Lonely Souls (17 page)

“Lay it on me,” I said, trying to hide my smile. He truly amazed me.

"It sounds cooler in Latin, so I’ll say that first,
Alterius non sit, qui potest esse sui,
” his lips curled in just the right way as he spoke the proverb beautifully.

“Which means?” I teased him.

“Don't depend on someone else if you can be your own master," he replied.

”That’s a beautiful expression, quite fitting. Please tell me you only know bits and pieces of Latin,” I said.

”Only bits and pieces,” he assured me, helping me up from the bench.

I didn’t believe him.

“Now, let’s get back to the house and figure out what we need to do,” he said.

He kissed me on the top of my head, somehow elevating my feelings for him once more.

Chapter 16

We pulled into the driveway, and everything seemed fine. Aunt Vieta and Ellsy had made sure everything was okay in the home before they gave Logan the “all’s clear” text. Walking up to the door, my eyes fell on the potted plant that was left on our doorstep.

“I thought you said they checked everything out?” I turned to Logan.

“They did. What’s the big deal?” he asked, looking at the potted plant.

“Begonias, that’s just great,” I whispered to myself more than to him, the color draining from my face.

“What’s the problem?” Logan asked, coming up behind me.

“Begonias are a warning. They mean to beware.” I turned around, gauging his reaction.

“I know we’ve been through a lot and are probably facing even more, but I don’t think you should assume that because you know the meanings of every flower known to man that everyone else does,” Logan mumbled. “Someone was probably trying to brighten your day, not ruin it.”

“Do you really believe that?” I asked coldly.

He didn’t answer.

“Listen, you have taught me a lot, and I know I’ll be learning so much more from you, but I have a lot to offer you as well, if you’re willing to learn. I know this was left as a warning.” I stepped over it. “Don’t touch it. It has a curse on it. Do you smell that?”

There was a slight sulfur scent.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted.

“That’s not the natural scent of a begonia. I’ll tell you that much,” I said, turning around and grabbing his hand, pulling him inside.

“This has got to be a partnership. It’ll get us where we need to go a lot faster,” I continued, “if we both listen to each other.”

Glancing up at him, he had a grin stretching across his entire face.

“Am I always funny to you?” I asked lightly.

“Nope. You just have a way about you, Triss. Bossy as ever, but I love it. It’s not something that I ran into all that much after I left here. Girls always told me what I wanted to hear, and it got old real quick.” He let go of my hand and shoved his hair back from his face.

“Aunt Vieta?” I hollered, switching subjects.

She came puttering out of the kitchen with one of my mom’s daisy-print aprons on. These constant reminders of my mom were getting really tough. I needed them to keep me going, but it was like a stab in the heart everywhere I looked.

“Yes, dear,” she said talking to me, but looking at Logan somewhat disapproving.

“I’m over here,” I said, waving my hand in front of her face.

“There’s a cursed begonia plant on our front porch. I’m guessing it wasn’t there when you guys came home?” I asked.

“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t on the porch, sweetie. We came in through the front door, and nothing was sitting there. You know, the dogs were barking next door about fifteen minutes ago. I wonder if there’s a connection,” she muttered, her voice becoming more exhausted with every syllable.

“Probably,” Logan replied, as we all followed my aunt into the kitchen.

“Maybe I should stay longer,” Ellsy’s voice met us as we entered the room. “I don’t need to leave tomorrow.” She looked more stressed than any of us, probably because she saw her son in action that afternoon. She was wringing her hands, sitting at the kitchen table. She changed her outfit from the ceremony, back into our staple of yoga pants. A change of clothes suddenly seemed like a very good idea.

“I’m still not completely feeling myself and seeing that welcome basket on the front porch didn’t help matters,” I said, ignoring Ellsy’s suggestion. I was going to let Logan handle that. “Logan, can you grab some of the cedarwood oil out of the pantry? The diffuser is on the counter. I think we could all use some healing compounds right now,” I said. Not to mention the un-hexing properties I mused. “I’m gonna go upstairs and change. I’ll be back down in a minute to make us some different teas that will hopefully get us sorted a little better.”

“No hurry, dear,” my aunt’s voice was weary.

Logan was already in the pantry searching for the cedarwood oil as I darted down the hall. If Logan and I really were going to go somewhere for a little while, I would need to make a list of the oils and incenses that I’d want to take with me. Granted, if we were in the middle of the forest, I’d have plenty at my fingertips, but the way things had been going, we needed to go out there already prepared.

I was rummaging through my drawers trying to find my University of Washington sweatshirt, when I found one of my old plane ticket stubs. I started to throw the ticket aside, and something caught my eye. The confirmation code began with “AS” followed by a long line of numbers, exactly like what was in my mom’s planner. Pulling the sweatshirt over my head as I headed back downstairs to tell Logan, excitement began running through my body with the thought that I might be one step closer to figuring things out about my mom.

Logan was back in the pantry and his mom and my aunt were no longer in the kitchen. He was staring at shelf upon shelf of dried herbs, tinctures, and oils that we had organized so well.

“Logan,” I said with my voice low. “I think I figured out what the random letter-number code was in the planner. Check it out.” I shoved my old plane ticket in front of him.

“Nice one,” he said, a smile spreading across his lips.

I backed up quickly realizing how close I had gotten to him and how hard it was for me to be that close without my mind wandering.

“Let’s go to the study and see what’s up. I think you might have figured it out,” he said in amazement.

“I wonder where she was planning on going, or having me go?” I whispered as we walked to the study.

“We’ll find out shortly.”

I flipped the light on in the study and went over to the desk. My head started pounding again, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of what happened at my receiving ceremony or this plane ticket.

I plopped down in the chair, and Logan came up behind. He leaned over me as I began flipping the pages in the planner. He was just close enough where I could smell the soap he was using. It was one of my favorites that I made, a sweet grass and avocado blend, but it smelled extremely delightful on him. I leaned closer to the desk, and his breath hovered on my skin creating a distraction I didn’t think I could handle. As he scanned each of the pages along with me, I started to squirm a little bit, hoping that he would get the clue. It pained me to be the girl full of mixed messages, but I’d never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t find my mom because I got caught up in a summer fling.

“Here it is!” I exclaimed, pointing at the code.

“Good job, Triss. I don’t think I would have figured that one out no matter how hard I tried. Do you want to call Alaska Air and find out the information, or do you want me to?” he asked.

“I’ll try first.” He was still leaning over me, and his energy was almost breaking me down. “Hey, can you go get me chamomile tea while I call? Would you mind dropping a little skullcap in there too? I think I need some sort of calming aid.”

His face fell a little on the realization that I was sending him away briefly.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied.

“Are we going to tell anybody about this?” I asked as he was leaving.

He spun around quickly, and his eyes were gloomy.

“I think from this moment on, what we find out needs to stay between us two. I don’t think anyone would give us credit for putting things together and would dismiss it as quickly as it came,” his voice was solemn.

“Even your mom?” My heart fell a little.

“Especially her,” he said quietly, and he took off down the hall.

I reached for the phone and dialed the customer service number that was on the back of my old ticket. I hadn’t even figured out my story when a female’s voice from their customer service department answered the phone.

“Hi,” I responded, “my name is Veronica Spires, and I need to find out the refund policy on a ticket I bought.”

Thankfully, they didn’t ask anything too tricky as I pretended to be my mother. The customer service representative was very helpful as we covered all the stipulations of the ticket my mom had purchased and even happened to mention not only the main flight’s destination, but also the shuttle flight’s rules that were connected to this ticket. I scrawled down all the information I could and couldn’t wait to hang up on her now that I had gotten what I wanted.

Logan brought in the tea for me and had an energy drink for himself.

“So it was one plane ticket to JFK and then a shuttle flight to Saranac Lake,” I said.

“One plane ticket, huh?” he asked, setting down my tea.

“You don’t think she was planning on leaving me, do you?” I didn’t wait for a response. “When I was to meet her at the beach there was something she wanted to tell me, and it’s been bothering me ever since. I figured it had to do with something going on with me and graduating or the receiving ceremony, but now I don’t think so.” As soon as I spoke the words, I wished I could get them back.

“Triss, if she was going to leave, it would have been to protect you, not for any other reason. If she knew something was going to happen, I could see her wanting things on her terms, but I think we are jumping ahead of ourselves right now.”

I moved my head too quickly to nod, and the throbbing started again.

“Thanks for this,” I said, pointing at the tea, trying not to let myself crumple in a ball and give up. “Now I just have to figure out where Saranac Lake is.”

“It sounds familiar, but I don’t know where it is,” he replied, grabbing his iPhone and punching it in.

“Well, what does it say?” I asked impatiently.

Logan looked up from his phone, his eyes filled with apprehension and uncertainty.

“It’s near Lake Placid,” he whispered, his eyes darkening with every second that passed by.

“Is that supposed to tell me something? It looks like it’s certainly having an impact on you,” I said.

My phone buzzed and Jenny’s text appeared, asking how the ceremony went.

“Who is it?” Logan asked.

“It’s Jenny. She asked how the ceremony went,” I said, suddenly finding the humor in the horrors that kept presenting themselves to me.

“That’s a loaded question,” Logan replied.

“I don’t even know what to say,” I said, shaking my head and placing my phone back down. The text back could wait.

“Is your mom really leaving tomorrow?” I asked.

“I think I persuaded her not to change her plans while you were upstairs. I told her it would be a good thing for her to try to recoup back at home, and that we might even land out there this summer if things continue to worsen.”

“You don’t have any plans for that, do you?”

He avoided my question. “The problem was a few days ago we had a goal to find out what happened to your mom. Now we are dealing with protecting you and still trying to find out what happened to your mom. It complicates things exponentially.”

“That it does,” I agreed, sitting back in the chair thankful that we had the desk between us once more.

Silence filled our space, and I heard the voices from my aunt and Ellsy in the other room coming to life.

“It pains me to vanish on everyone who I hold dear,” I whispered.

“They’ll know it’s for the best. The less they know, the more they’ll be protected.” He squinted at me or maybe beyond me. I wasn’t sure what he was looking at.

“When do you think we should leave?”

“Tomorrow.” His gaze not breaking away, he reached across the desk bringing his hand to mine.

I gasped.

“We’ve got to,” he replied. “I think we should try getting into that library as well.”

“That seems kind of dangerous. I wonder if I can even get in,” I replied.

“Well, the priestess finished the spell. They may not want you in, but your hair was added to the mixture, so I think you’ll be able to pass through the door,” he replied.

“How will I find everything?” I muttered to myself. “But what’s got to be done has gotta be done.”

He nodded.

“What time’s your mom’s flight?” I asked.

“Early afternoon.”

“We need to leave early so we can get to the cottage before it’s dark. It’s hard to find even in the daylight. The road always gets overgrown in the spring, and I’m not that familiar.” My nerves were beginning to take over. The thought of being alone, just us two, in the woods started to frighten me more than the idea of facing whatever or whoever was after me. Leaving everything I loved behind for who knows how long didn’t seem like such a great idea any longer.

“We have to get her to the airport two hours before the flight, so I think the timing will be just fine,” he replied gently, knowing he was about to lose me on this idea.

“What am I going to tell my aunt?”

“I’ll take care of it. Truthfully, she’s gonna have a hunch. We already talked about going to the cottage, but for her own safety, I’ll imply someplace else to her. That way if she’s hexed upon, or asked to divulge information, she won’t be able to. I know they’re thinking that you shouldn’t be here either. They just don’t want to make that decision themselves,” he replied flatly.

“Speaking of that, I’ve got to go take care of that begonia. How long do you think we’ll have to be out there?” I asked, my mouth completely dry.

“I have no idea,” he said, letting go of my hand.