Chase 'n' Ana (19 page)

bound her wrists behind her back. “Ana? Ana?”

“I’m still here,” Ana answered from across the room.

Giovanni had tied them up on opposite sides of the room, lashing their hands

behind their backs, their ankles together and looping a noose around each of their necks

that was tied off to a ceiling beam. If they tried to get to one another the noose would

tighten.

Once that was accomplished, he’d clubbed Ana over the head, knocking her

unconscious. When she woke there was a circle drawn around her on the floor, and one

around Clara. Between them were thousands of scorpions. She knew what he’d done.

He’d imprisoned her with magic. She didn’t know what kind of spell he’d used, but she

was sure that it wouldn’t be pleasant should she try to breach the circle. The scorpions

were obviously under his control so reasoning with them would probably be useless.

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And she had no strength for that at the moment, anyway. The knock on the head

had her still feeling a little disoriented and blood from the wound had streamed down

her face, filling her left eye and making it difficult to see.

“I’m starting to get scared,” Clara admitted.

“It will be fine,” Ana promised even though she was not in the least sure of it. She

knew Fergi had followed them, and had half expected Chase to find them before

nightfall. That hadn’t happened, which meant one of two things. Either Cody and Fergi

had been unable to communicate with Chase and get him to follow Fergi, or Giovanni

had done something to prevent Chase from coming after them. She called on the power

of every good force in the universe to let it be the former rather than the latter.

As if in answer to her prayer, she was seized with a powerful awareness. She felt

Chase’s frustration, anger and fear, and knew that against all obstacles and despite all

odds and opposition, he would not give up until he found them. Even in this dark

place, imprisoned by Giovanni’s evil, she felt Chase’s love and it filled her with the

hope she needed.

“Chase will find us,” she said softly.

“How can you be so sure?”

“How can you not?” Ana asked.

Clara didn’t reply and Ana turned her mind to how to undo Giovanni’s spell. It

took more effort than she imagined to induce a trance state, and far more time than it

ever had. But at last she felt the bonds of reality melt away. And then she was flying.

The land passing by beneath her was beautiful but unfamiliar. She did not know

her direction. “Fergi, help me,” she pleaded. “Guide me to you.”

A ribbon of glowing amber appeared before her, and she followed it, moving faster

and faster until the earth below was a blur of motion. Then she saw Fergi. Or at least

her astral form, soaring toward her, with majestic wings stretched wide.

Ana’s forward momentum slowed to a gradual stop and then she was floating, with

Fergi hovering before her. “Giovanni cast a binding spell, preventing me from

escaping,” she told the hawk. “I’m working to undo it, but time is running out. Clara

has been without water for more than a day and I’m afraid that another day in the heat

will kill her.”

Fergi’s voice in her mind let her know that the situation was even more severe than

she realized. Not only had Giovanni bound her magically, but he had cast a spell over

Chase’s family, making sure that none of them thought to search for her and Ana at the

ghost town. He had gotten them to believe that he was only there to serve her with

divorce papers and now even had them thinking that she was only there to try and

swindle Chase out of his inheritance.

“But how?” Ana asked. “Giovanni’s powers were virtually nonexistent before. How

is he suddenly so powerful?”

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The answer was enough to bring self-hatred flooding to the forefront of Ana’s

mind. When she had collapsed the house on him, the cornerstone of the foundation had

cracked, and something old and evil that had been imprisoned long ago beneath the old

foundation was released. Incorporeal, it needed a host body, and found a willing one in

Giovanni Sardo. Its powers became his, and he became the unwitting vessel for a being

that had lost all touch with the Light.

Giovanni and the being were becoming more integrated with each passing day. If

the being was not banished, and very soon, the incorporation would become complete

and then it would take far more power than she and Fergi combined possessed to stop

it.

“But does Giovanni know?” She hoped he didn’t. That he was as much a victim as

she and Clara. Fergi’s answer shattered that hope. Not only was he aware of it, he was

enjoying it. The being gave him free rein to do as he wanted. Its only demand was for

pain and blood. It thrived on the agony of others, and Giovanni was more than willing

to feed that hunger.

“Where did you get all this information?” Ana didn’t doubt Fergi, but if there was

someone or something else out there that could help, she wanted to know who and how

to enlist their aid.

“My grandfather?” Ana asked in complete surprise. “But he crossed over years

ago.”

“Most roads run two directions, Little Cat.”

The soft gentle voice preceded a feeling of warmth and love that enveloped Ana in

a cocoon she wanted to burrow deep into and hide. “This is the time for courage,” her

grandfather’s voice spoke in her mind.

“And how do I fight this evil?” she asked.

“By enlisting the help of those who are imprisoned on this plane.”

“What?”

“Wake and look around you, Little Cat. This place is inhabited by souls who could

not make the crossing until their debts were paid. Allow them the chance to clean their

spirits and move to the next life.”

“And how do I go about doing that?” she asked.

“Believe.” His final word echoed in her mind as she was suddenly back inside her

body in the dark shanty with ropes cutting into her flesh and the sound of Clara’s soft

crying breaking the silence of the night.

Ana sent a call to Fergi, hoping the link was still strong enough for her plea to get

through. She would do whatever she could to set the stage for the battle, but unless

Fergi was able to get the message through to Chase, they might all end up being

trapped in limbo.

* * * * *

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Chase felt old, tired and defeated when he climbed out of his truck. Cody ran up to

him and leaned against his leg, silent for the first time in two days. Chase leaned back

against the truck and stroked the dog’s head.

Everyone from the local to state police had been looking for Ana and Clara for

nearly forty-eight hours and so far they were no closer to finding them than they’d been

in the first few hours. And he knew that was a bad sign.

He’d just returned from another visit to the Circle R, where he’d found his father

and Giovanni Sardo in his father’s study, drinking bourbon and smoking cigars, as if

they were lifelong friends.

Charlie announced that he had offered a reward for the safe return of Clara

Mahoney in the amount of one million dollars. When Chase asked about a reward for

Ana, Charlie just snorted and said the world would be better off without gold-digging

whores like Ana Stillwater.

Giovanni had merely sneered at Chase and agreed. Chase had to make himself turn

and walk away. It was clear to him that Ana was right. Giovanni had to be a witch.

There was no other way to explain how easily he’d gotten Charlie and the rest of his

family to accept his lies.

The problem was, Chase had no idea how to battle a witch. “Come on,” he said to

Cody. “I need a couple of hours’ sleep, and then I’ll go back out and search again.”

He’d almost reached the steps to the porch when a shrill cry made him stop and

look up. Fergi dove from the dark sky to perch on the porch rail. “Please tell me you

know where she is,” Chase said wearily.

Fergi actually nodded her head. Chase took a step closer and tentatively reached

out his hand toward the bird. He didn’t know how she would react but he was

overwhelmed with the sudden certainty that if he could touch her he could learn Ana’s

whereabouts.

She was motionless as his hand gently settled on her broad head. Her eyes angled

up to lock with his and suddenly Chase felt himself freefalling into nothingness.

Abruptly his vision returned, but that brought little but confusion and a strong

measure of fear. Where was he? And how did he get so high above the ground?

“Don’t you recognize this place, primate?” a rather sharp, but decidedly feminine

voice sounded in his mind.

Chase suddenly did recognize the place. Aravaipa ghost town. He looked around

and saw a semi-translucent Fergi flying beside him. “Am I dead?” he asked.

A laugh sounded in his mind. “Silly primate. Of course not.”

“Why do you call me primate?”

“Why do you call me bird?”

“Oh, I see your point, Fergi.”

She laughed shortly then her voice became serious. “Using our combined energy,

Ana and I have made it possible for you to separate from your body. A human term for

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it is astral travel. Your body remains safely on your front porch with Cody guarding us.

But that is unimportant. Giovanni Sardo has Ana and Clara tied up in that building to

your left. They’ve been without food and water for two days and Ana fears for Clara’s

life.”

“Can’t she use her magic to free them?”

“Giovanni has cast a spell. Ana and Clara are protected for the moment, each inside

a magic circle. Outside the circle are Giovanni’s guards. Scorpions. Should Ana break

the circle, she would be overrun by them and dead before she could free herself and

save Clara.”

“Then I have to go get them.”

“Yes, but first we have to make Giovanni think you are close to finding them.”

“Why?”

“To force his hand.”

“What do you mean? Wouldn’t that just put them in more danger? If he thinks I’ll

find them and expose him then he might—”

“Try to kill them. Yes.”

Chase was dead set against it and said as much. “You can’t expect me to sit on my

hands and do nothing while that bastard goes back there to finish her off.”

“We most certainly do not expect that. But once he leaves the Circle R, his power

over your family will be weak. We must first undo the spell he has cast, then we can go

for Ana and Clara.”

“But how do we know he won’t kill them before we get there?”

“We do not. But Ana is not alone. There are others there who may offer aid.”

“Others?”

“What you humans call ghosts.”

Chase wondered if maybe he hadn’t just gone off the deep end. There was no way

he was doing astral travel with a hawk, having a conversation about ending a spell on

his family and fighting an evil witch with the help of ghosts.

“They prefer the term spirit,” Fergi said. “And yes, this is real.”

“And you think she has a fighting chance?” he asked.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Your love.”

“What?”

“Ana will need the strength of your love if she is to battle the evil that has taken

root inside Giovanni Sardo. It is a spirit of hate and thrives on the pain and agony of

others. It lives to kill.”

“I have to go to her now, Fergi! I can’t leave her to face that alone.”

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“As I have said. She is not alone. The spirits of those left behind due to unpaid

karmic debt will be offered a chance to free themselves with their aid. And there is

another who will stand beside her.”

“You?”

“Yes, but someone other than me. Her grandfather watches over her.”

Chase didn’t want to agree, but something told him that if he didn’t, Ana and Clara

didn’t stand a chance. “Okay, so what do we have to do to end the spell Sardo has on

my family?”

“First we return.”

Instantaneously Chase was standing on his porch with his hand on Fergi’s head.

“What now?” he asked.

“To the Circle R,” Fergi’s voice was clear in his mind.

Chase ran for his truck. As soon as he opened the door, Cody leapt inside. “You

didn’t think you were going to leave me behind, did you?”

Chase gaped at the dog, whose deep baritone voice rang clear in his mind. “This is

too weird.”

“Worry about weird later. Right now put the pedal to the metal.”

Chase cut Cody a look. “The pedal to the metal?” Maybe he wasn’t insane, and

maybe all this was really happening, but one thing was for certain, it wasn’t the world

he was familiar with.

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Chapter Fourteen

Ana smiled, despite the pain in her wrists and ankles from the deep bite of the rope.

Fergi and Cody were with Chase, and soon Giovanni would be alerted that Chase

suspected her whereabouts. That would send Giovanni scrambling. The way she

figured it, he would kill her and claim to have saved Clara, after charming her so that

she didn’t remember that it was he who had kidnapped her to begin with.

Her smile faded. She had to banish the scorpions before Giovanni arrived and free

herself and Clara. Otherwise she had no chance at all.

Closing her eyes, she stilled her breath and concentrated on sending out a call.