Of Time & Spells Page 13

  “No,” he whispered. “You can’t touch him. Remember what the old woman said.”

  “But he’s—”

  “No.”

  I shoved my brother’s arm away, but remained where I was. Tristan made a noise caught somewhere between a grunt and a moan. The sound had me slipping past my brother and crouching at Tristan’s side. I didn’t give a crap what the old woman had said. Tristan was in pain. He was having a freaking seizure. Something wasn’t right with his magic. Something wasn’t right with any of this.

  Once I reached him, his convulsions seized and he grew eerily still. I dropped to my knees as flashbacks of Meili clouded my mind, and fear crawled up my throat. I prayed to God in a way I’d never prayed before. All I wanted was for Tristan to still live, because I couldn’t bear the thought of losing another person I cared for.

  He didn’t seem to be breathing. Tears spilled from my eyes and nausea engulfed me as I reached for his wrist to check for a pulse.

  “Save your tears for when they are truly needed, child,” the old woman scolded me. She stood and started toward the back of her shop, pausing once she reached a door I hadn’t noticed before. “The magic is working into his system. Nothing more. Nothing less.” She said before disappearing into the back.

  My gaze drifted back to Tristan. I wiped my eyes and added up how many minutes he’d already been out in my head. It had already been at least five. How long would it take before the magic worked its way into his system like she said? I gripped his hand in mine and interlaced our fingers together as I waited. I had all the time in the world.

  “Do you think Anna is still here?” Jasper whispered, startling me.

  I shifted to look at him. I’d forgotten how much pain he was in. The first flickers of guilt hit me, stinging at my chest as the memory of what happened to her flooded my mind.

  “Because I can’t feel her, Piper.” Jasper’s eyes locked with mine, revealing how deep his sorrow went. A helpless sense clawed at my insides at the sight of his pain. “I should be able to feel her presence or something, shouldn’t I?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  Kalisa entered the room again. She held a glass of water in one hand and wore a worried expression. “You need to leave. Now.”

  “Tristan isn’t conscious yet, and we haven’t discussed what happened to Anna.” Panic rose in my voice, we couldn’t leave. Not yet.

  “I understand that, child, but if you don’t leave now, you might not be able to.” The old woman pointed toward her shop window. I couldn’t make anything out due to the thick curtains hung there.

  Jasper stood and walked to the window. He peeled the curtain back and gazed out. “Damn it, when are we going to catch a break?”

  “What is it?” I released Tristan’s hand and started toward my brother’s side.

  “Damn Vodun followers,” Jasper growled.

  “Yes,” Kalisa said. “Their numbers have grown.”

  As I maneuvered around my brother to glance out the window, I could feel my heart pulsating in my throat. What was it with these people? Their leaders had been turned to statues. The mirror had been destroyed. The dragon magic had been dished out. There was nothing left for them. I didn’t understand why they were still pursuing us.

  Unless it was for revenge.

  My gaze drifted over the rows of faces congregating in front of the old woman’s shop. There had to be double what there was earlier.

  “Why are they here? And why are there so many?” I stepped away from the window, not liking how creepy they all looked with their blank expressions. “Are they going to attack us when we step outside?”

  “I have to say, I’m getting really sick of fighting,” Jasper admitted as he stepped away from the window too.

  “I don’t gather the impression they are here for revenge, if that’s what you mean.” Kalisa moved to set her glass of water on the counter. “They should still be in shock.”

  “But what if they aren’t? Could that be a possibility?” Jasper asked.

  “Anything is possible, child.” Kalisa’s dark finger pressed against her lips in thought. “Leaving now would be best, before there are more of them and before they make the purpose of their presence known.”

  “Jasper, do you have any more invisibility cloaks?” I still had one on me, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough to cloak us both for multiple trips between my brother’s truck and the old woman’s shop. We would have to make two trips in order to get Tristan and Anna.

  “No, I don’t have any left. I stupidly used one while fighting a Vodun witch, and then the other two broke when I fell from the white room into the courtyard.”

  “Is there a back door to this place we could use?”

  “There is, but they’ve already found it.”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek as I thought of any other options we might have. It didn’t take me long to realize there weren’t any. Not unless Kalisa had the ingredients to make another invisibility cloak. The old woman seemed to have a variety of things, the ingredients we would need would be basic and trivial. The question was: How much would they cost us though?

  “We need another invisibility cloak. There’s no way we’re going to be able to make a dash for your truck twice with just one. If it was only one of us needing to be shielded, then it would probably last, but trying to shield three people at a time with one cloak is asking too much.”

  “You could always amplify it, child,” Kalisa surprised me by saying. She walked to a wall of shelves and looked through various boxes, bags, and bottles as though she was searching for something in particular.

  While I was thankful she was offering to help, given the situation, I was still leery of accepting. “With what? And how much will it cost us?”

  “I was going to ask that.” Jasper folded his arms across his chest and glared at me.

  I flashed him a small smile. “I’m glad, but obviously, you were too slow. I beat you to it.”

  “Ah, here it is.” Kalisa faced us again, and I noticed something small and golden in her palm. “This should work in amplifying your cloaking spell.”

  It took me a second to realize what she was holding, but the once I did, I wondered how she’d obtained it.

  My eyes narrowed on the coin resting in her palm. “How did you get that?”

  While I was positive I’d never seen another leprechaun’s coin collection, I was also certain this one belonged to Liam. Call it a sixth sense or intuition, but something in my gut told me it belonged to him. Something else in my gut also had me feeling suspicious of the old woman. If she had one of Liam’s coins, did it mean she was working with him?

  “It was given to me.” Kalisa held the coin out to me. “As payment.”

  I hesitated before taking it from her. “By whom and for what?”

  “We both know who. Let’s not pretend.” The old woman winked, causing a shiver to slip along my spine. “Child, you didn’t think a leprechaun could look that handsome without a touch of magic, did you?”

  I laughed. She’d confirmed a theory about Liam I’d always had. However, it was insane to think of this old woman before me as the person responsible for his good looks. It made sense though; he was probably in the area often visiting his witchy girlfriend, which meant he could have stumbled upon the Midnight Cauldron anytime.

  “No, I didn’t,” I admitted between chuckles.

  “Let’s get back on track, Piper,” Jasper insisted, pulling my thoughts to the present. “How much will the use of that coin cost us?”

  The air in the room thickened as the old woman’s eyes locked on my brother. “Nothing.”

  “You can’t be serious. There’s always a cost,” I scoffed wishing she wouldn’t toy with us.

  “Yes, child, I can. Beverly was my dear friend. She wanted me to help you, and I promised I would in any way I could. If that means giving you this coin to help amplify your cloak, then so be it.” She waved my words away. “Besides, your brother has already paid
me a greater amount than I could ever ask for. He gave me a portion of his breath and soul.”

  “Yeah, about that…” Jasper chimed in. “What is it you plan on using those for?”

  “Who’s to say?” The old woman shrugged. “One can never truly predict what the future holds. For now, it will remain sealed tight as a portion of my collection.” She motioned to the shelves lining the walls around us, they were filled with various artifacts and unique magical items.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “No need to thank me, child.” Kalisa shook her head, causing her dreadlocks to whip through the air. “Now why don’t you get on with your spell? Time is ticking.”

  “Wait,” Jasper insisted. “What about Anna?”

  “Anna has already been taken care of. I sent her remains to her family.”

  “So that’s it?” Jasper’s words were barely above a whisper. My heart broke for him all over again.

  “You can call her sister. We can find out when the service is or if they’re having a wake instead. I’ll go with you. We can both say our goodbyes then,” I said.

  He shook his head; his eyes remained glued to the floor. “No. I already said my goodbye. I guess I just hoped it wasn’t the forever kind.” He lifted his gaze to the old woman. “There isn’t anything you can do to bring her back?”

  “Not in the way you want.”

  I knew what she was insinuating, and I was thankful she had the guts to be honest with my brother instead of feeding him false hope.

  “Then, it’s done.” Jasper hung his head. His hand smoothed along the back of his neck, and I knew he was fighting to keep his emotions in check and his tears at bay. “I said goodbye to Anna for the last time.”

  “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. There were no words for what my brother was feeling.

  “You have nothing to be sorry for, Piper.” Jasper straightened his back as he pulled in a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with and head home. I can’t be in this city another second.”

  “Okay.” I glanced at the coin in my hand before moving to retrieve the invisibility cloak I’d strapped to my ankle. I hoped this worked because if not, there was a possibility neither of us would be seeing home again.

  Chapter 24

  It didn’t take long to gather Tristan and amplify our cloak. What did take long was carrying his dead weight to my brother’s truck while trying to remain unnoticed by the Vodun followers. Just because we were invisible didn’t mean we were mute. Once we had him situated in the backseat, Jasper cranked the engine on his truck, and we sped away. I watched in the side mirror to see if the Vodun followers noticed our departure, but they didn’t seem to. Maybe Kalisa was right; maybe they were locked in some sort of shocked state.

  Either way, I was glad to put distance between us again.

  I shifted around in my seat to glance at Tristan. He was still unconscious, but I chose to have faith in what the old woman had said. He would be okay once his magic had settled, then he would wake.

  “He’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” Jasper insisted.

  I leaned my head against the seat. A yawn escaped me. “I know.”

  “Why don’t you close your eyes and get some sleep?”

  “You know I wouldn’t be able to.”

  “And why is that? You worried I’ll get us lost?”

  There was a smidge of humor echoing through his words. He was trying to be funny, trying to lighten the mood. It wouldn’t work. Our emotions were too high.

  “You know that isn’t the reason.” I glanced at him, taking in the dark circles beneath his eyes. “You’re just as exhausted as I am. It wouldn’t be fair for me to sleep while you drive.”

  “I’m too wired to sleep right now, Piper. My mind isn’t through processing everything that happened. I’ll be fine to drive. You close your eyes and get some sleep. When I stop for gas in a couple hours, we can switch.”

  My stomach tightened as I thought of everything he had to process. I wrapped my arms around myself and curled up in the seat, propping my head against the window. It wasn’t long before I nodded off.

  I woke a couple hours later, to Jasper nudging my shoulder.

  “We’re stopping for gas. Do you need to use the restroom or anything?” he asked.

  I wiped the sleep from my eyes and yawned. “Wow, I can’t believe I passed out like that.”

  “You were exhausted. I don’t blame you.”

  I unbuckled and shifted around to check on Tristan as I stretched my arms. “Has he stirred any?”

  “No.” Jasper climbed out of the truck and fished his wallet from his back pocket. “You want to run in and grab us something to drink and a few snacks while I pump gas?”

  “Sure. What do you want?”

  “Surprise me,” he said as he passed me a twenty.

  I climbed out of the vehicle and made my way into the station. Chilly air from the AC blasted against my skin as I stepped through the door, jolting me awake. Low strains of music floated from speakers in the ceiling to my ears as I made my way toward the nearest snack aisle. I grabbed a bag of chips, some pretzels, a couple granola bars, and a thing of beef jerky to tide us over until we got home. Next, I grabbed a cold bottle of water for Jasper. The scent of coffee was tempting, but I’d never been a fan of the taste, so I grabbed an energy drink for myself instead.

  Five minutes later, we were back on the road, this time with me behind the wheel. Jasper didn’t give me any crap when I offered to stick to what he’d said before and drive the rest of the way, which was surprising. My guess was he was even more exhausted than I thought he was. Once I got back on the highway, I turned the radio on low and set the cruise control. Jasper was snoring in no time from the passenger seat, and all I could think about was how uneventful the trip home was in comparison to our drive to the city.

  It was nice.

  I pulled into our driveway just before dawn. My eyes scanned our house, taking in how quiet and peaceful it looked. It was strange to be back, but good all the same. We’d done it. Jasper and I had survived going head-to-head with the witches who murdered our parents. We survived a crazy madhouse in search of a magic-trapping mirror. We’d saved an entire breed of shifters from dying out.

  And now, we were home.

  I cut the engine on my brother’s truck and leaned back in my seat. Jasper stirred, and I glanced at him. He stretched and yawned.

  “We made it home,” I muttered. “What were we supposed to do now?”

  My gaze drifted to Tristan in the back. He was still unconscious, which made me nervous. How long would it take for his magic to settle? It had been hours.

  Jasper unbuckled and reached for the door handle. “We get him inside.”

  “Right.” I unbuckled and climbed out of the truck.

  Getting Tristan out was easier than I thought it would be. As we carried him to the front porch, I found myself looking for any sign of those creepy black birds. Thank goodness there weren’t any. I blew a few strands of hair out of my eyes as I helped to situate Tristan on the couch. My movements were sluggish. I needed a long hot shower, more food, and a good night’s sleep.

  Tristian looked peaceful spread out on our couch. The time he’d been given vampire blood to help him heal after our first encounter with a crazy Vodun soldier floated through my mind. I couldn’t wait for him to wake. The need to hear him tell me in his own words he was okay pulsed through me.

  Jasper rolled his neck and rubbed his shoulder as he headed toward the kitchen. I placed a finger beneath Tristan’s nose, feeling for his breath. Warmth touched my skin in a slow rhythm. I let out the breath I’d been holding and started toward the kitchen. Food was a must.

  Jasper leaned against the counter, sipping on a beer as he scrolled through the contacts on his cell. Seeing his phone made me think of mine. I needed to charge it so I could call Reese and Paxton to check in, but first, I needed something to eat beside the crap I’d picked up at the gas station. Unfortunately,
since we hadn’t been home for so long, there were slim pickings. I grabbed an apple and a bag of carrots left over from when Meili was staying with us. An ache built inside my chest as I thought of her. She was gone.

  So is Anna, my mind insisted on reminding me. My throat grew scratchy as tears formed.

  I tossed the carrots on the counter and the apple. My appetite had disappeared.

  “Here, in case you’re hungry.”

  Jasper took a sip of his beer. His eyes were on me. I could feel them. “I’m not, but thanks. You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I started toward the hall. “I’m gonna take a shower. A long, hot shower.”

  “I’ll be here. I need to make a few phone calls.”

  Once I made it to my room, I plugged in my cell to charge and grabbed a clean set of clothes. A shower had never sounded more appealing. Dirt, grime, and magical residue clung to my body. I kicked off my shoes and headed for the shower.

  A wince shuddered through my body as I peeled off my clothes. My muscles were rebelling against me. All I wanted was to lay down but knew cleaning myself up was a top priority as well. I stepped to the shower and adjusted the water to the perfect temperature before stepping in. The hot water slipped over my tender skin causing a whimper to burst past my parted lips. The pressure was too much. I switched off the shower and plugged the tub, deciding a bath would be better. My hands balled into tight fists as I bent to sit. A shiver slipped along my spine as the cold porcelain of the tub touched me. I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms around them.

  The water grew higher around me as my thoughts weighted me down. My mind raced now that I was all alone. I switched the water off once it reached my chest. The sudden silence had my ears buzzing. I submerged myself beneath the water and gave myself a moment to catch my breath.