“What did you do to him?” My eyes bulged so wide, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had fallen on the floor.
But Nicholas’ eyes were hard and cold. “Nothing. I told him to stop. Some words were exchanged. But he simply asked me to give you this…” He held up a piece of crumpled paper. “He said he had tried to come talk to you last night, but the guards frightened him away. He wanted to leave this some place where you’d find it.”
“What does it say?” I asked, eagerly reaching for the note.
He exchanged a glance with Ana, who nodded slightly, then reluctantly handed me the paper. Lily and Sophie’s words echoed through my head, demanding to hear the letter as well. I read silently, projecting my thoughts outwards to them.
Calista-
By the time you get this, I’ll be gone and no longer be a danger to you or anyone else. What happened…when this thing took over me…it was like I was outside my body watching it happen. I couldn’t stop it. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I had no control, and I’ve never been so scared in my life. Scared what I was doing to you. Terrified I couldn’t stop it. My dad told me what we are. It never affected him, but my grandfather had warned him it might be passed onto me. My dad never told me.
I am SO SORRY. That sounds so pathetic. Sorry doesn’t begin to cover it. I can’t live like this— as a monster. I just know I can’t. Knowing that this awful THING is inside me waiting to take over at any time…I will make it die with me. I KNOW that you are a good person. I know how mean Savannah was to you and still you saved her that night. I know that. That means that I am the evil one. A sick monster doomed to kill the girl I love.
Yes. I love you. I have since the first time I saw you.
I don’t expect you to ever be able to forgive me. I just hope that someday in the future, long after I am gone, you won’t hate me as much as I hate myself. But I won’t blame you if you do.
Your friend,
Justin.
Sophie let out a small gasp, and Lily sighed. I re-read the letter three times before I tearfully set it down.
“He’s going to kill himself. Because of me,” I whispered, my hands trembling.
“Not because of you, because of himself,” Nicholas said.
His hard tone made me cringe, and my eyes darted around the room in disbelief. “And everybody is just okay with that?”
Lily and Sophie shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Even Ana looked saddened. “It’s either him or you, Calista,” she said in a subdued voice. “It’s a cruel fate he’s been cursed with. But the fact remains, you and your friends are in mortal danger as long as he is alive. Nothing can change that now.”
I wiped away the angry tears streaming down my cheek. “There has to be something we can do,” I argued. “This can’t be it. I don’t know how I can live with myself knowing—”
“It might already be too late,” Lily said quietly.
I paused. Somehow, I knew it wasn’t. I had such strong Empath with Justin. He was too far away for me to feel anything now, but I knew I would’ve felt something if he’d already died. I knew it.
An idea flashed into my head. I jumped to my feet, startling the others.
“The Looking Stone! I can find him there! Ana, please help me find him so we can stop him!” I pleaded.
She remained seated, her expression blank. “And then what? If you find him, and if he is still alive, he will try again to kill you, or tell others about you.”
I racked my mind, desperate to come up with a solution to this impossible situation. I couldn’t just let Justin die! He wasn’t some evil creature…he’d been cursed, and it wasn’t his fault!
...And he loved me. Evil monsters don’t love...
I slowly sat back down, unable and unwilling to accept the inevitable outcome. “He’s going to kill himself rather than hurt me. Doesn’t that say something? Doesn’t that mean anything to anyone?” I choked through a sob.
Sophie and Lily remained silent, staring at the floor. Ana looked torn between wanting to protect me from the hurt I felt now, and the harm Justin would surely inflict if he had the chance. Nicholas seemed pained, but I was unable to read his feelings. No one said anything. “It is a cruel fate that he’s been cursed with,” Ana had remarked. How true that was!
Suddenly, my mind sensed the glimmer of another idea.
Justin had been cursed. And curses could be reversed. Undone.
“Ana,” I began slowly, “remember what you told me about the Witch-Hunters that day?
She pressed her lips together, and folded her hands in her dainty lap. “I remember telling you there was much we didn’t know about them, we have little—”
“You said that they’d been cursed by the Gypsies.”
“Well, yes…that’s what the legends say. But we don’t know if—”
“And you said the curse could be lifted by a Gypsy elder.” I held my breath. It felt like my only chance, and we were running out of time.
“I said a Gypsy curse could only be removed by one of their own. Presumably an elder—yes. But I didn’t say they would remove it. This is a hundreds-year-old curse. They may not know how to do it even if they wanted to.”
“But it’s worth a try, isn’t it? See if somehow they could remove it and help him?” I asked desperately. But even I knew how implausible it sounded.
Nicholas shot me look of consternation, clearly troubled by my blind determination to save Justin. Granted, Justin had tried to kill me, and would do it again, given the opportunity. But he was my friend, and I wasn’t about to give up on him now. I’d spent most of my life not having any friends, and I wasn’t about to lose a good one like Justin over some stupid, ancient curse!
“And think about it,” I continued, gathering steam for my insane argument. “Even you said, Ana, where there is one Hunter there are more. So are we supposed to kill all of them? Certainly they won’t all be like Justin and offer to commit suicide rather than harm us. What if there was some way to have the curse removed from the others, too? Really, are we supposed to be afraid our whole lives and just hide? Maybe the Gypsies today…maybe they’ve changed. Maybe they’d be willing to try—”
“Calista,” Ana sighed. “I wish it were that easy. Really I do. But there are some things that simply cannot be undone. You cannot un-ring a bell once it has been rung.”
Nicholas caught my eyes and stared at me long and hard. I couldn’t tell if he was angry with me…if he thought I was crazy. All I felt was coldness.
My heart sank. I shuddered and averted my gaze. No one was even willing to try! They seemed okay with just letting Justin die, and letting the Hunters rule our lives with fear.
Nicholas stood up, and for a quick second I feared he was going to leave. He walked to the other side of the room and stared out the glass wall that looked over the ocean, absently tapping his hand against the pane.
“There may be something we can try,” he murmured, still facing away from us. “There’s a chance…a small one. It’d be very risky. Highly dangerous. I can’t make any promises…”
I thought my heart was going to fly right out of my chest. He didn’t think I was crazy! But Ana’s eyes narrowed. “What, exactly, do you have in mind?” she asked tersely.
“I might know someone who can help. But I’d need to find him first, and that could take some time.” His voice sounded flat.
“We don’t have time!” I shouted. “For all we know Justin is putting bullets in a gun right now, or…” My voice trailed off. What if we were too late? All this sitting around talking, when we needed to be finding him and stopping him from doing something that could never be undone with any amount of magic.
Nicholas turned around, and again, I was taken aback by the look is his eyes. He seemed so much older and wiser than the rest of us. Even Ana. He exuded the same intense confidence I’d admired that first day on the beach…an impermeable aura of infinite strength.
“In the meantime,” he continued, ignoring my outburst,
“We will find him and I will put him somewhere safe…a place where he cannot hurt anyone, including himself.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ana said. “The others are on their way. We should meet with them and see what they feel is best.”
“Ana, WE DON’T HAVE TIME!” I exploded. I turned to Nicholas, “Do you mean it? Do you really think there’s something you can do to help him?”
His face may as well have been carved from steel. “I think there might be a small chance,” he repeated. “But you need to know that if it fails—I will kill him, or let him kill himself. I’m sorry, but he cannot live as he is. I won’t allow it. But I will try to help him. And right now it’s the only chance he has.”
“Oh, thank you!” I flew over to him and threw my arms around his neck. But instead of hugging me back, he just patted robotically… distant and unfeeling.
I pulled away, stung by his indifference. Nicholas had changed. How different he felt to me now…like last night had never happened…as if we were strangers making some sort of business arrangement.
Ana’s voice rang out. “I’m sorry, but I really need to know what you are planning to do. This is my granddaughter’s life we are talking about, and I do not wish to risk anything—”
Nicholas stepped around me, leaving me hurt and confused. “I know someone who may know something about ancient Gypsy magics. Someone far away from here, whom I haven’t seen in a very long time. I don’t know if he’s even alive, or how long it’ll take me to find him if he is. But I’ll try. If I’m successful, then I’ll bring Justin to him. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll know some way to break or remove the curse. Again, I am making no promises...just that I will try.”
“Please,” I whispered, my head lowered.
“Where could you take him that is safe?” Lily asked, breaking her silence at last.
“Far away from here. On the other side of the country. I know it’ll be safe, and there aren’t any people nearby. He won’t be able to escape once I take him there.”
“You’ll shimmer him?” Sophie asked. “What if he fights you? Or tries to escape?”
“Then he will die,” Nicholas replied flatly.
A shiver ran up my spine at his heartless words. But deep down I knew he was right. This was our only choice, and if Justin somehow tried to sabotage it, then we had no other option.
“We need to find him now,” I said, heading toward the door.
Ana remained seated and looked at Nicholas, her face grave. “You promise to take him far from here where he will be unable to get at them?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “That is the one thing I can promise you. Either that or he will die. There is no third option.”
I cringed. I wished he would stop saying that!
“Come on,” I said again, and this time Ana rose slowly to her feet. Sophie and Lily started to follow, but Ana told them to remain where they were. Only she, Nicholas and I were going to the third-floor room.
*****
We gathered around the large mahogany table in the middle of the room. Ana tapped it with her fingers while muttering something under her breath, and instantly the large crystal slab appeared.
“Okay, now what do we do?” I asked her.
“You need to clear your mind. Block out everything except the object you want to see. Visualize and establish a connection. Focus,” she instructed.
I took several deep breaths and slowly raised my hands, running my fingers over the opaque block the way I’d seen her do it. Instantly, it glowed bright red, and then gradually faded to fluorescent orange. Finally, it became a faint, clear pink.
“Focus,” Ana repeated. “Block out your anger, worries, anxiety…anything that prevents you from seeing. Think of a happy memory with him.”
I closed my eyes and tried to do what she said, but time and time again, my emotions got in the way. Every second lost brought Justin closer to his death. I forced myself to take deep breaths, stay calm, and keep trying. But each time I looked, there was nothing there. The block remained pink...and I could only think of Nicholas.
“I can’t do it,” I cried after several tries. “Maybe I’m doing something wrong.”
“Maybe it’s me,” Nicholas said. “It’s possible that me standing here is stopping you from being able to connect with him. I’ll go to the other side of the room and see if that helps.”
Ana looked at us curiously, but said nothing. I had no idea why it would make any difference where Nicholas was standing—even if he was on another continent my mind would be flooded with his face...his touch...his sweet kisses...and wondering if that was gone forever.
But I closed my eyes and tried again. I forced myself to think only of Justin…his voice, his laughter, his crinkly sea-blue eyes, the way his blond hair always fell in his face, what he looked like when angling for the perfect camera shot, walking down the beach carrying his surfboard under his arms…
Slowly I opened my eyes and looked again. At first, I thought it was just my imagination because the picture was so hazy. But as I stared unblinkingly at the crystal, an image began to form. It became larger and more focused, and there was no mistaking that I was seeing Justin right now.
“I have something,” I gasped, afraid to avert my eyes even the slightest bit. “I can see him.”
“Good, good,” Ana murmured beside me. “What do you see?”
I stared for several seconds at the blue ripples before they finally made sense. “Water…he’s in the water. He’s sitting on a surfboard looking down at the water. He’s crying…that’s all,” I said, panicked. That wouldn’t help us at all!
“All right, that’s very good,” Ana said soothingly. “What else do you see?”
I shook my head, keeping my eyes locked on the image before me. “That’s it! That’s all I can see! Blue water everywhere and he’s sitting on his board crying. He’s wearing shorts. Wait…it looks like he’s moving. Yes, he’s pushing himself in the water, he’s moving the board. That’s all I can see,” I said despondently.
“That’s an excellent start,” Ana said. “Now, try backing up some. Get a bigger picture. Pull yourself away without breaking the connection.”
I imagined myself looking through the lens of a camera and adjusting it for a wide, panoramic view. Slowly I pulled back farther and farther. His image became smaller and smaller, but he was still surrounded completely by blue water.
Finally, when he was almost a speck, I spotted something in the lower left corner. It was the pier! But he was so far away. No one was remotely close to him. It was like he was trying to paddle out to the middle of the ocean.
“Oh my God,” I said as my knees threatened to buckle beneath me.
Justin was going to drown himself.
“Do you see where he is?” Nicholas asked from behind me.
I nodded. “Yes. He’s way, way out in the water…really far. I can’t tell where, exactly. It’s all water, except I could see the pier. But it was really far away.”
“What direction is he from the end of the pier?” Nicholas asked, moving beside me.
“If I was standing at the very end of it looking at the ocean, he’d be at about two o’clock, maybe two, three miles out. Maybe more...” I said, holding my right arm out at a slight angle.
I spun around, and locked eyes with Nicholas. “Please hurry. He looks like he’s ready to plunge off the board any moment! If he does he’ll drown for sure.”
Nicholas inched closer to me, and a quiet look of anguish flickered across his angelic face. “I’m going,” he said in a hushed voice. “Be safe while I am gone. I don’t know how long I will be.”
My heart felt like it was being squeezed dry. I hated that Nicholas was leaving again so soon. And it was me who was sending him away.
I wanted to hold him tight…to kiss him and touch his face. I wanted to whisper in his ear and have him run his fingers through my hair once more. I wanted to feel his arms around me. I wanted to feel the warm
th of his breath on my face…
“Do you know where you’re going?” I whispered. Now that the moment was here, I couldn’t let him go. I needed one more moment to look at him. “I mean, if you can’t visualize exactly, will it still work when you shimmer?”
Nicholas leaned forward and tilted his face down to mine. His eyes, not the hard glass of before, flickered with a secret memory, sending hidden signals to my heart. He was trying to tell me something. But all I felt was fear, despair, and the deepest grief that I might never again see the one I loved.
“Yes, I expect to get wet,” he said quietly. “But I’m a good swimmer and an even better flier. It will be okay. I will find him.”
“Okay,” I mumbled. “Be safe…please…”
He held my gaze for a moment longer, and then glanced over at Ana and nodded. “Ma’am.”
He gave me one last fleeting look before his body trembled, swayed, and then faded away.
Nicholas was gone. Again.
A second later I collapsed in a heap on the floor, my body and mind completely and utterly exhausted.
Chapter 29. Sleep
When I’d finally recovered enough to stand on my own, Ana and I joined the others downstairs. My whole body felt numb. I wobbled down the staircases holding the banister with one hand, and gripping Ana’s arm tightly with the other.
My perfect dream of last night was completely shattered by the cruel reality of today.
Sophie’s and Lily’s parents had already arrived. They stood talking to one another, and looking on their daughters with concern. When Ana and I entered the room, they immediately hushed and looked at us expectantly. Lily and Sophie had obviously filled them in about our plan to save Justin. I saw wary, disapproving looks from the adults and hopeful glances from the girls. I responded with a small shrug to their silent question, “So, what happened?” My mind and body spent…I had no energy to speak, even in my head.
Witchy, Witchy (Spellbound Trilogy #1) Page 21
