Wicked Fate (The Wicked Trilogy) (30 page)

I look back at Thaddeus and he looks
different to me. Confident, smooth, an
d in control Thaddeus now looks
sad, depressed, and completely out of control.

“Does this have something to do with you be
ing stuck in this room?” I ask
.

“It was a part of my punishment.
After word got ‘round that I’
d killed my brother
,
some of the others like us came. They assumed that all my oth
er indiscretions and the murder
of my brother were all linked somehow. They thought that I was some crazy
,
magic man gone
bad
. I tried to explain to them a
bout the plots and Robert and I
testin
’
our powers. I even told them about the horse and the stable. I never revealed anything about the life spell. They didn’t
believe any of it. Standing guard over these books
,
in this very library, is
the worst punishment I could’
ve ever
received. It’s worse than
bein
’
hanged to death.”

My stomach turns at the thought of Thaddeus hanging. So that’s how he
died. He was hanged for th
e murder of his brother. I feel tears roll down my cheeks—tears for Thaddeus and for Robert; t
ears for the whole McPherson fa
mily. No matter how hard I try to stop crying, I can’t.

I don’t stand a chance, it’s in our blood. I’d
read all the j
ournals and they all
end badly. There
were
happy times, but in every journal there’
s some kind of catastrophe.  My journals
will
hold the same
kind of catastrophe if I don’t
find out how to stop it.

“So, how do you know who’
s allowed to touch the books and who isn’t?”

“I ju
st know. I don’t know how—I
just know. Like you
,
for instance, I’ve always known you were the nex
t one in line. You started
doin
’ things way earlier than
the o
thers—I had my suspicions. T
hen one day you said hello to me and that confirmed it.”

“Why were your
s
the last ones on the book s
helf? They go in
order from the oldest to t
he newest. My mother’s should’
ve been the last set on the shelf.”

Suddenly
, I realize
that my mother’s
journals aren’t
on
the shelf.
How could I have missed that?

All this time, I’ve been
looking for answers and I couldn’t wait to get to mother’s journals. I was so into the jou
rnals that I was reading that I completely forgot
why I began reading them in the first place.

Thaddeus answers
my
earlier question as my mind goes into overdrive.

“I put them there. I was
tryin
’
to
delay the inevitable,” he says.

His face is apologetic.

“Thaddeus?”

“Yes?”

“Why aren’t my mother’s journals on that shelf?”

“Why
would they be?”

“A
s
far as I can tell
, every McPherson who’s
had any kind of magical capabilities has
a journal on that shelf
. Why not my mother? I need her j
ournals.
I have so many questions
that still need to be answered.
”

“You’re a McPherson with magic hands and your journals aren’t on that shelf.”

“Yes
,
I realize that, but
I’m
still alive!”

“Yeah…s
o is your mother.”

Chapter
22

The Return

I don’t know how long I’ve been running
through the house and gardens screaming f
or my grandparents. Time doesn’t exist to me anymore.  I can’t take another shock, I can’t!

Why would they lie to me about my mother’s death?
Are they lying to protect me? I’m
ti
red of being protected. I want it all out in the open so I can
face it
and move on with my life, a normal life with Adam. I want
all of this to go
away.  It’s sometimes fun to have these abilities, but I want it all to
go away.

I finally find my grandparents
together in the living room, the original pla
ce I started the search. I stand there staring back at them, my anger’s apparent. I want
them to tell me the truth for once! I unders
tand the protection, but they’re gone now and I have
to
protect myself. I can’t do that unless I know everything. I’m
going to find out everything right now!

“What’s w
rong, dear?” my grandmother asks
with genuine concern on her face.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what
, sweetie,
” my grandfather
speaks
up.

“About my mother, when we
re you going to tell me she isn
’t dead?”

My grandmother
releases
my g
randfather’s hand and slowly sits
down on the couch as if she’s going to faint. She’s just as shocked as I am. I look back to my grandfather, he looks confused. How can they not know their daughter’s still alive
?

“Mage
, your momma
died twelve years a
go,” my grandfather says
calmly
.

He’s talking to me as if he’s trying to tame a rabid dog.

“No
, she didn’t. She’
s still alive and I’m going to find her. I need you to tell me everyt
hing! Please, no more
protect
ing
me! I have to protect myself now and in order to do that I need to know everything.”

I explain the events in the library. I explain how I know she’s still alive. My grandparents tell me everything they know, which is the same stuff they’ve been telling me for years.

The only difference is this time they tell
me th
e name of the institution she wa
s in and where
it is. It’s a place called Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and it’
s located in
West Trenton, New Jersey. They say that she lost her mind and
actually had herself admitted. She told them that it was to protect everyone
, including herself. I understand
that more than
my grandparents could possibly
know.

This also means that I’m not completely alone in the
world,
I still have some family that’s alive. My mother’s
in hiding for some reason and I’m determined
to ta
ke care of whatever it is keeping her there.
I’m going to bring her home and it will
be me and my mother living together. I could possibly have a normal life, my kind of normal
,
at least.

If I find her and bring her home, I won’
t have to worry about someone coming along and taking me away to some lonely kid ho
me. I’m excited to finally meet my mother and know
everything!

I’m going to this psychiatric hospital and I want Adam to go with me. I’ll
need
him more than ever once I face
m
y mother.  When this is all said and done with I’ll
make it up to him
somehow. Poor Adam has
been put through the ringer in the last
couple of months and he doesn’t deserve all of this
.

Instead of
rush
ing to Adam’s house, I walk slowly and enjoy having a light chest
.
It feels like months since I haven’t had tons of weight on my chest and shoulders, the stress is slowly beginning to go away.

It’s almost dark out, but I feel safe with Sire with me. He’
s
such a great dog, he never leaves my side. It’
s going to be a beautiful spring this yea
r—I can smell the flowers in the air.
Other t
han the horrible pollen that’s
taken over all of Sum
merville, it’
s beautiful.

I’m
s
till on my land, and pride wells inside of me as I take
note of every beautiful flower or gorgeous old tree. Robert McPherson couldn’t have picked a better place to make a
home.
I
’m lost in happy thoughts when I hear
Sire’s loud growl.

Snapped out of my daze, I see right away who it is Sire is growling at. Eris is standing in my path. I’m not surprised—I’ve known for a while that she would return. My nightmares were my confirmation.

I stop walking as I match
her sta
re. No more being afraid. I’m
going to stand my ground no matter what. If it
’s a fight she wants then she’s getting
one. If this
mystery man named Craven wants to fight, then I’
l
l be ready for him too. I’m
so tired of living my life in fear.
Bring it you old fart!

“Long time, no see,” I narrow my eyes
.

“Too long, I think, but I have
to play by the r
ules
.”

“So
, what do you want now?” I ask
in a bored tone.

“Just checking in on y
our progress, I
wanted to see if you were ready yet.”

“Ready for what?”

“For
Craven, he sent me,” her face i
s expressionless.

Her usual malevolent joking is gone. I find myself wondering who she is and how she’
s connected to me or t
his man named Craven. We continue to stare at each other, neither of us speaking. She’
s thinkin
g hard about something, I can
almost hear her frustrated thoughts.

“How do I p
rovoke you this time?” she taps her chin like she’s thinking.

A small smirk appears
on her face.

This
is the Eris I met before. Great, here we go!

Something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, i
t’
s my gr
andparents. Good, I’ll need all the support I can get. Not that they can
do very much, but
with them there watching I’ll try harder to live. I switch
my eyes from Eris to my grandpar
ents for a brief second. She does the same and I know now that she can see spirits too—not good.  She’s realizing
the same about me because suddenly a huge smile spread
s
across her face.

“I take it
you’re the infa
mous Thomas McPherson?” she says while she stares straight
into my eyes. “It’s nice to meet you. You may not want to stick around for thi
s part of the show,” she smiles
her wicked gut wrenching smile.

“Please
,
whoever you are
, just leave her alone,” I don’t
loo
k at my grandmother as she speaks
.

“Ah, how
sweet!
It makes my st
omach turn a bit,” she pretends to gag. “So, I see little Mage has the eye.”

It’s an observation—not a
ques
tion. The smirk on her face grows when she realizes I’m not going to respond.  She mak
e
s
a clicking noise with her tongue.

“That’s not good. We can’t have you getting help from others
,
now
,
can we? Although, I’m not sure how they can do much to help you,” she shrugs her shoulders as if she doesn’t
care. “Tell them goodbye
,
Mage.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!
” I finally explode
.