The Tethering: The Complete Collection

17. Demadais

17

Demadais

The sun breaking through the thin curtain woke Jacob the next morning. He could hear voices outside. The bus station must be busy. He turned onto his back and felt Emilia lying next to him, warm and soft. She was sleeping peacefully. No nightmares last night. Her black hair spread out over the pillows like a cloud of silk. Jacob watched her breathing slowly. He hadn’t seen her look this calm in months. He checked the clock. Only 7 a.m. If he slipped out to buy her breakfast, she could sleep longer.

Carefully shifting the sheets, he climbed out of bed and dressed, quietly taking some cash from Emilia’s wallet before slipping out of the room. The morning was bright and cool. Jacob looked up and down the street. There had to be food somewhere nearby. He spotted a little place next to the bus station. It had a neon sign that read Coffee and another that flashed the word Open.

Jacob made his way over, cutting through the crowd of grumbling people milling outside the bus station who had spent their night on buses coming from somewhere. When he entered the little café, Jacob immediately wished he had listened more carefully to Emilia’s cleaning spells.

“What you want, honey?” a harassed looking woman asked when it was his turn at the counter.

Jacob looked in the glass case. “Two bagels with cream cheese and two coffees.”

The woman shuffled down the glass case, preparing his order. “Eight bucks.” The woman held a hand over Jacob’s bag.

Jacob handed the woman a twenty and picked up the bag and two coffees. Fear stabbed through him. Panic and worry.

Jacob turned and bolted through the door.

“Honey, your change!” the woman called after him.

Jacob raced across the road. A car horn blared at him, but he didn’t stop to look. As he approached the door marked 221, it flung open before he could reach for the handle.

“Emilia!” he shouted.

Emilia whipped around, her black hair flying behind her as she launched herself at Jacob.

The coffee hit the ground as Jacob pushed Emilia aside ready to fight whoever had been attacking her in the room. But the room was empty.

“What happened?” Jacob asked, taking Emilia’s arms and searching her over for signs of damage.

“I woke up and you weren’t here,” Emilia said, staring at the spilled coffee. “I thought you’d left.” Her voice faded as she bent down and picked up the now empty coffee cups and the surprisingly dry paper bag.

“Emi,” Jacob whispered as she avoided his eyes, “I’m not going anywhere. Wherever we have to go to figure this thing out, we’re going together.”

“I know that, I do.” Emilia pulled the food from the bag. Jacob watched the bagels shake in her hand. “I just―”

Jacob wrapped his arms around her. He wanted to say something wonderfully brave like, I fought Domina to save to you. Or something romantic like, You’re half of my soul, Emilia. I could no sooner leave you than rip my heart in two.

But when he felt Emilia relax in his arms and her heartbeat slow, he knew he didn’t need to say anything. She knew it all already.

They ate in silence before packing their backpacks and heading to the motel lobby. There was a different, younger man at the desk. It took Emilia a few minutes to convince him that she really did want a cab, even if it was going to be more than forty dollars to get all the way across town.

When she wasn’t looking, the man gave Jacob a nod and a thumbs up. Jacob blushed, half in anger, half in embarrassment. Luckily, the cab arrived soon, and they climbed in, leaving the motel and the hungover people on the street behind. The cab sped them out of the grungy outskirts, past the town center, and into the suburbs.

The neighborhood could have been in Fairfield. It was strangely normal. There were children running through piles of leaves and men on ladders, cleaning house gutters in preparation for winter.

Jacob watched through the window of the cab as women pushed strollers down the streets in packs. How could a Demadais live here? Were wizards brainwashed when their powers were bound?

The driver stopped in front of a white house with red shutters. The lawn was perfectly manicured and surrounded by a white picket fence.

“You’re sure this is the right place?” Jacob murmured.

“How many Marshal Demadaies’ do you think there are in the world? This has to be him,” Emilia whispered as she handed the driver cash for the ride. “If you wait for us, I’ll pay the fare and tip you an extra twenty.”

“In cash?” the driver asked, peering at them in his rearview mirror.

“Cash,” Emilia said with a smile as she slid out of the car. “Ready?” Emilia asked as Jacob closed the cab door.

“Sure. But you never actually met this guy?” Jacob asked. “I mean, do we just walk up to the door and say, Hi, we know you were banished, but we’re wizards and we’d really like to meet the person who got you all outcast and stuff?”

“First of all, you are a wizard, I am a witch. Second, calling the Hag a person is a stretch. And third, I have a plan, so let me do the talking.” She sounded confident, but Jacob could feel her nerves bouncing.

He opened the perfectly oiled gate. “After you.”

Emilia walked past him and up the sidewalk. She didn’t pause before pressing the doorbell.

The bell rang, but Jacob didn’t see any signs of life. Emilia kept pushing the bell over and over.

“Emi, maybe we should just go.” There was a creak on the stairs, and a shadow moved toward them in the house.

Emilia smiled at Jacob as the door opened.

Standing in front of them was a man wearing a t-shirt and jeans and looking as thoroughly unlike Mr. Proctor as anyone could imagine.

“Can I help you?” the man asked. He looked normal and happy.

Surely, Jacob thought, this man hasn’t been banished.

“Hi,” Emilia said, “my name is Leah and this is James. We were sent here by your Uncle Proctor.”

The man’s face turned a horrible greenish-grey. “I think you must have the wrong house,” he said quickly as he tried to push the door closed.

Jacob stuck his foot in the doorway, stopping the man from shutting them out of the house.

“Actually, I don’t think we do,” Emilia said. “But if you would prefer, we can come inside and discuss our business quietly rather than on your porch.”

As if on cue, a woman called from behind them, “Marshal, the kids loved your wife’s brownies at the bake sale. Do you think she would give me the recipe?”

“Sure,” Marshal said with a smile. “I’ll have her bring it over to you.” He waved as the woman thanked him and continued down the street. “Get inside,” he whispered.

The inside of the house was as normal as the outside. Jacob hadn’t realized how accustomed he had become to the chaos of living in a magical house. Aunt Iz kept normal human appliances and conveniences at the Mansion House, but there was always something more there. Something indescribably wonderful. A life and an energy that Jacob associated with magic.

The man led them away from the big windows that surrounded the front of the house and into a small living room in the back. There was a large comfy couch, an armchair, a rocker, and an infant’s play mat on the floor.

“What do you want?” Marshal asked, not offering Jacob or Emilia a seat.

“One simple question. How do we find the Hag?” Emilia asked without missing a beat.

“Are you serious?” Marshal spat. “I spend thirteen years as an outcast, and now two kids show up at my home asking about that.” Marshal paced angrily. “Is the Council trying to check on me? Make sure that I’ve been a good boy? Well, you can tell my uncle to go straight to Hell. The Council ruined my life once. I won’t let them do it again. I have a wife and kids. I'm an accountant, for God's sake. I've done nothing wrong. You have no right to be here.”

“We weren’t sent by the Council,” Emilia said. “In fact, there isn’t a Council these days.”

“I knew it.” Marshal lowered himself onto the couch “All of the things that have been happening, horrible things no one can explain. I knew it was magic.”

“You’re right.” The color drained from Emilia’s face. “Horrible things are happening. The Magical Community is at war. And I need you to tell me where the Hag is.”

“If you aren’t from the Council, I don’t have to tell you anything.” Marshal stood up and pointed to the door. “I don’t want any magic in this house. If wizards are fighting, I want nothing to do with it.”

“If you wanted nothing to do with magic, you should have picked a different last name. Demadais? It wasn’t even hard to find you.” Emilia planted her feet.

Jacob looked back and forth between the two of them standing across from each other, glaring.

“I made a foolish choice when I was young,” Marshal said through gritted teeth.

“Choosing that name, or seeing the Hag?”

“Both. But I have accepted my punishment. I will not let my family suffer―”

“No one needs to suffer. Just tell us where she is, and we’ll leave,” Jacob said.

Marshal looked at him, seemingly surprised that Jacob could speak.

“I haven’t seen the Hag in thirteen years,” Marshal said softly. “I don’t know if she’s still there.”

“Where?” Jacob asked.

“Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The Hag lives in a mansion that looks out onto the ocean. You’ll know it when you get near it. You can feel the magic. At least I could before.”

“Thank you,” Emilia said, moving toward the door.

“Thanks.” Jacob followed her.

They were back out in the crisp air when Marshal called after them. “Wait.” He ran down the steps and stood close to them, looking around nervously. “If the Council is gone, you could unbind me. I could have my magic back.”

“Mr. Demadais, you have a family,” Jacob said.

“They wouldn’t need to know,” Marshal said desperately. “I could use my magic to help my family. To protect them.”

“I don’t know how to undo a binding,” Emilia said. “We can’t help you.”

“There has to be a book with the spell. You can go. You can find it,” Marshal pleaded, grabbing Emilia’s hand in both of his.

“I don’t know where we could find it. I don’t know where a book like that would be.” Emilia tugged her hand away from Marshal. “The Council controlled those spells.”

“Maybe we can ask the Hag?” Jacob said, placing himself between Emilia and Marshal.

Marshal leaped back. “Don’t ask her. Don’t mention me to her.” The man backed toward the house, stumbling when his heel hit the porch stairs. “Don’t you ever come back here again.” He ran up the steps and slammed the door. The lock clicked loudly behind him.

Jacob took Emilia’s hand and pulled her through the white picket gate, away from the house and back into the cab.

“He seemed to like your visit,” the cab driver said as they slid back into their seats.

“Family friend,” Emilia said, still looking at the house. “Could you take us to the bus station please?”

“Can do.” The driver pulled away from the curb and the perfect houses.

“So what do we do now?” Jacob whispered in Emilia’s ear.

“Get a bus ticket to Newport and find the Hag,” Emilia said.

“Why was Marshal so terrified of the Hag?” Jacob asked. “I can understand being afraid of what the Council would do if they found out you did something f*******n, but it seemed like he was afraid of her. Who is the Hag?”

Emilia glanced at the driver in the rearview mirror. “There are some kinds of magic that have been lost. Spells even the Council didn’t have records of. The Hag used one of those spells on herself. I don’t know what it did to her, but she’s powerful. And she knows things that normal people couldn’t.” Emilia chewed on her bottom lip.

Jacob watched out the window as they passed back into the filthy part of town. What would be waiting for them in Newport?

“I’ll take that cash,” the cab driver said as he stopped in front of the bus station.

Emilia paid the driver. “And your tip.” She handed him an extra twenty.

Jacob followed her as she wound her way up to the ticket counter. “Two tickets to Newport, Rhode Island, please.”

Just like normal people, Jacob thought as he and Emilia carried their backpacks onto the next bus out of Carlisle.

Were their fellow passengers traveling for work or play? Were they going on an adventure to a new place or to visit family? Were they trying to find a mythical person to save family?

Emilia began to laugh. It started in her throat as a tiny giggle, but soon she was laughing so hard her face turned red, and the people near them on the bus were staring at her.

Jacob leaned against the window, smiling.

He didn’t laugh along or even ask what was funny. He waited while tears ran down Emilia’s cheeks.

She gasped a few times and finally stopped, choking a little as she tried to breathe normally.

“Better?” Jacob asked, still smiling.

“A bit, yeah,” Emilia giggled. “This is completely absurd, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely absurd.” Jacob nodded.

“And we’re going to do it anyway?” Emilia asked.

“Yep.” Jacob leaned back in his seat, looking out the window as the bus pulled out of the station.

“Okay then.” Emilia lifted Jacob’s arm, inserting herself next to his side.

His heart leaped as she placed her head on his shoulder.

“I’ve never been to Rhode Island before,” Emilia said, watching the slums pass slowly by.

“I’ve never been anywhere before,” Jacob said.

She laced her fingers through his. Like he was the only thing she had left to hang on to.

Jacob kissed her forehead. Emilia closed her eyes. They were together. Together, they could survive anything.