But technically, this woman was my family. It was the only logical reason we looked alike.

“What do you want with me?” The woman’s eyes glanced warily to the carriages. She clearly wanted to make a run for it. Had her father erased her memory, too? What did she know?

Anything?

I pulled the book out of my pocket and showed her. “Do you recognize this?”

She looked at it blankly for the briefest moment, then recognition flared, and she gasped. She raised a hand to her head, wincing, and managed to keep a grip on her baby with her other arm. Her eyes met mine. “How did you get that?”

“I found it when I found the Shadow Guild tower hidden in Guild City. More than three hundred years from now.”

She began to pant, her breath coming more quickly. She was panicking.

I reached for her arm, trying to steady her, but she stepped back. Concern shot through me. “Are you all right?”

“I will be.” She forced her breathing to calm. “May I touch the book?”

“Sure.” I held it out to her, confused as hell. What was going on with her?

She raised her hand to her lips and pulled her glove off with her teeth, then reached for the book and pressed her fingertips to it. She flinched, her eyes going wide and blurry. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, and she swallowed hard, forcing them to stop. After a few moments, her gaze met mine. “We should speak.”

I looked at Grey. “Is there somewhere private around here?”

He looked around, his height allowing him to see over the crowd. “I believe I see a small garden over there.”

“Is that okay with you?” I asked her.

“Okay?” she asked bemusedly.

“Is it good?” I corrected, remembering that she didn’t understand modern slang.

She nodded, her lips pressed flat into a line.

Grey led us through the crowd, which parted easily for him. The garden was indeed relatively private, tucked back behind a locked iron gate covered in vines. Grey reached for it and yanked, breaking the lock.

“Well, that was easy,” I said.

“No magic protecting it.” He shook his head. “Humans.”

We walked into the small garden, and he shut the gate behind us. It was about five meters by ten, vines covering most of the iron fence and gate that separated it from the bustle of dreary, gray London. Inside, the lush plants and flowers dampened the noise, making it feel like a peaceful retreat. A small, square pond sat in the middle with benches all around. I pointed to one. “Will that do for you?”

She nodded and walked toward it, clutching her baby close. Questions raced through my mind as I followed her. She had no luggage. Was this all she owned? Did she have money? Why was she leaving?

To get away from Rasla, I had to assume. I’d seen the bars on her awful room. But she was running with nothing, it seemed.

She sat on the far edge of the bench, and I joined her, leaving a small spot for Grey at the end. Silence stretched between us for a few long moments, until her gaze met mine.

“We must be family,” she said, her voice questioning. “Three hundred years into the future?”

I nodded. “The year 2020.”

“Oh, my.” Her eyes widened. “It took you so long to find my book?”

“You left it on purpose?” I asked.

She nodded. “May I hold it again? It helps me remember what has been stolen from me.”

“Remember?” I handed her the book, feeling Grey come to sit at my side. He stayed silent, tucking himself back, likely so that Evangeline could focus on me. “You mean your memories were taken like everyone else’s?”

She nodded, a bitter laugh escaping her as she pressed her hand flat to the book, cradling her sleeping baby in her other arm. “My father did not spare me, of course.”

“So you remember what he did? Hiding the Shadow Guild and erasing everyone’s memories of it?”

“Oh, yes.” She nodded her head. “I believe that only I and the housekeeper, Mrs. Birch-Cleve, know the truth. For different reasons, of course.”

“Why were you running?”

“It is all quite a story.” She looked down at the book. “But I believe we should start with this.”

16

Carrow

Evangeline rubbed the book with her fingers. “It is not a simple book, as I am sure you’ve found.”

I nodded. That was an understatement.

“This is a guide,” she said. “A talisman. A holy relic to our family. It has been imbued with the magic of our blood. Not only did it bring you back in time and help you find me, but it is immensely valuable to both you and me.”

It hit me hard, then. Harder than it had previously. This woman was my great-grandmother six or seven times back. My throat tightened. It wasn’t quite like meeting my mother, but it was the closest I would come.

Grey gripped my hand, as if he could feel the turmoil inside me. I clung to him.

“I left it for you,” she said. “Before my memory was taken by my father, I hid the book in the Shadow Guild tower, hoping that down the line, one of my children or their children would find it.” She smiled. “It seems to have taken a while, if you are from the year 2020.”

“It’s helping you remember the memories that were taken,” I said.

She nodded. “It is partially my magic, which is the same as yours. And partially the book itself, reminding me of what has led me here.”

“Please tell me more. I want to understand what happened to you.”

“I believe you know my father, Councilor Rasla, and what he has done,” she said. I nodded, and she continued. “After using great magic to hide the Shadow Guild tower, he erased the memories of the townsfolk, including mine. No one can remember that there was a guild by that name. I remember feeling something lost inside my head. It became worse when he locked me inside my room, along with my baby.” She rubbed her head. “It is all a bit of a mess in my memories. But my power allowed me to see glimpses of what he had done. I could read the story in the various things that I touched. Eventually, I understood enough of it.”

“And you ran away.”

“It was always a matter of time, whether or not I discovered my father’s terrible deed. He hated my child. Was glad when her father died of illness.”

Anger shot through me.

She seemed to notice it and shook her head. “No. Don’t be angry for me. I am moving forward, away from those terrible feelings and memories.”

“That’s why you’re running from Guild City. To start over,” I said.

She nodded. “My father is a monster. I can’t live there anymore.”

“What about the Shadow Guild? You don’t want to fight to bring it back?” I asked. “It’s your birthright.” I pointed to the baby. “From what I understand, she is meant to lead it.”

The woman smiled down at the baby. “Power for power’s sake is a trap. Being born into a role you are forced to fill is a terrible fate.” Her words rang with experience, and I couldn’t help but think back to my fear of taking over the Shadow Guild as leader. It wasn’t the same, though, was it?

“I want my child to be able to choose. It is wonderful to live among one’s own kind, but Guild City has been tainted by my father. It is not a place she can live freely. Better to hide her magic in this world than to be forced to live a life of fear in that place.”

“Are you speaking for yourself as well as for her?” I asked.

She smiled. “Perhaps I am.”

“So you’ll live as humans.”

She nodded. “Perhaps. I will see where the road takes me.”

“But what about the others in the Shadow Guild?” I asked. “Their place has been taken from them. Many were forced to leave Guild City. Those who stayed were made to feel like outcasts.”

I knew I shouldn’t be trying to change the past, but I couldn’t help asking. It was all so terrible.

Her eyes darkened with sadness. “And that breaks my heart, but what is done is done. You are proof of that. Time has continued on, the Shadow Guild staying hidden until you found it. If you and I were to return to Guild City and change things, then the entire course of the future would be modified. People who need to be born might not be born, while others would die. I discovered my father’s subterfuge too late, and too much time has passed.” She reached out for me but drew her hand back before making contact. “And seeing you proves that I’ve made the right choice.”

“Because I found the Shadow Guild?”

“And proved that the future has unfurled in the way I hoped it would. My line has continued. I have faith in fate and my path.” She jostled the baby a bit. “I assume the future is a better place?”

I thought of it for a moment. “There is no one like your father in Guild City, so yes, I suppose. It’s not a perfect place, and a lot of the world is a mess. But the Shadow Guild is continuing. It will continue, once we clean it up a bit.”

“And you are the leader?”

“That’s what my friends tell me.” Though I hadn't embraced it yet, that was for certain. Guilt struck me.

It was my heritage. And I was ignoring it.

“What of your family?” she asked. “How are they?”

“My father was a bastard, and I never knew my mother. But she must have had magic.”

“Never knew her?”

“She died shortly after I was born.”

“Tragic.” She frowned. “Had she known she had magic, I imagine she would have left you a letter. Something to explain.”

Maybe. I hoped so. “She may never have known. We lived in the human world.”

“Oh, my.” She shook her head. “What a path I have set us on, to live in the human world so long.”

If my mother had survived, would we have found out what we were together?

I gripped Grey’s hand hard, drawing support from him. He rubbed my back with his other hand, and I looked at the woman. “I need to know what I am. I only know what I can do, and even that is ever changing.”