READ THE NOTE AT THE END! IT'S IMPORTANT!

Elijah threw the unconscious Long into the same prison his daughters were in.

"Tend to him," he ordered to two of the guards.

Then he turned to me, his blue eyes stormy with rage. I was in trouble.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You successfully captured Long, something we have been trying to do, and then you try to kill him?!" he yelled at me. I stood my ground, squaring my jaw. "You need to learn how to control your emotions, Caley," he said.

"He was talking about my mother!" I shouted back.

"And every time someone talks about your mother you're going to kill them? He was trying to provoke you! He was trying to distract you! You have no idea of the loss you could have cost us," he exclaimed.

I glared at him.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did," I said.

Elijah narrowed his eyes at me.

"Get her out of my sight," he snapped at Gerrard, who was standing silently by. Gerrard stepped forward and took me by the arm. I shook him off and marched up the stairs myself.

"Caley, listen," Gerrard said, coming up behind me.

"Go away. I want to be alone," I said.

"Let me fix up your cheek," he said.

"No, I'll do it myself," I said.

"You don't know how," he replied. I glared at him and he gave me a look. I sighed aggravatedly and then sat on my bed.

"Fine," I huffed.

He went into the bathroom to mix a paste that would heal the scarring wound. While he did so, I went to my dresser to put my necklace back on. I had taken it off because I didn't want to be recognized wearing it. Immediately when the cool water stone touched the skin on my sternum plate, I felt a calming relief wash over me. Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind.

Gerrard called me into the bathroom and I sat up on the counter while he applied the thick paste. I hissed as the cool concoction touched my skin and burned. I smacked his hand away.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"That stuff hurts!" I cried.

"That's how you know it's healing. Quit being a baby," he replied. I frowned and sat on my hands to keep from pushing him away again. I bit my lip as the burning sensation increased and tried to focus on Gerrard's face. His eyes were narrowed in concentration and he was biting the corner of his bottom lip. He had a few days' scruff on his face, which meant he was stressed or just extremely busy. His blue-grey eyes were unreadable, as always.

To distract from the burning sensation on my cheek, I took to looking at Gerrard's face. I realized that Gerrard was a lot more attractive than I initially thought. It was no wonder Isobel didn't like the fact that I was so close to him. As his fingers gently brushed my cheek, I also realized that Gerrard was really the only person I could trust. He knew everything about me, in both of my lives. I could tell him anything I needed to and I knew he would always listen.

He finished up and helped me off the counter.

"Let that set until it hardens. Then we'll take it off. It should be mostly healed underneath. You can put make-up over the scar to hide it when you go back," he said. I nodded and then stepped forward, putting my arms around his waist. He was taken aback at first and then he put his arms around me, too.

"I screwed up pretty bad today, didn't I?" I asked him, my good cheek against his chest.

"I guess we know that your weakness is your mother. Now you can build up a tolerance to that," he replied. I pulled away slightly and looked up at him. He gently brushed my hair out of my face.

"I guess I don't say this enough to you, but thanks," I said.

"For what?" he asked.

"Always being here for me," I answered. He smiled wryly at me and kissed my forehead.

"You should change and start getting ready to go back," he said. I nodded and pulled away from him completely, going into my room to change and go back to my other life.

                                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I got back to TUM, I found the Rossi student lounge area completely barren. Or at least, completely barren of the people I knew. I sighed and went up to my room, wondering where everyone was. I found a note taped to the door when I went to open it. Taking it down, I immediately recognized Abbey's bubbled handwriting.

A few of us are going to Trinity Hollow for old times' sake. We tried calling you, but you left your phone in the dorm. Where the hell did you go? Anyway, we'll be there all day if you want to join us.

XOXO Abbey

I pushed open my door to find an empty dorm room. I was kind of relieved that no one was around. I just wanted to be alone for a bit. I turned and locked my door and then went to check my messages on my phone. Sure enough, I had several calls and text messages from different people: Trey, Abbey, Lance, and even Matt. Ignoring them, I threw my phone on my bed.

When I was changing my clothes back at the mansion, Long's words had echoed through my mind.

Do you really trust him?

Had Elijah told me everything about my mother? Or was he keeping something from me? It seemed that what Long was suggesting was that there were still some things that I didn't know about her, still some things that I had yet to learn. And this feeling of not knowing was nagging at the back of my mind. No matter how much I tried to ignore what he had said, I couldn't. And the one thing that possibly contained the answers to my questions was sitting in my father's apartment in the top drawer of my night stand.

I went to take a shower and then changed into a fresh pair of clothes, even though I had just changed back at the mansion. Then, I grabbed my phone and bag and headed out the door towards my father's office building. I went up to it, glancing at the windows to see if he was still there. I could see light filtering through the thick curtains that covered the wall of windows. He was still in there.

I went inside and went up the stairs. His secretary had gone home for the night so there wasn't anyone there to stop me from seeing him. I knocked on his door and it opened on its own accord. He looked up when I stepped inside and raised his eyebrows, surprised to see me.

"Caley? I thought you were going to Trinity Hollow with the others?" he asked as I strode forward. I shook my head.

"I need the key to your apartment," I said. "Our apartment," I covered.

"Why?" he asked.

"There's something important I left in there and I need to get it," I said.

"There are only a few weeks left until school ends. It can't wait?" he asked.

"No. It can't," I answered. He looked at me curiously and then opened his drawer.

"Ok, but I'll come with you," he said. I shook my head.

"No. I need to go alone," I said.

"Caley-" he started.

"Dad, please. I need to be alone right now," I said. Maybe he read the look in my eyes or maybe he decided to trust me, but he gave me the keys.

"Ok. Be careful," he said. I nodded and not really knowing what I was doing, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. When I got to the door, I realized what I had done and turned to look back at him. He had a shocked expression on his face and his hand rested on his cheek where I had kissed him. I sighed. It had really been a rollercoaster of a day.

I transported to the back alley of the apartment complex. Striding forward, I went around to the front and then entered the building. I took the elevator up to our floor, a drumming in my ears. I was nervous. There was no telling what new information I was about to find.

I went up to my father's apartment and opened the door. I realized I could have just used magic to open the door, but knowing my father, he probably had protective enchantments on the door to keep intruders from entering. I flipped the lights on and immediately made my way to my room. I turned the lights on, illuminating the place that now seemed so foreign.

I had gone through a lot since the last time I was within the walls of the room before me. My little pool was still as vibrant and magnificent as ever, the fish in it still alive and swimming. They perked up and began moving around once the light was turned on. They had been in darkness for too long.

I threw my bag on my bed and then picked up my teddy bear, Mr. Tomkins, from his post in the center of my bed.

"It's now or never," I said to him. He stared blankly back at me with those old beady brown eyes of his. I set him down next to me and pulled open the top drawer of my nightstand. I rummaged around, pushing back some old papers and things that I had thrown in there over the course of the previous summer. I found it at the bottom, underneath all of my junk.

The letter my mother had written me.

I pushed close the drawer and crossed my legs on the bed, staring at the baby blue envelope in my hands.

My father had given me the letter on graduation day. It seemed so long ago, eternities away. So much had happened in that time. When I first received the letter, I didn't want to open it because I was afraid of what I would find in there. I wanted to hear Elijah's side of the story before I read it and then I had gotten swept up in my double life. But now that it was almost the end of my freshman year at TUM, I knew that I needed to put my insecurities aside. I needed to read what my mother had left for only my eyes to read.

With shaky hands, I neatly opened the flap that sealed the envelope. Inside was the letter and a bracelet. I pulled both out. The letter itself looked to be about a few pages long. No wonder the envelope had felt so bulky. The bracelet was a delicate gold chain link with three charms on it: a dove with a fig branch in its mouth, a tiny blue teardrop gem, and a heart that had my name engraved on it. I smiled at it. It was beautiful. I set the letter down next to me and put the bracelet on, feeling as if I had a part of my mother with me again.

Then I picked the letter up again. I stared at it for a few moments, trying to psych myself into reading it. My hands shook and I was nervous, not knowing what I would find among the several pages. Taking a deep breath, I began reading.

My Dearest Caley,

If you are reading this, it is probably your graduation day. I wish desperately that I could be there with you today, but alas, all wishes don't come true. I just want you to know that I am so incredibly proud of you. Watching you grow up gave me the assurance that you would become a strong witch, and what's more, a beautiful and independent young woman. I love you so much, my love, and I hope that you don't miss me too much on this day. I hope that you are happy and that you have made friends. I know my passing wasn't easy for you, but if I know my daughter as I well as I think, I know that you dealt with it and remained strong. I wish you all the success in your future as you enter university. I'm sure you will only become stronger and smarter. I am so very proud of you, Caley. So incredibly proud.

I paused, wiping my eyes of the tears that had welled up in them. I was overtaken by emotion as I re-read the first paragraph again. I had to put the letter down because I was afraid my teardrops would smudge my mother's elegant cursive handwriting. I picked Mr. Tomkins up and held him close, sobbing into his aged fur. Once I composed myself, I read on.

I can only imagine what a year you have gone through. It must have been difficult, what with my death, moving to a new school, living with your father, and learning that you are a witch. I suppose the last two were probably the most difficult to deal with, which is saying something.

I really do hope you aren't still mourning my death. And knowing you, now that you know about magic, you have probably made the connection that my death was due to magical complications and in this, you are correct. You always were a smart one.

I am also guessing that you have wondered what exactly happened to me. I will discuss this later, as it has something to do with something else I wanted to talk to you about. But first, I wanted to discuss your relationship with your father.

I believe that it is time for a confession: your father did not walk out on us; I told him to leave.

I gasped, unable to believe the words I had just read.

What was she saying? My father hadn't walked out on us like I had believed for the past two years? Then it was true what my father told me over and over again, that he didn't want to leave, he had to. In my anger, I refused to believe it; I wanted to be angry at him, to blame someone for my mother's death since I couldn't figure out what exactly had caused it. It was so easy blaming him. But it was all a lie. All that anger was for naught.

I felt guilt creep up my neck.

My father really did love her. And me.

Sniffling and wiping my eyes again, I continued to read.

I know you have spent the better part of the year resenting him. It must have been difficult for him to live with knowing that his only daughter hated him. However, it was necessary. There was so much you needed to understand before you could know the truth. Your father loved me and you very, very much. He would have given anything to stay by our sides while we both suffered for all those years. But he needed to be gone. I couldn't let him see me the way I was. It would have hurt him too much. And that would be a poor repayment for his love.

So now I guess you are wondering why I told him to leave. This has much to do with the cause of my death, but I need to tell you something first. You may or may not know this already, but there is a curse on your elemental line. I know they have begun teaching you about magic and the history of magic and you will only learn more about this when you reach university, but I wanted to tell you now because it is important you know this before I tell you what's next.

The curse on your elemental line is one of love. Long ago, the first water master deceived the original witch by pretending to love her in order to get her power. But the original witch was intelligent and found out about his deceit. In return for his actions, she placed a curse that would plague his elemental line forever. A curse that for any water master that succeeded the man that fell in love, their significant other would suffer. In this way, the water masters were doomed to never truly be able to experience lasting true love.

This curse has lasted through all of time and has been the cause of the disappearance of the water elemental line. Your father's family is the last of the true water masters. The reason I'm telling you this is because it is important for you to know in case you fall in love. Although you are the product of an inter-elemental marriage, your eyes are blue, and thus, you are a water master, and so, the curse applies to you as well.

Now that I have told you about the curse, I can tell you about my death.

I gasped and dropped the pages in my hands. This was the moment of truth. This is what I had been looking for for two years of my life. The real cause of my mother's death. I was going to find out if Elijah had told me everything; if he had told me the truth about what happened to her.

I reached down and picked up the papers, shuffling through them until I found the one I was on. Taking a deep breath, I read on.

Before you were born, there was a great battle called the Trinity War. I know you must have learned about this in your History of Magic class. They will also have already taught you the two interpretations of the Trinity of Magic. If not, I will briefly explain it here.

You no doubt have seen the Trinity crest; it is, afterall, the school's coat of arms. The Trinity crest includes, as you know, the sword, the staff, and the fig tree branch. Thus, the three parts of the Trinity are power, magic, and peace, respectively. The original Trinity government, when creating the three parts of the Trinity, didn't think to actually write down how to interpret the three parts. So after the first of the leaders died out, there was confusion on how to rule the subsequent magical generations. Some said that the interpretation should be that only with the power of magic can peace be initiated. Which, of course, means that abusing magic was the only way to keep peace; to use our magic to put the Magii Non under our control. The other interpretation was that as magic users with more power, it was our job to keep a peaceful balance between the Magii Non and Magii and to do this, the Magii must not reveal their powers.

Why is this important? Because the two different sides have been at war for quite a long time. There was a war during my time and unfortunately, there will be one in your time. But the reason I am telling you about this is because sooner or later, you will be approached by someone from the dark side, the side wanting to use magic to subjugate non-magic users. This person will tell you many things; explain their side of the story, give you incentive to join them, and most importantly, that I was on their side.

You must be so shocked right now to read that. Yes, I was on the dark side. I played spy for them, joining the good side and then reporting back to the dark side. I was a traitor of sorts and your father was angry when he found out. All of this is true, but there is so much more to the story that they will not have told you, because if they did, then you wouldn't join them.

So I feel it is my responsibility to explain to you what exactly happened. And here it is.

I loved your father very, very much. I could not imagine my life without him and when I found out about the curse on his elemental line, I knew that it would put our love in danger. To prevent that from happening, I resolved to find the countercurse.

I knew I wouldn't be able to find the counter on my own. I needed help from people that were knowledgeable in magic and weren't afraid to use any means to find information. I had asked your father if he ever thought about finding a counter to the curse and he said that it was an ancient curse, so finding a counter would be futile. But I couldn't give up; not so quickly.

So I became friends with your father's brother, Elijah. He brought me to meet Jerome, the leader of the dark side at the time. Jerome took me in and made me spy, assigned me my tasks, and let me be. He allowed me to use whatever I needed to use in my search for the counter. During my time with Jerome's crew, I was able to gather quite a bit of information about the nature of the curse and the magic of the ancients. I have left all of this research in a shed behind the mansion that Elijah now no doubt uses as headquarters.

I came up with a theory eventually, from all of my work, but when it came time to trying it out, war had broke out. My position had been given away, but I wanted to try my theory anyway. My theory was that if a sacrifice was made out of true love for someone, then the curse would be lifted. However, when your father saw me fighting on the other side, he was enraged that I had betrayed and lied to him. He attacked me with a spell intended to severely injure me and I let him. My theory backfired on me, though, and instead, I fell ill.

Now, you must be thinking that this was what Elijah must have told you, except with more detail. There is one more thing that I must add, though, and that is that it wasn't your father's spell that made me so irrevocably sick; it was a poison that had spread through my body.

When I had joined Jerome's side, to ensure that I wouldn't compromise anyone's position in the war, Jerome placed me under a very ancient oath, called the Oath of the Sangre. This oath put me under his full control and forced me to be completely loyal to him. My orders during the war were to kill anyone that stood in our way, and when I let your father attack me without putting up a fight, I disobeyed orders. Jerome's blood in my system activated and turned to poison and over the course of the next few years of my life, my blood became poison. It coursed through my veins, slowly killing me until I gave up the will to live.

That is the true nature of my death, Caley. I wanted to sacrifice myself for your father, but my theory backfired on me. And your father's true love was doomed to an early death. The curse wasn't lifted and I...I failed.

I cannot imagine what you are going through at this point, Caley. This must come as a complete shock and you must be so very confused. And I am only about to confuse you even more.

Caley, I want you to join Elijah if he recruits you. I need you to finish my work, try to make sense of what I couldn't. Find the countercurse. I don't want you to have to suffer like I did. I want you to be able to fall in love without the threat of losing your loved one hanging over your head.

But when he does come find you--and it will be soon--make sure that under no circumstance do you take that oath. Doing so led to my demise and I don't want it to happen to you, too.

I hope with this letter, I have answered your questions. Your journey in finding the countercurse will be a difficult. When you join Elijah, you will meet a boy named Gerrard. Put your trust in him. He will help you. And when you find yourself losing hope, just remember that I have complete faith in you. You are a smart girl and incredibly strong. I wouldn't give you this job if I didn't think you could do it.

Enclosed in this envelope is a bracelet. Caley, let the dove on the bracelet be a reminder of what you are striving for.

I love you so very much. Please take care of yourself.

All my love,

Mom

My hands shook as I stared at the letter in my hands. And then I broke down crying.

What have I done?!

___________________________________________________________________

A/N: There it is! Last chapter of Book 2. What did you think of the big reveal. All of you that guessed that Elijah wasn't telling the whole truth were right. He was keeping something back from her.

So...

I will start Book 3 soon. In terms of when I will update it, though, is what I wanted to talk to you all about. This year for me is the biggest year of my life. It will be the deciding factor on whether I get to fulfill my dream of going to medical school or not. What does this mean? This means that I might not be able to update as much as I'd like to. My full focus is going to be on getting good grades and studying for the MCAT (a 5 hour long examination whose score is what decides if I get into a good medical school or not). My priority at this point in my life is my future, so unfortunately, my writing is going to have to take a backseat.

I want to thank you all for being so supportive. It means a lot to me. When I see your comments guessing as to what will happen next, it makes me so happy. I hope you continue to leave insightful comments and I hope that you will stay with me to see how this story ends.

Thank you all for being so great.

Leave me a comment below about your thoughts on the letter and what Book 3 will be about.

And don't forget to vote!

XOXO