Everlost (The Night Watchmen Series Book 3)

by Candace Knoebel

  “Got it,” I say, ignoring the whirlpool swirling in my stomach.

  “Okay, on my count, begin. One. Two. Three.”

  The spell starts as my eyes hone in on the Witch. Her eyebrows furrow the moment our magic attacks hers. Her lips tighten, the words spewing from her mouth exiting a little more firmly now. She drops her hands for a moment, shaking them out, and then places them back over the Grimoire, hitting us with a blast of power.

  But together, she’s no match for us.

  It only takes a little more pushing against her when I finally feel the link I need weakening in the chain of her spell. The moment it breaks, I zero in on my Grimoire and manifest it, sending it back to the manor.

  The Witch looks up, and I know she can see us.

  “Time to go,” Jezi says, ending the chant.

  I turn, focusing on returning home to my body, when a voice freezes me in place.

  “I have something else you might want, Faye Middleton!”

  Clara.

  “I know you’re still there! I could smell your magic anywhere.”

  My brain is screaming at my limbs, lobbying against each and every muscle, but they have a mind of their own. Determination lives in them and, slowly, against my better judgment, I turn back around.

  “You think you’re so clever. So strong.” Her eyes are moving all around the room, searching for me. “You think because you escaped your judgment day and rescued your friend that you can take me on.” Her gaze locks in my direction, and then a cruel smile moves across her face like storm clouds rolling in. She looks over at someone on the other side of the door. “Bring him in.”

  In walk two Elites with their hands on General Sterling’s shoulders, guiding him in.

  My body is paralyzed even though my heart has decided it’s had enough of this body. I’m trying to figure out why they have him on his knees in front of her. Why there are different shades of blood smeared all over his neck and across his face. He shouldn’t be in this state. He shouldn’t… he shouldn’t look so defenseless.

  “Do I have your attention now?” she barks loudly, her eyes scanning wildly around the room.

  My limbs are fire, reaching out, wanting to ignite everything in my wake. But I can’t reach out. I can’t help him.

  I am nothing, floating in nothing.

  “Know this, Faye Middleton. I’ll always be one step ahead of you. I knew you’d try for your Grimoire. Just like I knew Sterling would try to help you and, for every person that tries to help you, the same fate will be bestowed upon them until you run out of allies. Death and banishment is a high price to pay for the whims of a girl whose only purpose in life is to destroy others, don’t you think?”

  Watching her cruel smile unfold is like seeing flames spread from house to house in your neighborhood. Seeing your friends lose everything they’ve ever had, and just waiting for your turn to be next.

  “You have one hour to turn yourself in,” she continues, “or he will complete his change. One hour until I choose the next victim.”

  She grabs him by the hair and jerks his head to the side, exposing his neck to showcase the two tiny pinpricks only vampire teeth could leave behind.

  Fury lives in my soul.

  A hand settles on my shoulders within the fog and yanks me back, pulling me away from the horrors in front of me, but not fast enough for one last warning from Clara.

  “One hour,” her voice echoes out, filling the foggy space around me.

  And then my eyes open.

  “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR mind?” Jezi is screaming over top of me. “I told you! I freaking told you not to spend a moment more after you got your Grimoire, and what do you do? You jeopardize everything!”

  I sit up, laying my Grimoire next to me, trying to untangle the words in my mouth.

  The door to my room busts open. Jaxen’s by my side in two strides. “What happened?” he asks, cupping my face, forcing me to look up at him.

  But I can’t see him through the blur hazing my eyes.

  “She ruined this place. That’s what happened,” Jezi says heatedly, throwing her hands in the air. “She lingered for five minutes after we found her Grimoire.”

  Jaxen’s eyes are still on mine. “What happened?” he asks again, this time calmer, softer.

  “Clara. She has Sterling. She found him out and she… she…”

  I can’t. I can’t get the words out. I can’t accept that a man of his strength, a man who was only trying to help us and has already been robbed of so much, could be robbed of all that he has left. Or that she plans on doing it again, to as many people as she can.

  All because of me.

  I feel Jezi in my mind, pulling, prodding, and forcing up the information that my tongue can’t manage to speak.

  I hear her gasp, and I shut my eyes. “Sterling was bit. He has one hour until he turns. One hour for Faye to turn herself in. If she doesn’t, she’ll target someone else to hurt.”

  Jaxen’s hands slip away from my face. “Damn it!” he shouts out. Volation courses down his forearms, crackling with energy. He shoves the lamp off the nightstand. It shatters against the wall. He grabs the nightstand and flips it over. Kicks it until it’s nothing but shards of wood. Curses until the veins are bulging in his neck and his hands are bloodied from punching a hole through the wall.

  Cassie, Gavin, and Weldon rush into the room. Katie scoots closer to me on the bed.

  “He’s on his own,” Jaxen forces out, his hands in fists and his chest heaving in and out. His words sound at war with one another. His face is screwed up in pain.

  “What?” Jezi asks with wide eyes.

  I feel him shut down.

  “You heard me. Faye can’t go back. Not now,” Jaxen says, his eyes on the floor. “Sterling knew this would be dangerous. He wouldn’t want Faye—our only weapon—to risk herself for him.”

  “What happened? Faye flub the spell?” Weldon asks from the doorway with a teasing smirk.

  “Not now!” Jaxen yells out. I see his strings of strength unraveling, one by one, as he fights to do what he believes is right.

  “Hey, man,” Weldon says with his hands up in surrender. “I was only kidding. What happened?” His face is serious now as he strides over to where we are.

  “Clara threatened her using Sterling. She had a vamp bite him. He has one hour until he turns. One hour until Faye turns herself in, or Clara picks another victim,” Jezi quickly explains.

  “And how long did she linger in the in between?” Cassie asks through her teeth.

  Jezi hangs her head. “Five minutes.”

  Cassie stomps her foot. Looks to Gavin before looking at me. “Seriously? Did you not hear anything we said? They’re probably tracing us this very moment. They’ll have our location pinpointed within the hour.”

  “Calm down,” Weldon says from the corner. “We have wards up. They can’t cross.”

  “Are you an idiot? We can’t ward out Primevals,” Cassie says, throwing her hands around in anger.

  “Whoa, what are you saying?” Weldon says, face flinched. “We have to go?”

  “If you want to keep your head, then yeah, we need to go,” Cassie says harshly, scowling at me.

  “We have nowhere else to go!” Jaxen says heatedly. “Jezi’s family safe house was destroyed by fire.” He looks at Weldon.

  “Don’t look at me,” Weldon says, “I’m an outcast. Unwelcome even in my own home.”

  I want to disappear. Forever.

  “You’re saying there’s nothing you can do? No Witchy magic that could reverse the trace?” Jaxen says, almost desperately.

  “No,” Cassie says firmly, arms crossed.

  “That’s not true,” Katie speaks up.

  The room goes quiet. Cassie’s eyes fall on her, and she looks at her as if she only just realized she was here.

  “You have a safe house?” Gavin asks, almost pleadingly.

  “None that we can stay in safely. Clara has my father, and my mother… I
don’t know,” Katie says quietly.

  “Then what do you suggest?” Weldon asks, one hand running through his hair and the other planted loosely on his hip.

  Katie grabs my hand. Finds my eyes. “Lend me some of your magic.”

  “What?” I ask, shaking my head.

  Her brown eyes pierce through me. “I know you can do it. You let them borrow, didn’t you?” Katie asks, looking between Jezi and Jaxen.

  I look up at Jaxen, confused.

  “Mack told me in theory that you can bind yourself to people. That’s how you were able to allow Jaxen to use your magic when he helped heal you.”

  “How did you know—?”

  “You were gone. I wanted answers. You know when I set my mind to something, it happens,” she explains quickly. “Anyway, he thinks that it’s part of what you can do. As much as you can take, you can also give. I don’t have my magic. Not until we save Chett. And I can prevent us from having to leave this place, but I need my Grimoire in order to do it. My mother has tons of spells, one in particular that can make this entire house invisible, even to magic.”

  Cassie snorts under her breath. “A spell of that magnitude won’t come easy.”

  Katie’s head flicks up in her direction. “No, but it’s our only option at this moment. My family has a long line of spell writers. Spells that I’m sure even you’ve never heard of.” She turns back to me. “Hurry. The more time we waste, the closer they are to finding us.”

  I don’t know why… maybe because in that moment, in her brown eyes, I feel like I did before when she was my best friend and I would follow her to the ends of the earth, or maybe because I see the strength in her. The strength that seems to have left me the moment Clara dragged another suffering victim in my path. I squeeze Katie’s hand and try with all my might to open myself up to her. To give her some of what she’s missed out on for God knows how long.

  I feel the moment she taps into my magic. It’s the reverse of what it feels like to take energy. With every tug from her, I feel emptier. More pain. My stomach cramps up as she begins to manifest. My lungs can barely expand.

  I can’t breathe. I can hardly move.

  And when she has the book and lets go, I suck in a huge gasp of air, pushing Jaxen’s hand away when he reaches out for me. “I’m okay,” I say quickly.

  Katie makes quick work of asking her Grimoire for the specific spell she’s looking for. The pages hastily flip until they land on the one she is searching for. “Here,” she says, pointing to it.

  Cassie and Jezi move closer to her. Their eyes flit over the page.

  Cassie is the first to take a step back. “Hell no.”

  “What?” Katie asks.

  “Can you read?”

  Katie stiffens. “Quite well, actually. Thank you for asking,” she clips.

  Weldon snickers under his breath.

  Cassie shoots him a look that could kill. She turns back to Katie, placing her hands on her hips with more emphasis than is necessary. “Then you should know that a blood ritual isn’t commonplace within our world. It’s dark magic. The kind that opens gateways to other awful things. The kind that lets shadows in.”

  “Beggars can’t be choosers,” Katie retorts with just as much attitude.

  They square up against each other, both with glares as sharp as daggers.

  “Whoa now,” Jezi says, stepping between them. She turns to Cassie and backs her up a step. “She has a point,” she murmurs. “We’re running out of options. This spell… even though it’s dark… it isn’t as bad as what we’ve done in the past.”

  Jaxen tenses when her eyes shift in his direction.

  I take the book from Katie and read past the scribble of notes, down to the spell and ingredients. The blood of a Coccia, a circle of salt, and a single black candle.

  “We have to try,” Jezi says. She turns to Kat. “Come with me. I’ll show you to the cupboard. We can grab the ingredients and set up the ritual. Faye, you can recite the spell. You have the power in you and, well, this is your mess to fix.”

  I flinch. Jaxen goes rigid.

  She doesn’t care though. She just heads out of the room, leaving everyone staring at each other, searching for the words to fill the awkward silence. Katie stands, looking at me in question.

  “Go,” I say, nodding to the door.

  She grabs her Grimoire and follows Jezi out.

  “We can’t leave Sterling and let Clara continue adding to her never-ending body count,” Gavin says with the tone of a leader, looking directly at Jaxen.

  “We can and we will,” Jaxen says firmly, though he doesn’t quite meet his brother’s eyes.

  Gavin’s eyes harden.

  Cassie looks at Gavin, and disgust twists her features. She turns on Jaxen. “Why? Because you don’t want your girlfriend to get hurt? You don’t care how many bodies she steps over in the process?” she says harshly. She faces me. Glares. “This is wrong… and you know it. You should have never worked that spell. You said you could handle it, and look where you’ve got us. Deeper into a pile of shit that seems never-ending.”

  Jaxen stands in between us. “That’s enough,” he growls out. “Turning on each other isn’t going to solve anything.”

  “Coming from the man who likes to use his own brother as a punching bag.” She snorts under her breath. “Screw it. Do what you want. I’m on my way to dying anyway,” she says hotly, looking down at her affinity mark.

  “Hey!” Gavin shouts angrily.

  Cassie shoves past him and storms down the hall, slamming the door to their room.

  “It’s about time she lives up to her cliché,” Weldon says from the corner of the room.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Gavin says.

  “Angry with a spitfire attitude. It’s about time she lives up to the responsibility of being a redhead.”

  “Shut up,” Gavin says, plunging his hands through his hair. He looks back at Jaxen. Opens his mouth. But his words never have a chance to be heard because something crashes through my window, hitting me in the back of my head.

  “FAYE!” JAXEN SHOUTS, CATCHING ME in his arms.

  “What the hell was that?” Gavin asks, stepping back from the glass scattered all over the ground.

  Jaxen helps me get back on my feet. Turns me around to check the back of my head.

  “I’m fine,” I say, rubbing my scalp.

  Weldon’s head disappears behind my bed. He stands back up, holding something in his hands. Something moving. His face pales a little.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “A carrier,” Weldon says, staring at it with an odd expression. He looks up at us, his gaze perplexed. “Maddock and I used to send these to each other when we were little.” He holds it out, showing a small, copper, mechanical bird, wings trying to flap despite the gears sticking and smoking. “I can’t believe he found it.” He looks up.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Gavin says, taking the small bird from him and turning it over to further inspect it.

  “We made two, one for him and one for me, out of old radio parts. Our dad was a collector… borderline hoarder. He had a shed full of broken electronics that he swore up and down he’d fix, turn around, and sell during our weekend yard sales. But being a Night Watchman kind of took up most of his time. Made it impossible for him to ever get back there in the shed to fix anything. So Maddock and I took a few things and tinkered, trying to invent something for a science fair project.” He points to the bird in Gavin’s hand. “That’s what we came up with.

  “After he went away, to the Underground, I buried them in our backyard next to Dad’s shed. Never had the chance to tell him where they were between trading myself and returning.” He runs his hand up the back of his neck. “How the hell did he know?”

  “Maybe because he’s your twin?” I suggest, taking the bird from Gavin’s hand. The detail they put into the small bird is incredible. Even down to making each and every feather out of a sculpte
d piece of copper. Turning it over, I notice a small, red button just above its breastplate. “What’s the button for?” I ask.

  “Push it,” he says, staring at me with a blank expression.

  I do. Two tiny doors on the breastplate pop open. Inside is a small, rolled-up piece of parchment. I pull it out, unroll it, and look up at him. “A note?”

  “I did say it was a carrier, mouse,” Weldon says. “Read it.”

  Weldon,

  If this letter finds you, then that means our little project surpassed our expectations. There were only two places I figured you would hide them. The first place I looked, I found them.

  I’m writing you to warn you. Clara is on to your location. Unless you have some kind of miracle up your sleeve, she will have secured your exact location within the hour. To celebrate, she has ordered the execution of Jonathon, Sterling, Seamus, Garret, Joanna, Everett, Bianca, and myself. All convicted members of the Rebellion.

  The rest, thank the God and Goddess, remain on the outside, lying in wait.

  I had intended on that horrid, ghastly night on the rooftop to pass the reins of the Rebellion onto you, dear brother. But, as you will recall, I was not in the right frame of mind. It seems self-loathing and alcohol do not mix well for me.

  Even though we parted on bad terms, I have not stopped trying to push the Rebellion from the inside. Using our carriers, I have been able to get messages to the outside. Those who were banded with me are still just as anxious, and just as ready. They need a better leader. Someone who is strong, reliable, trustworthy, determined, and has seen a thing or two. Someone like you and Faye. Experienced. Ready.

  I have complete and total faith that you can steer them on the right path. That, together, you both can guarantee the Priesthood will pay for the crimes they have committed, and then reestablish the vision the Divine left behind for our Coven.

  At this very moment, Clara is coming for me. I’ve managed to hack into Ethryeal’s computer system, and I have given you a small window to rescue those of the Rebellion that Clara has locked up. Within the hour, they will be on the rooftop, awaiting your removal. Please save them. They know the others on the outside. Jonathon Coccia has all the details. He will be able to guide you until you are on your feet.