This Wicked Game

TWENTY-THREE

“Now what?” Sasha asked.

It had taken ten minutes for Sasha and Allegra to lose the look of shock on their faces and another twenty for Eddie to answer their questions. A lot of it was a repeat of what Claire and Xander told them when they’d first arrived, but Allegra and Sasha wanted to hear it straight from Eddie. He didn’t seem to mind.

“I stopped to pick up the letters so Eddie could read them, too,” Claire finally said. She reached into her bag. “Maybe he’ll be able to tell us what they have to do with Max and Eugenia.”

Claire handed the letters to Eddie and sat back, watching as his eyes skimmed the pages. Xander tapped his fingers impatiently on the table while Sasha and Allegra eyed Eddie with thinly veiled curiosity.

Finally, Eddie looked up, his eyes shaded with concern.

“Well? Do you know what they mean?” Claire asked.

Eddie looked nervously around the Cup before returning his eyes to them. “We can’t talk about this here.”

They decided to go to the library on Carrolton. For a New Orleans library, voodoo research wasn’t exactly out of the norm. It was the closest they could come to a place where they could talk freely.

They entered through the glass doors, making their way past the main desk to one of the empty tables near the back.

Once they were settled, Eddie pulled out the letters he’d been carrying since they left the Cup.

“I’m assuming you’ve all read these,” he said, looking at each of them.

They nodded.

“We get the gist of it,” Claire said. “This woman named Sorina wanted revenge for something that happened to her parents. So she contacted Marie and asked for information about some kind of black magic spell called Cold Blood.”

“Except Marie shut her down, because, duh, Marie didn’t approve of black magic,” Allegra continued.

“But she must have tried spells out on her own,” Claire said. “Otherwise, why would the Guild expel her?”

“That’s what I don’t get,” Sasha said. “Why would Sorina even need Marie’s spell? If Sorina knew the craft, couldn’t she just create one of her own?”

“She could,” Eddie said. “But it would be like baking bread without a recipe. Could you do it and come up with something approximating bread? Maybe. But even if it worked, it probably wouldn’t be as good as something tried and true.”

“He’s right,” Allegra agreed. “And the spells for black magic are trickier than most.” She sighed. “Come on, Sash. You know this.”

Sasha looked offended. “This is . . . you know. Technical stuff. I know what ingredients to mix together for which spells and I remember most of the words for conjuring, but don’t ask me about all the rules. I don’t pay attention to that kind of thing.”

Eddie snorted.

“What?” Allegra said.

He leaned forward, keeping his voice low. “This is what I’ve been saying; the Guild hasn’t prepared you for this kind of attack. They expose you to the craft—and all kinds of people who practice it—and don’t teach you to defend yourselves. To defend your families and the Guild.” He made a sound that clearly expressed his exasperation. “It’s negligence, plain and simple.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Allegra crowed, looking at Eddie like he was her new best friend.

Eddie shook his head. “Do they bother training you at all? Teach you ways to make your recipes stronger? Show you how to build your own spells? To figure out where your gifts lie?”

“Our parents teach us stuff when we’re little,” Sasha said. “Like . . . which ingredients go into which spell and stuff.”

“Ingredients,” Eddie repeated, disbelieving. “Well, that’s one way to handle training, but it’s not going to get you very far with someone like Max.”

“I guess, in eighteen eighty if you wanted a foolproof spell for black magic, Marie would have been the one to go to,” Claire said, trying to turn the conversation back to the letters. It’s not that she didn’t agree with Eddie and Allegra. But they had more immediate problems than the Guild’s training practices and its relevance in modern society.

“In any year,” Xander corrected her. “I mean, not to brag, but the Toussaints are pretty well known for the strength of our spells. But they don’t hold a candle to Marie’s, even after all these years.”

“So let’s get this straight,” Sasha said. “Sorina wanted Marie’s spell for revenge, but Marie wouldn’t give it to her.”

“Right,” Xander said. “But Sorina had an idea of what was required, and she kept experimenting until she got it right.”

“And the Guild disavowed her,” Claire said softly. “Just like Maximilian.”

“Except unlike Sorina, Maximilian never mastered the black magic spell he needed,” Eddie reminded them. “Not in time anyway. Elisabeta died.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that he mastered something. Otherwise, why would he be here targeting the Guild?” Allegra asked.

Claire reached for the letters, dropping her eyes to the slanted writing. She flipped through the pages, searching for a paragraph in the final letter.

“This is the part I don’t understand.” She lowered her voice as she recited the words. “‘It was never my intention that my spells and potions be used for ill. I have uncovered keys to the craft’s darkest door only to foil those with a less altruistic view of it, hoping to have some defense should it be used as a means to harm others. It is a heavy burden to know that my attempts at safeguarding the world from those who would use the craft for evil have instead caused that evil to be unleashed.’” Claire looked at Eddie. “It almost sounds like the Cold Blood spell was Marie’s to start with.”

Eddie nodded. “It probably was.”

Xander shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. Like Allegra said, Marie didn’t condone the use of black magic.”

“You know how doctors develop vaccines?” Eddie asked them. “For diseases and such?”

“Sure,” Xander said. “They use a weakened or dead form of the microbe that causes the disease to create a kind of antidote.”

“In other words, you have to understand the disease to create a cure,” Eddie said.

“Wait a minute . . .” Claire said. It was starting to come together. “You’re saying Cold Blood was Marie’s spell, but she only created it as a way to make a counterspell in case someone else discovered it?”

“Can’t fight what you don’t know,” Eddie said.

Claire was beginning to see his point.

She sighed, turning her attention back to the final letter. “That leaves this then: ‘I can only appeal to the all-powerful loas to accept an addendum to the Cold Blood spell. One that will require an ingredient you will never obtain.’” She looked at Eddie. “What does it mean?”

“A lot of practitioners—especially the old school ones—believe a spell or recipe is only as good as its endorsement by the loas.”

Allegra laughed. “You’re saying we can create a spell but if the loas don’t approve it, it won’t work?”

Eddie’s nod was slow. “That’s what some people believe.”

Claire thought about it. “So if Marie believed her original Cold Blood spell had been blessed by the loas and she wanted to make a change so no one else could use it, she would have to ask them to accept the change to the recipe?”

“That’s about right,” Eddie said.

“One that will require an ingredient you will never obtain,” Claire murmured.

“I wonder what the ingredient was,” Sasha said. “And if it was enough to stop Sorina.”

“I think we’re asking the wrong question,” Allegra said.

Sasha raised her eyebrows. “What’s the right question?”

“Whether Max somehow got ahold of the addendum to Cold Blood. Whether he’s planning to use it on the firstborns.” She paused, her eyes wide with fear. “On us.”

Silence stretched between them. Claire wondered if she was the only one who felt Marie as a palpable presence, as if she were looking over their shoulders, encouraging them to figure out the mystery of Cold Blood. To save themselves.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Claire finally said. “Why else would Max have the letters? Why else would he take pictures of the firstborns and break into their houses?”

“They’re making doll babies,” Xander said softly. “Preparing to hex us with the Cold Blood spell as revenge for Elisabeta’s death.”

“Now you’re thinking,” Eddie said.

“What about Claire?” Sasha asked. “Why wasn’t her picture on the wall? Why hasn’t her house been broken into?”

Xander shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they hadn’t taken her picture yet. Maybe she’s last.”

Allegra turned to Eddie. “Have you ever heard of Cold Blood? Is there a counter?”

Eddie shook his head. “I’ve heard talk, but like a lot of the old recipes, it’s difficult to know how much of it is just legend. And if Marie did create a counter as the letters seem to indicate, I have no idea where we’d find it.”

“Can we come up with one on our own?” Allegra asked.

“Without the original spell, it’d be almost impossible,” Eddie answered.

“Well, we need to figure something out,” Xander said.

He didn’t have to say what they were all thinking; his house had already been broken into. Once Maximilian and Eugenia got ahold of something belonging to Sasha—and maybe Claire—whatever they had planned would be set into motion.

“We could talk to the other firstborns,” Allegra offered. “Except for Daniel. He’s too young. But we could let Charlie and William and Laura in on everything and see if they have any ideas. Laura’s really talented with recipes. Maybe she could try to develop something.”

Claire shook her head. “I don’t want to do that.”

“Why not? Because you don’t trust them?” Allegra asked, her blue eyes looking into Claire’s. “They’re just like us.”

Claire tried to think of a way to explain that wouldn’t sound offensive. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t know them very well, that’s all.”

Allegra shrugged. “Whose fault is that?”

“Allegra . . .” There was a subtle warning in Xander’s voice.

“I’m just saying,” Allegra continued, turning her attention back to Claire, “the other firstborns are there. They’d help if they knew we needed it.”

“I don’t know.” Xander tapped his fingers along the edge of the table. “Maybe we should just take it to the Guild.”

“No way.” Claire was as surprised by her vehemence as Xander. “They made Eddie out to be some kind of nut job just to keep their secret. I don’t trust them to tell us anything at this point. We could give them what we have and they could just pat us on the head and tell us to let them take care of everything. For all we know, that would be the last we heard of it, ever.”

“Would that be so bad?” Xander asked. “At least someone would be taking care of it. Someone who knows what we’re up against.”

Eddie chuckled softly. They stopped arguing, turning to where he sat, his expression as placid as the Pontchartrain on a windless summer day.

Xander scowled. “What’s so funny?”

“You,” Eddie said with a smile. “The fact that you still believe the Guild knows anything about what it’s up against.”

“Well, they may not be doing much about black magic in our ranks, but they definitely know more than we do,” Xander said.

“You’re right about that, my man. And that’s just the way they want it,” Eddie said. “Question is: How long do you want it to be that way?”

The words hung between them.

“Eddie has a point,” Sasha said. “Our parents might know more than we do, but that’s not saying much. I mean, it seems to me that they’ve made a pretty big mess of things. Not to mention the fact that, based on what Eddie told you, the Guild knew Max could pose a threat all this time. But they never said a word about it, and from the looks of things, they didn’t do anything about it either.”

Allegra nodded. “Exactly. And anyway, each new generation in the Guild has to step up at one point or another,” she added. “The older generation becomes, well, old or tired or ineffective and—”

“Hey, now . . .” Eddie protested.

She smiled at him. “There are exceptions. I’m just saying that maybe it’s time for us to stop letting our parents take care of everything. Maybe it’s time we step up and start acting like firstborns.”

“There’s just one problem,” Xander said. “We don’t have any idea what we’re dealing with.”

“Right,” Sasha agreed. “We can’t even start looking for a counterspell until we know what the Cold Blood spell does.”

Allegra leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Let’s think about this; if it’s used on someone’s enemies, it has to be a spell to kill someone in cold blood or with cold blood or . . .”

“By turning their blood cold,” Claire tried.

The words sat between them.

“We can’t be sure exactly what it is,” Sasha said. “And it’s not like we have time to experiment with counterspells in the hopes that we stumble on the right one.”

“I might be able to help with that.”

They turned to Eddie.

“You guys up for a drive?”