The primrose wasn't the only silverstone Bria wore. I picked up her hand and looked at the three rings on her left index finger. They were nothing fancy, just three thin bands stacked on top of each other, although there seemed to be patterns in the metal. I squinted at the bands and realized that they had tiny runes carved into them. Small snowflakes ringed one of the bands, while ivy vines curled through another. The final ring, the top one on Bria's finger, was stamped in the middle with a single spider rune-my rune.
My heart twisted. Baby sister wore a ring, a symbol, for each of us. My mother, Eira's, snowflake. Our older sister, Annabella's, ivy vine. And my spider rune. Somehow I knew she wore them all the time, just like she did her own primrose medallion. She still remembered us, still remembered me, all these years after that horrible night. She remembered what I wished I could forget. I let out a tired breath and gently put Bria's hand down by her side.
Jo-Jo passed her hand over Bria's midsection several times before releasing her grip on her magic. The milky white glow on her palm faded, and the dwarf's eyes returned to their normal translucent color.
"There," she said. "Good as new."
I peered over the dwarf's shoulder. Sure enough, the nasty hole in Bria's side had vanished, replaced by smooth, pink skin. Jo-Jo had also taken the time to get rid of the scrapes and bruises that had dotted my baby sister's arms, hands, and face.
"Thanks, Jo-Jo," I said. "I'm sure Bria would tell you that too, if she were awake."
"No problem, darling." Jo-Jo reached over and tucked a lock of Bria's blond hair behind her ear. "After all, she's family now."
For some reason, the dwarf's soft words made me shiver.
By the time Sophia dragged the remaining bodies outside and the rest of us straightened up as much of the bloody mess as we could, it was well after midnight. I hauled another garbage bag outside and dumped it in the plastic pickup container. My eyes scanned the darkness, but I didn't see anyone or anything moving in the black night. Bria's house was more than a half mile from the others at the end of the street. At this late hour, everyone else in the immediate vicinity had long ago retired to their bedrooms. Only a few security lights mounted over garages and outbuildings broke through the night. Low, thick clouds obscured the moon and stars, and a metallic scent filled the air that told me snow was on the way.
But a couple inches of the white stuff wouldn't be nearly enough to cover up the bloody bit of violence I'd done in Bria's house tonight-and what I was planning to do to Elliot Slater as soon as I got the chance. I was going to make sure the giant got dead before he had the opportunity to hurt Bria or Roslyn Phillips again. And there were plenty of other people in Ashland who wouldn't mind living in a world without Slater in it. All this pro bono work I was dabbling in really was turning into public service. The mayor so needed to give me a medal.
As I peered into the night, the front door opened and Jo-Jo Deveraux stepped outside. The dwarf settled herself on the steps that led up to the porch, draping her fuzzy pink housecoat over her knees. I stood at the base of the steps and leaned against the handrail.
"You did a good thing tonight, Gin," Jo-Jo said. "Saving your sister like that."
I shrugged. "It wasn't so much a good thing as it was sheer luck. I had no idea Slater was coming here to kill her. If Finn and I hadn't been following him..." My voice trailed off.
I didn't want to think about how close I'd come to losing Bria again tonight. That I'd almost missed my chance to get to know her again before I'd even been ready to take it in the first place, to risk telling her who and what I really was. My sister might be a stranger to me now, but I couldn't let go of the memory of the sweet little girl she'd once been-a girl that I would have done anything to protect. Back then and especially now.
Besides, Fletcher Lane had left me a photo of her for a reason. The old man had wanted me to find Bria, to get to know her again. Even if I hadn't wanted to do those things on my own, I would have gone through with them just to honor Fletcher's wishes. He'd done so much for me over the years. I was going to do everything I could for him now-even if he was cold, dead, and buried.
I shook my head and chased away my melancholy thoughts. Fletcher Lane was gone. Mooning about his murder once more wasn't going to bring him back. Right now, I needed to focus on the problem in front of me-Elliot Slater and his amazing quickness. So I told Jo-Jo how fast the giant was and asked if perhaps Slater was using some sort of elemental magic that I couldn't sense to help his fists connect with my ribs. The dwarf frowned for a few seconds, thinking.
"It's possible," Jo-Jo said. "But to do what you're describing, Slater would have to be doing one of two things. One, he'd have to be an Air elemental and using his magic to affect the gases in the air. Air has weight, you know, even though we don't usually realize that it does. Slater could be using his power to move the air, the molecules, out of his way so he has less resistance to go through when he swings his fists. Simple physics, really."
"And two?" I asked.
"He'd have to be an Ice elemental and using his power to momentarily freeze his opponents. Using just enough magic to give himself that second's advantage, that seeming bit of speed," Jo-Jo said. "But I don't think he's an elemental."
"Why not?"
Jo-Jo shrugged. "Because those are both very, very subtle skills that would take years to master. Elliot Slater doesn't strike me as having that much patience. Besides, given your high sensitivity to elemental magic, Gin, you'd still be able to feel him using his power, even if there was only a teaspoon of it in his whole body. More than likely, Slater's quickness is just a genetic quirk that he's honed over the years. There are very few people who can use elemental magic without others sensing it."
For a moment, a distant light flashed in the dwarf's pale eyes, as though she was thinking about something that had happened a long time ago. Maybe it was the droop of her shoulders or the way Jo-Jo fingered her string of pearls, but something about the dwarf's last words bothered me-and her too.
"Do you know anybody who can completely hide their elemental magic from others, even while they're embracing or using it?" I asked in a soft voice.
Jo-Jo's eyes cleared, and she gave me a small, sad smile. "Just one person. Although, I think you could do it too, Gin, if you really needed to."
I blinked. "Me?"
Jo-Jo nodded. "You."
The dwarf looked at me, a knowing light in her eyes, and I shifted on my feet. Jo-Jo Deveraux claimed that I was one of the strongest elementals she'd ever met, a notion that always made me uncomfortable. My mother had been an extremely strong Ice elemental, and yet all her magic hadn't saved her from a horrible, fiery death at the hands of Mab Monroe. My sister Annabella's magic hadn't done her any good against Mab either. And Bria would have been dead, beaten to death by Elliot Slater, if Finn and I hadn't intervened tonight.