Page 35 of Secrets of the Eternal Flame

‘Heal?’

‘Magical or non-magical, the cup knows no bounds. A sip of elixir from its rim is said to be strong enough to regrow a fae’s severed wings, reverse the petrification of sick stone giants, even soothe and regrow the skin of a burning vampire. It is said that nothing is beyond its capabilities.’

‘If it can do all that then surely it should be being used?’ I said. ‘Couldn’t hospitals benefit from it?’

‘Absolutely – but as with all power, the problem is the abuse that could occur.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Take what I said about the Fae. A kind and gentle fae would not have had their wings severed in the first place because that’s a punishment for the darkest deeds. It is done as a last resort – as is making a vampire face sunlightwithout a protective ward. While good people deserve the power of this cup, it is those with darkness in their souls who would gain from it, as is so often the case. Besides, twice a millennium may not sound like a great risk for this item to fall into the wrong hands, but that’s merely because you’ve not known what it is like to live under dark power.’ He smiled at me, but his smile was tinged with a bitterness that I had rarely seen in him.

That memory had left a deep impression, and it hit me harder than ever now that I knew about Dad’s childhood.

For the first time since I’d taken this case, I was truly starting to believe that Gwen was right: the cup had been stolen. If that was the case, it had probably been stolen by a magical person – and that made me uneasy. There was only a very small chance that the one day that occurred every 427 years would occur while I was around, but judging by the way life had gone for me so far I half-expected that it would.

‘Was anything else taken from the shop?’ Ernie was looking at me intently.

‘Yes, a grimoire, but it was blank. There was nothing in it.’

Even as I finished my sentence, I wanted to facepalm. Had I not learnt, only days ago, that the fireplace in my house, which looked completely empty, still contained theembers of the Eternal Flame and the fragments of the souls taken from all the Guardians before me? Just because the grimoirelookedempty, I should have known better than to believe it actuallywas.

I was rapidly joining Team Gwen: these items had been stolen and I needed to find out by whom – and fast. My dad’s concerns echoed in my brain: people who sought out objects of power rarely wanted to use them altruistically.

I opened up my phone and searched for the shop website online. Like Scarlett had said, the home page showed a large photo of the front of the shop and there in the middle was a fancy looking black-and-gold grimoire. ‘Do you recognise this?’ I asked Ernie. ‘Gwen believed it was full of blank pages, but now I’m not so sure.’

Ernie perched a pair of glasses on the end of his nose and I held my breath. Then, unfortunately, he shook his head. ‘Sorry. I believe you when you say that it’s probably hiding something, but it’s not a book I recognise from my studies.’ He winced. ‘Although it’s worth noting that the darkest of grimoires aren’t pictured in textbooks because even their image can have power.’

‘Could it make a website flicker, disappear and come back again?’

Ernie shrugged. ‘Quite possibly.’

This wasn’t good. If the grimoire was strong enough to affect a website with its picture, we were in real trouble.

‘Thank you so much for all of your help,’ I said to Ernie. I hugged him tightly before realising that it was the first hug I’d ever given my grandfather. I pulled back quickly, took his hand and shook it instead. If the hug hadn’t been weird, shaking hands afterwards definitely was, but although he looked amused he didn’t say anything.

‘Come on, Eva,’ I said. ‘We need to go.’

‘Hang on. Before you run off you need to learn the meditation exercise, or at least the basics.’

I blew out a breath. ‘You’re right.’ I sat back down. ‘Let’s do this.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

After my session on breathing and meditating, my mind did indeed seem clearer and more purposeful. Feeling better than I had in a long time, Eva and I raced back to town with a single destination in mind: Grimoires and Goblets.

It was an absolute scorcher of a day so I was sweating like a mermaid at a fish stall by the time I got there.

With the grimoire in the centre of the window display – and online – everyone in Witchlight Cove had probably seen it dozens of times. The mug, however, was normally in Gwen’s hand with tea inside, so far fewer people would have seen the Cup of Completion – and fewer still would have recognised it for what it was. That meant the thief was probably someone who’d been a customer in the shop because otherwise they wouldn’t have spotted it.

Except for Scarlett, who must have seen it regularly. I texted Maddie and asked her to do a discreet background check on Gwen’s assistant. She sent me a thumbs-up emoji in response.

‘Vanilla and strawberry, or something different?’

I blinked and looked up as I tucked away my phone. ‘Sorry?’ I said before my brain connected the dots. ‘Oh, hi Fran! No, I’m okay today, thank you.’

‘Sorry! I assumed you were thinking through your options!’

‘Just thinking,’ I corrected. ‘How’s it going?’

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