Isolation

by Tera Lyn Cortez

  Settling myself more comfortably in the chair, I reached for our bond. Nothing but emptiness met me. Startled, I reached more insistently, looking for the shield, but even that wasn’t within my reach. It looked as if there was no bond there at all.

  “I want to look at his soul.” I settled in to use my sight.

  Pulling it into focus, I gasped, tears falling down my face. Whatever black magic had been used against him had been woven across his beautiful soul, almost like it tried to strangle him. The threads were even blacker than the ones I had unwound from Xavier in order to release his magic.

  They presented themselves as ugly and foul feeling, as if they harbored evil itself. They didn’t just constrict his magic, they had been spread throughout every part of him. And, as I watched, they seemed to be spreading.

  Frightened, I explained what I had seen to Xavier. “We have to get him to the study so I can try to stop this. Whatever this is will kill him if I can’t reverse it. I just know it. And we don’t have a lot of time.”

  I was both physically and mentally exhausted, so using my magic to move him again was out. I grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him down the hallway. He dwarfed my smaller frame, and he outweighed me by a good seventy-five pounds at least. Not to mention he was dead weight, which made him uncooperative to say the least. Determination gave me the ability to get him there, though, and I managed to ease him rather unceremoniously onto the stone floor without cracking his head open.

  “Please,” I begged Celeste, “show me how to help him. At least show me what I can do to buy us more time. He can’t die.”

  Racing to the book that was chosen for me I set it on the pedestal and waited for it to indicate the pages that would be helpful. Inscribed there was a spell for putting a soul into stasis. Well, this, at least, would hopefully stop the evil from spreading until I could remove it completely and heal him.

  Following the instructions to the letter, I gathered the items indicated as Celeste guided me. Saying a prayer that my magic would be strong enough to counteract whoever had done this, I repeated the spell over and over in my head until I was confident I had the wording and pronunciation correct. The last thing the poor guy needed was to be turned into a banana because I emphasized the wrong syllable.

  Stifling the insane urge to giggle at the mental picture of apologizing to him for making him a yellow fruit, I double checked with Xavier to see if he had any other suggestions before I tried the spell. He suggested that we merge our powers, so he could lend me strength to ensure that we were stronger than whatever this evil was.

  Thankful for his support, I let him guide me, and show me the best way to create such a merger. Once he indicated we were ready, I began the ritual and spoke the incantation.

  Taryk's body began to glow, then the light began to fade. “Again!” Xavier urged me to repeat the spell, which I did, twice more. You could see his muscles relax, and his expression smoothed when the spell had won out over whatever had been causing the damage. His body rested peacefully on the floor where we had laid him.

  Using my sight to check his soul, it pleased me to see the changes there. While the dark strands were still present and widespread, they had stopped growing, and their coloration seemed to have faded some. His face had lost the look of pain that hadn’t been completely erased even after giving him the potion earlier, and I could be thankful for that, at least.

  “Let’s move him to my bed,” I suggested. “That way his body is at least comfortable while we see what we can do to heal him.” The sentence was barely out of my mouth when a glowing red film appeared over the study door.

  “No? We can’t take him out of the study?” As if to answer, right before my eyes, one of the arm chairs in the room transformed into a hospital-like bed. Okie dokie then, here he stayed.

  “Is there a spell we can use to monitor him? One that will let us know if anything changes?” Once again, the book’s pages flipped, and a short incantation was provided. While no further instructions had been written, or any indication as to how I would know if he began having problems, I took the book at its word.

  I laid my hand gently on his chest and spoke the words from the page. I felt a slight stirring in my brain, and that was all.

  At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to climb into that bed next to him and be near him while he slept. It had no extra room for me, though, and I knew in my heart he would not wake until we healed him. There was no chance that he would wake in here, alone, and wonder what the hell had been going on. For the moment, I had done all I could.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Everleigh, I want you to attempt to return me to my natural form. Things are heating up, and you need all the help you can get.”

  “You do NOT have to do this for me,” I insisted. “I will spend the rest of my life feeling guilty that you were forced into something you did not want because of my situation. You have already done so much for me.”

  He sighed. “Everleigh. I am doing this because I want to. Your mother has not yet returned to us. This makes me fear she is going to need our help. I believe that in my true form, my magic will return to its full power, and I will be a much bigger help that way. If not for you, do it for your mother. Amara has more than earned whatever help I am able to offer her, and I want to do this. Please. Until we have Taryk healed, you and I are all she has.”

  Manipulative much? Damn cat knew how to get me to do what he wanted, didn’t he? To be honest, I would have done it either way, just because he asked me to. Who was I to decide what he wanted to do with his life? I tried to make sure he wasn’t making choices based on my needs just because I loved him, but if that was what he wanted, then that was what he was going to get.

  “After a snack then? You know I’m practically worthless on an empty stomach.” I grinned, and he nodded.

  Once he had mentioned that my mother would be needing our help, we both kept an eye on the waterfall as we ate, hoping to see her appear. Trying to be positive was one thing, but I knew that I needed to prepare in every way I could to actually be of any help to her.

  Xavier had been right, we may be the only help she had coming to her, although I found it hard to imagine that no beings existed in the other realms who would come to her aid if she needed it.

  That said, she might have been keeping this mission a secret, once again, to protect me and the fact I existed. I’d made great strides in accepting and improving upon all the different facets of my magic since coming to the cabin. Soon, there would be no reason to keep me a secret, then it would be watch out world, because I would be on the warpath.

  Since we had to hit the study for answers on exactly how to return Xavier to his Fae body, I couldn’t wait to check on Taryk again. Even though I knew there would be no change, I needed to see him. I straightened his covers, which didn’t really need it since he hadn’t moved and felt his forehead. The temptation to place a kiss there was great, but I resisted, knowing Xavier watched my every move.

  Once again requesting her aid, I let Celeste know our intentions for the day, and asked for guidance. There was a significant pause between my request and the answer the study offered. I wondered whether she would have an answer for me at all since this would most likely be more the Fae side of my magic.

  The magic had not been woven into Xavier’s soul, although it appeared to be superficially attached at some points. I still had not gained enough knowledge to know the finer points of either half of my magic, so I relied heavily on those with more experience to guide me along the way.

  For a “little girl” who had grown up with nobody to guide her magical upbringing, I felt like I was doing the best that I could with what I had been given to work with. Acknowledging the potential gave me hope that I would someday be powerful and no longer feel like I was doing too little, too late.

  The book she finally offered was an old tome. One I had not taken notice of before. It sat alone on a top shelf, pushed back so it could barely be seen
from my vantage point on the floor. Practicing my magic, I called itforth, settling it on the pedestal. The sight of it shocked me. The cover was an inky black leather, and the metal clasp looked dark and heavily patinaed. I saw no writing anywhere on the outside. The book itself almost seemed to repel any contact.

  “This is a book of dark magic!” I protested. I knew from the feel that this would be unlike anything I had ever attempted to use before. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined using dark spells for anything. It terrified me to think of what would happen if I tried and somehow failed. What if I made him worse instead of better?

  “Let’s just read the spell it suggests, and we’ll decide where to go from there, okay? We don’t have to do this if you aren’t comfortable.” Xavier peered at the book suspiciously but made no move to touch it.

  “Isn’t it strange,” I asked, “that it makes you want to put it away just by looking at it? I want to hide it away so nobody else ever finds it.”

  “That explains why it sat up there on the top shelf, out of sight, out of mind, right? I wonder if your mother even knew it had been hidden up there?”

  “Most likely she did.” I assumed she knew everything that was located here, even if she had never been called to make use of it. If it had been included in the study, then there had to be a reason.

  Deciding the risks were worth the potential reward, I reached for the clasp and gave it a tug before I could change my mind. Nope, of course, there was some sort of trick to it. The metal seemed to give off a slight zing when I made contact with it, but no lingering signs after that.

  Tugging a bit harder, I attempted to force it open. Obviously, since it hadn’t been used in heavens knew how long, maybe centuries, it seemed to be stuck. Standing it on end to get a better look, I was stymied by the fact that it didn’t look to have any malfunction that would prevent the latch from slipping open.

  “What the hell? Open, damn it.” I looked toward Xavier to see if he might have any suggestions. “What the hell is the problem here? How do we get it open? I can’t use it if I can’t open it.”

  “There must be some sort of key. I wonder if it needs your blood like the study door did at first. As a fail-safe to keep the wrong people from getting it open.”

  “Screw that! There is no way I am giving a book of dark magic a taste of my blood. What if that is all it needs to have some crazy control over me? No way, huh-uh. Not happening.”

  There would be no way on Earth I was going to open myself up to that sort of disaster. Even for Xavier. Or Taryk… Sigh. Of course, I was. Because to save them also meant to save my mother. And I would sacrifice myself for each of them, to be honest, but to be able to help all three? Of course, I was going to do it.

  But first, I would be making damn sure that was what it actually required. I’d be pissed off as hell to give it my blood when all it needed was a magic word!

  “Celeste, how do I open this book of dark magic?” The book of my ancestry lay on the workbench, and it flipped open to a page near the back. Of course, the page appeared to be blank. However, I had managed to remember of few of the spells I had picked up along my journey.

  I laid my hand so that my fingertips lightly touched the page in question. “Apparere!” Sure enough, the magic flared to light and the words appeared on the page. Grinning a little, pleased that I had managed to take care of this small task via magic without having to be prompted, I read through the relatively short passage.

  “You must be touching the metal clasp. Speak each phrase exactly as written with pauses as indicated. When you have finished with the book, you MUST physically re-latch the clasp. Do NOT leave the book open and unattended at any time, for any reason.”

  Yikes. If I hadn’t been nervous before reading the instructions, I sure was now. What kind of book do you have to worry about keeping an eye on constantly? And what the hell could possibly escape if you didn’t? Copying each of the phrases carefully, I carried my note to stand before the book. I rehearsed in my head until I felt comfortable with them.

  Touching the clasp lightly with three fingers on my left hand, I took a deep breath and went for it. “Quai tenebrus…. Patentibus…. Patitur usus!” The metal turned warm to the touch, almost hot, and I yanked my hand away. I watched suspiciously as the glow from the metal took over the entire book, and it began hovering slightly above the surface of the pedestal.

  I wanted to glance at Xavier to see if he saw what I did, but I was afraid to take my eyes off the book for even a second. As suddenly as it all started, it ended; the latch opened with an audible click, and the book returned to the pedestal with a thump. With a quick glance in Xavier's direction, I reached to open the book, but hesitated a little just before making contact.

  “Celeste, do you know what page contains the information we are looking for?” She had no response, and I had to assume this meant that even the Chosen had no idea what might be contained in this book.

  Either that, or she just wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever dark magic was within. Whichever happened to be the case, if this book had the spell we needed to change Xavier back, this was the book I would be using.

  I might be terrified of it, but damn it, I would make use of it. And I was ever so thankful that my blood had not been required to open it, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it required such to perform the spell. Ugh. I just kept reminding myself that it would all be worth it. I would bleed myself dry for them, if that’s what it took.

  Gingerly grabbing the cover with just my fingertips, I opened it to the first pages. They felt slick to the touch, almost slimy. As I flipped through, I gave each page a cursory glance to see if it might be what we needed, and if not, I moved on immediately. This book was not something I wanted to dabble with any more than absolutely necessary. I just wanted to find what would help Xavier and latch the book. After that, it would be returned to its space at the top of the bookshelf, where, hopefully, we wouldn’t need it again.

  The book only contained one spell that seemed like it might do what we were asking, so I decided to try to get help from the Celeste again. Leaving the book open to the page I had chosen, I asked, “Is this the one?” The page gave a brief glow, and then nothing.

  Reading through it carefully, it appeared to be a very simple spell, requiring specific words be spoken over the subject. No blood, no extra ingredients, no funny business. It seemed almost too good to be true. Calling Xavier over, I asked him what he thought about it, since he was much better versed in the world of magic than I. He agreed that it seemed fairly simple and didn’t look like any extra steps might be missing.

  “I’d like to copy it onto a sheet of regular paper so we can close this book and put it back, what do you think? Then we can burn the paper, just to be on the safe side.” Getting that book latched and put away was foremost in my mind. If we could expedite the process without inhibiting the success of the spell, I was all for it.

  He didn’t seem to think it would cause any issues, after all, the magic resided in the spell itself, not the book or the paper it was written on.

  I grabbed a sheet of blank paper from one of the shelves, and a pencil from the workbench. After I had made my copy, and checked it twice, I closed the book and slid the latch home. Jiggling it slightly to ensure it had actually latched, I lifted the book by its cover and shook it around. The latch stayed closed. As one last test, I tried to manually open the latch without saying the required words, and it definitely would not open. I sent the book back to its place on the shelf, where it could rest for the remainder of forever for all I cared.

  Xavier and I looked at each other. This was it. After being a cat for so many years, he would be returning to his true form. Was he ready? Could I really do this for him? I didn’t doubt I held the power within me, but my mastery of it remained very much in question. As he had pointed out earlier, however, spells were some of the simplest magic to perform. As long as I didn’t screw up the pronunciation, no pressure, it would t
urn out fine.

  Walking down the stone hallway to the training room, I clenched my hands into fists to keep them from trembling. Once we reached the center, we stood facing one another. I stared at him for a moment and asked one last time if he was sure about what we were doing.

  “Get on with it, child, or I will try doing it myself!”

  “Okay, grouchy pants. Sheesh! Don’t be a bossy butt or I will turn you into a toad.” The mental picture of him as a cat-toad cross was too much for me to bear, and I started to giggle. I pictured a giant, furry, toad, with big cat fangs and a long toad tongue. With a cat's tail and whiskers, of course. One that made ribbit-meow sounds. Jiminy crickets, I had always found myself amusing, but this was hilarious.

  I gained control of myself and found him glaring at me indignantly. Which, of course, started me laughing all over again.

  “Okay, I promise, I’m ready now. No more giggles, no cat-toad. Just a regular Fae prince, coming up!” After a couple of deep breaths to steady myself, I placed one hand on his shoulder, just in case. It felt like magic performed better for me when I made a physical connection. “Um, will you need clothes to put on?”

  “I was wearing clothes when I was turned, so I should be dressed when turned back. If I'm not I can easily fashion something for myself.”

  I nodded. Double checking the sheet in my hand, I recited the spell, syllable by syllable, with pauses exactly where they had been indicated. A bright light filled the room. I couldn’t bear to look, it shone so brightly. I covered my eyes and said a little prayer that when I opened them I would see Xavier as himself, and not as a cat-toad screw up!

  “You can look now, sister. I'm decent.” I heard the smile in his voice, and for a brief second, I didn’t want to open my eyes. Then I felt his hands on my shoulders, two hands, not paws, and my eyes shot open.

  Open eyes allowed the tears to escape, and boy were there tears. I threw my arms around him, and we held each other like we would never let go. It seemed like forever before we were ready to separate, and when we did all I could do was stare.