Chapter Thirteen
“I figured,” yawned a sleepy Samuel coming up behind her. “So I wanted to keep watch. I fell asleep, though.”
“Alas!” Kalen cried dramatically, and everyone gave him a dubious look. He glared right back at them. Nina could only explain his face as ‘done with life.’ All the other men in the room didn’t seem too happy either, but Kalen was beyond the point of caring anymore.
“We’re not even going to argue about how this happened.” Luke’s finger wagged exasperatedly. “Details would be appreciated, Abigail. Quick.”
She rushed it to the important parts, about how she called upon to communicate with someone at the heart of Kalen’s territory and all that she had told. “So, we should definitely expect an attack soon.”
Kalen only grunted and took to marching out of the room. “I’m reinforcing the barriers. You guys take care of Kaia in the meantime. Also, I want her to be here when I return.” His next words sent goosebumps popping on everyone’s skin. “I don’t take kindly to spies.”
Once out of eye-shot, they let loose the breaths they were holding. “Okay, but who let Kaia in, though?” someone piped up, and Luke whacked them upside the head.
“Boys, we’re going on patrol,” the alpha bear ordered. Kevin and Fergus were reluctant to leave their mates behind, but seeing him walk over to Cassie and kissing her forehead as he told her he trusted her and that she was strong enough to take anyone, they understood the ladies were in no greater danger without them, either. They followed after Luke who punched contacts into his cellphone to call upon reinforcements.
“I’ll call upon my witches from before,” Ammara suggested, “They shouldn’t be too far off.”
“We’ll need all the help we can get,” Samuel agreed. “I’ll be patrolling with the others in the meantime. Call me when Kaia arrives.”
“Sure.”
As he left, the women assembled themselves to take to the entrance of their site and await Kaia’s return. Nina felt awry and didn’t want her child to be in Kaia’s line of sight. She couldn’t believe how foolish she had been to so easily warm up to her, give her a name, and welcome her so warmly. Only to be betrayed this way. Betrayal was not a new concept, but it had been so long that it left a fresh scar on her criticism of judgement and intuition. She felt that she couldn’t trust herself anymore.
Oh, hush, she scolded herself. Your child needs to trust you, and that can’t happen if you don’t.
Straightening her shoulders, she diminished her pity and stood up, cradling Dahlia and heading for the door. Everyone else followed suit. The witch trio made it there just in time, and they joined everyone on the ground, waiting for Kaia’s arrival. It didn’t take long for their guest to finally appear in the distance. Ammara sent fairies for Kalen and Samuel, and they got back before Kaia could even notice them all there. She seemed to be in some sort of euphoria that rendered her unaware of the scuffle she had brought upon herself. But it seemed she’d sense their presence as she neared and stopped short a few meters before them. It must have been Kalen’s anger that exuded off him. He was certainly not happy that his hospitality had been abused.
The state she was in was too questionable to go unnoticed. Her brown hair was wild, repelling against her head and sticking out in all directions, most likely from extremely strong gusts of wind. Jeans and shirt tattered in dirt and leaves as if she’d fallen or rolled around on the forest ground, and face dusty. Abigail couldn’t understand what had happened to her, but she figured what she had done had taken up too much energy, and she grew tired and dizzy on the way.
Her face held innocence, but Abigail had always known a whole lot better. She only wished she’d identified it sooner and gotten rid of her, but it was against her morals to work without evidence. And she’d been a witness to a rather unpleasant one.
It seemed to have become a stare-off, and Abigail understood she wasn’t going to come clean anytime soon. Though, Kaia had finally opened her mouth, Abigail beat her to it. “We know what you’ve been doing, young witch. Come clean and surrender.”
“I-I don’t understand…” Kaia started, and so convincingly that Nina almost believed it. “I only went to the bathroom.”
“No one disappears for over an hour for the bathroom, Kaia.” Samuel deadpanned. He did not want to be too forceful. Kaia was still very young, under influence, and not legal under paranormal beings’ circumstances to have been possibly recruited or willingly join any organization. There was still a loophole to forgive her and get her help.
But of course, she had other ideas.
“Confess while I still hold onto my hospitality, youngling,” Kalen snarled at her. Ammara gave Kaia a pitiful look. She was too young. What had happened to her to turn her into what she was in front of them? A somewhat powerful witch so expert at lying. It should be scary to be able to act so convincingly, and maybe that was why she was chosen for the job. It alarmed her to think who they could be. They all had a hard time keeping track of their enemies, and they had plenty of them.
“Who are you working for?” Abigail demanded. “What do you want from us?”
Kaia visibly understood that no one was buying her act, so she dropped the look. Her face changed so drastically that Cassie gasped almost audibly. Her eyes were so old, darkened, and broken. She did not seem stable in any sense whatsoever. A ravaged burden lay in the depths of gaze, vowing to destroy every little light that the Earth held. It was obvious she’d never seen the face of love and affection. She’d never been cared for well, and she was alone. So alone.
Kalen was losing the last of his grip on his anger. It did not matter to him if she was a child. She wanted to hurt his people, and such people never had the privilege of lasting too long. And she would soon be no different. The only thing that ensured his hold on sanity was Ammara’s hand on his chest, bringing him some of the calm needed to be able to think rationally.
This youngling was smart, and he was sure she had plenty of information to offer if he could rip apart her head for it.
Think calmly, Ammara reminded him. He mentally grunted.
She was a good actress. If helped, she could be of use to the Council in keeping an eye on the enemy. But she’s a double crossing, two-timing piece of–
You will definitely not be in charge of this situation, Ammara reprimanded. Kalen wanted to point out that this situation wouldn’t have risen if she hadn’t let her in through the barrier, but he held his tongue. There was already enough conflict. Playing blame games did no one any service, and he was determined to keep as much peace between himself, Ammara, and his daughter and her family while they were still with him, no matter what.
And he had to deal with this situation with more maturity than he let on if his wishes were to be kept constant and ongoing. There were so many questions to ask her. They couldn’t hurt her if she was to be put to their benefit.
“I don’t have to answer to any of you,” Kaia spoke with affirmative clarity, crossing her arms. Kalen almost lost his restraints and went for the jump to snap her neck in half, but Ammara wrapped her arms around him to hold him back, and that was – again – enough to push him back to his senses.
“Can you at least tell us what to expect?” Abigail demanded, almost pleadingly. Kaia’s pitiful façade dropped, replaced with cruelty and menace. Eyes filled with raging fire that made everyone shift on their feet, even Kalen. Samuel felt at unease. Never before had he seen such a vicious look on anyone he had faced.
“It’s useless. She’s beyond any proper feelings or rationale,” he commented quietly, “and most probably suffering from mental instability. It would be extremely unethical to kill her in this state of mind where she is so easily vulnerable and prone to manipulation.”
Anyone could see clearly that she was damaged beyond recovery.
Kaia opened her mouth and everyone waited expectantly, but she only laughed. She laughed hard with abandon, her shrill voice cackling through everyone’s bones and setting their hearts off in alarm. They couldn’t imagine what she had been put through to possess such qualities.
Ammara let go of Kalen and gave the simplest order she ever had. “Hold her captive.”
The Council members rushed forward, their stances firm and ready to take her on. But they did not expect what was to come next.
“Oh, there’s nothing you can do anymore,” Kaia grinned as they rushed toward her. “Something is coming for the baby, and we won’t stop until we have her.”
Kaia moved in precise formation, invisibly drawing out a spell from her body itself, conjuring weapons. A glowing blue light cut through the air and at them, three at each. Kalen only barely dodged but continued onward after her. Samuel jumped over them and shifted mid-air. Abigail only suffered a minor cut to her arm, but she decided against shifting since she didn’t want to cause any actual damage to her. Their order was only to capture. Nothing more, nothing less.
Kalen was sent back flying by a burst of energy that flowed through the ground and up like a shield while it spread. It pushed back Samuel and Abigail, too. Kalen took to a smaller and lithe form to take the witch on. This was the strangest thing to happen in a fight. The Council members were too strong to have been swatted away like flies this way. It was evident that Kaia was not alone in using her powers. She was getting some sort of indirect assistance. And whoever was giving it to her seemed to be immensely powerful.
Ammara hadn’t expected such resistance from such a small and frail thing. She looked at her trio of witches who understood what she wanted, and they took to the battle. They were no less stunned than everyone else about Kaia’s abilities. This would take too much time with just three people handling it.
Kaia’s defenses were unbelievably swift and tactful. She did not tire at all as she shot spells and weapons at them. The six beings circled her, and they understood she needed to be distracted enough to be overtaken. And so, they got to work, hurling attacks and closing in on her, only to be painfully thrown back against the wind sent rolling against the forest floor.
“Cassie, Diana, take Nina and Dahlia inside and make sure nothing gets to her,” Ammara ordered, feeling the imminent danger present in Kaia, and they were quick to follow through without hesitation. Nina was dragged away from the scene, and she obliged rather reluctantly.
Ammara observed the pattern and understood immediately what was happening. She caught the eyes of her comrades and knew exactly what they wanted. With Kaia distracted, she took to the air and floated right behind her, above the ground to get a proper aim at her head to render her unconscious. The tactic seemed to have worked as Kaia seemed absolutely unaware of what had happened, too busy fending off those in her vision. By the time she turned around to look, sensing something off, it was too late. Ammara had taken her aim and casted her spell. A spark of dark energy spat itself from her finger like a bullet, aiming right for the center of her forehead.
That was all it took to knock Kaia off her feet and topple to the ground, rendering her absolutely unconscious. Her body convulsed furiously as if tried to reject the magic, but she soon stilled. It seemed to be forceful, most likely a work from wherever she got assistance to fight so powerfully. Her eyes closed, and her breathing caught pace.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, staring at her. Ammara landed and walked toward them to take a look at her.
She looked absolutely peaceful when unconscious. She seemed less terrible and heartbreaking while asleep.
“There’s a lot to get out from her,” one of the witches, Adelaide said. “We can put her in restraints.”
“Sounds all right, but we need to put up barriers around her, too,” Ammara noted, “so that she doesn’t further contact anyone for help. She was definitely having powers transferred to her.”
Samuel disappeared behind them, only to reappear in clothed human form. He bent down to pick her up in his arms, and he was left surprised. “Severely malnourished. She hardly weighs ninety pounds, really.”
“She needs rejuvenating,” spoke Cora. “Otherwise, we cannot expect answers.”
Willow took the floor. “We also need to make sure there are no precautionary spells on her like coma inducers or memory wipers. We can take care of this.”
Ammara felt the need to keep Kaia under her watch for the most part and stated she would join them. The witches did not object. Kalen would not let Ammara alone near Kaia and offered to be with her, which Ammara did not deny, but Samuel suggested that he join the men in patrol. They should expect an attack anytime soon. Kalen reluctantly agreed and left his partner behind to join him.
Ammara checked on the girls inside and explained everything. They seemed all right, but simply witnessing such events was only wearing everyone down. She asked them to rest. They would need all the energy they could muster should they be attacked.