Chapter 3

The Sheriff pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and stopped the Suburban in front of my apartment. So much for the idea of giving them the wrong apartment number for when they came back looking for me.

I climbed out and closed the door without a word. Neither Dalton nor Lawson had anything to say either. Some instinct told me I could trust Dalton some, but to be very leery of her Deputy. I didn’t understand why. It could have had something to do with the way he wanted to take me to trial, even though I was innocent. To be honest though, I really didn’t know if I could trust either one of them.

I watched them leave and turned to go over to Jordan’s apartment rather than mine. First, she would be worried sick about me, and second, I left my key in my backpack in Vanessa’s car and Jordan had a spare. I made it to the corner of my building and spotted both women, Jordan and Vanessa, walking my way. Vanessa was still wearing that damned pink dress and Jordan was carrying my backpack. They spotted me and sped up.

Neither of them asked me anything. They both simply hugged me tight and sobbed quietly for a moment. Once they were calm enough and relaxed their grip, I led them to my apartment and let us in.

I could see the questions in Jordan’s eyes, so I told them what happened, how the Sheriff ended up clearing me, and their request that I aid them.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Vanessa said. “I mean, if you’re helping them, you’re obviously not involved.”

Jordan looked at her, shaking her head. “Not necessarily. It’s possible the Sheriff wants to keep tabs on Seth during the investigation. That way, if they can’t solve it, they’ll still have a scapegoat.”

I shook my head. “Her Deputy, Travis Lawson, actually suggested keeping me in custody for that very reason, but she wouldn’t go for it.”

Jordan looked at me with a shrewd expression. “There’s a difference between keeping you in custody and letting you believe that you have your freedom.”

“Are they really that heartless?” Vanessa asked. “It’s not like the big problem killed anyone.” We had resorted to calling everything code words since my place wasn’t Magically secured.

Jordan looked at her. “It’s a violation nonetheless, something to do with manipulating another another’s abilities.”

“Travis said it was a major violation of ability influence,” I said, “Probably right up there with intentionally draining someone of everything she had.” I remembered how Jordan said one of the primary forms of punishment was to be stripped of your powers if the Council thought it was necessary, but that didn’t make sense to me. If it was illegal to take away a Magus’ powers, as I had done to Jordan, then how could the Council be justified doing the same to anyone? Her only response was if it’s illegal to kill, how can Texas get away with having Execution as a punishment? I let it go after that.

Jordan looked at me worried. “Did I come up?”

I nodded. “And I told them what we discussed; making it sound like the big problem was responsible for your condition rather than my actions.”

“Well, it was because of that that I went looking for you,” she said. “After that first time, you couldn’t have helped yourself anyway.”

“But you didn’t have to stick around and help,” I said. “You could have taken me home and let me deal with it on my own.”

“You didn’t know what was going on,” she said, turning more fully to face me. “How could I do that to you?”

“That’s not how they’ll see it,” I said.

“Isn’t all that moot now?” Vanessa asked. “I mean, they let you go.”

I nodded at Jordan. “We still have to be careful. The Sheriff called for a trainer, someone to talk to me in the morning.”

Jordan looked up. “Probably to find out whether you’re lying about how much you know.”

I shrugged. “I told them I was willing to talk, but application isn’t something I’m ready for.”

Jordan rolled her eyes. “Seth, I’ve told you a hundred times already, using your abilities isn’t going to hurt us.”

I nodded. “I know, but this is different. I can’t explain it. I only know that I’m scared. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”

She grabbed my hand in both of hers. “I know, and all of us appreciate that, but if Augur was right, if you’re the only one who can figure out the big problem and stop it, the danger may come in the form of forcing you to do so.”

I nodded, remembering what Jordan told me the night I talked to Augur. Other Magi in the area might do something, something perfectly mundane, like kidnap one of my girls to force me to fix the problem. So far, nothing like that had happened, but it still could and that worried me as much as me hurting the girls by using Magic.

“For now,” Jordan said, “You should get out of that monkey suit and help Vanessa out of her dress.”

I looked between the two of them and realized what else Jordan was implying. “You told her?” I asked Vanessa.

She shrugged. “She’s the one who told me about what happened to you. I thought she should know about this.”

I frowned and looked away. Jordan reached around and pulled my face back to hers. “Seth, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. You were attracted to Lisa and they punished you for it.”

I pulled away and stood up. I didn’t want to be comforted. “You don’t understand. I went out of my way for four years doing my best to avoid her, to avoid even looking at her, because of that day.”

“I know, Seth,” Jordan said with a sigh. “But is that her fault?”

I had started pacing and stopped, thinking about her question. Ms. Langston was the one who gave me detention, Lisa’s father was the one who took a switch to my back, and the other students all treated me as though I had raped Lisa or something. But Lisa ... I shook my head. “I just need to get past this,” I said, more calmly than I felt. “I just need to put it all way behind me so it won’t bother me anymore.”

Vanessa stood up and stepped closer. “No, Seth, you need to confront this problem. It hurts to see you like this.”

“Confront this?” I said. “How?”

She shrugged. “Well, this semester is almost over. You could fly home for a week or two to talk to your parents and possibly confront Lisa’s parents.”

Fear washed over me, followed quickly by anger. “If I go back there, I may do something I’ll regret.” Then I looked past Vanessa to Jordan. “And if I know how to use my abilities, then the authorities will be chasing me down for legitimate reasons.”

Jordan stood up. “I would never let that happen,” she said. “If you do go back to confront them, I’ll go with you.”

“Me too,” Vanessa said.

I was pretty sure Jordan could get out of work, especially since Sammi, another of my Fonti, was her boss, but Vanessa had her own clinic to take care of. I looked at her. “And leave your clinic without a therapist?”

She studied my eyes and said, “The couples I take care of are not having the kinds of personal problems you are. And besides, you’re more important.”

“What about Jana?” I asked. “I doubt she’d like the idea of you and me flying off to North Carolina without her.”

Vanessa stepped closer and put a hand on my chest. “I’ll talk to her about that.”

I shook my head. “But I haven’t agreed to confront anyone. This isn’t actually happening.”

She pressed her body to mine and said, “We’ve got time.” And then she kissed me.

I could say that I didn’t want to be kissed at that moment, especially since they had brought up Lisa, but Vanessa was insistent and it felt good kissing her again.

When we broke our kiss, Jordan stood up and went to the door. “I should go, otherwise, this is going to end up being the three of us, and Danielle will be home soon. She’ll come looking for me, see what’s going on, and it’ll be four of us.” She looked up at me. “And while I know you could probably handle all three of us at once, you need to help her,” she said, nodding at Vanessa, “recover from that big scare by fulfilling what she wanted before the Sheriff took you.”

I looked at Vanessa with an arched eyebrow, like I couldn’t quite remember. “I believe the word ‘ravage’ was involved.”

She sucked in air through her teeth. “Oh, yes. Ravage, and so much more.”

“Um ... Seth?” Jordan said.

I looked up. Jordan stood holding my front door open. I didn’t recall hearing anyone knock, so I wasn’t sure why Jordan had answered the door, and then I realized she was trying to quietly sneak out and something must have stopped her. I wasn’t sure what until a blonde walked in wearing a pin-striped skirt suit and black pumps.

Recognition hit all at once and confusion quickly followed. It was my sister, Faith.

Faith looked at me, smiled, and said, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” She had the same air about her that I remembered from years prior. She knew she had interrupted us.

I stood there staring at her and fighting off the anger welling up inside. Was she here alone? If not, who else was with her? Should I go somewhere to hide? Would that really help?

“Seth, are you going to introduce me?” Faith asked. But before I could draw breath to answer, she turned to Jordan. “My name is Faith Connors. I know there isn’t much in the way of family resemblance, but I’m Seth’s sister.”

Jordan’s expression was of curiosity. She shook hands with Faith and said, “I’m Jordan.”

Faith nodded and turned my way again, only she wasn’t looking at me. She walked across the room, holding out her hand to Vanessa. “And you are?”

Vanessa reached over the couch to shake hands. “Vanessa.” She glanced up at me. “Tell me, Faith, what brings you to Texas? I understood you were living in North Carolina.”

Faith blinked up at me, a sliver of surprise flitted across her face, and then she looked at Vanessa again. “Work,” she said. “I’ve been hired by a Manufacturing plant in Grand Prairie.” She looked up at me and said, “I was hoping Seth might put me up for a few days while I hunt for an apartment.”