“You must call me Hannah.” She leads me through the hidden door, down the hall, and to another security panel where she punches in a long code and swipes a badge clipped to her black jacket.
I gape at the state-of-the-art lab. Glossy white workstations, flat-screen monitors, and half a dozen men and women chatting or fiddling with equipment. In the far corner, in a glass-walled conference room, Barton sits in an ergonomic chair with a cup of coffee at his elbow.
“Can I get you a refill? Or maybe something better?” Hannah asks, pausing at a gourmet beverage station. “The machine in the lobby is good, but this one makes cappuccinos and lattes too. We have the best coffee in the city.”
Three cups in a day is plenty. Any more and I risk having a severe POTS episode. But my mouth waters as she makes herself a cappuccino.
“Um…sure? That smells great.” I pass her my paper cup, and after a few moments fiddling with the levers and dials on the machine, she offers me a ceramic mug with a perfect layer of foam on top. I take a sip, and the flavor calms my nerves.
She shuts the conference room door, and all the sounds of the lab fall away. It’s almost eerie how quiet it is now. I can hear Hannah breathing, and Barton’s fingers drumming softly against the arm of his chair.
“Willow,” Isaac says, leaning forward and steepling his hands on the polished wood table, “themanifestationyou’ve been experiencing is not a figment of your imagination as your therapist believes. Whispers are so rare, only a handful ofpeople outside of this lab know about them—and about Whisper Keepers. How long have you been seeing your whisper? Two weeks? Three?”
I almost drop the mug.
“A little less than three.”
Did he guess? Or…?
The dark web. I did more than search. I posted too.
His intense hazel eyes gentle slightly. “That’s a long time if you don’t know why. I’m assuming—because you’re here—you don’t.”
I shake my head. If I try to speak, I’ll end up sobbing. I’m going to get answers.Realanswers. I can feel it in my bones. In my heart. These people can help me.
“Whisper keepers hold some of the most powerful magic in all the world. You, Willow, are a witch, and the things you can do—that you’ll be able to do?—”
“I’m not a witch,” I protest, my voice cracking. “If I were, wouldn’t the Other medical clinic have been able to tell? They did these scans. Some device. TheOcular Transmutational Health Existence something.”
“Reporter,” Hannah says with a delicate, feminine snort. “I swear, whoever names things in the world of the Other has the oddest sense of humor. Or maybe no sense of humor at all.”
I manage a weak chuckle. She’s not wrong. Calling anOtherdetector something that anagrams to O.T.H.E.R. is so obvious, it borders on the ridiculous.
She drains the last of her cappuccino and dabs at her lips with a handkerchief. “Most magic has its origins in the elements. Earth, air, fire, water, and aether. Witches tap into these elements, bending them to their will and using their power. They register on the device because the elements flow through them every moment of every day. Your magic is different. Yours is woven so deeply into your DNA, it can’t be scanned for.”
“I don’t understand. How?” I run my fingers over the edge of the mug. An odd scent wafts over me now that the cappuccino is mostly gone. Almost…metallic. But it fades in seconds.
“The magic is your legacy,” she says. “It skips generations—from what we’ve been able to learn. But all the women in your line carry it.Accessingit, though…that’s a completely different matter.”
The women in my line?
I don’t know any of the women in “my line.” My parents adopted me when I was an infant. I’d been found on a park bench at dawn, wrapped in a pink blanket, only days old.
Isaac clears his throat. “The spells you need to use your gifts come from an ancient book locked away behind so many wards and barriers, only your whisper can get to it.”
“I don’t understand. I’m thirty-six years old. And I only started seeing my…whisper less than three weeks ago. If I’ve had this magic in me all my life, why did it choosenowto manifest?”
Ugh. I should have asked for water instead of a cappuccino. My mouth is suddenly bone dry, and my heart is beating so hard, I can feel it in my cheeks.
“Have you ever been to St. Mary’s Cathedral on Gough Street?” Hannah asks.
Shock cools the flames licking up my neck. My body is freezing now. I wrap my arms around myself so I don’t start to shiver. “Y-yes. How did you know?”
Isaac leans forward. “The book is in a vault under the cathedral. You must have been close enough for the power to sense you. It created your whisper. Gave you the key to claim your birthright.”
“I don’twantthis birthright. Can’t I…turn it off? Or give it back?” Tears prick at my eyes.
Hannah and Isaac exchange a glance. Something passes between them, but before I can figure out what it is, Hannahshakes her head. “I’m sorry, Willow. We don’t think you can. But you can learn to control it.” A large flat screen monitor winks on at the head of the table, and I gasp as Dr. Nolan’s session notes come into focus.
