by Nixon, Diana
“Here's the thing, Eileen,” Darcy started, “this morning, I needed to take some documents to the office of Alexis. She wasn’t there, and Beatrice was absent too. I decided to leave the papers on her desk, since the door was open. I was about to leave when my attention was captured by these papers,” she said, pointing to the sheets spread out all over the room. “I looked at them and recognized my grandmother’s handwriting. I pick up a few pages and realized that these are the missing parts of the diary. But not only of the one you had found. There are still a few pages that I don’t understand where to put. The letter in your hands was hidden between the pages. We think that the “F” - means Frederick, since the other pages have references to him too. Everything else is still not that clear.”
“Except for one thing,” said Christian, walking up to me and turning the paper in my hands to the light bulb. At first I thought I was seeing things. Then, when I moved closer and the paper caught the light, I saw the picture hidden on the back.
“This is our tattoo!” still not believing my own eyes, I exclaimed.
“Yes. We couldn’t understand the words of Camilla’s instructions,” Evan said, “but then drew attention to the hidden meaning of the letter. “Light always helps us to see what was hidden by the darkness.” Christian proposed to illuminate the paper, and we saw this.”
“Can you guess, what could it mean?” asked Darcy.
“Only that the tattoos Christian and I have are not accidental. But the letter mentions only mine, then how did Christian get his tattoo?”
“As the letter says, it was done in order to protect you and Catherine. And Christian’s tattoo still remains a mystery,” said Amanda.
“As well as those words about the protection,” added Christian.
“The images you both have, are not just pictures. There are Luckenbooth brooches,” said Darcy, “a symbol of love and fidelity. They were popular in the seventeenth century. Their names come from “The Luckenbooth or Locking Booths” - small shops that were very tiny and could be securely locked at night. They were a feature of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. The first Luckenbooth brooches date from the late XVII century. They were quite small in size and were worn to protect the owner against evil eyes. During the XVIII and XIX centuries the Luckenbooth brooch became larger and more elaborate with inscriptions on the back such as biblical references or the initials of the couple and the date of their betrothal.”
“From 1850 onwards, the intertwined hearts resembling the letter “M” with thistle fleur de lys were used; these came to be called Mary’s Brooches or even Queen Mary’s Brooches. Mary Queen of Scots’s husband, Lord Darnley gave her one.”
“Wow, that’s interesting!” I exclaimed in surprise. “So what did you end up with? Alexis intentionally hid all the pages of diaries, and she didn’t want their contents to become known to anyone else. Christian and I were tattooed intentionally too. Patricia knew Camilla. Could this mean that my mom knows something about this story? And what about Frederic? What he has to do with all this?”
“That’s not all,” said Amanda. “Our genius Evan forgot to mention that Frederic Fairey was the one bound to my father.”
I was absolutely shocked.
“What?!”
“Yeah,” Evan said guiltily rubbing the back of his head. “For some reason I thought I had already told you that.”
“And we are back to our father again,” said Christian. “He'll be back next week and I don’t want to talk to anyone else. We don’t need the extra attention on this. Darcy has already risked too much, taking these papers out of Alexis’s office.”
“Did anyone see you?” I asked.
“No. I didn’t even leave my documents there, so not to draw suspicion,” she said.
“Okay, so we wait for Patrick to come back. Is there anything interesting on the rest of the pages?”
“We read only a portion, but didn’t find anything worthwhile,” said Amanda. “Darcy just brought them recently.”
“Wait, Evan, you said that Patrick had gone along with Alexis. Has she already come back?” I asked confused.
“I saw her this morning,” Darcy said.
“As far as I know, the Congress goes without breaks. Alexis wouldn’t be able to fly to Dever and get back there,” Evan commented.
“Maybe Alexis didn’t go to the Congress? She's not a Keeper, why would she need to go to London?” asked Christian.
“She said was going to the Congress,” pointed Evan. “On the day of her departure she wanted to see me to talk about our additional classes with Eileen.”
“Maybe she just forgot something and returned to pick it up?” Amanda suggested.
“Maybe,” said Christian. Our eyes met and I realized that he didn’t believe in such simple coincidence. Neither did I.
“Look what I’ve found,” suddenly said Evan.
“Today was the presentation of some new candidates for the presidency of Dever. All three of them have presented a good report about their own visions of its future development.
Melanie Wallenberg proposed a new system of determining the ability to control the elements.
Martin Cruz proposed to tighten the requirements for the selection of future Wizardy students.
Patrick Fairey spoke about the changes in the lists of subjects for each faculty and students’ opportunities to choose the number of their classes. It’s a pity that he won’t be allowed to make his ideas a reality, his opponents have a very good support.”
“It turns out that our father was one of the candidates,” Amanda summed up.
“The main question is why Alexis is not listed here,” Evan said. “According to the record’s date, she came to Dever just after these elections. That's what we need to find out. I think we should share our responsibilities, otherwise we will all just get confused completely. I suggest that Amanda and I continue to study the diaries, Darcy will try to learn how Alexis managed to become a head of Dever, Christian will wait for Patrick’s arrival, and Eileen... Well, you just need to think about your own safety.”
“Great! Thank you, Evan. Then I can go to bed at last, since I have nothing else to do here,” I said irritably heading for the door.
“Eileen, don’t get mad,” Evan called. “Your safety is something we all are worried about. If you try to be everywhere at once, it will only ruin our plan.”
“I'll keep an eye on her,” all of a sudden said Christian.
“No, thanks, I don’t need a babysitter!” I hissed, giving him the most evil, which I was capable of glance, and left the room, slamming the door behind me.
“Since when have they become so smart?!” I muttered to myself, walking down the hall to my room. Everyone has decided everything for me and hasn’t even thought to ask my opinion! Let them have it their way. I will decide what to do next on my own.
Chapter 19. First answers (Christian)
“You shouldn’t have said that,” pointed Evan accusingly, as Eileen was gone.
“What was I supposed to do?” I snapped back.
“First, you should calm down and try to talk to her. She is still upset about the party, and then you propose to become her personal babysitter. Think about it, anyone in her place would get mad.”
I wearily sat down on the bed. I really needed to calm down. All those endless questions just drove me crazy. I couldn’t see the end of them and felt really miserable. On top of everything else Eileen hated me like poison.
“I should probably go now,” said Darcy, rising from the floor. “Do you mind, if we leave the papers spread out here? I don’t want to sort them again later.”
“Of course, Christian is used to paper messes in his room,” said Evan, grinning.
”Then, see you guys tomorrow,” she said and went away.
“I need to go too. Maybe I’ll get to talk to Eileen,” Amanda said. “Although I’m not sure she will listen to me today. I'm on the enemy’s side now,” she added, smiling slightly.
Unlike
everyone else, Evan seemed to have no intention of leaving. He sat comfortably on my couch and began to read a page of the diary.
“Are you going to stay and sleep here?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“If that is necessary, yes. But I actually wanted to talk to you without witnesses,” he said, folding his arms.
“I knew you had something on your mind,” I replied, leaning back against the pillows.
“Firstly, Eileen is still angry because of Vanessa. I hope that you won’t allow such a circus to happen ever again. And secondly, I was thinking about her aunt and Camilla. Don’t you think that their communication seems weird? Where could Camilla see her if that woman didn’t have access to Dever?”
“I wish I knew. I think that Eileen doesn’t know everything about her family. They have a lot of secrets. For example, the fact that her grandmother accepted the news of her coming to Dever so easily, or Nora’s assurance that she was Fairey... all of this just blows my mind! What if she really belongs to my family? How can our bond be explained?”
“She can be Fairey only in one case, Christian.”
“Which one?”
“Her father was one of the Fairey’s.”
I stared at Evan speechless. His assumptions were the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard from him.
“No, it's just impossible,” I shook my head. “Eileen never knew her father. He left them before her birth.”
“So what? It means nothing. Perhaps he left them many years ago intentionally?”
“Intentionally? Seriously, Evan, what reasons do you think he had to do that?”
“I don’t know and that is exactly what makes me suspicious.”
“You must be out of your mind, Evan. Though, I can’t blame you for being crazy, man. Sometimes I think that there is no way out of this endless tunnel of mysteries.”
“I think we're on the right track, but let's leave it all till tomorrow. I'm terribly tired and want to get some sleep too. But not on your couch, of course,” Evan said, walking toward the door.
So I was finally left alone. I didn’t know how long I had gone without sleep, trying to add at least some parts of the puzzle, but the next thing I knew it was morning and the phone ringing, waking me up.
“Morning, son. Sorry, I'm calling so early, but your mother happens to have a day off, and she is coming to visit us. Maybe we can go to the town and have lunch somewhere?”
“Hi, Dad. I wanted to talk to you. I thought you would be back in a few days,” rubbing my sleepy eyes I said.
“The Congress ended earlier than we planned. So I’m in Dever already.”
“Excellent! I will take a shower, and see you soon.”
“Well, then, see you later.”
I hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom. I was glad that my father had returned earlier, because I didn’t know how much more I could stand not knowing his side of the story.
His apartment was located in a building adjacent to our dormitory. All the teachers in Dever lived in their own flats. My father offered me to settle with him, but, of course, I refused. I didn’t want to look special in the eyes of other students. Just like Amanda, I hardly survived a semester of his lectures, when with every practical lesson, I became the first student he asked questions. Besides our training classes, we didn’t see each other often. He was constantly busy with his work, and I - with my own studies. Today, however, I was eager to ask him some questions.
I walked to the door of his apartment and pressed the bell button.
“Christian! Come in, I will join you in a moment, just finishing my conversation,” my father said, holding one hand on the phone.
I walked into the living room, where I found his still untouched breakfast on the coffee table. There were two more rooms in the apartment and a spacious kitchen where my mom used to spend most of her time being here with us.
“So what do you want to talk to me about?” he asked, entering the room a few minutes later.
“I have encountered some incomprehensible facts about you recently. For example, why didn’t you tell me about your bond with Frederic Fairey?” I asked him directly.
My father froze.
“How did you know that?” he asked in a barely audible voice.
“So this is true,” I said, seeing his paleness.
“Only a few people know about that, I shouldn’t have admitted you about this.”
“Why not? You can’t make your own son aware of such a bond?” It was really hard to restrain my anger, but I tried to sound calm.
“Christian, it’s not that simple...”
“That is what I already know, Dad. Maybe you will explain to me one more thing. What relationship did you have with Camilla Steward, and how on earth are all those secrets connected to Eileen and me?!”
My last words surprised him even more.
“You know about that too?” he asked, his eyes shocked.
“So let's start from the very beginning,” I said. “I want you to explain everything, because if you try to hide something again, I will try to find it all out by myself, until I reach the truth.”
Dad rose from his chair and walked to the window. He stood with his back to me, so I couldn’t see the look on his face.
“Amelia and I didn’t think you would know everything so soon,” he began.
“Mom is also involved in this mess?”
“She isn’t the only one. It's a long story, Christian.”
“I have plenty of time,” I noted. “Today is Sunday, and you are free of duties as well. So try to humor me.”
“I think we’d better sit down. It will be a long conversation,” he said, inviting me to his office. He sat at his desk, and I - on the chair opposite him. He wearily rubbed his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept for several nights in a row.
“It all started many centuries ago,” he said. “Do you know the legend of the Black Lake?”
“Yes, I just recently read it,” I nodded patiently.
“So, you know how the daughter of Medellin Wizardy died. She partially blamed Gabriel Fairey for that.”
“Are you saying that Gabriel was…”
“Exactly. He was the son of Jason and Gabriela Fairey. It is in honor of his mother that he got his name. She died in childbirth, and Jason decided to give this name to their son. Gabriel’s daughter - Paola was cursed by a woman, whose name has become common knowledge much later. Her name was Gillian Wizardy.”
“Wizardy? So there were more Wizardy besides Medellin?” I wondered.
“Yes. Medellin was her elder sister. She was much stronger and more powerful than Gillian. She didn’t want anyone to know about her existence. That's why she never mentioned her.”
“How did everyone find out about her?”
“Via her curse of course. When the founding families began to think about how to save women from the Fairey family from years of misery, which she predicted, they found her sons. They told them the whole truth about who actually their mother was. They even accepted the offer to move to Dever and to continue their education here. Everybody forgot about those dark times, until Amanda was born. She was the first girl born in our family for the past seven centuries. Everyone thought, including your mom and me, that Amanda was the one destined to take the curse off. But it appeared to be much more complicated. Amanda was only the first link in this chain. After her birth, we learned that there was another girl born in the Fairey family. Eileen.”
I looked blankly at my father.
“What does Eileen have to do with all that, Dad?”
“Eighteen years ago, her mother met with one of the Fairey. They fell in love with each other, and Eileen was the product of their love. Their union wasn’t fixed on paper, but was born in heavens.”
These last words brought to my mind another memory of the legend.
“Are you saying that Eileen’s parents were destined to take the curse off?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, her father couldn’t devote himself to
the new family, as he was already married. His wife wanted to get rid of the child when she learnt about the infidelity. Camilla Steward was a very talented Feta. She read all these experiences on Eileen father’s palm and warned him. Together they began looking for a way to protect the mother and the baby. That is how our friendship with Frederic started.”
“I don’t understand...” I frowned.
“Haven’t you guessed yet?” my dad chuckled.
“Wait a minute… Frederic Fairey is Eileen’s father?” not believing my own words, I asked.
“Yes. He's her father. Camilla knew that there was a boy several years older than Eileen. She was talking about you, Christian. It was then that she invited us to talk about Eileen, so you could keep each other in safety and thereby save us from the centuries-old curse.”
“I can’t believe you're saying all this to me,” I said. “How could you hide it from me for so long? Do you have any idea what she feels now? Eileen is in panic! She doesn’t understand anything! We all are trying to help her, but only more questions appear every day!”
“Christian, I beg you, calm down,” quietly said my father.
“Calm down?! How can I be calm when her life is in danger and I don’t know how to protect her from all those curse’s consequences?”
“Listen to me, please.”
I took several deep breaths.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“When we bound you, we didn’t think about how many consequences this relationship would bring. Now you can’t live without each other, because it’s very dangerous. That is why we are trying to find a way with your mom and Frederic to fix it.”
“We already know everything about the bond, Dad. We are not the first to have it. But the problem is that Eileen has too much power, which she’s not able to handle herself. She possesses the forces of all the elements.”
My father frowned.
“That’s impossible,” he whispered.
“Well, it is possible. Additionally, she somehow got all the abilities of Lillian Wizardy.”
