Smoke & Longing (Caprice Chronicles Book 2)

by Selena Page

  Her pulse quickened. She was lost. Her breath rose in her chest to call out to Andrew, when a dark smudge of shadow moved across her vision.

  She stopped and tried to follow it, but her eyes were not good enough in the dark. Too many years of city lights had dulled her more natural senses. The shadowy mass slithered and roved across the ground, and by the time she realized what she was seeing, realized that it was here for her, it was too late.

  Kara’s scream trilled through the forest, waking Andrew instantly.

  "Kara!" Andrew bellowed.

  Her scream rolled through the forest again, giving Andrew a rough direction to follow. He threw on his pants, grabbed his boots, and looped the hammer through his belt. He tore off down a broken and weed infested side-trail, shirtless and panting. Kara screamed, fainter now, and he knew that she was moving, moving deeper into the woods. He reached the edge of the clearing they had made camp in and found drag marks on the ground. A solid impression of her hiking sneakers a few feet later.

  Drag marks. Something had her. Something was dragging her into the woods. He felt the pressure then. The faint pulse of another presence nearby, but he was unable to pinpoint it. Its amorphous presence hovered on the edge of his senses and was receding deeper into the woods. Deeper into the woods with Kara.

  He followed the marks. Tree branches, brambles, and bushes raked his skin. He half-hopped, half-ran to each mark. Kara had stopped screaming now. He didn't know what that meant, but he refused to think of anything but finding her.

  She’s knocked out. Maybe passed out. Don’t think, just go. Just go!

  He ran, following her tracks for almost a mile when the trail stopped. He walked in a wide circle, looking for the next sign of her passing, any place where she could have grabbed a branch as she was dragged, any place where she could have planted her feet to make a stand.

  Nothing.

  There was nothing. She had simply vanished.

  He had not realized it until now but so had her abductor. Whoever, whatever, took her had not left a single trace of its passing.

  A chill ran up Andrew’s spine to the base of skull, making him shiver. The presence that he had been feeling was not of someone but of something. The realization settled on him that whatever had taken Kara was also the thing stealing people off the trails.

  His hands began to shake at the feeling of cold dread. That whatever he had been tracking and chasing was not only inhuman but not of this world. Andrew felt distant. He was cold and alone in the woods. This was not where he belonged. This was not where he was supposed to be. Why had he left his study? Why had he ever come out here?

  For her. To help her.

  Stupid boy. Following her out here. It wasn’t going to end any other way. People die or they leave. Either way they are gone. Nothing you can do.

  I wanted to be more for her. I could do this for her. With her.

  Idiot. Running around in the woods for her? So you could what?

  So…so I could get close to her. So…

  He knew then what he had been afraid of this whole time. Why he kept everyone away, at arm's length. He could not bear to lose another person because it meant getting too close to himself. It meant going deep enough into who he actually was to make him different.

  Andrew slowly raised his head and gritted his teeth. He had not even known he had been staring at the ground, at the last scrape Kara’s shoe had made in the soft earth. Despite his fear he felt a core of determination. He was not going to abandon her. He was not going to let whatever it was take her away. Andrew held on to that feeling.

  He let his eyes go distant and looked for the first time since his brother had died. He let his breathing settle, and slowly his jaw unclenched and the tension ran out of him. His breathing deepened and he lowered himself into a sitting position, crossing his legs. He rested his hands on his knees and closed his eyes. The light from the world slowly winked out, and the light from inside him rose.

  The world faded. Thought faded like mist dispersing in the morning sun. The darkness in his mind retracted. He felt the world and all the details that hid from sight. This was who he really was. It was an echo of what his power really could do, but he was warlock. No matter where he was, this power inside of him was his to command. Slowly, the world he knew lay beyond came into being. He let it form on its own, allowing the details and patterns to emerge. He lost track of time. He focused only on his breathing and the power that surged inside of him.

  The trees hummed with life. It spilled from them in wide, lazy clouds that rolled across the forest and over Andrew. A night bird sang in the distance, and its notes rose and fell among the trees like a shooting star. A smile tugged at his mouth from the simple joy of the air and how it covered and enveloped him. He felt a storm on the horizon, sensing its power and electricity flowing through the clouds and down into the rain that fell on the land.

  He turned his senses down, deep into the soil. A dark miasma infected the mountain and the forest. The earth groaned under the weight of the darkness. The mountain was pushing back, trying to drive the cancer that delved deeper into the soil and land, spreading its infection.

  Andrew sensed its track slithering in front of him, deeper into the mountains. With the dark, poisoning seed of the monster he felt a ray of light held in its grasp. The light burned and shone with a force and radiance that Andrew had never known. He felt its warmth prickle his skin and he knew it was Kara.

  Andrew opened his eyes but still half-saw the life energies around him. His breathing steady and sure, he took off into the woods.

  ELEVEN

  Andrew’s stride had been long and easy before, but now it was impossibly long and devoured the ground. He flowed over the forest floor, jumping rocks and downed trees. He moved like he had never known anything but the feeling of trees, moss, twigs, and stone under his feet. The trail was clear to him, but he realized quickly that he did not need to copy it completely. He glided down stream banks, downed trees, and over boulders to the source. It pulsed in front of him like a dark, beating sun. He felt a sickness radiating from it, a decay that fouled everything around him.

  He found it at the base of Shadow Point Mountain. A cave opened before him like a gash across the mountainside. Its narrow head tilted at an odd, offbeat angle. The orifice was dark and the shadows that surrounded it reached and grasped at anything that came close.

  He could not think like this. Everything was too bright, too much detail. The entrance radiated a cold that seeped all the way to his bones.

  With a deep, cleansing breath Andrew released his hold on the vision of the other world around him. He let the details slide from his mind and out of his sight. The world grew stark and less bright, but Andrew was able to think clearly again.

  Even though his senses had retracted, he could feel the faint pulse of darkness underneath him. The stones themselves seemed to grind against each other, trying to expel the cancer inside. Andrew searched his feelings and found that if he let part of his mind drift, he could sense Kara’s presence beating against the darkness in the cave.

  Andrew pulled the brass tube from his belt, focused his energy down his arm and into the artifact, and light shone bright and clear into the cave. He steeled his thoughts and stepped into the wound in the side of Shadow Point Mountain.

  The moonlight quickly grew faint until the tunnel was completely black. The cave entrance and tunnel took a steep angle downward and to the right, cutting off the sunlight above. Andrew pulled paint from his bag and started marking his way.

  The ground was pitched in a V shape, making his descent difficult at first. He slipped and skidded along the stone floor and used his hands on the side of the cave's wall to balance. Suddenly, the ground became flat and he felt a softer, dirt floor.

  Andrew grabbed his magelight off his belt and pushed power into it, flooding the tunnel with a soft glow. Andrew swung the light around and found the walls had opened to a round, cylindrical shape. He took a step forward
to continue on and cursed out loud when he slammed his toe into something.

  He bent and inspected the object. A heavy, rusted metal cog lay on the ground. The metal gleamed where his boot had scraped away the decaying metal and a broad, wooden beam lay underneath. Andrew scraped away the rust and pushed the dirt and stones aside to find the remains of a railway track.

  He realized that he was past the mountain and was into the abandoned mining tunnels beneath Shadow Point Mountain. The whole tunnel throbbed with dark energy. Whatever it was had found its way here and made its home in the dark of these forgotten caves and chutes.

  Andrew collected his thoughts and forged ahead down the tunnel.

  Deep into the caves Andrew walked. He found the remains of men long dead. Clothing that was so rotted it was the barest impression of fabric. Alongside the bodies he found large steel hammers, buckets of rusting and decaying spikes. Each railway tie and each rail made Andrew feel like he was walking deeper and deeper into the monster's lair.

  The air grew thick in his lungs. There was something deeply wrong here. No fungus lined the walls and there was very little moisture. He remembered the children's tale of a canary in a coal mine, and when the canary died, it was time to leave. Mine gas. He was certain of it. It should not have been this bad though. Something was keeping the malaise held tight to the mine. Something wanted it this way.

  His lungs began to labor under the strain, and pain crept across his temples. He understood. All the people who had gone missing and returned. They hadn’t been drained of their souls, not really. Oxygen deprivation. They had been deprived of good air for a prolonged period of time. They had suffered mild and prolonged brain damage.

  The pain started to smother his head and the pounding increased. His legs weakened and his shoulders sagged.

  Kara. Keep going for Kara.

  Andrew took a few timid steps and leaned against the wall.

  Go! You have to Go!

  He reached along the wall to pull himself forward and felt his body giving out. Power pulsed in his chest, strong and constant and untouched. He placed his fist against his chest, where his power rested. Still afraid of it, still afraid to give in to it completely.

  Sometimes the only way out is through. Sometimes you just have to let go and give in.

  Kara’s words echoed in his mind. They rang clear through his mind, foggy as it was.

  He sank down to his knees and held himself up with his hands, now on all fours. Sweat poured from his face and dripped against the stone and dirt. He knew the power that lay inside him. He knew if he reached out to it, it would sustain him and take him all the way to Kara.

  Andrew saw his brother in his mind then. Smiling and strong, cuffing and ruffling his hair before he went to find the wound inside them all, to begin healing the brokenness in their family. He saw his brother's corpse too, pale and lifeless, and felt the betrayal in his heart. All that time Andrew had closed himself off from his power like some sort of monument to his brother. Like reaching out and reaching past him was a crime.

  Sometimes you just have to let go.

  In that moment Andrew forgave himself. He knew his brother would not want him die. An image of his brother broke into his mind, screaming, telling him to get up! Reach out! Take it and live!

  Andrew’s eyes sprang open, the dim features of cave floor and walls coming into focus.

  He'd never felt his brother closer in his mind. He felt the walls crack and break inside of him, and he reached for the power that he had held dormant inside of him for so long.

  Power surged through him, sharp and cool. His head cleared, and the pounding ceased in an instant. Strength returned to his limbs. He stood, clenching his fists, feeling like he could forge diamonds in his palms. His vision sharpened and tingled and he saw the trail bright and clear again. This was different than before when he'd ran through the forest. His thoughts were clear and his attention was laser-focused. He realized he didn't need his magelight anymore. Andrew holstered the magelight and turned his senses farther down the tunnel. He felt Kara’s presence burning in his mind. He turned toward Kara’s burning energy and surged forward.

  He felt every crack and every fissure along the walls. His nose caught the acrid scent of the mine gas that clutched at his throat and lungs and just as easily pushed it away. The source of the dark energy pushed closer and closer as he ran down the tunnel. Soon the stink of it enveloped him, but he pressed on, all the time feeling the surface retreat into the distance.

  The tunnel bottomed out and opened into a massive cavern. The cave walls soared above him. Even with his enhanced sense, he lost track of the height of the place. Kara burned brightly in front of him, sprawled on the floor. He could feel the phantom nearby but could not get a lock on it. He took a tentative step forward then another and felt something crack under his boot.

  He looked down and saw the dim remains of bones, bones that were sprawled along the floor. Whole skeletons were neatly piled across the floor. Many had outstretched hands, grotesque pantomimes of crawling, searching for a way out. Others were lined across the walls in what could have been sitting positions. One skeleton had its chin pressed to the wall as if it were looking up, one hand and arm still at chest level. Andrew realized that the poor soul had been trying to climb the walls.

  Andrew kept walking toward Kara. With each step he grew more confident, brushing away bones and rags. The power within was a calm, cool presence that gave him strength, and he could feel something else. Something pulling on it, weighing him down. Something was wrong. He realized that the chamber itself was drawing power out of him. The cave chamber was some sort power sink, and energy was leaking from him. As he got closer to Kara he realized it was pulling it out of her, too. He looked for the link to the monster, but her life energy was flowing out, dissipating into the cave. Whatever this place was the monster was serving it; feeding it people to build up power.

  He reached Kara, held her head, and felt for a pulse. Listened for breath. Relief surged through him when as her heart beat weakly against his palm and her ragged, thin breath brushed his cheek.

  "Kara, it's Andrew. I’m here," he said, holding her to him.

  Her eyes fluttered open and searched the darkness. Her hand found his, and she relaxed.

  "I knew you’d come. I knew you’d find me," she said weakly through teary eyes.

  He braced himself to pick her up and carry her out when a cold dread spread across him. His skin pricked up his spine, his lower back flashing with white hot pain. Kara’s face grew tight with fear and her hand clutched him. With no other warning the phantom slammed into Andrew’s chest knocking him back, sending him skidding along the floor.

  The phantom glided across the ground, slithering soundlessly. It rolled and roiled like smoke detached from a fire. Andrew scrambled to his feet and got his senses back. The phantom had glided between him and Kara, blocking his path to her. The place where the phantom had struck him was cold and the heat of his body seemed to leech from him and with it part of his strength.

  Kara needed to get out of here fast. The mine gas would begin to damage her mind, maybe leaving her as incapacitated as Daniel Darby. He would not let that happen.

  His lower back throbbed with a dull, burning pain and he remembered the hammer, the talisman that this monster was irrevocably linked to. The monster was made out of smoke and mist. If he struck it, the hammer would pass right through. He pulled the hammer from his belt and hefted its weight in his hands.

  He lunged forward and swung hard at the phantom. The hammer passed through it, but it recoiled as if stung. Andrew let a small smile creep across his face. He was on to something. Clearly the magical energy in the hammer was something it was afraid of or could be used against it. If he only had more time he could puzzle this out. He could find the right angle on this and stop the phantom forever. He knew he needed to make time.

  Struck by a sudden idea, Andrew faded back and away from the phantom as if he were slinking to
ward the exit. With the hammer in one hand he let his freehand slide to his belt very slowly and gripped the brass tube of his magelight. The power within him gathered at the touch of the artificed brass and glass. He let his power gather along his shoulder and down his arm. He pulled the light free. Light like the sun shone out of the brass tube of glass and metal.

  The phantom howled and slithered away from him, writhing and smashing itself against the stone. Light against dark. Andrew knew it had not been a sure thing and knew it would not hold the phantom off for long. He just needed a little time.

  Andrew knew he had only one chance, and this was it. He sank deep down into his senses, dragging power with him. He pushed the power out into his mind, his legs, his arms, eyes, and ears. His body bristled with power, the hair on his arms rising as if lightning was racing over his skin. A storm of emotions formed in him. His heart wanted to break with the sorrow of his brother's loss and the intensity of the love he felt for Kara. He swept it all away and narrowed his mind to a single focus. The storm quieted and his senses spread out and around him. His mind swept one way, then the next, seeking the source, looking for the tether of this terrible monster's power.

  Suddenly he found it. His mind reeled as if he had tripped over some displaced stone. To the side of the cave he sensed the tether. He ran over and found the skeletal remains that had part of the body still attached. Instead of bleach white, these bones were stained with an ichor that had turned the bones black as night. The skeleton reeked with a power so dark that Andrew recoiled a half step. Whoever this was even in death his hate and rage had contaminated the surrounding earth and soil.

  Andrew became dimly aware of the monster recovering and grinding its way across the floor to him. He spun and threw the magelight at the monster. The brass landed in front of it and twanged loudly. It spun, sweeping the phantom with its brilliant blade of light, making the monster slide back and howl with pain. The light winked out as the connection between him and the light broke.