by T. A. Foster
“The other side, other side? No, you can’t be serious. That is dark magic. The other side is…we don’t…that’s not who we are.”
“No, Ivy, it’s not who you are. You don’t know what I’m capable of. I need this. I need answers. I didn’t want to tell you and I still don’t want to talk about it.” He dropped the rock back in his pocket. “Let’s forget about it, ok? We’re hunting a serial kidnapper and we don’t need to worry about my quest right now.”
I felt another one of the threads break. He was fading away, back into the Shadow Quest. Maybe I didn’t know what he was capable of doing. Change the subject, Ivy. Talk about anything but the jasper.
I looked around the foyer and peeked into the dining room. The house was eerily quiet. Through the silence, I put together a plan. Why hadn’t I tried this earlier?
“There’s no one here, just you and me. I can Time Spell. I can go back to a few days ago and follow Emmy.”
I realized I might have to follow the star’s steps for a few hours. No one was sure when she was taken, or exactly where the kidnapping happened. The last time anyone saw Emmy was when she stormed inside the house after arguing with Evan on the porch.
I could easily form the seam inside the hall closet, like I did at the bed and breakfast. Finn could watch the seam for me, and I could start tracking her from inside the house. This could work. I was getting excited about the plan I was devising.
“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary.” Finn’s eyes were piercing. He looked over my shoulder.
The foyer felt tainted with darkness. It prickled my skin.
“Why? You want to Time Spell too or something.” I wanted to handle this spell on my own. “Really, I can handle a quick tracking detail. We’re running out of options.”
“No. That’s not it.” His eyes were almost like narrow slits. “He’s already here.”
I rotated in the direction of Finn’s stare. His blue eyes hadn’t blinked. Standing in front of us, under the towering balcony, was a tall man wearing a khaki coat. He must have entered through the back of the house while our eyes were peeled on the front drive. His skin was pale, almost translucent, and paper-thin, and just above his right cheekbone was a dark blue bruise. Finn had been right. He did follow us.
I squinted at him, and stepped past Finn to get a closer glimpse of the man. My witchy tingle shot in all directions. He was the source of the evil energy I kept feeling. It was so much stronger with him standing in front of me.
I took in the emotionless eyes, the vapid expression. I couldn’t believe it. I knew how I recognized him. Why didn’t I see it before? The posture. The tilted chin. But how was it even possible? It was Consulate Henri’s butler. It was Meyers.
“IVY, STEP back,” Finn called out, and the words echoed in the foyer.
I ignored his command and edged closer to the man I had seen in the consulate general’s house in 1945.
How could he be here? How could he look like he did almost seventy years ago? I mean he looked like the man I saw holding coats and hats and opening doors, but he was pale. His skin was almost hollow, and I imagined if I touched it, the layers would disintegrate under my fingers. I recoiled at the thought.
Meyers cleared his throat. “I’m not here to hurt anyone.” He stood with his shoulders back and his chin forward. “If anyone should be concerned, it’s me.”
Finn walked next to me and slid his arm around my waist. “Yeah, you should be concerned.”
“You two, you’re witches. Am I correct?” The man still hadn’t moved.
“Considering we don’t know who’s asking, I don’t think we’re going to be doling out any kind of answers to you.” Finn had retrieved his arm and stepped closer to the butler.
I needed to shuttle Finn into the next room so I could tell him who Meyers was, but things were unraveling too quickly. I would have to give him the backstory later.
“Point taken, sir. But, I’m assuming you found the jasper?”
Finn stopped. The question caught him off guard. We both knew it was laced with more than a simple inquiry.
“What do you know about it? How do you know anything about it?” He sounded defensive.
Meyers cleared his throat again. I wondered if he was ill. “It’s one of the reasons I’m here. It’s why I’ve been following you. I think we can help each other.”
Finn and I exchanged puzzled looks. Time travel did come in handy, but sometimes I wished I had a mind-reading spell. This was one of those times when I needed to know exactly what Finn was thinking.
If I could pull him aside and talk to him about Meyers, would he remember the details from my story last night? I was afraid he wasn’t focused enough on my Time Spell, and now the butler had thrown the blue jasper into the equation.
I was amazed Meyers remained in his statuesque stance. For someone who was well over a hundred years old and possibly sick, he had excellent posture.
He inched forward. “Why don’t we step into the parlor? I think it would be a bit more comfortable, and what I have to say is going to take a few minutes.”
Finn and I backed up to let the butler pass in front of us. He drew open the parlor’s sliding doors and stood in front of one of the nineteenth century chairs situated in front of the fireplace. “After you.” He gestured for me to take a seat.
Finn nodded at me, and I sat first. The love seat was a replica of one of the early pieces of furniture that was in the house in the mid-1850s. I felt like I was sitting on a museum display, and wiggled to the edge of the furniture. The two men sat almost simultaneously.
“I realize this is most unusual. I haven’t even properly introduced myself. I’m Meyers…” His voice trailed off. “Why don’t we just leave it at Meyers?” He looked at us. “First, before we go any further, I need your word that you will help me.”
“Excuse me?” Finn questioned the man sitting before us. “And why would we do that?”
“Because, I know where Emmy Harper is, and I’ve already delivered the jasper to you. I’m sure you can appreciate the difficulty of getting it into your hands.” He was calm.
My eyes widened, and I fidgeted on the love seat, plucking at the velvet piping. Finn placed his hand on my knee.
Meyers continued. “If you promise to help me, I’ll tell you where to find her.”
Finn waited. “Is she alive?”
“Of course. She is fine.” He said it as if all victims of random kidnappings would be perfectly alive and well in captivity.
“How do we know we can trust what you’re saying?” Finn’s words were sharp and clipped.
“You don’t. But I’m the one who left the jasper for you. That rock is something important to you, Detective Delano. Am I correct?”
Finn didn’t budge. I expected him to reach for the jasper again, but he sat coolly and stared at the old man before us.
“You know there are only a few jaspers in the world. I’ve tracked one to Beijing and the other to Rome. The one you now have arrived recently from Rio. You may keep it, Detective, but I’m asking for your help in exchange for Ms. Harper. Please, I think you’re the only ones who can help.” The prideful man looked defeated and desperate. His posture sagged, and there was a brief quiver in his voice.
“How did you know?” Finn’s voice was sharp.
“What do you mean?”
“How did you know I was looking for a blue jasper? Then you so conveniently left it for us to find. This doesn’t add up.”
I didn’t appreciate Finn’s approach, but I was anxious to hear Meyers’s response. Maybe I would finally get some answers too.
Finn argued with the man. “I’m not helping you do anything until you answer. And I need specifics.”
“Specifics, you say? Hmm.” Meyers licked his pale lips and avoided the direct stare. “I paid a great deal of money for that particular jasper. It came from Rio.”
“You already said that. You’re stalling. Skip to the part where you know about my int
erest in jaspers.”
“Right, right. Certainly.” He took his time. “I was looking for a jasper before any of this madness with Miss Harper began. I thought maybe if I had one, I could find some answers. That is why people use the jasper, isn’t it, Detective? They seek answers this world can’t provide.”
Finn shot back. “Keep going. I’m not the one being questioned.”
“Of course, sir. It’s quite simple. I saw you in Prague when I was on a trip to pick up one of the stones.”
For the first time, Finn’s eyes broke their fierce hold on Meyers, and he stared straight ahead.
“Finn, when were you in Prague?” As soon as I asked, I realized how ridiculous it was to question it. We had been apart for two years. I had stopped keeping track of his travel plans. He didn’t owe me an explanation. “I’m sorry, never mind. Mr. Meyers, please continue.”
I reached for Finn’s hand, but his elbows now rested on his knees and his hands were clasped together.
The old man continued. “It was about a year ago. I tracked another jasper to Prague. A gentleman there claimed to have one, and he was selling it to the highest bidder. Although, by the time I reached the seller he had already sold it to someone. On my way out of his office, a fellow brushed past me, walking rather quickly. He seemed even more determined than I did. That fellow was you, Detective.”
I turned toward Finn to try to gauge the accuracy of the account, but he was like a statue.
“Ok, so you saw me in Prague. What about dropping the jasper off and involving Ivy?”
“Yesterday, at the hotel, I saw you with Miss Grace. I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence. The obvious magical aura you two produce together gave me hope. I knew I had a chance. I had to do something. If you didn’t find the jasper, I hadn’t lost anything, and if you did, well now look where we are.”
Finn persisted with his line of questioning. “Why not approach us instead of playing a game of hide and seek?”
“You’ll excuse me, Detective, if I suggest you aren’t the most willing ally. I needed to make sure you were still interested in the jasper and I needed a place to meet with you that wasn’t so public. The media attention has been nonstop around the hotel. There are consequences to everything I do. Right now, I’m trying to assure that no one else gets hurt.” He exhaled. “I’ve told you about the jasper. You know now. Will you please help me?”
“Wait.” Finn held up his hand. “Why would you hand it over so easily if you traveled all over the world for it? You said yourself. There are only a few in the world, and I know you paid a small fortune for this one.” I looked at the pocket where the rock was and wondered how much a stone that could speak to the dead was worth.
“Because I won’t need it any more if you help me. It’s yours. Will you help or not?”
There was something in Meyers’s pleas that touched me. I remembered how he and Jane talked about Josette. He had helped her and Luke be together; he rooted for Josette to escape the clutches of Consul Henri. A man like that could not be entirely bad. If he knew where Emmy Harper was being held, I didn’t think there was much of a decision to make.
“Yes, we’ll help.” I smiled at the aged butler. Finn shot me a disapproving look, but I shrugged my shoulders. Meyers had answered all of his jasper questions. “Tell us what we can do to help you so we can get Emmy back.”
With sad and tired eyes, he looked at me. “Release me.” He choked on his words. “I need you to help me die.”
Neither of us was expecting the desperate request.
“Die? What do you mean? Are you sick?” I tried to comprehend what was happening. “We can’t help you die. I’m sorry.” I sputtered the words out.
“Sure, we’ll help you die,” Finn offered.
I punched him in the arm. “Finn!”
“What? It was his request, not mine.” He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back on the antique sofa.
“Mr. Meyers, I don’t understand. Release you from what?” Maybe we could do something else to help that didn’t involve death.
The butler hadn’t broken his gaze. “I’m sure you have lots more questions, and I have some of the answers, but I need to know if you can do this for me before I divulge any more information.”
I picked at the edge of the sofa. This was by far the most difficult thing anyone had asked of me, and I wasn’t even sure what he needed from us to do it. He knew about the jasper and he knew about Emmy. Our choices seemed limited.
Finn snapped, “We said we’d do it. We’ll release you, kill you, whatever you need. Tell us where the girl is. That’s the deal.”
Meyers’s sigh filled the room. “I’ve waited so long for this. I knew when I saw you that you were the one we waited for.” His blank eyes shifted their focus to me.
I didn’t know what he meant.
“Me? Why were you waiting for me?”
The shocking revelations kept coming, no matter how slowly I was sorting through the facts being thrown at us.
“It’s Consul Henri; he’s the one who has Emmy. Cut his power and all of this will be over. I know now you are the one who can do it.”
I almost choked. I felt like I was living one of my dark nightmares. The consul had Emmy? I felt sick.
“Wait, is this the guy you told me about from your book, Ivy? The controlling father?” So, Finn had been paying attention to my Luke and Josette story. He seemed distracted by other things last night.
“He’s the one. The overprotective, lunatic of a father that Josette ran away from. I guess that explains all of the look-alike kidnappings you had in the file.” I paused. “Mr. Meyers, how did he go on living in the city for so long without anyone being suspicious? And you too? You’re both well over a hundred years old.”
Normally, I would feel bad about calling out someone’s age, but this supernatural nightmare had to be addressed.
The old man answered rather promptly. “Monsieur Henri has incredible financial resources. His business dealings overseas and here in Louisiana have allowed him to buy the silence of those around him. And me. Well, I don’t make many acquaintances. It’s easy to go unnoticed if you stay as invisible as possible all of these years.”
It sounded isolated and lonely.
Finn wasn’t buying the story. “You’ve lived all of these years without anyone putting the story together? No one has recognized the consul?”
“That is correct, sir.”
“Hmm…how did he leave his post with the French government and remain in the United States?”
“As I said, he had vast resources even then. Once Josette disappeared, he resigned as consul general, and both countries willingly agreed to let him stay in New Orleans to search for her. After a few years, he was no longer a concern to either country and he began creating his New Orleans empire. We’ve been here ever since.”
“But what does destroying him have to do with you?” I blurted out the question.
Finn shrugged his shoulders at me. It was the next obvious issue we needed to address.
Meyers inhaled a long, heavy breath. “It is something for which I am both terribly ashamed of and incredibly grateful for. I was already an old man when the consul came to me with the proposition. He offered me an eternal life. At first, I wanted the prospect of an immortal existence. I thought it would help me recapture my youth, maybe give me another chance to relive my life—make different choices, prosper in a new life.” He wiped a tear from his tired eyes. “For that, I am ashamed.” He paused. “But then, the kidnappings started, and his power started twisting into something darker than I ever thought possible. The more it consumed him, the more I knew there was a reason I had accepted the curse. I had to stay with the consul to save the girls, to free them. It was like watching everything that happened with Josette replay again. He was obsessed, fixated, and just pure mad. Setting them free was my only way to atone for the selfish and deplorable decision I made to accept the immortal curse.”
I had tears in my eyes.
I couldn’t imagine what he had been through. In perfect gentlemanly fashion, Meyers reached into his coat and pulled out a pressed handkerchief for me to use. I accepted the gesture sheepishly and blotted both of my eyes lightly. Finn rolled his eyes.
“Mr. Meyers, I hate to ask this, but what is it? What is the evil that follows you? I can feel it.”
Sitting in such close proximity to the butler, the darkness in the air was thick. I had gotten used to it, but like a bad smell it never went away. However, I knew it wasn’t him. He was too good—too kind to emit that type of evil.
He stretched his hand in the air and turned his wrist so that the face of his watch was exposed. It glowed faintly, and I felt the hum of evil surrounding it.
“The consul and I are bound together by the watches.”
It was obvious Finn was officially over the sad story. “Then just take the damn watch off. You don’t need us to free you.”
“I wish it was that simple, sir. The curse is on my soul—not in the watch. I can’t escape it, only if the curse is broken. The watch binds us together. If I leave it or try to destroy it, the energy within will pass to someone else. I can’t let that happen. I have accepted my choice and I have to make sure this watch is always with me. I pity the burglar who thinks they have found gold and steals it on a whim. It’s a curse worse than death to be bound to the consul.”
“So what this comes down to is you need Ivy and me to break the curse?”
“You make it sound easy, Detective. If you can eliminate his power, the curse, the bond, the kidnappings will all be over. I’m entrusting that you two can do this. I know you don’t owe this to me, but I’m desperate. I’ve never met a witch with your abilities before. Can you?”
Why did he keep saying that? My only gift was Time Spelling and nothing about it could help Emmy.
“We can,” I piped up before Finn rescinded his offer. “What do we do next?”
FINN AND I didn’t talk during the first few minutes of our car ride back to the French Quarter. I kept rehashing the conversation with Meyers, and tried to memorize all of the information he had given us. I scribbled down the address he had offered me on a piece of paper, and pulled it out to read the street name and number again. Finn was driving like a crazy person, away from the lazy sprawling plantation and back into the city.