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

by CC Solomon

  “Are you saying my sister and that jerk are cool with each other now?” Charles asked, crossing his arms.

  “Yes. I realize that displeases you but it is for the greater good.” Arwa walked over to Lisa and placed her hands on the side of her face.

  Lisa looked up at her eagerly. “Are you returning my memory of where I sent them?” she asked.

  Arwa frowned. “I am trying but, something is not right.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I cannot.” Arwa lowered her hands. “Something has blocked the magic I placed on you. It is as if it overlapped my magic in steel. Has anyone visited you who could have done this?”

  Lisa shrugged. “Plenty of people visit and bring me food. People were trying to break your magic, not strengthen it. How can this happen?”

  “It seems as if you have someone in your mist who may not have the same goal.”

  “She’s been exposed to a lot of people, either through food prep, food tampering, or magic breaking by the Hagerstown witches. Then there are the witches here who supported what she did and didn’t want to return Amina right now. One of them could have strengthened the spell. It could be anyone,” Charles guessed.

  “It was not the witches here. We would know if they did anything since we are on the same side. Unless we have a betrayer,” Arwa replied.

  “There could be a betrayer anywhere,” Charles stated.

  “You mean someone could have magically poisoned me to stunt my magic and I didn’t know?” Lisa asked.

  Arwa frowned, visibly disturbed. “Yes, but who could be so powerful that I could not break their spell?”

  “Yeah,” Charles chimed in. “You’re a head fairy, right?”

  Lisa searched her own mind. Who could have matched Arwa’s power that had access to Lisa in some way?

  Joo-won.

  Shit. It had to be him. She wouldn’t forget that although he liked her, he was still not on the side of the good guys. He had no interest in seeing the new soulmates strengthened by being around the power of The Six.

  She’d kill him. Literally. They’d trusted him and he’d come and somehow magically gotten into her head.

  “I do not believe it was him,” Arwa stated.

  “Who’s ‘him?’” Charles asked.

  “A Fae friend who came to visit,” Lisa explained quickly. “Why not?”

  “Neutral magic is gray in color. This is black.”

  “Unseelie then? Like Misandre?”

  Arwa nodded. “It is possible or someone who works for her or even another evil.”

  “So, we can’t bring Amina and Phillip back?” Lisa asked, panic rising. She suddenly felt sick. What if they could never break this magic? Would she never see Amina again? If she thought Erik hated her now, she could only imagine how much worse he would get if more time passed. Assuming he didn’t go loupe. “You have someone watching them, can’t they help? You don’t know where they are, even with your person there?”

  “I do not know where my elf is, but he reports to me. However, knowing the location is only part of the problem. The magic over you will not allow you to recall them, even if you knew. It is more than just a memory blocker; it was banishment and confinement.”

  “Well, can you bring them back?” Charles asked. “Just ask your elf friend to tell you where they are and you unbanish them. Or we just go and get her. Leave Phillip.”

  “As I just stated, you cannot get them. The spell will not allow them to leave. I have the ability to recall a being but, in this case, I do not have the ability to break the spell that anchors them to wherever they are.”

  “Can we find a way?” Lisa asked.

  “We must,” Arwa replied, a worried expression in her eyes.

  Lisa shook her head and looked away. “I should have never listened to you. I’m so stupid.” She turned back to Arwa. “Not you nor anyone else is going to continue to make us your pawns. When we get Amina back, we are done just doing what you all say. From now on, we’re doing this our way.”

  “Which way is that?” Charles whispered.

  Lisa rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, yet. Shut up, you’re ruining my moment,” she groaned.

  Who was she kidding? She wasn’t a leader. She had no clue how to save the world. Let alone herself. However, she had to make things right.

  Chapter 14

  Lisa was free. Once word spread that Amina and Phillip were banished by another force, the motivation and work to keep Lisa locked up seemed pointless. Although she was now free, Lisa had no intention of staying in Silver Spring. Seth wasn’t a leader she wanted to be around, Erik still wasn’t her greatest fan and Charles was still seeing Blake.

  Lisa had already moved her things back to Hagerstown, where The Six all met, prior to Felix’s farce of a hearing. She used to share an apartment with Faith, but with her now living in Silver Spring she wasn’t sure where she would go. She was sure the search for a place wouldn’t take long since there was no shortage of living spaces with half the population gone.

  On her second day in Hagerstown, she decided to connect to Joo-won. Since he would not be able to enter the warded community without permission, she decided to meet him outside of town. The process to get him inside the community would be challenging. Hagerstown was filled with non-paranormal humans who were susceptible to The Sickness that had aided in killing much of humanity. Further, the process to bring in outsiders required them to have their magic “turned off” for at least twenty-four hours. Lisa couldn’t imagine Joo-won agreeing to that.

  So, she borrowed a car and parked beyond the wards of the town. It was freezing outside with another snow day. A blizzard was sure to come at some point. It was barely drivable now, with the streets and highways still being cluttered with abandoned cars and road destruction from the supernatural and those fighting them off. Driving in the snow and ice would be a fool’s game. Therefore, Lisa didn’t go far.

  When she parked the car off to the side of a quiet street, she grasped the emerald pendant around her neck, closed her eyes and envisioned Joo-won in her mind’s eye.

  “Ah, you summoned me for the first time. We should celebrate,” she heard him say a minute later.

  Lisa opened her eyes and looked at Joo-won, sitting in the passenger seat. He was handsome, as usual, in a black peacoat, clean shaven, with perfectly styled hair. “What can I do for you, Butterfly?” he asked, smiling.

  Lisa filled him in on not being able to recall Amina and Arwa’s inability to break the spell.

  “Do you want me to fix you?” he asked in a playful tone.

  Lisa rolled her eyes. “I’m not broken. I just need some help. Although, if Queen Arwa couldn’t do it, I don’t think you can either.”

  Joo-won raised his eyebrows. “Are you trying to goad me?”

  “Maybe, will you help me?”

  “I’m always willing to help you, Lisa. Just not the new soulmates.”

  Lisa turned fully to face him. “Did you do this to me?”

  Joo-won shook his head. “No. Not my style. But I am sorry, Butterfly. I can’t do what you want me to. It would go against my position.”

  “Sometimes I forget that we aren’t on the same side.”

  “But we could be.”

  Lisa quickly shook her head. “I’m not taking your side over my friends. You aren’t that cute. Well, okay, you are. Still, I’m not going to do it. Well, if you aren’t going to help me, you can go. Don’t worry about me summoning you again.” Lisa pouted.

  Reasoning with him wasn’t working. Perhaps she’d have to take a different tactic. The method she’d pulled out only when her back was absolutely against the wall. Her female friends would slap her for this but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  She sniffled and tears welled in her eyes. This was the money shot. It’s what got her the lead in the Wizard of Oz in high school even though her singing skills were mediocre. She snuck a look at Joo-won and he appeared deeply perturbed by her tears.
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br />   She brought out more of the water works. “I’m such a fool,” she cried. “I sent my friend away and I’ll probably never see her again. My enemies are going to win because of me. I’m no hero.”

  Maybe she wasn’t a hero but she wasn’t a damsel either. She just played one really, really well.

  Joo-won reached out and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. “I don’t like seeing you cry,” he said in a low voice.

  “Then look away,” Lisa said between sobs. “My world is falling apart, all because of the stupid Fae. I should have never left. Now my boyfriend dumped me for another woman, my friends hate me, I may never see Amina again and the bad guys might win all because of me.” The cries were a bit above and beyond but she did honestly feel like hot garbage. Her words weren’t lies to her.

  “They won’t win simply because the soulmates are banished. Amina and Phillip are a threat as long as they live. And if they are bonding and growing their magic, then they become even more of a threat,” he frowned. “Hmm, maybe bringing them back makes sense.”

  Jackpot. Lisa sniffled. “Really?”

  Joo-won tilted his head. “No. Bringing them back would be silly. They could still bond and you’d have the full Six.”

  “It’d piss Misandre off.”

  “Yes, and also the originals, which I don’t want.”

  “You really want the bad guys to win?”

  “Good and bad is so subjective. That’s why I’m neutral. And to be honest, I don’t care for this fight at all. I’m simply going with the side most likely to win. If the originals don’t get their way, they will wipe us out. I’m powerful but their soulmate magic is on another level. Siding with them was my only option.”

  Lisa wiped her face. This was new information. Maybe her crying wasn’t for nothing. It also made her feel a tiny bit of relief. If Joo-won was not really siding with the evil soulmates maybe he wasn’t so bad. And maybe her lust-filled feelings towards him weren’t so wrong. She needed him to be a good guy. Only because she wanted him as an ally and nothing more. She almost cackled at that. As she glanced at his broad shoulders and looked up towards his impossibly soft-looking lips, she knew she wanted him for a lot more than an alliance. “They threatened your people if you didn’t? So, this is against your will?”

  Joo-won leaned back in his seat. “Of sorts. Those who have turned them down go on to regret it, if you understand what I mean. Plus, they are my biggest chance of finding a magical being to eat.”

  “Well, we can protect you! You don’t need them. Come to our side,” Lisa implored.

  “While I’m honored you are offering to do something so dangerous, I will have to pass. None of you are currently in a position to be in full competition against them. You can’t even bring Amina back.”

  Ouch. He wasn’t wrong but…ouch. “But this isn’t soulmate magic. It’s Misandre.”

  Joo-won shrugged. “Is it? Or is it the first soulmate magic, indirectly placed on you through a follower? They have the ability to temporarily enhance the strength and skill of their people.” He sighed. “Let me see.”

  He closed his eyes and searched for the magic in Lisa. It didn’t take long to feel the power. It singed his fingers and he opened his eyes, seeing the normal Seelie Fae blue outline peek out beneath a sliver of a black aura. How had he not noticed this before? He could only assume that this dark magical blocking was recent. However, whoever did this spell wasn’t a soulmate.

  “It’s possible that Misandre is behind this,” he stated. “Soulmate magic is golden. What’s over you is dark. However, your Seelie magic is still there. You aren’t tainted by it.”

  “Thanks, that’s what I thought,” Lisa whispered and looked out of the window at the snow coming down. It was only a light flurry now but it was expected to increase by nightfall.

  He looked at her staring blankly at the falling flakes. She clasped her hands tightly together in her lap looking innocent and fragile. His heart jerked for the briefest of moments and he pounded once at his chest, to fight against the growing desire for her.

  “I wish I could help you but in all honesty I can’t,” he stated

  “You can’t or you won’t?” she asked, still looking out of the window.

  He shook his head and glanced at her. “I don’t break spells or magic, Butterfly. Unless it’s neutral. That’s not my specialty. I’d rather not let you know my weaknesses but that’s one of them.”

  Lisa turned slightly to him. “I wish I could believe you. But you really don’t care about me. You just want to eat my organs. There’s a problem I didn’t think I’d have before magic hit.”

  “I want much more than that from you, Butterfly. I want something even more powerful.”

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  Joo-won gave her a slight smile, starring into her bright eyes. He forgot, just for the briefest moment, that they were not on the same side. He wasn’t sure he cared anymore. He had to be with her. His heart twisted and this time he did not fight it. “Your affection.”

  Lisa put up a hand to block her face. “You can’t talk like that or look at me like that. You make me nervous.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Only when you look at me and say sweet things.” She peeked around her hand.

  He leaned in slightly toward her, searching her eyes. “Is it possible that you like me?”

  “No,” she huffed.

  “Because I am certainly enamored by you, Lisa. You have transfixed me.”

  Lisa lowered her hand and looked at Joo-won with wide eyes. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me before. Makes me feel magical and not just because I’m a fairy.”

  He reached out and grasped her hand. How could he get her to stay by his side? A yearning rose in him that he had not felt in quite some time. “What have you done to me?”

  She scrunched her face. “Nothing I can think of.”

  He smiled. “That’s certainly not true. I don’t want to let you go.”

  “I suppose for just a minute, you don’t need to.”

  “I’ll take what I can get, Butterfly.” He carefully brushed a strand of hair from her face, amazed to be so close to her. “I’d really like to kiss you right now with the minute that I have.”

  “I feel like I should say no, but I don’t want to,” she whispered

  He grinned before pressing his lips against hers.

  He moved his hands to the back of her head and pulled her tighter to him. He hardened the kiss, surprised by the desire welling in him for her. He didn’t simply want her, he needed her. Since first meeting her, she was all he could think of. She, without even trying, had poked at and stirred something in his heart. The more time he spent with her, the more the layer of cold steel surround him separated.

  Lisa moved away from him and covered her mouth. “Minute’s up. I think. You’re confusing me.”

  He tilted his head and smiled. Amused at her confusion. “I’m okay with that.”

  “You’d only be a rebound if we did anything. Or revenge sex and that’s not fair to you. Right?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “I am an adult, Butterfly.” He spread his arms open. “Use me as you wish.” Of course, he had no doubt that he could be a rebound but he was willing to take the chance that something more could grow.

  She touched her cheeks with the palms of her hands. “Screw it.” She then moved out of the driver’s side seat and straddled him. He raised an eyebrow.

  “Not concerned about voyeurs?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  “I made us invisible,” she replied before kissing him. “This doesn’t mean we’re a couple and it won’t happen again,” Lisa replied, as his lips found her neck. His hands moved to the small of her back beneath her sweater. “You got it?”

  “No. It will mean something to me, Butterfly. It will very much mean something,” he stated, before kissing her collarbone.

  “Don’t fall in love, Elf King,” she said.

  She ni
bbled the point of his left ear. Joo-won sucked in a breath as her tongue traced along the outline of his sensitive elven ears. “I can’t make any promises,” he whispered.

  Lisa moved away from him, leaning her back against the dashboard. “That might be a problem,” she stated but her lips turned upwards in a slight smile. “Get it together, Elf.”

  Joo-won stared at her, eyebrows raised. He had her now and he didn’t want to let her go. Her skin felt warm and smooth beneath his fingers, she smelled of jasmine this time and tasted like honey. He wanted more. He would just have to change her mind. And there was a look in her eyes that told him he had a chance. A small sliver of something more than lust. She actually liked him. He could work with that. She would be his queen. He needed patience. He would win her heart.

  An alarm, like the sound of a blaring horn, went off around them.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Lisa jerked up and moved away from him. “It’s the town alarm,” she explained, moving off of him. “I think we’re under attack.”

  Chapter 15

  Hundreds of ghouls surrounded the town. Hagerstown had over two thousand people so this wasn’t an insurmountable number of attackers, in theory. However, ghouls were strong and fast moving. The town wasn’t only full of paranormals, there were regular humans, children and the elderly.

  How had this happened with out them even noticing, Lisa wondered. She was so busy allowing her lower region to takeover that she had let down her guard. And during their teenage make out session a legion of ghouls appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Had they teleported in somehow? Come through a portal? Perhaps she was saved by the bell, or in this case alarm, before she did something she might have regretted with Joo-won. Although she barely believed that sex with Joo-won would be regrettable. If only the alarm wasn’t due to a ghoul attack.

  On the surface, ghouls did not appear different than humans or vampires. The main differences were that their eyes were coal black with no white, they had a mouth full of sharp teeth and they had the ability to change shape.