The Darkest Magic (A Book of Spirits and Thieves) (30 page)

The trouble that lay ahead was with Barnabas. Maddox knew that at no point did Barnabas have any intention of allowing Maddox to attempt to use his magic for this.

Perhaps he’d try anyway.

Suddenly, Becca reached out and touched Maddox’s arm. He jumped a little, surprised at her touch, and then met her blue eyes.

“Thank you for believing me back there,” she said. “And for believing
in
me. Again.”

He nodded. “Of course. I know it’s really you.”

She raised her brows. “So you didn’t even want to quiz me? Ask me questions only I would know? I mean, it’s a shock for me too that I’m here fully this time, not just in spirit.”

“I don’t need to
quiz
you.”
Whatever that means
, he thought. “I can look in your eyes and know it’s you.” He smiled at her. “I missed you a lot.”

She leaned closer to him. “Me too.”

All he could see then were her beautiful eyes, her soft lips . . .

Al sneezed. Becca released her hold on Maddox’s arm.

“Apologies!” the head exclaimed. “Just a bit of pollen, I think.”

Stupid head.
Maddox couldn’t say for sure that Becca had been about to kiss him, but he’d like to think it was a possibility.

“Bless you,” Becca said.

Al looked at her quizzically. “My goddess, child.
Bless
me? For such a trivial act as sneezing? What an odd thing to say!”

Maddox flipped the top of the sack back over Al’s head and discreetly placed him on the ground.

“Would you mind telling me more about your visions, Becca?” he said. “Like the one in the palace square—if you can remember.”

She nodded, then paused. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “I
do
remember! I remember another one now! Maybe it is like you said: The
longer I’m here, the more I’ll remember. Okay, so the square outside Valoria’s palace was the second vision I had. The first one came to me as a dream. You were in some sort of tavern with Barnabas. No Al or Liana, but there was a woman. I’m pretty sure it was your mother . . .” As soon as she said it, the light in her eyes dimmed. She looked up at him nervously. “Oh, Maddox. I’m so sorry.”

His breath caught in his chest. “You . . . saw that? My mother’s death?”

Becca nodded, her eyes glossy.

He nodded stiffly. “I loved her very much. I still love her. She’d only just found out that I knew the truth about Barnabas . . . about Eva . . .”

“Wait . . . ,” she said, frowning. “Eva . . . something about Eva. I feel like—oh God, I’m sorry. I can’t believe I just interrupted when you were talking about your mother.”

“It’s all right, you need to remember. It’s over now, and I’m doing the best I can,” Maddox paused, allowing a measure of fire to burn in his gaze. “But I wanted to kill him—Goran, the man who did it. I still want to.”

She shook her head. “You’re not a killer.”

“Perhaps that was true of me the last time you were here.”

“No.” Becca touched his face, and he went very still, barely breathing. “You’re the same as before. Perhaps you’re a bit sadder, a bit more mature. I hear grief can do that to a person. But your heart is good, and nothing can change that.” She hesitated. “Besides, I’m sure Barnabas would be happy to kill that disgusting piece of garbage for you.”

“You’re right, he is.”

“Well, good. Better him than you.”

He almost smiled. “What was it you remember about Eva?”

Becca sighed. “I wish I knew. I just had a flash of something, but the whole memory isn’t coming back to me just yet—except for the vision I had of you at the palace.”

“That’s the only one you remember?”

She frowned. “I feel like there was another . . . or more than a couple, even.
What was it?
Oh!” Her eyes widened. “I remember watching you wash your clothes. In a river. And . . . it sounds crazy, but in that one”—her frown deepened—“I . . . I think I was a
hawk
.”

“The hawk,” he said, his eyes widening. “Yes, I saw a hawk that day. I remember. Of course I do—she was beautiful, with dark blue eyes. I had the strangest feeling it was you, and I thought I was going mad!”

She gasped. “Oh my God, I remember!
Liana
was there too. She was following you, and she had a knife! Maddox, she’s dangerous!” She stood up, alarmed, looking everywhere for a sign of Liana heading back to the edge of the forest.

Maddox stood up and put his arm around her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I know that part of the story too. She explained herself. It’s all right now.”

She relaxed and sat back down with him. “Oh. Well, good.” She paused, looking exhausted. “I think that’s all I remember for now.”

“That’s quite a bit.” Maddox wanted to tell her that he’d dreamed of her only last night, but the nightmare had been so disturbing that he didn’t want to conjure up the memory now, let alone share it with Becca. Luckily, that had only been a nightmare and not a vision.

They turned and stood up at the sound of someone approaching, and Maddox smiled to see Barnabas striding toward them, two brown workhorses and a rickety wooden cart following behind. “This was the best I could do,” he said grumpily.

Maddox snatched Al’s sack off the ground just in time to save
it from being trod on by one of the horses. “Well, it looks perfect to me,” he said.

Barnabas ignored him and turned directly to Becca, his hands on his hips, his eyes narrowed.

“Where did you say you are from?” he asked—or, rather, demanded.

She took a step back from him. “Uh . . .Toronto.”

Barnabas scoffed, as if Becca had just told him she came from a land made entirely of sugar lumps and biscuits. “Why are you dressed in that strange frock?”

“It’s not strange where I’m from. It’s the kind of thing people—girls and women—normally wear to . . . um . . .” She frowned. “Well, I don’t remember exactly why
I’m
wearing this. But in general, people wear something like this when they’re going out to dinner at a nice restaurant or to the theater.”

“What is a . . .
res-trawnt
?” he snapped.

“Uh, you’re asking me what a restaurant is? Okay . . . it’s like a . . . a tavern. A place where you sit, and people bring you food, and you pay for it?”

“What’s your mother’s name?” Barnabas asked, not taking the restaurant discussion any further.

“Julia. Julia Hatcher. Her maiden name was Kendall.”

“Hmm.”

Becca exchanged a worried look with Maddox.

“Satisfied?” Maddox asked, annoyed now.

“Not even close,” Barnabas replied. “She could be making everything up.”

“How about this to make you absolutely, one hundred percent sure?” Becca said. “You’re Maddox’s father. You hooked up with an immortal named Eva.” She frowned again at the name, and Maddox
wondered if she remembered something new, but then she went on. “I think you said you were eighteen at the time?”

“
Hooked up?
” Barnabas repeated.

Maddox shrugged. “This is how she speaks. How everyone speaks in her world, I assume.”

“Hmm,” Barnabas said again.

“I have more,” Becca said. “When the guards threw you in the dungeon with Maddox, they called you Crazy Barney. And you went along with it—you liked eating human bone marrow or something like that. Maddox was scared of you.”

“I was not,” Maddox grumbled.

“You told me to find the room in Valoria’s palace where the Bronze Codex—uh, that’s what we call the Book of the Immortals back home—was hidden.” Becca pointed at Maddox. “Valoria’s gigantic cobra killed his abusive jerk of a stepdad, and then later, Barnabas,
you
killed the cobra. Valoria didn’t like that very much. He was her favorite pet.”

Maddox smiled. “Are you going to say
hmm
again, Barnabas? Or are you finally satisfied?”

“
Hmm
,” Barnabas said. Maddox rolled his eyes as his father’s hard gaze moved beyond Maddox’s shoulder and softened. “Ah, good—here comes Liana. We don’t know how much of a lead we have on Valoria and her army so let’s concentrate now on putting more space between us.”

Liana approached, gown in hand. Becca jumped up and hugged her, clearly catching Liana off guard, but the witch smiled anyway and handed her the new garment.

“Turn around, boys,” Liana said.

Barnabas and Maddox turned their backs so Liana could help Becca change into the gown. “There,” Liana said.

“You can turn around now,” Becca said.

Maddox did so and his breath caught in his chest.

The gown covered every inch of Becca’s legs—which was a bit disappointing, he had to admit—and though it wasn’t fancy, it made her look like a royal princess. The simple, elegant silhouette allowed her figure to be the focus of attention, and the soft-looking fabric was a shade of dark blue that matched her eyes almost exactly.

“Is it okay?” she asked, pulling at the skirt.

“More than
o-kay
,” he confirmed.

By her smile, this was the right thing to say.

“Ah—I almost forgot!” said Liana. She reached into the burlap sack that the gown had been wrapped in and pulled out a small parcel. “These are also for you, Becca.”

Becca opened the parcel. Inside was a pair of shoes—a sensible brown leather pair, but nice all the same. Maddox thought Becca looked even more thrilled to see those than she had been to see the gown.

“Oh my gosh—you have no idea how happy I am to see these!” she said, tearing off the torturous-looking shoes she’d worn with her old dress. “My feet were
killing
me in these things. Thank you, Liana!”

“Yes,” Barnabas echoed, his gaze again drawn to the young witch—currently the only one in their group upon whom he looked without ire. “Much gratitude.”

She met his gaze. “I’m happy to help.”

Barnabas finally tore his attention away from her and cleared his throat. “All right,” Barnabas grumbled as he made for the horses and cart. “Enough with this little show. Let’s move. We should have already been on our way by now.”

Maddox sent him one more annoyed glare and then helped Becca gather up her old dress and shoes and escorted her toward the cart. They all climbed inside, and Barnabas sat up front to steer.

“You know the way?” Liana asked from the back as Barnabas took hold of the reins.

“Well enough,” he replied. “I’ll keep heading south until I see a palace fit for the vainest goddess in the land. Off we go.”

He guided the horses away from the village and along a dirt road leading south, while Maddox, Becca, Liana, and Al endured the shaky ride in the cart that was normally meant to transport things like bales of straw or bags of grains to and from the village market.

They rode hard and fast for the rest of the day, until they were finally approaching the official border of Southern Mytica: a massive wall of a forest that stretched from the jagged black mountains in the east to the edge of the sea in the west.

“This is the forest that Her Radiance created with her earth magic,” Al explained as it came into view. “It was her way of telling the southern goddess to remain separate and apart from her and her territory, lest she wished to face the northern goddess’s wrath.”

Liana snorted. “Is
that
what Valoria told you to write in her official record? Is the whole
thing
filled up with fantasy tales?”

“I believe it is the truth.”

“This forest has been here since the beginning of time,” Liana said. “No goddess made this. There is a legend about this place and how it came to be that gives it its unofficial name: the Forest of Demons.”

“Lies!” Al piped up. “Her Radiance created it. She said so!”

Maddox pressed his lips together so as not to argue with the head. It seemed pointless when discussing Valoria.

Becca turned to Liana, her expression etched with worry. “Is that true?”

Liana shook her head. “Don’t worry, there is no true magic or demons to be found here.”

“Plenty of magic here,” Al scoffed, clearly offended. “
Earth
magic.”

“Still so loyal,” Liana replied. “I wonder when that will finally fade.”

“I wouldn’t call myself loyal so much as respectful of the goddess’s incredible magic.”

“What about the other goddess’s magic?”

“Bah. She is no match—in either beauty or strength.”

“I certainly hope you’re wrong,” Barnabas growled from up front. “Since that would make this journey we’re on completely futile, wouldn’t it? Besides, even if this place
were
full of wild fanged beasts and evil demons, we’d still be going through it. It would take far too long to go around it.”

“Really?” Maddox said. “You mean to say that if a fanged beast were to greet us at the edge of the forest, you wouldn’t change your mind?”

“Not for a moment.”

Al cleared his throat. “Whether or not I believe this, I request to remain safely inside my sack for the rest of our journey.”

“Fine by me,” Barnabas replied.

Maddox and Becca exchanged furtive smiles, but Liana looked off in the distance, strangely contemplative.

Barnabas looked up at the sky, which held only about a minute or two’s worth of daylight. “We’ll make camp for the night here. This is the perfect place—the forest will give camouflage.”

• • •

Barnabas and Maddox gathered wood for the campfire.

“You look far too pleased with yourself,” Barnabas said.

“Do I?”

“I don’t think I need to ask why.”

Maddox rolled his eyes. “It’s really her.” He was sick to death of arguing about it.

“I know.”

“Oh.” Maddox blinked. “Well, good.”

“
Not
good. Not at all, actually. Why is she here?”

“She doesn’t remember.”

“Perhaps that’s true. But it’s clear that something happened to her in her world—something important, Maddox. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but she didn’t make the long trip back here just to give you a big kiss.”

“I know that.” Of course he did. But why did Barnabas have to pull the joy out of absolutely everything?

“Pleased to hear it.” But he didn’t look pleased; he looked troubled.

They returned to the campsite, and Barnabas got to work at once on building a fire with the wood they’d brought back. Maddox tied up the two rabbits his father had caught and prepared them to be cooked. Becca eyed them uneasily as they worked.