Mind Games (19 page)

Since that put a decided end to my line of questioning, I thanked her kindly for her time and turned away. Wesley trailed slightly behind me as we made our way back to the car.

“Who’s next on the list?” Wesley asked from behind the wheel.

I pretended to have to check, though I and my hammering heart both knew the answer. The previous night’s encounter had done nothing to put me at ease in his presence.

“We don’t have to go in alphabetical order,” I said. “It would be faster if we skipped down to the next one in town. Some of these live all over the county. Let’s see… Blake, no, he’s way down highway 81… Brown is past those resorts…”

“The Sheriff doesn’t want us to rush, remember?” Wesley pointed out. “What’s the next name?”

“Evan Blackwood.” I programmed the address into the GPS and let it guide Wesley down to the lakefront area where most of the serious practitioners lived.

“You’re kind of quiet,” Wesley said after a few minutes. “You’ve had a story about everyone else. What’s up with this one?”

“This one’s for real. In fact, he probably won’t talk to you. None of the serious practitioners will.”

“But they’ll talk to you?” Wesley asked.

“Most of them, as long as I don’t ask the wrong questions.”

“What’s a wrong question?”

I stared out the window for a minute, watching the familiar landscape pass me by. “Are you capable of magically setting fire to someone’s house?”

“I see. They don’t want to admit to what they can and can’t do.”

“Basically, but it’s more than that. Some of these people are extremely suspicious and it would really just be best if I talked to them myself.”

When I turned to look at him, Wesley’s face had fallen into a deep frown. “I get that I’m new here, but I didn’t take this job so I could wait in the car.”

“Oh, we’re not talking about more than ten percent of this list,” I said quickly. Whoever had put the list together didn’t know much, because at least a third of the names were those of wannabes and weirdos. The only reason they had hit so many names correctly in the first place was the sheer density of practitioners in and around Eagle Rock. Otherwise, they were about as good at identifying witches as their forbears in Salem and Medieval Europe. They’d missed a number of powerful names, especially the Blairs, but at least it gave me plausible deniability when talking to people who would not be pleased to see their name on that list. I hadn’t put those names there because I would have been a lot more accurate.

“I didn’t sign up for this to stay in the car ten percent of the time, either,” Wesley replied. He gritted his teeth as if for a fight, but I decided to back off.

“All right,” I said. “But at least let me do the talking, and if they specifically say they’ll only talk to me, at least consider returning to the car.”

“I’ll consider backing off,” Wesley said. “But if these people are half as dangerous as everyone seems to think they are, then I will remain in sight at all times and not seated in a car where it would take me several seconds to react.”

His tone broached no arguments, so I didn’t offer any. But the closer we drew to Evan’s house, the edgier I became.

“What?” Wesley asked, finally. “Is this guy going to curse us or something?”

“Or something,” I muttered. Then, in a firmer voice. “I have some bad history with this one. It’s not important; just personal stuff.”

“Ex-boyfriend?” Wesley asked lightly.

“I’m not even sure if we were together long enough to count. It’s no big deal, though.”

We drove into the large circular driveway and parked directly in front of the house. Another driveway went behind the house to an attached three-car garage, but going that way without a prior appointment would trip some serious wards. An uninvited guest could not get inside the house, though they could solicit an invitation at the front door.

I had no idea whether I counted as an invited or uninvited guest.

Steeling my nerves, I strode up to the front door of that house as if I were visiting an old friend and rang the doorbell. The chimes rang throughout the house, but for the longest time, I thought no one would answer.

“I guess we’ll have to come back later,” Wesley said.

After all that anticipation, I couldn’t bear the thought of having to do it another day. I rang the bell again. Finally, just when I’d decided to leave, the front door opened. But it wasn’t Evan standing on the other side. It was Madison.

For a heart-stopping moment, I wondered if Madison and Evan were involved in a relationship, but then common sense set in. For one thing, the faint scent of lemon cleaning solution hung in the air around her. She wore a faded t-shirt and shorts, and in her right hand, carried a dust rag. To top it all off, it was Saturday, the day she cleaned houses to try to make ends meet.

“Madison?”

She glanced nervously over her shoulder. “Um, I’m not supposed to answer the door, but when you kept ringing the bell I thought… maybe something terrible happened.”

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. Then, realizing I knew the answer, I fired a new question at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were cleaning Evan’s house?”

“I, um–” Madison looked over her shoulder again. “He told me not to tell you.”

“Not to tell me, specifically?” I asked.

“Well, not to tell anyone, really, but mostly so the rumors wouldn’t get back to you.”

“Is Evan home?”

To my surprise, Madison shook her head. I stared at my friend as if seeing her for the first time, trying to work out what was going on. Finding her here at Evan’s house on a Saturday, cleaning, didn’t bother me that much. The secrecy bothered me, and more than that – Evan had left her alone in his house.
Alone.
With his potions and books and God only knew what else. Since when had Madison and Evan become such good friends that he trusted her alone in his house?

My initial suspicion, that she and Evan were involved somehow, slammed back home. I simply had too many unanswered questions in my life and Madison, already at the heart of a few, had just added several more. Sure, she was supposedly involved with my brother, but I’d never understood that relationship.

Something inside me snapped. I needed answers, and by God, I was going to find them. One way or another. I hesitated on the threshold for only a second, but I couldn’t imagine Evan letting his wards hurt me.

Then, with my resolve firmly set, I pushed my way inside. For a second, I thought the house didn’t want me there after all. An intense pressure filled my chest, making it difficult to breathe. My heart missed a beat. Then, all at once, the pressure eased and I was inside.

“Cassie, stop!” Madison cried.

I didn’t listen. Pushing past her, I began my search in the den, an informal room with a big screen TV and black leather furniture. I’m not sure what clues I sought, certainly I didn’t think I would find anything as obvious as a diary, but there had to be something.

Wesley followed me inside, fuming. “What do you think you’re doing? You have no right to be inside this house, I don’t care what personal issues you have with this guy.”

I continued my search as if he hadn’t spoken, shifting aside coffee table books and thumbing through magazines. I had nearly reached for a velvet jeweler’s box when Madison got in front of me, blocking me with her body.

“You have to stop this,” Madison said, her face awash with panic. “You’ve got to leave.”

“Just answer one question. Are you pregnant?”

She sucked in her breath, and her face went deathly pale.

No
, my brain protested.
That couldn’t be it. I was being irrationally jealous, wasn’t I?

Wasn’t I?

“The spaghetti sauce…” I began.

“You said you wouldn’t bring that up again.”

“I lied.” Quickly, I tried to sort it out in my mind. Women pregnant with magical babies often channeled that power. Strong case in point: Kaitlin. But that wasn’t the only explanation. I mean, Madison was a songbird, so maybe she had at least a dash of talent to go with her gift. I had assumed that much already.

But how strong a talent? Strong enough to interest someone like Evan? What was it my father had told him while they were settling that debt? Maybe assuring Evan that I wasn’t drained or burned out, as he had believed? He had denied that he wanted me for any such reason. But he’d also said he loved me, and look what happened.

“Cassie,” Wesley said. “We need to go.”

“Not now,” I snapped, still thinking furiously. The thing was, I was beginning to wonder about the burned out possibility, since my talk with Cormack at his shop about wards and DNA. It was the only one of the three that made any sense, and the one that Evan had claimed to believe, for a while. There’s no way I was repressing magic, and as for being drained… Like my parents would have let that happen.

“What is going on here?” My eyes snapped to the doorway where Scott Lee stood, glaring at all of us.

Madison backed into a table so hard she knocked both it and herself over. I rushed to help her untangle herself while Scott continued to glare.

“I didn’t invite them in,” Madison said when she had righted herself again.

“Did you open the door?” Scott asked.

She bit her lip and stared at the floor.

“And you,” Scott said, rounding on me. I did not step back. “You know better than to barge into a sorcerer’s house. What were you thinking?”

I wasn’t thinking, but I could hardly tell him that, especially not right then, when I was sure I was on the right path to figuring out Evan’s secret.

“So,” I said to Madison, “I assume Evan’s the father.”

“What?” Madison asked, her question echoed an instant later by both Scott and Wesley.

“When I asked if you were pregnant, you looked like death. You’re not good at hiding things.”

“Cassie, I would never in a million billion years do that to you. And neither would Evan.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Besides, I’m dating your brother.”

That really didn’t make sense, not even if I didn’t think they made the best couple.

Besides, my irrational jealousy had begun when I’d believed that Madison was in Evan’s house alone. She wasn’t. Evan’s best friend, who he trusted implicitly, was there. And with that inspiration, the entire foundation for my jealous rage crumbled from beneath me, leaving me weak and just as confused as ever.

I really should have made Evan tell me the truth the other night, when I had the chance.

“I’m sorry, Madison,” I said. “But, wait, are you pregnant?”

She shook her head vigorously enough to undo her haphazard ponytail. “I’m never exactly regular, so I’m just being paranoid.”

“I might be an aunt?” I asked. I think my mouth was hanging open.

“No,” Scott said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. He scowled, then added, “I’d smell it if she were pregnant.”

I shivered, thinking,
Scott Lee: Human Pregnancy Detector
. I’d much rather pee on a stick.

“You need to go,” Scott said. “You have no business coming in here and hurting your friend.”

“I’m sorry, Madison,” I repeated.

“It’s okay,” she said.

“No, it’s not,” Scott said.

He was probably right, but I hated to hear it.

“Evan’s been showing me basic magic,” Madison blurted, suddenly.

“Why?” I asked. “I mean, I get that you have some minor talent, but why go to Evan? Why not Nicolas?”

“Evan came to me first. It was actually before everyone figured out I was a songbird. I had no idea I had any magic, but then during that bank robbery in June I got scared and…”

“Pulsed?” I filled in for her. I would never have guessed it but the proof was right in front of me. How had she ended up with talent when I hadn’t? Life just wasn’t fair.

“Anyway, I’ve been cleaning Evan’s house and he’s been showing me some basics.”

“Since when did sorcerers stop scaring you?” I asked.

“Some still do. Victor Blackwood stopped by earlier this morning.” Madison shuddered. “Demanded to know what I was doing cleaning his son’s house. Like I was here to steal secrets or something.”

“I wish you’d told me,” I said. “Not about Evan, but about the rest.”

“You wouldn’t have minded finding out I have some magic talent?”

She had me there. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, but I had no idea what else to say.

“Let’s go,” Wesley said.

This time, I didn’t argue with him. I followed, and was almost to the front door when Madison shouted my name. As I turned to face her, she thrust a velvet box into my hands – the one that had been on the table she’d knocked over.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Open it.”

Carefully, I did. Inside, resting on a bed of velvet, sat a spectacular diamond and sapphire engagement ring. My breath caught in my throat as my fingers traced the pattern of stones. I wanted to try it on, but was almost afraid to.