by E. M. Moore
“Witch business?” Travis asked.
“Or, no one knows me,” I said, an idea forming in my head. “I could go in, tell them I’m new to the area, and heard they were witches and introduce myself.”
“That could work, except then how are you going to get the book? Ask them to see their super-secret bad magic collection?” Travis asked, disdain dripping from his voice.
“I don’t know. But you guys are recognizable, and so far, I’m not. No one knows about me. Sending you guys in there will automatically tip them off.”
“Or, we could just go in there and steal it,” Randy said. “Watch the house, and when they leave, use our magic to go in. If it’s a bad book, we might be able to follow our instincts to its exact location. A book like that would give off some sort of stench.”
Travis rubbed his jaw. “That’s the best idea yet.”
We all knew it wasn’t the best idea, but we were running out of options and time. Liam was getting worse, and none of us wanted anything to happen to him. In fact, we weren’t going to let it.
Gabe settled in next to me, and I laid my head down on the pillow. Randy walked around the bed and got in on the other side. He winked at Travis. “Pull up somewhere to sleep, Trav.”
Travis looked around the room. Not seeing any other place inviting, he pulled himself further onto the bed and laid across it horizontally. The three of us pulled up our feet to give him some room, and we all settled in.
“Do you think Liam’s okay?”
“He’s tougher than he looks,” Randy said. “He’ll be fine. We might not be able to get him to come out of his room again.”
“Or until we get the blasted thing off him,” Gabe supplied.
A hand covered my foot, making soft strokes over the comforter to my ankle. I swallowed and bit my lip. The pull to Travis was getting stronger and stronger. “Everything will be okay.”
13
I blinked. The sound of the bedroom door careening off the wall brought me to a sitting position. “Shit. Guys!” Randy bellowed.
Gabe burrowed into the pillow, but Travis whipped around, his black hair standing on end.
I shoved Gabe, making him at least turn over as we took Randy in. His face was pale, and his hands were fists at his sides as he stared at me. “He’s gone.”
“What?” The fog of sleep still overpowering me, I couldn’t put two and two together yet. “Liam?” I finally asked.
“He’s not in his room. I’ve called his cell phone like a dozen times and he’s not answering. It’s fucking four thirty in the morning and he’s not in his room. He’s nowhere in this house. He’s gone.”
I pushed Gabe out of my way and flew off the bed, picking up clothes as I went and tugging them on. “Where would he go?”
Randy rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. The apartment?”
“Alright, let’s calm down,” Travis said. He stood from the bed, shirtless. His sweats hung around his hips unnaturally low showing off his ripped figure. My brain barely recognized that this was the first time I’d seen him without a shirt on, and it was worth the wait, but damnit, Liam. “He’s probably at the apartment. He didn’t trust himself to stay here last night because of what happened. He’s probably embarrassed and didn’t want to put any of us in danger. I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Then why isn’t he answering his fucking phone?” Randy asked. He was coiled up tight. One touch and he would blow.
“I knew we should’ve went after him last night. He was afraid. I could see it in his eyes. Oh my God. We just let him leave after he did that. No wonder why he’s freaking out.”
Randy’s gaze zeroed in on me, his jaw pulsing. “You’re right. I should’ve went after him.”
He ran his hands through his hair and then laced his fingers at the back of his head. I went toward him, but he backed away. I tried again. “It’s not your fault. I could’ve went after him, too.”
“I told you not to.”
Please. “Like I would actually listen to you if I really wanted to do something.”
Gabe yawned, standing from the bed lazily as he pulled on his shirt. “I don’t know why you guys are so upset. It’s Liam we’re talking about. He’s the most level-headed out of all of us. It’s not like he’s gone off to do something stupid. If anything, it’s like Travis said, he just left last night to get away from us.”
“Because he has a familiar on him, Gabe,” I said. “A demonic familiar. Does everyone need a fucking reminder about that?”
Gabe’s cheeks pinkened, and he stared at the floor. Shit. I was a terrible person. “I’m sorry. I’m just…stressed.”
Travis walked forward, putting a hand on my shoulder. The connection tying us together tightened, and I leaned into his touch. Now, more than any time before, I needed them around me.
“Meet everyone downstairs in five. Norah, you try to get him on his cell phone. Maybe he only wants to talk to you,” Travis said, taking control. “We’ll head to the apartment first and then take things from there. If he isn’t himself, we can’t have him out all over Salem.”
I took a steadying breath. The rest of the guys dispersed, jogging toward whatever they had to do to get ready in the time limit Travis set for us. I wished he’d said two minutes. Or one. We needed to find him right away. On that thought, I ran to the bathroom, threw water on my face and brushed my teeth. Looking down, I’d managed to put on a pair of jeans and someone else’s shirt, but it was good enough for me.
I ran down the stairs and paced near the front door. Randy was already down there. “I’m sorry,” I said, biting my lip. “I didn’t mean to say it was your fault.”
“But it is,” he said, his voice monotone. “I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking. It’s just what Gabe said, though. Liam is the most level-headed out of all of us. Of course, he can handle a familiar on him.” He shook his head. “I should’ve went after him. Now he’s God knows where, and who knows who he is right now. The Liam we know, or the Liam he was last night with you.”
I pulled out my cell phone, praying he was the Liam we all knew. The Liam who was with me for a brief second last night was scary, evil. I touched Liam’s name, and it rang and rang, but no one picked up. Randy watched me eagerly, but I finally lowered it and shook my head. “Nothing.”
Travis and Gabe ran down the steps at the same time, then we all headed outside. I sat in the back with Gabe, his hands interlaced with mine as I sat on the edge of my seat while we drove from Ipswich to Salem. The distance had never bothered me as much as it did right now.
“Your bike was in the driveway, wasn’t it, Randy?”
He nodded.
“Maybe Liam couldn’t have gotten that far,” I mused.
Travis locked eyes with me in the mirror. “He was gone all night. He could’ve walked into Salem in that time, or called a taxi, or an uber, or anything.”
I sat back, deflated for the moment. Gabe whispered pretty things in my ear as I scoured the tree line, hoping to see something. Maybe Liam walking, Liam sleeping, just Liam in any way, shape, or form. A piece of me was missing, and a hole had formed in my stomach.
As soon as we pulled up to the apartment and got out of the Jeep, I knew he wasn’t there. I couldn’t feel him at all. We went in anyway, looking at anything that was out of place or any sign that he could’ve been there. Everything was just as we’d left it before though. His room was immaculate. He’d even made his bed before we moved into his parents’ place in Ipswich, as if someone was going to come in and see what type of person he was by how clean his room remained when we weren’t even staying there.
“What now?” I asked, the hope that had been building inside of me seeping out little by little.
“Do you think he’s at school?” Gabe asked.
Travis checked his watch. “It’s way too early for that. What about the shop?”
I gasped. “He has a key. He might go there.”
We ran back out of the apartment and Travis took
us through Historic Salem until we were at the end of the cobblestone street. He parked, and we all got out, practically running toward the shop now. My fingers trembled as I put the key in. Travis covered my hand with his, helping me twist it into place. I looked up at him. “Thanks.”
He nodded and pushed the door open, pulling the key out for me and handing it back. Again, there was no sign of Liam. No tug he was anywhere near here. I ran to the back anyway just in case I couldn’t feel him. When he wasn’t there, I kicked the desk. Hard. Gabe wrapped his hands around me from behind. The smell of new rain on a hot day washed over me, soothing me a little.
Randy swore loudly, smashing his fist into the backroom door, leaving a dent in the wood.
“Alright,” Travis said, loudly. “Let’s stay calm. Just because he’s not in any of these places doesn’t mean anything bad. Let’s try a locator spell.”
I was somewhat familiar with those though I was sure Granny worked her magic in a different way. She had a knack and though she used magic to do it, she didn’t always use a spell. Sometimes it was intuition, or just a feeling. Why couldn’t I have inherited that from her? That would’ve been so handy right now.
“We won’t be as strong,” Randy said.
“At least it’s something,” Travis countered. “If we can even put a little bit of a trace on him, it will help.”
We all held hands and closed our eyes. I brought up a picture of Liam, his adorable, awkward self. Him, pushing his glasses up his nose. Him, paging through a book. Or him, with the laptop screen glow highlighting his features. The guy who was in my room last night wasn’t him. I should’ve known better than to just let him go. It wasn’t Randy’s fault. It was mine. I shouldn’t have let him leave like that because when it finally was him, he would’ve hated himself for what he almost did to me. It may have pushed him into an even darker place, and that was the exact opposite of what he needed.
An image of a street popped into my head.
“There,” Gabe said. “We got something.”
It wasn’t exact. It was just a street. We didn’t know if he was there at this exact moment or if he’d just been there. The image was cloudy, barely visible. It could’ve been our magic, or something else, like the familiar blocking him from us.
“You know where it is?”
“That’s Chestnut Street,” Travis said. He pumped my hand and then pulled. “Let’s go.”
Chestnut Street wasn’t that far from downtown Historic Salem at all. In fact, it was still in the historic part. We passed the Witch House on the way there, and we drove slowly down the street, looking and searching for something that stood out as Liam. “Does he know anyone who lives here?”
Randy shook his head. “Liam doesn’t know anyone but us. He’s never felt comfortable around others.”
Right. I knew that. I was just grasping at straws.
A sharp tug gripped my stomach. I doubled over. At first, I thought it was for Liam, but then the pain started and the rest of them also reacted. “Shit.”
“It’s close,” Gabe said. He dribbled his hands over the armrest, his gaze searching the houses. “Why are we getting the pull to somewhere where we think Liam has been?”
His question hung in the air, heavy, like concrete. I refused to think any deeper into that question. The two couldn’t be related. They just couldn’t. Demonic familiar or not, Liam would never do anything bad.
Travis pulled the Jeep sharply to the curb in front of a blue house. Yep. That was the one. Liam would’ve normally thrown up a visibility spell, but Randy did it first. Maple aroma filled the car as he worked, but still only a staticky view of the interior appeared. My eyes darted over the rooms in the house but was pulled to the living room where a woman stumbled toward her couch.
Gabe had the door open within half a second. He ran toward the house and we all followed. Unlocking the door before we got there, he burst in and turned right, making it almost in time to catch the woman as she was falling to the floor. He pulled her hands forward, guiding her toward the couch. Her eyes widened as fear pierced through. “No.” Her nose sniffed the air and then curled in disgust. “No. I swear to God it wasn’t me.”
Her face paled. Right before our eyes, her cheeks sunk in and dark shadows moved under her eyes like creeping black clouds.
“Who was just in here with you?” Randy asked.
The woman shook her head, her dark curly hair snagging on her chapped lips. “No one. I was here by myself. I think. I don’t know.” Her hands started to tremble. “I can’t remember now, it’s all dark. I was in the kitchen, and then I got a headache. I—I was then in here, trying to make it to the couch.” She turned scared eyes toward us. “What happened?”
Travis pushed Randy, and they both took off. The stench in here was fresh and just awful. I wanted to hold my breath to steel myself from it.
“You don’t remember anything else?” Gabe asked. “No one was in here with you? You didn’t see anyone? A boy?”
I blinked at him. “Gabe. You can’t think…”
He shrugged, and we both stared back at the lady. Her eyelids drooped. “What’s happening to me? I feel sick. Drained.” She rubbed her fingertips together, and I knew what she was searching for. The magic. We always felt it there first. It didn’t live there, but it escaped from there. “I’m…nothing.”
The woman passed out.
Gabe and I took a couple steps back, eyes darting around the room for any sign of what had happened here. Randy and Travis ran back in and noticed her sprawled out on the couch. They both shook their heads. “Anything?” Travis asked.
Gabe moved forward, picking up her feet and laying her across the leather couch. “Nothing. She didn’t remember a thing and then she just kind of fell apart. She changed right in front of us.”
“Whoever was here was close,” Travis said. “It’s downright putrid in here, and whatever they did to her, they just did it because she didn’t look like that when we first came in.”
I ran my hands through my hair. “I think someone’s stealing their magic.” They shifted from foot to foot, so I kept going. “Or at least draining them. Anna, she’s sick, right? No magic. We found Jules the same way as this woman and it wasn’t her either. The Akasha found her pure. And at the magic den,” I said, staring at Randy. “All those girls looked like these ones. Maybe not as bad, but they were like drugged-out fiends looking for their next fix. Is this what it looks like when you get your magic taken away from you?”
Travis shook his head. “We’ve stripped people before and they never look like this.”
“But you do it with the Akasha. This is different from that. Someone is doing this to them against their will, and with negative magic, for evil purposes.”
“Dupre,” Randy said. “It has to be. He still wants Norah. He’s not going to give up.”
Gabe sighed. “Or Liam.”
I whipped my head toward him. “What?”
He held his hands up. “We got an image of Liam on this street. Now we find this here.” He motioned toward the still passed out woman. “He has a familiar on him. He could’ve been doing this all along and we wouldn’t have known.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No. It’s not him.”
Gabe stood and took a step toward me. “I don’t want it to be him either, and I’m not saying it’s even him. Remember what Madame Serena said? She thought she was doing good. She had no idea she was marking those clients of hers for the Liderc. She didn’t mean to do it. Liam could be the same type of situation. The familiar could be controlling him.”
My hands started to shake, and my stomach rolled over itself. My skin went cold, clammy, and it was difficult for my brain to process anything anymore.
“Let’s get her back to the house,” Randy said. “She used a shit ton of magic to help find Liam. I know that wasn’t me back at the shop.”
Gabe put a hand around my waist and led me from the room.
“What about her?” Travis
asked, pointing down at the woman on the couch.
“Well, if it’s the same thing as Jules, she’ll recover in an hour or so,” Randy said. “We’ll check on her later.”
Cinnamon wafted toward me as Travis put a tracking spell on her. My feet moved ahead step by step, but only because Gabe had a tight hold on me. As soon as we got into the Jeep, I fell asleep in his arms.
14
I blinked my eyes open. Thoughts hovered just beyond my reach as I shifted back into being fully awake. In front of me were the beautiful windows that led out to the view of the Atlantic. The waves pummeled the shoreline time and time again. We were in the room I dubbed as mine upstairs. The one that was a mirror of the living room downstairs, only this one was slightly smaller and a little more perfect. My head ached, and the shakes started to take over my body again. I tried to hide, digging myself into the couch, but instead, I came up against a hard body.
I inhaled, and cinnamon coated every inch of me. Travis.
I lifted my head slowly up, trying to ignore the pull toward him. He was asleep, or had been, too. He was just now waking up. The sun from outside shone in on the both of us. “Hey,” he said. His hair was all out of style, and I resisted the urge to make it right. I hardly ever saw him like that.
I sat up, inching myself away from him and pulling my knees to my chest. “Where is everyone?”
He rubbed his face. “They headed back out to look for Liam. They knew you were out of it, so they left us here. You practically fueled that whole locator spell, Norah. You can’t do that.”
My hands shaking only reinforced that idea. I tried to hide it, but Travis noticed anyway.
“Here,” he said, sitting forward and moving a candy bar into my view. “They said you would need this when you woke up.”
I smiled down at it, then tore the wrapper open and took a piece. The chocolate helped soothe me a little, but it wasn’t just that right now. It was everything else, too. It was the frayed nerves, and Liam missing, and being this close to Travis without being close to Travis. I chewed the chocolate bar and swallowed.
