Released Souls Read online

  “Makes sense.” He nodded, exhaling slowly.

  “Were you the one searching through things downstairs?” Logan asked.

  “No. After I saw that, I actually came up to make sure no one was up here, but I got distracted with this.” He pointed at a large trunk in the corner that was open. “I hauled it over here to the window for light so I could see inside.”

  “I think whoever was researching down in the library was led to something in this trunk. But I have no idea what they were looking for.”

  “Huh.” I looked into the trunk and saw some robes folded in the bottom, something that looked like an urn, and then an empty box that looked like it would crumble if any of us touched it.

  “It looks like they found it.” I shook my head and pointed toward the empty cardboard shell.

  Logan’s expression changed, and he grabbed my hand.

  “Someone’s coming.” He glanced at Trevor who nodded his head.

  “Yeah. We need to get out of here,” Trevor confirmed.

  “How do you know?” I asked, but Logan was already pulling me back down the stairs with Trevor right behind us.

  “But I think we should see what the mystery person was looking up,” I protested, my eyes briefly landing on the table of books that Logan was whisking me by.

  Logan pulled me through the library door almost taking me airborne.

  “Who’s close?”

  “We need to go out the back entrance,” Logan replied, leading us to the backdoor.

  “You need to start filling me in. I don’t do well being in the dark,” I argued. “You know this about me.”

  We reached the back exit, and Logan pushed the door open to expose the outside. My eyes attempted to adjust to the sudden change in light as I scanned the vacant parking lot as relief spread through my system.

  “Is it Eben who’s coming?” I asked.

  “Or one of his close followers,” Logan replied.

  “Shouldn’t we find out?” I asked with Trevor quickly closing the door behind me. I noticed Trevor eyeing Logan for a reaction, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Okay. I’ve never been one to sit on the sidelines, and I’m not starting now.” I folded my arms and a grin spread across Logan’s lips.

  “And I’d never expect you to,” he replied.

  “She shouldn’t be here for this,” Trevor objected.

  I shot him an icy stare and shook my head.

  “Have you ever tried holding her back from something?” Logan laughed. “I wouldn’t start now.”

  “So this thing you all share still works even though my father’s out of the picture?” I asked, ignoring the look on Trevor’s face. “That’s how you can sense that someone’s close?”

  “Looks like he was never in charge of the linking in the first place,” Trevor replied flatly.

  “I’d say whoever is coming knows we’re here and wants us to stick around. That’s why it’s so strong in both of us,” Logan muttered, searching the vacant lot next to the Covenstead.

  “I’m the smallest one here, and I think I could perch up in that tree over there. It would give me a good vantage point to see who all might be involved,” I replied, pointing to the Cedar tree on the side of the building. I began taking off before I even heard their response.

  “But you probably wouldn’t know anyone even if you saw them,” Logan called after me. “I’ll sit up there with you, and Trevor, you stay back here over by the shed in case we’re wrong about how they plan on entering.”

  Logan was right behind me as I reached the tree. The cars were zipping by on the main road, only heightening my sense of urgency not knowing which car might be theirs.

  As I was reaching for the lowest tree limb unsuccessfully, Logan helped by lifting me up to the limb, and I began swiftly climbing up the tree. Finding a sturdy branch, I sat down hugging the trunk, centering my point of gravity. Logan propped himself on the branch up a foot or so from where I was perched and grinned down at me.

  “Can you see all right?” I asked.

  “Yeah… so you think we can trust Trevor?”

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever totally be able to.”

  “Same.”

  “It’s freezing out here.” I began rubbing my hands together but it didn’t help. The air was frigid and it smelled like snow was on the way. The breath from Logan’s lips turned to a fog the moment it escaped.

  “Something’s been bothering you, even before we saw the covenstead,” I blurted out, surprising myself. “You haven’t been the same since you met with Dace yesterday.”

  “There’s a lot of things going on right now. I think we’re both just distracted.”

  “There’ve been a lot of things going on since you came back into my life. I know the difference.” I shot him an accusatory look. “You said something about hoping my father stays frozen. Why wouldn’t he? Did Dace tell you otherwise?”

  Logan’s grip tightened on the tree limb, and he looked down at me.

  “You know how you’ve inherited some abilities to see the future?”

  I nodded. “Not the future, just the choices available.”

  “Same difference,” he replied.

  “Not really,” I countered.

  “Seriously?” He was no longer amused.

  “Sorry. Go ahead.”

  “Dace thinks your father is going to be released from the state you put him in.”

  “By who?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know or you won’t tell me?”

  “I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean Dace doesn’t know,” he replied.

  “I wonder why I didn’t see anything like that in my premonitions.”

  I was glad that Trevor, Logan, and my aunt went through the ceremony back in the Adirondacks so that they could communicate with the fairies, but I wasn’t sure I liked how they were communicating with them without me. I liked to be in the mix. Okay, maybe it was part of my control-freak nature.

  Tucking my chin in my shirt, I looked over at the driveway and watched a black Town Car roll up to the front entrance of the covenstead.

  “Check it out,” I whispered, watching the driver’s door swing open. It had to be Eben with this much pomp. The driver walked around the car and opened the back door. A woman I didn’t recognize got out first. She had long raven colored hair and was dressed in black pants and a light grey sweater poncho. She was probably in her mid-forties, but I certainly didn’t recognize her. She wasn’t from the Witch Avenue coven.

  Logan’s breathing softened, which told me all I needed to know. He knew who she was. As she stood there, crossing her arms in front of her, she scanned the lot with her gaze skipping right over where we were perched. She didn’t see us. She looked impatient as she waited for the next person to get out of the car.

  “We need to get in and get out,” she stated, sticking her head back into the car. “Do you just want me to pop in? I’m sure I can find it.”

  Touching the nectunt on my skin that I shared with Logan, I opened up my mind, allowing for some answers to drift in but not the one I hoped for.

  “Who is she?” I channeled to him, watching her very slow and deliberate moves.

  “She’s an elder from your father’s movement. She trained by his side for several years. I only know of her because of what she’s done to so many who didn’t fall in line.”

  “What do you mean?” I questioned, not taking my eyes off her.

  “Once they’ve invested a certain amount of training time into a student they aren’t keen on letting that student leave freely. They will hunt them down. She’s the head of the Venators.”

  She held out her long fingers as another hand reached for hers from within the town car. A man’s leg slowly moved to the pavement. I watched as Eben carefully climb out of the car with the woman’s assistance.

  “What’s her name?” I channeled to Logan.

  “Lara.”


  Eben stood on the sidewalk next to Lara, stretching and twisting at his waist. He nodded at Lara as she took his arm and guided him to the entry of the Witch Avenue Covenstead.

  Not realizing I had been holding in my breath for so long, my head started to slightly rock back and forth as I slowly let out the air.

  “He’s really acting old. He was so spry when I last dealt with him. It’s hard to imagine he’d be able to do much damage at all now.”

  “There’s definitely something going on with him but don’t underestimate him or Lara,” Logan replied telepathically.

  They carefully made their way into the front entrance of the Covenstead, and all my mind could do was think about what Logan had said earlier. They hunted down the students who tried to leave. Did that make Logan a target?

  “Why didn’t you ever mention that they come hunting the students who don’t continue to study the dark arts?” I channeled.

  “I hoped I’d be overlooked because I left so early on.”

  “You’re the boyfriend of the daughter whose father is in charge and you figured you’d be overlooked.”

  “I thought they’d be focusing on other things and so far I’ve been correct.”

  Oh! He made me so mad.

  Before I could continue my barrage of questioning, the Covenstead door busted open with Lara yelling at the top of her lungs.

  “Who beat us to it?” she screamed.

  Eben came behind her and stood as she whipped around toward where Logan and I were perched. I wasn’t sure if she saw us or not. Even the shrubs surrounding the entrance appeared to be afraid of her as they cowered with every screech she let out. Or maybe it was the wind.

  “Someone got to it first,” she seethed, turning back to Eben.

  Thank the gods she didn’t see us.

  “I can feel its power still on this property,” he responded. “If it’s not here now it was recently. We aren’t the only ones who know of its existence. He lifted his gnarled, veiny hand to her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. “We don’t know that they got what we were looking for. This mess could just be an attempt to sidetrack us. Leaving everything in the covenstead in disarray for us to jump to conclusions…in fact I think it’s working quite well.” His words calmed her slightly. “It’s got you riled up.”

  He chuckled and for a split-second I thought of him as a cute old man.

  “It’s not over. We’ll find it. Whether it’s hidden here or somewhere else. I promise you father…. we will find it.” Her voice trembled slightly as she said his name.

  Father? Was that just a respect thing or was Eben really her father. Was she really my aunt — my father’s sister?

  I glanced up at Logan who looked as perplexed as I was, and then I turned my attention back to Eben and Lara.

  They began walking slowly to the car, and it seemed that Lara was calming down slightly, but Eben’s movements were even slower than before. Were they looking for whatever was in that old, empty box that Trevor had found?

  “I can’t imagine who would have torn this place up,” Lara said, helping Eben into the car. “Let’s go to the warehouse to see how operations are coming along. We’ll come back in the morning, and if you can still sense the force, we can tear the place apart. It’s pointless now because if the power is only lingering like you mentioned, we’d be wasting time.”

  “Exactly, my dear.”

  The driver hopped out of the driver’s side and opened the door for them. We watched them climb in the backseat and the driver shut the door. Before returning to the driver’s door, he glanced to where Logan and I sat. My breathing stilled and I grasped the limb a little tighter waiting for his next move. He nodded at us both before spinning on his heels and opening the driver’s door. Unclear about what just happened, I looked up at Logan who had a look of terror behind his blue eyes that he couldn’t hide.

  Logan and I ran over to where Trevor was stationed. He had no idea that everyone had already come and gone while he was hiding in the shed.

  “Trevor. They’re gone and things are more complicated than before,” I said as I opened up the shed door.

  “Trevor?” I asked again, looking into the empty shed. “He’s not in here.”

  “What do you mean?” Logan craned his neck inside and saw the same thing as me. Nothing.

  “Hey, Trevor,” Logan yelled.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. I couldn’t hide my irritation.

  “I have no idea, and we really don’t have time for this.”

  “Guess we should always trust our gut with him.” I sighed.

  My phone buzzed, and I grabbed it out of my pocket. It was a text from Trevor.

  “Speak of the devil… literally,” I said. “Check this out.” I turned the phone to Logan.

  Logan let out a deep sigh as he read the message.

  “I don’t buy it,” he replied gravely.

  “But how could he constantly be going back and forth all the time?” I shook my head. “Is he a good guy or a bad guy?”

  I was so annoyed I couldn’t even begin to formulate a full thought.

  “It’s not always that black and white,” Logan replied. I caught the darkness in his eyes and looked away.

  “Do you think we should go to the warehouse?” I asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Think it’s a trap?”

  “Yep.” Logan scanned the parking lot.

  “Hey.” Trevor’s voice stunned me.

  We turned around and he put his hands up in the air.

  “What’s gotten into you two?” he asked.

  Logan took two steps toward Trevor and towered over him.

  I watched Logan’s shoulders move up and down with every breath he took.

  “You texted us,” Logan shouted, reaching his hand up to grab Trevor’s shoulder.

  “Uh…No, I didn’t,” Trevor replied, reaching into his pocket. “I saw you guys watching something out front, and I got a bad feeling so I took off to the woods.”

  I walked up and stood next to Logan and stared at Trevor.

  “You know it’s pretty hard to trust you.” I glared at him and watched his facial expression turn to horror. I didn’t think my statement was that powerful.

  “My phone’s not in my pocket,” he muttered, dipping his eyes to the pavement.

  I glanced at Logan who let go of Trevor’s shoulders and backed up.

  “What did the text say?” he asked.

  “Gave us a warehouse address to go to. Supposedly you would be waiting there for us,” I replied.

  “Well, that’s not good.” Trevor shook his head.

  “You think?” I replied sarcastically.

  “Let’s just get out of here,” I suggested, giving Logan a nervous look.

  I grabbed my phone back from Logan and began texting a message of my own. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to light the fuse.

  “Tell Eben I miss him already, and I hope we can spend the holidays together! He probably can’t work texting on the phone that you guys stole, so I’m guessing you’ll have to relay the message for me. That’s one of the many signs he’s getting too old for this game.

  xoxo his loving granddaughter, Triss”

  I hit send and slid the phone back in my pocket. It seemed like things were starting off with a bang.

  “So who did you actually see come to the front?” Trevor asked.

  That’s right! He didn’t see anything, except the car pull up.

  “Eben,” Logan said, but he didn’t elaborate. Something was bothering him so I followed along.

  Trevor glanced over at me, and without thinking, I reached over and gave him a hug — anything to distract him.

  “I’ll call you tonight. I need to see if my aunt will know what was in that box that’s now missing or who even knows what else she might be able to help with.” I sighed.

  “Sure. I understand. I still need to go see my parents. They don’t even know I’m back in town,” Trevor replied, not l
ooking at either of us. “So much for starting college in the fall.”

  I smiled at him, and felt Logan lock his hand into mine as we all walked to our cars down the street.

  I crawled into the car and felt my phone buzz as Logan climbed in and shut his door.

  “My dear granddaughter, never underestimate your elders. It was wonderful seeing you again today. I will most definitely take you up on your holiday offer. It’s about time our entire family got together for a festive celebration. But please do tell your boyfriend, Logan, that we haven’t forgotten his end of the deal. We’ll be sure to collect if he doesn’t come willingly. Tell your mom hello for me.”

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  I showed him the text message, and he pressed the screen off.

  “He knew we were here.” I looked up at him. “They’re coming for you.”

  Chapter 3

  The room my mother was staying in at my aunt’s house was decorated with a white pine bed and dresser. It was a very cute, woodsy room and an environment that would allow my mom to recover. My mom was sitting next to the bedroom window on a rocking chair, knitting something that looked wonderfully soft. The wooden blinds were pulled up only halfway, but she was able to see outside. She had a green blanket wrapped around her, but she still looked cold and weak.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked, still trying to push the earlier events out of my mind.

  “Better every day,” she replied, smiling. But her brown eyes were telling a different story. She gestured for me to come closer.

  I pulled the trunk from the end of the bed next to her and sat down. Logan was downstairs discussing events with my aunt, partially to give me some time alone with my mom. My mom sighed and didn’t speak for a few moments. Instead, she turned toward the glass and stared outside.

  “The weather is beautiful,” I whispered, grabbing her hand. Her skin was cold.

  “I’m so sorry for putting you through everything,” she began. “It started with only wanting to protect you. I’ve known you’ve had powers that were only going to get stronger as you aged, and I guess I foolishly thought that —”

  “Mom, don’t start taking blame for the actions of my father. He’s a bad man, and none of this is your fault.” I shook my head in disbelief. “None of it.”