4. Destructive Tendencies
1299 Words
4
Destructive Tendencies
Jacob climbed the grand staircase and crossed the hall to the small servants’ stairs that led up to the top floor where the boys slept. The higher he got, the more detail he could hear in the chaos. Thumps that sounded like drawers being tossed from a dresser shook the floor as he reached the door to Dexter’s room.
The door was open, and the room had been ransacked. Every drawer had been emptied. All the clothes had been pulled from the closet. The mattress had been flipped off the bed and was lying next to the remains of a lamp. Jacob had never seen the inside of this room while Dexter had lived in it, but he recognized the belongings as Dexter’s.
The clothes were expensive. The speakers that Dexter had played his music through were in pieces on the floor. A shining leather bag and a smashed gold watch joined the rest of the debris. And in the middle of it all stood Emilia.
She turned to look at Jacob, a stack of books in her hands.
“You okay?” he asked, stepping lightly as something crunched under his feet.
“Fine,” Emilia said. “Why?”
Jacob gestured to the pile at his feet.
“Oh.” Emilia pasted a smile on her face, the one that said she was lying, pretending to be all right. “I was looking for something.”
Jacob said nothing. They stood staring at each other.
“Would you like help?” Jacob finally asked. “I’m sure I could find a few things in here I’d like to break, too.” He picked a photo of Dexter and Emilia up off the floor. Dexter’s arm was draped casually around Emilia’s shoulder, and she was beaming. They looked natural together, as if they were meant to be like that, frozen in that picture forever.
Emilia pulled the picture from Jacob’s hand. “Inexuro.” She dropped the burning photo into the trashcan. “That’s not the right picture.” Emilia started shaking out each of the books.
“Which picture are you looking for?” Jacob asked, afraid to hear the answer. Was there a picture of her and Dexter she wanted to keep?
“It doesn’t matter.” Emilia sat on the bare box spring. “I don’t think it’s here.”
“What’s not here?” Jacob asked, not moving, unsure if he should sit near her.
“When we were there,” Emilia said, “LeFay, the Pendragon―he said he had seen a picture of me. That’s how he knew―” She stopped. Jacob understood the words she could not say. He knew I was his daughter.
“It could have been any picture.” Jacob took a step closer to her. This was the first time she had mentioned Graylock since the night they got back. Talking about the caves had been silently f*******n.
“Dexter took the picture, he must have. The Pendragon said he saw me with my necklace.”
Jacob pulled the sapphire pendant from his pocket and handed it to her.
Emilia held it in her palm. The stone sparkled even in the dim light of the room. Silver veins ran across its teardrop surface.
“You brought this back to me when you came to live with us. Dexter must have taken the picture the Pendragon saw. I didn’t leave the Mansion House once you got here. It couldn’t have been anyone else. I want to see it. I want to see what Dexter gave him. I need to.” Emilia looked at Jacob, her eyes begging him to understand. “I don’t know where else to look.”
“We can search together,” Jacob said, picking up a drawer and shaking it, making sure there was nothing left stuck inside.
“It was probably on his phone. He was always taking pictures of me with his stupid phone.” Emilia moved to kneel on the floor.
“Ablutere,” Jacob said quickly, and the broken glass slid away from Emilia and into a pile next to the door. Jacob picked up a stack of papers that looked to have been on the nightstand.
“Thanks,” Emilia murmured. “I just want to know why. Did the Dragons ask him for a picture of me?”
Jacob’s heart sank as realization flooded him. “It was me. If a picture got sent to the Pendragon, he must have wanted a picture of me. They were trying to blame everything on me. Remember, they wanted everyone to believe I had destroyed my school on purpose.”
“We all have destructive tendencies.” Emilia made a sweeping gesture to the wreckage that used to be Dexter’s room.
“But Aunt Iz told me they were trying to use me as an example of the kind of damage wizards should be doing in order for Magickind to gain power. If the Dragons wanted me on their side, Dexter would have been the one to gather information for them. I was with you every second I could be. If he took a picture of me, you would have been in it.”
Being locked in a stone box, tortured, seeing Domina’s dead eyes. Rescuing Emilia and being bound to her. He had thought it was the Dragons’ doing. Another unstoppable extension of their evil. But it wasn’t. It was his, Jacob’s, fault. If he hadn’t come to the Mansion House, if he hadn’t tried so hard to win Emilia from Dexter, the Pendragon would never have found Emilia. He wouldn’t have kidn*pped her off the streets of New York. And Graylock would never have happened.
His magic at his school. He had started it all.
Emilia laced her fingers through his. He felt her touch calming him, and for the first time she didn’t pull away.
“It’s not your fault. If Dexter was giving his father and the Pendragon information, they would have figured out who I am eventually. And Dexter wanted me to be with the Dragons so I could be on the winning side of this fight. He would have asked the Dragons to take me to protect me, and the Pendragon would have figured it out then.” Emilia rested her head on Jacob’s shoulder. “And maybe you wouldn’t have been able to save me.”
“I would have found a way.” Jacob wrapped his arms around her, savoring the feeling of her being safe. For the first time in months, he felt like he could breathe. “I will always find a way.”
“I know.” Emilia brushed the shaggy blond hair away from Jacob’s eyes. “I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” Jacob took a breath. She was so close, there in his arms.
“We should get out of here.” Emilia stepped back suddenly. “If I spend any more time in here, I’ll be tempted to light the whole room on fire.”
“Iz wouldn’t like that.” Jacob didn’t look at Emilia as they left the room.
“Forget Aunt Iz,” Emilia said with a tired laugh. “This room is right above Claire’s. I don’t even want to think about how angry she would be if I caught her closet on fire.”
Jacob shuddered at the thought of little blond Claire trying to murder both of them for damaging her precious clothing. He didn’t like the idea of a truly angry Claire.
“See you at dinner,” Emilia said as she headed down the stairs.
Jacob crossed the hall and threw himself onto his bed. He had talked to Emilia. They had had an actual conversation, which was more than they had managed since they had been tethered. And she didn’t blame him. Not for being kidn*pped, or being tethered to him, or even Samuel and Larkin being gone. Jacob took a deep breath, willing tears not to form in his eyes.
Aunt Iz had said she thought Samuel might still be alive. If they could find Samuel and Larkin, if they could bring them home, maybe things would be all right.
Jacob rolled over and buried his face in his soft, green comforter. Saving Samuel and Larkin would be wonderful. Having them alive and home where they belonged, it would help them all. But it wouldn’t undo the tethering. Nothing could do that but death.
- Writer
