Tethered 02 - Conjure (3 page)

I woke to sunlight streaming through my bedroom window and voices meeting my ears from downstairs. Lying in bed with my eyes still closed, I struggled to remember how I’d gotten there in the first place and why there were people in my house. It took a while for my brain to wake up, but when it did, I jackknifed in bed, breathing hard as everything from the night before rushed back to me—images of the creature sucking my life and magick from me, Binks nearly dying, jumping off the cliff…Theo.

A tinkling laugh drifted upstairs and into my room. It pulled me from my thoughts and forced me to remember who was in my house and why.
Adam and Callie
. Slipping out of bed, I padded out of my room and down the hall to relieve my swollen bladder and clean myself up a bit before anyone saw me.

“Morning,” Callie called to me in that soft, sweet voice of hers from somewhere in the living room as I descended the stairs slowly.

My entire body hurt. It hurt worse than the last time I’d had the flu. Worse than the morning after the time Vera signed me and her up for a kickboxing class a few months ago because she thought the instructor was hot. We’d worked out on overdrive so she could gain his attention. It had worked, but the guy hadn’t lasted long before she’d gotten bored and dumped him.

I smiled at Callie as I entered the living room. “Morning.”

“How did you sleep?” Kace asked from where he sat, stretched out in the recliner.

“Like a baby, oddly enough. What about you? What time did you get up?” I asked as I strode over to sit on the arm of his chair.

Who was I kidding? I hadn’t even remembered him coming to bed. For all I knew, he’d stayed up all night.

“Around twelve or so,” Kace answered. His arm slid around my waist, and I felt the familiar sweep of warmth coast through me from his touch.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Almost one,” Adam sneered over the rim of his coffee cup. I recognized the emblem of Paisley’s on the outside of it. “When you sleep in, you really sleep in, don’t you? We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for hours now.”

“Give her a break, Adam, geez!” Callie scolded. She smacked him in the ribs. “She was attacked last night for crying out loud.”

“I know, I know…I’m just teasing.” He chuckled as he rubbed where she’d hit him, acting as though it had hurt. “Seriously though, we’ve been here a while. Kace was able to tell us everything that happened while you got your beauty sleep, so we’re all caught up.”

“Good,” I said as I shifted to tuck one leg beneath me. “Now, what do we do from here? Did you guys decide on a plan or anything to figure out what it was or who sent it?”

That sounded like something I should say, right? In situations like this, didn’t someone always come up with a plan?

Silence was my answer for the longest time. Either no one knew what we should do first, or they had all decided on a course of action I might not like. An empty feeling entered the pit of my stomach while the silence dragged out and I waited for someone to speak. Anyone.

“Well, we’ve sort of all come to the same conclusion,” Kace muttered. His hand left my waist to slide over the back of his neck.

“And?” I prompted, my eyes boring a hole into him as I waited.

“We need to become initiated…” He dragged the words out, making it almost sound like a question instead of a statement.

Initiated?
Holy hell.

“Isn’t that a little drastic? I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.” I panicked. Whether it was the pressure of becoming initiated or the events from the night before, suddenly everything felt like too much. I rubbed my forehead with my fingertips. “All this—the magick, the house, the whole town—it all feels like I’ve finally found the missing puzzle pieces to myself, like now I can see the whole picture, the whole me, but it’s all too overwhelming.” And the initiation mention was just the icing on the cake, but I didn’t say that aloud.

Silence descended upon the room again before Callie finally filled it.

“Having our magick would solve everything,” Callie said softly. “It solves both potential problems. If it’s another Elemental doing this to you because they’re jealous of us being on the verge of getting our magick, then becoming initiated ends that. And if it’s the Van Rooyens trying to scare you away so they can keep the deal they’ve set in place with our parents, well then…an initiation ends that as well.”

My pulse raced. What she said was true. It made sense—perfect sense—but that was what scared me. Becoming initiated seemed so final. Didn’t they realize that? If I chose to do this, then it meant I would have to stay in Soul Harbor—forever—if they ever wanted to use their magick. If
I
ever wanted to use my magick as well.

Another thought burst through the thick forest of worries in my mind: would the initiation even work now that I was tethered to Theo? I didn’t know. This was another question I needed to ask him, if I ever got a chance.

“Wouldn’t it just make whoever it is more vengeful?” I questioned. “And that would mean I’d have to stay here, in Soul Harbor, too, right?” Every word that flowed from between my lips seemed thick and bitter tasting with nerves.

“Even if going through with the initiation did make whoever it is more vengeful, it wouldn’t matter, because we could create our own protection spells to cover each of us at all times,” Kace said. “As far as you staying in Soul Harbor, yeah, if you wanted to use your magick you’d have to.” He didn’t look at me when he said his final words.

I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how. Week one of being in this town I’d found out I had magick, got a job where my boss seemed to know an awful lot about me and yet never disclosed anything about it, and had made a serious enemy who wanted me out gone at all costs apparently.

Week two looked like I was going to have to sign my fate away and stay in this town forever.

Rubbing my forehead, I silently wondered if this was how my mother had felt. Had she felt trapped here, too? Was that why she’d left and given me up for adoption instead of just taking me away from here and creating that spell? Maybe she’d wanted a complete redo. If this was the pressure she’d felt, then I didn’t blame her.

“You don’t have to decide on it right this second or anything, but I’d say if you’re not planning on leaving anytime soon, it’s something to consider,” Adam said.

Could I leave? For whatever reason, I hadn’t thought of that yet. Binks strolled into the room and found me. He hopped into my lap, his nails digging into my thigh to secure his grip. I winced, but didn’t push him down. As I scratched behind his ears, I thought of all my options. I could leave, sell the house, and keep Binks. This would fix all problems as well—at least for me.

While I pondered this idea, Kace slid his arm back around my waist and warm sparks shot through me from his touch.

Could I give that up?

I would never feel the same with another guy again. No relationship after this would even hold a candle to this one.

Theo popped into my mind then, and I wondered if being tethered to him would even allow me to leave. I needed more time. There was so much I was just on the verge of uncovering.

“I need a little while to think things through,” I finally said. The mood in the room shifted as though I had given them the closest thing to a yes as possible. As though I’d given them all hope. “Everything has just been…too much lately.”

Callie elbowed Adam in the side. “See, I told you everyone had it right when they said we needed to hold off on all the introductions,” she muttered through her teeth.

“What introductions?” I asked.

Callie’s blue eyes widened. “Oh, well, umm…you know what it means for us to have you here to balance us out. Our parents were all thrilled when we told them you’d finally come to town, but they didn’t want to bombard you with introductions right away. They wanted you to get settled in, but when Kace told them he didn’t think you knew who you were—
what
you were—they all agreed it would be best to hold off until you came to realize it.”

“And now, with all of this crazy stuff going on, I can see where they were right. You could have easily fled,” Kace added.

I nodded. “The thought has crossed my mind at least once,” I admitted, even though the thought was still fresh. Binks jumped off my lap and I brushed the fur he’d left behind off my sweatpants. “I guess I just really need to know more about how everything works now.”

“Magick is interesting, isn’t it?” Adam asked with a wide, shit-eating grin. “You’re already addicted to the idea, aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think I’d go that far, but I have to admit, it is intriguing.”

“So let’s set something up tonight with everyone—a dinner or something. That way you can ask all the questions you want in order to grasp the situation better and make an educated decision,” Adam suggested, his shit-eating grin never dwindling. “Deep down though, we all know you’re going to stay. How could a person walk away from actual magick?”

“Gee, you don’t sound power hungry at all.” I frowned at him. “But, a dinner sounds fine by me, if everyone can manage to get together on such short notice.” I was surprised by how calm I sounded. Inside, my stomach was pulsating in my throat.

“Oh, I’m sure they will,” Kace said. His hand that had been splayed across my lower back began to move slowly back and forth in a rubbing motion. The warmth I’d felt intensified and I leaned back against him a little more. “Let’s say we all meet up here at seven?”

“Seven it is,” Adam agreed. He stood and reached out for Callie’s hand. “Let’s go spread the word.”

“See you guys later,” Callie said. “I’m glad you’re all right.” Her blue eyes locked with mine.

“Thanks.” I smiled as Kace and I followed them to the door.

“I should probably head home and grab a change of clothes for tonight and then I’ll be back.” He stretched his arms and yawned. “I’m beat. I don’t see how you slept so great. I was scared shitless that thing was going to come back.”

“I don’t know how either,” I lied. I’d slept so well because I knew nothing Hoodoo could touch me now.

“Do you want to swing by my place with me?” he asked as he stretched some more.

I shook my head. “No, I think I’m going to stay here, make some tea, and eat something.”

“We could stop someplace and get something to eat on the way,” he offered.

I glanced at Binks. I needed to love on him some more. “No, I’m fine. Really. I’ll see you in a few.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “Besides, Binks is here to protect me.”

I nodded in Binks’s direction. He was sitting at the entrance to the living room, watching the two of us. His tail flipped at a slow pace against the hardwood floor as he kept his greenish-yellow eyes directly on us. It was as though he had appointed himself my protector now.

Kace cracked a smile. “You’re in good paws, I guess.”

I chuckled a little at his corny joke. “I am.”

Kace kissed me chastely on the lips before heading out the door. I stepped out onto the front porch to watch as his car backed out of my driveway and started down the road.

Glancing around, once his vehicle was no longer in my view, I took in the beauty of Soul Harbor while inhaling deeply the salty, fresh air. Something from across the street caught my eye. It was as though there were ripples in the landscape of one spot in particular. I blinked and squinted, thinking my vision was messed up, but it still remained.

And then it began to move toward me.