Chapter 27
A crack of thunder boomed and a bolt of lightning ripped across the sky.
Abruptly, torrential rain beat down on the car, and I glanced back to see that the horde was sliding in the mud as they tried to chase us.
Jasper didn’t slow down, putting distance between us and them, and I felt myself breathe for the first time in what felt like hours as the labyrinth and its inhabitants disappeared from view.
“With a storm like this, the ferry will be closed,” Miles said. “We need to find a place to hide.” He glanced at me. “Do you know of a place, Zoe?”
“I haven’t been here in twenty-seven years,” I said. “I remember Mamie’s house, the beach, and picking blueberries at Berry Blue Acres…Wait.” I paused. “There was a big barn there. It’s the off season for berries. It might work as a hideout.”
Tariq was searching for the location on his phone before I finished speaking.
“Perfect. It’s only a few miles away. Keep following this road. We should be there in five minutes,” Tariq said.
Berry Blue Acres was on the crest of a hill that, in daylight, would offer a sweeping view of blueberry bush–covered hills that led all the way to the ocean.
At the moment, all we could do was crawl through the pouring rain, trying to see by the light of the lightning flashes to find the old barn that I remembered being on a side road before you reached the main farm.
“There! Through the trees!” Olive tapped the window on her side of the car.
Jasper cut the wheel to the right and the SUV bounced across the pitted old dirt road, stopping in front of a traditional red barn.
“This is exactly the sort of place where people get murdered in horror films,” Tariq said.
“Who cares? We need to regroup,” Olive countered.
“Olive is right,” Miles said. “With Eloise…er…Ariana gathering her forces, we need to come up with a plan before we tangle with her again.”
“You could just leave me, you know,” I said. “It’s the book she wants and my blood that she needs to open it.”
“No!” They all responded at once, even Olive.
“I was hoping you’d feel that way.” I sank against my seat in relief. “But good manners behooved me to offer.”
“The BODO department does not leave anyone behind,” Miles declared. He said it in a way that made me realize it must have come up before, because of course it had.
“Let’s get inside,” Olive ordered. “Park the car around the back, Griffin.”
Jasper nodded and we all climbed out. The high grass surrounding the old barn was soggy and had thoroughly soaked my jeans before we reached the large sliding door.
Tariq grabbed the handle and heaved the door to the side.
It made a screech of protest before it finally moved just enough for us to squeeze inside.
Olive manifested a glowing orb between her hands, which she sent floating up above us. It illuminated the empty barn, with its decayed remnants of hay and vacant stalls.
“Ziakas, craft more light,” Olive ordered. She gestured to Miles and Tariq. “We need a moment to recover.”
“Oh, right,” I said. I cupped my hands just as Olive had taught me and closed my eyes. In my mind, I pictured the same orb Olive had created and when I felt the warmth unfurl inside me, I opened my eyes and blinked.
Miles and Tariq were shielding their eyes from the glaringly bright red light shining through my fingers. “Sorry!” I closed my eyes and dimmed the light in my mind. When I opened them again, it was a gentle pink. I opened my hands and let it drift up to the ceiling.
“That’ll do,” Olive said. It felt like high praise.
There was no equipment in the barn, nothing to use to defend ourselves.
I truly hoped Ariana couldn’t find us. If we could just wait out the storm until the ferry was running again, maybe we could get off the island without her knowing.
Then I thought of her pirates waiting for us and I felt queasy.
Was this what my mother’s life had been like, always on the run?
Had she chosen to hide from Ariana in a different timeline for all those years because it was the safest place she could find?
I was heartsick at the thought. It occurred to me that everything she had done, she had done to keep me safe.
“All right, Zoe?” Jasper’s sharp raven gaze—I couldn’t think of it as anything else now—studied me.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I opened my backpack and pulled out the book. “I need to know what the book was trying to show me.”
“Absolutely,” he said. I had lost Olive’s sunglasses in the fray and I raised my eyebrows in silent question, to which he answered, “Yeah, still bloody.”
I glanced away, relieved that I didn’t have access to a mirror.
“Hey.” Jasper cupped my chin with his hand and tipped my face up. “Don’t feel bad. Just ask Tariq about the time he made a potion that turned Miles’s hair into a flight of butterflies.”
“Ha!” I heard a laugh from behind me and turned, pulling my chin away from Jasper’s disturbing touch to find Tariq doubled over, slapping his knee. “That was a good one.”
“And I once found my consciousness linked with a dove instead of a raven,” Jasper said. “Doves are lovely to look at but quite thick.”
“Don’t forget the time Miles attempted time travel and caught himself in a loop where he glitched in and out of his office for three days.” Olive joined in.
“I had vertigo for a week.” Miles shook his head at the memory. “Why are we oversharing?”
“Zoe’s got vampire eyes,” Olive said. I noticed no one shared any mishaps from Olive. Either she was perfect—highly possible—or, more likely, they were afraid.
“Don’t worry.” Miles patted my hand. “When we get home, Tariq will brew a potion to set you right.”
“Right,” I agreed. I didn’t correct him by saying if we got home.
“Ready to open the grimoire?” Jasper prompted me.
I glanced down at the volume in my hands.
I studied its matte black cover and the hexagonal lock on the front.
I paused, realizing I felt… remorse? …coming from the book.
“Yes, even though it caused me to bleed out of my eyes…which was very, very wrong and it should never do that again…I forgive it and I’m ready.
” I felt a surge of relief coming from the book.
It was so preposterously weird to have a book with feelings and yet it was beginning to seem normal.
“Anyway, let’s see if it will do it again. ”
“You two work on that and we’ll see what we can do to shield this place,” Miles said. “Ariana will be here soon. We need to be prepared to defend ourselves.”
“Maybe she won’t find us,” I said.
“She will,” Olive said.
“But how?” I persisted, not wanting to believe it.
“The book.” They all said at once.
“Magical objects like your grimoire have their own auras. Anyone sensitive to them can track them,” Miles explained.
Ariana was coming for us. Terrified, I sat on the filthy ground and placed the book on top of my backpack in front of me.
I didn’t care what might have scurried through this barn dirt before us.
It was nothing compared to this day, the scariest of my life to date, and I’d certainly had some bangers during the past few weeks.
Without hesitating, I squeezed my eyes tight to form some tears. I didn’t know if they’d still be bloody, but I figured it was easier than finding something unsterile to stab myself with. One, two, three drops fell into the tiny well in the center of the hexagon.
As soon as the hexagon turned and the latches popped, I wiped at my eyes with my sleeve. I leaned close to the book and said, “Show me again, please.”
Immediately the cover flew open, as if the book was actually eager.
The pages flipped with a dizzying speed.
There was a pause, then the pages flipped back before it stopped.
Lying face up and wide open was the second-to-last page of the section Mamie had written.
And halfway down the page were the same symbols she’d taught me when she’d drawn them in the sand.
They were in the book! Somehow I had missed them.
“Miles! I know these symbols!” I grabbed the book and jumped to my feet. I didn’t wait for him to come to me but crashed into his conversation with Olive and Tariq. “These symbols here. Do you know them?”
Miles adjusted his glasses and glanced down at the page I was holding. He pursed his lips and then shook his head. “No, it’s nothing I’ve ever seen before. I can’t even come up with any frame of reference. Olive? Tariq? Jasper?”
In turn, they each examined the page. While they studied it, I said to Miles, “Mamie taught me those four symbols when I was a kid.”
“You’re sure?”
“Today on the beach by her house I remembered her drawing them in the sand and making me repeat their names, but I can’t remember the third one. Or I couldn’t until right now,” I said.
Miles went very still. “You can verbalize those symbols?”
“I think so,” I said. “Of course, I have no idea what will happen if I do.”
There was a noise outside and Tariq hurried over to the gap between the sliding barn door and the wall. We had closed it but it was not a particularly snug fit.
“We have a problem,” Tariq announced. “Two problems, actually.”
“Do tell.” Olive crossed her arms over her chest, expressionless as per usual.
“There is a small army of undead headed our way with Ariana in the lead, and the storm is strengthening and it looks to be a doozy.”
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Use that incantation your grandmother taught you,” Olive said. “We’ll deal with the consequences, whatever they are.”
I turned to Miles. He nodded. “Knowing Toni, if she taught you those symbols in particular, she did it for a reason. It might be our only hope.”
“No pressure,” I muttered.
“They’re getting closer,” Tariq said, his voice noticeably higher.
“Ziakas, work on your spell. Griffin, help her.” Olive strode over to where Tariq stood and Miles followed.
I turned to Jasper. “What if I can’t do it? What if it doesn’t work? What if…?”