by L. Danvers
“Someone like Nick?” I asked, eyes narrowing.
“What if... what if he’s behind all of it?”
“Xander—” Ben started, trying to talk some sense into him.
Xander whirled around. “I couldn’t compel him,” he said, chest rising and falling hard.
“How do you know?” Ben asked.
“You live long enough, you get pretty good at reading people. Trust me. Something’s not right. I don’t know what it is... but I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” I asked.
A devious grin crossed his face. “I’m going to follow him. But first, you’re going to do a tracking spell.”
“Absolutely not. He’s my brother. That may not mean much to you, but it means something to me.”
“He’s also Reed’s son,” Xander pointed out.
“And I’m Reed’s daughter. What’s your point?”
Xander huffed. “Why are you being so difficult? If I’m right,” he said, pointing to the door in desperation, “he’s been deceiving you for years. Which means he can’t be trusted. And if he’s anything like your dad, no one is safe. Not even you.”
My arms were crossed. I couldn’t even look at him.
“Don’t you want to know the truth?”
“Grace,” Ben started, “he has a point. If you do the tracking spell, Xander can follow him and keep an eye on him. See if he’s up to something. I can go with him if that would make you feel better. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.” He smirked at Xander.
“Fine,” I said—only for the sake of proving Xander wrong. “I’ll do the spell. But I’m coming, too.”
Grace
We waited an hour or two for Nick to get wherever he was going. We spent that time eating dinner and listening to Xander’s absurd conspiracy theories. And then I performed the spell. “He’s in Crescent Cape,” I told Xander. Ben was upstairs now, rummaging through his magical objects. I wasn’t sure of Nick’s exact location, but Xander had his suspicions.
“He went to the Carlisle coven’s compound.”
“I thought you said he left the coven.”
“I thought he did. I thought a lot of things...”
I shook my head. “You’re jumping to conclusions. Maybe he’s visiting an old friend or something.”
“Or maybe he’s been conspiring with them all along.”
Just then, Ben came hurrying down the stairs with Fangs trailing close behind. He didn’t explicitly show them to me, but I could tell he had weapons on him, hidden under his sleeves. As if reading my mind, he explained, “I promise I won’t use them unless I have to. But Xander’s right—if there’s a chance that Nick was the one who broke into my house and stole those objects... if he was the one conspiring with the Albrights... we need to be prepared. You need to be prepared.”
I may not have remembered my brother, but none of what they were saying jived with what I’d been told about him. Why would he be plotting against us? And to what end? He hadn’t caused any problems in the last four years. So, what was different now? If he’d been against us all along, I had to hand it to him for his dedication to playing the long game.
“Grace,” Ben said. “I’m serious. I hope we go there and prove Xander wrong. But if he’s right, you need to be ready.”
“To learn that my brother is secretly an evil mastermind?”
“To defend yourself if things go wrong.”
I nodded, though I couldn’t accept that possibility. I was only going to make sure Xander didn’t do anything stupid. And I looked forward to seeing the look on his face when he realized just how wrong he was about Nick.
WE STOOD UNDER THE velvet sky, ironically lit by a crescent moon. Ben, Xander and I had parked the car a good way back and were currently trekking through the woods on foot. The trees were tall and thin—they’d hardly provide much cover in daylight. We weaved between them, steering clear of the long gravel road that led to the coven’s compound.
Ben had a strange look on his face. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
He swallowed down the lump in his throat. “It’s been a long time since I was here.”
My eyebrows lifted. “You’ve been here before?”
He nodded somberly like he was reliving a memory he’d much rather forget. “I came here to confront your father—before I knew you were his daughter. He had used dark magic to murder Freya, the Albright witch who had volunteered to keep up the boundary in Crescent Cape. And spell up artificial blood for Aiden. Anyway, Evanna—the Albright witch who had volunteered to take Freya’s place—and I went to confront Reed about what he had done. Let’s just say it didn’t end well.”
“Oh.”
Xander, who was walking a few feet ahead, lifted a hand to silence us. He tilted his head, tuning into his supernatural hearing. “Someone’s here.”
My nerves prickled, and a swarm of conflicting emotions consumed me. I didn’t know why I was so confident that my brother hadn’t turned against me. But I couldn’t let go of hope. Hope that I had one piece of my biological family to hold onto. Hope that being his own flesh and blood meant something to him. And yet... Xander and Ben had been right about everything else thus far.
We trekked further on, and I noticed the tension in Xander’s shoulders release.
“Hey!” a twenty-something guy called out from up ahead. He had his arms tangled around a girl. I had a feeling we were interrupting something. “What do you think you’re doing out here?”
In the blink of an eye, Xander stood before them, locking his gaze on them. “Go back to whatever it was you were doing, and forget you ever saw us. You’ll tell no one of this.”
The couple had a dazed look about them for a moment or two, but then they went back to kissing as if we weren’t there at all.
We walked around them, since they were now oblivious to us, and headed on toward the compound.
I didn’t know what it was that I was expecting. A hut? Spiderwebs? Cauldrons? This definitely wasn’t that. The compound was, in fact, a massive house that was big enough to house multiple families. And a rather nice house at that. It even had a porch swing which seemed... random. I couldn’t picture witches who were known for dabbling in dark magic relaxing on a porch swing and sipping lemonade.
Then my eyes slid toward the gravel driveway, and I spotted the same car Nick had been driving. It shouldn’t have surprised me. I had tracked him. But still... I had been so sure I was right about him. Now that I was here, though, I couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I shuddered as we drew nearer and wondered if I had ever been here. After all, I’d met Reed before. I closed my eyes, grasping at faded memories. But none came.
The lights inside the mansion were on, and we could see silhouettes passing by the windows. The witches were still bustling about inside, so we found a spot behind some bushes and decided to wait them out. Once they were in bed, we’d sneak in.
The plan wasn’t to confront Nick directly. If he was working against us, he wouldn’t outright tell us. And Xander was convinced that, for whatever reason, my brother couldn’t be compelled. So, we were going to sneak in through the back and find Reed’s old office. Whoever was running the place, be it Nick or someone else, would have taken up Reed’s old room. And if they had, by chance, stolen the magical objects, chances were we’d find them in there.
Hours had passed, and even though we’d eaten a huge dinner, my stomach started to rumble. Xander looked away, undoubtedly pretending he hadn’t heard it. But Ben reached into his pocket and handed over a snack bar. “This isn’t my first stakeout,” he whispered with a wink.
I unwrapped the chocolate chip oatmeal bar and gobbled it up. I could have gone for a glass of water, too, but that would have to wait.
My knees were aching from sitting for so long. I readjusted, trying to give my joints a break. I groaned as I shifted my weight, keeping an eye on the compound all the w
hile. Then I took in a sharp inhale. “The lights are out,” I pointed out.
I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the total and complete darkness. I was startled by the feeling of a large hand on my shoulder, but relaxed when I realized it was just Ben. “Slow down. Lights out doesn’t mean they’re actually asleep.”
Good point.
I sat with my arms hugging my knees, and eventually fell asleep. The nightmares came, as they always did. This time I was hugging a girl—Danielle. I was saying goodbye. Nothing terrifying happened in the dream, per se. It was more of the way it made me feel that was the problem... completely and totally alone in the world.
“Grace,” I heard, and the familiar voice pulled me out of my dream. It was Xander. His face was close to mine, his hand on my shoulder, rattling me awake. “Grace, it’s time.”
Nodding, I got to my feet and followed him and Ben toward the back of the compound.
I pressed ahead of them, seeing as that we were betting that I’d have to use a spell to unlock the door anyway. Letting out a heavy exhale in a failed attempt to calm my nerves, I reached out my hand and tried the knob.
Grace
As expected, the door was locked. It was a good thing I’d insisted on coming. I didn’t know how Xander and Ben would have managed to break in. Maybe Xander figured I’d come all along since he “knew me so well” and all.
I closed my eyes and recalled one of the spells I’d studied with the Book Slayers. A surge of energy rushed through me, and then the lock clicked open. It was strange how easily the spell had come to me. And how right it felt to recite it. I wondered how much I was really capable of. I reached for the door, but then realized it made more sense for Ben to go in first since he’d been here before. He’d told us where Reed’s office was, but he could find it faster than I could.
Ben twisted the handle and pulled the door open. And then, an invisible force slammed into us, throwing us through the air. I landed on my back, writhing in pain. The wind had been knocked out of me, and it was all I could do to gasp. I felt a strange sensation on the side of my head and reached for it. When I drew my hand away it was covered in blood.
Xander was to my right, hand pressed to his ear. I had a feeling he was hearing the same ringing sensation I was. As he turned to push himself up off the ground, our eyes caught. They narrowed for the briefest of moments as if to say See? I told you something was wrong here.
But we were the ones trespassing. Of course the witches would defend their home.
A guy that couldn’t have been older than seventeen stalked toward us, and the sliver of moonlight glinting off his bright eyes revealed a murderous look about them.
He was holding something in his hand, and as he tossed it to the other, I realized what it was: a wooden stake.
He shook his head. “You really thought you could break in here?” He smiled a dangerous smile. “How stupid are you?”
Ben was scrambling to his feet, reaching for his dagger. As he charged toward the witch, he said something to me: “We’ll keep him busy.” He said it so quickly that I almost didn’t realize what he was telling me to do.
Ben charged at the witch, dagger raised, but the witch blasted him with that same invisible force. Everything in me screamed at me to stay and help—but if I didn’t go in there and prove Nick’s innocence, all of this would be for nothing.
So, while the witch was distracted with Ben and Xander, I made my move.
Running as fast as my legs could carry me, I slipped inside the house and skidded to make a sharp left turn. I fumbled in the dark until I found the knob and twisted it. Warily, I stepped inside, flicking the light on as I did so.
I scanned the room, taking it all in.
It was hard to imagine this was Reed Carlisle’s office. Or had been.
I wondered if these were his old things... But that was a silly thought. Surely this stuff belonged to whoever was running the coven now.
I heard a grunt from outside, and I realized I needed to hurry. I rushed toward the desk and started sifting through drawers, looking for anything that resembled the objects that had been stolen. Or anything else that might help prove Nick’s innocence.
There was nothing. Just papers and spell books. A few magical objects, but not from Ben’s place.
Growing exasperated, I spun around. I wasn’t sure how much time I had left—and I needed to get out of here before someone ended up dead outside.
Behind the desk was a filing cabinet. So, I opened it. The first drawer contained a mishmash of random things—one of which made my mouth fall open. I reached inside and retrieved the photograph. It was of two men, one much older than the other. They were smiling, their sunshine-yellow hair glowing in the morning light. The older one had a hardness about him, and yet an undeniable charisma. And I knew at once that that was my father. The other one was my brother.
The rustling was still going on outside, and since I hadn’t found anything of note, it was time to get out of here before anyone realized I was in here.
I was sliding the drawer closed when files fell forward, revealing a small safe tucked behind them. I bit my lip, and I reached for it. It was locked, of course. But if I could open a locked door, it stood to reason that I could open a locked safe, too. I closed my eyes and recited the same spell.
And then I jumped when a voice behind me said coolly, “I’m afraid even your magic won’t work on that, Grace.”
My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to explode. I set the safe down and turned on my heel, mortified that my brother had caught me snooping.
“Look at you,” he said. He padded toward me, smiling an off-kilter smile. “I have to admit this isn’t nearly as fun as I thought it was going to be.”
He veered off-course and reached for a drawer on the wall. He pulled it open and retrieved a rope, which he tightened around his fist. “Sit.”
I swallowed. “Nick, please. It’s not what you think. I was trying to prove that—”
“I said SIT!” he roared in such a tone that I dared not defy him.
He pinned my hands behind my back and fastened the rope around them. “You’re hurting me,” I said, which only made him squeeze tighter. The rough texture of the rope scraped against my skin, and I lifted my gaze to look at my brother as he stepped out in front of me. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why am I doing this?” he laughed. “I almost killed you once, you know. But then I thought it might be better to let you live. After all, death is swift. Too easy a fate for you. I wanted you to suffer. And anyway, you being alive made things easier. You were so intent on opening that portal. And all along, I was one step ahead of you. And you never knew, did you?”
A harsh breath escaped my lips. Xander was right. “No,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. “No.”
Nick rolled his eyes, as if bored by my bewilderment. He walked around behind me and clasped his hands bony hands around the back of my neck, sending a chill of terror racing down my spine. His fingers trailed along my collar, and he tugged at it, revealing my Mark.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Messing with you has been fun and all, but this version of you is rather... boring. I want to see the look in your eyes when I tell you what you’ve done. And I want you to understand.”
He pressed his palm against my Mark, what I had until recently presumed to be a tattoo, and uttered a spell under his breath. Everything went woozy, and a rush of memories flashed across my mind’s eye all at once. I remembered serving as a blood slave. I remembered the night I met Danielle at the Choosing Ceremony and the unlikely alliance we’d made. I remembered my time with the family that had once ruled over us. I remembered my long history with Xander. I remembered Nick and Reed. I remembered just how evil and demented my father was, and how he’d threatened me and my friends. And I remembered the night I killed him. I remembered that strange smile that had flicked across his face before he mumbled something to himself. I remembered
everything.
All at once, the flood of memories stopped. And I realized I was shaking.
Nick placed his finger under my chin and lifted it, forcing me to match his gaze. And there it was again. That smile.
“You,” I said, voice quivering. “It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?”
A sense of pride washed over him, and he straightened. “Welcome back, my daughter.”
Bellamy
Nathaniel banged on my door. He hadn’t told me he was coming over, but I knew it was him by his distinctive knock. Two quick taps followed by a pause and two slower taps. With a sigh, I set my comic book on the nightstand and got up to let him in.
Nathaniel was sporting one of his signature preppy looks with perfectly coiffed hair to match. He looked me up and down, his brown eyes filled with judgment, and shook his head. “Come on, Bells. Why are you still moping?”
“I’m not moping.”
“You’re in your Star Wars PJs—and you only wear those when you’re moping. Did you and Grace break up?”
“What? No.”
He walked past me, inviting himself in. “Everyone at work keeps saying you look like a zombie. You’re spacing out constantly. It’s like your head is somewhere else. And you already told me you’re not on the pain meds anymore, so what’s going on? If you and Grace didn’t break up, what’s the problem? I thought she came back and things were okay.”
I plopped myself on the leather couch and rested my face in my hands. “She was back. But then she left.”
Nathaniel scrunched his eyebrows, looking as confused as I felt. “What do you mean she left? She’s flaked out on you twice now?”
I shook my head. “She didn’t flake out. Her friend was in the hospital.”