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“Perfect,” he said, flexing his fingers.
He turned the first card, and from my vantage point, I saw a construction of gray bricks being blown apart from the inside, tossing a pair of bodies to their doom. I knew enough about tarot to recognize The Tower, but I couldn’t recall its meaning. The image, however, made me think of Viktor.I couldn’t be sure if it was how the gray bricks matched his eyes or the state of the bodies falling from the tower, but his face hovered in my mind.
Matteo laid the card down and wiggled his fingers over it. The edges of the picture started to shimmer. He tapped the center of the tower and a single mote of soft white light lifted from the surface into the air.
His magic was so beautiful. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it, even as Matteo’s fingers snatched the light from the air, and popped it into his mouth. The gesture seemed so fluid. I found myself leaning forward, trying to follow the mote as it disappeared.
Matteo’s eyes met mine and smoke poured from his lips like water, filling the space between us. It was as if he’d exhaled a dense dark gray cloud. Sparks of purple lightning shot through it like a brewing storm, and something pushed against the edges of my mind. The fog rolled over my fingers, up my arms and I closed my eyes as it filled my nose and pushed through my lips.
Go with the flow, Matteo’s voice urged inside my head.Let the smoke guide you to what you’ve forgotten. Let it find what has been lost.
The sound of his voice dissolved the tension mounting in my shoulders. I could feel the spell slithering along the synapses and nerve endings in my brain. Flashes of Viktor flickered in the darkness and then everything fell silent. The flow of energy stopped, and I opened my eyes into the past.
12
Mind The Gap
The dense gray fog in front of me peeled away from my eyes like someone had pulled apart a set of blackout curtains. At first, all I could make out in the glare of the sun was the grass, but then my eyes adjusted, and I saw the violet wildflowers dancing in the soft breeze wafting across the meadow. My gaze lifted and I knew exactly where I was.
The cabin stood quiet like an ancient ruin lost in the woods. Broken and empty without the family that had made it their home. The boughs of nearby trees had curled around its corners. Vines had grown up through the stones at the base and strangled every plant in the garden.
I’d spent the first six years of my life inside those walls, but I had no memory of them. My only real memory of the cabin was from the night I’d tracked Viktor to it and found him dead. But it couldn’t be the same day. Viktor’s car was parked exactly where it had been that night, but the sun was shining and the door to the house was still intact, and the windows were still in their frames.
What is this?My voice echoed in my ears and a chill ran up my spine.Matteo, where am I?
You asked for two answers. This is the first. This is the hole in your memory tied to the tower card,Matteo explained. His voice hovered around my shoulders.
I tried to look at him, but my head wouldn’t turn.What do I do?
Follow and remember,he said.
A pulse of foreign energy rippled through my chest and a shadow stepped out of my form and coalesced into a younger version of myself. I recognized the black jeans and Tulane tee-shirt, but I hadn’t worn them in years. Not since—
My shadow marched forward with determination, and I watched in horror as the front door vaporized into a hail of splinters. The memory shunted me forward to the threshold and I watched my younger self move into the house slowly, prowling like a jungle cat ready to pounce. A strange echo of anger and rage burned through my chest, and I felt a tingle in my own fingers as she swiped a finger across the table by the door.
You will feel a fraction of what you felt in the moment,Matteo explained, reading the question in my thoughts.
My shadow turned a corner, entering a large room I didn’t recognize. The library maybe. Fog blurred the edges of my vision, but when I tried to look away from my body it hurt my eyes.
“Rebekah?” Viktor’s voice called from the corner, but he was nowhere to be seen.
My shadow’s fingers flashed, I felt magic buzzing under my skin, and a false wall dissipated between her and my uncle. Viktor sat sprawled in a small chair in an alcove. A book balanced on his lap. He was alive, and healthy. He had his glasses on the end of his nose, and his hair was a mess. Two clear signs that I’d caught him in the middle of researching something.
He closed the book and stood up. “Rebekah, what are you doing here? I told you never to come back here, not without—”
“Without you?” My shadow asked, her voice so soft and velveteen, I barely recognized it. “You were already here.”
He stepped out of the alcove and resealed the door with a flick of his wrist. “What’s wrong? Did you have a fight with Jackson?”
My shadow snorted. “No. Jackson and I are perfect. In fact, he’s opened my eyes to a bigger and brighter world. One you could never dream of.”
“How nice,” Viktor said, his eyes narrowing on my shadow’s face. “What’s wrong then? Why are you here?”
My shadow picked up a glass paperweight from the desk sitting against the window, her eyes red in the reflection. “I came because I found something out. Something that I can’t quite believe.”
“Do tell.” Viktor’s voice sounded so heavy and world weary, it made my skin itch.
“No, actually, I think you should tell me what you did,” my shadow said, pivoting back around to face him. “I think it’s time you finally tell the truth. For once in your God-forsaken life.”
