Where, oh where, has that demon gone…
Chapter 24
Darcinda held her breath while Maeve and Tim set up the last of the ingredients for a locator spell. They had taken over the magistrates’ table, and everyone gave them space while they mixed the powders and herbs in a bowl. Selina went and got her father’s suit jacket out of his cell, and Andrew brought one of McHenry’s plaid lumberjack shirts to them as well, since they needed objects from the people they were trying to locate.
Belinda stood quietly to the side with her arms crossed, but every so often she gave Darcinda the stink eye.
More than likely because Darcinda wasn’t doing the spell. But she wasn’t going to explain why. Not that she cared what Belinda thought, especially after what she’d said earlier. But she didn’t want to distract from the process of figuring out where McHenry and the king were.
Tim placed a map of the world on the table and unfolded it. Maeve then held her hands over the bowl and chanted the spell. Everyone held still while smoke wafted up from the bowl in a small funnel cloud before moving over the map and swirling around it.
They watched while the smoke started in North America and then billowed over the other continents before dissipating.
Darcinda’s heart clenched as she looked up and caught the worried expression Maeve and Tim shared.
“What happened?” Andrew asked.
“It didn’t work. I’m going to try again.” Maeve said.
But the smoke disappeared like the first time.
“I’m not getting anything,” Maeve said.
Selina looked around frantically at everyone. “If you can’t find them, does that mean they’re dead?”
Andrew wrapped his arm around her at the same time he put his free hand on Jamie’s shoulder.
Darcinda wouldn’t believe it. “Actually, it could just mean that the curse is blocking the spell. Andrew, Jamie. Are you sure your uncle never said anything to you about the curse?”
Andrew pulled Selina tighter. “We don’t know about the curse. I wish he had said something.”
“So we look for anything we can find about the curse.” Devin turned to Andrew and Jamie. “We start with the house. Where should we check first?”
“His office. If we don’t find anything there, his bedroom,” Jamie said.
“Okay, let’s divide and conquer. Darcinda, you lead the search at the house. Alex, Sheila, and Olivia want to help somehow, so I think we have them help search the house. Some of us will search the forest as well,” Devin said.
The elf king said, “Julia and Godfrey, please stay here with us to report what has happened to the Tribunal. I can attempt to cast a spell to set up communications with them, but I understand Tim has created a phone we can use in the Burrow.”
The groups split up, and Darcinda and Maeve headed back to the house. Sheila, Olivia, and Alex met them at the door as they came in.
“Have you found them?” Alex asked as she balanced JT on her hip.
“Not yet,” Darcinda said. “We need your help.”
“Name it,” Sheila said.
Darcinda explained about searching the house and looking for anything that referenced a curse. The women split up, with Darcinda, Alex, and JT detailed to search McHenry’s bedroom. When she opened the door, Darcinda experienced a moment of guilt about invading McHenry’s private space when he wasn’t there, but she pushed it aside. If they found something to help him and Roderick, it would be worth it.
Even though Darcinda had been in the room tending McHenry, she hadn’t really looked much at the contents. The room was neat, but Darcinda expected that. There was a tall dresser, and a chair in the corner where she imagined he sat and read. McHenry struck her as someone who read a lot. His large bed with a handmade quilt took up most of the room, with nightstands perched on either side. Your standard bedroom, except for the headboard. She had noticed that before. It had an intricate metal design of a leafy tree that took her breath away.
Alex set JT in the middle of the large bed with pillows on either side of him and some rubber blocks to play with. Darcinda started rifling through his closet while Alex went through his dresser.
Nothing but clothes and shoes, which she fully expected, but she checked the pockets and rifled through the boxes on the closet shelf just to be sure.
She closed the closet door. “Anything?”
Alex stood from her squatted position in front of the bottom dresser drawer. “No. Socks, T-shirts, thermals, and underwear. When we find McHenry, I will not be telling him I went through his underwear.”
“Good plan,” Darcinda said.
JT squealed and threw a block across the bed. The yellow block landed on the nightstand. Darcinda walked over and reached for it, stopping when she saw a slight crack along the front of the stand. She tossed the block lightly to JT before kneeling to get a better look at the wood.
“Did you find something?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know for sure.” Darcinda ran her fingers along the crack, and when she got to the edge, she felt a small notch, and pressed on it. The front dropped open, and inside was a leather-bound book.
JT hollered “ba-ba-ba” while he patted his hands together.
“What do we have here?” Darcinda pulled the book out and opened the front cover. Alistair McHenry was written in script on the front page. “I think it’s some sort of journal.”
“Something McHenry wrote?”
Darcinda turned to the first page of script and scanned it. “I don’t think so. Maybe his father or grandfather?” The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Why did he have this hidden?”
“Maybe it talks about the curse,” Alex said as she sat on the bed next to JT.
“If it does, it means this mess might not have started with McHenry.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Can a curse pass through a family?”
“Normally, no. It would have to be one hell of a strong curse.”
Alex lifted JT into her lap. “You mean one strong enough to suck two powerful demons into the earth for simply uttering the words out loud?”
“Point taken.”
Alex nodded. “Start reading.”
Darcinda read the first couple of pages while Alex and JT listened. The author had to be McHenry’s grandfather. He had built a cabin on what sounded like the land they were on now. Like McHenry, Alistair worked with metals. She gasped.
“What is it?” Alex asked. “Stop reading ahead!”
My friend and business partner has joined me here. We will build him a house in the meadow once we’re able to increase our business. Our hope is to supply many of the supernaturals with our horseshoes and tack. It is good to finally have Roderick working with me.
Alex gasped too. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“You’re right, it can’t. ‘Roderick’ has to be the demon king’s relation.”
Alex stood. “Come on. We have to tell the others what we found.”
Within minutes they had gathered the others in the tent. With the exception of Jack and Connor, who were searching the forest in wolf form, the rest of the team had returned from searching the forest, and the conversation with the Tribunal had been wrapped up as well by the time the group gathered.
Darcinda explained what she had found and read so far.
“Dad was named after his father, who was named after his,” Selina said. “Do you think he’s referring to my great-grandfather?”
“I think so. They not only knew each other, but they were business partners.”
“Since no one was aware of this, I would say something went wrong somewhere down the line,” Sullivan said.
Darcinda started to flip through the pages, scanning. “Most of this describes their business and Roderick settling here with him.”
“There’s a marker toward the back of the book,” Devin said. “Flip there.”
Darcinda opened the book at the thin red ribbon and read. “Something definitely went wrong. Listen to this.”
I can’t believe Roderick betrayed me. We were friends, more like brothers, and he went behind my back.
“Don’t stop now,” Alex said. “What else does it say?”
“Nothing else on this page. And the next pages were ripped out of the book.” She turned the page. “Here’s something.”
Anna is gone. Now all I have left is the land. My land. Roderick tried to lay claim to it after he had already stolen Anna from me. No more. He is dead to me.
“Whoa,” Maeve said. “That’s intense. Do you think he cursed Roderick?”
Darcinda looked at the angry words on the page. “I don’t know. But if he did, I don’t know why McHenry would have been affected by it earlier.”
“And who is Anna?” Sheila asked.
“Not my great-grandmother,” Selina said. “Her name was Meredith.”
“So neither ended up with her. She might be the key,” the elf king said.
“The key to what?” the fairy queen said. “We have nothing to go on but McHenry telling us there’s a curse and them both disappearing. This could be a hoax.”
“I agree. How is this getting us anywhere?” Cambridge said.
“If there is a curse, someone had to cast it,” the elf king said.
“A multigenerational curse is huge,” Maeve said. “Who has that sort of power?”
Darcinda paged back in the book, ignoring them while they argued. Maybe she could find out more about Anna.
After a couple minutes she interrupted them. “Hello!”
The group turned to her. “The pages right before the ripped-out ones talk about them both traveling to meet with a stable master to sell their horseshoes and horse tack.”
“A stable master for whom?” Charlie asked.
Darcinda’s stomach dropped as she found the answer. “The Faerie Kingdom.”
“That explains how this curse could traverse generations. Faerie magic is one of the most powerful,” Tim said.
It also explained both McHenry’s and Roderick’s animosity toward faeries.
Belinda shook her head. “Curses have been outlawed.”
“Not back then,” Darcinda said.
“So what does that prove?”
“If we know it’s faerie magic, it might help us find them.” She turned to Maeve. “Let’s adjust your locator spell. I have some ideas.”
“Why are you not casting the spells, Darcinda? Relying on this witch to do work that you are better suited for?”
Darcinda narrowed her eyes. “This witch has a name. Maeve is one of the most powerful supernaturals I have ever worked with.”
“And you avoid my question.”
“I don’t have any powers right now.”
The faerie queen clenched her fists. “And why am I just now finding this out?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Maeve muttered.
The faerie queen glared at Maeve, who glared back at her without cowering.
“How did you lose your powers?” she persisted.
“The demon king cast a binding spell.”
“The demon king. The same person you’re trying to help right now?”
“Yes. And we’re wasting time. We can discuss this later,” Darcinda said. “Maeve, let’s work on the locator spell. Charlie, can you go to the house and get my healer’s bag and book?”
Charlie nodded before jogging to the house. They started mixing ingredients and after a couple of minutes, Charlie returned. Darcinda took a few more items out of her bag and added them to the bowl.
She flipped open her book and showed a spell to Maeve. “Add this sentence to your spell at the end.”
Maeve nodded before adding the last ingredient in the bowl. She started to chant as a deep red smoke curled up and moved across the table. Instead of hovering over the map, the smoke circled over the journal. Pages fluttered and opened to a page with a drawing before sinking onto the page, making the drawing glow.
Darcinda picked up the book and read the notes under the picture. “This is a drawing of the log cabin Alistair built. McHenry and Roderick must be there.”
Andrew shook his head. “They can’t be.”
“Why not?” Darcinda asked.
“Because it doesn’t exist anymore.”
“We should still go to the location to check it out,” Maeve said.
“We’re already there. McHenry’s house is built where it used to be.”
“Another dead end,” Devin said.
Darcinda gripped the book tighter. “No. I think this locator spell is telling us they’re in that house.”
“How can they be?” Selina asked.
“You think they’re trapped in the book?” Tim asked.
“Or maybe they’re in a time when the cabin still existed.”
Everyone stared at her like she’d lost her mind. Except Maeve and Tim.
“So what do we do?” Maeve asked.
“If they’re in the book, we can try an extraction spell.”
“On it,” Tim said as he pulled more ingredients out of her healer’s bag.
Darcinda paged through her spell book and found an extraction spell that they quickly recreated.
“I think everyone should stand back,” Tim said.
Maeve and Tim recited the spell this time. At first nothing happened. Until the book started to shimmy across the table while the pages flipped back and forth.
“What’s happening?” Selina whispered.
Darcinda held her breath. Please work.