It took Isabella a few seconds. “She doesn’t understand you’re in control yet,” she said in the most defeated tone.
I had to end this. But my opportunity magic had become quiet, almost as if it had shut down. Almost as if it had ended, because I no longer had any opportunities. Even the faint feel of that hand on my shoulder was gone.
“Just leave her alone,” Hayden tried.
Jeopardy didn’t look at him.
Isabella did.
I could tell that the only thing she wanted in the world was to keep Hayden safe – but at the same time, she had no chance.
So all I had to do was give her a chance, right?
“I’m going to teach you who’s in control,” Jeopardy said.
I looked right at him, right through his eyes, and I saw what I knew would be there. Nothing but a twisted man. A man who matched his name perfectly – a man who lived to put other people in jeopardy, because he lived to show the world that he was always in control.
“What happens when you’re not in control?” I suddenly asked.
Jeopardy laughed. “I find a way to become in control once more.”
“You’re not in control at the moment, Jeopardy. You don’t know what Internal Affairs are planning, and reading between the lines, your attack on the police station didn’t go according to plan, and considering Internal Affairs already took half your gang away a week ago, you’re weaker than you’ve ever been before. You call that being in control, Jeopardy?”
He pressed his lips together, anger flaring in his eyes. “They’re momentary setbacks—”
“I’m afraid it’s a trend. You’ve managed to control everyone around you with fear your entire life. But what happens when they get over your fear?” I switched my gaze and looked straight at Isabella.
Jeopardy tilted his head and followed where I was looking. He snorted. “She knows her place.”
“No, she doesn’t. Not anymore. You’ve been controlling her through fear. But she’s an emotion reader, and she can find her own truth. So, Isabella, tell me if I’m telling the truth. You can find a way out of your father’s fear, and you can change this situation. You can escape, and you can save everybody. Now, am I lying?”
Isabella straightened, her cheeks paling. Her hands were still locked in the handcuffs.
Jeopardy’s face descended with anger. “Isabella, answer her. Tell her I am in complete control.”
Isabella wavered. “You’re in—”
“You can’t hide from the truth. Nor can you hide from a finder,” I said to Isabella. “There’s an opportunity here for you, Isabella. And there won’t be another one. If you want to finally escape from your father’s fear, do it now. Save us all.”
Maybe there was something in my tone, because he took a swift step away from me and faced his daughter. He placed one hand on his hip. “Isabella?” he asked, his voice arcing up high. It sounded kind, but by God did it have an undercurrent of anger.
She looked right at her father.
I felt Hayden’s emotion surge, and I saw Isabella’s gaze dart over to him.
Jeopardy took a step toward Isabella. He turned his back to me. I slowly brought my hand up and started to put it into my pocket.
Isabella’s gaze darted to me. She would know what I was thinking. She would feel the hope inside me.
She could warn her father.
I looked right at her. And I tried to convey from one witch to another that she was the opportunity here. But more than anything, I tried to let my hope spread out to her.
“Isabella?” Jeopardy said through clenched teeth. “Tell this complete finder that she is lying. I’m in control—”
“You’re not in control,” Isabella said. She shifted her gaze off me and looked at her father. “You’re full of fear,” she said, her eyebrows descending in a twitch as if, for the first time in her life, she turned her skills to use them on Jeopardy. “You’ve always been full of fear. And you’ve always been able to push that fear onto others. You’ve used it to control me my entire life. I won’t be controlled anymore.”
Jeopardy took a strong step forward, reaching his daughter and wrapping a hand around the handcuffs. The sound of his footfall was all I needed.
I shoved a hand into my pocket, the rustle of fabric hidden. I clutched my hand over my phone.
I concentrated on Jason.
No – I concentrated on the force that would get me out of here. And I saw two stone-gray eyes peering back at me through the darkness of the past.
Jeopardy suddenly snapped his head around, obviously realizing I was doing something.
Isabella shifted forward, looping her handcuffed arms around her father’s throat as she desperately tried to hold him back.
Jeopardy began to charge with magic.
Though once upon a time he’d only been a witch with the ability to step into perfect memories, obviously when he’d seen that other Hidden Grimoires set, he’d learned the ability of a physical warlock. Now magic of the brightest most powerful green color spilled around him.
Isabella screamed as her arms burned, but she didn’t stop trying to keep Jeopardy away from me.
Me? I clutched that phone, and I concentrated on those two eyes. I pushed all of my magic into it, all my freaking soul.
Jeopardy threw Isabella off his shoulder, and she struck the ground.
Hayden screamed, and even though he was nothing more than a mere mortal, I heard the chains straining in place to keep him locked against the chair.
Jeopardy reached me. He wrapped his electrified hands around my throat.
He started to squeeze.
Just like Constantine had.
And I saw just the same rabid rage in his gaze.
I felt a charge of magic start to pick up in the air.
Jason… a portal spell. He was coming.
But I—
Jeopardy started to crush my windpipe. He drove me down to my knees. There was nothing I could do. No time—
Isabella tried to reach toward me, but she was too weak. Hayden was still tied to the chair. And Jason’s portal spell was obviously having difficulty cutting through the magical defenses of this room.
No time….
Jeopardy was going to kill me.
I….
I started to see that parapet again. Started to see the storm pressing in from above. Then he was right behind me, a hand on my shoulder. His grip was stronger now as it slipped down to my fingers.
I didn’t have any breath left in me – and I couldn’t move. But he moved my hand for me – the man from the past. And the next thing I knew, a charge of magic slammed into my palm and shot into Jeopardy’s face.
It was enough to wrench him off me. He struck the ground and stared up at me in wide-eyed terror.
I stared at my own hands as I shook back and forth on my knees.
Jeopardy roared.
He threw himself at me once more. But this time he couldn’t reach me. Jason finally appeared.
In a blast of sparks, he transported right in front of me. His body cascaded with magic as he launched at jeopardy.
I… it was over.
Though Jeopardy fought with everything he had, he wasn't a sorcerer, and Jason dispatched him.
All the while, I stared down at my hand, at the crackle of blue magic sparking along my fingers.
That’s right – it was blue. Not green.
Once jeopardy had been dispatched, Jason broke Hayden and Barry out of their chairs, then finally cracked open Isabella’s handcuffs. As soon as she was free, she threw herself at Hayden.
All the while, I couldn’t look at a single person. I was only aware of what was going on through my peripheral vision. The rest of my attention was completely locked on my hands. The faintest charge of blue magic was still crackling across them.
Only when Jason was done securing the situation did he walk over to me, hesitate, get down to one knee, then close his hand around mine.
It was only
when his fingers covered the magic that I could tear my gaze off it and stare at him. “What—”
“You know what’s happening, Beth. You don’t need to see the prophecy to feel it. Now, let’s go.”
“But the attack on the police station—”
“Is under control.”
“But Jeopardy—”
“Isn’t going anywhere.”
“But the Hidden Grimoires?”
“… Are safe.”
“But—”
“You can’t stall anymore, Beth. The wheels are already in motion.” With that, he stood and stretched a hand out to me. He could have easily plucked me off the ground, but he didn’t. He stretched that hand toward me, asking me to rise up to meet him.
I was weak, but apparently that didn’t matter. He knew I had the strength to reach forward, accept his hand, and allow myself to be pulled up.
I couldn’t deny the sensation that I was allowing myself to be pulled toward more than Jason.
I’d finally remembered my destiny, or at least parts of it, and there would be no turning back.
Epilogue
I stood in the courtyard of Josh’s house. To be honest, I hadn’t known it had a courtyard, but either it had been one of the numerous rooms Josh had kept hidden from me, or Jason had just created one.
Because Jason was here.
And I wasn’t freaking out – I wanted him to be here.
He had his hands in his pockets and his head tilted back as he watched the clouds being chased through the sky.
I sat on the edge of a garden bed wall, staring at my hands. I’d been doing that a lot lately.
The Cruze Gang had been broken. With the head finally cut off the beast, the police and Internal Affairs – though in disarray after the attack – had managed to do the rest.
I’d helped to take down one of the most dangerous forces in Madison City, so why did it feel as if this was only the beginning?
I kept gazing over at Jason, but either he wasn’t aware I was looking at him, or he couldn’t meet my gaze. I didn't know what he saw in the clouds, but his expression was lost. “I know you have a million questions to ask, Beth, so just go ahead and ask them,” he said with a quiet breath.
“How’s Isabella?” I asked. To be honest, though I did care how Isabella was, I was dodging around something far more important. It was something I couldn’t dare put into words yet. Not until Jason faced me. It was ironic, considering Jason had been the one to find me. Now he seemed reluctant to face me again. I almost… almost wondered whether just like for me, this prophecy hadn’t been real for Jason until the attack on Jeopardy.
“Isabella’s fine. So is Hayden. Same with Bradley. They’re useful assets for Internal Affairs. We’ll keep them safe.”
“What about the books?”
Jason looked at me for a flickering second, then almost immediately yanked his head back up to stare at the sky. “They’re also safe.”
“That’s not what I meant—”
“I know what you meant. I just don’t want to tell you more. I don’t want to…”
“What? Draw me further into this situation?” I answered my own question.
I paid such close attention to Jason’s expression, so I didn’t miss a thing as his lips ground together, and even without my ability to now read emotions, I could appreciate that a surge of fear passed through him. “Yes – I don’t want to bring you further into the situation.”
It was the wrong thing to do, but I couldn’t stop myself from snorting. “I’m already in this situation, Jason. I shouldn’t need to remind you of all people about the prophecy.”
“… No, you shouldn’t need to remind me of all people about the prophecy,” he repeated, but his tone was dead.
My stomach twitched. “You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you? What is it?”
“There’s a lot I can share with you, Beth, but there’s also a lot I can’t.”
“Why do I get the feeling as if I’m being led around in the dark?”
“You’re not alone,” he admitted.
“What?”
“You’re not the only one who feels as if he’s being led around in the dark,” Jason said.
Now I could read emotions, I could easily see a side to Jason I hadn’t known existed before. His real emotion. He was incredibly good at hiding it, but now I could find it with magic, I couldn’t deny it.
Jason… he actually cared for me.
Though I wanted to turn my head down and stare at my hands, hiding from that fact, I swallowed and held onto it instead as I faced him. “Why do I get the feeling that this mess isn’t over yet?”
“Because it’s only just beginning,” he answered quickly. I want to say he answered easily, too. It wasn’t easy, though. I could feel he was trying to put the brakes on his emotion, but it wasn’t working. I could also tell he wanted to put the brakes on this situation – but he had absolutely no chance of doing that. It had already run away from a sorcerer. And if it could run away from a sorcerer, then I had no chance.
I suddenly jumped off the garden wall, landing easily.
I felt Jason stiffen.
I took a breath and took a step toward him. I opened my mouth to ask another question, but I closed my lips just in time. The question I wanted to ask was what the hell Internal Affairs had planned, but something told me not to utter it. Not yet. This was not the time and place.
I may have only just truly learned opportunity magic, but I couldn’t deny it as it coursed through my veins. Jason, with his head still tilted toward the clouds, cleared his throat. “There must be more you want to know, Beth. What is it?”
“What happens next?” I asked.
He let out a harsh breath. “I might be a lot of things, Beth. I might be a trainee sorcerer on the cusp of becoming a full sorcerer now you’re teaching me finding magic,” his voice shook, “but even I can’t predict the future.”
“Why not? Surely opportunity magic is a way of predicting the future?”
“It’s a way of finding what you want and taking it with you into the future,” he answered quietly.
I took another step toward him. I… wanted to look into his eyes. His stone-gray eyes.
I hadn’t mentioned a word of what happened to me in my vision. And though I knew Jason suspected I’d seen something, he hadn’t questioned me, either.
“You’re… scared, aren’t you?” I noted quietly.
Jason pressed his lips into a smile. It was weak. “You’re coming into your emotion-reading magic fast, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t need emotion-reading magic to—” I stopped abruptly.
Finally Jason tore his gaze off the view. I could see his fear playing in his eyes, and he didn’t try to hide it from me. “But what, Beth? You don’t need emotion-reading magic to read me?”
There was a tender, searching quality to his words.
This was where the old Beth would have turned away. Because this is where the old Beth would have reminded herself that she would not fall head-over-heels for this man.
But this was where the new Beth took another step forward. Because I wanted to see his eyes. Up close. I wanted to stare right into those stone-gray pupils until I understood what they wanted of me.
So I took one final step forward.
Jason looked into my eyes, and I looked into his.
I waited… to fall into his gaze, just as I had in the past. I waited for that forgotten destiny to emerge. I waited, in other words, to give into the words of the prophecy.
… But it didn’t happen. Because there was one thing I was forgetting. One thing everyone was forgetting.
I had a choice in what I would do next.
And if I moved toward Jason or away from him, it would be my decision.
And yet, it wasn’t a decision I wanted to make yet. So I stared right at Jason. “Don’t be afraid,” I said quietly.
Confusion marked his brow – confusion and fixed concentr
ation as he stared at me. “Why, Beth? Have you got a way to stop what’s gonna happen next?”
“I’ll find one.”
That was no lie. That was the promise of a complete finder. It didn’t matter what I was facing. From my warring feelings for Jason and Max, to this prophecy, to the twisted kingpins of this city – I would find a way forward. And that was a promise.
I took a step toward Jason.
The end of Forgotten Destiny Book Three. Forgotten Destiny Book Four will be available shortly.
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Forgotten Destiny Book Three Page 16
