Page 137 of A Winding Wave of Magic
It wasn’t bad. I was no shield, but Caitlin had some skill. She allowed for some surprise, then quickly focused her thoughts on a linear recap of the conversation she’d had with Jonathan a few months earlier when he’d called from Rome.
He had told them everything. Of Gran’s murder, the will, the letter, Caleb Lynch’s attack. I did my best to ignore the sharp edges of Caitlin’s thoughts about my mother and Penny’s decision, the fire, and the subsequent events with Caleb Lynch. When she was finished, I took back my hand and offered my recollections of our visit to Sybil and her knowledge of Penny’s death.
I purposefully kept my mind away from the memories of that failed kiss by the fireplace and the more recent ones at the hotel. I didn’t know if I would be successful in protecting those memories from another seer, but at least I could focus on what was important.
The invasion of her thoughts and feelings had thankfully been minimal. And there would be no rehashing of the events if Caitlin and Robbie already knew what was at stake.
“Oh, you’ll have to revisit them,” Caitlin said, settling back into her seat. “If we’re to face the Council or Caleb bloody Lynch, you’ll need to remember every little thing about it.”
“I won’t necessarily have to see him again,” I replied, though a sinking feeling in my gut let me know that was categorically incorrect.
If Caleb Lynch ever discovered that I had Gran’s Secret, another confrontation was inevitable.
I still wasn’t ready to contemplate that fight.
“If I’m to be your teacher, you’ll be getting no pity from me,” Caitlin said. “You’ll be ready when I say you are.”
I wanted to argue but found I couldn’t.
“So. What kind of training have you had? Did you apprentice with Penny, or was it someone else in Boston?”
I took a deep drink of tea, my tongue suddenly thick in the back of my throat.This is silly,I thought. I was no stranger to asking for help. How many times had I waited outside my professors’ office doors, stuttered questions after a lecture, or listened as they tore my research apart? A tiny fae housewife shouldn’t pose any threat after Professor James.
Caitlin nodded as if she had just heard my entire thought process. Which, I realized, shehad. She nodded as if to confirm my assumption.
Just say it,I told myself. She’s waiting for you to say it out loud.
“Sure, and I am,” she confirmed.
“I’ve had none,” I admitted finally.
That, she wasn’t expecting. “None?”
I couldn’t meet that clear-eyed gaze. “Is that so strange?”
“To not have a summer as an apprentice so close to your manifestation?” She shook her head with disbelief. “Sure, you could say it’s strange.”
In fact, I already knew this. Seers were loners and usually apprenticed with a family member or close friend. Reina had actually apprenticed with Gran during the summers when I left for grad school, but Gran had refused to teach me until I came home for good.
Or was it me who had refused?
I couldn’t tell anymore.
Caitlin gulped down her tea like it was something much stronger. “I just can’t believe…what in Brigid’s name was Penny thinking?”
“Whatever she did, it was obviously for a reason,” I said sharply, if only to defend Gran since she couldn’t defend herself.“But the reality is that I can’t afford to stay in the dark anymore, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Yes, I see that,” Caitlin said dryly.
My frustration only grew. “For some reason, Gran taught me nothing, but she thought it was a good idea to pass on her responsibilities with this Magi Council. Now, according to Jonathan, I need to get up to speed so that I can present myself to them as her heir in order to head off persecution, seek justice for her murder, and figure out how best to protect her…well, whatever is in that box, or what it might lead to.”
I glanced toward the hall, where my things were currently piled and the box was buried in one of my duffels. Caitlin just watched the fire.
“It’s her Secret,” I said. “It’s what he wanted, I know it. But I can’t even open it. Last time I tried, I thought it might kill me.” I held out my hand again despite the fact that she didn’t need it. I needed to See her reactions to it. It only seemed fair. “I’ll show you.”
But Caitlin shook her head. “I think that perhaps we should leave…it…alone for the time being. If Penny meant for you to open it immediately, you would have.”
She talked about the box like a ghost whose name she was hesitant to speak, lest it appear before us. I understood why. Just talking about the box seemed to make the vertigo return—the spinning that had threatened to swallow me whole the last time I touched it.
