“Jude?” I questioned. The name sounded vaguely familiar.
“Yeah, the meeting’s at his house.”
I gulped loudly. I wasn’t sure why, but just hearing his name made my skin crawl. I knew I’d heard that name before. Where had I heard that name? I searched my memories and then it hit me, hard. I’d heard his name that morning. When I’d woken up and heard the voices. I swore I heard Jackie addressing someone by the name of Jude.
“What is it, Meredith?” Blake asked.
I glanced up to him, trying to hide the fear I knew my face was showing. “Jude... I think he’s the man I saw this morning and in 1905.”
“What?” Collin questioned. “What’s going on, Meredith?”
I looked away from Blake and back to Collin. “Please, just let us come in and I’ll explain everything.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” Collin looked annoyed, but he opened the door wider, allowing us in anyway. Even though I had Blake with me now, I was still reeling from the fact that Abby was missing and I was determined to find out what happened to her. Since Jude seemed to be a common denominator in all of this, he was the number one person I wanted to find and see what he knew.
Collin sat down with a stone face as I explained the truth about everything. How it was just a few months ago that I’d discovered I was a witch—an Astoria to be exact—and how the council had sent the Harpers to protect me and then sent me back to 1905 in order to save them. I told him about the real reason behind my trip to London, how Blake had appeared here this morning and that Abby, Blake’s sister, was missing.
When I was finished with my explanation, he sunk back into the couch, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me. You didn’t trust me?”
“I’d just met you,” I said. “I didn’t think leading with all this information was smart.”
“I guess you’re right.” He exhaled loudly. “I knew you were something special, but an Astoria. Wow, gotta say, that is pretty cool.”
After everything I’d just told him, the only thing he could concentrate on was me being an Astoria? What about Abby missing? What about Jude—and how I’d seen him back in 1905 and then, again, this morning?
“Well, what do you think we should do?” Collin looked back and forth between Blake and I. Deep down, I knew that if it were up to Blake, he would fly me out of here, away from the possible danger and away from Jude, but there was no way I was leaving here without finding out if he knew something about Abby’s disappearance.
“I think we need to go to Jude’s. It’s a long shot, but maybe he knows something,” I said, looking directly at Collin, too afraid to look at Blake and see his reaction.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Meredith,” Blake said, his voice guarded.
I knew this was coming. “But we have to do something. Right now, Jude may be our only link to Abby. Maybe he has no idea. Maybe he’s innocent, but until we figure something else out, he’s the only lead we’ve got.”
Blake’s expression was torn. I wasn’t sure what was going through his head, but he didn’t look happy with my plan.
I followed his gaze as he looked towards Collin. “Would you mind staying with Meredith for a while? There’s something I have to do and I don’t want to leave her alone?”
I turned back to Blake, my jaw dropping. How could he even think about leaving at a time like this? “You’re leaving?” I choked out.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
“Can I come with you?” I had just gotten him back; I didn’t want to be apart from him for a second.
“No, it’s best if you stay here.” He grabbed my hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
“Collin?” Blake turned to face him again. “Can you wait to leave until I get back? Then we can all go to Jude’s together.”
Collin shrugged, sensing the tension between us. “Sure, I guess I could wait.”
Blake stood and moved swiftly to the door, leaving me standing near the couch and wondering what the hell was going on. “Are you sure we just can’t come with you?” I called after him.
He turned to face me and gave me a small grin. “Don’t worry. I’m coming back.” He took a few steps towards me, pulled me in close, gave me the softest peck on the lips before turning and heading out the door.
I stood there, my mind swirling at the fact that he had actually left.
“Ugh, you and Romeo are grossing me out.” Collin chuckled softly.
I turned around and glared at him.
“Geez. Lighten up a bit, I was just joking,” he said. “If I was smart, I’d watch what I say around you. You could turn me into something horrible if you really wanted to.” He leaned back in the couch, smiling. “Man, I still can’t believe I’ve been teaching an Astoria, but I can’t say that I’m surprised. The first day you had me under that levitation spell and then the way you picked up that energy transfer spell on the first try, I knew you were powerful, but even then, I didn’t think you could be one of the chosen ones.”
“Chosen ones?” I asked, walking back and falling on the couch beside him.
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve always called them.”
I sighed loudly and couldn’t help but feel that hopelessness eek its way back into my mind. The last week of my life had taken my emotions on one hell of a roller coaster ride. First, I was feeling content back in 1905, then the council unexpectedly transported me back to my time. After a lot of worry, I finally had some hope when Jackie agreed to help me, and then just this morning, Blake returned to me totally out of the blue, but then left me only a couple of hours later!
“Hey, don’t get yourself all upset.” Collin’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Romeo will be back. Besides, you should be pumped...you’re a bloody Astoria. I’d do just about anything to have that kind of power.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. It bothered me that after all that I’d told him, he was still focused on my being an Astoria. “Just so you know, it feels like a curse. Ever since I found out about my powers, it seems like bad luck follows me around. I’m constantly worrying about who’s going to get hurt because of the power I possess. Like right now, it’s killing me. If something happens to Abby, I’ll never forgive myself.” I shivered from the thought.
He looked at me with a sincere expression and I couldn’t lie about the fact that I was actually thankful he was here with me. “Nothing bad will happen... Between Romeo and me, I think we have it covered.”
I sighed in frustration. “Do you take anything seriously? Abby is missing. Someone could’ve taken her and is doing God knows what to her.”
He flinched from my tone. “Sorry. You’re right. It’s a big deal that she’s missing. I was just trying to get you to relax a bit.”
“I’ll relax when we have Abby back.” I crossed my arms and leaned my head back against the couch.
Blake had been gone for about an hour and when he finally returned, the sun had nearly set. He apologized for taking longer than expected, but didn’t offer up any more of an explanation on where he’d been. I wanted to question him about how he had come to the future and where he’d just gone, however my desire to go to Jude’s and figure out what he knew was stronger.
Before we left, Blake pulled me aside and whispered in my ear. “You know I don’t like what we’re doing, right?”
I nodded.
“Well, I only have one thing to ask of you... if I sense any type of danger, you listen to me and follow my instructions.”
I nodded again. Even though I was pretty good at sensing other witches, my skills in sensing danger and dark magic hadn’t been perfected yet. Since Blake was a protector he had a keen sense for those types of things.
Jude’s house was just a couple streets over so we decided to walk and listened to Collin as he told us what he knew about Jude.
“I’ve only met him a couple times. He usually keeps to himself, but is kind of known around here as a re
bel to clean magic. A very powerful rebel, I might add.”
I felt Blake stiffen beside me and I knew that he didn’t like this plan even more now. We both remained silent as we continued to listen to Collin talk. “He’s never gone as far as practicing dark magic—or not that I know of anyway, but if he’s using the time crossing spell without the council’s permission, then maybe he’s changed his ways.”
“You say that like it’s easy to do,” Blake said. “Like crossing time is a simple spell and can easily be done.”
“Well, I’m not saying that it’s easy, but it can be done. It’s not like it used to be. You don’t have to have the council’s power behind you, nor do you have to use a powerful magic from the other side to link the portal. Magic has changed, evolved so much over the last 50 or so years. There are things being done now that you couldn’t have even imagined back in your time,” Collin said, stopping in front of a small house. “Well, we’re here.” He turned to face the house.
“Let’s go in there and see what Jude knows,” I said without hesitation, putting one foot in front of the other.
All of a sudden Blake stretched out his left arm to block my path. “Wait. Something’s not right here,” he said, scanning the darkness around us. My heart began to beat hard against my chest after hearing the urgency in Blake’s voice. Blake inched closer to me and I began to feel the seriousness of whatever was going on. “We need to leave now,” he said, still staring out into the night.
“What’s going on, Blake? What do you see?” I asked.
“It’s not what I see, it’s what I feel. The dark magic, it’s all around us. Can you not sense it?”
I stood there for a moment and noticed that I did feel something, but it was hard for me to say what it was exactly. “I feel a little something.”
“We need to get out of here,” Blake repeated. “Meredith, can you fly?”
“What? I don’t want to leave; I want to find out what’s going on and what Jude knows.” I kept my voice firm.
“Blake, I think you’re overreacting. I don’t feel much of anything, either,” Collin said, glancing around us.
“Meredith.” Blake stood directly in front of me, forcing me to focus on his face. “I’m flying you out of here, whether you like it or not. You can fly or I’ll carry you, the choice is yours.”
“Blake, let’s just talk about this for a minute and—”Before I could finish my sentence, I felt the cold air rush over me; I realized we were flying and that I was in Blake’s arms.
It wasn’t long before we were flying in between a few large buildings, zooming in and out quickly. I had to shut my eyes when it looked like we were going to crash right into the clock tower ahead of us, but when I opened my eyes back up, I realized I was standing on my own two feet again. The room was small and dark. Through the darkness, I could see that only a door with a spiral staircase filled the room.
“You can’t do that, Blake.” My voice came out harsher than I intended. “I said that I wanted to stay and see what Jude knew. Now we’ll never know if he knows anything about Abby or not.”
He was breathing heavy and I expected that was from having to carry me... we had flown across town and we had flown fast.
“It wasn’t safe, Meredith. I couldn’t put you in that kind of danger... not until we figure things out a little more.”
“That was the whole point. We were supposed to go to Jude’s and figure things out.”
He shook his head. “No, I’ll go and see what I can find out. You will stay here where it’s safe. I put a protection spell on this place earlier today, so you don’t have to worry; dark magic can’t get in here.”
I exhaled loudly, trying to control my anger and stopping myself from saying something I’d regret. “Blake, I’m not just going to sit around in this place while the people I care about are in trouble. I want to help. We just left Collin back there all alone. What if something happens to him? I’m not scared of dark magic; I can handle myself!” My voice rose with each word.
“Really? Well, I think you should be scared. There was some very powerful dark magic coming out of that house.”
Slowly, I breathed in and out, trying to control my emotions as I felt like they were on the verge of exploding. I knew Blake only meant well and that his job was to keep me safe, but this... this just wasn’t fair. I wanted to help protect the people I cared about, instead of always being the one who was protected.
“We can stay here for a while until we come up with a plan on what to do next,” Blake said, his voice much more calm now. “Let’s just go upstairs for now and talk it over. There’s a little more room up there.
It was clear to me that Blake wasn’t going to change his mind any time soon. I hoped that he just needed some time and then maybe I could reason with him.
“My things,” I said barely above a whisper. “I’d like to go and get my things from Jackie’s house. We should probably go now while they’re still at Jude’s.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said immediately, not thinking twice about it.
“Blake, I need to get my things. There are pictures of my family there. If we have to leave London, then I want them with me. It’s all I have left of them.”
He nodded once. “Okay, we can go, but it will have to be quick and you’ll have to trust me if we get there and I sense something I don’t like.” He took a couple steps closer to me. “Will you promise to leave with me if I sense anything?”
“Yes, I promise.”
This time we flew side by side and when we landed back at Jackie’s, Blake didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary or dangerous. There was no telling when Jackie would return home, and I still wasn’t sure if I could trust her. So I needed to get in and out of her house as quickly as possible. I ran inside and Blake followed close behind me. We both began shoving the few things I had brought from home into my suitcase. It took a total of five minutes to pack up my belongings. My heart hurt knowing that this was what my life had become. This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life running and worrying.
“Ready?” Blake asked, looking at me with nothing but determination on his face.
I nodded, following him out the door and down the hall. “Where will we go?” I questioned.
“For now, back to the clock tower and then we’ll think of a plan,” he answered, taking my hand in his.
Before we reached the front door, Blake stopped short and shoved me behind him. It all happened so fast that my mind didn’t have time to process that something was wrong. He began to back up; pushing me back with each step he took. Just as I was about to question what was going on, the front door swung open and Daniel stood in the doorway. He still looked like himself, but there was also something different about him. He stood there, staring at us with cold, black eyes. His face held no expression as he stared us both down until his eyes finally rested on mine.
Daniel began walking towards us without saying a word. He looked like a zombie, desperate and focused on one thing... and that one thing was me.
“Daniel, where is Collin?” I asked, an eerie feeling rushed through me and I hoped there was a logical explanation for what was happening.
He didn’t answer my question and there was no change in his expression. I kept my eyes focused on him and suddenly, Daniel stopped; his body froze where he stood and I watched in horror as his body crumpled to the floor. When he hit the floor, another image came into view behind him.
“No!” I gasped.
Jackie stood facing us, her eyes just as black and cold as Daniel’s. She wasted no time coming towards us, her eyes focused solely on mine, a look of determination on her face.
“Jackie, what’s going on?” I called out to her, hoping she would answer me, but there was no response.
“Run, Meredith,” Blake said, pushing me back down the hall.
We both ran, taking a right into the kitchen. I was only a few feet from the door when the kitchen table
slid in front of me, blocking my way. I turned around and found myself face to face with Jackie. The wickedness in her eyes made my whole body shiver.
“Let’s not make this difficult, Meredith. It will be so much easier if you just come with me and don’t fight back,” she said, slowly walking towards me.
Blake was in front of me now, taking a protective stance and slowly pushing me backwards. I looked behind me and noticed that we were running out of room and quick. If we were going to get out of here alive, I needed to do something. I glanced around the room, seeing the wall on my left covered with a collection of plates. I closed my eyes and concentrated on flinging the plates towards her, one by one. As they began to fly across the room, Jackie reached up her right hand, deflecting each one. At the moment the last plate shattered on the floor, I opened every cabinet door in the kitchen and dishes from every direction began to fly towards her. She held up both hands, deflecting most of them, but she was not able to fend them all off. As a number of dishes hit her at once, causing her to collapse towards the floor, we made our move.
Blake shoved the table out of the way and finally we were able to reach the door. It took only a couple seconds before he scooped me up in his arms and we were flying. I tried to process what the hell had just happened and how Jackie and Daniel could’ve turned on me like that. It made no sense. Daniel had said he would be my protector only days before and I felt like Jackie and I had been getting along just fine. What was going on? Then my stomach clenched as I thought about Collin. The last time I had seen him he was standing in front of Jude’s house, the same house where Jackie and Daniel had been, and both of them were now coming after me looking crazy and possessed.
After a couple minutes, Blake and I landed back at the clock tower. He carried me up the spiral staircase, set me down, and turned on a lantern behind him.
“Are you alright?” he asked, coming back over to me and cupping my face in his hands.
Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) Page 12
