Born of Shadows- Complete Series

by J. R. Erickson

  He stared down at it, remembering the previous winter when he'd followed his own footprints through the snow to the wall. That night he'd found a single black hair that belonged to Dafne. It was the first night that he realized the darkness was calling to him. He had little to no memory of that night, but now he understood the significance of that stone wall. It was the foundation of Clyde's childhood home. He had buried Kanti at the place where his life began.

  He dropped to his knees and ran his hands along the rock. Sebastian didn't know what he searched for, but groped with his fingers growing desperate. Pulling plants from the earth, he flung them behind him, dirt raining over his head as he uprooted every weed and flower along the wall. A butterfly bumped his face and he shook his head. It returned, flying into his eye and he batted it away. The butterfly struck the wall and he stared at the copper wings dotted in black spots. They fluttered and the butterfly took flight again, this time perching on Sebastian's hand.

  Claire had told him that she appeared as butterflies. He closed his eyes and rocked back. Gently, he blew the butterfly and she flew away.

  "I'm sorry, Claire," he whispered as he dug into the dirt.

  "Damn," he yelped as his finger jammed against something hard. He pulled his hand out, but the world rolled away from him. He fell into a black void, screaming, flailing, and then a burst of light and heat surrounded him. He felt his body rocketed backwards and then it stopped as if he had struck a brick wall. He lay sprawled on the ground, gasping and shaking. Lying perfectly still, Sebastian kept his eyes closed, willing the world to stop swimming.

  Finally, his heart slowed to a steady thud, and he opened his eyes. A rock wall met his vision and when he recognized the room, he scrambled to his feet. He was in Clyde's cave tucked in the dream wood mountain. He was back in the Forest of Purgatory.

  ****

  "Good grief! Did you fall in the mud?" Abby asked when Sebastian walked through the door, streaked with dirt and twigs.

  He smiled and shrugged, picking a slug from his shirt. "I decided to do some weeding."

  "Weeding?" she asked, surprised. She sat in a gliding chair breastfeeding Vidya who had mostly fallen asleep, but occasionally latched back on and proceeded to dribble most of the milk down Abby's side.

  "Yeah. I thought a garden would be cool, right? Didn't you say you wanted a garden?" Sebastian kicked off his shoes and walked to the refrigerator. He pulled out a pitcher of ice tea and poured himself a glass. "Want one?" he asked.

  She shook her head no, noticing how little eye contact he'd made with her since walking in the door.

  "I need a shower," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead before heading for the stairs.

  She watched him, biting her lower lip and then glanced toward the doorway through which he'd come. She wondered what she would find if she went to investigate the garden he spoke of. Upstairs, she heard the shower turn on.

  Chapter 21

  Dante set up the web cam. Several days after they had left Chicago, Dante called Oliver with a plan. Of course, Abby knew where to find Victor. He was living on Snake Island, but they wanted to draw him away from his place of power. She couldn't exactly deliver him a letter. It had been Dante's idea to upload a video, convinced that Victor still monitored some of their online network.

  "Do you really think this will work? Abby asked Dante.

  He nodded, adjusting the camera.

  "I can see that someone has been hacking into our network. Fortunately, we started a separate one that we've moved a lot of our information onto, but we want to keep the old one live because we can potentially feed him information. This is the perfect opportunity."

  "Not to make light of the situation, but does anyone else feel like we're about to film something raunchy?" Oliver asked, holding up a fur lined throw pillow on one end of the couch.

  "That's a Kendra decor item," Dante sighed. "Marcus tried to refuse it a place in our perfectly outfitted home, but she persisted."

  Abby grinned and shook her head. "I'm happy someone can joke. I feel like I might throw-up."

  "That's because you're breastfeeding and haven't eaten a crumb today," Helena told her, tucking a curl behind her ear.

  "I can't. I'm too nervous. I don't even know why. It's a web cam for Pete's sakes," she murmured, looking again at the damaged watch. Would this work?

  "How come Sebastian got to stay home with the baby?" Oliver asked. "Shouldn't you be the one with the baby excuse?"

  Abby rolled her eyes at him.

  "Yes, but Sebastian would be crawling up the walls right now if he were here. I figured I was the safer bet."

  "Good point," he replied.

  "Okay, we're almost there," Dante said. "I just need to login to Victor's network and we'll be live."

  "Live?" Abby asked, feeling her stomach clench.

  "Yes, but Victor doesn't know where we live. Okay? And we did a lot of shielding on this place."

  "Let him show up," Oliver snapped. "I'd love a little face-to-face time with that backstabbing piece of..."

  Helena held up a hand to shush him. "Intentions are powerful things my dear Oliver. Don't invite him here with your mind. This place leaves us far too vulnerable."

  Dante left the room and returned a moment later.

  "Ready, set, action," Dante announced as he pressed the black button on the camera.

  Abby stood frozen for a moment, before she remembered that it was she who had to speak to Victor, lure him into their trap. She took a seat on the couch and squared off against the lens, watching the little red light.

  "Victor, this message is for you or should I say for your master, Clyde."

  Abby leaned forward on the couch and opened her palm, revealing the watch cupped in the center of her hand.

  "Does this look familiar to you? I believe it belonged to your brother. The brother you murdered. The brother who was truly magical. How sad to spend centuries coveting someone else's power."

  On the other side of the room, Dante, Oliver and Helena watched her. Oliver gave her a thumbs up.

  Abby took a deep breath. She imagined Victor watching the video, feeling that misplaced rage given to him by Clyde. Why would he sacrifice his life to join Clyde?

  She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and continued.

  "This watch means nothing to me, but I'm willing to make a deal with you. Meet me, answer my questions and I'll hand it over. I'll be waiting for you in the Ebony Woods on Friday at 2pm."

  Dante pressed the button on the camera and the tiny red light disappeared. It was done unless of course you considered that they'd just told Clyde that she possessed something he desperately wanted. Sebastian was at home, hopefully safely rocking their little girl to sleep. Would Victor wait for their meeting or attack them in the night? Did he know she'd stolen the amulet?

  "Let's get home," she announced, handing the watch back to Oliver. She feared Sebastian and Vidya alone in their house.

  ****

  "Why are you wearing that?" Abby asked, startling Sebastian from his reverie.

  He'd been stirring a pot of white bean chicken chili and watching Lake Michigan through the window. He blinked to clear his mind.

  "What?" he asked, glancing down at his t-shirt and expecting to find he'd put it on backwards.

  Abby strode across the room and poked his chest.

  "That watch! Why are you wearing it?"

  She looked upset, maybe even angry, and he stared at the small gold disc hanging from a chain around his neck. He had no clue how it had gotten there.

  He frowned.

  "Huh, I don't know." He looked again at the furrow of her brow and the grim line of her mouth. "Why? What is it?" He felt confident he had never seen the watch, let alone put it on and yet there it was.

  "It was Clyde's brother's watch, Sebastian. The one that Oliver brought back from Australia. We took it to Chicago today. Remember?"

  Sebastian frowned and lifted the bit of gold. He slipped the chain over
his neck and set it on the counter.

  "That's really strange," he murmured. "I swear Abby, I don't remember putting it on." Her expression had shifted, and he saw fear in her eyes.

  He knew that he needed to offer a better explanation, but frankly he didn't have one. He turned his attention back to the chili trying to ignore the weight of her stare boring into his back.

  ****

  "He digs up the bones every what? Fifty years? Takes the amulet out and then buries them again. Why does he take the amulet out?" Oliver asked.

  He sat in a boat with Elda, Faustine and Julian. They drifted in the calm Lake Superior water. Oliver was perched on the bow of the Boston whaler, his leg draped over the side. He had returned from Chicago and filled them in on the webcam video.

  "Because it's charged," Julian said. "He puts it with Kanti's bones to restore the connection to her power. Then he moves her bones to ensure she continues to drift, ungrounded, in the realm of spirit. He digs it back up when he feels it has regained its power."

  "And before she becomes too powerful herself," Elda added. "Perhaps he waited too long the last time he placed the amulet with her bones and that is how she started to make contact with the physical world."

  Faustine stood at the helm, his hands gripping the large silver wheel, his eyes focused on the horizon.

  "We have to ground her bones. Bury her in the consecrated earth of her tribe," he said.

  "Do we know where that is?" Oliver asked.

  "I'm sure Nora could tell us. I'll go to the cave when we return, hopefully she is still with us," Elda responded.

  "What does that mean? She's dying?" Oliver asked, swinging his leg into the boat and facing them.

  "Yes, and soon. Let's return right now," Julian agreed.

  Faustine started the engine, and they sped back to the cliffs of Ula.

  Oliver watched the castle rising in the distance and felt a pang of love for the towering home of Ula. For years he had felt the castle beginning to stifle him, but recently something had shifted, the death of Ezra perhaps, and suddenly he could think of nowhere he'd rather be than paging through a book in the library, drinking a cup of coffee while Lydie threw a ball of yarn to one of her cats.

  He sighed and leaned over the boat watching the water race by - ripples of his reflection there and then gone.

  ****

  Abby closed the bedroom door and leaned her head against it. She held the watch cupped in her hand. It seemed to burn though she knew she only imagined it. Why had Sebastian been wearing it? After creating the video in Chicago, she had returned the watch to a small box tucked in the far back corner of her suitcase. She had meant to retrieve it and pass it off to Julian. Not only had Sebastian dug it out, but he put it on and seemingly had no memory of doing so.

  After leaving the kitchen, Abby had bypassed the living room where she heard Helena and Lydie in a boisterous conversation. Why hadn't she stopped? Told Helena immediately about Sebastian wearing the watch? Why did there always seem to be a reason for keeping secrets where Sebastian was concerned?

  She returned the watch to the box and stuffed it inside a huge ceramic vase in the corner of the room. She whispered an incantation and directed her fingers toward the box, watching it disappear. It had not actually vanished, only changed shade to blend with the vase surrounding it.

  The door slid open and Sebastian stuck his head in.

  "Hey, I'm sorry about that just now. I should have said more..."

  Abby sighed and moved to the bed, hoping Sebastian had not seen her looking into the vase. She sat down and folded her arms across her chest.

  "I'm worried about you, Sebastian. You're supposed to be protected and yet somehow you have no recollection of finding that watch and putting it on."

  "You're right. And believe me, I'm worried too. I'm going to find Julian tomorrow and tell him what happened. We'll try new spells, whatever it takes." He sat next to her and pulled one of her hands into his own.

  She smiled at him, but the words from Dafne's letter sat heavy in her mind. "Don't trust him."

  ****

  "I have coordinates," Elda announced striding into the library with a map. "Sadly, Nora has passed; however, Ellen was able to get an exact location from a map in Nora's scrapbook and she gave me the coordinates. I doubt it's still an Indian reservation, but judging from the map I'm guessing it's wooded and isolated."

  "So she accurately foresaw her death," Julian commented.

  Elda nodded, putting a hand over her heart. "Ellen said her passage was peaceful."

  "The one person who could tell us about Clyde is dead?" Oliver asked.

  "I believe she told us all that she knew," Elda reassured him.

  Faustine walked through the library doors behind Elda, his face grave. "We have to find her bones first."

  "What?" Julian spun from the window and Oliver saw a glimmer of fear in his eyes.

  "They're gone," Faustine said, holding out his palms to reveal their emptiness. "The box is gone."

  "Victor must have taken it after Abby's wedding. When..." But Elda didn't finish the statement and she didn't need to. When he drugged them all and using his magic moved them from Ula to the Ebony Woods where he had intended to sacrifice them in order to help Clyde rise to power.

  "Why didn't we think to look then," Oliver muttered.

  "Because we had other things to worry about," Julian reminded him. "And we didn't recognize the significance of the bones."

  Faustine took a deep breath.

  "I need some time in the tower. Let's meet back here in two hours." He strode from the room.

  "Lydie and Helena are at Abby's," Elda murmured. "Bridget is making breakfast for dinner. Is there anyone I'm missing? Are we all accounted for?"

  "Yes, Elda. Come take a seat." Julian led Elda toward a chair by the window. "It's been a long day, relax and we'll create a plan when Faustine returns."

  Elda nodded again stroking the pendant around her neck. She leaned her head back in the chair and her eyes drifted closed.

  Julian gestured for Oliver to follow him from the library.

  ****

  Sebastian waited until Abby slept soundly. He had a few hours at least before Vidya's first wake-up and only Helena remained in the house with them, hopefully sound asleep. He crept from the house and closed the door quietly before sprinting into the woods. He found the stone wall and lifted the large birch branch he'd placed over the hole. The portal was a mud caked rock, about the size of a softball. Without gloves he had not wanted to touch the stone a second time. Unable to remove any of the mud, he hadn't seen exactly what kind of stone it was.

  Sliding thick, sheep-skin gloves over his hands, he reached into the hole and brushed the rock with his finger bracing for impact. Nothing happened. He sighed, relieved. He intended to travel again, but wanted to investigate the rock first. He flipped on a flashlight and balanced it on the stonewall as he lifted the rock. Using a dishtowel, he wiped most of the of mud away and examined the rough surface. A purplish-blue sheen seemed to cover the stone and despite its density, a light emanated from somewhere within it. He turned it over, looking for any other distinguishing traits, but found none. Had he passed it sitting on the beach, he would barely have noticed it.

  He checked his watch. Only fifteen minutes had lapsed. He still had time. Of course, if he got trapped in the dream wood, time would be irrelevant. No one would have a clue. He would simply disappear without a trace.

  Slipping off a glove, Sebastian closed his eyes and pressed his palm against the rock.

  ****

  It took less time to come down from the dizziness that accompanied his travel through the portal. Sebastian rubbed his eyes and surveyed Clyde's cave room, considering looking around, but deciding against it. Time was limited.

  As he moved through the Forest of Purgatory, Sebastian's feet sank into the soggy earth, and he wrinkled his nose at the putrid smell that seemed to rise up from everywhere. He had expected Meghan's dar
k phantoms to descend upon him the moment he stepped from Clyde's secret room, but he found only silence. He walked to the gnarled trees beneath the pool of water that he knew to be the pond in the dream wood. In the Forest of Purgatory, it was a strange floating mass of dark water.

  He paused and glanced back toward the cave he'd left behind. He was balanced on the precipice, facing a choice that once made could not be undone. He could turn, walk back to the cave, climb into Clyde's room, and touch the purple stone that would send him back to Trager.

  He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out.

  "Meghan!"

  The phantoms appeared from the misty darkness. He closed his eyes as they surrounded him.

  Chapter 22

  Abby woke, startled, and blinked into the pink light of the room. The salt rock lamp had been a gift from Helena to help balance the energies in their bedroom, and also to offer a sleep-friendly night-light for the baby. Rolling to her side, she watched Vidya. Her daughter slept soundly, her tiny pale eyelids fluttering beneath dark lashes. The other side of the bed lay empty and cool as if Sebastian had not been there for some time.

  Pushing the covers off, Abby slipped from the bed and took the gold silk robe from the chair by her bed. The robe was long and hooded and Abby felt like royalty whenever she wore it. Oliver had given it to her after his last trip to Australia. Matilda made robes for other covens and when Oliver spotted the golden silk, he thought Abby would love it. Matilda insisted that the Sky Mothers wanted to give the robe as a gift and would not accept payment, which Abby appreciated. Had it merely been a gift from Oliver, Sebastian might have taken offense and then she would have felt awkward every time she wore it.

  Moving down the stairs slowly, Abby listened for sounds of Sebastian. More importantly, she allowed her energy field to open so that she might sense him. Had he slipped out into the night on some mysterious business that he wouldn't tell her about? She tried to strike the thought from her mind, but it sat there heavy and unmovable.