Entranced (Goddess of Fate Book 2)

by Tamara Hart Heiner

  She hissed. “I’m not her anymore. That name only serves me to find more willing beings.”

  “Willing beings?” I echoed.

  “There are always people willing to indulge in the darkness.” She gave a self-satisfied smile. “I give them a little whisper of suggestion and let them run with it. We need you, Dekla. Laima has turned on us. She isn’t even our sister anymore. Without her, without me, you’re nothing.”

  “That’s not true,” I said. “Laima hasn't abandoned us.”

  “When was the last time you saw her?” She lifted her hands to the sky, and I jumped when dark clouds rolled in overhead, tossing and turning over themselves like boiling water. “I have more power than she does.”

  “And she just might,” Meredith murmured, inching into my side. “We should go.”

  Thunder rumbled, and a reflection of lightning flashed in Karta’s eyes. She looked at us and smiled, no longer appearing the least bit human.

  “Karta and Dekla aren’t the only gods who can give their power, and I’ve got strong allies. Join me, Jayne. I’d hate to destroy you.”

  “We’re going to go now,” I said, swallowing back sudden panic.

  “No, you’re not.” Karta lowered her hands and pointed at me, and my hair whipped around my face. My feet began to drag toward her.

  “Enough!” Meredith shouted. Only it wasn’t Meredith’s voice. Her expression darkened to the same color as the clouds swirling above us. “You have no power over her, Karta!” She flung her hands at Karta. A sudden whirlwind swirled around me, circling me like a mini-tornado. Then it peeled off and flew at Karta. As if the house were hungry, it sucked her inside and slammed the door shut.

  I jumped into action, saving the replay for later. “We gotta go.” I sprang toward the car, halfway there before I realized Meredith wasn’t with me.

  “Meredith?”

  “Coming.” She had taken two steps and leaned against a tree, one hand around her waist and the other clutching the tree’s trunk.

  I ran back to her and swooped her up, grunting as I dragged her along the sidewalk. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine.” Her eyelids fluttered as if she struggled to stay awake. “That drained me.”

  I tucked her into the passenger seat and ran around to the driver’s side. Settling in, I resisted the urge to give her face an affectionate pat. “What you did back there was amazing.”

  “Drive,” she whispered, pointing toward the steering wheel.

  “Right.” I peeled away from the curb.

  Only after Karta’s house was six blocks behind us did I allow my grip on the steering wheel to relax. “Well. We found her.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She sounded exhausted.

  “I don’t know if I’d call that a victory.”

  “Mm-mm.”

  “But at least we kind of know what’s going on now?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  I glanced at Meredith. Her eyes were shut, her breathing deepening like one on the verge of sleep. Well, that was fair. I’d slept all the way here.

  I turned my eyes back to the road and screamed, slamming on breaks. Meredith’s eyes flew open, and she sat up.

  Half a dozen people stood in the road in front of me. And judging from their expressions, they weren’t here to wave goodbye. Moving as a disjointed unit, the six of them ran at the car. I moved my foot from the brake, torn between the urge to escape but not wanting to kill anyone. Instead I put the car in Reverse and flew backward.

  A honking horn gave me a two-second warning before a deafening crunch filled the air. The car came to a sudden stop, slamming me back in my seat and then jerking me forward. My hand reached for the door latch, desperate to get out of the car before the zombies reached me. But my mind grew foggy, and I felt my whole body relaxing in spite of my urgency.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  I opened my eyes to a slow, steady beeping. My breathing came faster as I remembered the mob, the look of serious intent on their faces as they surrounded our car.

  “Jayne.” My mom’s face appeared in my line of sight, and she stroked my forehead, brushing pieces of hair behind my ear. I realized the machine next to me was beeping faster, and I forced myself to calm down, take deeper breaths.

  There was an oxygen mask attached to my face, and I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to move it. I started to sit up and gasped, collapsing back on my bed as pain tore through me. My eyes darted around the room. Meredith. Was she okay?

  “What do you need, honey?” Dad appeared next to Mom, concern in his warm brown eyes.

  “She’s looking for Meredith.”

  I didn’t see the speaker, but I could pick out Aaron’s voice from a crowd. Especially since his English accent was so very different from our Jersey ones. I moved my head, straining to see between my parents. I spotted his knees where he sat in a chair, but the rest of the view was blocked.

  Still, he’d come here. All the way to Maryland. My chest warmed.

  “Oh, honey, Meredith’s fine,” Dad said, smiling down at me. “She wasn’t injured at all when you backed into that other car.”

  “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake.” Mom pushed off the bed and inclined her head at Dad. “Coming, Dave?”

  “Oh, sure.”

  They left me, probably to give me some time alone with Aaron. But now that I saw his face, I wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. His brows were pinched so tight together I worried he’d have a permanent crease. And his jaw kept clenching and unclenching.

  Seeing my eyes on him, he stood and came to the bed. “I’m so angry with you, Jayne,” he whispered.

  I inhaled, flinching at his expression. The only time I’d ever seen him this angry was in a vision of him fighting with his ex-wife.

  “Do you want to get yourself killed? How could you chase after this woman, knowing what she’s doing? You promised me you’d stay home!” He made a noise in the back of his throat and shook his head. “Do you know what that did to me last spring, when that maniac nearly killed you? Do you realize how often I relive that moment and wonder, if I hadn’t gone back for you, or if I’d been a few minutes later, what would’ve happened?”

  I stared at him, wishing I could remove this oxygen mask and defend myself.

  “I’m at my breaking point, Jayne,” he continued in a harsh whisper. “Things are screwed up with school and my parents, and you’re off chasing some psychotic goddess and lying to me every time we talk.”

  The machine’s beeping sped up again, keeping pace with my increasing heartbeat, and we both glanced at it. Aaron’s expression softened, the tenderness I was more familiar with coming into his eyes.

  “Never mind.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “We still need to talk. But I’ll wait till you come home. When you can talk back to me.”

  I wondered if he’d chosen this moment deliberately because he could speak his mind and I couldn’t.

  My parents came back in, a woman with short red hair and a white overcoat at their heels.

  “I’ve got to get back,” Aaron said to my mom. “But I’ll check on Jayne when she gets home.”

  “Thanks for coming,” my dad said.

  “It was good to see you, Aaron,” Mom added. “We miss you around the house.”

  If the comment pricked his conscience, he gave no indication. Just a nod, and then he left.

  The doctor took off my mask. “You don’t actually need that anymore,” she said. “You suffered a mild concussion and a bruised collar bone, but otherwise, you’ve fared quite well. I recommend you stay overnight for observation, and then we’ll send you on your way.”

  I nodded, wincing a little at the movement. Dad turned to talk to the doctor, and Mom swooped down on me.

  “What’s going on, Jayne? You told us you were spending the night with Meredith, not that you two were driving out to Maryland. Why would you come out here? And how could you keep it a secret?”

  Well, that last one was obvious. They wouldn�
�t have let me go. But I suspected saying that wouldn’t win me any points. “It was a last-minute trip. Just some research for work.”

  Mom huffed. “You’re still in high school, not a full-fledged journalist. You can’t go out on wild-goose chases.”

  “I want to work for this company after I graduate, Mom. I’ll have so much more of an in if they see me as a valuable asset.”

  “Not if you get yourself killed before graduation,” she growled.

  “It was a car accident. It could have happened anywhere.”

  “But it didn’t.” Dad joined us, putting a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “It happened three hours from home, in a state we didn’t even know you were in.”

  “You’re still a minor,” Mom added. “You’re our responsibility.”

  “You’re right.” I exhaled as the fight went out of me. Some hero I was turning out to be. I’d let everyone down. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s not good enough.” Mom sighed. “There’s going to have to be a consequence.”

  I groaned. Please don’t ground me, I prayed. Last time she’d grounded me, it had been from everything except school. Even work. It had cost me my job, and I couldn’t let that happen again.

  “Grounding’s not enough,” she said, as if reading my mind. “I think we need to take your car away.”

  My eyes widened. “My car?” Without that, I was trapped. I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. I’d lose my freedom. “But—but—how will I get to school?” I sputtered, scrambling for any reason to keep it.

  Mom looked toward the ceiling. “I’ll just have to drive you on my way into the office.”

  I turned my gaze on my father, pleading. “Daddy, isn’t there something else? A project you can give me?” When we were kids, he was notorious for assigning us several hours of “project” work to do. His own version of community service.

  “Hmm.” He tapped his chin.

  “No.” Mom shook her head. “He’s not getting you out of this one. And when Meredith’s parents see her car, she’s probably going to be in just as much trouble.”

  Meredith. “Where is she? Are her parents here?”

  “Her dad’s here,” Dad said. “And he’s just as shocked at her behavior as we are at yours. It took some convincing to talk him into allowing you girls to still be friends.”

  I inhaled, feeling the blood drain from my face. They didn't know Meredith was a Ragana, and they didn’t know the connection we had. They couldn't stop what was happening. But if we had to blatantly go against their wishes, things would get ugly fast.

  “It’s all right,” Mom said, watching my reaction. “We managed to convince him that you’re not a troublemaker.” She gave me a stern look. “Don’t prove us wrong.”

  Dad glanced at his watch. “Honey, I have to head home if I’m going to be there for Beth tonight.”

  “Is Beth okay?” I asked, immediately concerned.

  “Yes.” Mom nodded. “We didn’t give her all the details. Just told her we had to go to Maryland and pick you up.” She turned to my dad. “How will you get home?”

  “I’ve already called a taxi.” Dad brushed the hair back from my face. “See you later, Jaynie.”

  “Get some sleep,” Mom said after he left. She pulled out the hideaway bed in the corner. “We can talk more on the drive home tomorrow.”

  *~*

  I didn't see Meredith until the next morning, when her dad and my mom were at the desk getting us discharged. Mom had offered to drive Meredith home too, but her dad politely declined.

  “You’re all right,” Meredith said, giving me a quick hug.

  Other than a couple of bruises, she looked totally fine. “Yeah,” I said. “Are you okay?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No free pass here. My dad’s even making me drive the car back while he drives behind me.”

  Well, at least I hadn’t done any serious damage. The car was still drivable. “We’ve got to talk,” I said, taking her arm and pulling her out of hearing range. “What happened back there?” I looked her over from head to toe, remembering the way she’d come between me and Karta. “With everything?”

  “You couldn’t feel it?” she whispered.

  “Feel what?” The big bump on my head? Yeah, I felt that.

  “The summoning.”

  “Summoning?”

  “That was part of Karta’s army that stopped us in the road,” Meredith said. “All the people who have gone missing, they’re here. She summoned them, Jayne. I could hear her, even though it didn’t affect me at all. She thought she could summon you too. That’s why she sent you the poem.”

  “What do you mean?” I whispered.

  She waved a hand. “She’s using it to control people. Entrance them. She needs you, Jayne. She wants your power.”

  Now I understood. “So those people—her army—they were sent to stop us.”

  “Not kill us,” Meredith confirmed. “That’s why we got away.”

  “Jayne,” my mom called, and I knew from her tone of voice that she wouldn’t indulge our conversation any longer.

  I gave Meredith a quick hug. “I’ll call you.”

  As promised, Mom started in on the questioning as soon as we were in the car.

  “Tell me what you and Meredith were doing out here,” she demanded. “What are you researching at work?”

  “It was just an interview.” My head throbbed terribly, and I propped it up with one hand to keep it from lolling around.

  “It couldn’t be done over the phone? I’m calling your boss.”

  “Mom.” I closed my eyes against the pounding, and then remembered I had pain pills. I winced at the pressure when I bent over but managed to pull out my bottle. “I’m really sorry. Please don’t cost me my job. Please. I volunteered for this. He thought I’d have an advantage exactly because I’m so young.” Uncapping the water bottle next to me, I threw back my pill and chugged the water.

  Mom sighed and shook her head, pieces of her curly brown hair falling from her neat bun. Not even a night on the hospital rollaway bed could make her look disheveled. “I understand what your job means to you, Jayne. But you need to understand the gravity of the situation.”

  Irony. If only she understood the gravity of the situation. “I need a little more freedom, Mom,” I said softly, trying not to provoke her. “I’m graduating next spring. You have to let me make my own decisions.”

  She didn’t answer right away, and I assumed she was thinking that over. I fished around in my purse until I found my cell phone. The keypad blurred before my eyes, and I blinked several times. It took a few tries before I found Laima’s number. I sent her a quick update.

  My eyelids dragged down across my eyes, and I closed them. Looked like the painkillers were kicking in. I leaned my head back and felt my hand relax, dropping my cell phone.

  “Jayne.”

  I blinked several times and opened my eyes, wincing at the crick in my neck. “Mom?”

  She stood over me, nudging my shoulder gently, her purse hanging from one arm. “We’re home, Jayne. You’ve passed the age where I can carry you into the house.”

  Criminy. I’d slept the whole way? “What’s in those meds they gave me?” I grumbled, using the doorframe to propel myself from the car.

  “Normal painkillers, I imagine.”

  My eyes didn’t want to stay open. I leaned on my mother all the way into the house. She left me on the couch. I had this impression there was something I needed to do, something I was worried about, but my brain felt full of white, fluffy, clouds. I gave into my body’s demands for sleep.

  When I woke up again, the fog had lifted. I popped up, ignoring the sharp pain of protest in my chest. “Mom?” I called. “What time is it?” I didn’t wait for her answer, just fumbled for my purse and found my phone. Flipping it open, I wasn’t surprised to see that it was already two o’clock in the afternoon.

  My parents’ bedroom door opened, and they came out.

  “Oh good, you�
��re awake,” my dad said, lugging his suitcase behind him. “I wanted to say goodbye.” He came over and smothered me in a hug. “Listen to your mom, Jayne. Try not to make her life more stressful,” he whispered in my ear.

  I nodded, chagrined.

  My mom checked her phone and looked at me. “I have to take your dad to the airport. Do you need anything?”

  “No, no, I’m fine.”

  “Okay. Beth’s home. She can help if you need it.”

  I nodded. As soon as they left, I opened my phone and scrolled through my text messages. Nothing new. Nothing from Laima. I opened my last message to her and groaned.

  So what Meredith’s pwer so big next to mine. Why Karta take so close? Need answr.

  Not exactly the succinct and confident question I’d meant to send. No wonder she hadn’t responded. She probably had no idea what I was talking about.

  Nothing from Meredith, either. The moment I thought her name, my heart started drumming in double-time. Something about her was making me nervous.

  I sent her a text.

  Hey! Just woke up. How you feeling? I stared at the phone impatiently, waiting for her immediate response. When nothing happened, I gave up and called her.

  “Jayne?” Meredith answered on the third ring. Her voice sounded funny, though. She was whispering, breathy.

  “Are you okay?” I asked uncertainly. My mind started to imagine all sorts of not-okay scenarios.

  “No,” she said, and this time I heard the tremor in her voice. “Thirteen more people went missing yesterday, Jayne.”

  I sat up, forcing myself to ignore the way the room spun. “What do we do?”

  “We need answers.”

  But Laima wasn’t offering us any help. I let out a small gasp. “I think I know where we can get some answers.”

  “You do? Where?”

  “I’ll call you later.” I snapped my phone shut and debated finding my car keys. But not only was I grounded, I still felt woozy. And since my destination was the police station, I decided it best I not show up drugged and driving.

  Instead, I followed my dad’s example and called a taxi.

  *~*

  I texted my mom from the taxi and told her what I’d done. I figured she couldn’t really get mad at me for going to the police.