Between the Spirit and the Dust

Chapter Ten

I woke up with an achy head and it took me a moment to remember where I was. I was in a hotel in Rhode Island. We had come here to talk to Isobel Hawthorne’s classmates. And Helena Davis had told us about seeing her with Gabriel St. Clair.

And Evie had told me that she believed that he was hunting down girls that were more than human.

I grimaced and tried to sit up straight. My hand went to my forehead and I felt a bump forming. I must’ve fallen forward and hit the floor when I fainted and I couldn’t even summon up enough emotion to feel embarrassed about it 

The room was quiet and I drew upon the curtains, wincing at the bright sunlight outside. It was hard to believe that everyone else in the world was still going about their lives as usual when it felt like my world like cracked apart from the center.

“Ah good, you’re awake.”

I whipped around as Evie entered the room. She tossed a breakfast bagel at me and delicately took a bite out of her own. She studied me as I chewed and I fluffed my bangs down, self-consciously hiding the bruise that was forming.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about, Emily,” she said. “First of all, I need to apologize for springing a surprise on you like that. It must’ve been a shock to suddenly learn about witches and things like that. 

I nodded stiffly.

Evie sighed and sat down on her bed. There were dark circles under her eyes and I wondered how much sleep she’d gotten last night. She patted the bed and I moved to sit next to her.

“I’d always assumed that we’d have plenty of time to talk after we’ve finished dealing with this case but it turns out that we don’t have the luxury… I’ll just have to give you the bare bones version, I suppose.” Evie took a few more bites, her face looking wistful for the alternate world where she’d imagined this conversation would be taking place.

“When we first met, I told you about our abilities and how it runs in our family. What I didn’t mention was about the other kinds of people, the ones who had abilities of their own. I didn’t want to overwhelm you with too much information.” She finished her bagel and crumpled the wrapper. “There used to be a larger group of us, or so I’ve heard. But that was way back, perhaps even before I was born. Today there are very few of us left.”

 “What do you mean by ‘us’? Is there some kind of special group or union or something?”

 Evie laughed, a short bitter sound. “I’ve heard that there was a Council overseeing us back in the old days, when there was more of us. But today, the different clans have gotten suspicious about each other. All of us are a lot more guarded and more protective about our secrets. We’ve broken off into splinters and I don’t see us getting along anytime soon.”

“What do you mean by different clans?”

She looked pointedly at my neglected bagel and I hastily took bites out of it.

“I told you last night about the Hawthornes and White Witches. There are four major groups: the White Witches, the Dark Witches, the Empaths and our cousins, the Prophets. The White Witches usually use small spells like I've told you yesterday. The Dark Witches tend to go bigger and they meddle with black magic. There are us Empaths and there are the Prophets, who can see into the future. There are other groups as well, but their numbers have also dwindled and I have yet to come across any of them."

“What happened? To break you guys apart?” 

“We may have our own abilities but we’re still very much human. I’ve gathered over the years that there was a power struggle between the different groups, as there always is with people with different agendas. As to how it started and who was the instigator, those details are lost in history. History was never my strong suit and all the years spent with alcohol as my only companion... I’m afraid my memory isn’t what it used to be.” Evie shook her head. “I never thought that the history would ever be useful.”

I mulled over everything Evie had said as I finished my breakfast. She sat quietly, lost in her own thoughts.

Finally she said, “Last night, when you were sleeping, I checked the list of victims again. Aside from Isobel, there were a few other girls on the list whose last names I found familiar. I managed to speak to some of their parents and even though they refused to say much, I’ve managed to confirm that there was another White Witch, one Dark Witch and one Prophets on that list.”

 I’d thought that I knew what I was going up against—a serial killer, a sick boy with a perverse need to kill. But the truth was worse than that. Evie had proved that he was deliberately targeting girls with their own abilities, girls like me.

And this had been the missing connection that the FBI had looking for. That there wasn't any physical type that he had been going for because it was something else, something supernatural that he was looking out for instead. It was something that they would never have been able to pick up on.

“Emily, are you alright?" 

My hands shook as I ran my hands through my hair. “I don’t know, Evie. This guy…he’s got everything figured out. How the fuck am I supposed to go up against this guy when I didn’t even fucking know that there are things like White Witches or Prophets or anything until today!”

I flushed as I realized how loudly I was screaming at Evie but she’d barely flinched. 

It wasn’t her that I was angry at. I knew that. She was just the only person around for me to yell at and I was just taking it out on her. But knowing this didn’t help me to feel any better or to get rid of the red hot anger that was coursing through me. 

“You said that you don’t know how to go up against him. But you’re forgetting something, Emily. You’re not doing this alone. You’re not the only person who’s going up against him. All of us are.” 

“No, you don’t understand! That guy, Gabriel, he’s deliberately taunting me—”

“Emily, no, you need to stop this.”

I stared at her, my frustration boiling over into tears but I held my tongue.

“I thought that I could train you in being an Empath while you helped me with the investigation. But I didn’t factor in how difficult it would be for you, to be this close to this investigation or how complicated this case would be.”

 I opened my mouth but she placed her hand on me, her tone steely as she continued, “You’re not ready, Emily. I can see that now. As of now…I’m suspending you from the investigation.”

“Suspending me from the investigation! But Evie, you can’t—you can’t just do that.”

But I knew that she could. She was the leader of the investigating team. If she said that I was suspended, I was suspended.

“It’s not permanent,” said Evie, as if she hadn’t heard me. “This arrangement is temporary and you’re suspended until I reinstate you." 

“What will it take for you to put me back on the team?” I demanded.

She looked at me, her expression calm. “You need some time off to process everything anyway. We will be flying back to Washington today, so you should get some rest before we leave. 

And with that, she walked out of the room, leaving no room for argument.

***

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