Chapter 17

They ended up in Drew's bed, having eventually made it there for another less frantic second round. Cassie lay with her head on his chest and his arm wrapped around her back.

"How long do you think this hunt might take?" Drew's chest rumbled against her ear.

Her fingers traced the curves of his chest drowsily. "It depends. It could take hours and I've seen it take days." The guilt over what she'd done had yet to set in and she wanted to luxuriate in the pleasure before waking up to that reality.

He kissed the top of her head. "Days, huh?"

She chuckled. "It might take that long to get my strength up."

"It'd better not." He laughed with her.

Cassie felt his arms shift and glanced down to see the fingers of his left hand run over the stone on his other hand. A warm ripple ran through her body.

Drew caught the direction of her gaze. "What do you think would happen if I took off this ring, I mean, amulet?" He used the word uncertainly.

"I'm not sure without knowing more about what kind of protections are on it or how long you've had it." Cassie told him honestly. "You've never worked with your magick before and you might hurt someone or yourself without meaning to if you didn't have someone looking out for you."

"Brandon gave it to me after a trip he took a few years ago." His hand traced the faint red line on her cheek. "How exactly does this thing work?"

"I've been thinking about that. It looks like Green Aventurine, which is a form of quartz. That would make sense considering your brother gave it to you and he feels a need to protect you from outside influences. He wanted to keep you safe from Pritchard and maybe even himself." Her feelings for Drew were already clouding her judgment. She wanted to believe Brandon was an unwilling participant in Terry Pritchard's plans. Dangerous was dangerous regardless of intention, she had to remind herself.

Drew listened rapt while Cassie went on to tell him what Julia had shared after handling the amulet last night.

"Quartz is a pretty major stone because it's so common and multifunctional. It can take the place of several stones so the user only needs to carry a few." She held out a hand. "May I?"

"Sure." He gave her his hand to let her examine it.

Cassie flinched as her finger grazed the stone's face, its influence far stronger with direct contact. Its siren song flooded her senses, dulling the sharpness of her fears. It told her she need not worry and Cassie felt herself being drawn in. Desperately she wanted to give herself over to it, give up her life's concerns as irrelevant.

Sense returned with a sharp phantom pain as the tissues in her cheek continued to repair themselves, ripping her back to reality. Immediately she responded, removing her finger and cutting herself off from its powerful seduction. The strength of its power over her faded back to the dull buzz she'd enjoyed through the contact she had with Drew's body. The hum keeping her in a contented bubble from which she did not yet wish to withdraw.

"Do you feel anything from it?"

"Yes." She said simply not letting him in on the extent of its sway over the Earth side of her nature. Her Water, fortunately, allowed her some modicum of control. "Do you?"

He looked down at the stone again. When he spoke he was thoughtful. "It made a huge difference for me at first. Hardly anything bothered me after I put it on but I think it's worn off now. I barely notice it anymore."

Cassie told him what she knew of his amulet's powers, keeping her eyes on his watching for sensory overload though the stone itself most likely protected him from such a thing. "Julia recognized it as a special class of quartz. It's called the 'Stone of Heaven' because it's such a strong stone with overwhelmingly positive properties. It's said to lend happiness and confidence to its wearer. People have reportedly been more charismatic under its influence as well. And," she added the real reason she suspected Brandon had given it to his brother, "it's also the best one for psychic healing."

Drew pursed lips and exhaled slowly. "It all comes back to that doesn't it?" It wasn't really a question. "What happened when we were kids. Now that it's happened again, he's in trouble, isn't he? Even if the police don't find the old report or make a connection. He's in trouble with your people."

Faced with Drew's unsettling insight Cassie blanched. To tell him now, like this, felt like she'd only been with him to distract him. Hadn't she? She asked herself accusingly. She'd gone to bed with him knowing his brother's life was forfeit when her partners found him, or she did.

"Cassie?" He shifted to see her face. "Is Brandon going to be okay?"

She looked him in the eye. "I don't know." She hated herself for lying to him. It was going to hurt him deeply when he discovered the truth.

Drew said nothing, his arm fell away from her leaving her colder still than her deception. "I should take a shower. They might call soon."

Offering no resistance, Cassie let him slide out from underneath her leaving her alone, all at once feeling the kind of unclean soap cannot take away.

When he returned to the bedroom to replace the towel around his waist with clothes, Cassie ducked in to the bathroom to clean up as best she could without a change of clothing. She finger combed her hair and let it hang dry. Drew had taken back his chair and turned on a sporting event, though which type escaped her preoccupied as she was. Friendly again, he raised his hand to her when she emerged from the hallway, his face curiously distracted yet pleasant.

Cassie's duty was to stay with Drew and she would. Even though she felt stir crazy with nothing to do and not at all comfortable sitting on the overly firm couch where little more than an hour ago things had been so different.

Sliding her phone from her pocket and stepping into the bedroom, Cassie made a call to father. He was the one person who had always stood up for her and given her comfort when she most desperately needed it. Without him she never would have survived the disappointment of her grandmother or taunting of the kids on the reservation. His comfort was what she craved now.

"Hey, Dad." Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. She wouldn't have called if she'd realized how close her emotions were to the surface.

"Cassie, hi. Are you okay?" Her dad, William Porter, picked up on her mood, although whether it was because of something in her voice or the fact that she was calling on a weekday, she couldn't be sure.

She forced a shaky laugh. "Yeah it's fine. I wanted to talk to you and I have some free time that's all."

Unconvinced, he let it go. "Your grandmother was just talking about you. She had another vision about you last night."

"Another one?" Inwardly she groaned. The last time they'd seen each other, things hadn't ended well. Grandmother had told her that if she went to the Academy with "those people" she would darken her soul until there was nothing of light left in her. She had condemned her granddaughter to walk a path apart from the spirit world, adrift from their help and guidance. It was the same as being damned in her father's world.

He cleared his throat and she heard the hesitation in his voice at bringing up such a volatile subject. "She said she saw a little bird." Cassie's name within the tribe, Little Sparrow, referred to how small she'd always been, like her mother's people, not tall and leggy like her father's kinsmen. "The bird was dancing with a dog when a flood came and washed them both away. The sparrow was too wet to fly."

The elemental ties in the vision did not escape Cassie's notice.

"The bird washed up on one shore, the dog on the other and there were unable to get to each other. Then a man came and he was wearing a mask. He offered to help the bird to reach her friend only she had to climb inside his pocket to go with him. Once she was inside she could not get out."

Grandmother's argument that as long as Cassie walked two paths she could not be seen by the spirits, nor could they speak to her to guide her, was a familiar one. She wanted her granddaughter to choose one and then she said her future would be bright because her heart was good and the spirits respected that. Grandmother was not a cruel woman, even if she had little patience for those who opposed her will.

"Thank Grandmother for telling me. I'll be careful." Cassie paid proper respect knowing it was expected.

"I will."

Cassie heard the bathroom door close next door. "Hey Dad, sorry to cut it short but I have to go."

"Duty calls." He joked, pride audible in his tone.

"Yeah, duty calls." She repeated half-heartedly. "Maybe after this one I can come for a visit." She offered, temporarily homesick.

"That would be nice Cassie." He paused awkwardly and Cassie felt her stomach tighten in anticipation.

"Todd's getting married on the next full moon." It was good luck to marry with the waxing of the moon. Marriages and even births to some extent were planned accordingly.

"Tell him congratulations for me." She said hollowly, all of a sudden wanting to be done with the call and thoughts of home. "I love you Dad."

"Love you too honey. Be careful out there." He added soberly, pride not canceling out the real risk his daughter took to support their family.

Cassie sank down on the floor leaning her back against the wall and let her head fall forward onto her knees. The phone still in her hand rested on top of her head.

Lost in her thoughts, Cassie startled when Drew's voice cropped up from only a few feet away.

"I need to go to the club to check on things, we opened an hour ago." He was eyeing her curiously. "Is everything okay?" Gray eyes flicked to her phone.

She saw his tension at her defeated posture and the phone and guessed the direction of his thoughts. "It's just home."

"Did something happen?" The genuine nature of his concern pained her.

She sniffed, her emotions once again threatening to erupt. "My boyfriend's getting married."

"Boyfriend?" Brows rose.

Cassie laughed harshly, wiping at her eyes. "Sorry, habit. He's an ex-boyfriend."

For a moment he seemed uncertain what to do then squatted down beside her. "Was it serious?" He rested his forearms on his raised knees and stared interestedly at his thumbs, posed side by side as if to compare them for symmetry.

The question caught her off guard and Cassie wasn't sure how to answer it. "I don't know if 'serious' is the right word. He was my best friend and then we ended up together. He's been part of my life as far back as I can remember." She wiped her eyes again. "Now he's not."

"Does it bother you that he's getting married or are you upset that he's moved on?"

Cassie blinked at him. She was getting the feeling his magick was tied to emotions, he was too intuitive about people he didn't even know. Her neck heated at the memory of how he'd known what she wanted in bed without so much as a hint. That usually took time and experience with each other, it was not a first time kind of thing no matter what the romance novels say.

She shrugged, considering his question. "I guess I'm a little jealous that he gets to choose what to do with his life." She admitted. "My whole life I've been in this tug of war between my mother and grandmother about where I would end up and how I would practice. That's probably why I could never figure out how to handle my magick, I was always trying to force it and never took the time to listen."

Sharing her innermost guarded thoughts with him was effortless, not at all like they were being wheedled out of her without much choice on her part. Cassie wouldn't stand a chance when he removed the amulet and got some training on how to really use that power of his. He would be better than Julia unless Cassie missed her guess.

"Until last night I was worthless. They were getting ready to kick me out of the company. My father would have been crushed. He and my mom wanted me off the reservation more than anything which was why he got between Todd and me in the end and sent me to the Academy." Cassie stared at the phone, seeing her father and grandmother's faces in her mind's eye and wishing there was a way to satisfy them both.

She waved a hand. "So here I am, doing what I have to, while life goes marching on for everyone else."

"What would you do if it was up to you?"

"I don't know. I've never let myself think too hard about it before."

He sank down on his rear and put an arm around her to draw her close. Cassie let him, liking the warmth he provided. There was an unexpected release in sharing what she had with him. She'd been worrying for a long time with no one she could share her private thoughts with. Not since she'd gone off to the Academy. This felt good. With opening up came the rush of emotion those carefully hidden thoughts carried. As they broke loose, so did she. Cassie choked and the tears ran over while Drew stroked her hair and made her feel safe.

When her eyes had run dry, her head lying on his shoulder, Cassie sniffed and gave voice to her earlier observation. "I can't believe I told you all that. I'd hate to see how strong you are without that thing."

"Do you think that's my deal? Getting people to talk?" He half-kidded.

"I've known you how long and you've gotten me to tell you things I've never told a soul." She twisted her neck to look him in the eye. "Seriously, if you're looking for a new line of work you could easily have a place with Veritas."

"Is that what your magick police force is called?"

Sniffing, Cassie giggled. "It used to be called Tutela ab Veritas, Guardians of the Truth but they've shortened it to just Truth. The original Directors formed it during the Middle Ages when things were bad for us. Magick was being manipulated to serve non-practitioners. We call them regulars," she explained. "They were killing us off by using us up and frying our brains for personal gain or destroying us out of fear. Kings, the Church, anyone looking for an edge over his enemies."

"It's that old and no one knows about it?"

"Veritas is well known in magickal circles, in families who have attended or been touched by Veritas. We keep our presence a secret only from regulars. That's what we do. It's the ones like you and Brandon who occupy most of our time. You're born with these abilities or they come on in puberty depending on the witch, and you have no idea what to do with them because no one's ever told you. It's not as uncommon as you might think. Maybe your parents had minor abilities and they got stronger with your generation, it happens. Either way, once we find you we have a duty to teach you control and how to operate within the law, and under the radar.

"You're thinking Brandon won't be able to live within the laws, aren't you?"

Cassie scooted over, putting some air between them and the numbing effects of the ring. She hoped to maintain some amount of professional privacy. She was partially successful. "Chaos magick tends to give the user no boundaries. Brandon might object to the limitations." She watched that sink in. Drew went pale and looked ill. "It can consume the witch if he isn't careful."

"Something has been wearing him down." He confessed, his concerns for his brother now taking on a whole new dimension. "He hasn't looked good in months, I was going to make him see a doctor when he got back." Tucking his worries behind a masculine grimace, Drew stared at his hands. "It's the strain isn't it? Pritchard's making him use his magick and it's wearing him out. What if it isn't his fault?" Drew's loyalty to his brother was blind.

If Drew was correct, that would put Pritchard up with other enemies of Veritas such as Julius Caesar, Hitler and Napoleon. Even the Papacy had not been above using up witches in the name of personal gain saying they were "fighting the devil with his own."

Explaining that would be too much of a history lesson to go into at present and it might do more harm than good for Drew to see how much damage could be done under the thumb of one powerful leader. This was fast becoming a complicated mission, more than she was equipped to handle. She wished, not for the first time, that her partners were here with her to take the reins. Cassie leaned her head back against his shoulder and rested her hand on his arm, letting the amulet's comforting glow quell both their fears for what might be coming. Right or wrong, she welcomed the bliss the stone afforded.