Sitting back, Lizzie smirked as Temperance joined her on the couch.I walked in line with it, resting back against the edge of my desk.This office was cramped, but at least the furniture was all solid wood and high-quality.
“Desperation, huh?”Crossing her arms over her chest, Lizzie stared up at me, not bothered by how Temperance rested her head on her shoulder.
“You would have felt the same had you seen Temperance’s face.If I didn’t bring you back, I’m fairly certain she would have killed me.”
That made Lizzie’s brows shoot up, and she turned to her stepsister, who was blushing bright pink under that warm tan skin of hers.The corner of Lizzie’s mouth lifted, and she reached up to tuck a long brown curl behind Temperance’s ear.
“Worried about me?”
“Don’t look at me like that.”Temperance playfully shooed Lizzie away.“Of course, I was worried.”
They both eyed each other for a while, and suddenly, I felt like I was intruding on a private moment.I didn’t think they realized it, however.Still, I cleared my throat and circled my desk, reaching into the lower drawer for that bottle of scotch and a rocks glass.Sitting down in the plush leather chair, I poured myself a few fingers’ worth of the stuff and took a long sip.
“Mind sending a bit of that over here?I really need to get that taste out of my mouth.”
Looking up, I rolled my eyes and restrained a laugh as Lizzie raised a hand, waiting until I nodded before she glided it through the air to herself.She took a sip from the bottle, making a face as she swallowed the strong liquor, and then offered it to Temperance.
“Really?Umm…oh, what the hell.Today sucked.”
Closing her eyes, Temperance put the scotch to her lips and barely made it through a drink before she coughed and shoved it back toward Lizzie.That broke my resolved, and I laughed, shaking my head as Lizzie took one more drink and then set the bottle down on the table.
“We should discuss what happened today as well.Your vision implicates a serious magic user or users who were responsible for this killing.And unfortunately, what the dead didn’t tell you was that there have, in fact, been several students and townsfolk going missing for the past week or so now.Just before the session started.”
“Several?”Temperance’s expression dropped, and she sat up straighter in her seat, looking between Lizzie and me.
“Yes.The profession I took over for, along with a groundskeeper and two other students.This attack puts the total up to four.That may sound small, but—”
“Any amount of dead people is too much.”Lizzie eyed me, nodding along.“We hear you.So what else do we know about who’s doing this?”
“Little, I’m afraid.The school has been targeted in the past by rivals or humans, but this is the first time that magic has been involved.Night Grove has not seen this many deaths before, either.In the past…when, umm,” my voice catches as I remember how dark the world seemed when I was Lizzie and Temperance’s age, the frenzied fervor of the bigoted crowd who thought they knew what this school was about, “there was a close-call as it were.Humans with rather narrow beliefs were getting louder and louder about their dislike of Night Grove.A couple who lived here in Rockport was killed, and that encouraged the school to take on greater precautions, and the less radical humans backed off.”
Silence hung around the three of us, and then I heard the springs in the couch adjusting, looking up to see Lizzie staring me down with curiosity and concern.
“Your parents…they were your parents, weren’t they?”
Sighing, I gulped down another mouthful of the scotch, dropping my face so that I saw only the open pages of the old book in front of me.I’d been reading up on transmutation because the circus display still didn’t sit right with me.
The words peered up from the pages, taunting me with their vague explanations of how an injury could look real but not affect the person at all.
“Yes.They were.”I was speaking before I even realized it, still focused on the book, the yellowing of the pages, and the scent of old paper and leather.“I was there the night they were killed.Humans who thought we were monsters.I was a student here at the time, but I left shortly after.I couldn’t…I couldn’t face the constant reminders.”
“I know what you mean.”Finally pulling my attention away from the book, I glanced up at Temperance.“So much of my dad still lives in our old house.My mother has redecorated and moved on, but I can feel his essence lingering there, the scent of his aftershave permanently perfuming the air.”
There was a quiet understanding between us, and I held Temperance’s eyes, squeezing the bottle of scotch so hard that I was sure it would crack.Grief didn’t just fade away.It simply became a part of your life, a new weight to carry around on your shoulders.It was always there; you just got used to the press of it.
“I know it’s why my dad moved here from Salem.He’s a doctor who couldn’t save his wife.Eventually, he couldn’t practice at the same hospital anymore.Then, it was moving to a new district.It wasn’t until we got here a few years ago that he finally seemed better.”Lizzie waves the scotch back over to her, taking a long pull before floating it back to me.“It doesn’t feel different to me.I could sense Mom right up until she moved on.She’s not here, and she wasn’t in Salem either.Don’t know about your dad, though.”
She turned to Temperance, offering a mournful shrug.The two of them stared for a moment, gripping each other’s hands and holding tight.I saw so much of myself in both of them, like they were halves of who I had been all those years ago.
Temperance was that book-smart, laser-focused part of me, obsessed with school and academia, with learning everything there was to know about alchemy.And Lizzie was the furious part of myself, the part angry with the entire world for letting me down.She was rash and impulsive because standing still felt like an invitation to Death.Moving was the only way to keep from breaking apart.
“Well, as you both can see, that’s why this is so important.It’s picking up steam faster than we can manage.We can’t just keep watching people die.”
“Okay, so what about the carnival?”Temperance sat forward on the edge of the couch, furrowing her brow as she swallowed.“We all know something isn’t right there, yeah?”
Lizzie snorted, and I let out the breath that had refused to leave me during our little exchange.Sliding the book I’d been studying to the front of my desk, I rested my chin in my hand, my elbow leaning against the leather blotter that protected the wood surface.
“Indeed.I looked at this when I got in this morning.It talks about the level of magic required to create a convincing illusion of someone being harmed or changed.From everything it says, Idon’tthink that’s what happened last night.”
