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  Channeled Magic

  Mirror Lake Witches - Book Three

  Jennifer Snyder

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  Mirror Lake Wolves

  Enjoy Witchy Reads?

  One

  Two

  About the Author

  CHANNELED MAGIC

  MIRROR LAKE WITCHES - BOOK THREE

  Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Snyder

  www.jennifersnyderbooks.com

  © 2019 Cover Art by Cora Graphics

  © Depositphotos.com

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book.

  Author Note:

  This is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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  Chapter 1

  A searing pain woke me, one I’d thought wasn’t real at first. I’d been having a nightmare. One that involved Bram and Rose. My first thought had been that what I’d felt was a remnant from the nightmare following me into reality, but as the haze of sleep dissipated, I realized that wasn’t true.

  The white-hot pain I’d felt burning along the inside of my left wrist was real.

  I gasped as another surge of fire danced beneath my skin there. I pressed my fingertips to the area, hoping to dull the sensation as I bolted upright in bed. Another twinge of pain throbbed through the same area. My teeth clenched together as I sucked in a breath. I broke out into a cold sweat as my heart thundered in my chest. I swore I could feel heat scorching my fingers as I pressed against the area firmly.

  What the heck was happening? Had something bit me while I’d been sleeping?

  I removed my fingers and glanced at the area, but without my glasses and some light, I was blind. All I could see was a faint outline of my arm in the dark.

  As I reached for my glasses on the nightstand, something moving in the corner of my room caught my eye. My gaze snapped in that direction and my heart jolted to my throat. There didn’t seem to be anything there, but I couldn’t shake the sensation that something didn’t feel right. I put my glasses on and then reached out to switch on the lamp. Before I could, the energy of the room shifted, strengthening the feeling that something wasn’t right. I froze. Something glowed near my bedroom door. Goose bumps prickled across my skin when I realized there was someone standing there—someone made of blueish-white light.

  Holy shit.

  My breath hitched. Every cell in my body froze. All I could do was stare. I watched as the spirit floated to the large window on the opposite side of my room.

  Was this really happening?

  My wrist flared with pain again, making me think this was all real. Still, I had my doubts. Couldn’t people feel pain in their dreams? Hadn’t I experienced that a time or two? I was sure I’d read about it being possible somewhere.

  The white-hot sensation in my wrist sharpened, causing my breath to hiss from my lungs.

  Okay, nope. This wasn’t a dream. I was definitely awake.

  So, then what was going on? How could I see spirits without tapping into the other side?

  Was I dead?

  A chill rushed through my veins. My stomach twisted as though it were rejecting the thought entirely. I couldn’t be dead. Could I? No. There was no way. My heart still beat inside my chest. My lungs still craved air. Those things didn’t happen any longer once a person was dead.

  Did they?

  This all could be a trick of my mind. Some spirits never knew they were dead. They continued as though they were still living.

  Was that me? Was I one of them?

  Nausea rolled through my stomach, causing a sour taste to build in the back of my throat. My gaze focused on the spirit at my bedroom window. He was tall. Skinny. His clothes suggested he hadn’t been rich when he was alive, but that he’d maybe been a farmer or some sort of farm help. It was clear from the way he stared out the window he was oblivious to my presence.

  I wanted to ask him if I was dead, but there was something holding me back—the fear he’d say yes.

  As I stared at him, another spirit entered my room. She floated through the wall opposite my bed, startling me. A gasp slipped past my lips and I clamped them together firmly, not wanting to draw their attention to me. If I wasn’t dead, I damn sure didn’t want them to know I could see them. They might not leave me alone, then.

  I watched as the new spirit moved to stand at the end of my bed. She didn’t look at me. Instead, she seemed to look at something I couldn’t see that rested there. Still, her nearness had the hairs along the back of my neck standing on end.

  She was too close, and this was all too freaky.

  She bent at the waist as though retrieving something from the floor and then floated across the room and back through the wall into the next room.

  My gaze drifted back to the man in front of my window. Another spirit had joined him without me noticing. He was shorter and plumper than the first. I watched as both men stared out the window. Did they notice each other? It didn’t seem as though they did. They both seemed preoccupied with looking out the window.

  Maybe this was my moment to slip out of the room unnoticed.

  Holding my breath, I peeled my blankets off and swung my legs out of bed. The hardwood floor was cold against my bare feet.

  Another sign I was alive, right? If I could feel more than one sensation, I had to still be among the living.

  The floor creaked as I moved to stand, and I sank my teeth into my bottom lip. When I glanced at the two spirits, neither of them seemed to have moved from their position at the window or noticed me. Thank goodness. I crept toward my bedroom door, ready to find Aunt Rowena and see if she knew what the heck was going on, but another white-hot pain ignited beneath the skin of my wrist. I gasped louder than before and glanced at the area. It was hard to see what was there, but I could make out thin black lines that swirled across my skin in the form of an unfamiliar symbol.

  Was that a rune?

  My bedroom door burst open and Benji rushed into my room. I jumped and clapped my hand to my heart.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, his eyes wild with panic. He flipped on the light and glanced around the room, searching for potential threats, his muscles flexing and his fangs partly descended. Didn’t he see the ghosts standing at my bedroom window? “You okay?” His cool hands gripped my hips, and he pulled me close.

  “Don’t you see them?” I asked in a whisper, afraid they would hear.

  His brows pinched together. “See what?”

  “The spirits standing at my window.”

  He glanced in their direction, but his expression never chang
ed. He didn’t see them. Only I could. While I knew this would most likely be the case, it still had my chest tightening and my insides feeling as though they were quivering.

  “I don’t see anythin’. How can you without bein’ tapped into the other side?” His head tipped to the side and his nostrils flared. “And, why do I smell blood?” He glanced around the room.

  I blinked. “Blood?”

  I wasn’t bleeding. At least, I didn’t think I was. My gaze dipped to the strange symbol along the inside of my left wrist. It was red and angry looking. Puffy.

  “Yeah. There’s a hint of blood in the air,” Benji insisted. He grabbed my wrist. “Whoa. When did you get a freakin’ tattoo?”

  “I don’t know. I woke up with it.” I stared at the thin black lines. “I think it’s a rune of some kind.”

  “Okay.” Benji let go of my wrist and scratched his head. “I have no clue what’s goin’ on here. You’re seein’ spirits, but still wearin’ the pendant Rowena gave you. You’ve got a tattoo or a rune on your wrist, and the smell of blood is lingerin’ in the air.”

  I let out a slow breath. “None of this is making sense to me either. Don’t worry.”

  I glanced at the window where the two spirits had been standing. Both were now gone. Had I imagined them? No. I couldn’t have. They’d been here, so had the female spirit who’d floated through the wall earlier.

  “The scent of blood isn’t comin’ from you,” Benji said. “But it is comin’ from somewhere in here.” He inhaled a deep breath and glanced around.

  I wrinkled my nose. Why would anything in my room smell like blood?

  Benji stepped to my dresser and paused.

  “Here,” he insisted, pointing to the mirror. “That’s where it’s comin’ from.”

  I moved to where he stood. Something had been written on the mirror above my dresser, and from the way Benji’s eyes grew dark when he shifted to look at me, I knew it had been written in blood. My legs shook as I read what it said.

  You messed with my sight. Now I’ve messed with yours. Are we ready to stop playing games and make a trade, love?

  My heart thudded in my chest, vibrating my limbs and making it a struggle to remain upright.

  Bram had been in my room.

  While I’d been sleeping, he’d somehow came into my room and left me a message written in blood. My gaze dropped to my wrist. I knew then that the tattoo was a rune, one meant to open my anchor abilities completely.

  This was just the type of thing I didn’t need right now. My focus should be on figuring out how to get Rose from Bram safely and trapping him in the amulet, not making sure the other side remained stable and spirits didn’t hound me to contact their loved ones.

  Chapter 2

  “Damn it,” Benji spat. I flinched at the raw anger reflected in his tone. “I’m gonna kill him for hurtin’ her.” His fists clenched at his sides and the room spun as his words sank in.

  Rose. He was talking about Rose.

  Which meant he’d concluded the blood on my mirror was hers.

  My gaze drifted back to the thick lines of rust-colored red marking the surface. My teeth clenched. How could I have not realized whose blood it was? I should have been able to put two and two together faster. I blamed it on lack of sleep and the pain from this thing on my arm distracting me.

  “Not if I get to him first,” I seethed.

  I stepped to my bedroom door. “I need to wake Aunt Rowena,” I insisted. “We have to go after Bram before he does anything else to Rose, and I’ll need her help in figuring out how to reverse whatever this is.” I flashed him my wrist.

  I swung open my bedroom door and nearly walked through the spirit of an elderly woman standing on the other side. Ice crept through my veins.

  Why were there so many freaking ghosts here?

  I knew the inn was old, but had that many people really died here over the years? This place felt like a crypt with so many spirits walking about.

  A shiver slipped up my spine at the thought.

  “Another spirit?” Benji asked. He placed a comforting hand on my lower back; it intensified the chill creeping along my skin, but I didn’t shrug off his touch. Instead, I leaned into it.

  “Yeah,” I whispered. “Unfortunately.”

  “Can they see you?” he asked in a hushed tone.

  “I’m not sure, but I don’t want to take any chances,” I said as I sidestepped the old woman and continued toward Aunt Rowena’s room.

  Ignoring the spirits had seemed to work well with the others, so I kept with that philosophy.

  No eye contact. No physical contact. No talking to them.

  Hopefully, they wouldn’t know I could see them and would leave me alone. The last thing I needed was to piss off a spirit by not doing as it asked and for it to go full wraith mode on me while so much else was going on.

  When I reached Aunt Rowena’s bedroom, Benji placed his hand against my lower back again and steered me toward the end of the hall.

  “She’s in the attic,” he said, nodding toward the attic door. “Has been all night.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What? It was her idea we all turn in for the night.”

  Her exact words had been that we rest up. While Benji wasn’t part of that we—since vampires didn’t sleep—we’d all still agreed it would be best to get some rest. We all knew we’d need our strength to find Rose and go against Bram once we found him.

  “I know.” Benji flashed me a half-hearted smile. It was cute, but not cute enough to dampen the irritation I felt at knowing Aunt Rowena had been making potions all night while the rest of us slept. I would have gladly stayed up all night to make potions with her. “I tried to tell her she should get some rest a couple hours ago, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  My lips pressed together as anger boiled through me. Her staying up all night while we slept made it seem as though we didn’t care about finding Rose, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Also, I felt tricked. She’d helped set up Hazel with clean sheets in one of the guest rooms, and then I’d seen her go to her room as though she was planning on sleeping like the rest of us.

  “What’s she been doing up there all night?” I asked, even though I already knew.

  I couldn’t imagine there were any more potions left to create that would be useful when we went up against Bram though. We’d created duplicates of all the defensive magic potions we had thought would work already. While I wasn’t sure any of them would work against Bram the way they should, having them was better than nothing. We’d all agreed on that.

  Benji shrugged. “Tinkerin’ with stuff. Makin’ more potions. I don’t know.”

  My heart stalled. I hoped she hadn’t been trying to scry for Rose. I’d seen how upset it made her when it didn’t work the last time. It had been heartbreaking to watch her torture herself like that.

  My palms grew sweaty as I gripped the doorknob that led to the attic stairway and twisted. The door swung open, and I inhaled a deep breath, not sure what state I would find Aunt Rowena in once I reached the top of the stairs. Part of me hoped she’d be passed out on the bed up there, while another part hoped she was wide awake, so she could help me figure out how to reverse what Bram had done.

  I listened for any signs Aunt Rowena was awake while I wiped my sweaty palms on my pajama pants and stepped to the light switch. Her voice floated to my ears, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. I glanced over my shoulder at Benji, knowing he probably had better luck thanks to his vampire hearing.

  “She’s pissed about somethin’,” he said.

  Awesome. That meant she was more than likely attempting to scry for Rose still and not having any luck. Bram’s magic was making it impossible for us to find her. Aunt Rowena knew this. I didn’t know why she was so adamant about torturing herself.

  A pang of guilt stabbed through me. The thought had been insensitive and harsh. Rose was her daughter. She wouldn’t give up searching for her. How could I expect anythi
ng less?

  I continued up the stairway with Benji right behind me. A cold chill slipped through me when I reached the halfway point on the stairs, and I folded my arms over my chest. Goose bumps prickled across my skin. The attic always was drafty.

  “What are you doing up?” Aunt Rowena asked as I crested the staircase. Her eyes shifted from me to the only window not blocked off by a bookshelf still from when we’d been trying to stop Bram’s familiar from seeing what we were doing. It was still dark out. When we’d went to bed, it had been close to two in the morning. I imagined I hadn’t been asleep for long. Three hours at most. Which would put it at about five in the morning. Jesus, that was early. “Is it morning already?”

  “I’m not sure what time it is,” I said. I licked my lips as I stared at her, my mouth suddenly dry. It had been forever since I’d seen her so unkempt and fragile looking. Not since Uncle Kevin had passed away unexpectedly. The sight of her had me choosing my next words carefully. While I wanted her help with the rune on my wrist and the sudden ability to see spirits around us without trying, I didn’t want her to worry like she usually did when it came to things regarding the other side. Also, I didn’t want her to worry about Rose’s well-being. “Um, something happened. Bram made a move.”

  Her eyes grew wild. It was then I realized telling her the message he’d left on my mirror had been written in Rose’s blood probably wasn’t the best idea. In fact, I should leave out the mention of blood altogether. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I woke up to this.” I held out my wrist so she could see the rune. While the white-hot sensation blistering across the surface of my skin had disappeared, the symbol hadn’t. It was still there, every swirling thin black line.