“I think she likes you.”
“If only my name was Jasper.”
“Look, I know she's kind of—dangerous—now, but she's my favorite aunt. She used to take me all kinds of places. Whenever my parents didn't want me around, she'd always take me in.”
“I could've used a relative like that,” Jason said, forgetting the usual self-edit.
Leesha stood on tiptoes and brushed her lips across his cheek, nearly missing. “Bye, Jason.”
“Can't you come out? There must be someplace we can go.”
Leesha glanced over her shoulder. “I'd better not.” She'd seemed oddly jittery all evening, as if she'd had too much caffeine or something. It was almost like she was glad old Aunt Milli was there to serve as chaperone. As she turned back around, he noticed that her face seemed oddly misshapen.
Jason grasped Leesha's chin and turned her face up toward the porchlight. She flinched and pulled away.
“What happened to your face?” One side of it was swollen, and he could see bruises under the makeup. It hadn't been apparent in the candlelit parlor.
Leesha turned away from the light. “It was Aunt Milli. She took out a wall in the conservatory. I'm afraid we're going to have to put her in a home.”
Were there homes for wizards with dementia? “Seems like you should slip some Weirsbane into her tea. She'd be easier to handle if she wasn't always setting things on fire.”
“I've tried that. She can always tell.” She paused. “Maybe tomorrow we could go to Cleveland or something. Someplace away.”
Jason shrugged. “Maybe.” There was nothing else to do but leave, so he left.
He walked home through dark streets. They'd been to the park twice that week already. In really cold weather, they hung out at matinees, where they were unlikely to be spotted, or went back to Leesha's house—er—mansion. Usually Aunt Millisandra went to bed early, but lately she'd had insomnia, or something.
He hadn't done so much sneaking around since he lived back at home with his dad and stepmother. That seemed like a lifetime ago. It was hard to keep a secret in a small town. He wasn't exactly answerable to Nick or Linda or anyone else, except maybe Hastings. He'd just prefer to avoid the lecture if he could. Jack, Will, Fitch, Seph, Ellen—they all hated and mistrusted Leesha Middleton.
So why didn't he? Not that he totally trusted her, but there was a reckless intensity to their relationship that appealed to him. She was the only spark in an otherwise dismal existence. Otherwise, he was going through the motions, marking time, contributing nothing.
Leesha'd had a hard life, in a way—she'd been an inconvenience to her aristocratic wizard parents until her escapades in the Trade made her an embarrassment. She was a survivor, but still somehow vulnerable, and she never did anything halfway.
He laughed. You are so out of your league, he thought. It was the story of his life.
When he arrived home, Linda Downey was in the kitchen, dishing ice cream into a blender.
“Jason! You're just in time. I'm making milkshakes.” Linda gripped both his hands, warming him all the way to his toes.
“Milkshakes,” he repeated stupidly. “I'm glad I came.”
“You've got lipstick on your face,” she said, reaching up and rubbing it off with her forefinger.
He liked that about Linda. She didn't ask hard questions. Then he noticed her suitcase sitting by the door. “You going someplace?”
She hesitated. “I'm meeting Leander in Britain.”
“Right. Well. Great.” His face burned, and the words seemed to stick in his throat. “Bon voyage, I guess.”
He went to turn away, and she gripped his arm. “Seph's in the solarium,” she said, looking anxiously up into his eyes. “He's been waiting for you. He needs help with something.” She nodded toward the back of the house.
Right. Probably wants me to shine his shoes. Feeling irritable and uncooperative, Jason went to find Seph.
Seph sat next to the windows reading in a puddle of light cast by a single table lamp. Past the patio there was a strip of snowy lawn, then a wall that marked the dropoff to the lake. In the background, the waves crashed in a northwest wind, claiming and relinquishing the beach.
Seph looked up and marked his place with a finger. “Jase! Where've you been?”
Jason shrugged. “Here and there. What's up?”
No answer. Seph sat motionless, staring into space, like he'd checked out completely. It was like talking to someone wearing headphones or reading his e-mail at the same time. Jason knew Seph must be monitoring the boundary.
“What are you reading?” Jason asked, trying to break in.
Seph looked up, a little startled. “AP Physics. We're having another practice test next week.”
Jason dropped into a wrought-iron chair. “Can you really do both those things at the same time?” I couldn't do one of those things at the same time, he thought to himself.In fact, Seph looked bad, kind of hollow-cheeked and twitchy, and his eyes glittered and burned. “You sound like Lin…my mom.”
As if on cue, Linda appeared, carrying two tall milkshakes on a tray. And a big bowl of trail mix.
She clunked a milkshake down in front of Seph. “Here. See that you finish this. And you can let go of the boundary in a few minutes. Iris said she'd take over at ten.”
“I'm okay.” Seph sat up a little straighter. “I can keep it a while longer. Till I go to bed, anyway.”
“We've already talked about pushing yourself, Seph. Don't argue.” It was one of the few times Jason had seen Seph's mother exerting parental authority.
When she went back into the house, Jason said, “She acts like you're an invalid or something.”
Seph shrugged and looked away. “Yeah. Well.”
Seph obviously wasn't going to tell him what was going on. Jason tried again. “She seems kind of stressed.”
Seph sucked down some milkshake and set the glass down. “It's the whole deal with being in charge while my father's away. She'd like to get some more wizards who could watch the perimeter, to give us a break, but Snowbeard is worried about trusting anyone new.”
You could try me, Jason thought. He didn't bother to say it aloud.
“Nick's really fixated on that stuff you brought back from Britain,” Seph went on. “Linda's good at managing the other guilds, but wizards always think they should be running everything. Some of them aren't used to taking orders from an enchanter.”
Seph seemed to be avoiding mention of Linda's travel plans, so Jason said, “And now she's going to Britain.”
Seph nodded while watching Jason, as if wary of his reaction. “So she's leaving, and she's worried about leaving me on my own.” Seph leaned his head back. His mind seemed to drift again for a moment, then he said, “You still wear the dyrne sefa?”
In answer, Jason fished the pendant out from under his shirt.
Seph smiled. “Remember when we used to go out in the woods and practice wizardry at the Havens?”
Jason didn't particularly want to remember his time at the Havens—especially what had happened to his father. Plus it just highlighted the magical performance gap that had grown between him and Seph. He found that contrast more and more oppressive.
“I taught you everything I knew. Which wasn't much. And now you've gone way beyond me. But Linda says you want to ask me something.”
“I need to ask you a favor.”
“Which is … ?”
“Someone broke into Maddie's room the other night.”
Jason waited, and when Seph didn't go on, asked, “Did they take anything?”
“We don't know. I looked around, but I couldn't tell if anything was missing.”
“What's she say?”
“I can't reach her. Their phone's disconnected and her cell phone doesn't work at her house. I e-mailed her, but I don't know when she'll get the message.”
Where's this leading? Jason thought. “Maybe it was someone who knew she was gone and thought they'd take advantage.”
“They used magic to blow a hole in her door.” Seph paused long enough to let this sink in. “Hers was the only room they touched. And she's got nothing to steal.” He looked out at the lake. “I didn't want her to leave in the first place. It's bad enough if they go after her because of me. But if they know what she can do …”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go down there and bring her back. I'd go myself, but Snowbeard wants me here. Besides, they'll be looking for me to go. You're less likely to lead them to her.” Seph paused and cleared his throat. “There's something else. There was something left behind in her room, a painting with a hex in it, targeted at me. It hit me pretty hard.”
“Whoa.” Jason stared at him. That explained Seph's haggard appearance, then. But if he was handling the boundary, he couldn't be too bad off. “Are you okay? Did the…”
“I'm fine,” Seph snapped. “But it was Madison's painting. So Snowbeard thinks Madison may be … may have turned.” He muttered this last, as if he didn't want to honor it by saying it out loud.
Jason considered this. He'd known there was something off between Seph and Madison, but he still would've said they were crazy about each other.
Then again, you had to consider what Seph was competing against. A Claude D'Orsay or Jessamine Longbranch could make Madison rich beyond her wildest dreams. Rich enough to attend any art school in the country.
So he chose the safest response. “What do you think?”
“What do you mean, what do I think?” Seph leaned forward, practically shedding sparks. “It's impossible. She wouldn't do that.”
“Okay, okay.” Jason raised his hands to ward off harm. “I'm not disagreeing. But still, maybe it isn't a good idea to bring her back here if she may be…”