“Continue to hold them like that until you see Ace and I are both fully shifted,” Eli turned and said to Jadelyn before teleporting the frozen guards in front of them.
Just as they both were beginning to shift, her body began to shake from holding the guards frozen against their will for so long. Jadelyn let out relieved sigh, as she was finally able to let her hold on them go. She stumbled a bit from exhaustion as she watched Eli, Ace, and Chelsea ripping the warlock guards to shreds.
Eli was taking down another guard when he finally realized more guards were appearing in place of the ones they already killed. He knew at this rate they would never overpower them enough to get to the rusted shed a few yards away. Eli thought about retreating when the answer to this problem came to him in the form of Jadelyn.
“Eli, I am strong enough to freeze them again, teleport us to the shed, and I will try to hold them frozen until we make it back to the car,” Jadelyn said as her strength returned.
Eli teleported them into the rusted shed, which they quickly noticed was a jail. What was even more shocking was the female shifter who was in one of the cells.
“Eli, Jadelyn,” the female shifter whisper before going into a fit of coughs, her body was so small and fragile that the coughs made her body ache and shake.
“Ella, wait, I am confused, how are you here, we just saw you? How long have you been here?” Eli asked with his head tilted to the side while he tried to figure this out, and Jadelyn looked on in shock. Eli heard a moan and turned his head toward the sound. In the cell next to Ella was another woman whose body and face looked just as bad as Ella's did.
“No, that was not me, it was the witch who kidnapped me three weeks before Jadelyn’s thirteenth birthday and locked me in this prison. When she locked me in this cell, she cast a spell so she would look like me before walking out. Now, hurry and get me out of here, we have to take her with us. I will explain later,” Ella said, and she could have sworn she heard the witch cackling in her head.
“I am sorry, Ella, I should have known it wasn’t you when you started acting different and made us move off the Isle of Paradise so quickly after my mother’s death. If I would have been paying attention, I could have found you a lot quicker,” Eli said with a look of despair on his face.
“It is alright, Eli, you were just a child, and it wasn’t time yet. What matters is that you are here now. Hurry up and find something to break this lock and the other. You have to get both of us out of here before she comes back, I will explain when the time is right,” Ella said as she started violently coughing once more.
Eli picked up the crowbar a few feet away from the cell and smashed the lock off before yanking the door open. Then Ace started working on the other cell. Ace swiftly picked up the other female shifter, who looked just as bad as Ella did, while Eli picked up Ella.
“I can’t hold the freeze too much longer, we have to hurry up and get out of here,” Jadelyn said as her arms began shaking some.
“Okay, we are going to run all the way to the car, it is just a few yards away, but before we make a run for it, Chelsea, get that extra lock over there and lock both of the cells back up. I have a plan.”
After Chelsea secured the cells, they all made a run for the car before Jadelyn ran out of strength. Jadelyn was about to release her hold once they were in the car, but Eli stopped her. Jadelyn closed her eyes while she hung on a little longer, pulling strength from deep within her; it was hard for her to freeze that many warlocks at once.
“You can release them now, Jadelyn.” When she opened her eyes, all the guards had vanished from the beach.
“Where did they go? I know they couldn’t have all disappeared that fast,” Jadelyn asked while looking on in pure bewilderment.
“I teleported them into the jail cells. Now can we hurry up and get out of here, Ace, before anyone else spots us.” Ace didn’t have to be told twice.
“I don’t want to be driving around in circles so can someone please tell us where we are going,” Ace said.
“We are going to take them to my grandmother’s house, for the time being. We cannot let the Witch Ella know we have them now. We also have to meet the Enforcers at the bowling alley in thirty minutes before someone gets suspicious of our activities today,” Eli said as he began to formulate a plan how to tell his father, Jake, about the real Ella and Witch Ella swap.
“Ace, be careful of other cars because I am going to make us and the car invisible,” Chelsea said as she slowly turned everyone and the car invisible.
The garage door opened as they were pulling into the driveway, and Eli’s grandmother stood in the doorway waiting for them.
“Hurry up and get them inside. I have to start the healing process on them, and you have to get out of here before the Enforcers start looking for all of you,” Eli’s grandmother said as she ushered them all into the house. “Follow me before the Witch Ella gets here. I have a secret room no one knows about but me. They can stay here until it is time for you to come back and get them.”
“Wait, Grandma, you knew about this the whole time and didn’t say anything to any of us?” Eli asked with frustration dripping through his voice.
“It wasn’t time yet, son. I couldn’t, but believe me I wanted to,” Eli’s grandmother answered as she waved her hands across a solid wall inside of Eli’s bedroom. The wall split open and slid apart. A room instantly formed before their eyes. Inside the room were two twin beds, a kitchen with a fully stocked refrigerator, a bathroom, and a kitchen table. “Ace and Eli, lay them on the beds fast so I can start healing them then get out of here. Eli, make sure you grab the bag near your bedroom door on the way out and don’t forget.”
Jadelyn was the last one to step out of the room and the wall door closed hastily behind her. They were almost to the garage when Witch Ella walked through the door.
“Eli, what are all of you doing here right now?” Witch Ella asked.
“I came to get the rest of my clothes, so I could move into the Alpha’s house with Jadelyn,” Eli said as he patted his bag and thanked his grandmother in his head.
“Well, you might as well stay here, along with her, since you guys might not win the Alpha Battle and will have to move out of the Alpha’s house.” Even though Witch Ella was talking to Eli, she was looking directly at Jadelyn.
Before Eli could answer back, Jadelyn jumped in and answered before him. “Whether we win the Alpha Battle or lose it, we will not have to move out of the Alpha house if we don’t want to. Since it is my family house, I, as well as my father, will choose together who can or can’t live there,” Jadelyn said before making her way to the car.
“Wait, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just wanted you two to be prepared for anything,” Witch Ella said right as Jadelyn was reaching for the handle of the door that led to the garage.
“It’s okay, but if we need your advice on something, then we will come to you.” With that, Jadelyn walked out of the door and got into the car with the others following closely behind her.
“Jadelyn, why would you do that? What you said back there could make her suspicious of us,” Eli said when they were a safe enough distance from the house.
“Look, what I said back there had nothing to do with what we found out today. She was speaking to you, but looking at me the whole time like everyone else does that has a problem with the fact that I am latent. I decided this morning that I wasn’t going to try to get someone to like me, despite my latency, by being nice or ignoring them when they are rude to me,” Jadelyn huffed out. It felt good to her for finally sticking up for herself and not worrying about what others thought about her.
Eli said he understood and was proud of her before kissing her on the forehead. They all rode in silence the rest of the way to the bowling alley while listening to the radio.
***
Witch Ella made her way to the jail on her side of the Isle to check on her prisoners. As she walked along the beach, she noticed dead warlocks scattered
along the shoreline, causing her to pick up her pace. She had to check on her prisoners first and then review the video cameras she installed in the sky all over the witch side of the Isle of Paradise. Witch Ella noticed the jail cells were full of her warlocks who protected the beach and kept an eye on her prisoners over the years. She turned and walked out of her makeshift jail as the prisoners started yelling for her to let them out. Witch Ella didn’t feel as though she should let them out. If they were stupid enough to be trapped in there, they should stay in there, she thought as she made her way towards her family’s castle.
Witch Ella hated dealing with her own family more than dealing with the real Ella’s parents. She always felt as though she was the odd one out in her family. Her parents had four girls, three with the same red hair as their mother had. While her sisters and mother's hair was red, hers was an undefined color. It looked as though it was her mother’s red hair mixed with her father’s black. When they were younger, her sisters would tease her saying her hair didn't know what color it wanted to be. Witch Ella didn’t understand why she let their teasing get to her the way it did, being the oldest of the four.
Witch Ella's parents were the Lord and Lady of Witch Isle. Witch Ella thought she would take over as Lady of Witch Isle for her parents when they retired. Her dreams didn’t come true—which wasn’t unusual. She was now stuck as an Enforcer in the family, not even the Head Enforcer, that job was given to her youngest sister, while the middle sister became the Beta. Witch Ella’s life never went as she wanted it to unless she manipulated the outcome.
She helped others get what they felt like they deserved even if they didn’t deserve it—all for a fee of course. She loved ruining others’ lives, but she hated the power she had to use in order to do so. Witch Ella had the power of impersonation, meaning she doesn’t just takes on her charge’s body, she also inherits their emotions and history as well. Sometimes it was hard for Witch Ella to tell her own emotions and memories from her charges. She didn’t like the feelings some of her charges dealt with, like love and acceptance from others. Witch Ella found out a long time ago love was just an illusion, especially if her own family couldn’t show it.
Witch Ella went directly to her side of the castle, hoping not to run into her parents or any of her sisters, who were all mated now with children. She locked her door and crashed onto her bed; it felt good to be home and would feel even better if her family just disappeared. She smiled, picturing herself as the Lady of Witch Isle and her family all tied up in a dungeon. If she thought she could get away with it, without a doubt in her mind, she would try it. Too bad for her the Counsel of Witches checked out the castle with pop-in visits.
Witch Ella scanned the video tapes of the beach until she finally found the ones she was looking for. She grabbed her phone and text the two males she met the last time, telling them to meet her at their meeting spot.
Witch Ella had to come up with a new plan and fast. She wouldn’t let her mission fail at the end. So she hurried to the front door of the castle and to her car. She broke the speed limit to get across the Isle in less than five minutes for her meeting.
The two males were waiting in the shadows for her when she arrived, right where she knew they would be.
“Why did you pull me from my post? Did the girl see me when she was looking around?” one of the males asked her.
“Did what girl see you?” Witch Ella asked.
“Jadelyn, it looked as if she either felt me watching her or saw me before she went into the house, she looked around,” he answered.
“No, if she had seen you, her father’s Enforcers would’ve been out scouting all over the area for you. I have brought you here because Jadelyn, Eli, and their friends have taken my prisoners. It is time to move on to plan B. They have taken something from me, and now it is time I take something from them,” Witch Ella said as she told them the plan.
“You stay on the house and tell me when the best time is to move in on them, got it? And don’t screw this up for me,” Witch Ella said right before she got in the car and drove back to the house of the real Ella’s parents. She was going to pretend as if she didn’t know her prisoners were gone or her cover blown until it was time to strike.
The two males waited ten minutes after Witch Ella left before they went back to their posts. They didn’t want anyone to see them with Witch Ella and blow their cover just yet. Once in their cars, they went their separate ways, one went to sit in front of Jadelyn’s home, while the other went to the hospital Jake was healing at.
***
The real Ella sunk into the bed as soon as the door closed behind Jadelyn and Eli, and she moaned. She had put on a brave face for Eli and Jadelyn, so they wouldn’t know just how much pain she was in. Ella felt as though a building had dropped onto her and left there for days. She could hear Rose snoring lightly in the other bed and had been forcing her eyes open, until she realized they were finally safe and could fall asleep at the same time. During the years they were held as prisoners, they slept in two-hour rotations, one slept while the other watched for the warlocks.
If they made the mistake of both falling asleep at the same time, the warlocks would sneak in, electrocute them with a metal rode, and laugh at their screams from the torture. They wouldn’t come in when they were awake, since whoever kidnapped them would jump into either Rose or Ella’s body to check out the situation from time to time. One of the warlocks made the mistake of trying to electrocute them while their kidnapper was in Ella’s body, inspecting their living conditions.
Their kidnapper lifted Ella’s arm, and fireballs shot out of the palm of her hand, burning their torturer to death. Ella could still smell charred flesh just thinking about it. Their kidnapper didn’t stop until the warlock's body was nothing but ash. Before pulling out of Ella’s body, the kidnapper told the warlocks that if she saw what happened today again, she would first kill their family while they watched, then wait a few days so they could suffer their loss, before killing them. From then on the warlocks waited for them both to fall asleep before torturing them.
Ella was awakened by her mother-in-law a couple of hours later, who supplied both her and Rose with medicine and food, before sitting on the bed next to Ella.
“Ella, I have to tell you some important stuff that happened after your kidnapping,” her mother-in-law stated with a worried look on her face.
“It is okay, Mom, just say it, whatever it is cannot be worse than what I already have suffered,” Ella answered.
“Well, I think it is the Witch Ursula who is impersonating you and kidnapped you before she killed Kasey and Lynn,” her mother-in-law told her.
Tears ran freely down Ella’s face as her mother-in-law pulled her into a tight hold. Her mother-in-law held her tighter and ran her hand through her hair, soothing her as Ella sobbed into her shoulder. Three weeks after being in the jail cell, Ella felt as though a piece of her heart was ripped out of her chest. Her heart ached for years. Ella thought it was because she was torn apart from her family, but now she knew different.
“I have to tell you one more thing, the same witch who kidnapped you, took on your body, and killed Kasey and Lynn, has been poisoning Jake for years. Baron has him in the secured hospital on the Isle,” her mother-in-law told her as her sobs turned into sniffles.
“I have to see him and my parents to make sure they are okay,” Ella said.
“I knew you would say that. Take this potion so they won’t be able to see you, we don’t want to ruin the kids’ plan,” her mother-in-law said as she took Ella’s hand and helped her stand. “Rose, I will take you to see the person in your dreams when we get back,” Ella’s mother-in-law said right before they disappeared into thin air.
Ella looked down as she floated above her parents and smiled as she watched them watching their favorite TV show in their recliners. She vowed to come back and watch it with them, as soon as she could. Ella didn’t know just how much she missed her parents until she saw them.
“Come on, you still have to see Jake before the potion wears off,” her mother-in-law said as they disappeared into thin air once again.
Ella wasn’t prepared for all the emotions that hit her when she finally saw her mate. Jake was sleeping peacefully in his hospital bed. Ella just had to touch him for it to feel real, so she floated down until she was beside him. She leaned over the bed, touched his face, and put all the love she felt for him into one simple touch. Ella was spooked when Jake's eyes popped open and he whispered her name as he sat up. For a minute, she thought he could see her until she looked in the mirror and noticed she was still invisible.
“Come on, dear, it is time to go. You will see him in a few days when both of you are feeling better,” her mother-in-law said before teleporting them back into the secret room in her house.
Ella fell asleep as soon as her body hit the sheets.
***
Jake was in a peaceful dream about the past before Kasey died, when he felt a cool breeze on his left check and then a touch he hadn’t felt in years. Before Kasey’s death, Ella used to gather all the love she felt for him in the palm of her hand before caressing his face. He knew his loving Ella was back, he had to open his eyes and see her. He whispered her name as he opened his eyes but was disappointed when he couldn’t find her in the room. Jake thought maybe it was a dream, until a single tear dropped onto his right hand, and the loving touch was at his cheek one last time before it disappeared for good.
Jake knew something was going on and he promised to find out after he watched his son and Jadelyn win the final battle.
Chapter Nine
As soon as she walked in the door, Jadelyn spotted the Enforcers holding two lanes for them. She knew the Enforcers already had all of their bowling shoes there waiting for them. “Come on, let’s go straight to the lanes. I will send a couple of the Enforcers for our drinks.”
Alpha Battle (Isle of Paradise) Page 9