With a deadened expression on her face, Ebony finally rounded the door into the kitchen. The clone had been correct: her mother, her father, Ben, and Nate were all there. Harry, however, was not. And Ebony found that to be a noteworthy and important fact.

  Nate suddenly jumped up from his chair and rushed over to Ebony, latching his hand on her shoulders. “Ebony, god, are you sure you’re up to standing?” He searched her eyes desperately.

  She met his gaze, and she held it, trying to tell him without uttering a word what was really going on with her. “I’m fine,” she managed. It was a damned lie, because Ebony Bell was now completely and totally not fine. She had a clone that was connected to some kind of ancient, malevolent creature hell-bent on destroying Vale, and some evil, confusing spell appeared to be taking hold of her city, beginning with her friends and family first.

  Ebony stepped forward. She gestured with one hand to the table, and the clone quickly sat, offering her a smile before she did so. In fact, the clone offered everybody a smile.

  For several seconds Ebony stood there, staring at her friends and family and the imposter, and she wondered what she could do. She wanted to tell everybody what had happened, but she had to appreciate the likelihood they wouldn’t believe her. Yet that wasn’t going to stop her.

  She had to try.

  She owed them all that much.

  Ebony took several steps forward, always facing the clone, because she wanted to watch the clone’s reaction. “Before anybody says anything, I’m going to tell you exactly what happened to me. And it’s your choice to believe me. If you say there were witnesses that saw something else, and if you say the clone did something else, fine, but that’s not what I remember. And I know enough about myself to understand that my memories have not been altered. If you want to know what happened to me, then listen. When I reached the park, I realized a spell had been cast. The sun was shining too brightly, the birds were twittering too loudly, and all of the officers were giggling far too much for a murder scene. My clone had also run off. When I found her, she was standing over Juniper Timble. Juniper was dead. You might not believe this, but the clone told me that… we had killed Juniper. She proceeded to walk all over the dead body with white high heels on—”

  Ben gave a snort, interrupting her mid-sentence. “What are you talking about, Ebony?”

  “Don’t interrupt me,” Ebony said quickly, eyes drawing closed in frustration. “Like I said, you may have seen something different, she may have said something different,” she pointed at the clone, “but this is what happened. And if I have gone through enough to earn your respect, you have to trust me. When I touched the dead body, I was taken down underneath the park into one of the caverns around the Portal. The clone then led me into some kind of room, and there was a creature in there.” As Ebony said the word creature, her voice shook violently with the memory of what had happened to her. A memory she proceeded to share with everybody, every detail from walking into the cavern, to Legion possessing her.

  When she stopped, she waited for somebody to say something. She also stared at the clone, trying to gauge what it was thinking and what it would do.

  The clone had a supremely confused look on its face. Its lips twisted in as it blinked rather prettily. “You’re confused. I already told everyone what happened. There were witnesses,” she pointed out.

  Ebony just gritted her teeth together, and she didn’t say anything.

  “My child,” Avery stood up, “we know what happened to you; we were there,” she said.

  Ebony sliced her gaze over to her mother. She held it with as much power and determination as she could. “I’m telling you what happened to me,” Ebony said sternly. “Like I said, you can choose to believe me or not. I understand you’ve seen something different. I understand that every scrap of evidence you have seems to point to a completely different conclusion. But I’m telling you, I know what happened to me. I’m also telling you that there’s something going on with the Portal, that I faced a creature so dark and ancient that we need to mobilize now to ensure it doesn’t come back. I don’t think I defeated it properly, but I certainly defeated it long enough to get away. We have to do something.”

  Nobody said anything. In fact, everybody chose to look amongst themselves rather than at Ebony, everybody except for Nate. He was still standing by her side, his hands loose but uneasy as he tapped them on his legs. He was staring at her, his eyebrows crumpled low over his eyes, a shocked and very confused expression on his face.

  “Ebony,” he simply said. He didn’t say he didn’t believe her; he simply repeated her name. “Who on earth is Juniper Timble? Look, you aren’t making any sense. Just rest, you’re confused.”

  She allowed her eyes to close in a brief, bitter moment. They didn’t know who Juniper was. Somehow that woman’s name, history, and body had been expunged from their memories.

  “Ebony.” Nate shifted forward, worry so deeply etched in his brow he looked like a completely different person. Aged, weathered, beaten down by worry and grief.

  She forced a breath.

  She stared at him with all her attention. “Just trust me, please,” she said.

  He didn’t respond. Eventually, he let his gaze drift from her down to her feet and then up to his own hands. Shaking his head slightly, he walked away. Though Ebony couldn’t tell what he was thinking, the mere fact that he walked away was like being slapped in the face. She took a step back, and she stared at the people that meant the most to her. The people that she’d fought the creature to protect. She had no idea what they’d seen, and she had no idea what the clone had told them, and in many ways, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t the truth; it wasn’t the reality Ebony had faced.

  She took a solid step back. “Look, if you can’t believe my story, fine, but you have to do something. The Coven needs to investigate, you need to check the Portal and scan for an attack. You need to act now while you still have the chance.”

  There was silence.

  “Ebony, there has been no attack; we would know. The Coven is aligned to the Portal, and its output has not changed, neither has there been a disturbance in the tunnels around it. And, young witch, you are my own daughter, and if you had been fighting such a creature, I would have felt it. No matter how far away you go from me, and no matter how many times you miss my Sunday dinner, I will always be connected to you. I will always feel the danger that haunts you, and I felt nothing, child. You are confused.”

  Ebony sunk her teeth so hard into her lips that she cut them, and she didn’t damn well care as the blood trickled down, she simply let it bleed as she shook her head. It was happening again. Ebony couldn’t count the number of times magic had changed her reality, made people forget her, and destroyed her memories. But this was different. It wasn’t simply that Vale had forgotten Ebony, it was that somehow the creature had twisted reality so that nobody was aware of its presence, nobody felt endangered by it, and nobody knew how and where to fight.

  “Hold on,” Ebony said, realizing there was still one witness she could call on, and this particular witness would not be corruptible… well, technically quite corruptible considering he was a demon, but not when it came to backing her up. “Go ask Legion. We’ll all hop in the car, and we’ll go down to City Church, and we will ask the head of the demons what happened. I guarantee you he will back up my story.” As Ebony suggested that, something curious happened: the clone started to cry.

  “Why can’t you just accept this? I mean, why can’t we just accept this? Please, Ebony, you’re confused. Trust all of your friends and family. Can’t we trust all of our friends and family?”

  Ebony simply looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “You don’t want to go see Legion, do you? You don’t want the rest of them to find out what happened.”

  “No. You’re just going to waste time doing this. And you are going to waste the time of your friends and family. You should trust them,” the clone said.

  Ebony set her teeth harder. “I’m going to go see Legion. I’m going to find out what that creature was, and I’m going to drag you back down to hell. And if that place is too hot, then I’m simply going to let Legion sink his claws into you.”

  It was a very dark thing to say, and as Ebony said it, a shadow passed over the light, even though they were inside.

  Nobody said anything. In fact, the house became suddenly very quiet until Avery Bell stood up.

  “Child, you need to rest.”

  Ebony shook her head. “No, you need to understand what is happening here. We need to defeat that creature before it does something terrible to Vale.”

  “How could you say that you would set Legion upon me?” the clone said, more tears trickling down her cheeks. “You’re good, Ebony Bell, you’re meant to be good.”

  That got to her. Of course it did. But even more than the clone’s admission, it was the shocked and mildly disgusted looks everyone else was giving her.

  Shaking her head, Ebony realized she didn’t want to deal with this. So she turned sharply on her foot and headed to the stairs. “Where is Harry?”

  “He’s busy,” Nate said.

  “Busy doing what?”

  “He said he had to go look into something.”

  “What?” Ebony turned sharply to face Nate. “If I have just gone through some kind of terrible, confusing magical spell that has addled my mind and made me dark.” As Ebony spoke, she did so with a great deal of sarcasm, “then I’m sure Harry, of all people, would be here. This is my bookstore. He’s always been there to protect me in the past, so where is he now?”

  “Look, Ebony, you’re confused,” Nate said again, and as he did, he reached out to grab hold of her shoulder.

  She yanked back, fixing Nate with a very challenging look. It was dark, and unquestionably he didn’t deserve it, but she couldn’t help it.

  Her confusion was mounting, and as it did frustration and anger built within.

  He straightened up, his expression still concerned, but also harder now. He also looked disappointed, immeasurably so.

  She hated that look. She hated staring into his eyes and realizing that he too was wondering whether she’d turned.

  As she stood there and she stared out at the rest of her family and friends, she saw that same damn look.

  “I’m not evil,” she said, repeating that phrase, “but mark my words, I’m going to go to Legion, and we are going to fix you,” she said, facing the clone once again. Ebony’s words were possibly a little darker than they should have been, but, hello, she’d just been through a lot. And what was more, the clone was a total and complete fraud. While she was sitting there at the table, acting like the sweetest little kid on the block, her big cousin was probably hurtling around near the Portal, destroying space and time and controlling everything it could.

  Ebony took another sharp step back.

  “She saved your life, you know,” Ben said. “We were there, we saw it. Ebony, what’s going on with you?”

  “She didn’t save my life, trust me on that one. She tried to kill me,” Ebony spat back.

  She took another step back. She hated the way everyone was looking at her, disappointment so clearly written over their features. But before they could say a word, she brought a hand up and she shook her head. “Right, well, if nobody wants to come with me, fine. But I’m going to go see Legion anyway.” She took a step toward the stairs.

  Nate moved, suddenly grabbing her wrist. “Ebony, don’t do it.”

  “What are you doing?” She slowly turned around to face him. “I asked you to trust me. But if you can’t do that, then I have to do this alone.” With that, she broke his grip, and she walked down the stairs. Though she heard everybody stand up to follow her, Ebony simply walked faster. And when they walked faster, she ran.

  She ran until she hit the store floor, and she headed right out of the door. The door, to its credit, opened for her, swinging freely of its own accord.

  If she’d had the attention to spare, she would have noted that. When it mattered most, she would remember it, though, and understand what it meant.

  15

  When Ebony hit the street, she realized she had to act quickly. If her family and Nate caught up with her, they would no doubt grab her and take her upstairs, probably locking her in her room for her own damn good. Well, she couldn’t allow that to happen. She had to get to Legion. She had to find out what in the hell was going on here, and when it came to hell, Legion certainly was her demon.

  She could hear Nate hot on her heels. She still had a head start, and she ran forward, not caring for a second that she was in her pajamas and her fluffy dressing gown. She headed to the side of the building. More specifically, she headed to the dumpster. It was always full of Harry’s possessed cockroaches. Though Ebony didn’t have that much magic right now, she had her wits about her, and she had her memories. She also knew this store better than anyone, save for Harry himself, and Harry conveniently wasn’t here right now.

  Hearing Nate scream her name, begging her to come back, Ebony reached the dumpster, and as she did, she used the little magic she had to make the lid pop off and ricochet backward, smashing into the wall. Just after it did, roaches surged forward. All she had to do to get them to move was throw a scrap of magic their way. Harry, after all, had taught them to seek the stuff.

  Right now she needed a damn good distraction, and she rightly imagined that a whole swarm of Harry’s insect foot soldiers would be a distraction indeed.

  Still running, she turned over her shoulder to see that Nate had suddenly powered around the corner of the alleyway. She flicked her hand forward, and as she did, she sent the slimmest, tiniest scrap of magic out to face him. She also sunk her teeth deep into her lip and hoped that one day he would forgive her.

  The cockroaches swarmed forward, completely and utterly rushing up from the dumpster like a geyser frothing black water. Physically, there couldn’t have been that many cockroaches in the dumpster, but because magic was involved, it didn’t matter; there were thousands upon thousands of the buggers.

  Shuddering and realizing how completely disgusting that spell was, Ebony promptly turned around, and she ran forward. There were all sorts of cracks in Harry’s foundations, all sorts of holes and grooves that had accumulated over the years. There were also places where the magic had grown so thick it had done strange things to the brick and the mortar and yes, the cockroaches. Strange things that, with just a little prod, could get all the stranger.

  Ebony had hardly any magic, and she had to conserve what she did have, but she had enough if she used it wisely. Reaching for one section of wall she knew was weaker than any other, she pressed a hand into it.

  Usually, a magical portal spell drained you, especially if you wanted to make one that would dump you far away from your current position. Well, Ebony certainly didn’t have enough magic for that, but she did have a scrap to send into those bricks to encourage them to mutate, to take the magic that had been pushed into them over the years and to elevate it to a new level. As she did, she closed her eyes, and she gave a silent, desperate prayer.

  Steeling herself and pushing that last snatch of magic into the bricks underneath her fingers, something happened. That something was a popping, cracking sound followed by a gurgle like a drain that was unblocking. Ebony heard another crack. However, this one didn’t come from the bricks; it came from behind her, and she knew exactly what it was: her mother. She could feel her, that specific type of magic Avery Bell practiced. It echoed around the alleyway and straight into Ebony’s body.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” Ebony encouraged the bricks.

  Avery Bell formed and took a step forward, bringing her hands up, her fingers crackling with energy. No doubt she was about to send some kind of stopping spell Ebony’s way to freeze her in place so the rest of them could drag her back into Harry’s.

  Avery didn’t get the chance, though. At the last second, as Ebony’s eyes opened wide with desperation at her mother’s approach, the brick simply gave way, and Ebony fell backward. She didn’t fall back into Harry’s store; she fell backward into the sky. Yes, the sky. In a moment of complete and total confusion, Ebony began to fall through the clouds, bricks and plaster and little bits of chipped off wood falling with her. She screamed wildly, but before she could hit the ground on her back and do even more damage to her bruised body, something happened.

  She struck the ground. But it was not hard; it was springy like jelly, like a mattress, like a trampoline, and Ebony bounced up and down and up and down until finally the momentum of her movements was spent and she lay on her back facing the sky above, bricks and plaster and stone all around her. She had a moment where she simply didn’t move. She didn’t speak, and she had no idea what to think, because she had no idea what had just happened to her. She certainly hadn’t been prepared to fall through the sky and onto a particularly springy, trampoline-like meadow.

  Mustering up enough courage and sense to check her surroundings, Ebony patted the ground beside her, and when the grass didn’t shift like Jell-O, she suddenly realized that the spell was complete.

  “Dear God,” she managed as she sat up suddenly, drawing her dressing gown around her as she realized how damn cold she was. Then she looked up sharply, and she looked up sharply because she wanted to see whether Avery Bell was following. Had her mother been quick enough to rush through the wall before the portal had closed?

  After several pressured moments, Ebony realized she was on her own. While there was a big grassy meadow around her and several cows were dotted around in the distance, that was it. There were no witches. There were no knights, there were no detectives, and there was nobody to drag her home again. But there was also no clone, a fact that suddenly became apparent when Ebony gave the most violent shiver possible. It ran up and down her spine as if somebody were trying to shatter her into 1000 pieces. She slapped a hand on her heart. She tried to push her fingers hard into her flesh; she tried to get into the most central part of her soul before the whole thing was ripped in two.

 

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