Chapter 203

#Chapter 203 – The Note I can’t help the little giggle that comes out of me then.

Honestly, it’s all so strange and ridiculous – and, really, really frightening – that all I can do is laugh and make a joke out of it. It’s a knee-jerk reaction, probably a poor one and a result of my exhaustion, but I’ve got nothing else.

“Don’t worry,” Rafe, I say with a clever little smirk. “We don’t use it to talk about you. At least. Not often.”

Victor looks at me closely then, making a face as if he’s saying something terrible and glancing at Rafe – but he doesn’t say anything at all. He’s just messing with his brother.

Rafe, of course, gets pissed and opens his mouth to say something nasty to Victor but Burton interrupts.

“Please,” he says, looking between us, worried. “You must listen closely.”

I bite my lip, my face falling then. It was a nice moment of levity but, deep down, I do know that something is very seriously wrong. The more I sit at the table and think of it, the more I realize the weakness in my limbs, my heart. The new difficulty I have drawing breath.

Victor takes my hand and looks at me with sorrow and apology in his eyes, but I shake my head at him.

Whatever happened – whatever I did – I did it willingly. I’d do it again, a hundred times. A thousand.

“What you participated in,” Burton continues seriously, “what you created – it was a ceremony –

honestly, you shouldn’t have been able to do it without guidance –“

He hangs his head for a moment, amazed, before continuing.

“But, you must understand, the exchange you made,” Burton shakes his head here. “It is temporary, at best, without the closure to the ceremony. Without the full consent.”

“Consent?” Victor asks, leaning forward. “What is that, the consent?”

Burton shakes his head again, looking down at the table in confusion. “I don’t – I don’t have another word for it, but that’s the best I can come up with. We grew up speaking of it in a whole other language – one in which even I, a grand master, am still a novice.”

“What,” I say, hesitating and squeezing Victor’s hand. “What will happen to us if we don’t…finish it?

Close the ceremony?”

“You are ill now, yes?” Burton says, lifting his eyes and again looking between us. “He is better, much better than he was yesterday,” he says, nodding to Victor, “but you,” Burton turns his eyes to me here.

“You are much, much worse.”

“I don’t feel much worse,” I say quietly.

Burton shakes his head. “It will get worse, for both of you. Right now, you are sharing the life force of one person, but in order to survive, you need two. On the energy of one, you will both, unfortunately, run through it, especially because in giving him half of your life you took on half his illness. And with that combination, you will both expire.”

We go still at the table then, Rafe putting his head in his hands. It’s silent for a long moment, the only sounds the laughter of our children in the next room. The sound that gives me strength, though.

Energy, hope.

I will push through this, too. For them, if for no one else.

“So what you’re saying,” Rafe says, and I can hear his frustrated words coming from between clenched teeth. “Is that they just bought themselves more time, by putting Evelyn’s life on the line as well as Victor’s.”

Burton hesitates, but then he nods. “In essence, in its simplest form, yes.”

“What do we need to do?” Victor asks, his face drawn. “How do we close it?”

“I’m sorry,” Burton says, his eyes filled with sadness. “I don’t know.”

Rafe pounds his fist on the table, cursing and briskly standing up from his chair. The laughter in the next room stops as the boys realize, finally, that something is wrong. Silently, they turn towards the kitchen, paying attention.

“It is not hopeless,” Burton says quickly, speaking to Victor and I alone now. “But it is beyond me. You need to go…to her.”

“To her?” I ask, fascinated. Who was she, this woman who could help us?

Burton nods eagerly, and then, to my shock, pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket. One that I recognize.

“Where,” I say, a little breathless, as he places the folded note on the table. “Where did you get that?”

“I found it,” Burton says quietly, “amongst your things. A message from…one of our other acolytes.”

“Edgar!?” Victor spits out, in full disbelief. “Edgar is wrapped up in all of this?”

He reaches forward then, grabbing the note that Edgar gave us all those weeks ago. He unfolds it, then, revealing the cryptic map and the few scratched instructions.

“He is not involved,” Burton says, shaking his head. “Edgar was born as part of our tribe – but he left at a very young age. But he knew enough to…to recognize. What he saw. In the two of you. The connection between you.”

Fascinated, I take the note from Victor’s hands. Even Edgar knew more about this than we did. What the hell was going on in my life?

I thought I was just a single mom of two really special kids, and now I’m part of some mystical secret cult, one that my ex was somehow born into? That my butler was also a part of?

Seriously, what the hell was my life right now? I fight the urge to laugh again.

“You must go to her,” Burton says seriously, tapping the note with his finger. “She can teach you what I cannot. She will show you how. She’s the only one who can help.”

Nodding, I refold the note, seeing the boys’ rapt attention on us.

Victor, likewise seeing the boys, works to wrap up the conversation as quickly as we can.

“How much time do we have,” Victor says quietly.

“I can’t know,” Burton says, apologetic. “But, sir…it is not long. You must hurry.”

I look at Victor, then, sadness in my eyes.

Honestly, I had hoped that all of this was over – that we could, finally, begin to rebuild.

“Soon, Evie,” Victor says, seeing my desire for peace and rest on my face. He raises my hand to his lips and presses a kiss to the back of it. “When this is done, we will rest. I promise you that.”

I nod, trusting him. We will see it through, I know.

Alvin is at my side then, tugging on my sleeve.

As I turn to him, a smile pasted onto my face, I know that he intuits that something is wrong.

Poor darling, I think, gathering him up into my lap and giving him a big hug. So much for someone to endure, so young.

I look over at Victor, then, and see that Ian has climbed into his lap. The four of us look at each other quietly for a moment, before Ian speaks.

“Mama,” he says, looking at me seriously. “What is going on? You can tell us. We want to help.”

“I know, darling,” I say, my heart in my throat. God, I hate to put them through more. But it looks like we don’t have a choice. “You are always so helpful to me, and I’m so grateful for you.”

He nods, believing me, and I’m grateful for that as well.

“What do you boys think,” Victor says, “about taking a little trip?” He’s working hard to keep his voice cheerful, though I know, inside, he’s terribly worried. I also know that he feels terribly guilty about sharing this illness with me, whatever it is.

If it were up to him, I know, he’d have chosen death before getting me involved.

Luckily, it wasn’t up to him. I was there to intercede and stop him from making such a stupid choice.

Alvin narrows his eyes at us. “A trip?” he asks, looking between us. “To where?”

I unfold the little map then, showing it to him.

“Edgar told us about it,” I say, likewise working to keep my voice light. “We’re going to go…here. As soon as we figure out where it is. It’s going to be great!”

I laugh a little, then, working hard to see the bright side of the situation, find the humor in it. We’re all alive, after all. We’re better of than we were yesterday.

Alvin frowns, taking the little map from me and studying it. Ian leans over and looks as well, his face unimpressed.

“Honestly?” Alvin says, looking up at me with dubious eyes. “Mama?”

“Yes, baby?” I say, curious.

“Um,” he glances down at the map and then between Victor and me. “Can’t we just go to the beach?”

I can’t help the laughter that bursts from me then. God, what I wouldn’t give to say yes – to just go with my family to the beach instead of following a cryptic map to find some woman to complete some ceremony I unwittingly started last night.

Victor laughs along with us, and Ian joins in.

“Whaaaaat,” Alvin whines, pouting. “Come on, Ian got to go! This place looks dumb, I want to go to the beach!”

“Sorry, kid,” Victor says, reaching out and brushing a hand over Alvin’s hair. “I promise you, that’s the next place we’ll go. But first?”

He fastens his eyes on mine then, assuring me, without words, that we’ll do it. We’ll find her. We’ll complete the ceremony. We’ll live.

Not only will we live, we’ll live a long, good life. Together.

My eyes moisten as I return his smile and nod.

“This first,” I say, completing his thought. “Beach, second.”

I kiss my disappointed little boy’s head and close my eyes, resting my cheek against his hair.

This first and then…the rest of our lives.

God, I just hoped we could do it.