Darktide

by Christine Pope

  “Dragging civilians into this might work to our advantage,” Alex said. “I mean, if Escobar’s busy controlling civilian minds to keep this whole thing on the down-low, maybe he won’t have much energy left over for the rest of us. There’s got to be a limit to his powers, right?”

  Olivia tilted her head to one side, apparently considering his question. “If there is, I haven’t seen it. I’m not sure how he does it, but as far as I can tell, every member of the Santiago clan is working with him and happy to have him in charge. I’m not going to lie — I know there was always a faction who weren’t happy about having Simón running things, who thought Beatriz should step aside, since she wasn’t a fully functioning prima. But those people were a minority. I guess it’s possible that my father doesn’t have to use his mind-control skills on that group, because his goals are in line with theirs. There were far, far more who wouldn’t agree with what’s going on, though, and they’re just as compliant as the others. So I guess that’s the long way of saying that if he does have a limit to those powers, I haven’t seen it yet.”

  This was getting better and better. Caitlin wondered if Joaquin Escobar was also controlling the Ludlows, although it didn’t really sound that way. It was more like what Olivia had just described about the Santiagos who didn’t much care for Simón’s leadership — the Ludlows’ goals were in line with Escobar’s, so it made sense for them to work together.

  “So what do we do now?” she asked.

  Olivia shrugged again. “I don’t know. I just wanted to tell you what I’d heard, what I know. My father isn’t going to give up, and neither are the Ludlows. They want to expand their power, and an alliance will do that.”

  “Well,” Caitlin said, “one thing I do know is that we need to get you out of here. You’re certainly not safe in a motel room by yourself. We’ll take you back with us, figure out a place for you to stay.”

  “That’s not necessary — ”

  “Oh, yeah, it is,” Alex broke in. “We’re not going to leave you here. Once your father gets over Levi being stolen back, he’s going to figure out that you’re gone — and because he has the resources of the Santiagos and the Ludlows at his fingertips, I’m pretty sure he’s going to figure out fairly quickly where you’ve gone. The best thing to do is make sure you’re surrounded by other witches and warlocks. I guess we’ll have to leave it up to Zoe, since she’s the new prima.”

  Olivia frowned at that comment, delivered so matter-of-factly, although Caitlin could guess how much effort it had cost Alex to speak so naturally about the transfer of power that had just occurred. “I thought your mother was the prima of the de la Pazes.”

  “She was, until your father killed her.”

  At once Olivia’s hand went to her mouth, and her olive skin paled visibly. “Oh, my God, Alex. I am so sorry. I didn’t know — I was driving — ”

  “It’s okay,” he said, his tone probably sharper than he’d intended. “It’s not your fault. But now we need to get you out of here, and we need to let Zoe and Connor and Angela know that your father is going to be bringing the battle to us.” His dark eyes glittered with barely suppressed fury. “We just have to make sure we’re ready, no matter what.”

  19

  Angela

  My restful afternoon didn’t last for very long. True, I did doze for about a half hour, more out of sheer overload than anything else. My body knew that it needed a reset, even as I fretted over what the hell we were supposed to do next.

  Because I’d brought my phone with me upstairs to the bedroom — against Connor’s wishes; he told me to leave the damn thing behind so I could get some real rest — I heard it the second it started buzzing. I rolled over and picked it up, checked the screen. Inwardly, I’d hoped it was Trish, calling to provide a status update on the elders’ meeting with Levi. I doubted he’d give them too much trouble about staying in his apartment, because he knew better than anyone else how much at risk he was. But still, it would have been good to know how he reacted.

  But it wasn’t Trish calling. It was Zoe.

  I picked up the phone, glad that Connor had stayed downstairs to allow me to sleep. He’d said he was going to try FaceTiming with Emily and Ian again. I hoped he’d been able to get through. My last text from Margot had indicated that they were maybe going to take the kids into town for ice cream.

  It all sounded so normal, so fun. I remembered when the only thing I had to worry about was whether Ian’s shoes would last him for more than a month or two. Now five and a half, he was growing like a weed.

  Pushing those thoughts away, I put the phone to my ear. “Hi, Zoe. How are you doing?”

  “As well as can be expected, I guess.” Her voice wavered a bit on the last word, but when she continued, she sounded firm enough, back in control. “Word’s gone out among the clan, and my cousin Stephen just took Luz to the funeral home. We’re hoping we can have the funeral in three days, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “Wait and see for what?” I asked, although I thought I knew the answer. With Joaquin Escobar still on the rampage, it was hard to make plans that were too far off in the future.

  Her answer confirmed my suspicions. “See if things are going to be quiet enough. That’s why I called. Alex and Caitlin slipped off to do something while I was talking to David and Evan. It turns out they’d met up with Olivia Gutierrez.”

  The name wasn’t familiar. “Who’s that?”

  “Joaquin Escobar’s daughter. The nunca.”

  To be honest, I’d almost forgotten she existed. Because she didn’t have any true magical powers, she’d been on the periphery of things. But what the hell was she doing in Phoenix, of all places? “What did she want?”

  “To provide information. I guess her father basically yanked her out of the life she’d been living and made her his servant. She took off this morning, I guess, running here because it was the only refuge she could think of.” Zoe paused, then added, “And also to let us know that her father isn’t going to give up just because we got Levi back. He and the Ludlows are apparently pretty serious about making sure their prima-in-waiting gets the consort she picked out. I suppose Olivia could be exaggerating, but Caitlin made it sound as though we should be expecting World War 3 or something.”

  It would be nice if this was all an exaggeration, but I didn’t think so. And if Joaquin Escobar decided that an all-out witch war was the only way to get Levi back and keep his Ludlow allies happy, I wasn’t sure what would stop him. Certainly not Connor and me alone. We’d barely survived the last encounter. I couldn’t ask Zoe to step into that kind of situation, not when I had no way of knowing she wouldn’t suffer the same fate as her aunt.

  “Well, it was a risk we were willing to take,” I told her. “I wasn’t kidding myself into thinking that Escobar would take all this lying down. We’ll figure something out, though. In the meantime, just stay on your guard, as you have been doing. If anyone sees or hears anything suspicious, no matter how small it might be, make sure you let me know about it.”

  “I will.” Zoe actually sounded almost relieved, as if she was glad that I’d stepped in and was taking charge.

  Which I would continue to do — with Connor at my side, of course. I couldn’t expect Zoe to assume much of a leadership role right now. She needed to mourn her aunt, and she would also need some time to become familiar with the prima power within her. That last thing I wanted to do was drag her into a council of war or something. At some point, I would have to include her in our decision-making, because her clan was just as involved in all this as mine was, but if I could put that moment off even for a day or so, I thought she’d be in a much better position to help out. A person could only take so many shocks at once.

  “What are you going to do about Olivia?” I asked. To be honest, I was hoping Zoe would say she’d already found a place for her somewhere among the de la Pazes; we’d already taken in Lucinda, and even though Olivia clearly wasn’t on her father’s side in all
this, I thought it might be better to keep the two women safely separated, at least until all this was over.

  “She’s going to stay with my cousin Susanna down in Tempe. They’re about the same age, and since Susanna isn’t married and has a house with a spare bedroom, it seemed like the easiest solution for now. Evan and I have the room, but….” Zoe trailed off then, and gave a sigh that was audible even through my phone’s speaker. “I guess I’m going to have to think about moving soon.”

  “I think you can put that off until we get this Escobar situation straightened out,” I told her, hating more than ever the stupid tradition among witch clans that the new prima always had to move into the former prima’s home. It provided some continuity for the clan, but at what cost? “I mean yes, eventually you’ll need to be in the prima’s house, but no one’s going to expect you to pick up and move before you’re ready.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.” She hesitated, then said, “How did you ever manage? It just feels like everything is rushing at me all at once.”

  “I had my clan’s elders to help me, and my friends,” I replied. “Just like you have Evan and Alex and Caitlin and your parents, and anyone else you need to lean on. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness — the opposite, actually.”

  Zoe managed a weak chuckle. “I’ll try to remember that. Anyway, I need to go. Evan just let me know that Michael woke up and is hungry. But….”

  “But what?”

  “Do you know what you’re going to do, Angela? Really know?”

  Now it was my turn to sigh. “Not yet. But I will.”

  We ended the call and I pushed myself off the bed, then reached down to pick up my discarded flats and slide them back on my feet. All seemed quiet enough downstairs, so either Connor hadn’t been able to FaceTime with the twins after all, or he’d already spoken with them.

  As it turned out, he was sitting in the family room off the kitchen, rapidly texting with someone. I raised an eyebrow at him as I approached, and he mouthed the word “Marie.” Well, that made sense. If anyone in the Wilcox clan possessed the knowledge we needed to fight Joaquin Escobar, it was probably Connor’s cousin Marie. Technically my stepmother, too, although I still found it difficult to think of her that way. It wasn’t so much her prickly nature — which, I had to admit, had smoothed out a lot over time, thanks to her marriage to my father after so many years of believing she’d always be alone — but more that I hadn’t even known Andre Begonie was my father until I was an adult. He hadn’t raised me, so why would I look at Marie as a stepmother? She just happened to be the person my father was married to.

  I went to the kitchen and retrieved the glasses of water Connor and I had left sitting on the counter there, then returned to the family room and sat down on the big overstuffed armchair that was my favorite seat — when I could actually sit in it, that is. The twins loved it, too, and so there was almost always a squabble as to who would get it when it came time for TV watching.

  Thinking of those mundane family activities made me ache inside. I wanted this over with. I wanted to go back to the life Connor and I had had with our children before Joaquin Escobar intervened. Probably an outsider would have laughed at the thought of a family of witches and warlocks being “mundane,” but it was true. Yes, Connor and I possessed some very unusual powers, but we still went grocery shopping and drove the kids to preschool and took time out to go to the movies in Sedona. We drove up Mingus Mountain in the winter so we could build snowmen — that was the only place near Jerome where the snow fell thickly enough to make that activity at all practical — and escaped to Flagstaff in the summer to enjoy our house in the cool pines. On the surface, it was a quiet enough existence, but I loved it with every ounce of my being.

  And I wanted it back.

  At last Connor ended his convo with Marie and laid his phone down on the sofa cushion next to him. “I thought you were going to take a nap.”

  “I did — for about twenty minutes. But then Zoe called me.”

  “Everything okay?”

  “There haven’t been any new catastrophes, if that’s what you mean.” I couldn’t help grimacing slightly at the thought of everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours. The only good to come out of the whole situation was that Connor and I had taken control of some new powers, but for what good? Luz was gone, and it seemed that Joaquin Escobar was still gunning for us.

  I told Connor about Olivia Gutierrez’s escape from Southern California, and how she had gone to the de la Pazes for help. “She’s safe, which is something,” I went on. “But she’s really convinced that her father is never going to give up. Levi is the condition for the Ludlows’ cooperation, and so Escobar is going to keep trying until he succeeds. He doesn’t care about collateral damage, or exposure to civilian authorities. Nothing seems to be much of a deterrent. We can try to face him as best we can. But I’m worried, Connor. I’m worried that even all of us put together isn’t going to be enough.”

  He rubbed his hand over his chin. “The Ludlows are really going along with all this?”

  “It sure sounds that way. They want Levi for their prima-in-waiting. Having someone with his powers would be an incredible advantage, at least on the surface. The thing is, I don’t think they have any idea how pure-hearted Levi is. He doesn’t do things for personal gain, or to increase his own powers. I don’t see how they think they can just change his personality like that.”

  “They don’t have to,” Connor said grimly. “Or rather, they can have Joaquin Escobar mind-control him into doing whatever they want.”

  “Does that sort of thing even work on Levi?”

  “I don’t think any of us had the time to ask. But since Escobar’s null powers clearly had an effect on him, I think it’s safe to guess that his mind-control talents must also work, although maybe not as effectively as they would on most people.”

  “So….” I leaned over and picked up my water glass so I could drink; for some reason, my mouth was suddenly dry. Tension, probably. Too bad the source of my stress didn’t have any intention of giving up so I could relax. “I guess we’ll have to explore our options. What were you texting with Marie about?”

  “When we first found out what Joaquin Escobar was, I asked her to go back through the Wilcox family archives and see if there were any records of anyone with null powers. She had a lot of crap to sift through, but she said she did find something from the early 1920s. It wasn’t that anyone specifically called out this cousin’s powers as ‘null,’ but more that it sounded as if people’s talents didn’t work around her. However, that was all Marie was able to locate. If that Wilcox witch was actually a null, she didn’t seem to use her powers to hurt anyone, and they certainly didn’t interfere with….” Connor paused there, and looked like he was doing some quick mental arithmetic. “I think it was Jonah Wilcox who was primus at that point. Anyway, there didn’t seem to be any interruption of his ‘rule,’ so to speak, and it also doesn’t sound as if the talent has appeared in the Wilcox clan since then.”

  “Which only reinforces what Luz first told us, that it’s a very rare gift. Our records aren’t that organized, but I’m pretty sure either Boyd or Allegra would have mentioned it if there had ever been anyone like that among the McAllisters.” I set my glass back down on the coffee table, then tucked a piece of hair behind one ear. “Anyway, none of that really helps us with our current problem. As strong as our clans are, I don’t think they’re strong enough to face down this threat if Escobar really gets serious.”

  Connor picked up his phone and placed it on the coffee table, then patted the seat next to him. While I loved my big squishy armchair, I loved him a lot more. Right then, I could use the comfort of his presence next to me. So I got up from where I’d been sitting and plunked myself down next to him, was gratified to feel his arm move around my waist so he could pull me in close.

  “What’s your plan, then?” he asked. “Do you think we
should ask for outside help?”

  “It’s the only thing I can think of,” I replied. “I just don’t know who. I can’t imagine that the clans in Oregon or Nevada would be too happy to find out about this alliance between the Ludlows and the Santiagos, but I barely know the names of those clans. I wouldn’t know who to reach out to.”

  Fingers playing with a lock of my hair, Connor said, “No, the Wilcoxes have never had a connection with any of those clans, either. And geographically speaking, it would be hard to form an alliance of our own with the witches and warlocks in Oregon. Nevada, maybe, but…I really think our best bet is the Castillos.”

  Of course. They were the clan that held sway in New Mexico — all of it, which was somewhat unusual. Most of the time, a witch clan didn’t cover that much territory. Then again, New Mexico wasn’t exactly what you could call a heavily populated state.

  More importantly, the Wilcoxes had a connection to the Castillos going way back. I didn’t know all the details of the story, but apparently the Wilcox healer had done a favor for the Castillo prima when the Wilcoxes were traveling to their new home in the Arizona Territories, and the two clans had remained somewhat friendly ever since. There was certainly more history to draw on with them.

  “Do you think they’ll be receptive?”

  “All we can do is ask. Isabel Castillo — she’s the prima — was open enough to allowing Lucas and Margot to travel to Santa Fe for their honeymoon, so at least we have some recent contact with the clan. And I find it hard to believe that Isabel would take kindly to having a usurper like Joaquin Escobar parked next door…if the worst happens.”

  I didn’t want to imagine what that “worst” would be…the dark warlock somehow steamrollering his way through Arizona, subjugating the clans here just like he’d suborned the Santiagos. In that world, there wouldn’t be any room for Connor and me — or Zoe and Evan. Would Escobar allow our children to live? I somehow doubted it. He’d make sure to wipe out any possible heirs to the Wilcox, McAllister, or de la Paz clans.