by Elena Lawson
But that was different. I lived by a set of very simple rules; mess with me, I’ll tell you off. Mess with my family, and all bets are off. I supposed now that I had someone to call a friend, it would now be ‘friends and family’.
I hurried to keep pace with Bianca as she cut around the last corner and walked up to her uncle’s door. “Ready?” she asked.
“Let’s go.”
She pushed the door open, not bothering to knock. “Uncle Sterling,” she called, walking through the modestly sized waiting area and up to the main door of his office. I had been in such a rush to get away the first time I’d been in his office, that I neglected to even notice the little waiting area between one door and the other.
“Yes, come in.” We heard him call from the other side of the closed door, and Bianca strolled inside with me lagging a few feet behind her.
Headmaster Sterling had just finished writing something down on a sheet of paper at his desk, and he flipped it over as we entered so it was blank side up. “Ready to get going?” He asked, flashing Bianca his teeth in what could only be described as something halfway between a smile and a grimace, rising from his seat.
“We are,” Bianca replied. “Thanks again,” she added. “For letting Harper stay the weekend with me.”
Sterling narrowed his eyes at me, and beneath his salt-and-pepper beard I saw his jaw twitch. “Of course, my dear. I know the both of you will be on your best behavior,” he said, looking at me pointedly.
I bowed my head, the discomfort settling over me like a mist of ichor.
“We will,” Bianca trilled, elbowing me in the ribs.
“Yes,” I grunted. “We will.”
Sterling moved to a blank space of wall behind his desk. “Then let’s get you two on your way.”
Bianca gave me a reassuring look, and bumped her shoulder against mine as we made to move into place behind her uncle. Headmaster Sterling cast the sigil to open the portal and drew the lines for the doorway around it. His magic was strong, and the swirling lines of the sigil glowed a strong, vibrant gold.
The portal opened up in a matter of seconds. The ornate wallpaper faded away to reveal a grand entryway with parquet floors, a spiral staircase, and a chandelier dripping crystals from the ceiling.
Bianca must’ve seen my mouth fall open because she laughed and said. “Wait’ll you see my room.”
Sterling moved aside for us to go through. I stuck close to Bianca’s side as my feet stepped from plush carpet to cold, hard tile. “You’re not coming?” she asked him, disappointment making her words low and clipped. More a statement than a question.
He tucked his hands behind his back and looked down at her. “I have too much to see to this evening. But I’ll do my best to join you for dinner.”
She nodded solemnly. “Alright.”
I truly hoped for her sake that he had nothing to do with what happened to my father. That he wasn’t the monster I thought he might be underneath it all. Bianca wasn’t the type who would fare well as an orphan if her uncle was ousted from the council and sent to Kalzir. What would even happen to her? To her brothers?
I couldn’t think about that. Knowing the truth had become a necessity. I needed to know how my father died, and if the person—or people responsible were brought to justice. Even if it was Bianca’s uncle, I couldn’t let him get away with it just to save her some misfortune, could I?
In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to worry about such things. But our world was far from perfect, and I tended to be exposed to the most flawed parts of it. As though I was made to withstand the harder things in life. Cut from some other cloth.
Sterling did another one of his smile grimaces and sealed the portal, leaving us staring at the inside of a front door that was double my height and wider than my reach if I extended both arms as far as they’d go. This was not a place for a street rat. But, I supposed... that wasn’t what I was anymore.
I was a student at the prestigious Arcane Arts Academy. And Bianca Matthews was my friend.
“Show me around?” I asked her with a note of impatient excitement, already wondering which of the many hallways led to her uncle’s office.
She set Blanch down with a pat on her head, and the fat rabbit hopped away. Bianca swept her arm in a wide arc over the grand parlor, allowing the disappointment to fall away from her expression like dead skin, making room for one of her brilliant white smiles. “Please, do follow me,” she said in a mock British accent, and I laughed at her ridiculousness.
Bianca dragged me through all twelve-thousand square feet of the mansion. Showing me the staffed kitchen that smelled of fresh spring greens and herbed butter, the library, the sitting room, the drawing room, and the family room. Those last three all looked the same to me aside from the color of the furniture.
There was also a dining room on the main floor, and an exit leading out to a tennis court and a pool inside an enclosure that was a monstrosity of glass. The light reflected off it was near blinding. Up the wide, curving staircase were the bedrooms. She gestured down the hallway to the left at the landing. “Uncle Sterling’s bedroom and private office are down there,” she said and I made a mental note.
“My brothers are in the loft apartment,” she said and gestured to a narrower staircase leading up to yet another level. I could hear the pew pew of video game gunshots, and a young man groaned as he was obviously shot, blaming the game for being so damned laggy.
“I’ll take you up to meet them in a minute,” she said, grabbing my forearm to drag me the rest of the way down the hall. “I want to show you something.”
I was in awe of her room, blinded by the brilliant white of the walls and fuzzy white carpets. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that the white was interspersed with shiny black decor and soft pink fabrics. A bright yellow bedspread adorned her king-size bed. A mountainous pile of black and pink pillows atop it.
There was an ensuite bathroom to my right. A walk-in closet to my left. And a balcony at the other end of the cavernous room.
“Come see,” she said, and I followed her out to the balcony. The moment she opened the door, the breeze blew in warm steam and I peered outside to find an enormous scoop of water suspended in the air outside the door. The water roiled and bubbled gently.
A magical hot-tub. Of course, she had a magical hot-tub. Why wouldn’t she?
“My uncle did it for me a few weekends ago. I asked him for one of those glass-bottom ones that the humans have, but he made me this instead, isn’t it awesome?”
I gulped, clutching onto the doorframe. There was no deck. No sides or railings. No... bottom. I looked down through the water, finding the stone walkway twenty feet below the where the water ended.
“Won’t you fall through?” I asked Bianca, wary. My stomach doing backflips.
“Of course not,” she chided. “Come on, I think I have a bathing-suit that’ll fit you.”
She did have one, but it was too small in the chest, and too big on the bottom. It did the trick, though. And after hyperventilating for the first five or so minutes, I found the weird magical hot-tub wasn’t all that terrifying after all.
If you pushed your feet too deep into the water, near the bottom, it would move lower, expanding to fit your added length. Making it effectually bottomless.
And, salty? The water was a strange consistency and made us more buoyant than normal. We could float at the surface without doing any awkward paddling or holding onto the ledge of her door frame. As the sun fell over their property and painted the back garden in hues of orange and pink, I felt all my tensions beginning to release.
I wanted to just be in the moment. Not worrying about tomorrow—or later tonight when I would sneak away after Bianca fell asleep—or anything else. It was just us, the hot roiling water, and the decanter of bourbon Bianca swiped from the dining room.
“So, what do you think? Glad you came?” Bianca asked after a while.
I sighed, sinking a little lower into the steamy water, bei
ng careful not to look down. Every time I did, I felt a wave of vertigo threaten to tip me over.
Heights and I didn’t play nicely together. “Very,” I replied, feeling more hair slip free of the loose red bun I’d piled atop my head.
Sitting back up, I looked out over the property, realizing I hadn’t the slightest clue where we were. “Where is this? Are we still in West Virginia?”
Bianca followed my gaze. “No, we’re in Oregon. That mountain over there is Mt. Hood. Portland is a couple hours’ drive that way.”
“And I’m assuming you don’t have any neighbors out here,” I said, thinking how if mortals saw a giant floating ladle-full of water, they might have a few questions.
She laughed, tipping the rest of her bourbon down her throat. “No, but it’s warded, see,” she said, pointing out into the distance. And if I squinted hard and focused, I could just make out the light shimmer of the dome covering their entire property.
Wow.
I knew some witches warded their homes, but it was usually only for short periods of time, and the wards would never be that large. They must have a power source somewhere in the house that it could draw constant energy from.
We learned that at the academy. How they imbued the very stones used to build it with conduit magic. They acted much the same as solar panels do. Except they got their energy from all the magical bodies in the academy, sucking up whatever little bits we exuded, and directed the power where it was most needed—mostly the wards.
Effectively, the building protected itself. Which was pretty darn cool.
It must’ve been nice, though. Growing up in a place where you wouldn’t have to hide your magic. Using it whenever you wanted. Being able to practice. Not having to hold all that wild energy inside of you all the time.
“That’s must take a lot of power,” I mused.
She shrugged, frowning. “It’s a luxury given to all council members,” she said with a note of distaste, pouring herself another fingers width of bourbon. “All the council members’ places of residence are warded like this. Perks of the job, I guess.”
“You don’t get to see him much, do you?”
“No. Not in the last few years anyway,” she said, taking a sip. “We used to do all kinds of things together. He taught me how to ride.” She pointed to what looked to be a stable far off in the distance. “And how to swim.”
“What changed?”
Her steeped tea eyes met mine, and the corners of her mouth pulled down into a fleeting frown. “Beats me,” she said.
“Heads up!” Someone shouted from inside Bianca’s room, and I looked up just in time to kick myself back before two boys took a running jump into the hot tub. Water sprayed up in their wake, stinging my eyes with salt.
“Your brothers, I assume?” I said from the edge of the tub before their heads poked back up.
Bianca cuffed them both on the back of the head. “Dimwits!” she chided them. “I thought I told you not to come in my room without asking.”
“But you didn’t tell us she was here!” one of them whined.
The boys were about thirteen. Maybe fourteen. they’d be coming into their powers any time now. They had the same golden blonde hair as their sister, the same slender frames, and warm brown eyes. They couldn’t have been any more than a year apart in age.
“I’m so sorry,” Bianca said. “These are the two nitwit brothers I told you about. He’s Louie,” she said pinching his cheek. “And he’s Eddie. The two biggest pains in my ass.”
Completely ignoring their older sister, the two of them turned their attention to me.
“Is it true you can make lightning come down from the sky,” the one called Eddie asked.
“Can you show us?” Louie asked, turning back to his sister. “B, make her do it!”
I rolled my eyes playfully and finished the rest of my bourbon in one long, burning swallow. “Your sister is a liar. I can do no such thing.”
Bianca stuck her tongue out at me and shoved her little brothers back toward the edge of the tub. “Now get out! Both of you. And dry your feet before you go walking through my room. Damned heathens.”
17
We snacked on a platter of fruit, cheeses, and salty meats after we’d finished in the hot tub. We chatted. Changed into pajamas and bathrobes. It took a while, but I started to notice the things in her room that made it more than just a magazine cut-out.
An alternative rock band poster on the back of her closet door.
Chocolate bars in her nightstand.
And some weird creature that looked be out of some obscure anime as a stuffed animal hidden within the mountain of pillows on her bed.
Which is where she was now, fast asleep. After we’d stuffed ourselves, the bourbon started to drag down her eyelids and I was glad I’d only had the one glass. She was out in the matter of a few minutes. Leaving me sitting there, antsy and chewing on the inside of my cheek.
The house had been quiet for a long while. And earlier Bianca had told me the staff left every evening a few hours after supper. That only Pierre, the bodyguard, remained. And he generally patrolled the grounds so he could sneak cigarettes whenever he liked.
No one would dare launch an attack on a council member, she’d said, and I’d agreed. But wasn’t that exactly what I was planning to do?
Just a quick look. Nobody is around to see me go in or come out. Just a peek, and then I’ll go to sleep. Easy as pie.
Or was it cake?
I shook my head and slipped off the poofy moccasin-like slippers Bianca had given me to wear. They were hard-bottomed and would make too much noise against the hardwood in the hallway. Barefoot would be better.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears and the bourbon soured in my stomach. But I pressed on, looking back at Bianca’s sleeping form. Her half-open eyes and gaping mouth. She wouldn’t wake up.
I slipped out from the room, careful to turn the doorknob so the catch wouldn’t click closed. I eased it in, letting the knob turn slowly in my palm.
Step one, complete, I thought to myself. I’ve exited the room.
Just a few more steps and then you’re done. See? This is so easy.
Step two, creep down the hallway like a panther.
No, not like an elephant. Jesus.
Ok. Step three, figure out which freaking room is Sterling’s office.
There were two doors at the other end of the hallway. One at the very end and one on the left. I tried the one at the very end first. The breath sticking in my throat when the floor creaked beneath my feet.
A door closed somewhere downstairs, and I gasped, throwing myself into the room. My hands shook trying the shut the door without a sound. I held my breath, listening for a minute before deciding it must’ve just been Pierre coming in for a drink, or something.
He had no reason to suspect I’d be doing anything but sleeping, right?
Unless Sterling told him I was a felon and to keep an eye on me... the thought didn’t help.
The inside of the room was dark and smelled faintly of sweet cigar smoke, and musk. I drew the sigil for light in the air over the door. The shape a waving line with a circle at the bottom. “Lucidus,” I whispered, and the sigil glowed brighter. Amplified by the incantation.
Step three, complete. I found the office.
Even more ornate than his office at the academy, Sterling’s home office was twice the size. Tall filing cabinets lined the wall to the right, and bookcases lined the wall opposite it. There was a small sitting area, and behind that was a long desk that looked to be at least a hundred years old if not more. A cold hearth sat empty and gray on the same wall as the cabinets, closer to the door.
I swallowed. Squeezed my hands into fists.
I’d better start looking.
18
My light sigil followed me as I made my way over to the filing cabinets. I found them all to be locked. Crap. I hadn’t thought of that. I tried to remember the sigil to open locked things. Was it a V-like
shape with a cross through it?
No, that wasn’t right.
My stomach knotted. I tried to quiet my mind, remembering back to Ms. Granger’s lessons the week before. We’d gone over this sigil. I could almost picture her drawing it on the board.
Wait, yes, I’d messed it up. It was a diamond with a curving shape inside of it and a line down the middle. That had to be it. And the incantation was...
Think!
My eyes flew open. I scrawled the symbol into the air, and it glowed faint green. I channeled more power into it, knowing the spell would need to be strong to break whatever locking magic held the drawers shut.
Pressing my palm against the sigil, I spoke the incantation. “Resigno,” and was rewarded with the falling domino sound of locks clicking open across all the cabinets.
I smiled. He obviously didn’t see the need in using that strong of a spell in his own home. His mistake.
I pulled open the first drawer, my heart sinking at what looked like hundreds of files inside. And that was just one drawer. I called the light sigil to come closer and saw that at the very least, the folders seemed to be categorized in alphabetical order.
Looking under ‘A’ for Alistair, I found nothing. It took me two tries to find the drawer that held the files for ‘H’, but there was nothing there either. Not under ‘Harper’ or ‘Hawkins’.
Frantic, I started looking through all the files, not wanting to come up empty-handed. There had to be something here. I didn’t go through all this—leave Elias alone to deal with Cal and Adrian, and lie to my friend just to find absolutely nothing.
There were files for Arcane Law, and a whole bunch of trials and the official sentencing for each one. There were files on each of the council members. On finances. And even on investigations. And... Manifesto.