by Nina Perez
He couldn’t shake the feeling that he shouldn’t have let Violet go, but he also had no idea how he would have stopped her. He just prayed that Dr. Tesla wouldn’t call or return before she got home. Jack lit a fire in the living room and retrieved the book of spells he’d spent weeks ignoring. He sat in an armchair, turning through the pages, reading about each spell. He’d heard Violet recite the defense spell enough times that he felt he knew it by heart, but he’d never put it into practice. Perhaps it was that nagging tug in his stomach that something bad was about to happen, but Jack decided it couldn’t hurt to start practicing.
He stood in the middle of the living room, moved the coffee table aside and began to recite the lines. “Defendo adversus magicas.” It seemed he didn’t know the spell by heart after all and had to stop and refer to the book several times. After a few minutes he felt foolish. It wasn’t nearly as easy as Violet had made it look. Also, he supposed it couldn’t hurt to have a vampire try to attack you at the time.
Jack thought there wasn’t any pride lost in studying it as he would any school book, and resigned himself to reading by the fire. After looking over half a dozen spells, Jack felt his eyes getting heavy. He wanted to be awake in case Dr. Tesla or Violet called. He went down the hall to the bathroom and splashed water on his face. When he returned to the living room, there was a dark-haired man sitting in the armchair by the fire, turning the pages of the spell book.
“Who are you?” Jack felt panic rising in his chest. “Ms. Sweet!” he called out.
Without looking up from the book and still turning the pages, the man said, “She can’t hear you. Why don’t you have a seat, Jack?”
Jack felt his legs moving before he had time to register what he was doing. He walked over to the other chair and sat opposite the stranger.
“You know, when I was your age, I received a book very similar to this one. I must have read the whole thing in one night. You see, unlike you, I embraced my destiny.” He looked up at Jack and smiled.
The brown eyes, dark hair, deep dimples – Jack knew he was looking at Lincoln Bale. He didn’t know how it was possible, but he knew it was the truth. Lincoln was staring at Jack and said, “I see you know who I am. Good. This will go more quickly then.” Lincoln rose from the chair and slowly walked towards Jack.
“You are a fool to ignore the power that has been given to you. I died so you could have it and you squander it. Ignore it. Treat it as if it’s an inconvenience to you. Since you don’t want it, it shouldn’t bother you too terribly when we take it back. That’s right, boy. My sister and I are coming. We’re coming for you and the girl.”
Lincoln pushed the spell book into Jack’s chest. Jack had been staring into Lincoln’s eyes and was unprepared. It hit the floor with a loud thud. Jack jumped and looked where the book had landed. When he looked up again, Lincoln was gone and he was alone. He stood up quickly, looking around the room. There was no sign of Lincoln. He thought about Violet’s dream and how, even after she’d seen Ashlyn’s photo, he’d assumed that it was her mind messing with her. Maybe the woman in her dream strongly resembled Ashlyn, but there was no way she could have dreamt about someone she’d never seen.
There was only one way to find out for sure.
“You didn’t have to do this, Violet.” Ms. Harkin said.
“I know, but I wanted to.” Violet had brought a leftover Thanksgiving pie. “And trust me: it would have gone to waste at home.” Violet had her head in Ms. Harkin’s fridge, trying to make room on a shelf. Ms. Harkin had just sliced two slivers of pecan pie and set them on the table. Violet finally found a spot and joined Ms. Harkin at the table.
Over pie and tea they talked about how they’d each spent the holiday, but Violet found that her usual peace and comfort while spending time with Ms. Harkin was gone. All she could think about was Dr. Tesla’s cryptic phone call and how she was disobeying him yet again to be there. She thought about what he’d said to them after hanging up the phone.
This time they got what they came for.
Whatever it was had to be pretty damned important to be under magical lock and key, Violet figured. She’d never seen Dr. Tesla so serious either, as when he’d instructed them to go home. Violet was struck with a thought that made her stomach drop. What if whoever was behind this was watching them all along? All the time? Just waiting, biding their time, looking for the perfect opportunity to strike again. What if they’d been waiting until they got whatever was hidden away at the facility?
And now they had it. Violet looked around the small kitchen, trying to keep her face neutral, but she was terrified. What protection was there here? And poor Ms. Harkin - she had no idea what was going on or how much danger Violet was placing her in each time she visited. She’d been giving the person who killed her parents the blueprint on how to hurt her again if they so chose and Jack had been doing the same with his recent visit to Bobby. Here they are, bad guys! The people we care about the most after you took our parents away. Come and get ‘em. How could they have been so stupid?
Ms. Harkin was speaking with great enthusiasm about tending a dying houseplant back to life, but her words were barely registering.
“Ms. Harkin,” Violet said suddenly. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can visit you anymore.”
Ms. Harkin stopped mid-sentence and reached across the table, placing her hand on top of Violet’s. “Oh. Did I do something?”
“No. No. Not at all. It’s just… things are kind of complicated. I’m going through changes and I think that maybe I should start focusing more on stuff at home.” Violet thought this was sounding more like a really awkward break-up – nothing was coming out the way she wanted.
“Is everything okay at home? You’d tell me, right, if something wasn’t?”
“Yes. Everything is as good as it can be. I think that maybe I haven’t been allowing myself to really feel what happened to my parents and that maybe coming here isn’t fair to you. I like being here, but it’s also kind of painful with my house… I mean, the house, being right next door.”
Violet felt bad about that lie more than anything else. It was the exact opposite of what she’d told Ms. Harkin. Being here with her was like being home, and that was the problem. Until things were safe - whatever that meant - it was best to stay away.
“Of course it’s hard for you, how silly of me. You know I’ll miss having you around, right? But I understand. I just want you to be happy.”
Violet felt the tears building up. “Oh, no, sweetheart. None of that.” Ms. Harkin pulled two paper napkins from the holder on the table and handed them to Violet. Violet used them to dab at her eyes, feeling foolish. She could tell she’d hurt Ms. Harkin’s feeling, but better that than get her killed.
“I better get home before Dr. Tesla worries.”
“Of course, dear.” Ms. Harkin smiled gently and gave Violet’s hand a pat.
“But the least I can do is to help clean this up.” Violet rose, taking the pie dishes to the sink. “And, you know, I am glad that I got to see you before you left to see your children.”
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere. It turns out my children are here.”
Violet felt a flash of heat take over her whole body. Then there was blackness. Then she felt nothing.
Jack opened the door to Dr. Tesla’s office and only felt slightly guilty. He reasoned that he wasn’t snooping because he didn’t trust Dr. Tesla; he was snooping because he needed information, so it shouldn’t really count as a bad thing.
He walked over to the bookshelf and pulled the red book as Violet had done. The wall slid away revealing the discs and other documents. Jack pulled the three files on Ashlyn, Lincoln and Grace from memory. He inserted Lincoln’s disc into Dr. Tesla’s laptop. It was set up just like Ashlyn’s: medical records, school records, investigative reports. Jack ignored all of them and clicked on the first picture file. Lincoln’s smiling face filled the screen. It was the same man that had just visited him in his dream – eve
n though Jack didn’t think calling it a dream was quite right. It felt more like a vision or hallucination.
Jack gave up trying to figure out how it was possible, he just accepted that it had happened. He and Violet had visions of Ashlyn and Lincoln without having seen them before. If he was going to take that seriously, Jack had to believe what they’d said as well.
We’re coming for you.
Jack ejected the disc, returned it to its case, and inserted the disc labeled G. Bale. There was twice the number of files found on Lincoln’s and Ashlyn’s discs. Jack scrolled down to an image file and double-clicked it. It was a scanned newspaper article about a plane crash. The headline read, Politician’s Daughter and Her Children Still Missing. There was one photo printed with the article. In it, Lincoln Bale wore a tuxedo and stared smugly into the camera. Ashlyn was on his arm, not looking into the camera, but at her brother with adoration. On Lincoln’s other arm was a woman Jack recognized. He leaned closer to the screen.
The woman wore a sequined gown and had long red hair. The caption read, Ashlyn Bale (right), Lincoln Bale (center), and their mother, Grace Bale (left).
But Jack knew her as his mother’s boss, Sylvia Decklan.
Jack looked at fifteen more photos to be sure, but there was no question. Grace Bale, the mother that had trained her twins to be an evil witch and warlock, was also Sylvia Decklan, the woman that had shown up out of nowhere over a year ago and saved his mother’s job. The woman that had been to their home on occasion and sent exotic presents from her international travels. Dr. Tesla’s words came back to him.
Your parents were given the drug over a period of time. Most likely in their food.
Jack thought of all the gifts of food Sylvia Decklan had sent to their home. There was even a basket of muffins the day before they died. Dr. Tesla was right - she’d been poisoning his parents for months and then she killed them. But why? Revenge for what had happened to Ashlyn and Lincoln? Why wait so long?
And how had she gotten to Violet’s parents? He was sure he’d mentioned her to Violet and she never said anything about knowing a Sylvia Decklan. If Grace Bale had pretended to be someone else to get into his life, she probably had done the same with Violet’s family, and it had to be someone who was close enough that they’d take food from her. They’d trust her. Someone like a close co-worker or… a neighbor.
Chapter Nineteen
It Will All Be Over Soon
Violet woke up on a cold and damp floor, her body tingling and shaking uncontrollably. This lasted for several minutes. Violet felt like her body was defrosting. When the shaking finally stopped and her body temperature returned to normal, she tried to recall what she’d been doing before everything went dark: talking to Ms. Harkin. Violet looked around frantically, afraid something had happened to Ms. Harkin as well, but she found she was alone in a basement.
There were shelves on the walls from floor to ceiling. The shelves contained glass jars with variously colored liquids and plants. A rack of dresses - Ms. Harkin’s dresses - was nearby. Half of the basement was separated by a thick, black curtain. It was drawn and Violet couldn’t see what was on the other side. She could barely see anything as the room was dimly lit by candles.
Someone had attacked her and put her in the basement, but what about Ms. Harkin? She was saying goodbye for good to avoid just this kind of thing and she’d put Ms. Harkin in danger anyway. If something had happened to her, she’d never forgive herself.
She patted her jeans pocket, feeling for her cell phone, but didn’t find it. Violet spotted her coat on the floor a few feet away. She crawled to it and searched the pockets, but the phone wasn’t there either. So much for that, she thought.
Violet slowly made it to her feet. The tingly sensation was subsiding, but her legs felt wobbly. She took tentative steps toward the wall of shelves and read the labels on some of the jars: vetivert grass, henbane, clematis, wolf’s hair. Wolf’s hair? Violet backed away from the shelves. She heard the door at the top of the stairs open and the sound of footsteps as someone descended into the basement.
Ms. Harkin appeared at the bottom of the stairs, but she didn’t look like herself. She looked younger and her red hair was fuller, minus the gray streaks. Gone, too, were the frumpy floral dresses and instead she wore a black dress with a fitted bodice and long, flowing skirt. Silver and gold bracelets hung from her wrists.
“Ms. Harkin?”
“I thought you might be awake by now. I haven’t had to use that particular stunning spell in years. I was worried I might have given you too much juice.”
Spell?
“Ms. Harkin, what are you talking about?”
She smiled, and not the motherly smile she usually graced Violet with, but a dark, sinister smile filled with hate and contempt. Violet felt sweat gathering on the back of her neck and on her hands.
“You really haven’t figured it out, you poor, dim girl? I am a witch. I always have been. In fact, I don’t think it would be bragging to say I am one of the most powerful witches in the world. And my children, my children were on their way to being even more powerful until they were murdered.”
“You’re… Grace Bale?”
“Congratulations. Your brain works.”
“You’re the one? You murdered my parents?”
Grace walked closer to Violet, causing her to back up against the shelves. The jars shook and rattled. “Your parents, as nice as they were, needed to be punished. They were co-conspirators in the murder of my children. And make no mistake, Violet, murder is what it was.”
Violet’s instincts kicked in and she tried to run past Grace to the stairs. No longer playing the part of the feeble older woman, Grace easily stopped her, grabbing Violet by her hair and yanking her back. She pointed at Violet and raised her hand. Violet began to levitate just as the baseball cap in Jack’s room had. Grace waved her arm and Violet went flying into the bare wall.
Pain shot through Violet’s back and stars appeared before her eyes. She felt vomit rise to the back of her throat and she tasted blood where she’d bitten her tongue. Though her back was against the wall, she was still suspended in the air, her shoes several feet off the ground. She tried moving and it was as if dozens of unseen hands were keeping her pinned to the wall.
“Don’t fight, sweetheart. It will all be over soon.”
Jack rode in the backseat of Mrs. Matthews’ minivan, one hand in a white-knuckle grip on the door handle, the other tapping the seat impatiently. He wanted to beg her to drive faster, but he’d probably already acted suspicious enough for one night. He’d called Bobby’s house asking for a lift to West Rosemont. He said that he was supposed to meet Violet for a study group and no one was there to drive him.
Thankfully, Mrs. Matthews had arrived alone. Bobby had the uncanny ability to always know when he was full of it. He’d left several messages for Dr. Tesla on his cell phone, telling him that he thought Violet might be in trouble and where he was going. It wasn’t lost on Jack that with all of this magical ability floating around, they still had to rely on phones and voicemail.
Jack felt a little ridiculous; riding to the rescue in a minivan with a toddler booster seat in the back and spilled Cheerios on the floor - not exactly a white horse. He looked out the window without really seeing. The houses passed in a blur. All he could think of was Violet, and how, if he was right, she was alone with the woman who’d murdered their parents.
“What do you know about my children?”
Grace paced back and forth in front of Violet, watching her curiously. Violet had stopped struggling. It was useless; the harder she tried to remove herself from the wall, the tighter the invisible restraints became. Now, Grace watched her like a sadistic child studying a bug they’d caught in a jar.
“I know your son was a rapist and your daughter a murderer.”
Grace stopped walking and Violet could see the fury rising from her like steam. “You would say that; having been poisoned by Tesla. My children were on th
eir way to becoming gods when they were struck down by jealousy. Their precious Alliance would have us deny who we really are and live as common humans when we are not. We are better than that. “
“Then why did you marry a human? Why did you live as one for so many years?”
“I see you did some homework.” Grace smiled. “Good for you. Let’s just say that I’m always looking at the bigger picture. My marriage was a means to an end. I made a lot of sacrifices for the greater good.”
“Good? You call raising a pair of psychopaths good?”
Violet wasn’t sure it was the smartest plan, but it was the only one she had. Like a children’s cartoon, she wanted to keep the bad guy talking, bragging, about all they’d gotten away with. Maybe if she stalled long enough, Jack would worry about where she was and, well, not come to look for her, but send help… vampire-like help.
“One good thing about having the truth out in the open is that I no longer have to pretend to find your smartass humor amusing.”
Grace waved her hand in Violet’s direction and Violet felt an electric shock race through her body. She cried out in pain.
“Shh!” Grace looked up at the ceiling and Violet heard what had caught her attention. Someone was walking around upstairs. Grace looked at Violet and whispered, “Silentium!” She turned and quietly made her way up the stairs.
Violet tried to call out a warning, but she had no voice. She tried several times and heard nothing more than her own breath. From upstairs, there was silence as well; no more footsteps or voices. Maybe whoever it was had gone, Violet thought, and prayed it was true.