The next time I opened my eyes, I immediately closed them again because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Sucking in a breath, I slowly, cautiously, cracked them open and took in the scene before me.

I was standing beneath a tree, on a hill. The massive branches overhead sheltered me from the dazzling sun, and a gentle breeze ruffled my hair and the skirts of my dress. Dress? What the hell? Looking down I saw I was wearing a floor-length white cotton dress; the neckline plunged to my waist, which was cinched in with a golden rope for a belt. On my feet were flat sandals with long laces that wound around my ankles. Okay, who dressed me up in this costume?

"Holawynn! You have returned. Welcome." A melodic voice drifted to me from the base of the hill and I looked at the woman who'd spoken. She was dressed similar to me, long white dress, hers held in place with a sapphire blue rope. Her hair was as white as mine was black.

"Errr." Who was Holawynn? And where the heck was I? Was I dreaming? Hallucinating? If so, it was very vivid. They must've put me on some pretty good drugs back at the Institute. For surely that's what had happened. Now, in reality, I was lying in a bed in the medical unit, hooked up to some amazing painkillers, while my body healed. Either that or I'd died.

"You look confused, Holawynn." The woman reached my side, her blue eyes sparkling and kind, her skin fresh and youthful. I kid you not, this woman was glowing.

"I'm not Holawynn. My name is Raven."

Linking her arm with mine, she began to lead me down the hillside to the village spread out below us. "Ah, I see. That makes sense. You were but a newborn when last you were here."

"What? I've been here before? And where exactly is here?"

"You're in your home realm, Raven." She took care to use the name I'd given her. "This is where you were born. And your birth name is Holawynn. Of course, the humans would decide to rename you, and I must say, Raven fits you beautifully. Look at your jet black hair." She fondled the end of my braid and I snatched it away from her in annoyance. This woman was a lunatic. Different realm? Born here? Either she was on drugs or I was. Oh, wait. It most likely was me. Was I having a reaction to the morphine the woman had injected into me?

"I'm sorry." The woman turned to look at me, her face apologetic. "All of this must be incredibly overwhelming. Come, let us sit and partake of tea and I'll explain everything."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Enna. I'm one of the elders here." She grabbed my hand and started leading me toward the cutest cottage I'd ever seen.

"An elder? You look no older than me," I protested.

"Age is irrelevant to immortals." She smiled. "Let's sit outside. It's such a beautiful day it would be a shame to waste it. Here, sit." With a wave of her hand, a round table and two chairs appeared, each intricately carved from wood as if they were an extension of the forest towering behind her little cottage.

That confirmed it. Drugs. I was as high as a kite. Settling onto a chair, I grinned. Might as well enjoy the trip. Enna disappeared into the cottage only to reappear mere seconds later carrying a tray with a teapot and two matching cups. Placing them on the table, she poured the tea and handed me a cup.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled in return and took a sip of her tea. I did the same, comforted by the familiar taste.

"Let me think," she muttered, tapping her chin. "Where shall I start? I know! Yes, you were born here, Holawynn. This is your realm."

"So my parents are here?" I asked, putting my cup back down on the table and folding my arms over my chest.

"You don't have parents per se. You were born of the community, a combination of all of us. Not so much birthed as...created." She beamed at me. Right. Nutcase alert. This illusion was weird, to say the least.

"Okay. So I was created here. And then what? Booted out? Sent to Earth? Do you call it Earth? Is Earth a realm of its own?"

"Yes. Exactly. You were created to take your place in the earthly realm. We hadn't sent a representative in such a long time. In the past, they had been received with mixed emotions. Some were persecuted quite unmercifully."

"A representative? Of?"

"The Druids. You're a Druid, my dear. Well, to be technical you're a Banduri, which is a female Druid."

Picking up my tea, I took a hefty gulp. Right. I was a Druid. Druids hadn't been on Earth for centuries, they were extinct.

"So, you sent me into the earthly realm as a newborn. Defenseless. With no one to look after me or care about me." I could feel the beginnings of anger swirl within me. Who did that? Deliberately take a baby from its home, abandon it and simply hope for the best.

"In the past, we've sent Druids through the portal as adults and it's never ended well for them. The humans, well, sometimes they don't possess much humanity, especially when it comes to species besides their own. We'd heard of the changes, of the openness of other species and thought it time we sent a new representative, only this time we'd send a child who would grow up with the humans, learn their ways, earn their trust."

"But wouldn't it be helpful if that child knew she was a Druid?"

"Oh no, my dear. Then you would have suffered terribly. No, we decided it best if you didn't know until you were ready. And now here you are. Ready."

"I'm here because I'm dying. Back on the earthly realm, I had the living daylights beaten out of me. I was helpless and defenseless and now I'm dying. Possibly already dead." I glanced around. Was this Heaven? Had I died for real?

"Your magic brought you home, Holawynn. You didn't know how to access the full extent of your powers before. You had limited abilities because it's impossible to suppress all of your power, but, my dear, you are capable of so much more than you ever imagined."

"Right." My voice dripped with sarcasm. My magic consisted of levitating people and objects and freezing them in place. Only my magic hadn't helped me one iota when Vince had used my body for batting practice.

Enna's head swiveled, her blue gaze landing on the tree at the top of the hill, and she tilted her head as if listening. "It's time for you to return," she told me.

"Return?" Gah, this was so confusing.

"To your earthly realm. Your new home. Your powers are awakening and you're needed there."

She rose to her feet, grabbed my arm, and in the next second, we were standing beneath the tree again.

"Wait." I tried to grab her hand when she stepped away from me. "I'm not ready. I have questions!" But she smiled and waved and then I was pulled backward, arms and legs flailing as I was sucked through time and space.

* * *

She's totally healed. Amazing." A man's voice next to me had me popping my eyes open. I was back in the red brick warehouse, this time strapped to the gurney, a drip attached to my arm. There was more equipment in the room now, what looked like fridges and work benches with a barrage of test tubes neatly lined up. My eyes landed on the person the man was talking to. A woman, in crisp black pants, white blouse, red stilettoes, with bright red hair, cut in a bob. I blinked a couple of times as I digested what I was seeing. Director Ridgeway. It was Director Ridgeway, and although a face mask covered her nose and mouth, I still recognized her vivid green eyes and bright red hair.

I quickly closed my eyes again, not wanting them to know I was awake. I listened to what they were saying.

"Remarkable," Director Ridgeway breathed, her voice full of—was that anticipation? She sounded excited. That I'd healed? For I was sure I had. I felt fine, no pain, no foggy brain.

"In just under twelve hours her body has healed itself." The man sounded excited too.

"Yet she hasn't woken up?"

"I would say she's in some sort of self-induced coma, her mind shutting down while she got to the business of healing herself."

"But she hasn't healed as fast as, say, a vampire would? Or a werewolf?" the director asked.

"No. Definitely a slower healing process."

"Interesting." I could hear the director pacing, her heels clicking on the warehouse floor. "The odd occasion she was injured at the SIA she showed no such abilities."

"Maybe it was latent? Maybe it only works when she's close to death? Could she be a phoenix?" He sounded hopeful.

"An interesting idea, but doubtful. A phoenix can rise again after death. I'm not sure they have these healing abilities. And healing abilities are good. It means we can keep her here indefinitely. If my hunch is correct, she could be the key."

"Indefinitely?" The man's voice went up an octave or two. "But they'll be looking for her."

"I've taken care of that. There was an explosion. Her phone and torn and bloodied clothing were found at the scene. Damaged by the fire but vital evidence that SIA Enforcer Raven Black was killed when a faulty fuel line in her vehicle exploded."

I held my breath, frozen in shock. They'd staged my death? Blown up my car? Lying on the gurney, I could feel I wasn't constricted by clothes, instead, I was in some sort of hospital gown. My hands were shackled to the side of the gurney, still encased in something. Cracking an eye open, I took a peek. Ah. Silver bags, duct taped around my wrists. Odd though that silver had never incapacitated me before.

"How long have you been awake?" I glanced up at the director who was now standing by my side.

"Not long." I tugged at my restraints. Nope, they weren't budging.

She studied me in silence for a moment longer, then turned to the man behind her. "Begin. The specimen is ready and waiting."

"Yes, ma'am." His words were directed at her departing back. She pushed through the plastic hanging from the ceiling and I caught a glimpse of another room, similar to mine, divided only by the opaque plastic. I could just make out the foot of a gurney and the unmistakable outline of a pair of jean-encased legs, strapped down by the ankles. Carter strapped down, waiting for...what?

"What's going on here?" I asked the man in the lab coat who was now jabbing a needle into the vein inside my elbow.

"Nothing for you to concern yourself with," he responded, attaching a plastic tube to the end of the needle and hooking an empty bag to the edge of my gurney. Collecting my blood, and by the looks of things, they intended to collect a lot.

"Considering it looks like you're getting ready to harvest me, I'd say it does concern me." I'd chosen the word harvest because I'd seen what was on the trolley by his side. Bone saws. Scalpels. Instruments that made you wince just looking at them. They didn't want just my blood—they wanted all of me.

The director’s earlier words came back to me. They'd staged my death, made it look like I'd been blown to pieces. No one would be looking for me. What about Carter? Had they staged his death too? Or did they have something different planned for him? I felt my eyes well up and quickly blinked to clear them. Now was not the time to get emotional. If I lay here much longer I'd be too weak to do anything. Carter hadn't moved, not so much as a twitch, so I figured they'd kept him drugged. It was up to me to save both of us.

"Why is she doing this?" I tried again, but the man ignored me. Turning to the fridge, he removed two vials, one containing a clear liquid, the other a yellow liquid.

"What are they?"

He answered without thinking, "One is vampire venom, the other werewolf venom." Carrying them over to an empty trolley, he set the vials in a holder and retrieved three syringes from the drawer.

"Are you going to inject them into me?"

He shook his head. "Not you, no." Placing the syringes on the trolley, he snapped on latex gloves, then looked at me.

"Do you know what species you are?" His voice indicated he was truly curious. I couldn't detect any malice in his tone. This guy was a doctor or scientist, or both.

"No," I lied, which wasn't difficult. I didn't really know if I was a Druid. That may have been a dream. Anyway, I wasn't going to reveal that little bit of info to this nutjob. Crossing to my gurney, he reached over and pulled a strap tight across my ribs, just beneath my breasts, then another across my hips and thighs. This couldn't be good.

He glanced down at the floor, moved his foot, and then the bed began to move. I couldn't help the squeak of surprise.

"I need to access your back. This is the easiest way," he explained, keeping his foot on the pedal until I was fully vertical. "Oh, I forgot to secure your head." Next thing, he dragged a footstool over, stood on it, then pulled straps across my forehead, effectively stopping my head from any movement. My position was uncomfortable, suspended vertically, not able to support my own weight but held in place by the straps across the gurney that were now cutting into me under the strain.

His foot moved and he stepped on another pedal and this time the gurney turned away from him. I could no longer see him or his equipment. I was facing a brick wall. There was a metal sliding noise at my back, then the sound of something on wheels being dragged across the floor, followed by the swab of something cold on my skin.

"What are you doing?" I kept my tone calm, even though my fists were clenching and unclenching in their silver bags as I flexed my power, trying to break free.

"Prepping you for a spinal tap," he absentmindedly answered me.

"Why?" I felt the needle pierce my skin, then the punch as it entered my spinal column. Son of a bitch, it hurt and I closed my eyes as I sucked in a breath. I'd had this done before, at the SIA medical unit as part of my testing.

"Need more. Used up all of your first sample on testing. Now I think I've got it though," he muttered. My suspicions were correct. My initial samples at the medical unit hadn't been ruined by faulty refrigeration. They'd been stolen.

"Got it?"

"The formula. Got to make sure the formula is right, the quantities are right, or it doesn't work. Can't have another failure."

"Formula for what?"

"A hybrid. A super paranormal." I doubted he noticed he was answering my questions. He was so busy with what he was doing, removing the needle from my spine and puttering around behind me, that his mind was responding to me on a different level, a subconscious level.

"Why do we need a hybrid of different species?"

"We don't. Ridgeway does. Wants to build an army, overthrow the Council, then the humans. Take control."

"Are you done with my back? Can you lower me, do you think? I'm dizzy." It was true. I was feeling light-headed and nauseous.

The bed whirred, turning back to its original position and lowering until I was once again horizontal. The relief was instantaneous. "Thank you," I muttered. He ignored me and I lapsed into silence, trying to come up with an ingenious plan to get myself out of this predicament. Unfortunately, nothing was forthcoming, and with blood loss making me weak and a headache starting to gather from the spinal tap I wasn't in much of a condition to do anything. I prayed my new found healing powers weren't a one off.

Instead, I thought about the director’s plan. That's why the victims we'd found had multiple DNA in their bodies. She'd been injecting them with vampire and werewolf serum, hoping to create some sort of hybrid creature. Clearly, her plan hadn't worked; we'd seen that with four of her victims. Why would my DNA make a difference? Had she tried other paranormal creatures as well? Fae? Dragons? Although, good luck capturing a dragon and then getting its DNA.

I watched as the man placed a vial of what I assumed was my spinal fluid into a machine, closed the lid, and pressed some buttons. The machine started up with a whir and began vibrating. Then he moved over and opened a laptop and began typing furiously.

Closing my eyes on the exhaustion that was creeping up on me, I let my thoughts drift to what I'd learned about myself, about the realm where the Druids lived. I struggled to recall what I knew about Druids. We'd touched on them briefly during SIA training, but they were a lost race, wiped out. What were their powers though? Come on, remember, remember.

Something about earth magic. Healing. Peacekeepers. I snickered quietly, yeah, made sense I was a Supernatural Investigation Agency Enforcer. A peacekeeper indeed. But what had the girl Enna said? That my true power had only just awakened? So my abilities to freeze and levitate were nothing compared to what I was truly capable of. But what was I truly capable of? And how did I do it? Damn it, why hadn't she shown me, taught me, before sending me back?

"Can I have some water?" My mouth was dry and the strap holding my head in place was too tight.

The scientist swiveled on his chair and looked at me, assessing, then nodded to himself. Opening a fridge, he withdrew a bottle of water. He released the strap around my head and then adjusted the bed so I was on a slight incline. Twisting the lid off the water bottle, he held it to my lips and I gulped thirstily.

When I drank my fill I finally pulled away and gave him a nod. "Thank you."

He returned to his laptop without a word and resumed typing. My thoughts wandered again and I absently gazed at the red brick wall. I thought of my dormant magic and wondered how to use it. What if I built a wall? Built a wall around Carter so they couldn't touch him, for I was very concerned they were about to inject him with the concoction the doctor was creating. Or if I could get my hands free I could levitate him out of reach. And freeze Dr. Frankenstein here.

As the thoughts percolated through my mind, something strange happened. Brick by brick, a wall started to appear. I lay watching as silently it grew to reach the ceiling, then curved around, bricking in the remaining space where the plastic sheeting hung. It wasn't until the wall blocked out some of the light that the doctor looked up, then frowned.

"What the hell?" He stood, and the chair rolling away from him snagged on something and tipped over. Rushing to the wall where minutes before plastic sheeting had hung, he raised his hands and pushed.

"What did you do?" he accused, glancing at me over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the wall and applying his shoulder to it. I shrugged. I didn’t really know what I did. I just thought of a brick wall and one appeared. Despite the headache pounding at my temples and the woozy sensation from blood loss, I seized on that realization. What if it was as simple as thinking things into reality? With nothing to lose I closed my eyes and concentrated on the straps holding me in place. I visualized the leather pulling back through the buckle, the catch releasing then falling slack by my side.

Opening my eyes I peered down, watching in wonder as the straps undid themselves, sliding open, freeing me. I spared a thought for my hands, trapped in the silver bags, and before my eyes, the bags disappeared. The scientist was still at the wall, slapping his palms against the bricks and paying no attention to me, which was a good thing. But just in case, I waved a hand and froze him in place, exerting enough pressure to keep him silent but still allowing him to breathe.

Sitting upright, I pulled the needle from my arm and pressed against the wound. I didn't know how my Druid healing powers worked, but I needed them to work fast. Sitting up had made the room spin and I didn't have time to hang around and wait. I needed to get out of here before the director returned and discovered I'd bricked us in. And speaking of being bricked in, I hadn't left myself an exit. Just as I thought it, a heavy metal door appeared.

Sliding off the gurney, I grabbed the bottle of water left sitting on the bench top and gulped down the remainder of its contents while I thought about my options. I had to destroy this place. I had to make sure they had nothing of my DNA here and the best way I knew how was fire. But I didn't want to barbecue the doctor. He was my witness against the director.

Heading to the door, I cracked it open and peered outside. No guards. No one was around. All I could hear was the breathing of Carter, deep and even. I pushed through the plastic and approached him. He was restrained like I was, and hooked up to an IV, a clear liquid pumping into his veins. Keeping him sedated I guessed. Freeing him from the restraints, I removed the IV and ran my eyes over him, looking for injury. Nothing was apparent. Seemed Vince hadn't had the chance to attack Carter with the baseball bat. Tugging his limp body into a sitting position, I draped him over my shoulder in a fireman's hold and with a grunt, lifted him, taking his full weight.

Returning to the doctor, I adjusted my magic and used an invisible leash to drag him toward me. It was an effort, both mentally and physically, to bring them both with me, but I couldn't leave either of them behind. Crossing the warehouse floor to the far side, I paused next to a filthy window and peeked outside. It was dark and I couldn't see much. I spotted a vehicle some distance away and wondered if it belonged to the doctor, or if someone else was here. I thought it strange the director didn't have the place heavily guarded. If she'd gone to all this trouble to conduct her experiments, surely she'd keep her investment protected?

I wasn’t sure if I willed it into existence with my newfound power or if it was just coincidence, but at that moment a minivan pulled up outside and six armed men climbed out, heading for the warehouse. Damn it. I couldn't hold the doctor captive for much longer, or support the dead weight of Carter over my shoulder. I was still weak. And I needed to keep some of my energy for starting the fire to wipe this place out.

Again, as if the mere thought of it triggered it, a fireball erupted where I'd been held.

"Shit!" With a squeak I dashed sideways, pulling up a shield to protect the three of us from the blast. It barely held as the giant fireball barreled across the warehouse, rolled up the shield and to the roof. The rafter caught fire and, judging by the condition of this place, the whole building would be ablaze within minutes. We had to get out. Now.

Releasing the doctor from my hold, I grabbed him by the arm and looked into his eyes. "You're going to have to do as I say if you don't want to die. Understand?" My voice was a snarl, threatening all sorts of pain if he tried to run. He nodded, his eyes round with fear as the fire raged around us. We had one shot at this.

"Move. That way, toward that window." I nodded further along the warehouse to a broken window. Over the crackle of the fire, I heard the guards shouting on the opposite side of the warehouse.

"Climb out. Then take him." I sagged against the wall, Carter's dead weight pulling on me. I had to trust the doctor wouldn't run, that he'd help us. I listened as he scrambled up and out the window. I could hear shouting, but the smoke was so thick I couldn't see anything. Which meant they couldn't see us. As far as they knew, all three of us were trapped in the blaze.

"Pass him up." The doctor appeared at the window and I shoved Carter at him, pushing his legs through and heaving myself up and over behind him. We landed together in a pile of arms and legs. Bruised and shaken but still alive.