Chapter 25 #2
“I promise there’s a very good reason why we’re asking.” The paper that lined the exam table stuck to my palms. My stomach clenched with nerves. If Mamie had wasted away like my mother, then there was no doubt the same person had murdered them both and was likely coming for me.
“Your grandmother was as fit as could be until the last month of her life.” Dr. Hawthorne crossed his arms over his chest, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
“She just started to fade, losing her ability to communicate verbally or nonverbally. It was as if she was trapped inside her own body.” He looked grim.
“We did loads of tests, but I couldn’t determine the cause of her sudden decline.
” He ran a hand over his face and his previously jovial expression became one of exhaustion.
“I couldn’t save her, and in the end, her body gave up the fight. ”
I glanced at Olive at the same moment that she turned to me. I took my phone out of my bag and did a quick search for the lunar phases during the last month of Mamie’s life. When I read it, my heart sank even though I wasn’t surprised. “The moon was waning.”
Olive nodded and rose from her seat. “Thank you, Dr. Hawthorne. You’ve been very helpful.”
He looked doubtful, but he turned to me and said, “Toni Donadieu was a brilliant woman with a generous heart. It was an honor to call her my friend.”
If I were a touchy sort of person, I might have hugged him. Instead, I simply nodded and said, “Thank you for that.”
I could feel him watching us as Olive pushed me out the door. Jasper and Eloise rose from their seats when we entered the waiting room. Olive shook her head ever so slightly, indicating that our conversation would wait.
When we reached the sidewalk, Olive glanced around. The rain had stopped and the sun was making a valiant effort to punch through the clouds. Locals and visitors clogged the sidewalk and she tapped her foot impatiently. “We need a place to look at the grimoire where we can’t be overheard.”
“The park?” Jasper indicated the town square. It was small and not busy at the moment.
“Anyone can see us there. I don’t want to risk it.” Olive shook her head.
“What about the Serenity Labyrinth?” Eloise suggested. “It’s a meditation maze on the highest part of the island. It was one of Toni’s favorite places. Zoe could open the grimoire without anyone observing her and we can talk on the way.”
“I’d like to see a place that was special to Mamie,” I said. Since Mamie’s home was no longer in existence, maybe I could feel my grandmother’s presence in the meditation maze. The longing to feel her here with me was so strong I’d visit anywhere if there was a chance of sensing her.
“That works for me.” Olive and Jasper led the way to the car.
Eloise guided Jasper through town along a winding road that parted from the shore at the lighthouse and wound its way up to a peak on the north side of the island. While he drove, Olive shared what we’d learned from the doctor about Toni’s death.
“She was cursed just like her daughter.” Jasper’s naturally deep voice went even lower with the gravity of the information.
“Whoever is after the grimoire is very powerful. A Waning Curse is one of the most complicated spells of dark magic,” Olive said.
“It’s just evil,” Eloise said, her voice full of disgust. She went to tuck her hair behind her ear, but, of course, she had no ear.
I imagined being stranded and losing body parts made her fury a bit keener than just her feeling of grief.
Again, I felt the pressure to help her coupled with a righteous rage to hunt down whoever had done this to my family.
The sun had won its battle against the clouds and while it wasn’t strong enough to make the day warmer, at least its rays were more cheerful than the dreary rain we’d been dealing with all day.
Jasper parked in the labyrinth’s designated lot. He switched off the engine and said, “I’ll wait here and keep watch just in case any pirates show up.”
Eloise laughed. Her eyes glittered with humor and she said, “It would be a very long walk for the ghost pirates to make.”
A fact that filled me with nothing but relief.
“Good thinking, Griffin. We’ll call you if we need you.” Olive and Eloise stepped out of the car.
I’d opened my door to follow when Jasper reached over the seat and grabbed my hand. I glanced up, meeting his pale gaze, and I felt my heart skitter in my chest at the concern I saw there.
“Remember what you learned last night, love,” he said. “You’re more powerful than you know. You can do this.”
I smiled, bolstered by his confidence in me. Still, I couldn’t help but ask, “Will you kiss me again if I manage to discover what the grimoire tried to show us?”
Jasper’s eyes glinted as his gaze dropped to my mouth. “If Olive wasn’t already glaring at me, I’d kiss you right now,” he said.
I glanced out the front window and Olive was indeed glowering at us. I squeezed his hand and slipped out of the car.
Eloise and I followed Olive to the path that cut through a thick copse of beech trees.
Judging by the size of their trunks, they’d probably been on the island since some of the earliest settlers had arrived.
As we stepped out of the line of trees, I saw the circle in front of us.
Made up of stones varying in size from rocks the size of gallon jugs to boulders that came up to mid-thigh, with precisely raked crushed seashells in between, the massive circle formed a large, intricate maze that was immaculately maintained.
I paused, trying to get a sense of Mamie here, but there was nothing but the brisk breeze sweeping across the open area.
The labyrinth entrance was signified by an opening in the circle between the two largest boulders.
I knew the maze’s objective was for people to follow the various paths to the center while trying to clear their minds.
With all that had happened, I knew this was a very tall order, as my brain currently felt like a hive of bees, and not the lazy ones either.
“Why don’t you two walk the maze while I open the grimoire and see if it will show me the pages it wanted me to see,” I said.
“Don’t you want help?” Olive asked.
“I think this is between me and the grimoire.”
“Fair enough.” Olive nodded. She gestured to the maze and said to Eloise, “After you.”
“All right.” Eloise stepped into the opening. Olive waited a beat and then followed, choosing a different path and leaving me standing on the perimeter.
I pulled off my backpack and grabbed the zipper, but then hesitated.
Something felt off. I shook my head. I was being ridiculous, probably because this entire trip to the island had been highly stressful and I had eyes that made me look like a sideshow freak, but whatever.
I shook it off and stepped into the circle, planning to use one of the entrance boulders as a makeshift bookrest.
A wave of powerful emotion washed over me, then rose up inside me like a cresting wave, making me catch my breath as my knees buckled.
I clutched the backpack to my chest, with the grimoire still inside, and tried to keep my legs beneath me.
The closest thing I had ever felt to this was a rush of joy, but this wasn’t that.
There was no euphoria here. This, whatever it was, had darkness and a razor-sharp edge to it.
Olive and Eloise were deep in the circle, but neither of them seemed to notice the surging current that thrummed all around us. Was it just the energy of the circle? Were they both used to this sort of thing?
I stepped up to the boulder with intention, trying to be aware of the crunch of shells beneath my feet, the sun on the top of my head, and the scent of the briny sea beyond the trees in an effort to ground myself in this moment.
I tried to clear my mind, but I kept getting pulled back to the symbols my grandmother had drawn in the sand and the words she had taught me.
It felt imperative that I remember all of it.
Mater matris had been two of them. I knew it meant mother’s mother or grandmother because it was the same in Latin, but what did the rest of the words mean? And why couldn’t I, with my exemplary memory, remember all of them?
A shadow passed over me and I glanced up to see a raven in flight.
The sight cheered me and I wondered if it was my friend even though I knew that was impossible.
According to my research, ravens couldn’t fly that far.
We were miles offshore and ravens did not hitch rides on ferries.
It had to be a coincidence, but it made me feel better nonetheless.
Glancing away from the raven, I reached for the zipper on my backpack.
I could hear Eloise muttering under her breath and I wondered if she was using a visualization technique to clear her mind.
I took a deep breath, determined to do the same.
I knew I had to focus if I wanted to be able to communicate clearly with the grimoire.
The raven made a sudden dive right in front of me, forcing me back toward the entrance.
I watched him soar back up to the sky again.
What the hell? Mere moments passed and I watched him dive again, this time sending Eloise back on her heels.
She let out an indignant cry of alarm and swatted at the bird.
I couldn’t blame her. It was no small thing to have a raven come straight at you at full speed.
Olive stopped walking and frowned when Eloise cried out.
She glanced up at the raven and down at the circle.
The raven swooped low in front of Olive, but it wasn’t dive-bombing, rather it was as if Olive and the raven were communicating in some way Eloise and I couldn’t understand.
I would not have been at all surprised to find out that Olive could speak to birds—nonverbally, no less.
As I watched, Olive stepped out of her lane and darted across the circle toward me. “Ziakas, run!”
“What? Why?” I cried.
“Because this isn’t a meditation maze,” Olive said. “It’s a summoning circle.”