He had tricked her.
He had lied to her.
It had all been a set-up to gain her trust, to get her there – a place that would render her powerless. From what he had told her, he knew witches were something to be feared. He couldn’t risk her losing her temper back at the apartment. He’d known all along he was going to come back for her. He might even have planned to lure her there from the outset. He had left to rethink and had returned with a plan, with the means to lower her defences to get her there.
But she had no initiated powers anyway. She wouldn’t know what to do with them even if she did have. She didn’t even know what kind of witch she was. Had no means of discovering what kind of witch she was without exposing what she was to the very community she so desperately needed to avoid.
‘Why are you telling me this now?’ she’d asked her aunt amidst the shock and confusion of the revelation that felt years too late.
It had been impossible to be angry with her though, her aunt gaunt and exhausted in her deathbed.
‘Because you have the right to know about your heritage, Ember. You have the right to know what you are, even if you choose to never act on it. I couldn’t tell you before. It was always a dream of your mother’s that one day you and your brother would get out of this district. If you’d known, you might not have got through the phases that you needed to get through. Ember, witches don’t get into Midtown. I didn’t want it to hold you back. The last thing your mother wanted was for what you are to take your opportunities away. And curiosity can be a terrible thing, especially when you’re young.’
‘So I’m a witch? Was Aidan? Was he one too?’
Her aunt’s nod had been brief.
‘Is this why he was taken?’ Ember had asked. ‘Because of what he was?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t know why he was taken, Ember. All your mother ever told me was that she had been involved with a witch. That she never wanted him to know about either of you.’
‘My father? This heritage has come from him?’
‘Yes. From his bloodline.’
‘Who he is? Where is he? Is he still in Lowtown?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t even know if he was from Lowtown. I don’t know if he’s still alive. And you can’t get embroiled in trying to find him. The witch community is close-knit, Ember. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. It’s why your mother never wanted to be a part of it. It’s why your father doesn’t know you exist. She wanted nothing to do with him and wanted you to have nothing to do with him. All these opportunities would have been stolen from you.’
‘What if it was him who came for Aidan? What if he found us somehow?’
‘You saw the same thing I did that night, Ember. Vampires came for Aidan, not witches. Besides, it’s impossible. He didn’t even know your mother was pregnant. That’s why I can’t tell you how important it is that you keep this to yourself. No one need ever know. Ever.’
Except for Nate.
Nate who she now knew had helped collect her brother for her father – her father who did know where they were. Or at least where her brother was.
And just like Nate had collected her brother for her father, seemingly now he was collecting her for the Hordas clan.
She pulled away from him. She marched over to the door and reached for the key beside it. But her hand got nowhere near it. As if smacking into glass, her hand rebounded.
And it was obvious why.
She scanned the room. She hurried to the windows. Her hand failed to reach the glass, an invisible barrier preventing her from doing so. She had no doubt every potential exit was the same.
‘You only got in here because I gave you permission,’ Nate said. ‘You can’t leave again without it either.’
Because it kept danger in, if he so chose, as much as kept danger out.
‘So this is why I’m here?’ she said, turning to face him. ‘Nothing to do with telling me about my family at all.’
‘I need to know why the Hordas clan want you, Ember. That’s why you’re here.’
‘Why they want me? Firstly, how the hell am I supposed to know what they want with a witch? And secondly, why does it matter to you why they want me? In fact, why am I here at all instead of already with them?’
The windows her backdrop, she stared him down. Ember stared at him with the same scared but defiant brown eyes he’d seen staring back at him from her place of hiding in the wardrobe that night.
Her composure was faultless though. More than that, her general reference to the Hordas clan wanting a witch as opposed to specifically wanting her indicated she was yet to put all the pieces together – to see that the two were inter-related. Either that or, as he’d initially suspected when he’d realised what she was, she was ingeniously deceitful.
But it was possible that she didn’t know. That she truly had no idea at all of her father’s involvement with the Hordas clan. And even if she genuinely didn’t have a clue, there had been no shock in her expression when he’d exposed what she was. That meant she had to know something about her abilities, and that was what he needed, that was why she was there: he needed something to work with. He would gain nothing by alienating her any more than he already had by deceiving her into coming there. He needed her trust, not her defiance.
‘Let me make it clear, Ember: you’re here because I’m not entirely convinced that locator is the only one they have. You’re here because the same rules apply to that locator as to you. The magic that drives it is defunct in here. That means for as long as you’re in here, you can’t be traced and that buys me some time because I have a decision to make. You’re due to be delivered Saturday night. I never fail on a delivery. My entire reputation is reliant on me not failing to make a delivery. And the Hordas clan do not accept failure. Failing on this job could finish me here in Lowtown. Though that in itself may be of little consequence to you, my failure would also means the reversion of the deal I made with them regarding the café and your friends. So I need you to be honest with me. For the sake of your friends, you need to be honest with me. I’ll ask you again: what kind of witch are you, Ember?’
‘The non-practising kind and therefore the irrelevant kind. If they want a witch, I suggest you find one that might actually be of some use to them.’
He searched her eyes as they glared unwaveringly back into his. If she was deceiving him, if she was maintaining an act, she was painfully convincing.
‘What kind of witch are you, Ember? What are your abilities?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘A witch that doesn’t know what she can do. Do you expect me to believe that?’
‘Whether you believe it or not, it’s the truth.’
‘What are your abilities, Ember?’ he persisted as he remained in his seat, his tone calm.
‘I don’t know, Nate. I have never practised. I have never wanted to practise. I will never practise. I have not been told, so I haven’t got a clue,’ she said, adamancy rife in her tone. ‘What the hell does it matter to you? Why do you need to know?’
‘Because as I said, I need to know why they want you.’
She frowned. ‘You’re making it sound like they’re looking for me in particular.’
Still confusion reigned in her eyes. He needed to tell her more. He needed to test her more. He didn’t have time to play games. He certainly didn’t have time to buffer her any more.
‘That device doesn’t just locate any witch. It uses the blood of a dead relative,’ he said. ‘It is you they’re looking for.’
She turned ashen. ‘Dead relative? One of my relatives? Who are you talking about?’ Her lips parted as she waited in painful anticipation. ‘Not Aidan. Tell me you’re not talking about Aidan.’
‘No.’
‘Then who?’
But moments later she stumbled back against the windowsill, leaned against it for support as if she’d answered the question for herself. Her gaze dropped to the floor. She looked back at him.
‘My father? Have they killed my father, Nate? Have the Hordas clan killed my father to get to me? Why? Is that why he came for my brother that night? Was my father trying to protect him? From them?’ She took a step forward. ‘Is that why my mother was hiding us in the first place? Was she hiding us from the Hordas clan? Have they found Aidan? And now they’re coming for me? This doesn’t make any sense. I met Jonah that night. He even said there was something familiar about me.’ Her frown deepened. ‘But does he not know who I am?’
No, because he’d chosen to believe her aunt was telling the truth. And because even if she wasn’t, Ember had already lost enough that night. And because when he got back in the car, when he was still hesitating, her father’s words had sealed his decision. A decision he had revealed to no one since – especially not to the Hordas clan.
‘There was no reason why he would. And they didn’t kill your father, Ember. Not from what I heard. He died of natural causes. Five years ago.’
Her eyes flared a little, no doubt at the fact he had previously withheld that information.
‘And your father wasn’t hiding Aidan from them, Ember. He was working for them.’
Silence shrouded the room. He could see her piecing it together in front of his eyes. This was no lie: she genuinely was clueless.
‘My father was working for the Hordas clan?’
‘More than that, Ember: he was friends with them.’
She raised her eyebrows. Her eyes glossed in horror. ‘My mother was hiding us,’ she said, primarily to herself, as if she needed to say it out loud to process it, to believe it. ‘From him.’
She dropped her gaze for a few moments before her eyes lifted to meet his again.
‘But you were with him that night,’ she added. ‘You were working for the Hordas clan that night.’ She stared back down at the device. She looked back at him. ‘That’s why I’m here. Fuck,’ she muttered. ‘You let me go. I’m your dirty little secret. I’m your failure.’ She took a step towards him. ‘I’m here where they can’t find me because you’re scared they might know you fucked up by letting me go.
‘This is why you’ve been staying so close to me. It’s nothing to do with pity: you’re protecting yourself, your reputation. Maybe even your life. You want me gone. Somewhere they won’t find me. Somewhere where they’ll not stand a chance of finding out you screwed up. That’s why you wanted me out of Lowtown. You weren’t protecting me: you were saving your own arse from them finding out you hadn’t done your job properly.’
‘As far as they’re concerned, I didn’t fuck up on anything. You weren’t there that night.’
‘And your laurels could have rested on that until I recognised you last night. I could tell them everything, couldn’t I? Including how you made that deal with them because I asked you to. How you compromised yourself and why. That you conspired with me against them. I should be dead already. Instead you want answers. Why? Why does it matter what kind of witch I am?’
He could hear her heart pounding. He could hear her blood coursing through her veins like a distant river.
‘Because your father said something that night. He said that handing Aidan over would make the Hordas clan very powerful. Ever since that night, they have done nothing but grow in power.’
‘You think the two are correlated?’
‘I think their power is something to do with whatever it is Aidan can do, yes. With whatever it is you can do. They compromised with me, Ember. They did a deal. They never do a deal. They want you badly – and that would be a good reason why.’
Silence descended for a few moments as she turned away, as she stared at the window. She turned to face him again. ‘If I get to Midtown, they won’t be able to find me. They won’t be able to touch me.’
‘You think they don’t have ways and means, even across the border? You think they don’t have contacts there? That device has a good radius.’
‘You have wards here. I could have wards. There must be a way of using these symbols outside of this room. If I can wear a symbol somehow… there would be ways to stop them finding me. Ways to block that device.’
‘And brand yourself before you leave? You think you’d get across the border with a witch symbol blazened on you? And how long do you think it would be before someone discovered it? What then if they send you back? Are you going to spend your life in hiding?’
Those scared brown eyes were back. ‘So you’re telling me I’m not leaving here? Is that what you’re saying?’
His gaze was steady, cold.
Of course that was what he was saying. Of course that was why she was there. That was why she was there where she was powerless to do anything about it. He was screwed either way. Of course he wasn’t going to let her go to Midtown and risk being found. He certainly wasn’t going to risk her coming back to Lowtown as he could only assume she invariably would.
‘It’s not just about that, is it? You won’t let me go because you don’t trust me to stay in Midtown. What if I gave you my word?’
‘If I let you go, I screw myself and I screw this district.’
‘Because you don’t trust me. You don’t trust a witch, do you, Nate?’ She closed the gap between them a little. ‘Jonah has already seen me. He knows my links to the café so will have leverage over me in that place for whatever it is they want me to do. Do you really think I’d do something reckless enough to risk my friends? Do you think after what I witnessed, I would give the Hordas clan one more iota of power? Get me to Midtown and I will stay there. If that’s what it takes, that’s what I’ll do.’
‘I need to know what your abilities are, Ember,’ he said, seemingly dismissing her claim.
‘I don’t know what they are, Nate. I didn’t even know what I was until three years ago. How do you think I got through all the rigorous scrutiny? The lie detector tests? Why do you think my aunt never told me until she was on her deathbed? I’m not sure she would have told me ever if it hadn’t been for that.’
‘What are your abilities, Ember?’
‘I don’t know, Nate!’ She sighed with frustration. ‘Listen to me. I have spent a decade working towards this. It is quite obvious that my mother died protecting me and my brother so we would have this opportunity some day – an opportunity snatched from Aidan. You cannot prevent me from seeing it through. I am telling you the truth: I don’t know why they want me. I don’t know what it is they think I can do.
‘My aunt didn’t tell me what I was until it was too late for her, despite what my abilities might have been able to do to help her. She pleaded with me not to find out more about what I am, even banned me from using my skills to try and find a way to save her, or even just to take the pain away for a while. She went through all of that to give me a chance to get out of here. She spent her last weeks in agony in order for me to be able to get myself out of this district, so do you know what that means if I don’t make it? It would have been for nothing. It all would have been for nothing.’
Ember’s defiant, belligerent composure dissipated after her outburst. She leaned back against the windowsill again as a minor whipping of a breeze echoed down the chimney beside him.
He’d observed her enough over the months to know this was no act. The race of her pulse, the shock in her eyes, the things she said were all enough to tell him she had no idea. She was clueless. Completely clueless. She had no answers for him.
The silence was a dominating backdrop, to the point he could hear her every shallow breath as she fought to compose herself again. She turned to the windows despite the lack of view beyond the opaque glass. He could see her hands were cupped over her mouth.
Eventually both her arms fell lax to her sides.
‘Is my brother still with them?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know.’
Riddled with disappointment at getting nowhere – at knowing he was going to get nowhere – he stood. He headed over to the kitchen. He spread his hands on the counter and lowered his head.
She leaned back against the windowsill again, her gaze pensively fixed to the floor as she rubbed her thumb back and forth across her opposing palm.
‘Why now?’ she asked. ‘Why, after all this time, are they only coming for me now?’
‘I don’t know.’
She frowned again. ‘Aidan’s never told them about me, has he? It’s the only answer or they could have used that locator years ago.’ Her frown deepened. ‘Is this why didn’t you tell me any of this yesterday? You knew I’d try to find them and, by doing so, I’d drop you in it? I know why I’m still alive now, but why let me live when you first recognised who I was? Why risk me ever exposing your secret? Why didn’t you let those thugs in the alley end it that night? They would have given you the perfect alibi.’
Because he’d made it personal. The only time he ever had – and the last time he ever would.
‘Because I screwed up. I was negligent. And this is the result when that happens. And that’s why I’m not going to make the mistake again. That’s why you’re here. Up until that device, I didn’t know you were a witch. I didn’t know your brother was. I didn’t know your father was. Why would I? Except now I do. So, yeah, I’d rather have you gone, Ember. I’d have you as far away from here as possible. You are my dirty little secret and I need you to stay buried. But now with that device, I can no longer guarantee it like I thought I could.’
‘You can’t hand me over and you can’t not. You’re going to take them on, aren’t you, Nate? That’s why I’m here. That’s why you want to know my abilities and why they want me. You want to know what you’re up against. You’re going after them before they come for you. You’re planning to take on the Hordas clan.’