Divination (Spells and Sins)

Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

"In the stillness of the moon’s light, truth dances in shadows."

Lunara

I ’d made it halfway up the street when I realized how ridiculous this was. Sure, I was angry that Elysia excluded me from her pain, but that didn’t mean I wanted to search for the Starfire Orb alone. After that mysterious voice’s ominous warning, I no longer knew if I wanted to look for it at all.

Hallow Ridge Grove may have been in danger because of some dark entity, but that didn’t affect me nearly as much as Elysia’s distancing did. If it weren’t for my feelings for her, I’m not sure I’d still be searching for that damn artifact, especially if the elders knew my connection to it could put me in danger.

Feeling more selfish than ever, I pushed the safety of Hallow Ridge Grove and all of Faerie from my mind, and turned back toward Morgana’s house. Elysia may not have wanted me there, but I had to show her how important she was to me and that our joined magic was about more than just some ritual.

I set out at a brisk pace, completely ignoring my surroundings as I marched toward the outskirts of town. I’d made it at least a half mile when that unsettling chill crept in again, like sharpened icicles raking down my back.

Stopping in the middle of the street, I looked left and right for the menacing force that brought about the bitter cold. There was no sign of any sinister being, but shouts and screams reached my ears from up the street, and I broke out in a run to see what all the commotion was about.

As I rounded the next street corner, I saw a pair of men fighting alongside a head-on collision. One man forced the other into a headlock and began punching him in the ribs while a woman stood on the sidewalk, watching the scene unfold.

A little farther down, a group of well-dressed women used rakes and shovels to bash in the window of a small diner while a pair of waitresses watched in horror from inside.

While I hadn’t spotted the dark force that created the melee, I knew the veil grew thinner by the second and if I didn’t hurry, the entire town would be in danger. So much for abandoning my search for the orb. With so many lives on the line, I realized I couldn’t afford to be selfish.

Still, I needed Elysia by my side. If there was a chance the Starfire Orb might end me, I didn’t want my last memory of Elysia to be one of sadness and desertion.

I broke out in a sprint, rushing past all the bedlam as I pushed my body past the point of pain and exhaustion to get back to Morgana’s.

“I’m here,” I called as I sprinted to the edge of the tree line. “Elysia, I’m here,” I called again, looking toward Morgana’s but not seeing a single soul in sight. “Elysia?”

A few cars sat in the driveway, Elysia’s included, sending me straight to the front door where I tapped on the glass before barging right in as if I owned the place.

“Elysia?” I called again, but the living room was empty. In fact, as I searched room to room, I found no one on the first floor.

Yet, as I wandered around the main living space, I felt a tug calling me to the second floor of the house. Could Elysia be up there? Could our shared magic be guiding me to her?

I took the stairs two at a time until I reached the second floor landing and called her name again. “Elysia, I’m here. Where are you?”

Room after room, I searched, opening doors I hadn’t dared to open before. As I reached the room that Elysia and I shared, I stared at the bed and remembered our first night together. The ache in my chest deepened and I returned to calling her name as that pull kept urging me to search higher.

After I opened another door, I found a smaller, winding staircase and followed it to an attic space filled with storage boxes, old furniture, and piles of clothes. The middle of the floor was riddled with papers while a box sat to the side with the lid askew. I was just about to head back downstairs when one of the papers caught my eye.

As I knelt down on the weathered floorboards, I stared at the document in question.

Bill of Sale

The Crystal Lantern

I scratched my head, blinking through my confusion as I spotted Morgana’s name at the bottom of the document.

“What the fuck?” That didn’t make any sense. Was Morgana somehow tied to everything that was happening in Hallow Ridge Grove?

Some unknown intuition urged me to search inside the box for answers.

After I tossed the lid aside, I pulled out a few documents that seemed rather meaningless to me: a survey of the land Morgana’s home sat on, the title to Morgana’s car, a family tree with a couple of names scribbled out.

That last document had me scratching my head further. Why would Morgana scratch out members of her own family tree? That was priceless information. I’d longed to have my own family tree and to know my ancestors and where they’d come from. Could my human father still be alive?

As I set her family history aside, I delved back into the box and retrieved a wrinkled birth certificate that stole the breath from my lungs.

Certificate of Birth

Date of Birth: July 7th, 2002

Name: Lunara Astor

Sex: Female

Mother’s Maiden Name: Nicole Astor

Father:

Even in fae, I hadn’t met another Lunara in my life. But my last name wasn’t Astor, however the child on this certificate was born the same day as me. I didn’t know who my parents were. My adopted parents in Faerie had never mentioned them.

My fae-senses tingled as I folded up the document and stuffed it in my pocket then continued to dig through the box.

The rest of the documents seemed rather innocuous, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. That tug kept me in the attic, questioning everything I knew about my world, about myself.

There had to be something else here, something that explained who this other Lunara was, or—if she was me—how my name changed. But most of all, why did Morgana have my birth certificate, if it was, in fact, mine?

Feeling anxious and sick to my stomach, I headed to a stack of boxes in the corner of the room and hoisted the one off the top as a chilling energy zipped up my left leg.

As my eyes traveled toward the floor, I spotted a glow that emanated from beneath the floorboards. It was just like that jolt of energy I felt when Elysia and I discovered the trapdoor, but there were no sigils or runes glowing within the planks or bits of magic floating in the air. That magical tug was there, though, and drew me to the floor.

With my hands hovering left and right, I searched for the source and spotted something shimmering beneath one of the planks. Whatever was nestled here seemed to create the biggest pull. I got to work tugging at the board, trying to wrench it from the joists it was nailed into.

While it had a bit of give, it just wouldn’t break free. But I wasn’t about to back down.

I jumped from the floor, now in search of anything that could pry the board up enough for me to see what hid below. I scoured every inch of the attic, but there wasn’t a single tool in sight.

Why should I let that stop me? I was half fae, damn it. My earth magic should be of some use in this situation.

Returning to the floorboard, I laid my palms over a few of the nails that held the board in place. While the board shook and moaned, the nails seemed lodged in their position, as if some ward had been placed over them.

While I closed my eyes and pushed all of my magic into those nails, that birth certificate kept drifting to the forefront of my mind. I brushed the thought away and focused on the task at hand. What was Morgana hiding underneath the floor anyway. And why?

Whatever it was, I was going to find a way to draw it out of its hiding place.

With every ounce of my magic focused on those nails, I felt a hint of Elysia’s magic resonating beneath the surface and my heart ached all over again. But even as I longed to make things right with her, this mystery kept me frozen in place, determined to discover Morgana’s secrets.

A thud vibrated from downstairs and my body sprang into high alert. Someone was in the house.

I was running out of time, and energy. Still, I put everything I had into wrenching that board free and finally felt one of the nails rise up from the wood.

As if I’d finally broken through whatever spell had protected those nails, one after another, they sprang free from the board until not a single one remained.

With the board free, I lifted it away while peering over my shoulder, setting it aside as quietly as possible. I was determined not to rouse the suspicions of whoever was home. When I turned my gaze back on the contents of that hiding place, my jaw hit the floor as I stared at the bright, iridescent orb I’d spent so much of my life searching for.

I reached toward the artifact, intending to retrieve it, but remembered the ominous voice’s words:

The Orb will not be swayed by your human desires, nor will it bend to your fae blood’s whims. Should you reach for it, there will be a reckoning. The price may not come at once, but when it does, it will be a debt of more than just blood.

I’d found the orb, but now what? And why had Morgana sent us on a wild goose chase when she’d had it in her possession all along? Maybe she didn’t know, but the contents of that box made me believe otherwise.

I stared at the Starfire Orb and considered my options: remove it from its hiding place and confront Morgana, but risk my own safety; leave it where it laid and seek Elysia’s advice; or something I wasn’t quite ready to consider—leave the orb and Elysia behind while they were left to fend for their own safety.

I had to make a decision, and fast, before I was discovered.

“What do you think you’re doing?”