Finding out so much about my father’s family and place in this town did nothing to calm my fears. Apparently, the appearance of money buys silence around here — maybe everywhere. Great camps have been a tradition of the Adirondacks since the last half of the nineteenth century. Often where the wealthy were allowed to hide out.
Logan paddled across the lake to where my father’s main house stood. The lake was an S shape, and his camp was around one of the many bends. There was nothing lighting our way except the moon and a spray of stars. The darkness of the area was quite intimidating even with Logan by my side.
“Lay down,” Logan whispered. “We’ve got to be getting close to your father’s home.”
Nodding my head, I wiggled my way down in the canoe while Logan kept paddling us closer and closer.
The gentle swoosh of the paddle pushing and pulling the water stopped as he brought it inside the canoe. We glided up to the lake’s edge. Logan lowered himself next to me, and grabbed twigs and branches with his right hand to pull us to our final destination. We weren’t taking any chances that might bring attention our way.
Brightness began competing with the night’s sky on the bank that curved along the lake. The orange hue hinted at flames, but I knew we’d soon find out. A deep vibration began wrapping itself around me as the bass of drums echoed through the air. The low rhythm was a haunting contrast to the silence of the night.
Logan’s left hand slid into mine as our canoe floated into a perfect angle to view the ceremony.
I closed my eyes unsure that I actually wanted to see anything. I never wanted to think of my mom in any other way than the caring, loving being she’d always been to me growing up. I was frightened to see what she might have been turned into.
Logan gently squeezed my hand, and I concentrated on the sound of the drums beating, allowing myself to fill with the courage needed to witness the night’s activities. I hadn’t come this far to keep my eyes shut.
The bass became lower and slower. I turned my head toward Logan and opened my eyes to see the horror of the events reflect in his eyes.
The activity along my father’s property seemed festive. There were people in every direction, and I almost didn’t know where to focus until I saw her— my mother — in the middle of dancing men and women.
She was in the center of the circle. With a flowing white dress and gold necklaces dripping off of her she looked like royalty. Her body twisted and swayed to the beat of the drums. Her long, brown hair swirled with the movements her body made to the rhythm of the drums. It was like I was seeing someone who was possessed, but by what I didn’t know. My mother began pointing at each of the followers. One by one they bowed down in worship with her cruel laughter echoing through the air. What was her purpose here? Did she enjoy this power?
My instinct was to run. To get out of these waters as fast as we could. But there was something else pulling me to stay. Maybe it was a morbid curiosity. What would be next? This was quite a show to put on for the regulars. Did this happen every night? It was close to a freak show. Nothing like the magical nights I grew up with, celebrating life and love.
The anger brewing up inside of me was impossible to ignore, but I forced myself to look beyond my mother. We were here to map the place, and I needed to survey everything. Looking behind her, I saw what I assumed was my father’s home. Except I wouldn’t call it a home, more like a stone castle.
I felt Logan’s gaze on me and quickly looked at him.
“Are you okay?” he whispered. “It feels like you’re about to do something.”
“I’m fine. I won’t do anything.”
The property bustled with activity in every direction. Near the flames, where my mother was dancing, sorcerers were dressed in long robes of different colors ranging from purple, to red, and black. They all held something in their hands, but I couldn’t see what the objects were.
The thick smell of smoke and lake water was heavy in the air and my eyes began watering as the breeze shifted our way. I looked over at Logan who was scanning all of the figures, undoubtedly searching for his mom.
The robed sorcerers began lining up. Some were fidgeting. Others stood deathly still. The drumming slowed and my mother lowered her arms. The circle around her disbanded, and she slowly walked into the darkness. My eyes lingered on my mom’s shadow in hopes it would bring her back. It didn’t.
A large man came from the direction near my mom, not dressed in anything particularly ceremonial, and walked over to the flames. He reached his arms to the sky as the sorcerers followed behind him. He began speaking to the flames, chanting, but I was too far away to hear what he was saying.
The drumming stopped at the same time as the flames began to swirl and move to the man’s commands.
This man was my father.
I wanted to flee.
The crowd grew larger around my father. Where were they all coming from and where was my mom?
My father sliced the flames in the dark air, allowing them to multiply and sizzle anything in their way. Chairs and leaves disintegrated instantly, and I hoped he wouldn’t turn his fire toward the witches around him. Bursts of yellow and orange streaks burned every intended target my father directed them toward. His smile widened with every push and pull of his palm, and I knew at last that his energy was coming from the underworld. An endless supply of negativity and destruction at his disposal was a terrifying thought, but one we’d have to account for.
I winced at the last thought and watched his movements carefully as he controlled the fire with a slight point of his finger or blink of an eye.
This was what we were up against. The fear was becoming very real.
“Is there any stopping him?” I whispered.
Logan’s jaw clenched, as he stared straight forward, leaving me to answer my own question.
The flames grew larger with every thrust of his fist and twist of his wrist. The air wasn’t silent. Instead it was filled with the roaring of flames and the murmurs of the crowd. His ability felt unstoppable, and yet I still didn’t understand what he really wanted to accomplish. I needed to get on the inside. It was the only way.
“Are you seeing this?” Logan whispered.
“Of course I am,” I replied puzzled.
“Are you really seeing this?” he repeated.
Taking my gaze off of my father I finally realized what Logan meant. People were collapsing in every direction I looked. The larger the flames my father created, the more energy he needed to gather. And it wasn’t only from the underworld like I thought.
“These people? He’s draining them of—”
“Life,” Logan finished.
For a split second I was in awe, and Logan caught it.
“Impressive isn’t it?” he asked.
Nodding, I stared in complete disbelief. I wondered if Preston was in that crowd but pushed the thought aside.
“The ones he’s sucking the life from aren’t even witches are they?” I asked.
“Probably not. Guessing they’re the poor souls who grabbed the phone number dangling on the community board at Starbucks. Lots of Prestons in that group.”
“We’ve got to stop my father.”
My mother reappeared hand in hand with someone who I least expected, Aunt Vieta. They made their way close to where my father stood. My aunt smiled and laughed as she spoke with my mother. They didn’t seem all that impressed with what my father was doing. In fact they didn’t even seem to notice the atrocities that he was committing.
As my father tired of playing with the flames, he extinguished them as fast as he had created them. The sorcerers surrounding my father placed the objects that they had been holding up to their faces. Terror ran through my veins, and all I wanted was to leave this lake.
The sorcerers appeared to become something from another world as their movements became ghostlike; sweeping away the bodies my father had turned into limp forms.
“Close your eyes,” Logan ordered.
“What are those?” I whispered, unable to obey him.
“Plague masks,” Logan replied bitterly.
“What for?” I asked.
“It’s superstition, but it’s so the sorcerers souls don’t get taken along with the humans as they dispose of them.”
I felt broken, like the blood on my father’s hands was now on mine for witnessing these events. After all, one can’t view something like this and remain innocent. This wasn’t about my mother any longer. My father had to be finished before any more innocents were taken.
He left the ceremony as his dirty work was completed for him. Everyone was clearing out pretty quickly, leaving a querulous energy behind. As if some of these people wanted more.
“Let’s get out of here,” I whispered to Logan. “Everyone’s leaving, I think now’s our chance.”
Logan nodded and quietly grabbed the paddle as he dipped it gently into the water, wiggling it softly enough to get the canoe moving. I looked one more time in the direction of my aunt and mother, only to be horrified as my eyes locked with my aunt’s and she gave a quick nod.
“We’ve got to hurry,” I pleaded. “I think my aunt saw us.”
Our canoe floated behind the thicket of brush, enabling Logan to sit up and paddle quicker to our entry point.
“There’s no way,” he finally replied in a hushed voice.
“I really think she did,” I protested.
“Let’s hope not.”
Several sets of flickering silver eyes met us along the bank. I glanced at Logan who wore a dubious expression as he steadied the canoe. I was frozen in the canoe with absolutely no intention of leaving the safety of the lake, which had quickly become my new favorite place.
My solution quickly became challenged as the silver flecks began moving toward the canoe. Did these things not need land?
“What’s going on?” I muttered, afraid to look away.
“Remember those creatures you said you didn’t believe in back at the cottage?”
Wracking my brain for what he was possibly referring to, I watched as these brilliant little creatures completely circled our canoe. I didn’t know how I could be afraid of something so tiny, but they carried such a life force.
“Faeries,” I whispered in disbelief. “I had no idea.”
“Tried to tell ya,” Logan whispered.
“Are they on our side or not?”
“No idea,” Logan replied, as he steadied the boat. “Time to tap into those other life forces, babe.”
The arrowhead pendant I’d worn since I found it in our attic began to warm against my skin. My fingers grasped tightly around the metal as I let the energy run through me. The darkness of the night held nothing but whispers coming at me from every direction.
“Do you hear that?” I asked Logan.
“Nothing at all,” he replied.
I reached for Logan’s hand as the fairies lit the entire area with a luminescence that would’ve blinded most and forced Logan to close his eyes, leaving only me to see the tiny creatures all around us, hovering.
The fairies were no bigger than my palm. They were lanky in form but with a delicateness that was otherworldy and inviting. Their wide eyes held a brilliant curiosity as they took me in as much as I took them in. Their tiny mouths were not moving even though I heard their whispers. I needed to understand their cries — their language. I wanted to reach out but was afraid I would frighten them. One of the more capricious of the fairies, slowly extended its miniature hand toward me, and in turn I felt compelled to return the gesture.
Upon lengthening my arm, the fairy swarm stopped their whispers. Blackness replaced the silver of their eyes as they opened their mouths to display jagged, ivory teeth. My father was no longer our most immediate threat.
Bowing my head in an apology, I awaited their decision. If my mom’s stories had any validity, we were at their mercy.
Chapter 15
The pencil thin lips of the hovering beings were pressed together as the fairies communicated with each other without ever saying a word. Their eyes slowly drifted back to the bright silver that greeted us earlier.
Logan sat down next to me on the canoe bench and held my hand. We were completely at their mercy. These tiny creatures held a power that most humans couldn’t dream of — if the stories I grew up with were true.
I reached up to my pendant, which began getting warm once more, in hopes that I would hear their words.
The whispers were now more distinguishable and far more spirited in tone. An excitement buzzed around the group that I hadn’t picked up on before. Although none of the fairies were asking me anything directly, they were asking one another questions about me.
“Is she really the one?”
“Does she have the pendant?”
“Does she know about us?”
“Where do we take her?”
“Can the male with her be trusted?”
I squeezed Logan’s hand as apprehension began spreading through me. Oh, no. I think they have me confused with someone else and once they realize it, what will they do with us? My hand left the pendant and their voices were silenced. I looked at Logan who only nodded at me. Placing my hand back on the pendant I waited, for what I wasn’t sure.
After listening to the fairies get their line of questioning sorted, the fairy I’d attempted my failed gesture of peace with, began speaking.
“Do you know your place in the world?” The male fairy asked, flying to only a few feet from me, taking me by surprise.
Anxiety filled my body. It felt like our lives depended on these answers, and I had nothing more to give than the truth and the truth wasn’t much.
“It seems to be coming to me in pieces. I want to stop my father from whatever havoc he’s trying to cause in whatever world he’s trying to cause it in. I want my mother back, but other than that I don’t know,” I replied, looking into the glimmering eyes of the questioner. “That’s why I was here at the lake. I wanted to see my mother.”
“We know, dear,” A female fairy moved forward. She had a maternal quality about her — something I craved. “My name is Bakula. Pardon our manners. We aren’t used to having to explain ourselves. His name is Dace.”
“Nice to meet you both,” I bowed once more, but my voice gave me away. I was terrified. “This is Logan. His mother’s been captured too.”
Dace ignored my niceties and fluttered about, directing the other fairies to create a way for us to leave the water.
The fear lifted slightly at his gesture, but when I attempted to stand up in the canoe all of them rushed toward me. Glancing quickly at Logan he was smirking. Why was he so at ease? And before I knew what was happening, the fairies lifted me up and carried me to the bank.
“We didn’t want you to get wet. We’ve got a long night ahead of us and don’t have time to waste with human problems,” Dace said pointedly.
I looked over at Logan who was being treated to the same transportation mode. His smile was pleasant and without any of the fear that certainly traced my lips.
The fairies grabbed the canoe out of the water and quickly flew to our car where they strapped it on top and created a foliage camouflage that was undetectable no matter how hard I stared.
“Come, Triss,” Dace replied in a husky voice that didn’t match his diminutive size.
I reached my hand out to Logan, and we followed the army of fairies deep into the woods with their brilliance lighting the way. Maybe the conversation my mom wanted to have with me was about this, and if it wasn’t, I’d say it should’ve been because I was completely lost.
Seeing the woods through the fairies’ perspective was brilliant. Their glow managed to bounce off the foliage, soil, and trees creating a lustrous appearance everywhere I glanced.
“It’s quite spectacular,” Logan whispered, his eyes sparkling, too, from the fairies’ presence. “Guess you should have believed me about the fairies.”
I rolled my eyes and hid my smile as we follo
wed them deeper into the forest, unsure of where we were headed, but with every step toward the unknown, my fear diminished. Could this be the answer we were looking for?
“Look at the vines,” I said in awe, pointing up high. “I never knew there were vines on some of these trees.”
An earthy smell began to replace the woodsy smell as the trees became farther apart and we reached a clearing of sorts.
“Mushrooms,” I whispered in awe, watching fairies spring to life from the field in front of us. Hundreds of them — maybe more — offered their dazzling welcome.
“These are our homes in the summer,” Bakula said.
The field was covered in a sparkling blanket, and the harder I pressed my fingers against the pendant, the more I heard their pleas.
“Come, dear. We have a lot to cover.” Bakula took off in the direction that Dace had gone.
Looking down at my feet, which suddenly felt like gigantic bulldozers threatening the homes of all the fairies, I carefully stayed on the edge of the field. Logan was behind me doing the same with each footstep, as we watched Dace and Bakula head to where the forests began once more.
“What do you think of all of this?” I whispered to Logan.
“I think they’ll do a much better job explaining your purpose in this world than I ever could,” he replied mysteriously. “I tried to tell you back when we were on Alki Beach. Remember?” he laughed. “Don’t forget that or us insignificant people on your climb up.”
“What are you talking about?” I giggled.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
Dace and Bakula were waiting patiently, well one was patient – the other not so much. Dace had his arms crossed and looked aggravated, so we both stepped up our pace. For such a teeny creature, he could really throw his weight around. He was nothing to be messed with.
The other fairies had disbanded from our group, probably going to their homes in the field. There was a comfort in that, knowing these beings had families.
Altered Souls (Witch Avenue Series #2) Page 13