A long moment passes before the woman sighs. “Sure. I’ll make the call.”
Taj thanks her as she begins fiddling with her phone while keeping the bulk of her attention on the road. But the concession does little to quiet my growing fears. It’s been more than an hour since we left the cabin. There’s no telling what could have happened in that time. With the looming threat of Lillian drugging the majority of the supernatural community, Mona seemed like a smaller problem—an issue for another day. But now I see clearly that we should have had our guard up further than it was. Sure, maybe Mona did come to Bryn with real intelligence about Lillian’s whereabouts, but that doesn’t mean that Mona turned over a new leaf. Someone like Mona Ward doesn’t chance imprisonment out of the goodness of her heart—no matter how “changed” she claims to be. For Mona to have stuck her neck out this far must mean the reward is worth the risk.
I can only hope we haven’t realized our mistake too late.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bryn
“How are you coming along, dear?”
Turning my attention from the pie-pumpkin size ceramic cauldron clamped between my knees, I offer Mona my most withering glare. “How do you think?”
The sleek sedan speeds along a two-lane highway, but little of the bright sunlight filters through the dark tinted windows. Mona sits in the passenger’s seat, her hair swept up into a sleek bun at the crown of her head. She looks impressively put-together for someone who was a prisoner less than two hours ago.
Our driver—a forty-something man whose name I don’t know—gives no indication he heard either of us speak. Instead, he stares out the windshield, his hands gripping the steering wheel at ten and two. He hasn’t spoken a word since Mona and I slid into his car back in Twin Rivers.
Oddly, the twist of guilt that originally knotted my stomach when Mona used her song on him has all but vanished. I still hate that she did it, of course, but I can understand her reasoning. The Front may have created an identity for me, but with everything happening, I have no access to it. Not only do I have no money, I have no identification at all. Mona has both money and identification, but she’s a wanted criminal. There’s no way the two of us could rent a car to take us where we need to go. We might be able to hire a driver, but given what I have to do before we arrive at our destination, a stranger could ask too many questions. And even if Mona had some contacts somewhere who could have given us a lift, getting into a car with some skeevy guy like Aldridge or most of the other guards I knew back at the compound isn’t something I’m particularly interested in doing.
Mona promised she will release him as soon as we make it to the place where Lillian is holed up. The disruption to his life will be minimal.
At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Mona sighs heavily, reminding me of the librarian I used to know who always seemed irritated when his eyes landed on me. “Child, if I had the slightest inkling of how the potion was coming along, I wouldn’t have to ask. You have all the ingredients, correct?”
“Yes,” I grind out through clenched teeth. I tripled-checked the list back at the spell supply store in Twin Rivers. “But it’s a pretty complex spell.”
Her face scrunches as she narrows her eyes at the cauldron. “Certainly no more difficult than some of the ones you’ve done for me before.”
The car hits a pothole and the liquid in the cauldron sloshes so high I’m afraid it might spill onto the taupe carpet at my feet. I lift an eyebrow. “I’ve never had to do my work in a moving vehicle.”
Mona waves away my problem. “Time is rather of the essence. You simply won’t have time to work once we arrive. When it’s time to strike, you can’t be mixing things together.”
She turns back to face the windshield and I stick my tongue out. It’s childish, I know, but something about her brings those juvenile behaviors out in me. Reading through the handwritten spell one more time, I mentally check off each step I’ve already completed. I add in the last ingredient—dried yarrow—and stir the potion counterclockwise three times. “There.”
Mona twists in her seat. “It’s finished?”
I lift a shoulder. “As finished as it can be. The last step is to boil off all the liquid until just the charm remains. And I might have been able to chop herbs in the backseat of a car, but there’s no way I can start a fire.”
Mona eyes me suspiciously. “Can’t you?”
I snort. “For someone who collected who knows how many witches, you certainly don’t understand how affinities work. My element is earth. Taj’s is fire.”
She nods. “Exactly.”
I wait for her to go on, but she simply stares at me. “What ‘exactly’? Yes, if Taj were here he could probably heat this pot with his hands or something. But he’s not here.”
She clucks her tongue. “Oh, my dear. You really have no idea how deep your gift goes, do you?”
Her words send pinpricks of doubt down my spine. While it’s true the specifics about being a magical anchor are still a little foggy, I’m gaining more clarity every day. Is she implying she knows more about what I am than I do? The idea is unnerving.
A smile spreads across her face as if her assumption has been confirmed by my silence. “The magic that binds you to your partners doesn’t simply benefit them. Haven’t you wondered what you get out of the arrangement? Besides the sex, I mean.” She winks conspiratorially and bile rises in my throat at the joking gesture. Just because I’m working with Mona to stop an even bigger threat doesn’t mean we’re friends. When I don’t respond, she continues. “Think it through. Right now, you’re creating a charm. What more is a charm than a vessel that focuses the energies of various other items? A quartz crystal has properties of its own, of course, but when cured with the right herbs, it can take on the powers associated with those things.”
I blink, trying to process what she’s saying. “Wait—do you mean I can tap into Taj’s fire-wielding abilities?”
“I’m not sure whether it’s ‘tapping into’ them necessarily. From what I understand, by focusing their powers through you, each of your lovers is leaving a measure of their magic behind for you to wield.”
I shake my head. That’s insane. A person can’t just take on someone else’s magic.
But even as the argument mounts in my head, a counter-argument springs up. Isn’t that exactly what Lillian has done? She’s not a witch at all, yet she’s managed to absorb the affinities of three strong magic-wielders. And although what Mona suggests I’m capable of is different than what Lillian has accomplished, I can’t dismiss it out of hand. During the battle for the Staff of Rahn back at the Temple of Theurgy, I was able to use Silas’ ability to speak directly into people’s minds. At the time, I assumed it was because the curse was binding us together, but maybe that wasn’t the case at all. And then last night at dinner, I wanted to hear what Calder was saying on the other side of the room, and just like that I could. Perhaps because of what I overheard—or maybe due to all the wine I’d had to drink—I didn’t think too much about how that was even possible. But if what Mona’s saying is accurate, maybe I was able to draw on Poe’s heightened senses to listen in on the conversation.
As much as I don’t want to trust Mona about anything involving my men, the need to know whether she’s right about this is too strong for me to resist. I remove the cauldron from between my knees and hold it firmly in my hands. I’ve never attempted any magic involving fire before, but I imagine the mechanics of it can’t be too different from when I call on my natural affinity. Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply as I connect with the spark of magic within me. As it surges to meet me, I direct it down an unfamiliar path, urging energy to gather in my hands and for heat to seep into the ceramic cauldron.
At first, pulling my magic through uncharted territory is difficult and requires all my focus. But as the minutes tick on, power begins flowing like water through a dry riverbed. My palms warm—slowly at first, but then to a degree that should
be painful. Except it’s not. Instead, all I feel is the bliss of magic doing what it’s meant to do.
When I open my eyes, bubbles have begun clinging to the sides of the pot.
Mona smiles as she turns forward in her seat once more. “Excellent.”
By the time our driver drops us off on the side of an unremarkable stretch of forest highway an hour later, all the liquid has boiled off, leaving me with a murky gray amalgamation of various semi-precious stones. It’s not pretty, but that shouldn’t hinder its effectiveness.
I clutch the charm tightly as Mona leads the way into the woods. According to Mona’s sources, we’re near the spot Lillian always goes to absorb a new affinity. Although technically the curse that was designed to kill me and siphon off my ability was designed to send my magic into Lillian no matter where in the world she is, the vampire has shared with some of her most devoted followers that she believes it’s possible to extract even more power from nature if she’s positioned above the intersection of two ley lines when the curse does its work.
I haven’t asked Mona how she located someone close enough to Lillian’s inner circle to have such critical information. There’s no doubt she employed her song, but I don’t want to know if she had to resort to any more violent tactics.
In the end, it will be worth it. When this is over, I can make sure Mona is brought to justice. I can talk things over with Calder, Taj, Poe, and Silas until they understand why I did what I did. By night’s end, Lillian will be off the board, and my life can finally begin.
Mona spent the last hour of our drive detailing her plan, and now I twist it around in my mind, prodding for any weak spots.
According to Mona’s source, Lillian plans to broadcast her master plan for providing addicted supernaturals euphorium in exchange for their blood once she’s absorbed her fourth and final affinity. Once the full moon reaches its zenith over Lillian’s ceremonial spot, she’ll quickly realize something has gone wrong with her curse. It’s then that we’ll strike.
Well, I’ll strike. Mona will stay hidden as long as possible to deal with any henchmen Lillian may have waiting in the wings. My job is to get Lillian’s attention and force her to chase me into the woods to the trap we’ll have prepared. Once there, the charm I created will discharge the air, fire, and water affinities Lillian stole back into nature, leaving her no more powerful than she is as a vampire. While she’s disoriented, I’ll secure her wrists with Poe’s magic-cancelling cuffs and we’ll call for backup.
The whole thing sounds straightforward and simple, but then again so did the plan to sneak into the Temple of Theurgy and steal Rahn’s staff without anyone ever knowing we were there.
Shadows grow by the minute as Mona and I creep through the woods. Every step we take brings us closer to Lillian. As my slick palms grip the charm that is supposed to neutralize the bulk of the threat posed by the vampire, my mind spins with the gravity of the situation. No matter how briefly, I’m putting my life and my trust into the hands of the woman who used me as a magical assassin—who twisted my natural abilities into something dark in service of her own evil schemes.
I can only hope she’s worth that trust, and that I’m not walking into yet another prison.
Chapter Thirty
Calder
We got played.
No matter how many times I kick myself for it, I can’t rewrite history. I should have seen it coming. Not just Mona using her song on us—although, yeah, I should’ve counted on that, too. But as soon as I got word about Ginger’s disappearance, I should have realized Bryn would do something desperate. I’m still not sure how she overheard the details, but it doesn’t matter.
I shouldn’t have tried to keep it from her in the first place. She deserved to know. If she decides to join the Front after all of this, I can’t pick and choose which pieces of mission-critical information she hears.
It’s possible if I told her, I could have talked her out of her crazy idea to contact Mona. Or, at the very least, I could have been prepared for the siren’s arrival.
But nothing can be changed now. Adrenaline courses though my veins, making my fingers tremble as I wait for the order to move out. Our passenger van waits, along with three others that met up in the nearest town to the location of the gathering. A scouting team struck into the woods half an hour ago, and we have to be ready to move as soon as they return.
This mission is important. If we can take Lillian by surprise, we might have a chance at stopping her. Tonight is the full moon, and if she’s still on the loose after this, I have no doubt there will be another target on Bryn’s back. Lillian didn’t get where she is today by allowing a setback to derail her plans. If I want the woman I love to be able to live her life without having to constantly look over her shoulder for a daemon sent to curse her, this has to end tonight.
Yet I can’t get my head in the game. Vida put in a call to some Twin Rivers residents who have worked with the Front from time to time, and they agreed to go check out the cabin to make sure Bryn is safe. But that was hours ago and there’s been no word since.
I have to assume she’s all right. Bryn is smart and strong and I’m sure she’s safe. Even if Mona has some master scheme planned, she won’t be able to get very far with the wards turned to keep her trapped in the house.
Still, I can’t shake the clammy fist of unease that clutches my stomach.
The team standing closest to the forest bursts into a frenzy of movement and excited whispers. A few moments later, the scouts step out of the woods and motion for the mission leaders to gather around them.
Poe, Silas, and Taj tighten up the circle we’ve been standing in. The shifter’s eyes are trained on the knot of people standing by the trees.
“They found the vampires,” Poe murmurs under his breath. “At least a thousand. And there’s a portable truck stage set up for the announcement, but no sign of Lillian.”
“A festival stage?” Silas asks, sounding baffled. “Like one of those trailers that unfold like a transformer?”
Poe lifts a shoulder. “I only know what I’m overhearing. Why does it matter?”
Silas presses his lips together as his brow furrows.
Taj nudges his shoulder. “Out with it.”
Silas shakes his head. “I don’t know. It’s just… not really Lillian’s style.”
Poe raises an eyebrow. “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘beggars can’t be choosers’?”
Silas’ face pinches sardonically. “Lillian Castle never begs for anything. I just can’t imagine her trotting out on the back of some semi to give the biggest announcement of her life. It’s just… beneath her.”
“Oh, really now?” Poe asks incredulously.
“You know what I mean,” Silas insists. “Lillian is all about her image. She’s all about the show. For something like this, she’s going to want to dazzle the crowd. She’ll want to show them something amazing.”
Ice prickles down my spine as an ominous weight squeezes my chest. “What are you saying?”
Silas’ mouth works like he’s chewing on his words. “I don’t think she’s here,” he says at last. “I don’t think she’s going to be here at all.”
His realization knocks the breath out of me. Lillian isn’t going to be here. Somehow, it makes perfect sense. Either Mona’s information was incomplete or she purposely kept part of it from us. My money is on the latter. She made sure she’d be able to use her song on us to get us away from Bryn, which must mean she has something else planned.
“Okay, alpha team, move out,” calls the mission commander in a harsh stage whisper.
The following flurry of activity is enough to shake me back to reality. We can’t go. At least not all of us. Strategically, sending a team to where the vampires have assembled is a smart move. If Lillian isn’t going to be there, she will have sent someone to speak on her behalf—a job she wouldn’t entrust to a low-level lackey. But Lillian is our primary objective.
“Silas, if Lillian is
n’t here, where is she?”
He shakes his head. “I… I don’t know. I mean, there’s her mansion, but I doubt she’s been back there since Twin Rivers. By attacking the elders, she painted a huge bullseye on her back, and she’s smart enough to know that the first place anyone would look is her compound.”
“Is there anywhere else she likes to go?” Poe presses, suddenly in full investigation mode. “Any other properties? Vacation homes? Any allies who might hide her?”
Silas’ face scrunches in concentration. “No. Nothing I can think of. Not that she would’ve told me, anyway. It’s not like I…” His eyes widen and fix on mine. “I need a map.”
Poe is quickest to the draw and pulls his phone from his pocket. But even before the appropriate app has loaded onto the screen, Silas is pushing the device away.
“No—a real map. One that shows local ley lines.”
Taj sucks in a breath. “Of course. Tonight’s the full moon. She’s expecting to receive Bryn’s magic tonight. Legends say that magic performed directly over a ley line is more potent.”
“Especially over the intersection of two ley lines,” Silas says. “There were maps all over the walls in the room where Lillian liked to hand out assignments. I asked about them once, and a guy who’s been working for Lillian since she first started taking on affinities told me how Lillian’s obsessed with those magical fault lines because she thinks they’ll make her even stronger. I’d bet just about anything she’s at the closest intersection, hoping to milk whatever extra power she can from nature.”
“Then that’s where we have to go,” I say with a certainty that surprises even myself. “I just hope we’re not too late.”
Rebel Witch Page 24