Disclaimer: The Night World is the property of L.J. Smith.
Spoilers: None so far it is based on the Night World Series but I don't spoil any of the books, just the Night World concept really
Part 12.
Psyche pursed her lips angrily as she came down the stairs. Emma and Midir were sitting together wrapped up in each other. Seeing them together made her extremely angry. She wasn't 100% sure where this anger came from. Maybe she was angry at Emma for betraying her friends by being with him, but then had she betrayed them.
Maybe she was angry at Midir for being with Emma, for convincing her normally so stalwart friend to do something so senseless as to fall for an assassin, or because she couldn't believe Emma would just fall for someone like him and it made her suspicious of him and his motives and how the hell this had all happened. Maybe she was just angry at him for having come to Gleanalta at all and disturbing the fragile peace they had all found there.
That was why she felt so angry with her mother right now. Her mother who had searched so long to find a place where she was safe and she was willing to risk that by bringing him here. Even worse she hadn't told Psyche about it, she hadn't trusted her enough.
Emma managed to take her attention away from Midir long enough to smile at Psyche and ask how Truth was.
"She's getting better, no thanks to you two," Psyche spat not caring about the hurt look in Emma's eyes and the guilt so clear on Midir's face.
"We thought it was better to leave it to you and your mom. We thought we'd get in the way," Emma replied untangling herself from Midir and getting up.
"That's not what I meant Emma and you know it," Psyche said angrily.
She no longer cared that Truth didn't want Emma feeling guilty, she no longer cared about anything except this anger and hurt that was boiling up inside her and all she wanted to do was make someone else feel the same.
"Yeah I do," Emma said with a voice laden with shame. "It's my fault, which is why I'm going to do everything I can to find who did this and make it right."
Psyche heard the grim determination in her friend's voice and knew that it was true; Emma was going to do whatever it took to make this right. It made her feel a little uneasy too; she couldn't remember Emma ever entertaining thoughts of revenge before. She felt that this might be changing Emma and though she wanted her to suffer a little for what she had done she didn't want anything too traumatic to happen; she didn't want this to change who Emma was.
"Does your mother have any idea who did this?" Emma asked.
"None," Psyche replied, "it's not like witches sign their spells Emma."
"I know," Emma snapped back finally getting mad. "I just thought she might be able to tell us who in Glenalta would be capable of doing such a spell."
"Oh," Psyche said sheepishly, "well she said that she didn't know anyone who knew the spell and she doesn't believe anyone she knows would use the spell even if they did know it."
"Your mom likes to believe the best of people," Midir said gently.
"You're proof off that," Psyche said with a hard voice.
"I guess I am," he replied.
"So," Emma interrupted, "does anyone have any ideas for how we're going to find this person?"
Psyche and Midir glanced at each other and they both shook their heads.
"Great," Emma remarked, "just great."
Emma gazed out the window of Midir's car as he took her back to school. Truth was feeling a lot better and her parents had believed their explanation without question. Emma was pretty sure that Mrs. Ahern had had a hand in that. They still had no idea who had done this to Truth and that made Emma so mad she felt like hitting things and throwing things.
It could have been anyone; it could have even been one of her friends. That was what made her angry most; the thought that someone she and Truth considered a friend could have done this. That was the problem with Glenalta everyone had so many secrets you never knew who you could trust, right now she didn't think she trusted anyone fully, except Midir and Truth.
She didn't know what she was going to do, how she was going to make this right. There was so much she had to worry about, who had done this to Truth, the fact that her friends all hated her and she had just found her soulmate a week ago. Too much stuff was happening to her, she kind of felt like she was stuck in a bad, supernatural, soap opera or something. At least Midir and Psyche had declared a truce until they found out who had put the spell on Truth; that was something.
Psyche sat at the table eating her dinner; she was still angry with her mother and she was doing her best to ignore her.
"Psyche," her mother asked eventually, "how long is the silent treatment going to last?"
Psyche opened her mouth then shut it abruptly; if she was going to ignore her mom properly she was not going to break down at the first question.
"Come on Psyche. I only did what was right."
"What was right?" Psyche exploded. "What was right? Tell me what's right about bringing an assassin into our home? What's right about putting our friends in danger and even putting yourself in danger?"
"Psyche, I explained that. Midir isn't like that anymore; he's not an assassin anymore. If you knew why the Night World is after him, if you knew why Daybreak is protecting him you'd feel the same way I do about him. He's a good person Psyche, when the lines were drawn he chose the right side."
Psyche rolled her eyes, "yeah Mom sure. Goddess, I never would have believed you could be so naïve, so blind. People don't change just like that Mom; they don't become good just because they choose to be. You of all people should know that."
"And you of all people Psyche Ahern should know how hard it is for someone to make the decision to change. You of all people should be willing to give people another chance. Is that what you truly believe? That people can never change, what about your father?"
Psyche could hear the anger in her mother's voice and see it in her face.
"That's not what I'm saying Mom. I know Dad changed, he became a good man and more than anything I would have loved to have known him, but it was different. Circumstances were different; Dad was a far different man than Midir. You and he were soulmates, he changed because he loved you so much, because you showed him what good was."
"Your father changed because he wanted to change Psyche. He was a long way down the path of good before he met me; I just helped to move him along, just like Emma is helping Midir along. They're more like me and your father than you can imagine."
"They're nothing like you and Dad," Psyche argues. "Firstly Emma's a human and he's a vampire and you and Dad were witches and secondly they're not soulmates."
Psyche's Mom smiled a small, knowing smile that pissed the hell out of Psyche.
"What?" she asked, "what?"
"I thought they said they told you. They are soulmates Psyche, I was sure you knew."
"What?" Psyche demanded, "They can't be."
"They are I'm afraid," her mother told her again softly. "Why are you angry about this Psyche? Why does it anger you so much that your friend should experience something so special?"
"Because," Psyche said.
"Why?" her mother asked again.
"Why are you pushing this Mom?" Psyche said angrily.
"Because I think it's important you ask yourself this question. I think it's important you know the answer."
Psyche stared pensively into space for a few minutes. She had been so angry about everything lately, there didn't seem to be a reason for any of it so why should her reason be so important this time.
"Because," she said eventually, "it's unfair. Why should someone like him find his one and only when there are so many good people out there who are alone? Why should they get to be happy and together when you and Dad couldn't be?"
Psyche paused to take a breath; she had blurted it all out quickly afraid of what she was saying, afraid of the emotions she was making known.
"Oh Psyche," her Mom said softly, "I know how angry you are that your father was killed but you shouldn't take that out on other people. You shouldn't lay the blame on those who had nothing to do with it. You shouldn't be angry at other people just because they're happy."
"I know," Psyche said tears appearing in her eyes, "but it's just so hard. It's just so unfair. I don't know how you can stand it."
"I can stand it because I have you," her mother replied with a bittersweet smile.
Psyche's Mom came to her and held her, letting her cry. Being in her arms, being consoled by her felt so familiar to Psyche, it had been such a common occurrence when she was a child but she had worked so hard at getting stronger, at being strong for her mother, but maybe that had just made her hard, maybe she wasn't strong at all.
Closer to town, in the two-storey farmhouse Truth tossed and turned in a troubled sleep. The spell had gone but her body had not yet recovered and her mind was just being to process what had happened. Her dreams were full of hidden evils, cold and dark. While she was overly warm in her bed, sweating profusely and twisting and talking incoherently in her sleep, her dream self was cloaked in ice falling deeper and deeper into darkness and anger.
She woke up and sat straight up in bed remembering but pieces of her dreams. She sat in the dark and cried bitter, angry tears. She wondered if it would make her feel better to know who had done it or would that only make her feel worse. If she discovered that one of her friends had been the one who did this she didn't think she'd ever be the same again. To have someone break your trust like that, to have someone betray you like that would hurt you greatly.
Of course she was hurt that anyone would do that to her but if it was one of her friends it would be so much worse. She had always felt so lonely and sometimes she had felt that she didn't have any real friends, Psyche was her best friend and she still didn't talk to Truth about everything. If it turned out one of her friends had done this to her it would just confirm that old suspicion that people were just friends with her because she was there not because they wanted to be.
She wrapped herself up in her blanket feeling depression sinking in and feeling even angrier. She wasn't going to let whoever cast the spell do this to her, she wasn't going to let them make her question her friends and make her unhappy. They'd tried to destroy her body and they hadn't succeeded she wasn't going to let them destroy her mind, her spirit or her friendships. Tomorrow she'd start trying to get the group back together and get people to accept Midir and then she was going to find out who did this to her and well she hadn't quite got that far yet but she'd come up with something.
Midir stared up at the night sky looking at the stars. So much had happened in the past few days and it was all his fault. Maybe he had been wrong to come to Glenalta, maybe he'd been wrong to believe he deserved peace, he'd done so much maybe this was karma giving him a kick in his ass and showing him he had a lot more to make up for and that he wasn't worthy enough to have peace, that he wasn't worthy enough to have love, not yet.
But now he'd found Emma he never wanted to leave her, she was such a good person she at least deserved happiness and love. He remembered what she had said about revenge and he worried, maybe that was his fault too, maybe that was his influence, maybe he corrupted everything he touched.
Look at poor Truth all she had done was be friends with him and someone saw that reason enough to make her suffer. Where was the Witches' Rede now, where was the three fold law, why wasn't the culprit suffering Truth's pain three times over or were they, how was he to know? They didn't even know who had done it. And what would happen when they did find out? He was scared to find out.
Emma closed her eyes and once again tried to get to sleep, but it was almost impossible, there were too many thoughts in her head. So much she didn't know, so many questions, so many things she had to find out. Like who had done this to Truth and what had Midir done with Circle Daybreak and why Psyche's Mom had helped him?
She supposed it meant that one other person besides she and Truth saw the good in him and that meant a lot to her. Even if no one else felt he was good she would know he was but it was good that others saw it too not just for her but for Midir too. He needed others to believe he was good because he found it so hard to believe for himself. And he was good though, no matter what he had done in the past, he was good, he had honour. Strange to think that about someone who had killed for money but Emma felt it was true.
She didn't know what they were going to do next but they'd do it together, she, Midir, Truth and now Psyche too. It made her feel more confident, stronger, and braver to know that at least she had those few people she cared for backing her. She could handle anything now; handle whatever was going to be thrown at her until this was resolved.