I stared at her, dumbfounded. Clearly, keeping the truth from her was a terrible idea, because then this event wouldn’t have happened. Neither Dane nor I thought she could handle hearing her father was a ghost or that we doubted we could solve his murder, but I saw where she was coming from. In her eyes, I hadn’t even been talking to her father’s ghost, not once since my second attempt.
What she didn’t know is that Alexander had possessed Caley and had been with me the entire time. Knowing I could explain it all to her would work well enough, I figured there was a much faster way to fix this problem. “Wake up, Caley.”
Amelia glared at me, taking a big step forward. “No.”
I sighed, understanding her hesitation. I pushed up from the cold cement floor and added, “Look, I’ll move the gun away.” Which I did without hesitation and watched it slide across the floor toward Zach.
Amelia wouldn’t hurt me, that much I believed. She wasn’t acting from an evil place, but more so, a desperate act of a daughter trying to save her father. And that type of desperation I understood. “Trust me, this will give you all the answers you need. Just wake her up.”
She hesitated, her eyes searching mine. “No tricks. Promise?”
I snorted. “Even if I was good with magic, which you know I’m not, it’s Caley. What can she do?” I paused and reconsidered. “Well, I guess she could punch you and I wouldn’t put it past her to do that, but she won’t. Promise.”
Amelia considered me, and then she finally nodded. “Any tricks and—”
“No threats necessary,” I interrupted. “We’re all clear in the ‘I will pay if I act up’ department.”
With a jerk of her chin, Amelia turned to my best friend and murmured words I couldn’t hear. In truth, I didn’t care to listen. This spell was one I’d never want to hear repeated again.
When Caley’s low groan filled the air, I jerked my head to her and hoped that it wasn’t her in that body, even if it felt wrong to think that. In truth, I wasn’t sure what Amelia’s spell would do to Alexander. If he wasn’t in her body, things were about to go from shitty to very shitty.
After a minute more of moaning and groaning, Caley finally sat up and gave her head a shake. In that second, I knew it wasn’t my best friend. Caley would’ve started bitchin’ the moment her eyes opened. I had felt awful when I’d woken up and had even complained myself.
Her silence made me relieved to my bones.
Not giving a moment to waste time, I said, “Alexander.”
Amelia’s gasp followed immediately thereafter, and when I looked into her huge teary eyes, I nodded. “You got it. That…” I pointed toward Alexander, who presently glanced around with a perplexed look. “Is your father.”
Her mouth dropped open in clear surprise. She glanced to Alexander and gave him an once-over. Only a split second passed before her features hardened and she folded her arms. “I don’t believe you.”
“Tess is telling you the truth, Amelia.” Alexander stood, somewhat shakily. He managed to get onto his feet. Caley’s face paled as Alexander approached Amelia with slow steps. “It’s me, my darling.”
Perhaps the sentiment he used or the soft way he said darling, was enough of an indicator for Amelia, because tears welled in her eyes. Her entire body visibly trembled and she bent at the knees slightly, indicating her strength was about to give out. “But...you've been...”
“With you,” Alexander replied.
A sob broke free from her throat and she dropped to her knees. She cried so loudly and forcibly, it did hurt to watch. Hell, that pain I understood all too well.
“Dad...” she cried.
Alexander lowered to his knees in front of her and gathered her hands. When Amelia raised her head, I witnessed from the misery in her eyes she only saw her father now. His smile appeared a little easier now, even if it was drenched in despair. “I’m okay, love.”
“How can you say that?” Tears rushed over Amelia’s cheeks wildly, her voice shaking and cracking on each word. “Why did this have to happen?”
Alexander sighed, as if wanting to give her an answer, but when he remained silent, since at this point he didn’t know the real reason, I interjected, “Oh, I know exactly why this happened.”
Two sets of eyes turned to me and stared, incredulous. After a short hesitation, Alexander asked on a chuckle, “You’ve discovered something while we were unconscious?”
“Yes, I know how crazy that sounds,” I agreed. “But don’t laugh just yet, I’ve found out a lot of somethings.”
Amelia looked at her father, wide-eyed, before asking me, “From who?”
I pointed to the skeleton in the trunk. “The ghost those bones belong to.”
Chapter Twelve
After I retold the story right from the beginning, filling Amelia in on all the missing bits and pieces that we had hid from her, I was exhausted, still worried, and frightened, too.
Even if I knew the spell on the Lux wasn’t conjured by Wayde to kill us, it also didn’t remove the danger. Wayde wouldn’t want anyone to find Sammy’s bones in his basement, and I hated all the ideas running through my head at what he’d do to stop this information from getting out.
By the time I retold what I had learned from Sammy, explaining in full detail Wayde’s motivations for killing Alexander, he and Amelia both stared at me with something that looked close to horror.
“Exactly,” I agreed with a short nod, “Totally fucked up, I know, but there it is.”
Amelia finally blinked, settling back on her legs, as she still knelt in front of her father. “He killed you because he knew Tess would find out about him.”
Alexander’s eyebrows furrowed. “Wayde wouldn’t have been able to do anything to Sammy to ensure he didn’t out him.” Alexander rubbed his jaw in such a manly move that looked ridiculous on Caley. “He would’ve had no power over him, since he killed him. He must’ve thought he had no choice.”
“Ah, thought so,” I countered, not focusing on the latter topic, but the one he mentioned right before it. “I wondered why he couldn’t force Sammy into the Netherworld, like he tried with you.”
Alexander inclined his head, pushing off the floor to stand. He offered his hand to Amelia and, once she joined him on her feet, he turned to me, “When you kill a person, you’re bound to them in a way that would make you unable to control them, and also unable to bind them with magic.”
As I processed that, once again I realized all these theories had big holes that didn’t add up. “Okay, wait, but Wayde used magic on you.”
Alexander shook his head slowly in clear frustration. “I suspect he used magic before he killed me. Perhaps the spell to remove the noise to hide his approach also shed sensation from me, so I didn’t notice the magic.”
I rubbed my throbbing temple again, totally floored at how complicated magic was. Really, who wanted to use this funky stuff? I vowed, once I confirmed Kipp was safe, and everyone in this room was out of possible danger, I would leave all magical spells up to Gretchen.
If I needed to use a spell, I’d use a major guilt trip on Gretchen until she agreed to help me. Then again, if Kipp was safe, I planned to stay away from all this magical crap altogether. From what I had experienced, magic only led to danger.
Amelia’s deep sniff snapped me out of my thoughts, and Alexander wiped her tears, which again looked odd from Caley—too sweet and gentle. With sad eyes, she asked him, “How can we save you now?”
“Oh, I know that, too.” I reached into my pocket and took out the spell I’d ripped out of the Lux. “This will help you cross over, right?”
Alexander eyed the rough paper in my hands and Caley’s face paled further. His hard stare finally lifted to mine. “You tore a page out of the Lux?”
I nibbled my lip. “Err…yeah.”
When they continued to gawk at me, I snorted. “Stop looking at me like I killed something. It was the best option at the time. It kept the spell we needed for you close to me witho
ut having to take the book. Besides, we can always staple it back in.”
Amelia barked a laugh, sounding more shocked than amused. “Staple it back in?”
“Okay, if that won’t work, glue it,” I offered.
Alexander shook his head, incredulous. “You’re right—I should have saved my laughter until this moment.” He chuckled, which was much deeper than Caley’s laugh and without the spark I loved about my best friend. Then his amusement faded, and he said, “What’s done is done. Show me what you found.”
I offered him the paper, more than happy to get the damn thing out of my hand. “It says it’s an Angelic Banishment.”
Alexander’s eyes widened before he looked down at the page in his hands. He gazed over it a moment before he nodded, and then he handed it to Amelia.
She scanned over the paper. “This should work. It’s stronger than the spell that Wayde has placed on my father.” She looked to me. “It’s a pure, white magic spell, so it’ll overpower the one that was used in darkness.”
Max’s soft snore drew my attention to him as I exhaled in relief. I’d been only guessing, but really, the Lux was right in the trunk. Now seeing that Wayde wasn’t somewhere in the house to kill me, if that one didn’t work, they could come up with a good solution, or so I assumed. “So, we have a plan?”
Alexander accepted the paper from Amelia, and then gave me a firm nod. “We do.”
“But father, what about the crime against you?” Amelia grasped her father’s hand tight enough that her knuckles turned white. “How can we let Wayde get away with killing you?”
Alexander smiled, and it looked undeniably soft on Caley’s face. “Wayde will be arrested for the murder of Sammy.” His grin faded, darkening his eyes. “We have no evidence against Wayde, other than all of us knowing his motive. Even if you told the police, do you honestly think they would believe you?”
Oh, Lord, I was so not going through that again. Telling Max and the other members of Kipp’s team of my abilities had been a mortifying experience I didn’t want to repeat.
I interjected before Amelia decided to go down that road, “Trust me, I’ve been through it. The only reason my guys finally believed me was because they knew Kipp and could ask personal questions. Alexander is right—no cop will ever believe this story without that deep connection.”
Amelia’s head lowered, shoulders slumped, and once again, she cried.
Alexander looked at me and I witnessed his agony through Caley’s eyes. He mourned leaving his daughter like this. Now I believed if we forced him to cross over, it’d be with a heavy heart.
I wasn’t sure if that mattered or not, since I’d never come across it before. The ghosts I’d dealt with all crossed in peace because I helped them to ensure of it. I’d never forced a ghost to cross over without first finding that peace from whatever held them back, as in Alexander’s murder. For whatever reason, it felt wrong for him to cross knowing she remained in pain.
Maybe I had formed a soft spot for Alexander.
After a quick glance at my friends still sleeping on the cold cement floor, I turned to Amelia and chose my words carefully. “It doesn’t matter if Wayde is punished for your father’s death. It only matters that Alexander has no further issues when he crosses over. Wayde will go to jail for the rest of his life for the murder of Sammy. He will be punished. You only need to remember that your father personally found his justice. We all know what happened to him. Now he can cross over to other side in peace.”
She sniffed, staring at her father, but said to me, “You’ve seen ghosts cross before?”
“Many times,” I replied.
Amelia continued to watch her father, but then she finally looked to me. The light from the flashlight illuminated the side of her face and her bottom lip trembled. “He’ll be all right?”
“I’ll be fine,” Alexander interjected. “It was my time, Amelia. You know this…how fate works.”
I snorted softly to myself, since I hated fate, and thought her a total bitch because of all I’d went through. Especially when I finally thought I had saved Kipp, and now, I had no idea if it actually worked. But I didn’t feel it necessary to inform either of them of my bad opinion, considering the explanation seemed to ease Amelia.
Her tears lessened, her trembling settled, and her body appeared a little straighter than it had minutes ago. Oddly enough, after a moment of searching and considering what she’d put us all through, I couldn’t find any anger toward her. And I wasn’t sure why that was.
Did her misery rip me apart, and make me feel too bad for her in this tender moment between her and her father? For a second, I wondered if she magically altered me, because shouldn’t I be pissed at what she’d done?
I nearly asked that exact question aloud, but Amelia beat me to it and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you, too, my darling.” He took her into a hug and she shut her eyes, sobbing against his shoulder.
I couldn’t help but wonder if she shut her eyes not to see Caley and only feel her father. But how she held him, as if she were a little five year old girl clinging to her daddy, made me realize she never saw Caley at all.
Seeing this, and remembering the memory with my family, brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps this explained why I couldn’t hate her. I’d experienced this pain before. The wretched despair of losing close family. I knew all too well the heartbreak she dealt with now. No one in the world loved like parents did, but I also believed sometimes you could be loved differently.
Dane loved her, too.
I glanced over at him, as he remained sound asleep. I believed, in the end, she’d be all right, just as I’d been with my new family of Kipp, Caley, and Kipp’s fellow cops.
Dane could never be a replacement, but it was almost like a second chance. And sometimes, losing family made you appreciate the people even more in your life. I sure appreciated everyone in mine in a way I probably wouldn’t have before the accident.
I stayed silent and allowed Amelia and Alexander the time to embrace each other—for what felt like a lifetime—but I wouldn’t steal this moment from them. Once Amelia woke everyone up, there would be questions and she wouldn’t have this time alone with her father ever again.
Because of that, I kept my mouth shut.
A long while passed and when Amelia’s sobs quieted, Alexander backed away and brushed the fallen tears off her face. “Now then, my sweet, you need to remove the spells you have on her.”
Two sets of eyes zeroed in on me, and it took me a few seconds to realize Alexander had meant the spells on me. I glared at Amelia and said through clenched teeth, “You better hope to hell you still don’t have spells on me, or it’s not Caley’s fist you should’ve been worried about.”
Chapter Thirteen
While I spent the next seconds devising a plan to get my fist close enough to break Amelia’s nose, Alexander had stepped in between us, clearly anticipating my desire to knock her out. I had actually felt bad for her, and now I regretted it, only too glad I hadn’t said anything.
I hadn’t once thought she still wronged me.
“What I mean by that is,” Alexander said, cool and collected, “the spell that’s keeping everyone asleep. But more importantly, the one that’s causing your headaches.”
I tightened my fists. “You’ve been causing my headaches?” I thought it was fear, frustration, stress, and panic, and had also worried about it being a side effect from the Netherworld, when really, it was a damn spell.
Amelia never replied, except to look fully ashamed, and Alexander continued. “I didn’t realize it until I sensed the spell here right before I blacked out. But that’s what is causing them.” He scowled at his daughter, looking much more like Caley. “I suspect that the spell Amelia did to pull Kipp out of the Netherworld somehow used your energy. Thus, caused your headaches.”
I kept my feet firmly planted on the cement floor and barely managed through gritted teeth, “Is that true?”
&
nbsp; Amelia nodded at her feet, as she stood near her sleeping husband, and said softly, “After you went to Kipp in the Netherworld, I tapped into his energy off you, since you touched him there. I wasn’t sure if it worked or not, but then, tonight, it became obvious that it had.”
I recalled when I’d seen her after I’d first gone to find Kipp in the Netherworld, which seemed like a damn lifetime ago now. I remembered that I thought she whispered something, but I hadn’t been sure.
My anger rose, yet I kept my mouth shut as she went on. “The cucumber sandwiches you ate had the spell in it that bound him to me.” She peeked up at me through her lashes. “But it’s directly linked through you, which is why you’ve had headaches. Sometimes it’s makes people feel tired, but for you, it must’ve given you migraines.”
I could only blink at her, not sure how I felt about her admission. I glanced at Max and Zach, and then to Eddie. I even looked at Caley, and surrounded by people I loved, I realized a truth I didn’t want to accept.
Maybe fate wasn’t a bitch after all.
If it hadn’t been for Amelia’s interference, then I wouldn’t have gone into the Netherworld to talk with Nettie. I wouldn’t finally have the answers for why I received my gifts. I wouldn’t have recalled the memory that healed the empty hole in my heart caused from my family’s deaths. And I wouldn’t have experienced the acceptance and peace I did with my gifts now.
More than anything, we wouldn’t have found the answer we needed to reconnect Kipp’s soul with his body. Or what I hoped saved him.
That was the worst part in all this. I still didn’t know if Amelia had trapped Kipp, or if he’d gone back into his body. The timeframe was exact, and it was a toss-up who’d won.
Eternally Devoted (Frostbite #4) Page 9