Awakening (Birth of Magic #1) Read online

  There was one other witch who would have some, though.

  ***

  As usual, I found Rose Moulton in her office. She hardly looked up from her papers as I vanished into her office. “It’s customary to knock first,” she said. “But then you never went to finishing school. You were practically raised by wolves, though wolves might have better manners.”

  “I don’t have time for this right now. I need three elfstones for a potion.”

  This got her attention. “What sort of potion?”

  “My sister is back at the archives. The Nazis gave her something that made her two years old. This potion would change her back.”

  “I see,” she said and then glared at me without saying anything.

  “You have to help her. It’s just three elfstones. Then I can get out of your hair.”

  “Have you considered that being a baby again might be good for Alexis? It might be good for both of you, to teach you to respect the coven’s rules.”

  “Goddamn you,” I snarled. I reached into my jacket for the Colt. I leveled it at her head. She didn’t even blink. “I want the elfstones. Now. I’ll kill you and take them if I have to.”

  “I think you’d find that I’m not as easily killed as one of your bogeymen.”

  “I’ll find a way. It might not be pretty for you, though.”

  Rose only smiled slightly. “I think raising a child might finally give you the discipline you’ve always lacked. If only you had kept that other little mistake of yours.”

  I cocked the hammer on the Colt. “Don’t you ever talk about my daughter again, you understand?” I held the gun closer to her face. “Get the fucking stones. Now.”

  “I’d suggest you take the matter up with Gretel. If she approves—”

  “There isn’t time for hearings!”

  “It would seem Alexis has plenty of time.”

  I had my finger on the trigger when there was a flash of white light. I turned to the right to see Gretel and Naoko standing there. Gretel waved her hand and the Colt went flying against the wall. I joined it a second later. I lay on my rear, my hands raised in a defensive position, as Gretel came to stand over me. “That’s enough, Stephanie.”

  “You finally decided to show up, huh? A better time might have been when they were poisoning my sister and threatening to kill her if I didn’t give Ethan to them. No, you just show up to protect your little friend there.”

  “There was nothing we could do for Alexis—or for you. More witches involved would only have made the situation more volatile.”

  “Well you can involve yourselves now and give me three elfstones to change Alexis back into a grownup.”

  “Are you sure that’s the best thing for her?”

  “Of course I am. I can’t let her go through that again, not—” I trailed off, not wanting to say the rest in front of that bitch Rose.

  “Not like you did,” Naoko said. “That is what you are truly concerned about, my child.”

  “Don’t give me that fortune cookie stuff. I can’t leave Alexis as a baby. She doesn’t deserve that. They only did that to her so they could get to me. She’s innocent.”

  Gretel put a hand on my shoulder and while I wanted to shake it away, I didn’t. She helped me get to my feet and then kept her hand on my shoulder. “I think we should go talk. Rose, get the elfstones for her please.”

  “If that’s what you think is best,” Rose said, though she clearly wasn’t thrilled by the prospect.

  “I do. Stephanie is right: Alexis is blameless in all of this. We should do all we can to help her.”

  Gretel led me out of Rose’s office and down the hall. We didn’t say anything as students ran past us in their purple jackets and plaid jumpers. A few gave me a second glance, probably thinking I was a drifter looking for a handout.

  We stopped at a stone bench in the main courtyard, which was already covered in a layer of frost; winter came early in Switzerland. Gretel sat down and then patted the seat next to her. Like an obedient child I sat down next to her and stared down at my boots. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “You love your sister. There’s no fault in that. You wouldn’t have killed Rose anyway.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “She could have stopped you any time she wanted to; she just prefers not to use violence. You know how she is about that.”

  Yes, violence was too messy and undisciplined for someone like Rose, who would prefer to talk her way out of any problems. “Thank you for helping Alexis.”

  “You know I love Alexis. I love both of you.” Gretel shook her head. “Times like this I wish your mother were still here. She was always better at dealing with you three.”

  “We are a handful.”

  Gretel put her arm around my shoulder again and gave me a shake, like a mother. “I know you blame yourself for all of this, but it’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

  I nodded. “You won’t get an argument from me.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m not joking.”

  “Well, you would be right. I should have done something about this Chairwoman years ago. But she’s very good at hiding her tracks and I didn’t think she was this much of a threat.”

  “She knows all our secrets,” I said, thinking of what had happened in Nepal, Rampart City, and Edinburgh. “Or at least mine.”

  “You think she’s someone in the coven?”

  “That’s a possibility.”

  “I hope you haven’t been bandying that around.”

  “To who? None of you trust me anyway. Except Alexis and someone took care of her nicely.” I shook my head. “I suppose Naoko told you about the charms. Only one of you near the top would know about that.”

  “Perhaps. It’s not that much of a secret. And it would be easy enough to find some of your hair lying around.”

  I shook my head again. “I saw Naoko’s. It was black. When was the last time her hair was that color?”

  “A long time ago. That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “It’s occurred to me that you probably have some old charms lying around.”

  “I do, in case some headstrong young witch decides she can do a better job of running the coven than I can.”

  “Like me for instance? Or Alexis?”

  “Alexis would never dream of running the coven. Neither would you.”

  “Naoko?”

  “She’s far too loyal for that. And you said they tried to kill her.”

  “It might have been a setup,” I said, though I didn’t put much stock in this. I doubted even Naoko would have volunteered to have herself beaten to a pulp like that.

  “I’m sure Rose is at the top of your list.”

  “Why not? She probably thinks she can do a better job. She’s a senior witch too.”

  “Rose is content with running her school. That’s all the power she ever wanted.”

  “Then who? Tabitha? Sabrina?”

  “I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll find out. Perhaps when you go to rescue your friend.”

  “Ethan isn’t my friend.”

  “Don’t be silly. I know what happened back in America. There’s no shame in it. So long as you know where to draw the line.”

  I nodded, thinking of Marco and our daughter. “I do.”

  “Good.” She gave my shoulder another little shake. “Go back and help Alexis and then find your friend. I’ll keep an eye on the coven and see if I can’t root out the traitor—if there is one. Until I do, be careful who you talk to about any of this.”

  “I will. Most of the others don’t like me anyway, remember?”

  “That’s only in your imagination. We’re all very proud of you for what you’ve done.”

  “Except Rose.”

  “Even her—in her way.”

  Rose had the elfstones on her desk, wrapped up in a handkerchief. I peeked into the handkerchief, seeing three purplish beads about the size of ordinar
y pearls. These were the key to making Alexis into an adult again, into getting my sister back.

  “Thank you, Rose,” I said, trying to keep my voice level.

  “You’re welcome. Give my regards to Alexis.”

  “Sure.” Then I vanished back to the archives to begin work on the potion.

  ***

  As a novice I had worked with Alexis to learn the basics of making potions. I had made an Angel Food one that left Alexis with wings and a halo for an entire week. During that time she had made sure not to visit any churches in case someone got the wrong idea.

  This potion would be far more complicated. Most of the complication came from the elfstones. They couldn’t be used in their solid state; they had to be ground up into a fine powder and then boiled in beetlesap to make a paste. Eflstones were nearly as hard as diamonds, which meant it took a lot of elbow grease to get them into the powdered state. I was glad Alexis was still in bed so her little ears wouldn’t hear me while I used every curse word in the book.

  This was only the beginning. There was a lot of measuring and brewing. It wasn’t like in the storybooks, where a witch just threw everything in a cauldron and mixed it up with a big spoon. It was more like how I imagined one of Ethan’s chemistry labs would look, with a lot of small bottles and pans steaming and bubbling.

  I just about dropped the elfstone paste when I heard Alexis’s voice from behind me. “Sywvia?”

  I spun around and forced myself to smile at her. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did you go pee-pee again? Or pooh-pooh?”

  “No.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “No.” She crossed her oversized sleeves over her narrow chest. “I’m not a baby.”

  “I know you’re not. You’re a big girl.”

  “My bwain isn’t a toddwer’s,” she said, her chubby cheeks turning violet. “Not yet.”

  “Of course it’s not. I didn’t mean—”

  “Wet me hewp you.”

  “I’m not sure—”

  “I know more about potions than you do.”

  “You do, but I’m not sure how much you can do right now.”

  Alexis glared at me and then said, “The paste is too wumpy. It won’t work wike that.”

  I looked down at the paste. It did look lumpy. “Oh. Right.”

  I set the paste down and then helped Alexis onto a stool. From there she could watch me work and correct me when I was doing something wrong. It felt odd taking orders from a toddler, but at this point I was willing to do anything to get her back to normal.

  We had to take a break a few times for her to nap—and once to change her again—but after probably twelve hours, the potion was ready. We didn’t have any vials in there, so I planned to spoon it into her mouth from one of the pans. Looking down at the murky brown concoction, I didn’t have much hope for what we were attempting. I remembered what Clare had said about Alexis’s experiments on chickens. She had never tried this on a human before.

  “I should test this first,” I said.

  “No, ow do it,” Alexis said, but I held the pan out of her reach.

  “I don’t want to risk that it will do something worse to you.” I patted her curly head. “You’ve suffered enough.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Sywvia. You have to save Ethan. There’s nothing for me to do.” She looked down at the folds of her nightgown, tears sparkling in her eyes. “I’m usewess.”

  “No, Alexis, you’re not. I couldn’t have made this potion without you. We wouldn’t even have the recipe if it weren’t for you.” I knelt down to meet her eyes. “Clare told me about it. I’m sorry I didn’t come back so you could use it on me. It was stupid of me.”

  “It was stupid of me to make you do that.”

  I smiled at her and let myself pinch her cheek. “We’re a couple of stupid girls, aren’t we?”

  She giggled and nodded. “Yes.” We hugged for what might have been the last time. Despite what everyone had told me, I still felt guilty about it. I never should have let Alexis get mixed up in all of this. She had always been so good to me, to everyone. All of us: me, Marco, and the coven had repaid her with betrayals and abuse.

  “I’m so sorry, Alexis. I love you.”

  “I wuv you too.” Her tiny hands snatched the pan from me as we hugged. Before I could stop her, she’d already drank a good portion of it. I didn’t see much choice but to let her finish it off. Once she did, I wiped the brown mess from around her mouth with her skirt. “Put me down,” she said.

  I understood what she meant; if she was going to grow up again it would be much better to do it lying flat on the floor. I set her down on the stone floor, retrieving the pillow from Clare’s bedroom to prop under Alexis’s head. Then I gave one of the wooden spoons I’d used to her to bite down on.

  “Oh my,” she whispered. Then it happened. It wasn’t like with the Inner Child potion or even the antidote Celia had given us. This looked more like an explosion in the way Alexis seemed to be expanding in every direction at once. Her scream was still echoing around the cavern when the potion finished its work.

  It worked—mostly. Alexis had to be sixteen years old at least. The main difference was that she also had to weigh about two hundred pounds. The nightgown that had been so loose on her as a toddler could now barely contain her gut. Her face was just as plump, with jowls blotting out most of her neck. Even her hair was different, more of a wheat color and bobbed in an unflattering way. “Goddamnit,” I muttered. “I’m sorry, Alexis.”

  “It’s my fault,” she said. “I must have missed something.”

  “I probably didn’t do something right.”

  She rolled into a sitting position, her gut resting on her ham-sized thighs. She patted her stomach and smiled. “It’s fine. Once I get my magic back, I can change myself back.”

  “I hope so,” I said. Alexis had always been so beautiful, even as an old woman; I couldn’t imagine her living as a plain, fat girl. “Do you have any magic at all?”

  She wiggled one pudgy foot. “It’s in there. I can feel it,” she said.

  “Good.” I tried not to grunt as I helped her up to her feet. “Let’s get you back to bed. You need to rest.”

  “I suppose so,” she said.

  The bed was barely wide enough to fit her; she settled onto the mattress with a satisfied sigh. The effort of walking to the bedroom and climbing onto the bed had prompted sweat to break out on her forehead. Maybe some of that was from the effort of growing up so fast too. She patted her stomach and laughed. “I don’t think I have to worry about being cold. I’ve got as much blubber as a whale.”

  “Alexis—”

  “I know, it’s not funny.”

  I tucked the pillow under Alexis’s sandy hair. “Like you said, it won’t be for long. Once I get back, we’ll go home and find a way to fix it. Then you can get back to your sewing. I’m sure your clients miss you.”

  “Maybe.” She yawned, but when she rolled over to face me, she looked deadly serious. “When you find him, you have to promise me something.”

  “What is it?”

  “Don’t hurt my grandbabies. I know they’ve done some bad things, but I know they’re not bad people.”

  “What are you talking about? Your grandchildren are dead.”

  She shook her head. “No, they aren’t. They’re working for this Chairwoman. She’s giving them potions so they can stay young and pretty.” Alexis sighed and tears bubbled up in her eyes. “I don’t know where I went wrong with them. They were such sweet girls. How could they become monsters like this?”

  “I don’t know. You’re sure it’s them?”

  “I know my own grandchildren. I was there when they were born. Do you think I could ever forget their sweet little faces?”

  I thought back to Florence and the blond girl who had looked and sounded so much like Bernice. I had thought it must be a coincidence, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was actually Alexis’s granddaughter? Not dead from a carriage acci
dent, but saved by the Chairwoman and kept alive with potions for over a century. “That’s impossible. Isn’t it?”

  “I know it’s them.” The tears came more freely from her eyes now. “You have to promise you won’t hurt them, Stephanie. Whatever they’ve done, they’re still my babies. I love them.”

  I nodded to her. “I promise. If I find them, I won’t hurt them.” Not unless I have to, I added to myself. If them and Celia tried to get in my way—

  I stopped, thinking of Celia. I remembered seeing her in her true form for the first time in Casablanca, how much she’d looked like me. Only her skin had been a bit darker—like Marco’s. She was working for the Chairwoman, just like Alexis’s granddaughters, who should have been dead a long time ago but weren’t. That was when it hit me like a punch in the face.

  Celia was my daughter.

  Chapter 22

  Alexis asked, “What’s wrong, dear?”

  “It’s nothing. I was just remembering something.” Despite that she wasn’t a child anymore, I patted her on the head. “Get some rest. I’ll be back soon.”

  I hurried out of there, into another cavern before I vanished myself without so much as saying goodbye to Clare. I didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment. I didn’t want to see anyone either. I wanted to be completely alone.

  I vanished myself back to our estate in France. Not into the house where Mrs. Deveaux might find me, but to that place in the forest where Henry and I had first kissed and where Marco and I had first made love. Maybe the Chairwoman knew about this too, but at the moment I didn’t really care.

  I lay down on the grass and sobbed. I didn’t want to believe it. Celia couldn’t be my daughter. My daughter couldn’t be alive. Not after so many years. She couldn’t be working for someone like the Chairwoman. I had been so careful to give her to a home that would treat her well. I had wanted to give her a good life, better than what I could offer her.