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The room itself was actually really disappointing. If I were going to install a secret room, I wouldn’t make it look as fucking hippy dippy as this one. Bloody crystals everywhere. A salt lamp. A bohemian wall tapestry. Deb had completely let me down with the decor. Sighing sadly at the lack of skulls or blood, I walked to a table and shelves holding books and other interesting things.
“The magic signature is far stronger in here. She probably casts in here.”
I nodded, took out my phone, and started taking pictures. Daithi picked up a leather-bound book and flicked it open. “It looks like a spell book. Perhaps this could be useful.”
“Fuck it, then. We’ll bring it with us and hope she doesn’t notice it’s gone.”
“It would be helpful if we could also find something that could explain the history of witches and their abilities.”
“Witches for Dummies.” I gravitated to a cupboard containing lots of little vials and jars, some full of unknown ingredients, some empty. At the bottom of the shelf was a dusty pile of more leather-bound books. I ran my hand over the top one, clearing the dust before picking it up and flicking through a few pages. Smug elation flooded my body as it always did when I found something. “Ask and you shall receive.” I grinned and waved the book. “Right, let’s get the fuck out of here before we set off a trap and have to wait for Harrison Ford to rescue us.”
* * *
The car ridehome felt lighter than the ride there. Daithi didn’t sit as stiffly, even if he was clinging to the books as though they held Savida’s fire in their pages.
We sat in optimistic silence for a little while before Daithi said, “I am not angry with you for losing Savida. You had known us for a mere handful of days before this happened. You did not know the seriousness of my vision and would not have had the authority to stop Savida from wandering off. Zaide has been with us for a long time. We rescued him. He knew. And he let it happen.”
I processed that. I was glad he didn’t blame me. The last thing I needed was to be on the shit list of a magical being, but I didn’t think he was being entirely fair. “You say that as though he handed Savida over to the witches. He didn’t.”
“No. His soul pair did that for him,” he scoffed.
“She’s been more betrayed by her owner than we have been by her. She wasn’t to know.” He said nothing in response, so I continued. “Zaide knew your vision was serious and that Savida would wander, but it’s not his job to babysit. And you said yourself that once you’ve seen a vision, it always happens. So even if Zaide had followed Savida around all day, the result would have still been the same, but maybe Zaide would have also gotten hurt.”
“I know this, Charlie.”
“I don’t think you’re angry with me or Zaide or Clawdia. You’re angry with Savida for being so careless, and you’re angry with the witches for taking and hurting him, but you’re mostly angry with fate, or your weird magic, which showed you a vision that you can’t do anything to change. However, those people and that entity aren’t here for you to yell at, so you’re taking it out on us. But we are on your side. We’re going to do everything in our power to ensure that Savida’s fire comes home to him. We are your friends, so stop pushing everyone away by playing the blame game. Don’t create cracks in your relationships, because it might not be easy to fix when this is all over.”
He was a rude bastard to Clawdia and Zaide at breakfast, so I was relieved to get this off my chest. Zaide allowed Daithi to talk down to him, blame him, place more guilt on his oversized shoulders because he knew his friend was grieving. But I wouldn’t let him get away with being an arsehole.
I was the arsehole in my house. No one could take that title from me.
As we continued homeward, the skies darkened, and the pitter patter of rain against the glass became heavier. Having checked the forecast a few days ago, I knew what we were in for. Thunder and lightning. I put the accelerator down and hoped we’d make it home before the show started.
We were five minutes from home when he finally replied. “You are right. I am angry. Mostly at my visions. I see things which cannot be altered. When it is about someone dear to me, it is torture. Savida would tell me I am blessed. Yet I have always believed it was a curse.”
The sky clapped. A flash lit up the gray horizon in the distance. “I don’t believe in blessings or curses. I think you get what you work for. In your case, I think you let your magic or fate or whatever control you. You fall into visions. They give you information that leads you to your next adventure, putting you on the set path. Maybe I’m just talking out of my arse here, but maybe you need to make it work for you more. Have you ever tried to induce a vision? Tried to get specific information?”
I took my eyes off the road for a second to gauge his reaction. He was staring at me as though I had just handed him the secrets of the universe. Heat rose into my cheeks.
“I have always tried to avoid my visions. It’s not an experience I enjoy.”
“I think your magic takes you for a ride, hence how you tried to make a cat talk and ended up turning it human. And hey, going for a ride is fine if you like where it’s taking you. But you should be able to trust that when you want to know something, see something, it’ll do as it’s told. Maybe if you can figure out how to make that happen, you’ll be less angry with at least one person.”
“Who?”
“Yourself.”
CHAPTER13
ZAIDE
Ihave found my soul pair.
Elation filled me, and it had yet to dissipate. She was here. My soul pair.
A slave had done the impossible and met his soul’s other half. I had regained something I had never thought I would. I was so excited to see what we could accomplish. The stories of whole titans were legendary. With our new power, we could find my family and rescue them from slavery.
And to be on such an adventure with such a beautiful creature … the thought electrified me with energy, and I felt full, happy. It was a sensation I wanted to last as long as possible.
