"Your father, however, has the ability to locate her by virtue of his parentage. I suggest you start there—"
"No, wait!" I said, nearly spilling my coffee as I reached over the table to stop her from leaving. She lifted a brow. "I mean… Maybe you could just lend me some books, or maybe I could have an afternoon to pick your brain on some things—"
"My dear, as powerful as you are, the less you know about magic, the safer we all are."
I let go of her, stunned. "Are you kidding me?"
"No. Your mother would've taken the Clanmaster role after me. She was powerful enough. And with your fathers undiluted bloodline, your magic is greater than some of my best clansmen." As she spoke, her gaze betrayed no emotion. "Frankly, I would've been satisfied to have never told you about magic at all. You're a danger to us all, if only because you can't be stopped."
"I can be," I said, defiantly. "Gavon's apprentice and I are evenly matched. You'd better be glad I'm on your side."
"You were children then," she said. "I'm sure that boy is far stronger than you now."
Wanna bet? I didn't voice that thought. "Gram, I need help. If Cyrus is planning something, if he's gathering magicals on this side—we have to do something." Helplessness finally seeped into my voice. "I have no idea what I'm doing."
"Your sister will turn up when she's run out of money or handsome men to give it to her," Gram said, brushing the front of her jacket as if removing my presence from it. "In the meantime, get out of my town."
"It's not your town," I snarled. "It's a free—"
But I couldn't even finish that thought. Before I knew it, I was being magically transported out of the coffee shop, landing on my rear on the outskirts of the town.
And, horrifically, the memories of the conversation floated away like clouds on the breeze until I couldn't remember why I'd come to Salem in the first place.
Fourteen
Before we'd eaten all the turkey leftovers, Nicole had turned on the holiday spirit. I awoke the day after Thanksgiving to a house covered in red and green, and a fake tree that Nicole was adorning while singing Christmas carols. At first, I thought it was just Nicole being her overly cheery self, but then I began to sense an ulterior motive.
"Isn't it so nice that we're together during the holidays?" Nicole said. "Imagine people who don't live with their families. How hard it must be to have to celebrate Christmas alone?"
I decided not to remind Nicole that both Marie and I could be home in the blink of an eye, should we choose to be.
Her holiday merrymaking (and guilt-tripping) was getting on my nerves, so I decided to head to New Orleans to find some new books to read. Even in late fall, the city was sticky, hot, and uncomfortable. But the tourists were few and far between, and I had a little bounce in my step when I saw the same cute guy at the counter.
He glanced up at the open door, and I could've sworn his eyes lit up. "Haven't seen you around here lately."
I gulped and my cheeks grew warm. He remembered me? "I…uh…I've been busy at school."
"Yeah? You go to Loyola?"
I had to laugh at that. "No, I'm in high school."
"Really?" He eyed me. "You sure? You look twenty."
My face grew even hotter; I was sure I looked like a tomato. "No, I'm seventeen."
"No way." His smile sent my pulse into overdrive, and I knew if I didn't get away, I'd probably do something stupid—like blurt out that I was a magical teenager or that I thought his eyes were pretty. Instead, I awkwardly laughed as I inched closer to the back staircase and then made some flimsy excuse as I darted up.
Once I was out of view, I replayed the conversation in my head and regretted even engaging Cute Bookshop Guy at all. Still, he'd thought I was in college. Maybe when I went to Georgetown, I'd emerge from my awkward cocoon into a beautiful, socially confident butterfly.
Grinning to myself, I reached the top of the stairs and breathed in the scent of old books. Closing my eyes, I released magic into the room, searching for something with even the smallest hint of magic.
Instead, it ran into something green and powerful.
"James?"
"What are you doing?" He stood in the center of the room, his head tilted to the left. Although his amused smile told me he'd been watching me for some time.
Oh crap, had he seen my awkward flirting?
"I'm looking for magical books," I snapped, annoyed that I'd embarrassed myself not only in front of Cute Bookstore Guy, but also James. Although I couldn't have cared less about what James thought.
"Why don't you try summoning?" he asked, barely containing his laughter.
My already flustered face grew even more hot. Summoning. Of course that would've been easier than what I'd been doing, which didn't really have a name.
"I don't know why you always do the hardest things first," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"What are you doing here?" I grumbled, not wanting to summon a book in front of him.
"I'm bored."
"Don't you have a girlfriend?" I asked.
"Callista and I are…" He squinted as he trailed off. "She's complicated. Too complicated for me. I think it's over."
"Uh-huh. And how does this affect me?"
"Because although I'm here, I don't have magic," James said with a devilish grin. "And you do, so…"
I didn't like where this was going. "So what?"
"So let's go somewhere! Let's do something fun!"
"We are somewhere," I said, although New Orleans wasn't the kind of city I'd want to spend the day in. "And I'm going home."
"C'mon, Lexie, don't be like that. It's not like you have anywhere else to be."
That was kind of true. I'd planned to spend most of the day avoiding Nicole's guilt-trip, and now that I wasn't so interested in this bookstore anymore, my options were fairly limited.
James wiggled his eyebrows, and the last brick in my wall of resistance came down.
"Fine. Let's go walk around."
"I read a book about New Orleans once," James said as we walked down Royal Street. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over the streets. "A lot of magicals immigrated here from French Canada."
"That explains the magical bookstore," I said, pausing to watch a horse-drawn carriage roll by with tourists.
James snorted and peered into a shop. "This voodoo stuff… Magic or not?"
I shrugged and let my gaze wander to a cheap Chinese-made skull decoration. "To be honest, I have no idea. There are giant holes in my magical understanding. I feel like I'm walking around blind most of the time."
"No kidding. I can't believe how little you know."
I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest. "If you're going to be an asshole, I'm going home."
"No, I mean…it's weird to me how you can be such a strong sparrer and yet don't know things like summoning," James said.
I frowned. "I know how to summon—"
"I mean, you do, but it's like…you don't instinctively know to use magic." He put down the candle. "But when we spar, it's like you've been using it your whole life."
I picked up a photo frame and chewed my lip. "That's because…well… It's because my mother used my magic when she was pregnant with me. I think."
James turned to look at me, confused. "What?"
"That's the only thing I can think of," I said, very interested in the details on the frame. "Because I remember the night she died, and I wasn't born yet."
James stared at the wall, his face twisted in thought for so long that I thought he might turn and call me insane, but then he nodded. "I guess it's because she didn't have a specialty. Gavon said that the magicals here were a lot less powerful than the ones in New Salem."
"If I knew any magicals, I'd agree with you," I said quietly.
If James had a question about my comment, he didn't voice it, because he was already out the door and headed into the store across the street.
"I think all these shops have the same s
tuff," he said, picking up another skull candle almost identical to the one across the street. "Don't think this is magical."
I half-smiled; I could've told him that.
"What about that grandmother of yours?" James asked.
"Who?" Why hadn't I ever heard anything about my mother's mother?
"Your Gram. Leader of Clan Carrigan. The… Oh…" He nodded in understanding. "Wow, that's…rough."
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you remember the end of our match? Do you remember how it ended?"
"Yes, you were about to kill me when…" I stretched my memory. "Something…happened? Somebody stopped it. That's so weird. Why don't I remember who it was?"
"Your grandmother. And I'm guessing when she put that powerful barrier spell around her compound, she also tossed in a memory charm." James shook his head. "You should be able to break it though."
"How?"
"Try."
I concentrated, mentally reaching for the wisps of memory that danced away from me. Last weekend, I had been in Salem, perhaps that was when… I tasted pumpkin spice on my tongue, I heard an argument…
Gram.
"Crap," I wheezed, grabbing the nearest shelf. "What the hell was that?"
"You broke her charm," James said with an impressed nod.
"Not all of it," I said, shaking my foggy head. "Just enough to know I went to go talk to her about something. Whatever it was, she obviously didn't want to help." There was something else I was forgetting, something she'd said that had made me nervous.
"Why did you go see her in the first place?" James scoffed. "She kicked you out of her clan."
"Yeah but…" I stopped trying to grasp the memories. "You're right, I'm completely idiotic when it comes to whatever Gavon didn't teach me—which is a lot. Nicole's useless, Marie's gone, Gavon's gone, and all I wanted was someone to help me."
James rubbed the back of his neck. "Gavon's not gone."
"Haven't seen him." Again, something at the back of my mind tickled in recognition, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it.
"Yeah, but…you know those magical books you've been 'finding' all over the place?"
I stopped in my tracks. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Nope, they're all his," James said.
I glared at the floor. "Why?"
"Probably because he thought you needed some help."
"You know what would be helpful? If he came here and had a conversation with me," I snapped. "I can't believe he thought it was easier to hide books in some library than to just come talk to me."
"Look, I have no idea how Gavon's mind works, and he raised me," James said. "But if he's giving you these books, it's because he thought it was the right thing to do."
"Well, that explains why all the books came from before the Separation." Why hadn't that tipped me off? I shook my head. "I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. I'm such a moron."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. You are a pretty pathetic magical in basic spellcasting."
"Thanks," I said, dripping sarcasm as James grinned at me. I yanked my necklace out from beneath my shirt and glared at it. "Does this spell even work?"
"You know it does." He cleared his throat. "I, James Riley, think Lexie is a really fun person to spend the day with."
The gem warmed, and I glared at him, although it wasn't as hot as usual. "Asshole. I can only imagine that he wanted me to find the truth-telling charm so we could have a conversation."
"I'm sure."
I stewed in my anger for a moment, still unable to believe I'd missed all the signs. Every book had been exactly what I'd been looking for. He'd probably charmed the store. I wonder if Cute Bookshop Guy knew.
"What's the big deal? So Gavon's been giving you his library. Who cares?"
I glared at him. "Well, in the first place, books only do so much. And in the second place…I don't know." Some of my anger deflated. "I guess I was hoping I'd find some hint of the magical world today. Do we still have councils? Are there other clans than Carrigan? Right now, I'd even take a book on the subject."
"Well, why don't we go find one?" James said with a mischievous look. "You've got magic, I've got time to kill. Let's find you a magical book."
I wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I mean…I've been trying—"
"No, you haven't. You've been fumbling around in the darkness like a child." He grinned, even as he insulted me. "It's quite simple. Use your magic to summon exactly what you're looking for."
"Like it's that eas—" I started, but stopped when James quirked a brow. "Fine. I'm sure it's that easy."
"Try it for yourself. Just use your magic to find the thing you want."
I stopped on the sidewalk and closed my eyes, more out of spite and wanting to prove James wrong than because I wanted to. I concentrated on a book from after the Separation. Almost instantly, I felt the tug toward something to the north. But I couldn't wrap my magic around it, couldn't pull it to me like I'd done so many times before. It was like yanking a rope tied to an anvil.
I furrowed my brow. "I can't."
"Yes, you can, just concentrate—"
I opened both eyes. "No, I mean, I found something, but I can't…bring it or whatever. It's stuck."
James' eyes lit up. "Then you found more than just a book. There's only one reason a summon won't work—an anti-summon spell. Which means we'll have to go there ourselves to get it."
"Hang on," I said with a nervous laugh. "If there's an anti-summon spell on it, it's obviously somebody's property. We can't just take it—"
"Who said anything about taking?" James said, standing. "I just want to see where it is."
I narrowed my eyes, sensing something was wrong. "Why?"
He let out a loud sigh. "Because you're not the only one who wants to know what happened in the centuries since New Salem was created. So far, all I've seen of this world is the nonmagical parts. I'd like to see the magical parts, too."
Something about this felt dangerous and stupid, but also kind of exciting. It was the first hint of something that wasn't Clan Carrigan or New Salem, and I was curious, too. And as much as I hated to admit it, having James around—who might not have had magic at the moment, but knew more about it than I did—was convenient.
Case in point. "How do we get there?"
He laid his hand on my arm. "Have you ever transported someone else before?"
I shook my head.
"If you leave half my body behind, I will haunt you forever," he said with a warning glare. But patiently, he explained the steps. First, I sought his body out with my magic, and for the first time, I realized the green aura around him was contained, unlike mine, which seemed to move and throb with every thought. Then I searched for the source of the book, or close to it, and pinpointed the location.
"Ready?" he asked, nerves evident in his voice.
"Ready," I whispered, and, with a prayer, I transported the both of us. I landed wrong and toppled over a pair of stones. Beside me, James yelped in pain.
"Great job, Lexie. Next time, look before you land."
"Don't be shitty. It's my first time," I snapped, wringing out my hands. "And something stopped me from getting into the building."
James sat up and craned his neck to a spot behind me. I followed his gaze, and my breath caught. Even though it was dark, I could tell it was a formidable building with tall spires and thick stone. It didn't look like it belonged in the US, either—almost like an old Irish castle.
"Wow," I breathed. "What is this?"
"I have no idea," James said, walking up to it. "But there's a lot of magic in here."
"It doesn't look like someone's house," I said cautiously. "It looks like—"
"The Boston Magical Library," James said with a grin. He pointed to a spot on the outside of the building. "Says so right there. Looks like you hit the jackpot."
The building was dilapidated, covered in overgrown weeds and vines. Upon closer inspection, even the
iron on the windows looked old and rusted.
"Iron," James said, tapping the bars. "That's why you couldn't summon. Simple, effective anti-magic."
"What does that mean?"
He grinned. "Means I doubt anyone is home. Let's see if we can't get in."
"I'm not so sure about this…" I said, eyeing the iron locks on the windows. "I mean, what if we get caught?"
"By who? The nonmagicals? I doubt they can even see this thing. Probably a lot of Look-away charms on it." James procured a vial from his back pocket. He poured the liquid onto the lock, and it fizzled as it melted away.
"So you carry around iron-dissolving potions just because?" I said with pursed lips.
"Basic defensive precaution," James said, pulling the lock off the door. "You never know when someone will put you in a jail cell."
"James, I really don't think this is a good idea."
"C'mon, Lexie. Live a little. Who knows? There might be books in here. I know how much you love those. Maybe you can take a few new ones home that didn't come from Gavon."
I pursed my lips, still sore about Gavon and his book scavenger hunt.
James wrestled open the door and walked inside. "Cast a light in here, will you?"
I created a ball of magic, illuminating the large space with a bright lavender hue. Once beautiful tile lay dirt-covered and faded beneath my feet. Gold-leaf arches drooped overhead with cobweb-covered chandeliers. But the shelves were empty. This place had long since been abandoned.
"This must've been something at some point," James said, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. "I wonder what happened to all the books?"
"Me too." I ran my hands along the empty shelves, grimacing when they came back dirty. "It kind of fits, you know? It seems like the entire world has moved on from magic. I bet there hasn't been a magical book written since before the Separation."
"Oh, don't be glum," James said. "I'm sure there's something around here. Why don't you try summoning a book?"
"I tried that—"
"Not in here, you haven't. The iron on the windows was preventing you from removing the object. But now that you're here, you should be able to summon one from inside the building."
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