Page 5 of Liberty

Chapter 3

OAK

Sterling wasn’t wrong.If James had kept his cock in his pants, it could have saved us a whole deal of trouble, along with a whole fucking world of heartbreak. Ever watch the people you care about grow old and wither away to nothing? You get to researching, learning, because what the fuck else are you going to do with your time? Do you know before embalming was a thing, it took the ones I loved an average of ten years to turn to dust, to completely disintegrate and disappear into the ground? Everyone I have fucking loved has become one with the earth, and I’m stuck here, repeatedly living the nightmares of my past.

“I think you’re missing the point of the letter.” I sighed. Sterling missed the point of a lot of things, actually. If it didn’t bring in money or make him look powerful, it wasn’t worth it. “What was with the letter?”

Ellis picked up the various size squares of paper, examining a few of them before passing them to us. “Pictures. Drawings. Portraits, mainly. A few legal documents mixed in.”

The mention of legal documents had Sterling’s ears perking up. “Did he leave anything of worth?”

Ellis examined the paper for a minute before passing it to Sterling. “It’s too old to tell, really.”

The photos got handed to me, and I couldn’t help but feel like something this personal to James had to be in the envelope for a reason. The reason was, well, that I hadn’t quite figured out. I held them close to my face, trying to read the words etched on the paper. Names. Dates. Descriptions. All memories of people from his past, of James’ past life.

“Look at this.” Ellis held a faded drawing close to his eyes. “The name on this one is Sarah. It must have been his wife.”

“He never mentioned a wife before now,” Sterling mumbled as he grabbed the paper.

Ellis rolled his eyes. “He obviously never mentioned a lot of things.”

“Thanks for stating the fucking obvious, El. You damn genius,” Sterling added.

Ellis glared. “Only after you did.”

It had been almost two hundred fucking years since I’d felt a migraine, but if it was at all possible, I knew I would have one now. I rubbed my forehead for a moment. “Children, can we not? Concentrate. We know he trusts us, though I don’t really know why. At least for you two.” I could have held that jab in, but why miss the opportunity? “We know he wants us to protect liberty. Two solid facts.”

They ignored my jab. “So, liberty? As in America. Lady Liberty? Are we suddenly the secret keepers of the United States?”

Ellis shook his head at Sterling. “I doubt he would trust an entire country into our hands, but you might be onto something. Maybe a location in the states? Here in New York? I mean, I doubt it would be the actual statue, but we could go check it out.”

Excellent points. “If James is dead, he saw this coming. He planned. He knew it would happen, so whatever we are to protect can’t fall into their hands.”

“Do you think Greta is alive?” Sterling asked, finally getting serious.

I scratched my jaw, “It’s a possibility. She was powerful. If she cursed James and others to this life, who knows what type of magic she has. He talked about her like she’s still here.”

The drawing of James’ wife finally made it to me, and I nearly choked. She was a fucking beauty, that was for damn sure, and it was a shame that James wasn’t a faithful man toward her, that he left her alone to raise their child in a time that was damn near non-survivable. I took the picture, folding in neatly in half before shoving it in my pocket. Creepy? Maybe. But there was some connection I was feeling, urging me to value its importance.

Ellis hummed as he worked through his thoughts. Individually, none of us were stupid. But something about having each of us together brought out the worst in each other. I knew we could work through this, but before we had to be out of the house . . . probably not.

Finally, Ellis cleared his throat and asked, “What do you make of the other papers?”

“I can run the properties through some programs at my work, see what I can find out. It gives you past owners, the history. We might use that as a starting point,” Sterling offered.

“It could help.” A property map got handed to me. It was familiar, but also foreign.

“Are you going to come back? Or try to escape for good?” Ellis asked, but I knew a part of him was worried about it. As much as they argued, none of us wanted to be alone in this.

“I have no other choice, and you know it. The moment I try to leave with the intention of not returning, that summons pushes me back into the house. It had been years since James used his power on me; I had forgotten how strong he was.”

James was strong. The strongest I knew, and I didn’t want to think there were people out there stronger than him that could best him. He once told me he possessed no magic as a human. But, once he was around on this earth for so long, he took an interest. Being dead and still walking made a magic flow through your veins that one could never imagine. James learned to tap into that and, in turn, inspired me. Everything he ever did was my inspiration.

He was never an evil man or a terrible person. Aside from the little indiscretion that landed him in this situation, he was actually a kind soul. He didn’t seek to murder everyone and make them suffer, though he very well could have. If I had to guess, his only real regrets were standing here in this room, all because he let revenge take hold.

I tilted my head as I thought about that. “What did he mean that turning us started a war?”

Ellis and Sterling both waved me off before Ellis added, “I don’t think he meant a literal war.”

---