Black Magic (Howl #4)

by Morse, Jayme

  When she came back into the room and handed the notepad and pen to Colby, Samara turned back to the Ouija board. “Grandpa Joe?” she asked, her voice merely a whisper. A nervous lump had formed in the back of her throat; she couldn’t believe that it had worked.

  The indicator began moving quickly from letter to the next, and Colby began writing the letters down. When he was done, he read them out loud. “No, my name is Matthias.”

  Samara’s face fell. “It’s not even Grandpa Joe.” She was about to remove her hand from the indicator when it continued to move on its own, bouncing from letter to letter.

  Colby paused, dividing the string of letters into words. “But Joe McKinley was my friend. You may ask me anything.”

  “Doesn’t mean he’ll have all the answers we need,” Chris snorted.

  “Yeah, ask it an impossible question to test it,” Steve urged.

  “I have a question he probably won’t know the answer to,” Colby said. He glanced over his shoulder at Emma. “Why do I have a second mate when we’re only supposed to have one?”

  “Why does Colby Jackson have a second mate?” Samara asked, even though the indicator had already begun to quickly pull her fingers across the board.

  “I-T-S,” she said out loud. “It’s.”

  Luke read the next few letters that the indicator moved to. “B-E-C-A-U-S-E . . . because . . . H-E-W-A-S-A-P-L-A-C-E-H-O-L-D-E-R-F-O-R-T-H-E-T-R-U-E-I-M-A-A-L-P-H-A.”

  “It’s because he was a placeholder for the true Ima Alpha,” Colby read out loud.

  The indicator rested on the board, but Samara felt it wiggling beneath her fingers again. “There’s more,” she whispered. “I-T-S-H-I-S-R-E-W-A-R-D-F-O-R-T-H-E-S . . . -A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E-H-E-M-A-D-E.”

  “It’s his reward for the sacrifice he made,” Emma whispered, glancing at what Colby had written. “So, he gets a second mate because he filled in for you for a while, Sam.”

  “Good. It was well deserved,” Samara replied a smile. She turned back to the Ouija board and asked it the first question that came to mind—the question that had been looming over her head for so long, the question that they needed answers to more than anything else. “What do you know about black magic?”

  The indicator dragged across the board. IKNOWTHATYOUSHOULDNTMESSWITHIT.

  “I know that you shouldn’t mess with it,” Emma pieced together.

  “I know that we shouldn’t mess with it,” Samara replied, rolling her eyes. She wanted the spirit to tell her something more than what was already obvious. “But there’s someone else . . . another pack . . . who’s planning to use it against us. They’ve used it against us already. What can we do to stop them?”

  IDONTRECOMMENDTRYINGTOFIGHTTHEM, the indicator spelled out. YOUCOULDGETHURT.

  Colby stared back at the letters for a few moments before figuring out what they meant. “I don’t recommend trying to fight them. You could get hurt.”

  Samara sighed. “We have to fight them. If we don’t fight them, this pack is going to conquer us and then go onto conquer other packs. Their plan is to become the strongest pack in the world. So, if you know something—anything—that can help us figure out how to stop them, can you please tell us what it is?”

  There was a long pause before the indicator moved again. This time, it was swiftly dragged to NO.

  Luke groaned. “It seems like this isn’t going to get us anywhere. Do you have anything else you want to ask it? If you don’t, I say we try again with another spirit.”

  Samara hesitated. “Do you know where Joe McKinley’s blue sapphire is?” She read the letters that the indicator moved to out loud. “I-T-I-S-I-N-T-H-E-H-A-N-D-S . . . O-F-Y-O-U-R-WO-R-S-T-E-N-E-M-Y.”

  Emma glanced up at her. “It’s in the hands of your worst enemy.”

  “Great,” Samara muttered. “I had a feeling Jason was the one who had it.” She considered whether or not there was anything else the spirit would be able to tell her. “Did my grandfather use black magic?”

  The indicator was dragged to NO. Then, more slowly, it spelled out, HEFOUGHTAGAINSTIT.

  “No, he didn’t. He fought against it,” Colby read from the paper that he had written the letters on. “That’s good news, Sam. Joe was naturally powerful without the help of black magic. Everyone was wrong about him.”

  “How did he do that? How did he fight against it?” Samara questioned, the hope building up inside of her. If this spirit could tell her something—anything—about what her grandfather did to fight back against black magic, it might help her be able to figure out how to do the same thing herself.

  The indicator moved along the letters on the Ouija board. WITHTHEHELPOFTHETRUSTEDONES.

  “With the help of the Trusted Ones?” Emma questioned once Colby had written all of the letters down.

  “Looks like it,” Colby agreed.

  Samara raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean? Have you ever heard of the Trusted Ones?

  Colby shook his head. “No, I don’t know what they are . . . or how they could relate to black magic. It doesn’t make much sense.”

  “What are the Trusted Ones, and how do we use it to fight against black magic?” Luke prompted the spirit.

  When the indicator didn’t move, Samara whispered, “Maybe the spirit only responds to me. How do we use the Trusted Ones to fight against black magic like my grandfather did, Matthias?”

  When the indicator didn’t move, Samara knew that the spirit of Matthias was gone.

  *

  Samara waited at the public library the next day to meet her tutor. Her mom had arranged for him to meet her here for their first session together. She was early, so he wasn’t there yet. Her mom hadn’t told her what to look for; she hadn’t even told her the guy’s name, but Samara was assuming that it was going to be someone older, or possibly a teacher from another school.

  As she waited for him to get there and secretly hoped he would be a no-show, Samara anxiously tapped her pen against the notebook in front of her. She was trying to come up with some sort of plan to get the sapphire back, but she couldn’t seem to come up with any ideas.

  The truth was, her grandfather’s talisman could be anywhere. As much as she wanted to think that Jason actually had it on him, he could have been keeping it somewhere no one would ever find it. There was also a chance that he could have left in Alaska, knowing that Samara and the rest of the Ima wouldn’t come back to look for it there. That would also prevent Troy and the rest of the Shomecossee from getting their hands on it again.

  All she needed to do was figure out where to start looking for it. If only she had a little bit more to go on. Maybe she could get in touch with Matthias again and ask him to give her a hint as to where the sapphire could be.

  “Samara?” a male voice asked from behind her.

  Samara glanced over her shoulder to find Brad Kelly hovering over her. An impish grin crossed his face, as he pulled out the chair next to her. “How are you?”

  “I’m good,” she replied, blocking Luke out of her thoughts so that he wouldn’t get annoyed that she was talking to the guy who he had gotten jealous over. “Just waiting for my tutor to get here. My mom found some guy in the newspaper and hired him to help me with biology,” she explained, rolling her eyes.

  “Well, don’t you sound enthusiastic? I’m here now, so we can get started,” Brad replied.

  “Wait, you’re my tutor?” Samara asked with wide eyes. Why hadn’t her mom mentioned that her tutor was going to be someone from her own school . . . or even that it would be someone her own age?

  Brad nodded. “Yeah, it was kind of funny, actually. Your mom gave me a phone call right after you left the restaurant the other night. It was like it was fate for me to tutor you or something.”

  Samara just stared back at him. She realized that Luke might actually have had a good reason to be jealous. Brad clearly had a crush on her. If only Brad knew that there was no way she was going to leave her mate for him.

  Deciding that sh
e couldn’t go through with this, Samara closed her notebook and started to stand up. “Look, I don’t think this tutoring thing is going to work out. I have to go.”

  “Wait,” Brad replied, a pleading look in his hazel eyes. “Your mom already scheduled me for five sessions. I turned down other clients so I could tutor you. And to be honest, I really need the cash.”

  Samara sighed, running her hands over the money in her pocket that her mom had given her to pay the tutor with. Maybe she could try out one session and if Brad still made her feel uncomfortable, she just wouldn’t show up for the rest. She would let him keep the cash, and her mom would never find out that he hadn’t actually tutored her.

  Turning to Brad and handing him the wad of cash, she said, “Okay, fine. You can tutor me.”

  Brad grinned at her. “I promise you won’t regret it. When’s your next biology exam?”

  “Tomorrow,” she replied.

  “Then, we better get started. You’re going to have a lot of cramming to do,” Brad said, swinging his biology book open.

  *

  Samara waited for Brad to leave the library first before stepping outside onto the sidewalk. She scanned the parking lot for Luke’s Honda civic, and found that he was sitting in the car waiting for her with the radio cranked up.

  She hoped that he wouldn’t say anything, but as soon as she got in the car, Luke gave her a small kiss and then asked, “Did you see Brad Kelly in there?”

  Deciding that she didn’t want him to get jealous or angry about Brad being her tutor, she bit her lip and shook her head. “No, I didn’t see him,” she lied.

  “Really? I just saw him leaving the library, only a few minutes before you came out,” Luke replied, glancing over at her.

  Samara shrugged. “It’s a pretty big library. He must have been upstairs or something. Besides, I was pretty involved in what I was learning.”

  “Hmm, I didn’t hear your thoughts while you were in there,” Luke said, glancing over at her. “I thought I could get in a biology tutoring session, too.”

  Samara bit her lip nervously. “I blocked you out so you wouldn’t distract me with your own thoughts,” she replied. She was technically lying because she’d blocked him out so he wouldn’t know she was with Brad, but it was sort of the truth, too . . . She had been planning to block him out during her tutoring session so he wouldn’t distract her.

  “What’s your tutor like?” Luke questioned, as he pulled out of his parking spot.

  “An older woman. She’s a retired biology teacher,” Samara replied, spitting out the first lie that filled her mind. She felt guilty about not telling Luke the truth, but she also knew that it was in his best interest. There was no reason for him to worry, especially when she still wasn’t even sure if she was going to let Brad tutor her again . . . even though he had helped her out a lot today.

  Noting that they weren’t driving in the direction of her house, Samara turned to look at him. “Where are we going?”

  Running a hand over his short brown hair, Luke replied, “Orkos is here. He wants to see you.” Darting his green eyes over at her, he added, “I only saw him for a few minutes, but he doesn’t seem too happy. I’m not sure why.”

  “Hmm,” Samara murmured, glancing out the window at the forest as they passed it, wondering if he was upset because Kyana had a mate. Even though she knew that Orkos wanted Kyana to get married and have a were-baby in the near future, it also seemed like he was a little overprotective of his daughter in some ways. Maybe he wasn’t really ready for her to be mated to anyone yet . . . or maybe he just didn’t like Chris.

  Once Luke pulled into the driveway, they both climbed out of the car and made their way to the front door. When they were inside, they found Kyana sitting on the sofa, tears streaming down her cheeks. Chris was standing in the corner of the room, holding his chin in his hand. When he saw Samara, he gave her a look that she wasn’t able to identify.

  Orkos was sitting on the sofa next to Kyana, his cheeks a shade of rosy red. When he saw Samara enter the room, he glanced up at her. “There you are. I need to have a word with you. In private,” he said, shooting a glare at Luke, as he rose to his feet.

  He led Samara outside to the back porch where he sat down at one of the chairs that circled the table. “Do you realize why I came here?” Orkos asked, glancing over at her.

  “Yeah, Kyana told me you wanted to come see her now that you’re doing better . . . which I’m so happy to hear, by the way,” Samara replied. “She also said that you wanted to meet Chris.”

  Orkos’ almond-shaped eyes softened slightly. “Meeting Chris is part of the reason why I’m here, but the main reason is because I wanted to speak to you. My daughter doesn’t know that’s why I came, though.”

  “You could have called,” Samara said, shrugging her shoulders nervously. Why did Orkos want to speak to her? Had something happened back in Alaska after they’d left that she needed to know about? Something that he was maybe even keeping from Kyana?

  Samara had assumed that the Vyka hadn’t caused any type of damage or harmed anyone, but maybe something had happened after the Ima was on their way back to Pennsylvania.

  Orkos shook his head. “No, I wanted to speak to you in person.” He took a deep breath. “I wanted to tell you that I’m very upset with you for what you did.”

  Samara stared back at him, wide-eyed and confused.

  “I trust that you’re a responsible person, Samara. Lord knows you’ll need to be in order for you to live up to the expectations that your grandfather had for you, and I don’t doubt that he was wrong about you. You’re a brave young lady.” Orkos met her gaze. “But no matter how responsible you are or will become in the future, the fact of the matter is that you had no right to convince Kyana to come back here with you. It wasn’t your place to convince her to become an Ima.”

  So, that was why Orkos was angry with her; he thought it was her fault that Kyana had left home to come live in Pennsylvania and join a new pack.

  “I understand why you would think that,” Samara began. “But I’m not the one who convinced Kyana to come to Pennsylvania. She had such a connection with Josh. I mean, you saw it yourself before the attack . . . They really thought they were meant to be mates. It was a little surprising to everyone when she and Chris found out that they were mated instead, but . . . Josh was the main reason why she came.”

  Samara decided to leave out the part about how Kyana didn’t want to get married or have babies at a young age like Orkos and the Koto pack wanted her to, and that joining a new pack would give her more freedom. It wasn’t for Samara to share; if Kyana wanted her father to know that information, she could tell him herself.

  Orkos let out a deep sigh. “Whether it was you or Josh who convinced her to leave, you still had no right. She belongs to the Koto. Alaska is her home.”

  Samara forced herself to offer Orkos a small smile, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew it wasn’t genuine. “We did have the right to bring her here, Orkos. Akar gave us his permission.”

  Orkos shook his head. “No, it doesn’t work that way. Akar is the Alpha of the youth pack, but his decisions only hold true when I’m unable to fulfill my duties and make the decisions on my own. Our youth pack must obey the wishes of the Alpha of our adult pack.” He paused. “I’m not angry with Akar for giving Kyana permission to come here because I wasn’t able to tell her she wasn’t allowed to become an Ima. But now that I’m back to normal, Akar’s choice no longer matters. I’ve come to take Kyana back to Alaska with me.”

  Samara raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re joking, right? Kyana is working on building her life here already. She’s just started school, and she’s settling into her new life in Pennsylvania. You can’t just take her home after she’s worked so hard to start fresh. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  Orkos shrugged unsympathetically. “Kyana should have thought about that before she made the decision to come here. She should have thought about
the consequences when she went through her Ima initiation. It doesn’t matter now, though, because she’s going to be a Koto again.” He rose to his feet and turned to go in the house.

  “Wait!” Samara hissed at him. “I didn’t agree to let her become a Koto again. If you want her back on your pack, you’re going to need my permission.”

  Orkos’ eyes widened. “I would have thought that after all the favors I’ve done for you—taking care of Nuka and all of the things that your grandfather left behind for you—the least you could do was let me take my daughter back home, where she belongs.”

  Samara searched her head for a way to convince him to let Kyana stay in Pennsylvania, but she couldn’t come up with anything. She didn’t want to tell him that she needed Kyana to stay because they needed strength in numbers if they had any shot at beating Jason; that would probably just make Orkos nervous by reminding him that his daughter was going to have to fight, and there was a chance that she could die if things got out of hand.

  Instead, Samara said the first thing that she could think of. “Why don’t we let Kyana decide if she wants to stay here or go back to Alaska with you? It seems fair to let her decide where she wants to be, doesn’t it?”

  Orkos hesitated, considering this option. Finally, he nodded his head. “Okay, this sounds like a good idea to me. Let’s let Kyana decide. It only seems fair. She’s the one who’s going to have to live the rest of eternity with whichever pack she should choose.”

  “Okay. I guess we’ll see what she decides.” Feeling herself growing competitive, she thought, let the best pack win. If Kyana did choose the Koto over the Ima, it was probably because she was homesick . . . but Samara hoped that wouldn’t happen right now. The last thing they needed was to lose two members when they were trying to build a pack that was strong enough to take on the Vyka.

  When they went back into the living room, Kyana was sitting on the couch next to Chris, who had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. They both had nervous expressions written all over their faces as Orkos sat down in a recliner.