Flames in the Midst (The Jade Hale Series) (21 page)

The third law was one I knew.  “All spells must be performed silently in order to protect all witches from exposure.  First offense: laryngitis for no less than one month; second offense: inability to speak for 1 year; third offense: permanent loss of vocal abilities.”  This law came about sometime during the witch-hunts in Europe, which were far worse than even the current death toll of Salem.  By reciting an incantation silently, it drew less attention.  Witches, and more importantly innocent people accused of being witches, were kept relatively safe since this law helped stifle rumors about real witches.

I scanned further down the page to the section about contracts.  We, well I, had burned many contracts that Evan had apparently collected over the years.  There were laws about contracts, but most of the laws were made to establish the use of contracts.  I flipped to the Origins of Magic section and scanned for more information.  Apparently, contracts were added into the General Laws of Magic as a way for witches to give up their abilities if they no longer wished to be a witch.  It also gave Guardians the ability to peacefully combat Shadow Rulers or witches who appeared to be on the path to becoming a Shadow Ruler.  If you could get one of these witches to sign a contract relinquishing their abilities, you would quietly stifle the threat that witch represented without violence.  Of course, it seemed to me like that would be like bringing a candlesnuffer to put out a forest fire in the case of Evan and Cameron.  I had no doubt I would need to use my gift to put an end to their destruction.

I got lost in the pages of the book on General Laws and Origins of Magic for several hours.  By the time I looked up from the book, the clock on the cable box read one o’clock and my stomach growled.  I wanted to spend time practicing in the fireplace and maybe a few spells from the spell pages, but just as I thought about taking a quick break and getting right back to work, someone knocked on the door.  My first intention was not to answer.  I could pretend no one was home or I was still sleeping off my summer flu, but I glanced towards the door, and through the glass at the top of the door, I could see Anastasia’s strange aura radiating.

“I wasn’t expecting a visitor, but it’s nice to see you,” I greeted her at the door.

“I thought you were feeling better,” Anastasia stated matter-of-factly.  Something about her exuded otherness.  I knew this had to do with her immortality, but my aunt’s letter had indicated something more.

I would have welcomed her in, but she was already in the living room before I could speak.  She looked back at the book in my arms and scanned the room, the fireplace in particular.

“Doing some reading?” she asked.

“Yeah, I haven’t had a chance to read much, what with being miserably sick and all.  How did you know I was better?”

“Just a feeling,” she muttered while still looking around the room.  “You haven’t been practicing at all, have you?”

“No, but that’s really not any of your business.”  I regretted it as soon as I said it.  So far, Anastasia had been more helpful to me than anyone.

“I’m just trying to help.  I don’t know if it changes anything, but you are easier to track if you are practicing.  You told me to give you a warning.  It’s dangerous.”

“Oh.”  I couldn’t think of anything else to say.  If she were delivering a message to me from me, what was there to say?  She didn’t time travel.  These messages only worked in one direction.

Anastasia stared at me in silence for a moment, and I couldn’t help fidgeting with the book.

“Chase might be able to put a protective spell on the house so you can practice, but I don’t know if he is powerful enough yet to really blanket your spells.  He’d have to be more powerful than you.”

I thought to ask her how she knew this, but I was probably the one who told her in the first place.  Time travel was number one on my list of super-complexities.  All I could do was go with the flow.  Thinking too hard about it could probably put me into a coma.

“Let’s go get something to eat,” Anastasia offered.  I wanted to stay and practice spells, despite my warning, but I didn’t think she planned on taking no for an answer. 

“Let me put the book away.  I’ll be right back.”  I left Anastasia standing in the living room to run upstairs, hide the book, and grab my purse.  I heard a motorcycle passing the house and glanced out the window in time to see Chase speeding by.  I wondered if he was keeping tabs on me or on Anastasia.

When I got downstairs, Anastasia stood exactly where I had left her.  We headed out the door, and got in her beat-up truck.  Anastasia was the opposite of Stefanie.  She didn’t need to fill the silence in the car, and she certainly didn’t have any awe-filled admiration for me.  It was too hot to roll the windows down, so we drove with the air on full blast.  We ended up at Osteen’s eating fried shrimp and French fries.  Usually, I would have eaten everything on my plate in ten minutes flat, but today I just sipped on my Coke and ate a few shrimp, picking at the fries.

“How are you doing?” Anastasia asked with the concern of an old friend.

I mentally made the decision to fall as comfortably into the roll of old friend as I could with an immortal girl who already knew more about me than I did myself.

“I’m hanging in there,” I lied. 

That wasn’t as easy as I had thought.  She stared me down with a look that said, now tell me the truth, and that is exactly what I did.  I poured my heart out over fried shrimp.  I was terrified.  I suspected Chase might be right about me.  I wanted nothing more than to seek out my mother’s killer and finish him off, but I feared that as much as I desired it.  The only thing I didn’t mention was my dreams about Cameron.  I had a feeling that was too private to share, or maybe too dangerous.  I wasn’t sure they were dreams or what they meant either way, so I wasn’t ready to hash them out with anyone else.

Anastasia sat and listened patiently to every word.  When I was done, I couldn’t help but ask her.

“How does it all turn out?  Do I kill them?  Am I the same afterwards?”

She placed her hand over mine and met my eyes with hers.  I suddenly felt much more calm and at ease.  The wave of panic that had been creeping up on me over the past weeks receded. 

“You pursue them.  I honestly don’t know how it all turns out.  Like I said, you don’t want me to share too much with you.  You don’t want me locking you into one outcome or another.”

“I do if it’s the outcome I want,” I pouted.

“Not if it means losing control of your destiny and your ability to make choices.  This is a decision you made after years of time traveling.  Nothing I can say will convince you.  Only time.”

“That’s lousy.”  I shoved a fry in my mouth and washed it down with what was left of my Coke.  Anastasia didn’t seem to have anything else to say, so we finished our lunches to the sound of people chatting all around us. 

Anastasia drove me home.  She warned me again not to practice any spells.

“See you tomorrow,” she called out from her truck before she pulled away.  I watched the truck drive out of the cookie-cutter neighborhood.  It might blend in other places, but it looked about twenty thousand dollars out of place here.  I noticed a boy walking on the sidewalk across the street.  He looked out of place, too.  He was dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt in the middle of July.  His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, and he kept looking over his shoulder nervously.  His bluish-gray aura broadcast trouble in this neighborhood.  I wondered whose house he was casing.  Maybe he planned to burglarize all of them.  He didn’t look older than sixteen.  He also looked vaguely familiar.

Before I could call after him or place him in my mind, I heard the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle.  Perhaps it was me Chase kept tabs on.  He didn’t drive by this time, but rather pulled into the driveway stopping two feet away from me.

“
Gotta minute?” he asked.  I didn’t.  I wanted to practice.  Despite whatever warning I sent myself, I needed to practice spells if I planned to take Evan and Cameron out.  However, I didn’t think Chase was any more likely to take a no than Anastasia had been.

“Fine, but I’m tired.  We’ll have to talk inside,” I told him as curtly as I could.  Chase took his key out of the bike and followed me into the house.  As we entered the living room, I noticed that he, too, checked the fireplace.  No one seemed to trust me.  I suppose that was for good reason.  After all, I was planning to practice a few spells between the time he left and the time the house filled with Zach and his family.

Chase sat on the couch, looking all too comfortable.  I stood with my arms crossed.  We were not friends, and this was not a friendly visit.

“Are you following me?” I asked.

“I’m,” Chase hesitated for a moment, “keeping an eye on you.”

“I’m not going to come back with you, so you can stop following me.”  I sat on the brick hearth of the fireplace and glared at him.

“Jade, I’m just trying to help.”  He looked sincere, but I was fairly certain that was a look he had practiced. 

“I don’t need your help.  I have my book back now.  I’ll figure things out.”

Chase looked exhausted, but not just with the conversation.  I noticed now that he looked physically tired.  His aura was dim, like that of a sleeping person.  He had rings under his eyes.  He looked terrible.  How often had he been checking up on me?

He sighed, “You’re right in that respect.  You have your book.  I disagree that you don’t need my help, but we can save that argument for another day.  The fact is, I, well, we, need your help.”

“Wow.  Hold on.  Let me catch my breath,” I couldn’t resist tormenting him, even with him looking like he might keel over.  “Did you just ask for my help?”

“
Madilyn and Amy agree that stopping whatever changed in Salem is our current top priority.  They are in charge of our group of Guardians.”  I could feel the tinge of resentment in his voice.  He obviously didn’t agree with the group, but it seemed he was bound to follow them.  Again, another reason I did not want to be a witch, and a reason I would not join an organized group.

“So, write a spell, come up with a plan that doesn’t involve me,” I challenged Chase.

“That’s the thing.  There is no other way to undo the change they’ve caused than to utilize the services of a time traveler.”  Again, I heard the resentment in his voice.  This time he looked down, refusing to meet my gaze.

“So find another time traveler.  This one is not interested.”

“Are you serious?” Chase asked, his temper escalating.  “Are you reading the book or just sleeping with it and hoping to learn spells by osmosis?”

“I have the right to tell you no.  I don’t have to help you if I don’t want to.” I raised my voice to match his.

“Find another time traveler?  Do you realize how extremely rare you are?  Do you get why I’ve been driving up and down your street keeping an eye on you since you left Amy’s house?  There are no other time travelers we know of, other than Evan, which is why we need you.  You are it.  There is no other way.”  Chase was standing and screaming at me now.  I had obviously pushed him to his limit, although I was sure his limit had been greatly reduced by his lack of sleep.  He didn’t like being here.  He didn’t like having to ask for my help.  He didn’t agree with the plan the Guardians had for setting things right.  He didn’t like having to talk me into something he didn’t agree with in the first place.

I took a deep breath.  This was not going to be easy, but if I were going to get what I wanted, I would have to make some concessions.

“Okay,” I said very quietly.

He stopped where he was and stared at me in disbelief.

“Really?”

“Sort of.  There are stipulations.  Is that okay?”

“It depends on what the conditions are.”  He had calmed down mostly.  I could tell his heart was still pounding from the adrenaline rushing through his system because his aura pulsed with his heartbeat creating a strobe-like effect.  I got up and walked closer to him.  I sat on the couch and motioned for him to sit next to me.

“You need to help me first.  In all truth, I am not ready for this.”  I thought about how that sounded and decided I needed to clarify.  “I can get myself ready, and I feel like I have plenty of time to do so since I can go back in time whenever I like, but I could get ready faster with your help.  You can help me study the right spells and focus my gifts.”

“I can do that,” Chase looked at me like it would not be an enjoyable task, but one he could tolerate.  “But it would be easier, and safer, if you came back to the house.  We could all help you then.”

“I don’t want to go back to the house.  At least not yet.  I want to live my life as normally as possible.  The magic for me is just a side job.  It is not who I am.  Besides, Anastasia said something about a cloaking spell.  Something to protect me from being discovered or tracked while I am doing magic here in the Holmes’ house.  Can’t you just cast that?”

              “I already have, but it isn’t a sure thing.  There are a lot of factors that go into it.  If someone discovered you before I cast the spell, they can still track you if they are either really good or really lucky,” Chase explained.  He paused for a moment, assessing my demands.  “Is that all?”

“No.  I want to be involved in the planning when it is time to go after Evan and Cameron.  I will not sit on the sidelines when we get there either.”  I wasn’t sure I was telling Chase the truth.  I might stick to this deal, but I might also just use the help like I had used the comfort I got from staying at the
ir house the first time.