A Darker Past (Entangled Teen) (The Darker Agency) (14 page)

“I was meeting Jana,” Cassidy snapped. She turned to my mom, pointing a finger in her direction. “
She
just showed up. Then, so did the demon. Why is that, Klaire?”

Mom’s face turned red. Cassidy Belfair was one of the few people that could push her buttons. I knew they’d gone to school together, and more and more lately, I’d come to the conclusion that there was more to their history than I’d been told. She took a step forward and jabbed her own finger. “I know you’re not implying what it sounds like you’re implying.”

“Guess who attacked,” I said, wedging myself between them, next to Kendra. This was getting ridiculous.

Cassidy backed off a bit. “It killed Jana,” she said to Kendra as she picked herself off the ground. “I thought it would kill us, too, but it said Jessie was inside and left without laying a finger on either of us.”

“I dunno how it knew I was there when no one else could see me.”

Everyone seemed to be calming down. Good. This was good.

Kendra looked from her mom to mine and took a deep breath. “Mom, this isn’t Jessie’s fault. I brought her here. I thought we could—”

The sound Cassidy’s hand made as it clipped Kendra’s cheek sent me about a foot into the air. I moved without really thinking about it, lunging for Cassidy, but thankfully, Mom was fast. She snatched my wrist and yanked back before I could make the situation ten times worse. Getting in the middle of a coven issue? That was just death wish territory. Still though, Kendra was my best friend. No one, including her own mother, was going to rough her up on my watch.

I settled for words instead of action. A rarity for me, but hey, you worked with what you had. “Mrs. Belfair, Kendra was worried about the coven. She thought maybe if we looked at some of your historical archives, we might be able to figure out how Lorna and Charles—”

“Lorna and Charles.” Cassidy said the names like they were curses. “
None
of you have respect for our ways. It stops now. For good.” She whirled on Kendra. “You will no longer associate with the Darkers.”

Kendra rolled her eyes. “Sure. And you plan on taking care of the demon problem all on your own, right?” Kendra didn’t talk back to her mother often, and when she did, it was timid and hesitant. Now though, it was like a totally different person was standing in front of me. This witch was confident and brave. Whether it was because she’d been inducted as a full coven member, or just because she’d finally gotten sick of Cassidy’s controlling crap, it didn’t matter. I was so damn proud of her.

“We will handle the demon,” Cassidy said with certainty.

Mom took a step forward. “Even if you could locate the prison, you can’t give him what he wants.”

Cassidy glared at Mom, then laughed. “I’m not Lorna. I can’t be ordered around by a Darker. I will do what I want. What I need to do to protect my sisters.” She snapped her fingers and pointed to the door. “Kendra, we’re leaving.”

“Mom, I don’t think—”

“Do not make me say it again.”

Kendra sighed. “I’ll catch you in school tomorrow, Jessie.”

She made a move to walk toward the door, but Cassidy grabbed her wrist. She held so tight that the skin on Kendra’s arm went from red to white. “No, you won’t. You are to stay away from anyone with the name Darker. That’s an order from your coven leader, not your mother.”

Kendra gasped, and a wash of icy fear swept over me. Cassidy had told Kendra to give me a wide berth many times, but as a mother. A command from her coven leader couldn’t be disobeyed without facing some seriously harsh punishments.

I’d just lost my best friend.

Chapter Nineteen

There was a small buzzing sound. I burrowed deeper into the covers in an attempt to make it go away, but it wouldn’t be silenced. Groggy, I pulled my face from the pillow. It was still dark, the stars shining through my thin bedroom curtains. On the nightstand, my cell was lit up and rattling like a metal head in a mosh pit. “Whoever you are, you better be on the verge of being eaten by an entire nest of hellhounds…”

I made a grab for the cell, but missed, knocking my ancient iPod off the dresser. Thankfully, it landed in the safety of my shoe—one without demon dog drool. On the second swipe, I got the phone. The sudden light from the screen was harsh, and it took a minute for my eyes to adjust enough to read it. It was a text from Kendra.

Come outside.

I threw the covers aside and pulled my purple hoodie over my head with a yawn. Dad hadn’t been here when I came up to bed, but I tiptoed regardless. No reason to take chances. Not that I was doing anything wrong… Mom warned me about leaving the house at night, but technically I wasn’t. Well, at least I wasn’t stepping foot off the property. Same thing, really.

Down the stairs and through the office, I pulled open the door, reaching up to keep the bell from jingling. Kendra stood on the front lawn. She was in her pink ski jacket, with red flannel pants tucked into last year’s Uggs. I’d teased her relentlessly about them.

“Are you insane?” I whispered, trekking across the snow-covered grass. Craps.
Shoes
. I knew I’d forgotten something important. My socks were soaked through already, and my toes were beginning to numb.

“I’m sorry,” she said, meeting me halfway, pausing for a second before throwing her arms tight around me.

I returned the hug and pulled away. “Why the hell would you be sorry?”

“That I didn’t get back to the archives in time? That my mom is crazy? That I left with her—”

“Ken, I get it. Coven business. You had to leave.” A lump formed in my throat. “You shouldn’t be here. You were given an
order
.”

She shook her head. “I’m not giving up my best friend.” Her face paled, mouth forming a perfect O. “You didn’t really think—”

“What I think…” I couldn’t finish.

“Because as someone way smarter than me pointed out, I’m not Cassidy. I’m me. And me is a good person, not to mention a good witch. If Mom is Maleficent, then I’m Glenda, okay? I’m your
Lorna
. No matter what, I have your back, girl.”

Tears stung the corners of my eyes, and I pushed forward and threw my arms around her. “What I think, is that I love you like crazy, Kendra Belfair.”

Her shoulders shook with a laugh, and she pulled away. “You’re about to love me even more.”

With a blast of fetid air, Smokey appeared at my feet. “You found something.”

“Don’t get too excited,” she said, and went to sit on the steps. “I’m not sure what I have—or even if I have
anything
.”

I sank down beside her and pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down over my fingertips to stay warm. Smokey waddled through the snow, his short legs making the trek harder than it should be, then settled on my exposed toes. He gave a contented yap and rested his head atop my foot. “Okay, well, what did you maybe find?”

“Mom took everything out of the house when we got back. Notebooks, journals, she even nicked the spell books! She was on her way out to the car with the box, and she got a call. She just assumed I’d do as
commanded
and stay upstairs…”

I grinned. “You’re such a little rule breaker.”

“I didn’t find Lorna’s journal, but I did take this…” She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a yellowed piece of paper.

I had to skim it twice before seeing it. “It mentions Lorna Belfair’s mirror?”

“I think that’s what they used to trap the demon.” She took the paper back and pointed to the second to last line. “It says here that she imbued the mirror with great power, sacrificing much to rid the world of a terrible evil.”

“Was everyone so cryptic back then?” I sighed. “I read the same crap in Charles’s journal. Big sacrifice. Blah, blah, blah. But that doesn’t really tell us anything.”

“It doesn’t,” she agreed. “But read the last line. It mentions that this was the last job she would work on with Charles.”

“So?”

“So, why was it the last? What exactly did she sacrifice?”

“Town Hall!” I exclaimed, remembering the article about Lorna Belfair’s disappearance. “There was that bit at the Belfair table about Lorna disappearing. You think she had to die to trap you know who in the mirror?”

Kendra thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “No. I mean, I know she left town, but our records show she didn’t die. At least not then. Maybe she and Charles had a falling out? Or something happened between her and the coven?”

“It did mention she was an outcast… There’s no way to find out, though? You just said your mom cleaned out the house and locked you out of the archives. Lorna’s been dead a long time, Ken. There’s no one from her time still around to ask.”

There was a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Why don’t we just ask Lorna?”

“No way. Paulson won’t help me. Not after last time.” It was a great plan, and if I hadn’t used up that ticket already, I would’ve been down for it, but Mom threatened to cut off specific parts of his anatomy if he ever summoned someone for me again without her permission.

“Nah. That’s not what I meant. I’m not sure a regular necro could summon a witch, anyway. We’re a little trickier to get on the line than the average soul.”

I had a bad feeling about this. “Then what are you suggesting?”

Smokey picked his head up, alternating his attention between Kendra and me. Like he was waiting for her answer as much as I was.

“Meet me at the Archway tomorrow. I have an idea.”

…

Mom kept me home from school again the next day. No complaints from me, but it did feel a little cramped in the office. Dad sat in the corner, at my usual desk, while Mom was hunched over hers. They were going through the remainder of the Darker journals we had in storage in hopes of finding out how Lorna and Charles trapped Gressil. I stole Kendra’s idea and suggested we ask Paulson to call up Charles, but Mom cut me down. She didn’t like asking him to summon for us. He seemed to be leaving town more often since Dad returned. I kind of felt bad for the guy. He’d been crushing on Mom since grade school, and I didn’t think it was until Dad stepped back into the picture that he truly understood there was no chance for him.

Lukas, who hadn’t left my side since arriving that morning, eyed me from the other end of the couch. He was supposed to be going through Verdi’s Demonic Encyclopedia to dig up possible weaknesses for Gressil, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off me. I thought about moving up to my bedroom, but I had a feeling he’d follow me. Normally I wouldn’t have minded, but everyone was so on edge, and it was making me twitchy. Plus I knew exactly what we’d end up doing—and it wasn’t research.

I yawned, not bothering to hide it as I grabbed the next book in my pile. This was getting us nowhere, and I wished for something—anything—to break up the monotony.

You know what they say. Be careful what you wish for… I jumped from the couch as I felt the tug, not bothering to fight it this time. “Um, I guess I’ll be—”

“—right back,” I finished, not to Mom and Dad, but to Valefar, who was now standing in front of me. I was in his office, and this time I hadn’t been summoned alone. “Lukas?”

“I spoke to Damien,” Valefar said with a wave of his hand. “We agreed the two of you came as a package deal until you get the situation under control.” He folded his arms and leaned back against his desk. A moment of clarity flashed, and the thing twitched, all muscle and tendon, and the pancakes I’d eaten for breakfast threatened to make an encore performance.

“I go where Jessie goes,” Lukas confirmed. He was watching Valefar like at any moment the demon might jump out and try to rip me apart limb by limb. Val didn’t seem to mind. In fact, knowing him, there was a good chance he got a kick out of it.

“I have a simple errand for you to run. I need you to retrieve a soul for me.”

“Okay,” I said. There sounded like a
but
in there someplace, not to mention I had no idea where one would
retrieve a soul
from. “Please tell me it’s at least in the United States.”

He laughed. “You are so delightful. Yes. It’s in the United States—in a manner of speaking. The soul is here. Dunked.”

“So you’re essentially asking me to fetch an item out of your creepy soul storage closet?”

He rolled his eyes and held out his hand, palm up, and a small wooden box appeared. “Go three blocks from the front of my building. Stand on the edge of the river, in front of the large monument, and repeat these words. I summon thee, Samuel Darker.”

The bottom of my stomach dropped out. “Samuel Darker? You have
another
one of my relatives dunked? What are we, like Matchbox collectables to you?”

He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You are not to communicate with the soul in any way. Box it up and bring it back to me immediately. We crystal?”

Communicate? I hadn’t realized there was a way to talk to the dunked souls. “What did he do?”

Valefar froze. “Excuse me?”

“Samuel Darker. What did he do to get dunked?”

His brows rose, and he tilted his head to the left, watching me carefully. “Why?”

“For starters, the last relative you dunked is what got me into my current predicament. If Samuel ended up dunked, it’s because he made a deal and welched, right?”

Val folded his arms. He was amused by my questions, which was probably the only reason he hadn’t kicked us out yet. “Indeed.”

“Why is it starting to look like you’ve targeted my family over the years?”

Some of the humor drained from his expression. “And why is it that you assume the deal Samuel Darker neglected to pay on was with me?”

“Was it?” I challenged. He’d have to tell me the truth. Demons were unable to lie.

He sighed. “It was.”

Another Darker that made a deal with Valefar. Once was a coincidence. More than that? There was more to this whole thing than we were seeing. I made a mental note to do some digging when we got through this whole Gressil mess. “What did he bargain for?”

He waggled a finger at me. “No can do. Part of the deal is that I wouldn’t disclose the specifics.”

“Isn’t that convenient?” Lukas mumbled.

“Just an aside, I don’t much care for you, Wrath. But I put up with you for
her
sake.” Valefar’s face darkened. He turned to me and with a wink, added, “I can tell you this, Cupcake. Samuel Darker was a very bad boy…”