The Gray Tower Trilogy: Books 1-3

by Alesha Escobar

  The doorbell rang, and Penn started toward the front. “By the way,” he nodded in the direction of the kitchen before heading toward the hallway, “your sweetheart is in the nook in the back having breakfast.”

  “Ken’s here?” Just as I stood, he came through the doorway. I rushed toward him and threw myself into his arms. I made sure to be careful, since his right arm had been bandaged, and he walked with a limp.

  I planted kisses on his lips, cheeks, and forehead. We said nothing, and we didn’t have to. We just held each other for what seemed like an eternity, and we found comfort in that. It gave me the strength I needed to repeat to him what had happened to Renée, and he held me even more tightly while murmuring words of consolation.

  “Well,” Jasmine stood, “it sounds like we have a few more guests coming in. I think you need to introduce me to these people you have up in my house, Brande.”

  I kissed Ken again and tightened my embrace. From the corner of my eye I saw Brande rise from his seat and quickly look away as Jasmine walked with him. Before Jasmine turned the corner, she gave me a sidelong glance. I felt a little guilty, because I knew what it was for.

  I did very well at pretending I was unaware of Brande’s affection for me. When I was younger and in the Gray Tower, I did have a crush on him, but nothing came of it. When I left and returned home before going to England, he finally expressed his feelings, but then, at the time, I didn’t want anything to do with the Gray Tower or anyone associated with it. I ended up ascribing it all to mere infatuation on both our parts and left it at that, assuming he would do the same.

  At times I felt that he was on the verge of contradicting this, whether it was a single look, the tone of his voice when he spoke to me, or the way he grew silent if I ever mentioned Ken. Because of that, I made sure to be as considerate as possible, but I wasn’t going to hide the fact that Ken and I adored each other. We were drawn to one another since we first met...since he...stole a copy of my file...

  Ken looked directly into my eyes. “For a moment I thought you wouldn’t make it.”

  “Where’s Bernard?” I loosened my hold on him.

  “He fell through the trees and got knocked unconscious. I had some Maquisards take him back to Mantes to see a doctor. Now would you mind not sending me away like that?”

  My stomach tightened, and I pulled away. He was good—I’d give him that. To make me feel foolish and shy away from doubts and questions, and to be in the right place at the right time to make it seem like he had saved me and had been looking out for me. I even bought his sob story about his Amsterdam mission.

  “Kenneth, remember that conversation we had before we went into the Vélizy factory?”

  “Yes.” He reached for my hand, but I rebuffed him.

  “Everything was a lie, wasn’t it?” Renée’s face flashed in my mind. I would never see her again.

  “What are you talking about?” His jaw dropped, and he stared at me.

  “So did you leave my file lying around somewhere? Or did you sell it?”

  “Are you insane?” He looked hurt, and it made me hurt too...but damn it, he was trained to be a good actor, and to make people believe who he was and believe his words.

  “I’d feel better if it were blackmail, at least that you were forced to do it and really didn’t want to.”

  “Did that warlock hit you with some kind of crazy spell? If I’m a traitor, then why the hell would I be risking my life fighting by your side?”

  I ignored his question. “After I neutralized the chemicals at the factory, why did you stay behind in the basement?”

  “To take a last look at those notes and documents in there. I wanted to see if I could find anything about the laboratories.”

  “What about the Cairo job? Why did you steal money from Badru? Were you rogue, or playing dirty?”

  “That murderer built his wealth on the blood of innocent people, so I took his money away, and gave it back to its real owners.”

  Great, now he wanted to play Robin Hood. “Well...did you leave a copy of my file—”

  “No I didn’t—”

  “And someone saw it—”

  “I destroyed it—”

  “Then how do our enemies know—”

  “I feel bad about Renée too, but if you want someone to blame, then start with the people who killed her.”

  “Then what about that day we were at her house and Penn came by? You lied about going to see your contacts. Who did you go see?”

  “I’m not a traitor.”

  “Answer the question.” I reached forward and caressed his cheek. Not out of affection, but because I was ready to stop his heart from beating. It would be easy.

  He narrowed his eyes. “You think you know everything, don’t you? Well...at least I know where we stand.”

  “Just answer me.” When I saw him slip his hand into his pocket, I sent a quick tendril of energy straight to his head. He convulsed and cried out in pain as he fell to his knees.

  I stepped away. He gasped, but kept his hand in his pocket. It seemed to strain him physically, but he finally revealed what he had kept hidden—a ring box.

  “Oh, Ken...” I groaned as he carefully set the box on the floor in between us.

  I moved toward him so I could touch him and reverse the body magic, but he raised his arm to ward me off. He slowly rose to his feet, with his face screwed up in pain, and faced me. He looked at me and I knew he felt I understood that Rénee was dead.

  I almost choked on my words. “Do you see why I wanted out? Why this had to be my last mission?”

  “No...I don’t.” He flexed his right arm. “This isn’t you. What happened to you?”

  “I got tired.”

  “And I wasn’t good enough?”

  “I’m sorry.” I grabbed his hand. I was glad that he didn’t pull away. Now all I needed was for him to come with me. I’d be willing to endure his resentment and his distrust. I’d give him all the time he needed. All I wanted was for him to agree to leave with me.

  He shook his head. “You gave up...you’re giving up on everything.”

  “I gritted my teeth in frustration. “I’m not giving up.”

  “Oh, that’s right, you call it retiring.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with retiring!”

  “I’m seeing this entire war through to the end. I’m sorry that you couldn’t.”

  My jaw tightened. “This is supposed to be my last assignment. And, there are things I have to take care of with my family.”

  “Are your mother and brother all right?”

  I nodded. “They’re okay.”

  He sighed and retrieved the ring box. “Good.”

  “Ken...”

  He opened my hand and handed me the box. I clutched it and tried to speak. No words came forth.

  “Maybe this was all doomed from the start, and maybe I was just too blind to see it.”

  I deserved that, though it felt like a slow and painful death. “Goodbye, Kenneth. You...deserve better.”

  He kissed my forehead. “I didn’t want better. I wanted you. Take care of yourself.”

  As he pulled himself away and headed toward the coat closet, he instructed one of the maids to deliver a final thanks to Jasmine for her hospitality. I stood there feeling like the crappiest person on earth. Part of me wanted to take off and chase him, to throw myself into his arms again and promise to stay with him and make amends. I regretted that it wasn’t the part of me that won out, because I just stood motionless, like a coward, and only when it was too late and I was alone, did I utter: “I love you.”

  “I remember one time when I had to smuggle an important map from the Maquis leaders to our OSS friends in Spain. They booked a show for me in a nightclub in Madrid where someone was going to meet me. Anyhow, I’ve known people to memorize entire maps like this, but I told Renée that I didn’t have time to memorize the whole thing and I was too damned nervous to try. She said, ‘Jasmine, you are La Dame Rouge�
�use that to your advantage.’ So, I ended up at the airport with my luggage being checked by Nazis and I was awfully scared. I made it through and made it back again from the other side without a problem.

  “When I saw her again, she looked so proud and asked me, ‘How did you do it?’ She probably thought I had taken her advice and used my celebrity to walk right by the searches, but instead I told her I wasn’t into the whole smooth talk psychological games. Just give me a secret, and I’ll take it with me to the grave, but don’t have me playing spy. I told her that I took the map with me...and had sewn the thing into my undergarments! She looked at me like I was absolutely certifiable and she never let me forget it. I’ve come a long way, haven’t I?”

  I laughed so hard that I had to set my wineglass aside. “I can imagine the look on her face...I didn’t know you two were so close.”

  “Yeah, we had some wild times.” Jasmine sniffed, and her smile faded. “Now I know what she meant about being tired of all this shit. I’m tired of seeing people die. Anyhow, are you going to tell me why your sweetheart left so early?”

  “Ken isn’t my sweetheart.”

  With a sullen expression I took another sip of Château. Maybe he was right about us being doomed from the start. Maybe he didn’t know me as well as he thought he did. Ken knew little about this other world I belonged to. He only knew I was an alchemist and respected my training, but he had never seen or experienced everything I had, and, whether I liked it or not, I would always have ties to the Gray Tower. People like me tended to have enemies, secrets, and lousy luck when it came to holding together a marriage, especially with a non-wizard. Even my parents, as perfect and romantic as they were, at times argued about my father’s work with the Order. One day it had gotten so intense that all I remember was my mother screaming at my father. He had ushered me toward a car and driven me away.

  “Honey, save it for someone else.” Jasmine languidly stretched on her bed and threw me a glance. “I was so sure you were going to marry Blondie that I had already bought a dress to wear to the wedding.”

  I ignored her comment. I sat at her bedroom windowsill with the window half open, enjoying the fresh air and the view of the stars. We were waiting for Penn to return since he promised to find out anything he could about the research laboratories. I could only hope Dr. Heilwig was at one of them.

  I turned to face her. “Well, what about Penn? Why is he always around?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know!”

  Her expression elicited a small grin from me. I glanced out the window that overlooked the garden. I saw Brande down below, walking and talking with Father Gabriel. The two seemed engrossed in conversation, although he did look up once. I timidly waved at him and he stared at me for a moment before turning his gaze back to Gabriel.

  “What’s wrong, Emelie?”

  “I think Brande hates me.” I closed the window. I’d be lucky if anyone even wanted to be around me by the end of the week.

  “You know that’s not true, and I don’t want to see you moping around like this. Why don’t you go downstairs with Adelaide, or Lucien and his friend? Did you get a good look at his friend?”

  “I don’t feel like talking to anyone.”

  “You don’t have to talk. I just don’t want you to be alone.”

  “I think I’m sleepy.”

  “Tell Lucien I’m sorry about his father, and I’ll speak with him in the morning.”

  “Jasmine...”

  “Thanks! Close the door behind you.”

  “All right...one drink, and then I’m off to bed.”

  “Goodnight.”

  “Yeah...goodnight.”

  I went downstairs through the living room, and into the kitchen nook. Lucien and Ernest sat at the table downing drinks and viewing a solitary candle sitting at the center of the table. I decided not to flip on the light switch and walked toward them. Lucien stared at the candle’s flame, muttering something in French before kissing the tip of his extended fore and middle fingers. He touched the bottom of the candle.

  “Rest in Eternal Light, father.”

  Ernest imitated his friend’s gesture. “Rest in peace.”

  They looked up as I cleared my throat. “Hi.”

  “Hey,” Ernest gestured toward the empty seat next to him. Lucien just stared at me.

  “I’m sorry about your father,” I said, still standing. “Jasmine is as well. She said she’ll speak with you in the morning, if that’s okay.”

  Lucien bowed his head and peered into his empty glass. “Thank you.”

  Ernest stood and offered me his hand. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Ernest Wilson.”

  I shook his hand. “I’m...Noelle.”

  “American?”

  I smiled in response and took my seat. “And, so are you. Are you with OSS?”

  “Somewhat, and I don’t mean anything by it, but I didn’t know they were sending out lady agents now.”

  I shook my head. “They’re not, I’m an SOE agent.”

  Ernest glanced at Lucien and asked in French, “How about that, Luce? Ever been to London?”

  “Ah,” I switched over to French, “so you speak the language of love?”

  “Don’t encourage him,” Lucien said.

  “Blame it on my Creole grandmother.” Ernest chuckled.

  “How long will you two be in France?”

  “Long enough to go hunt some Nazis.” Ernest sat back with a sour expression. I supposed they weren’t the only ones with retribution on their minds.

  Otto said they had been on special assignment in Spain. Perhaps they’d be willing to help me out on this one. “If that’s the case, then why don’t you join me? I’m going after one of their labs. This could be a big win for our side.”

  Ernest poured another drink. “We’ve raided one of those before, headed by that Dr. Meier. Those Nazi sons of bitches were experimenting on people.”

  “The lab I want to break into develops weapons,” I said, trying to block out nightmarish images that flashed in my mind. “I don’t know what your plans are, but—”

  “It won’t work,” Lucien said as he pushed his empty glass aside. “We went in with a band of highly trained military men. Who would come with us?”

  “Me, for starters, and a few other people.”

  Lucien sighed. “I don’t doubt that you’re good at what you do...Noelle...but I’m not sure you know what you’d be getting into. Why don’t you go sabotage a factory?”

  “I’ve done that,” I said, crossing my arms. I didn’t like his tone at all, but I reminded myself to be a little more patient with him, for Otto’s sake.

  “What kind of weapons are we talking about?” Ernest asked. Lucien glared at him as if telling him not to give me false hope.

  “The same ones that took out Ally soldiers on the Western Front. This is the place where they created The Plague.” I hoped I could at least get Ernest on my side, though I doubted one friend would go without the other.

  Ernest frowned and shook his head. “And where exactly is this lab supposed to be?”

  “Penn’s never failed me. He’s out there getting the information for us as we speak. Once he gets back with what we need, we can pinpoint the lab’s location and then head out.”

  “We’ll think about it,” Lucien said without looking up.

  I wondered if he was just moody or a jerk all the time. “It won’t break my heart if you don’t come.”

  Lucien leaned forward. “The lab we raided last year was in Catalonia. It ran underground beneath the Spanish and French borders. Twenty of us went in and only three came out. A Black Wolf killed half of us within ten minutes. And you want to walk into one of these places?”

  “Brande and I trained with the Gray Tower, and Father Gabriel...has abilities too. I think the three of us could take on a Black Wolf.”

  Ernest blew a low whistle. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but we had a wizard leading the group, and
it turned out he was more worried about saving his own skin than looking out for the men.”

  “I’m not that type of wizard—or that type of person.”

  “But one of your type was the one to lead seventeen men to their deaths.” Lucien gazed at me. “He could care less about those of us without powers.”

  Ernest finished his drink. “The only reason Luce and I survived was because we stuck with each other, and knew when to get out. The wizard survived because he magicked himself away.”

  I really didn’t like the direction this conversation was going in. “Listen, I just lost two people who were important to me, who were willing to sacrifice themselves. I’d do the same in a heartbeat; so don’t lump me in with whatever you think all wizards are like.”

  Ernest lowered his gaze and looked embarrassed. His expression told me that he was at least considering my words. Lucien just fell back into his angry stare.

  “Like I said, Ernest and I will think about it.”

  At this point I was done for the night. “Okay then, I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I went back upstairs to my guestroom, wondering if I had made the right move in inviting Lucien along. We could certainly use his firepower and expertise, but if he couldn’t trust me or even tolerate me, then maybe it would be better for him to stay here and give himself time to grieve over his father.

  I thought of Otto and Renée once more, and a numb feeling came over me. I crawled into bed, replaying in my mind how I didn’t arrive soon enough to save them. After lying in bed for an hour, the tension in my shoulders finally eased and, with a little body magic, I warded off an oncoming headache. All I wanted was sleep, to at least escape this hell for just a while. Every waking second, all I could think of were the friends I lost...and those I felt responsible for losing.

  I dreamed about my father. I’d had this dream countless times before. It always started with an odd fire that surrounded me, but never consumed me. I would be cowering in a small place, probably the tool shed from our backyard. I would scream for help, and as soon as my father opened the door, the flames would disappear and I would feel safe. Then, for some reason, my father would also disappear and leave me all alone.