Dark Waters (Elemental Book 1) (20 page)

“What student?” Hunt asked.

“He has no alibi, no one knows where he was for the
last hour, and Rosin swears his scent was all over Rebecca’s cell.”

“What student?” Hunt asked again.

“One of the students is the daughter of Grayson on
the council, and she already contacted him. The council is almost certainly on
the way.”

“What student?” I asked.

She looked at me and hesitated, then glanced at
Darwin. “Henry Lycosa.”

*          *          *

Nightshade left to inform the teachers that they
needed to hide their more dubious effects. Darwin and I told Hunt that Henry
couldn’t have done this. Even though we had no alibi for him, Hunt didn’t
argue. His expression was thoughtful, as if he was trying to think of a way out
of this. Finally, he stood. “Vincent is trying to contact me. Please return to
your room and wait for me to find out what exactly is going on. Some members of
the council might see you as an unwelcome threat.”

“Why? They don’t know me.” Instead of answering, he
gestured politely at the door. Darwin and I left and returned to our room to
devise a plan. We sat at our desks in silence as we considered our options.

The easiest, and most risky, was to break Henry out.
Of course, we didn’t know where the dungeon was or what kind of guards there
could be. Also, that would mean further incriminating him. I also considered
forging an alibi, but that would be nearly impossible with Alpha Flagstone’s
evidence. In fact it would be suspicious that Henry wouldn’t know what his
alibi was.

“You can control someone’s mind and make them
confess,” Darwin suggested.

“That would be wrong. No, we need to either prove his
innocence or find out who really killed Mrs. Ashcraft.”

“Are we really sure he’s not guilty? We were never
actually with him during any of the murders.”

“I’m sure he’s innocent. We would have known if we
were sharing a room with a murderer. Let’s try to find evidence proving his
innocence, because that should be faster. It can’t be that hard. Where was he?”

“We can sneak in and ask him.”

I nodded. “We’ll do that. I’ll just focus on finding
him. That seems to work in finding Hunt or Dr. Martin.” A familiar meow let us
know we were no longer alone. Dr. Martin’s cat was suddenly sitting on my desk.
“Do you know where we can find Henry?” I asked.

The cat dipped his head as if in a nod, but he didn’t
stand or go to the door.

“Did you see what happened?”

Again, the cat dipped his head.

“Did Henry kill those people?”

Instead of answering, the cat turned to study my
bookshelf, then intentionally reached up and scratched at the spine of the
textbook that I was hiding my files in. I went to the desk and pulled out the
book.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” I pulled out the
pictures of the council letters. “Maybe Henry knows one of the vampires on this
list.”

The cat’s ears flattened slightly and Darwin
approached us to see the pictures. “What’s this?” He pushed the pictures aside
and opened one of the files.

“Those are the reports of the students who were
killed before the start of school. What’s wrong?” He was frowning as he opened
the second file. Hurriedly, he opened the remaining files.

“I know these guys. Not personally, I mean, but I
read their campaigns. They’re all students who are actively involved in
fighting for peace.” I could see it in his eyes as he pulled up mental files
and reports. “These students were all protesting the segregation of vampires.
They wrote letters, even threats in these two’s cases, against a possible
attack on vampires. It’s odd.”

“Because they want peace?”

“Because Luck Auberry isn’t in here. He fought even
harder than these guys to get equal rights for fae. Madison Gibson… Michele
Valentine… these people weren’t killed for power, they were killed because they
wanted equality for vampires in the paranormal world.”

“Why didn’t Hunt find out about this?”

“Because their protests weren’t made public. I read
about them all in the private council files. Look, some of these pictures are
of the campaigns.” He held up some of the council letter photographs.

“I couldn’t make those ones out.”

“I can only because I saw the originals. You had the
connection between these people all along. So why the change? None of the
students who were killed since school started had anything to do with
vampires.”

“So the first time murders were just to get the
vampire activists out of the way, and the second five were to frame vampires in
order to start a war between wizards and vampires. Only Henry got blamed for
Mrs. Ashcraft’s murder. Was he framed, or did he have a legitimate reason for
being at her cell?”

“Henry shouldn’t have known anything about the first
five people,” Darwin said. “Only three people aside from myself have access to
those files, and my involvement isn’t exactly legal.”

“Who?”

“Um…” He closed his eyes and accessed those “files.”
“James Chambers, John Cross, and Vincent Knight.”

“Vincent Knight? V.K. Knight?”

“Why didn’t he tell Hunt about the connection?”

“I have no idea, but I think it’s time we find out.”

*          *          *

We returned to Hunt’s office just as the headmaster
was done with his “call.” “The council is holding for the moment, thanks to
Vincent,” Hunt said.

“How long have you known Vincent?” I asked. “How well
do you trust him?”

“I trust him.”

“All of the students killed before the beginning of
school were highly involved in keeping peace between vampires and wizards,”
Darwin told him. “The only people who knew that were James Chambers, John
Cross, and Vincent Knight.”

“And John Cross’s daughter was just killed,
supposedly by vampires,” I added. If Vincent killed her, then he may have hired
me to investigate the school, knowing full well I hated vampires and would jump
on any evidence to convict them with.

“Well, that is unfortunate. James Chambers was found
dead in his office ten minutes ago. Vincent convinced the council to worry
about their own murderer instead of ours.” Nightshade and Flagstone arrived at
the door. Hunt’s wizard cane appeared in his hand, as he could apparently
summon it with his mind. “Let’s go. Mr. Mason, you are going to have to stay at
the school.”

He nodded. “I’m going to try to find evidence of
Henry’s innocence.”

“Where are we going?” I asked as I followed Hunt out
of the office.

“To the wizard council. We have a suspect now.”

*          *          *

The drive took over six hours, most of which I slept
through. I was a little embarrassed about being so exhausted, but Hunt seemed
to understand. “You are not used to using so much power, so your body must learn
to cope. It is like with running; you cannot run a five-k without practice.
Keep in mind other wizards have to learn to use the magic that you seem to pick
up on naturally.”

“But I don’t know any magic. I can set a fire, but
other than my ability to talk to animals and control people’s minds, I don’t
know anything.”

“Your ability to heal is phenomenal. You do not seem
to realize that your mental connection with other people and animals is
unique.”

“You can read someone’s mind.”

“I can, but anyone can protect themselves from that.
You have a much more powerful ability. Unfortunately, that could be your
downfall in the end. I am sure you have heard that power corrupts.”

I nodded. “Mrs. Ashcraft was powerful. It felt like I
could take her power.”

“You could. When you kill someone with magic, you
will take their power. I can tell you it is never worth it.”

“You’ve killed someone with magic?” I asked.

He stared at his staff and rolled the silver oval at
the top under his fingers. Then he unscrewed the oval and opened. Inside, it
was hollow and lined with green velvet. There was a white, cotton bundle which
he removed and unwrapped. It was a spherical, blood-colored crystal, only about
half an inch in diameter. He wrapped the white cloth around it and closed his
fingers over it.

“One of my most trusted friends tried to kill Remy
for her power when she was just a baby.” Then he put the stone back in the staff
and re-screwed the top. “I wish I had imprisoned him instead of killing him. It
eats away at you when you kill someone, even if they deserved it.”

I thought of Astrid and what it felt like when I
believed I had killed her. I was a child and I was furious with her, but I
hated myself just as much as her, if not more. “Darwin said one of my parents
had to have magic for me to.”

“It is primarily genetic, yes, but magic can be
latent for several generations.”

“So I’m one of those cases?”

“No. Your father was a wizard.”

I thought of the man who was brash, unimaginative,
uncreative, a drunk, and a workaholic. I remembered when he found the short
story I wrote for school and told me I was stupid for writing fiction. There
was no way he was a wizard. “How would you know?”

“Because I was the one the council sent to kill you
when they found out about your existence. Your father asked that I hide you. As
a new father myself, I was sympathetic, so I arranged for Vincent to hide you
and your mother with a new name.”

I was silent as I tried to absorb this. It was like
an earthquake that destroyed everything I thought I knew about my childhood. I
started to rethink every interaction I ever had with my parents…

But Hunt wasn’t finished.

“A few months later, your mother married Joseph
Sanders.”

“My father.”

“No. Joseph Sanders was not your father.”

*          *          *

“Who is?” I could barely get the words out. My heart
pounded like I had been running and I really didn’t think I could take any more
news. I didn’t want to believe him, but my instincts told me to trust him.

He turned to stare out the window. “In due time.”
Just then, we arrived at a towering iron gate. Hunt leaned forward between the
two front seats and waved his hand in an upward motion. The gate opened and the
truck died.

“Damn it, Logan,” Alpha Flagstone admonished.

“Yes, yes, I know.”

“You know, but you do it every time.”

“That is why we bring April with us.”

“I’m the mechanic?!” Professor Nightshade asked,
offended. The car started back up and they stopped arguing.

We pulled into the driveway of what looked like a
renaissance mansion, which was likely a reconstruction of an original one. In
the day, I knew it was perfectly classy, but this was night time and thick
clouds obstructed the light of the moon.

As we pulled up the winding drive, getting closer and
closer to the mansion, the hair on the back of my neck stood. My instincts
warned me that danger was close and, like little flies, we were about to get
caught in a spiders web.

Spiders… Why do spiders keep coming up?

A man was waiting for us at the door when we pulled
up in front. Professor Nightshade ducked down to the floor so she wouldn’t be
seen. I leaned over to look at her. “Not a fan of mansions?”

“Not a fan of the wizard council on account of them
trying to kill me,” she corrected.

“We should start a club. We could call it ‘The
Wizard’s Watch.’ We can break Henry out to join.”

Hunt sighed. “Your roommate will be fine.”

Hunt, Alpha Flagstone, and I got out of the car. The
man at the door was dressed in a business suit and had a clean appearance,
which I didn’t expect from a wizard. I felt no sense of danger from him. He
nodded to Hunt as we approached.

“Good evening, Mr. Hunt. I was not informed you had
an appointment.”

Smooth.

“Emergency situation, Coffer.” Hunt didn’t stop at
the door, which flew open at his advance. He walked right inside and was
closely flanked by Flagstone. I followed behind, hoping not to be seen as a
threat. I figured I could protect myself by controlling someone’s mind, but I
expected that it was much easier to look for the distinct ring when people
weren’t throwing fireballs at me.

“Should I get Mr. Knight?” Coffer asked, following
behind us.

“He is expecting me.”

“And would you like tea?”                 

“Of course, Coffer. No poison this time, please.”

Coffer vanished down a hall and we continued. Whereas
the school looked like it was designed by a crazed psychopath, this manor was
clearly designed by rich men with too much time on their hands. There were an
endless number of rooms, all of which had high ceilings, elegant artwork, and
overly extravagant furniture that looked like it was never touched. There was
nothing modern about the place; there were no electrical lights, no
televisions, no computers… instead it had fireplaces, bookshelves, and gas
lanterns. It gave the mansion an ominous feel, like it was trapped in time.

We arrived at two heavy wooden doors and Hunt raised
his hands like he was going to push at them. Instead, they blew open on their
own. I was starting to think that wizards always had to make an entrance.

There were six men in the room. A large, round,
wooden table dominated the center. The room itself was small, only about
ten-by-ten, with nothing on the walls except for a built-in fireplace across
from the door.

One man, tall and willowy with a permanent sneer and
eyes narrowed with suspicion, squared his shoulders to Hunt. “Vincent told us
you wanted to meet with us immediately. I assume you have information on who
killed James.” His voice had a self-righteous, indignant quality that made me
instantly dislike him.

“Cleaning up your messes is not my job, Kale.”

Another man approached us easily. He was about forty
in appearance, right at six-four, not thin or muscular, with short black hair.
If not for his eyes, I could have passed him on the street and thought nothing
of it. A scar, clean and thin, crossed from the far end of his left eyebrow to
the tip of his left nostril. That eye was an eerie, icy blue, while the other
was dark purple.