Chapter 55: The Dark Messiah

The Vengeful One, Disturbed

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Morgyn paced around the room in frantic, unending circles. The blond should really find something else to do with all of this nervous energy, but there was so much of it, Morgyn was at a loss for other brilliant ideas.

Ezio had been gone for three days now. Life in Spire had changed a little bit. Drake had disappeared, and if Cassandra was to be believed, and Morgyn had no reason to disbelieve her, then he had decided to go into hibernation. Well, his stress and depression was probably intense enough right this second that he didn’t know what else to do with it all, so Morgyn supposed it was valid.

But it did leave Morgyn without at least one of the better spellcasters that the blond had. Without Ezio, at least half of Morgyn’s power was kind of suddenly missing. Then again, it was debatable which of them was the stronger one, maybe it was Morgyn by sheer ability to fight without being hindered by a crippling disability. Morgyn wasn’t entirely sure how this worked, and hadn’t truthfully thought about it.

Ezio was the strong one, though, just in general. Morgyn was the one that was always losing it over the smallest of things, being over-dramatic and overemotional. That was one of the many privileges growing up with Ezio had afforded the blond. But now he was gone. And now it was Morgyn that had to be the strong one.

Morgyn didn’t know how. Well, Morgyn had better figure it out, huh?

First things first. Morgyn needed to try and make contact with L and Simeon. If they were going to take this psychotic vampire down, they were more likely to be able to do it with all three of the sages together. There was a reason it was the three sages, not the one sage. Morgyn could probably use L’s no-nonsense attitude to keep the blond in check, anyway.

Besides, she gave the best hugs.

Secondly, training magic with the spellcasters they had that weren’t so powerful, that was perhaps also a good thing. Now that Morgyn was thinking about it, if Cassandra could get her parents on their side, too, that would be a great help.

The Goth line was often the strongest of the five families in any given situation, and Cassandra would be immensely powerful because she had so much blood from the families. Her parents were about as strong. Mortimer was one of the strongest offensive spellcasters Morgyn had ever had the misfortune of getting into a duel with. And Bella had blood from two of the lines and her skills in alchemy were unmatched. She might have ideas that Morgyn wouldn’t.

In any case, there was also the curious situation of one Liberty Lee. If Morgyn was sensing her magic properly, she was going to be a relatively powerful offensive spellcaster, too. Depending on what Sarnai’s ultimate aim was, it was entirely possible that she intended to commit Ezio straight to finding the All, and then breaking the barrier around it.

Morgyn didn’t want to think about it too hard, but that was a distinct reality. And if Ezio, like Morgyn suspected, couldn’t actually do it, then she’d be looking for alternative candidates. Liberty and Cassandra would, quite frankly, be at the top of the list of potentials. Cassandra would be safe as long as her binding remained in place.

Liberty, not so much. There wasn’t anything Morgyn could do about that except binding her magic personally for her own protection, but then, the blond did have to admit Morgyn could use her help if she was willing to help out.

Morgyn released a sigh, stopping the incessant pacing around, and pulling the blond’s phone out. As Morgyn went through the contacts list, Caleb showed up, of course, first. The blond stared at his listing for a long moment, and then tapped it and started typing a message.

I know you’re busy, the blond typed out, and if you’re too busy to come that’s okay, but, something went down and I really need someone. Please. Caleb please come home. I need you. I’m really freaking out.

The blond sent it, and then went back to the contact screen, calling Liberty. It only rang a few times before it picked up.

“Hey, hi- AH!” Her words got cut off by a loud thunk. “I’m okay!”

Morgyn glanced over at the phone. “Are you sure?” the blond asked.

“Yes!” Liberty answered. “I just, you know, crashed into the door frame, haha. Uhh, what’s up?”

Morgyn released a breath. “How do you feel about coming by and starting to learn magic?”

There was silence for a moment, and then Liberty took a breath in. “Yeah, I’d like that,” she said. “I’m kind of excited.”

“I’ll have to unbind your magic the rest of the way manually,” Morgyn said. “The binding’s still unravelling, but it’s not quite done yet.”

“Okay,” Liberty answered. “Hey, are you okay?”

“What?” Morgyn asked. “I’m fine, why?”

“I don’t know, you just kind of sound…” Liberty trailed off. “Sad, maybe?”

She could hear it. That was almost kind of impressive, Morgyn had thought the blond was hiding it better than that. Well, she was awfully perceptive, Morgyn had learnt that a long time ago. “I’m fine,” Morgyn said. If by fine one meant having a very refined freak out. “Just, personal things, don’t worry so much.”

“Okay,” Liberty answered. “You know if you need to talk about anything, I’m here.”

“I know you are,” Morgyn said. And truth be told, the blond really appreciated it right now, but Morgyn didn’t have the time to mope and whine. Morgyn needed to get Ezio back home, and save magic realm from an errant, and ancient, vampire. Everything beyond that was second, and the blond could have a meltdown later.

“Okay,” Liberty said. “I’m just making sure.”

“In case I forget to tell you later,” Morgyn said, “I’m really glad I met you and I appreciate you more than I know how to say in words.”

Liberty was quiet for a moment. “Oh,” she said, half-squeaked. “You know, for some reason I never expected you to say anything like that.”

“Why?” Morgyn asked.

There was a slight funf noise against the phone, like she’d shrugged into it. (She probably had.) “You know,” she said. “People like you, and that.”

Morgyn snorted. “People like me really appreciate people like you,” Morgyn said.

There was silence on the line again. “Did you want me to come by today?” she asked.

“If you’re not doing anything,” Morgyn said.

“You live at Spire Apartments, right?” she asked.

“All the way at the top,” Morgyn answered.

“I’ll be by in an hour or so, then,” Liberty replied.

“Okay,” Morgyn said. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

“Yeah,” she answered, and then her voice sounded distant. “Where is the button,” she said, then the line disconnected.

* * *

Morgyn had sent Caleb several more messages and called a few times. He wasn’t answering his phone, either, and Morgyn wondered what the heck it was that he was doing. Maybe it didn’t really matter too much, and Morgyn was just overthinking things like the blond tended to do from time to time.

Right now, Morgyn still didn’t have the leisure to be freaking out too bad about much of anything, and Caleb was just one more problem too many at present. So, instead of thinking about it too much, the blond brushed it off as Caleb having to help Lilith with the situation in Forgotten Hollow or something, and moved on from it.

Morgyn did try messaging and calling Simeon (L did not have a phone, because she didn’t believe in phones, apparently). Just like Ezio had said, his phone wasn’t accepting messages or calls, but his number seemed to be in service still. Simply, it was outside the range of a tower, if Morgyn had to guess.

It wasn’t like Morgyn believed Ezio was wrong when he’d said that. It was more that Morgyn was hoping he wasn’t right anymore.

Ezio wasn’t here to stop the blond, but Morgyn thought he was probably correct in stating that diving headlong into this without a care in the world would be a very bad idea. All the same, Morgyn didn’t know of any other way of getting a hold of L and Simeon right now, except maybe a familiar. Morgyn didn’t have one, and hadn’t seen Mayor since the night Ezio had gone.

So, Morgyn pulled out the blond’s Glimmerstone, and attempted to activate it, intending to simply interrupt it if it went through. The stone shimmered slightly, gave off a faint glow and a hum, and then went silent. It wouldn’t activate. Morgyn released a sigh, setting it down on the side table. The blond spent a moment staring at the picture of Morgyn and Ezio, having fallen asleep in a little pile while reading something together.

Then, Morgyn reached over, and turned it face down.

The blond went over into the centre of the room, and attempted to cast homewardial again. The energy pooled together… and then broke apart. Damn, that was almost annoying. Morgyn huffed slightly in irritation, weight shifting from one leg to the other, and then transportalated to Glimmerbrook.

The bubbling of the creek greeted the blond, then the sound of the birds and the wind. Morgyn looked around for a moment, and then turned and followed the pathway out to the portal at the top of the waterfall.

Ezio was right about that, too. The colours were gone, the symbols along the archway dark, and the stone had started to come apart and coat in algae. That wasn’t what it was supposed to look like. Morgyn shuffled over to it, resting a hand against the stone, and tracing the patterning carved into the rock. What now? Morgyn hadn’t gotten that far in the blond’s head, being too afraid of thinking too far ahead in case the blond lost it and flipped out.

But now Morgyn was back at square one. There weren’t many powerful spellcasters on this side of the magic realm-human world binary, save maybe Minerva Charm and Darrel could come in handy, but quite honestly, they were annoying to deal with and tended to do whatever they felt like rather than stick to a cohesive, pre-established plan. Morgyn would have better luck training a bunch of chimpanzees in magic use and executing some kind of ambush.

The blond frowned. As much as Morgyn hated to admit it, even in the blond’s head, it seemed that, at least for now, Morgyn was alone on this one. Some part of the blond wanted to throw Drake out of his coffin and make him help, because probably, if Morgyn asked him to, he’d shove the loss down and do it. But if at least one of them could find a little peace in this mess, then maybe that was just fine.

Morgyn’s vision blurred, but the blond reached up with one hand and brushed the tears away. Emilia might also be willing to help, she was at least notably less annoying than Minerva and Darrel would be, but she wasn’t very strong yet. Neither were Liberty or Cassandra, to be fair. Maybe, if the Goths wouldn’t directly help, there was a chance to get them to assist by taking on students and helping Morgyn with this. Given there were supposed to be two other sages and presently they only had access to one, it didn’t seem too unreasonable. Mortimer and Bella would make decent stand-ins, and Bella, like most Bachelors, was an alchemy master, and passing that knowledge on could prove to be invaluable.

Damn it. Every part of Morgyn screamed to give up, go hide under something, drink until dawn, maybe get laid, but Ezio needed the interference all the same. Morgyn just had to hope Ezio stayed alive long enough to go save. And maybe cry a little. Morgyn could probably use a good cry.

Nothing gets done by moping, L would say about now, and she’d be right. Buck up and quit whining, idiot. You’ve things to do.

“Yeah, yeah,” Morgyn said, barely above a whisper, and then stood up and transportalated back to San Myshuno. Whether Morgyn liked it or not, there was kind of a time limit here.

* * *

“This is going to tingle,” Morgyn said.

Liberty drew a breath in, and nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I trust you.”

Morgyn smirked. “You shouldn’t do that, you know,” the blond answered, and then waved a hand, magic pooling at Morgyn’s fingertips. The binding gave a slight bit of resistance, lighting up around her for a moment in the vague visage of chains, and then the links all shattered.

Liberty blinked, and then squeaked slightly as her fingertips lit up with electricity. “Is that mine?” she asked.

“Yes,” Morgyn answered. “It’s okay. Don’t freak out or you’ll lose control of it.”

“No pressure!” Liberty said.

Morgyn laughed softly, and then stepped over to her, taking her hands. The electrical charge snaked around the blond’s wrists.

“Wait-” Liberty said.

“No,” Morgyn interrupted, “it’s okay. It doesn’t hurt any.” Her tiny little baby sparks weren’t anything to really injure Morgyn, but it was sweet that she cared, at least. (But of course she did. Morgyn thought the blond knew why, too.)

Liberty watched it, for a moment, until it reached about halfway up Morgyn’s arms and fizzled out. “I’m not going to do that randomly, am I?” she asked, tilting her head. “I think Travis may buy me a shed and make me live out there.”

Morgyn made a displeased face. “If Travis does anything of the sort,” Morgyn said, “call me. We’ll have a… man to man sort of talk.”

Liberty raised an eyebrow, her expression going somewhat flat, but she didn’t call the blond on it. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I don’t think he literally will. Unless I interrupt a Hillock II tournament with my weird electrical spazzing again.”

Morgyn snorted. “Well, that’s what today’s for,” the blond said. “Teaching you enough control over your energy to be able to contain it and not… electrically spazz, as you put it. Now, the first thing to know about magic is how to identify and command your energy centre.”

Liberty looked a bit uncertain about it through the entire thing, and Morgyn noticed a notable hesitance in everything she did (but given her default magical element seemed to be electricity, it was for the best-electricity could do a world of damage if it was left unchecked), but once she tried to follow along with Morgyn’s instruction, she picked it up fairly quickly.

Soon enough, she was commanding a very simple energy sphere almost effortlessly, and that was among the fastest Morgyn had ever seen a new student pick that one up. The blond had a few new students take several weeks to figure it out.

“Good,” Morgyn said, smiling. “From this simple foundation we can start working on channelling your energy into spells on purpose. Learning how to do it on purpose is a big part of learning how to not do it on accident.”

“I did okay?” Liberty asked, bursting the little energy sphere she was playing with.

“You did,” Morgyn answered. “It turns out you’re quite a natural.”

Liberty looked at the blond like Morgyn had said something treasonous. “That’s a first,” she said. “I’ve never been good at anything in my life.”

Well, Morgyn had to disagree with that one, but the blond simply smiled. She was pretty good at making Morgyn feel better, and that was impressive enough on its own.

Morgyn had so much to teach her, and not enough time to do it in. Ezio would be nice to have about now. Morgyn pushed that thought out of mind. The blond really wanted L. For some reason, Morgyn just… missed her, more than Morgyn had thought the blond would.

Liberty tilted her head, leaning back slightly. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Morgyn answered, glancing away.

Liberty reached over, taking one of Morgyn’s hands. Morgyn turned back around. She still smelled very strongly of rice, and for some reason, Morgyn was getting to be pretty fond of the scent.

“There’s pain in your eyes,” Liberty said. “I don’t like it.”

Morgyn smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach the blond’s eyes. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, okay?” Morgyn said. “Ezio’s just missing and for that matter, so is Caleb, and I’m having a little hard of a time dealing with both of these things at once.”

Liberty frowned, her eyebrows drawing together. “Can I help?” she asked.

Why was that always the first thing she asked? Morgyn had to wonder if anyone had ever asked her the same thing, because it wasn’t fair for her to always be helping everyone else with their problems while drowning in her own. It wasn’t like she’d ever indicated she had any problems, but everyone had a few at least.

“Probably not,” Morgyn said. “Are you okay?”

“What?” Liberty asked, tilting her head.

“You’re just always asking how I’m doing,” Morgyn said. “I just… want to make sure you’re okay, too.”

Liberty looked confused, but then she smiled, and rocked back on her heels, glancing up at the wall. “Well, I’ve been better,” Liberty said. “But I think everyone has been at any point. My parents are bugging me about carrying on the family name, getting married and that, my little sister hates me and also doesn’t at the same time, Travis and Summer are getting ridiculous with their sexual tension and I kind of want to throw them both through the window sometimes, university is turning out to be more difficult than I expected, I feel like a failure of a daughter because I’m twenty-two and I clean toilets at the space centre. You know what my cousin Jiawen was doing when he turned twenty-two? He was hacking into the police database!”

Morgyn winced, but it seemed Liberty wasn’t done, because she drew in a breath and kept going.

“I’ve never been good at anything in my life, no one’s going to want to marry me because I’m so clumsy I break more things than I keep clean and I’d probably drop a baby a couple times, I almost dropped my sister more than once, good thing my mother’s got cat-like reflexes, and I’m falling in love with someone anyway despite trying really hard not to because it’s a stupid bad idea, and I’m pretty sure half my family are smugglers! It’s not like I ever believed any different anyway, but knowing about it and suspecting it are two different things, suddenly I’m a spellcaster and there’s a whole other bunch of things to worry about figuring out and learning, and here you are telling me I’m good at it and I want more than anything for that to be true but it can’t be because I’m not good at anything and everyone’s always told me that my whole life!”

Morgyn almost reached over and hugged her, as her voice broke, and she started crying. And Morgyn decided right then, that the blond didn’t like it when Liberty cried.

“And I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional, you’re the one whose brother and boyfriend are missing and you have way more reasons to be crying than me and I should be helping you instead of falling apart because that’s the only thing I’ve ever been good for-“

Morgyn reached up and pressed a finger against her lips. “Shh,” the blond said. “Don’t… say that. Libs you’re a wonderful person, you really are.” And some part of the blond’s heart ached a little, to know that she’d been keeping all of that pent up inside for who knew how long before Morgyn had asked. To know that was how she thought of herself in her head.

She spluttered, and cried a little harder, burying her face in her hands. And Morgyn did the only thing that came to mind, reached over, and pulled her over into the blond’s arms. “Shh,” Morgyn said softly. “Maybe someday, if I try hard enough, you’ll see you the way I do.”

* * *

Liberty was making decent progress. Aside from Emilia, Morgyn thought perhaps the blond could also go speak to Grace and Tomax, though admittedly, Morgyn wasn’t sure how much help they’d be. Grace had an unfortunate habit of not taking anything too seriously, and she tended to flit around between things rather than hunkering down and actually doing things. Tomax didn’t have so much trouble with it, but he wasn’t really a team player sort of person.

Morgyn pulled the blond’s phone out, turning the screen on. By now, the blond had called Caleb five times and send around ten text messages. Was that too many? Maybe Morgyn should just back off. Turned out Lilith wasn’t answering her phone, either, and Morgyn was a little concerned. The reality was, the blond didn’t have the time to be concerned.

The blond sighed, stuffing the phone back into a pocket, and going back to wearing tracks in the living room. It’d been almost a week now, five days, since Ezio had gone with Sarnai. Hmm, now that Morgyn was thinking about it, what did the blond know about a, slaying vampires, and b, Sarnai in particular?

Answer: not much on either count.

As Morgyn paced around in circles, the sound of someone clearing their throat caught the blond’s attention. Morgyn stopped, turning towards the sound, and finding Cassandra standing there. Hmm. She was more alone right now than Morgyn was. Ezio and Drake were her friends, if Morgyn remembered right.

Morgyn watched her for a moment, her eyes puffy and red like she’d been crying, and released a sigh. The blond wanted to say something, but nothing that didn’t sound hollow or patronising came to mind. Cassandra eventually shuffled over to the blond, taking Morgyn’s hand and resting her head on the blond’s shoulder.

Morgyn turned slightly, resting the mess of blond waves against her head, and for a long moment, they were just two people that really missed someone they loved very dearly. It felt like they stayed that way forever, before Cassandra shifted and Morgyn’s head raised in response.

“Undo my magic binding,” Cassandra said softly.

Morgyn’s head tilted, as she backed away to look up at the blond, but there was an uncharacteristic smoulder in those dark eyes of hers, normally so passive. The blond’s eyes narrowed, instead. “I don’t know that it’s a good idea to unbind your magic right now of all times,” Morgyn said. “You’ve got very powerful blood Cassie, it will make you a target and pretty much immediately.”

Morgyn wouldn’t say that she may eventually be important for those bloodlines of hers to take down the barrier around the All. Because Morgyn didn’t also want to have to say the blond suspected Ezio would eventually be made to break the barrier around the All and if he failed, she was a very good second choice. The All should recognise her blood and bend to her, rather than need to be broken by her.

“I know that,” Cassandra said, her tone firm and steady. It was more certainty than Morgyn had ever seen of her. “I’ll have to learn things and quickly, I know that. I think I can do it, but I’ll tell you what I can’t do, I can’t just sit here while Ezio is missing.” Her voice thickened with tears, but she shoved them down.

“Morgyn he doesn’t have his medication and it’s been five days,” she said. “His heart may not be strong enough on its own to handle it, and the faster we get to him, the faster we can bring him home where he’s safe and at least dying slower.”

Ah. So she understood that much. At least the blond wouldn’t have to explain that to her. Most likely, it was that knowledge that had made Drake give up so early and go into hibernation. There was almost no point in trying to go after Ezio because there may not be an Ezio left by the time they got to him, with or without breaking the All’s barrier being an event along the way.

Morgyn released a sigh, raising the hand that she wasn’t holding to blond waves. Truth be told, Morgyn wasn’t drunk enough for this. But she seemed to know what she wanted. On the other hand, the blond didn’t tend to get on the wrong side of the Goths. She was also a Goth and technically fell under the header of ‘old spellcaster families one does well not to piss off,’ oh what a moral debate.

“Morgyn, please,” Cassandra said, the determination in her eyes only solidifying with each passing moment. “Please. He’s your brother, and he’s the light of my life. We both have reasons to want to fight this battle. Let me help.”

The blond looked down at the floor. “I can’t promise I can teach you everything,” Morgyn said. “I’m still trying to get Liberty through her training, too, and there may be gaps in between where I have time only for one of you.”

“That’s fine,” Cassandra said. “I’ll make Drake wake up if I need him.”

She thought she could? Well, maybe she could.

“I have no idea what it’s going to do to you,” Morgyn said. “I know you’re a necromancer and your family line tends to turn out seers. You may have abilities and powers that I know nothing about, and neither does Drake.”

“I know where Keisha is,” Cassandra said.

Morgyn blinked. “And who Keisha is, I hear,” the blond said. “Alright, fine, okay, back up a little bit and then hold still.”

* * *

It’d been a long time since she’d walked down this pathway. It almost felt like it’d been too long, but there were reasons why she’d wanted to leave the Goth manor behind, and had jumped at the, perhaps a little premature offer to move in with Drake and Ezio.

Her parents had been wonderful to her all of Cassandra’s life, of course. She would never fault them for the decisions that they made with the best interests and safety of her and her little brother in mind, but there were times when they felt almost insufferable and smothering. One never learnt to fly if one was never allowed to leave the nest, of course, and the stipulation that Cassandra had to move in with someone else to be allowed at twenty years old to move out at all, that had felt ridiculously stifling too.

Maybe that was why she never had wanted anything before. There was no sense in wanting things, because as well-meaning as her parents were, they’d taken that away from her, the ability to want things. To explore the world around her, learn, and make mistakes from time to time.

Ezio wasn’t like that with her, not exactly. There was only one incident in which he’d made a decision for her without her consult, but he seemed to have merely been waiting for the ability to explain it to her, not to simply make it and leave it that way. And then he’d told her the truth, and let her decide on her own.

It wasn’t until that moment that Cassandra had realised just how incidentally stifling her parents had been. How little she had been allowed to grow under their ever-watchful eye (and there was something about Bella, she had eyes in the back of her head or something, she always seemed to know when Cassandra and Alexander misbehaved in any way). It was like she’d been a flower, set on a sheltered windowsill, and Ezio had picked her up and brought her into the sun for the first time. And now that she had tasted sun, shadow was not enough.

Cassandra had many issues with her mother. This was only one of them. For his sake, she hoped her parents learnt something from her and didn’t do the exact same thing to Alexander.

Ezio had already taught her enough of the basics of necromancy, that she’d started learning the basics of casting itself as a side effect. Cassandra was enjoying that fact, because it meant when Morgyn had unbound her magic, it didn’t flood and overwhelm her. She sensed things a little differently now, but that was something she’d take up with her mother or Keisha at some point.

In Ezio’s absence, Mayor Whiskers seemed to be interested in staying with her. He’d showed her where the white witch was. And the white witch knew her, and she knew the white witch, because they were one and the same.

Cassandra pushed the door open, her heels clicking audibly on the marble entryway, and then she turned to the right. Mortimer and Bella looked up from what they were doing, Mortimer reading the newspaper, Bella helping Alexander with his homework.

“Cassandra,” Bella said, looking surprised. “You should’ve said you were coming-“

“It’s fine,” Cassandra said. Then, her dark eyes turned to look at Alexander. “Alex, could you go see if my skeleton dolly is still where I put it?”

Alexander looked confused at the request, glancing between Cassandra and Bella. Both had narrowed their gaze at each other, Bella in curiosity, Cassandra in determination. “Uhhh,” Alexander said, “sure…?”

“I’ll come help,” Mortimer decided. “I think the ladies need a minute to themselves.” He reached out a hand, taking Alexander’s, and the two of them shuffled up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of range, Cassandra held her hand out and loosed a burst of ice. Bella jumped slightly, the frost spreading across the living room and freezing everything, smothering the fireplace, spidering up the walls. Cassandra had seen Ezio do it so many times she could see him do it in her head, and copy what he did perfectly well, down to the last minute twitch.

His magic was so beautiful to her. Just like he was.

“Well,” Bella said, crossing her arms. “I see you’ve undone your binding.”

“I had a sage do it,” Cassandra said.

“There was a reason we hadn’t unbound it,” Bella said, lowering her head. “You’re-“

“One of the five families, I have blood from three of them, I’m a gigantic target and unless you want to leave me in danger you have no choice but to teach me,” Cassandra said, her tone firm and sure.

She knew what she wanted now.

“I see,” Bella said. “You’re blackmailing your mother, is that it?”

“I don’t ever mean to hurt you mama,” Cassandra said, her voice shifting to a slight plead. “Ezio is missing. I can’t just do nothing, and leave it to everyone else. I’m twenty now. I’m not a child anymore!”

“Given this particular outburst, I’d venture to say you may not be a child anymore, but you’re still somewhat close,” Bella answered. And then her gaze softened, her head tilting back. “Ezio’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

“I love him,” Cassandra said. “More than I’ve ever loved anyone that wasn’t one of you guys.”

Bella smiled, laughing slightly. “Oh, you think that now,” she said. “But boys come and go.”

“He’s not just a boy,” Cassandra said. “He’s mine.” He was the first one that saw Cassandra, and not Bella Goth’s daughter. That wanted to be around her because he genuinely enjoyed being around her.

“Well,” Bella said, turning around and pulling the ice off the floor, “he’s Morgyn’s brother, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Cassandra answered softly. “Morgyn says a vampire kidnapped him.”

Bella looked over at her. “That’s interesting,” she said. “The spellcasters and the vampires haven’t done much messing with each other. Usually, we leave them alone, they leave us alone.”

“A lot has changed in the last few weeks,” Cassandra said. “Forgotten Hollow is a wreck, Vladislaus Straud has died or gone missing, we’re not sure which one and at this point it doesn’t matter, magic realm’s blocked itself off, there’s a vampire, Sarnai I think her name was, after the All or something, it’s a big mess.”

“Sarnai?” Bella asked. “The All, oh dear. You may be in more danger than I first thought.” Bella’s lips flattened into a line, and then she shuffled out into the hallway, rummaging through the closet beneath the stairs. When she came back, she was holding a jewelled box, dark wood inlaid with mother of pearl and shimmering gemstones. Bella sat down on the couch, patting the seat beside her as she opened the box.

Cassandra shuffled around and sat down next to her mother. Bella reached into the box, pulling out a necklace, and handing it to her.

“This was enchanted by Indira, the furthest ancestor we can trace back, who migrated with her people out of northern India and into Egypt, and then Europe,” Bella said. “After her, its protections were added onto and layered over for generations and generations, until today. Now, it’s yours. And when you don’t have any need of it anymore, layer your own spells onto it, and then pass it onto your children.”

Cassandra gazed down at the necklace in her hands, tracing the shape of it delicately with her fingers. It was a little flashier than she usually would like to wear, but it radiated power, and it was a comforting sensation. Idly, Cassandra unhooked it, and put it around her neck.

“Mortimer is the offensive spellcaster,” Bella said, reaching over to help Cassandra get the necklace on. “I’m better at alchemy and indirect magic, protective sorts, barriers and things like that.”

Cassandra looked over at her mother, thinking. And then she nodded. “I think I like the sound of alchemy and barriers,” she said.

A good defence, after all, was far more precious than a mediocre offence, and she didn’t think she was going to figure out how to handle untamed magic before things got worse.

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