Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,50

a steady barrage of heavy missiles.

Nate caught every single object launched at them. His inhuman strength and speed allowed him to easily deal with all their projectiles. Rather than tossing them back, though, he dropped each one to the ground.

Ellie shifted into the form of a massive midnight black jaguar. She gave a terrible scream and charged at them, fangs bared.

“Hands!” Charlotte yelled. As soon as they were all connected, she teleported them behind the offensive line and out of harm’s way. As soon as they reappeared, however, something froze them completely in place. Held immobile by Alex, they watched as the offensive team charged yet again.

Selene reached out with her mind. She saw Alex’s bright golden light and turned it off, like flipping a switch. Or more appropriately, like cutting the power.

Free of the force that’d been holding them, the defensive team backed up. Seeing their movement, the offenders slowed their attack and then stopped altogether. Then Selene saw Ellie’s eyes ignite, becoming twin flames of blue. She knew what was coming next.

The dragon.

Selene reached for Ellie’s powers, seeing a violet-blue glow inside her. Flipping this switch, however, would prove to be much more difficult. The two women locked in on each other in a silent battle of wills.

Suddenly, Ellie stopped fighting and turned off the dragon morph herself. The offenders’ expressions became peaceful, almost zen-like. Selene glanced at Lila who nodded, confirming that she was using her emotion-mending power on them.

“That’s enough I think, Lila.” Selene laid a gentle hand on her friend’s shoulder. “We don’t want the other tribes saying that they only agreed to peace because their emotions were manipulated.”

Selene glanced up and saw Oren’s image shimmer next to a nearby tree. She held up her hands in a T, which she’d seen Nate do a couple of times when he was teaching the younger Vyusher wolves how to play football.

“That’s it for now. I have to return to the castle,” Selene said. She walked over to Oren’s transparent form. “Is it time already?”

He grimaced. “Unfortunately, yes.” With a nod she started to turn away to go to Charlotte, when Oren’s voice stopped her. “My Lady?”

She turned back. “Something else, Oren?”

“One of the Svatura can turn items to metal?”

“Yes. Did you see that?”

He nodded and then frowned. “I vaguely remember that your brother had access to someone who could manipulate metal like that. I believe it’s one of the reasons we have so much gold in our coffers. I’ve only ever known of that one person with that ability in all my years.”

“Ah,” Selene said, comprehension dawning. “Dexter would’ve told me if he’d been associated with Gideon, so I doubt it was he. But I admit it’s a little odd that we’d meet another one. Worth checking into further. Thank you, Oren.”

Oren gave a formal little half-bow. “My pleasure.” And then his image faded away.

Selene made her way over to Charlotte so she could teleport back to the castle.

“Um, Selene?” Nate cleared his throat. “Do you know your eyes started glowing blue a minute ago? Like Ellie’s do when she goes all dragon?”

Selene blinked. “No… but maybe that happens when I’m trying to turn off a particularly strong power?”

“We should test that theory out,” Ellie suggested.

She nodded. “Worth a try. But we gotta get back now. Charlotte?” She held out her arm, and the others reached toward her. A moment later they were standing inside the library.

Selene didn’t betray by even a twitch exactly how much she dreaded returning to the castle. She’d lost count of the times she’d gone head to head with the Council, and they were still no closer to making any progress or decisions. Selene’s feelings of ineptitude in regards to her ability to influence the Council also continued to escalate.

“You’ll be fine,” Lila murmured for her ears alone, as they walked through the corridors. Selene raised her eyebrows, and Lila merely shrugged. She tapped her heart. “I can practically feel your emotions as physical waves beating against me. Despite the fact that you shield me from most of what you feel. Won’t you please let—?”

“No.” Selene shook her head. “I need to face them alone. It’s the right thing to do. I’ll just have to find a way.”

“You could at least let me work with you outside of Council hours on controlling your fear. Maybe while we’re at school… away from here?”

Selene was so surprised by that statement, she did a bit of a double take. “What do you mean? I’ve