Altered Souls (5 page)

“Oh, that’s too bad. He’s the one getting dropped off now, huh? What a pity.” Trevor’s arrogance rolled off his tongue with ease.

“Can you blame him? Cut him some slack, Trev,” my voice was sickly sweet, but Trevor believed me and that’s all that counted. “This has to be torture for him. You’re the better black sorcerer
and
you get the girl?”

A laughter that was not my own echoed out of my gut, and I had to look away from Logan.

“That’s how it’s meant to be, I suppose.” Trevor loved every minute of it, and his own ego would never allow him to see the absurdity of his actions or the situation.

“Promise me one thing, Trevor,” Logan started.

“What’s that?” Trevor replied, squeezing me harder.

“That you’ll take good care of her,” he replied flatly.

“The best,” Trevor replied.

I gave my best performance yet and placed my head on Trevor’s shoulder. Logan quickly looked away, and I knew my act must’ve been far too believable.

“If we leave now, you might be able to catch the next train,” I said, feeling Trevor’s grasp relax around me a little.

“I’ll help you get packed, and we’ll get you there as quickly as possible,” Trevor echoed.

Panic started to set in when I realized that Trevor assumed he was coming with us. Standing in a frozen state, I realized I needed a backup plan. And as if on cue, a friendly reminder of what I was capable of began to slither around my ankle.

The dark forest was closing in on me from all directions. I didn’t want to be in the woods any longer. There was too much at stake and not enough places to escape to.

“Let’s get back to the cottage. I’m sure Aunt Vieta’s about to have a coronary,” I said.

One way or the other, Logan and I were going to leave the cottage alone, and I felt confident that I would be able to do whatever it took to make that happen. I let Trevor grab my hand as we started back to the cottage, with Logan following behind us.

I had no idea what was about to take place, but it would change our future. That I was sure of.

Chapter 6

The blaze was dying out in the fireplace, causing a bit of smoke to pool in place of the flames. My aunt sat at the dining table with an expression that I was unable to read. Her eyes wore a blank stare. So much uncertainty had found its way into my psyche about everyone I loved. I really hoped my suspicions about her were wrong.

“Hey, Aunt Vieta. We’re going to take Logan to the station.” Her surprise gave me a little hope that my suspicions were wrong.

“I’m gonna go pack my bags,” Logan replied solemnly. He was doing quite well at this charade.

“Trev, I hate to ask this but can you go get the firewood to keep the fire going? That’s
your
job now,” I flashed a huge grin at him, trying to imply so much more than I ever wanted. “It looks like it’s about out. When we get back from dropping Logan off, I don’t want it to be an icebox in here.”

“Uh, sure.” Trevor looked uncertain as he glanced at me and then at Logan. He smoothed his blond hair back with his hands, seeming particularly uncomfortable.

“I’ll help him pack. Not to worry.” I assured him. “I know he wants to get out of here too.”

Not wanting to lose the momentum we had created, I planted a quick peck on Trevor’s cheek before ushering him out the door. I caught Aunt Vieta’s stare as she was gauging my every move.

“What are you two up to?” My aunt stood up from the table, her smile wide.

“Nothing,” I replied, not wanting to look at her.

“Just accepting the inevitable,” Logan replied, before taking off to the bedroom. I could feel his smile hit me even though he was facing the other direction.

“Doubtful,” My aunt smiled. “I’ll help however I can.”

Wanting with all of my heart to trust her, I shook my head and followed Logan down the hall without saying a word.

The front door clicked, and I turned to see my aunt no longer in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what she was up to but hoped her words could be trusted.

“Do you think I was overreacting about my aunt?” I whispered to Logan.

“I don’t know. I honestly can’t figure it out. Part of me thinks we’re so paranoid that we’re reading too much into things. The other half thinks, we’d be foolish if we welcomed her into our plans with open arms.” Logan’s lips tightened into a thin straight line once he finished, and I knew he felt the same turmoil as I did. What might that say about his mother?

“With everything I saw from Trevor, I feel like there is nobody that I can trust, aside from you,” I replied, quickly stuffing my own items in the suitcases first. I needed to tell him about his mother but now wasn’t the time. We needed to get out of here.

Logan opened up the chest of drawers tossing everything on top of mine in the bags.

“We don’t need to worry about grabbing any of the herbs or oils. The quicker we get out of here the better. We can hit the apothecary shop in Seattle to grab whatever we might need,” I said, feeling the beat of my heart begin to escalate.

“Sounds good.” Logan finished emptying the last drawer and scanned the room quickly. “I think that’s everything.”

I nodded and he reached out for my hand.

“If not, oh well,” I said, smiling.

“It’s going to be fine. Things will get better.” Logan murmured under his breath. “Now let’s get out of here before he comes back in.”

I strapped the two small bags on me while Logan grabbed the larger ones. I looked around the room one last time, wishing I wasn’t leaving it in this manner. We had everything that we needed, but I felt like we were leaving so much behind.

“The spell book,” I whispered. “It’s in the cupboard.”

I ran into the hall with the small bags banging into me with every movement. I made it to the kitchen in record time, which was where I had crammed the book in between the recipe books. I thought it was a good hiding place until I tried pulling it out, and it wouldn’t budge.

“Logan, I can’t get it out. Gaawd,” I said in a hushed tone. My fingers kept slipping off the spine, and I couldn’t finagle it out. Trevor would be back to the house any second. It didn’t take that long to get to the woodpile. Granted, he had to split it, but it still wasn’t that long of a task.

Logan dropped his bags and reached for the book, his fingers replacing mine.

“H
e’s going to be here any second,
” I said completely panicked.

“I’ve got it.” He slid his fingers in between the books that anchored the spell book in place, and he gave it one last pull. Out it came, along with all the other recipe books, papers falling in every direction, but I didn’t care. It was out.

“Do you hear that?” Logan asked.

Freezing in place, I listened carefully but didn’t hear a thing.

I shook my head.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the front door.

“Oh, no,” I replied. “Now I hear it. He’s coming up along the side of the house.”

Logan nodded, his eyes filling with anger.

“I’ve got my weapon at the ready,” I whispered, not feeling the least bit guilty.

“We aren’t going to need that.” Logan squeezed my hand gently. “When I open the door, run to the car.”

Logan gave me the keys, and all I could do was nod.

“As soon as you get in the passenger side, start the car. I’ll be right behind you.”

Logan flipped off the outside lights and opened the door, allowing me to slip by him into complete darkness.

My feet hit the porch running. Unable to see anything, I had my hands outreached feeling for anything that resembled a post so I wouldn’t tumble down the stairs. I heard crunching alongside the house as Trevor’s footsteps quickened. Trevor was almost to the front of the house. What was Logan waiting for? Why wasn’t he behind me?

I unlocked the car remotely while in a full sprint, praying I would make it without interruption. Aunt Vieta’s car was parked behind ours, but it looked like we’d be able to make it around when the time came.

“Triss,” Trevor hollered. His voice sounded closer than I expected.

Opening the passenger front door, I collapsed into the seat, tossing my bags behind me while trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening outside. Logan was running toward the car, but it was difficult to make out much beyond that with no lights. I turned on the car and the headlights completely blinded Trevor, who was still holding the stack of wood. My aunt stood in front of him, blocking him from moving.

Once Trevor realized what was happening, he dropped the wood and shoved my aunt to the ground. The fury in his eyes was like nothing I’d seen from him. He ran as fast as he could toward Logan, and I let out a scream.

The snake around my ankle tightened a little, reminding me of that option. I wanted to take Trevor out so badly.

My fingers touched the cold plastic of the door handle as Logan neared the car. Trevor was only feet away. Now was my chance. I pushed the door open, allowing Logan to dive in.

“
Scalpere de carne, SUPPURO vulnerum
,” Trevor’s voice boomed.

My knee inadvertently hit the window open button as I grabbed the bags from Logan, propelling them into the back seat. Logan slammed on the accelerator as he closed the door. The dust swirled from the tires only partially blocking the view as my aunt, back on her feet, pointed her wand at Trevor.

“She thinks she can run from me, but I’m her future. She’s only de
laying fate, not controlling it,
” Trevor yelled after us.

“Trevor, enough,” my aunt commanded, as Trevor crumpled to the ground.

“Can you roll up the windows?” Logan asked, as our car bounced along the gravel driveway leading us away from the cottage. “I think your aunt has it handled, and the dust is awful.”

The windows rolled up with a flick of the switch, and I flipped down the makeup mirror so I could get one last glimpse of what was occurring behind us.

“Trevor’s still on the ground, and my aunt is doing some sort of chant,” I replied in amazement. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so skeptical about her. Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Logan replied, grimacing slightly. His voice was different somehow.

Flipping the mirror up, I glanced over at Logan’s hand bracing himself on the console.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. At the same time my eyes met a red stain growing on his white shirt. “Oh my god. What’s going on? Where’d that come from?”

“It’s the chant he threw on me. It’s going to complicate things a little,” Logan muttered, slowly letting air escape his lungs.

“What do you mean? Pull over!”

Logan shook his head. “No need. I know what’s going on. We need to keep driving. We should be able to reverse it, but not until we get to Seattle.”

“Should be? Reverse what
exactly
?” I was in full panic mode at this point.

“In so many words the spell translates to
Slice of Flesh, Fester of Wounds.
”

“Oh no. You’ve been cut? Pull over. I can help,” I yelled completely aggravated at his lack of urgency for the situation.

“It’s not like that,” he paused. “It’s not a normal wound. It’ll keep growing until we can reverse it.”

“No, no, no. Please pull over. We aren’t going to make it in time. Seattle is hours away. Please, I know I can help.” I cried.

My eyes were glued to his side where the crimson puddle on his shirt grew larger by the minute. Taking a deep breath in, I tried to control my emotions. This wasn’t part of the plan. Logan’s breathing was labored. His fist gripped the wheel in pain.

“You can’t help. Not yet. Please just trust me on this.” It was a struggle for him to get the words.

“You should have done it back to him,” I said after several minutes of quiet. The anger inside of me was growing as I thought about all of the chances I’d given Trevor. I could have taken him out, and this would never have happened.

Logan released his right hand from the steering wheel and placed it on mine. It still maintained the strength that he always possessed, even under this amount of pain.

“I’m fighting every moment not to resort to black magic,” Logan murmured. “They’re targeting everyone I love, knowing that it will tempt me to go there. I might have to, but not over something like this.” His eyes focused on the winding road ahead of us, with only the headlights from our car guiding the way. This was not a place anyone would want to have a car breakdown. There were no streetlights, only tall pine trees towering over the two-lane road.

“Pull over at the next pullout. I need to take it from here,” I said, pointing up ahead. “I think we’re far enough away.”

He nodded, and we sat in silence. I had so much I needed to tell him but now was not the time. I couldn’t tell him about his mother. Not now. Not yet. The color of his skin grew paler with every passing second. His lips followed, turning to a shade of blue. He was losing a lot of blood and supposedly there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t buy it. I had to be able to help somehow.

The car bobbed over the large pieces of gravel and shale that had accumulated on the side of the road until he found a wide enough place to stop. I could only imagine how much going over the bumps hurt him.

He left the car running and got out. He couldn’t stand up straight while he walked so he used the car to gain his bearings. My heart ached with every grimace and shallow breath that he took.

Meeting him around the back of the car, I slid my arm through his, helping to brace him as we made it to the passenger side.

“I thought I’d play the sympathy card so you’d stay with me,” Logan joked, as he climbed in.

“Well, it’s working.” I smiled. “Can I see the wound so I know what I’m dealing with when we get there?”

Logan shook his head. “There’s no point. A couple hours from now it will resemble nothing like it does now.”

“This is not how I planned on showing off my healing skills,” I replied flatly.

Never a fan of racing down the mountain roads, hearing those words changed everything. I quickly closed the door and ran to the driver’s seat, buckling myself in and peeling back onto the road. I couldn’t let anything happen to Logan. Not now. Not ever.

The speedometer climbed to seventy miles per hour on a forty-five miles per hour road. With every turn, the gravitational pull anchored us to our seats, and I said many little prayers to any deity who would listen.

“Whoa, Triss. It’s okay. I’m going to be fine,” Logan said after suffering through thirty minutes of my newfound driving technique. “I don’t want to die getting there.”

We were about a quarter of the way off the mountain and the surroundings were getting a little more populous. Every now and then a small lit-up cabin would pop up amongst the trees or an old-fashioned gas station from another decade would appear. Seeing these little signs of civilization made me feel a little safer.