Black Magic (Howl #4) (7 page)

“Are you serious?” Colby asked, glancing over at her, a look of fear in his wide blue eyes. “You really think that’s a good idea?”

Samara nodded. “My hopes aren’t that high. I’ve never had a human Ouija board actually work. Someone always moved it. I know you said that it’s easier to get in touch with werewolf spirits, but I don’t really believe that this is going to work, either. But . . . if it does somehow work and we can actually contact Grandpa Joe, it could be worth it.”

Colby hesitated. “I don’t know, Sam. I’ve heard of a lot of stories about people calling bad spirits with these Ouija boards. It seems sort of risky.”

“Right, but we’re not going to try to call any bad spirits. We only want to contact my grandfather,” Samara reminded him. “Don’t worry, Colbs. It’s going to be okay . . . if it even works at all.” Turning to the other members of her pack, she asked, “Is everyone else okay with playing this game?”

“Hell, yeah,” Steve replied, his chocolate brown eyes wide with wonder. “I love the supernatural.”

“Dude, we
are
the supernatural,” Chris replied. Turning to Samara, he added, “I’m in.”

“I’m not,” Kyana replied, shaking her head firmly. “I’ll stay in the same room and watch you all do this, but my hands aren’t going anywhere near that spirit board. I don’t want to evoke any demons.”

Chris turned to Kyana. “Do you want me to sit this one out too, then? I don’t want to be the cause of anything that might scare you.”

Kyana shook her head and offered him a small smile. “No, it’s okay, baby. Just don’t mention my name. I don’t want the spirits to get mad at me for anything.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Chris promised, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

Samara smiled. Even though their clinginess towards each other got to be too much to witness at times, she had definitely seen a change in Chris, who had been a ladies’ man before Kyana was his mate. She’d never thought she would see the day where he would be able to stay truly faithful to just one girl, let alone do cute things like buy her flowers, such as the bouquet of pink lilies that were on the kitchen countertop right now that he’d given her, or kiss her on her forehead.

There was a positive change in him, a change that only being in love—real love, not the type of feelings that he must have had for Rain—had brung out.

Turning to Luke, Samara asked, “Are you in?”

He grinned at her. “Of course. If you’re in, I’m in.”

Samara smiled and glanced across the coffee table at Emma, who was perched on the sofa. She nodded. “I’m still doing it. I love ghosts! This is so cool.”

“This is not cool,” Colby said, turning to look at her. “It’s potentially dangerous. And to be honest, Sam, I’m still on the fence about it.”

“The more people we have, the more powerful our energy should be,” Samara pointed out. “If you help, we might actually be able to contact Grandpa Joe.”

Colby didn’t respond right away; he just ran a hand over his short blonde hair. “You could be right.”

“Oh, come on, Colby. Just live a little. So what if we contact bad spirits? I doubt they can even hurt us,” Emma insisted.

Colby glanced over his shoulder into Emma’s pleading eyes before sighing defeatedly. “Okay, I’ll do it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you that this is a really, really bad idea.”

“We won’t.” Samara smiled. She glanced around the room. “Where did Josh go?”

Steve shrugged. “He left a while ago. He said he would be back sometime later tonight.”

“Huh.” Samara didn’t even bother to wonder where Josh might have gone. She glanced over at Colby. “Okay, so how exactly do we do this? Do we have to do a special chant or something so the spirits will hear us and be able to respond?”

“Not according to the instructions,” he replied, gesturing to the paper manual that he held in his hands. “It does say that if there’s a specific spirit you want to get in contact with, you should say his name to summon him.”

Samara nodded, placing her hand on the crescent moon-shaped indicator. Luke’s hand covered hers, sending an icy hot jolt through her when their skin touched. Emma, Steve, Chris, and Colby all piled their hands on top of Luke’s.

“Joe McKinley—Grandpa Joe—I summon your spirit,” Samara said, glancing down at the Ouija board, hoping that the rest of the pack didn’t think she sounded as lame as she thought she did.

When nothing happened, Emma added, “Joe McKinley, I’ve never met you, but please show yourself to me. Or answer us back or whatever’s supposed to happen.”

The room remained silent. Nothing happened.

They waited for a few minutes before Steve sighed. “It looks like it’s not gonna work. So much for the supernatural.” He removed his hand from the indicator.

Chris and Colby also took their hands off of the indicator. After a few moments, Emma removed her hand, too, leaving only Samara and Luke still touching the indicator.

Samara sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know why I thought this could even work. It was just a waste of time.” She was about to remove her hand from the game when she felt the indicator slowly slide beneath her fingertips.

“It’s moving,” Luke whispered, as the indicator dragged across the board to the H, and then to the E, followed by the L.

“H-E-L,” Emma read out loud. “L-O.” She paused a moment before glancing up at Samara, her eyes full of wonder. “Hello.”

Chapter 10

“Kyana, can you go grab paper and a pen?” Colby asked, being the one to break the silence.

Nodding, Kyana rose to her feet and tiptoed into the kitchen. Samara heard the sound of the kitchen drawers being opened, as Kyana searched for a pen.

When she came back into the room and handed the notepad and pen to Colby, Samara turned back to the Ouija board. “Grandpa Joe?” she asked, her voice merely a whisper. A nervous lump had formed in the back of her throat; she couldn’t believe that it had worked.

The indicator began moving quickly from letter to the next, and Colby began writing the letters down. When he was done, he read them out loud. “No, my name is Matthias.”

Samara’s face fell. “It’s not even Grandpa Joe.” She was about to remove her hand from the indicator when it continued to move on its own, bouncing from letter to letter.

Colby paused, dividing the string of letters into words. “But Joe McKinley was my friend. You may ask me anything.”

“Doesn’t mean he’ll have all the answers we need,” Chris snorted.

“Yeah, ask it an impossible question to test it,” Steve urged.

“I have a question he probably won’t know the answer to,” Colby said. He glanced over his shoulder at Emma. “Why do I have a second mate when we’re only supposed to have one?”

“Why does Colby Jackson have a second mate?” Samara asked, even though the indicator had already begun to quickly pull her fingers across the board.

“I-T-S,” she said out loud. “It’s.”

Luke read the next few letters that the indicator moved to. “B-E-C-A-U-S-E . . . because . . . H-E-W-A-S-A-P-L-A-C-E-H-O-L-D-E-R-F-O-R-T-H-E-T-R-U-E-I-M-A-A-L-P-H-A.”

“It’s because he was a placeholder for the true Ima Alpha,” Colby read out loud.

The indicator rested on the board, but Samara felt it wiggling beneath her fingers again. “There’s more,” she whispered. “I-T-S-H-I-S-R-E-W-A-R-D-F-O-R-T-H-E-S . . . -A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E-H-E-M-A-D-E.”

“It’s his reward for the sacrifice he made,” Emma whispered, glancing at what Colby had written. “So, he gets a second mate because he filled in for you for a while, Sam.”

“Good. It was well deserved,” Samara replied a smile. She turned back to the Ouija board and asked it the first question that came to mind—the question that had been looming over her head for so long, the question that they needed answers to more than anything else. “What do you know about black magic?”

The indicator dragged across the board. IKNOWTHATYOUSHOULDNTMESSWITHIT.

“I know that you shouldn’t mess with it,” Emma pieced together.

“I know that we shouldn’t mess with it,” Samara replied, rolling her eyes. She wanted the spirit to tell her something more than what was already obvious. “But there’s someone else . . . another pack . . . who’s planning to use it against us. They’ve used it against us already. What can we do to stop them?”

IDONTRECOMMENDTRYINGTOFIGHTTHEM, the indicator spelled out. YOUCOULDGETHURT.

Colby stared back at the letters for a few moments before figuring out what they meant. “I don’t recommend trying to fight them. You could get hurt.”

Samara sighed. “We have to fight them. If we don’t fight them, this pack is going to conquer us and then go onto conquer other packs. Their plan is to become the strongest pack in the world. So, if you know something—anything—that can help us figure out how to stop them, can you please tell us what it is?”

There was a long pause before the indicator moved again. This time, it was swiftly dragged to NO.

Luke groaned. “It seems like this isn’t going to get us anywhere. Do you have anything else you want to ask it? If you don’t, I say we try again with another spirit.”

Samara hesitated. “Do you know where Joe McKinley’s blue sapphire is?” She read the letters that the indicator moved to out loud. “I-T-I-S-I-N-T-H-E-H-A-N-D-S . . . O-F-Y-O-U-R-WO-R-S-T-E-N-E-M-Y.”

Emma glanced up at her. “It’s in the hands of your worst enemy.”

“Great,” Samara muttered. “I had a feeling Jason was the one who had it.” She considered whether or not there was anything else the spirit would be able to tell her. “Did my grandfather use black magic?”

The indicator was dragged to NO. Then, more slowly, it spelled out, HEFOUGHTAGAINSTIT.

“No, he didn’t. He fought against it,” Colby read from the paper that he had written the letters on. “That’s good news, Sam. Joe was naturally powerful without the help of black magic. Everyone was wrong about him.”

“How did he do that? How did he fight against it?” Samara questioned, the hope building up inside of her. If this spirit could tell her something—anything—about what her grandfather did to fight back against black magic, it might help her be able to figure out how to do the same thing herself.

The indicator moved along the letters on the Ouija board. WITHTHEHELPOFTHETRUSTEDONES.

“With the help of the Trusted Ones?” Emma questioned once Colby had written all of the letters down.

“Looks like it,” Colby agreed.

Samara raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean? Have you ever heard of the Trusted Ones?

Colby shook his head. “No, I don’t know what they are . . . or how they could relate to black magic. It doesn’t make much sense.”

“What are the Trusted Ones, and how do we use it to fight against black magic?” Luke prompted the spirit.

When the indicator didn’t move, Samara whispered, “Maybe the spirit only responds to me. How do we use the Trusted Ones to fight against black magic like my grandfather did, Matthias?”

When the indicator didn’t move, Samara knew that the spirit of Matthias was gone.

*

Samara waited at the public library the next day to meet her tutor. Her mom had arranged for him to meet her here for their first session together. She was early, so he wasn’t there yet. Her mom hadn’t told her what to look for; she hadn’t even told her the guy’s name, but Samara was assuming that it was going to be someone older, or possibly a teacher from another school.

As she waited for him to get there and secretly hoped he would be a no-show, Samara anxiously tapped her pen against the notebook in front of her. She was trying to come up with some sort of plan to get the sapphire back, but she couldn’t seem to come up with any ideas.

The truth was, her grandfather’s talisman could be
anywhere.
As much as she wanted to think that Jason actually had it on him, he could have been keeping it somewhere no one would ever find it. There was also a chance that he could have left in Alaska, knowing that Samara and the rest of the Ima wouldn’t come back to look for it there. That would also prevent Troy and the rest of the Shomecossee from getting their hands on it again.

All she needed to do was figure out where to start looking for it. If only she had a little bit more to go on. Maybe she could get in touch with Matthias again and ask him to give her a hint as to where the sapphire could be.

“Samara?” a male voice asked from behind her.

Samara glanced over her shoulder to find Brad Kelly hovering over her. An impish grin crossed his face, as he pulled out the chair next to her. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” she replied, blocking Luke out of her thoughts so that he wouldn’t get annoyed that she was talking to the guy who he had gotten jealous over. “Just waiting for my tutor to get here. My mom found some guy in the newspaper and hired him to help me with biology,” she explained, rolling her eyes.

“Well, don’t you sound enthusiastic? I’m here now, so we can get started,” Brad replied.

“Wait,
you’re
my tutor?” Samara asked with wide eyes. Why hadn’t her mom mentioned that her tutor was going to be someone from her own school . . . or even that it would be someone her own age?

Brad nodded. “Yeah, it was kind of funny, actually. Your mom gave me a phone call right after you left the restaurant the other night. It was like it was fate for me to tutor you or something.”

Samara just stared back at him. She realized that Luke might actually have had a good reason to be jealous. Brad clearly had a crush on her. If only Brad knew that there was no way she was going to leave her
mate
for him.

Deciding that she couldn’t go through with this, Samara closed her notebook and started to stand up. “Look, I don’t think this tutoring thing is going to work out. I have to go.”

“Wait,” Brad replied, a pleading look in his hazel eyes. “Your mom already scheduled me for five sessions. I turned down other clients so I could tutor you. And to be honest, I really need the cash.”

Samara sighed, running her hands over the money in her pocket that her mom had given her to pay the tutor with. Maybe she could try out one session and if Brad still made her feel uncomfortable, she just wouldn’t show up for the rest. She would let him keep the cash, and her mom would never find out that he hadn’t actually tutored her.

Turning to Brad and handing him the wad of cash, she said, “Okay, fine. You can tutor me.”

Brad grinned at her. “I promise you won’t regret it. When’s your next biology exam?”

“Tomorrow,” she replied.

“Then, we better get started. You’re going to have a lot of cramming to do,” Brad said, swinging his biology book open.

*

Samara waited for Brad to leave the library first before stepping outside onto the sidewalk. She scanned the parking lot for Luke’s Honda civic, and found that he was sitting in the car waiting for her with the radio cranked up.

She hoped that he wouldn’t say anything, but as soon as she got in the car, Luke gave her a small kiss and then asked, “Did you see Brad Kelly in there?”

Deciding that she didn’t want him to get jealous or angry about Brad being her tutor, she bit her lip and shook her head. “No, I didn’t see him,” she lied.

“Really? I just saw him leaving the library, only a few minutes before you came out,” Luke replied, glancing over at her.

Samara shrugged. “It’s a pretty big library. He must have been upstairs or something. Besides, I was pretty involved in what I was learning.”

“Hmm, I didn’t hear your thoughts while you were in there,” Luke said, glancing over at her. “I thought I could get in a biology tutoring session, too.”

Samara bit her lip nervously. “I blocked you out so you wouldn’t distract me with your own thoughts,” she replied. She was technically lying because she’d blocked him out so he wouldn’t know she was with Brad, but it was sort of the truth, too . . .  She had been planning to block him out during her tutoring session so he wouldn’t distract her.

“What’s your tutor like?” Luke questioned, as he pulled out of his parking spot.

“An older woman. She’s a retired biology teacher,” Samara replied, spitting out the first lie that filled her mind. She felt guilty about not telling Luke the truth, but she also knew that it was in his best interest. There was no reason for him to worry, especially when she still wasn’t even sure if she was going to let Brad tutor her again . . . even though he had helped her out a lot today.

Noting that they weren’t driving in the direction of her house, Samara turned to look at him. “Where are we going?”

Running a hand over his short brown hair, Luke replied, “Orkos is here. He wants to see you.” Darting his green eyes over at her, he added, “I only saw him for a few minutes, but he doesn’t seem too happy. I’m not sure why.”

“Hmm,” Samara murmured, glancing out the window at the forest as they passed it, wondering if he was upset because Kyana had a mate. Even though she knew that Orkos wanted Kyana to get married and have a were-baby in the near future, it also seemed like he was a little overprotective of his daughter in some ways. Maybe he wasn’t really ready for her to be mated to anyone yet . . . or maybe he just didn’t like Chris.

Once Luke pulled into the driveway, they both climbed out of the car and made their way to the front door. When they were inside, they found Kyana sitting on the sofa, tears streaming down her cheeks. Chris was standing in the corner of the room, holding his chin in his hand. When he saw Samara, he gave her a look that she wasn’t able to identify.

Orkos was sitting on the sofa next to Kyana, his cheeks a shade of rosy red. When he saw Samara enter the room, he glanced up at her. “There you are. I need to have a word with you.
In private
,” he said, shooting a glare at Luke, as he rose to his feet.

He led Samara outside to the back porch where he sat down
at
one of the chairs that circled the table. “Do you realize why I came here?” Orkos asked, glancing over at her.

“Yeah, Kyana told me you wanted to come see her now that you’re doing better . . . which I’m so happy to hear, by the way,” Samara replied. “She also said that you wanted to meet Chris.”

Orkos’ almond-shaped eyes softened slightly. “Meeting Chris is part of the reason why I’m here, but the main reason is because I wanted to speak to you. My daughter doesn’t know that’s why I came, though.”

“You could have called,” Samara said, shrugging her shoulders nervously. Why did Orkos want to speak to her? Had something happened back in Alaska after they’d left that she needed to know about? Something that he was maybe even keeping from Kyana?