Behind me, I heard Sofie give a soft meow as she settled on the bench to watch. I suppressed a small smile at her support.
They questioned me for the better part of an hour about what had happened. While it seemed that the observers refused to mention anything about me strangling Russell with magic, the scumbag had been happy to spin a few tales. He was also eager to blame the accident on the bad luck that I had cursed him with. I brushed away the strangling incident as fantasy and the cops quickly dropped it. They were not eager to pursue anything that might paint me as a warlock, resulting in them being in my bad graces. However, as a tattoo artist, I couldn’t escape the bad luck accusations or the questions raised about Tera exiting my shop.
Luckily, I was able to present the truth for the most part. I had already dealt with Dalton’s issue with TAPSS, which they would have on record, clearing me. After I had returned the money for his tattoo, it was then his responsibility to take care of his problem, absolving me of any blame.
As for Tera, I told a partial truth, for which I was able to present records with Tera’s signature. It showed that I had given her a tattoo with nothing in the ink, so I was not under investigation for a dangerous potion. And while I didn’t have any paperwork for tonight’s touch-up, it wasn’t out of the ordinary. Most tattoo shops offered free touch-ups and didn’t submit any paperwork for it. Sure, it was a way around the system, but so far no one had done anything about it.
I knew it didn’t look good for me. I had links to both people involved in the accident and there were some questions about me using magic. There was nothing I could do about it, but at the same time, I wasn’t concerned because there was also nothing they could stick me with. In the end, they would do an autopsy, and find nothing, as potions rarely left any residue in the tissues or blood. Even if they were brave enough to try to call in a witch or a warlock to inspect the body, I wasn’t overly concerned. They were the most likely to find something, but I doubted they would be able to identify either substance considering that no one had encountered the ingredients I had used. Most likely, the inspecting witch or warlock would come to me directly rather than admit finding anything to the cops.
The attending officers left, looking more or less satisfied by my answers. I knew they were stuck in a difficult position. I looked more than a little suspicious, but everyone knew their history well. Any human exhibiting magical abilities was to be avoided at all costs. The human race had barely survived the Great War, and they did not want to be responsible for starting another. I was just lucky they didn’t know about my real past, where I was a renegade within the magic users society.
It didn’t matter. I doubted I would hear from the cops again. They would turn my name over to TAPSS, who would take a particular glee in questioning me. I just hoped that someone from the council didn’t catch wind of what had happened. TAPSS I could deal with. I didn’t want to deal with Gideon, or any other guardian for that matter.
“Gage?”
I turned and looked down at Sofie, who was still sitting on the bench staring up at me.
“What’s going on? I’m sure there’s more to it than what you told those police officers.”
There was a lot more going on than I was telling, but I didn’t want Sofie involved. It wasn’t safe. “Thanks for coming out. I really appreciate your help,” I said stiffly. If she hadn’t appeared outside when she had, breaking my destructive train of thought, I probably would have killed Russell Dalton, the consequences be damned.
Deep down, I knew that he wasn’t to blame for the mess I was in right now. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had to look no further than the mirror to see the instigator in this mess. Well, myself and Sparks. For some reason, he had directed Tera to me, somehow suspecting that I couldn’t pass up the chance to help someone while thumbing my nose at the higher powers.
“What’s going on?” Sofie repeated, her voice becoming more urgent.
I walked over to the large picture window at the front of the parlor and stared out with my arms folded over my chest while I tightly gripped both elbows. Most of the crowd had dispersed by now and the paramedics were loading Tera’s covered body into the ambulance. One cop was pulling Dalton’s car over to the side of the road, while another was escorting the man to one of the squad cars. In about another hour, the area would be empty, leaving no trace of the tragedy that had occurred.
“Death,” I replied softly.
“Surely you don’t have anything to do with this.”
“No, not this one.”
“But some other one?”
“I suspect so,” I murmured absently. Releasing my arms, I let my hands drop limply back to my sides. I stepped over to the door and quickly turned the dead bolt. “I’ve already written a letter explaining everything. Trixie will watch over you if something happens. Just stay here and keep your head down.”
“Where are you going?” she demanded as I wove around the remains of the glass case and moved into the tattooing room. The soft thump on the hardwood floor indicated that she had jumped down from the bench and was following fast on my heels.
“I have to take care of something.”
“I’m coming with you,” Sofie announced, bringing a frown to my lips. I couldn’t lock her up in the apartment because it was obvious that she knew how to escape easily. There was no doubt in my mind that the little witch could follow me if she truly wanted to.
For a moment, I wished she would come with me. She may have been stuck in the body of a cat, but she still had some powers and abilities at her beck and call. It would have been nice to have someone there who could effectively watch my back, unlike my companions with little to no magical ability. While some of the best friends a person could ask for, Trixie and Bronx would prove to be more of a distraction than a help should they try to accompany me. They wouldn’t be able to protect themselves if this led back to the source I was fearing.
But in the end, I knew I had to take care of this alone.
“Please, Sofie, stay here. I want to handle this alone,” I murmured as I paused in the narrow hallway leading to the back room.
Sofie stood beside me on her hind paws while her front paws pressed against my leg as she stared up at me. “But you don’t have to be alone.”
“Stay here and watch over my friends. I don’t think this will boomerang back at them, but I don’t want to think about them being left defenseless. Just do this for me, please.”
Sofie dropped back down to her haunches and looked into the tattooing room with the three large chairs bolted to the floor. I was offering her a different life, one that could prove to be more interesting than the hidden one she had been living for the past several years.
“I’ll stay.”
I nodded and proceeded into the back room. Shutting the door behind me, I unlocked the back door. The night air was heavy and thick as I stepped out into the wall of summer heat. I pulled the keys out of my pocket and paused long enough to lock the door again. My hand lingered on the old brass doorknob as I wondered if this was going to be the last time I saw my shop. A part of me cried out to just drop the matter. I had a good life. I loved my work and my friends. I didn’t need to pursue this.
I couldn’t let it go. The thought would nag at me day and night until I finally sought him out for the truth. I had to know why Sparks had put Tera in my path with the expectation that I could “help her.” There would be no peace until I knew what he was up to. I had to see Sparks, and just hoped that the trail didn’t lead directly to Simon.
Chapter 31
I crossed from the back door to my car waiting in the light thrown down from a nearby security lamp. Shadows stood silent and watchful along the backs of the buildings and down the alleys. The air was still and hung like a weight, infused with the summer heat so that it was like pressing through a hot wool blanket. There was no one about, but the hair on the back of my neck remained on end as I waited once again to be jumped by Simon.
&nb
sp; Fumbling with my keys, I unlocked the driver’s-side door and slid into my SUV. As I slammed the door and shoved the key into the ignition, there was a sudden shift in the car under the weight of a second passenger. I looked up to find Gideon sitting next to me in the passenger seat, white light from the streetlamp gilding his features and reflected in his narrowed eyes. I jumped back in my seat at his sudden closeness. There was no room to fight in the car. Hell, I didn’t feel like there was enough room in the large vehicle to breathe.
Twisting back to my door, I grabbed for the door handle. At the same time, the distinct chunk of the locks engaging around me echoed through the car. I tried the lock switch, but it didn’t work. It was only when I was scraping at the door frame, trying to manually pull out the little lock, that I heard Gideon sigh wearily. Some part of my brain realized that I wasn’t getting out of the car because he had locked the doors and didn’t want me out. But the self-preservation side was still demanding that I get the fuck out of there at any cost.
“I’m not here to kill you, Powell,” Gideon grumbled.
Turning in my seat to look at him, I found myself pulling away so that my back was pressed against the door. My heavy breathing was loud in the silence of the SUV, making it impossible to mask the terror gripping me. I had been expecting Simon. I had been searching the area for Simon’s presence. I hadn’t even given a thought to the possibility that Gideon would come for me.
“If I wanted you dead, you would have been before you could get into the car,” the guardian continued when I had yet to comment. “You left yourself completely defenseless. One would think you’d have learned something about that during the past several years.”
“I wasn’t expecting you,” I admitted as I watched him.
Gideon arched one eyebrow at me, looking more than a little skeptical. “Really? The attack on the human just a couple of hours ago?”
“Well, there is that,” I said with a shrug.
“And the candles spell, the memory charm, the protective curses, the storm,” he countered, ticking each item off on his fingers as he walked backward through all the spells I had cast during the past couple of days. Apparently, Gideon wasn’t ready to let me off the hook for all those spells despite our recent meeting. Gideon then gave a little snort as he closed his hand and smirked at me. “Oh, and then there was the Chihuahua.”
“A lot of those spells were defensive,” I argued.
“You’re getting a little broad in your definition of defensive spells.” Gideon paused and stared out the windshield. “Though I probably would have given you the Chihuahua spell.”
Staring at the guardian in shock, I noted for the first time that when he was smiling, Gideon didn’t appear to be much older than me. While I knew that he could be using a spell to slow down his aging, making him significantly older than me, I doubted it. Most of the witches and warlocks waited until they were closer to their late forties or early fifties before invoking that spell, as a few wrinkles and gray hairs gave them an air of distinction and wisdom, whether they deserved it or not. Gideon may have been one of the few to move straight from apprenticeship to a position serving the council as a guardian, making him relatively young.
“I would have expected you to collect me much sooner than this for those infractions. Getting slow in your old age,” I mocked, as the tension eating at my brain started to make me reckless.
Gideon’s smile slipped away, replaced by a frown as he glared over at me. “I didn’t step in because you’ve had your hands full with other issues as well as Simon. Why dirty my hands when I could wait for him to finish you off?”
Throwing my open hands out to the side as far as I could in the car, I smiled broadly at Gideon. “Well, I’m still here.”
“And Simon isn’t done trying.”
My hands fell back down to my sides and I tore my gaze from him so that I was staring out of the car at the building next to my own. I had little doubt that my old mentor was still aiming to remove my head. A number of things would fall into place for Simon and the others in the Towers if I was simply gone.
“What are you doing here if you haven’t come to kill me or take me to the council?” My head was starting to ache with all the problems that seemed to be mounting the longer I continued to breathe. Ivory Towers bastards. Summer Court. TAPSS. Reave. I really knew how to step in it.
“The girl?” Gideon asked tersely.
“Gone.”
“Good.”
It didn’t feel “good.” It felt like a whole lot of shit, but that’s how it worked sometimes. “Like I said, what are you doing here?”
“I came to warn you, for what little it’s worth,” Gideon admitted, causing my head to snap back toward him.
“Warn me?”
“I’m sure you realized after speaking with Sofie that taking you to the council will do little good other than to leave you imprisoned for an extended period of time, at best. I thought letting you run around for a while longer might do a little good, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.”
I rubbed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose as I was hammered by the assault of discordant comments. He knew I was with Sofie. He was looking the other way as I broke my agreement. And he was hoping that I accomplished a “little good.” Following that announcement I didn’t even know where to start.
I tried to start with the easiest comment and work from there. “You knew I was with Sofie? Were you the one at her house?” I asked, looking up at him through my fingers.
“Yes, you weren’t safe there. She’s always under surveillance, though I’m usually the one watching over her. But I’m not the only one and I couldn’t risk you being discovered just yet.”
There it was again. Gideon was helping me?
“You chased us from the house. Does she know it was you?”
“I’m not sure,” Gideon said with a little shrug. He absently tapped the tip of his wand on the dashboard in thought. “She’s always been a tricky one.”
“So you know what she told me . . .”
His scoff cut off any further comments as my voice trailed off. “Of course. Who do you think told her? I knew she was one of the few vital people you kept in contact with and I conveyed to her the information that I thought might be of most use to you. It’s not as if the exiled witch gets that many visitors. I doubt she realizes that she was being used in such a way by her own warden.”
I threw up my hands in frustration and expelled my next breath in a huff. “What do you want, Gideon? You’ve obviously been planning something.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive!” Gideon twisted in his seat to look at me, pushing me back into my own seat. “Though you haven’t been doing much recently to help me in that respect.”
“Oh, please!” I snorted. “You’ve been hounding my ass for years, snarling at me every chance you get.”
“But have I dragged you before the council?” Gideon said, aiming his wand at me, but there was no gathering of energy to indicate that he was weaving a spell. He was only trying to get his point across. Of course, that logic did reach my heart, which was trying to claw its way up my throat. “I could have pulled you in front of the council for any use of magic until I finally wore them down, but I didn’t. I left you with warnings. Roughed you up a bit. If you were scared of me and the council, then I thought you might be more selective in your use of magic. If anyone else caught just one of your blatant infractions against your agreement, we both would have been in trouble. I’ve cloaked what I could, but you’ve been reckless. You need to finish this business with Simon quickly.”
Gideon sat back in his own seat, giving me some breathing room again. Shifting in my seat so that I sat forward, facing the steering wheel, I slumped down, knocking my right knee against the keys dangling from the ignition. They danced briefly, glinting in the fragment of light slashing through the car. My mind was struggling to keep up with all the information that Gideon was unloading on me. My entire perception of the world
was changing before my eyes and I was having troubling keeping up.
Sucking in a deep breath, I dropped my hands from the steering wheel. “Okay, so you’ve been watching over Sofie and supplying her with information in the expectation that she would pass it along to me. You’ve also been protecting me from myself so that I wouldn’t come up before the council, who would no doubt vote to lop my head off so they could finally be rid of me.”
“Essentially.”
“But why? That’s what I don’t understand. Why are you helping me?”
This time, Gideon seemed to hesitate, heaving a sigh as he stared to his right out the door window. I watched him in silence, waiting for his response. This was the most time I had ever spent with him that didn’t involve me bargaining for my life while he strangled me.
“We’re trying to push through some change in the mentality in the Towers,” he replied softly.
“What kind of change?” I wasn’t sure I liked where this was leading.
Gideon must have heard something in my voice because he looked over at me and smirked. “It didn’t start with you, if that’s what you’re thinking, but you’ve become the most visible voice toward our cause whether you meant to be or not. We want a different life from what we originally walked into when we started our apprenticeships. The idea that warlocks and witches are empowered so that they can rule with an iron fist over humans and other races is outdated and cruel. We still support the idea of dedicating ourselves to the art, but we also want more. We want lives and families.”
Reaching into the inside pocket of his black sport coat, Gideon pulled out a photograph and held it up to me. I slowly took it and held it so that it caught the light slicing through the car. It was a picture of a woman kneeling before a large house beside a young girl with black braided pigtails. Both appeared to be laughing on that sunny summer day.
“That’s my wife, Ellen,” he said, pointing to the pretty blond woman. “And that’s my six-year-old daughter, Bridgette.”
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