Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) (17 page)

“Confused? Yeah, I am.” She stopped on the other end of the front counter. “The sword you had a while ago? It’s special.”

The power that reverberated through my entire body told me that, but how had Kendall known?

“Did you see the inscription on it?”

“No.” I rushed behind the counter, where I’d laid the sword and picked it up. Once more, its undeniable sense of energy filled my veins, giving me the unmistakable sensation of undefeatable power. This time, however, I scanned the side of the sword and saw various letters that made no sense to me.”

“It’s Norwegian,” Kendall said, shocked by whatever revelation she’d uncovered.

She’d minored in linguistics, and I’d inquired a few times why she’d chosen to concentrate on languages that were either dead or rarely used. Each time, Kendall didn’t have an explanation other than, “It just feels right.” That answer always mystified me. It meant she’d spent time and energy on classes that, for the most part, didn’t have great value, given that few jobs demanded knowledge in other languages unless you worked in politics, the business world, or academia.

“What does it say?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing really.”

Kendall had a photographic memory. At first, I had her read questions and answers from cards in the game,
Trivial Pursuit
, then quizzed her afterwards, but she didn’t make one mistake. Then I decided to use a different tact. When the
Hunger Games
novel first came out, I asked her to read a paragraph from it. Afterwards, I highlighted the section and put it away. For one year. Then I pulled it out, reminded her of the scene, and asked her to recite the passage she’d read earlier that year. A second later, she nailed it! I never doubted her ability again after that.

“You know what it says,” I said. “Tell me.”

This time she didn’t hesitate. “The daughter shall replace the mother.”

My mouth hung ajar. A dozen thoughts circled my head. Celestina had drawn my attention to the sword, but unless she knew Norwegian, which was unlikely, how would she have known what the sword said unless she had prophesized it? It verified that her visions were accurate, not that I had any reason to doubt her, but my education had taught me that validating sources was critical.

“That’s talking about Delphine replacing Grams,” I said, feeling the full brunt of that response.

“True, but why would it appear on a sword? Because you made it happen? I don’t think so. It seems like someone’s trying to make you feel guilty.”

“What do you mean?”

I feared that Kendall was right. It reminded me that Delphine could communicate with those behind the veil. “Zephora was watching, waiting.” Given her evil intentions, I found it plausible that she had waited until two witches of similar nature and like mind, such as Delphine and Alexis, worked alongside her to usher in a new type of command structure. But if that was the case, their objective had failed, unless…

Delphine’s gratitude after I’d killed Grams now hit me with full force:
I’d like to thank you. I couldn’t have planned this any better.

At the time, I thought Delphine was a cold-hearted bitch. Although those feelings hadn’t changed, I peeled back the layers of why she may have expressed herself that way: she wanted me to kill Grams because it would benefit her in some way. If she planned to team up with Zephora, Delphine wouldn’t have wanted me to render Grams’s body uninhabitable.

That’s when the most likely conclusion struck: they both wanted me to end Grams’s life. Even more feasible? They set me up to do just that. In other words, they conspired to set events into motion that gave me no logical choice but to murder my grandmother, which they hoped would have the added benefit of sending me into the inevitable downward spiral of guilt and grief, which might explain the message on the sword. But that wouldn’t happen…because I wouldn’t let it.

Nevertheless, why would they want to render me harmless? So they could follow through with whatever plans they had on their minds? If I were mentally incapacitated, I wouldn’t be a threat to their plans. But why would they fear me? I didn’t have much power.

Delphine had used Zephora’s power to achieve her goals. Now that I had sent Zephora beyond the veil, where she didn’t have as much influence, Delphine could set her own agenda. But since I didn’t know much about her, I had no idea what she planned for the future.

Because she primarily acted out of pure ambition, I presumed that she would do whatever was necessary to gain a stronghold of power. She wanted the grimoire, but what spells or enchantments did she seek? Just as important, what was Delphine willing to sacrifice to get what she wanted?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Could the phrase have been a trick,” I asked Kendall. “Could Celestina have added them to the sword?”

“She’s what…thirteen-years old? What would she know about foreign languages?”

“Nothing,” I said, “but I’ll never underestimate her. You heard Darius: she’s the most powerful witch since Zephora.” I deduced that Celestina had
too
much power, and that it might eventually corrupt her, destroy her…if she followed the rules and edicts set by her mother and grandmother. If I sensed that might happen, I wanted to be at her side to do everything I could to ensure that she didn’t reach that point.

A different idea hit me: “What if Delphine and Alexis are manipulating her abilities?”

“How?”

“I don’t know. But a teenager is impressionable,” I said, feeling my heart ache for the position her mother and grandmother had put her in. That notion fortified my position on that possibility. “I won’t let anything bad happen to her.”

Kendall gave that some thought. “What if…Celestina set her own ideas in motion?”

“In what way?”

“If she’s so powerful, I’m sure she doesn’t want to hurt her mother or grandmother. Wouldn’t it make sense to contact you…to make sure that doesn’t happen? She trusts you, right? So why wouldn’t she reach out to you? To get you to see her side of things?”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t know. You’re missing something. Delphine and Alexis have probably done some major planning. Maybe they’ve underestimated Celestina.”

I agreed with that possibility. Celestina’s gifts, along with her age, persuaded me that she wouldn’t be easy to convince one way or the other. She seemed naïve but also too distrustful to fall for exaggerated claims by either her mother or grandmother, not to mention myself. Instinct told me that she would side with the person who cared for her the most, the person who took a personal interest in her, not as a witch but as a human being.

“What are you going to do about it?” asked Kendall.

I disregarded that question. “Grams told me about the sword. But until that moment, it didn’t seem any more special than anything else in this room.”

Kendall spent a minute scanning the shop. “I’ve been here a hundred times, but I’ve never seen that sword. And if I saw an inscription on it, I would have mentioned it to you. That makes me think that someone added that inscription.”

“Who else could have done it? Alexis? She looked tipsy earlier. She wasn’t with the sword long enough to cast a spell to add that phrase. My mother? She’s too filled with hatred. She wouldn’t spend the time to learn anything other than what serves her. Besides, from what I’ve noticed, she convinces others to do what she wants. That gives her the idea that her hands are clean, that she’s guiltless.”

“And you think she’s guilty?” Kendall asked.

“Hell, yeah! But even so, where’s the proof?” Delphine’s arrogance and nonchalance told me that she operated that way; she’d prefer to spend mental effort rather than physical or emotional exertion, whereas I presumed Alexis would have elected the opposite.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Kendall said. “Since Delphine can’t hurt you, do you think she’s set Alexis on you?”

I smirked at the insinuation. “Does this have something to do with a certain drummer?”

“No way,” she said, a little too defensively. “We’re not dating or anything. He can do what he wants.”

“Really? Because when Alexis got a little—”

“Why do you keep going on about this? We’re not dating. He’s never even kissed me. So what the hell?”

I guessed Kendall’s anger stemmed from the truth of those assertions. But after years of avoiding the subject, I decided to stay on the topic. “You always hoped for more, didn’t you?”

She shook her head, unwilling to voice her feelings.

“Oh, so I’m just imagining things? You weren’t ticked that Alexis was hitting on Brandon?”

“No way,” she said, waving her hands at me as though the idea was preposterous. “We’re close friends and band mates. But beyond that? There’s nothing there.”

“So you’re not interested in him?” I saw the frustration on her face and decided to press the issue in a more subtle way. “There’s no chemistry?”

“Of course, there’s chemistry.” But realizing how she’d responded with such bitterness, she chuckled, blowing off her previous statement. “Be honest with me: do we look like a couple? Do we talk like a couple?” A guarded grin touched her lips. “There’s no way.” Her smile faltered, looking less than satisfied by her admission.

“Okay,” I said. “Got it. You and Brandon will never be a thing. It’s just friendship. Nothing more than that.”

“Damn right,” she said, a little too complacently. “Why do you ask? Did you want us to be something more?”

“Are you kidding? We’re not Fleetwood Mac. I don’t want strife within the band. That’ll kill whatever career we might have.”

“It worked for Fleetwood Mac,” she said under her breath.

I pretended not to hear that comment: Kendall wasn’t Stevie Nicks, and Brandon wasn’t Lindsey Buckingham. My band mates were very good musicians, but even if they were geniuses, I wouldn’t have wanted conflict to affect our potential. Nowadays, when few people read album reviews and everyone relied on word-of-mouth regarding concert performances, I didn’t need drama among our band members. I didn’t want melodrama to sink us before we became more than a local band.
But it worked for Fleetwood Mac.
And if you replaced romantic relationships with professional ones, it had also worked for The Beatles, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Guns N’ Roses...

“Okay, look,” I said. “We’re not Fleetwood Mac…that’s all I’m saying.” I met her gaze. “But we know what we are. And I think we’re damn good. So I don’t care what happens with you and Brandon. That’s your business, not mine. If you get together or if you don’t: doesn’t matter to me. What matters is the music. Understood?”

“Got it,” she said, not meeting my gaze.

But no matter how much I knew about both of them, I knew their relationship could never be platonic. Kendall wouldn’t be satisfied with “best friend” status forever, and Brandon was too interested in pushing intimacy to its breaking point to continually avoid Kendall’s affection for him. Eventually, they would get together; whenever they consummated their feelings, it wouldn’t be just sex. I knew the relationship would consume Kendall and torture Brandon, but regardless of my feelings, they were better together than apart, so I needed to focus on the band and ignore their combustive nature.

Kendall’s phone chirped, indicating a text message. She glanced at it, and her eyes grew wide. “Something just came up. Gotta go. See you later!” She hurried out of the shop.

Only a message from Brandon could have hastened such a swift departure. Would their drama ever end?

“I hope I’m not intruding,” said a masculine voice from a few feet behind me.

I swung around to see Darius. I hadn’t even heard him enter the shop. “Not at all,” I said, trying not to give away my surprise.

He pointed at the sword. “That once belonged to me.” A long-lost grin took control of his expression. “A long time ago…”

“…in a galaxy far, far away?”

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t follow…”

I smiled at his cluelessness.

“But now that the sword is in your possession,” he said, getting back on track, “I have one suggestion: don’t
ever
let it go.”

“It’s the equivalent of a long knife. It can’t be that important.”

“That sword is everything.” He set his eyes on mine. “You felt its power, its control. Do you really think you can ignore it forever?”

“Is it anything like Thor’s hammer in the Marvel movies? Am I the only one who can lift it? Can it make me fly?”

“Only winged creatures and aircraft can fly.”

“What about rockets?”

He gave me a peculiar look void of emotion.

“Or balloons?”

His jawbone clenched as he grinded his teeth.

“Three hundred years…and you still haven’t got a sense of humor?”

“
Three hundred years
,” he said in a deep voice, “of life tell me you should take my advice. If you don’t, then you’re as ignorant as your sister.”

I still got the impression that, if it weren’t for Delphine’s influence, my sister wouldn’t be so messed up. It gave me hope that she might turn her life around some day. “I’ll consider what you’ve said.” Actually, after hearing his grave tone, I would do my best to do as he’d instructed.

“And while we’re on the subject of Alexis, I recommend that you stay away from her.”

“Why?”

“If the circumstances align, she’ll murder you. She won’t give it a second thought. If she did, no one would ever know what happened to your body. She’d make it disappear.”

The power and immediacy of his words put my nerves on edge. What made him think so certain? What experience told him that Alexis would kill another person? It made me feel naive, gullible.

“She’s not like you,” Darius said, stepping toward me. “If Alexis has any feelings, she neglects them. She must have gotten that from her mother. Neither have a moral fiber in their being. They’re selfish, concerned only with power and influence.”

“And you know this because you’ve spent years protecting them?” I asked, knowing he hadn’t.

“Lorraine told me, and I…
trusted
her.”

I couldn’t mistake the way Darius’s paused on the word “trust,” which revealed that Grams had hurt him deeply by not sharing the location of
The Book of Souls
with him.

“If you don’t heed my advice, you
won’t
live to regret it.”

“Is that right? Are you going to teach me about family? Well, where is yours? They’re not vampires, so they’re dead, right?” No matter how cruel my words sounded exiting my mouth, I couldn’t stop the torrent of condemnation from springing forth. “Who are you? You’ve promised to protect me. But why? You don’t know the first thing about me. Oh, you know what Grams told you. But more than that? Nothing!”

“I know enough,” he said, taking measured breaths. “I know
more
than enough.”

“Is that right?” I asked. “About what? What do you know about Delphine and Alexis? If they plan to murder me, what do they expect to gain from it?”

“Less resistance!” His gaze lit into mine. “You don’t know the strength you have.” He sneered at me. “How could you? You don’t know anything yet. When it comes to witchcraft, you’re just a child.”

That set my thoughts from anger to curiosity. But I still wouldn’t let Darius think that he knew what went through my mind. “You still haven’t answered me. Why did you choose to protect me? Why didn’t you choose Delphine, Alexis, or Celestina? I mean, really, Celestina is a much better witch than I’ll ever be. She’s pure. She has a good heart. She’s important!”

“And you’re not?” he asked.

That stopped me from whatever argument I might bring up next. But I know what I…don’t know, which was a lot. “Exactly. I don’t know anything.”

“That’s ridiculous. Your grandmother didn’t teach you about magic because she wanted to make sure you grew up comfortably, without pressure, and without need.”

A few hours ago, I would have refuted that claim. But now? Hearing how much Grams sacrificed for me strengthened my spirit, and thinking about her brought up an important question. “How did she end up with over a million dollars?”

“Gambling. Your grandmother was an empath. She knew when someone was bluffing and when that person was confident at the blackjack table. She used that ability years ago on a trip to Las Vegas.”

“Grams wouldn’t do that. She’s the most ethical person I’ve ever met.”

“She targeted gangsters, corrupt politicians, and other criminals who took advantage of the less fortunate and used their tactics against them.”

Put that way, I could follow Grams’s logic. She refused to watch crime movies because filmmakers often twisted the narrative by making criminals sympathetic, and Grams
despised
those who cheated and harmed others. In that scenario, I could even imagine Grams sitting with a table full of the toughest thugs in Vegas and taking great pleasure in accepting their money with a bashful smile. After all, who would hurt an elderly woman? That put a smile on my face.
Go Grams!

Still one question lingered: “You’re saying she won over a million dollars? Come on, that’s ridiculous. She would have attracted too much attention.”

“She invested what she earned, and over the past twenty years, she earned quite a bit of money. Her gift came in quite handy because she withdrew from the stock market right before it corrected or hit bottom then invested again the moment stocks shot up again. I’m quite surprised she hasn’t accumulated triple the amount she left behind.”

“You’re forgetting about her Chicago Bears obsession. Do you think a dining room set comes cheap? What about Bears’ luggage? Season tickets cost a fortune. And did you see the front yard? Grams set up a handful of zombie figurines dressed as Bears players! Which is fitting because, hey, if vampires and demons and werewolves exist…why not zombies?”