Atone: A Fairytale (Fairytale Trilogy) (2 page)

Becca sat for moment staring blankly out the windshield, not really seeing what was in front of her. Two things had become very apparent. One, Nicholas had not forgotten about what had occurred two years ago. Two, he was still trying to prove that Becca, Alex, and most importantly, Lilia, were involved in magic.

This meant that he was still a threat to her friends. Becca didn’t take kindly to threats to her friends.

“Well, today has taken an unexpected turn,” she said out loud to no one in particular. “I’m not even hungry for Ernesto’s anymore.”

Becca tried the phone number that Dr. Gagnon had given her. It didn’t even ring, just went straight to an automated voicemail. She didn’t bother leaving a message. Somehow she doubted that Nicholas would just call her back for a friendly little chat.

She keyed the address into her phone’s maps app and stared in disbelief at the directions.
She jammed her key into the ignition and started the car. “I really
am
going to kill him.”

~

Nicholas’s house was way up in the hills. As in, the very nice, very expensive hills. Becca got more and more annoyed as she drove up the winding streets and past gated houses that cost more than her entire family would amass in their lifetimes. How in the heck did Nicholas live in such a nice area? Was he independently wealthy or something? And if so, why in the world had he been working at the Gem and Mineral Museum of Los Angeles for so many years on what had to be a pittance of a salary?

She had been telling the truth to Dr. Gagnon—she really didn’t have any idea about Nicholas’s family. Maybe his parents were wealthy. That could explain why Nicholas acted as if the world owed him something. The road kept winding up, higher than Becca had expected. She began to think that her GPS had completely misled her when she finally found it. Another small street branched off from the main road, and at the end of that, completely isolated from all the other multimillion-dollar homes, was a large, older-looking mansion separated from the street by a tall wrought iron gate.

“You’ve got be kidding.” The house—at least what she could see of it—was ridiculous. It was set back from the street by a huge expanse of emerald green lawn. A long, tree-lined drive ran between it and the front gate. More trees obscured most of the front, but she could tell it was huge. As in an-entire-apartment-building-plus-could-fit-inside-it huge. It was designed in what Becca would classify as a “Tudor Revival Meets Hollywood Golden Age Set Designer” style. Houses like this really could only exist in Southern California.

There were no cars in the drive, but one had to assume a mansion like this would have plenty of garage space. There didn’t seem to be any movement or sign of life on the grounds. A house like this took people to keep up. Like servant-type people. Becca snorted at the thought of Nicholas having servants. Poor schmucks. She hoped he at least paid well.

Becca pulled her car up to the front of the gate, rolled down her window, and pushed the call button on the intercom. No response. In fact, there was no indication that the system was even operable. She jabbed the button a few more times, just for good measure, before pulling the Jetta back out and parking it along the curb. Maybe no one was there. Or maybe Nicholas was laying dead of a premature heart attack somewhere on the grounds and no one would ever find him. Or maybe someday they would find his body and then find all of his weirdo files on Lilia and start asking questions. And maybe he wasn’t dead, but just holed up in there with said weirdo files, in which case she’d off him herself and make sure to wipe her fingerprints off the intercom on her way out.

She wasn’t usually prone to homicidal thoughts, she admitted darkly as she got out of the air conditioned car and back into the heat, but Nicholas had always been a special case. As she examined the front gates, she pulled her long hair up off her neck and into a sloppy ponytail.

The wrought iron gate was at least twelve feet tall and rather intimidating. “Hello?” she called as loudly as she could through the bars. She didn’t really expect a response. She was too far away from the house to be heard. The intercom was obviously a newer addition. The gates seemed to be as old and over-styled as the rest of the house.

“Whoever built this thing must have had a serious royalty complex,” she muttered to herself as she measured herself against the gaps between the bars. The gate definitely qualified in the ornate and pretentious departments. They had been designed more for looks than actual security, and by twisting just the right way she was able to slip through.

Halfway up the drive it occurred to her that maybe she should let someone know where she was. She paused under one of the large elm trees that shaded the drive and texted Lilia the address.

Don’t ask. Complicated. I’m at this address. If you don’t hear from me in 20 minutes I want you to call the police and tell them where I am.

Becca continued her walk toward the mansion. She was less than surprised when her phone buzzed with an incoming call a second later.

“Are you insane? What kind of a message is that? Are you in trouble?”

“Hey, Lilia. No, I’m not insane. Well, wait, maybe I am. I’m at Nicholas Hunt’s house; he may or may not be here. I’m checking on him for Dr. Gagnon. Just thought someone should know where I am.”

There was a shocked silence on the other end of the phone. “Are you serious? I thought that man was in France.”

“So did I. I guess not. I’ll tell you all about it tonight.”

“And you want me to call the police in twenty minutes if I haven’t heard from you? That does not make me very comfortable.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“If he is there and he threatens you in any way, knock him out and we will deal with it later.”

Becca laughed in spite of herself. Lilia’s answer to the problem of Nicholas hadn’t changed much in two years. When he’d proved less than helpful, wanting to exploit the fact that Luke had awakened the enchanted Lilia and magically taken her place asleep on that crazy, spell-laden bed in the museum, Lilia had responded with a sleeping curse of her own. They’d stuffed Nicholas in a storage room and set about figuring out how to break Luke’s enchantment by themselves. None of the girls had been very impressed with their advisor at the museum not only failing to come to their assistance but trying to use the unusual circumstances for personal gain. Even Alex, who’d had a crush on Nicholas, had her eyes opened to his true personality rather quickly.

“Will do. Not sure I’ve got the sleeping spell mastered quite like you, but I’ll give it a go. I’ll call you in a few.” Becca shoved her phone back into the back pocket of her jeans once Lilia had said goodbye. The walk from the front gate had taken longer than she expected, but she was finally facing the imposing front doors of this mausoleum that Nicholas apparently called home.

Becca could hear the doorbell echoing throughout the house, but there was no answer. She knocked loudly on the wooden doors. Still no response. “This is moving past dumb to plain old stupid.” She fanned her face with her hand. It was hot. Really, annoyingly hot. Nicholas obviously either wasn’t here or didn’t want to be bothered. “I should just turn around and go.”

Instead of walking back to her car, Becca tromped around the outside of the house. It was built almost right up against the hill and far enough away from other houses that she couldn’t see them. The trees made it seem even more isolated. From the west side of the house there was a spectacular view down the hills and over the city of Los Angeles. On the other side the trees thinned out and a large lawn rolled out for what seemed like forever.

There was a detached garage at the end of the driveway. Planters full of flowers were pressed up against the sides of the garage; she could spot the violets even from this distance. For some reason it annoyed her that Nicholas had her “emblem flower,” as Lilia called it—the flower that responded best to her magic, on his grounds. The front door of the garage was open and she could see a dark, sporty looking BMW. It wasn’t the same car that Nicholas had driven when he worked at the museum, but that was two years ago. He could’ve easily bought a new car. Becca walked back down the driveway toward the house, thinking that she must be coming up on her deadline to call Lilia back. She’d just pulled her phone out of her back pocket to text Lilia when she felt it.

There was magic coming from the house.

She stared at the side of the mansion, as if she could somehow see past the walls and into the rooms. It was a slow, steady, pulsating magic. This far away she couldn’t tell much about it; it just was. And why it was in Nicholas’s house, she had no idea.

Her phone, sitting forgotten in her palm, began to buzz and she quickly answered.

“Are you dead?” Lilia demanded. “You’d better be dead, because it has been twenty-three minutes.”

“No, sorry.” Becca walked up to the wall and put her hand on it. The closer she got, the stronger she felt the power emanating from whatever was inside the house. “Hey, so I’m outside Nicholas’s house, and I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of magic in there.”

There was a pregnant pause on the other end of the line.

“Are you kidding?”

Becca snorted. “Nope. I’m thinking about going in and checking it out.”

“I think you should wait for us.”

“Who is ‘us’?” Becca asked sharply, noticing for the first time that the background noise on the other end of the line sounded less like a busy school and more like a car. “You better not have bothered Alex!”

“It’s not a bother,” Alex’s voice cut in. “And I’m glad she called me. Neither of us wants you going up to Nicholas Hunt’s house alone. Crazy girl.”

Becca rubbed her forehead. Of course Lilia had her on speaker phone. “But it’s Luke’s first day back…”

“He’s catching up with his mom; she’s feeding him enough food to make up for an entire semester’s worth of home-cooked meals. According to my phone, we’re about fifteen minutes from the address you texted Lilia. Just wait for us, okay? Especially if there’s magic.”

“Fine, I’ll wait,” Becca lied as she headed toward the front door.

“Are you walking back to your car?” Alex asked.

Becca looked up at the sky in exasperation as she changed direction and headed back down the long driveway. “I am now. How do you do that?”

Alex laughed. “You’re too predictable—and protective—for your own good. Whatever is going on with Nicholas, you’re not gonna solve it before I get there. Trust me, I will not be emotionally damaged in any way by seeing him again.”

~ Chapter Two ~

B
ECCA WAS LEANING
against her car, arms crossed, face turned up to the bright sun when Alex and Lilia pulled up in Alex’s late model sedan.

“Man, it’s hot out here,” Alex exclaimed as she gave Becca a quick hug.

“Yeah, my poor baby’s AC doesn’t work so well when she’s idling, so I thought I’d work on my tan.”

Lilia fanned her face. “I feel like I’m getting sunburned just thinking about it.”

Becca snickered as she took off her sunglasses and tossed them onto the passenger seat of her car. “You
could
get sunburned just thinking about it, Casper.”

“So what’s up with the gate?” Alex asked.

“Locked. Intercom doesn’t seem to work. I just squeezed in between the bars.”

Lilia sighed. “I should have worn different pants.”

Becca raised an eyebrow at the length of leg exposed by Lilia’s shorts. “Sweetie, those aren’t even close to qualifying as pants.”

“I’m ignoring you,” Lilia said as she slipped through the iron bars, squealing a little bit when her bare leg touched the sun-heated metal.

Alex and Becca followed Lilia through the bars and then Becca led them up the long driveway.

“This is insane,” Alex said in an awed voice. “Is Nicholas’s family wealthy or something?”

“I have no idea. I doubt he was making all that much at the museum and I can’t imagine working for Dr. Gagnon is all that profitable.”

“Speaking of Dr. Gagnon, Lilia said he called you and said you’re Nicholas’s emergency contact? That’s got to be some kind of epic misinterpretation.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what’s up with that. I’ve no idea what Nicholas would’ve written or said about us, but I can’t imagine it’s positive.”

“Oh,” Alex breathed out suddenly when they were about thirty feet away from the front of the house. “I feel it.” In another few steps, Becca could sense the deep, pulsing magic that she’d felt before.

“It feels old,” Lilia said absently.

Alex had her head cocked toward the magic as if listening for something. “I’m not sure which is more concerning, MIA Nicholas or the magic.”

“The magic,” Becca answered immediately. “And whatever he’s told people about us. Nicholas being MIA is the least of my concerns.”

“Mmm hmm,” Alex murmured noncommittally.

Becca looked at her suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”