The Magic of Shadows

Chapter 11

Helaine's POV

Despite my determination to be reasonable, I think my heart was convinced that the information we had gained would be like throwing open a door and all of the details of what was going on with Hermes 10—and preferably, by proxy, the Council of Salem—would come crashing down. I wanted it to be helpful in some way, like a true member of an Academy team.

Silas and North's twin frowns across from me at the table during dinner had sent my hopes crashing through the floor. "I'm sorry, Aggele," Silas apologized sincerely. "I've never heard of a plant called moly."

My heart sank further with the shaking of North's head. "Are you sure?" I asked, feeling deflated even though I knew this was a long shot. No one knew every plant name in existence. There had to be thousands of them. Maybe they just hadn't heard of it. There were plants that sounded fake, even to me, but they turned out to be real.

Owen reached up like he would straighten a tie that wasn't there. His hand floundered for a moment when it came up empty before he primly dropped it back to the table. "We still have Academy connections in Greece from when we were trying to get Mr. Taylor and Mr. Korba to the states. I can reach out to them and ask them to subtly question any witches they have that are familiar with plants or the history of local physical magic."

I thanked him but it didn't do much to lift my mood. Tracking down a witch who knew what they were doing would take time and it was likely a shot in the dark. Most modern witches preferred modern medicine or healers like Sean. Even most Old Order witches primarily used the most common herbs. My knowledge and practice of physical magic is so broad because of my Old Order origins but also a surplus of time on my hands. When you have to work for a living, there isn't enough time to not only keep up a full-sized garden but also make potions, tinctures, and everything in between.

"I can research it tomorrow when I go back down to the shed," Corey offered, looking like he'd do just about anything to cheer me up. None of the Toma team have ever liked seeing me disappointed, but Corey always seemed to take it the hardest. I tried not to use it to my advantage, but I couldn't always control my emotions that well. "If google doesn't know, there might be modern practitioners or a scholar that might know information that will be helpful."

My frown deepened. "I don't want you to do anything that might jeopardize your case. Contacting religious groups or someone that specializes in Greek mythology outside of the Academy might tip off Hermes 10. I don't want to put any of you at risk."

Corey smiled sweetly at me. "We'll be fine, Helaine. We know how to keep it from tracing back to us."

"We'll probably pretend to be a college student doing a research project," Victor confirmed. "We'll make sure there's nothing for anyone to be suspicious of. This isn't the first time we've had to be covert while we tracked down information."

Of course, it wasn't. They were allowed to be truly useful. Disappointment dragged me down as I asked, "Were you able to find out more about the men we pinpointed in the pictures yesterday?"

Corey met Axel's gaze and Axel took over, which wasn't exactly promising, but at least they weren't keeping me in the dark. "We haven't found any other evidence of Daniel being in the area. It doesn't mean he's left town, but it does mean he isn't frequenting any known hot spots."

It seemed odd that he seemed to know where to avoid to keep from showing up on our cameras, but I couldn't tell if that was my own paranoia or something that was truly a concern. It could just be a coincidence, but the fact that it was him was making me that much more concerned.