Chapter 8
The book was the same, passed from one generation to the next, but the people were different. After the last mistake… Titus crossed his arms. It wasn’t worth thinking about. Nothing would be the same again. He’d made certain of it. All he needed was his sister by his side.
Anne didn’t remember, and that was for the best. With Dante… maybe it was inevitable, the three of them alive at the same time again, considering everything that came before. Finally it was time to bring an end to him, for good, to keep them from going in the same circles.
Soon it would be the two of them against the world once more, the way it was before, and the way it should always have been. Dante was a distraction, but it seemed he was a more dangerous one than expected. The way Anne looked at him… it was unlikely to happen the same way.
Rather than connecting with Dante Anne was close to Matthew. It was different enough, yet Titus still worried. He knew more than anyone else. If Thaddeus convinced the Fitzgeralds to join them everything would be fine. The ritual wasn’t the same, and that was how it needed to be.
Would she forgive him? That was the question. Anne’s memories, eventually, would return, and she’d know. It wasn’t as though she was a fool. Back then he’d done what he had to do to protect her, and it was the same in their new lives. Dante wasn’t good enough for her.
Love wasn’t a reason to throw away everything they’d worked toward. Dante was new magic, not part of the families of old, and Titus couldn’t let her make that mistake. There were better men, better mages, but Dante was handsome, turning her head… and her thoughts.
“The Fitzgeralds are coming.”
“Dante?”
“I think he may be an issue, but I have a solution to it.”
“What solution?”
“Zachary.”
Silence followed. The brother who hadn’t existed before, and that was definitely for the best. He was too focused on useless endeavours to be a Lockwood.
“He is our best chance of convincing Dante to join us, because he is less like a Lockwood.”
There were so many ways it could go wrong. “If this fails…”
“We have other options.”
Of course Thaddeus didn’t know the true reason Dante had to be there.
“Losing his power…”
“Isn’t enough to make the ritual a failure. We have the power we need, for the family.”
Thaddeus’ plan was immortality. Titus’ plan was more complicated, and Thaddeus didn’t know it. Like the Fitzgeralds he’d be more power to make the ritual work.
“You’re certain?”
“Emory has chosen.”
Another weak Lockwood, like so many of them. Finn was the one who had the spark, but he was too young, not ready yet. The time would come.
“He’s willing to make the sacrifice?”
“To him it’s what needs to be done, after learning about Georgina’s betrayal.”
Georgina was a Villareal, and they’d always been out for themselves. It wasn’t a surprise to learn the choices she’d made. Emory might be a Lockwood, but he didn’t have the kind of power to keep a woman like Georgina interested, so of course she’d found someone else.
“Finn is a Lockwood.”
“He’ll be protected. Nothing will happen to Finn, Titus.”
“It might not be easy to explain.”
“That is Emory’s problem, not ours.”
Although Thaddeus wasn’t wrong it was a sign of how the darkness was transforming him. He was too weak, callousness a sign.
Dante, even back then, was stronger than most, which was why he was impossible to break. Unusual for new magic, and an unneeded complication. Anyone else would have lost themselves.
“You don’t need to worry so much. I have everything under control.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Titus…”
“You wouldn’t know anything about this magic had it not been for me, Father.”
“I know, and I’m grateful. Your worries are understandable, but I mean it – everything is going to be fine.”
Once Titus would be willing to believe those words, but he thought the same thing.
Dante was the reason it fell apart, Anne leaving Glimmerbrook to make what she thought were the best choices for her, and it meant there was only one option. To stop her – in a way he thought would keep Dante out of their lives. A miserable failure, his arrival unexpected.
The same thing couldn’t happen again. Thaddeus needed to get Dante into the right place at the right time.
“With the power we gain from this ritual Dante will never be a problem again.”
It was so easy for Thaddeus. He thought he understood. The reality was different.
“We can’t assume anything, Father.” Titus shrugged. “Especially not when it comes to Dante.”
“He’s new magic.”
“New magic can be more dangerous.”
“Titus…”
“Zachary has one chance. I need to be certain Dante will walk through the door.”
“Your brother will make it happen.”
“The bigger problem might be Marion.”
Another sign Thaddeus didn’t actually know his wife. She was far stronger than he believed, and capable of much more than he was, which was the very reason she’d be there.
“Mother cares too much about us to walk away, Father.”
“Issac told her about the ritual. She knows more about any of this than the rest of us.”
Marion was taught a lot, but it was one lifetime, nothing more. What she knew was very little in comparison, but Thaddeus didn’t see, his limited understanding to be expected.
Titus stood, looking at Thaddeus. Magic was everything to him, and he’d do anything for power, no matter who it might hurt.
“Mother knowing is exactly why she won’t walk away.”
“She’s angry with me, and worried about you. I don’t think she likes the idea of you being involved.”
A protective mother, who cared much more than Thaddeus ever did. “Mother has no reason to worry.”
“Dark magics are dangerous, Titus. We’re both playing with fire.”
Playing with fire was part of the fun. “Yes, I know, but it needs to be done. This is the only way.”
“Our only way isn’t your mother’s. She doesn’t like you reading Gregor’s journals.”
Journals that long ago started off as Titus’s, back when he first started delving more deeply into magics the others didn’t dare touch.
“No, it’s not, but she’ll understand when it’s over.”
“I hope you’re right, Titus.”
“When it comes to Mother I am. Dante, for me, is the bigger issue. For this to work we need him here. Losing the strength he has within him…”
“Give Zachary a chance. Using him is the best option we have, because he isn’t like us.”
“If Zachary fails we’re in a complicated position.”
“We may be worrying about nothing, if Dante chooses to come here to protect his family.”
Dante, before, didn’t have a family to care about. Meeting Anne changed his life. Then he focused entirely on saving her.
“You think he will?”
“None of us know him well enough to be certain, Titus, but I believe he will.”
“Victor will already be affected, due to his decision to come here before.”
“I could feel it, and I know he wants to be closer to us. He thinks it’s good for his family.”
“With their new magic it makes sense they’d think we were the answer to their problems.”
After what happened with the Council there were very few options, and the Lockwoods were well known. Unfortunately others were badly affected. The world was very different.
“Let’s go over it again. The night of the full moon we gather here. It will be the Lockwoods and the Fitzgeralds.”
For things to work the Tyrells had to be alive at the end of it all.
“Issac made it very obvious he wasn’t coming here. The ritual is a mistake.”
“His loss. We don’t need him.”
Issac, compared to Marion, was weak. Not having Marion would be the bigger problem, but she’d stay, for her children, although Anne might become an issue.
“No, we need the Fitzgeralds. Issac will come around when he sees what we’re capable of.”
“Even if he doesn’t there won’t be anything he can do to stop us.” It wasn’t as though Titus didn’t also have plans in case something did go badly. “The only problem is Dante, but that might be solved.”
“Zachary will do what needs to be done. He wants to be one of us.”
“Anne doesn’t.”
“I know you can deal with Anne, Titus. She’s not someone I’m worried about, because you’ll convince her this is what needs to be done.”
“Like Zachary I’ll do my best, but Anne is the most stubborn of all of us. If she doesn’t want to be here she’ll leave.”
Anne walked away before. If she did the same again there was a plan in place, one Thaddeus didn’t know about, and never would. She was the only one Titus cared about.
“It’s a Lockwood trait.”
“One we both share with her.” Titus more than Thaddeus. “You know that best.”
“She is who she is, and it’s why she’s one of the strongest of us.”
Like before. Anne was never going to change. Maybe it was for the best.
“I don’t think she sees it.”
“Not yet, but she will, with time.”
Time she’d have thanks to the ritual, if it went right. It had to.
With Dante in the right place it would all go as planned, the way it hadn’t before. Titus Looked once more, unable to See Anne, and he knew.
“Our next step is what happens after immortality.”
“Rebuilding the Council, in the shape we want it. It’s time, Father, with us leading.”
Thaddeus thought it would be him, easily able to envision the Council with the Lockwoods at the head, not knowing he wouldn’t survive either. It was how things had to be. He wasn’t strong enough to be the leader of the Council, and he was never going to be, no matter what he did.
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