“What was that?” Kendall asked with haunted eyes.
I shook my head, unable to answer that question. It seemed that, just as darkness pervaded Alexis’s heart, a similar force existed inside Celestina.
“Aunt Serena,” she called from beyond the kitchen.
“Coming,” I said, quickening my stride, lest I upset her. And that idea got under my skin, since I hadn’t responded this way towards Alexis, Delphine, or even Zephora. I probably acted that way because I hadn’t expected Celestina to exhibit the distant behavior of the aforementioned witches. I’d always considered my niece a practitioner of white magic…not black magic. There was no evidence to prove that Celestina dabbled in the dark arts, but her mercurial demeanor led me to believe I shouldn’t discount that possibility going forward.
“Aunt Serena!”
“Come on,” I said to my friends, both of whom looked reluctant to follow me through the kitchen and into the garage, where my niece had called for me. “She’s just a teenager. There’s no reason to be afraid of her.” But I turned the corner after saying those words because I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince them…or myself.
I passed through the kitchen, entered the garage, and found Celestina in the center on the room atop the highest rung of a ladder. Only her knees were visible. The upper half of her body was inside the attic.
“I’ve got it,” she said.
I walked over to the ladder and held it sturdy to ensure that my niece had a stable platform to climb down. When she hit bottom, I stared at the brown, oiled leather book that contained so many pages that her arms trembled from the weight in her hands.
“But Zephora said it was a myth, concocted to fool witches who craved power.”
“Get real, Aunt Serena.”
I gave it more thought and realized that Zephora had lied to protect her own interests. Grams had stated that it existed, so why had I overlooked her knowledge and bought Zephora’s lies? Because it was less stressful that way. After all, why would the witches in our line believe it in its existence for centuries? Usually, a myth remained in place because no evidence supported the theory of whatever lay in question. But in this instance, the book existed, and while it wasn’t available for public scrutiny, those who protected it made sure that the others in our line were aware that it existed.
“Well,” Celestina asked. “I hope there’s a spell in here to trap Zephora’s soul in the box again.”
“Flip it open,” I said.
“I’ve never done that before,” she said, nibbling on her lower lip. “I’ve seen Mom and Granny hold it, but I’ve never seen them open it. They always looked afraid of what might happen.” She just stared at the book, as though expecting something to happen before her eyes. Uncertainty and fear crossed her face. “Would you…” She handed it to me.
If Celestina was second strongest witch in our line’s history, with the exception of Zephora, and she was reluctant to open the book, what made her think I’d want to do it? What if I opened it…and a spell cursed me to hell? Or stole my eyesight? Or removed my magical abilities? There were so many potential negative consequences of opening that book that I…did what my niece did, I just stared at it.
“Really?” Brandon asked, coming up behind me. He snatched the book from Celestina’s hands. “It’s a book, not a rat trap. Opening it up won’t slam a metal spring on your fingers.” He tried cracking it open at the middle, but no matter how much pressure he put into, he couldn’t open it. “Weird!” He tensed his muscles and did his best to pull it open. Soon his face turned red from holding his breath and straining to separate the pages.
“Wow,” Kendall said, feigning enamor. “Just don’t join any bodybuilding competitions anytime soon.”
Brandon gave up attempting to pry it open. Irritated, he stared at the book as his breathing returned to normal. He turned to Celestina. “Do you have a hammer?”
“Really?” I chuckled. “What’ll you want after that? A blowtorch?”
He gave me an annoyed expression. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”
“It’s a book. You open it with your fingers. How would a hammer help?”
Kendall said, “Not unless it was Thor’s hammer.” Even then, The Avengers’ flicks have shown that only Thor or The Vision could pick it up. She nodded at Brandon. “Besides, you don’t need a blow torch. Serena can burn anything you want.”
“Just don’t get the S’mores. My control isn’t that great yet, and I’d hate to accidentally burn your eyebrows off.”
“No eyebrows?” Brandon asked, stroking his chin while giving that thought some consideration. “I bet I can rock that look.” Resigned to his inability to open the book, he handed it to me. “It’s probably a magic thing. Give it a shot.”
I accepted it. The leather shined under the light bulb overhead, and it looked and smelled as if someone had oiled it within the past week. It also had a faint dusty scent, which made sense since it had existed for over three centuries.
“Do you think there’s a spell on it?” I asked. “If the wrong person opens it? Since its real, maybe everything I’ve heard about it is true. Only the person who owns The Book of Souls can read from it or ask it three questions.”
Rather than allow my nerves to get best of me, I decided to plunge right in without considering the consequences of opening the book: I tried to flip the cover, but as with Brandon’s attempt, the book resisted my touch. I attempted to pull some pages back, but they didn’t budge.
“What now?” asked Celestina in an airy tone. She crossed her arms and pressed them tight against her chest as though a chill had invaded her bones.
“I always suspected Grams wanted you to have it.”
Stepping backwards, she waved off the suggestion as her eyebrows lifted in fright. “I don’t want to…”
Celestina didn’t need to finish her sentence. I knew exactly what she feared, the responsibility that came with accepting the book as her own. Who could blame her? If her mother and grandmother were awestruck at all of the knowledge contained within its pages, how could Celestina possibly have the strength of mind to make wise choices, let alone prevent others from stealing it from her?
I tucked the book in the crook of my arm, walked up to my niece with a smile, and curled an arm around her shoulder, pressing her close to me. “Grams wanted you to have it because she believed in you.”
“But she barely knew me.”
“Up until a couple days ago, I knew her all my life.” Just as I planned to continue speaking, emotion clogged my throat, making it impossible to continue.
“What Serena means,” Kendall said, “is that she thought Grams would have given the book to her, but she chose you instead.”
I nodded as the tears in my eyes no longer threatened to tip out and I once more found my voice. “It would have made me feel that much closer to Grams, knowing that she could depend on me to do the right thing.” And speaking that truth made the tears slip down my cheeks. Why wasn’t I good enough? Why didn’t she trust me? Why didn’t she believe in me enough to take on this task?
Now Celestina was the one who held onto me, passing her palm across my back in a circular pattern. This was how I preferred to regard my niece: kind, loving, and non-judgmental. Still, I couldn’t look past how she reacted under more heated circumstances. I tried to put the latter occurrence out of my mind.
“Meanwhile,” Brandon said, “there’s a psychopath in the house jonesing for heroin or some other toxic substance, and she’s planning to kill your family.”
“Huh?” asked Celestina.
“Yeah,” Kendall said. “After your mother helped you out to the car the other night, Zephora told us she planned to murder Serena.”
Celestina stopped trying to comfort me and instead stepped before me to look into my eyes. “But why?” With worry in her eyes and steadfast resolve in her jaw, she said, “We’re family!”
“She tricked Delphine into allowing Zephora’s spirit to enter her b
ody, and then she moved in and locked the door.”
When Celestina offered me a skeptical expression, I said, “Zephora wants vampires and witches and werewolves and every other supernatural entity to return to this dimension so she could rule them.”
“What about people?”
“Our blood for vampires is like V-8 to a human. A nutritious start to every growing vampire’s day. And werewolves? I’m sure they’ll consider us a tasty morsel.”
After I cleared the tears from my cheeks and eyes, I said, “Grams thought you were our best shot at stopping Zephora.”
“Me?” Her shoulders curled inward. “What can I do?”
“Apparently a lot more than we know.”
“But I’m no one special. Even Granny said so.”
Delphine had verbally and physically abused Celestina. Whether her drug abuse had warped her mind or if Zephora had manipulated Delphine into victimizing Celestina didn’t matter. My niece was scared to death of Delphine. With that mental and emotional barrier, Zephora would be an incredibly difficult opponent for Celestina to defeat.
“Your grandmother said those things to convince you that you’re weak. The way you threw me up against the wall and made Kendall and Brandon fly through the air proves otherwise.”
Some of the indecision cleared from Celestina’s face.
I handed her The Book of Souls.
She stared at it for a long moment, took in a slow breath, and let it out as though it might be her last. She reached for the cover and closed her eyes. Then she turned it over.
I expected a gust of wind to pass through the garage or to hear a chain of thunderclouds clap outside. But nothing stirred. No sound erupted overhead. Black ink in unintelligible letters scrawled down the first page. I turned to Kendall, who had minored in foreign languages. “What do you make of it?”
“It’s gibberish, meaningless.”
“Nuh-uh,” said Celestina. She smiled, no doubt feeling special that only she could read The Book of Souls.
“Okay, smarty-pants,” I said. “What’s it say?”
“It lists each of the witches who have owned it. Just below Great Granny’s name…is my name.” Her lips twisted into a smile. “Whoa!”
Kendall and Brandon crowded in close so that the three of us huddled around Celestina. Brandon said, “Well, go ahead. Take it for a spin around the block!”
“Oh yeah,” said my niece. She flipped the first page. Once again, foreign letters appeared down the page.
“It’s a Table of Contents. It has a family history and sets of spells.” She lifted her head, looked at us, and slammed the book shut. “No offense, guys, but I probably shouldn’t be letting you see what’s in here.”
“We can’t read it anyway,” I said, “but that’s your right.”
Hearing noise in the kitchen, we all swung our attention that way.
Alexis stood in the doorway holding a bottle of vodka. “Well, well” she said, eyeing her daughter with keen insight. “I can’t wait to find out what’s inside!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Alexis left the kitchen and approached me with a dubious expression. “But before we get to the book, I have a score to settle with my little sister. “Knocking me out in front of my daughter? Not cool, little sis. Not. Cool. At. All.”
Only Celestina had been in the other room, but for Alexis to know that Celestina had seen the knockout blow, my sister had to have known that Celestina had peered through her eyes. Interesting…and also pretty damn sinister!
Keeping her eyes on mine, Alexis took a gulp from the bottle and licked her lips, as though reluctant to allow even the slightest bead of liquor from escaping her mouth.
“You deserved it,” I said. “But you’re right. I wish Celestina hadn’t seen that. If it’s any consolation, she punished me, so we’re even.”
“Is that right?” Alexis asked with a sly expression as she turned to her daughter. “She punished you?”
Ashamed, Celestina glanced down at her shoes.
“She hung me on the wall like a painting,” I said. “No nails needed. With a flick of the wrist, she sent Kendall and Brandon flying six feet through the hall.”
Alexis nodded, pride eliciting a smile that should have graced a women’s magazine cover. Since we were identical twins, it hurt that my best smile couldn’t even match her worst one.
“Score!” Alexis said, raising a hand for a high-five.
Reluctantly, Celestina tapped it.
“At least be proud of your accomplishments.”
In what world did parents encourage their children to attack their family members? “Should I be looking over my shoulder?” I asked my sister.
“The question is…should I?” She swigged from the bottle. “After all, you sucker-punched me.”
“I knocked you out hoping it would work like a computer reboot. Maybe when you came back online, you’d be smart enough to realize that Zephora is inside our mother’s body, and she plans on killing us. But since you won’t believe that—”
“I don’t know how I forgot about that!” Celestina said.
“It’s called a mental break,” Brandon said, stepping forward, no longer content to stand on the fringes of our conversation. “It’s a common occurrence among kids who abuse their elders. If you want some evidence, watch a slasher flick. The killers are so famous, everyone knows their first names: Freddy, Jason, Michael. And you know what? I think you’re pretty cool. It would be a real shame to add the name, Celestina, to the list.”
Dejected, my niece lowered her gaze.
For all of Brandon’s wackiness, when someone stepped out of line or when times got tough, he always said the right thing at the right moment. And at that moment, I couldn’t have loved him more.
But I didn’t want Celestina to dwell on the possibility of making future mistakes. Likewise, I was uneasy that my sister didn’t acknowledge whether she sought retribution for my attack, but I presumed that by not answering, she wanted me to keep me unsettled. Mission accomplished. I got my sister’s attention. “Think back to when we first met at DePaul. Do you remember how Grams was talking? Like she was in the early part of the 1900s, which makes sense because that was the last time she lived in this dimension. Have you talked to Delphine much since last night? Hear any resemblance?”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “She’s going through withdrawal. Who knows what craziness is dancing in her head?”
How could I reach Alexis? No matter what argument I made, she was either too stubborn or too oblivious to consult reason and reach a logical conclusion.
Alexis grinned, apparently glad to have gotten under my skin.
“Why does she want to kill us?” asked Celestina.
“She doesn’t want to kill you yet, but remember when I said that Zephora wanted to rule the world? Well, if both of you die, all of the vampires, werewolves, shifters, and other creatures will be able to leave Chicago.”
Alexis let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, my God!” She sucked down some more vodka and circled us. “Do you hear yourself? Where are all these werewolves? And shifters? What other monsters are walking the streets? Should we call pest control?” She laughed. “So you’re saying, if there were tons of creatures on the streets like it was Halloween, they’re stuck in Chicago…until me and Celestina die?” She shook her head. “What about you? I guess it’s safe for you to live?”
I didn’t want to answer this question because I knew it would build up her ego. Then again, taking that route might persuade her to believe me. “No.” I paused for effect. “I’m not as important as either of you two.”
My sister stopped and faced me, narrowing her eyes with skepticism.
“I’m not the first daughter in my line, but they’ll want to kill me anyway because I could help you fight Zephora.”
“Bullshit.” Her eyes redirected to Celestina. “I shouldn’t have said that.” She gnashed her teeth in shame, but her eyes looked sincerely apologetic. “I’m sorry.”
> “It’s okay, Mom.” Celestina revealed a small smile. “No biggie.”
“What will it take to convince you that Zephora is evil?” I asked. “For her to put up a canvas painting of Voldemort in the family room? She won’t kill you yet because she needs your power and abilities.”
“For what? If she’s the most powerful witch that ever existed, why would she need us?”
“Darius told me that Celestina is the most powerful witch since Zephora. And she’d be idiotic not to want to manipulate your daughter to achieve her goals.”
“In what way?”
“How should I know? Darius didn’t explain what he meant. Whatever Zephora is planning, she’s thinking only of herself. Not you. Not Celestina. I can only imagine that she wants your help in securing support from all supernatural creatures. She wants complete control.”
“I knew it,” said Celestina.
“Since Darius was the only vampire until recently,” I said, “he must have turned them to kill Brandon, Nolan, and me because we had supernatural abilities. We dusted them, but who’s to stop Darius from creating more nightwalkers? I mean, he turned Kendall into a vampire to piss me off.”
“Did it work?” Alexis asked.
“That doesn’t matter. Kendall does not like being a vampire. Who knows what’ll happen when she craves blood…and there’s only a harmless toddler sitting in a stroller.” I gave Alexis a moment to mull over that idea. “That’s when she’ll face a real test.”
“I’m right here,” said Kendall, annoyed.
Alexis neglected her. “So now what?”
At that moment, the front door opened. “Hello!” said Darius from the doorstep. “Serena, are you here? I’ve got a guitarist-friend of yours you might want to see!”
Fright made my nerves clinch. I turned toward my friends and Celestina. “Don’t move. Stay here.” I hurried out of the garage and towards the front door.
The front door cracked open inch-by-inch until Darius was visible just outside the threshold.
Silverthorn Page 15
