Our feet hit the floor of a dark, abandoned building. I stepped back and looked around; my eyes took in the destruction that we stood in and I instantly recognized the half-burnt down building as the brownstone, where Gabriel and I had lived earlier in the year before it was destroyed by a Death Eater. I looked at Carrigan and smiled; the fact that she could Apparate and Disapparate was something I would worry about later. She looked at me with happiness and stepped forward to hug me. I grabbed her by the shoulder with my good arm to look her straight in the eye.
"What is your middle name?"
"Arista," Carrigan replied as she beamed at me.
"Why did I marry your godfather?"
"Because you thought he was going to die," she replied.
I nodded as my lips spread into a wide smile. It was her. It was really Carrigan. She was safe and standing in front of me. "Now you have to ask me."
Carrigan rolled her eyes. "Actually, I don't. I can read your mind right now and I know it's you. I can hear all of your thoughts and your deepest worries. Why are you afraid that Haiden is tricking Ben?"
"Don't worry about that, humor me and ask me a question!"
"What did I ask for Christmas from father, that we agreed would be my fifteenth birthday gift?" she asked slowly.
"A tattoo of a snake's head stabbed by a spear," I replied. I smiled and pulled Carrigan against my body for a one armed embrace as tears welled up in my eyes. "I am so sorry, Carrigan," I whispered as I cried. "I'm sorry it took me so long to find you."
"I knew you would eventually," she responded. "Forgive me, I was just tired of waiting."
"I don't blame you," I said. "I'll never forgive myself for letting you out of my sight."
"It's okay, Mom," she whispered. "I'm back…"
I stepped back to look at her more closely. She was taller then she had been the last time I saw her, or maybe she just appeared taller because it had been so long since I had seen her. I could feel how muscular and lean she was when I held her. Her eyes looked bright, not broken, despite the terrifying experience she had just survived. Her shaved head actually looked good, but it didn't suit her; it made her look like she was recovering from a terrible ordeal, which she would be now, but Carrigan's eyes didn't look like she was recovering.
"How are you?" I whispered as I stroked her bald head. I rubbed her shoulder and smiled at her.
Carrigan frowned, but said, "I'm better now."
Her answer was unsettling, but I accepted it and pulled her into my arm again. I cringed as her weight pressed against my injured shoulder. She pulled back and looked at it. "We need to get you back to Gabriel, he'll be able to set it for you. Where are you two living now?"
"Gabriel built a house for us," I whispered. "We should go there. Someone might be able to find us here in the open. Then, we'll discuss everything that just happened."
"Alright," Carrigan nodded. "Does Gabriel know you went to Voldemort like that?"
"How'd you know I went there?"
"I told you, I can read your thoughts. I know you went there impulsively without a plan…which Gabriel is going to be pretty upset about."
"And how is it that you knew I was there, about to be killed?" I questioned as I ignored her comment about Gabriel being upset. Of course, he was going to be upset with me. When wasn't he?
Carrigan sighed as she looked at me. "I will explain when we get to the house."
I nodded. "Come on, I'll Apparate."
Carrigan smiled as she stepped closer to me and laid her head on my good shoulder. "Let's go home," she whispered. I smiled and kissed her forehead before Disapparating out of the destroyed remains of the brownstone.
I Apparated us straight into the foyer of the farmhouse. Carrigan stepped back and looked around with surprise.
"Gabriel built this?"
"Yes," I replied softly as I tried to remove my cloak. "He's very good with his hands."
Before Carrigan could make a cheeky retort, the sound of footsteps thundering down the staircase drew our attention. Gabriel appeared at the base of the stairs, his wand drawn, pointing it directly at me and Carrigan, who stood behind me, shielded from view. He was still dressed in his suit. He must have arrived home a few minutes ago and was worried that I wasn't home.
"Where the bloody hell have you been!?" Gabriel shouted at me.
"Gabe!" Carrigan cried excitedly as she stepped out from behind me with her arms open for an embrace. Gabriel looked at her in surprised shock and disbelief. He smiled and stepped down the last stair into the foyer, his wand still pointed at me.
"The tattoo on my chest," he said to me. "What does it mean?"
"It says 'rhythm,' I said smoothly. "It's the meaning of my name, 'Cadence.' I think it means you love me or something."
"And you," he pointed his wand at Carrigan, despite smiling at her. "What did I teach you when you lived in Maine?"
"Lots of things," Carrigan shrugged. "But most notably, how to use the banister to jump and walk across the wall at the bottom of the stairs."
Gabriel dropped his wand and instantly grabbed Carrigan, pulling her into a tight embrace. He pulled back just far enough to kiss her forehead. After holding her for a few seconds, he opened his arms and pulled me into the hug as well. "Thank Merlin, you're both safe."
I smiled despite the pain of my shoulder being pinched against Carrigan and Gabriel's bodies. "Gabriel," I sighed pulling away. Carrigan stepped back.
"Oh! Her shoulder! It's dislocated," Carrigan said ushering me down the hall into the kitchen. I took a seat at the table as Carrigan moved out the way and waited for Gabriel to look at my shoulder. He helped me out of my cloak and touched my shoulder gently. I squirmed with discomfort each time he pinched me.
"I just have to set it," he whispered. "Ready?"
I bit my lip. "Yes," I nodded. Gabriel placed one hand on my collarbone and the other on my upper arm.
"What were you doing that you dislocated your arm?" he asked.
"Really? You want to discuss this now? Don't you think it should wait until after you've set—AHHH!"
Gabriel had forced the shoulder back into the socket mid-sentence, causing me to scream in agony. He released my arm gentle, cradling it against my stomach. I punched him in the shoulder in anger, which made him laugh.
"What were you doing?"
"I jumped out of a window at Lestrange's house trying to escape some Death Eaters," I hissed like an injured snake. "Voldemort caught up to me and Carrigan saved my ass."
"As usual," Carrigan said matter-of-factly from across the table. Gabriel gave her a smile before turning his attention back to me.
"What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking, thank you," I snapped back. "I was acting on instinct. Going straight to my father is the only thing we haven't done to get Carrigan back. It seemed like a pretty good idea."
"A pretty good idea?" Gabriel repeated in anger. "You're a bloody idiot! You're still running around this country destroying everything in your path—"
"She's home now, isn't she! I think destroying everything in my path worked out pretty well!"
"Stop yelling," Carrigan sighed from across the table. "Is this all you two do now? Fight?"
"Yes," Gabriel said quickly. He looked back at me with a charming, half-cocked smile. "But it's what we've always done, Carrigan. There is no need to worry."
He pinched my cheek affectionately, which I slapped away. I stuck out my tongue at him. He rolled his eyes at me before looking to Carrigan.
"Are you hungry?"
"No," she said simply. She began to take off her cloak, which had been a gift from Sirius last Christmas. She was wearing a black long sleeve thermal and black skinny jeans that tucked into her boots. She looked thin, but not fragile.
"You look sinister," Gabriel commented as she hung her cloak on the back of a kitchen table.
"You don't know the half of it," she said as she took her seat. There was no joking tone to her statement, which made my stomach clench with uneasiness.
"Do you want to tell us what happened?"
Carrigan nodded her head slowly. "I do," she looked at me and reached across the table, taking my hand and squeezing it tight. "First, how many people know I was taken?"
I frowned. "Everyone. Your kidnapping was published in the paper, despite us trying to stop it."
"The series of kidnappings you were caught up in is a high profile and active case, Carri," Gabriel said as he took a seat at the table with us. "There wasn't much we could do to stop it from hitting the papers."
Carrigan nodded very slowly and closed her eyes. "The other eleven girls are dead," she whispered. "They were killed before I was moved to Paris."
My stomach rolled with discomfort and I frowned deeply. Gabriel glanced at me with sullen eyes. He would have to notify the families of the girls. "I'll let them know in the morning. It doesn't hurt to give them the rest of the night to hope."
I nodded and looked back to Carrigan. "How did you escape?"
"They thought I was weak, they only had two Death Eaters escorting me to Paris. I killed them and made a run for it," she shrugged and made the statement so blankly that it was chilling. "I hid in the subway tunnels in Paris for a few days, because I was weak. Once I felt strong enough I Apparated to the brownstone…it was the only place I could think of to go. I wanted to find you and Gabriel before anyone else."
"How did you find me?" I asked carefully.
"Hold on," Gabriel said quickly. "How come you can Apparate?"
"They taught me," Carrigan said slowly and sadly. She released my hand and rubbed her arms to comfort herself while looking Gabriel straight in the eye. "They taught me so much….Gabriel, I could probably take the Auror's Entrance Exam and get a job at the Ministry. My training is complete. I no longer need a Guardian…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down at the table.
"Your training is complete?" Gabriel shook his head. "I don't understand, how is that possible when Benjamin is your Guardian?"
Carrigan blinked at Gabriel for a moment, then sat back in her chair and looked around the room. She lifted her left hand off the surface of the table, palm to the ceiling, slowly. Gabriel and I watched in awe as she made every loose object in the kitchen float up into the air. Dirty and wet dishes hovered over the sink. A bowl of a fruit, the cookie jar and it's contents, cooking utensils and pieces of parchment and quills floated uselessly over the counter tops. The chairs we weren't sitting in around the table lifted up off the floor.
Carrigan lowered her hand back down onto the table, but the objects didn't move. They continued to float in the air as if gravity no longer existed in the kitchen.
"How did you find me?" I repeated my question as a piece of parchment floated by my face. I swatted at it, trying to move it away from me.
"When I got to the brownstone, I concentrated on you, tried to find you with my mind. I heard you cry out my name. I just Apparated to you."
"Impressive," Gabriel said as he looked around the room. "You've gained completely control of your mental abilities? And your telekinesis? Who taught you to handle your magic? Who taught you to Apparate?"
"His name was Dorian Levette," she said slowly. I could see that she was holding something back, which caused me to frown. "He taught me everything…my telekinesis is fine. I could be stronger at it, but I have complete control of it now."
"I've never heard of him," Gabriel said with a shake of his head. "Are you sure that was his real name?"
Carrigan shrugged as she diverted her attention to the chairs that were floating against the ceiling over our heads. "I suppose it could have been an alias. I think he was a relative of Bellatrix Lestrange…which I suppose makes him my distant relative too. But, he was the one who trained me. He wasn't powerful like me at all. He just taught me how to manage my body, my mind and my emotions." She looked away from the chairs on the ceiling and straight at Gabriel, then blinked and everything that had been floating in the kitchen came clamoring down to the floor. She snapped her fingers, instantly causing all of the debris and loose objects to go back to their original place as if they hadn't been disturbed at all. "He was the one who encouraged me that I was strong enough to escape. He told me when and where would be the best time to do it…he helped me…"
"Carrigan," I whispered softly. She looked at me with relatively calm eyes, waiting for me to speak. "He died in the fire I started at the Lestrange's house just before you saved me."
Carrigan frowned deeply as she sat back in her chair, but said nothing.
"Why were you the only one being moved to France?" Gabriel asked, forcing the conversation back on track. Carrigan blinked and looked up at him with a distant stare. She looked more pained then before, if that was possible. The news of Levette's death seemed to bother her a great deal, though she did not vocalize those feelings.
"When I asked Levette that, he said because I was the only one who had a purpose anymore. The other girls had served their purpose."
"And what was that?" I ask slowly. Carrigan looked at me with piercing eyes, so sharp that my heart skipped a beat.
"Twelve strong witches from pure blood families in ascending age," she recited carefully. "May the strongest over take the others' blood, she will be found by the twelfth's blood for it does not lie. Immortality waits the strongest if she survives."
The room fell silent for a moment. "What does that mean?" I whispered.
"I am the strongest," Carrigan shrugged.
"Are you immortal?"
"No," she whispered with a shake of her head as if the notion were absolutely ridiculous. "Immortality is a myth. It can not be created with magic, though we can come close. Unciarius Caedes Immortalis, or the Twelfth Immortal Blood, ceremony, is an ancient dark magic ritual believed to foster immortality. But it doesn't really, I promise I can die just as quickly now as I could before."
"How does the ritual work?" Gabriel asked carefully.
"Calliope, the Twelfth as they called her because she was the oldest and last one taken, was killed instantly after she arrived. Her blood is used to weed out the strongest of the rest of us. It wasn't fair at all…she didn't have a chance…" Carrigan's voice faded as her eyes grew dark. "They put her blood into our systems. They used IVs. Seven of the girls died from the transfusion within days. It was horrific to watch. It took days for their insides to eat away at them. The blood spread through their entire body and made them boil from the insides out. The entire time I was sitting there waiting for it to happen to me, but it never did. Three other girls and I remained a week after the transfusion; Bernie, she was the youngest and only ten. Holly had just turned thirteen before she was kidnapped. I recognized her from Hogwarts. She was about to be a third year. And Rebecca, she was twenty."
Carrigan grew silent suddenly and looked down at the table.
"What happened to the other girls?"
"We started training with Levette," she continued once I had asked the question. "Bernie had the hardest time, not because she was the youngest, but she was physically weak. She died a week later from the blood transfusion. It had just taken more time with her. Rebecca died trying to escape. She had grown close to Bernie, seeing her die drove her over the edge. A Death Eater used the killing curse on her when she escaped, right in front of Holly and me. Voldemort had him killed that evening because we weren't supposed to be murdered like that. It was still possible that Rebecca was the strongest of us all…Levette continued to train Holly and I, then last week he said we were going to France after training one night. He sent us back to our room and said that they would let us shower to prepare for the trip there. They came and got Holly first, but she never came back. I didn't think much of it until after I had taken my shower and we were leaving. Holly wasn't there and Levette explained that she had served her purpose."
The room fell silent after Carrigan's chilling story. She ran her fingers along the edge of the table, keeping her mind at ease. She looked up abruptly. "The thing is, I wasn't stronger then her. They choose me at the end of it. I'm starting to think the ritual was all a bunch of bullshit. It was a test to make sure I could handle it and possibly, to make me so angry that I killed someone the way that Voldemort would want me to. He just wanted me to be on his side…"
"You don't know that," I whispered shaking my head, even though it was likely. "He could have been using you for part of the ritual to find a way for him to become immortal."
"But it didn't make me immortal," Carrigan shot back angrily. She put her arm on the table and pulled back the sleeve of her shirt. My heart plummeted when my eyes fell on the dark snake and skull tattoo that was inked on her small, fourteen year old, arm. I put my hand over my mouth and bit down on it. "They give me this. They gave me the Dark Mark. They thought they had succeeded in making me a Death Eater."
Gabriel and I said nothing; there was nothing that either of us could think to say to Carrigan. After the initial shock, my body started to course with red-hot rage. How dare Voldemort mark Carrigan with that disgusting symbol of his followers and believers? How dare he touch her and damage her purity?
"Kidnapping eleven girls had nothing to do with seeking immortality," Carrigan insisted in her angry tone. "It was all a means to prepare me to become a Death Eater. Just training me to kill wasn't enough. He had to make me mad enough to want to kill him. To use the killing curse…he had to break me by showing me how evil dark magic can be."
"How did you kill the two Death Eaters that were taking you to France?" Gabriel asked calmly.
"I didn't use the killing curse," Carrigan said immediately.
"But how?" I pushed with nervousness.
"I stabbed one in the chest and broke the other's neck," she replied coldly. "I didn't use magic. I did what you two and Benjamin taught me, not Levette or Voldemort."
"Good," Gabriel sighed. "Good, Carrigan. It's not an easy thing to do, making the choice to take another person's life. But if you did it that way then it will be easier to live with."
"Are you kidding?" Carrigan replied. "Those two were the one's who hooked up the IVs that killed eight of the girls I was kidnapped with. I was going to kill them whether I escaped or not. It was an easy choice."
Her voice was like ice; so cold and indifferent. The only emotion she felt was rage and a desperate desire for revenge. All of her feelings were justified, but I had never felt them. I could not imagine how she felt. As I watched her sitting across from me, my heart clenched and I held my breath. Carrigan was home, but it was just as I feared, she was not the same person. My pure hearted little girl who was eager to fight and scared of what lay ahead was gone. A dark, sinister creature that was sure to leave a trail of destruction in her path had replaced her.
