Scornful Sadie (Dark Sorceress Trilogy Book 1) (3 page)

Tessi appeared beside me, using a magically enhanced gps of the map we had at home to track the activity of the spirit connected with Eric’s ashes. “We need to go north.”

After three steps, I quickly cast the spell to silence my feet and instructed them to do the same. “Everything will be ruined if we’re heard. No talking,” I hissed.

They nodded, the picking and bickering from earlier replaced with sincerity. We trekked through the area, following the careful laid outline from the screen. Through the weeds and sand we went, all three in a line as we surveyed our surroundings. The device showed we were close, so we slowed to keep our breathing from being too loud and simply watched for whatever it was we were tracking to reveal itself.

Melody leaned in, lips almost touching my ears, and whispered, “It’s fae. Water fae. I can feel it.”

A woman appeared before us, a shimmering pool of moon-reflected water shaping into her body, then her features. She was tall and blonde and focused directly on us. She held her hands in front of her, sending icicles straight toward us. Mel reacted, creating a wall of ice in front of us to shield our bodies. I motioned to Tessi to follow me and we backed away, allowing Mel to do her thing.

Both of them released the ice. It fell in waves of water as it sunk into the sand. Mel was quick, creating a rainstorm so thick and enclosed around the fae that it would have drowned a normal person. She counteracted, waves washing over and soaking Mel’s body, but Mel held strong. Soon both were nothing but a mixture of magic and water.

Tessi dug through her sack, pulling potions and charms out only to toss them back in and go for another. I didn’t know what she was doing, and didn’t really care, because the fae disappeared.

Running to Mel’s side, I checked her over. “You ok?”

She nodded. “She’s still here,” she said breathlessly.

A wave grew in the ocean, headed for us. It was larger than any wave I’d ever seen, at least fifty feet in the air, and I knew it was meant to hurt us. A voice called from it, laughing and mocking us.

“She is the water,” Tessi said beside us. “I can douse her with this,” she said, shaking a small jar. “And it’ll eliminate her ability for five minutes.”

Glancing back at the giant sea swell coming at us, I said, “Then we wait.”

This wasn’t the first time a fae endangered my life. There was the earth fae, Shanna, who attempted to swallow me whole with a crater the size of the United States she created at my feet. Luckily, I was quick on my feet and conjured a rope to pull me out before she could fill the hole. The fire fae, Duke, was the worst, though. I thought ahead and had a fire-proof bubble around my body, so his attempts at throwing flames were futile, but he was relentless. For six hours we fought. Over and over I had to strengthen the spell to ensure I didn’t meet my fiery end.

And now I was facing a water fae. It wasn’t my first, but it was my first near a large body of water.

It was a bit alarming.

The waves crashed around our feet, the tsunami gaining speed. Shifting my eyes to Tessi, I caught her gaze and nodded. Looking to Mel, I mouthed “now.”

Tessi threw the potion, using her magic to spray it along the length of the swell, while I threw my hands up to freeze the fae. Mel took control of the water, sending it back to the ocean with a loud crash. While I held the fae steady, Tessi balled her fist in the air, sending the potion to concentrate on the fae. Once she was subdued, we moved closer.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

She snarled. “Like I’ll tell you anything.”

Mel conjured a fountain of water, spraying it at her stomach so she doubled over. “Will you now?”

She shook her head, so Mel doubled the amount and speed.

Tessi continued to dig through her bag, looking for who knew what, and I got in the fae’s face. “What’s your name?”

She peered up and smirked. “Doesn’t matter. You’re going to kill me, Sadie Tabors.”

The fact that she knew my name wasn’t surprising. The evil beings of the supernatural world liked to talk, and my name was a hot topic, but the way she said it had me questioning what more was going on.

“Let’s lock her up,” I said. The uneasiness in my stomach told me not to get rid of her just yet.

“What?” Mel screamed. “No!”

“Yes,” I said sternly. Turning to Tessi, I asked, “Do you have anything to bind her?”

She nodded, going to work while I continued to hold her limbs frozen in place. We had her bound, magically and physically, in record time and were soon traipsing back to the car.

The fae was silent for most of the walk, until she suddenly stopped a few feet from my vehicle. Manically grinning, she said, “He says thank you for allowing him to learn your whereabouts, and he’ll see you soon.”

My eyes widened as I prepared to respond when she disappeared before our eyes.

Why was one of my roommates hammering so early in the morning? The pounding thrummed in my head, pulling me from my restless sleep. Sitting up in bed, I glanced at the clock and groaned at the early hour of seven a.m.

Whichever one it was, I was gonna kill them.

After such a late night out, followed by hours of theories and questions, we’d all finally passed out around four. The water fae’s disappearance was perplexing, but her vague warning had me concerned.  Who was
he
? And why did he want to know where I was?

The pounding continued, so I tumbled to the floor and dragged my feet to the door. Swinging it open, I glared into Tessi’s eyes. “What?”

Figures it would be her. She was always the perky one.

“Something appeared for you just now.”

Yawning, I scratched the top of my arm. “Huh?”

“Come on.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her.

In the kitchen, she stopped short at the doorway, and though I couldn’t see into the room, the glow it emitted was blinding. She dropped my hand and stepped to the side, allowing me entrance.

“What in the world?” I muttered. Squinting, I stumbled forward and reached for the object producing the glare, an envelope the size of a greeting card. I shook my head in disbelief and snatched it up.

The light stopped, much to my eyeballs’ relief. Blinking several times to get my eyesight under control, I nearly stopped breathing when I saw the handwriting on the outside.

To my little sister.

Scott’s scribble graced the envelope and my chest tightened. “How did you know this was mine?” I asked, turning to Tessi.

“I was in here fixing coffee and turned for a moment when it appeared. It was seriously only normal for about five seconds before it started glowing, but I saw it and knew it had to be yours.”

She and Melody were the oldest in their families, eliminating them from the pool based on his words. I nodded in understanding.

“You gonna open it?” she asked.

My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted to, yes, but how had he found me? I’d cloaked myself for years, determined to stay away and forget everything that happened. Opening this letter would make it even more real, and would probably put me in contact with him.

How was he? Were he and Liv married yet? Did they miss me as much as I missed them? The questions raced through my mind and tears threatened to spill, but I refused to let my emotions get the best of me. “Later,” I said, tossing it on the table. “Got any food cooked?”

She shook her head. “I’m dead right now. I don’t even know why I’m up.”

“Me neither,” I chuckled. Walking to the counter, I opened the cabinet, grabbed a cup, and poured myself some coffee. The bitter taste of caffeine filled my mouth, warming me from the inside out. Once I was halfway awake and functioning properly, I whipped up a bowl of oatmeal.

I could have magically conjured it, but I preferred the real thing. The magic left a residue, making most foods taste odd to me. Sitting at the table, I nodded to Tessi when she left to go back to sleep and sat staring a hole in the envelope while I ate.

If he’d put a tracking spell on it, he would have shown up by now. It must have meant he’d found some other way for it to find me.

Once my bowl was empty and my thoughts were jumbled, I’d decided I would open it out of morbid curiosity. Taking it back to my room, I sat cross-legged on my bed and ripped into it.

Taking out the folded white paper, I closed my eyes as a tear fell down my cheek and landed on the edge of my lips. I licked the salty wetness away and dried my face. Sniffling, I opened my eyes and peeled the letter open.

“We miss you. –Scott”

I turned it over and searched for more, but this was it. I read it again, tracing my fingers over the words and fighting the oncoming breakdown. Lying back on my pillow, I stretched my legs out and held the letter to my chest.

“Sadie,” she said. I hadn’t heard her arrive.

Peeling my eyes open, I choked back a sob. “Grandma?”

“Sadie,” she said, eyes filling with tears. “My Sadie.” She held her arms open wide and I ran to her, wrapping my own tightly around her. “I’ve missed you, my girl.”

The dam broke and flooded her shirt. I wept for the years I was gone, for the pain I’d felt, for everything that had happened. We stood there sharing our grief for minutes that felt like hours.

I finally pulled away, wiping my snotty nose on the edge of my shirt. “How did you find me?”

“Scottie placed a tracking spell on the letter. He knew the envelope was too obvious.” She grinned. Her blue eyes danced with joy as I guided her to sit on my bed. “We knew you didn’t want us to find you, but we’ve been searching since you left.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Being around Grandma ripped my heart wide open and my emotions were all over the place. “I needed to get away.”

“For five years?” she questioned. “Sadie, please, explain this to me. Your parents, your brothers, me, Liv, your friends…we’ve all missed you and searched for you. Help me understand.”

Picking at my thumbnail, I bit my bottom lip and looked down at my lap. Shifting uneasily, I peered up at her. “It’s a long story.”

“I have all the time in the world for you,” she grinned. She looked younger, happier, than the last time I’d seen her. When living in Loudon Heights, she’d dyed her hair to appear older. I guessed that wasn’t something she needed to do since joining the council, because now it shone in rich brown tones that mimicked my own.

“I couldn’t handle it,” I admitted. I wasn’t proud of it, but it was the truth. I couldn’t lie to her. “Losing you and…everything else that happened was too much. I wanted to rid the world of the evils like Harlow, so I set out to do that.”

She grinned. “I’ve heard of the vigilante sorceress traveling the states and knew it was you, Sadie. I just knew it. I’m so proud of you.” She took my hand in hers and squeezed. “But you didn’t lose me. I visit every week.”

“It wasn’t going to be the same,” I countered. “I wasn’t ready to be on my own. I needed you.”

She shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”

She was probably right. I’d been practicing with her since I was a young girl, before I was even a teenager, and my skill was beginning to exceed hers all those years ago.

“Sadie, we want you to come home,” she said. She stood, walking to my window and pulling back the sheet hanging as a curtain. “Why Charleston? Is it because of the fight? Of Devlin?”