“I’m sorry.” He sighed.
Helena shrugged. “You’re trying to stop it. That’s what counts. In the meantime, we can’t make a huge deal of it or we get picked on even worse. They’ve got so much power these days that even raising this treatment as an issue while it’s occurring is cause for them to not let someone fly. So for now, we plan ahead and document everything.”
“Doesn’t mean we have to like it.” Delilah stood, brushing the front of her skirt down. “But she’s right. Let’s get moving. I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight and we all need the rest before we deal with Marlon tomorrow.”
Tosh nearly snarled at his fellow senator’s name. Marlon Hayes had become a legislative mouthpiece for the PURITY movement and it turned his stomach every time he had to deal with the man. There’d be a hearing first thing in the morning on the companion bill to House Bill 877, the Domestic Security Act. A fine-sounding name for a bill that would strip Others of their civil and human rights along with their property and citizenship.
At least they got to move through security in a shorter line, but Helena was pulled aside for an enhanced check, which took an extra half hour. She was far more patient than he was, and it wasn’t until he started making calls and taking down names that things moved more quickly. They still checked her, but the overt slowing down of the process stopped and they got on with it.
The unfairness of it deeply bothered him. No one should be treated this way and yet it was happening. It happened every day to many people. And it wasn’t right.
He was relieved when they finally boarded and got settled in. The flight attendants were friendly and helpful and he was seated next to Delilah. It did wonders for his mood.
The entire flight Tosh considered ways to ask Delilah over for a drink when they arrived back in DC. But things kept coming up. He got interrupted by his aide many times over. The times he spoke to Delilah they were in a group and it wasn’t the right place to ask.
And by the time they landed he was so tired his eyes burned and all he could think about was a hot shower and a good night’s sleep. Still, he’d made a decision to move forward and, that done, he rarely lost sight of something he’d set his mind to do. Within the next two days he would ask Delilah over for a drink. He could do this. It was long past time.
THE plane touched down and Helena managed to get everyone into a car and safely delivered to their Washington, DC, homes, where they all had personal security, and she and Faine joined the rest of the Others at a huge house owned by the National Pack.
“You should go to sleep.” Faine shouldered her bag once they’d entered the front gates and she let him. Too tired to refuse.
“I’m surprised there aren’t any protesters.”
“I suppose they may not know this location is Other-owned yet. Are you even listening? You’re dead on your feet. As usual. You should rest.”
She grinned at the agitation in his voice, for some reason cheered by needling him. Stupid, really, to poke at a giant beast wearing a man’s skin. But she liked to live dangerously. “No. Come on. I’m hungry.”
He frowned at her, but followed her into the house where the magick of all the Others inside greeted his senses, easing his tension.
“It’s so nice to be in a friendly space.” He watched as the frown lines around her eyes eased back and that made him feel better.
“I was just thinking that.”
Molly got up as they entered the main living room. “Hello, you two. Glad you got in all right. Come on upstairs. I’ll show you your rooms and you can put your bags down.”
They followed her up the stairs and down a long hallway to the end. Molly turned to Helena. “I put you facing the courtyard. The plants out there make me feel better. I figured you’d think so as well.”
The room was nice sized and had an en suite bathroom.
“Faine is on the other side.”
He nodded. “Thank you, Molly.” He turned to Helena. “I’ll be back in a moment and then you and I are eating some dinner.”
“There’s a huge kitchen here. Cade Warden sent a chef down so there’s a lot of food as well. Are you all right?”
“It’s been a challenging day,” Faine said as he came back into Helena’s bedroom. “We were chosen for an enhanced search at the airport. There was a fight between three security people, one of whom was an asshole but the other two, also human, were not. Sato had to intervene and make calls to get it moved along. The plane trip was long, but thankfully, as we took up the entire first-class cabin, we didn’t have to deal with much animosity.”
Molly looked to Helena. “But you felt it.”
Helena nodded, pressing her fingers to her temples.
“You can feel it?” He pushed his anger that she hadn’t said so down as far as he could. She wasn’t a natural sharer, this one, but he wanted her to lighten her damned load with him sometimes just the same.
It was Molly who spoke to explain. “A lot of negative energy, especially when it’s aimed at you and you’re in a confined space, is toxic. Planes tend to amplify our magick as well, so it’s a one-two punch.” Molly took Helena’s hands. “Why don’t you go out into the courtyard for a recharge? I’ll let the chef know you’ll be eating in a few minutes. But clear out all that bad energy, you’ll feel better and the food will go down easier too.”
Faine wanted to scoop her up and cosset her. He had no idea all the dirty looks and nasty comments people made under their breath would affect her like that.
“Is it all right if I come along?”
Helena shrugged. “Sure.”
Molly took them down a back staircase—slowly and carefully in her walking cast—and showed them through large French doors into an enclosed courtyard, full of life. Container gardens spilled with plants and flowers.
“Gage and I are in the living room watching movies when you’re ready.” Molly hugged Helena and then Faine and went back inside.
Faine settled on a bench and watched as Helena took her shoes and socks off, along with her sweater, leaving her in a T-shirt that showed the whipcord strength of her upper body. She freed her hair from the bun she’d been wearing, running her fingers through it as she did.
Then she wandered through the path, letting her outstretched fingertips brush over the plants, against the bark of the trees, through the rushing water of the water feature. She stepped up and then down into the bed of a large garden space.
He saw it then, the light of her aura as she drew all the magick around her. It settled against her skin like snowflakes and then seemed to melt into her. She breathed slow and deep as she walked. Occasionally she’d pause, burying her face in a bunch of leaves or flowers.
This side of her was soft. Lush and so achingly intimate it was as if he’d been spying on her. But she’d allowed it. Moved around knowing he was there watching.
A gift of her inner life and the weight of that settled. Not crushing. Anchoring.
She’d been sort of tattered when they’d arrived. Her spine hunched, the tension rolling from her in waves. But when she came back to him, settling next to him on the bench, that was gone. Her ragged spaces seemed to have filled in. Her aura was brilliant, sunny yellow, the blue of the sky at summer.
She stretched. “This garden is fantastic. Whoever tends it does so with love. Every leaf seems to vibrate with it.”
“You can feel things like that?”
“Not always. But living things most especially. My mother says we get it through her. Lark is much the same, though she’s got this crazy affinity with birds. We’ve always loved being outdoors. There’s so much ambient magick in a garden. If it’s tended by someone who truly loves the work, the magick seems to leap to you when you call for it. The energy, the life force of the plant life fills in all your empty spots. I don’t know how to explain it.”