Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) (5 page)

"But war?" Seren interrupted. "Against The Brotherhood? We'll squash them. They're nothing compared to us."

"Right now, we can't even find them," pointed out Étoile, "They have evaded us time and again, and now they are working with at least one witch."

"Georgia Thomas," I said feeling weak at the thought of her standing at my door. I couldn't understand why she was so hellbent on helping the enemy. No, she
was
the enemy. Everything I'd ever learned about her spelled greed and destruction. There was nothing she wouldn't stoop to in order to get her own way, including murdering her own people.

"Exactly, and we know she is no ally to the witches. We don't know who else is working with them. Based on Stella's testimony..."

"Did you declare war because of me?" I butted in.

"No, but your testimony clinched it when it was shown to the Council. We can't ignore it. We can't play search-and-rescue on this scale. The Brotherhood have escalated beyond what we thought possible, and there has to be a reason for that. They brought this war to their door."

"So they successfully baited us?" said David, pushing his glasses up on his nose before running a hand over his short crop of brown hair. "Aren't we playing into their hands?"

"If it were just witches, maybe, but we have the High Council with us. Our power has more than quadrupled. The Brotherhood have gone too far."

"If we can find the superwitch, we could defeat them," said Astra.

"That's a big if," I countered.

"How far are you with your search? Did Ariadne aid you?" Étoile asked.

I risked a glance at Clare, but her face remained impassive. Briefly, I wondered what Ariadne was doing since we charged out of the room. "She's helping as much as she can, but she doesn't know who the superwitch is. She can't tell us much, only that the superwitch needs to possess certain talismans from each supernatural faction," I explained.

"Stella and Astra, stay, please. Everyone else, you're free to leave, but please await my further orders. Clare, you too."

"What is it?" I asked, after everyone filed from the room.

"I need to talk to you two alone. Is there anything left to tell me about the superwitch? Anything that you couldn't say openly?"

"No, you know as much as we do," Astra told her.

"We could be chasing a dead end," Étoile mused.

"Or we might have the solution to this war," said Astra.

"We do have an age range now," I reminded Astra, "and we know these talismans exist. I didn't say earlier, but I've seen the talisman that belongs to the werewolves. I know where to find a horologican. If we can find the others, we think it might attract the witch."

Étoile nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "Find them," she ordered, "and be discreet. I don't want to raise any hopes; and I don't want our High Council catching wind of this until we know if it's true or not. Astra, could you give us some privacy?"

Astra darted a glance at me, then shrugged. "Sure. I'll meet you back at the room." She slid out, closing the door behind her with the softest of thuds, leaving Étoile and me alone.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Why should there be anything wrong?" inquired Étoile.

"I'm pretty sure we're on our own for a reason."

"Have you remembered anything more from your time in captivity?"

"Fleeting thoughts that could be memories. Nothing I can make sense of yet. Why? Haven't you seen everything you need?"

"Perhaps. We still don't know the reason for The Brotherhood taking you. That wasn't present during Lisette's extraction. I wondered if you had any thoughts about it?"

"Perhaps Auberon didn't want to kill his only niece?" I asked, sarcasm lacing my voice. I doubted if Auberon had any interest in my wellbeing. He already dispatched The Brotherhood to kill me once, before I realised who or what I was, and made more than one attempt since that time. I wasn't even sure if he cared for his own son. My cousin was my last surviving family member. Auberon might have had a blood tie to me, but he was definitely no more family to me than I was to him. I couldn't fathom why he kept me alive for two months. I didn't even feel injured. Considering how damaged the other captives looked, I was perplexed at my comparable health.

"We must assume he had other purposes for you."

"My magic was drained. Perhaps he preferred not to rip out my teeth like he did with the werewolf. I don't know."

"It's a possibility."

"I can't remember what he did to me exactly. I feel like I should but... I'm scared to look at my memories."

"That's understandable. If you recall anything else, no matter how small or insignificant, you must tell me immediately."

"I will."

"I mean it, Stella. It doesn't matter how meaningless it might appear."

"I promise, okay? You don't have to worry about me. I'm safe and there's bigger stuff going on here than just me. Our people are still out there, aren't they?"

Étoile nodded her head once, and made no effort to hide the strain. "We'll renew our search tomorrow. I'm expecting guests. Come find me later when you have a plan for locating the talismans. I don't want to leave anything to chance."

"I will."

"And take this," she said, holding out a slim, electronic key card. "No more hospital rooms for you."

I thought about the plan as I returned to the room where Astra and her research waited. All I could come up with was Gage. I’d have to ask him to return the talisman I retrieved when it was squabbled over by the werewolves former pack leader. Gage and I agreed he would hide it for safekeeping. The damn thing gave me a headache, its power bristling whenever I approached it. I didn't relish having it anywhere close to me again, but it didn't seem like I had any choice. That was the only witch-made talisman I could think of in the werewolves’ possession, and I knew how valuable it was to them. So did Gage, which was why we agreed he should hide it.

The horologican would be easier. Though the demons were searching for such a book, for purposes I never ascertained, I knew where I'd seen one before. I even held one as a short-term gift until it vanished one day. I had to presume it must’ve returned to its rightful owner, a teenager named Chyler. She was also a victim of Georgia once, and she hated her witch lineage. She asked for her magic to be bound because she was so desperate for a normal life, far away from anything supernatural. I hadn't heard much from her since then, but I was pretty sure she would help if I called her. While thinking about how to go about making such a big request, I turned the corner and ran into a man's shoulder. Stepping back, I raised a hand to my forehead, wincing, "Ow!"

"Stella! I've been looking everywhere for you," said the man, embracing me in a bear hug.

Gasping for air, I blinked in surprise, then grinned, returning the hug. "Daniel, you're here!" I exclaimed, examining his face. He'd filled out a little, making him less gangly, with strong shoulders and an angular jaw. His week-old beard matched his chestnut hair. Last time I saw him, he looked so boyish. Now, he looked like a man.

"I've been worried sick," he carried on. "No one will tell me anything. You disappeared, everyone went crazy for a while, then suddenly, you're back and you're okay – at least, I think you're okay? – and apparently, we're at war... What's going on? What happened?"

I wriggled from the tight grip he had on my upper arms and fixed him with a bemused look. "I wish I could tell you, but I know little more than you do."

"I'm sure that's not true. Did Auberon, did my father..."

"I'm fine," I assured him. "I'm home. I'm safe. Auberon didn't hurt me."

"Are you sure? You were gone for so long. I even tried reaching out to him..."

"You did what?" I gasped, my heart racing at the thought of how much danger he placed himself in simply by searching for his father.

"Don’t worry. I didn't find him and he didn't reach out to me. I didn't know what to think."

"You can't ever do that again," I told him, panic filling me at the thought of losing him. "Promise me, Daniel. Please. No matter what, you can't go looking for your father!"

"I can't promise anything. I think I can lure Auberon into the open. I know I can. He wants me."

"He'll hurt you, just like he did before. We can't risk that happening. You know that."

"We can. He went after you because he couldn't get to me."

"You don't know that. You are not being used as bait."

"Isn't that the fastest way to end this war? To get Auberon out into the open where he can be captured?"

"We need to find the captives first," I told him. "You being captured won’t help that."

Daniel puffed his chest out and raised his chin. "My magic is much stronger now. I can take care of myself."

"Don't be so proud that you can't see a bad idea!"

"It's not pride!"

"I couldn't take care of myself! That's a knock to my pride!" I admitted, ashamed of my weakness. Guilt washed over me again at the thought of the captors I left behind. Were they paying for my freedom? I had to push those thoughts away and concentrate, if only to ensure Daniel didn't end up with the same fate. "I thought I was home safe and he still managed to kidnap me and hold me captive for two whole months. We don't know what we're up against with The Brotherhood. We don't know what they're capable of."

"But..."

"No, Daniel," came Étoile's voice behind me, causing us both to spin around. I didn't know how much she heard, but it seemed like it must have been enough.

"But..." he started.

"I said no."

"I can..."

"No!" she raised her voice within an octave of shouting, and more heads turned in our direction. "No," she continued more gently. "Your suggestion is a brave one, Daniel, but until I give the order, you are needed elsewhere. Stella needs your help finding the talismans."

"What talismans?" asked Daniel.

"I'll fill you in," I told him, taking him by the arm to propel him away from antagonising Étoile any further. "Thank you," I mouthed to her, grateful that she forbade Daniel from placing himself in Auberon's path. I also felt proud she was ensuring his safety with me.

"Watch him," she mouthed back.

Chapter Six

I wanted to find Gage right away to ask for the talisman, but Daniel had too many questions about the war: what it meant, who would be fighting, and how. I didn't know the answers, but that didn't stop his incessant barrage of questions, interspersed with checking far too many times to ask if I were really okay.

It was a relief to get to the research room where Seren and Astra awaited us.

"Where's Ariadne?" I asked, during a pause in Daniel's litany of questions.

"Finding something to eat," replied Seren, casting a glance over the notepads. The table had been cleared, leaving what remained of Athene's writings. Piles of books littered the floor. "Isn't it interesting to be the daughter of someone who foretold the future?"

"Instead of our mother, who cast spells to break things!" laughed Astra.

Instead of confessing I would have liked to know my mother in any way at all, I stayed quiet. Now was not the time to bring other people down. Besides, it wasn't Seren and Astra's fault they were raised by their mother. Mine wanted me, but that was something I found out much later in life, and she died protecting me. Even though I couldn't remember her, I couldn't ask for more love than that. I missed out on a childhood, but at least, I was loved. It made me glad to know that.

"Let's work out how to find these talismans," I said, grabbing a chair and pulling it to the table. "There has to be something in here."

"We’ll take a couple of notebooks each." Seren divided them between us, pulling extra chairs to the table and indicating Daniel should sit. "We need to reread every one. Look for notes in margins and between the spells and writings. I think Athene got careless and wrote things as she remembered them, but not necessarily on the right pages."

I filled Daniel in on what we were searching for while we awaited Ariadne’s arrival. By the time she returned, Clare was with her, and we had already re-read half the notebooks.

"Here's where we are," said Seren, taking control of the room. "Stella is pretty sure she can get the werewolf talisman and the horologican, so that's two of the required pieces. We can't find any mention of what the other talismans might be, except for the pendant, or who might possess them. We can't even be sure they actually exist."

"These books are a lost cause," said Astra. "We've been over and over them and there's nothing left to find. How do we locate the other pieces?"

I threw my hands in the air in frustration. "We can't ask around without alerting suspicion. Étoile said to keep all this quiet." Just as I finished my sentence, the sound of several heavy footsteps ran past. Frowning, I got up and moved to the door.  I opened it just in time to see another group running past with Gage at the rear. "Gage!" I called. He glanced over his shoulder, then stopped and jogged back to me. "What's going on?"

His face was set in a determined mask. "We're moving out to search what we think is The Brotherhood's new compound."

"You got a lead?"

"Not a strong one, but we think we know where they moved. I can't say much right now, I have to go. I'll be back later."

"I need to..." I started to ask, but he was already gone. I wanted to ask him where he'd hidden the talisman. Now, even more frustrated, I turned back. "I'll ask him later," I told the curious waiting faces. "They have a lead on the compound." As I spoke, my longstanding guilt coursed through me again. Shouldn't I have been the one to generate a lead? Despite my memories returning, I still wasn’t willing to delve into them. Nor did I wish to see all the things that weren’t projected from my mind. I was still stuck with second-hand knowledge lying in the deep recesses of my fragile memories. They felt so removed from my personal experiences. I knew I endured everything I saw, yet I had no concept of it happening. Those I left behind, however, still suffered whatever horrors The Brotherhood continued to inflict upon them. I virtually abandoned them and still couldn't even bring them a glimpse of salvation. I did nothing to help them. "Excuse me a moment," I gasped. I felt horrified and angry with my actions as I hurried away before hot tears rolled down my cheeks. I ran for my room, holding the electronic key card Étoile gave me pressed tightly in my hand, gulping air as my heart raced, and panic overtook me. Before I got there, however, strong arms caught me and pressed my face into a broad chest. A jersey t-shirt absorbed my tears as they coursed down my face. A hand ran over my head before calm swept through me.

"Talk to me," said Evan.

I sniffled into his chest, "I can't."

"I have no idea what you said. Come inside." Without waiting for my consent, he propelled me away from the corridor. A door banged and I had to push away from him to see where I was. Somehow, I ended up on the residential floor in what looked like Evan's room. His sweater hung over the desk chair and a laptop was open on the desk. A cup of water and a novel were on the nightstand. "What's going on?" he asked, firmly holding onto me.

My heavy breathing subsided, but exhaustion still consumed me. "I think I had a panic attack."

"I can see that. I sensed you. That’s why I came to look for you."

"You did?"

"I could feel your anguish. Did something happen? Did you remember something?"

I shook my head as I searched my pockets for a tissue. Evan held out one to me and I took it, wiping my eyes. "That's the problem. I don't remember anything beyond what Lisette pulled out of my head. All I have is this crushing feeling of guilt for all the poor souls I left behind."

"You didn't leave them. You went to get help."

"There hasn't been a single report of anyone escaping. No one but me. I should have stayed and helped them. "

"No, you shouldn't have. You could have been recaptured, and never gotten another opportunity. By escaping, you gave the other captives a small glimpse of hope."

"Hope? I was supposed to return with help. I didn't; and now they've all been moved. We don't even know if any of them is still alive."

"No, we don't, but we didn't find any bodies when we searched the warehouse, so we have to assume they're somewhere. If The Brotherhood went to the effort of capturing them in the first place, they must have had a reason. They'll remain alive until their purpose is served." I gaped at Evan, appalled at the sentence he spelled out. "Don't look at me like that," he said, "you've misinterpreted. I can feel your emotions, remember? We'll get there before that day happens."

"Étoile sent out another team. I saw them leave."

"Is that what set this attack off?" he asked, somewhat gentler this time.

I nodded, but remained mute.

"The only reason I'm not with them is because I'm of more use here right now." Evan released me, walking to the loveseat in the corner of the room. He moved the clothes draped over the edge and indicated I should sit. After putting his clothes away in the closet, he sat next to me, taking my hand. I curled my fingers around his, relishing the familiarity. I missed the closeness we once shared. We were developing a good friendship, or at least, we were until Auberon stole those weeks from my life; but I couldn't recall any other friend whose hand I wanted to hold more than his. The thought was puzzling, and I had to push it to the back of my mind. I couldn't even begin to think about Evan and our friendship, nor the peace I got by simply holding his hand, not when there was so much more at stake.

"Sorry for freaking out. They probably assume I've gone nuts with some sort of Brotherhood side effect," I said, waving my hand in the general direction of the room I just fled from.

Evan laughed, a deep, throaty sound. "Maybe."

"They're already so worried about me, and now, I just gave them something to really have cause to worry about!"

"They know you've been through a hard time. Getting upset is part of recovery. You endured a stressful, traumatic ordeal. They would be surprised if you didn't break down."

"You make it all sound normal. Nothing that I've been through, or think I've been through, is normal."

"No, it isn't. Most people don't survive being kidnapped, let alone, having their power depleted, or needing to regain their magic. But you're not a normal person. You're a witch, and you have emotions just like anyone else. You don't have to feel guilty about feeling afraid, worried, or upset or vulnerable. It's natural to feel all those things."

"You're never afraid."

Evan laughed again. "Stella, you have no idea." He paused, but his fingers tightened. "Every day you were gone, I went crazy with worry about you. I was afraid you were dead, but I refused to believe you actually were. Every day I experienced fear, hope, confusion, and hopelessness. Those were the worst two months of my life."

We sat silently, both of us absorbing his candid admission. "I didn't know."

"There's a lot of stuff you don't know."

"Apparently. Including my own memories."

"Give yourself time. You went through a trauma."

"We're going to war. There’s no time to nurse a trauma. Every minute that I don't remember... and fail to find the people I left behind, is a minute too late."

"Stop that right now! You cannot wallow in this. Stella, listen to me. You escaped. Calling me was your best and only hope. There's not a single thing you could or should have done differently. If you hadn't escaped, I would never have found you; and those people you left behind – only because you had to! – never had a chance."

"I..."

"Stop questioning yourself! What's done is done! You can't change it no matter how much you blame and beat yourself up about it. Focus on the future now. Think about what you can do to help."

"I am!"

"Are you? Are you really?"

"Étoile asked me to research something that might end this war."

Evan raised his eyebrows. Somehow, I didn't think Étoile included him in the people I shouldn’t tell. Evan might have been half-demon, but he'd always been an ally, even if only Étoile knew it. "Should I ask what it is?"

"She didn't tell you?"

"You know as well as I do she doesn't tell anyone everything. We all get pieces of the pie, but never the whole deal. It's the way Étoile works."

"What are you supposed to be doing for her?" I asked. I chose to change the topic. "You didn't go out with the search party, and as far as I remember, you're no longer a part of the demon ambassadors."

"Ambassadors." Evan laughed, apparently finding it humorous. "That's a nice way of putting it. No, I didn't go out on today's search. I think I exhausted my usefulness when I aided the other searches. I'm here because the demons asked me to liaise with Étoile regarding our contribution to eradicating The Brotherhood."

"So you're working for them now?" I asked, surprised. I always believed Evan wanted little to do with his paternal race.

"No. I'm a middleman. I can liaise when necessary. It's a role I happily accept for now. I can still operate my business from here and I want to stay here."

"It sounds like they'll keep you pretty busy."

"Not too busy. I have time for you. I always have time for you, and anything you need."

I paused, unsure what he meant by that. Long ago, I decided to never try and read a man's brain. That way, I never assume I know what’s going on inside his head. With my heart rate increasing, I asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means, if you need me, I'm here." Before I could ask what
that
meant, he continued, "When we finished your training, you were ready to look after yourself. War is something different. We never trained you for that. Few are prepared for that. I am."

"And I'm not?" I asked.

"No, you're not. You're powerful, but you're not a soldier. You need proper training."

"And you have the time?" I guessed. Of course, he didn't mean he was making more time especially for me. Despite our fingers still being entwined, he wanted to keep me safe. That's what friends did. Heat rushed to my cheeks as I flushed at my misinterpretation. That, and a strange sense of disappointment.

"I have the time, but we don't have long."

I had to swallow my pride. Evan was right; I wasn't a soldier and I definitely wasn't ready. We were headed to war and Étoile's task was merely the beginning. Evan was first introduced to me as a mentor. He guided and redirected the most innate parts of my magic, enabling me to learn how to control myself. Our relationship started back then and now, looking back, I wondered how much the change in our relationship assisted my relaxation into magic. True, Evan gave me confidence, and our relationship still continued long after he ceased being my mentor. Despite my embarrassment at the misinterpretation of his offer, I had to admit I needed the help, and he was the best person to give it. "Thank you," I said, keeping it simple. I dared not embarrass myself further. "I appreciate the offer."

"No problem. I have some work to do and I know you do too. We can talk later about how to figure this out."

"I need to go," I said, standing, and ignoring his hand to help me to my feet. Astra and Seren were waiting for me, along with Daniel. Ariadne had probably returned from lunch by now. They were, no doubt, worried about me and my sudden exit. I only realised our other hands were clasped together again when a tug stopped me moving any further. Blushing with embarrassment, I slipped my hand from his. People who worked together, and were just friends, did not hold hands. "You're right. Everyone is waiting for me. Thank you, Evan. Really. I appreciate it."