“A few hours. I can tell you this, there are no demons besides ours in the area. Whoever did this isn’t going to attack right away. They want us to think that they are outside right now so we overreact. We can’t do that.” Skye was surprised by how Evan was taking control.
“Okay, get on breaking the spell then. We will prepare.” Kel said motioning some of the demons to follow her outside. Evan nodded as he headed to his room to grab supplies. Skye looked to her parents.
“You guys have to stay inside.” Skye said quickly.
“Sweetheart, you don’t need to try to protect us. We are here to fight.” Gary said touching her cheek softly.
“I can fight. I’m not going to hide inside while everyone is trying to defend me.” Skye said.
“The same goes for us.” Cloud said with a reassuring smile.
“Let’s get ready.” Gary said with a nod.
Everyone quickly prepared the cabin for an attack. The demons guarded the outside of the cabin as Kel transformed into an eagle and circled the area above to keep an eye out for anyone who might be coming into the area. Evan was working hard to remove the spell that blocked the cell phone service, but it was obvious he was having issues. Skye watched him on the back porch standing beside Buck who had been assigned as her personal body guard. Buck was enjoying the idea of protecting the girl of prophecy as he had mentioned it at least ten times since they were aware that someone was coming for them. Skye was pretty sure she was close to punching him if he said it again.
“I’m sure Maddox is fine.” Buck said the words Skye had been hoping to hear but couldn’t bring herself to ask. She let out a short breath.
“I hope so.” Buck touched Skye’s shoulder looking into her eyes.
“He will go through hell to get to you. He loves you in a way I didn’t think he was capable of.”
“Thanks Buck. I love him too. So freaking much.” Skye exhaled trying to calm her nerves. “I feel so guilty about the time we wasted not being together. It’s so stupid when I think about it, now.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to make up for it. Besides you were with Mike…” Buck smiled. Skye let out a small laugh.
“I don’t regret that. I regret hurting him. Mike is a great guy, but he and I aren’t…” Skye shrugged.
“He knows that now. He was hurt at first, of course, but as much as he loves you, he sees that you two had no real future.”
“We might have.” Skye felt obligated to say it. She didn’t want Buck to sound as if he were discounting Mike or what they had.
“Not when your heart wasn’t fully in it. It wouldn’t have been real. As you’ve said yourself, plenty of times that he deserves someone who will love him with their whole heart.” Skye smiled at Buck’s words.
“Yes. He does.”
“Why are you smiling at me like an idiot?” Buck teased.
“It’s interesting to have a demon lecture me about love, especially you.” Buck pushed Skye gently.
“Kel has made me grow up a lot.” Skye snickered at him. “Okay, I haven’t grown up as in maturity, but in matters of the heart she has shown me… well everything.” Buck smiled fondly thinking of Kel.
“I’m so glad you two found each other.” Skye said. “She deserves to be happy and so do you. Never hurt her though or I’ll castrate you and shove it up your ass.” Buck’s eyes went wide.
“Wild little prophecy girl protecting her friend. I respect that.” Skye looked towards Evan who seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on the cauldron in front of him. Skye grimaced. Why wasn’t he moving? He was usually so active when doing spells.
“What is he doing?” Skye whispered then looked to Buck who was staring at her with an odd look on his face. Skye jerked at his shocked look. She moved side to side looking at his face but he didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. “Buck?” Skye waved her hand in his face.
Buck didn’t move an inch. He didn’t even look like he was breathing. Skye leaned in confused. Buck looked like people on T.V. did when she hit pause and they were stuck with a goofy looking face.
“Frozen.” she whispered to herself. She walked around Buck quickly peeking in the house seeing everyone frozen as well. “What in the fu-,” before Skye could say anything else she felt time slow down around her. Her body felt heavy as if it was weighted down. Her eyelids were begging to close. Skye felt drunk, which was impossible considering she hadn’t had anything to drink.
Skye’s eyes glazed over. Everything in her vision blurred as her head was suddenly void of all thoughts. Her body moved without her realizing it. Skye walked out of the cabin and into the woods. Skye felt like a prisoner inside of her own body. She struggled to gain control of her body, but it never responded. She was in a spell like state and she had no control.
She walked deeper into the woods, having no idea where she was headed. Her vision only a big blur. Skye couldn’t imagine who was powerful enough to do this to her. The very thought made her want to scream in fear but her mouth remained shut.
Skye saw two blurry figures stepping towards her. She desperately wanted to fight them off and scream, but nothing happened. Instead, her body walked up to them and allowed them to put her into a vehicle and tie her up. Skye tried to see if she recognized their voices. Everything sounded muffled to her and they were careful not to speak. Without being even able to protest, Skye was taken away from her family and friends into the unknown with her captors.
Chapter Twelve
Maddox pulled up to the cabin, jumping out of the SUV quickly. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the guards outside weren’t moving or even acknowledging him. The other members of his team jumped out looking confused. Maddox walked up into one of them and shook them hard.
“What the hell is going on?” Maddox shouted. He sucked in a deep breath. “Skye!” He ran inside the house searching for her. All he found were the other members of their party frozen in place. Maddox felt his heart race as if it was ready to jump out of his chest.
Running out of the back of the cabin he saw Evan frozen over a cauldron. He grabbed Evan shaking him almost violently. He screamed at him to wake up and was shocked when Evan actually blinked.
“What the hell are you doing?” Evan shouted trying to get out of Maddox’s hands. Maddox released him.
“What happened?” Maddox demanded. Evan shook his head confused.
“We lost phone service and I could tell someone was putting a spell over the area. I was trying to counteract the spell.”
“Did you screw up or something? Everyone was frozen!” Maddox fought for patience, but was near to frantic.
“Frozen?”
“Yes! Frozen! You were frozen! They still are and Skye is missing!” Maddox screamed in Evan’s face. Evan looked around seeing several people not able to move.
“Shit.” Evan closed his eyes and whispered a spell that Maddox couldn’t understand but within a few seconds everyone began to move again.
“Skye? Skye!” Buck’s voice rang out from the porch. Maddox ran to him.
“Where is she?” Maddox demanded. Buck looked at Maddox shaking his head.
“She was just in front of me. We were talking and then she disappeared.”
“Fuck!” Maddox growled loudly. Evan ran to the porch looking at Maddox as Cloud and Gary came onto the porch joining them.
“Someone put a spell over all of us. We were frozen and they took Skye. I don’t know who has the power to do that.” Evan said. Cloud gasped putting her hand over her mouth. Gary wrapped his arm around her.
“Can you find her?” Maddox’s voice was shaking due to the rage he was trying to hold back.
“I’ll try.” Evan ran back to his cauldron.
“Who would have done this?” Cloud asked as her eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother.” Maddox said glaring at her.
“What?” Cloud shook her head. “No, that’s impossible.” Maddox let out a harsh laugh.
“You really have
no idea what kind of person Evelyn really is. She’s behind all of this. She sent those demons to your realm to kill Skye. When they failed, she made sure every supernatural being knew who Skye was and what a threat she was to them.” Maddox said.
“No!” Cloud protested. “My mother watched over Skye to make sure she was safe all these years. She wouldn’t harm her!”
“Your mother didn’t keep her safe or she would have removed her from that house. From a heartless stepmother and a stepfather that tried to make a move on his own stepdaughter more than once!” Gary flinched at what he heard.
“Maddox. You are accusing her of something heinous. I hope you have proof.” Gary said.
“I got the proof I needed when I was there. She’s been planning this for a long time. I can use my powers to show you if you want or you can take my word for it and know that we need to find Skye before she is killed.” Maddox left no room for arguing. Gary gave a short nod.
“Where would she take her?” Gary looked to Cloud.
“I have no idea. I still can’t believe…” Cloud shook her head.
“Your mom is obsessed with her power. The thought that Skye could be a threat to her was enough to make her turn evil to her own blood. I didn’t believe it at first so I get that you don’t want to believe this, but we don’t have time for disbelief. Skye is missing. Your daughter. My..." Maddox could no longer find the words.
“She has several properties.” Mike’s voice rang out behind him. Maddox turned looking at him.
“How do you know that?” Gary asked.
“I looked into her after Skye became close with her. I didn’t tell Skye because she would have gotten pissed at me for it. I never found anything bad, but I do know where she owns property. Follow me.” Mike said walking inside the home grabbing a map. He circled four different places. Out of the four places two of them were within a hundred miles of the cabin they were in.
“We need to split up and go to these places. Two teams heavily armed. We also need another group to wait here and scout the area. We might find something.” Mike said taking charge of the group. Evan walked inside to the group with a frown on his face.
“I can’t find her.” he announced.
“What in the hell does that mean?” Kel asked.
“She’s either unconscious or they have a strong spell surrounding wherever they are. I can’t break through.” The thought of Skye being unconscious didn’t sit well with any of them. It meant she could be hurt or even worse.
“Maddox, take the team you just got back with and check this location. I’ll take Evan, Kel, Buck and Prue with me.” Mike said picking up the map handing it to Maddox. Maddox took the map with a nod.
“Keep in contact with me. I want to know if you find her. The minute you find her I want to know.” Maddox’s eyes burned bright with rage and worry. Mike nodded.
“Same for you. Let’s go.” Mike said to his team. They quickly left the room to grab weapons to take with them.
As the two groups gathered what they needed, Cloud grabbed Gary’s shoulders and leaned into him. He held onto her whispering promises that Skye would be found unharmed. Cloud knew he couldn’t keep that promise.
“I just can’t understand my mother. Her own granddaughter? How could she do this to her? To me? To anyone? It’s horrific.” Cloud’s eyes were filled with tears. Gary cupped her cheek and kissed her quickly.
“I don’t know. I’ll never understand it. Skye’s different for sure, but that doesn’t mean she is dangerous. This damned prophecy is tearing us apart and we don’t even know what it truly means.” Gary took a deep breath letting it out slowly to keep himself as calm as possible for his wife.
“We need to know more about the prophecy. We need a seer or a fortune teller or a psychic. I don’t care. I just know we need someone. Anyone.” Cloud cried. Gary held her in his arms and nodded.
“We’ll find someone after we get our daughter back.”
Maddox loaded up his SUV and glanced over to Mike who was doing the same. Maddox walked over to him. Part of him wanted to threaten him and a bigger part of him wanted to thank Mike for his help. Maddox wasn’t sure which part of him was going to win by the time he had reached Mike.
“We’ll find her.” Mike said before Maddox could speak.
“I know. Look, I have to say something to you.” Maddox said.
“Are you here to threaten me? If so save it for some other time. We have more important things to do.” Mike said looking Maddox in the face. Maddox saw no real fear in Mike’s face and hated to admit that he respected him for it.
“Not this time but maybe I’ll threaten you later.” Mike laughed at the response. “I wanted to thank you for paying attention to her grandmother when no one else did. I would have never thought to look into her and now that Evan’s magic can’t even reach her…” he took a breath before finishing, “I, we, wouldn’t know where to look for her if it wasn’t for you so thanks.” Mike nodded.
“Before Skye and I were together we were friends and when that ended we remained friends. I’ll always do the right thing by her. That you’ll never have to worry about or question.” Maddox shook his head.
“I believe you. Let us know if you find anything. Anything.”
“Same to you.” Mike said turning to get into the SUV with his team. Maddox ran back to his own SUV and jumped in ready to go. Every second Skye was missing he felt like his skin was crawling with anticipation and worry. He had to find her. He had to have her in his arms again.
As Maddox drove away from the cabin he took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew he had to focus on the mission and treat it as any other mission. If he lost his cool, then Skye could be hurt and he refused to be responsible for that.
“How did you know about her grandmother?” Marcus asked from the backseat. Maddox glanced in the rearview mirror at him not really wanting to answer but he did.
“I saw my father. He told me.” Marcus’s quick intake of breath said it all. They were all too shocked to even speak for a moment. Marcus had worked with Luke for a while so he knew how ruthless he could be and he also knew how badly Luke had wanted Skye.
“Okay, I have to ask. You actually believed him?” Sia said looking over to Maddox from the passenger seat. She was a beautiful demon, but Maddox had never been interested in her. He saw her more as a cousin than anything. Maddox tensed at the question as he shook his head.
“Hell no I didn’t. I didn’t believe anything he said at first, but when I opened a portal to look in the past I saw her making the plans. I was so pissed. Hell I’m still pissed. My father knew who not to trust this whole time and I didn’t.”
“Dude, I have to ask why did he help?” Marcus asked.
“My mom.” Maddox said with a sigh. “He misses her and… he didn’t want me to have to go through what he did when he lost her.” Maddox’s tone said he didn’t want to talk about any of it. The group with him apparently didn’t care.
“What did happen to your mom? There have been so many stories about it. Some even said Luke killed her.” Sia said. Maddox shot her an unsavory look as he shook his head.
“He’s a monster, but my mom was everything to him. He would have never done that to her. It was cancer. Out of all the things in this world that we could protect her from, we couldn’t protect her from a disease inside of herself.” Maddox’s voice dropped off at the end of the sentence.
No one asked any other questions after that. They drove in silence as Maddox broke every speed limit on the way there. Sia hoped no cops were around. She didn’t want to see this particular demon and a cop face off. She knew who would win. By the look on Maddox’s face, they all knew who would win.
Chapter Thirteen
Skye’s eyelids still felt heavy, but she fought them trying to blink her eyes open slowly. She was aware that she had passed out at some point during the ride. She had no idea where she was or how far she was from the cabin. Skye finally managed to keep her eyes open and was
pleased to be able to see again. She lost that feeling quickly though.
Both of Skye’s hands were stretched out above her head handcuffed. Her body had been sagging down as she slept leaving indents in her wrists from the handcuffs. Skye quickly looked around to see where she was but she didn’t recognize the room. She was in a basement of a house. That much was obvious, but she had no clue as to where.
The basement was small and covered in dirt with symbols all over the walls. There was a table full of weapons near the wall across from her. Skye forced herself to stand on unstable legs. No one was around to watch her. Maybe they thought she would be unconscious for longer. Skye struggled with the handcuffs trying to see if she could slip out of them, but they were too tight. Moving only made them cut into her wrists more so than they already had from her being knocked out.
“Okay stay calm and think.” she whispered to herself. She felt her body shaking in terror. Skye knew that anyone could have kidnapped her and by the looks of the weapons on the table it was obvious that they were not friendly.
Skye tried not to panic. She knew she would need to keep her wits about her if she was going to have a chance to survive this. Skye looked at the handcuffs and tried to force her power into them. The handcuffs lit up immediately but as soon as they did they burned her wrists even more. Skye let out a cry of pain to release her power and allow the light to fade away.
“The handcuffs are warded against magic, including yours of course.” Skye’s head snapped up at the voice. It wasn’t possible. The hatred in her tone was unbelievable but Skye saw her. Nancy stood in the stairwell and walked near Skye with a wicked smile on her face.
“Nancy? What? Why?” Skye shook her head in disbelief. Every instinct inside of Skye wanted to tell her what she was seeing wasn’t real. They were friends.
“Why? Are you serious? You are a monster! An abomination really. You should have never been born. You will only bring destruction into this world and all the others.” Skye cringed at the words.
Shattered Skye (The Skye Chronicles Book 3) Page 8