Nate called out, “Team Meeting!” and pointed a finger in the air.
When he had everyone’s attention, Nate cleared his throat. “There are a few Team Awesome things we need to discuss.”
Tristan leaned over to Gabriel. “What’s Team Awesome?”
“It’s our team name,” Heather smiled.
“We’re not a team,” Gabriel said.
“We are a team,” Nate corrected. “We’re Team Awesome and I’m team captain.” He looked at Tristan. “You can call me Captain. Or Captain America, if you’d like. I’m even willing to settle for Captain Jack.”
Tristan crossed his arms. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Heather’s eyes lit up. “Ooh! Can we choose code names? Can I be Catwoman?”
“We’re not choosing code names.” Gabriel looked incredibly annoyed and Tristan almost smiled.
Nate cleared his throat. “First and foremost, an Ashman knows where we live and has a weapon that can injure and probably kill immortals. So we need a good defense.” He looked at Tristan. “How did you kill the Ashman in the forest last year?”
“I shot him with an arrow.”
“What kind of arrow?”
“A sharp one.”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Really, dude? A sharp one?”
Tristan shrugged. “It was a standard hunting arrow. Is that what you want to know?”
“Yep.” Nate nodded. “So why did your arrow kill the Ashman, but not my sword?”
“You mean your Zelda toy?” Heather eyed the large sword still propped up against the wall.
Nate pointed to the weapon. “That is not a toy. That is a collector’s item and a real sword.”
“A real crappy sword,” Heather said.
Nate ignored her and looked back at Tristan. “Can you find the arrow you killed the first Ashman with and let me examine it?”
Tristan nodded.
“Okay, next up: Head Ghosts. When Heather went to Scarlet’s house to grab sleepover items, someone used a Head Ghost on her. The logical conclusion is that either an Ashman, or Laura, drugged Heather. Which means Laura probably knows that we have a map to the fountain of youth. So we need to figure out how to proceed with Laura.”
“Well, I certainly can’t go back and live with her,” Scarlet said.
“No,” Nate agreed. “But we might need you to pretend you don’t know anything so you can go back to your house and snoop around without Laura getting suspicious.”
“Ooh, like a spy?” Heather’s eyes lit up as she looked at Scarlet. “Your code name could be ‘Spy Girl’ or ‘The Scarlet Spy’.”
Scarlet stared at Heather a moment, before turning her eyes to Nate. “What do you want me to snoop for?”
Nate sighed. “Anything…Head Ghosts, Bluestone weapons…whatever you can find that might help us figure out what is going on. You said you saw a flower in one of her suitcases? Look through her other suitcases and see what else she’s hiding. You can take Gabriel and Heather with you, to stand guard or whatever.”
Heather smiled and bobbed her head up and down excitedly as she looked at Gabriel. “It’s like going undercover.”
Gabriel blinked. “Except we’re going as ourselves so…it’s nothing like going undercover.”
Heather wrinkled her nose at him.
Tristan inhaled as he thought about the possibility of Laura being after Scarlet. “Laura doesn’t make sense.”
Everyone looked at him.
He continued. “The only people who ever knew about the curse, and therefore knew about Scarlet, are the five of us—since, apparently, the blond is in on this—and Raven. So unless Laura is actually Raven in disguise, then Laura doesn’t make sense.”
No one spoke for a moment.
Scarlet sucked in a slow breath. “You think Laura might be Raven in disguise?”
Tristan shook his head. “No. No, I don’t think Laura is Raven—”
“But what if she is?” Heather licked her lips.
Gabriel shifted uncomfortably. “Raven’s dead.”
Nate nodded. “Raven is dead.”
Heather said, “Are you sure? Because if Raven was immortal like you guys—”
“Which she wasn’t,” Nate said.
Heather continued, “Then she could have ‘died’, but not really.”
Gabriel looked skeptical. “Laura looks nothing like Raven.”
“So?” Heather shrugged. “There’s plastic surgery and makeup and pushup bras now. She could have completely revamped her appearance to trick you guys.”
Tristan listened to Heather’s theory with a sick feeling in his gut. Raven…alive?
That would really piss him off.
Scarlet tucked her lips in. “But if Laura is Raven then…then…Raven has been my guardian this whole time? Raven, my killer, has been sleeping two doors down from me for the last two years? She’s been feeding me and buying me things and…trying to steal my memories?” Scarlet’s face went pale. “That’s sick.”
Nate cleared his throat. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. For now, let’s just tiptoe around Laura until we have more information. Scarlet.” Nate looked at Scarlet who was staring wide-eyed at the floor. “Scarlet,” he repeated.
She looked up at him. “What?”
“Can you still do this? Can you still play dumb and sneak around in your house to figure out if Laura is hiding anything else?”
Scarlet raised an eyebrow laced with attitude. “Absolutely.”
“Good.” Nate smiled and looked back at everyone else. “The last thing we need to discuss is the map. I have tried my very hardest to figure out where we’re supposed to start and I cannot seem to crack it.” He took a deep breath. “So we’re going back to Mr. Brooks’ scary emporium of owls to start over.”
Tristan looked around the room. “‘Scary emporium of owls’?”
Nate nodded at him with big eyes. “Oh you’ll see.”
60
Scarlet walked through the stable looking at all the beautiful horses. These last two weeks had been tough, but better than the two weeks before that, and the two weeks before that.
Her mother was extremely ill and completely bedridden. Ana rarely spoke anymore, and when she did it was mostly nonsense. Her pain was atrocious. The castle nurses kept her sedated as much as possible, but there was little they could do. Ana was there in body, but gone in mind.
Scarlet reached a hand out and stroked the large, warm face of the horse nearest her. Such a majestic beast.
“Would you like to go for a ride?” Gabriel’s voice came up behind Scarlet; polite, kind.
She turned and attempted a smile. “Oh no, I was just….just…”
What had she been doing?
“Just walking?” Gabriel looked at her with knowing eyes. He glanced at the ground and nodded. “I do a lot of…walking, too. It eases the sadness.”
Scarlet waited until his eyes met hers before speaking. “Will the sadness go away?”
Gabriel looked at the horse and stroked his mane. “Not today.” He looked back at Scarlet. “So what do you say? Would you like to ride?”
Scarlet took a deep breath as she looked at the horse. She did not feel like riding.
But, then again, she did not feel like doing much of anything.
Exhaling, she said, “Yes. Yes, I would.”
Gabriel smiled. “Very well. I will get a horse saddled for you and I will saddle one for myself as well.”
“You will be joining me?” Scarlet raised a brow.
Gabriel smiled weakly. “I could use the company.”
***************
As the sun set, Tristan headed inside the monastery with two deer on his back. The monks met him at the door and happily relieved him of the weight. Tristan had been hunting for several weeks and had almost secured enough meat to feed the monks through winter.
Game was not scarce in this part of the land.
Tristan sat down at the long table in the old din
ing room beside a large monk named Gordon and watched Bartholomew, a strong monk who said very little, enter from the back door. The butcher of Tristan’s kills, Bartholomew was shirtless as he gathered the deer from the kitchen.
Tristan’s eyes caught on a design on Bartholomew’s chest. It was dark blue and stained into his skin, but it did not look faded like the design Tristan continued to stain on his own body.
Turning to the round monk beside him, Tristan gestured to Bartholomew. “What is that he has on his chest?”
Through a mouthful of food, Gordon said, “That is a tattoo.”
“Does it wash off?”
“No, it stays forever. Like magic. Brother Elliot does them.”
Tristan’s eyes brightened at this. A permanent ink?
He would have to talk to Elliot about this.
***************
Three weeks later, Gabriel galloped and raced on his horse through the trees and out into the far field. Scarlet laughed as he tried to keep up with her.
They had been taking rides together almost every day for the last few weeks. Scarlet made him feel alive and took away the pain in his chest when he remembered Tristan. Gabriel’s favorite part of each day was the sound of her laughter.
When they had reached the edge of the outer field, Scarlet slowed her horse to a walk and Gabriel came up beside her. “You gave me the slow horse,” he teased.
She laughed and his soul lit up. “Do not blame the horse for your lack of skill in riding.”
He smiled. “But it is the horse. This poor creature can barely carry my weight. Your animal, on the other hand, only has to carry a tiny woman.”
Scarlet rolled her eyes. “You are too big a man for your horse? Yes, I’m sure that excuse works with the village girls.”
He laughed with her and took a deep breath as they guided their horses along the field’s perimeter and rode side by side.
“So where are we going today?” She smiled at Gabriel.
“Today, we are going to the lake.”
She smiled. “I like the lake.”
Gabriel smiled back at her. “I know. That is why we are going there.”
The lake made Scarlet happy. And Gabriel wanted to make Scarlet happy.
61
Scarlet entered Laura’s bedroom while Gabriel and Heather stood watch downstairs. Laura wasn’t supposed to be home for another two hours, but they didn’t want to take any chances.
Scarlet carefully opened drawers and cabinets and shamelessly riffled through Laura’s things.
Sexy shoes, sexy bras, sexy underwear….the only thing Scarlet was uncovering about Laura was her sexiness. Which was not new information.
Moving on.
Scarlet headed to the closet and started looking for things that would confirm that Laura was evil, or maybe Raven in disguise. She searched for any tell-tale signs; wigs…colored contacts…name tags that read “HELLO My Name Is Raven”…but no.
Laura’s closet was even bigger than Scarlet’s and completely overrun with business suits and scarves, but no Head Ghosts or Bluestone weapons.
Scarlet was starting to lose hope when she spied the black suitcase from Laura’s trip peeking out from behind a group of hanging dresses.
Without hesitating, Scarlet pulled out the suitcase and unzipped it.
The yellow flower was still there, tucked into the black Styrofoam casing. Scarlet contemplated removing the flower altogether but what if Laura opened her suitcase tonight and saw it missing?
No, that was a bad idea.
Scarlet pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and snapped a few pictures of the flower, being sure to get all the details. Maybe Nate could look it up online.
After grabbing her pictures, Scarlet shoved the suitcase back into place and exited the closet. Taking one last look around Laura’s room and not finding anything else useful, Scarlet made her way back downstairs.
“Wonder Woman?” she heard Heather’s voice say from the kitchen.
“No.” Gabriel’s voice responded.
“The Great Blondini?” Heather asked.
Scarlet descended the stairs and found Heather and Gabriel in the kitchen. Heather looked excited. Gabriel looked bored.
“No.” Gabriel shook his head at Heather. “I am not going to call you by any code names.”
“But what if you get to have a code name too?” Her eyes brightened. “Maybe something like Fierce Jaguar?” She made a clawing motion with her hand.
Gabriel stared at her. “Fierce Jaguar?”
She wagged her eyebrows. “Or what about Hot Archer? Would you take on a code name then?”
Gabriel pursed his lips.
“Okay guys,” Scarlet said, walking into the kitchen. “I didn’t find any incriminating evidence, but I did get some pictures of that flower thingy in Laura’s suitcase so, we’ll see. Let’s get out of here before Laura gets back.”
Scarlet hurried to leave her house. It felt weird exiting the front door. Like she no longer belonged there.
But maybe she never had.
62
Nate’s mouth fell open the moment he saw the picture of the yellow flower. “Laura has this?”
Scarlet stood with Heather, Tristan and Gabriel in Nate’s bedroom, everyone trying to peer over Nate’s shoulder at the picture on Scarlet’s phone.
“Yes,” Scarlet said. “Do you know what it is?”
Nate nodded and quickly uploaded the picture to one of the computers in his room so everyone could see. “It’s called Liferoot.”
Heather moved her eyes from the computer screen and took in the many video game controllers, superhero posters and figurines. “Wow,” Heather raised her eyebrows, “I feel like I’m in my little brother’s room. Except my little brother doesn’t have as many toys.”
“Collector’s items,” Nate corrected, blowing up a picture of the flower on his computer screen.
Gabriel eyed the hammer in the corner. “I’m glad you used the Zelda sword instead of the Thor hammer the other night. Trying to kill an Ashman with a plastic hammer would have been exhausting.”
“It’s not made of plastic, it’s…never mind.” Nate shook his head. He squinted at the screen and everyone stared at the picture of the yellow flower over his shoulder.
Scarlet leaned in. “You’ve seen this flower before?”
“Yeah. But not for a long…time….” He zoomed in on the roots. “I can’t believe Laura has Liferoot. It’s supposedly been extinct for centuries.”
Scarlet furrowed her brow. “Why do you think she has it?”
“Magic.”
“What?”
Nate looked at her seriously. “The root of this flower is used in very old, very dangerous spells.”
“Spells, hmm.” Tristan slanted his eyes at Gabriel. “That sounds like something a witch would do.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes.
“What kind of magic does Liferoot do?” Scarlet stepped closer to the computer.
Nate studied the flower. “I don’t remember. But it’s definitely used for dark magic.” He looked at Scarlet and bit his lip. “And Raven used to use dark magic. A lot of dark magic.”
Scarlet blinked. “So you think Laura is Raven?”
“I think it’s a strong possibility.”
“O-M-G,” Heather said. “Does that mean Laura is a witch?” She nodded. “Because I can see Laura as a sexy red-headed witch wearing a pointy black hat while stirring a caldron.”
Nate nodded. “This plant is extremely rare and the fact that she has the whole thing, including the roots is textbook witchcraft.”
Heather wrinkled her face. “How would you know?”
Nate shrugged. “Because I’m from a family of dark magic.”
“You’re what?” Scarlet’s mouth fell open.
Nate looked at her in confusion for a moment, and then he nodded in understanding. “Oh, right. You don’t remember.” He clasped his hands together and cleared his throat. “I’m Nathaniel Fle
tcher. In the 1500s, my family practiced dark magic outside of Gabriel and Tristan’s village.”
Scarlet was so confused. “Like Raven’s family?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” He looked back at the flower and casually said, “Raven was my cousin.”
Scarlet’s mouth fell even further. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“You’re related to the psycho Scarlet-killer?” Heather’s eyes were on him like a hawk.
“Yes,” Nate nodded, and turned to face them. Upon seeing their accusing expressions, he hurriedly added, “But it’s not like I conspired to kill Scarlet or anything. I didn’t even know Scarlet back then. Raven and I were cousins, not partners in crime.”
Scarlet shook her head. “This is all so crazy.”
“So what are you, like some kind of witch?” Heather eyed him up and down.
Nate said, “Well, technically I would be a wizard, but it’s not like that. I don’t practice magic. I find it weird. And scary. And I was never really good at it anyway.”
Scarlet scrunched her nose. “But your family is full of witches?”
“My family members were not immortal, so they’re all dead. But yes, when they were alive pretty much everyone practiced magic.”
“So wait,” Heather said, holding up a hand. “You’re telling us you were a wizard? But not a good wizard? You were like a misfit wizard?”
Nate rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I sucked or anything. I just never got into it.”
“This is just so weird.” Scarlet stared at the computer screen. “I can’t believe you’re Raven’s cousin. And I can’t believe Laura is Raven.”
“Maybe,” Tristan interjected. “Laura may be Raven.”
Scarlet looked at Tristan and for a brief moment their eyes met, and her heart kicked in response.
“Well, either way,” Gabriel said, “Laura is up to something involving magic and it’s probably not for the good of mankind. So let’s just assume, for the time being, that Laura is evil. What should we do about the flower?” He directed his question at Nate.
“I wish I remembered what spell that flower was used for.” Nate looked at the computer screen and frowned.