covencraft 04 - dry spells (26 page)

Paris thought about that. Thought about having to answer questions regarding where Jade was, why she’d gone so suddenly, why her twin was here when she was not. He nodded slowly. “All right. Josef knows, of course.”

Lily was already moving up the stairs. “I’ll let him know it’s me. Callie if you like. Maybe Henri. But if anyone else asks, I’m her.”

Her posture changed slightly as she ascended the stairs - the lines of her becoming sharper and more contained.

“Don’t forget your eyes,” he called after her. The apple-green of her eyes was quite different from Jade’s pale, black-rimmed pale grey. “If you need help with a spell to change them, I can assist you.”

“No one looks as closely as you, English.”

His heart beat hard twice in succession at her use of Jade’s nickname for him. From under the table, Bruce sighed again. One of his forelegs came out and he rested a clawed toe on Paris’ shoe. Paris couldn’t think of anything else to say before Lily disappeared up the spiral staircase.

When Callie came down into the dungeon to start her shift, her surprise at seeing Paris already there and surrounded by books was evident on her face.

“You never come to the library. You call down and ask me to look for stuff,” she said, taking off her coat and hanging her purse up. She flicked her pale blonde hair behind her shoulder, the cold dry climate of winter making the fine strands static-y, flaring round her like a halo.

“I need some help looking at some demon runes.”

Callie’s shoulders slumped. “Are we under attack?” she asked, her voice already sounding tired and defeated. “Can I at least grab a coffee first if we’re under attack?”

It said a lot about the recent events of the Coven, things since Jade’s arrival, that Callie’s first thought if they
were
under attack was that she should grab a coffee.

“My mother is back from the dead and she’s forced Jade to the demon world,” Paris blurted out.

“Pfffffft,” Bruce added from under the table.

“What? Oh my god!” Callie exclaimed. “Is that Bruce?” She came over to the table and hunkered down. Bruce waddled out and pressed up against her. “Oh, Bruce! You look pale, buddy! He looks pale,” Callie said again, directing her comment at Paris.

“He misses Jade.”

“Okay,” Callie said, taking a deep breath and pulling the chair next to him out from under the table and collapsing into it. “I’m going to need you repeat what you just said and catch me up.”

Much like he had with Josef, Paris filled Callie in on the details. Unlike Josef, whose managed to keep a poker face throughout most of Paris’ tale, Callie’s face went through a nearly comical range of expressions as he spoke. Horror. Disbelief. Shock. Surprise.

“Are you telling me that if I go to your house right now, r
ight the fuck now
, and bust in, I’ll find your mother baking scones and offering me tea?”

“Probably. She’ll likely even remember that you prefer jam with your scones instead of cream.”

“I don’t…” Callie sat back in the chair. “It’s not that I think you’re lying. I just can’t believe it. I’m gonna -” She blew a long breath out of her mouth, her cheeks puffing fat as she did. “I’m going to need months of therapy after this.”

A buzzing came from the vicinity of her purse and Callie turned her head quickly toward the sound and then back toward Paris, ignoring what was presumably her phone. Seconds later, the phone buzzed again, then a dance-pop ring tone echoed off the stone walls.

“Sorry, that’s Henri,” Callie said with a grimace as she stood. “If I don’t get that he’ll just keep calling or come down here.”

“It’s fine.”

Callie’s brow furrowed as she read her text messages. “Did you show up here this morning with Jade? Oh no, I guess you couldn’t have. Lily?” Callie asked, her large brown eyes fixing on him.

“Yes, why?”

Callie sighed, waving her phone. “Henri’s already hearing about it through the grapevine. He was wondering if we should go warn Jade she’s a hot discussion topic. Again. But I guess it’s actually Lily who’s in Counter-Magic right now?”

Paris nodded. “I wasn’t thinking when we arrived. I’m staying at the cottage while Sakkara is back. And Lily’s the only connection we have to Jade.”

“How so?”

“They have this ability to connect. I’m not sure if you know about that or not. I don’t think it’s a grand secret, but maybe not something they shared.”

Callie tilted her head, thinking. “We haven’t really had much of a chance to hang out, but I know they finish each other’s sentences a lot. And sometimes it’s like they’re talking but they’re not saying anything out loud. They’re like über twins.”

Paris nodded again. “I know that Jade’s been able to see through Lily’s eyes and Lily… sometimes she can get impressions of Jade. I think it works better when Jade initiates it. Maybe because Jade has more magic. I don’t know.” He sat back in his seat. “I don’t… explaining this all to the Coven is just -” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I never wanted to be one of those leaders that kept things from people, but it honestly feels like the best decision right now. I don’t have much information, and it really does seem to be contained, for lack of a better word, to Jade. Jade and Sakkara.”

“Forget coffee, I need a drink.”

“It’s eight in the morning,” he replied.

“Do you really give a fuck?” Callie asked. “I mean, we’re talking dead mothers, demon worlds and Gorgons. The least of our problems will be if we start drinking at eight a.m.”

He let out a wry laugh. “I honestly wish I could get completely knackered right now, but I’m trying to understand Sakkara. And her demon magic.” He gestured to the demon grimoire in front of him and the runeology books. “I don’t know how to help Jade. I don’t know if I
can
help Jade. But I can dig into the books. Any information is useful at this point.”

“Okay,” Callie said, pushing herself up from the chair. “You need the books Jade had on demon runes.”

“I’ve grabbed what was on the shelf.”

Callie snorted. “Oh, I don’t keep these on the shelf. I mean I did, when I didn’t know what they were, but after Jade started learning demon magic, she mentioned some of the stuff she found. So I keep that shit locked up now. I’ll go get them.”

“You can tell Henri. If you like. Or feel you need to,” Paris added, just before she turned away. “I know you’re all friends - you, Henri and Jade. I don’t want to lie to him.”

“You also don’t want to be the one to tell him either, do you?”

He grimaced and Callie leaned over and patted his hand. “I’ll talk to him. After I get you these books, maybe we’ll pop over and see Lily.” She got up and went behind her desk, taking out a set of keys, then heading to the back of the library where the older dungeon cells were. Paris assumed that’s where she was keeping the books of which she spoke.

“I think Lily would like that,” he called after Callie. “She’s having a hard time. When you see her, she’ll be pretending to be Jade. I think it helps her.”

Callie came back moments later, a set of gloves on her hands, holding a worn, dark blue book. She set it down in front of him; a sickly sweet smell wafted up from it. Anise. Like Sakkara’s demon magic.

“This was one of the ones Jade told me to lock up. It’s on runes.” Callie pulled the gloves off, a pair of archivist’s simple white cotton gloves. “Wear the gloves when you handle it.”

“Is it fragile?” Paris asked, sliding his hands into the cotton gloves. They were warm from Callie’s hands.

“No, it’s….” Callie rubbed her fingers together. “Sticky. Jade recommended the gloves. She did something to them, I don’t know what, but you don’t get the sticky on your hands when you wear the gloves.”

Now that the gloves were on his hands, Paris could feel the lingering touch of Jade’s magic. He held them up, examining them and carefully sniffed the back of his hand. Linden blossom, faint and light, touched his nostrils.

“They smell like Jade’s magic.”

“Like I said, I don’t know what she did to them, but it keeps the sticky off.”

He wondered at that. It certainly wasn’t anything he taught her since he had no affinity nor proclivity to do any demon magic at all. To be frank, he’d rather left Jade to her own devices in that respect and was now regretting it.

“I didn’t realize she was so involved with the grimoires. I knew she was studying them, but…” His voice trailed off as he pulled Sakkara’s demon spell book closer to him, looking back at the page he was reading.

“She doesn’t keep it a secret,” Callie interjected, her tone somewhat defensive. “She’s not hiding it from you.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. Merely that I should have paid more attention.”

“It’s not like you’re ignoring her. You have a full time job, and then Dex happened, and now this thing with Lily.” Callie gestured toward the stairs. “She works on it over lunch or sometimes after work. You can’t be around her 24/7.”

Paris didn’t have a response. Intellectually he knew Callie was right, but part of him still felt perhaps he’d left too much of Jade’s education unattended.

“Anyway, you can talk to her about it. When she gets back. If you still feel that way.”

“Yes,” he replied. “When she gets back.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“
Is Medusa’s hair really made of snakes?” Jade asked.

Seth sighed. “You’re like a dog with a bone. One of those small yappy ones.”

Jade wrinkled her nose at the comparison. “You can hardly expect me not to ask. I’m supposed to get this thing from her and not turn to stone. I need to know what to expect.”

Looking at the expression Seth was making, Jade had a sudden memory of a movie she’d seen once, where the dad in a car full of kids had announced that he would ‘turn this car around, so help him, God.’ She wanted to laugh at the idea of Seth being the disgruntled and overly-tired parent on a road trip, but managed to keep her smirk under wraps. Although, if he said, ‘We’ll get there when we get there,’ she was pretty sure she’d lose her shit.

“Medusa,” Seth began, pausing as though collecting his thoughts. “Medusa is what you expect her to be.”

Jade frowned. She wiggled her toes, her feet still up on the dash from where she’d placed them earlier. “So, like snakes for hair? Green skin? Dark eyes?”

“She is what you expect her to be,” Seth repeated.

Jade felt the skin of her nose wrinkle as she made a face. “You suck.”

“Quite well, I’m told.”

Jade rolled her eyes. “Why did you guys break up?”

“Possum,” Seth warned.

“I’m just curious! Are you the dumper or the dumpee?”

“Does it matter?”

Jade snorted. “I don’t know what kind of break up you had, so it might. If she tossed you out on your sorry ass for cheating, I can’t imagine you showing up with a witch in tow is going to win us any favors.”

Seth was quiet for a moment, the silence heavy. “No. I suppose you’re right. I was the dumper.”

“Ouch.” Jade winced. “Did you have a good reason? I’m not asking what it was,” she said quickly, cutting off the outraged sound Seth made. “I’m trying to figure out what kind of welcome we’ll be getting. Or not.”

“I had a good reason,” Seth said. His voice was flat and plain. 

Jade traced a fingertip on the window. A fat, pale tumbleweed rolled through the desert in her line of sight. She followed it with her eyes. “Did you regret it?”

“Tell me why you’re afraid of your feelings for your little English friend.”

Jade cringed. She expected this. In her brain, she could hear Hannibal Lecter hissing at Clarice, ‘
quid pro quo
.’ Asking Seth questions was an invitation for him to ask them in return, and Seth pulled no punches.

“I think… I worry…”

She watched the tumbleweed twist and turn, rolling across the stark desert. She thought Seth would make fun of her long pause, of her insecurity. Instead, the car was silent except for the low sound of the engine running and the slight howl of the wind outside. There would be no joke from Seth to get her out of answering this question.

“I’m afraid he wants more than I know how to give. Or maybe he doesn’t want anything,” she finished in a rush, the words tumbling out of her, wet and ugly. Her two biggest fears when it came to Paris: that he both may want her and not want her, the heavy implication of each weighing on her brain.

“All because of your past,” Seth said.

“Oh shut up, you don’t know my past.”

“I know more than you think. I know what you’re afraid of.”

Despite how childish she knew it sounded, she couldn’t help but reply. “Do not.”

“Do so,” he answered back, equally childish. “How long will you hold your past close, as though it were a talisman against your future?” Seth asked. “The memory of things transpired, forever looming over your present, a menacing shadow.”

“Fuck you,” Jade said automatically, a reflex, an instinct born of being unwilling to examine his words and see the truth they may hold.

“How long can such a thing be sustained, do you think? The fear, the anger, the shame. How long can your psyche hold onto those emotions?”

“Shut up.”

“The truth is,” Seth continued, unperturbed by her protests, “you’ve built those feelings into a suit of armor against the world, but at the same time deny their very presence.”

She could feel his words in her bones. Feel herself teetering on the dangerous precipice he forced her to look over. The ugly underbelly he exposed like a rock turned over in a moist environment, the crawling, wiggling underthings exposed to the light. The phantom weight of a masculine body on top of hers. The memories she pushed down. Pain and shame. A horrible set of emotional twins constantly hovering near her, always visible in the corner of her eye. “You don’t know me.”

“Don’t I?” Seth asked. “Don’t I know this moment a thousand times over?” He sounded tired, pensive. “Perhaps I’ve lived this moment before. Perhaps I’ve had this discussion before.”

She didn’t know how to make him stop. She couldn’t fight him, couldn’t leave. Couldn’t demand he pull the car over, get out and slam the door shut. She wanted to clap her hands over her ears and start yelling, ‘la la la la la! I can’t hear you!’ but couldn’t move. To move was to draw attention to herself further. To move was to reveal herself. In her mind, she felt Lily suddenly and Jade realized she had called out to her, the way she always did when her emotions got too strong. She could sense Lily’s response - an immediate awareness of Jade and Lily’s unbreakable attention on her.