by Lily Webb
Heath’s brows furrowed. “I’m sorry?”
Despite how fresh the memory was — I doubted I’d ever be able to forget it — I struggled to recount what’d happened in Wesley’s office. To his credit, Heath gave me all the time I needed and didn’t interrupt me once to ask questions.
“Honestly, Heath, I was sure that Wesley was the one behind all this, or at least knew who was. But now that he’s dead and I saw that thing come out of him? I don’t know what to think. I’m not even sure I can trust you anymore.” Based on the wounded look that appeared on his face, I might as well have told him I thought he was guilty and slammed the cell door shut forever.
“You don’t?”
“I’m sorry, I know that sounds extreme, but Wesley told me some things about you and your family that you’d never mentioned. Painful but no less important things, especially given what we’re dealing with now.”
His gaze drifted to the floor. “I see. And you trust Wesley to have told you the whole truth?”
“Definitely not, especially now that he’s dead. Look, I’m not convinced you had anything to do with all this, nor am I convinced that what he said means anything, but I also can’t rule out the possibility that whoever’s behind these killings is targeting you, your family, and your colleagues. That might mean me too, so I have to be careful.”
“Then I suppose we need to clear the air, don’t we? Ask whatever you want to know, I’ll answer everything. I owe you at least that much.”
I took a deep breath to prepare myself and smoothed out my robes. “We probably don’t have time to cover all that ground, so I’ll cut right to the chase. Is it true that the Highmore family has historical ties to dark magic?”
Heath sighed and nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. Many ties.”
“Have you ever used it?”
Heath shot me an offended look, but it softened quickly. “I suppose I can’t blame you for wondering, considering the circumstances. While I have studied dark magic in the past, it was only to understand and contain it.”
“I repeat: Does that mean you’ve used it before?”
It took him a moment to answer. “Yes. But only to understand its properties and makeup, never to wield it.”
That lined up with what I knew and believed of him — he couldn’t have become one of the most powerful warlocks in modern memory without scholarly exploration of the entire magical spectrum — so I accepted it and moved on.
“Is it also true that someone murdered your wife, Serena?”
Despite all the years that’d passed since the attack, a flash of pain streaked across Heath’s face at the mention of her name, all but confirming the answer. Still, he nodded. “Yes. The murder remains unsolved.”
“But the attack involved the Black Brotherhood, right?”
“I’d stake my life on it.”
“And we already know that Adam had gotten involved with the Black Brotherhood.”
“Yes, probably because of his mother’s murder. It changed him. It changed all of us.”
“Which might also explain the connections that Seth, your grandson, developed to the Brotherhood.”
Heath flinched but nodded again. “Possibly, yes.”
Though I would’ve given anything not to have to ask the follow-up question, I had no choice. “Given all that, do you think it’s fair to say that you might have a strong motive for revenge against the Brotherhood — a desire that might have gone too far?”
He raised his eyes to mine. “Who wouldn’t? They killed my wife, destroyed my family, and they’ve taken countless others from us. But if you’re asking what I suspect you are, the answer is no. My desire to see the Brotherhood pay for all the evil they’ve brought into the world hasn’t overpowered me. I wouldn’t hurt Adam.”
“Not even to prevent him from further tarnishing the Highmore family name with whatever he might’ve said?”
“Absolutely not. I wanted him to speak; I wanted him to be free of his demons. I… I didn’t want them to follow him for the rest of his life like mine have.”
I rubbed my stomach, hoping I’d never have to make a similar choice about my children. Heath noticed and smiled.
“You already know exactly what I mean, and your children aren’t even born yet. People like us would do anything to protect those we love — but even the best-intentioned plans can fail. Believe me, when Adam was born, I never could’ve imagined that this is how his life would turn out. I wanted none of this for him. Serena wouldn’t have either.”
As I took in the mixture of anguish and regret on Heath’s face, I couldn’t help wondering how I’d considered even for a second that he could’ve hurt his son. Heath often said he thought of me as one of his own grandchildren, and he’d never given me a reason to doubt that, but because I didn’t know how to tell him so, I changed the subject.
“I’ve been running all over town for the last few days trying to figure out who’s behind all these attacks, and I’ll be honest: I’m at a dead end. There’s only one person left who might have answers, but the problem is that I don’t have a clue who they are.”
Heath raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve spoken to them, but only online and through an alias. Adam and Wesley both had contact with them, which is why I went to Wesley’s office today — I hoped to connect with the anonymous person again through the p-mail messages Wesley had been trading with them — but they saw right through the attempt and that was when that thing came out of Wesley.”
Heath swallowed hard. “What was this person’s alias?”
“Erebus.”
His eyes widened and he fell back against the brick wall the police had chained his arms to. After a moment, he chuckled and shook his head. “I should’ve known. So, he’s alive after all…”
I moved closer to the bars separating us. “Known what? Who’s alive?”
“Do you know who Erebus is, Zoe? Not the person you’re looking for, but the person they took their name from?”
“No. I’d never heard it until recently.”
“I didn’t think so. Erebus is the mythological god of shadows, born of pure chaos.”
I sat bolt upright on the stool. Now the darkness that accompanied all the attacks and the shadow snake that’d crawled out of Wesley made some sliver of sense. “I’m confused. Does that mean we’re dealing…?” I paused, unable to get the words out. “With a god?”
Heath shook his head. “No, but it means we’re dealing with someone who would very much like to become one. If what you’ve told me is true, he might already be well on his way to that goal.”
“What are you talking about? I’m really not following.”
“Long before I lost Serena, Adam, and Seth to the Black Brotherhood, I lost my twin brother, Hendrik, to dark magic. Or, as he was more commonly known among our friends, Erebus.”
Chapter Twelve
My head spun at the revelation. The truth had been sitting in this cell waiting for me all along, but I’d never asked the question. “Are you saying… Erebus is your brother? The one who got expelled from Veilside for practicing dark magic?”
Heath sighed. “The same. It seems you already know the story. Or at least the broad strokes. Our father kept the details quiet in exchange for Hendrik’s snapped wand and exile from Moon Grove, but yes. Many moons ago, in our last year at Veilside, I caught Hendrik performing a dark magic ritual on a willing, naïve younger student who worshipped him — a ritual that surely would’ve killed the boy if I hadn’t intervened.”
I shuddered and rubbed my arms to shoo away the goosebumps that covered them. “What kind of ritual?”
Heath sidestepped the question with one of his own. “I told you recently that I spent much of my time at Veilside researching Merlin. You remember, don’t you?”
“Yeah. That’s how you learned about his artifacts.”
“Exactly. When Hendrik and I were younger, we shared something special as twins, a kind of magical, inexplica
ble bond. We were inseparable.”
I’d heard non-magical twins say similar things in my time before coming to Moon Grove — the abilities to finish each other’s sentences and communicate without speaking, for instance — so the idea that something magically linked Heath and Hendrik didn’t seem far-fetched to me at all.
“We also shared an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and we did everything together, which led to our early fascination with the myths and legends surrounding Merlin and his artifacts. For years, we competed to find more information about them. We were so obsessed, in fact, that we started a secret group with a few of our most trusted friends dedicated to finding the artifacts. We called ourselves ‘Seekers’ and chose codenames for ourselves. Hendrik’s was Erebus; mine was Apollo. Eventually, our friends grew out of the phase and came to believe the artifacts were mere myths, just like everyone else in Moon Grove, but Hendrik and I couldn’t let go. Neither of us could explain how, we just knew everyone else was wrong.
“So, when we later enrolled at Veilside and discovered a trove of new information about the artifacts in the library there, everything changed. The study and pursuit of Merlin and his artifacts wholly consumed us, and our competition to find them burned brighter than ever before. Unfortunately, it also torched our relationship.”
I’d heard more from Heath about his family in the last few minutes than in all the time I’d known him, but I needed to know more. “Why? What happened?”
Heath chuckled. “I think you can probably guess, but our central conflict revolved around what we’d do with the artifacts once we found them — because we knew we would. With our skills and talents in magic, there wasn’t anyone or anything that could stop us, or so we thought. But where I sought the artifacts to study their marvels for the betterment of the entire magical community, Hendrik sought them only for himself.”
After I took a moment to let Heath’s words sink in, I shivered again but steeled myself to repeat the question he’d dodged earlier, not at all sure I could handle the answer. “What did you catch Hendrik doing to that warlock that got him expelled?”
“He’d used a black magic ritual to split the very fabric of his soul and was forcing a dark piece of himself into the boy’s body when I found them. The Headmaster called it an attempted possession, but I knew it was far darker than that. It wasn’t merely a possession; it was a hostile takeover.”
My heart crashed into the pit of my stomach and I worried I might be sick. “Why would he want to do that?”
“Since learning of Merlin’s pursuit of immortality, the idea of transcending the limits and longevity of his body has consumed Hendrik.”
While my stomach roiled, I took a series of deep breaths to keep from getting sick. “What happened when you caught him?”
Heath chuckled. “What often happens when brothers are in conflict: we fought. No one else could’ve stopped him but me, a fact I knew at the moment, so I did what I knew was right despite the risk. We nearly destroyed the castle’s Kinesis wing in the battle, but somehow, I won. Brady Cromwell, the Head Warlock, was livid and wanted to send Hendrik to the Tower of the Forsaken — a remote magical prison reserved for the worst of our criminals — but our father negotiated a compromise: Hendrik’s snapped wand and permanent exile in exchange for his freedom.”
I couldn't believe it, but I had no reason to doubt Heath. “Even after your father learned what Hendrik was doing, he still saved him from prison?”
“Wouldn’t you do the same for your son? Wouldn’t you want to believe that, despite their grievous mistakes, they could still learn from them and turn their life around?”
“Good point. So, what happened to Hendrik after that?”
Heath shrugged. “No one really knows. He disappeared. I tried to keep tabs on him as much as I could, but he made himself particularly difficult to find — not that I could blame him for that.”
“But wait a second, you said you thought he’d died.”
Heath nodded. “Yes, I did. Several years ago, before our father passed away, I received word that someone had found Hendrik’s body in the aftermath of what seemed like a dark magic ritual gone wrong. The news didn’t surprise me — I didn’t believe for a second Hendrik would stop pursuing magic and Merlin’s artifacts after the Head Warlock snapped his wand. In fact, I knew it would only push him further into the dark arts he’d already begun dabbling in because, without a wand and with a reputation for practicing forbidden magic, he had no choice.”
“But you don’t think that’s true?”
“I did until just a few moments ago when you told me you’d been interacting with Erebus.”
A chill like the one I’d felt in Wesley’s office swept over me. “But that doesn’t mean the person I’ve been talking to is Hendrik, does it? I mean, if Erebus is a mythological god, couldn’t someone else have liked the name and chosen it in some sort of coincidence?”
Heath laughed and shook his head. “That’s true, but coupled with everything else you’ve told me, I’m confident my brother is behind all this. You know, on the day of his exile when we should’ve been saying our final goodbyes to each other, Hendrik instead blamed me for everything. He swore he’d make me pay for it, even if it meant clawing his way back from the dead to do so. So no, this isn’t a coincidence, Zoe.”
“Wait a second… Are you saying you think Hendrik did all this — killing Adam, Morgan, and Wesley — to punish you?”
“That might not have been his only goal, but I’m certain it was one of them. If I’m right, Hendrik no doubt wants what he’s always wanted: Merlin’s artifacts. Allying himself with the Black Brotherhood, which it’s now clear he’s done, was only ever a means to an end.”
I felt like someone had bludgeoned me with a broomstick. “And that’s why he wanted you to take the fall for Adam’s murder. With you locked away like this, there’s no one capable of stopping him from going after the artifacts — and he must’ve known that if anyone would find them before he did, it would be you. But wait, I’m confused. You said someone found Hendrik’s body, so how could he be the one behind all this?”
“Just because his body died doesn’t mean his soul did too. I suspect Hendrik at last separated his spirit from his body, just like he’s always wanted. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s been here right under our noses all along, collecting information and biding his time until the opportunity to strike presented itself. In fact, he probably planted Adam in the basement of Derwin’s shop because he knew I’d take pity on my son, thus giving Hendrik the chance to hit me where he knew it would hurt the worst.”
A disturbing realization rolled over me like early morning fog, settling deep in my bones and chilling me to the core. “Which means Hendrik must’ve been in the Town Hall in some form when Adam died…”
All at once, everything slid into place, and I nearly fell off my stool.
“Hendrik’s bouncing from body to body like a bad cold!” I shouted, jolting Heath. “It makes perfect sense. You said that Hendrik was trying to pass a piece of himself on to that warlock all those years ago when you stopped him, which must be where he learned how to do it. But if his body really died in a ritual gone wrong, what if that left his soul to wander without a permanent home?”
Heath shuddered. “As disturbing as it sounds, it’s possible.”
“He must’ve started with Tate Kane, the radio host who I’m sure has ties to the Brotherhood. I wrote him off as a person of interest because he didn’t have any real connection to Adam. While the lights were out, no one would’ve seen him doing the deed and no one would suspect him because he didn’t have a wand to use magic. But he must’ve moved on after that, because Morgan and Wesley died in more or less the same way as Adam. So how did Hendrik get to them?”
Heath’s brows furrowed. “What were the differences in their deaths?”
“Well, when I got to Morgan’s house her front door was open and it was pitch black and freezing inside, just like in the Town Hall when Ad
am died. I went in with my wand illuminated, and that was the first time I saw one of the shadow snakes. I didn’t get a good look at it because as soon as the light from my wand caught it, it screeched and disappeared, but I’m sure that’s what it was.”
“Hm, and you said you saw shadows forming in Wesley’s mouth before it went dark in his office and the shadow snake cornered you?”
“I did, and that wasn’t long after I found Morgan dead, so he couldn’t have killed her using Wesley — but he definitely killed her, I’m sure of it. How, though? Not even Hendrik can be in two places at the same time.”
The color drained from Heath’s face. “Not unless he’s split his soul into several pieces.”
Dread dripped down my spine, one vertebra at a time. “That’s it, it must be. He didn’t move from Tate to anyone else after he killed Adam; he spread to Wesley and possessed him at the same time! That’s why Wesley was so insistent on getting me to believe you were the one who’d killed Adam — it was Hendrik saying that to make sure you stayed in prison — and why he tried to kill me in Wesley’s office when I didn’t believe it. Hendrik realized I was the only one who could free you.”
Heath nodded. “But before all that, he posed as Erebus online first to manipulate Adam into going after Merlin’s Mind for him. Then, after that failed and we captured Adam — thanks to you — Hendrik must’ve assumed Adam was dead. But when I announced Adam’s conference, Hendrik panicked and pressured Wesley to get it canceled. When that didn’t work, he decided Adam had to die, which means Adam must’ve known something that Hendrik couldn’t risk him revealing.”
“Like what, though?”
“I’m not sure, but it must have something to do with the artifacts. Why else would Hendrik go to such lengths to keep me locked away?”
Panic swelled in my chest like I’d swallowed a balloon as the missing piece fell into place. “Heath, where are you keeping Merlin’s Heart and Mind? Somewhere safe, I hope?”
“Well, until recently I was keeping them in the safest place: On my body.”
