The 13th Witch Complete Trilogy (17 page)

“It never had to be like that. You just made a choice and it wasn’t the right one.” I slid my feet under me and started to stand.

“You don’t know anything about it.” His bitter tone gave me chills. I pulled myself up and watched him. There was no way I was going to be able to get away even though I wanted to run as fast as I could in the other direction. “How about seeing some old friends?” He smiled and grabbed my arm.

As he was dragging me through the building, I realized we were on the main floor. I tried to take in all of the surroundings I could so if I could get away, I would know where to go.

He pulled me down a flight of stairs into what seemed to be some kind of basement. The smell of mildew and dirt made me cover my nose with my free hand. After my eyes had adjusted to the light, I realized there were two other people in the dark and nasty basement.

The people were behind what looked to be a set of iron bars built into the floor. They had their backs to me so I couldn’t tell who they were or why I should know them until we got closer.

“Lucy? What are you doing here?” The voice made my heart leap out of my chest. It was my dads. When my eyes adjusted, I could see him standing in the little home made cell. He looked older, but still in good shape.

The other person smiled at me and I realized it was Oni. She had dirt plastered to her face, but she seemed okay as well. Eric pushed me into the home made cell and laughed loudly.

“Now you can all be together again. Too bad you’ll be here for a very long time.” He turned from the cell and walked back up the stairs. His arms were crossed over his chest like he’d one and in his mind, he had.

“What are you doing?” My dad put his hands on my arms and looked straight into my eyes. He wanted an answer and I didn’t know if I wanted to give him one.

“I wanted to stop Eric.” I barely could speak. All I wanted to do was pull my dad to me and hug him. I’d missed him a lot and wanted to know there was something I could still hold on to that wasn’t going to leave me. He let the anger lift and pulled me to him. I knew he could read minds, that was his gift, but I didn’t really think about him using it on me.

“I’m sorry. I just want you to be safe and you always seem to put yourself in the middle of the most dangerous situations.” He pulled me back enough to look into my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“This has been a fun reunion, but how are we going to get out of here?” Oni was sitting in the corner with her legs pulled up to her chest. She looked oddly like a child when she was sitting like that, but I knew better. She was a Fae and one you didn’t want to mess with.

“I don’t know,” I answered simply.

“You have all that power now. Didn’t Eli teach you anything?” She was getting irritated with my lack of understanding.

“He taught me how to use it to an extent, but I have to be careful or I’ll be just like Eric. All I’ll think about is the power and how to get more.” I stopped and thought about the power I could feel pushing inside my body. It was clawing to get out and take control, but I pushed it away. “I can’t do anything stupid or it won’t be pretty.”

“That doesn’t answer my first question. How are we going to get out of here?” She stood and cocked her head at me.

“You have all that Fae power. Why don’t you use that?” I was getting pissed that she was expecting me to come along and save the day.

“Don’t you think I’ve tried? This room or something is keeping me from being able to use my powers. I figured you would still be able to use yours since yours and Eric’s are obviously connected.” She huffed and leaned against the wall of the basement. “I guess we’re screwed.”

“Where’s Eli?” My dad said. We was still holding onto my arms. It was though he didn’t want me to go too far from him either.

“I left him back in Council Bluffs. I didn’t want anyone else hurt because of me,” I said as though I was sure he’d understand, but the look he gave me was less than approving.

“You shouldn’t go off by yourself at all. You are really the only one that can stop Eric. It’s important that you stay alive.” He said a little rougher than normal.

“You always say that and in the end, I screw it up.” I was tired of talking about it and the idea of being some kind of big deal.

“Just because things don’t go the way you think they should, doesn’t mean it’s screwed up.” My dad smiled and put his hands on my shoulders. “It just means it’s different.”

Whatever,
I thought to myself. My dad gave me a stern look. Oni just huffed to herself again before glancing back to me and my dad. She had a smile plastered to her face.

“What?” I said, unsure of what she was thinking. If she had that kind of look on her face, then it couldn’t be good.

“Eric didn’t kill you, why?” She seemed to be working something out in her head. I was having a hard time keeping up.

“I don’t know. Why didn’t he kill you?” I countered.

“There has to be something else going on. Something he wants to do that requires us.” She started to pace with her hand near her face.

“What are you getting at?” I was getting flustered with everything that was going on.

“They needed Eli for the Dark Moon ritual. They wanted you for the original Full Moon ritual. Maybe there’s something else he wants to do.”

“That’s no scary at all,” I said sarcastically. I didn’t want to be a part of something that would likely mean the total end of the world. That was what I was trying to stop, not help get done.

“If that’s what it is, we’re all in trouble,” my dad said. He wasn’t joking and that scared me more than anything I could possibly be facing.

I took a spot on the floor and pulled my knees to my body. I was cold, even if I didn’t really register it before. My dad glanced at me and sighed.

“I wish you would have stayed away. At least I would know you were safe and not in here rotting with the rest of us.” He leaned his head on the bars and was clearly thinking. I knew that he could hear the inner workings of my own mind and the thoughts of frustration and despair I had. There was no way out of this mess.

I felt the ground shake under me. This area was not known for having that many earthquakes so it was odd, but that was my life now. I glanced to my dad who had the same look of confusion on his face that I must have had. The bars in front of us shook violently and my dad took a couple of steps back.

Oni smiled and looked at the pair of us. “Don’t you know who that is?” She acted like it was some big secret we were never going to understand. She rolled her eyes.

The bars started cracking and breaking until they were laying in on the ground. My dad didn’t hesitate and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet.

“We have to get out of here fast,” he said, pulling me along beside him. He didn’t wait for any objections from me, but he wouldn’t have gotten any. He pulled me through the house and stopped at the living room area. There were three other witches waiting there for us and they did not look friendly.

I glanced at Oni who had made her own way up the stairs as she smiled brightly at the group. They acted as though she was nothing special. They were wrong.

Oni waved her hand and they were thrown back through the plate glass window at the front of the living room. She giggled slightly at the act of magic. I glanced at her and rolled my eyes. She almost never used magic so when she did, it was strong.

“Let’s get out of here while we can,” my dad said, giving me a hard push towards the door. I reached for the knob and through open the door. When I looked through the doorway, I’d wished I could crawl back in the cell in the basement. Standing there with his arms crossed was Eli. He had a stern look on his face that I seemed to bring out in the people around me.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” He said harshly before motioning the group of us from the house. I didn’t answer. He already knew why I did what I did and a part of me wasn’t sorry about it. I got my family back and a part of myself.

***

“That was a stupid thing to do,” Eli said, sitting in the chair across the room. We had made our way back to the Oracle’s home. The one that had led me to Eli and took Connor from me. “He could have killed you.”

“I still don’t know why he didn’t,” I said simply. This was the same song and dance I’d dealt with from various people for the last couple of years. I wasn’t worried about hearing it again. “Oni thinks he has some other plan.”

“What do you mean?” For the first time since I’d met Eli, he seemed stumped. Normally he knew more than I did, but this seemed to surprise him.

“Why keep Oni and my dad alive and then me?” I fiddled with a cup sitting on the table still. It was dusty and gross, but it gave me something to do rather than looking at him. “There has to be another end game. Something we don’t know.”

“There’s no spells or anything I’m familiar with that make sense.” Eli hesitated, thinking. “He has all the power he can get. Why not leave it at that?”

“Because once you have as much power as he has, all you think about is wanting more,” I said it as I thought it. This was what I’d been fighting for such a long time. The lust for more. I pushed the power down to a point where it was almost useless because I was scared of it. I didn’t want to be like my birth father. I just wanted my life back and my family. In truth, I wanted Connor back more than anything else in this world.

“So, we should look for spells about getting more power?” Eli seemed a little confused.

“No, I doubt there is anymore power in the world, but he may want to take away the only other real power there is,” my dad said, looking my way. “You can’t just kill someone and the power go away.”

“You have to strip it,” I finished his sentence. “So, we’re back where we started. Take his power from him and destroy my own.”

Six

I laid on the floor in the middle of the room thinking about everything. I didn’t know if this would end it, not truly. I had been here before and it didn’t stop him.
What if I have to do more? What if I have to kill him?
I pushed the thought away.

I rolled over and watched the fire dance in front of me. It was odd to have a fire burning inside a house, but the night was cold and the summer was starting to give way to fall.

I thought about Connor and when we met. He’d saved me from things I didn’t even know I should be afraid of. He showed me love through that gruff exterior he had. Where had I lost him? I felt tears coming to my eyes and pushed them back. Of all the times I’d thought about him, this was the worst one. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop Eric without facing Connor, but that was the one thing I didn’t want to do.

“What are you thinking about?” Eli said from the other side of the room. I didn’t realize he was still awake until he spoke.

“Nothing. How long have you been awake?” I wanted to change the subject and get away from my thoughts.

“A while. You’re thinking about Connor, aren’t you?” He raised his eyebrows. “I wish you would let him go. He’s not the same guy anymore.” He said it as though he knew everything there was to know about Connor, but he didn’t understand what we had shared or what I felt for him.

“You didn’t know him before his sister.” I sat up, realizing I wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight.

“No, but if he was stupid enough to betray someone like you, then he’s not worth it.” He stopped and let out a sigh. “I know you care for him and still do, but there are other people out there. Someone that would give up everything for you. All you need to do is ask.”

I swallowed hard and wanted to answer Eli, but something else caught my attention. My breathing caught and a feeling of dread came over me. Someone was coming and they didn’t feel friendly. Eli must have felt it too because he was on his feet before I could move.

“They must have tracked us,” he said, watching through the window. “We have time to get out of here, but we are going to have to hurry.”

I shook my dad and Oni to wake them and glanced around the room.
There has to be something I can use,
I thought and then I saw them. Four bottles tucked neatly against the wall. It was as though they had been put there for this moment alone. I scooped them up and passed them to each person. I smiled at the memory of what they were.

Travel potions.
“Where can we go?” I said in a panic.

“There’s only one place that will be safe now,” Oni said taking my hand. “You’re not going to like it.”
Great. Just what I want to hear.
Seven

When I opened my eyes, I could see the porch that I’d spent nights on watching the stars. I swallowed hard. Of all the places we could go, we had to come here. Eli looked at me and then back to my dad as though it was an inside joke he was left out of.

“Where are we?” Eli asked quietly.

“Connor’s old house,” I answered without thinking. This was the place where everything had started for me and where I had learned spells and such. It felt odd to be standing in front of it, but the house itself felt odd.

The windows were boarded up to protect the home from the neglect it suffered in the last year. The once trimmed grass seemed to take over the entire yard, hiding the house from the outside world. The wood that was once painted nicely was chipped and falling.

“Why are we here?” Eli asked, carefully.

“This is the last place Eric or Connor will look for us. They figure Lucy won’t be able to deal with it.” Oni stepped in front of me and glanced to Eli and my dad. “We can’t just stand here and gawk. We should get out of sight.”

My dad walked to me and took my hand. He smiled because he knew how upset I really was on the inside. I didn’t want to be here, but I had to make a choice between putting my family in danger by not being safe or to face this house and help my family and friends.

I followed the others into the home and was surprised at how much the inside stayed the same. The furniture was still in tact, although it was dusty and gross. The spell books were still in their place and the fireplace seemed to still be able to hold a fire.

“We can use these books and herbs to create something to stop Eric.” My dad was already looking through books and digging up magical items to help us.