Released Souls (9 page)

What was happening to our world? Would we ever be safe again?

“Should she really be driving?” I asked, reaching for Logan’s hand.

“She
’ll be fine.” His mouth tightened into a thin line, and I knew he was avoiding something.

“What could they possibly be talking about? Why don’t they let the poor woman go home?”

Logan didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled me over to him, hugging me tightly.

“When the demon was fragmenting, my world turned to silence. Did it do that to you?”

He nodded.

“That’s their last attempt to communicate with the living before they’re sent back to the underworld. You didn’t hear anything, right?”

“What do you mean hear?” I asked. “It was completely silent.”

“Like thoughts popping into your head?”

That must have been it! The demon was placing those thoughts in my mind about Lara and Eben. Logan took my silence as a no.

“That’s a good thing because they can be hard to shake,” he replied, kissing
my forehead.

Resting his head in the crook of my neck the warmth of his breath sent shivers through me while I thought about
what might be on the horizon for us all. I felt like a question was looming that nobody wanted to ask. I just didn’t know what the question was yet.

I watched my aunt’s car pull away as the fairies opened our front door
, piling in with an exuberance that was undeniably odd.

They were chattering endlessly about technique and outcomes as if they’d just play
ed flag football in the street.

“Is she going to be okay?”
I shot them a look that meant business and they quickly calmed down. We obviously didn’t get our jollies over the same things.

“She’s going to be fine.” Dace
glanced at Logan and then back at me.

“Wha
t? What’s going on?” I demanded, shoving my hair back from my face.

“Dace had asked me about
some of our family members going into hiding. I told him I didn’t think it was necessary.” His breath caught. “Until now.”

“How far into hiding
?” I questioned, resting against the sofa table.

“It wouldn’t be back at the house in Illinois. It would be somewhere t
hat none of us knows about, except Dace.” Logan grabbed my hand. This was the question that was lingering in the house before the mess occurred.

Somehow the doubt began to dwindle as I looked into Logan’s blue eyes. This wasn’t only to protect my
family; it was to protect his too.

I nodded, forcing the tears
back at the thought of barely getting my mom back and having to say goodbye again.

“For how long?”

“Until everything has ended.” Bakula’s dark eyes returned, leaving the silver behind.

“So we have no idea how long it c
ould be before we see our families again?” My throat tightened as I spoke the words.

“We can’t have these interferences
and interruptions. We need to focus on what’s ahead. We need to amass willing witches from all over and not be bogged down worrying about who the dark sorcerers will be targeting next. With your abilities coming to life, they’ll do everything they can to distract you. I doubt your family would make it out alive with what’s ahead for us all.” Dace was always so matter-of-fact, and I usually didn’t mind it, but this time was different. Threatening that my family won’t make it out alive by being near me was far too real.

“Fine,” I whispered, turning my head away to force the tears back. “Let me see my mom tonight to explain —”

“We can’t let that happen,” Bakula interrupted, taking over to shield me from Dace’s harshness. “You won’t be able to say goodbye. We can’t risk it. We can’t risk you guys being seen.”

“Does my aunt know?”

Bakula nodded. “We spoke to her in the driveway.”

“Well
, I guess you have everything taken care of. But if you don’t mind I think the rest can wait until tomorrow. If this decision will get us one step closer to ending this once and for all then there’s nothing more to discuss tonight.”

I stood up from the sofa table and began walking toward the stairs
in a haze. If my family needed to go into hiding, what made Logan safe? What was I doing to him, his future, by having him stay here with me?

“
They’re gonna be here soon,” he replied, pulling a shirt over his head. His wounds had done a miraculous job of healing, if I did say so myself. Getting to spend most of the night exploring just how well his body healed was pretty fabulous. Merely thinking about last night was enough to send me over the edge, but something had changed between falling asleep in his arms and now.

Logan
grabbed his sweatshirt and went to the door. He had something on his mind, and he wasn’t giving me any clues, especially since he hadn’t made much eye contact with me since we’d gotten up.

“All right. I’ll take a shower and be down in a few.”

He nodded and turned back toward the hallway.
At this point, I hoped whatever was bothering him didn’t have to do with my mom, or any family member for that matter — his or mine.

I was freezing
and the idea of a hot shower thrilled me. I grabbed a navy sweater and jeans out of my closet and tossed them on the bathroom counter. I turned on the shower water and glancing in the mirror, I startled myself seeing my own reflection. Something had changed. I had changed. I leaned into the mirror, slowly tracing the pale skin around my eyes, down to my chin. My flesh, lips — everything — had a silver tint to it. Did Logan see this? Was this what worried him? I took a step back from the mirror as the steam began rolling through the air.

Stripping
off my flannel pajamas, I examined my arms and legs seeing the same color emerging. What was going on with me? Was this like the fire thing or the water thing? But I wasn’t angry. No emotions were running rampant through me to cause something like this. Right? Exhaustion hit me next or maybe it was sadness. I wanted off this mystery ride. It all felt like too much.

I began shivering nonstop and
stepped into the shower to warm up. I felt the hot water pelt my scalp, tracing a path down my spine. Taking a deep breath in, I let the moist air fill my lungs as I thought about what this could possibly mean. The coloring was far subtler than some of the things that had happened to me recently, but it would still be noticeable to just about anyone.

I felt my muscles begin to relax
as the hot water rolled over me, but unfortunately it didn’t warm me up. Keeping my eyes closed, I thought hard about what could possibly have caused this reaction. I was basically sleeping, cuddled into Logan all morning. What could have provoked this — a dream?

I turned off the water, dried myself off and glanced in the mirror once more to see if I was
lucky enough to have the silver cast go away. I wasn’t. I was still grey and I was still cold. Hearing Logan downstairs in the kitchen made me nervous. Had he already seen me like this and was just being kind or was this a new development? Only time would tell. After quickly dressing, I hopped down the stairs. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I suddenly didn’t feel so confident. I moved slowly along the hall and heard him sigh from the kitchen.

“Everything
okay?” I asked, glancing at my reflection in the window. Eek!

He spun around
to greet me. His eyes still shielding something from me, he grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.

“I’m guessing not?” The strength of his embrace reminded me of
a safer world, and I didn’t want to leave the fantasy that it provided. “Does it have anything to do with me turning this lovely shade of silver?”

“It may,” he whispered
into my hair. “Do you remember anything from when you were sleeping?”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“No. I don’t.”

“Do you think it has to do with another
inicio
power? I don’t get what would have caused it.”

He released
me from his embrace, but his eyes were locked on mine. He grabbed the cup of coffee from the counter without looking away and pointed toward the table. Okay, this was getting weird. What could I possibly have done in my sleep?

I sat in the chair and he sat next to me, placing the cup of coffee in front of me.

“Don’t you need some?”

“Trust me.
I’m good. I’ve had like five cups while you were in the shower.”

“Serious
ly? So what do you think’s up?”

“I think I know.” He shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

“Well?” I asked impatiently.

He took
a deep breath in, and he let it out very slowly as he stared at the table. I touched his chin gently, and he looked up at me. His eyes were so striking, it was hard to look past them even during moments like these.

“You were
yelling Trevor’s name over and over while you were sleeping.”

My stomach dropped to my knees.
I wasn’t prepared for this at all. His gaze dipped back down to the table, and I grabbed his hand. My word! We hadn’t even seen Trevor since everything went down after the visit to the covenstead. This couldn’t possibly mean what Logan thought it did. We were stronger than that. He knew that. I knew that.

“It’s not that—” he stopped himself.

“What? It’s not what?” I asked, waiting for him to look at me again.

“You sounded like you were in pain
, emotionally. Like what I’d imagine if you lost…”

“You?” I finished for him.

He nodded.

“I thought we established who I was in love with,” I whispered.

“No. We did. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not a punk.” His lip twisted up slightly. “I know you love me.”

I couldn’t help but smile.
“Well then?”

“You started yelling Caitlin’s name
after. What has me concerned is what you were dreaming about. Who all was in danger and what emotion caused this? And those are two really random names. One of them, I’m pretty sure you aren’t a fan of.” He pointed to my silver arm, which I sheepishly pulled back to my side.

“No, baby. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he
murmured softly, grabbing my hand. “We’ve just gotta figure it out so you find your release. If you don’t…”

“I know.
I know.” Now it was my time to shift uncomfortably in my seat. “I don’t remember what I was dreaming about, but if I mentioned Caitlin’s name, I’d imagine jealousy was part of it.”

I felt the flush
travel up my body.

“That’s the only emotion I can think of that would involve her,” I mumbled.

“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” he began.

“I know, but that’s the only thing I can imagine.”

“I honestly thought this type of power was bogus. If you have something like this that can be harnessed I don’t even know—”

“Like what?” I interrupted, standing up. “Even if it turns out I don’t have it, I’d like to know what
it
is that you’re referring to.” I crossed my arms and waited for him to continue.

“The
Caneo
witch goes back to the dark ages. Supposedly they can turn anything into metal objects with just a touch of a finger or…”

“Or?”

“I don’t know firsthand, but in the drawings I’ve seen you or I mean the
Caneo
witch can cast from a distance. The range and power are extraordinary.” He let out a sigh. “And combining this with the water and the fire abilities? I think it’s safe to say you might be a
Trifecta
.” The more he spoke, the wider his grin became. “I think there’ve only been two ever documented and that was centuries ago. Dace and Bakula are going to flip if you’re the third.”

“A
Trifecta
witch? I feel like I’ve seen something about this.” I was wracking my brain and then it hit me. For once, my memory didn’t fail me. “I got it. It was in our family spell book.”

“
You’re kidding…from the library?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. The one from the cottage.”

The look in Logan’s blue eyes changed from hidden worry to possessiveness. Okay, it wasn’t possessiveness. It was more primal than that. The charge that was running between us was unbearable. But we had company coming any minute. Not to mention I was silver! I had to maintain control!

“Thinking about som
ething?” he teased, moving toward me so quickly I had nowhere to go.

“
You really think this silver could be part of the
Can
whatever you called it?” I asked, trying to act nonchalant.

He nodded. “If it backs up in your system
, it acts like a poison.”

“Well that sounds like great fun.
Are you serious?”