The Tragedy of Knowledge (4 page)

I found Gavin in the living room, pinning pieces of the remnants from Vivienne’s shop onto a pegboard. He’d assembled four full-size boards on the wall near the piano, rafted them together to create one mega-sized board for putting the puzzle pieces together. Papers littered them, overlapping with one another and spilling over onto the surrounding wall.

“Hey, love,” he glanced over his shoulder. “How is she?”

“A mess. She and Marie need a moment, so I stepped out.” I crossed the room and came to stand next to him. “So … you and Arianna talked earlier. What’s our next move?”

He pinned another shred of paper to the board in front of us, dragging his index finger along the edges as he studied it. “Well, when we get back to Amaranth, we’ll break the news about Vivienne to Samira. Hopefully, hearing who we think killed Vivienne will bolster Samira’s resolve to go after Gérard. Maybe she’ll have a plan of action in mind that we haven’t considered. We’ll join forces with the rest of the resistance, and the Amaranthians, to face him. When we left Amaranth to come talk to Vivienne, I was hoping she’d have some clues as to how we can kill him, or how we could garner more help from the conjure side of things. I’ve come to the conclusion that if she did know anything, she would’ve told us the last time we saw her. Whatever she was on to here, we were all too late.”

“Do you think there are any other local witches … any originals … who could help us?”

“I don’t know. Possibly. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting in touch with any of them, even if they are out there. From what I understand, Vivienne was the only one who operated in town, who engaged with the locals and even bothered to help our kind. Most of the witches reside deep in the bayous and keep themselves sheltered, knowing the area is rich with frozen souls. We’re a threat to them, we’re the enemy. Their magic can’t harm us, only that of our creators can. That leaves them at a disadvantage. And as Vivienne explained to you, they don’t think very highly of Gérard and Samira. We’re guilty by association. The only other thing we have is the witches’ Book of the Ancients. I’ve been studying it, but it doesn’t reveal an ending to this mess. It only points to the water and snake prophecies, and some of the history between our kind and theirs. The last few pages are completely blank, as if …”

“The ending’s yet to be written.” Turning to sit on the piano bench, I let out an exhausted sigh, recalling the blank pages back when I’d first acquainted myself with the book in Amaranth. “So we’re at a dead end.”

“Not entirely, babe. What I can’t understand is what Vivienne found that made her panic. Looking at the papers that were on her counter, it seems she was scribbling and writing so fast, her mind couldn’t keep up. Some of the ink was fresh. And look at some of the writing, how it abruptly stops, the sentences unfinished. Whatever she was trying to do, we were just too damn late to help her.”

“I wish I could tell you. Here, let me help. Two minds are better, and all that.” I pushed myself off the bench and resumed my place by his side, shuffling through the box of papers. We moved things around on the pegboard, squinting to read some of the pieces aloud, exchanging ideas as we went.

“Hey, I’ve been thinking.” Gabe’s voice came from behind us. He sauntered in wearing the same workout clothes as yesterday, again soaked in sweat, iPod earbuds hanging from his ears. Gavin and I turned to meet him. “I’m out there for my run every day, right? Blasting my music, trying to make sense of all this crazy shit and how we aren’t getting anywhere. We’re like sitting ducks, just waiting for him to come and get us, or go after others in the resistance. And we don’t know what we face if he shows up at the portal. I mean, this conjure dude obviously wanted to scare us. Goal accomplished. But, so what? We’re already scared. All we have are dead friends, promises we can’t trust, and these,” he shuffled forward and shook the box of papers, “nothing but jumbled-up clues to show for it all. I say it’s our turn to scare
him
. So screw sifting through all of this stuff, wasting all this time. Let’s invite him over and turn the tables. Be done with it, so we at least know what we’re dealing with before we show up at the bayou.”

Oh, how I admired Gabe’s straightforward tenacity. But it would get us killed.

Gavin relaxed a bit, tucking his hands in his pockets with a tight smile. “I wish we could, man. But the reality is we can’t afford to just have him show up while we’re unarmed, unprotected. We have to figure out his weakness if we want to have the upper hand when it’s time for the showdown. Otherwise we’re just digging our own graves.”

“What about the spell Vivienne helped us cast?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “The one that gave us protection and energy when we went to Amaranth?” While the frozen souls couldn’t be affected by human witches and their magic, the ability to use their magic amongst their own kind was a nice advantage of being bred by two hybrid creators. But it didn’t help when we had no idea how to use it, and no witches willing to show us how. Only Vivienne offered her help, and that option was out.

“We still have Vivienne’s instructions for it, but it’s not like other spells. It’s too big for frozen souls to cast on their own. We’d need help—a direct connection—from an original witch again.” Gavin nodded to the box. “And I don’t know any other original who will agree to do what Vivienne did for us. It’s too risky for them to help us. Now I’m just trying to find another angle to work from, one that will give us an advantage over Gérard somehow.”

“Well, I still say let’s give him an invitation,” Gabe huffed. “What else can we use as ammunition?”

The three of us exchanged glances when the sound of footsteps interrupted our thoughts. Arianna appeared in the doorway, wiping her nose with a tissue. “Did you guys figure anything out?”

Gabe cut a glance to Gavin, a question in his eyes. My stomach dropped, not liking the look on Gabe’s face. Arianna must have noticed, because her gaze bounced from my face to his, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Gavin growled low in his throat but held Gabe’s gaze. “The answer’s no. She’s been through enough. Don’t even think about it.”

“Arianna, yeah, we might’ve just figured something out.” Gabe’s voice carried across the room, as if making it extra clear Gabe was ignoring Gavin’s warning.

“Damn it.” Gavin pierced Gabe with a cutting glare, then turned his attention to his sister. “Ari, I hate to ask, but—”

“We need you as bait. And a bargaining tool,” Gabe spat. Gavin’s eyes snapped shut at his words. “How would you like to see dear old Dad again?”

“More like we need you for protection,” Gavin clarified through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, insurance. Whatever.” Gabe shrugged. I stepped back a bit, wincing at the delicate way the boys had delivered the blow. As much as I hated to admit it, the idea was a good one. Arianna was likely the only one in this room Gérard would think twice about before harming. Using her to our advantage might be our only hope, since it seemed we had nothing else.

“Wait,” she said, chuckling and her eyes rolling to the ceiling. “Let me get this straight … you want to use
me
as a weapon when we confront my father? I’m all we’ve got?”

“Afraid so,” Gabe mumbled, hanging his head, finally showing a little shame for his suggestion.

Gavin took a step closer to her. “I know it’s been a long time since you’ve seen him, Ari. And I know how you feel about him. But we’re not getting anywhere with Vivienne’s old stuff. We don’t have any magic to help us, and there are no clues in the witches’ history to help us figure out how to bring him down.”

Arianna let out a long exhale. The four of us stood there for a moment, until she finally broke the silence. “Fine, though I doubt it’ll do any good. What’s your plan if we don’t even know how to kill him? If he already knows we’re after him, he might’ve also caught word that I’m on your side.” I breathed a sigh of relief at her permission, relief I saw that Gabe and Gavin shared. But then the worry settled in. The quiet filled the room again, and Gabe wandered over to the wall to study the pegboard while Gavin stumbled off, his face clouded with thought. I stood there twiddling my thumbs, eyeing the exit, itching to go for a run.

“We’ll have to confront him and make a deal somehow,” Gavin finally replied. “Use you as a bargaining chip, the same way we used you against your mother. If he does know you’re on our side to destroy him, maybe that’ll be enough to thwart him or something.”

“Ha.” Arianna laughed again. “Thwart him into what? Into him giving up all his power in exchange for my forgiveness? For a relationship with me? For my safety? Yeah, that won’t happen.”

“Maybe not, but it’s worth the risk. Play the same card with him that you’re playing with your mother. If he has even an ounce of parental guilt, he’ll at least consider it. Your mother did.”

“Gav.” She strode across the room to meet him at eye level. “My mother, as evil as she is, is ridden with guilt. That emotion doesn’t even register on my father’s radar. ‘Hey, Dad? Can you please stop holding innocent people captive in your fairyland hellhole to feed your power, and while you’re at it, lift the vampire curse?
Mmkay?
Thanks.’ Don’t you think if I could’ve said it a long time ago, I would have? If I thought for one second my request would’ve meant anything to my father, that would have been my first priority. I’m telling you right now that he couldn’t care less about making things right with me. Especially not when it involves his power. It fuels his ability to be in charge. And that’s what he wants, why he and Samira created the frozen souls in the first place. I’ll be of no use, trust me. Besides, he wanted me to choose to become a frozen soul on my own, remember? And I did, to be with Joel. He’ll be less than thrilled to learn that I changed my mind. Not just that, but that I want to lift the frozen soul curse for everyone and destroy his precious creation. If you think you can use me somehow, more power to you. But that won’t work.”

Gavin opened his mouth to respond, but Gabe’s voice stopped him. “That might be the case. But we might have something else to work with.” He delicately grabbed three pieces of paper from the board on the wall. “Here. Look at this, guys. Did you catch these names?”

The four of us huddled together around the piano, Gabe assembling the edges of each piece to push the words together. “There’s something here about Dali and Akim. Aren’t those—?”

“My mother’s wolves.” Arianna leaned in closer to study the rest of the papers. “My dad’s old conjure mates. What about them?”

“I don’t know,” Gabe said. “Vivienne’s handwriting runs out, like the rest of the sentences she was trying to write.…”

We tried studying the text a while longer, but it was no use. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Arianna turned for the door. “Gav and Cam, keep digging and see what else you can find. Gabe, you and I are going to put a plan together to lure my father here, and Audrey can help us when she gets home. We’re going to round up the troops for backup and bring them here first, though. Come on.”

Gavin said, “Ari, wait—” but she was already out the door, Gabe trailing after her with a resigned shrug. Gavin and I resumed our research in silence, the grandfather clock’s ticking echoing from the hall, grating on my nerves with each dismal stroke of the hand.

***

“Cam? Hey, Cam, hello?” Audrey’s voice echoed through my post-daydream haze, once again breaking me from my trance. I found myself in Gavin’s mother’s room, sitting at the small writing desk against the window, elbow propped up and chin in hand, as if I were gazing out to admire the view. “Cam, can you hear me? Arianna has word on the resistance, we’re waiting for you downstairs, come on.”

“Aud?” I kept my back to her, gaze out the window, still adjusting to the return from my hypnotic state.

She let out a soft sigh. “More visions?”

“Why is it only me this is happening to? I mean, you didn’t see things when you changed, right?” I shifted in my seat, meeting her eyes over my shoulder.

“I don’t know why. I wasn’t a frozen soul for very long. Aside from the blood cravings and the intense need to run around like an Olympic gold medalist, I didn’t experience the full transition like you are. No mind-speak, never got in touch with my energy-reading abilities, never found out what kind of mortal emotion I can read. … I wish I had an answer for you.”

“Cecile never mentioned anything when you spent time talking with her about her history as a frozen soul?” Cecile, Audrey’s long-lost aunt and a human-turned witch, was another casualty during our time in Amaranth, and it still hurt to think about that.

“Nope, nothing about visions or dreams that I recall. Are you still seeing the same things?”

I glanced back out the window again, shaking my head. It was all still the same: the skeleton key, his mother’s room, the search for the necklace on the pillow, though it remained safely around my neck. Just as I began to give up on the frustrating puzzle, my entire body stiffened, the hairs over my arms and neck on red alert. A piercing scream echoed from downstairs and I shot to my feet, launching myself toward Audrey, stumbling and losing my balance. Her eyes met mine, widening when she reached out to catch my elbow. Struggling to regain my balance, I leaned against her, chest heaving from the overwhelming ball of heat emanating from my chest. It thumped hard against my ribcage, vibrating and threatening to steal my breath.

“Camille! Oh my God, Cam!” Audrey’s voice lost its clarity, splintering into a thousand glass shards and bouncing off the wooden floors, puncturing my hearing with a shrill pitch. My hands protectively clasped my ears and again I fell to my knees, the ball of heat pounding harder into my chest. “Can you stand up? Are you okay?”