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

by CC Solomon

  Lisa slouched in her chair. “So, you’re saying at some point we can rein that ass- Phillip in?”

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  “But how? I mean, he’s a jerk. He’s not going to do any good for us.”

  Arwa raised an elegant eyebrow. “Oh? Do not give up on him so easily. His true nature is not one of violence and anger. Yes, he has his flaws, as all humans do. Amina is not perfect either. However, they are both good spirits. He, unfortunately, is a victim of evil magic used to control him.”

  “He’s under a spell?” Twila asked.

  Arwa nodded. “I cannot say who bespelled him but we are certain he is corrupted. However, his soulmate bond can help. Amina must strengthen that bond and her magic. She must do this or else risk him overpowering her and tainting her.”

  “He could make her a jerk too? Because of the bond?” Lisa questioned, a note of worry in her voice.

  Arwa nodded again. “Yes, that is the current concern.”

  “So, she has to get closer to him to make him better?”

  “That is the only way.”

  “She doesn’t like him. None of us do. And after the trial, when we broke out Fred, no Felipe? Felix, crap, Felix.” Lisa shook her head in frustration. “There is no way that Amina and Phillip would be on good terms. They fought.”

  “Which cannot happen,” Arwa stated, forcefully. “If they fight each other and continue as enemies, then we have lost. All of us. Even the Fae. What is to come to humans will come to us. If Amina becomes corrupted, The Six will not succeed as she is also a part of that bond.”

  “So, we have to help Phillip in order to help ourselves,” Lisa said more than asked. She was starting to truly understand what was at stake here.

  “Yes. He needs your help. His mind is trapped. Amina must focus on healing him.”

  “You should tell her this! Tell the others too, so they’ll understand!” Lisa exclaimed. Erik most of all, she thought. He wouldn’t appreciate Amina having to spend so much time with Phillip but for a good cause he’d back down. He was a good man.

  Arwa sighed. “It will not go the way you want simply with my words.”

  “So, what can we do?”

  “Amina and Phillip must have time to build together, uninterrupted. Time cannot be wasted with distractions. You must send them away so that they may focus on each other.”

  “Like a retreat?”

  Arwa smiled. “Of sorts.”

  “How can I get them to do that?”

  “No words will convince them, especially Phillip.”

  “She has to send them away without their permission?” Bella asked.

  “That is the only way. Soon, there will be the perfect opportunity for such a thing to happen. I will make you aware of when. Begin to think of a place you would like to send them.”

  Lisa sat back. “Huh? You want me to do it? I don’t even know how.”

  “We will teach you.”

  “Why me? Why can’t you do it? Amina will hate me for that.”

  “She will be made to understand. So will the others. As a member of The Six, you are the only one with the power to banish Amina and keep her gone until they are ready to return.”

  Lisa narrowed her eyes. “You’re telling me that you aren’t powerful enough to do this?”

  “Lisa!” Bella exclaimed.

  Lisa threw out her hands. “Sorry! No disrespect, Queen Arwa. I just really don’t want to do this!”

  Arwa nodded, a smile of understanding on her face. “It is okay. I am strong, but even I have limits. Banishment is a very challenging thing to do. Perhaps if they were already gone, I could keep them gone, but sending beings as powerful as the soulmates away is not a task I can accomplish. This is yet another strength of The Six. To handle the soulmates. And because Amina is Phillip’s mate and they have already met and awakened the bond, he won’t be able to return without her.”

  Lisa’s eyes widened. “You mean they can never leave each other’s sides?”

  “Only in banishment. Otherwise, yes, they can be apart.”

  Lisa sighed and looked away. Her head hurt again. Since coming to the Fae world, she’d learned so much. However, learning she’d have to become the most hated woman in town was one bit of information she hadn’t wanted to know.

  Chapter 8

  Another day passed before Lisa could face the reality of what she had to do. That morning, Arwa sent word on the day Lisa would have to go back to the human world and banish someone who had become one of her closest friends. Now, she wanted to do anything other than return home. Amina had saved her life and, in a few days, she would have to seemingly betray her.

  Lisa walked what she called the streets of Arwa’s city. She reluctantly called the ground a street because smooth marble seemed too elegant for the lowly word of “street.” Where she came from streets were uneven, dirty rows of asphalt. Lisa practically wanted to walk barefoot on the marble and many Fae actually did.

  She made her way to the city’s natural hot springs in a valley of large flowers and lush, non-people-eating green plant-life. She slowly dipped into one of the many pools of comfortably hot water, wearing a swimsuit that Bella had loaned her. Most Fae seemed just fine getting in the water naked. Lisa wasn’t too freeing.

  She pulled her long black hair up into a high bun and rested her back against the smooth black stones lining the inside of the spring. Closing her eyes, her mind quickly began to race with thoughts.

  What would she do? She’d thought about places to send them. If this were ten years ago, the possibilities would be endless. She’d thought of Bali, Greece, Jamaica, Aruba, Cabo San Lucas. None of those would do now. Bali had gone off line. No one knew what they’d be walking into if visiting there. The cities could be overgrown with man-eating plants like Jamaica or destroyed by supernatural earthquakes like the state of California, which was now a collection of islands and peninsulas.

  Many parts of Greece were halfway underwater and tales of an underwater city began to emerge. Still, it was too unstable to send them there. Aruba faced many strong seasonal hurricanes and it was the rainy season in Cabo now. The rainy seasons in many similar countries came with hurricanes, all-day rain, and thunderstorms, making living in those countries miserable during that season.

  Lisa had already considered just sending them to another state in North America but Arwa had made it clear that it had to be another country entirely for the banishment to be sustained. She thought of sending them to Europe, Asia or Africa. She couldn’t recall Amina mentioning having traveled much to Asia or Africa but Amina mentioned she had studied in Ireland for a summer. Lisa recalled Amina mentioning how much of a good time she’d had there, even with the dreary weather.

  Lisa couldn’t remember if there was anything of particular detriment going on there. Ireland was handling this new world the same way America had, except there was no mention of a formal government re-emerging like in the States.

  If Amina had liked her time there, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to send her back to a place she sort of knew. Yes, Ireland wouldn’t totally be the same ten years and a supernatural apocalypse later but it was comfortably inhabitable and hopefully the surviving people were still as friendly given the world situation.

  Now, where had Amina studied in Ireland? Belfast? Galway? Dublin? She’d figure it out when the time came. Hopefully, as soon as she went back to the human world, it would all come back to her.

  Now the next question was, would she even do it? Did she have a choice? She trusted Queen Arwa. If Phillip and Amina were really soulmates and this was the only way to get them to bond and fight what evil was to come, then Lisa had to do it. Better to have Amina and the others mad at her than have the world be taken over by evil.

  They’d get over it, wouldn’t they?

  She thought of the man she left behind. Chuck, no Charles. She kept repeating his name in her head several times a day so that she wouldn’t forget it. However, remembering his name was the
least of her troubles. She was starting to forget his face. That smile. She remembered loving his boyish smile but she couldn’t place it in her mind’s eye anymore. She also couldn’t muster up the fluttery butterflies in her stomach she used to get every time she thought of him.

  He used to make her heart beat faster whenever he said flirtatious words to her or made romantic gestures. Like the time he’d brought her a bag of vegetables he’d bought at the market. Just because. Those were more precious than flowers now. Then there was the time that he… That he… Lisa couldn’t remember what she was going to recall about him. She knew he’d done or said something that touched her but she couldn’t bring up the memory.

  She squeezed her eyes shut as if it would help her recollection but it didn’t. How could she forget this soon? Charles was supposed to be important to her. She’d have to leave soon if she was going to remember him at all. What if she didn’t even remember that she needed to go home?

  No, calm down, Lisa, she told herself. Arwa will remind you because you have to go back and send your friend and her worst enemy away together to a country that may or may not be stable.

  The water bubbled in front of her and Lisa opened her eyes, looking down at the dark water. She sat up straight, folding her legs up under her. She’d been in this particular tiny spring all by herself. Had someone gotten in and dipped underwater while her eyes were closed?

  She tilted forward a bit and soon long, dark-red hair fanned out on the surface of the water. A head followed, the face obscured by the long hair. An upper body cloaked in a black gown next appeared, attached to the head. Under the hair was an exposed neck and collarbone of pale shimmering skin. Bright pink eyes snapped open behind the stands and Lisa splashed backwards in the water.

  “What the hell?!” she cried.

  The woman tossed back her hair and Lisa could now see the face of a fairy with straight black eyebrows, sharp cheekbones and wide, full lips. She looked beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The woman was now standing, waist deep in the water. She stood glaring at Lisa as if she wanted her to explode.

  Lisa also stood up. “Uh, can I help you?”

  The woman tilted her head but did not speak, she only continued to look at Lisa. An icy coldness crept into Lisa’s spine.

  “Is there a problem?” So far, her time here had been peaceful. Everyone was friendly towards her, even though she was an outsider to them.

  “You are of The Six?” the woman finally asked in what sounded like a deep Irish or maybe Scottish accent.

  “Who are you?”

  “You are of The Six?” the woman asked again, this time walking towards Lisa. She moved through the water as if it were air while Lisa took an awkward step back.

  “I’ve got to go,” Lisa said. “I’ve got a very important meeting with Queen Arwa that I don’t want to be late for.” She didn’t have a meeting scheduled but she wanted this woman to know that if she caused Lisa any harm, Arwa would come for her.

  “You are of The Six,” the woman said again but this time it wasn’t a question. She said it like she knew.

  “So.”

  “Joo-won thinks he can convert you, but I know better. You are more human than Fae now. You can do nothing for us. You’ll just run to help the humans in the end.” The woman stopped walking.

  Lisa frowned. “What’s your point?”

  “Humans are awful creatures, who must be eradicated. You will use your powers to protect them.”

  “What did humans ever do to you?”

  Misandre glared at her, hands balled into fists. “They killed my young daughters. It drove my husband insane and he killed himself. Humans are the source of all evil and I cannot allow you to help them.”

  Before Lisa could turn around and get out of the water, the woman pounced on her. She grabbed Lisa’s head with large hands that seemed too big for the woman’s body and pushed Lisa’s head down, knocking her fully into the water. Lisa’s head submerged under water and she fought against the woman’s hands to get up. She could not breathe. She was Fae but not a water fairy. She wasn’t quite sure what type of fairy she was, if any, but water was not her specialty. Not even as an All Seasons Fairy. Sure, she could make it rain, but that was the end of her mastery of water.

  The woman tightened her grip on Lisa’s head, sharp fingernails digging into her scalp. She had to think before she passed out. Lisa lowered farther into the water, taking the woman with her. She twisted to the side and kicked, with all her force, at the woman’s kneecap. The woman buckled forward, loosening her grip on her.

  Lisa took that moment to push away, kicking the woman again, this time in the stomach. Lisa jumped up and flung herself to the other side of the spring. She put a hand at the edge touching the white Fae grass and leaned forward to get out but sharp pain cut into her calf.

  Lisa screamed and twisted around, while at the same time pushing her free left hand forward and aiming at the woman. She pushed her fairy magic through her fingers and what looked like blue lightening zapped from her finger tips and into the woman, knocking her back in the water. Lisa turned and hopped out of the spring. She looked around at the other springs in the area. There were three others of varying sizes. Only a few Fae were in them that afternoon and they looked on at the battle with shock.

  “Misandre is here!” one fairy woman screamed before grabbing a smaller fairy, perhaps her daughter, and getting her out of the spring nearest to Lisa.

  Misandre? Shit. This was the uber bad Unseelie fairy, Lisa thought in a panic. Her mind raced wondering why Misandre would have a grudge with her. Was Joo-won the cause? She wondered.

  Lisa didn’t have time to think about the whys. She rubbed her hands together and a strong gust of wind whipped around Misandre, lifting her out of the water and into the sky. She spun in a circle, her body flinging around and around like a rag doll. However, the fairy soon recovered her balance and began to float out of the manufactured wind tunnel.

  Lisa had to get out of here. She was in no shape to fight a queen fairy.

  She closed her eyes and teleported into Bella’s living room. The was no one there, as the other fairy was currently away on a short day-trip, scouting in the Human realm.

  “Shit,” Lisa said. She crossed her arms as the cool breeze from the open windows touched her wet skin. “That was close.” She looked down at her bloody leg where Misandre had grabbed her. She winced as the air hit her wound.

  Thundering steps pounded down the hallway startling her. Lisa turned and screamed as she saw Misandre run towards her. The fairy looked even more terrifying dripping head to toe with water. Her unnatural pink eyes focused on Lisa with rage. Although Lisa had zapped her, Misandre looked unharmed. She should have been burnt. At least a little.

  Suddenly, Misandre disappeared and before Lisa could process this, the Unseelie fairy reappeared in front of her and punched her in the stomach so hard Lisa fell to her knees. She’d never felt such pain.

  She looked down at her stomach, swearing that Misandre had done more than punched her. She touched her stomach and agony flooded her senses but there was no blood on her hand. She coughed, her airway feeling obstructed, and a spray of blood-stained Bella’s wooden floors. This was not good. Lisa panicked at the thought maybe she had received some form of internal damage from the attack.

  Misandre bent forward and yanked Lisa’s hair up, exposing her throat.

  “Joo-won will hate you if you hurt me!” Lisa croaked out.

  Misandre sneered at her. “You think he cares about you? He’s only hoping to use you to save himself, but he’s taking too long. I will kill you and use your blood to make me stronger. I will take out all those who threaten my power base. You are otherwise useless.”

  “The hell I am!” Lisa tried to wiggle away. She couldn’t die like this. She still had so much to live for. So much to still do.

  Misandre pointed the fingers of her free hand at Lisa. The nails grew into long black talons before her eyes. The talons wer
e pointed and now as long as knives. She would impale Lisa and it would be over.

  Misandre reared her hand back, ready to attack. Lisa pushed out her magic. The fairy bounced back only slightly, her tight grip still on Lisa’s hair. Lisa tried to pull away again, feeling the hairs in her scalp begin to tear. She cried out in pain and fear. Nausea washed over her. This fairy was too strong.

  “Be gone!” shouted a voice from her right.

  Lisa looked to the right from the corner of her eyes and saw Arwa standing there, arms outward. Two fairy solders stood to either side of Arwa, pointing what Lisa could only describe as wands with sparkling orbs of light at Misandre.

  “You don’t scare me, Arwa,” Misandre sneered and shot her hand down to slice into Lisa.

  But nothing touched her. Instead Misandre let out a blood-curling scream as her hand slid away from her wrist in a clean slice and fell to the ground.

  “You bitch!” Misandre cried, still holding onto Lisa’s hair with her remaining hand.

  Arwa’s hands pointed at Misandre, her fingers still sparking with the magic she’d used to cut off Misandre’s hand.

  “You may call me any name you like. But if you do not let her go, I will take the other hand so that Lisa may free herself of you,” Arwa stated in an even tone.

  Misandre let go of Lisa, rudely pushing her away as she did. She bent over carefully and picked up her hand, before standing erect. “I will have my revenge,” Misandre thundered and pushed forward her good hand.

  A soldier standing to Arwa’s right let out a gurgling noise, blood pouring from his mouth like vomit. He dropped to his knees and then fell face forward. Misandre looked on triumphantly.

  Arwa looked down at her soldier in horror before looking up, her hands ready for another attack, but Misandre was already gone.

  Arwa turned back to the down soldier again. The other solider was now kneeling over his body, magic pouring from her hands. She soon ceased her efforts and looked up to the queen. “He is dead,” the female soldier said in a quiet voice.