FAUSTINE (Bonfire Chronicles Book One)

by Rose, Imogen

  “Perhaps, but it’s not my business to dwell on old sovereigns. My job is to rule the demons in New York. Quite a job that’s proving to be!”

  “Faustine, if you’re done eating, we should go to school,” Taylor interrupted.

  She was right. This conversation needed to be continued later, though.

  The school day started out as a snooze-fest, much like yesterday. My main objective was to talk to Ryker and find out what the heck was going on. If he was going to break-up with me, he could at least tell me properly, even via text. Just grumping at me was unacceptable.

  I spotted him on my way to the cafeteria. I’d have to blow off lunch, but this was important.

  “Ryker, hold up,” I yelled, running up to him and grabbing hold of his elbow, firmly, so that he couldn’t avoid me. “We need to talk.”

  He turned around and looked down at me intently. I was sure he was trying to convey something, but nothing was coming through. He raised his eyebrows, questioningly.

  I shrugged “Nothing. Talk to me, or text. Just let me know what’s going on.”

  He grabbed hold of my shoulders, and I immediately felt myself floating in a weightless, warm blanket. My eyelids were forced shut, but I opened them as soon as I felt something firm beneath my feet. We were back in my bedroom. Got to love wandering!

  “Start talking,” I said sullenly. I couldn’t bear to look at him while he dumped me, so I sat down on the bed and stared at my shoes–red, quilted Chanel ballet flats.

  “Faustine, I’ve been told to stay away from you.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, but the orders came directly from Spencer Darley–our global Sigma-W leader–so I don’t have a choice. I’m sick about it.”

  “I met Spencer at the meeting we had. He seemed nice. Why on earth would he prevent you from seeing me?”

  “Like I said, I don’t know. I didn’t speak with him directly. He sent his wife, Amadea. She made it clear that she wasn’t answering questions.”

  Geez.

  “I did come over to watch at Pauline’s....” he continued.

  “You were there?”

  “Yes, it was before I got my orders. I was waiting outside by the car, just in case you needed help. I should have come inside... What happened to Luke?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I traveled through the dimensions trying to find him once you guys left. Nothing. And that’s when Amadea appeared at my side and told me to stay away, not to get involved.”

  That sucked. I had hoped that of all the paranormal sovereigns I had met, Spencer would have my back. Why would I even think that? His calm, almost fatherly, countenance had fooled me completely.

  “Whatever is going on with your dad is obviously very dangerous, Faustine. I don’t know who’s involved or why. I’ve been tracking you as much as I can, hoping that Amadea doesn’t find out. I was even at the Plaza when you were having tea with that other demon. There was a dark aura surrounding her. That’s why I warned you.”

  “You were the breeze that whispered?”

  He nodded.

  Why should I believe him over my own kind? Ryker and I had only become friends a few days ago. Before that, we’d never even spoken. Sudden changes should be regarded with suspicion. Sure, it could be attributed to Neave setting us up. But there could be more. Neave may have been manipulated. Perhaps I was being manipulated. The Academy’s second rule had to be heeded: Trust no one.

  I felt an overwhelming need to trust someone. Anyone! Maybe I should get a pet, a small dog? With my luck it would probably turn out to be a demon-hating shifter. Sigh.

  Ryker laughed.

  “What?” I asked, annoyed.

  “Cute Chihuahua visual...” he smiled.

  “You read my mind? You visualized my thoughts?” I screeched and threw him across the room. His head bounced off the wall, and he slid to the floor in a heap.

  “Sheesh, Faustine! That was a little unnecessary, don’t you think?”

  “No, I don’t! What the heck are you doing invading my thoughts? Who gave you permission?”

  “You did. Your wall isn’t up.”

  I closed my eyes, willing a shield around my thoughts.

  “Wow, you really suck at that,” he remarked.

  “Gee, thanks!” I tried harder.

  “Good job, I can’t hear you at all anymore. You should have that shield up at all times, especially now with all these new paranormals in your life. By the way, do you suck as bad at reading thoughts as you do shielding them?”

  “Drop your shield, and I’ll tell you,” I challenged.

  He chuckled.

  “It’s not up, is it?” I asked, turning crimson.

  “I never have it up when I’m alone with you. I just assumed we could communicate without using words that way. So much easier.”

  Maybe I was less than half demon, like Taylor, and therefore not fit to be a princess. I slumped on my bed, feeling defeated. Perhaps I was my mother’s daughter. Maybe I should give up on the demon thing and follow in my mom’s footsteps, instead.

  “I can’t see you as an Upper East Side anesthesiologist, going back and forth to Lenox Hill every day.”

  “Stupid shield,” I muttered.

  “Faustine, this is serious. Didn’t you learn all this at the Academy?”

  I shook my head. “No, I had so many other issues that I didn’t have time for some of the basics. I guess they thought I knew all that stuff already....”

  “Let me teach you?” Ryker offered. “You can trust me, really.”

  “All right, but if you just read my mind, you know I’m having issues with the trust thing. Don’t take it personally. I don’t know if I can even trust myself at this point.”

  Ryker spent the rest of the afternoon going through mind control exercises with me. It was exhausting, and I must have fallen asleep at some point. I woke up feeling slightly disoriented, but remembered to shield my thoughts right away. I could hear voices coming from outside my door, from the living room. At least my enhanced hearing was working! It was Mom and Alexandra. There was a knock at my door moments later. I had just tapped into my mother’s thoughts successfully, so was prepared for....

  “Why did you cut school, Faustine? Are you ill?”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling good, so I came home,” I lied.

  “Well, your principal called me. You must get permission from the school before coming home. Will you try to remember that? Please.”

  “Yes. Sorry about that. I’m still getting used to all the new rules.”

  “Are you feeling well enough to talk to me?” Alexandra asked.

  “Sure!” Hopefully, she had some news about Dad.

  “Private demon biz?” Mom laughed, and then left us.

  “I’m impressed,” Alexandra remarked. “You have your shield up.”

  “As do you,” I smiled.

  She laughed. “There are things in here,” she said pointing to her head, “you really don’t want to visualize. Trust me.”

  Maybe not, but I would love a peek. I managed to keep that little thought to myself.

  “I do have some news,” she offered.

  “Did you find Dad? Or Luke?”

  “No, I’m afraid not. I did, however, speak to Edith about it.”

  “Oh, can we trust her?”

  “No. But I need her to think that I trust her, so this was a good opportunity to project that appearance.”

  “Why do you need her to think that you trust her?”

  “Oh, another matter. It has nothing to do with this. Anyhow, she agreed to help us track Kismet. Kismet is quite a rare treasure; all paranormals seem to value her existence, so I knew Edith would be fairly amenable to tracking her for us. I didn’t mention Sebastian or Luke. Hopefully, we’ll get some leads–or even find them–when we are tracking Kismet. I understand you’ve tried tracking her before. Who did you track her through? I assume it wasn’t you, since you’ve never met her.”
>
  “Luke was tracking her, remember? And he’s not here. So what do we do now?”

  “We need to find someone else who knew Kismet.”

  “Someone else receptive to visions?”

  “Yes. And I think I know just the right person–Taylor. She knows Kismet from school. They aren’t friends, but I think Taylor knows her well enough to be able to see her.”

  “But would Taylor even agree to it? It’s not an easy task. And she could disappear, just like Luke.”

  “We’ll take precautions to make sure she doesn’t. I won’t let that happen,” Alexandra assured me.

  “Why would she agree, though?” I asked, totally unconvinced that Taylor would want anything to do with this.

  “To ingratiate herself with Edith, in the hope that she gets taken under the wing of the most powerful witch in Manhattan.”

  I guess.

  Once Alexandra left, I went to find Mom. It felt so wrong to exclude her from my life like this. Everyone said I had to exclude her to protect her–to protect her from being abducted and potentially tortured for information. It didn’t make any sense. If someone wanted to kidnap her and use her against me, they would, no matter what. The sheer act of taking her would unleash my entire demon wrath, and Dad’s. He loved her. So, did they think that knowing about stuff would freak her out? Was that the reason? If so, that was just silly. Heck, it freaked me out! Mom was a big girl. She could take it. I would at least test the waters. I needed to be able to talk to Mom. In Dad’s absence, she was the only one I could truly trust.

  “Mom, are you busy?” I asked, wandering into her suite.

  “No. I’m on call, though. So if my pager goes off, I’ll have to go in. What’s up? Hungry?”

  I was.

  She smiled. Mom radar. We walked to the kitchen, and she threw a steak on the indoor Hibachi. The tantalizing sizzle and incredible smell of grilling meat made my mouth water. She caramelized some onions and made a Gorgonzola sauce as garnish for her steak, but served mine the way I liked it. Naked.

  I devoured it in silence, and then looked up at Mom, who was picking at her plate. “Mom, have you heard from Dad at all?”

  “Faustine, I’m not an idiot. I know he’s been missing since you came home.”

  I nodded. “Any idea where he might be?”

  “No. But, honey, he’ll show up. I’m sure the appropriate authorities are trying to locate him. He’ll come back. He has to,” she said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

  “Mom, how much do you know about all the demon stuff?”

  “Probably not as much as you. I knew something was up when you asked to meet Alexandra–very unusual. Care to tell me what that was about? Much as I enjoy shopping with her, I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. Be careful.”

  “Mom, Dad named me as his successor.”

  “Well, that’s just ridiculous! Successor? What was he thinking? What about his older children? Besides, he’ll be back.”

  “He named me, so that’s just the way it is.”

  She shook her head. “Well. I won’t allow you to move to London....”

  “I don’t have to,” I reassured her. “I’m going to govern via proxy. I have the details worked out, so there is no need to worry about that. The coronation is next week. I want you to come.”

  “Hon, I still think this is an awful idea. I mean, you’re just back from St. Moritz, just started at a new school. You really ought to concentrate on that.”

  “Oh, believe me, if I had any choice, I would! I want to respect Dad’s wishes, however, and being the demon sovereign places me in a better position to find him.”

  She nodded. “I’ll be there, right by your side, and help you in any way I can. I’m glad you felt you could confide in me,” she said gratefully.

  I debated telling her about Peter’s death and Kismet’s disappearance, but decided against it. That information would make her freak, and she’d have Tessa contain me in my room for like–forever.

  She suddenly reached for her cell phone on the table beside her, but then stopped and looked me up and down.

  “What?” I asked concerned. “You don’t like this color on me?” I asked, looking down at my shoes.

  She laughed. “It’s an appropriate color, don’t you think?”

  “I guess. Red’s a bit cliché, though.”

  “I was actually about to call Manuel and ask him to come over. You’re going to need something spectacular for the coronation.”

  I wondered if I could find a way of accessorizing my something spectacular with Ryker.

  Watching Ryker kick the soccer ball around with the rest of the varsity team was boring, even though he did look kind of cute in the green team shorts. It was just a practice; surely he could take a little break and let me know why he needed to see me so urgently. Normally, I wouldn’t mind hanging out in Central Park, but today, a slight drizzle sprinkled down on us. It was just a mist, but catastrophic for my hair. I looked at the girls gathered by the sideline. I’d say at least half of them looked like they would rather have their legs waxed than hang out here, getting a natural afro for all their hair-straightening efforts. I was tempted to bail. But Ryker apparently needed to talk to me urgently, and right after practice would be his first opportunity. So, I twiddled my thumbs as I waited. Would it be a punishable offense to bring out a book and read while I waited? As I reached for my book, the whistle blew, and the sweaty bodies came running up to the sideline.

  “Wassup?” I asked, while trying not to inhale the putrid aroma oozing from Ryker. Blech.

  He laughed as he planted a kiss on my forehead, and surreptitiously slipped me a note. Then, he was gone. To the nearest showers, hopefully.

  I waited until I was safely in my room before I retrieved the crumpled bit of paper from my bag and peeked at it. It had my half sister Katerina’s contact information scribbled on it. How on earth had Ryker managed to get hold of it? I didn’t really care how, I was just grateful that he had passed it on to me.

  So, now I could track down Katerina. The address wasn’t far from my building. Perhaps I should walk over there and introduce myself. I didn’t know anything about her, though. I didn’t even know what she looked like. Now that I had a last name–Miller–the best option was probably to look her up on Alexandra’s database. I had to head over there shortly anyway, on my way to visit with Edith.

  I had persuaded Neave to accompany me to Edith’s. I felt I needed my own witch with me, to scope Edith out. Neave wasn’t enthusiastic when I told her that we were visiting the sovereign witch of New York.

  “Edith?”

  “Yeah! Do you know her?”

  “Not exactly. I know of her. She doesn’t associate with common witches like me unless she absolutely has to. I’ve been to events she’s presided over. She’s quite a character. She appears very flaky, but is apparently super sharp. Her only weakness seems to be Michael Bolton. She turns to mush in his presence,” Neave snickered. “She’s from the Boston area, you know, originally. But she spent a lot of time in Mississippi before she was summoned to New York. She talks in a southern-Boston-mix. She’s hard to understand at times.”

  “Interesting. I would have assumed that the sovereign witch had to be a native of New York.”

  “No. Witch sovereigns are elected. It’s not the same as the demon sovereigns where the current sovereign selects his or her successor. Edith ran an awesome and very successful campaign. Like I said, she’s sharp.”

  “Does she know you, or about you?”

  “I can’t imagine any reason why I would be on her radar,” Neave said, shaking her head.

  We decided that we weren’t going to reveal to Alexandra that Neave was a witch–she was good at shielding herself–unless she was directly asked. Lying would not be a good option, but we would try to keep it secret if we could.

  Neave and I appeared as any other Upper East Side friends off for a wander around the Madison Avenue stores as we made our way to Alexand
ra’s apartment.

  “Oh, you brought a friend? It’s lovely to meet you, but I’m not sure this is a good idea...” Alexandra muttered when I gently encouraged–pushed–Neave through the front door.

  “Queen Alexandra,” I said, formally. “May I present my friend, Neave. Since Luke is unavailable, Neave will be by my side today, to assist me.”

  “It may be more appropriate to have a demon assistant. No offense, Neave. If you really feel the need for one, I can offer you someone from my New York...” she stopped, and then suddenly smiled. “Why didn’t I offer him to you in the first place? Silly me, I should have known that you would need a replacement for Luke. A human is hardly appropriate. My nephew, Matt, would be perfect. I can call him right now, and then you can send your little friend home.”