“It’s okay, Amelia. I understand. Let’s find them all, then.” He pulled me to my feet and then reached back down to pick up the pages, looking up at me for confirmation before he actually touched them. I nodded, a lump in my throat as the Keeper pushed at me, wanting me to take them, to not let him near my mother’s innermost thoughts and fears. But, if I had any chance at all, I needed all the help I could get.
It didn’t take as long as we expected. My Keeper was on the ball. As Tragar and Micah worked to line up the books, I walked along, my finger grazing each spine until I would feel the power spike, pull the book from the stack, and hand it to Micah. He would find the pages and hand them to Tragar, who put them in numerical order. In a matter of hours, I was sitting in a chair by the fire, a stack of pages in my hand I still didn’t feel ready to read.
Micah had sent Bale to bring us lunch and he and Tragar were in the next room talking. They had left me to do this alone. It was both what I needed and the last thing I wanted. I wished Aidan were here. He was always so strong and sure. He didn’t let me waffle and question. He just made decisions and acted. He forced me to see past the emotion and questions and made me find the truth. What would he have said to me right now?
He would have asked me why I wanted these pages.
Because I want to know my mother. And I believe these pages will tell me more about her and why I’m here.
And why do they scare you? I heard his voice in my head, asking me the question. He never wasted a word.
What if she’s like so many others and not what she seems? What if this Keeper isn’t something I can ever control? What if she wrote down what was going to happen to me in here and I don’t like it?
Can you change any of it? It was his favorite question. I would drive him crazy with “what ifs” during our conversations and he would always end them by asking me if I could do anything about it. I pretty much never could. And now, I wouldn’t be able to.
So, instead of arguing with myself, I flipped over the first page.
I’m hiding. I know it and Tragar knows it. But he allows me to hide here. They’ve told me I must marry. They say it will help bring our people further together as he is a Hunter and Elders on the council are required to mix magic to preserve the races. But no matter how necessary they say it is, I do not love him. I have loved Nathaniel for as long as I can remember. My heart has been his since we were children. I don’t care if he is more Mage than anything else. But, alas, I am the only one who doesn’t.
The visions have been coming stronger lately. I come to the castle library because I know Tragar will help me when they hit, and he will not tell Julia’s father or the Elders. The scenes are clearer than they’ve ever been and I worry for what’s to come. I see things that have sent me into the stacks, looking for explanations I cannot find.
Homes will burn. People will die. The races will suffer. I can’t see why yet. I can’t find the catalyst. But I know my time will come. I will have to make choices I don’t want to make and the time will come for me to make the decision that can either save us all, or seal our fate.
I flipped to the next page, unable to stop myself.
Tragar has been helping me to understand where I come from. I have been drawn to the history of the Elders and our origins as an Immortal people. I cannot stop devouring the texts from our beginnings. They are so detailed in places and vague in others. Why can nothing ever be as easy as it should be?
I stopped, a small laugh erupting. It sounded like something I would have said. Or, had been saying, a lot lately.
I believe whole-heartedly in my sisters. I know I have the power and am expected to take my place on the Elder council to represent our family. I know the women I will join have all come to the council for specific reasons. But why do we even exist? Why do the people need us at all? Julia has been trying to get into our council meetings, she wants to ask these questions. I can feel the frustration she holds toward us and I can’t blame her, but there must be a larger reason we’re here. She cannot be right. She believes we have become unnecessary and I cannot believe that to be true. I only wish I were officially part of the council so they would share the truth with me.
The date draws nearer. I know I only have a short time left before everything will change. I only hope I can find the answers we need.
“Amelia,” Micah interrupted. “I’m sorry, but we must get back. We still need to work with your power today and Bale tells me the other Hunters are questioning us being in here with Tragar. They’ve never been fans of his, nor he of them, so we must go.”
“Can I take this with me?” I clutched the pages. After being inside my mother’s head, the last thing I wanted was to leave them here.
Micah shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. We can’t trust they will be safe in your room. At least here, we know Tragar will hide them and they will be here when we return.” Micah took the pages from me and I crossed my arms across my chest, feeling a deep loneliness taking root. I had felt her with me and now I had to walk away. Part of me wanted to grab the pages and make a run for it, but I knew Bale would have me in an instant and then I couldn’t guarantee they would give them back to me at all.
Tragar came up beside me as Micah handed him my most treasured possession. “Don’t worry, little one, your mother has always been one of my favorite people. I will guard her secrets with my life. If you ever want them, you will find them here.” He showed me the cover of a book bearing only a symbol. A circle around four interlocking loops. I’d seen that symbol before and was sure it was on my cuff.
“What does it mean?” I questioned.
“It is the symbol of the Elders. We may as well hide her in plain sight, don’t you think?” He chuckled and I couldn’t help but smile in return.
Chapter 13
I spent the next several days going through Elias’s version of bootcamp. There were moments he couldn’t believe what I could do—uprooting trees, taking on multiple guys at once, and using MMA training to make my attacks even more targeted—and other moments when he couldn’t believe what I didn’t understand. One of the most shocking to him was my inability to remember my time as a wolf.
“You truly remember nothing?” he asked for at least the fifth time.
“Yes, Elias. Nothing.” I was getting frustrated. I was tired from all the energy I’d expended figuring out my power allowed me to shoot magic bursts, levitate objects, and move in complete silence without disturbing anything. My beast was getting restless and I hoped a shift wouldn’t come out of nowhere again.
“Dillon! DILLON!” Elias hollered the young boy’s name and I heard him reply, “COMING, SIR!” Soon he was dragging poor Bethany across the clearing. She was hunched over, trying to keep up with him while he wouldn’t let go of her hand. “I’m coming, sir. We’ll be right there!” he yelled across, waving at us as he pulled on Bethany, urging her to move faster. Charlie came trotting out behind them, his giant paws easily eating up the ground.
“Why does he call you sir and me Mr. Aidan?” I asked. We both watched them, trying not to laugh as Bethany attempted to slow Dillon down. “Sweetie, you’ve got to calm down. They are right there. There’s no fire. Goodness gracious.”
Elias spoke quietly. “His parents died when he was young—maybe three years old. I found him hiding in a tree and it took me an hour to convince him I wouldn’t hurt him. I had to change into three different animals to prove I wasn’t a Hunter in disguise. Finally, after he told me he could shift into an owl, I did the same and landed on the branch beside him. We sat up there for another hour while he told me all about his parents. It wasn’t until after his story he told me his name. I told him he could call me Elias and he said, ‘My momma told me to always respect my elders. I will call you Mr. Elias so she stays proud of me.’ And he’s done it with everyone he’s ever met. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Dillon is the only child with us. He’s the only child we know of. Though, there are AniMages spread across the globe, so there c
ould likely be others. He’s something special. And, his powers allow him to sense the animal side of you more clearly than the rest of us.”
It was clear Elias cared for Dillon and so did the other AniMages. People yelled hello as he passed them and he always replied with a chipper, “Hello to you, too!” and a wave.
As he and Bethany finally reached us, Dillon postured up and stood with his hands locked behind him. “Good afternoon, sir. What can I do for you?”
Elias reached down and ruffled Dillon’s hair, a move garnering the first real scowl I’d seen since he led me home after my last shift. “Dillon, when you were out with Mr. Aidan, could you talk to him?”
He shook his head quickly. “No, sir, I couldn’t. I tried and tried but something wouldn’t let me in. I had to follow him around the whole stinkin’ forest, waiting for him to come back to himself.” He lowered his voice and leaned into Elias. “Sir, are you sure he’s the one?” I caught a sideways look and couldn’t decide whether I wanted to laugh at the kid questioning my manhood or jump on his side of the argument.
“He just needs a little time. What do you say we all go out running tonight? We’ll get this sorted out and you can be our eyes in the sky?”
Dillon pumped a fist in the air. “Heck, yes! I mean, of course, sir.” He looked back at Bethany and it reaffirmed a lot of the “yes, sir…no, sir” was for her benefit.
“Alright, then. Meet us after dinner,” Elias said. Dillon nodded and took off. He got about four running steps before he turned back. “Goodbye, Miss Bethany. I’ll see you soon.” His ears burned red as he took off.
He wasn’t ten feet away before she was in our faces. “Do either of you know how utterly exhausting it is to be relegated to hanging out with ten-year-olds and dogs? Miss Bethany this and Miss Bethany that. Let’s play ball, or Frisbee, or I’ll just head-butt you until you do. I’m going to drag you here and there to meet people or smell every inch of the forest floor. All I want is a little quiet and some coffee. Speaking of, how much longer are we staying? I’ve got a perfectly good bed not far from here and my kitchen is stocked with the essentials. Also, I would like to make sure my family knows I’m alive and that I haven’t been fired. It’s only been a few days, but I’m someone people notice and they are gonna notice my absence.”
She flashed a huge smile. “Bless your heart, Elias, you’ve been entirely hospitable,” and then she turned to me with a scowl, “But, truly…” The chick stance was back and her arms were crossed. “I don’t do camping. This is barely above camping.”
I started to speak, but Elias beat me to it.
“Do you completely understand the predicament you are in, Miss Jackson?” The sharpness in his tone made us both recoil a little. “I understand you have grown comfortable with the AniMages, but do you remember what happened when you encountered the Hunters? Do you realize you are likely on their watch list? And as close as you are to Amelia, they will have the same idea we did, except not be such gracious hosts.”
Bethany paled, swallowed, and then paled further. “Can’t you keep me away from them?”
“No, I can’t,” he spat, and I could feel the tension building around us. Charlie must have, too, because he stepped up next to Bethany as Elias continued. “Because I don’t have the resources or the manpower to spare any of my people just so you can sleep in your bed and have coffee. I can send someone for your cell phone, but outside of that, your life is only as important as you make it. Right now, your only value is they want you more than we do and I refuse to give those bastards anything they want.”
“Are you telling me I’m a prisoner, Elias?” She tried to stand tall, to regain some control over the conversation, but I could see her hands shaking as she clenched her fists.
I stepped between them and put out my hands. “Come on. We don’t need to do this. Bethany, of course you aren’t a prisoner. But I told you what I am to them and what that can mean for Amelia. You’ve got to work with me here. There’s something I’m missing. Something I’m not doing that I need to. I can feel it. I’m so close, but…I just can’t find it yet.”
I was surprised to hear Charlie bark. He so rarely did, I jumped and turned to him. “Quiet down, Charlie.” Which only set him off further. His deep woofs were nonstop and he slammed his head into my thigh. “Come on, dog. Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something here?”
I stooped down to get eye level with him and with a satisfied snort, he lifted his paw and dropped it onto the exposed flesh above my knee. This time, I wasn’t falling into his head, I was hearing him. I was staring into a dog’s eyes and he was talking to me.
He’s told you, you have to embrace it.
“Embrace what? What do you mean?” I barely registered the fact that Bethany and Elias were staring open-mouthed at me as I spoke out loud to Charlie.
The beast inside you. You can’t control him, you have to let him control you. He won’t be a beast then, he’ll be you.
“But how?”
Let him tell you.
I was about to ask who when I looked in the direction Charlie had turned. Dillon was standing in the tree line. I didn’t hesitate and took off toward him. “Dillon, I need your help,” I said loudly as I approached.
“Uh, sure, Mr. Aidan. How can I help you?” Dillon looked around me and didn’t seem thrilled at the bewildered looks on Elias and Bethany’s face.
“Can you talk to your owl?” I wasn’t sure what I was asking.
Dillon cocked his head. “That would be weird. Then I would be talking to myself.” I immediately felt like an idiot.
He smiled a small smile at my bewildered expression. “But you have to let it talk to you. That’s the weirder part.”
“What do you mean?” I was completely confused.
“My owl tells me things. He tells me when Hunters are coming close and when people are good or bad. He makes sure I’m safe. He never uses words, but he tells me. That’s why I don’t talk to him, because he wouldn’t understand. I just listen.” Dillon looked up at me with wise eyes I was sure had seen too much after Elias’s story. “My owl should be able to hear your wolf, but he can’t.”
“What does your owl say about me?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Your wolf wants out—bad. He’s been howling a long time and you don’t hear him. Someone made it so you can’t hear him.”
One of the other AniMages yelled for him and Dillon took off around me. “Gotta go. See you, Mr. Aidan!”
“See you, Dillon,” I muttered, wondering why my best, and most confusing, advice so far had come from a dog and a kid.
Bethany stomped around our small room. She didn’t speak, but she stomped. And she threw things into piles. And she exhaled loudly. I was a guy, but I wasn’t an idiot.
“B, talk to me.” Her head snapped in my direction.
“About what? What do you want to talk about, Aidan? How we’ve been here for days and nothing has changed? How you leave me with Charlie and Dillon all day? How I spend a majority of the day getting glared at by the animals and listening to people like Melinda make fun of me for being ‘just a human’ every time I walk past? We aren’t any closer to finding Amelia, which is why we came here to start with, and you have no idea where Cole is. The last time we saw his place, it was destroyed and you know Hunters took him. What the hell are we doing?”
I wanted to argue, but she was right. “I don’t know, I’m missing something. They want me to be some kind of leader and I have no idea how. It feels right, like this is where I belong, but I have no idea how to unlock whatever is inside of me. Dillon told me someone made it so I can’t hear my wolf. What the hell does that even mean?”
Bethany stood up and turned back toward me. “He said someone made it so you can’t hear your wolf?” She spoke slowly, a smile tugging at her lips.
“Yeah, what the hell, right?” I scratched the back of my head and she laughed, smacking my arm as she walked past.
“We need to find Elias. I think I
know what’s wrong with you.”
Of course. It took a dog, a kid, and a chick to get me where I needed to go. I tossed my hands in the air and rolled my eyes at the empty room.
When I got back outside, I found Bethany and Elias in the middle of a very animated discussion. Well, at least she was. Her arms were flying around in wide gestures and she was talking nonstop. Elias simply stood back with his head cocked to one side, giving her small nods of encouragement. When I finally got within range to hear the steady stream of words she was spouting, I heard, “I’m telling you, Elias, it’s the same thing. It’s got to be. Those Hunters did something similar to Amelia’s dad. He’s still that way. I’ll just bet they did it to Aidan, too. How’s that for adding value?” All I could see was her back, but I was sure her signature satisfied smile was in place.
Elias looked over her shoulder at me, his eyebrows drawn together as he rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Feisty one, eh?”
I snorted my agreement. “I don’t really get what she’s talking about, though. And if a Hunter did this, who the heck is going to get rid of it?”
Elias was still rubbing his hand back and forth, clearly not listening and lost in his own train of thought. “Yo, Elias. You’re the only guy with possible answers here.” I snapped my fingers in front of his face and he jolted.
“Sorry. I was just thinking—”
“You need to find Will.” A voice I’d never forget interrupted him and Melinda stepped around the corner. She’d made herself somewhat scarce up to this point, but now she stood not two feet from me in her traditional outfit of skintight everything. While I could appreciate her from the neck down, I couldn’t look into her eyes for long. Every time she’d caught me from across the grounds, she looked like she was not only undressing me, but plotting her next move. And her perfect smile was too stretched, too fake.
I was hoping she’d stay near Elias, but she strutted herself right into my space and traced her finger across my chest. “It’s about time we found the right man for the job, sugar. Had I known whom I was playing with, I wouldn’t have been so rough. Unless…that’s how you like it.” Her voice was low, blatant in words and tone.
Bound by Spells (Bound Series Book 2) Page 10
