I could see a glow reflecting off the clouds as if dawn neared. Lifting my arm, I realized a spool holding the tether rested on the last mark. The T-shaped metal tool held the tether in place, locking it to the spindle. Helene had stopped. Fear gripped my mind. Was there a problem? Would the final tether not come out? For the first time since she’d pulled the first tether from my arm, I doubted Helene’s strength and ability. Anger shot through me, and I yelled for Grady. Pushing myself to a sitting position, I shouted until I heard noises above my head.
Grady entered the kitchen. “For goodness sakes. Can’t anyone rest around here?”
“Can’t anyone do their job?” I lifted my arm.
“Helene was worried about the toll on your body. She was weakened too.”
“And what were you doing?”
“Everyone’s tired.”
“What were you doing?” I demanded again.
“Training Tyler.”
“Tyler can be trained after this is over. You need to lend your energy to Helene. We are sitting ducks here. The faster we get this finished, the sooner we can get help in rescuing Camille. Have you forgotten that your daughter is being held prisoner by an evil coven of witches?”
“No, I haven’t forgotten.” Grady hung his head.
“Is there a question as to whether Helene can finish this?”
“I can lend her my strength. I’ll go get her.”
“No need.” Helene’s voice traveled down the hall.
Wondering if Grady’s guilt from having shirked his responsibilities to his children distracted him from staying on task, I rested my head on the pillow.
“You best get Tyler too,” Helene said to Grady as she entered the room.
I heard him take the stairs, two at a time, and rap on a door. Within a few minutes, a groggy Tyler followed Grady into the kitchen.
“We can be on a plane by nightfall if we get this finished.” I shook my free arm and legs to get some adrenaline pumping through my body.
“Okay, lie still, son,” Helene instructed. “I need both of you—” she spun to look at Grady and Tyler “—to put a hand on each of my shoulders.” Scooting chairs toward her, the men obeyed. Her eyes pierced mine. “Jude, I need you to picture prying the tether’s end from your soul.”
“My soul?” I’d never pictured my soul, and it seemed like an ambiguous request. “Does the heart muscle work?”
“Wherever you’ve felt the tug, concentrate on that spot.”
I closed my eyes and tried to visualize. The thought of the tether’s tendrils around my beating heart made me sick. Shedding the image, I focused on the tether loosening its grip, much like I used mind control to alter the waiter’s or store clerk’s actions earlier in the week. Had it only been a week since I’d escaped from the compound? Not even, six days?
“Is it working?” I asked opening one eye to look at Helene.
“I’m having a hard time getting it moving.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s like it’s stuck.”
“Could someone be fighting you? Can they sense he’s trying to remove the brand?” Grady asked.
My mind raced. Could we win against the strength of Michael’s coven? “We’ve got to finish this fast. The quicker we can exert power, the less resources they’ll have devoted to blocking us.”
“He’s right,” Helene told them. “Channel all your energy to me.” She turned back to me. “You’ve got to push with all your might.”
I pictured Camille’s face and focused every bit of power on my heart. As I did, I felt the tendril blocking my energy. I doubled my efforts, but it felt like a brick wall in my chest.
“I can feel it. It’s like a vice around my heart.”
“Form a circle, one arm on me and one on Jude,” Helene said to Grady and Tyler.
Grady’s hand gripped my ankle, and Tyler put his on my shoulder. I refocused on the barrier in my rib cage and pictured the string wrapped around my heart. My heart rate increased, and I imagined the muscle pushing against the bindings. I felt the tether loosening, but a sharp pain shot up to my left shoulder and down to my left hand. The room grew dim, and my ears started ringing.
“Janine!” Grady yelled. “Janine.”
I saw a body, a silhouette of a human form, hands pressed to my chest depressing my sternum and releasing it.
“This is not worth it. You have to stop.” Janine’s words floated to my ears. “Just leave the last one in. We’ll find another way to get Camille out. Has anyone considered if there’s another way?”
No, they couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t stop fighting. We were almost there. The tether wouldn’t be fighting so hard if we weren’t close. Images started shooting through my thoughts: Mom, Dad, Nan, Pop, Camille.
“We’re losing him.” Janine stopped compressing my chest.
No, I thought again. Blocking out the vision of Camille’s form bobbing in the ocean, I put all my energy into one huge ball. Bam, I sent a jolt through my nervous system. My body went rigid, and a thump emitted from my chest. I’d done it. I was alive. Stop, focus, I told myself. Find the tether, and get it out.
Opening my eyes, I found Helene’s face. Lost in her chant, her eyes were clenched shut.
“Helene?”
Her eyes flew open. “Sweet Mother Earth, you must have nine lives.”
“Can we cut the tether?” Janine asked.
“No, it has to be extracted. There can’t be any pieces left behind.” Helene frowned as her eyes landed on me.
I closed my eyes and listened to my heartbeat. Picturing the blue glow of the tendril, I imagined my strong hands gripping it. “Pull the tether, Helene.”
“It will break,” she insisted.
“Do it now!” I poured all my might into ripping the strand from my heart muscle.
A blast of light shot through my vision, and everything went dark.
I woke to yelling.
“You almost killed that boy,” Janine shouted at Grady.
“That was seriously sick.” Tyler ran towards the restroom.
Looking to Helene, I saw her guide the last anchor with the tether wound round it into her special box.
“Is that all of it? Is it done?”
“That depends on how you feel.”
“I feel better.” I raised my torso. “Lighter, warmer.”
“Normal warm, or fever warm?”
“Normal.” I sat up straight.
Grady had corralled Janine to the corner of the room, and they spoke in hushed tones. I wondered if she worried about Camille undergoing the same process. At least when Camille’s brand would be extracted, she’d have time to take it slow. We’d figure out something for the pain. Wanting to give them privacy, I spun my legs to the floor. After a few seconds, I stood and, placing one foot before the other, made my way upstairs. In the bathroom, I started the shower. Letting the warm water roll over me, I thought through what needed to happen next.
I dressed and sat on the bed in a cross-legged yoga pose, relaxing all my muscles. If the barrier spell needed to be in place for a month or more, I wanted to get it right. Remembering the words and repeating them out loud, I secured Helene to the main and basement levels of the structure. I packed my one extra outfit in my backpack and headed downstairs.
“Someone’s ready to go,” Helene commented.
“If they could sense my tether, they might be able to locate us.”
Grady rubbed the back of his neck. “Didn’t think of that.”
“What will happen to me if they come once you’re gone?” Helene inquired.
“You’re safe. I spelled you inside this house and created a barrier spell. We’re the only witches that can get in.”
“Could you at least go get my cat for me?”
“No time.” My eyes landed on Grady. “You arranged food for her?”
“Yes, and I have the plane tickets.” He held his phone in the air.
“We should move then.”
/>
Wringing her hands, Janine stood and faced me. “My head is still spinning from you almost dying. You know your heart stopped. You had no pulse an hour ago. Maybe we should have you checked out at a hospital.”
I crossed to my shoes. “I’m fine. We need to go. You’re ready, right?”
“Come on, Mom, I’ll help you with your bag.” Tyler slung a pack on his back and picked up her bag.
A horn sounded. “That’s us.” Grady lifted his backpack.
I spun to face Helene, wondering if I could ever repay her. “Thank you. You don’t know how much your help means to me. I’m sorry I have to leave you like this.”
“It was an honor. You get that girl and bring her to me. I will take care of her.”
“I will. Thank you again.” I offered my hand to her, but she wrapped her arms around me.
“God bless you, child.”
The flight took over thirteen hours, but I was grateful it was direct. When we landed, the sun had passed its apex but still hung high in the sky. As we exited the airport, I stopped and closed my eyes, face to the sun.
“Happy to be home?” Janine asked.
“Yes, and happy to see the sun.”
We took a cab to my family’s safe house in the middle of the city. As we rode, I checked behind us to make sure we weren’t being followed. I directed the cabby to stop a few blocks from the residence.
“The city of angels. It’s good to be back,” Grady commented as we walked.
“Any significance for witches there?” I asked.
“It’s beautiful here. The vampires flocked here, and so did we.” He shrugged as I led them down the alley to a flight of stairs.
At the bottom, a thumb print and retinal scanner checked my identity, and the outer door opened. It slid shut behind us.
Tyler’s scanned the space. “Wow, this place is—”
“Smart,” Grady supplied.
“Oh, my heavens.” Nan’s hands went to her cheeks as Pop opened the door. “What did they do to you? You look so thin.”
“Nothing some home-cooked meals can’t fix.” I wrapped my arms around her, giving her a good squeeze.
“Let them in, dear.” Pop stepped to one side of the hall. “You guys must be exhausted. Come on in.” He ushered everyone to the main room.
After introductions, they showed us to our bunks.
“Only two rooms, but we had some extra beds brought in.” Pop opened the door to a room with bunk beds on two of the walls.
“The bathroom is down the hall.” Nan switched on the light. “Blankets and towels in the closet.”
“Thank you.” Janine set her bag beside one of the bunks.
We stowed our luggage and met in the main hall.
“Eager to get to work, eh?” Pop asked.
“We slept on the plane. Time is crucial.” I turned over my arm. “It took a week to get this off. We have to find these two special witches as soon as possible.”
Pop sat down on one of the sofas. “Well, how can I help?”
“Do you have connections? Witches you trust? Have you heard any rumors about anything out of the ordinary?”
“We’ve kept to ourselves for a long time. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Do you recognize the name Chalondra? She is a seer and posed as a fortune teller at a bookstore owned by vampires.”
“Chalondra?” Pop looked to Nan.
“She’s very old, survived the Salem witch trials,” I supplied.
“All of us new world witches that are still around did.” Pop chuckled.
“If we find the vampires she was friends with, maybe they’ll lead us to someone who knows where she is. Their leader is Fahim. He owned the bookstore. He’s the oldest vampire in the area.”
I grabbed the laptop from the desk and started a search for independent bookstores. Finding a website listing locally owned shops, I typed in Los Angeles and specified a ten-mile radius. The search produced twenty, but ruling out children’s and campus bookstores brought the count to fourteen.
“We can knock this out in a day if we split up.” I sent the document to the printer.
Grady shook his head. “We’re not splitting up. It’s too dangerous. It’s risky to be out at all.”
“We wore these special bracelets in Iceland. They blocked our magic. If we used those, we could wear hats and be anybody.” Clicking through several websites, I found a local store that carried the stone bracelets. “There’s a store that’s not far.”
Pop tapped his knuckles on the coffee table. “We have a delivery guy. He can get you anything you need in half a day. But, unregistered vampires are dangerous blokes.”
“I can handle a vampire or two. Here.” I wrote down what we needed from the jewelry shop. “Can you give the delivery guy this information? Maybe we can knock at least four off the list tomorrow.”
“You all have to be tired and hungry. Why don’t you freshen up, and I’ll make some dinner?” Nan rose to her feet.
The others retired to the sleeping quarters, but I followed Nan and Pop to the kitchen.
“You should go see your mom before you disappear again,” Nan told me, opening the fridge.
“Did you tell her I was coming back? I’m not sure I can spare the time right now. I guess I could give her a call.”
“You know she doesn’t like to use technology.”
I leaned in close to them as they started to prep for the meal. “I know what she is,” I whispered.
“Well, then you know what challenges she faces.” Pop set six steaks on a grilling pan.
“I’m not sure I fully understand, but at least I get it a little more.”
Nan grabbed a pot from the cabinet. “They don’t know?”
“It’s complicated. Grady’s parents were killed by a group…” I let the words hang in the air.
“Well, it’s your story. We will honor that.” Pop closed the oven and picked up a couple of potatoes. “You need a coven though.”
“I was hoping I could join yours.”
Pop stopped chopping midway through the potato and set the knife on the countertop. “I’d be honored.”
We stood in a circle in the middle of the kitchen. Pop, then Nan, made a slice on their palms, and I followed suit. Letting the blood pool in a bowl, we took turns drinking. Pop recited the coven-binding incantation, and my chest surged with warmth.
“Thank you.” I hugged Nan and then Pop.
“I’m guessing it was a little different when they initiated you into Michael’s coven.” Pop went back to cutting the potatoes.
“It felt like a cold block of lead hung around my neck. I can’t fathom how Dad did it.” I found a pot and started to fill it with water.
Nan wound her arm around my shoulders. “He was protecting you.”
I’d never felt Dad thought about me in any decision he made. It always seemed like everything he did, he did for himself. Perhaps Nan was right. I prayed Dad hadn’t aligned himself with Sonia. Shaking off the thoughts, I pitched in, helping prep the vegetables and sear the steaks. Nan baked fresh bread, and the smell of the home-cooked meal reminded me how safe I felt with them.
As we sat in the living room after the meal, the lethargy from filling our stomachs getting the best of us, Pop spoke up. “So, you guys know anything about fighting vampires?”
“Who said anything about fighting vampires?” Janine stuffed her hands under her legs.
“Well, you’re going looking for them. They usually run in packs.” Pop moved to the front of his seat.
Tyler leaned forward. “Okay, so how do we fight vampires?”
“You do not.” Grady pointed at him. “You run, and Jude and I will fight them if things go south. Strong vampires have the power to rip your head from your shoulders, and their venom will incapacitate you in seconds.”
“Of course, vampires really have fangs and venom. Is there anything pop culture got wrong?” Tyler stood and paced to the wall.
“The sparkl
y thing.” Nan laughed.
“They’re fast and beguiling. Can never be too careful around them.” Pop put in.
“All I have to do is burst every blood vessel in their brain, swing a hatchet across their neck, run a post through a chest. Witch, one. Vampire, zero.” I crossed to stand beside Tyler.
“Until they heal. Plus—” Grady started.
Janine stood. “I can’t listen to this anymore.”
“Would you like a glass of wine, dear?” Nan asked.
“That would be wonderful.”
I pushed off the bookcase I’d been leaning on. “Tomorrow we’ll start with the list of bookstores. I need a workout.”
Heading to our sleeping quarters, I grabbed my clothes and changed. It’d been a week since I’d done any cardio, and I needed to be in shape. The bunker included a small room with a treadmill and a couple of weight machines, and I jogged until I couldn’t any more.
I rose early to run and lift before the others woke. After I showered, I made my way to the kitchen.
“I have eggs just the way you like them.” Nan held a plate out to me.
I kissed her cheek. “Thanks for hosting all of us.”
The eggs made me think of Camille and how she’d always save some for me when she had breakfast duty. I sat down at the table opposite Pop.
“The delivery man said he’d have your order by noon.”
“Great, thanks.”
I hated waiting. After a few hours of training with Tyler, I grew tired of sparring and retreated to the workout room again. When the bell rang, I ran to the entryway.
Pop shooed me away. “You get out of here.”
As soon as he closed the door, I approached again.
“Here you go.” He handed me the bag.
“Okay.” I turned to the group, who’d assembled in the hall behind me. “Wear one on each arm. Let’s get some lunch and head out.” I fit my bracelets in my pockets and handed the bag to Grady.
Kingdom of Honor (Kingdom Journals Book 3) Page 6