Mated By Fate by Christa Wick

Chapter Eight

"You saidyou would show me witch script," Lana said once she was alone in the house with Esme, Denver still lurking outside in the woods, out of sight but close enough to sense danger before it arrived on the doorstep to the witch's house.

Waiting for Esme to respond, Lana's shoulders twitched. It was weird feeling the wolf's energy and being able to distinguish between Seth and his second-in-command. From where she had sulked in her room, arms tight around her legs, she felt Seth leave, felt each step he took like he was treading a path across her heart. Then came the rapid withdrawal of his energy once he was speeding away in his truck.

A grin lit the witch's face.

"I was hoping Seth's visit wouldn't dampen your enthusiasm for learning. Wait right here."

Esme disappeared down the hall. Right before Lana heard one of the doors open, she felt a flicker of energy that made her fingertips and lips tingle. She wanted to lean over the side of the couch and look down to whichever room Esme had entered. Instead, she closed her eyes tight and concentrated on just feeling the atmosphere around her.

A minute later, she detected a second flicker right after Esme shut a door.

"Do you have magic charms on the rooms or something?" She asked as Esme sat down on the couch next to her, something resembling the shape of a book in her hands but wrapped in black silk threaded through with silver filament. "I felt this energy, like when you were touching me at the same time I touched that young man last night. This time was weaker."

"Yes," Esme agreed, her cheeks coloring a pale rose. "There are charmed areas of the house. I have a few artifacts that need protection, so the wards are always up."

"No worries, I was just wondering if that was one of the things you could teach me. Like if I could keep from feeling Seth so distinctly if I was behind a charmed door."

"You'd need a four-points spell for that because his sneaky wolf would find a way in if it was just the door," Esme said, smiling as she unwrapped the book. "But I believe I can teach you—rather, I'm positive you have the power within you to do so. His wolf is strong, though. The trick is to make it harder for him to sense you, so he won't know where to push that energy. Even if he can't sense your wolf totem, he'll still be able to sniff you out and learn to connect certain scents with certain emotions."

Seeing the modern and glossy notebook Esme unveiled, Lana started to cough, her eyes quickly watering.

"You were expecting ancient sheepskins or something?" the witch teased.

Thinking back to the prior evening when Esme was absently tapping at her hips as she cast her gaze around for her cellphone, Lana covered her face and laughed. "Yeah, basically."

"This," the witch said, trailing a finger across the journal, "is what I've been using to record my transcription of an ancient artifact—a sort of magical cryptex. I have never told anyone about it until today…"

Apprehension skittered across Esme's face. Lana understood the look. Esme was risking a lot, perhaps even her life, to share this with her.

"I won't tell anyone," Lana said, her hand landing softly atop Esme's. "I'm here and alive because of you."

A look came over the witch's face, as if she'd lived a life with little gratitude and didn't know quite what to do with Lana's words or emotions.

"Well, then, let's have a look, shall we?" Esme said after a few seconds, her grin looking genuine to Lana.

Matching the broad smile, Lana opened the journal to the first page.

A HISTORY OF THE NAKARI AND HER PEOPLE

Only the words didn't look like that, not at first. They looked like a pit of snakes crawling around one another before shifting to something that resembled an ancient alphabet and then, at last, into simple English letters.

"What is the Nakari?"

"Technically, it's 'THE' Nakari," Esme corrected. "Roughly, it translates as All-Mother. The All-Mother leads all clans—"

"A female?" Lana interrupted. "It sounded like leadership around here was testosterone driven."

"Presently true," Esme said, her full mouth turning down at the edges. "First the alpha females started dying out, with no new generation to replace them. Then the last All-Mother died a decade ago after a long illness. Any she-wolf pregnant at the time…well, there have been no births since the All-Mother died."

Lana waved her hands around, her mouth trying to work out what she was thinking.

"Can't the wolves just crown a new All-Mother?"

Esme shook her head, her cheeks flushing with sadness. "It's not hereditary or by vote. It's not about the wolf's energy being at least a little stronger than everyone else's. The All-Mother's power can level forests. So we are left waiting for the next Nakari to be born."

"But you said there haven't been any births!"

"Exactly," Esme agreed. "There haven't, and the Hunters are attempting a complete genocide during the power void. They somehow track shifters who have left the safety of clan lands and slaughter them. We have found the corpses. Torture is evident, perhaps for fun, perhaps as a means of gaining information. Both, most likely."

Pausing, she paled. "I have felt some of those deaths, but mostly it's their close relatives and clan leaders who feel their totem extinguished. Anyway, between a zero fertility rate and the Hunters, wolves are fighting an extinction that is coming at them from both sides."

Reaching across to where Lana held the journal, Esme turned the pages in clumps until she found the one she wanted. "This section is about latents. It is mostly historical, but there are some practical musings in there. I'll leave you to read it while I gather a few things we can play with later."

"Play with?" Lana asked, peeling her gaze away from the book.

"Well, you've started to learn healing via energy transference," Esme answered. "Herbal lessons would be the next logical step, but first I'd like to train you to cast. There are more latents out there and they are in danger from the Hunters. Plus, I have a hunch that the signatures between latents, Hunters, and wolves may sometimes blur. A weak…or weakened…wolf could possibly present as a Hunter or latent, a powerful Hunter or latent could present as a weakened wolf. At least that's my theory. If you and I can cast at the same time, we might get more clarity."

Esme stood and looked at the kitchen. "I'll get some water going for tea first, then gather the things we need while you read."

Lana nodded, her gaze already focused on the dancing witch script. The more she read, the faster the words settled into English. The historical aspect Esme had mentioned correlated with events in the human world. The Salem Witch Trials, of course, but it also stretched overseas to Denmark and Scotland, all across the globe, really. "Shape-shifting" or being in the company of those who could was the constant allegation used to brand someone a witch.

What was missing from all of the history books Lana had ever read was present in Esme's transcriptions—long accounts of the Dark Ages when "the clergy ruled supreme." Entire villages of shifters had been slaughtered after one or more of the latents they sheltered "saw the light."

Secrets spilled.

Blood shed.

"Dark stuff," Lana said when Esme returned with a tray containing tea service for two, silver chains, and a silver bowl containing several gemstones. "Am I wrong, or is more than one page worth of material contained on each page?"

"Good catch. Witch script reads along with you, almost like a teleprompter. Something like paper is a poor conductor, though. I've calculated approximately three pages per side. The artifact is considerably smaller than the journal and I haven't transcribed even half of it in the decade I've had it. There are layers I still can't unlock no matter how much I poke and prod with my magic."

Putting aside the journal, Lana picked up a mug and took a slow sip as she eyed the crystals Esme had brought over.

"I should be absolutely horrified by what I just read…part of me is, but it's fascinating. Like, I want to learn now, then process it emotionally later."

Esme nodded. "I was a little more tender when I was given the artifact."

"How long ago?" Lana asked. When Esme hesitated to answer, Lana made an educated guess. "It was ten years ago, yes? When the All-Mother was dying, you were one of the witches sent to heal her."

"Not heal her. I was fifteen and the pecking order didn't take ability into consideration. I was there to carry water for my mother and other members of the Witches' Council," Esme frowned. "But I was by The Nakari's side almost the entire time helping to relieve both her pain and boredom. She told me not to let anyone see the artifact until I had unlocked all of it. I don't think she'd mind you seeing something that holds my translations. I have a feeling it may be latents who save us all."

After a few seconds of silence, Esme shrugged. "Anyway, I think she mostly meant I had to keep it away from the witches. Shifters probably can't unlock or read it."

"But then how could The Nakari read it?"

"She and all The Nakari before her wrote it," Esme answered, her voice turning sad. "The All-Mother is both witch and wolf. She is the embodiment of magic. She cannot…could not pass on what she is, just her knowledge to the next she-wolf born to replace her. Except that she-wolf was never found, so the artifact was passed to me…her plump little nursemaid with a sweet laugh and a gentle smile."

Chest tightening at the witch's pain, Lana settled next to Esme and wrapped her in a hug.