The Book of Lost Souls (6 page)

“What is it?” Bane asked. “Ivy, are you okay?”

She hadn’t noticed the others had left the golf cart and gathered around her.
 

“Y-yes.” She stood and rubbed her arm as though trying to remove a spider web. “I think so.”

Raven went to open the book. “Don’t touch it!” Ivy shouted, grabbing Raven and pulling her back. “There’s something not right about it.”
 

“It really is a strange place to be reading books,” Shayde said.

“Especially a cookbook,” Gareth added.

Shayde’s face took on the worried appearance Ivy knew so well. “I’m afraid to ask what someone would be doing with such a book.” She exchanged nervous glances with the rest of the group.
 

“Unless Gareth is right and we’ve got a cannibal zombie, maybe they’re practicing black magic?” Bane asked.
 

Ivy nodded. “Yeah, this is pretty heavy black magic stuff. So, yeah, I think someone could be practicing up here. And there’s something else. Something much worse.”

“What?” Shayde asked, her brow deeply furrowed.

Ivy gave the ribbon another pensive glance, then turned to face her friends. “There’s a third book, and it’s missing.”

CHAPTER 7

“There’s a
third
book?” Shayde asked, accepting a cup of hot chocolate from Raven. “Is it another one on black magic?”
 

“I think so,” Ivy sighed.
 

Bane scratched his head. “How do you know there’s a missing book and that it’s worse than that one?” He nodded toward the books Ivy had brought back from the cemetery.

Each of them stared at the books sitting on the coffee table as though they were a pile of rattlesnakes. Ivy supposed that in a way, one of them was about as dangerous. Bane had asked that she put them in the trailer instead of carrying them on her lap during their return trip from the cemetery, a request she had been happy to oblige.
 

“I think these were deliberately left behind,” Ivy said. “I know it sounds weird, but someone buried the books in Mr. Laughton’s grave.”

Gareth frowned. “Someone hid them in a grave? From who?”

“Good question,” Bane said. “They even went to the trouble of putting a different book jacket on one of them in the hopes of disguising it in case someone found them.”

“That’s lame,” Raven said.
 

“Not if they left them there in a hurry,” Shayde said, taking a seat. The color in her face drained. “Ivy, you don’t think...that book couldn’t possibly…”

Ivy ran a hand over the book on magical gardening. Touching the other one gave her the creeps. “I don’t know. He left without a word.”
 

“Your
dad
?” Raven said, clearly surprised. “You think your dad buried them?”

Bane rested a hand on Raven’s shoulder. “He was the last person to see Helen Skinner alive before her house burned down. Well, every part of it except the library.”

“Helen Skinner?” Gareth asked.

“A black magic practitioner who lived here years ago,” Shayde replied.

 
Bane nodded. “It wasn’t exactly a secret that Skinner had written a couple of the darkest books ever known to our world. She made no bones about it that she had them in her house, protected by spells. After the fire, the Council searched, but no one has ever found them. Ivy’s dad disappeared right when the books did. The book Ivy found today is probably one of Skinner’s lost books.”

Ivy stared at the books, suddenly feeling all the pain, all the embarrassment surrounding her father’s disappearance come rushing back. The Council had questioned Ivy and her mother about her father’s behavior, his whereabouts, and possible involvement surrounding Skinner’s death.
 

Eventually, the questions stopped. For a while afterward, everyone watched Ivy and her mom more closely.

“Someone buried the books, then dug them up,” Ivy said. “They went to a lot of trouble to hide them, which makes me think the person who buried them wasn’t the one who dug them up. Question is, who left them behind the tree for us to find?”

“You’re over thinking this,” Bane said. “We probably just didn’t see them when we went after Spike.”

“Give the books to your mom,” Shayde said softly. “See what she says.”

Ivy considered it, and maybe she
would
ask her mother later. “I thought about that. It’s just that once I give Mom the books, she’ll have to give them to the Council. And then the Council will start to wonder if I’ve used any of the spells in it since I’ve already broken some rules in changing Spike. Everyone will start talking, saying that I’m turning into a dark witch and that I’m just like him.”

Ivy looked away from her friends, not wanting to catch their eyes or see the sympathy in them.

Gareth ran a hand along the edge of the table, careful not to touch the books. “But, he’s been gone for so long. No one has been able to find him, not even a trace. If he was using the books—”
 

“
Gareth!”
Raven hissed in warning.

“I’m just saying that maybe everyone’s got it wrong. Maybe Ivy’s dad is part of some secret Kindred organization.”

“You watch too many spy movies, Gareth,” Raven said, slugging her brother in the chest. “Her dad is long gone, he’s rogue. There isn’t some stupid secret organization. Someone
here
, in Northwick, is behind this. So just shut the hell up, okay?”

“But, who? It isn’t like there’s a bunch of secrets in this town,” Gareth protested. “Well, aside from Uncle Lucas’s bone fetish. And even then, I bet a lot of people knew about that and just never said anything. I mean, the whole town’s population is barely a few thousand.”

“Maybe it’s a Regular,” Bane said.

Shayde looked puzzled. “Why would a Regular bury spell books?”

“They might if they were afraid,” Ivy said. “If they didn’t trust—”

“The Moray effect,” Raven cut in. “So, it
could
have been a regular.”

Gareth slid off the coffin, fidgeting with his iPod. “
Amore defect?
I don’t get it.”

“Pay attention! It’s
Moray
, moron!” Raven rolled her eyes. “As in how lobsters hang out with Moray eels, which keep other predators away. Don’t you ever listen to Mom and Dad’s conversations when they think we’re not listening?”

Gareth seemed more puzzled than ever.

Shayde seemed complacent enough to explain. “The Regulars think Northwick has stayed a small town and has had virtually no crime because of the high number of Kindreds living here. So, they ignore that we’re Kindred, and we don’t eat them or use them in place of eye of newt.”
 

Bane clapped a hand on Gareth’s shoulder. “We’re the Moray and they’re the lobsters. Hence, the Moray effect.”
 

“Why does everyone else know this stuff?” Gareth asked.

“Don’t you ever wonder why there are so many graves in the old section? Haven’t you ever read the dates on some of them? I swear, don’t you ever notice these things?” Raven asked her brother sarcastically.
 

Gareth simply shook his head. “Uh,
nooo
. They’re dead.”

“Northwick had its own version of the Civil War,” Bane said. “The Regulars hunted down Kindreds in an attempt to exterminate anyone supernatural. We fought back. Long story short, there was a treaty. We protect them, they keep us a secret.”
 

“We’re all a secret as long as they feel safe. As long as they feel safe from us. But, if one of them knew where the books were, they’d go to any lengths to keep them away from all Kindreds,” Ivy said. She thought Bane did a pretty good job of summing things up. There was a lot more to it. For starters, how the townsfolk didn’t care much for strangers, and somehow, the synergy between Regulars and Kindreds in Northwick kept the majority of strangers away. It was why a small New England town was the perfect place for anyone supernatural to live completely undetected from the outside world.

“Cool,” Gareth said. “Is that why we don’t drink from the living?” he asked Raven. “A treaty?”

Raven put her mug aside, and strode over to where Ivy sat and picked up the book on magic gardening. “You’re fourteen, Gareth. Sort of. So, technically, you aren’t old enough to drink from the living, even if there weren’t such a treaty.”
 

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. No underage drinking before I turn two hundred or something equally moronic,” Gareth said.
 

Raven ignored her brother as she paged through the book. “I don’t see what’s so evil about gardening. Why was this book with the others?”

Ivy frowned. She’d wondered the same thing. “No idea.”

Bane shrugged. “Anyone new in town? Anyone acting weird?”

“Like out of character weird?” Gareth snickered. “
Besides
Ivy? Oh, Spike? Where for art thou, Spike?”

“That’s almost funny, coming from a vampire who drinks blood from cadavers,” Ivy retorted. “I think you forgot to check for formaldehyde.”
 

Gareth gave her a halfhearted glare. He started to say something, but a horn honked outside.

“Play nice, kiddies,” Bane said. “Gotta go, my ride’s here.” He snagged his duffle bag from the parlor floor. “Sure you don’t want to step outside, Ives? Dean’s here.”
 

She glowered at him, trying to appear hateful. But inside, she felt panicked. She tossed her jacket onto the table to conceal the books.

The door to the parlor opened and Dean, Tara, and a couple of the football players walked in. Tara, naturally, entered first. Some of the guys hung back, closer to the door. The funeral home probably gave the little creeps the creeps, Ivy thought.

“Hi Shayde, Raven... Ivy.” Tara strutted in, wearing tight-fitting pants and a cashmere sweater.
 

Of course, her hair and makeup were perfect as always. It was sickening, really.

“Returning to the scene, Ivy? Looking for another suitable date? Dig anything up?”

“Just your gravesite, Tara. Nice and shallow, just like you,” Ivy retaliated.

Ivy caught the slightest glimpse of a smile from Dean.
 

Tara glared at her, then spun on her boot heel. “Lizard breath,” she murmured.
 

Ivy stepped forward, ready to turn Tara into a slug, and Shayde grabbed her arm. “So not worth it, Ivy. You’re in enough trouble.”

“Are you guys coming?” Tara huffed at the team members. “By the way, Ivy, your socks don’t match.” She stormed out the door and suddenly tripped over the threshold. She stumbled for a brief second, then regained her composure.
 

Shayde looked at Ivy questioningly.
 

“What?” Ivy whispered. She hadn’t done anything.

Dean glanced over his shoulder and winked as he and the others left. Ivy watched him leave, her heart pounding happily.

“
Ivy!”
Shayde accused.

“
What?”
she repeated, suddenly feeling like she’d been reeled in from fantasyland.

“Did you make her trip?” Raven asked. “Pretty slick.”

Ivy shook her head. “I didn’t, I swear.”

“Did I miss something?” Nick Marcelli asked with a glint in his eye. Ivy never saw him come in, but figured he’d been part of the group hanging back at the door. He looked good in his black hiking boots and black jacket. Nick glanced at Ivy’s mug sitting on an end table. “Mmm. Hot chocolate.” He took a sip and winked at Ivy. “Delicious. Worth the trip over here for that alone.”
 

Everyone eyed Nick suspiciously.

“Did you see Tara’s ballerina act?” Ivy asked.

Nick shrugged. “Yeah, I saw her. She just left with her poser of a boyfriend. What about her and a ballerina act?”

“She lost her balance,” Ivy said. “You didn’t see that?”

 
“Hmmm. No. What happened? Someone deflate her boobs, or her ego?” He tapped his forehead. “I forgot. They’re one and the same.”

Shayde, Raven, and Gareth burst into laughter.
 

Ivy wanted to smile and the corners of her mouth broke into a grin before she tamped it down. “How long have you been here, Nick?”
 

“Not long.”

“
Why
are you here?” Ivy pushed her mug away. She remembered the way he’d stared at her last night. He probably wanted to know why she’d thought so badly of him, turning him down only to create her own date. She couldn’t blame him. Well, except for one thing—why was he talking to her at all?

“I left something here last night. Came back to get it, that’s all.” He wandered over to the coat rack and removed the hat he’d worn from one of the hooks. He bumped the table and Ivy’s jacket as he walked past, revealing the edge of one of the books.

“I was just going,” Ivy said, rushing forward to scoop up the books and her jacket.

Nick was faster. He blocked Ivy’s path. She tried to reach around him, but he lifted her jacket and stared at the books.
The Rise of the Dark Curse
sat on top. Nick’s jaw hung slightly ajar. He reached for it, then quickly withdrew his hand. He frowned and spun around to face her.

She could have been mistaken, but for a second, recognition flashed in Nick’s eyes.

He knows about the book!
 

Ivy arched an eyebrow at him.
 

Nick mustered an uneasy smile, and Nick was
never
nervous. “Hey, did you ever find Spike or is he still terrorizing the insect population?”

Gareth sighed. “No. He’s out there, lost, homeless. We should go find him. What if he eats a poisoned bug? I’m really worried.”

“He’s still missing, and he’s still dressed like Romeo,” Ivy said. “And how did you know?”
 

“
Everyone
knows. You’re not...” he looked at the books.

“No!” Ivy snapped. This is where everything got worse. Nick would tell someone he saw her with the books. “Those aren’t mine. I found them. Today.”
 

Nick’s lip twitched, turning into a smile. “I meant, you’re really not a lizard lover like everyone says, are you?”

“Go to hell, Marcelli.”

“I’m not that kind of demon.” He nodded toward the books again. “We’re cool, okay?”