The Fourth Soul: (Cards of Death book 4)

by Tamara Geraeds

He blinks out of sight, and Vicky pushes back her chair with force. She takes us all in and growls. Then she pushes herself upright and… disappears.

  Mom places a hand over her mouth. “Where did she go?”

  D’Maeo comes back with some candles and stares at the empty chair.

  “She vanished,” I explain.

  He lowers the candles. “Did someone touch her grave again?”

  My heart beats a little slower at the thought. “Maybe. I suppose that wouldn’t be so bad.”

  “What?” Mom shoots me a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

  Quickly I explain Vicky’s second curse to her.

  Mom shakes her head. “As if one curse isn’t enough for a person. Poor girl.”

  I start pacing, wishing I could do something to get her back. “I just hope she won’t get sucked into the Shadow World.”

  “Or lost, like last time,” Jeep adds.

  “Right.” I sigh.

  “What do we do now?” Mom asks. “Is there a way to bring her back?”

  I keep walking back and forth. “No, we just…”

  There’s a soft whoosh, and Vicky drops back into her chair.

  She screams something at us in a language we don’t understand and launches herself forward.

  We all jump out of her reach, but this time it’s not us she wants to tear apart. She’s got her mind set on smashing everything in the kitchen, starting with the contents of the cupboards.

  “Vicky,” I plead. “Can you hear me? You have to come back to us.”

  Grunting contently, she rips packages apart with her fingers and teeth and throws the contents around. Soon we’re all decorated with a mixture of cereal, taco sauce and cookie crumbles.

  “Follow my voice back, Vick,” I say. “Listen to me and fight this.”

  It doesn’t look like it, but I know she can hear me. Mom always did. She said it helped her.

  “This might be a great time for that binding spell,” Charlie says. “Do you have everything we need, D’Maeo?”

  I shake my head when Vicky grabs one of the cupboard doors and pulls as hard as she can. “No, she’ll break everything in here before that spell works. We need something faster.”

  I scratch my head. “Can you freeze her until she snaps out of it, Charlie?”

  The ghost queen tilts her head. “He can, but not too often. It is not good for any living thing to be frozen in time too many times. It might be wiser to save this option for a moment when we really need it.”

  Vicky finally manages to pull down the cupboard door. With a loud crack and cling, the hinges give up their fight, and Vicky slams the door down on the kitchen counter. I flinch when it breaks in half and splinters fly everywhere.

  With a groan, Vicky bites into one half of the door. Some of her teeth break when she pulls at the splinters like an angry dog. The sight and sound of it make me sick, and although I know her teeth will all reappear soon, I can’t take this any longer.

  With a pleading look, I turn back to Charlie. “Please make it stop.”

  “I’ll try.” He slams down Maël’s wand and starts to mumble her time freezing spell.

  Vicky’s munching slows down, which is even creepier to watch, so I turn my head.

  A couple of seconds later, silence descends.

  I drop into the nearest chair and rub my face. “I hate this.”

  “She’ll be back with us soon,” Mom says in a comforting voice, but I can tell looking at Vicky makes her uncomfortable too.

  “Shouldn’t we talk to her?” Jeep asks, bending down to lock onto Vicky’s eyes.

  “Oh right.” I haul myself out of my chair again and join the tattooed ghost.

  Taking turns, we tell her how much we need her and that she’s strong enough to fight this curse.

  After several minutes, I turn to Maël. “How do we know when she’s back?”

  Maël nods at Charlie. “Step back a little, I will show Charlie how to slowly unfreeze her and we will see what happens.”

  We move back, still talking to Vicky, while Charlie awakens her bit by bit, so to speak.

  In slow motion, she lets go of the door and looks up.

  “She’s back,” I say immediately.

  Jeep nods his agreement. “The madness has left her eyes. You can unfreeze her completely.”

  I catch her as she falls to the ground. “Are you okay?”

  When she doesn’t answer, I let go. “Vicky? Are you alright?”

  She pats her chest, waist and legs. “Yes, I think so.” She meets my eyes and gives me a weak smile. “That was weird.”

  I take her hand and plant a kiss on it. “Were you pulled into a memory?”

  “I was, but I don’t remember anything about it. Just that I wanted to tear everything in it into a thousand pieces.”

  “But you couldn’t, because you weren’t really there,” I fill in the rest.

  “Exactly. So when I came here, I had an overwhelming urge to break everything.” She takes a look at the mess around us. “I’m glad I didn’t break much.”

  I pull her close again and kiss her head. “I’m glad you’re safe. And that Charlie is a quick learner.” I throw him a grateful look.

  Vicky grins when I let go. “So am I. And I’m glad I didn’t kill any of you. But I’ve got a lot of energy inside me right now, so can we go into the garden and train?”

  I pull her upright. “I’d love to.”

  Mom holds up her hand. “I’m not crazy about you guys almost killing each other, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to go pick up some things at home. Clothes, my sewing machine, my laptop.”

  I’m about to object when Mona steps forward and places a hand on my shoulder. “I can protect her, don’t worry. And if something happens, I can always call for Qaddisin.”

  Gulping down the last of my hot chocolate, I shake my head. “I still don’t like the idea. Remember how difficult it was for us to defeat that sand demon? And there were two of us then. Now, you’re going in there alone.”

  Mom places both hands on her hips. “Excuse me! She’s not alone. I’m not totally helpless, you know!”

  D’Maeo’s low voice interrupts us. “When dealing with magic, you are. I agree with Dante, but for now, you should be safe. Trevor obviously doesn’t want to see you harmed again.”

  Reluctantly, I say goodbye to Mom and Mona. Gisella tells us she has to go home to help her parents with her siblings, so I thank her for her help. Then I shake off my fear and make for the back door. “Let’s get on with it. The sooner we get our powers back or learn how to use the ones we have now, the sooner we can get back to hunting demons and other creeps.”

  CHAPTER 20

  From the corner of my eye, I try to track Maël’s progression while I steer some animal skeletons into the protecting circle in the back garden.

  “Ouch!” Vicky yells as one of them hits her in the shins with its flailing paws.

  “Sorry!” With frantic movements of my hands, I get them to walk around her.

  But then, with one sweep of her arm, Vicky launches them into the air.

  I drop my arms. “Hey!”

  “They won’t do us much good this way, Dante,” she scolds me. “You have to practice making them more grounded. If they’re swept off their feet so easily, they won’t be able to gives us any protection.”

  In two strides, I’m standing next to her, and I tip her over. “Being swept off your feet isn’t always a bad thing.”

  A grin plays with her lips. “I agree.”

  Lightning strikes at our feet, and we roll to the side.

  “What the heck, Taylar!” I yell.

  “Sorry!” he calls back. “I got a bit distracted by the porn under my nose.”

  Jeep goes into a laughing fit which causes D’Maeo, who he’d been hypnotizing, to laugh out loud too. I’ve never heard this careless, open laugh before from him, and it makes me stop to look.
He seems more whole than he has since I met him and suddenly, I realize how important it is to get the lost parts of his soul back. This laughter is just prompted by a magical power. It’s not real. But if I could restore his soul, maybe he could be genuinely happy again.

  “Well…” Vicky hauls herself up and brushes the dust off her black outfit. “I have to say, if getting swept off your feet means you have to get up by yourself anyway, I’m not sure I like it that much.”

  Guilt rises to my cheeks, and I quickly kiss her on the cheek. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

  She shoves me playfully. “Less thinking, more training, please, chosen one. We’ll need our powers to work if we’re going to save that soul.”

  “Yes, yes, I know.” I look around and see Maël lighting a small campfire with just words. “It seems to go well. Maybe we can stop practicing.”

  “That’s just one spell, Dante,” D’Maeo says, back to his serious self again. “It takes some more skill to cast an intricate one like putting powers back in place.”

  With a sigh, I give in. “Okay, let’s switch partners. Taylar, you’re with me. It’s time we…”

  I cut my words off mid-sentence when Taylar lets out a scream and slams his fists against his eyes. Before I can reach him, he has tumbled to the ground where he lays still.

  My heart stops for what feels like a minute while I kneel next to him. Please, let him be okay, I can’t handle anyone else getting cursed.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Vicky asks, lifting Taylar’s limp arm and shaking it.

  Taylar’s head moves slightly from left to right, and he mumbles something, but I can’t make it out.

  D’Maeo bends over him and lifts one of his eyelids. Taylar’s eyes roll around like crazy.

  The old ghost straightens up. “No need to panic. It’s just a premonition.”

  My voice stops working, and I just look at the young ghost lying there in the grass, his limbs twisting, his head lolling.

  “That’s what it looks like?” I finally manage to say. “No wonder I creeped you all out that time on Mr. Timson’s porch.”

  “Everything okay?” Charlie asks from the other side of the circle. “We can take a break, you know.”

  I wave at him to carry on. “It’s fine. Just a premonition.”

  We watch helplessly as Taylar gets sucked into what looks like a horrible world.

  “It could be another one about the Devil,” Vicky says, pointing at Taylar’s scrunched up face.

  Crouching down next to the white-haired ghost, I take his hand in mine. “For his sake, I hope not.”

  D’Maeo leaves the circle. “I’ll get him some water.”

  When he comes back, Taylar is just coming to.

  He lets out a yell and smacks me square on the nose.

  Tears form in my eyes as my face starts to throb.

  Taylar doesn’t notice. “It’s Satan! He’s here!” he cries out.

  “Shhh, take it easy.” D’Maeo pushes the glass into his hands. “He’s not here. Just breathe.”

  With wide, fearful eyes, the young ghost turns his head in all directions.

  “I saw him,” he pants. “He was right there.”

  A sudden jolt in my stomach pushes my food up, and I swallow. “He was here in the garden? You saw him here?”

  He nods feverishly, his hands clasped firmly around the glass.

  “Right here? You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure!” he yells, his hands shaking so hard the water splashes over the edge of his glass.

  I rub my face gently. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

  He takes a sip and shudders. “It’s all going wrong, man. Terribly wrong.”

  With a jerk of my head, I call Jeep closer. “Can you calm him down a bit?” I whisper.

  He gives me a small nod. “I can try.”

  It takes a while before Taylar keeps his head still long enough for Jeep to be able to use Vicky’s emotion controlling power.

  To all our relief, he finally stops shivering and muttering about the end of the world.

  “Can you tell us what you saw?” I ask him when he hands D’Maeo back his empty glass.

  He pushes his hands against his ears. “I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

  I gently pull his hands away. “You have to, Taylar. I’m sorry. You want to prevent it, don’t you?”

  He clenches his jaws together so hard that his teeth protest.

  “Please tell us so we can make sure it never happens.”

  He takes a shaky breath, but when he opens his mouth, no words come out. His head moves rapidly from left to right. “I can’t!”

  I lean forward to shake his shoulders and tell him to be strong, but D’Maeo grabs my arm before I can. “He needs to rest first.” He takes Taylar’s hand and pulls him up. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

  As Taylar is led out of the circle and into the mansion, he reminds me off his younger self, the one I saw in his memory. Nothing more than a kid, brave but tainted by a history of fear and neglect.

  When I turn back to the others, I find them all looking at me for some reason, so I slam my hands together. “Well, looks like our time is running out, so let’s get back to work.”

  Jeep takes his place in front of me. “Ready?”

  I blow up my cheeks. “Not really, but we have to train if we want to stand a chance.”

  He adjusts his hat. “Maybe it looked worse than it was, Dante, like that first premonition you had of the Devil. Maybe he overreacted out of shock.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I say, avoiding eye contact and instead focusing on the moving tattoos on his arm. But probably not.

  CHAPTER 21

  It’s almost eleven o’clock when I tell everybody to stop. I’ve gotten a lot better at making skeletons do what I want, although I’m not nearly where Jeep was. Maël isn’t doing bad with the spells either, so there’s a glint of hope. If it hadn’t been for Taylar’s premonition, I would have been beyond hopeful.

  “Get some rest,” I tell my friends.

  Then I remember something.

  “Mom!” The word comes out choked as my mind comes up with all kinds of horrid images, and my Shield freezes.

  D’Maeo and Maël exchange a worried look.

  “She should’ve been back by now, right?” I say, praying that someone will come up with a logical explanation.

  Instead, they move to the door in a hurry, pulling me along. Vicky throws me the keys to my car and a second later, we’re on our way, tires screeching and our eyes searching for danger all around us.

  I fumble for my phone and realize it’s not in my pocket. I must have left it on the kitchen table.

  “Should we call Quinn?” I wonder out loud.

  D’Maeo pulls his gaze from the trees for a moment. “Not yet. It could be nothing.”

  Yeah right, just like Taylar’s premonition could be nothing.

  The roads, both magical and non-magical, are quiet, so I speed through corners and past houses like a madman. Until we reach Oak Lane, and Vicky lets out a horrified gasp.

  Immediately, I hit the brake. Phoenix protests by creaking loudly but comes to a halt.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  Vicky points at the road behind us. “I think I saw Mona’s car.”

  I peer into the rearview mirror. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Not on the road,” she says softly. “Next to it, between the trees.”

  My legs barely obey when I jump out of the car and start running back down the road. Or stumbling is more like it.

  I scan the trees on the side of the road and look for skid marks on the tarmac. There are none, and that knowledge only makes the knot in my stomach pull tighter.

  Vicky passes me. “It was on the other side of the road. They must have been heading back to Darkwood Manor when something happened.”

  They got killed.

&nbs
p; No! Don’t think that!

  But every time my feet touch the ground, the thought repeats itself.

  Killed, killed, killed.

  “Please no, please no, please no,” I whisper, trying to drown out the voice in my head.

  “There!” Vicky comes to a halt, her arm outstretched, pointing at the forest.

  D’Maeo, Maël and Jeep apparate to where Mona’s pink Volvo is folded around a tree like a piece of origami.

  Mona can heal herself and others, I remind myself. They’re fine.

  But if they’re fine, why didn’t they come home?

  Tripping over my own feet, I go after my friends. Charlie prevents me from tipping over several times before we reach the car.

  Smoke still billows up from the hood of the wreck which has slammed sideways into a pine tree.

  My Shield, minus Taylar, has gathered around the passenger side, which is mostly intact. The fact that there are no gasps or outcries of horror gives me a sliver of hope, but my heart keeps up its irregular beat. There’s not enough oxygen flowing into my brain to keep all my functions working. Blinking rapidly, I try to get rid of the haze that has fallen over my eyes. While I do, my feet forget how to move, and one of them catches behind a tree root.

  Charlie grabs me once more and keeps me upright.

  “They’ll be fine, they’re fine,” he repeats my thoughts.

  I want to call out to Mom, but my voice refuses.

  When I finally manage to reach the car and see what’s inside, a low gurgle escapes my lips.

  “They’re alive, just unconscious,” D’Maeo assures me.

  Maël walks around the car and the tree that it’s become a part of. “No signs of demons.”

  I pull myself closer to the window on the passenger side, breathing hard.

  Two figures hang limply in their seats as if they decided to take a nap. I’m glad that D’Maeo already told me they’re alive, because the movement of Mom’s chest is barely visible. Mona is bent into a position I don’t want to examine further, so I keep my focus on Mom.

  When her head slides slowly to the side and she utters a soft moan, my voice and common sense return.

  Using the strength that has flooded back into my limbs, I pull open the car door and put my hands on Mom’s shoulders. “Mom…” I shake her gently. “Wake up, Mom.”