Page 45 of Night Wedding
“Dude, what the hell are you doing?” I asked him. “Are you following me?”
Chapter 13
Nova
At the Network, we gathered in a conference room with Pandora and Cassandra, two of the most powerful witches I’d met. Pandora was the elder of the two, in her forties. She had cut her long black hair into a Cleopatra-style bob with bangs, and the winged cat’s eye liner added to the look. Cassandra was about a decade younger and with flawless tawny skin and amber eyes. She was a badass interrogator who didn’t take shit from anyone.
Zoe repeated what we’d told her at the house about Diego’s strange actions. I appreciated her taking this on, so I didn’t have to do so again. Besides, Zoe focused on facts, which was likely better than the more impassioned versions that Gianna or I had conveyed.
Zoe turned to the three of us, Gianna, Lucas, and Me. “Did I miss anything?”
“No, you’ve got it covered,” I replied, my tone edged with melancholy.
Pandora and Cassandra exchanged a meaningful glance that worried me. They’d seen more shenanigans in their years in the Network rather than my scant experience of less than a year.
Pandora tapped one of her long fingers on the mahogany table, a gesture I recognized meant that good news wasn’t ahead.
“I agree. It does sound like a potent combination of a dark magic that’s affected him,” she said with a somber nod. “Magic this advanced is forbidden for a reason. It can be catastrophic in the wrong hands.”
My heart slammed into my ribs as what we suspected was confirmed. This was terrible news for Diego. “Is there anything we can do?” My voice came out at a higher pitch than normal.
Gianna stepped closer to me, offering her comforting presence.
Pandora brought her long fingers together. “We search for any similar cases and see if there were any effective outcomes.”
“That’s the best way to be cautious,” Cassandra added.
Pandora stood and curled her index finger in a follow-me gesture. “Let’s start in the library.”
We all piled into the room. It was much quieter in here than the offices and conference rooms, which were abuzz with the sounds of technology. The floor-to-ceiling bookshelves included ancient books from generations past.
I stepped over to a section I often consulted with collections of case studies. I pulled out some that had been useful in the past. Many of these were now stored on our computer servers, but there was something about the old books filled with generations of knowledge that was more accessible to me, as if there was magic in the creation of the words themselves.
I also perused my family’s Book of Shadows, which my aunt had hidden in the house for me, and I’d brought into the Network for safe keeping. It included additions from several generations of witches. Since I’d read it many times over in the past, I was fairly certain it didn’t have any references to situations like what we were facing. Then again, I hadn’t been looking for that in particular.
Nothing in those old pages provided insight, so I turned to other books. I skimmed through cases of love potions and memory spells, and my breath quickened. So many unsettling scenarios of lives ruined.
Pandora closed an ancient, leather-bound grimoire on the desk before her. “I believe our suspicions are confirmed.”
I swallowed. “Meaning?”
“That Diego has been attacked by both a memory spell and love potion. Undoing the damage for each in itself is difficult. A combination of both might be impossible.” She walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Nova. I know this isn’t what you want to hear.”
“Of course not. There’s got to be something we can do!” I pleaded.
Her lips tightened into a grim line. She turned to Cassandra. “Can we talk in private for a minute?” Then she faced Zoe and Lucas. “Perhaps, you should both come.”
Zoe said, “We’ll be right back.”
Lucas added, “Hang in there, Nova.”
After they all left the library, I plopped myself onto a cushion on the floor. I pulled my knees up to my chest and started rocking. It couldn’t end like this, could it?
“It’s too dangerous.” Cassandra’s muffled voice reached me from the other room.
“That sounds like it will make things worse for him,” Lucas protested.
Pandora and Zoe spoke in lower tones that I couldn’t hear.
