“Mom,” before I could finish the sentence, she stood up.
“I think the lack of sleep is getting to me. That must be it. I'm not usually this clumsy. We both know you didn't get it from me.” She tried to smile at our inside joke about my lack of grace. “I'm going to go try to take a nap.”
“Okay,” I called to her retreating backside as she walked down the hall.
Filling my mug the rest of the way and adding copious amounts of cream and sugar, my attention turned to the book of spells. Perhaps one existed that would create a sense of calm and peace in her room, allowing her to sleep better without me using magic on her directly. The thought of using magic to influence her when she had specifically asked me not to made me feel bad, but I wanted to help her somehow.
Isaiah had warned me to take things slow while learning, but my inexperience prevented me from knowing which spells would be considered easier and less taxing without actually trying them. Some of the ones I tried the first day took more effort than the words on the page appeared to require. Trial and error showed me what reading the words could not. I had no other way of gauging the difficulty. Too bad they didn't come with a rating system of some sort.
Three hours of practicing at the kitchen table left me with a need for some Tylenol and a weariness I could feel in my bones. The coffee had long since gone cold, and my stomach demanded some sort of sacrifice to appease the grumbling gods of my appetite. A quick look showed the pantry door cracked open, begging me to raid it for sustenance. In my distraction, I knocked a stack of cans, chicken noodle soup, from their perch, sending them rolling across the shelf and onto the floor. Muttering about my clumsiness, I returned them to their place and continued on my hunt for something appealing to eat.
As I rooted around in the cupboards for anything good to snack on, a sudden chill went down my back, alerting me that I was no longer alone.
“Mom? Is that you?”
No answer. Peering down the hall, I was able to see that her bedroom door hadn't opened since she went in to take her nap. The chill came again, this time pulling my interest toward the woods out back. From the shadows, a pair of amber eyes stared at the house. Isaiah. He'd come to see me again.
Opening the back door to show him I'd be out in a minute, I left a hastily scribbled note on the table so my mom would know I'd gone for a walk and not been kidnapped right out from under her nose. I smoothed my hair as best I could without being able to see myself. Grabbing the book and a jacket, I slipped out the back door. In my haste I missed the second step, sending me staggering and dropping the book into the dirt. Grimacing, I picked it up and crossed the clearing into the trees, pretending I hadn't just embarrassed the shit out of myself in front of him.
My ankle ached, causing me to limp a little as I walked, but I tried to ignore it. He remained a gentleman and did not mention my humiliating stumble, even to ask if I was hurt.
“Hey you.”
Despite the fact that we could talk telepathically, the act of speaking out loud made our conversation feel more normal to me. For some reason magic felt more understandable to me than communicating without using a voice. Which made me curious about something.
“Why couldn't I hear your voice in the house? Is there a distance limit of some sort? Did you ask me to come outside?” Questions poured from my lips, not giving him time to answer any of them.
He shook his head. “It was kind of an experiment. I wanted to see if you could feel me out here first. If you hadn't responded, then I planned to use our communication. How did you know I was out here?”
“Well, at first I just got the sensation that I wasn't alone anymore. Once I confirmed that my mom was still napping, I went back to the kitchen and felt the same sort of chill. When I looked out the window, I could see your eyes and just knew it was you.”
“I guess next time I'll keep my eyes closed then.” His chuckle rumbled through me.
“Nope. Don't do that. If it hadn't been for seeing them, I wouldn't have come outside at all. There is no way I'll be checking out strange sensations alone. Not now that I know funny things are happening here in the sanctuary.”
“That's smart. But I think as we get to know each other better, you will be able to tell when it is me. You'll learn to recognize my presence just like if you saw me in person and recognized me.”
“Well. If I saw you in person right now, I wouldn't recognize you! I've only seen you like this.” My hand waved vaguely in his direction. “Except for your eyes. If they don't change, I bet I would know those eyes anywhere.”
Heat crept up my cheeks at the insinuation that I knew him intimately enough to recognize him only by his eyes. This was only our second real meeting. The wind gusted through the trees, causing me to shiver.
“Do you need to go back inside?” I could feel his concern for me.
“Not yet. I've been practicing with my aunt's books, but it upsets my mom. We had a bit of an argument before she headed off to take a nap. She doesn't want anything to do with magic.”
“That's odd. You'd think since she is Aimee's sister they would both be witches, wouldn't you?”
“I don't know how those things are passed through families, but I can guarantee you my mother doesn't have a magical bone in her body. Perhaps Aunt Aimee got all the magic, since she was the older sister, and my mom just got none.”
“I don't know much about it either, but I suppose that is possible.” He looked up at me. “I think we need to make a trip to the temple soon so we can see if we can learn any more about how your aunt actually died. I think that's the best place to start looking for clues, don't you?”
The thought of seeing where Aimee's body had lain gave me the creeps, but only because I knew that she hadn't just fallen dead of a heart attack. Someone or something had murdered her, right where she lay when we saw her last. And it made me so very mad. How dare they kill her? And why? She was the nicest person I'd ever met in my entire life.
“I think it's time,” I answered him slowly. “I know I'm not going to get the answers to those questions by reading her books. I've looked through the house, and read some of the journals, but haven't got much information that might help figure it out. Clues, yes, but not answers.”
“I'll go with you, of course. You won't have to go alone.”
“Thank you. I don't know if I could bring myself to go in again if I needed to do it by myself. There is something dark and scary about that place, despite the fact that it is beautiful to look at and I would love to learn more about it someday.”
“How is tomorrow for you? Are you busy?”
Before I could answer, the feeling that we were being watched crept over me again. The little piece of sky I could see through the treetops became tinged with a blue that wasn't normal. Switching to speaking in his head let him know what I felt, and he agreed, hurrying me toward the clearing and the safety of the house.
“Go. Get inside. Aimee's house is the safest place in the sanctuary. I'll see you tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“I'll be fine, get inside. Hurry.”
There was a push in his voice on the last word, conveying his urgency so I didn't argue. I ignored the pain in my ankle and rushed across the ground, watching my footing as I climbed the two stairs to the porch. Slipping in the back door, I turned to watch out the window, but he had already disappeared from sight.
My eyes strained to see through the shadows that danced between the trees, looking for anything that seemed out of place or threatening. The blue tint had faded, and I couldn't pin down anything else visually, but my gut told me that something was out there, just outside of my range of sight. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to want to make friends.
“Leah? What are you doing?”
I jumped at my mother's voice. “Looking outside. Did you have a nice nap?”
“Well, I got some sleep at least. Hopefully not so much that I won't be able to sleep again when it's time for bed. What have you been do
ing?”
“I'd like to learn more about the ruins and the temple. Do you know where would be the best place to look for information?”
“Jesus, Leah. Why can't you just leave well enough alone? There is no reason to go poking your nose about in the ruins. They're dangerous and you could get hurt.”
“Your sister died there. Of course there is a reason. Why don't you want to know what really happened to her?”
“She had a heart attack. That's all. No amount of poking around and playing with magic will bring her back. Just let it go, Leah. Stop all this nonsense.”
“I think you know way more about all this than you want to tell me.”
“Leah, we are done having this discussion. You are not to enter the ruins under any circumstances. I forbid it.”
Grinding my teeth to keep from snapping at her, I counted to fifteen before finally speaking. “I am a grown adult, must I remind you of this again? And, as you so kindly pointed out to me, this property is mine now. Aunt Aimee left it to me, and I have every right to learn about it and explore it as I see fit. I'm sorry that upsets you, I really am, but that isn't going to stop me from doing it. If you won't help me, then I will figure it out on my own.”
“Why must you be so unreasonable? It's as if your aunt's death made you pig-headed and stubborn, the way you all of a sudden refuse to listen to reason.”
“Listen to reason? You mean because I have the audacity to remind you that I am a grown adult, not a toddler, and you are no longer in a position to be telling me what I can and can't do.”
Her brows drew together, and she blew the air out through pursed lips. “Fine. You're right, I can't stop you. But I will tell you this. All of this futzing around with magic will find you way in over your head. If you don't back off, you are going to get yourself killed, just like Aimee.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Isaiah arrived as I sat rocking on the porch swing with my unicorn mug full of coffee the next morning. Things between my mother and I had been strained since the afternoon before, and smoothing them over didn't interest me in the least. Her attitude toward magic grated on my nerves and made me wonder just what she was hiding. Nobody who knew absolutely nothing about magic would realistically be so against the very idea of it.
“Ready?” He remained just out of sight, behind the tree line and shrouded in the shadows.
Joining him, a slight pang of guilt twinged for not telling my mother where I'd be, but it disappeared at the sight of the wolf with amber eyes. The desire to run my hands through his fur was so intense it made my fingers ache, but I managed to refrain from reaching out.
“Let's go. I practiced a few spells that I thought might be helpful while we are there. One for becoming aware of things that might otherwise go unnoticed, and one for protecting us from the influence of spirits with negative intentions. There are a few others, but those seemed like they'd be the most helpful.”
“Sounds good. If things get out of hand, I will get you out of there no matter what, I promise. I'm not going to let the same thing happen to you that happened to your aunt.” His eyes met mine in earnest as he reassured me.
The reminder that I would be standing in the same building where Aunt Aimee had been murdered gave me goosebumps. Then the thought that he cared for my well-being and safety gave me shivers of a whole other kind.
“We'll get out of there together. But I don't see this as being a big deal yet. We're just going to look around, and hopefully won't draw any attention to ourselves.”
“Our presence there may be enough to upset the spirit, but we'll see.”
We walked side by side, not speaking, both of us immersed in our own thoughts. As we drew closer to the ruins, the air became oppressive, making it hard to breathe. Isaiah raised his nose, attempting to read the scents on the air. Both of us stopped at the crumbling wall that marked the edge of the ruins.
“I can feel the darkness. It just flows outward in waves from the building.” My skin crawled at the feeling of it washing over me.
“The spirit must be contained here then. All the clues we have so far point to this being the place. We were right. Can you tell anything else without going inside?”
My eyes drifted closed as I tried to process the overwhelming sensations. Being so new at magic left me at a severe disadvantage when it came to interpreting the messages I picked up. My conscious mind strained, attempting to grasp things that floated just out of my realm of understanding. Pressure against my leg caused me to open my eyes and look down. Isaiah had leaned against me.
Physical contact with him seemed to increase my focus. Closing my eyes again, I reached down and slid my fingers through the fur on his back. Feeling the smirk on my lips, I hoped he had his eyes trained on the ruins and not my face.
Awareness of the spirit became pinpointed on an underground room, accessed from somewhere in the temple itself. The spell held, but minuscule cracks radiated through it. As the spirit grew in power, the spell would continue to fail. We needed to do something before it became too late.
Using the telepathic communication we shared, I let Isaiah see everything I could. I wanted him to know what we were dealing with as clearly as possible. He tensed beneath my hand, reminding me that I still had hold of his fur.
“Sorry.”
He exhaled. “It's not you. This just seems to be corroboration that all the legends and stories are true. The wolves within the sanctuary have lost many of their memories, and the ones they do retain are muddled and inaccurate. We couldn't be sure if it was due to being stuck in our wolf forms for so long, or something else. Now I think it may be both.”
“There must be a way to fix it. As alpha I would think it would be easiest to cure you first, since you're among the strongest of the wolves, if you don't mind being a guinea pig for a spell or two?”
“From regal wolf to wheeking guinea pig, sounds splendid.” He snorted.
“I promise not to actually turn you into a guinea pig!” I paused. “Probably.”
“Oozing with confidence, that's the way to round up volunteers.”
Before I could come up with a witty retort, a wave of unease flooded me. Returning my attention to the stones in front of us, I waited to see if something else came through. Turning to Isaiah, I started to speak but was interrupted.
“Whoa!”
“What is it?”
“Your eyes are turning blue. I think we need to get out of here. Let's go. We can talk more when we are a safe distance away from this place.”
As we turned and went back the way we had come, I felt the sensations of being watched, certain that if I turned around to look there would be a million pairs of eyes watching us go. Isaiah led the way to a clearing in the trees, set up as sort of a meeting place. Logs had been laid horizontally for seating, branches and bark stripped from them. A ring of stones created a fire pit directly in the middle.
“Where are we?” I sat on a log and he plopped down in front of me.
“This is a meeting place we sometimes used, before all of us became stuck in wolf form. It's safe here, and we aren't all that far from your house.”
“Getting back to the guinea pig situation...” I waited for him to protest, and when he didn't I continued. “I spent a lot of time working on a spell that will allow me to look inside and maybe see the curse. I promise not to try and do anything, I just want to know if it would be possible for me to learn how it works so I can eventually remove it. My hope is that I would also be able to unlock your ability to shift again.”
“You want to look inside my mind?”
“Sort of. I promise I'm not looking for your deepest, darkest secrets or anything. Although I have never done this before, so I can't guarantee that I won't see something I'm not actually looking for. This spell is a counter-spell of sorts, to be able to understand a spell that has been cast on someone. Wow, how many times can I say the word spell in a sentence?”
“Spell, spell, spell, spell...” he laughed. “Whe
ek, wheek,” he imitated a guinea pig quite well. “All kidding aside, I trust you. I think it's worth the risk, Besides, there isn't much exciting to see in there, anyway.”
“Wow. To be honest, I kind of expected you to say no. Like, a resounding hell no!” In spite of the fact that it had been my idea, I hesitated to actually attempt to dig around in someone else's brain.
“Nah. Like I said, I don't have anything to hide. And if I can get my ability to shift back, that means we can eventually help the rest of my pack, and that is a sacrifice I, as alpha, need to be willing to make.”
Sliding off the log, I sat cross-legged in the dirt directly in front of him. “The book says powerful witches can do the spell without any physical contact, but just to be sure I'd like to lay my hands on you so we are connected. Is that alright?”
“Well, I thought you'd never ask.”
My face turned tomato red at his teasing. Could he feel how much I wanted to touch him, or was he just a flirt?
“I'm just kidding; you don't have to be embarrassed. Sorry to tease you, I just couldn't help it. Go ahead and do what you need to do, and I promise to behave. I won't even lick your face.”
“Ha.” Even that single syllable choked me as I imagined him licking me. “Okay, I am going to put my hands on either side of your shoulders, and I want our foreheads to touch. That will give me the best opportunity to connect with you. I think. This will have to be a little bit trial and error.”
He bent forward until our foreheads touched. “Like this?”
Even in wolf form, there was something so deeply human about his eyes that I found myself lost in them. My hands found their way to his shoulders with no instructions from my brain needed. I threaded my fingers through his fur, tugging on him slightly to pull him just a little bit closer. The desire to return his ability to shift stemmed from an entirely selfish place.
“Leah?”
Crescent Marked: StarHaven Sanctuary Book One Page 5