by Brenda Drake
Bastien. I wondered if he had made senior wizard, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to ask Arik if he had.
“You did? A trial for Toad.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “Really?”
He quirked a smile. “You’ll be called upon to testify, but we can talk about the details later.” He rested his hand on the doorknob. “I think Faith even baked a pie. Someone might want to tell her to use only the pulp of the pumpkin and discard the rind and seeds next time.” He smiled and shut the door.
I wrapped a tie around my hair and pulled it into a messy bun, then touched up my face with some foundation and eye shadow. I picked up my root beer–flavored Lip Smacker and then dropped it into my bag.
Time to grow up, Gia. I snatched Deidre’s red gloss off the dresser and swiped the wand over my lips.
“You look nice,” Deidre said from the door.
I returned the wand into the barrel and put her lip gloss back on her dresser. “I’m sorry. I just thought—”
“Hey, no problem. You can use anything of mine you want.” She smiled and crossed the room to the closet. “I have this shiny green shirt that would look fabulous on you.”
Ever since we came back from the Vatican, Deidre had been super sweet to me, which made me uneasy. I was used to her ignoring me. She had definitely found her individuality. We hardly looked alike anymore. Maybe she didn’t hate me anymore for taking over the life that should have been hers.
“Here, a nice pair of jeans and some ballet flats should do nicely.”
I smiled at her. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” She really had the American thing down. Deidre was like a chameleon, changing to blend in to her environment.
I dressed and met the others downstairs.
The Thanksgiving table was elegantly set with beautiful autumn themed centerpieces and various sizes of candles bunched together. Faith could decorate like nobody’s business. Too bad her cooking wasn’t as perfectly mastered. Thankfully, Pop had cooked the turkey and all the fixings while Faith slept.
Arik’s knee pushed against mine. If we were alone I’d reach over and kiss his perfect lips, but since we weren’t, I glanced at everyone instead. Pop had bought a folding table with chairs. The combined tables stretched all the way across the dining room and into the living room. There were twenty-four of us with all the Sentinels.
Carrig and Sinead leaned toward each other. Lei backed up against Kale, angling her iPhone to take a selfie with him. “Come on, love, smile,” she said.
A slight grin pulled on Kale’s face.
She nudged his stomach with her elbow. “Is that the best you can do?”
Pop and Miss Bagley were lost in their own conversation. They actually made a cute couple. Pop was happy.
Deidre was chatting up Mr. and Mrs. D’Marco while Nick studied his hands.
I missed Nana Kearns who was stuck in Boston due to a snowstorm that was heading our way. I’d never spent a Thanksgiving without her.
“That brown liquid stuff was delicious,” Jaran said on my left. “What’s it called again?”
“Gravy,” I said.
Jaran’s gaze fixed on Chane, who sat by the Sentinels at the other end of the table. Jaran had been quiet lately. A sort of sad gloominess surrounded him.
“If you want, I can pack some in a container for you to take home?” Faith said. “Brian made tons.”
His lips shifted into a smile, crinkling his eyes. “You needn’t do that. Besides what would I put it on?”
“What would you put it on?” I feigned a shocked expression. “Why, everything. You could put it on eggs, vegetables, meat, French fries, um, well…maybe not everything. Like, you wouldn’t want to put it on fruit or cakes and stuff.”
Jaran laughed and this time it brightened his entire face.
Faith cut into a pie at the end of the table nearest the kitchen. “Who wants some? It’s pumpkin.”
“I do,” Demos said eagerly, already picking up his fork. “I love this feast thing. The food just keeps coming, doesn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, Faith, I don’t like pumpkin anything,” I said quickly before she had a chance to pass me a plate. I leaned closer to Jaran. “Be careful of the pie.”
Jaran waved Faith off as she extended a plate to him. “Um, I think I’ll just have some more of that red stuff.”
“Cranberry sauce?” Faith frowned. “Well, all right. But you don’t know what you’re missing.”
Faith offered a plate to Arik, and he gave me a sidelong glare as he took it. I squeezed his knee and he gave me a crooked smile, showing off his dimples.
“I couldn’t have everyone refusing her,” he whispered.
“You’re such a do-gooder.”
He flashed his almost perfect teeth at me before poking his fork at the pie.
“This pie is scrumptious,” Demos said around a crunchy mouthful. He spit something into his napkin. “Is it supposed to have seeds?”
“Yes, studies have found the shell and seeds are good for you,” Pop said. “Great source of fiber.”
Faith sat back in her chair. No one had the heart to tell her the truth about her pie. She’d worked so hard the night before making them. “You should add some whipped cream,” she said. “It’s homemade.”
Arik dabbed his finger into the fluffy mound on his pie and licked it. He coughed and downed several gulps from his water glass. “It’s…it’s salty.”
“Salt?” Faith’s face twisted with concern. “It should be sugar. Drat it all. I think I mixed up the canisters again.”
I tried to stifle a laugh, but it came out like a deflating balloon.
“Oh, stop it, I’m a mess.” Faith folded her napkin with anxious fingers.
Carrig’s name blasted from his pocket.
Everyone started. Forks clunked against plates among the gasps. Carrig reached into his pocket, retrieved his window rod, and pulled it open. Uncle Philip’s face lit across the bluish screen. Both sides of the table could view him from either side of the rods.
“Good evening,” Uncle Philip said. “Sorry to interrupt. Please accept my apologies. I wasn’t able to get away to make the feast. Some rogue Mystiks attacked one of the havens in the early hours this morning. We’ve locked the gateway books and placed guards at the entries of the havens. All travel to the Mystik world has been restricted.”
“What?” Miss Bagley scooted her chair back and rushed over to Carrig, leaning over his shoulder. “Who authorized this? No one warned me my book would be locked.”
Demos leaned over the table, glaring at the screen. “First the covens, now the gateways. What’s next? Segregation?”
Jaran patted Demos’s arm. “Calm down. It won’t do any good to get angry.”
“Whatever.” Demos flung himself back in his chair.
“There isn’t anything I can do. The Wizard Council dispensed it.” Uncle Philip’s voice sounded static-y. “If you have to travel, you must put in a request to the Council to do so.”
“What haven was attacked?” Carrig asked.
“Santara,” Uncle Philip said.
“That can’t be so, no?” Pia, one of the Sentinels from Santara, a haven in Spain, suddenly stood. Her chair fell back and thunked against the floor. “We must go to our people.”
Uncle Philip heaved a deep sigh. “I’m afraid you must remain at your post.”
Reya, the more sensible of the two Sentinels from Santara, placed a gentle hand on Pia’s arm. “What damage did she sustain?”
His eyes flicked in Reya’s direction. “There were many killed before help arrived. Several homes were set on fire, and the palace was destroyed.”
“I request permission to return home so we may aid the victims.” Reya’s face held no emotion. Her back was straight, shoulders square. Beside her, Pia was slumped and worry distorted her face, tears stained her cheeks.
“I must deny this request,” he said.
Arik threw his napkin down and stood behind
Carrig. “If it were Asile, you could not keep us from returning, Professor. We can handle things here without Reya and Pia. Have some compassion and let them tend to those in need.”
My heart squeezed at Arik’s resolve. His eyes fixed on the window rod, his breath steady, sent chills across my scalp, to my fingertips, to my toes. He would never back down when he believed in something. I admired him for that.
“Professor.” Sinead’s soft voice calmed the room. “I know how you felt when Jacalyn was in danger once. You broke the rules to get to her. Look into your heart and do what is right here.”
“But that was different.” Uncle Philip lowered his head, and I wondered if he was remembering his love for Jacalyn, Nick’s mother. And remembering how Conemar had killed her. Was he recalling past memories that now were bittersweet? Or was Sinead working her magic on him?
Uncle Philip raised his face to the screen. “All right. Miss Bagley?”
“Yes?” she practically barked, not able to hide the anger in her voice or on her face.
“See Reya and Pia to the gateway book. Carrig and Arik will accompany you. I will send guards to escort them to Santara. The gateway will open for a few minutes. Only those authorized to jump may go through. If the Monitor detects any other jumpers, the gateway will immediately shut, and those unauthorized will be stuck inside.” He cleared his throat. “Am I clear?”
Miss Bagley’s eyes narrowed at him. “Yes, but I do not agree with the Wizard Council’s decision to lock the gateways. First restricted jumps, now this. For centuries, the gateways have always remained open, even during uprisings. Closing them makes us look weak to our enemies.”
I hated to admit it, but I agreed with Miss Bagley. Why have Sentinels if you didn’t have faith in them to keep the gateways safe?
Miss Bagley was thinking the same thing I was. “Why not just increase security around the entries to the havens instead?” she asked. “Decisions like this by the Council without thought or a vote cause our people to join Conemar’s forces, and I don’t blame them.”
Uncle Philip looked sharply at her. “Be careful there, Kayla. What you say could be taken as treason. We are in the end times. We must take drastic measures to secure not only the havens and the surrounding Mystik cities, but also the human world. It’s only a matter of time before rogues feel confident enough to attack humans.”
“Mark my word, this action will do more harm than good.” Miss Bagley’s nose actually rose in the air as she stomped back to Pop’s side.
“These attacks,” Carrig said. “Do we know where the assailants retreated to?”
“The Monitors picked up their entries into the gateway but did not pick up their exits.”
“What do you mean?” Jaran said. “They simply vanished?”
“We’re not certain,” Uncle Philip said. “It was as though their jumps were erased.”
Demos pushed his chair back. “How can that be? The Monitors can see everything in the gateways.”
“We haven’t a clue,” Uncle Philip answered. “Our finest wizards and representatives from the Fey nation have come together to sort it out.” His eyes turned to Carrig. “You should be on your way.”
Carrig nodded.
“Brian, sorry,” Miss Bagley interrupted. “I must go. I’ll send you a good night text later.” Then she kissed him. On the lips. In front of everyone. Most importantly, in front of me.
Okay, I was ready for Pop to date, but not the PDA that went along with it.
“And Carrig,” Uncle Philip was saying, “After escorting Pia and Reya, you and Arik are needed in Asile for a meeting with all the Sentinel leaders.”
Reya and Pia said their good-byes before following Miss Bagley out the front door.
Arik stood and glanced down at me. “I’ll ring when I return.”
No kiss good-bye? He was definitely still mad at me.
“You could text.” I was determined to get the boy to use modern technology. It was more private that way, especially since we both had shared bedrooms.
“What fun is that? Then I wouldn’t get to hear your lovely voice.” He winked.
Okay, maybe we’re fine.
Carrig handed his window rod to Sinead, and then he and Arik departed after the others.
“Gia and Nick,” Uncle Philip continued. “We will resume the search for the Chiavi after things settle down a bit. Miss Bagley will have some research books that you can use to search artifacts in the libraries of the world. I’ll be preoccupied with Wizard Council matters and won’t be able to aid you until situations calm down. Good evening, everyone.”
“Good evening,” Sinead said, and shut the rods.
Lei tossed her napkin onto the table. “I can hardly believe it. This is madness. I’m with Miss Bagley on this. With the gateways locked, we’ll appear soft. Other groups will surely test our strength.”
“Calm down,” Kale said, rubbing her back. “There is nothing we can do about it. The Wizard Council is just trying to prevent further attacks.”
“Well, its bullocks,” Demos said, stabbing his fork into the empty pie shell on his plate. “We should be out hunting these rogues instead of hiding from them like babies.”
“I’m inclined to believe,” Jaran said, “if we hunt them, many innocents could get hurt. This way, we corner them, get them to come out of hiding, instead of them surprise attacking us all the time.”
“It’s still bullocks,” Demos muttered under his breath.
“Shall we help Faith with the dishes?” Sinead said, picking up her plate.
Pop smiled at me. Not one of those smiles he’d give me when he wasn’t too sure about all this other-world stuff, when he felt helpless, unable to protect me from the dangers my new life presented. It was more like a smile that said he was happy about them locking the gateways and that I’d be staying safe at home. He picked up several dishes and hurried off to the kitchen.
I picked up a button from the tablecloth. It looked like one from Arik’s shirt. It must’ve fallen off. The antique-looking button had a lion’s head etched into it. I went to the junk drawer in the kitchen, riffled around for a safety pin, and secured the button to my shirt.
Faith wiped the counter beside me with her dishrag. “Having a memento to remind you of a loved one is such a cherished thing.” Her fingers went to her pendant. “It makes me happy to know that Ricardo kept my pendant.”
“Yes, it is.” I shut the drawer. “I already miss Arik.”
“Gia, I’m happy they closed the gateways,” she said, keeping her eyes on her task. “The Red is a dangerous Laniar. He has no heart. Laniars may not have a soul, but we have hearts. He has a dark one. Please don’t go back into the libraries with him stalking them.”
“Well, I can’t now, right?” I stopped when I noticed the fear on her face. “What did he do to you?”
She looked at me, startled. “Why do you think he did something to me?”
“It’s written all over your face.”
“He…” Her lips puckered as she sprinkled cleaner on the counter, the heaviness of the truth weighing her shoulders down. “He killed my parents,” she barely whispered, lifting up her shirt and showing me an angry scar running the length of her belly. “And then he gutted me…leaving me for dead.”
The gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. “Oh, Faith,” my voice cracked. “That’s horrible.”
“Merl saved me. I hardly remember it. I was so young.” She turned her back on me and continued wiping the counters. “They say The Red was injured in a horrible battle many decades ago. He was on the brink of death. A demented curer tried all sorts of illegal experiments to bring him out of it. That is why his heart is black. Rotten.”
Heat rose inside me. Angry heat. I wanted to drive my sword into The Red and gut him as he had done to Faith. The thoughts scared me. They were animalistic and cruel, and I wondered if I had the chance, would I do it?
“Faith?”
“Hmm?” She stayed focused on the counters, scrubbing the grout hard. The tile probably never had such a detailed cleaning before.
Thinking about The Red freaked me out, and Deidre tended to stay out late with Nick. I didn’t want to be alone in my room. “Can I sleep in your room tonight?”
She paused mid-scrub. The corner of her mouth pulled slightly into a smile. “I’d love that, but you do know I don’t sleep in the evening.”
“Lately, neither do I.” Sleep probably would elude me again tonight, knowing Arik and Carrig traveled the gateways while somewhere in the Mystik world The Red prepared for his next attack.
Deidre was touching up her face when I went to our room.
“Hey,” I said, crossing to my dresser. “Are you going somewhere?”
“To Nick’s for some real pie.” She brushed mascara on her lashes.
I pulled out my pajama bottoms and a T-shirt from the middle drawer. “I thought you mentioned going over to Emily’s for a movie tonight.”
“No. Those plans were canceled. We haven’t been hanging out. I made new friends.”
That surprised me. “What happened? Did you have a fight?”
She put her mascara down and sighed. “In a way. She keeps flirting with Arik in class. I told her to back off. That you and Arik are an item, that you’re my sister, and that I couldn’t be friends with someone who messes with you. But she wouldn’t listen so, you know…”
I wanted to hug her. There was this connection building between us. Maybe it was because we shared a room or because we bonded during our covert operation at the Vatican the other night, but it was there. “Thank you,” I said.
Her eyes met mine as she picked up her lipstick. “Don’t get teary-eyed. You’ll make me cry and mess up my freshly applied mascara.”
“Okay. Well, have fun.” I grabbed the new window rod Carrig had given me off the dresser and hugged my pajamas to my chest on the way to the door. “If you get back early, come upstairs and hang out with us.”
She smiled as she swiped red across her lips. “Thanks. I might just do that.”