The Demon's Revenge (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 4) Read Free Page B

me that would allow me to sense danger and flee it, never knowing why. This spell would also make it so that I would have no idea what Lila was, but that when she came of age, I would seek out the help necessary to continue to protect and prepare her for her future in ways I would not be able to do. The magician gave me the vial, and made me write the instructions upon the envelope. Then all of that troubled past disappeared and I was a single mother in a new country, not knowing English or having any family to help me out.” She paused and smiled inwardly. “You would think I would have been desperate and dreadfully unhappy, but I always felt, ever since Lila was born, boundlessly lucky. For all that a monster lies within her, she is good, Morgan. You will see that.”
    “Perhaps,” I reminded her sternly. “I still have no idea what she is.”
    She nodded quickly and looked up at the clock. She told me, giving me all the details she knew, what Lila was.
    I swore out loud and swiftly. I told her that I could not help her, not now, not ever. I checked the impenetrable barrier around us. It still held, thankfully, for even saying the name of what Lila was would draw powerful forces toward me. It made sense that Lila’s mother had been so thoroughly spelled to forget everything, for she would have to be to stay hidden. Even just thinking about them for more than half a minute would draw attention… there were spells laid out across the world, to search for those kinds of thoughts, and to follow them. Big magic meant big money and power. Same as it ever was. “I too have never heard of a young one,” I said. “But perhaps because she is only half his, she won’t change.”
    The woman shook her head. “Do you truly believe their blood would be tempered by a human’s? Lila will change. I do not know when, but she is eighteen this year. Sometime soon.”
    “I am sorry for your predicament. But as I said, I cannot help,” I said.
    “Would you rather she emerge untrained and completely vulnerable to any and all who would use her?” the woman asked. Steel entered her gaze. “Would you rather she change and see what havoc she will bring upon your city?”
    “That sounds like a threat,” I said quietly.
    “The truth can be threatening.”
    I said nothing. I wanted none of the responsibilities of watching over a child, and yet… this Lila did need someone to protect her. And it would be interesting, perhaps, to see if I could help her toward a different destiny than the rest of her kind. Reluctantly I agreed to Lila’s mother’s request, despite my own instincts to not get tangled up in this child’s dark destiny.
    She quickly gave me the contact information for Lila as the last moments of her counter spell ticked down. My barrier was going to break down soon as well, so I cast a spell upon myself that I would be able to think about Lila’s nature for only a minute at a time. Not enough to draw the attentions of the world to any such thoughts, but I would not enter this tutelage without my own protections.
    A few minutes later, the mother left confused and flustered. Apologetic and deeply uneasy, with no idea as to the why of it.
    Soon thereafter, I posted a spelled ad on Craigslist that would draw Lila’s eyes, and only Lila’s eyes, for the position of my shop girl.
    Lila applied, of course, and I hired her and paid her a good wage so that she would keep the job and come to my store daily, where I could keep watch of her, wait, and train her in the ways of magic that she would soon be flooded with. That had been seven years ago, and somewhere along the way I’d come to cherish her and take her in as one of my own, despite what I knew, in the brief instances my thoughts allowed, of what she would become. And then, I had to admit, somewhere in the last two months, I’d lost the will to look out for Lila. To do anything. Right when this girl needed me the most.
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    I glanced at Lila as she walked beside me,