“I’m warning you, Abner Thomas. Don’t let your guard down.” He scoots up behind her, pulling her hair over shoulder, whispering to her. “Le mal est ici.”
The door springs open and Abby whirls around to face Lyric. The darkness vanishes from his eyes. “I heard him say it this time,” Lyric says. “He said evil is here. And he’s right. I feel him. Julien is close.”
Abby turns around and walks up to the edge of the door. Her hands light up into a glowing ball of sun. “Reid, stay close to Wilhelmina. We don’t know what might be in there.”
Reid has already lit the flame. He winks at me. “Yeah, Willa. I might need you to save me.”
Lyric picks up a torch from the pile. “And who is going to protect me?”
“You’re with us,” she says, pointing at herself and Sadie.
“Really?”
Abby groans. “I changed my mind. Willa, you take black eyes and I’ll take my brother.”
“No. No.” Lyric shakes his head and runs toward them. “I’m right behind you.”
We head into the Tower. The stairs are narrow and spiral upward into the mountaintop. The walls are tight around me. The air is thin and the steps thick and difficult to maneuver. It takes almost twenty minutes to wind our way to the top. The tiny stairwell finally opens into a large circular foyer. The room is empty. Three open archways lead into three different rooms. I walk over and peek into the first room. The ceiling is higher with long rows of shelves, disappearing into the blackness as it goes deeper into the mountain. I turn back around, and that’s when I notice the plaque above the door.
It’s a Raven carved into the dark wood. It’s the same as the one Julien has tattooed on his arm. I walk back out. “This is the Cote family room.”
Reid peeks inside the room. “How do you know?”
I walk over to the next room and look up inside the door. It’s a mountain lion. I check the first book on the shelf and it belonged to a Cheryl Prescott.
Above the door of the last room the plaque is missing. Of course it’s missing. I turn back to Reid. “Each room has a symbol above the door that represents each family of the Haunted. This one is missing. Care to take a guess which one it is?”
“Bessette.”
We all gather in the room, and I pull down the first book I see. It’s an old, tattered novel with frayed edges. The name inside says it belonged to an Ellar Bessette in nineteen forty-two. “Spread out.” Reid rounds the side of the table heading for a dusty shelf in the corner. “We need to find anything that looks like a family tree, and let’s make it quick.”
I go shelf by shelf reading every spine along the side, and if it doesn’t say, then I pull the book out to check the inside inscription. A small leather book catches my eye. The black leather is fresh and unsoiled. I flip through the pages, finding most of them empty. It’s a journal. I have to turn all the way to the front to find anything, but then it doesn’t make sense. It’s the same phrases and words repeated over and over again.
We must stop her. She will grow stronger. Must be stopped.
It goes on and on for pages. Frantic scribbling.
“Hey, I found something over here,” Sadie says. “It’s a catalog of the books.” She scans down the paper that is protected by a glass covering. “According to this, Willa is right. Each room is divided by each family of the Haunted. The room is separated into sections too, though. Historical Artifacts. History. Genealogy.” Sadie’s head pops up and she points across the room at the shelf next to me. “That shelf. That one should hold the book we want.”
I move over and start scanning titles. Sadie causes a bright light to burst from her fingertips as she continues to scan the list. “It says here there should be five genealogy books, each sorted by date. If the estimations are correct about when the book was stolen and by whom, then we need the black one.”
“I see it.” I climb up on the table and wiggle the book out of its spot. It’s covered in an inch of dust. I jump down from the table and rub the cover to see the front clearly. There isn’t a title on the front, but if I open the cover, the first page has a handwritten note. Bessette Family Tree. “Jackpot.”
Reid jumps over the table separating us. “Let me see.”
I reach the book across the table to him, and he runs his fingers down it greedily. I know how he feels. It’s finally something. No more goose chases. This book will tell us the name of the Bessette member who has the Book of the Moon. Reid opens the cover, flipping through the worn pages, searching for the correct years when the three brothers lived.
The flame of the candle pops out, a small sizzle echoing in the now blank darkness around me. Air brushes my neck.
Julien. He’s here.
Reid throws the book on the table and scrabbles to get me. “Willa!”
Lyric’s body jerks forward and falls to the ground. “No!” Lyric starts kicking. He rolls over to grab the leg of the table behind him. “Let me go.”
I can’t see anything. A small glimpse of Lyric’s desperate features. Something jerks him again and his face disappears. “No. Please. Leave me alone!”
His voice echoes out of the room. His body scratches across the floor at our feet. The door behind us slams shut. “We have to do something,” I scream at Reid.
We try to fumble to the door in the darkness, but I trip over stacks of books. Reid lifts me to my feet. Lyric screams, his voice a high pitched wail. Julien’s hurting him. Torturing Lyric just like he’d done me on that rooftop. Reid hops over the stack of books, and with one flick of his wrist sends a flame back to the candle. I jerk the door open, and a shadow darts across Lyric’s writhing body down the staircase. I run to him, checking him for stab wounds, but I don’t see any blood. At least not until Lyric rolls over. Lyric’s hand is clamped over his forearm as he curses against the floor beneath him, tears streaming out of his eyes. I pull his hand away to see letters carved into Lyric’s arm.
Traitor.
It’s a message.
“He had me,” Lyric says. “Why would he leave me alive?”
“Because your brother is evil.” I pull off Reid’s flannel shirt and wrap it around Lyric’s bleeding wrist. “He wants to watch us suffer first.”
Reid stands in the doorway, his head down. “Apparently that isn’t all he wants. The book is gone.”
“What?”
“This,” he says, pointing at Lyric, “was merely a distraction. The Bessette Family Tree is gone. That’s what he came after. It’s probably what he was looking for when he tore the Bessette cabin apart before we got there.”
I leave Lyric’s side and rush back into the room. The black book is missing from the table along with the leather journal. “Now what do we do?”
Abby helps Lyric sit up. “We need to get him home to Mom or Jade. These cuts are deep. They need to be healed soon and by someone more skilled than me.”
“No,” a small voice echoes behind us. I whip around to find a young girl with eyes as gray as the morning fog staring at me. Her black hair is cropped off short just above her ears, and her plain gray skirt and top could blend in with the walls. “He is one of us. I will tend to him. You must go see the Raven.”
Abby turns around, taking a protective stance in front of Lyric. “Who are you?”
“The Raven is waiting,” she says. “Follow me.”
Chapter 11
The Haunted Live
This tiny girl with her straight and emotionless features stands at the entrance waiting for us to make a decision. I find Reid, and then he looks back at Abby and Sadie. No one knows what to do, or who this child is, or how she suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “The Raven waits for you,” she says again, and disappears down the staircase.
The room drops to a dead silence. Sadie slowly walks over to the door and peeks down the staircase. “Okay. That’s creepy.”
Abby helps Lyric sit up and secures the shirt tighter around his bleeding arm. “What should we do?”
“We go with
her,” I say, running over to help Abby get Lyric to his feet.
Reid scratches his head. “I guess. I mean we are in their territory.”
We help Lyric down the spiral staircase and out of the tower. As soon as Lyric steps foot out the door, it swings shut on its own accord, dust flying from around the edges. The girl stands in the distance waiting for us. The sun sinks down behind the mountains. Abby glances at me. “Are you sure this is a good idea? It’s getting dark.”
“We risk more by leaving now, and getting caught in the open leaving the Ridge. Julien is here. He’s quicker and more powerful than we gave him credit.”
Those were his words in that journal. I can’t get them out of my head.
She must be stopped. She grows stronger.
“Follow the girl,” Lyric says. “The people here have no reason to harm us.”
I lead the way, following the girl back down the path. Lights come on in the trees, the windows hidden there brightening against the looming darkness. We go all the way back through town, until we come upon a very large house. It grows into the trees four or five stories high. All the lights are on. A man stands at the open door and motions us in after the girl. “Let the boy go with her,” he says.
Abby shakes her head, hanging on to Lyric’s arm. “Not alone. I go too.”
The man opens his mouth to speak, but Lyric’s eyes flash black. “If I go. She goes.”
The man, who doesn’t seem startled at all by the drastic physical change in Lyric, simply nods. I raise a curious brow toward Abby. I get no kind of response back. I guess I deserve that after my million and one “it’s nothing” speeches.
The man motions Reid, Sadie, and me forward. We follow him up the many flights of stairs that zig and zag back and forth, right to left into the treetops. We come out onto an open landing that skims across the long, sturdy branches of the trees. I stay close to Reid as we cross a hanging rope bridge that looks as if it dead ends against the cliff face of the mountain, but instead dives into blackness of an open cavern. I hang on to the thick rope as I walk slowly across the swaying boards at my feet. I step off onto a platform just inside the cavern. The man grabs a lit torch from a wall and hands it to me. “The Raven is waiting for you.”
I glance at the man and back to the shadowy pathway that turns into the hollow cavern. “You’re not going with us?”
“Only the Innocent.” He glances at Sadie and me. “Two halves with powers united under the pale moon can draw the Raven into form.”
“Two halves?” I glance at Reid and then Sadie. “If we need two matching halves, then you’ll have to find Abby.”
Sadie smiles at the man and takes the torch. “Thank you for your help.”
The man silently nods and leaves us alone. Sadie turns back to us. “Go on. I’ll stay here and take watch. Yell if you need me.”
Reid’s gaze catches mine. I grin at him. “I told you she knew.”
He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Look, Sadie, I—”
“You were going to tell us eventually, I know.” She rolls her eyes. “We don’t have time for that right now. Trust me, I will berate you for this later.”
He awkwardly shoves his hands in his pockets. “How long have you known?”
“Forever?” Sadie lets out a small laugh. “I mean, I wasn’t positive until after the Summer Solstice when Willa’s Sun didn’t show up, but I kind of always knew you were one of us. I always knew you were waiting for Willa.”
He looks back at me and I smile. I’ve always been waiting for him too.
“Go on,” Sadie says, pushing us forward.
Reid stumbles, but catches hold on the side of the slick rock wall of the cavern. “You won’t tell my sister, will you?” Sadie frowns at him, and he throws his hands in the air. “It’s not that I don’t want her to know. I need to be the one to tell her.”
Sadie nods and holds the torch out to him. “I won’t say a word.”
Reid waves it away. “I don’t need that.”
Flame burst from the palm of his hand. Sadie beams, her eyes dancing. “Your sister is going to freak out when she finds out.”
“I know.” He shakes his head at the thought. “Trust me, I know.”
He takes my hand and we squeeze through the tight space in the cavern, following the long path into the mountain. I spot a small light in the distance. The moon shines through an opening in the rock. The cavern widens into a large circular room, the ceiling suddenly darting upward. It’s empty, the walls of the black rock blank. I look at Reid, but something catches my eye. A black blur covering the light. Wings flutter in the small space and drift down, landing in the middle of the room.
A Raven, black as coal with eyes that glint a fiery red.
It calls. Two high pitched squawks before dancing around in a circle.
Reid grabs my hand. “Remember what the man said. Only the Innocent can bring the Raven into form. Two halves with power united under the moon.”
I squeeze his hand and let my powers flood me. No, they engulf me. I’ve never felt my magic take hold so easily, like breathing. Reid isn’t the only one who’s grown stronger recently. So have I. He used to have to piss me off to get such energy to build inside of me.
The power courses through our hands, the streamline connected between us. Reid opens his palm and an orb of glowing white and yellow light forms between our hands. We step apart and the light grows around us, until it fills the entire room. The Raven flaps its wings, jumping back and forth. Its black feathers turn to smoke. Its gangly figure slowly disappears and the smoke rises, a whirlwind growing until finally a dark veil drops down, revealing a woman on her knees. A sheath of black velvet hair covers her face, while a crimson dress drapes down to her toes.
She slowly rises to her feet and I gasp. Hints of Julien and Lyric are so evident in her flawlessly elegant features. The same piercing blue eyes and full curved lips. “Estelle Cote.”
She smiles, stretching her arms and neck as if waking up from a long nap. “Forgive me. It’s been too long since I’ve stood on my feet.”
I back against the wall. This is the original Haunted. At least, one of the three the curse was placed on that night in Frog Hollow as she worked with George Bessette and Luther Prescott to murder the young Contessa and Elizabeth for the sake of greed, lust, and power. She glances at me and smiles. “Calm down, child. I mean you no harm.”
Reid studies her. “You’re the Raven? How?”
She stands up straight, craning her neck before gallantly shoving her long hair over her shoulder. “It’s part of the curse. Trapped here to watch my family suffer, one by one, tortured and turned because of my choice.”
I take a shaky step forward. “What do you want from us?”
Her eyes, though soft, are urgent. “I see everything, young Innocent. Something is changing in Sanctuary. Something I can’t explain.” She turns her head to the side, peering curiously at Reid. “Like you…”
Reid takes a tentative step back. “What about me?”
Estelle laughs. “A boy with the power of the Innocent. It’s unheard of.”
She’s right. Reid is the first and only male ever to be born with the power of the Innocent. She taps her fingers along her narrow chin. “Strange things are happening. The Haunted and the Innocent used to repel each other. It’s why my family retreated to the mountains. Shunned into hiding.” She starts to pace the room. “Now one of the Innocent tends to a Haunted’s wounds in my own house. Another killed his own father to save you. It’s happening more and more. This attraction, pulling us together.”
“Sadie has noticed it too. Ezekiel Prescott’s attraction to her. Erika Prescott’s to Reid.”
Reid looks between us. “Why do you think this is happening?”
Estelle purses her lips. “The Changing.”
Reid crosses is arms. “What’s that?”
“Something I didn’t believe in. Something I thought would never happen.”
Reid’
s voice is stern now. “What is it?”
“Your books will tell you.”
“The Book of the Moon was stolen, you know that. We need the name of the Bessette who has it.”
Estelle laughs, shaking her head. “No, you don’t. Your bond grows stronger. This attraction between the Innocent and the Haunted swells. More than one snake will come crawling back to the garden once they feel it. He will find you. They all will find you before the end. You must resist the temptation to let them meet their fates. Take back your book and end this curse for good.”
The light around our circle starts to dim. Our power fades. “Before you go, can I ask why you’re helping us?”
“Call me reformed,” she says with a smile. “Each time one of them is taken, I break all over again. Helplessness and guilt. It’s a mighty burden to bear.”
As the light around us slowly trickles out, the black smoke consumes Estelle Cote again. “Forgive me for the evil I’ve caused us all.”
I look at Reid and he nods. “Yes,” we say together.
“He’ll come for you. They all will.”
The smoke melts away, leaving a Raven in her place. The bird takes flight back up and through the ceiling. Reid steps up behind me and places his lips at the back of my neck. “Did you feel that?”
“My powers? Yes. It was crazy strong.”
“Mine too.”
I turn to face him. “Back at the Raven’s Tower, there was a leather-bound journal on the table that disappeared along with the genealogy book. It had these frantic scribbles inside of it about power growing stronger. What if it means me?”
Reid takes a deep breath, his hands brushing my elbows. “Let’s get the others and go home. We need to find out more about this Changing and what it means.”
“How?”
“Well, we have one book. The Book of the Sun might be able to tell us something. I think it’s time we call Delphine and have her bring us the book. If the Raven is right and all of the Haunted are coming for us, then we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) Page 11
