He nodded, once, his expression not even flickering. “Another time, maybe.”
As he strode to the door, I wondered if, beneath that calm exterior, I had hurt his feelings. The fear that I had almost made me change my mind and say yes. Almost. Then I remembered the compulsion of the debt, and wondered if, perhaps, it was making me want to say yes. I could never know with him.
“If you need me,” Evan said, “you know how to get in touch. Don’t let yourself get too comfortable thinking McClellan is an exception to the rule.”
With that, he slid out the door, closing it behind him and leaving me to wonder about the implied threat.
* * *
Nicolas stopped by that afternoon, after training. By then, I had stopped looking for a job, and had instead been considering how on earth I could cancel the life debt I owed Evan. Short of marrying him, at any rate. The trouble was, Nicolas had already given me a full report from the research he’d done in his parents’ library, and it didn’t sound promising. He had promised to keep reading, but I no longer believed he could help.
“There is one thing I haven’t brought up yet, because I wasn’t sure how you’d react.” Nicolas didn’t look at me as he spoke, a bad sign.
We were both perched awkwardly on beanbag chairs, drinking iced tea, and watching the evening news on TV. With nothing particularly interesting going on that evening, it wasn’t much of a distraction.
“What is it?” I asked warily.
“Well, I’ve been trying to convince Evan to let me buy your debt.”
I leapt to my feet, nearly spilling my tea. “Are you crazy? Do you know what he could do to you?”
He held up his arms, as if to ward off an attack. “Yes, which is why I don’t want him to have that power over you. Besides, I offered a fair trade – access to Juliana’s gift.”
“You told him about Juliana?”
“Not by name.”
“You sure narrowed it down! Nicolas, how could you?”
“I’m trying to save you from him. Look, it’s not crazy. Juliana and I are family, so you don’t have to owe us anything. And it’s not like we’re short on magic to trade.”
“No, just common sense.”
“Excuse me?” Nicolas was on his feet now, glaring down at me from his superior height.
“I owe him the debt. Me. Not you. Not Juliana. He saved me. You’ve said yourself that debt is largely psychological, and there’s no way my psyche would consider us even because he had access to my little sister’s healing power.” If only the solution could be so simple.
“So what are you going to do?” Nicolas was beginning to radiate heat, a dangerous sign. “Let’s go over your options.” He held up a hand and began ticking off items on his fingers. “You could marry him.”
“Nicolas, stop–”
“You could save his life.”
“Not likely,” I muttered.
“You could give him a child.”
I shuddered. I would never give up a child, which meant I would definitely marry him first.
“You could give him all your magic,” Nicolas said.
“Enough.”
“You could at least let me ask Dad for help.”
I shook my head. “Your father can go to hell, for all I care.”
Nicolas stopped short at my angry retort, and it put a damper on the rest of the conversation. He left a few minutes later, swearing to come up with something.
I didn’t plan to hold my breath.
* * *
On Wednesday, Nicolas stopped by my apartment near lunchtime, dressed in his training uniform. It reminded me of the countless Halloweens he had dressed as a firefighter, except it no longer looked fake. He was really doing it. I smiled at him, though the smile faltered somewhat after my gaze lifted to his face, which looked like a mirror of his father’s.
“How’s training going?” I asked, after inviting him to sit on one of the beanbag chairs.
He shrugged. “All right, I guess. The chief hasn’t come up with a reason to get rid of me yet, but I swear he’s always looking.”
“He’s a fool,” I said loyally. And even though I understood why the fire chief was reluctant to take Nicolas on, I did think he was a fool to insist on seeing Nicolas as the little boy who didn’t always have full control over his fiery gift. Even I could see that Nicolas’s natural ability to control and manipulate fire would be a great asset.
“Well, he’s not the only one. Dad’s getting on my case again. I thought I’d heard the end of it when Henry Wolf refused to take me on. Not that he and I would have been a great fit, but you know Dad. ”
I did, but I really didn’t want to talk about his father. I especially didn’t want to hear complaints about him from a brother whose biggest source of vexation was that Dad wanted him to take up a magical apprenticeship before becoming a firefighter. Part of me even agreed, though I would never admit it out loud. If I had any magical talent, I would want to learn as much as I could about it, but I didn’t even have a gift, let alone the talent to control and manipulate magical energies.
“Is there a reason you stopped by?” I asked pointedly.
“I have a job for you.”
“A job?” I groaned. This was far more likely his latest scheme to push a pile of C-notes into my hands. I had to give him credit for the new tactic, but I still could not accept money from my parents, not even through Nicolas. “I won’t take it.”
“You didn’t even hear what the job is.”
“I won’t take charity.”
“You have a weird idea of what charity is. You wouldn’t even take your own clothes until Juliana and I pushed them on you.”
“I’m hungry,” I said. “Want some lunch?”
“Not a very subtle dodge.”
“It’s not a dodge, it’s lunch.” I went to the kitchen and opened the pantry, though I didn’t find much.
“It’s a real job. It’s not charity.”
“Peanut butter and jelly okay?” I asked, reaching for a loaf of bread.
“Two girls went missing from a summer camp yesterday. Neither Dad nor I could find them with magic.”
I fumbled the loaf of bread, just managing to keep it from falling to the floor. Oh, he knew how to tempt me, but there had to be a catch.
“One of the girls is a distant cousin,” Nicolas continued. “Her name is Regina. She’s fifteen.”
I closed my eyes. “Is she dead?”
Nicolas didn’t answer.
“Is she a sorcerer?”
“I don’t think so. That branch of the family went dry a while back. Will you take the case?”
I knew I would, but I still couldn’t take money from my former parents, no matter the guise. If my one-time father was willing to help this person, then he was doing it for family, and I could do the same. The trouble would be convincing Nicolas to agree with me.
“Cassie?” Nicolas asked, when the silence had gone on for too long. “It’s not like you to turn your back on family.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not, and you know I’ll do it. But I won’t take any money for it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Time to change the subject. “I don’t have a car, and you need to get back to training.”
“You can borrow mine.” Nicolas frowned, deeply. “Or is that too much charity for you?”
“No, I can borrow your car. Do you want lunch before I leave?”
Nicolas hesitated. “How about if we go to the diner? I’m not really in the mood for PB&J. I’ll pay.”
I shook my head, even though the idea of a big, greasy lunch sounded wonderful. I still hadn’t gained back all the weight I’d lost recovering from the vampire attack.
“Come on, Cassie, is it really that big a deal?” Before I could answer he rushed on. “Did you know the family is falling apart?”
“What do you mean?” I remembered him making a comment or two over the weekend, but he hadn’t gotten specific.
“I mean just what I said. You haven’t bothered to see anyone except me, and I have to come to you.”
That was because the others were always at Mom and Dad’s home – or my former Mom and Dad. I still hadn’t worked out what to call them yet. Somehow, Edward and Sheila just didn’t fit. In any case, Nicolas was the only one old enough to drive, so he was the only one who regularly strayed from the castle. I couldn’t even drive over there to see the others if I wanted to, since I no longer had a car. The old one hadn’t been insured.
“You haven’t even returned our calls,” Nicolas added.
“I canceled my cell phone. You’ll have to call here on the land-line.”
“Why did you do that?”
I decided not to get into the fact that it cost almost a hundred dollars a month, since he would argue that the bill was in our parents’ name. In fact, that was the bigger problem.
“What’s wrong with everyone?” I asked.
“For one thing, Elena hasn’t spoken since you left. Not to anyone alive, anyway.”
Elena, my nine-year-old sister, had the gift of speaking to the dead. As a result, she often seemed to linger in the doorway between this world and the next. So far, we’d managed to keep her facing our way
“Can you bring her to see me?” I asked. “Maybe this weekend? You’re not training this weekend?”
“Maybe,” Nicolas said, “but I’m not done.”
My stomach clenched a bit.
“Adam’s charisma has turned into a force that repels people instead of attracting them. He’s so sad that he spends most of his time in his room, and when he comes out, none of us can stand to be around him.”
I opened my mouth to speak, perhaps to ask Nicolas to bring Adam around to see me, too, but he spoke again before I had a chance.
“Isaac’s run away at least half a dozen times. No one knows where he’s going, or what he’s doing.”
“What about Christina and Juliana?” I whispered, afraid to hear the answer.
“Christina keeps going from person to person, trying to make them happy. I think she thinks this is all her fault.”
It’s not my fault, I wanted to say, but a part of me wasn’t sure how true that was. It wasn’t all my fault, or even mostly my fault, but that didn’t mean my abrupt withdrawal of all contact hadn’t contributed to the current situation.
“Mom is sick,” Nicolas continued. “She says it’s the pregnancy, but you know she’s always healthier when she’s pregnant than any other time.”
I shrugged as dismissively as I could, willing myself not to care about the woman formerly known as Mom.
“Juliana can’t heal her,” Nicolas went on. “She no longer trusts her ability. She accidentally killed an injured bird she found last week. Now she won’t touch anyone.”
“What can I do?” I asked, helplessly.
Nicolas shrugged. “You should have at least known.”
He had me there. I swore to myself to be a better sister, or at least a more involved one. I had been inadvertently punishing my brothers and sisters for something my parents had done and it wasn’t fair, but I would find a way to make it right. Steeling my resolve and swallowing my pride, I began with a simple enough gesture. “Come on. You can pay for lunch.”
3
NICOLAS AND I DIDN’T SPEAK MUCH as he drove me to the familiar diner at the center of town. I hadn’t been back since my abrupt termination, but I felt more comfortable there as a customer anyway. Which wasn’t the same thing as saying I was glad I no longer worked there. In fact, that still made me furious.
“So, listen,” Nicolas said as he pulled his car into an empty parking spot about a block from the diner, “about Evan.”
“What about him?”
“I’m having trouble coming up with ways for you to void the life debt, so I had another idea.”
“Oh?” So did I, although I wasn’t ready to mention it to Nicolas yet. What I really needed to do, I reasoned, was to convince Evan he didn’t want me anymore. I just had no idea how to actually do it.
“I made an appointment with someone I think can help.”
“Who?”
“Grace Blair.” Nicolas spoke so softly I could barely make out the name, and in fact, it took me a second or two to recognize it.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Come on, Cassie. You’ve always been stubborn about her, and it’s never made any sense. Mom and Dad trust her.”
“That’s because she tells your Mom and Dad what they want to hear.”
I sighed. Perhaps, on some level, my dislike for Grace Blair was irrational, but I had simply never trusted her. Her family gave me the creeps and frankly, she scared me. Many thought of the ability to see the future as a passive gift, but I knew better. There wasn’t a big leap between being able to predict the future and being able to control or manipulate it, and the stronger the seer, the more damage she could do for her own personal benefit. Grace Blair was among the most powerful seers in the world, and I never could help but wonder if her family’s political success had anything to do with her gift.
But that wasn’t all of it. My mind flickered back to my father telling me about our family being in danger from the Blackwoods. Well, yeah, because he couldn’t find a way to put it in the past. He was creating his own danger, and the prophecy did nothing except confirm it, and possibly even strengthen it. How many other prophecies were as self-fulfilling?
“I don’t trust her,” I said.
“She doesn’t lie about her prophecies. It would destroy her reputation.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Which wasn’t to say that she didn’t use the truth to her own end.
“Will you at least think about it?”
“Sure.”
Luckily, we had reached the diner, so I no longer had to talk about it. Inside, the place was packed. From the number of customers milling around the lobby, I thought we would have at least a half-hour wait. Not sure I wanted to wait so long before getting started looking for Regina, I was about to suggest going someplace else, when I spotted Madison seated at what had once been our usual booth.
I smiled and waved. She didn’t seem to see me, at least not at first, because her oddly pale face was fixated on someone seated across the table from her. I could only see the back of him, but I knew instantly that it was Evan. Whatever he had said to her must have scared her half to death.
“What in the world?” I muttered under my breath.
Evan had scared most of the town over the years to some degree or another by showing hints of his power at key moments, while letting mystery and rumor fill in the rest. It was a carefully cultivated image. Madison was, in fact, one of the many people in town who feared him, but I still couldn’t picture Evan doing – or saying – anything to overtly cause that reaction.
“Oh, look,” Nicolas said into my ear. “It’s your lord and master.”
“You’re not helping.”
“And you’re not even trying. All I want you to do is visit a seer.”
Ignoring him, I wound my way through the busy diner to the booth where Madison and Evan sat. I planned to put myself between them to defuse the situation. Madison saw me first, her brown eyes showing clear relief for an instant before flickering to uncertainty. Evan turned his head, following her gaze, his initial look of annoyance quickly melting into a tense smile. The sound quality of the room suddenly shifted, telling me they had been under a veil of privacy.
“Am I interrupting something?” I asked.
Madison bit her lip and looked helplessly at me. “It’s not what you think. It was just... He was just...”
It took me a moment to realize that she was afraid I would think there was something between her and Evan. The possibility honestly hadn’t occurred to me, though I tried to convince myself I wouldn’t mind if it were. Didn’t I want him to lose interest in me?
Well, yes, but not if he then focused his interest on Madison. She was terrified of him.
�
�Join us,” Evan said, making a space for me to sit beside him. I doubt he noticed that he had just ordered me to sit, as opposed to offering. I tried not to resent it, since I had wanted to sit there anyway.
Meanwhile, Nicolas took the vacant space beside Madison, but he barely noticed her. He had eyes only for Evan. Hostile eyes. They looked ready to burst into flames.
Madison, for her part, looked as if she were caged in. Given the seating arrangements, she kind of was.
“Um, Nicolas.” I needed to rein in the conversation before it became hostile. “You remember my friend Madison, right?”
Nicolas gave her a quick sideways glance and a nod, then turned his attention back to Evan. “What are you doing here?”
“Having lunch?” Evan’s tone clearly showed what he thought of the question.
“With Madison?” Nicolas said.
“The diner’s full today,” Evan interjected smoothly. “Madison was nice enough to let me share her booth.”
“Oh, please,” I said.
Evan gave me a warning look, while Madison’s already pale face somehow managed to grow paler.
“Cassie,” Madison said, “it’s not what you think.”
“I know.” I tried to soften my voice, now that I realized Evan’s warning look had been for Madison’s benefit, not his own.
Kaitlin saved me by showing up with a round of sodas and taking our orders, although she still didn’t spend much time looking at or speaking to me. I mentally added her to the list of people who I had somehow neglected, and decided that the next time I had the chance, I would make her tell me what her problem was.
I stared after her when she stalked away, only returning my attention to the table when Evan took one of my hands in his and drew me around to face him.
“I tried to call you this morning,” he said.
“She doesn’t have a cell phone anymore,” Nicolas said.
“I can speak for myself,” I said.
“Yes, but I’m still mad about it,” Nicolas said.
“Can we please not argue for a few minutes?” I looked pointedly between Nicolas and Evan. “Please?”
“They caught the man who robbed the bank last week,” Madison said, supplying a much-needed topic of conversation.
Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot) Page 4