Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) (4 page)

What I felt toward Evan was harder to deal with, but we were still on the road to rebuilding friendship and trust. In the days after I returned to my home in Wilding, following Gage's inauguration as packmaster, Evan was one of the few people I didn't avoid. That had to count for something. Of course, he was just my friend. But even as I thought about it, I knew it wasn't true.

I dropped heavily into the opposite chair, realising the
friends
line was little more than hollow words. I was grasping for a reality that I wasn’t sure existed. Would we ever truly be friends with our shared past hanging over us? Could we manage to be anything more to each other as long as that past kept toying with my emotions?

"Sure," said Astra softly as if she could hear exactly what I was thinking. "That's why he's been going crazy trying to find you."

"He has?"

"There was nothing he wasn't willing to do, Stella. He loves you. Any fool can see that."

"Idiots and fools, huh?"

"Listen to me, Stella. You can fool all kinds of people, but I
see
you. I feel your hurt when you're near him, and I would be surprised if others didn’t too. They’re just too polite to say anything. He messed up. He knows that."

"You've spoken to him?"

"A few times. He came to the house as soon as he knew you were gone and tracked Kitty and me down. I feared he would destroy Wilding with his unbridled fury."

"I was on the phone with him when I opened the door," I recalled.

"He's been desperate ever since. He volunteered for every task force, and every tactical team. He worked tirelessly to find you; and the longer it took, the more determined he became. He never once gave up on his quest to rescue you. I was with him when he got your signal."

"Evan told me my ring broke, which is why it activated. I remember that, sort of."

"We were in the midst of a meeting with Étoile when he got to his feet, and said he knew where you were before flashing out of there like a puff of smoke. Moments later, you were in his arms, in the room, and both of you were on fire."

"On fire?" I stroked my arms, the prickle of heat having subsided some time ago.

"I've never seen anything like it!"

I looked up, finding her studying me. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because Evan is too proud to admit it and you should know. Sure, you both messed up, but when someone loves you like that, you should know."

"I can’t... I don't know. I don't know what to believe. He's my friend. He doesn't love me. He lied to me."

"He took Irina's blow for you," she reminded me. I winced as the image of Irina launching magic at me flashed through my head. Evan thought nothing of putting himself in the middle, safely shielding me.

"He didn't trust me."

"He couldn't tell you anything."

"I..."

"Do you remember what I told you before you disappeared? When we were talking about being with someone that might not be potentially acceptable?" Astra asked. I shook my head, no, so she continued, "I told you to get your own power. I said do what you want and to hell with everyone else."

The words briefly resonated in my head until suddenly, it was there, a pure memory. Having just spoken with Gage, I decided there was no future to pursue with him. I was sad, but I knew I made the right decision. It didn't end the feelings I had for him, but it managed to put them into a place that I could heal from. I asked Astra about Étoile and Matthias, and their years of an on-off relationship, and Étoile gave me her own version. That wasn't something I wanted either, but Étoile had power. Even she couldn't change things for her own love, a vampire.

"But Evan and I don't want to be together. We agreed to be friends," I said adamantly, sticking to my story. That was what Evan and I decided. Back then, I chose not to think about it. Doing so would mean other critical decisions for me to make, and I wasn't ready to put myself out there in that way... but everything changed since then. Astra seemed determined to make sure I knew that. "I really don't know why you're telling me all this," I told her.

"In case you're too dumb to notice."

I winced at her sharp tongue. "You sound just like Étoile."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said, sounding even more like her sister as a knock pounded at the door. "Enter!"

The door opened and Clare stepped through, holding it wider for an older woman. She had long, fading, red hair, and a straight nose with laughter lines around her eyes. Her clothing looked like she was stuck in the nineties: long, lacy, layered skirt, black, tank top and a slouchy, knitted cardigan that hung off her shoulders. She wore lots of silver; bracelets chimed at her wrists and long chains hung from her neck. She couldn't have been more contrasting in style from Clare's neat jeans and pressed pink blouse, but there was an unmistakable resemblance. "Ariadne?" I asked before Clare could tell me she had worried about me too. I could see the words forming but I didn't need to hear anymore. Étoile had given me a job to do. I needed to focus on that now.

"Yes, and you must be Stella," said Ariadne, offering a hand dotted with silver rings as she stepped forwards. "You have so much of your parents in you. It's a pleasure to meet you at last."

"You know about me?"

"I knew about your birth, but lost track of you after your parents..." Ariadne stopped. She didn't need to continue. I knew what she was going to say: after my parents’
death
. She recovered quickly, continuing, "You're the closest thing to a celebrity we witches have. Even those of us on the fringes of our society have heard about you!"

"I've been told that before, but it's hard to believe."

Ariadne shrugged like it was of no interest to her whether I believed it or not. She looked at Astra's collection of books. "I believe you wanted to talk to me about my mother's visions and her writings, but these don't belong to her."

"No, they don't," agreed Astra. "At least, not the ones I've looked at so far. We only have a couple of her notebooks." She reached into her bag and extracted two old books, passing them to Ariadne.

"Yes, these are hers," she said, thumbing through them. "Where did you find them?"

"In the archives a few months ago. There's a note in one that says it was copied. We thought you might have the copy."

"Possibly. I have a couple of boxes of my mother's things in my attic. I remember her writing in notebooks like these, but I've no idea how it could have gotten here. I thought she burned them."

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

Again, Ariadne shrugged. "I have no idea. She was very old and suffering from dementia when she passed. She did a lot of strange things. Étoile told me you wanted to know more about her but I'm still not clear on why you need to know the ramblings of a dead woman."

"She wrote about a superwitch that could save us all. A prophecy."

"A prophecy?" Ariadne laughed. "My mother had a lot of visions, but a prophecy? That's a little far-fetched even for her. The truth is, Athene had vision after vision and some were accurate and some weren't. Even then, her visions were often unclear, or lacking in details, and they only got worse the older she became."

"Your daughter could be the superwitch," I explained, but she shook her head, still visibly amused. Astra had already discounted that possibility, but I continued. "Or it could be someone else. Several of her visions came to fruition, so we're exploring the possibility there's truth in this one too."

"Did Étoile ask you to do this?" asked Ariadne.

I nodded. "She did."

"Some might say she's clutching at straws in pursuing such an inquiry."

"Would you?" asked Astra.

Ariadne reached for a chair and drew it out, dropping her bag on the floor as she sat. "Truthfully, I don't know. I'm here because Étoile reached out; and I have to admit, I was curious about you," she said, glancing at me. "You're the daughter of my old friends, and my daughter speaks highly of you. Plus, it's nice to visit Clare, and I've become more aware of the difficulties our kind faces now. Honestly, I don't know if there's anything significant in what my mother wrote, but I'll tell you whatever I can. Will that be enough?"

"Perfect," said Astra. "What do you know about the star sister prophecy?"

Ariadne blinked, startled, and laughed. "The star sisters? Oh, wow. That was something your mothers and I made a silly spell about years ago! That has nothing to do with my mother. Plus, it can't even have come true! I broke my part of the pact by not giving my daughter a star name. You and your sisters have them, and Stella, of course, but Clare is simply Clare."

"I like my name," said Clare, "but you didn't totally break it."

"I did. I couldn't find a single star name I liked. Plus, your father wanted to name you after his grandmother and she was a sweetheart."

"I know that. I meant our surname,
Starkwell.
S-t-a-r," Clare spelled.

"I don't think that counts, honey. I'm sure the spell was linked to first names. Anyway, it was just a silly thing. I don't know why you're even asking."

Astra flicked open the notebook, stopping at the star sister prophecy. "This was written forty years ago," she said, handing it to Ariadne.

"Well, that's not possible. None of you were born then. We didn't make that spell until years after that; and even then, it wasn't something I ever discussed with my mother. She couldn't possibly have known we would make that spell, or even that we did."

"Could she have suggested it to you?" I asked. "Maybe planted it into your subconscious?"

"No, she told me about her visions, but never that one."

"And the pact was only made between you, Astra's mother and my mother?" I persisted.

"Yes, just the three of us."

"Do you have any other children?"

"No, just Clare. And yes, her name really is Clare. There's no star connection, believe me. That was just a silly thing. I'm surprised your mothers went ahead with the idea. I thought it was just a silly thing and assumed we all outgrew it."

"My mother only has three daughters," said Astra, frowning. "And as far as we know, your mother only had you, Stella. Maybe it is one of the four of us, or five, if we include Clare. The spell might still cover her, even if she doesn't have a star name."

"It was just a silly spell," insisted Ariadne, laughing. "It was never designed to do anything more than ensure that you girls would grow closer to each other and stronger together. That didn't work out because we eventually all went our separate ways; but look at you now! You all work together. It was never meant to be any kind of prophecy. I think you're looking at this all wrong." She handed Astra the notebook with a shake of her hand that caused her bracelets to chime.

Astra dropped the notebook onto the table with a sigh. Leaning back into her chair, she sounded defeated as she said, "She could be right. Maybe we're looking in the wrong place. We immediately thought the star sister prophecy meant us, but maybe it refers to someone else."

"There could be another set of star sisters? Not us?" Relief flooded me. The idea of being responsible for so much power was incomprehensible. Unlike my foes, I wasn't power hungry. I had enough magic. Not enough power that I could do whatever the hell I liked, no matter what Astra said, but enough magic of my own. Even as I thought it, I realised how different magic and power were. Some wanted it all. I just wanted to control whatever gifts I had. That meant my magic and any decisions about my life. Having more power was another thing. Even if it made my life easier in some respects, did I want more power just so I could have a simpler love life? The downfalls of such an acquisition of magic and power would surely be high.

"Maybe. Maybe it doesn't even have anything to do with our star names. Maybe it's something else altogether," said Clare.

"Then how in hell do we find them? Her?" I knew it was pointless to ask. Astra didn't have any more ideas than I did, but at least, we were in the room with the one witch who might have been able to help us.

"Tell me more about this so-called superwitch prophecy," said Ariadne. "Maybe I can decipher some hidden meaning, or discover something else without being specific. Sometimes, she wrote in riddles. My mother really was the most difficult woman."

"You think there's a chance this could be real then?" I asked, noting the doubt in her voice.

"I don't know," she sighed, "but sometimes, my mother wasn't as direct as she could have been. Plus, she never told me about it. I'm sure I would remember if she did. I'm somewhat curious why she never mentioned it."

Astra darted a hopeful glance in my direction. "Do you think there's a reason why she didn’t?" she asked.

Ariadne shrugged. "You brought me all this way. Let's find out."

Chapter Five

"I've definitely never seen this before." Ariadne pushed the book away and shook her head. "It's my mother's, all right; but... she never mentioned it, not once, not at all. It's just so strange."

"Maybe your mother forgot," I suggested, glad to have something to focus on, and some kind of purpose. Étoile was wise to assign me a job. At least, I wasn't thinking about Auberon Morgan and what he might be doing to the prisoners I was forced to leave behind.

"Maybe. She was a little scatterbrained. Towards the end, she was barely there at all."

"What happened to her?"

"The dementia addled her mind, but she died naturally in her sleep."

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"Thank you. It was very sad. She barely knew me at all by the time she passed. Her mind was all over the place. Sometimes she was a child, or twenty years old. We couldn't be sure if she were having visions, or memories, or if her mind was just playing tricks on her."

"And she never mentioned anything about a superwitch?" asked Astra.

"Now that I think about it, she did mention something a couple of times when she was well. She was always too preoccupied to talk about it, but I think she was trying to work out who it could be. She said..." Ariadne frowned, her eyes glazing as she delved into her past. "That's it! She said the parents would have to know because they would need to guide the child into his or her true power when the time came for the becoming, that is, the awakening of the superwitch. However, she never found out who it was."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. It's coming back to me now. My mother was sure the superwitch hadn't been born yet... when was it?" Ariadne reached for the notepads, rifling through them. A few minutes later, she looked up, quite pleased. "I recall this spell because she cast it around my birthday. I remember her talking about the superwitch that summer. That was thirty years ago."

"How are we supposed to find anyone who remembers Athene thirty years ago?" asked Astra, reaching for the notepad to take a look at the handwritten entry.

"It will be hard," I said as she passed the notebook to me. The spell was a birthday wish spell, something to add to a cake to endow happiness on all the celebrants who ate it. It was charming and I made a mental note to ask Seren about those kinds of spells at another time. Both she and her husband, David, excelled at that sort of thing. "We can look at it another way though."

"What's that?"

"The witch has to be under thirty years old. We can rule out anyone over that age and focus our search exclusively on those under that age." I instantly perked up, thinking I could scour our databases and produce a list of names to start. But that didn't mean the superwitch would be anyone known to us. I swiftly deflated as my idea soon became fraught with issues.

"That's still too many," pointed out Astra.

Ariadne nodded, adding what I already thought, "Plus, this witch might not even know he or she is a witch. You're assuming they're somebody within our community. Many live on the fringes; or some throwback gene could manifest in a non-magic family."

I closed the notebook, placing it on the table as the success of my idea ebbed away. "This search could be impossible."

"Perhaps we should just call them to us?" Astra said. "We could perform a spell to attract the superwitch."

"Hardly any point in that, when we don't even know what to do when we find him or her. We need to refocus on what the superwitch can do," I said, thinking out loud.

"That might attract the superwitch anyway," pointed out Ariadne. "That much innate power will surely be attracted to the objects that make up their arsenal. Look at this line here about the talismans.
They'll be drawn like magnets to their true owner.
The force could pull them together."

Astra and I exchanged hopeful glances. I wondered if her heart was beginning to race like mine. "It's worth a shot," said Astra.

"What does the superwitch need?" asked Ariadne. "Did my mother make any notes of what the artifacts are?"

"I read something about that. It's in one of these notebooks," said Astra, spinning in her chair so she could slide her legs under the desk. She picked up several books, searching until she found the right one. "Here it is. Right here, Athene wrote the superwitch would need to wield talismans from all clans. The witches received a book of some kind. It foretells things. A..."

"A horologican," I interjected, excited at the new lead. "The demons were looking for one."

"Did they find it?" asked Ariadne in alarm. "No demon should ever have one!"

I shook my head quickly. "No, but I think I know where to find one. What else do they need?"

"Let me see... The werewolves received a witch-made talisman, the shapeshifters hold pendants and so do the witches. The demons possess a talisman too, but it doesn't say what kind; and there's something here about the vampires... oh, the ink is too smudged. I can't see."

"A horologican, two pendants, and three other talismans. What are we supposed to do? Say to the vampires, the demons and the werewolves, 'Hey, we think you have something that belongs to a mystery witch, and he or she could probably kill you all with it. Can we have it?'" suggested Astra, laughing at the absurdity of such a request.

"What if we added 'please'?" I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. Having our ideas hit brick walls didn't do anything for our morale. The more we talked about it, the harder it seemed for us to identify our mysterious saviour.

"I think your superwitch might be an elemental witch," said Ariadne. She plucked another notebook from the pile and started thumbing through it. "There's a little note in the margin here about a superwitch controlling the four elemental powers. Earth, water, air, and fire."

"Kitty can control the weather. That's elemental," said Astra.

"Is she an elemental witch?" Ariadne asked, pausing from her reading to look up.

Astra looked at me for confirmation, but all I could do was shake my head. "I don't know. I never thought about how she controls the weather. It could be from manipulating the elements. Water could make rain. Air could make whirlwinds or breezes. Fire could make heat. What would earth do?"

"Earth power drawn through her could fuel the others," suggested Ariadne. "Is she very powerful?"

"Not that I've noticed," admitted Astra. "Sorry, for creating false hope."

"We should concentrate on finding information about the other talismans," I decided, "rather than trying to figure out who the witch is. Is there any information about them? Who has them, for example?"

"Even if my mother knew back then, it's unlikely the same people would have them now," Ariadne pointed out. "It seems from a note here that the talismans were made long before the superwitch was born. There's one thing I remember my mother being adamant about: wielding that much power is a dangerous thing."

"For their opponents?" asked Astra.

Ariadne gave a decisive shake of her head. "Yes, of course, but for the witch too. That kind of power running through your veins... could devastate a witch. Maybe even kill them."

I started to ask how much magic exactly would be required to kill a superwitch, but at that moment, the door swung open and Seren stepped into the room. Her long, velvet skirt flowed around her ankles as her silver bracelets jangled. Between Ariadne and her, I figured they had the stereotypical
witchy look
covered. "Étoile has called a Council meeting. We need to attend. Now," she added emphatically when we didn't respond fast enough.

We hurried after her. Tension filled the air as a bevy of worried faces followed us to the central hall where the councils usually convened. By the time we arrived, the front few rows were already filled, so we slid onto the end of half-filled row. I wanted to ask Seren about the urgency of the council meeting, but as I opened my mouth, she waved to her husband. Walking quickly around the chairs to the seat he saved for her at the front, and right before the podium, she swiftly left me to silently shut my mouth.

Looking around, I noted how many glances I was attracting. Some met my eyes with encouraging smiles, others showed flat-out curiosity. "Why are they all staring?" I asked Astra.

"You're the talk of the town. Well, of this building anyway," she replied. "You were missing and then you came back."

"Everyone knows?"

"Sure. You have a reputation, remember? Just like me," she added with a sigh.

"You don't have a reputation.”

"Don't be kind. I know I do. I'm Étoile's weak, wayward sister whom she keeps close by so I can't get into anymore trouble."

"No one thinks that."

Astra simply raised her eyebrows. She was right, of course, but I would never admit that to her. I heard the gossip about her, and though some of it was embellished, a lot was the truth. My own initial meeting with her was horrendous. If I could manage to switch from being her former target to becoming her friend, I felt pretty sure anyone could learn to accept her. It happened when she was under the manipulation of a far more powerful witch. That said, maybe it was simply our curious friendship that attracted comment.

"Let's begin," Étoile said, shimmering on stage, and surprising a good portion of the crowd into startled silence. Behind her filed the High Council members. There was Gage, of course, leading the werewolf faction, and Luke Fellows, whom I'd seen sworn in for the vampires. Arnie South represented the shapeshifters. I didn't know the demon leader, and had to nudge Astra to ask.

"That's Corinthia," she said as I took in the tall woman's appearance. Her hair was very black and straight, cut to her shoulders, while her eyes were almost completely black with barely any white showing. I sensed her curiosity as she surveyed the assembly, and refused to turn away when she met my eyes. I didn't have personal relationships with any of the High Council, although I had met Arnie before. I wasn't sure I wanted any either, and my relationship with Gage was in limbo. Last time we spoke properly, it was to establish our tentative friendship since there appeared to be nothing else left. Since waking up in The Amethyst, we barely exchanged more than a few words. Regardless of that, I felt his eyes on me a fraction of a moment before I switched my gaze to him. He looked away quickly. What was that about?

"Over the past few months, we have been quietly investigating the disappearance of several members of our brethren. Some of you know about this. For others, it is surprising news. For keeping any of you in the dark, I sincerely apologise. Our High Council members have also investigated similar disappearances amongst their own factions." Étoile waved for quiet as the assembly broke out into worried whispers. "One of our missing has returned," she said, glancing toward me for the briefest of seconds before aiming her gaze at the crowd again. She may have been trying to avoid drawing attention to me, but several attendees still turned to glance in my direction. I held my head firmly. I had nothing to be worried about. I was kidnapped, rendered immobile, and escaped. None of that knowledge, however, prevented the wave of shame that passed through me. I left people behind with the promise of sending help that never arrived thanks to my mental vacation. "She returned with vital information; and it is that very information which is under discussion today. We are all in agreement. The Brotherhood must be obliterated if we, every one of us, are to survive as a race. We are officially at war."

Hearing that, everyone began to talk at once. Astra and I exchanged fearful glances. "What does this mean?" I whispered.

"I don't know. I can only guess. Our factions have never banded together like this before, and never to declare war against another faction."

"The Brotherhood aren't any faction. They're not even supernatural," I replied.

"They're in our world regardless of what they might be. They've been tolerated for too long. We've lost too many of our own kind to them."

"Did you know others that went missing?" I asked. "I remember meeting a werewolf at the place they held me, and witches. There were lots more."

"Many more, from what I've overheard. But I've never heard of demons going missing."

"Evan didn't mention anything."

"Étoile is beckoning us. We should follow." I glanced across to where Étoile was standing, but the stage was empty. The High Council was gone too. "She's in her office," Astra continued, tapping her head to tell me the message she received was telepathic.

Seren and David were ahead of us, apparently also en route to Étoile's office, judging by their direction. I threw out a telepathic message to Seren and they slowed so we could catch up to them as we pushed past the lingering mass of confused, excited witches and a couple of angry-looking werewolves.

"War?" I asked, when Étoile closed the door to her office. Seren and David held hands as they often did. Astra had her arms crossed, her brow furrowed with worry. Clare stood behind Étoile's desk, but her posture told me she was anything but relaxed. Étoile took up position in her chair behind the desk.

"I wasn’t intending to spring it on anyone, but it was a High Council decision so we can start preparations as soon as possible. Where are we on..."