Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (30 page)

Now
. Theo’s firm voice pounded through my mind,
startling me so badly I jumped. It was like thunder as it vibrated through my
skull.

Closing my eyes, I attempted to focus all my thoughts on
lulling out a few ribbons of my magick. Nothing came willingly. I was too
frazzled. This was when it should happen, at the drop of a dime, but for
whatever reason it didn’t.

Noises of movement distracted me, and I opened my eyes.
Admer was sauntering toward me. He carried the large bowl I’d seen him mix
everything in. The clouds parted, shedding light on him as he walked. I noticed
his lips were moving rapidly, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Now, Addison, now!
Theo’s voice pounded through my
head once again. This time it was panicked sounding, which caused me to freeze
up even more.

I can’t
. My mental voice was merely a whisper in
comparison to the level his had been in my head. It was true though, I couldn’t
focus enough to grasp a ribbon of magick.

He can’t touch you with that stuff. Do it, damn it! Now!

My eyes darted from Admer to the bowl in his hands, and then
to Theo. This was it. Whatever was in that bowl was about to end everything. It
was about to end me, all because I couldn’t gather up enough of my magick in
time to stop it. Maybe this was how it was supposed to end. Maybe the Spirits
had gotten it all wrong.

I need you to focus. Draw your magick and catch on fire,
Addison, now! I’ll ignite it with wind, and then I need you to direct it to
him. He won’t be able to smother it out and will become engulfed. It’s our only
shot at slowing him down long enough to get away.

I could tell from the tone of his words Theo was losing
patience with me. He had everything all figured out, and here I was about to
blow it all because I was being a baby.

Closing my eyes, I focused on the colorful ribbons again.
Admer was close now, but I refused to let him break my concentration.

Warmth from a red ribbon exploded from my chest. My eyes
snapped open in time to see it fluttering in the air above me; it was
beautiful. A large hand smashed it back down into the center of my upper body
and pressed hard against my skin.

Admer had made it to me, and the time to catch fire was now
or never.

Something burned through my chest, and I focused everything
I had on that spot. I wanted my flames to engulf me the way they had at Theo’s
that day.

Instead, only a tiny patch of sparks shot up into the night
air from where Admer’s hand rested against the seat of my magick. A crushing
sensation slammed through me, taking my breath away. I looked at Admer, and a
twisted smile came to his face.

“I already told you, whatever you toss my way, I can
counteract.” He grinned, before pressing harder on my chest, while muttering
something in a language I couldn’t understand. He wiped some of the goop he’d
created across my forehead with his other hand.

I realized two things instantly then: One, I had failed to
save not only myself, but in saving Theo as well. And two, I had never known
the true meaning of the word pain until that moment.

My teeth clenched together as the sensation of my chest
exploding in excruciating fire sliced through me. Each tiny bit of air my lungs
pulled in flamed the fire within me more. I opened my mouth to scream, but
nothing came out. It was as if my voice box had been muted somehow. My back
arched, and tears streamed down my face. Admer muttered a few more words in a
deeper, darker tone, and the sensation began to spread.

Theo’s voice attempted to enter my mind numerous times,
either that or else he was yelling to me out loud, I couldn’t be sure, and
whatever he was trying to say didn’t matter, because I couldn’t hear him over
my own screams that only seemed to ring clearly through my head. Admer laughed
and chanted a few words. The feeling of being pulled apart rocketed through me,
and the pain intensified. He was doing what he’d said he would.

He was harvesting my magick from me.

His hand on my chest twisted as though he were getting a
better grip on the seat of my magick. The pain was so severe I wasn’t sure if I
was going to throw up or pass out first. Admer pulled his hand away just enough
for me to see the pretty ribbons of my magick as they wrapped around his hand.

“Your mother was all I ever wanted. Even knowing that, I was
never enough for her,” Admer whispered. He leaned down in my face, his eyes
boring directly into mine. “She took everything from me—my heart, my daughter,
and most of all, my magick. I had to endure paying a fucking Conjurer for my
spells and magick because of her. I was glad when I ended her life, same as
I’ll be glad when I end yours. I’ll have what I’ve always wanted—power, actual
power. To me, that’s all that matters.”

A sudden numbness crept through my mind as he spoke. I
wasn’t sure where it came from or why I felt it, but it was there. It calmed
the flames, which scorched away at my insides as my magick continued to detach
from me and wind its way up Admer’s arm. The edges of my vision feathered and
darkened. Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I witnessed beautiful starbursts
behind my eyelids.

If this was what it felt like to die, I wondered why we all
feared it.

One warm ribbon of magick caressed against my insides,
unwilling to let go. I felt my lips twist into a smile as I mentally caught
hold of it and wound it through my fingers. A small flash of light brightened
the darkness behind my closed eyelids. I opened my eyes to see what had
happened.

Admer cursed and then smiled even more sinisterly down at
me.

“I thought I told you that your little tricks don’t work on
me?” he said in a sharp tone.

Movement caught my attention, and I flicked my eyes to it.
Theo stood directly behind him, his face contorted in fury.

“No, but mine do,” Theo growled, and I noticed him raise a
hand for Admer’s throat.

Everything that happened next was a blur. I couldn’t be sure
what was real or what was a byproduct of my current crazed mind frame, but I
was positive no one in my situation would have been able to make sense of it
better than I had in the moment either.

Theo never touched Admer, but even so, Admer released his
hand from my chest. My magick sucked back into me in the blink of an eye while
Admer reached up to clasp his throat.

It was then that I remembered Theo’s
talent
—how he
could control a person’s breath.

Pushing myself up on my elbows, I watched as Theo forced out
every ounce of air from within Admer’s lungs by a few gentle, gliding movements
of his hands. In the slight amount of moonlight available, I could still see
Admer’s features darken, shifting from a strange shade of red, to a more purple
color, until finally turning a shade of blue. He grew limp, his arms dangling
at his sides, before Theo finally released him.

I knew without asking that Admer was dead. There was no more
life in the glossy shine of his eyes.

I had never witnessed someone die before. It was never
something I had ever wanted to witness. But I had. Just now. And for whatever
reason, the standard things people say they feel first in a situation like
this—panic, shock, sadness, confusion—didn’t touch me.

All I felt was relief.

“Tethered
together their souls shall see,

An’
it harm none, so mote it be.”

The words flowed on the gentle ocean breeze around us, and I
knew exactly what had happened once they were spoken. Glancing around, I waited
for the white light to form a sphere around Theo and me like last time, but it
never did. All I saw was a single white butterfly fluttering as fast as its
gorgeous wings would take it over our heads and toward the moon.

The tether was broken, and Admer was dead. That much I was
sure of.

With my leg propped up on the stool beside me, I rubbed my
sore thigh muscle. Every square inch of me hurt, and I was positive I wasn’t
the only one in pain from today. I glanced around the inside of Fisherman’s
Brew, taking in the newly decorated interior. It was strange to think of Twila
not being the one to do the greeting here anymore when a customer walked in.
Even though I’d only been here a few times, I was sure to the locals she had
become some sort of a staple for the place.

Nearly two weeks had gone by since the night on the cliff,
and now Soul Harbor felt like I’d hoped it would when I first came—peaceful,
tranquil, and like home.

“Here,” Theo said. He placed the glass of sweet tea I’d
asked for in front of me.

Gripping the glass, I pulled it closer to me without saying
thank you.

“What? Aren’t you even going to say thank you?” he scoffed.
“After all, it isn’t all that easy to carry things with crunches, let alone a
full glass of sweet tea.”

I shifted to look at him. There was a cut along his right
cheek that I was positive would leave a scar, and he was on crutches, just like
I’d predicted he would be, but other than that, Theo had come away from the
cliff fairly unharmed. And so had I, thanks to him.

“When you learn to smile as you serve someone, then you’ll
get a thank you,” I said, a slight teasing edge to my words. “Until then, not
gonna happen.”

His full lips twisted into a grin. One that I could clearly
see he didn’t want to have on his face, but couldn’t keep away.

He shook his head at me. “What the hell am I going to do
with you?”

I reached out, gripping a fistful of his gray tank top, and
pulled him a little closer.

“Oh, I can think of a few things,” I said in as sexy a tone
as I could muster.

His caramel-colored eyes flashed at my words, and any sense
of embarrassment I might have had from saying something so rash melted away.
“Is that so?”

“No, none of that hanky-panky stuff in my restaurant. Ya
hear me?” Twila said as she rounded the corner from the kitchen. She waved the
black permanent marker she held between her fingers at us. “I mean it. I might
not be workin’ here as much anymore, but that don’t mean you two can do all
that.” She gestured to us and our closeness with distaste.

Theo threw his hands up in surrender, and I dropped mine to
my lap, my face flushing through a few shades of red.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as Twila bypassed him and headed back
into the kitchen, his grin growing.

I loved to see him smile.

The door to Fisherman’s Brew opened and in walked Adam,
Callie, Kace, and Kyra. My eyes flickered to Kace and Kyra’s entwined fingers,
and I smiled. Honestly, I was happy for them. Whatever it was that had been
between Kace and I hadn’t been real. It had been magick. To know both of us
were now feeling something real for a change, even if it was for someone else,
was more than okay; it was perfectly fine by me.

“Hey, guys,” Adam said. He flopped down on the stool beside
me and pulled Callie into his lap. “What’s up? You need some help packing?”

Kyra laughed. It was throaty and sexy all at the same time,
exactly what I’d expected to hear from her. “Yeah right, you actually believe
Gran will let
you
touch any of her Hoodoo stuff? She won’t even let
me
touch anything until it’s all boxed up.”

“Oh,” Adam said, his lips making a perfect O shape. His eyebrows
drew all the way up to his hairline. “Geez.”

“That’s right,” Twila said as she came from the kitchen, a
large box in her hands. “I don’t need none of you children’s mojo messin’ up
mine. Ya don’t touch nothin’ until it’s in a box.”

“Here, let me help you,” Kace said. He dropped Kyra’s hand
and moved to take the box from her.

She handed it over to him without much of a fuss, and then
headed back to the kitchen for more.

“Why is she moving her stuff into the bookstore again?”
Callie asked me in a hushed whisper.