by Rain Oxford
“Dothra wizards steal energy, so I guess it makes sense that some wizards would steal youth.”
“Not really. Normal Earth wizards can’t do it, because you use elemental-based magic and the balance stops you. Dothra wizards are different because they use soul-based magic. It’s scientifically impossible. Theoretically, it might be supernaturally possible, though.”
“With alchemy?”
“Yes. It was never proven, but Arthur might not have been the only alchemist doing it. It would also have been highly illegal and immoral if it was possible.”
“I see why Vincent didn’t like him. What does this have to do with my magic?”
“He wasn’t running experiments for fun. In 1920, Arthur engineered an alchemical potion that would make him unstoppable. It gave him the ability to read and control minds, see the future and past, and perceive the world on a higher level. His intuition, being the skill he had the least expectations for, became the key element of his powers.”
“So my magic…”
“Your magic was created by him using the essence of powerful, and in some cases, now extinct magical creatures.”
I sat heavily in the chair. “I was right all along. This magic is evil. I just thought it was John’s, but I was wrong.”
“He paid the price for it, of course,” Darwin continued. “He had three children, all of whom died. His wife was distraught and begged him to bring them back. Instead, he divorced her, saying that she couldn’t provide powerful enough children. He remarried in 1930 to Elizabeth Cross.”
“John and Vincent’s mother.”
“Yes. He refers to her as ‘exceptionally beautiful and well-trained to be a wife, but not nearly as powerful as her family members.’ At this point, though, it gets a lot ramblier.”
“How come?”
“After achieving this ultimate power, he decided that temporary (stolen) youth wasn’t enough; he needed to focus on achieving immortality. There’s a lot more theorizing and a lot less experimenting for the next few books, but I haven’t had time to read them. His experiments were mostly done on his own kids.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I skipped a lot, but I’ll come back to it later. He was trying to accomplish immortality, and he was damn good at it.”
“Langril was immortal.”
“In regular terms, yes. In alchemy terms, he didn’t have a heart, which made him less than perfect. Although his intact body was immortal, his heart was a weakness, and it was separated from him. He has a vulnerability. The true perfect wizard would not have one. In terms of ingenuity in magic, Arthur was brilliant.”
“What happened? John was able to poison him, so he couldn’t have been that immortal.”
“No, he wasn’t. He had to improvise. In 1950, Arthur attacked fifteen-year-old Logan Hunt, leading to the accidental summoning of Rosin Flagstone. Very long story short, he got his ass kicked and realized he wouldn’t be able to achieve true immortality in his lifetime.”
“Why do I get the feeling he didn’t give up?”
“Arthur Knight wasn’t the kind of person who gave up on his goals. He needed to seriously prolong his life beyond what the youth potions were doing, and that’s where he turned to his children.”
“I really don’t like where this is going.”
“Arthur wanted to use his children to attain youth.”
“Like Vitalis tried to?”
“Worse. He planned to take over the body of one of his children.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, sickened.
He continued. “Although it has been a hypothetical solution in the paranormal community for decades, no one could figure out how to make it work.” He waved at the shelf. “He came up with a potion he called CNL153. I can’t know for sure without testing his solution, but I think it would work.”
“How would it work?”
“His victim’s soul would be expelled from the body, and he would take over. It would be permanent until he decided to switch again.”
“And Vincent or John could have been---”
“John,” Darwin interrupted. “From what I can tell about Arthur, he would have taken over John’s body because he would choose mind control over visions. He would be limited to the power of the person he possesses, even though his intelligence and experiences would be his own.”
“I watched Arthur die. For that matter, Arthur was very old and frail in my vision.”
Darwin nodded. “That makes sense. It sounded like the youth potions stopped working altogether and he started aging rapidly. This made it more difficult for him to use the possession spell. Thus, I don’t think Arthur got the chance to do it. I think John found out and poisoned him first. Either that, or it was just by luck that John started poisoning him before he was able to accomplish his goal.”
“Wouldn’t I have seen it in John’s mind?”
“Not necessarily. John was trying to hurt you, not give you ideas.”
“I killed John, though.”
“I didn’t say John was successful in using it. There is a chance that John knew about it, but it’s unlikely he was able to get his hands on the potion or the formula to make it. It does explain why he was so gung-ho about having powerful children, though. For this to work, there would have to be a strong genetic connection.”
“So Arthur could have been targeting a grandchild instead of John or Vincent.”
“Yes. However, no. The newly bred and nearly dead share the same devastating weakness— physical debility. Arthur would have wanted someone strong enough to handle his power, which would mean a child in or past puberty.”
“Veronica can possess people temporarily.”
“Yep. She’s a lot closer to success than her father was.”
“Fuck. If she knows about this, it explains why she’s after our siblings, especially Ahz.”
“If she could permanently possess Ahz, she would be truly unstoppable.”
“What does the spell entail?”
“I don’t think I should tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you two keep butting heads, and… she’s really close to beating you.”
“And if she doesn’t know it now, she will if she can get into my head. What about you?”
“I can make myself forget how the spell works without forgetting what we learned.”
“Are you going to?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Okay. Well, you must have learned what the weakness in our magic is.”
He looked back at the book, his posture closed off. He was rereading the same passages, and I could tell he was thinking.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked up at me. “Arthur’s magic is so different from a normal wizard’s, and it wasn’t affected by Veronica’s elemental attack.”
“Yes, so?”
“I need to fully read these journals to know for sure, but from what I’ve skimmed through… there isn’t one.”
“There has to be.”
“Not necessarily,” Darwin said. “Normally, yes, because all magic is inherently flawed. Alchemy is a branch of magic that focuses on perfection. It’s extremely scientific, more so than any other magic. Most magic is bent to your will; you can modify the spell as you see fit. That’s not the way of alchemy. This took him decades to perfect. Arthur was a patient man.”
“What does this have to do with Veronica’s elemental attack?”
“Remember when I said that I thought John and Vincent were throwbacks?” I nodded. “I’m now ninety-eight percent sure of it.”
“But both Elizabeth and Arthur were wizards.”
“No, not when John and Vincent were born. I think Arthur’s potion mutated him into something new, just enough that John and Vincent inherited some of their mother’s power and lost some of their father’s. This is unheard of in our world. However, Veronica can possess people, and that’s new, too. That suggests that this spell is actually capable of adapting o
n its own.”
“But everyone has weaknesses.”
“That doesn’t mean her weakness is in her magic. If she found out about this, the first thing she would have done was search for Arthur’s books.”
“She couldn’t find them because she didn’t have the intuition.”
He nodded. “There are a lot worse things for her to find in here, though. If she got her hands on these books, she could use his knowledge to achieve true immortality.”
Chapter 24
“There might be another way to master your mind control,” Darwin said.
Darwin started carefully reading the books. Unfortunately, we were at a loss as to what to do. If we brought the books with us, they were in danger from Veronica and her minions finding them. Even blood locks were useless when she could possess people.
On the other hand, if we left them behind, she could possibly pick up the location from our minds. Darwin could make himself forget, but I couldn’t. We had learned a lot, but made a potentially world-ending mistake.
“How is that?”
“You could take lessons from the same master of mind control that taught her.”
“Aside from the fact that he’s a megalomaniac psycho, did you forget that John is dead?”
“No, and I also didn’t forget that you see dead people.”
“You think I should contact John’s ghost and get him to teach me magic?”
“He offered, didn’t he? Before you killed him, I mean.”
“He even used Remington as bait and an incentive. Perhaps he saw something between you two before the rest of us,” Henry said.
Darwin scoffed. “Please. I knew Dev and Remy would be a thing right off the bat.”
“Since when?” I asked.
“Since she doused you with water because you answered the door naked.”
Henry laughed. “I remember that.”
“That was my first day at Quintessence. She woke me at five in the morning.” I’d forgotten that I had answered the door in boxers. That actually explained her reaction a little.
“A blind and deaf man could pick up the sexual vibes you two put off when you were together. It infuriated Alpha Flagstone, because you two seemed to be oblivious to it.”
“Shifters can pick up on social cues like attraction and fear better than wizards and fae,” Henry said. “It’s part of telling who is a threat and who is a potential mate. There have been several women who tried to attract your interest, like Li Na and Becky. Remington, however, didn’t try. You two just fit together.”
“It couldn’t have been that obvious.”
“There were bets out on which of you had the balls to tell the other how you felt and when the inevitable event would happen.”
“Then why did you spread rumors about Astrid being my girlfriend?” I asked.
This time, even Henry rolled his eyes. “Because Darwin bet it would be Remington who made the first move and tried to spur her into action with jealousy.”
“But also because I wanted you to have a backup plan,” Darwin said. “Remington had Flagstone, so it was only fair that you had someone in the meantime.”
“You should have said something to me. I thought Flagstone was perfect for her, except for the fact that he was her father’s familiar.”
“No way. Alpha Flagstone and Remy were more like siblings. They weren’t themselves together.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you’re with us, you’re you. When you realize a woman is hitting on you, like Becky, you close up. You are protective of women, even that awful ex of yours, but you’re also wary of them because of that awful ex of yours. If a woman flirts with you, your brain tells you she wants to use you. With Remington, you’re yourself. You protect her as a friend and not as you would your mother.”
“But Remington never flirted with me before she and Flagstone broke up.”
“Every interaction you’ve had with her was flirting. You were just so natural with each other that you didn’t realize it. Have you ever felt uncomfortable with her?”
I considered it. “Not really. I felt uncomfortable with her and Hunt or Flagstone, but I see your point.”
“The only person who really could have come between you was Heather.”
“You mean Astrid.”
“You and Astrid were like Remy and Flagstone. It was never going to work. Heather pressed your investigative buttons and would have been good for you, but she wasn’t as prevalent as Remy because she was dead/in Dothra while you were bonding with Remy.”
“Anyway, we got off subject,” Henry said.
“Right. I’m not going to go to John,” I said. “We need to return to the school and rest up.”
“Yeah, sure you’re going to rest up.”
* * *
We ultimately decided that we were better off protecting the books ourselves, so we brought them with us. At the school, Darwin put his hex bag in a heavy wooden and metal chest with the books. Then we had Remington show me how to make a blood lock so that it required Henry, Darwin, and me simultaneously to open it. This wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing.
The spell required combining our blood in an iron bowl and writing our names on the chest with the blood while reciting an incantation. This was pretty normal, everyday stuff for wizards.
* * *
With Darwin and Remy rescued from their imprisonment, I decided to make a dent in my vice principal paperwork. I figured the monotonous work would help clear my mind, and I was right.
There were plenty of magical weapons in the paranormal world, but most of the famous ones were at the council. Alternatively, I wondered if I could do some alchemy. When I asked Darwin, he scoffed at me. “It’s not the magic you use in battle. Maybe you can use it to enhance your power, but it would take you years to develop that skill.”
“Addison was Mr. Mali’s assistant in Advanced Alchemy. She looked like she knew what she was doing. Can shifters do alchemy?”
“As well as a human can. Like with witchcraft, humans and shifters can do it to some extent, but not as well or naturally as wizards.
I updated my notebook with what I had learned about my grandfather, flipped over to a new page, and wrote down possible plans. I knew where Veronica was, so I could find evidence of who she was. The problem was that if she was nearby, my intuition wouldn’t work. She could also read my mind.
In Edith’s diary, it sounded like she knew what Veronica actually looked like, which was a huge advantage. The problem was that if she knew, Veronica was going to keep her very close, which was probably why she wasn’t there when Veronica left. Edith probably wasn’t the answer, since she clearly idealized Veronica. Instead, I needed to find Ashton, who I suspected was unconscious at the council after confronting Veronica.
Another angle I could follow was John Cross. He lived at the council for years, so it was possible that he had brought Veronica there as a little girl. Vincent could have met her and not known she was John’s daughter. But if that was the case, he probably would have had a vision about her. I needed to talk to him and members of the old council. Darwin would know their location.
These two methods could give me excellent informational leads as to who she is, but I doubted either of them would reveal how to defeat her. Even if I knew who she was, I couldn’t just walk into the council and confront her. I considered the new council to be young, but they weren’t stupid or weak; they were some of the most powerful wizards in the country…
Who were all under Veronica’s control, just like the old council was under her father’s control.
I could also set a trap and draw her to me, but the only bait I knew she would go for was Ahz, and I couldn’t risk him. I wouldn’t risk any child. I wanted to find out if she really was after immortality like her grandfather or not.
I pulled the amulet out of my pocket and studied it. There was a strange stillness to it. Normally, I could feel power in magical artifacts. My intuition told me it
was important, but my magic detected nothing in it. I pulled the amulet off the chain and put it away.
Although it was possible to fix the chain with a spell, that was a misuse of magic. Typically, if something could be done manually, it should be. Some of the students at the school struggled with this concept, but they would learn. It was often harder to do things the magical way, and using magic out of laziness could cause unintended side effects.
Instead, I dropped by Henry’s room to ask him to fix it when he had a chance. When he quietly invited me to enter without opening the door himself, I figured Scott was asleep and opened the door.
Scott and Ahz were both asleep in Scott’s bed while Rita was asleep in Henry’s bed. Henry was drawing Rita.
“Can you fix this in your spare time?” I asked, holding out the chain. He glanced at it and nodded, so I set it on the desk. “Is there something between you and Rita?”
Henry paused for a moment. “I don’t know. I think I want there to be, but at the same time, I feel like I would be betraying Zoe.”
“Not Addison?”
“I never felt like I was betraying Zoe with Addison, no. Addison shows her character with words, threats, and emotional outbursts. Rita shows her character with actions, like Zoe did.”
“You might want to tell her how you feel before she goes back to New Mexico.”
When Darwin was done reading the books, I would have him start on discovering what the amulet did. In the meantime, I grabbed some leftovers for dinner and went to my room. After the back-to-back long and stressful days, I fell asleep quickly.
* * *
Wednesday, December 7
I woke to Remington kissing my chest. “It’s bloody cold,” she whispered. I reached around blindly and didn’t find the blanket. I grabbed my penlight off the nightstand and clicked it on. The blanket was on the other side of the room.
Remy reached out and the blanket shot towards us, but she gasped and threw it off because it was cold. My alarm clock popped and crackled.