Shattered Souls (2 page)

“
Was it worth it?”

“We
’d heard about someone with special powers. We wanted to see what we were dealing with,” her voice quivered as she cowered on the ground. “What do you have planned?”

But it was an act
, and I fell for it. She shot up from the ground and slammed me against the stump, knocking the air out of me. Her fingers circled around my throat, making every swallow difficult. The night went eerily silent as I squirmed under her grip. Her body was pressed against mine. I couldn’t free my arms.

“
Why don’t you tell me about yourself,” she purred.

I closed my eyes
and felt the droplets begin to surface over my flesh. As I tapped into the energy of the river off in the distance, I allowed my mind to intersect with the river’s guided force. If I could gather enough power from it, I might be able to pull this off.

“Well?” she asked.

My eyes sprang open, and I pushed her off of me with the strength of the river behind me. She smacked against the trunk of a tree, dazing her. Her body slid down the trunk, and my fist landed on the sweet spot of her jaw, rendering her unconscious. Magic wasn’t always the answer.

I glanced back
at the man whose body was just as I’d left it. I didn’t want to take anyone’s life tonight, and I wished it hadn’t gone there. But it did. If he hadn’t tried to squeeze the life out of me, he’d still be breathing.

I grabbed my phone and began texting Trevor
for help to clean up the mess I’d had made. He instantly responded and I sent him the address, along with the whereabouts of the unconscious female. Hopefully, she’d provide some more information.

The adrenaline that had been pumping through me began wearing off as I walked across the lawn, back to the front of the house.
Thrilled at the concept of walking down the driveway to reach my car, rather than crawling under the fence again, led me to have a slight skip in my step. I was purely amazed at my accomplishments and couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. I hoped Logan would be equally as delighted.

Climbing into my car, I turned
on the ignition and began driving down the road, hoping to spot either Lin or Tracy. They’d probably already made it to a phone by now, but I’d keep an eye out just in case. The excitement began building as I let the idea of what happened really settle in. It was hard to fathom that I saved two coven members all by myself.

Turning up the radio,
my mind wandered to the possibilities of what this could mean for us, for our movement. I pulled the car into the driveway and watched the front door fling open.

Logan stepped onto the front porch. His expression was flat and his arms
were folded in front of him. He was pissed. Trevor must have told him.
Traitor
.

I
opened the car door and threw him my best smile, hoping that would soften him a bit.

“Unless the grocery store has turned into a mud wrestling arena, I don’t think tha
t’s where you were,” Logan said, raising his brow.

He took a step off t
he porch and came toward me. He was really mad. But why was that so hot? Was that where our relationship was headed? I flushed as his eyes connected with mine.

“You’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that both Tracy and Lin are
back home with their families. I just got the text from Trevor. And yes, I did go to the grocery store. That’s what started this whole thing.”

Logan’s mouth dropped
open, as his eyes filled with amusement. He stopped right in front of me, shaking his head as the seriousness returned to his gaze. His mouth lowered, next to my ear. “I’ve told you before. It’s too dangerous to just go off on a whim like that. I don’t care what your dreams tell you.” His voice was gravelly and seductive. “You were careless.”

He dropped his hands to my hips and
brought me close. The energy whipped between us, and I suddenly didn’t care about the meal I had planned for us. I felt the warmth travel up my body as he held me. “But I’m proud of you.”

He
pulled back and winked at me. The devilish grin returned to his lips. “I knew what to expect when I got involved with you. I guess I just thought it would wear off at some point,” he said.

“No you didn’t and you like it,
” I laughed. “Now help with the groceries while I fill you in. It was kind of fun, actually.”

He shook his head
. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

“
On a serious note, though, the Praedivinus are just going to keep picking members off one by one. I got these two out alive, but who knows if I’ll be that lucky next time.”

“I don’t want there
to be a next time,” he replied, slamming the car door. I watched him take off toward the front door and realized there was a lot more going on inside of him than just my latest excursion.

Chapter
2

“Are you doing okay?” Logan whispered. “I didn’t mean —”

“I know,
” I interrupted him. “I can only imagine how aggravating it must be to know what my fate is, and yet I seem so unwilling to…”

“Quit being s
tubborn?” he replied, his voice on the verge of playfulness but held hostage by our unknown fate. I felt his beautiful, blue eyes burning into me. “But, really, are you doing okay after everything?” he asked again.

I looked up at him
through my lashes and nodded. The spell books from the coven and our cottage were spread out on the floor as I searched for anything I might have missed before. I’d been at it for an hour and had already found several things that might be helpful. Or not. I was in somewhat of a trance, but I had to keep busy. We’d been on the run for so long that this was the first time where I felt I could regroup back in my home.

“I think I am,” I answere
d. “Everything has gone so fast. It’s kind of hard to believe we’ve gotten to this point. I know we’re far from calm, but somehow things feel less… dreadful. Like there’s hope.”

Logan c
ame over and knelt next to me, touching my cheek softly. “I’d say your father had a lot to do with that.”

I nodded, pushing back the wave of sadness.

He was right. My father did the one thing I never expected. He sacrificed himself to save me, allowing us to continue our hunt to stop the Praedivinus Order’s rampage.

“I think my mom’s going to be moving back to the house
soon,” I said, organizing some of the papers that I wanted to research further.

“That’s good news,” he said
, standing up. He walked to the overstuffed chair and sat down. I detected a slight hesitation in his voice, but I wasn’t sure why.

“Isn’t it?”
I asked, smiling.

He nodded, and our eyes connected.  “You think she’s ready to—”

“Be on her own?” I interrupted, twisting my mouth. The same worry had crossed my mind as well, but she has to give it a try at some point. She didn’t take the death of my father well. But who really would? Her response gave me hope. While she was under the Altered spell, she would’ve been numb to the whole thing. The fact that she now had a reaction to events was actually a good thing.

“Yeah…” his voice trailed off.

I took in a deep breath and nodded. “You know… I think she is. I think it’ll be good for her to get involved with the flower shop again. I know working back at the apothecary shop has helped my aunt.”

“So you don’t think she’ll try to get too involved with everything that’s going on
, do you?” His blue eyes fell to the floor where I began piling the books and papers. “I’m not sure she’s ready for that yet.”

“I think we can only take
things as they come. One day at a time. I haven’t told her anything yet that would interfere with her recovery, and I intend to keep it that way,” I said.

“I couldn’
t agree more,” he replied. His eyes darted across the room in an overly jumpy manner. Something was definitely distracting him.

“
My mom’s been thinking about moving out here, at least temporarily,” he said quietly, bringing his attention back to me.

“Really? That would be awesome.”

“I thought so too.” He nodded, still looking a little tense.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, trying to shake the blood back into my feet as I stood up. “I feel like something’s bothering you.”

“No. Everything’s cool.” He shifted back in the chair.

Realizing I wasn’t going to get anywhere with a simple line of questioning, I shifted my focus.

“Do you know much about solitary practitioners?” I asked. “I’ve found several mentions of them and I’m kind of curious…”

He
smiled and his eyes glimmered. “It depends on the context, but I know of them. They tend to have specialties that others in our world don’t have. Actually, if you hadn’t been born into the Witch Avenue Coven you probably would’ve been one.”

“Really?
Right about now that sounds kind of nice.”

“
What other kinds of things did you come across?” he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

“A lot of
this stuff didn’t mean much before because we didn’t know the context,” I began.

“And now that we’ve been through certain
situations it makes more sense,” he finished my sentence, warming me up inside.

Not the time to get distracted
, Triss!

“The
fact that there’s material about certain scenarios that have started to play out is pretty freaky. I don’t know whether to take it as our ancestors being prepared for the worst or actually predicting the future.” Feeling a chill build in the room, I flicked my wrist toward the pile of wood sitting in our fireplace and watched the flames ignite.

“Getting pretty good at that,” Logan
said, smiling.

“
I’m getting to be pretty useful,” I teased. “So I want to show you some of the items I’m talking about, and you can tell me if it’s just me reading too much into things or if I’m on the right track,” I told him.” But I’m starving, and I’ve got an awesome dinner planned for us.”

“You’re cooking?” he asked
, pleasantly surprised.

“I am. I’m feeling more and more like my old self, not so stressed out.
” I walked over to him and planted a quick kiss on his cheek before heading to the kitchen.

“I can’t wait,” Logan
said, grabbing one of the spell books off the floor.

“Let’s pray it turn
s out because I’m beyond hungry,” I said.

“So what is
it,
anyway?”

“It’
s a surprise, but the one clue is that it’s a theme dinner. I got all the recipes online,” I answered, flashing him one last smile before I disappeared from his sight.

I rubbed my hands together
, hoping to warm up as I slowly walked through the kitchen. I turned on the oven, and I grabbed one of the frilly aprons off the wall hanger, pulling the polka dot number over my head.
Let the cooking begin!
I grabbed the bright orange Le Creuset pot and dumped in our homemade canned tomato sauce, cumin, garlic, chili powder and onion, bringing it to a simmer. My mind drifted off to my mom as I realized how close I was to having her back— like really back— in her unaltered state. Even having something as simple as the apron she made wrapped around me brought me comfort. I let out a large sigh, and then took in a deep breath, letting the smells of the enchilada sauce taunt my growing appetite.

I leaned against the kitchen counter and took the space in.
I hadn’t really let myself do much reflecting lately, but I felt it was okay right now — not so dangerous, and I needed it.

The herbs my mom and I had gathered and dried were stacked neatly at the far end of the counter
in their colorful tins and jars. The various teas were displayed through the cabinet glass with fun names in bright labels that we’d come up with like
Berry Blue Mood
for my favorite blueberry tea or
Lic-A-Blossom
that was the best licorice herbal tea ever. All of the wonderful times my mother and I had spent here made me long for her.

Just to survive,
I’d spent so much time pushing away what she’d meant to me that I wasn’t sure I could do it much longer. I needed my mother.

The
red sauce began bubbling and popping over the pot and onto the stove so I turned the flame to low. The sauce was going to be done before I knew it, and I had so much more to prepare. I even had a dessert figured out — flan. I quickly walked to the pantry and opened the door. The shelves were stuffed full of tinctures and food, a perfect combination.

I
reached on my tiptoes to grab some tortillas off the top shelf when my vision blurred, and I became lightheaded. I leaned against the shelves for support and shook my head, trying to get my bearings, but it wasn’t working. My head ached and I closed my eyes, hoping for relief. It felt like my body was spinning, but I wasn’t moving. The pressure from the shelves digging into my skin slipped away, yet I hadn’t moved my arms. Something was really wrong.

I opened my eyes to see
… nothing. The entire pantry turned to an empty space. Everywhere I looked was dark. The shelves were gone. The walls were gone. And when I looked down at the floor, it was gone. I was hovering, teetering on a slice of something that was invisible as it propped me up in this world my mind created. I wracked my brain for anything that would give me a clue as to why I started hallucinating. That was what this had to be — a hallucination.

I steadied my breathing and my body, as I slowly balanced my arms
in the air concentrating on staying upright. Cold air began whipping around my body with a violent force, making it difficult to stay balanced. I looked down again finding nothing underneath me. I couldn’t let myself fall. My stomach dropped to my toes as if I’d just experienced a close call with an edge of a cliff. This was impossible. I was in my pantry. Where did everything go? I was afraid to move. Like any movement I made would instantly drop me from this precarious location, but I had to find out. And if my mind was playing tricks on me then one step wouldn’t really make me fall into this imaginary hole… because there would be no hole. There was no hole.

I
squeezed my eyes shut, dropping my arms to my side, and took one step forward off the nonexistent platform. I didn’t fall. It really was my mind playing tricks on me. But the wind was still so violent. That couldn’t happen in the pantry. My hair slapped the sides of my face as the gusts continued —this couldn’t be my imagination. I took another step forward into the darkness and another. The rush of emotions and sensations made me dizzier by the moment.

This
had to be more than my mind. A loud gravelly roar began sounding off in the distance, but there shouldn’t be a distance. I’m in a six-by-six foot room.

Cries
began tunneling through the darkness, followed by deep penetrative sounds that vibrated my core. The noises were threatening to wrap themselves around me — inside of me— numbing me to paralysis. I attempted to lift my arm, but it wouldn’t budge. The muscles were working in unison with my mind, but I couldn’t move. My feet were anchored beneath me. I was stuck.

A disturbing presence
spiraled around me, and I could do nothing except keep my eyes wide open, searching for any type of clue as to what it was. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I focused my mind on the
nectunt
I shared with Logan, hoping to open up our line of communication, but it remained cold — distant.

Something grabbed my jaw and turned it suddenly to the left but then let go.
A light tapping erupted underneath me, but I didn’t understand how that was possible since I was apparently floating— or was I?

“I am not afraid. I’
m not afraid,” I whispered, regretting that I sacrificed any breath as my words escaped.

When I didn’t think it could
be any worse, a pressure began forming in my chest. My breathing became shallow as my body trembled, making each gasp for air almost impossible. I looked down at my chest — heaving with every passing second — as the feeling of suffocation began working its way through the rest of my body, leaving a tingling sensation in every direction. The weightlessness of my extremities began to take over as I focused on saving every ounce of oxygen that I had left. The pendant dangling around my neck began warming slightly.

“Triss,” a male’s voice beckoned.

Logan?” I called softly, knowing it wasn’t him but hoping it was.

“You don’t have much time. The movements are beginning,” the voice continued.
“You must stop all who are orchestrating — not just the members. Things aren’t what they seem. Trust no one.”

“Dad?” I whispered.

The man ignored my call, “Don’t be fooled but don’t be afraid to reach out for help. There are many who will side with the cause, your cause. You just have to find them. I’ll be providing you with more soon, but I…”

The voice broke off.
A chill running up my spine threatened to shatter each vertebra as I gasped for air. I couldn’t ask questions. I couldn’t respond. I had no more air left in my lungs. The weightlessness of my arms and legs turned to heaviness. A loud pounding surfaced behind me, but there was nothing I could do. I continued to scan the space in front of me, which revealed absolutely no one. I didn’t know what I thought I’d see — a person, a spirit, a Golem — at this point in my life it could be a number of things. I wanted to match the voice with a person, an object, anything other than my imagination.

“Triss, open up,” Logan shouted from behind me.