Shattered Souls (20 page)

I gasped as t
he sorcerer threw a shuriken at Logan. The spinning blade spun in the air with lightning speed, but Logan plucked it midflight with a speed I had never seen before. His reflexes were faster than I thought possible. Logan held the throwing star in between his thumb and index finger as he smiled knowingly. A tingle ran through my body as I felt the confidence level grow within Logan. We were sharing the heart of this combat, and it was coming through our
nectunt
fully. Every move Logan had I knew was coming before it was started. Our
nectunt
was connecting us in another way, a new way as he tapped into the forces from the underworld, and I wondered if my father had something to do with it.

I watched as the sorcerer
flicked his wrist, releasing three more throwing stars, and my pulse quickened as I watched Logan climb up the wall with ease. My mouth fell open as I watched him cascade down at the same time as the blades clanked against the back wall.

My senses began to numb as I tried
focusing on the scene unfolding before me, but a pounding in my head was causing confusion. I shook my head, attempting to focus. Logan darted toward the sorcerer as the lights began to flicker. The sorcerer raised his arm in a failed attempt to block the blow from Logan’s fist. The anger driving the force of the hit made the contact a blood sport. The sorcerer’s cheek split open, and he looked startled.

He grabbed the sorcerer’s arm and spun him, slamming
his body against the ground. Logan landed on top of him, unsheathing one of the sorcerer’s own knives, running it along the sorcerer’s throat, light enough to not break the skin.

“Do yo
u want to keep trying?” Logan asked, his eyes narrowing on the man.

My heart was pounding as I watched the events unfold. Logan wasn’t o
nly harnessing his own strength. He had tapped into the underworld. A violent shudder riled my body, as I pushed away my fears that he wouldn’t be able to come back from his latest antics.

I looked on in horror as the sorcerer’s hand freed. I let out a short scream as the sorcerer grabbed Logan’s hand
that had been pressing the knife against the sorcerer’s throat. Logan struggled, attempting to free his own hand from the sorcerer’s before the sorcerer shoved it deep into his own throat. The blood immediately began draining from the self-inflicted neck wound. Logan hopped off the man and called me to help, but I could tell it was too late. The sorcerer knew what he was doing when he stuck the blade in.

“He didn’t want to go back to Ethan shamed. He knew…” Logan stopped.

“That you had help from the underworld,” I finished, watching the pool of red liquid extend beyond the sorcerer’s body. “It was a no-win situation.”

Logan didn’t respond.

“Self-defense,” I whispered.

“I don’t know that this would fall into grey magic,” Logan’s voice was low.
“But I thank you for trying to make me feel less monstrous.”

“I felt something when you changed,” I said.

“You did?”

“You connected with my father through me somehow, didn’t you?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

Logan’s eyes dropped to the floor. I walked over to the glistening, 8-point stars that had collected at the base of the wall and picked them up, bringing them back to Logan.

“That’s how you managed this? I’ve never seen speed like that before
. You’ve been fast before but not like that. Not that fast.”

Logan took a deep breath in and brought his gaze to meet mine. He reached out and grabbed one of the
shuriken from me, analyzing it closely.

“Don’t be upset with me,” he said quietly.
“I figured out how to do that in the store after we visited with Maddie. When you tapped into that guy’s mind, so did I.”

“Whoa.”

“We’ve got to get this situation resolved quickly before anyone walks into the coven,” Logan said.

“Great this type of activity now falls into the
situation
type category.” I sighed. “I’ll give Trevor a call. It’s going to take quite a bit more than magic to make this right.”

I explained the situation to Trevor
, and he felt it was in everyone’s best interest to involve the fairies. They were masters at hiding themselves and hiding others. Trevor was sure it didn’t only include the living. I cast a sheet over the sorcerer, camouflaging his body. That should provide enough cover until Trevor gets to the covenstead, and in the meantime, we could get out of here.

Logan
and I secured the area as best as we could and took off. We couldn’t afford to be caught around this
situation
, self-defense or not. The construction workers weren’t on-site any longer, and I felt a tiny shred of relief. But then that relief turned to suspicion.

“Logan, what time is it?” I asked.

He grabbed his phone. “2:30.”

“Don’t you think the construction workers should still be here?” I asked, glancing at the unattended area.
“Especially since their cars are?

“Good point.”

Running to the far end of the building, words didn’t even come when we got to the construction site. The workers were there but barely surviving. I ran to the most critical of the men and began immediately working on his wounds. The superficial bruising was nothing compared to what I saw under his flesh. I worried about internal bleeding.

“We’ve gotta call an ambulance,” I said.

“But the situation inside,” he said, his eyes widening.

“It will be fine,” I said, continuing to work on the man.

“Self defense,” I said. “You get out of here, and I’ll take care of everything.”

Logan nodded slowly and gave me his phone to make the emergency call. But I called Trevor first, letting him know the plans had changed.

I heard one of the men groan and realized it was the guy who had waved at me earlier. His left cheekbone was completely destroyed, an endless amount of blood spilling from various gashes.

“Help is on the way,” I said in a hushed voice. I heard the sirens in the distance, and I only hoped they would arrive in time.

I looked around witnessing what Ethan was willing to do to innocents not even involved in our world. He had to be stopped. One way or another.

Chapter 23

I pulled into my aunt’s driveway and found myself sighing. Logan was walking slowly toward the car as I popped it in park. I saw my mom, Ellsy, and my aunt peering at me through the living room window. They were so predictable.

Logan opened the driver
’s door and helped me out, pulling me into him. “How are you doing?” he whispered.

“Not so good.” I t
ook a deep breath as he held me. The images of the men we found flashed through my mind, and I shivered. “He’s got to be stopped.”

“I know,” Logan s
aid, sliding his arms down mine and stepping back. My mom and everyone had already left their peering station and were at the front door waiting for me.

“Oh, dear,” my mom gasped. “You’re covered in blood.”

I looked down at my sweater, spotting dried blood plastered into the fibers. I hadn’t even noticed. I reached up to my hair and felt the same crust outlining strands that I must have touched while helping the guys. I couldn’t even imagine what I looked like, but I was sure it wasn’t any better than I felt.

I walked through the door at my aunt’s house and beelined
toward the kitchen chair, falling into it with a thump.

“We’ve had the tea going since Logan arrived and told us what was happening,” my aunt said
, shaking her head. “You just never get a break.”

“Did everything go okay?” Logan asked, widening his eyes at me.

I nodded and reached for the cup of liquid goodness, feeling it coat my throat on the way down.

“Yes, everything went just fine. A couple of the guys were able to give testimony that aligned with
what happened…” my voice trailed off, and I avoided Logan’s gaze.

“How’d that work?”
he questioned, his voice lowered.

I looked at him and whispered. “I think you know exactly how that happened.”

He quirked his brow and nodded in surprise.

Not feeling quite right about implanting and shifting memories of the construction workers, I looked away quickly as the guilt settled in.

“I’m going to go up and shower, if that’s okay,” I said, turning to my aunt who nodded.

“I’ll bring some of my clothes in for you while you’re in the shower,” my mom offered.

“Thanks,” I called, climbing the stairs two at a time.

I wanted to rinse away the horrors of the day and get on with our plan. I even felt the buzz in my fingertips; that aching, subtle craving for something I couldn’t have but wanted so badly. I wanted normalcy. I wanted the Praedivinus and Demoniker Orders to be nothing more than a blip in the history pages.

I tu
rned on the water and stripped my clothes off. I tossed them in a pile and knew I never wanted to see them again. They could go in the trash. Climbing in the shower, I let the warm droplets canvas my body. I turned and faced the spray, feeling the warm beads hit my skin. I turned back around and let out a deep sigh, closing my eyes. It felt so good to feel the heat soak into my bones as I stood under the spray.

After seeing how eager Ethan was to bring in innocents, I couldn’t stop thinking about how quickly
we could get the trap set back East. Thinking about it again tensed my shoulder muscles, and I caught the scattered change in my breathing.

“Putting the clothes on the vanity, honey,” my mom’s voice startled me. “Doing okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied. “Thank you.”

She closed the door
, and I opened my eyes to see the steam rolling over the top of the shower curtain. I squeezed the raspberry shower gel onto my washcloth and attempted to scrub away whatever evil might have attached itself to me by being around Ethan. Noticing there wasn’t any shampoo in the shower, I squirted a glob of the shower gel in my hair. It would have to do.

I rinsed the soap off my body and stood in the shower a few minutes longer, partially dreading having to act alive and alert
, and like I didn’t really want to crawl under a stump somewhere, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I put all the rambling thoughts aside, turned off the shower, and dressed quickly.

Walking slowly down the stairs, I heard Logan explaining the earlier events, with Ellsy, my mom, or aunt gasping every so often. I slowed my pace to time my arrival just right, after he was done telling the story.

“Hey, sweetie,” my mom said. “You look much more relaxed.”

“Thanks. I feel it,” I said,
grabbing my teacup.

I looked over at Logan and mouthed thank you to him. He smiled and gave me a wink before sipping his drink.

“I think the plan you have to go back East is a solid one,” my mom said, surprising me.

“You do?” I asked.

“I really do, and I think the quicker you can get it done, the better.”

“I agree.”

“And I think it’s crucial that you and Angela swap before you make that journey. It’s too dicey doing it once you get there.”

I groaned and took another sip.
“I know.”

“There was something else I had planned on talking to you about before everything came down today. I don’t think there’s a good time to bring it up, considering everything that’s on your plate, but I’m not sure
if a better one will arise.” My mom walked over to a pile of mail and grabbed a letter. Her eyes watched me carefully as she held an opened envelope for me to grab. “It came in the mail over at the Witch Avenue home. I didn’t mean to open your mail… It’s just habit, but—” her voice trailed off.

I grabbed the envelope, which had the Witch Avenue crest stamped onto it, and slid the paper out.

“What’s up?” Logan asked, peering over my shoulder. “You both look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“The Witch Avenue Coven is choosing a new priestess.” My mouth went dry. “They’ve asked for my presence during the inauguration ceremony.”

“And?” Logan inquired, sensing more as he tried to scan the letter.

“They’ve chosen Triss as the new priestess,” my mother said, unable to keep the smile off her lips.

“Is this really happening?” I asked, skimming the invitation again. “I don’t deserve this honor.”

“Triss,” Logan said, touching my cheek. “If anyone deserves this, you do. You believed in the coven when nobody else did. You believed that the coven would do what was right, that coven members would do what was right, even when they didn’t. When everyone else turned their backs in times of trouble, you stepped up to the plate. You did more than all of the elders combined. And they don’t even know you’re a
Divinus
.”

“Which might be one very good reason why I can’t accept this offer,” I said, folding the invitation back into the envelope. “Especially now. Now is definitely not the time.”

“Once a coven has elected a priestess, she can’t decline the appointment,” my mom said quietly.

I glanced nervously at Logan and then back at my mom. “Well, I’ve got a lot of things to
work out before then. Winter solstice isn’t that far away, and I’d like to think some of these other things will be behind us by that time.”

My mom walked over to me and gave me a big hug. “I don’t think I’ve told you this often enough, but I’m really proud of you. I wish I could take credit it for it, but I really don’t think I can. You’re just you and so unique.” She took a step back and looked at Logan. “And thank you for being there for her when I wasn’t.”

Logan nodded and slid his arm around my waist. “It’s hard to believe. I mean has there ever been a priestess this young?”

“Not in the Witch Avenue C
oven, but I’m not sure about anywhere else,” Ellsy said. She was standing next to my mom, looking equally as proud.

“Is there anything I’m supposed to do with this?” I asked, holding the letter. “Or do I just show up?”

“It really is already set in motion so the only thing we need to do is make sure you’re back in time for it,” my mom said. “At least, that’s what I gathered.”

I wanted to be exci
ted but instead I was in denial. Judging by how things were going, I needed to stay there or else I’d never be able to complete anything.

“Is there anything else that could possibly jump out at me?” I asked.

“Don’t ask that,” my mom replied. “Besides you know the old adage…”

“I’ll never be given more than I can handle.” I smiled at her and
suddenly felt at ease. This was what I was missing; my mom to always tell me everything was going to be okay, even if it wasn’t. Sometimes just hearing there’s a glimmer of hope is enough fuel to ensure that the final steps are achievable. “I know I’ve said this before, but it’s really wonderful having you back.”

“That it is,” my aunt chirped from behind. “And it will be even nicer when she can get back in her home and stay in it.”

They all started laughing and I felt at home. I only wished it would have lasted.