Chapter 42: The Illusionist's Secret

I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about the new information I had just processed. My whole life, I had been treated like a pawn and I never knew. I had been passed back and forth for large sums of money and I had indirectly been responsible for the death of a good man. More than anything, I wanted Grimwald to suffer for all of the lives he had ruined. Was money truly worth more than someone's life to these people?

"We need to end this, and we need to end it now." I sat Salem's letter down on the table and wiped my tears away. "I must tell Charlie."

"You'll have time for that later." Katya placed a strong hand on my shoulder as a sign of comfort. "I think you need to take a little bit of time for yourself."

"Why don't you go shower?" Zelda suggested. "I have something that I wish to talk to you about whenever you're finished."

I nodded and walked away from the table. I carried my trunk up the stairs to Katya's apartment and put all of my dirty clothes in the hamper to wash before the weekend was over. One of my favorite things to do when I left the academy on Fridays was to take a long, hot shower. Although my private bathroom was a bit better than the shared bathrooms in the dorms, it still wasn't ideal. I only had about seven minutes of hot water on a good day.

As I shampooed the smell of the academy out of my hair, I thought back to my life with Ailwyn and Lily. Although after Ailwyn's death I initially held a lot of anger because I felt that he didn't spend enough time with me, he had been a better parent that Lily by far. I wished that I had told him I loved him more. I wished I could have been there to save him.

I stood in the shower until the water ran ice cold. If I would have done this back at home, Grizelda would have yelled at me and called me wasteful. Katya, however, didn't care. I pulled back the curtain and pulled my towel off of the rack to dry myself off. I dragged a brush through my hair, wincing as it caught on a snarl from my hair being tied up in a bun for too long. Having long hair got exhausting sometimes and I found that I was tired of constantly battling with it. After I managed to blow dry it, I tied it off with my hair band and rummaged through the sink drawer for scissors. It may have been a lapse of judgement, but I hacked off my hair to my shoulders and hoped that it was even enough.

If I fucked it up, it would grow back fast enough but I was confident that I had cut it straight enough. I often cut my own bangs and this wasn't that much different. I tossed my unwanted hair in the garbage can, ran a brush through it and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

I was a new person and I wanted everyone to see that. I wanted Manfred to see that he wasn't going to get to fuck with me anymore, I wanted Grimwald to see that I wasn't going to sit back and let him ruin our lives, I wanted Titania to know that I was going to rip her fucking heart through her chest for interfering with my life. With my hands in my sweatshirt pockets, I descended the stairs and took my seat back at Katya's table. Zelda stared at my hair but didn't make any comments about it. "I talked to my parents while you were away." She said slowly, bringing a hand forward and gently running it through my hair to make sure it was all straight. "My dad said he didn't like the feeling he was getting here and that Aunt Natalia was acting strange, so he decided to use all of his vacation days that he saved up and took my mother to Italy. If he's safe and far away, then I don't need to hide. I want to go with you when you speak with Charlie tonight. You shouldn't leave here by yourself anymore."

"If you're sure." I drummed my fingers off of the table. Since I had time to kill before dinner with Charlie, I had Zelda help me study. I couldn't believe how behind I was. Usually I didn't have trouble keeping up, but school was the furthest thing on my mind. When dinner time hit, I couldn't wait to get away from the table and Zelda's rather aggressive tutoring style.

We pulled on our coats and our boots and decided to walk to number nine. While Katya was uneasy about us walking, she knew that if we were together, we would be safe. The cold wind hit our faces as we trudged up the street and snowflakes gently fell from the gray sky. I wished the weather would make up its mind, but I doubted that we would get lucky enough to see some consistent sun before May.

The closer we got to number 9, the more uneasy I began to feel. "Hey, are you okay? You look kind of pale." Zelda asked me as we walked up the stairs.

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right." I loudly knocked on the door but no one answered. Uncle Paton's camper van was long gone and I couldn't even hear Maisie bustling around in the kitchen. I got more and more anxious as I waited, so I tried the doorknob. To my surprise, the door opened. I poked my head in the living room, but no Charlie. I quickly ran up the stairs to check the bedroom, but he wasn't there either.

"Hey, Fin. You should come down here." I heard Zelda say. "Grizelda left a note."

I quickly descended the stairs and looked over Zelda's shoulder at the paper. Charlie was at Darkly Wynd with the Yewbeam Aunts and Grandma Bone. Nothing good could come from that. "Shit, we need to go now." I said as I quickly scribbled another note underneath just in case Maisie came home, saw it, and panicked. As Zelda and I quickly ran from the house, we almost knocked someone down who was trying to come in.

Olivia Vertigo with her now platinum blonde hair gave us both a strange look. "Zelda? Aren't you supposed to be in college?"

"Plans changed." Zelda shrugged. "We don't really have time to talk, though."

"No, this is good. We can bring Olivia with us." I glanced over at Zelda. "She's one of us."

"What?" Zelda was genuinely shocked. "Since when?"

"The beginning of the school year." Olivia shrugged. "Where do you want to bring me to?"

"I came to see Charlie and I found a note from Grandma Bone saying that they took him to Darkly Wynd." I quickly explained. "But we need to hurry. They might really hurt Charlie."

My stamina had greatly improved from my sword training so I had no problem running nearly the entire way to Darkly Wynd. Zelda and Olivia however, had a harder time keeping up. This made things kind of difficult since both of them seemed to know where they were going but I did not. When we finally got there, we were all breathing rather heavily but we didn't have much time to catch our breath. We stood in front of three identical houses that I assumed belonged to each of the aunts. Only one of them seemed to have the lights on, so I assumed that was the one they were holed up in. The three of us quietly snuck up to the door and I was able to lean over the porch railings to peek into the living room. What I saw made my blood boil. Charlie was sitting in a chair with Manfred Bloor sitting directly across from him, both of them seemingly in a trance. Grandma Bone had her fingers dug into Charlie's back while Aunt Lucretia and Aunt Venetia stood behind Manfred. And Aunt Eustacia stood between them, her head hung low as if she was concentrating on something.

"Fuck!" I murmured and looked back at Zelda and Olivia. "Manfred is with them. He's hypnotizing Charlie. They must be trying to figure out where my parents are."

"Then we need to break Manfred's concentration." Zelda knelt down in front of the front door and lifted the mail slot to look through it. Olivia and I both craned our necks to look through the window again. Grandma Bone, Aunt Venetia and Aunt Lucretia jumped as all of the paintings in the house flew off the wall. This, however, wasn't enough to get Manfred's attention. Zelda's next trick was to knock over a china cabinet filled with priceless plates. The loud shattering of the glass on the cabinet and the plates caused both Manfred and Charlie to jump. Manfred's eyes locked directly into mine and Olivia and I both quickly jumped back. My back hit something solid and hard that hadn't been there moments before. I brought my hand back to feel for it. It was a giant statue of stone. I had forgotten about Eric. He had to be close by, commanding his stone army.

Charlie used Zelda's welcome distraction to run out the door, but we were surrounded by several stone gargoyles that had come flying from their pedestals from outside the three houses. I quickly summoned my sword and swung at one that was coming directly at me as I leaped off of the porch. I sword cut through it like butter and it fell from the sky. I managed to take out a few more before they could do any more damage.

But there were too many. Eric was summoning them faster than I could fight them off. "We have to run." Zelda yelled over the grinding of stone. Charlie was already almost half way down the street. Eric, the aunts, Grandma and Manfred all stood in the doorway as I grabbed Zelda's arm, pulling her closer to me. "Olivia, let's go!" I yelled.

But she couldn't move. A gargoyle had wrapped itself around her arm and was tugging her. She let out a shriek that stopped Charlie in his tracks. I couldn't use a sword to get her free without running the risk of cutting her, so I uselessly tried to pull at the stone creature while Venetia let out a loud cackle, with grandma and the aunts following in suit. Manfred stood with a solemn expression, his eyes locked with Zelda's.

Olivia glared up at the four women and before I could stop her, she began to conjure up an illusion. "Olivia, Stop!" Charlie yelled out to her, but it was useless. Before us, a very realistic six foot tall skeleton began to materialize. It raised a sharp, bloodstained sabre in its bony hand and rushed at Eric and the Yewbeams. With Eric's concentration broken, the gargoyle let Olivia go. They retreated back into the house, but Olivia had given herself up. We needed to get away quickly. Olivia rubbed her bruised wrist as we walked. Zelda and Charlie walked ahead of us. I heard him questioning why she had returned.

"Can I see your arm?" I asked Olivia.

She held her arm out for me to examine and I gently wrapped my fingers around her wrist. Under my fingers, the bruise began to disappear along with the pain. "Wow, you're really just like Alice."

"Alice?" I asked.

"My godmother. She's a white witch too." Olivia said simply.

"There's another White Witch and no one bothered to tell me?" I frowned. "It would have been nice to figure out how to do all of this sooner."

"We did tell Alice about you, and she said you weren't ready to learn yet." Charlie butted in. "But we have a bigger problem right now. Liv, I can't believe you gave yourself away."

"She had no choice." Zelda spoke up. "Infinity is the only one who can do anything to those things and there were just too many. If it weren't for Olivia, we would have been screwed."

"Ugh." Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. "You're right. Thank you, Liv."

"You're welcome, you ungrateful brat." Olivia stuck her tongue out at him. "But what about you, Charlie? What did they do to you in there?"

"Manfred hypnotized me and Aunt Eustacia…" He looked uncomfortable as he recalled what had just happened. "She's getting stronger…She's becoming like Salem, I think. Manfred weakened my will with hypnotism and Aunt Eustacia was able to see what I was thinking."

"What kind of questions did they ask you?" Zelda asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't know what I told them." Charlie tried hard to think, but I could tell that Manfred's hypnotism had taken a lot out of him. During the rest of the walk, I could see Charlie trying hard to recall what had happened, but I wasn't sure if he had any luck or not.

When we returned to Filbert Street, all of the street lights had already come on and the sky was dark. I was relieved when Uncle Paton's camper van was in the driveway. I started to run towards the house and Charlie let out a panicked "Stop!"

Quite frankly, I didn't care enough to listen. I needed to talk to Uncle Paton about Salem's letter. When I threw open the door, it took me a few minutes to register what I saw. Maisie was standing in the foyer with the note that Grandma Bone had written (with my additions), Uncle Paton was in the middle of setting down his suitcases, and a familiar face was shoving a biscuit into his mouth.

I stared into a set of panicked stormy blue eyes as they scanned me from top to bottom. I took in his now shoulder length hair and his scratchy, ungroomed facial hair. "Wow…Your hair got a lot shorter." Salem finally spoke after he swallowed the last of his biscuit.

"You have been missing for almost a month and all you have to say to me is that my hair got short?" It took all that I had to keep from screaming. He and Uncle Paton both looked haggard and tired. It finally hit me that Salem had been with Uncle Paton all along, and that Maisie and Charlie had both known. "Someone better tell me what is going on before I freak the hell out."

"We can get to that later," Salem simply brushed me off. "I want to know why you all came from Darkly Wynd. And why Charlie looks like he stuck his head in a fire pit."

"What?" I glanced back at Charlie and for the first time, I noticed that his hair looked kind of singed.

"Everyone. Dining room. Now." Uncle Paton rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. We all filed into the Dining room where Maisie had already prepared a candle lit dinner of salmon and chips. I was grateful that she always made large portions, as there was enough for all. "Charlie, you first."

"The Onimouses were evicted from the Café today." Charlie began. "We got off the bus at Frog Street and these suspicious looking movers were taking all of their stuff. They have to go stay with Gabe and his family because the city council says that the café isn't safe, but there's nothing wrong with it. Well, Mr. Onimous gave me the key that leads to the castle tunnel and I thought that the will might be in there. When I went to look, I was followed by an arsonist named Amos Byrne. He lit the end of the tunnel on fire so I couldn't escape and I really thought I would be done for, but the Flames helped me get away. At least until that swordsman found me. I barely escaped." He then went on to talk about our adventure in Darkly Wynd.

Maisie winced and shook her head. "You shouldn't run off without telling me or your sister. What if something would have happened to you?"

I couldn't help but notice Uncle Paton throughout the conversation. He seemed to be a thousand miles away. But my main concern was Salem. I glared over at him. "Your turn." I said. I was so angry that I hadn't noticed that I was squeezing my fork so hard that my hand began to cramp up.

"Look, I had my reasons. I was trying to-"

"If you say that you were just trying to protect me, I'm going to punch you in the face." I warned.

"You would really hit a guy that had cancer?" Salem raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. "We'll talk about it later, okay? Just us. Right now, we need to figure out what Charlie told Manfred and the Yewbeams."

Uncle Paton seemed to pull himself out of his own thoughts so he could question Charlie about what he had been forced to divulge. "Did my sisters question you about the Red Knight?"

Charlie thought for a moment before finally answering. "Yes, and I remember thinking that it was Bartholomew."

I looked over at Salem who raised an eyebrow and looked over at Uncle Paton. "Wow, that's fascinating. I hope you didn't tell them about Tancred. …Or Salem, I guess."

"I don't think they got that far. You guys are safe." Charlie said. "But you're not, Liv."

While everyone caught up in the dining room, Salem and I were sitting in the bedroom that he had once shared with Charlie. While Maisie had strict rules about us being alone, she begrudgingly made an exception because this was something that really needed to be talked about. After sitting in awkward silence for what felt like eternity, Salem finally spoke. "Look, it was just better if they thought I was gone. And to really sell the fact that I wasn't coming back, I needed you to mope around for a bit. You're a terrible actress. I'm trying to help Paton get the answers he needs and because a lot of people aren't too keen on saying anything that incriminates the Bloors, my endowment is really coming in handy. But because I'm thousands of miles away and focusing on something else, I can't protect you. I'm aware that you're suddenly a very fierce, sword wielding crazy woman, but these people are really stepping their game up. I've been helping you along the way the best I can, though. That note you found about the painting? That was me. My dad being helpful? That was me too. And the letter. That one was risky, but I didn't want you to think I didn't love you anymore when that couldn't be any further from the truth." He cracked his knuckles and stared up at me. "Let me help you."

"I am letting you help me, but I can't stand being lied to. Do you even know what I have been going through? Manfred is acting super weird and I can't handle it."

"I think I know what's going on with him." Salem frowned. "My dad and Manny, I don't really think they're bad people. I think Ezekiel did something to them, and whatever it is that Ezekiel did, I think Titania made it worse. When I try to read their minds, it seems like everything is just jumbled with negative emotion and they can hardly make sense of what's going on in their heads, like they're cursed or something. I've had my suspicions for a while, but sometimes Manfred pushes things too far and I get so angry that I forget that it might not be his fault. I am especially guilty of that the night I left." He reached for me and pulled me down on his lap. I didn't bother to fight him. Although I was upset, I craved him. "You are full of beautiful, pure magic. And any time that Manfred is near you or he touches you, some of that bad shit goes away and he starts to feel human again. He gets obsessed, and you get hurt in the process. Lately, his thoughts seem clearer and he doesn't seem to be as angry all the time. Because your magic makes him feel things the way he's supposed to, I think his brain is mistaking that for love. I believe that's what happened with Asa as well. You should try to work with him, see if you can get through to him." He tilted my face towards his and kissed me deeply. "Not like this, of course." He whispered in between kisses. "I don't wish to share."

"Are you going to let me remember this?" I asked, pressing my forehead to his.

"They seem to be more preoccupied with Charlie and his thoughts. So I believe I will." His calloused fingers ran up the back of my shirt, tracing over my bare skin. "I needed this."

"Salem, stop. Everyone is downstairs." I warned.

"They're all too preoccupied in everything that has happened." He tugged at my sweatshirt, waiting for my permission to remove it. I had a hard time telling him no, especially when I wanted this just as badly as he did. "Do you forgive me?" He asked as he pulled my sweatshirt over my head, then his own shirt.

"Of course I do." I smirked at him. "But this needs to be quick."

"I have been living in a van with no privacy with your Uncle. I don't think that will be a problem." He rolled his eyes and laughed. "But if your friends ask, I'm a fucking god, okay?"

We both laughed as he laid me down on the bed and pulled off my jeans. It felt so good to have him home.