Power in Darkness

by Krista Street

  My breaths grew shallow, my heart rate increasing more. “Dark and light? We didn’t just have light?”

  “No, your family had both.” Gregor rolled the scroll back up.

  “Wait. What are you doing?” I called as he hobbled past us again to the ladder.

  “Why, putting this parchment away. It’s imperative that we return all texts to their original location. It’s the only way we can keep this room organized.” He gave me another toothy gargoyle grin.

  “But what does the dark power do?” I asked, stepping closer to the floating shelf as Gregor ascended the ladder to the top.

  “Why, I have no idea,” Gregor replied. He floated back down and hopped nimbly off when he reached the floor.

  “Is there anything that talks about other witches being capable of doing what Daria did?” Wes asked.

  Gregor shook his head. “Not that I recall. I can ask my colleagues in the various libraries, but neither Mallory nor I recalled reading anything other than what that scroll just revealed.”

  My heart plummeted. “You mean, that’s it? But I thought that you could help me figure out how to stop it.”

  “Or help her learn how to control it so she can train other witches,” Wes added. He didn’t look particularly enthused about the new information, either.

  Gregor bobbed his head again. “It’s possible there are more answers in this library or another, but my task now is to search for answers to explain red-eyed rogues and rogues working in a pack. However, in my free time, I could help you more. Would you like me to see what I can find?”

  “Yes! I—”

  “No,” Logan cut in. “We won’t be needing you to do that quite yet.”

  My mouth parted as I turned his way. “Why not?”

  Logan steered me away and said under his breath, “You don’t want to make any deals with gargoyles.”

  “But why? He could help me!”

  “And he could end up owning your life in the process.”

  My eyebrows knit together. “What are you talking about?”

  “Have you noticed how old he is? Gregor is easily the court’s oldest scholar, but that’s not from natural aging. Gargoyles can only come alive and stay alive during the day if they harvest human or supernatural life. They’re kind of like leeches. They must feed off others’ energy forces to live during the day, and if they don’t, they return to stone … indefinitely.”

  “So you’re saying that if I ask him to help me further, he’ll take my life?”

  “Not all of it but part of it. Depending on how much research he does and how extensive his search is, he could shorten your life by days, years, or decades. Right now, we’re not that desperate.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. Gregor and Wes were discussing something. “Then whose energy force has he taken to be helping us right now?”

  “Remember your question about the courts and prisoners? Well, if gargoyles practice legally, they only leech life from those sentenced in the supernatural courts. We don’t have capital punishment, not like the human world, but we do have punishments that take years from a criminal’s life. The gargoyles are deployed for that sentence, but some gargoyles don’t play fair, and they leech life without a supernatural knowing.”

  “And that’s what Gregor would have done to me?” I practically screeched.

  “No, he practices fairly, so he would have explained it first, but I didn’t think you’d fully understand the ramifications of what you’d be agreeing to. That’s why I stepped in.”

  I straightened. “But couldn’t Wes ask Gregor to search more? Cause doesn’t he want to learn about my power, too, you know, in case other witches could benefit?”

  “Yes, Wes is interested, too, but since he hasn’t already, I’m assuming that means he can’t use any more of Gregor’s time without sacrificing something personal. A gargoyle’s time is considered very precious. The gargoyles’ knowledge supersedes any supernaturals in our world. They’re very sought-after. And right now, Master Gregor must be following the court-appointed regimen, which is apparently more focused on the red-eyed rogues versus your family’s past.”

  My shoulders drooped. “So now what? If we can’t ask Gregor to find anything else without him taking part of my life, what am I supposed to do? All Gregor found was that my family once had both dark and light powers, but that still doesn’t tell me why or what it is, and we still don’t know how to get rid of it.”

  “No,” Logan agreed, “but it does tell us that your ancestors once held this power, and they were able to get rid of it since no one in your immediate family had it. If they could, then you can too.”

  A smile grew on my face as his logic took hold. “In other words, we just need to figure out how my ancestors got rid of it.”

  “Exactly.”

  Chapter 19

  Following our meeting with Gregor, Logan suggested we venture into Boise for a walk around the supernatural marketplace while we tried to work out a plan for what to do.

  I couldn’t agree more. I needed to clear my head.

  Fresh air flew in through the window of a brand-new SUV as we cruised down the road. Since headquarters provided vehicles for all SF members when they were on site, we were in a luxury Mercedes with leather seats and an interactive dash. It was pretty much the exact opposite of the tour bus in every way.

  I nibbled my lip as headquarters faded behind us. Trees flashed by my window as the magical barrier loomed ahead. Gregor’s findings kept swirling through my mind. Their power was both dark and light.

  I frowned. Both dark and light.

  A memory brushed the back of my mind, like butterfly wings flapping on glass. I gasped, the memory slamming to the forefront of my mind.

  My jaw dropped. “Logan, do you remember the psychic I told you about? When I almost got bitten by that rattlesnake on that hike we went on? She said this would happen to me.”

  He cocked his head in my direction, his beautiful dark hair brushing the top of his forehead. At first, confusion filled his eyes, but then they widened in understanding. “The psychic you met at the rest stop when you were a teenager? Is that what you mean?”

  “Yes, she told me this would happen.” My heart pattered faster. Words from that conversation came back to haunt me.

  “A time will come when you’ll feel both the dark and the light.”

  I angled my body toward his. “She was right. What she predicted is exactly what’s happened to me.”

  My breaths came faster, and I rubbed my damp palms on my thighs. I’d told Logan about the psychic, just the other week when we lay in the grass on top of a hill overlooking a rest stop. He’d asked me who the most interesting person was that I’d met in my travels around the country. I’d recalled a woman from several years back. She’d approached me when I’d been a sulking teenager in a park and had told me cryptic things.

  I grabbed his forearm, not even realizing what I was doing until the dark power stirred. I recoiled, horrified at what I’d done, but my excitement soon took hold again. “Do you think we could find her? If she knew this about me, maybe she would know more, and talking to her wouldn’t require giving away any of my life.”

  Logan nodded, his hand gripping the wheel harder as we sailed around a curve in the road. “We can try. Do you know her name?”

  “No.”

  “How about where she was from? Or lived at that time?”

  “No. I don’t know anything like that.”

  “Do you remember what she looked like?”

  I perked up. “Yes, she had dark hair and bright-blue eyes.”

  He gave me a placating smile.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “That’s how most psychics look. They all hail from the same region in the world, so their coloring is similar. What about a birthmark? Or a tattoo? Or some other unique identifying mark?”

  I chewed on my lip, my initial excitement fading more as each mile passed. “No. I don’t remember anything like that. I
t was so long ago.”

  Logan took a deep breath, that placating smile returning. “We’ll still try. I’ll look into it when we get back and see what we can find in the database based off what you remember of her appearance.”

  I nodded and settled back in my seat. I knew it was a long shot, but if we found the psychic who’d predicted what would happen to me, it was possible she could predict more, and with any luck, she would give me a direction to follow so I could finally be rid of the dark power once and for all.

  I just had to find her.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Half an hour later, we drove along the streets in downtown Boise. Since it was Saturday, foot traffic clogged the sidewalks as people bustled to and from shops, restaurants, and bars.

  “Where’s the marketplace?” I asked.

  “It’s hidden right in the heart of downtown Boise. You have to be a supernatural to enter it, similar to getting into headquarters.”

  “So it’s like headquarters, meaning it’s in the middle of civilization, yet the humans don’t know about it?” For a moment I paused. I’d just referred to humans as if they were a different species. That was a first.

  “Yep. Exactly that.” Logan pulled into a parking spot off the street then pointed at a Mexican café near the corner. “How about we eat there before heading to the marketplace.”

  My stomach growled at the thought of food. “Yeah, good idea.”

  Once parked, we strolled down the street to the restaurant as I peeked around for clues of a magical barrier somewhere in the vicinity. I didn’t spot anything. “So where exactly is the supernatural marketplace?”

  “The entrance is two blocks ahead. You’ll know when we reach it.”

  When we entered the Mexican café, Logan murmured something under his breath to the hostess.

  She nodded in a conspiring way and grabbed two menus. “Right this way.”

  I gave Logan a side-eye. “Are you up to something?”

  He feigned surprise. “What? Me?”

  I was still watching him suspiciously when we rounded the corner, then I spotted two familiar faces. “Cecile! Mike!”

  Cecile stood from her chair when we approached, a relieved expression crossing her features. “There you are! I’ve been worried sick about you!”

  More than anything, I wanted to throw my arms around her and wrap her into a hug. The past twenty-four hours had been so tumultuous that seeing the two people in the world that I considered family completely grounded me. But as I rushed forward, the dark power inside me rose. I stopped midstride, nearly tripping, and shoved my hands into my back pockets.

  “It’s so good to see you both.” The very underwhelming statement felt hollow and trite.

  “You, too, Dar.” Mike smoothed his mustache before sitting back down in his seat. “Cecile’s been a little worried about you since we weren’t sure when you’d be back.”

  I pulled back my chair, too, causing the wooden legs to scrape against the tiled floor.

  The hostess smiled pleasantly and set our menus on the table. “Your server will be right with you.”

  When she left, I twirled in my seat to face Logan, who had pulled out the chair beside me. “You planned this, didn’t you? You knew I’d love to see them.”

  He shrugged. “I may have texted them and asked them to meet us here.”

  “And it’s a good thing he did!” Cecile said hotly. “I was really starting to worry. For the life of me, I can’t remember you leaving!”

  “I’m sorry, Cece. If I could have gotten in touch sooner, I would have.”

  Cecile shook her head. “I remember you and Logan being in the bus with us and that we planned to part ways when we reached the headquarters, but then everything gets fuzzy. You know me—I like having everything planned, and I like to know exactly what’s going on, but I can’t remember what we talked about or when we had planned to meet up again.”

  Mike patted her hand. “I tried to tell her that you’re a big girl and capable of taking care of yourself, but she was having none of it.” He winked.

  I gave Cecile a sympathetic smile. “Logan said that would happen when we approached headquarters. It’s the sorcerers’ magic. It toys with human memories, so you wouldn’t know when we left the bus to enter the portal.”

  Cecile’s eyebrows rose as she picked up her drink. “Are you saying a sorcerer changed my memories?”

  I squirmed. “Yes.”

  She set her drink down calmly—too calmly. “I see. And is that something that will be done to me often? Will my memories often be manipulated without my knowing?”

  I took a deep breath, not in the least surprised by her anger. “I’m sorry, Cece, but yes, if you come with me to headquarters often, it will happen every time.”

  Logan leaned forward. “It’s a necessity. If we want to stay safe in the human world, we have to safeguard our privacy. None of us take pleasure in manipulating memories. Please accept my apology on behalf of the SF.”

  Cecile straightened, some of the irritation leaving her face. “All right, I see. In that case, I may avoid headquarters, if that’s all right with you, Daria.”

  “Or I can show you exactly where the mind-manipulation starts,” Logan offered. “That way you can still be near Daria without your thought patterns being disorganized.”

  Cecile smiled, any trace of annoyance vanishing. “That would be lovely, Logan. Thank you.”

  I sighed in relief and settled back. We all ordered a mountain of food to share, and the lunch passed quickly.

  “So what’s the plan now?” Cecile asked when we stood to leave. She slung her purse over her shoulder and pushed her chair back under the table.

  “Right now, Logan and I are heading to the supernatural marketplace. We managed to find one answer this morning about the dark power. Apparently, the women in my family used to have it, but at some point, they lost it.” Or buried it. The feeling of the dark power cracking open inside me, when the rogues had attacked, hinted that it had always been there. I’d just been unaware of it.

  Mike cocked his head. “You don’t say. How long ago was that?”

  “Hundreds of years ago. According to the scholar we spoke with, an ancient text from the dark ages hinted at my family possessing both light and dark powers.”

  Cecile frowned. “But neither your mother nor your grandmother had any dark powers, and they never mentioned any of their ancestors possessing anything like that, so what happened to it?”

  I began walking toward the front of the restaurant, Cecile at my side. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Logan and I are going to try to find a psychic who may know something, but if that doesn’t work, we’ll ask the scholars for more help, but that comes with a price.”

  Cecile’s eyebrows rose. “A price?”

  “You don’t want to know. Trust me.”

  My statement, not surprisingly, only made her frown deepen.

  “Are you still planning to stay at headquarters for a few more days?” Cecile asked when we reached the restaurant’s entryway.

  “Yeah, as long as I don’t get kicked out.” Priscilla’s and Chloe’s faces flashed through my mind along with Phoenix’s. I hoped his injuries were healing. “Since I can’t heal clients while I have this dark power inside me, I’ll need to keep searching for a way to get rid of it.” Or learn to control it.

  Ever since waking in the healing center the previous night, it had stayed in my mind that the dark power had healed me. Its power was vastly greater than my healing light. And since it had healed me unaided…

  Maybe it’s not entirely bad.

  But until I understood it, I had no way of harnessing it or trying to use it on anybody else.

  “So now what?” Cecile asked as she and Mike stepped through the front door. The sunshine streamed through the boulevard trees lining the sidewalk.

  My shoulders slumped. “Now, we part ways again.”

  Mike sighed. “I figured as much.” He pulled out his
phone and tapped on a tourist app. “Should we see what there is to do in the area, Cece?”

  Cecile’s lips tightened into a thin line, her fingers curling around her purse strap until her knuckles turned white. “Just be careful, okay, Dar?”

  I felt Logan drift to my side, his tantalizing scent carrying in the wind. I shuffled closer to him, wishing I could lean against him and take comfort in his warm presence. “I will. I promise.”

  We said our goodbyes with all of us agreeing to talk soon. A moment later, Logan and I were striding down the block toward the supernatural marketplace. The sun shone as we skipped around people mingling on the sidewalk.

  I was so deep in thought, trying to remember details about the psychic, that I almost walked right past the magical barrier.

  “Oh!” I exclaimed when the glowing red rope-like tendril appeared near an alleyway. I sniffed and detected the subtle scent of mint and anise.

  “We’re here.” Logan hooked a thumb toward the barrier.

  “You don’t say.”

  His lips quirked up.

  We stood on the sidewalk, by an alleyway in between two shops. On the right was a bakery. On the left, a mom-and-pop’s hardware store. Heavenly scents drifted from the bakery, and mouth-watering pastries lined the shelves in its window display cases. I licked my lips. Apparently, my stomach had forgotten that I’d just gorged on margaritas and a boatload of tacos.

  “So how do we get to the marketplace?” I peered into the dim alleyway. It couldn’t be wider than ten feet, a thin ribbon of sky above.

  “It’s at the end, off to the right. The entrance is similar to headquarters, only you don’t need clearance. Any amount of supernatural blood will gain you admittance.”

  Excitement pumped through my veins. “Lead the way.”

  Logan’s muscled forearm brushed against mine when he stepped into the alleyway. It was so brief that I didn’t think he was aware of it.