Embarrassed I tried again.
“It’s very sweet,” I returned a nervous laugh.
“After you.” He held out his hand, leading the way to the center of the blankets.
I sat down on the blankets he had piled high for us, and my nerves began to get the better of me. I was hoping for something that I wasn’t sure would happen. I looked up at him through my lashes and saw that he was staring at me intently.
“I hope our discussion didn’t ruin whatever your intentions were out here,” I said.
“Is that so?” His eyes were hypnotic. “And what do you think my intentions were?”
The heat began running through my body with that simple question or maybe it was more like an accusation. That’s what it felt like. Oh, how could he do this to me with one look or by uttering a few words?
“I, uh —” I said, my mouth dry with anticipation.
“Yes?” he toyed with me.
I could only nod.
“My Triss, finally rendered speechless?” he smiled, his eyes dancing with a mischievousness I wanted to explore.
My Triss. Oh, how I needed to hear that right now.
He sat next to me, and my excitement couldn’t be contained.
He began by placing a tender kiss behind my ear, sending chills of an entirely different sort through me.
A moan escaped from my lips, and a fire that matched my embarrassment developed.
“Was that too much?” he whispered, his breath lingering on my flesh.
“No.”
His lips glided across my neck, and I felt the beating of my heart would give away my desire in the quietness of the night. His kisses stopped, but his fingers gently traced my jawline.
“I want more.” Looking into his eyes, his breathing changed with my statement.
“Is that what you think I had planned?” he breathed, his lips lingering near mine.
I nodded.
Shaking his head, he smiled. He gently cupped my face in his hands as his kisses began again, and I closed my eyes enjoying the softness of his touch.
But he stopped.
“We should probably get going,” he whispered. “Tonight’s a clear night to go scout your father’s place.”
Was I even hearing things right?
“What are you talking about?” I argued.
“I want to ensure that I’m leaving you with something you’ll want more of,” he growled, his lips touching the lobe of my ear. “Anticipation is everything, babe.”
“Is that so?” I rolled over, pinning him to the ground allowing my lips to follow the path I desired.
***
A bit later we found a good access point down to the lake and parked out of sight from the main road. Logan unbuckled the straps from the canoe that was secured on top of our car, being careful to not make much noise. We needed to make every movement as if someone was right behind us. The wilderness surrounding the lake belonged to my father and that alone was warning enough. There were no other homes belonging to anyone else for miles.
The darkness was unsettling as I followed Logan down the path to the water. He held the canoe above his head providing yet another opportunity for me to be amazed by his strength. When we reached the lake, he bent down and maneuvered the canoe into the water.
Holding the canoe steady, Logan helped me onto the bench so I didn’t fall overboard.
“Logan, I’m frightened,” I whispered, situating myself in the canoe. I was gripping the sides of the boat so hard that my fingertips felt raw.
“It’s only going to be worse once you go in there,” he replied grimly. “I wish you’d understand that.”
The lapping of the water alongside the canoe was the only sound that we were trespassing. Staring down at the lake water was like looking into a black hole with ripples. It was not a place I wanted to be. I don’t know what I was expecting from this expedition. Our goal was surveillance, but on some level I hoped I’d see my mom. Not in the state she was currently in, but the one when she was loving and selfless — normal.
“I’ve got to see my mom,” I replied. “We’re so close to getting her back.”
“We’re close, but she’s not ready. We can’t just grab her. This is purely to survey everything, okay? We can’t risk it.”
I sighed, nodding my head.
“Triss, you’ve got to promise me that no matter what you see tonight you won’t go after her. You have to promise me that or I’ll put this canoe back on the roof and drive away.”
“I get it. I…”
“It’s not safe. Even just staking out his home is risky,” Logan whispered.
The unsteadiness of the canoe as Logan stepped inside created a wave of nausea. It would figure my father’s camp would only be reachable by water, the one element of the planet that made me ill without fail.
As Logan shifted in the canoe grabbing the paddles, I caught a glimpse of dull black metal tucked in his belt, and it put everything into perspective. I couldn’t let my emotions get in the way of doing what was smart.
“If we’re caught, we won’t be okay, will we? Even though I’m his daughter?” I asked, catching Logan off guard.
“We aren’t going to get caught,” Logan’s gaze tore deeply at my soul as he sat facing me.
“Then why do you have a knife?” I asked, my mouth completely parched. “Isn’t a wand enough?”
“I’m not taking any chances.” Logan’s eyes locked on mine with only the light from the moon making them glow.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess,” I whispered.
“You didn’t drag me into anything. I’ve got some unfinished business with your father as well.” And with that we began making our way across the lake to his encampment; a camp that had been in his family since 1869. We had no way of knowing what it looked like in the present day. All we’d found were old historical clippings, but with those I could tell the main home sprawled in many different directions. If everything had survived through the years, there looked to be several other buildings on the property as well.
Finding out so much about my father’s family and place in this town did nothing to calm my fears. Apparently, the appearance of money buys silence around here — maybe everywhere. Great camps have been a tradition of the Adirondacks since the last half of the nineteenth century. Often where the wealthy were allowed to hide out.
Logan paddled across the lake to where my father’s main house stood. The lake was an S shape, and his camp was around one of the many bends. There was nothing lighting our way except the moon and a spray of stars. The darkness of the area was quite intimidating even with Logan by my side.
“Lay down,” Logan whispered. “We’ve got to be getting close to your father’s home.”
Nodding my head, I wiggled my way down in the canoe while Logan kept paddling us closer and closer.
The gentle swoosh of the paddle pushing and pulling the water stopped as he brought it inside the canoe. We glided up to the lake’s edge. Logan lowered himself next to me, and grabbed twigs and branches with his right hand to pull us to our final destination. We weren’t taking any chances that might bring attention our way.
Brightness began competing with the night’s sky on the bank that curved along the lake. The orange hue hinted at flames, but I knew we’d soon find out. A deep vibration began wrapping itself around me as the bass of drums echoed through the air. The low rhythm was a haunting contrast to the silence of the night.
Logan’s left hand slid into mine as our canoe floated into a perfect angle to view the ceremony.
I closed my eyes unsure that I actually wanted to see anything. I never wanted to think of my mom in any other way than the caring, loving being she’d always been to me growing up. I was frightened to see what she might have been turned into.
Logan gently squeezed my hand, and I concentrated on the sound of the drums beating, allowing myself to fill with the courage needed to witness the night’s activities. I hadn’t come this far to keep my eyes
shut.
The bass became lower and slower. I turned my head toward Logan and opened my eyes to see the horror of the events reflect in his eyes.
The activity along my father’s property seemed festive. There were people in every direction, and I almost didn’t know where to focus until I saw her— my mother — in the middle of dancing men and women.
She was in the center of the circle. With a flowing white dress and gold necklaces dripping off of her, she looked like royalty. Her body twisted and swayed to the beat of the drums. Her long, brown hair swirled with the movements her body made to the rhythm of the drums. It was like I was seeing someone who was possessed, but by what I didn’t know. My mother began pointing at each of the followers. One by one they bowed down in worship with her cruel laughter echoing through the air. What was her purpose here? Did she enjoy this power?
My instinct was to run. To get out of these waters as fast as we could. But there was something else pulling me to stay. Maybe it was a morbid curiosity. What would be next? This was quite a show to put on for the regulars. Did this happen every night? It was close to a freak show. Nothing like the magical nights I grew up with, celebrating life and love.
The anger brewing up inside of me was impossible to ignore, but I forced myself to look beyond my mother. We were here to map the place, and I needed to survey everything. Looking behind her, I saw what I assumed was my father’s home. Except I wouldn’t call it a home, more like a stone castle.
I felt Logan’s gaze on me and quickly looked at him.
“Are you okay?” he whispered. “It feels like you’re about to do something.”
“I’m fine. I won’t do anything.”
The property bustled with activity in every direction. Near the flames, where my mother was dancing, sorcerers were dressed in long robes of different colors ranging from purple, to red, and black. They all held something in their hands, but I couldn’t see what the objects were.
The thick smell of smoke and lake water was heavy in the air, and my eyes began watering as the breeze shifted our way. I looked over at Logan who was scanning all of the figures, undoubtedly searching for his mom.
The robed sorcerers began lining up. Some were fidgeting. Others stood deathly still. The drumming slowed and my mother lowered her arms. The circle around her disbanded, and she slowly walked into the darkness. My eyes lingered on my mom’s shadow in hopes it would bring her back. It didn’t.
A large man came from the direction near my mom, not dressed in anything particularly ceremonial, and walked over to the flames. He reached his arms to the sky as the sorcerers followed behind him. He began speaking to the flames, chanting, but I was too far away to hear what he was saying.
The drumming stopped at the same time as the flames began to swirl and move to the man’s commands.
This man was my father.
I wanted to flee.
The crowd grew larger around my father. Where were they all coming from and where was my mom?
My father sliced the flames in the dark air, allowing them to multiply and sizzle anything in their way. Chairs and leaves disintegrated instantly, and I hoped he wouldn’t turn his fire toward the witches around him. Bursts of yellow and orange streaks burned every intended target my father directed them toward. His smile widened with every push and pull of his palm, and I knew at last that his energy was coming from the underworld. An endless supply of negativity and destruction at his disposal was a terrifying thought, but one we’d have to account for.
I winced at the last thought and watched his movements carefully as he controlled the fire with a slight point of his finger or blink of an eye.
This was what we were up against. The fear was becoming very real.
“Is there any stopping him?” I whispered.
Logan’s jaw clenched, as he stared straight forward, leaving me to answer my own question.
The flames grew larger with every thrust of his fist and twist of his wrist. The air wasn’t silent. Instead it was filled with the roaring of flames and the murmurs of the crowd. His ability felt unstoppable, and yet I still didn’t understand what he really wanted to accomplish. I needed to get on the inside. It was the only way.
“Are you seeing this?” Logan whispered.
“Of course I am,” I replied puzzled.
“Are you really seeing this?” he repeated.
Taking my gaze off of my father I finally realized what Logan meant. People were collapsing in every direction I looked. The larger the flames my father created, the more energy he needed to gather. And it wasn’t only from the underworld like I thought.
“These people? He’s draining them of—”
“Life,” Logan finished.
For a split second I was in awe, and Logan caught it.
“Impressive isn’t it?” he asked.
Nodding, I stared in complete disbelief. I wondered if Preston was in that crowd but pushed the thought aside.
“The ones he’s sucking the life from aren’t even witches are they?” I asked.
“Probably not. Guessing they’re the poor souls who grabbed the phone number dangling on the community board at Starbucks. Lots of Prestons in that group.”
“We’ve got to stop my father.”
My mother reappeared hand in hand with someone who I least expected, Aunt Vieta. They made their way close to where my father stood. My aunt smiled and laughed as she spoke with my mother. They didn’t seem all that impressed with what my father was doing. In fact they didn’t even seem to notice the atrocities that he was committing.
As my father tired of playing with the flames, he extinguished them as fast as he had created them. The sorcerers surrounding my father placed the objects that they had been holding up to their faces. Terror ran through my veins, and all I wanted was to leave this lake.
The sorcerers appeared to become something from another world as their movements became ghostlike; sweeping away the bodies my father had turned into limp forms.
“Close your eyes,” Logan ordered.
“What are those?” I whispered, unable to obey him.
“Plague masks,” Logan replied bitterly.
“What for?” I asked.
“It’s superstition, but it’s so the sorcerers souls don’t get taken along with the humans as they dispose of them.”
I felt broken, like the blood on my father’s hands was now on mine for witnessing these events. After all, one can’t view something like this and remain innocent. This wasn’t about my mother any longer. My father had to be finished before any more innocents were taken.
He left the ceremony as his dirty work was completed for him. Everyone was clearing out pretty quickly, leaving a querulous energy behind. As if some of these people wanted more.
“Let’s get out of here,” I whispered to Logan. “Everyone’s leaving, I think now’s our chance.”
Logan nodded and quietly grabbed the paddle as he dipped it gently into the water, wiggling it softly enough to get the canoe moving. I looked one more time in the direction of my aunt and mother, only to be horrified as my eyes locked with my aunt’s and she gave a quick nod.
“We’ve got to hurry,” I pleaded. “I think my aunt saw us.”
Our canoe floated behind the thicket of brush, enabling Logan to sit up and paddle quicker to our entry point.
“There’s no way,” he finally replied in a hushed voice.
“I really think she did,” I protested.
“Let’s hope not.”
Several sets of flickering silver eyes met us along the bank. I glanced at Logan who wore a dubious expression as he steadied the canoe. I was frozen in the canoe with absolutely no intention of leaving the safety of the lake, which had quickly become my new favorite place.
My solution quickly became challenged as the silver flecks began moving toward the canoe. Did these things not need land?
“What’s going on?” I muttered, afraid to look away.
“Remember those creature
s you said you didn’t believe in back at the cottage?”
Wracking my brain for what he was possibly referring to, I watched as these brilliant little creatures completely circled our canoe. I didn’t know how I could be afraid of something so tiny, but they carried such a life force.
“Faeries,” I whispered in disbelief. “I had no idea.”
“Tried to tell ya,” Logan whispered.
“Are they on our side or not?”
“No idea,” Logan replied, as he steadied the boat. “Time to tap into those other life forces, babe.”
The arrowhead pendant I’d worn since I found it in our attic began to warm against my skin. My fingers grasped tightly around the metal as I let the energy run through me. The darkness of the night held nothing but whispers coming at me from every direction.
“Do you hear that?” I asked Logan.
“Nothing at all,” he replied.
I reached for Logan’s hand as the fairies lit the entire area with a luminescence that would’ve blinded most and forced Logan to close his eyes, leaving only me to see the tiny creatures all around us, hovering.
The fairies were no bigger than my palm. They were lanky in form but with a delicateness that was otherworldy and inviting. Their wide eyes held a brilliant curiosity as they took me in as much as I took them in. Their tiny mouths were not moving even though I heard their whispers. I needed to understand their cries — their language. I wanted to reach out but was afraid I would frighten them. One of the more capricious of the fairies, slowly extended its miniature hand toward me, and in turn I felt compelled to return the gesture.
Upon lengthening my arm, the fairy swarm stopped their whispers. Blackness replaced the silver of their eyes as they opened their mouths to display jagged, ivory teeth. My father was no longer our most immediate threat.
Bowing my head in an apology, I awaited their decision. If my mom’s stories had any validity, we were at their mercy.
***
The pencil thin lips of the hovering beings were pressed together as the fairies communicated with each other without ever saying a word. Their eyes slowly drifted back to the bright silver that greeted us earlier.
Witch Avenue Series (The Complete Set) Page 36
