Clearwater Witches Boxset

by Madeline Freeman

  “Owen, stop. We have to figure this out.”

  His lips curl in a smile. “Figure what out? I feel like everything’s finally making sense. Now that I remember, we can be together.” He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I want this, Krissa. Don’t you?”

  My hands go to the sides of his face and I fight the urge to pull his lips to mine. I do want this. “What if it goes away?” Just saying the words makes my stomach clench. “I have no idea why you remember these things. What if you start forgetting them and you go back to the Owen you were a week ago? What if you wake up tomorrow and go back to hating me? I couldn’t handle that.” My eyes fill and when I blink, two tears stream down my cheeks.

  “Hey.” Owen catches the droplets with his fingers, wiping them away. “That won’t happen. Even if I forget these memories, I won’t go back to hating you. Remember at the coffee shop? We were getting along just fine—and that was before I started remembering this other life. I could never get over you, Krissa, and now I know why. We’re supposed to be together.” He leans in, pressing his lips to mine. As I kiss him back, my heart swells. He’s right. We’re right. But if that’s true, why is my stomach so unsettled?

  I push him back gently, breaking our kiss. “Owen, stop. We can’t—not right now.”

  He nods, glancing at the surrounding hallway. “Yeah, I guess a funeral’s not really the right atmosphere.”

  I shake my head. “It’s not that. It’s… complicated.”

  His expression clouds and his eyebrows scrunch. “It’s Fox, isn’t it? But…” He squints like he’s trying hard to recall something. “You two aren’t together, right? You… were… but you broke up?”

  I grip his shoulders, peering into his eyes. “That happened last week. Don’t you remember?”

  He blinks heavily, the corners of his mouth quirking upward. “Yeah. Yeah, of course I remember.”

  But I can tell he’s not convinced. I slide my fingers to his cheeks and use the contact point to push into his thoughts. His mind is a confused jumble and I reel back from it. “Owen—what’s happening to you?”

  A muscle in his jaw jumps and he can’t quite force a smile. “Since that day on your porch… Since I started remembering the other life… It’s like there’s not enough room in my head for both. The more I can remember from the other reality, the more this one slips away.”

  I step backward, dropping my hands. “You’re forgetting your life?”

  He shakes his head, reaching for me. “No, Krissa—I’m remembering it.”

  I turn, running my hand through my hair. How is this happening? This isn’t my Owen, yet now, somehow, he’s remembering a life he didn’t live. I wanted this, I wanted him to be the person I was falling for. Is it possible I’m somehow doing this to him? Am I casting a spell or using my psychic ability without knowing it? I take stock of my powers, my energy, but I can’t identify anything within me that could be causing this. But if it’s not me, what could be doing it?

  Owen’s hand grazes my shoulder. “Krissa. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you weren’t exactly happy about this.”

  I bite my lower lip, turning but not meeting his gaze. How can I explain that I am happy about this—but I’m also terrified because I don’t know what’s causing it, or how long it will last? “Maybe we should take things slow. Make sure you don’t have any… complications.”

  His eyes darken. “Take it slow? No. That’s what I was doing before and then suddenly I’m living a different life. Look, I know how I feel about you, and I know how you feel about me. I don’t see why we can’t just pick up where we left off.”

  My heart twists. There’s nothing I want more than that, but still there’s hesitation within me. The memories flooding Owen’s mind are turning him into the guy I knew a month ago, but I’m not the same girl I was then. The last few weeks have changed me, but have they changed my heart, too? When Fox came to my house the other night, I had the opportunity to make a clean break, but I didn’t take it. In the days immediately following the time-travel spell, I would have jumped at the chance to sever ties with Fox; that I didn’t when he gave me the option speaks volumes.

  Owen stiffens, his shoulders drawing backward. “Oh. I see.”

  Panic flares. Has he been scanning my thoughts? “It’s not what you think.”

  He snorts. “It’s not what I think? When I kissed you on Jodi’s porch, you remember the last thing I said to you?”

  “Owen—”

  “I told you not to change your mind. And you smiled and said ‘no way,’ like it wasn’t even a possibility. But here we are a couple weeks later—”

  “A couple weeks?” I laugh. “A couple weeks? Owen, this is an entirely different reality! One where you, until a few days ago, didn’t want anything to do with me. So stop acting like I betrayed you or something, because I haven’t.”

  “Then why does it feel like you have?”

  I open my mouth to respond, but Owen doesn’t give me the chance. He pivots and stalks down the hallway, back to the main corridor. I take off after him but slow as the buzzing of voices grows louder. What could I say? I don’t even know how to explain my swirling emotions to myself. I want to be with him, but I can’t pretend I haven’t developed feelings for Fox—I’m just not sure what those feelings mean. I need to sort everything out before I can make a decision. I don’t want to hurt either of them.

  By the time I make it to the main hall, Owen has disappeared into the crowd. In addition to the people milling about the main hallway, there are several groups heading toward their cars. An official-looking man in a black suit is directing people inside; the procession must be about to begin. I scan the crowd for my mom and Jodi but don’t see either of them. I pull my phone from my back pocket. There’s a text from my mom from a minute ago saying she and Jodi are at the car and will be leaving in five minutes, with or without me.

  Just outside the main door stands Owen, distractedly listening as one of his track buddies chats at him. I start for him, but before I’ve taken more than a couple of steps, someone hooks me by my elbow, urging me to a stop. Fox’s stormy eyes fix on me when I turn.

  “Hey, there you are. I was wondering if you might wanna go grab a bite.” The corner of his mouth upturns in a boyish half-smile.

  Owen’s gaze prickles the back of my neck and I can’t help turning.

  Fox looks, too. “Why’s Owen staring at you like that?”

  “Like what?” I ask, too quickly.

  His expression clouds as he presses his lips into a tight line. “Like he’s jealous.” He blows out a breath. “That’s why you didn’t want to get back together, isn’t it?”

  Heat floods my cheeks, even though his suspicion isn’t correct. I want to tell him he’s wrong, but my groping mind can’t come up with a plausible reason for Owen to look so upset right now. I can’t exactly tell Fox the truth.

  Fox takes a step back, holding his hands up. “I just don’t get why you didn’t tell me the other night. I gave you the out, but you didn’t take it. What, are you just stringing me along in case things don’t work out with him?”

  “No.” I take a step toward him, reaching out my hand. “It’s not what you think. What I said the other night—it’s true. I don’t know what I want or how I’m feeling about any of this. But I don’t want to hurt you. Even if we’re not together, I want us to be—”

  “Don’t tell me you want to be friends.” He closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath and releasing it before opening them again. “After what we had, I can’t be just your friend.”

  I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes. After a beat, Fox turns, heading off into the parking lot. I start to follow when my cell vibrates. It’s my mom again, informing me the engine is running. Cursing, I head into the parking lot.

  I haven’t gone far when someone catches my eye. Crystal Jamison stands around the side of the building, propped up against the sandy bricks, looking a little disoriented. Seth i
s nowhere in sight. I start toward her, hesitating only briefly when I consider what her reaction to me might be.

  “Crystal?” I ask as I approach.

  Her movements are slow, like she’s in water. Her mouth twitches when her eyes land on me. “Krissa. Hey.”

  I tense. I expected her to be a little more hostile toward me, based on the look she gave me earlier. Maybe grief has taken away her venom. “You okay? You seem a little out of it.”

  She presses her lips together, a crease forming between her eyebrows. “I just… Need a minute.”

  I nod. There’s something off about her, but I can’t place what. I consider reaching out with my abilities to scan her, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Bridget approaching. Not wanting to deal with her, I jog toward my mom’s car. Crystal will be fine—Bridget will get her.

  Is this another side effect of the crystal or something else entirely? As I pull open the car door and slide into my seat, I make a mental note to check with Seth to see if she was weird when they were talking.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  When we finally arrive home, Felix’s car is parked out front. My heart swells and my eyes prickle. I jump out of my mom’s Cruze and run to him, almost knocking him over with the force of my hug.

  He pats my back a few times. “I had a feeling you’d be happy to see me.”

  I pull away, studying his face. “I really, really am. I need to talk.”

  Once Felix and I are settled in my bedroom, I explain what happened with Owen at the funeral. By the time I’m done, Felix is rubbing his forehead with his thumb and forefingers.

  “Is it because he’s psychic?” he asks after a beat.

  “Is what because he’s psychic?”

  He waves his hand in the air, wiggling his fingers. “You know, this whole mind-meld thing you two have going on. You guys had a pretty intense history. Couple that with psychic stuff and, bam!” He claps his hands for emphasis.

  I shrug. “Maybe?”

  “Does he know about the rest of us?”

  “No. You guys weren’t psychic in the other timeline—or at least you didn’t know you were.”

  Felix purses his lips. “You know what I’m gonna say, don’t you?”

  I sigh. “You want to tell him.”

  “He deserves to know. He should be a part of our group—learn to use his abilities. And before you start about how tense and awkward that’ll be, let me remind you of your first meeting with us.” He reaches forward, giving my hand a brief squeeze. “Maybe he won’t want to—if things are really that bad between the two of you. But maybe he’ll be able to put it aside—and let’s face it, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

  He’s right, and I know he is. Before I can do more than nod in agreement, my phone buzzes. “It’s Seth,” I say as I pick it up. “He wants all the psychics to meet at his apartment.” My heartbeat kicks up a notch as I read the next part. “He thinks he knows how to separate the circle from the crystal.”

  Felix rubs his hands together, grinning. “Awesome. Hey—I’ll drop you by there.”

  I squint. “Drop me? You’re coming too, right?”

  He stands, heading toward the stairs. “He said all of us.”

  My stomach sinks as I follow. “You really think now’s the time to tell Owen?”

  “No time like the present. I mean, who knows when someone’s gonna travel back in time and mess everything up?”

  ***

  Felix drops me off on Main and I circle around the bookstore. There’s a metal staircase leading up to a plain white door. Seth pokes his head out as soon as my foot touches the bottom step, and I take them two at a time until I’m in his apartment.

  The space is small but open. A small kitchen is directly to the left and straight ahead is a bank of windows overlooking Main Street. Two folding chairs and a rickety card table covered in haphazard stacks of paper are shoved against the right wall, but that’s all there is in the way of furniture. Several paper bags piled in the far left corner is the room’s only other adornment.

  Seth throws an apologetic smile over his shoulder as we walk into the space. “Sorry for the mess. I don’t exactly entertain often.” He makes a sweeping motion toward the card table and I settle across from him.

  “How’d the talk with Crystal go? Good, I’m guessing, since you want to see us all.”

  He presses his lips into a tight line. “The talk was… interesting. It confirmed some suspicions.”

  “What suspicions?” I glance around the room. “Do you wanna wait until everyone else is here before—”

  He shakes his head. “I think it’s best to tell you before they’re here. I fear the others might find this a bit disconcerting.”

  I lean forward, my stomach twisting. “Okay. Tell me.”

  He takes in a deep breath. “After you told me descendants of the founding families might be the target for the attacks we’ve been seeing, it put me to thinking.”

  I hold a hand out toward him. “Wait—this is about the attacks? Not that that’s a bad thing, I just thought maybe this was about the crystal?”

  He nods grimly. “I believe it is.”

  My mind starts racing, but I ignore the thoughts chasing themselves around. There’s no point in me theorizing before Seth says his piece.

  He shifts a couple stacks of paper before picking up a smoky quartz crystal. “You’re aware that stones are good for channeling energy.”

  I nod. “Of course. Channeling, directing—”

  “Storing.”

  “Yeah. Storing.” I’ve practiced charging stones before, so this isn’t news to me.

  Seth’s fingers traced he edges of the smoky quartz he holds. “Well, what if you could store a person’s energy? Their magic?”

  My skin prickles. “Why would you want to do that?”

  He shrugs. “Any number of reasons, I imagine, but the one that makes most sense here would be to use it. You told me that the crystal your friends anchored themselves to was particularly powerful, didn’t you? Where do you think the energy comes from?”

  “I don’t know—nature?”

  “Sure. Nature.” His eyes lock on mine. “Or there’s the alternative.”

  I stare at him, trying to understand his meaning. “Are you saying that the crystal could be filled with energy from people?”

  “Perhaps. You said you felt something when you interacted with it, didn’t you? Typically, something that is purely from nature wouldn’t fill you with the kind of dread you described.”

  I cycle through the meaning of Seth’s words. The energy in the crystal isn’t from nature; instead, it’s energy stored from people—but what people? My stomach twists. “Wait—are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  Seth’s fingers curl around the quartz. “Think about it. Think about the targets. Millie and your principal were witches. Felix is psychic. If I were to guess, I would say that the first victim also had abilities of some kind.”

  I clutch my stomach, curling forward as I sort through this information. I assumed the link between the victims was that they descended from founding families, but what if it’s both more and less than that? Were they all targeted because they have abilities of some kind? “So you think someone’s killing these people and storing their powers in the crystal? Who’s behind it? I mean, the crystal can’t be doing it itself, right? So someone, some person, has to be doing it?”

  Seth averts his eyes. “It’s possible that something more than abilities was stored. If a person’s essence—a soul—were within, it could, perhaps, influence those around it. Especially if those around it were tethered to it.”

  My stomach lurches with a wave of nausea. I grab onto the sides of the table. “You think there’s someone’s consciousness trapped in the crystal and it’s killing people to get more energy? And you think… the circle…”

  He reaches toward me. “If I’m correct, they probably aren’t even aware they’re doing it.”

  My mind r
eels and my breath comes in shallow gasps. Is it possible that the circle has really been behind the attacks—the deaths? Fox insisted they weren’t, but if Seth’s right, they could be completely unaware. I was right—there is something dark and evil within the crystal. Could it be forcing the circle to do dark and evil things on its behalf?

  If what Seth’s saying is true, it’s not the circle’s fault at all—it’s mine. If it hadn’t been for me, they never would have located the crystal. They needed a psychic to access time. But I had to help them. If I hadn’t, the curse afflicting Jodi would have killed her. And my mom would still be dead. Even knowing what I know now, if I could go back and change my decision, I’m not sure I would. And it’s that fact that hurts most of all.

  I push aside my swirling emotions. I press my hands to my face and take in a breath before fixing my gaze on Seth. “Okay, so, this isn’t all, right? Otherwise, why would you want all the psychics?” I square my shoulders. “You figured out how to do it, didn’t you? How to break the anchoring spell?”

  The corners of his mouth quirk upward. “I think I may have.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  While we wait for everyone to arrive, Seth and I begin preparing for the spell. The paper bags in the corner are mostly from Jodi’s shop, and Seth directs me where to place candles and stones. As he fills a stainless steel bowl with different herbs, I use several boxes of sea salt to outline a circle in the middle of the floor.

  Bria and West arrive and watch our progress with arched eyebrows. Once Seth is done giving me orders, I can’t keep myself from glancing toward the door every few seconds, both looking forward to and dreading Felix’s arrival.