Forbidden Alchemy (Elemental Book 7)

by Rain Oxford

  “Where is Darwin?”

  I couldn’t have been more shocked, but I shouldn’t have been. Most fae were extremely peaceful until their tribe members were threatened. Although they weren’t married yet, Amy clearly felt that Darwin was a member of her tribe as much as he felt that Henry and I were in his pack.

  “He was captured by a wolf pack in Oklahoma.”

  “Why haven’t you rescued him yet?”

  “We’re trying to clear his name by taking down the one who set him up. If we just rescue him, they’ll attack the Mason pack.”

  “Maseré can obliterate any pack in the United States.”

  “That’s what I thought as well, but Darwin believes otherwise.”

  “My jaguar sensed something off about those scouts,” Henry said.

  “If they’re so powerful, how could one sick wolf kill them?” Remy asked.

  “That’s the reasonable question, but they weren’t listening to reason.”

  “You knew where Darwin is?” Amy asked Remy, turning her anger on my girlfriend. That was the wrong choice.

  “You’re not his family legally or by blood, so I have no obligation to share private information about his location.”

  Now it was Amy who looked like she had been slapped. “I quit,” she said. “I won’t work for someone who would keep---”

  “Then shut up and get out,” Remy interrupted coldly.

  Amy fumed. “When Darwin returns---”

  “You won’t be here to find out, because you just quit. This is private property, and for the safety of my students, I cannot have someone on the grounds that doesn’t work here.”

  Amy was shocked, but she was also backed into a corner. After a moment, she turned to me. “Do something.”

  “About what? You made a choice. Choices have consequences. My suggestion is to calm down and stop digging your hole deeper. Then you can try to repair the damage of your choice and maybe ask Remington for your job back.”

  I hated upsetting her. Joseph Sanders was an abusive hardass, but I learned many things from him. One of them was how to treat women, which was the opposite of how he treated them. Women were not brainless servants who lived for cooking and cleaning and deserved to be beaten if they disobeyed their husband. I learned from Regina that women didn’t have the right to treat men like shit, either.

  I didn’t know what Amelia was feeling or how to help her. Her power was over emotion and I had never seen her become emotional before. She really loved Darwin and deserved to know about him. However, her power made her dangerous around others, as the recent curse proved.

  Remington must have understood her better than me because the instant I saw the fight leave Amelia’s eyes, Remington’s tone softened. “My employees are not allowed to leave the school grounds during the semester. You are not one of my employees anymore,” she said.

  Amy frowned with confusion. “Are you suggesting I find Darwin?”

  “That is one option. However, you are not the only one who’s worried about him. I think his parents need you more right now.” Remington was more like her father than she wanted to admit… but sexy.

  Amy left without arguing.

  * * *

  Remington, Henry, and I searched the underground rooms, but we didn’t find any missing children. After two hours, we were all frustrated and tired. “If I was wrong, we’re wasting valuable time.”

  “We searched every room three times,” Remington said.

  There were dozens of rooms, which wasn’t enough to get confused over. I sat in a reading chair and pondered the many bookshelves around us. “I could have been wrong, but that means they could be anywhere. A tracking spell got us this far. Let’s use another one.”

  “I can show you a better one to use when you’re this close,” Remington offered.

  “Let’s do it.”

  “Do you still have her hair?”

  “I grabbed some extra in case we needed it,” Henry said, pulling a wadded paper towel from his pocket.

  “Good. I’ll be right back.” She left and returned five minutes later with a three-inch-long, thin, brown candle that was covered in carved sigils. There was a metal pin sticking out of the middle of it. She held it by the pin and waved her hand over the wick. It lit. Then she took some hair from Henry and whispered an incantation as she fed the hair to the flame. The flame turned purple. “She’s close.”

  She turned the candle onto its side and it spun above the pin like the needle of a compass, finally pointing north.

  We stepped out into the hall and it turned slightly. We followed this to a spot on the wall in a room, but no matter where we went, it kept pointing to that spot. Deciding it was a secret passage (in a secret room) we started looking for a trigger.

  After a few minutes, I closed my eyes and focused on my intuition. For some reason, my intuition told me we needed more light. My first thought was that someone was going to open the shadow pass, but I didn’t sense danger.

  We were using two torches since the underground didn’t have gas lamps. However, there were candles on the tables and along the walls. I tried to hand my torch to Henry, but the light irritated his eyes, so I put it out with magic instead. My intuition didn’t have a problem with this.

  “What’s wrong?” Remy asked.

  “I don’t know.” I reached for the nearest candle on the wall, only for my instincts to warn me away. Instead, I went to the far candle and focused heat into it. When the wick lit, the sound of grinding rock filled the room, and we turned to watch part of the wall slide into the floor.

  Remy and I entered the secret room while Henry hung back to help us escape if the door closed on us. The room was ten-by-ten with five small beds lining the far wall, two wooden crates to the left of the door, and an old toilet half hidden behind the crates. On top of the crates was a pack of bottled water. In each bed was a child. I recognized one of the boys from my vision, as well as Emerson from her picture and Tazmyn.

  I pointed to the crate of food and water. “There are the missing supplies.” I approached Tazmyn and studied her still form. They all wore white pajamas and amulets. The amulets were round with glowing green crystals. “They’re alive. This explains why Eugene and Rhonda kept talking about waking someone up.”

  “How do we wake them?” Henry asked.

  “We could take off the amulets, but that’s dangerous without knowing what they do,” Remington advised. “This bothers me. Sleeping potions can slow down a person’s metabolism to the point where they don’t need to eat every day, but that’s a lot of food for five kids, which suggests this isn’t that kind of spell. There are no intravenous bags, either. Who has been taking care of them? Have they been alone since we caught the four working for Veronica?”

  “They don’t look like they’re starving,” I said.

  She slipped on leather gloves and studied Emerson’s amulet closely. “I recognize the sigils on these; they’re designed to siphon someone’s energy or magic. This magic is hundreds of years old and not common anymore, which isn’t surprising considering the curse Veronica used on the school. There’s not much information on how to safely stop the spell, but they’re getting closer to death by the minute.”

  “Maybe we should call your father down here.”

  “We can’t rely on him to make these decisions,” Remington said. “He wouldn’t have given me this school if he didn’t think I could handle it.”

  I trusted Remington, and my intuition was for it, so I took off my jacket, wrapped the amulet up in it, and took it off of Tazmyn. She gasped softly in her sleep, opened her eyes, and sat up. However, she didn’t look at me or react at all. I waited a moment for her to freak out, look around, or ask where she was. Instead, she stared blankly ahead, as if she was still asleep.

  “Maybe she’s in shock,” Remington suggested.

  “It looks more like the opposite; I think she’s still asleep. Can you hear me?”

  Remington grabbed a bottle of water and held
it out to her. Her eyes didn’t even move. “Yeah, this isn’t good.” She sat on the bed and shook the girl’s shoulders. “Can you hear me?” She waved her hand in front of Tazmyn’s eyes.

  No reaction.

  I took the bottle, uncapped it, and held it to her mouth. “She’s got to be dehydrated. Tazmyn, this is water.” I was hoping her natural instinct would take over, but she might as well have been a doll.

  “Tazmyn, drink,” Remington ordered, growing frustrated.

  The girl didn’t blink as she wrapped her hands around mine on the bottle and tipped it back to drink. She drained the bottle within seconds and kept sucking on the empty plastic. Remington got her another, and I had a hard time prying the empty bottle away. It was like she couldn’t see the new bottle until Remington pressed it against her hand.

  I had a pretty good idea what was going on now, so as she drank, I grabbed a bag of dehydrated meat out of the crate and tore it open. As I suspected, she didn’t react to the meat when I put it in front of her face. “Tazmyn, stop drinking,” I said. She let go of the bottle and I set it aside. “Eat.”

  Just like with the water, she took the food and started eating without any emotional reaction.

  “The kids were taking care of them,” I said. “Whatever magic is in those amulets, it must take time to wear off so that the kids can wake them up in this defenseless, controllable state and then put them back under without a fight.”

  “That’s horrific.” She grabbed Tazmyn’s shoulders. “Wake up.”

  Tazmyn’s body jerked subtly before she blinked, as if she was just waking. The food dropped to her lap. Her gaze drifted around the room tiredly until she settled on me. “Where’s my mommy?”

  * * *

  We woke all of the children and got them to Dr. Martin. He gave them healing potions and said they needed an obscene amount of water, nutritious food, and sleep, but that they would be fine physically as long as they took it easy. Since they could barely walk, they really had no choice but to take it easy. Once we got them settled into a couple of rooms in the West with some food, I asked them what they remembered.

  They all remembered seeing me or talking to me in their dreams. They also were all offered the opportunity to work for Veronica, and they were attacked when they refused. Veronica appeared to them as someone they loved and trusted, which made it hard for them to turn her down and even harder for them to fight back when she captured them.

  “I told my mom about it,” Tazmyn said, clutching her bear to her chest. “She thought I was dreaming. Mom and I were getting ready for bed when Veronica appeared and froze Mom. She asked me again to join her and I said no. She killed my mom right in front of me.” Tears dripped down her cheeks. She was about to continue, but I had to stop her.

  “Your mother isn’t dead.”

  Her mouth dropped open and her eyes filled with hope. “She’s not?”

  “She’s in the hospital, in a coma, but she’s not dead. There’s a chance she’ll wake up.”

  Tazmyn leapt to her feet. “I want to see her.”

  “I promise that we will take you there. However, we have to stop Veronica, or she’ll just be in more danger.”

  Resigned, Tazmyn sat back on her bed. “Okay. I don’t know anything, though. She looked like my mom first and then my dad. I don’t even know what her voice sounds like.”

  “Did she say anything about what she wanted you for?”

  She shook her head. “She said she could help me get everything I ever wanted. I wanted my dad back.”

  “Your biological father?”

  She shook her head. “Mom got married a couple of years ago, after John Cross died. My stepdad made us happy… but he died three months ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m really tired. Can I go to bed?”

  “Of course. Just let me know if you think of anything that can help me find Veronica.”

  * * *

  Friday, December 2

  Breakfast was almost peaceful, like the calm before the storm.

  Remy and I were alone at our breakfast table as Henry ate with Rita and their boys in his room. His concern for Darwin made him want to stick closer to Scott. Remy scowled at my bacon, sausage, and pancakes. “You do still have a heart condition, don’t you?” she asked.

  “What’s your point?” I asked. She had chosen egg whites, strawberries, avocado, kiwi, chia seed yogurt, and hot tea.

  She speared a strawberry with her fork and held it out for me. “Eating healthier wouldn’t kill you.”

  “What if it does? I really don’t want to be done in by a strawberry.” She shoved it into my mouth and I obligingly ate it. “So demanding. What kind of woman wants her man to live a long, healthy, and happy life?”

  “I take care of my toys,” she teased.

  “You know something we haven’t gotten to do as a couple?” I asked.

  “Take a vacation?”

  “Yeah, but I was thinking smaller. We should go on a date.”

  I liked being romantic and showing my girlfriend that I cared, but it felt a bit inappropriate to treat my boss like my girlfriend. Knowing Remy, she wouldn’t like it anyway.

  Or maybe she would, and she just didn’t know. Flagstone stopped other males from courting her, and from what I had seen, he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body. “Well, during the winter break, there will be few students and staff staying, so we should be able to get away for a while.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  When the door burst open, I knew shit was about to hit the fan.

  Becky led the group. She was petite with straw-blond hair and thick, book-worm glasses. She came across as shy and quiet until she had something to say, and then everyone was going to hear it. She wasn’t the head of the council, as there was no official leader, but she walked her own path and a lot of people followed. She was protective of rights, against over-taxing, and level-headed when threatened.

  I had met the other three council members that followed her only in passing. Hunt was the last in, but his presence calmed the chaos that the council’s attendance caused. They ruled the entire population of North American wizards, so the fact that they would trespass on private property to visit the school meant there was a problem. His presence promised that he had it under control.

  He didn’t, of course, but the students didn’t know that.

  For students, authority meant safety, and Logan Hunt, father of their headmaster, was the ultimate authority. To adults in the paranormal world, however, authority was often a threat. Hunt was a member of the school, even if it belonged to his daughter now. The council members were outsiders, and they could easily take our wizard students. There would be nothing we could do to stop them without waging war against them. The previous council was old and divided, so the community of Quintessence easily defeated them. The new council wouldn’t go down so easily.

  I’m getting ahead of myself. They’re not corrupt like the old council.

  When they stopped at our table, Remy and I stood. They ignored me and my hope that they were coming to ask for help died. They didn’t want to stop trouble; they wanted to start it. Henry, Rita, and their boys entered a moment later, probably having heard the commotion. Henry approached while Rita stayed back with Scott and Ahz.

  “Remington Hunt, we received word that you kidnapped five wizard children and held them captive under your school,” Becky stated.

  “Excuse me?” she asked.

  “Who told you that?” I asked.

  Becky pulled an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to me. “We’re not idiots, of course. We know you didn’t do it, but we have to check your property just to be safe. Protocol and all that.”

  The envelope contained a letter and five pictures, each one of the five students we rescued the previous night. The letter was straightforward and anonymous.

  Remington Hunt has kidnapped five young wizards from their home and hidden them in a secret passageway under t
he library of her school. She plans to brainwash them and use them against the council.

  No pleasantries, no proof, no identification. The only thing it could possibly accomplish is to seed doubt. Of course they would have to investigate. Of course they didn’t believe it.

  Except they would have to believe it when they discovered there was a secret passageway under the library and then that the exact missing children in these photographs were imprisoned there.

  More importantly, I recognized the handwriting immediately; it was the same person who had told several employees that Remington knew their dirty secrets and would expose them, causing them to attack her. I finally knew who was responsible for those letters, and who was out to get Remington.

  Veronica.

  That bitch. She was trying to set Remington up, which was why she held the kids right under our noses. She wasn’t near. That would have defeated the point. She knew I found them, or maybe Remington did something to piss her off. Either way, Veronica was a step ahead of us.

  “Don’t waste your time,” Remington said with a tight tone as she spotted the pictures in my hand. “We found and rescued those children yesterday. You will find them safe and sound in the West.”

  “You admit to taking them?” Becky asked, taking the letter and pictures from me.

  “I didn’t kidnap anyone, but you’ll find them here. We haven’t even had a chance to contact their families yet.” She knew what this would lead to, but she wouldn’t show fear. “Interview them. They’ll tell you I had nothing to do with their kidnapping.”

  “If she brainwashed them, then that’s exactly what they would say,” Jaiden said.

  Becky nodded. “I’m sorry, Ms. Hunt, but we have to arrest you until we can get proof that you didn’t do this.” Her tone was sympathetic, but my intuition warned me that something bigger than a setup was going on. Remington was in danger. We all were.

  Why is Veronica after her? She was a target long before kids went missing. Is she only after me because I’m close to Remy? Maybe she knew Remy personally.