Forbidden Alchemy (Elemental Book 7)

by Rain Oxford

  “Then, around puberty, he started having dreams of the future, and his ability to make people obey faded. Not completely, but mostly.”

  “He switched aspects of Arthur’s powers?” Darwin asked. “That’s even more interesting. The timing suggests a genetic factor.” He studied me as if he expected me to suddenly gain a new power.

  “Did John take him?” Larry asked, ignoring Darwin.

  I shook my head. “No. You’ll never have to worry about John again.”

  “Is he in prison?”

  “A prison couldn’t hold him. He’s dead. The person who took Ashton is far more dangerous.”

  “That’s not encouraging.”

  “We don’t think she hurt him. We already rescued five other children that she took, and they’re all fine. I’m going to do a locator spell.

  “Can you prove that you’re on our side and not lying?”

  I briefly considered showing him that I killed John, but decided against it because that was liable to freak him out worse.

  “My son was taken from me,” Henry said. “I would never have gotten him back without Devon’s help.”

  Larry must have recognized the sincerity in Henry’s eyes, because after a moment, he nodded. “What can I do to help?”

  “I need something of his, preferably hair or nail clippings.”

  “I don’t have either of those. My wife keeps a spotless house.”

  “We might be able to use something that he treasures to---”

  “His toothbrush,” Darwin interrupted me. “Surely you haven’t thrown out his toothbrush.”

  “No, it’s in the bathroom.”

  “No one else used it?”

  “Sharing a toothbrush is worse than drinking out of the toilet to Shanna.” He led us to the bathroom and handed us a dark blue toothbrush.

  I got out my tracking kit again with a new bottle of potion. With a pair of scissors, I clipped off the bristles into the bottle. The spell could also be done with blood or nails, but it had to be a genetic link to the person I was trying to locate. I was a little worried when the liquid pooled over the northeast again— worried that we had missed more kids who were going uncared for under the school. However, when I used a closer map, the liquid did not stop over the school.

  It stopped at the wizard council.

  “Shit,” Darwin said.

  “What’s wrong? Where is he?” Larry asked, panicking.

  “At the wizard council. It’s nothing to worry about,” I lied. Darwin made all kinds of lies to reassure him on the way back to the truck. Unfortunately, I couldn’t promise that he was perfectly okay and we’d have him back by the end of the night.

  When we were alone, we took a moment to think. “He might be there because he’s working for her or so that she can set someone else up. Either way, we have to go,” I said.

  “It’s not to save your girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  “If you say so, bro.”

  “I fucking said so.”

  “She’s gonna be so mad at you for showing up to save her.”

  “She’s independent and stubborn, not stupid.”

  * * *

  We were almost to the council when red and blue lights lit up the mirrors. Henry cursed and pulled over, which woke Darwin.

  “Oh, I gotta pee,” Darwin said, half asleep. “Where are we?”

  “We’re getting pulled over.”

  “Really? You don’t get pulled over.”

  The cop parked behind us and got out of his cruiser. My intuition flared, warning me of a threat. The officer rested his hand on his gun as he approached.

  “This isn’t going to end well,” Henry said.

  The cop reached us and Henry rolled the window down. “Step out of the car,” the officer said without any introduction. His tone was confrontational.

  Henry wasn’t afraid in the least, so he opened the door and got out. “What’s the problem?”

  “This car was reported stolen.”

  “That’s how she found us,” Darwin said. “Clever slag. She can’t find us because of the hex bags, so she’s using traceable shit.”

  I got out of the car and sensed a change in the cop. “Get back in the car!”

  “That’s not going to happen.” I released my magic into him and was relieved to know that Veronica wasn’t possessing him. His completely human mind folded easily. It was almost too easy. “The report was a prank. You will apologize for wasting our time and leave.” I didn’t go easy on him; I filled his mind with shame and humility.

  The cops face fell blank for a couple seconds as my words rooted in his brain. “I’m so sorry,” he said, guilt filling his eyes. “This was a mistake. I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

  Henry looked at me and I nodded. Without a word to the officer, we both got back in the truck, and Henry drove off before the cop could get back into his car.

  * * *

  We drove up the winding drive of the council about three in the afternoon. The Renaissance-style mansion was pretentious. Many more words could describe it, but not as suitably. My intuition was strangely quiet when we parked in front of the mansion, though.

  A wizard answered the door and gaped at us in shock. I had met him, but couldn’t remember his name. “We need to see Becky.”

  He stammered for a moment before stepping aside. “Of course.”

  Henry growled. As we passed him, he quietly asked, “Is your intuition giving you anything?”

  “No. Why?”

  “I don’t like the scent in the air. My cat knows when we’re among enemies.”

  “Chill, bro,” Darwin said. “They only kidnapped his girlfriend without a shred of evidence.”

  The mansion screamed wealth with an endless number of rooms, all of which had high ceilings, elegant artwork, and extravagant furniture that looked like it was never touched. There was nothing modern; there were no electrical lights, no televisions, no computers… instead, it had fireplaces, bookshelves, and gas lanterns. The new council had promised to change things, yet I saw no difference. Perhaps they just meant they would change the government for wizards, but how could an organization understand the modern wizard when they practically lived in another world?

  The wizard led us to a study and gestured for us to enter. “If you’ll wait in here, I’ll get Mrs. Lumro.”

  “Get Becky,” I corrected him. After a moment, he dipped his head and then left us alone.

  This was one of the few rooms I liked in the council. It had wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves except for large bay windows and a grand fireplace. Facing the fireplace was a black leather couch and in the center of the room was a writing desk.

  “I’ve been in enough shitty situations before to know when something stinks, intuition or not,” I said.

  “You think the council knows about the kids that are here?”

  “Not Becky. Or if she does, she’s got an explanation.”

  Darwin rolled his eyes and grabbed a couple of books off the shelf and made himself at home on the couch.

  Becky soon entered with five other wizards. Her expression was stoic, as if she hated facing me. Deeper in her eyes, I saw sorrow and regret. Still, my intuition gave me nothing. “How is Bryan?” I asked.

  Startled, her eyes widened for a moment before she could conceal the emotion. “We decided that we needed a break from each other for a while.”

  “And your baby?”

  “Staying with him. My work keeps me too busy to be a single mother.”

  That was all I needed to know that something was wrong with her. I unleashed my magic, only to encounter a powerful mental block. It wasn’t as powerful as Veronica’s, but it was more powerful than Hunt’s. In fact, if I broke it, there was a good chance it would hurt her. If I broke it and then learned that I was wrong, I’d feel guilty.

  Bryan was terrified of women, and Becky could be a terrifying woman. Although he didn’t have the guts to break it off with her if he was afra
id of her, she would be willing to let him go for his own good. Sometimes things didn’t work out, even between two people who loved each other.

  “They’re staying with Bryan’s mother,” she continued.

  That struck all kinds of warning bells. “That makes no sense. Bryan’s mother kicked him out because his sisters kept trying to kill him. You know that. Why would he go there?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Bryan’s mother has been a huge help. Now, explain yourself,” she said, startling me.

  “Explain what exactly?”

  “I heard what you did.”

  “What did I do?”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Devon,” she snapped. “You put the school under lockdown to build an army of your own siblings to take down the new council.”

  Darwin scoffed. “Right, love. Devon put kids in harm’s way? Pull the other one.”

  “One of your own teachers confessed.”

  Darwin, Henry, and I looked at each other, all knowing exactly who did it. Fucking Konwerski. This was beside the point. Accusations without proof were meaningless. Then again, that was in my world. While humans required a complicated legal process and proof to convict someone, wizards didn’t seem to give a shit. Still, I thought Becky would have given me the benefit of the doubt. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  “I wouldn’t joke about this, Devon,” Becky said. “I can’t believe I trusted you. We all trusted you.”

  “This is ridiculous. You know we wouldn’t curse the school.”

  “Tell me you don’t have dozens of siblings.”

  “They’re not my army.”

  “Arrest them,” she ordered.

  Henry and Darwin looked at me for direction. I shook my head, silently warning them not to fight. They were shifters, surrounded by wizards. Once we were locked up and left alone, we could focus on escape. In the meantime, we had to pretend to go with it so that we weren’t separated or hurt.

  Henry and Darwin relaxed and let themselves be led to the dungeon. It was a pretty big room with six eight-by-eight cells, three along the north wall and three along the east wall. Each had a sorry excuse for a bed and an even sorrier excuse for a bucket. We were imprisoned in the highest-esteemed establishment in the paranormal world, and we didn’t even get toilets.

  In the typical dungeon fashion, it was dimly lit with stone walls and ominous stains on the stone floor. To the left of the door, far away from the cells, was a table.

  What stood out most in the dungeon was the stone altar that resembled a well, except it was misshapen, like it had grown out of the ground. Placed on top of it was a foot-tall, egg-shaped crystal, pulsing lazily with a faint orange glow.

  The wizards took my bag and gun and left them on the table, next to an impressive and familiar set of weaponry. Remy was in the left-most cell on the north wall.

  I was shoved into the middle cell on the north wall, and my friends were put in the cell to the right. Without a word, the wizards left. I tried to reach out with my magic to unlock the door, but my magic didn’t respond.

  “The crystal blocks our magic,” Remy said, sitting up in her cell.

  I reached through the bars and she took my hand. She stood. “Are you hurt?” I asked.

  “No.” She leaned in and I met her lips through the bars. “You?”

  “No. Just shocked by the stupidity of the new council.”

  “I expected more from you, Devon,” she said coldly, taking a few steps back.

  I sighed. “We’re not here to save---”

  “I can’t believe you brought your friends on our romantic date.”

  Darwin scoffed. “At least they didn’t put you two together. I don’t think I could stomach you two shagging with my lady love thinking I’m dead or worse.”

  “We’re not crass,” I said.

  “What are you doing here?” Remy asked.

  “We discovered that at least one of the missing kids is here and we’ve come to rescue him, but the council found out about the curse and thinks we caused it. Can you shift and break out?” I asked Henry.

  He was pacing like a caged lion. “No. The crystal that stops you from using magic is also stopping my shifting magic.”

  “What about the shadow pass?”

  Henry stopped pacing and closed his eyes. Shadows converged around him for a moment before he released them. “It will work, but I can only get myself and Darwin out.” He gestured to the shadows, which stopped at the edge of the bars like it was a force field.

  “Do it.”

  “Hell no,” Darwin said. “One; I’m not going through the shadow pass again, let alone without any protection. Two; we’re not leaving you.”

  “You’re protected,” I reminded him. He lifted his shirt and seemed surprised that the dried blood was unmarred. When he scraped it with his nails, he didn’t damage the marks, which now resembled tattoos.

  “I agree with Darwin,” Henry said.

  “Okay. Henry, you go alone and bring back someone who can help.”

  “Who? This room is designed to stop paranormals from escaping. The bars are laced with silver, which stops shifters and vampires from breaking them. The crystal stops fae and wizards.”

  “You can kick the bars out even though they’re silver,” I suggested.

  “They’re stronger than they look,” Remy argued. “A vampire might be able to do it with gloves on, but not a shifter.”

  * * *

  A few hours later, Remington and Darwin had fallen asleep. Henry paced. His jaguar didn’t like being trapped in a cage or trapped in human form. The cat was making the situation unbearable for Henry, but he wouldn’t complain. Instead, he paced endlessly, as if he could tire his jaguar out. This was the first cage that he’d ever been in that could contain him.

  Because of my rush to get to Darwin, he hadn’t had time to grab his lock picking kit. I suggested he get it, but he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get back in time to help us. However, his pacing was driving me nuts.

  Before I could demand Henry go, the door opened and Serena brought in a tray of food and water. Serena Luella was a trusting, shy woman in her mid-twenties with dark brown hair and celadon-green eyes. While not a member of the council herself, she had been married to a member of the new council until he was killed by a vampire. The rest of the council let her stay out of respect for him. Darwin, Henry, and I had saved her baby son from the vampire.

  When she held out Henry’s cup, he growled at her and she jumped. The cup clattered to the floor loudly, waking Darwin.

  “I’m sorry,” Serena whispered.

  She had told me she hated conflict. She had also kissed me after I saved her son, before I told her I was dating Remy. I got the impression she liked protective men and made a split second decision to take advantage of her. “Don’t mind Henry,” I said quickly. “He’s in pain because he can’t shift. We aren’t going to hurt you. You know that, right?”

  She looked down at the floor. “Becky told me what you did.”

  “It wasn’t us. It was someone named Veronica. Have you ever heard of her before?”

  She shook her head. “Why would Becky say it was you if it wasn’t?”

  “That’s how Veronica works. She shifts blame to other people. You believe me, don’t you? We saved your son.”

  She raised her eyes as far as my chest. “I don’t know. Becky said not to talk to you. She said you get into people’s heads.”

  She held out my cup of water and I closed my hands around her intimately. I really hoped Remy was truly asleep and not just pretending. “Becky is jealous because she had a crush on me at Quintessence.”

  Her eyes widened and rose to meet mine for a second. There was pure trust in her. Then she lowered her eyes again and took a step back, breaking contact. “I’ll talk to her. She’ll see reason.”

  “Veronica is too clever. We won’t last that long. We need you to unlock the door.”

  She shook her head. “That’s treason. Do
you have any proof you didn’t curse the school?”

  “You know me better than that.”

  “I thought I did. You’re John Cross’s son, though. My husband shielded me from him, but I know what he did to people. People liked him and trusted him. How do I know you’re different?”

  “Have you ever been to Hunt’s children’s school?”

  “No, but it has been described to me so well that I would probably recognize it.”

  “We’re a community there. I would never hurt them. I can’t give you a better explanation without sounding like John. Yes, he was a terrible man who could make people believe him. I’ve done some shitty things, including killing him, but I’ve done it all to help people. I would never hurt children or anyone who didn’t have it coming.”

  She didn’t look convinced, but she wouldn’t look at me. “I have to do what’s best for Eric. I’ll talk to other members of the council. They can override Becky.” She rushed out, leaving the rest of our food and water on the table, out of reach.

  “She could have at least pushed the tray over here,” Remy said, awake now.

  “If we can get her to come back, I bet she’ll help us.”

  * * *

  Fortunately, Serena did return an hour later. There was new resolve on her expression. Remy and Darwin had fallen back to sleep. She set the food outside our cells and tried to ignore us.

  I sat on my cot to be less imposing. “Did you talk to someone?” I asked.

  “They said this is the exact kind of ploy Cross played. They won’t even take me seriously because I talked to you.”

  “I see. You can still help us, though.”

  “I’m not letting you out.”

  “Okay. I understand. You are holding me accountable for another man’s crimes. You can still help, though. We came here because Veronica captured several kids and---”

  “Becky told me about the children Remington captured. Your siblings.”

  “No, I’m talking about another child that was recently captured by Veronica. Veronica captured the first ones to set Remington up. There are others here.” I was guessing about there being more than Ashton at the council based on how many shadows I had seen.