Happy Easter! Here's ANOTHER chapter as an Easter Gift!
Chapter 17
"Well isn't this touching?" A clear voice chimed from the curtained archway leading to the store front.
Amethyst stiffened in Dillan's arms and tried to pull away. "Amber. We weren't expecting you for a while yet."
Dillan held on tightly and turned his head towards the newcomer. "Who are you?"
The woman stepped into the light and revealed that she was holding something. Or rather someone. Her hair was a bright, almost unnatural red hair brushed her shoulders as she moved further into the room. "Amber McCloud. Amethyst called me. Now really, why are you all on the floor. Does it have anything to do with her?"
Shayla dropped not so gently onto the floor to punctuate Amber's question. She was awake but stunned, blinking rapidly as if adjusting to the dim light.
"Yes it does, actually. He attacked and tried to call her to him." Amethyst's eyes held a question.
"She was just lying in the grass when I got here. I'm assuming you weakened whatever spell he was using. The call is still there, but faint."
Dillan tilted his head in confusion. "But we broke the spell on the door. I know we did that."
"That was the majority of the spell, the anchor. Some of the spell was woven into her aura. That little bit is still there. And could be useful." It was the witch still in his arms that answered.
"Problem I'm having is this: He would have needed to touch this door to do this spell. How did he get in here?" Amber posed an excellent question. But the others were not without answers.
"Putting Shayla in the room with Soren was the mistake. He must have pushed his power through her to wake him. He can control Soren completely, but with the spell on him it would only last for mere minutes." This from Dillan.
"Well leave the boy in the room, we'll ward it, then work with her."
Dillan and Amethyst split apart and looked down at Shayla once on their feet.
"Is she okay?" Amethyst's voice was worried.
Amber knelt down and put a finger to her forehead. Once she straightened back up, she answered, "She's fine. Mostly the effects of the compulsion spell. I've overlaid it with a healing charm and put a temporary block in her mind to keep him out. It'll hold for a while."
The two witches who had lain on the floor embracing were now very busy looking anywhere but at each other. "Dillan, why don't you ward Soren's room, and check the spell on him, make sure it's intact. Get whatever you need from the store."
Dillan nodded and jumped to the task a little too quickly than necessary. Amber noticed his eagerness to be away from them.
"Ame, what is going on with him?" The red-head's voice was less business-like and much more friendly once he was out of earshot.
"Nothing! Not a thing!" She flushed bright red as she answered and turned away too late to avoid Amber noticing.
She wisely decided not to comment, but a small chuckle did escape. Her chiming laugh seemed to echo through the building, and a tension between Amethyst's shoulders and in the air itself eased. "Let's go, Ame. We have work to do with this one. Whatever wonky binding you lot attempted nearly shredded part of her aura. Better fixed now, than later."
She nodded quickly and the two set off up the stairs, supporting the stunned woman between them.
)O(
Shayla was alone on a sofa in Amethyst's living room a few hours later. Her body was no longer weak, neither was her magic. Her mind was in a turmoil. Everything had been explained to her by the blonde she'd come to think of as her friend, and the strange redhead named Amber. She could feel the call they'd warned her was her father, but it was nothing at all to ignore it. What she was confused about was the fact that supposedly she wasn't tied to Soren, instead to Lawrence.
Sure, she had a tie to her father's magic, but she couldn't feel his conciousness or soul. But if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could feel Soren, deep in her mind. His magic and body lay mostly dormant, but his mind still worked. The only time she checked to feel him, he was steadily chipping away at the hold Lawrence had on him. He hadn't bothered with the comatose spell laid by them, however.
The blue porcelain tea cup she was sipping an herbal remedy from caught her eye for a second. She permitted herself a long sigh and pushed away the fragmented thoughts that tormented her mind. There wasn't anything she could do with them for now. She closed her eyes and thought of the problem at hand. Neither she, nor her friends would be safe with Lawrence around. She'd also never get Soren back either. Not to mention the man probably killed her mother.
Amethyst and Dillan had never managed to finish the spell to bring out her need for vengeance of her father, so she had to work to bring that anger to the front. But she managed. She was also able to grab all the other thoughts and emotions and lock them into a mental box, locked with a large metaphorical padlock. She focused back on the anger at the front of her mind and mentally poked at it, as if she was stoking a fire.
The angry warmth spilled down her face, her neck, her chest. Eventually it poured down her arms and legs. Shayla opened her eyes and straightened so that she was no longer curled into herself. This Shayla was confident, ruthless and seriously pissed off. This Shayla knew it was time to take action. She dropped the cup delicately onto the low coffee table, the balancing and healing bracelet next to it, and walked quietly out of the room towards the lower floor, the store- And Soren.
)O(
She filched some clothing from a trunk in one of the spare rooms before she stole into Soren's room. She was dressed in a snug, black tank top, loose jeans and sneakers, all which had enough give that she wasn't restricted. Three voice carried into the hall from a door that Shayla assumed was for Amethyst's rituals. She covered herself with a spell to prevent anyone overhearing her and opened Soren's door.
He was very still and pale on the bed. His eyes were still closed and his hair was mussed from sleep. Looking at him allowed one emotion normally denied to slip through. A small piece of her heart, one rarely used, warmed with the beginnings of love. Her fingers slipped through his hair gently fixing it the way he normally wore it. She trailed her fingers down to his cheek and stilled. His skin was cool and clammy beneath hers. Her eyes slipped closed around the tears collected in her lashes.
Her consciousness pushed towards his quickly.
Soren, I know you can't reply. But you can hear me.
I'm going to him. I can't let the rest of you die for me. If I can't do this on my own, then we don't stand a chance anyway. If it all goes well, I swear I'll bring you out of this spelled sleep and love you every day I'm able. I'll be back. Break that link to him if you can.
She pulled back from his mind and walled it away from hers, along with the emotion that was weakening her. There could be no room for anything but this cold, calculating rage. Her lips touched his gently, and she was gone out his window seconds later.
Still cloaked with the silent spell, she ran towards the treeline in the direction of the clearing where they found Soren. She focused on the call that echoed faintly through her mind. The more she focused, the stronger it was, until her body was humming with it. He knew she was coming. But he didn't know what she was thinking, just as much as she couldn't reach his thoughts.
That would be her saving grace. He thought she was coming to serve. The only thing she planned to serve was his head on a platter. Shayla chuckled wildly at the imagery that floated in her mind and increased her pace.
)O(
Three grim faces looked from the sleeping form of Soren to the open window across the room.
"Why didn't we ward her in?" Amber's brow quirked in question.
"I thought we were going to fight together." Amethyst responded, properly chastised.
"Her mind is fractured. If she's let the rage I felt in her mind loose, she's a bomb waiting to go off." Amber again.
"Then we have to find her." Dillan piped up.
"What about Soren?" The blond head turned towards him, then away in embarrassment.
"We'll lay new wards around the room. Shayla is the prize, Lawrence won't come after Soren." Amber was now well informed on what had been going on and had decided that she'd join in the fight.
Once they were all agreed Dillan was left to lay new wards while the women went to pack several things that would come in handy. They gathered spelled crystals, protection charms, healing talismans and a few charms to cause things like fog, heavy rain, things to obscure vision. Neither spoke until they were packing the last of the potions.
"Why didn't you call before now?" Amber's voice trembled as she turned to the other woman. The woman she'd loved completely eleven months before. Her sassy attitude was, as always, gone when she was alone with Amethyst.
"I'm sorry, Amber. I really am." Amethyst placed the last vial in her bag then turned and took Amber's hand in her own. "You knew I'd loved someone before. You knew what he was to me."
"I remember Ame, but you could have called."
"Would it have hurt any less Amber? I didn't love you. I couldn't. I tried hard for months. I care for you, I'll always care for you. But I can't love you." Amber turned her head in denial at Amethyst's words and took her hand back.
"You could've-"
"Amber, please. I want to be close to you. You were my best friend. But I can't keep you close if you can't let go." Tears clung to both women's lashes as they looked at each other with a look that only deep affection and mutual heartache can bring.
Amethyst reached up and ran her hand through Amber's red locks, then stepped closer to her. "Can we please let the past be in the past? End on good terms?"
Their foreheads touched just barely and the redhead nodded in agreement. Amethyst smiled gently and pressed her lips to Amber's in a sweet, but non-romantic way.
"I won't bring it up again. I'm sorry." Amber said the words that were expected of her. She wouldn't have said anything at all if she hadn't been so talented at reading aura's. When the woman walking away from her had been curled into Dillan in the hallway, their auras had been intertwined, almost dancing together. The sign of two halves coming together. Soul Mates.
)O(
Once everything was packed and everyone had pulled themselves together, the three of them were quickly in the woods, following Amber. She was tracking Shayla's magic, so she led the way. The branches and leaves above them seemed to snag their hair at every step. The tree trunks ahead of them seemed to warn them to turn back. No owls hooted, no small creatures crunched leaves beneath their feet while looking for food. It was utterly silent all around them. Every step they took seemed to echo in all directions.
They passed a particularly large tree trunk and the air suddenly seemed to close in, become solid. Their lungs all constricted and left the three of the gasping in tiny amounts of air to keep concious.
"Repulsion. Spell. Tracking. I can't. Fight. It." Amber choked out.
Dillan thought as quickly as his oxygen deprived brain would allow and pulled out three protection amulets. They would repel any trap-type spells. They weren't strong enough to deflect attacking magic, but the booby traps that someone left behind were child's play.
The air whooshed into their lungs in gulps once the amulets were in their grasps.
Amethyst spoke first. "Who do you think left that behind?"
A high, maniacal laugh cut through the trees around them.
"That'd be me." A slender figure, shrouded in shadow moved ahead of them, floating jus above the ground.
Gasps echoed through the three of them.
"Why?" Dillan's whispered question seemed loud in the thunderous silence. The shock at seeing what they saw in the person before them stunned them all.
"Why not?" Shayla's aunt, her mother's twin sister asked. Her voice was tinged in sarcasm, her voice twisted in anger. "You shouldn't have followed her. She's nearly there. She belongs to him now."
She didn't seem particularly happy about that last part, but said nothing more. She held up a hand and snapped her fingers. Out of the trees stepped three large black dogs. Fire dripped from their inky coats, acidic droll dripped from their snarling jaws. Marcie smiled a sadistic smile and pointed at them.
"Sick 'em boys."