Chapter 11
At first I thought I didn’t hear her right. I mean, why would my mom do such an insane thing? It was crazy—she would have to be crazy…
Oh my God. “She’s crazy,” I whispered.
“She’s not crazy,” Alex said. “She just wants to protect you.”
“And get herself killed in the process,” I said. “To me, that seems like a pretty crazy thing to do.”
“She’s your mother, Gemma.” Alex’s voice was gentle.
“It’s the same thing she did when Stephan sent her to The Underworld—she was trying to protect you.” My eyes widened. “What if he sends her to The Underworld again?” No, no, no, no, no.
“Relax, Gemma,” Alex reached over and placed his hand on my hand. His touch brought an electric shock and he quickly pulled away. “We’ll go get her.”
“No we won’t,” I told him. “I will. Stephan doesn’t need both of us showing up there. It would be like handing him the end of the world on a golden platter” He let out a sharp laugh. “You actually think I’m going to let you go to the Keeper’s castle by yourself.”
“No, I’m not letting you go with me,” I said, mimicking his sharpness.
We burned fiery glares at each other.
“How do we even know Stephan’s there?” Laylen interrupted.
“I don’t know…On the phone all Jocelyn said was that she was going to the Keeper’s castle to put a stop to Stephan,” Aislin said. “I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen and then she hung up on me.”
“So we don’t even know if Stephan’s there?” I said. “She could just go to the castle and find it empty. I mean, the last time Alex and I were there—when we saved my mom from The Underworld, it looked like no one had been in the castle for a while.”
Aislin twirled her hair around her finger so tightly it became tangled. “He might not be…but he might,” she said, working to untangle her hair.
“Well, I need to go get her, regardless if Stephan’s there or not.” I was aiming for an indifferent tone, but I sounded more like I just drank fifteen cups of coffee. I stood up on my wobbly legs, preparing to head off to the doomful castle.
Alex stood up and stepped in front of me, a look of protest on his face as he opened his mouth to say something. But Aislin interrupted him.
“Just a second...I have an idea” She stood up and smoothed out the creases on her shorts. “There might be a way to find out exactly what’s going on—if your mom’s in trouble.” She paused and we all stared at her in anticipation. “I can do a tracker on her.”
“A tracker?” I asked. “What’s that?”
She gave me a small smile. “It’s a spell.”
“Oh, okay…But Aislin, why haven’t we done this before?” I wondered. “On your father? So we know where he’s at.” She swallowed hard. “I can’t use magic on my father.”
“Oh, okay.” I said, figuring she meant it was too painful for her or something, which seemed weird, but okay. “You don’t have to then.”
“No, I mean I can’t use magic on him. Literally.” She let out a tired sigh. “When I was younger, he had me place a shield spell on him, so no witch could ever use magic on him….it was horrible. It took so much magic, my nose started to bleed and I passed out.”
I felt sorry for her. “How old were you?”
“Twelve.” She stared off, lost in her memories.
“That’s why you passed out for those two days?” Alex asked, his jaw tightening with anger.
“I’m sorry, but he told me I had to.” She was almost in tears. “And I was too young to understand that it probably was a bad thing.”
“I’m not mad at you, it’s just….” He popped his knuckles, his jaw still set tight. “He’s such an a*shole.” That was putting it mildly.
“Well, anyway.” Aislin shook her head, shaking away the memory. “I can do a Tracker Spell, but I need a few things first.”
I raised my eyebrows with intrigue. “What kind of things?” She started listing off a bunch of stuff with eccentric names. Then she announced she was going to go search the internet for nearby places that sold witch supplies—
stores similar to Adessa’s. When I asked how far we would have to go, she told me not to worry, places like that were all over, and there was probably one right here in town.
And she was right.
I decided to go with her to the store, which was about ten miles out of town, right along the side of the highway. I figured if I went, I could hurry her up. The clock was ticking and driving me crazy. I needed to find out where my mom was and if she was okay. And not knowing was eating at my insides.
We were transporting to the witches store since a) it was a much quicker form of transportation and b) we didn’t have the car since the Tahoe was totaled.
“Please be careful,” Alex told both of us as we prepared for our departure. “Just hurry up, get the stuff, and come back.” He looked worried.
He had pulled me aside, while Aislin had been gathering her transporting stuff, to give me his pocket knife. What he was thinking was going to happen, was beyond me. We would be gone for like ten minutes. But I guess considering the circumstances, it probably was best to have a weapon on me, even if I didn’t necessarily know how to use it very well.
Aislin chanted her magic words under her breath as she dipped the red crystal into the flame of the black candle.
The smoke tinted red as she continued to repeat, “per is calx EGO lux lucis via,” until the smoke swept us away.
It was a creepy place; that was for sure. It felt like I had stepped into a scary movie, where the car breaks down on the side of the road, and the only option I have is to go into the one and only rundown building. And when I go in, no one ever sees me again.
And of course it had to be late at night, with the darkness engulfing us. Thankfully there were a few lampposts, and the house’s porch lights shone bright, making it grey instead of a pitch black.
“Are you sure this is the place?” I asked Aislin. The old house’s wood siding was rotting, and the porch looked like it was going to cave in on the next person who dared step foot on it.
Aislin glanced around and then pointed at the numbers 44 on the front of the house. “Yeah, that’s the number it had on the address on the website.”
I looked at her solemnly. “This place has its own website?”
She nodded as she picked up her candle and crystal and tucked them into the pocket of her shorts. Then she started across the gravel parking lot, which, surprise, surprise, was vacant—there wasn’t a single car. I followed after her, the gravel crunching under my DC’s, my nerves coming unhinged with every step.
We trotted up the stairs and stepped onto the porch, which creaked loudly beneath our weight. Aislin raised her hand toward the doorknob, but hesitated.
“Do we just go in?” She glanced over her shoulder at me.
“Or should we knock.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know…Probably knock, I guess.” She knocked, and the screen door fell off its hinges. We scattered to the side as it crashed down on the porch.
Aislin’s eyes went wide as she stared down at the fall en door. “Shit.”
I gave her a shocked look, because I had never heard her say that before.
“Sorry,” she apologized, like I cared. “But I don’t think that’s a good start.”
I shook my head. “I know…Are you sure there weren’t any other witch supplies stores nearby that maybe aren’t so….ominous.”
Aislin glanced at the broken door and then back at me.
“Maybe it might be a good idea to go somewhere else. I mean, it doesn’t even look like someone is here.” I nodded and we started down the stairs.
“There was a place I think in the next town over.” She pointed to our left. “It’s not much farther.
“Can I help you?”
The voice startled us, but not as much as the fact that she seemed to come out of nowhere. A woman stood at the bottom of the steps, her black hair blended into the night, along with her black dress, and her dark eyes weighed heavily on us.
“Umm…” Aislin shot me an ‘oh-crap’ look and then stuttered to the woman, “we were just…um…Is this Medea’s Herbal Supply Shop.”
The woman’s gaze bore into us as she assessed us over. “It is.”
Aislin forced a smile. “Well, are you open?” I was kind of hoping the woman would say no. Yes, I knew we needed to hurry—we needed to figure out where my mom was. But this woman brought a sense of discomfort that sent my stomach rolling and my feet wanting to bolt.
“I am open,” she said, and my hope shattered to the ground. She ambled up the steps, the porch rocking with her movement. “I see you knocked my door down.” My heart hammered in my chest. “Yeah, sorry about that.” She gave me a glance over, and walked inside, motioning us to foll ower her.
Aislin and I exchanged a look like: should we run?
“Are you coming,” the woman snapped impatiently.
Aislin sighed and we stepped inside.
The first thing I noticed was that the place stank, like garbage mix with wet dog and old shoes. It was horrid. But I didn’t dare plug my nose.
The walls were filthy, the wall paper peeling away. The floor was made of the same rotting wood as the outside of the house and there were a few holes in the ceiling. A few shelves lined the walls, like at Adessa’s. However, the objects that covered the shelves had a darker, more evil way about them.
“What exactly are you looking for?” The woman’s eyes were cold.
Aislin rattled off a list of stuff and the woman looked even more annoyed by our presence. But she said she had everything and started digging around in boxes, collecting everything.
“So are you Medea?” Aislin asked, pointing up to a rusted sign on the wall that read: Medea’s Herbal Supply Shop.
“I am,” she—Medea said in an icy voice. She placed a few baggies onto the counter, each one filled with a different colored herb.
Aislin wandered around, tracing her fingers along the shelves, until she came across a thick book. She picked it up and looked at the cover. Then, giving a quick glance at Medea, stuffed it into her purse.
Hold on. Did Aislin just shoplift?
Medea was still taking out baggies and setting them on the counter. As she moved her hand out of the box, the sleeve of her black dressed rose up a little, giving me a glimpse of her wrist.
My heart stopped.
Tattooing her skin…a black triangle outlining a red symbol.
The Mark of Malefiscus.
As if she sensed me watching her, Medea glanced up. I adverted my eyes to a tiny statue of a man with one eye.
But I could feel her gaze boring into me, like a hawk watching its prey from the sky, about to swipe down and strike.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I needed to get Aislin’s attention. Trying to act as casual as possible, I went over and stood beside Aislin, who was standing in the corner examining a small golden box with a flame decorating the lid.
“We have to go,” I whispered. “Right now.” She gave me a confused look as she picked up the flame box.
I pointed at my wrist. She has the Mark of Malefiscus on her wrist, I mouthed.
What, Aislin mouthed back.
The Mark of Malefiscus, I mouthed, giving a discrete nod at Medea. On her wrist.
Panic rose on her face. “What do we do?” she whispered.
“Get the heck out of here,” I whispered back, putting a hand on her arm. Then I shut my eyes to Foresee us out of there…but nothing. It wasn’t working. There had to be Praesidium somewhere. Figures a witch store would have something like that. “My powers not working,” I whispered to Aislin.
“Okay…” Aislin said with determination. “follow my lead.”
“What?”
But she was already walking away.
“Oh, shoot.” She stomped her foot on the floor dramatically. “I forgot to bring money to pay for this.” I frowned at her. This was her plan. I mean, her purse was on her shoulder for crying out loud.
Medea gave her the most irritated look ever. “So you have no money.”
“Not on me.” Aislin walked for the door and I followed, trying not to rush. “But I can go back to my house really quick and come back…you could hold these for me.” She pointed at the bags of herbs.
Medea’s eyes grew darker as she tossed the bags of herbs back into the box.
“Well, okay, then,” Aislin said, her nervousness started to show. “We’ll be back with some money.”
And then we were hauling for the front door, like a couple of marathon speed walkers’. To my shock, Medea did nothing. She just stood there by the counter, watching us bolt.
But I wasn’t complaining.
We reached the door and Aislin yanked it open.
Strangely, the screen door was on its hinges. Aislin went to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge.
“What the—”The main door swung shut and we jumped out of its way, both of us tumbling onto the floor.
“You two are not going anywhere,” Medea roared.
Aislin and I scrambled to our feet, only to find the room empty.
“Where’d she go?” I asked, glancing around frantically.
Aislin was yanking on the door. “I don’t know…Come on you stupid thing…open.”
I grabbed her arm. “Come on. There’s got to be another way out.”
We ran across the room, our frantic footsteps vibrating the rickety floor.
“Going somewhere?” Medea’s voice came up behind us.
I spun around, tripping over my own feet, and fell to the ground again. I jumped up, shaking off my soon-to-be-bruised knees. “Where is she?” The words rushed out of me.
Aislin glanced around desperately. “I don’t know.”
“Behind you,” Medea’s voice floated up over our shoulders.
We whirled around, only to find no one there again.
“She’s taunting us,” Aislin whispered. “She’s using magic to play with our minds.”
A black figure swished by us, knocking me into Aislin and we both collapsed to the floor. We scurried to our feet again, only to be knocked right back down by the black figure.
I started to get to my feet, but Aislin caught me by the arm. “Just hold still.”
We froze. The only sound I could hear was our breathing, loud and erratic—terrified.
“Where did she go,” I hissed threw my teeth.
Aislin opened her mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut, because there she was—Medea, standing in front of us, the sleeves of her black dress rolled up so we could get a good look at the Mark of Malefiscus on her wrist.
“Do you know what this is?” Her dark eyes were locked on me.
I stayed silent.
“Do you know what this is!” she screamed, raising her wrist in front of her.
“Y-yes,” I stammered.
“Then you are the one.” She wasn’t asking a question, but stating a fact. She knew I was the star—well, half of it anyway.
I glanced fearfully at Aislin. Her eyes were wide with terror and her hands were trembling. She was just as scared at I was.
Medea walked toward me, her heavy black boots making loud thuds with each step. “The question is: why are you here?”
No, I think the question was: why did she have the mark?
“Why do you have that?” I pointed at her wrist.
She grazed her finger over the mark tattooing her wrist. “I was born with it.”
Aislin and I traded a baffled look.
“What?” I said. “I thought only a descendent of Malefiscus could be born with the mark.”
She smiled, showing us her decaying, yellow teeth. “The rise of his descendant has brought out all our marks. We are all foll owers of Stephan, our re-uniter of Malefiscus.”
“All our marks?” What was going on?
Aislin shot me a look, warning me to keep my mouth shut.
“Oh, yes,” Medea said. “Our marks. Witches, fey, and vampires, all waiting for Malefiscus, and his hundreds and hundreds of Death Walkers, to be free.”
I guess that part had gotten lost in translation. My mother was under the impression that the marks would not come until after the portal opened and Malefiscus was freed. She also made it sound like a controlled thing, like the vampires, fey, and witches would be forced to follow him.
Guess she was wrong.
I slowly stood to my feet and Aislin did too. She still had the gold-flamed box grasped in her hand. “But if you all have the Mark of Malefiscus already, then, why aren’t you out there, hurting people already.”
“All in good time,” Medea said. “First, we need the Mark of Immortality.”
Our jaws dropped.
“Oh, yes,” Medea’s face lit up with excitement. “Stephan is working to perfect the mark as we speak, and once he does, he’ll put it on himself, therefore marking us all immortal.”
I was struck speechless. Stephan was trying to mark himself with the Mark of Immortality. And if he did, every witch, fey, and vampire with the Mark of Malefiscus would become immortal too. So not a good thing.
Medea assessed me over, her gaze landing on my eyes.
“I need to take you to him.”
“No, you don’t,” I told her, taking a step back as I slipped the knife out of my pocket and flipped open the blade. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
She smiled, rising to the challenge. “We’ll see.”
“No we won’t!” Aislin screamed and threw the golden box at Medea.
It hit the floor in front of her feet and the lid flew off.
Medea’s dark eyes widened. There was a deafening roar and then she burst into flames.
“Run!” Aislin shouted, urging me to move.
And I did.
But Aislin didn’t follow. I stopped as she ran over to the counter and grabbed the box Medea had put the bags of herbs into.
She skittered around the flames. “Go! Go!” I sprinted past the burning Medea, with Aislin following at me heels. But when I tried to open the door, it was still locked.
“What do we do?” I cried over the crackle of the flames as I tugged on the door. “And why doesn’t this place have any freaking windows.”
The room was rapidly filling with smoke and the bright flames burned away at the floors and walls. Medea stood in the center of the fire, screaming at the top of her lungs, her hands thrown in the air.
Aislin ducked down to the floor. “follow me.” We crawled through the thick smoke, heading to who knows where—I couldn’t see a thing. Smoke filled my lungs and stung at my eyes. Finally, Aislin stopped crawling and pulled out her crystal and candle
“You’re doing that here?” I asked horrified as I glanced back at the flames crackling toward us.
She didn’t answer, fumbling with her lighter until she lit the wick of the black candle. Her had trembled as she dipped the red crystal into the flame. “Per is calx EGO lux lucis via.”
The heat of the fire melted at my shoes.
“Per is calx EGO lux lucis via.”
My body was burning up.
“Per is calx EGO lux lucis via!”
I was flying, falling, suffocating.