by Rain Oxford
“I don’t think the children are hidden in here,” Remy said. Henry scratched at the door in agreement.
“I don’t think so either, but my intuition is telling me we need to be here.”
“This must be where the new council is stashing their confiscated and dangerous magic,” Darwin said. He immediately started searching the crates. “If there’s a weapon that can defeat Veronica, it’s here.”
Now that I knew where Veronica was, I could find evidence as to who she was. Somebody saw something or heard something. It was impossible that she didn’t make a single mistake. I just had to figure out what it was.
While Remy and Darwin searched, Henry guarded the door from outside. I skimmed the minds of everyone in the coven, not enough to break their mental walls but enough to determine how many of the council members and other staff members were nearby.
“Maybe you got your intuition back because Veronica is further away,” Remy said.
“I checked. There are four council members and five support staff gone.”
“Can you get us names?” Darwin asked.
“If I can find someone who knows all of the people that left, yes. I’ll have to break through someone’s mental wall or find someone not powerful enough to protect themselves but who would also know who’s gone.”
“The cook,” Darwin said.
“Why?” Remy asked.
“In a place like this, the chef will know which council members are gone and possibly the staff as well. The council members are picky when it comes to their food.”
“How do you know this?”
He rolled his eyes. “Stuff an amazon warrior in a frilly dress, stick a tiara on her head, and watch what happens. Power changes people, different types of power change people in different ways, and the wizard council… that’s the most corrosive type of power of all.”
I took his word for it and skimmed the mind of the head chef. There was no barrier. The chef was a wizard, but he only practiced magic in the kitchen. He knew much more than I ever expected.
He overheard quite a few plots over the years because everyone ignored his presence when they weren’t barking orders at him. He knew the old council, and even John ignored him. While the members of the previous council grew more and more corrupt, he took pictures and recorded conversations. Although he did nothing with most of this damning evidence, he occasionally slipped Vincent the proof he needed to thwart the council’s more sinister plots. The council members, and even John, assumed Vincent had used visions.
When the new council formed, the chef had high hopes for them, but a few months in, things started slipping. It wasn’t a sudden or drastic change. Their meetings initially centered on how to make life better for paranormals. Then, a few months in, it was about how wizards’ lives should be better. Then the lives of the council members were what really mattered.
It was so natural that they would subtly become more corrupt as they adapted to their positions of unchecked power…
Except I knew these people. Mostly, I knew Becky, but I had met the others when the new council was being formed. Hunt and Vincent helped to pick these people out, and they specifically picked people they didn’t think would be easily corrupted. Besides, even the old council had good members who fought for justice. So how could thirteen people become power-hungry and selfish, and at the same rate no less?
Because of Veronica. This meant that Veronica was in the new council since it started, or at least since its early days. She had been playing the long game, probably setting up numerous plots, while I didn’t even know she existed.
I skimmed a little more, but I couldn’t find anyone in particular who seemed to be influencing the others and I was afraid of our time running out. When I directed his mind to the missing members, I saw him heading to the kitchen last night to prepare dinner. Taped to his door was a note.
There is a meeting tomorrow away from the council. The following people will be gone from 8AM to around 1PM. Have breakfasts prepared early for them and lunches prepared when they return.
Jess R.
Amari S.
Lex G.
Matt B.
Pamala F.
Angela P.
Serena L.
Michael M.
Priscilla L.
* * *
“I know who is missing,” I said, retracting my magic and returning to the present. I pulled out my notebook and wrote the names down. “Veronica could be temporarily disguised as or possessing one of them, so it’s not a hundred percent, but it’s a suspect list, which is more than we had before.”
I showed it to Darwin and Remy. “Good. Now can you tell me why your intuition brought us here?” Remy asked.
“This room is full of things we can use as weapons against vampires and shifters, but if there is something in particular we’re here for, we’re going to need a hint,” Darwin said. “If we’re just here to browse, I vote that we don’t. We don’t know when Veronica is going to go after my family.”
I approached one of the crates. It contained what appeared to be old junk, including a doll, a hat, a small box of coins, a letter in a foreign language, a box of rings, and more of the like. Nothing jumped out at me, figuratively or literally. I picked up a mirror, worried that this really was just a junk room.
“Put that down!” Darwin shouted.
I dropped it and turned to him. “What’s wrong?”
As if it was a poisonous and aggressive serpent, he draped a cloth over it. After a moment, he blew out a breath of relief. “Those markings on the back of it. That’s the Mirror of Rosada, one of the most dangerous curses ever created.”
“The mirror is cursed?”
Darwin nodded. “A hundred and fifty years ago, Rosada was the most beautiful woman in her village. She married a powerful wizard who promised her the world, but he only loved her for her beauty. She had two daughters who were also beautiful, and they became more so every year. She, however, got older and started losing her beauty. One day, her husband told the girls that they were even more gorgeous than their mother. In a fit of jealous rage, she clawed her own daughters’ faces.”
“Fuck.”
“They refused to be healed and decided to wear their scars proudly to remind themselves that beauty wasn’t skin-deep. They didn’t want to be like their mother, who fooled people with her beauty. They enchanted a mirror to show them what they look like on the inside, so that they could stay pure of heart. However, their mother watched them one day, and saw how lovely they were in the mirror. She stole the mirror.”
“I bet that was a mistake.”
“A big one. The mirror showed her how hideous she was on the inside. She was so horrified that she scratched her own eyes out. She died, bleeding over it. It’s said that her soul cursed the mirror and now anyone who looks at it will see their most horrible self, and then their eyes melt.”
“Sick.”
“Necromancy, psychometry, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, mind control… I told you, Dev; you’ve only seen the pretty side of magic. Cursed objects like these are brutal, but they’re not hard to make.”
“Why hasn’t it been destroyed?”
“Easy to make, not easy to destroy. If you broke that mirror, the curse in it could spread. In fact, mirrors can hold some of the most dangerous magic. The Gomvekh mirror put anyone into a sleeping curse who looked into it. One man got the bright idea to smash it, and the curse transferred to him so that anyone who looked into his eyes fell asleep forever.”
“Okay, I’m just going to avoid touching anything at all in here.”
“Good idea.”
A few minutes later, I looked into another crate and spotted an amulet with a broken chain. “What’s this?” I asked, picking it up. It was a pentagram made of silver rose vines. My intuition thrummed under my skin like I had discovered a powerful weapon.
Darwin took it, not bothered at all by the fact that it was silver. He studied it closely. “Wow. It’s actually covered
in writing, but it’s so tiny it’s impossible to make out. I think it’s Enochian, which means it’s---”
“From Dothra,” I interrupted.
“Yep. Demon magic.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s what my intuition wanted us to find.”
“I’ll do some digging and see what I can come up with before we use it on someone. Now can we get out of here?”
“Now we can go save the kids.”
We followed Henry down several more hallways until we reached a door, which he scratched. It was locked, but one of the keys on my ring worked for it.
The room was a basic guest bedroom that had been converted for kids. It had a bunk bed with the top mattress made and the bottom one a mess. There was a fancy white desk with a vanity mirror, purple curtains covered the window, and the closet was open, displaying girls’ and boys’ clothes.
Henry shifted as soon as I closed the door. “This is where they stay. Their scent is strong here.”
“This doesn’t look like a good place to stash unconscious kids,” Darwin said.
“No, it looks like a well-used bedroom.” I gestured to the unmade bed. The blankets on the bottom bunk were purple, while the top bunk had blue blankets. “Ashton was kept here with someone else.”
“So the kids who are here are working for Veronica?” Darwin asked.
“It appears so. It even makes sense; she had kids at the school who worked for her. This is good. I can’t fight her possession, but I can fight my own siblings’ mind control.” It also bothered me.
“I’m picking up Ashton’s and a girl’s scent,” Henry said. “Aston’s is faint, though, as if he hadn’t been here in a few days.”
If he was moved to another room, he probably would have taken his clothes with him. “The locator spell said he was here at the council. It didn’t say where here.”
“We can do a more specific locator spell,” Remy suggested.
“Normally, I would be all for that,” Darwin said. “But Veronica straight up said she was going after my family. So now that we know these kids are playing on the dark side, can we worry about them after we save my parents and fiancée?”
He had a good point. If they died because we prioritized my siblings who didn’t need saving, it would be my fault. I didn’t answer him, however; I needed a few minutes to consider if the kids really did need our help.
My intuition urged me towards the desk, so I searched its contents. I found pencils, stickers, paper clips, and empty notebooks, but nothing resembling a clue. Nevertheless, my intuition stopped me from walking away. I settled on my back under the desk, pulled out my penlight, and opened each drawer individually. At the bottom of the top right drawer, there was a small hole. I stuck the pencil through it and pushed up the false bottom. Propping it up from the other side, I got to my feet. Inside was a purple diary.
“Houston, we have a clue,” Darwin said.
“Do you need to get fingerprints off that?” Henry asked.
“I don’t need to. It belongs to one of the kids.” I picked it up, but the instant I did, my intuition faded. “She’s back.”
“Where are the kids? Should we wait for them?” Remy asked.
“No. Veronica is too dangerous. We’ll come back for them.”
“My father can help us,” Remy said.
I was impressed with her willingness to include her father. Whether she liked it or not, Hunt was the most powerful human wizard I’d ever met… at least until I met Veronica.
“Actually, I forgot to mention. He returned to Quintessence.”
She rolled her eyes. “Figures.”
Chapter 22
Sneaking out of the council was suspiciously easy. Although we had failed to save the kids, I felt like obtaining the amulet was a huge win for us.
Darwin was just worried about his fiancée. He used my phone on the way to the pack grounds. However, when he called Amelia to warn her, his face paled. “She must not have turned on her phone.”
“Fae don’t use phones much, do they?” I asked.
He shook his head. “She’s not a nature fae like my mother, so she’s willing to use one, but most fae prefer roughing it.” He dialed another number. “Dad always picks up, though.” He put the phone to his ear and I saw the hope slowly slip away from his eyes, making way for panic. After a couple of minutes, he hung up and redialed it. “She can’t have gotten to them already!”
“He’s probably busy.”
He ignored me for another minute until he lowered the phone into his lap. He shook his head and then said, “Oh! I’ll call Sonic. Her entire job is to answer the phone!” He dialed another number and put it to his ear. When there was still no answer, his face went deathly pale.
“Drive faster,” I told Henry.
Henry nodded and picked up the pace. It was dangerous, but so was Darwin if we didn’t get him to his pack soon.
Darwin tried every number he knew before pulling up Sonic’s again. This time, I heard her pick up because she was loud. “Who is this?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“It’s Darwin. What’s going on over there? I have to warn Dad that---”
“Darwin, shut up!” she interrupted. “Listen! Don’t come home! I don’t know if---” Her words were drowned out by a scream. The phone crackled and went dead on her end.
Magic.
“No!” Darwin shouted.
Henry pressed even harder on the gas.
“I’m going to kill her! I’m going to rip her throat out with my teeth if she hurt my pack!” His eyes took on a red glow as the fae side of him tried to take control. Fortunately, Darwin’s logical brain pushed it aside and he went back to calling every number he could.
Remy grasped my hand. “Maybe you should use the shadow pass and I’ll drive Darwin there,” she whispered. Considering she had never driven a vehicle before, that was a significant task for her.
“I’m protected, remember?” Darwin said. “Take me.”
“That protection spell isn’t a guarantee,” Henry said.
“I don’t care.”
“Henry, pull over. Can you handle taking us to the pack grounds?” It required a lot more energy to open it when there was light, and it was as daylight as nine in the morning got without a cloud in the sky.
“I will do it, but I will be useless once we get there until I rest and eat, because my jaguar wore me out.”
“Of course. Remy, call Dani to have someone pick you up and take you back to the school.”
She nodded. Henry pulled over and turned off the car. Henry, Darwin, and I got out. The shadows were already reaching for us. Moments later, we were in the shadow pass. Unfortunately, it felt like a long trip, probably because Henry was so tired.
When light finally returned to us, we were in Darwin’s cabin. Henry slumped against the wall. The cabin was as cozy as the den, but there was a difference. To an outsider, it looked as low-tech as it could be with a fireplace, a candle chandelier overhead, and a couch in the living room. The kitchen was open to the living room with a breakfast bar dividing them. A set of steps led to the loft over the kitchen. There were two doors in the kitchen, one leading to the back yard.
Because I was looking for them, however, I noticed signs of technology and hidden things. There were speakers camouflaged behind plants, cameras built into furniture, and secret panels. It fit Darwin and Amelia perfectly.
“Where is Amy?” Darwin asked.
“I got us to… to the closest… safe spot,” Henry passed out. I was instantly worried; I’d never seen him so exhausted.
“Computer, locate Amelia Bell.”
“Amelia Bell is located,” an electronic voice answered.
“On screen.”
A flat-screen monitor slid up from the floor in front of the fireplace. The black surface turned on to display Amelia in the forest, surrounded by four men. Her hands were bound by a glowing blue chain. The men were all similar in appearance; they were slender, tall, with hair ranging from red
to muddy auburn. They wore long green-brown iridescent tunics.
“Fucking hell,” Darwin cussed.
“Do you know who they are?” I asked, picking up Henry and setting him on the couch.
“I’ve never met them, but it looks like Sean’s tribe.”
Amelia’s father’s tribe killed Amelia’s human mother and tried to kill her just because she wasn’t pure fae. “I’ll go,” I said. “I’ll use my magic on them.”
“Not yet. If we run head-first into this, Amy can get killed. Computer, initiate lockdown.”
“Password required.”
“All lowercase.”
“Lockdown commencing.” Red lights flashed in the cabin, and I heard a chirp in the distance. “Lockdown complete.”
“How many unauthorized humanoids are on the property?”
“There is one unauthorized, unidentifiable shifter and one unauthorized wizard in your proximity. There are ten unauthorized fae on the grounds.”
“How did ten fae take out your entire pack?”
“They can be sneaky bastards and they have magic. The lockdown should prevent them from using magic or leaving. Computer, locate my parents.”
“Maseré and Anya Mason located.”
“On screen.”
“I am unable to show a visual of Maseré and Anya Mason.”
“Why?”
“Property is under lockdown.”
“Fuck you, computer! Fuck you very much! Where are my parents?”
“Maseré and Anya Mason are located in the den.”
“Are they alive?”
“According to their vital signs, Maseré and Anya Mason are alive.”
“Are there any pack members outside?”
“There are three authorized shifters outside.”
“On screen.” The monitor split to show three different camera shots, each of an unconscious wolf in the forest. “Is anyone dead?”
After a long pause, the computer said, “There are three dead humanoids on the premise— one authorized shifter and two unauthorized fae.”