Lover Behind Enemy Lines

by Liv Olteano

  “And how did you find her?” Drew asked.

  “I went around to the regular hangouts of outcasts. I asked around, tried to get some information. But now, thinking back, I imagine I asked around enough to get her attention—or that of someone from her crew, maybe. Word gets around in these communities. They’re pretty tight-knit. They have to be, since the only ones looking out for them are others like them. So I imagine news of me looking got to her.”

  Ginger sighed. “Could she have gotten in touch with your mother by then?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “The money says they’ve been in contact for about five years,” Taka said in a neutral voice.

  Nathan widened his eyes. “Five years? That’s even before I started looking for her.”

  “Would it be before or after you stopped your mother from getting any more of your magic?” Taka asked, typing something on his phone.

  “After, I guess. I stopped Mother from getting any more of my power about six years ago.”

  “I don’t like how this looks.” Drew rapped his fingertips on the table. “I don’t like it at all. Could your mother be callous enough to use both her kids?”

  “Mother is a difficult person.” Nathan looked down. “She’s not the warm, cuddly type. I don’t think she would have cared about helping my sister. Especially if it endangered her status in the coven, had it been discovered by any chance.”

  “But would you think her capable of trying to get your sister’s help for some reason?” Drew tried again. “Like because she needed a power boost somehow?”

  Nathan’s shoulders slumped. “I wish I could say I don’t think her capable of something like that. But I think she could be.”

  “Maybe it was a quid pro quo arrangement,” Taka speculated. “Your mother could have taught her ley line spells in exchange for power boosts, maybe.”

  “Could she have known you were looking for your sister?” Drew asked.

  “I didn’t tell them about it.”

  “What if you found your sister not because you were looking for her, but because she was actually looking for you?” Ginger asked.

  “It did cross my mind.” Nathan shrugged. “More so recently, when I got to know her well enough to understand what was going on.”

  “She would have had power to share with your mother in exchange for ley line spell teaching all right,” Taka said. “Technically, your mother is also a drainer. Like a closet one.”

  Nathan nodded. “And Dad knows but is determined to keep it quiet. His family would force my mother away from him if they found out. And he’s so helplessly mad about her—he always was. He told me the only way we could keep our family together was to keep Mom’s use of my power a secret. I reasoned I needed the help when I grew up a little. But then I started to wonder why she didn’t just teach me a way to get rid of the excess, instead of collecting it to use herself. Dad never had an answer for that one.”

  “Christ, what a clusterfuck,” Drew muttered.

  “This takes the notion of family drama to a whole new level,” Ginger commented.

  “We talked earlier about a tracking spell that uses blood.” I took Nathan’s hand. “About how without having your blood, Vivian could only use the blood of a relative.”

  “It’s the one way to track someone I know of,” Nathan replied. “The ley line grid helps you pinpoint the location of someone via blood or blood tie. But there might be other ways,” he said, sounding somewhat hopeful.

  “I’ll research that,” Taka said. “In the meantime, if you know of this blood or blood tie method, and we know your sister and mother have been in touch due to the money connection—you know where this is going,” he said, looking at me.

  “Your mother was most likely Vivian’s accomplice.” I squeezed his hand.

  Nathan closed his eyes for a second. “If that’s true, then she’s gone from callous to being a real menace. And without my or Vivian’s help to gather power, she’ll be on the hunt for new opportunities. That would mean working with some other caster, now that my sister is out of the game.”

  “So Vivian was a unique sort of caster by blending ley line magic with death magic because witches who are drainers—as you call them—are banned from learning ley line magic,” Taka concluded. “Vivian was this badass because she found someone willing to teach her that magic. She had the ability to use it, as any drainer would.”

  Nathan nodded.

  “Well, shit. Then Mommy Dearest going to look for a new power dealer will just recreate the Vivian situation,” Drew concluded.

  “She’s very dangerous if she was willing to go to such lengths,” Angelo said.

  “We need to get my mother kicked off the coven—any coven, for that matter. If status is what she’s after, we have to make sure she has no way to ever gain it again.”

  “It doesn’t mean she’ll stop juicing via casters,” Ginger pointed out. “If we’re right about all of this,” he added, looking a bit uncertain.

  “The National Coven Board can snuff out someone’s ability to reach ley line power,” Nathan said. “We’d have to build a compelling case for them to do it, though. Do we have any chance of proving any of this?”

  Taka shrugged. “Not unless she does it all again and we follow and document it.”

  “That’s way too risky to do.” I shook my head.

  “If we can convince my dad about what’s going on, then he could use his family connections to get Mom neutralized in private. Taka, please give me the information you found about the money connection. We’ll tell him what we know. I hope it’ll make him want to neutralize her magic, so he won’t lose her entirely.”

  “And why would he believe any of this?” Angelo asked and frowned.

  “If any of this sounds possible to him, and it should, he’ll want to know for sure. He’ll want to make sure he won’t lose her,” he said, looking resigned and sad. “Let’s go see him right now.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  WE took my SUV to Nathan’s parents’ house. It was a big house in Madrona. I pulled over on the street, not entering the driveway.

  “Nice place,” I said as I stared at the sprawling mansion.

  “Dad comes from old money.” He looked at the place like he was seeing it for the first time too. “The more I think about it all, the worse it looks. Mom married a rich guy with powerful magic, tried to use her kids to further her access to power—not a pretty picture. Could we be wrong?”

  “It’s your mother. You know her better than anyone, maybe except your father. The picture you’re painting sounds a bit like that of a manipulative and cold-blooded person. Would that description really fit her?”

  He thought about it for a while, then nodded.

  “Should we call or something?” I asked.

  He didn’t have his phone. Taka had taken it since the moment Nathan broke into our home. But before destroying it, he did clone the essential information—like phone numbers.

  “We should call Dad,” he finally said. “Mom is likely to be out shopping this time of day anyway. He’d be home. He spends a lot of time with ship models since he sold the company.”

  I took another look at the mansion. “Your sister must have been so bitter to be sent away from here. It looks like the sort of place where anyone would want to live.”

  “I know. She was bitter about it. But then again, she was bitter about everything.”

  We were silent for a few moments. Then Nathan asked for my phone and called his father’s number. In a matter of minutes, we were invited in.

  After I stopped the car at the end of the driveway, the front door opened. Out came a dignified man, tall with broad shoulders. It had to be Nathan’s father. I saw the similarities in the shape of their bodies and how they carried themselves. Nathan got out of the car and waited for me to join him before walking up to his father.

  “Hi,” he said when we reached the man.

  He set his hands in the pockets of
his black slacks. “Hey. Please, come in.”

  We followed him into a lavish living room. I thought Taka would love the place—the walls were covered in rows upon rows of books. It seemed like every wall was a bookcase, really.

  “Dad, this is Claw, my boyfriend.”

  His father reached out a hand to shake, and I did. He even smiled, looking happy though confused at the same time. “I’m very happy to meet you,” he said. “Now, what’s going on, Nate? We haven’t heard from you in a while. For you to come home so suddenly—something must have happened.”

  Nathan sighed deeply, squared his shoulders, and told his father everything. I supplied information where it was needed, or took over the narrative when Nathan seemed to find it too difficult to go on or answer his father’s questions. By the end of it, Nathan looked exhausted and was holding my hand so tight it almost hurt.

  His father was sitting on a large white sofa, face-to-face to us. He leaned back, crossed his legs, and seemed to be digesting the information.

  I put my other hand on top of Nathan’s and patted the back of his hand. He looked into my eyes and the sadness in them almost broke my heart. But I knew this was something I couldn’t help with much. He had to process it. All I could do was be by his side—which I would be, from now until the end of my time if it was up to me.

  Mr. Gallagher cleared his throat. “Nate, you know I love your mother. For better or for worse, she’s my wife. She didn’t end up being that great of a mother, I know. I wasn’t that great of a father either, so I’m not in a position to criticize. I won’t let any harm come to her as long as I can prevent it. Do you understand what I mean?”

  Nathan nodded. I tensed, fearing that he’d turn on Nathan instead of doing the right thing.

  Mr. Gallagher sighed. “But her plotting and scheming has gone far enough. She’s putting herself and our family in danger.”

  She’d been putting her kids in danger for years, I was tempted to mention. It wasn’t his family that Mr. Gallagher was really concerned about—just his wife. I understood limitless love better than anyone, maybe. But this seemed excessive. It crossed my mind that maybe the Gallaghers had more ties between them than we were seeing. That maybe they both had been in on it. There was no way to prove it, though; and he clearly wasn’t going to confess. Our visit delivered a clear message, though: if what Nathan’s mother had been doing wouldn’t stop, we’d stop her—and anyone else she might have been working with. I was sure that the family had high enough connections in the coven to find out that we would deliver on this. But as of right now, all I cared about was making sure that a Vivian situation wouldn’t repeat itself. What the Gallaghers would do about their personal lives wasn’t my concern as long as it wouldn’t affect Nathan.

  “I believe your findings to be more or less close to the truth of things. I’ll call an urgent family reunion. By this time tomorrow, she’ll be neutralized as a ley line witch and we’ll have her spell casting knowledge gone from her memory—I’ll have them take out everything from the moment she got pregnant the first time until now, in fact.”

  “You can do that? Erase all her memories for the past thirtysomething years?” I asked, sounding dubious.

  He nodded. “It’s extreme, but it has to be done. She won’t pose a danger anymore without the knowledge of spells and the power to cast them or teach someone else how to. She won’t even remember doing any of these unpleasant things. It will be like she’s a new and improved version of her old self, minus the coven-related ambitions and frustrations. I’ll be by her side and take care of everything—a new start for all of us, with no painful or dangerous memories for her. She can find new hobbies, ones she has more of a talent for maybe.” He smiled indulgently.

  He wasn’t talking about erasing some memories related to a topic. He was simply going to erase maybe four decades of her life. Aashi erasing our memories if we chose to leave our dreamcatcher duty meant losing maybe centuries of life as dreamcatcher—but we’d be the same age we were when we’d first joined. Our families would be long gone, and we’d basically start a new life from scratch, like after a weird case of amnesia; together with our better half, if we’d found one in the meantime, because Aashi altered details about those memories while leaving the bond as intact as possible. But it was something we were aware of when we joined—a decision we made for ourselves and our futures. It was something we knew when we decided to quit being dreamcatchers too. It wasn’t an easy decision to either join or quit dreamcatcher service, but it was a choice we made for ourselves.

  Mrs. Gallagher had no choice in the matter, as far as I could see. She’d been doing monstrous things, but erasing forty years of her life wouldn’t extend her lifespan by any amount of time. It sounded like a forced magic lobotomy. Her husband would be left with a rebooted version of the woman he seemed obsessed with. I had a sinking feeling the prospect wasn’t that unappealing to him; he seemed to be looking forward to it, in fact. Like it would rid him of some nuisances while he’d enjoy the rest of their lives together. She would find new “hobbies”? Like all the damage she’d done to the lives of her children and everyone else during the last decades had been a hobby. Maybe it had been. The thought of it sent a shudder through me.

  He didn’t strike me as a good man at all. And I knew his wife wasn’t a good woman. But I didn’t care about their nature, not really. All I cared about was for him to follow through on his promise, and knowing Nathan was out of this toxic life.

  Mr. Gallagher cleared his throat. “Is your sister…. Is she alive?”

  Nathan nodded. “She’ll be institutionalized in a special facility that would prevent her from using her powers. But I’m not sure she’ll be alive for much longer. She’s devouring her own life force. I don’t think it will keep her going for too long.”

  “I’d like to visit her, if I can,” his father said, looking at me.

  “It would put you and your household in danger from others like her. If she ever wakes up, we’ll find a way for you to be in touch, though. I can promise you that. But I have one condition.”

  “Name it.”

  “If you don’t neutralize your wife as you’ve promised, then I’m taking this matter to the Coven Board. Even if the proof is deemed unsubstantial officially, you know they won’t take any chances. And I will know if you do as you’ve said.”

  He looked between Nathan and me for a while before speaking again. “I won’t let her hurt my son anymore. I wasn’t much of a father, of that I’m aware. But I do love my family.”

  “I’m sure this must be very difficult for you,” I said to placate. We didn’t need him hostile right now.

  “It is what it is. Could I see you again, Nate?”

  “It wouldn’t be a good idea.” Nathan pressed his lips tight.

  His father nodded tightly. “Okay. I’m glad you came in person to have this discussion. I appreciate the opportunity to see you, Nate. To see the both of you together. I can tell you’re in love,” he said while looking at me. “Your body language speaks volumes. I’m happy for you.” He smiled.

  “Thanks,” Nathan and I said at the same time.

  Then Nathan stood up and I followed his lead. His father walked us to the front door and watched us until we turned to exit his driveway.

  Nathan was quiet all the way back to our house. When we got there, Taka and Angelo were working together to rebuild the shields and protections around the home. Angelo had a knack for finding weak spots in everything, and though Taka looked just about ready to bite his head off, I was sure it comforted him to know the defenses he was putting up now would last.

  “Will our being at my parents’ house put anyone there in danger?” Nathan asked.

  “I cleansed the place after we left. They should be fine, as long as you don’t make any recurring visits and if your mother stops socializing with casters.”

  “I won’t see them ever again. That part of my life is done as of right now. New beginning, remember? Will we hav
e to move from here?” He looked at our house.

  “I don’t see Vivian as the sharing information type. I don’t think any other caster knows of our location, unless Vivian told your mother and she already has some new special friend. Let’s hope that until her memories are erased—say, tomorrow at the latest—the place doesn’t get hit again. If it doesn’t, then there’s no reason to think we’re in any more danger than we were before.”

  He nodded. “I would have hated to think that my family drama would cost you guys your home.”

  “It wouldn’t be that big of a deal. We can afford to move.”

  “But this is your home. Our home,” he amended, and took my hand. “This is where we got together, where we made love for the first time. I don’t want to move.”

  “We’ll have to, sooner or later. But maybe not right now.”

  I pulled him toward me for a long and tender kiss. He melted against my lips, and when our lips parted, he leaned his head down on my shoulder.

  “What will happen to this place when we do have to move?”

  “It would be converted into a dreamcatcher-run Asylum for casters, or we’d level the house and bless the grounds. It’s usually enough to ward off spaga even if there’s another house built on the terrain later on. We have to move every couple of years. Our not-aging thing makes it difficult to live in one place for too long.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to buy a property that’s more secluded?”

  “There aren’t secluded properties in this area of Seattle. And this is our area for now.”

  “I see.”

  I ran my hand up and down his thigh. “You’re young. With time, you’ll see you’ll grow less attached to houses and material things. They are only tools, means to an end.”