Spectrum of Magic Complete Series - Spell Breaker - Fate Shifter - Cursed Stone - Magic Unborn - Libra

by D. N. Leo

  Alana stood with hands on her hips. “What did I do to her? I tried to help, and she hit me. What’s wrong with her—apart from the obvious?”

  “She’s in agony. Can’t you see that?” Maeve raised her voice.

  “I’m the one in agony. I’ve had enough of this. I’ll call the aunties and uncles, and they can come over and sort this out. And you? They won’t be happy seeing you here, Maeve.”

  Orla’s eyes were almost rolled up entirely in her head. She could feel someone using dark magic on her, but she was too weak and in too much pain to cast her protective spell.

  “Why is she in so much pain?” Maeve asked.

  “Ask her boyfriend. If I were her best friend, as you claim you are, I’d go and tell him to stay away,” Alana said.

  Orla leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. She heard Maeve whispering in her mind, the way they had always communicated. “Are you in physical pain, or is this the work of black magic?”

  “It’s the magic. I need to raise my protective shield. The pain is stopping me,” Orla responded in her mind.

  “I thought you were going to find Lorcan?” Maeve asked.

  “I did, but something attacked me on the way. I think it was a wolf. The next thing I knew, I was lying here in the front yard. Then Alana found me and took me inside,” Orla responded, then asked, “Why are you here?”

  “I sensed shapeshifters in your direction just after you left, so I went to check on you.”

  Orla appeared to be resting with her eyes closed. Maeve pulled out a small bottle.

  “Hey, what are you doing? She isn’t going to take any of your white magic potion,” Alana said.

  “There’s no magic in this, just pure medicine to help with the pain.”

  “I don’t know that. And I don’t know you. Everyone will be furious with me. Bradan and Uncle Daly will be so pissed.” Alana approached and pulled Maeve away from Orla.

  “You don’t even want to know why I’m here?” Maeve asked.

  “I don’t care. Now get out of this house. I’ve called everyone. They’ll eat you alive.”

  Maeve put Bradan’s and Daly’s chain necklaces on the table. They were unique symbolic clan items that only left their persons when they were dead. Alana stared at the items and froze. Taking advantage of Alana’s distraction, Maeve poured the potion into Orla’s mouth.

  The medicine was like liquid gold. Orla could feel it wash through her system and her mind and ease the pain. She wished she could have a fraction of Maeve’s skills in natural medicine.

  “Are they dead?” Alana’s voice shook.

  “I’m sorry Alana, but yes. I found them, or what was left of them, in the woods.”

  Tears flopped down on Alana’s face. “Oh God, oh my God.” She walked back and forth, raking her hands through her hair. Orla glanced at Maeve, and they signaled each other and both stormed out of the door at once.

  “Hey!” Alana yelled after them. In the front garden, Orla sensed a wedge of energy. “It’s too late, they’re here already. You go, Maeve. If you get to see Lorcan, tell him to get me out of here. As long as I am off this planet and with him, we’ll be fine.”

  She pushed Maeve away before she could protest. As soon as Orla turned back, the entire family had flooded the front yard. Alana rushed out from the house. “She was trying to run again!” she cried. “Maeve helped her. It wasn’t my fault. The two of them are wicked.”

  “Be quiet, Alana. Your only job was to guard her, and look at what happened,” Aunt Anna scolded.

  “Come on, she’s young and inexperienced. And our up and coming leader is not exactly an innocent soul.” Uncle Tony chuckled and wrapped his arm around Orla’s shoulder. “Let’s get you inside the house so we can talk.”

  Orla knew the arm around her shoulders wasn’t there for protection. Uncle Tony hadn’t seemed to like Uncle Daly much when she saw them a few nights ago, but she had a feeling that he wasn’t exactly happy about their deaths, either.”

  Alana stood watching as he escorted Orla back into the house. Her lips trembled, and tears gleamed in her eyes. For the first time, Orla felt sorry for her. Her life here must be horrible. Orla wondered why she didn’t leave when she had a chance.

  Chapter 20

  Maeve ran as fast as she could back to her place. It wasn’t exactly a mansion, but it was protected and blessed by love and cared for by her mother. It was comfortable enough. But now, apart from bringing back the memories of her mother, the house didn’t give her much. There had been countless times Maeve wondered what kept her here.

  Her mother had said she could leave at any time—go to a large city, make friends, have a life.

  Didn’t she have a life? Maybe she didn’t. Bradan had entered her life and left her defenseless. She had met him at the village festival, one of those events that didn’t discriminate against religion or theological belief. Then she’d found out he was her very distant cousin from the black magic clan. And with that knowledge came the end of her dream. Bradan was a black magic sorcerer. She was a white witch. She thought her devotion to her God could do her good. But what she had gotten instead was a joke of faith.

  Maeve stormed into the bedroom. Well, it was her bedroom, but she let Bradan sleep in it, and she slept on the couch in the living room. She touched his forehead and found that his fever was gone. Before she could withdraw her hand, he grabbed it.

  “I was just checking your temperature, Bradan.”

  He let go her hand.

  “I’ll bring some food and water for you. The medicine and the instructions are on the table. Can you take care of that yourself?”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Someone in your clan wanted you dead. I let the news out to see who would do the happy dance.”

  “Where’s Orla?”

  “She’s stuck. She was going to Lorcan’s, but they caught her. No—she said a wolf got her and took her back. Now I have to go to Lorcan to ask him to get her out of there.”

  “The full moon is getting closer. If they think I’m dead, then they’ll hang on very tightly to Orla. Getting her out isn’t going to be easy.”

  “They should be happy. She’s sworn in. They’ll think they can hold her. That she dare not run away.”

  “She swore in? What the fuck?”

  Maeve stared at Bradan. “I always thought it was required. Something you did at a very young age.”

  “It is, but I didn’t do it, either. That’s why my father was so upset in the woods. He wanted me to swear in before the full moon. We argued, and the next thing I knew, he was dead. And now it’s Orla . . . why did she do that?”

  “The claws from that monster bird has poisoned your blood. I told Orla that the potion in the temple was the only solution.”

  Bradan banged his head back down on the pillow. “And she had to swear in to get it! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He punctuated the curses with the banging of his head.

  “That’s not very helpful, Bradan! Is there a way out of this?”

  “Someone has to love her enough to take the challenge.”

  “What kind of challenge?”

  “It’s not possible, so don’t ask.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “Maeve, no one is going to love anyone enough to do such a stupid thing.”

  “Is that what you really believe?”

  “I am a black magic sorcerer, what do you want me to say?”

  “If that’s what you believe, why didn’t you swear in when you were a kid?”

  “As long as I’m here, as long as I’m with the family, that’s what I am going to do. I will do the right thing, regardless of whether I believe it will work or not.”

  “If that’s your plan, why argue with your father?”

  Bradan turned to face the wall.

  “Bradan!”

  “Please leave me alone, Maeve.”

  “All right. But answer one last question. What would you have done if Orla hadn’t come back this tim
e?”

  Silence.

  “Bradan, we risked our lives to save you. We deserve an answer.”

  Bradan turned back and looked at her. “I would run, Maeve. I would do what Orla did years ago. That was always my plan. That’s why my father was so upset.”

  She waved her arms in the air and was about to spit out a sarcastic remark, but then she realized she didn’t have grounds. She let her hands flop to her sides. “Fair enough. If she hadn’t come back, in a few days you would have just disappeared . . . would have run away from your black magic family. Oh God . . . I wasted my whole life . . .”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t worry. You don’t have to run any more as Orla will take the shit for you. I have to get to Lorcan. We’ll figure something out to save Orla. Take care of yourself. There’s plenty of food in the house.”

  Maeve turned to leave. She heard Bradan try to get off the bed but fall back down again. She locked the door from the outside and left.

  Part II

  Chapter 21

  As soon as Keeva walked through their front gate, she staggered back a few steps. Riley grabbed her elbow to support. She shrugged him off, but his grip was firm. “Are you okay?” Riley gazed into her eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Keeva?” Lorcan asked.

  She shook her head. “Just feeling uneasy. I don’t know what it is . . .”

  “If you have a vision, I want you to tell me. Promise?” Lorcan asked. Keeva nodded.

  Then she dropped to her knees, breathing heavily, and tears started streaming down her face. Lorcan reached for her, but Riley pushed him aside. Riley held Keeva, rubbing her back up and down and rocking her, exactly the way he’d done to Noah. “Take it easy. Deep breaths. There you go. Calm down, Keeva. It will pass.”

  She was gasping, and she nuzzled into Riley’s chest as he kept caressing her back, but she couldn’t calm down.

  “What do you see, Keeva?” Lorcan asked.

  “Nothing. I can’t see anything.” Tears streamed down her face, and at the same time, pain stabbed at Lorcan’s chest. He knew it had to be bad news.

  “Keeva?” he called her gently.

  “Don’t push her,” Riley scolded.

  “I can’t see, Lorcan. I know it’s bad, but I can’t see.” Keeva freed herself from Riley’s hold and darted into the house. Jane walked out of the kitchen and saw Keeva, but before she could ask anything, Keeva charged past her and ran toward Noah’s room.

  In the guest room, Noah sat in the corner of the bed with tears glistening in his eyes. Aris sat next to him, meowing noisily. Keeva held Noah’s hands. “Did you see anything? You saw more than me, right? Noah, please!”

  Noah looked at Riley who had just entered the room. Riley nodded. Noah squeezed Keeva’s hands. “I saw your father. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh God,” Keeva cried out loud. “How? Where? That must be why he didn’t answer his phone all night.”

  “Is he dead?” Lorcan asked.

  “I don’t know.” Noah answered.

  “Can you tell where he is?” Lorcan asked.

  Noah shook his head. “It was dark. There were rocks . . . and water. He was in his car.”

  Noah looked up and toward the door. Everyone turned to see Jane standing in the doorway. She was quiet, and she didn’t ask for an explanation. Jane contemplated and then said, “The cliffs. He’s at the cliffs.”

  “It’s a very large area if he drove back from town that way,” Lorcan said.

  Aris meowed louder and then began to hiss until he got some attention. Noah looked at the kitten, then he looked at everyone and said, “Aris knows where to find him.”

  The winter breeze cut into his skin. But Lorcan couldn’t feel much. The cliff was high and steep. Any car slipping off the country road and dropping down there wouldn’t have a chance of survival. His father, as far as he knew, didn’t have any special ability with which to heal himself.

  Pain pounded in his chest. Every vein in his head throbbed—it was the agony of loss and fear. What had he said to his father last time they spoke? He couldn’t remember. He had been on the verge of passing out after being hit by the bullet.

  Lorcan’s eyes were glued on the kitten, who strode straight ahead in front of them. The others were saying something, but Lorcan wasn’t paying attention. He cursed silently. He needed to find his father. It would be his fault if he died. His father wouldn’t agree, but hell, they never agreed on anything.

  Aris stopped in front of a puddle. There was a fresh skid mark in the mud. He followed the track to the edge of the cliff and saw his father’s car teetering on a rock ledge twenty feet down. The ledge wasn’t too far down from where they stood, but from there downward, it seemed like an endless drop.

  Chapter 22

  Lorcan turned, angled himself, and began to climb down. Riley pulled at him. “Don’t! Let me call for help,” Riley said.

  “It’ll be too late. With this wind, the car will slip off the rock at any second,” Lorcan said and continued his descent.

  “You can’t hold the car back with your bare hands!”

  “I’ll pull him out.”

  “That’s crazy, Lorcan!”

  He ignored Riley and kept climbing down. It didn’t take him long to reach the ledge. It was large enough to hold maybe half a car and maybe four people. He could see his father trapped in the dangling car.

  “Father!”

  His father opened his eyes and turned to look at him. He blinked a few times as if to make sure it was really Lorcan who was standing beside the car.

  “Hang on, Father, I’m going to get you out. Can you undo your seatbelt?” he asked as he approached the car to open the door.

  “Don’t touch it! It’ll fall!” Ferris waved Lorcan away, and his slight movement rocked the car.

  “No, no, don’t move, Father—just unbuckle your seatbelt for me.”

  Lorcan heard a sound behind him and saw Riley jump down onto the rock behind him. Lorcan could see his father release the seatbelt then lean toward the passenger side. The car rocked even more.

  “Don’t move, Father! Stay still!” Lorcan approached and gingerly grabbed the door handle. His father sat straight up, holding a small red box in his hand and reached out the broken window to hand it to Lorcan.

  “Take this, son.”

  The car rocked more and slipped a bit. The handle slipped out of Lorcan’s grasp.

  “Don’t move!”

  “Take the box,” Ferris scolded and thrust the box out. The car slid more with his movement.

  “All right, all right.” Lorcan grabbed the box and tossed it to Riley. Then he grabbed the handle and yanked the door open. The car was tipped precariously at the edge. Lorcan grabbed his father’s arm.

  “Let go of me, Lorcan. The hand brake broke and bent when the car went over the cliff and landed here. It pierced me—I’m stuck with the car. Don’t hang on to me. You’ll be dragged down, too.”

  Lorcan lifted the side of his father’s jacket and saw that the handbrake had pinned him to his seat.

  “I’ll get you out of there.” Lorcan grabbed his father’s shoulders. The car started to tip.

  “Let go!” his father yelled.

  “No!” Lorcan pulled at his father.

  “Don’t do this, Lorcan.”

  The car rocked and rocked and slipped even further.

  Riley braced himself against the rock and grabbed hold of Lorcan’s belt from behind. Lorcan yanked his father out of the car just before it dropped into the nothingness below. Papers flew out from inside the car, floating in the air and raining down to the bottom of the gully.

  Blood was everywhere.

  Lorcan had his father half on and half off the rock ledge, and he could see a large gash on his father’s stomach which extended all the way up to his chest. He pulled his father up into the safety of his arms. “We’re going to get you up. Mother is waiting for you. And you’re lucky—we have a doctor handy. Riley!” Lorcan called out.
Riley inched forward but said nothing.

  “Say something, will you?” Lorcan asked.

  “I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do. This is too much damage, Lorcan . . .”

  “You can help him. You’re a good doctor. Please . . .”

  Ferris opened his eyes. “The box . . .”

  “Here!” Riley handed it over quickly.

  His father looked at him with the eyes of a dying man. “You never belonged here, Lorcan . . . Your mother and I needed you . . . she loves you too much . . . I love you too much . . . we broke our promise . . .”

  “Please don’t talk. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

  “We called the paramedics. They’re coming,” Riley said.

  Ferris smiled weakly. “I’ve lived long enough. I wanted a child for your mother, but I had no idea of the consequences. I signed up for the project, but I thought it was just a scientific experiment. It was too late when I found out it was extraterrestrial. They took half of my DNA and with the other half they created . . . Your profile and your special abilities were documented on the papers in the car . . .”

  “I don’t care.”

  “You should, Lorcan. We were supposed to have you for only ten years. But your mother couldn’t let you go, so we didn’t give you back. When you took off with Orla, we thought it might be for the best. We would rather lose you, knowing you were safe on Earth and being human, than let them take you.”

  Tears rolled down Lorcan’s face.

  “The tears and the emotions are the human part of you. Treasure them, Lorcan. I don’t know what the other part will do to those things, but I know you’re special. You have several powerful abilities . . .”

  “You didn’t want to give me back, so now they decide to kill you?”

  “Keeping my promise will save me. If I had pressed the button inside the red box, they would have done whatever I wanted within their power. But I don’t need that. All I need is your mother, you, and Keeva . . .”

  “Can they save you now if I press it?”