Paranormal Word Series Box Set (Books 1-3 and Novella)

by CC Solomon

  He shrugged. “In case you’ve forgot something.”

  I sighed. He was still pissed. Phillip looked to me with a careful smile. “Tell him what he thinks I didn’t tell him,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  Phillip sat down on the other end of his couch from me and rested an ankle over a knee. “I’m sure Amina has told you everything you need to know. We believe that the lamp and one of the soulmates is in America, most likely in this state. The other one is confined to his country of origin and not yet mobile or something. Neither one is at full power but if they get to that level, they might be impossible to beat. If we can find the lamp, we can learn more about the OGs from Ahmed, who will no longer be beholden to them. If we learn more about them, we can find the soulmates now and defeat them before they get to be too powerful and that window is quickly closing.”

  “So, how do we find the lamp?” Erik asked, face still full of irritation.

  Phillip threw his hands out to the side dramatically. “Well, I had an idea that I think might work. We tap into genie magic.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Just as we did with the fairy magic to get home. We do the same for genie magic. We can’t do a normal locator spell to find older paranormals, like Fae and Jinn, but if we tap into their magic we might be able to locate the lamp. We tapped into Fae magic and it took us to where Lisa was, which was here in Silver Spring. Ahmed was cryptic in his explanation on how we got home. We just made assumptions. As soulmates, we can tap into other magic just enough to break wards and possibly locate things.”

  “How do we tap into Jinn magic? I only knew fairy magic because of Lisa and our fight with the Fae. I didn’t get enough information from Ahmed to know anything about his magic. I wouldn’t even be able to know what it looks like in my mind or feels like,” I replied.

  “I focused on Ahmed’s magic the two times we met. The way that I fight is to know my enemy so that I know how to attack. When I first met Ahmed, my focus was to see what he was. I thought he was a witch so I fought him the wrong way and lost.”

  “You knew how to feel magic forms back then?” I asked in shock.

  He sighed. “Amina, I know a lot. I’m in a town full of magic that I helped run. I was in a better position than you to get those skills, so don’t be upset with me.”

  “I’m upset because you didn’t tell me.”

  “At the time, we weren’t on the best of terms and it didn’t cross my mind after. Then Liz came and showed you how.”

  I looked away. “You would have won the challenge.”

  “You don’t know that, mi cora—” Phillip looked to Erik who was on the verge of a growl. “Sorry, Amina.”

  One point to Phillip for actually making an effort. More Progress.

  “So, what does Jinn magic look like?” I asked, attempting to stir past this tense moment.

  “Orange. And it feels hot. Much hotter than witch magic.”

  I nodded slowly, trying to picture it in my mind. I threw out my hand to him. “All right then, let’s get to it.” I looked to Erik. “We might look like we’re hemorrhaging but we won’t be.”

  “Unless we are,” Phillip cut in. I glared at him and he shrugged. “Jinn magic is older than Fae magic, or so I’ve heard. It might be tougher. So, Erik, make sure we don’t die. Pull us out if things get too rough.”

  Erik looked over to me. “I don’t like this.”

  “We can’t play it safe anymore, Erik. This is bigger than David and that prison. You don’t know Ahmed. He is coming for us and we have less than a week left to find the lamp,” I stated. “And he is formidable. And if this scary soulmate from afar can come at us now, imagine what will happen when he gets the strength to leave where he’s stuck. As soon as he bonds with his mate, we are done. None of us are ready right now. We don’t have the knowledge. They have the upper hand. Ahmed can help us with that.”

  “Or he’ll just kill us,” Phillip cut in with a nonchalant tone. “So, we should get started.”

  Erik nodded his head. “I’m pulling you out if things go south. And I’ll decide what that looks like.”

  I sighed. “Fair enough.”

  I looked to Phillip and we clasped hands. Closing my eyes, I focused on Ahmed’s face. He was framed in gold and looked almost saintly. My mind searched for the magic of the Jinn. A blanket of heat fell over me. It wasn’t comfortable and I began to sweat. My hands were hot and clammy in Phillips’ and I lifted my elbows uncomfortably to air out the sweat forming in my armpits. This was not cute. In fact, it was stifling. I could barely breathe and I opened my mouth to take in air.

  I heard Erik’s movement around me and the opening of the balcony glass doors. Soon, a cold breeze washed over me but it was a momentary relief as the heat latched onto it and covered me again. I felt weak and nauseous. I swooned a bit and then felt arms around me, holding me upright. Erik. My breath quickened and sweat dripped from my hairline into my eyes.

  And then I saw it.

  It was not what I expected.

  Phillip erupted in laughter.

  It was a lamp. An actual lamp. I expected it to look like what I’d seen in cartoons. This was a lamp I would find on my grandmother’s side table, back in the day. The lamp was antique looking. It had a golden, circular base with black etchings of people and what I assumed were spirits. The lamp shade was made of what appeared to be stained glass with various colors swirling around it.

  We’d been looking for the wrong thing this whole time. Luckily, we hadn’t been searching for long. I looked past the lamp to the background. It was in a small, dark space, surrounded by boxes. A closet. I looked to a small shoe box. It was the brand name of a company that used to sell expensive, red-bottomed heels so most likely the space belonged to a female. That was a tiny bit helpful. We still needed to know where this closet existed.

  A stream of dim light shone through the cracked closet door. I peered through with my mind’s eye and saw a bedroom. The light came from a window. In front of the window was a bed. It was neatly made, in purple satin sheets. A beige teddy bear sat between the numerous pillows on the bed. I couldn’t see anything else. I’d have to search more of the house to find out where this was. Right now, I was sitting from the point of view of a lamp in a closet and this wouldn’t do. We were never going to find—

  “I know this place,” Phillip stated in a whisper.

  I opened my eyes and raised my eyebrows. “Huh?” I said, eloquently.

  He opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyebrows connecting in a frown. “I’ve been there. I know that room.”

  “Whose is it?” Erik asked.

  “Blake’s.”

  Chapter 30

  “Let me get this straight,” Charles began. “You had to find a genie lamp to get some dude to help you fight these original soulmates who seem to be all powerful. You found the lamp using your soulmate abilities and it’s in Blake’s apartment. Now you think she’s one of the original soulmates?”

  I nodded, and replied. “Well, yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. We snuck in and grabbed it.”

  “You mean you broke into her apartment and stole from her. You committed a crime.”

  “Yeah, well, something like that but it wasn’t hers in the first place.”

  “So, you believe.”

  I huffed. My little brother had a point. We were just going off Ahmed’s words but what else did we have?

  We were piled in Erik’s apartment. This time it was only The Six, Phillip, Ed, and Mae. The only people we knew were cleared from being possible soulmates or followers.

  “I don’t think it’s her,” Phillip said, his back to us as he looked out of the balcony glass doors.

  “I’m actually going to agree with him,” Charles said, face in amazement as he looked around at the group. “Blake’s a good person. Sis, she doesn’t care for Erik that much. She’s been Team Phillip all this time. We argued about it a lot.”

  Erik pffted. “Not surprised,” he muttered.
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br />   “The point I was going to make is that if she were a soulmate who wants to destroy you, why would she want you and Phillip together? You’re weaker apart.”

  “But they don’t just want to destroy them,” Felix said in a quiet voice. “They want them to submit. Isn’t that right?”

  “Here’s a crazy idea, how about we ask Blake?” Faith put forth, sitting on the arm of the couch. “You think it’s her but you’re letting her run free?”

  “Do we want to play the hand that we know?” I asked. “Are we ready for that fight?”

  “Can we afford to wait? They broke our wards and manifested a monster to come hurt you. They’re only getting more powerful as time goes on. Let’s get it all out in the open while they aren’t at the top of their game. We’ve been strengthening our powers. Now’s the time,” Faith stated.

  Mae stood up and walked to the center of the room. “My dears, we could speculate all night but we won’t know the truth. We know someone who might,” she pointed to the antique lamp we’d swiped from Blake’s apartment, now sitting on the coffee table.

  We all looked to it.

  “So, what do we do? Rub it?” Felix asked.

  I leaned forward and gave it a rub. Nothing. I rubbed it again from various angles and sides. I rubbed it three times. Then seven. The numbers were random. I had no idea, beyond what I’d seen in Aladdin. Still, nothing.

  “In horror movies, if you say the guy’s name three times, he shows up,” Felix offered. “It’s usually to a mirror but if you look at the lamp and say dude’s name, maybe it might work the same.”

  I gave him a long blink, then sighed and turned to the lamp. “Ahmed, Ahmed, Ahmed,” I stated.

  Not a thing.

  “You gotta touch it when you say it,” Felix added. He gave me a confident head nod.

  I was pretty certain that his love of horror movies was clouding his thoughts but I didn’t have a better idea.

  I sighed again and touched the lamp. “Ahmed, Ahmed, Ahmed.”

  We waited a few seconds for a cloud of smoke to appear and a dapper man to show up through said smoke. Nothing.

  “Maybe it’s not the right lamp after all,” Lisa whispered.

  “Well, then who the hell’s lamp is it?” I asked, getting annoyed.

  “It could be—”

  “Mine,” said a male with an accent of Middle Eastern and English.

  He stood next to Mae as if he’d been there the whole time. No smoke. No materializing. He was just there. As usual, he was well dressed in a three-piece suit. Mae turned to him, not frightened by his sudden appearance.

  “Apologies for the delay. For the record, you only have to touch the lamp and say my name once,” he explained. Ahmed looked down at the lamp. “I see you were able to complete your task. I am most grateful.” He leaned towards the lamp, but it disappeared before he could get any closer.

  I frowned and shot up off of the couch.

  “Not so fast,” Phillip announced. He was now holding the lamp. “Didn’t want you to just take the lamp and bounce. Your credibility isn’t the best, what with you bringing man-eating plant life to kill the townsfolk in Ireland.”

  “With all the trouble Amina and Phillip brought, it doesn’t sound like any of us are going to be welcome in Ireland,” Felix muttered.

  I couldn’t say I disagreed. Ed’s people were certainly better off without us. We’d brought fighting to them on several occasions. I had to help them in some significant way beyond our healing potions.

  “I am very remorseful of that incident, but as I have explained, I did not have control,” Ahmed replied.

  Phillip shook his head. “Still, it doesn’t look so good on you. Trust me, I know about doing wrong when it’s out of my control. We have to prove ourselves to gain credibility again. So, we helped you, now you have to help us and then you get your lamp back.”

  “Phillip,” I said.

  “Gotta be smart.”

  Ahmed looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. “I see. You want help defeating the original soulmates,” he replied, clasping his hands behind his back. “What would you like to know?”

  “Everything, my dear,” Mae responded, giving him a gentle smile.

  Ahmed nodded to her. “I will tell you all. We must use our time wisely.”

  “Is Blake the female mate?” Charles asked, his face looked visibly pained. I could imagine he was struggling with the idea that his new girlfriend was some great evil.

  Ahmed turned to him. “I don’t know for sure. I’ve never seen the female soulmate. I’ve only communicated with her telepathically. It’s the same with all of their followers. Your friend’s domicile could simply be the place the lamp was hidden and she has no connection to the soulmates.”

  Charles sighed.

  “But she could also be the soulmate and you are now in grave danger. Either way, I’d leave nothing for chance. They plan as we speak and once the male soulmate is able to move freely, he will leave his current location.”

  “He?” Faith asked.

  “The male half of the original soulmate pairing.”

  “Where will he be going? Here?”

  Ahmed shrugged. “I’m quite sure he will visit here. But this is not one of his bases. He’ll be going to Baltimore, as it is the closest base to you.”

  “Nothing’s in Baltimore,” I said. “It was destroyed by the war against the bloodlust vampires and ghouls several years ago.”

  “That’s not exactly true, Amina,” Faith stated, looking at me with wide eyes. “A lot has happened in the almost three months you were gone. There is a section of Baltimore that we’ve heard tales about. We haven’t found it, though, maybe it’s cloaked. It’s supposedly full of paranormals.”

  Ahmed nodded. “It’s a town run by an ally of the original soulmates. One full of warriors.”

  “Are you telling me we have the soulmates’ army less than an hour from here?” Phillip asked, taking a step forward.

  Ahmed frowned. “Baltimore is only but one of their armies.” He looked around the room. “You all have no idea?”

  “How many followers do they have?” Faith asked. “What are we looking at here?”

  “There are nearly a thousand people in Baltimore,” Ahmed answered.

  “That’s less than our size here in Silver Spring. Then we also have Hagerstown,” Erik surmised.

  “That’s just in Baltimore. They have followers all over the world. Although the Baltimore base is their largest.”

  “How’d they gain that kind of following?” Charles asked, leaning forward. “It’s just two people. Paranormal or not.”

  “They can get access to people without leaving their room and I don’t mean through the Internet. Imagine being able to gain power over a stranger in another country. They were powerful enough to entrap me. Not just anyone can control a Jinn without serious repercussions. And as they gain followers who do their dirty work, they get more control any and everywhere. The world is their proverbial playground.”

  “Okay, maybe we should try talking to them,” I offered.

  “How do we do that?” Felix asked.

  “Maybe we could go to Baltimore and talk to the liaison there who is running the place. That person could reach out to the soulmates.”

  “Tell us about the guy over at the Baltimore base.” Erik cut in.

  “The Baltimore town is run by an elf named Joo-won,” Ahmed replied.

  “I’m assuming this Joo-won isn’t a good elf?” I asked.

  Ahmed shrugged. “I’ve only met him once. He is…indifferent. Very difficult to judge. The best way to describe him would be cold. But he is very powerful. He should be neutral, but the soulmates must have enticed him with something.”

  “Why would anyone want to follow these people?” Faith asked.

  “Maybe that’s a question we can ask Joo-won when we meet him,” I stated.

  “And if he causes any trouble, we can take him. We’re the Six,” Felix said confidently. />
  Ahmed turned to him. “He will kill you,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Elves are challenging to kill and he is the strongest I’ve encountered. He is calculating. The best way to handle him is to match his wit. His greatest weakness is his arrogance.”

  “Do the soulmates have an inner circle?” I asked.

  Ahmed looked over to me and smiled. “Smart question and yes, they do.”

  “Who are they?” Phillip questioned.

  “I just told you of Joo-won. You and Amina met the fairy in Ireland,” Ahmed answered. “Misandre is her name. She’s quite old. Very sadistic. You wouldn’t want to be captured by her.”

  “She was hard to fight. She almost killed Phillip,” I recalled.

  Ahmed nodded. “Then there is the demon king.”

  “Fuck,” Charles cursed. “A demon king?”

  “I don’t know much about Alister. I only saw him in passing and I recall feeling like my soul was withering away, for lack of a better description. It was extremely unpleasant.,” Ahmed explained.

  “Okay, it’s pretty bad,” I surmised.

  “So, fine, three badies,” Faith stated, leaning back in her chair. “A fairy, an elf, and a demon.”

  “Correct,” Ahmed replied. He smiled at Faith and she nodded back at him. “Of course, you must count in all their followers as well.”

  “Damn it,” Faith cursed. “Forgot about that.”

  “We could turn the elf. I hope, since he’s neutral,” Lisa stated with nervous eyes. “Maybe make him an offer he can’t refuse?”

  “Are you sure you want to involve yourselves? They aren’t after you, if you don’t stand in their way. A war is coming between the paranormals and regular humans, as well as any sympathizers.” Ahmed looked around the room.

  “Well, we aren’t going to sit back and let innocent humans die just because they don’t have powers,” Erik responded.

  “We’ve got human friends,” I added. I thought of Ed, Mercy, Joanie and the others back in Hagerstown and Dublin.

  I looked to Phillip and he nodded. “And these soulmates probably know this, which is why they’re coming for us,” Phillip added.