White Lilies Lagoon E-Book

Janina Raven

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: White Lilies Trilogy
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 139

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

After attending the event of the Eternal Magicians, Sparrow's mother Nemo is struggling with her past as an assassin for the magic army. When she and her daughter break into the archives of her former workplace, they make a discovery that changes everything they've ever believed in. Who really pulled the strings behind the Arcane Magic War's facades? What was their goal? And most importantly, who can they still trust, being on the brink of a second war where former hostilities seem to have no values anymore? The deeper they get entangled in Nemo's past, the clearer is it for Sparrow that nothing has ever been about her. Nor about Jasmine. Not even about Thorne.

Leseprobe

Contents

HEADQUARTERS

WAR AWAITS

RITES AND SHOTS

FLOYD ROBINETT

LIFE AND DEATH

TRICKED

HIS RETURN

OLD FRIENDSHIPS

BETRAYAL

WHAT IS LOVE? (BABY DON’T HURT ME)

WHAT FLOWERS MEAN

OF BASEBALL BATS AND PAIN

WHITE LILIES DEATH

MERCY?

MEMORIES

A STORY OF LIFE AND DEATH

EPILOGUE

LIST OF IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

HEADQUARTERS

Sparrow

Nevada Morrigane clung to a windowsill, twenty meters above a crowded highway. The moon threw silvery rays on her as she balanced on a small ledge on the wall, reaching for the screwdriver from her belt in a dangerous attempt to open the window one-handedly.

“Wouldn’t it be a better idea if I did this?” I suggested for the tenth time, but she shook her head.

“I swear, if you fall-”

“I won’t fall, Birdie. It’s not the first time I’m doing this.”

“But it’s the first time in years.” I sighed and changed my pose from cross-legged levitation to standing in the air to have a better chance at catching her if she fell. I mean, it was my mother. Double my age, of course not double my weight, but just as tall as me. Which meant really tall.

I’d have low chances of saving her.

“There we go.” The window swung open to the inside and Mum turned to me with a satisfied smile. “Welcome to the Army headquarters.”

I followed her inside the room – a library apparently. Rain, who sat on my shoulder, nibbled my ear as we both looked around.

It was a surprise nobody had seen us from the highway – it wasn’t quite the least suspicious thing to break into the ninth floor of an old villa right next to the city’s most important street – and it was also a surprise Mum had opened that window with nothing but a screwdriver.

“That isn’t a normal tool, is it?”

“Absolutely not.” She laughed. “A handy leftover from my army time. Just like this one.” She put the screwdriver back into her belt and pulled out a gun instead.

“Sorry?” I raised my eyebrows. “I thought there weren’t any guards here tonight!”

“Just virtual ones. Which is why we wouldn’t have stood any chance getting in here via the stairway. The cameras all point towards the doors. Except for one.” She gestured me to stay where I was, near the window, and carefully stepped forward, between the shelves.

I didn’t even realise she’d fired a shot at first because it was so quiet. When Mum waved me to get closer, my gaze met the splotch of red paint dripping off something over the door on the opposite wall.

“What the heck?” I grinned.

“Oh, just their own weapons I’m using against them now.” She gave me a nervous smile. “Alright, you know what we are looking for?”

“Proof that what Cecily said is wrong.” I shivered as I remembered what Thorne’s and my ex-landlady had claimed to know two weeks ago. That the army had been in the wrong for killing the Wicked Magicians. That they had been innocent all along. And thus, that Mum had murdered people who never did anything evil.

“Or that it is right.” Mum stopped analysing one of the shelves and turned back to me. “We should be prepared for the possibility that she is telling the truth.”

“No way. No way, you can’t be-”

“Guilty?” Mum let out a bitter laugh. “Sparrow, I am guilty anyway. I have killed people, no matter if it was for a good cause or not. I am guilty. I just have to find out if-”

“If you were in the right?” I cut her off sharply. “And what if you weren’t? What if Cecily did tell the truth, as you just said? Then you’re gonna drown yourself in regrets and self-hatred? Don’t you think it’d be better if you didn’t know?”

“Some truths shouldn’t be kept secret.” Mum turned away again. “Whether I want to or not, that doesn’t matter. We owe the truth to the whole world. Especially to the Wickeds, in case they were right. The government would need to act.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just wandered off between the shelves.

“Look, Rain,” I said and the unicorn squirrel jumped onto one of the shelves and looked at me as if he understood every word I said. I didn’t doubt he actually did. “Isn’t it funny how the Magic Army has noted down all their missions on paper in fear of being hacked, and now we are here anyway, being able to read through every single member’s biography and all the-”

“Sparrow?” My mum’s voice sounded distressed. “You need to come here immediately. I found something.”

Thorne

“Thorne?”

“What’s the matter this time?” I could hardly suppress an annoyed groan. Jasmine had kept me up all night again. Again, as she had so often in the last two weeks, ever since we all moved in with Sparrow’s parents.

“I’m scared.”

I’m scared as well, my girlfriend and her mother are risking their freedom with some illegal action while we are all being hunted by some cruel magical killers! I just sighed. “They will welcome you. I know it.”

“But what if they don’t? I don’t remember anything about them! What if I have changed too much?”

“I can reassure you, you haven’t changed at all.”

She must have heard the amusement in my voice, but she didn’t comment on it. She was probably too busy making up terrible outcomes for tomorrow, when she was going to meet her parents for the first time in over a year. For the first time since last year’s summer solstice, to be exact. Since she died.

“Would you maybe…” She sounded reluctant. “Come with me?”

I sat up straight on my mattress and reached for the light switch. Brightness flooded the room and from her face, I could tell that she was dead serious.

“Why the heck should I come with you?” I asked.

“Because I’m nervous.”

“Sparrow and I have school tomorrow. You know that.”

“Maybe you can skip? The teachers won’t mind if you take a day off. Nevada could call in sick for you.” Jasmine tilted her head. “And Sparrow can go alone for once. You and I, we are friends too, after all!”

Are we really? I wasn’t too sure. We had never really been friends; she had abandoned us several times. All we were right now was roommates.

“Maybe we are friends, but Sparrow is my girlfriend. And maybe I don’t even want to skip school, no matter if the teachers will mind or not!” Slowly, the general tiredness took over the aggression level in my body. Why couldn’t she just let me sleep? Wasn’t it enough I had to worry about Sparrow and Nemo?

I sank back onto my pillow but sat up straight again when I heard the front door open and close again. Two silent voices, then a third, all getting louder, then somebody knocked at Sparrow’s bedroom.

“Yeah?” Jasmine said.

Why did she even- It’s not my home, but hers even less!

“We are back.” Sparrow. She came in and sat down next to me, on her own mattress. Rain jumped from her shoulder and into his little bed on the window sill. “And we’ve got news.”

“Good or bad news?” I asked.

“That depends on your point of view.” Nemo followed her daughter inside, and Mortimer closed the door behind the three.

“You will never guess what we found out,” Sparrow said slowly.

“The Wickeds were never evil?” I guessed. “Cecily was right?”

“Cecily was right.” Nemo sounded bitter when she confirmed my assumption. “The whole army was wrong. We were told the wrong things.”

“But they performed evil rites!” I hesitated. “Or didn’t they?”

“They didn’t.” Nemo took a deep breath. “In one of the secret, coded files, the whole case got resolved and then was hidden to keep the peace. Imagine if someone found out how wrong we have been all this time-” She let out a bitter laugh, then added in a serious voice, “they will find out, I will personally assure that.”

“Now tell us what happened,” Mortimer pressed for more information.

“When I uncoded the document, it said that proof was provided by army troops that searched the abandoned lairs of the Wickeds,” Nevada explained. “One of the magic powers of the army leader is to sense lies. After the inquiry of some Wickeds, he got sceptical about their true intentions, but didn’t make anything public and only started to gather information after the war. And after the proof was examined, they found out the truth. What we had been told to be rites… it actually was medicine. They worked on a drug to cure cancer and similar fatal illnesses. And the army leader kept everything to himself, just to not cause a catastrophic reveal in the army. How inhumane-” Nemo took another deep breath. “And the worst thing… In that file, it was also mentioned who gave our army leaders the wrong hints that caused the war. It was Thill Holmwood.”

WAR AWAITS

Sparrow

Icouldn’t hold back a smile when I saw Dad, Thorne and Jasmine’s astounded faces. Yeah, they were relatable. Mum and I had probably had the same expression when we’d read the lines in that secret file Mum had decoded.

“Thill Holmwood, aka Thill LeDoux?” Thorne repeated, as if we weren’t talking about his uncle.

“Absolutely.” Mum nodded. “And from that, we can assume that it was his mission to put the Wickeds up against the Army.”

“So the Eternals-” Thorne frowned. “The Eternals, I mean the LeDouxes and their friends, have put the Wickeds up against the Army?”

“Shouldn’t you know about this?” I froze when I realised it. “Weren’t you one of them, back then?”

Thorne lowered his head. “I never really was one of them. They never told me anything. Maybe- maybe they were afraid of me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Thill and Estelle-” Thorne shook his head. “I don’t even remember. It’s been a long time. They had a daughter; her name was Lilith. I didn’t understand back then, because I didn’t know there was a life outside the estate and I thought what this family did was normal. She tried to overthrow them. Become even stronger and more evil than them. And they-” He looked up. “They killed her. That’s why I know that the grimoire can kill them.”

“They killed their own daughter?” Jasmine’s voice broke.

“It was Clarisse’s idea.” Thorne sighed. “And I think after that, they decided it’s too dangerous to have kids that know about things. Ethan – he was just a newborn. Clarisse gave Rosary the choice to kill him or let him partake in the rite, so he’d never grow up.”

“He’s been a new-born for hundreds of years?” Dad shook his head. “They are insane.”

“Yes.” Mum reached for her phone. “But more importantly, they are dangerous. They are putting the Wickeds up against the army again. The whole meeting two weeks ago, I assume it was only the beginning. The only way to prevent another war is to make all this official. The government, the army, they have to talk to the Wickeds. Apologize. Pay compensations.” She hastily typed out a message to someone. “I need to have a bunch of video chats now, and you should try to catch some sleep.”

Sparrow

Mum was on TV the next day. And of course, we had cancelled everything. The school appointment, Jasmine’s meeting with her parents, Mum and Dad going to work. It was all too dangerous; nobody knew how the Eternals and the Wickeds would react. Or the army, after we broke into their headquarters and revealed their darkest secret – that they had attempted to hide what could be considered genocide. Who was even on our side now?

The phone hadn’t been silent for a second since the first news show at 5am.

Nevada Nemo Morrigane reveals horrific secrets of the Arcane Wars!

Were the Arcane Wars justified?

Were the Wicked Magicians innocent?

Headlines flooded the internet and the shows on different channels, all talking about Mum.

Not about me. She had revealed the entire truth, her reasons for breaking into the headquarters, how she found the files. All she had left out was that she hadn’t been alone. She wanted to keep me safe while taking full responsibility for her actions.

“You know what?” Mum sighed. “I made another mistake. We haven’t got anybody on our side now. Everybody could be willing to kill us now.”

“Even the army?” Jasmine stared at her.

“Even the army.” Mum cleared her throat. “The Wickeds might now officially want to take revenge. The Eternals hate us anyway. And the army – sometimes, they decide that one member less is better than one revelation more. Especially because I’m not a real member anymore. Especially because their leader has always hated me in a way.”

“But will this all prevent the war?” Dad asked.

“I have zero clue.” She massaged her temples. “Either the government apologizes and the Wickeds accept it, or the government apologizes and the Wickeds don’t accept it, or- Ah, there are so many possibilities!” She shook her head. “I’m scared.”

This – these two words – were worse than anything she’d said until now. Mum, scared? That was impossible.

“So what you said...” Thorne asked carefully. “At the event, were there Wickeds? Or were they normal people?”

“Both.” Mum sighed. “That’s why I think it’s only the beginning. They assembled a bunch of Wickeds and normal magicians, that’s insane! Thorne, can you imagine them teaming up with who they consider lesser people?”

Thorne slowly shook his head, but she spoke on already. “They are assembling the Wickeds that surrendered back then, and also normal magicians! They are forming an army! And we cannot even leave the house because everybody wants to kill us!” She jumped up and went to the window. “I am going insane here.”

“Mum...”

“Yeah?” She turned back to me, now back to normal.

“Nothing. I’m just... worried.” I sighed.

“We all are.” She returned and took my hands. “Promise me you won’t leave the house.”

“Are you leaving?” I gave her a worried look.

“No, of course not. But if something should happen... You’re safe here. In an emergency, lock yourself up in the safe room. Get weapons. You know how to use them.”

Yeah, we all did. She had insisted on giving Thorne and Jasmine lessons with shotguns.

“Mum, but you don’t think-”

The doorbell rang.

We all froze, stared at each other, and eventually, Mum got up, grabbed her revolver from the living room table and went into the hallway.

I didn’t even dare to breathe. Who could it be? The Eternals? Cecily? Or what if she was only holding some poor post officer at gunpoint now?

“Somebody please bring me gloves,” she yelled across the house and I jumped up to grab the gardening gloves Dad had left on the shelf near the terrace door.

“What do you need them f-” I almost choked on the question. Mum was kneeling in front of an envelope that lay on the doormat. “What is that?”

“A letter.”

“I can see that myself.”

“I can see just as much as you, Sparrow.” She sounded distressed as she took the gloves and put them on to pick up the letter. “Now close the door and lock it.”

I did as I was told and followed her back into the living room.

“Nobody was outside,” she told the others. “Just this letter. I’m afraid it might be poisoned. Poison was one of my favourite weapons, wouldn’t that be the perfect way to kill me?” she added in a fragile voice.

“Don’t drown in paranoia, Nemo,” Dad said. “Open it.”

Thorne flinched at Dad’s rough tone, but I knew Mum needed his harsh note to get back to what she really was. Bold and fearless.

“Alright.” She nodded and opened the envelope to unfold the paper inside. She read through it, the held it out for us to read.

Nemo,

Meet me tonight, midnight, at the place where we fought our last battle.

What you have done needs to be talked through.

Just you and me.

C.

“Cecily,” Thorne said.

“Of course.”

“Or Clarisse?” Jasmine said, but Mum shook her head. “Clarisse doesn’t talk things through. She just kills.”

“Are you gonna go?” Dad asked.

Mum laughed. She just laughed.

“That’s a yes, Mrs. Morrigane?” Jasmine carefully asked.

“That is a yes, Jasmine.” Mum closed her eyes and dropped down in an armchair. “Whether I risk my life here or there, what does it matter?”

Jasmine

I