Chasing Shadows (36 page)

“Oh, of course.” He apologized and let go of me. “What were you going to say?”

“She appeared to me in a dream. She told me about a few things that I needed to learn.” I looked down at the book and back up at him.

He sighed heavily and sat next to me. “What did you need to learn?”

“I wrote them down on some notebook paper so I could memorize them.” I handed over the pieces of paper with my messy scrawl on them so he could see what I was talking about.

“What are they?” Sebastian asked with confusion written all over his face.

“Spells. The first one is called a percuro, or healing spell; the second one is a fateor spell, which is basically a revealing spell for shadows. If I say those words, then the shadow, depending how powerful it is, will show me some or all of its true form,” I explained.

“Oh, okay. Those could definitely come in handy. Why do you need the first one?”

“To heal the half-bloods,” I answered simply.

“You can’t save them, AubrieAnna . . . ” His face became sympathetic and sad.

“Yes, I can. And I will, with or without your help.” I snatched the papers out of his hands and left the room. If he wouldn’t believe that I could save them then I didn’t want to be around him. Anger simmered in my chest, and I stormed out of the room before I said anything that I would regret later.

His voice filtered through the walls as I headed down the steps. My name on his lips sounded so desperate, like a plea of forgiveness. When I reached the last step, I sat down and sighed. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he had meant to tell me that no one could ever save them, no matter who tried or what spell they used it never worked. I was about to turn around when the top step squeaked. I didn’t turn my head to see who it was. The wood of the step I was sitting on shifted and bent under the extra weight. Sebastian sat down next to me and stayed quiet for a moment.

“AubrieAnna,” he spoke my name softly, like a caress of a secret lover, intimate and delicately. “Please let me explain what I meant.”

I nodded.

“I meant that no one has ever been able to save them before. No one has ever been able to heal them of whatever is causing their problem. It doesn’t matter if it was a fairy, witch, psychic, or even a nymph. It’s never happened. I get that you want to try, and I will gladly help you with anything that you need. I believe that you might be able to, but I do not know if it will work. You very well may be powerful enough to do it, and I hope you are.” He let out a deep sigh. “I love you, more than you could ever imagine.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that instead of telling me that I couldn’t save them?” It didn’t matter too much that he had come down to apologize and explain. If that’s what he meant, then why didn’t he just say it in the first place?

“I should have. I’ve seen and heard of people killing themselves accidentally by trying to save them. I just don’t want you to hurt yourself trying so hard.” He looked down at his bare feet, suddenly ashamed of himself.

“I won’t. I promise. But I have to at least try.” I looked at him as I spoke, watching for his reaction.

“That I can handle.” His lips pulled into the smile I adored. “Now can we go back to bed?” he murmured into my hair.

I nodded and said, “Yes, please.”

We laughed and headed back to bed.

Chapter 16

School had been cancelled because of the thunderstorm. Power was out throughout most of the surrounding areas. We sat at the bar and decided what we were going to do for the day. Sebastian cooked breakfast while we thought about it. After bouncing ideas back and forth, we chose to run errands. As we ate, I wrote a list for the Wiccan shop and the grocery store. Once we were finished with breakfast we got ready and left.

My list for the Wiccan shop was long, and it took us a while to find most of it in the cluttered aisles. At one point, we had to enlist Arina’s help to collect everything. When we finally had everything that we needed, we stood at the register and waited while she rang everything up for us. She raised her eyebrows a few times but didn’t say anything. I could tell she wanted to ask about some of the items, but I was thankful she didn’t. Once she was done, I looked at the total and choked a little. Everything came out to a little over two hundred dollars. I cringed as Sebastian ran his card through the machine.

“I hope all of this stuff will last you a while.” Sebastian chuckled at me as we left the shop, bags in tow.

“It should, I’m sorry that it cost so much.” I looked down, feeling guilty about the cost of it all.

“It’s quite all right, AubrieAnna. You will never have to worry, and you will never have to work if you don’t want to.” He shrugged as if it was nothing.

“I still feel bad. It will never matter how much money you have, I’ll always feel bad about spending that much money on something.” I looked at him and half smiled.

“I understand, but you don’t have to.” He kissed my forehead and unloaded our bags into the trunk.

Our trip to the grocery store was quick. We were both getting hungry, and I was anxious to get home so I could start the protection spell. A few hundred dollars and a car full of groceries later, we happily headed home.

Many of the areas surrounding our house were still out of power even though it was in the afternoon. The second Sebastian pulled into our driveway, I knew someone was there. Hairs on the back of my neck tickled as they stood up. A familiar hum in my fingertips started making itself known. I tried my best to focus on controlling it so the u da yv la dv wouldn’t know I was coming.

As we turned the small bend in the driveway, Sebastian’s head snapped up and he stopped. He opened his car door and sniffed the air like a dog. If we hadn’t been in such a dangerous position, I might have laughed at him. I waited for him to look back at me, but he didn’t. Taking a deep breath, I focused on controlling the vibrations in my hands then climbed silently out of the car. With superhuman speed I ran into the trees and stopped just before the clearing in front of our house.

Sebastian slowly came up behind me and watched the house with me. There were two of them. Both were dressed in cloaked robes like the ones I saw in my vision on our honeymoon. They didn’t speak, at least not that Sebastian or I could hear. Each step they took was fluid, like they were made of water or air. One was quite small and the other was at least six feet tall. A deer popped out of the trees a few yards from where we were standing, but it was enough to startle the shadows. They scanned the tree line, searching for anything that looked out of place. With a quick scan they deemed it safe enough to continue what they were doing. After a few moments, the smaller one spoke. “Are you sure she won’t show up anytime soon?” It was a girl. Her voice was small and afraid.

“It doesn’t matter. We are almost done. And if she did show up, we would know.” The larger one was definitely a male. His voice was deep and booming. It shattered the silence that fell around us. “Anyway, do you remember when we talked about how she can sense us?” he asked. The girl nodded quickly in response. “Well, that allows us to sense her too. The second that little sense of hers kicks in, we feel it too. It will give us enough time to get out of here.” He shrugged at her and continued doing whatever they were doing.

My legs started to ache and I was getting restless. The two u da yv la dv had been standing at the front door for what seemed like an eternity. It took all of my effort to not go over there and beat them both senseless. After a few more minutes, they stood up and dashed away into the trees on the opposite side of where we were standing. Before I could dash up to the house, Sebastian touched my arm and shook his head. Sighing in frustration, I sat down on the damp ground and waited for him to say it was okay. A soft breeze and his distinct smell flew past me. He was checking the area for any signs that they were staying behind. Seconds later, he came back and nodded at me. So far it was safe.

Since they had been sitting at the door for over an hour, Sebastian checked around to see if there were any visible signs of tampering. He couldn’t find any, but that didn’t mean a whole lot. I tried to feel around the area for any magic residue, but I didn’t feel any. Something in my gut told me not to enter the house or step on the porch. Before Sebastian could step up onto the porch to unlock the door, I yanked him back hard. There was only one person I could trust to find out what the shadows did to our door.

***

Luke stood at the base of the steps with squinted eyes and fingers drumming on his thighs. His black leather jacket stood in deep contrast with his faded blue jeans. Combat boots kept his feet covered, and the silver aviators that had been covering his eyes hung on the neck of his gray T-shirt. Sebastian paced back and forth angrily. He had some choice words to say about Luke. When the words came out of his mouth, it took all of my effort not to tell him what had really happened. If he knew, he would know what I was going to do, and if he knew what I was going to do, he wouldn’t let me do it. I sighed heavily and waited for Luke to tell us something.

Minutes passed before he spoke. “Luckily you guys didn’t step up there. It would’ve been bad.” He cocked his head to one side and stared hard at the door. “Whoever did this was pretty strong. Most of the u da yv la dv can’t do something like this. How long did you say they were here?”

“At least an hour,” I answered before Sebastian could say anything.

“Hm.” Luke looked around the area before returning his glance at the door. “I know what to do, but I’m going to need a few.”

“A few what?” I asked.

“Minutes, maybe even seconds.” He shrugged.

“Whoa, I thought you said whoever did this was strong. If they were here for at least an hour, how can you fix it in less than that?” I was confused and intrigued.

“Because, I am stronger.” With that, he hopped up on the porch and went to work on taking back whatever the two u da yv la dv had done.

While Luke did his thing, I walked over to Sebastian and hugged him. I felt guilty about not telling him what had really happened with Clamora and that it wasn’t even Luke’s fault. There was so much that he deserved to know but couldn’t until after I saved the real Clamora. His strong arms wrapped around me and held me close. I knew that the u da yv la dv being here and messing with our home had shaken him. If I was being completely honest with myself, it scared me too. We stood there holding each other for a few minutes. When Luke was finally finished, he let us know then said his goodbyes. Sebastian swallowed his anger and pride and said a quick thank you.

After a stressful afternoon, we curled up on the couch and sat perfectly still. Neither of us wanted to move. Time passed us by easily and we didn’t care. If we hadn’t seen the shadows standing at our door, who knows what could have happened. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop the irritating
what if
game that ran through my mind. Each scenario that played out before me terrified me. I could no longer sit still. The frustration of the shadows being there, setting a trap for us and putting us so close to danger forced me up and into the kitchen.

Ingredients were laid out before me on the countertops. Various smudge sticks, candles, herbs, oils, and feathers were littered around me. I stared at everything. A sense of urgency welled through my being, and I got started. The spell was fairly simple, so it had been easy to memorize. First I had to pour sea salt into the bowl, followed by the herbs: caraway, aloe, frankincense, mullein, and peony, and I added the almond oil and olive oil last. An odd mixture of smells filled the air, sweet and earthy mixed with a light pungent odor. Once the mixture of herbs, oils, and salt was done, I grabbed the candles and placed a single candle in each of the four corners of the house—upstairs and down. As I placed each candle, I lit it and watched the flame flicker angrily. After the candles were lit and placed, I burned the smudge sticks and used the feathers to fan the smoke, smothering the house in a gray fog.

Lavender, lilac, and white sage clouded the air as I went around with my herb and oil mixture. At each door, window, and corner of the house I stopped and flicked the grimy liquid while saying, “Protego, defendo, custos.” An hour and a half later, I was finally finished with the spell. Sebastian helped me clean everything up. He hadn’t said much since the u da yv la dv had been at our door, but his eyes betrayed him. When he caught me looking at him with sadness in my eyes, he turned on his heel and went upstairs. I leaned up against the counter and sighed heavily.

I understood his frustration. He couldn’t protect me like I could protect him. The only powers that he had were superhuman speed and strength, along with heightened senses. Seeing what the u da yv la dv had done, knowing what would have happened if Sebastian had gone onto our porch before Luke arrived made my heart stop. It took all of my effort not to run upstairs and hug him tightly and apologize endlessly, but I knew he wanted to be alone to stew in his thoughts.