Lonely Souls (11 page)

“I’ve just got a feeling, and my feelings are usually right when it comes to stuff like that.” He wasn’t boasting. I could tell it almost pained him to say it aloud.

“You mean because of what you dabbled in briefly?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the complete picture.

“Yeah, because of that, Triss. But I’d like to redeem myself a little and put some of what I learned into protecting you and finding your mom. Seeing you in such disarray with smashed flower pieces all over your body didn’t exactly help calm my fears. When I saw you that helpless and desperate, I vowed to teach you at least some methods to protect yourself.”

“You’ll be teaching me black magic?” I said. My voice was almost harsh.

“Oh, never would I do that to you, Triss! Not without your permission. It’s exactly the opposite! It’s just that since I’ve seen the other side of things, I can teach you techniques that are far more effective than what some would like you to believe. Some pieces of magic are more parts wishful thinking than anything, and I want you to be able to steer clear from rubbish and focus on the undeniable principles that work. I won’t lead you in a way that you don’t want to go. I promise, Triss, because honestly I don’t want to go there either.” He grabbed my hand. “You know I wouldn’t do anything to put you in harm’s way, right?”

I nodded slowly and looked away. His eyes were far too intense right now. It wasn’t like he was trying to teach me black magic, but I was anxious, maybe fearful. Believing I needed things like protection chants made everything seem a little bit different in life, including finding my mom.

I let go of his hand and turned to look at him, hoping his expression had changed.

“I will let you teach me what you need to teach me, but if I find out that anything I have learned is—”

He interrupted me.

“It won’t be. I would never do that without your knowledge. That is the first sign of dark alchemy, doing magic of any type without the other’s consent. It doesn’t have to be a black spell to commit that sin. You know that,” he said, his voice soft and possibly wounded.

“I know. That means I can’t perform any love spells on you without you knowing,” I winked at him, partly cursing myself for toying with him but loving every second of it.

“Exactly, Triss. Even those,” he said smiling at me. “Now let’s get a move on it. We’ve got a lot to cover before we head back for your birthday dinner.”

We found a clearing several hundred feet off the path, and truthfully, if anyone stumbled upon us, they’d probably think we were just having a picnic together or playing Frisbee. I wiggled my pack off my back and watched him take his pack off and set it on the ground.

The dried grass under his bag was crunching as he moved it around fishing for whatever he had in store for me. He looked so incredibly good. His dark hair was tousled and kept flipping up with the breeze, and he seemed genuinely happy. It was hard for me to understand, or believe even, that he dabbled in the black arts. It didn’t make sense. It was something that should make me nervous, but it didn’t. I’m guessing because I believed that part of his life was truly over. Or was it? Could it be? I pushed my questions back inside.

“So, I think we should start with the basics,” he announced, standing up with a bound leather journal of some sort.

“Does that contain those kinds of spells?” My eyes were wide with fear and intrigue.

He nodded.

“That’s the one thing I’m looking forward to with going through the whole Witch Avenue ceremony is going through all of the spell books in the library. To be able to look at every one’s spells that are centuries old is beyond exhilarating. It will be interesting to see all of my family history too. I wonder if there’ll be anything on my father in the library,” I said, wishing I didn’t bring him up.

“There might be,” he said, looking uncomfortable.

“You’ll have to stand on the other side of the door, and I’ll just shout all of the cool things I’ve found,” I joked.

“You probably would too,” he laughed. Ignoring him, I continued.

“I remember I tried going in the library a few years ago. My mom told me not to, but I thought I could sneak in without anyone knowing, including her. I didn’t realize there was a trespass spell on the door. I actually figured out enough to unlock the door with the
Reserare Metalli
spell, and when I tried to cross through, I got knocked off my feet and thrown back into the hall. I was so scared I never told anyone, but I know my mom knew. I think she was proud of me.” I smiled, thinking back on it.

“Yeah, I heard about that event,” he said, laughing.

“Was there anything that was a secret?”

“I’d be surprised,” he smirked.

He flipped through a few pages and walked over to me, pointing at a hand-drawn picture of one stick figure standing and the other kneeling.

“Is that supposed to tell me something,” I joked, looking into his deep, blue eyes. There was no sign of darkness, and I was relieved. I had no idea what that picture was supposed to be depicting though.

A smile surfaced, and he laughed.

“I guess not,” he joked. “That could look kind of bad, huh?”

I looked back at the drawing and gasped and smacked Logan’s arm. I hadn’t even thought of that.

“I wasn’t even thinking of… Oh, my gosh! That is so horrible! Now I really can’t trust you.” I couldn’t hold in my laugh.

“Okay, so apparently I can’t quite draw like you,” he was trying to hold in his laughter. “That’s supposed to depict one of the stances to take if a swarm is present. Didn’t realize it also closely resembled something else.”

“Mr. Greene, are you turning red? Did I somehow make you embarrassed?” I was doing my best not to fall over with laughter because this was nothing like he ever intended, yet it was so funny.

“I don’t know how I’m going to make it through this day with you,” his lip turned up only slightly at the corner. His eyes were still dancing with embarrassment, and I had a feeling I wouldn’t see him like this often, so I relished in the moment as much as I could.

“Okay, sorry, Mr. Greene. All business again but do keep your head out of the gutter please,” I badgered him, grinning.

He rolled his eyes and tossed the journal onto his pack.

“I’ll just explain things for now,” he smirked.

“Sounds like an excellent idea,” I countered.

“If you find yourself in a situation like you did at the floral shop, there are some key moves to try first. More times than not, they will work.” The red returned to his face, and I was thrilled it wasn’t me who was the one blushing this time. “Kneel down so that you are looking up at the being. The idea is that your head is right around where their hands might be. There are certain areas that are more difficult for these types of beings to get to. If you are kneeling, it buys you enough time to begin your first spell.”

As he was kneeling down, he reached into his back pocket and grabbed his wand.

“See how that extra movement bought me some time?” he asked.

I nodded, contemplating if I should tell him something or not.

“What is it, Triss?”

“I actually only use my wand for healing purposes,” I replied.

“Your wand is basically a magical spatula? You’ve got to be kidding me.” An edge of anger was bouncing off of each syllable.

“Pretty much,” I nodded. “It’s not like we’ve ever needed any of this. In fact, I don’t even have it with me.”

“That I counted on. It’s in your bag,” he said as he pointed. I wasn’t sure if he was aggravated at me or with the situation. “Have you ever used it?”

“For some healing spells, but it was a long time ago. I also tried using it to get my plants to grow faster,” I offered, as if that might help the situation.

He looked at me in disbelief.

“Looks like we need to back up quite a bit,” he muttered, his gaze on mine and not letting go.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, completely mortified at my lack of ability in my own world, “but I found the herbs and flowers I used to be quite adept at fixing most common ailments.”

He shrugged.

“It’s not your fault. Do you know how to create fire?”

I shook my head.

“Okay, well go grab your wand and we’ll begin with that. Also, grab some waters. I should be able to put out whatever you start, but I don’t want to take any chances.” A smile started to surface again.

I opened up my pack and grabbed two bottled waters and reached around for my wand, finally landing on it. I hoped I had wiped it off from whatever mixture I used it for last. That would probably be the last straw for him if he saw a whole bunch of green goo smashed on the tip. He’d send me packing for sure.

“Got it!” I pulled out my wand that was given to me on my tenth birthday. It was a deep mahogany wand with a silver core and tip. The tip actually worked really well as a grinder for herbs. I swung around with my wand in hand and tossed over the bottled waters to where he was standing.

“Looks like the tip of that thing has seen many days as a pestle,” he frowned.

“Pretty much.”

I walked over to where he started kneeling and collecting rocks to create a small circle.

“I want this to be your target. Point only here,” he said, with his finger indicating the circle. “When you do what I tell you, it will be a lot easier to learn control from the beginning than trying to figure it out after the fact.”

“Makes sense,” I nodded in agreement. “Are you sure you want to take me on?”

“Starting to wonder about that actually.” His words hit me like a knife. “Only kidding, Triss. I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else.”

“To what? Teach to or to have learn from you?” I shot back.

“Both,” he replied. “Now let’s focus.”

How could I focus when he flings statements around like that?

“Follow my lead.” He pointed his wand at the circle and looked over at me. “Depending on the core of your wand, your saying will be slightly different. Mine is a stone core so I will say this, ‘
Ignis Cos Cotis
.’”

And a tiny flame erupted in the circle, simple as that. Flames didn’t shoot from his wand. There was no blazing trail of flames. The fire just started where he was pointing the wand.

“How do you put it out?” I asked.

“Besides dumping water on it?” He smiled and pointed at the small fire. “
Extinguere Flammis.”

The flames vanished. I began getting worried. What if I light the forest on fire? How do I control the size of the flame?

“Don’t overthink it, Triss,” Logan’s voice was gentle and guiding. “You have a silver core so you will say, ‘
Ignis Argentum
.’”

My stomach began tying in knots as I thought about all the things that could go wrong with this attempt.

“You’ve got it, Triss.”

I pointed at the circle of stones, ignoring the nausea and lightheadedness that was attempting to take over.

“
Ignis Argentum!”
I yelled, as I shut my eyes accidentally.

Chapter 12

Peeling one eye open, I looked at the circle. There were no flames.

“You can’t close your eyes. It’s a safety feature,” Logan chuckled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling a little, “at least when I’m standing near you. I didn’t think I’d have to state the obvious but don’t close your eyes.”

“Very funny! It was a natural reaction! Sorry!” I squeaked.

“Let’s try it again, and this time keep your eyes open!” He winked at me, and I suddenly had a confidence boost along with a medley of other emotions I didn’t want to acknowledge.

Pointing my wand at the stone circle once more, I took a deep breath in and smiled at Logan.

“Keep your eyes on the circle,” he smirked. He was enjoying this far too much.

“
Ignis Argentum!”
I tried again, keeping my eyes open and focused on the circle.

The flames appeared, and I suddenly wanted to light more things on fire. The excitement was almost overpowering, but I steadied myself and my wand. Looking around at what else I could zap, I realized that side of magic was quite intriguing.

“This is so cool!” I squealed.

“Glad you’re having fun. Try to put it out. Remember what to say?” he asked.

I nodded.

“
Flammis Extinguere
,” I shouted with such fortitude.

Nothing happened. I looked up at Logan, perplexed.

“Flip the words and try again,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets, smiling.

My heart dropped down the mountain, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to catch it—ever.

“
Extinguere Flammis,”
I said matter-of-factly, nodding my head once.

And the flames vanished.

“Was your head nod for extra impact?” Logan started laughing.

“Quite possibly!” I shot back, walking over to him.

For some reason, there was something pulling me over to him. I wanted to hug him but held back. Actually, I wanted to jump in his arms, but that was completely uncalled for. There were very few people in the world who would probably be proud of me over this accomplishment, and I liked the fact that one of them was standing right here.

“Nice work. As long as you can remember some of these basic spells, you’ll be set for many things to come.”

“Like roasting marshmallows at campfires?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“Exactly,” Logan said, less amused with me by the second. I was sure I was walking on thin ice.

“I hope I never have to use this stuff,” I muttered, sticking my wand in my pocket and pulling my ponytail tighter.

“Me too, but I’d feel horrible if something happened to you just because you didn’t know a simple protection chant or way to escape.” He was scuffing up the dirt where the fires had been set, making sure they were completely out as he spoke. He didn’t look at me. Things seemed to be closing off again inside of him, and I wasn’t sure what I did wrong.

“What’s next?” I asked, hoping that getting back to business would lighten his mood again.

“I’d like you to know how to freeze something or someone,” he said as he looked over at me.