Chapter 119
Charlie POV
“So, again, what do we do? We can’t just stand here waiting for the barrier to fall!” I replied as I fought back tears.
“Of course, we won’t be just waiting for the barrier to fail!” Meabh said exasperated, which made me feel very melodramatic. “I’ve already sent word for the perimeter to be checked, I should be getting reports through any minute. Once we’ve assessed, and checked for wounded, we will all discuss the next steps.” She raised her voice for everyone to hear. “We need information to come up with a plan, let’s take this one step at a time.” I felt an overwhelming wave of nausea through the bond and had to sit down and put my head between my knees, on the sidewalk.
“Are you alright?” A voice I didn’t recognise asked.
“Yeah, it’s not me, it’s my mate, but it’s making me feel lightheaded,” I replied, I slowly looked up at the woman in front of me. The youngest of Dermot and Siobhan’s daughters was looking at me oddly, she looked about my age, but that meant nothing when it came to supernatural creatures, I was learning.
“You can feel what your mate is feeling?” She asked with a bemused smile, like it was unusual, or quaint in some way.
“Strong feelings or emotions, yeah. I know his nausea is because of disgust, horror, and anger, but I don’t know why.” I replied, as another wave hit me, but much stronger, it forced me to heave, and double over. Niamh came around me, quickly swept up my hair off of my face and rubbed my back encouragingly. When I was finally able to breathe normally, she ran a hand over my forehead, soothing my heated skin with her cool hands, and the nausea faded away. “How did you do that?” I asked her mesmerised.
“It’s my ability, I can cure minor ailments, some a little on the serious side, but only with a focusing crystal.” She said with a self-deprecating laugh.
“That’s amazing!” I replied, I was curious if Daniel felt relief too via the bond, I thought about linking him, but I had no idea if he was fighting or not, and the thought of distracting him when he needed to concentrate stopped me.
“Not really, some of my siblings are much more powerful, but when I use my powers with my sisters, we are much stronger together.” She sweetly rambled as she helped me to my feet.
“I saw. You gotta tell me all about how that spell works someday.” I said with a smile.
“If we survive, whatever the hell this is, you’re on.” She said as we made our way back to the group. Many of the people in the nearby houses had congregated on the playground, and Meabh was standing on a bench trying to answer questions and calm fears. We passed several people who were stood on their doorsteps, or in their yards, watching, but keeping their families close to their homes.
“What are we going to do? How do we fight them?” I whispered to her as we neared the crowd.
“I don’t know,” Niamh replied, she squeezed my hand as we walked, we heard the arguing before we realised what it was. The entire throng of people seemed to be angrily yelling at Meabh as we entered the playground.
“What’s going on?” Niamh asked, loudly, as we tried to move through the tightly packed mob.
“It seems, there’s some debate about whether we should hide, and hope the vampires don’t attack our barrier, like they did to Hyacinth’s which was stronger. Or we fight, and hope we kill more of them than they kill of us.” Meabh stated bluntly, pointedly looking at certain people in the gathering.
“What are you talking about? Of course, we’re fighting, but the question is how do we fight, where and when.” Niamh snorted as if it was ridiculous. “Did we hear anything about the perimeter?” She quickly added, but I didn’t think it was because she had realised, she had erred.
“We got the full border, but that means Hyacinth isn’t inside,” Meabh informed us in hushed tones, as we moved away from the angry throng of people.
“What’s a full border?” I asked confused.
“The barrier went to the outermost edge of crystals, the biggest we’ve ever gone. We’ve been trying to make one big enough to cover the whole sanctuary, but we haven’t been able to yet. Hyacinth is really careful about how, when and by how much we tried to increase our diameter and every time we managed it, Hyacinth would add crystals, she was sure we would get there... one day.” Niamh replied, with a small, sad, smile.
“You protected as many as you could,” I said, as I put an arm around the witch.
“We did what Hyacinth asked, she has her own barrier around the cottage, and she always said if we were attacked whoever it was should go for her first, as she’s the biggest threat. Our job was to protect everyone else, which we did. Now we need to keep them safe until we hear from Hyacinth again.” Eithne added as she joined our secluded huddle away from everyone else.
“And I think the best way to protect everyone is to fight!” Niamh argued.
“How or when is Hyacinth supposed to contact you?” I asked, hoping I could ask her about Daniel.
“We never discussed details, but I didn’t know she could contact us telepathically until she did.” Meabh shrugged, which caused me to frown in confusion.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She spoke to the whole village and told us the attack was coming. It gave a lot of us a chance to get to safety before the barrier fell.” Eithne interrupted, it confused me more.
“Why didn’t I hear it then?” I wondered aloud.
“Maybe it only works on fae blood?” Niamh asked her sisters.
“Perhaps. We need more information.” Meabh grumbled frustrated and she paced as she thought.
“I could link Daniel? He’s with Hyacinth, but if he’s fighting, I could get him killed.” I explained, the fear felt like a ball of ice in my stomach.
“He’s in the cottage?” Niamh asked me, getting excited.
“Yeah, in the Alpha meeting, I was with Der- your Dad, so I wasn’t in the way,” I replied, I didn’t understand her glee.
“Of course! It makes sense now... what Alpha meeting?” Niamh suddenly asked, before chasing the thread of her earlier thought.
“You’ll have to excuse Niamh, she’s easily distracted, but she should find the thought and the point soon.” Eithne chuckled lovingly as she watched her sister’s little gestures.
“If Hyacinth used the Alpha’s mind link to warn us all, then it would make sense it taps into something genetically. Which is why we heard it, but you didn’t.” Niamh said happily.
“So, what does that mean?” I asked, I still didn’t understand her point.
“Nothing, it was just bothering me, how she did it,” Niamh replied with a smile.
“But how do we contact Hyacinth?” I asked, getting desperate.
“Well has anyone tried calling her? The barrier shouldn’t interfere with your phone signal. Or you could link your mate.” Niamh replied, which made my cheeks flush with embarrassment.
“I can’t link Daniel; I could distract him.” I shook my head and took a step back.
“If he’s in the cottage, their barrier is also still up. I have people monitoring it.” Meabh reassured me, with a kind smile.
“If Daniel could, he would check on me, he has to be in the middle of something,” I stated, firmly.
“Then we send everyone home and wait until Hyacinth contacts us.” Meabh nodded, having decided on a course of action, the sisters immediately started moving people along. I could hear them reassuring everyone that nothing would be done until they received word from their leader, as I stared in the direction of the cottage, my heart ached for news that he was alright.
“Charlie?” I heard Niamh call when the playground was almost empty. “Come on inside, the kettle is on. A nice cup of tea will set you to rights.” She added with a kind smile.
“Is it always like this?” I asked as I followed her back to her parent's house.
“Like what?” She asked, her brow furrowed.
“The fear. Being the one who stays behind while the person you love most goes to fight.” I explained as we walked.
“Yes. It’s never easy staying behind, being a liability, rather than an asset.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “But you find a way to keep going.”
“What if I’m not strong enough?” I whispered ashamed.
“You’ll find a way, we all do. I trained, for hours, until I finally impressed my sisters, and they gave me a shot. That’s when I became an asset, stopped being their baby sister for a moment.” She said with a warmer smile. “Because we found out that the four of us, were stronger together. If a witch is casting a spell, but she needs more power than she has alone, she can channel another to make up the difference, but it’s dangerous because you’re borrowing another’s essence. When we are together, we can multiply our energies with that of our sisters, we don’t take from each other, we feed what’s already there. It’s extremely rare, which is why Hyacinth had us keep it a secret.” We walked into the warm house, and I realised for the first time how cold it was outside, my skin flushed red, and my hands stung as the numbness in them receded. Siobhan handed us both hot cups, as we took seats in the living room.
“Well Dad, you weren’t happy about us keeping this from you, so why don’t you tell us what’s going on? And what the hell is an Alpha meeting doing on our land?” Meabh asked angrily, Dermot to lowered his head, unable to lie to her face, but also unable to tell her the truth either, the pain evident on his face.
“There’s a war coming, and it will be all of us, against the vampires. Witches, nymphs, Lycans, you will all have to work together to prevent the destruction of the planet. Hyacinth invited the Alphas as a sign of good faith, and to ask them to fight... with us.” I blurted, eager to move the conversation along, but feeling very self-conscious, as the sisters’ eyes burned into me, disbelief radiated off them so strongly I could taste it.
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