Free Waging War by April White Page A

give
this to you. I’m sorry I missed your birthday.” She held the
necklace out for me to take from her hand. In my shock I got up and
gave her a hug, which probably startled her as much as it startled
me. She placed the chain over my head and the emerald fell to
almost the same length as Elizabeth Tudor’s black pearl did under
my shirt. I stared at the pendant in my hand, then at her.
    “It’s so beautiful, but it’s way too
valuable for me to have—” I started to take it off again, but she
stopped my hands.
    “Nonsense. It is a thing. Lives are
valuable. Things are just pretty to look at. Enjoy it, my dear.
Eighteen is a time for joy.”
    Millicent’s eyes actually sparkled as I
kissed her quickly on the cheek. “Thank you.”
    My mom had a funny expression on her face
when I sat down, as if she was concentrating really hard. “Bertram
bought that emerald for Emily when she was pregnant with Tallulah—”
Her eyes cleared as she looked at Millicent. “Your mother. He said
it came from India and had belonged to a princess, so to a princess
it would go.” My mom looked relieved to have gotten the words out,
but then confused at why everyone was staring at her, and she
lapsed back into silence.
    I looked at Millicent and whispered. “It
should go to your family.”
    “You are my family,” she whispered
back.
    “We interrupted something when we came in.
What was this about the power to compel?” Mr. Shaw asked.
    “We believe it is the power of the Monger’s
Family artifact – the ring. But Saira seems to be unaffected by it,
which means perhaps the other mixed-blood Descendants are too.” I
was glad Archer answered. I wasn’t sure of my footing with Mr. Shaw
after his outburst at me the night before. Archer handed Mr. Shaw
Ringo’s book. “The Monger ring has the red stone in it.”
    Mr. Shaw flipped the book over to see its
title, then looked up in surprise. The Treasures of the
Vatican ?
    Ringo responded. “It went missin’ from
Vatican City in 1842.”
    Mr. Shaw held the page open for my mom.
“This is the ring that was on Seth Walters’ hand when he lied to
you. This is the ring that makes those lies sound like truths.” My
mom actually looked away, as if it was a picture of dead kittens or
something. Liz held her hand out for the book.
    “May I?” she said. Mr. Shaw handed it to his
sister, and she studied the page for a long moment, then placed it
in front of Jeeves.
    “What do you see, Mason?”
    He looked down at the page compliantly,
shied away for a second, then seemed to force his eyes back to the
page. Then he pointed to the Blood of Christ ring. “That was on his
hand.”
    I held my breath, and I don’t think I was
the only one. “On whose hand, Mason?” Liz asked gently.
    He closed his eyes, and Connor’s face fell.
But then he opened them again, and looked straight at Connor’s mom.
“On Walters’ hand when he made me stop the car for Claire and
Saira.”
    There was a collective sigh in the room,
though Liz never let Jeeves’ eyes leave hers. “What happened next,
Mason?”
    I thought she was deliberately using his
name to keep him present. He winced for a second, but then his eyes
cleared again. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s as though I were
underwater with my eyes open, but anything I saw or heard was …
distorted.”
    “Is it distorted now?” She asked him.
    Jeeves touched Liz’s face gently. “No. I see
you very clearly.”
    The smile she gave him felt almost too
private to witness, and there seemed to be hope lacing the
tentative smile he returned. He finally turned his gaze to the rest
of us, and when it landed on me, he looked relieved. “You’re
unharmed, Saira?”
    I nodded. “Archer stopped them.” I got up
and went over to Liz. “Can I see the book again, please?” She
handed it to me, and I took it back to my mother. “Mom, tell me
what you see.”
    She shied away from the picture again, and I
used the most firm, gentle, mom -voice