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  “Deal.” I held out my hand, and we shook.

  He was going to find out one way or another. More than likely, he would know sooner than I expected.

  “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?” Marshall asked, and my blood froze. Maybe I was wrong about the whole little brother vibe.

  “I hear that quite a bit, it seems,” I said slowly, my eyes rolling toward him.

  “I was just wondering if you heard it. You know, some of the most attractive women in the world are never told they are beautiful.”

  “I’m not going to toot my own horn or anything, but yes,” I nodded at him, my eyes still watching his face.

  “Good,” he grinned. “I am truly blessed to know you, Miss Prudence.”

  Prudence was dead, but I still felt like she was rolling around inside of me. Her thoughts, mannerisms, and personality were still present. As much as I hated to think of Prudence as deceased, I still had to play the part to a point.

  “Marshall?” I asked softly as he ran his fingers through my hair.

  “Yes?”

  “I think we can drop the formalities. Just call me Prudence,” I requested, and he nodded.

  I didn’t want him to call me Prudence! I wanted him to call me Dawn.

  “I like that. This means we are friends.” His eyes lit up.

  “Yes, that is exactly what it means.” I pulled him closer to me and held him close.

  Marshall was older than me in years and experience. Sooner or later, he was going to find out my age was slightly exaggerated. I was going to have to rely on our friendship to get us through the hard part. For someone who had a tough time making and maintaining friends her whole life, having him with me at that moment made me forget all those years of loneliness. I had indeed found my purest ally.

  “Honey?”

  There was a hard knock on the wall, and I raised my head to see my mother entering through the invisible doorway. I instantly placed my index finger over my lips, hoping to quiet her as Marshall was snoring from the couch. Once they let him in, he refused to leave my side. Instead of fighting, Mona had agreed to allow him to stay just as long as he didn’t get in the way.

  “Hey, Mom.” I smiled as she came through the secret opening.

  She glanced warmly at Marshall and then walked toward my bed.

  “Good to see you are feeling better.” She gave me a forced smile as she brushed the stray hairs from my face.

  “Of course.” I raised an eyebrow at her. It had been a few days, and this was the first time she had made any attempt to see me. I figured it had been because of Nick, but looking at her then, I was certain it had to do with the changes in my appearance.

  “You look so different.” She reached out and touched a strand of blonde hair and looked into my eyes.

  “This is how I looked when I was younger,” I replied slowly, glancing at Marshall as he rolled over on the couch.

  “Yes, but it’s not how you looked a month ago.” She frowned.

  “It’s fine, Mother, it’s just hair,” I laughed awkwardly. I had no idea my portrayal of Prudence would affect her so much.

  Mona’s words escaped my lips with humor, but I understood what my mother was saying. It was one thing to remember me as I had once been; it was another to see me differently than I had been only weeks before. I knew it was hard on her to look at me, to see the way I could have turned out had I not allowed the darkness to take control of my body.

  “I cannot bring Wesley or Aaron to see you. I don’t know how he made it in.” She pointed at Marshall.

  “Probably because he’s quite persistent,” I responded, coughing on the last word.

  “You could very well be right,” she said, winking. “Sweet boy none the less.”

  There was a brief silence between us as she ran her fingers through the blonde strands of hair. She looked at me as if any mother would, with unconditional love. Still, I wondered why she had come to see me without reason.

  “Why are you here?” I asked as she fidgeted in front of me.

  “I need to get you out of here,” she said quickly.

  “Why?” I inquired, cocking my head to the side.

  “You’ve been in here for a week. Hidden, like you are some shameful secret.” There was a bite to her tone.

  “Well, in a way, I am,” I chuckled. “Mona had me killed. I cannot exactly go trudging out of this place with a smile on my face.”

  “Prudence!” she exclaimed, and her eyes shot open wide.

  I knew she had been trying to say my name; no matter what she did to call me Dawn, it would fail. My father had found some way around the gag order, but I had a feeling that was more to do with Mona. She had probably lifted the spell long enough for him to speak with me.

  “Mom, just stop, please. You shouldn’t call me that.” I let my eyes fall. It felt odd to hear my mother call me Prudence.

  “I should be able to say my daughter’s name to her.” My mother rubbed a tear from her eye and looked toward the sleeping Marshall. “He can’t hear us, can he?”

  “No, he sleeps like the dead.” I nodded my head in his direction as he let out a loud snore.

  My mother’s face contorted to near disgust at the sound. She shook her head and glanced back at me. I tried to give her my best smile, but I knew it was falling short. I was restless. While it was nice to have Marshall there, I still wanted out of the room.

  “I’m taking you to see Wesley. He’s been an emotional wreck since you were shot.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

  My knees knocked, and my toes protested, but after a few short wobbly steps, I was able to gain control of the muscles again.

  “Does the Council know?” I asked as she opened the secret door that led into a dark hallway.

  “Aaron is the one requesting you go. We just have to be quiet.” She grabbed a cloak that was hanging neatly from a hook.

  “There’s no doorknob,” I mentioned, pointing toward the wall as she placed the hood over my blonde hair.

  “Of course not. You’re dead.” She winked at me and, grabbing my hand again, led me down a long corridor to a set of steps. We were met at the foot by Aaron in his evening wear. I was puzzled by the appearance. I was used to baggy jeans and band hoodies, seeing him in a suit only confused me.

  He never looked this nice when we were dating.

  His suit was black from the nape of the neck to the tips of his shoes. He wore a silk tie and shirt under a black woven jacket. His blond mane was styled precisely, so not a single stray hair was out of place. I had to admit to myself it made my heart pound, and a familiar yearning appeared.

  “Look at you, handsome,” I said as I reached out to run my hand down his silk tie.

  Aaron looked at me and blushed.

  “No need for flattery, my love,” he said as he leaned in and kissed me on my cheek.

  My mother said nothing at the simple exchange. She handed me a key and pointed up the stairs.

  “Second door on the left.” Her voice was tense, and her eyes were slits as she looked around the dark hallway.

  “It will be ok,” Aaron reassured me as I took several steps toward Wesley’s room.

  It had been a week since I had been near him. The quickness of my step and the pounding of my heart made my head spin. I wanted to see him. I needed to see him! I put the key in the door and turned it. My hands were shaking, and I could feel cold sweat on my forehead. I rushed into the room, and there, sitting on the bed looking at me confused, was Wesley.

  “Um, hi,” he said awkwardly as I pulled the cloak off my head and threw it on the table near the wall.

  “Hi,” I replied, standing there in my cotton pajamas. My hair was a mess, and my face free of any makeup. I knew I must have looked a fright to him.

  “They let you out,” he stated, standing up and awkwardly putting his arms around me.

  “Well, Mom said they wanted me to see you.” I smiled at him. My palms were clammy, but this reunio
n was not how I had pictured it being.

  “They?” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you mean Aaron. Yes, he’s been pretty cool with me. I feel bad for wanting to kill the guy.”

  “He’s harmless,” I smiled.

  “Oh, he’s far from harmless.” Wesley let out a puff of air from his lungs. “It does help me see there is some bad luck involved when it comes to being with you.” He gave me a nervous smile and sat back down on the bed.

  “What does that mean?” I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at him. We were now heading into uncharted water. I did not want to stand there while he blamed me for both their fates.

  “Any man who falls in love with you is doomed to some life far beyond the supernatural.” He put his head in his hands. “Look at Aaron and me. Look what your world has done to us.”

  I wanted to slap him. It took everything in my power to keep from crossing the wooden floor and planting my hand across his cheek. Did he actually believe I was responsible for what happened to him?

  “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I wasn’t the one that brought you into this world. You were already supernatural when she took you.” I pulled my lips tightly together and glared at him.

  I watched as his eyes changed color from blue to purple and then to a calming aqua.

  “I had visions. That is all I ever had: visions. I was able to see a small fraction of the future. What I had was controllable, easily dealt with. You, though, you are the offspring of Heaven and Hell. You wield fire from your fingers and pass judgment on those you feel deserve it.” He didn’t sound upset, but I had a feeling he had been rehearsing this speech for some time now.

  “So, that makes me the villain in this whole thing? It was never about Miranda and all those horrible things she did to you. It was about me and my secret.” I felt my lips quiver. This was worse than what I had pictured.

  “Dawn, I fell in love with you without knowing what you are.” He looked at me. His eyes were constantly shifting, changing color, then settling on something new. “If I had never fallen in love with you, there never would have been the need for a war.”

  I picked up a book and threw it at him. It sailed across the room, but he caught it in his hands before it hit him on the head. It was obvious his reflexes were much faster now.

  “You and I are not the cause of this!” I screamed at him. I didn’t care if the whole compound heard me. “Wait – you just called me Dawn.”

  I felt a moment of happiness flow through me. Wesley had said my name. The gag must have been lifted, or he was so far gone the gag never held. Either way, he had called me by my name. Suddenly our argument didn’t mean anything.

  “That is your name, is it not?” He looked at me, confused. I was sure my rapid mood swings had not helped the matter.

  “I have grown so used to being called Prudence, that hearing my name again sounds so foreign.” I slumped down on the bed and looked at him.

  There must have been something about Wesley that made the gag spell lose potency. How else would he have been able to say my name?

  “Why did you come to the camp?” Wesley asked. “As long as we were not together, she was content. It was her mother that wanted her to burn everything. Incinerate the world! Get rid of the purebloods, the Wardens, the human shards, leave only the humans. Burn Heaven! Freeze Hell! Watch it all go up in smoke.” He rolled his eyes. “I had to listen to that day in and day out.”

  “You were a slave to her,” I said softly. “She would tell you where to go and what to do.”

  “I did what I had to in order to stay alive. Miranda needed me; I was her visual link to the Warden world. In a way, I think she always knew you were one.” He put the book on the nightstand next to the bed.

  “She handed you out to other creatures as if you were a common who - concubine.” I couldn’t say the other word; it sounded too dirty for what this was.

  “She wanted to make the perfect hybrid. Mix together all the bloodlines into one.” Wesley sounded as if he was defending Miranda’s reasoning.

  “Why would she want to do something like that?” I asked softly. I hated how it had taken me longer than intended to get him out of her grasp.

  “She wanted to know what it would do. You have to realize this is something that has never been done. So, she lent me out for favors, the whole time knowing exactly what she was doing.” He scoffed. “Then you come in; your Highness, all high and mighty. There was no need to bring a battle on those people.”

  “I came for you and found a prison camp instead,” I snarled. I was enraged by his accusations and misinformation. He was standing there, blaming me for the attack. I knew it had been too early, but for all, he knew I had sanctioned the whole thing.

  “I never told you what the camp was, and for a good reason. You said you would come for me. Instead, you decided to kill everyone there.” His eyes were blue again as he looked at me.

  “That was not my intention. I did not come there to bring death to those people,” I grumbled. I wasn’t going to stand there and take much more of his allegations.

  “Then, why were you there?”

  “To save you!” I screamed at him.

  The room fell into silence. He stared at the floor, me at the ceiling, both of us refusing to let our eyes meet.

  “Do you still love me?” I felt my voice catch in my throat.

  “To the moon and back.” He reached out and grabbed my arms, pulling me close to him. I could hear the odd beat of his heart. Supernatural maybe, but not undead.

  “I only wanted you. What happens now?” I asked as a tear slid down my cheek.

  “I don’t know. We can’t exactly pick up right where we left off. Too much damage has been done, and too many things have changed.” I felt his lips on the top of my head.

  “Will you just hold me for a while? Until they come for me?” I asked as he started to rock.

  “Of course.”

  “Say my name,” I requested. His arms tightened around me.

  “Dawn.”

  I closed my eyes as we swayed.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  Chapter Three

  Gran

  It was half-past ten when I awoke the next morning. The last thing I remembered was being in Wesley’s arms. I must have fallen asleep, and someone had returned me to my bed before dawn. I glanced toward the wall where Marshall was still sleeping. The events of the night before came flooding back, and I sighed. Everything was far more complicated than expected.

  Tossing my legs over the side of the hospital bed, I stood up and stretched. My muscles felt great, my head wasn’t foggy, and I looked like a train wreck. I nearly passed out when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I thought seeing Wesley with messed up hair, and no makeup was terrible; I just didn’t realize how bad it was.

  “Have no fear, my love. I am going to get you back into fabulous shape.” Mona’s voice echoed behind me as she came into the room. “First things first, dear. I need you to cover your head with a hat, put on these glasses, and pretend to be invisible. Oh, and grab the boy; he’s coming with us.”

  Mona reached over and smacked Marshall on his foot. His eyes shot open, and he jumped to his feet, teeth bared.

  “Oh, please, child. I’ve met scarier things in the fairy woods. Come on, boy, we have a long day ahead of us.” She pushed both Marshall and me out the room’s makeshift door and into the hallway.

  Marshall was frantically rubbing his eyes, and I stared at Mona, confused about what exactly was happening. I heard footsteps behind us and turned toward a familiar face.

  “I will be escorting my fair lady to the salon today,” Aaron stated, trying not to laugh. “Well, more like a makeshift one, but there will be beautification completed.”

  I playfully poked him, and he jumped before giving me an exquisite smile. He forgot I knew the real him. The laughing, smiling, slightly annoying him.

  “You two must have been the cutest couple ever,” Mona said fla
tly as she walked by, rolling her eyes. “Come on, children; we have a busy day and only a few hours in which to do everything.”

  We all followed behind Mona, the two boys on either side of me shielding my face from prying eyes. I was fairly sure if I drew any attention, they wouldn’t be concerned with the fact I had bodyguards. I was escorted to a limo, and both Marshall and Aaron took a seat on each side of me, Aaron’s pinky brushing against my leg. I reached over and grabbed his hand, lacing my fingers through his instinctively. He seemed not to care; he remained emotionless, reminding me of the Aaron I had been with no longer existed.

  My mother and father appeared a moment later with Kelly and Krista on their heels. Hesitantly they all crawled into the limo. You could cut the awkwardness with a knife. Dad sat next to Mona, and my mother sat across from them, not making eye contact with either. Suspicious if you ask me.

  “Marshall, you are about to be let in on a family secret. You have been found worthy, and she trusts you. I don’t know why, but she does.” Mona gave Marshall a smirk as the limo began to move.

  “I feel privileged.” He bowed toward her.

  I had a feeling he knew what she was because the smile on his face would not fade as he stared at her.

  “The Priestess was never real. Well, not until I created her. Prudence never existed. She was merely a plot to get Wesley from the camp. The problem is, what I created to get the boy out turned out to be true. She proved on more than one occasion she was all-powerful. Very few of the other girls like her were able to bend water to blood or simply turn aspirin to antibiotics.” Mona looked at my father and smiled. “I am rather proud of the woman I created.”

  Marshall looked at me, squeezing his eyebrows together, his eyes questioning. I had already told him I wasn’t the Priestess from the prophecy. I’m sure Mona’s explanation of her plan, as vague as it was, only confused him a bit more. At that point, I felt the need to give him a formal introduction. I sucked in my breath and let it come out in a whisper.

  “My name is not Prudence Warren. I am Dawn Weathers, the Fire Warden,” I stated softly as a smile spread across Marshall’s face.