by Juliet Dark
I recalled that my grandmother usually came into the city around the first of May for a board meeting at the Grove. I emailed her and asked if I could meet with her when she was in the city. She took so long replying that I thought I wasn’t going to get an answer, but then, a few days before the end of the month, I received a formal invitation in the mail inviting me to attend cocktails at the Grove on the evening of April 30. Overnight accommodations and all meals to be provided by the Grove at the request of Adelaide Danbury. My grandmother had written a note at the bottom: I’ll be free to meet with you half an hour before cocktails in the library. Staying overnight at the Grove was the last thing I wanted to do, but I understood that refusing wasn’t an option. Not if I wanted my grandmother to lift the Ballard curse.
On the drive down to the city I wondered what else Adelaide might ask in return for lifting the curse and how much I would be willing to give. The “request” Adelaide was most likely to make would be for me to leave Fairwick.
Fine, I thought, passing the big hex sign outside of Bovine Corners, I could live with that. In fact, it would probably be for the best. Although I’d finally gotten to the stage where I didn’t weep at every reminder of Liam (his favorite coffee mug, the last drop of Irish whiskey, the smell of honeysuckle) I was still sleeping in the downstairs bedroom and I still woke in the middle of the night reaching for him. I still hadn’t gotten up the courage to go into his study and clear it out. Just driving past the general store where we’d bought cheese, or the antiques store in Glenburnie where he’d bought me my ring, made me almost drive off the side of the road. Wouldn’t it be better to get far away from all reminders of him? Away from any temptation to go out into the woods, to the threshold between worlds, and release him? And wouldn’t it be better to teach at a college that didn’t attract life-sucking creatures? Although I’d told Liz Book she shouldn’t blame herself for failing to realize that Mara Marinca was a liderc—or that Liam was an incubus—shouldn’t the school monitor its faculty and student body better? Adelaide had been right; it was irresponsible not to let people know what they were dealing with. So, I decided by the time I got onto Interstate 17, if my grandmother asked me to leave Fairwick as a condition of lifting Nicky’s curse, I would agree. No matter how much I would miss it.
Having made my decision I popped in an audiobook of the new Charlaine Harris novel and didn’t think of anything but Sookie Stackhouse’s troubles until I reached Manhattan. (At least I hadn’t fallen for a vampire! I congratulated myself, realizing that it had been four months since I’d made my deal with Anton Volkov and he’d never bothered me once.) Then rush hour Midtown traffic occupied all my attention until I pulled into a parking garage on Forty-third Street.
I wheeled my suitcase into the lobby, checked in, and was escorted upstairs by an elderly bellhop to a small but elegant room papered in blue toile and upholstered in a watery blue moiré. The mirrors were old and spotted, tarnished to faded silver. My reflected self looked like a stranger in them—a person I only half remembered. Was that pale thin woman with rust colored hair hanging loose like a drowning victim’s really me? I looked like an old photograph of myself that had faded in the sunlight. When had that happened? And when was the last time I had looked at myself in the mirror? I had been avoiding meeting my own gaze for so long it was as though my reflection had faded with disuse.
I looked at my watch and saw that I had a few hours before I was due to meet Adelaide. Then I called my old hairstylist, Elan, and asked if there were any way she could fit me in even though I knew that she was always booked solid months in advance.
“Oh,” she said, “but someone just called to make you an appointment. A Miss Danbury. I told her there were no openings, but she left word to call you if there were any cancellations and we just had one … I was just about to call.”
I could hear the confusion in Elan’s voice—a common side effect of talking to Adelaide. I bristled at the idea of my grandmother arranging my life—how did she know I needed a haircut?—but what was the point of acting proud and looking horrible?
“What time is the appointment?” I asked.
“In half an hour,” she told me.
“I’ll be there,” I told her.
Two and a half hours later I was back at the Grove with a cut that brought the life back to my hair and a couple of shopping bags from Bergdorf’s. I had just enough time to slip into the lilac Jil Sander sheath and Christian Louboutin pumps I’d bought and freshen my makeup before joining Adelaide in the library—or rather just enough time to be five minutes late so I didn’t feel as if I were hopping to Adelaide’s orders.
Adelaide defeated that little rebellion by arriving exactly six minutes late and found me gawking at the three stories of bookshelves that lined the library walls. The only other library I’d seen half this impressive was J. P. Morgan’s.
“I was unavoidably detained by the initiation committee,” she told me, presenting her cheek for me to kiss. “The new generation can’t make any decisions for themselves.”
Out of habit I touched my lips to her cool cheek before remembering I’d promised myself not to. She smiled and sank into a silk-upholstered chair beside a crackling fire. Adelaide’s cream woolen suit, with the onyx intaglio pinned to its lapel, looked exactly right in the setting, while my lilac dress, which had looked fabulous at Bergdorf’s, suddenly seemed a bit showy.
“Have you been ill?” she asked, pouring tea from a china pot into my cup. “You look like you’ve lost weight.”
“I had a … bug,” I said, taking a sip of the strong smoky tea. “But I’m fine now. And there’s something I need to discuss …”
“I do hope you’re taking care of yourself up there,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard my reply. “Schools can be such a breeding ground of germs, especially with all the foreigners Liz Book lets in. I hear you had a bit of a run-in with one of the immigrants.”
I wondered if she meant Liam or Mara—and I also wondered who her informant was—but I wasn’t about to take the bait. “I would think you would have more sympathy with people who were forced to leave their homes. Your grandfather, Hiram Scudder, had to leave Fairwick.”
Adelaide smiled. “Good girl. I wondered how long it would take you to find out. But please, don’t confuse your great-great-grandfather Hiram with the flotsam and jetsam that wind up on our shores and expect a free handout. Hiram rebuilt the family fortune in a single generation. But look at those pathetic Ballards! Still mouldering away in their big old mansion.”
“Because Hiram cursed them. And you’ve allowed the curse to continue. Poor Nicky had nothing to do with what her great-great-great-grandfather did to Hiram Scudder.”
“Did you discover in your research what happened to Hiram’s wife, Adele? Your great-great-grandmother.”
“Yes,” I said, chastened. “She killed herself. I’m sure that was awful …”
“Her daughter, my mother, found her hanging from the chandelier in the front parlor. She was never a … happy woman after that. And it was all Bertram Ballard’s fault.”
“But it wasn’t Nicky’s fault. She’s an innocent girl, just as your mother was an innocent victim.”
A flicker of emotion passed across Adelaide’s face. The fine lines around her eyes creased, her lower lip trembled. Was she about to cry? I’d never seen my grandmother shed a tear. But if she had been close to tears she quickly gained control of herself.
“It’s not up to me to remove the curse. Only the youngest of the family can do that.”
“You mean I could remove the curse? I thought my power had been neutralized by the taint of fey blood,” I remarked mockingly.
Adelaide pursed her lips. “I may have been wrong about that—or perhaps your mother deliberately misled you. I sense you have the potential for more power than I ever suspected”—she leaned closer to me and narrowed her eyes—“and, perhaps, for qualities you never suspected in yourself. But of course y
our potential must be properly nurtured. If you accepted your rightful place here at the Grove …”
“You want me to join the Grove?”
Adelaide laughed, all trace of the sentiment she’d been on the verge of displaying a moment ago gone. “You needn’t make it sound like I’m asking you to join the mafia! The Grove is an honorable and venerable institution. Look around you …” She waved a diamond-bejeweled hand at the three stories of leatherbound books, the brass railings shining in the firelight. “Membership comes with many amenities: a lovely place to stay when you’re in the city, connections to well-placed women in business and academia—and men; we’ve just aligned with a very elite men’s club in London that has most impressive accommodations and membership—and, best of all, access to this library. You’d be amazed what knowledge you can find among these books.”
I looked up at the leatherbound tomes. The gilt on their spines seemed to wink at me with promises of secrets held within their covers. “I wouldn’t have to do anything harmful to join—like sacrifice anyone?”
Adelaide laughed. “We haven’t even sacrificed animals since the eighteenth century.”
“Good to know,” I said. “But what exactly would my membership obligations entail?”
“Dues are one thousand dollars a year,” she said briskly. “You have to attend quarterly Council meetings on Samhain, Winter Solstice, Beltane, and Summer Solstice—which will be held this year in Fairwick so it’ll be convenient for you. Oh … and you do have to perform some community service.”
“What kind of community service?” I asked suspiciously. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be visiting nursing homes or reading to the blind.
“It differs with each member. As your nominating member I decide what’s appropriate. I’ve come up with the perfect job for you.”
I shuddered to think what that could be, but I braced myself and asked.
“I’d like you to be the Grove’s confidential intelligence provider at Fairwick College.”
“You mean a spy.”
“Call it what you like. You’ve seen how poorly supervised the campus is and what dangers can ensue with the college’s proximity to the door to Faerie. There’s long been a feeling here at the Grove that we need to take a more active hand in monitoring the traffic between worlds. Someone has to. That’s why the Council meeting is to be held there this year.”
“Don’t you already have spies there?”
“Yes, but we’re no longer sure how reliable that intelligence is. Agents tend to go … native at Fairwick. Of course it’s arguable that you already have, but my proposal to the board was that you’ve had firsthand experience with ‘hostile foreigners.’ I think you’ll provide an honest report of what occurs at Fairwick.”
“And the Council accepted your proposal?”
“The Council has never turned down a member I nominated.”
“How would the information I provided be used?” I asked. “I couldn’t allow anyone to come to harm because of my say-so.”
“No one would come to harm who hadn’t harmed a human. You’ll find we’re quite fair at the Grove. So what do you say?”
I considered. I hated the idea of spying on my friends and colleagues, but I hated more the prospect of Nicky Ballard falling victim to an ancient curse. Besides, Adelaide did have a point. Things were out of control at Fairwick. Maybe the college needed a guiding hand. If my decision was at all swayed by the fact that now I’d get to stay at Fairwick close to where Liam still lingered, well, I couldn’t help that, could I?
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll do it. As long as you promise to tell me how to lift the curse.”
“Certainly. I just need you to lay your hand on this book and repeat after me.”
She indicated a slim volume that lay on the table. I laid my hand on it. The worn leather was warm to the touch.
“I hereby avow that I, Cailleach McFay, will abide by the rules and regulations of the Grove. In exchange I will be given the secret of the Ballard curse.”
I repeated the words. The leather grew warmer as I spoke and the gilt on the cover began to glow. The branches of the gold tree appeared to sway and the leaves crinkled up and flew away—a shower of sparks—into the fire. One of those sparks landed on my wrist. I drew my hand away and batted at the burning cinder, but it had already sunk into my skin, leaving a mark in the shape of a tree.
“Hey, you didn’t tell me it would leave a mark!”
“It’ll fade,” she said dismissively. “But its power won’t. Now come. The Council is waiting. Everyone is so excited to meet you.”
True to Adelaide’s word, the mark on my wrist faded and my initiation involved no slain animals or satanic rites. Rather, it involved a short swearing-in ceremony during which I was given a grimoire of novice spells including a family curse reversal. Afterward there was a good deal of champagne and pleasant chatter with a group of lovely, sophisticated women—some of whom I recognized as prominent figures in publishing, television, and journalism—and a few men, all tall, good-looking blonds who came from the London club now aligned with the Grove. One of the women was Jen Davies. She was, I realized, the dark-haired woman I’d glimpsed at the Oak Bar the last time I’d been to the club. Toward the end of the cocktail hour she managed to get me aside for a word.
“I wanted you to know that I’m sorry about outing your friend to the press. It was my initiation community service and I thought, fine, why not expose a lying upper-class prat. But since I’ve gotten to know her …”
“Know her?” I asked.
“I’ve been visiting her at McLean. She’s doing very well and attending a writing workshop there. Working on a ‘novel’ now—a fantasy novel about witches and fairies. She just got a brilliant contract. Irony is, every word is true, but it’ll sell as fiction.”
I knew I had to visit Phoenix. She was owed an explanation. It hadn’t been my incubus who had driven her over the edge, it had been Mara, feeding on her until she was weakened. And the demon that Phoenix had seen outside the day she was taken away to McLean—well, that was probably Mara, too.
“Anyway,” Jen continued, “I wasn’t happy about being made an instrument of torture. A lot of the younger members aren’t happy with the old ways here: the knee-jerk prejudice against fairies and demons, the whole anti-immigration stance. We’ve formed a small ad hoc group to effect change. If you’re interest in joining …”
By the end of the evening I’d agreed to attend an informal (and secret) meeting of the group Jen called “Sapling.” As I made my way unsteadily up the stairs to my room my head was spinning with champagne and the multitudinous warring allegiances I’d have to balance in the coming months. My life was going to be very complicated. When I opened the door to my room I realized just how complicated. Sitting in the blue moiré chair by the window, sipping a glass of champagne, was Anton Volkov.
I opened my mouth to scream, but then closed it. Who would come to my aid here at the Grove? Then I noticed that Anton Volkov was wearing a tie clip embossed with the insignia of the Grove.
“You’re a member?” I asked coming into the room. “But I thought the Grove didn’t admit supernatural creatures—”
“They don’t admit fairies and demons. We nocturnals remained neutral during the Great Division. As a result we’ve been able to provide many useful services for both groups. But I’m not a member, I’m merely an associate.”
“You’re the informant!” I said, sinking down onto the foot of the bed.
“I prefer to think of myself as a liaison between the Grove and Fairwick.”
“Uh-huh. Then what are you doing here? Have you come to collect on our deal?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking. Anton was close enough that I could feel the magnetism of his presence. And he was close enough that it would be the work of a minute for him to attack and drain me dry. I realized that I didn’t want to be attacked and drained dry. I wanted to live.
&nb
sp; “Look,” I said, “you told me you wouldn’t do anything I didn’t agree to and I don’t want to … get bitten … or become a vampire.”
Anton smiled and leaned forward in his chair. He touched one finger to my throat, just below my ear, and traced a line down to my collarbone. I shivered.
“Pity … but that’s not what I was going to ask for. What I want … what we, the nocturnals of Fairwick, want is a spokesperson at the Grove. An ally who will attest to our ‘good behavior.’ You’ll be reporting to the Grove on the activities at Fairwick. We merely want to be sure you report that we are behaving according to the guidelines of the Grove. That we only drink from adult, willing nonglamoured volunteers and that we’re not turning anyone into vampires.”
“But if you are obeying all those rules, why do you need to make a special deal with me to report the truth?”
He shrugged and put down his empty champagne glass. I noticed that there were red lip marks on the brim of the glass as if left by lipstick, but I didn’t think they came from lipstick.
“Let’s just say that an extra word in our favor from a doorkeeper might come in handy in the future. We suspect that relations between the Grove and Fairwick are heading for a crisis. We fear that the Grove’s power is growing, while Fairwick’s is waning. We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”
He got to his feet and extended his hand. “What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
I took his hand, which was icy to the touch. I considered whether this was something I desired. And then I realized how much it would piss off my grandmother.
“Yes,” I told him. “We’ve got a deal.”
Driving back to Fairwick the next day through the pouring rain I thought about all the secrets I would have to keep in the coming months: Frank’s cover, Soheila’s succubus nature, my membership at the Grove, the deal I’d made with the vampires … For a girl who’d always valued the truth I’d be telling a lot of lies. But then, as my grandmother had said, I had qualities I’d never suspected in myself.
