And then my vision started to go black. Shaking, I tried to grip the armrests of the chair, but the chair wasn't there anymore. I wasn't there anymore. Surrounded by darkness, I almost felt like I was back in the Itineris. That feeling of claustrophobia threatened to choke me.
A spark unfurled in the darkness, a shining speck that slowly unfurled itself into a picture. I was staring at a painting of a snowy village, and then, as I watched, the painting began to move. Men and women trudged down a white-covered lane, their heads bowed against the cold and the wind. No one told me what I was looking at, but the knowledge filled my head, like I'd always known it. This was Alexei Casnoff's hometown, and the small house in the dead center of the picture was his house.
Then I saw him, a dark-haired boy, his face pressed against a window. He was waiting on his father, and I could feel his impatience and worry like they were my own emotions. Behind him, a pretty woman with dark blond hair stroked his head and murmured to him in Russian. Even though I couldn't speak a word of that language, I could still understand what she was saying. "It's going to be all right, Alexei. Your father and the others will keep us safe, I promise."
I understood then that the entire village was made up of Prodigium, and something important was being decided today. Something about moving, safety. Hiding. But before I could work out just what it was, the painting shifted again.
There were no snow-covered streets now, no quaint little cottages. Now there was just chaos, fire, and smoke. The flames were so bright, I wanted to cover my eyes, but I didn't have hands. Or eyes for that matter. I saw Alexei, running down the street, pursued by villagers.
They know what we are, Alexei was thinking . They found us, they found us, they found us....
Behind him, figures lay very still in the street, and I knew that they were his parents. I could see his mother's blond hair fanning around her head, some of it still smoldering. And the tiny shape next to them was his baby sister, and he was so scared. His terror and grief flooded through me, almost unbearable. The flames faded, and the picture began to bleed into another scene. Alexei was older now, maybe in his early twenties. He was handsome, less severe than he'd looked in the few photographs I'd seen of him.
He was riding in the back of a car past rolling hills and bright green grass that seemed very familiar. He was excited, and his fingers kept drumming nervously on the book he held on his lap.
The grimoire.
The car rattled over a stone bridge, and Thorne Abbey suddenly loomed into view.
Alexei could see the girls on the lawn, all students from a women's college in London. They were boarding at Thorne because it wasn't safe for them in the city anymore. Alexei watched them, and a tight smile crossed his face. At last, he was thinking. At last.
And then the scene abruptly went black, and the next thing I knew, I was back in Lara's office, panting in my chair.
"I think that gives you the gist of it," Lara said, calmly shuffling some papers.
I was still shaking, trying to remind myself that it wasn't my whole family who had just been murdered in the streets. When I felt like I could talk again, I said, "Humans murdered his family. And he was scared, and wanted a way to protect other Prodigium and maybe score a little revenge in the process. But that...that still doesn't make what he did right." I swallowed revulsion as I remembered the anticipation that had shot through Alexei as he'd watched a bunch of innocent girls run on Thorne Abbey's lawn. Alice, my great-grandmother, had been one of them. "Besides, I know this isn't about protection. Maybe that's how it started out, but what did your dad really want to use Alice for? Because you know what I think? I think a pet demon would be pretty handy if you wanted to keep every Prodigium on the planet under your control." Lara didn't even attempt to deny it. "Possibly. Of course, a whole squad of 'pet demons' would be even handier." She set the papers down and carefully opened a drawer. She pulled out the grimoire, and my heart plummeted to my toes.
"Where did-"
"Oh, Miss Talbot was very quick to hand it over. If you wanted the book, all you had to do was ask," she continued, and I stared at her, confused.
"What?"
"We were going to give it to you eventually, anyway. You're not much use to us without your powers intact." She flipped through the pages until she reached the spell that would restore my magic. Just seeing the words on the page made me feel like I was about to jump out of my skin.
Lara held the book out to me. "Go on. Touch it." Then she chuckled. "Oh yes, Sophie, I knew that your father had made you touch this spell. I knew all about the hours you two spent going over this book."
My magic was only inches away. Everything inside me screamed for that spell. But I met Lara's eyes and asked, "Why would you want me to restore my powers? Because the second I do, I'm blasting my way out of here." But Lara just smiled at me. "Sophie, when your father taught you about demons, did he tell you how they're controlled?"
"The witch or warlock who raised the demon can control it. But since no one technically raised me, no one controls me."
"That's what we thought, too," Lara acknowledged with a little nod. "But then we did some research. You know, your father's collection at Thorne was very useful. And imagine our surprise when we discovered that the ability to control a demon is passed down through blood." In the blood, Mrs. Casnoff had said. In the blood. Yours, and mine, and my father's, and Alice's...
And now I suddenly realized what she'd meant.
"Our father performed the ritual that turned your great-grandmother into a demon," Lara said. "Our bloodline created yours. That means that once you're re-powered, you'll be under our control."
I couldn't take my eyes off the spell, even as I started to shake. "That's impossible," I said, like saying it might make it true. "If you could've controlled me, you would've done it before."