Shadow of Night: A Novel Read online

  “Then tell me what happened to you after you discovered it in Oxford. And I want the truth, Diana. I can see the damaged threads between you and the book, all twisted and snarled. And someone harmed you physically.”

  Silence lay heavily in the room, and there was nowhere to hide from my father’s scrutiny. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I met his eyes.

  “It was witches. Matthew fell asleep, and I went outside to get some air. It was supposed to be safe. A witch captured me.” I shifted in my seat. “End of story. Let’s talk about something else. Don’t you want to know where I went to school? I’m a historian. I have tenure. At Yale.” I would talk about anything with my father—except the chain of events that started with the delivery of an old photo to my rooms at New College and ended with the death of Juliette.

  “Later. Now I need to know why another witch wanted this book so badly she was willing to kill you for it. Oh, yes,” he said at my incredulous look, “I figured that out on my own. A witch used an opening spell on your back and left a terrible scar. I can feel the wound. Matthew’s eyes linger there, and your dragon—I know about her, too—shields it with her wings.”

  “Satu—the witch who captured me—isn’t the only creature who wants the book. So does Peter Knox. He’s a member of the Congregation.”

  “Peter Knox,” my father said softly. “Well, well, well.”

  “Have you two met?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. He’s always had a thing for your mother. Happily, she loathes him.” My father looked grim and turned another page. “I sure as hell hope Peter doesn’t know about the dead witches in this. There’s some dark magic hanging around this book, and Peter has always been interested in that aspect of the craft. I know why he might want it, but why do you and Matthew need it so badly?”

  “Creatures are disappearing, Dad. The daemons are getting wilder. Vampire blood is sometimes incapable of transforming a human. And witches aren’t producing as many offspring. We’re dying out. Matthew believes that this book might help us understand why,” I explained. “There’s a lot of genetic information in the book—skin, hair, even blood and bones.”

  “You’ve married the creature equivalent of Charles Darwin. And is he interested in origins as well as extinction?”

  “Yes. He’s been trying for a long time to figure out how daemons, witches, and vampires are related to one another and to humans. This manuscript—if we could put it back together and understand its contents—might provide important clues.”

  My father’s hazel eyes met mine. “And these are simply theoretical concerns for your vampire?”

  “Not anymore. I’m pregnant, Dad.” My hand settled lightly on my abdomen. It had been doing so a lot lately, without my thinking about it.

  “I know.” He smiled. “I figured that out, too, but it’s good to hear you say it.”

  “You’ve only been here for forty-eight hours. I don’t like to rush things any more than you do,” I said, feeling shy. My father got up and took me in his arms. He held me tight. “Besides, you should be surprised. Witches and vampires aren’t supposed to fall in love. And they’re definitely not supposed to have babies together.”

  “Your mother warned me about it—she’s seen it all with that uncanny sight of hers.” He laughed. “What a worrywart. If it’s not you she’s fussing over, it’s the vampire. Congratulations, honey. A child is a wonderful gift.”

  “I just hope we can handle it. Who knows what our child will be like?”

  “You can handle more than you think.” My father kissed me on the cheek. “Come on, let’s take a walk. You can show me your favorite places in the city. I’d love to meet Shakespeare. One of my idiot colleagues actually thinks Queen Elizabeth wrote Hamlet. And speaking of colleagues: How, after years of buying you Harvard bibs and mittens, did I end up with a daughter who teaches at Yale?”

  ***

  “I’m curious about something,” my father said, staring into his wine.

  The two of us had enjoyed a lovely walk, we’d all finished a leisurely supper, the children had been sent to bed, and Mop was snoring by the fireplace. Thus far, it had been a perfect day.

  “What’s that, Stephen?” Matthew asked, looking up from his own cup with a smile.

  “How long do you two think you can keep this crazy life you’re leading under control?”

  Matthew’s smile dissolved. “I’m not sure I understand your question,” he said stiffly.

  “The two of you hold on to everything so damn tightly.” My father took a sip of his wine and stared pointedly at Matthew’s clenched fist over the rim of his cup. “You might inadvertently destroy what you most love with that grip, Matthew.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Matthew was controlling his temper—barely. I opened my mouth to smooth things over.

  “Stop trying to fix things, honey,” my father said before I could utter a word.

  “I’m not,” I protested.

  “Yes, you are,” Stephen said. “Your mother does it all the time, and I recognize the signs. This is my one chance to talk to you as an adult, Diana, and I’m not going to mince words because they make you—or him—uncomfortable.”

  My father stuck his hand in his jacket and drew out a pamphlet. “You’ve been trying to fix things, too, Matthew.”

  “Newes from Scotland,” read the small print above the larger type of the headline: DECLARING THE DAMNABLE LIFE OF DOCTOR FIAN A NOTABLE SORCERER, WHO WAS BURNED IN EDENBROUGH IN JANUARIE LAST.

  “The whole town is talking about the witches in Scotland,” my father said, pushing the pages toward Matthew. “But the creatures are telling a different tale than the warmbloods are. They say that the great and terrible Matthew Roydon, enemy to witches, has been defying the Congregation’s wishes and saving the accused.”

  Matthew’s fingers stopped the pages’ progress. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Stephen. Londoners are fond of idle gossip.”

  “For two control freaks, you certainly are stirring up a world of trouble. And the trouble won’t end here. It will follow you home, too.”

  “The only thing that is going to follow us home from 1591 is Ashmole 782,” I said.

  “You can’t take the book.” My father was emphatic. “It belongs here. You’ve twisted time enough, staying as long as you have.”

  “We’ve been very careful, Dad.” I was stung by his criticism.

  “Careful? You’ve been here for seven months. You’ve conceived a child. The longest I’ve ever spent in the past is two weeks. You aren’t timewalkers anymore. You’ve succumbed to one of the most basic transgressions of anthropological fieldwork: You’ve gone native.”

  “I was here before, Stephen,” Matthew said mildly, though his fingers drummed on his thigh. That was never a good sign.

  “I’m aware of that, Matthew,” my father shot back. “But you’ve introduced far too many variables for the past to remain as it was.”

  “The past has changed us,” I said, facing down my father’s angry stare. “It stands to reason that we’ve changed it, too.”

  “And that’s okay? Timewalking is a serious business, Diana. Even for a brief visit, you need a plan—one that includes leaving everything behind as you found it.”

  I shifted in my seat. “We weren’t supposed to be here this long. One thing led to another, and now—”

  “Now you’re going to leave a mess. You’ll probably find one when you get home, too.” My father looked at us somberly.

  “I get it, Dad. We screwed up.”

  “You did,” he said gently. “You two might want to think about that while I go to the Cardinal’s Hat. Someone named Gallowglass introduced himself in the courtyard. He says he’s Matthew’s relative and promised to help me meet Shakespeare, since my own daughter refused.” My father gave me a peck on the cheek. There was disappointment in it, as well as forgiveness. “Don’t wait up for me.”

  Matthew and I sat in silence while the sound of my father�
��s footsteps faded. I took a shaky breath.

  “Did we screw up, Matthew?” I reviewed the past months: meeting Philippe, breaking through Matthew’s defenses, getting to know Goody Alsop and the other witches, finding out I was a weaver, befriending Mary and the ladies of Malá Strana, taking Jack and Annie into our home and our hearts, recovering Ashmole 782, and, yes, conceiving a child. My hand dropped to my belly in a protective gesture. There wasn’t a single thing I would change, if given the choice.

  “It’s hard to know, mon coeur,” Matthew said somberly. “Time will tell.”

  ***

  “I thought we could go see Goody Alsop. She’s helping me with my spell to return to the future.” I stood before my father, my spell box clutched in my hands. I was still uneasy around him after the lecture he’d given Matthew and me last night.

  “It’s about time,” my father said, reaching for his jacket. He still wore it like a modern man, taking it off the minute he was indoors and rolling up his shirtsleeves. “I didn’t think any of my hints were getting through to you. I can’t wait to meet an experienced weaver. And are you finally going to show me what’s in the box?”

  “If you were curious about it, why didn’t you ask?”

  “You’d covered it so carefully with that wispy thing of yours that I figured you didn’t want anybody to mention it,” he said as we descended the stairs.

  When we arrived in the parish of St. James Garlickhythe, Goody Alsop’s fetch opened the door.

  “Come in, come in,” the witch said, beckoning us toward her seat by the fire. Her eyes were bright and snapping with excitement. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

  The whole coven was there, sitting on the edge of their seats.

  “Goody Alsop, this is my father, Stephen Proctor.”

  “The weaver.” Goody Alsop beamed with satisfaction. “You’re a watery one, like your daughter.” My father hung back as he always did, watching everybody and saying as little as possible while I made the introductions. All the women smiled and nodded, though Catherine had to repeat everything to Elizabeth Jackson because my father’s accent was so strange.

  “But we are being rude. Would you care to share your creature’s name?” Goody Alsop peered at my father’s shoulders, where the faint outlines of a heron could be seen. I’d never noticed it before.

  “You can see Bennu?” my father said, surprised.

  “Of course. He perches, open-winged, across your shoulders. My familiar spirit does not have wings, even though I am strongly tied to the air. She was easier to tame for that reason, I suspect. When I was a girl, a weaver came to London with a harpy for a familiar. Ella was her name, and she was very difficult to train.”

  Goody Alsop’s fetch wafted around my father, crooning softly to the bird as it became more visible.

  “Perhaps your Bennu can coax Diana’s firedrake to give up her name. It would make it much easier for your daughter to return to her own time, I think. We don’t want any trace of her familiar left here, dragging Diana back to London.”

  “Wow.” My father was struggling to take it all in—the gathering of witches, Goody Alsop’s fetch, the fact that his secrets were on display.

  “Who?” Elizabeth Jackson asked politely, assuming she’d misunderstood.

  My father drew back and studied Elizabeth carefully. “Have we met?”

  “No. It is the water in my veins that you recognize. We are happy to have you among us, Master Proctor. London has not had three weavers within her walls in some time. The city is abuzz.”

  Goody Alsop motioned to the chair beside her. “Do sit.”

  My father took the place of honor. “Nobody at home knows about this weaving business.”

  “Not even Mom?” I was aghast. “Dad, you’ve got to tell her.”

  “Oh, she knows. But I didn’t have to tell her. I showed her.” My father’s fingers curled and released in an instinctive gesture of command.

  The world lit up in shades of blue, gray, lavender, and green as he plucked at all the hidden watery threads in the room: the willow branches in a jug by the window, the silver candlestick that Goody Alsop used for her spells, the fish that was waiting to be roasted for supper. Everyone and everything in the room was cast into those same watery hues. Bennu took flight, his silver-tipped wings stirring the air into waves. Goody Alsop’s fetch was blown this way and that in the currents, her shape shifting into a long-stemmed lily, then returning to human form and sprouting wings. It was as if the two familiars were playing. At the prospect of recreation, my firedrake flicked her tail and beat her own wings against my ribs.

  “Not now,” I told her tightly, gripping at my bodice. The last thing we needed was a cavorting firedrake. My control over the past might have slipped, but I knew better than to let go of a dragon in Elizabethan London.

  “Let her out, Diana,” my father urged. “Ben will take care of her.”

  But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My father called to Bennu, who faded into his shoulders. The watery magic around me faded, too.

  “Why are you so afraid?” my father asked quietly.

  “I’m afraid because of this!” I waved my cords in the air. “And this!” I hit my ribs, jostling my firedrake. She belched in response. My hand slid down to where our child was growing. “And this. It’s too much. I don’t need to use showy elemental magic the way you just did. I’m happy as I am.”

  “You can weave spells, command a firedrake, and bend the rules that govern life and death. You’re as volatile as creation itself, Diana. These are powers any self-respecting witch would kill for.”

  I looked at him in horror. He’d brought the one thing I couldn’t face into the room: Witches had already killed for these powers. They’d killed my father, and my mother, too.

  “Putting your magic into neat little boxes and keeping it separate from your craft isn’t going to keep Mom and me from our fates,” my father continued sadly.

  “That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

  “Really?” His eyebrows lifted. “You want to try that again, Diana?”

  “Sarah says elemental magic and the craft are separate. She says—”

  “Forget what Sarah says!” My father took me by the shoulders. “You aren’t Sarah. You aren’t like any other witch who has ever lived. And you don’t have to choose between spells and the power that’s right at your fingertips. We’re weavers, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Then think of elemental magic as the warp—the strong fibers that make up the world—and spells as the weft. They’re both part of a single tapestry. It’s all one big system, honey. And you can master it, if you set aside your fear.”

  I could see the possibilities shimmering around me in webs of color and shadow, yet the fear remained.

  “Wait. I have a connection to fire, like Mom does. We don’t know how the water and fire will react. I haven’t had those lessons yet.” Because of Prague, I thought. Because we got distracted by the hunt for Ashmole 782 and forgot to focus on the future and getting back to it.

  “So you’re a switch-hitter—a witchy secret weapon.” He laughed. He laughed.

  “This is serious, Dad.”

  “It doesn’t have to be.” My father let that sink in, then crooked his finger, catching a single gray-green thread on the end of it.

  “What are you doing?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Watch,” he said in a whisper like waves against the shore. He drew his finger toward him and pursed his lips as if he were holding an invisible bubble wand. When he blew out, a ball of water formed. He flicked his fingers in the direction of the water bucket near the hearth, and the ball turned to ice, floated over, and dropped into it with a splash. “Bull’s-eye.”

  Elizabeth giggled, releasing a stream of water bubbles that popped in the air, each one sending out a tiny shower of water.

  “You don’t like the unknown, Diana, but sometimes you’ve got to embrace it. You were terrified when I put you on a tricyc
le the first time. And you threw your blocks at the wall when you couldn’t get them all to fit back in their box. We made it through those crises. I’m sure we can handle this.” My father held his hand out.

  “But it’s so . . .”

  “Messy? So is life. Stop trying to be perfect. Try being real for a change.” My father’s arm swept through the air, revealing all the threads that were normally hidden from view. “The whole world is in this room. Take your time and get to know it.”

  I studied the patterns, saw the clumps of color around the witches that indicated their particular strengths. Threads of fire and water surrounded me in a mess of conflicting shades. My panic returned.

  “Call the fire,” my father said, as if it were as simple as ordering a pizza.

  After a moment of hesitation, I crooked my finger and wished for the fire to come to me. An orange-red thread caught on the tip, and when I let my breath out through pursed lips, dozens of tiny bubbles of light and heat flew into the air like fireflies.

  “Lovely, Diana!” Catherine cried out, clapping her hands.

  Between the clapping and the fire, my firedrake wanted to be released. Bennu cried out from my father’s shoulders, and the firedrake answered. “No,” I said, gritting my teeth.

  “Don’t be such a spoilsport. She’s a dragon—not a goldfish. Why are you always trying to pretend that the magical is ordinary? Let her fly!”

  I relaxed just a fraction, and my ribs softened, opening away from my spine like the leaves of a book. My firedrake escaped the bony confines at the first opportunity, flapping her wings as they metamorphosed from gray and insubstantial to iridescent and gleaming. Her tail curled up in a loose knot, and she soared around the room. The firedrake caught the tiny balls of light in her teeth, swallowing them down like candy. She then turned her attention to my father’s water bubbles as if they were fine champagne. When she was through with her treats, the firedrake hovered in the air before me, her tail flicking at the floor. She cocked her head and waited.