TAKEN: Book Two

by Abel, Charlotte

  Taken: A Magical YA Paranormal Romance

  Book Two

  By Charlotte Abel

  Bound by love and magic. Betrayed by those they trust. Not everyone survives.

  If you thought Enchantment was a fluke, you're dead wrong. Charlotte Abel has proven she can stand the heat and keep producing magical adventures for her fans to get lost in. I plan to have a front row seat!" -- Nicole Passante

  “The chase scene was to die for … I literally got chills.” -- Karla Hernandez

  “Hunter was hilarious and so cute! I laughed out loud at everything he did.” -- Jessica Ramirez

  “I loved Taken. I couldn't put it down!” -- Samantha Scribner

  ***WARNING*** This book is every bit as intense as The Hunger Games. If you couldn’t handle that series, TAKEN is not for you.

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE SHACK

  It was a little after midnight when Channie woke up. A thin coating of ice on the edge of the quilt crackled when she reached for Josh. Where was he? He wasn’t where he was supposed to be — spooned against her back, keeping her warm. She found him on the other side of the bed, facing the wall, clutching his knees tightly against his chest.

  Channie couldn’t keep from shivering, but Josh was as still and cold as a block of ice. Her heart stopped until she slid her hand to his throat and found his pulse. She shook his shoulder. “Josh, wake up.”

  He moaned but refused to move. She shook him again, harder this time, but couldn’t rouse him.

  She got out of bed and fumbled around in the dark until she found the kerosene lantern and box of matches under the bed. Her hands trembled as she struck match after match with stiff fingers. When the lantern finally sputtered to life, she lifted it to Josh’s face.

  His eyebrows and lashes looked like they’d been sprinkled with powdered sugar. She set the lantern on the floor and patted Josh’s cheeks as she fought the panic clawing at her heart. The north wind whistled through the cracked boards of the shack and swirled little piles of snow into the corners. She abandoned all pretense of gentleness and slapped him. “Come on Josh. Wake up.”

  He blinked his eyes open and licked his lips. “Channie? What’s wrong?”

  “We’re freezing to death. You need to cast another warmth spell.”

  Channie and Josh were holed up in “The Shack” out by the abandoned bauxite quarry, hiding from the Veyjivik trackers. The rickety old shed was not meant for year-round habitation. The roof leaked. The windows were boarded up and there was a twelve inch hole in the floor by the door. There was no electricity, no running water and no fireplace or wood-burning stove. But it was isolated and well hidden. And that’s all that mattered. Avoiding the Veyjivik trackers trumped everything else.

  Josh swore then said, “God, I hate this dump.”

  Channie didn’t like it either but whining about it wasn’t going to change anything. “If you can just cast one more spell that’ll last ‘till dawn, we can build a fire in the pit outside tomorrow—”

  Josh struggled to sit up. “I’m sorry, babe. I don’t have enough energy for a warmth spell. I’ll go start the fire.”

  There was a reason mages heated their homes with wood. The energy required to fuel a heat spell was greater than the warmth it produced. It was not an efficient use of magic. But the feather bed and pile of quilts Aunt Wisdom had given them in addition to their combined body heat and the occasional warmth spell had been enough — until two nights ago when the weather turned bitterly cold. Every time Channie complained, Josh cast another warmth spell. He’d obviously pushed himself too far.

  “You can’t go outside. You’re too weak.”

  Josh collapsed against the mattress and closed his eyes. “Then come back to bed. We’ll figure something out tomorrow.”

  Another convulsive shiver wracked Channie’s body. It would be so easy to just crawl under the covers and fall asleep. But if she did, they’d both be dead by morning.

  Aunt Wisdom had given Channie, Josh and Hunter disposable phones to use in an emergency. This was definitely an emergency but the shack was miles away from a cell phone tower. She’d have to drive half way to Whistler’s Gulch, in a blizzard, down miles of switchbacks, to get a signal and she didn’t know how much longer Josh would last without heat. Fire first, then go for help.

  She tucked the edges of the quilt around Josh and slid a knit cap onto his head then got dressed. She leaned over him and kissed his lips then clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. “I’m going to build a fire in the pit. I’ll be right back.”

  He didn’t respond.

  The fire pit behind the shack that served as their kitchen was out in the open, unprotected from the wind and driving snow.

  Channie tried for half an hour to light a fire, but without dry wood, magic or shelter from the blizzard she knew it was futile.

  Wait a minute …. What was wrong with her? Josh’s car had a heater.

  She stumbled back to the shack, grabbed the keys off the nail inside the door and started the car. While the engine was warming up, Channie went back inside and wrestled Josh into his clothes and parka. She half carried, half dragged him to the car then stuffed him into the passenger seat.

  She gave the vehicle another five minutes to warm up then turned the heater on full blast. Josh groaned and slumped further down in the seat. He wasn’t responding to the warm air. She needed to take him to the emergency clinic in Whistler’s Gulch.

  It would be risky. No one knew where the Veyjivik trackers were staying, but if Josh got within ten miles of them, they’d feel his energy. And since everyone but Hunter was gone, they’d be suspicious about a strange, new mage in the area.

  Trackers were worse than bloodhounds.

  Channie rubbed Josh’s hands and patted his cheeks, but he didn’t respond. He needed help and he needed it right now. They’d just have to take their chances with the trackers.

  Channie was grateful that Josh spent the first week of their honeymoon teaching her how to drive — amongst other things. She was also grateful that his four-wheel drive, cherry-red Rav4 had an automatic transmission. It would be hard enough negotiating the old logging trail in the dead of night during a blizzard. She didn’t need the added complication of a stick shift and clutch.

  Channie turned on the headlights, put the car in gear and glanced at the gas gauge. It was riding on empty. At least Whistler’s Gulch was downhill all the way. She’d figure out how to get back after she got Josh to the clinic. One problem at a time.

  Drifting snow had turned the pothole-riddled logging trail into a deceptively smooth, white road. It was a deadly illusion. Every time the tires slipped into a rut or bounced into a hole, Channie fought the urge to close her eyes and jerk the steering wheel in the opposite direction.

  She leaned forward and squinted into the storm with white-knuckled intensity, but couldn’t see more than a few feet beyond the hood of the car. She fumbled her left hand along the steering column until she located the lever that controlled the headlights and switched to the high-beam setting. The falling snow seemed to change trajectories. Each pellet-shaped flake shot towards her on its own parabolic path, making her dizzy.

  By the time she switched the headlights back to low-beam, the windshield had fogged up. Channie flicked her gaze to the climate controls for a split second. It wasn’t enough time to find the defrost setting, but it was plenty long enough for a hairpin turn to catch her completely off guard.

  She slammed on the brakes and flung her right arm to the side, an instinctive and useless reflex, to protect Josh. The back end of the car fishtailed, hit a pine tree and rebounded back onto the road. They skidded and slid sideways for what felt like forever before the car finally stopped. Channie’s heart ha
mmered against her chest as she visually checked Josh for injuries.

  He rolled his head to the side and peered at Channie. “Where are we going?” His voice was weak and raspy.

  “I’m taking you to the clinic in Whistler’s Gulch.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ve got hypothermia.”

  “We can’t go into town. The trackers—”

  “You were practically in a coma.”

  “I’m fine. Turn around and go back.”

  “You’re too weak to cast any more warmth spells. If we don’t find shelter from the storm, we’ll both die. And you need medical attention.”

  “Isn’t your aunt a healer?”

  Channie checked her phone. Nothing. She gathered her courage and started the car then drove another two miles before a single bar replaced the “no signal” icon.

  Aunt Wisdom answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’re freezing to death—”

  “Don’t say anything else. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “We’re not at the—”

  “Are you in town?”

  “No, we’re about—”

  “Don’t tell me where you are! Throw your phone away and go back to … where you started. I’ll meet you there.” Aunt Wisdom ended the call without giving Channie a chance to tell her they were low on fuel. She called back, but Aunt Wisdom didn’t pick up.

  They’d gone over this scenario too many times for Channie to have any hope that Aunt Wisdom hadn’t already destroyed her phone. There was no point trying to call her from Josh’s phone, but Channie tried anyway. Without success.

  She opened her door and tossed her phone outside then drove another mile down the mountain before she found a switchback to turn around. They ran out of gas about a quarter mile from the shack.

  “Josh, I need you to send a distress signal.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  Channie leaned across the console and put her frozen hand on his cheek. “Josh? Listen to me. A distress spell is instinctive, it’s usually the first spell a child casts. You can do it. I know you can. Just focus.”

  “I’m so tired, I can’t even find my power-well right now.”

  If they were going to survive long enough for Aunt Wisdom to come looking for them, they needed to do something to generate some heat. “Then make love to me.”

  Josh opened his eyes halfway and curved the left side of his mouth into a crooked grin. “I’m glad you find me irresistible, but I’m too tired.” He closed his eyes again. “First thing tomorrow morning. Okay?”

  “If we don’t get help soon, we aren’t going to live until morning. You’ll never have sex again.”

  He blinked his eyes open. “What?”

  “We are going to die within the hour. You will never ride your bike again, you will never see your parents or your brother again, and you will never have sex again. Got it?”

  Josh reached for Channie’s hand, squinted his eyes and trembled as he used the last of his energy.

  The spell was weak, but if anyone was in the area, they’d feel it. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a tracker.

  Channie shook Josh’s shoulder, but he was unconscious again. He’d obviously given everything he had to fuel the distress spell. She knew better than to leave the car — but if she had any hope of saving him, she had to find help.

  She kissed Josh’s cold, stiff lips, whispered, “I love you,” into his ear, then headed for the shack.

  She focused on putting one foot in front of the other and hoped her sense of direction wouldn’t fail her in the blizzard.

  It did.

  At first, Channie thought she was dreaming. Hunter Feenie was leaning over her, shaking her shoulders and patting her cheeks. She brushed his hands away and groaned.

  “Wake up. We need to get you back to the shack.”

  “Josh?” She reached for him, but all she found was empty air.

  “He’s already gone.”

  ~***~

  No! The frigid air sucking the life from Channie’s body was nothing compared to the icy resignation that froze her soul. It wasn’t fair. They’d been married for less than two weeks. Channie didn’t want to live without Josh. She couldn’t live without him. “Leave me alone.” A few more minutes and she would join him in death.

  Hunter said, “He was in worse shape than you, so Ms. Wisdom made me haul him back to the shack after she cast a warmth spell over you.”

  “Josh is alive?”

  “Yeah, but that warmth spell ain’t gonna last much longer. We need to get going. Can you walk?”

  Channie had passed the shivering stage of hypothermia before losing consciousness, and Aunt Wisdom’s warmth spell still enveloped her like a magical quilt. But her entire body convulsed as relief and joy shot adrenaline into her blood.

  “Ms. Wisdom is gonna skin me alive if I let you freeze to death,” then picked her up and carried her back to the shack. He set her down on the apple crate she and Josh used for a chair and tried to unzip the top of her coat.

  She batted his hand away before he could touch her and leaned around him to get a better look at Josh. He was in bed, buried under a pile of quilts. The dark circles under his eyes were so purple, they looked like bruises. White patches on his cheeks and the tip of his nose indicated frost bite. “How is he?”

  Aunt Wisdom looked over her shoulder at Channie. “He’ll live. Did you do what I told you to do? With your phone?”

  “I threw it down the mountainside about half way between here and Whistler’s Gulch. So, what’s wrong with Josh?”

  “He’s completely drained of power and has a touch of frostbite. Nothing a little rest and magically enhanced ointment won’t cure. What’s he been doing? Casting warmth spells?” Aunt Wisdom’s tone of voice was conciliatory, but her words put Channie on the defensive.

  Anger flushed her cheeks and stung her frostbitten skin. “Of course he’s been casting warmth spells. You left us out here in the middle of nowhere, for an entire week, without so much as a charcoal heater.”

  “Why didn’t you heat some rocks in the fire pit to keep the bed warm?”

  “I can’t start a fire with wet wood in the middle of a blizzard without magic! I’m an Empty, remember.” The derogatory slang for magically disabled people was an insult, but it made perfect sense. Without Josh’s love — and magic — to ease her pain, the emptiness created by the loss of her own powers would’ve consumed her by now.

  Hunter said, “I cast a warmth spell on the place as soon as I got here. It should last until morning.”

  Was he bragging or just stating a fact?

  Channie stood up and stumbled sideways when the room spun. Hunter grabbed her arm and tried to guide her back to the apple crate, but she was focused on getting to Josh. She patted Hunter’s hand, then pried it off her arm. “I’m fine. Stop hovering.”

  He bowed his head and said, “Sorry,” then stepped to the side and let her pass.

  Channie lurched towards the bed and reached for Josh, but Aunt Wisdom grabbed her wrist before she could touch him. “Are the two of you maintaining your heart-bond?”

  Blood rushed to Channie’s cheeks again. As a heart-bound, married couple, she and Josh needed to strengthen their bond with physical intimacy. She nodded.

  “I didn’t think that was the problem, but I had to ask.” Aunt Wisdom handed the jar of magically enhanced calendula, aloe and rosehip ointment to Channie. “Dab a little of that on your face.”

  Aunt Wisdom had the ability to heal Channie and Josh’s damaged skin with magic, but as a master-healer it was her responsibility to conserve her energy for real emergencies. Ordinarily, she’d turn the treatment of frostbite over to one of her apprentices. Like me. The thought formed a lump in her throat.

  Josh’s smile turned into a grin. “So … it sounds like we need to strengthen our bond. Maybe you guys should give us a little privacy.”

  Aunt Wisdom grabbed Josh’s foot through the quil
t and gave it a shake. “No more bonding until you get your strength back.”

  Josh lifted his hand from the mattress and reached for Channie. This time Aunt Wisdom didn’t interfere when Channie knelt beside the bed and took his hand in hers. “I thought sex was supposed to make us stronger.”

  Aunt Wisdom frowned then folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes as she locked her gaze on their interwoven fingers.

  “It’s supposed to be a mutual exchange, benefitting both parties, but the fact that she can’t produce magic anymore … well, I’m afraid your bond is more parasitic than symbiotic.”

  Channie’s heart fell to the floor. I’m a parasite?

  Josh squeezed her hand. “If it were anything to worry about, I would have felt it.”

  Aunt Wisdom said, “Ordinarily, I’d say it wasn’t a concern, but since you’re already so drained, you can’t afford to waste even a small amount of energy on sex until you’ve recovered.”

  Josh sighed and rolled his eyes. “And how long will that take?”

  “No intercourse for at least two weeks.”

  Josh propped himself up on his elbows. “Oh, hell no.”

  Aunt Wisdom pushed him flat on his back with one hand. “Do you see how weak you are?”

  “I’m not waiting for two freakin’ weeks—”

  Hunter cleared his throat and started edging towards the door.

  He’d been so quiet, Channie had forgotten he was still there. All this talk about sex was beyond embarrassing. She could excuse Josh. He wasn’t raised with the idea that what happened between the sheets was sacred and not a subject for public discussion. But Aunt Wisdom knew better. She should have made Hunter leave before she started interrogating them about their bond.

  Aunt Wisdom said, “Stay put, Hunter. I’m not done with you,” then shook her finger at Josh. “Two weeks is the minimum time span. I want to examine you before you resume marital relations.”

  A quick glance at Hunter revealed he was just as embarrassed as Channie. Aunt Wisdom and Josh didn’t seem to notice, or maybe they just didn’t care.