Chapter Thirteen
I tried to get us through as many spells as I could over the rest of the afternoon, but everyone’s attention had left after the confrontation with Fallon. Reluctantly I called it a day and headed straight for the shower to try to wash away my stress. I had no idea it would be so hard to keep a bunch of teenagers in line.
And Fallon. I never should’ve let the twerp get to me like that.
I wasn’t sure why he was constantly challenging me . . . unless he was trying to destroy the Cleri from the inside, a fact that I hadn’t yet ruled out.
I placed my face right into the spray of the water and let the echo drown out my thoughts for a while. When I came up for air, I had to admit that no matter what Fallon’s motives were, this feud had to end. We needed to come together as a group and our constant bickering was affecting the others, too. I decided I had to find Fallon and institute a truce with him for real this time.
As I dried off and put on a black lace jumper and some oversize costume jewelry that I’d replicated from Tori Spelling’s vintage collection, I thought about what I’d say. But when I went looking for him, I couldn’t find him anywhere.
Asking around yielded even less information at first, and when I looked in the room he was staying in and saw that a bunch of his stuff was gone, I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Something wasn’t right.
“How could he have just left?” I asked, shaking my head. Sascha, Jasmine, Jinx, Emory, and I had retreated to my parents’ room after I’d discovered that Fallon was gone.
“Well, he did seem pretty mad,” Sascha said, in a much better mood now that she’d taken a shower and eaten something. “Emotions were definitely running high.” It felt almost like an apology for her outburst earlier and I appreciated the gesture.
“We all got a little out of hand,” I said, letting her know how bad I felt about it too. “All that matters now is getting him back home safely. He may be able to pull out a lot of spells, but he won’t be a match for what’s out there.”
“What a little brat!” Jasmine said, annoyed.
I shook my head, even though I was angry too. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t reacted like that, he wouldn’t have felt the need to walk out. Besides, he’s right. He doesn’t have to listen to me at all.”
“So what are we going to do?” Jinx asked, twirling a strand of her hair.
“I’m going to go after him.”
Their eyes widened with shock.
“Hadley, you can’t,” Sascha said. “They’re out there.”
I sighed, knowing what I was suggesting. “As stupid as it was for him to do this, I don’t see any other options.”
“We could leave him out there,” Jasmine said jokingly.
“You know we can’t do that,” I said, without giving myself time to consider it.
“How are you even going to find him?” Jinx asked thoughtfully.
I started to answer and then realized I didn’t know.
“I guess I’ll start by driving around?” I said, grasping at straws. “He couldn’t have gotten very far. He left on foot, after all.”
“Unless he hopped a ride with someone,” Jasmine said. We all thought about what this would mean. “It’s what I would’ve done.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” I said, imagining him hitchhiking his way into town. Fallon was putting us all at risk by taking off and I wasn’t exactly happy about it. Even with the power of my lineage behind me, I knew it was going to be dangerous to go looking for him.
“I think I can help you find him,” Emory said suddenly. She slid off the bed and ran out the door, returning a few minutes later with a blue blanket and a watch. “Once, our next-door neighbor disappeared from the park near our house. She was only four years old and had managed to slip away while her mom was talking to another parent. My mom used this spell to find her.”
I was beginning to realize that Emory was full of surprises and I leaned forward, eager to learn the new spell. “What’s that stuff for?” I asked.
“We need an object with the person’s essence on it. Typically it’s something that the person owned, but the blanket from his bed should work,” Emory said, sitting down across from me. “The watch acts as a compass, showing us where to find him. It’s basically like a magical GPS.”
“Cool,” Sascha let out.
“And you think it’ll work?” I asked her hopefully.
“It should,” she said.
They all looked at me for confirmation as I weighed our options.
“Fine. Do it,” I said.
We all moved off the bed to give Emory room to cast the spell. She placed the blanket on the surface and then put the watch on top. Then she pushed her red hair out of her face and smoothed down her tulip-decorated dress. Finally, she settled and closed her eyes, muttering something I couldn’t quite understand.
Then she began.
Take this token of that which is lost
I pray thou find it whatever the cost.
Whether taken, misplaced, or kept at bay
The veil that blocks is now cast away.
Time is short and there is nowhere to hide
So take us now to where it doth reside.
The watch began to glow and then lifted up off the bed. Leaning in even closer, I could see that the arms of the timepiece were moving quickly in a clockwise motion. After several laps around the face, the tiny shards of metal stopped abruptly and pointed in the direction behind us. I glanced backward and realized it was pointing directly at the door.
“Emory, you’re a genius,” I said in awe.
“Why was the spell so wordy?” Sascha asked, confused.
“It was created by my great-great-grandmother,” Emory said. “Back then they took their time with magic.”
“Jackson mentioned it in one of our classes,” Jinx added. “He said as time has passed, witches have gotten more impatient and began to shorten the wording.”
We all paused at the mention of Jackson. We never had heard from him. Without saying it out loud, I knew we all presumed he’d suffered the same fate as our parents.
All of a sudden, Sascha broke through our thoughts. “Like texting for the witching age!” she said as if she’d just figured out the winning Jeopardy! response.
Emory giggled at the comment while Jasmine just rolled her eyes before looking back at me.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
I blinked at her, surprised by her decision. Then I shook my head. “No way. I won’t put anyone else in danger,” I said.
“You’re not going to be able to rescue anyone if you’re dead,” Jasmine said bluntly. “You may be an überwitch and all, but even you can’t take all of them on if they catch you alone. And if they take you out, then the rest of us are toast. Face it. You need us just as much as we need you.”
I began to argue with her, but then Sascha took a step toward me and put her hands on her hips. “I’m in too.”
Then it was Jinx’s turn to stand up. “We’ll be your backup.”
Before Emory could chime in too, I cut her off. “Someone has to stay here to watch the others and continue the training if something goes wrong.” Emory was a little younger than the rest of us, so it made sense to me that she would stay behind. Besides, if she did have to give the others bad news, I could trust her to be able to handle it.
The others looked resigned in their decisions to come, and although I hated to admit it, my going alone might not have been the best thing for Fallon. Someone would need to get him out of whatever mess he had gotten himself into while I tried to hold off our enemies.
“All right. You can come, but everyone else stays put,” I said. “And you three do whatever I say. No buts. We’ve seen what the Parrishables are capable of.”
“What if they find us here while you’re gone?” Emory asked.
“That won’t happen,” I said, turning to look at her. I hadn’t told them why the cabin was our best bet for safe hiding. Mostly because I hadn’t felt it was important to bring up until now. “This place is sort of enchanted.”
“What are you talking about?”
No point in keeping it a secret anymore. “My mom told me a long time ago that this cabin was bewitched to be invisible to the outside world.”
“Invisible? Like no one can see us?” Sascha asked, her eyes growing big.
“More like, whenever anyone comes looking for us, they’ll get redirected so they won’t end up here. Not exactly invisible, but they won’t be able to see us if they can’t find the place,” I explained.
“Did they do that because of the Parrishables?”
“Not sure. Don’t even know who cast the original spell,” I said, shrugging. “So I don’t think we have to worry about any crazy mountain men anytime soon.”
“How does it work?” Jasmine asked. “I mean, we found it, so it can’t be impossible.”
“I think it has something to do with knowing that the cabin itself exists and your intentions or something. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, so I knew where to go. And I brought you all with me. Now that I’ve brought you here, you’ll always be able to find it again,” I said. I was reminded of my mom again, and this time I smiled. “My mom used to love the fact that it was impossible for Dad’s work to contact him while he was here on vacation. The phone calls just never went through.”
“Weird,” Jinx said. “But it makes me feel a lot safer being here now that I know.”
The others nodded.
“Hate to break this up, but time’s a-wasting,” Jasmine said, pointing at the watch that was still suspended in the air. “And the longer we leave Fallon out there, the farther we’ll have to go to find him.”
I nodded in agreement and then stood up. “I’m ready if you are.”
“Are you sure?” Jasmine asked, surveying my getup from head to toe. Looking down at my dark couture outfit topped off with a pair of black studded pumps, I wondered what she was talking about.
“What? You can’t fight in heels?” I asked finally.
Jasmine shook her head at me and started to walk out the door. “Just don’t come crying to me when you wipe out.”
“They can double as weapons you know,” I joked, before snatching the watch out of the air and clutching it tightly.