covencraft 04 - dry spells (31 page)

“Did you use this rune on me?” he asked.

She blinked. Her expression for a split-second confused and horrified. “No. Of course not.”

“Don’t say it like that. Don’t say it as though it were an impossibility. You practiced demon magic. This rune is one of the things in your grimoire. Hannah told me…” He paused for a moment, not sure he was ready to voice the very thing he’d been thinking of during the drive over. He recalled Hannah’s words and they mixed in with his own memories of when he was young. He’d been sick. A terrible fever. A hospitalization. All he remembered on his own was the sound of adults speaking, of bright lights and cold rooms. Asking for a blanket. Seeing shapes and shadows in his room. His mother’s face, peering over him, her eyes bright. And then she was gone. When she returned, the heavy scent of anise was around her and she packed his bag. She claimed he was ready to go home. His legs felt like green stick branches, soft and prone to splintering. They’d held. He’d gone home. He’d gotten better.

“I remember being sick. I was in hospital and quite ill. You were with me, then you left and when you came back, you packed my things and we went home. You smelled of black licorice.”

Sakkara nearly rolled her eyes. “I hardly raised you from the dead. You were ill and yes, I performed demon magic to cure you. The doctors didn’t have any answers. All those years of study, all our history, and they stand there and tell a mother her child is ill and that we need to wait and see. Wait and see. Would any mother take that advice when she knew she had it in her power to cure her child? Absolutely not.”

“Then what was this rune for? This Resurrection rune.”

“I keep telling you it’s not quite that.”

Paris slammed his fist down on the grimoire, her face going sour and displeased as he did. He bent over the desk, trying to get level with her eyes. “Then tell me what it was for.”

“I can’t.”

He stood upright again. “You won’t.” It was eerily similar to the same discussion they’d had when she’d first sent Jade to the Dearth.

Sakkara tipped her head forward slightly. “I won’t.”

The study was silent except for a low
tick-tick-tick.
An old clock that sat on the edge of the desk. It had always been there, mostly unnoticed by him. He wondered now if he would have to gut the entire room - everything in there reminded him of her and consequently, her duplicity.

“You indicated you’d heard from Jade. Tell me, how is she progressing?”

She asked the question as though Jade were some sort of shared acquaintance. ‘Have you heard from the Smiths? I hear their eldest is in university this year and their youngest takes oboe lessons.’

“She’s trapped in the demon world until she faces the Gorgon, that’s how she is progressing.”

Her lips thinned. “I told you numerous times. It’s dangerous for a Coven Leader too become too attached to any of the witches in the Coven. You cannot play favorites.”

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, turning away from her.

“What ever became of that lovely woman who became a Coven Leader herself. Veronica?”

His hands on his hips, he turned and faced her again. “Veronica had been busy assisting another Coven Leader in casting a memory spell on my entire Coven in a bid to steal your demon grimoires. It appears she wanted to get out of a demon deal she was in herself and thought your grimoires would help. The other Coven Leader, Dex, was a simple megalomaniacal sociopath who wanted more power.”

The bright look on Sakkara’s face faded quickly. “Oh. That’s unfortunate. I thought you two looked rather fetching together. She was lovely.”

“Yes, too bad she ended up lying to me and casting a spell on my entire Coven. She then came clean to Jade only so that Jade would take care of Dex for her,” Paris replied dryly.

“And did Jade?” she asked.

Paris frowned, not sure why she cared to ask. “Yes.”

A smug look came over Sakkara’s face. “You see this is exactly why I believe Jade will do well on this errand. Imagine! A newly found witch facing off against a Coven Leader. She presumably won since she’s still here and the Coven is doing wonderfully.” She shrugged minutely, her slender shoulders moving up and down. “I think you’re coddling her. She could be a great resource to you and the Coven. Don’t mollycoddle her. Some birds need a push out of the nest. As Coven Leader, it’s your job to foster that kind of asset.”

“It is entirely impossible to have a rational and sane conversation you with you.” Paris fought the urge to shout at her. “Do you hear the things coming out of your mouth? You deal with demons. You banish witches to demon worlds on errands for you. I now suspect you’ve worked death magic-“

This time, she did roll her eyes. “I told you, that’s not what that rune was for.”

“And I don’t believe you!” he shouted. His power was just under the surface of his skin - ready to break free. He wanted to lash out at her, he wanted to do
something
, but had no notion of what that could be. “I no longer trust anything you told me, anything you taught me.”

“Don’t be absurd. Everything I taught you is still true. In fact, you can now see the full impact of my lessons. I told you. There are hard decisions to be made when you are Coven Leader. Some decisions may cost people their lives.”

“When? What decisions? I never saw any indications while I was growing up of such things.”

“Exactly!” she shouted, her voice raising as she stood, coming to stand directly in front of him. “Because I made those decisions. I was hoping for the best of both worlds. I trained you to be able to make those ugly, terrible decisions and then I did what I could so that you wouldn’t have to. Every decision I have made has been for the greater good of the Coven and for you.”

Paris shook his head. “So all this is only coming to light now?” he asked incredulously. “I think it far more likely that you made the decisions you wanted to make, consequences be damned.”

The sting of her slap was sharp and sudden across his face. He didn’t recall ever being struck by her before. Her eyes, the same blue shade as his own, were vibrant and cold as he stared at her.

“You know nothing,” she said to him, her voice low and tight. “I protected you, I protected this Coven. That is what a Coven Leader does. And now you stand before me and question my decisions.”

“How can you be surprised by that?”

“I expected more faith and trust from you. I am your Coven Leader. I am your mother.”

“You are a liar.”

Her lips pursed. “Yes, I am. But I’ve lied to keep you safe.”

“What does that mean? How?”

She turned away from him. “I cannot say.”

She was continually relying upon those words. “You will not.”

Sakkara shook her head. “No. This time I cannot.”

Silence hung in the air like a damp, warm fog - heavy and constricting. Paris still heard the ticking of the small Swiss clock from his desk. Would he be able to sit there again? Or would his mind always be drawn to his mother’s betrayal? He turned and left the room, not looking back. He thought perhaps she would follow him, but he made it to the front door, and then down the steps, and then to his car, all without her presence.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Seth pulled the car to a stop in front of a large stone building. He turned to the side, looking past her, drumming his thumb on the steering wheel.

“What’s this? Is this more Customs?”

“I almost wish. Welcome to Medusa’s home.”

Jade turned away from him and stared out the window. The building looked more like a fortress than a house. Drab dark grey stone that seemed quite serviceable and formidable, but lacked any kind of beauty or form. The entire thing was short, and squat. Maybe three stories at most. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t impressive. It gave off a vibe of f
uck off and go away
, and Jade could respect that in a building. This was not a place that would need a No Soliciting sign or a Beware of Dog placard. A person who rang the bell of this joint should know what they were getting into just by the way the place loomed in the small space. While she could only see the front of the building, it appeared very geometric and particular. Someone had clearly used their carpenter square at every corner, and Jade would bet her lipstick collection they were all exactly ninetydegrees.

“To be honest, I kind of thought it would be more Greek,” Jade said suddenly.

Seth barked in laughter. “Did you expect Santorini blue waves with pristine whitewashed adobes, all charmingly nestled against a rock cliff?”

Jade shrugged. “I dunno. I just thought it would be…” Jade frowned. “Can’t she live any place she wants?” She turned to Seth. “She’s powerful, isn’t she? I mean, I assume she must be if she can turn people to stone.”

“Yes. She’s powerful,” Seth agreed.

“Then why does she live in a place like this?”

“Why indeed?” Seth repeated. “Come, Possum. Let’s get you to the Gorgon on time.” Seth got out of the driver’s side and when Jade hesitated, he came over and yanked her door open. “I’m not any happier about this than you are, but unless we get these runes off our backs, we’re stuck here. So pitter patter. I long to hear the sound of mortal feet racing up those cobble stones.”

Jade pushed herself out of the car, the vinyl giving a squelching sound as she did. Seth slammed her door shut after she got out and she winced at the sound. It was probably her death knell. The cobble-stone steps leading to the intimidating front door were a drab dismal grey that matched the fortress, but they were so used, so heavily trod upon they were almost polished like glass. Had Jade not been wearing runners, she’d be fighting for her balance on the smooth surface. Seth’s tail drooped behind him, barely swaying with his swagger as he reached the door. There was a large brass box bolted to the front. The lid gave an awful groaning sound as Seth lifted it and pulled out a long strip of black fabric. He made a move toward Jade, like he would strangle her with it and she jerked back.

“Hey!”

“If you’re ready to face Medusa now, Possum, be my guest. But if you want more time…” He waggled the fabric back and forth.

It was a blindfold.

She swallowed. If he covered her eyes, how would she protect herself? How would she know something was there? How would she be able to see an escape route? How would she know what she should be afraid of if she couldn’t see it coming?

But she didn’t feel ready to face the Gorgon either. Seth had been trying to teach her something this whole trip. He’d been trying, in his own creepy way, since he met her to help her. But whatever it was, she hadn’t gotten it yet. She hadn’t got that grand
ah-ha
feeling that flooded her gut when she figured out whatever it was that Seth wanted her to know. She stared at the black fabric, then at Seth. Something in his face made her pause. He had an almost gleeful expression on. Almost. But there was something else.

He was nervous about seeing Medusa as well. His ex. Whatever that meant to him.

Jade nodded and then turned around, giving Seth her back. He reached over her head and placed the black fabric over her eyes. Her heart started to pound as her vision went dark. She could see the tips of her toes between the fabric and the skin of her cheek. She could feel Seth tying a knot. A bow maybe? She couldn’t tell. He yanked it tight and it caught on some of her ponytail, ripping out some stray hairs. He situated it and it felt like it was bracketing her ponytail - have above, half below, so it wouldn’t slip either way.

Seth rested his hands on her shoulders and she fought the urge to curl inward, like one of those shy plants you saw on National Geographic that folded in on itself when touched.

“Now don’t get any ideas. This is my ex-girlfriend and she’s the jealous type.”

Jade wrinkled her nose and thought she might taste something bad in her mouth. Thinking of being with Seth, ew. He was manipulative, teasing, cloying and just, blergh. Plus, now that she’d seen his tail and ears, she didn’t think she’d ever forget them. They’d always be there, lingering in the after-space.

He stepped away from her and she was unmoored, tether-less. She immediately jutted out one of her hands and it jammed hard into the stone door. One of her already short nails split further. Seth laughed.

Jade heard a doorbell. Or a sound she guessed was a doorbell. It was low and sonorous and her teeth rattled. There was a long silence, maybe thirty seconds and then Jade heard the sound of stone scraping against stone. She felt rather than heard Seth stiffen slightly beside her. Her ears strained. She thought if she moved her head, she might be able to see the bottom of the doorway. Would the Gorgon answer her own door? Maybe it was just a hand-servant or a butler. The Gorgon’s Butler. There’s a book Jade would read.

What if she caught sight of the Gorgon’s feet? Would that be enough to turn her to stone? The urge to look, to
know
, battled awfully with self-preservation. She was like a child who’d been told not to open a cupboard and now felt she simply must know what was in there! Would she really turn to stone? What would that feel like? Would she turn to stone only on the outside, or on the inside too? If her brain turned to stone, did that mean it stopped thinking? Could thoughts travel through stone?

And what kind of stone would she be? Marble? Concrete? River rock? Shale? Goddamn, she’d wasted this entire road trip not asking Seth these questions. She’d been too afraid of him snapping at her, too afraid she’d say something to set him off and she’d find herself missing a leg and waiting to return to the mortal world to bleed out. Now here she was, about to meet Medusa, and she didn’t even know what kind of stone future she was facing. If someone knocked her over while she was stone, and she broke, could she be reassembled? Did anyone ever get un-turned from stone? How was it possible to turn to stone at the sight of someone, something? Jade felt like her finger was hovering over a magical button. The button was labeled, “PUSH TO SEE IF HUMAN CAN TURN TO STONE.”