The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 40

Cora looked back at Philippe, shivering a little in the cool of the night air. Her old T-shirt and dorm pants weren't really made for this. She took a step towards him and bit her lip for a moment. "Where are we?" she whispered.

"You don't recognize it? I suppose it's night and hard to see, but it's Brock Park. We used to come here all the time when we were younger," he said, moving so there were only inches between them.

His face was in shadow again, making it hard for Cora to see his expression. "Why are we here? Why did we have to leave?"

Philippe sighed. "I saw that Warren was texting you. I was worried he'd try to poison you against me."

"I don't understand! What the hell is going on?" she shouted. This whole situation kept getting worse and she didn't know how to make it better. She wanted everything to go back to normal, to have Philippe go back to normal and stop the craziness. This wasn't her life. At least, it shouldn't be.

"I thought it would come to this, what with Warren being Master Pembroke's apprentice," Philippe said.

Cora shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"He was nearly as bad as my parents. That's when it started, really. Everything was fine when we were kids. You remember how happy we were, how much fun we had, but then they had to take it away. They said that I was spending too much time with you, that my keeping track of you and protecting you weren't healthy. They said I was obsessed."

She bit her lip again. Zoe and Warren had been right. So very right. She should have listened to them. Should have been more careful.

Philippe continued, either not noticing or thinking her silence was interest. "So they moved us. First we were in Trenton. That's when I was apprenticed to Master Pembroke. But then they caught me buying a bus ticket to come see you and they moved us again. This time we ended up in BC and I was apprenticed to Master Eichmann and my parents did their best to hide everything. They thought if they kept me away from you, if they got rid of all the pictures of you we had, if they never mentioned your name to me again that I'd forget. They never understood that our relationship is too deep to be severed after only a few years."

"So you moved back," Cora whispered.

He nodded, reaching out so he could grab her upper arms and squeezed them gently. "I had to. Once I graduated college my parents couldn't really say anything since I was an adult then. They still tried, but I'd been kept from you too long. They threatened to tell the other mages, to have their own son declared a rogue if I came for you. They left me with no choice. I had to do it, chérie. Afterwards it was easy enough to create a spell that would keep appearances up, should anyone investigate. Your master was the first to do so, not that she found anything. I made sure of that."

She went cold. What Philippe was saying, what it sounded like...She shivered again, but not because of the air. Philippe was more than crazy, more than just obsessed with her. He was dangerous. She'd seen enough crime shows to know that pissing him off or trying to break his delusion weren't going to end well for her. Her best bet, as awful as it was, would be to play along.

Cora swallowed hard and looked up to where she guessed Philippe's eyes were. "Well, if they've only just figured it out, we've still got time, right? I'd really like to get my stuff before we leave." If she could just get her phone and get a hold of Warren...

He sighed. "I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous. But don't worry. I'll buy you new things once we're settled. Whatever it is you want."

She wanted to cry or puke, her stomach a churning mess, but forced her emotions down. She couldn't afford to break down now. She only had one option left, and with Philippe this close, she couldn't do it. "Could you stay right here for a minute?" Cora asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "I'm going to use the bathroom over there." She nodded at the little brick building that held the public washrooms, just visible from where they stood.

Philippe reached out and touched the side of her face. "Of course. But hurry. We should move soon."

Cora nodded and turned away. As she walked towards the only haven she could see, she prayed that she could get the communication spell to work. She'd only practiced it once, and while Warren had said she'd managed it fine, she hadn't been terrified then. She rubbed her arms. This would be her only chance. If Philippe was able to see her magic even from that distance, then she'd be in more danger than ever.