Wicked (The Drake Chronicles Book 1) (11 page)

Ethan, be careful and hurry back to the house. I know you have used a lot dark magic and you can’t do that again. Don’t let Adam influence you, you can’t leave me alone to deal with all of this. I need you. Find Oleandra and get back to Logan’s house before something else happens.

I love you.

Emma

              Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan saw that Adam was reading it too and he turned his arm over. He didn’t deserve to see that. After everything he has done for me, Ethan said to himself and pulled the sleeve of his sweater down over the message from his sister.

He loved Emma, that would never change, but she didn’t know Adam. He would find Oleandra, get back home, and keep Adam around for as long as he wanted him. He hated being told what to do, especially by his sister.

Adam’s father stood up and cleared his throat, getting Ethan’s attention.

              “We need to talk, Ethan. But we’ll do that after you eat. I made some strawberry oatmeal; it’s on the table cooling off. I’ll see you both at the table in five minutes.” Adam’s father walked away from the bed and went to the door.

              “Don’t you want to know what it says?” Ethan asked.

              “It’s none of my business. But if you decide to tell me, I will listen.” He left the room in a hurry, leaving the two boys alone. Adam turned, silently, and got off of the bed. Ethan saw the look on his face, a depressing look.

              “I’m sorry you saw that,” Ethan said.

              “She doesn’t even know me, but she’s already made her choice because of Logan. He’s probably already filled her head with nonsense and how much he despises me. But listen to this, Ethan:
I will keep you safe
; I will help you no matter what. You may not know me well, but you can trust me.” There was pain in Adam’s eyes and Ethan wanted so badly to ease it.

              “I believe you. And I trust you, Adam. I’m not very easy on trusting people, in fact, for a long time I didn’t even trust Mason. So don’t think for one second that I am going to listen to my dumb ass sister. I do what I want.” Ethan rushed off of the bed and walked up to Adam.

He stared up into his eyes for a long moment and then, without warning he leaned upward and kissed Adam on his cheek. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me so far.” Adam’s expression changed and Ethan could tell that he wanted to smile.

              Ethan was watching Adam and his father bicker over how they should travel in order not be seen when they headed to Oleandra’s. It was true that she did live in the woods, but she and her house were hidden and there was only two ways of uncloaking a witch’s whereabouts.

After everything they had discussed, Adam argued that his friend, Sage, would be able to help them. But his father was set on them using a goblin’s sight to find the house. Ethan listened to them and agreed that a goblin’s sight would help. Ethan recalled that goblins could see past cloaking.

“We are done here for now. I need to speak to Ethan alone.” Preston grew suddenly stern and without looking at Ethan, Adam got up out of his chair and left the dining area.

Ethan looked down into his empty bowl and wished for more oatmeal. For some reason, he was still hungry and Adam’s father knew how to cook extremely well. Mason could never get the hang of cooking. They always ordered delivery.

Preston cleared his throat loudly, startling Ethan. He looked into the man’s eyes and saw them change colors. A light green fog appeared from behind Preston and formed around them like a bubble, enclosing the two at the table.

              “What is that?” Ethan asked, a little nervous.

              “I don’t want Adam to hear what I’m about to say. I’m shielding us,” Preston said as he placed both of his hands on the table and folded them.

              “What’s wrong?” Ethan corrected his posture and felt his throat going dry. What was so important Adam couldn’t be present or at least hear?

              “I got a phone call from Logan. He asked me to help you in balancing your magic. But I am not going to do that. It’s not my place to force you stop using dark magic, because I am a dark warlock. There is a big misconception about dark bloods. We are not all entirely evil, we can still love, hurt, and die. And I feel that it’s not my place to prevent your dark magic from evolving.”

“I am a part of the dark society, which is a league of dark witches and warlocks who devote much of their time and power to help prevent problems with our kind and strip powers from unworthy witches. Before that, we were awful people. We belonged to your father. I was around when your father lost his marbles. But let me tell you this. No matter what anyone says about your father, he loved you and your sister more than anything. My Goodness, he loved you.” Preston hung his head low for a moment and Ethan could see that he was crying.

He didn’t know how to feel about his father. Many people despised him and wanted nothing to do with him. He was pretty much the ultimate villain and Ethan wondered how someone would carry that on their shoulders, being the spawn of something so dark and despised.

              “Do you miss him?” Ethan asked. Preston looked up, his eyes teary and red.

              “Every day,” Preston smiled at him. “He was like a brother to me.” Ethan could see that even though his father was ruthless, black hearted, and a murderer, some still cared for him.

“What did he look like?” Ethan began twisting his fingers. He did this when he grew nervous or wanted to cry. Emotions rocked within him, tearing at his heart like a jagged razor blade. Why was he getting so emotional? He never got like this in front of anyone, not even Emma.

              “You look
just
like him, son.”

“I don’t remember what he looks like. Why don’t I remember, Mr. Corwin?” Ethan fell to pieces within seconds. “I don’t even remember if I loved him or not!” He cried into his hands, his throat tightening up.

Preston made his way around the table and took Ethan into his arms. Ethan leaned his head into the man’s chest and cried even harder. He didn’t care if he looked weak in front of Adam’s father. Now wasn’t the time to act tough.

“I wish I had a photo to show you. But it all was taken from me when the council found out that your father died. They wanted no trace of him left in Elsmere. But my guess as to why you can’t remember is because Mason more than likely took the memories of him from you and Emma. But Ethan, you loved him. I can tell you still care somehow, because you would not be crying if you didn’t.”

“All I have left is my sister. I can’t lose anyone else,” Ethan said as he cleaned his face of the tears with the sleeve of his sweater.

“I was around when you were younger. Of course you don’t remember me, but you have me and my son. And we are not about to let anything happen to you. For so long, we thought you were dead. I was literally floored when I heard you were still alive. And if you ever just need some closure, the cemetery is only a few minutes from my house and your parents are buried there. It will always be there if you need it.”

“Thank you, for everything.” Ethan leaned into his chest once again before deflating back into his chair.

“But enough with the waterworks, let’s get on to other things,” Preston said as he walked over to the kitchen window, breaking through the green veil, causing it to vanish into thin air. He pulled the dark curtains aside and stared into the night. “Just our luck, there is a fog front. It looks like you’ll be leaving in the morning. There is no way you’ll find Oleandra in this mess.”

“That’s why I called Sage. She should be here in a few minutes.” Adam entered the kitchen, smiling. His father whirled around, his eyebrows contorted in anger.

“The next time you disobey me, I’ll strip you of your powers for an entire month.” Preston glared at his son. Adam’s smile collapsed and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, clearly nervous. “Excuse me for the night, boys. I will see you in the morning.” Preston smiled at Ethan but ignored his son as he marched down the hallway, disappearing into the darkness.

Ethan arose from the table and headed for a lone couch in the living room. He could tell that Adam was staring at him and he wondered if he noticed his puffy, red eyes.

Adam took the chair in front of the couch and waved a hand over the fireplace. Fire roared to life and lit both of their faces in a mustard colored glow.

Ethan had been limited to using only a small amount of magic in the house. If Mason caught either of them using their power for sheer laziness, he’d reverse the spell and make them do it as a mortal would. Seeing magic utilized gave Ethan great pleasure. But he missed Mason. He hoped that he was okay, wherever he was.

Adam turned to Ethan, catching his eyes and staring directly into them.

“You’ve been crying. He told you about my mother?” Adam said.

“He told me more about my father. But what happened to your mother?” Ethan swayed the subject, he wasn’t sure he should be talking about what he and Preston had spoken about.

And now, he was interested to know what happened to Mrs. Corwin. Why wasn’t she present? Had something horrible happened to her too? Adam looked as if he were probably told not to talk about his mother, but he looked at Ethan and something in him caved.

“She died while giving birth to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said. Ethan knew the feeling of losing a mother. Maybe, Ethan thought that was one of the things that were bringing them closer to each other. They both had lost something that damaged them incredibly and they saw that in each other.

The fire sparked insanely, popping and making a high pitched whistling sound as the fire began changing its color. Magenta colored flames were now licking at the edges of the fireplace. Ethan scrambled up from the couch, nearly tripping over the wooden tea table that separated him and Adam.

The room went dark for a moment, silence reigning. After a long moment of stillness, the flames reignited and a dark figure appeared in front of the fireplace.

The flames morphed back to their original state as the room grew instantly brighter and a tall girl turned to face Ethan and Adam. She had pixie cut dark hair and she was just as tall as Emma.

“My God, it is really you.” The girl advanced toward Ethan, her voice light and gentle, almost hypnotic. She had dark brown skin and her eyes looked almost gold in the firelight.

Her thinly plucked eyebrows were clustered in the middle of her large forehead, making her look a little nervous, and her upturned nose and sucked in cheeks gave her more of a
posh
look.

“It’s him,” Adam said as he walked over to the two. Ethan had never seen the girl before, but he presumed it was Sage, Adam’s friend.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t believe this. I’m Sage Holland,” the girl grabbed Ethan’s hand and shook it vigorously. “Everyone thought you and your sister were dead.”

“So I’ve been told,” Ethan smiled.

“It is nice seeing that you are alive,” Sage beamed and turned to Adam. “Are we leaving now? I don’t want your dad to see me. I don’t like to be around when he’s pissed.” She laughed softly and snatched a shard of peanut brittle from the purple dish on the tea table.

Sage quickly crunched it down, swallowing hard as she smiled at Ethan again. Ethan figured she must have been severely nervous from the way she was eating.

“My father wants us to wait until morning. If it were up to me, we’d leave now, screw the fog. But I know he’s set some sort of alarm charm and if we try to leave now, it will go off and I’ll be screwed. So, let’s just stay in the living room and wait it all out.” Adam slammed himself back into the chair, sighing in defeat. Sage collapsed to the ground, her legs fixed Indian style as she devoured more peanut brittle.

The three had conversed about their powers, their families, and their own lives as the late night set in, cool wind rushing in from beneath the wooden door and rustling through the window curtains.