Page 4 of Echoes of War

“An upgraded version,” Tomoe muttered.

I inhaled sharply, “Yep.”

Reina chewed her bottom lip, considering.

“Itistechnically possible, given the world we live in,” one of the Tinkerers said in between ruffling pages of the book their head was buried in.

Reina nodded slowly, coming to a decision.

“No, you’re right, Amaia. As usual, you are right.” The disdain in her voice was a punch to the gut. “He started turnin’ people by injecting them with whatever Moe saw in the little vials in her vision. That much we’re gonna have to piece together with the information we have. There’s not a way to prove that on our own. Ethically. We also know he’s using them to change the population, make itstronger.”

Shuffling and a few dry coughs circled the room, the accusation in their eyes at who her father was. Who she had the potential to be, who they thought lurked just beneath ‘good’ facade.

She cleared her throat. “Tohim, inhisopinion. The question remains, how many of your people, likely soon our people, will he change to accomplish his goal? Because the answer to that determines how much shit we’re in if Amaia is right. Let me tell ya, we should all be hoping she’s not.”

“What happens if she is right?” Alexiares asked, sitting up straight.

It was a fair question. Reina’s eyes brimmed with fear, though her magic calmed everyone. It wasn’t a good ending. I could tell. If I was right, we were in for some shit. A disastrous ending. That was where we were headed. For we would not only have to fight other humans who had both modern weapons and magic, wewould have to fight evolved Pansies too. Pansies who now had the ability to communicate. To strategize.

“Then this war will take a miracle to win.”

Tomoe

“We aren’t entirely fucked. We still have power sharing.” I said, chewing the side of my cheeks.

It was the last thing I had up my sleeve. I’d been avoiding it, hoping that we’d be able to run off the idea of a simple protection spell. Trying to powershare among the individuals in this room.

“Yeah, that you have no idea how to replicate. We’ve been running through your baseless theories for weeks, and what do we have? Nothing. Nada.” Sloan growled, shrugging her shoulders in indifference.

Suddenly, I sympathized with her uncle. If you couldn’t breed impatience out of their bloodline, maybe a punch to her fucking mouth would help. Her temper reminded me so damn muchof her cousin.

Reina was quick to have my back. “Watch it, cousin,” she snarled.

“Or what, you’ll cry? Throw a grief fit? Bring everyone to their knees with your tears? Grow up. Your weakness won’t get us far,” Sloan said.

My sister strode over, chest pressed against her cousin. Their eyes were level, the icy blue in them spinning the same sea storm. Whoever this version of Sloan was painted a starkly different picture from the happy, carefree girl Amaia had talked about when telling stories of her life in The Before. True enough, this version of Reina was different from the one that had existed only a few weeks ago.

Suffering a great loss could do that to a person. To them both.

“Just because I cry doesn’t mean I’m not strong,” Reina declared decisively, unwavering.

I cleared my throat, a weak attempt to break the tension between them. Something I’d become accustomed to doing no matter the Moore member that stood on either side of me. Reina had already lost her brother,again, to Seth’s persistence. She didn’t need her heartless cousin furthering the damage.

“We’ve been operating under the assumption that power sharing was about vulnerability. Possible only because of the initial protection spell I put in place.”

I paused. Given the current state of our family and the shattered state of Duluth, I’d been putting all my faith in the universe for the problem to be one of face value. We didn’t trust each other. And to be vulnerable, one must trust. But that was only part of the problem.

It’d been an uneventful night. Nothing out of the norm, our typical Friday at the tavern. A stupid smile plastered across my heated, drunk cheeks as I peered around the table. Consider me shitfounded when I realized it was the first time that I’d been happy in years.Trulyhappy. That was an emotion I hadn’texperienced since The Before. That night I’d rushed home and protected my family the only way I knew how.

I no longer practiced paganism. I hadn’t in years, had given it up after I’d played with darkness for a touch too long. Part of me still believed I cursed myself with these stupid visions, my consequence being watching my family die. After all, it was my visions that trapped me inside my head, leaving me unable to help them in real time.

I wouldn’t lose another family. That night I’d told myself no cost would be too high if it meant protecting them. Keeping them safe. So I bound them to my magic, my power, to help keep them alive. A lifeline. I’d been careful not to tie it to my actual lifeline. I’d simply provided them with extra strength, extra power.

Their magic fed off mine, a succulent to an eternal flame. It wasn’t much. In fact, if my magic stopped running through my veins, it’d be of no help at all. Still, it’d beenoughto keep them safe if they needed an extra spark to defend themselves.

Then again, how much could it have helped if Jax had still died? Whatever I’d done, it hadn’t been enough to stop that. I’d felt him go, but his magic had remained. A small kernel that refused to fade.

“There’s something I left out,” I admitted.

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