Deception of the Magician (Waldgrave Book 2)

by A. L. Tyler

  “You really intend to find it. You really think you’re capable.”

  “Yes.” She said, trying not to look over at him. He was in a brooding mood again, and she didn’t want to be the target of any more of his rants.

  Griffin sighed audibly. “You’re such a little girl. You can’t see how this is going to affect anything beyond your own life.”

  Lena let it go. He was trying to pull her into an argument. She wasn’t sure if he was bored, irritable from travel, or just needing attention, but he seemed to always want to argue with her lately. Her solution had been to ignore him as much as possible. After several minutes of silence, Ava came out of the bathroom freshly-showered and dressed in modest nightclothes. She’d had her usual wine that night, and even though she still talked a lot, she seemed to be building immunity to the other unsightly affects alcohol had on her.

  “I think it’s great. I think it’s great that she’s going to find it. She’s my girl,” Ava sat down on the bed next to Lena and put her arm around her, “And I love her. She’s done more with her life than I ever did with mine.”

  Griffin gave her a disapproving look. “She’s finding it to give it to them. I can’t say I’d be proud.”

  “Oh, Griffin!” Ava waved him off. “For goodness sakes! You’re just like him, taking all of this so seriously. If the portal was never found, and you died without it being found, would you be happy?”

  Griffin continued to stare at her, the critical gleam still in his eyes.

  Ava continued. “No. You wouldn’t, because you’re just like him. He’s going to die unhappy. You’ll be unhappy as long as you don’t know where it is or if you do and it’s in the hands of the New Faith. What are you afraid of? They can’t destroy it…”

  “You don’t know that.” Griffin growled.

  “I do. I’ve read it.” Ava leaned back against the headboard of the bed. She turned on the television in the corner. The only channel they could get to come through was all about weather in the region; apparently they were expecting abnormally large amounts of rain over the next week. “So there’s no pleasing you. Either of you. And if my little girl needs to find it to be happy, I think she should. God knows we could use someone in this family who’s happy with her life.”

  No one talked after that, and they watched the loop of the weather report three times before Griffin turned it off and left, but Lena was starting to gain a new respect and liking for Ava. She was flourishing away from Waldgrave; she was thinking, and her independent streak had grown to the point that she felt confident taking on Griffin in a dispute. Lena slept soundly that night, and for the first time since the accident, she actually dreamed about her father. It was only a few seconds—they were checking into a hotel together, just like in the old days. They checked in, and then he faded away, and she was alone. It was only a moment, but it was enough.

  They had a late start the next day, as the next postcard had come from just across the border in Texas. The caravan didn’t get moving until nine-thirty in the morning, crossed the border without incident, and stopped for lunch at a fast-food restaurant. Despite the fact that they had left enough time to make it to the next town in time, they quickly found that they wouldn’t be making it by nightfall. The road they had intended to use had been closed; torrential rains that season had created periodic floods and mud slides on several roads.

  They detoured to a small town fifteen miles away and spent another lazy afternoon and evening in a chain motel that smelled heavily of tobacco smoke and bleach. There weren’t any adjoined rooms, but Lena had gained enough trust with the right people, and she was allowed to stay in a room alone with Ava as long as she called before going out.

  It was March, and the weather was getting fickle; storm clouds were gathering on the horizon outside of Lena’s window, and the smell of ions was on the air. Ava hadn’t had anything to drink yet that day, and she was in her usual spot on the bed with one hand on her forehead like she had a headache. Lena had pulled a chair over in front of the window, which was the only source of gray illumination in the room because Ava had all the lights turned off, and was nonchalantly sorting through Ben’s letters.

  She already knew he hadn’t been here; she was getting much better at listening to the déjà vu that crept under her skin when she stood in a place where he had once been. This place was new; it had a foreboding feel, but it wasn’t the feeling she ever got when congressing with Ben. She thumbed through the letters three times, then looked out at the clouds; lightening danced on the horizon. There wasn’t a thermostat in the room, and she shivered.

  She put her letters on the bed and went to her suitcase. She pulled out Ben’s coat and put it on; she wondered if Howard would be willing to let her sew a new lining onto the interior. She pushed her hands down into the pockets, feeling the familiar rip in the pocket and the note Ben had hidden for her, and gazed at Ava, who had fallen asleep. Her hand had slid off her forehead and was resting gently next to her face; the light from the window cast ghastly shadows over her face. She looked blue in the shadowy light, and somehow it accentuated every small wrinkle that had ebbed onto her face over the years. Her face, which had always resembled Lena’s, didn’t anymore. Not in this light. Just when they were starting to see eye to eye, they were finally growing distinct from each other.

  Lena had the sudden impulse to lean down and brush a hand across her mother’s cheek, but she was afraid of waking her up. There was a loud knock on the door. It was Griffin.

  He was dressed the most formal that Lena had seen him since they had left Waldgrave. He had on grey pressed dress pants and a red button-up shirt; no tie, but most of the representatives had left their formal attire at home, favoring a more civilian look for the trip. Casual clothing avoided unnecessary attention. “Do you have dinner plans? We need to talk about something.”

  Lena looked over her shoulder at Ava, still asleep and unmoving on the bed. “I guess not. Is this…?”

  “I’ve already cleared it with them. I’ll go out and pick something up. Meet me in the lobby at seven.”

  “Okay. Sure.”

  Griffin walked away down the hall to the stairs; he never looked back. Lena went back into the room. As she closed the door, Ava shuddered and turned over on her side. It was starting to rain again. She put her letters and Ben’s coat away, and half an hour later she walked down to the lobby to find Griffin. He was late, but only by five minutes. He walked into the lobby soaked through his coat and put a fast food bag down on an end table next to a sofa from the seventies. He gestured for Lena to sit as he ran his other hand through his hair, trying to purge a little water out of it.

  “You don’t want to change…?” Lena asked; Griffin was very particular about his appearance, and it figured that it would rain the day he tried to dress for business again.

  Griffin shook his head and gestured again. “I’m fine. Just sit.”

  The lobby was a small room, and it was empty save for Lena and Griffin. The walls were covered with newer looking blue wallpaper and the rug on the tile floor seemed well-maintained. The sounds of a sports game on a television were coming through a door behind the desk; it was unlikely that they would be disturbed. They sat down on a couch in the corner farthest from the concierge’s desk and Griffin put the food bag in Lena’s lap. He started to talk.

  “Doctor Evans called me today. Master Daray is getting worse.”

  Lena pulled a burger out of the bag and started to unwrap it. When Griffin didn’t continue talking, she looked up and realized he was waiting for a response. It might have been the fact that he was soaking wet, but he looked miserable. Lena sighed and continued unwrapping the burger.

  “He’s not dying. I told you before, he’s just too—“

  Griffin shook his head. His voice was softer than she had ever heard it before. “No. This is it. He’s sure. The doctor’s sure. Even Master Daray is sure. He’s finalizing his will, and he didn’t do that last time. I’ve never heard him so adama
nt about being sure that everything gets…taken care of.”

  Lena stared at him uncertainly. He wasn’t looking at her, and it was unusual. It was evasive. She put the burger down. “So, what your saying is we have to ditch this whole mission right now and go rushing to his bedside? Do you think I’m a moron, or what? I know what you’re trying to—“

  Griffin didn’t look over at her, but he gave a small, sardonic smile; it was as if he had taken her reaction as something meant to cheer him up. “That’s not it at all. That’s not what I’m trying to do. You need to find it, and you need to find it quickly. The doctor thinks he has a month left, maybe two. He’s been sick for a long time, and he’s been in a lot of pain. He’s been on a lot of pain medications. His liver and kidneys are shot, and the dialysis will only keep him for so long. Half his organs are already partly or completely non-functional. He’s dying, Lena.”

  Lena continued to stare at him. He was staring off into a corner now, hunched over leaning on his knees with his hands clasped. His hair had grown a little longer than usual since when they had left in December, and it was falling into his eyes. His normally groomed appearance was disheveled, and it was disturbing.

  “So…wait.” Lena was confused. “What?”

  “I need you to find it. He’s the last chance, Lena. The last chance that this thing will ever be opened, and he’ll be dead by this summer. What do you think the chances are that you will find it?”

  Lena leaned back on the couch. She felt like she was floating, and suddenly she felt she didn’t know where she was. She had always assumed he would be there. He was the menace in the attic; the nightmare that she couldn’t escape—her own personal monster in the closet. He exercised power of mythic proportions in her life, and now he was going away. But looking at Griffin, she couldn’t be happy about it; if he was gone, it was over. There was no one left to open the portal. The religion itself would die; it was that simple. Or worse, it’s followers would regroup and rally around Lena.

  She leaned forward, whispering. “I…I can’t promise. I really think I can find it, though.”

  Still staring into a corner, Griffin nodded silently. “You can’t give it to them.”

  “I can. I will.”

  “After he dies, it’s yours. There’s no threat because you can’t open it. Don’t give it to them or they’ll find a way to destroy it.” His voice had dropped to a low whisper. It was getting hard for Lena to hear him, but she thought she sensed true concern.

  “I…can’t.” Lena stuttered. “I can’t. I can’t stay here, and if I refuse to give it up, they’ll keep me locked away until I’m dead.”

  Griffin looked over at her. “This isn’t about you. This is bigger than you, and you have to think about your followers. People are depending on you. Some have devoted their whole lives to this following, and you’re going to throw it all away. You’re going to destroy everything because you think it’s all about you, but really it’s all about everyone else. You’re more responsible than this…you can’t do it, because if you do, our whole world will fall apart. If this goes away—the Darays, and the portal—there’s nothing to keep us together anymore.”

  Lena sat back. People had devoted their whole lives to the cause, and Griffin was one of them. She had never considered it that way before…If the portal were found and destroyed, what was there to hold the Silenti together? There might be enough to keep up the meetings for a while, but the destruction of the portal was the ultimate trump card—without it, all the Silenti had the same future, and it was integration. Sooner or later, without any hope of returning to their mythical homelands, they would dissolve into the rest of humanity. Lena tried to ignore the fact that Griffin’s piercing eyes were finally watching her. It all depended on her. The entire fate of all Silenti everywhere was in her inept hands, and she didn’t know what to do with it.

  From the room behind the concierge desk, someone scored a point and roars of approval ensued. Lena sighed and stood up. “I need to think about this.”

  Griffin nodded. “You do.”

  Neither of them were hungry any more, and the food was thrown out. Griffin walked her back up to her room. At the door, she made the mistake of looking into his eyes. He wasn’t crying, exactly, but his pain was evident. He was more troubled now than she had ever seen him. She stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

  “Is he in pain?” She asked, trying to sound like she cared.

  “No.”

  They continued to stand there. Lena wasn’t sure how to break off the evening. She didn’t know who Griffin was rooming with, but she was sure that no one had the bond with her grandfather that he did. Master Daray was evil, and Lena wasn’t exactly sure she was sad that he was dying, but it didn’t seem fair that Griffin didn’t have any family to grieve with. Lena doubted that Ava would even grieve—she hadn’t been upset at all the last time he threatened to die. Lena turned and looked around her room.

  “I guess…I guess you could stay…”

  Griffin was quiet for a moment, but then seemed to snap back into reality. “I’ll be okay. I can handle this.”

  He went back to his room, and Lena went back into hers. Ava was still asleep, and Lena laid awake for a long time listening to her snore in the darkness and thinking about what she was supposed to do with the coming weeks. In her heart, she wondered if she had gained enough trust by this point that she wouldn’t need to bring the portal back to get her freedom. If she didn’t bring it back, though, people would be suspicious. It was different out here, where she had so much time alone with the other Council Representatives; back home, she was the same shady character she had always been and would always be. Would it be so wrong, if she found it, to just not tell anyone? If her situation changed, she could offer it up as collateral…

  But she knew she wouldn’t. Using a religious relic as collateral was sacrilege, and though Lena had never been a religious person, she knew it was wrong. And even though Ava seemed to be sure that the portal was indestructible, Lena wasn’t so sure. Science had made great advances since the last time the portal had been in Silenti hands, and it was very possible that it could be destroyed, mythical object or not.

  Even then, if they couldn’t destroy it, they could dump it back in the ocean. They could dump it anywhere in the middle of the Pacific, and chances were slim it would ever be seen again. The more she thought about it, the more Lena became convinced that she was doing the wrong thing. For every New Faith Representatives that she trusted, there were two or three that she didn’t. Most of them were good people, but they were the same crusaders that the Old Faith Representatives were in their own way. They wouldn’t feel at all conflicted destroying the portal, because many of them strongly believed it had the potential to be a biological weapon of catastrophic proportions.

  But surely they wouldn’t destroy it, would they? It was a historic and religious relic. As long as they knew where it was, it was under their control…but as long as it existed, it could be stolen, and the whole ordeal would start over again. Ben’s final days were a testament to that fact.

  Lena tossed and turned for several hours before falling asleep. That night was a first for her—her nightmare wasn’t a dream at all.

  “Yes. Two beds.”

  The concierge, a thin man with a cartoon like mustache took the money from Aaron. He turned and smiled at Lena, who was sitting gracefully atop her suitcase with a book held open in her hand. The lobby was done up in reds and golds; it hadn’t been updated since the seventies.

  “You’re going to love Egypt. We’re going to see the temples and the pyramids, and hopefully some mosques. It’s one of my favorite places…”

  “I know, dad. You’ve told me.”

  “Oh, well…You’ve never seen it! There’s so much history, and so much art. I admit, the food has never agreed with me, but—“

  “The food never agrees with you. Even those hamburgers in Australia at that place…you know the place. You were sick for a week!�
�� Lena giggled.

  “Oh, now that’s not funny!”

  “It so was…you couldn’t stand, you couldn’t sit, you couldn’t be in a moving car…you’re such a baby when you’re sick.”

  Aaron’s eyes got wide. He smiled. “I’m the baby? You can’t even drive!”

  “I can too! In some countries!” The concierge pushed a key across the counter at Aaron. “Thanks…”

  “Oh!” Lena got up off of her suitcase and walked up to the counter. “Can I have some extra soaps and shampoos?”

  “Of course, Miss.” The concierge smiled and walked into a back room. There was a radio on, and the sound was drifting out through the door.

  “ ‘The food doesn’t agree with me…’ You’re so sensitive and picky.” Lena looked around at all the other people in the lobby, and finally looked down at her book. “Do you think we could find a bookstore here? I’ve been through this one a few times now. I need a new one…Dad?”

  Some bus boys were starting to collect their suitcases onto the elevator. Aaron was staring off across the lobby, he had gone pale. He turned to the bus boys. “No! No, we’ll take it from here.” As the bus boys pushed the suitcases back out into the lobby, Aaron turned and smiled at his daughter. “I just remembered. A friend recommended a hotel to me. We should try staying there. Are you up for an adventure?”

  Lena briefly looked around the lobby. “Okay…”

  He slapped the key back onto the counter. “Come on. Get your suitcase—I think we could still catch the bus if we hurry.”

  *****

  CHAPTER 9

  She woke up early the next morning to talk to Greg; she needed time alone with Griffin. She hadn’t made her decision yet, but she didn’t want him to be alone. No one deserved to be alone while they were dealing with a family loss. She knocked on three doors before finding the right one. When Greg opened the door, it was apparent that she had caught the room in the middle of waking up. Greg and Master Prescot had showered and dressed, and there was someone in the shower. Greg was still in a disheveled state, but as always, willing to give Lena his full attention when she needed it.