Darkest Knight (9 page)

Looking pained, Quin carefully placed a fatherly arm around her shoulders. “Chalice won’t tell on you. Will you, Chalice?”

He changed his tune awful fast.

“Xenia, we really need to talk to Aurora about what you said.” Warning bells clanged inside my head, but I couldn’t explain why.

Xenia nodded. “You’re right. I need to tell her what I was doing in here. I have to apologize.”

“I mean we need to tell her what you said about being more special than the others. What did you mean by that?”

She laughed and waved me off. “I didn’t mean anything. I was just trying to save my own ass by making up shit. Forget about it. It was nothing.”

It wasn’t nothing, but I’d let it go for now. We could explore it further after I decided what charms to assign the squires, and after we had Natalie back to her old self again. The first order of business was getting Aydin in here to guide Natalie’s mind back from wherever it had drifted. Whatever mystery Xenia had cooked up would have to sit on the back burner for now.

* * *

“What are you doing?” I asked Quin once we were alone. We sat at the kitchen table drinking tea and eating the last of my grandmother’s peanut butter cookies.

“I’m untangling the chains for these charms,” he said, his fingers nimbly working at a tangle of fine silver. He spread the necklace out on a black velvet cloth and began working on the next one.

“That’s not what I meant.” I took a bite of a cookie as I watched him work. “What’s up with you and Xenia?”

His hands remained steady as his nails tweezed a stubborn knot. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“There’s something about her that bugs you.” It bothered me, too, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around exactly what. I was hoping he had more insight.

Quin stopped messing with the chains to lean back in his chair. “What I know is that the Arelim have been having trouble communicating with her over the past few days.”

I frowned. “Do you all have some kind of mental chat room where you converse telepathically?”

“Something like that, yeah.” He took a sip of tea. “While the three of us were in the storage room, they buzzed me about this. That’s why I came off so…gruff.”

I recalled the night I first met him, when he’d been “told” telepathically that I was cursed. Within minutes his attitude had changed from charming to trying to get as far away from me as possible. News travels fast between the Arelim and their whisperers.

“By trouble communicating, what exactly do you mean?”

He brushed away some cookie crumbs before leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. “I mean she ignores them completely.”

“Then why was she even recruited?”

“The angel who recruited her claims she’s the perfect choice. He never explained why, but he’s highly respected among the Arelim and no one questioned his decision.”

“What’s the angel’s name?”

“He’s Rusty’s guardian, Harachel.”

I knew there was something about that guy I didn’t like. It made me wonder if he had an ulterior motive. “What do you make of Xenia’s claim to be extra ‘special.’”

He shrugged. “No idea, but I’m certain she’s hiding something she doesn’t want the Arelim to know.”

“So what happens now?”

He licked his lips and swallowed. “They’ve selected her guardian to present to her on her twenty-first birthday, but now they’re rethinking their decision.”

“Their decision about the guardian? Or about her becoming a knight?”

“Both.”

“Is she aware of any of this?” Xenia was a confused kid and I was worried. It must be difficult giving up the life she’d always known in order to live a new one filled with danger and magic. I could relate, only I’d never had a choice. Maybe she wasn’t up to it. “If not, she needs to know.”

Quin shook his head. “It’s not my place to tell her, and it’s not yours, either. Nothing changes, at least for the time being. The Arelim are more concerned about Natalie.”

“What do they think of my idea to have Aydin merge with her to bring her mind back?” I asked.

He visibly shuddered. “Oh, dear. That brings back some unpleasant memories.”

Poor Quin knew firsthand what that was like. “It couldn’t have been that bad,” I said.

“No, not really. It only hurt when he squeezed my lungs from the inside and made me pass out.”

I tilted my head down and looked up at him through my lashes, trying to look ashamed. He smiled. I failed.

“That was then and this is now,” he said. “I know Aydin. He’s an honorable man and I’m sure he’ll do all he can to help Natalie.”

My shoulders lifted and dropped with an exaggerated sigh. “I’m so glad to hear you say that. As soon as everyone has their ghost-repellent charm, the wards around the property can be changed and Aydin will finally be allowed inside.”

He handed me a necklace. “What do you think?”

I held the shimmering blue Celestine crystal and let my sensitive gaze pierce the multifaceted surface. The stone sat in a silver filigree setting, the intricate threads wound into an elegant design. I found Celestine to be more beautiful than any diamond. A miniature galaxy of stars appeared to pulse at the crystal’s core and it gave me goose bumps.

A gentle touch on my shoulder broke me out of my trance.

“Thought I’d lost you there for a second,” Quin said.

I smiled. “Only for a second. And I felt more found than lost.” I handed him back the necklace. “You do beautiful work.”

He beamed at me. “Thanks.” He continued his job of untangling the chains. “As soon as I’m done Rafael can take them through the silver veil so the Arelim can invoke the ghost-repelling charm.”

In the meantime, I’d decide which charms from Aydin’s collection would best suit each squire. Not all charms were created equal, and though each squire would eventually use more than one, their first time was meaningful. Charm virgins should be handled with care.

ten

I HAD QUIN’S DETAILED LIST OF EVERY CHARM
in the storage room. Ruby perched on my shoulder, chirping softly to let me know she’d rather not go back inside her box. But it didn’t feel safe leaving her out in the open. Ruby was enchanted, but she wasn’t a charm. She couldn’t really
do
anything, though she did have an uncanny skill for detecting lies. That could come in handy.

Ruby hooked her metal toes into my sweater and disguised herself as a pin.

“What a brilliant idea, Ruby,” I told her. “If you keep that up, I’ll let you stay out. I’m only thinking of your safety.”

The emeralds on her back blinked, which I took to mean she understood.

It comforted me to have her around. Despite all the people in the house, my grandparents included, I felt lonely. I missed Aydin. I could talk to Rafe, but his presence was often intimidating and he wasn’t the friendliest guy in the world. I needed a little fun in my life and Ruby made me smile.

I picked up a charmed pen and held it up to the light. Before I’d broken the bond with my gargoyle, this had been my last acquisition and it was a powerful find. It held invisible ink that affected the person using it instead of the surface it was applied to.

I had intended the pen for Xenia because of her uncanny skill for hiding. But in light of what I now knew about her, I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. Then again, I’d see her regardless of any magical ink, and so would my grandmother. Aurora and I shared the same gift for seeing the unseen. And if Xenia tried to hide from us, we would find her.

I watched the girls’ faces as I entered the great room. They looked bored and listless, and who could blame them. We’d all been stuck inside this house too long and needed a change of scenery. Rusty still hadn’t returned from her sojourn with Harachel beyond the veil, and Natalie slept on. Something had to break soon or we’d all go stir-crazy.

They perked up when I lifted my canvas bag of goodies. “Are you ready to be charmed?”

Judging from their gasps of enthusiasm, they were ready.

They’d heard my tale of having been kidnapped as a child and bonded to a homicidal maniac for half my life, so they knew enough about my past to trust me. Wariness was to be expected, but at least now they had some context of who I was and where I came from. Credibility carries a lot of weight when you put your life on the line for people you hardly know. It’s true that we were sisters in knighthood, but the bond between us had yet to be forged.

I gazed down at a freckle-faced girl, her red hair springy with curls and her eyes round with wonder. I chose for her the Forget-Me-Not charm so that she might regain a few extra minutes when faced with a villain intent on doing her harm. What better way to escape a situation than to make the perpetrator forget why they were coming after you in the first place?

I held up the delicate ring. “This ring is for you.” I handed it to her. “Go ahead and put it on. It’s perfectly safe.”

She looked doubtful and kept her hands in her lap. “What does it do?”

“It causes short-term memory loss for whoever you want to make forgetful.” I smiled and put the ring on my own finger. “I’m immune to charms, but I can still show you how to make it work. All you need to do is shake the person’s hand. The tiny blue flowers on the ring scratch the person’s skin and the spell is invoked.” I pointed at the forget-me-not flowers surrounding the band. “Be careful not to scratch yourself. If you do, you’ll become the forgetful one.”

She blinked. “It’s not going to make me pay with my soul to use it, is it?”

I shook my head. “Only a charm or curse that returns a vital part of yourself will take something similar in value. The charms I’m giving you aren’t that powerful. They’ll just offer you an edge.”

Lisa accepted the ring. “How far back will the person forget?”

“Not long, so you won’t have much time to do whatever you need to do.” I winked at her. “They’ll forget anything that happened up to two hours earlier. So if you’re trying to make someone forget the day they met you, it ain’t gonna happen.”

She giggled. “Cool. Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome.” I turned my attention to Dale, the blonde with blue eyes so pale that I worried how well she could see. “You strike me as a happy person.”

She brightened. “Oh, I am. My glass is always half full.”

“Great.” I smiled. “Then you’ll love this charm.” I held up a small book the size of my palm. It had a cartoon drawing of a laughing mouth on the cover and the title
World’s Best Jokes
. I held it out to her.

She frowned. “That thing’s older than I am,” she said.

I nodded. “It was published in the fifties and is one of thousands just like it, but don’t let the cover fool you.” I flipped through the pages. “It was once owned by a comedian who dabbled in magic. He used it in nightclubs whenever his stand-up routine bombed. Kept him in the circuit for years.”

Dale glanced sideways and gave the girl with the ring an envious look. “It doesn’t turn into a pretty ring, does it?”

I chuckled. “Sorry. No.”

She shrugged and accepted the book. She thumbed to the middle and recited, “What do you get when you cross a shark with a snowman?”

One of the girls smiled and said, “No idea, but I think you’re about to tell us.”

Dale chuckled. “Frostbite.”

That had to be the lamest joke I’d ever heard. But every girl in the room, except for Dale and me, burst out laughing so hard they were crying. They couldn’t even talk.

“I think you can guess what this charm is for,” I told her.

She scowled at the hysterical girls. “Distraction?”

“Exactly.”

Another minute passed before the girls sobered.

“Again, this charm doesn’t last long so you need to act quickly. Make sure you’re prepared before you leave ’em laughing.”

Dale nodded and continued flipping through the book.

I handed a box of tissues to one of the girls, who took one to blot her eyes before passing it on. “Remember that if you tell one of the jokes without the book in your hands it won’t do anything. You have to hold the charm for it to work.”

“Got it,” Dale said.

Now it was Xenia’s turn. She gazed up at me eagerly, her crazy hair more disheveled than usual. I was surprised to see she’d cleaned the gunk off her eyes, which were the color of storm clouds. I hadn’t realized her eyes were so big, and the dark circles beneath them made them appear even bigger.

“Xenia, I have a special pen for you,” I said, studying her expression. She appeared excited, and that was no surprise. Who wouldn’t be excited to get a magic charm of their very own? “It holds invisible ink.”

“So I can write secret messages?” she asked.

“Not exactly.” I gave her the pen. “Your messages won’t be invisible, you will.”

He mouth gaped open. “I sure could have used this as a kid.”

I smirked. “I bet you could. But it’s not meant to help you get away with stealing. It’s meant to help you get away if you’re attacked, or to hide you if you’re acting on behalf of the order. Understand?”

“Oh, yes.” She uncapped the pen. “I can write on anything?”

Nodding, I said, “Sure, but paper is probably best.”

Xenia jumped up from the floor and trotted to the kitchen. She returned with the small notepad Aurora kept by the phone and scribbled something on a page. Right away her body began to fade.

“Wow!” Dale peered at the space where Xenia had stood a few seconds before. “She’s gone.”

I removed the mental shield from my eyes and stared hard at the spot where Xenia had disappeared. I saw her as a misty ghost, the particles of her essence shimmering like tiny, incandescent moths.

“Yep,” I said. “Totally gone. And to come back all she has to do is destroy whatever she wrote.”

I waited for her to do that, but she didn’t. At least not right away.

“Can I have the same charm?” one of the other women asked.

“Sorry, there’s only one.” I sighed with relief when Xenia reappeared again.

“That’s the coolest thing ever,” Xenia said, her eyes sparkling with wonder. “I love this!” She scribbled something again and disappeared again. Only this time she didn’t come back.

I’d admit to having made a mistake if I didn’t see her, but I did. Yet I pretended not to.

“Uh-oh,” I said, infusing my voice with concern. “Xenia? Are you there?”

I saw her misty form, but it stood still, waiting. I guessed she waited to see how far her little trick would go. That was her style. And I played along.

“Is something wrong?” one of the girls asked, her freckled face pinched with worry.

I turned my back on Xenia’s misty form so she wouldn’t see me mouth the words,
Everything’s fine. Xenia is right behind me.

I hoped the girl would take the hint. A twinge of surprise flashed across her face before she recovered her worried expression. “Can I do anything to help?”

I shook my head. “I’m sure Xenia’s okay. You and the others can take a break and we’ll resume class tomorrow.”

Her smile was so frozen I could have chiseled it with an ice pick.

As the young women dispersed, I kept my eye on Xenia’s “ghost.” She didn’t move for a couple of minutes and then crept to the front door. She couldn’t open it without revealing herself so she must have been hoping someone would open it for her.

I walked purposely toward the door and lifted the drape from one of the windows to peer outside, pretending to look for something. Then I opened the door and called, “Xenia? Are you out here?”

That’s when she whooshed past me to get outside. She stood on the front porch and lifted her vaporous arms to the sky in triumph. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t let on that I knew. This game wasn’t over yet. I had to see what she planned next.

She walked down the steps and headed for the road.

Aurora came to stand beside me in the doorway. “You better do something.”

“I know.” And I should do it fast before Xenia got beyond the protection of the wards.

I stepped off the porch and trotted toward Xenia’s retreating form. “Xenia! You can stop now. I’ve been able to see you all along and so has Aurora.”

She stopped and turned around to face me, hands on hips. “Can you hear me, too?” she asked.

I nodded. “The charm only makes your appearance vanish along with whatever you’re wearing. Anyone could hear you.”

She popped from invisibility into full view. “Wow, that was a kick in the ass.”

Though I felt tempted to
really
kick her in the ass, I swallowed my irritation and heaved a relieved breath. “I doubt the wards would have allowed a ghost to come or go on either side.”

Xenia frowned. “What would have happened if they stopped me?”

“Death, more than likely.” My grandmother stood beside me and raised one eyebrow, staring down at Xenia.

A tentative smile played at Xenia’s lips. She laughed. “Then it’s a good thing I was only pretending.” She pointed at my sweater and said, “Is that the same little frog from the storage room?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Wow. It even lights up,” she said.

I gazed down at the tiny jeweled frog clinging to my sweater. Ruby most definitely was twinkling, and that meant only one thing. Someone was lying and it sure wasn’t me.

* * *

“How did you know?” Xenia asked. “I thought my acting skills were pretty good.”

“They were,” I told her. We each sat on one of the beds in our room and my grandmother had taken the chair by the window. “But Ruby has an uncanny sense for the truth. When someone lies, she twinkles.”

“Will I get the pen charm back?” she asked.

“Maybe.” I glanced at my grandmother, who dipped her chin in a quick nod. “You’re not entirely on board yet, Xenia,” I added. “If this behavior keeps up, we can’t trust you.”

She lowered her head to stare at her lap. “I understand.”

“You need more time to adjust,” I told her.

“The knighthood isn’t for everyone,” Aurora said. “It’s not unusual to question a calling as demanding as this one. We’ve turned away squires in the past.”

“Good to know I’m not the first to be on the chopping block.” She stared anxiously at my grandmother. “You’re not turning me away, are you?”

Aurora shook her head. “No. At least not yet.”

“Xenia, why have you been ignoring the Arelim?” I asked.

Her eyes rounded with surprise. “How did you know that? My relationship with the Arelim is private.”

I tilted my head to one side, then the other. “It’s private unless something you’re saying, or not saying, affects the knighthood.”

She frowned, a spark of the rebellious girl from yesterday flashing in her eyes.

“We all have a relationship with the Arelim in some way,” I said. “When you hide something from them, you may as well be hiding it from your sister knights, too.”

“It’s none of your business,” Xenia muttered, the volume of her voice barely loud enough for anyone but my grandmother and me to hear.