Released Souls

by Karice Bolton

  I gasped as I recognized the familiar features that lurked in the shadows from the sorcerer’s hood. How could this be?

  Chapter 14

  “The fairies set me up!” I fell into the beanbag chair.

  “They’re determined little buggers.” Logan grinned at me and sat near me on the yurt’s floor.

  “Especially Bakula,” Trevor replied softly, not looking up. He’d obviously heard of her capture too. He was standing in the kitchen, heating water. The rest of the sorcerers were outside. Even though our yurt was spacious, it wouldn’t be roomy if we tried to fit eleven people inside.

  “I can’t believe I fell for it. I mean she did tell us that the only people who would find us would be sent by the fairies, but I went completely into panic mode.”

  “She had this entire thing planned for days. Bakula wanted to make sure you felt confident in your abilities, and she knew if she delivered someone who deserved to be…”

  “And he did,” I interjected, but still completely relieved I didn’t have nine other sorcerers who met the same fate.

  “Target practice,” Trevor continued, “so that you’d be ready for what was ahead.”

  “How long did you know about it?” I shot Logan a scowl.

  “Not that long at all,” he laughed innocently, throwing his hands in the air. “I caught a glimpse of Trevor in the back and realized that Bakula was delivering us a gift, along with lots of protection in case something went wrong.”

  “How did you know that Trevor was on our side and not the other side?” I asked Logan. “Nothing personal Trevor.”

  “No, I get it,” Trevor replied, shaking his head. “It’s my fault you’re suspicious of me in the first place.”

  “You know that moment I looked like I was in pain?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, I was. Trevor was feeding me the plan using a pretty primitive method.”

  “Why do I think you enjoyed that?” I furrowed my brow at Trevor.

  “Nonetheless, it worked,” Trevor replied innocently. “By the way you really took that charge from Ryan well.”

  “Ryan? That was his name?” I grimaced at connecting a name with the monster I killed. It was better to keep him as a nameless animal. “Thanks, I guess.”

  “It was really impressive. I don’t think I would’ve been able to bounce back so well. Don’t you think it was pretty incredible?” he asked Logan.

  “Yeah, it was. So I think we should head out tomorrow morning. I think she’s ready and can keep practicing when we get back.” Logan was definitely attempting to change the subject.

  “I think it’s pretty sweet that you’re a Caneo witch,” Trevor continued.

  The energy in the room shifted completely, and I glanced at Logan who was suddenly studying the weave in the carpet.

  “Not to worry. Bakula and Dace told me you carried a special skill. They just didn’t tell me what.” Trevor leaned back in the chair, proud of what information he was able to glom onto. “But now I know.”

  I guess having Trevor think I was only a Caneo was probably a good diversion.

  At least I didn’t whip out the flames and also tell him what he was going to have for breakfast tomorrow or what he had for dinner the night before. Shoot! I really did know that stuff. I was kind of starting to scare myself.

  I looked over at Trevor, but an image of Lara staring at me flashed through my mind. I looked away quickly as I tried to flush out what I was seeing. Lara and I were in a grey, empty room, and she started laughing at me. Why would we be in a room together? What are these images telling me or was it just my exhaustion and imagination getting the better of me?

  I glanced nervously at Logan as I tried to shake the images, worried he might catch on that something was happening inside of me, but he was concentrating more on diverting Trevor’s attention.

  The images were incessant as I felt trapped in my mind, witnessing events unfold that may or may not be true. I didn’t know how to control what was happening. Then I saw Bakula stuck in a glass box, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with my encounter with Lara or maybe it did. Everything was far too convoluted to know. I was sure at some point I’d be able to separate events, but I wasn’t there yet, and this was pure frustration.

  Logan looked over at me concerned, narrowing his eyes at me, and I nodded quickly. He knew what I needed, which was sleep.

  “I think Triss is pretty exhausted,” Logan said.

  “So we’ll get off the mountain tomorrow,” Trevor offered, as he stood up and stretched. “I’ll let you guys get some sleep. I’ll be out there with everyone else.”

  “Truthfully, I feel like leaving right now. I want to get Bakula back,” I replied, placing my hand on Logan’s shoulder.

  “We can’t get sidetracked. There’s so much going on,” Trevor started to object.

  “But we can’t just forget about her,” I protested.

  My stomach began turning in knots at the thought of her being taunted or tortured for information. I had no idea what they could do to her, but I was sure Eben and Lara would have plenty of options. And the thought of her trapped in a tiny glass box only made me feel worse.

  “What was that?” I heard one of the sorcerers whisper outside the yurt.

  Trevor and Logan looked at each other and bolted toward the door. Following right behind them, I watched as the sorcerers lit up the grounds in front of the yurt only to discover a family of raccoons hissing at them.

  With the stress of everything that had built up for the last few days all I could do was laugh. And the laughter wouldn’t stop as I had ten very serious sorcerers turn to glare at me, Logan included.

  “I’m sorry, guys. It’s pretty funny.” I walked back into the yurt with Logan following right behind me.

  “You think that’s funny, huh?” he whispered, his lips skating against my neck.

  “It was pretty good watching all of you big, bad sorcerers go scare a family of raccoons,” I teased, resting my hand on his shoulder.

  “Oh, I see how it is now. You just lump me in with that bunch,” he growled lovingly, his breath sending shivers across me.

  “Well, not when it counts.” I turned, smiling at him, as I gestured toward the bed.

  Logan’s laughter filled the yurt as he scooped me into his arms and took me to our lovely bedroom in the middle of the wilderness, surrounded by guards.

  What had our lives become?

  ***

  We had taken over several tables at the roadside café where we had stopped to eat breakfast. We were almost off the mountain, but when traveling with this many guys, food becomes pretty important.

  I pushed around the fried potatoes on my plate and then stared at my ham and cheese omelet. It seemed like a good idea when I ordered it, but now it wasn’t very appealing. I had shared with Logan the images I’d seen the night before, and he thought they were visions as well. The only problem was that I wasn’t experienced enough at knowing what to do with them or how to read them. I hoped that some of the answers might exist in the library back at the covenstead, if the building was still standing.

  “Not hungry?” Trevor asked, walking by our table on the way to where he was sitting.

  I smiled at him and shook my head. Trevor was trying, really trying. He’d given Logan and I space and wouldn’t rib Logan about much of anything. Granted, I think Logan would’ve pounded him into the ground if he had, but regardless, I liked this version of Trevor. This was who I knew back in high school. Hopefully this was the Trevor who would stick around.

  “So are these guys really going to stay with us at all times, because I don’t think I can handle that,” I whispered, sliding my plate away from me.

  Logan stretched out his arms and slid the plate back in front of me.

  “You need to eat, babe. I know it’s tough, but I can’t have you turning into a weakling on me,” he teased, digging into his omelet.

  He was right. I might not feel like eating, but it�
��s not like I’ve been doing much of it since we got back from the Adirondacks. I needed to start taking better care of myself. I looked back down at my plate, but it still didn’t cut it.

  “So are they really going to be hanging around all the time?” I asked again.

  “We’ll have to see how it goes.”

  “How what goes?” I questioned.

  “I don’t even know,” he replied, almost laughing.

  “Tell me about it. One minute I think our problems will be solved if I just take out Eben and Lara, and then common sense takes over, reminding me the problem is much larger than those two.” I shoveled in a bite of potato.

  “Looks like you’re hungrier than you thought.”

  I scowled at him before breaking into a smile. “Possibly.”

  “Regardless of what ‘the guards’ think,” I rolled my eyes, “I feel we need to get Bakula back.”

  My pendant began to warm against my chest, and I quickly reached up to feel it.

  “What? What’s going on?” Logan questioned quietly, looking around the diner.

  “Feel this,” I whispered, dangling my arrowhead in front of me. He reached over and grasped it.

  “Do you think that’s guiding us to get Bakula?” he asked, his brow raising.

  “It might be.” I dropped it back under my shirt and felt it cool again.

  “I think we should go get Lara,” I told Logan, attempting to get the pendant to heat up again but the temperature stayed the same.

  I folded my arms in front of me and leaned back against the booth.

  “We should definitely go get Bakula,” I whispered.

  And again, the pendant heated up.

  “At least for now, I think this might be the answer.” I tapped my chest and grinned.

  “Well, the worst that happens is that we guessed wrong.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  “Exactly.” I giggled, realizing neither of us really knew what we were doing, but we certainly were going to try.

  The waitress put down the bill on the table, and I reached into my pocket to grab a card to slap down, when Trevor came over from where he was sitting and tossed some cash down.

  “You’re off the grid for as long as we can manage. We really don’t know who to trust yet,” Trevor said apologetically.

  I thought it was very unlikely that members of the Praedivinus order were going to be in the middle of nowhere, but I just nodded back at Trevor grateful that he was worried about it.

  The ride back to Seattle felt a lot longer than normal, but I was sure that had to do with the amount of anxiety that had built up. Before we left the café, Trevor broke the news that we weren’t going back to my home in Seattle. Rather they had a few places rented for us all. I craved the comfort of my home, but I understood their reasoning.

  That was until we pulled down the narrow alley of houses. With every home we passed, the pit in my stomach grew. Instead of panicking, I stopped looking out the window. I promised myself that this wasn’t really the street we’d be staying on as I stared at the dashboard, refusing to look outside. Our car began to slow, and I realized whatever game I’d been playing with myself was just that — a game. Logan followed Trevor as Trevor pulled up along the curb, putting his car in park.

  I looked over at Logan, terrified to look out my window, but the wide-eyed expression on Logan’s face was anything but comforting. I slowly turned my head, hoping that the house we’d pulled in front of was nothing like the first few but that wasn’t the case.

  The place we pulled up to looked like something out of a horror movie. I was guessing it was a bungalow of some sort, but the structure was covered in so many vines and overgrown bushes that I couldn’t even tell what the actual bones of the house looked like. The siding that wasn’t held up by the shrubs seemed to have peeled away. But when a glimpse of paint color was revealed, it made it worse. In some areas, I’d say there was a purple calling out to me and in other areas, I’d dare say there was red waving at me.

  This had to be Trevor’s idea of joke. It was a good one. I’d give him that much. Since I couldn’t see the roof, I looked at the steps instead. They bowed in the middle, but where they led was even worse. The covered porch looked like a deathtrap. There was an old recliner on the porch, and I swear I saw something with four legs get up and walk away from it.

  I slowly turned back to look at Logan for reassurance, but he seemed to be in shock as well. Trevor got out of the car in front of us and quickly walked toward Logan’s window and tapped on it. But Logan was too dazed to open it. Instead, he kept staring at the house. I think he was hoping it would spontaneously combust. But it didn’t. Instead it stood there and mocked us.

  There was no way I was going to stay inside that structure. I’d rather take my chances that my aunt or grandfather would show up at our house then stay at this place. Actually, I’d rather sleep in the car.

  I glanced back at the house and looked to the right of it. And that house looked just as horrible. The only difference was that it was two stories tall. Yet somehow the blackberries managed to completely cover that structure as well.

  “Logan,” I whispered.

  “Enough said.” He rolled down the window and glared at Trevor.

  “It’s not like you think,” Trevor’s voice was filled with excitement, and he tapped on the car door to get Logan to get out.

  “If you leave me here, you’re a dead man,” I warned, staring at him.

  Logan turned back to Trevor and shook his head. “I’ve got my orders.”

  Trevor bent down and stuck his head inside the car enough so only we could hear his whisper.

  “These houses don’t look anything like this on the inside,” he promised, pointing up and down the street.

  I was sure he was right. They’d be ten times worse on the inside because an entire colony of rodents had probably already staked claim on these lovely pieces of property. They’d probably already been renting for years. I was doing everything I could to remain calm and not sound like a snotty city girl, but with every passing second it was getting harder.

  “Come on. Do you think an entire street could look this bad? It’s called magic. Maybe you’re familiar?” Trevor asked.

  I turned in my seat and noticed that it did seem a little bit out of character for an entire neighborhood to look this decrepit.

  “How so?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Most of these homes belong to the Solem coven and their members head south for the winter. They understood our plight and offered them to us as a safe haven. We made the entire street looks like this through the eyes of witches only.”

  “How do we know the Solem coven is trustworthy?” I asked.

  “Jake’s mom,” Trevor pointed to one of the sorcerers who had just gotten out of the car and was stretching, “is one of the founding members. I’m sure he or his family wouldn’t have been able to get past Dace or Bakula if they were tied to the Praedivinus order.

  He had a point, but I still didn’t want to go inside.

  “How about if you don’t like the look of the inside, I’ll drive you immediately to a hotel until we can find another place for us all,” he offered.

  I looked at Logan and shrugged my shoulders.

  “Sounds fair,” Logan replied.

  Trevor backed up and Logan got out of the car. I glanced back at the shack of a house and couldn’t believe there was a spell in the world that could cause a street to look this bad, but I hoped for our sake that one existed.

  “We thought you guys might like privacy,” Trevor said, but I detected a slight sadness lacing his words, and I hoped Logan didn’t catch it. “So that’ll be yours. You’ll have the run of the place.”

  “Lucky us.” I rolled my eyes and got out of the car.

  “Because we’ll be right next door,” he continued. “And that glistening jewel is where we’ll be staying.” Trevor was grinning widely, and there was nothing we could do but check out the house. That was the deal. />
  “It doesn’t even look safe to enter.” I walked along the tiny concrete sidewalk that led to the steps and stopped. The recliner on the porch looked even worse up close, and I let out a huge sigh.

  “After you,” Trevor said.

  “I don’t think so,” Logan laughed. “We’ll follow your lead.”

  Trevor hopped up the steps and, to my surprise, he didn’t fall through the steps or the porch. Logan started up the stairs and turned, reaching for my hand, hauling me up next to him.

  So far so good.

  Trevor reached for the old knob and the door sprung open, revealing quite a surprise.

  The inside of the home was quaint and cozy, and even though it didn’t look like there was an upstairs from the outside, a staircase was to the right of the foyer.

  “I told you,” Trevor said proudly.

  “You’re lucky,” I growled.

  “No. I’m talented.” He smiled, gesturing to us to follow him.

  The foyer had dark wood floors and cherry paneling. There was an old-fashioned phone displayed on a table, along with a bench shoved against the wall. We followed Trevor, who appeared to be exploring the house at the same time as us, down the hallway and saw a large sitting room that was decorated beautifully in old Victorian antiques. There was a series of paintings guiding us down the hall to the kitchen, and I was pleasantly surprised at how modern the kitchen was. Not that I planned on doing much cooking, but it was nicely updated.

  “There’s a pantry full of herbs, tinctures, and oils that I was told are up for grabs,” Trevor replied, opening a door. “Yep. Here it is.”

  I poked my head around the door and saw a wonderfully organized closet full of colored glass bottles and bunches of upside-down dried herbs. I started to feel a little better.

  Logan opened another door and motioned for me to check it out as he went through. I hurried over and saw a staircase.

  “It’s got a basement too,” I replied to Trevor.

  “I think that connects to our house, actually. I heard that most of these homes connect to one another,” Trevor said. “The other door goes to the other house.”

  “That’s weird,” I said, following Logan down the stairs.