Casted (Casted series) (18 page)

“The girls are usually here first thing in the morning,” he said as I climbed on an exercise bike and began pedaling. “I’ll leave you to it then,” he said with a quick wave.

I pedaled my ass off as if I were punishing myself and the book for last night’s escapades. My muscles burned in protest, but I continued on. Jude came in and turned on the radio. Music blasted from the speakers and I pedaled even harder.

I was so focused on exercising out the demons that I hadn’t noticed Jude when he stepped up beside me. He put a hand on my arm and I jumped.

“You keep at that pace and you won’t be able to walk tomorrow,” he said as he pulled me off the bike.

“Good,” I replied. It would serve the book right if I couldn’t walk! My knees wobbled. He held onto me until I was steady.

Sweat ran down my face in streams. My face burned as I tried to catch my breath. My shirt was plastered to my body and my arms trembled. Jude went over to the radio and shut it off. He never asked me if I wanted any help back to my room, he just kept pace with me and tried to keep the conversation light.

I made it back to my room under my own steam and turned the shower on as I peeled my sweat-soaked clothes from my body. I let the water pound away at my shaking legs. Jude was right. I was going to pay for this later. I couldn’t help but smirk.

CHAPTER TEN

I was beginning to get a little stir crazy. Even with the gym and endless books Edge had at his disposal, I was becoming restless. Every night I’d go to bed and every morning, I’d wake up to something strange. And by strange, I meant embarrassing.

For three days, I’d locked my door and gone to bed…in my own bed. The book, however, had no intentions on letting me stay by myself. Three nights ago, Edge found me wandering down the hallway and caught me just before I got to the kitchen in my shirt and little else. He walked me back to my room, picking up pieces of my clothing like a trail of bread crumbs along the way.

Two nights ago, I’d appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, where he was going over a stack of books with Matheson and Dagger. Lucky for me the others were so immersed in what they were going over, they didn’t bear witness to my almost bare-skinned entrance. To make matters worse, I don’t remember any of it. Edge always filled me in the next morning.

Music blasted in my ears as I put my body through its paces on the treadmill. Ever since Edge showed me where the gym was, I made use of it every morning. Not that it helped keep my body tired enough to stay in my own bed. It was a useful distraction for me, since we were pretty much stuck down here. At least until we could figure out what the marks on my arms meant.

The book had blocked us at every turn. I knew that Matheson and Dagger were researching things and I tried to stay away from them as much as possible. I didn’t need the book to know what they were up to. Everything they were doing was very hush-hush, and I couldn’t help but feel left out. Damn book. The fluttering of pages caressed my mind. Ugh! It was impossible not to feel like I was being stalked twenty-four seven. I closed my eyes and bumped up the speed.

There was nothing I could do right now to be helpful, and I had to remind myself that no matter what, we’d figure it out eventually. Lorenzo wasn’t going to bide his time and neither was the book. What really worried me was how easy Lorenzo just let us get away from him. I couldn’t help but think we’d gotten way too lucky when he took Edge’s explanation of me being a librarian. He’d accepted that lie so easily. The thought made me shudder.

There was only so much I could do in a day and most of it, I did alone. The feeling was growing in me that I had to get out of this damn cave before I went crazy.

I slung a towel around my neck and wiped the sweat from my face. If only I could get away from it all and sort my feelings out. I needed some alone time to figure out what I really felt for Edge. It seemed like the book was enhancing everything I felt and I didn’t want my actions to be influenced. My mother had spoke of her love towards my father and how if felt like the book had amplified the feelings, but never once had she blamed the book for making her feel that way. Could it be that the book was only nudging me in the direction that I wanted to take?

Jude popped up in my line of vision, making me jump.

“Edge asked me to come get you,” he said as he held the door open, gesturing for me to go first.

“Did they find something?” I couldn’t help but feel a burst of hope surge through me.

“Not sure. He just asked me to come and get you while he rounded up everyone else,” Jude said, running his hands through his hair. He knew something. And by the vagueness of his answer, it had me curious as to what was going on. Maybe he was trying to protect me from myself – or the book.

We walked into the kitchen, which had now become some kind of makeshift work area for everyone but me. I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and leaned against the counter as I waited for Edge. He and Matheson were the last ones to come into the room and they were whispering between themselves. It sounded heated. Whatever Matheson said made Edge snap.

“You don’t think I know that? Jesus man, I’m trying the best that I can here!” Edge bellowed.

Matheson shook his head and pushed past him to take his place at the kitchen table.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Edge raked his hands through his hair and began pacing. My stomach plummeted and the pages in my head began ruffling feverously. Something big had happened and they didn’t know how to tell me.

I looked around the room, waiting for someone to speak. All eyes were downcast, not one of them would look at me.

Matheson’s grave voice filled the silence as he picked his gaze up from the floor to look at me. “Do you remember anything from last night?”

My face flushed. What did I do last night? Had someone finally caught me stripping off my clothes as I wandered around in Edge-seeking mode? It was my turn to look at the ground. I didn’t want anyone to see my face. I just couldn’t face them knowing that the book had finally took the last of my self control away.

“I’ve already told you that she never has any memories of what she does when she’s like that,” Edge growled as he stopped pacing and came to stand in front of me.

He cupped my face in his hands and forced me to look up at him. A single tear tracked down my face as I waited for him to tell me just how far I’d gone last night.

He spoke to the room but looked at me as he wiped the tear away. “Jade has no remembrance of what she’s done until the next day, when I tell her. Last night is the first time she’s done what she did and I think she deserves to know what happened.”

“What did I do?” I whispered low enough for only him to hear me.

He slid his hand down to clasp mine in a sign of unity. “Everyone here has been working non-stop to see if we can outsmart the book. Every opportunity that we have had at trying to translate the words has been exhausted,” he said, running his fingertips over my arms.

“Okay, but what does that have to do with whatever it is I did last night?”

“Last night was totally different. Last night…” He stopped and rubbed at his temples.

“Last night the book called us out,” Matheson jumped in.

“Called you out?” I didn’t understand.

“That and then some,” Jessa said, rubbing her elbow. I hadn’t noticed how beaten everyone looked. Almost as if they’d been in some sort of barroom brawl. Jessa’s elbow was scraped up and Rainy had a bruise along her jaw. Dagger’s black eye was almost purple and Julie shot daggers at me as she cradled her ribs.

“It wasn’t her, so stop looking at her like you guys are ready for round two. Because I’m sure the book would just love another shot at all of us,” Rainy huffed out, bringing attention to her split lip.

“What the hell happened to all of you?” I asked.

Jude jumped up from his chair. “Dude, you were like kicking everyone’s ass!” he said excitedly.

“What?” I couldn’t be hearing this right.

“You went all like, Jet Li, on ‘em,” Jude snorted.

Dagger grabbed Jude by his arm and stuffed him back down in his seat. The look on Daggers face had the clear warning for him to shut the hell up. Jude threw his hands in the air. “Just sayin…” he said, shifting away from Dagger’s hands.

“I did this to all of you? What? How?” I sputtered.

“It wasn’t you. It was the book,” Edge explained.

I hugged my arms against me. How could the book go from trying to get me into Edge’s bed, to beating the shit out of my friends? It just didn’t make sense.

“It wasn’t me…it was the book? What did I-it do?”

“We were really close to deciphering that,” Dagger said, pointing at the foreign words on my arm. “In fact, we were down to like the last three words before all hell broke loose.”

“You were?”

“Yes, we took turns, one word at a time, until we had them all. We decoded each of them one-by-one, trying to keep you unaware. We even kept our findings separate until last night,” Matheson chimed in.

“So you were sitting down to piece it all together and then what?” I asked.

“You appeared out of nowhere and-” Jessa finished with a gesture to her arm.

I cringed. Now the book was taking it too far. They were just trying to help me. And knowing I had no control over myself when I went to sleep at night was creepy. What was I supposed to do? Chain myself down. The pages snapped in response. I huffed. I couldn’t even have a single thought without some sort of input from it.

“You said something to us, but I can’t seem to remember what now. It’s like you spelled us not to remember everything we came up with. Then you burnt all of our findings, including the book we were using to translate it,” Julie sneered.

We had nothing. After all this time wasted down here, it was a dead end. I couldn’t help but feel like the book was winning, that it would always win.

“It’s not her fault,” Rainy said as she leaned in closer to Julie. The pages in my mind fluttered faster, as if excited that they were seconds away from coming to blows.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the book was trying to turn everyone away from me –well, everyone except Edge. The book responded by sifting through its pages. It was getting very aggravating to hear that sound. I couldn’t stand here and watch everyone turn against each other or turn against me. Maybe they were a little stir crazy, too. Whatever the reason, we needed to get out of here. Get some sunshine and re-energize ourselves if we wanted to get this mystery solved.

The book was only part of the problem anyway. We still needed to figure out why Lorenzo was looking for it, too. What was so special about it anyway?

The books hard leather cover slammed into the side of my brain. My eyes watered as I grabbed for my head.

Edge grabbed me up in his arms and turned to everyone. “I think we’ll have to take this up with Jade again later.”

I cracked my eyes open, forcing them to stay that way as I wiggled out of Edge’s arms. “I’m fine,” I said as reached out to steady myself against the counter.

Everyone had stood up, waiting to see what I was going to do. Jude had grabbed his chair and was holding it out in front of him like a weapon.

“I’m really sorry about last night. I honestly don’t remember anything. The book is…I don’t even know how to explain it, but I promise I’ll try harder to keep it in check.”

“It’s not going to stop until it gets what it wants,” Edge said, sliding his arm around me.

“I know,” I whispered.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired of being underground. I’m in desperate need of fresh air and a little sun would be nice too,” Rainy said.

“Me, too. I feel like a damn bear that can’t come out from hibernation,” Julie piped in.

Edge tilted his head in thought. “Jude, can you check out the cottage?”

Jude shook his head. “I can’t–not since you put that last protection spell on it.”

“Everyone, gather your things, we leave in a half hour,” Edge said with a sigh.

“I’ll go get the flash point ready,” Jude told Edge as he slipped by us.

I squeezed Edge’s arm. “I just have a few things to grab.” He didn’t have a chance to stop me since Matheson had cornered him and was going over what kind of security Edge had in place.

I found a backpack in the closet and stuffed the few pieces of clothing I had and my mother’s journal into it. I was just finishing up when I heard Edge across the hall. The door to his closet opened then closed.

“So where are we going?” I asked him as he zipped his bag closed and slung it over his shoulder.

“I have a cottage by the water in the south of France.”

“No more caves?” I chuckled.

“No, thank the Goddess. I’m feeling a little closed in too,” he said with a quirk to his lips.

Jude knocked on the doorframe. “We’re all set,” he said.

“Ready?” Edge asked, slipping my hand into his.

“Bring on the sunshine and the fresh air,” I replied.

Edge led us down a dark pathway that ended at a metal door. Edge held the door open while everyone stepped into a living room. Sunlight flooded the pathway coating us in warm, buttery light. I’d missed the sun.

“Welcome to France,” Edge said as he walked over to open the sliding glass doors to let the salty air sweep in.

I breathed in deep.

“Guest bedrooms and the kitchen are that way.” Edge pointed to the doorway to the right.

Edge tugged my hand, pulling me away from the living room. No one noticed us leaving as they gathered out on the patio.

“Where are you taking me? I wanted to go out and enjoy the sun.” I laughed as he pulled me down a short hallway and up a flight of stairs.

I stared in awe as Edge ushered me into the bedroom at the top of the stairs.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“Like it? I love it,” I said, looking at everything but him. I caught his smile out of the corner of my eye, but continued gazing at the beauty of the room I was in.

The entire wall in front of me was glass. On the other side of the glass was a private balcony. I turned around the room to take it all in. A massive four poster bed took up one wall and was covered with a white bedspread that looked light and airy. Rugs, thick enough to sink into, were spaced out to cover the worn wooden floor. Black and white photos of a child were hung up in different places along the pale yellow walls.