Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,78
opened my eyes. I was still holding her hand, still holding Angel’s, but I was flat on the floor, staring at the ceiling. I blinked as they helped me sit up.
“I seem to have taken a little trip,” I murmured, looking around for Arawn and Cerridwen. They were nowhere to be seen. “Did I scare them off?”
Morgana snorted. “Not likely. No, they gave their answer and vanished and then you started… I don’t know what you were doing.” She let go of my hand, turning to me with concern.
“Remember I told you about the visions I get? I just had one.” I paused, realizing what she had just said. “Did you say they told you where to find Raven?”
“Not as specific as I would have liked, but they gave me a general area.” Morgana frowned, giving me the once-over like she expected me to faint or collapse. “Tell me what you saw.”
I told her. “I’ve been in that area before, at least in visions. I’ve had several recently and each time, I knew I was searching for someone but I didn’t know who. I heard someone screaming for help but I couldn’t find out who. Today I saw Raven. Pandora was getting ready to…” I paused, unable to finish my sentence. “Raven acted as though she were under a spell or drugged.”
“Chances are good she is. Pandora has many gifts, and one of those is the gift for charming others. Classic gift of a sociopath, and truly, when you break it down, that’s what she is.” Morgana paused, then quietly added, “Make no mistake. Pandora has no conscience. She has no remorse. To her, torturing others is child’s play, like making a puppet move on a string. She’s quite detached from any emotions except her own warped sense of happiness.”
I bit my lip. “Zeus really did a number when he raised her, didn’t he?”
“You have no idea. She’s dangerous because she doesn’t care. She finds her joy in others’ pain. It pains me to see Zeus’s daughter take Typhon’s side. Zeus isn’t the most friendly of gods, and he’s well known for manipulating others for his own amusement, but I doubt that even he would be happy to know what’s going on.” Morgana motioned for us to follow her toward the door. “But now we have a place to look for your friend. And Arawn and Cerridwen also gave me an idea of how to perhaps banish Pandora, at least long enough to rescue Raven.”
We gathered back in Raven’s kitchen. Raj hunkered in the corner, a worried look in his eyes, and I knelt beside him to give him a hug.
“We’ll find her,” I whispered to him. “We’ll do everything we can to bring her home safe. No matter what, don’t you worry. You’ll be taken care of. We’ll never let anything happen to you.”
Raj leaned his head against my shoulder and, in the faintest of whispers, said, “Raj misses Raven. Ember makes Raj feel better. Raj glad he talked to Ember.”
I began to get the hang of his cadence. “Ember really thinks Raj is special. Ember is honored Raj is talking to her and Angel.”
At that moment, Herne and Kipa reappeared, several shopping bags in hand. They were all marked Taco Grande. That’s what Merlin had requested? A major taco splurge. Morgana caught my gaze and shrugged, then motioned for them to set the bags on the table. She looked around at the crowded room. “Herne, a word, please?”
“Yes, Mother.” Herne followed her to the kitchen.
The rest of us gathered around the table. There weren’t enough chairs for everyone, so Kipa, Viktor, Trefoil, and Yutani stood back. Herne and Morgana reappeared.
“Too many people are going to muddle the energy,” Herne said. “Talia, Angel, and Yutani, please go back to the office and just…carry on.”
“Llewellyn, Trefoil, and Meadow,” Morgana said, “I’d like you to wait across the street. We may need your help but as Herne said, too many magical signatures confuse the energy and will make it harder to pinpoint Raven when we go after her.”
Nobody really wanted to leave, but they obeyed her. Talia patted me on the arm as she and Yutani headed for the door. “She’ll be okay. You’ll find her,” she said.
I nodded, although I didn’t feel as confident as I wanted to be.
Once they were all gone, Herne, Viktor, and Kipa moved into the living room. Morgana and I sat at the table, waiting for Merlin.