Released Souls (16 page)

“It doesn’t look like that dazed you, honey,” I purred to Logan, grinning. “That’s gotta be annoying to be a big
, bad sorcerer who can’t cause damage.”

I did my best pouty expression
and watched the sorcerer’s anger grow exponentially. I wasn’t sure why I was compelled to make him angrier, but I was.

“Yeah, twice the guy can’t get the job done.” Logan’s eyes locked on mine, and I turned back to look at the sorcerer.

The warehouse! That’s
why I recognized him. He’s the one who started the fire.

“
You’ve got a real smart mouth,” the sorcerer chided. “We’ll see how handy that is when you’re begging for your life.”

“Doubtful
scenario,” I replied, grinning.

The sorcerer thr
ew a bolt of electricity at me, but I dropped quickly, avoiding most of the shock. He shot another blaze of lightening at me, this time grazing my shoulder. My body began burning and tingling as the electricity forced its way through me. I made myself stand back up. My breathing became labored as I tried to steady myself. My movements were no longer my own as the spasms of electricity leaving my body continued to take over. All because I wanted to stay on the right side of magic I ended up looking like a fried mess. I should have just taken him after the first shot.

E
xcitement ran through me at the realization that I didn’t have to hold back any longer. I brought my hand to my hip and stared directly at the sorcerer. I was beginning to feel like myself again.

“Is that all you
’ve got?” I quipped.

Logan eyed me and then to
ok a step in front of me, blocking me. “It’s me you want, take me.”

Now my excitement turned to anger. What was Logan doing? I could handle this. We could handle this. I didn’t need him stepping in, sacrificing himself any chance he got.

“That’s what I thought,” the sorcerer replied coolly, gliding toward Logan.

The sorcerer stood in front of Logan, eyeing him cautiously
as the other
Praedivinus
members gathered around us.

Logan grimaced slightly
, and I followed his gaze to one of the sorcerers standing in line. Logan’s jaw tightened as his pain level increased, but he refused to give in. If from where I stood, I took out the sorcerer causing the pain the element of surprise would be lost.

“So you’re part of the
Venators
?” I asked, as the tall sorcerer reached for Logan’s arm. He twisted it behind Logan and pushed him to the ground. This wasn’t like Logan. Why wasn’t he putting up a fight? Was the pain that bad?

The sorcerer
pressed his foot into Logan’s spine, and I watched Logan fall from his knees. Something wasn’t right.

“Make his veins burn!” One of the
sorcerers yelled.

“Make him beg for the girl!” Another one replied.

I watched two sorcerers begin to move toward me, but the sorcerer held up his fist, motioning for the sorcerers to stop.

“Not yet,”
he commanded. “Wait for my signal. Always wait for my signal.”

The sorcerer
glared at me, and I dropped my stare to the woodland floor, realizing this was my chance. I took a step forward and quickly grabbed the sorcerer’s arm.

Logan threw me a warning look that I
pretended not to see. How did this not register before? I was standing on one of the most flammable ground covers in existence — we all were. If I could get it ignited we would have a shot at getting out of here.

But first I had to repay the favor of almost getting burned alive.
I felt the coldness of the metal release from my fingertips as I watched him fall to the ground in agony, releasing Logan on the way down. The silver began draining from my hands, wrapping around the sorcerer’s arm, solidifying the fabric of his cloak. It would be less than a second before it hit the rest of his flesh.

I tightened my grip and watched the metal spread down to his fingers, making them inoperable.
The feeling of power ripped through my body as I watched the sorcerer’s eyes plead with me to stop, but I didn’t. We couldn’t afford to have him or any of them on the loose.

“Why aren’t you guys helping your friend here?” I barked, looking up briefly. “Not a very impressive brotherhood.”

I shook my head and watched as the process took hold, and the sorcerer took his last breath. I did it, and I felt horrible about it. Regardless of the excitement or power I thought I felt rushing through my body, the truth of the matter was that I wasn’t cut out to take lives, yet I was being forced to make those decisions. My stomach was twisting in knots, and I couldn’t stop staring at the tipped over statue that I had created out of a once living human being.

I heard mutter
ing from the group of sorcerers, and before I could figure out what they were saying the night sky was lit up overhead. A beautiful array of colors dashed across the darkened backdrop. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this new development was worrying me. If this was a spell that I had to thwart, I wasn’t sure I could manage with or without Logan’s help.

“Babe, it’s gonna be okay,” Logan murmured in my ear. He wrapped his fingers around my hand and pulled me close to him.
“It’s a message to the fairies.”

I
looked up at him bewildered and he pointed toward the group of sorcerers.

The first one walked over
to me and knelt down, followed by the next and the next. There were eight sorcerers suddenly at my feet, bowing their heads at me. I couldn’t fathom what was producing this type of reaction.

Logan
squeezed my hand, but I couldn’t squeeze it back. I was too confused.

One cloaked figure remained
in the distance, with his arms raised to the sky, humming with a beauty that didn’t sound anything like the eerie chants I so often recognized with the
Praedivinus
order. I watched as his hands directed the lightshow, with a flick of a wrist or lead of a finger.

“We’re here t
o serve you however you need,” one of the sorcerers whispered, keeping his head down.

Right. Like I want this crew on my side. They can’t even figure out
whose side they’re on.

I watched the cloaked figure bring his hands back to his sides and turn toward me. My body flinched as I worried that he was about to pull his firework show on me. The heat began running through my
fingers as I thought about where to start tossing the flames. The hood shielded the sorcerer’s face so I couldn’t tell where he was looking, which put me at a disadvantage.

“No need for that,” Logan whispered.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered back to Logan, looking deep into his eyes searching for any answer he might give me.

Th
e sorcerer began walking slowly toward me and my body stiffened regardless of what Logan wanted me to believe.

I gasped
as I recognized the familiar features that lurked in the shadows from the sorcerer’s hood. How could this be?

“The fairies set me up!” I fell into the beanbag chair.

“They’re determined littl
e buggers.” Logan grinned at me and sat near me on the yurt’s floor.

“
Especially Bakula,” Trevor replied softly, not looking up. He’d obviously heard of her capture too. He was standing in the kitchen, heating water. The rest of the sorcerers were outside. Even though our yurt was spacious, it wouldn’t be roomy if we tried to fit eleven people inside.

“
I can’t believe I fell for it. I mean she did tell us that the only people who would find us would be sent by the fairies, but I went completely into panic mode.”

“She had this entire thing planned for days.
Bakula wanted to make sure you felt confident in your abilities, and she knew if she delivered someone who deserved to be…”

“And he did,” I interjected, but still completely relieved I didn’t have nine other sorcerers who met the same fate.

“Target practice,” Trevor continued, “so that you’d be ready for what was ahead.”

“How long did you know about it?” I shot Logan a scowl.

“Not that long at all,” he laughed innocently, throwing his hands in the air. “I caught a glimpse of Trevor in the back and realized that Bakula was delivering us a gift, along with lots of protection in case something went wrong.”

“How
did you know that Trevor was on our side and not the other side?” I asked Logan. “Nothing personal Trevor.”

“No
, I get it,” Trevor replied, shaking his head. “It’s my fault you’re suspicious of me in the first place.”

“
You know that moment I looked like I was in pain?”

I nodded.

“Well, I was. Trevor was feeding me the plan using a pretty primitive method.”

“Why do I think you enjoyed that?” I furrowed my brow at Trevor.

“Nonetheless, it worked,” Trevor replied innocently. “By the way you really took that charge from Ryan well.”

“Ryan? That was his name?” I
grimaced at connecting a name with the monster I killed. It was better to keep him as a nameless animal. “Thanks, I guess.”

“It was really impressive. I don’t think I would’ve been able to bounce back so
well. Don’t you think it was pretty incredible?” he asked Logan.

“Yeah, it was.
So I think we should head out tomorrow morning. I think she’s ready and can keep practicing when we get back.” Logan was definitely attempting to change the subject.

“I think it’s pretty sweet that you’re a
Caneo
witch,” Trevor continued.

The energy in the room shifted completely
, and I glanced at Logan who was suddenly studying the weave in the carpet.

“Not to worry. Bakula and Dace told me you carried a special skill. They just didn’t tell me what.” Trevor leaned back in the chair, proud of what information he was able to glom onto.
“But now I know.”

I guess having Trevor think
I was only a
Caneo
was probably a good diversion.

At least I didn’t whip out the flames and
also tell him what he was going to have for breakfast tomorrow or what he had for dinner the night before. Shoot! I really did know that stuff. I was kind of starting to scare myself.

I looked over at Trevor, but a
n image of Lara staring at me flashed through my mind. I looked away quickly as I tried to flush out what I was seeing. Lara and I were in a grey, empty room, and she started laughing at me. Why would we be in a room together? What are these images telling me or was it just my exhaustion and imagination getting the better of me?

I glanced nervously at Logan as I tried to shake the images,
worried he might catch on that something was happening inside of me, but he was concentrating more on diverting Trevor’s attention.

The images were incessant
as I felt trapped in my mind, witnessing events unfold that may or may not be true. I didn’t know how to control what was happening. Then I saw Bakula stuck in a glass box, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with my encounter with Lara or maybe it did. Everything was far too convoluted to know. I was sure at some point I’d be able to separate events, but I wasn’t there yet, and this was pure frustration.

Logan looked over at me concerned, narrowing his eyes at me
, and I nodded quickly. He knew what I needed, which was sleep.

“I think Triss is pretty
exhausted,” Logan said.

“So we’ll get off the mountain tomorrow,” Trevor offered, as he stood up and stretched. “I’ll let you guys get some sleep.
I’ll be out there with everyone else.”

“
Truthfully, I feel like leaving right now. I want to get Bakula back,” I replied, placing my hand on Logan’s shoulder.

“We can’t get sidetracked. There’s so
much going on,” Trevor started to object.

“But we can’t just forget about her,” I protested.

My stomach began turning in knots at the thought of her being taunted or
tortured for information. I had no idea what they could do to her, but I was sure Eben and Lara would have plenty of options. And the thought of her trapped in a tiny glass box only made me feel worse.

“What was that?” I heard one of the sorcerers whispe
r outside the yurt.

Trevor
and Logan looked at each other and bolted toward the door. Following right behind them, I watched as the sorcerers lit up the grounds in front of the yurt only to discover a family of raccoons hissing at them.

With the stress of everything that had built up for the last few days all I could
do was laugh. And the laughter wouldn’t stop as I had ten very serious sorcerers turn to glare at me, Logan included.

“I’m sorr
y, guys. It’s pretty funny.” I walked back into the yurt with Logan following right behind me.