And, of course, he’d led her into Sersee’s trap.
“Ugh!” Cam shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about Sersee.”
“And Shane?”
“I guess.” Ha, she guessed? Like Alex or practically anyone else on this mind-reading, no-secrets island couldn’t have picked up the thought in a nano.
But Alex had moved on. “Let’s check out our room.”
They’d expected some haphazard, half-finished space, but their mother had created a warm, wonderful place for them. The walls were of palest lilac, as was the shimmering fabric now covering the old divan that had been moved from the great room. Clearly selected with loving care, the rest of the furniture was carved of Coventry cedar. Cam and Alex could smell the clean woodsy fragrance that still clung to it.
The bed they were to share that night was huge, covered with a plump comforter and piles of pillows. And draped over the foot of the bed was their baby quilt.
Alex had thought it was lost! Yet here it was again, found by Miranda.
Alex picked it up and breathed in the fragrance of the protective herbs that long ago their mother had sewn into each patchwork panel. Cam took an end of the quilt, too, and softly stroked her cheek with it.
Artemis, Apolla, I am with you always.
The tender voice of Aron, their murdered father, seemed to rise out of the little blanket just as it had the first time they’d touched it. And as before, they reached for the amulets he’d made for them and felt them grow warm.
They sat together on the bed for a moment, each holding a corner of the quilt, listening, waiting for more.
Finally, Cam stood up. And as she did, the saying she’d found in her father’s childhood room at Crailmore came to her. An’ it harm none. The words were so strong and clear that they might have been spoken aloud. She glanced at Alex and knew instantly that her sister hadn’t heard the adage, that it was meant for Cam alone.
Alex sat staring into the fading light of the autumn day, which streamed through sheer lilac curtains. It was two hours earlier here than in Marble Bay, she realized. She was about to remind Cam of that when her sister stiffened abruptly and her eyes drifted shut.
“Cam, are you all right? Are you having a vision?” Alex asked, standing quickly.
“In the caves,” Cam whispered, her closed eyes seeing what Alex couldn’t. “Still here —”
“Who?” Alex asked, trying to pick up a sound, a movement nearby. Cam might have meant anyone or anything. The cave beneath Luna Soleil connected to dozens of other caverns that ran beneath the north end of the island to Crailmore, the estate where their dangerous uncle lived. They’d heard stories of witches and warlocks gone mad who hid in some of the caves and of ancestral spirits who haunted others.
“I will not!” Cam said, speaking to whoever she saw in her vision. “Not even for you! I will not stoop —”
Then Alex heard it. A door banging open. The swish of a robe across the floor. The slow stealthy scuff of sandals.
Cam’s eyes flew open. “Sersee,” she said at the same moment Alex called out the name. “She’s here. She never left.”
“Aren’t you the clever ones?” The violet-eyed vixen planted herself in the bedroom doorway. She was slender again, no longer the bloated balloon Cam had turned her into. Leaning back, with her arms crossed and her lips set in a taunting smile, she glared at them. “Welcome home, T’Witches. Your house is my house.” She laughed.
“Your house? You don’t have a house, Sersee. You scuttle like an insect under the earth; your home is a hole in the ground, a dark, wet, creepy cave,” Cam blurted angrily.
“She’s baiting you,” Alex warned her twin. “Don’t bite.” Remember, she added telepathically, kindness, compassion, justice, and love!
But the sight of the beautiful, cruel witch had called up a swarm of bitter memories for Cam. Sersee gloating as she cast the painful spell that turned Cam into a helpless hamster. Sersee desperate for their powerful uncle’s attention, willing to do anything for Thantos’s approval and acceptance. Sersee jealous, scheming, deadly …
Ignoring Cam’s outburst, Sersee crooned, “Your mother, that poor insane soul —”
“She was not insane!” Cam interrupted fiercely. “She was brokenhearted. And your pal Thantos lied to her and fed that grief every chance he got!”
“I am so sorry.” The black-haired girl fluttered her dark lashes innocently. “But really, Apolla, I’m only repeating what everyone on the island says: that Miranda lost it, went mental, was off her rocker, out of her tree —”
Alex grabbed Cam to keep her from leaping at the malicious witch.
“But just look at this place.” Sersee spun out of the doorway into the great room. “I’d say she’s making a marvelous recovery.” She looked up at the ceiling, squinting purposefully. “Personally, I preferred the roof… airier, more open,” she said, focusing hard on the glass skylight.
“Don’t!” Cam hollered, realizing what Sersee was doing.
The skylight shattered. Glass rained down onto the polished floor and handsome new rugs. A shard gashed the sofa. Another lodged in a freshly painted wall.
“Whoops, my bad.” Sersee laughed.
This time Alex couldn’t hold her twin back. Cam pulled free, sending her sister sprawling. With the speed and strength of the star athlete she was, she ran at the heartless witch, tackling her hard.
Sersee went down. Cam leaned over the girl, her fist drawing back automatically.
“What will it be this time?” Sersee hissed, grinning up at her captor. “What spell will you abuse? What violence will you resort to? Honestly, Apolla, I’m eager — or should I say ‘dying’ — to know.”
“Cam, stop! Don’t you see what she’s doing?” Alex scrambled to her feet. “She wants you to hurt her, to hate her — because your rage will damage you! She wants you to do something wrong and evil —”
“Of course I do,” the prone witch hissed at Cam. “Don’t you? Don’t you want to hurt me? Go on, I dare you.”
Alex tried to grab her sister’s arm, to yank her away from Sersee.
“Stay out of it,” Cam shouted, pulling free of her.
“She’s right, you know,” Sersee whispered with contempt. “Your anger and outrage will hurt you.” Her eyes, intense, violet, squinting deliberately, zeroed in on Cam’s.
Instantly, Cam’s vision blurred. Though hot tears stung and scalded them, she couldn’t close her eyes; she couldn’t look away. “Stop it,” she commanded, dizzy with pain.
“Or what?” Sersee challenged. “As long as I live, Apolla, I will be your enemy. I will never forget the filthy trick you and that vengeful fool Shane pulled on me. So just hurt me however you want — before I hurt you!”
Cam could feel her cocked fist straining to connect with Sersee’s twisted smile. Blinded by boiling tears, it took every ounce of her willpower to hold back. “I will not!” she said, as she had in her vision. “Not even for you! I will not stoop —”
All at once a wave of icy regret washed over her. Not so long ago, she had hurt and humiliated the vicious witch squirming beneath her. She knew now that she didn’t want to do it again. Ever.
An’ it harm none, her father’s words rang in her ears again. Harm none, she repeated to herself as Sersee’s evil glare stung her eyes. I will harm none.
Slowly, the anger began to drain from her. Her fist unknotted. Her hand fell to her side. With effort, Cam managed to pull away from Sersee, breaking the hate-filled stare that had connected them.
“You can get up now,” Cam said. “It’s over.”
“No!” Sersee shouted. “Never! You can’t just walk away!”
“You’re right. I can’t.” Cam reached out her hand to help the seething witch up. “Not until I apologize. I’m sorry, Sersee, that I hurt you. The spell Shane taught me was evil, but I’m the one who chose to use it. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Wimp!” Sersee slapped Cam’s hand aside.
; Alex raced to her sister, grabbing and hugging her. “That was awesome. You did it,” Alex exulted. “You won. She’s nothing but one of Thantos’s flunkies — like Amaryllis and Shane —”
Sersee had gotten up and was brushing debris from her purple robe. She looked up at the sound of Shane’s name. “You’re idiots. You know nothing,” she said. “Shane Wright is not Lord Thantos’s flunky. He’s his sworn enemy. He was reared to destroy your uncle! And you’re too dumb to know it!”
By the time their mother returned, followed by a huffing, puffing Rhianna, the house was in better shape. Although the skylight was still broken and the new sofa torn, Cam and Alex had used the Restorer spell to repair much of the damage Sersee had done.
The girl herself had slunk away after failing to taunt Cam — and then Alex — to new anger and vengefulness. It became clear that only by getting them to sink low could Sersee hold her head high. So it was with her head bowed that the once-haughty witch left — and took what she knew about Shane and their uncle with her.
“Precisely what time did you girls arrive?” Rhianna asked, surveying the room, noting every trace of damage with knowing eyes.
“It was shortly before five,” Miranda said.
“Your daughters are about to be initiated.” Rhianna’s gold-flecked brown eyes glinted a warning. From a pocket in her ample robe she pulled out a plumed pen and a notebook bound in gold. “They ought to be able to speak for themselves.”
“Of course,” their mother said, taking no offense. “Would anyone care for tea?”
“Essence of rose hips, if you please,” Rhianna ordered. “No milk, no honey.” As Miranda left the room, the buxom Elder turned to Cam and Alex again. “Five o’clock. Seven hours before you were due!” She licked the tip of the pen and began to write feverishly in her book.
“Um, it was around seven o’clock where we came from,” Alex ventured.
“That’s only five hours early,” Cam pointed out.
“Five or seven — it doesn’t matter. What does is that you’ve upset the order of things. And by the looks of it —” she gestured with her pen at what damage was left in the room — “your Initiation challenges have already begun.”
She was talking, of course, about their encounter with Sersee. “That part wasn’t our fault,” Alex tried to explain.
“We were totally minding our own business when —” Cam began.
“Do you think I don’t know what happened?!” Rhianna pulled herself up to her full imposing height. “Have you never heard of the Situator?” She was speaking of the spell that allowed her to see them, to clock their every move if she chose, in a purified crystal of rose quartz.
“Of course we have,” Alex said, annoyance creeping into her tone.
Suddenly, there was a noisy ruffling behind Rhianna. Cam and Alex jumped back as the wiry-haired witch’s wings unfurled menacingly. “Enough!” she decreed. “If you wish to be initiated, you are not to leave this house until first light tomorrow. Is that understood?”
The twins nodded mutely.
“Unless, of course, you wish to leave the island — in which case you are free to go whenever you like. I would suggest, however, that you wait the required forty-eight hours to complete your Initiation. It will be a memorable two days, I promise you. Tomorrow you’ll stand before the Exalted Elders of the Unity Council, who will test your talent for magick. If your mother and guardian are right, that part of the ceremony should not be difficult for you. It will be ‘a piece of pie,’ as your guardian called it.” Rhianna smiled, pleased that she’d remembered Ileana’s colorful phrase.
“Cake,” Alex corrected her.
“Your Ladyship,” Cam added nervously.
Rhianna stared at them as if they had two heads — each.
“The expression,” Alex tried again. “It’s ‘a piece of cake.’”
Rhianna cleared her throat and began making notes in her golden book again.
Was that really necessary? Cam telegraphed Alex. Did you have to be so —
Honest? Yeah, I think so.
If their Initiation Master had intercepted their telepathic squabbling, she gave no sign of it. “The second portion of your Initiation will focus on your relationships, on how you deal with others,” she continued. “That is both more important and more difficult than tomorrow’s challenges. So …” She closed her notebook with finality. “Everything clear thus far?”
“I don’t mean to be rude or anything,” Cam said carefully, “but I do have a general question. Why exactly do we have to … I mean what’s the good of —”
“What’s in it for you?” Rhianna snapped. “Your powers will be honed, sharpened. They will grow stronger — particularly when you use them to right a wrong or to help another,” she recited, as if reading from a rule book. “Errors of magick and judgment will be caught and corrected early — in a sympathetic setting and manner — rather than causing you, or those you wish to help, embarrassment and pain later on. You will graduate from fledgling to witch, making you eligible to pass on your knowledge and wisdom of the craft.”
“Does that mean we won’t have a guardian anymore?” Cam asked, troubled at the thought of losing Ileana’s sometimes impatient but always loving guidance.
“Of course not,” Rhianna replied. “Ileana is pledged to you for life. But after your Initiation, so is our entire community. Should your somewhat flighty guardian become unavailable for any reason, you’ll be able to call upon any other Coventry witch or warlock for help; all will be sworn to come to your aid. And you, in turn, will be eligible to become guardians, to take fledgling witches or warlocks under your wings —”
“Speaking of wings,” Alex ventured.
“Certainly not.” Rhianna headed off the inquiry — which, Alex realized, she must have been asked a thousand times. “Your Initiation will not entitle you to wings! Only years of service and the greatest degree of proficiency in your craft will earn you even a feathery start!”
“Lady Rhianna, I don’t know if our mother mentioned it —” Cam began cautiously.
“Questions, questions, questions!” Rhianna complained, before Cam had finished her sentence. She’d wanted to tell the plump witch about the party Emily was planning; she wanted to find out exactly how long their Initiation would take. Would it be forty-eight hours from midnight or would their early arrival be counted? But Rhianna had had enough. “Why is it Initiates, who are expected to respond to the questions of their Elders, are always so full of questions of their own?” Their Initiation Master pulled out a pocket watch. “Late! Late again!” she exclaimed, and promptly turned to go.
Alex looked at Cam. What about Shane? she silently asked her sister. Before Cam could reply, Alex called out, “Yo, wait up. We want to ask you something else.”
“Your esteemed winged Ladyship,” Cam said quickly as Rhianna spun toward them. “It’s about Shane Wright —”
“No it’s not,” Alex declared. “It’s about this ‘destiny’ stuff.” She lowered her voice, fearing that their mother might hear her and be hurt. “What if we — or me, anyway — decide I don’t want to head up the DuBaer family?”
“That is not what I wanted to ask,” Cam grumbled.
As if to say, “Give me strength,” Rhianna sighed deeply and turned back to them. “I can only answer one question at a time! First Artemis. No one can force the responsibility on you. Only remember it was your own grandfather and your devoted friend Lord Karsh who devised this plan —”
“Because of the Antayus curse,” Alex said.
“Yes. Antayus warlocks were sworn to kill the patriarchs, the male leaders, of the DuBaer family. No female, no witch, has ever fallen prey to the curse.”
“Okay, so Cam and I are supposed to be immune. But what if we don’t want to live at Crailmore and —”
“Do you still not understand? You have a choice!” Rhianna shook her finger at them. “It is your decision. But remember, your decisions govern your actions; your actions g
uide your life —”
“Is it my turn now?” Cam broke in.
A frightening flurry of ruffled feathers greeted the interruption. “The Wright boy,” Rhianna said.
Alex rolled her eyes. “The wrong boy,” she muttered.
Cam pointedly ignored her. “Yes, Shane. He used to be one of Lord Thantos’s fledglings —”
“Yes, yes. I’m familiar with the boy and his family. And I have pressing business elsewhere.”
“But you’re the only one who can answer our questions,” Cam complained.
“If I so choose,” Rhianna informed them. Then she sighed. “Surely you’ve read Lord Karsh’s journal. You already know what he had to say about it.”
“He didn’t say anything about Shane,” Cam said.
“Yes,” Rhianna insisted, “he did! Have you not been listening to me?” She glanced at her pocket watch again. “That’s it! I’m hungry as a bear and I’ve missed the early-bird dinner again! Is your family trying to see that I starve?”
Cam and Alex looked at each other, perplexed. By the time they turned back to Rhianna, their Initiation Master had retracted her impressive wings and marched out the door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE DAY HAS COME
The tapping woke her.
Cam opened one eye and squinted into the light.
Behind the sheer lilac curtains, Shane Wright was drumming his fingers on the glass.
She rolled over, looking for Alex. The bedroom they’d shared was bright with sunshine, and her sister was gone.
With her back to the window, Cam closed her eyes — as if that would get rid of Shane, make him go away — because already her heart had begun to pound; her promise not to fall for it, for him, was slipping away, like the quicksand he’d once lured her into.
“Cam.” He knew she was awake. “I heard you were back. I mean, everyone knows you’re here — for your Initiation. I just… I couldn’t wait to see you. Turn around. Come on, open the window. Let me talk to you.”
T*Witches: Destiny's Twins Page 9