Wicked Bad: WIcked³, Book 2 Read online

  Leah pushed back her chair impatiently. “I’m going to inform the Magian authorities myself. Whatever punishment they could mete out would be better than watching this joke of a family self-destruct due to your vanity.”

  She started to turn and her mother threw up a hand, sending a wave of ice toward the girl. Harrison opened her mouth to warn Leah, but the young girl was fast. She blinked and Leah was surrounded by flames, the ice melting, puddling harmlessly at her feet.

  “Nice try, Mom. And you wonder why I lock my door at night.”

  Her mother chuckled breathlessly. “I’m sorry, dearest. I lost my head for a moment. My nerves are a bit frazzled.” She looked down and swore. “And now my tea is cold.”

  It was more than cold—the cup was frozen. Frozen. The chill in the air, the ice, it all hit Harrison with a blast of clarity that had her uncloaking on instinct and stepping into the dining room. This was why Jacob hadn’t been worried about who was after her. He’d known exactly who it was. “You. It was you that night.”

  The person who’d been attacking her was Jacob’s mother. “Why? If you wanted your son to be my match why would you try and kill me?”

  Jacob’s mother dropped her cup and nearly toppled out of her chair in an effort to get to her feet. “Miss Abbott! I didn’t expect to see you so soon. I should have known. Such a powerful pairing must be hard to resist. I told myself, Esther Gryffin, that girl will never be able to resist…” Her smile wavered, as she seemed to register what Harrison had said. “Kill you, dear? Whatever are you talking about?”

  Harrison felt her magic pulsing inside her, building, heating her blood at the woman’s audacity. “The other night, before I was brought here against my will, I was attacked. By someone hidden. Someone who knew where I was. Someone with the power to freeze.”

  Mrs. Gryffin paled, swallowing audibly. “I don’t like what you’re insinuating, child. Certainly there are others with this ability. People who are not about to be members of your family, perhaps.”

  Harrison sneered. “You are not my family. Nor will you ever be once I tell my brother, the protector, what you tried to do.”

  “Cold hearted. I’ll show you cold hearted.”

  Harrison flinched, and all three women looked over toward the woman at the table. She was rocking back and forth in agitation, her eyes staring, unfocused, at Harrison. “Cold hearted. He called us cold hearted.”

  Leah stepped forward. “She’s talking. Sara? Are you all right?”

  “Leah, stay away from her.”

  Harrison turned. Jacob was up. Leaning as though exhausted against the doorframe, but up. She should have left while she had the chance, but she couldn’t deny she was glad to see him.

  Had she been wrong? It wasn’t his mother, but his sister who had attacked her. Why hadn’t he told her? And why on earth had he brought her here without any magic to protect herself?

  She turned back to Sara, who was standing now, and not looking so good. “Can’t let him call us cold hearted, Mama. I’ll show him cold hearted.” Sara tilted her head at Harrison, narrowing her bottomless black gaze. “You.”

  “Damn it, Harrison, back away. Leah, if you won’t run, protect yourself. Now.” Jacob’s words sent Leah back up in flames, the flickering fire lifting her hair like a blazing wind.

  Harrison took a step back. Sara followed. She could see a small creature moving from the corner of her eye and with an instinct born of their connection she knew it was Ric. They had something planned.

  She just needed to be a distraction. And damn it, she needed answers. “Who, Sara? Who called you that? Who is he?”

  Small icicles had formed along the strands of hair framing Sara’s face, giving her a sparkling visage that made her more hauntingly beautiful than she’d been moments before. Made her look alive. “Mama says I’m a good girl. Says I’m not cold.”

  “You’re not, Sara. It wasn’t your fault. Sweetheart, stop this now before you get hurt.” Tears were pouring down Esther Gryffin’s cheeks, and Harrison felt a knot in the pit of her stomach.

  “No, it wasn’t, love. It was mine. You know that. Everyone knows that.” The warmth and kindness in Jacob’s voice as he edged closer to his sister melted Harrison’s heart. It was obvious this girl was sick, and just as obvious that he loved her.

  Sara shook her head wildly, the ice forming on her body crashing to the frosty tile at her feet. “No, no, no. Not yours. Not your fault. He said we were cold hearted. Said Mama was an ice queen. Hated us.” She wavered, holding the back of a chair for balance, the wood instantly cracking and bending with the magic coming off her in frigid waves.

  She wasn’t sure how she knew, but, as if by magic, she did. Esther began to ramble as Jacob got closer, confirming her suspicions.

  She reached out her hands toward her eldest daughter, as though pleading. “You didn’t know what you were doing. It was an accident. Jacob should have protected his father. He was born a siren. He could have stopped him from dying.”

  Leah gasped. “Dying? But Father is still—”

  “Alive?” Jacob’s laugh was harsh. He’d stopped moving at his mother’s words, disbelief and rage radiating off his large form. “You mean the one walled up behind a prison of ice years ago? The one she decided she had to keep safe from me?” He shook his head. “You’ve been taught about Magian matches, Leah. You know there are two men for one woman.”

  Sara had killed one of her fathers? Harrison felt as though she’d been punched in the solar plexus, but she wasn’t sure the feeling was hers. Poor Jacob. Had his mother told him he was responsible all this time?

  His sister was crying now. Crying sharp shards of ice that cut into her skin, causing her to bleed. “We have hearts, Mama. They aren’t frozen.” She pointed at Harrison and screamed. “Jacob loves me. My brother still loves me. I’m not cold.”

  She saw the pointing daggers of ice arcing overhead toward her, but she couldn’t move. Leah pushed her back, charring her dress as she shielded Harrison from the attack. She fell, watching through the flames as Ric transformed from a small rodent into his true form, his hand coming down where Sara’s neck met her shoulder. She crumpled to the ground and the ice around her began to melt. They were safe. For now.

  Leah’s flames disappeared, and Harrison stood, pulling the weeping girl close. What a horrible way to discover the truth. For all of them.

  Jacob turned to his mother. “Why?”

  Esther Gryffin took several steps back, wringing her hands. “You were the only way out. Your father had just lost his brother, I’d lost my husband, such as he was, and Sara was…is…fragile.” She lifted her wobbling chin. “If you had stayed with her as I’d told you to, instead of going off to play with your friends, it never would have happened. You could have controlled her, kept her from overhearing our fight.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “All these years I’d believed my power killed him. You let me believe it. I was five years old, and you had me branded as a murderer.”

  Tears were running down Harrison’s cheeks, and she could see Ric wasn’t far behind. So much pain for this one woman’s pride.

  Esther was crying too. “We had to bribe the Magian magisters to keep it quiet. We had to leave our home. I would not have the world whispering about Sara’s condition, about my lack of a complete triad.” She reached out to her son beseechingly. “I knew if we could just get you matched then everything would go back to how it was. Everything would go back.”

  Leah pulled away from Harrison. “You can’t take this back, Mother. What you’ve done to Jacob, to Sara by refusing to get her help. As far as I’m concerned you are the only one to blame.”

  Jacob turned to look at his sister’s prone form and noticed Harrison. For an instant she saw yearning, but just as quickly it disappeared, replaced by a cruel kind of resolve. “You were leaving, yes? Don’t let us keep you.”

  Her brow wrinkled in confusion. He wanted her to go? Now? After all she’d just discovere
d? She couldn’t leave him to suffer through this alone. “But, I—”

  His loud, booming voice echoed through the dining hall and out into the foyer. “You are no longer welcome here, Ms. Abbott. There was no true consummation, and there will never be.” He strode toward her and wrapped his fingers around her arm in a punishing grip.

  He spoke the words that formed the portal, holding her fast as she struggled to escape his hold. “This is not where you belong.”

  He shoved her toward the vortex, and she felt it pulling her in swiftly. She wanted to speak, to tell him what she thought of his dictatorial behavior, to tell him she was sorry about what had happened, and that she didn’t blame him. To tell him she could stay. But she was too angry to speak. Too shocked that he was actually sending her someplace she didn’t want to go. Again.

  “Harry…”

  Damn it, not now. A wave of dizziness hit her at the lip of the portal, just before she fell in, and she saw her brother’s face. “Lorie?”

  Her magic flowed through her, arcs of blue lightning mingling with the energy of the magical vortex. What was happening?

  “Harry I need you.”

  Before the swirling chaos consumed her she felt a pang of loss at the distant words.

  At least someone did.

  Was she dead? The last thing she’d remembered she was falling through a transport portal, and now she was walking up the aisle toward the altar of a church, its plain wooden pews and stark decoration making it all the more intimidating and austere. It was a perfect backdrop for the severe, judgmental faces of the hawk-eyed men who watched her moving closer.

  She clutched her skirts, feeling her magic welling inside her, sparking at her fingertips. It was demanding its freedom to protect her, but she kept it tightly reigned in. If they saw…if they knew…she would lose her chance to escape this bloodthirsty jury. Lose her chance to live without hiding. Running.

  “Harry? Harry, how did you get here?”

  Lorie? Harrison turned her head and saw her brother crouching behind one of the pews, shock filling his expression. Seeing him jolted her out of the daze she was in. For a moment her thoughts hadn’t felt like her own. She’d been afraid. Terrified.

  Harrison took a slow breath. “Lawrence Abbott, where the heck are we? Why do you keep calling me and where are your glasses?”

  Her brother shook his head, his long, dirty blond curls matted, blue eyes wild. He looked like he’d been through Hell. And he wasn’t that happy to see her.

  Lorie leapt out from his hiding place, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down the aisle, toward the open church doors and out into the darkness. “I don’t have time for questions. I was trying to get someone to help me out of here, not join me. It’s a good thing I was inside the church, or you’d be judged by now. How did you get in?”

  “In?” What was he talking about? “The last thing I remember I was in Argentina.”

  “Wait—what?”

  “Great brother you are. Didn’t you know I ran away to be human? That I’ve been in hiding for the last three months, obviously not very well because I was recently kidnapped. Kidnapped, nearly killed, then unkidnapped, all without my permission. But at least I knew where I was.” She noticed the people milling about, whispering nervously to each other, and noticed how they were all dressed. “Or should I say, I knew when I was. Lorie, what have you gotten yourself into?”

  “Maybe getting here scrambled your brain.” Lorie sighed, dragging her along behind him as they walked through the dirt street, his head down. “I reached out to you because you have the most power in the family. Just like our ancestor, the one I was looking up when this happened. But you didn’t come to the library to find me. You don’t have any idea, do you? Is no one in the family looking for me?”

  Harrison was fascinated by the scene unfolding around her. This looked like…but it couldn’t be. “You? I thought you were with them, looking for me. Lorie, are we in—”

  “You ran away, then? Conway used to try and bet me that you would. I didn’t think you had it in you. Well, you’re no help to me now.” The crowd was getting larger, their mutterings a gathering storm that made Harrison nervous.

  Her brother’s disjointed speaking she was used to. Rabid Puritans, not so much.

  Lorie took her shoulders in a tight grip and shook her. “I’m fine. At least, I’ll be fine. You need to get out of here. Go find Con and the two of you can discover a way for her to get out. She can’t escape the way we can. She’s trapped here. And I won’t leave without her.”

  “I’m confused.” Understatement, but first things first. “Our ancestor? Who are you talking about? And how do I get out of here if I don’t know how I got here to begin with?”

  “I saw the portal. It’s illegal, but this is an emergency. Call it back and focus on getting to Conway.”

  “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live!” One of the men from the church was striding out the door toward them, the crowd jumping respectfully and swiftly out of his way.

  “Now, that doesn’t sound good.”

  Lorie swore beneath his breath. “It isn’t. These bastards don’t feel right unless they’ve burned at least one witch a day before dinner. Costumes and time periods keep changing but it’s still the same assholes doing it whatever they’re wearing. It hurts like a son of a bitch, too, but you get used to it.”

  To being burned? “Lorie, you’re freaking me out. I really hope I have a concussion. Or that you’re exaggerating. Maybe Jacob’s sister really did kill me after all.”

  Lorie shook her. “You’re not making sense. Create the portal. Now, Harry. I need you.”

  She repeated the phrase she’d heard the elders, heard Jacob utter and felt a rush of adrenaline roar through her veins as it appeared. “Come with me, Lorie.”

  He stepped back, allowing himself to be swallowed up by the now bloodthirsty masses. “Don’t worry about me. I can’t be killed here. Not permanently. Find Conway. Tell him I’ve found our match.”

  An old woman with no teeth and a dangerous looking garden hoe came after her and Harrison ducked, losing her balance and falling once more into the bedamned portal. She hated this thing. It kept taking her away from the people she loved.

  Chapter Seven

  “I thought we were going to run away together. Wasn’t that the original plan?”

  Harrison turned her head from where she’d been gazing sightlessly out the window and smiled sadly. “We were thirteen when we said that. Besides, you seemed a little busy at the time.”

  Callie’s face crumpled and she ran toward Harrison, wrapping her arms around her friend and squeezing the breath from her lungs.

  Harrison didn’t mind. She’d missed this. Missed her best friend, her family, more than she’d let herself admit.

  She’d let everyone down.

  Oh, they were happy to see her. Her parents, having rushed home when Jenner discovered her note, were angry and worried, but so relieved she was okay they hadn’t reacted too strongly. Maybe that was because she’d distracted them with the news about Lorie. One runaway daughter home safe and sound wasn’t as urgent as their son and brother trapped in—wherever he was trapped. They’d sent word for Conway, her mother holding her tightly before suggesting she rest in her room until he arrived.

  She hadn’t told them about Argentina. About the Gryffins. They had too much on their plates for that. Besides, what could she say? Her matches tried to seduce her, then sent her away. Jacob and Ric had enough to deal with without having to deal with her family’s wrath. Strange how protective she felt about them, now, after everything.

  “Who is it?” Callie had leaned back to study her friend’s pensive expression, folding her arms and raising one, slender brow.

  “Who is what?” Harrison stood up and started to pace her room. “Don’t use your magic on me, Cal, I knew you before you were a Magian. Before you were matched with my brothers. You poor, poor girl, by the way. And I can still take you.”


  Her friend shook her head. “I don’t need any magic, Harry. I’m your best friend. I know when you’re hiding something. Who is it? Or should I say, who did you meet on your adventure and how did you break his heart?”

  Harrison started to cry. She couldn’t seem to help herself. The tears began to flow, and they wouldn’t stop.

  Callie looked horrified and came to take her back into her arms, both of them collapsing on the edge of the bed as Harrison continued to sob. “Oh, Harry. Hon, I’m so sorry. Whatever I said I didn’t mean it.”

  “They broke my heart. They sent me away. I mean, I was running away because they hadn’t asked to take me in the first place, but then I changed my mind. I thought they—” She sucked in a lungful of air, sniffling and feeling miserable and ashamed. “Why am I crying? This is ridiculous.”

  Callie stroked her hair soothingly. “They? Took you? Harry, who took you? Magians? Were you taken against your will?”

  Harrison felt her scalp tingle with Callie’s compelling touch, but she wasn’t angry. She needed to talk about it. She wanted to tell someone. She poured her heart out to her friend, telling her everything she’d been through from the moment she’d run away. Her experiences as a human, her job, the attack…and Jacob and Ric. When she finished describing how she fell through the portal, watching her brother being carried away to burn, she heard a distinctly masculine growl.

  “I’ll kill them. Both of them. And when we find out how to get Lorie back I may just kill him, too, for giving us so much grief.”

  “Tucker, sweetheart, ever heard of privacy?” Callie’s tone was sweet, but her eyes were threatening.

  Harrison felt her jaw drop as her protective older brother ducked his head guiltily. “Sorry, honey. But I was worried.” His blue eyes focused on his sister. “Why didn’t you tell us, Harry? We’re your family.”

  She wiped her face with the back of her hand and chuckled wetly. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s over. I don’t think they’ll want me back.”

  Callie shared a meaningful look with her husband, before turning back to Harrison. “Are you kidding, Harry? Did you listen to your own story?” Harrison looked at the tiny compeller in confusion, and Callie sighed. “Jacob was ashamed. He sent you away to protect you from his crazy family. You’re their match and they obviously wanted you, but who could blame them? What was he supposed to say, ‘Please stay with us even though my crazy sister may kill you at any moment and my mother has a tendency to make people disappear.’?”