“So it is possible. They can…”my voice trailed off.
“We have good reason to believe that Artemis has chosen you as her next vessel,” Sarah began.
“But I don’t want to be a vessel. I want to be me, Triss, who gets to live out the next couple years in relative peace before the curse takes over,” I argued. “Enough of this.”
“Being a vessel doesn’t change who you are at all. You will still be Triss, but you will provide the connection between the physical world and the spiritual world. You will still have the abilities of the Divinus.”
“And I still hold the fate of the Divinus,” I said, looking at Maddie and then at my mom. “There would be no point in transitioning into me when…”
Maddie and Sarah sighed. I caught Ellsy smiling as we connected our gaze.
“She’s as stubborn as they come. Once she makes up her mind, I don’t think there’s any changing it. I know my son has tried his hardest to get her to choose another path,” Ellsy spoke.
“Your concern right now is ending the main feud between the Demoniker and the Praedivinus Orders so they leave the fairies alone, correct?” Maddie asked.
I nodded.
“And after that is completed, you plan on ignoring all of the other problems that Mother Earth is fighting when you have the chance to give Mother Nature one more chance to survive.” Maddie paused and looked over at Trevor. “Because you’re worried you’ll be too lonely after everyone’s gone. Is that correct?”
“Partially,” I acknowledged.
“What if everyone you loved died tomorrow?” she asked. “You’d have to go on.”
“Is that a threat?” I asked, anger edging my voice. My pulse quickened.
“Not at all. But I want you to understand that the choice you’re forcing on your family is one of the most selfish acts. Not to mention what you’re doing to the world as a whole by turning your back,” Maddie finished.
“You and your family will die during this battle you’re staging if you don’t make the right choices. The guardians have told me,” Sarah said quietly. “We can’t tell you what those choices are, only you will be charged with making the decisions. But all we can hope is that you’re open to the possibilities that will be laid out in front of you. If you go into it with this stubbornness that everyone around you loves, there will be no one left around you to love.”
Chapter 29
“We’ve got word Ethan’s pissed. Zelo contacted him alright,” Trevor said, shaking his head.
“Have you heard from Logan?” I asked.
Today was the day most of us were flying back East, and none of us had heard from him since he left.
“Not yet,” Trevor muttered. “But that doesn’t mean anything. He told me he wouldn’t be communicating with us very often, unless something went wrong. So it’s probably a good thing. I’ve heard from a few of the others who went to help him. Actually, I shouldn’t say a few. He somehow managed to get about fifty guys up there to execute his plans. Really, things are going good.”
I rolled my eyes and stretched my arms toward the ceiling. It was weird being this short. I never realized how much shorter Angela was than me until I had to inhabit her body.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how worried I am about Jenny dropping off the demands to Ethan,” I said.
“She was the best option,” Trevor replied. The coldness in his statement made my skin crawl. That was code for ‘if something went wrong she wouldn’t be as missed as others’. “Dace and Bakula took off a couple days ago, and they’re rounding up more of their kind.”
“Awesome,” I said, sitting on the ottoman, glancing at my bag sitting by the door with all the others. Thankfully Trevor, Angela, and Jenny had been staying with me since Logan left. The fuller house made me feel marginally better. Everyone else was going to meet us here before we took off for the airport. I only hoped Jenny would be one of them.
“Have you thought more about what Maddie and Sarah told you?” Trevor asked. He scooted sideways on the couch to be closer to me.
“Kind of,” I admitted. “But the thought of living forever is terrifying.”
“The thought of losing you is terrifying,” Trevor said quietly. A spark behind his pupil surfaced unexpectedly.
“You’ve got Angela booked on one flight and me on another,” I questioned, hoping to change the topic.
“Yep. We’re all divided among the flights heading out this afternoon,” Trevor confirmed.
The front door clicked open, and we turned to see Jenny coming through the entry.
“Oh, thank goodness,” I said, hopping up and running over to her.
“Done. Deal,” she said, swiping her hands together. “All I can say is we better be ready. He was furious. I’m not sure which made him madder, the idea of you leading the Praedivinus Order or the thought that he lost his contract with Zelo. Either way he feels it’s his right to recoup the lost funds through making Praedivinus members his. He wanted me to tell you that it’s not too late to hand over your position.”
“And with all the invites sent to the Praedivinus members for the initiation ceremony, I think we’re well on our way to having one massive party,” I said.
“Let’s hope there’s something worth celebrating at the end of it,” Trevor replied, glancing out the window. “Looks like everyone else is here. They just pulled in the driveway.”
***
The flight to Albany was seamless once I got over the initial paranoia of thinking that every other passenger was somehow connected to either the Praedivinus or Demoniker Order. We all piled into our rental cars and began the journey. Trevor was driving me and Jenny, and Angela was with my mom and everyone else. I wasn’t sure what to expect at my father’s. When we had left his place, there wasn’t much standing.
As we drove out of the city and began our climb to the mountains, I had butterflies in my stomach from the thought of getting to see Logan again. He hadn’t seen the new me, and I wasn’t sure what would happen. I’d imagine the same situation that happened between Trevor and Angela would arise, which was slightly disappointing but completely understandable.
It had only been a few days, but under the circumstances it seemed far too long. Because we hadn’t spoken to Logan, we secured housing in the area that was going to act as our base station, and if we didn’t need it that would be fine, but at least it was available.
We finally pulled down the long driveway of the rental home. The sun had already vanished, which made the setting more eerie than normal. A canopy of trees hovered over the driveway as we bent around toward the house. When we reached the home, I was shocked. It was beautiful, but it looked nothing like what was considered more traditional Adirondack architecture. This building had several stone turrets and a stone porch and façade. It was definitely unique, kind of like my own little castle.
Trevor parked the car in front, and I opened the door and stretched my legs. We hadn’t eaten, but my Aunt was going to swing by some fast food place and bring meals for us all. Not that I was that hungry, but it would keep me occupied.
We walked up to the entry and Trevor let us in. The foyer was massive, probably larger than our living room at home. There was wrought iron throughout. The bannister, chandelier, door handles, hanging décor, candleholders. It was everywhere, and I actually really loved it. The marble floor was polished to a beautiful gloss where it wasn’t covered in large wool rugs.
“This place is something else,” my voice echoed through the space.
“That it is,” Trevor agreed.
“So are we waiting until morning to go check on Logan?” I asked.
“I think it’s the best thing to do,” Trevor said.
Unable to hide my disappointment, I only nodded as I climbed the stairs to the second floor. There was a landing and a hallway full of doors.
“How many bedrooms does this place have?” I hollered down to Trevor.
“I think seven or eight,” he said, coming up beh
ind me.
I began popping my head in the doors and each bedroom left me more impressed than the previous one. Finally approaching the last door, I pushed it open and instantly decided that this was the one for me. It was the smallest of them all, but it was in one of the turrets so the walls were rounded. It seemed perfectly cozy. As I was taking it in, I saw my aunt’s car pull up and park.
“Looks like food is here,” I said.
We all hurried downstairs and helped everyone else in. I grabbed some of the bags of food and trundled down one of the hallways until I found the kitchen. There was a large eating area with a table, which I placed the food on.
As everyone walked in and got settled, Trevor grabbed the plates and silverware, and came over, allowing all of us to dig in.
“This is the oddest assortment,” I said laughing, looking at salads, baked potatoes, fries, burgers, and burritos all laid out.
“Looks like heaven to me,” Trevor said, grabbing a burrito and a carton of fries.
As I began forking lettuce into my mouth, I thought about Logan outside at my father’s compound, working away steadily as we were sitting here eating like pigs.
“You know I’d really like to go to my father’s tonight,” I said.
The room fell silent and everyone stopped eating.
“That’s not a bright idea,” Trevor said.
“I feel that Logan’s really in a vulnerable place. If anyone from either the Demoniker or Praedivinus arrives early—”
“He’s got plenty of help on the property,” Trevor said.
“So you’ve heard from him?” I questioned.
“No. I told you I heard from some of the ones who are onsite.”
“Honey, I know it’s hard, but I think it’s your heart wanting to call the shots and not your head,” my mom said.
“Shouldn’t they be one in the same?” I asked.
“In an ideal world,” Ellsy said, giving me a sympathetic smile. I’m sure she was just as worried, if not more so, about Logan than me.
“As soon as the sun comes up, we’ll head over there. Plus that gives Logan that much more time to finalize things,” Jenny offered.
I nodded and shoveled in the rest of my salad. The sooner I went to bed the quicker morning would come, and we could get the process started.
The rest of the meal was pretty much silent, except for the occasional request for someone to pass some food or a napkin. I excused myself as soon as I was done and went upstairs. Quickly getting ready for bed, I dove under the covers and turned off the lamp on the nightstand, praying I’d fall asleep right away.
But I didn’t. Instead I tossed and turned with all of the thoughts colliding about the impending gathering. And then about the choices that needed to be made that I didn’t even know yet. And then about the one choice I knew and didn’t want to make. I wasn’t even sure how many minutes or hours went by, but when I turned on my side and glanced out the window, my heart stopped. On the stoop stood a black bird with glowing red eyes, peering into my room. It didn’t look like a normal black bird. I slipped down into the covers slowly, hoping it would just fly away.
It never did. It just kept watching until finally the weightiness of sleep swept over me.
Chapter 30
The morning light sprayed into my bedroom, waking me up to find the visitor no longer perched outside the window. I rubbed my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair, fighting the tangles before I got to the shower. I didn’t want another second to go by without getting to the compound. I walked into the hallway to pound on everyone’s doorways to wake them up when I found the doors already wide open, every single one of them.
I flew down the stairs and caught Trevor whispering, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I slowly slinked down the hall, hoping to catch at least a smidgen of the secret they felt compelled to keep from me.
“He’s not there,” he whispered.
My heart plummeted.
“Everything looks to be ready, but he’s nowhere near the compound. I checked with the workers he left to finish up. They all said he took off yesterday afternoon,” he finished.
“When were you going to tell me?” I charged, resting my hands on my hips. Furious didn’t even begin to cover the anger that was pulsing through me. “And when did you go there?”
“Triss, I wanted to make sure everything was ready. I went there before the sun came up,” he countered. “I was going to tell you. I wanted everyone to be aware of it. It was a mistake on my part, obviously. I should have told you immediately, but to be honest I was kind of in shock myself.”
Angela was rubbing his back and it was really hard to watch considering it looked like it was me who was over there giving him a massage. I clenched my eyes shut and shook my head.
“Fine. I’m sure he has a good reason. We’ll go over there and do everything as planned. That’s all we can do,” I said flatly, spinning around to go upstairs and ready myself for the day ahead.
Turning on the shower, I stripped my clothes off and stood under the warm water trickling down my face and spine. I was no longer able to decipher my tears from the shower water as I pleaded silently to Logan for his return. I didn’t understand his motives.
“How am I supposed to function not knowing where you are or what you’re doing? Not knowing when to expect you, or if I should expect you?” I whispered.
A light tap on the window snapped me out of my inner turmoil as uncertainty replaced longing. The tapping became more persistent and louder with every passing second. I quickly rinsed off the soap, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around my body.
Opening the shower curtain, I was shocked to see Bakula hovering on the other side of the glass. I unhooked the latch and began cranking on the window to let her inside. She held her finger to her lips, gesturing for me to keep quiet.
Bakula grabbed my hand and began transferring images to me. Logan’s piercing gaze took me aback as the images began downloading from Bakula. There he was, smiling at me, as if it was a private conversation between only us, only he was saying things from our past. It was like he was physically here in this other realm she created but not. My mind whirled to another dimension as memories of us together began pushing aside everything else. Logan blasting into the Witch Avenue Coven saving me from the sorcerers flashed into my mind, followed by him holding me in his arms as we danced together in the cottage’s attic. My heart began beating too fast as the images continued to bombard me, but I couldn’t release from her hold.
“You want to slip him a roofie?” Logan asked.
“Well, not exactly,” I answered, trying to hide my laughter.
And then another memory would push the previous one aside, never letting me fully remember.
“It makes sense. Our world hasn’t experienced this type of dark magic where both witches and non-witches are infiltrated for centuries. There’s even more at stake than the obvious,” Logan said. I grasped onto where I heard him tell me this before but not before another memory barged in.
Logan moved so quickly toward me that I was caught off guard when he grabbed both of my hands, clenching them tightly in his. “Babe, please don’t even say it. You can’t do it. We don’t know what would happen if we released him. He can’t be trusted. You know that,” Logan replied, his blue eyes begging me to listen.
I shook my head, trying to remember what Logan was telling me there. It was my father! That’s right… he didn’t want me to release my father. Why was Bakula flushing these memories through me?
I took another breath, and leaned against the counter as another image surfaced. This time my bones even warmed when I saw Logan’s lips so close to mine. “I love you, baby. This is what we have to fight for, and I always will. I always will fight for you,” he spoke softly, his hot breath dancing along my flesh.
I treasured this moment with Logan. I treasured all my moments with him. And like him, I would fight for him if he’d only give me the chance.
The images stopp
ed and I opened my eyes to see Bakula, her head bowed, and eyes shut. After a few more seconds her fingers slid out of my hand, and she looked up at me with her big eyes.
“Did you pick up on everything?” she asked. “Logan wanted to make sure those memories were on top of your mind.”
I nodded as sadness filled me. The realness of everything she forced through me made me feel like I’d just experienced him but made me long for more. I wasn’t sure how useful that really was, but Logan must have had his reasons. I only hoped it wasn’t because he wasn’t returning.
“He’s coming back, right Bakula?” I asked, my throat constricting.
“He wouldn’t answer me, my dear. I asked him that very same question.”
I tried to push away the grief that was infiltrating every single cell.
“Did you know about the guardians?” I asked.
Bakula nodded. “We do know about them.” She flew over to the bathroom cabinet. “I haven’t gotten my hopes up for it though. I know how you feel about immortality. I was hoping someone would tell you. Fill you in on the possibility. Anyway, I know this fight will only provide a temporary haven for us, if we’re lucky, but at least it’s something.” Her lips fell into a frown.
“I’m sorry that’s how you feel,” I whispered.
“Well, we respect your wishes. There’s nothing we can force on you, especially something like that,” she paused. “You do know that Logan would share immortality with you because of the nectunt. He told you that, didn’t he?”
I felt like my world had just been shattered. He hadn’t told me that, and he knew that would probably be the one thing that would change my mind. What did that even mean? I looked around the room, catching Angela’s face in the mirror, my temporary face, staring back at me in disbelief.
I wiped my brow and attempted to catch my breath.
“No, he didn’t tell me that,” I said, feeling the wall begin to rebuild itself around my heart.
“Whew. I’m sure there’s a reason,” she said, obviously flustered. “I had no reason… I’m so sorry. He came to see me that one day, after your dream and it came up. I thought he told you.”
Shattered Souls Page 21
