Cindy fought not to pull her hand away when the darkness rose up to meet her own light. It taunted her in a haunted sensual dance, attempting to wrap itself around her. But Cindy was no young healer with inexperience at using her magic. She was a seasoned sprite. Though her species was not as powerful as most, she was something special for her kind. The longer she fought with the darkness, the more she began to recognize that it wasn’t just Sally’s mind dealing with the horrid events she’d endured. It was more than that. This darkness had been placed therepurposefully.
“You cannot have her,”Cindy toldit.
“You’re too late, sprite. She is alreadyours.”
The darkness was growing in power and, whatever was feeding it was suppressing Sally’s own natural light that emanated from all gypsy healers. Someone in the Order had done this to her. The magic they’d used to take her memories wasn’t the only spell they’d cast. They must have planted this second spell as some kind of fail-safe, a supernatural backup plan that would be triggered should their efforts be thwarted. Cindy recognized the magic now. She should have recognized it immediately, considering her own parents were members of the Order at one time. She hadn’t told Sally this, and she hoped she’d never haveto.
Cindy said some words in her people’s language, casting her healing power over her daughter’s mind. But no matter how hard she tried, Cindy couldn’t get the darkness to recede. She was going to have to get some help. This meant she was going to have to go speak to the queen of the forest clan sprites. And considering she hadn’t spoken to any of them in almost a century, Cindy wasn’t sure how well she would bereceived.
She pulled her hand away from Sally’s mind and tried to keep her face devoid of any emotion. She didn’t know how much Sally understood about what was going on inside of her, but her daughter was clearly at the end of her rope. What Cindy had found was incredibly serious, and it terrified her. And as frightened as Sally was in her current mental state, sharing this information with her might just push the girl over theedge.
“It will take more power than I possess to heal you. I’m going to needhelp.”
“Heal me?” Sally frowned. “Did they damage something in my mind when they stripped me of mymemories?”
Cindy cringed at the half-truth she was about to tell. “Something likethat.”
“Well, is it somethinglikethat or is it that?” Sallyasked.
Cindy sighed. “I’m afraid it’s hard to say exactly what’s afflicting you. Mental magic is very complicated, as I’m sure youknow.”
“So, who canhelp?”
“The luminous sprites. They carry a light inside of them that is similar to yours,” sheexplained.
“They can heal?” Sallyasked.
Cindy hesitated and blew out a heavy breath. “In a manner ofspeaking.”
“Why do I feel like you’re playing ‘see how dumb my daughter is’ with youranswers?”
“I know you’re not dumb, Sally. But sometimes the less you know about the supernatural world the better.” Cindy knew it was a flimsy excuse, but she had to try something and hope Sally would simply let itgo.
Sally seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then her body stiffened. “My mate is a little ticked off and coming to findme.”
Lilly laughed. Sally glared at her. “This is not funny. You know what the male Canis lupus arelike.”
Lilly raised her hands. “Hey, don’t growl at me. You know it’s hilarious when Decebel goes all caveman on Jen and when Fane does it toJacque.”
“A little possessive and overprotective?” Cindyguessed.
“Understatement,” Lilly and Sally said at the sametime.
“We’d better get back to the car. If he gets here and can’t find me, he’ll get allhackley.”
“Is that a word?” Cindyasked.
“Today it is,” Sallyquipped.
Lilly stood at the same time as Cindy and Sally and pulled Sally in for a hug. “I’ve got to get back to my mate. I’m not going to tell Jacque anything until you return home. I think we should tell her everything at the sametime.”
“She’s going to be annoyed at you,” Sally pointedout.
Lilly rolled her eyes. “Not for long. Fane will do something soon enough to annoy her more, and I’ll be off thehook.”
Sally laughed so hard she even snorted. “It’s funny because it’s true,” she said through the laughter. When Lilly turned and walked toward a wall, and then through it, she stoppedlaughing.
Sally’s head swiveled back and forth between Cindy and the wall. “What justhappened?”
