The Fourth Soul: (Cards of Death book 4)

by Tamara Geraeds

  “Don’t you see?” I say, taking back the incense stick. “Everything is fine until I try to cast the spell.”

  To demonstrate, I start walking inside the circle again. “Tra…” I splutter as I try to force the rest of the spell out. Bile rises in my throat.

  “See?” I wheeze. “I can’t do it. I can’t say the words.”

  Charlie squats down to examine the circle and pentagram. They are quickly disappearing now. “They must have protected the mine somehow.” He meets Vicky’s eyes. “I created a magic free zone for Paul not too long ago. Could this be the same thing?”

  Maël shakes her head. “No, Dante just conjured lightning here. It has to be some other form of protection.”

  “Can we undo it?”

  We all look at Vicky, who throws up her hands. “Hey, don’t look at me, I know about spells, but not much about evil ones.”

  Taylar walks back into the tunnel. His voice echoes around us. “I’ve got a better idea.” He spreads his arms. “What if we place the trap here? We can create it wherever we like, right?”

  With a grin, I squat in the circle and put as much of the concoction as I can back into my bowl. “Okay, let’s try this again.”

  I draw a new circle and pentagram and light the incense stick again.

  “Trap all demons, young and old,

  make their powers dead and cold.”

  Taylar’s grin widens while I repeat the spell and spread the smoke.

  When I’m done, I hand the incense back to Vicky. “Now all we have to do is hide the trap.”

  She hands me another bowl. “I’m way ahead of you, babe.”

  Instead of taking the bowl from her, I pull her closer and kiss her.

  “Those demons could come back any minute, you know,” Charlie mumbles, just loud enough for us to hear.

  I pull myself away from Vicky. “Right. Concentrate.”

  Since I don’t remember the exact words of the cloaking spell, I pull my Book of Spells from behind my waistband and flip through it. I hand the open book to Vicky and memorize the words before stepping into the circle.

  Vicky lights a candle and hands it to me. I hold the bowl above it.

  She pushes my hand down a bit. “Not too fast.”

  After a minute or so, green smoke billows up from the mixture. I exchange the candle for a wooden spoon from Vicky’s pocket to grind it together some more.

  “Shadows, shadows, come to me.

  Surround this so only we can see.”

  I sprinkle the grinded herbs onto the circle and pentagram while I repeat the spell.

  After a quick look at the book, I continue.

  “Wanted by evil, dark as night,

  I cloak this circle in magic’s light.

  Make it unseen, from left to right.

  Invisible from any height.

  Wrap the shadows all around.

  Block all motion, touch and sound.

  Keep it out of every fight.

  Hide it now from evil’s sight.”

  I wait until the shadows unwrap themselves from the walls. It seems to take a long time, and I squint at the words in my book again, making sure I didn’t screw up somewhere.

  After an agonizing silence, I bite my lip. “It didn’t work. Why didn’t it work?”

  Charlie paces up and down the entrance between Maël and Jeep, who are still watching the forest and road. “Maybe because you created two circles with the same mixture?”

  “Or…” Jeep says. With his eyes glued to the trees below, he moves his hands rapidly. After only a few seconds, he drops his arms and looks back at us. The hint of panic in his eyes worries me.

  “Dante,” he says, “would you mind conjuring a lightning bolt?”

  “Sure.” I raise my hand and nudge my power core.

  Nothing happens.

  “Sorry, I’m too tired, I guess.”

  Jeep just shakes his head and turns to Charlie. “Can you shoot some grease at the wall?”

  My best friend nods and with a quick flip of his wrist, he throws… nothing at all.

  I swallow the panic rising in my throat. “Please tell me you’re out of energy.”

  Charlie doesn’t answer. Instead, he keeps flicking his wrist. His movements are getting more frantic with every try until he holds out his hand to Vicky. “Do you have any more of those chocolate bars?”

  Without a word, she digs into her pocket and hands him one.

  He munches it down in half a minute, cracks his neck and takes a deep breath. With his eyes on the rocks beside me, he thrusts his hands forward.

  Nothing shoots out of them.

  A long silence follows in which we all just stare at each other.

  “This is bad, guys,” I say eventually. “Really bad.”

  CHAPTER 12

  “Gone? What do you mean, gone?”

  I look up from my spell book on the kitchen table. “I don’t think our powers are actually gone,” I correct Taylar. “I mean they’ve left our bodies, obviously, but that doesn’t mean they’re destroyed. I have a feeling they’re lingering around somewhere close.”

  My gaze shifts from the white-haired ghost to Charlie and Jeep. “Right? You feel it too, don’t you?”

  To my relief, they both nod.

  D’Maeo folds his hands together. “So they’re lost. We need a return spell.”

  I nod feverishly and bend over my book again. “That’s what I was looking for.”

  “Ahem.” Mom clears her throat. “I don’t want to… I mean, I don’t know much about magic yet, but…”

  “Go on, it’s fine,” Mona urges her.

  “Well… with your powers gone, or blocked, you can’t cast a spell, can you?”

  My shoulders sag as her words sink in.

  Then a thought hits me. “D’Maeo, you’re a Mage too, and you haven’t lost your powers. You never stepped into the trap. You can cast the spell!”

  He scrunches up his face. “I’m afraid I was never very good at spells.”

  “Well, it’s never too late to learn,” I say, jotting my finger down on my book. “Here’s the spell.”

  When he doesn’t move, I stand up, walk around the table and place the book in front of him. “Consider it an order, if you must.”

  He nods grimly. “Of course, master. But may I fill you in on what can happen when a spell goes awry?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Anything.”

  “Anything?”

  “Yes, anything can happen when you let someone without the talent for spells perform one.”

  “Works for me.” I walk back to my chair. “Anything is better than nothing.”

  Jeep rubs the tattoos on his arm. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

  “What other choice do we have?”

  When there’s no answer, I gesture at D’Maeo. “Go ahead.”

  Mona gets up and washes the bowls we’ve brought back. “I’ll help you. It’ll be fine.”

  “Crush the chamomile and valerian and pour water onto it,” D’Maeo reads. “It says to pour it into a jar where you hold the power until it returns to its owner. Can you change that part, Dante?”

  “Oh, right.” I walk back to him, look at the second part of the spell and take the pen that Vicky hands me.

  I quickly put in a note for myself and write the new paragraph under it.

  Vicky reads over my shoulder and points at the first part of the spell. “Maybe you should change that too. It says, ‘separate them from the skin’, but I don’t think our powers went to someone else.”

  I tap the pen against my lips. “Good point. Let me think.”

  While I rewrite the spell, D’Maeo and Mona prepare the herbs.

  “Ready?” the old ghost asks when I put down the pen.

  “Are you? You’re the one who has to cast the spell.”

  “Some practice would’ve been nice, but there’s no time
for that. So let’s get started.”

  I return to my chair, and we all watch with anticipation as D’Maeo picks up the book and pulls back his shoulders.

  “Powers taken with intent,

  take them back from where they went.

  Set them free and make them rise,

  send them to me through the skies.”

  Six glowing balls shoot out of the ceiling and bounce up and down as if they’re attached to strings and someone is trying to pull them back up.

  When D’Maeo repeats the words, the lights stop moving and stay suspended above the kitchen table.

  “I knew you could do it!” I call out.

  “We’re not there yet,” the old ghost says calmly before he continues.

  “Powers taken back to me,

  cut free from the enemy.

  Stay in here until you see

  the place where you’re supposed to be.”

  For a moment, I fear that the spell has gone wrong. The balls of light writhe and bump into each other. One drops down but seems to change its mind and soars back up, pushing another one out of the way. They all circle around each other, and then, finally, they split up and make their way to the person they belong to. We hold our breaths as a light hovers above each of our heads.

  Then they all sweep down at the same time and fly into our mouths. I shiver as energy spreads through my body.

  Jeep burps. “Delicious power.”

  With a relieved smile, D’Maeo closes the book while Mona pats him on the back. “Well done.”

  While I wait for my power to settle back in, Taylar lets out an astonished cry. “Wow! Look!” He pushes his chair back with force. His fingertips sparkle with lightning.

  I cheer and give him a high five. “Yeah! The spell has woken up your power!”

  “Finally!” he exclaims.

  D’Maeo has a hesitant expression on his face.

  “Try yours,” he says.

  “Okay.” I rub my hands together and reach for the buzz inside me. Something easy first, a lightning bolt.

  Energy courses through my body, and I close my eyes to enjoy the feeling for a moment. But when I open them again, my hands are still empty. I nudge the heck out of my power core, but nothing happens.

  “I don’t understand.” I raise my hands to study them, turn them round and round, shake them and try again.

  Still nothing.

  Charlie puts away his pack of crisps. His gaze locks onto the mosquito that hovers above the table. He flicks his wrist, but no gel shoots out. His shoulders sag, and he drops back into his chair. “It didn’t work.”

  I look at Taylar, playing around with a ball of lightning in his hands, and suddenly, a thought hits me.

  “Wait a minute…” I bend closer to the middle of the table.

  There it is, the mosquito. It’s stuck in the air, frozen in time.

  “No way…” I breathe.

  Charlie pushes his bag of crisps aside. “What?”

  Before I can explain, there’s a loud bang on the back door.

  We react like a bunch of scared little kids watching a horror movie, shrieking and jumping to our feet.

  Mom hides behind me.

  “Relax,” Mona scolds us. “They can’t get in.”

  She hasn’t even finished her sentence when the back door flies open. An army of skinless men dressed in rags, and animal-shaped bundles of bones, some still with a bit of fur attached, pour into the kitchen. They growl and bump into the furniture.

  “Those are not demons, are they?” Mom asks, barely audible.

  “Sorry, sorry!” Jeep yells over the racket they make. “I must have accidentally woken them when my power returned. I’ll send them back.”

  He gestures frantically, but the skeletons keep coming. They seem to be moving toward me, their heads tilted as if they’re listening intently.

  “Something’s wrong,” Jeep says, moving his hands left and right. “They’re not obeying.”

  Mom has taken shelter behind Mona, who looks as startled as Jeep and the others do.

  I tear my gaze away from them and imitate Jeep’s hand movements. It’s hard, because he moves so fast, but the zombies react instantly. I have no idea what I’m doing, which results in the skeleton army racing around the table, scaring Mom even more.

  “How do you make them stop?” I yell at Jeep.

  He moves his hand up and makes a sort of horizontal cutting motion.

  As soon as I do the same, the undead stop moaning and collapse. Bones are scattered around the kitchen.

  CHAPTER 14

  Jeep watches with his mouth open. His gaze slowly moves from the bodies on the floor to me. “You’ve got my power?”

  I shrug. “Looks like it.”

  D’Maeo presses his hand against his forehead. “I knew it.”

  Taylar drops back into his seat with a defeated expression on his face. “So, my power didn’t wake up at all. I’ve got Dante’s.”

  “Charlie has mine,” Maël says, nodding at the mosquito that unfreezes and drops onto the table in a daze.

  Vicky closes her eyes in concentration, then opens them with a sigh. “Mine is still blocked.”

  Jeep nods. “Mine too.”

  Charlie throws his pack of crisps to Jeep. “Try some, then flick your wrist, like this.” He demonstrates the move a couple of times.

  “You should try too,” I say to Maël and Vicky. “One of you must have Charlie’s power.”

  Mona opens a cupboard and throws them both a cookie. “Will that do?”

  Charlie shakes his head. “You’ll need more than that to make it work.”

  Jeep is already digging into the crisps while Maël stares at her cookie with disgust.

  “Anything greasy works,” Charlie offers. “You can have chocolate, if you like.”

  “Maël doesn’t eat,” D’Maeo says.

  Jeep pushes the empty packet away from him. “I’ll try first.”

  He aims for the back door and flicks his wrist. Nothing happens.

  “My turn,” Vicky says, munching on a third cookie. She swallows and grins at me. “Good thing these won’t make me fat.”

  She flexes her left wrist, and then her right. “Nope.”

  All eyes turn to Maël again, who digs into the cookies with a heavy sigh.

  After the second one, she gives it a try, but nothing happens.

  Taylar frowns. “How is this possible? Someone must have Charlie’s power, right? There were six balls of light.”

  “Eat another cookie,” Charlie suggests.

  Maël chews quickly as if every second of eating is a punishment. She wipes the crumbs from her lips and flexes her wrist.

  A ball of gel flies through the kitchen. It hits the wall and slides down slowly.

  Charlie cheers. “See? That’s it. With some practice, you can build walls in no time.”

  “Wonderful,” she mumbles.

  I’ve never seen her so disgruntled.

  Vicky turns to Jeep. “You must have my power.”

  “Try it on Maël,” I suggest with a grin.

  Jeep walks around the table and looks Maël in the eye. Slowly, her displeased look changes into a smile.

  “Yes!” he exclaims. “I’ve always wanted this power.”

  “You’ll need some practice though,” I say, pointing at Maël, whose mouth has fallen back into an irritated state again.

  Jeep apparates back to his regular spot at the table.

  “I guess you have Taylar’s,” he says to Vicky.

  “Which is no power at all,” the white-haired ghost replies.

  Vicky reaches out to him. “Yes, it is. You said it yourself. There were six balls of light. Your power is just blocked.”

  Taylar’s eyes grow wide. “Hey, maybe you can get it to work!”

  Vicky smiles. “I’ll certainly try.”

  D’Maeo is pushing his fingers into his t
emples so hard I have a feeling they’ll go right through his skull any second.

  “I’m sorry, everyone. I tried.”

  I move my hands carefully, trying to raise the skeletons again and make them walk out of the kitchen. “Don’t worry about it. At least we have our powers back. We’ll try to fix it later. If Taylar and Maël practice their temporary powers, they might be able to cast the spell again.”

  Charlie nods tensely. “We should train our new powers as much as we can before we have to fight again, you know.”

  The skeleton at my feet rises but collapses again a second later. With a sigh, I drop my hands. “I agree, but I think we should focus on the Cards of Death first. Or on another way of finding the soul we have to save.”

  “And on dinner,” Charlie replies.

  My stomach rumbles. “Right.”

  Mona jumps to her feet. “I’m on it!”

  Mom joins her at the kitchen counter. “I’ll help.”

  Taylar and I set the table in silence. Maël wants to protest when I put a plate in front of her, but Charlie opens his mouth before she can. “You have to eat, or your power won’t work.”

  I try not to frown at her discontent expression. I’ll have to ask her sometime why she’s so against eating. Right now, we’ve got other things to worry about.

  The mood lightens a bit once we start our late dinner. It’s no wonder, considering the taste of the fish tacos with mango salsa.

  “Did you put magic in here?” I ask Mona, wiping my mouth.

  She seems to glow even more than usual when she meets my eye. “Maybe.”

  Maël shivers, but I decide to ignore it.

  “I think she did,” Vicky responds, picking up a second taco, “because I just had an idea.”

  All heads turn to her, but she takes her time with the taco.

  “This really is delicious, Mona.”

  “It wasn’t just me,” my fairy godmother says. “Susan helped. She put a lot of love in it.”

  I grin when I see Mom’s cheeks heat up.

  “So, what’s your idea, Vick?” I ask, licking the salsa from my fingers.