Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set

by Sheryl Steines

Annie smiled. It was another confirmation. What it meant, she didn’t fully know yet.

  “Not that it matters, but the name Anaise is an old English for Anne,” Mrs. Cuttlebrink said.

  Annie glanced at her, her brain jumbled with thoughts of the carving on the door, the small passage mentioning Anaise, Sturtagaard, the Fraternitatem.

  “The prophecy must say I’m to go back and kill the demons, and for my trouble, I’ll receive powers,” Annie said, nearly to herself.

  Mrs. Cuttlebrink moved closer to Annie and sat on the desk. She held Annie’s hands in her cool, soft hands. “Because there are no regenerating demons in this present, I think that is correct.”

  Annie grimaced. The weight of what she was discovering made her anxious. “You said I didn’t have to fulfill a prophecy,” Annie said.

  “But, what would happen if you didn’t go to the past, didn’t kill off the demons? Would the demons have multiplied, killed off the human race? And what about the coven? Would they have come here to start over?” Mrs. Cuttlebrink asked.

  “Why go through all of this? Why conjure the demon and bring a Viking here to… what? Bring me back when all they need is fire to kill them?” Annie’s voice gained several octaves with the stress.

  “Maybe they wanted your attention, or maybe there’s more they need than just using fire to kill the demons. Yes, it’s risky, but it definitely got your attention,” Mrs. Cuttlebrink said.

  “Besides, you have me, Gibbs, Cham. An entire team to do whatever it is that you’re supposed to do. Don’t forget that,” Spencer said. Annie looked at her partner. It didn’t ease the anxiety.

  The bell on the reception desk dinged. Mrs. Cuttlebrink looked out the door. “I need to assist. Take all the time you need,” she said.

  “I might have free will but I have no choice,” Annie told Spencer as Mrs. Cuttlebrink left.

  “Maybe there’s another way to relay the information to the past. We need to talk to Gila Donaldson again. Before this, I didn’t know time portals existed. I thought portals opened to another plane of existence only during the same time,” Spencer said.

  A buzzer sounded as Mrs. Cuttlebrink finished checking whoever it was that required a book and turned her attention to the next in line.

  Annie walked back to the library doors. Twenty feet tall and three inches thick, the doors had traveled thousands of miles from England to America over a thousand years ago. They had hung at the entrance of several rooms in the many different American Wizard Halls until the Wizard Council built this current building in 1900 where they had hung ever since.

  Anaise was located where Annie always found her, just above her eye line, to the left side of the right door. She touched the carving of her face. Her fingers trailed the smooth wood and found the face of the demon locked in Tartarus Prison. This time, she moved to the right, to the next picture. Always looking for the girl who looked like her, she had never noticed the other carvings. Beside Anaise was a demon, caught in the fire. Behind and to the side of the demon, other demons were also consumed in flames. Dotting the row of pictures were small cottages she had also never noticed, and people dressed in ancient clothing like what the demon and the Viking wore. She continued farther to the right, where a larger cottage stood, maybe a longhouse at the end of town. More demons and more fire.

  “Annie?” Mrs. Cuttlebrink touched her shoulder. Annie jumped. Spencer stared at the carvings.

  “Sorry,” Annie murmured. “I never noticed. It’s all here.” She barely felt herself being led back to the office.

  Annie’s stomach roiled as thoughts of the past – her past—and her future haunted her. Sturtagaard…

  He knew this was coming!

  She leaned her elbows on the table and buried her head in her hands. Sturtagaard, who’d been a pain in the ass of the Wizard Council for centuries—and yet he still lived. He’d inserted himself in many of her cases in both small and large ways. He knew this was coming. He’d known for centuries and waited patiently. The original coven knew. They knew and never said anything, never recorded the event. It was as if Annie was being tested to receive a reward she didn’t even want.

  “Why me?” she murmured.

  “Does it matter why? Annie, they read the prophecy and you were the answer. You’re strong and you’re incredibly brilliant, as is your partner. You know now,” Spencer said.

  “Sturtagaard never said our roles in this. Just my role. You’re not on the door!” Annie shouted.

  “You’re not going alone. We’ll be there. I don’t care what the door depicts,” Spencer argued. Annie startled when he angrily jumped from his chair. He ran his hands through his sandy brown, highlighted hair.

  “And what if that changes the events? How would that change the future if you came with me? If Cham and Gibbs joined us.” Her voice cracked.

  They had been partners for a year and they knew each other well. She could see the worry stretched across his face. When his breathing evened out, he sat back down. “We can discuss that later. We don’t even know how to open a portal to the past or if we can do that. And if the Viking is here for you, we need to find him.”

  “Before you get all bent out of shape, there’s one more piece of the puzzle you need to see.” Annie pulled out the missing file and handed it to Spencer. “I found it in my basement. It’s where I found Dad’s letter.”

  Spencer opened the folder. His reaction was what she expected; it’s how everyone who saw the photo of Emily Pearce with Dr. Arden Blakely had reacted. Stunned silence. He turned the picture over, looking for a date.

  “According to Dad’s notes, he took them eight years ago,” Annie said. She continued with her explanation of what her dad had left in his notes about her mom and the Fraternitatem.

  After perusing several more photos and taking a brief glance at Jason’s notes, Spencer closed the file and handed it to Annie. He glanced at her. “The Fraternitatem told your dad. There’s no written prophecy. Mrs. Cuttlebrink’s question makes more sense. Who told them?”

  “And that is today’s question,” Annie said.

  Chapter 10

  It was long past the time Annie should have told Ryan and Kathy what she knew about her dad’s last case, about her mom. She asked them over but was evasive on the phone, piquing their interest and worry.

  Annie paced alongside her kitchen table. Every once in a while, she’d stop and stare at the closed folder and then return to pacing. Her palms were wet with sweat, and her head pounded with a growing anger she wasn’t sure what to do with.

  Who told the Fraternitatem?

  Annie couldn’t let go of the question, even after leaving Spencer in the library, assuring him she was fine. She wasn’t, and her pacing did little to relieve the anxiety.

  Zola had made her chamomile tea; it sat on the table cold.

  “You didn’t drink your tea,” Zola said when she entered the room.

  “I should’ve told them all about this sooner,” Annie said. Her hands shook when she opened the curtains in the kitchen and stared at the patch of lawn between her house and Mrs. Welter’s. Her neighbor had been there since before Annie was born. She realized at that minute she hadn’t seen her in days.

  “I wonder if Mrs. Welter is with her son,” Annie murmured and closed the curtains. The back door squeaked open as Kathy and Ryan entered the kitchen.

  “Annie, we got here as soon as we could. What’s wrong, sweetie?” Kathy asked.

  Annie couldn’t look them in the eyes. She was beginning to realize the depth of her mistake in withholding such difficult news. It didn’t speed up her processing of what she had learned; it just made her stomach sour. She pursed her lips.

  “It’s in the folder on the table,” Annie said, keeping all emotion out of her voice. She sat on the window seat and rested her head on the curtain panel.

  Kathy and Ryan exchanged worried glances and stared at Annie before placing their attention on the folder at the center of the table.

  Rya
n slid it to himself and read the letter from Jason, attached to the outside of the front cover.

  “Jason’s missing case? This letter was in it?” Ryan asked.

  “Yeah.” Annie couldn’t help the tears. “And before you say anything, you need to see the rest of the file.” She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

  Ryan opened the folder. Kathy let out a squeal, Ryan said, “Damn!” as he took out the first photo of Emily Pearce and Dr. Arden Blakely together, walking down a street in a magical bazaar, discussing something. He turned the photo, looking for the date.

  “Dad took the pictures eight years ago,” Annie said.

  “Emily was alive eight years ago?” Kathy said incredulously.

  “It’s all in Dad’s notes,” Annie began. It came from her in one breath, how Jason had found Emily in the course of his investigation, how he wanted her back, how she wouldn’t come, how the Fraternitatem told him about the prophecy, how the demon and Viking were from the past. She heaved as she cried. Ryan and Kathy led her to the den, where she cried with Kathy’s arm encompassing her and slumped against Kathy when the tears stopped.

  “Does Sami know?” Ryan asked.

  “I told her yesterday. She’s pissed.” Annie shivered. Kathy wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

  “Have you…” Kathy began.

  “Tried to find her? Bucky’s been searching,” Annie said. “There’s a tape in the file of Dad talking to her.” Annie shuddered. “She… she was so cold as she explained why she left us and why she was staying with them. She didn’t even ask about Sami and me. It was like she was focused on them, brainwashed for a purpose. Like Dr. Blakely was. I’m not sure if there’s a point to finding her.”

  “So, she traded her life for yours,” Ryan said as he read through his best friend’s notes.

  “That’s what I got from the folder too,” Annie wiped tears from her cheeks and sat up straighter. “Mom was a fool. Just because you’re not magical doesn’t mean you have to be stupid. Why the hell didn’t she tell Dad? He could’ve done something sooner. Protected me. Kept her safe. He could’ve stopped them. He didn’t have to die! She didn’t have to leave!”

  Kathy and Ryan looked at each other. Zola brought Annie a glass of water. She waved her away, still unsure of what Zola knew and was hiding.

  “Maybe Emily thought she was doing the right thing,” Kathy said in a soothing tone.

  Annie laughed. “That’s bullshit,” she said.

  Cham walked into the den. She looked at him with red, watery eyes.

  “They know?” he asked and kissed her, before sitting on the ottoman.

  “Yeah. Defending Emily,” Annie said.

  “Babe, you’ve had three months to digest this and let it simmer, and you’re really pissed. But you have to remember that nonmagicals can be easily influenced when they don’t understand our world. The Fraternitatem went to her with the prophecy, and she got scared and believed whatever they told her. That’s how they separated her from you,” he said.

  “Why would they do that? What did they want from Emily?” Kathy asked.

  “According to Jason, the prophecy sees Annie receiving powers. They probably want those, and to get to Annie, they had to take out those who protected her, starting with Emily. Annie wasn’t close to getting the powers, so take Mom and weaken her. My guess is that running into Jason was an accident and gave them an opportunity to take him out. Jason gave back the Chintamani stones, and yet, they had Rathbone kill him. It was an opportunity.”

  “Sturtagaard’s involved,” Annie said.

  Ryan glanced up. “How?”

  Annie told them how the vampire had waited for her at the house and warned her.

  Ryan looked at the folder and tapped his fingers against the front cover. “So Sturtagaard is involved. He said he had a part to play.”

  Annie nodded.

  “The coven reads the prophecy and sends for you.” Ryan opened the folder and stared at the picture of Emily. “So how did the prophecy get to the Fraternitatem?”

  “The coven knows more than Gila’s willing to tell me. Sturtagaard was there. I’m guessing the reason we can’t kill him has to do with his role in this.” Annie grimaced.

  “And which one of them would sell you out?” Kathy asked with condemnation in her voice.

  “Most likely the vampire,” Annie said.

  “I can pull the order that keeps him alive. But that doesn’t tell you if he did this. But you’re right, the coven knew it too,” Ryan said.

  Annie held her breath and looked out at the door between the kitchen and den where Zola was listening.

  “I didn’t sell you out,” Zola said with sadness in her voice.

  “You were there?” Annie asked.

  “Yes.” Zola stared at the floor.

  “Why can’t you tell me what happened?” Annie pleaded.

  “I had one thing to do for you and I had eleven hundred years to do it. I couldn’t. I failed. I’m hoping after you go to the past, I can rectify it this time.” Zola walked away.

  Annie tried to call her back. Kathy shook her head. “Let her be for now. If she knows something, she’ll tell you.” Kathy looked back into the kitchen. Zola had left.

  “So what do I do? Do I go back to the past and kill off the demons? What do I do about Emily?”

  “One problem at a time. Find the Viking, bring him in, and ask him why he’s here. If it’s to go back and kill the demons, then you need to figure out how to open the portal to the past and prepare for a trip without the relative comforts of home.” Ryan grimaced.

  “Is that even possible?” Kathy asked.

  “I… honestly, I didn’t know you could. But they’re here, from the ninth century. Opening a portal like the ones to the Black Market is easy because you tap into the magical energy of that plane of existence. There are so many of those magical pockets everywhere. Chicago is ripe with magical energy. That’s why there were four portals in Busse Woods alone,” Ryan explained.

  “And how do you go back to the exact date and time?” Annie asked. “What can go wrong in that?”

  “If you’re this Anaise, and you do something different this time, what will you change in the present?” Cham added.

  Annie frowned. “That doesn’t help. Do I even need permission to go to the past?” She asked Ryan.

  “It’s never been done to my knowledge,” Ryan admitted. “It’s something to bring to the Wizard Council.”

  Annie offered a wan smile as Kathy gave her a necessary, motherly hug.

  *

  After Kathy and Ryan left, Annie lay in bed and watched the ceiling fan spin without really noticing it. Her mind spun with other things.

  Cham climbed in beside her.

  “I can conjure a demon but not a human,” Annie said as he pulled the blanket up.

  “Yeah, and?”

  “If someone conjured the demon, how did the other one get here?” Annie asked. “How did they do this?”

  Cham wrapped an arm around her. “We can look for the portal energy. It’s got to be close to that house.”

  “Can I send Lial?”

  “If he finds something, he can try and translate the magical energy. It can tell us how it was created. Like you, I had no idea we could do that,” Cham admitted.

  Annie yawned, exhaustion seeped through her. “I guess if there’s residual portal energy, we might be able to trace the exact time and place. Knowing they came from the ninth century, give or take eleven hundred years ago, really doesn’t leave me feeling confident.” Annie turned and faced Cham.

  “If there’s a portal spell, maybe we can reverse and reopen it to the past.” He sighed. “I don’t know.” He touched Annie’s cheek. “I really don’t want you to go back.”

  “Someone killed those demons, and the clues keep pointing to me being the one,” Annie said. She touched his face, her fingers tracing the freckles across his nose.

  “I’m hoping it’ll be enough to send the
Viking and the demon back with what we know, and you won’t have to go back,” Cham said.

  “Whoever conjured them and brought him back got him here in one piece. Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Annie suggested.

  “Doesn’t matter. I still don’t want you going back. There’s too much that could go wrong,” Cham responded.

  “If someone else was in my position, you would support their trip back. You would do anything you could to help, to make the trip safe, to prepare. It’s me, and for the moment, you need to forget that,” Annie said.

  He pulled away, his eyes moist when he looked at her. “If I can find a way to keep you here, I will.”

  “For now, I’m not going anywhere,” Annie said. She rolled to her back and let his hands search her body as she found his. Her need for him and his need for her created a frenzy they couldn’t contain. And for a time, nothing else outside of the room meant anything.

  Chapter 11

  The library was packed with employees from the Legal Department. Annie knew some of the lawyers, while others she had never seen before. Mrs. Cuttlebrink rushed around, dividing her time amongst them. She glanced up quickly as Annie walked in, offering her a curt smile while motioning Annie to use the library map to find what she was looking for.

  Prior to finding the ninth-century demon and Viking roaming Evanston, Illinois, Annie had had no idea that time portals existed. Needing to know everything she could about them, she stared at the library map, picked up a scrying crystal, and searched for any existing books on portals. When the crystal necklace dropped, Annie used the location number and headed into the stacks of books.

  Finding the location number, she was dismayed when she stared at one shelf with ten books.

  With little choice, she picked up the first book and scanned for time portals. When the crystal gave her no answer, she replaced the book and searched the next. All but one book contained theories on how to open a time portal. The last book she scanned seemed to be the most comprehensive with actual steps on how to open one. Still anxious about the prospect of traveling to the past, Annie ignored the five-limit book checkout and precariously balanced all ten books on her way back to the reception desk.