Born of Deception

Twenty

“Billy, run!” I scream.

But it’s too late.

“Let the man drop!” Calypso commands.

As if puzzled by his own behavior, Billy lets Mr. Casperson go. The man drops to the floor, apparently unconscious. Calypso turns to me, triumph written on her face. “Get Anna’s necklace.”

I whisk my balisong out of my pocket and flick it open, but Billy is too fast for me and the chain is broken off my neck before I can get my knife up to his arm. The pendant clatters to the floor and I hear a hiss as the spirit makes a beeline for me. I shove Billy out of the way and bend to try to grab the necklace.

“No,” Calypso cries before running toward me. I glance up when she screams out in frustration.

She’s in the salt circle.

The spirit hits me and I can feel an excruciatingly cold mist penetrating my chest. I want to cry out, to scream for help, but there is no one here who can help me. My ribs feel as if they are being pried apart as the spirit forces its way inside me. I drop to my knees as my body convulses in protest. Instinctively, I know that if this spirit possesses me, I will never be the same. Even now I feel the insanity eating away at the edges of my mind. Cole! I reach for him with everything I have but feel no answering spark, no warmth of connection. I am alone and for the first time I feel complete and utter despair. Then I remember.

“Walter!” I cry out with every bit of fight I have left.

Suddenly, the spirit is violently torn away from me and I whimper. With effort, I raise my head, blinking as my sight clears.

Calypso is still screaming, charging about the circle like a caged animal. The salt circle worked! I nearly sob in relief until my eyes take in the horror happening in the air over her head.

Two separate entities are clashing in the air so violently that I almost imagine I hear the crashing of thunder, though in reality, their fight is eerily silent and the only sound in the room is Calypso’s howling madness.

Billy slumps back against the wall, watching, horror written all over his face, as the mists momentarily become one, part, and then come together again. Slowly, one of them takes on the form of a slightly built young man in uniform.

Walter!

Calypso rushes toward the edge of the salt circle. I snatch up my pendant and scramble back at the fury on her face. She turns toward Billy. “Break the circle,” she shrieks. “Break it! Break it!”

Billy stands to do her bidding but doesn’t understand the command.

“Billy, don’t listen to her. She’s evil!” I try to reach him, but he just looks confused at my words.

Walter and Aiwass come together, and I feel rather than hear Walter’s soft cry. My heart breaks as I watch him start to crumble. He’s no match for Aiwass’s power. Like Billy, he came to protect me and, like Billy, is in danger for his trouble.

As if sensing her spirit guide’s imminent victory, Calypso regains control of herself. “On the floor, Billy, clean up the salt on the floor.”

Billy looks down, uncomprehending and I hear Walter whimpering.

No. I will not let her win.

In one smooth lightning-fast movement, I bend and grab both my knife and the satchel I’d dropped earlier. I somersault into the circle and am on my feet before Calypso can react. I try to get the rope out of my bag, but as I work to free it, she throws herself at me and I’m knocked to the floor. I slash sideways with my knife and my stomach turns as it glances off something soft.

Calypso pulls back and cries out, grabbing at her arm. The scent of blood draws Aiwass away from Walter and he is on her in a flash. I can’t tell what he’s doing, but her screams fill the apartment. I crawl backward in horror.

Something shatters behind me, and I whirl in time to see flashes of light as the mirror erupts into a thousand shards of glass. Billy hurls himself in front of me, protecting me with his body.

The pathway to the netherworld must be closing.

“Calypso!” A voice thunders and everyone, even the spirits, freezes.

Trembling, I turn. Standing in the doorway like a towering monolith is Aleister Crowley.

With a rush, Walter is by my side. I feel the cold of him but welcome it for the first time.

Mr. Crowley waves his hand and Aiwass dissolves into mist, then vanishes altogether. Some of the heaviness in the room disappears with the spirit. Calypso stares at her father from the floor, her eyes transfixed.

Her father steps toward her and stops at the edge of the salt circle. “Miss Van Housen,” he says to me without taking his eyes off Calypso. “I’ve come to take my daughter home. Please break the salt circle.”

He senses my hesitation. “She won’t harm anyone. Not ever again.” Calypso winces but is perfectly still. His voice is so commanding that I find myself doing what he says and, using my foot, I break the circle. Mr. Crowley holds out his hand and, whimpering like a beaten puppy, Calypso slowly gets up off the floor and steps to his side. I can see the blood dripping from her arm and almost feel sorry for her. Almost.

Mr. Crowley turns toward me. “I strongly suggest you remove everyone from the building as soon as possible. You’re protected, but the others are not. There are many malicious spirits here and I have no control over what sort of mischief they might do to your friends.” He gives me a formal nod of his head. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Van Housen. Be careful how you handle your abilities. Someone with your special talents will always be at risk. Your spiritual defender won’t always be able to protect you.”

With another nod, he leads his daughter away by the hand and disappears through the open doorway.

The instant after that I see another form at the entry.

“Anna!”

“Cole!”

He rushes toward me and sweeps me up in his arms. “Why did you come here? Are you insane?” He holds me close, his heart beating beneath my cheek.

“I had to stop her,” I tell him simply.

“We can talk about it later. Let’s get everyone out of here. Harrison is waiting downstairs. I wouldn’t let him come up.”

I sense his rebuke and know I deserve it for bringing Billy without taking into account Calypso’s special abilities.

Billy picks up my silver knife and finishes cutting through the man’s bindings. His mouth is drawn up into a tight line and I know I have a lot of explaining to do.

Cole’s eyes widen. “Jonathon!”

The young man nods at Cole but says nothing.

Mr. Casperson wakes up and I toss Cole a pair of handcuffs. He raises his brows but slips them on Mr. Casperson’s wrists. No use taking chances.

“What were you thinking?” Cole asks as he cuffs him.

Mr. Casperson’s face falls into the lines of a beaten man. “I wasn’t,” he says in a weary voice. “I just did what she wanted. She told me to hold Pratik and I did.”

My stomach churns.

“I’ll check out the rest of the rooms, see if there’s anyone else,” Billy says, avoiding my eyes. He skirts around me and I wonder what’s wrong until I realize he can see Walter, who is still standing by my side.

I face the wan young man who died so young. His cheeks are hollow and his skin has a yellow cast, but I can see where he might have been handsome when he was alive. I can imagine how proud his mother must have been of him.

“Thank you.”

He shrugs and his melancholy drenches me like a soft wash of tears. “There isn’t much else for me to do but to look in on you from time to time. You’re the only one I can talk to.”

“Isn’t there somewhere else you can go?” I ask gently, not caring if the others think I am talking to myself.

“Some kind of white light? A portal? A doorway?” Walter shrugs. “If there is, I haven’t found it.”

“I’m sorry.” And I am. It must be horrible to be able to see people but not communicate. No wonder he stuck close to me.

“You don’t mind if I talk to you from time to time when I can, do you?” His voice is wistful. “I can’t do it all the time. I think it has to do with place . . .”

I’m a bit uncomfortable at the thought of having a ghost stalk me, but what can I say? He probably saved my life. “No. That’s would be fine. Sometimes.”

He nods and then with a sad little salute, disappears.

Billy brings out three other young men. All are rubbing their raw wrists where they’d been bound. One of them is sporting a black eye.

A scant thirty minutes later Billy, Cole, Harrison, and I are sitting in front of my hotel in Cole’s motorcar. Cole had telephoned Mr. Gamel before coming and he was waiting for us by the time we came down. He took the other Sensitives, Jonathon, and Mr. Casperson, home with him. I wondered what would happen to Mr. Casperson and then decided I don’t want to know.

Billy opens the door. “Thanks for the rescue,” he says. “Right in the nick of time and all that.”

Cole nods.

Reluctantly I get out of the motorcar. It doesn’t make any sense for me to stay with Cole as he has to go drop Jonathon off, but I am hesitant to leave him. There is so much I want to tell him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” I search the darkness of Cole’s eyes. All I am feeling from him is relief and a strange sense of fear.

He nods again and I close the car door, feeling as if I’ve just lost everything.

Billy and I walk into the lobby of our hotel and I know I need to talk to him, to tell him the truth of how I feel.

If I can find the words.

I place my hands on Billy’s shoulders and he turns to me, pain in every line of his body. “I can’t thank you enough,” I start, and he puts a finger against my lips.

“Don’t thank me. I let you down.”

“You did not! You probably saved my life.”

He shakes his head. “The dead boy did more for you than I did. I don’t know what happened there, but I’m sorry for breaking your necklace. Oh hell, I don’t even understand half of what went on tonight.”

“I wish I could tell you . . .”

He shakes his head. “I don’t want to know. Just know that I would do anything for you, Anna. You’re special.” He gives me a lopsided smile. “I didn’t know how special until tonight.”

“You’re special, too. You saw Walter. The dead soldier.”

I glance at the clerk behind the desk and draw Billy farther away.

He shakes his head. “My aunt occasionally saw loved ones who had passed on. I’ve seen a couple of ghosts in my time, but it’s not something I seek out. Don’t make more of it than what it is. There are all sorts of things in this world I don’t understand and have no wish to. I have no desire to mess with the spirit world. Not like you do.”

It’s on my tongue to tell him that I don’t want to mess with the spirit world either, but I keep my peace. What if Mr. Crowley is right? What if I’ll always be a target because of my abilities? So I just give Billy a regretful smile and gaze up into the sunshiny blue of his eyes. “Thank you for everything, Bronco Billy. You are one of the best men I have ever known.” There is so much more I want to say, but it’s all tangled up inside, so I say nothing about how much I care for him but that my heart belongs to someone else.

I sense from the resignation emanating from him that he already knows.

The corner of his mouth quirks upward into a sad smile. “Aw shucks, miss. Now you should go get some rest. I’ll see you at the theater, right?”

I nod.

“Then go on with you.” He turns away from me, his shoulders resolute.

In my room, I try to do as he says and even change into my nightclothes, but in spite of my fatigue, I’m oddly fidgety. I sit on my bed, tuck my feet up under my nightgown, and stare out the window at the glittering lights of London. I wonder about Jonathon and the other Sensitives. Would they choose to go to Dr. Boyle, whose greedy ambitions cause him to treat other human beings like cattle? Or would they choose to stay at the Society, where they were only valued for the information they could impart? Why wasn’t there another choice? Would Calypso have been different had she had real family or were Sensitives just inherently more susceptible to insanity?

I had thought all of my questions about my life would be answered once I moved to London to perform my magic, but instead I just have more questions. Should I stay on the tour when it goes to the States, or should I move to Paris and let my mother try to be a real parent? Do I want to attend a university somewhere? What do I want to do with my life? The only real answer I have is who I want to do it with.

Cole.

Restlessly, I get off the bed and, with difficulty, open the rain-swollen ancient window. The storm has passed, making the London night look washed clean, and I stare out at the lights, as brilliant as stars. The small side street that the hotel is located on is empty and quiet. I shiver as the chill of the air hits my skin, but it feels so fresh that I lean farther forward into the darkness, waiting, as if I’m on the edge of the cliff that is the rest of my life.

Suddenly the lights of a motorcar turn the corner. My heart leaps up in my throat because I know who it is before it even comes to a stop in front of the hotel.

Without thinking, I turn and race down the stairs and across the lobby past a surprised clerk, my nightgown billowing out behind me. The night air chills my skin but I ignore it.

“Anna!”

I leap into Cole’s arms and he catches me up close to him. For a long moment neither one of us speaks as our psychic connection is made. Time slows and is measured only in the strong, beloved heartbeat against my ear.

I’m not sure how long we stay that way before he loosens his grip just a touch so that I slide down his body until my bare feet touch the ground. I know we have to talk, that there are things that must be said, but I also know from the lilting happiness inside me that it will be all right in the end.

“Are you in love with him?” he asks first. The pain in his voice brings tears to my eyes. I know I need to choose my words very carefully. There are disadvantages to having someone you love be able to feel what you feel.

I stare into his eyes, letting him see, as well sense, what I am feeling. “I could love Billy if I let myself. He’s a wonderful friend and a wonderful man and he understands things about me that you won’t ever understand.”

I feel his pulsing misery and I continue. “But I can’t love him, because I’m already in love with you. There is no room left for him in my heart because it’s already filled with you.”

Cole’s arms tighten around me convulsively. The relief he feels almost makes me cry out.

“I love you, too,” he says, and I hear the catch in his voice.

“Then why don’t you ever tell me that?” I ask against his chest.

“It’s hard for me. I don’t know why. And things have been so crazy since you got back from your trip to France. When I saw you coming down the street with Billy the other night, I just kept thinking that I had lost you and maybe it was for the best.”

I tilt my head to see his face in the glow of the streetlamp. “How can you say that?”

“I don’t know what my presence in your life is going to do to your abilities. I won’t ever let myself hurt you in any way.”

“It will hurt me more to lose you than it would to deal with whatever happens.”

“I love you, Anna.”

“I love you too, Cole,” I murmur before his lips meet mine. I’m not alone anymore. I won’t ever be alone again.

In that moment, things become clear for me in a way they never have before and I know what I’m going to do. With Cole’s help, I’ll build a new Society and it’ll be a place where Sensitives are valued as human beings. A place where we can learn from one another and no one will have to feel as if he or she is totally alone. Together, we can help others find their way. Then I stop thinking and let myself be swept away by the enchantment of kissing Cole.

I know real magic when I feel it.