Chapter 18
C HAPTER 18
AUDEN
“The ‘Breath of Morgana ’? That doesn’t make any sense,” Hector sputters, rising from the study guest chair he’s claimed—the one previously reserved for Marsyas Blackgate. The patriarch takes a step toward the desk, as if inspecting the relic himself would lend a different result from what the three of us found ourselves. “Are you sure that’s the inscription?”
Evander is not in a sharing mood. And, honestly, if he barely trusted Winter to touch it, he’d certainly fight tooth and nail to keep Hector’s paws off it.
“Yes.”
Since everyone arrived, Evander, Winter, and I explained in turns exactly how we came to have this relic in hand. It has all the markings of having been protected by a powerful spell—no erosion, no damage. It’s as pristine as it likely had been the moment Shadrack spelled it and concealed it. Exactly as one would expect an invaluable magical relic to be preserved.
Yet, what it supposedly contains has been a point of contention for at least ten minutes now. Despite all the evidence, despite our assurances that the disabled security wards showed themselves.
Luna sighs from the other guest chair. “The clue is clearly Elemental in nature and breath a component in the element of life, though Morgana is a Death witch, and therefore it’s quite perplexing from a historical standpoint.”
The Blackgate girls simply nod along, not adding anything.
“Not just a Death witch,” Infinity amends, their eyes slipping away from the two silent Blackgates in our midst, “ the Death witch. The originator of the line.”
“Which is why this is… suspect,” Hector cuts in. “Merlin is the originator of the Elemental Line; why is an Elemental relic tied to his Death Line counterpart?” Hector’s eyes are glassy with exhaustion invading the corners, yet he sparks with an idea, his whole body tensing beneath today’s Cerise family uniform—a navy tracksuit with their individual initials monogrammed at the breast. Yeah, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. Especially given the context. But they are always aggressively coordinated. “Could it be mislabeled? Or perhaps it’s not a master relic at all?”
Evander frowns at Hector’s insinuation of mishandling and I decide to save both of them—and all of us—from yet another time-killing dick-measuring contest.
“Though I can assure you the three of us all saw the security wards fire and fizzle at the removal of the master relic from its hidden location, there is one way to answer that final question indefinitely. If it’s a true master, Ursula’s will should confirm it by providing the second clue.” I pointedly gesture to the clock atop the mantle—9:07 A.M. Twelve hours since Ursula’s death. Approximately thirty-nine hours left. “Now, if you please.”
Thankfully, Hector dutifully returns to his chair, tracksuit nylon swishing the whole way.
I line my thumb up with my bloody print, gaze lingering on Ursula’s signature, forever part of this document. It holds the last of the secrets she’d planned to share with us, and maybe it’s simply the residual shock speaking, but I don’t think the secrets she plans on sharing are the only ones she’s left here.
The initial clue shimmers, fading out. Then, in ink as dark as night, comes the next clue. There’s a collective inhale—we have our confirmation that we have collected the first master. I can nearly feel Evander’s shoulders soften and his grasp tighten. I read.
“Our blood is in the stars,
Streaming down from the Great Bear’s paw,
Magic bathing magic as the moon smiles
With the sun, its reason, its heart, the gaping center
Body and soul.”
No one has to say it. The clue is for the Celestial Line.
Luna holds fast to her coffee cup as all attention turns to our remaining matriarch. Infinity kneels at her elbow, their face tipped up to their grandmother. “Grandmama, where do we start?”
After rearranging the drape of the voluminous ivory fabric across her shoulders and taking another sip of coffee so heavily sugared I can smell it from ten feet away, Luna swallows and finally addresses the matter at hand.
“If I knew I’d tell you.”
Infinity’s brows knit. “You… you don’t have any ideas? Nothing rings a bell?”
“Oh, plenty rings my bell about the language, but what it might be or where it might be? No.” The matriarch turns her attention to me. “If these are hints—as you surmised last night, Auden—these are hints you Hegemonys recognize better than the rest of us. It would behoove all of us to learn everything we can from your successful hunt this morning.”
Luna aims her wizened gaze at Evander, who’s white-knuckling the master’s chain. “As we’ve said, it was nothing more than the three of us keying in on the final line of the clue—‘We worship’—and deciding to search the only place ever used for worship on these grounds and climbing Mercy’s Point. We zeroed in on man-made objects first, not knowing what we were looking for. But when we saw this piece”—he opens his palm to reveal it to the light—“we knew it was put there for us to find, even if the inscription was unexpected.”
Luna sucks her teeth. “Your success was completely based on your understanding of the grounds and what they contain. I have visited Hegemony Manor more times than I have years, yet even my knowledge is no rival for what is inherent to you as nearly lifelong residents.”
“Is there a map?” Ada asks. “Maybe we can start with that, make some educated guesses like the one you made to get to the outdoor chapel, and go from there?”
I nod. “We can do that.”
Winter is already on it, retrieving the maps from their careful storage on Ursula’s office bookshelves. The desk drawers and storage may have been swept clean of paperwork by either the spell or her killer, but her bookshelves remained untouched—as far as we can tell.
Winter unfurls one on the desk so that it faces the guests. Hector and Sanguine immediately crowd in for a look. Lavinia and Kaysa edge forward. Luna and Infinity stay put.
“This would’ve been good to have last night,” Sanguine muses.
“I didn’t want you going on the grounds after dark,” Evander reminds her.
“Yes, yes, broken ankles,” Hector says with a laugh that seems strong enough to be forced before gesturing with a flat hand toward the depiction of Mercy’s Point. “But any of us would have eventually come to the conclusion to check the chapel.”
“Wait, no, look more closely,” Lavinia says, and circles the top of the mountain with her own finger. “The outdoor chapel isn’t designated, only the summit of Mercy’s Point. Sure, any of us maybe would’ve gotten there eventually, but we’d work faster with Hegemony knowledge.”
The elder Blackgate glances up at me as she says this, and I realize she’s not wearing makeup today, no intricate styling to straight dark hair, no telltale magic spell to perfect things a la Winter, just long-lashed eyes and creamy skin. Faintly, in the back of my mind I’m suddenly in agreement with the Winter of last night—not just eye makeup but all makeup should be illegal on Lavinia Blackgate if this is what’s underneath.
“She’s right,” Infinity says, and I blink away from Lavinia and my thoughts. “We need teams. Our next priority should be to identify likely locations and split up with a Hegemony in each group as a grounds expert.”
“Yes, that’s it,” Luna cheers, emphatic. “My grandbaby with the methodical plan.”
The rest of us agree it’s the way to go. There’s some shuffling, and as I snap a picture and stow away this clue, I realize something.
“Winter?” I ask. “Can you find us a map with Shadrack’s original plot delineated? If he wrote the clues, I think it’s best to start within the bounds of the estate he owned. The relics could’ve been moved by another High Sorcerer, but I think it might be the way to start.”
“On it.” Winter sweeps around the desk and back to the map portion of the bookshelves. As she does, Evander seems to notice I’ve safely removed the clue from the workplace and draws out his key, pulling it over his head and walking over to Ursula’s safe.
“Evander, what are you doing?” Hector asks, in a voice a little too rushed and a little too loud. The tonal difference is enough that the whole room takes immediate notice—even his kids flinch before going stock-still.
Confused, my cousin looks up from the newly opened safe to Hector, following the man’s dark eyes to the master relic held tightly in his own hand. “I’m putting the relic away.”
“You can’t do that.”
The hollow certainty settles in my brain that another fissure in our unusual, unbreakable family has just clawed its way to the surface.
Evander narrows his eyes at Hector’s rare but effusive stiff-arm. “We don’t want anything to happen to it. It’ll be safe here.”
“You can’t do that because we still haven’t determined it’s yours.” Standing around the desk, Hector is close enough that he puts what he appears to think is a comforting palm on Lavinia’s shoulder. But even I can see her stiffen from several feet away. “Morgana is the originator of the Death Line. The chance to hold these master relics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—no, once in half a millennium. We need to ensure each family holds the correct one for their line. Moreover, it’s one of Ursula’s rules—”
“The rule,” Evander cuts in, “is that a master relic shouldn’t be taken from the rightful line. I haven’t taken it from anyone.”
Hector tosses up a pair of placating palms—and Lavinia immediately rolls her shoulder away. “I understand that, but I feel it’s necessary to have a discussion about the fact that the Breath of Morgana might actually belong to the Death Line and the Blackgates.”
Evander swallows a scoff, though he can’t hide the way his big paw tightens around the chain.
“It’s the Elemental relic. We all immediately agreed the clue was Elemental in nature, just like we all immediately recognized this clue to be Celestial.” He gestures around the study, noting how all of us turned to the Starwoods like sunflowers to the dawn. “Our instincts as witches count for something.”
“There’s not even anything in the clue that confirms this relic is Elemental save for the word ‘breath,’” Hector points out, “which might be a coincidence. I think—”
“Hector, we appreciate your concern, but this is not our master.”
The entire room swivels toward Lavinia.
“How do you know?” Hector asks. “Do you know what your master is? Or where we can find it?”
“No, of course not.” She gives a little shrug. “But I think Evander is right—we all believed this is the Elemental master, and despite its connection to Morgana, I’m not interested in spending any more time arguing about it. We have less than forty hours to find three more. I want to focus on that.”
Honestly, though I know this isn’t the Lavinia Blackgate of my childhood—the one who always had to be right, the best, the smartest, the one who would never back away from anything she decided was hers—I appreciate the focus on the bigger picture.
Yet, her mature attitude seems to embolden the Cerise patriarch further.
Hector is still smiling as he continues to argue but there’s something dark about it, like the roll of thunder on a sunlit morning. “Why aren’t you more concerned that a Hegemony could have your relic, Miss Blackgate? If I were you, I’d be damn suspicious that the Hegemonys were holding the seat of your powers and concerned they won’t relinquish it when a more appropriate master comes to light. Isn’t it worth ensuring the wrong person isn’t in control of your relic?”
“He’s not—”
“I’m not—”
Lavinia and Evander speak at once. My cousin backs down, letting Lavinia have the floor. “The master is yours, Evander. As far as the Blackgates are concerned, it’s the Elemental master relic and we cede it to you.”
“Yeah, ceded,” Kaysa agrees with a stout nod.
“Thank you. Accepted.” Evander raps his knuckles on Ursula’s desk like a gavel, and my mind’s eye pictures more fissures snaking through us, cracking, bleeding, and everything else Ursula warned me about. My cousin rolls back his shoulders—the cut of his jaw could etch glass. He’s immovable in his glare, danger in the low tones of his voice. “It’s ours. Can we move on?”
He asks it of Hector, but Luna answers. “ Please. At this rate I’ll be dead by the time I hold my master.”
Infinity rubs their temples. “Grandmama, don’t say such a thing.”
“Why not? I’m ninety-seven, I’m being pragmatic.” Luna gestures to her chair. “Scoot me up to the desk. Let’s have a look at this fiddly map.”
It takes a solid hour, and three maps—a delicate illustration of Shadrack’s original parcel, a modern-day printout, and one from the year Ursula became High Sorcerer, before we identify six likely locations based on their ties to hints within the clue, their age, and their uses.
Clockwise from the north compass arrow: Field of Stars, Shadrack’s Lookout, the Bat Cave, Little Bear Den, the Pool, and Horace’s Last Stand.
From there, we divide into teams, minus Luna who won’t be testing her ancient bones on the treacherous grounds—a relief, honestly.
I’m assigned both Blackgate girls and Ada, and before we inspect our two locations, the Pool and Horace’s Last Stand, I determine that perhaps first we should take a detour to visit Horace of the last stand himself.
Which is how the four of us end up in the first-floor tearoom, with me standing on a chair, using my magic to delicately probe inside the jaws of the massive head of a 130-year-old grizzly bear.
Horace is roaring—teeth staggeringly long, eyes fierce, ears flat with anger. He’s packed with wire and cotton, but I want to make sure there isn’t something relic-shaped within before we hike out onto the grounds.
Kaysa stands beside me, squinting up. She’s the only one who seems interested in this actual bear. Lavinia is taking in the wall of Hegemony portraits a few feet away, and Ada is inspecting her cuticles in a chair by the door.
“So, Shadrack shot this poor bear, mounted him, named him Horace for shits and giggles, and put the location of his murder on a family map?” Kaysa asks, squinting up at both me and the enormous bear head.
“Correct.” I nod to the heavy metal body of the Colt .45 revolver mounted on the wall right over his left ear. “And that’s the gun he used.”
“Jesus Christ. No need to wonder if Shadrack had a healthy ego,” Ada mutters. “Look, this is a waste of time, Auden. There’s no paw—it’s just the head. The clue says, ‘Streaming down from the Great Bear’s paw. ’ The clue clearly refers to the Great Bear in the sky. We’re not going to find the master relic here, or anywhere until the stars come out.”
“There’s no actual paw in the Ursa Major constellation, just a representative star,” Lavinia reports, and I can nearly hear Ada roll her eyes. Lavinia’s voice comes closer along with the sound of footsteps as I finish up my inspection of Horace’s skull cavity. “But this is a bear, so I think Auden might be—”
“Lavinia and Kaysa Blackgate!”
I nearly fall off the chair as Evander’s shout beats him to the doorway. He’s panting, looking exactly like he’s just run here. My stomach drops.
My magical gamble from last night has been discovered much sooner than expected. So soon I never got a chance to ask the sisters if they’d learned anything with the time I’d bought them.
And now time’s up.
“There’s a dead man on the driveway,” Evander spits, livid and sweating. “Your grandmother’s driver. The car’s missing. Outside. Now .”