As she spoke, I could feel a subtle throb of energy emanating from the baby's body. She pulled her hand away and I could feel more. There was the energy from the earth seeping up through the house and in through the open windows. There was my own energy and the energy from all the animals nearby. While the woman next to me produced no energy of her own, she brought all the energy around me into instant balance, so that it was one harmonious song. The same song I had been mindlessly humming to Squall.

I pulled my hand back to grip the railing of the crib. I felt as if I should be afraid or anxious, but the emotions drained away before they could fully form. I was at peace, standing in this room next to the old woman because she brought everything into balance. She stepped a couple feet away, dropping her hand from my back, but the feeling of peace didn't wane as I had expected.

"You know, you can stay here if you want," she offered. "Your life would be exactly what you experienced today. You would be wrapped in the earth and life. It would be hard and simple, but also satisfying and peaceful."

I looked down at Squall as he slept soundly before me, trusting and happy. I closed my eyes, but my head was filled with the sounds of remembered laughter and twinkling green-gray eyes. Everything fit so wonderfully. I fit so perfectly here, as if I had finally found the puzzle to which I belonged. It was so tempting. So perfect . . .

My eyes snapped open and I looked at the old woman. "You're not one of them, are you?" I demanded, referring to the people I had met around the farm. "You're Mother Nature. You're Gaia. And none of this is real." I couldn't keep the sadness from my voice as I looked down at the baby. I wanted all of it to be real. For a second the world I lived in and had left behind that morning came screaming back with all its harsh edges and dirty light, and I needed this to be real so that I could draw my next breath.

"Chang warned me you were a smart boy," the woman said, drawing my gaze back to her face. She took my hand again and held it over Squall. "Does that not feel real? You know, Gage, that there is more to this world than what our eyes show us. But if you need it, this is all real and just for you."

I nodded, struggling to swallow past the lump that had grown in my throat. All the emotions that had left me were surging back, leaving me feeling raw and ragged.

Gaia squeezed my hand. "You don't have to leave."

"I can't stay." My voice was rough and choked, but I didn't care. "If I leave, will I ever be able to return?"

She c.o.c.ked her head to the side for a second as she stared at me. Her smile dimmed a little. "If you leave, you will have one more chance to return. But only one." She released my hand and slid her arm around my back, starting to steer me away from the bed. "Come. Let's get some lemonade before Holly adds too much sugar."

I paused, looking back into the crib. I could feel a slight tearing in my chest as I tried to move away from the little boy with the blond curls. It was becoming harder to breathe and my heart was pounding as if I had run five miles. "Squall?"

Gaia gave a soft chuckle as she stepped in front of me. Her old, wrinkled hands came up and cupped my cheeks. It was only when her thumbs brushed aside tears that I realized that I was crying. "He'll be waiting for you, I promise. He'll wait."

I gave a jerky nod. "Let's get some lemonade," I said, trying to smile.

Gaia led the way out of the nursery, but I paused at the crib and looked down at the sleeping baby, trying to memorize the feel of the little soul that, somehow, I knew would one day be my son.

21.

WHEN I STEPPED out of the old white farmhouse behind Gaia, we were faced with a giant, lush garden rather than the rolling field I had walked across minutes earlier. I stood at the bottom of the stairs, taking in the rich array of blooming flowers, the green trees with branches spread wide overhead, and the thick carpet of gra.s.s that looked soft underfoot. But as I stood there, soaking in the beauty, I knew that what I saw wasn't real. It wasn't there. Oh, I could see it, feel it, smell it, and taste it only because there was a part of my mind that needed to find a way to comprehend this strange place.

Gaia's home was a place of energy and life. It was either the source of or a crossroads for all the living things of the world: plant, animal, and other. Gaia tried to keep life in balance, but it wasn't the easiest of tasks with creatures eating away at the domains of nature and the Towers unbalancing everything with their magic. Yet despite it all, she had this place of perfect harmony and I didn't want to leave.

The old woman placed her hand on my arm and I let her lead me around through the garden to where a small table and a pair of cushioned chairs had been set up under a copse of trees. As soon as Gaia was comfortably settled, Holly carried over a tray that she placed on the table before us. She flashed me a smile as she poured us gla.s.ses of lemonade and then wordlessly headed back in the direction of the house.

"Careful," Gaia warned as I picked up my gla.s.s. "She tends to make overly sweet lemonade. I think she may have lived as a hummingbird for a time."

I took a tentative sip to find that it was perfect, like everything in this place. "Who are these people that live here with you?" I asked as I put down the gla.s.s.

"Souls wander in every once in a while, looking for something that they couldn't find in other lives they had." Her voice was like the soothing murmur of a woodland stream. "They stay and I give them something to do. After a time, they find what they were looking for and they move on to something else. There are never more than seven here at any time, but usually fewer."

"Are they all dead, then?"

She smiled at me as she folded her hands over her stomach. "Do they seem dead to you?" Before I could answer, she chuckled at me. "This is just a different place from where you live. Nothing more."

I relaxed in my chair, stretching my legs out in front of me. From within the copse of trees, I could no longer tell what time of day it was. There were little shafts of light filtering between the leaves, casting the world in a medley of gold and shadow. "I've met everyone but the seventh so far."

"That's because there is no seventh at the moment."

My gaze snapped back to her wrinkled face and I frowned. "Were you expecting me to become your seventh?"

She gave a little shrug, her smile never wavering. "Not at first, but you seemed to settle in while at the pond. I could see you aligning yourself to this world, and so much faster than the others that came before you. I would never have offered for you to stay if I didn't think you would fit."

"I can't stay," I said firmly, but there was no denying the cry of pain somewhere in my soul. I wanted to stay, but I had to go back to my life. I had to help Trixie and Bronx. I had to protect my brother. I had to stop the Towers from destroying everything. Gaia was offering me an escape, but the people I loved would be trapped if I accepted it.

"I know. Your love of your friends and family is a good thing to honor and cling to. This place is a temporary thing. They all go back eventually."

I nodded, letting the pain in my chest ease a little as I sat in the quiet of the garden. There was something about Gaia's manner that reminded me of my maternal grandmother, something in her eyes and the way she smiled knowingly at me, a wonderful mix of amus.e.m.e.nt and pride.

"Chang told me that you were coming because you needed my help with something," she said, pulling my thoughts at last to the real reason for my presence in her domain. While my body and soul felt at peace, there was now a discordant note in my brain, as if it existed in two separate s.p.a.ces: Gaia's world and mine. "I'm sorry to say that I rarely visit your world and I try to avoid having any dealings with it. I probably won't be able to help you."

"I understand, but the elves are in danger and you're the only person I can think of that will be able to help."

Both white eyebrows raised and she sat up a little. "The elves? They've always been quite good at managing on their own."

"Until the Ivory Towers became involved."

For the first time, a dark scowl crossed her face, deepening the lines there. The breeze increased to a stiff wind and a couple large clouds rolled across the sky. "Curse those Towers and all those arrogant sots," she complained. "They've spent centuries mucking up all my work. They take pleasure in tangling things up and leaving it for others to fix. I've seen two-year-olds exhibit more care with their toys than they do for the world they must inhabit."

"Unfortunately, a witch from the Towers has made a great tangle of the elves," I said with a sigh. "I've discovered that she cast a spell over all the elves that is slowly but surely destroying their ability to procreate year after year. I can't undo the spell. To my knowledge, no witch or warlock can until it has run its course and all the elves are barren. I'm afraid that if we are forced to wait, we won't be able to save the elves from extinction. Furthermore, if the queen of the Summer Court doesn't have a child soon, there's going to be a war, which will only expedite their extinction."

A sympathetic look crossed her face as she looked at me. "Sometimes that is the way of things. Before you were born, creatures lived and died on that planet. Now not a one is left. Their time is over and they had to leave to make room for the rise of others."

My heart slammed in my chest and I shifted to the edge of my seat, leaning closer to her. "Yes, I understand that, but this isn't about natural selection or some Darwinian survival of the fittest. This is the work of one person who is destroying an entire race. It can't be allowed to happen."

"But that is exactly what it is," she said with the same sad little smile. "It's nothing more than one race encroaching on the territory of another. The Towers have found a way to eliminate their rivals for their s.p.a.ce."

"No!" Shoving out of my chair, I paced away from Gaia. My hands clenched my hair as I struggled to order my thoughts into a convincing argument that would sway her into action to stop this horrible event that she was so calmly accepting. The peace I had found here had completely slipped away. The feeling of balance that had soothed my soul was gone, so that I now felt like a small island being pounded by the waves of the ocean.

When I looked around, the garden looked a little less idyllic. The colors weren't quite so bright and the air seemed a little less fragrant. But the world hadn't changed; I had. I had fallen out of sync with it, and it hurt.

Pushing the feeling of loss down, I looked at Gaia. "It can't be allowed to happen. The world needs the elves. With you away and maintaining a hands-off approach to my world, it threatens to fall completely out of balance. The elves help keep the energies there on an even keel. I don't understand their magic, but the world . . . life is better when they are there." I held my hands out to her, trying to persuade her, but it didn't look as if my words were changing her mind. "It was all a mistake," I whispered. "The witch . . . she's sorry now."

Gaia moved then, a little jerk of her head, so that she was staring at me through narrowed eyes. "You know who did this horrible thing?"

"Yes." My hands dropped to my sides. "She's a friend. A witch who's a cat now. I found out what she did. She didn't think . . . or rather didn't care what the spell would do. She thought she was protecting the Towers, but she regrets her actions now."

Mother Nature gave a little snort and crossed her arms over her chest with a frown. "Sorry? I've never heard of a witch or warlock that was ever sorry about anything, regardless of who was hurt."

"I am."

She seemed caught off guard by my comment. She knew I was from the Towers and that I was a warlock, but I think she had forgotten about my past. Her angry frown immediately melted into a look of sadness. I knelt before her and captured one of her hands in both of mine. "I'm sorry every time I make some stupid mistake with a potion that gets someone hurt. I'm sorry that my family was hurt by the fact that I was born a warlock. I'm sorry that my friends are in constant danger because they know me."

Gaia squeezed my hands, then placed one of hers against my cheek. "Oh, Gage, you're not one of them."

"But I am and you know it," I pressed, praying that I had something that might change her mind. "I am a warlock and I lived in the Towers. I am one of them, but I'm not like them. And I'm not the only one. Sofie, the witch who made this mess . . . she's changed. She's sorry. She lives with an elf now and she lives in horrible fear of how that elf will react when she discovers the truth. She loves that elf and doesn't want to hurt her. She's sorry, but she can't fix this. You can."

She stared at me for a long time, gazing deep into my eyes. I didn't know if she was reading my mind to determine that I was telling the truth or if she was looking inside herself. I could easily imagine that she had spent a very long lifetime fighting to right the messes caused by the Towers and she had to be tired of what was becoming a futile act. I couldn't blame her for wanting to step away from the world and remain closeted here, where peace seeped so deeply into your soul. But I needed her to act.

"Chang also warned me that you are a sneaky devil," she said with a slight frown.

A sigh of relief burst from my chest and my shoulders slumped. She was going to help. On an impulse, I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her soft cheek. "Thank you."

"Ah! Just a minute!" she said sharply as I pushed to my feet. She pointed a thin finger at me. "Even in this world, you can't get something for nothing. If I help the elves, what will you give me in return?"

I was so excited that I nearly opened my mouth and said, Anything! but I caught myself at the last second. Unfortunately, I had a feeling that she heard that thought because her smile grew. But then, if she had been reading my mind, she knew that she had me. I would do anything to get Trixie safely back with her people. If I couldn't stop the Towers, I needed some place for her to go that would be hidden, and the elves knew how to hide.

"It's amazing what we do for love, isn't it?" Gaia said, looking at me speculatively. "A little while ago, I said that you would have a second chance to come back here. Would you trade that for the elves? For your Trixie's safety?"

The thought hurt, but I didn't hesitate. "Yes, I'll trade it."

"Would you trade Squall for Trixie?"

My heart jerked in my chest and it felt as if my skin had become cold and clammy. I stumbled a step backward as if I could run from her question. "Trade him?" My voice was coa.r.s.e like gravel. "Would . . . would he be safe and happy if he didn't come to me?"

Gaia gave a little shrug, closely watching me. "The future is always an unknown thing. Maybe yes, maybe no."

Thoughts collided with raging emotion until everything was simply a dark whirlpool sucking down into nothing. Trade Squall for Trixie? Just seconds ago I had thought I would trade anything, but now I couldn't say the words. I had known him for only a few minutes as I held his fragile body in my arms, but I knew with every fiber of my being that he was mine. Yet, by the same token, I loved Trixie and she was mine as well. I needed her safe if I was to have a hope of staying sane. How could I trade one person for another?

I never saw her move, but Gaia was suddenly standing in front of me, her hand on my arm. There was a lump in my throat and I was struggling against the overwhelming fear that I had gotten so close to my goal and it was now slipping through my fingers. I was failing because I couldn't let go of my son to save not only my girlfriend but all her people.

"Shhh," she said softly. Peace started to ease back into my chest, slowing my heart and shrinking the lump in my throat. "Breathe easy, Gage. It was a trick question. You can't trade one loved one for another. You end up destroying three lives and saving none."

"I offer everything that I am and everything I have, but I can't . . . can't choose." My voice was rough and a part of me was angry that I couldn't control my emotions. There was something about this place. Everything was so raw and fresh here, more vibrant and alive, that emotions usually so easily under my control veered wildly out of my hands.

Gaia smiled brightly at me, looking as if tears were gathering in her own eyes. "You don't have to. What you've offered me is enough. I'll fix the elves' procreation problem."

My heart lurched and my body tensed. My emotions were a f.u.c.king roller coaster here and I was beginning to think that it was well past time for me to leave. "What do you mean? What's the trade?"

"You gave me the truth. As painful as it was, pulled straight from your heart, you gave me the truth. It's a very rare thing in the world and I highly value that gift. Thank you."

I nodded jerkily, no longer trusting my voice. I was feeling wrung out under the weight of my relief.

Gaia stepped back, but she held both of my hands in hers. "Now, it's getting late and I need to send you back. I will visit with Arianna tomorrow, I promise, and will see about setting things right for the elves. You warn that little witch that she needs to stop messing in my domain."

"I will. She is sorry," I said, giving her hands a squeeze. "Could you tell everyone I said good-bye?"

Gaia arched a mocking eyebrow at me. "Even Rocky?"

I smirked back at her, starting to feel a little more like my usual self. "Especially Rocky."

"Of course."

I drew in a deep breath, feeling my smirk slip from my mouth. "Hug Squall for me?"

"Every day and twice on Sunday."

"Thank you . . . for everything."

Her smile grew a little wider, sending a tear skidding down her cheek. "Good luck and I'm sorry about this."

I wanted to ask what she meant by her last comment, but I didn't get the chance. In an instant, the world went dark and her hands slipped from mine. It lasted only a second. I blinked and Gaia's garden had been replaced with the parking lot behind my apartment building. It took me only a breath to realize why she had apologized. With me in the parking lot were three warlocks and a witch. The same witch I should have killed when she attacked me the first time. d.a.m.n. This was going to get ugly.

22.

WE ALL STOOD there stunned. I was confused as h.e.l.l as to what they were doing in my parking lot and they were confused as h.e.l.l as to where I had come from. Common sense said that they had been preparing another attack on my apartment, but the panic screaming through my brain was drowning out any common sense I had left. I didn't have my wand, I didn't have the keys to my car, and I didn't have a clue as to what the f.u.c.k I could do to get out of this mess.

"That was nice of you to come to us," said one warlock, drawing my gaze to his face. He looked vaguely familiar, but then I had met few other magic users while I had lived in the Towers ten years ago. Those that I had met outside of my mentor, Simon, had been on . . . Oh, f.u.c.k.

"You're on the council," I said, talking mostly to myself as I took a step backward. "Fox. Henry Fox?"

"Correct," Henry said with a grim smile. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d had argued for my immediate execution when I had been brought up on charges. Apparently, he was still against the idea of me breathing.

My gaze swept around the parking lot, searching for an escape. After they had gotten over their momentary shock, the quartet had spread out, leaving me without an exit. The one potential weak spot was the b.i.t.c.h that I should have killed the first time. It made sense that my mistake would come back to haunt me in a big f.u.c.king way. I hated when Gideon was right. After dumping her in a net at the bottom of the ocean off the North Sh.o.r.e, I could only imagine that she was most eager to get rid of me.

"Warlocks who visit Low Town have been disappearing recently," Henry said pleasantly, his voice crawling across my skin like fire ants dragging razor blades. After my time in Gaia's garden, the whole world seemed to be washed in a dull gray light despite the fact that the setting sun was painting the sky in shades of pink and orange. Sounds and smells clashed together in a discordant fashion like a toddler pounding on a piano, leaving me flinching as my mind tried to make sense of Henry's words. "First Master Thorn goes missing two months ago, and now in a matter of days, Masters Rosenblum and Wilson disappear."

"Low Town can be a dangerous place if you're not prepared," I said between clenched teeth. Without moving a muscle, I started drawing small amounts of energy to me, swirling it around my hands and letting it seep into my skin. The cacophonous feel of the world eased so that it was no longer sliding along my brain like a cheese grater. No one flinched or moved. I didn't think anyone had noticed the shift yet, but then they could have been busy doing the same thing as I was doing.

Looking at my opponents, I figured that the one thing that I could count on was that they wouldn't all attack at once. That took teamwork and planning if they didn't want to risk ripping an ally inside out, and the occupants of the Towers did not play well together. The only thing they generally rallied together for was a type of us-versus-the-world mentality. Using magic in a single, concerted effort against one target was the domain of the guardians-the enforcers of the Towers did the dirty work. Henry Fox was a council member, not a guardian, and Useless Clod was an apprentice. That only left the other two unknown warlocks. They could have been guardians, but they were more likely lackeys of Fox.

This was one of the moments when I wished I had stuck it out in the Towers for a few more years, learned a few more tricks that could keep me alive. Just a couple more years and I would have been d.a.m.n good at teleporting. Oh, I could do the spell now, but it wasn't safe for me to attempt it with so many warlocks watching me. I couldn't protect myself and teleport at the same time, and I didn't think Henry and his friends were going to wait politely. My only hope was for a wave of death and incapacitation to hit them.

As I turned, trying to keep as many of them in my line of sight as possible, Henry gave a little nod. The brown-haired, nameless warlock stepped forward, but it was only a distraction because at the same time I felt a surge of energy jump from the warlock with greasy blond hair and saggy jowls. An energy ball jumped from his fingertips, but I was ready, the shield in place, so that the spell was harmlessly deflected back toward him. Brown Hair joined him, throwing his own energy ball at me. But it didn't deflect as it should have. It splat like a tacky ball of electric-green slime and quickly started to spread around me, growing over the shield as if it were algae. My pulse raced. The slime was blocking my vision of my attackers, nearly covering me.

With a curse, I dropped my shield, as my attackers had expected. The green slime disappeared with a faint crackle. Energy jumped in the air. I dropped to my knees and rolled toward the witch, missing the two energy b.a.l.l.s that smashed into the fractured concrete where I had been standing a second ago. Pushing to my feet, I found myself standing only a foot from Master Wilson's apprentice, a stunned look on her plain, pale face as if she was surprised to be standing so close to me. It was almost funny.

Slamming my fist into her face was funny. I didn't believe in hitting women. If my father had seen me, he would have tanned my a.s.s, regardless of my age. But since she was trying to kill me, I figured I could make an exception. She cried out, falling backward onto her a.s.s, covering her face with both her hands.

Confident that she was preoccupied for a minute, I turned back to where the others stood, summoning up great gulps of energy like a whale sucking down plankton. There was no subtlety or sneakiness this time, but we were past that, right?

Greasy came at me with a wave of fire, which was kind of surprising. If I hadn't properly blocked it with a blast of cold air, the flames would have cooked me and the witch behind me. He obviously wasn't concerned for her well-being in this fight, but then he didn't strike me as a particularly strong magic user either. He was sloppy and lacked imagination-two things that made a poor magic weaver. Definitely one of Fox's lackeys.