“Well,” I said begrudgingly. “When that day happens, let me know.”
Her lips twisted into a small, sad smile. “I shall. For now, I must stay as I am. My magic may still be needed. But when that day comes, I shall be happy knowing you are the keeper of the book and that my magic will stay safe with you.”
I stood there for a minute to let all of that information sink in, then decided to see if I really could get the book to shrink. “I wish you were small enough to…” How small did I want it to become? I wondered. As I looked down at the book, my eyes landed on my necklace that Adam had given me. The painted dreamcatcher sparkled in the light, the background a plain silver hollow. The perfect place to hide something tiny. “I wish you were small enough to fit in the back of my necklace.”
The book shifted immediately, as if it was more than willing to do as I asked. It hopped on my palm and with a small, audible pop shrunk to a tiny size that was no bigger than the tip of my little finger.
“Cool,” I said, impressed, as I unlatched the back of the necklace and popped the book inside. “That just made my life slightly easier.”
Wynter laughed, a sudden sound of musical rainfall that sounded both happy and sad at the same time.
I narrowed my gaze. If there was anything I’d learned in my time in Bland, it was not to trust Wynter. “You aren’t keeping your magic long enough to try to take out Mandi again, are you?”
“No,” she answered, her expression sobering instantly. “My sister ignored my suggestion of staying away from the place we were made. She was heading to the mountain in hopes of getting her magic back. That was what caused her death. I have chosen to forgive the one who took her life, only because I, too, once received forgiveness when it was not deserved. My reason to stay as Spriteblood is to keep those in this town safe. When the time comes that I am no longer needed, I will ask you to take it all away. On that, Nicole Harmon, I give you my word.”
“YOU CAN’T LET them stay that way forever!” Emily exclaimed when she came into my bedroom and saw the four shadows of the animals.
“You can see them?” I asked, trying to keep the shock out of my voice. Not even Adam had been able to spot them when I told him about them.
She nodded, sending her spiraling curls to bob up and down like brown corkscrews. “It isn’t right, Nikki. They don’t want to stay like that. They aren’t happy.”
As if agreeing with her, the spirit of the wolf threw its head back in a silent cry.
“I know. But I don’t know what to do about it.” Not sure how much my little sister actually knew about my latest escapade, I decided to fill her in. I told her everything from how Mandi had become a Skinwalker and stolen the spirits of these animals, to how I trapped her magic in the book. Emily didn’t look particularly surprised at any of this.
“I can’t trap them in the book too,” I explained. “They’re animals, not magicals.”
She stayed quiet for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she mulled this information over, then her eyes went distant, as if she was seeing something else. As soon as the look came, it left, and she gave me her usual, happy smile. “You had the spirit of a wolf before. Why can’t you have a coyote, a bear, a crow, and another wolf now?”
“Because I don’t want to become a Skinwalker. That’s what will happen if I touch the book. I’ll get them, but I’ll get the magic of a Skinwalker too,” I said firmly. Even though I wanted to help the ghostly creatures roaming around in my room, the last thing I wanted was the magic that had taken over Mandi.
“That won’t happen. You’re the keeper of the book. You get to choose what magic you want,” Emily replied with an air of certainty that made me wonder exactly what she’d seen.
“How do you know that?”
She shrugged. “I just do.”
The spirit of the crow had flown up to roost on my ceiling fan. The way it was moving, I got the impression it was hopping along the length of one blade. The bear appeared to be lumbering toward my closet. I had no idea why. The coyote and the wolf seemed to have made a pack of their own and sat side by side at the foot of my bed. Though I couldn’t make out their features, I knew they were watching me.
I’d missed my wolf for a while now. Missed running through the forest with the pack. I hadn’t minded the feel of her consciousness inside me. It had made me feel whole somehow.
“You’re sure that I can choose what magic I want?” I asked Emily again.
“Mm-hmm,” she answered. She looked up at the crow. “How awesome would it be to fly?”
Pretty awesome, I agreed silently, spinning the painted dreamcatcher on my necklace that held the book in its hollow. It wouldn’t hurt to see what happens. I can always undo it if it doesn’t work out right. My finger found the clasp on the back and pushed it down.
I felt the book drop into my palm. “Return to your normal size,” I whispered. The tiny tome shuddered, then grew, obeying my command. I flipped to the page where I’d placed the amber necklace Mandi and Crow Woman had worn. Unlike the pages that held the pictures of me, Adam, and Crow Woman, this page held a scorched black circle, the exact size and shape of the stone that had held power. I traced the round edge with my finger and immediately felt the animals’ attention turn to me. The crow flew down, landing in front of me on the bed. The bear, wolf, and coyote crept forward slowly.
“Only the animals, not the magic of the Skinwalker,” I hissed as the dark ink on the page moved toward my fingers. The instant I said the words, it retreated and the animals came at me.
The crow was first, flying straight at my face. I winced, waiting for it to make contact, but it had disappeared. The wolf ran at me next, leaping over the foot of the bed only to vanish the instant it touched me. The coyote followed a split second later.
The bear was the last. It lumbered over to the side of the bed, as if it wasn’t in as much of a hurry as the others. It reared up onto its back legs and reached out with one paw to my shoulder. Then it was gone.
I moved my finger from the page. Emily had been completely silent until now. “Well, did it work?”
“It worked.” I knew that much without a doubt. I was different, I decided. But I was still me. The familiar furred feeling crept along my bones and I noticed that everything seemed sharper and more in focus.
“How do you feel?” I heard Emily ask the question, but my attention was centering on something else.
The moonlight shone through the window—the same one where I always watched for Adam. But it wasn’t the thought of Adam running through my head now. It was the moon. It was calling to me.
I got up from the bed and went to the window, opening the latch. The night air rushed in, playing along my skin. I caught the scents of so many wild things in the forest. Some things I knew, and others I wanted to explore. Now I would be able to do that in ways that no one else could. Yes, I was still a Seer. But now I was so much more.
I didn’t know how to tell all of this to my little sister, but when I turned to her I could see she already knew some of it by the smile on her face. So I told her the one thing that I knew for certain. “I feel like I need to run.”
Coming Soon
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http://www.krthompson.net
* * *
Coming Summer 2017
* * *
Wynter’s End (Book 9 of the Keeper Saga)
Shifters University (Book 1)
More stories by K.R. Thompson
More stories by K.R. Thompson can be found on her Amazon page
http://www.amazon.com/author/krthompson
A few of her titles include:
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The Keeper Saga:
Hidden Moon
Once Upon a Haunted Moon
The Wolf
Wynter’s War
Charmed
The One
Under a D
ark Moon
Blood Moon Rising
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The Untold Stories of Neverland:
Pan
Hook
Merida
Jack
* * *
Dragon Kept: The Chronicles of a Blue Fairy
Once Upon a Time: The New Fairy Tales
About the Author
K.R. Thompson writes paranormal stories with a bite and fairy tales with a twist. An avid reader and firm believer in the magic of books, she spends her nights either reading an adventure or writing one.
* * *
She still watches for evidence of Bigfoot in the mud of Wolf Creek.
@writer_kthompsn
thekeepersaga
www.krthompson.net
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