Everspell (11 page)

I climbed into my bed, and was about to turn out the light when I heard a timid knock at my door. I thought it might be Elizabeth again, so it surprised me when I opened the door and saw Jade standing there.

“Hey, Serena. Got a minute?”

“Sure. Come on in.”

I thought I knew what Jade might want to talk about, but I let her start anyway.

“So, did you have any ideas about who Prudence could be talking about?”

“Judging by the way everyone stared at us, I think the implication was pretty clear. They were thinking of either you or me, I’m sure.”

“I know, right? Everyone always has to know our business!” Jade started walking around the room with her hands on both hips. Clearly, she thought her privacy had been invaded.

“I don’t think anyone is trying to be nosy, Jade. I think Eden and the others just have our best interests at heart. They just want to make sure we are making…” I chose my words carefully, not wanting to add fuel to Jade’s smoldering fire, “….smart choices.”

I looked over at Jade to see how my words were registering. She seemed to consider them for a minute, savor them, then swallow them whole, finding them not altogether distasteful. Then abruptly, she changed the subject.

“Serena, do
you
think he’s come back?”

I knew who she meant, but just couldn’t bring herself to say his name out loud. Maybe she felt too scared to utter it, for fear that simply hearing it would bring him back. She was
that
afraid of him, the dark demon who had once kidnapped her from a romantic picnic with the boy she loved, ripping her from the innocence of her life in the time it takes to blink. The one she dared not name.

Christophe.

“I think he has, Jade. Him, or someone like him. I’m sure of it.”

“So he really might be back?”

Jade came around and sat next to me on the bed. I put my arm around her and it seemed as though my touch opened the floodgates. For the second time tonight, tears were the order of the day. Jade, her tough exterior vanished, buried her face in my neck and sobbed, perhaps for the first time since she had been snatched up by Christophe’s evil trolls. I held her and allowed her to let it all out of her system. After a few minutes, Jade composed herself. She sniffled a little and sat up straighter, wiping her tears with the end of her sleeve. “Wow. Where did that come from, huh?”

I handed her a proper tissue. “From someplace you’ve been stuffing it is my guess. Do you feel better?”

“You know what? I actually do!” Jade smiled and took a tissue. She blew her nose noisily. “No wonder my brother is nuts about you. You really are the best.” She stood up and headed for the door. “Thanks, Serena. I didn’t know I needed someone tonight, but I did. And I’m really glad it was you.” And with that, Jade left my room.

I sat on the bed for a few more minutes, not sure if anyone else might come to the door. My room acted like Grand Central tonight! When I felt sure I wasn’t going to have any more visitors, I finally climbed into my covers, left to my own thoughts. I was also afraid of Christophe. I remembered all too well how it felt when he swept across that barn floor dragging me by the hair, intent on taking me away forever from everything and everyone I loved, including Logan. I never wanted to feel that paralyzing fear again. The idea that he could be back terrified me. I knew Eden had been gathering the coven sisters again for another confrontation. I also knew that Logan and I were stronger than ever as well, having completed our sorcery training with the coven sisters in their individual disciplines of invisibility, astral projection, clairvoyance, mindjumping, shape-shifting, and many other witch/warlock skills. We had trained very hard. But, I couldn’t help but wonder….had Christophe been training too?

Chapter Seventeen

LOGAN

“What was the address again?” I asked Sully. He sat next to me in the passenger seat. Serena and Jade were in back, gabbing about who-knows-what. I drove. Today being Wednesday, we were finally going to the much-talked-about first dinner at Dave and Tamera’s. The four of us were stuffed into Serena’s tiny little go-cart of a car. Sully co-piloted and, as usual, did a lousy job with the directions.

“Sully, can you at least give me the street name to turn on before I pass it? You’re making me toss the girls all over the back seat.”

Sully turned his head to look in the back of the car. “Are you serious, Dude? Can you hear them? They’re talking so much, they don’t even know the car is
moving
.”

I had to laugh. Sully always told it like it was. And he was right about the girls. You’d think they would get enough of one another at home, where we always were. But no, they got in the car and acted like they hadn’t seen each other for a year.

“Logan, I think this is the street here, Ruthann Avenue.”

I turned and we both looked for the address, 755 Ruthann.

“There it is. The blue one with the white fence.”

I pulled up to the house and parked at the curb. Miraculously, as soon as I did, the girls stopped talking to each other and started talking to us about the house.

“Oh, Sully! Look how cute it is!” Jade had already opened her door and climbed out. Serena wasn’t far behind her.

The front door to the house opened and Dave and Tamera came out. I stood and stared. Gone were the two lovestruck teenagers I remembered from high school, my friends since we were all young children. In their place, were two married young adults. I hadn’t seen either of them since the wedding, when I watched them walk down the aisle and pledge to love, honor and cherish each other for all the days of their lives. The two people standing in front of me now looked exactly like what they were: a happily married newlywed couple.

“
Sully! Logan! Serena! Jade!
Hey, you guys! You’re here!” Dave’s voice boomed out in our direction, but his voice surely carried all over the neighborhood. I grinned. Now that resembled the Dave I knew. He bounded down from his front steps and bear-hugged Sully and me in turn, then nearly crushed the girls in a two-for-one deal. Tamera strolled over and expertly peeled him back from our group.

“Relax, Dave. You’ll scare them off before I get to show off any of the wedding china. Come on, you guys. I’m sure Dave wants to show the guys the garage or something.” Tamera rolled her eyes, but I noticed her pat Dave on the fanny as she left away with Serena and Jade, the three of them jabbering and laughing, half walking and half hugging as she led them into the house, leaving me and Sully in the front yard with Dave.

“So, Dave, how’s married life treatin’ ya?” asked Sully.

“Great. Turns out Tam’s quite the little cook. And she likes to keep a tidy house, too. It’s kind of nice.” He looked down at the lawn. “You know, I really love her. It surprises me sometimes how much. But, I really do.”

I clapped Dave on the back. “That’s great, Dave. I always knew you and Tam would end up together. I knew it when we were five. You two are perfect for each other.”

“Yeah. Thanks. And how about you two? Looks like things are still going good for both of you.” He playfully punched Sully on the arm. “Logan still sore at you for datin’ his sister?”

Sully laughed nervously. “No, we, ah…we got over that. Right, Logan?”

“Yeah. I guess we did. She could do worse, I figure.”

“Ouch.”

“Thanks, man. That’s real nice.”

“You know I’m joking, Sul. No, Dave, I’m really okay with it now. I mean, look at us. Double-dating and everything. Plus, Serena and Jade are really close and all.”

As if on cue, we could hear the girls’ laughter filtering out the open windows of the house and spilling onto the front lawn. We all looked at each other.

“I think we’re missing some of the fun.” Sully turned and headed toward the door.

“Yeah,” Dave agreed. “Let’s get this party started. I turned and followed Dave into his house. It
was
time to get this party started. And it sounded like the girls were starting without us.

****

A few hours later, after Tamera’s great dinner, we were all hanging around their back patio enjoying a nice bottle of wine and the warm twilight of the evening.

“This really is a charming little house, Tamera, and you have fixed it up so cute.” Serena sat in the same lounge chair as me, resting against my knees. “I especially love the wall colors you chose. So earthy and rich.”

“Well, don’t get too used to it.” Tamera had a mischievous smile on her face.

“Why not?”

“Yeah, why not?” Jade interjected. “Are you moving?”

“Yes, and no.” Tamera answered with a giggle.

Sully had obviously had enough. He put down his drink and turned to Dave.“What does that mean? Either you are or you aren’t. Which is it?”

Dave sighed and addressed his wife. “Cut the mystery, Tam. It’s not fun if you’re not in on the joke.” He addressed us then. “We are moving, but not right away. We have to wait for the house to get built.”

“You’re building your own house?” Incredulity crept into Sully’s voice.

“Yup. Sure am. Me and Tam are gonna be homeowners.” He slipped an arm around Tamera and proudly snugged her close when he said the last word. “We were going to wait and announce this at our big housewarming party next month, but I guess we can tell you guys now. We’re having the house built from scratch on our very own property.”

Next to me, Serena sat up and set her wine glass down. Very faint, so softly only I could hear it, she said, “Oh, no.” She had turned pale.

“That sounds so grown-up, Tamera. Where is it going to be?” Jade asked.

“Remember my where my uncle’s barn used to be, where we had the St. Patrick’s Day Party? We broke ground there last week. We’re putting in a swimming pool!”

Chapter Eighteen

LOGAN

The dinner party ended pretty quickly following Tamera’s revelation. Someone brought Serena a cool cloth and some water and she felt better shortly after that. Of course, Sully, and Jade and I knew what made her pass out, but we couldn’t tell our hosts. Serena made up a story about not being a wine-drinker and Dave and Tamera bought it. She endured some good-natured teasing about her being a lightweight which she took in stride, given the circumstances.

In short time, we called it an evening. Truth be told, we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We said our thank yous and goodbyes and let the girls hug for longer than we wanted, then we beat feet out of there. As soon as we were in the car, everyone started talking at once. Jade being fastest and loudest, she beat everyone to the inevitable punch.

“Are we all thinking the same thing? Is that how Christophe got back? Did they let him out somehow?”

“It might make sense, I suppose.” Serena tried to reason it out. “Logan, you led him into that black hole in the center of the barn. I guess if you can go in, you can come out.”

“What are the odds that they would build a freakin’ swimming hole right where we tried to toast that sucker? I don’t know all the rules of Witch World here, but shouldn’t one of them be, if the earth swallows you up, you’re done?” Sully drove for this ride home, one-handed, since Jade hadn’t let go of his other hand from the time we got in the car. Serena stretched out along the back seat, resting her head in my lap. She still felt woozy after fainting, and anyway, I wanted her to be comfortable.

I gazed out the car window. I noticed the sudden change in temperature, climate, and even the color of the sky. In hindsight, perhaps my concern for Serena caused me to miss all the increasingly obvious signs. I should have noticed the sky, the telltale clouds, even the moistness to the air. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with Serena, I would have. But I didn’t. So when the first drops of rain fell, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary. It always rained in New Hampshire this time of the year. It seemed natural. If I had only been paying better attention, I would have realized it right away.

“Looks like we’re in for some rain. Maybe even something more.” Jade peered out the window, too.

She was right. When I looked out the window a second later it was well on its way to becoming a thundershower and it appeared to be revving up for even more. In a matter of minutes we were in a torrential downpour complete with matching winds and suddenly, Sully had trouble keeping Serena’s puny little car straight on the road.

“Hang on everyone!” Sully hollered over the howling wind.

The sky was lit by blue-white light, and a split second later pounding thunder shook the car. Then we were surrounded by pitch blackness outside our vehicle, and visibility was nearly nonexistent. More frightening flashes of lightning became the only light as the darkness swallowed even our headlights. Each crack of thunder and brilliant spark of lightning came closer together.

The lightning strikes visibly touched earth as they came menacingly closer to us. It came to me with alarming clarity that this would not be a normal weather occurrence. Someone or something had made this other-worldly storm happen.

“Sully, stop the car!” I yelled.

He stomped the brake. We were flung forward as the car came to an abrupt stop. Thankfully, we all had our seatbelts on except for Serena, and I had a firm grip.

“I think it’s safest if the car isn’t moving!” I shouted over the powerful noise of the storm. “This isn’t a normal storm! I think Christophe may be behind it!”

“He’s right! I feel it!” Serena sat up beside me. Even though she had raised her voice like the rest of us, she still sounded strangely calm. She leaned into me.

“Logan, you know I can do something to stop this.” She spoke low enough that only I could hear her, but Jade looked back over the front seat and looked right at her.

“It’s too dangerous, Serena! The storm is too powerful!” Her words were punctuated by another violent pounding of thunder and blinding zap of light, closer still to the car than the last.

“You don’t understand, Jade.” I told her. “Serena, can do things you don’t know about. Things with the elements, you know, with wind and water. She can control it.” I couldn’t keep the pride out of my voice, even in the face of this storm. I felt Serena’s hand reach over and find mine.