Of Breath And Soul

by Jennifer Snyder

  Tonight it lasted for an eternity.

  Thankfully, it was uneventful. The bird staring at us didn’t move other than to turn its head and eye us as we walked. It didn’t call to some gang of birds waiting in the shadows. It didn’t do much of anything besides stare, which I was fine with. A staring bird I could handle, but a rabid, angry bird trying to peck my eyes out I didn’t think I could.

  “Looks like there was no need for the broom,” Paxton said, dropping it to his side as we reached the stairs of my porch.

  “Do you feel like an idiot for taking it?” Jasper asked as he opened the front door. There was a teasing tone embedded in his words.

  “Sort of,” Paxton admitted with a shrug.

  I slipped inside before them, eager to get out of the creepy bird’s sight. Its eyes were boring holes into the back of my head. I could feel them. Anna was standing in the kitchen when I walked in. The mug I’d seen her drinking from earlier was in her hands again.

  “You okay?” Concern flared in her voice.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little freaked out.”

  “Understandable.” She took a sip of her tea, and I noticed a slight tremble shake her mug. “I’m freaked out too. That was insane. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed anything like it before.”

  “I thought I told you to stay on the couch?” Jasper growled.

  She narrowed her eyes on him. “I wanted to warm up my tea. Is there a rule against it?”

  “I could have done it for you is all I mean. You’re supposed to be resting.” Jasper moved to close the blinds on the windows in the kitchen before continuing to the living room. Headlights coming to a stop in front of our house had him pausing. “Reese is here with Beverly.”

  “Beverly is here?” Anna nearly choked on her tea.

  I knew Reese’s grandmother was a big deal, but I didn’t think her legendary status went far beyond the shifter world. Apparently, I’d been wrong, because from the look on Anna’s face, you’d think she was about to meet with her long-time idol.

  The sound of two car doors slamming sent nervous butterflies breaking into flight in the pit of my stomach. I knew Reese’s grandmother well, which meant I knew she wasn’t the slightest bit predictable. Who knew what the old woman had up her sleeve tonight. She wouldn’t have come here for a simple explanation; she would only have come if she planned on doing magic.

  Beverly was a werewolf, same as Reese, but one of her parents had been a witch. While I knew the different breeds of supernaturals mingled and married, their children’s abilities were never something I’d given much thought to. My parents had both been cloaking witches. Paxton’s were both panther shifters. Reese’s were both werewolves. My entire life I’d been blind to the whole dynamic of crossbred relationships. I knew they existed, but I’d never given much thought to the particulars involved.

  Reese didn’t knock on the door before she barged in. I knew she wouldn’t. She’d been here so often my house was practically her second home. I smiled at her, but my smile dropped as I took in the look of fear etched into her features. Her eyes were wide with worry as she ushered her grandmother inside.

  “Did you know you’re being watched?” Reese whispered. Her dark ringlets bounced around her shoulders as she moved to shut the door behind her grandmother. “There are four birds standing in a line, staring at your front door. Creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “You should have been here earlier,” Paxton announced. “Things were a heck of a lot creeper when there were thirteen dead ones lying around.”

  “I’m sure.” Reese crammed her hands into the front pockets of her ripped-kneed jeans and scrunched her shoulders up to her ears. Her gaze fell to her grandmother. Beverly was looking around the room. I couldn’t tell if she was searching for something or soaking in the energy of the house. All I knew was that she was here, in my living room, and she was focused on something. “I don’t think I need to introduce you to anyone, right, Grandma?”

  “No. I know everyone here.” Beverly’s eyes landed on Anna. “Even you.”

  “Me?” Anna placed a hand to her chest. Shock pooled in her eyes. “You know me?”

  The old woman nodded. “I do. You’re the one responsible for all this.”

  The room grew silent as everyone’s eyes fell to Anna. My stomach twisted as I took in her baffled expression, wondering if it was an act. Could Anna have been plotting against us?

  No.

  Anna wouldn’t. She cared about Jasper and me too much to betray us like that.

  I stared at Beverly, waiting for her to elaborate.

  “How am I responsible for all this?” Anna’s voice wavered when she spoke. She was as confused as the rest of us.

  Beverly flicked her wrist as she extended her index finger, pointing to my brother and me. “You let the Vodun know where these two were.”

  Chapter 3

  Knots formed in my stomach as I stared at Anna. She wouldn’t have. I knew she wouldn’t, because I knew her. She wasn’t just my brother’s ex; she was also my friend. Besides, if she’d been working with the Vodun, wouldn’t she have mentioned where we lived a long time ago? Why wait until now to spill the beans? It didn’t make sense.

  “I can assure you I did not tell the Vodun where Jasper and Piper are. I wouldn’t do something like that to either of them.” Anna’s gaze shifted between each of us. I knew she was attempting to gauge our reaction. “I wouldn’t.”

  “We all know you wouldn’t. Relax,” Beverly muttered. A small smirk twisted her face. “You misunderstood me. What I meant was you told them where these two are through the spell you did with the dragon boy.”

  “How do you know about that?” Jasper asked. His eyes locked on me as though I’d been spilling secrets to the old woman without his knowledge.

  I glanced at Reese, knowing it had to have been her. She shrugged. “She told me to tell her everything on the ride over, so I did.”

  Beverly moved into the kitchen, maneuvering around Anna. She set her large purse on the counter and dug through it. “When you used the spell to create a compass out of that boy to lead him to the mirror and his magic, you opened a link between everyone connected to the spell. Which means you opened a link to the Vodun, giving them access to your whereabouts. That’s how they were able to find you both after all these years.” Her gaze lifted from her bag to meet mine. She shook her head as though irritated. “After all I’ve been through to ensure you were hidden.”

  “What do you mean?” Jasper was quick to ask.

  Beverly leaned against the counter, her plump body molded to it, and she let out a long sigh. “Long story short, while I might be seen as a part of the werewolf community, everyone seems to forget I’m from the older generation and that my mama was a witch. Witch blood runs through me. It’s just as old as my werewolf side, and even more in tune with things of the magical nature. When your parents left this world the way they did, it was felt by a lot of witches. A power shift occurred with all the magic those witches tapped into that day. Something of that magnitude doesn’t go unnoticed.” Her arms folded across her chest as she stared at me. “I knew you’d be at risk when everything was said and done. Same as I knew you would have a hot head about the situation and do something stupid.” Her eyes left me in favor of my brother.

  “What did you do?” Reese asked before anyone else could.

  “I contacted one of my closest friends in the witch world, and together we conjured a spell to hide you both from the Vodun. It was supposed to hide the Vodun from you as well. My guess is that part worked well, didn’t it?” She smirked at Jasper.

  “You hid them from me. Why?” Anger worked its way through my brother’s words. My eyes widened, because I’d never heard him raise his voice to Ms. Beverly.

  “I knew what you would do if you found them.” She frowned. “You’d get yourself killed trying to seek your revenge. You were young and stupid. So, I saved you from yourself. You’re welcome.”

  Jas
per muttered something under his breath, but I couldn’t make out what. Everyone else had though, with the exception of Anna. He’d forgotten we were in a roomful of shifters.

  “Say what you want. Think what you want,” Beverly said before she pointed to me. “That girl right there needed you. She didn’t need to lose everyone in her family at once. Losing her parents was hard enough on her.”

  The room fell into a heavy silence. I glanced at Jasper. His face was pale, but I knew he understood her reasoning and agreed with it, even if he didn’t care to admit it. He would have done something to get himself killed. He’d been hyped up on seeking revenge. Who wouldn’t have been though? Our parents had been murdered, and the people involved hadn’t been delivered to justice.

  “So, what are you going to do to help them now that the Vodun know where they are?” Paxton asked, focusing on the situation. I was glad.

  Beverly reached into her bag and pulled out two glossy white eggs each about the size of a golf ball. She placed them on the counter and then started riffling through our cabinets. “I’m going to cook for you.”

  I glanced at Reese, thinking her grandmother had lost her mind, but Reese ignored the expression I shot her way. “The pans are in the second one to your left, Grandmother.”

  “Thank you, sugar.” Beverly bent to retrieve one. She came back up slowly, her hips and knees making popping and cracking noises along the way. “You know what else I need out of my bag. Be a dear and get it for me.”

  “Is this a spell of some sort?” Jasper’s voice trailed off as he spoke.

  Reese crossed the kitchen, heading straight for her grandmother’s bag. “Yeah. It’s something she thought of to counteract the birds’ vision.”

  Eggs were supposed to counteract someone in this household dying? I thought about that for a moment before deciding I’d heard stranger things. After all, I was standing in a room with two werewolves and one panther shifter. Not to mention the fact that I was a cloaking witch dating a dragon devoid of his magic. Yep, stranger things had happened.

  “The birds are the Vodun’s eyes. The sooner they’re blocked from tracking you, the better.” Beverly cracked one egg open and placed it in the hot pan. She reached for the other and did the same.

  “I don’t understand how eating eggs is going to counteract anything.” Paxton moved to lean against the counter where Reese was standing.

  “I think I’ve heard of this spell before.” Anna placed her index finger to her lips and tapped as though the memory of the spell was just out of reach, and she was struggling to get to it. “There’s something powerful in the yokes, right?”

  “In the entire egg. The dove is a powerful bird, which means its eggs are even more powerful because within them sits the promise of new life. Purity in its truest form.” Ms. Beverly paused as Reese handed her a glass bottle with something bright green inside. It looked like dried leaves. Parsley maybe? “I’m not doing a spell for purity with them though. I’m using the eggs for their gift of sight, or in this case, lack of sight.” She shook the green leaves onto the eggs that had been cooking sunny side up, and then reached for another bottle as Reese handed it to her. This one was filled to the top with white crystals resembling thick pieces of salt.

  “The dove represents light. Okay, now I think I get it.” Anna took a sip from her tea and flashed me a smile when she caught me staring at her. “Their sight should cancel out the Vodun’s sight,” she said as though it was the simplest solution in the world.

  I was confused. Anna must have been able to tell by the look on my face, because she elaborated. “Eye for an eye. Except in this case, it means sight for sight. They did a spell using ravens or crows, which are considered the dark magic birds in witchcraft, to be able to see you. Now we’re using a white magic bird, the dove, against them. The two sight spells will cancel each other out. Neither of us will be able to see the other. At least in theory that’s how it should work.”

  “Correct. My, my, you are a talented one.” Beverly smirked at Anna. Anna’s cheeks flushed pink at the compliment. It was clear she still idolized Reese’s grandmother even though she’d been blamed for tonight’s mess.

  “Thank you.” Anna grinned.

  Ten minutes later, I was staring at a plate with one of the dove eggs resting in the center. While eggs had never been one of my favorite foods, dove eggs definitely weren’t. I stared at the slimy white trail the egg had left on my plate while Ms. Beverly had slipped it from the pan. The yoke center oozed into a pool near my fork. Yuck. They didn’t even seem edible.

  “On the count of three,” Jasper instructed me. He’d had yet to take a bite of his either. I cut a piece of the white part off with my fork and stabbed it, readying myself like he was. “One, two, three.” When he made it to three, I crammed the bite in my mouth and closed my eyes while I forced myself to chew.

  Surprisingly, the flavor wasn’t bad. A little spicy, but not bad. It was the texture that got me most. There was something rubbery about it that disgusted me. I managed to swallow it though. Getting rid of the creepy black birds was important. I didn’t want any more surprises, and I didn’t want anyone tracking me.

  Beverly started chanting under her breath while Jasper and I ate. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but I knew it was another part of her spell.

  After the last bite of egg slid down my throat, her chanting stopped. The house grew quiet as we all waited for a sign the spell had worked. Jasper stepped to a window. He spun the wand on the mini blinds until they were open enough for us to see the black bird still perched in the tree right outside the window.

  “Well that didn’t work,” he grumbled.

  A sick feeling swam through my gut. I’d wanted it to work. No, I needed it to work. I’d just eaten a rubbery dove egg for nothing if it didn’t. But more than that, I needed to know I was safe from the Vodun. If they could still see me, what would they do? My blood was the only way the spell on the mirror could be undone. They knew this.

  I realized then I was a loose thread. If I died, the dragon magic would be theirs forever. My stomach dropped to my toes.

  “It takes time.” Beverly moved around Jasper so she could reach the kitchen sink. Her hands moved quickly as she washed the pan she’d used to cook the eggs in and the utensils. “Magic can’t be rushed. You of all people should know as much,” she scolded Jasper for doubting her.

  Something outside the window shifted, drawing my attention to it. The black bird that had been staring at us was flapping its wings wildly. After a few moments of freaking out, it finally stilled. I wondered if it had been stripped of the magic the Vodun had placed on it, but I wasn’t sure if that was the case. When the bird flew away, I assumed I’d been right.

  Relief trickled through me. The Vodun were back to not being able to see us, which meant we were on level playing fields again. This was a good thing. A really good thing.

  “So that was it?” Reese asked. “The bird shakes and then flies away and that means the spell worked?”

  “For now,” her grandmother said. She grabbed a rag from the counter and dried off the dishes she’d just washed. “I’m sure they’ll counter with something soon though. They have the Ward siblings on their radar. They also know the dragons have found them. They’ll be coming for Piper. I don’t doubt it.”

  Shivers slipped along my spine. I hated thinking about what the witches might do to me. My cell rang as I was sifting through the possibilities. It was Tristan. I remembered telling him I would call to explain my odd text from earlier, but I’d forgotten because of everything that had happened since.

  “Is that Tristan?” Jasper asked. The sharpness of his tone made my insides twist.

  “Yeah.”

  “Answer it. Tell him we need a meeting with the others first thing in the morning.”

  “Okay.” I started toward my bedroom for a sense of privacy before answering it, even though I knew privacy wasn’t something I would get, considering the amount of superna
tural ears present in the house. “Hey.”

  “Hey, are you okay?” The concern in Tristan’s voice warmed my insides. “When you didn’t call, I figured I’d call you.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to leave you hanging. Things have been crazy.”

  “Tell me what happened. You said a warning came to you in the form of dead birds? What’s that all about?”

  The flare up of concern crackling through his voice had me wishing I hadn’t been so vague when I’d messaged him earlier. “Yeah. It started out as one bird, but then there were thirteen. All of them dead.” A shiver shot up my spine as the image flashed through my mind.

  “Thirteen? Holy crap.”

  “Tell me about it.” I closed my bedroom door behind me and moved to lie on my bed. “It was the creepiest thing I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve seen some crazy stuff.”

  “I’m sure,” he said with a slight chuckle. “Working with your brother, I have no doubt you’ve seen it all.”

  “Yeah. I think I have.”

  “So, what happened? The birds were just lying at your door or something?”

  “No. At first they were smacking into the house. I’m honestly not sure if that’s how they all died, or if some of them just randomly dropped dead. Either way, there were thirteen dead ones on my porch when it was over with,” I said. “They burst into flames next and then turned to ashes when I stepped outside.”

  “They did?”

  “Yeah, and there was this voice. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say it sounded like a group of women speaking in unison.” The fine hairs along my arms and the back of my neck stood on end as I heard them in my head again.