Shattered Souls

by Karice Bolton

  “What did I tell you?” he sang, standing only a foot away from me.

  I cocked my head to see him, his evil smile. I held out my hand and bowed my head in submission.

  “The pain too much for you, my love,” he crooned.

  I nodded, feeling his fingers slide into mine.

  “Are you asking for forgiveness,” he asked.

  The coolness glided along my fingertips, and I squeezed tightly around his hand as his screams began churning through the air. Unable to hide my smile, I looked up at Ethan, who had now dropped to his knees as the liquid metal spread through his hand, down to his wrist.

  “You….” he fumed.

  “Call off your demons,” I commanded.

  “Absolutely not,” he replied, writhing in agony. The ground continued shaking, and I looked around at everyone shielding, casting, and throwing magic. I was no longer certain about how this would end.

  He knew I wouldn’t kill him until he called off his demons. I knew he wouldn’t call off his demons unless I almost killed him.

  I watched as the ground around us continued cracking, allowing the demons to come into our realm as they swirled and swerved through the crevices, pulling and tugging at my family and friends. I began hearing the welcome sound of fluttering wings as the fairies began surrounding us. They began fighting their brethren from the underworld. I watched the little fairies, bob and weave, taunting the larger demons, before they would sink their shiny fangs into them and rip them to shreds.

  Their fierceness and power excited me. I wanted to be that person. Just once, I wanted to feign horror and have people recognize and taste the terror that I threw down.

  But that wasn’t who I was.

  Ethan’s breathing continued to grow ragged as the liquid flowed up his arm. His eyes darted to the fairies and back to me. I accidentally let my guard down and he shoved his metal fist through mine and into my chest, knocking me to the ground. He wrapped his one good hand around my throat and began gripping it with every ounce of strength he had left. I felt my ring spin on my pinky. My heart was pounding as I popped open the locket and grabbed the tiny amulet out of it. As I gasped for air, I knew he wouldn’t stop squeezing with his one good hand to stop me. Tears were running down my face as I tried to squirm enough to continue to dislodge the constant pressure he was forcing around my neck. Grasping the amulet between my thumb and index finger, I brought my hand up to my chest. I wriggled my body along the ground, trying to do anything to stop his crushing grip when my fingers slid the amulet into place on my pendant. And I made my choice.

  I chose.

  I chose not to die.

  I chose to live.

  Forever.

  Beams of light shot out of my pendant, blinding Ethan just enough to allow me to roll away from him. I reached up to my neck, gasping for air but afraid to breathe, because the pain was so bad. I saw my mom on the ground, the shield shrinking, barely even covering her. Logan was fighting as many as were coming at him as fast as he could but when would it stop. I needed to get Ethan to call them back. I looked over at him and he was holding his bad arm, watching the liquid silver continue to creep along his healthy flesh.

  “This war has become something you don’t want to fight,” a female’s voice sang through the air. “Call back your demons.”

  I looked up to the sky to see it filled with a beautiful spirit, a spirit that language fails to convey. She was miraculous, beautiful, and I was her vessel.

  “Oh. My. Word,” I gasped, looking toward the sky.

  The remaining members of the Praedivinus and Demoniker Orders stopped fighting, instead they stared toward the sky.

  “Vade Ad Inferos,” Ethan stuttered, commanding the demons to the underworld.

  The grounds began lighting up as the fairies joined forces. The lake illuminated with a glowing canvas that was beyond breathtaking.

  I stood up, stumbling as I ran toward Logan. He grabbed me and held me before I let go and ran to my mom. She was weak, but she was okay. We all were okay. I looked toward the glowing waters and was in awe as I realized what was lighting up the water. Lake Nymphs hovered over every square inch of water. Their beauty and soft glow radiated off the lake as their song began echoing through the night’s air. I stood watching the beauty of our world come to life in a spectacular way as my body felt like I was experiencing weightlessness. I looked up toward the sky, smiling at the choice I made.

  Logan came up behind me and slid his arms around my waist, tucking his chin into my shoulder.

  Dace and Bakula, along with several other fairies, hovered in front of us holding the Praedivinus covenant.

  “Thank you for accepting our gift,” Bakula said, bowing.

  I touched my pendant, feeling where the amulet went.

  “What was that I slipped into my pendant?” I asked.

  “The amulet is a crystalized tear from me. One that we’ve blessed,” she answered, winking at me.

  My mouth fell open.

  “And I had it the entire time,” I whispered, shaking my head.

  “You sure did,” Bakula said. “I started to doubt that you’d use it.”

  The fairies shifted under the weight of the covenant.

  “The covenant is ready for you,” Bakula said.

  “Ready for me?” I asked, grabbing it.

  They nodded as Logan and I slowly walked toward the lake, with Dace and Bakula following.

  “This is it,” I said quietly.

  “You did it,” he whispered.

  “We did it.” I stopped near the water’s edge and opened the covenant. Tearing out the pages, I threw them into the air watching as they ignited over the lake.

  “Wow,” I sighed, emptying the book. I turned to face Logan, his expression loving as he caressed my arm.

  “Your eyes are so beautiful,” he whispered. “They’re silver now, you know. Guess we can call it gray magic.”

  I smiled, feeling like the world was full of possibilities.

  “Our love really will live on,” I whispered, rubbing my hands over his.

  “Forever,” he murmured, as we both watched the Lake Nymphs dance and sing in celebration of this new world.

  Chapter 33

  We were back in Seattle. The lake incident, that’s what we called it now, felt like an event long ago, but it wasn’t. It was just last week. Christmas was only days away, and our home was finally decorated. I’d be lying if I said I was the one who decorated. I didn’t. My mom had Meredith come over and get it ready before we got home. What I did do, though, was plan a fun holiday dinner, which I should be enjoying now instead of staring out the window waiting for Logan to return home.

  “He’ll be here,” Jenny said, sitting behind me. “Quit worrying.”

  “I know but the snow storm was unexpected,” I countered.

  “And what do you think’s going to happen to him?” she teased. “If I remember you guys share a little something called—”

  “I know. I know,” I said, waving my hands at her. “But I’m still allowed to worry.”

  “I can’t believe you had the key to immortality with you the entire time in that ring,” Jenny said, shaking her head.

  “It’s pretty incredible.”

  I turned back to the window and there he was, pulling right into the driveway.

  I hollered to everyone and ran to the door, flinging it open. He was walking up the sidewalk with a bouquet of red roses and a sheepish grin.

  “Where have you been?” I asked, giving him a big hug.

  “I had to wait until it started snowing,” he said coyly.

  “Why’s that?” I asked puzzled, as he pulled me outside.

  I heard everyone gather at the front door and begin whispering and cheering, which I though was odd until I turned back to Logan.

  Logan reached for my hand and dropped to one knee before I even knew what was happening. He looked up at me slowly at the same time that I exhaled to steady my world. His silver eyes locked
on mine, his expression unreadable.

  “I love you. You make me right, Triss. You don’t just complete me. You make me. Without you, I don’t know where I’d be. Where any of us would be. I want to spend the rest of our lives together.”

  My hand began trembling, but he didn’t let go. Instead, using his other hand, he removed a tiny ring box from his pocket and flipped it open.

  “Triss, will you marry me?” he asked, tightening his clasp around my hand.

  I blinked back the tears and began nodding as I watched a smile spread across his lips.

  “Yes,” I whispered, as he brought me into him.

  “You have made me the happiest man in the world.” His voice was low.

  “I love you more than anything,” I whispered, feeling the tears stream down my cheek as he pulled away.

  Logan’s lips bent into a wide smile as he slipped the ring on my finger. Wiping away the tears, I looked down at the beautiful setting, but it was almost impossible to focus as my hand trembled.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It reminded me of you,” he said, holding my hand.

  Jenny came up behind Logan and tapped his shoulder. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” she asked, looking at my ring.

  “You’ve seen it before?” I asked.

  Jenny blushed and scurried away without saying another word.

  “How long have you planning this?” I asked, smiling.

  “Since,” he paused, and looked away before smiling, “forever.

  “I have never seen a partnership like what you two can pull off,” Bakula’s voice from behind shocked me. She fluttered to Logan’s shoulder and hovered. “You don’t detract from each other. You add to one another; each weakness becomes a strength. It’s something very unusual,” Bakula said, glancing at Dace. “I’d say you even beat us in that department.”

  “Absolutely not,” Dace said, as his tiny lips turned up in a smile.

  “Congratulations, my baby,” my mom gushed, walking up to us.

  Ellsy stood next to my mom, with tears in her eyes. I scanned the porch and couldn’t believe how amazing this moment felt. I never wanted it to end.

  “Thank you, mom,” I said, hugging her.

  “Logan’s been planning this for a long time, and after hearing some of the close calls in recent days, I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am that we pulled it off,” she said, laughing, taking another swig of her drink.

  “Close calls?” I asked.

  “Snow storms that never transpired. He insisted it be done in the snow,” Ellsy said.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t have any idea,” I said in disbelief. I looked over at Logan and he was grinning, chatting with Jenny, looking over at me every so often.

  “Congratulations,” Trevor said, pulling me into him, but not before Angela bounded over and tackled us both.

  “This is incredible,” she chirped. “Let me see that ring.”

  I held up my hand and enjoyed the wave of excitement that washed over me as she held my hand and examined it. “Amazing.”

  “You look absolutely stunning, babe,” Logan murmured interrupting us as he snuck up behind me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy.”

  I spun around and slid my arms around his neck.

  “You make me this happy,” I whispered. “All the time.”

  “Well that’s good to hear,” he teased, bringing his lips close to mine. “Because we have a lot of time.”

  The charge running between us was undeniable. Since that night at the lake, every feeling, thought, emotion was escalated into something too hard to explain, maybe too hard for me to understand. But as I looked into Logan’s eyes I felt it running through me, and I was grateful that our future included forever. I stood on my toes and touched my lips to his, feeling the love that only we two could share.

  The End

  BOOKS BY KARICE BOLTON

  THE WITCH AVENUE SERIES

  LONELY SOULS

  ALTERED SOULS

  RELEASED SOULS

  SHATTERED SOULS

  THE WATCHERS TRILOGY

  AWAKENING

  LEGIONS

  CATACLYSM

  TAKEN NOVELLA (Watchers Prequel)

  THE CAMP

  COMING SUMMER 2013

  TBA *New Adult Contemporary Romance*

  TBA * New Adult Paranormal Romance Series (Book 1)*

  To find out more visit Karice Bolton’s website

  The Camp (excerpt)

  ChapterOne

  The Cessna 180 engine rumbled through the small six-seat aircraft cabin, but unfortunately it did little to block out the words of the other passengers. I glared at the back of the Captain who was lucky enough to be wearing a headset.

  “I’d love to see what’s under her jacket.” I heard the guy behind me say to no one in particular.

  “I’ll second that, and I bet we’ll get the chance,” another one said.

  The gnawing in my stomach only grew with every passing minute, but there was nothing I could do. I was stuck in a plane where I could literally touch the pilot. I didn’t need to start something that I couldn’t finish and have the plane crash because I couldn’t handle a little heckling.

  I looked out the small, oval window pressing my head against the cold glass covered in water droplets. I couldn’t really see anything out the window because the weather was so bad. It was like we were trapped in one continuous rain cloud that was sent from the Gods to mess with me.

  Getting tired of seeing nothing but ominous grey, I looked down at the pamphlet hoping the description would magically change, but I wasn’t that lucky. My fingers trembled as I silently read the overview once more.

  The ReBoot program is a juvenile camp for mid-range offenders who have yet to become established criminals. Youth in their mid to late teen years are often responsive to this type of program which includes occupational training and behavior rehabilitation. We’ve found that the potential criminals at our work camp for forestry and conservation in Southeast Alaska never become repeat offenders. We generally only accept less dangerous delinquents but all cases are subject for review.

  I loved the ‘yet to become established criminals’ part, as if the first time around didn’t really count for these misfits. I so didn’t belong here. It wasn’t like I needed to be reminded that my newfound campmates weren’t savory characters. All I had to do was turn around in my tiny airplane seat to see their predator eyes taking me in.

  I couldn’t believe my mom let this happen to me. There’s no way she could have been fooled into thinking this was a conservation-slash-forestry camp… although I was fooled. I actually thought my stepdad was trying to do something nice for me, for once.

  God! I hated my stepfather, and he obviously hated me. This was his last sendoff before I went to college, and it was a doozey. As if living with him since my father’s death wasn’t horrible enough, he just wanted one more way to stick it to me.

  The tin can I was riding in suddenly took a plunge, and all of the instruments went berserk. Gasps and whines filled the air as the high-pitched warning beeps sounded through our tiny capsule. My hands immediately became clammy as my heart raced. There was no calming down in a situation like this, especially when a person was born as jumpy as I was. My fingers gripped the armrest so hard that my nails hurt, and I took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly.

  “It’s okay, everyone. Just a little turbulence,” the pilot told us as the beeps silenced, but the heavy breathing from everyone continued long after his announcement.

  I was tempted to turn around in my seat and gloat at all of the guys who were big and tough only a few minutes ago and suddenly turned to pansies, but the Cessna took another huge dip, sounding the bells and whistles again. Man! I hated small planes. Actually, I don’t even think this would qualify as a small plane, more like a car that could fly.

  As the beads of water continued rolling down the tiny window, I noticed we had begun our descent. Finally!<
br />
  “We’ll be landing in approximately fifteen minutes,” the pilot said as he continued adjusting controls.

  Things were looking up. The dampness on my palms began to evaporate, and I looked back out the window as our plane flew barely above the treetops. The conifers looked like a brightly massed green quilt underneath us. Turning my head in any direction gave way to a completely different landscape. Alongside the deep green woodlands, there were rocky peaks, and monstrous cliffs that trees avoided calling home. If I wasn’t so scared to death, I might be able to appreciate the beauty of everything.

  I maneuvered my head so that I could see out the pilot’s window. Directly in front of us there was a grassy field with small ponds surrounding it, or at least I think they were small ponds. I craned my neck as far as possible searching for the airport. Not only did I not see any buildings, I didn’t see any sort of landing strip.

  But I did catch a huge bear. I’m sure it was a bear. There was nothing else that big that walked on all fours.

  “Whoa, check it out,” one of the guys behind me said.

  “That thing’s huge,” the guy next to him said. “I could totally take it down.”

  I couldn’t handle it any longer.

  “Why don’t you? I’d love to see it,” I taunted without looking behind me. There was no way I’d undo my seatbelt in transportation like this even if it meant I couldn’t give him my best scowl.

  “She does speak,” he replied sarcastically.

  Gritting my teeth, I watched as we passed by the brown bear with the plane descending at what felt like record speed.

  “Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened. I’ll make the landing as pleasant as possible,” the pilot told us.