My throat tightened. This wasn’t fair. Kalisa had brought Anna back. She should have been fine during the spell. It had nothing to do with her. It was my blood that was needed, and my magic that had been used. She’d only been my coach through the thing.
Why the hell was she dead?
“Piper, you have to snap Jasper out of it so Anna can say her goodbyes this time.” Tristan’s words were soft, but his meaning wasn’t. The tears I’d been fighting to hold back released.
“Okay,” I whispered.
I inched toward Jasper unsure how I would be able to snap him out of his trance-like state. I’d never seen him appear so devastated and broken. Not even when we found out our parents were dead.
When I reached him, I did they only thing I could think to—I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight.
Seconds ticked away before his whispered words ceased, and he froze in his rocking movements.
“Piper?” His voice cracked when he spoke.
“Yeah,” I answered, trying to keep the emotions I was drowning in from leaking into my tone. “It’s me.”
“I thought I’d lost you.” His big arms wrapped around me, squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe. “God, I thought I lost you.”
“Nah. You didn’t lose me.”
“Anna, is she all right too?” He tore himself from my hold and glanced to where she’d been lying.
“You didn’t lose me either, not really,” Anna said. The same sad smile she’d given me stretched across her face as she held my brother’s gaze.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
I slid back to where Tristan was and curled into his side, allowing them to have the moment Anna had wanted and one I knew my brother would desperately need. Silent tears tracked down my cheeks as I listened to their conversation. When Anna broke the news of her death, I watched my brother break apart all over again.
“It was the rock,” Anna whispered. “It kept me tangible. That’s another one of its abilities.”
I held it up. It was dull and lifeless, cold to the touch.
“But I gave my breath and soul. I gave a piece of myself to have you back.” Jasper sobbed. “I should get to keep you forever.”
“You can still keep me forever, Jasper. Right here.” She pointed to his heart.
“That’s not enough.” He shook his head. “We can go to Kalisa again. I’ll have her bring you back for a second time, only this time I’ll make sure she takes more of my essence.”
“No. Don’t bring me back again. It’s my time. I can’t keep avoiding it.”
The vein in my brother’s neck stuck out as his face reddened. “I should have never allowed you to come on this trip. I should have done everything in my power to make you stay home.”
“I’m glad I came.” Her eyes lifted to lock with his. “Because, if not, then we wouldn’t have ever been given a second chance to love one another. I love you, Jasper.”
“It isn’t worth it. Not if this is the way things end.”
“Stop. Listen to me.” Anna blinked in an out of existence. “You have to find the mirror and get it to Kalisa. She’ll be able to be the bridge between the magic and the dragons.”
“No.” Jasper’s jaw clenched. He shook his head.
“Jasper, you have to. You have to follow through with this. Get the dragons their magic. You gave them your word. I know how much that means to you.”
“Not anymore,” he spat. “Not after this.”
“Don’t let everything we went through be for nothing. Don’t let my death be for nothing. Make it all count, Jasper. Please. For me.” She brushed her lips against his. I wasn’t sure if my brother could feel it, but I liked to think he could.
“Okay, I will,” he breathed.
“And Piper?” Anna shifted her attention to me.
“Yeah?”
“Tell Kalisa I said thank you,”
“I will.”
“No! Anna, please don’t go.” Jasper wept.
”Take care of him for me. He’s gonna need you to get through this,” she said.
“Always.”
“I love you, Anna.” Jasper reached for her, but his fingertips brushed right through her.
“I love you too,” she whispered before she flickered away.
Chapter 18
An ache built in my chest as I stared at my brother through blurry, tear-filled eyes. For a long while, he didn’t seem to move, much less breathe. The heartache I felt was horrible, but I could only imagine the pain my brother was in. Anna was the love of his life. When he finally forced himself into a standing position, he startled me. There was something about his gaze that felt unsettling. It was blank and distant as he glanced around the room. Was he looking for Anna?
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“We have to find the mirror.” His voice was a low growl that had the fine hairs along the back of my neck standing on end.
“Okay.”
I didn’t argue with him, and I damn sure didn’t tell him it was something that could wait because I realized the calculating look in his eyes was determination. Jasper had made a promise to Anna, and he intended to keep it. My brother always kept his word.
“Let’s go.” I wiped my tears away and forced myself to stand. The sooner we found the mirror, the sooner we could get out of here.
“Okay, yeah. Let’s go.” Tristan scratched the back of his neck as he stood.
“It’s not in here.” Jasper motioned to the courtyard. “I’ve already looked.”
“You sure?” I wasn’t questioning his skills; I was just double-checking.
“Yeah, there isn’t a mirror in here. Removing the cloak from the house should’ve put things to their original state. If the mirror had been in here, it would be visible.”
“Then let’s try the door at the top of the stairs,” Tristan suggested.
I nodded but didn’t speak. Leaving Anna behind felt wrong. I still hadn’t been able to process the fact she hadn’t truly been with us since leaving Kalisa’s shop.
Anna had sounded real. She’d felt real. It didn’t seem possible she’d been a tangible ghost the entire time. Then again, we’d just been trapped in a magically cloaked house seconds before that defied logic. Anything was possible in the supernatural world. I needed to remember that.
The three of us started up the stairs. Anxiety prickled across my skin as we neared the rustic door waiting at the top. What if when we stepped through we realized the cloak hadn’t been broken? What would we do? Anna was gone, and the orange rock seemed tapped out. There was hardly any color left to it.
Jasper gripped the metal knob. He glanced back at Tristan and me before twisting it. “If you feel something, say so. If you notice a mirror, doesn’t matter the size, say so. Understood?”
“Yeah, understood,” Tristan said while I nodded in reply.
“Okay.” Jasper swung the door open. “Jesus,” he growled.
I craned my neck to look around him. A shiver slipped through me at the sight of a familiar living room. We were back in the pea green room.
“Let’s search the sea of green for a mirror again,” Jasper insisted as he stepped further inside.
Ten minutes passed without any luck. There wasn’t a mirror here. Nothing new had been revealed.
Tristan stepped up to the statue that had acted as a lever before, opening the passage inside the fireplace. His gaze fixated on mine and he arched a brow.
“Wanna see if it was part of the cloak or if it was real?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
My heart pounded as I watched him tip the statue back. What would it mean if the passage opened again? My breath hitched in my throat as I waited for the sound of stone grinding against stone. When nothing happened, my shoulders relaxed and I found it easy to breathe again.
The passage hadn’t been real, it was just another part of the cloak.
“Bummer,” Tristan muttered. He released his hold on the statue. It
wobbled before growing still, sending the clanking sound of metal against stone through the room.
“I don’t think there’s anything here,” I insisted.
“Me either.” Jasper extended his arms, pointing to the two possible exits. “Which way should we go?”
“Let’s go with the sliding double doors,” I suggested, knowing he wasn’t in the mood for Tristan or me to answer with anything less than an actual answer.
Without saying if he agreed or disagreed, my brother marched to the double doors and pushed them wide open without an ounce of hesitation. The movement was swift and harsh. It had a sense of coldness rippling off him I didn’t like. I understood what he’d been through, and while I didn’t think he should sweep his feelings beneath a rug and forget about them, I didn’t think he should be so angry either.
“The dining room.” Tristan sighed. “Wish it was a room we hadn’t already been through.”
“I’m sure there’ll be others. I don’t think we made it through too many before Anna figured everything out.” Jasper winced when he said her name as though it were painful.
My heart broke all over again for him. Heck, it broke for her too. I swallowed hard to keep the tears threatening to spill from my eyes at bay. There would be plenty of time to cry for Anna later, once we’d completed what we’d set out to do.
I cleared my throat and began to scan the room. There was nothing here. Paintings hung on the walls, but no mirror. Tension pressed into me from all sides. I knew it stemmed from my brother.
“Well, at least we know we didn’t miss anything on the first go around of these rooms,” I said.
“Good way to look at it.” Tristan flashed me a smile I knew was supposed to be encouraging, but it only made the tension multiply.
Jasper crossed the room and opened the next set of sliding doors without uttering a word. A kitchen rested on the other side.
The bright green from the previous two rooms had splashed into this area as well, only in the form of decorations. A vase with flowers, a frame for a small painting, a basket holding fruit—even the fabric of the chairs at the breakfast table were the same hideous pea soup color. Everything else was black and white.
Tristan stepped to the refrigerator and jerked the double doors open. He rummaged through the contents.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. Food should be the last thing on his mind.
He glanced over his shoulder at me. “I’m hungry. Thought I’d check out what they had. They’ve got some lunchmeat. Want a slice?”
My stomach growled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten. Heck, I didn’t even know the time of day. For all I knew, we could have been trapped inside the maze of that cloak for hours or days.
“Get out of there,” Jasper insisted. “We can eat after we find the mirror and get out here.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it that long,” Tristan whined as he closed the fridge.
“Try,” I snapped, even though I wasn’t sure I could make it either.
Tristan opened his mouth to say something in response, but closed it the second a moan sounded from the door behind him. “I think someone’s in the pantry.” He motioned toward the door.
I held my breath as I listened, hoping we’d imagined the noise. A thud sounded behind the closed door, causing me to jump.
“Yeah, someone is definitely in there,” Tristan whispered.
Jasper grabbed a knife from the butcher block on the counter and started toward the door. There was a hard set to his jaw and a darkness reflected in his eyes. He was a man on a mission and whoever was behind the door was about to wish they’d kept quiet.
I steeled my back and prepared myself for someone to dart out the second he swung the door open. No one did. In fact, nothing happened when Jasper opened the door. I shifted to peek around him hoping to see who it was, but only saw canned goods and jars of pasta sauce.
“I figured it was you,” Jasper grumbled, not sounding the least bit surprised.
Who was he talking to? After a few steps forward, Liam came into view.
He was slouched down on the pantry floor. His face was still battered and bruised from the beating my brother had given him earlier. Looking at him turned my stomach. From the odd angle of his nose, I knew it had to be broken, and the puffiness of his left cheek had me thinking his cheek bone was fractured as well.
“Trust me, lad. I was trying to be quiet until you blokes left.” Liam’s words were muddled from his fat bottom lip, but still easy enough to make out.
“It would have been in your best interest,” Jasper ground out. “Have you remembered where the mirror is?”
A smile pulled at Liam’s grotesque face. “I already told you, I don’t know where your precious mirror is.”
Jasper slammed the pantry door shut and tossed his knife on the counter. He spun around, locking his intense gaze on me. “Which one?” He pointed to the door along the far wall, the one behind me.
“This one,” I said. I pointed to the one closest to me.
“Let’s go,” he insisted, barely missing me with his shoulder as he passed.
The door I chose led us back to where we’d began—the foyer. Only, this time, the menacing darkness was absent. Instead, bright light filtered into the space from large windows along the walls flanking the front door. My eyes moved to the intricate chandelier suspended above our heads next. It shimmered in the sunlight, sending a twinkling of light across the walls. This house was stunning, no one could deny it. Each room was something worthy of being photographed, even if you didn’t happen to like the shade of pea green.
My eyes drifted, taking in the smaller details of the space we were standing in. A staircase behind us caught my attention. Dark wood gleamed in the light cascading through the windows. There was a central staircase that split into two directions at the top, and hung on the wall between them was a large mirror with the most interesting wooden frame I’d ever seen.
Chapter 19
Warmth radiated through my body as my heart rate kicked up a notch.
“Is that what I think it is?” Tristan asked.
“I think so.”
“It was right where we started all along.” Bitterness laced my brother’s words. I understood why, but I also knew the mirror’s location didn’t change anything.
Even if we had spotted it upon first entering the house, things still would have played out the same way. Anna would still be dead.
My feet started forward as I became sucked in by the mirror itself. The thing had caused so much pain for so many and taken the lives of my parents, but yet in this moment, I found it beautiful.
The tips of my fingers grazed the wooden frame, touching the etched out dragons. Warmth pulsed into my fingertips, the dragon magic reaching out. Movement inside the mirror caught my attention. My breath stilled in my chest because it was Tristan, but it wasn’t.
Blueish scales protruded from his forehead. They wrapped around the crown of his head and trailed down his neck. Tiny spikes in various shades of gray and blue formed rows along them. His eyes were the brightest shade of gray I’d ever seen them, and his lips had turned blue.
Tristan was a dragon.
I glanced behind me to confirm what I was seeing, but found him as I’d always known him—a guy. Blue hair, gray eyes, smooth skin. He was just Tristan. I blinked and shifted to look through the mirror again. A dragon with Tristan’s featured stared back.
Tristan was a dragon, but only in the mirror.
My thoughts raced. Was this a reflection of his dragon? Was it his dragon magic showing him what he could be once it was set free?
Seconds later, Tristan stood at my side. His gaze was glued to the vision in the mirror of his dragon self. I thought to ask if he saw something similar to what I did, but knew it was true. The expression on his faced told me he was sucked in by the sight of his true form.
As I continued to stare at the stunning image reflected in the mirror something
directly behind him caught my eye—wings.
Tristan had wings.
They were bright blue trimmed in gray, reminding me of the ocean during a storm.
“Wow.” Tristan blinked. “I’m a dragon.”
He twisted around using the mirror to check out his wings, it revealed a series of large blue spikes protruding from his spine and across his shoulders.
“Holy crap.” I was shocked by their size. “They look like dinosaur teeth.”
“They do. Jesus, I have dinosaur teeth growing out of my back.”
“Not yet, you don’t,” Jasper insisted. I flinched at the sound of my brother’s voice, not realizing how close he was. Tristan’s dragon form had blocked him in the reflection of the mirror. “We have to figure out how to get the magic into you first.” He moved to step in front of Tristan and pulled at the sides of the mirror.
I understood he wanted to finish what we’d come for, but I wanted to stare at Tristan’s beautiful natural form. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d always wanted to meet a dragon. Now, I could finally say I had.
Heck, I could even say I was dating one.
Jasper positioned himself in front of me, blocking the majority of my view of Tristan. He gripped the sides of the mirror and jerked, but nothing happened. He repositioned his grip and tried again. Nothing. The mirror wasn’t budging.
“It’s like it’s fused to the damn wall,” Jasper grunted as he tugged on the mirror with all his strength.
I took a few steps back and found myself wincing as I watched him, afraid the mirror would rip off the wall and hit him in the face.
“Could it be spelled to stay?” Tristan asked.
I was unsure if he was aiming to get brownie points with Jasper, or if the thought was the only plausible answer to him. I had to admit though, it wasn’t something I had thought of.
“This is a witch’s house.” Jasper continued to pry at the corner of the mirror with no avail. “Anything is possible. Another spell set in place to make sure the mirror stayed in the house? I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Of Time & Spells Page 10