Catch Me When I Fall (19 page)

The creamy swirls in the rock spun, and the stone glowed. Trishna kept her eyes shut and repeated her spell. The skin on Kayla’s ankle began to close.

Kayla whimpered, and then the whimpers turned into groans. The muscles in her arms tightened, and her hands clenched into fists. With my injured arm still under her shoulders and my good hand gripping her arm, I pinned her against my body.

As the skin around her ankle tightened further, her groans turned into cries. She gripped my arm and dug her nails into my skin. “Daniel, please. Let me go. Make it stop!”

“I will soon. Hang in there.” My eyes burned as her screams intensified and she fought against my grasp. Since my youngest sister died in 1869, I hadn’t shed a tear. There would be no crying now. Kayla needed me to be strong.

After what felt like hours, her cries softened and her struggles weakened, and Kayla’s eyes closed, her face relaxing. Trishna wiped her brow, pushing loose strands of black hair from her forehead, and answered my question before I could ask.

“She’s asleep. Her ankle is healed. She may be tired when she wakes, but there should be no pain when she stands.”

Loosening my grip on Kayla, I touched her cheek. “Thank you,” I replied to Trishna.

“The wound she carried was laced with dark magic. You’re lucky I got here in time. How did you say she got injured?” Trishna asked.

“A Nightmare. A swarm of them attacked. I thought they came for us Protectors, but then one attacked her while she was fully conscious.”

Bartholomew’s gaping mouth confirmed I wasn’t the only one who’d never heard of such a thing.

“Like someone was controlling them?” Trishna asked.

My eyes tightened. “Actually, yeah. I’d had the same thought.”

Trishna sighed. “Then it’s as I feared. A warlock is behind this. Just like last time.”

laid Kayla on the sofa and covered her with a clean blanket while Bartholomew ran around his study like a hamster in its wheel. Tabbi and Trishna stood back and watched as he took book after book off his shelves.

Seth and Samantha burst through the large, oak double doors of the study, both of them spotted from head to toe in black blood, and their faces lined with fear. Samantha’s eyes caught mine and softened, then Seth noticed Kayla lying on the sofa, the IV still hooked up to her arm.

“Please tell me she’s okay,” he said.

I nodded, though I was sure the emotional damage was far from healed.

“Where’s Giovanni?” Bartholomew asked, continuing to rummage through his books.

“Damage control,” Samantha replied. “They’re trying to stage the house like Kayla ran away so her disappearance doesn’t end up on the six o’clock news.”

“Ah, here it is,” Bartholomew said.

We approached his desk to see what had him running around like a headless chicken. He slammed a thick, black book on his desk and flipped through pages until he stopped on the one he wanted. “Only once in history has a warlock been able to harness the Nightmares. He used them like attack dogs and destroyed multiple villages in Wales.”

Samantha, Seth and I moved closer to peer over his shoulder.

“No way. I thought that story was a myth,” Seth said.

Bartholomew shook his head and read from the book. “‘In the fourteen hundreds, a warlock by the name of Tamesis attempted to harness demons to attack humans in an effort to destroy the human race. But instead of demons, his powers latched onto the Nightmares. He thought he had failed—until he discovered what Nightmares could do. At least four villages suffered from insanity and began killing each other, and when Tamesis realized the Nightmares could also physically harm humans, complete towns were destroyed within days.’”

“But why would he turn on his own kind? I mean, witches and warlocks are human, right?” Tabbi asked.

Trishna shook her head. “Not exactly. The Magus, as you call us, were created when a human was tricked by a demon into producing a living heir. Since then, whenever a witch or warlock procreates with a human, their child is also Magus. Half demon, half human. That’s why black magic is easier for us to tap into, though many of us choose light.”

“And Tamesis was as dark as they come,” Bartholomew added.

“So then what happened? We know he didn’t succeed in destroying Wales,” I said.

“We interceded,” Bartholomew replied. “By Law, Protectors cannot kill what isn’t already dead, but we can kill the Nightmares. And since humans cannot see Nightmares and couldn’t protect themselves, the Angels sent us into battle. We wiped out his entire army, and Tamesis fled.”

I turned to Trishna. “So you think this Tamesis guy is still alive?”

“Someone claimed to have seen him ten years ago in Philadelphia. If he was powerful enough to have controlled these Nightmares, he may have found a way to sustain his life.”

“And you did nothing?” Samantha asked. “I would’ve hunted him down.”

Trishna glared at her through thick, black eyelashes. “And what do you think would happen if the Magus turned against one another? It would end badly, not just for us, but for thousands. Destruction everywhere.”

“So, why Kayla?” Seth asked. “The Nightmares hovered around her house for at least ten minutes before they attacked. If a warlock is controlling them, what does he want with her?”

We stood silent, staring at each other until finally Bartholomew raised a finger. “Not just Kayla.” He searched through his books again. “Trishna, you say Tamesis was supposedly spotted ten years ago?”

“Yes. Why?”

He picked two very fat, white books.
2000—2010
was written on one cover. On the other:
2011—.
“Because that’s when the numbers started to rise.” He dropped them on the desk and flipped through the one marked
2011—.

“These are logs of all the times humans received more than three visits from Nightmares in a single night, usually appearing just one at a time. But starting in two-thousand-three, the pattern shifted. Daniel, when you told me that Kayla was receiving visits from five at a time, I went back and looked at the records. In this past year, there are three others who have been visited by five or more Nightmares simultaneously and more than once.”

My stomach churned. “Well, then the question still stands. Why is he targeting these four?”

Bartholomew looked up from his book and frowned. “That I don’t know.”

I ground my teeth. We needed answers soon before more people got hurt. And when Kayla woke, I wanted more to go on than “we don’t know.” Then Bartholomew’s comment came back to me about “normal” humans.

“The other three—are they like her?” I asked.

Bartholomew squinted. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Kayla burned her attacker alive with her own hands. I was in her head. I felt it.”

Trishna held up a hand. “Wait, you mean she’s a witch?”

I’d never thought about the possibility, but now that Trishna mentioned it… I ran my hand down my face. “Maybe… yeah, I think so.”

Both Samantha and Seth stiffened. Bartholomew looked down at his book.

Trishna raised her hands. “This changes things. Bartholomew, I must apologize, but I have to be going. If the warlock is going after his own kind, then we are all in extreme danger. I will learn what I can, but you must be prepared.”

“For what?” Samantha asked.

Trishna frowned and disappeared without saying another word.

Tabbi worked on readying a room for Kayla in the mansion while Seth, Samantha, Bartholomew and I relayed to Giovanni everything we’d learned. He was none too happy about housing a witch, but he couldn’t deny that something evil was stirring in the otherworld. If her protection meant throwing a wrench into the warlock’s plans, then it needed to be done. In the meantime, he would call on the Catchers overseeing the care of the other three humans receiving over five Nightmares a night to determine if they, too, possessed magic.

After carrying Kayla to the room Tabbi prepared, I laid her on the white-and-lavender, flowered comforter of the bed positioned in the far corner of the room.

She woke two hours later. “Daniel?”

I jumped out of an oversized armchair and set down my book. Sitting next to her on the bed, I took her hand in mine. “Hey, how do you feel?”

“Like I got hit by a truck. What happened? My ankle—”

“Is fine.” I squeezed her hand. “You lost a lot of blood, but Bartholomew found someone to heal you. You’ll be fine.”

“Like that warlock who was after you?”

“Not all witches are bad.”
Why do I feel like I’m saying that for my own benefit?

Kayla sat up and looked around at the pale yellow walls and the white bookshelf on the other side of the window from the bed. Next to it was a matching, white desk and the white, plush armchair I’d read in. A large, white armoire had been placed next to the entrance to her bathroom, and an oversized easel stood across from the window.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in Rome. Tabbi fixed up a room to make you feel a little more at home.”

“Rome?”

I nodded. “This is where the Protectors, like me, live. You’re safe here.”

She frowned. “How long will we be here?”

I stared at her, unsure how to tell her what I’d learned from Trishna and Bartholomew. She’d already been through so much, seen too much of the supernatural world. Now wasn’t the time for big revelations. She needed to feel at ease, safe.

“I’m sorry, Kayla. But, until we figure out why you were targeted last night, it’s best we keep you here under our protection.”

“Targeted? You mean that freaking Nightmare was
set
on me?”

I nodded. “When that warlock tried to kill me in Paris, we think his ultimate target was you. And when he failed to get you that night… well, we think that’s why he sent those Nightmares after you.”

Kayla stared at the wall next to her and bit her bottom lip. She wrapped her arms around her stomach.

I touched her leg. “Hey, you’re going to be okay.”

She nodded. Then she shook her head and the tears overflowed. She covered her face with her hands.

Scooting closer to her, I pulled her to me, and she buried her face in my neck. I kissed the top of her head and stroked her arm with my thumb, trying to soothe her as best I could.