Deception of the Magician (Waldgrave Book 2) (36 page)

He walked away down the hall, turned the corner, and then he was gone. She went back into his room and sat on the bed next to the other two suitcases on the floor. Griffin was briefly back up to get them, and then he was leaving for good. She followed him down to the drive, somehow hoping that he was joking or that he would change his mind at the last second, but he didn’t. The cat jumped in the car after him, and when he tried to push it back out Lena begged him to take it; she didn’t want it, and in her heart she knew the cat knew his owner. So he took it out of apathy. As she watched the car pull away, she didn’t know what was going to happen, or how she was going to handle the storm approaching on the horizon. Griffin was really gone this time.

She had never felt so lonely or unprepared in her life.

*****

CHAPTER 2

The note under her door turned out to be little more than half a page, asking her to mind his political situation and to quickly retrieve his one-year-old brother from the Channing residence if he fell out of favor. He asked her to look after Darius in such a case, as Griffin had no interest in caring for him at the time being, but promised to send money if it was needed. She tucked the note carefully into her pocket to show Howard later; it was probable that Griffin would fall out of good favor since he was acting so strangely, and there was planning to do if there was going to be a baby at Waldgrave.

That day at lunch she made an informal announcement that in light of the failed recovery of the portal, Griffin had decided to go back to California to look over some of Master Daray’s private notes more carefully. With so many skeptical faces watching her, she decided it might be best to expand a little to keep the gossip at bay.

“The object recovered by Ben Collins was not the genuine article, which means that the real portal, if it was ever real to begin with, hasn’t been seen a Silenti in more than fifty years, and event then the object purported to be the portal may have been a fake. We have no leads. It’s gone, and that’s a fact that we’re all going to have to deal with sooner or later.”

She sat back down amidst what she suspected were silent whispers. The meal passed without much audible talk, though Howard gave her an impressed look. They hadn’t spoken much over the past weeks; aside from Griffin, Lena hadn’t spoken much to anyone since returning to Waldgrave, excepting Mrs. Ralston, who told her that her silence had by and large been viewed as appropriate given the circumstances. Despite the fact that she wasn’t talking so much to Howard, he seemed to understand; they were the last two remnants of a long and painful legacy of deceit, lies, and betrayal. There just weren’t any words; it was too much to talk about. They both went on understanding this fact, and each other, and it was enough.

After lunch, Lena checked in on Devin’s condition again before going out to sit in the greenhouse to think; she needed to figure out what her next move was going to be, because she expected that with the portal gone from the Council’s mind, she was about to be a key component of decisions regarding what to do about Rollin. And then there was Griffin; she still wasn’t sure how his decision to leave was going to go over, but she was betting that it wouldn’t go over well. The Silenti, and especially the Old Faith families, were about dominance; with the Darays gone, the leadership position had to be filled. Historically speaking, a spree of murders, blackmail, and general upheaval was associated with the process of selecting the next leader as people tried to claw their way to the top.

The greenhouse was a serene place for thinking, but it was also a public one—when she went out, Jason Rivera was already there. Lena froze in her steps as their eyes met; she had been keeping so much to herself that she hadn’t even known that Jason had been around for the past few weeks, but if she had known, she probably would have taken the time to speak with him about the death of his father, Matias.

He resembled him so much despite the fact that he was so young; even down to the depth of his dark eyes. Only in his late teens, and already a full member of the Council. Her voice caught in her throat. He used to wear shirts with political slogan or band logos on them, but now he wore button down shirts. The third culture kid, as Hesper had called him; he had spent his life living with humans, and now he was in the center of a different world, with no one to guide him. Lena had never known him well, but had always liked him; she doubted he would ever like her back, and she couldn’t blame him.

His expression was completely neutral as he looked at her. He gestured to a seat near his own. “I guess a lot has changed since the last time I saw you.”

“I’m sorry about your father.” She blurted out.

He gestured her to sit again, nodding. “Thank you.”

Lena walked over to the wrought iron garden chair and sat, caught so off guard that she forgot to close the first story greenhouse door behind her. “On a personal level, I mean. I’m very sorry about your father, because it was my proposal in the first place, and because we developed quite an allegiance before his death. He was a good man. He believed in what we were doing.”

Jason nodded, still avoiding eye contact. “He told me. We emailed frequently while he was gone, because he was very skeptical at first. He thought that you were a fake, and a waste of time, but then when it started to work…He often spoke of how forthright you were about finding it and giving it to the Council. He spoke of you in terms of a good political ally in years to come. He believed that you were the future of the fight against the Darays, and here you are—you’re here at Waldgrave, and the Daray heir isn’t. Maybe he was right.”

Lena frowned; she was speechless. Jason turned his head to look at her.

“I…well, I mean, that was Griffin’s decision to leave. I didn’t tell him to go.” Lena shrugged.

Jason’s expression didn’t change. “My father believed very strongly that you would find it. The portal. Did you find it?”    

Lena sat back. Was he interrogating her? “I…no. Yes. Yes, I found the thing that we were tracking, but no, it wasn’t the portal. You haven’t read the record I gave? It’s all in there.”

She stared at Jason, as he stared back. He had been such a happy teen before; they had eaten dinner together occasionally. He was always smiling, laughing, talking to everyone—but now he was so serious. He raised his eyebrows. “Well, I only ask because some of us think you’re bluffing. It’s very convenient that you say you didn’t find it, and yet young Master Corbett is off again, doing what he does best—retrieving things to deliver back to the last of the Daray line.”

Lena was taken aback. She looked him in the eye, disbelieving that he was being so candid with her. It was a wild idea—but it was exactly the kind of thing Pyrallis Daray would have tried. “I’m not my grandfather, Jason. I assure you that we did not find the portal on that mission. It pains me that so many died so needlessly, and that it might not have happened. It could have been stopped, but we’re all such paranoid fanatics that we won’t let it.” She leaned forward to bring them closer together. “I’m done with all the cloak and dagger antics. I have no desire for the portal, or even to be a part of this religion. All I have ever wanted is to live my life the way that the rest of you do—coming and going as I please, making my own decisions. It drove me to make a desperate proposal, and a lot of people died as a result. This Council has my full cooperation to make my living a normal life possible, because my grandfather never offered cooperation, and as a result, the Council forced my family into extinction over…” She was about to say, “a bunch of lies,” but caught herself just in time, “Over a box of junk. Too many people have died over the paranoia created by this religion. I’ve lost almost my whole family to it, but not anymore. As I have always maintained, I don’t want a marriage or children. I have no interest in continuing this legacy. I promise you that I will be the last descendent of Pyrallis Daray, because I have a vested interested in that portal remaining lost—or better yet, thinking that it may have never existed to begin with. My grandfather never would have told you this, but those old books contradict themselves, and yes, some of them spout gibberish about a magic object that leads to a mythical land, but some of them don’t. I can definitively tell you that it is possible it never existed to begin with. And so many people have died for it and over it. No more. I won’t let it go on any longer.”

It was a good lie; as beautiful as many lies often were. It sounded good, which was what she had intended, but then, she wasn’t even sure how much of it was a lie. In theory, it was possible that she wasn’t even a descendant of Pyrallis Daray. It was possible that Ava hadn’t been his daughter, or maybe she was his daughter, but either way, she wanted it to die with him. It was time for the Council to move forward, and for their own sakes, it was better that she didn’t throw so much doubt into everyone’s minds. As the past few years had taught her, ignorance was bliss—she had been happier before she knew about Pyrallis’s lies. She had been much happier before she knew about the Silenti at all. The portal was her secret; and like her grandfather, she was willing to take it with her. No one would ever know, because this was where the insanity ended.

She watched Jason, hoping he believed her, but he didn’t say anything. He was just quiet; Lena tried to relax back into her chair. Real or not, if she had to deal with one more conspiracy involving that damn portal and all the hype her grandfather had created around it…

The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and Lena suddenly had the uncomfortable thought that she was being watched without knowing it; Rollin leapt to the forefront of her mind and she spun around. Standing in the open door were Master Prescot (his wrist was still in a brace from the bullet he had taken at the same shooting that took Matias Rivera’s life) and Master Astley.

Lena was caught off guard; she shot up out of her chair, tried to straighten herself out, and gave them a nod. How long had they been standing there? Doctor Evans walked up behind them, and then spoke over Master Astley’s shoulder in Lena’s direction.

“I’d like a moment, if you have one.” He said, looking curiously from Master Prescot to Master Astley.

“Sure. Excuse me.” Lena pushed passed the two men to meet the doctor in the living room, where he pulled her off into a corner. He was wearing scrub pants, but he had thrown a jacket on over his scrub top. Despite his informal appearance, he had an entirely serious tone to his voice. He must have been up tending to Devin all night, but he didn’t look tired at all.     

“He’s pulling through.” He said, looking her directly in the eye. “But you need to understand that this isn’t the end. He’s in a good deal of pain, which we are treating, but this is most likely not the end of the surgeries.”

He paused. Lena gave him a nod. “Okay.”

Unblinking, he continued. “If he were a full Silenti, he might have been able to heal himself henceforth, but it’s just not the case. I’m still a little concerned that he might be susceptible to some bacterial infections, so we’re going to have to keep an eye on him. The bullets did quite a number on his intestinal tract, so he’ll be eating via I.V. with his meds and antibiotics for a while—maybe not long, depending on how quick his organ regenerative processes are, but he is a human-born so I don’t expect much. He’s lost a kidney, and he’ll need dialysis at least for a while. His liver is doing pretty well given that we had to remove about a third of it. Okay?”

“Okay.” Lena said perfunctorily.

“Okay.” Doctor Evans blinked for what felt like the first time since he started talking. “Do you have any questions?”

Lena thought back to the first conversation she had ever had with Doctor Evans, several weeks ago, and knew that there would be a price for saving Devin’s life. And whatever it was, she was happy to pay it. “Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you to treat him? Of course, anything you need is yours…”

The doctor raised his hand to stop her. “I have everything I need. We’ll discuss the details later. Is there anything else?”

“Can I talk to him?”

“Oh,” Doctor Evans looked caught off guard and wiped a hand across his face, looking away briefly. “Well, if you really need to, I can wake him up.”

Lena felt her eyes go wide. It was evident that his previous employer hadn’t always had the patient’s best interests at heart. “Oh! No! Not like that. I would just like to talk to him as soon as he’s awake, that’s all. I don’t want him to be in any pain. It’s nothing important, I just want to see him and talk to him.”

“Well,” he sighed, “That’s going to be a little tricky. Awake—as in conscious—is a little bit hard too…He won’t be conscious for several days, probably. I’d prefer to keep him decently under until we’ve stabilized him better. He’s going to be on so many painkillers that he probably won’t know where he is.”

“Oh…” Lena looked away. A whole week?

The doctor gave her a sidelong glance. “But, well…you might be able to talk to him later. After dinner tonight, perhaps. He won’t be conversational, and anything he says probably won’t make any sense, but he’ll know you’re there.”

Lena looked back at the doctor. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Not at all.” He smiled, sending tiny creases scampering around his old eyes. “If you need anything, my assistants know where to find me, but I’ll be down for dinner and then we can go up together, if you like.”