The Gray Tower Trilogy: Books 1-3

by Alesha Escobar

  “After the wizard threatened to go after you and the others, Kenneth just got this look on his face, like it was something personal. He just pulled out his gun and started shooting. He knew he didn’t stand a chance, but he did it so that I’d have enough time to make it out of there and come find you. I jumped through the window and ran. I heard a scream and saw Kenneth fall out the window. He was--”

  “I understand,” I said in a hoarse voice as my eyes burned. “I knew Kenneth.”

  “I’m...sorry.”

  I cleared my throat. “Is that why you think the wizard is here in the U.S.? Because of what he said about coming after the family?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who was this wizard?”

  “I don’t know...he wore all black and had his face covered. I couldn’t say what his true voice was like, because he didn’t use his mouth when he spoke to us. He communicated to us in our minds.”

  It sounded like it could’ve been a mentalist. Such a wizard could pry into others’ thoughts, control minds, erase memories, or seal them the way Nena had sealed mine. The wizard who attacked the safe house probably couldn’t probe Henry’s mind because my father would’ve made sure to protect Henry with a powerful seal. Ken didn’t even know my father was alive until that day, and so, would have nothing of value to divulge. “Were there other wizards with the attacker?”

  “He was alone.”

  It sounded like one of the trackers had gone rogue. They had never before touched our family or threatened it. The Tower had recruited and admitted me to the Order of Wizards without hesitation, even though it didn’t have to. The Head of the Order could’ve easily detained me on Tower grounds, but he didn’t. Yet, I knew they watched us, and they waited to see if my father would show up. That’s why they pushed Brande, an Elite wizard, toward me. He was one of the seven trackers. However Brande’s affection for me wasn’t a mere ruse, and when he vowed to aid me back in France, I gave him my Agate stone ring and accepted his help.

  “Henry, is there anything else you can remember about the wizard who attacked the safe house?”

  “No,” he said, rubbing his neck. When he kept rubbing vigorously and looked to be in pain, I pulled his hand down to look at the back of his neck.

  I saw the phrase In Mente, meaning “In Mind,” etched into his skin as if placed with a branding tool. My heart beat frantically in my chest as I jumped up from the couch and bolted for the door, but it was too late. Henry caught hold of me and crashed against me so that we both landed on the floor. He started retching...or crying...I didn’t know which. I quickly turned on my side and made a move to stand, but he cried again and fell on me.

  “Neal!” I screeched in the direction of the double doors.

  “Help...me!” Henry shrieked as his pupils turned completely white, and his mouth widened an unnatural width. “Help...me!”

  I screamed for Neal once more as I fended Henry off. In his desperation and frantic state of mind, he grabbed my shoulders and shook me, soiling my pristine shirt with tears of blood and grimy hands. Although my hair had come loose and fell into my eyes as I flailed about, it couldn’t completely shield me from seeing a congealed black substance protruding from his mouth and dripping down his chin. “Henry...Henry! Fight it!”

  “No!” he screamed as his huge strong hands reached for my neck. Suddenly he jerked his hands upward, and his arms shook as if he were physically struggling with someone.

  I saw my chance and kicked Henry in the stomach while sliding myself backward. He lunged toward me, but I kicked again and made him lose his balance and fall backward. He started shrieking and writhing on the floor. I got up and ran for my purse hanging on one of the coat rack hooks and grabbed my golden knife. I immediately laid a Circle of Protection. A faint light shot up from the floor and enveloped me, and I watched in horror as Henry crawled toward me with tears of blood still flowing, asking me to help him. I didn’t know what commands had been forced onto his mind, but whatever happened, he needed to remain in this room or else he’d have an entire building of people to tear through. However, as long as he resisted the spell, it would torture him. He would either give in to whatever command had been latent in the spell--which probably was to rip my throat out--or die.

  “Neal!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. This time he heard, and rushed in with Patterson, Lainey, and Jameson.

  Neal quickly assessed the situation and immediately went into action. Patterson nearly fainted and fell back while Lainey and Jameson pulled their guns and kept their distance, as if confronting a dangerous animal. They probably would’ve pulled their triggers if Neal weren’t in the way. Since Henry seemed to ignore Neal’s presence, it was safe to assume the spell was forcing Henry to come after me alone. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t destroy anything or anyone blocking his path.

  Henry coughed up more of the congealed black substance and Neal came up behind him, putting him in a lock hold. “Is there a doctor in the building?”

  “No!” Lainey said. “Just let go of him! We’ll shoot.”

  “Stand down, Warren!” Jameson shouted.

  “I can help him,” Neal said, jerking his head in the direction of the bookcase. “Patterson, would you be so kind as to grab that medical handbook for me?”

  Patterson held onto his potbelly as if he’d be sick and looked at Neal as if he were insane, but with shaky legs, he stumbled toward the shelves and grabbed the book. Lainey and Jameson shouted in fright when Henry, with his inhuman strength, flipped Neal over. He had anticipated that Henry would make this move and shifted his weight and hold on Henry so that he’d fall down with him. Neal immediately returned to a locking hold on Henry and now had his legs intertwined with the other man’s so that he couldn’t break free and rush toward me.

  “Here!” Patterson’s large nose flared as he tossed the book toward Neal and backed away.

  Neal muttered a curse word and shouted for Lainey to come and open the book. Lainey grimaced, but he shoved his gun into his holster and complied. He opened the book and held it at eye level for Neal. “What the hell is this supposed to do? Are you going to lecture him to death?”

  “Turn to page eighty-four, please.” He punched Henry to distract him. The man just kept shrieking and writhing like an animal.

  “Flip through the next five pages at three-second intervals.”

  Lainey did as he was told. “Okay, it’s your funeral...”

  Neal nearly lost his grip on Henry. “This man’s altered state of mind prevents me from using magic to make him fall unconscious, and any attempt to do it physically may inadvertently kill him.”

  “What do you need me to do?” I was already preparing another spell in my mind.

  “Stay where you are,” Neal said.

  I nodded in understanding and began feeding more energy into my Circle of Protection. As it expanded throughout the room and enveloped the other men, I tossed my knife to Lainey. “If Henry gets loose,” I told him, “use it. The knife’s enchanted.”

  Lainey eyed me with mild shock, but then asked, “Don’t you need this?”

  “I’ll just have to be Henry’s distraction. If Neal needs me to stay put...”

  “If he breaks free, I’m shooting.” Jameson warned, as his skinny arms held his gun steady. He threw Patterson an annoyed glance, probably criticizing the man in his mind for having less courage than me, a woman.

  When Neal finished the five pages, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a yellow, flaky substance. He shoved it into Henry’s mouth and closed his hand over the bottom half of his face. Henry’s body went into a spasm, and he choked until he swallowed whatever it was Neal had fed him. When Henry went limp and passed out, Neal finally released him and got to his feet, drenching with sweat and breathing heavily.

  “What did you give him?” Patterson asked, finally approaching now that Henry lay prone.

  “Just the right amount of opium. It’s one of the few things that could incapacitate him whi
le under the influence of an In Mente spell.” Neal took out his knife. With tiny flicks of the magical blade, he erased the words etched into Henry’s neck. I remembered how Neal once used that same knife to break an enchantment for me.

  “You know possessing opium is illegal, right?” Lainey asked, though his tone clearly indicated that he was impressed.

  “You’re talking to a guy who deals in the black market,” I said. When Neal gave me a critical eye, I added, “It’s true. Sometimes I’m tempted to follow you around just to see what kinds of things you get into, Neal.”

  I finally broke my Circle of Protection and limped over. I supposed the shock and an adrenaline rush kept me from feeling any pain where I had landed on the floor.

  “Are you okay, Isabella?” Jameson asked.

  “Yes.” I waved it off and gave a brave face.

  “So what happened to Henry?” Lainey asked.

  I eyed him with pity. “He had a nasty spell placed on him...one that tried to take over his mind and force him to carry out a command. He said the wizard that did this had his face concealed, so he couldn’t identify him. From Henry’s description, we’re probably looking at a mentalist.”

  Neal stared at me, though he still hovered over Henry. “Did he say why the wizard attacked?”

  I knew I had to choose my words carefully. My father faked his death for a reason, and if only a few trusted people knew the truth, then it was best that I help keep it that way--at least for now. “We didn’t quite get around to that. The In Mente spell broke him.”

  Nate had come in with a medic, and they used a stretcher to take Henry away. Patterson ordered them to transfer the man to the nearest hospital with an armed escort.

  “When he wakes up, will he be all right?” Patterson shot a painful glance in the direction of the soiled area of his carpet. He rubbed his large belly.

  “It’s uncertain,” Neal said. “I unraveled the spell, but it has done a great deal of damage to him. Have him remain under protective custody and continue giving him medical attention. If Henry is able to share more information, have him contact Isabella.”

  Patterson nodded, then turned to me and gave me his calling card. “Do you live out this way, Miss George?”

  “Well, one thing I did get out of Henry was that my family may be targeted. I think that was his reason for wanting to speak with me privately. I won’t be in D.C., I’m going to Cambridge, and I’ll leave the address and number if you need to contact me.”

  “All right,” Patterson said. “Excuse me while I go find someone to help me with my office.” He grimaced at his carpet again and then headed down the hall.

  “Isabella, we should assign a security detail to your family,” Jameson said.

  Lainey shook his head. “The wizard won’t show or make a move with us hanging around.”

  I nodded, and, for a second, couldn’t believe I was agreeing with the man. “Lainey’s right. I’ll go home as planned and watch over them. If the wizard does come around...”

  “I’ll be there with you to catch him,” Neal said. He gave me a mysterious look as if he suspected there was more to the story and that he needed to stick around to find out what it was.

  “Yeah,” Lainey said, “you do that. Jameson and I will take care of Henry and try to gather more information from our end. We’ll keep in touch.”

  “Then good luck, gentlemen.” Neal shook their hands.

  “Miss George,” Lainey returned my alchemist’s knife, “you did pretty well back there.”

  “Better than Patterson for sure,” I quipped.

  Jameson smiled. “Speaking of, we have to run some things by him before leaving. We’ll meet you at the car.”

  I grabbed my purse and headed back into the hallway with Neal. We walked in silence over to the elevator. As we waited for its doors to open, he faced me. “Brande told me about Carson. The wizard was searching for your father, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes.” I took in a sharp breath and could barely look him in the eye.

  “You’re thinking it was Master Priya who did this, aren’t you?” He stepped aside and let me go into the elevator first.

  “Are there any other mentalists hunting my father?” For a moment, I thought of the woman Mehara, an Elite mentalist from Morocco. Concealed by her clothing in the right manner and using telepathic communication, she could’ve very well disguised her sex and committed the crime.

  Neal followed me into the elevator. “It’s not necessary to be a full-fledged mentalist to do what that wizard did.”

  “Well whoever it was, he or she was pretty damned proficient at using and manipulating mental powers.”

  “If this person is one of the seven trackers, exposure will come easily. I will help you in this.”

  The elevator doors opened and we stepped out into the lobby. We began walking toward the exit. “You mean you’re willing to expose one of your own confreres?”

  “You may not like what they do, but for hundreds of years the position of a tracker has been one of prestige and honor--to capture and slay the Drifter. However, if one has gone rogue...”

  If only he knew I was the true Drifter and my dad the decoy. Would he still say this to me? Would he still believe that? “My father’s a good man. I mean, he’s flawed, like any other human being, but I don’t believe having the ability to travel through time should be an automatic death sentence.”

  He opened the door for me and continued walking along with me. “Exactly, Isabella. He’s flawed, like all humans, and we are all subject to temptation and depravity. If Adolf Hitler can wreak havoc on the world with military power and his alliance with warlocks, can you imagine what someone would do with the powers of a Drifter?”

  My eyes narrowed. I hadn’t done anything with my powers, and I certainly wouldn’t use them to harm innocent people. “Neal, I just think there are good people in the world, and bad people.”

  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

  “So you’re going to lump him into the same category as the wizard who murdered everyone in that safe house?” My jaw tightened, and I began to wonder why Brande even sent him to me.

  Brande didn’t know I was the Drifter, and, like everyone else, he believed it was my father. He used to talk the same way about the Drifter, just as Neal did...but things were different now. Perhaps I just needed to be a little more patient with Neal for him to completely leave behind the indoctrination of the Gray Tower when it came to this matter. No wonder people called us Tower Slaves.

  We made it to the car and then stood staring at each other. I wondered how he felt about not being able to accurately read me like he did most other people. He said, “If your father is a good man, let him sacrifice himself for the good of this world. If not, then we’ve protected humanity from a potential monster.”

  I resisted the urge to slap him. I told myself to continue being patient, for Brande’s sake. He wouldn’t have sent Neal if he thought the guy was useless to us. I looked straight into Neal’s eyes and spoke. “You have to understand that my mother and brother don’t know about all this. They don’t even know I’ve been working as a spy for SOE.”

  “Very well, I have the perfect cover.”

  “Which is...?”

  “You and I met in the U.S. ambassador’s office in London. We work on the same floor.”

  “All right, genius, and when they wonder why I’m bringing you home?”

  “We’re betrothed.”

  “You’re not my type.” He was nice to look at, but I wasn’t going to inflate his ego by telling him that.

  “I assure you, I’m every woman’s type.”

  “You’re staying in the guesthouse, Romeo. Got it?”

  “Understood.”

  “And don’t do anything that would let them know you’re a wizard, especially a Philosopher. Pretend you’re a normal guy.”

  He gave me a sidelong glance. “The enchantment...something’s changed.”

  “What enchantment?”
My chest tightened, but I made sure my expression remained neutral.

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  “Like I’ve always said...you’re the only one who thinks that.”

  He held my gaze, and, for a moment, I thought he’d try to reach into my mind. However probing someone’s mind without her permission would be considered invasive, an attack even. Instead, he brushed his thumb against my cheek, a cursory move that allowed him to read me. Reading another wizard through heightened smell or sight, and especially by touch, could inform you if you were dealing with an alchemist or elemental, a strong wizard or a mediocre one, a healthy one or a cursed one, a tainted warlock, or a Cruenti.

  “Most curious...” he said.

  “Hey, here comes Lainey and Jameson.” I turned and waved at the two men as they approached. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Neal staring at me, and when he wouldn’t relent, I faced him again.

  “What is it?” My stomach clenched, and I wanted to tell him to stop looking at me in that way.

  “It’s nothing.”

  I shook my head. “With you, it’s always something.”

  25

  Johnnie already stood in the front yard. He wore such a huge grin that I almost overlooked the fact that he donned a full suit and tie. I smiled back at him and got out of the cab, rushing into a tight embrace with him. I framed his face with my hands and stared into his brown eyes, which reminded me of our father’s, and thought about how much I longed for this moment--I was finally home.

  “I’m so glad to see you,” I said as I brushed back his thick dark hair with my fingers. He stood just a bit taller than me, and had the same thick, expressive brows as my dad.

  “Go ahead, Mom and Rachel are inside.” He pulled away and approached Neal, who was helping the cab driver unload my bags. When he stopped to greet my brother with a handshake, Johnnie nailed him with a bear hug. I smiled to myself and walked inside.

  I stiffened a little as I headed up the front steps, unsure of what to expect. This would be my first time meeting my sister-in-law, and then there was my mother. She had never been the same since my father went missing sixteen years ago, and she had become sullen when I accepted the Gray Tower’s invitation to join the Order. It seemed she took little joy in anything nowadays, which pained me, because she used to be the type of person everyone would come to for advice or for a smile; her home was always open to friends, and her rich laughter would fill the house like a song.