Immortal Memory (Iris' Atlantis 1)

25: Shards of Black Glass

"She thought it would be a nice gift. You wouldn't need to strike up a deal with Hellebore or depend on the vampires so much if you had access to your bank account and a document to identify yourself with. It expires in the autumn, mind you."

How?

I didn't mouth the word.

I looked at Rune, but she wasn't looking at me. Insead, she watched the sky as I had done moments before.

"You are free, Timothy. You can go where-ever you want. But I'd do it somewhere far from the Court."

"Who are you?"

She sighed. "You know who I am. It is not really a secret. You just don't remember. You should, though. You really should."

The first witch.

I wasn't sure from where the idea came to me.

"Now that's unfair," Rune said, looking to her side. "You are ruining the mystery."

There was no one there, except for the presence of my phantasm. Except for Stump.

"You are the first witch?" I asked. "Isabela Compostelana?"

"Mmm." She confirmed my suspicion.

"How can that be? You would need to be centuries old."

She didn't answer right away, just breathed white mist up to the sky.

"I wait," she said simply. "I wait for Alfonso. And while I wait, sometimes, I come down to Atlantis to trade favors for some time in a real human body. It's called demonic possession."

"Oh? I've never met a demon before." I didn't really know what else to say.

"Yes. Well. Demons are rare."

She rose then, to leave. I caught her hand.

"You are going? Already? But, I..." I didn't know what to say. I had met the first witch in Atlantis, and she had...

"How did you get my phone, and the passport? I thought the house blew up."

"It did. Oh, there is nothing left of anything else. Iris just thought you could use those. She thought they would even out your position when you'd meet with Mo. You wouldn't need to ask her."

Iris.

"The goddess Iris?" I asked. "Do you mean a real god gave you these?"

Rune reached out a hand to lay against my cheek. It was a patronizing gesture rather than a gentle one.

Then my phone rang.

I let go of her hand and looked down to the shattered screen. Mimosa was calling.

I silenced the call, determined to call her later, and lifted my head to continue my chat with Isabela. But she had gone. The yard was empty.

I jumped to my feet and ran to the street.

I looked left and right. But the street was empty.

I held a passport and a phone in my hand. A chilly gust flared the hem of my silk robe.

Had that really been Isabela Comostelana, the very first witch Atlantis had seen?

She was... She had been...

She had been Alfonso Moura's wife. I wondered if Julia had seen her.

I shivered in the night.

I had been let out of a locked vault by a ghost. I had found the liver of a living human in a closet. And met a woman who had my passport and phone.