Chapter 30
The city mourned in a way I’d never experienced. Grief had a stranglehold on so many minds, it locked me in their sorrow. I found myself spiraling, every breath a reminder of the sadness I fought after losing Finn.
After the Celestial Coven’s attack, no one felt safe any longer. They’d struck with a handful of witches, several enthralled demons, and a horde of fiends. Chicago braced for the next assault, unsure how we’d fare a second time.
Thirty-eight enchanters had laid down their lives defending this city.
Four guild masters died protecting their people.
The minds of Cerberus cried out, devastated by Campbell’s loss.
A strict woman, certainly, but one who’d earned the respect of her enchanters but refused to settle, to compromise, to accept defeat.
She died victorious, even if she never saw the end of that battle.
I spent my days at the hospital during Milo’s recovery. Wadsworth’s magic had worked wonders to prevent long-term nerve damage or the need for surgery, but Milo’s injuries still required intensive care.
He grieved the most during these somber days.
This was no victory; his battle held no successes in his mind.
Protecting the city from ten devils didn’t matter to him because knowing so many others died defending Chicago meant he’d failed elsewhere.
Milo burdened himself with planning for the best possible outcomes, yet this battle had turned into an absolute failure.
Death at every corner. Tara and Caleb abducted. Amara one step closer to unveiling her world-shattering plan.
Grief consumed me from everywhere during these first few days. I clung to the saddest minds, the familiar minds, the minds of those I cared for the most. If I had to suffer this sadness, I would at least know how they fared.
Kenzo’s rage was unbridled. All his rage went into a punching bag, enhanced by protective wards so the thing wouldn’t break when struck with telekinesis or branch magics.
The soothing aura of Gael’s presence did nothing to elevate the hatred in Kenzo’s heart.
Day in and day out, Kenzo trained, planned, calculated, and thought back to every mistake he’d made.
Success? He saw none.
Unlocking a new aspect of his branch meant nothing because he couldn’t control it. More to the point, he couldn’t bask in this achievement knowing that he’d failed Caleb. He didn’t know why they’d abducted his best friend; he only knew that Caleb was gone.
Every time Kenzo struck the punching bag, his thoughts fluttered back to something mean he’d said to Caleb. All he could remember was years of cruel teasing, heartless words, and bullying he’d never make amends for now. Kenzo grieved inside, sad and broken, but on the outside, he raged.
Gray static sizzled along the punching bag’s protective wards, keeping the training tool intact.
“Goddammit.” Kenzo spun through the air and kicked the punching bag with enough force to snap the tether holding it in place.
That hadn’t been his goal. No, his goal was to use his black hex magic to completely disarm the punching bag. Then he’d use his white hex magic to amplify his magic and destroy the training tool.
Kenzo believed he couldn’t do a single thing right. He panted, weary and exhausted, but refusing to stop. Only failures rested. Kenzo had spent enough time being a failure.
I believed a great deal of his newfound enhancement to his magic came from an emotional drive. His need to protect Gael sparked the release of hex magic to its greatest form. Now, instead of embracing his emotions, he worked to bury them, leaving only room for rage and self-hatred.
After things settled, calmed as best they could, I would reach out to Kenzo and help him train.
I owed him that much. After all, so much of this failure rested on my shoulders.
I should’ve stopped Amara when she attacked Gemini Academy.
I should’ve tracked her down over the last few months and ended her.
I should’ve been prepared for her assault on Chicago.
Kenzo didn’t need to blame himself for Caleb’s abduction. That blame fell to me.
Guilt consumed Yaritza over the last few days. Kraken Guild had been attacked by a few demons and so many fiends when the Celestial Coven struck. What had seemed like a truly devastating attack in the moment had turned out to be one of the lighter assaults.
Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie had managed to take out a demon on their own. An ogre thrashing about the halls of Kraken. While their mentor raged against a demon of his own, they defended their enchanters back, and successfully did what so few could accomplish.
It should’ve been something for Yaritza to bask in, to brag about, but as the city mourned, her success felt ill-timed. It hurt to look back at the incident with pride, to see her role in it diminished because of the ultimate outcome.
She wasn’t the only mind to feel this way. And she should’ve been proud of her accomplishments. While the city still suffered, it suffered less because of her success. I hoped she’d see that in time, understand that, and take pride in her accomplishment.
Wadsworth didn’t give a damn about the devastating defeat. All he concerned himself with was tracking down The True Witch, following any lead, no matter how small. As he sucked a deep inhale of his cigarette, I found myself entranced by the aroma.
There was something so soothing about the first inhale after a hard day, something so satisfying about exhaling all my worries, and watching them waft in the air.
The harsh cough that followed Wadsworth’s next deep inhale reeled me back in, reminding me why I let go of the habit.
I didn’t care about polluting my lungs, rotting my body, but the people I cared most about certainly did.
Milo and Ben wouldn’t want me smoking, and thus, I pushed the craving aside.
Taking in Wadsworth as a person, I realized that he was my life unfulfilled.
He obsessed over tracking down The True Witch so much so that he pushed everyone in his life aside, buried his desires, and lost himself to this mission.
I had to stop Amara, help save my students, but I couldn’t lose myself in the process.
It’d taken damn near a lifetime to finally accept happiness. I couldn’t sacrifice it all for a mission.
“Are you listening to a goddamn thing I’m saying, you stupid fucking telepath?”
I glowered in response, half-tempted to show him the full extent of my stupid telepathy.
“Yes,” I said with a huff. “You want me to facilitate a meeting with Caleb’s grandparents.”
“No, moron.” Wadsworth coughed, struggling to catch his breath, and I didn’t hold mine in hopes he’d find the air he so desperately needed. “I…I already arranged the meeting. You are to use your telepathy to gather any necessary information.”
“I doubt they know anything.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Wadsworth took off into the air, demanding that I follow.
Despite his frail body and constant state of exhaustion, his casting remained top-tier, and he flew through the streets at incredible speed. I struggled to keep up.
When we arrived at Caleb’s home, I followed Wadsworth to the door, where he announced our arrival with a heavy knock.
The elderly Mrs. Huxley answered the door. She didn’t recognize me, either, because my appearance had changed since the last parent-teacher conference or simply because she never expected her grandson’s former homeroom teacher to knock on her door.
That, or perhaps she was simply lost in her worries. Mrs. Huxley’s mind was in a frazzled state, lost in her grief for Caleb’s disappearance, in her confusion as to why he was abducted, and not satisfied by the lack of clarification the Global Guild offered.
For the briefest of seconds, she let her spirits lift when she realized who Enchanter Wadsworth was.
“Did you find him?” she asked, a longing in her weary eyes.
“Apologies,” Wadsworth said, clearing his throat. “We haven’t, but I hoped perhaps you could speak with me, and we might learn more about Caleb and why this came about.”
“What could we possibly tell you?” A stern, agitated voice called out from behind Mrs. Huxley.
Her husband stomped to the door, practically barring our entrance. He’d transformed all his worries into rage, directing them at the incompetence of the Global Guild. I couldn’t rightfully argue against his anger. It was well placed. The Global Guild had failed. I had failed.
“Please,” Wadsworth insisted. “Every tiny detail makes a difference.”
That statement was meant to convince Caleb’s grandparents, but was directed toward me. As they led us inside, Wadsworth’s thoughts screamed at me to do my goddamn telepathic job and learn what I could from their minds.
It meant diving in deeper than normal. I wouldn’t have to traipse through their inner cores, but I would need to delve past their surface thoughts, rooting through the in-between spaces. That kind of snooping was occasionally noticed, so I’d need to be cautious.
The cramped house was cluttered with children’s toys and strewn about laundry. It made sitting in the living room very uncomfortable. Plus, it was clear they had pets. Cats, for certain, considering the palpable odor from the dirty litterbox.
Between their grief and general exhaustion, it seemed Caleb’s grandparents had fallen behind on their home. They were in desperate need of retirement, but were forced to continue working so they could support themselves and their grandson. By the looks of things, more than just their grandson.
Most of their thoughts were hazy, muddled, and buried in decades of fogged-over memories.
Not at all unusual considering their age.
Still, their minds weren’t guarded, and the fact that neither had any training with magic, it didn’t seem they noticed my heavy-footed entrance as I dove into their minds.