“So how much of the hallucinogenic do you stuff at the end of their plague masks?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I purely use my power of persuasion.”
“You’re not that powerful. Otherwise you would’ve gotten me,” I taunted.
“Triss, be careful,” Logan whispered, his hand slipping into mine.
I looked over at my mom whose eyes caught mine before she crumpled to the ground and began crying. What was she sensing? She covered her face with her hands as my father went to her side.
Aunt Vieta came running up behind us, gasping at the sight of her sister.
Looking behind my father and mother, I spotted another group of sorcerers hastily planning something. They were also wearing ivory robes, but they weren’t looking this way. What more did my father have going on?
“It’s not about us any more, my love,” my father spoke to my mother, touching her cheek. “The time has come. It’s time to destroy the ones who don’t share our vision.”
My father’s eyes flashed into a violent rage that was more beast than witch as he raised his arms to a fiery blaze of terror.
“Help me get her,” I screamed, pointing at my mother, worried she’d get swallowed by the flames. My father ran in the direction of the other sorcerers, leaving my mother in a heap.
True love.
Sweat poured off of me instantly from the heat as I ran toward her. Logan was right behind me, but we couldn’t get to her in time as the life exited her body.
My father’s laughter wrapped its way around my soul bringing me to understand the power of hatred.
I cried my silent tears for my mother, and prayed I would meet her again someday, but first I had to free those that remained. I had to stop him.
Aunt Vieta grabbed my mother, whose body was completely lifeless, and hauled her away from the woods toward the lake.
“I’m going after my father. I love you, Logan,” I whispered as I took off following my father.
Logan yelled after me, but not wanting to hear his words I ran faster. I made it to where the sorcerers last were, but my father was nowhere in sight. The smoke was thick in every direction, and I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to catch his shadow.
The buildings that housed many of the operations that I’d never even seen were completely ravaged with flames. There was no place for my father to go but into the backwoods. Not exactly what I had planned.
I heard coughing and spun around to see Trevor behind me, watching me.
“Do you know where he went?” I asked, unsure of the look in Trevor’s eyes.
“Haven’t seen him,” he replied, coughing into his shirt. There was blood when he dropped his arm.
“Triss,” Logan yelled, but I couldn’t see him. The smoke was clouding everything.
“Stay where you are,” I yelled at Trevor. “Logan, follow my voice. Trevor’s coughing up blood.”
I began walking toward Trevor who had now fallen to his knees.
“Logan, are you near?” I asked, feeling his touch from behind.
Logan grabbed Trevor and tossed him over his shoulder with ease.
“Let’s get him to the lake,” Logan said.
I shook my head, but he couldn’t see it.
“My father went into the woods. I’ve got to find him.”
“Don’t let the hatred drive you,” Logan replied.
I knew he was right, but it felt like it was something I could no longer control.
“Find out what’s wrong with him.”
“We have more people to help. People are lost; their souls need to be released.”
“We needed to release the souls. I need to stop my father.”
“Triss, please don’t do this,” Logan pleaded with me.
And like that I made my choice. It was no longer about my survival it was about destroying my father and everything he stood for. Logan didn’t fill me in on all of his plans, and I didn’t fill him in on mine.
With every step closer to the forest, my lungs brought in smokeless air that kept the energy pulsing through me. It felt like a new world was before me. I had a purpose.
My legs hopped over the downed trees with ease and my body glided through the limbs as if I was a ghost. The adrenaline pulsing through me brought a new clarity.
This man, my father, was more than a dark sorcerer, he was a killer — a killer of souls, spirits, and witches alike. Not even realizing how long I had been running, I stopped to catch my breath and get my bearings when I saw him.
He was no longer dressed in jeans and a button-down. He was wearing a black cloak, standing with a presence far larger than his actual size. He had his hands pressed together as if waiting for something.
Or someone.
I’d fallen into his trap.
The anger fueled me to run to the middle of an empty forest to face a man who had magical abilities that far exceeded mine. What had I done? Would my plan still work?
The group of dark sorcerers surrounded me.
“Are you afraid?”
I shook my head.
“You should be.”
“When will it ever be enough?” I asked, staring into the face of a cold-blooded killer.
“There’s no such thing,” he replied coolly. “That’s what separates us from others. Our family’s drive is never ending, allowing us to achieve more than most could ever dream of. We have willpower and strength deep within our soul. We’re not weak-minded.”
“Don’t lump me in with you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it.”
I shrugged, looking down at the forest floor, refusing to look into his eyes until I was ready to see what my mother’s ancestors could provide.
“I’m surprised,” I began.
“At what?” my father asked, dropping his arms. I stared directly into his gaze, feeling the wickedness down to his core.
“That you would call yourself strong-willed, but you’d let an old man tell you what to do. Your father no less. I’d never let that happen.” I dropped my eyes and felt the smile spread across my lips.
“How dare you,” my father’s voice roared.
“Do you disagree?” I shot my father a warning glance.
“You will die by my hands.”
“It’s only one of many ways to die, father.” I smiled and felt the familiar slither wrap around my ankle.
“Don’t reach for your bow,” my father commanded.
“I wouldn’t think of it. The element of surprise is no longer there. You saw what I did to Trevor.”
I laughed and didn’t stop laughing. I started caressing the spruce’s limbs.
He squinted his eyes at me, and the sorcerers narrowed their presence around me.
I reached up quickly to my pendant.
“Now,” I whispered.
“On our way,” Dace replied.
“What are you doing?” my father laughed. “Playing pretend? You still have that pendant from your coven ceremony? You do know that’s a replica right?”
“Yeah, I know. It reminded me of my mother and the good her side stood for,” I lied. “Until she met you.”
I started singing under my breath until he began again.
“I was the best thing that happened to her.”
“Yeah it appears that way,” I replied sarcastically.
Anger completely stole the tears that I wanted to shed in the name of my mother, but that’s how it had to be.
“Do you hear that?” I asked unable to hide my grin.
My father shook his head and glanced at the sorcerers surrounding me.
“You can’t emancipate yourself from blood,” my father hollered.
“Oh, yes I can.” I smiled. “And it’s about to happen. Wanna see?”
My father began getting nervous not because I offered more strength or magical prowess but because he thought he was dealing with crazy. And crazy could never be predicted.
“Mmm, now do you hear it?” I asked.
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Snarls and yips were getting closer by the second. I looked at the trees around me and surmised which might be the best to climb in case of an emergency.
“What have you done?” my father asked, slowly backing away from me.
“I called a few forest friends to help me. It seems I got in a little over my head.”
A symphony of growls and biting snaps appeared behind me. The sorcerers began disbanding much to my father’s dismay.
“You should’ve stuffed more drugs in their masks,” I laughed nervously as the coyotes began getting closer.
Watching my father’s gaze shift to behind me, I turned quickly to see the brilliant light rolling through the forest. My friends had arrived.
I saw my father reach for his wand, but as the wave of fairies and witches encroached he thought better of it. One of the dark sorcerers next to me was foolish enough to charge me with his wand, casting a spell that I managed to deflect, but it announced that the time had come for self-defense.
The bow fell into my hand as I took aim at my first victim. I’d seen enough fire for the night, letting my fingers release the string. I watched the arrow sail into the first predator, and he dropped.
The coyotes paced back and forth as if waiting for a command that I couldn’t give them, not yet anyway. For once in his life, I wanted my father to fear. Taste what it felt like to be thrown a future that wasn’t certain. His eyes held the same vacant stare that I had seen many times before from his followers.
The fairies began making a perimeter around us as the little creatures showed their mighty fangs in anticipation for what might lay ahead. They could never enter our world without an invitation, and I had given them that.
“Fairies hate our kind,” my father seethed. “You just called them in for your own death.”
“They hate your kind.” I laughed.
The cowardliness inside of my father took hold as the witches marched side-by-side, chanting cries to the wilderness, unleashing a disturbance that rocked everything in its presence.
The wind began whipping through the trees as the coyotes continued their howls, and I stood looking at my father waiting for his response.
“Where’s your father now?” I asked quietly.
He continued giving me a cold stare.
“We’re ready when you are,” Jenny whispered, standing a few feet behind me.
“Yes, we are,” Aunt Vieta and Jenna replied in unison.
I nodded and waited. It would only be a matter of time before my father’s anger got the best of him.
Regardless of what darkness he could tap into, my father knew he was outnumbered. His desperation would make him behave violently, and then I could act. I might not be the strongest witch yet, but I certainly had friends in high places.
“Cogita confluebant ad defensionem creatura mundi vincere malum,” I whispered.
Watching the moonlight slowly vanish as the flocks of birds began making their descent created a powerful stir deep inside for the power the wilderness had to offer. I had so much to learn in our world.
“Triss what have you done?” my father snarled.
“I’m finding my full potential. Have you heard of this thing called gray magic?”
His face paled. “There’s no such thing.”
“There very much is, and I’m starting to learn about it. It’s fascinating.”
I felt movement behind me. My father’s eyes bounced to our newest arrivals, as disdain spread across his face.
“I’m right behind you, babe,” Logan said.
“Why don’t you come right beside me,” I stated.
“Absolutely.” His voice was low, almost seductive.
“Descendit cum caelum,” my father hollered, pointing his wand in my direction. The rain dumped from the skies, pushing the birds in every direction.
That’s all it took. I was free to protect myself.
“Down with the sky,” Logan hollered back, laughing. “That’s it? I raise you! Descendit cum arboribus.”
The trees around my father began crashing down all around him.
I heard my aunt calling to the skies to stop the rain as I watched my father dodge trees and limbs.
The fairies moved closer to my father as he pointed his wand directly at Logan. Trevor stepped from behind me, and targeted my father with his wand.
“Feeling better?” I asked Trevor.
“Immensely.”
“Good,” I replied, not taking my gaze off of my father.
Logan leaned into me, quickly pushing back my hair.
“She’s alive,” he whispered.
Two words I never expected to hear.
“Let me do something else for you,” he said softly.
“Inhabilitare indefinite,” Logan hollered as his wand flashed a blaze of electricity to my father.
My father was frozen in time. I reached up to hold my pendant and heard the fairies’ voices full of glee.
“What did you do?” I asked bewildered.
“I incapacitated him indefinitely. Or until we say so.” He smirked.
“My god, I love you,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Gray magic, huh?” he asked bemused.
“I think that was the whole point of the spell book from the cottage. It contained spells that were both white and black… who’s to say which is what?”
“And when and why?” he finished my sentence.
“Exactly. Makes perfect sense doesn’t it?”
“Perfect,” he laughed.
Aunt Vieta was standing over my father’s paralyzed body cursing him out, performing her own sort of therapy as the coyotes continued circling. It was an odd scene, but one that I welcomed.
“Can you take me to see my mom?” I asked.
Logan nodded.
“Has she had the antidote? Were we too late?”
He slid his arm around my waist and took me through the crowd of witches, many who I didn’t know, but all who I would spend the rest of my life thanking, as he thought about what to say.
“She’s been through a lot. They all have. It’s going to be up to us to truly release their souls.”
Nodding, I placed my hand on his, anxious to see my mom.
“Triss?” a girl who I didn’t recognize came bounding up to us.
“Yes?” I asked, smiling. “What’s your name?”
“Bennie,” she replied, licking her lips.
I froze.
“Pardon me?” I asked.
“I was wrong. You will be our future,” she licked her lips again. “Your father might have been right. You don’t hate like the rest of us. There will be a use for you in my plan.”
She licked her lips again and twitched.
“Eben,” I whispered. My mouth went completely dry.
“Who?” Logan asked, turning to me.
“That was my grandfather.” I said, staring at the spot the girl once was.
“That was him?”
I nodded. “It’s not over. In fact, I think it’s only begun.”
COMING SOON:
RELEASED SOULS (Witch Avenue Series #3)
Altered Souls (Witch Avenue Series #2) Page 22
