Chapter 5

Five

Iwoke up the next morning only to find the house quieter than usual. I usually woke up pretty early, but thanks to last night's escapades, I'd slept in. I had expected to leave my room and find Max at the breakfast table, but the table was empty, and there were no signs of a breakfast having ever occurred here.

The stillness was unsettling, but worse were the feelings of guilt and shame that started to bubble up—my parents were probably still out trying to fix my mess. Instead of letting the worry eat away at me in the vacuous kitchen, I decided to head toward the gymnasium on the other side of the mansion.

The main room, and every other room I passed, were also eerily empty.

There were no signs of life; no family, no staff, no nothing. I felt like I was alone in this massive house, and maybe I was. I hadn't checked on Max earlier, and I hadn't exactly gone looking for my father or mother.

In fact, I'd kind of snuck out of my room in my gym clothes, my hair held in a high pony-tail, with the intention of avoiding encounters with anyone on the way down here. I hadn't realized it was going to be as easy as it had been.

Shaking my head, I continued on my way to our gymnasium, shutting the door once I was inside. The automatic lights flickered on for me once I entered, illuminating a large room filled with enough gym equipment to put even a modest sized commercial gym to shame. Each of the members of my family could work out in here at the same time without encroaching on the others' space.

I seemed to be the only one who used it, though. I didn't mind that much. The gym was my place, my special, quiet area I could go to, put some music on, and lose myself in a bit of physical exercise.

After slotting an earbud into each of my ears and finding the right track to start my workout with, I stepped on the treadmill and got started on a warmup. Maybe it was my choice of music, maybe it was the adrenaline slowly starting to work its way through my system, or maybe it was the beads of sweat popping along my forehead and chest as I ran… but I was starting to feel angry.

Heated.

Visions of last night invaded the calm space I was trying to build in my mind. I remembered Max, enjoying himself, and that was great, but the happy memories quickly gave way to images of the amulet I'd been holding in my hand. The priceless heirloom I had lost.

Thoughts of the amulet led me to Him, and even though I had been the one to lose the amulet, I had been with him when I lost it. Thinking about what we did last night should've been exciting, but right now, I felt stupid as well as angry.

My aunt Persephone's heirloom was probably already sitting in some pawn shop, somewhere, having been traded for a few hundred in cash. I doubted if my father would ever get it back, or if he even could.

Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed my mother's presence in the gym until she was almost right beside me. I also hadn't noticed the way I'd been incrementally adding speed to my treadmill. I was at a full-on sprint when she showed up, and the moment of panic was enough to make my legs forget how to work.

I slid back a step, fell flat on my face, and the treadmill spat me off it so fast I went sliding across the smooth gym floor. With my hands and my ego grazed, I picked myself up and pulled the earbuds out of my ears, clenching my jaw and swallowing hard.

"Don't let me stop you," my mother said, not an ounce of compassion in her voice.

I dusted my hands, padding myself down. "You startled me," I said, walking over to the treadmill and turning it off. The machine came to a complete stop before my mother spoke again.

"You clearly weren't paying attention. As usual."

"Is that what you came in here for? To insult me?"

"No," she said, "But I can't say it didn't make me feel a little better."

Shaking my head, I went to storm past her, but the gymnasium door slammed shut ahead of me, all on its own. When I turned around, my mother was pulling her hand down by her side again. I could feel the rush of magic in the air, her power unveiled, though she'd only used a small amount of magic to shut the door.

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Beatrice Patricia Aurelian Ethera."

Hearing my full name spoken like that, practically spat out at me, was enough to make me wince. On a scale of how pissed my mother was, from one to all four of my names, four meant she was practically going nuclear.

My mother never called me Bee; it was always Beatrice.

There had then been countless times in my youth when I'd had my first and second name called. She usually added my second name whenever I'd fail at completing a chore, or I'd leave something lying around. My third name was reserved for times when I'd actually done something bad; break a vase, a plate, accidentally set fire to an old, ornate carpet.

That kind of thing.

My full name, though… that had never come up. Ever. Not once.

Nuclear.

I turned around to face her, because that was the only thing to do now. My mother was a predator. Give her your back, and she'd rip you to shreds. But if you looked her in the eyes while she was bearing down on you, your odds of surviving her onslaught improved a little bit.

"Are you going to trap me in this gym?" I asked.

"You are going to stand here and listen to what I have to say to you," she said. "You are not going to back talk, you are not going to give me your opinion, you are not going to open your mouth except to say the words yes, no, or I understand. Is that clear?"

My jaw tightened. "Yes," I said, through my teeth. "I understand."

"Good, because you may have just murdered us all."

"What?" I asked, with more than a hint of disbelief in my voice.

"What did I just say?" she roared, her voice bouncing off the walls. "Before you come up with some asinine comment about how I must be exaggerating, think about what you have done. You stole an artefact your father and I specifically kept out of your hands. Do you know why we kept it out of your hands?"

"No," I said.

"Because you weren't ready for it. And do you know why you aren't ready for it?"

"No."

"You are reckless. You think the rules don't apply to you because you've lived a sheltered life, and therefore the real world can't be that bad. But it is. In fact, it's worse than you think out there. That's why your father and I have tried so hard to protect you from it."

"But mom?—"

"—I'm not finished!" she snapped, and then she advanced toward me, making me instantly back up a few paces. "The Ether is an environment that almost entirely rejects magic; our spells don't survive in there. All we can do is move through it, and only with the use of that amulet—an amulet which you have now lost. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you, Beatrice?"

I did, but I also didn't want to reply. I couldn't. My heartrate was too high, the anxiety way too real.

"Your aunt Persephone's amulet is the only artefact in existence that can bypass our defenses, and you may have just dropped it in to the lap of someone who could use it against us. So, I'm not wrong in suggesting you may have just killed us all. It isn't an exaggeration. I'm not saying it to scare you into admitting you did wrong. I'm saying it because it is the flat, objective truth!"

"I'm sorry," I said, sensing a pause in her assault.

She sighed. "It's far too late for sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I always knew you would do something terrible."

"Thanks."

"I knew, one day, your impulsivity and blind disregard for our protocols would get our entire family into trouble. I never knew it would be this bad."

I shook my head. "It's not like I meant to lose it," I said.

"But you did. Your intentions don't matter. You weren't ready for the responsibility of wielding the artefact, but you decided to take it anyway, and now it's lost."

I dared to venture. "So, dad… didn't find it?"

My mother's face darkened. She shook her head. "No."

A cold wave rushed through me, freezing me to my core. "Shit."

"Shit is right. I appreciate that you've finally realized the seriousness of the situation. He's on his way back home, now."

"He's done looking?"

"He was out all night, he hasn't been able to find its frequency because he's never used it before; it's not attuned to him."

I took an anxious step closer to her. "I've used it," I perked up. "I can find it."

She shook her head. "It would take us longer to teach you the techniques than we have available. Your father needs to sleep now, anyway; tonight is a big night for our family. I will go into Boston and search for the amulet while he sleeps."

"Big night?" I frowned.

"After many months of negotiations, the Diaboli are finally ready to sit at our table and talk. We're hosting them for dinner."

"Wait… what? Why?"

"Because they are a powerful family, and we could do with stronger ties to them."

"Aren't they the ones that deal with demons and stuff?"

"They haven't for a long time. Not since the writing of the Codex Magica."

"And you believe them?"

"I do. Each of our families had to make sacrifices after the war, we all had to change. We have been trying to get Diaboli to the table, to forge an alliance of our own, for over a decade. Now, they're finally willing to talk."

"I'm sorry if I don't think having demon worshippers at our house is a good idea."

"Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant. We are hosting the Diaboli tonight, you will be present, you will be pleasant, and you will not make a fuss. Is that understood?"

"You can't expect me to be okay with them being here. Dad used to tell us some pretty awful stories about them."

"And perhaps that wasn't wise of your father, but times are changing. If our family is to expand and grow, we need to forge stronger ties with other magical families. In any case, this isn't something I need to be discussing with you, nor do I need your approval. What I want is your obedience and attendance. You've already caused enough damage; we can't have another disaster tonight."

Frowning, I chewed the inside of my mouth. "Alright," I said, forcing the word out. "Can I leave, now? Or are you going to shut the door on me again?"

My mother gave me her cutting, vicious eyes. With a lazy flick of her wrist, the gymnasium door unlocked. I didn't spare another second in her presence. The gym was usually my safe, sacred place, but all I wanted to do now was get as far away from it as possible.

So, I fled.

I didn't know what I was going to do for the rest of the day. I knew I didn't want to be anywhere near my mother or father, and I doubted if Max was going to be interested in talking to me after last night—if he even remembered any of it.

All I could do, really, was go back to my room, and spend the day dreading about how I was going to have to meet other mages tonight.

And hope my mother found the amulet before then.