Finally, my doubt gave way. In its place, Isimply froze again.
Though a moment ago, he’d been smiling invictory, suddenly hisbrow crumpled with confusion again. His eyes darted to the side.“Now where was I again?” he trailed off, confusion obvious as ifhe’d somehow genuinely forgotten that he was standing here,haranguing me and showing off his magic.
I had to wait almost half a minute until heappeared to remember what he was doing. He shook his head andfinally continued, “Anyhow, love, I can do magic, because I’m afairy. I’ve been contracted to the McLanes… for some time,” headded after a significant pause, one where I couldn’t tell if hewas deciding what to tell me, or whether he’d genuinely forgottenwhen he’d started working for my family.
He shook his head again. As he did, I swearI saw something. A shadow. A big one. It was right over hisshoulder, so defined, it almost looked like a perfect version ofthe man rather than the result of his body blocking out thelight.
The man cleared his throat. “I protected Joan from most ofthe curse. I couldn’t, however, protect her from it in the end. Shemade a fatal error – turned away from her powers, chose not to seethe future, and lied for her own benefit. And in doing so, thecurse managed to access its magic in full.” He seemed saddened,truly saddened. It wasn’t just the way his eyebrows flattened,wasn’t just the way his jaw loosened. It was the look in his eyes,the fact his usually strong stance became weak.
“My… grandmother was killed? No, but… shedied of a heart attack,” I tried valiantly, although my voice became progressivelyweaker as my reason gave way to doubt.
He shook his head, that somber lookstill droopinghis eyes. “She was killed. Shemade a fatal mistake – made a big lie. In doing so, she releasedthe full power of the curse, and it killed her.”
“But – but how are you telling me this? Afew hours ago I opened the door to you, and you had no idea thatshe was dead—”
Before I could accuse the guy of lying, hisshoulders deflated. A truly weary look passed through his deep,soulful eyes. “Aye,” he answered slowly, “that’s because I…forgot.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You what?None of this makes any sense!”
He put up a hand before I could launchinto hysteria. “It does when you realize use ofmy powers leads to memory loss,” he answered quietly.
Though a new wave of adrenaline was pumpingthrough my body, suddenly it stopped.
I stared at him.
Anyone would be able to see the genuinesorrow and shame crumpling his features.
My brows clicked together. “What? Your –your powers make you lose your memory?”
He nodded morosely, incapable of making eye contact. “Aye. The first thingyou’ll learn in this magical world is that magic costs. Itdon’t come for free. Nothing comes for free. For me,strong displays of magic cost me my memories. That’s why…” heclosed his eyes briefly, “why I forgot Joan’s death. I must havefought to save her, but used too much magic and forgot everything.”He shook his head and paused until finally continuing. “Magic costs all practitioners something. For some, it costs them injuries, for others, itdemands more and more of their blood. For you,” he ticked his gazeup and locked it on me, “technically, your magic comes for free,”he said.
Or, at least his lips moved.
For some reason, it didn’t quite sound as ifhe was speaking. No, as impossible as it seemed, my crazy mind toldme his voice issued from the shadow behind his shoulder and not hisown stiff lips.
“Everyone else’s comes at a price. Well,”he tipped his head down and stared at me with eyes that seemed toblaze like pits of fire, “thanks to the curse, yours comes at aprice, too. Seeing the future and accessing people’s mindswon't cost you your memory, it won’t take your blood.But not using your power – turning from it, lying, it’ll cost you your life. For if you actagainst the curse, you will be claimed, Chi McLane.” Again, itdidn’t sound like it was him speaking, but his shadow. Heck, Iswore it even grew sharper, almost as if—
Suddenly what he was saying struck me. Themagic, the curse, the cost.
I sat there, blinking. Except this time my eyes weren’t shuddering from the sheerbreak-neck impossibility of this situation. No. Instead, they werefilling with tears.
I shook my head. No. No. No! This was stillimpossible—
“Now, where was I? Oh, aye. If I were you,Chi McLane, I’d stop lying. Today. And do exactly as I tellyou.”
I looked at him, incapable of sayinganything.
“This is where you ask why.”
“S-sorry?”
“Ask what will happen if you use yourabilities to lie?”
“I… what?”
“Ask the question,” he insisted in a gruff tone.
I jumped. “What will happen?”
“If you use your abilities as a seer to lieor you turn from them and fail to tell the future, you too willdie.”
I blinked. “You mean… if I use thatpower I used thismorning?”
He nodded gravely.
“And what if I don’t? You know… if I justlie…?” I trailed off. Itrailed off because his expression became deadly.
He dropped his head in thatmove that reminded me of a wolf leaning down to starethe lil’ rabbit inthe eye before gobbling it up. “This is where you change, ChiMcLane. Right here, today,” he stabbed a finger at the floor, “iswhere you turn a new leaf.”
He hadn’t answered me. Which told me theanswer was no – the curse wouldn’t affect me if I told ordinarylies.
Maybe he could see that I wascalculating that,because he took anotherdramatic step forward. Any more ofthose, and he’d walk all over me.
I shifted back even further.
“You turn over a new leaf, here, now, today.You got that?”
I forced myself to nod.
“My life’s hard enough as it is without theadded pressure of cleaning up after your dumb lies,”he added, sounding asbrowbeaten as an overworked housewife.
I frowned. Suddenly, I realizedwhat hewas saying. It was my turn totilt my head to the side. “Hold on, what do you mean? You… you’renot planning on sticking around, are you? You’ve told me about,” Iswallowed, “magic,” I stuttered, “and the curse. So… so
