by Anna Santos
Giovanna turned her body to watch her. Her eyes seemed vacant. “Part of it, yes. I couldn’t listen to anything else past a certain point. I knew she was crazy but I didn’t know that she was that mad. Still–dad will be extremely heartbroken with mom’s intentions of getting revenge, and how badly she wants to hurt him.”
“She really needs help. It is not normal to be obsessed with revenge against her own mate for more than two hundred years,” she sighed, feeling a shiver run her spine by thinking about Marcus.
Jessica missed him terribly and she was trying hard to keep him out of her thoughts. Yet, sometimes, in the deep recesses of her mind, she could hear his voice, calling for her, begging for her to tell him that she was okay and she was going to come back home.
Well, that was not going to happen. He was not going to convince her to go back home because she had a lot of things that still needed to be done first. Besides, he was the one failing to see the evil snake that wanted to betray them all with her twisted and rather poorly conceived plan.
Knitting her eyebrows together in deep concentration, Giovanna questioned, “What’s wrong?”
Jessica shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Do you have any more of a plan or this was it? The recording was clever and all, but it doesn’t help me much. My dad will just forgive her and let it slide as usual.”
Taking a seat next to the girl, she shared, “I have a crazy plan. This was just a tiny part of it. We need evidence if she tries to play the innocent card. I’m sick and tired of witnessing men’s inability to see the evil that lurks behind her pretty face. Seriously, enough is enough!”
“Welcome to my world,” Giovanna sighed dramatically and Jessica grinned at her, amused. She seemed a nice and level-headed girl. Jessica had no idea how she had managed that since her mom was clearly deranged. “You know that I want to help, so whatever plan you have, don’t you dare to leave me in the dark.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll need all the help I can get to make my plan work. Now, if only you could give me Myra’s cell phone number, that would be perfect,” the witch said.
Giovanna pursed her lips and slightly pouted after. “Well, about that…Myra and I didn’t communicate through her new cell phone number. They could find out she was a spy because of it.”
“So how did you talk to her?”
“We used an old spy trick. I was placed here in America to communicate with her and support her in case of need. I was basically her handler.”
Jessica frowned. “So how will we contact her?”
“We’ll need to leave her a message in the Boston Public Library. I’ll write you the instructions. We can place a message with the number from your new burner phone, stating that it’s urgent. She needs to break protocol and contact us. I’ll pick up the call. She knows and trusts me.”
The witch nodded, agreeing with her idea. “But where in the Public Library? That place is huge?”
“I know. It was the only place that we thought they wouldn’t suspect anything since she’s a witch, and witches tend to be surrounded by books. There are a lot of old and important documents there that she can access to gather information for new spells and incantations. We choose a specific book to contact each other. We circle letters in a specific page and we leave secret messages to each other.”
“But will she go there on a daily basis? How many times a week would you contact her?”
“Once a week. Normally, only to know if she was okay.”
“When will she go again?”
“Tomorrow, I hope.” Giovanna bit her lip and ran her hand through her hair.
“So I’ll just go there tomorrow and wait for her so I can talk to her face to face.”
“No,” Giovanna said as she shook her head. “It’s too dangerous. She can be followed.”
“The library is huge. We need to talk to her as soon as possible. I’ll sit there, and wait for her. What section is the book in?”
“In the Main Reading Hall. But it’s too dangerous. You need to place a secret message in the book, today. Tomorrow, once she reads it, she’ll phone us.”
“And if she doesn’t phone back?”
“Then we’ll have to track her down.”
“Do you know where she lives?”
“I used to know. She moves around a lot, depending on Vincent’s orders. He’s paranoid. We tried to track him to find out if he would go to Alaric’s place, but we were never successful. He keeps changing cars inside parking lots, and using men who look like him to confuse us.”
“Yes, he’s a piece of work. So, if we have to leave a message in a book, we should get going. We have driven for hours, we haven’t slept, and the clock is ticking. We should go to the library then buy supplies on our way back,” Jessica said, looking at the time in her new cell phone.
“We could use some real food, instead of the junk food we had to buy in the gas stations.”
“New clothes wouldn’t hurt either,” Jessica agreed.
“And my mom?” Giovanna asked, getting up.
“She’s out cold. She’ll be out for a while, besides even if she wakes up, she won’t be able to leave.” Jessica got up and went to grab her purse.
“We’ll need to buy her blood bags. I know a supplier not too far from the library. Unless you are planning to starve her to death.”
“No, we’ll feed her. Besides, we need to have a reserve for you.”
Jessica walked to the door but, then, paused as she faced Giovanna.
“What’s wrong?” Giovanna asked.
“Giovanna, are you really okay with this? After all, she is your mom. Your dad will be extremely mad at us. He will become homicidal if he knows you have helped me.”
“He will do nothing after he finds out that she was planning to leave him and betray us all to help Alaric. As long as nothing bad happens to her, I’ll gladly help you.”
“I’m not planning to get her killed or anything like that. However, we need to stop this insanity. Valentina’s curse has killed too many witches and has endangered too many lives. And it is about time Alaric is stopped. Even if he was my son. He is evil and must be stopped. Marcus is right, we can’t keep letting him get away with these deplorable actions. If no one else is strong enough to stop him, then I guess, we girls, have to team up and whoop his ass,” she said, stealing a giggling from her.
“Just us two?” she asked. “I know you are bad-ass, but still.”
Flipping her hair, she stated, “Nah, I’ve friends who will help.”
* * *
It was nightfall when Jessica arrived at her new hideout with Giovanna. They were both tired and eager to eat and rest, but Jessica knew that she wasn’t going to be able to rest, yet.
“I’ll check on my mom,” Giovanna said, leaving the bags with new clothes over the dinner table.
“I’ll take the food to the kitchen,” Jessica warned, hugging the grocery bags.
Minutes later, they met in the living room.
“How is she?” Jessica asked.
“She’s still out.”
“Are you hungry? Do you want me to warm you some blood? Or cook something?”
“No, I’m good.”
Jessica’s phone rang and she looked at the screen, opening the text message.
“All good?”
“Yes, my friend is almost here. She was alerting me. I’m just going to text her the number and the floor. I was taking precautions in case something happened and someone else read the messages.”
“How do you know it’s her?”
“Hum, that’s a good point. But I talked to her on the phone when you were paying for the clothes and she seemed calm. She mentioned that she had some unexpected visits so she was arriving a bit late. But we were taking care of business too, so it’s all good.”
Giovanna nodded. “We took too long shopping for clothes.”
“It was fun!” Jessica said, easing herself onto the couch. “By the way, thank you for paying for my stuff. I’
ll repay you once Anna brings me some money. I didn’t have any wallet with me at the clinic and this hideout didn’t have any money stashed away.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was my pleasure. And I’m glad that mom had money in her purse or dad could have tracked us if I had used my credit card.”
“Yes, I guess Valentina proved herself useful.”
“Well, Mom always likes to travel with money. She likes to buy stuff but doesn’t like Dad to see what she buys. Plus, they don’t trust banks.”
Jessica sighed, motioning her to sit down. “I really need things to work out.”
“You still haven’t told me about your plan.”
“I can only tell you once I talk to Myra and I can convince her to help us.”
“She’s scared. In the last message, she wanted to get out. I hope that she calls. It has been two weeks since I left a message for her. I had been locked up and…I have no idea when was the last time she went to the library.”
“Yes, that’s troubling. But let’s hope that she’s a good spy and follows protocol.”
“She’s just a scared kid,” Giovanna whispered, sitting down and placing her hands between her knees. “I’m tired.”
“You should go shower and then choose a bedroom to rest. I’ll be here. You don’t need to keep me company.”
“I have no idea if I’ll be able to sleep.”
The conversation was interrupted by the bell ringing.
“Your friend must have arrived,” Giovanna said.
“Yes, it must be her,” Jessica agreed, going to the door and smiling at the screen. The camera was showing Dulce in her skinny jeans and white tank. She let her in and ran downstairs to greet her with a smile.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she asked upon the sight of her, making Jessica lose her smile and roll her eyes at her. Dulce had her hands on her hips and a menacing glare on her face.
“Glad to see you too!” The witch greeted with sarcasm and then giving her a genuinely happy smile.
“The king is worried sick about you, Jessie!” She said with a strained voice.
Jessica lost her smile because behind her someone else showed up that she hadn’t invited for her girls’ power party. “Dulce, I told you to come alone!”
“And do you really think that I wouldn’t join you in whatever crazy plan you have?” Sebastien’s voice was heard as he stopped next to his sister. The twins smiled at her as she scowled at them.
“Did you tell Marcus of my whereabouts?” She asked, growling at the twins with that frustrating thought.
“Of course not! We got your back!” Sebastien retorted, seemingly offended by her question.
“Good! I don’t want him to stop me.”
Sebastien arched an eyebrow. “Stop you from what?”
“You will know soon enough!” Jessica said, grinning widely. “Now, group hug,” she shrieked, excited for having both of them with her and jumping in their arms. She kissed their cheeks and ruffled Sebastien’s hair, upsetting him and making Dulce laugh hard.
Then they walked upstairs, so she could show them her new headquarter and they could greet their other teammate.
Moments later, they were all seated on the couches, ignoring the news on the muted TV set and talking instead.
“I should be mad at you,” Sebastien said, making Jessica look at him with puzzled eyes. “I can’t believe that you asked Dulce to come and we’ve know each other so much longer. You kept me in the dark and didn’t ask for my help. I thought we were best friends, Jessie!”
“Oh, stop pouting! You’re a grown man for God’s sake! I didn’t know if you would tell Marcus or not. And I didn’t want my mate to get upset with you because of my temper tantrum.”
“Because you are confessing that this is a tantrum, and you shouldn’t have run away from the king, are you?” He asked with a cocky smirk, making her look at him sideways.
“Well, I have the right to feel upset with him. You can’t understand. You don’t have a mate.”
“Thank you for reminding me of that,” he declared as he folded his arms and sneered at her.
Jessica just showed him her tongue and made him giggle. But she wasn’t feeling that happy, anymore. “Is he missing me?” she asked, in a low voice and eyes staring at her hands. She was trying to make her heartbeat slow down so she wouldn’t show how she was actually feeling.
“No, of course not. He’s moved on rather quickly and found himself a new mate. One that doesn’t run away from him,” he said and Jessica glared at him, upset by his mean words. “I’m sorry, but you really were hard on him this time.”
“I’m coming back, after!” She sulked and stared at Dulce who was quiet with sympathetic eyes.
“Men never understand our reasons,” she said and Jessica nodded to her and then stared at her twin brother with dejected eyes.
“Yes, blame it all on us,” Sebastien sighed deeply. “Jessie, you know I’m right.”
“Maybe, but you don’t need to be this mean about it,” she explained, knowing or, at least, hoping that he had made an awful attempt at a joke. “You are joking, right? He isn’t – you know, he still wants me back, right?” Her heart tugged in her chest as her breath became strained due to anxiety.
“I shouldn’t be joking. The king didn’t deserve you running away from him.”
“Well, I didn’t deserve to be treated like a helpless girl and then be tricked by my only living family into losing my memories and having a seizure at what should have been a nice and pleasant dinner with my friends and family. He was not going to do anything about Valentina. She was planning to have me removed from my own body. She was doing everything to upset me and make me doubt my mate and my mate doubt me.” She paused to breathe. “I wasn’t going to let her do anything else to destroy our bond. I don’t care that he thinks it is best for me, but I was not going to sit there and wait to have my memories removed from me just so I could become the sweet helpless mate he had before. I’m done running.”
“Calm down,” Sebastien pleaded and gave her his hand. “I’m not saying that you aren’t right, either. I’m just saying you need to think about what you have done and how it has affected the king.”
“Have you come here just to try to make me change my mind or did you come to help?” she asked, frowning at him.
“I want to help you. There is no chance in hell that I’m going to let you go ahead with your dangerous plan without us being here to back you up. Nevertheless, Jessie, you should contact the king and tell him, at least, that you are okay. You ran away and left him behind, almost making him lose his sanity because he didn’t know what happened to you. He didn’t know if you were taken or if you had left the hospital on your own will.”
“Does he think I was kidnapped?” she asked, breathless, nibbling her lip hard.
Sebastien confirmed, “He did! But the hospital security footage showed a very different story. A story that he is now concealing from the other king, who is threatening to start a war if his wife doesn’t show up.”
“I can fix that,” Giovanna said, intervening in the conversation. “I can calm my dad down.”
“King Francesco is really upset. And your mate is moving heaven and earth to find you, Jessie,” Dulce added.
Jessie stared at her. “I didn’t need to run away if he didn’t believe Valentina’s lies and…Why is everybody scolding me? I was the one who almost died!”
Dulce frowned at her. “Yes. But you disappeared and they have no idea of what’s going on. Francesco wants his mate back, the king is looking for you, and everybody thinks that Giovanna and Valentina were taken with you. Your mate is supporting the kidnapping idea, so you aren’t blamed for Valentina’s disappearance. But I don’t think that the truth can be hidden for much longer. Francesco will eventually find witnesses that have seen his wife or his daughter. He will track her phone.”
Giovanna grabbed her phone. “I’ll text dad, telling him not to worry about us. I’ll pull
the battery afterward.”
“That will just raise more questions,” Sebastien pointed out. “Plus, once you turn on your phone they can track it to this location even if you disconnect it. It will always pinpoint the last place you used it.”
“Fine,” Jessica growled, upset. “I have an idea that will calm everybody down. We’ve recorded Valentina’s confession,” she said. “I’m sure that Dulce can lend me her phone, so I can upload the video and send it to Eric’s email. Then Eric can show Marcus and Francesco the psycho bitch that Valentina is.” Jessica shared her idea, waiting for feedback.
“Then Francesco will know that you have kidnapped his mate and he will bring a war to Marcus’ doorstep,” Sebastien said. “As much as I don’t like the fact that you ran away from your mate, I like even less the idea of having Francesco putting a bounty on your pretty head.”
“Well, I already have one.” She shrugged and he rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I don’t think he will be upset with me,” she said, smirking to cheer him up. “You have no idea what crazy plan that psycho had cooped up for her mate and me.”
“I like Jessica’s idea,” Giovanna said. “I think it will calm them down for a bit and let us pursue Jessica’s plan. Whatever that is.”
“I like her plan too,” Dulce agreed. “If Jessica has a confession from Valentina, I think she should use it. We don’t want a war. Plus, I can go somewhere far away from here to send the email to Eric.”
“So, let me watch that video, to see if it’s worth sending or not,” Sebastien said and Jessica nodded. “Come on, move your lazy butt off the couch and show me what you’ve been up to while I wasn’t here,” he urged her, making Jessica roll her eyes at his cocky alpha side.
“Please don’t patronize me, sweetie,” she retorted to him. “I have fire powers and I’m not afraid to use them,” she threatened with a wicked smile.
Sebastien grinned. “You also have cunning powers and the ability to put an entire community of supernatural beings looking for you.”
“What can I say, I’m magnetic like that!”
“I just hope that the king has a nice plan to ground you for being this sneaky.”