by Jill Sanders
“What about you?” He turned to Larry. “Can you stay?”
“I have—” He shook his head. “Did have a job at the brewery, but it wasn’t me.” His voice was filled with sorrow. “I’m going to stick around here. Make a fresh start.” He smiled and reached for Jess’s hand. “See where life leads me.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” Jacob added in.
“Actually, we talked briefly about it,” Jess added. “He’s going to move into my apartment, at least for now.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He leaned down and kissed Jess. “I’ll swing by and pick you up since your truck is already over there.”
“Okay, see you.” She ducked her head back into the book, while her father finished his cup of coffee. His eyes were glued to his daughter as if he was seeing her for the very first time. Jacob couldn’t imagine how the man felt, losing her for so long. Nor did he plan on finding out.
One way or another, he was going to find her mother and lock her up for good.
Chapter 16
With the help of her father, Jess went through every page in her great-grandmother’s book.
Some of the spells were in different handwriting. She found a note in the front and knew which handwriting was that of her great-grandmother, Cora. They accounted for almost half of the spells listed in the book. She knew her mother’s handwriting and estimated that her mother had entered over a dozen spells to the book. The rest, she assumed, were from before her great-grandmother’s time.
Some of the spells were dated, others weren’t. The oldest spell dated back to the early sixteenth century. None of the older spells were in English. Jess knew a little Latin, but Xtina was the expert where the old language was concerned.
When Jacob showed up, she closed the book and got in the back of his cruiser for the drive out to Xtina’s place.
“Any clues as to where my mother went?” she asked him. She knew why he’d gone into the station that morning.
Most likely, there was a fresh warrant out for her mother.
“No, but I have someone watching the lake house.” He glanced in the mirror at her. “We’ll find her.”
She nodded and glanced down at the book, running her hands over the cover. It was worn dark-brown leather. There was a symbol burned into the cover, but the years had degraded the material so that it was unrecognizable.
They turned onto the bumpy dirt lane and Jessica glanced up in time to see Mike step out of his front door and head across the small field towards the bigger house.
“Do you think Brea is in pain?” she asked out of the blue.
“I don’t think she’s in… anything. From the way she described it last time, it was as if no time had disappeared at all.”
“What are we talking about?” her father asked.
“Our friend, Breanna. She’s… disappeared,” Jess told him.
“Have you been out looking for her?” he asked Jacob.
“She didn’t disappear in the normal sense,” he added.
“What does that mean?” her father asked.
“She can teleport. She’s disappeared a few times before, showing up moments, hours, and in one case, a few days later.”
Her father was quiet until they parked behind her truck. “I… I remember something about that.”
“About teleporting?” Jess asked after she was out of the car.
“Yeah, your mother… disappeared a few times.”
“Do you think there’s something in here about it? I’ve been so preoccupied with finding out answers, I didn’t think to look for anything about Brea’s problem.”
“Let’s go inside. Maybe Xtina can help you look.” He turned as Ethan approached them. “Anything?” Jacob asked.
“No,” Ethan said, rubbing his face with his hands.
“Did you get any sleep?” Jess asked him.
“None. I pitched a tent in the field, where she…” He took a deep breath. “Where I saw her last.”
“My father might have given us a clue to help find her,” Jess said. “Let’s go inside.” She took Ethan’s arm and half dragged him into the house.
He looked like death. Even worse than her father had looked upon learning he’d been held prisoner for over twenty-five years.
Xtina and Mike had made sandwiches and, as always, cold ice tea was sitting on the center coffee table. Everyone had a sandwich and a drink and got to work.
When she opened the book, Xtina chuckled. “That is sooo cool.”
Jess rolled her eyes and glanced up at her. “You haven’t seen nothin’ yet.” She glanced over at the pitcher of tea, then sat back in her chair and watched the pitcher pour tea into her glass.
“Show off.” Jacob laughed and wrapped his arm around her.
“You don’t have to talk?” her father said after the pitcher was done filling up every glass on the coffee table.
“What?” She turned towards him.
“You didn’t have to say something. Rachelle always had to speak in order for things to happen.” He glanced around as everyone continued to look at him. “I know because once, I tried to…”—he took a deep breath—“silence her.”
Jess felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered every time her mother had attacked her. In each case, she had spoken the incantation beforehand.
“You’re stronger than her,” Xtina said. “I didn’t see it before, when she allowed me to see… things. But it makes sense now.” Xtina reached for her glass of tea.
Jess remembered how her mother had acted the first time she’d called the book to her. She’d been shocked and disgusted.
Xtina and Jess spent almost an hour hunched over the book while the men talked quietly about their plans. Then Ethan stood up and said he was heading back to the field to wait for Brea to return.
“You being there isn’t going to make her come back quicker,” Jacob added, earning him a glare from Xtina and Jess.
“I know, but I can’t help thinking that she’ll be able to zero in on me.” He turned to Jess. “Have you found anything yet?”
“Nothing yet.” She sighed and reached for her glass of tea. “I’m sure it’s here. There’s just a lot to go through.”
“Call me if you find something,” he said.
“When we find something,” Xtina corrected. “We will.” She smiled.
“We’re going to go check something out.” Jacob and Mike stood up. When Larry stood up, he added, “Maybe you can stick around here, help them out with what you remember. We’ll be back in about an hour.”
After they left, Xtina looked over at her. “They’re going to the lake house.”
“I figured,” Jess said, leaning back. “Do you have any wine? Reading a dead language gives me a headache.”
“You read my mind.” Xtina started to get up, then stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Can you do that?”
Jess laughed and shook her head. “Not that I know.”
“Larry, would you like something to drink?” Xtina asked.
“A beer would be great. I can’t remember the last time I had one.” He smiled up at Xtina.
Xtina chuckled as she disappeared into the kitchen.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Mike asked once they were standing in front of the lake house.
“Well, I’d like to check out the spot we lost Rachelle last night.” He took off at a brisk walk with Mike on his heels.
“Why?” Mike asked.
“It was like she just… disappeared.” He turned down the pathway.
“You don’t think…” Mike let his question drop off.
“Yeah, I do,” Jacob added.
“What good will it do? I mean, do you think she’ll just reappear when we’re here?”
“No, I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I guess it would prove something if we can find anything that confirms our theory.”
“Makes sense. Then at least we can tell Ethan that there’s hope for Brea.”
“How so?”
Jacob glanced back at his brother.
“Well, I mean, if she can come and go at will, then maybe Brea can learn to control it.”
Something spiked in Jacob’s memory. “Jess told me that Brea needed to learn to control it. I mean, long before her parents showed up.”
“Xtina was talking about it too. I mean, we’ve all seen…”
“The end?” Jacob supplied.
“Whatever.” Mike sighed, then almost ran into Jacob. “Sorry,”
“This is where we lost her.” He hunched down.
“See anything?” Mike tried to look over his shoulder.
“No.” He stood up. “I’ll go this way, you go that.” He pointed in the direction of the road. “Ten minutes,” he warned.
“Sure.” Mike took off, but then stopped. “What am I looking for?”
Jacob shrugged his shoulders. “Anything out of the ordinary.”
Jacob started circling the lake again, this time going slowly, looking at everything he could. Watching for footprints, broken branches, anything. He was almost ten feet away from the path when he noticed the first footprints.
“Mike,” he called out loudly.
“Yo?” Mike called back.
“Got some prints here.” He bent down and noticed the small footprints.
“Coming your way,” Mike called back.
When Mike joined him, they followed the tracks, which led away from the edge of the water and the road and towards a large field.
“Where do you think, she went?” Mike asked after a few minutes of walking across the tall grass.
Jacob stopped and looked around. “We’re heading back towards Xtina’s place.”
Suddenly, his heart dropped.
“You don’t think?” Mike started.
“Shit!” Jacob took off at a run, with Mike close on his heels.
When they made it back to the car, both of them were huffing and puffing.
“Call them,” Jacob said, jumping behind the wheel and peeling out of the driveway.
“Already on it,” Mike said, holding the phone up to his ear. “Shit. No response.”
“Call Jess’s number.” Jacob turned out of the drive and punched the gas.
He watched the road as they sped in the direction of Xtina and Mike’s place.
“Jess?” Mike said into the phone. “Are you guys okay?”
Jacob’s heart settled a little, hearing his brother respond to Jess.
“Okay, yeah, we’re on our way back there.” Mike relaxed slightly. “Make sure to lock the door.” Then Mike laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“What?” Jacob asked after Mike hung up.
“Xtina was in the restroom, so she didn’t answer the phone. Jess says that Rose would scare anyone away.”
Jacob glanced at him.
“Rose has become sluggish with her pregnancy. She’s due in about a month.”
“Oh, right. You’re going to be a daddy.” Jacob smiled and slowed down to normal speed.
“So, if she wasn’t heading towards the house, then where?” Mike asked just as they drove into the driveway.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think we should leave either of them alone until she’s found.”
“I can go along with that,” Mike said as Jacob parked.
When they walked into the house, Rose glanced up at them from her dog bed near the fireplace, then immediately rolled back down and continued to sleep.
“Some watchdog.” Mike chuckled. He walked over and wrapped Xtina in his arms.
“Is everything okay?” Jess asked, looking worried.
“Yeah, we found a trail, leading back in this direction.”
Xtina frowned. “That’s almost five miles away. Why would she come here? For the book?”
Jacob glanced down at Jess. He watched as the realization hit her.
“You think she’s coming here for me?” Jess sat up a little more.
Jacob sat next to her, then reached over and took her hand in his.
“I’m not really sure, but until we find your mother, I’m not leaving your side.”
Chapter 17
Being under Jacob’s constant watch sounded fun to begin with, but after two days, she was desperately wishing for a little alone time.
Even when he went into work for a few hours, Jacob didn’t want her and Larry left alone, so he would deliver them to Xtina’s place.
Of course, she didn’t want her mother to get a hold of her dad again, at least not until she had a chance to figure out some sort of protection for him.
She had found the page titled “Oscillation,” which talked about moving back and forth between two places, but it didn’t mention anything about time.
She’d planned on trying it at Xtina’s later that night when Jacob was at work. She knew he wouldn’t agree to her trying it on herself, but they were running out of time. They only had two more days until the hunter’s moon. And, if her visions were correct, the end of her world.
She rode in silence as Jacob drove her to Xtina’s place.
“I’m taking Larry in with me tonight.” His eyes met hers in the mirror. “We have a few things…we need to go over.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” Jess asked.
“No.” Jacob shook his head. “You just keep looking for a way to fix everything.”
She glanced down at the book in her hands. “I’m beginning to think that the pages she ripped out are the ones I need. If only you could remember what she said that night.” She looked towards her father.
“Pumpkin, I can’t remember half of the stuff I did in the past twenty-five years.” He leaned back and looked out the window.
“I know, Dad. I’m sorry.” She reached up and touched his shoulder. He patted her hand.
She climbed out of the car in the rain and made a dash for the front porch. She turned and waved as Jacob and her father disappeared down the lane.
Xtina stood directly behind her and smiled at her. “So, are we ready to do this?”
Jess nodded. “If I disappear on that man, he’s going to kill me.” She smiled as she removed her jacket.
“You won’t. I figured out a way we can try the spell, without sending you away.”
“Oh?” Jess sat down and set the book in front of her and opened it with her mind.
“Okay, that is still super cool.” Xtina sat across from her.
“How?” Jess tilted her head.
“With these.” Xtina bent down and put two small cages on the coffee table. One held two tiny white mice, the other was empty. “You can send them from here”—she set her hand on the cage with the mice—“to here.” She tapped the empty cage.
“I don’t know.” Jess thought about it. “I guess I was expecting that whoever said the spell was the one disappearing.”
“Well, if you read…” Xtina reached out for the book but got a red burst of electricity. “Ouch!”
“Let me.” Jess flipped the pages and opened the book to the correct page.
“If you read this…” Xtina shook her sizzled fingers as she read the page without getting near it. “It’s pretty clear on how to send one object to another place.”
“Okay.” Jess leaned forward. “I’m game.”
Almost an hour later, she leaned back totally exhausted. “What are we doing wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Xtina sighed. “Maybe we need more wine?”
Closing her eyes, she went over everything they had tried. It should be working. Why wasn’t it?
Maybe she’d been right in the first place. Maybe it was meant for her instead of the two mice that Xtina had dubbed Ricky and Lucy.
While Xtina was in the other room, she ran over the words in her mind, slowly repeating them over and over. She focused on the words, pronouncing them in her mind, focusing on the location she wished to be. She couldn’t think of anyplace exciting, so she focused on Xtina’s kitchen.
She opened her eyes when Xtina cried out, and she heard glass shattering
. She was sitting at the kitchen table, with Xtina blinking at her. Red wine and broken glass lay at Xtina’s feet.
“You did it!” Xtina smiled. “You did it!” She clapped a few times.
“I did?” She blinked. “I didn’t feel anything.” She glanced around. “Let me try going back.” She closed her eyes and focused on the sofa, then she felt it. Suddenly, the hard chair beneath her turned softer. There was a slight tingling, as Brea had mentioned she felt each time she disappeared and reappeared.
She opened her eyes and turned just as Xtina rushed back into the room, a huge smile on her lips.
“Okay, that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Xtina smiled and leaned against the door frame. “Now, do you think you can make like Samantha and clean the wine and glass up from the floor?”
Jess laughed and got up. “I’m willing to give it a try.”
For the next hour, she zipped all over Xtina’s house. All she had to do was think of a room, and suddenly, she was there.
“You’re getting stronger,” Xtina said.
“I guess it’s like a muscle. Once you use it, it gets easier.” She leaned back. “But I’m exhausted.”
“Here.” Xtina pulled open the drawer in the kitchen and revealed a bag of Halloween candy. “I don’t know why I buy this stuff early. I always end up eating it all, then making a trip to the store a few hours before the trick-or-treaters show up. Not that I’m planning on getting any out this way.” She opened a Snickers. “But I couldn’t stop myself from buying it.”
Xtina handed her a candy bar, and when their hands met, Xtina was gone in a vision. She waited patiently until her friend moved her hand aside. When she did, she frowned.
“Do you know?” Xtina asked, her eyes roaming over her face.
Jess frowned. “Know what?” She reached over and took the candy Xtina had dropped.
Xtina took a deep breath. “Do you have another secret you want to tell me?”
“No, should I?” Jess popped the candy into her mouth and enjoyed the sugary goodness.
“Jess, you’re killing me.” Xtina groaned. “Just like before, I can’t be the one to say your secrets. You have to tell me.”
“What?” Jess shook her head. “I don’t have anything else to tell you.”