"I appreciate you trying to rescue me, but why?" I flopped back in the folding chair and stared at etienne. I knew the ultimate decision had come from him. He had put these kids in danger coming after me, knowing that I was being held by members of the Towers. "You know the Towers are going to be watching me and hara.s.sing me. We can't be seen together. We can't help each other. It's too dangerous."

"We will not be bullied by the Ivory Towers." etienne's low voice was strong as his French accent curled around each word. He narrowed his bright blue eyes on me and leaned forward. "We have been beaten, starved, tortured, and frightened from the moment we were stolen from our homes. We escaped because we will not be treated like that. We know we cannot go home to our families, but we will not let them kill another like us. Another who has stood up against them and said no."

I frowned, taking in his quiet fervor. Something had bothered me from the moment I saw him with the others. Listening to him, I finally knew what it was. He reminded me of myself, but worse. I left the Towers because I hated what they were and I tried to secretly protect others from the witches and the warlocks when I could. The big difference, though, was that when I was his age, I only had myself to look out for. etienne had four kids depending on him to make good decisions. That was going to wear him down fast.

"I understand," I said with a nod. etienne sat back, looking confused and skeptical, so I pressed on. "I do understand and that's why you were going to talk to me. You knew that if anyone could understand what you're going through, I could. I've been in this spot before, ten years ago. I know what you're risking and why you're doing it. Because of that, you have to believe me when I say it's time to stop. Things have to change."

The young man stiffened and even the easygoing Tony was now frowning. The room had gotten extremely quiet as they all waited for etienne's decision.

A hard knock banged against the wooden front door. We all jumped at the sound. Wands appeared a heartbeat later, sending me surging to my feet to stop any kind of preemptive attack. I was hoping it was Gideon, and he didn't much care for having spells slung at him. The kids needed his help and p.i.s.sing him off before getting him inside wasn't a good first step.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I said in a harsh whisper, holding my hands up while sliding in front of the door. "We're going for inconspicuous here. Wands down. Let's aim for normal and then go from there."

It was with a great deal of reluctance that the wands were lowered, but no one put their wand away. Maybe I was jealous that they had their wands on hand. G.o.ds knew that I was dying to hold mine, but I would have to make do until I got back to my apartment.

I lifted my right hand and held it in front of the door, pulling up a spell to tell me exactly how many people stood on the other side of the door. When the spell revealed only one person, I sighed with relief. One I could handle.

"Who's there?" I called.

"Gideon," the cold, familiar voice snapped back. "Open the d.a.m.n door."

As I grasped the doork.n.o.b, I looked back at the kids. Alice had stepped in front of James, while the rest were spread about the room. All had matching grim expressions. They didn't trust Gideon, and I couldn't blame them. He was a member of the Towers to them. Opening the door, I stepped back so Gideon could enter. He didn't get far. The warlock took one step forward, his eyes immediately landing on the kids spread about the small, dingy room.

"s.h.i.t," he whispered, his shoulders slumping. Yeah, that was pretty much my thought. A second later, Gideon wrapped his fists in my polo shirt and threw me against the nearest wall. He held me pinned there, his lean face twisted with rage. "You promised me you weren't talking to them! You said you would stay away!"

I opened my mouth to start shouting back at him when the point of a wand dug into Gideon's cheek. "Release him," etienne said in a voice stripped of all emotion. I had little doubt that he'd remove Gideon's head without a hint of remorse if he failed to obey. Unfortunately, I could see the anger in Gideon's eyes being transferred from me to etienne, which wouldn't do the young man any good. I had spent the past several years putting up with Gideon's abuse. I could take it. etienne didn't need it.

As soon as Gideon released me, I slid between him and etienne, holding them apart. "etienne, put your wand away," I ordered. The teen hesitated, glaring at Gideon. "Do it! You're not helping anyone. Gideon isn't going to kill me." Yet. I had a feeling that the warlock was positively itching to strangle me with his bare hands, but he'd wait for now. When etienne grudgingly lowered his wand, Gideon took a step back, putting some s.p.a.ce between him and his opponent.

A low meow broke the tense silence. I looked down to see Sofie slide through the open front door. She padded in, rubbing against my pants leg and then Gideon's as her keen eyes darted about the room.

"Oh! What a lovely kitty cat!" Alice squealed. She rushed forward, scooped up the large Russian-blue cat, and held her pressed against her chest.

"Put me down, child!" the cat shouted, startling Alice, but she didn't drop her. Instead, she looked up at Gideon, while brushing her cheeks lovingly against Sofie's head. It was all I could do not to snicker.

"Is the cat your familiar? I was told we don't have familiars."

"I am not a familiar!" Sofie cried indignantly, starting to squirm. I was grateful she hadn't started using her claws yet.

Reaching over, I pushed the door closed and locked it. "Sofie's a witch that has been turned into a cat."

Alice gave a little shout and dropped the cat as if it had suddenly burst into flames. The girl backed up, moving in front of her brother. In fact, everyone in the room seemed a little tenser, knowing that they were now faced with a witch and a warlock.

Looking over at Gideon, I frowned. "You had to bring Sofie with you?"

The warlock made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat. "It wasn't about bringing her. It was more like I didn't want to waste the time on a spell to stop her from following."

"Gage Powell!" Sofie said shrilly, walking over to sit in front of me. "You disappear from the face of the earth for an entire day and then send a short message for me to fetch Gideon with no explanation. Did you honestly expect me to sit back and hope that everything was well? Trixie would have been furious if I had stayed behind."

More likely, curiosity has been driving Sofie crazy, so she decided to tag along. Regardless of her usual grumpiness, Sofie's life had become infinitely more interesting since she had come to live with Trixie, and the cat was enjoying it.

I let the comment go and turned back to Gideon, who was looking about the room. The kids were closely watching him, their wands in their hands. "To answer your earlier question, I did stay away. They found me." When the warlock regarded me again, I gave him a brief summary of the attack at my apartment and the escape from the house in Austria. He grew paler as I spoke.

"It's been getting worse," he said, but then shook his head as if to push the thought away. "You should have left immediately. It's too dangerous for you and them."

"Look at this place! You want me to ignore this? I can't leave them like this!" I shouted, throwing my arms out to encompa.s.s the poor living conditions. "This isn't a home and they aren't safe here."

"They made the choice to leave the Towers. They have to accept their fate," he said coldly.

"I know you're not this much of a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You can't be."

Gideon ground his teeth together, barely keeping his anger in check at the veiled mention of his hidden wife and child. "It is because of my situation that I am a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I have to protect them first. With chaos threatening to consume the Towers, I think the kids' problem is the least of our concerns."

"I can take care of the Towers, but I need to try to settle things here first," I said softly. If things didn't go well with Reave and the council, I was afraid that the Towers weren't going to give me a second chance to help these kids.

"You know?" His voice was so soft and haunted that I almost looked around for a ghost pa.s.sing through the room. "You know the person . . ." For a second time that morning, Gideon gripped my shirt and slammed me against the wall. The air crackled with barely controlled energy, but I did nothing to defend myself. Terror held sway over Gideon's mind. "Give me the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Gage!"

"I can't. Listen, if you or someone else turns him in, it's not going to stop them from coming after me. They realize that I am a potential threat. I have to remove that thought from their minds, and to do that I have to be the one to take him to the council."

Gideon released me and stepped back. "You want to make a deal?"

"I'm going to try." My heart was pounding in my chest like a thing gone mad. Gideon was dangerous, and it wasn't because he was a powerful warlock. It was because he knew me, knew what I was capable of. He had spent years watching over me. The only advantage I had over the other warlocks and witches I had fought was that they always underestimated me. Gideon wouldn't make that mistake, and I wouldn't have a chance in h.e.l.l against him.

All the energy drained out of the room, as well as poured out of Gideon. The man's large, narrow shoulders slumped and he almost seemed to sway on his feet as a look of hopelessness crossed his face. He knew I could bring the culprit before the Towers. He wasn't expecting me to survive the encounter. I couldn't blame him. I didn't have high hopes myself.

Taking him by the shoulders, I gently turned him around and ushered him to the chair I had vacated minutes ago. etienne returned to his seat to watch both me and Gideon.

"A favor, Gideon?" The warlock arched one eyebrow at me, looking skeptical, and I smiled. I couldn't blame him. He'd already done a lot of favors for me. "The kids don't have a lot of food on hand. You mind . . ." I trailed off, giving a little wave of my hand like I was holding a wand.

"Oh," he said, sitting up and looking around again as if taking in his surroundings. "Oh, yes, of course." He didn't bother to pull out his wand, but waved his hand over the table. In a second, piles of fluffy pancakes, waffles, sausages, bacon, eggs, and freshly chopped fruit appeared in platters, along with clean plates, flatware, and white linen napkins. My eyes caught on the large silver container in the center surrounded by empty mugs. Coffee. Glorious, wonderful, caffeine-filled coffee.

The kids held back, almost painful looks filling their faces as they gazed at the food. They were afraid to trust Gideon. They might have been able to create the same spell, but they were trying not to use magic for fear of being tracked. I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth before reaching for the coffee. It was like a green light at a racetrack. The kids fell on the table, piling a mountain of food on their plates in an explosion of excited chatter. Even James seemed to come alive with the promise of a warm meal.

Only etienne held back, watching Gideon through narrowed eyes. I clapped the younger man on the back and smiled. "I know it's hard to believe, but he is one of the good guys. Eat." When the boy didn't move, I turned my back on Gideon and leaned down. "He's got his own wife and kid to protect," I whispered for only etienne to hear. The young man's eyes widened as he looked up at me. He understood the risk Gideon was taking, the rules he was breaking.

"Oh, Gideon!" Sofie scoffed, jumping into the warlock's lap. "Pancakes with sugary syrup? You should have made something healthy. These children need oatmeal."

Gideon stared at etienne and smiled. "Bridgette loves my chocolate chip pancakes," he said before dropping a piece of fruit into his mouth. etienne gave a small nod, a smile toying with the corners of his mouth as he picked up a plate and started filling it.

While the kids scattered around the room, digging into their food and getting lost in happy conversation, I leaned against the wall near Gideon and discussed both William Rosenblum's attack and Henry Fox's kidnapping attempt. Apparently, things were deteriorating in the Towers faster than either of us had expected. I needed to get my hands on Reave before they decided to wipe out another city in order to shake up the ma.s.ses.

Gideon set his empty mug on the table and looked around the room. Kids were lounging on the floor, soft groans of fullness slipping from them as they settled into their own personal food comas. It sounded nice. I had picked a little, but my head ached and I had too much on my mind to try to put food in my stomach.

"I agree that they can't continue to live like this," Gideon started, sounding more than a little weary. "But I'm not sure what we can do. We can't keep coming back here. It may attract attention and these kids need to slip away without notice."

"They need homes. They need to go to school. They need to be around other people. Normal people with no magic," I said, pushing off the wall to put my nearly empty mug on the table. Being around nonmagic users would teach them how to blend better. Right now every time they were startled, they grabbed their wands, which only drew attention to them.

"They can't go home," Gideon said firmly.

I nodded. "It's the first place anyone would look. Their families are probably being watched already."

"I will not endanger mia famiglia," Paola said, lifting her chin, proving that despite the appearance of being in a carb-induced stupor, the kids were intently listening to our conversation. Others nodded at Paola's statement, looking sad.

"I know," I murmured, trying to smile at them before looking at Gideon again. "But I was thinking maybe a family or two that you might know could be willing to help."

Gideon frowned at me. He knew what I was asking. I wanted him to contact other members of his little movement, see if anyone was willing to take the kids in and protect them. "I don't think anyone I know could take all five."

"You want to separate us? You can't separate us!" The cry went up, followed by a dozen others as all the kids were now on their feet and decidedly against being separated.

I held up my hands and silence settled back over the room. "It's for the best. The Towers are looking for five kids. Not one or two kids in a single household. You'll be better protected if you're separated."

Just as the arguments started again, etienne said, "He is right."

They fell silent, but I saw Alice's hand tighten on James's. She hadn't escaped with etienne. She had gotten out of the New York Tower on her own with her brother. There was something mutinous in her stare. The warm, bubbly girl wielding the baseball bat had melted into a young woman of hardened determination. I had a feeling that she had been willing to follow etienne because it meant there was someone else to help protect James, but she would run if someone tried to separate her from her younger brother.

I smiled at her and gave a little nod. Some of the tension eased from around her eyes. I'd talk to Gideon. James and Alice needed each other. They had escaped together, been through a similar horror.

"It's going to take me a little while. I need to talk to some people. They may need to strengthen defenses and such," Gideon said, seeming to talk more to himself than to me.

"I want them to continue their training," I added.

"Are you insane?" He jerked out of his chair, standing a couple feet away from me. "They left-"

"And they're still being hunted. They need to be able to defend themselves, as well as have excellent control-the whole reason for being taken to the Towers in the first place." Gideon's mouth thinned to a hard line, but he didn't argue. He knew I was right, but I was asking a lot. The families that took them in would need increased security. Training the kids would demand even more protective spells to cloak the activity.

I shrugged at Gideon. "We could find someplace and meet once or twice a month for a few hours. Just some defensive spells."

The warlock made a sound of disgust and shook his head as he returned to his seat. "Are you going to be the one to train them?"

My smile slipped. "You think that's wise?"

"I don't think any of this is wise, but it needs to be done," he said. "I'll get started. If you survive the next few days, I'll get back to you when something has been decided."

"Sounds good." I pushed away from the wall and stood in front of etienne, who rose from his chair. "Can you keep things under control here for a little while longer?"

He nodded stiffly. "Of course."

I was impressed with the young man. Not once had he argued about putting the kids in families, or about me stepping in to take control. They may have been his responsibility, but he knew that the group couldn't continue as they were indefinitely.

"If there's an emergency, you know where to find me," I said, a part of me hating to leave them unprotected and vulnerable.

"Yes."

I extended my hand to him and he shook it.

Gideon shook his hand before we turned toward the door. The warlock paused and looked at me with a frown. "You are going to take care of the other little problem first?"

"Very soon. I'm waiting for some information from a very resourceful hobgoblin."

He rolled his eyes and left the house without another word. I think Gideon had had all he could stand from me for one morning. Smiling, I turned to find Sofie curled up on Paola's lap as the girl stroked her fur. Alice was scratching her head.

"Sof, are you staying or going with me?" I asked with a chuckle.

The cat rolled off the girl's lap and stretched her entire body before walking over to me. Picking her up, I paused at the door and said good-bye to my would-be saviors. I didn't know if my plan was going to work. I didn't know if these kids were going to have something that resembled a normal life or if I was putting more people in danger. But they deserved a shot at it. We all deserved a chance at normal.

25.

h.e.l.l BROKE LOOSE when I stepped out the door. I didn't think to scan the area to see if anyone else was about. Gideon had left less than a minute before me, and I was sure it was safe. I could use a thousand excuses like I was exhausted and distracted and worried, but it all came down to the fact that I didn't check the area before I stepped outside.

As I pulled the door closed behind me, I looked up to see Gideon standing at the edge of the yard talking to a witch and two warlocks in low, tense tones. Of the faces that I could see, no one looked happy. And then they looked up at me, shock filling their expressions. Apparently Gideon hadn't been telling them that I was inside with the runaways. Of course, I didn't doubt Gideon for a second. He could act like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d at times, but he wouldn't get rid of me like that. Not when I'd given him so many other opportunities over the years.

Gideon turned sideways to look over his shoulder at me. For a moment he looked sad, but the expression disappeared in a second and the hardness I was accustomed to seeing filled his eyes, wiping his face of any emotion. When he turned back, he was already reaching in his sleeve for his wand. None of the others saw it because all their attention was on me. A bright green flash hit one of the warlocks, throwing him across the street. His limp body bounced on the concrete once before he continued to roll until he hit the curb.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I dropped Sofie as I pulled the door shut and whispered a quick locking spell. I wasn't sure who I was barring, but I didn't need the Towers getting into the house and I definitely didn't need the kids coming out to help. The locking spell wouldn't keep anyone tied up, but it would buy Gideon and me some time while we dealt with this new problem.

The remaining witch and warlock were getting over their shock when I hit the weed-choked yard in a roll. Jumping back to my feet, I s.n.a.t.c.hed up an old rust-laced shovel that was laying off to the side. The witch was squared off against Gideon in the middle of the empty street, her body partially blocking the unconscious warlock. The remaining warlock was approaching me with his wand drawn.

Holding the shovel in both hands like a bow staff, I smiled at my opponent. "I'm sorry. Were you looking for me?" d.a.m.n, why the h.e.l.l did I travel without my wand? This world was getting just too dangerous for an ex-warlock to go about without a little protection.

"Master Fox wants a word with you," the warlock replied in a heavily accented voice. His accent reminded me of some Brazilians I had met years ago, but his expression didn't indicate that he wanted to swap stories about his former home.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to decline that honor."

The warlock nodded with a grunt a second before whipping his wand in my direction. The conversation had given me enough time to summon up the energy for the defensive shield that popped into existence as the blue flash surged toward me. As I had hoped, the f.u.c.ker had shot a stun spell at me. Fox was still trying to get his hands on my living body. Zombies were a b.i.t.c.h to interrogate.

As he lowered his wand, his mind searching for a new spell, I lunged forward and swung the shovel at his head. The a.s.shole raised one arm, deftly blocking the weapon before he swept under it. Moving like flowing water, he spun and kicked out one leg at me. I jerked away at the last second so that the bottom of his shoe sc.r.a.ped lightly across my upper arm.

We both stepped back, taking stock. The warlock grinned at me and shoved his wand back into the holder up his sleeve. Not only was this a.s.shole Brazilian, but he apparently was well versed in something, possibly Brazilian jujitsu. I was f.u.c.ked because I was a beginner when it came to most fighting styles and he was obviously looking forward to knocking the c.r.a.p out of me.

The warlock was on me before I could think of a way of dealing with him. He threw an intense combination of punches and kicks in my direction that kept me retreating across the yard if I didn't want to get my head knocked off. I couldn't spare a glance in Gideon's direction, though I was aware of the continuous tingle of magic in the air. He was dealing with the witch and would be forced to keep an eye on the other warlock. All I knew was that the trio couldn't be permitted to live. If they escaped, Gideon was dead. I was dead. The runaways were dead.

I dodged punches as best I could, and those I couldn't avoid were at least reduced to glancing blows that would leave me sore later in the day if I survived that long. He was coming at me so fast I couldn't catch a break to cast an attack spell that would buy me a little breathing room. I waited, just trying to stay on my feet with the shovel handle clenched in my fists. I was praying for an opening.

Unfortunately, the opening came from an angle I wasn't expecting and didn't welcome. Brazil pulled back from his last punch, but froze for a second when something off to his left caught his attention. I heard the movement, but I didn't dare look. Tightly gripping the shovel, I swung it as hard as I could, slamming the metal spade against the side of his head. He went down like a sack of wet noodles.

"Gage! Watch out!" a young girl's voice shouted. I twisted to see Alice and the other kids racing around the side of the small ramshackle house. They had gone around my locked door.

Time slowed down to a crawl. Alice sharply halted several yards away from me and swung her wand, sending out a bolt of red energy across the yard. A blast of bright white energy was already streaking across the street from the now-conscious warlock. But the white light wasn't coming at me as it should have been. The energy hit Alice square in the chest and her small, thin body was thrown backward. Her long blond hair flared out from her in a pale cascade before she hit the ground with a lifeless thud.

"No!" I screamed. The warlock should have been aiming for me. He should have attacked me. But instead, he killed a kid.