by LJ Swallow
My fingers stick to the paper as I continue reading. What does she mean?
Please find me if you need help. I did try once before, but your mother refused. How is she? I'm sorry. I did help when she allowed me to. I never asked for this either.
What the hell is going on? The rambling repetition continues, the letter repeatedly mentioning my mother.
I've seen you with him. All of them. In the dark and the fire. An abyss. Blood. Do the vampires feed on you? Was that the fire?
I skip back and re-read, attempting to put together the fragmented thoughts.
Winterfall. Is that right? Was that his name? Everything is so long ago. Funny how easily lovers forget.
I hope you are still at the academy and this letter stops you leaving campus. I saw you at the farmhouse. DON’T GO. The Blackwoods will take you and everything will change. EVERYTHING. You have no idea what could happen.
"Maeve? You've blanched." Sofia leans forward and reaches out to touch my hand. She barely makes contact before I snatch my fingers away, half-crumpling the letter. "Did she tell you something bad?"
"She mentions the fire again and that my mother and her don't get along," I say.
Winterfall.
How is my aunt connected to the family?
Until I speak to Tobias, I'm not mentioning names or anything else I don't understand.
"I'm troubled by the fire prediction,” says Sofia. Troubled? "We need to look into this more. Perhaps it's time to revisit your visions, if you actually attend our practice sessions."
Goosebumps rise on my arms. Each time I've given control to my unconscious mind, I've ended confused or upset. "With Jamie, tomorrow?" I suggest as I fold the letter and push the paper back into the envelope. If Sofia thinks she gets to read this, she's wrong. "He strengthens me."
A brightness enters Sofia’s eyes again. "Such a lovely boy. Committed and focused on his studies and his life. You would do well to keep him close."
"I do." I stand. "Thank you for passing on the letter. Can I go now?"
Sofia rises from her seat too. "Please don't worry too much."
"I'm not. I knew what to expect after meeting my aunt. She makes no sense."
"No, I mean don't worry that your life will follow the same path as hers. However similar you are to Marie, you are quite different."
I struggle to hide my worry and the urgency to leave the room. "I know. Everybody tells me this all the time."
My aunt’s letter may be unclear, but one word stands out more than any other.
Winterfall.
Chapter Fifty-Four
JAMIE
How do I handle the April situation? We’ve spent a couple of years working alongside but separately to each other. I never worked as a team until recently. People frustrate me, because whenever I worked on group projects, at least one person would arse about and do nothing.
Like grouping with Andrei.
I’d spend extra time making up for other’s lack of work and eventually decided to study alone.
At first, April and I were competitive academically, even though our magic schools are different—she’s earth elemental and struggles with spirit-based spells, and I’m less adept at manipulating elements. As the months passed, we helped each other.
We became library ‘roommates’.
Her father’s position as a historian helps us both when we’re working on Magical History, and we first bonded over our love of learning everything about the past. April’s interests lie with the border between folklore and reality where our world joins with the human. She’s mentioned studying further and following in her father’s footsteps.
Dracula appears to be her latest obsession, but last year she approached me to talk about Frankenstein. Our debate became an argument when I refused to accept anything supernatural from the book. Frankenstein tells us more about human society than our world. Creating life from dead bodies? I scoffed at the time and offended her badly enough that she never spoke to me for a week.
Now I’m fully aware that creatures created from the dead can exist.
I mull over this as I wander into the library and scan the desks for students.
Nobody.
I left the book containing Mr. Dobbs’s case in the sanctum. Has April taken the book yet? I made notes at the time, but I’d love to reread and spend more time holding the book. Nothing struck me as unusual about the energy attached, apart from the uncomfortable history, and I couldn’t picture any strong images from the book’s past. This is no more than a notebook for records written by a doctor, but maybe there’s more.
The door to the witches' sanctum is unlocked and the lanterns on the walls lit. I hear a male and a female voice from one of the study rooms and avoid approaching when I recognise the voices as Dane and Kailey.
With a shake of my head, I walk into the room with the history books.
Somebody else is working here—either that or they never tidied up after themselves. Several black books are open on the desk and three more are piled haphazardly near the edge. A large parchment stretches across the remaining space, weighted down either side by more black books.
I set my bag on the floor, ready to tidy away the books, and catch sight of the drawing on the parchment. Lowering myself into the chair in front, I study the paper.
Building plans.
The academy? I quietly close the door before returning to the map. Who would leave this here and why?
I’m great at words, not so great at cartography, but this is definitely the academy building.
My scalp prickles as my suspicions grow—I’m in the sanctum and miraculously a plan of the academy appears. Glancing around, I pull out my phone and take several shots of the large map. As I’m taking the last one, the door opens. April stops before walking into the room and her cheeks turn pink.
“Jamie! What are you doing here?” she stammers.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had the plans?” I retort. “Seems coincidental you’ve left them on a table in the place I spend time.”
Her face flushes further. “I saw you with your friends this morning. I didn’t think you’d come here.” She holds up a coffee cup. “I only left for ten minutes.”
“Kailey and Dane are down here.” I gesture towards the next room.
“Yes, but nobody knows or cares what these plans are, apart from me and you.” She chews a nail, eyes darting between me and the map. “I was going to tell you. I wanted to take a look first. I read the book I gave you—if something’s weird at the academy, I want to know too.”
“Why? To tell Theodora?” I ask.
She cocks her head. “You should tell Theodora. What are you planning with your friends?”
“Are you spying on us?” I ask, eyes narrowing.
She picks at her coffee cup lid. “Not exactly. A lot of people watch and notice the four of you. Five of you, if you include Professor Whitlock. Besides, you asked for my help.”
Wasn’t April the one who asked about my research and offered to help?
April walks over and sets her cup on the desk before rolling up the map. “I want to help, or I’m taking this to Theodora.”
Crap.
“She already knows,” I lie. Tobias promised a full debrief with Theodora, should we find anything concrete. Until now, all we have is Maeve’s heartbeat delusion and no sign of anything.
“Then you won’t mind if I give her this.” She clutches the plans against her chest as she calls my bluff.
My shoulders sink. “You can’t be involved, April.”
“How do you know? Ask your friends. Tell them I helped.”
She’s breathy and insistent, like a kid wanting to join an exclusive gang, which isn’t far from the truth.
“Could I see the academy plans?” I ask and hold my hand out. “Please, April.”
“Tell me when I can meet you all.”
I blink. Wow. This is a new side to the meek April. I took photos. I don’t need the map. “I’ll
talk to them.”
Her eyes brighten. “Thank you.”
“I’ll call you.” I take my backpack from the floor, annoyed with her demands. As I reach the doorway, I look back at her. “What are you going to do now?”
“The same as always, Jamie. Find the answer.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
JAMIE
“What?” Tobias drags a hand through his hair. “Why have you told April everything?”
“I haven’t.”
Maeve stands in the cottage window, clutching a small notebook in her hand. “She’s the spy.”
“April? No way,” says Ash. “She’s as straight as they come.”
“I don’t trust anybody,” puts in Andrei.
Maeve turns. “What’s on the plans? Anything showing cellars?”
I sit at the table with Ash and Andrei while a disgruntled Tobias stands at my shoulder, peering at the images on my phone. “It’s hard to make out. I’ll need to print them. I’ve looked at Petrescu and there’s nothing but the cellar.”
“Are you sure?” Maeve takes the phone from me and swipes between images, lips pursed.
“Do we take the plans from April?” asks Ash. “We can’t involve her.”
“And we can’t exactly attack her and steal the map,” I retort.
“Shit.” Andrei spins his phone around on the table in front of him. “Mind control?”
“She’s smart. April will expect that and she’s good with Potions. She’ll create a mental block potion.”
“Where would she get the ingredients for that?” asks Andrei.
“It would seem April can get hold of many things.” Tobias steps back and taps his lips. “I share your suspicions, but the Dominion aren’t likely to plant someone this obvious.”
“Unless they’re luring us down there,” I mutter.
“But down where?” asks Ash with exasperation. “To a room filled with cardboard boxes?”
“Something is down there!” Maeve’s half-shout startles us. “Take me back to the cellars with Jamie and we can try to trigger a vision.” She places the book on the table. “I wrote down all my visions, and this is connected to the sanctum visions too. Read them. If I focus, maybe I can extend the vision.”
Tobias rubs his cheek. “Partly, I think that’s a great idea. Another part of me wants to avoid this until we’ve investigated further.”
“Really?” she splutters. “This is urgent, especially now somebody else is looking into everything. Okay, April might not be the spy, but the real spy could find out. They’re probably watching her too!”
Andrei stares at Maeve and chews on his bottom lip. He agrees with Tobias.
I don’t.
“Maeve has powers to help us. What’s the point if we don’t use them?” She gives me a grateful smile. “If I’m with her, we can control things better.”
“I agree,” adds Ash.
Tobias takes hold of Maeve’s notebook and reads the first entry. His brow dips as he flicks to the next.
“The sanctum is key,” she urges. “That’s where I saw you and the flames. Where me and Jamie heard the noise. If you don’t want me in the cellar, let me try scrying in the sanctum.”
“Only you and Jamie are allowed in the sanctum,” says Tobias stiffly and closes the book. “What if something happens?”
“I’ll go with them,” blurts Ash.
Tobias’s shoulders slump in defeat. “Alright. The sanctum is better than the cellar, judging by your reaction last night, Maeve. Yes, somebody should go with Jamie and Maeve, but not you, Ash. Andrei can accompany them. You and I will wait in the library.”
“Are you sure?” asks Jamie. “Walcott are pretty anti-Andrei. What if someone sees him?”
“Like I give a shit,” he mutters. “This is more important than their dumb crusade.”
“If Andrei gets caught down there illegally, as his head of house, I can promise consequences,” Tobias replies.
“Right,” I say. “That’s settled. No time to waste if April is nosing around.”
Nobody else moves.
“Maeve?”
Until her outburst, Maeve seemed disturbed by something and I’d put that down to her visions, but now she’s staring at the side of Tobias’s head. “Sure. Can you sneak into Sofia’s and find the crystal we use? I’ll meet you down there.”
Tobias turns his head as if she spoke to him but he doesn’t speak.
“I’m going to look for April,” announces Ash.
“Is that a good idea?” I ask.
“She wants to meet us, doesn’t she?” He crosses his arms.
Andrei snorts. “You want to use that charm of yours on her?”
“I want to feel useful!” he snaps, dampening the atmosphere further.
“I’ll go with him,” says Andrei.
Tobias flicks through the pages in the book. “I’d like to speak to Maeve about her visions a little more before we take the next step.”
Maeve doesn’t appear surprised by his statement.
She did speak to him—only nobody heard.
MAEVE
Tobias walks over and closes the cottage door behind the guys, then turns to me. “Why did you ask me to talk to you alone?”
I grip the envelope resting in my jacket pocket. Asking him aloud would’ve drawn attention from the others, and this isn’t something I want to share with them all yet.
“You’re anxious,” he says softly. “Are you worried about tonight?”
“You’re anxious too.”
“Because I don’t know what will happen. I have no control over tonight, and I don’t want you hurt,” he blurts.
I can’t resist the next question. “In case you die?”
“What the hell? You think that’s my biggest concern.”
I immediately regret my words when his expression blackens. “No. Sorry. That was a dumb thing to say.”
Tobias sucks on his teeth and looks away. “What did you want to talk about?”
“My aunt wrote me a letter.” I pull the creased envelope from my pocket.
Tobias looks at the envelope as if I’m handing him a bomb, and his sudden apprehension unnerves me. He reads the letter, expressionless, before folding and handing back to me.
“She makes no sense,” he says flatly. “Your aunt evidently has a feud with your mother over you being a witch. You told me she’s estranged from the family?”
“Yes, and I had this silly idea,” I admit. I don’t want to speak the words that have grown louder in my head since I arrived here, scared they might be true, or if not, someone will laugh at me. “Do you think my aunt is really my mother?”
He smiles in bemusement. “That’s a little far-fetched, Maeve. Even if that were true, you’re here now and people know that you’re connected to her. The truth would be hard to hide.”
My eyes tear at the emotional hit from finally asking the question. “You honestly think she’s not?”
“Maeve,” he says softly. “If you’re genuinely concerned, I’ll look into the records. All witch births and deaths are recorded.”
“Mine wasn’t.” The panic rises again.
“Yours will be recorded somewhere. Occasionally witch powers skip generations if relatives intermarry with humans. Those children are harder to track and record.”
He’s making sense, but why does the doubt chew at the corner of my mind?
“Why did she mention the Winterfalls?” I ask him.
He’s tight-lipped. A connection. “I don’t know.”
“Do you think my aunt knows about the curse? What if she’s a Winterfall?”
“She isn’t.”
“How are you certain?” I retort.
He fixes his stressed eyes on mine. “Because I have looked into her family background.”
I frown. “Why?”
“For a Winterfall connection in your family,” he says flatly. “And no, you’ve no connection to the Winterfalls.”
Tobias is already a st
ep ahead. Why would he specifically look into my aunt’s ancestry?
“She mentioned a lover. A Winterfall. There must be a link.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions, Maeve. Maybe your aunt knew the family when she was younger and knows what I did. She could be scared because she saw us together. The incident happened five years ago and she had no links to the family at that point, or I would know.”
Incident.
My thought is met with a curt response.
Do you want me to say the word massacre and trigger my memories for you to see?
I make a fist beneath my jacket sleeve and chew on the material. Is this my mad aunt’s ramblings, or does she know something?
There’s a more troubling explanation that’s in both our minds: she’s seen my future. My aunt knows how this ends.
Chapter Fifty-Six
MAEVE
I’d rather do this in the Petrescu cellar as that’s where my strongest connection to the heartbeat is, but I understand Tobias’s concerns. I’ve safely had a vision here in the past; trying in a space safeguarded by witch magic makes more sense. Who knows what darkness lies beneath the cellar that could snatch my mind?
Andrei wanders around the small room, blowing air into his cheeks, taking in his surroundings.
“What’s this?” he asks and picks up a small silver chalice.
“For spells. Witches only. Put it down,” says Jamie tersely.
Andrei pulls a face at him. “I’m not interested in taking it, just curious. Is the book with the Petrescu story around?”
“Don’t know.” Jamie’s tension grows as he pulls out a pale blue crystal, a sphere that would fit in my palm, and my stomach lurches.
“Why do you need that?” asks Andrei. “I thought you only had to hold hands.”
“The crystal intensifies the bond.” He sets it on the table. “Be quiet, Andrei. Please. We need to focus.”
I close my eyes. In the past, we’ve used crystals in Sofia’s room, but I’m cautious too. Opening them again, I startle, as Andrei’s face is almost in mine.