Authors: Karice Bolton
Released Souls (2 page)
Was I distracting Logan
’s ability to control this creature?
I ju
mped when I felt Logan’s fingers intertwine with mine. Logan was now standing directly next to me. The side of his body was pressing mine. I wanted to look at him, but I was worried I’d accidentally see the spirit on my way to sneak a peek.
My breath was trembling
as the spirit’s head was only inches from mine now, and I knew I couldn’t risk even a glance. The freezing air shared between me and the spirit began making me nauseous and wobbly. It was like the spirit was stealing my air, my spirit, away from me. The
nectunt
continued to burn deeply when Logan’s words hit me.
“Stay strong,” Logan whispered, squeezing my hand.
I wasn’t sure if he was telling me that or talking himself into it, but either way it alerted me to a potential issue and that issue was me.
Logan’s body began to shake and his breathing became erratic, but the spirit left me. Logan’s hand dropped from
mine and I stole a glance. His eyes were clamped shut and his lips were moving slowly.
The howling
from the closet continued but the shaking of the closet door slowly ceased. I wanted to witness what was about to take place, but I dropped my gaze. I felt a breeze push toward me as the closet door swung open.
An intense heat
began smothering me, and I slowly backed away from the closet opening, keeping my eyes directly on the floor. Logan quickly moved in front of me and shielded my body from the heat as the squeals and screams of the creatures being sucked back into the underworld echoed throughout the coven. Terrified didn’t even begin to explain what I was feeling.
The door
slammed shut once the wailing stopped, and I dropped to the floor, leaning against the wall for support. I looked up at Logan unsure of what I might find.
Logan’s
eyes narrowed on me as I attempted to speak but found nothing logical to say. He leaned over me, anchoring his hands on the wall. My hands grasped his jaw, with my fingers reaching toward his still silver eyes.
“Are you okay?” he
asked.
I looked behind him and watched as sparks
outlined the gap between the door and floor. The shrieking had stopped, but bumping and rustling continued.
“Are you?” I traced his jawline with my fingertips.
“I feel like I complicated things for you. I put you in danger.”
“I was never the one in danger.” He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath before bringing me up to him. “The
nectunt
we share apparently has more of a pull than I realized. It’s not your fault. I should’ve controlled it better.”
“What do you mean?”
He placed his hands on my hips and moved me closer to him.
“I think of you so
much,” his breath hitched. His lips were only a breath away from mine. “The pull to you I feel is so great that the spirit wanted to merge souls. I wanted to merge souls. It’s something that I’ll have to control —master— before I use it again.”
Before I use it again
… The words haunted me. I was forcing him into a life he had left behind. I never wanted him to use it again, yet he was planning, knowing, he would have to use it again. The guilt and sadness gnawed at me as I thought about what I was forcing on him by merely being in love with him.
“Hey, it’s not your fault,” he whispered,
sensing my concern.
I shrugged not wanting to discuss it any more.
“What was in the closet?” I asked.
“Someone opened up a
gateway to the underworld, and it closed up before all the dimensional demons could be returned. It took a shadow spirit to open it back up and send them through it.” He sighed and looked away. “Dark magic was the only way.”
“Grey magic,” I reminded him.
“Things aren’t always black and white. Now we just have to figure out who brought the demons in to clear out the place.”
He hugged me tightly
, and I began to relax until I remembered where we were actually headed before the interruption.
“We haven’t even made it to the library yet,” I teased, realizing
we might have only scraped the surface.
“I’ll let you handle that one,” he laughed, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the library entrance.
Logan went through the opening to the library with ease. The library swallowed his body right up. He really could get in now. I followed closely behind and was relieved to see the library as I had last left it. So whoever attempted to destroy the coven couldn’t get into the library. They weren’t members of our coven. The shelves wrapping the room were filled with the colorful bindings I last saw and the gliding stepladder was perched in the far corner. But there were books carelessly spread out on the tables as if someone had been searching for something.
Logan caught my glance and nodded as he pointed up the spiral staircase.
We both slowly moved up the steps, unsure of what to expect. Reaching the landing, we still saw no one, but there was rustling in the backroom. We were getting closer to something and my nerves were starting to get the better of me. I didn’t think I could handle this twice.
Chapter
2
I reached for Logan’s hand as we s
lowly made our way to the library’s backroom when an odd but familiar feeling pulsed through me. I knew whoever this person was.
“Hey,” a voice called.
“Jeez, Trevor!” I half yelled. “What are you doing here? You scared us to death.”
“Speak for yourself,” Logan teased.
“I got back to town this morning, and I thought I’d check out the covenstead. I didn’t expect to find it in this shape,” Trevor replied grimly.
“No kidding.” I shook my head and glanced at Logan who seemed to be
distracted.
“How’s your mom?” Trevor asked.
He shoved his hand into his pocket quickly.
“She’s been better
.”
“I stopped by your house this morning and nobody answered.”
Trevor caught Logan staring at him and stiffened his stance.
“Yeah. She’s actually staying at my aunt’s house recovering. It seemed best with the amount of care she needs.
We need to be able to focus on things clearly, and all I could think about was keeping her safe,” I replied, puzzled at Logan and Trevor’s behavior.
“Makes sense.” He nodded
, exhaling slowly.
“Were you the one searching through things downstairs?” Logan asked.
“No. After I saw that, I actually came up to make sure no one was up here, but I got distracted with this.” He pointed at a large trunk in the corner that was open. “I hauled it over here to the window for light so I could see inside.”
“I think whoever was
researching down in the library was led to something in this trunk. But I have no idea what they were looking for.”
“Huh.” I looked into the trunk and saw some robes folded in the bottom, something that looked like an urn, and then an empty box that looked like it would crumble if any of us touched it.
“It looks like they found it.” I shook my head and pointed toward the empty cardboard shell.
Logan’s expression changed
, and he grabbed my hand.
“Someone’s coming.” He glanced at Trevor who nodded his head.
“Yeah. We need to get out of here,” Trevor confirmed.
“How do you know?” I asked, but
Logan was already pulling me back down the stairs with Trevor right behind us.
“But I think we should see what the mystery person was looking up,” I protested
, my eyes briefly landing on the table of books that Logan was whisking me by.
Logan pulled me through the library door almost
taking me airborne.
“Who’s close?”
“We need to go out the back entrance,” Logan replied, leading us to the backdoor.
“You need to start filling me in. I don’t
do well being in the dark,” I argued. “You
know
this about me.”
We reached the back exit
, and Logan pushed the door open to expose the outside. My eyes attempted to adjust to the sudden change in light as I scanned the vacant parking lot as relief spread through my system.
“Is it
Eben who’s coming?” I asked.
“Or one of his close followers,” Logan replied.
“Shouldn’t we find out?” I asked with Trevor quickly closing the door behind me. I noticed Trevor eyeing Logan for a reaction, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Okay. I’ve never been one to sit on the sidelines
, and I’m not starting now.” I folded my arms and a grin spread across Logan’s lips.
“And I’d never expect you to,” he
replied.
“She shouldn’t be here for this,
” Trevor objected.
I shot him an icy stare and shook my head.
“Have you ever tried holding her back from something?” Logan laughed. “I wouldn’t start now.”
“So
this thing you all share still works even though my father’s out of the picture?” I asked, ignoring the look on Trevor’s face. “That’s how you can sense that someone’s close?”
“Looks like he was never in charge of the linking in the first place,” Trevor replied
flatly.
“I’d say whoever is coming knows we’re here and wants us to stick around. That’s why
it’s so strong in both of us,” Logan muttered, searching the vacant lot next to the Covenstead.
“I’m the smallest one here, and I think I could perch up in that tree over there. It would g
ive me a good vantage point to see who all might be involved,” I replied, pointing to the Cedar tree on the side of the building. I began taking off before I even heard their response.
“But you probably wouldn’t know anyone even if you saw them,” Logan
called after me. “I’ll sit up there with you, and Trevor, you stay back here over by the shed in case we’re wrong about how they plan on entering.”
Logan was right behind me as I reached the tree. The cars were zipping by on the main road, only heightening my sense of urgency not knowing which car might be theirs.
As I was reaching for the lowest tree limb unsuccessfully, Logan helped by lifting me up to the limb, and I began swiftly climbing up the tree. Finding a sturdy branch, I sat down hugging the trunk, centering my point of gravity. Logan propped himself on the branch up a foot or so from where I was perched and grinned down at me.
“Can you see al
l right?” I asked.
“Yeah…
so you think we can trust Trevor?”
“I don’t know
if I’ll ever totally be able to.”
“Same.”
“It’s freezing out here.” I began rubbing my hands together but it didn’t help. The air was frigid and it smelled like snow was on the way. The breath from Logan’s lips turned to a fog the moment it escaped.
“Something’s been bothering you, even before
we saw the covenstead,” I blurted out, surprising myself. “You haven’t been the same since you met with Dace yesterday.”
“There’s a lot of things going on right now. I think we’re both just distracted.”
“There’ve been a lot of things going on since you came back into my life. I know the difference.” I shot him an accusatory look. “You said something about hoping my father stays frozen. Why wouldn’t he? Did Dace tell you otherwise?”
Logan’s grip ti
ghtened on the tree limb, and he looked down at me.
“You know how you’ve inherite
d some abilities to see the future?”
I nodded. “Not the future, just the choices available.”
“Same difference,” he replied.
“Not really,” I countered.
“Seriously?” He was no longer amused.
“Sorry. Go ahead.”
“Dace thinks your father is going to be released from the state you put him in.”
“By who?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know or you won’t tell me?”
“I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean Dace doesn’t know,” he replied.
“I wonder why I didn’t see anything like that
in my premonitions.”
I was glad that Trevor
, Logan, and my aunt went through the ceremony back in the Adirondacks so that they could communicate with the fairies, but I wasn’t sure I liked how they were communicating with them without me. I liked to be in the mix. Okay, maybe it was part of my control-freak nature.
Tucking my chin in my shirt,
I looked over at the driveway and watched a black Town Car roll up to the front entrance of the covenstead.
“Check it out,”
I whispered, watching the driver’s door swing open. It had to be Eben with this much pomp. The driver walked around the car and opened the back door. A woman I didn’t recognize got out first. She had long raven colored hair and was dressed in black pants and a light grey sweater poncho. She was probably in her mid-forties, but I certainly didn’t recognize her. She wasn’t from the Witch Avenue coven.
Logan
’s breathing softened, which told me all I needed to know. He knew who she was. As she stood there, crossing her arms in front of her, she scanned the lot with her gaze skipping right over where we were perched. She didn’t see us. She looked impatient as she waited for the next person to get out of the car.
“We need to get in and get out,” she
stated, sticking her head back into the car. “Do you just want me to pop in? I’m sure I can find it.”
Touching the
nectunt
on my skin that I shared with Logan, I opened up my mind, allowing for some answers to drift in but not the one I hoped for.
“
Who is she?”
I channeled to him, watching her very slow and deliberate moves.
“She’s
an elder from your father’s movement. She trained by his side for several years. I only know of her because of what she’s done to so many who didn’t fall in line.”
“
What do you mean?”
I questioned, not taking my eyes off her.
“Once they’ve
invested a certain amount of training time into a student they aren’t keen on letting that student leave freely. They will hunt them down. She’s the head of the Venators.”
She held
out her long fingers as another hand reached for hers from within the town car. A man’s leg slowly moved to the pavement. I watched as Eben carefully climb out of the car with the woman’s assistance.
“What’s her name?”
I channeled to Logan.
“Lara.”
Eben stood on the sidewalk next to Lara, stretching and twisting at his waist. He nodded at Lara as she took his arm and guided him to the entry of the Witch Avenue Covenstead.
Not realizing I had been holding in my breath for so long, my head started to slightly
rock back and forth as I slowly let out the air.
“He’s really acting old.
He was so spry when I last dealt with him. It’s hard to imagine he’d be able to do much damage at all now.”
“
There’s definitely something going on with him but don’t underestimate him or Lara,”
Logan replied telepathically.
They carefully made their wa
y into the front entrance of the Covenstead, and all my mind could do was think about what Logan had said earlier. They hunted down the students who tried to leave. Did that make Logan a target?
“Why didn’t you ever mention
that they come hunting the students who don’t continue to study the dark arts?”
I channeled.
“I hoped I’d be overlooked because I left so early on.
”
“You’re the boyfriend of the
daughter whose father is in charge and you figured you’d be overlooked.”
“I
thought they’d be focusing on other things and so far I’ve been correct.”
Oh! H
e made me so mad.
Before I could continue
my barrage of questioning, the Covenstead door busted open with Lara yelling at the top of her lungs.
“Who beat us to it?” she screamed.
Eben came behind her and stood as she whipped around toward where Logan and I were perched. I wasn’t sure if she saw us or not. Even the shrubs surrounding the entrance appeared to be afraid of her as they cowered with every screech she let out. Or maybe it was the wind.
“Someon
e got to it first,” she seethed, turning back to Eben.
Thank the gods she didn’t see us.
“I can feel its power still on this property,” he responded. “If it’s not here now it was recently. We aren’t the only ones who know of its existence. He lifted his gnarled, veiny hand to her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. “We don’t know that they got what we were looking for. This mess could just be an attempt to sidetrack us. Leaving everything in the covenstead in disarray for us to jump to conclusions…in fact I think it’s working quite well.” His words calmed her slightly. “It’s got you riled up.”
He chuckled and for a split-second I thought of him as a cute old
man.
“It’s not over. We’ll find it. Whether it’s hidden here or somewhere else. I promise you
father…. we will find it.” Her voice trembled slightly as she said his name.
Father?
Was that just a respect thing or was Eben really her father. Was she really my aunt — my father’s sister?
I glanced up at Logan who looked as perplexed as I was
, and then I turned my attention back to Eben and Lara.
They began walking slowly to the car
, and it seemed that Lara was calming down slightly, but Eben’s movements were even slower than before. Were they looking for whatever was in that old, empty box that Trevor had found?
“I can’t imagine who would have torn this place up,” Lara said
, helping Eben into the car. “Let’s go to the warehouse to see how operations are coming along. We’ll come back in the morning, and if you can still sense the force, we can tear the place apart. It’s pointless now because if the power is only lingering like you mentioned, we’d be wasting time.”