Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (23 page)

Wisteria waved her hand dismissively. “I don’t know all the details. I don’t normally operate as a point of contact. I’m sure I’m stepping on many toes here, but the Convocation will smooth everything out eventually.”

“Gran … you mean ‘Pearl Godfrey,’ when you say ‘the Convocation.’ ”

Wisteria smiled that tight smile of hers that didn’t go anywhere near her eyes — a learned gesture of polite conversation. “There are thirteen board members. It takes seven to reach an agreement, but there wasn’t a single dissenting vote in this matter. The witches are firmly on your side, in this circumstance at least.”

“But why you?” I asked, stuffing the pancake I’d just folded in quarters straight into my mouth. “Not that I’m not glad you’re here, but why didn’t Gran or Scarlett use this miraculous transportation?”

Wisteria tilted her head to regard me a second time. I gathered my ignorance of witch magic confused or maybe intrigued her. I couldn’t quite tell which. She was difficult to read with her magic held so tightly in her eyes.

“Gateway transportation can be tricky. My magic seems to accept it, though it is not … pleasant. It’s also disruptive to the natural flow of magic, so its use is limited. It took me three hours to get into Vancouver and five minutes to arrive at the designated point in the parking lot.”

“And Gran didn’t come because her magic doesn’t like … moving like that?”

“I gather. And she was casting, of course. And the investigative team is currently without their reconstructionist. So I had a valid reason to be here.”

My grandmother was capable of moving a witch through space from Vancouver to London — the thought was awe-inspiring. The grid point portals were anchored in deep wells of natural magic. Other portals, such as the one in the Sea Lion Caves, were tied to the specific ability of one uber powerful being, Pulou the treasure keeper. Blackwell’s amulet was constructed by a formidable alchemist. But a witch who could gather enough magic from the earth and channel it in order to transport another witch? All without the support of a full coven? I had no idea Gran was capable of such a thing. That any witch was capable of such.

Mory wandered out of the bedroom and toward the food without acknowledging either Wisteria or me. Her magic was barely discernible. She leaned over to look through the four plates remaining on the cart, lifting and lowering the domes until she found waffles.

My gaze dropped to the necklace that sat heavily on the necromancer’s collarbone. Something about it was off — discordant with the rest of its magic, but not necessarily dangerous — as if it was dented and the flow of its magic restricted.

I half rose out of my chair to look at it closer. I was reaching toward it when Mory snapped, “Don’t touch it.”

I flinched at the utter hatred in her tone. “I was just —”

“Never mind,” the teenager said. She all but dropped her plate of waffles onto the glass coffee table, then proceeded to douse them in syrup.
 

“This is Wisteria —”

“I know. Where’s Kandy?”

“She’s …” I glanced up at the reconstructionist.

“Healed enough to be going over the events of the evening with the lead investigator,” Wisteria said. “I gathered the reconstructions before I came here, so the crew could start cleaning.”

“Covering up the mess Sienna made,” Mory said mockingly, her mouth full.

“That was much more than a mess,” Wisteria said. Her tone was even but stern.

Mory nodded, somewhat appeased by this assessment.

“Your mother would like to talk to you,” Wisteria continued as she pulled a cell phone out of her huge bag.

The fledgling necromancer snatched the phone and her plate, then booked it back to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

“Your sister has cut a swath of destruction across the United Kingdom. The investigators tasked with finding and stopping her have identified a number of missing witches, and now three sorcerers. The fledgling necromancer will need to testify.”

I nodded, still staring at the closed bedroom door. “She’ll hate me forever.”

“She’s lucky to be alive,” Wisteria said, not a hint of compassion or understanding in her voice. “One day she’ll realize it.”

I changed the subject. “Was one of the missing witches skilled in delayed or triggered spells?”

“Azure Dunkirk. Her coven reported her missing from Manchester two days ago. The investigators were following up there when they heard from Maize.”

“Maize?”

“The witch that the werewolves contacted. She’s a well-known healer, and actually the only witch who makes her home in London. Luckily, one of the werewolves had prior contact with her.”

I nodded, not even remotely absorbing the information. I leaned forward and set my empty plate on the coffee table. “I did something last night … I made something …”

Wisteria held up her hand, palm toward me. “I’m not your confidant or your judge. As far as I saw, you did what you thought necessary at the time. Those demons … your foster sister …” Wisteria frowned and shivered slightly.

“I’m sure you’ve seen worse,” I said.

The reconstructionist met my gaze. “I’ve never seen worse than what your sister has done, and I was certified at sixteen. The youngest ever. I’ve been practicing in North America for almost ten years now.”

I shut up. My stomach rebelled against the pancakes and eggs I’d just eaten. But I wasn’t going to throw up perfectly good food over freaking Sienna.

Wisteria leaned forward and spoke softly. “I’ve never seen magic like yours, Jade Godfrey, or the boy who was with you. You both gleamed gold within the darkness your sister conjured. Pure gold. You lighter, blue-tinged. The boy darker, an almost rose tone.”

I felt tears threaten to overwhelm me again. I hadn’t known that … I couldn’t see my own magic. I wiped my cheeks and nodded.

Wisteria returned my nod and rose to her feet. “Now, I gather you and the fledgling will need clothes. If you give me your sizes, I’ll see what I can do. The concierge in a hotel like this should be able to get us anything, no matter the hour of the morning.”

I glanced down at my attire. I’d stolen a tank top and a pair of Lycra workout pants from Kandy’s clothes, but the pants were too short on my legs. The werewolf’s jeans hadn’t even remotely fit — like, not even over my thighs, even with all the dragon training. I’d thrown a hotel terry cloth robe over it all.

“What, this?” I asked. “Not good enough for Heathrow Airport?”

Wisteria laughed and handed me a pad of paper from the writing desk in the corner. Her laughter was a reserved, refined sound that offered a glimmer of lightness to my heavy soul.

∞

The next few hours were a whirlwind of phone calls — Gran and Scarlett — and answering questions as guardedly as I could when the lead investigator showed. Mory continued to completely ignore everything, though she gushed over the clothing Wisteria brought for her.

The lead investigator was an uppity British witch who was seriously pissed that we’d been hunting Sienna in London without telling anyone. How we were to know to report our suspicions and activities to her team, I wasn’t sure. When I informed her that we contacted the sorcerers and the so-called vampire elder, she just curled her lip at me and continued with the questions.

It seemed that the Adept had no problem asking hard questions when investigating a crime.

Wisteria — who outright refused to let me call her Wist or Wisty — sat next to me and squeezed my arm every time she wanted me to gloss over an event. I gathered that her reconstruction — the YouTube cube thing she was carrying around in her bag — showed what happened at the parking lot but not what led up to the disaster. Interestingly, Wisteria also refused to hand the cube over to the lead investigator until after the Convocation had seen it. She had actual written directives to back this up. Her handbag was that large for a reason. And here I’d thought it was a fashion statement completely at odds with the rest of her well-kept, minimalist appearance.

I should have slept, but I didn’t want to relax anywhere other than in my own bed, no matter how far away that was at the moment.

I asked about Kett.

No one had answers.

Wisteria scored me some MiH jeans, a green cashmere sweater, and white patent three-quarter Doc Martens boots with roses etched up the sides that totally screamed ‘limited edition’ to me. I was ready to make her my best friend for it. She didn’t seem on board with that plan, though.

The reconstructionist used our impending flight as an excuse to haul Mory and me out of the hotel suite and into a rental car before the investigator had finished her interview. By the deadly look this garnered, I really hoped Wisteria wasn’t stepping on too many toes for my sake.

She barely said a word to us on the way to the airport. And, of course, Mory was also honing her impression of a rock in the back seat, so I just kept randomly flipping radio stations when a song came on that I didn’t want to hear. I tried a lot of radio stations. It seemed I wasn’t interested in listening to music or talking.

The reconstructionist pulled up to the international departures section of Heathrow, and once again I was really glad I wasn’t driving. The airport was huge and sprawling.

“I’m surprised we aren’t under heavy guard,” I said jokingly as I stepped from the car.

“You are,” Wisteria said. Then she pulled away without saying goodbye.

I reached for Mory, not wanting to lose her in the pressing crowd. She deftly avoided my touch, almost knocking over a toddler with her dodge.

Fine. I’d let her get lost at the freaking largest airport in the United Kingdom … I already was.
 

I moved — slowly in case Mory did want to stay with me — toward the revolving doors, happy that I only had my satchel and katana, and wasn’t dragging the huge bags hindering the other travelers. Portals were decidedly less intimidating. Well, if I didn’t include having my life threatened by one of the nine guardians of the world if I used one … or returned to the nexus.

Kandy appeared out of the crowd. Her hair was freshly dyed green but in a slightly different shade … darker, I thought. It almost perfectly matched the green glow of magic that rolled across her eyes when she met my gaze, saw my smile, and didn’t return it.

Mory flung herself at the werewolf as if I was the one who’d kidnapped her in the first place.

Something in my chest broke. I was surprised there was anything left to break so close to my heart. But I felt it snap, right in that place where I had stored all my pain over losing Sienna.

Then the anger rose to patch the crack.

I shoved the two extra airline tickets at Kandy’s chest. She stumbled back and almost dropped them.

“Don’t worry,” I snarled. “I’ll get my seat reassigned.”

Then I walked away, leaving Kandy and Mory staring after me. Yeah, maybe it was childish. Yeah, maybe I deserved their nasty shit, but I wasn’t going to take it.

No one had any freaking idea what I was feeling. No one had any idea what it was like to hunt your own sister, your best friend, and fail to bring her to justice — even though according to the investigators, that wasn’t my job. It was my responsibility.

And you know what? I didn’t drag Kandy, Mory, or Kett into any of this … I’d walked through the Loch More portal two and a half days ago with every intention of finding Sienna on my own. And maybe, just maybe, if it had been me facing her alone, all that other terrible shit wouldn’t have happened.

Now we’d never know.

I paused. The airport was teeming with people. Glimmers of magic floated all around me, but nothing substantial. We Adepts were a minority by a long shot in this world. I was one of a kind. I could walk through portals. I didn’t need to sit on a plane for eight hours. I could be home in minutes.

If I knew where the London portal was … if I could get away with using it. I was under the impression that Pulou could block portals against certain users if he so desired. For the doorways he’d specifically structured, at least. So the Loch More portal would be open … and Suanmi had more important things to do than sit in wait for me to use a portal. There were, after all, only nine guardians for the entire world. They were overworked if not underpaid. But then, I wasn’t entirely sure how guardian powers worked or even what abilities they encompassed … the London portal was exclusively Suanmi’s — I’m sure it was how she’d arrived in the city last night, so she’d probably know the second I used it.

Kandy stepped up beside me, her face tilted to the departure board above us. “Looks like the plane is on time,” she said.

“I’m not interested in playing shapeshifter dominance games with you,” I said, not looking at the werewolf. “If you’re here by my side, then you’re here as a friend, not as a follower and not as a protector.”

Kandy, still not meeting my eye, bared her teeth. But then she seemed to shake off whatever reaction had seized her. She nodded. “Check-in is this way,” she said. “They have to pack up your sword and special check it.”

“Yeah.” I wasn’t happy about handing the katana over. At least security would be unaware of the invisible jade knife at my hip.

Mory pressed against my left side as we cut through the crowd after Kandy. Her ears barely came up to my shoulders. I didn’t acknowledge her further. I’m sure she had a lot of shit to work out. I could lead her through this crowd, but I couldn’t heal her.

“My necklace is broken,” she said to the back of my left shoulder.

“It’s just dented, not broken,” I responded. “I’ll fix it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

And that was that.

We checked in, boarded the plane, and left London. Supposedly, I was to never return. Part of me hoped that Sienna was still somewhere beneath me as I looked out the window at the airport green space, and then the houses and buildings of London growing smaller and smaller. Maybe the investigative team would find her.

Except she would kill them all, and probably become more powerful than ever.

No. Sienna was on her way to her next target, and I had to get in her way … somehow.

Kandy and Mory undid their seat belts, lifted the arm of the seat between them, and curled up together to sleep. Thankfully, Kandy didn’t seem to have a scratch on her that I could see. But then, my wounds had healed on the outside as well, so that was no way to tell, really.