Chapter 25
The silence hung heavy. All the air seemed to have been sucked out of the room.
“So… what are we looking at, exactly?” Zale asked.
“I don’t know, but I know it’s not good,” Eva murmured, unable to tear her eyes from it.
I looked up at Nova, and I knew from the moment our eyes met that she knew exactly what we were looking at, and it terrified her.
“This is what you really wanted us to see,” I said. It wasn’t a question. She nodded.
Zale was looking back and forth between us. “Would anyone like to share with the class?” He asked, an edge to his voice that could have been annoyance, or fear.
“It’s a conjuring Circle,” I said.
“Well, yeah, I can see that, but—”
“For demons. Well, actually, for one specific demon,” I clarified.
Zale still looked perplexed, but Eva’s eyes went wide. “No way,” she whispered. “Is it… is it the same one that… oh my goddess!”
Then the metaphorical lightbulb flared to life over Zale’s head, and he gasped so loudly we all jumped. “It’s the same one, isn’t it?! From your vision! What was his name?”
“Abaddon,” I replied, and even as the word hung in the air, I thought I felt a strange hum of energy in the room, like I had plucked some kind of metaphysical string just by saying his name so near to the circle. Almost involuntarily, I stepped back from it.
“How did you find this?” I asked Nova.
“Totally by accident. I was snooping around and thought I heard someone on the stairs, so I ran to hide, and caught my toe on the rug,” Nova said. “I didn’t know what it was, so I went to the bookstore to try to look it up. That’s why I stole the book. I didn’t want anyone to see me reading it.”
“Why is your mother summoning demons?” Zale asked, his voice rising to a hysterical whisper.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out!” Nova hissed back. She ran her hands up into her hair, clutching at handfuls like she could barely restrain herself from ripping it clean out of her scalp.
“Maybe… maybe she’s researching? The same way I am. You know, trying to figure out what she can about the Darkness,” I suggested.
Nova’s answering look was full of disgust. “Yeah? Are you saying you actually drew one of these?” She asked, flinging a hand in the direction of the Circle.
“No,” I admitted. “But—”
“But nothing! Whatever this is, it sure as hell isn’t research!”
I turned to Eva and Zale. “Do you think there’s any chance Xiomara or Davina knows about this?” I asked them.
“No way,” Zale said at once. “One glimpse of something like that on the floor, and Davina would burn the whole building down.”
“What Zale said,” Eva replied. “But then again, I would have sworn the same about Ostara, so…” She shrugged. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
The silence stretched between us. This felt impossible, and yet here we were.
What earthly reason would Ostara have to do this?
Had she actually used this conjuring Circle?
Had Abaddon materialized right in this very room, a looming horror reeking of sulfur and radiating deep, malevolent power?
Had she bargained with him? For what? And what the hell had she promised in return?
I shuddered. No one else in the room understood the horror that was coursing through me right now. I was more desperate for information about the Darkness than anyone, and still, I would never even dream of trying something like this. What in the world was going through Ostara’s head?
Then I remembered the conversation between Ostara and Celeste, the one I overheard before we left the Manor.
I reached back through my fear and confusion to unearth Celeste’s exact words from the recesses of my brain: I will have to consult with the rest of the Council.
This so-called Darkness sounds like an existential threat to the Geatgrima.
If your covens cannot understand its nature, we will do what we can to assist you.
Was that what this was about? A desperate last attempt to prevent any more interference from the Durupinen?
Did Ostara still fear that they would take some kind of custody over Sedgwick Cove?
Celeste’s words had sounded like an offer of help to me, but knowing Ostara, she probably took it as a veiled threat.
The more I considered it, the more sense it made.
It was possible there was one person in Sedgwick Cove more desperate to understand the Darkness than I was.
“Okay, well, there’s no point in arguing the probability,” I said. “The Circle is here. Nova, is there any chance anyone but Ostara could get up here to draw it without her knowing?”
Nova shook her head miserably.
“Then we have to assume she drew it. We have to figure out why and, most importantly, we have to make sure she doesn’t use it,” I said.
“What if she’s already used it?” Nova asked. “What if that… that demon thing has been in my house?”
I looked down at the circle, examining it more closely.
I remembered the fire that had ignited like a fuse around the border of the Circle at Abaddon’s arrival, turning it to a charred, blackened ash.
“I don’t think so. The circle burned when Ambrose conjured Aba—um, I mean the demon,” I said, still anxious about saying the name so close to the Circle.
It felt like an invitation I had no desire to extend.
“This is still just paint. If the Circle had been used, it would have been burned right into the floorboards, I think.”
“But she could use it at any time,” Nova said. “Unless… unless she already tried and it didn’t work?” She looked around at us with a kind of desperate hope in her eyes.
“That’s definitely possible,” I said. “But if she tried it once, surely she’ll try it again.”
“But why?” Nova cried out, and then slapped her hand over her mouth. We all held our breath, waiting, but the house remained still. “Why would she do that?” Nova continued in a violent whisper. “What is the point of this?”
“I think she feels threatened by the Durupinen,” I said. “I think she’s worried that if she doesn’t unravel the truth behind the Darkness soon, they’ll… take over the Source or something.”
“But the Durupinen left,” Eva said, frowning. “If they were going to take control of the Source, wouldn’t they have done it already?”
“Maybe she’s afraid they’re going to come back. She certainly wasn’t very happy they were here in the first place,” Zale said.
Nova was looking thoughtful, slowly nodding her head. “She sees them as a threat. Of course she does. And if there’s one thing my mom will do anything to prevent, it’s a threat against Sedgwick Cove.”
We all looked at each other. I could almost hear everyone’s hearts pounding in unison, because we all knew it was true. Ostara’s desperation to protect our town had led her to this impasse.
“We can’t… I mean we have to… to do something about this, don’t we?” Zale asked.
“Like what? Tell the head of the Conclave, the most powerful witch in the Cove, that she can’t do something because a bunch of teenagers told her so?” Eva shot back.
“Maybe we should tell someone else? One of the other Conclave members?” I suggested.
“They’d never believe it,” Eva said at once. “We’re looking right at it, and we barely believe it.”
“She’ll cover it up anyway,” Nova said at once. “She’s too proud. She’ll deny everything, and destroy the evidence.”
“But if we say we saw it—” Zale began, but Nova rounded on him like a feral animal.
“You think they’ll believe us over her? It’ll be our word against hers. There’s no way. We’ll get in trouble for all the rest of it, the books, breaking into her study, and then she’ll retaliate,” she growled.
“Your own mother would retaliate against you?” I asked.
“In a heartbeat,” Nova said. Her voice broke on the last word, and I had to squash an impulse to hug her.
“Okay, then. So we have to catch her in the act. That way, she can’t deny it. If they see it for themselves, they’ll have to believe us, right?” Eva said.
“And how exactly are we supposed to do that?” Zale asked. “Spy on Ostara? Follow her around? We barely pulled this off, and it was only because Nova literally drugged people.”
“Maybe there are more clues here,” I said, feeling myself snap back into action. “About when she plans to do all of this. Let’s look around some more.”
“Aren’t we already pushing our luck, being up here for so long?
The longer we stay, the better chance we’ll be caught, and then we’ll really never be able to do anything to stop this,” Eva said.
She looked a little jumpy now, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet.
Her eyes kept darting to the Circle on the floor, and I knew she was probably eager to put as much space between herself and that Circle as possible.
“Besides, look at this place.” She gestured around at the general chaos.
“There’s too much here. How could we possibly go through it all? ”
She had a point. I looked around, thinking hard.
“If she’s planning how and when to do this, it’s probably something handwritten.
Take out your phones and take a picture of every handwritten note you can find.
We can go through it all later when we’re safely out of here.
” I looked at Nova. “Does that sound okay? It’s your house, so it’s your call. ”
But Nova looked relieved at the plan. “Yeah,” she said tersely. “Yeah, get pics of everything, and let’s get out of here. In fact, we might even be able to use the pics to back up our story. They might convince the Conclave that we’re telling the truth.”
“Good point,” I said. “And try not to touch anything too much. It might be a mess in here, but I wouldn’t put it past Ostara to notice if something is out of place.”