Valen shot off the bed and looked around. Then he remembered where he was and what he’d just been through.
Gina stepped into the room, her eyes wide. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry, yeah,” He rubbed at his head, but it felt clear. Energized, ready to run a marathon. “What did she do to me?” he asked.
“Morrigan?” Gina asked.
He nodded.
“From what I gathered, she pushed the doppelgangers’ taint out of you. The taint seeps in and corrupts your every fiber. That’s why removing his influence hurts.”
“You don’t know what she did?” Valen asked.
She shook her head. “Sorry, but you did seem…cleaner afterward.”
“Cleaner?”
“Your aura, I guess. You had a darkness around you, but that’s gone. Now you’re colorful.”
“All right.” Valen shook his head. “Where is my father?”
“Uh, haven’t heard back since he went to where you were supposed to meet them. I’m guessing they either found them or are trying to figure out where they went.” She glanced at her watch. “Probably searching for where.”
“You think they would have bailed without me?” God, that hurt more than he wanted to admit.
She shook her head. “I have no idea. But why don’t you come downstairs to talk with us? If you’re ready?”
“Yeah, sure. Who’s here?”
“Morrigan, Druciela, and me. That’s it. The guys are trying to track down your mother and the doppelgangers.”
“Right, I should have expected that. How long was I out?” he asked.
“About half an hour. Not long, and considering the pain you felt, I’m surprised.”
“And it’s weird. I feel amazing. And I felt like shit earlier.”
“Yeah, Morrigan says you were on the tipping point of changing. What she did was push decay out of your body, renewing growth.”
“How is that possible?”
Gina shrugged. “Ask Morrigan. She can explain it far better than I can. She knows what she did.”
He sighed. “She’s…I don’t know. The energy around her hums higher.”
Gina smirked. “I noticed that. I don’t know what to tell you, but she’s here to help us.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked.
Gina touched her stomach. “Her sister, Badb, has been there for me since the beginning.”
“Beginning of what?”
Gina smiled, tilting her head. “My youth. She wasn’t a part of me then. Currently, she is, but that was to save me from a worse threat. And soon, she’ll be separate again and whole.”
“You’re something else,” Valen said, a smile on his lips. “Let’s head down.”
“I know, I’m weird.” Sighing, she headed down.
“I’d say refreshing. You tell it like you see it, and you see more than most.”
“Something like that.”
“Hey, Gina, honest, I don’t think you’re weird. Maybe enlightened? Either way, I prefer that to how so many of the witches I’m surrounded by are constantly fake.”
“You won’t have that here. Not by the majority of those in Edenton. Not that you necessarily want to come here, but I would look around. See if you like it.”
“I will.”
She hurried down, then turned to face him. “Want something to drink?”
“Water, please.”
“Sure. I’m making myself tea, if you’re interested.”
“Sure, that too, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course.” She stepped into the kitchen.
Cora moved to him. “Are you okay? Does it still hurt?”
“I feel a million times better,” he admitted. “I was fading before.”
Morrigan nodded. “You were fading away as more of their corruption filled your body. I pushed it all out. That’s where the pain came from. Though searching for the taint hurts, it’s not half as bad.”
“And it’s gone now?”
She nodded. “The corruption had seeped in but hadn’t taken root. You have a good, strong soul. That can’t be said about many who suffer their fate. However, your particular situation has happened in the past. They come in, take a pregnant woman, and the corruption seeps in while in the womb.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ve been trying to find them for centuries. Ever since they destroyed my sister’s kingdom. Only, they stay quiet enough that most people don’t even realize until it’s too late, and the town has gone.”
“Have others tried to stop it?” he asked.
“Not soon enough. Your father is lucky he got out when he did. From what I understand he was at death’s door.”
“The coven needs to change.”
“Sounds like it,” Gina muttered.
“It does.” Cora sighed. “They were so sure it was all in his head. That was part Kindra’s fault, but a lot of that was Gerard in her ear. That doesn’t make it right, but it’s the truth.”
“How did I never know about Gerard?” Valen asked.
Cora let out a breath. “I didn’t think you’d believe me. You love your mother, and most people don’t want to see their parents as the bad guy.”
He rubbed at his face. “It makes sense, though. So much I questioned in the past makes sense now that I know what was going on.”
“Because you’re willing to see the truth,” Gina answered. Then she headed into the kitchen.
Valen dropped into a seat. “Man, I feel like a fool for never figuring any of this out.”
Cora touched his shoulder. “Don’t, because it’s not your fault. Now, we need to do what we can to stop those things, and hopefully, your mother can learn from her mistake, but she may not.”
He took in a breath and let it out. “I won’t stop them. I will try to convince my mother she’s in the wrong, but I won’t force my will on her.”
“Good, and hopefully Mark will be back soon.”
He picked up his phone, thinking about calling Mom to confront her, but if this thing was as controlling and manipulative as they said, there was a very good chance he wouldn’t be able to convince her, or even talk to her.
Then it rang. Mom popped up on the display. He held his breath a second before answering. “Hey, is he with you?”
“No, and I’m driving away from the meeting place. Look, things are a mess, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Yeah, I figured that. Look, I’m with Cora and my father. And there is a lot of shit you haven’t told me.”
“I didn’t know all of it until last night. I know we can’t go back to Gerard, the man you thought was your father, but I don’t know if we can survive what’s happening to us either.”
He blew out a breath. “I may know a fix for that, but it means turning your back on Gerard for good.”
Mom’s intake of breath came as a shock. “I’m not used to you saying his name.”
He strangled back a snarl. “Yeah, well, you should have told me what was going on.”
“I know, and it’s complicated. I don’t know how much of it was my fault, or how much I was brainwashed.”
He snorted. “At least you’re willing to admit it is likely at least partially your fault.”
“I should have listened to your father. I wish I had.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t. And now, he’s everything I wish Gerard was. Only, he’s better than that, because he’s genuinely the real thing. How could you throw him away?”
She sobbed uncontrollably.
“Damn it, Mom…Mom. Jesus, Mom, listen to me. We can fix it, or at least attempt to. Whatever Gerard is, those things could kill the whole coven. Is that what you want?”
“No, of course not. I just don’t know how to stop it. And he gets in my head and twists things around.”
“That has to end. And there is someone who can rewire your head to stop that, only it’s going to hurt.”
Mom gulped. “Do you even know what’s happening to you?”
“Don’t,” Valen said. “You had your chance to explain and lost it. I know what’s going on. I know I was changing, but that corruption was pushed out of me. And it hurt like a bitch, but it was worth it.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Do you want real answers? Or the ones pushed on you from people trying to destroy our coven? Maybe that’s not their goal, but that is what’s happening. Haven’t you noticed everyone in the coven getting weaker, sickly, losing weight, motivation, everything? Those things come in, tie themselves to everything, and destroy it as they fade from the personality they stole to begin with.”
Cora wiped at her eyes. Had he nailed it on the head? He was only repeating what they had told him. Or maybe he expanded on that. He wasn’t sure. Either way, he knew he spoke the truth. He could see it on Morrigan’s face.
“I want the truth, even if it confirms my very worst fears.”
Valen looked at Gina. “How do we bring her in?”
Her face scrunched. “Let me call Mark, see if he’ll answer his phone.” She left the room and dialed.
“I’ll call you back. I would head toward Edenton.”
“I don’t even know where that is.”
“Go to Snoqualmie Falls. I know you know where that is. It’s close enough we can figure out how to bring you somewhere safe, if there is such a thing.”
“What do you mean?” Mom asked.
“They’re going to come for my father regardless. They have to or Gerard dies, and he’s their leader.”
“You don’t even want to consider changing?”
“What? And lose who and what I am? To become some kind of monster? Hell no. And you shouldn’t either, but you’ve been suckered by them for so damn long you don’t seem to get it.”
“I don’t want to lose you. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep my son.”
“Then you’re going to ditch Gerard and go through hell to push his influence out of you.” His voice broke. He wasn’t sure if she could do it. Was she strong enough? Would she really fight to be with him? Or was she too far gone?
Damn, he didn’t want to lose his mother, but his whole life had been one series of lies after another. And he finally knew the truth. God, he hoped his wife could accept what he’d learned.
“Call me when you know something. I’ll head out there.”
“Bye, Mom, I love you.” He hung up and slumped into a seat as the weight of the world pressed down on him. “I hope we can save her.”
“And if we can’t?” Morrigan asked.
“Then I learn to live without her. I’m not turning into one of those things. While I slept I dreamed about the kind of wasteland they leave behind. About what happens to those in the place they live. It’s a big enough area that the land around the coven may suffer too. How is this allowed to happen?”
“It’s not easy to find them,” Morrigan answered. “They pick communities that are strong but exclusive and elusive. They don’t want to be found, and they’ve had many years to perfect their methods of finding new bodies.”
“I still don’t get why,” he muttered.
“No one does, except maybe them, but even then, I wouldn’t swear to that. They don’t think the same way most living beings do.”
“Can they be stopped?”
“I believe so. And hopefully they stall just long enough Badb comes back into this world with her own physical form. That will fix everything that was done to Gina.”
* * * *
Gina walked to the far end of the kitchen to dial Mark. He answered after a ring. “Hey, uh…maybe I should talk to Robert.”
“What’s going on?” Mark asked, sounding worried.
“Well, Kindra called, and Valen wants to know the best way to bring her in.”
“What does she want?”
“Her son. Look, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but Morrigan thinks there is a way to fix her. That maybe she’s not too far gone. Valen wants to try, but I’m not sure he trusts her.”
A strangled sound escaped Mark. “I’ll call you back. We’ll get her, or at least Robert will, I’m sure. I don’t know that I want anything to do with her, even to help us out.”
“Mark, I trust you. I know you.”
“It’s not that. She ripped out my heart, Gina. She tried to kill me. I know I should be compassionate, but it’s not that easy.”
“No, you don’t have to be. You don’t have to like her, you don’t have to want to help her. But I know you. If it’s possible, you will.”
He sighed. “Yeah, for Valen.”
“No, because you’re a good man. Now, I need to go and assure him someone will be out here to go with him to get her.”
“Not you. I mean, you could go as well if you need to, but you are in a strange state,” he said.
“Growing at a million miles an hour?” She laughed softly. “Yeah, Morrigan assures me that will be over soon.”
“I wish I were there to assure you.”
“Yeah, but you need to face your past and finally resolve all of it. Be proud of where you came from, where you are, and the man you’ve become.”
“I’ll see you soon.” He hung up.
Gina caught the last part of Valen and Morrigan’s conversation as she stepped back into the room. “What do you mean fix everything?”
“Whoever ripped out your magic broke a part of you. It’s amazing you survived. Most don’t. But you were young enough that you hadn’t started to rely on your magic the way so many Fae do.”
“So many of any caster does.” Cora sighed. “If we don’t we die, at least us on this side of the veil.”
“Same there,” Morrigan answered.
Gina rubbed her belly. She didn’t understand anything going on, only that it would be fine. In fact, the words slipped away as she slid to the side and everything went dark.