The moment I set my foot back inside my house, I regretted telling Skylar to open a portal in the middle of the living room. Five pairs of accusing eyes made me want to spin around and flee back through the portal. But it was already too late. My only escape route vanished, and I was forced to face the consequences of my unexpected departure.
Not only did Kasey and Zara find out about my disappearance, but so did Theo. He had apparently returned from the werewolf castle and was now glaring at me with shining silver eyes.
"Of all the stupid things you've done since I met you, this by far the stupidest one!" Kasey was the first one to unleash what I knew would be a string of litanies.
"Do you have any idea how close I was to shifting and tearing this place down?!" Theo shouted.
"Where did you go?" Zara's voice came from behind them.
While Theo and Kasey were looming barely a step away from me, filling my entire vision, Zara, Rob, and Vivian were hanging closer to the door.
"No," Kasey said. "First tell us how you left the house. Do you have another portal stone we don't know about?"
Before I even had a chance to decide which question to answer first, Theo diminished the distance between us.
"I am this close to marking you right now." He created the smallest possible space between his thumb and index finger, while almost shoving them into my face. "So, you better have a damn good reason as to why you left without any of them accompanying you."
While a part of me knew that they deserved all of their questions to be answered, the bigger part was still spinning with the new-found information. I never expected the one name I had been searching for so long to be one I knew.
"I... I'm sorry."
One word from me about Skylar would suffice for me to walk blame-free. After all, I hadn't left on my own free will. However, I also knew I owed Skylar. Without him, I would still be blindly searching for the last name.
"Where were you?" Theo's eyes sparkled with silver.
At the same time, Kasey shouldered her way closer to me. "How did you create the portal?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get anyone into trouble or to worry anyone. But I can take care of myself. I did it for five years and I can continue to do so even now."
"I don't care if you can take care of yourself." Theo grabbed my chin, holding me immobile. "You're my mate and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
"It's not just about you anymore." Theo was forced to let go of me as Kasey wiggled closer to me. "You're the High Priestess now. You're dooming our entire race with your reckless behavior. We all know you're powerful, but that doesn't make you invincible."
With both of them ganging up on me, I had no idea who to focus on.
"Why don't we give her some space to—" Vivian cut in, but a dark glare from both Theo and Kasey had her snapping her mouth shut and sinking back further against the wall.
"No one moves until Gabriela tells us where she was, how she got out of the house, and what the hell she was thinking while doing all of that." Kasey turned her icy eyes back to me.
I shook my head to clear my mind. "I can't deal with this right now."
Later I could answer all of their questions, however, right now I needed to face someone else. I needed to face Darlene.
Despite the conviction in Skylar's words, I wasn't going to blindly trust him. I needed to find out on my own if what he was claiming was the truth. At the same time, I couldn't understand where Darlene's delusion of being the rightful High Priestess fitted in all of this. It didn't make any sense.
A pounding in my head had me resting my cold fingers against my temples. It was too much for my brain to process all at once.
"Gabriela?" Theo called my name, but before he could make a single move, another figure entered the already too packed room.
"Gabriela, there you are. You need to come with me." Effie seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere inside. Apparently she was the only one who didn't yet know about my short disappearance.
"What's going on?" Kasey spun to face the other witch.
"Darlene has arrived in Allium and wants to speak with you."
Every muscle in my body contracted at the name. Darlene was here.
"She's waiting in the main square," Effie added.
Blood rushed through my veins while I forced myself to hold back. Before doing anything else, I first had to find out what was behind Darlene's delusion of being the rightful High Priestess. Then I could figure out if she really was behind my mother's murder.
With only one thought pulsing through my mind, I took a step closer to Effie. The instant I moved, so did everyone else.
"It's better if the rest of you stay here." Effie looked at the others. "It's a delicate matter and it wouldn't be wise for other creatures to be present."
"Gabriela isn't going anywhere without me." Theo didn't even wait until Effie finished her last syllable.
I, however, didn't have time to persuade them to stay here. Effie was right. This was an internal matter of our species. I could see only one solution to all of this, which is why I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Allowing Kasey's magic to flow inside me, I used the spell I knew she was pretty adapted at. The freezing spell.
By the time I opened my eyes Theo and Zara were unmoving statues while the rest of the occupants of the room were staring at me with slack jaws.
"What did you—"
"Stay inside the house." I glared at both of my human half siblings and then turned to the other two witches. "Let's go."
Every cell in my body was screaming at me to look at Theo, but I fought the urge. Instead, I marched to the front door and exited the house without a backward glance. I knew there would be hell to pay once I got back, but I was willing to take the risk.
Wordlessly the three of us made our way to the main square. While the main street was deserted, the main square was blooming with witches and wizards of all ages. And they all came here for one reason.
The crowd clustered around the statue of the first High Priestess parted the moment I reached the square. Next to the statue of my ancestor stood a young woman, casually leaning her hip against the gray stone.
Darlene.
She looked nothing like the blurry image of my childhood friend. The setting sun on the horizon cast her baby blonde hair with orange undertones and toned the rest of her features with dark shadows.
Looking at her, I couldn't help but notice how many similarities she and Kasey shared. However, there was one major difference. While I was already used to Kasey's always black image, I was unprepared to meet the soft pastel colors Darlene was covered in.
"Gabriela. Long time no see." Her voice was surprisingly high, especially compared to Kasey's lower tone.
If I didn't know any better, I would have considered Darlene to be the younger sister and not the other way around.
"Darlene." I couldn't believe this was the same girl who once ran through the streets of Allium with me. Let alone the person who supposedly pulled the strings behind my mother's murder.
"I assume you're Darlene Ingham." Effie stopped next to me while I caught Kasey standing at the edge of the surrounding crowd.
For a second I was caught off guard by Effie's complete change of demeanor. It reminded me that while I had always seen her as another mother figure, she was also a highly respected healing witch in our world.
"Yes, Effie." Darlene parted from the statue and straightened her back.
"It's Lady Euphemia to you."
I had never been so proud of Effie as I was at this moment. I wanted to smirk, but I kept myself composed. Later I could gush about just how much of a badass she was.
"We all know why I'm here," Darlene called out to gain everyone's attention.
Which was, of course, stupid as every pair of eyes in Allium was already focused on us. Their ears were perked, straining to hear our every spoken word.
"Gabriela is not the true High Priestess." Darlene turned her eyes on me while still speaking louder than necessary. "I am."
A few snorts and chuckles came from the gathered crowd, which made me swell with pride. I was happy to see how many of my own people still believed in our system. Still believed in me.
"Go home!" Someone called from the crowd which was followed by another shout from the other side, "We all know High Priestess Mayra had only one child."
Instead of being intimidated by their dislike, a slow smile spread across Darlene's lips. Like a snake an uneasy feeling slid down my spine. For the first time, Darlene looked like someone capable of going against her own High Priestess.
"My fellow witches and wizards!"
I had to give her one thing though. She was born to be a public speaker.
"For years we had been fed lies. Lies that made us forget about our true heritage."
A few shouts came from the crowd for her to speed things along.
"Lies about our true line of High Priestesses. What I'm about to share with you will make you see just how long we've been lied to... It's true that Mayra had only one daughter."
I was appealed by her casual use of my mother's name and I wasn't the only one. Many angry shouts came from the crowd, however, nothing deterred Darlene.
She held her head high and continued to speak. "This goes even further than Gabriela and her mother. This goes all the way back to High Priestess Luciana."
I was surprised to hear her mention my grandmother. I had been very young when she passed, but I still had a few distant memories of her. One thing I was sure of was that she had been one heck of a lady back in her days.
Murmurs spread like wildfire through the crowd as everyone tried to figure out what she was up to. What could she possibly hold against my grandmother?
"The lie we had all been fed was the birth order of Luciana. She wasn't the oldest daughter as we had been told. She was the second daughter, the younger sister of Beatriz Castillo. My grandmother."
Her words rang in my ears while I tried to comprehend what she'd just said. This didn't make any sense. If my grandmother had been the younger daughter, then she wouldn't have become the High Priestess. What Darlene was claiming couldn't possibly be true.
"That's a lie!" I wasn't the only one not trusting her absurd claim.
"I have proof." She turned to one of the witches behind her who instantly handed her a big dusty book.
She opened it somewhere close to the end and then offered it to me. I didn't trust her polite smile, but I still took the book and turned it, so I could look at it from the right side. What I found myself looking at was a family tree.
"It's all in here." Darlene still addressed the crowd while I stared at the image in front of me. "Beatriz had been the older daughter, making her the rightful High Priestess. And ergo making me the rightful High Priestess."
The order of the names written in the family tree suggested just what she claimed. That my grandmother had been the second daughter.
"You obviously used some kind of magic to make this." I shut the book, which caused a cloud of dust to puff into the air. "This proves nothing."
Shouts of agreement came from all ends. Instead of backing down though, Darlene smiled. She stared straight into my eyes as she extended both of her arms into the air and tilted her head up to the sky. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then I felt it. Hints of surrounding witches and wizards' magic flowing into Darlene's body.
I stared at her, unable to believe my inner senses. This couldn't be possible. No one but me was supposed to have the ability to channel magic.
The gasps spreading through the crowd told me I wasn't the only one who felt it. This was really happening.
"Enough!" Effie's voice shook as she stepped forward. "Until we come to the bottom of this, neither of you is allowed to leave Allium."
I stood there frozen, looking into Darlene's triumphant eyes.
How was this possible? How could the person who was supposedly involved in my mother's murder possess the ability to channel magic?
***
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