by Lana Melyan
“Okay.” I heaved a sigh.
We waited for the veil to close, then Nate put his arm around my shoulders. I grabbed him around his back, and we headed toward the road.
10
When we arrived home, we found Gran having coffee in the backyard with Mr. Lancaster.
“Get inside,” said Nate, looking at the two of them. “We need to talk.”
We told them everything we had found out about Christopher Murphy. As Gran listened, the expression of panic became more and more perceptible on her face.
“Gran, everything is going to be fine,” I said, even though I felt more alarmed now. She must’ve had a reason to be scared like that.
“Don’t you two understand?” she said, then she stared at Nate. “This is a small town, and we’re the only Callahans here. If he finds the Tree, he’ll find Nicky.”
“She’s right, you know,” said Mr. Lancaster.
“Bree, calm down. We’ve set a boundary around the tree. The moment he finds it, we’ll know he’s here and we’ll get him.”
“Nathan, he’s a dark witch. If he got a message, he won’t be on our side, and he’ll try to get her,” she pointed her finger at me, “out of his way.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Nate frowned. “You know I’ll do anything to protect Nicky. We’ll find him.”
Gran’s right. He’ll try to get rid of me. That hadn’t crossed my mind. But of course Nate had thought of it. He was worried, but he didn’t want to frighten me.
“Gran, we didn’t tell you this to freak you out. We told you so you would be careful. I’ll send you both his picture so you can recognize him if he suddenly decides to show up,” I said. “He might not even know anything. Maybe he didn’t get a message at all.”
“Every Callahan witch gets this message,” said Gran, pressing her two finger to her temple. “The information about the tomb and map and those other secret mission things, that was passed only from one head of the coven to another. But Richard told me that it is a tradition to pass the general information about what was coven up to, and the Family Tree to every Callahan.”
“Grandpa told you that ?” I stared at her.
“Vincent brought us here and kept everything in the . . .” She glanced at Nate. “Because he was sure there were no more Callahans, and no one would look for the Tree.”
“Nicky, maybe you should stay with me? Just in case,” said Nate.
“No. I’m not leaving Gran alone.”
“He’s right,” said Gran. “Don’t you worry about me.”
“I said no. If he didn’t show up during the previous five months, he’s probably not coming.”
“And what if he is?” said Gran.
“I say, bring it. Aren’t you all forgetting something? I’m a witch myself, and you know how good I am at breaking things. I’ll break every bone in his body if I have to. I can take care of myself. Okay?”
I could do that. I could break him. And I didn’t understand why Gran and Mr. Lancaster stared at me like that. Was it too harsh?
However, Nate was smiling.
“That’s my girl.”
I hardly slept that night. I was trying to figure out how much Christopher Murphy might know.
If Henry’s daughter was practicing black magic, and after she moved away Henry didn’t even keep in touch with her, why would he give her information about the mission? Maybe he didn’t.
But then I remembered that he didn’t have to. She was an adult when the coven captured Kenneth, and she must’ve known everything first-hand. Then she could pass it forward to her kids.
I thought about Murphy’s mother. If she was really hiding from the Order, and his whole life her son didn’t even know he was Callahan, why would she pass any information to him? Maybe because she was afraid the Order might eventually find him and she wanted to warn him?
I hoped she took her secret to the grave with her. But if not, then both explanations seemed pretty convincing. It was possible Murphy knew more than we would like him to, and in that case, Gran was right—he was extremely dangerous.
Even if not every Callahan knew about the mission but had passed information about the Family Tree to their offspring, that was already more than enough.
“Did Logan leave already?” I asked Connie when we met at school the next morning.
“He’s on his way to the airport right now,” she said, opening her locker.
“I’m sorry he has to go.” I looked at her apologetically.
“Don’t be silly, Nicky.”
“I promise to keep you company until he comes back.”
“Good,” she grinned. “Then you should come with me to his house after school, to help me unpack.”
“You’re moving in?” I asked, a smile spreading across my face. “Right away?”
“Yeah. I wanted to do it gradually. But yesterday I had another fight with my dad, and I said I’d enough and packed my bags.”
“Hi,” said Jess, coming toward us. “Guys, you missed the Halloween party at Leia’s place.”
“We weren’t in town,” said Connie. “We went to New Orleans for a few days. For my birthday.” she beamed.
“Really? Have you met Sam?” He glanced at me.
“Yeah.” The sigh left my lungs before I could stop it. “We celebrated the birthday at his bar.”
“So he’s fine then?”
“Oh, he’s better than fine,” said Connie with a smirk, throwing at me a sideways look.
I smiled artificially. Connie, I’ll kill you, I thought, looking after her as she walked away.
Jess glanced at me with a question mark on his forehead.
Don’t you look at me like that. I’m not telling you anything.
“It’s nothing,” I said, quickly editing the true version in my head. “He wasn’t hiding how happy he was to see me. Then Connie heard him tell me he missed me, and now she keeps teasing me.”
We started walking.
“So, he’s still . . .” Jess grinned.
“Yeah, he still is.”
“And Nate is okay with that?”
“Well, I stopped the murder this time. But I’ll have to keep an eye on them because Nate can be very stubborn sometimes. Otherwise, Sam is doing well. The bar looks great.” We both laughed.
“You and Leia seem pretty tight lately.” I raised a brow.
“Yeah, about that.” Jess cleared his throat. “She broke up with Dave at the Halloween party.”
“Really?” I stopped and stared at him. “I saw it coming, but it still seems . . .”
“Wrong?”
“No. I was going to say sudden. You realize why she did it, right?”
“Nicky, it’s not as easy as she thinks. Dave is my friend. And you and me, we just broke up and I’m not ready yet to ––”
“Jess, it wasn’t just. We broke up months ago. I moved on, and you should too.”
“Yeah but . . . I don’t know.” He shrugged. “You and me, we were close. I don’t think I can be that close with her.”
“It takes time.”
We reached the classroom.
“Sometimes it doesn’t,” he sighed, walking in after me. “Sometimes it comes naturally, right from the start.”
11
Two days later Connie and I saw Logan waiting for her next to her car.
“Oh my God,” she shrieked. “My vampire is back.”
My jaw dropped.
“Are you crazy?” I said, looking around. “What if someone hears you?” But she had already dashed to Logan, and I turned my eyes to Nate, standing next to him.
“I heard,” he said. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I kissed him.
“Connie, you’re going to choke him,” said Nate, looking at the two of them. “And we need him alive, at least for another couple of hours. We’re going to the bookstore. Bree is waiting for us.”
During the last two days Logan called Nate regularly from Tampa to keep him updated on his progress. No
w we were having a short meeting to fill the others in on the details.
The four of us arrived at the bookstore, and the moment we walked in, Gran locked the door. The back room smelled of fresh coffee. Gran put the pot and a plate of cookies on the table, and as we all sat down and filled our mugs, Nate pulled out his phone. He called Brian and put the phone on speaker.
“Hi, there,” said Brian.
“Hi, guys,” said Sam. We all said our chorus of hi, then Sam asked, “So, Logan, was that Murphy?”
“Yes,” said Logan. “The address was correct. And I found the apartment, but he wasn’t there. I asked around, but neighbors said they haven’t seen him in a while and they don’t really know much about him.”
“You could try to break into his place,” said Sam.
“Very funny,” said Nate. “Do you have Murphy’s phone number? We could call and say, ‘Sorry man, could you invite Logan in, he needs to break into your apartment.’”
Sam laughed. “Sorry, Logan, I keep forgetting that.”
“By the way, Sam, thanks for his mother’s address,” said Logan, “cause that’s where I got most of the info. Her house was empty, but her next door neighbor was very helpful. She and Sara Murphy lived next to each other for over thirty years and were very close. When Sara got sick, her neighbor looked after her.
“She told me that Murphy has been in jail for the past few months. The thing is, Murphy left his mother after he turned eighteen. During all those years, he only visited her a couple of times, when he needed something. When Sara was dying, she asked her neighbor to call her son, and she did, but he didn’t show up. So Sara asked her to call again and tell him she needed to give him something very important. The neighbor said that Sara didn’t have anything valuable, and she thought Sara just said it because she wanted very much to see her son one last time.
“Murphy came to the hospital, and the neighbor was surprised that he looked so good for his age. They talked, and he left. But then he came back the next day and attacked his sick old mother. At first he was shouting at her, saying how could she keep it from him his whole life. Then Sara said something and he got even angrier and nearly choked her. The doctors called security, and he was taken to the police station. The neighbor doesn’t know what exactly they put him in jail for, but she said it’s probably because he’s had other problems with the police besides this one.”
“This gets better and better,” Gran grumbled. “Like it wasn’t enough that he’s a dark witch, now he’s also an aggressive son of a bitch. Is he out yet?”
“The neighbor said she didn’t know, but she heard he got six months.”
“So this means he got the Callahan message,” said Brian. “I just don’t understand what made him so mad.”
“Maybe because he was nobody, had nothing, and always thought that he had no family,” said Nate. “And suddenly he finds out that his whole life, his mother has been hiding that he has royal blood in the magical world. I’m sure as someone who practices black magic, he knew the whole legend about Kenneth, and about the Cain and Callahan covens, he just never knew he was a part of it.” Nate sighed. “And now this immortal, aggressive, dark warlock is pissed off and thirsty for power. People like that don’t look for some cozy reunion with their family. Believe me, I know.”
“So what do we do?” asked Brian.
“There’s nothing more we can do but wait for him to show up,” said Nate.
“Nate and I, we took some extra precautions,” I said. “We put a barrier around the place where everything is hidden. So if he tries to enter it, I’ll know.”
“And you should keep your eyes open,” said Nate. “Even if Murphy did get six months, it doesn’t mean he’ll stay in jail that long.”
“All right,” said Brian. “We installed a camera on the house. If he shows up, we’ll know.”
“Shouldn’t we say something to Kate?” asked Sam. “We talk from time to time. Maybe I should tell her.”
“No,” said Nate. “She’s there alone, and there’s nothing she can do about any of this. The less she knows, the safer she is.”
“Guys,” said Sam, “maybe we should do this on Skype next time? It would be nice to see you all.”
Kill me now.
Connie chortled, and she glanced at me. Nate rolled his eyes.
“You missed me?” said Nate. “How touching. Keep us posted.” He hung up.
“Nathan,” said Gran, “what if he tries to contact the Order?”
“We know there were other Callahan who used dark magic, and a few of them tried to join the Order,” said Nate. “But they were tortured and killed for not knowing anything valuable, not even how to open the mausoleum. So they had nothing to help the Order with and were accused of being spies.
“If Murphy contacts the Order, first of all, he'll need to prove them that he’s a Callahan. He has not a single thing to do so, and the message he got was only in his head. To get the proof, he’ll come here. And that’s both good and bad. Good, because we’ll be able to catch him. And bad, because he can leave a huge trail for the Order to follow.”
“You know what I think?” I said. “I think that first he’ll need to prove it to himself. Like you said, he got a message in his head from his eighty-something dying mother. Wouldn’t he first try to make sure it’s true?” I grabbed a cookie. “So stop being dramatic. Okay?”
“Cheers to that,” said Connie, her worried face finally brightening.
“You’re right, as always,” said Nate.
Am I? Who knows what that nutcase will do first? But at least Gran is smiling now.
12
It was the middle of November, and there was no sign of Murphy anywhere. Even though Nate told me that if someone crossed the barrier I would know at once, I still dragged him to the Family Tree to check on the vault every time I felt a little bit warmer than usual. But everything was untouched and in their places.
Now, knowing that Nate was out there waiting for me, it didn’t feel so creepy to spend time in the vault looking through the shelves. The place still made my magical energy buzz in my ears, and every time I looked at Kenneth’s books, a chill run down my spine.
I found many grimoires and journals that belonged to different generations of Callahan witches. There were also a lot of valuable antique family heirlooms, and I even found one small chest with ancient gold coins, and another one with valuable jewelry.
Well, that’ll make Murphy happy.
Nate and I spent the weekends at the cabin as usual, and Mr. Lancaster spent the evenings with Gran so she wouldn’t be alone.
This Sunday Connie and Logan had invited us to their place for dinner for the first time, so we returned from the cabin a bit earlier.
Nate held a bottle of wine and I held flowers as we knocked. Connie and Logan opened the door together.
“I invite you in,” said Connie, beaming.
I laughed.
“What gave us away?” said Nate. “Were our fangs sticking out?” Then he glanced at Logan. “She’s having too much fun with this, buddy.”
“You should see her bite my neck.” Logan grinned. He pulled Connie to his side and planted a kiss on her temple.
“The place looks great,” I said, looking at the new curtains and the pictures on the wall as Connie and I sat on the couch in front of the fireplace.
“I love it here. When I’m out, this is the place I can’t wait to come back to.”
“Connie,” Logan called from the kitchen, “I think it’s done.”
She got up, and Nate took her place, handing me a glass of wine.
We had nearly finished eating when Nate’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and pressed the green button.
“Alan?” A frown spread across his face as he listened. “I’m on my way.” He hung up.
“What is it?” I stared at him.
“Someone is snooping around the mansion. Nicky, you wait here. It won’t take long.”
“I’ll come w
ith you,” said Logan.
The moment the two of them left, I called Gran.
“Gran, are you with Mr. Lancaster?”
“Yes, honey. Don’t worry, it’s nothing. It’s just one man. Maybe he’s at the wrong place.”
“Or maybe it’s Murphy?”
“We thought about it. But the mansion is in Alan’s name, and even if Murphy knows about Cain and that this was once their property, why would he come here?”
“You’re right. It’s probably nothing,” I said, not wanting her to worry more that she already was. “Is he still there?”
“We think so. But he’s moving around, and it’s hard to tell in the dark.”
“Gran, Nate and Logan are on their way. If he’s there, they’ll find him.”
I hung up, and Connie said, “If it was Murphy, wouldn’t he go to your place?”
“Maybe he did. Gran wasn’t home.” I sighed. “Let’s just wait for the guys to come back.”
We cleaned up the table, and Connie made some coffee. Then she threw a few more logs into the fireplace over the smoldering pieces of wood, and we sat talking and watching the logs catch fire.
I clutched the mug in my hands and kept turning my head toward the window at the sound of every passing car.
“Who was it?” I asked when Nate and Logan returned more than an hour later.
“We don’t know,” said Nate. “He was gone by the time we got there. We checked every room in the house to make sure whoever it was hadn’t gotten inside. Then we went to your place and checked it too. Everything seemed normal, but still, tonight you and Bree are staying at the mansion.”
“Is Gran okay with that?”
“She knows you wouldn’t come without her, so yes, she agreed.”
“Nate, you don’t think it’s Murphy, do you? How could Murphy know about the mansion? And even if he did, why would he go there?”
“That’s what I would like to know,” said Nate.
“It could be that he's learning the history of the covens and wanted to see the place,” said Logan.