Bone Cold: A Soul Shamans Novel (Volume 2) (23 page)

“We’re fine. We got stuck in the cove during high tide. Spirit was disposed of. Next target? Over.”

“Thank god.” The line crackled for a moment before he continued, calm and serious and collected now that he knew things were under control. “All targets destroyed. Report back to base. Over.”

“We have intel on a potential hostile contributor to the situation. Over.”

“Is this the same theory as before?” Dad asked.

“Yes, sir, but I believe you should hear this theory out. It has some legs. Holly and her friend have fairly compelling explanations to confirm this.” He gave me a long look, and I knew it was because he was banking his reputation on my words. “Over.”

“Fine. Bring Holly to base. Laura, too. I’ll hear them out, but I don’t want to waste any valuable resources chasing our tails here. We need to stop this before it begins again.”

“Yes, sir. Over.”

***

Laura wasn’t exactly thrilled when we picked her up ten minutes later. She didn’t ask if we’d killed a spirit, and I didn’t tell her we had. But we all knew the truth, and it was like a massive elephant squatting in the backseat of the car, squishing Laura up against the door.

“Does this mean we’re finally going up against George?” Laura asked as we spun down the road toward the abandoned warehouse where Dad and his team had set up shop again.

“Constantine is finally coming around to our theory,” I said.

“That took long enough,” Laura said. “Just because we’re a couple of girls doesn’t mean we’re idiots.”

He sighed, and I swore I caught an eyeroll as he eased the car around the corner. “Your story just sounded a little farfetched is all. Once Holly explained things to me, it made more sense.”

“And how, pray tell, are we supposed to knock down that freaking invisible wall without a sorcerer?” she asked.

Constantine patted the weapon on the console between us. “This thing shoots through all magic. We have dozens of them at the base.”

When we pulled into the gravel lot, the warehouse was ablaze with activity. Jeeps and trucks crowded the area surrounding the building, and men in black uniforms trotted in and out of the open doors. Lights were shining from a newly-added lamp on the top of the roof, illuminating the area like a massive spotlight. When we stepped out of the car, Dad appeared in the doorway of the warehouse and motioned us to come inside.

The interior of the warehouse was inundated with just as much activity. The same large screen as before was projecting an almost life-size video of the front of George’s house. I turned to Dad, eyebrows raised.

“Well, that was fast,” I said. “I thought you were skeptical.”

“After John seemed adamant about hearing you out, I did a quick background check on this girl. Seems she’s been involved in several strange accidents, some of which appear related to magic. I thought it was in our best interest to move quickly before she realizes that we’ve turned our suspicions on her. If she’s innocent, she’ll have nothing to worry about.”

“Any idea who might be working with her?” I asked, eyes frozen to the screen in hope of seeing Nathan’s face appear in one of the many windows.

“I was hoping you might have some theories,” Dad said. “You’re the local in the area. Is there anyone you can think of?”

“We’ve already been down that road, sir,” Constantine said. “It’s a dead end.”

“Anthony Lombardi,” I said before I even realized I’d thought the name.

Dad furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. “Isn’t he dead?”

“Well, that’s the thing.” A thought had been wiggling in my brain ever since I saw Anthony’s grave, but I’d ignored it this whole time. Why did we all just assume he was dead? His headstone had appeared out of nowhere, primed with some kind of spell. Maybe his grave was only meant to make us believe he was dead, a trick we’d all bought into without any questions asked. “Has anyone actually seen the body?”

“You don’t really think?” Laura asked in a gasp.

“I don’t know. But that grave sure did show up out of nowhere.”

“Anthony Lombardi was a dangerous man,” Dad’s voice was grim. “We need to go into this with caution. Holly and Laura should stay here.”

“No way,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not staying here while you guys go get Nathan out of that house. He’s going to have no idea what’s going on, and he’ll need to see a familiar face.”

Constantine edged in and gave my father a nod. “Holly should be there. She took charge against the spirit on the beach, and I can vouch that she can hold her own in dangerous situations.”

“Fine.” My dad gave Constantine a look I couldn’t interpret. “But she’s to stay with you at all times. And make sure they both have weapons. We’re going to stop these spirit attacks once and for all.”

CHAPTER 21

T
he night was quiet as twenty of us crept through the frozen woods across George’s property. Through the thick trees, I could see the edge of the yard, and just beyond it, the house. Lights blazed in every window, and a plume of smoke drifted from the chimney. She was definitely inside, perhaps reaping the benefits of tonight’s attack on Seaport’s unsuspecting residents.

My heart lurched in my chest. I hoped Nathan was still okay. If he wasn’t, she’d have hell to pay.

Constantine motioned for us to stop just inside the tree-line. Off to the side, someone whistled, and a group of men slid quietly into the clearing and trotted around the side of the house. They would take the back door, one team would take the left, one the right, while one would guard the front door. Constantine, Laura and I had been ordered to stay within the confines of the tree-line, only to help if absolutely necessary. Once the soldiers had destroyed the barrier, I’d be taken to Nathan’s aide when they extracted him from the house.

I watched the men form a circle around the sorceress’s home, every muscle in my body itching to join the fight. I had once again been regulated to the sidelines, even though Laura and I had been the ones to point our fingers to George in the first place. Without us, they’d have no idea she was the one behind the attacks.

Another whistle echoed through the quiet night, and a moment later, the sound of gunfire exploded all around us. They aimed high at the cabin’s roof to avoid their magical bullets from killing anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The bullets ricocheted off the invisible wall, creating shockwaves that echoed from each spot. Ripples appeared on the barrier, making the house appear as if it were sinking underwater. The front door flew open. George was backlit by the light of the house, but I could see her hands fisted by her sides.

“What the hell is going on?” she shouted into the night. “Holly? Laura? I told you guys to leave me the hell alone.”

My dad stepped out of the shadows, his rifle aimed squarely at George’s chest. The little red light of the weapon blazed right onto her heart. Laura sucked in a sharp breath, and she wrapped her hands around my arm, fingernails digging into my skin.

“This isn’t Laura or Holly,” my dad’s voice rumbled. “I’m here in the name of the Shaman Congress. You are a suspect in the recent spirit-related crimes in Seaport. Release your prisoner and come out with your hands up. We need to take you in for questioning.”

George barked out a laugh. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“I assure you that this is a very serious matter. The Congress does not take spirit attacks lightly, and we’ve found several connections that trace right back to you.”

“Look, dude.” She raised her hands in the air. “I don’t know where you’re getting this crazy-ass info from, but you can see for yourself that there’s no way I could sic spirits on anyone.” She waved her hands around her very angry face. “See? Not a shaman.”

“Well, that’s for us to decide. Just as soon as you release Nathan Whitman.” Dad slid his finger against the trigger. “You have ten seconds before my team fires.”

George crossed her arms over her chest, and I grasped Laura’s hands in my own. I could tell by the look on George’s face that she wasn’t going to give in to my father’s demands. However deeply she was involved in this thing, she wasn’t going to budge now, and the only way to get Nathan back would be in a storm of gunfire.

I released Laura’s hand and lifted the rifle to my shoulder.

“Don’t do it,” Laura whispered.

I just shook my head and aimed.

“You can take your threat, and you can shove it up all your asses,” George said loud enough for everyone to hear. “You can shoot all you want, but you won’t get in. Now go the hell away.”

The door slammed when she stormed inside. Dad stepped back into the shadows, and ten seconds later, his whistle sounded through the air. Gritting my teeth, I squinted my eye down the scope and fired on the house. A boom shook through my skull, the world turned to red, and then all I could see was a bottomless pit of black.

***

“Holly?” Something slapped my face. “Holly!”

Groaning, I rolled over, my mouth full of bitter dirt. I coughed and sat up, my skull pounding from the jackhammer drilling a hole into my head. My eyes squinted into a bright light. It flicked away before my brain could grasp onto what it was.

“Good, you’re okay,” the voice said. Laura’s voice. I blinked as my vision began to clear. Dark trees loomed around us, and the memories of what had happened started filing through my brain. George wouldn’t let Nathan go, we all shot at the house, and then I’d blacked out on the ground.

“What happened?” I croaked, pressing up onto my elbows and squinting through the soot-filled air.

“George fucking Proctor happened,” she said, squatting by my side. “Some sort of spell. As soon as the bullets hit her wall, the whole thing exploded.”

“What do you mean the whole thing exploded?” Suddenly alert, I glanced around us. The woods were full of acrid smoke and something red burned in the distance. John groaned from nearby, coughing into his sleeve.

“I mean, the whole thing is gone. The wall, the house, everything.”

Ignoring the ringing in my ears, I pushed up from the ground and started toward the house. My feet slowed to a stop when I saw what Laura meant. Where the house had been was now nothing more than a crater full of burning ash. My heart choked my throat as I fell to my knees. Nathan had been inside that house. We didn’t get him out. And now he was gone.

“I can’t believe she did that.” My voice shook. “After everything that’s happened, she just exploded herself.”

“Oh, I don’t think she exploded herself,” Laura said. “I got through to someone online who said she’s a sorceress. Jenny Wardwell. She said dark sorcerers have the ability to step in and out of shadows.”

“Huh?” I blinked up at Laura through my tears.

“They can teleport, basically.”

I let out a hollow laugh. All these years I’d wished I could trade in my shaman powers for something more useful, like teleportation or fireballs, and here was a girl who could do both. And she’d used her powers against us.

“Nathan was in there,” I whispered.

“If she’s been guarding him this long, I doubt she just left him in there when the building exploded.”

John stumbled to my side and dropped a heavy hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad to see you’re alive. Both of you. We were lucky we were in the trees.”

My gaze flicked around the scene of chaos. Shrubs burned, men stumbled as they rose to their feet, and a handful of charred bodies were scattered across the ground. Pure horror gripped my chest at the scent of burnt flesh, and I gulped back the nausea climbing up my throat. Every muscle in my body felt weak. How could George have done something like this?

“Have you heard anything from my dad?” I whispered.

“He’s alive and uninjured.”

“Thank god.” I shook my head and looked up into his shadowed face. “What are we going to do now, Constantine?”

“We’ve suffered some heavy losses,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve been ordered to take you two back home, and I’m going to stand guard just in case George decides to retaliate against you.”

“Okay, fine,” I said, the fight gone from me for once. There’s no way I’d be able to sleep tonight, knowing that George could be out there somewhere, holding Nathan hostage. Or not. My heart hurt as I gazed across the empty crater of ash. She could have left him in there to die. After everything else she’d done, there was no guarantee she’d have saved his life. The only hope I had was that he hadn’t served whatever purpose she had for him yet.

***

That night, I tried calling Nathan’s cell as I sprawled on my bedroom floor, leaning back on my favorite wall. It went straight to voicemail, and I listened to the familiar hum of his voice, his cheerful tone as he asked me to leave a message. Once I’d listened, I hung up and called again. In between my dials, the hospital rang my cell to inform me that Jason Harris hadn’t made it through the night. Tears poured from my eyes. I felt so helpless, so lost, and it reminded of me of how I’d felt when Mom was stuck halfway between this world and Lower World, and I had nowhere to turn.

We got her out of there
, I had to remind myself. When everything had seemed so hopeless, all had not been lost. The only way I’d won was by pushing when it felt like there nothing was left to push. After giving Nathan’s cell one last call, I dusted off my pajamas and stood.