“You don’t remember—”
“More comes back every day. I can remember the place now, and a boat that brought supplies. I stowed away on it. I could still do invisibility then.”
“It brought you back here?”
“No. I found another boat in some port in Africa. Somalia maybe? They were looking for crew and took me on.” He paused, rubbing his head again. “So tell me what’s been happening here.”
Lila took a deep breath. “Kara’s showing signs of the madness. Jewel’s come back to deal with her.”
Jewel sat up straight. The situation could be summarised like that, but it wasn’t the way she would have described it.
“I see.” Fergal shifted closer to the edge of the sofa. “Kara always had that potential. She was a gifted young woman.”
“She said Jewel was your daughter.” Lila watched him carefully.
Jewel bit her lip. She thought they’d planned to wait before they told him.
Fergal’s eyes narrowed. “No.”
“It’s true.” Jewel dropped her head; she couldn’t look him in the eye. “My mother told me a couple of days ago.”
“I don’t think so.” Fergal eyed her, a small spark flashing from his gaze. “I was always faithful to Philippa.” He gave her a sympathetic look. “I don’t know what your mother told you exactly, but I can’t be your father.”
“She drugged you and bespelled you.” Jewel flinched at the harshness of her own voice. Maybe that was a bit abrupt.
“What?”
“She—”
“Kara?”
“My mother.” Jewel’s voice shrank.
“She was the coven leader. She wouldn’t have done that. It’s forbidden.” Fergal’s eyes flashed blue ice, and he no longer looked harmless. The air shimmered as though it had heated. Maya had obviously come by her fiery talents honestly.
Lila jumped up from her corner of the sofa and knelt in front of him, clasping his hands in hers. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll talk about it later.” Her voice soothed, and the air round Fergal stilled.
“I don’t believe it.” His voice shook.
“It is unbelievable.” Lila exuded sympathy.
He took a deep breath and addressed Jewel. “Is that really true?”
“I think my mother has been a little mad for much longer than we thought.” Jewel wrapped her arms round herself. “She’s completely out of control now. That’s why Maya asked me to come back to London.”
Fergal examined her. “I can’t believe it.” He shook his head. “I’m not accusing you of lying. It’s just difficult to comprehend.” Waves of rejection radiated from him.
Jewel looked away.
He took another shaky breath. “Kara?”
“We think she was the one who had you removed from London as well.” Lila sounded apologetic. “Everyone thought you’d been damaged by your magic and had just disappeared.”
Fergal stared at her.
“You know it happens. You’d been behaving strangely for a while. No one even suspected you’d been cursed. It’s not something that happens in a coven.”
“Why?” Fergal shook his head. “Not now. My head hurts.” The colour had faded from his complexion, leaving it with a grayish tinge, and he sank against the back of the sofa, closing his eyes.
“Are you all right?” Lila released his hands and touched his knee.
“I get these headaches.” He spoke without opening his eyes. “I’ve had them for years. They seem to be improving, but this one . . .” His voice faded to a whisper. “It’s the remembering. It’s so hard.”
“It’s probably a side effect of the curse. Maybe we should continue this discussion tomorrow?” Lila said. “Where are you staying at the moment?”
“Anywhere. Nowhere.” He clasped his head between his hands. “Last night, I slept in an unlocked shed.”
“Lykos?” Lila turned her head. “Could we find a room in our hotel? Maya has no more space here.”
Lykos nodded. “I’ll ring.” He disappeared into the kitchen.
Fergal didn’t open his eyes. The sound of his harsh breathing filled the room. Lila chewed on her index finger, as she studied him.
“Is it my fault?” Jewel whispered. Maybe I was a little quick to claim him as my father. But Lila was the one who told him.
“No one’s fault.” Fergal was barely audible, but there was a note of resentment and hostility in his voice. “It will pass.”
Lykos came out of the kitchen. “I’ve moved us into a suite. The taxi’s waiting downstairs. We should go.”
Fergal didn’t move.
Lykos took his arm and helped him to his feet. Lila hooked her hand through his other arm. Jewel stood up and, together with Maya, followed them to the door of the flat, waiting while they went downstairs.
“Well?” Rann raised an eyebrow as Jewel and Maya rejoined him.
“They’ve gone.” Maya sat down.
“Are you okay?” Rann looked at Jewel.
Jewel nodded. She didn’t blame Fergal for not welcoming her with open arms. Her existence resulted from forbidden magic, and her mother’s actions had cost him years of his life. His wife had died while he’d been under the spell, and he’d missed out on his daughter’s childhood.
“I hope his memory comes back.” Maya jumped up again and wandered over to the window, looking out. She frowned. “Lykos is helping him walk. I wonder where he’s been.”
“He thinks he’s remembering more every day.” Jewel followed her, and the two of them stared out into the darkness until Lykos, Lila, and Fergal were gone.
“We should let Annis and Connor know we’ve found him.” Rann reached for his cell phone.
“I’ll check on Seawitch.” Maya disappeared into the bedroom.
Jewel sank onto the sofa as Rann called the investigators. His end of the conversation was not informative. She raised an eyebrow as he put the phone down. There was no way she planned to move; her legs felt far too shaky.
“They’ll come over tomorrow,” Rann said. “They’d like to talk to Fergal.”
“Why?” Surely their part in this had ended, now that Fergal had reappeared.
“They want to talk about Seawitch.” Rann sat down next to her. “The tracker found something in the records.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.” Rann shrugged. “Annis said there was something odd about the magic signature.”
“We know that.” Jewel suppressed her irritation.
“And they’ve found out more about Fergal’s disappearance,” Rann said. “Connor wants to have a look at him. They’re going to bring the tracker back.”
“But we know who cursed him?” Jewel didn’t try to hide her confusion.
“Connor thinks there’s more than one spell on him.” Rann began to sound impatient. “I don’t know. I just think any information might be useful.”
Annis and Connor brought tracker Liv with them late the following morning. Lila, Lykos, and Fergal had already arrived and were seated in the flat, drinking coffee in uncomfortable silence.
“How are you?” Maya sounded concerned.
Jewel strained her ears as she made yet another pot of coffee in the kitchen.
“Better.” Fergal spoke. “I’m remembering more. It’s rushing back in. I think in another couple of days I’ll have it all. Even the pain isn’t as bad.” The satisfaction in his voice carried through the wall.
Putting the cups on a tray, Jewel carried it into the sitting room. Fergal’s gaze drilled into the back of her neck as she put the tray on the table.
“So?”
She looked up at the note in his voice.
“I have two daughters I knew nothing about.” He glanced br
iefly at Jewel and then back at Maya. “I’m sorry I wasn’t very . . .” His expression darkened, and he paused. “Last night. I was surprised. Taken aback. And I caught a glimpse of the past. I remembered Kara.”
Jewel chewed on her lower lip.
“Do you know where you’ve been since you disappeared?” Annis spoke.
“I’m getting flashes.” Fergal watched as she picked up her coffee. “I remember heat, humidity. A city. Lots of people. Poverty. I sensed their desperation. It was hard to unravel it from my own. That was a long time ago. Then I was somewhere else. I remember mages. I think some dark magic surrounded me. That memory won’t come. Yet.”
“We tracked some of your journey,” Annis said. “You came from the Horn of Africa last. That must be where you picked up the ship you crewed on.”
“I remember that.”
“Would you let Liv check you out?”
“You’re the tracker?” Fergal glanced at Liv.
She nodded.
“And you’re the werewolf?”
“Yes.”
Fergal turned back to Liv. “Okay.” He held out his hand. “I’ve nothing to hide. I think.”
Liv took her knife and made a small cut in his index finger. As she had done with Seawitch, she lifted it to her lips and touched her tongue to it. She closed her eyes. Jewel still found the whole performance disturbing.
“Well?” Maya vibrated with impatience.
“There’s still a slight residue of Kara’s magic.” Liv kept her eyes closed. Her brow wrinkled. “There’s a faint whiff of something really unpleasant. Like the dark master trace I found on your seawitch. Not as obvious, but definitely there.” She opened her eyes. “Which reminds me. Alberic. There was a trace of his magic in Seawitch. When I checked the records. In her blood.”
“Alberic?” Fergal looked puzzled, and Jewel realised he must have no idea what had happened to his old coven.
“Alberic is Kara’s lover,” Maya told him. “A dark mage.”
“Why on earth would his magic signature be on Seawitch?” Lila’s voice was full of foreboding.
“I don’t know.” Maya scowled. “But remember, we have no clue where Alberic has been since he left his last coven. That’s two years unaccounted for. And we don’t know where Seawitch came from.”
“A dark mage?” Fergal sounded more lucid every minute. “In my coven?”
“He’s been here for almost a year,” Maya told him. “That’s one of the reasons Jewel’s come back.”
“Come back?” Fergal frowned at Jewel. “Back from where?”
“I lived in the Indian Ocean,” Jewel said, “since I was banished from the coven.”
“Banished?”
“It’s a long story,” Jewel said. She really didn’t want to go through it again. “I was exiled for a year. I hadn’t come back till now. My mother never had much time for me. I didn’t realize what she’s been doing, though, until Maya came to see me.”
“None of us realized that Kara was practicing forbidden magic so long ago,” Lila screwed her face up. “I let her mentor Maya.”
“She never taught me any dark practices.” Maya sounded disappointed.
Jewel hid a smile before she remembered what Liv had said. “You sensed a trace of death magic?”
Liv shook her head. “Not death magic. Just a faint hint of the same signature your seawitch carried. A sense of a dark master. Nowhere near as strong, though.” A note of relief lightened her voice.
“Dark master. That’s bad.” Fergal considered. “There’s a gap in my memory from a year ago. It covers a couple of years.”
“Before that”—Connor leaned towards him—“do you know what happened to you?”
“I think I was used as a familiar.” Fergal frowned. “For a coven who had problems with an infestation of demons. They had to keep a boundary ward. It took a lot of energy. I think that’s what they used me for. As a magic store for their ward.” He bit his lip. “I think it was in some shanty town. Hot and crowded. It’s really coming back to me now. They kept me in a hut, chained up. Filled with their magic. One of the magic suppressors bound my own magic. Similar to the drugs Kara used.”
Jewel shuddered. She could see her revulsion echoed in the expressions of her newly discovered sisters.
“We need to talk about Alberic.” Annis changed the subject. “We did a brief check on him, after you asked us to find out what he’s been doing for the past couple of years.” She looked at Rann who nodded.
“Go on,” he said. “What did you find?”
“He arrived in London on a flight from Kenya,” Annis said. “But it doesn’t look like he was in Kenya long.”
“Kenya?” Rann frowned. “What was he doing there?”
“Passing through, I think,” Annis said. “But there’s no record of him flying into the country.”
“But—”
“It’s possible he could have been brought by boat,” Annis interrupted. “There are a lot of illegal comings and goings along that coast.”
“He could have come from anywhere.” Rann rubbed his mouth.
“Yes. Anywhere,” Annis agreed. “But suppose he’d been in the Indian Ocean. Suppose he’d come across Seawitch there.”
“That would explain his magic signature?” Rann didn’t sound convinced.
“No.” Liv joined in the conversation. “He’d have had to actively spell her for that.”
“You think he might know where she came from?”
“I think so.” Liv nodded.
“Could he have done this to her?” Rann asked. “Made her catatonic?”
“I don’t know.” Liv pursed her lips. “It takes a huge amount of power. I wouldn’t have thought he had it in him.”
“I’d like to have a chat with him.” Maya glanced round. “Seriously.”
Jewel sighed. Everything seemed to be connected. How? She didn’t have a clue, but she remembered Tamsin’s warning. I should have paid more attention.
“We need to think about this very carefully.” Lila was always a cautious voice, and Maya opened her mouth as though to interrupt. Lila held up one hand. “We’ve got two major problems here. Kara and Alberic.”
“We have to—”
“Deal with this by the rules,” Lila said firmly.
“But—”
“Most of the problems we have here are because someone was breaking rules all over the place.”
“I don’t know why we’re listening to you,” Maya grumbled. “You’re not even a member of the coven any longer.”
“You know I’m right.” Lila held Maya’s gaze until the younger witch dropped her head.
“I suppose so.”
“So we need to think about Jewel’s circle.”
“Jewel’s circle?” Fergal raised an eyebrow.
“We have to remove Kara,” Jewel told him. “And soon. Apparently it’s my duty as her nearest relative.”
“It would be,” Fergal agreed. “But what’s the hurry?”
“She’s started to seriously practice dark magic,” Jewel said. “We think she’s already killed and is probably planning to kill again. Members of her own coven.”
“Blood magic?” Fergal didn’t sound too surprised. “Tell me exactly what you know?” His voice firmed, and his face took on an expression of authority. Jewel let Maya explain what they had found out about Kara’s pregnancy, and Fergal’s face grew grimmer.
Maya finished the story.
“Who will be in the circle?” He looked at Jewel.
“I’ve got to lead it.” Jewel couldn’t hide the reluctance in her voice. “We’ll have Maya and Lila, of course. We hadn’t thought who else.” She glanced at Annis. “Maybe . . .”
“I’d be plea
sed to help,” Annis said, “but you should have members of your own coven really.”
“Should I?” Jewel wrinkled her nose doubtfully. This wasn’t something she’d ever seen done.
“It’s best if you do,” Annis assured her.
“Who can we ask?” Jewel looked to Maya for advice since she knew the most about coven business.
“We need at least seven, and the stronger the better.” Maya pursed her lips. “That means Charlie and Maria.”
“Will they do it?” Jewel hadn’t got any sense that they’d be willing to cooperate with Maya.
“They’d better.” Maya frowned at the floor. “No, they will. They must know that things can’t go on like this.”
“What about you?” Jewel looked at Fergal. “You were a member of the coven.” He must want Kara stopped as much as anyone else.
Fergal’s expression was inscrutable. “If you can wait a couple of days. I can feel the spells wearing off. Lila’s helping. I’ll probably be free of them by tomorrow, but it’s best to be sure. Another day should be okay.”
“Two days?” Maya sounded resigned. “I suppose it’s going to take that long to organise things. And we’ll need at least one more.”
“Are Bill and Rachel Maudley still part of the coven?” Fergal asked.
“Bill is,” Maya said. “Rachel died three years ago. Bill still lives in their old house. With his son.”
“A son?” Feral pursed his lips. “I knew Bill pretty well. I should imagine he’d be willing. And he has a lot more power than he shows.”
“We can ask him.” Maya nodded. “That would give us seven.”
Children of Poseidon: Rann Page 23
