The Price of Power (The Price of Secrets Series Book 2) (11 page)

    “Hannah, what’s wrong?” Daniel tucked that one loose strand of hair, that has a mind of it’s own, behind my ear.

    I had been too busy wooing over him to notice that he seemed a bit frazzled. “I was just worrying that we might have waited too late to get help for Jaycee. What about you, what’s going on?”

    Daniel tried to give me a reassuring dimpled smile, but it fell short of convincing. “It’s not a big deal. I didn’t get enough sleep last night, that’s all. I had another dream.” He paused long enough to look around to make sure no one was within earshot of us. “I told you about the recurring dream I’ve been having, but this one was like a part two of that dream. I was still the black horse running through woods with someone on my back. In my past dreams this is where I would wake up, but last night I was able to see a little bit more. I made it through to a clearing and there was two other people waiting for us. They looked to be about our age but the clothing was way off. They all seemed handmade and they weren’t much more than sheets or sacks sewed together. You know, sacks like we see potatoes in at the farmers market. The two helped the person off my back and he couldn’t have been more than a foot tall. It was kinda creepy. I shifted right there in front of them back into what I feel was an ancestor of mine. I don’t think it was my ninth grandfather, it felt this was even before him. The last thing I heard before waking up was them screaming to hurry because they are close behind. I have no clue who ‘they’ were.”

    “So there were four teens counting yourself?” What does it say about me that the first thing I got from him telling me about his nightmare was that it was a guy on his back instead of a girl...and that I was relieved? I am seriously mental.

     “Yeah, so if that is a reflection of us, who is the fourth person?”

    “I have no clue. Maybe this Zeda Woods can tell us, or maybe it might be her. I guess we'll find out soon, here comes Jaycee.”

    “Hey, what’s up with the doom and gloom expressions? That’s starting to become a permanent look for you two. I’ve already warned you about wrinkles, but I guess there’s always botox.” She was trying to act snide, but she was rambling because she was nervous about what we were going to say.

    “Just another day in our deranged life. Come on, we will fill you in on the way.”

Chapter 10

    At first I thought Daniel was playing a joke on us when he pulled into the parking lot. Although, I quickly saw that he was just as shocked as I was. He even re-checked his paper to make sure the address was correct.

    “A freakin’ palm reader, seriously? Aunt Lucy seemed sane, but maybe not.” Jaycee grabbed her purse, threw it up on her shoulder, and opened the car door. “This shit just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

    I didn’t say it out loud, but I was with Jaycee on this one. How is a palm reader, with a flashing neon light saying so, going to be able to help us? I followed suit and got out of the car. Daniel opened the door for us, so of course, I had to be the first one to walk in. It was a very dark room with lots of rich gem tone colors of reds, purples, and royal blues everywhere. It was very typical to what you would expect from someone who claims to read the lines on your hand and gazes into crystal balls. However, I had to admit that it felt very warm and welcoming.

    We only had to wait a few seconds before the red velvet (yes, I said velvet) curtain, separating the entrance from a back room, opened.

    “Good afternoon. Welcome to Zeda’s. What brings the three of you here?” Zeda was a very tall plus size woman, I would guess in her mid to late forties. So this can’t be the fourth person in Daniels dream.

    “Being a palm reader and all, shouldn’t you know that already?” Jaycee scoffed.

    Zeda’s eye bored into Jaycee, and was about to respond when she noticed Jaycee’s necklace.

“Where did you get that?” She motioned to her own neck.

    “It was a birthday gift from Hannah.”

    That was my cue to step in. “Hello, I’m Hannah, and this is Jaycee and Daniel. We were told you might be able to help us.”

    I don’t think Zeda realized that she had taken a few steps back away from us as I spoke. “Who told you that?” She asked.

    “My great aunt Lucy. Lucy MacKenna.” Jaycee said, looking almost bored.

     Zeda pulled out one of the cushioned mismatched chairs closest to her and sat down. “Now?” The question seemed to be directed more toward herself than us.

    She took a deep breath, like she was trying to pull herself together. “Well, come sit down and let’s see what we can see.” As if she just remembered Jaycee’s rude comment, she turned to face her. “I charge a fair fee and my readings are always honest, it pays the bills. Do not let the appearance of my shop lead you to think otherwise. I decorated it knowing how the public perceives my kind, I would hate to disappoint them. I take my craft very seriously, and believe it or not I did know you would be coming, just not this soon. Not this generation.”

     Wow talk about stepping on someone's toes, Jaycee sure did.

    “What do you mean by ‘not this generation’?” I asked.

    Her blue, almost purple, eyes moved their gaze to me. “The time line is usually every five generations, give or take a few years. You are about a generation early. Right now I’m feeling that you are the reason it has started ahead of schedule. You have a very old soul, Hannah.” I couldn’t help thinking of my dad, he always said the same thing. “Each of you lay your left hand on the table.”

    We all did as we were told. I felt excitement, along with fear, coming from both Jaycee and Daniel. Me? I felt dread, and I did not like this at all. My ears were ringing and I knew, just knew, that what she tells us here today is going to change my life. As lives go, mine is pretty bizarre, but I don’t want it to change for the worse. Nonetheless, I feel that it will, but I can’t stop it because my gut is telling me that this is where I need to be. And some stupid girl (ME!) just told Jaycee a couple days ago to follow her gut...I hate that girl right now.

    Zeda started with Daniel. She put his hand in hers and closed her eyes. “It is Daniel right?”

    “Yes ma’am.”

    She smiled at his politeness but her eyes remained shut. She held onto his hand for several minutes before letting go without a word. She skipped me and moved onto Jaycee. After what seemed like forever Zeda opened her eyes. “True born witch. The crystal is where it belongs.”

    “You seemed shocked, I was too.” Jaycee smiled. “Hair braiding, nature loving, passive girl I’m not.”

    “That just might be what saves you this time around.”

    Daniel, who had been very quiet up until this point, leaned up in his chair. “What does that mean? Why does everything have to be talked around in circles?”

    “Give me a minute, Warrior, and I will explain.”

    That got my attention fast. The voice inside my head had called Daniel a warrior when we were in Cherokee. Before I could say or do anything about it, Zeda grabbed for my hand. This time she didn’t close her eyes, she stared unblinkingly into mine. On the creepy scale- I would give it a solid ten. While she was in a daze, or more like a trance, I thought I would try to look into her mind to see what she was seeing.

    “Stop. It will only give you a headache,” was all she said and continued to stare. I felt like a child getting caught stealing candy, but I didn’t try anymore. I saw the fog leave her eyes as she came out of whatever or wherever she was. “Such power for such a young girl.” Pink rose to her cheeks as if she didn’t mean to say that out loud.

    She sat back so she could address the three of us. “You asked for blunt, so I am going to be. Since the beginning of magic, four young supernatural beings have faced the demonic trinity, the Triune. There is a sort of balance in everything. There is no right without wrong, there is no righteous without sin, there is no yang without yin and there is no good magic without dark magic. When magic was placed upon the earth it was pure and good. The Triune was made from evil to try to capture all magic and turn it evil. Your battle is one of many between light and dark trying to win and set the balance in their favor. So, when the Triune was formed, so were the group of four to fight against them. After each battle the four are reincarnated every five or so generations to try again, but each time they have failed. This time around it is different, there are five.”

    The three of us interrupted at the same time, and our questions were thrown at her simultaneously.

     Mine was simply, “reincarnation?”.

    Daniel went with, “five supernatural people, like a star? But there’s only the three of us”. He was trying to make a connection with the white star in middle of the forehead of the horse he had shape shifted into. Well, it wasn’t him, but he was portraying an ancestor… never mind you get the gist.

    Jaycee, of course, had a good question that Daniel and I wouldn’t have picked up on. She is so much smarter than she gives herself credit for. “Why do these supernatural beings have to be teenagers?”

    “One question at a time, please, you didn’t let me finish.” Zeda was annoyed and rubbed her temples with her long fingers for emphasis. “Supernatural power usually moves into full swing around the age of sixteen. For someone who is well trained in their ability would be able to get a power boost by drawing from the infamous raging hormones that their body is producing during the puberty development. That, along with speed and stamina, are the reasons this battle occurs when they are in their teenage years. The Witch, The Warrior, The Fairy, The Traveler and now The Heart. They are not so much like the five points of a star, Daniel, but more like four shields protecting the Heart, the core, the one who is meant to defeat the demons once and for all. You Hannah are the Heart and seer- a psychic who, among other things, can see into the future, past and minds.”

    A seer I get, but the heart? I don’t want to be the heart! I’m supposed to be the one who destroys demons?

     I started to stand up and walk out, after telling her she had me mistaken for someone else, but the nosey voice inside my head had to give her two cents worth-
now is not the time for a tantrum, you need to listen and take heed to what she is telling you. It will help you in this journey.

    That’s just it, I don’t want this journey, I want to go back to where my only problems are living impaireds talking to me and seeing into peoples minds!

    
Zeda didn’t catch my internal debate as she continued. “After each failed attempt, the four had to rest to regain their strength before being reincarnated into a worthy supernatural body.”

    “I don’t believe in reincarnation. You have one shot in life to choose bad or good and that’s it.” What Zeda said goes against everything I was taught growing up in church.

    “Just because you don’t believe doesn’t make it untrue. I’m sure many don’t believe in ghosts, yet you see and talk to them, or witches, while one sits right beside you.”

    She had me there. “My souls is MY soul. I do not share it with anyone else and I am me, not someone from years ago.”

    “You are correct. It is not the soul, per se, that is reincarnated, but the essence of the spirit. It is embedded into your soul and it becomes part of you. So yes, you are still you and only you will answer for your soul and the choices you made in life. After all, we are given free will. Even though you know what lies ahead of you, you still have the choice to fight them, ignore them, or join them.”

    “Join them? It that what these demons want?” Daniel asked.

    “Absolutely, it would mean the demons have won. It would only take one of the five of you to turn to the dark side for all to be lost. It would be a devastating blow to the side of good. There would be nothing standing in the way of these demons collecting lost souls and forcing them to do their bidding. With only three remaining to assist and protect the core, the battle would become almost impossible to win.”

    “It doesn’t sound like any of them won or made any progress anyways.” Jaycee mouthed off. “Why would this time be any different?”

    “Oh but they did. Even though they didn’t totally destroy the demons, and some lost their life in the battle, each time the team was able to weaken the Triune enough to where they too had to regroup and recharge. This time, though, you have Hannah and the essence that has chosen her. Actually, all three of you have received enhanced abilities and I’m sure you will find that to be true with the other two once you find them.”

    “So, just how do you propose we do that? Put an add in the newspaper ‘wanted- two supernatural teens to help fight big bad demons’, or tweet about it maybe?” Jaycee stood up as she started her rant. “I get that I’m a witch and Daniel is a warrior and Hannah is the center of all this, but how do we find a fairy and a traveler? Do we go hunting in the woods for a little bug in a tutu that lights up? And what the crap is a traveler? Say we do find them, and we have our freaky five, what then? How do we know what to do then?” Jaycee grabbed at her sweater and started panting. While she was having a panic attack, every candle in the store went a blaze.

    I rushed to her side and quickly put my hand in hers, to give her a sense of calm that I was trying to radiate from my mind. Which failed miserably seeing as my calm was just a facade instead of a true emotion. Without thinking, I put our joined hands around her crystal that hung from her neck, and within seconds I could feel her pulse slow and see the color coming back to her face. I too felt the power of the crystal run through me leaving behind a feeling of strength and hope.

    “Concentrate, put out the flames.” I told her while still holding onto the necklace.

    Without trying, I saw into Jaycee’s mind and watched as she formed an image of a single flame waving red and orange heat from side to side. She

pictured her fingers snuffing it out in one swift motion. Just as fast as the candles lit, they were out. Strangely, there were no smoke that normally followed when a candle gets blown out, there wasn’t even running wax. It was as if it never even happened.

    “Very impressive. Especially for someone who hasn’t even had their rite of passage yet.” Zeda saw our blank expressions and smiled. “It means coming into her full power at sixteen. I did not mean to scare you, nor am I here to sugar coat it. Just like you, I have a job to do and I want to make sure I do it thoroughly.”

    “How do you know all of this? Were you taught this story, this legend?” Daniel asked. He seemed to be taking this well. It makes sense, him being a warrior and all… my warrior.

    “My part in this battle is that of a teacher, if you will. Over the years I have been given dreams of what to share if and when you found me.

    “Jaycee, do not worry, the five of you will find each other because your powers will attract and pull you toward one another. In all actuality you probably already know the other two or have at least crossed paths with them.

    “The Fairy will not be a tiny bug like creature. That person will be very much human. However, there is a small problem, they have no clue that they have any powers whatsoever. When their bloodline came to America they hide the powers that they were born with, out of fear of not being accepted in this new land, and they never practiced or spoke of it again. When a power lays dormant for that many years, without being able to evolve, it stops trying to emerge. But it is still there, deeply embedded.  

    “A Traveler on the other hand will know they are special. Maybe not that they are supernatural, but will know they have been called for greatness. A person is not born a Traveler, or have it in their blood, they were chosen at birth to become a vessel for a Traveler. They inherit the powers from that Traveler. A true Traveler is an angel that has been given permission to leave Heaven to travel the universe in search of their own path to help destroy evil, only returning home once their purpose is complete. They are of pure heart and nature and seek out the same in a vessel.”