Chapter Four

 

Jude stepped through the front door ahead of Eric. “Mom, I’m back,” he called into the silent house. “I found the guy you wanted.”

It was obvious the house wasn’t a permanent residence. It had an empty feel about it. There were no decorations, no pictures hung on the walls, no rugs on the floors, no centerpiece on the dining room table. It lacked these homey touches. It was only sparsely furnished, but there were furnishings. Curtains hung on all the windows. There were modern appliances in the kitchen and a couch and chairs for sitting in the living room. It had the smell of recently cooked food, something fried, greasy, but not unpleasant.

Most of the places he encountered on his strange journeys had been deserted. This was a welcome change of pace from those unsettling settings. But just once, he’d like to find himself drawn to a fancy resort or a tropical beach.

“Mom?”

“In here,” came a soft voice from the rear of the house.

Jude walked toward the voice, to a small bedroom at the far end of the hallway, and Eric followed him.

She was sitting at a small folding table littered with bowls and candles, her head lowered into her hands, her long, black hair hanging over her face and pooling onto the surface of the table.

Jude knelt beside her. “Mom…?”

The woman turned and embraced the boy, burying her head against his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

Her voice was only a whisper, but Eric heard her clearly in the silence of the house, and her words were heavy. “He’s taken another one.”

The boy looked horror stricken. “What? When? Who?”

“Marie. It was this morning.”

Jude looked as if he’d been socked in the gut. “Oh god…”

“She was such a sweet girl… I don’t understand how someone could do these things.”

Eric stood awkwardly in the doorway, wondering if he should retreat back to the living room and give them some privacy.

“I should’ve been there,” lamented Jude.

But his mother shook her head. “You couldn’t save her. You’d only have ended up dead, too.”

“It’s not fair…”

“I know, baby.” Now she lifted her head a little. One dark eye twinkled at him through that black hair. “But you’ve brought us our savior.”

“I did,” Jude assured her. “I found him.”

Eric didn’t care for being referred to as their “savior.” That sounded like a lot to put on one man. He still had no idea how he was supposed to be able to help these people. He had no power.

“Eric Fortrell,” said the woman.

“Hi,” was all Eric could think to say.

Jude stepped aside as his mother stood up and swept her long hair out of her face. “Thank you so much for coming.”

For a moment, Eric couldn’t find his words. The woman before him was much younger than he’d first realized. And she was astoundingly beautiful, with dark, Caribbean features. She wore a light, wispy blouse that had looked like a modest housedress when he first saw her in the chair. Slouched over, her face hidden, she’d looked small and frail, but the skin-tight halter top she wore beneath the open blouse revealed a lean, toned stomach and accentuated her full, firm breasts. Her waist was slender, her legs long in her snug capris. She must have been the object of desire for almost every man who caught sight of her.

He hadn’t expected her to be green, of course. He hadn’t even expected her to be in any way foul or ugly like the weird sisters in Macbeth. But he also hadn’t expected her to be gorgeous.

Before he could think how to compose himself, the woman rushed forward and embraced him, pressing her exquisite body against him and holding him there.

She smelled of peaches and lilacs.

The only thought in his head was that Karen, already mad at him, would murder him if she could see him now.

“You’re going to save us,” she whispered into his ear. “I’ve seen it.”

He felt a curious shiver pass through him at these words. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” he confessed. “I’m really just an English teacher.”

The woman was still holding him. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to do.

“The magic never lies,” she assured him.

Eric didn’t know what to say to this, so he simply said, “Okay.”

Finally, the woman released him and took a step back. She wiped at the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s been hard around here lately.”

“It’s okay.”

“My name is Delphinium Thorngood. My family calls me Del.”

“You’re Jude’s mother?”

She smiled. “I know. I look too young.”

“You do, honestly.”

She gave him a little shrug. The gesture was endearing. “I’m a witch. I cheat. A little.” She looked at her son and smiled. “But only a little. I became pregnant with Jude when I was only fourteen.”

That explained a lot of it, he supposed. If the boy was sixteen, then that would make her about thirty. But she looked closer to twenty-five.

“He told you why you’re here?”

He nodded. “The magic man.”

“Yes.”

“I have to admit, I’ve never much believed in magic.”

She smiled. “That’s okay. You don’t have to. It still works even if you don’t.”

“Well, that’s convenient.”

She gestured at the door. “Let’s go to the living room. I have a lot to tell you and not much time to tell it.”

Eric followed her back down the hall to the living room. His eyes swept down her gorgeous body. She even had a sultry walk. She could have been a runway model.

His cell phone chimed in his pocket.

YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BASEBALL OR SOMETHING?

“Shut it,” he murmured, stuffing it back into his pocket.

He wasn’t interested in this woman. He loved Karen. He was just…taking in his environment. That was all. Just getting a good look at the people who summoned him here, trying to get a read on them.

Delphinium sat down on the couch and gestured for him to join her.

Eric sat beside her. He didn’t want to be rude.

“The magic man murdered my grandpa,” she told him.

He nodded. “Grandpa. Jude told me.”

“He wasn’t my real grandpa. I never had a real grandpa. Not one I knew.”

Jude had also informed him that only he and his mother were related. The rest of the family was adopted, including grandpa. It made sense, then, that he would have been everyone’s grandpa.

“And my real father was a drunk and a rapist,” she added. “Luckily, I was…a special child.”

“Magic?”

Delphinium smiled. “I had some…abilities…I guess you’d call them.”

“Like making people ignore you so you could move around unnoticed?”

Her smile brightened at this. “Jude’s quite talented at that.”

“Definitely got my attention this morning.”

“I could move things without touching them. I knew things without being told. I could make things happen just by thinking about them.”

Special talents. Eric had seen quite a few of them, from being able to see what others couldn’t to conjuring monsters. Now things were starting to sound familiar again.

“I didn’t understand what I was back then. I couldn’t really control it. But I could turn it up and down. One night, when I was eleven, my father attacked me in a drunken rage. I believe he would’ve killed me, if I’d let him. But I didn’t. I turned it all the way up. And all hell broke loose. I’m fairly sure he died in that house that night. But I never knew for sure. I ran away and never went back. I taught myself to use my abilities on the streets, to protect myself, to survive. I did okay. But I was too young. I made bad decisions. I got in trouble again and again. I was making a mess out of everything everywhere I went. I even ended up pregnant. But then I met Grandpa.”

“And he took you in off the streets.”

“He gave me a home. He helped me hone my abilities. He taught me how to improve them. He taught me magic. And I chose to pay it forward. I dedicated my life to hunting down children like me, children with magic potential and nowhere to go. I found nine girls. I don’t know why they were all girls. Maybe it’s just a female thing. Or maybe it’s only because I’m female, but over the years I’ve located them and brought them into my home, my family. They’re my sisters now.”

Eric nodded. “I get it. Sure. But this magic man… Who is he?”

Delphinium shook her head. “I don’t know. Grandpa used to talk about a dark, modern sorcerer. A very powerful magic man. He encountered him years ago and defeated him, but he didn’t know what became of him after that. He couldn’t even say for sure whether he was dead or alive. But he always warned us that there was a chance he could return. It used to scare the hell out of me.” She stared off into the corner, distracted. “I think I’d started to believe he wouldn’t come back. I mean if he was still out there, then why wouldn’t he have already come for us? But then it happened. We were all asleep and suddenly the whole house erupted into a war zone. A fire broke out. I got Jude and the girls out of the house while Grandpa fought him with everything he had. I never saw him. One of the girls did. She said he was dressed in black, his face hooded, with fire dripping from his sleeves. It was terrifying.”

It sounded terrifying. It also sounded exactly like the kind of guy who might work for a certain nameless organization.

The woman smiled at him as if reading his mind. “I don’t even have to waste my breath swearing to you that it’s true, do I? You’re familiar with this kind of thing.”

“I still don’t know anything about magic, but I’ve had experience dealing with people who have strange abilities.”

“Really?” stammered Jude.

“My spell showed you to me. It also showed me that you’ve fought and defeated several devils.”

“I wouldn’t call them devils,” said Eric. “Just men. Men with frightening powers, but just men. I can’t even really claim credit for beating them. They all had massive, self-destructive egos.”

“Spoken like a true English teacher,” said Delphinium. “But ‘devil’ wasn’t just a word I was using to be dramatic. I actually saw the word in my head when the spell showed you to me. ‘DEVILS.’ It looked strange. The letters were faded on each side. Only the two in the middle stood out brightly. V and I. I still don’t understand what it means. Does V I mean anything to you?”

Eric shook his head. “Roman numeral six?”

Delphinium shrugged. “It might not be important. Sometimes things like that aren’t.”

“Shouldn’t we be going to get the girls?” asked Jude. “Before he finds them.”

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” she warned him. Then, to Eric, she said, “One thing Grandpa always warned us about was that the more of us there were, the easier it would be for someone like the magic man to find us. That’s why we scattered. My spells told me there was no other way. If we stood up to him, we’d die. If we ran from him, he’d follow. Our only hope was to split up and hide. And even that didn’t work. When all else failed, I cast another spell. I asked for help. That’s when it showed you to me.”

Eric shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He still didn’t understand what made him so special. Surely his presence wouldn’t make a difference. These were witches, weren’t they?

“Seven of my girls are still out there. I can’t contact them without revealing them to our enemy. And I can’t leave without breaking the protective spells I’ve placed on this property and the surrounding land.”

Eric recalled the strange thing that Isabelle felt as they approached the area, and then her certainty that it was centered over this house.

“I need you to find them for me and bring them back here.”

“But didn’t you just say that made you all easier to find?”

“I did. And it does. But he’s already finding them. Two of my sisters are dead now. It’s only a matter of time until he gets to all of us. Our only chance is to stand together and fight. And even then we wouldn’t have a chance without you.”

“I still don’t understand why it has to be me. I don’t have any abilities.”

Delphinium smiled. “I don’t know. But the spell never lies. And it was very specific. Without you, none of my girls can make it back to me. He’ll kill them all before they can get here.”

“And I’m supposed to be able to keep them safe?”

“I don’t claim to know everything. Maybe you’re not the only one in the world who could save us, but you’re the one it gave us.”

Lucky me, thought Eric.

“We don’t have much time. If he finds any more of my girls, it could change things. You might not be enough.”

Eric wasn’t convinced he was enough anyway.

“But how is he supposed to protect anyone from the magic man if he has no power?” asked Jude. “That’s what I don’t understand.”

But Delphinium smiled again. “No one said he doesn’t have power. He practically reeks of destiny.” Now her dark eyes slid down to his lap. “And then there’s that special magic in his pants.”

Eric gaped at her, startled. His face was instantly burning. “Excuse me?”

Jude looked just as shocked. “What the hell, Mom?”

Delphinium looked up at her son, then back at Eric. “What?” She nodded toward his lap. “You didn’t come here alone.”

Eric’s cell phone chimed in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the screen.

I THINK SHE’S TALKING ABOUT ME, DUMMY

Eric felt both relieved and embarrassed. “Right. Of course.”

MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER, ROMEO

“Quiet, you.”

Delphinium leaned back, smiling slyly. Eric realized that she’d meant to alarm him. Had she done it just to amuse herself, or had she known somehow that he would not easily be convinced to discuss his secret connection to the girl he met in Isaac Altrusk’s deranged mansion eleven months ago?

Jude walked over and peered down at the phone. “That thing? He was talking to it on the way down. What is it?”

“Isabella?” asked Delphinium.

“Isabelle,” corrected Eric. Clearly, he wasn’t going to be keeping her secret this time out.

“Isabelle?” asked Jude. As he leaned a little closer, it chimed again.

HI, JUDE

“Okay, that’s freaky. What is it, some kind of computer?”

“She’s just a girl,” said Delphinium, a wondrous sort of awe in her voice. “But she’s not… I don’t really understand.”

“It’s a long story,” said Eric.

She shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ve seen that she’s a great help to you. And we’re thankful to have her, too. And don’t worry, we won’t ever tell anyone about her.”

“Thank you.” But the fact that she’d already known about Isabelle disturbed him. He couldn’t help but wonder who else might have that kind of ability.

Now Delphinium stood up. “It’s time to go,” she announced. “We can’t wait any more. Jude, give him the keys to the van.”

Jude looked offended. “I’m not driving?”

“You’re not going.”

“What do you mean I’m not going?”

“I need you here. We have to get ready.”

“Ready for what?”

Delphinium wasn’t smiling now. “War.”

Eric felt a lump forming in his belly. War? That seemed a little dramatic.

Turning back to Eric, she said, “You’ll have to find Holly first.” She withdrew a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. “You’ll be able to find her here.”

Eric scanned the directions. Delphinium had very pretty handwriting. If only half of his students could write so well. “This is where she’s living?”

“It’s where she’s been working. Please hurry,” she begged him. “Bring my sisters home.”

Eric nodded. “I’ll try to help. But—”

She reached out and planted her finger on his lips. “I know. But I desperately need you to trust me as much as I’m trusting you.”

Eric grasped her wrist and removed her hand from his mouth. “I’ll try,” he promised. “I really will.”

She gave him one more smile. “That’s all I can ask for.”