But if magic that crossed the boundary between good and evil was being worked across the city to reunite good and evil, maybe it wasn't so safe . . .
"As its guardians," I quietly began, "where do we store the Maleficium ?"
"I shouldn't tel you this, you know. But given what's going on out there . . ." He trailed off, and for a moment I thought he wouldn't confess it. But then he said the words that changed everything.
"The Maleficium is in the House vault."
With that news in hand, Keley cal ed Malik and Luc down to the Ops Room. Frank, unfortunately, decided to tag along.
When we were al assembled, Lindsey closed the Ops Room door again.
"Keley?" Malik asked. "What's going on?"
She looked at me. "This one's al Merit," she said, and gave me the floor. At her nod, I laid it out.
"We know Cadogan House is the current guardian of the Maleficium , the book that holds evil."
The room went silent.
Frank blustered a bit about magic and secrets, but I kept my eyes trained on Malik - and I saw the second he decided to tel us the truth.
"We are the guardians," Malik agreed, holding up a hand to silence Frank. "It is always passed from one guardian to another in secrecy. McDonald House had it last. We have it now."
"And it's stored in the vault?" I asked.
After a moment, Malik nodded.
"I think we need to check the vault."
"Because?" Malik asked.
"I understand the events we've seen reflect an imbalance between good and evil," I explained. "Good and evil used to be united. The world as we know it exists now only because good and evil were separated from each other. The world keeps its rules only as long as they remain in balance, opposites of equal force."
"And when they're imbalanced," Luc said, "the natural world goes haywire. Earth. Air. Water."
"Exactly," I said with a nod. "The Maleficium tel s of the division between good and evil, and identifies the magical doings that, to be accomplished, require crossing the boundary between good and evil. The mixing of good and black magic."
"So you think that if the natural world is unraveling, someone must be using the Maleficium," Luc said. "That's an interesting theory, Merit, but there hasn't been anyone in the House since Tate issued the dictate banning humans -
just Mr. Cabot and the Cabi>," LucCadogan vampires. And none of us would be capable of using it for more than a real y effective paperweight."
For a moment, I thought he was right, but my stomach suddenly curled with fear, al breath leaving me. Luc, I realized, was wrong - absolutely wrong.
"Merit?" he asked. "Are you al right?"
I looked around the room, my head spinning with horrible possibilities. "There was someone else in the House."
Al eyes turned to me.
"Merit?" Malik asked.
I could barely make myself say it. "The week after Ethan's death, Mal ory was here. She was granted permission to stay in my room with me."
Silence again.
"Merit," Luc said. "Mal ory wouldn't take something from the House."
Wouldn't she?
I thought about our conversations over the last week, about the things I'd seen and the things we'd discussed.
About her chapped, shaking hands. Her inability to make eye contact. Her irritability, and her acceptance of dark magic.
Had I been that stupid? That na?ve?
I opened my mouth to speak, but paused, considering the implications of what I was about to say. If I was right, my relationship with Mal ory would never be the same.
But if I was right, my relationship with Mal ory hadn't been the same in two months.
"I think the magic has changed her. I think whatever she's doing for these exams - or whatever she's been doing in her apprenticeship - have changed her." I offered up my evidence, and then got to the most damning part.
"When I visited her earlier in the week, she was perusing a book."
"A sorceress with a book?" Frank dryly asked. "How surprising."
This time, Malik didn't bother hiding his eye rol . "What did the book look like?"
"It was big." I closed my eyes, imagining myself in Mal ory's basement beside her table. "Red leather," I said,
"with a gold symbol on the cover."
As if I'd just confirmed his worst fear, Malik rubbed his temples with a hand, and then he pul ed a square key on a metal chain from beneath his button-up shirt.
"I hope to God that you are wrong," he said. "But we do not survive on hope. We survive on facing our problems square on. Let's check the vault."
"This is unprecedented," Frank said, "and highly inappropriate. The ashes of a Master vampire are contained there. You wil not open the House vault."
Malik skewered him with a look. "You are a representative of the GP and a guest in this House. But you are not a Master, and you are certainly not Master of this House. You may review the protocols and data as you wil , and you may test these vampires as the GP sees fit. But you wil not, under any circumstances, issue dictates to me.
You are not my Master, Mr. Cabot, and I recommend you not forget it."
With that, Malik turned on his heel and headed for the door.
One by one the rest of us fol owed.
The trip down the basement hal way to the vault had al the levity of a funeral procesfunt size="3sion. There was a possibility the sanctity of the House had been violated, and by a woman I'd believed was my best friend - and who'd been my virtual sister for years.
Malik slid the key into the vault, then turned it forty-five degrees. The lock disengaged with an audible click. He lifted a hand to the door, but paused for a moment before gripping the handle, steadying himself. After a moment, his fingers were on the latch and the door was open.
Malik stood before it, blocking the view inside, and then stepped to the side, his gaze on me.
My heart beating wildly, I looked inside.
Hope and fear simultaneously blossomed.
The Maleficium wasn't the only thing missing.
The vault was empty.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
WHICH WITCH IS WHICH?
Ten silent minutes later, we'd reconvened in the Ops Room. Al except Frank, who'd gone upstairs to make a phone cal , undoubtedly to the GP.
The Maleficium was gone.
The ashes were gone. No - Ethan's ashes were gone.
"How could she have done this?" Luc quietly asked. "Not only to take the Maleficium, but to steal the ashes? Such a thing isn't done. It's not right. It's sacrilege."