Wicked (The Drake Chronicles Book 1) (7 page)

But something in the pit of her stomach told her that it would be a while before that actually happened. She knew Ethan, and sometimes he held grudges.

Emma swayed her thoughts away from it all and focused her attention on reading an old scroll with the markings of symbols and two long paragraphs that looked to be in German.

She didn’t know German, neither did Ethan. They’d seen it plenty in the books in Mason’s library, but neither ever took the time to learn the language.

Emma noticed Logan as he walked into the room and smiled at him. She was glad that he was okay… for now. When someone looked into a hellhound’s eyes, they could never tell exactly
when
your death would occur. You just saw it happen.

That scared Emma the most.

The library was elaborately decorated with small gargoyles that were perched on top of the bookshelves, staring downward with eyes that seemed alive.

The shelves reached the top of the skylight ceiling, filled with various amounts of books, but none appeared as old as Mason’s.

It was a small room from the outside, but once inside it felt gigantic. Even though she hadn’t been gone long, it made Emma miss her house tremendously.

              Bennett was sitting in an enclosed desk area that was shielded by bullet and magic proof glass. Symbols had been carved into the glass, glowing once in a while. He told Emma that it was important that his desk be protected, for it contained important documents that no one could ever get their hands on.

She attempted calling out to him but his full attention was on a large book and he could not hear her from within the dome. So she tried her best to do everything on her own.

Even though Bennett had told her that her bloodline was well known, she couldn’t find much about it in the books he’d taken down for her. But the scroll that lay before her oddly had her last name at the bottom left corner.

Logan took a seat at the long table in the middle of the room and leaned over, staring at the scroll.

              “What do you have there?” Logan asked. Emma looked up again and into his eyes, she felt at ease when she looked into them. As if they were somehow connected.

              She cleared her throat and quickly focused herself.

              “A scroll, which is in German, I think. It has my last name on it but I don’t understand it,” Emma explained.

              “Well I happen to know German,” Logan said as Emma handed the scroll over to him. He unrolled it and read it to himself, his eyebrows rising at parts. Something was wrong.

Emma waited until he was done and then watched as he rolled it back up and sat it down on the table. He waited for a moment before he looked at Emma and spoke.

              “That scroll is about one of the darkest warlock’s from our world. He died many years ago… but it says that his grandchildren would bring devastation to our world… Emma, this scroll is about your grandfather.”

              Emma’s chair screeched as she pushed herself back and stood, her hands beginning to tremble. She combed her hair behind her ears, nervously, grabbed the scroll, and threw it across the room.

Logan arose from his chair and hurried around the table to Emma. She felt tears sting her eyes and wanted so badly to scream. Logan took her into his arms, his warmth seizing the fury boiling inside of her.

She leaned against him, her chin resting on his shoulder. She thought about the scroll and her grandfather. He predicted destruction, destruction brought on by Ethan and her.

She wanted desperately to forget everything, but she felt Logan’s arms tightening around her like a security blanket and it somehow brought her peace.

I need to be strong
, she thought. She was supposed to be strong for her and her brother. She’d always told herself this.

              “Everything is going to be okay, Emma. We will help you,” Logan assured her.

              “I think I need some sleep,” Emma said, pulling herself out of Logan’s arms and leaning on the table.

              “I’ll tell my father that you were tired and went to rest, he’ll understand. Come on, I’ll show you to a guest room, I don’t think an uncomfortable loveseat is what you need right now.” He took her by her hand and walked her out of the room.

She looked down at their hands, entwined. He was helping her, and she would feel awful if she kept his death to herself. She decided that she was going to tell him, not tonight, but soon.

4

Adam pulled Katherine’s grimoire out from the backpack and sat it on the coffee table along with the other books they had brought with them. He took in a quick breath when he saw the name on the first page
.

He turned to Ethan who was reading through Mason’s grimoire for the third time. He couldn’t find anything that would help them. Even a cloaking spell wasn’t present in Mason’s wretched handwriting.

Adam snapped his fingers to get Ethan’s attention and then pointed to the grimoire, the side latch glistening from the light from the fireplace.

              “What is it?” Ethan asked.

              “That is a Drake’s grimoire,” Adam said. Ethan got up from the chair, sat Mason’s grimoire down and headed over to Adam.

He sat down next to him, their bodies so close that their shoulders touched. 

              “Be quiet, I don’t want Bennett finding out that I have it. It’s my aunt Katherine’s. But what is the big deal about it anyway?” Ethan turned to him. Shadows played on Adam’s face from the firelight and Ethan stared into his eyes.

They were utterly enticing.

              “The grimoire doesn’t really belong to Katherine Drake. The binding is too old and the handwriting looks familiar to Grayson Drake. He wrote a bunch of magic handbooks long ago. Do you know who he is?” Adam stared at Ethan. He thought hard but he had never heard of him before.

              “He was your grandfather,” Logan’s voice startled both Adam and Ethan.

Ethan stood up from the loveseat and focused on Logan. Emma was beside him, her eyes on her brother, but he couldn’t look at her. Not now, at least.

              “
What?
” Ethan asked. Shock stung him.

              “He was planning on you and Emma to bring on a reckoning; it was on a scroll in the library. Why were you guys talking about him anyway?” Logan crossed his arms, glaring at Adam.

Ethan gave a slight kick at Adam’s ankle, signaling for him to keep quiet. He hadn’t even got to look at the grimoire and there was no way Bennett was going to get a hold of it.

              “I was telling Ethan about him; he’s famous, you know.” Adam stood up and glowered at Logan. You could tell that they couldn’t stand each other.

Logan sucked in his cheeks and his face flushed red.

              “I know who he is, dickhead,” Logan snapped.

              “Oh please, your ignorance is hilarious. You haven’t been to Elsmere in years; you’re stuck here just like your father. So don’t pretend that you know anything when you barely even knew how to kill a damn hellhound,” Adam retorted.

              Logan’s hand flew out and sent Adam across the room, crashing into a large grandfather clock. Ethan ran over to where Adam lay and turned back to Logan.

              “What the hell is wrong with you?” Ethan snapped. But before Logan could reply, Adam rose from the ground, covered in glass with a large gash in the middle of his chest. Ethan could see through the shirt and saw that it was deep.

Chills ran down his spine. Adam held his right hand up, his fist closing in as if he were crushing up a piece of paper. Logan snatched his throat with both hands and fell to his knees, the whites of his eyes turning blood red.

The look on Adam’s face was chilling and dark.  His brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he tightened his fist.

Enraged and fed up, Emma stared down at the broken glass behind Adam and compelled the glass to rise from the ground.

Everything went quiet and all she could hear was the steady beat of her heart. A cool sensation rushed through her veins and it felt disturbingly enjoyable. This wasn’t right. None of this felt right.

Ethan saw what she was doing. Swiftly he averted the glass away from Adam. Emma’s mouth fell open in disbelief as the sensation vanished and she realized exactly what she was doing.

The glass shot into the air and landed like daggers in the loveseat that sat in front of the fireplace. Emma stopped her spell and looked to Ethan.

              “Don’t ever screw with me again,” Adam released Logan from his power. Logan grabbed onto a chair, using it as a crutch as he slowly lifted himself from the ground.

              “Get out of my house,” Logan growled, holding his throat.

              “Gladly, after I clean myself up, of course,” Adam sneered and Logan turned away, Emma holding him by his back.

She turned her head and looked at her brother. He was staring at her as if she had tried to kill
him
. Guilt washed over her as she opened her mouth to say something.

              “Don’t,” Ethan snapped. Emma’s eyes welled up with tears and she shook her head. She hadn’t meant to hurt Adam, but her power had seemed to take on a mind of its own.

Could that have been a fraction of her dark blood? If it had been, she never wanted to experience that feeling again. It was enthralling but felt wrong in so many ways.

              “I didn’t mean to-”

              “I said
don’t
. You could have killed him, Emma. What the hell is wrong with you?” Ethan yelled across the room.

Logan spun around.

              “Don’t talk to your sister like that.”

              “Shut the hell up, this is none of your damn business.”

              “
Stop this foolishness!
”

They all turned to find Bennett standing in the archway of the living room. The firelight on his face gave him a devilish glow.

              “I’m ready to go,” Ethan said, tearing his eyes from his sister.

              “I will see you off in a bit. Adam, if you ever disrespect my house again I will report you to the council and have your powers stripped, do you understand?”

              “Yes. I understand,” Adam said, his jaw fixed and his eyes directed to the ground.

              “Good. Now go clean yourself up and I will see you both in my office. Logan, please take Emma up to a room, she looks tired,” Bennett commanded as he set his eyes on Ethan.