I am alone, and I have to get the hell off this island. Although I cursed my tongue for telling Carrigan I only wanted to be near Max, I hoped it would make him less alert for signs I might be trying to escape.
After limping to the closet—yes, my left foot ached in the aftermath of Carrigan’s less than gentle removal of whatever Max had done to me—I found a light-green wrap dress that I could adjust to fit me and that would match my eyes. A jewelry box held several pendants, one of which was green and white swirled agate. I chose a silver—or maybe it was platinum—chain. White sandals in my size finished off the outfit.
“Now do I go down to dinner or wait for someone to fetch me?” I asked no one in particular.
A knock on the door answered my question, and a dark-skinned man dressed as a butler bowed to me and gestured I should follow him.
“Oh, so you work for Carrigan, then?” I asked. No answer. I asked the question again in case he hadn’t heard me. Still nothing.
Apparently I am to be ignored, perhaps so I don’t influence the staff.
The formal dining room was opposite the study, and again, large windows stood open to the sea breeze. The sun was setting, and I wished I’d looked for a sweater or wrap because I knew it would be chilly.
Max rose when I entered, and I couldn’t help but smile at him with familiarity. I had seen the man naked, after all. After I held his gaze too long to be merely polite, he blushed and looked away.
“Miss Marconi, you look lovely,” Carrigan said. Both men wore linen suits, Carrigan’s in dark blue and Max’s in tan.
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s amazing you had clothes and shoes that fit.”
“Yes, my late daughter Deirdre was about your size. It’s fortunate I held on to her things.” He inclined his head toward the dress, which I instantly hated even though the catty part of my brain—yes, we female werewolves have one, but never chase it—guessed I looked better in it than she did.
“Yes, indeed it is.” I smiled and nodded to him. Not going to give him the advantage here. A butler served ceviche in a large porcelain dish, and I exhaled the breath I’d held with hope everything would be served family style so I didn’t have to worry about poisoning.
“That pendant was a particular favorite, remember, Max?”
Apparently I don’t have to worry about him poisoning my body, just any chance Max may fall in love with me again. I smiled over clenched teeth and kicked myself for not thinking Carrigan would use my desire to interact with Max to my disadvantage. As attuned to him as I was, I didn’t miss the flash of pain that crossed his features when he looked at the agate. I took a deep breath to distract his attention lower.
“The necklace looks lovely on Miss Marconi,” Max said, sounding like he was just trying to be polite. He rubbed his temples. “I’m sorry, I think I might have picked up a sinus infection while working as a doctor on the mainland. I’ve got awful pressure in my head like I need to sneeze but can’t.”
“Oh, what were you doing there?” I asked. Tell me where your memory stops, and maybe I can help you get it back. I took a bite of ceviche with a fried plantain to look like I wasn’t overly eager for his answer.
“Helping a colleague who was on bed rest. However, once it became apparent her colleagues had things well under control, I came back here to attend to business.”
“What sort of business would that be?”
Carrigan cleared his throat and glared at Max. “Why, the business of seeing what your secrets are, Miss Marconi. Maximilian, remember, in our work, discretion is of the utmost importance.”
“I’m aware of that, but for some reason, I feel comfortable talking to her. Besides, she knows what she’s here for, right? Her protection.”
“Among other things.” Carrigan swirled the whiskey in his glass and made the ice clink. I knew that whenever I heard ice on glass, I would think of his heavy-lidded indifference toward my humanity and my feelings.
The butler and another staff member, an exotic-looking woman in a tan dress, brought in the main course. I let them take the ceviche reluctantly—it had been very tasty. Now together they served grilled fish fillets with a mango-avocado salsa and basmati rice.
“We’re happy to have you back, Doctor Max,” she murmured when she served him and leaned a little close so he could get a better look at her chest. It irritated me even though I’d just tried the same trick.
“It’s good to be back, Saraya,” he said and obliged by glancing at her offerings, and I don’t mean the fish.
“As you can see, we eat quite healthily here at Wizard Headquarters,” Carrigan said before the woman could respond. “You’ll likely find you drop a few pounds without as many carbs.”
I narrowed my eyes and swirled my wine—an unoaked Chardonnay from what I could tell. “If this is the headquarters, where is everyone else?” I gestured to the length of the table, which seemed quite bare with just the three places set.
“They are on assignment. Most only return here when called back for some reason or if it’s a festival or other reason for a wizard gathering.”
He went on to expound about the parties they threw for the solstices and equinoxes, but I only half paid attention. I watched Max, who picked at his food, and wondered if the spell removal had been as painful for him as it was for me.
The bottom of my foot pricked, and he looked up, wide-eyed.
“What was that?” he asked.
“What?” Carrigan looked around. “Did you sense something?”
Max frowned. “No, I just thought I felt something, but it’s fine. Your wards are in place.”
Carrigan looked at me, but I just ate nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. Maybe there is something left, after all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After dinner, the men went into the library where only wizards were allowed, and I went back to my room. I wished they had allowed me to pick out at least one book, but Carrigan was adamant I not even set foot in the room. He said he would have Saraya bring something up for me later. I didn’t believe him and indulged my frustration by sticking my tongue out at him after he locked the door behind me.
Nothing prevented me from walking out on my balcony, and I studied the waning moon, now at last quarter. It shone on the water in a diffuse path over rolling waves, and I breathed in its energy and the salt air. The thought beat at my head that I needed to escape, but I didn’t know how. Even if I could get out of the house, how would I get off the island? I needed to bide my time and wait for a plane or something else I could stow away on.
There are fewer prisons more effective than an island, and I am so very alone.
Watching the waves focused me, and I stepped back from my grief to examine what I knew to see if I could make sense of it.
First, Max had expressed true feelings for me, and the magical footsie at dinner was evidence there was still some sort of connection between us. I didn’t know how it would play out, but I didn’t need to give up hope yet.
Second, I had managed to get into the library through Deirdre’s portrait, and I wondered if I could again. I didn’t dare risk it until I knew both men were out of there in case someone caught me at it. I also wanted to know what was in there because my gut told me there was something beyond “No Girls Allowed,” or the wizard equivalent of it, that made Carrigan motivated to keep me out. Perhaps a book or an old manuscript or something that might tell me more about them than they wanted me to know or even better, something that would allow me to escape.
Third, it was after Max had come into my life that it had gotten even stranger. I had been able to summon Peter back to his house in Crystal Pines. I had gotten through the wards in the library, and something I did had kept Henry from taking my memories of our confrontation.
I tapped my finger on my lip. Being around Giancarlo—my heart made a regretful thud when it hit me I’d never see him again—seemed to increase my wolfishness. Being around Max seemed to increase my magical abilities, and I wo
ndered if I may have kept Carrigan from completely removing the marker from my foot. Does being around these supernatural beings enhance my own abilities? Could I have some sort of absorbing and augmenting talent?
If that was the case, I needed to figure it out, and fast, before Carrigan handed me over to Henry and his thugs. I smiled at the moonlight and basked in its glow. I can do this.
I dreamed my way into the alpha zone again. This time a weak orange sun shone over the beach, and the water lay still like a lake. I didn’t waste any time or allow myself to be distracted by the rustling of papery wings or the hissing of passing alpha snakes, and I avoided interacting with them. I guessed that whatever wards Carrigan may have to protect the library would be attenuated here, and I was right. In this zone, flickering orbs marked the corners of the protective spells and the shifting holes between them. Rather than tight seals, they looked more like ragged curtains, and it was easy to slip past them.
The library appeared in sepia tones like an old picture, and I had to stop myself from wanting to explore every little thing. Most of the portraits stared ahead with dead eyes except one, and I got some satisfaction that Deirdre slept with her mouth open and a little bit of drool coming out of it.
Yet he loved you. I shook my head. Focus, Lonna. I can’t stay here for long. I turned around and looked over the bookshelves for something that looked important, maybe that was kept in a box, or an indication that something was amiss. Glowing energy trails marked the passage of people in the room earlier, something I hadn’t gotten outside Aunt Alicia’s house, likely because no one but me had been there for a while.
“If Carrigan was hiding something, would he linger near it or avoid it?” I mused out loud.
A sharp pain pierced my neck, and I spun around, afraid one of the alpha snakes had snuck up on me. Instead, Deirdre was awake, and she looked none too pleased to see me. I reached back, but found nothing, only a sore spot.
“Ouch?” I said. “What the heck was that for?”
“So you escaped from Henry,” she said, her tone bored. “I’m glad you decided to actually come into the library the easy way rather than using my portrait. It’s rude to use someone without asking them.”
“I’m not sure how I did, but I’m sorry if I offended you,” I said and rubbed my neck. “What did you do to me?”
She shrugged and took a sewing needle from out of her own neck. The pain in mine ceased.
“You’re a voodoo pincushion?” I asked.
She shrugged. “We have a connection. You wore my clothes and jewelry, you’ve been through my portrait, and oh, you slept with my fiancé.”
“I get it, you’re pissed. Where did you get the needle? Okay, that’s not the most important question, but still, how does a painting get a weapon?”
“It was in my dress when my portrait was painted.” She smiled. “It took me days to find it afterwards, so cleverly hidden it was. Alas, it has lost its magical properties but can still inflict basic pain.”
“Thank goodness you didn’t have a dagger.” The sound of waves came to me, and I knew it was time to go. “Are you willing to help me?” I asked. “I know this is a stupid question because if I were you, I’d hate me too.”
“And if I were you, I’d hate me. I’m a tough act to follow.”
“Oh, great,” I said. “We even have similar attitudes.”
She grinned. “I cannot promise anything because my loyalty is to my father, but I will consider it. We could work out some sort of trade.”
The way she mentioned the trade suggested her father’s sinister way with words. I had a million more questions to ask her, but the tug told me it was time to go. I grabbed a book off a shelf at random so I could have something to read and followed the waves back to my room and my body.
Again, I woke and found I held on to a thick volume. Great, that’s going to take me the rest of my life. That’s probably not the best way to think about it.
The book’s bones poked through the threadbare cloth cover, and time and use had worn away any writing that may have been on the title and the spine. I sighed.
This is probably going to be some boring reference. I opened the cover expecting to see something like, “A detailed treatise upon the care, feeding, and magical uses of worms,” but the title made me catch my breath. A Basick History and Grimoire for Newly Challenged Wizards.
“Now this could be helpful,” I said. I started reading it, but I soon fell asleep.
The creak of the door startled me awake, and I shoved the book between the mattress and the headboard. I hoped they didn’t change the sheets every day.
Saraya entered with a tray, her face blank of any emotions.
“Your breakfast, Miss,” she said in her soft, lightly accented voice.
“Thank you, Saraya.”
At her name, she raised her eyebrows. “I’m not supposed to talk to you, Miss Marconi, but I do appreciate you learning my name. Most of them that come here don’t. Only Doctor Max and now you.”
“Why not? It’s a lovely name.”
A smile showed white teeth in her medium brown skin. “It’s a family name. Now eat up. Master Carrigan said he had lots of plans for you today and you’d need your strength. He told me what clothes to lay out for you.”
Her description of Carrigan’s orders ruined the treat of having breakfast in bed, but I forced myself to eat because I had no doubt it would be a while until lunch, if I even got lunch. It was a continental breakfast with prosciutto, some sort of yellow cheese, and toasted sweet bread, maybe brioche. The coffee was quite good, as was the orange juice. It occurred to me halfway through the meal, likely when the coffee hit my brain, that the food might be poisoned.
If he wanted me dead, he’d’ve killed me by now. However, it might have the Luridatone in it, which is keeping me from finding Wolf-Lonna.
Saraya laid out yoga pants, a sports bra, and a loose-fitting T-shirt with an open neckline. “I’m going to be doing yoga today? Please tell me it’s on the beach. That would be a lovely way to start the day.”
“Yes, ma’am, it would be, but I don’t know what he has planned for you. I never know the schedule for the new wizards.”
I raised my eyebrows and told them to get back down, If that’s what he told the staff, they might not ask questions if I snooped around. Or they might be extra watchful.
“Does he always keep our bedroom doors locked?”
“Yes, ma’am, to keep you from getting into things you shouldn’t.” She smiled at me. “Do you need help getting dressed?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
She took the tray and left. I waited until I heard her key in the lock before I got up and got dressed. I suspected there wasn’t a yoga class in my near future, so I did a few poses and stretches on the balcony in the shadow of the house on a mat I found out there. I was just pedaling my heels to stretch out my calves in Downward Dog when the sensation of cold fingers across the back of my neck almost made me tumble sideways. I looked at the beach to find its source. Henry stood by the water and mock-saluted me, then disappeared. I relaxed into Child’s Pose but didn’t put my head down.
Was that a threat? Or a promise? I bared my teeth, wishing I could go down there and tear his throat out. Even his astral throat would do. I heard whooshing in my ears and tried to follow the tug toward changing, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t continue it.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” Max said. He stood at the balcony door.
“You were so quiet I didn’t hear you come in.”
“It’s time to go. And don’t try changing or any other tricks. The staff has tranquilizer guns and instructions to use them on any strange wolves or dogs.”
I nodded and stood, brushing sand from my hands.
“There are shoes in the closet. Grab something you can run in.”
His tone was so cold I wondered what had happened, and then I remembered he and Carrigan had been alone the night before.
“He told you what I am,” I said.
“Yes, you’re one of the monsters who killed Deirdre and almost started another wizard/werewolf war.”
“I wasn’t there, Max. That was long before I changed the first time.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. That you’re part wizard doesn’t mean you can overcome your bestial nature. I can tell by looking at you that you’ve killed and would not hesitate to do so again.”
I remembered how he had knocked me aside to keep me from ripping out a thug’s throat at Aunt Alicia’s house. I have to keep my humanity and not give in, no matter how much I want to do that to Henry.
I found a pair of running shoes, put them on, and followed Max down to the main hall and the door to the dungeon. When he motioned for me to follow him, I stopped. The suffocating sensation of being surrounded by thick, mildewed walls choked me.
“I don’t want to go down there,” I said. “There can’t be anything good in a dungeon.”
He shrugged and grabbed my wrist. His touch sent an electric jolt up my arm, and my body responded to him like he’d just asked me to go back to bed with him. I leaned into him, my face upturned to his, and noticed the length of him responding to me.
“You’re not really going to take me down there, are you?” I asked and looked up at him through my lashes. “I promise I’ll be a good girl.”
He swallowed. “I’m afraid I’m not the one in charge here, Miss Marconi. Besides, that touch was supposed to stun you, not do, ah, this.”
“Maybe I’m not your typical prisoner,” I said and looked into his eyes. “Or maybe you didn’t want to stun me.” He pushed me away and let go, and I stumbled backwards.
Long Shadows: The Lycanthropy Files, Book 2 Page 22