The woman was young, less than thirty, Addison guessed. Her skin was pale and white. Flawless. Still in shock, Addison fumbled over her words.
“Are ... are you ... Joan Waterhouse?” Addison asked.
“Of course, I am.”
“And is your mother Agnes Waterhouse?”
“Bright girl. You know your history.”
“I know my witches,” Addison said.
“Is that what I am ... a witch?”
“Aren’t you?”
“I’m a lot of things.”
“It’s just, I didn’t expect you to be so—”
“Young?”
“Well, yes,” Addison said. “Briggs said you were much older. And, based on when you lived in history, you’re—”
“People are funny creatures, you know. They see what they want to see, what they need to see when they need to see it. If Harry Briggs would have seen me as you see me now, he wouldn’t have taken me seriously. It’s an unfortunate truth, but it is one, nonetheless. Women aren’t judged the same as men, even now, even after all this time.”
“I’m here about Sara Belle and Libby Carrington. I’m trying to find out what happened to them, and I need your help.”
“Of course, you do. You want me to wrap the details of their deaths in a pretty bow and give you answers you’re tired of seeking because you yearn for your world to be perfect. You think you need it to be perfect to be happy.”
“You’re wrong. It’s not true.”
“I hope not. Put it out of your mind and make peace with it, because it won’t ever be. You made a choice to use your abilities, to use the gifts you’ve been given. That is your life now.”
“I came here because I thought you could help me.”
“You came here because you’re curious. You wanted to know if I was real, if someone outside of yourself exists in the same way and with the same abilities you do.”
“Do you know what happened to Libby Carrington?” Addison asked.
“In a manner of speaking. I know she’s trapped between the place she should be and the one in which she now rests.”
“How can I help her? How can I help Sara Belle?”
Joan placed a hand over Addison’s. Addison jerked it away.
“What are you doing?” Addison asked.
“Afraid of what might happen if we connect?” Joan shook her head and laughed. “Good. You should be.”
Joan leaned back in the seat and rubbed her hands together. “You really do want to help them, don’t you? I’m not used to such honorable intentions when it comes to your ... well ... the women in your family.”
“I do my best to help those trapped in this world in any way I can. Briggs had honorable intentions, and you told him where to find Libby’s car, but the car led nowhere, and then you disappeared. You could have given him more information, and yet you didn’t.”
“I had my reasons. What he failed to mention to you is that he hated his boss. He wanted to be promoted to his position. His boss was on his way out, so solving the case would have given him that, but it’s not always best to have everything we want. Your agenda is twofold. You want all the lost souls who come into your life to find their way. You also want to protect your family, and yet you struggle with who you are and who you think you should be.”
“Are you going to help me or not?”
“Stubborn, aren’t you? This day is about much more than me helping you seek out the truth hidden around Belle Manor.”
“Why is today so important?”
Joan stared out the car window at a flock of birds flying overhead. “Do you feel you know yourself, Addison? Do you know what you are? Do you know your roots? Do you know from whence you came?”
A sudden feeling of inadequacy washed over Addison. No matter the answer she gave, it wouldn’t be right. “I know enough for now.”
“I’m sure you think so. The truth is, you know nothing.”
Addison crossed her arms, resisting the urge to go on the defensive. “If I know nothing, why don’t you enlighten me?”
Joan narrowed her eyes. “Sometimes the veil between truths and lies is safer to hide behind. Once revealed, you can never go back to the way it was before. It’s like opening a box and looking inside. You can’t undo what’s been done.”
“I’d rather not spend my life hiding behind anything. I did that enough when my mother was alive.”
Addison flashed to a younger time in her life when her mother refused to reveal her true identity.
“Take a breath, Addison,” Joan said, “and then breathe out the pain you’re feeling right now.”
“What would you know about it?”
“I feel the weight you carry, the grudge you told yourself you’d shed years ago, but never did. You’re still angry with her. Whether wrong or right, she had her reasons for doing what she did.”
“I loved my mother.”
“And I loved mine. It doesn’t mean I approved of her actions—not all of them.”
It felt like the conversation was flipping around in circles, going nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
“Why else did you come looking for me today?” Joan asked.
“You’re right. I wanted to know if someone existed who’s like me.”
“Now that you know there is, do you feel better?”
“I don’t know. Right now, I’m shaken up. I didn’t expect to find anything when I drove here today.”
“There are certain truths it’s time you knew about yourself if you are to achieve your destiny.”
“I’m not concerned about my destiny.”
“Aren’t you? Why do you help them then—all those lost souls with unresolved issues in the earthly world? You have a choice. You choose to get involved.”
Addison shrugged. “It seems like the right thing to do, and I like helping them, most of the time.”
“Much of what is known about my family isn’t accurate. My mother was a shrewd woman, a woman most didn’t understand. What people don’t understand, they fear, and from that fear a false persona is born. For my mother, the persona became a label fixed to her chest, defining who she was, even though it wasn’t. Most of it was for show.”
“How was it a show?” Addison asked. “Are you saying she didn’t do any of the things she was accused of doing?”
“You know what a show is, don’t you? A production where one person tells themselves they’re the star, when in reality, they’re nothing of the kind.”
Addison didn’t follow.
There had been an abrupt shift in the conversation.
“You’re leading up to something,” Addison said.
Joan nodded. “Yes, I am. My mother was lynched, and I was spared, but I wasn’t the only one found innocent. My mother’s sister, Sybil, was found innocent as well.”
Addison was unfamiliar with Sybil, a woman she’d never come across in any of her historical research.
“I’ve never heard of her,” Addison said. “Who is she?’
“My mother wasn’t the most famous necromancer to have ever lived. She behaved the way she did to get the attention from the one who was, and yet, you won’t find Sybil’s name in any history book. She made sure it was left out.”
“Why?”
“To protect herself, I suppose, and her legacy. To protect you, Addison.”
“Me? Why?”
“You are her legacy.”
“I’m ... what?”
“Sybil was your, well, very great-grandmother.”
“Is she still alive?”
“She exists, though she hasn’t been seen in some time. After my mother died, Sybil left the village. She took her daughters with her, but left her sons.”
“Why haven’t I or anyone else ever heard of her until now? You could have found me years ago. Why haven’t we met until now?”
“Like Sybil, I prefer to stay in the shadows, keeping an ear to the ground. I show myself when it’s important. Today is more important than any other. Your grandmother died last year. I assume the book of enchantments is now in your possession.”
Addison nodded. “I have it. Haven’t been able to make much sense of it so far, beyond reading through the verses and trying out a few chants.”
“You have no idea how powerful it is.”
“I’ve only just started using it.”
“I know. I felt the energy in this world shift when you uttered your first words from the book. You may know what’s written in ink, but the ink is just the beginning. I’m here to tell you what else the book offers.”
“I haven’t found anything else, and I’ve been through it a few times.”
“I have something for you.”
Joan slipped a hand inside the pocket of her cloak, pulling out a shiny, red stone. It was small, no bigger than a kernel of corn, and circular in shape. She placed it in Addison’s hand.
Addison brought it closer to her face and inspected it. “What is this? A ruby?”
“It’s a red diamond, one of the rarest gems in the world. Less than thirty are known to exist. Do you know what a red diamond symbolizes?”
Addison shook her head.
“Red diamonds are made of pure carbon,” Joan said. “They contain no impurities. They symbolize passion, power, and ritual, and most of all, the ability to be flexible in our form.”
Addison thought of the red room at home. When Luke had asked what color she wanted it painted, she didn’t hesitate. She knew it had to be red.
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Take a closer look at the book you’ve been given, at the women on the cover. Look at the center of the cauldron, at its shape, and you’ll see where the stone is to be placed. Place it there, and then press your hand over it.”
“What will happen when I do?”
Joan cracked a smile. “You’ll see.”
“Does this mean I’m a ... because you’re a ... a witch?”
“Witch is a term I’ve never cared for much. We’re necromancers. We harness magic and use it in whatever way we choose. You and I share the same bloodline. We’re similar, but we’re not the same. You communicate with the spirits of those who have passed on. I see into the earth, connect with its energy, see its secrets.”
“You live forever, though. We don’t.”
Joan drummed her fingers along the car’s dashboard. “You didn’t. With this stone, you will change, your abilities will change. You have far more power now than I ever have. You just haven’t tapped into it yet.”
“Even so, if you can do what you say, you can help me find Libby.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself. You can find Libby. When you do, use what you’ve received from the book to the full extent of its power, but exercise caution when you do. You must be careful.”
“Careful of ...?”
“Have you ever wondered why the women in your family line are the only one anyone ever talks about?”
Addison shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it much. When I learned who I was and what I could do, I assumed there had only been women because the abilities we have are passed down, grandmother to daughter to granddaughter.”
“True. Males were born at one time, though. Earlier, I told you when Sybil left town, she took her girls and abandoned her sons. There was a reason for this. At the time, she believed the girls represented purity, all that is good in this world. The boys represented the evil and corruption that has plagued the world we’ve lived in since the beginning of time. Not that they were evil themselves. They weren’t.”
“You knew them. What were they?”
“Cunning, mischief-makers. I never saw them do anything I considered to be bad, but then, after their father died less than a year after their mother left, they left too. It is not known where they ended up afterward.”
“Do any men in the family line still exist?”
“There are two. The youngest was born thirty-six years ago.”
Thirty-six. Years. Ago.
It couldn’t be.
What were the odds?
“I’m thirty-six.”
Joan stared at Addison a moment. “Yes, you are. The boy is your mother’s son, which makes him your brother. Your twin brother.”
Her twin brother.
Addison wrapped her hands around the steering wheel, unable to speak. Every fiber of her being ached, her veins pulsing as the ugly truth filtered through her system. Thoughts raced through her mind like a horse sprinting free from the starting gate.
“Take your time,” Joan said. “It’s a lot to process.”
For several minutes, Addison remained silent while Joan’s revelation echoed inside her ears over and over again on a repetitive loop. She wanted to stall, to keep it from sinking in. She didn’t want it to sink in. She wanted the last fifteen minutes in time to disappear, to evaporate and become nothing. It would be so much easier to pretend none of it was real. That he wasn’t real. Because if he was, her history as she knew it today was being rewritten again—another version she’d known nothing about.
Somewhere inside, Addison knew Joan’s words were true. She’d always felt a presence inside her she’d never understood before until today. It was clear now what Joan meant when she’d said the veil of truth was sometimes easier for people to hide behind. Addison had been lied to her entire life, robbed of the opportunity of having a sibling. And not just a sibling, a twin. A protector. It was the one wish she’d had for as long as she could remember—to have someone else like her in her life.
The truth was like a thief in the night, stripping her soul to its core.
It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right.
She wrapped her arms around herself, sucked in a lungful of air, and held it inside until she had no choice but to spew it all out.
“This is why you’re here,” Addison said. “To tell me about the red diamond, and my brother.”
Joan nodded. “After the diamond came to be in my possession, I had a vision of you. It was many years ago. I knew we’d meet one day when the time was right, and I’d sit beside you and tell you what I just have. Everything in your life has led to this moment.”
“But why? Why now? Where is my brother? And why was I never told about him?”
“I cannot give you those answers.”
It was frustrating and impossible to accept.
Joan had the answers.
Why wouldn’t she share them?
“What can you tell me?” Addison asked.
“Visit your father. The truth lies within him.”
Her father?
She was angry.
Angry with him.
And even angrier with her mother.
How could they give up their own son?
“I know it will be hard for you to concentrate on anything but this, now that you know,” Joan said. “Don’t dwell in the past. Live in the present and focus on the task at hand. Finish the job you started, giving peace and eternal rest to those who seek you until you’re sure about the calling which will soon be bestowed on you.”
“You expect me to help Sara and Libby, and yet you’ve offered me no help.”
“Haven’t I? You didn’t need it in the past, and you don’t need it now. It’s like I’ve said, you are the key to unraveling the mystery, Addison. And now that you know where you came from, remember who you are. Place the stone in its rightful place. Everything you need and everything you are will be within you.”
She spoke of it as if today was a new beginning, a time to shed the past and begin anew—the same person she’d been, but better. She wanted to lash out, a place to put her anger, but Joan wasn’t it.
“I know how I seem right now,” Addison said. “I apologize. I’m not like this. It isn’t me. As difficult as it is, I’m grateful to have met you and for all you’ve told me.”
“It’s been hundreds of years since I’ve shown myself to one of our descendants. You are far more unique than you know, more like Sybil than all who have come before her. Do not fear. You will always be protected. Be the strong woman I know you are. The woman we both know you are.”
Joan peered out the car’s windshield and frowned. “A storm is brewing, and I have places to be. Best for you to go.”
“I’ll always be grateful to you for today.”
Joan nodded. “I want to leave you with a word of advice. You will wish to seek the raven, as the raven has scoured the earth in search of you.”
“Who is the raven? What does he want from me?”
“Many things, but above all to make you like him. You must choose, Addison. You must decide who you will become from this moment forward.”
“Why will I need to—”
Before she could finish the question, Joan was gone.