The smell of frying bacon interrupted my thought process, enticing my stomach to growl again, more loudly than before.
“Only a few more minutes,” Isaiah assured me as he grabbed plates and silverware.
He placed a cup of coffee in front of me, drawing my eyes to the unicorn mug. Memories of filling it with cocoa while Aimee had her coffee swamped me. Reaching out my finger, I gently traced the features painted on the ceramic. The scent rising from the mug reached my nose, smelling exactly how my aunt once took her own coffee. Tears fell from my eyes. Doubt swamped me.
She had been a witch her entire life and could not successfully contain the evil spirit. Who was I to think I might be able to do what she had failed at? Crescent mark or not, I had less than a week of magical experience under my belt, and every single thing I had learned came from my own studies. How did that stack up to an evil who had been practicing for years before my birth? An evil who also bore the crescent mark?
Isaiah's hand on my shoulder startled me. He set a plate in front of me, then pulled up the chair next to me.
“Don't cry, Leah. We'll manage. You can do this. I'll be by your side the entire way.”
“But what if I can't? Aunt Aimee practiced for years and didn't make it. Who am I to think I might be successful where she failed?”
“You have to have faith. The mark will help you. Trust in it.”
He said nothing more, picking up the fork and stabbing a piece of potato with it. He placed the fork in my hand, eyebrows questioning. I could see the query in his eyes. Was I going to eat the breakfast he made for me or let it go cold? Sighing, I took the bite, instantly glad I did.
“Mmm. This is so good.” The potatoes had been perfectly seasoned and fried to perfection.
Satisfied, he turned his attention to his own meal, and we ate in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Every last morsel he'd prepared got devoured. I even finished the bits left on his plate that he hadn't had the room to eat.
I practiced the spell for the rest of the day, repeating the words until they were burned into memory. So much time was spent staring at the sheet of journal paper that the faded blue lines wavered in and out of focus, swimming beneath the writing.
Mid-afternoon brought another attempt by the spirit to infiltrate the house, though she was unsuccessful. Had it not been for the nervous chattering of the chipmunks in their temporary habitats, we may never have known about the incident.
Glancing at them with irritation, I demanded to know what they were going on about. “Maybe if you hadn't gnawed on my books, you wouldn't be in there!”
It wasn't until Isaiah followed their gaze out the back window that we noticed the black haze once more seeping from the forest. This time, however, it couldn't pass into the clearing, much less approach the house.
“Looks like the wards you put up are holding perfectly.”
“That's a plus. I can concentrate on the spell without worrying about a sneak attack, now that we've seen for our own eyes that they are strong enough. For now.”
By midnight I felt I had as good a handle on the spell as I was likely to get. Isaiah urged me to go lay down and get some sleep, reminding me my body needed to be in tip top shape for the next day.
“I'll be here all night. You have nothing to worry about except getting some rest.”
“I wonder if my mom will be back before we go? Or if she's just run off and doesn't plan to return.” The last words tasted bitter on my tongue.
“She wouldn't abandon you now. She already feels guilty for her part in this. I could smell it on her when you two were talking. She feels responsible and I think she will do her best to help you in whatever way she can.”
“Not that that will amount to much. She gave up her magic.”
“She stored her magic,” Isaiah countered. “That doesn't mean it's gone. She just needs to retrieve it and accept it once more. You're her only daughter, I think she would do that for you, if meant helping you succeed, and live.”
His last word jarred my thoughts. Live. A chance remained that I, too, could die by going up against the evil spirit. My grandmother wanted me dead. She'd killed her own daughter with no remorse, and no hesitation. I had no doubt that if she could get me out of her way, she would remove me as well.
I shrugged and nodded my agreement. Too tired to continue arguing the situation, I slipped into the bathroom to get ready for bed. As I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I studied myself in the mirror. The brown eyes staring back at me looked the same as they had just a few days prior, before my entire world had been turned upside down. The WTF lines between my brows, however, had deepened considerably.
With a sigh, I promised myself some pampering when this whole debacle ended. Maybe there was a spell that could reverse the ravages of stress?
Slipping out of the bathroom in my pajamas, I returned to the kitchen to check on Isaiah, who held the two little chipmunks in their bubble. Oops. I'd forgotten about them. Since my anger had subsided, I felt bad about leaving them trapped in there for hours. They began chattering angrily at the sight of me.
“I'm sorry guys, I was mad. Those books were important. Not that I can use that as an excuse. Want a snack before I put you back outside?”
As a response, both of them turned away, leaving me staring at their furry little butts. Sighing, I grabbed a couple of cookies and opened the back door. I put the cookies on the table they always got their crackers on.
“See? They'll be here if you change your mind. I'm sorry, I really am.”
Neither of them deigned to give me a response, and I sighed. Sending the bubble out into the middle of the clearing, I rested it on the ground and released them. They took off like a shot, scampering for the nearest tree. One of them turned back, waving his little front paws and chattering loudly at me, before racing up the tree to join his friend.
I turned to Isaiah and lifted my hands, palms to the sky. “Apparently mending fences is not my forte.”
He latched the back door behind me, throwing the deadbolt. “They'll come around. Cookies are hard to resist. Now go get some sleep.”
“What about you?”
“I'm going to keep my eyes on a few things and reach out to the pack. I'll nap on the couch when I'm ready.”
The linen closet held spare blankets and pillows; the entire time I spent grabbing bedding for him, I toyed with the idea of inviting him to join me in my room. It held a king sized bed and would give us each plenty of room. Unable to bring myself to voice the question out loud, I just handed him the stack and smiled.
“You know where to find me if you need me.”
“And I'll be right out here if you need anything. Just yell and I'll come running.”
As I walked down the hall, I mentally kicked myself for not at least asking him if he wanted to sleep in the room my mom had been using. Instead of turning back, though, I left my door open a crack and slipped beneath the blankets.
In spite of the nerves stretched to the breaking point, I managed to fall into a deep sleep. Not a single thought or dream invaded my rest, as if my mind knew that I needed every bit of an advantage I could get for the next day, and it shut everything off at the source.
Six am came early, but I woke feeling energized and refreshed. As I dressed for the day, I went over my plan. At the first light of day we would head out for the stream and the first step of banishing the evil spirit from the sanctuary forever. I would reverse the curse and free the wolf pack from her spell that had been plaguing them for years. They would once more be able to shift with ease and access their memories. If I could pull it off.
Which was a pretty big if. Did I have the power to perform such a huge undertaking? All I could do was pray I did. I'd give it everything I had in me, and hopefully that would be enough. It had to be.
Isaiah sat at the kitchen table, a mug of steaming coffee in front of him. He smiled when I walked in and got up to pour me a cup too.
“Ready?”
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br /> Accepting the mug, I gave him what I hoped was an encouraging smile. “As ready as I'll ever be.”
He had a lot riding on my success, too, and I worried what would happen if I failed him. As the alpha, he held all the responsibilities to the pack for making them whole once more. A task that was far beyond his capabilities. Which meant he needed me to help him. My fear was that the help he needed fell beyond my capabilities as well.
We ate a quick breakfast and finished clean up by the time the first streaks of light shot across the sky. My backpack had been filled with anything and everything I thought I might need the night before. I heard a few wolves howling in the distance.
“Do they know?”
He nodded. “I spoke with my new beta, Sam, last night. I can trust him. They will accompany us, at a distance, in case we are in any need of back up.”
Our hiking boots made soft footfalls on the pine needle covered path. The earthy smells rising from the loamy ground tickled my nose. At one point Isaiah reached out and grabbed my hand, giving it a quick squeeze before dropping it again. Our gazes bounced off each other before returning to the trail in front of us.
The trek to the stream both took more time than expected and yet seemed to be over in an instant. Walking right up to the shoreline, I stopped cold. Somehow the evil spirit had gained an advantage, making her first move before we arrived.
The stream bed lay in front of me, dry as a bone.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
How on Earth was I supposed to remove the spell from a stream that no longer existed? My eyes met Isaiah's, stunned. Defeat rolled through my body, my shoulders sagging towards the rocky stream bed. My chin felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. My nails dug into my palm, no doubt leaving tiny crescent shaped indentions.
“What the hell?!” I screamed my frustration into the air.
Isaiah grabbed my arm gently. “Hey. It's okay. We'll figure it out.”
“How, pray tell, will we figure it out? I've only got so much magic and so much ability.” I yanked my arm from his grasp and turned so my back faced him. “And so much time. I'm not cut out for this.”
As I studied the ground at my feet, mournful howls filled the air. They somehow knew that we had reached an obstacle we might not be able to overcome. My feeling of responsibility to them also reminded me that it wasn't about me. Their sorrow drove me to pull up my big girl panties and find my way out of my pity party.
I turned back to him once more. “Okay. I need to think. Maybe, if I draw in enough power, I can reverse the curse anyway. I have to at least try.”
Isaiah gave my arm an encouraging squeeze, but didn't say a word. He didn't have to. I saw in his eyes the faith he had in me. His belief in me is what drove me to want to be better, try harder, go further.
The second I began to pull on the latent power surrounding me, my vision dimmed and I found myself once more in the land of the wispy white mist. Unsure, at first, of whether I'd been transported to the safe, peaceful place or the place of frozen fear, I waited with bated breath. As a swath of mist wafted towards me, I reached out my hand and ran my fingers through it. A sigh of relief escaped when there was no biting cold to meet them.
“Leah...”
The voice from my first trip to this land of peace floated from the edges of my consciousness. Searching for the source of the words, I spun in a circle but saw nobody. I heard no footsteps or other sounds of anyone else being present.
“Leah.” This time the voice came from directly behind me.
As I turned, my aunt's form took shape in front of me, dropping me to my knees. “Aunt Aimee.”
The tears spilled over, and nothing could have stopped them from falling at that moment. To look upon her once again, even in this spectral form, drew emotion deeper than I could hope to control. The circumstances of the last few days haunted me. The guilt I felt for not coming to see her, and the sorrow of knowing that I never would again.
“Don't cry, child. There is no time for tears.”
“But, I miss you. I need you. I can't do this without you. Why didn't you ever tell me about all this? I feel like I am stuck trying to win a race that I didn't even know I had entered until all the other contestants were almost at the finish line!”
Her face remained stoic, no emotion showing. She inclined her head slightly, but gave no other indication that she had heard my pleas. When she began to speak again, it was not to answer my questions or allay my fears.
“Hidden here near the stream bed is a talisman. You must find it. It will aid you in your quest to reverse the curse. The dry steam bed is only an illusion. Reach out with your sight and you will be able to perform the spell.”
Her spirit floated over the ground, leading me to a gnarled tree trunk, long dead. Ivy in the deepest brown covered the majority of the stump. The color indicated it had long given up its hold on life, and yet it did not crumble at my touch. Shoving it to the side unearthed a small hollow within the wood.
At my aunt's encouragement, I reached in, feeling around blindly. My fingers brushed cold, cylindrical-shaped metal. Plucking it from its hiding place, I drew out a silver talisman on a heavy chain. Wrapping my hand around it, I turned to face her once more.
Instead, an empty clearing greeted me. She no longer stood at my back. “Aunt Aimee? Where are you? Please don't go yet. I need you!”
The tears continued to fall, but her image never returned to the glade. Pain tore through me, leaving my eyes squeezed shut and my jaw clenched. From a distance I heard someone calling my name, but couldn't bring myself to answer. As the voice got closer, it became more insistent.
“Leah. Leah. Are you all right?”
Slow blinks brought Isaiah's face into focus. For the first moment, all I could do was shake my head. My knuckled ached from holding my hands so tightly that blood leaked from the small cuts made by my fingernails. The ringing in my ears competed with his voice.
“Where did you go? One second you were talking, and then all of a sudden you were gone. Your body was here, but I could tell that you had left me. Nothing I said or did could get your attention. You scared the shit out of me.”
“I need to do the spell.”
With a struggle, and Isaiah's hands guiding me, I staggered to my feet and ignored his queries. Following the instructions, I'd read to the letter, I began to perform the incantation. To help power the magic, I drew power in from the forest around me as I spoke the words I worked so hard to perfect.
My voice grew hoarse, and tears continued to make tracks down my dirty cheeks. Wind began to howl through the trees. Clenching the talisman, I continued to repeat the lines of the ancient language, even as I felt the blood begin to leak from my nose and run a sticky trail onto my upper lip. Isaiah had backed away, leaving me no support when my knees gave out and slammed into the rocky ground.
Resting on all fours, I let the power of the sanctuary flow through me, drawing it in just to force it back out with each syllable I uttered. Only dying would stop me from removing the curse on this stream and the pack of wolves that gathered around me.
The exertion left me with chattering teeth, impeding my ability to make complete phrases, but I kept forcing the sounds through my bloody lips as I chanted them in my head. My skin felt like it had a million fire ants biting into it. Wolves began to howl all around me, joining their voices with the wind.
Just when I thought I had failed, that my magic wasn't strong enough, that I had let them all down, the wind abated. Silence stole through the creek bed. At the same time my arms gave out, I vomited blood, splashing the crimson over the pale pebbles in front of me. Then it was face first into the ground and lights out for me.
“Leah. Can you hear me?”
A low groan took the place of the response I'd meant to utter. The words were not working quite yet. Attempting a nod brought on sharp pain, stabbing through my frontal lobe, and I quickly cut that off as well.
“Uh-huh.” A whisper was all I could manage.
“Oh, thank the goddess. Don't you dare die on me.”
“Not. Dead,” I croaked.
His face swam into focus, his eyes replacing the stars that had been dancing across my vision. So far I could ascertain two things, that I remained in the land of the living, and I hadn't killed him either. Two tallies in the plus column.
Feeling weak as a wet dishrag, I made no rush to get up, in spite of the fact that the uneven ground below me killed my backside. It took a conscious effort to release the strain on my hands, loosening my grip. As I did, the talisman slipped from my fingers.
Isaiah batted it out of reach in alarm. “Where did you get that?”
Surprised as his reaction, it took a second for me to answer. “When I kind of got lost on you the first time, I ended up back at the glade I told you about. The one with the white mist everywhere? I saw my aunt. She guided me to the hiding place of the talisman. She told me it would help me to power the spell and reverse the curse.”
“No. No, no...” He shook his head as he spoke. “She lied to you. That talisman is the one the pack used to break the evil spirits' connection with the sanctuary and begin the removal of her mark so that they could overpower her.”
“What?” Shock echoed through me. “You must be mistaken. Why would she do that to me? She must know that I need my mark to perform the final spell to banish the spirit forever. I don't understand.”
Turning my left palm upward and wiping away the blood and dirt, it became obvious that what Isaiah had told me was true. The color of the birthmark beneath the scar tissue was fading away. Even the scar tissue itself had begun to sink back into the skin, becoming smooth once more.
“We can get it back. You can heal yourself, but you will have to activate your wolf genes to do it.”
“Wolf genes? What are you talking about?”
“The mark is only granted by the goddess to a very special person. That person must have both witch and werewolf genes. Such a hybrid is incredibly rare, because usually a werewolf can only mate with its own species, and if a pregnancy does result it is almost never carried to term.”
Crescent Marked: StarHaven Sanctuary Book One Page 14