She nodded her gray head. "We grow some on the island, but most of it is brought in as regular deliveries."

  "Who knows the island is here?"

  "Only the Amadis. The Daemoni have an inkling of its location, but cannot see it for themselves."

  "Because of the shield?"

  "Shields protect. Cloaks make the item or area invisible," she clarified.

  "Right. Must be a powerful shield and cloak," I said, thinking of the size of the island.

  "Oh, yes. Mr. Martin is more powerful than any of us."

  "Owen's dad? He powers the shield?"

  "Yes, Ms. Alexis. He is our strongest mage by far and no one but himself can break his shields. Not even the Daemoni. The rest of us mages keep it reinforced, especially when he is off-island."

  The tight belt of stress constricting my chest loosened a notch. Knowing Martin's shield protected us and kept the Daemoni out–kept them from taking my son–was a bit of a relief. I gave Ophelia a small smile.

  "Thank you, Ophelia."

  She curtsied. "Certainly, Ms. Alexis. Is there anything else?"

  "No–wait. Do you know where Tristan and Dorian are?"

  "They finished their evening meal a few minutes ago. I believe Mr. Tristan took Mr. Dorian upstairs for a bath."

  I thought about joining them, but the spread of food beckoned me. Father and son needed their time together anyway, and I'd see Dorian before bed. So I sat on one of the old couches, its leather soft and supple from age, and began loading a plate with sausage, cheese, grapes, apple slices and bread that was crusty on the outside and soft and warm in its center. Except for the couple bites of croissant and strawberry at breakfast, I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten, and I devoured two plates full, along with two glasses of red wine. Then I lay on the couch, closed my eyes and perused the mental pages of my book.

  I found no mention of my daughter or of a girl. Not that I'd expected to–I'd studied the book for hours last night. I would have remembered anything about a daughter, but the book only mentioned the lack of one. If it had been written by the Angels, messengers of God, the story surely would have mentioned my daughter if she truly existed. Right? Why wouldn't they include her in the book or on the vine?

  Which meant I either misheard at today's meeting or I didn't get the full story. Perhaps Mom and Rina were right. And even if they weren't, even if I really did hear Tristan and I already had a daughter, we had no information to use to search for her. If I wanted answers–

  "I've been looking for you." Tristan's lovely voice broke into my thoughts. I opened my eyes as he lifted my legs to sit on the couch with me and then dropped them to drape over his lap.

  I sat halfway up. "Is Dorian with you?"

  "He's in bed."

  "So early?"

  "It's not that early. It's nearly ten."

  I hadn't realized I'd been lying on the couch, lost in my own mind, for so long. My heart sank as I sagged back against the cushions. "I miss him so much and I've barely spent any time with him since we've been here."

  "I think I wiped him out. He crashed pretty quickly."

  "I'm glad you at least got to spend time with him. He's great, isn't he?"

  "The best." Tristan smiled proudly. "He loves me."

  "Of course he does. What'd you expect?"

  "We're practically strangers. I suppose I thought he'd be more leery or shy."

  "Hmph. Dorian is afraid of nothing. Besides, I've been telling him stories about you since he was born. He's missed you, too."

  "Thank you," Tristan murmured. He bent over and brushed his lips across mine. "So what were you thinking so hard about?"

  I didn't answer him at first, still sorting out my thoughts, and when I did, it wasn't exactly what I'd been thinking. "You flashed with me again. At the council meeting. You're getting pretty good at that."

  Leading in a flash and following someone's flash trail were fairly common, but flashing with someone else was supposed to be impossible. Tristan had done it with me four times in the last week.

  He shrugged. "You obviously needed help. Why didn't you flash yourself?"

  I sighed and dropped my face into my hands.

  "I … forgot … that I could," I mumbled, feeling like an idiot. I waited for his chuckle, but it never came. I looked up at him expectantly.

  "I think you had your mind on something else," he said and I nodded. "But you do need a lot of training. You can't forget things like that. Flashing is paramount to your survival."

  "I know, but …" I didn't finish, not able to excuse my own failure.

  "That's what you were thinking about when I came in?"

  I sighed again. "Sort of. I was thinking about how much I don't know. How much I have to learn. Including how to use this damn power I've been given."

  "So you'll work with Rina after all?"

  "I haven't decided yet. I'm still pretty mad at her."

  "Mmm." His hand brushed tingles along my shin and calf and his jaw muscle twitched as he seemed to be lost in thought for a minute. "You don't really have much choice."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We're not leaving this island until you're trained, and Rina's the only one who can help you with this particular power."

  I opened my mouth but he cut me off.

  "And we need you to listen to the council again if we want the information we need to find this girl."

  I shut my mouth. He knew how to get to me.

  He took me to bed, and I lay in his arms, unable to sleep after putting the brakes on sex. Although Rina said my shield was nice and tight, I wasn't about to risk that humiliation again. Another reason to learn control.

  I groaned internally and rolled over on my side. Why me? Of all the powers a daughter can be given, why did I get this one?

  I wanted to ignore this gift. To squash it. To pretend it didn't exist until it disintegrated into nothing from lack of use. It caused way too many problems and was completely worthless since I couldn't use it properly. Which, of course, was exactly the problem.

  Tristan was right. I had no choice. I couldn't return or exchange the power or re-gift it to someone else. The Angels had given it to me for a reason and my job was to make the most of it. As much I hated it, I'd better learn to control it and use it. I blew out a breath of resignation and closed my eyes.

  Rina? I silently called out, hoping she wasn't asleep yet.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning, Ophelia served us breakfast again, which included a note from Rina that Tristan and I were to meet Charlotte in the gym and Rina and I would work together afterwards.

  "I wonder what we're doing with Char," I said.

  "Who's Char?" Dorian asked.

  "Uncle Owen's mom," I said.

  Dorian's mouth dropped open, as if I'd just told him Owen was with a pink elephant in a tutu. "Uncle Owen has a mom?"

  "Of course, silly. Everyone has a mom."

  "She has some skills to teach you, I do believe," Tristan said.

  "Sounds boring." Dorian crinkled his nose. "I'm gonna go play games. Uncle Owen said we got a new Harry Potter game."

  He gave Tristan a hug, smacked a wet kiss on my cheek and ran off.

  "Games?" Tristan asked.

  "If there's a computer anywhere in this mansion, Dorian would find it and all the games on it, too. Kind of like you and your toys," I said, then something occurred to me. I couldn't believe, being a writer and usually tied to my laptop, I hadn't thought about it before. "Are there computers here?"

  "Of course. In the media room."

  My brows furrowed with another thought. "How do they run? And how come I just now realized I haven't seen any electricity since we've been here? I'm a disgrace to my generation."

  Tristan chuckled. "The island does that to you. Especially this mansion. You feel like you've stepped into another world and another time."

  "It feels so … natural, though." This place–this world–seemed to become stranger every time I turned around, yet it still felt like … home, I supposed. Almost as though I belonged here. Almost, but not quite.

  "There's a power plant on the island. Fueled by magic, of course."

  "Of course," I muttered.

  "Rina prefers to keep things old-fashioned." Tristan rose from the table and held his hand out for mine. "You ready?"

  I placed my hand in his, and he led the way. We left the mansion through the front door and walked along a path lined with sixty-foot-tall cypress trees and a series of ancient stone arches overhead.

  "I can't believe this place is so old," I said, awed by the huge arches. The island and the mansion had been a part of the Amadis since the beginning.

  "A couple of millennia," Tristan said. "About as old as anything in Greece."

  "It's been well taken care of." I ran my hand along the smooth marble of one of the arches as we passed through.

  "It's protected by the Otherworld. This place–the mansion and the whole island–is practically sacred."

  We turned off the main path and down a narrower one through the trees that led to a short, stout building. The two-story stone structure was a miniature replica of the huge mansion, bigger than Mom's cottage in Cape Heron had been, but smaller than our beach house in the Keys. The wooden door stood ajar.

  Tristan led me into a room that took up nearly the whole building. The walls and hardwood floor were bare and a grid of wooden beams stretched overhead where a second floor would have been, with the roof far above the beams. The grid was multi-dimensional–the beams weren't level with each other but set at different heights. Sunrays streamed in through open skylights and created an interesting pattern of shadows on the floor.

  "I'm in here," Charlotte called from our right.

  We followed her voice into a small area near the door and my jaw dropped. Weapons of every kind imaginable except firepower lined the walls and floor–short knives, daggers, curved sabers, long swords, stars, chains, axes and other things I had no names for.

  "No guns?" I asked, trying to hide my bewilderment.

  "Guns are pretty useless in our world," Charlotte said. Instead of the leather of yesterday, she wore a tight black tank, black spandex pants and black boots, and her blond hair was pulled into a ponytail. And she was still intimidating. "Unless you're were-hunting, which is outlawed for the Amadis. Remember: our goal is not to kill unless there is no hope or if it's absolutely necessary to protect yourself or someone else."

  Her blue eyes traveled up and down my body as though sizing me up, and then she wrote something on a clipboard.

  "These are practice weapons," she said, casually waving her hand in the air. "Sophia put me in charge of training you. We'll figure out your strengths before deciding on your weapon of choice."

  Ah. Charlotte wanted to train me. This was one of her rewards for Mom dragging her onto the council.

  "But we have powers. Are they not enough?"

  "You always want choices," Charlotte said matter-of-factly.

  "Especially with vamps. They're nearly impossible to kill," Tristan added.

  I regarded the weapons, intimidated by the number and variety. The idea of actually using them, practice or not, made my stomach lurch. I hated fighting. I hated watching it and I sure as hell hated doing it. I'd already had enough violence in the last week with Vanessa and Tristan and wished I'd never have to fight again.

  But I had to be logical, and I knew those weren't my only battles. Apparently, everyone thought I needed to improve my skills, which I couldn't disagree with, although I could think of other training I'd prefer to be doing. Like with my telepathy. Now that I'd decided I wanted to learn how to use it, I was anxious to begin my lessons with Rina.

  "So where do we start?" I asked, wanting to get this over with.

  Charlotte eyed me again and wrote something on her pad. "We start with hand-to-hand combat."

  She flicked her hand and pointed us toward the main space. What had been a bare room only a few minutes ago now held various sized punching bags on stands and hanging from the beams. I glanced down at the sundress and Mom's borrowed cardigan I wore.

  "Mom could have warned me," I muttered. "I don't have many clothes that fit, but I do have running wear."

  "No worries. You both have training clothes in there." Charlotte pointed to a doorway next to the weapons area. "And you should have new clothes in your suite by the end of the day, by the way."

  Tristan and I changed together in the little room that contained only a bench with two piles of clothes on it. I held up a black sports bra and black spandex pants–the only clothes for me–and nearly groaned, until I remembered my new body. Tristan had been given nothing but a pair of loose black pants. With his hair pulled back in a ponytail, he looked as though he belonged in a martial-arts film, ready to fight in a tournament or take on his self-righteous teacher. In other words, he looked delicious.

  "I'm supposed to concentrate with you in that?" Tristan asked, his eyes traveling up and down my body. I couldn't help it. I shivered.

  "Ditto," I muttered and forced myself to tear my eyes from his very bare, very lickable chest. I contemplated our feet instead. "But no shoes or boots?"

  "Not necessary yet," Charlotte answered as we returned to the main room. She stood by a hanging bag. "So, we start small and we'll get as far as we can, while we can. I could be called to the field again at any time. Tristan can always take over for me, but it's easier to have us both here."

  "Okay, then let's do it." I had nowhere else to be except with Rina, so the sooner we finished today's training, the sooner I could work with Rina and the sooner I would learn about the mysterious girl.

  We started with various punches: jabs, hooks, crosses and uppercuts, as well as martial arts chops and strikes. Tristan demonstrated the moves and Charlotte watched my form.

  "Some inaugural meeting for the two of us, huh?" Charlotte asked as I practiced my right hook.

  "Hmph," I grunted as my fist slammed into the bag. "Are they always so intense?"

  "Martin says they can be. I guess it's better than boring. I could have killed Sophia for making me go to those meetings."

  An "I know" almost slipped from my lips, which would have required an explanation, so I simply hummed in agreement.

  "I think she did it just so she wouldn't have to be alone with all of them," Char continued as she circled me and the punching bag, eyeing my technique as I threw the punches. "They can get … intense, as you said. Especially when it comes to the next daughter."

  "So I noticed," I muttered.

  "Now practice with your left," she said.

  I threw what I thought was a left hook. Tristan said it was more of a jab and showed me the correct way, then put me to work, repeating the move.

  "I don't see why they're so uptight about another daughter," Charlotte went on. "If Rina and Sophia say it's going to happen, we need to let it happen when it's supposed to. Otherwise …"

  I slowed my moves when she didn't finish. "Otherwise what?"

  She tapped her finger against her lips. "Well, there's a reason Dorian came by himself, right?"

  I stopped my punches and stared at her.

  "Charlotte," I said, "do you know Chandra very well?"

  "Sure. I often work under her when I'm in India or the surrounding area. Why?"

  "She mentioned something about Dorian not going to the Daemoni."

  Char pressed her lips together and nodded. "Some people want to believe that. In fact, some think he might even be able to lead the Amadis."

  "What?" My eyebrows flew up. I glanced at Tristan, but skepticism darkened his eyes.

  "Martin has mentioned it, but I don't see how. We've always been a matriarchal society." She shrugged. "It's not my forte and it's pointless to speculate. My job, at least for now, is to teach you how to protect yourself. Tristan, let's show her some kicks."

  After I practiced a variety of kicks, we moved on to combination moves. At first it was exhilarating, even fun, but eventually it became tedious as they made me practice the same moves over and over again. My body, into the rhythm, did everything on its own, while my mind wandered, thinking about Dorian, the council meeting, the "voices" and what the one said about the girl. Then I thought about Rina and wanting to work with her instead of doing these silly exercises.

  "Alexis!" Tristan's bark snapped me out of it. "Pay attention!"

  My mind returned to my surroundings. The punching bag I'd been working with swung violently on its chain, its insides bursting out of a huge hole.

  "Did I do that?" I asked, jumping out of its way as it swung toward me.

  "Yes! Because you're not focused." Tristan's angry growl bemused me.

  "I'm sorry. I'll fix–"

  "The bag's not a problem," Charlotte said, her voice much calmer than Tristan's as she waved her hand. The stuffing sucked back inside the bag and the hole closed itself. "But your lack of concentration is."

  "Yes, it is a problem," Tristan said. "You have to focus. When you're in the middle of a fight, your mind must be one-hundred-percent directed on what you're doing. You can't let it wander."

  "But I'm just doing the same hits and kicks over and over–"

  "You need to learn the moves. Your muscles must memorize them."

  "Which they seem to be doing very well," Charlotte added, more kindly than Tristan's tone, but then her voice became firmer. "But you must be alert and aware at all times, regardless of how mundane the situation seems."

  I shook my shoulders and arms out. "I'm sorry. I'll focus more."

  Tristan walked away from the punching bags, over to an open area. "Practice on me, not the bags. Maybe then you'll pay attention."

  "I said I'd focus." I didn't understand why he seemed so upset. You'd think the punching bag might suddenly grow arms and fight back when I wasn't watching.

  "I want to see how much strength you're putting into it."

  I blew at the hair that had escaped my ponytail and fell in my face. "Fine."

  "Do the jab and roundhouse combo," he said. "Full strength."

  I did the move several times. He could take my full strength, although his balance faltered more than once.

 

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