The Calling of the Trinity (Trinity Cycle Book 2)

by Brittany Elise

  Bryna dropped her bag, bending to retrieve the colored candle pillars, ceremonial athame, and a thick leather-bound book. “For this to work properly, each of us should stand with the element we have the strongest affinity for.”

  “Quinn should stand with Fire,” Blaire stated. “Though I’m closely allied with Earth, I think Wren should represent the element.” She pointed to the green candle. “I’ll stand in for Spirit since Bryna is Air.”

  “What about me?” Annabelle asked.

  “You can stand in for Water.” Blaire smiled at her. “I have a feeling that you’d be a good match with the element.”

  “And I get to go on this little vision quest with everyone?”

  “That’s right,” Bryna said, thrusting the blue candle into her hands. “Everyone needs to form up with the shape of a pentagram. Spirit candle at the apex,” she said, ushering Blaire to the tip. “Put the candles at your feet.”

  “You okay with this Anna?” Judging by her expression I wasn’t so sure; she looked as though she might throw up.

  “I’m good,” she said.

  I looked up at Blaire and wondered if she saw the apprehension clouding my aura. Annabelle had seen me perform spells before and helped me practice honing my skill of Blood Magic–but she’d never participated in a spell as big as this. Was it safe?

  Blaire nodded, almost as if she were reading my mind.

  Bryna took the ceremonial athame and placed it in the center of the pentagram next to her spell book. I looked down at my palms and saw the faint pink lines that had healed from the night the three of us had linked ourselves as the Trinity; scars to mark our permanent bond.

  In front of the yellow candle, Bryna lifted her hands, motioning for Blaire and I to do the same. The flame of Fire bubbled at the surface, and I flexed my fingers as my palms ignited with violet-orange flame. The brilliant display of light rolled obediently, waiting for the cue.

  “Solas,” the three of us commanded in unison, and the Fire jumped from our palms and lit the candlewicks. Bryna walked to the center of the pentagram and picked up the athame, pricking the flesh of her thumb. Fluidly, she moved to the Spirit candle in front of Blaire, squeezing a few drops of her blood into the flame.

  “Accept my blood as payment for this Spirit quest.” She bowed her head and passed the blade to Blaire who repeated the process. Then it was my turn. I barely felt the blade pierce my skin but the crimson bead bloomed at the surface, and I squeezed my blood into the flame before passing the knife to Wren. When he finished, he sat the blade back at the center of the pentagram, and returned to the Earth candle.

  Annabelle was next. She didn’t hesitate, only wincing a little as she pricked her thumb and then glanced up at Blaire for affirmation before squeezing her blood into the flame.

  “Link hands,” Blaire instructed.

  Bryna’s book was facing her as she read aloud the words of the ancient text. “Hear my voice Great Mother, with blood and Spirit link us now.” The candle flames shot into the air, rising to Bryna’s call. “We ask that you grant us third sight into Quinn’s vision, allowing us to see what she has seen this day. Let the power of the witches soar, grant us sight beneath the starlit veil, so what is lost let it be no more. Lig sé a bheith níos mó.”

  At once, a great wind burst forth, spiraling upwards toward the sky with a vortex of dead leaves. My head snapped back and my eyelids clamped shut. The silken words the witch spoke to me echoed in the air, and again I was drifting on the wings of a large bird. The evergreen pines rushed by in a blur as the bird soared high over the mountains. The scenery shifted as clouds of varying shape and color rolled across the sky, but the bird never wavered from its eastern direction. The violet light of dusk became the backdrop of the maritime forest, and I could hear the ocean swells breaking over the rocky cove. The bird circled the old cabin, settling on the red brick chimney. The vision rippled, showing us a glimpse of a meadow with tiny, green sparks. A current sizzled through my temples like static electricity, and we all snapped back into our conscious bodies, gasping and sputtering for air.

  Annabelle was on the ground with her eyes closed.

  A bolt of dread-fueled energy snapped through my limbs as I flung myself to Annabelle’s side. Wren beat me there, his arm scooping her shoulders up from the ground. Her eyes fluttered rapidly beneath closed lids. “I thought you said the spell was safe?” My gaze cut to Blaire who was kneeling beside me.

  “It is,” Blaire said. “I don’t know what happened.”

  “Your powers are amped now that the Trinity has been awoken,” Bryna explained. “I felt it too. If I weren’t a Supernatural that spell would have knocked me flat out.”

  Annabelle groaned, her eyebrows scrunching.

  “Annabelle?” I grabbed her hand as she blinked up at me.

  “Ow,” she groaned again, reaching up and pressing the heel of her hand against the side of her head.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Peachy.” Her gaze drifted up to the left. Wren was supporting most of her weight, cradling her against his side. Her eyes widened, cheeks flushing. “Hey, paws off Wolf Boy.”

  “Oh yeah, she’s fine.” I giggled with relief as Wren helped her into a sitting position.

  “What happened?”

  “Sorry about that. The spell must have knocked you out,” Blaire said. “Did you see anything?”

  “Just a bright light and then… nothing.” She shook her head. “What did you guys see?”

  “More than that,” Bryna said, resting her hands on her hips. She turned to me. “Did you recognize anything the second time through?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  Bryna crossed her arms and began pacing the forest in thought. Blaire studied her sister, eyes narrowing. “I know that look,” she said, “you think you know something.”

  “There was a reason the vision quest was being led by an owl,” Bryna said. Oh, so that’s what that was, I thought. “I think we’re dealing with an enchantress,” she added.

  I’d heard this term before but it had been years and the details blurred like the soft edges of a watercolor painting. “What’s an enchantress?” Wren asked.

  “A female witch with the ability to influence an animal’s mind and possess its cerebral awareness. I believe that’s what she was doing with the owl, she was using its mind in an attempt to lead us to her,” Bryna answered.

  “Too bad she can’t just come to you guys,” Annabelle said, pushing herself into a standing position. She wobbled, reaching out to steady herself on the nearest tree trunk. Wren shifted closer to her side, but she held out her hand, waving him away.

  “It would make things easier, but there must be a reason she needs us to come to her,” Blaire said. “It must have something do with the allegory.”

  “Seek me. Seek the sun when day takes up the false cloak of night,” I repeated.

  “Any idea when that might be?” Annabelle asked.

  I shuffled my feet, staring at the brown leaves that coated the forest floor. Science was my thing–my brain didn’t exactly compute hidden messages within a riddle. I was missing something so obvious. Rionach’s amulet began to grow warm against my skin. I reached up, running my thumb over the glossy surface. The weight of it finally registered as it swelled. Strange.

  “A false cloak of night is a play on words,” Wren said. “To me, it sounds like we’re supposed to look to the sun during a fake form of night.”

  “Well now that clears things up. Thanks for that brilliant deduction, Wolf Boy.” Annabelle snorted.

  “No, that’s actually a good translation,” Blaire said, holding up a finger as her gaze slip
ped to the side in thought. “The words are old so we’d have to rearrange them in order for them to make sense in present time. Like, a false night within a day.”

  “Why does everything magic related have to be a riddle?” Annabelle crossed her arms. “I mean why can’t there be a straightforward answer like, ‘show up at Mountainside Pizzeria at eight o’clock on Monday the 10th of October?’”

  Wren lifted his trademark eyebrow.

  “What? I’m hungry.”

  I grinned.

  “Back to the allegory,” Blaire said. “We need to be thinking of events that might take place when there’s a false night within a day.”

  “So what… we’re dealing with like a really cloudy day that blots out the sun, maybe?” I shrugged. “How else would there be a night within a day?”

  Wren’s gaze snapped to my face, his tawny eyes lighting up as if I’d said something exceptionally clever. “It’s a solar eclipse.”

  “That’s it!” Blaire said, snapping her fingers.

  “Well done, Wren,” Bryna complimented. “I think you’re right.”

  I was nodding. “A solar eclipse can only occur when the moon passes between the sun and the earth and blocks out the sun’s light.” Yes, that seemed right. A spark of excitement shot through my insides.

  “And thus creating a night within a day,” Annabelle said, grinning. “Damn, Wolf Boy, you actually solved the puzzle.”

  “Don’t act so surprised. You can thank me by buying the pizza.” He grinned.

  “I’ve seen the way you eat–no way do I want that bill.”

  “This is great guys, really, but we still need to know when the next solar eclipse is,” I said.

  Blaire held up her cellphone. “It’s this Sunday.”

  My temporary high plummeted to the bottom of my gut. “So we have five days to figure out where that cottage from my vision is–assuming that’s where we need to be for the eclipse, and only two more days to figure out the Thornwood problem.”

  “Mood killer,” Annabelle said under her breath.

  “I’m sorry. We’re just working with limited resources here, and I’m worried. We need to figure out how to find this enchantress person.” The amulet was pulsing now, like the slow beat of a heart. “I hate waiting around.”

  Blaire was biting her bottom lip, dragging her foot in an arc across the dried leaves. “It is a bit odd we’ve only been given a few pieces of information at a time.”

  “There must be an explanation,” Bryna added. “You’re sure there was nothing in that vision you recognized?” She was studying me with a pinched expression, as if she doubted I was telling the truth.

  “No, Bryna, there wasn’t,” I replied with more snap in my tone than I intended.

  “In the meantime, any ideas about what you’re going to do about Thornwood now that Ryker is already moving his people into the school?” Annabelle asked us.

  “Find a way to stall,” Bryna said. “The enchantress has to be our first priority.”

  Steam was building in my ears but I chose to bite my tongue. I hated that Bryna could so easily push Thornwood’s threats to the back burner because they didn’t align with what she deemed “priority.” If it were Blaire’s life being threatened by the Weres, would she feel differently; or would the arrow-straight line she walked start to look a little smudged, I wondered?

  “It won’t matter anyway,” Wren said. “Ryker won’t back down now that he’s made a decision. Even if we try to negotiate, that will make him look weak to his pack if he so much as considers another option. He won’t risk losing respect. They’re coming whether we like it or not.”

  “So you’re going to join them?” Annabelle asked.

  “No,” he answered firmly.

  “But that means…” Annabelle couldn’t make herself finish the sentence. Her downward gaze shifted up to meet his face.

  “Don’t worry about me, Cat, I can handle myself.” He reached over and mussed the top of her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  My breaths were hollow–like maybe breathing was just a reflex but there wasn’t any air left inside my lungs. Rionach’s pendant warmed above my heart. You can stop them, you know, it seemed to say. I reached up, running my thumb over the glossy surface. You can make them obey…

  “You all right, Quinn?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You seem a little dazed,” Blaire said, studying me.

  “I just have a lot on my mind.” I let go of the pendant, brushing my hands against my thighs.

  “We should probably get back to the house before it gets dark,” Bryna said. “You’ll inform us the moment the enchantress sends you another vision.”

  She didn’t phrase her words in the shape of a question, so I didn’t feel the need to answer. Instead, I met her gaze and held it. I was glad the Trinity chose Blaire instead of Bryna. Her path of righteousness was utterly irritating.

  We walked back to the house in silence, everyone retreating into their individual thoughts. Wren held my hand the whole way, eyes scanning the forest for any sign of trouble as he scented the air. He was always so focused on keeping me safe, but did he know that his safety meant so much more to me?

  After Blaire and Bryna had gone their separate ways, I walked Annabelle to her parents’ car that was parked beneath the big oak. The autumn air had chilled as the sun dipped below the horizon line, smelling of the rich mountain pines that surrounded us. The forest was shadowed now, tucked beneath the curtain of the indigo painted sky.

  “Are you holding up okay?” Annabelle whispered. She’d opened the driver’s side door, positioning herself between the seat and door as she looked up at me with big, childlike eyes. “I know you’re worried about Wren. I mean, everything that’s happening is unlike anything you’ve ever gone up against.”

  I sucked in a gulp of air, exhaling slowly. “I’m going to find a way to stop the Darkness, and Thornwood. I just wish I had more control over the situation.”

  You have all the power you need, White One…

  “If anyone can figure it out, it’ll be you. You always perform better under pressure for some sick and twisted reason.” She tried to joke.

  “Bryna doesn’t seem to think so.” I snorted.

  “I wouldn’t put too much stock in what she says. She’s a good witch, don’t get me wrong, but the Trinity didn’t choose her as an heir.”

  I nodded, chewing on the inside of my lip. “You know you don’t have to be a part of this, right Anna? It probably isn’t safe for you to know–”

  “I’m going to stop you right there,” she said, holding up her hand. “You’re my best friend, Quinn. You’re closer to me than my own sister. Human or not, I’m in this fight with you, and that’s something you can count on.”

  “Whatever you say, Watchtower.” I grinned and wrapped my arms around her neck. The road ahead was dark and full of terrors, but we were the force of Light. I didn’t know what was going to happen; I just knew I wasn’t going to give up. “I’m going to get us through this mess, one way or another.”

  “I know you will,” she said, “I know.”

  Chapter Ten

  A Dream Within A Dream

  It was after nine and Dad still wasn’t home from his date. I stared out my bedroom window, gazing up at the silhouetted branches of the big oak tree in the front yard. In the soft glow of moonlight, I could just make out the delicate heart-shaped face of a barn owl. Her eyes gleamed like crystal starlight. The white feathers on her chest were speckled with small charcoal dots, and with the frosted moonlight shining on her feathers she looked softer than velvet. She ruffled her fea
thers then, shaking them out before settling back into the crook of the big branch.

  “What are you looking at so intently?” Wren asked. I didn’t hear him come in; his silent dexterity was something I’d never get used to, but I was getting better at sensing his presence. I could feel him now, like the warmth of the autumn sun at my back. Wren stood behind me, fingertips skating down the sides of my arms.

  “There’s a barn owl–just there.” I pointed. She twisted her head to the side a small fraction, almost as if she’d heard me. She seemed to be gazing back at us through the glass, her diamond-like eyes staring at Wren. “She recognizes you.”

  “How do you know it’s a she?” His voice was low and close to my ear.

  “Intuition, I suppose.”

  Wren made a sound, something like a grumble as his arms circled my waist. “All the night creatures recognize each other,” he said in a low tone.

  “She’s not afraid of you.”

  “She has no reason to be afraid; we are both hunters.” His lips pressed into the side of my throat, then parted as teeth grazed against the delicate skin. A tremor passed through my lower abdomen, kindling the embers in my core. As his hand spread over my stomach, I felt the heat of his palm searing through the fabric of my shirt. I leaned back against his chest, tilting my head as I reached up to pull his mouth to mine. Every time our lips met, I was amazed to find it felt like the first.

  Kissing him was like willingly losing every part of my soul and allowing him to possess my being instead. He broke through the tumultuous frenzy until all I could feel was his body pressed against mine; the granite edges beneath my fingers. I could feel the flames bubbling up inside; a chemical reaction threatening to ignite.

  He slipped his fingertips beneath the hem of my shirt and slowly; teasingly, lifted the fabric above my head. My heart began to race, and I knew he could hear the urgent beats. He brushed my hair back like a curtain, his lips pressing into the middle of my spine right between my shoulder blades–and I froze.