“This is the second time, Ashford, you have tried to kill me, and it is the second time you have failed. You do not live up to your reputation. But I fear that most people, present company excluded,” she smiled up at me, “of course, have the same malady.”
It sounded like a compliment, but felt more like a curse. She put the dart into Ash’s arm, and he fell to the ground.
Joe ran down after his dad, but when he reached him, Ana looked up at him with death in her eyes.
“And you, young man,” she said, “I see you have the Zabriskie smile, although I didn’t realize there was a younger male Zabriskie. What is your name?”
Joe looked warily back at me.
“He’s with me,” I said firmly.
She smiled, and the threat lifted.
“Are these yours,” she asked of the runes on the back of Joe’s neck. I nodded, “Very nice work. Most people wouldn’t see him.”
“Then how did you?” I asked.
Ana noticed my confusion, “Just my talent, dear. Clean. I can see through runes. Not the most powerful of talents, yet I find I’m very useful. The Grandmothers like to keep me here close to them, and I don’t mind so long as I can peruse the library. My talent is why young Ashford here tried to knock me out, tried and failed might I add, just for a snippet of revenge. He’s met my talent many times before.” She said in a too loud voice. “Isn’t that right, Ashford?”
She laughed and patted Joe’s arm.
She turned to us, as if waiting for us to obey her. But… I wasn’t on her side either. I stood there for a minute. Even though I wasn’t on Ana’s side, I did… trust her. Sort of. Moreover, since her ability meant she could see through enchantments, maybe she could answer some of the unanswered questions that were still running through my head.
“Wait.” I said. “Is there somewhere we can go and just talk, the three of us.” I gestured toward Joe. “Someplace, quiet. I have some questions, and I’m not sure who I can trust.”
She looked at me as if trying to decipher if I was trying to trick her or hurt her or something, and then she smiled. “I know just the place.”
There was a banging sound and a man’s yell. Ana glanced toward the sound, then smiled at us.
“I’ll see you next time, Mr. Zabriskie.” Ana said as she stepped over Ash’s body. “I always do.”
I followed her back down the stairs, through a hallway, and into a small room. Joe took my hand for support.
“I don’t know about this,” he whispered. “Can we trust her?”
“How can we trust… Leo, and not her? It’ll just take a minute, and we can get answers. Real answers. You want that as much as I do, and you know it.”
Joe nodded, but kept next to my side, watching for danger.
We reached a small empty room with drop-cloth-covered furniture making odd-shaped mounds that looked like dead bodies. I tried to ignore that and searched Ana’s smiling face.
“What is it?” Ana asked, “What can I tell you?”
I took a deep breath. “A few months back, we watched a Witch die.”
Ana put her fingers to her lips, but didn’t interrupt.
“I don’t know who she was, but she was following me... or Joe around…” I said.
“What did she look like?”
“She was an Instinct, a transformation Instinct.”
Ana swallowed, but didn’t say anything.
“She had kind of reddish hair, and was older, maybe sixty,” I said.
“Carol...” Ana whispered. Her eyes looked so sad. “Tell me what happened, how did she die? Was it you?” she said, turning to Joe. “Did you kill her?”
“No!” I shouted and then lowered my voice as I told her about the car crash. Ana took it in without a word. Her eyes seemed to understand, as if she was making sense of things that made no sense to me. “What I want to know is: how was my mother’s color code on a rune that killed Carol?”
“I only know a few people who are strong enough to place a compulsion rune powerful enough to kill a Witch. That young mother must have been driving back and forth for hours, around the city… Moreover, they’d have to know your mother well enough to capture her color code. There are only a few Runes who could do it, and only one who would have the motivation.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why would someone want to kill Carol?”
“After your mother passed, there was a division among the Witches over who should take your mother’s place as Grandmother. Giara lead the majority that supported Shizuka for the position and Carol… Carol wasn’t a Grandmother, wasn’t strong enough. She could only transform herself, while Helena can transform others as well as herself. Nevertheless, Carol was very loud in arguing for you, that you should be given your mother’s notebook, and then be trained here. There were rumors of your strength, but while she was alive, your mother silenced those rumors, I think to try to keep you away from the Grandfather’s notice. The Witches were persuaded to Giara’s side. But not Carol. She thought we should look into you, at least see if you had the potential that I now see you do.”
“But then someone silenced her,” I said. “No… not someone… Giara. A Grandmother killed another Witch so that I wouldn’t become a Grandmother?”
Ana sighed and closed her eyes. Her face seemed devastated by that pronouncement, while hearing of Carol’s death had brought on only shock, not grief.
“Do you have proof beyond our conversation?” Ana asked.
I looked at Joe. “No, just my word.”
“That won’t be enough.” Ana sighed again, and pulled her sleeve over her arm.
For a second, I glimpsed the glow of runelight on her arm. Her eyes closed, and she looked down to the floor. It seemed like there was a battle on her face as she decided what she should do. I remembered feeling that same way as I deliberated calling Giara, and I realized something. Ana was being compelled. Right now. I stood in front of Joe, to protect him.
Ana put her arm behind her back, and smiled at me. “I will think on this… Now, there is something that you came here for.”
“My mother’s notebook.”
“Perhaps it’s time for you to be reunited.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
So it turned out, stealing my mom’s notebook wasn’t so difficult after all. All it took was, A) stealing a minivan, B) hijacking an airplane (after 2001 even. Oh, and I won’t go into the difficulties that came from TSA, but let’s just say watching an officer pat down Leo was extremely cathartic.), C) breaking into the Study, and D) allowing Ash to almost kill a few people. Not that bad. I felt a little bit lazy. That might not make sense... Ash was the one who almost killed people, Joe was the one who did the breaking and entering, the Grandfathers hijacked the plane, the only thing I did was steal Ryan’s minivan. After several hours sleep, I felt so guilty for that one I don’t think it counted. Overall, my part in this whole thing was minor, yet I was the one who would get all the reward. I was the one who would get the notebook and become a Grandmother.
I must have been really stupid then to not hear the alarm bells warning me that something bad was about to happen. But as I stood in the entrance of the Study, I was too much in awe of actually being there, and content with Joe’s hand in mine.
Anyway, we walked into the library, and I looked around. It was a library, so, you know, there were books, and shelves, and soft leather chairs. Nothing too crazy. On a wooden table at the center of the room, I could see the familiar leather of my mother’s notebook. It couldn’t be that easy... could it? I walked up to it, and yes, it was. It was my mom’s notebook, pulled out for my perusal.
Okay. The first bell rang then. Joe didn’t seem worried that they knew what I had come here for. He just leaned over the notebook, hungry for more answers.
I held my mom’s notebook close to my chest and took a deep breath. My mom. It smelled like my mom. I put it down on the table and put my thumb against the edge. This was it. I could look. I had my legacy back.
&nb
sp; “Would you open it, dear?” Ana said, interrupting my inner celebration. “I would love to take a look inside.”
I glanced at her, “It’s been here for almost a year, I’m sure you’ve looked inside.”
“Oh no, I haven’t. Your mother left a rune on the inside covers. No one, except yourself or your sister Phoebe, could open it. I’m glad you are here, as Phoebe is... of course... passed. If you never came to open it, then generations of runes would be lost to the world.”
I clutched the notebook to my chest as tight as a hug when she said my sister’s name. By instinct, I knew I shouldn’t open the notebook, at least not until I was safe. Once the notebook was open, they could take it from me, hurt me, I don’t even know. It could be my protection. I’d be safe, and maybe I’d keep Joe safe if I didn’t open it, at least until they had no more use for me.
“Later,” I said. “I’ll open it later.”
Ana’s eyes twitched to the left; I felt the gentle burn of an Instinct’s look from behind me, but I refused to turn.
“Are you certain?” Ana said, a hint of nervousness hidden in her voice. “You’ve come all this way, and it would be childish not to open it.”
Behind me, I could hear a breathing sound, and then a door close. I turned. There wasn’t anything behind me, except a few massive bookcases blocking the exit of the library. There should have been something else there. No, there should have been someone else there.
Joe. Joe should have been there. He had been right next to me; I never even saw any movement. Where was Joe? I looked through the library, at the books, the warm fire glowing in the fireplace, everything, but Joe wasn’t there. Ana and I were alone in the room. Ana wrung her fingers together as she faced the left of me.
And then we weren’t alone.
“Larissa.” I heard her voice before I saw her, and then a line of runelight rippled over her body revealing who it was.
“Giara,” I whispered. “How’d you know…? How did you get here?” Giara looked beautiful in the firelight as I plead, “Don’t hurt him. Please don’t hurt him.”
Giara smiled. I think she smiled at my weakness, and honestly, that pissed me off. It’s bad sportsmanship.
“You have been so poorly trained,” she said.
“Where is he?” He couldn’t be dead… Ash had said the killing runes took only an instant, and my back was turned.
“He’s safe.” Giara said, a sudden look of compassion filling her face. “We have turned his care over to the Grandfathers. You should be proud, your allies argued very well for him.” She brushed a speck of red from her face. Was that blood? “Nevertheless, your time together should be at an end. You two are on opposite sides of this wa… conflict,” She reached her hand toward my shoulder, but I recoiled.
“I... No. What?” My voice hurt, because my throat was so choked with emotion. “No… I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” I said.
“Well, perhaps you should have taken that chance while you waited for me.” Giara said, her face angry at being disobeyed.
No. The idea was hard to process. It all happened too quick. It didn’t seem real. Joe was alive but gone, and I might not ever see him again.
“It’s for the best,” Giara said.
“Bull.”
Then just as quickly as Joe had disappeared, he reappeared, running through the fireplace. Sparks from the fire cascaded around and through him.
“Excuse me, ladies,” he said, lifting me into a fireman’s carry. An open instinct Witch phased through the wall behind him, looking out of breath.
I was eager to join him, but my legs wouldn’t move. A line of braided three-toned runelight hidden in the material of the Oriental rug stuck me there. It was stay, my favorite.
“Crap.” I said when we both recognized the situation.
While Joe was thinking of a way to get me out, Giara was giving me an amused smirk.
“I had hoped we wouldn’t need to use this, Larissa.” Giara said as she turned to a door beyond where I could see. “I picked someone up for collateral when I was in Plymouth expecting to find you. Shizuka, would you bring her in.”
Joe held me close. “Brace yourself, Riz,” he said.
Behind him through a doorway, I could see a Japanese woman wearing pale pink pulling a child dressed in blue pajamas by her elbow. A black cloth sack slouched over her head. I made eye contact with Giara, and she pulled off the hood.
It was Meg. Her hair was disheveled, and a dark bruise covered her face.
Then, with Joe’s arms around me, I fell through the floor.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Vertigo filled me as we fell down to the next story of the jagged building. Shattered runelight cascaded from the ceiling as we fell down two stories. I closed my eyes and held Joe close as we went through another floor. We landed with a sickening thud in the dirt cellar under the ground, Joe’s body protecting me from the worst of it.
I rolled off his legs where I landed, and then reached down to help Joe, who had sunk a couple of inches into the dirt.
He stood, and I took in his sunflower eyes, his perfect crazy smile, and the disarray of his hair.
“Hi,” I said.
He seemed happy to be with me as well, he put his hand behind my neck, and our foreheads touched together.
“Hey,” he said.
I took a deep breath. “They have Meg.”
We sat still for a moment, and then Joe pulled away and put his arm around my shoulder, “Not for long.”
We started walking, although I’m not sure where we thought we were going. We just both knew we couldn’t stay still for long.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go of me again.” I said, my voice carrying into the dark secluded hallway.
“Uh, you let go of me first.”
I didn’t respond to his teasing as I normally would. I stopped in a room completely shrouded by darkness. Joe stopped too.
“What is it?” Joe said.
“If I go up there again, they will let Meg go. If you go with the Grandfathers, you will be safe. But if we stay together… then nobody is safe. We need to split up.”
“No.”
“We’ll find each other. I have the notebook now,” I gestured with my hands, “and I’ll get Meg and go home. You go with the Grandfathers. When you get the chance, leave them and come find me. Nobody can hold you in one place. We’ll find each other.”
“I don’t like it.”
I sighed, “I don’t either, but it’s... Look. We got to do it.”
Joe pulled me into a hug, the notebook coming in between us. The corner of the notebook poked me under my left arm.
“I do love you, Riz.” The way he said it made it feel like he was saying goodbye.
I took a deep breath and pulled the smell of him into my memory, that warm smell of honey and pine.
“Te amo, más que mi propia vida.” I said, and then I walked away from him.
I pulled my sleeves up to my elbows and held the notebook, still unopened, tight against my chest as I walked back up those stairs. I had a slight limp from the fall, thank goodness for protection. If I hadn’t had that, I would have at least broken a leg.
Protection. Joe’s protection rune would keep him safe. He’d be safe.
He’d be safe.
Please, God. Mother. Anyone. Please keep him safe.
It took me a while trying to navigate my way back up to the library where they had trapped me. Giara smiled when I walked back in. Meg sat in one of the leather chairs, the hood back on her head. For the first time I could see her hands bound together, the skin on her arms rubbed raw. It reminded me too much of what Leo had done to me, and it made me furious. A large group of Witches had assembled in the library, and they watched me, but I wasn’t paying much attention to them.
I was glaring at Giara, “What did you do to an innocent, Giara?”
The woman around me started whispering, and I could see Giara swallow. “Only what needed to be done.”
I walked to Meg, drew open on the bindings around her hands, and then took off the hood. Meg started crying when she saw me and threw her arms around me.
I cried too, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
When I turned, Giara wasn’t watching me; she had turned to the others in the library as if seeking their judgment of her actions. Most of the Witches turned to each other, talking in whispers or behind silence runes. Only Ana faced me, and she raised an eyebrow when our eyes met as if she was trying to tell me something.
Meg clutched my hand.
“We’re going now,” I said, then I helped her up, and we turned our backs to the women.
“No.” Giara said.
“What do you want, Giara?”
“The notebook,” she said. “There are runes in there that you shouldn’t have.”
She was right, the killing runes were in there, and I didn’t have any right to them. I started to open my mouth to say okay you can have it, but Giara spoke first, a sense of panic in her expression I have never seen before, “I need them.”
She didn’t have them. Giara didn’t have the killing runes, only my mother… This notebook in my hand had the only copy of the killing runes in existence.
I smiled. “Giara, in the last twenty-four hours you have tried to kill both of my best friends.” All the eyes in the room were on me. And now I knew why. “This notebook is mine.” Giara opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her, “If you want it so bad, then take it from me.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.
Every ambitious woman in the room turned her eyes to the notebook in my hand, with a look of hunger.
Giara took a step closer to me, and I leaned back.
“That could be arranged,” she said, “We can always compel you to open it, if you plan on being difficult.”
CHAPTER FOURTY-NINE
I did, in fact, plan to be difficult.
“Run,” I whispered to Meg. She took off without any more encouragement, and I turned and ran with her. About ten feet away, she fell, and I saw for the first time the binding of runelight around her ankle. I didn’t have my Instinct to pull us through the ground to break it.
Funny Tragic Crazy Magic (Tragic Magic Book 1) Page 18