Celeste Read online

  She shook her head. “I’m too confused to work through that right now.” She turned to look around the room. “Bathroom?”

  “Right there.” Matt spun, and pointed to the door behind him.

  She attempted a few steps and found herself gaining in strength. She dropped his arm and made her way to the bathroom. She closed the door firmly in his worried face. After using the facilities, she washed her hands. Glancing up, she caught sight of her face in the mirror. And the dirt on her nose. Really? She’d really face planted onto the dirty floor? She groaned and washed her face. Why couldn’t she be the classy sister for once?

  And that just reminded her of the upcoming social event tonight. How could he have forgotten? Or had he deliberately avoided telling her he knew? She’d have been perfectly happy to stay at the cabin and avoid the crush. She only been back a few days; no one knew she’d returned, and she’d been out of crowds for the last year. She really didn’t want a big production going on tonight. Neither did she want this to be an announcement between Matt and her and the rest of the world. She might have returned. They might have renewed their relationship, but she was a long way from wanting to tell anyone.

  When she realized she’d taken long enough and Matt was likely going to bust the door down to check on her, she opened the door and walked back out. Matt’s worried face caught her attention before he managed to hide it.

  “I’m fine, Matt,” she said, making her way back to the bed, where she lay down again.

  “Do you need to rest more?”

  “Not sure. I’m not tired, but not quite a hundred percent yet.” And she yawned.

  “Sleep,” he murmured.

  “Can I sleep through tonight?” she muttered, “Because I’d be happy to miss it.”

  “Not happening.” A light blanket was tossed over her shoulders. She closed her eyes and dozed. She could hear him on the phone behind her. She heard the odd knock on the door and voices sounding, but always in the background, like a long way a way. She smiled and snuggled in deeper, feeling cozy and content. Maybe she could use a little more sleep.

  When she woke the second time, she felt much stronger. She managed to get up on her own, and could walk around the empty room. Somewhere in the last hour Matt had left. Then again, he had a Center to run and a big event planned for tonight, so he couldn’t stay with her at all times. She, on the other hand, was contemplating returning to the cottage. She obviously needed more healing time if she’d done nothing but sleep so far.

  Besides, she had nothing to wear. In fact, she had nothing here at all. She couldn’t even change into clean clothes. Frustrated, she searched the room, but none of her belongings had come with her. Not that she had much to begin with…

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Celeste, you awake?”

  Genesis. Celeste walked over to the door and opened it, to see Genesis pushing a tea cart.

  With a happy cry, she pushed the door wider and said, “Food. Yum.”

  Genesis laughed. “And tea. And I brought a change of clothes for you. They’re mine, but should fit.”

  “We always shared clothes before, so I’m presuming that hasn’t changed.” She grabbed up the clothes her sister handed her and quickly changed. As she pulled the shirt over her head she said, “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m much better. Remi helped to balance out my energy so I’m back to normal. You?”

  Celeste stopped. “Well, if I’d thought to ask one of my spirit pets to help, then I’d probably be doing much better, but of course it never occurred to me.” Instantly, Minkel showed up and held out his hand.

  She smiled and accepted it, immediately feeling the energy work up her arm and throughout her body. “Why is it I never think of the very basics to keep myself healing?” she asked sadly. “You two were likely healed enough that you didn’t have to nap.”

  “We both napped, but only about twenty minutes.” Genesis poured her a cup of tea. “I think the problem is, you have too many spirit pets that you don’t connect with one or two in a way that could help you. You see yourself as a guardian for all of them, and that’s a different story.”

  “I see myself as Granny in that aspect,” Celeste said quietly. “As a caretaker, not an owner.”

  “I’m not an owner of Remi, we are friends, bonded partners.”

  Picking up her tea, Celeste wondered if it was that easy. She certainly felt better now as Minkel’s energy moved though, and if she had Silky’s as well… But then again, she wasn’t anywhere to be found. Staring into her cup, Celeste wondered if Silky had forsaken her, too. And if so, how did she feel about that?

  As soon as the question crossed her mind, Silky appeared on the chair beside her her arms were still wrapped around Darbo. Maybe that was the real issue here. The pets didn’t belong to anyone. They could, and appeared to have bonded, to more one person. She’d never seen that before. Of course, that didn’t make it wrong. Maybe in this case, with Darbo and Silky bonded together as the primary bond, it was to be expected.

  “That shirt never looked that good on me.” Genesis said, with a touch of envy in her voice. “Although you need a few more pounds back on you.”

  “Different coloring,” Celeste said. “I’ll gain the weight back soon enough.” She held her arms out and twirled. “My dark hair is picking up the midnight-blue in the weave.”

  The two women studied the shirt for a long moment, then Celeste finally managed to bring up the topic that was sitting in the back of her mind and bugging the hell out of her. “Matt wants to me attend the social event this evening here at his side.”

  “Excellent.” Genesis reached across and picked up a scone and placed it on her plate. Celeste watched her, nonplussed.

  “That’s all you have to say about it?”

  “What’s to say? You two are back together. Yes, you have things to still work out, yes, the future isn’t settled, and yes, you need time. But you have time, and Matt wants everyone to know that you—all of us—have the protection of the Center. Considering what we’re up against and that this woman is after you, then I have to agree with his strategy.”

  “I hate to be a strategy,” she muttered, except her sister was right on all accounts. “I have nothing to wear,” she admitted. Only, she knew what her sister was going to say before she got the words out.

  “You can wear something of mine. I don’t have many fancy clothes either, and this is the first social event any of us have ever attended, but we need to go. We also need to make sure the others see us for who and what we are. Women of power who aren’t afraid to use it when we have to. You have to realize, Celeste, that we own all of this. And Granny might have been happy sitting in the cabin and raising us but there is so much more we can do.”

  “I was trying to figure out what to do,” Celeste admitted. “I need a job. Even with owning all this, we have no money.”

  “True,” Genesis said cheerfully. “But we have so much more.”

  She laughed. “All right, so what the heck are we supposed to wear to wow the crowd tonight? We’ve never done anything like this.”

  “And now we have to do it for ourselves, not just the men.”

  “We can’t do it for the men,” Celeste agreed. “But it sure won’t hurt to knock their socks off.”

  And the two women put their heads together to discuss clothing.

  *

  Matt studied Scott. “We need to double the security in the main hall. I want energy blocks throughout the Center, allowing the guests to only pass through certain hallways. Everything to do with the Center’s business, research, and the personal quarters of those living here must be blocked off.”

  “I can do that.”

  Scott motioned down at the huge lop-eared rabbit at his side. “I know Mopsy doesn’t look like much, but he’s a speed demon when he gets going.”

  Matt studied the oversized fluff ball doubtfully. “You’re right, he doesn’t look like much. How can you use him her
e?”

  “He’ll monitor the doorways.”

  “We still need to block them with energy.”

  “No problem. That’s what Mops specializes in.”

  “Not that I don’t believe you, but how about a demonstration, so I can see him in action?”

  Scott laughed. He turned to Mopsy and the air around them buzzed. Mopsy looked at the doorway. Just then, Connor walked in through the door, and fell to his knees.

  “What the…?”

  He struggled to get up but couldn’t.

  Matt was impressed. “He’s good. Does he do that at your request? I’ve never seen any spirit animal do something like that.”

  “He does it because he loves it. I think he sees himself as a guard dog,” Scott confessed. “Regardless, he’s great at handling about a half-dozen entrances, so I figured we’d put him to work tonight and keep the elevators to the upstairs apartments and the downstairs research labs free from unwanted guests.”

  Matt grinned. “Okay.”

  “Hey, you guys want to tell floppy here to drop his guard, before I have to use energy to get back out of here?”

  Scott grinned and said something to Mopsy. Matt was still shaking his head as Connor then stood up and stared at the rabbit.

  “I know I’m new to the world of spirit animals, but rabbit doormen?” He shot a glare at Scott. “Really?”

  “Hey, he’s the one that loves it. Not me. I’ve got better things to do.” And, whistling happily, Scott and Mops walked out of the room.

  Connor approached Matt, his head still turned to watch the two leave. “Can we trust that rabbit?”

  “If nothing else, crossing him will trigger the energy at the door and alert the rest of us that someone is trying to access the area.”

  “That will work, then.” Connor looked like he wanted to say something else.

  Matt waited. When the other man didn’t speak, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

  “How big a deal is tonight?”

  “Big, why?”

  “I don’t think any of our ladies have clothing that will work,” he said. “Genesis said Celeste could wear something of hers, but they haven’t ever attended a formal evening affair.”

  Matt slouched back. “You could be right.” He considered the matter. “And tonight is important. Damn.”

  “And it’s late. As in, too late for custom fittings,” Connor said cautiously. “I know Genesis would wear the best she had and raise her nose in the air in apparent unconcern but…”

  “Right.”

  Just then, Celeste entered behind Tori, Genesis at her heels. “And there are three of us that need something appropriate,” Celeste said. “We might have been able to find something at home but we are no longer at the cottage.”

  “Why would you have formal wear at the cottage?” Matt asked in confusion.

  “It’s where we grew up. And Granny had some beautiful things there.”

  Matt managed to keep his expression bland, but not bland enough.

  “We need the right clothing, Matt,” Celeste said, spearing him with a pointed look.

  He nodded. “Of course, you do.”

  “Good. We want to go back to the cottage.”

  “No way.”

  She glared at him. “We have to.”

  Genesis stood up beside her sister. “Celeste, what’s at the cottage?”

  “Cloud dresses.”

  Tori gasped and Genesis blinked. “Yes,” they shouted in unison. “Those would be perfect.”

  The three women grinned at each other, then spun to Matt, and said, “We have to go back.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  They smiled. “We’re not asking,” Celeste said gently. “We’re going.”

  “You would risk your safety for the sake of a few dresses?” He slowly rose to his full height. “We barely escaped this morning. There is no way in hell that I’m allowing you to go back there now.”

  “Allowing?” Celeste said, even more gently.

  A soft hum filled the air.

  Matt turned on Tori. “Don’t bother. Your mind control isn’t going to work.”

  She shot him a disgruntled look. “It wasn’t mind control; it was an auto-suggestion.”

  His glared deepened. “Same thing. If you have to have the damn things find another way to retrieve them. I’m not sending you back, escort or not.”

  Surely, they could listen to common sense. Then he caught sight of the look on Celeste’s face. Suspicion bloomed. “What did I say?”

  The three woman beamed at him. “Nothing.”

  And they disappeared, practically running from the room.

  “Uh-oh. They’re up to something,” Connor said, staring at the empty doorway. “It might have been easier to have escorted them back to the cottage for a simple retrieval. This way, there is no knowing what they are up to.”

  “Whatever it is, it had better involve them staying here, safe and sound.”

  “Are you forgetting how you got here this morning? They moved the entire hovercraft. What if they only try to move themselves?”

  He stared in horror at Connor, his feet already moving toward the doorway. “Shit,” he cried out as he stared down the hallway, but the women were long gone.

  Chapter 22

  “Are we going to try to move ourselves back to the cottage? Surely that will take more energy than we can afford, considering we’d have to do it twice. Not to mention, this is hardly an emergency situation.” Celeste saw her sisters’ faces, broke off, then amended her words. “Okay, so it is kind of an emergency. What about just asking Remi to get them?”

  Genesis frowned. “I don’t know if he can.”

  “We won’t know until we try,” Tori said. “I’m going to ask Jessie and see if he can retrieve them.”

  “But they have to know exactly where the dresses are.”

  “They’re in Granny’s closet. That big box on the left. I think.” She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Granny was making those for years. Did anyone consider why?”

  “They are power dresses,” she said. “But we were never allowed to wear them.”

  “That’s because we never had any occasion to wear them.”

  “Until now.”

  In agreement, the three women continued discussing options. “I’d rather go in person,” Genesis admitted. “It seems like the right thing to do.”

  “Except for the danger involved,” Tori said, in dry tones. “How is that the right thing for any of us?”

  “We’ll take you.” Matt said from the doorway. “If it’s that important, we’ll go, but we need to take every precaution to keep you safe.”

  “Then let’s go now,” Celeste cried, jumping to her feet, a huge smile breaking over her face. She wanted to race over and hug him for joy. She needed to go back, she just didn’t know why. Instead, she said, “We can be back in an hour.” She walked over to Matt and said in a quiet voice, “Thanks. It is important.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine, let’s go.”

  They were back in the hovercraft within minutes, and with Connor piloting again, they raced back to the cottage.

  About a mile out, Tori gasped and grabbed her head.

  “What’s the matter?” Celeste reached over to hold her sister’s hand.

  “The forest. Something is wrong with the forest.”

  They were almost at the cottage, when they could see a swath of black where trees had once been. A paintbrush stroke of charcoal, as if someone wiped out a long stretch of trees on a canvas.

  They all stared in shock at the woods below.

  “It’s terrible,” Genesis whispered. “Who could do something like this?”

  “And why?” Celeste wondered. “Being as close to the cottage as we are, it was likely that energy we saw this morning.”

  “Maybe it was because we escaped,” Matt suggested. “It looks like someone had a terrible temper tantrum and lashed out in anger.”

  T
he ladies looked at him. He shrugged. “Well, it does.”

  Celeste stared down the black streak that managed to completely wipe out the woods on the one side of the cottage, the building thankfully remaining protected and safe.

  Celeste stared at the destruction, tears filling her eyes. “How horrible.”

  “Horrible yes, but it will regrow,” Tori said, anger in her voice. “It’s senseless. The animals would have escaped, though, having recognized the terrible energy before it was unleashed here.”

  “Now that she’s lost her temper, she’s going to be drained. She’s going to be calm, and making it that much harder to figure how who she is.”

  “We also can’t know for sure that this energy is a woman. It has a feminine tinge to it that does not necessarily mean a woman. It could be a man with a lot of feminine traits. It could be a man who carries a lot of his mother’s, or wife’s, or even daughter’s energy with him. It could be a woman hiding behind a man. No one can know for sure at this stage.”

  “So make no assumptions. Right, got it.” Connor set the machine down outside the cottage. “Let’s get what you need and get back,” Matt said at the open door to the hovercraft. “You’ve got ten minutes, and that is all.”

  Celeste was the last one inside the cottage. The other two headed to their bedrooms. She went to Granny’s room, and the box Granny had told her they could have when they had needed it. She opened the flap to make sure that the contents were what she was expecting. And winced. Lord, she hoped these were them. Her first glance wasn’t encouraging.

  She didn’t know if her sisters even understood what these dresses were, but she didn’t want to explain here. And besides, she might be wrong. Her memory was less than perfect. She carried the box to her room and gathered up the little bits of jewelry she had. She had no idea what might go so packed it all. Shoes were the real issue now, but again, without seeing the dresses, then she had no idea what would go with them. She did have tiny, thin ballet slippers, and in a pinch they might do. They might also look like the stupidest thing possible. But again, not the time or place to make that decision. Besides, as she stared into the dark corners of her closet, she didn’t really have a choice. Dress shoes were not something she had a reason to own before.