Eternally Devoted (Frostbite #4)

by Stacey Kennedy

  Until I knew if Kipp had been saved, I wasn’t sure how to feel. If Nettie had her facts wrong, we’d be back at square one, which I suspected would piss me off and make me hate Amelia.

  But what if Amelia was wrong?

  If Nettie had been right and we had saved Kipp, how could I hate Amelia? Her plan brought too much good with it, even if not hating her for what she’d done went against every fiber of my body.

  For now, I had to wait this out and stay calm until I knew the truth. “Okay, you did what you did. We can deal with all that later.” I restrained my glare at Amelia, controlling my rage simmering at the surface. “But remove the spell like, right fucking now.”

  Amelia gave a hurried nod with wide eyes, indicating I didn’t control my anger all that well. She reached into her pocket and took out a little bag. Then she whispered words I couldn’t hear and approached me.

  I raised a hand, stopping her. “What is that?”

  She stopped dead in her tracks with one of the dark corners in the room at her back. “Black cumin,” she replied gently. “It’ll break the spells on you and Kipp.”

  I didn’t need a further explanation. While I shouldn’t trust her, I did believe with Alexander here she wouldn’t do any more damage. Truth was, Amelia only wanted to save her father from his current predicament. Now that she knew he would be, she had no reason to do me wrong.

  Or so I prayed.

  At my silence, and maybe appeased expression, she settled in front of me, and then she proceeded to pass the packet around me three times. After which, she knelt and lit the sachet on fire.

  After it burst into flames, a pungent scent filled the air and removed the musky aroma. When the flames sizzled out, my headache, that had been killing me for days, vanished. The relief of that was so welcomed I could only sigh.

  “Better?” Alexander asked.

  “A thousand times, yes.” I scanned the room, waited a good minute, and although everyone still slept, someone was missing. I turned to Amelia. “If the spell is broken, where’s Kipp?”

  Amelia cocked her head. “He hasn’t returned?”

  I looked around again for good measure, only seeing sleeping bodies, dark corners, and a trunk with bones in it. “No.”

  Alexander looked around, too. Of course, he could actually see Kipp as a ghost. Only a second later, his eyes searched mine. “It may simply be that the magic has exhausted him.”

  Or maybe I had saved him.

  Dammit! I actually wanted to punch Alexander for that answer. I hoped they’d have no reason at all. If they gave me a simple answer of I don’t know, then I could believe Kipp had returned to his body. “Why would the magic weaken him?”

  “Because ghosts are not living,” he explained. “Just like you saw with me, I could only hold the magic for so long as a ghost, which was why we needed Caley’s body. Since Amelia pulled him out of the Netherworld not only once, but twice, it might have drained him.”

  I dropped my head into my hands and wanted to cry in frustration. Dear God, couldn’t I get a single answer for which way it was? I almost would’ve preferred to have heard it didn’t work than being stuck in this back and forth business.

  “Now the others, Amelia,” Alexander whispered.

  A few hummed words from her caused the same odd buzz to fill the air as it had before I went into the Netherworld. Only a minute passed before sudden loud groans surrounded me. I lowered my hands and drew in a deep breath to control my heady emotions as bodies stirred.

  Zach grunted, pushed up against the cement floor, and ran a hand over the nape of his neck. “I feel like death.”

  “Me, too,” Gretchen grumbled, looking in her typical bed-head state.

  “Well, you’re not dead,” I stated.

  Dane pushed up to a sitting position, appearing a little green-faced. “What happened?”

  I glanced at Amelia, who looked undeniably scared. Even Alexander appeared worried. No doubt Dane would be less than pleased to hear his wife was the one behind the whole spell business.

  After a quick second of thought, I admitted to myself that Amelia and I were more alike than I cared to admit. But it also made my decision about what to do next glaringly obvious. As much as I wanted to hate her—and I did want that—deep down, I couldn’t.

  I finally turned to Dane and lied through my teeth. “Wayde did a spell that knocked us all out, but Amelia managed to break it. She woke me up first, then Alexander, then you all.”

  Dane jerked his head to Amelia in surprise, but she smiled softly and said, “I know it’s dad. He told me after I woke him.” Dane’s sigh followed and he immediately went to her side, and hugged her.

  Max stood, looking ready to vomit on the floor, but appearing to portray strength with his gun in his hand. Even if his gaze hinted that he didn’t believe my story—Max knew I had lied. “Have you seen Wayde?”

  I shook my head and glanced at the staircase. I hadn’t heard a sound coming from upstairs since Amelia had reentered the basement. “No, but I found out some other interesting details when I woke up.”

  Honestly, I was tired of retelling stories, even if I knew they all needed to hear this. Sure, I gave the condensed version of what took place in the Netherworld with Kipp. I also stated I had no clue if he had been saved, without adding in Amelia’s involvement. And I told them of the motives behind Sammy and Alexander’s deaths.

  Basically, I laid out all the important details.

  By the time I finished, Max was leaning up against the staircase. Gretchen stared at me with something close to shock. And Zach stood statue-still. When silence continued to greet me, I heaved a sigh. “So, that’s it, and brings us to now.”

  Zach gave his head a hard shake, obviously to clear it. “That’s a lot of fucked-up shit to process,” he muttered. “But first, let’s get out of here. Max can call in to get a forensic team for the bones.” He gave me a firm look. “And you need to make a phone call.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The sound of a familiar voice repeating the same words over and over again made my blood boil. If I heard Brandon’s voicemail message once more, I would hurl my damn phone out the window.

  Zach told me to keep trying and I had been—all the way back from Baton Rouge to White Castle—with no success. Amelia wanted to drive home with Dane and her father to be alone, leaving Gretchen, Max, Eddie, and Zach with me. Which was slightly odd since Caley was my best friend, but I understood Amelia’s desire to be alone with her dad…just as little longer.

  So, I didn’t object, and neither had Zach.

  Besides, I figured Amelia now thought I hated her, and wouldn’t want to be in the same car. As it seemed, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about that, more pressing matters were at stake.

  With the phone stuck to my ear, and with a pitch black night passing by my window, I told the others the finer details of what happened with Kipp in the Netherworld. I also explained Amelia’s interference, and why I wasn’t confident our attempt to save Kipp had actually worked.

  Perhaps Alexander’s theory of exhaustion was right. Maybe Kipp didn’t have enough energy to return. But Kipp hadn’t ever acted like a normal ghost, so I found it hard to rely on that theory.

  Frustrating me to no end, I still wasn’t any closer to a solid answer. I kept calling Brandon, many more times than I cared to count. When his damn voicemail still greeted me, I tried to call the hospital, but was told Brandon wasn’t in Kipp’s room. Beyond that, any further information was off limits because I wasn’t Kipp’s immediate family.

  Beyond irritated, I dropped the phone onto my lap and glanced at Max in the front passenger seat. “Can’t you use your police status to ask the hospital if Kipp’s still there? Or can you ask one of your cop buddies to go look?”

  Max glanced over his shoulder with a snort. “I do need to work with these people. How will I explain that and have them still respect me?”

  I considered, and then cursed. Of course, it would make Max look a l
ittle insane. I could understand that well enough. Why would anyone ask someone to go and see if someone else was still in a coma? Blowing out a long breath, I looked next to me at Gretchen, who was squished in between Eddie and me. “Can you think of a good reason?”

  She glanced out the front windshield before she shook her head at me. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  Even I couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation to give, so I accepted defeat. “Okay, dammit, why isn’t Brandon answering his phone? I thought he was staying at the hospital with Kipp.”

  “Maybe he’s working,” Zach offered, looking at me in the rearview mirror, as he drove down the dark road. “Keep trying.”

  I did, again…and again…and again. Brandon still didn’t pick up, and as we turned onto the Animus headquarters’ tree-lined street, I was more than done with hearing his stupid voicemail message.

  Placing the phone into my pocket, I looked out the front windshield as Zach pulled into the driveway. We drove down the long laneway and I noticed Dane, Amelia, and Alexander waiting by the front porch, reminding me we had other matters to deal with, too.

  I had to stay focused…for now…for Caley. Alexander needed to cross over, and Caley needed her body back. Once all that crazy business was over, we’d turn all the attention onto Kipp, as it had been before all this insanity had started with the Animus.

  One slow, painful step at a time.

  As I’d done for months now, and seriously had become an expert at, I pushed away my own personal trauma and focused on others. With all the pushing I’d done, I expected my body and mind soon wouldn’t allow me to shove away anymore.

  Truth be told, I didn’t even want to be around me when I finally reached my breaking point. But I always could feel, in the deepest part of my soul, it was coming…perhaps even long overdue.

  After the car rolled to a stop, Zach turned off the ignition. He stared out his window to the cops strolling the yard, and then he looked out the windshield to the three cops standing on the front porch before he turned to me. He looked between the seats, and his eyes searched mine. “Question for you—why didn’t you out Amelia to Dane?”

  “Yes,” Gretchen said, unlatching her seatbelt. “I wondered that, too.”

  I hesitated, allowing myself to reconcile it in my own mind.

  Why hadn’t I?

  I could’ve told Dane that Amelia was the one behind the spell, but yet again, a truth rose I couldn’t push away. “Because if the roles were reversed, I would’ve done the same thing. If I had magical abilities, I would’ve used them without a single thought, if it meant helping Kipp. And I would’ve bulldozed her if I needed her out of the way.”

  Zach laughed, incredulous. “Including knocking everyone out?”

  I glanced out the windshield at Amelia as she held her father’s hand, and then I nodded at Zach. “If it came down to that, yes.” At his parted lips, I added, “Besides, if we had told her the truth, she never would have done it. She wasn’t acting out of malice. She was trying to ensure I would help Alexander.”

  In a soft voice, Gretchen asked, “So, you understand her?”

  I, once again, nodded. “I’m not saying she’s not totally twisted and upwards of crazy, because her behavior is. But love makes you do crazy-ass things. I can’t hate her for acting out of love. Right?”

  “Put that way, no.” Zach chuckled. It didn’t sound amused. “But I’m damn sure I wouldn’t see it the way you do.” Clearly, he wasn’t as forgiving as me. Apparently, neither was Max, since he grumbled when he exited the car. And Eddie mirrored the sound when he left his spot beside Gretchen.

  Once the car cleared of grumpy men, Gretchen smiled and took my hand. “You have a good soul, Tess.”

  Of course, Gretchen would understand. She lived this same insane life as I did, and knew that normal decisions didn’t happen in our lives because our lives weren’t normal.

  She hesitated, holding my hand so tight, and then she finally said, “I have a feeling about Kipp.” Her stare held mine, intense and focused. “Do you want to know?”

  When I had first met Gretchen, she’d told me she had premonitions. While it tempted me to ask her what she sensed when she’d been sleeping, what if she told me bad news? Could I handle it and deal with Alexander?

  I didn’t think so.

  Not with the tension in my chest that seemed to tighten with each breath. “Later, okay? Let’s get Caley back, Alexander crossed over, and then we’ll talk.”

  She nodded with her sweet smile. “Sounds like a good plan.”

  Part of me wondered if her smile was sympathy or happiness, but again, I shoved it all away and followed her out of the car. I slammed the door behind me, and then approached Alexander, who stood in front of the porch steps.

  The lights on the outside of the home had been turned on and the glow from inside—due to the police officers in the house—cast a warm light out into the night. A necessary cold distance slid into place inside of me, otherwise, I doubted I’d get through this. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard this would be for Amelia and Dane. I didn’t even want to consider it. Turning to Alexander, I asked, “Where should we do this?”

  His brow drew together. “Wayde cast the first spell at the swamp and the magnetic fields are located there that I tapped into. It makes sense to do this spell for me there, too.”

  Great, going back to the stinky swamp again where this hell had all started in the first place wasn’t at the top of my to-do list, but who was I to argue? Alexander wouldn’t have suggested it if he didn’t deem it necessary. “So, err…” I had no idea how to put this into words, so I simply muttered, “Are you ready to do this now?”

  Alexander gave a firm nod. “I am.”

  “Okay.” Soon, Caley would return and that was one thing checked off a very short, but important, list of tasks that should’ve been done yesterday. I pulled the spell from my pocket and waved it at Gretchen. “Here, you do it.”

  She tilted her head and gave me a measured look, but she didn’t accept the damn piece of paper. ”You don’t want to handle this with Alexander?”

  “Hell, no!” I snapped, thrusting the paper into her hand. I wanted these magical spells away from me. Even touching the paper made me beyond nervous that something horrible would happen. “You’re the witch. I want to go back to my cold cases. That’s it, nothing more.”

  Gretchen chuckled before she looked down at the paper. “The spell doesn’t look complicated.”

  Not difficult for her, I thought dryly.

  To Max, Gretchen asked, “Will you join me to grab the ingredients?”

  He nodded at her, which indicated enough, Max doubted she could simply walk into a house full of cops without another one with her. Gretchen trotted up the porch steps and Max quickly followed.

  At Zach’s nudge of my elbow, I looked at him and discovered that his expression was nothing short of flabbergasted. “This is how we get Alexander out and Caley back?”

  I peeked sideways at Alexander, now suffering the emotional attachment I tried so hard to shove away. Odd as it was, in this moment of Alexander hugging Amelia so tightly, I couldn’t see Caley standing there.

  To Zach, I said, “Yeah, it is.” My voice sounded thick and I fought against my tears, so sad for them. I wondered what was worse: not seeing the ghosts as people usually did, or actually having that moment to say goodbye.

  I concluded both sucked. Of course, at least, Amelia had the chance to find closure. Maybe still painful closure, but closure, nonetheless.

  The opening of the front door snapped me out of my thoughts, as I expected Gretchen and Max to return, yet Eddie hurried down the porch steps. I hadn’t realized he had left the group and I wondered if maybe my mental state still wasn’t up to par.

  When he stopped in front of me, he said to Zach. “Wayde’s not in the house. The cops inside said he hasn’t been back and still remains at large.”

  “Might be on the run,” Zach offered.

>   Eddie agreed with a nod. “That’s everyone’s conclusion inside.” He shifted on his feet, the gravel crunched under his shoes, and he folded his arms. “Odd find, though, his clothes are still in the closet.”

  Strange indeed that Wayde would simply pick up and leave all his belongings behind, considering he’d done his best to protect his life. But after a minute of thought, I discovered I didn’t much care.

  I had enough heavy concerns on my mind not to worry about Wayde. He hadn’t attempted to kill me outright. Like, chasing me down with a knife in his hand. And I had to believe that meant he didn’t plan to now. Besides, I suspected he focused more on not getting caught, rather than a personal attack against me, so I kept focused on the tasks I could control.

  More than anything, the Animus’ headquarters was surrounded by police. If Wayde stepped one foot near these grounds, he’d be eating dirt like I did earlier tonight. I couldn’t possibly be in a safer place than I was right now.

  The squeak of the door opening again caught my attention. I looked up the wooden porch steps to find Gretchen and Max exiting the home. Gretchen carried a big black duffle bag and she came down the stairs much slower than Eddie.

  At further inspection, Gretchen looked about as tired as I felt, with darkness under her eyes, displaying her exhaustion. Once at me, she gave me a soft, sad smile, and brushed passed me and headed toward the swamp.

  My heart clenched, since without a doubt, it pained Gretchen to see Alexander go. Maybe I had forgotten that through all this. That Alexander had been her leader in the Animus, and had been a close friend.

  I turned to follow her, but on my second step forward, I found myself tugged into strong arms, and Dane’s aftershave swept through my nostrils. I gasped in shock, not only because he hugged me, but that I welcomed it.

  Not long ago, the thought of hugging Dane was laughable. However, there I was, sinking into his hold and resting my head on his chest as I stared up at a starry sky.

  “Thank you, Tess,” he whispered in my ear, pressing me against him with tightness to his voice. “Thank you for everything.”