Burning in a Memory (35 page)

             
The leader named Margo clicked her tongue. Though short, she raised her chin as if she towered over everyone in room.

             
“I don’t remember discussing this mage. Who is she? Why should I care?”

             
“This is the mage that you spared because you sent her on a mission. You sent her to dose Leon Colton with the potion that allowed me to bring him here,” Mistel explained.

             
Margo shook her head.

             
“I did no such thing.”

             
Since this was the first time Adelaide had actually met Margo, she knew this was true. The shades that had cut the deal with her had probably been at the bottom of the pack. Zachary suddenly interjected.

             
“She made the deal with Smith. He sent her after Leon a few weeks ago,” Zachary whispered but the sound of his voice carried.

             
Margo tilted her head as she listened to him.

             
“So we sent a weak, useless mage after Leon Colton?”

             
Zachary laughed.

             
“Well, I guess they believed it wouldn’t hurt anything. We could not find him or capture him since his escape,” he said.

             
“And what was the reward for her deal?” Margo asked then, looking bored. “She was to be spared and protected from shades everywhere. That’s how she cut it. But then she double-crossed us long enough to bring other mages straight into our home—the mages that nearly burned this place to the ground.”

             
Margo suddenly perked up again. She stepped away from Zachary and watched Adelaide now. Adelaide scooted back but resisted the urge to bolt. Without a proper opening, the shades would blast her to pieces. Mistel choose this time to intervene again.

             
“Adelaide has still provided a priceless service to you. She deserves some mercy,” Mistel contended vehemently. Margo walked by her side and paused only a few feet from Adelaide.  Adelaide refused to meet her gaze.

             
“And what mercy did you have in mind?”

             
“Let her join the coven too. It’s both a reward and a punishment.”

             
Adelaide’s blood turned to ice. Fear rushing through her, Adelaide couldn’t stay quiet.

             
“No,” she gasped. ”You can’t. You can’t!”

             
Mistel whirled to grab her but Adelaide backpedaled. She staggered and slammed into the wall. Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest and blood pounded in her ears. Adelaide looked for the exits in a hurry. No shades immediately pursued her into the corner and she could run. But Margo spoke, interrupting her getaway plan.

             
“No! She’s too weak!” the shade laughed.

             
Adelaide flattened her body against the wall to keep away from Margo now. Thankfully Margo exhibited no interest in touching her. The shade paced closer before she returned to center of the room.

             
“She’s strong enough. She just doesn’t know how to use her magic. She came from a strong family,” Mistel said.

             
“No!” Adelaide shouted, but a look from Margo silenced her.

             
“I do commend you though, for trying to bring your family back together even on the flipside,” Margo said, but it sounded bitterly condescending.

             
Mistel’s body heaved.

             
“Adelaide was always meant to be with me,” she said quietly.

             
Zachary abruptly turned his back and whispered to the leader. Their conversation was inaudible from her corner, but Adelaide didn’t care what they had to say. Her eyes went to the door from which they came. If they tried to change her, she’d at least run. She’d go out swinging like Adam planned and hopefully her mercy would be a quick death.

             
Mistel took a second to turn and face Adelaide again. The red hue had returned to her irises and the cracks in her skin appeared worse.

             
“You’ve doomed yourself,” Mistel hissed darkly. The scent of smoke grew worse with Mistel’s anger and Adelaide gagged.

             
“Wait,” Margo abruptly called the attention of the room. Zachary had left her side and maneuvered to stand by the door. Adelaide shifted against the wall to stay away from him. While the shade almost never showed emotions on his face, he wore a small smirk now. The sight of it made her feel uneasy.

             
“I’ve changed my mind. I will allow the mage to join our coven.”

             
“No! No!” Adelaide screamed.

             
“Not a choice, my dear.”

Adelaide ran for the door but Mistel seized her. She tore at the shade’s arms frantically
,  tapping an aura and sending out a wild manifestation of magic but Mistel dropped her. Stomach aching from the blow, Adelaide doubled over. She groaned and moved to sit up. Zachary had crossed the room and knelt next to her. The other female shade also inched closer. Adelaide felt boxed in. She had to run. She had to get out.

             
“Don’t fight dear, it’s not happening now, of course,” Margo said from her spot in the center of the room. Adelaide thrashed anyway until the last of her energy escaped. She wasn’t putting a dent in these shades. It took another minute for the comment to sink in and she remembered how to breathe.

             
“It doesn’t need to happen. I don’t want to be a shade. I’d rather die.” Adelaide cried.

             
“It’s not so bad.” Zachary held out a hand, but Adelaide watched him in disbelief. “I’ll take you back to your friend,” he added.

             
The abrupt and potent desire to return to Adam flooded over her, but once back in the pit, she wouldn’t have the chance to get out. The wheels in her mind spun.

             
“Take my hand, Adelaide. I’m not going to hurt you,” Zachary said. She watched him suspiciously. The Hawthorn shades stood too alert and too close to be casual.

             
She stood up on her own and Zachary rose by her side. When he did nothing to intercept her, she inched toward the door and grabbed the brass handle.

             
“When is it going to happen, Margo?” Mistel asked as if she too harbored reservations.

             
“A few days. We need time to set everything up,” Margo said.

             
Mistel’s lips thinned. She took a few steps to see Adelaide behind the blockade of bodies. The woman wore an indiscernible expression, but her gaze met Adelaide’s. That’s when Margo shifted. The shade lashed out and Mistel hit the wall. The brick shuddered under the force of the impact.

             
Zachary snatched Adelaide in a painful hold.

“Mistel, we promised you membership because you brought Leon to us. But apparently his fall was not really your doing but this mage’s. That deal is void and we’ll take the mage instead,” Margo spoke above the noise.

The other female shade charged Mistel. Adelaide screamed and thrashed, but Zachary’s grip held her tight. Mistel was torn to pieces in front of her. Adelaide screamed until she couldn’t breathe anymore. 

Thirty

              Mistel was dead in a second. Adelaide knew it but she still reached out for her fallen cousin. While she was shell shocked, the Hawthorn shades were not. The woman hauled Mistel’s body up as Zachary lifted Adelaide’s limp form in the opposite direction. The sensation of his hands on her finally snapped her from the daze. She tapped her aura and threw it again. The magic was weak but Zachary let her go. She scrambled to her feet, barreled through the door, and sprinted down the hall.

             
She didn’t hear anyone chase her immediately but didn’t wait around long enough for anyone to start. Sliding into another room, she saw no windows or doors but a massive maze of halls. Adelaide hurried to the left for no other reason but to keep moving.

             
“Kathy?”

             
She stopped when she heard the croak. Her heart skipped a beat.

             
“Leon!” she exclaimed, having never felt this happy to see him.

             
Despite her sudden burst of happiness, her surroundings sunk in. In the corner of the room was Leon. He wore a chain around his neck, bolted into cement, in a scene worse than the cellar. Purple and crimson decorated his face and both of his cheeks were swollen. He might have been out of it but he was alive and she would take the miracle as she found it.

             
“Hey,” she called, and hit her knees before him. Focusing on the chains that bound him, she tore at the rusted metal madly. Her fingernails bled but the latch wasn’t coming off. Adelaide tried to focus on her aura next and utilize magic, but Zachary and the female shade entered the room.

             
“Leave him alone,” Zachary ordered, sounding exasperated.

             
Adelaide whirled and put herself in front of Leon. She wasn’t sure exactly what she would be able to do, besides gather Leon a few extra seconds to become more coherent.

             
“You know you’re going to see him soon enough, on the flipside at least.”

             
“I’m not becoming a shade. Neither is he!” Adelaide protested with much more courage than she actually felt.              

             
Zachary shook his head.

             
“You don’t have much of a choice on that matter, my dear. You will be first, before him. And then you can be his greeting party.”

             
“Quit stalling,” the female shade snarled.

Zachary silenced her with a single finger in the air. They both went quiet. Adelaide struggled to hear anyth
ing above her ragged breathing, but the shades heard something. Whatever they heard, Zachary acted on it.

             
“Go outside,” Zachary whispered. “Go find out…”

             
The female shade obeyed and disappeared from the room. A new strike of hope dared to spark in Adelaide. There was only one shade and two mages—she could keep him at bay.

             
She turned on Leon again. She dropped the chains that lingered in her grip and clutched his face instead. He flinched at the contact. She laid a kiss on his lips. Sloppy and wet, the move of desperation surprised them both. Leon finally blinked and lit up.

             
“Adelaide,” he whispered. He smiled crookedly. “Oops,” he quipped.

             
“Of course you’d remember that,” she commented, feeling an insane laugh bubbling up inside her chest.

             
“Stop!” Zachary almost screamed. He grabbed her shoulder but Leon hurried to her hold her too.

             
“Leon, do something!” she begged. How much of Leon was actually there was a mystery, but he was ruining her only chance. 

             
“Don’t fight. Not yet,” he said.

             
Zachary tore her free and hauled her without mercy into the other room before dropping her. She hit the marble floor and the shock reverberated up her spine. She cried and struggled to right herself.

             
“I don’t want to watch you embarrass yourself with that kind of behavior again. Especially when you are joining our coven.”

             
“I don’t want to join your coven!” she screamed right back.

             
“It’s that or death.”

             
Adelaide shook her head.

             
“Turning into a shade is death. I want to live, but that’s not living. I won’t do it willingly.”

             
Zachary watched her for a long moment. His expression changed, for the first time since she’d met him, into a genuine look of interest. Wrapping her arms around herself, she trembled in her own skin as he scanned her up in down.

             
“What do you want from me?” she asked.

             
“What do you mean?” he asked.

             
“What did you tell Margo that I couldn’t hear? Did you talk her into letting me stay?” Adelaide’s voice hit an all-time high pitch and she had to clear her throat before finishing the sentence.

             
Zachary smiled.

             
“Yes,” he said.

             
“Why?”