Safehouse (The Magician – Chapter Eighteen)

This is the eighteenth chapter of the serialization novel I am working on, The Magician – < click here to read the other chapters if you missed them or have no idea what this story is about.

---

Safehouse

It took Vanessa a few hours to regroup and get herself back together. She had to chat with Freddy via video phone and let him know she was all right.  She had to eat and shower.  And she had to deal with the tongue-lashing from her grandmother and eldest uncle that culminated in them both telling her to keep her nose out of old business.  

Vanessa was determined to push anyway. After all, she had the same stubbornness and persistence they had along with the gifts of her ancestor.  As soon as she was able to go back to the safehouse, she cast the spell that allowed her to port there, the one she knew had gotten her there the night before, even as she knew she wasn’t the one who cast it.

She ended up at the front door, standing on the porch and blinking in surprise.  She should have been inside the house.  

To any non-magical, the two-story single-family townhouse looked like any normal greystone on the block, but Vanessa knew better.  She tried to unlock the massive oak door using the spells she knew.  But it remained closed, the old anachronistically useless numbers seeming to mock her.  She let out a sigh of frustration as she banged on the door.

She could hear the wooden floorboards of the entryway creaking and the lock turn.  As the door swung open, her uncle Alistair’s face was dark with frustration as he stared down at her.  

“You were told not to pursue this further, child,” he shouted. 

“You know better than that, Uncle Al,” she countered.  “I am too stubborn.  I will have my answers.”

He shook his head and straightened his stance, holding his hand out in front of him.  He glowered down at her as he tried to cast a spell on her that would send her back to the mansion.

She glared right back up at him as it failed.  She scoffed.

“Please.  May I remind you I came of age last month and thus cannot be bidden by the rules of a Tamberlane child anymore?  That spell won’t work on me like it used to.  Uncle Reg has already tried it.  Besides, Mom told me to seek this Godding out.”

There was determination in her face and stance as she flexed her fingers.  Alistair knew the look very well. He sighed in acquiescement. 

“Fine,” he said, stepping away from the door.  “Have your answers, since you’re so dang stubborn.”

Vanessa smiled triumphantly as she pushed past him.  She ran into the house, searching each of the rooms as quickly as she could.  She climbed the long narrow staircase to the second floor and ran through it as well, searching all of the rooms until she got to the last one. 

Ignace Godding sat in an armchair by the wide window, the sheers drawn so that no one could see in.  He was flipping through a magazine while the television on the dresser blared.  He glanced up when he saw her.  His smoky eyes flashed as the introduction to some random talk show was going on.

Sometimes the question of why can be a powerful tool for learning… Why is the sky blue?… Why do leaves change colors?…  Why do things happen?… But sometimes, it can be a hurtful weapon… Why can’t you be normal?… Why don’t you act your age?… Join me today as we speak to…

Vanessa cast a spell and the television turned off.  The man just shook his head as he let the magazine fall to his lap.

“You again,” he replied indifferently.  He sighed as he looked down at the article he had turned to, as if he were trying to hold on to his composure.  “Ali and Reg told me that I was done seeing you.  Yet, here you are.”

“Well, I am persistent,” Vanessa said, noting the familiarity with which he had addressed her uncles.

“I figured that out when you rescued me.  Why did you do that?”

“No one deserves to be imprisoned.”

He looked up at her, searching her face with his eyes as he tried to gauge her expression.  Finally, he scoffed, his face turning bitter with anger as he turned his attention back to the television once more.  He cast a spell to turn it back on but muted the volume as he spoke again.

“I am imprisoned no matter what.  I am being held here until those still in the Tamberlane fold can decide what is to be done with me.  I did break Alexander’s decree.  I was surprised that the magic to the safehouse still worked for me after what I have done.”

He softened his face and looked up at her again, blinking.  He spoke softly. 

“I see you are no worse for wear from our mutual ordeal.  I worried about you when you collapsed last night.”

She nodded as she cast a magical spell.  Colors floated around them, mesmerizing Ignace where he sat.  His face lit up as he reached out to touch the mist. He raised an eyebrow. 

“I see you are strong in your magic, dear cousin,” he chuckled.

“Who are you?” she commanded, noting the familiarity with which he had just addressed her.

He shook his head, a wry smile on his face.  “One would think that, given my ability to enter this safehouse and the fact that we share the same magical gifts, you’d already know.  But I also know that the magic in the decree runs strong.”

“I think I do know who you are,” she replied.  “I know you are called Ignace Godding, but you also must be a Tamberlane and an heir to Nestor’s magic. That’s all I know of you.”

“You mean, that’s all you are allowed to say thanks to our family’s magic,” he replied wryly.  “You are very observant and stubborn.  But you are also correct.  My name is Ignace Enrico Godding.  I am Constance Tamberlane’s son, her child with Enrico Godding.”

Vanessa blinked.  “I figured as much, though I had to hear it from you,” she replied.  “You’re Enrico’s heir and the cause of Grandaunt Constance’s tears.”

He sneered.  “Yes, I am him.  I am the squanderer of the family fortunes, the black sheep of the Tamberlanes who sought thrills instead of loyalty to the family.  I am the one written out of the family annuals and the breaker of my mother’s heart.”

“Why?”

He sighed as he turned off the television again and looked at her.

“I wanted to use Nestor’s gift to become famous.  But I threw everything away.  I had forsaken my family, my fortune, and my very liberty.  My vice, besides my arrogance, was the games of chance and to that I lost everything.  I became so indebted to my new lifestyle that I didn’t see the damage I had done.”

“You gambled away your life?”

He nodded.  “It was how Lorenzo was able to ensnare me all those years ago.  I have repaid him his debt fivefold and yet he held me.  I was his prize.  I became the crown jewel in his collection.”

“His collection?” Vanessa asked with some surprise.

“He gains his power by binding others’ magics to himself.  He finds ways to indebt them to him and then he takes them over with his own magic.  Unlike some in his dominion, however, I was able to fight back.  My magic and spirit allowed me to only be partially under his command.”

“Then why didn’t you escape?”

“I could not.  He held enough power over me that I was required to do as he bade.  The binding he created in the necklace you broke made sure of that.”

He said nothing about the lash marks that still plagued his back.  But they were there, reminding him painfully so.

Vanessa looked thoughtful.

“You say there are others that he has bound using his magic?”

Ignace nodded.  “He gains his own powers by compelling others to submit to him magically.  But he isn’t a true domoniketes, just a magician who long ago learned the magic of subjugation and has used it to his advantage.  Each person he controls then feeds his magic. Without the amount of lackeys he has under his thumb, he would have never been able to cause me to capitulate to him.”

Vanessa had so many questions and wanted so many answers, but the thought of others being trapped in the same kind of bindings that she had freed Ignace from also disheartened her.  She pressed her palms together and crossed all but her index fingers, which she pressed to her lips in thought for a moment.  She tapped her philtrum twice before she spoke.

“I guess that we need to defeat him then.”

There was resignation in the smoky eyes despite the laughter that emanated from the man that stared back at her.

“Defeat Lorenzo, are you mad?”

“No, I am quite clear in my thinking.”

Ignace shook his head.

“No one defeats Lorenzo,” he murmured.  “Though a few have tried. He has too many willing to do his bidding. There is no way to get to Lorenzo to defeat him.”

Vanessa shrugged and thought again. “So we defeat the lackeys.  I am quite sure I can break the spells that bind them too then.”

Ignace scoffed. “You are quite right. Most are indebted to him and thus must do his bidding.  But you are as crazy as Nestor if you think you will be able to do your trick again.  That kind of subterfuge could only work once.”

“So we find a different way to free them.  I am sure our magic combined together could do a great many things.”

“I am not going back there.  I would rather rot here in the Tamberlane safehouse as a prisoner to history than go back into that hellhole.”

Vanessa blinked as she stared at her mother’s cousin.

“You’re not going back there? I thought you were Ignace Godding, the black sheep of the Tamberlanes, who always looked for thrills.  I thought I was looking at a man who hoped one day to be a legend. But all I see in front of me is a coward.”

Ignace scoffed as he jumped from his chair.  His smoky eyes fulminated with anger and his voice seethed with rage.

“How dare you insinuate –”

Evelyn’s voice came in sharp and clear.

“My daughter is right, dear cousin!”

Ignace looked down the hallway as Vanessa spun around.  She stared at her mother, whose stance was just as fierce as her own.  Evelyn stood tall and stared back at the two of them with the same anger that practically exuded from the room.

“I heard every word.  Vanessa is right.  You are a coward,” Evelyn stated.  “But I know that the Ignace I knew from my childhood is still there somewhere.  The one who was the devil-may-care by-Merlin’s-beard reckless adventurer who was up for anything.”

Ignace sighed as his shoulders slumped. 

“Evelyn,” he murmured.  “How could I not realize she was your daughter?”

Evelyn’s face was still angry, but there was also a bit of concern in her own dark eyes as she watched her cousin. 

“What happened to you?” she asked.

He turned from her and sat back down in his chair, trying to hold on to the bravado that came so easily when he was performing.

“I got the comeuppance I was promised,” he quipped.  “But I’ll be fine. I’ve learned to rely on that recklessness my mother warned me I was full of.”

Evelyn shook her head as she took a step closer to her cousin.  She reached her hand out to touch his cheek and surprise flashed in her eyes as he flinched and pulled away.  She saw the defeated hurt on his face, despite the carefree smile that did not reach his eyes.  She frowned.

“You, dear cousin, are a bad liar,” she murmured.

Ignace smirked.  

“And you are still as annoyingly accurate as you ever were, Evie.  I should have realized sooner that Vanessa was your child.  She has your spirit and the damn Rankin grit Ben always had.  I’m sorry about Benedict’s fate, though.”

Evelyn blinked.

“How did you….?” she trailed off.

Ignace waited a second to see if she would finish her sentence before speaking.

“How did I know about it when Lorenzo practically held me captive in the old world?” he replied.  He smirked again as he brushed a piece of lint from his shirt.  “Malatesta has a way of keeping tabs on his enemies.  He practically crowed when he heard of Ben’s death.  He never forgot Ben tried to stop him in his early days.  I just hadn’t realized you two had gotten hitched.”

“Lorenzo always had been jealous of Ben and the Rankin fortunes,” Evelyn muttered.  “And because I went back to Ben.  By that second date, I knew Lorenzo was bad news.  I tried to warn you, Nace, but you -”

Ignace held up a hand that caused her to pause again.

“I would not have listened, Evie.  I was so sure that I could control myself. After all, I had Nestor’s gift.  I did not realize that I would achieve Nestor’s folly as well until it was too late.  It got me trapped in a life I did not want to lead.”

“Others are still trapped in that life,” Evelyn replied.  “My daughter is right.  You shouldn’t be the only one freed from that kind of imprisonment.  Malatesta needs to be stopped.”

Ignace shook his head, a despondent look crossing his face.

“I cannot go back.  Even though the spell has been broken, I am weak from captivity.  Besides, Lorenzo still has clout.  He could still find a way to get me back in his grasp.”

Evelyn shook her head.

“Surely your debt has been paid by now.  If it hasn’t, we can help.”

“No!” Ignace shouted, throwing a bolt of red into the floor as his anger shook the room.  Both women jumped in fright.

He closed his eyes and drew in a long, deep breath.  Letting it out slowly, he opened his eyes and gave a warm smile.  The weariness seemed to melt away, though a wrinkle near his eyes and something at the corners of his mouth seemed to give away the turmoil he was in.

“I am sorry,” he said smoothly, almost as if the anger had never been exuded.  “I apologize to both of you.  I will not subject the family to any more of my whims.  Besides, the Tamberlane Decree will not allow it, I am sure of it.  No. I will remain here until Reg and Ali and Aunt Maria decide my fate.”

“So you’ll trade one life of imprisonment for another?” Vanessa stated harshly.

“It’s what I have known for more than half of my life,” Ignace said resignedly.  

“But-”

“Vanessa, that’s enough,” Evelyn said with a look.  “He’s made up his mind.  We will leave him to his newest folly.”

With that, she turned and walked out the door, her daughter following.

Vanessa tried to press the matter while they were leaving the safehouse, but her mother stopped her again with a look. Evelyn leaned against the massive stone handrail on the front steps and looked up at her daughter as Vanessa remained on the porch.

“He needs to come to terms with what has happened and what he is doing.  So let him think this through and leave him be for now.  Besides, don’t you have a paper to write?”

Click here to read the next chapter – High-Rise

---

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction written by K. S. Wood, and thus is copyrighted 2024. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.  No part of this work may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.  All rights reserved.

---

If you enjoyed this chapter, please share it with others. Every other Saturday, there will be a new chapter posted for your reading pleasure. The entire story can be found on this page – The Magician.

---

If you liked this portion of The Magician, comment below! I do return comments!

Share with others, if you dare. Subscribe to my blog for updates. Visit my “About me” page if you want to contact me.

If you wanted to see some of the fantasy works I have written, check out my Portals Series < Click the title to see it.

If you are interested in my other online endeavors, check out the drop down menu to see more.

And as always, #writeyourownstory