The Keeper Saga: Wynter's War, Charmed, and The One (The Boxed Set Book 2)

by K. R. Thompson

  By the time that school was over, the entire locker room reeked (or so I was told) and the new principal had ordered everyone to clean out their lockers before they left. Needless to say, I was more than ready to get out of there and find the waterfalls.

  “Let’s go,” Adam said as we reached the back of the school’s parking lot that bordered the forest.

  I tightened the straps on my backpack so it wouldn’t fall off and we stepped into the shadows, turning to our wolves.

  “Wait, we’re coming, too.” I turned to see Ed and Erik making their way toward us.

  You might need backup, Erik informed me.

  I knew the others were headed back to the Res. The Deadlands hadn’t stretched much farther, but they were keeping an eye on them.

  Hopefully, we’ll find the answers soon, I thought as I ran behind Adam.

  An hour later, I heard the sounds of water. We were close.

  The smaller falls are the ones nearest us. The bigger ones are a little farther, Adam said, slowing down to a walk.

  The waterfall we are looking for has to be big enough to pass beneath, I thought, looking at the pretty, half-frozen falls as we passed. They were small, most only a foot or so high, barely large enough for a small animal to pass beneath. But they were beautiful, nonetheless. Hanging icicles caught the sunlight and sparkled like crystals as the water ran over them and fell.

  Then, we came upon the fall. I say the fall because I knew for certain it was the one. It wasn’t the biggest one, by any means. In fact, it was a bit hidden and only barely looked like a waterfall. An enormous rock facing jutted out from high above us. Slightly to the right of it, a small stream of water ran down.

  “This is it!” I said excitedly, the second I switched from my wolf. Everything in my gut told me this was precisely where we needed to be.

  “Okay, let’s check it out,” Adam said as he, Ed and Erik all switched back from their wolves.

  A small alcove ran behind the water. It was only big enough to hold the three of us, and even then we were scrunched together.

  “We’re lucky that the falls are mostly frozen, otherwise we’d be soaked right about now,” Ed said, looking at the curtain of ice on one side of us.

  “There’s nothing here,” Erik complained. “It’s nothing but a solid wall of rock.” He reached his hand out to slap the damp stone—and fell through it. We heard the crash, followed by a muffled, “Dang it!” But there was still nothing there but the rock wall.

  “It’s a mirage,” I said in awe, reaching out to touch the rock. My hand disappeared up to my wrist.

  “Are you all right, Erik?” Adam called out.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Erik answered, “But you guys are definitely going to want to come over here. Go slow, though.”

  I felt the sizzle of magic as we walked through the mirage. My skin tingled as if it had been zapped with small jolts of electricity. I rubbed my arms.

  “Yeah, you should have tried falling through it,” Erik said in a knowing way, “Talk about an unexpected surprise. It’ll wear off in a couple of seconds.”

  Thankfully, he was right. The little zipping currents left as quickly as they had come, and I took a moment to look around us.

  Where the cave was cold, the small meadow we stood in was warm and spoke of springtime. Flowers were blooming in tufts of yellow and pink between tall clumps of grass.

  “Whoever did this is strong. Everything here is magic,” Adam said softly. “None of this is real.”

  I couldn’t help but agree. The only other person that I knew who had been able to pull off creating a magic room had been Wynter. Somehow, I was certain that she wasn’t responsible for this place.

  “I believe what we’re looking for is over there,” Adam nodded toward a small clump of willow trees. A small, nearly invisible hut lay hidden beneath the branches.

  “Well, let’s get this over with. I don’t like snow and ice, but this place is starting to freak me out,” Erik grumbled, swatting at a butterfly that had landed on the top of his head. “Fake flowers, fake bugs...what’s next? The little shack over there is probably fake, too.” He trudged toward it, leaving the rest of us to follow him.

  Once we made it to the willows, the hut became decidedly real. It was old, with cracked windows, a sagging roof, and a door that was only barely on its hinges.

  “It doesn’t look like anyone lives here,” Ed said, peering in the window.

  “Well, let’s go in and make sure there isn’t some kind of clue as to what we are to do next,” I suggested. As I knocked on the door it swung wide open, and then we found out not everything was as it seemed.

  Chapter 5

  A CROSS VOICE came from behind an enormous stack of books in the middle of the room. “Size gives ye no reason to be rude, ye know,” then mumbled as if to no one in particular, “No manners--none a’tall! Two centuries ago, I coulda killed ‘em for no knockin’ on me door.”

  “But we did knock!” Erik’s face darkened with indignation. “It isn’t our fault you didn’t answer. Besides, we didn’t think there was anyone here.”

  “Still no reason for rudeness, and I don’t recall hangin’ a sign up that says ‘come on in,’” came the short reply from a slight, stooped elf who finally came into view.

  I hadn’t gotten a very good look at the book’s maker during my vision, so now I was able to get an eye full. Apparently Bog Elves had large ears, short bristly hair and even shorter tempers, if the one in front of us was any example. Dressed in a ratty tartan, with a pair of tiny spectacles perched on a long, thin nose, he leaned on a short, knobby stick, and managed to glare at us with a ferocity strong enough that the whole group of us backed closer to the door.

  “Might your name be Efflehurt?” I asked cautiously, though I was pretty sure we had to be in the right place. After all, what were the odds of us finding any other magical hut in the middle of the forest containing a grouchy elf?

  He picked up his walking stick and jabbed it at us. “What if I am?” He scowled, and then muttered under his breath, “Wolves, the lot o’ them. Meat’s no good, skins no good for books…”

  Erik let out an audible gasp which seemed to amuse the elf to no end. He smiled, showing off pointed teeth yellowed with age, and let out a crackling laugh that bounced against the crumbling walls of the hut.

  If he comes any closer to me, I’m eating him. I don’t care what he tastes like or if he helps us or not. He’s scaring the crap out of me. Erik’s voice bounced angrily in my head as I felt him move anxiously behind us, a light gray fog barely coming into sight.

  “Easy, now,” Adam whispered to Erik, who had just bumped against the door. Adam’s silver gaze was locked on the elf. “He wants to scare us so we’ll leave.”

  “If I wanted to scare ye, I would,” the elf retorted, before turning towards me. “And me name is pronounced ‘Ee-flur’ if ye honestly must know.”

  I made a mental note to say his name correctly the next time, before I plastered on my biggest smile, and tried to get in the elf’s better graces. “Thank you very much for inviting me to come. I’m sorry we didn’t wait for you to answer the door, but we need your help.”

  After snorting out a disgruntled harrumph, he leaned forward on his cane, realizing for the first time that I held something in front of me.

  “Where did ye get that, girl?” the elf demanded, “Are ye so dense that ye don’t know she’ll kill ye for stealin’ her book?”

  “Nikki didn’t steal anything.” Adam’s voice dropped octaves as he stared down the elf in front of him that wasn’t quite three-foot tall. Black fog rolled around us.

  “Wynter has disappeared. She left it with me,” I said quickly, trying to diffuse the situation as Adam seemed to be sharing Erik’s idea of possibly eating the ancient, wrinkled elf in front of him before we made any progress whatsoever, “We thought you might know where to find her. I want to give it back.” That most certainly would be a help to everyone, especially me. I was
having a hard time finding new places to hide the darn book from my mom and Emily.

  “If she left it with you, she surely meant ye to guard it.” Efflehurt glared at me, daring me to contradict him. “And if she wanted ye to know where she was going, she would have told ye!” He shuffled closer and peered at the book, mumbling to himself, “Wrong…something terrible wrong, leaving her most precious book with wolves!”

  “We can hear you, you know,” Erik said.

  “I wasn’t talking to ye,” Efflehurt retorted, “Ye’d do best to mind yer own business.” He paused just long enough to straighten up and give Erik one extremely long, ferocious glare, before he looked back to the book in my hands. “Might I hold it for just a little while?”

  I felt Adam tense beside me. He wasn’t a great fan of the book either, but it was obvious he didn’t like the idea of handing it over.

  “It’ll be fine, he’s not going to steal it,” I muttered under my breath, intending for only Adam to hear me.

  “Yes, I’ll give it back!” The spidery veins in Efflehurt’s face popped out as he angrily snatched the book from my hands, tucked it under his arm, and made his way to a small desk against the wall. He plopped down on a bench and set the book carefully down on the scarred wood of the desk, and then pointed to me, “Girl! Ye come here and I will tell ye about this book.”

  Adam had already taken the first step with me, when he suddenly froze in midstep. “Just the girl. The rest of ye can wait there. Can’t have me whole house smellin’ like wolf, after all.” Efflehurt waved his hand airily, not bothering to look up from the book.

  We can’t move, Adam’s eyes were the only thing that followed me as I walked slowly to the desk, Nikki, please be careful.

  He’s got more magic than I gave him credit for, Erik added, begrudgingly, in my head.

  “Now, no more distraction. I will tell ye what ye need to know.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or the book as his eyes hadn’t left it since putting it on the desk. The way he was stroking it, I was betting on the book. Finally, he looked up, peering at me from behind his spectacles. “I made this book, more’n three centuries ago. Saved me, she did, so I made this for her as payment.” His black eyes took on a glazed look, remembering, “She’s Spriteblood, but not like the others. The only things she loved back then more than her humans were her books, though that might have changed by now. I made her a book, put everything I knew of Magicked creatures in it, and then spelled it against those not meant to keep it.”

  “So that’s why everyone says it smells.”

  Efflehurt nodded, the glazed look disappearing as his face lit up and his expression turning nearly gleeful. “Must be rather troublesome for wolves, eh?”

  “Yes, you might say that,” I said, unable to suppress a grin, “Is there any way you can take the spell off?”

  “Take it off, no.” He shook his head, and then said thoughtfully, “It’s made from the skin of a warlock. A very strong, powerful mage who held lots of magick, so the book must always have a spell, else it will protect itself and no one will ever read it again. I might change it, though, make the spell a mite more suitable for wolves?”

  “That would be wonderful.” I smiled, grateful. I may not be able to get rid of the book, but maybe keeping it would be easier.

  Would you mind maybe backing up a few feet while he does whatever he is doing since I can’t get to you? Adam’s voice popped into my head.

  I’d actually forgotten the three guys frozen at the door. I nodded, so Adam would see and took a couple of steps back. Efflehurt didn’t seem to notice my slight retreat as he was busy studying the inside cover of the book, his bony fingers following along the blank page as if reading some invisible text. He stopped after a moment, and tapped a single section with his forefinger as if he had located whatever it was he was searching for, and then hopped down from his perch, snagged a different book from a shelf that looked very much like the one he was fixing, flipped through a few pages, and nodded, muttering to himself the entire time before hopping back to his desk.

  He sat still for a moment, and then started talking softly, so softly that I couldn’t hear what he had said. I started to walk back towards him, curious as to how he was going to fix the book, when Adam stopped me by mentally clearing his throat in my head, which felt rather weird.

  Efflehurt started running his fingers along the cover again in a different pattern. Then, quick blue flames started running along the edges of the book. The elf nodded and smiled, as if he were happy with the results, and then got up from his perch and hobbled towards us.

  I felt Adam move behind me. The spell had worn off and he was now free.

  “Here.” Efflehurt thrust the book toward him. “Hold this for me.”

  Instinctively, Adam put his hands up to catch the book, but as he did, blue flames erupted from the cover and licked dangerously at his fingers.

  “It works!” the Bog Elf said gleefully, giving me a great view of his ancient, discolored teeth. He handed me the book. “It’s fixed, girl, though I would take care that no-one else should touch it, if I were you.”

  “Thank you...I think...” I said, taking the now flammable book from him. At least it was now slightly less problematic. I wouldn’t have to worry about my mother ripping my bedroom apart. Now I could worry about the entire house going up in flames. “Listen,” I continued, “We’ve been having problems out there.” I motioned toward the waterfall and the real world beyond it, as if the short, stooped figure in front of me lived in a magical bubble, far away from the world I lived in. “The Deadlands are spreading and we don’t know why. I’ve looked everywhere in this book, and I can’t find any clue as to what or who is causing it. Might you know?”

  “All ye need is in there. There be secrets in those pages, once ye learn how to read them,” he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  Riddles. I don’t have time for riddles. I need answers, I thought irritably, deciding to try a different angle. “How about Wynter? Any ideas on where she might be?”

  “I told ye. If she wanted ye to know, she would have let ye know where to find her,” Efflehurt muttered, scowling. “Now take those wolves out and leave me be.” And with that, he turned and hobbled back to his table and sat down, ignoring us.

  I guess that’s it, Adam sighed in my head. I suppose we’d better head out.

  Erik was the first out the door, followed by Ed and Adam. I looked at the hunched figure at the desk one last time before I reached for the door.

  “Blood will bring it to life,” Efflehurt whispered, his round, his dark eyes meeting mine just before I shut the door. “Blood...and magic.”

  As the handle clicked, I felt the atmosphere shift. It was cold again and instead of finding my hand on the knob of the door, it was resting on the chilly stone wall under the waterfall.

  “How do you like that for a goodbye?” Erik said, frowning. “He didn’t even let us enjoy the fake flowers on our way back here.”

  “He probably decided that he’d had enough of you,” Ed said, giving Erik a friendly shove as we walked out from under the frozen falls. Once we made it out on the path, he looked up into the darkening sky. “He saved us a few steps doing that, though. If we hurry, we can make it home before nightfall.”

  “Are you ready?” Adam asked, the instant before he transformed into his wolf.

  “Yep, as ready as I’ll ever be,” I answered, slipping the book back into my backpack and then strapping it on tight before shifting into my own wolf.

  Trees zipped past us in blurs as we ran, but it still seemed to take forever to get back to the school’s parking lot.

  “I’ll ride with you,” Adam said as the last bits of black fog dissipated and I started toward my Jeep. “Erik can drive my car back home.”

  Erik nodded and caught the car keys that were tossed to him. “See ya later, Nikki.”

  “See ya, Nikki,” Ed echoed as they started to Adam’s car parked a few yards away.
>
  “Later, guys,” I answered them, before I turned to Adam. “I’ll be all right. You don’t have to come with me.”

  “I wasn’t asking for permission,” he said, grinning. He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “You’re hard to argue with, you know?” I said, unlocking the car.

  “I do my best,” he answered, hopping into the passenger seat. Once we were buckled in, he turned to me and smiled. “I would be crazy not to want to ride with you. You are beautiful and smart. You are what makes my heart beat. I always want to be with you.”

  I felt my cheeks flush at the unexpected words. I fumbled with my keys and finally managed to get the car started.

  “You’re so beautiful when you do that.”

  “Do what? Start the car?” I asked, giving him my biggest, widest grin.

  Adam rolled his eyes. “Well, yes. That too. What I’m talking about, though...is this…”

  His fingertip traced the small hollow at the base of my throat. “Whenever you get nervous, there is a little burst of color that begins right here.” He lightly traced a line up my neck to my jaw. “Then it travels here…”

  Next came the feather-light touch to my cheeks. “Then it comes here.” He leaned in closer.

  The air zapped around us, filling with magic.

  “The last place it comes is here,” he whispered before leaning in to press his lips to mine. I wrapped my hands around his neck and the kiss deepened. And for that moment, everything else in the world disappeared. There was only Adam and that was all that mattered.

  THE WOLF SAT by the edge of the woods, staring up at the sky. His Moon had turned red. The color reminded him of blood and death—two things that he’d rather not think of when looking up at Shining Star.

  Memories always surfaced easier whenever the color changed. It reminded him of the day he had lost her. In his mind’s eye, he could see her body lying broken at the bottom of the cliff, feel her spirit brush past him, and feel the pain as his soul rent anew, as if the series of events had just occurred that night, instead of so long ago.