Arcane Magic (Stella Mayweather Series) (22 page)

"I don't suppose she gave the witch’s name?"

"No, the notebook ends in a few more pages." Astra flicked forwards and showed me several empty pages making up the remainder of the booklet.

"What do they say? The last few visions?"

"More of the same. Ultimate power, destruction, the witch being feared, but she isn't one to be feared. Uh-oh."

"What?"

"There's a note here, on the last page."

"Yeah?"

"Someone made a copy of this notebook."

"Do we have it?" I asked. At the same time, Astra was on her feet, searching through the remaining papers and booklets.

"No, we don't."

"Then who else could have this information?"

Astra winced. "Could be anyone."

"We really should have refined that stupid spell."

"There wasn't time!"

"I know. I didn't mean to sound so snarky. This notebook was dated forty years ago. Maybe no one else has a copy now. Maybe whoever did forgot all about it. They might even be dead now. I just wish we knew more about this super witch."

Astra surprised me by grinning broadly. "I know who we can ask!" She closed the notebook and turned it over, pointing to the back cover. "Property of Athene Chapman."

"Who the hell is Athene Chapman?"

"I think she's related to Ariadne Chapman, a friend of my parents."

"The same Ariadne whose child was supposed to have been part of their star spell?" I paused, my mouth dropping open as Astra’s did the same. "Could that be who the super witch is? That child?"

"It's a possibility."

"We should tell
Étoile."

"We should get coffee first."

My mouth was dry with the excitement of what we discovered, and I knew I wanted to read every bit of the notebook. However, my eyes were just as dry from the dust and intense reading. I checked the clock again, noting that Étoile would still be in her meeting and there was no chance to talk to her just yet. Coffee would be a perfect break. "There's just one problem with the Brotherhood stuff," I said as I reached for my bag. "Actually, make that more than one problem."

"Yeah?"

"The Brotherhood haven't been seen since the fire at Hawkscroft; and there's no way they can get inside this building. They could not be the ones behind the plot against Étoile. Our theory is the demons, the wolves, and Georgia."

"I thought you might say that."

"Then you probably know I'm going to say we're still at square one."

"Yup. But in a few minutes we'll be at square one with coffee."

"Lead the way."

Why someone never thought to insert a coffee stand into one of the many open seating areas around the Council Headquarters, I didn't know, but I did think about it as we made our way to the restaurant, which was the only place either of us could think of to get a coffee.

"I'm sure there's a kitchenette near Étoile's office," Astra told me as we walked. "I can't see her doing this trip every time she needs a coffee break."

"I can see her sending Clare. Or just magicking herself a cup."

"Why didn't we think of that?"

"Our brains have been stuffed with too much information in too short a space of time."

"I can go with that. I can also go for... oh, excuse me!" Astra squeaked as she rounded the corner ahead of me, walking straight into someone just as she turned her head to talk to me. "I am so sorry!"

"No problem," replied Gage, righting Astra as he gripped her upper arms. "I wasn't looking where I was going. My bad. Stella."

"Gage."

Before I could make up my mind which emotion to go with first
— happiness at seeing him, or wariness at our current predicament — he drew us to one side. "Who's the guy with Kitty?" he asked.

"Her date," I guess. "They're going to brunch and taking a tour of the building."

"That's her date?" Gage glanced over his shoulder. "That guy?"

"So?"

"Stella, have you met him?"

"No, I can't even see him, you huge wall of muscle!"

"Look over my right shoulder. Tell me what you see."

Astra gave me a puzzled glance, but I simply shrugged and we probably looked pretty comical as we both peeped from either side of Gage. Fortunately, no one was paying us any attention. Astra drew back. "He's cute," she said. "Go, Kitty."

"I know him," I said, looking up at Gage as he nodded. "I've seen him before. So have you. In Rockford."

"That's what I thought. He was in the car when we got picked up."

"Yeah. That's him. He was your driver. I only saw him for a few seconds but... I saw him at Kevin Wyatt's house too. He's Kitty's date?" I pulled a confused face and Gage ushered us back around the corner.

"I don't think we should be seen," he explained, as he propelled us away. "What has Kitty told you about this guy?"

"Not much. Just that she's known him a little while; and that he was really interested in taking a tour since he's here doing errands for the delegation. I don't think she even mentioned his name."

"He's with the delegation?" Gage frowned.

"He's not?" I shot back.

"News to me if he is."

"Do you know everyone at the delegation?" Astra asked. "Just playing devil's advocate," she said when we both looked at her.

"No, I don't," Gage admitted. "But what I do know is that it's damn strange some guy from the Rockford ranks, someone Tobias Grigg trusts, shows up here, now, and says he's doing some lowly job for the delegation, then makes a play for Kitty and gets her to give him the all-access tour to the building right before
Étoile is due to be attacked."

I gulped. "When you put it like that..."

"If anyone wanted to plant a bomb without looking suspicious, wouldn't you pretend to be on a date with a cute, little Kitty?" asked Gage.

"I'd definitely do that," agreed Astra, "or at least, I'd use the tour as a way to recce the site."

"Étoile said she'd have her eyes on Kitty the whole time," I pointed out. "She thought Kitty might get some information from him about Noah."

Gage gave a thoughtful nod and ran a hand over his face, finally resting it on his chin. "We need to know exactly where they've been and when, as well as what he did while they were there."

"We need to get Kitty away from him!" I protested.

"Don't tip her off. He might be alerted too."

"He could be dangerous!" I pointed out, my heart thumping at the thought of Kitty being in danger. Again.

"What do we do?" Astra asked.

"I'll take point with security and make sure nothing happens to Kitty," Gage decided. "I don't believe he saw me. Now I think about it, I'm pretty sure he deliberately made sure I never saw him. Just now was an accident. Stella, you can't be seen by him either. If he thinks his cover is blown, there's no telling what he might do."

"So what shall we do?" Astra asked again.

"Alert Étoile of what we've seen and tell him I think this guy is our assassin. Go. Go now!"

"Gage..." I called after him, but he'd already vanished, charging along the hallway before I could even ask how he was so sure that The Amethyst’s security would take orders from him.
Unless he already had Étoile's approval,
I thought, more pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. Just how closely were Étoile and Gage working together? And did it have something to do with the package I delivered from her to him?

"
Étoile is still in that meeting," Astra pointed out as I gazed along the now empty corridor. "We can't interrupt without the other parties wanting to know why."

"You're right. We can't draw attention to ourselves. We need to find Clare."

It was easy enough to find Étoile's assistant. All we had to do was locate the meeting room, where she was waiting alone outside, her cell phone pressed to her ear. She waved for us to wait until she was done; and a moment later, she hung up, turning her attention to us. "You found something?"

"Yes," I told her, taking the seat next to her and leaning in so I could speak softly, "but not in the paperwork, though that has some interesting stuff too.
Étoile needs to know this right away."

"Shoot," said Clare.

"Poor choice of words," quipped Astra, reminding me once again of her sister. But we did just that, we told Clare everything we saw, and a moment later, she waved us away as she opened the meeting room door. Walking away, we heard her asking if everyone was ready to take their coffee along with the sounds of scraping chairs.

"How do we tell Kitty?" I asked Astra as we made our way, coffeeless, to the office. "How do we tell her that guy was using her to get to
Étoile?"

"Maybe we don't. Maybe we let the evidence speak for itself."

"Shouldn't she hear it from a friend first?"

"You know her better than I. What do you think we should do?" Astra asked as she reached for the handle to
Étoile's office. "Hey, it's unlocked. I swear I locked it." She pushed the door open and blinked.

"Is someone there?" I asked.

"Just me," called Kitty. "Where have you two been? I have things to tell you. Big things. That rat bastard date of mine! Ugh! Where do I start? Oh yeah. I think he's trying to kill Étoile!"

Astra looked over to me. "Problem solved," she said as we stepped through the door and I closed it behind me.

Kitty ranted and wailed her fury that she quickly realised he wasn't all that interested in her as soon as he began asking far too many questions about the High Council. If she hadn't been on extra alert, she told us, she might have brushed all his questions aside as just a curious, small town wolf excited to be in the city. But when she realised he swiped her security pass, and returned it without her knowledge, she could only come to one conclusion: she was being duped.

"How do you know he took your security pass?" I asked, watching it swing from her belt loop. "You've still got it."

"See here?" Kitty pointed to it. "—I never attach it to this loop. I'd have to detach it every time I wanted to access anything because the lanyard isn't long enough. It jumped a loop, Stella! Joel thought I was too dumb to notice when he put it back."

"Then he underestimated you," said
Étoile from the doorway, arriving unobtrusively. Clare was a step behind, looking considerably more harried than her boss.

"Oh,
Étoile, I'm so sorry! Joel had me totally hoodwinked. I thought he really liked me, but he was just using me. I don't think he suspects that I know. Who's smart now, huh?" She looked around and I gave her the fastest, reassuring nod I could.

"Security tells me you didn't make a scene, so let's hope he thinks you're still hoodwinked. Don't worry, Kitty."
Étoile placed her hand on Kitty's arm and smiled. Kitty exhaled, her lip wobbling as she sniffed. "He cloned your pass and we have a team watching his every move. The moment he steps out of place, we'll get him and whoever he's working with."

"You didn't find out what he's doing?"

"My team is searching everywhere you went, and we haven't found anything... yet."

"What if they don't?" Kitty asked.
Her jaw stiffened and she breathed deeply, then furiously.

"Reinforcements will be here at sundown."

"You sent for the bloodhounds?" asked Astra.

"Our vampire brethren really aren't happy at being called that... but... yes. If my team can't find something, Matthias will."
Étoile turned as Clare cleared her throat. "My time is up. Clare told me what you two found. Keep searching. There has to be more information in there. Even if we won't need it now to foil this plot against me, we might need it sometime in the future."

"And if Athene Chapman is right about her visions, we might be able to find this super witch," Astra said.

Étoile frowned and Clare asked, "Athene Chapman?"

"I didn't mention her to Clare because it was too much to go into," I explained to them both, "but we have Athene's notebooks. We think she's related to Ariadne Chapman and she appears to be a clairvoyant. She had lots of visions about the Brotherhood."

"Obviously, I want to know more, but keep focused on the task in hand. Everything needs to be directed on containing this attack. Even you, Clare."

"What? Me? Why?" Clare mumbled. "Of course, I'm focused on..."

"Clare is Athene's granddaughter. Ariadne's daughter," Étoile explained as she interrupted Clare's protestations. "She didn't think I knew."

"What? But..." Clare stopped as we stared at her.

"You're our star sister?" Astra asked, glancing over to me. I knew exactly what that glance meant. Was Clare the super witch Athene saw in her visions? My magic never gave me any indication that Clare had any strong abilities, but I was wrong in the past. "You're the one that completes the prophecy?"

"Oh? I..." Clare broke off, looking toward
Étoile in panic.