Cabal Page 6

  "It has to be the magic," said Maddie. "I mean, how do I heal people? How do you conjure up fireballs? How does Wyatt teleport? How do these two turn into big furry animals? Magic."

  Are you listening to this? I asked my inner-belligerent child.

  She is correct, we are Ollphiest.

  I considered the statement that he liked to repeat all the time—we are Ollphiest. It just then began to dawn on me that we could refer to more than just him and me. Could it be true?

  Finally, you understand.

  Wow. I wasn't sure how I felt about being the living embodiment of all the Ollphiests that ever existed. It seemed like an awfully big responsibility.

  Elyse poked my shoulder. "Hey, what're you thinking?"

  Wyatt sat up straighter. "Were you just, you know talking to it . . . I mean him?"

  Wyatt's question got everyone's attention.

  I raised a hand. "Guilty."

  "Well, what'd he have to say?" Lucy asked.

  I pointed at Maddie. "That she's right. And while I am one with my animal, I also carry with me . . . well, I think it's all of them—the Ollphiests—however many there've been.” I tapped my head. “All of their experiences are in here and they've got a lot to say."

  Wyatt whistled.

  "I think it's kind of cool," said Maddie.

  Elyse just stared at me. I could see it in her eyes that she was feeling guilty again about her part in my transformation.

  "Don't," was all I said.

  Lucy sighed. "Alright, you've got this genetic memory thing going on, but what does it say about your ability to cast spells?"

  "It would seem that I have some ability in that area," I said. "How much I don't know."

  Lucy dropped her head into her hands. "This is sooo not good. That you were impervious to magic, we could deal with that, but if you have mage abilities . . ."

  "What's the problem?"

  "There's always been a balance," Lucy explained. "Mages are mages, shifters are shifters, your existence throws that out of whack. Think about it, Orson. Magic-users can't stand against you, our spells just don't work. And now because of the fight with Tommy, we know that if shifters stand against you, you'll just rip their animal from them. You are the ultimate weapon. Whoever has you on their side can't lose."

  Elyse scoffed. "What, are you worried he's going to make himself emperor of the world or something? Please."

  But Lucy's words had me thinking. Is that what had happened in the past? Had someone like me decided that they should rule? Hadn't my inner-baddie said as much? That our destiny was to subjugate the magic world? Was I in danger of becoming the bad guy?

  "It's Spider-Man," I said.

  "Huh?" said Wyatt.

  "Sam Raimi's Spider-Man," I said for clarification.

  "Um, guys I think we broke Orson," said Wyatt.

  I stood up and started pacing around the room. "Everything Lucy just said is true. If my magic abilities extend past stripping shifters of their animals, and I kind of think they might, then that combined with everything else I can do already . . . "

  "You'd be unstoppable," said Lucy.

  I nodded. "Yeah. And it reminded me of Spider-Man." I looked at Elyse. "You said it that first day after Costco, in the car, remember?"

  Elyse nodded. "With great power comes great responsibility."

  "Bingo," I said. "So, I'm going to need you guys to help keep me focused, grounded. If you see me doing anything—”

  "Megalomaniacal?" said Maddie.

  "I was going to go with shit-bird crazy, but sure, megalomaniacal works. If you see me pulling any kind of crap like that, you have my permission to clobber me. Okay?"

  I waited until they all nodded.

  "How much of this are we going to share with everyone?" Maddie asked.

  "None of it," said Elyse. "This stays with just the five of us. We can't even tell my parents."

  "I'm with Elyse on this one," said Lucy. "We keep it to ourselves as long as we can, because once Orson's secret gets out all hell's going to break loose." Lucy directed her next comments at Elyse and me. "You two are going to need to do as much damage-control as you can with the shifters. They can't un-see what they've seen, but you need to do your best to make them believe that what Orson did to Tommy is the full extent of his extra abilities."

  "My camouflage is wearing off, we need to wrap this up," said Maddie.

  "We need to start hunting Marcus," said Lucy. "I know it hasn't even been a day, but we can't give him any more of a head-start. Can we be ready to leave within the next few hours?"

  "Absolutely," I said.

  Our goal was to be off the mountain before midnight. Once past the compound's borders we'd be locatable through magic. Lucy assured us that if we kept moving we should be safe, because location spells didn't have tracking abilities, it was a one and done kind of thing, another mage could pinpoint our location but we'd be long gone when they showed up.

  Wyatt could blink us to the nearest city with an airport and the blinks combined with the location spell restrictions would keep us way ahead of anyone trying to find us. Beyond that, we had one other problem, the Society was hooked into the regular, non-magic internet and the massive world of databases, so if any of us used a credit card we'd pop up on their radar. We decided to retrieve Elyse's car from the Stanford area. It had only been a week, so it should be right where she left it, and then we'd head back to Los Angeles. We were surprised that Lucy wanted to go back to LA, but she said that's where her contact lived.

  Elyse and I left the other three in her cabin. They had a map spread out across the dining room table, going over the logistics of where to blink. The two of us needed to speak with her parents and fill them in on our plan. When we stepped outside we could see that the Kelly's cabin was full of visitors, people looking for us, I assumed.

  "Are you ready?" I asked.

  "One thing first," said Elyse, pulling me to a stop. "I want you to help me access my beast form."

  "Huh? How am I supposed to do that?"

  "If you can strip a shifter’s animal, you can help me tap my beast form," Elyse said confidently. "We're heading into unknown, but most definitely dangerous, situations, and I want all of my shifter abilities available to me.”

  I wasn't sure I saw the correlation. "I don't know. Fooling around with your aura could be dangerous. I didn't care when it was Tommy, because if I accidentally killed him, oh well. But there is no way I'll risk hurting you."

  She gave me a quick peck on the lips. "It's okay, I trust you."

  I watched her walk toward her parent's cabin, and I knew she would never take no for an answer. I sighed and shook my head. I may be the apex shifter of the magic world, but when it came to boy-girl relationships I was like every other guy on the planet—outmatched.

  "Your mother just returned," said Mr. Kelly. He was less than happy that Elyse wanted to leave with our group. "You need to stay here, with us. Going up against the Society is suicidal." Mr. Kelly was trying really hard not to yell, but was having limited success.

  All of Elyse's brothers and sister were present along with Daniel and Roxanne. Everybody else was keeping quiet while Elyse argued with her dad.

  "We aren't going up against the Society, we're just not telling them where we are for the moment," Elyse said patiently.

  "That is not how they will see it," said Mr. Kelly. He hooked a thumb in my direction without looking at me. "He is dangerous and anyone who is around him is in danger."

  Mr. Kelly wasn't wrong. Hiding the fact that I was the Ollphiest was just delaying the inevitable. When the Society finally did discover the extent of my abilities there would be serious ramifications. But, if we could hunt down Marcus, maybe we could use that as proof that I was a loyal Society member and buy ourselves more time for searching out and destroying the Cabal.

  "Well, I love him," said Elyse. "I've chosen him and I won't abandon him out of fear of what might happen." Elyse looked around the room at the assemb
led group of her family and friends. "All of you that are married." Elyse paused, giving me a quick glance and then hastily added, "Or in a relationship. You understand, right?"

  I grinned. While we had known each other for years, we had only been dating for a little over a month. And in that short time we’d spent less than two weeks together. Elyse and I weren't opposed to the idea of marriage, heck we had a great example in Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, but it was a little early to be using the M word. When things weren't so tense, like when we weren't in constant risk of dying, I was going to get a ton of mileage out of teasing her for that little slip.

  Elyse went on, "Would any of you let your companion face danger by themselves?" Elyse let her question hang in the silence. It didn't take heightened shifter senses to read the body language and energy of the room. Nobody would leave a loved one in jeopardy.

  Mrs. Kelly spoke up, placing her hand on Mr. Kelly's arm. "Richard, she has made her choice and she is of age. We need to honor her decision." Mrs. Kelly reached for Elyse, who immediately knelt down before her mom. "She is every bit our daughter. Even if we tried to forbid her or stop her, she would find a way to join Orson and the others. And from what we all witnessed today, it's obvious she will be well protected."

  Daniel perked up at the mention of the day's dramatic events. "If I may be permitted to speak?"

  Mr. and Mrs. Kelly spent a long moment staring at one another. I had seen them do this before. They couldn't read minds, but they didn't have to, their silent communication had been perfected over hundreds of years. Mr. Kelly sighed and nodded. They wouldn't try and stop Elyse from leaving—that was one task down. We were on a roll, but the next item on our to-do list would require an incredible feat of persuasion.

  "Orson," Daniel began in a very formal tone. "I not only speak for the council, but for every shifter at the compound when I tell you that we stand behind you. Anything that you need that is within our power to supply we will freely give."

  As a peace offering they had brought Lucy’s daggers, polished and sheathed in a brand new back harness.

  “Thank you, both, very much,” I said. "Lucy will be very happy to get these back."

  I was floored. I had imagined different scenarios on how this would go down, many of which involved lots of growling, not-so-veiled threats, and then a hasty escape via the Wyatt blink express. I never even considered that the shifters would have my back.

  "Please, don't look so surprised," said Roxanne. "We are truly sorry for the welcome you received, and for the trouble caused by Thomas and Carmen. I hope you understand, they are grieving the loss of their son and their actions emanate from a place of deep hurt and betrayal."

  "Kyle's dead?" Elyse asked.

  "No, at least not physically. He has chosen a dark path. He has rejected his family, his people and the Society."

  "He's working with the Cabal," I said, not surprised.

  "We don't know," said Daniel. "But he attempted to kill his father."

  "He tried to off Tommy?" The night was full of surprising revelations. "What happened? And more importantly, where is Kyle now?"

  "Thomas has kept the details to himself," said Roxanne. "Kyle's whereabouts are unknown."

  Tommy was a first-class douchebag, but having his own son try to kill him was all kinds of horrible. Tommy and Carmen's rage at me was a little more understandable. They had to put all that pain somewhere and hating me was easy.

  After a respectable amount of quiet time to let Elyse and I digest this new information, Roxanne changed the subject back to how all the shifters at the compound were now on team Orson. "All of us were raised on stories of the Ollphiest," she said. "He was the boogeyman who lurked in the dark, ready to strike if you were being particularly bad. He was assigned powers and abilities that seemed, even to shape-shifters, impossible.”

  "You can't breathe fire, can you?" Daniel asked seriously.

  "Not that I know of," I said.

  Daniel actually looked disappointed at my lack of fire breathing ability.

  Roxanne gave her husband a disapproving look for interrupting. "I do not think any of us believed that the stories were real, that the Ollphiest would ever appear. But here you are and now we must learn to separate truth from myth. We understand what you represent and we are prepared to stand with you. What can we do to help you?"

  “Is it possible for you to keep Marcus’ body?” asked Elyse. “We may need it when it comes time to prove our case to the Society.”

  “Done,” said Roxanne. “Anything else?”

  "Well, does anyone have a plane we could borrow?" I asked.

  Chapter Six

  With the shifters on our side things started hopping. It turned out that three people living at the compound had private pilot licenses. We decided to go with the one who had the most experience. She was instrument-rated and was licensed to fly multi-engine planes. The compound was located close enough to Sierra City, California that Wyatt could get us there in a handful of blinks. Once there, we were only a short car ride away from Reno, Nevada and an airport where we could charter a plane. In total, we had about a three hour journey ahead of us. We just had a few housekeeping things to take care of before we hit the road, including Elyse's request that I help her access her beast form.

  "Is that even possible?" Lucy asked, after we explained what we were about to attempt.

  "Before this afternoon, I would have said no," said Elyse. "But what Orson did to Tommy isn't supposed to be possible, so I figure it's worth a shot."

  "And you think you can pull it off?" Lucy asked me.

  "I don't know," I said. "The thing with Tommy was a blunt-force attack. This will be more delicate."

  "I still think it's a horrible idea," said Jen, Elyse's older sister who had joined us for the experiment.

  "No, it's not. Orson can do it," said Elyse.

  "Then why am I here instead of Mom and Dad?"

  "Because they worry too much," said Elyse. "And Orson needs to concentrate. Now, are you going to help us or what?"

  "Of course I am," said Jen. "But if something goes wrong, I will absolutely throw you under the bus and rat you out to Mom and Dad."

  "Deal," said Elyse.

  "I'd like Maddie to come with us," I said. "Just in case."

  "You've got this," Elyse said.

  "I appreciate the support, but we're not trying it without Maddie standing ready with the heals."

  "So, you don't need Wyatt and me?" Lucy asked.

  "I want to watch," Wyatt whined.

  "I need you here," said Lucy. "I want to re-ink the comm tattoos, starting with you. I'll do all of yours when you're done in the woods. Good luck."

  Elyse led Maddie, Jen and I into the woods behind her cabin. We would have more privacy and Elyse wouldn't risk accidentally destroying a wall or something if I was successful in helping her shift into beast form. While people didn't exactly go berserk the first time they entered beast form, they did have a tendency to be klutzy. Young shifters got used to their animal form, which usually included four legs instead of two, and so the two-footed form felt awkward and required some getting used to.

  I had been surprised to find out that shifters didn't only come in the four-legged variety. The Cranes for instance didn't turn into panthers or wolves, or any other four-footed creature—they shifted into giant birds. They and other shifters like them were the origins behind the stories of Thunderbirds found in many Native American myths. Both Wyatt and I made Daniel promise he would show us his animal form when we weren’t so pressed for time.

  Elyse stopped us when we reached a spot where we couldn't see any cabins through the trees. "This should be okay."

  "You're sure about this?" Jen asked Elyse one more time.

  Elyse nodded.

  I switched on my sight. Maddie stood next to me, ready to help if needed.

  "I'm ready," I said.

  Jen pulled her clothes off and shifted into beast form. I had seen people shift before, but I hadn't
watched the process in the magic spectrum. I wasn't shocked to see that the magical energy surrounding Jen flared when she shifted. Like the other shifters I had seen, her physical form morphed in a very smooth, almost fluid motion. Jen and Elyse both stood at an even six feet, but Jen's beast form was easily a foot taller with a lot more body mass. I made a twirling motion with my finger. Jen growled, but she relented and turned in a slow circle. Her fur had the same white-grey coloring as Mr. Kelly, she was impressive. I watched how the magic rippled around her aura, and now that I knew what to look for I could see her double aura.

  "Jen, can you shift back and forth once, just so I can get a better look at what's happening?" I asked.

  Jen did as I asked. I tried to ignore her physical form, concentrating on what the energy was doing.

  "Thanks," I said. "Can you now shift into cat form, and just hold that a bit."

  The transition from beast form to cat form was interesting. Jen's aura shifted first. It was quick, but I caught a glimpse of her cat form before her body flowed into the new form. Interesting.

  "What do you see?" I asked Maddie, curious.

  "I can see the energy swirling around her," said Maddie. "It flares really bright before she shifts, but that's it. How about you, do you see more than that?"

  "Yeah. You don't see two auras kind of superimposed on top of each other?

  Maddie shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Are you saying shifters have two auras?"

  "Yep. It's how I got Tommy earlier. I just yanked on the right aura."

  "That's way cool," said Maddie.

  Jen chuffed at me.

  "Oh, sorry Jen," I said. "Can you shift back to beast form, thanks?"

  I was convinced that this is where I would see what I needed to know. I wasn't disappointed. As Jen shifted back to beast form, her human aura flared first and kind of sucked in her animal aura, and poof, Jen in her beast form appeared.

  "You can shift back to human form now." I said to Jen.