Neophyte / Adept by T.D. McMichael Read Free Book Online

catching up with us, she said. It
was just Dallace and I. He would see me back to my place, in Rome. (“You’ll be
safe there,” he said. “At least from us .”)
    “I didn’t know there were so many things I had to worry
about,” I said.
    Dallace looked excited for the Gathering; I didn’t imagine
there were that many things he really looked forward to. And Lennox?
    “He had to go,” said Dallace.
    I nodded. “They sound like busybodies,” I said, “the
Lenoir.”
    “There have been problems in the past. Wars,” said Dallace.
    “Oh,” I said. I waited for him to go on. The countryside
flashed past. Already my time in Venice was beginning to feel like a distant
memory. Like I was some other Halsey. Like my old me was gone. I was headed
into the unknown, and everything that entailed; within me, particularly, a
sense of dread was growing, that I might not measure up, that I might, strange
as this may sound, let my parents down. They had been dead since before I could remember.
    I thought about that as the train chugged along, through
fields of wheat, and cypress trees, and the lovely Italian villages, that went
rolling past our window, as we headed to Rome, to the smog, and the
meetinghouses, and the secrets, and the past, I a witch.
    It was official now. My too-heavy head, full of thoughts and
feelings. The sun was setting and we chugged into the night, through Bologna,
and Firenze, and the Tuscan countryside. And all the while, I thought of
Lennox, and what he must be doing. But I whispered nothing of my fears to
Dallace.
    I was sure he had his own concerns. After all, Lennox was
something of a son. They gave off this brotherly affection, but I knew who
Lennox turned to for help and support. He turned to Dallace. Which made me love
the vampire sitting across from me all the more. And I thought, witches and
wizards and vampires do not get along? How come? Why not?
    What was it in our shared pasts that made us enemies? And
Dallace, did he feel that way about me, that I could not be trusted?
    Had all of this, my staying with them, been a sham? Were
they not, in a way, going to be glad to get rid of me?
    “Your mind oppresses you with figments and shadows and other
haunting things,” he said.
    “So you know what haunts me?” I said.
    “Your dreams,” said Dallace.
    “I don’t want to go,” I said.
    “Can I tell you something? Perhaps it will ease your mind.
You noticed the quatrefoils? The Venice architecture?”
    I had become expert in architecture. I had to, when I had
been trying to figure out what Lennox was––before I knew, and that
I loved him. A quatrefoil was simply four of something. They were particularly
useful in windows. They looked something like this.

    Like four-leaf clovers; they were open. So was Dallace’s
confession.
    “We have a Story, call it a family tale. That we are
incomplete. That one day we shall be four: Camille, myself... Lennox, and now
you.
    “So you see,” he said––I didn’t know what to say
to this “––in a sense we have nothing to worry about. Lennox should survive, and this thing which
hunts you, be it perceived only, or in fact the real deal––it
cannot stop the fact that we are meant to be together, Camille, myself––and if you will, you and dear
Lennox. This is why I am coming with you. Not as Protector. As friend and
guardian. If I may, to vouch for you. The Lenoir will not think to bother you.
Not unless they wish to open old hostilities. If I may, you should rest, Halsey Rookmaaker. We will be there
soon, and you have much to get ready for. If I am not mistaken, the covens will
want to test you––and the other initiates. They are looking for
someone; or something. I have never really been sure what they meant by her.
But here I have already said too much. It will be up to others to indoctrinate
you. Just be sure you do not forget who you are. All right?”
    I nodded, and then gulped. Despite his words to the
contrary, I knew not to