Chapter 594: Visiting Mia
Gram didn't seem at all surprised Quaid was with me when I reentered the kitchen. She fixed him with her faded blue eyes, not moving as he bent over her and soundly kissed her cheek.
"I wouldn't have turned you in, crazy lady," he said, deep voice rumbling in the quiet.
"Hrumph," she said, swatting at him, wiping at the place his lips had been like he gave her cooties. But when her gaze met mine, there was a sparkle in it that had been missing since we started our little discussion about the Dumont succession.
"You two go," Gram said. "At least Quaid will have an excuse and he might be able to make one for you if you can get to Mia before her watchers do."
Charlotte didn't ask. Didn't have to. Like she'd let me leave her behind.
"You'll have to cover for us," Quaid said. "Miriam assigned two Enforcer teams to each coven."
Gram's face screwed up in a scowl. "Lot of good that will do now," she said.
Hadn't I just had the same thought?
I felt the arrival of our new watchdogs just before we stepped through the veil. Gram would have no problem handling them, I knew. Besides, if Mom expected to fence in entire covens with four Enforcers, if her plan was to keep us all prisoners in our own homes, she had another thing coming.
And I honestly had no doubt in my mind such was the case. The grim look Quaid gave me as we emerged from the veil on the Dumont property told me he assumed the worst too.
We need to come together, I sent to him as he extended his Enforcer power around Charlotte and I. Not sit in our own little segregated families and wait it out.
I agree, he sent as blue flames licked around me, the flash of light so bright I had to squint my eyes closed. But she's Council Leader. And the covens are scared. Do you think they'll try something new or fall back on the old ways at a time like this?
The idiots. He was right. They'd slink down into their hidey holes and hope this all went away.
I didn't have that luxury. Or want it.
Shocking.
While the veil deposited us behind the Dumont mansion, Quaid's power landed us right in Mia's bedroom. I heard her shriek and lunged for her before she could freak out further, Quaid joining me as Charlotte fell back to snuffle around the room, stopping with her ear to the door.
Mia fell against me the moment she realized who I was, reaching then for Quaid, sliding her arms around his neck. She sobbed on his shoulder, bruise-dark circles under her eyes, pale skin almost transparent. Her crystal blue gaze locked on me as she clung to her brother.
"Thank you for coming to visit," she whispered. Clearly forgetting she'd thrown me out the last time I was here.
Sigh.
Quaid eased her gently back, carrying her over to the window seat where he knelt beside her. White hands twisted into knots while warm, tanned ones, twice her size, folded around her fingers and pressed tight.
"Mia," he said, "we have a plan to take the Dumont family magic back. But we need your help to do it."
He might as well have told her she'd just been crowned empress of the world. Mia's downcast expression vanished, absolute joy washing over her as she lunged at him again, hugging him so tight I thought his head might pop off.
"Really?" She looked up at me, an excited six-year-old on Christmas morning. "You know who took it? Where it is?"
I let Quaid do the talking, staying out of it as much as I could. For obvious reasons. At least this way if someone tried to call interference, I could honestly say I didn't open my mouth once. Mia was so wrapped up in Quaid's explanation she barely looked my way again until he was through.
Jaw set, a new determination lighting her face, Mia pushed herself to her feet. A thin thread of hope wound itself around my heart as she stepped away from her brother's support and met my eyes.
"I'm ready," she said, voice quivering despite her surge of strength. "Just tell me what to do."
I couldn't help the smile lifting my lips. Maybe I was wrong about Mia. If she survived this, won back the Dumont family magic, it was likely she would finally become the leader they needed. Surely this kind of trial by fire would help her find her backbone.
As much as this was a disaster and a mess, it just might turn out for the best in the end. The thought the Brotherhood's plan might have shot them in the foot made me want to hug myself and giggle like a little kid.
We were a long way from celebrating yet, though.
"We have to making it past the Enforcers guarding the house." Quaid glanced at Charlotte who shook her head at him, coast clear. "I can't carry all of us out at once."
"It's my house," Mia said, straightening her shoulders, wiping at the tear-tracks on her cheeks. "I'll leave it if I want to."
Mia found her spine? Check.
Wicked.
We didn't make it half-way down the hall before we were discovered.
"And where are you off to, mon chef?" I scowled at Andre who slipped out of a side door to stand in front of us. His blue eyes traveled over me, Charlotte, Quaid and finally settled on Mia. "In such illustrious company."
Mia's chin began to quiver, hands clawing at her sides. "Stay out of my way, Andre." Her newly-acquired spine seemed to have some cracked vertebra. "This is none of your concern."
He tsked softly into the quiet air. "Au contraire," he said. "The safety and security of my leader is most definitely my concern." Icy eyes landed on me. "Wouldn't you agree, cher?"
Damn him. We were doing this for his benefit too, the slimy ass. I wanted to respond, to act, but I couldn't, gagged by the need to stay out of it, if only verbally.
"I'm going to retrieve the family magic." Mia said it like she was off to the store for some milk and did he need anything else? Andre's arched eyebrow lifted, handsome, angular face so surprised all the arrogance washed out of him for once.
But when he spoke again, he wasn't looking at her. Nope. Those blue Dumont peepers were fixed solely on yours truly.
"We have never been friends," Andre said, voice low and accent thick, as though emotion affected his English, "and, indeed, have been enemies. But I tell you now, Sydlynn Hayle, if you can accomplish this thing, the Dumont family will owe you a debt we will never be able to repay."
Straight up. I bowed my head to him, just a little, as Mia's eyes snapped angrily at me.
"We need to leave," she said. "And we could use some help."
Andre didn't hesitate. "Come this way."
Why was I not surprised there was a secret exit from the back of the house? Likely many secret exits. This was a nervous family, apparently.
And as I tore open the veil, turning to see Andre watch us go, I fought with the understanding he wasn't the enemy. Just another witch tied to a system forcing us to hide and plot and work behind the scenes.
No, the real enemy was ahead of us.
And they better look the hell out.
***
