Paranormal Word Series Box Set (Books 1-3 and Novella)

by CC Solomon

  We walked on for several more minutes, passing the national aquarium, which was also overrun by moving plant-life, and several other decrepit restaurants. We passed a dilapidated hotel until we entered the former luxury district of the city. It was anything but luxurious, looking just as terrible as everything else. Abandoned cars littered the torn-up pavements and sidewalks, storefront windows were broken, and doors hung off hinges. A water fountain in the center of the roundabout within the district no longer ran water, and the former golden statue that had stood in the middle was toppled on the ground.

  “Are you sure you heard people?” I asked Erik.

  His jaw tensed. “They’re inside. Waiting.”

  “Trying to creep us out,” Lisa guessed, rubbing her puffy coat covered arms.

  “We’re looking for your leader,” Erik shouted to the air. “Where can we find Joo-won? We just need to talk to him.”

  Silence answered him. Not good. We didn’t come this far to turn away.

  “I’m one of the new soulmates and we have Lisa with us,” I yelled.

  Erik looked at me, anger behind his hazel eyes. “What are you doing? Why are you giving yourself away?”

  “No one was responding. Joo-won would want to talk to a soulmate. They know who I am. I’m not letting out a secret. And of course, Joo-won would want to see Lisa again.”

  He grumbled something unintelligible, but I took that as him agreeing and shrugged.

  Snow began to fall. First in slow flurries, but it quickly turned into a flurry of thick flakes that stuck to the cold ground, blurring our vision. In this new world, blizzards came at the drop of a hat in the winter, so normally I would think nothing of a heavy snow coming as quickly as a flash flood.

  However, there was a certain magical electricity in the air that felt unsettling.

  Lisa was a seasonal fairy. While she couldn’t control the weather, that was left more for the weather mages, she had certain gifts over weather related attributes such as wind, lightning, or snow.

  She looked up at the air, eyes raised in confusion.

  Maybe she wasn’t behind this.

  Erik sniffed the air and then spun around. His upper lip twitched. He shoved me to the ground and threw out a hand, stopping an invisible force. His hand curled slightly in a clawed motion, and he strained as he pushed against whatever he fought. Erik hunched forward as if succumbing to stomach pain.

  We had an invisible attacker.

  A hand tightened around my throat.

  I thrust out my own hand and sent my attacker flying backward. A sheet of show fluttered low in the air as the invisible body landed on the covered sidewalk.

  Erik slashed out with a clawed hand at what looked like the snow-covered frame of an invisible man.

  Charles ran forward and tackled the figure to the ground. He opened his mouth wide to bite, and a blazing sword outlined in blue appeared in front of him, seemingly hovering in the air.

  “Amina, watch out,” Lisa cried out running towards me.

  I turned and was welcomed by an invisible fist to the chin. I stumbled back as a sharp pain rocked my body. However, I held my ground. I summoned a ball of fire in my hand and heaved it towards where I hoped the figure still stood.

  Fate was on my side as the ball hit an invisible wall, hopefully, the torso of my attacker.

  My attacker yelled, and soon, I saw the translucent appearance of a woman. She fell to her knees, patting away at the left side of her torso, extinguishing the fire.

  I summoned another fireball, ready to toss it again, this time at her head.

  Gary swooped in from the sky, looking like he was going to gobble the woman up.

  “Stop. Everyone stop,” Lisa shouted, throwing her hands out in an attempt to pause us. “Why are we fighting? We didn’t come for this. Joo-won, stop having your people be jerks. We just came to talk.”

  “Gary, halt,” I demanded and the gryphon hung in the air on pause, flapping his gigantic wings.

  We all froze in place. Waiting. Erik’s attacker, still lying on the ground, materialized into a pale, white haired man holding the glowing sword. He remained still, not moving his sword-holding hand.

  I looked down at the woman, and she glared up at me, looking more annoyed than angry or hurt.

  The snow stopped, and the world around us started to suddenly shift. The ground shook as the street and sidewalks repaired themselves before our eyes. The water fountain in the roundabout began to spray sparkling water, and the toppled statue rose and stood upright. The storefronts, hotels, apartments, and restaurants restructured and cleared of any graffiti, carnivorous plant life, or damage. Broken windows were now fixed and glistening. Trash disappeared before our eyes, along with the abandoned cars. The only cars left stood shiny to the side of the roads.

  Everything was perfect and new. It was now an urban paradise full of tall, glistening buildings, a street so clean I could eat off of it, and frigid air so crisp I was wondering if I grew healthier just inhaling it.

  The woman on the ground lifted her hand towards me and raised an eyebrow. “A little help here,” she said in a deep voice. She wiggled her hand at me for me to take it.

  “Oh, so we’re friends now?” I asked. Perhaps it was a good sign that the mini fight was really over since the destruction un-glamour was now removed. Was this all some kind of test?

  I glared down at her, then rolled my eyes. I flicked a finger in a “come hither” motion, and she rose, wide eyed, to her feet. Normally I was against using mind or body control, but she wasn’t a friend, and I didn’t want to touch her distrustful hand.

  She was tall and her eyes were a shocking neon green, which sparkled brightly against her ebony skin and long black hair. I noticed her pointed ears. Elf. “Sorry about that. Just a simple misunderstanding,” she replied, brushing snow from the front of her coat

  Oh, this woman was crazy. “There was nothing simple about it.”

  The woman gave me a condescending, tight smile before looking over at Lisa. “Good to see you again.”

  Lisa gave her a timid nod and smile.

  The woman looked to the rest of us. “I’m Senna,” she announced with a confident air. Of course, she was cocky. She was beautiful and powerful, the world was her oyster. “And that’s Yuri.” She motioned her head to the man, now standing beside Erik, who was looking at him like he was still deciding if he was friend or foe.

  By the look on Erik’s face, it appeared like he was leaning towards foe.

  “You must know we are not friends,” Yuri said with a thick Russian accent. He threw his hands out to the side and shrugged. “We couldn’t resist testing your abilities.”

  “You only saw a fraction,” Charles said, grimacing at the pale man.

  “I assumed as much.”

  Yuri looked miserable with sad deep indigo eyes. Or was that just his regular face, I didn’t know yet. His pale skin reflected the bright sun, and his long white hair hung loosely around his shoulders. He was far from socially handsome, but he was interesting enough to look at that he became attractive if that made sense.

  “You can all follow me, and I will take you to Joo-won. Unfortunately, your…pet will have to remain outside,” Senna stated. She looked on at Gary as if he were some filthy barn-yard animal. He was a clean, majestic bird!

  Gary seemed to understand and let out what sounded like an angry bird-like screech.

  I lowered my chin and looked up at him. How did he think he was getting his bulky frame in the building anyway? I walked over to him. “Stay out here, fly around if you want. If things start to seem sketchy, just make a lot of noise. Erik, at the very least, will hear you. I don’t know what Phillip told you to do, but try not to eat anyone unless they come for you,” I whispered, gently petting a massive wing closest to me.

  Gary gave a low squawk and gently tapped his enormous head onto mine. He was cute in a scary bird the size of a monster truck kind of way.

  We followed Senna down the cobblesto
ne street to what appeared to be a luxury hotel and walked inside. Inside, the hotel was bright and clean, just as I expected. We passed a restaurant, check-in area and concierge before getting on the elevator to the top floor.

  It’d been a long time since I’d been in a functioning hotel. I half expected elevator music to play, but of course, none did.

  “Do people live in this hotel?” I asked.

  “Many,” Senna replied, looking at me with curious eyes.

  “How large is this town?”

  She smiled. “It changes. We mostly stay in the hotels and condos near the Harbor. That’s why everything is well kept, including the water, which we have purified.”

  “Is this an all paranormal community?”

  She nodded. “Just like your Silver Spring. Ungifted humans can do nothing for us.”

  I opened my mouth to counter her but decided it was best to pick my battles.

  The elevator opened to a swanky restaurant and bar space on the top floor. Facing us was a wall full of glass doors leading to a wraparound balcony. Crystal chandeliers dangled from the ceilings and framed black and white artwork hung from dark walls.

  Senna made a left, and we followed her towards a split-level bar area. A bartender moved about behind the lower level bar, and a few patrons sat around the darkened space.

  Senna stopped in an area to the right with two dark leather love seats facing each other and a square coffee table in between. “Care for anything to drink?”

  It was just after 10 a.m., a bit too early for me, not that I would trust anything from here.

  We declined as we sat, and she walked away to sit at the bar beside Yuri. He sat erect in his backless chair so that he could probably quickly jump off and charge. He looked over at us with obvious distrust.

  “I think of all the spaces left in this area, this is my favorite,” said a voice to my right.

  A man, who I know for certain hadn’t been there before, sat in a cushioned chair facing the couches and coffee table.

  I jumped slightly, leaning towards Erik beside me. These elves and their materializing out of the blue would have to stop.

  The man tilted his head towards me. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I’m Joo-won.”

  Joo-won was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He was tanned with full lips, broad shoulders, and a swimmer’s build. His eyes were a shocking marble colored mix of green and blue that seemed to almost shimmer under long, thick lashes. He had short, thick, lustrous black hair easily styled without any magic. He wore black slacks, a white, collarless, button-down shirt, and a long black coat that looked part robe, part cardigan. He sat cross-legged with an elbow perched on the arm of his chair, his hand holding a short glass filled with brown liquid. He appeared like he should have been on the pages of a magazine modeling whatever the current trends would be had the world not gone to hell.

  “You must be Amina Langston,” he surmised when no one spoke. His voice was deep, and he spoke in a pace that showed he was in no hurry.

  He was both beautiful and intimidating at the same time.

  He put his drink down on the table, uncrossing his legs and bending forward in an almost liquid motion as if he were stretching. He then offered me a hand.

  I took it, not thinking. I was startled by how warm he was. I didn’t know why I expected him not to be.

  “It is an honor to meet the new soulmate,” he leaned forward slowly and kissed my hand.

  I immediately placed my freehand on Erik’s thigh as I felt him shift in his seat.

  Joo-won looked over to Erik. “Ah, the chosen mate, Erik,” he said, giving Erik a slight bow of his head.

  Erik returned the gesture in a respectful fashion.

  “Where is your fated mate?” Joo-won asked me.

  Fated mate, chosen mate, interesting terminology but accurate. “He couldn’t make it,” I answered with a tight smile.

  “Wise but too bad for me.” Joo-won turned his gaze across the table to Charles. “Nice to meet you.”

  Charles didn’t reply, only giving a shrug.

  He turned to Lisa, and his smile grew before he bent forward, took her nearest hand, and kissed it. His lips lingered on the back of her hand a beat longer than mine. When he looked back up at her, his eyes seemed to sparkle more than before. He looked … enamored.

  “You are more mesmerizing than I could have imagined.” Oh, he knew how to put on a good show. I had to give him points for not betraying Lisa by giving away they already knew each other.

  Lisa gave us nervous eyes. “I told them we know each other, so you don’t have to pretend,” she told the elf.

  Joo-won sat back, an amused look on his face. He continued gazing at her in a way which required an adult rating. “I apologize for our lack of manners. We couldn’t resist a little spar. It was quite interesting to watch.”

  “It was rude. Someone could have gotten hurt,” Lisa scolded him.

  “Someone did get hurt,” I mumbled, rubbing my sore chin.

  “I was burned,” Senna called.

  I glanced over at her. Her coat was off, and she had a hole in her white sweater, except there was healthy skin underneath. Looked like she was fine now.

  “My apologies again,” Joo-won stated. He placed a hand on his chest and gave another bow. He was full of old school manners that I did find quite charming. Besides his looks, I could understand how Lisa might like him.

  “Well, I guess now you and Misandre can tell your masters a little of how we can fight,” I said.

  He chuckled. “Knowledge is power. So, to what do I owe this visit? You must know how dangerous it is to enter the ‘lion’s den.’”

  “We wanted to visit our neighbors.”

  He gave a slight tilt to his head. “How’d you know of our location?”

  “Someone from our town was passing by and saw your thriving community.”

  Joo-won gave a short laugh. “Now how could that be when our place is cloaked by magic?”

  “Well, the person who found the town was able to see through your spell. We’re kind of a big deal,” Lisa nonchalantly tossed her black hair over her shoulder.

  “Oh, I know that, Butterfly,” Joo-won’s gaze lingered on my friend, who was now blushing. They were at pet name status?

  I stole a glance at Charles, and his face was in the deepest of frowns. If looks could kill, Joo-won would be six feet under. Hmm, maybe he wasn’t fully over Lisa yet.

  Joo-won managed to tear his eyes away from Lisa and looked back to me. “Let’s all cut to the chase, shall we? You didn’t come here for a neighborly visit. You want to know about the original soulmates.”

  “You work for them?” Erik asked.

  Joo-won chuckled again. “Work would imply I’m getting paid. No. I am aligning myself with them. They’re stronger. They will win this.”

  “They kill innocent people,” I tried to control my tone.

  Joo-won looked at me, his eyebrows arched up in, seemingly, mock confusion. “They kill humans.”

  “But you lived with humans,” Lisa countered.

  “We don’t want to follow them,” I began. “We just want to be left alone and our friends, human and paranormal, to be left alone. We won’t bother them if they don’t bother us.” I knew better than to think this would work, but I had to at least cross reasoning with them off my list before I went to all-out war.

  The truth was, if they went about hurting innocent people, we’d have to jump in the fight.

  Joo-won picked up his drink. “You’re young. You can’t outrun this or think if you go far away, you’ll be safe. You don’t know what the world was like when magic ruled originally. The rules were not the same. You cannot live in this new world with the mindset you had in the world before. You will die.” He took a sip of his drink.

  “World seems the same to me,” Erik stated. “People fighting for power and control, taking out those who don’t believe in what they believe in. Nothing’s changed except we fight with magic
instead of bullets.”

  Joo-won gave a slight smile. “That’s only a piece of it. You think the humans are just going to let you exist? What do you think happened before? The one thing I know is if we don’t gain control in this world, the humans will try to take us out, just like they did before. Luckily that disease wiped out a good portion of the humans, so they don’t have the numbers like before.”

  “Luckily?” I spat. “We lost loved ones because of the Sickness, like my parents.”

  Joo-won frowned. “My condolences. It’s unfortunate not all family members were changed. Your parents should have been mages. That would be how you and your brother became mages.”

  “So why didn’t that happen?”

  “Sadly, I don’t know everything. Perhaps the magic was gone so long your magical genes became so weak they skipped generations so not everyone in a family had powers. If I understood how the magic came back, that would help give me answers, but I don’t.”

  “It wasn’t the soulmates?”

  “No. They are simply taking advantage of the situation.”

  “How or why did magic leave?” I looked around the space.

  The other elves in the building were still there, listening, but they were creepy. They weren’t talking or interacting with each other.

  I tried to ignore the pointy eared mannequins, but it was challenging.

  “Humans took away the magic before.”

  “How’d they do that?” Lisa asked.

  Joo-won looked back to Lisa with tender eyes, and she shifted her own, seemingly embarrassed by his intense gaze. “Now Butterfly, why would we want to discuss such troublesome things? Plus, no need giving you ideas. Besides, if the magic ends, so would anything made of magic if they weren’t put to sleep, returned to their realms, or able to mute or significantly dull their own magic.”

  Ending magic would mean the end of the soulmates, but it would also destroy the rest of us if we couldn’t figure out a way to turn off our magic. Witches and mages might find success with that, but there were many paranormal beings who wouldn’t be so lucky. I wasn’t sure I was ready to sacrifice a majority of paranormal kind to take out the original soulmates just yet.