“I came to check that Evelyn was safely returned to Greyhaven.”
“You wanted her back, she’s back,” Ravenna said, pointing both her hands in my direction as I turned my body to look at Serena.
“Yes, Evelyn, I’ll never give you the opportunity to hear me say these words again. If you leave Greyhaven, even for a moment, before you’ve fulfilled your purpose, I will kill the entire town, and then you, and I don’t care what it costs me.”
I clenched my jaw. I never should have left in the first place, but how the hell was I supposed to find Nero without leaving Greyhaven?
“Do you understand, Evelyn?” she whispered now looking directly at me.
“Serena, I may not have any of your little witchy powers, but I’m still faster and stronger than you, and if you don’t get the hell out of my car in the next five seconds, I will snap your neck faster than you can say magic,” Ravenna spat before I could reply.
“Careful, immortal, the only reason you’re still alive is due to the debt I owe your mother,” she said softly just before disappearing before our eyes.
“Can’t we just kill her?” I asked, looking at Ravenna, who started the car again. Something about Serena always being so incredibly calm was more unnerving than if she wasn’t. Would another witch from Aurelius’s Ravens be able to stop her?
“Witches are not to be trifled with, dearest, especially not that one,” she replied as the car sped down the road once again. “The best thing we can hope for is that Blake does manage to bring a powerful witch back and that whoever she is can bind Serena’s power long enough for us to imprison her.”
“Why is nothing ever straightforward in this town?” I leaned back in the seat.
“This town? Ha, love, nothing in life is ever straightforward, period. Now, as soon as we get back to the house, you are going to eat something. Don’t even think about protesting, and then you and I are going to look for a way to defeat Serena. We have thousands of manuscripts and books in our library. There is bound to be a Grimoire or a Book of Shadows with some spells that can help our new little witch.”
“How do you know about all of these things?” I asked as we approached the bridge to Greyhaven.
“Five hundred years is a long time to learn everything you can about the world,” she replied as we slowed down to cross the bridge. “We have new staff at the manor by the way. Try not to look at them with sympathy. I think they’re starting to cotton on that something happened to the last lot.”
“Oh God, I am so bad with that,” I whispered as the car climbed the hill to the manor. An image of Fayme flashed in my mind and guilt made its way into my chest.
“Keeping your expression in check—we’ve all noticed.” She grinned.
We reached the black gates, which were already open, and drove through to the courtyard. “Come on, let’s get you inside,” Ravenna said, opening her door.
I followed her into the house, and we were instantly met by a young girl with brown eyes and a kind smile. “Good evening, Miss Greyson, may I take your coats?”
“No, Nelly, but please go and ask Cook to make something for Evelyn immediately, something full of fat, macaroni and cheese or something of the sort,” Ravenna spoke as she shook off her coat and then turned to take mine as Nelly walked off in the direction of the kitchen. “Let’s just leave these here for her, shall we?” Ravenna said, placing the coats on the staircase. “Come on, let’s get you into something that actually fits.” She took my hand and led me up the stairs.
“Do you think Blake will be okay?” I asked and looked back at his coat laying on the floor.
Ravenna paused midstairs and turned to me. “Evelyn, all jokes aside, you cannot allow yourself to start feeling anything for Blake.” Her words cut into me like a knife.
I took a sharp breath in. “I know.” I nodded, not even bothering to protest that I was very likely already fighting not to feel anything for Blake.
“Just, you know, prophecies and all that nonsense. Selfishly, I’d rather not die at the hands of you,” she said, suddenly more serious that I had ever seen her. She turned away from me and kept walking up the stairs.
“So, you think it’s true?” I whispered and followed her.
“I think the fact that everything started unhinging the moment you arrived in the immortal world would be too much of a coincidence. Something is happening, and I think you’re the catalyst for it. I think I believe it enough to worry about you and Blake ever falling in love.”
My head jerked as she said the words. “Surely you control who you fall in love with?” I breathed and stopped myself from rolling my eyes as we reached the landing.
“Which shows how little you know about love.” Ravenna turned to me and raised her brows. “I couldn’t help falling in love with Tristan.” She shrugged as we continued down the hall.
“What?” I gaped. “As in, you were in love in love?”
“Yes, Evelyn.” She laughed. “In love in love. We dated for two hundred years.”
“Why would he date Victoria after dating you?” I mumbled as we passed the first few doors.
“Victoria is a mere distraction,” she scoffed. “However, it is lasting longer than I thought it would.”
“How long have they been together?” I asked, wondering how long they could have possibly dated. Victoria couldn’t have been older than twenty.
She most certainly behaves like a five-year-old.
“About seventy-two years now I think,” she replied, looking at the ceiling as she tried to remember.
“Victoria cannot be that old,” I protested as we reached a door that Ravenna pushed open.
“It’s hard to believe isn’t it?”
“Oh my God, this room is amazing.” I gaped. We walked into the room that looked like it belonged in Versailles. There was gold filigree on every wall and mirrors everywhere else. The ornate gold canopy bed was the size of my entire room back home.
“Welcome to the Queen Anne Boleyn,” Ravenna said, making her way to an ornate gold dresser.
“Are all the rooms named after queens?” I looked up at the crystal chandelier that was as big as the one in the entrance hall.
“Strangely enough, I think so,” she said, looking up at the ceiling again. She seemed to do that when she couldn’t remember something.
“I named this after Anne because I loved her so,” she sighed. “Before that brute of a man took her head to marry that little witch Jane Seymour.” She shook her head as if it had happened yesterday.
“You lived in the Tudor Court?”
“Well, technically, I met Anne in France. We never saw each other again. I couldn’t stand the English court, and I despised Henry,” she explained while ruffling through some drawers.
“You met Henry VIII?” I asked and stepped forward.
“I did, a pig of a man,” she said, shutting the drawer and holding out what looked like pajamas.
“I could have really used you in my history class.” I grinned and took the pants and the tank top.
“You would have hated those times, love. Women were treated as commodities, married off and bartered with—”
“Wait, did you know Elizabeth I?” I asked.
“Her breath was awful, and her teeth were worse.” Ravenna laughed. “Get changed in there,” she said, pointing at what could only be an en suite bathroom. “We’ll go down and have dinner. I may even eat with you.” She grinned.
The bathroom was just as ornate as the bedroom. I got dressed quickly, grateful that I was the same size as Ravenna, and found her lying on the massive bed examining her nails.
“Do you ever get bored?” I asked as she got up.
“Of life?”
“Of all of it,” I said, my eyes darting around the room again. “You’ve spent time with kings and queens, seen wars come and go, lived thro
ugh innovation and invention, and you’re still here.”
She beckoned me to the door, and we left the room.
“At first, things moved slowly, like somehow, you’re still mortal, and time is still finite, like it somehow still has meaning, and then, at the hundred-year mark or so, you start to feel it. Of course, your body stays young, but suddenly you’re not so naïve anymore. You witness mortals being persecuted for their beliefs, people dying in wars that are created to make rich people even richer, people starving, disease, and famine. Then occasionally, there’s a Hitler or a Stalin or a Khmer Rouge, and all you can do is watch from a distance.”
“You can’t interfere?” I asked, thinking that if the immortals wanted to help, they could easily do so.
“We can, but then people would know about us. They would start searching for answers and find a chest they could open and make themselves in our image,” she said as we walked down the stairs.
“I wonder what the world is going to look like in five hundred years?” I said quietly as we turned and made our way to the lounge Tristan and Ravenna had first taken me to.
“Hopefully a bit better than it does now, love,” she said, pushing the door open. A fire crackled in the massive fireplace at the end of the room, and I followed Ravenna to the sofas.
“Netflix?” she asked, grabbing the remote.
“You have Netflix in Greyhaven?”
“Oh God yes, immortality is boring enough,” she said with narrowed eyes.
I grinned. “Sure, why not?” If this was about to play out like it did with Justin and me, we wouldn’t ever watch anything but all the trailers and remain completely indecisive about what to watch until we finally gave up.
“Miss Greyson,” Nelly’s voice echoed through the room. “Would you like dinner served here?” she asked, not yet walking through the door.
“Yes, Nelly, here is just fine.” Ravenna smiled.
Nelly nodded, and a few seconds later she and another mortal woman carried two trays into the room. They set them down on the coffee table in front of us. “Would you like something to drink?” Nelly asked.
“I’ll have a glass of champagne—nay, bring the bottle, Nelly. It’s a time of dire need.”
I grinned. “I’ll just have some orange juice.”
“Ah, mimosa, perfect,” Ravenna said as Nelly and the other woman left the room.
“How do you feel about A Star is Born? I do love Judy.” She examined the macaroni and cheese she ordered. “You know, I have never eaten this.” She frowned at the food.
“Boy, are you in for a treat,” I said, leaning forward and picking up the plateful of macaroni and cheese. For the first time in days, I actually felt a pang of hunger. I lifted the first forkful to my mouth. The sensation of chewing was almost alien to me at this point.
“Good lord, are you actually eating, Evelyn Sinclair?”
Sinclair. My immortal family’s name. Not a real one, considering they were Greek from Crete.
Half a bowl of macaroni later, having listened to a champagne-laden Ravenna sing “The Man That Got Away” with Judy Garland, we were both silently watching the screen when I felt my eyelids getting heavy.
Please don’t dream, please don’t dream—don’t dream.
-
“Evelyn,” I heard her voice call from the edge of the sofa.
“Astara,” I moaned. My shoulders slumped as I tried to sit up.
“I know you’re tired of this, my little evening star, but you must help me,” she said, clambering toward me. I could still feel Ravenna on the other couch but knew that this was my dream, that she would have no idea what was being said.
“Just tell me what I need to do, and I will do it, but you have to tell me,” I said, not moving as she kneeled down to come face-to-face with me.
“My brother Nero, he knows how to resurrect me, but I cannot tell you where he is. The last time I saw him was on the outskirts of Greyhaven over four hundred years ago,” she whispered, her eyes wide with desperation.
“Astara, we’re trying to find him, it’s not easy,” I said, lifting my head from the couch now.
“You have already set those wheels in motion,” she replied confidently. “And I am so grateful for that. You should not look for Nero, instead, look for my sister. Look for Servilia. Wherever Servilia is, Nero is not far behind. When Tristan returns, he will know where they are, and you can find them and bring them back here to help me.”
“Astara,” I said, shaking my head now. “Serena is threatening everyone in Greyhaven for you right now. It doesn’t look good.”
“That’s why we need your help,” she replied. Before I could protest again that I would not help her, Astara lifted her index finger and placed it on my lips. “When you wake up, you won’t remember any of this save that you need to find Servilia. But you will help me, and for that, you will have to become immortal sooner rather than later, my little star.”
Anxiety heaved in my chest, but before I could say or do anything, the blackness of sleep pulled me back into its clutches.
“Evelyn?” Ravenna said, sitting up.
“I don’t know why, but I suddenly have the overwhelming feeling that finding Servilia is the key to finding Astara,” I said, sitting up myself.
“Did you just have a dream?” she asked as she paused the movie.
“I—I can’t actually remember. I just know that I have to find Servilia,” I said.
Ravenna grabbed her phone and held it to her mouth until Tristan’s voice sounded through.
“Rav?”
“You need to find Servilia,” she said, her voice slightly constricted.
“As in the crazy woman who makes Nero look like a Care Bear?” Tristan scoffed.
“Evelyn just had another dream, well, we think she did. She’s insisting that if we find Servilia, we find Nero.”
“Okay, I’ve just finished negotiating with Lyle.”
“Oh God, how did that go? Is he still his charming old self?” Ravenna sighed.
“He’s agreed to give me three Dark Soldiers, but he wants Nero captured, not killed.”
“He wants Nero’s abilities for himself,” Ravenna replied and shook her head.
“Of course he does. You should see his eyes.”
“Yellow?”
“Tiger’s eyes,” Tristan drawled. “I’d better go. We’re about to board the jet. Any idea where to start looking for Servilia?”
“Evelyn?” Ravenna said, looking my way.
“I don’t know. The only other dream I’ve had was Nero in London near the docks,” I replied, feeling utterly useless.
“Did you hear that?” Ravenna asked Tristan.
“Got it. I’ll call you when we find something.”
As soon as Ravenna put the phone back down on the couch, it started ringing again.
“Brother.”
Blake. My throat immediately constricted, and my heart beat faster. Ravenna narrowed her eyes at me.
“I’ve got Hella,” Blake’s voice echoed through the room.
“She came willingly?”
“For protection against Aurelius and sanctuary in Greyhaven.”
“We had a little visit from Serena earlier,” Ravenna said.
“Is Evelyn okay?” Blake’s voice rang. Goose bumps travelled down my back.
“Yes, and I’m all right too,” Ravenna said, rolling her eyes.
“Besides your delicate ego, Sister,” Blake said. I could hear the grin in his tone.
“Only eclipsed by your megalomaniac one.” Ravenna laughed.
“I’m three hours away,” Blake said.
“Tristan is on his way to London to try to find Nero,” Ravenna said.
“Hella is busy with a location spell. We should be able to track him down now.”
“Okay, call us when you have more information,” Ravenna said and lowered the phone without saying goodbye.
“Okay, let’s get you to bed,” Ravenna said, getting up.
“Wait, no way. Blake is getting here in three hours, and by the sound of it, we’ll know where Nero is,” I said, refusing to move from the spot.
“Fine, then nap here. I’ll wake you when he’s back.” She collapsed back onto the couch.
I nodded and laid my heavy head back on the couch. Ravenna pressed play on the movie, and Judy Garland began to speak. “You know as much about me as I do myself. But, you see how long it’s taken me to get this far. Now, all I need is just a little luck.”
“And two witches,” I mumbled as my eyes grew heavy once again.
Chapter Thirty
“Evelyn, wake up,” Ravenna said, patting my arm as she walked past me. I lifted my head and groaned. “Blake is back.” She left the room.
I sat up like a bolt of lightning had hit me. I was about to get up when Ravenna, Blake, and a beautiful woman with long blond hair and forest-green eyes walked into the room. She walked so closely to Blake that their arms were touching. A flush of heat moved from my chest to my cheeks.
Oh God, stop being ridiculous! So what if they’re walking closely together?
I turned my eyes away from them and took a deep breath.
Seriously, get a grip. You’re being hunted down by a crazy witch and taking orders from a dead woman. Was I actually jealous that he was in close proximity to a beautiful girl?
“Is this the mortal?” the woman asked. Her accent was distinctly Nordic.
“Evelyn, this is Hella. She’s here to help us,” Blake said as I finally stood to face them. Blake hardly seemed to notice me as his phone rang, and he turned away and walked toward the door without saying another word.
“Evelyn,” Hella said, her Dutch accent deep and steady. “I’m going to cast three different spells today.” Ravenna narrowed her eyes at the woman as spoke. “The first one is going to be a bilocation spell. Serena is very skilled at this. We’re going to create an impression of you, a clone if you will, and that will stay here. The second spell is a cloaking spell. I’ll cloak you so Serena believes that the impression of you is, well, you. The last one will be a protection spell on every single person in Greyhaven, using you as an anchor and a source of energy because Serena will not harm you. You’ll have to agree to all three.” She placed her hands on her hips. Her long black dress and combat boots looked out of place in the ornate manor.
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