Chapter 26
Iknock on the door frame of the open hospital room. Gemma lifts her head off the pillow and tries to sit up when she sees me.
“I brought you flowers,” I say, walking in.
“Ace.” She winces as she pushes off the mattress, forgetting she can just raise the head of her bed up. “I could thank you a million times and it’ll never be enough. You saved my life.”
I set the flowers down on the little round table in the corner of the room. Crossing my arms, I go to the window and look out at the city below.
“We need to talk.”
My words bring the temperature down a notch in the room, and when I turn around, Gemma’s brows are furrowed.
“You know,” she whispers hoarsely.
“Yeah. I do.”
“Did you know before…before I was kidnapped?”
“Yeah.”
She wraps her arms around herself. “You knew and you still saved me.”
“Of course I did!” I spit. “I’m not a monster. Not like some people.”
“Ace,” she pleads. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, it wasn’t? You just pretended to be my friend so you could try to kill me? Yeah, it’s not like that at all. What a great fucking friend you are.”
“Let me explain.”
“What good will that do?”
“Ace, please.” Tears fall from her eyes. “You are my friend! I…I didn’t want to do it. They made me.”
“Give me a break.” I roll my eyes, too angry to stay and hear more. “You used me this whole time.”
“No, I didn’t! I didn’t even tell them I met you, and then they found out and made me get information on you.”
“They made you? Come on, Gemma, you’re a grown-ass adult. Did they hold a gun to your head and force you?”
“No.” Her lip quivers and she starts to cry. “They said if I did this they’d let me be part of their coven. I…I just want a family again.”
My jaw tenses, but I refuse to let myself feel bad for her. She made her bed. She gets to lie in it.
“You want to be part of a family that hurts people for no reason?”
She shakes her head. “They told me you were bad. Part of a coven who turned their backs on their fellow witches.”
“What?”
“I…I don’t really know the details. Marissa told me that her grandmother needed help with a spell to save a sick child and your family wouldn’t help her.
There were rumors you come from a long line of really powerful sorcerers.
The kid died. Marissa made it seem like you were dangerous and needed to be stopped. ”
“You believed the wrong person. And look where that got you.”
Gemma starts to cry again, and I feel a little bad. I understand wanting a family more than anything. I really do. But not at the cost of innocent lives.
“I’m so sorry, Ace. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but please know I’m so, so sorry.”
I close my eyes in a long blink. “If Marissa thought I was so bad and wanted revenge, why didn’t she come after me herself?”
“She said you had an army of demons guarding you. That’s why she sent the ghouls. And when you…you…”
“When I didn’t die?”
“Yeah. When I saw you the next day, I was so relieved you were okay, but Marissa said it was proof. There’s no way a witch could fight them all off. Something is protecting you.”
“What she called demons are more like angels. She got one thing right at least. They are protecting me, and fighting off those ghouls was child’s play for them. The only thing holding them back from going after everyone involved in this is me asking them not to.”
Gemma casts her eyes down, and I’m starting to feel torn. I’m mad at her. She was wrong. At the same time, I can see where she’s coming from, even though it doesn’t offer an excuse.
But does it mean I can forgive her?
“Where is she?” I ask, and Gemma knows who I’m talking about. I stopped by Marissa’s house before I came here, ready to rip her to pieces myself. Legally, though, not physically. She planted false evidence and is facing jail time. But her house was empty and she never showed up for work.
“I don’t know. I called and she didn’t answer. I thought she’d come see me.”
“Do yourself a favor and move on. She never cared about you, Gemma.”
Someone else knocks on the door, and Gemma’s Amish aunt and uncle rush in, throwing their arms around her before they start scolding her for moving away and into a dangerous city.
Gemma introduces me as the police officer who saved her life, and her aunt and uncle thank me over and over.
“You should come back to the farm,” her aunt tells her, brushing her hair out of her face. “Enough with this nonsense. It’s time you come home.”
I look Gemma right in the eyes. “I think that’s a good idea too.”
I sink onto my bed, tired, sore, and fighting off a killer headache. I can’t get Gemma’s words out of my head. My family had magic. We’re rumored to be powerful.
They refused to help.
Why? They had to have a good reason. If there’s truth to this at all. Tears fall from my eyes, at first out of anger.
I’m mad at myself.
At Gemma.
At my family for keeping magic a secret from me. Didn’t someone realize it would all come crashing down at some point? And if that someone knew…they could have saved my parents.
“No,” I say, and wipe away a tear. They didn’t know.
Because if they did, then that changes everything.
Pushing off the mattress, I go to my closet and pull out that stupid book I bought from Lyra.
The section from my grimoire about summoning spirits has yet to be translated, and I doubt anything in this mass-produced book is correct.
Still, I’m going to try it. If I can talk to my mom, just for a minute, I can get all the answers I need.
The book says I need a mirror, three white candles, sandalwood incense, and an object that belonged to the deceased. I get everything I need and take it upstairs, holding my mom’s necklace in one hand. I light the incense and the candles and look down into the mirror.
“I summon you, spirit, to cross the veil,” I whisper over and over. I clutch the necklace and look in the mirror.
Nothing happens.
I try again. And again. And again.
“Stupid spell,” I say, and blow out the candles, not bothering to close the circle since nothing fucking happened anyway. I clean up, shower, and get dressed in PJs, and then go downstairs, cuddling on the couch with a bottle of wine and Netflix. I’m drifting off to sleep when the floor creaks.
“Ace?” Gilbert calls, stepping into the living room. I sit up, catching the bottle of wine before it spills. Though there’s not much left to spill out.
“What the fuck happened?” Gil’s eyes widen, seeing the bruises on me, and he rushes over. The rest of the guys follow, and their eagerness to make me feel better does me in.
“You could say I had a rough day.” I rub at my eyes and tell them everything that happened. When I’m done, Jacques takes my hand, gently pulling me off the couch.
“You need to rest. You’re exhausted, physically and emotionally.”
“I feel it,” I admit, and go upstairs with him. He wraps me in his arms and lies down in bed with me.
“I’m so sorry, Acelina.”
“I feel like the world’s worst detective. I didn’t see any of that coming.”
“It’s easy to turn a blind eye on people we care about. You figured it out. You saved Gemma, and you caught a killer. That’s a lot for one day.” He smiles and kisses my forehead. “Lie down with me and get some sleep.”
“I can do that. Thanks, Jac…for everything.”
He kisses me softly. “Of course, Ace. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Somewhere around three in the morning, I wake with a start. Jac is still in bed with me, and he’s asleep. Tightness grips my chest, and it’s the same feeling I had the night my parents died. I sit up, ready to wake up Jac and tell him I had a nightmare when I see someone cross the hall.
Her hair blows behind her, and the smell of lavender fills my nose. It’s familiar and calming. Without thinking, I get out of bed, quietly slip across the room, and follow her.
She’s a step ahead, going in and out of my sight. Her long white gown swirls around her feet, and she turns back, eyes meeting mine in the dark.
“Ace?” Hasan says, looking up at me from the TV as I go through the living room. “Are you okay?”
I don’t answer him or look away from the woman. I just shake my head, picking up the pace so I don’t lose her again. The library doors creak open, and by the time I get in there and turn on the light, she’s gone. I slowly turn around, knowing she was in here somewhere.
Something bumps on the floor, and I whirl back, finding the copy of Emma that I keep on the coffee table now on the floor. I pick it up, and the cover is warm, as if someone’s been holding it. I cradle the book to my chest, and the scent of lavender grows strong again.
The lights flicker above me. Something swooshes behind me. I turn around and am face-to-face with the woman. Her green eyes sparkle and her full pink lips curve into a smile when she sees me.
The air leaves my lungs, and it feels like my heart stops beating. I stare at her, unable to move, breathe, or blink for a solid ten seconds. And then it all comes rushing back, and I gulp in air.
“Mom?”
To be continued…
Ace’s journey continues in HIDDEN BY NIGHT, Book 3 of the Her Dark Protectors series! Turn the page to keep reading…