“These are old books. Original publications. He left me a small fortune,” Annie said and looked up at Cham. “I did see Dave. I was feeling sorry for myself, and I wanted to see a friend.”
Cham sat in the chair opposite her. “We’re getting closer. Spencer and Fabian have sifted through the notes, Lial is reviewing the maps, and Emerson started reviewing the Fraternitatem’s grimoire.”
Holding her palms above the book from Sturtagaard, she searched for the quote while Cham glanced at her notes. When she found it, she read through the pages, sure the vampire wouldn’t have marked up a nearly pristine antique book. Sure enough, she saw no markings, but in the space between the two pages, she found a loose piece of paper shoved tightly inside.
One set of coordinates was written on the scrap. Annie pulled up a map on her computer.
“Oh, shit,” she said.
“What?”
“He left me some coordinates. And after what I think Rathbone’s been trying to tell me, I don’t think Sturtagaard’s pointing me to the market either.” Annie turned her computer screen.
“What is that?”
Annie pointed to the location on the screen. She couldn’t understand why Sturtagaard had left her the coordinates for the Snake Head Letters.
Chapter 26
Annie blamed herself for Joseph’s missing hand.
If I hadn’t brought him to the market…
She glanced inside his hospital room, where he slept peacefully, thanks to strong magical potions. She sat in the empty chair beside him and, for a few minutes, watched his chest rise and fall with each breath. When he didn’t wake, she placed a card beside his bed.
“Hey, Annie Pearce,” he said through a cloudy haze of medicine.
“Hi, Joseph. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Nah, it’s okay.” He fidgeted with the bandages. “Have a seat.”
“I am so sorry you got caught up in this. In my mistakes and problems.” Annie reached for his good hand.
He closed his eyes and squeezed her cool fingers. “You are not to blame.”
“It’s become all about me and I’m so sorry.” Annie sighed and wiped a tear from her cheek.
“No, Annie Pearce. This is all about the Fraternitatem gaining control. They were given an opportunity because of that vampire.” Joseph fiddled with the bed and raised the head.
“You should sleep and heal.”
“I see the weight of the world on your shoulders. You did not ask for this. Remember, the vampire caused this.”
Annie squeezed his soft hand. “You are kind to deflect blame. But I’ve done so many things wrong. I could have stopped this.”
Joseph stared at his bandaged arm. Annie felt a strong urge to scratch her legs and gave in.
“Were you there when Sturtagaard told the Fraternitatem about your powers?” he asked.
Annie glanced at him.
“Were you?” he asked more forcefully.
She shook her head. The itching grew stronger, so she scratched her thigh again. “No. It happened centuries ago,” she admitted.
“So, how are you responsible?”
Annie offered him a wan smile, appreciating his attempt to make her feel better.
Then why do I feel so guilty?
“So, how are you responsible?” Joseph repeated. “You know this community. We’re small everywhere. The fact that Princess Amelie’s and your father’s killer are the same, that’s not unheard of. And yes, Rathbone worked for them, and they in turn killed one of their own in that Benaiah fellow. You weren’t responsible for the market falling or Amelie returning as a vampire. You are smart, you are good at what you do. The past and your prophecy were because of Sturtagaard. It’s cyclical energy pocket that is not under your control.” Joseph closed his eyes again, the speech apparently having left him exhausted.
“I’ll let you sleep.” Annie pulled away.
He grabbed her arm. Though he lacked strength in his drugged state, it was firm as if he meant he wanted her to stay.
“So, how are you responsible, Annie Pearce?” he asked once more, then let go of her hand and drifted off to sleep.
*
Annie didn’t say much when she and Spencer teleported to Tartarus Prison; the walk along the lane was quiet. Spencer was giving her space. She gave him several side-eyed glances.
“Sorry you’re stuck babysitting me,” she finally said.
Tartarus loomed large above them.
“I’m your partner. We’re on a case.” Spencer looked upwards at the tall gates and through to the courtyard where the giant was waiting for them.
Annie rolled her eyes. “A case? To see my mom?”
The giant opened the gates and motioned them inside. With so many storms in recent weeks, the courtyard was a lumpy pile of mud. They walked across a plywood walkway toward the doors.
“Hi, Beverly,” Annie said as she cast her spell.
“Glad you got the message,” Beverly said in response. “She wanted to talk to you.”
Spencer followed with his own spell; they entered through the security gate.
“Thanks,” Annie said to Beverly before they walked onward. They turned right and stopped outside the makeshift apartment for Emily and Shiloh. She glanced into the window on the side of the door. Shiloh was watching television while Emily read.
“Are you okay?” Spencer asked.
Annie shook her head. “When this is over, I hope she goes back to wherever it is she comes from and I never see her again.”
Spencer placed a firm hand on Annie’s shoulder as she knocked on the door. Shiloh hopped up and opened the door.
“Hi, Shiloh.”
“Hi, Annie. What are you doing here?”
“Mom called me. Can I come in?” Annie asked.
The boy nodded and moved out of the way as Annie and Spencer entered. Emily sat on the sofa, wrapped in a heavy blanket, her feet tucked under her body. She looked at Annie, who sat down in the chair beside the sofa.
“Hi, Emily. I heard you wanted to see me.”
Emily nodded. “You can call me Mom if you’d like.” She fidgeted with her hands. “I know. I—I was trained to kill you.”
Annie observed her mother carefully and glanced at the book she’d set beside her. It was a romance novel of some kind.
“You followed in your father’s footsteps.” Emily refrained from looking Annie in the eyes.
“I did.” Annie felt tension between them. “Do you want me to call Sami? She really wants to spend time with you.”
Emily didn’t respond to the question. “Shiloh, come here. I’d like you to really meet your sister.”
Shiloh, still holding his schoolwork, sat beside his mother and stared at Annie in what seemed to be curiosity or awe. It made Annie uncomfortable.
“Hi, Shiloh. The first time I met you, something wasn’t right with you,” Annie said. “It’s nice to meet the real you.”
“They wanted me to hurt you,” he murmured. Spencer firmly held Annie’s shoulder.
“I know. You don’t feel like hurting me now, do you?” Annie asked.
Shiloh shook his head. “I didn’t want to.” He was so young. His eyes darted from her to Spencer and back again, as if he was trying to make sense of the impossible situation. Annie studied him and wondered if he would ever have a normal life.
“Are you getting what you need? Getting outside, enough food? Are you comfortable?” Annie asked. She was at a loss for what to say to the woman who birthed her. She knew Emily was her mother. It was obvious even just looking at her face, her hair, the lips, the eyes. They were just like Annie’s, and yet, she couldn’t generate the feelings she thought she should have toward her.
Maybe because she came here to kill me!
“I’m fine, Annie. Shiloh and I are just fine. Safe and warm. And Samantha can come any time.” Emily pulled the blanket across her shoulders, fiddling with the soft fabric. “I hear Levi is here.”
At the sound of
his name, Shiloh jumped, his eyes wide in what looked like fear.
“Is Levi his dad? I saw you married him after Dad died. He’s thirteen; the timeline isn’t straightforward,” Annie said.
“No. Levi… Levi was unavoidable. Shiloh’s dad is someone else,” Emily admitted.
While her admission deepened Annie’s curiosity, she realized she wouldn’t have known the father and it didn’t really matter.
Though where was he?
“What did you want to see me about?” Annie finally asked.
Emily, for the first time since Annie arrived, looked at her youngest daughter, her eyes overflowing with tears. “I was wrong to leave when they told me you were in danger. I believed them. It made me an easy target.” She began to shudder.
“Mom?” Shiloh asked her. He put his arm around her.
Annie dug deep to muster the feelings she thought she should have, but they didn’t come. She found her compassion instead and sat on the sofa beside Emily. “I’m here because you asked and I promise we’ll keep you safe.” Annie looked at Shiloh, a worried young boy, still unsure of what was happening to his mother.
Annie pulled away and played with the remote, searching for the Witch News Network. “Is his father magical?” she asked. Braxton Borne appeared on the screen; she left the station on for Shiloh to watch.
“Yes. I was taken by magicals. I… fell in love with a magical.”
Annie held her palm up. Magic floated from her hand. Shiloh looked at it with awe, as if he wasn’t familiar with magic use or didn’t have the opportunity to use it.
That’s odd.
“Can you do this?” Annie asked him.
“I—I can’t do much. Sometimes things happen,” Shiloh admitted.
Annie sat on the coffee table across from him and held his hand up. “You have to think what you want and sometimes it happens. Or sometimes you can chant a spell.” Annie summoned a clear rubber ball, with specks of glitter inside. She placed it on his palm. “Rise,” she said as she aimed her palm at the ball. She hovered it over his palm. When she flicked her wrist, the ball began twirling. She added magic so that the ball spun faster.
Shiloh smiled. “Cool!” he said.
Annie stopped the magic and the ball fell to his palm.
“Think ‘hover,’” she whispered.
Shiloh did as she said. The ball rose millimeters above his palm and fell again.
“And that’s how the magic flows from you to the object. Good job,” she said. Had he been raised away from the madness, the evil, he’d almost be away at school, already proficient in the magic.
She glanced at Emily who smiled proudly. “You’re good with kids. Are you planning on having any after you marry?”
Annie breathed deeply. “Someday. I’ll be teaching in the fall, actually.” She glanced at Spencer, who had not heard her news, then returned to watching Shiloh. Each time the boy tried, the ball hovered higher in the air before falling again.
“I can feel the magic. It tickles,” Shiloh said.
“Yeah, it’ll do that. You keep practicing and I’ll show you more tomorrow.” She fluffed his hair and chuckled.
It seems so cliché. So normal.
“What else can I do for you?” Annie asked.
Emily turned and pulled the cushion away from the couch, lifting out a thick, accordion file folder with papers sticking out. She handed the folder to Annie. “I know you have Arden here. I’m glad you have compassion to protect her. I was a little frightened by her. She was a… she was—”
“I know. I met her months ago. She tried to kill my fiancé.”
If the news surprised Emily, she didn’t react. Emily moved in, closer to Annie. “Arden’s been out for a very long time. I’m still in. Whatever she gave you will be old. These are the names. The real names of those who are working with the Fraternitatem. They are going to control the market.”
Annie took the folder, opening it. “We have the Fraternitatem grimoire. Is that anything?” she asked as she pulled out a map.
“The spells will help you. You can use them to open doors and block their magic.”
The map was hand drawn and not scaled accurately, but it appeared to be a complete map of the caves. “The books are code for this?” Annie held the map for her to see.
“Yes. It’s how we communicate back and forth without anyone knowing,” Emily admitted.
“So, you’re basically helping us bypass those.”
“They took me away from my girls. They took my life. I want to be free of them, of Levi. For the first time in years, I’m not being drugged into compliance.” Emily placed her hands on Annie’s.
Emily’s hands were slight like Annie’s own and had the same shaped nail beds, the same color skin. Annie looked at her mother again and realized that she and Emily were nearly an exact copy of each other except for Emily’s red hair. Annie shuddered. While she hadn’t felt anything for her long absent mother prior to meeting her, she was feeling her loss greatly now. She finally was starting to long for the life she should have had and yet her mother was only here to kill her. The conflicting feelings confused Annie.
Spencer pulled a chair beside her. “This will help. We’ve been deciphering Arden’s notes.” He took the folder and the map, attempting to straighten the papers inside. “I texted Cham. They know about this.”
“Thanks. I think we need to get back to work.” Annie wrote out her phone number and handed it to Emily. “If you need anything, call me.”
Emily rose. The women were the same height, a fact not lost on Annie. She gave Emily a hug and turned to Shiloh. “Keep practicing, kid. I can see you’re a magical genius.”
Shiloh smiled and waved.
Annie closed the door and watched them from the window. They spoke in low tones as Shiloh showed Emily what he had just learned. Emily pulled him closer and kissed his long floppy hair, then glanced at the door, seeing Annie above his head. Annie waved and left. She stopped when they came to the front entrance to Ariana and Arden’s apartment.
Spencer followed at stopped at the archaeologist’s door. Annie looked through the window and observed the two women. They were drinking wine, laughing, and lightly touching each other’s hands and forearms.
“They seem happy,” Annie commented.
“Did you want to go in?” Spencer said.
Annie shook her head. “How long was she medicated? She seems so happy now that she’s off the drugs.”
“She was still taking the meds up until we sequestered her. We’re not sure how she was drugged,” Spencer noted.
“Unless Ariana was somehow involved. Though I can’t see her doing that,” Annie surmised. “I’ll let them be. Ready?”
Spencer followed Annie out the door, waving goodbye to Beverly at the security desk. Outside the prison, the light was hazy and the sky was covered in a thin layer of clouds. She glanced back at the front entrance before exiting the gates that slammed shut when they left.
Annie leaned against the gate post. “Before I knew Emily was alive, I suppose I loved her. She was my mom and she died.” The field across from the prison was an empty mass of high and wild grasses blowing in the late summer breeze. It could have been pretty in the right location.
“And you found out the truth,” Spencer said.
“She was easily fooled, maybe a little naïve and stupid. I get that she originally thought she was helping me. But Dad saw her, and she stopped caring or was too brainwashed. I could accept she wouldn’t come back with him because she couldn’t—didn’t—know better.”
Spencer reached for her hand and led her down the path toward the teleportation spot amongst the trees. “You see her with Shiloh and she’s a mom. She cares, she loves him, ruffles his hair, kisses his forehead. I can’t imagine what it’s like to know one thing about a person and see something else.”
“It was easier when I could demonize and hate her. My feelings are all churned up and confused,” Annie admitted.
“
Give yourself a break. It’s been a tough year. A lot of truths to accept and a lot of changes. You’re a good person and a fabulous wizard guard with an amazing partner. It’s almost over and then you can get on with your life.”
They entered the open picnic area surrounded by thick evergreens. At the center, Spencer wrapped his arms around Annie and teleported her home.
Chapter 27
While Annie had known Spencer for six years, they had only been partners for one year. They had grown close and enjoyed working with each other, but her surprise news of leaving the guard didn’t seem to sit well with him. When he landed on her back porch, he didn’t leave.
“What?” Annie asked. She sat on the built-in bench and offered him a seat.
“Nothing.” Spencer sighed and joined her.
Annie raised her eyebrows.
“So, you’re leaving me,” he said.
She knew several things were coming to an end, but admitting it to Spencer made it real. She had wanted to tell him in private, explain how it all came to be.
“That wasn’t how I planned on telling you. I had it all planned out—dinner, drinks,”
she began to explain. “If I could, I’d stay, but Cham—”
“I did figure you’d leave. I was just hoping it would happen after the wedding,” Spencer said. “But you’re still a wizard guard. And I’m assuming you’ll be at Wizard Hall.”
Annie nodded and held his manicured hand. It was soft yet strong. She had trusted Spencer’s hands to protect her many times. “Educational liaison. I’ll be at Wizard Hall and teaching a class at Windmere.”
He took a moment to digest what she told him and smiled when it hit him. “Impressive. You’ll have to explain the whole thing someday. I will definitely miss you,” he said.
“Like you said, once a wizard guard, always a wizard guard. They can bring me in anytime they need extra guards.”
“How much time until you move?”
“September 1, a few weeks.”
“I’ll miss you.” Spencer hugged his partner and friend. He stood and smiled at Annie as he teleported himself home.
It was still hours before Cham and Jason would return home. Her visit with her mother and Shiloh left her anxious and restless. She sat to watch television, but it offered her little of interest. Instead, she found herself roaming her house, moving some objects, dusting others, and folding her laundry.
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