“It’s Greek, wonderful!” Alena slammed her hand against the table. “Who can read Greek?”
I held the page in front of my face. “My dad taught me when I was young.”
“Many European witches know Greek,” Grady supplied.
Happy a bit of her thunder had been stolen, I studied the words. He’d written out the whole sonnet, as he’d done for me when I was four. Representing the last time my dad had spent more than two days with me, it signified everything about my father I hated. He’d instructed me to never be without a copy nearby. As a child, the poem lay in the top drawer of my desk. So many times I’d almost wadded the page and threw it in the trash, or held it over a flame, angry at Dad for being absent, hating the stupid poem that meant nothing to me. Still, the day he’d written it stuck in my head, and I could never bring myself to destroy the words. Since then, I kept a picture of it on my phone.
“What does it say? Hunter asked.
I smoothed the paper even though I knew the words by heart.
In a land ringed by gods, an ancient city sleeps.
The Alonso crest adorns a door, holding the Earth’s ancient lore.
Their beauty surpassing all, a soulless people roam the earth.
They know not love of God or man, but a forbidden creature holds fate.
“Vampires, that verse names vampires,” Alena interrupted.
“Obvious now,” I replied.
“The forbidden creature?” Alena gripped Hunter’s arm. “Could that mean me?”
“Or Theron,” Hunter agreed.
“Let him finish,” Grady told them.
Younger still, an angelic breed, hold the balance of the creed.
In their midst, children with three shining souls prepare a lance.
“Witches, the children of light, the sword,” Alena blurted out.
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes.
Once laid out then nevermore, only he may open the door.
Within the Book that lays the tale, the blade’s true master shall be restored.
“Okay that last part is cryptic. Who is he and what door? Who is the blade’s true master?” Hunter questioned.
“Longinus?” I supplied.
Grady paced away from the table. “Longinus proved the existence of God by drawing water from Jesus’ side.”
“We’re supposed to prove that God exists?” Hunter asked.
I turned to face Grady. “Maybe that God is merciful by freeing the witches and vampires from their curse?”
“The bigger question is why did your dad remind you of the poem.” Tyler stood and leaned against the wall.
“The poem starts with the land ringed with gods and an ancient city. Athens?” I guessed.
“Yes, and a house with your crest holding the earth’s ancient lore. Perhaps your father is the keeper of messages,” Grady theorized.
“One laid out then nevermore, only he may open the door,” I recited. “We only get one shot and only one person can open the door?”
“I’m guessing the building holding all the knowledge?” Tyler suggested.
“What about the Book?” Alena asked.
I pointed at the page. “It’s capitalized, I’m guessing the Book is the Bible and the blade’s true master is Longinus?”
“Who has been dead two thousand years,” Hunter supplied.
I turned the words over in my head. Why would Dad remind me of the poem? To make sure I followed my calling? To instruct me to do something? I scanned the walls. “Hey, is there a printer here?”
“Should be, why?” Alena asked.
“I need a hole punch too.”
I opened a document in my phone. Along with the poem, Dad insisted I always have it. The image held rows of circles, some blackened in, some not. He’d always said it was some sort of Alonso family heirloom, but I’d never been able to gleam any significance from it.
I sent the document to the printer and rows of circles appeared on the sheet line by line. Once finished, I punched the white dots from the sheet. Holding it up to the poem, I copied the letters that showed through: Pentelis, Chalandri.
“An address?” I held up the page.
Tyler tapped some keys on his phone. “It’s a street in Athens, Greece.”
“I guess we’re going to Greece then.” Alena stood up as if she were ready to walk out the door, right then.
“Wait a minute. Who’s going?” Tyler asked. “It’s Jude’s thing. You don’t have to go.”
Hunter pointed at me. “Didn’t it say, once laid out then nevermore, I think we all have to go.”
Tyler threw up his arms. “Like normal human Greece isn’t dangerous enough? All of you are going to a possibly enemy-lying-in-wait building because of a poem Jude’s dad gave him? Need I remind you he is a member of Michael’s coven?”
My phone buzzed, and seeing Camille’s name on the screen, I realized I’d forgotten to call her.
“Did anyone call them to report we were safe?” I scanned the faces in front of me, but no one answered.
“Crap.” I grabbed the phone and made my way to the next room. Wanting privacy, I snaked through the house to a far bedroom and answered the call.
“Jude, are you okay?” Camille yelled into the phone.
“Yes, everyone’s okay.”
“What happened? You disappeared off the radar. I’ve been calling for half an hour, and it kept going to voicemail.”
“My phone must have lost signal. I’m sorry. We were spotted, and it got a little tight. We’re laying low for twenty-four hours.”
“What? How tight? Is your dad okay? Twenty-four hours? No. You need to come back or at least get me there.”
“It’s going to be okay. Everyone is safe where they are.” I didn’t want to tell her what happened with Dad. Ashamed I hadn’t been more adamant about rescuing him, yet again, I vowed to get him out somehow. Further, I hated being away from her too, even for a night. Not only because I worried about her, but she kept my dreams at bay. Somehow when she slept beside me they didn’t come. The nightly terrors I’d been experiencing since visiting Nan and Pop abated with her presence.
“It’s making me nervous that I’m not getting any information. Like you’re hiding something from me. I’m not a china doll. You can tell me whatever it is.”
“It’s not that. These lines are probably not as secure. We can’t risk anything. I’ve probably talked to you too long already.”
“Oh, I guess so. I was just so worried.”
“Sorry I didn’t call before. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Done with theorizing about the poem, I found some clothes and headed to the shower. I needed space to think.
Grady found me half an hour later, sitting on the bed and staring at the wall.
“There was nothing else you could have done. Your father got you the message he wanted to. That means they don’t completely own him.”
“Or they do own him, and this is a trap.”
“If only an Alonso coven member can enter, he or anyone else would be barred from entry. We would be safe inside.”
“Assuming the spell or whatever security system is there, holds. We have no clue what we’re going to find, if the place still exists.”
“He wouldn’t have sent you there if it were a wild goose chase.”
“Or maybe he would.”
“What if you talked to your Pop?’
“I guess. I’m kind of beat.” I lay back on the bed. “I’d like to think about this tomorrow.”
“No problem.”
He left the room, and I fixed my eyes on the ceiling. Although exhausted, my muscles twitched from the night’s exertions. I wished there was some way to block it all out. Entering the hall, I realized all was quiet. I guessed everyone else had turned in. There hadn’t even been time to figure out what amenities were included in the structure. Everywhere else we’d been housed had a gym, and I made my way downstairs in search of one.
Finding a small workout room on the basement level, I popped my earbuds in and started some music. Beginning with my tai chi poses, I moved to practicing some yoga poses. Sensing someone beside me, I removed my earbuds.
“Sorry, will I bother you?” Alena asked.
My answer was a resounding yes, but I held my tongue. “Nope.” I started my music again and got in some pull-ups, push-ups, and a round on the weight machines before I decided I might be able to sleep. To Alena’s credit she stayed clear of me, choosing to run on the treadmill on the other side of the room.
Taking another shower, I crashed onto my bed. At least my mind felt calm. I convinced myself I’d done everything possible, Camille, and the trinity, had to be my priority. She was safe and perhaps my dad’s stash of knowledge in Greece could offer some clues as to how to break the curse. I prayed it would. Moving every two years would suck. I didn’t want the life my dad created. If I had kids, they would know everything from the beginning.
“You going to sleep all day.” Tyler flashed the light on and off, on and off.
I covered my head with my pillow. “Since when are you my mom? I think I deserve a break.”
“Alena said you were up late working out. Watch out, she gave you a pass last night, but she and Hunter are seething about how you drugged her.”
“Great.” I pushed myself off the bed. “More trinity drama. As if Camille wasn’t enough.”
“Drama with Camille?”
“She didn’t like that we didn’t call her and less that we weren’t coming back last night.”
“You worried she wants to be with Hunter and Alena more than you?”
“No.” Actually, the thought hadn’t occurred to me, but with it in my brain, I doubted I could lose it. “Is there food?”
“Yeah, dude, tons.”
I made my way to the empty kitchen, hoping there was nothing on the agenda for the day. I’d just sat down with my bagel when Alena and Hunter strode in.
“We need to talk about last night!” Alena’s hand went to her hip.
“Can it wait till the debriefing when we get back? I’m sure we’ll have to go through this with Orm, Chalondra, and your mom, so I’d rather not rehash it twice. My mission was a failure, got it. I put all of us in jeopardy, check. That place is going to be harder to get into, double check.” I stuffed my bagel sandwich in my mouth.
Alena opened her mouth, but Hunter grabbed her arm. “Come to the tech room when you’re done. We need to start planning for Athens.”
At least they’d given me the reprieve of letting me finish breakfast. I was surprised Hunter hadn’t accosted me for drugging his girl. He wasn’t the pushy, in-your-face type, and I appreciated that. Alena had enough of that for both of them. I got it, she was passionate, and I guessed it served the group well, but she could stand to take it down a notch.
In the tech room, we studied satellite images, marking possible locations of the structure in the poem. We noticed a few buildings that looked abandoned or had been for sale for long periods of time, and we flagged those. Next, we investigated possible locations for a safe house not far from these. I hated that Camille wasn’t there, but I brushed the thought off. We were already halfway to the spring equinox. We had six weeks to make a move before Sonia and her evil clan had another shot at using the sword.
After midnight, we packed the vehicles and made our way back to the main hideout. They hadn’t picked up any abnormal activity around the complex or at Michael’s castle since the previous night.
“You’re okay.” Camille slammed into me as soon as I exited the vehicle.
I kissed her soft pink lips. “You didn’t have to wait up.”
“Are you kidding, we’re sitting on pins and needles. Where’s your dad?” Her eyes darted from our vehicle to the two beyond.
“It’s a long story. I’d rather not tell it twice.” I took her hand.
“He’s not here? You couldn’t get him?”
Alena approached us. “My mother is ready for the debriefing. We’re gathering in the tech room.”
I let out a huge breath and grabbed Camille’s hand.
“What’s going on?” Camille whispered.
“Lots. I’m sorry you have to find out this way, but we need to get everyone up to speed at the same time. We’ll have time to talk later.”
I knew Camille, Alena, and Hunter had grown closer, and Camille considered them her team, but she and I also kind of had our own team. She’d become my person, and whatever happened, I wanted to talk to her about it first, but there wasn’t time.
In the conference room, I scanned the chairs. “Where are Dimitri and Aaron?”
“We can proceed without them,” Anne stated from the screen.
“No, they went up the cliff. They were the tie breakers, they were as much part of this mission as Grady, Tyler, and me.”
“I’ll go get them,” Grady piped up.
“They went up the cliff?” Camille whispered to me. “You didn’t go?”
I shook my head, hoping she got that I just needed the whole affair over and done. Within a minute, Grady appeared with Dimitri and Aaron. Camille sat quietly beside me as I explained how Alena went crazy, telling us she had to get to the dagger.
“But you didn’t have to drug me,” Alena insisted.
“Are you forgetting the blade you had pressed to my throat?”
Camille squirmed in her seat, looking between me and Alena. Dimitri, Aaron, and Grady backed my story, and in the end, I was forgiven for the use of questionably excessive measures. Next, Anne asked Alena how she knew they were using the sword.
“I don’t know. It was like it was calling to me. Stronger than last time,” Alena told the group.
“Do you think Marcus tipped them off?”
“It doesn’t matter. All we have is this.” I held up the page with the poem as well as the deciphering image. Then I explained how we could use it to find the structure holding my Dad’s collection of whatever he thought was important.
“Do we need to talk about their forces?” Tyler asked. “We barely got away.”
Eyes wide, Camille squeezed my hand under the table, and I squeezed back.
“Let’s save that for later. What do you know about the letter, Jude?” Anne asked.
Alena started before I could. “One more thing, I can’t ignore it. The form I saw, he guided us back to shore. He had wings, like an angel. It has to be relevant.”
“Looks like you have a guardian angel, dear.” I didn’t miss that Anne’s eyes cut to Orm. “The whole team owes a lot to him.”
I laid the poem and cipher pages on the overhead projector so everyone could see and explained how we’d located a couple of potential buildings and believed each member of the trinity needed to go to the location.
“Do we have an original of that? Do we know the history?” Anne pointed to the page.
“I have no idea. I’d have to ask my Pop,” I told her.
“We need a backup. Who else can come serve as a member of the Alonso coven?”
“You mean if I, like, kick it? It’s only my Pop, Nan, and me now.”
“Get them here, and send me a copy of the poem. I’m going to get my tech guys on finding out whether there are other copies and the origin of the verses. You guys keep working on getting to Greece, and we’ll check back in tomorrow.” Anne depressed a button and her video feed ended.
Feeling as I’d been acquitted of the sedative incident, I spun to face Camille.
“You drugged Alena? You didn’t even go up to get your father? What happened to the plan?”
“You didn’t see her. She was holding a knife to my neck. You heard your dad, Dimitri, and Aaron.”
“Why did you have the syringes in the first place? Where did you get them?”
“The infirmary. They were extra insurance. I thought I might have to drug my dad. What if Alena had gone up there, gotten caught? She was playing into their hands.”
“I don’t like it, Jude. I have to be able to trust you. When you go out on your own like this, I feel like you don’t trust me.” Camille stood, shoved her chair under the table, and walked away.
I dropped my head to the table. Maybe I should have told her about the sedatives. It hadn’t even occurred to me. What did it matter? In the end, I needed them and used them in good conscious.
Pushing back, I shot out of my chair after her. Grabbing her arm, I spun her to face me. “I was keeping Alena safe. Can’t you see that?”
“Would you have drugged me?”
“Yes.” She turned away from me, and I caught her arm. “If I’d listened to my gut in the castle, you would’ve never been alone. We could’ve gotten out together with your dad. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.”
Her eyes blinked and filled with tears. “I need to be able to trust you.”
“It wasn’t like I deliberately hid the information from you. I just realized I needed a backup and didn’t even think to tell you.”
“Okay, well, I don’t want to be separated from you like that again. What if you hadn’t gotten away? What if something happened?” Drops of water spilled over her eyelids and ran down her cheeks.
Hugging her to me, I stroked her hair. “We won’t, I promise.”
“I’m exhausted. I couldn’t sleep or eat worrying about you.”
We made our way to her room and she snuggled into my chest on the bed. With her warm body next to mine, nothing seemed wrong. Wishing we could forget all about the curse and prophecy, I listened to her breath in and out and the sound of her heart thumping.
I woke before Camille and slid out of bed. Making my way to the gym, I joined Grady and Tyler on the treadmills.
Grady hit the stop button and turned to face me. “Not sure I like you sleeping with my daughter.”
Feeling my face warm, I shook my head.
“Nothing to say about that, son?” he continued.
“I love her. I won’t hurt her. You know I’d go through fire for Camille.”
“Doesn’t change what I said before.” He restarted his run.
Betting Tyler felt the same, I programmed my machine and began the workout.
We trained, had breakfast, and then met in the conference room. I phoned Pop and explained that we needed him. In case the line was compromised, I didn’t discuss specifics. The group tossed around the idea of Pop and Nan being on the front team Greece, and although I didn’t want to put them in harm’s way, it made sense.
“Well, you know I don’t go anywhere without my Nan,” he said.
“I was counting on that.” I gave him the details for travel, and they agreed to pack and be ready the next day.
Scouting locations for safe houses, we decided on two. Anne instructed her people to prepare the residences, and we were informed they could be ready in a week’s time. We decided to travel with a smaller crew, which meant Grady would stay in Italy and continue his research and analysis of Michael’s castle compound. Anne felt Orm’s and Chalondra’s expertise would be needed if the building housed what we hoped it would, documents with directions for breaking the curse.
Pop and Nan arrived the next day. It was amazing how much younger they looked than six months prior.
“We were getting soft in our old age, had given up practicing magic,” Pop explained when I commented on his health. “I feel better now than I have in years.”
“I’m glad. This isn’t for the slight of heart.”
“No witch business ever is.” Nan wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “We’re excited to be helping you. This may be our last hoorah.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s okay. I’ve gotten everything I ever wanted. You’re happy. You and your dad are on the same page for once. I can die thinking I did my job pretty well,” Pop commented.
“We have vampires. Neither of you are dying on my watch.”
In the next week, Grady became our de facto teacher, making sure we kept up with our schoolwork. Orm and Chalondra tutored us for several hours a day, and we trained, working our magic as well as our muscles. Pop and Nan fit well with the others, especially Orm and Chalondra, and I caught Pop and Orm deep in conversation many times. I blocked out thoughts of all the time I’d missed with Dad and hopes of rescuing him. Once we had the dagger, perhaps we’d have the upper hand.
The day of departure for Greece came, and Dimitri and Aaron, along with two other vampires, escorted Alena, Camille, Chalondra, Nan, Pop, Orm, Hunter, Tyler, and me to the airfield.
“At least we know where we’re going this time,” I commented to Camille as we took our seats on the jet.
“You think my mother actually used one of the locations we chose?” Alena asked.
“I assumed.”
“I doubt it.” Alena and Hunter took seats behind us.
“I’m guessing she got us close enough to scope out targets.”
“We won’t see the sun till we’re on Pentelis and perhaps not even then. My guess is Mother will have us search at night.”
Resting my head on the seat back, I contemplated her words. At least we hadn’t wasted that much time scouting locations for our stay. Most of our research focused on aerial and web images of Pentelis Avenue structures. We still hadn’t found one with the coat of arms. Our searches revealed two different images for the crest, and Pop remembered using both at various times throughout history. One used a knight’s helmet positioned above a lion, and the other included two turret images juxtaposed with French la fleur silhouettes. Turrets only reminded me of Sardinia, and I forced the images out of my head.
The flight took under two hours, and we exited the jet in an enclosed hangar. Two vehicles with additional staff waited to transport us to our new base. We rode to the location in a windowless van that descended several flights before it stopped.
“What did I tell you, only the best for the best, lover boy.” Alena skipped to the elevator once we’d gathered our bags.
“Why am I lover boy?”
“Because you’re the only one I see here risking his life to keep a girl.”
“I’m not that insecure, and what about Tyler? Besides, this is about me and my heritage, my birthright, as much as it is about you three and the dagger.”
“It wasn’t an insult. You guys are cute.” She rolled her eyes. “Sheesh, always so serious.”
“Said the pot to the kettle.” Whatever had gotten into her that moment was better, maybe. It probably stemmed from being right about her mother changing up the safe house location on us. At least she seemed like a normal teenager for once.
Tyler hovered as we chose our room, jumping in and taking the room beside Camille before I could claim it. Hoping the nightmares wouldn’t return, I stowed my things and met everyone in the conference room.
“Jude,” Anne addressed me after she’d outlined the security protocols. “It’s your show now. If this spell works like we think it does, you get to call the shots on who is on your team.”
I surveyed the room. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t take everyone in. Nan and Pop can help with the search, remotely, but otherwise, the more brains and witch power on the project, the better.”
“Okay,” she agreed, “you start your search tomorrow night.”