by Sadie Sears
She blinked owlishly. “I wasn’t aware dragons could sense that kind of power. Not that there’s much left of it to sense.”
“So you do know about it?” Maybe she could expound upon what Mitias had mentioned. I had to admit, I was very curious. It was almost enough to shake off the black cloud I’d been carrying.
She nodded, cupping her tea in her hands. “It’s why I moved here. The energy this area puts off called to me when I was passing through in my younger days.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about her response. “So, your family isn’t from this area?”
“Oh, no, sweetheart.” She waved her hands at me. “My family has lived in Montreal all the way back to the great immigration era in the 1600s, back when it was still a little old trade post. I have lived around here long enough to hear some stories though. About that house of yours, in particular.”
Nodding, I leaned toward her. “Vince mentioned that Sophie and Shae came by Sunday and found a secret room in one of the bedroom walls. A sanctum, I think he said Sophie called it.”
“You ever wonder what drew you to that particular house, and what drew Sophie to you?” she asked, grinning. Her eyes flashed with excitement.
I gave her a grim smile. “If you say destiny, I’ve already heard it from Mitias.” I was really getting sick of that word.
She bobbed her head back and forth. “Destiny, fate, call it what you will. Her family has been through many hardships in this tiny town. It was why I decided to befriend her, to watch out for her and protect her, when she was young. The spell on this place has been dwindling because someone has been hunting her ancestors to try to break it.”
So it was Sophie’s family that was tied to the house and the sanctum. Vince hadn’t specified, and I hadn’t been able to muster the energy to go check the space out for myself. I leaned forward, frowning at the implication in her words. “I thought the spell prevented them from performing dark magic here.”
“Up until these last few years, that was true. But you don’t need dark magic to make bad things happen, do you?”
My mind was racing through all the things I knew about Sophie. Her husband had died in a horrible accident three years ago. Her parents had died in an accident when she was young. She had inherited an obscene amount of jewelry from numerous women in her family, whose deaths she’d never spoken about but had clearly happened because she had no other family in the area. How many other accidents had happened in her family over the generations? And how many times had Glenda’s friendship kept the same from happening to her?
The thought made my stomach roll uncomfortably. “You’re saying that, because one of Sophie’s ancestors laid a spell here to ward off dark magic, her family is being hunted to break the spell?”
“The spell is nearly gone as it is because Sophie and young Shae are the last of their line. It would only take a powerful witch and the talisman that was used in the original ritual to break the spell and remove the protection on the town.” She gave me a knowing look.
Puzzle pieces clicked together in my head, and I was starting to figure out the bigger picture. “That’s why the ring is so important. That’s why it’s so powerful, and why you said Mary should never get a hold of it.”
“Precisely.” She sipped her tea, pleased with me and herself.
Finally, I was getting some answers. Granted, they weren’t the ones I originally came here for, but it was more than I’d had before, and it was information I hadn’t known I needed. “How do I find her? Mary, that is. I’ve done so many internet searches and followed every lead I could think of, but I can’t find anything on her.”
“Nor will you. She’s much older than I am and can mask herself in ways I couldn’t even dream.” Glenda tapped her cup, considering me carefully. “She lives in a small cottage in the densest part of the woods on the southeast side of town.” She grabbed my arm before I could bolt out the door, and her grip was surprisingly strong. “She is a very powerful shadow worker, Cameron Charles. I would offer my assistance, but quite honestly, she terrifies me.”
Reeling myself back in for a moment, I sat down again. “Okay, so what do I need to know about shadow workers?”
“They are very good at messing with peoples’ minds,” she said. Her grip remained on my arm, and she leaned across the table toward me. “The tracking spell was not the only thing I had to undo on poor Shae, though I didn’t want to worry her mother at the time. I explained to Sophie about her daughter’s vision in the woods, but I couldn’t say whether or not the vision itself will leave any lasting effects. If you confront her, it is very important to have a strong mind.”
My mind had been anything but strong lately. Anxiety attacks, depression, the full works. My psyche and brain had been a veritable playground for instability the last several days. But I had to try. For Sophie, for Shae, for myself.
She peered at me suspiciously. “It’s also important to take backup with you. Do not even think about going after her alone.”
“Everyone else is busy.” That was a lie. I knew for a fact that Vince was probably still curled up somewhere in his bathrobe and reading Anne Rice.
“Then wait until someone is available,” she urged, gripping my arm tighter. “If you think you can come up with a plan against a shadow worker of her skill, you are a fool.”
I pulled away gently. “Thank you for meeting with me. You’ve been an enormous help.”
She was right, and I knew it would be unsafe, and stupid, and a number of other things, to go after Mary alone. But Sophie might not have time for me to wait around. All the hunger and fatigue and depression vanished the moment Glenda had said that something was hunting Sophie. Mary needed to be taken care of, and quickly. I needed to make things right for Sophie and for Shae.
I drove out to the woods where Glenda had specified, my mind hyper-focused on ending Mary’s influence on my mate and her daughter. If I stopped this, I reasoned with myself, Sophie would come running back to me. I wasn’t familiar with the area, but I found a small parking lot for trail hikers. There were two other vehicles there, but no one was in them. Obviously, her house wouldn’t be along one of the main trails, so I turned in a general southeast direction, toward the darkest part of the forest, and started hiking through the brush.
So many things were adding up now that I had more pieces. Why we’d been brought here. The wizard attacks the past spring. Why I’d fought Theo so hard for that one house out of all the others I could’ve had. Why Sophie and Shae were drawn to the house.
Mitias hadn’t told us about the spell on the land when we’d arrived, but now that I was looking for it, I sensed a distinct hum in the earth beneath my feet. I wondered if the other guys would feel it, too, if I told them about it. Leath and Taurus probably would, and maybe Theo.
The brush started to thicken, and I was sorely tempted to shift into my dragon form and fly up. If the trees got any denser, though, I wouldn’t be able to see through the canopy to find the cottage, and Glenda did say it was in the densest part. It was probably someplace well-hidden where I’d need to be close to see it. Better to stay on foot, then, no matter how many branches reached out and grabbed my pants. Mary would’ve had to go back and forth on foot, so somewhere through here, there had to be a trail.
As the forest thickened, it darkened all around me. The sky disappeared, and I still saw no sign of a house or anything other than thick brush. At least there weren’t other people out here to make my mental state even worse.
I froze and listened. The sounds of the forest had gone silent, and even though I’d stopped moving deeper, the darkness was still closing in. Interesting.
Turning around, I decided to go back and find Vince, but whatever trail I’d blazed was pitch black behind me. I knew for a fact I hadn’t been walking all day. It wasn’t nighttime yet.
Damn it! Glenda was right, this had been a terrible idea. Damn it, why hadn’t I just listened? I was in no state of mind to be making decisions like this.
I’d been too worried, too frustrated to think straight. Hopelessness crowded in on top of the other negative emotions along with the darkness.
Now I couldn't even see my fingers in front of my face. I didn’t know which way was which. I couldn’t see or hear anything but my own racing thoughts.
I wasn’t sure how to get out.
17
Sophie
Shuffling my tarot cards settled my nerves. The end of the week had been a frigging nightmare, with Shae a mess, Lila busy dealing with an upset Zoe, and the dragons traipsing in and out of my house. There was nothing wrong with them being there. I appreciated them. But none of them were Cam.
I’d decided for at least a bit of normalcy. I ran it past Lila, who had agreed, and we’d set our office up for Shae to get started on her schoolwork, so at least I could get some client appointments done here. I didn’t have much savings to fall back on, so I couldn’t go too long without doing readings. Riley’s life insurance had paid our house off, but that didn’t mean we were rolling in it.
Shae had done well, but I hadn’t pushed her all week, so she still had some schoolwork to finish up now that we’d hit the weekend. I breathed a sigh of relief after my last client walked out on Saturday afternoon, and before getting up to go to the office and see how Shae was getting on, I shuffled the cards for a few moments. The bell on the front door twinkled, and through my open door, I watched Vince and Dom walk in. Vince spied me through the front room and my doorway. He sent me a smile that didn’t quite look like his normal happy self and they headed my way.
Something whispered at me. Not words in my ear, but more like feelings in my soul. I did what the spirits guided me to do and laid out the cards as Vince crossed the big front area. I was surprised to see him, given that Theo, Leath, and Ben were currently hanging out either out back or somewhere here within Sacred Spaces. Why would Dom and Vince show up?
Whatever the reason, the spirits wanted to tell me something about Vince. He walked into the room with Dom right behind him, and I turned over the first card. The Two of Cups. The second card was a reversed Strength, and the third was The Lovers.
“Well,” I said, raising my eyebrows at them both. I settled my gaze on Vince. “It looks like a lost love will be coming back into your life soon.”
He recoiled, seeming stung. “I didn’t come here for a reading,” he said defensively. I watched him settle into the velvet chair usually reserved for my clients as his jaw hung and his eyebrows wrinkled. “Are you sure?”
I pointed to the cards. “Past, the Two of Cups. A mutual attraction. Present, reversed Strength. You’re experiencing some insecurity and self-esteem issues. It can also be a sign of codependency.”
He shrugged. “That can mean a lot of things. I’m stepping up and being present right now, just by being here to talk to you about what I’m going to talk to you about.”
Without the first clue what he was going on about, I tapped the third card. “Future. Lovers. That one sort of explains itself. You’re going to step up and be present to reconcile a past problem and you’ve got a great love coming into your life. Do you have someone in your past you could see yourself reconciling with?” I glanced at the cards. They were some of the easiest cards to read I’d seen in years.
“I’m not prepared for that,” he whispered as Dom watched on with raised eyebrows.
“You can’t prepare for love.” Not being prepared was a statement I heard often in my trade, and that was always my answer.
Dom snorted. “Says the woman resisting it.”
I straightened my spine and tried not to be totally offended. These guys were helping me in major ways, taking on the protection of my daughter and me. He’d overstepped his bounds by saying that, and what in the hell had Cam told him about it, anyway?
“What can I do for you two?” I asked.
“We really came to talk to you about Cam being special. We understand it’s Shae’s resistance that’s really in the way, and I wanted to offer to talk to her.”
I cocked my head at the jovial guy and considered. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if Vince spoke to Shae. She liked him, anyway. “You’d be welcome to, but Shae is pretty down on dragons lately.”
Vince nodded. “I’m willing to give it a shot, anyway. But the more pressing matter is if you’ve heard from Cam lately?”
I shook my head. “No, I asked him to give me space. Why, haven’t you?”
Dom winced. “Cam is prone to taking off. He’ll jet off to New York to handle intricate financial matters.”
Vince nodded. “Yeah, or if his emotions get to be too much, he’ll take off and camp in the woods. That usually happened when he lived in bigger cities, though, and other people’s emotions crowded in on him. But we haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon, and normally we’d be fine with it, but he was pretty damn low this week.”
“Lower than I’ve ever seen him.” Dom looked more worried than Vince.
Vince shrugged. “For sure, but it’s still not out of his wheelhouse to disappear.”
“He’s never done it without telling anyone at all, though.” Dom tapped my table. “After the week he had, and knowing he’s upset about this stuff with you, we’re more concerned than we normally would be.”
“Plus, he was supposed to meet Glenda, that’s where he was headed when he left the house, and we can’t get ahold of her either to see how their meeting went and if he gave her any indication that he was going to go off somewhere to get away from things.” Vince jiggled his legs nervously. “We’re more worried than we would’ve been if this had happened before he’d met you.”
When they mentioned my friend’s name, my stomach dropped. Something wasn’t right. “You can’t get a hold of Glenda?” I whispered.
Vince shook his head, so I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and opened my messaging app. I hadn’t had a message from her since Thursday. She loved sending me memes and funny witchy gifs from time to time. I usually got one every other day or so, but nothing. I shot her a quick message asking if she was okay.
Normally, she was always near her phone, even if she wasn’t available to meet, she could chat via text or message. I waited for the telltale three dots on the screen, indicating she’d read my message and was typing a reply, but they didn’t come.
“I don’t think she’s online.” Unusual. Glenda loved social media and messages. The fear in my gut intensified.
“Yeah,” Vince said. “Same problem I had.” He stood and looked around. “Is Shae here?”
I nodded and switched to a different app. I could try to message her that way, too. As I rattled off a message, I waved my other hand at him. “Office. Good luck.”
He chuckled and walked out. As I waited for a reply, I tiptoed around the corner and looked in the office. He’d left the door open, which I appreciated. Dragons were ultimately trustworthy, and I fully believed Vince’s intentions were good, but it would’ve been inappropriate for a grown man to be in the office with my twelve-year-old daughter, even under the best circumstances.
I didn’t move close enough to hear their conversation, but Shae’s body language said she was relaxed and comfortable with Vince. I couldn’t help being grateful as I left them to it, so happy that we’d found someone like Vince that cared for Shae enough to do this. Like we’d discovered a beloved uncle or older brother. I hoped that we could see our way through this so that she became this comfortable with Cam as well. Or even more so, ideally.
But first, we had to find him. Where the hell was he?
As I waited for Glenda’s reply, I tried to call Cam, but of course, got no answer. The call went immediately to voicemail. Why would he go and turn off his phone if his goal was to be open to me?
I’d hurt him pretty badly. He probably didn’t want to talk to me at the moment. I’d asked for space, and he was giving it to me.
“There’s nothing you can do but carry on,” Dom said. “Keep trying to get a hold of Glenda, of course. As soon
as we hear something, we’ll let you know first thing.”
They said goodbye to Shae then went out back to check in with my on-duty guards. “Hey, kiddo.” I leaned in the office doorway. “Done with school?”
She put down a novel I’d loved at her age about babysitting preteens and smiled at me. “Yep. Can we go home?”
I perched in the chair across from her. “I was thinking we’d go see Dad.”
Her face lit up and then seconds later fell. “I want to go,” she said in a soft voice. “But also, I don’t.”
“I completely understand. But we haven’t been out to his grave in a while. Let’s go tell him we love him.”
She nodded. “I’ll pack up my stuff here.”
“And I’ll go tell our honor guard.” I tapped the desk and walked out the back door to tell Theo, Leath, and Ben.
“We’ll shift,” Ben said. “And watch from above so you have privacy.” There was just enough room behind the shop between the building and the woods for them to be able to shift.
“I’ll go get Shae,” I said. “If you leave your bag by the door here, we’ll take it with us so if you need to shift back, we’ll have clothes for it.”
Theo nodded gratefully.
I gathered up my things, my daughter, and the dragons’ clothes, and headed to the car. I hoped the townsfolk were getting used to seeing shifted dragons around, because there were three flying over downtown right now.
The town’s oldest cemetery was right behind city hall and all of Riley’s family was there. We’d planned on purchasing a plot there for Shae and me as well, but it had never come to fruition before his accident.
Shae needed some closure.
I needed some closure. Riley was ready for us to move on. Of that I had no doubt. Maybe Lila was right, and I wasn’t ready, but I wanted to be ready. Didn’t that count for something?
We stopped at the enormous bed of wildflowers that grew all around the cemetery walls. The women of Spruce had cultivated the plants to grow in the bed for years untold. That way when a loved one wanted to put flowers on the graves, they never had to spend money.