Page 23 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)

The last thing I wanted to do was leave my conversation with Dominic unfinished. Unfortunately, Dominic didn’t really give me an option when he insisted we find out what had Tessa in a panic at my door. Still, it took me several minutes to get myself straightened out before I could finally venture downstairs to face my sister and the others and see what the big emergency was all about.

Caleb and his twin Carly were both sitting on the couch in my living room with the rest of my housemates—minus Trace—waiting for Dominic and me to join them. Obviously, I wasn’t surprised to see Caleb there since he had already been appointed as my pseudo-professor of magic, but I was surprised to find Carly there with him.

Not that I minded, of course. I liked Carly well enough and had always been on friendly terms with her, probably because she was the only one who never got involved in any of the supernatural drama the rest of us were tied to. In fact, if I remembered correctly, Ben and Trace had even gone as far as to say that she mostly only ever wanted to be a normal human girl anyway.

I’d always thought that was strange, but after being a part of this world myself and seeing the vile hypocrisy firsthand, I often found myself wishing for the same exact thing.

“What’s up, Blackburn,” greeted Caleb as he unfurled his arm along the back of the sofa and smirked at me. “You game to do a little magic today?”

“That depends,” I said as I crossed my arms, suddenly wary of going any further into the room in case I needed to make a quick escape. “If this involves invoking more elements that I can’t control, I’m going to respectfully decline.”

“No invoking necessary. Actually, I mostly just need to use your body,” he said, waggling his eyebrows, “if you know what I mean.”

Um, no . I definitely didn’t know what he meant at all . Also, I swore I saw Dominic glaring at him from the corner of my eye as he walked past me, but I didn’t dare look up at him to confirm it.

“Ew, Caleb. Grow up,” said Carly as her brother laughed even harder beside her.

Tessa eyed him with annoyance and then shook her head. “We need to do a Locator spell to figure out where Satan’s incubator is hiding out,” informed Tessa, standing beside Jackie and looking like her usual drill sergeant self again. Frankly, I liked her a lot better when she was stuffing her face with food. “And by we, I mean the three of you.”

“The three of who?” I asked, certain she couldn’t be referring to me . If we were going to do a Locator spell, then we needed real Casters—not a desultory, haphazard Slayer with temperamental magic.

“Me, you, and Caleb,” confirmed Carly. Her caramel doe-eyes were already wide and shifty with unease, like she thought this was about as good of an idea as I thought it was.

“And why are we using me ? I’m not a Caster.”

“Because we need a Trinity,” said Caleb like that explained anything.

“Again—why me? I’m not a freaking Caster!” I repeated because the point still stood.

“Yeah, but you’re the best thing we got right now,” he informed as I just gawked at him like he was spreading scabies all over the living room.

“How am I the best thing you got? Literally anyone would be better at this than me.” You know, like someone who could do more than light a candlewick and then die of exhaustion.

“Yeah? Like who?” he tested, his eyebrows raised poignantly. “Most of the people capable of doing this spell have already sided with the Order. They’re not going to go rogue and risk the repercussions. So, if you want to find out where Nikki’s at, pull up a chair and park your ass in it.”

“Oh.” Well, damn. When he put it that way… “Right.”

“The rest of you can clear out,” he went on, glancing around the room at everyone. “We’re going to need to focus our energy here. No distractions.”

I frowned at him and watched as Tessa, Jaqueline and Gabriel all filed out of the room. All except for Dominic. He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the bookcase, sneering at Caleb.

“That means you—”

“Me what?” cut in Dominic before Caleb could finish his sentence. The look he was giving him was part dare, part annoyance, and all murder. If Caleb had any brain cells left in that head of his, he wouldn’t finish that thought.

“Uh…you…can uh…you know, stay or whatever,” said Caleb, looking more flustered in that five seconds it took to utter those than I’d ever seen him in the entire time I’ve known him.

Dominic’s lip twitched with the hint of a smile. “How kind of you to offer.”

“Yeah. Sure thing.” Caleb dropped his head and busied himself placing items on the coffee table.

I shook my head at Dominic even though he was avoiding looking at me, and then turned back to Caleb and Carly, my gaze pausing on the latter. I could practically feel her discomfort oozing out of her pores. Anyone who knew Carly knew that she preferred doing just about anything else over practicing magic and was undoubtably already feeling way out of her element.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into this, but thank you for helping us,” I said to her, grateful that she’d agreed to help us with the spell when she really didn’t have to. Because who the heck would we have asked if she hadn’t been up to it?

“It’s nothing, really. Don’t mention it,” she said as she tucked her chestnut hair behind her ears and looked down at the coffee table, watching as her brother set everything up.

I followed her gaze, noting all the items spread out on the table that I knew hadn’t come from inside this house. Mainly a whole slew of candles, herbs I didn’t recognize and a black hairbrush that undoubtedly belonged to the incubator herself.

“I take it you had no trouble finding everything you needed?” I verified, shifting my focus to Caleb again.

He quirked his brow. “Did you doubt me?”

“I know better than that by now.”

Caleb beamed at that. He was nothing if not a total sucker for compliments and praise.

“We’re basically ready to go when you are,” he said and then motioned for me to sit down again, and this time I did, sitting crossed legged on the floor across from them while Dominic remained at his post. “I’m mostly going to use you as a conduit so all you need to do is memorize the incantation and focus on exactly what I tell you to focus on. Obviously not on my biceps or my fine ass face or—”

His playful words dropped off a cliff as Dominic made an angry rumbling sound at the back of his throat.

“Uh, yeah. You get the point,” mumbled Caleb, his gaze boomeranging from Dominic to me and then dropping to the floor.

“Is there something stuck in your throat?” I said to Dominic, shooting him a warning look. “Did you need to grab a glass of water or something before we continue?”

“That won’t be necessary, angel. I’m as fit as a fiddle,” he said and then slid his gaze to Caleb. “Jockstrap here will be too, so long as he remembers his manners.”

Caleb’s face blanched at the underlying threat as Carly threw her head back and laughed at Dominic’s nickname for her brother. I, on the other hand, was not as amused as she was.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to focus on the spell with Dominic standing in the room, let alone him lording over Caleb like a sheriff.

“If you’re not going to play nice with everyone then maybe you should sit this one out,” I suggested and resisted the urge to offer him a time-out chair.

“Me not play nice? I wouldn’t dream of it.” His eyes shone wickedly. “I’m nothing if not a team player.”

Right. That was, after all, the apparent theme of the day.

* * *

Despite being completely green behind the ears and not having the slightest clue what I was doing, everything that was required of me on my end went off without a hitch. Mostly because I didn’t really have to do anything other than allow Caleb to channel my energy through the Trinity and then use it to power the Locator spell.

The good news was that we were able to get a jump on Nikki’s location. The bad news was the Roderick sisters were most likely using some kind of powerful magic blocking spell that only allowed us to get a broad read on their general vicinity. The vicinity being a sprawling, untracked forest on the outskirts of town.

“So, what’s the plan now?” asked Tessa when she rejoined us in the living room after we’d finished the spell. “We can’t just walk around the woods on foot and hope we bump into her.”

“No, but at least we know she’s still in town,” I offered, choosing to stay positive and focused on the fact that she was still within our reach. “And maybe Caleb can try something else on his end in the meantime?” I asked him optimistically.

He nodded. “I’ll see if I can refine the Locator spell. I might be able to add something in to counteract whatever magic blocking spell they’re using. It’s going to take some time though. Their magic isn’t like anything I’m used to dealing with.”

That was because they were using Dark magic—something the Order refused to teach and outright forbad its Descendants from doing. Stupid if you asked me. How could you be expected to defeat something that you couldn’t even recognize? To battle evil when you had no idea of its inner workings.

It was the equivalent of sending out a bomb squad with zero knowledge on explosives. It seemed to be that it would have been a much smarter move to teach Descendants how to use Dark magic, if for no other reason than to counteract it. But hey, what did I know?

“Do you mind if I use the washroom?” asked Carly, looking all squirmy and nervous as though she were about to go right there on the couch.

“Yeah, of course. You don’t have to ask. Bathroom’s down the hall to your left.”

“Thanks,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ears and then hurrying out of the room.

“So, how long are we talking?” asked Tessa, drawing the focus and conversation back to the spell.

“I’ll know in a few days whether this is even something I can do,” said Caleb as he packed up his grimoire and the rest of the items from the coffee table and then stood up. “This isn’t the kind of thing we were ever taught at Temple, but I might have some old spell books that can help.”

Tessa blew out a breath and nodded curtly, looking about as optimistic about it as Caleb did. “Let us know as soon as you find out anything,” she instructed.

“I will.”

“Does that mean I’m off the hook for any element-invoking stuff this week since, you know, you’re going to be busy doing all that?” I asked, hopeful as I climbed back up to my feet.

“Not a chance,” he said, smiling brightly as he flashed his pearly whites. “I’m a master of multitasking and I have every intention of popping every one of your element cherries by Christmas break.”

“For crying out loud,” muttered Tessa as she walked out of the room, having heard enough of that conversation, while Dominic just stood in the same spot he was in before, staring at Caleb with the faintest hint of a smirk on his face. But it wasn’t an amused smirk. It was more of a I’m-plotting-your-death-as-I-stand-here-and-smile-at-you smirk.

Must. Diffuse.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, my tone more high-pitched than I’d meant for it to come out as I grabbed Caleb by the sleeve of his Letterman jacket and basically shoved him out into the safety of the hallway.

Dominic pushed off the bookcase and tried to follow him out, but I quickly stepped out in front of him. “Where do you think you’re going?” I asked, my arms folded rigidly across my chest.

“I was going to see about fetching that glass of water.”

“Bullshit.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, the same plotting smirk still on his face from earlier.

“And here I thought you knew everything.”

“He needs to be taught a lesson in manners,” he stated evenly, the smile leaving his face as something darker shifted into his place. It looked a lot like jealousy.

“He doesn’t need to be taught anything. He’s my friend and he’s taking time out of his day to help me when he really doesn’t have to, so just knock it off,” I warned and then narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s your problem anyway? Weren’t you just in my room an hour ago trying to offload me onto Trace?”

“Yes. Trace . Your soulmate . Not a random Jock Strap with a hard-on for you.” All amusement left his face as he straightened to his full height, peering down at me under hooded eyes. “And I wasn’t offloading you.”

I scoffed, gawking at him. “Well, it sure felt that way.”

He tensed his jaw but didn’t say anything else. Figures . I shook my head at him and then turned on my heel and left the room without bothering to look back to see if it even mattered.

I had every intention of finishing the conversation we’d started in my bedroom earlier, one way or another, but I knew this wasn’t the right time. For one, Carly and Caleb were still here, and two, I was fairly certain that Jaqueline was already waiting for me in the dining room to start my training for the day.

What I had to say to Dominic, that was going to need a hell of a lot more time than the five minutes I currently had. But this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

I turned the corner for the kitchen, hoping to miraculously find Isa there with some kind of snack in hand. Instead, I spotted Carly standing at the kitchen island by herself, seemingly staring out the bay window.

“Hey, Carly,” I greeted and then frowned as she nearly jumped ten feet out of her skin and then spun around to face me. “Shit. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s my fault,” she said, waving off my apology. “I totally didn’t hear you walking up.”

I looked around the empty kitchen. “What are you doing in here anyway? Did you get lost on the way to the bathroom?” I asked teasingly.

“Yeah, I guess I must’ve taken a right instead of a left,” she said, laughing nervously. “Is my brother ready to go?”

“I think so,” I said, eyeing her for a moment and then glancing over my shoulder. “Pretty sure I heard his Camero turning over like two minutes ago.”

“That would be my cue.” She smiled and then started across the kitchen, her eyes all shifty and dodgy and mostly focused on the floor. She paused as she reached me and briefly met my eyes. “Good luck with everything, Jemma. I hope it all, you know, works out for you.”

“Yeah. Thanks. I really hope so too,” I said and then watched her back as she skittered down the corridor, walking right past the bathroom and then disappearing out the front door.

Well, that was…weird.