Spectral (24 page)

Hang on.
Across from me, leaning against the side of the boat, Roman gazed at me. His thumbs linked through his belt loops, and his dark hair wisped down over one eye. Shifting it to one side with a head toss, he smiled at me. I pinched my eyes shut a moment and then looked back again. He was gone.

I shook my head.
You’re hallucinating
.

A spasm of shivers rushed through me like wildfire. Juliano took his jacket off and laid it over me. Everything spun more and more quickly. I had to trust that my parents knew what they were doing. As for me, I knew they really did want me all these years, and I knew they loved me and wanted to keep me safe. I only worried it was too late.

Chapter Thirty

By the time we reached our new location, my breath was labored.

“Why am I not getting better?” I asked, panting. I mean, I didn’t get it. When I’d used powers before, it made me feel sick for a while, but I got over it. But this time, it was getting worse—not better.

Angelina checked her watch. “It’s almost midnight. Your body has been going through a transition over the last day or so, and if we don’t complete it…” She bit her lip and then added, “Well, we just have to complete it, that’s all,
amore mio
.”

I knew what she was trying to avoid saying. Roman had already told me what would happen if I didn’t make it through my quickening. I’d die.

Juliano carried me through a patch of tall, dull grass. “Try not to worry,” he said as he leaned down to give me a peck on the forehead.

He looked back at my mother. “
Andiamo
.” He motioned with his head to an old barn up ahead. It was anything but my vision of beautiful Venice. The red paint was peeling and chipped and the shingles on the roof had lifted in several spots. One lifted so high I was sure there must be a hole straight through.

Uncle Aldo ran ahead and pulled the double doors on the barn open one at a time. The strong stench of animals hit me, and I covered my nose with my hand, practically gagging.

A petite girl rushed around inside, the hay rustling under her feet. She only looked a few years older than me.
Maybe twenty-one
, I guessed.

Grabbing a large garbage bag, she dashed to a table at the side of the barn that looked like an altar. Statues were scattered across it, surrounded by silver, white, and green candles. A large golden chalice with handles on both sides sat in the center. I groaned. It looked like a movie I’d seen on TV one time with ancient voodoo.

The girl twisted around to face us, a giant smile spreading across her face. “You made it!” she exclaimed, rushing over to help my father as he lay me back onto the mounds of hay in the middle of the barn floor. It prickled straight through to my skin.

She leaned over and helped ease me back, her dark hair mixing with dyed streaks of bright red and blond around her face. I realized it had to have been her that my mother had called.

A ladder stood at the back of the barn leading to a lofted area, where yellow tufts of straw billowed up. From stalls lining one side of the barn I heard the grunts and stamping of horses and I thought back to my dream I’d had only about an hour before.

Except this ride is for real.

“Jewel, this is your cousin Trish. She’s here to help us,” my mother said. “It’s unfortunate that everyone else in our family is preoccupied. This was supposed to be a family affair. But your cousin here,” Angelina said while pointing toward Trish, “is very talented in witchcraft.”

Trish bowed and then stood back up with a laugh. “That’d be me.” She winked and then pulled me to a sitting position. “Come on, chicky, we’ve got work to do,” she said in a perfect sounding American accent.

I cocked my head at her, raising my eyebrows.

She nodded. “I’ve spent many years of my childhood living in the U.S. of A. So, not to worry, I can totally relate.” She flashed a bright smile. “But come on, a girl can’t show up to her frikkin’ quickening in sweats, now can she?”

Great. Another make-over.
Trish totally reminded me of Taylor, and although her cheery disposition was pretty cool, I was so not up for another fashion revamp.

“She’s not well, Trish,” Angelina said.

Trish frowned but pulled out a knee-length sleeveless black dress from the garbage bag. A simple black dress—girl
was
speaking my language.

“We’ve no time to lose then, right?” She placed her thumb and pointer finger at both sides of my lips and lifted them up into a mock-smile. “Right?” she coaxed.

“M’kay,” I managed. The girl’s energy was contagious and I tried to focus on it and on
not
puking on her shoes.

She flicked her hand through the air, motioning for Juliano and Uncle Aldo to leave.

“You’ve got two minutes,” Juliano warned as he laid my backpack in the hay beside me.

“No time for modesty, girl,” Trish said with a smirk when the men left. She tugged my shirt over my head and pulled my sweats off. With another quick motion, she tugged on the dress.

A fit of coughing overtook me and blood trickled from my nose. Angelina rushed over with tissue. “Trish, there’s no time to waste,” she scolded. “There’s only minutes left until midnight.”

Trish’s expression grew serious and she nodded. Dashing across the room, she lit the candles on the altar.

Angelina helped me up, led me across the room to the altar, and guided me to my knees in front of it.

Juliano and Uncle Aldo knocked gently and then came back into the barn. As much as Trish was trying to make this a cool event, my nerves were on edge and my heart began to race.

Angelina’s face grew intense. She lit a stick of incense, the scent of vanilla quickly reaching my nose. Sifting her fingers through a bowl on the altar, she lifted a white substance out with her fingers and sprinkled a little over my head. Taking the bowl with her, she chanted a rhyme while creating a circle by sprinkling white all around us and the altar.

Licking my lips, I scrunched up my face at the salty flavor. I had a sudden dread of going any further. It was like all my life had been meant for this one moment, and I didn’t know if I could do it—be this Spectral thing—the abomination I’d heard so much about. Ever since I was born, I’d been sheltered. It was like my parents had kept me in a bubble similar to what Roman had created—shielded from the outside world.

I slid my hands down the soft fabric of the black dress, focusing on staying on my knees and not falling back. “Maybe we should forget this,” I said, then realizing how stupid I sounded, I closed my eyes and shook my head. Biting down on my lip, I tried desperately not to have a meltdown.

And then I thought of Roman. Maybe he was waiting for me in some nasty Augusti jail.

Angelina shook her head. “Don’t say that, honey. We have to do this.”

I nodded firmly, and then fighting off another fit of coughing, I said, “Do it.”

Roman made me want to be stronger. Be better.

I can do this
.

Juliano pulled the dagger from my backpack and handed it to me. As he did, a flashing light glistened across the blade and over the snake coiled around the handle of the dagger. The serpent sprung to life and slithered around the handle. With a hiss, it wrapped its body around my wrist, securing my hand and the dagger together.

I squealed, but quickly tried to hold the dagger up like I’d seen in the picture in the book, but I was too weak. I gripped the handle and let the tip sag into the ground.

Uncle Aldo stood just inside the circle of salt. He looked at me and nodded his head. “We believe in you.”

Trish pulled a book out from her bag of tricks. It reminded me of my Ancient Witchcraft book I’d left back in Pomona Park. Handing the book to Angelina, her gaze darted back to my face with a tight smile. “You can do this, girl,” Trish said. “We’ve got your back.”

Juliano knelt behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders and squeezing them lightly. “We love you, Guilia.” Then he released me, and moved back just a little.

“Thank you,” I said. Swallowing hard, I watched Angelina flip through the pages and then stepping forward, she settled in on one page in the book. Trish hurried over and stood directly beside her. Their images blurred and I kept blinking my eyes trying to stay focused.

Angelina tucked her hair behind one ear, cleared her throat, and began reading from the book.

“On this special day, the enormous gift that has been bestowed upon your coven has reached the age of maturation.”

The word ‘gift’ lingered in my mind. A gift was a very different word than abomination. Butterflies danced in my stomach, and a weak smile crept over my face. I pushed it aside and continued to listen to my mother, not wanting to miss a word that was meant for me.

“It is a time of vast blessings and cause for a grand celebration. For all members of the chosen coven will flourish under the enormous skill and talents.”

Angelina silently read from the book a moment, and then instructed me to hold the dagger across my lap so that no part of it touched the ground. “It must only be connected to your life source,
amore mio
.”

I shifted, leaning back on my heels, and angled the dagger as instructed, gripping it with both hands. The room spun, and I felt as though I could pass out at any second.

I imagined Roman’s face etched in my mind, and the words, ‘I love you,’ that he’d told me. Those three little words and his gorgeous face willed me forward.

Angelina began again, this time her words a blur of chanting rhymes, until I noticed the snake coiled around the dagger come to life again. I inched my head forward, looking down, eyes wide. The snake twisted around the dagger, swirling and hissing.

I shrieked, and then shook my head, my instincts telling me to drop the dagger, but knowing I couldn’t. I pinched my eyes shut. When I opened them again, the snake was still there.

Oh, my God. It’s real! Just like the book!

I looked toward Trish, who looked at the snake and then back at me. She nodded at me enthusiastically and smiled.

I gripped the dagger tighter.
I’m doing this. It’s really happening!

I gazed into the eyes of the snake, its slanted pupils staring back. I could’ve sworn I heard it hiss the words, “Spectral, come hither.”

The sounds of my mother’s chanting swirled in my head, making me dizzy until my shoulders slumped and my head drooped eerily close to the snake. It hissed as its forked tongue slid out between its razor-sharp fangs.

The floorboards rattled above us and dust shook down from the rafters. Gasping, I lifted my head just in time to see Uncle Aldo’s head snap up a moment too late.

I shrieked as Dmitri landed on his feet from above, shooting a surging electrical ball of air. It struck Uncle Aldo, sending him flinging backward through the air.

“If anyone moves, I’ll have him kill you all!”

I spun around to the barn doors, now wide open, following the sound of the voice.

Aunt Eva stood—just feet away—the smell of her Eves Saint Laurent perfume wafting into my face like poison.

Chapter Thirty-One

Trish dashed to Uncle Aldo’s side with a shriek, and began frantically shaking his limp body.

Juliano stood, eyes glowing crimson red like laser beams. He confronted Dmitri, “Don’t even try it.”

I didn’t know what was up with Juliano’s eyes, but figured it was something good, at least for us, because Dmitri didn’t move. He just kept glaring at my father.

While Juliano stood up to Dmitri, Angelina had walked closer to Aunt Eva, blocking her from my path. “How dare you?” Angelina yelled. “You kidnapped our daughter and now you have the nerve to show your face here?”

I felt a fire burn in the side of my head that spread down through my neck. Cupping my neck with my hand, I fell backward onto the ground, and rolled into a ball. In their argument, they seemed to have forgotten about me.

The hot feeling spread down through my arm and into my stomach. I wanted to scream out and tell my mother to finish the quickening. After all the transitions from hot to cold, my fever was reaching inferno status. All of the warnings I’d heard seemed to be coming true. I knew Angelina needed to finish the ceremony.

“I’m dying!” The words I screamed so clearly in my head came out only as a whisper. I was too weak. And nobody seemed to notice.

I watched helplessly as Angelina slapped Aunt Eva across the face and pointed to the door. Aunt Eva touched her cheek, looking shocked, but then reached into her pocket, grabbed a handful of sparkling dust and threw it toward my mother.

Angelina blew a gust of air that reached the dust, freezing it mid-air. “Put your sorcerous dust away,” she yelled.

Trish turned to face them, her face contorted into angry angles. Then she spun in circles until I didn’t see her anymore. She just disappeared. She was invisible.

Wow!

Juliano turned for a split second to check on Angelina. Dmitri didn’t waste the opportunity and shot a blast of sizzling electricity at him. A scream fought its way to the top of my throat. Juliano jumped, just missing the bolt.

Juliano faced Dmitri, red lasers beaming from his eyes. The beam zipped past him and hit a milk pail stacked against the wooden stall, sending it whipping across the barn. It hit the back wall with a deafening blow. The horse in the stall stamped and whinnied in protest.

Juliano and Dmitri glared at each other in a standoff.

All through the confusion, the sickening pain shot through my body like fire. I couldn’t move and every breath became labored. And then I heard a familiar voice. A soothing voice.

“Everybody needs to relax and not overreact.”

It was Grandma Raine. I’d know that voice anywhere. I knew she had to have been in on my kidnapping, but I was sure she’d never have wanted all of this.

“I know you,” Angelina said, fisting her hands on her hips. “You’re Karina’s mother.”

“And mine,” Aunt Eva added with a mock-laugh.

“What do you want?” Angelina asked Grandma in a commanding voice.

Another man I didn’t recognize sauntered into the barn followed by five others. I only recognized two of the five—Vladimir and Sergei—the two men that had abducted Chase and I and taken us to Russia on the airplane. The man in front sidled up next to Dmitri with a nod of his head. “Dmitri,” he said in acknowledgment.

“Sasha,” Dmitri replied with a return nod of his head.

Sasha had to have been 6’6” and towered over Dmitri’s small frame. My heart thumped loudly. With Sasha and the other men he brought, my family was outnumbered.

“We’ll leave your coven at peace,” Grandma said, patting Aunt Eva’s arm as she walked past her and headed toward Angelina.

I knew it!
I really believed Grandma would come through.

She touched Angelina’s arm gently when she reached her. “We don’t want a war,” Grandma Raine said.

Angelina nodded and sighed, her posture relaxing. I realized Grandma was putting a calming spell on her and my stomach twisted.

Please let this go okay
.

The burning fire was spreading and it became more difficult to keep my eyes open. I knew I was fading away.

“Help me,” I managed, my words barely a whisper.

Grandma kept her hand on Angelina a few more seconds, until her eyes became droopy and she dropped to a sitting position.

“What are you doing?” Juliano called over his shoulder.

Grandma cupped Angelina’s shoulder with a final squeeze before walking past her and heading toward me. “We’ll leave you in peace. Once we’re through, that is. The thing is, Jewel belongs to us now.”

Say what?

She nodded to Aunt Eva who then clapped her hands toward the barn door. After a few seconds, Mrs. Snow walked in, medical bag in hand.

Grandma kneeled down beside me and whispered in my ear. “You really are a darling, Jewel, and just know that it pains me terribly to have to do this to you. You just happen to be a privilege I can’t deny myself—a once in a millennium privilege.” A wide smile stretched across her face, and then she motioned for Mrs. Snow to come over.

With a growl, Juliano turned to face her, eyes glowing red. “Get away from her or I’ll burn you up!”

Grandma edged in closer to me until she was only a hairsbreadth away. “You’d better have good aim then, Juliano,” she said with a challenging look in her eyes. “Wouldn’t want to hurt your daughter now, would you?” She pursed her lips, and then she smiled softly. It looked effortless, like it was any other day.

I didn’t understand what she was doing. My thoughts jumbled together. This was my freaking
Grandma
. Or at least the only grandmother I’d ever known. The one that always comforted me…the one I loved. Tears wet my lashes, one escaping down my cheek.

Sergei leapt through the air, jumped on Juliano’s back and covered his eyes with a metal blindfold, then quickly secured it at the back. Juliano grasped at it, pulling. He kicked at the man with a growl. The man stumbled, but one of the other Russian men quickly joined in, tying Juliano’s hands behind his back.

Aunt Eva stayed next to Angelina keeping guard where she now slept. Grandma had totally knocked her out.

“We need to complete the transfer,” Grandma said. She motioned toward the chalice on the altar and Mrs. Snow brought it quickly over.

I shook my head, groaning. The burning flame inside me spread like wildfire down my legs.

“Do it, Elizabeth,” Grandma Raine said. “And after it’s complete and I become the Spectral, I will initiate you into our coven.”

What was she saying? When
she
became the Spectral?
What the hell?

Mrs. Snow knelt beside Grandma and pulled out two vials of blood that I could only assume were mine. She opened them and poured it inside the chalice. “But what will happen to Jewel, Raine?” Her fingers splayed out in a fan against her breastbone.

Grandma took the chalice and sickeningly drank some of my blood. Then she dipped her fingers into the chalice, pulling out her fingers now dripping in blood. “Sadly, she will expire,” Grandma said with a shrug. “It’s an unfortunate side effect in the battle to become the most powerful coven.”

My heart pounded, thumping in my ears.

Aunt Eva gave a bark of laughter from across the room. “There’s no other coven that will be as powerful as ours.”

Mrs. Snow grew pale. “But maybe we should let her—”

“Maybe we should let her nothing,” Aunt Eva blurted.

Mrs. Snow nodded hesitantly, and then handed Grandma the dagger. “To you, my queen.”

“Thank you,” Grandma said and then turned to look back at me. “You see, we needed a regular human…one without any witch blood to be a willing partner. And of course, it had to be her to draw the blood of the Spectral to make it official. If a witch had drawn your blood it would have turned to copper, unusable. But well, Mrs. Snow here was a more than willing partner.”

You mean accomplice?

Grandma ran her fingers across the teeth of the snake wrapped around the dagger. Soon, the snake’s teeth were wet with my blood. She held the dagger up and began chanting a rhyme.

Juliano yelled out, struggling against the rope, and my gaze went to Uncle Aldo’s motionless body. My stomach knotted.
He’s probably dead
.

I became aware my thoughts were becoming clearer, like overgrown weeds in a garden, plucked away all at once. All of these years, Grandma and Aunt Eva hadn’t intended for me to become a part of their coven. They didn’t want me at all. They’d only kept me alive for this moment. They
had
been planning on trying to harness my power—or more specifically, to
steal
my power. My being dead was only an unfortunate side effect.

That had to be why Viktor—my kidnapper dad—knew something was up when Aunt Eva wanted my blood sample and let Chase and I escape. I was sure the people I grew up believing to be my parents weren’t in on this part of the deal.

But it didn’t matter.

Although I could think clearly and noticed the stinging fire in my body was gone, I still couldn’t move. In fact, I felt stiffer than ever. My limbs were stationary as though wrapped tightly into rolls of linen like a mummy. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak.

Am I dead? Is this some sort of sick afterlife?

I watched the ropes on Juliano’s hands shift, unseeing hands untying him.

Trish!

Juliano broke free and ripped the metal mask off. With a roar, he shot a laser beam toward one of the men who had arrived with Sasha. The laser beam blasted him backward. The man ignited into a ball of flames and landed in a mound of hay, shrieking. The hay caught fire and began spreading, crackling across the hay toward Uncle Aldo’s lifeless body.

Every sense in my body was on full alert, but I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. I wanted to summon a shell. Hell, even more than that, I wanted to free Uncle Aldo, to fight—but I felt like a corpse.

And through it all, Grandma chanted on—stealing my power—and my life.

My eyes drifted closed. The sudden absence of sound was my only warning. Terror gripped me and I opened my eyes.

It was as if time stood still. Grandma’s mouth gaped, mid-sentence. Juliano was frozen mid-air, lunging toward Sasha. I whipped my eyes toward Aunt Eva, her frozen expression still laced into a smirk. The crackling fire, muted and still.

“
Tu sei bella
, butterfly.”

The sound of Roman’s voice rocked through me.

He dropped to his knees beside me, those chocolate eyes melting into me. I realized Roman had wrapped a bubble around us. I tried calling his name but only my lips moved—my words failing. He looked as sexy as ever—probably more so with his dark wash hipster jeans, and black boots. His unzipped, black leather jacket revealed his AC/DC vintage t-shirt pressed against his toned chest.

He tilted his head toward my face, placing a soft kiss on my lips. His familiar scent mixed with the distinct smell of leather filled my senses. It felt like a zillion shooting stars exploding in my body all at once, until Roman and I were carried away with them.

He pulled away and ran the back of his fingers along my cheek with a smile.

“Am I dying?” My words came out this time, shaky but loud. I couldn’t believe I could speak again.

Roman laced his fingers through my hair, eyebrows creased together. He shook his head.

“Please take me out of here,” I moaned. I didn’t know if he just wasn’t telling me the truth so I wouldn’t be scared. I mean, he himself had told me I’d die if they didn’t complete the quickening. I totally felt like I was dying and I only wanted to be with him, away from the chaos and in his arms.

“I can’t take you out of here yet.” Roman frowned. “Listen to me, Jewel. I wanna tell you a story.”

I looked at him in disbelief. This was totally not the time for stories. I needed him to save my family, take me away, and kiss me until the end. I wanted my last memories to be of him.

“It’s the story of the butterfly,” he continued as he trailed his fingers up my arm, spreading tingling sensations across my skin.

I widened my eyes into huge orbs. “Now? Really?”

Roman’s eyes roamed my face, his calm expression matching his tone. “Just listen. One day, a man found a cocoon. Every day he watched it until one day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the new butterfly for a long time as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.” Roman paused, leaning down to peck my lips again. I wanted to loop my arms around his neck; make him stay close, but still my arms defied me.

“So the man decided to help the butterfly, and taking a pair of scissors he snipped the remaining bits of cocoon open. The butterfly flew out easily, but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch it, thinking that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body, but neither happened.” Roman nodded as if I should be catching on to something.

I remembered when a butterfly had landed on my hand back in the library in Pomona Park. Roman’s words echoed in my mind.
One butterfly always knows another.

Roman cleared his throat. “In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling. It wasn’t ever able to fly. The man was only trying to be kind, I know, but he didn’t understand. The restricting cocoon, and the struggle required, was a way of forcing the fluid from its body into the wings. That way, it would be ready for flight once it was free.”

My exhausted brain churned, trying to keep up and put the pieces together. Roman smiled, and finally, it clicked.

I’m the butterfly.

“Are you telling me I’m really
not
dying? That I’m going through some sorta metamorphosis?” I asked breathlessly.

His face lit up. “Yes, pretty much exactly like that.”

“But you’re wrong,” I said weakly. “Angelina didn’t even finish the quickening ceremony.”

Roman wiped his pointer finger against my chin. Drawing it back, he showed me a pinprick of blood on his finger. “It looks like the dagger got what it needed.”