Legacy Of Magick (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 1) (11 page)

I was relieved that he took the whole magickal librarian-historian thing seriously. Early American history was precious. If it wasn’t for the personal magickal information the family said the books held, I’d have argued that those journals belonged in a museum.

Bran took a deep breath and looked down at his feet. “I apologize if I frightened you or made you feel unwelcome in my home… our home.” He quickly corrected himself.

Three guesses as to who had made him come and apologize.

“Why did you?” I asked him flat out.

“I’m not ready to talk about it, yet.” He admitted. He looked at his mother. “I’ll work on it, okay?”

“Okay.” I answered with suspicion, and wasn’t sure if he was addressing his mother or me.

“But don’t barge into my room whenever you feel like it,” Bran said. Then he added with a frown as he saw Merlin sitting in the closet doorway, “And keep that rotten cat out of here, too.” He added to his sisters.

He’s just a prince, isn’t he?
I thought to myself. Maybe if I rapped his head against the wall... maybe that would have some effect on his attitude. “I’ll knock before entering.” I conceded.

Bran looked unimpressed.

“Tell you what, how about if I let Gwen know if I am taking a journal out of the super-secret hidey hole?” I suggested.

“I guess that will be okay. But hands off my suits!” Bran snagged Ivy by the back of her shirt and tugged her away from the line of neatly hung clothes. Then he backed towards the racks of all of his various items of conservative clothing, his arms protectively wide as if to block us.

As if I’d be interested in his—wait a minute. Was that a motorcycle jacket hanging in the corner? A fabulous, vintage, leather motorcycle jacket? What in the world was that doing in a closet full of conservativeness?

Bran noticed my eyeballing the jacket “And if you even think about touching my leather jackets, I’ll take you out personal.”

Gwen frowned at her son. “Bran, that’s not quite what I meant when I told you to be more loving and welcoming to Autumn. We are a family.”

“Yeah well, family love and all that…” Bran said. “But touch my leather jackets and die.” His eyes narrowed as she looked at his sisters and me.

Gwen leveled a look at her son, and Bran hunched his shoulders a bit in reaction to his mother’s expression.

“Sorry,” he cleared his throat and then said. “Now will you all please get out of my closet?”

We all began to file out, Gwen holding the journal, and me with the packages of gloves. Holly followed her. Ivy, of course, had to go back and run her hands over Bran’s display of designer ties and make yummy sounds behind her mother’s back. I reached in, grabbed Ivy by her arm, and hauled her out before Bran could retaliate.

Bran followed us out and shut the closet door behind him. I looked curiously around at Bran’s room. I noted a big desk and fancy computer, and what else? More shelves for books. “I don’t think I have been in your room more than once, unless it was to hand you your laundry.” I commented.

“Yeah? Well let’s not get too cozy in here. I like my privacy.”

“Jeez, you really are a jerk.”

“Bet your ass.” He shot back.

I had to laugh at that. Aunt Gwen, Holly and Ivy were deep in discussion over the old journal, and I walked over to check out the top of Bran’s dresser. My cousin had it set up like an altar. I looked, but did not touch the magickal tools.

Besides I had already taken an uninvited stroll through Bran’s head today… I didn’t want to be too pushy. On the top of the dresser were a couple of taper candles in ornate, old fashioned, silver candlesticks, and a wand made out of copper and topped with an amethyst point. There was an incense burner shaped like a mini cauldron and a wooden disc with a pentacle, the upright five-pointed star, burnt into it. All around the edge of the pentacle, ivy and holly leaves were added to the design. I had seen similar, simpler wooden pentacles for sale in the shop, but this seemed unique.

“Is this custom made?” I asked Bran. “I haven’t seen this design at the shop before.”

“It is,” he agreed. “It was a gift for my birthday, from a friend.” Bran took a breath and looked over at his mother and sisters who were deep in discussion. “Look,” he said softly, trying to keep our conversation private. “I really don’t want to make you angry and I don’t know Duncan Quinn very well. He might be as nice as you say, but do yourself a favor. Be careful. And stay away from his family.”

“I met his cousin, Julian. He seemed like a snob.” I agreed.

“He’s worse than that. A friend of mine dated Julian a few years ago… Women tend to find him attractive, but he has a bad reputation.”

“How do you mean?” I asked.

Bran took a hold of my elbow and steered me even farther away from his sisters. “What do you think I mean? My friend told me that she had to fight him off when he didn’t want to take ‘no’ as an answer.”

I cringed a little. “Oh god. Was she okay?”

“Yes, but she ended up having to walk a couple of miles alone, in the dark, to get home that night. When she got there, she found her purse tossed at the bottom of the driveway and cell phone smashed.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I said.

Bran asked me how I had met Duncan this morning and, as we sat on the leather sofa, I briefly told Bran about running into Duncan, and how he had walked me home. Bran also asked me to tell him what I had noticed when Duncan came into our store, so I filled him in on that too. I did
not
however tell Bran about the comment Duncan Quinn had made on magick and families while we were up at the pool.

Did you think yours was the only family in town with a legacy of magick?
That sounded vaguely threatening now and I needed to think carefully about what he had said.

I think Bran and I realized we were actually sitting together and talking, almost pleasantly, at about the same time, as an awkward silence suddenly fell between us. I stood up and made an excuse about needing to go take a shower after swimming.

Merlin took that moment to strut across Bran’s bedroom floor with a silk necktie dangling from his mouth like a trophy. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and choked back a laugh.

Determined to let Bran know he was not intimidated, Merlin slinked up to next him and sat, just waiting for Bran to react to him and his ‘prize’. He did not notice the cat’s presence at first. Then Merlin deliberately leaned into him. Bran looked down, feeling the brush of the cat against his leg, and then swore.

Like a sailor on shore leave. Wow. Who knew he even had that kind of vocabulary?

Bran dove after the cat swearing about him ruining his expensive tie. Merlin streaked out of the room fully expecting, and apparently delighted, that Bran was going to chase him.

It sounded like a war with Bran pounding down the stairs and shouting after the cat. Holly shoved the journal at Ivy and then raced after them trying to help. Ivy dropped down on Bran’s bed and laughed. I heard the unmistakable sound of a lamp getting knocked over and I had a flash of the little celestial blue lamp on the table on the second floor landing. I cringed and looked down the hallway to confirm my suspicions.

“The little blue lamp is down,” I said. “I don’t think he broke it, though.”

“We will talk later about ethical behavior, you and I,” Gwen told me seriously.

Yeah, I supposed my maneuver of looking uninvited through Bran’s memories was going to earn me a lecture. That’s okay; I had a few things I wanted to know more about anyway. Like energy balls, what other sorts of talents my father possessed, and whether or not I had inherited any of them

Then as the sounds of running and yelling increased in volume, Aunt Gwen rolled her eyes to the ceiling and gave up. “I think we can safely say this family meeting is adjourned.”

***    

Over the next few days I read through Eliza’s journal. It was interesting from a historical point of view and there were little spells and charms that I supposed were important in Colonial life, but not too useful today. A charm for making sure the cows gave plenty of milk, a spell that ensured a bountiful vegetable garden, a few herbal remedies for reducing fevers and treating gout, whatever the hell gout was.

Eliza mentioned briefly in her journal her concerns for her sister, Patience, and that she was concerned about James Drake’s ‘dalliance’ with her sister. I actually went and looked up that word making sure I understood the meaning. To my amusement, I discovered it was what folks would call a fling, or a hook up, today. But most of Eliza’s focus had been on her marriage to a farmer named Zeke, her children, her Craft, and their daily lives. But so far the journal had told me very little about the supposed magickal feud.

I had my first classes at the University, and my new schedule gave me Tuesdays and Thursdays off. That allowed me plenty of time to work on my museum education and museum studies intro classes. As well as a chance to study up on the legacy of magick that I was becoming a part of. Spell books were off limits to me for the time being, Gwen had told me. However, I could review books on the basics or theory of magick.

Aunt Gwen did indeed have a talk with me about using psychic abilities on your own family members the morning after the show down in the turret. I also got another speech on the dangers of using psychic abilities and magick in an intrusive or manipulative way. I shut my mouth and figured finding out that information had been worth the cost of a lecture.

In turn I asked her for more information about the wards at the shop and the house, and inquired why they were even necessary in the first place. Apparently, it was like a psychic and magickal alarm system. If something tried to cross the wards or breech the defenses, the wards would give the occupants, or the Witch of the house, a bit of a psychic nudge in warning. Wards were used for deflecting negativity, making it harder for an intruder to physically break in; they also banished evil and kept out other magickal beasties.

As to my aunt’s warning to stay away from Duncan Quinn, I decided to wait and see for myself about Duncan and his family.

On Friday, I juggled a stack of heavy books, my purse, and my laptop while on my way to class. A kicky breeze blew my long hair all to hell and back. I blew at the strands in my face and kept moving. I had exactly fifteen minutes to get to my Museum Education class, which was being held at a local history museum. I was excited and raring to go, not only at the idea of having my class inside of the museum, but at the opportunity to learn more about the history of the area.

I went straight to the information desk and asked for directions to the museum’s board room. I felt a little thrill when I was issued a security card and a museum ID badge. The receptionist informed me that I would have to sign in and out and passed me a clip board. I clipped my ID to the neck of my royal blue shirt, smoothed my hair back, scooped up my books again, and headed quickly for the board room.

I went around the corner and smacked solidly into someone. “Oof!” I managed to save my laptop, after a hell of a juggle, but the books hit the floor and made a horrible racket. I had a split second to silently curse my own klutziness and another to identify the person I’d smacked into as male.

“I apologize. Are you alright?” The man said.

“Sorry.” I raised my eyes to discover Julian Drake, and my stomach flipped in response. Julian was indeed the classic tall, dark, and handsome type, but it wasn’t physical attraction that had my stomach doing backflips, it was anxiety. I took an automatic step back, recalling what Bran had told me about him.

“Well, hello again.” He smiled at me, and gallantly bent down and gathered up my books. “Here you go.” He held them out.

“Thank you.” I said politely and attempted to stack them on top of my laptop case. The books began to slide immediately.

“On second thought...” He reached over and neatly took the books back. “Let me help you.”

“That’s okay.” I tried to politely decline.

“You’re headed to the board room, right?” Julian asked.

“Yes, I am.” I studied him. He stood there acting perfectly courteous, in a fancy dark suit, and somehow I felt a little embarrassed for feeling nervous of him.

He made an ‘after you’ gesture and I decided to let him carry the books and get it over with. I hustled to the board room and saw about a dozen other people gathering around a large conference table. I went straight to the first open chair and set my laptop and purse down.

Julian set the books on the table for me. “The Education Director of the museum teaches this class doesn’t she?”

I wondered how he’d known that.

“She’s a friend of mine. Let me introduce you.”

“Oh that’s okay, you don’t have to.” I said as Julian put his hand at the small of my back and I found myself guided along to meet the director.

Julian made the introductions smoothly, and I was uncomfortably aware that his hand stayed against my back the entire time. In contrast to his behavior in the flower shop, Julian was suave and acted the perfect gentleman, which made me wonder what he was up to. Introductions complete, I went straight back to the conference table and sat down. His hand at my back had made me twitchy, and not in a good way. I let out a quiet sigh of relief until I saw him coming my way again.

“Autumn.” Julian laid a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I tried for a calm neutral expression as I looked back at him from over my shoulder. “Thanks for your help.” I said quietly. Hoping he would take the hint and leave.

“My pleasure.” His lips curved up a little, and with a casual wave he let himself out of the board room.

“Wow.” A young blonde woman next to me whistled out a quiet breath. “Is that your boyfriend?” She swiveled in her chair and watched Julian walk away.

‘No. He’s an... acquaintance.” I finally decided to call him.

“He’s seriously gorgeous.” She said under her breath, and then focused on me. “Hi, I’m Emily.”

“Nice to meet you.” I said automatically, and then shifted my attention to the director who began to speak to the class.