“That’s it. I’m the one mage in the world that blends in with human, right? It makes me an easy spy,” Adelaide added.
Mistel shook her head with her clear deliberation. Suddenly, she made eye contact.
“You know what’s funny? Funnier than the inane lie you are trying to sell me? I think it’s funny that the Hawthorns even know who you are.”
“What?”
Mistel’s face lit up with the realization.
“So you can blend in perfectly as human. So much so that shades have never looked twice at you, which is why you’ve lived so long. Most shades would have torn you to pieces. Your safety was your anonymity, but it turns out, you’ve lost it. So who told your secret to the Hawthorns? How do they know who you are?”
It sounded less like a question and more like a taunt, but it was painfully relevant. Adelaide’s face grew hot and she officially lost her composure.
“I screwed up once or twice. I was just trying to look into magic. To find other people that could do what I could,” she admitted.
“But you had me,” Mistel whispered.
Adelaide was surprised by how much her eyes burned.
“I was looking for mages; I wasn’t looking for shades,” she said and it hurt her to say it. The shade in front of her hadn’t always been a monster. In life, she had been a mage once. In life, she had been Adelaide’s cousin. That was the reason Mistel always knew her secret and Adelaide always ran away from her. The woman today wasn’t her cousin anymore as far as Adelaide was concerned. She was just a monster and, if Adelaide waited long enough, Mistel would prove it. The shade was mercifully calm though, at the moment.
“Well, you did a great job of finding mages then,” Mistel said. The shade took to pacing. “So the Hawthorns have met you in person? They know who you are?”
Adelaide nodded. It was embarrassing, but a solid case of ‘had she’d known then what she knew now’ it wouldn’t have happened.
“They do, but they didn’t try to kill me. They will spare me and I will be doing better than I was before!”
Then Mistel snapped.
“You’re an idiot. Nothing will be better for you ever again!” she screamed.
Mistel crossed the room in seconds. Adelaide backpedaled, but she couldn’t escape her in time. The shade knocked her sideways, into the table. The wood collapsed under Adelaide’s weight and she hit the floor.
“Stop! Stop!” Adelaide held her hands before her face. She struggled to feel the magic within her chest, to conjure anything to help her survive, but she struggled. Mistel, on the other hand, did not.
“You’ve really fucked up, Adelaide. You could have pretended to be a human forever. Or you could have joined my coven and rejoined the only real family you have left in this world. But now you’ve put your head on the chopping block for the Hawthorns instead.”
Mistel’s words were harsh but the shade never attempted to strike out again. Adelaide stood on shaking knees and collected herself. The fall had hurt but her attempt to rapidly conjure magic hurt more. She focused on speaking over the pain.
“Not everything to do with other shades has to end badly. They promised me protection! I can do this task for them. It’ll be easy, and hell, Mistel, maybe if I curry favor with the Hawthorn coven then I can help you too. I know you’re not doing well at your coven now. They can help you.”
Mistel laughed bitterly. “I don’t need your help,” she hissed. Within seconds, she left Adelaide to stand there alone.
Minutes passed before Adelaide finally animated. She checked the doors and the windows. She double-checked that every bolt was in place and every exit was closed up. There was no telling when Mistel would come back, but she felt reasonably safe now. The shade had made numerous appearances in her life and had never done anything truly harmful.
By the time she returned to her bed, exhaustion overtook her. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she woke to the sound of knocking. She heard it and ignored it until a voice followed.
“Adelaide, it’s me. Are you there?”
She suddenly perked up. The sound of the voice pierced the lingering haze in her mind. She sprung from the bed. Her body was sore from yesterday, but she still made a mad dash to the door. How long Adam had been waiting, she wasn’t sure. She passed the front window and saw the red Jeep outside so at least he hadn’t given up. She hurried to unbolt the locks and she threw the door open.
“Hi Adam,” she whimpered. She struggled not to sound as winded as she felt, but likely failed. Both of his eyebrows rose when he caught sight of her appearance.
“Sorry, I’m so sorry. I have no idea how I overslept.”
He kept watching her. She hadn’t checked a mirror, but knew that the last night couldn’t have been kind to her. Her makeup from yesterday awkwardly caked her face and her artificial curls had fallen into disarray.
“Um, you,” he stopped. His face had flushed.
“You’re welcome to sit, but I still need a little bit. Am I making you crazy late?”
“You’re…you’re changing?”
She paused and tilted her head.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” she gasped when it hit her. She hadn’t changed from her sheer nightgown. The number might not have classified as lingerie, but she suddenly felt naked in it.
“Oh geez. I’ll be right back.” Feeling lightheaded, she was lucky she could conjure words at all. Hurrying to her bedroom, she left him on the porch. She shut her door and went straight into overdrive. Tearing clothes from the closet, she put together the first matching outfit she could find.
Adelaide slowed only to peer closer into the mirror. Her skin had held up well and she didn’t see any visible bruises from last night. She brushed out the last of the curls until her black hair fluffed around her shoulders and tried on the shiest smile she could manage. When she came back, Adam stood in the living room. His attention fixated on the kitchen.
“I’m sorry for being late,” she admitted. While she wasn’t above that brand of subtle flirtation, she hadn’t mentally prepared herself for it either. She didn’t control the situation.
“You should stop apologizing. Its fine,” he said, but sounded unsure. His cheeks still held a pink hue but he managed a straight face. When he sized her up this time, he seemed to relax.
“I came early,” he pointed out. “That’s my bad. We have to exchange numbers to stop the awkward house calls…”
This time she snagged a look at the clock in the corner. Its metal hands and painted numbers agreed.
“Good plan,” she said, feeling a little a bit better. While there was no reason to sleep so late, it wasn’t all her fault.
“Why did you come so early? Did your family move up the time?”
Adam became engrossed in the carpet for a few moments. The sounds of the outside world in the morning slipped in the windows, allowing for a lull in the conversation that didn’t feel awkward. Children yelled somewhere down the street, cars rumbled by, and neighbors spoke loudly.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said. “It’s been bugging me since last night. And my feeling around here hasn’t changed.”
She sobered at his evaluation. Maybe it was Mistel’s coming that Adam sensed. Maybe it was even something worse. She steeled herself with the reminder that she was protected still.
“I’m still in one piece. See, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Adam frowned but said nothing.
“If we’re going nowhere immediately, make yourself at home.”
He agreed and she remembered how to act normal. She remembered how to be human.
Four
“What’s wrong?”
She forgot about the glasses she was rinsing in the sink and turned off the water faucet. Drying her hands on her own jeans, she crept back around the kitchen island. His visit had been going well, she thought. They shifted from polite chit-chat to conversations regarding music, concerts, and schooling. They talked about favorit
e cars, places to go, and hobbies outside of work. She felt like the change in conversation, though not necessarily deep, was a step in the right direction.
He went quiet and interrupted the natural flow of the conversation. Adam sat at the edge of his seat, hands folded under his chin and eyes downcast, like he hedged on bad news.
“It’s about time to go,” he announced, finally meeting her eyes.
“Is it going to be bad?” she asked.
“No. It’ll be okay.” His tone held as much excitement as a funeral provision. Before she could ask anything more, he stood up and made a beeline for the door. She reluctantly followed in the wake of his silence.
“They’re expecting me, right?” she asked when they hopped in his creaking Jeep. She couldn’t take any more silence from him, as she was already nervous about meeting the coven.
“They are. I told them to be on their best behavior. I’m only worried because sometimes they don’t like strangers,” he revealed.
She regretted asking. The car ride would only give her time to imagine the worst case scenario in her mind and she did. He depressed the gas pedal and pulled out of the neighborhood swiftly. The city blurred by and the trip was surprisingly short.
While he described it as ‘downtown,’ the large lot gave the parlor a wide berth from its surroundings. A brown brick building, it didn’t appear like much from the outside. A chimney chugged out smoke from a stone fire grill. She could smell the baking dough mixed with grease blowing in through the air conditioning before Adam pulled up and killed the engine.
“They aren’t here yet. I don’t see their cars,” he pointed out.
Her head spun to take in the surroundings when she stepped out of the Jeep. There weren’t many cars in the parking lot, period.
“Are they running late?” she asked as casually as possible. She thought they’d cruised in at the last possible minute.
“I wish I could tell you. They’re the more unpredictable half of the coven. Angie is probably coming separately though. She’s getting off of work to be here.”
“Okay, I know Angie at least.”
The redhead hadn’t been happy, but at least she wasn’t threatening.
Adam led the way to the building. When they walked inside, they were struck with the intense smell of garlic. The place had a deep purple hue and warm yellow lighting, a complete contrast to the blandness of the outer walls. Like the parking lot, the place was mostly empty. It took a full minute for a hostess to appear from the back to seat them. When she came, she came running.
“Oh Adam! I thought I heard that ol’ Jeep!” the woman hollered.
Her short legs made the dash across the restaurant seem like a long one, but she bounded the whole way. While she didn’t spare a glance Adelaide’s way, she dragged Adam into a hug that Adam returned half-heartedly. The difference in height had never been more noticeable. When she finally released him, Adam brushed Adelaide’s arm with his fingertips. Adelaide wasn’t sure if it was comforting gesture or a plea for help.
“I take it you two know each other,” Adelaide commented. She guessed that the woman, with graying hair just visible beneath her dye job, wasn’t an ex-girlfriend. Her question made the hostess twitch, as if she just realized Adelaide stood there for the first time. The woman maneuvered backward and then sized her up.
“Oh, but I haven’t met you. My name is Charlotte… and you are?” the woman cooed.
“Charlotte, this is Adelaide. She’s my friend,” Adam answered on her behalf.
Charlotte’s blue eyes fogged with calculation. Her voice hushed and she spoke in whispers.
“Rockslide girl, I’ve heard about you.”
Adam’s cheeks flushed, and he interrupted quickly.
“I don’t know if your son mentioned, but they’re all coming by. I was hoping we could get a big booth.”
Charlotte didn’t react at first, rolling back on her heels and stealing another shameless look at Adelaide. Finally the woman moved, leading them to a massive triangular booth in the back. Adam slid in first and Adelaide followed. Back there, the place was quieter and isolated by arches that improved the building’s acoustics. Charlotte offered them a smile and a question that took them both off guard.
“You know this booth will always be open for my favorite people. And their friends,” she said at first, and then pointedly added, “You are just friends, right Adam?” The emphasis of the word just was painful to hear.
“Yes, Charlotte. But that doesn’t mean you need to play my mother, either. Or embarrass me with rude questions,” Adam interjected.
The woman stiffened visibly, but a smile still crossed her lips.
“When you have your own kids, you’ll do the same to them,” she said, sounding surprisingly genuine. The woman then took their drink order and left.
Adam returned his attention to Adelaide.
“I’m sorry about Charlotte. She’s basically family and much too old fashioned. She gets every girl I come in here like that.”
“Come in here with a lot of girls?” Adelaide couldn’t help but ask after he’d set himself up.
“No, a lot would be an over-exaggeration,” he said, clearly flustered more by Adelaide than he had been by Charlotte. He continued quickly. “But Charlotte never keeps her opinion to herself. She thinks inserting herself in the middle of everything would have some effect, but she’s just scaring everyone away.”
“I’m kidding and it’s okay. She seems nice,” Adelaide said. By nice, she really meant unproblematic.
Adelaide turned her attention to the counter. If Charlotte was a mage, Adelaide would be willing to bet that most of her staff was too. Mages always held normal jobs like everyone else, and were normally employed by their families. None of them had raised an eyebrow to Adelaide’s presence yet, and that was a good sign.
It wasn’t much longer until Adam said, “Here they are.”
Adelaide plastered a smile on her face and sat up straight. The first to arrive at the table was a male. He was shorter than Adam but with a much broader chest and distinctive abdominal muscles. She barely memorized the distinctive square shape of his face, the color of his eyes, or the trim short haircut before he assaulted her.
It happened in a flash. He grabbed her by the shoulders and hoisted her weight free from the booth. He spun her against the wall and snatched her wrist in a vice-like hold. She gasped in pain but he ignored it and stared her down.
“Mages always have an aura even if they’re weak…”
“Tony!” Adam’s voice was lost in the background, mixed with the sounds of people nearby. No help came for Adelaide and she found herself in his mercy.
“No aura.” He grabbed her shoulders instead. His own magical aura now pulsed, causing an invisible, but potent, distortion in the air around them. “Shades always have a tattoo to identify their clan on the back of their neck. Move your hair!”
He spun her and this time she didn’t fight. She pulled her fluffy hair aside so he could spy the back of her neck. It was bare and untainted.
“You’re a spy then, a human spy.” He flipped her back to face him and studied her face.
“Stop!” This time Adam’s voice sounded loudly and he hit Tony’s shoulder. The other mage shifted from the force of the blow, and although it couldn’t have done much damage, it snapped him from his attack.
“What are you doing? Are you kidding me?” Adam roared.
“You don’t know who she is!” Tony hollered back. Their voices must have spread throughout the entire parlor. Adam obviously realized that too, because the next thing he said came out as an urgent whisper.
“Neither do you! You didn’t even let me get out her name before you tore into her. Like Charlotte didn’t just do the exact same evaluation?”
Tony ended his assault with a sour look Adam’s way. He stepped back into a crowd and Adelaide noticed his companions for the first time. There were two women that clung to either side of him, but they appeared unremarkab
le. Adelaide didn’t have long to size them up. Adam’s hand came down on her shoulder.
“Come on, we’re leaving,” he commanded. Before he could lead her away, Charlotte rounded the corner. The short, older woman pushed through the others and stood in front of Adam.
“Sit, please, and we’ll talk. You all are attracting too much attention, here of all places,” the woman urged.
“I’m sorry Charlotte but I don’t have a choice. It’s not like we could sit and eat in peace after that. I brought Adelaide here on my good word that everything would be okay and Tony just ruined that.”
Adelaide stayed quiet, feeling paralyzed in the middle of the group. She looked to Adam for a response. He was seething from the encounter, but managed to keep his reaction under control. Unfortunately, Tony took that moment to speak again.
“Yea, sit Adam. After exposing us, our entire way of life, and the safety of our coven to danger, you better talk,” Tony hissed.
Adam stiffened and Tony went on. “You know what’s out there in the dark. You know that half the shades in the world want our coven destroyed, and you don’t think twice about wandering around with some girl. Alone, no less, in a house Angie told me you thought had a bad vibe to it.”
Adam suddenly spied the redhead in the back of the room. The meek wave of her hand spoke volumes about her apparent inability to keep a secret.
“Tony, now listen to me,” Charlotte interjected, “you could have sized her up without assaulting her. And Adam, sit down. They may drive you crazy, but an apology with nice free meal and treats will make it up to Adelaide. You need to hear them out.”
Adelaide was surprised that Adam took the bait. He obeyed first and Tony followed. They sat at opposite sides of the booth with the remainder of the coven providing a barrier of bodies. Adelaide perched at the very edge of the bench, closest to the exit.
“I’m sorry,” Tony said and it took a moment for Adelaide to realize he spoke directly to her, “I don’t know you, but I’d like to.”
Adam asked the next question.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. The table’s focus remained on her, and she remembered how to speak, though in a gravelly voice.
Burning in a Memory Page 3
