Lonely Souls

by Karice Bolton

  I walked over to the library entrance, tapping the lock and reciting my chant, releasing the lock immediately.

  “Step one was a success,” I whispered to myself.

  Looking back over my shoulder, I saw Logan’s eyes taking in everything I was doing. He smiled and nodded at me, giving me that last little oomph I needed.

  Taking a deep breath in, I placed my left foot forward through the door and walked right through it. A little jolt of electricity ran through me, but it was probably from my nerves. I made it inside. I didn’t get thrown out. Logan was right. The process had been completed during the ceremony before the interruption. Like it or not, I was part of this coven.

  Looking around the library, I was overwhelmed with emotion. It was an extraordinary room. Bookshelves were wrapped around the walls from floor to ceiling with rolling ladders just begging for me to climb and explore the highest of shelves. The colorful book spines lined up shelf after shelf rivaled most pieces of art that I’d seen, and I wasn’t being biased because I loved books so much. There were deep greens to royal blues, standing next to the brightest reds and palest ivories pleading with me to take them off the shelf and explore the hundreds of years in rich history our coven had to offer.

  I wished Logan could be in here with me to witness the multitude of books. In the far corner, there was a spiral staircase leading up to what looked like a loft. I could spend months in here, and yet I had to figure out how to find everything I needed in less than an hour.

  “Stay focused, Triss,” I commanded to myself.

  My phone buzzed and I about jumped out of my skin. It was Logan congratulating me on making it through the doorway. The message brought a smile to my lips. I liked having him involved.

  The large, cherry wood workbench seemed like the perfect place to make a home base while I attempted to figure out where to begin my search. I took the hand scanner, notebook, and my mom’s planner out of the bag that I had stuffed everything in so hurriedly back at home. I had the surnames of our ancestors written in the notebook, along with some spells that I had heard my mom speak of over the years that I wanted to try to find.

  I pushed the wand into the front pocket of my jeans with the wand’s tip exposed, letting the light escape, so I could use both hands on my quest for answers. Scanning the shelves quickly, I tried to figure out how things were organized. It looked like the Dewey Decimal System had no jurisdiction in this library. The books were sorted into alphabetized groupings, but I had no idea what the groupings were. Feeling like time might not be on my side, I ran quickly to the table and grabbed the scanner and notebook.

  I certainly hoped my spell for searching out answers was going to work in this room. All I could do was try.

  With the tip of my wand still glowing, I recited my spell not sure anything was going to happen.

  “Quaerendo familia invenietis,” I commanded, scanning the room, coming up empty-handed.

  “Quaerendo genetix invenietis,” I whispered, changing it slightly.

  Four books to my left shoved themselves off the shelf, falling to the floor with a thud. Excitement spread through me as I realized I had just found the jackpot, our families little section.

  I bent over and picked up the first book that was on the ground, scanning the pages, completely mesmerized as I read spell after spell. I picked up the other three books and carried them over the table to begin trying to scan the important pages, but I was feeling as if they were all of value.

  There were handwritten notes next to most of the spells that were absolutely captivating. I wanted to stop and read every single one of them. There were botanical diagrams dissecting which parts of the plant should be used for what, chants dealing with situations I’d never thought someone would find themselves in, and hand-drawn maps that meant something to someone at some point, but I didn’t understand the significance.

  Moving the books to the corner of the table, I ran over to our family’s shelf to grab the remaining books. The last book I picked up began burning my hand, and I dropped it to the ground, watching it burst into flames. Not wanting to lose whatever was inside, I pointed my wand at the book and yelled, “Extinguere Flammis.” The fire went out completely and I thanked the heavens that Logan had just taught me that spell.

  My heart was racing, realizing that someone had placed a curse on this book. I wondered what was so fascinating about it that they didn’t want me to see.

  I bent down and grabbed the book, surprised by how well it survived. Walking over to the table, I grabbed the scanner and without even looking at the pages, just began scanning. I didn’t have time to get lost in the words, pictures, or diagrams. With whatever information was inside this spell book, I couldn’t afford to be caught off guard and have to leave without scanning every page. This book now took precedence over the others, and I had whoever it was who cursed this book to thank for that because the binding on this particular book was so unassuming I probably would have saved it for last.

  I only had three more pages left in the book when I saw car lights pull up in the parking lot. I was paralyzed with fear. I tapped out the light source from my wand. Logan was in the hallway. I had to warn him. Grabbing my phone I texted him quickly while still trying to get the last few pages scanned with my hands shaking, and I hoped the pictures would come out at least somewhat legible. Closing the book, I grabbed the first stack and ran them over to the shelf, then darted back for the second stack and returned them too.

  The sounds of the car door closing confirmed my worst fear. No one should be at the coven this late at night unless they were up to something, myself included. I received a text from Logan. He found a place to hide. I texted him I was going to hide in what looked like a loft in the library.

  Running up the spiral staircase, I was doing my best to steady my breathing, as I looked for a place to hide. It didn’t look like anyone had been up here for quite a long time, so I was hoping the trend would continue. I felt more secure about where I was hiding then where Logan could have found. I wonder where he did find to hide.

  The front door clicked as the unknown witch walked into the covenstead, and my worry for Logan would not subside. Another set of car lights appeared to bounce off the walls down below. It looked like whoever was here planned on visitors. I wanted to text Logan that another car pulled in, but I couldn’t. We couldn’t risk the light or buzzing from the phones. My heart was beating so quickly, and I felt hot with the fear brewing inside, but it wasn’t for me. The fear was for Logan. I couldn’t lose him.

  The car door slammed and the click of the front door signaled the second guest’s arrival, and my heart dropped to my toes. This was far too much excitement for one day.

  The voices were quite animated. There was a male and a female, but I didn’t recognize either, but I was stuck up in an attic so my listening skills might have been lacking.

  Careful not to move too quickly, I strained to hear what they were saying, but then their voices became louder, and I realized they were heading in my direction. I wasn’t scared. Instead, I was relieved because they weren’t going in Logan’s direction.

  They passed through to the library. They were now directly below me, and I prayed that I could quiet my breathing even more.

  “Do you think the girl will be a bother?” the female asked. I stiffened as I realized they were talking about me.

  “We haven’t given her any reason to think there’s hope for her at the coven,” the male’s voice replied. His voice started to sound familiar, but I wasn’t sure from where.

  “True, but she seems to be as stubborn as her mother,” the female’s voice was full of disdain.

  My stomach began twisting into knots as I listened intently. They were saying so little, but implying so much.

  “What do you think our other options are?” the man asked.

  “It’s not up to us. It’s up to him. We must wait for further direction,” she replied coldly.

  The fury was building inside of
me, but I knew I would be doing a disservice to my mom and myself if I let my emotions take over. I was in the fact-finding phase right now, and I had to ensure that I didn’t create roadblocks before I even began my search.

  It was driving me crazy that I didn’t recognize their voices. These two had to be members of the coven, otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed in the library, unless they were from a sister coven. Hopefully, I’d be able to catch a glimpse of them somehow.

  “Well, let’s not forget why we’re here,” the man’s voice changed into a whisper.

  “I don’t think now’s a good time,” the woman replied.

  “Then why’d you really come?” he asked.

  Realizing they weren’t meeting here solely to discuss my mother and I made me cringe. I didn’t want to be stranded up here during some rendezvous between these two. I hoped whoever this woman was, she’d keep rebuking his advances. Every time I thought my day couldn’t get even worse, it did.

  “I just wanted to make sure you were all right after today,” her voice sounded like she was heading back to the door. Maybe I do have a chance at ending this evening without a nightmare.

  “I am as fine as I can be, Brenda,” he replied. “How about you?”

  Brenda! How did I not recognize her voice? Things are turning darker by the hour. Logan was right. I needed to get out of town.

  “I think I’m a changed person, and I don’t think I can ever go back,” her voice filled with sadness, and they both left the library.

  I couldn’t believe what I just heard, and still, I had no answers. Their voices grew more distant until I finally heard the front doors click. I wanted to run down the stairs and find Logan, but I wanted to watch the car lights exit the parking lot before I dared to move.

  Prior to this conversation, I was still hoping the Brenda connection wasn’t possible. Unfortunately, it took something like this to understand what kind of monsters were evolving in the Witch Avenue Coven, and for some reason, my mother and I became the targets.

  Both sets of car lights flashed on, and I immediately sent a text to Logan. He sent one right back, instructing me to meet him in the lobby, which I was more than happy to do. It was time to get out of here before anything else went wrong.

  Grabbing my bag, I ran down the stairs and paused briefly to look around the library one more time, in case I never got to see it again. Not wanting to press my luck, I ran out the door to see Logan waiting for me. The concern in his eyes vanished as soon as he saw me, and I let myself run straight into his arms. It seemed like the perfect place to be for the second time this evening.

  “Let’s get going, hun,” Logan whispered, pulling away from me slowly.

  Hearing the word hun from him stunned me but produced an entirely different set of emotions than when I heard it from Trevor. Coming from Logan, I liked it and wanted to hear it again. The sweetness behind his voice made me want to forget all my worries and feel my age again, without the burdens that were placed on me.

  I gazed up into his blue eyes that seemed to be promising even more if I dared to take that path with him, but I knew I shouldn’t. He smiled at me, moving back a piece of my hair that had fallen out of my clip. I had to change the focus or I wasn’t going to be able to survive.

  “I tried to get as much as I could scanned. There’s so much information in that library. Unfortunately, one of the books was cursed,” I started. “Also, Brenda was one of the visitors.”

  “Whoa, what? Cursed?” His eyes were churning with intensity once more, not worrying about the Brenda connection.

  “I don’t know if it was specifically intended to keep me away from the book or if it had been cursed long ago for anyone who reached for it.” I lifted my shoulders in confusion.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “Um, well, it burst into flames.” I felt foolish for not telling him this the moment I got out of the library.

  “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.” He grabbed my hand, and as we turned to leave through the lobby, the doors opened with a crash.

  Brenda and the man I recognized from my mom’s memorial were standing directly in front of us. My stomach fell to the ground. This was a trap.

  Chapter 18

  “You were right,” the man’s voice was biting. “This was easier than I thought.”

  I was disgusted with myself for not recognizing this guy’s voice back from my mom’s memorial service. His predictions about my future were so horrendous that it was hard to believe his tone didn’t stick with me. Brenda and the man were standing side by side with their wands drawn and pointed directly at Logan and I. Brenda was not wearing the same outfit that she wore to the ceremony. She had chinos and a sweatshirt on with a large bag slung over her shoulder. She looked disheveled. Even her bobbed haircut looked messy. The potbellied stranger looked just as horrible tonight at the coven as he did at our home.

  “Should we summon it now?” the man asked Brenda, his eyes momentarily leaving us, so he could look at her.

  “Not yet,” she cooed. “I want to play with their minds a little, Don.”

  Huh, his name is Don. He didn’t really look like a Don, maybe a Larry, but not a Don. I looked into his eyes and saw a flash of uncertainty run through them.

  “I doubt you’ll make much headway,” I smirked. The anger was replacing fear, and I figured I’d use it to my advantage. Don was a real know-it-all, and he certainly wouldn’t want any disrespect from someone young like myself.

  Logan started laughing and squeezed my hand, and I knew he was up to something too.

  “I really wouldn’t be laughing at us in your condition. What we’ve got planned for you is no laughing matter. You’re at our mercy,” Don replied.

  I looked at Logan; he didn’t seem to have one ounce of worry running through him, and he wasn’t drawing his wand either.

  Brenda reached into her bag, still holding the wand at us and pulled out some rope.

  “Do you guys actually know how to use those wands?” I chided, and Logan began laughing again.

  “Don’t get cute with us,” Brenda sneered, walking over to us with Don following close behind.

  Logan still did nothing with his wand.

  “You don’t look like a Don. I would have thought you were a Larry or Moe,” I smirked. If they were supposed to keep me for someone, they wouldn’t destroy me. It was time to see how far I could press it.

  “Enough,” Brenda hollered.

  She was only a foot away with me. I looked over at Logan who gave me a slight shake of his head, but I couldn’t control my anger any longer. I dropped my stare to the ground, trying to gain composure, but the fury was uncontrollable. Dropping to a squat position, I kicked my leg out, sideswiping first her left ankle and then her right out from under her. She screamed as she hit the ground, her wand falling from her hand, which I picked up in an instant.

  Logan dove to the ground as Don attempted to cast him, barely missing his wand’s destruction. I didn’t think this through. Now I was frozen under Don’s line of fire. Brenda gave a haughty laugh as she stood up and dusted herself off.

  Logan’s gaze fell to Brenda’s wand in my hand and then to me.

  “You should give that back to her, Triss,” Logan’s speech deliberate.

  I looked at him, confused, but he nodded and there was something in his stare that told me it would be all right.

  I nodded and handed the wand over to Brenda, feeling defeated and bewildered.

  “That’s a good girl,” Brenda cackled, and my eyes darted back over to Logan. He winked at me and then my world turned to nothingness.

  “Debilitant,” Brenda chanted. “Debilitant.”

  My body collapsed to the floor as a burning pain began running through my system. I was unable to move. I was unable to see Logan. Did this happen to him too? My breathing slowed as a foul smell began polluting the air. No, I can’t stop breathing. Every breath was a struggle. The air was oppressive and miasmatic with every inhala
tion. My lungs attempted to cough, but my muscles didn’t respond. Everything was becoming muffled. I was no longer under my own devices. I can’t. There’s nothing. Logan…

  “Debilitant,” Brenda continued. “Debilitant.”

  “Triss,” Logan’s voice moaned as I drifted to another place, one that was far away.

  ***

  A man was standing over me. I’d never seen him before, but he seemed somehow familiar. He had deep set, golden brown eyes and dark brown hair to match. I heard a familiar voice. It was my mom’s. Excitement began pulsing through me. She’s here. I wanted to see her, but I couldn’t move. Where was I? And then there she was, coming up behind this strange but familiar man, wrapping her arms around him. Was it my father? I was dreaming. I have to be dreaming, but I didn’t want to wake up—not yet. The man stared longingly at my mother as he grabbed her hand, holding it. There were tears in his eyes. Could this be my father? Why won’t my mom look at me?

  “Triss? Triss?” Logan’s hushed voice woke me. It had been a dream.

  Waking up to the pain from the restraints around my wrists and ankles was only the beginning. Classical music was barreling through the halls, unnerving me to my core. I was disoriented, yet I knew exactly where I was. I was still at the covenstead. My flesh burned where the rope was digging into my skin. The piano playing was incessant, like I was in a looping nightmare. The pounding of the keys, as Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor” played, added an eerie sense that I wasn’t tolerating well. I was on the verge of falling into unconsciousness again, and the music was what was putting me into a trance.

  “God, under normal circumstances I love The Well-Tempered Clavier, but this is relentless,” Logan whispered, shocking me back into the present.

  I was sitting with my back propped up against the wall, relieved to hear Logan’s voice next to me. Still in my groggy state, I slowly rolled my head to look at him. He was restrained as well, but his eyes were alert.