Double-Sided Witch (Covencraft Book 3) (32 page)

“What’s going on? What do you want?”

“I told you, I need a favor. Or, rather, my mistress does.”

“Who the hell is your mistress?”

“Another piece of information that will come in good time,” Sakkara said, again with a slight smile. Her expression faltered and she looked sad, remorseful. “I’m so sorry. For everything. If I’d known… but you must understand, I thought I was protecting him. That’s what mothers do, isn’t it?” She looked at Jade beseechingly, her hand outstretched as though she wanted Jade to take it. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and it’s creeping me out,” Jade said bluntly, taking another step back.

Sakkara’s hand fell back to her side and she sighed softly. “No, I suppose you don’t. You don’t remember who you are.”

“Of course I do. I’m me,” Jade said simply. 

Sakkara looked like she felt sorry for Jade and it scared her.  “Perhaps now with Lily back, and the two of you separate again, you’ll remember.”

Jade’s stomach rolled over. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’ve been here before. The Preserve. The lake.”

Jade kept shaking her head even though she felt it was true. She wanted to disagree with everything Sakkara said. “No.”

“The Coven,” Sakkara continued.

“No,” Jade repeated. “I’m the first witch born outside the Coven. I’m different.”

“You are different. I made you different. We made you different. But you were not born outside the Coven.”

Jade could feel her power swirling inside her gut. It roiled and rolled, twisting and turning her insides about. “Yes, I was. I had a mother and a father and they were shitty parents, but they were ours, Lily’s and mine. And we grew up away from here. We didn’t have magic.”

“You always had magic.” Sakkara paused, as though considering. “Lily has it now too, but I think that is a side effect of being tangled with you for so long. In a sense,
she
is the first witch born outside a Coven. As a result of her association with you.”

Jade stumbled backward. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re crazy. Or I am. You’re dead! I’m talking to a dead woman. Through a dream.” God, maybe she really was crazy. She’d feared that being the answer, but it seemed more real than the convoluted mess she was getting from Sakkara.

“You remember being here before. Even when you were dreaming of the lake, you remembered it. You’ve always feared water.”

A sound caught her ear and Jade turned. Off to the side was a little girl, toddler-aged. She wandered the rocky shore, her fat feet giving her that unsteady, drunken toddler walk that kids have. She had light brown hair in a mess of thin curls and a round belly poking out from the gap between her pink shorts and yellow shirt.

The sight of her made Jade feel dizzy and sick.

“There you are. See, you’re already remembering.”

Jade turned and ran into the forest, her legs going as fast as she could make them.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Lily
turned her head quickly to the closed door, behind which Dr. Gellar was with Jade.

“What?” asked Paris. “What is it?”

“Jade’s dreaming. Of the Sparrow Lady again.”

Paris regarded her carefully. “How do you know that?”

Lily paused. “It’s like… I can hear it. I can hear it happening in Jade’s brain.”

The door to the room opened and Dr. Gellar came out along with some nurses who discretely made their exit. Dr. Gellar came over to stand next to Paris, eyeing Lily.

“Dr. Gellar, this is Lily, Jade’s…” he trailed off, not sure what Lily was. She wasn’t Jade’s alter, she wasn’t Jade’s family member.

“I’m just Jade’s,” Lily piped up amiably. She held a hand out for Dr. Gellar to shake, which she did, her eyes trailing over Lily with curiosity.

Paris looked around for a moment, ensuring they were alone, and then said lowly, “I believe somehow Jade brought her to life, but I’m not sure how just yet.”

Dr. Gellar’s eyebrows went up and she looked at Lily again, who only shrugged. Dr. Gellar turned back to Paris. “I look forward to hearing all about it. And I’d probably like to run some tests.” She addressed Lily. “Are you all right? Is there anything I need to know right now?”

Lily shook her head. “Nope. I’m still a little cold, but I feel fine. How’s Jade?”

Paris was grateful for Lily’s change of topic and waited anxiously for Dr. Gellar’s report.

“Still unconscious.” Gellar’s eyes darted over to Paris and he nodded.

“Anything you have to say about Jade can be said in front of Lily. In fact, she may be able to assist you.”

Lily nodded. “Yeah, if there’s something I can do, let me know.”

“Well, as I said, Jade is still unconscious. I’m not sure if you know, but Jade has adverse reactions to using too much magic and it looks like tonight, whatever she did, presumably bringing you to life, overtaxed her. In the past, she’s not done herself any permanent damage and I hope she hasn’t this time, but we won’t know for sure until she wakes up. I think that when she uses too much magic, her pressure spikes, which causes her to bleed from her nose and ears. Now that she’s unconscious, her pressure’s dipped down again and is rather low, probably as a result of her body being in shock.” Dr. Gellar regarded Lily again. “Are you a double of her? A complete double?”

Lily blinked. “I think so?” she replied. “Did you want to run some tests to see?”

“Would you be amenable to that?” Dr. Gellar asked, her tone surprised. Paris knew how she felt. Jade was quite averse to medical attention and getting her to agree to tests was akin to pulling teeth.

Lily shrugged. “If you think it would help Jade, then sure.”

With one more look to Paris, Dr. Gellar ushered Lily into the small medical room where Jade was. Paris craned his neck but only got a glimpse of Jade, her eyes closed and skin pale, before the door shut again.

“Okay, that’s really creepy,” Paris heard from behind him and turned to see Callie standing there. She still looked slightly sleep mussed and in disarray, but she was wide awake. “Obviously, asking at the lake was a bad time, but now that I’m here, why does it look like there are two of Jade?”

Paris directed her to the sofa, where Callie took up a perch, and he told her the bare minimum of what he knew - somehow, Jade had conjured Lily into being, but he wasn’t sure how or why. Nor was he sure who Lily was. Callie bombarded Paris with a hundred questions for which he had no answers. How, why, why now, why the lake, what kind of magic was this, where did Lily come from, why did she look like Jade?

“I don’t know,” he kept repeating, tiredly, although, there were bits and pieces coming together in his mind and he was starting to have some suspicions. “Did you find anything else out by the lake?”

Callie shook her head. “No. Josef still has some witches out there, but we didn’t find anything. But back to Jade. She’s all right?”

Paris turned and looked at the closed door again. “I believe so. I haven’t had a chance to go in and see her myself yet.”

Callie rested her hand on top of his, giving it a squeeze. “I’m sure she’s okay. Would you like me to go check on Bruce again?”

“I think she’d like that, when she wakes up. To know that someone looked in on him.”

“I can do that. I’ll even filch him some goodies from the fridge. Or maybe buy him a latte on my way over. I think the coffee shop should be opening up about now.”

“Let me know how he’s doing, please,” Paris asked. Callie squeezed his hand again before standing. “Callie, did Josef come back with you?”

Callie nodded. “Yeah, I think he’s down in Counter-Magic starting some paperwork and he’s got about as many questions for you as I had.”

“Thank you.”

With the thoughts percolating in his mind, Paris supposed he should go down to Counter-Magic to see Josef right away, but he wanted to check some details first. He was certain Dr. Gellar would inform him immediately if there was any change, but he was still loathe to leave medlab. However, if he could answer some questions for and about Jade, it would serve her better than him sitting around waiting for her to wake up. He sent a quick email explaining his absence to Dr. Gellar, knowing she would likely check it once she realized he was gone.

The Coven was dark and quiet at this time of night. Or morning, Paris supposed it was now. He didn’t expect to see anyone on the way to his office and he wasn’t mistaken - the halls were empty. Sitting down at his desk, he logged into his computer, his fingers hovering over his keyboard for a moment, unsure. If his suspicions were correct, there would be no going back. He only delayed a minute longer before opening up the search tool for the Coven archives and entering in the keyword search terms - drowning, lake, Preserve, child.

It wasn’t as though there were any other incidents of a child drowning in the Preserve, so Paris wasn’t surprised when he got the results he wanted immediately. The archives confirmed what Paris recalled - it had been Josef’s niece, four years old, death by accidental drowning. After that, the lake had a tainted energy about it - one that the Counter-Magic department at the time had been unable to do anything about. Coven members began avoiding the area. A formal investigation had been conducted that indicated no negligence on the part of the mother, Joseph’s sister. However, the child’s mother had fallen ill shortly thereafter, unable to stop blaming herself for not watching well enough over her daughter. The little girl had simply wandered away and fallen in, drowned before anyone noticed she was missing.

Paris wasn’t sure how it was possible, but he was certain Jade was that same little girl.

The first time he’d taken Jade close to the lake, she’d had a strongly adverse reaction, which hadn’t been all that unusual - many witches still disliked the lake area. But Jade had also admitted at the time that she struggled with her water powers. Paris had tried to get Jade to work on her water magic that day, and she’d spoken of it strangely.

“When I think about water, it’s like… it’s waiting for me, like it knows things about me. Sometimes… sometimes I think it wants me to belong to it.”

It had been odd, but Jade had a different way of looking at magic, not having grown up in a Coven. Paris attributed her statements to her different point of view. But now, coupled with what Lily told him, he realized he’d been mistaken. Lily had said when Jade first ‘arrived,’ she’d seemed younger than Lily, smaller, and Lily herself had been six. A four-year old would definitely seem younger and smaller to Lily at that age. Jade hadn’t remembered where she’d come from. A traumatic incident, like drowning, could have caused a memory block. Then, when Lily had asked her name, all she’d gotten from Jade was the letter ‘J.’ Paris had one more question he needed answered; an answer that wasn’t in the archives. He picked up his desk phone and called down to Josef’s office. He answered on the first ring.

“Just the person I was hoping to talk to,” Josef said immediately. “I’ve got a lot of questions about what happened at the lake.”

“I’m sure you do. Could you come to my office? I have one for you as well.”

While Paris waited for Josef to come up, he wondered how he should phrase his question and by the time Josef arrived, Paris decided he would simply go for simplicity.

Josef knocked once before coming in and then took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Paris’ desk. “So, did my old eyes deceive me tonight or do we now have two witches who look exactly like Jade?”

“Your eyes are correct. The second woman’s name is Lily and she and Jade are interconnected. I’m starting to figure out how and why, although I fear it may lead to more questions than answers. I have a sensitive question for you.”

“Ask away.”

“Your niece, who died. If I remember correctly, she was your namesake?”

Josef had a sad smile on his face. “That’s correct. Her name was Josefina.”

#

Jade
was lost. She shouldn’t be so scared or worried. She was only dreaming, but the feeling of being lost ate at her gut, making it rumble and roil. What if there was some other kind of hinky mojo happening? What if being lost in the dream meant she could never get out? She’d been in this part of the Preserve before and there should be pathways, but they were gone - overgrown and covered up. Or maybe they had never existed here in her dreams; Jade didn’t know.

Every way she tried to go, every time she tried a new direction, she always ended up back at the lake. Jade crashed through the underbrush to find herself there again, with Sakkara standing calmly on the dock, looking at her expectantly. Waiting as though she had all the time in the world. The bright, sunny day had gone grey and ghastly, a chill seeping into Jade’s skin and bones, settling down in her marrow and making itself at home.

“What do you want from me?” Jade shouted at Sakkara when she came out of the woods for the umpteenth time and found herself still at the lake.

“I told you, a favor.”

“For you and your…” What was it Sakkara had said? “Your mistress. So, someone’s pulling your strings.”

Sakkara sighed. “My strings are quite tangled, yes.”

“And you think I’ll do you this favor why? Because you’re Paris’ mom? Because you say I’m part of your Coven?”

“Yes,” Sakkara answered simply.

“Fuck you,” Jade responded, hands falling to her side in defeat. She was a thousand percent done. She just wanted to wake up. Why wasn’t she waking up? God, maybe she totally fried her brain. “Your Coven sucks. They don’t like me. They’re pretty elitist about me not being born there and now they’re pissed their magic matches mine.”

“They’ll come around once they find out who you were. Who you are.”

“I don’t care.”

“If you won’t do it for them, then perhaps you’ll do it for my son. For Paris.”

Jade shrugged. “So he’s Coven leader,” she bluffed. “So what?”

“I think you harbor some affection for my son. I’m counting on it. I’ve been counting on it for years.”

“You’re seriously still creeping me out. I want to wake up.”

“I can’t let you do that. Not until you’ve agreed.”

“You’re keeping me here,” Jade realized. “You’re keeping me asleep.”

“Yes.”

“How?” Jade asked, eyes narrowing.

“The dream hex I cast on you is still in effect. You may not be in your bed any longer, but you’re still under the spell. You can’t wake up until I allow it.”

The number one way to get Jade to do something was to imply that she would not be allowed to do it. Jade narrowed her eyes at Sakkara’s words. “You won’t ‘allow’ me,” she repeated.

Sakkara shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

Jade ran through a quick recap of what she knew. Paris’ dead mom, not so dead. She needed a favor. She was keeping Jade asleep until Jade agreed. If Jade agreed just for the sake of getting let out, would she somehow be bound by the promise? Would this be like a demon deal? The thought that she might trap herself by agreeing, if only to escape, kept her from lying her way out of the situation. Jade thought about what she knew about Sakkara. In the Coven, she was spoken of reverently - a great leader, a wonderful woman. Jade had read her demon grimoires and thought about the magic contained within them. Powerful and elegant. Could Jade magic her way out of this? At best, all Jade usually had was brute force and while it worked with Dex, he’d been a little on the ‘crazy’ side, and that had worked in Jade’s favor. Sakkara didn’t strike Jade as unbalanced. Maybe she was crazier than a rucksack of angry cats, but Jade couldn’t be sure. Sakkara was powerful, but she mentioned that it took her time to break Jade’s demon locks. She didn’t have quite as good of a memory as Jade herself and couldn’t remember all the spells in her own grimoires. Jade might be able to best her simply because she could remember more demon magic.

Jade felt a tugging at her brain, like a string, just inside her head being plucked and vibrating.

Lily. Lily was still there. Different from before, but still present. Sakkara had said Lily was separate now, and the truth of that statement resonated with Jade. But, Jade could still feel Lily peripherally. Lily wasn’t in Jade’s head, not like she had been before, but Jade could sense her, hovering around the perimeter. Jade focused on that sensation. It was the same feeling she’d always gotten from Lily - a sense of calmness and safety. Like being a small bird tucked under a larger bird’s wing.