“I meant you no disrespect. I’m very confused by all of this. I don’t understand why I’m being hunted. I don’t understand how or why the book absorbed into me and I really don’t understand what I’m supposed to do now that I’ve completed the spell for you.”
“The time for all of your answers is coming. The Triad will pay for all the wrong they have done.”
Her form slipped back into the book. There was no use demanding the answers. She’d made it very clear she wasn’t going to give me the information I needed until she deemed it to be the right time.
Somehow her name, her real name, was the key to getting her out of my head. Why else would she keep it from me? She was already a soul, as she’d pointed out. Unless she was hiding and the perfect place to remain undetected was inside of me. It was the most reasonable excuses that I could think of.
The light around me started to dim.
Edge’s fingers traced along my face as he spoke softly to me. My eyes fluttered open. I was tucked up against him in bed. He must have carried me there.
He smiled. “I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.”
I picked my head up to look at the clock beside the bed. I’d slept the rest of the night away and no more alarms had gone off to wake me up.
“Did everyone go to bed?” I asked.
“Not sure. When I brought you up here, Dagger had pulled himself and Jessa off the floor, but the others were still out.”
“So, no more alarms, that’s good.”
“Yeah, for now,” he said, pulling me tighter against him.
“We have to start using the book, Edge.” I felt his body stiffen at my words.
“I know.”
“Coffee, food and then practice,” I said, smiling up at his face.
He winked. “As you wish.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You tired yet?” Jessa shouted as she approached Edge and me on the beach.
We had been practicing for a couple of hours. He wasn’t going to let me use any of the spells in the book until I’d worn myself down a little bit. He also wanted to make sure I was truly ready for it.
I could attest to being tired. I’d eaten more sand than I wanted and could feel my muscles turning to jelly from all the exertion of falling down, getting up and swimming…yes, swimming. Edge had sent a burst of air that landed me past the breaking waves. I’d rolled and flipped and darted so much that my legs were trying to cramp. But I was not giving up. Not when I was so close to cracking open the spell book and testing it out.
“I think we’re about ready to see what Jade can do with the spell book,” Edge answered her.
Jessa clapped her hands together and bounced on her feet. “I came at just the right time!”
“What? No, Jessa. I don’t even know what half of these spells are for. I can’t have you getting caught up in a wayward spell.” I tossed her a look that begged for understanding. She shook her head at me, daring me to tell her no again. I knew that stubborn set of her shoulders, it said ‘try and stop me’.
“Fine!” I tossed my hands in the air. “But if you get hurt, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Whatever! Stop talking and start spelling,” she said, rubbing her hands together.
Edge kept his distance, but linked his mind to mine. I was being monitored by him on two levels, the physical and the mental. Thankfully, he spoke out loud so that he didn’t make things more confusing inside of my head.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded as I shifted my focus on the book. The pages flipped back and forth, waiting for me to decide on which spell to chose.
“Let’s go with a simple one. See if there is something in there to momentarily freeze your opponent,” he said.
I thought about what he wanted and the pages fluttered open to the spell. Before I could I process what I was supposed to do, Jessa was frozen in place. Edge walked over and shoved her. Her body toppled over in the sand like a statue knocked from its pedestal.
“Edge,” I groaned.
“What? She wanted to be a part of this,” he smirked. “Okay, now find the spell to release her.”
The pages flipped to a stop and Jessa lunged up from the sand and got in Edge’s face.
“What the hell? I hope she does it to you because I’m so gonna carry your ass into the ocean and watch you sink like an anchor,” she fumed.
Edge smirked, pissing her off even more.
We hadn’t even got to the big stuff yet and they were already fighting. I sighed.
“Hello? Can we continue now?” I said bringing their focus back to me.
Jessa stepped away from Edge with a warning growl. “Do that shit again and see what happens.” She stalked away putting yards between them.
Edge and Jessa took turns coming up with defensive moves that were more to stun someone than truly hurt them. I’d listen to the request and the book flipped open to that page and the spell would be immediately casted.
“See if there is anything for rain in the book, but this time, try to hold the spell and only release it when you are ready to,” Edge called out to me.
I thought about Edge’s request and the book pages flipped, settling on the correct spell. Rain poured from the sky. I had to figure out how to look at the spells and not have them cast before I wanted them to.
I thought about stopping the rain. The book once again settled on a page and the shower was over. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and disconnected myself from the book. I needed time to think about how I could control the process of looking at the spell and then releasing it when I wanted to use it.
“Any ideas on how to do that?” I asked Edge. He’d been in my head the whole time, listening to my thoughts and witnessing firsthand how quick the spells were being carried out.
“I’ve never seen anything like that. You’re mind is so all over the place it’s a wonder the book hasn’t taken completely over. The whole time you were linked to that book, my heart wanted to jump out of my chest. We can’t get back in it until we know how to keep the spells from casting before you’re ready to let them go.”
“Do you think Micah might know how?” I asked.
“It’s possible, but he’s still out meeting with Covens in need of aid. Let’s see if Jude can get a hold of him. Until then, keep that damn thing locked up tight. Holy hell that was scary.” Edge laced his fingers in mine.
“That was some crazy shit,” Jessa said, biting on her thumbnail. It had been a long time since I’d seen her do that. She was worried.
“Well, it will come in real handy when we go after Lorenzo and the Triad. I just have to work on fine tuning it,” I said, easing a chuckle into my voice. I didn’t want her to be afraid. I was plenty afraid for the both of us. Edge squeezed my fingers. He was still tuned in to me, picking up my thoughts.
“Okay, time to clear out,” I said, tugging on his fingers. He pulled his thoughts away from mine. The more I thought about how easy we could slip in and out of each others heads, the creepier it felt.
“It’s gonna be okay. We’ll get this figured out,” he whispered.
Sand scratched at my skin in the most uncomfortable places. I wanted a shower and food. My stomach grumbled in agreement. After my shower, I tossed on a worn pair of sweats and a light t-shirt. This morning’s training had kicked my ass, physically and mentally. Edge met me on the stairs.
“Give me a sec. I want to grab a shower, and then you and I are going to talk with Jude about the spell book.” With a quick peck to my lips, he continued on.
I found Jude in the kitchen, which was weird because he was usually parked in front of the computer, monitoring the Triad.
“You know, we may have to give you a really cool super hero name now that you’ve implanted us with this awesome ability,” he said, pointing at his head.
I rolled my eyes. “That wasn’t me and you know it.”
Jude wiggled his eyebrows at me. “You stay out of my head and I’ll stay o
ut of yours.”
“On that we agree.” I already had enough going on in my head.
“Grab that and follow me,” Jude said, pointing to a platter of sandwiches.
Edge sat down beside me and grabbed a sandwich motioning for Jude to talk.
“Jade, what happens when you connect with the book?” Jude asked.
“Anytime I think of a spell, the book just flips open and the spell is cast before I’m ready to do it myself.”
“It’s casting on its own?” Jude asked.
“Yes. I really need to ask the woman in the book what I should do. It’s her book, so she has to know how to keep that from happening.”
Jude and Edge looked at me in confusion.
“Jade, you can talk to her?” Jude asked.
“I’ve talked to her a few times, but she’s kind of scary so I don’t get much of a conversation when we talk.”
“What do you mean you’ve talked to her a couple of times? When were you going to tell me this?” Edge was angry.
“There really isn’t much to tell you. She pretty much keeps everything to herself. Well, except she did say that it was her spell book. She was been bound to it after her Coven was attacked. I think she went off the deep end losing her baby and husband by the hands of the Triad,” I replied.
“This just got bad, Edge.” Jude blew out a breath and scrubbed his hands in his hair.
“Got bad, how exactly?” I asked.
Jude shoved himself out of the chair and started pacing. “I know who’s trapped in your head.”
My stomach plummeted.
“If you think back on it, you’ll know too, Edge,” Jude groaned.
I watched as Edge squinted like he was searching his brain for the answer. His eyes popped and he slammed his fist down on the desk. I could see that they both knew - and they were very upset by it.
“Who?” I asked
“Huh, that’s the thing. We cannot say her name,” Jude said as he paced.
“Can’t or won’t?” Would they tell me? Or were they worried to speak her name and bring on her wraith?
“Both,” Edge replied.
“What…why?” They were really going to keep this from me. I couldn’t help being a little offended that I was good enough to harbor her, but not know who she was.
“From here on out, no more book. We can’t take the chance on releasing her,” Edge said, as he pierced me with his gaze.
“How the hell am I supposed to do that? You know she has the capability to take over my body. The only shot we have with her is to comply. If I don’t comply, she beats the shit out of my brain. So you tell me, how am I supposed to keep her in check when she’s the one ultimately calling the shots?”
“We’ll figure it out. But for now, no more book magic. Okay?” Edge squeezed my hand as if urging me with his touch to agree to his terms.
“Fine. For now we do it your way, but don’t be surprised if she balks at it.”
I let Edge think I was in complete agreement, but I would be talking with the woman in the book very soon. I needed to find out why her book was acting on spells before I was ready to use them. I needed to know how to cast the spells on my terms, not the book.
I excused myself and trudged back up the stairs. I needed some down time. I sunk into the mattress and shoved a pillow under my head.
“You have questions?” the woman said before her form appeared.
“Yes, I need your help.”
“Very well then, what help do you seek?” she said, settling in to sit on the book.
“I’ve tried using the magic in the book, but it’s casting the spell before I’m ready to cast it myself. Why does it do that?”
“Powerful magic comes with a price, young one, and you haven’t paid the due needed to wield the magic, therefore making the magic erratic and dangerous.”
“Paid the due?”
“Oh, yes. Magic such as this,” she said, sliding her hand along the pages, “is very old, very strong.”
“What do I have to do to use it?”
“You ask for permission and then you pay your due.”
I thought about that for a minute. I had access to the spells but the book wanted more. Hadn’t the book given me permission when it showed me all of the spells? Now I had to pay a due to use the book the right way?
“I ask the book or you for permission?”
“I’ve already given you my permission. You just failed to get it from the book.”
Great, now I was going to have a conversation with a book?
“How do I ask for the books permission?”
She huffed out a long breath. “You young ones have no concept what real magic is like. Such a pity.” She waved her thought off and grabbed my hand. Her cold fingers dug into my wrist, pulling me closer to the book. When my fingers touched the page, it began to vibrate. The woman let out a maddening laugh. “It likes you, young one.”
Everything in my body felt like it was bouncing – almost as if my molecules were trying to realign themselves. Sparks flew through my veins pinging off organs and bone. I began to sweat as an inner heat built to the point of boiling my insides. Then, cold, so cold. I shook, afraid that my body would shatter like an ice cube on a tile floor. What was happening to me? I tried to pull away but my hand was wielded to the book.
The woman snapped her fingers in front of me to get my attention. She was holding a small knife in one hand and my wrist in the other hand. Her brow quirked before she brought the knife down with a slash. My skin numbed and I watched as thick drops of crimson welled up and flowed over, dotting the pages. Each drop was absorbed by the book. My vision became fuzzy, my head light. I was losing way too much blood. Would I survive this? Was it really happening? Technically, I was still dreaming.
I slumped onto the table, her wispy body sliding around me, fingers touching my face as she spoke. “The book has granted you permission and accepts your payment. You are in control now. It’s time to wake up.”
Edge was shaking my shoulder, his voice piercing my slumber. “Wake up, Jade, damn it, wake up!”
I blinked the spots from my vision and watched as Edge held a thick towel that was once white around my arm.
“Hurry up, Rainy!” Edge hollered. I could hear feet pounding up the stairs.
“Okay, I’m here. Stop yelling.” She gasped when she saw me.
“What happened, Jade?” She began panicking.
“I need you to stitch her up. But I can’t let go of her arm or she’ll lose more blood.”
Rainy nodded and a medical bag appeared by her feet. “I have to at least see what I’m working with. Take your hand away for just a second please.”
The funny thing is that I didn’t feel bad. I felt fine. Well, besides looking at all the blood I’d lost.
“Jade? Jade can you hear me?” Rainy asked as she got close to my face.
“I’m fine.” My words came out sluggish.
“Is she in shock?” Edge asked.
“She’s lost a lot of blood. How did this happen?” Rainy pulled the towel away from my arm and frowned, “Where is she cut?”
“What do you mean where is she cut? It’s a huge gash on her wrist!” Edge snapped.
“There’s nothing there,” Rainy said, prying the towel out of Edge’s grasp.
It dropped to the floor as Edge grabbed my arm, twisting and turning it like the wound had moved on him.
“I don’t understand. It was right there.” He dropped my arm and sat down on the bed, making my body bounce. It was like flipping a switch and I had my movement back. I shot up and ran my hands along my arm as I searched for the same missing mark Edge was freaking out about.
“Jade, what the hell is going on?” Edge asked, pulling me into his lap.
“I’ll be able to use the book now, Edge.” I sobbed into his shirt. How much more was the woman going to put me through to get what she wanted?
He pulled me back to look at me. “What exactly do you mean by that?�
��
“I spoke to her and the book required a payment, to use it without consequences.” I slid off his lap.
“You were bleeding. I don’t understand. What sort of payment did it take?” As he said the words, understanding dawned on him quickly, because he shot to his feet started yelling, “Blood! You let the book have your blood. I can’t believe…of all the stupid…damn it, Jade, do you know what you’ve done?” His fist slammed into the wall. “Did you ever think of the consequences to that? Did you?” He was stalking back towards the bed to tower over me. “Why? Why did you do this without asking someone first?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. I spoke to the woman and she told me why the book wasn’t working for me, why it was casting the spells before I was ready. She told me the book requested a due to be paid. How the hell was I supposed to know that she could do that to me inside my head? And I’m sorry that you’re angry, but I’m angry too, Edge! I thought she was going to kill me when she sliced my wrist wide open.”
He grabbed me and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me close. “We’ll figure this out. But I want you to understand that binding yourself to a source of magic is dangerous. Don’t ever offer your blood for anything.”
Rainy tossed the towel into a trash bag and tied it. “I’m going to get rid of this. What do we tell everyone?”
“We tell them that Jade figured out how to get the book to work for her. But please, let’s keep the whole blood thing between us for now.”
“Why? Don’t they deserve to know the truth?” I asked.
“You don’t want them knowing this,” Edge said.
“It’s dark magic, using blood, Jade.” Rainy bit her lip while she looked between Edge and I. “I won’t say a word.” She slipped out the door before either of us could say any more.
“Dark magic?” I’d bound myself to dark magic?
“That’s what it’s referred to now. When someone uses blood for any kind of spell, it’s frowned upon. Back in the time of the Originals, blood was used for the more complex and powerful spells. Too many power hungry people used that type of magic, creating a bad name for it. When the Original Coven turned their back on the type of magic, they labeled it dark, since that was usually the outcome for the creator of the spell.”
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