by Sarah Noffke
“He didn’t mean to hurt me,” Liv said after the stinging died away.
“Who is that, dear?” Hester asked, dressing the wound.
“The lynx,” Liv replied.
Hester looked at her uncertainly. “If you battled a lynx and came away alive, you are fortunate indeed. They almost never lose.”
“It wasn’t like that…” Liv began, but then let her words fade. There were certain things she couldn’t tell the Councilors about what had happened in the underground tunnels. Plato, for instance. And Rory. She worried that what she could report wouldn’t make any sense.
Liv looked Adler straight in the eye. “I know that, but Valentino was out of control. He was the problem. He was hungry for power. If I hadn’t stopped him, who knows what he would have done with the magic?”
“Where is Valentino now?” Adler asked, tapping his long fingers on the bench.
“Well, he’s dead, or whatever that prism did to him,” Liv stated. She looked at Clark for backup, but he appeared as impassive as ever.
“And you said he tried to brainwash you into believing he’d gotten away?” Raina asked.
“Yes,” Liv answered.
“Are you quite certain that he didn’t get away?” Raina questioned. “He was in control of a great deal of magic, and brainwashing is hard to overcome.”
Adler leaned forward. “Yes, how do we know the events you’ve told are as they really happened?”
“That’s not what I mean,” Raina stated. “I’m simply pointing out that the events might be muddled in Liv’s head. She needs rest.”
Adler shook his head. “Most Warriors won’t rest tonight since they have to clean up this mess. She shouldn’t either.”
The other Warriors who had been present when Liv arrived had been sent to the underground tunnels to cover up the commotion the explosion had created. Stefan and Akio had left at once, not at all looking at all put out by having to put their cases aside for this one.
“How many canisters remained, Ms. Beaufont?” Haro asked.
Liv trembled inside. She knew the answer, but she still questioned it. “There was one; the one I gave to you all.”
“But you said there were two,” Lorenzo stated.
Liv nodded. “There were two more, but they exploded with Valentino—or rather, they were the cause of the explosion.”
“Are you quite certain?” Adler pressed.
Liv made to nod but then shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I think both canisters were destroyed.”
“Let the record show that the Warrior is unsure of what happened to the canisters of magic and might need to undergo a reverse brainwashing procedure,” Adler said at once.
“I-I-I…” Liv stuttered. She glanced at Clark again, but he was unwilling to acknowledge her. She didn’t understand it. She’d completed her second case, and she’d survived. She’d brought down an evil man, and he didn’t seem the least bit proud of her. But then, she didn’t know why it mattered. She hadn’t done any of this for him. It had been for their mother and father. For Ian and Reecs. For the Beaufont family.
“Ms. Beaufont, you were told to dispel the Zonks,” Adler stated.
“But they weren’t the problem, as I’ve proven,” Liv shot back.
“Regardless, going against the orders of the Councilors is grounds for punishment and—”
“Liv risked her life to protect magic,” Raina said, cutting Adler off.
“And that’s the true job of a Warrior,” Hester said proudly.
Haro nodded, almost smiling. “I agree. I commend you, young Warrior, on how you handled this case. It might not have been as we, the Councilors, advised, but a little improvising is important in your role.”
Adler’s light eyes dropped as a scowl took over his face. “I think it’s important that we maintain order, is all.”
“And thanks to Liv, we have,” Raina said joyfully. “I daresay we have more to celebrate tonight than we could have dreamed.”
“Celebrate?” Liv asked, perplexed and suddenly wondering where the white tiger was.
“Oh, you must have been too busy with your case,” Hester said with a smile. “Tonight is a grand event. It’s All Hallow’s Eve.”
Chapter Forty-Three
“I don’t have anything to wear,” Liv argued.
Sophia tapped her small chin and thought for a moment. “Do you want to be a mermaid or a unicorn?”
“I think I want to be a girl who is asleep,” Liv answered.
“You have to come to the celebration,” Sophia insisted. “Everyone is so excited about you completing this case. I’ve overheard a lot of people talking about it.”
“That’s the thing; I don’t have to do anything,” Liv stated, admiring Sophia’s dragon costume. She made one of the most beautiful blue dragons Liv had ever set eyes on, with her shimmering scales and long tail.
“So, mermaid or unicorn?” Sophia asked again.
“How about something that isn’t real, like a humble vegan or an unpretentious hipster?” Liv asked snidely.
Sophia nodded and pointed. “I’ve got it.”
A moment later, Liv was wearing a ballerina costume, complete with tutu and tiara.
“I didn’t realize you wanted me to throw up, dear sister,” Liv said, looking down at her pink tights.
Sophia giggled and changed Liv back. “Okay, fine. I think everyone will overlook it if you’re not dressed up this year, but next year I want us to do a group costume. Clark, too.”
Liv grumbled to herself at the thought of Clark. If he was going to be a part of their costume, it would have something to do with being a traitor.
Music echoed from the hallway outside, making Liv nearly jump. Her nerves were shot after the underground. The shaking of the ground made her think it was another earthquake. She’d had to tell the council those had been the result of Valentino’s magic, although Rory had admitted he’d caused the cave-in. She hadn’t gotten the details, and he’d pretty much said she didn’t need to know.
“You go on ahead,” Liv said to Sophia, whose face was brimming with excitement.
“Does that mean you’re going to disappear and not show up?”
Liv rolled her eyes. “No, it means that I need a moment to myself before I have to pretend to be nice to people.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Sophia stated. “I’m going to go save you a spot by the chocolate fountain. They transform the one in the garden so that it flows with chocolate. It’s big enough to bathe in.”
Liv sighed. “Why can’t it be a ranch dressing fountain? I’d be all over that.”
“Who doesn’t like chocolate?” Sophia asked.
“The soulless,” Liv answered. “So, me and vampires.”
Sophia offered Liv one last smile, which was almost not visible under the large headdress she was wearing, before going out the door.
Liv looked around the living room of Sophia and Clark’s suite. “Okay, come on out.”
The room remained quite still. She was about to call out again when from the shadows, Plato materialized, his head hanging as he crossed the space to her.
“Are you sulking?” she asked him when he took a seat before her.
“Are you angry?” he asked.
“If I remember correctly, and I’m not absolutely sure I do,” Liv began, “you were trying to save my life. That was you, right?”
“You would have fallen into the prism and been lost forever,” Plato said, looking up at her, his green eyes shining brightly. “But no, that wasn’t me. Let’s say it was a friend and I’m just relaying their message.”
“Oh, right,” Liv said, squatting and looking at Plato. “Will you please tell your friend that I appreciate him saving my life, even if he mauled me in the process?”
“Do you believe what they tell you about me?” Plato asked boldly.
Liv thought about it for a moment. He had heard what Rory and others had been saying about lynxes. Plato had pretended not to care,
but the truth was evident on his face. “I believe only that which I see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears and feel with my own heart.”
“What does that mean?” Plato questioned.
“It means that as long as you are by my side, I’ll never question your loyalty, even if I don’t know all the secrets you keep.”
“You are both a wise and naïve magician, Liv Beaufont.” Plato bowed his head to her in a show of respect. “Never, ever change.”
Chapter Forty-Four
The music that filled the House of Seven was eerie, full of haunting notes as Liv descended the stairs to the main floor. Old memories of All Hallow’s Eve washed over her with each step. It felt like coming home as she neared the atrium and dining hall that led to the ballroom and the outside gardens. She had never wanted to return home after leaving, which was why she had made one that she loved. However, looking at the decorations and guests dressed in costumes made her lonely for something she had never thought she’d want again: a family.
When she reached the bottom of the grand staircase, she hesitated, thinking she should race down the opposite hallway and leave. However, it would upset Sophia, and nothing was worth that. The little girl was all that was right about the world. She used her magic for good, smiled and made everything better for it and inspired those around her with her light. If magic had ever been worth protecting, it was now, in the world where Sophia Beaufont lived.
“Let me guess,” a voice said at Liv’s back. “You’re dressed as a magician.”
Liv spun to find Stefan Ludwig wearing a cunning smile and a tweed jacket, his hair parted smartly down the middle. “And who are you supposed to be, a college professor?”
He tightened his tie and slipped his hands into his pocket. “Actually, I’m F. Scott Fitzgerald.”
Liv lifted an eyebrow. “So, when you’re not slaughtering innocent magicians, you’re reading torturous literature? That sounds about right.”
“So you’re not a Fitzgerald fan?”
“Au contrare. I love all torturous literature, especially if it has a beautiful flow. I just never took you as the…type.”
Stefan offered her his arm and smiled. “You know, Liv, in my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my head ever since.”
“Floss in the back?” Liv asked.
“Never judge a man by how he looks, but always judge him by how he treats others.”
Liv looked at the arm he still held out and walked past him. “Well, I guess I’ll withhold judgment.” She halted, thinking of something. “Your family? Are they new to the House of Seven? I don’t remember the Ludwigs.”
He nodded, striding up next to her. “Yes, most in the House were replaced in recent years for different reasons. It is only the Beaufonts, Sinclairs, and Takahashis who remain from the Founders.”
“Yes, and I remember the Mantovani family. I mean, I grew up with them, although Bianca apparently didn’t grow up,” Liv stated, looking at the feast in the next room, which seemed to go on for miles.
Stefan laughed. “Oh, I don’t think ten more lifetimes will mature that magician. She’s a product of elitism, which does no one any good.”
Liv agreed with a nod, not feeling underdressed at all as she looked out at the sea of elaborate costumes. “But yes, the Ludwigs, De Vries, and Rosarios are all new to the Seven, aren’t they?”
He nodded. “They are, and most of us are good, even if you see us as pretentious snobs you’d rather not share a house with.”
“How did your family get chosen?” Liv inquired. “Was it because of bountiful donations or centuries of doing the Seven’s bidding.”
Stefan scanned the room, looking unimpressed. “My grandparents freed an entire village of creatures who were slaves to magicians a few centuries ago. Since then, our name has been on the list and recently came up, giving Raina and me a chance to carry on their legacy.”
Liv yawned loudly. “Nice try. I’ve heard that story a hundred times, though.”
Stefan winked at her. “No, you haven’t, but if you want the complete tale, do look us up in the history books. It is quite a fascinating period, although not one magicians can be proud of.”
Liv excused herself with a nod and strode around the room, hugging the perimeter. She didn’t know many in the crowded space and most had their faces covered, making it impossible to discern who they were. That was why she was shocked when a knight in armor walked straight up to her, grabbed her arm, and tugged her away from the crush.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Liv asked, tugging out from the man’s grip.
He spun and said, “Don’t ask questions. Simply follow me.”
She didn’t know why she did it, but Liv allowed the man to lead her to the gardens.
The lights twinkling in the topiaries were a magical sight that complimented the fire light of the torches stationed around the garden, and the cool, night air was a welcome sensation on her face after the crowded ballroom.
The knight halted when they were between a brick wall and row of shrubs. He twirled his finger in a circle, and all the noises around them faded away. Liv thought she had gone deaf until Clark lifted the knight’s visor to fully reveal his face.
“I put a cloaking spell on us so we can’t be heard or seen,” he explained.
“Well, damn it,” Liv complained. “I wanted everyone to watch while I kicked your ass for being a jerk-face.”
Clark scanned the gardens before meeting Liv’s eyes. “I know I’ve been distant.”
“Distant?” she questioned. “You treat me like I’m a goblin. You won’t even look at me during the Councilors’ interrogations. I could have used your help today, and you—”
“I know,” Clark said in a hush. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I thought…well, I’ve been trying to remain close to the others.”
“Right,” Liv said, rolling her eyes. “Because if you scratch their backs, they’ll—”
“No, Liv,” Clark cut her off. “Because if I can stay close and learn more, I can figure out what’s going on.”
“What?” Liv asked, suddenly confused.
A loud clanging noise arose as Clark reached into his armor. The gesture wasn’t at all graceful. A moment later he withdrew a strip of paper. “Reese left me something, but I only just found it in my stuff. I don’t know how or when she put it there, but I know it’s from her. It has her mark.”
Liv took the piece of paper and opened it, seeing the mark of the butterfly with three antennas, the symbol their sister always put on her correspondence. “Someone could have forged it.”
Clark shook his head. “No, it’s her handwriting. And the way it showed up on my desk? Well, it reminded me of a spell Reese had been working on. She called it the ‘the living will’ spell. The idea was that if anything should happen to someone, upon their death, the message or token or whatever they left for someone would be delivered on the seventh day following their death.”
“And this note?” Liv asked, although she knew the answer.
“It appeared on the morning of the seventh day after her and Ian’s deaths.”
Liv opened the parchment all the way and read through it three times, but it didn’t make any sense to her.
Olivia has the key. You have the heart. Together you must finish what we started.
Love,
Reese.
Liv looked up, not sure what to make of the three sentences. “I have the key to what?”
Clark took the paper back. “That I don’t know. I don’t even know what she meant by the heart, but I know that Ian and Reese were trying to tell us something. We can’t ignore this message.”
For a moment, Liv wanted to pull out the ring in her pocket and show it to Clark, but she still didn’t trust him. “What do you mean, we can’t ignore it?”
Clark looked around for a moment before focusing on her again, his movements tense. “I’m not sure what’s going
on. I think Ian and Reese were onto something. Maybe even our parents, too—”
“Oh, so you’re finally admitting that their deaths were suspect?” Liv asked, cutting him off.
He waved his metal gauntlets at her. “I’m not sure that’s what I’m saying. All I know is that we should stick together and try to learn more. We need evidence and more information.”
“Four people we love have died, and we have nothing to prove that it was suspect except a lot of circumstantial evidence that doesn’t add up. Like, why did they die together? Mom and Dad, and Ian and Reese? Why were their deaths unexplained? And—”
Ian nodded, interrupting her. “I know. It is weird, and I think you’re overly paranoid. I’m probably overly dismissive.”
“Well, as long as you’re finally owning that.”
Clark leaned closer. “There’s something else.”
Liv simply stared at her brother, waiting for his next words.
“I went and checked for the canister in the storage locker after the fact, and it’s missing.”
“What?” Liv asked.
“Yeah, and then I checked the record you provided, and it claims that you said both canisters were destroyed in the explosion,” Clark explained.
“But I brought back one of them,” Liv said and hesitated. “Wait, I did, didn’t I?” Suddenly she couldn’t remember what the reality was: this, or the one Valentino had planted in her head. It was all muddled.
“I think someone was hoping that you’d confuse things, and they’re relying on that now,” Clark said.
The truth dawned on Liv, and she felt a loud ticking in her chest. “Do you think that Adler—”
The look on Clark’s face silenced her. “I don’t know what to believe yet. You shouldn’t either. We need to investigate, but carefully. It feels as though Ian and Reese might have left us clues, but we need to proceed with great caution.”
“Yes, because if someone killed them for what they knew, the exact same thing could happen to us.”
Clark agreed with a nod. “I promise to stick by your side, even if that doesn’t appear to be what I’m doing.”
