26. Chapter 26
John was worried. That in itself wasn’t new.
He was constantly worried about breaking the curse—it was embedded in his every thought and what little feelings he allowed himself.
Until recently. In the past two years he’d broken his cardinal rule.
Somehow the walls he’d built around himself had started to crumble, and he’d gotten close to others.
John had sworn to himself centuries ago that he would never rely on, let alone care for, anyone again.
He couldn’t afford to. It distracted him from his one and only goal.
And it hurt like acid slowly burning through his chest.
But desperation to end all of this had convinced him that he had to reach out to someone for help.
He wasn’t getting the job done on his own.
When he’d approached Megan and asked her about showing the Death of Magic painting at the museum, he had no idea that would send him and Clan Simonson down a dangerous path.
It was one thing to be willing and ready to sacrifice himself.
He knew that was the endgame here. But it was another to cause collateral damage along the way.
Now he was worried about Bella, and Lily, and their parents.
And he couldn’t forget about Sienna. She had chiseled away at the hard shell around his heart.
A heart that beat and did little else. When she had tried to kiss him, he wanted nothing more than to feel her lips against his.
To breathe her in. To see if he could feel again.
But that would have been a mistake. Especially after today. He’d worried about keeping her safe more than about stopping the curse, and that was not good.
He couldn’t let his heart do anything but beat until it was time for it to stop beating altogether. They were close to the end of all this. He couldn’t afford the distraction, and she didn’t need a damaged husk of a man. A man with an expiration date.
He stood at the side of the room, listening to the newest Simonson clan debate.
Well, now he could call it a debate. When they had arrived home, it had been hugging, followed by yelling, followed by hugging again.
When Ryan came into the room, Sienna practically tackled him to the ground.
He grabbed on and spoke softly to her until she finally let him go.
Now Eric, Adam, Megan, Tessa, Marcus, and Ryan sat quietly as Sienna read the story to them.
What did the newest storybook truly mean about Evie’s quest?
And why were the last few pages ripped from the book?
He assumed whoever had ripped the pages out wanted to hide the truth.
But was that because it described how to break the curse or how the fight was lost?
The ring and bowl sat on the table. Sienna picked up the ring and handed it to Eric. “The second storybook said that Evie would give her older brother a shield. This has to be for you.”
Eric held it in his hand for a moment before putting it on his right ring finger.
“We should see if it’s bespelled like Adam’s pendant,” Tessa said.
Megan took the scroll out of the safe and handed it to Eric. Everyone held their breath as they watched to see if the scroll’s words would change. A few seconds later, the words changed to English.
Eric set the scroll down. “Well, that proves it.”
John stiffened when Megan flipped open the lid of the larger box. There was something about the bowl that made his blood run cold. He wasn’t sure why. But it felt like it was alive in a cold, slithering way.
“Are you okay?” Sienna asked.
He hadn’t realized she moved close to him. “Yes,” he lied. “Megan, what do you think this bowl was used for?”
Megan lifted it out of the box and held it up to the light, which made John clench his hands into fists.
“It looks like the metal is pewter, which was used for hundreds of years for dining. It lost popularity in the later part of the 1800s when porcelain became available. I don’t have the expertise to determine the age of this bowl, but the sentry symbol makes me think that this might have been used for rituals.
We know that besides this representing dragon sentries, it was also a symbol that was used by witches during John’s time or earlier. ”
Megan set the bowl on the table and beckoned John closer. “What do you think?”
He didn’t want anything to do with the bowl, but he couldn’t afford to turn his back on another clue that might put a stop to the curse. He stepped closer and reached out his hand to touch the side, and the damn bowl shimmied over the table toward him. He jerked his hand back.
“What the hell?” Tessa blurted. “Try to touch it again.”
John’s heart attempted to escape through his throat as he slowly reached for the bowl. It wobbled again, and even though his stomach turned at the thought of touching it, he grasped the side.
Lights blinded him like a camera flash. When he could finally see again, he found himself in a small room sitting at a rough table with the bowl in the center of it.
His grandmother walked into the room with something shiny in her hand.
John tried to get away, but heavy hands on his shoulders held him down. Why was she doing this?
“John!”
He blinked and came back to himself. Sienna stood in front of him, the bowl in her hands now. She handed it to Megan and then turned back to him, grabbing his hands. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he mumbled, his voice rough as he took in the worried faces of the people surrounding him.
“What happened?” Adam asked.
“I was back in my grandmother’s house. That bowl was sitting on her table.”
Megan set the bowl down carefully in the blue velvet divot in the box. “This bowl belonged to your grandmother?”
He nodded and swallowed hard. “Yes. I think it was the bowl she used for the curse.”
“Holy shit,” Tessa blurted.
His thoughts exactly. Sienna squeezed his hands, and he didn’t want to let her go.
Her brothers were both watching the scene play out and, by the glares on their faces, didn’t like what they saw.
John wasn’t intimidated by them, but he couldn’t afford to let Sienna get under his skin.
He took a small step back, and her hands dropped away.
He felt the loss immediately and didn’t like the flash of pain in Sienna’s eyes.
Sienna cleared her throat. “This is more than a coincidence. Mom leaving us this bowl has to be part of breaking the curse, don’t you think?”
“But how did she get it?” Ryan asked.
Megan reached for the box and began to study it. “There is a small stamp burned into the wood on the inside. It says Hx3.”
“What do you think that means?” Sienna asked.
Megan set the box down. “A lot of antiquities dealers will have some sort of mark or label that they use on boxes and other containers they place the antiques in. This bowl must have come from them. I don’t recognize the mark as one that I worked with at the museum.”
“We can have Jonas do some research,” Marcus said.
Sienna nodded. “This makes me think more than ever that the people following us—Templars or witches—were after what we found in the vault. It’s too much of a coincidence that all the times Ryan and I have left the clan house, we weren’t followed until today.”
Eric crossed his arms. “Are you forgetting Mia?”
“Nope. But this seems too messy for her. She thinks if she plays her cards right, we’ll continue to provide her info. She already knows that I’m going to tell her about the second book the next time we meet.”
“You seriously want to meet with her again?” Adam asked.
Sienna’s expression told John she was more than serious. Which made his stomach hurt.
“I am going to meet with her. We’ll put the same precautions in place like we did at the university.”
John blew out a breath and let the words fade around him to a slight buzz. After a while he realized the buzzing had stopped. He blinked and found that the office was empty with the exception of Sienna.
She watched him for a moment and took a step closer to him. He tensed and the immediate frown on her face told him that she noticed. “You’re not okay.”
He hadn’t been okay in centuries. “Where did everyone go?”
“Bella should be getting up from her nap soon, and Lily is finishing with school. Adam and Eric have a call with some potential new customers for Simonson Aeronautics. And I asked Marcus and Ryan to talk to Jonas.” She took another step. “Now tell me how you feel?”
John put on his best glower. “I don’t need a counseling session.”
Instead of being put off, Sienna smirked at him. “Oh boy. You showing me Grumpy John tells me I hit a nerve.”
How did she read him so well in such a short time? “You didn’t hit a nerve. I’m fine. I should be asking you how you’re feeling after what happened earlier.”
“And now you’re lying and deflecting. What didn’t you tell us about your flashback earlier?”
His stomach somersaulted. “I told you that I saw the bowl. What else do you want to know?”
Her eyes softened. “How did you come to the conclusion that the bowl was used in the curse?”
He paused, trying to decide what to tell her.
“John, if we aren’t honest with each other, we can’t hope to break this curse.”
He sighed. “Holding the bowl took me back to the day of the attacks. I was sitting at the table and my grandmother came into the room with something, but I don’t know what it was. I tried to get up, but someone behind me pushed me back into the chair, grabbed my arm, and held it out over the bowl.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, John. That you lived it and now had to relive it.” She stepped close to him and wrapped her arms around his middle. Hadn’t she gotten enough hugging from everyone else earlier?
He froze, breathing in her citrus scent. His arms had a mind of their own as they enveloped her. The dance they’d shared was wonderful, but this? They slotted together like they were made for each other’s arms. The thought was like a bucket of ice water.
He stepped back from her, and it was Sienna’s turn to scowl.