“She can’t be far,” Charles said as he moved quickly past me.
“No, Charles!” I said, pushing away from Madame Cecilia. I took hold of him and we tumbled to the ground.
“Alixia, what on earth are you doing?” he asked, looking puzzled. “Why did you stop me?”
“I’m sorry, Charles. Could you get off me now?”
“Oh, yes. Right.” He stood up and reached out for me, helping me up.
“Alixia,” Madame Cecilia said as she grabbed my arm angrily and turned me around to face her. “This is the third time you’ve let your mother go. Why?”
She stepped back, waiting for an answer, her eyes fixed on me with suspicion. I looked back at her with the exact same feeling.
“I will tell you, right after you answer something for me.” I reached for her, taking her hands and letting her into my head to see what Angel had revealed to me. Panic took over her face. She pulled her hands back quickly.
“Charles, could you go back to the house? I need to talk with Alixia in private.”
He looked at her, and then me, and somehow sensed that he had better leave without question.
“I’ll be waiting back at the house for you both. And remember, we need to talk.”
“We will. Thank you, Charles.”
He stared at us with concern, and then turned and walked away. We watched, waiting for him to disappear from sight.
“Why would you help her?” I asked as soon as he was gone.
She ground her teeth in disgust.
“Angel let you see, even though she promised it would stay buried. This is just her payback.”
“I don’t care about her revenge on you,” I said. “Why would you do it in the first place? And how did you block that from me?”
She leaned up against a tree where a low branch hung down, partially covering her face so that all I could see were her eyes.
“Alixia, the reason you didn’t see me was that the Priestess and I were not the ones who cast the black magic. All we did was give drops of our blood. Angel was the one who brought on the curse, taking their souls into her, and she used the blackbirds to send her threats.”
I watched as she lowered her eyes and went quiet for a second. She was replaying the whole ritual again in her head. She saw the dark souls they had brought out with fire as they entered the Pure Ones bodies, and captured their souls as they slept. She took a breath and pushed the branch aside.
“I swear, it was only supposed to be a deterrent, a warning to make sure the Pure Ones didn’t overstep their boundaries again.”
“Well it didn’t come out that way, did it?” I said, shaking my head as their deaths flashed through my head again. “We lost Olitha and Henry!”
“Alixia, I swear, I am very remorseful about what happened. It was Angel. She has brought us all down with her brutal hatred toward the Pure Ones. That is why I am not interfering with Marguerite’s judgment to have Marcus take her back to the West Indies.”
She stepped back and looked into the trees, sensing her. I turned to watch Angel land a couple of feet away from us.
“Why are you here?” asked Madame Cecilia.
“I had to see you before I leave for the West Indies.”
“Where’s Phillip?” I asked, sensing him but not seeing him. She pursed her lips, putting on a halfcocked smile.
“He’s waiting for me at the house, with Charles. Why don’t you go join them?”
“No, I’m comfortable here.”
She eyed me loathingly.
“Fine. Madame Cecilia, I came here tonight to talk to you about our little secret, and I’m sure your granddaughter has told you that she is aware of it. Well, now even Phillip is privy to it.”
“Phillip knows, too?”
“Yes, thanks to Alixia here poking around into my mind a little deeper than I wanted her to. But don’t worry about Phillip. He promised not to say anything to the Council.”
Madame Cecilia touched her diamond pendant and twisted it on its gold chain. She knew things were getting too dangerous, and realized that Angel held her life in her hands now, too.
“This has gone so very wrong, Angel. What is it you want from me?”
“Help us fight the Pure Ones, instead of turning against us now.”
“No!” I yelled.
“Really, Alixia,” she hissed, glaring at me with a scowl. ”You are quite the granddaughter – you don’t care if she lives or dies.”
She paused and tapped her lips with a fingertip.
“You’ve never been that loyal to the Family, have you?”
“Angel, don’t push me!” I said, gritting my teeth. “I do care if she lives! You are the one that caused all of this, and just because you have sealed your own death, that doesn’t mean she has to follow you to the same end.”
“You don’t think she has the same fate as me? Think again. As I told you before, once Marguerite finds out she joined me…”
”No, that won’t happen!” I yelled, taking a step toward her. Madame Cecilia grabbed my arm roughly.
“Stop, Alixia! Angel, we need to talk, now. Alixia, you go back to the house.”
“No.”
She let out a breath in exasperation.
“Please, let me talk to her alone.” I bit down on my lip resentfully.
“Fine, but she is the one you shouldn’t trust.”
“Go. It won’t take long, I promise. Then we will talk about what I witnessed tonight with your mother.”
“Lucida?” Angel said, perking up and getting into our heads before I could block her.
“My mother is no concern of yours,” I said.
“You let her go again! Really?”
“Shut up, Angel,” I said holding back my temper but wanting to knock her to the ground.
“Alixia, go right now.”
I walked slowly through the orchard, livid and pushing branches out of my way. How many lives Angel has messed up, wanting to even the score with the Pure Ones! Marguerite needs to end this soon.
I went into the garden, walked over to the bench near the roses, and sat. I breathed in the night air to calm myself. I thought about what mother had regarding Marguerite, and wanting me to trust her. It seemed weird that she…
Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted. Angel was at the garden gate.
“Alixia, there you are. I need to ask you to do something for me before I go.” She came through the gate with Madam Cecilia behind her, grabbing her shoulder.
“Just let it go.”
She pushed her away, saying. “Calm down, Cecilia. We have to know if we have another one to worry about. I just want her to relay a message for me.”
“Forget it,” I said.
“Even if it’s for Millie?”
“Millie?”
“Yes. Has she changed yet?”
“No.”
She walked up to me, touching my hair.
“Your auburn hair is so beautiful, just like your mother’s.” I pushed her hand away.
“You were saying you had a message.”
“I want you to tell her that I won’t hesitate to follow through with my threats, as I did with Henry, if she changes.”
I jumped at her, shoving her into the bench and hearing it crack as she fell. Holding her down, I stared into her eyes.
”You will not hurt Millie, or anyone else!”
“You can’t stop me,” she hissed maliciously, struggling to get away. I pushed my forearm harder into her throat, and her eyes widened in fear as the red hue began covering me.
“Oh, I will stop you.”
“Alixia!” Madame Cecilia yelled, trying to pull me off her. “She can’t be killed by us. Let her go now, or you will kill Millie’s baby! She has to be alive. That is the only way the curse can end!”
Her words slowly penetrated my thoughts.
“This is not right, that she can actually get away with what she has done.”
I dropped my arm from her throat. Angel pushed
me away from her, looking smug.
“You can’t kill me, so don’t get in my way. Madame Cecilia, I will meet you back New Orleans, and we will take care of what we have to, there. Oh, and Alixia, don’t forget to give Millie the message.”
She turned from us, quickly running back into the trees. I started to follow.
“No,” Madame Cecilia said, coming up behind me and taking my hand. I turned angrily.
“I don’t understand this.”
She stepped back, still sensing the rage in me.
“Alixia, what I said to you is true. To break the curse, Angel has to be alive to return their souls to them. You have to accept that’s the only way it can be done.”
“How are they going to make her do that?”
“She’ll do it,” she said, walking over and opening the garden gate. “But, she won’t do it voluntarily.”
We walked through the gate.
“Once she is back in the West Indies and under the Pure Ones control,” she said, “Angel will have no power to prevent them from taking their souls back. Their black magic will deal with her.”
“What happens to you and the Priestess then?”
She looked up into the night sky, composed, and her voice was calm when she spoke.
“We will die.”
“No! I will talk to Marguerite.”
She touched my cheek.
“It won’t do any good. We broke a sacred law, so Marguerite will come for us. Let’s go back to the house.”
We were both quiet as we walked through the garden. I knew she was probably right, and there would be no compromise. The Pure Ones wanted their revenge, too. She stopped, bending down at the cut down rose bushes, and picked off the new leaves.
“Alixia,” she said, looking at them. “Why did you save your mother this time?”
“She gave me a choice.”
“A choice?”
“Yes, to let her live or die.”
She closed her hand tightly on the leaves, crushing them.
”You should have ended her. There is no choice here. She needs her soul returned to the grave.”
“I couldn’t. She asked for my help.”
“Help?” She started to get up. I reached down to give her my hand.
“Lucida asked you for help? With what?”
“To help her kill Marcel.”
“No!” She was getting agitated. “This is a trick!”
“A trick. No. I don’t think so. She mentioned Marguerite, wanted me to help her.”
She stood there for a second rubbing her forehead.
“It’s just not right.”
“What’s not right? Tell me,” I said, trying to get into her thought, but she was thinking in French. She took my hand.
“She did mention Marguerite, right?”
“Yes?”
“Are you going to see Marcus tonight?”
“No, he’s in the West Indies. Why?”
She stood there looking perplexed, with her hand over her mouth.
“I think she and Marguerite are helping each other to go after Angel.”
“You do?”
“I do. Hold on!” She put her hand up and looked toward the house, as I did. Charles was calling out to us from the porch.
“We’re coming!” she said loudly, and then turned back to me. “Now, I’m not saying that it is true. However, when Marcus returns, ask him. He will know.”
She started walking again.
“I’ll do it, but even if she was, who cares?”
She turned to me, her eyes narrowing.
“It’s Family going after Family.”
“Who’s going after Family?” Charles asked, meeting us at the end of the garden.
“Lucida might be,” Madame Cecilia said with distress. “I think she’s the one who is coming for Angel.”
His eyes widened.
“Alixia, is that why she was here?”
“No, she was here to help end Marcel. Where’s Phillip?” I asked distracted, looking toward the house and not sensing him anymore.
“What? Oh,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “He took off when Angel called out to him. Said he’d meet me back in New Orleans. Anyway, what’s this about Lucida?”
Madame Cecilia took his arm and spoke in French. He became more agitated at every word she said.
“What’s going on?” I asked, watching them huddle together and gaze at me every now and then as they talked. “I want to know.”
They stopped talking. Charles looked at me angrily.
“Lucida said that Marguerite sent her?”
“No,” I said, wondering why they were being so curious. “She said that Marguerite told her she could trust me.”
“Trust you for what?”
“I don’t know. Helping her get Marcel, I suppose.”
They went back to speaking in French and I stood there for a few minutes, watching them and getting more impatient.
“Enough! Stop talking in French. It’s annoying and rude. What is going on, and I want the truth.”
They looked over at me, seeing my irritation.
“You must stop mistrusting us,” Charles said with stress in his voice. “We are not keeping you out. We don’t think it’s only Marcel that she wants. If she has befriended Marguerite, we’re even more certain now that she will be coming after Angel.”
“Good,“ I said, walking away from them and heading back up to the house, annoyed.
Why would they care who takes her to Marguerite?
They followed, and as I stepped onto the porch, Madame Cecelia spoke.
“Alixia, this has to end.” She sat in a wicker chair next to the window, smoothing her dress under her.
“So, let it end,” I said, sitting across from her. “You think that Marguerite befriended Mother to get Angel, and somehow this is a bad thing? I’ll even help her.”
Madame Cecilia leaned forward in her chair, pointing her finger at me angrily.
“You do not want your mother involved with her. She will come for more than Angel!”
“She is right, Alixia,” Charles said with the same intensity. “Lucida has free will.” He hesitated.
“Charles?” I said, watching his expression turn to horror as something became clear to him. I was just about to get into his head when he answered.
“Marcus, not Marcel, might be giving Lucida the choice to join his Family, and if that is her intent, then she will have more power to go against us.”
I leaned back in my chair.
Marcus and my mother aligned? No…
“Alixia, did you hear Charles?”
“Yes, but I think you wrong about her.”
I stood up, looking at both of them with concern as I heard their thoughts about her.
“I will talk to Marcus, and we will get to the truth.”
“Good,” Madame Cecilia said, moving forward in her chair. “If it’s true, she will be ended, whether she is part of Marcus’s Family or not.”
“I understand.”
Absolve
Lying in bed with the covers off, I tossed and turned but the late July heat was stifling. Restless, I sat on the edge of bed and reached over to the nightstand, taking an ice cube from my water glass and rubbing it slowly on the sides of my face and down my neck. I felt the coolness of it against my skin, as it melted quickly in my hands.
I went to the bedroom window, but no breeze whatsoever was coming through. Leaning out, I could smell rain coming, and see lightning flashes in the west. I gazed over at the orchard and I thought of what Madame Cecilia had said. Were her suspicions true? Was Mother making the choice to be with Marcus’s Family?
I needed to find out, but I had to wait for Marcus’s return. The Ancients were blocking my thoughts while he was in the West Indies. I sighed heavily, knowing that when he did get back, everything would change. I stepped away from the window and climbed back into bed, moving the pillows around me. I closed my eyes, cleared my head and drifte
d slowly off to sleep.
A loud crack of thunder woke me. I went to the window to close it, seeing rain coming in. Reaching up for the sash, I saw Phillip standing below, with lightning flashing all round him.
“Phillip, I called down to him. He looked up at me and started walking back to his car. I grabbed my robe, climbed out of the window, and jumped.
“Phillip, wait,” I said putting on a robe as I walked toward him. “Why are you here?”
The rain beat down harder.
“Please come into the house, so that we can talk.”
He nodded, shut his car door and followed me. I took him into the kitchen to find some dishtowels, to dry off.
“I was coming here to talk to you,” he said, “but then when I saw you in the window, I hesitated.”
“It’s Angel, right?”
“Yes, that’s one of the reasons I’m here. But I have to ask you something. Charles told me about Lucida. You let her go again?”
“Yes, I did. And I suppose he told you why?”
“Yes,” he nodded, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. “You can’t trust her.”
“Phillip, I think I will for now. After we’re done taking out Marcel, if it’s true about her having Marcus change her, then she can help to get Angel.”
“So that’s the reason you trust her! You want her to go after Angel.”
I couldn’t pretend with him. If she would help Marcus get Angel, I would protect her.
“Yes,” I said, feeling a sense of satisfaction.
“Why are you doing this to the Family?”
I pulled out the chair across from him and sat.
“You know this has nothing to do with the Family, Phillip. She has killed Olitha and Henry, and next will be Millie’s baby. I just don’t understand why you want to protect her.”
He leaned back in his chair, eyeing me.
“I know what you are thinking, Phillip. But Marcus is not to blame for this.”
He grunted, throwing the dishtowel toward the sink.
“It’s not Angel’s doing either. If it weren’t for Marguerite and the Pure Ones trying to take control, and disrespecting our beliefs…”
“Stop it, Phillip. Don’t try to excuse what she has done!”
“Well, you know I will never step away from her.”
I got up from the table and walked over to the back door, looking out at the rain beating on the porch.
Path of Descent: Ambrosine Page 5