The Wizard Heir (33 page)

Second
Sister

Warren Barber wished Leicester had assigned someone
else to the task of disposing of Joseph's body. Perhaps Leicester didn't trust
Hall or Conroy not to do something foolish and sentimental. Like what? Saying a
Rosary over the corpse? The kid was dead, after all.

They'd carried the body down the path, through the
woods past the grove to the far side of the island, where a low cliff descended
directly into deep water. It was as far as possible from the dock and winery
complex. Although the body wasn't heavy, it made a long and awkward package,
difficult to maneuver through the undergrowth and over the uneven terrain. They
were hot, sweaty, and exhausted when they finally set their burden down at the
edge of the cliff.

Now what to use for weight. They'd brought a coil of
rope along but couldn't find anything suitable at the top of the cliff. Then
Warren remembered the concrete blocks that had been used in the restoration
work. “Go get a couple of those cinder blocks from the back of the
winery,” he ordered the other two. “One for his head and one for his
feet. I'll keep an eye on Joseph, here.”

“Why do we have to go?” Conroy
whined, smacking at a mosquito.

Hall stood over the corpse like he was ready to pick a
fight. “We'll stay with Seph. You go.” He'd been sullen and
uncooperative all the way across the island. Warren hadn't forgotten that Hall
had pulled a knife on him at Christmas when Warren had gotten into it with
McCauley.

Warren sighed and rolled his eyes. “Look, idiots,
he's not going anywhere. We'll all go. We can get something cold to drink
while we're down there.” They dragged Seph's body into the underbrush next
to the cliff face, and headed back toward the winery building.

They returned forty-five minutes later, each carrying
a block. Cutting two lengths of rope, they threaded them through the concrete
and tied them securely. But when they went to retrieve the body, it was gone.
Warren searched the underbrush in all directions, just to make sure.

“D-do you think some kind of animal dragged him
away?” Peter asked. Sweat rolled down his fat face, and he took a puff
from his inhaler.

“How the hell should I know?”Warren said
peevishly. “Do I look like Tarzan?”

“I don't think there's anything that big around
here.” Martin had this earnest look on his face, like they were discussing
some remotely interesting topic. “Coyotes and eagles and ospreys,
maybe.”

For a moment, the only sound was the wind in the trees
and Peter's wheezing. Then Warren said, “Look, not a word about any of
this to Leicester. I'm not catching hell for losing a corpse. The story is, we
threw McCauley in the lake. Understand?”

Hall and Conroy nodded, wide-eyed.

Seph came awake with a start, aware only of someone
hovering over him. He swung out awkwardly with his fist, and his wrist was
captured in a tight grip. “You'll be sorry if you punch me with that
hand,” Jason told him. When Seph relaxed, he released him. “About
time you rejoined the living.”

Seph lay in a muddle of blankets on a dirt floor. At
first he thought he was still in the cellar, since the walls and ceiling of the
room were made of stone. But light trickled in from an unseen source around a
corner, and cool, moist air brushed his face. He sat up.

He was in a cave that had been made over into living
quarters. Cans and boxes of food were stacked against the wall, and a Coleman
stove stood in one corner. Clothing was piled on top of a wooden crate, out of
the dirt. Three large kerosene lamps lined the perimeter. Books and more boxes
were heaped to the rear.

“Nearly as posh as your old room at the
Havens,” Seph said.

Next to him, in contrast with the rest of the mess,
was a neatly rolled bedroll, with a Cincinnati baseball cap on top.

“Good morning, Witch Boy.”

He turned so quickly, he slammed his elbow against the
wall of the cave.

“Madison!”

She was dressed in a man's shirt and blue jeans rolled
at the bottoms. Her hair was caught back in a rubber band, and a red bandana
was knotted at her neck. That was all he had time to see, and then she threw
her arms around him. “Don't you ever scare me like that again, or I'll
have your hide off in little bits,” she said.

“Scare you?” He gripped her shoulders,
holding her out for inspection. “Scare you? You disappeared. What
happened to you? Where've you been?”

“What happened to your hand?” She pulled his
gauze-wrapped hand closer for inspection. “You treat me like I'm
helpless, but you…”

He heard Jason's voice from behind him. “Will you
two stop flirting? You're making me feel like three's a crowd. Not that I don't
approve. If you're going to wash ashore on an island, best to bring a woman
along.”

Maddie gave him the eye. “For…?”

Seph rubbed his elbow. “I'm serious. How did you
and Jason find each other?”

Maddie sat back and wrapped her arms around her knees.
"After you left me in that hiding place, a half dozen witch men started
poking around, so I had to sneak away. I saw them grab you, but there was
nothing I could do against all of them.

Jason sprawled onto a pile of blankets. “I found
your friend here creeping up on the castle after I left you last night. And
wasn't I surprised to find out she could see unnoticeable me. I figured out who
she was, based on Hastings's description. So I invited her to be my guest in
the villa, here.” He rolled his eyes. “It wasn't easy to convince
her. What were you thinking, Seph, taking up with a vampire who sucks magic
from innocent wizards?”

“I don't trouble the innocent,” Madison
drawled. “Keep your magic to yourself and we'll get along.”

“Where are we?” Seph whispered. He felt
stiff and sore all over, and he was all scraped up, as if he'd been dragged
through brambles. “What happened?”

Jason grinned. “The portal stone worked like,
well, like a charm. Just like back in the cove. Cold blooded, really, a father
killing his own son. If I didn't know better, I'd've been crying myself.
Leicester was so pissed. You keep slipping out of his hands, one way and
another. Dying and such. Leicester sent the guys to throw your body in the
lake. I intercepted them.”

Seph looked up, alarmed. “You what?”

“I thought I might have to fish you out of the
water, but they left you alone while they went to get drinks.”

“When Leicester hears about it, he'll know
something's up.”

“Trust me. He won't hear about it. Leicester
ain't that forgiving of screwups.” Jason grinned, stretching out his thin
body. “I don't know why I can't be the kind of hero who gets to live in
the castle. It's always the basement or the cave for me.”

“But where are we?” Seph asked again.

“We're on the north side of the island, in a cave
on the cliff face. Before the Civil War, they hid slaves here who were escaping
to Canada. Then bootleg liquor during Prohibition. Now us. Take a look if you
want.” Jason gestured toward the doorway.

Seph rose shakily to his feet, hobbled to the
entrance, and peered out. The opening looked straight out over the lake, toward
Canada, he supposed. Far below, waves crashed against the rocks. There was a
sheer cliff on either side. It was a dull, gray day, and the air was full of
the smell of rain.

“How'd you get down here?”

“There's sort of a path,” Jason said. He and
Maddie had joined him at the entrance.

“If it's such a historical spot, aren't you
afraid someone else will find it?” Seph asked.

Jason shook his head. “It was described in an old
manuscript at the Great Lakes Museum. I stole it.” He leaned against the
rock face. “Listen. There's a boat coming from Trinity bringing reps to
the conference today. That means it's going back later this afternoon.”

Seph shrugged. “So?”

“We're going to make you unnoticeable and put you
on it, and then you're out of here.”

“Why me?”

“I promised Hastings.”

“What about Maddie?”

“Well.” Jason scratched his head. “We
can't make Maddie unnoticeable. So I don't know how we could sneak her on
board, right in front of the winery.”

Seph looked from Jason to Maddie. “You think I'm
going to go and leave her here? It's my fault she's here in the first
place.”

“I jumped in the raft after you.” Maddie
touched his arm. “I made a choice.”

“Drowning in the lake is one thing. Gregory
Leicester is another. You didn't sign on for that.”

“And you did?” Tendrils of hair had been
ripped free by the wind and were spiraling about her face.

Jason held up both hands. “Seph. In my book, saving
somebody is better than saving nobody. They all think you're dead. Just like
me. Believe me, it's very freeing. You can go wherever you want. No worries
about Leicester and the others hunting you down.”

“No.”

“This could be a massacre. If you leave now, you
can avoid it. Later, you can take your revenge. They won't be expecting it.
They won't know what hit them.”

Seph scowled. “I don't want to take revenge for a
massacre. I want to stop one.”

Jason stared out at the horizon. “Easier said
than done.”

“Couldn't we meet the boat when it arrives and
warn them?” Maddie suggested. “Then we all leave together.”

“What's to keep Leicester from conjuring up
another little storm?” Jason said. “He could bring the boat back
here, or torch it, or send it to the bottom of the lake. Very tidy.”

“Well.” Maddie thought a moment. “Then
let's call them and tell them to stay away.”

“My cell phone doesn't work. I haven't seen any
land lines on the island, not even in the winery.” Jason fumbled in his
pocket for a cigarette, and sent a stream of smoke into the wind. “Tell
you true, I don't know if we can stop him. We have to split him from the alumni
somehow. As long as he's linked up with them, he'll win any contest involving
magic. We'd have to outsmart him.”

“So we outsmart him. I'm not leaving,” Seph
said.

“Hastings is going to be pissed.”

“Then let him.” The man finds out he's my
father and begins ordering me around, Seph thought. He fingered the dyrne
sefa around his neck. “We can at least get Hastings … get my father
out, can't we?”

Jason shook his head. “If we try and bust him
out, they'll know we're here for sure. If they start looking, they'll find
us.”

Maddie removed the elastic from her hair, combed her
hair with her hands, and reapplied it. “You mean to tell me you and Mr.
Hastings showed up here without any kind of a plan?”

Jason stubbed his cigarette out on the wall of the
cave and flicked the butt into a coffee can. “This is the plan, I'm sorry
to say.” He turned to Seph. “Your father made a conscious decision to
come after you. Knowing he was unlikely to make it out alive.”

Seph recalled Hastings's speech in the cellar. It
definitely had elements of deathbed advice. “You mean he's just giving up?”

“I think he sees you as a kind of legacy. So even
if he goes, well …” Jason cleared his throat and looked away. “You
saw that thing they put around his neck. It's called a gefyllan de sefa, created
during the wizard wars as a counter to High Magic.”

“What is it?” Seph asked. “Hastings
said it drains magic.”

“It means heart killer—it disables a
wizard's stone. Once it's on, only the wizard who placed it can take it off. It
will kill a wizard in about five days.”

It does look like a castle, Linda thought, looking up
at the building. The walk from the dock to the winery was lined with
chrysanthemums and asters in containers. Someone had gone to considerable
trouble to make the place attractive, even though it was the end of the season.

Just inside the front door was a massive foyer. A
young wizard stationed at a desk had keys for everyone. He introduced himself
as Martin Hall, explaining that he was the viniculturist for the winery. In
fact, the place was full of polite young wizards: the small, nervous man who
played the grand piano in the foyer, the one who showed her to her room. She
had the feeling Seph would have recognized them all.

She asked Martin Hall if Dr. Leicester had arrived.
After a moment of polite confusion, he said yes, indeed he had. So Leicester
had been there for some time. That might mean Seph was somewhere on the
property. If he was still alive.

But where was Hastings? She'd not heard a word since
he'd left to meet Leicester.

“Could you tell Dr. Leicester I would like to
meet with him this evening, before the conference begins?” She handed
Martin a business card. “He'll know the name.”

Her room was furnished with antiques and
reproductions, a four-poster bed with velvet curtains all around. The window
overlooked the lake, although given the weather and the late hour, she couldn't
see much. But when she opened the window, she could hear the sound of water
breaking on the rocks somewhere far below.

She set up the laptop and spread the papers from her
briefcase over the desk, including the two constitutions that had been put
forward at the council meeting at the Legends: their own and the one introduced
by Leicester and D'Orsay.

Her thoughts spiraled away from the task at hand.
Leicester probably wouldn't make a deal. Why should he? He held all the cards.

There was a tap on the door. It was Martin Hall.
“Dr. Leicester wonders if now would be a convenient time to meet.”

Well. Leicester was certainly eager. “Now is
fine,” Linda said. She picked up her portfolio and followed Martin down
the stairs and into the back hallway. They took a couple of turns and then
Martin ushered her into a walnut-paneled library.

“Dr. Leicester will join you shortly.”
Martin bowed himself out.