

"It doesn't happen to be Elan, does it?" Rick asked, butting in.

"That would be the name he gave me. Tall guy, looks kind of like a tree."

"You just described every Kapre, but if he says it's him, it probably is. Just keep him there with you. We were able to pick up your signal again and are just about to you," Nate said.

"Will do, but please hurry, he's giving me a little case of the willies," I said, finishing my conversation with them before turning back to Elan. "Nate says they're almost here, so we should wait."

"I imagine he was happy to hear from you since I blocked all communications for the last half an hour," he said, laughing at his accomplishment. "As I said, I was hoping we could spend a little alone time without any interruptions."

"He seemed relieved, and you might want to be careful when he gets here. He tends to be a little testy about stuff like that," I said as I saw Nate and Rick break through the tree line, followed closely by the berserkers and Vinnie.

Nate, being Nate, walked over and slugged Elan right in the chest. It was clear he would've preferred to aim higher, but Elan's head was just a little out of reach. Elan rubbed his chest and I imagined what he felt was akin to a bee sting.

"Told you so," I said as Nate walked over and swept me up in his arms, holding me close.

"Yesterday it was you flying through the air, hitting a wall, and today you totally drop off the radar. I think Rick's shackles are going to have to come out," he said, giving me a kiss on my cheek. "I take it he didn't injure you in anyway."

"No, your lady is fine, Nate. She immediately saw through my illusion, so I couldn't have any fun. You must be something truly special, old friend. She claims you're partially to blame for her being able to see the truth," Elan told him.

"It's more like she's the special one," Nate says, squeezing me before letting go to turn to Elan. "I'm happy to find it's you causing all these problems. I know for a fact we won't have to resort to violence, and that you aren't working with the warlocks."

"I was just telling your lovely girl here that I was hoping to grab some lunch. Playing with this many illusions in one day makes me hungry. You can fill me in on these warlocks, who I'm assuming are the cause behind the need for a shifter coalition," Elan replied.

"He's a man after my own heart," Kyle said. "All this running around has made me hungry too."

"Fine, let's go get the starving people some lunch and make sure everyone is on the same page," I said. "Elan, you mentioned people being afraid of you when you look like that. I'm guessing you're going to make some kind of illusion so we can get into town without raising anymore suspicion."

I had a feeling people would start screaming Bigfoot, even though Elan wasn't a hairy beast. We had enough to worry about that if that kind of attention could be avoided, I was all for it.

"Sure, it looks like you already have a movie star among you though. Doesn't he attract a lot of attention?" he asked, pointing to Vinnie.

"He does, but we've learned to deal with the stares and girls asking for his autograph," Rick replied. "It makes all of us normal-looking guys a little jealous." That was pretty funny, since no one in our group looked like the average boy next door.

"Come on, you had that one girl who thought you were that guy from Dear John and asked for your autograph," I consoled him.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool. She let me sign her boob," he said, reliving the moment in his mind.

"You dork, stop thinking about some human's boob and come back to the present," I said as I walked over and smacked him upside the head.

"Okay, anyway, back to lunch. I'll cast an illusion for everyone else, but remain the same for you," Elan said.

"Do you have transportation into town?" Nate asked. "We're on motorcycles and I'm not sure I want you riding with any of us based on your size."

"I can't believe you have to ask that. You've seen my handiwork before. I barely have to lift a pinkie to create a motorcycle for myself."

"Since I haven't seen it, I'll go along with your claim. Now could someone please point me in the direction to get out of this swamp," I said, spinning around to reorient myself.

Traversing a swamp had moved to the bottom of my list of things to do. It moved below stabbing a cactus in my ears and drinking lava.

"It's this way, baby girl," Rick said, taking my shoulders and pointing me in the right direction.

"Great, now does someone want to lead the way?" I asked. I was pretty sure I'd eventually get turned around if I was in front.

"I can," Elan stated. "In the past few weeks I've studied every inch of the forest."

I looked over to Nate to confirm that he was okay with Elan leading, and he nodded. We made our way out with Nate keeping a firm grasp on my hand. I'd have to remind him later that he was joking about the shackle idea, or at least do my best to convince him it was a joke.

After about an hour, we made it back to the bikes. Elan quickly manifested a black Softail of his own and we got on our way back to town. I ruled that the Kapre experience had been a lot nicer than I expected. I hoped it stayed that way.

CHAPTER 13

Cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six

I was happy to see the pack house still in one piece when we got back to it. After removing my coat and helmet, I headed to the kitchen to check the status of what was available to cook. The quick peek I'd had in the fridge wasn't promising.

"I thought we'd head to a diner or something in town," I heard Elan say.

"Avery won't eat anywhere she can't watch the food being prepared, so we've all gotten used to home-cooked meals," Rick answered.

They settled into the dining area, so I could be involved in their conversations. I found a couple loaves of bread that didn't appear to be green, some cheese and enough cans of tomato soup to make us grilled cheese with something to dip it in. Locating a skillet, I turned on the stove and started buttering slices of bread.

"So, Elan, how have you been? I think the last time we saw you was in the fifteen hundreds over in Asia," Nate started off the conversation.

The fact that Nate had met Elan and I hadn't surprised me. Up until I met Eva, I'd thought we'd always run around together in the past. It made me curious what other people or beings only one of us had come in contact with.

"I've been good, just a little bored lately as you may have noticed. As you know, us Kapres don't get together too often and most other uniques don't like having a trickster around. It can make for a pretty boring life," Elan stated.

"Yeah, but how many uniques would really know what you are? If you stopped using that strong tobacco, people wouldn't be able to smell you from miles away," Nate said. "That really is the only definitive indication that you are a Kapre. Otherwise you could just be a giant, and the uniques I know have no issues with giants."

"I've stopped with the tobacco, but evidently after smoking it for so many years, the scent still lingers. Hopefully that will go away, because it isn't something any of my illusions will mask."

"Maybe a spell could make it go away," I offered as I worked on my third sandwich. I figured with the extra-large people amongst us, I needed to make at least twenty. If the wolves would've had more skillets, I'd have put all four burners to use to speed up the process.

"We can talk about that idea after you've gone through your training, my little butterfly. Until then, you and magic don't belong in a sentence together. I'd prefer if you didn't even think about it."

"On the subject of magic, what's this about warlocks? You seemed worried I may be in cahoots with them, which I'm sure you know is laughable," Elan said, laughing to prove his point.

It was just a little chuckle, but I could feel the walls vibrate. If he ever let out a full laugh, I was running for the doors. I didn't want to find the house collapsing around me.

"We recently found a prophecy that says my girl over there is going to put an end to the soulless beings. We're pretty sure a warlock has read the same prophecy and has decided to start a war against all of the uniques in order to stop Avery, who, by the way, and no offense when I say this sweetie, isn't running on all cylinders. She cast a spell before her last resurrection that caused her temporary memory loss. She's only gotten a sliver of her memories back so far," Nate explained.

I couldn't really take any offense, because he was right about me not being all there in the head. At first when I heard about all my past lives, I thought he was the one not all there in the head. After getting some of my memories back, I started feeling little tendrils that led to more, but I couldn't connect them. The day I put everything together was going to be a day for mass celebration.

"That's interesting, and all this activity is bringing the shifters together. Avery hinted that you may be revealing yourself to the human population in the near future. What are the plans for that?" Elan asked.

"Nothing has been decided, but we're afraid the warlocks are going to somehow reveal us, causing the humans to turn against us. Not wanting to have to fight two battles at once, we're thinking it might be good to show ourselves to the humans first, with Avery being our spokesperson. There's a meeting planned for when we get back home, but now that we know it was you causing all the problems and news coverage, it may not be such an urgent issue," Nate replied.

I finished my last sandwich and stacked them all on a plate. I poured the soup into six bowls and started carrying everything out to the table. When everyone else was situated, I took my own seat and watched the guys dive in.

"So, you don't want to do the reveal anymore?" I asked as I nibbled on my sandwich.

As a group we stopped caring about each other talking with our mouths full early on. It was impossible for the guys to finish chewing before speaking, so I'd taken an "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality.

"I'm not saying that, it just might not be as important right this second. I think we still have to because of the prophecy, but we have time now to carve out all the details," Nate replied.

"Yeah, sis, you'll still be able to go on TV and turn into the hot phoenix mama you are," Rick said as he picked up his bowl and drank the soup out of it.

"I'm not really looking forward to that part, which shouldn't be a surprise," I said, slurping my soup with a spoon.

As we finished eating, Nate's phone rang. He answered it and it was clear immediately that it was Joseph calling to report his findings. Nate said a few things to him and finished with "we're on our way."

"It turns out Joseph was almost done with his initial sweep and hit on something over by Plymouth. He's pretty sure of the location the wolves are being kept, and so far hasn't seen a warlock enter or exit the building. He needs Liam and Rick to tell him if there's anything giving off an energy reading that's not a wolf," Nate informed us.

"I guess lunch clean-up will have to wait. How far away are we?" I asked.

"It will take us about an hour to get there, so we better get going. I don't trust Joseph not to do something stupid and try to rescue his wolves by himself," Nate replied.

We rushed to put our jackets and helmets back on, and ran out to the bikes. Within five minutes of the phone call we were on the highway heading northeast.

"What's the game plan when we get there?" I asked over our radio.

"Hopefully, the guys will tell us there aren't other energy sources around and we can extract the wolves without confrontation. I don't doubt we'll still have whatever battle is planned for tomorrow, but it would be nice to have extra forces on our side," Nate replied.

"That sounds like best case scenario, how about worst case," I said.

"The warlocks are lying in wait for us and we have a huge battle on the Mayflower," Rick supplied.

"That won't reveal us to the public at all," I said sarcastically.

"Well, they could be nice enough to put us in a bubble like that last one did when he fought you," Rick said.

"I'm sure niceness is right on the top of their lists of attributes," Kyle said, joining in.

"You never know," Rick said, and I could see him shrug his shoulders.

We were quiet the rest of the way towards Joseph's location. Rick led the way to the vehicle Trey and Sean had driven the day before. I didn't see a motorcycle anywhere, so I assumed Joseph had chosen to ride along with them.

"So, what are you getting?" Joseph immediately asked Liam the second he got his helmet off.

"Surprisingly, nothing strong. I don't think there are any warlocks in the area. I can sense a mess of power from the building over there, but it's being generated by multiple beings. I assume those are your wolves," he replied.

"I'm picking up the wolves too. I can't sense the warlocks, since they aren't uniques, but I say we go in anyway," Rick added. "If we run into trouble, there's enough of us that we could get all the fighting done today and be on our way home."

"How much canvassing have you done, Joseph?" Nate asked, not quite ready to just run in, weapons drawn. "What can you tell me about the layout and number of exits?"

"I've sent Trey and Sean around the block a couple of times and they report there's an exit in the back and a fire escape on the north side of the building. It seems to be a normal apartment building, so I don't think we'll have any surprises on the inside," he reported.

"Okay, let's head over. Berserkers, I'd like you to cover the back exit. Trey, Sean and Vinnie can take the fire escape and the rest of us are upfront," Nate instructed. "By the way, Joseph, this is Elan the Kapre we were searching for, Elan this is Joseph the king of the wolves."

They quickly shook hands, and Joseph introduced his two wolves. With that out of the way, we headed towards the building with Joseph in the lead. We followed him up a couple flights of stairs to a door that had an envelope addressed to The Filthy Hen. I assumed there weren't many people out there who it could be referring to.

Joseph took it off the door and handed it to me. "Should I read it now or after the rescue?" I asked.

"Might as well read it now, it might give us an idea about what's behind the door," Nate replied.

I opened the letter and read it out loud. "We knew you wouldn't be able to wait before trying to retrieve your friends. We've left them in one piece for you, to prove we aren't afraid of you, no matter how many people you bring to the battle. A couple of them are still a little burned up from their fight against us, but I imagine within a week they'll be back to normal. Meet us at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon in the Freetown Fall River State Forest."

Joseph, not capable of waiting any longer, about ripped the door off its hinges, and then rushed in to check on his wolves. We followed behind him and found the ten of them alert and tied up with industrial-strength chains.

I grabbed Joseph before he got too far. "Any surprises we should know about?" I asked the kidnapees. I didn't like to be fooled twice, and I didn't have the energy to undo someone else's spell twice within a short time period.

After they shook their heads from side-to-side, I let go of Joseph and helped him start the process of releasing them. The other troops with us looked around the room for any clues to help us figure out who we were up against.

"What can you tell us about the kidnappers?" Nate asked as soon as everyone was free.

"There are four of them," one of them answered. "Three didn't seem that tough, but one was totally badass. Those energy balls he was blasting left some really good scorch marks on Alan and Johnny." The two mentioned lifted up their shirts to show six-inch circles of severely burned flesh.

"We tried to fight them off, but after we got hit with the balls, he said some kind of spell that just froze everyone. There was nothing we could do to fight against it," one of the scorched victims said in a pleading tone, with his attention directed to Joseph.

"Don't worry, we've seen the damage, and even witnessed one of their traps. There won't be any punishment handed out. You guys will be some of the first to visit our fighting school, though, so you can hone your skills," Joseph replied, and I saw the immediate look of relief on all of their faces.

"Thank you, Sir," they mumbled as they bowed before him.

"Will they all fit in your truck?" I asked. "I'd like to get away from here as soon as possible, just in case we're being monitored. I'm sure the warlocks have a good idea of what they're up against, but I don't want to give them any extra help."

"Sure, they can ride in the bed," Joseph responded. "They'll need to get some food, so we'll make a stop on the way back to grab some burgers. If you want to head out now, we'll meet you back at the pack house within a couple hours."

We made sure everyone got out of the building without running into any surprises, and was situated before we head back to New Bedford. When we arrived, we decided it would be nice of us to have the main house cleaned up before the wolves got back.

The berserkers lifted up the entertainment center and tried to right everything that had fallen off of it. Nate and Rick set the couch back together, in a very sad looking way, but we didn't have any couch super glue on us, so it would have to do. I made my way around trying to straighten papers and knick knacky type things that were all over the room.

In about a half an hour, we had it looking as good as it was going to get, so I decided to check the cupboards to see if there was anything I could make quickly in bulk. All the work had left me starving. I found a bunch of frozen pizzas in the freezer, including a cheese one for me, which was surprising in a house of carnivores. I turned the oven on and began the process of cooking ten pizzas as quickly as I could.

CHAPTER 14

Every once in a while you do get to choose your family

It took an hour to get through all the pizzas, and as soon as I'd take one out of the oven, the guys demolished it. The wolves had made it back at some point and were helping with the magical disappearing pizza act. I was glad I'd saved the lone cheese pizza for last, so I could get a couple slices.

"So, how many of the wolves will be ready to help fight tomorrow?" Nate asked Joseph as I settled in next to him to eat.

"We'll all be behind you," Joseph replied. "The guys were a little surprised to find out who my acquaintances were, but once they knew, they were prepared to do anything you ask of them. A few burns and bruises won't keep a wolf down."

"Elan, will you help us tomorrow? I know Kapres are nonviolent, but an illusion, or two, might come in handy," Nate continued on his strategic quest.

"Count me in," he replied. "And I'm not afraid to throw punches for the right cause. Helping old friends sounds like a good cause to me."

"Thank you. Sweetie, how are your natural abilities doing? I know they were partially blocked last time, but if you can use them, I want you to."

I knew he was speaking of my telekinetic abilities, and I hadn't used them very much in the past week, so I picked on my favorite victim. Rick rose out of his chair, and I made him do a couple somersaults just for the heck of it. Playing around with him wasn't as much fun as it once was, but it still put a smile on my face.

"Avery, you can quit fooling around and put me down. I was getting used to not having to worry about you doing sneak attacks on me," Rick said as he acted like he could swim through the air.

"She's doing that?" one of the new wolves asked. "That's so cool. You wouldn't think someone as small and innocent looking would be capable of that."

I wasn't sure if the wolf was trying to get on my good side, or just hadn't spent enough time with me. The innocent comment caused a few sniggers amongst my group.

I slowly put Rick back into his chair. "Should I try my other easy power?" I asked.

"Only in your hand, the house was already trashed once recently, we don't want to burn it to the ground as well," Nate cautioned. He'd seen what I could do if I was in a fit, but I was doing mild demonstrations, so he didn't need to worry.

"Fine," I said, holding out my palm to display one of my fireballs. Since I was being restricted on what I could catch on fire, I started wiggling my fingers so the fire wound in between them, before I got bored and closed my hand to extinguish it.

"She's like a Vegas act," another wolf said. "What else can you do?"

"I knew she had power, but I wasn't expecting a show like that. How much weight can she lift?" Elan asked.

"We've never really tested a weight limit. I can lift the berserkers, but it does take more effort," I said. Testing exactly what I could do with my natural abilities was a good idea, but I'd been working on fighting without using them, because I knew they could be taken away. "I've worked more with distance. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was able to lift Rick while he was in New York and I was in Montana."

"So you don't have to be in the same room with whatever object you're moving? I could see where that would come in handy," Elan stated.

"It is what it is," I replied, shrugging. "As soon as I get my sorceress training, I should be able to do a lot of other fun things. I get really bad headaches if I try to do anything now, but I've transported me and Nate from Alaska back to our home."

"That trick was scary for any of us left on the plane. We'd just finished battling a warlock and his evil skin-walker wife, when all of a sudden our leaders vanished from the plane we were on. Talk about a heart attack," Rick said.

"It would seem with her on your side, you can't lose tomorrow," Elan said. "You've built yourself a strong team, Nate. I really envy the family you have here."

"It can be your family too, Elan," I told him. "We're building something here for all uniques, not just the shifters. You're welcome to join the group. We'll ask that you keep illusions against us down to a minimum, but we do have headquarters near New York City and most people wouldn't even question some of your pranks there."

I wouldn't have been surprised if there wasn't already a Kapre or two in the area. Some of the things I'd seen on the news, or heard about in passing, sounded a little too strange to be natural occurrences.

"You're most gracious, my queen," he replied. I hated when people started throwing around titles, but he continued speaking before I could go off on him about it. "If you really think you would have the room for me, and some kind of purpose, I may take you up on that offer."

I thought for a second and came up with the perfect idea. If I got good at my spellcasting, I could've done what I was about to suggest, but it seemed like a good idea to focus my energy elsewhere.

"How real can your illusions be?"

"To the person experiencing them, other than you as long as Nate is in the picture, it feels a hundred percent real," he replied.

"Would you be able to come up with battle situations, so our students can train in real-life simulations?" I asked.

"Wow, sis, that's a great idea. We can teach them the basic skills they need, and then unleash them in a virtual world where we don't have to worry about stocking up on bandages."

"I see no reason why I wouldn't be able to do that. Would you guys be willing to teach me the basics? I've seen wars and fighting, so I could probably fake my way through a battle, but I would really like to learn more," Elan replied.

"I see no problem with that. I don't know about you guys, but running through a swamp has left me drained. I'm going to call it a night," I said, getting up. "Nate, if you want to stay and talk more strategy, please do. I want us to be as prepared as possible for tomorrow, but I know the only way I'll be ready is if I get to sleep now."

"Okay, love, I'll be over shortly," he said, pulling me back down for a goodnight kiss.

For some reason he decided it needed to be of the thorough variety. I hated when he thought that was necessary in front of a group. I heard a couple of the wolves giving little whistles and laughing, so I tapped Nate's shoulder to indicate that was enough. With one last little lick of his tongue, he released me.

"Sorry, we haven't gone to bed separately in so long, I didn't want you to miss me."

"Likely story. I'm sure you'll be to bed soon enough," I said. "Goodnight everyone. Try to get some sleep tonight." I went to leave the room and remembered that we weren't in the house I'd slept in the night before. "Umm, are we still sleeping in the same room? I'm sure it belongs to someone, and they probably want it back."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. We better have someone walk you across the street. We don't want the warlocks to grab you while we aren't looking," Rick said, getting up to do the honors. I didn't hear any complaints about me stealing someone's room.

"Sit, I'll take her," Elan said. He towered over everything as he stood. "She's been so kind to me, the least I can do is walk her across the street."

With no complaints, we headed out of the house and crossed the street. There was no sign of danger along the way. When we reached the other house, I opened the door and turned to him.

"Thanks, Elan. I can probably take it from here," I said.

"Would you mind if I came in so I could discuss something with you?" he asked. "I didn't want to do it in front of the others because I didn't think they'd understand."

"Sure, that would be fine. I'll warn you that Nate is probably listening in, though. There's rarely a time when I'm alone with another person that he doesn't," I explained.

"That's okay, he needs to hear this too," he said as we walked into the living area of the house. He started pacing around, looking perplexed about what he was going to say.

"It can't be that bad, I doubt you've gone on some kind of killing spree lately and need to confess your sins. The little pranks I've seen you pull haven't been that bad."

"It might actually be worse than a killing spree. I should've told you when we were alone in the clearing, but I didn't really know you then. I'll just start from the beginning and make this as short as possible. Two months ago a warlock showed up in Antipolo, where I'd been living for a while. I was lonely and he seemed like a fine enough guy at first. I know they can be nasty, but I've never had any trouble.

"Over the next month we became good friends. I mean he was the first person to actually take an interest in me in centuries. Then he started telling me about how the shifter uniques were making plans to do away with all of the other uniques and how a civil war was going to be started between us.

"Shifters have never been that friendly with me before, other than Nate and Rick, so I could see how it would come to this. I was scared. I wasn't sure how they were going to be able to kill us, but I felt like he was speaking the truth. He said he had a way to stop this from happening and all I had to do was cause enough trouble somewhere in New England to make it in the papers.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was lying to me, and only trying to get you here for their trap. You aren't what they claim you are, and I can see now I was just being used. I don't want to be used anymore. You are the uniques' only hope against them and I can't allow them to destroy you." By the end of his speech, I could see the tears streaming down his cheeks while he kept his head bowed.

At first I was taken back a little by the betrayal, but I realized that it really wasn't a betrayal if he did it before even knowing me. The fact that he'd told me the information when he could have just kept it all hidden, and may have never had to say it out loud, spoke volumes to me.

"It's okay," I said as I watched his head snap up. "They deceived you, it happens to the best of us. I lived for days with a skin-walker I thought was really my daughter. It took her trying to kill me to get the hint things weren't as they seemed. I'm glad you told me before we went into battle tomorrow. If one of the warlocks had said something to clue us in that you were one time on their side, I may not have taken this so well."

"So you can forgive me and I can still come and live with you guys?" he asked hopefully.

"I have to check with Nate, but I don't think there will be a problem. You're a good guy, Elan. I'm not always the best at judging that, but I think it's true about you. Even the best of us can be led astray from time to time. I need you to go over to Nate and tell him anything that he'll be able to use as an advantage tomorrow. You may just end up being our secret weapon," I said with a smile.

"Yes, my most generous queen," he said before running out of the house to do as I'd asked.

I was finding out quickly that being a queen was hard. It would've been so easy to just cast him aside as a traitor, but that was what he was expecting. I'd always thought it was best to keep people guessing, and I planned to do just that.

"Even without your memories, you are wise beyond your years, my dear," I heard Nate say to me telepathically. "Now get some sleep and I'll tell you our plan in the morning."

"You don't have to tell me twice," I replied as I climbed the stairs to find my temporary bed. "Try not to stay up too late; you need your sleep too."

"I won't be more than another hour, my little butterfly."

I made it up to the bedroom and changed into some sweats and a thin sleeping shirt. I promised myself the next morning I'd finally get that shower I'd been craving all day, and then I fell asleep.

CHAPTER 15

A case of too many cooks in the kitchen

After rolling over in bed and finding no body to run into, I sat up and looked around. Not only was the bed empty, but Nate didn't happen to be sitting in a chair staring at me.

"Holy crap, I must have entered the Twilight Zone," I said as I climbed out of bed. Since I was alone, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to get my shower. I grabbed my knives, some underwear, my usual jeans and my An apple a day will keep anyone away, if you throw it hard enough t-shirt and headed to the bathroom.

Nate had apparently already used the shower, because my shampoo was in place and there was water everywhere. He could be messy when he put his mind to it, but usually was good about cleaning up after himself.

I made quick work of scrubbing the dirt and grime away. I couldn't express how much better I felt once the swamp was finally washed away. I strapped on my knives and put on my clothes. After a quick brush of my hair, I was ready for the day.

I proceeded downstairs to see what my missing fiancé was up to. I figured he was busy plotting against me, so the less time he had, the better. From the living area I heard him speaking.

"I know. I'm just worried that she won't like the idea of sitting on the sideline," he said. "She isn't one to put others in a position that she wouldn't do herself."

"But wouldn't she be safest there?" Elan asked. "We must keep her safe at all costs. That's what I've repeatedly heard the past day and now that I'm with your group, I want to do my best to see that she stays in one piece."

"Since she's listening to us now, she may want to voice her own opinion on the matter," Nate replied. "Come here, honey, and listen to Elan's latest idea."

"Good morning, guys," I said as I entered the room. "So far, I have to say I'm not liking the plan. If it involves me having a layer of bubble wrap taped around me, you better come up with a different idea."

"Give me a chance to explain," Elan said. "At the start of the battle, I think I should pretend to be you. That way, away from the fight you can see if any of your powers will work without having to take on fire during the process. If nothing else, once you determine that, there will be two of us on the battlefield and the warlocks will be confused as to which one is the real you. I've seen you use your fire abilities, so I should be able to replicate them during the fight."

I took a seat next to Nate and thought over his plan. It had its merits. I wasn't sure if anyone could handle two of me, in fact I was pretty sure Rick's head would explode.

"So you aren't really asking me to not fight, just hang back and test the waters. I might be okay with that, especially since two of me is bound to be better than just one. Since I'm supposed to be their main focus, any confusion in that matter would help, but why stop at just two? Can you create an illusion of a bunch of me?"

"Now you're thinking," Elan replied. "The more of you there are, the more they'll be distracted. Much easier for the rest of the guys to cut off their heads."

"So you're good with this idea?" Nate asked. I felt the doubt behind his words, and I didn't blame him.

I hated undercover investigating, where I had to pretend I was someone else. When it came to combat, I lived to prove I could hold my own against an opponent.

"I think so. I'd rather be there at first, and I'm not sure there's enough logic for me not to be, because I can find out whether my powers work almost instantly, but I'm willing to give Elan's plan a try. I think it's important to Elan that we trust him, and I want to be able to say I'm worthy of the trust he puts into us."

"You don't know how much that means to me, my queen." Elation flooded Elan's face. The phrase toothy grin had never been as true as it was on the big man's face.

"You really need to can the queen stuff. I'm Avery to my friends and that filthy hen to those who are not. Feel free to call me Avery."

"Thank you, Avery, for giving me this opportunity to prove myself to you. I promise not to let you down," he said, keeping the smile glued to his face.

"I'll hold you to that. Now I need to get some food in me, so we can discuss what we're going to do today without my stomach doing the talking for me." I gave Nate a quick kiss, and then navigated to the kitchen.

There I found the berserkers at it again, with thankfully different results.

"Morning, dollface," Kyle said when he saw me enter. "We figured Vinnie makes you pancakes all the time, so it can't be all that hard. He may have that computer brain of his, but that shouldn't mean he's necessarily an expert chef."

I had to disagree with him, but I didn't say anything. Vinnie had access to professional chef's recipes and how-tos. I wouldn't ever admit it, but he was probably better around the kitchen than I was.

"We've been keeping everyone else away until you got a chance to try them," Liam added, handing me a plate. Oh no, I wasn't sure I liked being their pancake guinea pig. Rick wasn't close by to serve as taste tester.

"I'm surprised you were able to keep hungry wolves out of here. Have you guys tried them yet?" I asked, trying not to be too obvious about the fact that I wouldn't take a bite until someone else did.

"Of course we have. We wouldn't try to give you something that we didn't verify was edible first. We're new in the kitchen, so we're well aware there may be issues," Kyle replied. "If you put enough syrup on them, you won't even notice we added a little bit too much salt."

"That isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but here goes nothing," I said as I slathered on enough butter to grease a stuck pig, and then poured double the pancake syrup I usually did on top.

I took a small bite and could still taste the extra salt, but they were right that the syrup cut it down some. "They aren't horrible. If you hadn't warned me about the salt, I may be choking right now, but I think I'll be able to eat a couple."

"Good enough for us. We'll watch the salt next time. Our problem was we each didn't think the other had added it, so we both did, and then I think we both forgot that we added it, so we added more," Liam explained.

"Maybe next time you should try something like French toast. That way you don't even have to worry about the salt level," I suggested.

"Good idea, pancakes are kind of Vinnie's thing anyway. We didn't have any other ideas, but we'll work to expand our recipe box," Liam said. "So, are you all ready for today?"

"Sure, have you heard Elan's latest idea?"

"The one where he pretends to be you?" Kyle asked. "Yup, we've heard it. You sure you can trust him after we found out he was working with the warlocks? Nate told us what you had to say about it, but he was kind of working with the enemy."

"I have no doubt in my mind. He's on our side now, and he'll be treated as one of our family," I lectured them in case they had any of their own doubts.

I knew it was hard to reassure everyone before they got a chance to see him in combat. Actions spoke louder than words, and Elan would get his moment to prove he wanted to join with the winning side.

"No problem, your highness. We just wanted to see where you stood on the matter," Liam said. "I actually like the idea of there being two of you. It kind of makes me wish you had a sister."

"Then you're going to love the fact that we've added on to that and will now create the illusion of even more. They won't know where to turn, and while they're trying to figure it out, we can go around and chop off their heads," I explained. I finished up my pancakes and realized there were a lot of parts to the plan I wasn't sure about yet.

"Hey guys, pancakes are ready, come and get them," Liam shouted. The guys come pouring in and I moved out of the way, so they could get their breakfast. "I'm not so sure about the more than two of you idea. I understand the confusion, but for what we're wanting to do, wouldn't it be better if they weren't alerted that they needed to search for the real you?"

He had a point, and I assumed everyone else heard it as they streamed into the kitchen. "Maybe we'll have to save that idea for later," I admitted.

I hadn't seen Vinnie yet, which was a little unusual, so rather than watch everyone else stuff their face, I wandered around until I found him in an empty bedroom. He shook his head and I could tell he was just finishing his daily download.

"Good morning, Vinnie. Anything good out there on the Internet?" I asked.

"Nothing great. I've been trying to do scans to find communications between the warlocks and so far I've found a couple encrypted messages that look promising, but I'm still working on the encryptions. After the last warlock we dealt with, I'm surprised they found someone smart enough to come up with a code I couldn't immediately hack."

"That's a great idea. I've been known to crack a few encryptions in my day, so if you want an assist, let me know. I'm sure you'll probably have it figured out before you could even transfer the code somewhere I could get to it, though. So, where do you fit into today's plan?"

"I'm with you at the beginning. Rick's not too happy with Elan's idea, because he has to be separated from you. The robot missing from the party won't be as big of a giveaway as the protector," he explained.

"I had assumed I'd be by myself. I'm surprised they're giving me any kind of bodyguard. It's a better show if everyone they're expecting is right in front of them."

"What planet are you living on?" he asked. "None of those guys, myself included, would leave you alone with the warlocks around. It was suggested that half the wolves stick by your side, but the warlocks already know the number of local wolves. They'd figure things out pretty quickly if any of them were missing."

"I was across the street for a while by myself when I went to sleep last night," I pointed out to him.

"Yeah, you along with five wolves camped out around the house. They followed behind right after you and Elan made it into the house. You may not have had anyone else in the house with you, but you were adequately protected."

It really shouldn't have surprised me. The only thing that was a little shocking was that Rick hadn't been perched outside my window until Nate joined me.

"Well, I guess it's nice to know they care. Have you heard what the plans are for the hours leading up to the big battle?"

"Joseph was hoping the local wolves could get a couple training sessions in real quick. They can fight, but aren't properly trained for what they're going to face today."

"Do I get to help with the training?" I asked.

It would be a nice warm-up for later and I always had extra energy to burn. I could use the opportunity prove to the new fighters that I knew what I was doing. I didn't want any of them jumping in my way and getting themselves hurt.

"It's my understanding that you'll be leading it. You fought a warlock by yourself just a week ago, so everyone agreed you were the best person to train the newbies," he answered.

"Oh goodie. I'll have them puking up their breakfasts in no time," I said, jumping up and rubbing my hands together. I already had plans for the torture to come. "I'm going to go change into something more suited for working out."

"I'll meet you in the gym soon," he replied. "I always love watching you beat up on the little boys."

"One of these times you're going to have to join us. I know you're afraid that you might hurt us with your metal fists, but you have to realize by now we're made of stuff just a little stronger than the average human."

"That day is coming very soon. I think I'll take on one of the guys before I graduate to your level though. You can be scary when you fight," he said.

"Who me?" I said in my innocent voice before breaking out laughing. I headed back to my bedroom and threw on my sweats and the top I wore to bed the night before. I was going to have to take another shower anyway after the workout, so I didn't really care if they were clean. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, and then skipped back downstairs.

CHAPTER 16

I will see your energy ball and raise you two fireballs

When I got back to the kitchen, the cleanup was going on. I walked over next to Nate and whispered to him, "What's this I hear about a training session going on this morning? I think you forgot to mention it when we were discussing things earlier."

"Like that idea, do you, my dear?" he replied. "Yeah, we want to try to get them a little better equipped before they go round two with the warlocks."

"This warlock seems to have a freezing spell that works pretty well. I really think we would be best off if I could say a spell that would protect us all from that," I informed him and waited for him to tell me no.

It was something that popped into my mind just before going to sleep, and had been bothering me. What if all my friends were frozen in place out there on the battlefield? I hoped I could get past the spell, but they wouldn't be so lucky and if I had to reverse the spell, I wouldn't be on my feet to help fight.

"I know, but, Avery, we need you at full strength. What if saying the spell wipes you out again?" he asked.

"I really think that's just something we're going to have to deal with. I'm not going against someone else's magic, just protecting you guys against it. If the warlock tries to use the spell on you, maybe he'll fly through the air like I did and end up incapacitated for a while." I thought things out enough that I had a good counterpoint to his immediate denial.

"I'm sorry to say that I like this idea," Rick said, joining us. "If we're all frozen, that will leave her vulnerable to attack."

"Fine, you can say a protection spell, but you need to do it now in case it knocks you out." I gave Nate a warm smile for giving in so easily.

"Okay, just a second. I have to think about exactly what I want to protect against. I really think the spells are the key thing. I think if you guys can't duck under energy balls, you're just going to have to deal with the pain. I don't want to do anything too complex."

"I agree," Rick said. "We should be able to move quickly enough to dodge them, since we're expecting them."

"Protect the guys against the warlocks' spells, and protect them against anything the warlocks may compel."

The second I got that last word out, my head started hurting enough that I dropped down to my knees. I could handle a decent amount of pain, but not jackhammers. I needed to find a way around those as soon as possible. I stayed on the ground for a minute, and then shook my head and stood back up.

"I sure hope that means the protection is in place. That looked like it was a doozy," Rick said while he tried to stabilize me.

"Yeah, it didn't feel all that great. Hopefully, it's the last one before I learn more on how to control things."

"I think I'm going to insist on it being the last one. You can't keep doing this to yourself. It's getting worse each time now," Nate said.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I retorted. "Sometimes you know I don't have a choice. We couldn't walk in there and leave you guys open to that kind of attack. You have to be able to fight, since I won't be able to use magic."

"I know, but I don't have to like it," he said.

"The training going on today, where will it be and how soon will it start?" I asked, hoping to change the topic to happier ones.

"As soon as you're ready. We want to leave for the meeting in about four hours, so that's all the time you have to teach them everything you know," Nate replied. "I hope you're good at condensing things down to just the essentials."

"And the location is in the basement. They have a gym set up down there that will work well enough for a little sparring," Rick added.

"Cool, lead me to the basement stairs. There's no time like the present to get things started." They turned me around and pointed me to a door off the kitchen.

I expected a dark, dingy place, but on first inspection, the blinding glow of fluorescent light was anything but dark. I saw three wolves already down there, busy working on their weight machines. It looked like it was basically set up like a weight room.

I didn't see any cardio machines. I hoped they liked to do their running outdoors, because weightlifting wouldn't give them the stamina needed for a training session with me. The area did have a nice open space where I thought I could do some damage.

"So, who wants to go first?" I asked those already in attendance. I assumed the other locals would show up eventually.

They looked around at each other, and evidently came to a silent agreement that the biggest of them would take a stab at me to begin with. I was honored they didn't decide to let the little one try to take me on, to make sure they didn't break me in two. My use of the word little was only relevant to the situation. The smallest guy in the room was at least six-foot-two.

"I'm Alan, the alpha of our group," the wolf said.

"Nice to officially meet you, Alan," I said, sticking out my hand to shake.

He grabbed it, but instead of shaking it, he flipped me around until I was lying with my back to the ground. He fell down on top of me, with his hand around my throat trying to choke me. I should've known the alpha would try to look good in front of his followers.

It wasn't the worst case scenario for me. He saw my display with Rick before, so it was really silly for him to think just like that he'd won. I levitated us both off the ground and spun us, so I was the one on top.

On the way back to the ground, I took one of my throwing knives out of my pocket and pressed it to his throat. I made a small cut as payback for the choking and he let go of my throat. I didn't move my blade until I had calmed down. I didn't like hands around my throat, and eventually Alan would pay for it.

"You won't just be dealing with physical fighting today boys," I said as I got up from the ground. "The warlock I dealt with before was weak in that aspect, so you'll have the upper hand if you can get close enough for hand-to-hand, but the chances of that happening immediately are slim." I looked around and saw the rest of the wolves and my family had joined the group.

"Tell them about what the warlock you battled had up his sleeve," Rick suggested.

"He used the energy balls a lot, but he also had some red lava like energy streams he tried to use, and he was able to call ice daggers from the ground to throw at me like shrapnel. When I was able to get in close to him, he couldn't fight at all. I don't know if these guys will have that as a weakness, but getting in close is probably your best bet. After all, you have to be pretty close to cut off their heads," I instructed.

"We know you can all fight physically well. For this training, we'll have Avery throwing fireballs at you that you'll have to try to dodge and get in closer to her. She can use any natural magic she has to try to keep you away, so be on your toes," Nate added.

"Let the games begin," I said, producing my first fireball and throwing it into the crowd of wolves. I had them programmed to a temperature that wouldn't burn, just sting a whole lot, as my first victim was beginning to realize as he rubbed his chest.

After about thirty minutes, they'd gotten better at dodging them, but were still making no progress towards me, because I kept myself moving and had fun throwing objects into their way if someone got too close. It really was quite enjoyable, well for me and the spectators it was anyway. The guys had started yelling out suggestions to try to assist, but the fact that I could hear the suggestions was pretty much making them null and void.

Another half an hour went by and I levitated myself up to the ceiling, so they had no hope of getting to me. I thought we'd had enough practice and should probably let them rest up for a little bit before we left.

"I believe that's her cue to call the practice to an end," Nate announced. "You guys did well. When she uses her powers like this, none of us have gotten her either, so you shouldn't feel bad about not getting to the prize."

"Yeah, and it seemed like she kept the fireball sting down to a minimum. You should feel them at full blast," Rick said.

The wolves were all tuckered out and collapsed to the ground to catch their breaths. I chose to remain on the ceiling, just in case the alpha thought to try to overpower me again. As my daddy liked to say, "My parents didn't raise no fool."

Slowly, one by one the wolves got up to hopefully go take showers. When they were all gone, I floated myself downward until my feet were back on the mat.

"Dollface, all I got to say is you look fierce when you go all fireballs of fury. I really hope to never find myself on the receiving end of one of those when you're really mad," Kyle said.

"They're the one thing that might one day stop me from being such a smartass around her. That one she hit me with a few days ago really hurt. I have to remember to never make fun of her intelligence again," Rick said, rubbing his chest in the spot he still had a big burn.

He should've been able to heal the wound easily, so I thought he was leaving it on purpose. I had no idea what demented purpose he had, but there had to be one in his slush-filled brain somewhere.

"Serves you right comparing my brain to a goldfish's," I said.

"Like I said, it's on the lists of things never to repeat."

"If I don't want the warlocks to be able to smell me from my hiding place, I better go get a shower of my own," I said, heading towards the door.

"Avery," Joseph said, stopping me. "Thank you for the training today and the spell I heard you've already put in place to protect us. As you saw, the guys are great at hand-to-hand, but would've had no chance against the magic."

"It's what I'm here for, Joseph. This group we're forming has to be based on sharing information. I've been in battle against a warlock before, so I'm our resident expert for the time being. That means it's my duty to help train the rest of you on what to expect," I said. It was a speech I'd said before, and I would probably have to say it again many times before getting it through their thick skulls.

"Nevertheless, I still thank you."

"You're welcome, Joseph." I said as I ran towards the shower to make sure I wasn't stopped again.

I took a little bit longer that time, to relax after all my strenuous hurling of fire. Okay, it didn't really take that much out of me, but the general atmosphere made me sweaty. When I was done, I put back on my clothes from earlier and my motorcycle boots. Since they were steel toed they were good for kicking butt.

When I got back downstairs, everyone looked like they were ready to head out. They were loaded down with guns and knives, nothing like the really heavy artillery Nate had back at the house, but it didn't look like we were just heading to a picnic.

"So, Avery, you and Vinnie are going to hang back a ways. Liam will direct us towards the warlocks and I will telepathically send you where we think a good location for you is. We'll find a place where you can see the battlefield and test out your abilities under the radar," Nate instructed me.

"Yes, sir," I said, giving him a salute. We went outside and climbed into pack vehicles. We didn't want the motorcycles to alert the warlocks of our arrival, especially mine and Vinnie's.

"You ready for this, Vinnie?" I asked. Out of all of us, he was actually the one in the most danger. It took a lot to kill us uniques, but not so much to either short or break apart a robot.

"I have a backup hard drive at home, all you have to do is rebuild me if something goes wrong," he said with a smile.

"Good enough for me," I said, and put the car in drive. I had the general sense of where I was going and had my own personal GPS sitting next to me. Warlocks, here we come.

CHAPTER 17

Warlocks never play fair

We headed north up the highway, with very little traffic around to slow us down. Looking at the clock, it was only two, so we had plenty time and we were already halfway there. That meant that the group of fighters should've arrived at the location, but I hadn't heard anything back from Nate.

When we got close enough that I started seeing signs indicating it would only take us a few more minutes, I started to worry. I hadn't bothered connecting with Nate, just in case there was something that needed his full attention.

"Why hasn't he checked in yet?" I said out loud, more as a rhetorical question than anything else.

My mind started swimming with worst case scenarios. So many things could have gone wrong. What if they were ambushed, or the warlocks saw through the illusion? What if they were met with a freezing spell and were already stuck in place. I didn't know whether the knife that could kill us was in play, and that meant there was a lot for me to worry about.

"He's probably just getting the lay of the land before he gives you instructions. He's a big boy and you've already protected them as best you can. Your spell will keep them safe."

"Yeah, but I have no way of knowing for sure if the spell actually worked. I got a headache, but that doesn't mean the spell is going to do what I hoped it would." I was a mere seconds from nervously chomping on my fingernails.

"You've been saying your spells for a couple weeks now, has one ever not done what you thought it would?" he asked.

"No, they've always worked, but this would be a really crappy time for them to stop. When I've used them before, there wasn't someone else able to throw magic back at them."

"Okay, Avery, we have their location. How close are you?" Nate finally asked, causing a small squeal of joy to rush out of my mouth.

"I'm already here. You do know it was only twenty minutes away, right?" With as many guys with endless stomachs as they had with them, I didn't doubt that they'd had to stop to pick up some food.

"Well, my little speed demon, I thought you'd take it just a little slower. We need you to drive around to the west side of the forest. There should be a recreation area over there where you can park. Then walk about twenty minutes down the trail and you'll come to a clearing. If you hang on the edges, you should be able to do your tests," he instructed.

"How in the world do you know such intimate details of the forest?" I asked. "I'm the one with the computer who can download that type of information at a moment's notice."

"The wolves come here to run often. They know the area pretty well. We're hoping to use that to our advantage," he replied. "We're walking up to the clearing now, so I'll see you when you get here."

"Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can." I said, pulling into the parking lot. I saw the trail he mentioned and got out of the car. Vinnie was quick to join me. "Nate says we follow the trail for a while, and then we'll come to a clearing. How quietly can you run? I'd like to get there as soon as possible." Half of my words really weren't necessary, but pre-battle jitters were taking over my mouth.

"Quiet shouldn't be a problem. I'm properly oiled, so no squeaky hinges," he said as we took off at a quick jog.

On the way there, I listened in from Nate's brain, so I wasn't taken by surprise when we got there. I wanted to know who we were dealing with as soon as possible. I didn't know if I'd recognize the "master", but if talk turned to bathing in my blood, I'd have a good idea.

"You're early," a voice I didn't recognize said.

"Well, we don't believe in arriving fashionably late," Nate replied.

"I see you got all of your little wolves back as we expected. I hope there are no hard feelings about us playing our little game with them," the same voice said. Since he was the only one who had spoken so far, I had to believe he was the leader.

"That would be an incorrect assumption. I take what was done very personally, and you will pay for your inconsideration," Joseph said.

"Oh yes, the wolf king. I forgot that you hung around with the feathered ones. You really should choose better friends. Being too close to these guys could get you killed."

"Can I ask who we're speaking to?" Nate asked. "It sounds like you know who you're dealing with. It's only fair we know who you are."

"Sure. Some of you may survive to tell your friends. After all, we only really want to kill one of you," he answered. "My name is Calvin."

I wished I could get a visual with the audio, but since I was running through the woods, I didn't think that was the best idea to try. Knocking myself out by running into a tree was something I'd never live down, so I wanted to avoid it at all costs.

"So, Calvin, how do you want to do this? Count to three and all heck just breaks loose?" Nate said.

"You know I find it interesting that your queen hasn't said anything yet. From what we've had reported back to us, she isn't one known for her quietness," the warlock said, ignoring Nate's question.

"Don't worry. I'm formulating my plan for the best method to kill you," Elan said with a spot-on impression of my voice. After witnessing him pull off a good impression of Nate, I wasn't surprised when I heard my voice.

"Really, how interesting," the warlock said with a hint of cockiness that didn't sit well with me. "You guys seem to be protected from my freezing spell now. When you entered the clearing, everyone was supposed to be stuck. It seems someone has been using her sorceress powers. I don't think that little protection will help you in the end, but it was smart to try."

"We do our best," Nate replied. "Now, how do you want to do this?"

"How does anyone start a fight? Should we call each other names? Or maybe I'll make fun of your little girlfriend," the warlock said in a taunting tone.

"I'm pretty sure that you wanting to kill her is enough of a reason, so let's just get on with it," Nate said.

I could tell he'd had enough of the guy and was ready to tear him to bits. I tuned out from the conversation, so I could run faster without worrying about tripping. I didn't think Calvin was the "master". I was fairly certain anyone else with him wasn't either.

Vinnie and I arrived to the clearing fifteen minutes after setting out. Even though I'd only tuned out for a couple of minutes, the battle was already on, and our side was doing pretty well against the warlocks. It looked like a group of three of the wolves already had one of them subdued to the point they were chopping off his head.

The berserkers were in full battle mode. It was the first time I'd seen them that way. Their bright blue eyes were literally glowing, and they were moving like the wind around their warlock. I wasn't sure if it was true, but they also looked bigger.

Nate, Rick and Elan were focused on one particular warlock, who I assumed was the more powerful one. Elan was still doing a pretty good imitation of me by throwing fireballs at the guy. The warlock was fighting back with his own energy balls, and I could see his lips moving, probably trying to cast some sort of spell.

Why he was trying when he knew they were protected, I wasn't really sure. Chances were he just really liked to hear his own voice.

To test my telekinetic powers, I started taking the energy balls that the lead warlock was throwing at Nate and firing them back at him. Surprisingly, they actually did as I directed them. I was beginning to think it would be easier than we originally thought, until the warlock turned to look at me and smiled.

"Finally, the real queen has decided to join us. Your Kapre friend has been fun, but he's not why we're here," he shouted, so I could hear him across the clearing.

"Well, since I'm here now, why don't we get this party started," I said, throwing a full-power fireball his way.

He dodged to the right to miss it, and his smile grew even wider. I hated when the bad guys found my attacks amusing.

"That's the spirit I was expecting," he said, sending a couple energy balls my way. I easily got by them. "I wonder if your protection spell was just for the boys or if it covers you too."

His lips were at it again, but I couldn't hear the words because of the distance. Along with all the languages I needed to remember, I really hoped eventually I'd be able to read lips. If that wasn't something in my memory banks, I was going to need to start learning.

I saw some weird purple mist coming from the warlock and heading towards me. I was pretty sure that mist touching me wouldn't be a good thing, so I began throwing a barrage of fireballs at it to see if they'd help dissolve it. Sadly, they didn't do anything. I made sure Vinnie was behind me, and started circling around, trying to keep the mist away.

The warlock turned his attention back to the guys and left me to play with his toy. I could move physical objects, but the mist didn't seem to be made the same way. It took a few seconds, but I was finally able to get a handle on it and freeze it in place. Not knowing what it would do, I rolled it all into a little ball and moved it to the edge of the clearing, away from any of our fighters.

I started walking closer to the warlock. I only made it a few steps before he noticed I'd dealt with his mist.

"That was quicker than I expected. I thought I'd have a chance to wear your husband and brother down a little more," he said. I didn't like that he brought up the familial ties. I didn't need reminded who he was trying to kill.

I grabbed one of my throwing knives and hurled it at him. It made it through to him and hit him in the leg. I didn't understand why the warlocks didn't deflect metal flying in their direction, but I'd take anything I could get.

"I guess you didn't get the memo, Nate and I aren't married yet. The wedding is in a few weeks, though. Your invitation must have gotten lost in the mail."

He looked down at the knife sticking out of his thigh. "I guess the no pain spell I cast on myself really works." He grabbed the knife out of his leg and threw it to the ground. It almost sounded like he wasn't sure about his spellcasting skills, which was like music to my ears.

"Good that means you won't feel anything when I torch you," I replied, moving closer.

He started laughing, actually cackling was probably a more accurate term. "Someone may end up killing me today, but it isn't going to be you."

At a distance, fireballs were still my best option, so I threw them in rapid succession. He did a good job at deflecting them, but I noticed his lips were at it again. I looked around and saw he was the last warlock standing, and the guys were all starting to move in on him.

Nate moved in with his gun pointed at the warlock. I hadn't seen him arm up, so I wasn't sure if he had a knife handy. I didn't know how warlocks dealt with bullets, but I knew they didn't like blades embedding into their flesh.

Nate fired, and right before the bullet hit the warlock, he smiled as he held his hands out in my direction. I felt an energy force hit me that I wasn't expecting, and was thrown to the ground. I was thankful we weren't in the swamp, but the solid ground didn't feel good as my bones crashed into it.

What in the world was that, and why couldn't he have used the mist again so I had a chance to dodge it? I found that I was frozen on the ground and felt myself slowly start to lose consciousness.

I couldn't hear anything or move to see what was going on around me, but I could feel Vinnie trying to wake me up. I was getting really sick of blacking out, but right that moment there didn't seem to be anything I could do about it.

CHAPTER 18

I have a mom for sale, actually she's free, please take her

I came to and found myself on a bed. That, I guess, was to be expected. I didn't know how much time had passed, so I moved to get out of the bed. I was a little surprised to find that it was only a twin bed, because I hadn't been in a house that had a bed that small since I was a child. Also surprising was the fact that no one yelled at me for moving.

Once standing, I looked around the room and quickly realized it looked familiar. I walked over to one of the windows and saw a swing set outside. Upon seeing it, I immediately knew that I was in the house I grew up in.

I couldn't think of a reason for Nate to take me to Montana, so I assumed I was having a vision. All of my other visions had been centuries before the present time, and I didn't need to remember the life I was in, so I was more than a little confused.

Looking in the little vanity that was set up in my room, I saw my eyes staring back at me. I wasn't sure what year the vision was from, but seeing my adult eyes wasn't what I'd expected. It took years to get the amount of distress I saw in those eyes, and I knew it had only just begun while I was in that house.

"This is so weird," I said. I was shocked to notice my lips actually moved. I lifted my arm and waved at myself in the mirror. Wow, I had control over my body. If I wasn't a little kid, that could've been cool.

I didn't understand the need for a vision about something I more than likely remembered. I hated wasting time, even when I had no control over it, and I contemplated laying down to wait until I was back with Nate.

As I was looking through the closet, trying to decide what miniature clothing to wear, I heard my bedroom door open and my mom's voice. I closed my eyes and tried to wake up like I'd been able to before. When I opened them, I was still in the closet.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," she said, coming to find me in the closet. Being caught in a closet with her around was usually dangerous. "Are you going to wear a pretty dress to your party today?"

She was wearing one of her patented outfits featuring a pink dress, pink pumps and a pink scarf around her neck. It looked like someone had vomited bubble gum all over her.

My first thought was to ask if she was high, but I refrained from saying it and instead said, "Sorry, but I really wanted to wear my new Spice Girls t-shirt." I took said shirt out of the closet and wondered what was wrong with me back then. I also wasn't sure how the small shirt was supposed to fit me.

"Well, I guess that's a step up from your usual plaid. I'm just glad you're actually wearing something I bought you," she replied.

Sorry mom, but if you would've asked me, plaid ranked way higher on the list than the Spice Girls. I really didn't remember that time in my life all that well, so I supposed my taste in music wasn't as bad as I thought.

"Yeah, mom, I thought it would be nice to wear something for you on my birthday," I said.

"I'm glad to see you're making an effort after that tantrum you threw last night about your party," she stated. "Taking all of your classmates to the circus is the perfect way for you to make some new friends. You can't be a loner all of your life, Avery."

Again I wished I could comment with what really was on my mind, but I was afraid I'd break some time continuum thing. Instead of telling her just wait until my soulmate gets ahold of me and turns me into a social butterfly, I said, "But I don't like any of the kids at school."

Chances were it was a true statement, so I didn't think it would get me into trouble. I had to look on the bright side a little bit, because she said we were going to a circus and not having a tea party. Not that I liked circuses that much, but I remembered at least a couple tea parties that I wanted to forget.

They were when I was younger than I thought I was, so it was past the point where she liked to play dress-up with me. Those years were some of the worst ones in my life.

"I don't want to hear that anymore, Avery. We're eating breakfast in ten minutes, so you better be ready, and do something cute with your hair," she said, leaving the closet, and hopefully the stratosphere.

If anyone ever wondered why my mother drove me crazy, I enter exhibit A into the records. Growing up, I was never girlie enough for her and she went to extremes to try to make me so. I was shocked I never woke up completely dressed in some frilly dress and tights. I imagined if I ever did find that happening, I would've started sleeping with knives under my mattresses a little earlier in life.

Learning that we were phoenixes had only made her antics make less sense. I didn't remember when I was originally a child, but I knew it was during a time period when people didn't care about clothing at all. I really wished I'd been born the second time during one of her less crazy phases.

I got dressed in my ever so cool shirt, some jeans and sandals. Since my birthday was in the summer I imagined they'd be fine. I looked at my hair and it really hadn't changed much. It was all the same length and midway down my back. I looked on my vanity for anything that would appease my mother's cute hair clause, and decided to put on a pink headband. She couldn't expect much more from me.

As I made my way downstairs, I thought about all the things I'd learned in the present about being a phoenix and how different my life might have been if I'd known earlier. One thing I'd been told a lot stuck out in my mind. Everyone told me that no one had had a new unique in, I assumed, hundreds of years.

How in the world did they explain me? I didn't think for a second a stork brought me, so there had to be something I was missing. I was brought out of my pondering when I saw my father was waiting at the bottom of the steps with a present in his hand.

"Here," he said, handing me the present, clearly excited. "These won't be available to the public until next year, but I have a friend who was able to get me one in advance. I really think you'll like it."

I took the present, which was wrapped with newspaper, and started the unwrapping process. It seemed he wanted it done right then, and I didn't want to disappoint him. When I got to the contents, I found it was a black and white Furby. I didn't remember actually ever having a Furby, so it was a little strange.

Continuing the desire to not disappoint, I put on a huge grin and said, "What is it? It's so cute."

"It's a little robot toy. I know you like playing around with that old Macintosh Classic in the office, so I thought getting you a cuddly robot would be a happy medium between a teddy bear and a video game. You're only ten after all," he said. I finally knew how old I was supposed to be, which ended up a little younger than I'd thought.

"Thanks, Dad," I said genuinely meaning it. As much as my mom always drove me crazy, my dad somehow always understood me.

"I'm glad you like it. Remember they aren't out yet, so you might want to keep it a secret from any of the kids at school. How about we go get some breakfast. I believe your mother is making the works," he said, leading me into the kitchen.

Sure enough, Mom was flipping pancakes while frying eggs and bacon. I was pretty sure the only thing I picked up from her in life was a love of cooking.

I took a seat at our little breakfast table and waited for her to dish me up. Not remembering my eating habits at ten, I said, "Just pancakes and eggs for me today, please." I managed to even use please. I bet that word didn't come out of my mouth much as a child.

"But Avery, you love bacon. I made extra just because of that reason. Since it's your birthday, I wasn't even going to complain about how much you ate," she replied.

"Sorry, Mom, I just don't feel like eating pork this morning," I said, trying to come up with a good explanation. "I read somewhere that it has a lot of salt in it and I don't want to bloat up before the circus."

"Well, that's a good idea. I'm proud of you for thinking of it. I'll just save the bacon in the fridge for sandwiches later," she replied.

Seriously? What ten-year-old cared about being bloaty in front of their friends? Earth to mom, the mother ship is calling you home.

We ate our breakfast quietly. Dad and Mom discussed grown-up things that current me and past me could care less about. Thinking of past me, I remembered that there wasn't someone in my body guiding my actions. I was always able to draw from the past me to fill in gaps, but it seemed like I was flying solo.

I'd complained about not having control, but it was nice to have a clue what was going on. In the mirror I hadn't seen a ten-year-old kid, and unless I'd done a better job forgetting my childhood than I remembered, things were happening I didn't think ever had.

When we were done eating, mother took care of the dishes, all by hand, and then dried them and put them away. It was fascinating to watch. I wondered if in the current time she still did that, or if she used a dishwasher. Her dress hadn't changed, so I was guessing her habits remained the same as well.

I had to figure she'd spent a lot of time watching fifties and sixties television and decided she wanted to mimic it. During my teenage years, I'd brought home feminist literature and left pamphlets and books around where she could read them. It never helped, and more than likely she saw the little presents and laughed.

As she put the last item away, she turned to me and said, "I see your father gave you his gift, I can't wait for you to see mine." She walked over to me and pulled a small box out of her apron pocket.

I took the box, which of course was wrapped in pink paper with an oversized bow on top of it, and carefully removed the wrapping. I was sure she spent a long time on it, so I was being nice. When I opened the box, a beautiful phoenix necklace was revealed.

It looked familiar to me, but it wasn't something I knew from my present life. I wondered if by that time they'd figured out who I was, because I was pretty sure it was something from my past. I didn't have any particular memories telling me that, but the feeling in my gut left no room for questions.

"Mom, this is really beautiful. I love it," I said as I lifted it very delicately out of the box. The sunshine from the windows hit it, making it sparkle.

"Really, you do?" she asked surprised. I knew I'd never liked a single gift she'd given me, so I understood why her eyes widened.

"Yes, Mom. A phoenix is a perfect gift for me," I told her as I put the necklace on.

"You even knew it was a phoenix. They aren't exactly something popular right now," she said, looking at me suspiciously.

"I do read, Mom," I replied, trying to divert attention from me knowing too much. "Mythology is a really cool subject once you start diving into it."

"Oh, of course," she said, apparently satisfied with my brainy response. "Well, we better get ready to go. You don't want to be late to your own party."

"No, I don't," I said as cheerfully as I could. It would be nice to skip the party altogether, but I knew how hardheaded my mother could be, and at ten I didn't have a lot going in my favor to get out of the party.

She herded us outside to a car I did remember. It was a brand new, back then, black Chevrolet Malibu. It was the first new car I ever got to ride in. I even went with my dad to pick it out. Hopefully me remembering it meant that I was going to remember other things about the day that so far hadn't registered in my mind as actually happening.

CHAPTER 19

My worst nightmares come to life

Dad drove us across town to the fairgrounds. As we got closer to the giant circus tent, I began to realize not only did my mother bring all the kids from school there for my birthday; she also brought the dang circus. Banners were posted everywhere saying "Welcome to Avery Claven's Circus Birthday Party".

Horrified was too mild a word for the feeling crawling under my skin. I wanted, no that wasn't right, I had to wake up from the nightmare before things got any more out of hand. I closed my eyes and opened them, hoping the scene would change. When it didn't work the first time, I kept trying.

I gave up after the tenth time and focused my efforts on figuring out a way to dig myself out of the car. The only saving grace was that none of the people I was living with in the present were there to witness my humiliation. I assumed the day ended so horribly that I chose to wipe it from my memory.

Dad parked up by the front of the huge tent in a special parking spot designated for the "Birthday Girl". The song "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" started playing in my head.

"Mom this is really too much. How many kids did you invite?" It looked like there was room for more than just the kids from my school. I was afraid the whole state had shown up.

"We put the announcement in the school bulletin, so technically all of the kids from kindergarten to fifth grade," she replied, getting out of the car. Dad joined her in vacating the car.

So at least a couple hundred kids were likely to show up, and why not, it was a free circus. Whatever was going to happen when I got in the tent horrified me. I was frozen in place; there was no way I could go in there. My mom finally realized I wasn't moving and opened my car door.

"Out you come, Avery. The show is going to start in ten minutes, and you have to be in your throne when that happens," she said.

"You did not just say throne. Seriously, Mom, was I switched at birth? I can't believe we're related sometimes. When have I ever indicated this would be something I liked? I'm pretty sure from the moment I was born, it was clear this kind of thing wasn't for me." I shouted.

Thankfully, no one was around to hear the tantrum. There was only so much I could take and having a circus thrown in my honor was a line that shouldn't be crossed.

"Avery, don't talk to you mother like that," my dad said sadly, as Mom started to cry. No fair, crying was supposed to be my gig that day.

"I know you don't like this kind of stuff, but I'm trying to make up for past mistakes," my mom said. "Before you were born you had a sister who died kind of suddenly. We still don't know what happened, but I think I've been trying to do all the things with you that she and I never did together. I don't understand why I was given two daughters who are tomboys."

Those few words explained a lot. Nate went phoenix when he realized I wasn't coming back anytime soon. I'd never really thought about what my parents might have gone through. It was really hard not to tell her she didn't have two daughters that were so unlike her, just the one.

I'd thought they'd figured things out before I was ten, but unless she was acting, she didn't know I'd finally resurrected. I tried to think back to a time when they changed, thinking it would help me put an age to when they knew, but Mom had never toned down her psycho.

"What was her name?" I asked. I was a little curious to see what name they'd give me.

"Yara," my father responded without hesitating. I wasn't expecting them to give me my very first name. I figured they would go with the last one I was using.

"That's a pretty name. Do you have any pictures of her that I could see?" I asked.

"Maybe someday. For now we have them locked away," my mother answered, the tears were drying as quickly as they'd appeared.

"Well, if I have to go to this party, we probably better get in there. We don't want the elephants to get restless," I said finally stepping out of the car. They both smiled and ushered me inside.

When we made it inside, it was as bad as I expected. Kids and their parents were running around everywhere. I saw many people who I recognized from my childhood and it made me wonder where they all were in the present. Not enough for me to try to look them up, but I was willing to let Vinnie do a little research for me on the subject.

Sadly, Mom wasn't joking about the throne. There, with a tiara sitting in the seat, was a throne in the middle of the center ring. So throughout the whole show I was going to be stuck with people staring at me. The anger quickly started to burble back up from the pit of my stomach, but I didn't voice it in front of the audience.

We made it to the throne and Dad put the tiara on me. Little did everyone, including my parents at the time, know that I was actually a queen. That made me wonder when Nate first noticed we were soulmates. He was created full grown and I was pretty sure I didn't come along for a while, so if he originally saw me when I was ten, that could pass Rick in my creeper column.

"Thank you everyone for coming out to enjoy our daughter's birthday party with us. A little girl only turns ten once, so we wanted to go all out for her this year," my dad said into a microphone he seemed to produce out of thin air.

My mom grabbed the microphone away from him, which didn't surprise me. She'd always liked to be the one running the show.

"Please enjoy the show and stay for cake and ice cream afterwards." The audience clapped as the lights dimmed and clowns filed out from pretty much every direction.

Oh God. The nightmares were never going to end. How many ways could you traumatize a kid before child services gets called in? I was pretty sure my parents were getting really close to that limit. Even though I didn't remember that day, I knew where my fear of clowns came from. I'd always thought it had been a little irrational.

They brought out their little clown car and started jumping into it. The more that went in, the more I wondered if I had my fire powers in that body. I thought a torched clown car would be a great way to get the party over quickly. Once they did their thing and exited the ring, three elephants came out and did their tricks followed by tightrope walkers.

After the clowns, the show could only improve, and the next act was definitely worth admission. Oh wait, that was free. Well, the act was really cool anyway. Two sphere cages were brought out and placed on either side of the stage.

Six guys on dirt bikes rode around and did tricks on the floor as the spheres were double-checked for safety. Then three guys entered each of the spheres and started riding around inside of them. How they didn't run in to each other I didn't know, but they spun in circles for five minutes without any incidents. When they stopped and waved to the crowd, it went wild.

I wondered if Nate would have a problem with me learning how to perform the trick. It had to provide an adrenaline rush like nothing I experienced before, and I wanted to try it. The fact that I could move and levitate the bikes if things got out of control, meant I could probably convince him to at least let me try it once.

"That was awesome," I said to my parents as I clapped along with the crowd.

"We're glad you enjoyed it," my mom said, smiling wide. She should've been taking notes for birthdays to come, but I didn't remember seeing any other death-defying stunts on future birthdays.

The ring announcer came out and called an end to the show. He directed everyone to a buffet waiting behind the tent. Not wanting to be trampled, I waited with my parents until the crowd thinned out. Once everyone was outside, we made our way that direction.

Outside, I found the buffet that was promised, along with a petting zoo. Most of the smaller kids were gathered by it, trying to pet the baby sheep. I continued my sweep of the area and found a massive sheet cake with a gift table that was piled high with presents.

I hoped they didn't make me open them in front of everyone, which was something I did remember my mother doing in front of smaller crowds before. If it was up to me, I'd just donate them all to charity without even opening them.

"Come on, let's go cut the cake," my mom said dragging me towards a cake that could feed an army.

Upon seeing the cake, I turned bright red. It had a giant picture of ten-year-old me with angel wings and a halo and said "Happy Birthday to Our Little Angel". Again, very happy that no one from my house was there to see that day. If Rick ever got wind of it, I was going to have to kill him.

"Really, Mom, were the wings necessary?" I asked.

"Oh hush, it's a perfect cake. Now go ahead and cut it, so you can take the first bite," she replied.

I did as she directed and saw that it was a chocolate cake. Crap, it wasn't until I was fifteen that I started hating the taste of chocolate. I hoped she didn't mind me only taking that first bite, because I was pretty sure any more would make me throw up. I didn't reckon that was a memory she wanted to have of my birthday.

I cut off a small piece and put it on a plate. With my fork, I scooped up as small of a bite as I could manage and brought it up to my lips. I'd forgotten not to breathe, and the smell of cocoa was overwhelming. I wondered how bad it would look if I plugged my nose.

I quickly put the bite in my mouth and swallowed without chewing. I tried to hide the cringe and slight shiver as I tried to will the smell to leave my nostrils. I didn't think I was able to taste the cake itself, but the lingering scent was enough to make it seem like I had.

"Mmm, it's really good, Mom," I said, plastering on a fake smile.

"Of course it is," she said, like any other option would be foolish. "Let's go sit at our table and let everyone else get some."

I was all for getting as far away from the cake as possible, so I let her lead me away. On the way to the table, I stealthily threw my cake into a garbage can we passed by. Hopefully she didn't notice it had vanished.

While we sat there, parents brought their kids over and forced them to tell me happy birthday. Most of the kids looked like they'd rather eat dirt. It didn't go unnoticed by me that I didn't actually have any friends. It never really bothered me, and even though I'd found friends in the present time, I knew I'd still do well by myself.

After thirty minutes people started leaving. Once it got down to only about twenty stragglers, my mother decided I should open the presents. I guessed it was better than her making me do it in front of hundreds, but I was still not happy about the idea.

I sat at the gift table and started unwrapping mostly coloring books and Play-Doh. There were a few Barbie dolls that maybe I could turn into robots to go along with my Furby. As I was getting towards the end of the pile, a hand with another present appeared in my face.

"Hi, Avery," Eva said. "I got you something really special." Eva looked just like she did the other times I'd met her, but she had done her hair and worn clothes that made her look even younger. I wouldn't have said she looked ten, but she could probably pass for sixteen.

I was pretty sure I should act like I didn't know her, so as I took the gift from her, I said, "Thanks, do I know you?"

"That's a very good question," she replied. "Do you want your parents to know about your high school buddy, or not?"

"Avery, do you know this girl?" my mother asked, looking suspicious. I wondered if she could pick up Eva's weirdness.

"Sure, she's my high school buddy, like she said," I replied.

"Well, it's really sweet of her to show up for your party. Why don't you run off and play with her for a while? The rest of the presents can wait," Mom said, which surprised me a little. I thought she was enjoying watching me squirm in front of everyone.

"Great idea, Mrs. Clavens," Eva said, and grabbed my arm.

She pulled me along with her gift still in my hand. After Nate told me how much trouble me and Eva used to get into together, I was a little worried about what she had planned. Since I was only ten on the outside, I didn't think we'd be going skinny dipping, but there were a lot of other activities that would get me in trouble.

CHAPTER 20

Time is a very curious thing

"Don't be such a party pooper," she said as soon as we put enough distance in between us and everyone else. She led me back into the circus tent, where we could have a private conversation. I was fairly certain the elephants were still around somewhere, but I didn't think they'd blab.

"What are you talking about, and what was all that about being my high school buddy?" I asked. "I don't really know you."

I kind of felt like yelling "stranger danger" just for fun. I bet she'd get a kick out of it. I was still trying to figure out what was going on, though. She'd mentioned something about trying to see me when I was a kid, but I didn't remember what age she'd said. I thought it would've been younger than ten, so it'd be easy for me to forget.

"Avery Clavens, one more lie like that and I'll find a way to make your nose grow like Pinocchio's," she lectured me as I reached for my nose to protect it. I believed every word that came out of the crazy lady's mouth.

Not knowing what to say in that situation, I just stared at her. I had the whole time continuum thing in the back of my mind, so the ball was totally in her court. Things were going pretty decent for me in the present, other than warlock issues, and I didn't want to mess that up.

"Like I said the other day, you're always good for a laugh," she said. The edges of her lips turned up into a mischievous smile. "I know you know who I am. We were just reintroduced the other day, my fiery friend, and as bad as your memory is, I know you haven't forgotten that."

"You know it's really me? How are you actually here with me? I didn't know you had the ability to go back in time. I guess I'm not really sure what's going on here, but it isn't like one of my visions."

"Of course I know it's you, and it seems you've gotten yourself into another pickle. It's a nasty spell that warlock threw at you," she said, shaking her head. "As to how I'm here, let's just say us Fates don't let a little thing like a timeline keep us from having fun."

"So this isn't one of my usual flashbacks?" I asked, wanting to get verification. If it was one, I'd eventually wake up, but I wasn't sure how to deal with time travel, or whatever else could be going on.

"Sorry, no. I did all I could to make it a little bit more enjoyable than originally intended. The original spell had you going back to being a baby and reliving the same day over and over a la Groundhog's Day. Can you imagine how horrific that'd be?

"I guess the idea was if he couldn't kill you, he'd just incapacitate you, or maybe he was hoping you'd somehow die of boredom being trapped in a baby's body. I'm pretty sure it was before you started crawling, so there would've been a lot of lying around doing nothing."

"I can't say that sounds like fun, but this place isn't any better. What actually happened back in the forest, and what am I doing here?" I asked.

"I couldn't totally undo the spell, so I brought you back here to the day we met at your tenth birthday party until help can arrive," she said.

"I don't know which case I find more horrible, but I think I'd rather be a baby after having to see all the clowns. Why don't I remember this day?" I asked. She kept explaining things, and the explanations seemed to bring up more questions.

"That would be my doing as well. When you didn't remember me the first time around on this day, I chose to wipe anything that would remind you of me from your mind. It was apparent to me you weren't ready to know about your other lives just yet, so I did a total mind sweep of the day. I'm not exactly sure how the fear of clowns remained, but everything else disappeared," she explained.

"I think I should thank you for that. The phobia is one thing, but I'm pretty sure I would have been one messed up kid if I had to remember this day."

"Just think, it's only halfway over. There's still plenty of time for you to be traumatized," she said in her overly cheery voice.

"You know, I think I might actually hate you," I said jokingly, but in reality I was fairly certain my words were true. "So how long do you think I'm stuck here?"

"I can't say for sure. You shouldn't have to relive the day more than once, though. I made sure of that."

"You better hope that's true. If you hadn't mentioned you'd made me forget this day, I'd have had no problem believing I'd done it on purpose. I don't want to be stuck reliving it over and over."

"Like I said, probably only the once. Things like this are hard to predict. So, what should we do with the rest of the day? As you may have noticed, we're actually in control of our bodies. As long as you hit the major events of the day, we should be able to have a little fun," she said with her evil smile still in place.

"Do you know what other major points I have to live through?" I asked. With how well the day was going so far, I couldn't imagine what was planned for the rest of the day. After all, I'd only made my mom cry once, there were tons of time for me to torment her.

"Hmm, July 14, 1997. You wake up, get your presents, go to big party, meet me, accidentally set a garage on fire, have dinner with your folks and then go to sleep after listening to your Furby speak baby talk," she recited.

"Why do I set a garage on fire? I don't remember ever playing with matches as a kid, and phoenix children for some reason don't have those powers. Nate wouldn't tell me why, but he said there was a good reason."

"That's what you picked up on out of all the things you do today? I would've thought listening to that creepy Furby would have triggered more distaste. I'm not sure why those things were ever made," she said.

I didn't know what her issue was with the toy, and I didn't really care. She seemed to be trying to get me away from the topic of the fire.

"Fire. Why did I start a fire?" I asked again.

"Oh, you know how you little firestarters are. Someone says something you don't like, the next you know things are catching on fire. I'm fairly certain another little girl was teasing you and you got mad and hurled a fireball at her," she said, acting bored with the conversation.

"I showed that I had abilities as a child? Did I do that other times?" I didn't remember any other times, but since I was reliving a day I didn't know actually happened, it wasn't out of the question.

"Yeah, your folks always found someone to erase it from your memory, though. Baby phoenixes aren't supposed to know they can do stuff like that until they're better capable of controlling it. Most of the time, just not telling them they can do stuff keeps them on the straight and narrow. You, on the other hand, have always been an evil child. Both of the times you were growing up, you did stuff like that. I'm surprised your parents didn't somehow go gray."

I started laughing. "And yet they still didn't figure out I was the same person throughout this second childhood? Was Rick the same way; did they just grow used to rowdy children?" I asked.

"No, Rick was a perfect child. He had to have his memory wiped the first time you were a child just as often as you because you were attached at the hip. Even with your memories of him back, I doubt you can remember all the times you got into trouble. When you've learned to properly use your magic, you should say a spell to give you and him all of your memories back. You might be surprised to find out the stuff you did."

"I'll made sure mine are all intact, but I'm not sure I want to give him ammunition to use against me. If I was as bad as you say, I'll never hear the end of it. So, since I know about the fire and such, do I really have to go and deal with the kid tormenting me?" I asked. "I'm guessing her mind got wiped as well, so she couldn't tell everyone what a freak I am."

"Good point. It would be one less gray hair for your parents. If you want, we could just go start some fires for fun." she suggested.

"I'm starting to believe that we don't have the same definition of that word. I've never been big into pyrotechnics."

I was afraid she was going to fall to the round as she laughed at my words. There was clearly a lot of stuff I still needed to remember before I made any claims about what I was like in the past.

"Come on, you only get to relive a day once in a blue moon. This time you'll actually get to remember it. Do you want to remember it for the scary circus clowns and Furby or for having a good time?" she asked.

"Why did you have to bring up those dang clowns?" I asked.

It wasn't like I could forget them while standing in the middle of the big tent where I could still picture their big red noses. Maybe it was time for me to see a hypnotherapist to see if someone could help get me over my fear.

"Just to prove my point," she said.

"After a few more questions I might let you have your way."

"Okay, shoot," she said, and I had a feeling she already had her answers prepared.

"Can you tell me what's happening back in the real world?" I asked. It seemed like our side was going to win, but you never knew when magic was involved.

"That's not a very fun question, and since it isn't, I don't think I'll answer it. I'm sure you'll know soon enough the outcome of your little skirmish. I can tell you already have a good idea of what happened," she replied. "Next question."

That was really the only question I was concerned about. I had a million more, but I preferred to ask them back in the present.

"How about this one, if no uniques have been born in so long, like you've told me yourself, how does one explain me?" I asked, recalling the question I thought I'd have to wait to talk to Nate and my parents about.

"That particular question about the birds and the bees I think should be left to your parents. I'm pretty sure you remember how that stuff works, but I'm not going to be the one go over the basics with you," she said, and then tilted her head and stared off in space. "Hmm, that was quicker than I thought."

"What are you talking about now?" I asked. She obviously wasn't in the question answering mood. I seemed to remember the last time we talked she was a bit more obliging.

"Lucky you don't even have to relive a full day. You're getting ready to wake up," she replied, clapping her hands together as she shifted from her toes to her heels, like she was doing some crazy exercise.

"That's great news. I've only been out a few hours, so hopefully Nate hasn't gone totally bonkers," I said. If I woke up and found myself shackled to a bed, I was going to be really upset. I wasn't exactly clear whether my body had been left behind for my trip, but I assumed it had.

She laughed. "Even with the little magic you know, I would've thought it was obvious that real world time and spell world time don't always run at the same speed."

"Just how much time difference are we talking? Has it only been a second in the real world? That would be even better."

"Let's just say this time was the reverse of what you've been getting used to. Don't worry, it hasn't been years or anything, but rest assured it has been more than a second."

Right as she finished her thought, I woke up in my bed. Not the bed at the wolf pack house, my real bed at the mansion. I looked around the room and the only other person I could see was an elderly woman looking out the window. Having just woken up from my spell coma, and being in a room with someone I didn't know, I reached in between the mattresses to find one of the throwing knives I stashed there.

Before I made the mistake of throwing a knife at an innocent old lady, I did the right thing and tried to figure out who she was. I knew the move might come back to haunt me later, but I'd feel terrible about hurting her if she wasn't evil.

"Care to explain what you're doing in my room?" I asked.

She turned to look at me and smiled. "Of course, Avery. I'm so happy you're finally awake."
CHAPTER 21

Me and fate have a date in the boxing ring

"Rest assured that your knife won't be needed, or extremely effective. I'm Nadine. I believe you've heard of me," she started by saying. "Nate will be back in just a second. I told him I thought you were coming around and a glass of warm broth would probably be appreciated. I thought we had a little bit more time, or I'm sure he would've asked someone else to see to it."

"How did I get here? The last thing I remember was being laid out in a forest clearing."

"It's probably best if Nate does that type of explaining. All I can tell you is that I got an urgent call from someone named Eva to hightail it to this house. When I got here, it took a lot of persuasion to get past your guards. Once I proved I wasn't here to harm you, I went to work on lifting the spell," she explained. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you the spell the warlock cast wasn't an extremely nice one."

I'd already heard about it, so no I wasn't surprised. I focused on something else she'd said instead of asking for more information about the spell. I doubted I'd understand anything she had to say on the subject.

"Eva actually called? I wasn't aware she could even use a phone. She doesn't seem to be in touch with modern technology." I thought about her reaction to the Furby, and wondered what she'd do with a smart phone.

"Well, it wasn't really a telephone call. I was getting a little practice in with my scrying bowl and the message came through loud and clear. I've never had something happen so clearly, so I knew it had to be important. You must have very powerful friends. I wonder why she didn't remove the spell herself."

"She's a powerful being, but she isn't a sorceress. She's actually one of the three Fates." It didn't feel like much of a secret anymore, and Nadine had already had contact with her.

"You're friends with the giver of life?" she asked. When I looked at her questioningly, she added, "That's what Eva means. Unless the Fates have gone loopy and changed their names around, there's only one you could be speaking of. I've heard they like to have fun, but their gifts aren't something they mess around with."

"Well, she's pretty loopy, but she claims to be the Fate you mentioned. For some reason, she believes we're great friends, which I have no memory of."

"For her to contact a low on the ladder sorceress like me to come and help you, I imagine you're really close friends. Usually the Gods and Goddesses of her days don't even bother with this world anymore," she said.

"She was sending me to you when we were done with the warlock who attacked me. I'm a little new to the whole sorceress thing, and she thought you could help me with some training," I explained.

"I would be honored," she replied.

"I'd like to know why you didn't call to me the second you woke up," Nate said, entering the room.

"Hi, sugar britches. Did you miss me?"

He hurried over and set the coffee mug he'd brought on the bedside table. Then he swept me into his arms for a big hug and a million kisses over any bare skin he could find.

"I'll leave you two alone for a little while," I heard Nadine say before she exited the room.

"Shackles, I'm telling you shackles," he said when he finally got done covering me in kisses.

I started laughing. "I half expected to wake up in them. So, what's the damage; how long have I been out?"

"Eighty-five hours, twenty-two minutes and six seconds," he replied.

"So you're telling me you weren't really keeping track. I'm guessing the evil warlocks from the battle were all defeated," I said, wanting to get caught up from the moment I checked out.

"Yeah, we tortured that last one for a little while for what he did to you. We all took a turn at hacking him into little bits before finally burning him up," he said as he snuggled into the bed with me, so he was sitting behind me and I was kind of lying slash sitting on top of him. As he was moving around, he lifted his hand to display a box. "What's this?" he asked.

Remembering the box as my birthday gift from Eva, I took it from him and unwrapped it without saying anything. I opened the lid on it and found my phoenix necklace inside.

"Where did you get that?" Nate asked, sounding like he was shocked to see it.

"Eva just returned it to me," I said, putting it on. The second I did, I started seeing flashes of my past life. I wasn't expecting them and they came hard and fast. When they finally stopped I said, "Dang it, that isn't fair."

"What's not fair? That's the necklace I gave to you at our first soul-bonding ceremony. I spent years making it, hoping to get it just right," he said.

"I know and that's what isn't fair. I wanted us to get married in a few weeks without me remembering you. That sneaky Eva tricked me and gave me back all those memories." My vision started to blur a little bit as tears started multiplying.

"Wait, you remember me? You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not joking, and don't you be happy about it for even a second, because I most definitely am not. Why couldn't she wait and give it to me as a wedding present or something. I swear the next time she pops up, I'm throwing my most powerful fireball at her," I said grumpily. It was all just a defense mechanism to get the tears to stop.

Nate started laughing, and after a few seconds he didn't seem to be able to stop, so I elbowed him in the ribs. "Not funny," I hissed.

"I know you're being mad at the moment, but there's no way I can't be overjoyed at what you just told me," he said, and the kisses started again.

"Whatever. Why don't you go be happy on the other side of the house? Where is everyone anyway? You usually all like to stare at me when I'm passed out." I would've thought at least Rick would be around, poking me with something sharp to see if I was faking it.

"Well, the other leaders have started to arrive for our meeting tomorrow and everyone has been trying to entertain them since I've not been willing to leave your side."

"Why don't you give me some of that broth, and then let me take a shower so I can go do some mingling myself. I should probably get to know these leaders a little before I ask them to let me reveal their lifelong secrets," I said, sitting up and reaching for the broth. I drank it down quickly and put the glass back.

"You sure you're feeling well enough for that? No weird aftereffects of the spell?" he asked.

"Other than a huge amount of anger towards Eva, I think I feel fine," I informed him.

"Is it really that bad remembering me? I mean other than knowing what the sex is going to be like, there wasn't a whole lot that should've been a big reveal," he said. "We've loved each other forever, and I've already told you that a million times."

"Of course your mind would go straight for the gutter. No, it isn't going to be horrible, but until we do the rebonding I'm going to feel like you and go crazy every time there's just a wall between us. How in the world have you survived this all these months?" I asked, realizing why I kept finding him in my bed.

"I won't say it's been easy, but I've made do by carrying a lock of hair I snipped off not long after I found you," he replied. Five minutes prior to those words, I would've probably found that extremely creepy, but I totally understood why he'd need a piece of me with him at all times.

"It's already starting. I'm not disgusted at all by what you just said," I said in mock horror.

"We can always go ahead and bond now, if that would make you feel better. We can still have your little wedding later to satisfying the girl under that rough exterior," he offered.

"I really want to say no, because I wanted to do it at the wedding, but with everything going on, we can't have the distraction of me flipping out when you aren't in view. I know how perfectly romantic that sounded too, but now I know you're used to that."

He laughed. "I really like that getting your memories back hasn't changed your personality one bit. Not that your current personality is that different from your old one. I just think you're a little more frank this go around."

I thought back with my new memory and saw that he was right. I'd always been a little mouthy.

"So, you ready for our ceremony?" I asked.

"I never thought you'd ask," he replied. "Fire bright as morning light; together as one all will be done."

"Hearts that are connected will always be protected; love that is pure will forever be sure," I said my solo part from memory.

"As rulers of the birds all will hear our words; we are together again until the very end," we finished together. I could feel an electric pulse travel throughout my body as my awareness of Nate heightened.

"God, that feels so good," he said as the pulse mellowed. "I've been missing that for so long now. You better not get any ideas to become some super sorceress or something where you'd need to take a prolonged resurrection again."

"Well, I can't promise anything, since we both know I'll do anything to protect us and our people," I replied.

"I know, but if there's a next time, at least keep the memories of me," he said.

"Speaking of memories, it's kind of funny, but I'm not remembering the month or so before that resurrection. When I got the memories of Rick and the kids I remember, I just thought it meant I didn't see them that last month, but I'm sure I would've seen you. Knowing there should be some kind of memories there makes it feel like I have this black hole in my mind."

"That's a little weird, but maybe it will come back to you as other things do," he suggested.

"We leave you guys alone for five minutes and you go and have a bonding ceremony without any witnesses," Rick said as he entered the room unannounced.

"Now, Freddie, I'm surprised you just walked in here like that. After most of our bonding ceremonies we're fornicating like rabbits. Can you imagine having that image stuck in your head?" I asked.

"Now, little sis, you say that as if you actually remember your previous bonding ceremonies. Don't tell me that warlock actually did you a favor and you came out of your coma with some extra memories," Rick replied.

"The 'favor' as you call it was actually from Eva, who I'm extremely upset with. I didn't want the Nate memories until after our wedding, but I got them after putting on a necklace she left for me. Once the memories were there, we really didn't have a choice other than do the ceremony."

"Yes, I know I just bonded for the umpteenth time with the most romantic girl in the world," Nate said, kissing my neck.

"Well, if you guys are done being lovey dovey for a while, we have a guest who would like to see Avery. I imagine he's going to have to see Nate too, but I'm pretty sure he's okay with that," Rick told us.

Intrigued, I shooed them out of the room so I could get a shower. Three days lying comatose in bed was not good for the hair, even if I was fairly certain Nate had made sure animals didn't have a place to nest.

The resynching of our souls made it so I could feel Nate at all times, and know exactly where he was. In all of our lives, we'd never been more than ten miles away from each other, so I didn't know what the distance on it was, but I imagined it didn't really matter how far away we were. We'd always be able to find each other.

After a quick shower, I put on my knives, which were all laid out in their proper places, my jeans and a shirt that said It is good to be alive. Really there wasn't a more appropriate shirt for the day. Having a shirt for just about every circumstance came in handy.

I took a look in the mirror real quick to make sure I wouldn't frighten any of the leaders I was bound to meet. My hair didn't need any more than my fingers run through it. Once I got the tangles out, I threw on some sandals and headed out to meet my mystery guest.

CHAPTER 22

The jerk chapter

Feeling where Nate was, I made my way in his direction. I saw him talking to a person, who I could only see the back of. When Nate noticed me, he smiled and waved me over. The man with him turned so I could see his face, and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh my God, Jimmy!" I yelled, running over to give him a hug. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"Hey, pretty lady," he said, hugging me back. "Where did the shy, timid girl I remember go?"

"I've been spending too much time with Nate, obviously," I replied, stepping back and standing next to Nate. "So again I ask, what are you doing here?"

"Your brother called and told me to get my butt to New York. Didn't sound like I had much of an option. I didn't really need a command to come see you again, though."

"But if you're here for the meeting, that means," I said, trailing off.

"What? That I'm not human. You'd be correct. I would be the leader of the fox groups," he replied, looking at me questioningly.

The Mr. Fox comments made a lot more sense. Thinking back to when Jimmy and I first met, I couldn't remember anything that would've given me any clues that he wasn't a normal person.

"Shut up," I said, smacking his shoulder. "You gave me some sob story about your parents dying of cancer. You're such a jerk. I believed every word of it."

"Well, you pretended to be a college student," he countered. "It's not like you didn't already know otherwise."

"Of course I didn't know, and they are totally not the same thing. I was undercover for one, and two, I told almost all truths. You told a bunch of lies. Is Julie even your sister?" I asked.

"Yes, she really is my sister, and was really kidnapped and the case itself actually really happened. We both just pretended to be things that weren't really true," he answered. I was pretty sure he threw in that last really just for good measure.

"You were so scared Julie would get shot, but the bullet was never a threat to her," I said, smacking him on the other shoulder.

"No, it wouldn't have killed her, but it would have hurt like hell. You've been shot before. How good did that feel?"

"You're still a jerk." It felt odd smiling while I said that, but it couldn't be helped. "That being said, how's my friend Ettie working out? She told me she ended up taking a job with you."

I'd only been able to keep up with the woman via email, as she'd been in the middle of moving and I'd been in the middle of remembering I was a phoenix queen. She seemed stoked to work with people who weren't pompous idiots, though, and I was happy I could help her out.

"Real well. She has an amazing brain in between those ears of hers," he replied. I was pretty sure it was a compliment, so I didn't hit him again.

"Good, you better be treating her well or you'll be answering to me," I said, turning to Nate. "I assume, being the supreme leader, you already knew who Jimmy was the entire investigation, or should I say what he was."

"Yes, I knew who and what he was, I didn't know how he was involved, and I didn't want to ruin the case, so I pushed you to be the lead undercover person. That almost ended up backfiring on me when, like every other male you run into, he showed an interest in you."

"It looks like jerk is going to be my word of the day. What time is it anyway?" I asked, still not really oriented from being out for days.

"It's morning, so you have the full day to utilize your word of the day," Nate answered.

"Good, where did Rick go to? I'm sure he's done something jerky within the last five minutes." I didn't need any magic crystal balls to know that was true.

"He's entertaining some of our other guests. The big meeting won't be until tomorrow, and Jimmy wanted to get a chance to say hi without everyone else around," Nate said.

"I also wanted to pledge my support for any decision you end up making during this conference," Jimmy said.

"Are you sure? We may be suggesting that we kill all firstborn children." It wasn't my best comeback, but it was the first thing to come to mind.

"I know you well enough to know that's not the case. Even if you've stepped out of your shell, I doubt you've turned to the dark side," he said.

"You never know, I hear they have cookies," I replied. "So what are the plans for the day?"

"Sorry, my little butterfly, but you'll be in training most of the day. Nadine has agreed to stay at least a week to help you learn as much as you can before you may be called on to use those powers," Nate informed me. "Oh, but before that, your parents wanted to see you. They drove up when we first brought you back here."

"Good, I have a few questions for them anyway. You could probably answer them for me, but I want to get it straight from the horse's mouth."

"Avery, silly, your parents aren't horses," Jimmy said jokingly. "I heard the horses weren't even coming to this meeting."

"Very funny, jerk," I said back to him. I turned to Nate and asked, "Does he know about all the issues with my head?" The funny looks I kept receiving made me think Jimmy didn't know the whole story of what was going on in my life.

"Not really. We've kept that little issue out of general unique gossip. Most of the leaders will be learning for the first time tomorrow. He probably thought you were a little odd when you met, because you didn't act like you recognized him for what he is. None of us had officially met, but you should've known he wasn't human."

"I am in the room, you know," Jimmy said. "Are you saying she really didn't know who I was when we met last year? It wasn't an act?"

"No, I didn't know who you were, jerk. You probably made that story more depressing because you thought I'd see through it, but I didn't."

"Holy crap, what happened to her?" Jimmy asked Nate before I could explain anything else.

"'Her' can answer the question better than he can. During my last resurrection I decided to take on sorceress powers, but in order to do it, I had to give up temporary knowledge of all my memories. I didn't know who Nate was when we were set up on a blind date, if that's any indicator of how bad things were."

"She's regaining memories now. In fact, today is the first day she really remembers who I am without me reminding her we're soulmates," Nate added.

"Shut up," Jimmy said, copying my line from earlier. "This is just too funny."

"It's not, jerk. Can you imagine forgetting your own children?" I asked.

"Since I don't have any children, I don't have that issue, but I could see how that might get you down. Especially with your children, they've all made something for themselves," Jimmy replied.

"Just wait for the next one, I hear eventually we get a real overachiever," Nate told him.

"No one said that would be our very next child. I don't want you putting undue pressure on any future children," I said as I elbowed him.

"Wait, future children?" Jimmy said, looking disturbed by those words. "Have you guys both been hit in the head? We've stopped having children for a while now."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I need to talk to my parents about. Where are they?" I asked.

"You seem to be in one of your moods, let me call them for you," Nate said. He then proceeded to send them a message warning that I was a little testy.

"No fair warning them," I said when he received the confirmation they were on their way. "You do remember with this whole bonding thing we don't even have to try to listen in to each other's thoughts anymore. They're just there."

It kind of reminded me of what Eva was saying about not really reading my mind. It was probably a good thing that I had my memories back of how it felt. If I hadn't been expecting it, I would've wigged out hearing Nate constantly.

"I know. Now if anyone wants to keep a secret from you, they have to keep it from me as well. You'll remember that I always find ways to surprise you, though."

"Congratulations, you two," my dad said, entering the room. "It's nice to see you guys bonded back together. I thought we'd had a few more weeks before the big event." Rick's big mouth had evidently been working overtime if they'd heard we'd set a date.

"I can't believe you didn't let others witness the ceremony," my mother said, coming in and giving me a hug. "After all these years, we should've had a chance to join in the occasion."

"You missed how romantic I was about the whole thing," I told her sarcastically. "It was not exactly a Hallmark moment."

"I wouldn't say that. We weren't there for it, but we felt the love behind the words you said. It brought tears to my eyes," she said. I didn't bother telling her it did the same thing to me.

"Yeah, but you cry at everything. You cried when that singer shaved her head. Anyway, that isn't why I wanted to talk to you guys. I want to know how in the world I was born."

"If you really want to know, your mother made me tape it, but I don't think it's a video anyone should actually watch. We're pretty open about things, but I think that video is a tad bit private," my dad said.

I quickly glazed over the fact that a video existed. I didn't want my mind to have a chance of imagining what was on that tape.

"No, you say I came out of mom that's fine, but how in the world did I get put in there? Everyone says we don't have babies anymore, yet twenty-five years ago I was magically born."

"Oh that, will it help if I say we don't have a clue either?" my mom said.

"No, that would probably make it worse," I told her. If anyone had the answer, the two of them had to know.

"We really don't know. We weren't trying to have a baby, if you get my meaning," my dad said, winking like that would help me figure out what his words meant.

"So I just appeared in your stomach one day?" I asked.

"Yeah, similar to that whole Immaculate Conception thing in the human bible," my dad said.

"Please don't tell me I'm some second coming of Jesus," I said. If I was, the world was really in trouble.

"God I hope not," Nate said. "You're already difficult enough to live with."

"I don't think so," my mom said, but not before I stomped on Nate's foot for his comment. "I just think that because we're cursed or whatever, that it was the only way for you to come back. I mean, we didn't know it was really you, so we were shocked to even be pregnant. Looking back over the years, it was obvious who you were, though. I can't believe how long it took us to figure it out."

"So I've heard. While I was recently napping, I got to relive my tenth birthday party that I thankfully was forced to forget. A circus, what could you have been thinking, Mom?"

"You ended up enjoying yourself, but you're right, it's weird you never mentioned it after that day," she replied.

"One of the Fates gave me a visit that day and when she realized I didn't remember her, she wiped the whole day from my mind. Supposedly the warlocks spell was going to make me relive a day as a baby, so I'm semi thankful for her intervening and steering it towards ten-year-old me," I explained. "So, if I would've come back like I normally do, I would've just appeared at your house one day fully grown, right?"

"Yup, this time you were baby you, which we hadn't seen in centuries, so we didn't recognize you" my dad confirmed.

"Okay, you've totally lost me," Jimmy says. "I have a feeling I should just wait until tomorrow and hear the whole story with the rest of the group."

"That would probably be best. It's a pretty long story and Avery needs to get to her training. I'm hoping the next time you get put under a spell, you can figure out a way to counteract it yourself," Nate said.

"I'd really like that. I could've cut out before the clowns arrived."

Nate started laughing, the big jerk. "Nadine is waiting for you in the gym. She sectioned off an area for your training. Have fun and try to stay away from any wayward clowns."

I gave him an evil glare and said, "Jerk," before making my way out of the room.

I heard Nate's mind say, "You still love me."

"Only on Tuesdays," I replied back.

CHAPTER 23

Hey, magic really is easy

I made my way to the gym and found Nadine waiting for me, as expected. She'd sectioned off one of the back mats as our little work area. I didn't know exactly what was dividing the mat from the rest of the room, but there was a combination of stuff lining the perimeter and a change in the way the air felt.

"I trust you're feeling better," she said.

"As good as one can in a house full of crazy people," I replied. "Other than when I hit the ground, I didn't really feel any pain."

"You do have a very eclectic mix here, but everyone seems to care for you very much. I've seen some beings I didn't think I'd ever see, and you've mentioned having a Fate as a friend."

"Don't believe a word anyone around here says. I'm pretty sure they were all con artists in previous lives. So, how do we get started? I've really only played around with spells I think up on a whim, and they're usually accompanied with bombs going off in my head."

"Tell me what you feel is the biggest thing you've tried so far."

"You mean beyond the fact that I somehow managed a spell to give me these powers to begin with? Probably the whole moving me and Nate from an airplane in Alaska to the house you're standing in now."

"And you did that without any help. Just thought up some words and were able to accomplish something that large," she said.

"Correct. I decided I didn't want to fly on a plane anymore and whisked us away," I replied.

"You're even stronger than I thought. I felt the power while you were still asleep, but I wasn't aware of just how strong you really are. I'm sure you know that I'm not that strong a sorceress. It would take a very large sacrifice for me to accomplish something like that," she said.

"I think that's kind of what I need you to teach me. I keep getting these horrible headaches when I say a spell, and the other day I tried to deactivate someone else's spell and ended up passed out for a while. If we can find a way to avoid those things, I'd be extremely happy."

"I understand. I'm sure you've heard all magic has its price. You will need to find something you're willing to sacrifice in order to say a spell to avoid the headaches," she explained.

"How big a sacrifice are we talking?" I asked. "I'd prefer not to have to lose chunks of memory again, which is how I got my super-charged powers in the first place. And if we could keep from having to kill small animals, I'd like that too."

"It just depends on what you want to do. People have done things like tattoo themselves as sacrifice before saying a spell. The most common is probably a blood offering. If all you ended up with was a headache from your teleporting trick, I don't think it will take much of a sacrifice for you to do most things," she said. "If I were to try that without a sacrifice, I'd probably lose a year or two off my life."

"So are you saying I have to go find some chickens and start slitting their throats before I say a spell?" I asked. "As I mentioned, I'd prefer not to kill small animals, but I could at least cook the chicken up afterward."

"If that's what you want to do, yes. Some things may take a death like that in order prevent you from feeling the pain. For the most part, with your power, I think you might be able to get by sacrificing a little of your own blood. Before you say a spell, prick your finger and allow the blood to either fall to the earth or into a bowl. Work into your spell that's your sacrifice and you should be good to go," she clarified.

"Really, it would be that easy? I don't have to use a special dagger or anything like that?" I asked, looking into her light blue eyes.

With her gray hair and wrinkled face, she matched the image I had in my head of what a sorceress should look like. I technically had two images, but the other one was based on "sexy" Halloween witch costumes that I assumed were false.

"I don't think so. We can practice and see how it goes, but I think your spilled blood will be a big enough sacrifice."

It was kind of weird, but if it worked, I preferred it to the headaches. It's not like I was going to go around casting spells that often anyway. At least I hoped things didn't turn out that I had to.

"So how can we test this theory?" I asked.

"How do you think? You're going to have to try a spell. I have my ceremonial bowl here that you can offer your sacrifice in. I would recommend something similar because just a bowl from the kitchen kind of cheapens the sacrifice," she said as she turned to look through her stuff and brought out the bowl. "I was told you would probably come with your own knives, so I'll leave the cutting instrument to you."

I preferred my own knives, because that way I knew they hadn't been dipped in something harmful. I had no reason not to trust Nadine, but I found myself cautious around her. She kept saying she wasn't that strong, but our definitions probably differed.

I pulled the knife from my right thigh sheath and prepared to make a cut on my finger. "The cut doesn't have to be crazy deep or anything does it?" I asked.

"No, just make sure you get a few drops into the bowl," she replied.

I took the knife and made a small slice on my left pinkie finger. At first I didn't see any blood, so I squeezed until it made it to the surface. I held my finger over the bowl and worked to make a small puddle in the bowl.

"Now, just work your sacrifice into a spell." Nadine instructed.

"Okay, here goes nothing. With my blood freely given; we begin this spell and hope to be forgiven; mom's hair of blonde is so wrong; change it to brunette, as it should have been all along," I said, and waited for any indication that it worked.

I didn't feel the usual headache, so I was pretty sure I'd messed it up somehow. Of course the person who I expected to be affected wasn't in the room, so I didn't have any proof whether it worked.

"Not only are you strong, but you're also good with your wording. Rhyming isn't always necessary, but it does make it fun," Nadine commented.

"I don't think it worked though. I didn't feel anything."

"As long as you have your sacrifice in order, you shouldn't feel a thing. Just trust in your magic and it will do its job."

"Avery Belle Clavens, I know you did this," I heard my mother screech at the top of her lungs. "You better be able to undo this just as quickly." Her voice was swiftly heading in my direction.

When she entered the room, I saw her hair was a rich brown. I thought it looked pretty good on her, but I doubted that would matter. She had a persona she was trying to be.

"I'm guessing me saying it was someone else isn't going to fly. It could have been one of the warlocks messing with us."

"No, dear daughter. This has you written all over it. Now would you be so kind as to change it back to its regular color?" she asked, actually it was more of a demand, but I was ignoring that tone in her voice.

"I don't know, Mom. I think you look pretty good as a brunette."

"Be that as it may, I prefer blonde, so get to it," she said, waving her hands around. I thought about waiting a few minutes to see if the hand motions helped anything, but I knew they wouldn't.

"Fine," I said, returning to the bowl to add a few more drops of blood. My fingertips had never hurt over the many years that I'd burnt them while cooking, so it didn't surprise me that I felt no pain when I pricked my finger a second time.

"Here is my blood as sacrifice; thank you to Nadine for such good advice; mom wants her hair the same as before; so please change it back before she knocks me to the floor." I knew it wasn't pretty, but it did the job.

"Is it better?" Mom asked.

"It's blonde again if that's what you mean by better," I told her. I still thought the melted milk chocolate color looked better.

"You know very well that's what I'm asking you. I'll let you get back to your fun, but please try to target someone else with your spells. You tend to use your brother enough that he's used to it," she said, hurrying from the room. It looked like she was afraid that any second I'd change her hair back. I found it hilarious and thought the next time I'd turn it pink.

"So, it seems this is going well, what can you tell me about protecting myself when disarming spells?" I asked Nadine.

"As there are many ways you can offer sacrifice, there are many ways to protect yourself. I personally use Angelica Root. I used to carry a small pouch of it with me, but now I drink a glass of Angelica Root tea every day. It's a little bit more convenient and good for the heart. I can put you in touch with the online shop where I get mine if you'd like."

"Sure, that would be nice. If you're not aware, I'm preparing to battle a warlock who is set on killing me. Since I have you here answering questions, do you have any advice?"

"Other than to go for the neck?" she asked with an odd twinkle in her eye.

"I'm pretty sure this particular warlock won't be stopped by a decap and burn. I have a knife that has been charmed and should be able to do the job. The problem is he has one that will kill me. If that were to happen, things would get bad fast for anyone left alive."

"That's a big problem. I know enough to know you're not human, but I don't know exactly what you are. I imagine that him having something that would kill you is pretty remarkable, and goes to show just how strong he is. I'd be no help in a fight against something that strong, but I will mentor you as much as I can."

"Thanks. I'm so new at this magic stuff that I'm sure there are tons of things for me to learn. Just getting through the headaches is a good start, but I don't know exactly what other limits there are."

"I know you uniques don't like letting others know what species you are, but do you happen to have abilities other than your sorceress ability to cast spells?" she asked.

She'd already skated around me being a unique, and it was cute that she continued to, but I could tell she wanted to know what she was dealing with. I didn't see any problem with her having that knowledge.

"If you're going to be hanging out around here for any amount of time, you might as well know that I'm a phoenix. As far as abilities, I have some decent telepathy, telekinesis and I'm a wicked firestarter," I said, producing one of my fireballs as proof.

"You're a phoenix? But that would mean most of the people I've met while I was here are phoenixes, because they're related to you. Phoenixes are the most cherished beings in the magical community. Meeting one would be like completing a lifelong goal," she said before looking at me crossly.

"Fooling with an old lady like that isn't very nice. If you don't want to reveal what you really are, you don't have to make up such a grand lie. The fireball was a nice touch, though, but I know anyone with a rudimentary level education in pyrokinesis can do that trick."

"What would it take for you to believe me?" I asked.

I hadn't expected her not to believe me. It made me liked her a little better that she didn't.

"I wouldn't believe anyone to be a phoenix unless they changed right in front of me," she stated, and the glare in her eyes intensified.

"If I had an extra pair of clothes, I wouldn't mind, but we have a house full of unique leaders, and I don't think I want to give them a free show," I responded. "Before you leave to return home, one of us will change for you. With five phoenixes in the house, one of us should be able to find the time to prove it to you." I could've produced an extra pair of clothes with magic, or charmed my clothes not to burn, but I didn't feel like changing for some reason right that minute.

"You might want to do a recount on those phoenixes," a male voice said from the door.

CHAPTER 24

A secret agent is only as good as their weapons

"Omar!" I yelled, running towards and wrapping my arms around him. "What are you doing here, and please remind me what name you prefer these days?" I should've known the answer to the last question. I was sure it'd been brought up in conversation at some point.

"It's Charles these days and Dad gave me the lowdown on what you guys are planning, and we agreed that someone with my knowledge of uniques might come in handy," he said. "Plus, now that you remember who I am, I'm one of only two of your children you actually get to see."

"I'm sure the other three have no problem being out of touch with me."

"You're joking, right? We didn't all go crazy like Dad after your resurrection malfunction, but it wasn't any easier on us kids. Just like every other phoenix in the world, when you were gone, our hearts were missing. The sooner you can remember the rest of them, the better it will be for all of our sanity."

"You guys really think you're phoenixes?" Nadine asked. I'd forgotten all about her when one of my children appeared in the picture.

"Of course we are," Charles answered. It was going to take me a while to remember the new name. "I can prove it to you if you'd like. Unlike the rest of my family, I have the ability to change without losing my clothes." I remembered seeing him do it before, so I knew he spoke the truth.

"If you wouldn't mind," Nadine said, still skeptical.

"Sure. I haven't changed for a little while, so it's probably a good thing," he said, stepping back and creating his fire wall. Within a second, a striking phoenix appeared in his place. He must come from good genes, I thought to myself.

He did a couple laps around the room as Nadine stared in awe. When he was done showing off, he landed next to me and changed back. For claiming not to have changed in a while, I was surprised he changed back so quickly.

"I'm sorry, Nadine, I was so busy catching up that I forgot to introduce you two when he came in. Nadine, I would like you to meet my eldest son Charles, Charles this is Nadine. She's a sorceress who's helping me understand my new abilities," I said.

"Nice to meet you, Nadine," Charles said, reaching out his hand to shake. Nadine was frozen in place with her mouth hanging open. "Did you say some kind of spell to freeze her, Mom?"

"No, I think she's just starstruck. Hopefully it will wear off soon," I replied. "Let me get a good look at you."

I turned him to face me and inspected him. He had short, brown, goofily styled hair and his daddy's brown eyes. Even though he was fully grown, he looked youthful.

"Stop it, Mom, you'll embarrass me in front of your frozen friend," he said, trying to step away from me.

"Wow," Nadine said. Her brain must have finally processed what she saw. "You really are phoenixes. No one is ever going to believe this."

"I would caution you on telling anyone else what you know until we give you the okay," I said. "It's not knowledge humans currently have, and at least for a little while longer, we'd like to keep it that way."

"Oh, of course. I just really can't believe I'm actually in a house owned by phoenixes. This is totally a dream come true," she said. It was kind of an odd feeling when an elderly lady went all groupie on you.

"Nadine, if you don't mind me asking, just how old are you?" I inquired.

"I'm one hundred and twenty years old. I won't live forever like you guys, but as a sorceress I have a few extra years compared to a normal human," she replied. That made the groupie comparison even creepier.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I haven't eaten in days and I'm getting hungry. Why don't we head upstairs and see if there's anything to eat," I said, grabbing Charles and heading for the door. I left Nadine behind to follow if she felt like it.

We made it up to the kitchen to find my berserkers at it again. Out of all my recent meals, I think they'd made about half of them.

"Dollface, it's great to see you up and about," Kyle said, coming over to give me a hug. "We just got up for the day ourselves and heard you might be gracing us with your presence."

"We've spent the last couple days coming up with the perfect French toast recipe for when you wake up," Liam said, joining his brother in the hugfest.

"Thanks guys. I'm really hungry, so I hope you're making enough," I replied.

"Sweetheart, if you want them, they're all yours," Liam responded. "I'm pretty sure everyone in this house would do without for you."

"As big as the majority of the men in this household, I hope I'm not that hungry. Did Elan happen to come back with you guys?" I asked. I hadn't seen him anywhere and hadn't had a chance to take a deep breath and search for the tobacco in the air.

"Sure did. He really freaked out when he saw you go down. Not quite as bad as Vinnie, but Elan isn't used to seeing you collapse, so he had an excuse," Kyle said.

"Vinnie has seen the aftereffects of quite a few misadventures, why would he freak?" I asked.

"Can't really say, but I'm pretty sure he's been locked up in his lab trying to create you a bubble suit so nothing will ever harm you again," Kyle informed me.

"So Nate wants to shackle me to my bed and Vinnie wants to wrap me in a bubble. Any other threats I should know about?"

"Other than the threat from just about every warlock on the planet, I think that's about it," Liam said with a smile. "Now sit down and eat your French toast, so you can go soothe your robot."

I was ushered to a chair where a plate with five pieces of French toast appeared in front of me. Too hungry to care whether the recipe was good or not, I dove right in.

"Mmm. Guys I think you found winner with this one," I said, shoveling bite after bite into my mouth.

"Good, let us know if you need any more," Liam answered.

"I'm going to go check in with Uncle Rick if that's okay," Charles told me.

"Go ahead, someone's got to try to keep him out of trouble. We can catch up later," I replied. He smiled and then walked away.

I quickly finished my food and stood up to leave. I got a bit of a head rush from moving so fast. I dismissed it as just an effect of being in a coma for three days.

"Thanks guys, I'm off to find Vinnie if anyone comes looking for me," I said and headed towards the lab.

When I got there, I found Vinnie concentrating on some paperwork. "Read anything good lately?" I asked.

He looked up and I swear if robots could cry he would've been. He jumped up and walked over and gave me a hug. I was fairly certain it was a first for us.

"You're awake," he said.

"Yeah, one little spell can't keep me down for long," I told him with a smile as he stepped back.

"I was worried you wouldn't wake up, and it would have been my fault," he said, looking down at the ground.

"Hey, who installed the guilt chip?" I asked. "There's no way me getting hit by that spell was your fault."

"But it was my job to protect you. I should've done something more to keep the spell from hitting you."

"Look, Vinnie, I don't know who gave you the messed up dose of estrogen, but you really need to ask for your money back. Could you see the spell coming at me?" I asked.

"No," he replied softly.

"Then how in the world would you have stopped it? I could have maybe stopped it if I was able to see it, but since I couldn't, I got hit. It's no big thing. As far as I know, only one thing out there can permanently kill me, and believe me, I ain't going to be taken down by a measly spell," I said.

He finally smiled at me. "I'm really glad you're awake. I want to show you what I've been working on. Then at some time I'll need your magical assistance, so we can try to come up with a solution for fighting invisible magic."

"Great, I'm glad to see that you've been working on something other than a bubble suit for me. I heard rumors that was what you were doing in here."

"That only took a few hours, and I was going to wait until you'd been awake a little longer before recommending you try it on," he said, pointing in the corner, where sure enough there was a suit on a mannequin with a full-face helmet, gloves and matching boots. It didn't look like a giant sphere, like I'd feared. It was more like a cat woman suit, and could be kind of cool to wear. I bet Kyle would be jealous of my crime-fighter outfit.

"That's pretty spiffy looking. You might actually catch me wearing something like that," I said. Well, at least on the battlefield. In normal, everyday life I'd be sticking to my jeans.

"Here's the first thing I wanted to show you," he said, handing me something that resembled a canister of pepper spray. "Be very careful where you point it."

"What is it?" I said, looking at it from every angle.

"It's short-term memory loss spray. You mentioned that it might be something to look into. So I went ahead and found the perfect combination of chemicals to essentially wipe a person's short-term memory. You can get in, do your thing, give them a little spray, and then be on your way."

"It even has a little catchy jingle. Have you done any testing with it?"

"Sure did. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and used it on a couple girls who wouldn't stop following me around. After the spray, they got confused and tried to figure out how they made it to the grocery store," he said.

"That's a little dangerous just using it out in public isn't it?" I didn't know how else he'd test it, but the risk of exposure seemed a bit high in the middle of a store.

"I thought if it had any adverse effect, you'd be upset if I used it on one of our roommates, so I didn't see a lot of options."

"I think that's a topic we're going to have to discuss in detail before the next time you test your inventions. Did you have something else to show me?"

"Sure. I know that Nate ordered a bunch of heavy artillery, but I know you also like your knives, so I made you a couple that are easily concealed in plain sight, so you can wear more of them. Neither design is exactly groundbreaking, but I think you'll like them. First, I know you don't usually do much with your hair, but after you see these you might," he said, handing me two sticks that looked similar to chopsticks.

"Are they for eating tasty lo mein?" I asked.

"No, see here," he said, pressing the top of one of the chopsticks. When he did, a small blade popped out the bottom, making it a thin knife. "Be careful. I coated them neurotoxin that will cause paralysis in whoever is stabbed with it."

Holy crap, Vinnie wasn't playing around.

"Wow, these are amazing. I think you might be right about me finding a reason to wear my hair up more."

"The other design I did is similar, but is in the pen variety," he said, offering me a ballpoint pen.

I pressed the clicker and sure enough instead of something to write with, I had another little knife.

"You're turning into a great Q, Vinnie. Maybe you should watch some old Bond movies to find some more cool ideas."

"Already have, and don't worry, I'll have more prototypes available for you soon," he replied, taking back the pen and chopsticks for the moment. "I won't ask you now, because you're still recovering, but within the next week I'd like for you to try some silent spells, so I can check for atmospheric changes to see if there is anything I can work with."

"It would probably be best to give me a couple days. I don't want Nate to get worked up about me overexerting myself, and we have a lot of guests running around right now," I said.

"No problem, I just wanted to catch you up on what I've been working on."

"Well, thank you for all your hard work. I'm going to go try to find Elan and thank him for coming with us to the meeting with the warlocks. If you need anything from me non-magical, just holler," I said, walking towards the door.

"Will do, and, Avery, it's really great to see you up and about again," he said, waving as he went back to his paperwork.

CHAPTER 25

Warning: Lovey dovey stuff inside, read with caution

With a house as big as ours, I didn't really have a clue where to start looking for Elan, so I headed to the kitchen to see if Liam was still around. He should've been able to at least point me in the right direction. No berserkers in sight when I got to the kitchen, but Nate and Elan were sitting at the table talking. Wasn't that convenient.

"There you are. I was just mounting a search for you, Elan. I wanted to personally thank you for being there for us in the clearing," I said.

"I just heard you were up and about and was going to come find you, but Nate told me you'd be here soon. It's I who actually have to thank you," he said. "I've never felt so welcome around other people. I mean, you have some very influential uniques here, and every single one of them has shown me respect just because I'm your guest."

"I'm glad to hear it. I think you're going to be a big asset to our group here. After we get all this talk of going public out of the way, we can sit down and talk battle scenarios. You've been through one, so you kind of get the idea," I replied, taking a seat at the table.

"Yeah, next time I'd like to be more useful. I think doing the simulations with your warriors will be a big help."

"So did they take care of you while I was out? They did get you your own room set up, right?" I asked. I assumed Nate made sure things were in order, but with me out for the count, I didn't doubt some things got overlooked.

"They did. I think they were afraid of your wrath. They actually gave me a room upstairs with you guys. After touring this place, I was sure I'd be down in the rooms set up for the trainees," he said.

"Good. You're part of the family, Elan. The trainees will be people we're close to as well, but they aren't part of our core group. Our core has an even bigger responsibility than the rest of the uniques. We'll be making decisions that affect us all and we need to make sure the right people are in place for that job," I said. "After seeing you in action, I think we have an even greater use for you."

"That's perfect, Avery," Nate said, picking up where my mind was going.

"Please, do tell," Elan said, waiting for my latest idea. He clearly didn't know me well enough, most people groaned when they heard I had an idea.

"You're the perfect spy. Think about it, you can take the form of anyone. When we find more camps of warlocks, we can snatch one of them and send you back in his place. You can get us access to what the big plans are, and we can adjust to try to thwart those plans," I told him. "I know you have an issue with being used, and I really don't want you to think we're treating you poorly. We all have our talents and we're just figuring out how we can use them to our advantage."

He was grinning from ear-to-ear. "You aren't using me, you're giving me a job to do. It's not like you're going to take what I give you and somehow use it against me later. I'm just grateful to finally have a place to belong."

"Good. When things calm down a little bit, we'll have to make a weekend trip into the city so you can show me what fun your illusions can really be. I don't want you to get too bored just working on battle simulations. I like to keep everyone in the house as happy as I can," I said.

"You might want to make sure you don't get hit by any more spells, then. The house was a tad depressing with you out for the count," Rick said, coming in with Charles.

"Vinnie is already working on that. Have you seen the new suit he made me or any of the new gadgets?" I asked.

"I saw them when you did," Nate said. "And I can't wait to see you try on the suit. I'm not sure I'm going to let you out on a battlefield in it though. Maybe you can play cat burglar in the bedroom, but other than that, I'll have to think about it." It was the kind of response I expected from him, so I just gave him a little wink.

"Speaking of cats, where are my puppies? I haven't seen them around this morning," I said.

"Miranda and Joseph decided to take them for a walk down by the beach. They were getting a little worked up with all the people in the house," Nate said.

"If they aren't back soon, I'm going to go looking for them. How are the sleeping arrangements working out with all the leaders?" It was going to take me days to get caught up with everything.

"Most people are staying in the city and using private jets to fly in. The leaders from Alaska, that you recently met, and Jimmy are the only ones actually staying in the house. Oh, and the panther leader. Since his son will probably be hanging around with us, he thought he'd stay close. They don't get to visit that often," Rick informed me.

"His son?" I asked.

"Gary," Nate responded. "He and Frannie are due back tomorrow."

"Oh, so I've met the panther leader," I said.

"Yup, we worked it so only people you knew were close by. We didn't want any awkward meetings until we announced to everyone about your memory issue," Nate said.

"You guys are so smart," I said with a smile. "So training went well today. I managed to freak my mom out by turning her hair a different color."

"I saw," Rick said. "Brunette was kind of boring. You should have totally gone for purple."

"Noted, but I was thinking pink. Next time I'll go for the real shock factor."

"So you know how to protect yourself now?" Nate asked. "That was what I was most worried about."

"Evidently a glass of tea a day will do it. Granted it is special tea that I'm going to have to order online, but it should get the job done."

"Great, and the headaches will be solved to?" he asked.

"A couple drops of blood fixes that problem. This magic stuff isn't all that tough, you just have to get the right instruction manual before you get crazy with it. Nadine has agreed to be my mentor and help me grow as a sorceress," I said.

"Yeah, as long as you don't change in front of her. Word to the wise, she's a little gaga over the phoenix thing," Charles added.

"Apparently we're a big deal to her and those she associates with. I really hope the leaders agree to the reveal, because she may not be able to hold that in forever. If it comes to it, I'll probably have to say a spell to make sure she can't tell anyone," I said, shrugging.

"You could make it funny, and if she tried to tell anyone, a funny saying would come out of her mouth," Rick suggested.

"I'll take that into consideration," I told him as I heard little feet pitter pattering on the wood floor. "Babies!"

Romeo and Juliet came running in the room to greet me. I got down on the ground to pet them and they immediately rolled over for belly rubs. When they got enough of them, they stood back up and started giving me kisses.

"Looks like somebody missed you," Miranda said, walking into the room.

"Nah, I probably just missed some of the syrup from my French toast this morning," I replied. "How did things go while we were away?"

"They were perfect angels, as usual. I think they were getting used to the house being so full though, because they'd often run around trying to find you or the guys," she responded.

"Well, Mommy's home to play with them now, and hopefully we can keep the house full enough so they never want for tummy rubs," I said, working my way off the ground. The dogs ran off to find someone else to pay attention to them.

"You know, there's this rumor I started to hear circulate this morning that you woke up delusional and somehow let Nate bond with you," Miranda said.

"My little friend Fate had something to do with that. She better hope she stays hidden for a little while. I don't imagine it's a good idea to go around smacking the person who dictates when new life starts, and happens to be related to people who can end life."

"Oh, so it was a romantic affair, I see," she responded with a laugh.

"You know how romantic I usually am, take that to about a negative ten and you'll have my general mood at the time."

"You know it wasn't that bad," Nate interjected.

"You're just happy that it wasn't you who had to coerce me into doing it. I still don't know why she couldn't have waited a few weeks for our wedding. It would've been so much better to do it then," I said.

"Yeah, well, it's done and you guys make the perfect couple as usual," Charles said. "To have someone as awesome as me for a kid, you know you guys are blessed in some way."

"Hey there, buddy, I remember what you were like as a kid now, so you might want to rethink that statement just a little," I told him. Everyone laughed.

"I still think I turned out pretty well," he said with a grin.

"No question there," Nate said. "All of our children are a blessing to us and all of you have done some amazing things over the years."

The rest of the day ended up being really boring. Everyone worked hard to keep me calm and relaxed. Usually making me lounge around while people came and went around me. After having my magic training, I was surprised they were still treating me with kid gloves.

I thought since Nate allowed the training just after I woke up, that meant everyone got the message I was okay. Evidently that memo never made it out, and he just wanted the training in case there was a sneak warlock attack. I knew he was aware of how I felt about things, but he kept giving me a look that said he'd break out the shackles, so I didn't push things.

By suppertime, I was thankfully allowed to get back in the kitchen and do some cooking. Miranda, Mom and I ended up making a mess of enchiladas for everyone staying in the house. When we finished eating we sat around watching a marathon of Sons of Anarchy. Watching the guys at the table reminded me of what it was going to be like the next day with the leaders. I really hoped we'd end up with a positive vote.

Before it got too late, Nate carried me up to bed. Protesting would just be a waste of energy, so I allowed it. I grabbed some PJs and headed to the bathroom to change. I had my memories of Nate back, but he still had to wait for the wedding before unwrapping his present.

"Really?" I heard him whine from the bedroom.

"Yes, just because we're bonded now doesn't give you any special privileges," I replied as I came back out to go to sleep. He was standing by the bed with his back to me. I saw the large phoenix tattoo and walked over to trace it with my fingers. "This is new isn't it? I remember the names, but unless you got it in the month that's still missing, I don't remember seeing it before."

He turned around to pull me in for a hug. "Yes, it's new. It was to be a reminder of what I am. When I changed back from a phoenix after all those years and found you still weren't back, I vowed not to change again."

"But that would've eventually killed you according to the myths. We have to change eventually. Within the next couple hundred years you have to change and proceed into the fire or you'll go too far over a thousand," I replied.

"Honey, I know it's cliché, but life without you was not worth living. I was probably going to go mad waiting for those centuries to pass," he said as he maneuvered us into bed. He positioned us so his arms were still around me and kissed my forehead. "I know you've promised it before, but please don't ever do that to me again, or at least give me some kind of warning."

"I'll do everything I can to ensure it doesn't happen again. Now, let's get some sleep so we're ready for our big meeting," I said, giving him a delicate kiss.

"Aye, aye Captain," he said and we slowly fell asleep.
CHAPTER 26

How to explain me? Let's see crazy, delusional and altogether nutty

When I woke up in the morning, I could already feel the power running through the house. It felt like if not all, most of the leaders had made it. I should've felt intimidated, but it somehow was making me feel stronger. Something about the energy called out to me.

"I can feel it, too," Nate said. "It makes you feel like you can take on the world, doesn't it?"

"And it's positive energy. There isn't a lick of negativity in the group. That's unusual with a group this large."

"I'm sure everyone has their own agenda, but since we're involved that changes things a little. Let's get dressed and go reintroduce you to everyone," he said, giving me a quick kiss before he climbed out of bed.

"Do I get to wear my bubble suit?" I asked with an evil grin.

"I'm pretty sure that isn't the atmosphere we're going for in this meeting," he replied.

"You're probably right, what do you suggest I wear?"

"I think it's important that you be yourself. Presenting anything else would probably be insulting to the others," he replied.

He left to get dressed, and I started looking through my shirts. He said be myself, so remembering my recent joke, I grabbed my shirt that said Welcome to the dark side are you surprised we lied about the cookies? and a pair of jeans. I quickly threw them on and brushed the bird's nest out of my hair.

Nate was sitting on the bed, waiting for me when I got done. He picked a nice pair of cargo jeans and a dark blue polo shirt. Good, he didn't go for a three-piece suit, which would've made me look ridiculous.

"You all set?" he asked.

"Let's get this show on the road," I said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the dining room, where the power seemed to be coming from.

"There you guys are," my mother said just before we got there. "Everyone is all set and we've put out a breakfast buffet.'

"Wow, thanks, Mom," I said, wishing I would've woken up earlier to help.

"It's no problem, honey. I know how it is being newly bonded. I expected you guys needed to sleep in a little," she said with a wink, and then headed off to the kitchen.

"She's your mother-in-law," I said, turning to Nate.

"And since she gave me you, I'm very grateful that she is," he replied, leading me into the dining room.

Inside, I found at least fifty people busy talking and eating food. I stopped and took it all in. These people were all special in some way, and I was going to be asking them to reveal that to the world. I was starting to get my nerves back just a little. I saw a few familiar faces, but for the most part they were all new to me.

"Everything will be great," Nate said, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

A loud whistle sounded and everyone turned to Jimmy. He nodded his head in our direction and I could feel everyone's eyes focus in on us. Okay, definitely feeling those nerves now. I didn't like them, but I'd dealt with them before.

"Good morning, everyone, and thank you for coming on such short notice. I trust you've been well taken care of while you were waiting," Nate said. The crowd mumbled their approval and he led me to a chair at the head of the table. "Do we have those who couldn't make it on the phone yet?" he asked, when Rick nodded his head he continued.

"As you all know, I am Nathaniel, leader of the phoenix race, and this is my beautiful mate and queen, Avery. I know you've all met her at one time or another, but part of the reason why we've brought you all here is that she doesn't remember the majority of you. The few she does know are only because she's met them within the last few months."

The crowd started to rumble a little with questions of how that was possible. They were going to love that I didn't have all the details, but I had enough I could wing it.

"If I may," I started and everyone quieted. "Like Nate, I too, would like to thank you all for coming. This meeting is kind of twofold. Part of it is informational to bring you all up-to-date on current events affecting the unique community; my memory issue is part of that portion of the agenda.

"The other portion is a strategy session on what to do next. The ideas we've come up with will change all of our lives, and I personally want to make sure every one of you is okay with the decisions we make."

A man in the crowd raised his hand and I pointed to him. It felt like I was back in school, but I was in the teacher's seat.

"I'm Seth, the leader of the tigers, and before you go any further, I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone here when I say thank you for including us in this. This is the first time we've all been brought together as a community, and I for one hope there will be many more chances for us to unite," he said as other people in the crowd started to clap in agreement.

It made me smile. "Thank you. If I have my way, this will become at least a yearly occurrence. Back to my story, which is where this all begins. I'm not sure what you know about my powers, but I've been told I have the ability to see the future sometimes.

"I haven't for sure experienced it in my current awareness, but I don't doubt what I've been told. A few decades ago I saw a vision that I'm still trying to piece together, but essentially it was of the uniques battling a group of warlocks.

"Something about the vision caused me to take steps to become a sorceress. I eventually found a spell, and with the little bit of magic I could already control, I said the spell at my last bonfire. I'm told that the price for becoming a sorceress was a temporary loss of my memory and me not coming back for a length of time. I'm not sure that everyone here knows, but I was missing to the phoenix world for about a half a century.

"Even when I did come back, I went through the process all wrong. Instead of coming back as my thirty-year-old self, I grew again as an infant. I think we've recently figured out that adding in the sorceress part of me made it so no one knew it was really just me reincarnated. Nate found me a year ago and our soulmate bond was undeniable, even though I thought he was just supercharged with electricity all the time."

I was on a roll, and probably should've stopped to at least take a breath, but I didn't want anyone filling in any gaps on their own before I could get it all out.

"Eventually, I started regaining my memories, and he was forced to reveal what I really was. It was a bit of a shocker after living twenty-five years thinking I was a normal human. Slowly, over the past few months, we've been figuring out what really happened, and I've been trying to relearn how to be a magical being.

"Over those months, we found a note I wrote to myself explaining that there was a war coming and I did everything I could to help prepare myself. I've also remembered a vision of a warlock with a knife that can kill uniques. That warlock contacted us after I killed his son and daughter-in-law up in Alaska. They were doing horrible things to some of the shifters there, trying to kill them in the most brutal way possible.

"Our last bit of intelligence explains why they're starting the war in the first place. There was a prophecy once written that I would rule our people and serve as a bridge between the human and unique worlds. I'd also bring about the end of the soulless amongst us and eventually birth the next great oracle," I paused to let that sink in.

I wasn't too comfortable about the ruling part, so I was interested to see their response. No one had stopped me to make Nate retell the story, so they at least didn't mind hearing me speak.

"You mean with you around and in charge we'll start having kids again?" a man I didn't recognize asks.

"I thought that would be the thing everyone picked up on," Nate said, laughing. I thought the war was a little more important than having kids. "That's how we're seeing it. It wouldn't be right for the Fates to allow us to start having children and not everyone else."

"To add to what Nate just said, the Fates, or at least the one in charge of baby making, has been trying to figure out a way to break the warlock's spell that's blocking the birth of unique children," I said.

"I'm pretty sure we've already accomplished that, my friend," Eva said walking into the room.

"You," I said, pointing my finger at her. "I can't believe you're actually showing your face around here. You have some explaining to do, missy."

"Come on, Avery, it wasn't that bad, and it broke the spell. I've already been able to create a couple new bundles of joy amongst your friends," she replied.

"You're friends with one of the three Fates?" a woman in the crowd asked. I glanced around and everyone was staring at me in shock. Seriously, they still weren't focusing in on the war. I was beginning to worry about where their heads were.

"Oh yeah, we are besties, even if Avery is a little angry with me right now," Eva responded, coming to stand by me. "She's also close with my other sisters, but they couldn't make it to the shindig today. I'll make sure they clear the calendar for the next one. People always say we liven a party."

"Eva, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, you know your well-being is something I'm very concerned about, so the outcome of this meeting is important to me. I think my invitation got lost in the mail though, so I had to come crash the party," she replied. "Plus, I wanted to make sure you knew about your Faie and fox friends being in the motherly way. You'll want to start planning the baby showers immediately. If you need any help with that, let me know."

I looked over to Frannie, who I'd noticed sitting with Gary and his father, and she just shrugged, clearly not sure what was going on.

"Yes, that's the Faie friend I'm speaking of," Eva butted in. Frannie's face lit up as she grabbed Gary's hand.

"Really, we're going to have a baby?" she asked Eva.

"Sure, I figure when Avery finally gives in and has the triplets, they'll need some little playmates. Since you're her newest best friend, I thought it'd be good if you went through things with her. She's not exactly working to get pregnant right now, but it's only a matter of time."

"Ixnay ethay iplettray alktay," I said to Eva under my breath.

It was bad enough she was revealing information about my sex life. I didn't want everyone to know about the triplets.

"Why should I nix the triplet talk?" she asked. "I think it's great news. You and your brother are the only set of twins in the phoenix world, and you and Nate are going to have the only triplets in all of the unique world."

"I know, but I was keeping the exact number of children a secret from Nate," I said.

She looked over at Nate and said, "Oops, sorry."

"So the curse was broken when we did the bonding ceremony?" Nate asked, jumping into the conversation.

"Yeah, part of that whole true love defeating any curse mumbo jumbo. Once you two kiddies got all resynched, I felt the curse lift and went to work," she replied.

"Just how many babies did you create last night?" I asked, scared to hear an actual total.

"Chances are anyone who did the horizontal mambo with their mate last night is going to be in for a little surprise soon," she replied. "Exact delivery dates vary based on species."

"You don't do things halfway, do you? So now that you have everyone's mind on baby making, can we try to get back to the meeting?" I asked.

"Hey, you put the idea in their heads, I just confirmed it was possible." She found a chair and sat it next to me. "You may continue with your conversation now."

"Thank you so much, Eva, for allowing me to continue my meeting," I said in a terse voice.

"Oh hush, you'll get over it once you have those three kids running around your ankles," she replied.

Before I continued, I thought to myself, with friends like her, who needed enemies?

CHAPTER 27

War, what is it good for?

When everyone had calmed down a little from the baby news, I continued my speech. "So basically that brings everyone up-to-date, or at least up to the past few days. When we got back from Alaska, we had Vinnie, who if you haven't had opportunity to meet him is a robot who followed us home from Montana a few months ago, start scanning the news for any indications of warlock-type activity.

"What he found led us to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and the newest addition to our family, Elan," I said, holding my hand out to him. "As I'm sure you all know, he's a Kapre, and because of the way uniques have treated his kind in the past he was led astray by the warlocks. They told him we planned to kill him, and in fear he helped them by creating havoc around town to get our attention.

"Once he knew what was really happening, he confessed to me and came up with a plan to help defeat the warlocks who were in town. His plan worked great and another batch of warlocks have been disposed of. He came back with us to help even more, and I'm happy to say he has agreed to be our secret weapon in the war."

"So there's no way to prevent the war from happening?" a man asked as I took a breath.

I really wished they'd get nametags that had their names and what they were on them. Even if I had my memories, there were enough of them that I'd likely get them mixed up, and I was sure that wasn't a smart move.

"He's Brad, the wolverine leader," Nate told me mentally, before switching to speaking out loud. "I don't think so. This lead warlock has seen the prophecy, and is sure Avery is going to be the end of his kind. The only way for it to be stopped is for either him or Avery to die, and I can tell you right now, I won't allow her to be killed."

Nate was off to my side, so I couldn't see his eyes, but I imagined they ignited with fire. Strong emotions always brought out the phoenix in him.

The man held his hands up. "I wasn't suggesting that. To suggest such a thing would be pretty much sacrilege. She's our leader and no one here wishes her harm. I was just trying to confirm there wasn't a peaceful option available before committing my people to the cause."

"We'll always try to find a way not to kill anybody, but the way I see it is, if they raise their hands against my sister, their lives are forfeit, and I will take joy ripping them into pieces," Rick said in an authoritative voice. He was obsessed with seeing warlocks in pieces.

"Great, so how soon before I can get into one of the training sessions?" the wolverine asked. Thinking back, I knew I hadn't mentioned those yet, so I stared at the guy. "Sorry, you would have forgotten that I'm telepathic too. I knew where this meeting was headed yesterday when I came for a visit."

"Thanks for the explanation. I was starting to think my brother had been running his big mouth," I said with a smile. "The training brings us back to Elan. We were planning on starting training sessions with the local wolves this week, since we have their leader living here.

"The training is going to be a lot better with Elan providing real-life simulations for us, that way our people can get used to fighting against warlocks and not actually be hurt in the process. Anyone who wants the training is welcome to come stay with us for a couple weeks and go through the process, even if you're not planning to help fight.

"It will start out with one of us going over self-defense and the basics of fighting. We also have portions that will teach how to avoid being hit by flying energy balls and basic weaponry. We've started to stockpile some meatier ammunition that will hopefully never have to be used, but we're good boy scouts and want to be prepared.

"The other service Elan is going to provide is that of a spy. The next time we find a group of warlocks, we'll grab one of them and send Elan in that persons place. We'll be able to find out more of their plans and be in a better position to fight against them."

"Is there a sign up for the training?"

"Of course we'll fight with you."

"I definitely want in the first open training session."

"What other plans are in the works?"

Everyone started shouting things at once. Nate raised his hands and that calmed people down. It was a little scary how quickly the room went dead silent.

"We can create a sign up if the interest is that great, which I'm glad to see seems to be the case. We have a lot of room here, so we could probably handle fifty people per class," he said. "As much as we thank everyone for their support against the warlocks and helping us protect Avery, there is, however, one other reason for us calling you here today and it will probably change your lives more than any war. Avery, you've been doing so well so far, do you want to continue?"

"Sure, since it was kind of my idea," I said. Maybe it wasn't the right time to admit that, but facts were facts. "So, when I heard about the magical things happening in New Bedford, I got to thinking that maybe part of the head warlock's plan would be to expose uniques to humans.

"He couldn't really say 'here they are', but maybe he could cause enough doubts in humans' minds that they would start wondering if everyone they know is really a unique. If you think about it, that could turn into a huge issue. There'd be tons of fighting and confusion. In a way, we'd end up fighting a battle on two fronts, and I was trying to come up with solutions to prevent that.

"My initial idea was for us to reveal ourselves in a way that will make it less likely for people to be afraid of us. We thought we could start with a government official. Since Nate and I are in the FBI, we thought going to the director would be a good place to start. Based on some quick research, it seems he'd be understanding of the unknown.

"When we found out that it was just a plot to get us there, the thought of a reveal didn't seem as urgent, but with the prophecy indicating it will happen, I ask myself 'why not now?'. I know it's a big decision, and if we do it, I really believe everyone needs to be behind it. There'll be no more hiding what we're able to do."

"My worry is that people won't understand and start trying to kill us. What will they think when they find out that isn't possible?" a women asked.

"Alana is a cobra," Nate informed me telepathically, picking up on the fact that I wanted to know those kinds of things.

"That's a fair question. I think education is a big part of this. I personally think it's a good idea to set up seminars in all the major cities, where we can teach humans what it means to be a unique. My son, Charles," I said, nodding towards him, "is an expert in this field and I think he'll be an asset in developing literature to help them understand."

"Once you tell the director about what we are, where do you plan to go from there?" Ben asked.

I'd met the polar bear master when I spent a little time in Alaska, so I knew his voice without having to see him. Not that I couldn't see him. It was hard to miss the large man.

"I don't want to just go out in public and change in front of everyone. I'm open to suggestions on how you guys think it should be carried out," I said.

"We have a deer who has her own news show that's shot in D.C.," a voice from the phone said. With all the people around me, I'd forgotten there were still others listening. "You and Nate could be on her show. You're both very likable, and if need be, someone changing into a deer isn't that threatening."

"I like that idea," another among the group said. I got that it was male, but not who it was.

"Greg, lion," came Nate's quick message.

More people vocalized their agreement as well, some just nodded. I was kind of surprised that everyone seemed to be on the same page. In fact, they'd all broken apart into groups and were discussing their new way of life, like the discussion was already over.

I didn't understand how they could be so calm about everything. There were only a couple questions and once I answered them, everyone was just okay with moving forward. We were talking about changing centuries' worth of tradition.

"You've taken your place as their leader, Avery," Rick said telepathically. "They trust you won't lead them off course. You handled this extremely well, and I have to tell you I'm proud to have shared a womb with you, my little shero."

"Oh no, now you're getting all mushy," I replied back to him. "Stop, or you'll make Mom cry." He laughed out loud, and then turned to start a discussion with the man next to him.

"So, did everything turn out the way you wanted?" I asked Eva.

"Of course," she replied. "You took your place and have put into motion a great many events. Remember this moment, Avery, because it's going to be talked about for years."

When she was done talking, she disappeared. There was no change in the atmosphere or noise to alert her leaving. She was just there one second and gone the next.

"Dang it, I wanted to yell at her some more," I said to no one in particular.

"I have a feeling she'll be back before too long," Nate replied. "She's going to want to keep an eye on you."

I didn't want another babysitter, and I had a feeling that was what Nate meant by his statement. I'd already helped Eva to accomplish her goals, so I didn't think she'd be paying really close attention.

"Hopefully, next time she'll call ahead, so we can conveniently take a vacation. I need to figure out where she can't go and make you buy me a vacation home there."

"I don't think there's anywhere you'll be safe from her, but once we get through all the stuff already on our plate, we can try to find somewhere."

I liked that Nate didn't tell me it was impossible. I knew it was, unless I could figure out a way to hide in a pocket of time somewhere.

"For now I guess I'll just have to dream about it."

My eyes floated around the room and tried to find anyone who didn't look happy. I didn't know if they were good actors, or if they were honestly relieved about being able to come out from the shadows. The next steps of the plan left my stomach in knots, but everyone else looked like the weight of the world had vanished.

"So, how long before you're ready to go meet the director in D.C.?" Nate asked.

"Don't we have to make an appointment or something? I imagine the man is pretty busy, and we'll have to find some free time in between his meetings."

"No, we have a way to see him anytime we want," he replied, using the cocky voice that drove me crazy. "It helps when his secretary is a unique."

"Okay, I guess you have that all worked out, which is good, since I think I know his name and not much more. I suppose the next question would be how are we going to get there?" I chanted teleport over and over in my head, just in case he didn't hear it the first time.

"You're the sorceress, can't you just wish us there?" he inquired, with a sly smile spreading across his face.

"Hey, if that's the way you want to travel, I'm all for it." The jumping up and down in my head was probably something those telepathic in the room wished they could unsee.

"Good, let's let everyone continue having their fun while we go get this taken care of, so maybe we can relax too," he replied. "First though, you might want to charm our clothes for the rest of the day. I have a feeling at least one of us will need to change for him and I prefer neither of us end up naked."

"Your wish is my command," I said.

I took out a knife and cut my finger quickly. Not having a bowl handy, I let it trickle to the floor, I knew it wasn't dirt, but it was hardwood. Once that was done, I murmured a spell that covered everything and landed us in the Director of the FBI's front office. I almost started jumping up and down for real, when I realized I'd never need to take an airplane again.

CHAPTER 28

Trial by fire rarely works as you expect it

"Hi Charlene," Nate said to the woman sitting at the desk. "Is he in?"

I waited to see if my head would feel any pounding, but there wasn't even a little extra pressure. Evidently when Nadine said ground, it didn't have to be dirt, which was great for me. I could cast spells all over the house without any issues. Not that I planned on doing that, it was just good to know I could.

"Nate, what a pleasant surprise. Yes, he's in and has about thirty minutes before his next meeting. Do you think you can have your business taken care of by then?" she asked.

She acted like it was an everyday occurrence to have people just appear in the office. It worried me a little when I thought about who exactly had the director's ear. I'd been under the assumption that not a lot of people could teleport, but then again, she could've heard of me. Most of the people I lived with had big mouths.

"Maybe, he might decide to cancel the rest of the day's appointments when we're done speaking to him. It's one of those conversations when things are likely to hit the fan. I'd be ready to come in and assist if we call you."

Without waiting for a reply, he led us to a closed door and knocked. After a couple seconds, Director Milton opened the door. I figured he'd be more likely to bark out an order to enter than open the door himself, but he was already surprising me, so I took it as a good start.

"Agent Barnes, what a pleasant surprise, come on in," he said, opening the door wide.

I wasn't aware the director was going to know Nate on sight. If they were buddies, things were going to be easier than I thought. I realized Director Milton hadn't used Nate's first name, but I figured he didn't have any idea who I was, so some formality needed to stay in place.

"Thanks, Director. I don't believe you've had the honor of meeting my partner, Avery Clavens."

"No, I can't say that I've had the pleasure," he said, giving me the once over and smiling to reveal his pearly whites. "Won't you guys both sit down?"

"For the conversation we're about to have, I think we prefer to stand, but I highly recommend you take a seat," Nate said.

"Now you have me worried," the director replied. "I don't believe in sitting while a lady is standing in the room, so I'll join you two on my feet."

"It's your choice. Sweetheart, would you like to do the honors?" he asked.

I could see he was ready to go all out immediately. I'd thought we'd have a discussion first, and use the reveal to solidify our claims.

"Sure," I said, starting my ring of fire.

"Holy crap, what are you doing?" the director yelled. "Hurry, get the fire out." He ran to try to find something to extinguish the fire, not realizing nothing was burning.

During his frantic running, I found my phoenix, who didn't seem to be caged anymore. That was a little odd. I'd have to look into that later, because right then it was phoenix time. I changed into my phoenix and spread my wings out to stretch. It felt good to have my feathers.

The director, having only coming up with a glass of water, turned to try to throw it at me and saw I was no longer standing there. His eyes went wide just before he fainted to the ground.

"I warned him about using a chair. Charlene, you need to cancel those appointments," Nate hollered.

She rushed into the room and took stock of the scene before her. "Oh my, I'll make sure you aren't disturbed," she said before shutting the door.

I changed back into my human form. No use staying phoenix if there wasn't anyone to see it, at least not that time.

"How long do you think he'll be out?" I asked.

"Probably not long. He was just a little startled, and who wouldn't be seeing your sexy phoenix body," he responded.

"Time and place, Nate, and this isn't the time nor place. Do you still think this is a good idea? I could pop back home and get some of Vinnie's memory loss spray, and we can come up with another plan," I suggested.

"He'll work fine. I didn't see him make any moves to call for assistance. He just needs a few seconds to come to grips," he replied, just as the director started to stir. "See, he's already moving."

After another minute, the director sat up and shook his head. He looked up and started darting his eyes back and forth between the two of us.

"Did you guys pump some kind of hallucinogen into the room before you got here?" he asked. We both shook our heads. "I didn't think so. Does someone want to explain to me what just happened?"

"Sorry about that, Sir," I said. "I thought we were going to do the explanations first, but Nate, the lemonhead, thought trial by fire was the way to go, literally."

"Sir, we understand that you may not be as big a stick in the mud as most of the politician types in this city," Nate said. "We'd really like to have your help in a matter that greatly affects people like us."

"People like you, so you're both fiery birds?" I could tell Director Milton was trying to piece together what he saw, and he was still having trouble with it.

"We're both phoenixes, yes. There are many other types of beings who can change form out there in the world today," Nate informed him.

"Like werewolves, are they out there howling at the full moon like in the movies?" the director asked. Apart from the fainting, he seemed to be taking it pretty well, even if he still wasn't sure he could believe it.

"There are beings who can change from human form to wolf form. We don't really call them werewolves, though. Nothing about their ability has to do with the full moon. Humans can't even become one of them. We're all born the way we are and have lived among humans from the very beginning. Us phoenixes were actually the first species born on this planet," Nate continued educating.

"It's kind of hard not to believe when you change right in front of me, but I'll need a lot more information before I do anything to help whatever cause you have. I'm really tempted to take you to a lab and have you studied," the director said, and I wondered how much trouble I'd get in for kicking him.

"That would be a very bad idea. Avery here has kind of taken the role as a leader to all of the uniques and I'm pretty sure they'd break her out, and me along with her since I'm her soulmate. Why don't you come with us to our home? You can meet some of the other uniques and see that there's nothing to fear from us. We have books you can read through that will help explain things to you better than either of us could," Nate suggested.

"And what would make me think it's a good idea to just go off with two people who have admitted they aren't human?" he asked.

"Because, Sir, you have a very inquisitive mind, and you want to know if it's really all true. I can promise you right now that nothing in our home will hurt you. We've never harmed someone who could be classified as human and don't plan on starting." I didn't count the human criminals we'd had to deal with in the line of work.

"What about other things in the movies, are they real?" he asked.

"If you're speaking of vampires, no they're not real. I won't confirm or deny any other species until you've read the material we want to provide you. I really think it would be better to do it in our home, though. We don't want it being leaked to the public until we're ready," Nate said.

"Do I really have any choice in this matter?" the director asked. "It isn't like you can just let me go."

"If you decide this is too big for you, we'll do something similar to what they do in the movies and erase your mind," I told him.

"I know I don't want to go back to not knowing there's something else out there. I've always had a strong feeling that there was magic in the air. Let's go. If I find it's something I don't want to be involved in, you can just wipe my mind later," he announced. "Wait just a second, I'll have to get Charlene to cancel my afternoon meetings."

"Don't worry; we've already taken care of that. Sweetie, you think you can transport all three of us?" Nate asked.

"That shouldn't be an issue," I said, and started the process of my spell. The director watched me cut my hand with great interest.

"What's she doing?" he asked Nate.

"You'll find there's a lot more to my girl than meets the eye," he replied, being a little cryptic. "We're leaving now, Charlene. I imagine your leader will be giving you a call anytime now to inform you of today's events."

As he finished talking, I completed my spell and we were zipped away to our house. We ended up right back in the dining room, where a few groups of people were still mingling.

"Hi guys, this is Director Milton, and he's going to be our guest for the next couple of days. After he's done a little studying, he'll probably have a lot of questions, so please try to be as helpful as possible in answering them," Nate informed everyone whose eyes had focused in on us.

"Yes, Sir," the group replied.

"I think it'd be best if we find Charles and put the director in his care. He's the one who wrote the books and probably the best bet to answer any questions," Nate said.

"Good idea," I said out loud. Mentally, I called to Charles. "Where you at, Charlie? We have a visitor for you."

"I'm in the living room watching TV, but can meet you wherever you need me," he replied.

"Stay put, we're on our way," I responded. "It looks like Charlie is in the living room, let's head that way," I said out loud.

"How do you know where he is?" the director asked.

"You'll find different uniques have different powers. A common one among phoenixes is telepathy of some sort," I said.

"So you can read my mind?" he asked. It sounded like the idea intrigued him more than anything else.

"Sure, if I wanted to, but it isn't something we use very often. Me and Nate don't really have an option because we're soulmates and can always hear what the other is thinking, but other than that, I've rarely used it on humans," I told him. Of course it helped that my memory only covered a very small portion of my life.

We led him to the living room, where I found Charlie, as I decided to call him, sitting with Jimmy, Rick and the berserkers.

"Director Milton, I'd like to introduce you to our son, Charles. Charles, this is the man who is hopefully going to help us pave the way into revealing ourselves to the human population," I said.

Director Milton looked back and forth between us with a questioning look on his face.

"Oh we may have forgotten to mention that once a unique hits thirty, they stop aging. No one in this room is younger than, Jimmy how old are you?" I asked.

"Two hundred and fifty," he replied.

"Two hundred and fifty," I repeated. "You may also be interested in learning we can't be killed, just in case you had any ideas leaning that way floating around in your head."

"I didn't really, and am sort of glad I didn't. So, where are these books you want me to read?" he asked.

"Charles, can you show him to the library and help him understand what we need from him?" Nate asked.

"Sure, Dad. Right this way, Sir," Charlie said, moving towards the door.

"Before we go, can you tell me exactly what you hope to get out of this?" the director asked.

"Well, we want to reveal ourselves to the world. We don't want to live in hiding anymore and we have a bit of a supernatural issue we're dealing with that we want you humans to be aware of. I've kind of been appointed the liaison on the unique side of things, and I think we're hoping you can be the human version of that," I explained.

"I won't make any promises, but I'll listen to any information you can give me," he replied, and followed Charlie out the door.

I supposed all we had to do at that moment was wait to see what happened. It has been noted that I wasn't great with the whole patience thing, right?

CHAPTER 29

Simply put, we are phoenixes

It took a full two days before Director Milton finally tracked me and Nate down to tell us his decision. We gathered in the dining room and sat at the table for the big discussion. In the days we'd been waiting for his ruling, I was introduced to individual uniques who the different leaders thought had good stories to tell, if we made it to the news.

I have to say, there were a lot of very dedicated people in our group. They made me proud to be representing them.

"Let me start off by saying, wow," the director said. "I can't believe there's this sort of whole other world out there and it's nothing at all like the movies and books portray it. You really are just people trying to live normal lives. You have such extraordinary powers, and you don't do a thing to exploit the rest of us. It really is amazing."

So far it sounded positive, but I was always on the lookout for the other shoe. "Thank you, Sir. I'm glad you were able to see that," I replied.

"I've heard about what's really going on here. You're being attacked by a thing you call a warlock, which if I understand right is a human who no longer has a soul. I had no fewer than fifteen people come up to me and ask for my help, in any form I can give, to help save your life. Your mother was literally in tears, asking me to help facilitate this transition into public knowledge," he stopped and shook his head a little. "Sorry, still having troubles getting used to the fact you don't age. There's no way that woman should really be your mother."

"Believe me, she has actually birthed me twice, and I hear the most recent one is on video tape if you want to watch," I said.

"No, thank you. Anyway, getting back on topic here. I've come to believe you uniques are actually a diagram on how the rest of the world should live. You're all so different, but yet you can come together as a family whenever you want. You don't have wars amongst yourselves, or suffering, and quite a few of you have actually helped do amazing things in the human world. You have volunteered to fight and help defend humans since the beginning of time," he said.

"We only have one planet, and we have to learn to share it," Nate said. "We have talents that make it easier for us to do some things, so it make sense for us to help out."

"Yes, and I think it's time us humans were able to see how it can be done. I'm sure you know that even with my help, things won't be easy, but I'm willing to be your liaison, and will help you pave the way for peace among our different kinds."

"Really?" I asked.

"It's what you wanted, isn't it?" he replied.

"Of course, but I guess I never expected it to really happen. This is great, not even a suggestion of letting scientists play with us for a little while," I said.

"I think it's already been mentioned that that particular request from me wouldn't be allowed. So what's the next step?" he asked. "I've heard you were talking about going on a news program. How soon do you want to get the ball rolling?"

I looked to Nate for an answer. I knew we wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible to figure out what the damage was.

"I've asked, and they can do a breaking news report at any time. It's a local D.C. channel, but we're hoping some of the bigger news stations will pick it up."

"Does now work for you, Director Milton?" I asked.

"You might as well call me Steve. It seems we're going to be spending a lot of time together," he said. "And yes, now would be fine."

We let the others know our plans, and then I zapped us back to Steve's office. He hadn't changed clothes for a couple of days, so we left him while he freshened up and changed into his spare suit. When he was done, we hopped in his car and headed to the news station. After waiting two days for news, things were moving fast.

We went inside and were directed to where we could find Sonya. She was our deer friend, no pun intended. We found her sitting in make-up, getting ready.

"Hi guys, I'm so glad you chose to do this with me. I'm hoping it will be a huge ratings boost," she said when she saw us. "It's also an honor to meet you two. I hear you made a big splash at the inaugural meeting of the uniques."

"We managed to get out of it unscathed, so I ruled it a success," I said. "So, how do you want to do this?"

"I figure I'll just sit back and let you give an introduction at first. They did a good job picking you as our spokesperson. You have a very likable quality to you. Lots of power too, I imagine people will be drawn to you," she said, smiling.

"After the introduction, where you say there are special people out there, I figure I'll just start firing off questions that most normal people would have. Then at the end, you can do a big reveal. I don't think people will believe it without seeing it, and even then, they'll probably think it was something done digitally."

I looked over at Nate and he nodded. "Sounds good to us. Let's get the show on the road," I told her.

It didn't take Sonya long to finish getting glamorous. One person tried to come at me with some kind of powder, but the look I gave the woman had her backtracking. When everyone was ready, we were escorted over to a set. The number of cameras made me feel a little like the world was closing in around me.

"Good evening, I'm Sonya Fisher and we're interrupting your usual programming for an important message," Sonya said, while looking into one of the camersa. "I'm here with the director of the FBI and two of his agents. They have something they want to say to all of you out there. Please take it away."

That was my cue, and the butterflies in my belly exploded. I was surprised none of them flew out in front of the camera. Nate grabbed my hand for support and I felt myself calming down.

"Hello everyone, I'm Avery Clavens and what you're about to hear and witness may seem like something out of a science fiction or horror movie, but believe me it's real. There were no computer graphics done for this segment. My partner here is Nathaniel Barnes and we believe it's time to let everyone in on a little secret.

"I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I'll just come out and say it. Humans are not the only species inhabiting this planet. For millennia, before humans even existed, there have been other beings who are still around today. Me and Nate happen to be a couple of those first species and we decided, along with a group of others, that it was time to stop living in hiding.

"I know this may shock and scare some of you out there, but please don't be afraid. We really want to continue on living our lives how we have all these years. We just thought it was unfair to keep it from you any longer."

I'd said what I wanted to, so I stopped for a little air. Director Milton took the break to mean it was time for him to speak, and I was all for someone else taking the spotlight.

"I'm here to assure you that these people really mean no harm. I've been included on talks with all of their leaders and they are no threat to the human population. Unlike the horror books indicate, there's no chance you can get bitten or infected by something that will change you into one of them. They were born this way and have lived peacefully amongst us longer than any of us have been alive."

"Director Milton, do you mind me asking how you got involved in all of this?" Sonya asked.

"Of course not," he replied. "Agents Clavens and Barnes are actual FBI agents. Barnes has been one for years now and Clavens is a more recent addition. When they decided to reveal themselves to the rest of us, they wanted to start with someone within the government to see how that person would react.

"I was privileged enough that they chose me, since I've worked with Agent Barnes previously. At first, I was as shocked as probably most of you watching right now, but within just a couple of days I was able to see that they really are what they claim to be. Just other species living on this planet, trying to coexist amongst us."

"Do you mind me asking why now?" Sonya turned the conversation back to me and Nate.

"That's a very good question," Nate replied, taking over the talking responsibilities. "Although we're no threat to others, a group of once humans has decided to attack my beautiful colleague here, and is set on having a war against us. We want to make sure that if they cause problems with the human population, it isn't blamed on us. Plus, we really think this is the first time in history that we may be accepted like everyone else."

"You said a group of once humans. Does that mean they're vampires?" Sonya asked. The corner of her lips turned up at the joke.

"No," I said right away. "Vampires do not exist, and believe me, we would know if they did. These are a group of warlocks. Without getting into all the different divisions of magic, I'll just say that warlocks were humans who sold their souls to get their powers. They're not nice people and their leader has decided I needed to be disposed of."

"Can you give us any more information on why you're being targeted?" she asked.

"We prefer not to go into those details," Nate replied. "I will say that it isn't for anything she's ever done, but rather something good she will do in the future."

"What do you have to say to all those people out there who are going to say you're crazy and that you really belong in a mental institution?" Sonya asked.

"First, before I prove what we're saying is true, I want to make a couple more statements," I said, clearing my throat. "I want people to know that there are uniques, which is what we call ourselves, out there everywhere. They very well might be your neighbor, and I don't want people turning against each other based on assumptions. If you ask a unique whether they are one, they will truthfully tell you as of now. Many were afraid before of persecution, and many probably still are, but we won't hide anymore.

"We've fought alongside you in wars for centuries. I met a unique recently, a man who can change into a cheetah, who has served with a branch of the United States military going back to the Revolutionary War. He believed so greatly back then in the idea that this country was based on, he hasn't ever left. Many more of us are in the police forces, out there protecting you every day. We've always tried to help you make this a better world for all of us.

"Also we don't want to just come out with this information and leave everyone with unanswered questions. I'm personally going to start touring around the states and offer seminars so you can learn more about us and get all of your questions answered. The first one will be here in New York at NYU in a week. We're setting up a website with a full schedule, so people can make plans when we're in their area. I'm told the address is going to appear on your screen, so copy it down and please have a look. For those of you who won't be able to make it to one of the seminars, we'll also post videos from some of the seminars there and have general background information available on the site."

"You mentioned the gentleman you met recently was a cheetah; can I ask what you guys are?" Sonya asked.

"Of course, the plan was always to show everyone. My transformation may seem a little strange at first, but it takes a bit of warming up to get through," I said, standing up and moving the chair away from me.

Nate stood up as well, and moved back slightly. Seeing him, Director Milton did the same. It was probably best to get him out of the shot a little just in case he felt the need to faint again. I started my wall of fire to get to the right temperature.

"As Avery mentioned we're the first species born to this planet," Nate said as I found the imprint of my phoenix in my mind. Right as I changed forms he said to the camera, "We are phoenixes."

**THE END**
AFTERWORD

I warned you at the beginning

So that's it, another Avery Clavens adventure in the books. I had a lot of fun with the new characters, especially Eva. She was a real hoot and I look forward to writing about her again. I also enjoyed bringing Jimmy back. I haven't decided if he is going to stick around awhile or not, but we shall see.

It was funny, for the second time while writing this series, I wrote most of the last chapter about halfway through the book. I really had a strong opinion on where it was going to end, and I wanted to make sure I didn't divert somewhere in the middle. I know the ending may have been a little silly, but I really wanted to leave it hanging on the enormity of what they just did.

The next book, of course, is going to be about the fallout of going public and what new challenges face the team. Everything up until this point has gone pretty smoothly, but eventually something has to cause more than just a little bump in the road. I don't know what that something is yet, but I am sure it's out there.

**Amber**
About the Author

Amber has always had a passion for the written word. Along with that, she's always had ideas for stories swimming around in her head. It finally got to the point where she couldn't take it anymore and had to start getting her thoughts down on paper. There are still too many ideas, but she is working to get them out as fast as she can. Her hope is that one day her brain will be hers again.

Other hobbies of Amber's include: drawing, baking, arts and crafts, motorcycles, hockey and archery. She likes to think she has eclectic tastes where her hobbies are concerned. She loves to laugh and tries to make herself smile at least once a day. With the crazy thoughts going on in her head that usually isn't hard.
Other books by Amber Lynn:

Argonauts' Adventures

The Witch's Web

The Dragon's Fire

Daughter of Gaia Series

Daughter of Gaia

Queen of Aquima

Nightwalker Saga

The Nightwalker Knocks

The Nightwalker Teaches

Unlucky in Love series

Calypso in Love

Nani in Love

Rhea in Love

Hermia in Love

Desma in Love

Nyx Slaughter series

Night Calls

Night Marks

Night Bites

Night Howls

Night Lurks

Night Finds

Night Rises

Nyx Slaughter: Books 1-7

More Books

Searching for Home

Between Blood

