Legacy Of Magick (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 1) (25 page)

“You told me to look to the past to help. I did, but I can’t figure out where Julian took my cousin.” I pleaded with him quietly. “Can you help me find her?”

“Where’s Duncan?” He asked, looking sad.

Afraid to take my eyes off of him, I pulled my cell out of my pocket and fired off a text to Duncan that said: Come outside to the driveway right now! “Please don’t go,” I said to David. “Duncan’s coming.”

I heard footsteps pounding up behind me, but did not dare take my eyes off of David Quinn’s ghost.

“Autumn?” Duncan asked me. “What are you doing out here?”

“Talking to your father.” I explained impatiently. “He’s right there, can’t you see him?” I gestured to where I saw the ghost, and Duncan frowned at me.

The ghost of David said, “Duncan needs your help.
I
need your help to talk to Duncan.” Then to my alarm his image started to flicker.

Suddenly I got it. “Give me your hand, share energy with me.” I grabbed Duncan’s hand and pulled him closer to me. As soon as we touched, all my senses went from zero to sixty. The moonlight seemed brighter, and the crickets louder. I felt a hum of energy under my skin, and the image of David Quinn, now looked crystal clear.

“Dad?” Duncan’s voice was soft and full of wonder.

He started to pull free of my hand to go to his father, but I warned him. “Don’t break the bond. If you do, I don’t think you’ll be able to see him.” I squeezed his hand, and we stepped closer together towards David Quinn.

“You’re so tall.” David said to his son.

“I...” Duncan stammered a bit. “Dad? It’s really you!”

While I truly wanted to give them time for a reunion, there wasn’t any time to waste. “David, do you know where Julian has taken Ivy?” I asked him.

“Home.” David said simply.

“Home?” Duncan and I both asked together.

“My home. Our home.” David said, and his image started to flicker.

“Show us!” I said. “David, we will follow you. Show us where
home
is.”

“Follow me.” David said, and then he changed from the image of a man to a small ball of pale blue light, which floated down the street.

Without another word, Duncan and I still holding hands, both began to run. Except for the sounds of our breathing and the soles of our shoes slapping against the pavement, it was oddly quiet. When we came to the old cemetery along side the oldest church in town, I almost hesitated.

“Are you kidding me?” I panted as the ball of light zipped right through the open gates. “Damn it.” I muttered, and Duncan and I charged through the gates and ran along the little path that wove through the cemetery.

“Come on!” Duncan encouraged me. So I swallowed my deep loathing of cemeteries and kept pace we him as we hurried between the headstones.

Oh no, this wasn’t creepy. Not at all. As we dashed deeper into the cemetery, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was familiar somehow... Then my breath caught in my side, as I realized that
this
is what I had been dreaming about for weeks! The dark cemetery, the moon, the overwhelming feeling of urgency, and running with someone. I had foreseen this moment!

The ball of light veered right off the little path and wove through some old trees. Duncan and I followed, slowing down to compensate for the bumpier terrain. I lost sight of the light for a few seconds and almost panicked. “Can you see him?” I asked Duncan.

“Yeah.” Duncan said a little breathless, “He’s not far.”

It was full dark and hard to see as we jogged through what became a little woods. Now we had to slow down, keep holding hands, and carefully work our way through the trees.

“Dad!” Duncan called out. “Wait for us!”

We scrambled down a little hill, and suddenly saw a blue shape of a man standing on the other side of a small creek. Glad for my work boots, I splashed straight through the creek as we reached where the ghost of David Quinn waited. And his ghostly image was fading.

“Wait! Don’t leave!” I begged him as I tried to catch my breath.

“We’re here. We are home.” David’s ghost said and he pointed up a little hill.

“Ivy is here?” I asked.

“You will find what was hidden.” David’s image became a little brighter and then he moved closer to Duncan. “I love you. I’m proud of you, son.” He smiled at Duncan, and his face was lit up, as from within.

“Love you too, Dad.” Duncan whispered raggedly.

“Thank you, Autumn.” David smiled at us both, and reached out to touch Duncan’s face. His image faded away, seeming to collapse in upon itself, and then he was gone.

I gave Duncan a moment. Hell, I gave myself a moment. Our hands now free, I bent over, placed my hands on my knees, and tried to catch my breath. “Do you know where we are?” I asked him.

Duncan shook his head and gathered himself. Hard to blame the guy. I shut up, and then, in unspoken agreement, we started to climb up the little hill where David had pointed. As quietly as possible, we made our way up and through some trash saplings, and when they gave way to bigger trees, we stumbled out into the unkempt back yard of an old house.

We both stood and stared at the dilapidated house with a large garage that faced the back. I could see light coming from the garage windows. A garage with stained blue doors, and an old broken weather vane that lay on its side at the point of the garage roof. “Wow!” I breathed. “This
is
the house I saw!”
Score one for the Seer.

Duncan started to move forward with a growl. I grabbed on to his arm, and hung on when he tried to shake me off. “Julian’s in there.” He hissed. “I can feel his magick.”

“Hang on. Stop and think!” I yanked him down and we hunkered by the trees. “We can’t just barge in there. We need back up.” I reached for my phone and then realized I had no freaking clue where we actually were. Well crap, in the movies the plucky heroine barges in and outwits the bad guy with a combination of moxie and charm. But this wasn’t the movies, and I had no idea what we were walking into. Magickally or otherwise.

“Call Bran.” Duncan told me. When I picked up my phone. Duncan grabbed it away from me. “No.
Call
Bran. The way you did in the library.”

“Oh. Okay.” I thought about it a moment, and tried to visualize the route we had taken to get here. I touched my fingers to the grass and dug them in. “Element of earth lend me your strength.” I whispered. Julian had called me an Earth Witch, so I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to link in to the earth itself. It had worked before when I created a shield.

I slowed my breathing and concentrated. The soil was rich and deep beneath my hands. I sensed a powerful connection to it. I dug my fingers in deeper, and focused my intention on Bran, on the family bond we shared, and I sent out a beam of information and mental images.
Bran! Get out here, we need backup!
I felt the call, like a laser, shoot out and find its target.

“It’s done.” I told Duncan.

“Good. Follow my lead.” He took off running, low to the ground across the backyard.

I scrambled to keep up with him, as he silently made his way around piles of junk. When we reached the garage, he stood, flattened himself along its side, and began inching towards the nearest window. I did too. Step by step, we made our way toward Ivy.
Please be okay
, I prayed.
Please be —

My foot jammed into something hard. Flailing, I started to fall forward. But, like on the day we met, Duncan caught me. It took all my strength to stay quiet as my toe throbbed. What had I tripped over? I glanced down. In the window light, I could see that it was an old wooden baseball bat.

“This could come in handy.” I whispered picking it up. Duncan nodded, then made a hand motion for me to stay put. So I leaned against the garage as he cautiously peeked into an open window. Duncan made a ‘come ahead’ gesture, so I brought the bat, and walked quietly to spy in the window for myself.

Inside the garage, Ivy was tied up to a wooden chair. Her head lolled to one side, and a rag was stuffed in her mouth. I could see bruises on her face, and one of her eyes was very swollen. There was junk piled all around in the garage, and while I could see her chest rise and fall from her breathing, she still wasn’t moving.

Seeing my cousin sitting there, hurt, unconscious, and helpless, I felt rage like I’d never experienced before. Then I spotted Julian Drake, pacing back and forth, from where Ivy was tied up to where he had parked his fancy car. I could see no traces of the suave museum board member. Julian’s eyes were too big, he was pale, shaking, and his movements were jerky. Back and forth he went, checking his watch, stepping around old junk, and muttering to himself.

I started to shake from the force of holding in my anger. Duncan put his finger up to his lips, and I nodded, and allowed him to tug me away from the window. After we were several feet away, he whispered to me to calm down.

“She’s unconscious. Hurt. ” I whispered back. “Do whatever you need to do, magick or otherwise. We need to get her out of there.” I whispered.

“I saw a door. It’s on the opposite side. Let’s see if it’s open.” He led the way, and I followed as quietly as I could.

The door was standing open. As we crept along the building, I toted the baseball bat along and then tripped over a big rock. I landed hard against Duncan’s back and apologized quietly.
Someday. Someday I would be graceful.
I was frankly amazed at our good luck, or Julian’s stupidity, at the door being open.

“I’m going inside.” Duncan whispered to me. “Give me ten seconds, and then make a diversion to draw Julian out.”

As Duncan eased in the old garage, my heart pounded hard. When I heard nothing right away, I counted to ten, then picked up the stupid rock that I had just stumbled over, and threw it at the side of the garage. It made an impressive thud.

I heard a crash, shout, and a scuffle, and I ran towards the open garage door. With a battle cry, I burst through the door brandishing the baseball bat, fully expecting to see Julian face down in the dirt while Duncan stood over him. As I skidded to a halt inside the garage, what I saw was quite the opposite.

Duncan lay on the ground about three feet from Ivy. He was buried to the waist in what looked like a metal shelf, trash, and old automotive parts, and Julian held a metal pipe over his head.

“Hey!” I shouted, and to get Julian’s attention— I smacked the baseball bat against the hood of his parked car with a satisfying crunch. “Get away from him!” I ordered.

He dropped the pipe in surprise, and backed away from Ivy and Duncan over to the far wall of the garage. “I didn’t do anything to him!” Julian whined. “The shelf just fell on him! There was a big noise outside, and then I saw the shelf tip over, all by itself.”

All by itself? It had to be Ivy.
I came further into the garage, and risked a glance at Ivy. She was sitting straight up now, her eyes focused on Julian — and she was pissed.

I brandished the bat again. “Hang on Ivy.” I told her. Suddenly a rake that had been hanging on the wall behind Julian came slapping down — narrowly missing him. Julian jumped and looked around.

Atta girl!
Like she had told me once before, if Ivy was angry, frightened, or upset she could generate the power to make inanimate objects move. And her telekinesis had just declared open season — on Julian Drake.

I glanced at Duncan and saw that he had begun to stir. I heard a rattle, and watched as a whole peg board full of tools and odds and ends started to quiver behind Julian’s head. And like a waterfall they all came pouring down on top of him. He screamed high and loud, and fell to the ground. I moved to stand between him, Ivy, and Duncan— who was trying to get up.

“You worthless piece of —” I started to say, and then was cut off by the extremely loud roar of a motorcycle.

Suddenly, the old double garage door splintered in as a motorcycle and its rider came barreling through. I instinctively jumped towards Ivy, and wrapped myself around her to protect her from flying debris. After the initial implosion, I looked up through a cloud of dust in time to see that the helmeted driver had expertly laid the bike down.

Looking tough in jeans and a vintage leather jacket, the rider leaped up easily, and stalked over to Julian. He plucked him right up off the ground, and while I pulled the gag out of Ivy’s mouth, the motorcycle rider proceeded to beat the living snot out of Julian Drake.

“Bran.” Ivy croaked.

I moved to the knots at the back of the chair. “It’s okay honey.” I told her as I got a couple loose. “I’m sure Bran and your mother will be here soon.”

As Duncan moved slowly to his feet, Ivy struggled against the knots. I saw her moisten her lips with her tongue and try again. “That’s Bran!” Ivy exclaimed and managed to point towards the faceless rider while I stood there stupefied.

“I’ve got this.” Duncan said, urgently reaching for the ropes. “Go call off Bran before he kills him.”

It couldn’t be.

I ran across the garage where the rider held a, now limp, Julian Drake and continued to pummel him. I yelled to get the rider’s attention. “Stop! He’s done! Don’t kill the idiot!”

The rider’s gloved fist froze in mid-swing, and his helmeted head snapped around. Then he dropped Julian unceremoniously onto the floor, turned to face me, and reached up to take off his helmet in one smooth motion.

My mouth hit the floor, when my cousin Bran shook his hair back, tucked the helmet under one arm, and glowered at me.

“Is everyone alright?” He asked in a husky voice.

“Holy shit!” I squeaked.

Bran rolled his eyes, shoved his helmet at me, and went to where Julian lay. He bent down, picked him up, and slung him over his shoulders like he weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. Bran carted him out of the garage and dumped Julian hard on the ground, while I stood there gaping.

Thinking of Ivy, I rushed back to help Duncan with the last of the ropes. Bran coolly strolled back in to check on Ivy, then took a long piece of rope from Duncan, and went back out to tie up Julian.