Prologue

“Malchek Merka, what an unpleasant surprise it is to see you.” Mira smirked at the sight of him like she was biting into a stale chip. “What brings you to my services?” She was putting most of her attention into painting her long, curved fingernails a blood red.

Malchek took a deep breath before beginning. “My wife, Luna, passed away. I’m sure you’ve heard.”

Mira nodded as if that alone were asking too much of her. “Someone might have mentioned it. I really can’t remember any details.” She didn’t look away from her polish.

“Why did you do it?” Malchek blurted his words out like vomit.

This attracted Mira’s attention. She stuck her brush into the bottle of polish and blew on her right hand where her nails were still wet. “Why did I do what?”

“Kill her. Why did you kill her?” Malchek seemed like he was gaining confidence. “Did you do it so that Astrid would be around? Or how about out of spite for her, or me? Or, you could’ve have done it out of jealousy. Did you kill Luna because you were jealous of me, Mira? Or, or maybe, you did it just so you could make yourself a new nail polish.” Malchek gestured at her blood-red polish.

She looked as if her head were about to explode with rage. Letting out a forced breath through flared nostrils, she gained her tolerance and patience back. “Malchek Alexandros Merka, do not flatter yourself. You think that I would be jealous of you? I gave you everything. You wouldn’t have the title of ‘Regent’ at this very moment if it wasn’t for me.”

“And who said I wanted it?” Malchek was raising his voice. “What have I gotten out of that title? Huh? My first wife left me, my second one is dead, and I don’t have time for my own son. What even are your intentions, Mira? To gather all of the power from every moment in time and take over the world from the beginning? Who are you to think that you deserve that?”

Mira stood up and scooted her chair behind her in one anger-packed motion. “No. Who are they to think that they, you included, are better than I? That you have to be goody-two-shoes and act like you’re so heavenly. Sorcery is evil magic no matter how you treat it and how you look at it. I’m not doing this to rule the world, even though that is a plus. I’m doing this for revenge. For what they did to me. You should understand that of all people.” She sat slowly back in her chair and acted as if something tragic had happened. She fingered the loose brush in the fingernail polish, debating whether or not to continue.

“No one thinks that they are better than you and you shouldn’t think that either. Mira, what they did to you was something you brought upon yourself. You deserved to be humiliated. And yes, maybe I had to suffer it too but the difference is how you are handling it. You have to forgive and forget or it will come back to bite you. Isn’t it already?”

“No.” She answered quick and sharply. “It is actually going quite well for me if you haven’t noticed. Everything is in place, all my plans are working. And just forget about Luna.”

This raged Malchek profoundly. “Just forget? Just forget about my wife that you killed?! How could I? How could you ask that of me? Should I forget about her the way you forgot about John?” He knew that would cut deep into her, but didn’t seem to care at the moment.

“I have not forgot about John. I will never forget about John and I’m sure he’s still alive. I can feel it. I am working on a way to find him, a portal. I think Celeste left something behind about black holes, and I’m spending every moment I can on finding it. On finding him.”

Malchek snorted. “Sure you are. Is that why you were busy painting your nails with the blood of my wife when I came in? My wife who had nothing to do with her or John or any of this?”

Mira flew right to Malchek in a swift motion that almost made him step back. He knew he couldn’t give Mira that pleasure, though. She poked him right over his heart and let her pointed fingernail pierce into his skin, forcing out a tiny pearl of blood. “I did not kill your wife. Believe me if you will, if you choose not then it will not hurt my feelings. But you know good and well that I regret every second of sending John the way I did. That I would do anything to get him back. I love John.”

Malchek stepped back so that Mira’s fingernail was no longer touching him. “I love John, too. But why should I believe that you did not kill Luna? Give me something, help me believe.”

Mira stood silent for a moment, then said, “Very well.” She turned to the doorway. “Beckett, Shadrax. Come in here, please.” Malchek stood waiting with an expressionless face. Soon two men came through the door. Mira seemed pleased with their appearance. “Boys, this is Regent Malchek. Malchek, this is Beckett,” she pointed to the man with straight blond hair. “And this is Shadrax,” she pointed to the other one with braided black hair. “Boys, you will be assisting the Regent here on the main skytower. Make sure no one gets hurt, understand?”

The man Beckett responded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Excellent. Now go wait outside.” Both men nodded their heads in agreement and left. She turned back to Malchek. “These are my best men. They are very respectful and get the job done. They will protect you and Callaber. If you ever feel they can’t be trusted or they disobey, feel free to send them back. This isn’t a trick, I honestly want to protect you and Callaber.”

Malchek thought about taking her up on her offer for a moment. “I will accept. But, Mira, if you feel so awful about what happened to John, why did you send his son?” He walked near the door. “Did you not fear that it would happen to him, too?”

     For a moment Mira seemed lost. “I took him myself. I watched King Edward take him into his arms myself. He treats him like his own son which isn’t bad for the boy considering what happened.” She looked around silently. “Take care of yourself.”

Malchek lowered his chin attempting a nod and almost let a smile slip. Mira watched him walk away with Beckett and Shadrax and let a lone tear roll down her cheek. She grabbed her polish and began on the other hand.

 

                ***

 

“What about Conner McCoy? He’s cute.” Serenity was giving Hazel the ‘I don’t want him so you should totally go for it’ look. Seeing Hazel’s ‘absolutely not’ response, she tried someone else. “Brett Montgomery? I know he’s kind of, less smart than average, but he’s still pretty cute. You could be like ‘let me help tutor you’ and he could be like ‘okay’ and then your hand could touch his and there could be a spark.”

Hazel rolled her eyes at her friend’s unrealistic visions. “Serenity, how long have you known me?”

Not following Hazel’s question, she answered anyway. “Like, twelve years. Why?”

     “And what have you learned about me?”

     Serenity rolled her eyes up trying to think. “Your favorite color is green, you’ve always chose Harry Potter over any of the princesses, and you have a Zac Efron poster in your closet that you think no one knows about.”

     Hazel felt her cheeks redden. “Tell anyone that and I’ll kill you.” She let out a breath and started back. “And, I have no in having a boyfriend. Unlike you, I can live without testosterone-filled, gassy, pig-like guys who insist on spending their time getting sweaty, taking showers together, and then spreading rumors about whose virginity they had taken away that past weekend.”

     Serenity tried to process how Hazel was almost seventeen and had no interest whatsoever on having a boyfriend. “That’s what nerds are for. They have no locker room and do all your homework for you. Best of both worlds I guess.”

     “I’m telling you, I’m fine.” Hazel moved a few boxes around, still looking for the photo album from their beach vacation. The dust flying around her was getting at her allergies. “Why don’t you worry about yourself? Didn’t you and Drake just break up?”

     Serenity felt her heart skip a little. “I’m taking a while to recover. I don’t want to jump into anything too quickly.” Serenity thought about how Drake treated her and understood for a moment what Hazel had against boys.

     “Whoa, Serenity. Check these out.” Hazel moved another box out of the way and revealed a row of worn, raggedy books in the bottom of a bookshelf. “I wonder how long these have been around.”

     Serenity grabbed one without considering their age in her grip. She opened the front cover and flipped through a couple of pages. “They aren’t even in English. My mom doesn’t speak other languages. They sound like spells from a cliché witch movie, don’t they?”

     Hazel picked one off the shelf and started from the back. Wiping the dust off, she saw a name at the bottom written in black. “Serenity, isn’t this your great-grandmother’s name?”

     Serenity leaned over and read the name on the back. “Yeah, it is.” She flipped her book over and found the name written there, too. “That’s weird. Do you think it could be like that Halloweentown movie and my grandmother could be a witch?”

     “No.” Hazel made her word sharp to emphasize how ridiculous Serenity sounded.

     “What else could be written in them, Arabic recipes?”

     Hazel gave her a look insinuating that idea sounded equally ridiculous. “I don’t know what’s written in them, Serenity, but it’s Latin.” Her voice was beginning to sound agitated. She flipped through the book again and tried to make sense of it.

     Serenity thought of Halloweentown and pretended it was real, just to see what life would be like if it was. “I think she’s a witch.”

     Hazel huffed, unsure of how Serenity could think so far-fetched. "Would you quit saying that? There’s no such thing. We both know that. Let's put the books back and just pretend like we didn't see them. We probably shouldn't be looking at them anyways." Serenity gave Hazel a disappointed look and carefully positioned them back on the shelf. "Thank you."

     While Hazel headed back for the stairs, giving up on finding their photo album, Serenity stayed behind and looked over the books. She had a plan plotting in her mind that Hazel abnormally overlooked. She turned back around and yelled, “Serenity, come on!” She followed Hazel’s voice, keeping the books on her mind.

     Pressing the attic door back into the wall Hazel said, “I better get going. Mom and Dad are fixing to leave and I have to babysit Angus.” Hazel didn’t like to be late and that didn’t always go over well with Serenity.

     “Good luck with that. That monster scares me.” Serenity followed Hazel outside to the sidewalk. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if you change your mind about Brett!”

     Hazel groaned as she walked down the street. Serenity went back inside her house and found her mother standing in the kitchen. “What were you doing in the attic, Serenity?”  She could see the water welled up in her mom’s eyes from fleeing onion juice. Considering the pot heating on the stove, she assumed her mother was making vegetable soup. Serenity wasn’t picky, but her mom wasn’t a very good cook to begin with either.

     “Um, well, I was looking for an old photo album of Hazel and me and I found a couple of old books-”

     “What books?” Her mother snapped at her in response.

     “Oh, uh, just some books I had read a few years ago that I wanted to reread. Hazel had to go, so I didn’t have time to get them all. I’ll go get them and latch the attic back up.” Seeing as how her mother was so touchy at the subject, telling her the truth probably wouldn’t get her anywhere. Just like Halloweentown, the girl’s mother didn’t want her to know she was a witch.

     Her mother nodded in agreement and let out what seemed like a sigh of ease. Serenity started upstairs, turning around to glimpse at her mother every few steps. Her first stop was to the laundry room to get a screwdriver off the shelf above the washing machine. Then, she went back down the hall to the empty back room where the attic door was. That room always gave her an eerie feeling.

     In the attic, Serenity managed to get to get to the books without knocking anything over. That was always an accomplishment in the attic. She picked up the first book and looked it over more closely. Flipping it over, she stared at her great-grandmother’s name again.

     “Mira Estelle Aisling,” the name rolled off Serenity’s tongue unsure of if she was pronouncing it right. Her clammy fingers traced across the letters as she tried to think of a connection. It would help if she knew anything at all about Mira except her name. Letting her eyes drift off to the side in thought, she looked back to find Mira’s name missing. Serenity searched her fingertips for traces of ink until she heard her name being called.

     “Serenity, have you gotten your books down from the attic yet? What’s taking you so long?”

     “Uh, yeah I have. I’m latching the door back right now.” Serenity returned her creepy grandmother’s books to their shelf and started ripping through sooty boxes for some reading books. Silently, she set a box down and opened the intercrossed flaps of the one underneath it. Dirt flung from the flaps and covered her face. Something that she absolutely hated was being covered in dirt. The thickest books looked the smartest in her eyes, so that’s what she grabbed. She hurried down the stairs and launched the books out of the doorway. Pressing into the door, she tucked the screwdriver into the top of her pants and covered it with her shirt. Serenity picked up her books and started to the hallway. One step out of the door she met her mother’s eyes. She lifted her books and smiled uneasily toward her. With Serenity walking towards her room, her mother peeped into the back room and made her way downstairs with a momentary look of suspicion on her face.