Witch Avenue Series (The Complete Set)

by Bolton, Karice

  “Now where were we?” he whispered, trailing his kisses lower and lower along my stomach.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, thumping him playfully.

  “You’re not going to like it,” he replied, shaking his head.

  “Okaaay?”

  “I think like you said, we need to get Eben out of the way to see how far-reaching the Praedivinus order really is.” He sighed. “And I think the only way he’ll fall for it is if I go in as bait.”

  I shook my head. “No way.”

  “Babe, I know it sounds bad, but I think we can make it work.”

  “Hearing but I think we can make it work isn’t exactly selling me on the idea.” I scowled at him, and he patted his knee.

  I sat down on his lap, and he interlocked his hands around me.

  The silver in his eyes began to fade a little since last night and so now what I was looking at was a cross between an ice-blue and a grey. It was beautiful, but I didn’t want him to know that.

  “Thank you, by the way,” I muttered, turning to face the table.

  “For what? Last night?” he asked. I could feel him grinning behind me

  “That. But I was thinking more of stepping in with Lara. I understand why you did it now, and I wanted to say thank you.”

  “Anything for you, babe. Back to my idea.”

  I grimaced and my body slouched in response.

  “If we do this in the woods and can call on our coven members and their friends, along with any creatures of the wild that you manage to wrangle, I think we can make it happen painlessly.”

  “If we somehow get the communication to him that you’ve developed two talents his curiosity will get the better of him. I’m not sure which ones we should reveal, or if we even should choose two that you actually have, but I think that’s the carrot we’ll dangle.”

  “What about the posse I’m sure he’ll bring with him?” I questioned.

  “I think if we set it up as a meeting to explore the options he keeps suggesting, we might be greeted with less. That’s why I should come and be part of it. I’ve already been to that side once before, it wouldn’t be that odd if he thought I talked you into joining him.”

  I bit my lip and stared at the table. I could see where Eben might fall for it, but if he didn’t I couldn’t even imagine what the consequences would be.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Trevor called from the entry as he made his way toward us in the kitchen.

  “Please tell me you have a latte for me.” I smiled, sliding off Logan’s lap.

  “I swear I can never surprise you lately.” Trevor laughed, placing the drink carrier on the table. “Who brings Starbucks at night? As long as you don’t guess what’s in this, I’ll feel okay about it.” He held a brown sack and waved it around.

  “The other thing you stole from the Witch Avenue Covenstead,” I replied flippantly.

  “Are you serious?” Trevor’s eyes were huge.

  “No. Are you serious?” I countered, just as shocked. I glanced nervously at Logan who quickly stood up from the table and grabbed the sack from Trevor.

  “Dude, that’s not what you have in here, right?” Logan asked, setting the bag on the table.

  “Open it up,” I said impatiently, reaching for the top of the sack.

  “That’s exactly what it is.” Trevor narrowed his eyes at me. “Bakula and Dace sent me in there to retrieve it.”

  “I can’t believe this.” I shook my head. I wished I hadn’t announced my guess to Trevor. All that did was make him suspicious. I hoped he’d brush it off as coincidence. I’d have to start ensuring that I didn’t do any guessing games with people going forward.

  I reached in the sack and found a cold, slippery box. It must be metal of some sort; I wrapped my fingers around it and lifted it out of the sack.

  It looked like a silver jewelry box with beautifully scrolled lettering. I ran my fingers along the engraving. Logan moved behind me and wrapped his arms around me. His finger met mine and traced the large Q along with me.

  “Quaere Peti Non Potest”

  “Is your Latin there yet?” he whispered.

  “I recognize the word Seek,” I offered.

  “Never seek what can’t be sought,” he translated, stepping back. “Interesting.”

  “I’m going to open it.” My hand unhooked the clip and slid along the top, opening the lid to reveal a purple satin interior with what looked like two oversized buttons. They were silver and engraved with the letters T and L, matching the same scroll as the box…Triss and Logan.

  I picked up the first one and flipped it over, revealing a flat surface.

  “Buttons?” I stared at the object carefully and a word was revealed.

  No

  It thought I was asking it a question.

  The word vanished. I quickly flipped it over so Trevor wouldn’t catch what happened in case I asked any other questions.

  I looked at Logan, and he seemed as perplexed as I was. Trevor took a seat next to me and reached for the other silver button that apparently wasn’t a button.

  “I wonder if it does anything?” he asked, flipping it over. I waited for the answer to his question to be revealed, but it wasn’t. He handed it to me and stood up. I’m gonna head out. If you need anything you know how to reach me.”

  Trevor and everyone had managed to lease a house a few doors down. I was thankful I wasn’t sharing the house with that many guys.

  “Thanks, Trev,” I replied, smiling.

  “Once you figure out why I had to risk life and limb for those let me know,” he said, walking down the hallway. “I’m out.”

  Once I heard the click of the door I stared at Logan and then back at the silver pieces.

  “Definitely aren’t buttons. What are you?” I asked, directing my question at the piece of silver. Nothing appeared. “Can you help me with my gifts?”

  Yes

  “It only likes yes and no questions.”

  “Will Triss marry me one day?” Logan was grinning.

  “Where’d that come from?” I asked startled but completely infatuated.

  I quickly looked to the silver to reveal the answer but it didn’t. Besides I already knew what my answer would be!

  “I think it only works with you. Makes sense.”

  “Yeah. Makes complete sense.” I rolled my eyes but got serious when I thought about a couple yes or no questions that I wanted answered.

  “Will my mom be okay?” I asked.

  Yes

  “Will my father fight against us?”

  No

  “Can we take down the Praedivinus Order?”

  Nothing was returned.

  “Well that’s weird,” I responded. “I wonder if I phrased it incorrectly.”

  “I think we should ask Bakula,” Logan offered. “They’ll be here for dinner.”

  “You invited them for dinner?” I asked bewildered.

  “They’re bringing their own food, but they wanted to discuss some stuff with you, and I think they knew Trevor would be dropping those off today.”

  “I hope they get here soon. I’m dying to know what these are.” I placed the token-button-fortune cookie object back in the box and shut the lid.

  “Spaghetti okay?” Logan asked, walking to the stove.

  “Yeah. That would actually be really nice. I think this is like the first time food sounds appealing. That’s a positive, right?” I laughed.

  “Take what we can get, I guess.” He shrugged, smiling, and I wrapped my arms around his hips.

  “You two in here?” Bakula asked.

  “Glad we have locks on the door,” I whispered, releasing Logan from my hug. “They seem really useful in our world.”

  “We sure are,” Logan replied, grabbing a pot to start the water. “I’m just making a quick dinner for us.”

  Bakula fluttered around, noticing the jewelry box.

  “Where’s Dace?” I asked, kind of relieved that Dace wasn’t the official gree
ter of the evening. He wasn’t always the most jovial of fairies —not that fairies were known for being jovial —we were just lucky I was part of the inner circle now.

  “He’s getting everything ready. I don’t know if it happened to be the perfect combination of genes between your mother and father or what, but you’ve won the supernatural lottery. He’s not letting a moment of planning escape him.”

  “It’s not really feeling like that,” I muttered, feeling the stiffness in my joints crawl to new places.

  “Not to worry, hon… once you master everything, you won’t be reminded you have these capabilities. It’s just getting you to that point.”

  “So Logan’s got an idea to get Eben alone and then we’ll pounce on him,” I told her.

  She eyed the back of Logan suspiciously and then turned her attention to me.

  “Hmm. How do you plan on doing that?” she asked, sitting on top of the jewelry box. She crossed one tiny leg over the other and rested her folded hands on her lap. I was amazed at how much she looked like her old self again.

  “I wanted to talk to you about your mother as well.” She brought her hand to her chin and crinkled her mouth. “Is that garlic?” She turned her attention to Logan.

  He nodded. “Sorry.”

  “Oh! No. Don’t be. I love garlic. Do you have any raw?” she asked, completely dropping the subject of my mom. That was the one issue with talking in depth with the fairies. They were easily distracted.

  Logan shot me an apologetic glance and brought a clove over for Bakula. “Dace might make me sleep outside tonight, but it’s worth it.” The clove looked humongous in her hands as she brought it to her mouth and began nibbling. It was good to have her back.

  Logan put the pasta and sauce on the table, and I placed the table settings since Bakula was apparently going to finish the clove before she continued telling me about my mom.

  I served myself and put extra sauce on the noodles and sat my plate in front of me, excited that I was actually hungry.

  Bakula licked each of her fingers and returned her focus back to me.

  “How are you feeling after your Lara encounter?” she asked. “I should have asked first thing. I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m doing really well, especially thanks to Logan. I’m pretty certain Eben was there near me. I think he had shifted into a black cat just to keep an eye on things, but he darted before anything happened. I also wonder if I saw him earlier that day in the neighborhood, pushing a stroller. But I doubt it on that one. I think I was just paranoid.”

  “What were you doing wandering around anyway?” she broached.

  “It won’t be happening again. There was a misunderstanding.” I flushed.

  “Now to deliver some exceptional news. According to your aunt, your mother is almost at a hundred percent. We’ve also got a few straggler fairies back there, and they agree she seems pretty spry and alert. But best of all — happy.” She had a twinkle in her eyes that told me she was genuinely excited.

  “Vieta wanted me to pass on to you that your mother hasn’t been able to stop talking about how happy she is that you and Logan are together. Ellsy and your mom are apparently keeping themselves busy thinking of all the possibilities your pairing has to offer.”

  I dropped my gaze quickly to my pasta. My mom had no idea what was going on with me and what might be happening to me in only…

  “Triss?” Logan’s voice was soft, concerned. He knew what I was thinking about as well.

  I kept twirling my pasta as Bakula fluttered over to me.

  “We need to attempt Logan’s plan. As soon as Eben’s out of the picture, I want us to be reunited with our families. We can fight the rest of the Praedivinus as they come. I don’t think it will be a short process or an easy one, but given my condition I want my mom back in my life.” I braced myself to be talked out of my statement.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Bakula replied, sticking her finger in the sauce.

  “Really?” I asked shocked.

  “Lara’s out of the way.” She shot Logan a grateful nod and smile. “And if we can get Eben out of command, everything else should fall into place. We do have to take into account what you’re facing personally as well. Dace might not agree, but we’ll just make it happen.” She stuck her finger in her mouth and puckered her face at the taste of the sauce. “So many flavors. How can you two even figure out what you’re eating? I just don’t understand the human palette.”

  “Well, I proposed that we attempt to reveal to Eben that Triss has two gifts and that she’s interested in talking to him about his offer because of me nagging her to consider the dark side,” Logan said.

  “It does have possibilities,” she agreed. “Let’s start mapping it out tonight. Have you had a chance to try out the Circulus Desideriis?”

  “If you’re referring to the buttons then yes.” I smiled. “I asked a couple yes or no type questions and it revealed its answ—”

  “Your answers. Not its answers. Those just clarify your own thoughts. Not so much predict the future as get you to narrow in on your own intuition,” Bakula replied full of excitement.

  “Did you try?” she asked Logan.

  He shook his head.

  “He used mine.”

  “That’s silly. He needs to use the one engraved with the L. It won’t answer all the questions that it will for Triss, but that’s to be expected. Your nectunt puts your connection pretty close though. The trick is asking the right questions.”

  “So it’s not predicting the future?” I asked to clarify.

  “Nope. Not at all. It’s only making your own thoughts clearer.” She looked up at me. “And in your case it can be one in the same. In his case, not so much.”

  “I asked if my father would fight against us and it said no.”

  “That’s your heart speaking, dear. You knew he wouldn’t even before you went to the cemetery or you never would have gone.”

  “Maybe this will stop me from writing any more therapy letters,” I joked.

  “A therapy letter? What in the world is that?” she asked, turning to follow my stare to meet Logan’s. “Never mind.”

  “Let’s hope so,” he beamed, throwing his napkin on the plate.

  “So why would Eben want the Circulus Desideriis if it won’t work for him?” I asked.

  “He doesn’t realize it won’t work,” Bakula answered. “Those were blank until your fate was realized and that’s when your initial surfaced. It will only work in your fingers.”

  “And Logan?” I asked.

  “When you two shared the nectunt, the L surfaced on his. It’s actually pretty funny that Eben is so unknowledgeable about what he thinks he needs.”

  “Except that innocent people are getting killed in his path, which is why we have to get rid of him,” I replied.

  “I think we can start getting it out there to Eben that you’re interested in meeting him,” Bakula offered.

  “I want to make sure it happens outside where I’m not confined, and I can call on things as I need them.”

  “Couldn’t agree more,” she replied. “Now let’s make this happen and get your moms back home to you both.”

  ***

  “I just got a text from Jenny,” I yelled to Logan, hopping down the stairs. I had a great meal the night before. I slept well, and now I heard from my best friend. Today was starting out wonderfully.

  “Thank god.”

  “I know. I’m so excited. Check it out.” I shoved my phone in front of him.

  A smile spread across his lips as he read Jenny’s text.

  “Whoa. That’s huge. I can’t believe they’re coming out of hiding.”

  “Isn’t it fabulous? I knew this cause would inspire them to help. Trevor must’ve done an amazing job spreading the word. It sounds like most of our coven will be back in action, and that’s just ours. It sounds like this is happening everywhere.”

  I texted her back quickly letting her know how relieved and excited
I was to hear from her.

  I looked up at Logan, who had managed to pull off a Starbucks run while I was in the shower earlier, as he pointed to a nonfat latte that was waiting for me in the kitchen. It only added to my perfect day.

  My phone buzzed again, and I looked down quickly.

  “She asked if it was true.” I scanned Logan for a reaction.

  “If what was true?”

  “Me being a Trifecta. I don’t want to lie to her, but Trevor doesn’t even know that. How would a rumor like that start?”

  Logan was quiet for a minute.

  “I don’t know, but that might explain the sudden willingness that everyone’s showing to stand up and fight.” He was beaming.

  “Maybe I should take a picture of you with your discolored eyes and freak her out.”

  “Probably not the best idea.” He laughed and brought me in close.

  “Well, I think it’s about time I respond to her text,” I said, feeling the confidence build. “The weight of hiding everything is exhausting.”

  “I bet it is. I think you should tell her.”

  I typed in the letters Y-E-S, and hit send. I wasn’t necessarily lying about the type of witch I was. I was only omitting the plus one part of the equation to equal a Divinus witch.

  “I’m really proud of you, babe,” he said softly. “You’re giving people courage they didn’t know they needed.”

  “Well, thanks. But it was always inside them. They simply had to dig it up.” I smiled at him, and his eyes glistened with an admiration I didn’t deserve. We were all accomplishing this — not just me.

  My phone buzzed again. This time her text revealed so much more.

  “Many of the families who have been caring for Released Souls are coming out of hiding too. They want to stop the people who are willing to incapacitate or alter others’ minds,” I read aloud excitedly.

  “Timing couldn’t be better,” he replied.

  “By golly, I think we might make this work,” I joked.

  “Okay, so you officially can’t make fun of me any more for being corny.”

  “That’s why we’re such kindred spirits, my love,” I whispered, placing my phone on the table as I followed him into the pantry.

  Logan reached up to grab one of our relaxation teas, and I couldn’t help but notice his shirt pulling up with every movement, exposing his abs. He caught me looking as he handed me the calendula brew and smiled broadly.