“Lainey, it’s exceedingly difficult to communicate from the Other Side. It requires incredible power, and I’m afraid that I am growing weak. My magic is running out. I will only be able to speak with you this one last time.” She smiled, though her eyes were sad. “Our parallel destinies made this connection possible, so that I might warn you of the dangers and be with you in that final moment when you needed strength the most—when you had to do what I could not do. But now, I must go.”
Panic rocketed through me. “But you can’t leave. I have so many questions. I don’t know what to do.” I sucked in a large breath, trying to keep it together. “The Master, he . . . he . . .” I broke off as a sob lodged in my throat.
Tears dripped down Josephine’s cheeks, the pain in her eyes mirroring mine. “I know.” She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. I clung to her as a torrent of emotions poured out of me. Josephine held me, rubbing my hair until my sobs had subsided. I knew I didn’t have to say the words. Josephine had been through it all.
The crater in my chest felt ragged and raw, but for the first time in two days, I felt like I could breathe again. I pulled back and wiped my cheeks with my hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t apologize to me, Lainey. I know your pain well. Our paths are connected; your pain is my pain.”
I nodded, remembering Henry and the loss of her child. I took a deep breath. “Why can’t I open the Grimoire?”
Josephine gently took the necklace from my hand. “Because this is not the Grimoire.” She waved her hand, and the necklace began to bubble and ripple. With an audible pop, the magic surrounding it evaporated, and it transformed into a thick, leather-bound book.
She handed the book back to me. Gripping the spine, I flipped through it. Every single page was blank.
“But . . .” I kept turning the pages, unwilling to believe it. My mind was whirling, trying to come up with some kind of explanation, but there wasn’t one. “It’s a fake,” I finally whispered. My fingers dug into the covers of the book. “It’s a fake.”
Josephine nodded gravely. “Yes.”
Pain shot through me, followed by hot flashes of anger and frustration. “Then it was all for nothing?” I cried. “Oh, God!” I clutched at my heart as I thought of Gareth. “Oh my God.”
I whirled on Josephine. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I was nearly hysterical.
“Please hear me,” Josephine urged. “I swear to you, Lainey. There are secrets even in death.”
“You didn’t know?”
Josephine shook her head. “No, I did not. Things are not always as simple as they seem. Not even here.” She gestured at her surroundings.
“So is that why you’re here now? To tell me that I’ve failed? That everything I did was for nothing?”
“No, I’ve come to show you something.”
Josephine waved her hand, and a small block of color swirled into view.
An image took shape. It was my mother.
I bit back a cry as I watched her kneel beside the bed of a sleeping child.
“That’s me,” I whispered, staring at the tiny version of myself curled up beneath a fuzzy pink blanket, my thick hair spread across the pillow like a fan. My mother reached for my hand, her eyes full of tears.
“My darling girl,” she whispered, pressing my fingers against her cheek. “My sweet baby. I know you won’t understand this and you’ll probably hate me, but please believe I’m doing this for you. You have such a big heart, and you’re so strong. You’ve always been so brave.”
My lip began to quiver as I listened, and tears of my own began rolling down my cheeks.
She kissed my palm and then reached down and picked up a book, the Grimoire. “Now you’ll both be safe,” she said, her voice clear and full of resolve.
She began to murmur words soft enough that I couldn’t make them out. But the Grimoire responded. The book began to glow, and then it began to smoke as if it were on fire.
I cried out as I watched the book become consumed with glowing green flames. As the pages burned, their essences seemed to gather into a cloud of vapor that swirled like a tornado on the ceiling.
When the entire book had been consumed and eradicated, I watched my mother say one final word and wave her hand over my head. The swirling cloud of vapor plummeted downward and poured into the sleeping child’s mind. I did not even stir.
When the room was dark again, my mother kissed me once more and then walked out of the room, shutting the door softly behind her.
“Are you sure you have to leave?” A younger Gareth rounded the corner, his face mournful.
“You know I have no other choice.” Her voice was ragged. “I won’t let anything happen to her, Gareth. I won’t!” My mother’s tears were flowing freely now. “You have to keep her safe. He can never find out about her.”
Gareth nodded solemnly. “I promise.” He reached out his hand and my mother shook it, a golden glow emanating from their touch.
The image faded away, leaving me alone again with Josephine.
“Promises forged through magic can only be broken by death. Your mother sealed the truth of what she’d done in the vow Gareth made to keep you safe,” Josephine said. “He had no way of knowing the secret he was carrying, and neither did anyone else. Not until . . .”
“Not until I killed him,” I finished. The words sliced through me, but I forced the pain away. “But I still don’t understand,” I said. “What did my mother do to me? What secret? She destroyed the Grimoire.”
“No,” Josephine said softly. “You mother did not destroy the Grimoire. She transfigured it. The book no longer exists in physical form. What your mother did has never been done before, but she thought it was the best way to keep you both from the clutches of the Master.”
“If the book no longer exists in physical form, then where does it exist?”
Josephine gave a tiny, encouraging smile. “In you, Lainey.”
“In me?” I swallowed hard, feeling my body sway as adrenaline and panic swam through my veins.
“Yes. Lainey, there is no Grimoire anymore. You are the Grimoire.”
I blanched. For several moments I couldn’t speak. “What does that mean?”
“It means that everything that was in the Grimoire—all of the information, the spells, the power—it’s all a part of you now. You are the last remaining Keeper, and it is your job, your destiny to keep it all safe.”
“But I don’t even know how to use my powers.” I felt very small, like a child who’s just been given an impossible responsibility. “How can I be responsible for something of this magnitude when I have no idea how to use it?”
Josephine reached out and caressed my cheek. “You’ll learn in time. Go with Zia to the Hetaeria base camp. There are people there who can help you, train you. The Master is coming for you, Lainey. You must be ready.”
I swayed on my feet but managed to stay upright. I was shaking all over. “I don’t know if I can do this.” My words were barely louder than a whisper.
“You must.”
I sucked in a breath as I remembered Gareth’s words. You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. Those choices are what will determine your destiny.
I realized then that, despite my pain, I wasn’t one of the living dead, and in that moment, I knew I didn’t want to be.