These Lying Eyes (24 page)

“So this problem I have with Sarah…” Despite sitting on the tall padded stool, Mina tucked herself into her knees, rubbing her chin over her knee caps.

Grace sipped her tea, waiting as Mina struggled for words.

“I… It’s just… The thing is… I know this spell on Sarah is malicious. It’s terrifying me. Someone would have to be a pretty strong witch to do a spell that would affect Sarah like this right? With…without her somehow contributing?”

Grace nodded, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“I think they’re trying to take her magic—when they get a hold of her. I think they want to suck her dry.”

Mina pushed the picture of the burning witch forward.

“That would be…” Grace pressed her fingers to her lips.

But Mina finished for her friend, “Bad.”

“Unlikely.” Grace tapped her finger against the picture, “Mina…”

“Please Grace. I don’t think the potions are enough. If Sarah somehow gets away from us before…we fix this. I need a way to find her. Her or any of my siblings.”

The fear in Mina’s voice was as tangible as the feel of the countertop.

Grace took Mina’s hand. “I’ve never seen or heard of anyone doing that spell in my lifetime. You have to be very, very good. And, you have to have everything set up perfectly.”

“I read about the Human Element of Magic.” Mina pushed her hair behind her ears; she hadn’t even combed it. “I read all about it. Everything you gave us. Everything I could find online with the websites you provided. On every website I could find on my own. I get that you normally have to have a connection for the Human Element to work. A connection that you build like maybe a married couple would or life-long best friends. But that’s only for the healthy, good kind of sharing your magic.”

She didn’t wait for Grace to try to placate her again, “For a normal dude, you’d have to be insanely good to take someone’s magic forcefully, but you can just be pretty darn good to take from your family. If your connection is real enough.”

Grace let Mina spew all her worries out, never countering her.

Mina looked at the agonized face of the young witch burning. And then her words raced out of her mouth, almost tripping over themselves to get out. “My family is very close. Connected. We share so much. We spend tons of time together. We have our picnics and our camping trips. My aunts and uncles invite each other over for dinner, and my cousins were as close to me as my siblings for most of my life.”

Grace bit her lip, took Mina’s hand, and squeezed.

“They even have a book club.” A watery chuckle punctuated Mina’s statement. It was just wrong to believe that someone in her family would do this. Crazy even. Crazier than seeing the sprites. Crazier than those moments in the hallway with the nameless girl, Poppy, and all those video phones. Crazier than anything Mina had ever considered.

But it was also true.

“Yes, a connection would make a spell of that nature easier. But, the likelihood of anyone trying such a thing is extremely remote.” Grace tucked Mina’s notes together. She took a sip of her tea and her attention was pulled back to the pictures of the three tortured witches.

Eventually, Grace crossed the room, dug through her briefcase and pulled out her laptop. Moments later, Grace wasn’t just reading the articles Mina had; Grace was reading the source material.

Mina waited for long minutes as Grace did her own research. When Grace finally looked up, their eyes met, and Mina knew hers were full of worry.

She simply asked, “What if?”

“Mina what you’re saying…it’s just so unheard-of. It’s far more possible that this spell on Sarah is for an hundred other things. We just don’t know yet.”

Mina waited. She knew that Grace needed to consider. And Grace would work it through as she talked to herself.

“I suppose that, however, implausible…” Grace stood and began pacing.

Mina set her head on the counter and listened.

“But even if it is their point…they’ll almost certainly fail.”

A cat shadowed Grace’s steps, but she didn’t notice.

Mina pulled her Book of Shadows to her. With her head still down, she looked over the diagrams she’d drawn in her book last night. She felt as though she’d contaminated it. But, she’d decided it was a diary of her learning, and it wasn’t her fault that she’d had to learn about these things.

“Do you really think that someone who is related to you, who has known you and your sister your whole life, would do the spell you’re talking about? Those spells leave the victim dead, Mina. You’re saying someone in your family is trying to murder your sister.”

Mina swallowed.

“Horrifically.” Grace stated with precision.

Mina lifted her head, only to cover her face with her hands. She spoke through her fingers as she admitted the truth.

“I am.”

* * *

“If this were my sister…” Grace shut her lap top, slid it into its case, and loaded her briefcase with the papers. She took a long look at Mina, placing a hand on Mina’s cheek, shifting her face side to side.

“How long has it been since you slept?”

Mina shrugged.

Grace filled a tray with the fruit, food and a new pot of tea. And then she led the way into a dark hallway. It was dark, dank almost. But as they walked, a skylight formed. The walls and floor stretched out, adding new doorways. At one point, the hallway widened into a wide square room. Two sides of the room were tall windows showing very different views: one onto forest trees that did not surround Grace’s home; the other a view into the courtyard with miniature goats grazing near a willow tree. The other two sides of the room were arabian style arches that framed the continuation of the hallway on either side.

At the center of the room was a circle trapdoor in the floor. With only a word from Grace and a look of concentration, the door opened. It was wooden and the variations of color in the wood made a complex design. Grace stepped into the floor, and Mina followed, finding herself on wide, carved steps that brought her into what could only be called a book sanctuary.

The walls were lined with heavy, dark walnut book shelves. In the center of the room were more shelves, back to back. And amidst all these shelves were lush chairs, wide tables, and rolling chalkboards covered in strange symbols.

The highlight of the room, however, wasn’t the stair case or the plethora of books—it was the pentagram surrounded by a nearly complete circle. It was so fluidly part of the rest of the flooring it was as if the tree had grown the star for Grace.

And maybe it had.

Light shone directly down on the pentagram from a skylight that mirrored the circle with glass and metal forming a star surrounded by a circle. As if that wasn’t enough, the ceiling was painted with constellations.

All of it was magnificent, but it paled against the feel of power in the air. The feeling tickled her senses like the scent of fresh baked cookies, or the feel of a cool breeze on a hot day, the touch of a hand that could set her spine alight.

Mina shivered, spun slowly, savoring the sensation that called to the fire in her chest, and the force that surrounded her skin.

“Aren’t you working?” A snide voice jutted in, and Mina would have jumped if she weren’t so tired. She expected to see a giant of a man with that deep voice, but instead, found a small, slim person, perhaps three feet tall. His face was old, craggy, and narrow, and he shot them both a vile look.

“This is my library.” Grace did not glance up or acknowledge him any other way.

“You’re supposed to be at work.” He scowled darkly at them, walked over to Grace’s tray and with another foul look, pulled the tray to his level. There was a tone of irritation in each movement of his hands as he riffled through the books Grace had set aside.

“And, yet I’m not.” With a wink for Mina, Grace patted his head causing a low, mean growl.

“Mina, meet Jocelyn. My friend. He is of the Ndiri.”

Mina nodded at the man, his scowl stopping her from doing anything else.

They conferred as Grace told him what she was researching.

“You need a locastis.”

Grace cocked her head to the side, nodded and walked towards a series of corner shelves.

“She told me about you,” the angry deep voice said.

Mina wasn’t sure what to say to that.

Jocelyn dropped the book he was holding with a thunk and stomped towards her.

“Not sleeping?” His voice was rocks rubbing against each other.

She shook her head, rubbing her face as if she could wipe away the tired.

“It’s about time you put the pieces together to figure out what you are.”

“Um,” Mina said.

He shook his head at Mina, and she wanted to say something, but the buzz was back in her mind, and her eyes burned, and she just wanted to curl up in her bed, but her mom was almost certainly home, and this little man with his angry large man’s voice was mean.

Grace lifted Mina’s chin with a forefinger and stared into her face. Jocelyn was gone, and Mina hadn’t even seen him go.

“When did you last eat?” Grace asked.

“Last night.” Mina yawned.

“When did you last sleep?” Grace demanded a crease on her brow.

“Um,” Mina tried to figure it out, but found herself staring at the walls instead.

“When,” Grace emphasized, “did you last sleep?”

“Sunday, I think.”

“And on Sunday, how long did you stay up playing with your magic and reading?”

“A while.” The yawn surprised Mina, making her lungs hurt and her back stretch.

Grace took Mina’s arm led her to the table where the food tray was and said, “Eat. Then sleep.”

“But.” Mina protested.

“Eat. Sleep.” Grace said softly.

When Mina started to object again, Grace provided no comfort as she said, “Mina…you can’t help. You don’t know enough. If I can use you, I’ll wake you.”

Mina wanted to pace with Grace, make notes, hand her books. Mina wanted to find the answer before Grace, as if in doing so, it would be Mina who saved her sister. But she also couldn’t afford to slow Grace down.

So, Mina dropped into the chair Grace pointed out, shoveled in some food, and curled onto a couch minutes later. Anything to keep Grace from being distracted with mothering Mina.

She sipped the tea, watching Grace pace her shelves. The tray with the stacks of books bobbed after her. She would read a few pages, send some books back to their homes and leave others open. The open books flew after Grace while the ones she had yet to examine sat quietly on the tray. Each time Grace sent one to hovering about her or back to the shelves, she said a word or nodded her head, and then the book either retuned to the shelf or followed her around.

“If you are right,” Grace said, still walking back and forth, “you need to be taking care of yourself, so you can help Sarah. You can’t help Sarah if you can’t even think.”

Mina rolled her eyes. Maybe Grace couldn’t see what it was like for Mina to know that her sister, maybe all of her siblings were at risk.

Except Grace caught the movement of Mina’s eyes. The return stare silently scolded Mina. Finally, Grace said, “Try to pull fire onto your fingers now.”

Mina frowned and yawned, but Grace prodded Mina until she pulled out her lighter. Another yawn caught Mina as she played with the switch on the lighter.

“Just do it,” Grace said calmly when Mina continued to fidget.

Mina pushed the button and searched for her magic. It was a desert in her heart. The magic was there because the library called to it, but Mina couldn’t find it not for all the searching she had in her.

“See,” Grace said, not unkindly.

Mina covered her eyes.

“I’m just to trying help you understand. Taking care of yourself keeps your well of magic full. That’s important all the time, but especially important during times of stress. Anxiety and fear will drain you faster than actually using your magic.” Grace caressed Mina’s hair for a few moments before rising and continuing her pacing followed by those bobbing, floating books and the tray with even more.

Mina curled onto her side and watched her friend, eventually Grace cleaned a chalkboard and began covering it with symbols that could have belonged in a crazy math calculation.

Jocelyn appeared from behind several shelves to watch Grace. Shooting Mina a dark look, he shot questions at Grace until the rumble of their voices pulled Mina into the depths of sleep.

* * *

Mina woke with a gasp. She wasn’t sure how long had passed, but she didn’t feel any more rested. She closed her eyes and was unable to find her magic. Grace was still pacing between her chalkboard and laptop. The chalkboard calculation was long and detailed now, and Mina still didn’t understand anything she saw.

She rose, wandering the shelves and yawning deep painful yawns. Her fingers trailed the spines of the books; occasionally, she pulled out a book and flipped through it. She found a whole section of the library about sprites, but she’d been dreaming dark dreams and wasn’t able to shake them well enough to focus on the books.

She found a section on different havens, a collection of histories, legends that covered the witches, the fae, the Ndiri and the sprites. She found collections of children stories.

A whole wall, fourteen feet high and at least twenty feet long was filled with books that had no titles on the spines. Mina idly picked one up here and another there. Many were in other languages. All were hand-written, and the inside cover of each one had an image burned into the first couple of pages. Just as Mina’s had. They were Books of Shadows. Since Mina couldn’t imagine giving hers up while alive, it was as if she’d found a bookshelf of ghosts.

A man with an afro and a sly grin—dead. A woman with tilted almond eyes and a serene aura—gone. A man with a wide nose, thick shoulders, and a fierce grin. Looking at his face made Mina sad, his grin was so like her father’s. He was so like her father really, but he was dead, and her father was alive.

Grace directed Mina to a distant portion of the shelf that contained the Books of Shadows that belonged to other Sevenths. Mina flipped through until she found one in English and made her way to commune with those who’d gone before.