Hope

Chapter Thirty Two

Nicholas' POV

My quivering hands ache to break something. Anything- like that bastard Harry's head. I've been aching for that since he arrived. Why Magnolia decided to keep him is beyond me. Does she see him as an ally? Or did he convince her to stay- manipulated her? The thought sends shivers down my spine and I quiver more.

I walk into one of the many spare rooms on the third floor- my room was destroyed along with Kathryn's, Melissa's and the kid's. I suddenly feel bad for calling him kid. I'll never watch him grow now. He'll never show me how much of a man he is.

“Dammit!” I yell, shattering a vase on the wall. I yell a stream of profanities as a chair follows the vase. I don't notice the tears until I run my hands down my face.

“What did the kid do?” I yell to no one in particular. “He didn't do anything! This is bull! Complete and utter bull!”

I sink to the floor as helpless sobs rake through my body.

-

My neck aches from sleeping in such an uncomfortable position. I clean up the mess I made before taking a quick shower. The first thing that comes to my mind is Kathryn. I think of how she must be taking this and I rush to find her. I bump into Marg on the way.

“Have you seen Kathryn?” I ask. I feel selfish. Marg must need to be comforted as much as Kathryn does but I put Kathryn first because I need to be near her.

She looks at me with bloodshot eyes. No, glare would be the proper word. “No,” she spits.

I ask Rob too and he hasn't seen her either. I search every room in the third floor but she is nowhere to be found. I decide to swallow my pride and ask Harry when I spot his curly hair in the kitchen.

“Have you seen Kathryn?” My tone is laced with venom. I have never spoken to him directly.

He looks up, sorrow in his eyes. “No. I thought she was training with you.” He frowns.

I rush out of the kitchen, sprinting to Magnolia's office, hoping to find her there. I knock once before I enter.

“Is Kathryn here? Have you seen Kathryn?” I almost yell.

She cocks her heard to the side and removes her glasses, revealing blank sunken eyes. “No, I have not.”

My blood turns cold. “Well she's not in the mansion.”

She sighs. “I'm sure she is. She wouldn't have been able to leave the mansion.”

I don't argue with her. Instead, I walk out to look for her again before I jump to conclusions.

After an hour of searching every undamaged room in the mansion I come to the conclusion that she isn't in the mansion. My blood feels like it's laced with ice as I walk back to Magnolia's office.

I don't bother to knock this time. “She isn't here,” I immediately say. “I've looked everywhere and she isn't here.”

She rises from her chair. The events that have happened in this mansion seem to have a taken a toll on her. Her black hair is now streaked with white and her faced has aged more in the past year than it has since I've met her.

“What are you saying, Nicholas?”

“I'm saying she left. Kathryn left.”

-

Rioleo sets her candles on the floor of Magnolia's office as she prepares for her tracking spell. She lights them up before taking Kathryn's sweater and placing it between the pentagon formed by the candles. Magnolia sits on one side of her and I sit on the other. She begins to chant in Latin and the brightness of the candles gains momentum as she raises her voice.

Suddenly her body collapses as her spell leads her soul to Kathryn. Magnolia's face is as blank as Rioleo's- as if her soul has also left her body. But she stays rigid, staring at the flickering flames that cast shadows on her lifeless face.

Soon, Rioleo's soul returns and she slowly rises. The flames dim to a low light.

“Well?” I urge.

She sighs and looks at Magnolia than at me before saying, “I can't find her. I was blocked off. She is at a protected place- protected by dark magic. I couldn't go further than the river border that separates Prasinis from London.”

Her words cut through me like sharp ice crystals, leaving my blood chilled. Magnolia's face fills with worry that reflects my own.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“We go to the border. We will find her even it's the last thing we do.” She stands up. “Gather all the guards. If this is war, so it shall be.”