chapter 33
“The book is empty,” Tanner said, handing it over to Bernard in his office. “The only thing written on the inside is the name Oren Sanders.”
Addy couldn’t speak. All her hopes of getting Gage back and ending what Eva did to her family were dashed.
It was 7am when they got back to Tremain from Kentucky. Tanner called Bernard from the car and asked him to meet them. Bernard said Jax was doing better but was still weak, and that he was going to summon Eva in the afternoon. He covered for Addy and he didn’t think anyone ever realized she was gone from the estate.
They chatted with Bernard for a few minutes while he examined the book, but they were both exhausted. Tanner said he would drop their gear off in the weapons vault on his way back to the resort. He gave Addy a pat on the shoulder and told her he’d be back later.
Addy grabbed Oren’s book and headed back to her villa too. She needed to rest, shower, and see her cat.
Awakened by the cat banging a toy into the wall repeatedly, she looked at the clock and was shocked to see she’d been out for five hours. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep for so long. She took a hot shower, dried her hair, and then put on a pair of cropped jeans and a white lacy tank-top with her flip-flops. She ran her fingers along her cat charm while looking in the mirror. The sick feeling of finding the empty book washed over her again.
Tanner was probably back already and if Jax was well enough, they’d be starting the summoning. She also needed to get word to Matt that she had Oren’s book and break the news that it was blank. She tucked the book into her bag and headed for the main house.
Addy checked the library first, but it was empty. The painting on the wall of Andrew and Eva had new meaning to her after seeing the crypt and knowing what Eva had done to her family. She stared at it for a minute then shifted her eyes down at the magic marker symbol on the floor. She decided to go see her brother.
Juliette answered when Addy knocked on the door to the south wing of the house.
“Jax, your sister finally decided to grace you with her presence,” she said, leading Addy into his sitting room.
She ignored Juliette’s comment and sat down next to Jax. He had a thick bandage on his arm and hand. She noticed that the bracelet he always wore with the different Akori symbols was on his other wrist. He raised his eyebrows at Juliette. With a huff she walked out, closing the door hard.
Addy smiled at him. “How do you feel?”
He grabbed the remote and flipped the TV off. “Good enough to finish the summoning.”
“Right.” Addy looked around the room, noticing how many books were piled around on the floor. “Meeting Eva should be a blast.”
She’d never actually sat with her brother talking normally, but after a few minutes of awkwardness, they chatted easily. He told her that he’d always lived in the house she found him at, but traveled with Mitchell frequently and went to a lot of big Akori events. That’s where he met many of the Akori who were staying at the estate.
“How’d you make it nineteen years pretending to be an Akori without any symbols?” Addy asked, eyeing the tops of his hands. “No one noticed?”
“I jammed my hands in my pockets when I had to and wore extra long sleeves. That took care of it most of the time. But when we traveled or went to events I had to have fake marks. Jules is a pro at drawing them—they look completely genuine.”
The conversation made her realize that Jax was a big part of the life she and Gage were hidden from. He was probably a big reason Fate kept them away from all things Akori.
Jax picked at the edge of the tape that held his bandage in place. “I saw you once when we were kids.”
She turned sideways on the davenport to face him. “You did— where?”
He lifted his eyes toward her. “In Vail. Mitchell met up with grandfather at a ski resort and he took me with him.”
“How old were we?”
“Ten. You were snowboarding with some other kids—probably Gage, Matt and Renee.”
“I actually remember that trip. Gage didn’t get to go because he was grounded. I took one of his boards without asking and wrecked it—he was so pissed at me.”
Jax smiled thinly and got to his feet. “We should head downstairs.”
“Oh ok—right.” She was taken aback by his quick shift in direction. “I have one thing to do first, and then I’ll meet you there.” She stood up and gave him a hug that was more genuine than any other time she’d hugged him.
Addy walked fast to Kim’s room. As usual, she waved to the guards and found Kim sitting on her bed reading.
Closing the door behind her, she sat down on the bed.
“Tanner and I found Oren’s book.” She pulled it out for Kim to see and explained how they’d traveled to the crypt.
“That’s an odd cover. My parents’ store has a lot of old books, but this one is really unique looking.” Kim carefully took the book and opened it. Panic quickly spread across her face as she flipped through the pages. “It’s blank.”
She looked as bad as Addy felt.
“Without any information we can’t get Gage back.” The words hung up in her throat. “It was all a waste.”
Kim put her arms around Addy. “It’s not over, we’ll think of something else.” She pulled away and began to sniff the book. “What’s that odor?”
“The book probably smells like the crypt, which was rancid to say the least.”
Kim continued to smell the book.
Addy raised her eyebrows. “You ok?”
“I’m just thinking about something my parents showed me once at the book store.” Kim stood up and walked over to her lamp, removing the shade.
“Bernard already checked it out, he couldn’t see anything.”
Kim held the page over the light, looking through it. “Just wait.”
It was a few minutes before Kim spoke again; she just stared at the page over the lamp.
“Addy, come look.”
Examining it carefully, Addy could see something dark forming on the page.
Kim bit her lip and looked over at Addy. “Can you tell Doris to come up here and bring an iron?”
“Yeah, but I don’t understand.” Addy looked from Kim to the page over the light bulb.
“I don’t think the book’s blank,” Kim said, holding another page over the bulb. “I just need a little time and an iron to be sure.”
Going as fast as possible without actually running, she found Doris in Bernard’s office with him. She explained what Kim was up to. He told Addy to go to the library before Jax came looking for her and that he and Doris would check out what Kim found.
Addy really didn’t wanna go, but she knew if she missed the summoning Jax would know something was going on. She told Bernard to let her know as soon as they had something and hurried from his office to the library.
Ahead of her down the corridor, Juliette was entering the library behind Tanner. Addy wanted to call out to him to wait so she could tell him that Kim may’ve found something, but the last thing she wanted to do was alert Juliette.
Before she even entered the library door, she could already smell the blood. Stubbs and Will were down on the floor with the buckets, painting it carefully on top of the magic marker outline. The sight made her stomach churn and she wondered how her life had gotten so twisted.
Jax had the Overseer’s Stone on the nearby table, and he and Juliette were going over the book one last time. Tanner was seated on the chaise by the fireplace. When he saw her, he motioned for her to sit next to him.
“I’m sorry Oren’s book was a bust.” He whispered so quietly she could barely hear him.
She looped her arm through his, tugging him toward her. “It might not be.” She looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. “Kim thinks she found something on the pages.”
Tanner gaped at her. “What—how?”
Addy glanced around before answering and Jax was already walking toward her. It was like he had an alarm that went off anytime she got too close to Tanner.
Jax reached his uninjured hand out and pulled her to her feet. “We’re ready.”
They gathered around the table. Will, Stubbs, and Tanner on one side, and Juliette and Addy on the other. Jax stood at the end with the stone.
Jax didn’t usually have blue Akori marks on his hands, but when he touched the stone, they appeared bright and glowing. The circle on the floor began to shine with the same blue color. It continued for several minutes and Addy was starting to think that maybe Will was wrong, and Eva hadn’t come back yet.
At last, a swirling started in the center of the circle. Wet blood splattered around on the floor and a figure began to take shape. Long blond hair whipped around and the gold Akori robes she wore twisted against her body.
They all stared, mesmerized by what was unfolding in front of their eyes.
“Eva…” Stubbs said under his breath.
Suddenly all of the whirling stopped and Jax pulled his fingers from the stone.
In the center of the bloody circle, looking flabbergasted stood Eva. She was incredibly beautiful just like in the painting on the wall, only she wasn’t smiling now.
Stubbs walked over to face her. “You’ve caused me to take some drastic steps to get an audience with you, my sister.”
“Sister?” Addy repeated as she and Tanner looked at each other.
Eva still seemed to be processing what was happening and she gave him a long look, assessing him. “Andrew, what have you done to yourself?”
He motioned to his hair and face as she studied him. “I’ve aged while waiting for you—my only choice was to wait here for you to return.”
“Andrew? Stubbs is Andrew?” Addy whipped her head around to check out the painting of him on the wall. She shook her head, wondering how she never saw it before. She noted that Will, Jax, and Juliette didn’t share her and Tanner’s surprise at the revelation.
“You shut me out—cut me off,” Stubbs said, throwing his hands in the air. “I can no longer feel what you feel—or feel your presence. You’ve even stopped me from visiting you in your dreams.”
Eva appeared unfazed, as if she was dismissing everything he said as soon as he said it. “What is it you want from me?”
“Let’s not play games—you’re well aware of what’s going on.” Stubbs turned his back to her. “Our people are unsettled. They’re finding ways to steal power from each other. They’ve become quite organized again and even tried to kill the Overseer. They want their power back.”
“The Mesen are no longer our people,” Eva said, waving her hand. “It’s out of my control regardless, what has been done cannot be undone.”
For the first time Eva seemed to notice the group standing there watching and her face flushed.
“It’s good to see you, William. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am to find you’re a part of this.” She turned to Juliette. “How’s Mitchell?”
Juliette left the table and walked closer to Eva, bowing her head. “My father’s fine. We need you. There are things going on that you need to deal with.”
Will stood next to Juliette. He bowed his head, but he didn’t look directly at Eva. “It’s time for the punishment to end. My own son is gone because he didn’t have enough power. The situation is unacceptable.”
Eva glared at them as if what they were saying was unbelievable. “You feel they’ve learned their lesson? Even now they plot and scheme to control the power.”
“It’s not about control, it never was. They wanted open discussion with us about how we were leading them—they wanted to be free to live without having to help the humans at every turn.” Stubbs took a step closer to the circle. “We were wrong not to compromise with them when they were willing to negotiate, Eva.”
Eva tried to step from the circle but was held back. She scanned the room and stopped on Jax. “Release me.”
Stubbs put his hand up to Jax, instructing him to wait. “Tomorrow we have a meeting set up with the Mesen leaders to discuss what compromises can be made.”
“Nothing can be done that they’ll be satisfied with.” She looked down at the symbol on the floor. “Our power cannot be restored to what it once was. The Sanders family controls the Akori power here.”
“She’s lying,” Addy said, surprising everyone. “There’s a way—Oren Sanders knew how.”
Eva whipped her head around to look at Addy. She studied her for a minute. “I don’t believe I know you.”
Jax spoke up to answer Eva before Addy could. “Her name is Addison Sanders, she’s—”
“Don’t speak for me Jax.” Addy moved around the table to where Eva was trapped. “The power can be restored and my family can be freed of the mess you created.”
Stubbs grabbed Addy by the arm, pulling her to the side. Jax started in their direction, but Tanner got there first, immediately removing Stubbs’ hand from Addy’s arm.
“Don’t touch her, Andrew,” Tanner said, making him take a step back. “You’re as much at fault for this mess as your evil twin.”
As if Tanner hadn’t even spoken, Stubbs continued to stare at Addy. “What do you know?”
Addy slipped her arm through Tanner’s and walked with him back to the group. The second she touched him Eva’s eyes got big and she glared at them.
“Eva compelled Oren Sanders to make the deal,” Addy said. “He didn’t wanna make our family serve the Akori.”
Will exchanged whispers with Juliette and then put his hands up, shaking his head. “There have always been rumors about what happened the night Eva created the Overseer’s Stone. Rumors are not truth—there’s no way to prove what happened.”
Addy noticed Eva was still glaring at her as she spoke. “What if we could prove it—and destroy the Overseer’s Stone?”
Eva tried again to step from the circle, but was held back. “What is it you think you know?”
“We know what really happened the night after the ball was attacked,” Tanner said, tightening his grip on Addy. “The rumors were true. You compelled Oren to take the oath.”
Eva studied Tanner, and for the first time she seemed to be nervous. She glanced between him and Addy. “You—both of you.”
Tanner nodded. “Yes—we both know.”
Addy pulled Tanner with her closer to Eva. “Once Oren was given the power to control the stone he figured out he’d been compelled. When he wanted out of it, you gave your power to another Akori so he’d be strong enough to manipulate Oren’s memories.”
“That man was difficult.” Eva shook her head in disgust. “I gave Oren his son Jon back—brought his only child back from the grave. He thanked me by calling me a demon and a devil.” Eva threw her hands up. “He said I was unnatural—that I’d be punished by his god for disrupting the natural order of things.”
“He was right.” Stubbs dropped his shoulders. “We shouldn’t have been interfering with the humans.”
“I can understand wanting to punish the Mesen.” Addy let go of Tanner and looked between Stubbs and Eva. “What they did to the humans was horrific. What about you and Andrew though, don’t you want your power?”
Eva studied Addy then turned to Jax, staring at him intently. Jax shifted his eyes to Juliette and they exchanged worried glances.
Eva finally turned her attention back to Addy. “Your question—do I want my powers? Of course I do, but that’s not possible. Breaking the Overseer’s Stone comes at a higher price than I’m prepared to pay.”
Eva reached out to Stubbs who was again standing close to her, but she couldn’t touch him through the barrier. There was a knock on the door and a second later Bernard came walking in without waiting for someone to answer it.
He pointed to Tanner and Addy. “I need to see you both—now.”