Spirit Prophecy (The Gateway Trilogy Book 2) (6 page)

“Our family was one of the twelve?” I asked, surprised.

“Oh, yes. Your grandmother was very proud of our position. She, like many still on the Council, felt that to be a member family made you practically royal. I’m sorry to say that she and many of the other families have abused their status over the years, seeking special consideration and offering political clout in return for favors and payment.”

Hannah frowned. “She took bribes from people?”

Karen nodded with a grimace. “It’s standard practice, I’m afraid. Politics are politics, no matter where you go, and there is always corruption to be found. But all the status and favors in the world couldn’t save our family from disgrace when Lizzie left. There were many who took great pleasure in seeing your grandmother dethroned, and I can tell you, she did not go quietly. She’d already been devastated by the loss of her husband, and then her daughter’s betrayal; losing the Council seat was the final blow. Her heart gave out only a few weeks later. And of course no one was happier to see her go than Marion’s clan, as they were the ones who finally clawed their way to the top to take our place.”

I couldn’t even begin to formulate a response. It was too much unpleasant information to process. I tried to swallow it down, chasing it with the ham and cheese sandwich, which I only ate because I knew that if I didn’t, I’d be ravenous later. No one else came over to talk to us, although Karen did exchange waves with a few people and excused herself a short time later to talk with Celeste and another older woman with short, spiky grey hair.

“You really should eat something,” I said to Hannah, who was now drawing shapes in the powdered remains of her bread.

“My soup is cold,” she replied, as though this ended all possibility of consuming food ever again. Her eyes looked glassy and her bottom lip trembled.

“I can get you some more.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want any.”

“Look, Hannah, it’s going to be okay,” I said, reaching out to touch her arm. She jerked it violently out of my reach. “They’ll get over it.”

“I never even knew her,” she whispered fiercely. “I never even knew her and she’s still ruining everything.” She stood abruptly. “I’m going to find Milo. I’ll see you back in the room.”

I watched her scurry away, my mouth open as though to call after her with the words that could make her stay, but they wouldn’t come. I had none.

I’d always known my mom was haunted. No matter how angry I was with her, no matter how tired I was of packing up the car or cleaning her up when she’d passed out on the floor, I always knew that there was something there, something I didn’t understand, that drove her to do the things she did. I was watching her every day, battling against it, fending it off for all she was worth. And so even on the days when she lost, I still gave her credit for fighting. Because on the days that she won, she was my whole world. She braided my hair and drew murals on the bedroom walls with me. When our car radio finally stopped working, she sang made-up songs to me, which she changed every time I pushed a defunct button. She poured salt into the sugar shakers at greasy all-night diners and we shook with silent giggles as the man behind us coughed and sputtered over his coffee. And late at night, in the middle of nowhere, she’d pull the Green Monster to the side of the road and shake me awake so that we could lie on the roof together and look at the stars. I had all of these wonderful memories to soften the bad ones, to heap like precious jewels onto the scales to balance out the mistakes and the weaknesses and the lies.

Hannah had a stranger’s name, typed onto a birth certificate, a gaping hole in her life where her mother ought to have been, and a legacy of terror, confusion, and abandonment.

And there wasn’t a damn thing I could say or do to change that.

Karen arrived beside me, interrupting my thoughts. “Where did Hannah go?”

“Back to the room.”

“How is she?”

“I don’t really know. She didn’t really want to talk about it. But I think we can both guess.”

Karen sighed. “I wish I could head back up with you. We had a lot of paperwork and details to get through this morning, and it took much longer than I expected. I have to go back for the removal of the Binding. I’ll see you shortly.”

“Good luck.”

I watched her go and then, tired of being stared at like a sideshow oddity, I abandoned my half-eaten lunch and went after Hannah. By the time I’d caught up with her, she’d found Milo and was sitting with him on a stone landing, telling him all about Karen’s confrontation with Marion in the dining room.

“Glad to hear Karen has some claws tucked away for special occasions,” Milo said with approval. “Do you want me to go down and give ‘em hell for you, sweetness?”

Hannah shook her head.

“Pretty please? It’ll brighten my day to darken theirs, I promise you.”

“Probably not the best idea,” I said.

“I wasn’t asking you!” Milo shot at me.

“Yeah, but you heard Karen when we pulled up. They use wards to keep out hostile spirits. The last thing Hannah needs is you getting yourself labeled hostile and kicked out because you started harassing people.”

Milo considered this. “I hate to admit it, but you have a point there.”

“It happens occasionally,” I said.

We made the long trek back to our room in silence. As we turned the last corner to our hallway, I spotted the ghost of the little girl who had attacked me earlier, peeking around a pillar. I opened my mouth to call to her, but she shook her head and pointed to our door. Celeste was standing in front of it. Then the little ghost vanished around the corner.

“Hi, Celeste,” I called as we approached.

Celeste spun around, startled, her back pressed to our door, and quickly concealed her hands behind her. “Hello, girls. That was a quick lunch!”

“Yeah, well, the company left something to be desired,” I said darkly. “What are you doing up here? Were you looking for us?”

“I … uh, yes,” Celeste said. “I thought you might like a tour of the grounds. Are you up for a little field trip?”

I’d just noticed a bucket of soapy water on the floor by her feet. “What are you doing?” I asked her again, pointing to it.

“Nothing, just a bit of last minute cleaning,” she insisted. “What do you say, shall we explore the gardens? There’s a really lovely —”

“Celeste, can we see the door?” Hannah asked.

Celeste’s too-bright smile faded. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Why, what’s going on?” I asked.

Celeste looked back and forth between the two of us, then sighed resignedly and stepped away from our door. As she did so, her hands dropped to her sides, revealing a sodden cloth, stained pink. “I was hoping I could clean it off before you saw it.”

There, smeared in red paint across our door, was a welcome message that Celeste hadn’t yet been able to fully scrub into obscurity.

“Go home, traitors!”

“OH, NO THEY DID
NOT
,” Milo said, and faded away without so much as another word.

“Milo, come back! It’s not worth it!” Hannah called after him, but he didn’t reappear.

“I’m so sorry,” Celeste said, dropping the rag into the bucket and raising her hands in a helpless gesture. “I don’t know what to say. Your family’s return has been a very —”

“It’s not your fault,” I said. “Karen explained the whole thing to us downstairs. Thanks for trying to clean it off, but I think it’s probably better that we saw it. Better to know what we’re actually up against here.”

“I think I need to find some paint remover. The soap doesn’t seem to be working,” she said, wiping her hands on a towel and picking up the bucket. “I’ll get the maintenance staff on it straight away. I’ve alerted the Council, and we will be sure to investigate —”

“I don’t think the Council will care very much,” Hannah said. “They’re the ones who hate us, aren’t they?”

“The Council doesn’t hate you,” Celeste said, placing a hand on Hannah’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. Hannah did not pull away this time. “I’m on the Council, and I can say that with certainty. There are a few members who have a hard time forgiving and forgetting, and I’m afraid they’ve passed their prejudices on to their daughters. But on the whole, the Durupinen honor and respect each other, regardless of any bumps in the road. We will make a full investigation into this incident, and the Council will take it very seriously, I promise you.”

“If you say so,” I muttered, watching the hate speak drip in pink, soapy rivulets down the grain of the wooden planks.

“Whatever their personal opinions may be, they know how detrimental this sort of behavior can be amongst Apprentices, and they won’t risk the trouble it could cause in the long run. Why don’t you go rest for a bit before tonight’s welcoming ceremony. I’ll take care of this,” she said, with a wave at the door, “and your aunt will be up in a few minutes. She’s just getting your clan garb for the ceremony tonight.”

“Clan garb?” Hannah asked.

Celeste nodded. “Yes, you’ll see what I mean when she gets back. The whole evening is really quite beautiful; I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.” And with one last disgusted look at our graffitied door, she turned and left.

We walked back into our room and Hannah shut the door behind us, keeping the unpleasantness firmly on the other side of the wall. She took one of the dusty old books off of the shelf by her bed, seemingly at random, and curled up with it.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, but opened the book and hid herself behind it. I didn’t blame her. It was a stupid question —we were both a long, miserable journey from okay. My gaze fell on our pile of empty suitcases, and I wondered how long it would take to just pack them all up again and get the hell out of here.

A quick knock resounded on our door and it opened before we could respond. Karen poked her head around, an ugly look on her face.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” I said, gesturing her in.

She slipped through the door and shut it behind her. She had an antique wooden box tucked under her arm, which she placed on my desk. “Celeste told me—”

“How did the removal of the Binding go?” I asked pointedly.

Karen glanced at Hannah, then took my cue and changed the subject. “Very well. I can see spirits again. I saw several just on my way up here.”

“Congratulations,” I said, without enthusiasm.

“I realize you can’t really understand this, Jess, but it’s a big relief for me. This is how it’s supposed to be for me. Being cut off from it was unnatural. It felt wrong.”

“You’re right, I can’t understand it,” I said. “What’s in the box?”

“They’re your clan garb for tonight.”

“I don’t suppose they include two plane tickets back to the States?” I asked.

Karen ignored the question and opened the box instead. “It’s a really beautiful ceremony. I’m sure you’ll both really enjoy it.”

“That’s what Celeste said. What do we have to do?” came Hannah’s muffled voice from behind her copy of “Geatgrima: A Historie of the Durupinen in the British Isles.”

“Do?”

“What’s our role in the ceremony?”

“Oh, it’s really just a bit of pageantry to welcome all of the Apprentices. All you need to do is show up in the appropriate attire and hold a candle.”

“What attire?” I asked, eyeing the box warily. It didn’t look big enough to hold entire outfits, but I still cringed to think what bizarre possibilities lay within.

Karen laughed. “You need to wear white, but it can be your own clothing. The box only has a few accessories in it, see?” She pulled out two purple silk sashes and two gold necklaces.

Hannah peeked over the top of her book as Karen handed me a sash; the fabric was soft and cool to the touch, as though it were woven of water. A large golden triskele was stitched onto it.

“This goes over your left shoulder,” she explained, pulling it over my head and adjusting it carefully. “We’ll pin it here, so that it doesn’t slip off. And then the necklace.” She handed one to me. It was a triskele as well, heavy and intricately shaped from intertwined bands of gold. Tiny amethysts, winking like fireflies in the lamplight, were set all along the edges.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, caressing it with a tentative finger. “You realize, of course, that there is not a single white item in my wardrobe.”

Karen winked at me. “I knew that, which is why I took the liberty of buying you some.” She reached into a large paper shopping bag and pulled out a pile of white fabric, which she thrust into my arms. “You can be pissed at me later, but for now just try the damn things on, okay? We don’t have a lot of time to find you something else if they don’t fit,” she said as I opened my mouth to argue. She held another white garment out to Hannah. “Hannah? Would you try this on, please? You already had that white button-down shirt, so I just got you a skirt.”

Hannah slid off the bed and pulled the skirt up over her hips. It was a long and ruffled Bohemian-style skirt, and it suited her. She even cracked a smile and twirled around once, so that the fabric billowed out like a sigh. “It’s really pretty, Karen, thanks.”