The animal yelped at the same time I cried out in pain as I ripped my flesh from its teeth. My momentum carried me over the wall, landing hard enough to knock the wind out of me. As I struggled to drag air into my lungs, I could hear the canine on the other side huffing in pain, interspersed with growls.
The second I could breathe, I pulled myself up with my good arm, cradling the bleeding one against my body. Evil spirit or not, I needed to get inside and away from the wolf before the pain of my magic wore off.
The ground under my feet trembled as soon as I was upright; the rumble climbed up my legs and made keeping my balance difficult. Still, I continued through the ruins toward the temple, using the moonlight to avoid the worst of the pitfalls. As soon as my feet left the forest soil and crossed onto the concrete floor, the trembling ceased. Inside, the entry hall was pitch black.
The tiny orb of light that had been my first introduction to magic winked into existence at my request. It provided enough light to make my way forward, but didn't come close to banishing the shadows from the farthest corners of the room.
As I made my way farther into the building, it became apparent that someone, or something, had been inside since the last time I'd been there. The altar where my aunt's body had lain now sat in a crumpled heap, its pieces cascading down the stairs and across the floor. Some of the statues had fallen from, or been knocked from, their pedestals and were nothing more than shards on the stone below.
A wind blew through the chamber, carrying voices to my ears. Whispers, interspersed with shrieks, assaulted my eardrums. No intelligible words could be heard, but the pain and fear needed no words to express itself.
Doing my best to block it out, I reached out with my senses, trying to put the lessons from the book into practice and hoping they would guide me to where I needed to go. Each side of the room had a dark hall leading off of it, and no indication of which would lead me to the spirit. Did I go in the direction the wind came from, or where it led?
“Where are you, damn it?”
As soon as my voice left my throat the wind stopped, and the voices it had been carrying disappeared. The sudden lack of sound startled me.
“Le-ah...” The disembodied voice swirled around me like a tiny cyclone, giving no indication of its origin. “Come here, Leah.”
“Where are you hiding, you coward?”
The answering cackle chilled me to the bone. I'd never before had such an evil laugh hit my ears. It scraped against my eardrums like fingernails on a chalkboard, driving the sound into my brain like an ice pick. The sound would be burned into my memories for the rest of my life.
For a brief moment, my little orb of light went dark, leaving me with no sight. When it reappeared, it floated at the entrance to the hallway on my left. Taking the only clue I'd been given so far, I followed it.
The passage led straight to the West, crossing over far more ground than the premises appeared to cover from the outside. No doorways broke the long smooth walls, and no other source of light existed aside from the orb I created. If it went out again, I would have to feel my way back to the entrance and hope nothing nefarious got in my way.
The hall began to spiral, leading down below the surface of the ground. The thought that I should wait for Isaiah, or go back to get help crossed my mind. My magical skills were in no way up to a battle with an evil like I felt here. Turning around, I ran smack into a rough stone wall. My forehead slammed into it, giving me an instant headache. The path back had been blocked. Down was the only option available to me.
Muttering to myself, I continued on. The chill in the air seeped through the layers I wore, giving me goosebumps. My calf muscles began to protest the continued steep grade of the unrelenting path. My only light source grew dimmer as the darkness became more oppressive. This dark was no longer just the absence of light, but a physical force pressing down on me. True fear began to creep into my bones.
As I rounded the curved wall, the faintest hint of blue light came from in front of me, bouncing off the pale stone walls as it crept from around a heavy wooden door. Runes and symbols covered every inch of the available surface. A lump in my pocket grew heavy and warm. Reaching in, I found the iron key I had removed from Aunt Aimee's hand on the day we saw her body. I didn't know how it had gotten there, but I had no doubt it fit the keyhole in the door in front of me.
The key turned in the lock as expected, and I pushed the door open on smooth hinges. In the scary movies doors always creaked when they opened, and for a brief moment I felt let down that this particular scene didn't live up to what lived in my imagination. Once the door no longer blocked my view, I could take in the room in front of me.
The walls and ceiling of the room were covered in the same patterned markings as the door. The stone below my feet gave way to packed dirt just over the threshold. Something stopped me from taking the final step onto the earthen floor.
The blue light brightened in front of me, bringing my attention to the bubble floating in the center of the room. A dark shadow thrashed within the confines of the light. As I watched, it slowed, then stopped altogether, and I could feel its focus turn to me.
The shadow morphed into a human form; the prison confining its changing shape with it. A woman stared at me before beginning to laugh maniacally. The cackle that had found its way to me up above emanated from the gaping mouth. She thrust out her arms, slamming her power into the walls of the spell that contained her. Cracks splintered across its surface.
Her form, although a complete stranger, seemed familiar in a distant sort of way. A sense of having seen her before somewhere, maybe, rippled through me.
She placed both palms on the barrier facing me, pressing against it. My breath caught as the crescent mark on her palm, identical to mine but on the opposite hand, began to glow. Unable to drag my eyes from the shape before me, it took a moment for me to notice that my own mark felt like it caught fire. The burning sensation spread from my palm up my arm.
The voice hissed from her unmoving lips. “You are in way over your head, little girl. You don't even know who I am, do you?”
“That may be so, but I'll be damned if I let you escape.” As I spoke I reached for the power I had brought in with me, borrowed from nature and the sanctuary itself.
Her only response was another laugh as she slammed her hands against the containment, widening the cracks. Her power began to seep through them and wind toward me.
“It is only a matter of time until these spells give way. They have been weakening since the moment Aimee died. And once I am free, I will do the same to you as I did to her.”
The statement had its intended effect, pain stabbing through my heart at the mention of Aunt Aimee, knowing this creature had killed her. My knees weakened, and I had to grab the wall for support to keep from falling to the floor.
“Aimee thought she could take me on. What an absurd idea!” The spirit almost crooned the words. “I took great pleasure in wrapping my magic around her neck and squeezing the life from her. It wasn't quite as satisfying as using my own two hands, but you don't always get what you want. In spite of being contained here, I could taste her fear. I felt the blackness crawl over her as she struggled to take a breath, unable to drag any air into her lungs.”
Anger hummed through me at the detailed account of Aimee's suffering. At the pleasure this thing took in stealing her from me. My fingernails dug into my palms as I curled my hands into fists. Power thrummed in my veins.
Black vapors leaked from the cracks in the sphere, reaching towards me. I tried to take a step back, finding more stone blocking the pathway.
“You shouldn't have come here, little one, but I knew you would not be able to resist my beckoning.”
The threads wrapped themselves around me, digging into my flesh as they pulled tighter, dragging me across the floor until I stood directly in front of the spirit. My skin felt as if tiny splits had opened up across every inch of it, and all of the power I borrowed from the sanctu
ary before entering the temple began to leak through them.
Every second left me weaker, as I struggled to call the power back to me. I tried to use what little I had left, but couldn't bring any of the spells I had been practicing to mind.
“Had Aimee or your mother trained you growing up, you would be capable of besting me in an instant, your natural talent is so great. But instead they left you with no knowledge and no hope.” She licked her lips. “All this glorious power, coiled within you, is now mine for the taking. Thanks to her choice, I will use this small gift from you to finally break free of my prison.”
The smoky vapor crawled across me, creeping into my ears, effectively drowning out any sound but her voice echoing in my mind. It crept over my eyes, leaving me sightless even with my lids held open. Panic clenched my gut. Once I opened my mouth to scream, the haze took the opportunity to crawl down my throat and up into my nose, blocking my ability to breathe.
In desperation, I screamed out for help in my mind, praying with my final thought that Isaiah, or anyone, would hear me and come to my rescue. Lack of breath is painful. Each cell in my body screamed out for oxygen.
Coherent thought escaped me as I felt my body giving out. The last feeling that registered was my crescent mark flaring with heat and pain. A shriek echoed in my head, but I lost all senses before I could determine where it came from.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Soft murmurs reached my ears, which stopped as a door latched shut with a click. With great effort, I peeled my eyelids open, blinking at the sudden assault of light against my corneas. As the room around me quit swimming, my focus landed on Isaiah, perched in the chair at my bedside.
“How did I get here? And what are you doing here?” The words hurt my throat.
“I brought you here. I heard your message about something odd happening at the temple, so I headed that way. I tried to tell you to wait for me, but something blocked me. I couldn't get through to you.”
“That must have been because I already stepped into the ruins. I could tell something was different as soon as I fell over the wall at the perimeter. A wolf attacked me.” Pulling the sleeve up, I examined the bite, which didn't seem to be as bad as I'd feared.
He growled. “Which one? When you didn't answer, I started running that way, trying to get there as fast as I could. I just kept praying you wouldn't go inside alone. I didn't see any other wolves when I got there.”
“I don't know. All I can tell you is that it was black, and much smaller than you. I hesitated at the wall, thinking I would wait for you, when I heard it growl behind me. I tried to talk to it but I couldn't, so then I tried to shoo it away, which also didn't work.” I sucked in a breath at the memory. “About the time I decided the temple would be safer than trying not to get eaten, it sprang at me and grabbed my arm. I slammed my hand against it and hit it with my magic. I'm sorry, I injured one of your pack.”
“What? Are you kidding me? Do not apologize. If it was one of my pack, they all were warned that you are under my protection. Harming you means their death. How did you get away from it?”
“Once I smacked it, I was able to pull my arm from its grip and I fell over the wall. It knocked the wind out of me, but the second I was able to get up, I made a beeline for the temple. It was still whimpering on the ground when I got inside.”
“Well, like I said, it was gone by the time I got there. But I will figure it out, and they will pay. All I had to do was cross the ruins and walk into the temple which was aglow with blue light. I could see it from outside. I just followed it until I found you.”
“I'm sorry. But, how did you get in? Weren't there walls blocking the passage?”
“No. I just walked right down the hall.”
He reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. “What were you doing at the temple?? Why on Earth would you go there alone? She almost killed you.” His voice trailed off at the last sentence.
“I don't know.” I could barely whisper my response. I looked out the window, stalling. No cloud hung over the temple location.
He shook his head, and I just knew in his mind he lamented my stupidity. “If I had been five seconds later, you would be dead. As it was, I found you unresponsive, not breathing, and cold as ice. I thought for sure I had lost you.” He inhaled with his eyes closed, taking a minute to steady himself. “Never, ever go there alone again. Why didn't you call me? I would have gone with you.”
“I don't know.” I repeated my answer from a moment ago, the only one I had to give him. “The evil spirit. She has the crescent mark, just like I do. It's even in the same place. And she looked oddly familiar, although I couldn't place where I might have seen her before.” I licked my lips, trying to dispel the parched feeling. “She was so powerful.”
Isaiah looked at me, taking in the information. His brows drew together. “You think you might know her from somewhere? She's been there for a long time.”
With a shrug, I shook my head. “Maybe she just reminds me of someone. There is a book over on the dresser where my aunt had a list of others who bore the mark. It's got a green leather cover. Will you please bring it to me?”
He did as I asked, handing over the volume I requested. I flipped through the pages for a moment, looking for the chart I remembered reading about in one of my aunt's journal entries. I'd been meaning to look it over and hadn't had the chance.
Exactly in the middle, I found what I looked for. A family tree took up the majority of the spread, with coded lines leading to other witches outside our line who also carried the crescent birthmark. My own name had been the last to be added, with my mom and aunt above me. The line above the two of them carried a name circled in red.
Gretchen Reign. A line had been drawn through her first name. According to the chart, the woman was the mother of my mother and my Aunt Aimee. My grandmother? That couldn't be right. How had my own ancestor become so evil?
“I need to talk to my mom.”
Throwing back the blankets, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, surprised by the sudden onset of acute vertigo. My head swam and stars danced before my eyes. Isaiah managed to catch me before I face-planted onto the hardwood floor.
“Maybe you should get back in bed and I should go and get your mom? You probably aren't ready to be up and about yet.”
“How long have I been in bed?”
He hesitated. “Ah, about eighteen hours or so.”
“What?!”
“Hey, that's not bad. It's better than being dead, right? And seeing how close you were to dying, I'd say a few more hours of rest shouldn't be out of the question.”
The headache that throbbed through my skull didn't leave me any breath to argue with him. Easing my upper half back toward the pillow, I didn't protest when he lifted my legs back onto the bed, tucking the covers around me.
“Can you ask my mom to bring some Tylenol up with her when she comes, please?”
He nodded, slipping through the doorway and pulling it closed behind him. I took that opportunity to close my eyes and think about what happened in the room beneath the temple.
The scenes ran through my head over and over. I tried to slow them down to analyze every second of the encounter, but many of the details were still foggy. Unsure if it had something to do with the headache, or the magic, I gave up, waiting for the pain reliever that would hopefully help clear my head.
Isaiah returned, giving me a small smile. “Your mom said she will be right up. Do you want me to give the two of you a little privacy? I can go and come back later.”
“Please stay. I think you need to hear this as well, and I have a feeling I am going to need a little moral support during the conversation.”
Sliding the chair even closer to the bed, he took my hand. “I'm really glad I got to you in time. I don't know what I would have done if I would have been too late. Please don't ever do something like that by yourself again. Ever.”
“I'm sorry. It never even occurred to me that things might
take such a dangerous turn. I'm not sure what came over me.”
A knock sounded on the door frame. My mom poked her head in. “I have some Tylenol for you.” She walked over and dropped two little white pills in my hand, then passed me a glass of water and turned to go.
“Wait, Mom. We need to talk.”
She glanced at me. “When you are feeling better, then we can talk. You need to rest.” She continued toward the door as she spoke.
“No.” My voice stopped her in her tracks, and she turned to face me once more. “We need to talk right now. You have put me off and lied to me long enough.”
“Excuse me?”
My eyes met hers in a level stare. “No more. Your secret is out. I want to know about your mother. My grandmother. The one you always want to avoid speaking of, that you change the subject if she is mentioned. You had the opportunity to be honest with me when we were downstairs looking through all those pictures and I asked about her. Yet you chose to lie to me then too. Sit. Please.”
Isaiah stood and offered her his chair, moving a few steps away to sit at my feet on the end of the bed. She hesitated. The clouds in her eyes telegraphed her discomfort.
“What do you want from me, Leah?” She sighed as she sank into the chair.
“The truth. I think you owe me that. All this time you have kept your secrets. If you had been honest with me from the beginning, maybe Aimee wouldn't be dead.”
The pain that flitted across her face made me feel guilty, but I couldn't relent. She would be perfectly happy to keep her little secrets and take them to her own grave if I didn't insist.
“Leah...”
“No, Mom. That spirit almost killed me too, your only daughter. And you still don't want to give me the information that could save my life? Why? What is wrong with you?”
She sighed, and a tear slipped down her cheek. For a woman who had shown very little emotion my entire life, I'd seen a lot of her tears these past few days. “This is what I wanted to avoid from the very beginning. When I took you away from this place, my hope was that the world of witchcraft and magic would never touch you. I prayed to the Goddess every single day to protect you, to save you from the mess I had been born into. The day you spilled your blood onto this soil, I knew my prayers had been ignored.”
Crescent Marked: StarHaven Sanctuary Book One Page 11
