Unbound (Unbound, Book 1) ~Formerly Casting Power~

Chapter 22

"She just wants to be a normal teenager right now, Zach. How can I preach to her the importance of free will if I do this against hers?" My mother's voice held a plaintive tone. "There has to be some other way."

"You know better than I do that there isn't, Vav," Zachariah said. "Already I believe you've tended her desires instead of her needs for too long. Noreena is clueless. The only way to fix that is to talk with her. Have her accept her powers by choice, just like you did when you were her age. We can wait for them to unbind again but that doesn't mean that she will choose to use them. It doesn't mean she will be safe."

"I will not ruin my child's adolescence."

The steel in my mother's voice was more of what I thought a High Priestess sounded like. I'd never heard her truly use it before, even with me. What in the hell were they talking about? My safety? What would be wrong with that? I thought she said the protective measures were taken because she had a feeling.

"When she is finished at Pederson, I will inform her of everything. Don't you remember how hard it was for me to fit in at high school because I knew? How many mistakes did I make just to defy my parents? I don't understand how you could be sitting here advising me to do the same thing to her."

"One of your mistakes is why she's here."

"That's not what I mean, and she's not, nor has she ever been, a mistake. I got us the dogs—"

"This isn't a game, Vavila!" Zachariah's patience cracked like thunder throughout the room. I heard not the rumbles of a homeless man but an arrogant aristocrat with a hint of some sort of European accent—British, maybe. "You can't let her remain ignorant just because you are worried that she's like you were. Don't you see her at all? Yes, she refuses her abilities, but she is not powerless, even if she is bound. She has a backbone, morality, and innocence. Most of all, she has the inflexible sense of right and wrong that you instilled within her. She is not so feeble that she cannot handle and understand this."

"I know that! None of that is a reason to take away the last few months she has left of normalcy. It is all she wants."

"Vavila—"

"No."

I could hear the heavy breaths escaping from my mother now and cringed at the image in my head of her pointing her finger right in Zach's face. Maybe I should start setting up camera surveillance to see all the good stuff? There were even cameras that I could buy that I could watch on my phone while I was at school.

"She is graduating in a few months and deserves to be able to do so without any conflictions."

"She is vulnerable," Zach said. "You are vulnerable. You've taught her everything but what she needs to know. Not only are you leaving her unprotected, but you are also keeping yourself weak by keeping her binds in place."

"When she graduates," my mother said. "I will tell her when she graduates. Until then, my decision is final. If anything should happen between now and then, you have what she needs to learn all she requires."

"Are you ordering me to stand by and do nothing until something happens when we could stop something from happening just by telling her?"

"Yes, I am," she said. "We will do nothing until Nora graduates. You will do nothing. If the worst comes to pass, you can guide her as you once guided me."

"And if I don't?" he challenged.

"You can't refuse," she said, her tone too sweet.

I was used to that, but to use it on Zach? Why would he listen? He was her mentor.

"If something happens to both of—"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "It won't. You know it's not possible."

"I understand," he said. "It will be as you wish, but I go on record as saying it's the wrong choice to make."

"Good. Now, tell me everything Islene said. I want to know all that is going on with the Council," she directed as though no tension remained.

For the first time, I sort of felt sorry for Zach, and I wondered if his appearance of being homeless was a front. This man wasn't homeless. He was—is—educated.

"What's going on down there?"

"Down where?" I asked, sliding into the kitchen, taking off my jacket and rubbing Onyx as though I'd just noticed her.

To her credit, she started yipping and dancing with excitement now that I was paying attention to her, adding credence to my act. I couldn't sit on the step anymore now that they'd finished with the good stuff, my butt tingling with an unwelcome numbness that I couldn't ignore.

"A small community is in a bit of a bind. They have no leader, so I came to ask your mother to assist me with restoring it to good health again," Zach said, back to using his slurred speech.

I squinted at him over the mug of hot chocolate my mother handed me, knowing the lie for what it was. Even if I hadn't just heard what they'd discussed, I would have known. Zach was a terrible liar. "Hmm, I bet," I said and rolled my eyes. "You're asking her out of the goodness of your heart to help you restore some community that has no leader? Right, because that's just so believable. Really, I'm shocked at this side of you."

"Noreena!"

My mother's stern voice brought my attention away from Zach and up to her. I wasn't the first to look away. "Whatever," I mumbled when her gaze darted down, and stalked over to the sink, dumping out my drink, the taste bitter on my tongue.

I walked out of the kitchen to angry glares from my mother and a curious gaze from Zach.

My bedroom door clicked shut, and I locked it knowing it wouldn't keep my mother out. At the least, it might deter her from an attempt at encroaching on my privacy. Within minutes I fell asleep despite the thoughts whirling through my head, not a dream to be remembered come the light of day.