“And Vincent?” Ash remained silent through most of our conversation. He hasn’t had a chance to clean his head wound yet. Is the injury causing his quiet or the shock?
Theodora purses her lips. “He isn’t a staff member. I don’t need to explain to anybody why he isn’t here.”
“There’ll be a lot of disappointed Gilgamesh students,” says Ash gruffly.
“I will need to speak to the council about the unrest Vincent stirred at the academy. The Confederacy need to look further into this and see how far the poison has spread. They can find and deal with him.” Theodora sighs. “If the Dominion orchestrated Vincent's actions, they’ve played a smart move. Subterfuge isn’t what we expected from them. They prefer violence and terrorism.”
Andrei shifts uncomfortably and stares at his feet. I feel sorry for the poor guy—each time the Dominion is mentioned, his mother’s name is a heartbeat away.
“What if Vincent returns to the academy?” asks Ash in a dull voice. “What will you do with him?”
Theodora sits opposite him. “I think that’s unlikely, Ash.”
Deep down, I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of Vincent.
“You need to ask Professor O’Reilly to step up and get a grip. What if Clive and the other guys are beginning to shift?”
“There are a lot of issues to sort out,” says Theodora. “Let me think on this overnight and we will talk again tomorrow.”
“But Maeve,” Andrei exclaims.
“We can’t do anything now,” I mumble.
“Jamie is correct. Please, allow me to digest all this and meet with you again tomorrow.”
“Who else will you tell inside the academy?” I ask.
For the first time, Theodora’s front drops and her mouth turns down. “At present, nobody. I no longer know who to trust.”
Our visit to Theodora does nothing to change our mood or allay our fears. I didn’t expect her to have the answers, but she gave us little reassurance either.
Ash walks through the door back into the night first and I follow, adjusting my eyes to the dark night. At the same moment I’m knocked to the ground, and I land on my front, more surprised than hurt as the grass tickles my nose.
“This is your fault!” yells Andrei.
I roll onto my back to look up at the furious vampire. Andrei crouches down and grabs my jacket, yanking me up so we’re face to face.
“Get off me,” I shout and drag at his hands. “How is this my fault?”
“Anastasia knew where we were because of the fucking pendant you wore.” Andrei knocks me to the ground again and my breath is knocked from me as I land on my back. He kneels on my chest, his eyes blackening, and I struggle to push him off me.
“Andrei! Stop,” I say breathlessly.
The weight lifts as Ash drags Andrei from me, arms linked through Andrei’s as he holds them behind his back. I unsteadily pull myself to my feet and brush dirt from my jacket.
Andrei shoves Ash away. “You wore the pendant,” he spits at me. “You became a fucking homing beacon for Blackwood witches.”
“I was protecting myself,” I snap back. “How was I to know the pendant would attract them? Nobody has seen the Blackwoods for years!”
Andrei steps closer, hot breath against my face, and I struggle to remember that this is my friend and not an enemy as his terrifying eyes glisten pure black. “Your. Fault. Witch.”
“Andrei.” Ash clamps a hand on his shoulder. “This doesn’t help us.”
“If anything happens to her,” Andrei says, his voice a snarl that doesn’t sound like Andrei. “I’ll—"
“Whoa!” Ash interrupts. “Calm down. This helps nobody. Maeve would be pissed off if she knew you were behaving like this.”
Andrei shakes as the anger rolls through him, and I’m bloody glad that Ash is here because I don’t know what Andrei is capable of. I’ve heard the rumours and know he lacks self-control. We may be friends, but he’s a vampire and I’m a witch.
“Listen to him, Andrei,” I say and hold my hands up, palms out in surrender. “I know you’re upset—we all are—but Maeve would want us to unite to help her, not fall apart.”
“How can I not fall apart?” he shouts at me. “Maeve’s gone and I don’t know if she’s safe!”
His outburst hits me in the heart because Andrei speaks for all of us, but I’m surprised he’s the one saying the words. “Andrei, we all love Maeve and want her safe. We can’t change what’s happened and why, but we can decide whether to fall apart or stand as one. Remember what Maeve always says? Together. We find her together and we beat this. We win.”
Andrei’s face settles back to normal and the black fades from his eyes, but the anger remains in his harsh expression. He steps back and pushes fingers through his hair. “We don't know where she is, Jamie, but if Anastasia took Maeve to the Blackwood estate, we’ve already lost.”
“Don’t say that,” I say as my anger rises. “We won’t be beaten. Tobias is with her. Together they’re stronger too.”
“Yeah? And what if he isn’t with her.” Andrei practically spits the words before turning away from us.
We don’t see him leave, only his figure blur into the shadows.
Ash looks after him silently before switching attention to me. “What does Andrei mean by ‘we’ve already lost’?”
“We haven’t lost,” I say to myself as much as him. “Andrei means that finding our way past their wards and onto the property will be difficult.”
The answer appeases Ash and I hate myself for holding back the full truth.
Uninvited guests rarely survive their visit to the Blackwood estate.
Chapter Three
MAEVE
I'm unsure if the shadows in the unlit room exist or if they're imaginary. I'm mentally, magically, and physically drained—I could be hallucinating. I close my eyes against the shadows and retreat into myself, blanking my thoughts. My palm stings and I curl my fingers around the bloodied wound. The pain tells me everything happening is real.
Eventually, I crawl from the floor and onto the bed, curl up, and give in to a fitful sleep. The sun wakes me, but I've no way of knowing the time. My phone won't work; the screen blank. Did Anastasia’s spell break my one connection to the outside world?
I've recouped some energy from the sleep but I'm woozy and my limbs are weak as I creep over to the window. I'm on the second floor of a building but I'm unsure if I'm at the back or front. A grey stone pathway criss-crosses the gardens, with the greenest lawns I've ever seen stretching away and sloping down a gentle incline. A thatch of trees lines the banks of a small lake shimmering in the distance.
I once went to a wedding at a place with grounds like this. The manor house decorated in celebratory white and gold, with a huge marquee in the garden. We celebrated my cousin’s wedding on a day filled with joy and laughter. Today, all I feel is a sick fear in the pit of my stomach.
The sun shines, but the bright day can’t hide the darkness around the grounds If Anastasia cast the spell to bring me here, I'd lay bets I'm at an estate owned by the Blackwoods, or the Dominion, or both. But where is Tobias?