Spellbound Murder Complete Trilogy (Spellbound Murder Box Set Book 1)

by Amanda Booloodian

  A ball of light larger than a basketball bolted forward and grew. The monsters shrieked and backed away from the path as shafts of energy—much like lightning—reached out to them as it neared.

  Spark grew to the size of a small car, arched around, and disappeared. In the quiet that followed, Mira could hear the sizzle of the spell as it kept going.

  Gabriel threw his arm around Mira, putting her between his shield and his body and yelled, "Run away and don't come back!"

  The remaining few monsters ran.

  Gabriel leaned back against the wall, panting, holding Mira to him. She still held the matchstick up, paralyzed over the result of her spell.

  It took her a few minutes to wrap her head around what had happened. When comprehension started to sink in, she met the next realization, which was much more physical. She leaned back against Gabriel, who was starting to catch his breath.

  Mira stowed the matchstick in her pocket with the intention of examining it further when they were out of this mess. When she gently pushed herself away from Gabriel, he let her go.

  "I have no idea what that was," Gabriel said, not moving from the wall, "but, well done."

  "It was unexpected," she said as she surveyed the damage around them. The smell of burning tar thickened in the air, but the corpses were what deeply troubled her.

  She had killed them. Not all of them, but many. Instead of feeling strong or helpful, she felt sick to her stomach.

  "Let's move out of here," Gabriel said. "The smell is going to attract something we don't want to deal with."

  Mira nodded numbly, but didn't move.

  "Come on," Gabriel said, gently tugging on her arm.

  Realizing what she might step in if she moved, Mira yanked her arm away.

  "What's—" he stopped short when he saw what she was looking at. "How in the hell do you not have any shoes?"

  Gabriel's agitation brought out an irrational streak of anger in Mira. "How do you think?"

  "Back home the snow is over two feet deep." He dropped the sword and shield and they clattered to the ground before disappearing. "And you're not even wearing socks."

  In a huff, he picked up Mira and held her over his shoulder.

  Mira tried not to inhale feathers. "How is this my fault?"

  "You're the one without shoes," he snapped.

  "I'm the one who was forced out of my house in the middle of the night!" Mira yelled back. She wanted to push away from him, but the urge not to touch the ground was stronger.

  "You shouldn't even have been at your house. You should have been at Della's. You should have been with me. If you had been, we'd still be at home."

  "That's not fair," argued Mira.

  "But you were at your house because of Harker." Gabriel leaned over, dropping her on her feet.

  Mira panicked slightly before she saw that he had set her well away from the carnage.

  "This is not his fault," Mira said, trying to rein in her outburst. She knew she wasn't mad at Gabriel. She was upset about the situation, about where they were, and about all the bodies she had helped create.

  "This is exactly his fault. He didn't even try to help you," Gabriel fumed.

  Mira's face flamed red at the accusation and embarrassment. She had tried hard not think the same thing, so she couldn't argue with him.

  Instead, she turned and walked away, so Gabriel wouldn't see that he had gotten to her.

  Mira made a few random turns, intent on putting distance between herself and Gabriel.

  In the back of her mind, she knew he wasn't mad at her for not having shoes. He might be mad at Emmit, and that part seemed to be genuine, but he wouldn't have said any of that if they hadn't been fighting for their lives.

  Mira took that thought and mentally stomped on it until she felt better. At this point, she didn't know exactly where she was, but it didn't matter. She knew which direction Tyler lived in and started walking that direction.

  It took her another two blocks before a tightness began to build in her chest. Sticking to Gabriel like glue; that had been the plan.

  The haze and distorted light that came from everywhere were hard enough to live with. The windowless buildings appeared as though they were covered with ash, which made them creepy. The world felt empty.

  At least until something made a sound. Each time she heard a noise, the world filled with monsters, at least in her mind.

  Scuffling came from behind her and she whipped around. For as long as she lived, she swore she'd never tell Gabriel how glad she felt to see him.

  To hide it, she turned and kept walking, although at a slightly slower pace. He jogged until he was level with her and started walking.

  Neither of them said anything.

  A hundred different things to say crossed Mira's mind over the next hour. All of them were discarded. She had a feeling Gabriel was doing the same thing next to her.

  They were still a few miles away from Tyler's house when Mira's pace began to slow. She felt drained, mentally and physically.

  More importantly, she wanted water. It had only been a few hours and she was thirsty. Could someone actually last a full week?

  The thought that Tyler wasn't alive slowed her down even more.

  "We should take a break," Gabriel said half-heartedly.

  Mira ignored the suggestion and trudged on.

  "Listen," Gabriel said, "I understand if you don't want to talk, but if you want to rest—"

  "Do you think he's still alive?" Mira asked.

  "Who?" Gabriel asked, seemingly taken off guard by the question.

  "Tyler."

  Gabriel was quiet for a bit before saying, "I don't know."

  Mira nodded, appreciating his honesty. "Me either. I think I took it for granted that he would be alive."

  They walked silently until they neared Tyler's neighborhood.

  "I'm sorry for what I said about Emmit," Gabriel said.

  Mira sighed, but when Gabriel looked away from her, she immediately regretted it. "Should angels really be lying?" she asked, trying to bring some levity to the conversation.

  It fell flat.

  "Don't worry about it," Mira said. "You don't have to be sorry."

  "I am, though," Gabriel said.

  Mira arched an eyebrow.

  It was Gabriel's turn to sigh. "I'm sorry I said it, but I'm not sorry I thought it."

  "You weren't wrong," Mira said, taking her turn to look away.

  She was grateful when they turned down the street where Tyler lived.

  "How are your feet?" Gabriel asked.

  "They're gross," Mira said, without thinking. "I don't know if they'll ever be clean enough when we get out of here."

  "Did you step in, or on—"

  "No," Mira said, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence. "It's just this place. I want to find Tyler and get home as fast as we can."

  "We're not going back to your house," Gabriel said.

  "What? Why not?"

  "Something about the world being too thin there."

  "Where are we going?"

  "Emmit is setting something up at Lance's house," Gabriel said. "In the council's meeting room. Emmit said you'd know where that was."

  Mira nodded and stopped in front of Tyler's house. "Do you think John knew we were coming to Tyler's house?"

  "It's hard to say."

  "We'll probably find out inside."

  Gabriel followed her up the walkway.

  "I guess it would be silly to knock," Mira said.

  "Let me," Gabriel said. The door opened easily and Gabriel glanced around outside before stepping inside with Mira and shutting out the world. "Wait here while I search the house."

  Mira had no interest in arguing. One look at the furniture was all it took to kill any expectation of comfort. The edges of the furniture blurred, and the dark colors appeared glossy in a way that made her anxious. It vaguely reminded her of the shell of a bug. Instead, she slid to the floor against the front door while lis
tening to Gabriel move from room to room.

  It was a mistake. How many miles had they walked? When was the last time she’d had more than an hour of sleep? Sleeping in the Ether wasn't an option, but she closed her eyes, trusting that Gabriel would have noticed by now if anything were in the house.

  Tyler's house.

  Mira's eyes popped open and she struggled back to her feet. This wasn't some pit stop on the way somewhere. This was where they started finding answers.

  "The place looks clear," Gabriel said, coming back to the living room. "The way we left it back in our world, I expected the house to be trashed. But, I guess here there's no stuff to get damaged."

  "There has to be something around," Mira said. Something about the house made her uneasy, but so did everything else in the Ether. There was no reason for Tyler's house to be any different.

  "I didn't notice much of anything," Gabriel said. "Furniture, mostly."

  "I thought there would be a spell book or two out." She moved into the next room and stared at blurred outlines of the bookshelves. The wood felt solid under her hands, at least. "Do you think it's the haze that makes everything seem blurred?"

  When Gabriel didn't answer, she turned, finding him looking uncomfortable.

  "What's wrong?" Mira asked.

  "I'd rather not think about the haze," he said.

  "Okay," Mira said slowly, giving him a questioning look.

  Gabriel sighed. "There are no fires here, at least that we can see, and the only things that could be polluting the air are walking around."

  Mira's nose wrinkled up. "Good point. Best not to speculate. At least magic seems to burn away… at least until now magic has burned away the haze."

  "The things living here don't seem to like magic much, that's for sure."

  It made sense to assume that Tyler had many hiding places in his house. Tyler loved being a witch, he loved magic, and he always had spells prepped. A sinking feeling engulfed Mira at the lack of clearer air. Surely, Tyler had enough stored magic that his house should be burning the atmosphere clean.

  "What do we need to get from here?" Gabriel asked.

  "For the spell to work I need a part of the person we're trying to find."

  "A part of them. You mean like a finger?"

  "Ew, no. Do I look like the kind of witch who'd use a person's finger?"

  Gabriel let out a breath. "I don't know what that kind of witch would look like."

  "Witches often keep vials of their own blood, hair, and sometimes even nail clippings. It's a fast way to add power to your spell."

  "So Tyler's likely to have something left behind?"

  "I think so, but I don't know how well it would be hidden."

  "You don't think it would be someplace you know about?"

  "We'll find out soon." Mira made her way through the dismal house, going straight to the spare bedroom.

  "I thought you and Tyler were really good friends," Gabriel said, watching her carefully open the closet door.

  "We are."

  "Then how come you don't know where everything is?"

  Mira rolled her eyes, but not where Gabriel would see. "I've told you, there are cases where spouses don't even know where spells and ingredients are kept."

  "Yeah, but some mundane couples won't even share a candy bar with each other. I thought this would be different, somehow."

  There was nothing in the way in the closet, but Mira felt uneasy about leaning inside. "Witches keep their secrets. People can turn on you." She took a breath, and then stepped in the dim light of the closet. It only took her a few seconds to open the baseboard.

  "If the situation was reversed," Gabriel asked, trying to watch over Mira's shoulder, "would Tyler be able to find something of yours to work the spell?"

  "In the real world, yes. For something like this, he could grab hair from my brush or something and work with that. But he wouldn't find anything overly useful." Mira wrinkled up her nose before plunging her hand into the seemingly empty space.

  "And here?" Gabriel asked.

  Mira pulled her hand out quickly, and then steeled herself to search. "I think you could find it here. Magic affects the surroundings in this world. It makes itself known. At least to us."

  "Why should anyone else be any different?"

  "They may not be, but we're magic people, so it may affect us differently."

  "Here, let me do that," Gabriel said.

  Mira gratefully gave up her fright-filled search and turned it over to Gabriel.

  After cursing a few times, he situated his wings in a way that prevented them from bending awkwardly and he explored the space.

  "There's nothing here," Gabriel said.

  "I don't know how that's possible," Mira said. "It was in there the other day."

  "What happens to magic in this world, if we use it in our world?" Gabriel began inspecting the rest of the closet for hiding spots.

  "I think it goes away," Mira said. "But that's just a guess. I made your ward recently and the materials I used aren't here."

  "And what happens to magic there, if the stuff is used here?"

  "I have no idea. This world seems like a reflection of our own, so maybe nothing happens. But, no one comes here. Magic isn't used in the Ether."

  "Until recently."

  "You think someone used up Tyler's supplies in this world?" Mira asked.

  "Or took them."

  A roar erupted from the city and the ground began to shake. Gabriel jumped out of the closet. He tried to say something to Mira, but no sound could penetrate the outcry. Mira began to tremble and grabbed Gabriel's hand.

  The moment her hand was in his, Gabriel pulled Mira to himself and held her tight. The movement of the ground ceased and the noise abated, leaving the world in a deep silence. Mira had no idea where her trembling stopped and Gabriel's started, but neither let go until their hearts stopped racing.

  "You okay?" Gabriel asked when he pulled away. He spoke in a whisper, as though not wanting to alert anything to their presence.

  Mira sniffed and nodded. "I think so."

  "I'm not," Gabriel said. "Let's get what we need and get the hell out of here."

  The house felt more empty to her than it had before. It was as if knowing there was no magic here left a vacancy that struck deep.

  "Let's keep looking," Mira said with no real feeling. "How much time do we have?"

  "Emmit won't get started for another twelve hours."

  Mira gaped at him. "We walked for twelve hours?"

  He gave her a wry smile. "More like eight. Even if we have a smooth trip back, I think it'll take longer. And I don't think John will let us have an easy time of it."

  The sheer amount of time, along with thoughts of the walk back, dragged Mira down, but she nodded and moved to the kitchen to search for any traces of magic.

  Gabriel trailed behind and started to search with her. Mira felt more and more hopeless the longer they looked. When she gave up on finding anything in the kitchen, she moved to another room.

  "If you can't find anything," Gabriel said, watching her explore the laundry room, "is there anything you can use in place of something of Tyler's?

  Mira shook her head and didn't look up. "To find a person, you need to have a piece of them."

  "But what if you focused on something besides Tyler?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "If you used your own hair or whatever, would that be able to find another witch?"

  "It might work," Mira said, turning all the spell ingredients and side effects over in her mind. "I couldn’t do it in our own world. Too many people have a bit of witch in them. But here, it's worth a try."

  Bolstered by the idea, Mira sped through the rest of the house before going once again to the kitchen. She laid out her supplies on the counter and tried to think through adjustments in the spell.

  Gabriel leaned back against the counter to watch. He was forced to ruffle his wings to adjust. For once, he didn't seem to be disgrun
tled about the fact that they were in the way.

  "How does this work?" he asked.

  "I'm not really sure," Mira admitted. "It usually involves a map, but beyond spell books, I haven't seen any paper in this world. We're also dealing with the fact that magic seems to work a lot stronger here."

  "I've noticed. That was a hell of a spell you cast earlier."

  Mira remembered the bodies lying all around her and the smell of burning tar and she shivered.

  Gabriel didn't appear to notice. "If something like that could happen in our world, I'm pretty sure the secret of magic wouldn't be kept for long."

  She wondered briefly how much bad karma had been stacked against her.

  "You really saved us back there," Gabriel said.

  Chapter 22

  Maybe saving an angel helped balance the scales, Mira thought. Then she tried to push the idea out of her head.

  "What I have to do is make the spell work, but instead of using a map, we need to adapt it for a pendulum."

  "Pendulum?" Gabriel asked.

  "Something heavy attached to string or chain. It's sometimes used to scry."

  "I've head of scrying," Gabriel said. "I have no idea what it is, but I've heard of it."

  "Divination, fortune telling, finding lost things."

  "Do you read fortunes?" Gabriel asked.

  Mira raised an eyebrow at him, but noticed the small grin he wore. "No, I suck at reading fortunes, so I don’t. My nephew is pretty good at it, though."

  "How old is your nephew?" Gabriel asked.

  Mira got to work on the spell, thankful for the dual distraction of Gabriel and altering her enchantment as she went. "Mark is twelve."

  "Kids start using magic that early?"

  "It starts around four or—" Mira stopped dead, her breath caught in her throat at the sound of a door rattling.

  "I'll check it out," Gabriel said, his sword already materializing in his hand. "How much time do you need?"

  "Maybe ten minutes," Mira said, turning quickly back to her work.

  Gabriel strode out of the room.

  Something banged on the wood that had replaced the kitchen window in this strange world. A shrill scream escaped Mira.