by Jordan Deen
The dangers that awaited me were frightening, but staying in the confused fabricated fable of my existence would have been worse. The lies and the bodies had stacked up all around me, surrounded by the Amanas. I needed to be free of this place and of them. If any of the Amanas truly cared about me, they wouldn’t have spent so much time weaving their web of lies and underestimating me.
“Going somewhere?” Lily asked with her Barbie clutched to her chest.
I scrambled for a story. “Brea got attacked. I want to make sure I’m ready to go because I know we are going to move again.”
“Matt, Trevor, and Dillon are leading a group into the woods to find Liam.” She entered the room and curled up onto the bed. “Are you getting ready to go soon?”
“Just want to be prepared. That’s all.” I grabbed my iPod from the desk. The stupid thing was a lost cause, but the case held memories, ones I didn’t want to be rid of just yet. I yanked and pulled at the iPod to get it free of the case. It was stuck, harder than it ever had been before.
“Is it broke? Brandon can probably get you a new one since he’s all into buying electronics lately.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked her, not giving up on freeing my souvenir from its captor.
“It’s supposed to be a surprise, but the house they are finishing is yours. He even bought a TV! Can you believe it? Can I stay the night sometimes? Maybe we can watch movies together?” Excitement overtook Lily’s tiny face until I felt it coating my own skin and became part of my emotions. It was hard to be mad at her for messing up my bed when she could get excited over something as small as a TV. Then again, a TV would have made things so much better. Brandon probably had to jump through so many hoops to get Michael to agree. Or maybe he never asked. But, I couldn’t think of any of that now, this place, nor that house, held my future with him. Alex and I were meant to be together. Doubt could not cloud my thoughts at a time like this.
In my frustration, I tugged at the iPod and my hand came loose. My elbow smashed into the wall behind me sending pain through my arm. It may be called a funny bone, but there is seriously nothing funny about it. I cursed and yelled my way through the throbbing. Lily covered her ears with Barbie smashed against her cheek. She smiled and it made me want to smack her. I swiped the case off the floor as muffled voices passed our window, and more voices came into the cabin yelling for Emile to ready supplies while Thomas and the others searched for any attackers in the woods. Some of the voices outside were yelling to gather provisions and weapons. Instead of focusing on the iPod, Brandon, Lily, and the damn TV that showed up this morning, I should have been focusing on getting my bag and getting out during all the chaos. Alex, Alex, Alex…
“Brandon and Trevor are back,” a voice screamed outside, and uproar echoed through the valley the cabins were settled into. “Brandon!” Someone else screamed, followed by a few girls’ cries. An even greater fear ripped through me, along with the adrenaline of a dozen men.
I forced the iPod out of its case. Lily and I watched as a jeweled flower tumble almost in slow motion to the floor. The damning, enchanted trinket tinged as it hit the ground and sent shock waves through my entire body. It had been there the whole time, haunting me, binding me unnaturally to Alex and the feelings Sophie forced us to have for each other when she tried to bond me with Alex.
Why hadn’t I seen this before? Why had I wished for that bracelet to be back with me? Was Alex in on it the whole time? Did he know I still had part of the bracelet and was that how he came to me? How could I’ve been so stupid to think he truly loved me?
“No!” Emile screamed from the main hall of our cabin. Lily’s wide eyes still focused on the flower on the floor. She knew what it was… and what it meant. It meant I was still enchanted, and this one, simple flower, counteracted every horrible potion, every reading, and every attempt to bond with Brandon. Serena told me Brandon had the iPod for a long time, waiting to load new songs onto it for me. The enemies never left me alone, not for one second. Brandon and I never had a chance, not a real one at least.
I leaned down to scoop the vile thing off the floor and tried to figure out my next move. Continuing to have it on me would be a drastic mistake, one that would permanently seal my fate, but I couldn’t leave it there.
In the world of witches and werewolves, the lines of reality and make believe were easily blurred; unfortunately, the Amanas and the Mares trapped me in the fold every chance they got. If the trinket was still bewitched, that would mean all my feelings and thoughts were too. But those thoughts were too jumbled and convoluted; none of them would stay in one place long enough to be translated into action. My inaction caused Lily to panic. She started screaming the instant I shoved the flower into my jeans’ pocket. So much for thinking I wouldn’t draw any attention to myself, my packed bag on the bed, or the flower that still bonded my heart to Alex.
“Shhh, stop it’s okay.” I tried to get Lily to shut up, but the minute I started to walk towards her, she leapt off the bed, discarded her Barbie, and hurried down the hallway. She screamed the whole way, but with all the yelling outside, no one heard her.
“Serena! Serena!” she screamed through the hallowed halls of the cabin. I grabbed her before she got to the front door and stalled her hand.
“Lily, stop. I have a plan.”
“You lie! You have that because you are leaving us. You want to go back with him!” The reality of it was, she was right, until that damn flower showed back up. Now, every perplexed feeling from the past few months came raging back to the forefront of my mind causing heartbreak, agony, and despair. No, I had no idea what the truth of anything was. I’d doubted everything everyone had ever told me… except the mother I, technically, never met.
“Why would you keep one then? Did you tell Liam where we were? Did you call him here?”
“No, I don’t even know who Liam is. And I’d never put you guys in any danger.”
Lily stomped on my foot causing sharp, stinging vibrations to rattle through my toes and into my ankle. She slipped out of my grasp and ran into the courtyard. I hobbled behind, trying to stop her from spilling what she thought was accurate information, when in fact, I didn’t know what was going on either. Or maybe, I wasn’t really ready to accept what was going on yet. Alex betrayed me… again.
“She lied! She’s trying to leave us!” Lily announced like a broadcaster telling the news.
“Not now,” Michael stopped her advance. Serena and Emile both grabbed her by the arms and dragged her the opposite way from the huddled crowd in the courtyard. Lily wailed so loud that it could have burst my eardrums.
I slowed my pace as they walked passed me, dragging Lily the whole way. Her cries, and those of the rest of the pack, were muted. It felt like a thunderstorm came and blocked out the sun and everything else. The blood pumped through my heart slower and slower. Through the slivers of air between the crowd’s legs, I could see it. I could see him. Grant laid in a pile with Michael and Thomas hovering over him. Brandon lay there, seething in pain, and it resonated through me until it pulsated out of my body into screams—deafening, heart wrenching screams that turned into cries, and then breathless sobs. The anguish managed to stop my breathing and caused my skin to burn from the lack of oxygen.
“Someone get her,” Emile called out as she and Serena fought Lily all the way up the steps. Catch and Brea instantly obliged, and before I could object, I was over Catch’s shoulder and headed up the steps of Trevor’s cabin. Catch didn’t stop until we were in their room and he dropped me on their bed.
“You going to be okay?” he asked Brea and didn’t wait for a response before he was out the door.
Brea wrapped herself around me like a straight jacket and held me while I sobbed and cried for what felt like an hour. Brandon was hurt, Lily knew my true intentions, and the flower in my pocket probably cursed us all.
“I have something to tell you.” I leaned away from her. Brea said she’d be here for me regardless of m
y decision, and it was time to purge everything I knew.
“You know how hard it’s been for Brandon and I to bond, well, I think I know why.” I pulled the flower out of my pocket and held it out to her. When the flower touched her outstretched palm, she jerked back and let the flower fall onto the bed.
“What the hell?” She rubbed the palm of her hand like the trinket was still there. “That thing burned me.”
“It burned?” I picked it up between my thumb and forefinger to stare at it in the light. I couldn’t feel anything. “Why would it burn you and not me?”
“Is that from the bracelet the Mares gave you?”
“Yeah, it’s one of the charms.”
“The bewitching only works on you. Has this been here the whole time?”
“Yes, it was hidden in my iPod case.”
“Oh no, so this stopped the bonding? All that work for nothing.” Brea said what I had been thinking. “We have to tell Serena. She’ll be able to lift the spell on you. Brandon needs you now, you have to open up and take him to Haventon. Liam attacked him and Trevor in the woods.”
Without further discussion, she grabbed my hand, pulled me down the stairs and out the door into the courtyard again. I hoped she was right.
c h a p t e r
EIGHTEEN
The words flowed from my mouth quicker than the sensor in my brain could kick in. I purged everything to Serena, except Emma’s book. I showed her the flower, told her about the dreams with Alex, and even told her what I knew about the Arlets, the pack that Alex claimed was helping him come to me.
Serena summoned Michael and Emile to her cabin in the woods. Trevor, Dillon, Catch, and Thomas all stood guard outside while Serena explained the Arlets were the second in command when the Amanas ruled Half Moon Council. They accepted witches as advisors until the Mares rallied against the use, claiming the Amanas were trying to unnaturally force transforming and bonding.
Once that happened, the Arlets made their play to take over the council, but the Mares over powered them. She thought that was the only reason they’d want to help Alex, since it would further their mission to gain control. None of the packs had been strong enough, or brave enough, to challenge the Mares. Each was in search of the rumored mystical book that had the necessary spells to control mating and the future of all the packs. Serena admitted, most of the time the pack searched for me, she searched for the book. It wasn’t until they brought me to the camp that she enlisted Michael and Brandon’s help. She believed the book would hold the knowledge to take the council over again. She was probably right, but deep down, if we had it, I’d be the one in charge, not her. I wasn’t sure I had the strength for it, not yet, at least.
Michael finally interrupted with reality. “I’d love to continue this history lesson, but the fact is, my son is injured and only she can help him. Can this wait until later? Do you think you can set aside our differences, and your selfishness, to save him?”
“Michael!” Emile cut him off and stopped him from chastising me. He did not like anything I had to say about Alex, or the fact that I admitted to wanting to run away just before Brandon came back injured.
“I refuse to continue to keep my mouth shut. She has taken all of us for granted, especially Brandon. He built her that damn house and did everything he could think of to get her to love him. All the while, she craved someone else!”
“That will change now.” Serena grabbed his hand. “The enchantment was the cause. Sophie obviously still has a powerful witch working with her. All we have to do is free Lacey from the spell and you’ll see. Everything will change.”
Michael yanked his hand away and shoved his finger in my face. “You’d better get to it then. Whatever you need to do, get it done and get back to camp. No more excuses.”
“I understand,” I mumbled, mostly to get his bloody finger out of my face. Blood, more than likely, that belonged to the crumpled love of my life that lay in the courtyard.
Emile gave us a wary look before she asked, “Do you want us to stay?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“It’ll be better if we were alone,” Serena added and leaned in to Emile. “I don’t know if this is going to work.”
“We have no other choice.” Emile’s green eyes fluttered closed, probably to the thought of her son struggling for his life back at camp. I felt bad, but still didn’t feel Brandon’s pain, or the connection that I should.
Emile turned and left the room, but Brea stayed put. “I’m not leaving. There’s no way in hell I’m walking away from her with the possibility of enemies coming to camp.”
“You can’t interfere.” Serena stressed the importance of Brea not saying anything during the ceremony, as she called it.
Brea and I helped pull out books and supplies to start mixing together the nastiest tonic ever. After Serena ground up the roots, she poured them on top of something that looked like weeds and several other dark brown powders with the consistency of dirt. There was no way it’d go down easily. And it didn’t. I gagged and hacked my way past every gulp, and the bad part was, she didn’t know if this was going to work. So, I could’ve been taking all that junk into my body, for nothing. I was certain I’d be sick the next day from it, if it didn’t kill me first.
“Good, now repeat after me.” She took out candles and set them in front of me. “Light these one by one as you say the words. Okay?”
“Yes, I’m ready.” With lighter in hand, I waited impatiently and shifted back and forth on my heels for her to find the right place in the book. She took out the delicate flower and placed it at the end of the candles. Next to the flower, she placed a small ceramic bowl and poured thick black liquid inside. I seriously hoped she didn’t plan on me drinking that too; the first mixture already set heavy in my unsettled stomach.
Serena started the ceremony while Brea looked on hopeful and helpless. She couldn’t fix this for me, and failure wasn’t an option for anyone. If this didn’t work, then the spell the Mares placed on me would continue to rip my heart away from my head. And that had gotten me nowhere so far.
“I’m a child of the light,” Serena started the spell, reading from the open book in front of her. A text I’d never seen before and desperately wanted to read for myself—although I didn’t recognize the language, so there was no hope of that.
“I put my faith in the goddess and my devotion is to her,” I repeated the words and lit the first two candles.
She continued to read until the final candle was lit. At the end, she pulled out a black rock about the size of my hand. “Here,” she held it out to me, “repeat the words and smash the charm.”
“What?” I looked at Serena and then to Brea, who was just as confused as I was.
“You’re going to smash the flower with the rock. Then pick up the pieces and put them into the bowl.”
“Okay…,” I said skeptical.
“I disavow this unnatural bond that goes against the Goddess. I accept Brandon as the mate you have chosen for me. With this rock, I destroy this forced match and block out all others from my heart and my head. I give my life over to you, the Goddess, and to Brandon.” I repeated every word carefully, and then, raised the rock looking at the flower. Doubt and dismay snuck into the corners of my mind. They’d lied to me before. Could I trust that this spell wasn’t doing more than just bonding me to Brandon? What if this caused Alex to get sick? I loved Brandon, but how could the simple action of speaking these words, and breaking a rhinestone bauble make the mysteries of the world open to me. It seemed too much to even hope that this would make everything better.
“Lacey?” Brea said, now standing behind me.
“What if this is wrong? What if this doesn’t work?”
“Then, we’ll keep trying. Do you doubt what you want? Is Brandon what truly you want?”
She asked the one question I didn’t want to answer. If what she’d told me about how magical and perfect things would be with Brandon were true, then what girl wouldn’t
dream about that and do everything she could to have it?
Lifting the rock, I brought it down hard onto the flower, crushing it and all hope that I’d ever be with Alex. The dream-filled promises we made were shattered with that one final act against our love. Shards of the rhinestone flower flew everywhere the instant the rock connected with it. The sensations that radiated through my arms from the force caused me to fall backwards into Brea’s waiting arms.
A fog settled behind my eyes, and I tried to blink back the water that trickled in with it, but nothing worked. Tears rolled down my face. My chest heaved, sucking in the air that my body thought I was deprived of. My body shook, and not in a cold chills kind of way. It trembled worse than a seizure and spread rapidly through my useless limbs. Brea had no choice than to lay me on the ground and allow the sickness to roll through me. Serena tried to offer words of comfort, and Brea cradled my head in her lap. Nothing took away the horrible knotting and twisting that gnarled every muscle in my body.
“It’ll stop soon. It’s the spell lifting,” Serena whispered and dabbed sweat off of my cheeks. I’d been sick before, but those times were nothing in comparison to the crushing force grinding me into the splintered wood floor. My stomach felt empty and full all at the same time; it didn’t take long for the fullness to win the battle. I dry heaved several times, until everything that was in my stomach, was on Serena’s favorite rug. I apologized immediately, and she brushed the cool cloth over my face again. “Shhh, just relax now.”
