Valor: The Custos Saga
Page 27
“Why don’t we all enter my study to discuss it?” Landon motioned toward the doorway.
Madame Lulu strolled in that direction, head held high, a frown creasing her face. Angelica could only think that the Reckoning had come, and she had not figured out what small event had transpired so that she could correct it.
Angelica looked to Roxy, who raised her eyebrows and tucked her short hair behind her ear. They followed her into the study with Gabney and Griffen trailing behind.
Inside Mr. White sat on a chair near the fireplace with a briefcase in his lap. He looked up as they all entered and his hands immediately folded on top of the brown case.
Madame Lulu sank into one of the overstuffed high back chairs and twiddled with a handkerchief in her hands.
“I swore I’d never be involved in Vindica business, but due to personal concerns, I have changed my mind.” She stopped and swallowed.
Angelica, who watched her closely, felt something off.
“I don’t wish to discuss these matters as of yet.” Again, she paused.
Angelica allowed the room to open for her. Thoughts flowing around, but Madame Lulu remained a black hole.
“However, I do need you people to prevent the world coming to an end, so I’ve decided to offer a bit of help.”
Angelica cleared her throat as the rest of the room remained silent. “Help in what form?”
Roxy nodded her head as she glanced from Angelica to Madame Lulu.
“It’s your blood.” Madame Lulu focused in on Angelica. “The Reckoning begins with your blood. I can see that you don’t cause it, but it’s what your blood is used for that does. The visions have not been definitive, but the glimpse shows this.”
Roxy looked to Angelica. “So we need to make sure wherever your blood has been has been destroyed?”
Angelica nodded, her thoughts drifting to Kline. Had the sample really been destroyed? She’d need to see him and make sure of it herself.
“Mr. White, we will need to have that sample destroyed at the lab.”
“Of course, of course,” he said, his fingers twitching. “Preliminary results are in, so we’ll just have to say whatever we have done is enough. Dr. Warrick said he was nearly finished anyway. Doesn’t usually take this long, you see.” He came to a sudden stop, looking at Madame Lulu.
“Preliminary results?” Angelica asked. “Anything I need to know yet? I mean it may help answer why it’s my blood.”
“He’d only tell me unnaturally high Custos levels.” His eyes didn’t meet Angelica’s. Her cheeks burned. Kline had told her the truth.
“Madame Lulu, did you see why it was my blood?” Angelica asked her.
Madame Lulu shrugged. “I’m only a seer. That answer hasn’t become part of the future yet. Let’s hope you can stop it before it does.”
Gabney squeaked. “What about the book? Did losing it change the future?”
Angelica felt the guilt squatting inside Gabney. She blamed herself for the loss of the book. If she hadn’t believed Cain needed her help, she wouldn’t have gone and been captured.
Madame Lulu’s forehead wrinkled deeply. “The books bring trouble.”
She stood. Angelica could feel her anger right below the surface.
“Those books,” she spoke deeply, “contain ancient practices you no longer believe in, but they also hold secrets. Danger comes with acquiring them, but you must possess them if you hope to survive what is coming.”
She looked down at Angelica through narrowed slits, studying her for a moment. Angelica did not blink.
The woman hid her own secrets.
“I’ll see myself out.” She nodded to John, “When the time is necessary, you may find me.”
She spoke this last bit to Angelica and then strolled out the room.
“That woman is unnerving,” Gabney said, rubbing her jaw as if she’d been clenching it the entire time.
Griffen nodded and took her hand in his. Angelica had noticed that they’d disappeared together earlier and that they’d chosen seats together now. Finally, something good.
“So it’s not over,” Roxy said, her lips set in determination.
“It is for tonight,” John spoke slowly, considering his words. “Eleanor told me once that it was best that our enemies have a face. No matter the heartbreak, it is important to know who our allies are.”
Roxy glanced to Angelica and smiled. “I agree. I’m angry that we didn’t see it before. I mean, all their things were cleared out before tonight. They planned all of this. I feel…”
“Betrayed.” Gabney finished.
“For the most part though,” Griffen said, squeezing Gabney’s hand and smiling at her, “we were really lucky tonight. Things could have been far worse with all those people showing up. What was that thing?” He looked to Angelica.
John said, “Detective Gavin has the body of our mystery guest. He assures me we will know something by morning.”
Angelica looked to John and even without his mind open to her, she knew he wanted the answer to come from scientific proof. He was hedging to lighten the fear he knew would set in.
Some of whom they’d feared had disappeared from the city tonight; first she’d felt Cain and then Reximortum leave. She’d felt a slight sting as they’d abandoned her to what was coming. She’d lost the book, but instinct told her not to worry yet.
“So this is our team,” Roxy said, looking around the room.
Mr. White coughed. “What are we going to do about the book though?”
“For now we don’t need the book,” Angelica said. “Rosemary left us what we need.”
John leaned forward in his seat. “You found something in Rosemary’s book?”
Angelica pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. A paper she’d transferred words and notes onto in an attempt to cling to the hope that she hadn’t lost. The truth of the books had been locked inside that trunk this entire time. If only she’d trusted her instincts instead of Lily’s warnings. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Rosemary was a fan of Stanley Harrison’s musings on the Vindica, and he said history lies in the five books. To find our origins and our future, one must find where the books lead.”
Angelica paused, as the printed words burned through her anguish and aching. Rosemary’s words looped through her memory.
“Rosemary believed that the books were only part of what originally existed. I believe the books lead back to something, another book perhaps and that’s the book we need.”
Kline had said his boss only wanted one page from the book. This had to be why.
Griffen’s forehead scrunched into the three lines of thought she’d come to like. “So the books contain clues on how to find the original?”
Angelica clutched her notes tightly. “The original that belonged to the Custos not the hybrids. Rosemary knew Reximortum hadn’t figured it out because he was interested in the book’s other attributes, but I believe Cain may figure it out.”
Gabney frowned. “But we don’t have the first clue because Cain has the book.”
“Rosemary copied what we needed into her book.”
She rubbed her thumb against the folded sheet.
One must lose to let another believe they’ve won.
Rosemary’s words written above her notes. Perhaps she’d foreseen the loss of the book. It didn’t matter. She’d guaranteed Angelica could succeed even when it seemed as though she’d lost everything.
She’d be ready next time.
Valor wasn’t dead.
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JESSICA TASTET is the author of three novels and a children’s story. She’s worked as an English teacher for eighteen years and an editor for five years. She lives in Louisiana with her family.
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