Page 6 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)

The sound of my phone vibrating against the nightstand jerked me out of my sleep. The last thing I remembered was stumbling into my room in the middle of the night and face-planting into my pillow. I wasn’t sure how long ago that was but judging from the sheer level of shitastic hell I was feeling, I knew I hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep.

Squinting through the darkness, I slapped my hand against the end table until I felt my phone and then picked it up, blinking at the screen through sleep-clogged eyes.

Morgan Sinclair ?

What in the ever-loving hell was Morgan doing calling me at seven o’clock in the morning?

My stomach soured as I realized she’d most likely just heard about what happened to Trace—or possibly seen it in one of her visions—and was probably calling to chew my ass out about it.

Yeah, no . I was going to take a pass on that one.

I hit the ‘ignore call’ button and then tossed the phone onto the bed beside me, laying there silently for a few moments before finally forcing myself to get up and out of bed. What I really wanted to do was duck under the covers and sleep for another four hundred years, but I already knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep now that my mind was awake and spooling through the millions of things I needed to get done in preparation for the real-life nightmares hurdling toward me at breakneck speeds.

After quickly brushing my teeth and then dressing, I made my way downstairs to find Tessa, Jaqueline, and Gabriel already in the kitchen discussing my new training schedule. At least that was what it sounded like from the bits and pieces I’d overheard in the corridor.

“Not happening,” said Tessa in her autocratic, this-isn’t-a-democracy voice. “ I’ll handle combat. You worry about demon vanquishing. You’re better at it than me anyway.”

“You’re only saying that because you hate doing it—not because it’s what’s best,” argued Gabriel, his tone unimpressed and matter-of-factly.

“Okay. And?”

“And at least have the guts to own up to—”

“Guts?” snapped Tessa before he could finish his statement.

I cleared my throat from the doorway, my eyebrows raised at the three of them standing around the kitchen island with a half dozen books spread out before them, as though they were getting ready to resurrect the dead.

You know, again .

“Do you people even sleep?” I grumbled, irritated by just the sight of them and all their morning peppiness.

“We’ll sleep when this is over,” answered Tessa and then pointed over to the coffee pot. “Grab a cup and get over here. We have a lot to cover today.”

Oh, joy . Nothing like starting the day with a drill sergeant from hell.

I dragged my ass all the way to the coffee pot and very leisurely fixed myself a cup of coffee, sweetening and stirring like I had all the time in the world, just to tick her off, before finally turning around to face them.

Exhaling the last of my resistance, I met their eyes and blinked. “Alright. I have my coffee. What’s up?”

“Before we get into all this,” said Tessa, gesturing to the clusterfuck of ancient relics spread out in front of her. “We actually have a little bit of good news to share first.”

I waited, uninspired.

“…and some bad news.”

“Naturally.” I rolled my eyes, having already known it was coming.

“Which one do you want to hear first?” she asked speedily as Gabriel rubbed the side of his neck and then crossed his arms. Clearly, he already knew her morning pop quiz wasn’t going to go over well with me.

“What difference does it make? I’m sure it’s all going to suck either way,” I bit out sourly and then took a sip of my coffee.

Tessa’s face scrunched up like I’d just thrown a dog turd at her head. “I think this will probably go better if we wait until you’re fully caffeinated,” she decided and then forced out a nervous smile. “Give you a chance to wake up first and whatnot.”

“Oh, how gracious of you,” I said with an exaggerated bow. “Would you be so kindly as to allow me some seating accommodation to rest my aching ass as well?”

“Alright, point taken,” she said and rolled her eyes at my theatrics.

I took another sip of my much-needed coffee and then turned my attention to Gabriel, needing to ask him the question that had been gnawing at me since the moment I’d opened my eyes. “How did it go with Trace last night?”

The look on his face told me everything I needed to know before he even answered.

“We had a rough start, but that’s to be expected,” he said, nodding into it as if to convince me that it wasn’t as bad as his tired eyes were making it out to be. “The bloodlust is at its peak right now, but he’s strong. He’ll get there. He just needs time to—”

“ Adjust ,” I cut in unenthusiastically since he’d already given me that exact line several times yesterday. “Got it.”

What I’d really wanted to hear was that it had gone spectacularly perfectly, and that all of Trace’s magnanimous Trace ness had been miraculously restored overnight. I mean, a girl could dream, couldn’t she?

“And Dominic?” I glanced around the room, pretending like I’d only just noticed his absence. “Where is he?”

Gabriel cleared his throat and then scratched his neck again, looking everywhere in the room except at me as if hoping someone else would step in and answer the question.

Tessa clicked her tongue at him. “Good grief. Grow a pair, will you?” she said and then swung her steely gaze back to mine. “He hasn’t shown back up since he took off last night.”

I schooled my features as a hoarfrost spread beneath my ribs.

She eyed me for a moment and then added, “In his defense, it is morning so he can’t exactly stroll on over.” At that, her expression soured a little as though she were physically affected by having to defend him for my benefit.

“Right. Because he only had all night to make it back before sunrise.”

Gabriel looked like he wanted to add something, to somehow soften the blow for me but couldn’t manage to tell the lie. Surely it was clear to even him now that things had shifted in a major way between me and Dominic. And not in a good way. Why else would he not be here? Why else would he have acted so cold and distant with me last night?

His absence was speaking volumes, and this time neither of us could ignore it.

Jutting my chin, I squared my shoulders and faced my sister. “Bad news first.”

“The Senior Magister reached out to Gabriel this morning. Personally ,” she said, emphasizing the word as if she needed to further convince me of how serious this was. “They’re asking a whole lot of questions about why you didn’t show up for your meeting with them.”

“You mean the ambush ,” I corrected.

She nodded grimly. “I’m guessing they’re starting to get suspicious about how much you know.”

My gaze snapped to Gabriel. “You didn’t tell them anything, did you?”

“Of course not.” He looked offended that I’d even ask him that, but I had to make sure we were still all on the same page. It was no secret that Gabriel had given the Order the benefit of the doubt more times than they ever deserved. “I told them something personal had come up and that you would be in contact to reschedule the meeting.”

“Okay…that’s good. Nice and vague. Let’s keep it like that. The longer they stay in the dark about why I didn’t show up and what we know, the better it is for us.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Unfortunately, they are requesting another meeting,” informed Gabriel, his voice and eyes far more severe then. “I told them I would arrange it with you and get back to them but…”

A chill crept down my back. “But what?”

His brows banked together as he folded his arms along his chest. “I’m not sure they’re prepared to wait very much longer, nor do I think they intend to make the next meeting optional .”

My stomach knotted at his ominous words. “Meaning what?”

“Meaning they’re getting desperate,” answered Tessa, drawing my attention back to her. “They’re trying to intimidate you. To pressure you. That’s a good thing.”

“How do you figure?” I asked, obviously not following her line of logic.

“Because desperate people make desperate mistakes.”

“That may be true, but the Council doesn’t exactly strike me as the kind of organization that makes uncalculated, careless moves,” I said and then took another sip of my coffee. “At least not that easily.”

“Either way, it’ll buy us some time until we figure out our next step. All we need to do is postpone the meeting for as long as possible without tipping them off,” explained Tessa as though it were as simple and straightforward as that.

“And how do you suggest we do that?” I asked, knowing the Council wasn’t going to make it easy to do that. I highly doubted they’d be okay with just patiently waiting on the side lines for me to return their call.

“Well, we’re not telling them about Trace for starters. They’ll assume you’re still busy trying to chase after a cure that doesn’t exist.”

“That’ll only buy us so much time, though,” argued Gabriel, and he was right about that.

“But it’s a start. At least until we come up with a better excuse.”

“Alright…so what’s the good news?” I finally asked, finding myself in desperate need of a serious pick-me-up since my usual two were currently not on speaking terms with me.

“I think Jackie should do the honors.” Tessa grinned as she turned expectantly to our mother who had been mostly silent thus far. Jaqueline generally chose to stay out of the back-and-forth bickering and overall scheming, so there was really nothing surprising about that. “It’s your find after all,” Tessa pointed out.

Jaqueline hesitated for a beat before finally nodding. She didn’t appear to have the same level of enthusiasm that my sister had, making me wonder just how good this “good news” actually was. “It has to do with your Nephilim blood.”

And already I didn’t like it .

“Okay…” I swallowed roughly as I set my coffee mug down on the island and braced myself. “Did you find something that can help us?” If the answer was no, I was walking out of the kitchen on principal alone.

Jaqueline’s gaze slid to Tessa and then back to me. “You can say that.”

Meh. Good enough .

“She has Elspeth’s grimoire!” blurted Tessa like she couldn’t keep the juicy secret to herself for a second longer.

My brows shot up halfway into my forehead. “Wait. Elspeth? Our ancestor?” I vaguely recalled my mother telling me about how she had travelled back in time to find one of our distant ancestors in order to get answers for me. It was only in meeting with Elspeth and witnessing how strong and well-adjusted she was that my mother finally had the courage to tell me the full truth about my bloodlines. About who my father really was.

Jaqueline nodded her confirmation. “Elspeth and you have a lot more in common than just your ancestry. She too was Nephilim and even though she was eventually killed for what she was, she did manage to obtain an impressive grasp over her Nephilim abilities during her short nineteen years of life.”

I wasn’t caffeinated enough to unpack the whole ‘killed for what she was’ bit, so I clung to the other half of her statement instead. The part about her having an impressive grasp over her abilities. I wanted more of that .

“How did she manage to do it?” I asked, unable to mask the layer of doubt from my voice seeing as it was next to impossible for us to garner even basic information about the nearly nonexistent breed, let alone about their magical abilities. “I mean, they went extinct for a reason, no?”

“Well, yes, but it was a different time then. While Nephilim were still being hunted by the Angels, there were many of them in existence at that time. Knowledge was passed down from one Nephilim to the other generationally, and sometimes even through their personal grimoires. You have to remember that this was long before the creation of The Order of The Rose. Long before the Order began to curate what magical knowledge Descendants would have access to. The Dark Arts; Demon Summoning. Necromancy. Nephilim magic. These disciplines were readily accessible to all who sought them out.”

Interesting . I supposed that also explained the anarchy and bloodshed of those days and why the Order had been created in the first place. There was clearly a need for some oversight if Supernaturals were running amok using dark magic and summoning demons and dead people left and right.

Unfortunately, it seemed that their mission had gotten lost in translation somewhere along the lines. The moment they began deciding who would live and who would die made it clear that their self-appointed power trip had gotten all the way to their heads.

“So, I’m guessing the ‘impressive grasp’ she had over her abilities is highlighted in that book over there,” I asked, gesturing with my chin to the very ancient looking codex which I assumed to be Elspeth’s grimoire.

“Yes, though I haven’t gotten a chance to read through everything yet,” replied Jaqueline as she palmed the front of the book gently, as though its binding were made from a rare, precious silk from some faraway realm. “There’s a lot of pages to cover and it’s written entirely in Latin so it’s going to take some time to get through it all, but from what I’ve read so far—” Her eyes, an eerie combination of mine and Tessa’s, seemed to brighten with hope and expectation. “I think we may have found exactly what we need.”

“That easy?” A faint flicker of relief fluttered through my stomach, but I couldn’t seem to latch onto it. I already knew not to get my hopes up too high since they had a habit of crash-landing in the mud whenever I did. “What exactly did you find out?” I asked evenly, needing for her to elaborate.

“For starters, she writes about the wings at length. How to summon them. How to sheathe them—”

“Wait,” I cut in eagerly, my heart racing at the prospect. “She could control them at will?”

Jaqueline nodded again, a small smile touching the corners of her lips. “That appears to be the case.”

“How did she do it?” I asked breathlessly, sucking back the hope like an addict that needed one more hit. Up until that moment, the best I had hoped for was to be able to keep the wings under wraps—indefinitely. But summoning them at will? That sounded even better, and way cooler. “Did she use Nephilim magic or is it an innate ability?”

“Well, I haven’t pieced all the details together just yet,” answered Jaqueline as she picked an imaginary piece of dust from the grimoire and then frowned. “Truthfully, my Latin is rusty at best so it’s going to take some time to not only translate the passages, but to also put them into context for us.”

“Right. So…how long are we talking?” I asked tentatively.

Her expression fell further. “Several weeks at the very least.”

And there was that familiar taste of mud in my mouth again. “That’s too long. We don’t have several weeks,” I said, my voice climbing several decibels as the panic hit me all over again.

“I know.” She exhaled heavily. “But it’s the best I can do right now.”

“Then we need to bring in reinforcements,” I said, feeling the suffocating panic nipping at my heels again. “Someone who we trust implicitly, and who’s strong and willing to go up against the Order with us and…who…also happens to know uh…Latin,” I finished choppily, realizing how abysmal our chances were of finding anyone who would fit that bill. “Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen, is it?”

“Not likely,” answered Tessa.

“I might be able to help with the grimoire,” offered Gabriel, his voice breaking through the quiet like a tiny ray of sun peeking through the gathering storm clouds. “My Latin isn’t very strong, but two sets of eyes on this has to be better than one.”

“Yes!” Saint Gabriel to the freaking rescue. I was just about to bust out a wave of high-fives for the whole room when reality dawned on me. “Except you can’t do it.”

“I can’t?” His brows bunched together in confusion. “Why not?”

“Because you need to look after Trace,” I reminded, the nervous tension in my voice escaping absolutely no one. “Someone has to help him through the bloodlust and make sure he doesn’t, you know…” I trailed off because I wasn’t even sure how to finish that statement. Hurt someone. Hurt himself. Go berserk and slaughter the entire town in a blood-fueled rage. The possibilities were endless.

“I can certainly do both. He only needs some guidance, Jemma, not a prison warden,” reminded Gabriel and I promptly blushed at my overreaction.

Well, damn. Maybe this wasn’t doomed after all. Maybe, for once, there actually was some hope for us.

“Great. Then it’s settled,” concluded Tessa, slapping a hand against the kitchen island before turning her attention back to me. “Jackie will work on translating the grimoire with Gabriel’s help when he’s available, and I’ll work on strength training and combat with you in between your other lessons.”

Jaqueline and Gabriel nodded as I crooked my brow at Tessa. “Other lessons?”

“ Yes . Other lessons, Jemma,” she reiterated pointedly like I was the village idiot up to my old tricks again. “I have a couple of other things lined up, but I’ll fill you in on that after you’re done.”

“After I’m done what?” I asked, growing increasingly confused as the conversation went on.

She shot me an irritated look. “Talking to Trace. Or did you already forget our conversation last night?”

Fucking dammit .

“Of course I didn’t forget.” Not entirely, anyway. Frankly, I’d been hoping that she’d forgotten it, but apparently, she had the memory of an elephant. “It’s just…it’s still really early, and he’s probably super cranky after the night he had. I doubt he’d be very receptive to this right now, you know? I mean, even Gabriel just said he needs time to—”

“Tick, tock, Jemma. Either you march your ass downstairs and handle your business, or I’ll go down there myself and do it for you,” she snapped as she crossed her arms along her chest and waited. “You decide.”