Hayden looked at me sharply. Maybe he appreciated I was using my magic, because he got a hard look in his gaze. “Can you figure it out?” he challenged.
I brought a hand up and scratched my cheek distractedly as I stared off at the basement, though technically it was more of a bunker.
Could I figure it out?
… I think I could. If Jeopardy could make complete energetic imprints of something, then maybe it wouldn’t matter that one of the Hidden Grimoire sets had been taken off him. Maybe all that would matter was that he’d seen the set in the first place.
It was my turn to pale and look as if I was suddenly a walking corpse.
Hayden nodded.
“It doesn’t matter how many Hidden Grimoires he has – it only matters how many Hidden Grimoires he’s seen, right?”
Hayden nodded hard. He breathed, the move pushing his chest against his calico shirt. “I had no idea. If I’d known—”
“You didn’t know. So don’t beat yourself up. But… I know this sounds stupid – but what could a man like Jeopardy do if he sees two Hidden Grimoires?”
“Anything,” Hayden said with a defeated tone. “Do you know much about Hidden Grimoires?”
“Only a little. Hell, I only found out they existed about a week ago.”
Hayden nodded. “Then welcome to an elite group of people around the world who know they exist. You want to know what they are? Think of them like this – recipes to rewrite natural laws.”
I looked at him in complete confusion. “I don’t understand what that means.”
“Sure you do. You know how magic works, right? It bypasses the natural laws of physics. People with magic running in their veins,” he pointed at me, “access… I guess you can call it a parallel dimension that runs right on top of this one. Think of it as a dimension where anything can happen and where there’s infinite power.”
I nodded. This was the first time anyone had sat me down and actually run me through a real explanation of magic. Though technically every single person learned about magic and witches in school, the explanations you were given were pretty nominal.
This one felt real.
“Now, the Hidden Grimoires allow you to… break apart the doorways that keep us ordinary people in the ordinary world blocked off from that dimension.”
“Meaning that you can access more magic?” I guessed.
He nodded. “Each Hidden Grimoire set contains recipes to break apart new levels. The more you get – the more damage you can do.”
“I…. How do these Hidden Grimoires even exist?”
“If you’re asking where they came from – the answer is I don’t know. Some people even think they came from another frigging dimension. I’m not so sure. I think back in the very early days of magic, there were sage people who understood the realities of the world – far more than we do now. They figured out the rules to access the higher realms, and they wrote them down, stupidly thinking it would help people. But hey, it’s the modern era,” Hayden brought his arms up wide and shrugged, “and the only thing we’re interested in is not bringing peace to the world, but owning it.” His voice dipped down low on the word owning. “You have to appreciate that if somebody has access to the full set of Hidden Grimoires, they’d be able to change everything. They’d be able to do anything. And they would become the most complete sorcerer who had ever lived. They’d be able to rewrite and change the very fabric of reality,” Hayden’s voice kept arcing up with power, “stealing magic from some and giving it to others. In other words, they would be completely unstoppable.”
I slowly brought my hands up and clamped them over my mouth. My eyes were wide open with horror. “That’s horrible. And… Jeopardy has seen one of these sets?”
“That we know of,” Hayden said darkly.
“How many Hidden Grimoires are there?”
“Some believe there are six sets, but I believe there are seven.”
“Why?”
“Because my parents were extremely good scholars,” Hayden said darkly.
Before I could ask what that meant, Hayden shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head back. “My parents lived their lives trying to track down the Hidden Grimoires. They wanted to get the full set.”
“You mean they found some?”
Hayden shook his head. “My parents were obsessed with magic, but neither of them was magical. They tried,” Hayden closed his eyes and shook his head, “by God did they try. If there was some illegal potion out there that promised to give one magical skills, they took it. It never worked. And without magic, they couldn’t track down the Hidden Grimoires – let alone hold them and use them.”
“… But you managed to track down one of the sets.”
Hayden closed his eyes fully now. “Because I asked my brother for help.”
“… Your brother is a crossbreed, isn’t he? Did your… did your parents do something to him?”
Hayden now wouldn’t open his eyes. He tilted his head hard to the side, clear emotion cracking up his cheeks and biting hard into his face. “Yes, they did. I’m older than Bradley,” he volunteered. “When my parents had me, they were so damn disappointed. Another entry into the family tree who didn’t have any witch skills. When they had Bradley….” He shook his head. He still wouldn’t open his eyes.
“He was a witch. How did they know that from birth?”
“They didn’t. It wasn’t until Bradley was five that they figured it out. And it was when Bradley was five that they….” He shook his head again.
“What did they do to him? Did they make him open up a portal and join with a chameleon?”
Hayden opened one eye. “You’ve figured out a lot, haven’t you? Yeah, they made him open a portal when he was five years old – on his goddamn birthday – and they made him join with a chameleon. All to keep his secret safe from the government. And all to help them track down the Hidden Grimoires.”
“Where are your parents now?” I asked with alarm.
“Dead,” Hayden said with a shrug that told me he didn’t care at all. “They both got themselves killed trying to track down one of the sets. I know I should be sorry and all, but I can’t be bothered anymore. They got what was coming to them.”
I tried to breathe through his heavy emotion. I swore that with every new incident I came across in this magical world, my innocence was crushed even more. I’d always thought magic, though serious, was… controlled. Now I realized just how much it could ruin people’s lives. “Did Bradley track down the Hidden Grimoire you’re meant to give Jeopardy?”
Hayden nodded.
“So Bradley has it now?” I asked, confusion marking my brow, as I already knew the answer.
“No. He just let me know roughly where it is. I did the rest.”
“So you have the book?”
Hayden shook his head again. “Not technically. I need Max for that bit.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Why? Where is this book?”
“In a maze created by a dead warlock.” Hayden brought his hands out wide and spread them, indicating the room.
I blinked in confusion. “You mean the set’s in this room?” I pointed at the floor.
Hayden shook his head. “We are currently in an infinity maze in the tunnels underneath the city. When Bradley narrowed the grimoires down to here, I reconnected my basement to the maze using a stable portal. The maze is right outside that door. But if I take a step out of this room, the Cruze Gang will find me. The reason I went to ground is Jeopardy put a tracking spell on me. He burnt it right into my damn skin. I managed to get away from him and hide in my basement, but if I step foot outside, he’ll find me.”
“I don’t get it. Do you mean we’re inside the infinity tunnels the Cruze Gang use to deploy their drugs?” I stuttered.
Hayden shook his head, frowning at me. “I didn’t even know the Cruze Gang had infinity tunnels under the city.”
“I… forgive me, but I don’t know that much abou
t the everyday uses of magic. How can you have two sets of infinity tunnels under the city? Wouldn’t they… crash into each other?”
Hayden shook his head. “You could have two sets of infinity tunnels right over the top of each other, and they wouldn’t crash into each other. Though technically they’d occupy the same space. Think about it like this – they occupy two very subtly different dimensions sitting on top of each other.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t understand. Then I went right back to frowning. “So you’re saying that we’re currently in a set of infinity tunnels, and somewhere around us is a set of Hidden Grimoires left by a dead warlock? How did you even find the entrance to these tunnels?”
“Bradley helped me. But none of that matters anymore. If Isabella… if she’s already with Jeopardy, then there’s no way out of this. He’ll use her to get to me – he’ll use her to get to Bradley. He’ll use her to get to every last person in Madison, all to get me to give him the books.”
“You can’t give him a set of Hidden Grimoires,” I said as I shook my head, defiance rising in my tone.
“I won’t have any choice. Hell, I don’t even know your name,” Hayden suddenly pointed out.
“Bethany Samson.” I took a step over to him, and I offered him my hand.
He looked at it, then up to my face. Finally, he took my hand and shook it.
“Hayden Sinclair, I specialize in finding opportunities. I also specialize in locating things that no one else can. I’ll find you a way out of this mess – I promise you that.”
Chapter 7
Once the promise was out, I could hardly take it back. I swore it rang in the air like a tolling bell.
Hayden’s eyes were wide, and though I’m sure he’d had a life seeing everything fantastical that magic could produce, he looked a little awed as he stared at me. He shook my hand warmly, his grip lingering as if he were holding on for dear life.
He finally broke hold of my hand and took a step back. He had a disbelieving but unavoidably hopeful look in his gaze. “I want to believe you – I really do.”
“Then believe me. There’ll be a way out of this.”
“If Jeopardy has already seen one of the Hidden Grimoires – it means he’s even more powerful than he was before. It also means, depending upon the spells within that book, that he’s learned new sets of magical skills. Though it’s damn hard for witches who aren’t sorcerers to enact the spells in a set of Hidden Grimoires, it’s easier for Jeopardy, considering his magic. He’d be able to step into his perfect memories of the grimoires and practice whenever he felt like it. And it will make him a force unlike anything else in Madison City.”
Though that was a heck of a revelation, and it felt as if I’d been punched across the jaw, I actually shrugged. It was an awkward move but was nonetheless one with an undercurrent of strength. “What about finding magic? Do you think he already has that?” To be honest, I already knew the answer. And it was no. If reading these Hidden Grimoires made you a little like a sorcerer, then I already knew from Jason that finding magic was the hardest to learn. Though maybe that fact wasn’t transferable to this situation, I felt that it was.
Hayden confirmed that as he shook his head. “Finding magic is the most unusual magic in the world. It’s an extension of connection fields,” he revealed.
Before I could glaze over, a frown etched across my lips. “Sorry, connection fields?” Something strange was happening with my voice.
“You know much about quantum physics?”
I frowned at him.
He let out a light chuckle. “There’s this theory called entanglement. It’s where you take two particles,” he brought up both hands, spreading them wide, “you allow them to meet,” he brought his hands together, “and they connect. They start spinning in the same direction. It doesn’t matter how far they are taken apart.” He spread his hands wide once more. “They are still connected. If you change one, you change the other. Think of a connection field like that. It doesn’t matter what the distance is between two objects, they are connected. And you,” he pointed at me, “as a finder are the thing that connects them. Once you’ve heard enough or seen enough about an object or person or theory – you then become connected to it, and you can locate it. It doesn’t matter if that object is in space or in somebody’s mind as a fact. You can find it.”
It was a revelation. The first time someone had sat me down – or technically stood me up – and told me about how I could do the things I could do.
“And to answer your question from before, there’s no way Jeopardy would’ve learned finding magic. It’s always the final magic for a sorcerer to learn.”
“But I thought these Hidden Grimoires could… breakdown space or something?”
“They can. But trust me – I’ve done my research. The ability to become a complete finder is only contained within the seventh set – and that hasn’t been unlocked yet.”
“Unlocked?”
“You need the other six sets to get the seventh. But we really need to do something,” Hayden said as he looked up at me hopefully. “We’re running out of time. If Isabella is with Jeopardy… then… God, we need to move.”
“I….” I was about to ask him what we should do next. But that was what I was here for, right?
I closed my eyes. Hayden obviously knew enough about magic to understand what I was doing, and he took a respectful step back and quieted down until I could only hear the soft, percussive sound of his breath.
Though I had sensed opportunities in the past, my entire life – and quite possibly those of every single person in the world – now hinged on me doing it on command.
All my mind wanted to do was scurry away and hide under my bed. This was way too much pressure. I’d also used a heck of a lot of magic today already, and I was tired. I needed to recoup – but I didn’t have the time.
All I could frigging think about was Max. And that’s when my grip tightened around his phone.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could call him. Hayden had already admitted that he’d spent a lifetime tracking down enough magical enchantments to make this basement all but impenetrable – so I really didn’t think I could get a signal. But in tightening my grip around the phone, I reminded myself of Max’s presence. God, it almost felt as if I could draw him toward me. As if I could latch hold of that tether and pull like it was a rope.
I allowed myself to be so distracted by that sensation, I swore it swamped me.
Then I became aware of Hayden again as he took a tense breath.
I half opened an eye to stare at him. He was looking distractedly at the wall. That’s when I realized symbols were painting themselves across it.
I stared in alarm. “What is it?”
“Nothing – just concentrate,” he said in a stilted voice.
I opened my eyes fully to watch symbols appearing across the wall. They were arcane – and I couldn’t read them. Still, they somehow reminded me of a news bulletin.
Hayden brought a hand up and clamped it on his sweaty brow. “This isn’t good. We’re running out of time – we really need a plan.”
“What are they?”
“It’s a spell I got a communications warlock to cast. It connects me to newsfeeds from the outside world without allowing any signals to piggyback in so people can track me down.”
“What does it say?”
“That there’s been an attack on the primary Police Department building in town,” Hayden revealed.
I clamped a hand on my mouth, my eyes pressing wide. “What? By whom?”
“Reading between the lines, it will be the Cruze Gang. Shit, Jeopardy must be desperate. He must know I’m close to finding the books, and he must be looking for more innocent people to use as bargaining chips.”
I opened my mouth, then I found myself shaking my head. “No – he’s after something else,” I said with a stuttering voice.
Hayden looked at me sharply. “How do you know that?” he aske
d, then he shook his head. “You’re a finder – sorry, that was a stupid question. But can you figure out what he’s after?” he asked excitedly.
I swallowed and closed my eyes. Way to go for even more pressure. I was no longer distracted by the tether connecting me to Max – though it was still there in the background as a constant reminder. I pushed my mind to go through the possibilities. I forced myself to remember everything I knew about the Cruze Gang.
And one fact struck me – the plants in the warlock division of the Police Force. After I’d attacked the Cruze Gang in the tunnels under the City Hall, Jason had found enough evidence to pull some of the plants out – but there were more. They were littered throughout the Justice Department, if Frank was to be believed.
Frank.
His name became stuck in my head. What if… what if he’d told Internal Affairs enough that they’d started to purge the ranks of the Justice Department, and what if this attack had something to do with that?
“They’re after evidence,” I said, voice shaking.
“Evidence of what?”
“Evidence of their plants in the Justice Department. I… I know Internal Affairs is running some kind of investigation. They were in your house,” I said, not mentioning Jason’s name. Not because I wanted to hide it from Hayden – because I just couldn’t bear repeating it. Do that, and it would remind me of how I’d walked out on him – of the way he’d looked at me with so much goddamn disappointment.
Hayden paused and took a hard breath. “They’re after the names.”
“Names? Does this… does this have something to do with your brother? He’s an informant for Internal Affairs,” I repeated.
“He’d be sharing the names. Shit – maybe you’re right. Maybe the Cruze Gang got wind of that, and they attacked the Police Department to start destroying evidence.”
“Do you have this list of names?”
He nodded.
“How?”
“Because my parents were some of the dodgiest people in the city. Also,” he sighed, “I’ve spent my life trying to hide my brother. Once or twice, I came across people who found out his secret,” he swiped a tongue across his teeth, “and they blackmailed me to keep it quiet. I’m not proud of that,” he said quietly. “But I still kept a list of their names.”
Forgotten Destiny 3 Page 9
