Secret Of The Rose (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 2) (4 page)

I didn’t remember my grandparents, as I’d been around two years old when they’d died. As far as we knew, Morgan and Rose Bishop had been the victims of the curse Thomas Drake unleashed when he’d discovered the Blood Moon Grimoire was missing. Even though it had been my father and Duncan’s father who had been the ones to take and hide the book, we were never sure why the curse had targeted my grandparents.
How had my father ducked that curse anyway?

I returned my gaze to the neat family tree graph and noted that Aunt Gwen didn’t appear to have ever been legally married even though she’d had three children. My lips twitched at that, but it really didn’t surprise me. She was too much of a free spirit to settle down. However, she did seem to keep a friendly relationship with the twin’s dad.

My gaze traveled farther along the family tree, and I saw my father’s name and birth date listed. But there was extra writing around my dad’s name. Beneath the date of his birth in 1964, I read in smaller lettering the name: W. Sutherland Born:1967.

Right below that, his marriage was noted to my mother Susan, and the year of the wedding was listed as 1988. I ran my finger along to the right of my father’s line on the tree and saw that there were two prongs for children filled out.

Shocked, I promptly bobbled the book.

“What?” I gasped. Merlin hopped out of the trunk and came to sit next to me. “
Two
children?” I whispered and tried to steady the book on the edge of the open trunk.

I sat there in that beam of sunlight with my heart pounding and made myself look carefully again. There was my name entered: Autumn Rose Bishop. Born: September 23, 1990. And on the line above was an entry marked as: Son. Born: 1985.

“No. They would have told me
this
,” I said, and felt tears rise to my throat. I double checked the date written for my parent’s marriage. It was clearly listed June 3, 1988. That was right as far as I knew.

Thinking fast, I did the math. If there had been a child born to my father in 1985, my dad would have been around twenty-one years old. And that child had been born three years
before
he’d married my mother.

The proof of it was right in front of my eyes. ‘Son. Born: 1985’. That meant that I’d had a brother. I continued to focus on my father’s branch of the family tree and realized that with the positioning of the entries,
W. Sutherland
was probably the mother of my father’s son. So, technically, that baby would have been my half-brother.

“But what had happened to the baby?” I said, letting Merlin climb into my lap. The entry only said ‘Son. Born: 1985’. There was no name listed. Did that mean he’d been stillborn or died shortly after his birth? An overwhelming sadness hit me.

“More secrets,” I hissed.
God damn it! There were more secrets!
I had almost gotten to the point that I was beginning to forgive my father for hiding his family’s legacy of magick from me. I tried to understand why he’d bound my powers when I was little. I had almost convinced myself that he’d been noble and tried to protect me by stealing that damned grimoire we were now desperate to find.

I really hadn’t thought anything else would ever shock me again. But seeing this entry about a brother who had died at birth was devastating. A tear rolled down my face as I mourned for the brother I’d never even known existed until today.

I’d always wanted a big brother. When I was little, I’d been so lonely for a sibling— that I had actually created an imaginary brother. My breath hitched as I recalled how I used to blame
him
whenever I got into trouble.

I set the old book aside very carefully. I folded my arms on the open edge of the trunk, and let the tears come.

***    

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there with tears running down my face, but eventually they ran their course. I hiccupped a little, and wiped my runny nose on my jacket sleeve. I belatedly searched my jacket pockets for a tissue, found a slightly used one, and put it to use. As I mopped up my face, Merlin began head-butting my belly insistently. I reached blindly for his head to pet him when, suddenly, I smelled roses. I swung around half expecting to see the gardening ghost, but nothing was there. I saw that the old rocking chair was moving slightly, but I wasn’t sure if that was because I had touched it earlier.

I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and checked the time. It was close to supper now, and I’d spent more time than I had realized up in the attic uncovering old family tragedies. Resigned, I put the baby albums and vintage clothing back in the trunk. I kept the family tree book. I closed the trunk and tried to pull myself together. My phone rang, and I saw that it was Duncan calling.

“Hello?”

“What’s wrong?” Duncan asked without preamble.

“How’d you know I was upset?”

“I’ve told you before— you broadcast your emotions very loudly.”

“I guess we should add broadcast my emotions
far
to that,” I sniffled.

“Whose ass do I get to kick?” he demanded.

“I am crazy about you,” I said to him. “I hope that ‘broadcasts’ clearly through the cell phone.”

“I’m coming to get you. Wanna go get dinner?”

“Yeah, I want out of here tonight,” I admitted. Tucking the cell between my ear and shoulder, I got up and went to turn off the floor lamp. Merlin raced to the open attic door and waited for me.

“Can you be ready in ten minutes?” he asked.

“Sure.” I closed the attic door behind me and went down the stairs with Merlin at my side.

“You can tell me what’s bothering you over dinner.”

“See you soon,” I told him just before hanging up. I paused inside the door to the hall, eased it open, and saw no one. I let myself out and went straight to my room. I tucked the book into my backpack and grabbed my cosmetics bag off my dresser. I had ten minutes to make myself presentable.

***    

Duncan surprised me by taking me to the park with a bucket of chicken for supper. We settled side-by-side under the willow tree where Ivy and I had broken the spell my father had used to bind my powers, and dug into the food. I thought I might feel uncomfortable there, but I felt right at home.

I filled Duncan in on my ghostly visit, and my discovery of the trunk in the attic. After we finished eating, he wiped his hands carefully and studied the book.

“Oh damn, babe.” Duncan studied the family tree page, and pressed a kiss to my head. “I’m so sorry.”

I wrapped my arms around my knees for comfort. “I guess it’s silly to mourn a baby that I never knew.”

“No,” Duncan said, and his expression was serious. “No, it’s not silly at all.”

“I hate secrets. I mean, really, I’m learning to
despise
them.”

“I know what you mean. Secrets have caused both of us a lot of heartache.”

“I swear,” I said getting riled up. “The next person who lies to me is getting punched right in the nose!”

“Duly noted.” Duncan grinned at me.

I took the book back and tucked it away in the backpack. “Let’s take a walk,” I suggested. “It’s going to be a pretty night.”

We threw away our trash in a nearby garbage can and took a walk along the river to watch the sun set. We talked about his progress on the house rehab, my improvement with spell casting, working with Marie on our costumes for the upcoming Halloween Ball, and my classes at the museum. Finally we discussed possible places to search for clues as to where to find the rest of the Blood Moon Grimoire.

You know... normal things. Well, normal for us.

CHAPTER THREE

I had exactly fifteen minutes to submit my paper on the history of Natural History Museums via email to my professor. I’d been slaving away at my desk in my room for most of the day, and it was a damn fine paper if I did say so myself. Happy with the results of my hard work, I saved my file. Feeling giddy, I typed in the email address, attached the file and sent the paper in. All done, I sat back in my chair with a sigh and rolled my shoulders. I took off the headphones I’d had on to drown out any noise from the cheer squad who were, once again, in the manor finishing up the Homecoming float.

I stood up and worked the kinks out of my neck. As I rolled my head around on my shoulders, my stomach began to growl. What I wanted more than anything was a shot of some kind of caffeine and a snack. I caught my reflection in the oval mirror above my dresser as I started out of my room and backed up.
Yikes!
I appeared slightly insane with my hair sticking up all over the place. My nose was shiny, and my face was pale.

The door to my room clicked open, and Merlin made the leap from the floor to the top of the dresser. He sat on the dresser top and meowed at me.

“I’d really like to know how you open and shut doors,” I told him.

Merlin simply meowed and tucked his tail around himself.

“No comment?” I said to him and pulled my hair out of the messy clip I’d twisted it in. I brushed out my hair and tossed the clip and brush in a basket on my dresser. Merlin made a chirping sound and put his paw on my cosmetics bag. “Fine, fine,” I grumbled applying a little powder, some blush, and slicked on lip gloss.

“Let’s go,” I said to Merlin, scooping him up. I set him down once we got to the top of the stairs. I fully and freely admitted to being a klutz, and I wanted to have one hand securely on the wooden banister. Merlin took off down the stairs with me following him.

I trailed my hand along the decorated banister as I went downstairs. The family really went all out for Halloween. A pretty black feathered garland was wound with orange lights from the second floor all the way down to the main landing. Black silk roses were worked into the garland. It was gothic, and festive all at the same time. Merlin seemed to leave the feathers alone for the most part. Gwen had informed me that they had an agreement in which Merlin will leave the garlands and decorations be.

As I swung down the last step into the main foyer, I almost smacked into a dark haired girl. She was standing still and staring at a black, artificial holiday tree that sat in the foyer— tucked behind the end of the curving banister.

“Oops!” I managed to stop a few inches from her.

“Oh!” she jumped back at the same time.

I didn’t recognize her, but it was obvious she was part of one of the cheerleading squads. The cheerleading t-shirt was a dead give-away. “Hi, I’m Autumn.” I smiled to try and put her at ease.

“I’m Leilah. I was hunting for the bathroom.” She fiddled with her hair that was cut into a cute pixie style.

“The powder room is off the family room and kitchen.” I pointed back in the general direction.

She didn’t turn and go towards it; instead, she stood and continued to stare at the decorated Halloween tree. “I’ve never seen one of these— not this big before,” she said reaching out to one of the artificial black pine branches.

“Yeah,” I gestured to the slim, six foot tall tree. “It is pretty amazing.” The midnight tree was strung with orange lights. Pumpkin orange and frosted white glass ornaments popped against the black pine branches while artificial sprays of autumn leaves and bittersweet were tucked in for texture. Finally, there was an assortment of clever glass ornaments all in a witchy or classic Halloween theme hanging from the branches.

She ran a fingertip over a glass ornament shaped like a crescent moon. “I didn’t mean to be nosey, but I couldn’t resist looking around at all of the Halloween decorations.”

“That’s okay.” I smiled and gave her an ‘after you’ gesture. She took the hint and went back towards the kitchen.

I really didn’t blame her for wanting to nose around. The rest of the downstairs also had whimsical seasonal touches. From the huge decorated grapevine wreath on the front door to the orange and black floral centerpiece on the dining room table— no surface had escaped the bewitching décor. Even the mantle in the family room had taken a dramatic shift, from the rustic fall leaves and a scarecrow for the autumn equinox to its current gothic and spooky display.

Leilah went over to the mantle and studied it. “Now this is really great.”

“Thanks. I helped decorate the mantle. So I’m partial to it,” I said. Sphagnum moss dripped from the mantle. Black branches and midnight colored eucalyptus were tucked into that moss and were used as a frame for moon white pumpkins and orange and white striped gourds and mini pumpkins. A silk crow perched on the top of a vintage birdcage at the far end of the mantle while candle holders of mercury glass held an assortment of black and white candles ranging from tapers to pillars to votives.

“This is like something out of a magazine.” Leilah ran her hand over a bit of the draping moss. “Well, I better go help out the girls.” She waved at me, ignored the bathroom entirely, and let herself back out to the garage.

I followed her, stopping in the kitchen. I grabbed an apple, some cheese and a soda out of the fridge. I immediately took a swig of the soda and prayed for the caffeine to hit my system. I sliced up the apple and cheese, arranged it on a plate and hopped up on a barstool at the kitchen counter. I sat there enjoying my apple and cheese slices as Holly and the girls bounced back and forth from the garage to the potting room while they worked on the finishing touches for the Homecoming float.

Ivy came in through the potting room and silently pulled up a stool next to me. A second later, my little plate slid— all on its own— across the counter. Ivy snatched up one of my apple slices.

“Hey!” I grabbed my plate back.

Raising an eyebrow at me, Ivy crunched on the apple slice. “Resistance is futile...” she said in a deep, dramatic voice.

The plate came right out of my hand and glided over to hers,
again.

“Tricky Witch,” I grumbled and yanked the plate back. I popped another slice of apple and cheese in my mouth, waiting to see what she’d do next.

Ivy drummed her fingers on the countertop, and my soda can slid across the counter— straight into her outstretched hand.