Shadow Bend (Witches of Sanctuary Book 3) Read online

  I push away from him. “I will not agree—”

  He doesn’t let my arm go. “You will agree.”

  How had he turned the tables on me so quickly? “This isn’t even a negotiation I’m willing to discuss with you right now.”

  I still have seven days, even if my heart thuds in my chest like I only have one left.

  Julien’s arm reaches around me, his fingers clenching tight in the back of my jacket as he pulls me into his chest. His lips are tight, but his voice is quiet and soft between us. “If you won’t save yourself for me, then do it for Reid.”

  My eyes light up with anger, and suddenly his scrutiny turns into intrigue, and then…he smiles. I push against his chest, giving myself space. “What? This isn’t funny.”

  “Lightning flashed in your eyes.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing.” Still the bastard smirks at me.

  I point my finger at him. “I swear, Julien Cote—”

  He throws his hands up in surrender. “I made a promise to your boyfriend I would behave myself. And behave myself, I will.” He grins again as if to say, “for now.”

  Reid is so right about him.

  “Oh, please. You don’t know the first thing about good behavior. And what does that have to do with this conversation? Why are you suddenly amused with my anger?”

  “I don’t want to make it worse.”

  Gravel crunches on the road behind us, signaling someone else’s arrival on the ridge. I ignore it and open my mouth to refute his claim, but Julien holds his hand up to stop me. “We can discuss it later, when we’re alone again.”

  I glare at him, and he winks. Electricity cracks and pops across my skin as my body goes rigid to keep from letting the power burst out of me. Julien’s brother Lyric walks up next to him, his matching raven hair down to his shoulders now. Lyric isn’t as frail as he was when he came to us in the fall, but his eyes show signs of sleepless nights. He glances between us, his gaze falling on his older brother. “Geez, what did you do now?”

  There’s another door slam, and I can only assume it means Abby is with Lyric. They’ve been inseparable the last couple weeks. Julien’s expression evens back out. It’s a mask to hide his true emotion in the presence of Abby. He doesn’t trust her. Sometimes I think he doesn’t trust anyone but me. “Nothing. We were just about to go on a walk down the ridge to see Svetta.”

  Abby is at my side in an instant. She touches my shoulder, and it’s like a dash of cold water in my face. “Are you okay?”

  I finally breathe again. I hadn’t realized I stopped. My emotions haven’t been that out of control since Reid and I argued over Julien in Seraphina’s back yard last summer. I take a deep breath, air refilling my lungs.

  “What are you thinking about just now?” Julien asks, taking a small step toward me.

  I glance up, confused. “Why?”

  “I’m simply curious.” He’s poised in front of me on his tiptoes as if he might jump me at any moment.

  Abby’s gaze goes back and forth between us, obviously dissatisfied with this transaction, even though she doesn’t know what’s going on. I pat her hand to let her know everything is fine. “I was thinking it’s been a while since I’ve lost control of my powers like that.”

  Again, Julien’s smile returns. “Since when?”

  “Since the summer with Reid.” And it’s when I say my boyfriend’s name that it clicks. Julien requested I not save him in order to live my life with Reid, and I refused. It made me angry. The last time I lost control was with Reid, because he’s always been the only one who could evoke such deep emotion in me.

  The one exception being right now with Julien.

  Oh, how I want to punch him in his smug face. He sticks his hands in his pockets and grins. “Have a revelation, did we?”

  I very calmly take Abby’s hand and remove it from my shoulder. “I need a moment alone with my friend.”

  Friend being a relatively loose term at the moment because people don’t usually want to punch their friends in the throat. Abby tucks the end of a blue streak in her hair behind her ear. “We’ll wait here for Sadie and Reid.”

  I stalk over to Julien and grab him by the arm. “We’ll be at Svetta’s house.”

  I shove Julien around. He’s almost eager to leave them. He slips over the edge of the cliff, down to the hidden path beneath that leads deeper into Raven Ridge. He lands softly, like a cat with all nine of its lives still intact.

  Good. He’ll need those.

  He raises his hand up to me, but I don’t take it. Instead, I clumsily make my way down by myself. We stand nose to nose because I push myself up the final two inches so he has no excuse but to look me in the eye. “Start walking.”

  He rolls his eyes as if my attitude is an over-exaggeration of how I should be feeling right now. He’s lucky I don’t set his backside on fire. I stalk past him down the mountain, following the worn path we made during the fall. He hurries to catch up to me. “Still angry, I see.”

  I continue to walk, a little quicker now. We make it all the way to the clearing just before you get to Svetta’s house before I turn around. He almost runs into me. I politely and rather curtly move him back away from me. “You promised Reid you would not interfere with our relationship.”

  “I haven’t done anything.”

  “Do you think what you did up there is some kind of exception to the rule?”

  Julien peers down at me, his calmness an insult. “What did Reid tell you about our trip?”

  I huff and turn away from him. “He said you found a map of Sanctuary.”

  Julien scoots up close behind me, his voice still absent of any kind of erratic emotion. “What did he say?”

  I cross my arms over my chest as I turn around to face him. “That maybe I was meant to come back to Sanctuary for both of you.”

  Julien smiles. It’s slow and genuine.

  I lean a little closer to him. “That doesn’t change the fact that Reid is my boyfriend and you’re my friend.”

  His smile grows. “Minor details.”

  He walks past me down the hill toward Svetta’s house before I can respond, so I yell after him. “If I tell Reid what you just said, he’ll punch you.”

  Julien glances over his shoulder, still grinning. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  I chase after him. “I wouldn’t push his buttons. Reid has powers, and, well, you no longer have your Mr. Hyde to take control and save your ass.”

  Julien whips around to face me, and I stumble into him. “It’s still in there, Willa. The darkness isn’t gone out of me yet. It’s like a black seed, rooted deep down in my heart. It’s dormant right now, but it doesn’t mean it’s gone.”

  I pull back, trying to catch my breath. “How can you tell?”

  He almost laughs. “Because I’m still jealous, selfish, and completely in love with you.”

  “You think the darkness in you causes all that?”

  He reaches up and nudges my cheek with the tip of his finger. “I would love you anyway, but with the darkness gone, I would be able to let you go. I would be able to let you be happy without me.”

  He walks off down the hill, and I let him leave. There’s nothing I can say to him to make the heartache I’ve caused him go away.

  Chapter 2

  HOMECOMING

  Svetta’s tiny wooden house is no longer hidden by lush leaves. It appears quite large against the gray scale of the bare limbs that surround it. Svetta hugs Julien, then cups her frail fingers around his face. It isn’t the first time she’s seen him since he returned, but you wouldn’t know that by watching her. Svetta adores her great nephews. You can see it in her smile, her whimsical voice that suddenly sounds like a robin’s chirp on a spring morning. She finally releases Julien as I weave my way through her sleeping garden. “I’m so happy you came early,” she says.

  Julien beams at her, all the former pain in his eyes gone. “You mentioned pancakes. How could I resis
t?”

  She grins magnificently at him and then turns to me. “And you brought company. Good thing I made extra.”

  I stop shy of them, afraid of intruding on their family moment. “Good morning, Svetta.”

  She gives me an almost courtly bow, and the end of her thick dress crinkles up at the bottom. “Good morning, Miss Daniels. Will you join us for breakfast?”

  I nod, smiling politely. I’m still angry with Julien, but I wouldn’t dare let Svetta know that. I follow them into her house and immediately go to the blazing fire in the stone hearth. I sit in Svetta’s rocking chair, rubbing my hands together next to the flame. Julien stands next to the table so he can see Svetta moving about in the kitchen, but his gaze is locked on me.

  I shoot him a stern look as if to ask him what’s wrong, but he simply looks away. I let the flame heat my fingertips a moment longer before getting up to join him. We sit at the table as Svetta brings over a giant dish stacked with pancakes. It smells absolutely divine. I eagerly grab a plate and sit down. Svetta divides the pancakes onto our plates, and I poke mine a couple times with my fork. Though the smell is mouthwatering, the color is slightly off. The pancakes are a little browner than the honey color you would expect. Julien grins at me, leaning over to whisper something. “She uses cattails in her flour.”

  Julien instantly laughs at my horrified face, and Svetta lightly smacks him on the back of the head. “It’s a plant that grows near the lake, not an actual cat’s tail.”

  I glare at him and take the bowl of syrup Svetta holds out toward me. We eat our breakfast in relative silence, but it’s a peaceful kind of silence. It’s nothing awkward, but rather calming in a way that makes you feel refreshed when it finally ends.

  The others arrive soon after breakfast, and Reid finds me immediately. He leans down and whispers next to my ear. “Abby said something happened.”

  “It was nothing.”

  He studies me a moment, and I sigh, leaning into him because I don’t want anyone to hear me, especially Julien. “I think Julien is worried.”

  “That we won’t meet the deadline?”

  “Not necessarily. I think he’s afraid of the lengths I might go to in order to make sure we meet the deadline.”

  Reid purses his lips. “I see.”

  “Reid—”

  He rubs my shoulder. “I told you he means well, but the boy isn’t ready to let you go.”

  Everyone gathers around the table, and Abby motions us over. Reid lets it drop for now, but I know the conversation isn’t over. I’m afraid it never will be. I was silly not to think their little truce and attempt at friendship was too good to be true. Thankfully, we have more important things to worry about right now.

  Abby sits down next to Svetta. “Were you able to find out anything about the black fruit?”

  Svetta rubs her long fingers together. “Unfortunately, no. I’ve asked everyone on the ridge, but no one has seen or heard of a tree that produces this black fruit.”

  Julien stands. “Then we need to go back to the Tower and look through the Cote books. There has to be some kind of record of it in there.”

  I step forward, trying to keep the worry out of my voice. “But who knows how long that could take?”

  Julien’s smile is soft and sincere. “It’s the only choice we have, Wilhelmina.”

  Abby takes Lyric’s hand. She too is worried we won’t make the deadline. “Then let’s get started. We’re wasting time sitting here talking about it.”

  We pack up our stuff to get ready to go. Sadie goes back to Frog Hollow to be with Sera and Jade in case Erika wakes up, leaving only Reid, Julien, Abby, and Lyric to go on the search with me. Svetta packs us a small lunch. I stuff mine down a backpack and throw it over my shoulder. It’s quiet on the ridge. The sun sits high in the sky, and the snow has melted under its power. It’s not enough to warm me up. Each breath escapes my lips in puffs of white clouds as we make our pilgrimage through the small village. I’m still mesmerized as ever by its subtle beauty.

  Raven Ridge is truly a hidden treasure. The crooked houses that leap into the sky between the trees are quaint, but they cast a grand picture against the mountainside. We don’t stop on our way through; instead, we go straight to the Raven’s Tower. The thick wooden door surrounded by stone seems even more intimidating now than it did this fall. This time it isn’t a nameless monster following us that causes the sting in my chest. It’s simply time.

  I’m losing it—second by second.

  I glance over at Julien, and his stare is already on me. He doesn’t smile, and I wonder if somehow he can read my mind. I don’t care what he says. I will do whatever it takes to save him…to save them all.

  Lyric opens the door because only one of the Haunted can do it. The small chamber inside is exactly how I remember it, and the pain of the memory floods me. I thought Julien was following us that day when we were attacked inside the Tower. I thought he was the one who stole the Bessette family tree from us and carved the word traitor into Lyric’s arm. It had been Erika, though. It was that tiny, dress-sporting monster the whole time.

  I grit my teeth, fully prepared to take out all my frustrations on her when she finally wakes up. I still owe her one for Julien. I follow the group up the narrow stairwell that leads into the grand chamber that holds the history rooms for the three Haunted families. Everyone goes to the Cote room, the one with the Raven carving above the door, but I stop short of it. I glance down the corridor to the room at the end with no name. It’s the Bessette room.

  My feet move me toward it before I even know why I’m doing it. I stop at the threshold, staring inside at the empty room. Dust has settled on the tables again, and a spider web drapes over one of the large shelves in the corner. I go inside and sit down, placing my elbows up on the table, simply taking in the room. Abby appears in the doorway. “What are you doing?”

  I shrug. “I’m not sure.”

  She cautiously steps inside and comes over to sit next to me. Abby’s brown hair is pulled back from her face into a long braid down her back. “I understand how you feel, Wilhelmina.”

  She takes my hand, urging me to turn around in my seat and face her. “What do you mean?”

  Her expression is sympathetic as she reaches and touches my cheek. “Your little love triangle.”

  I jerk back. “There is no triangle.”

  She holds up her hands apologetically. “You don’t have to give your lecture again. I’m just saying I didn’t realize how complicated love could be. I was naïve.”

  “What are you trying to say?”’

  Abby fiddles with the edge of a book in front of her, picking at the pages between the dusty cover. “What did Reid say about their trip to Charleston?”

  I don’t answer right away because I’m positive she already knows the answer. She leans in closer to me. “Lyric says Julien has been having dreams.”

  “We all dream.”

  “These aren’t your run of the mill, showing-up-to-class-naked kind of dreams.” Abby glances to the door then quickly back to me, her voice dropping to a whisper. “He talks during them. He talks about you to someone else.”

  “What do you mean? Who would he be talking to?”

  Abby shrugs. “I don’t know. Lyric says Julien doesn’t remember the dreams when he wakes up, but he’s definitely talking to someone during them, and the majority of the time you are the topic of conversation.”

  I purse my lips. “Reid witnessed this?”

  Abby nods. “Ask him about it. Lyric said there were several times Julien woke them both up on the trip, and Reid had Lyric leave the room.”

  Movement outside the room catches my eye, and I jerk my hands under the table as if I’ve been caught doing something wrong. Reid stands in the doorway. He’s turned his hat around backward. It matches his lazy grin perfectly. “Ladies.”

  His smile is accusatory, but playful. The spell we placed on the riverbank back in the fall is still in effect, which means Reid c
an hear my thoughts when I allow him, so I take the opportunity.

  I’m innocent. I swear.

  He rolls his eyes. You two were talking about me. I know you were.

  Can you prove that?

  Abby glances back and forth between us and huffs. “You know you two can still have a conversation with actual words.”

  Reid turns his stare on her. “I think you’ve done enough talking for everyone.”

  Abby stands, her hands on her hips. “Fine. You talk to her, then.”

  Abby stalks out of the room, and Reid takes her place next to me. “Have you noticed she’s gotten exceptionally more annoying since she started dating Lyric? I think the Cote is rubbing off on her.”

  I touch Reid’s hand to bring his glare over to me. “This morning, you made it sound as if you and Julien had some kind of heart to heart on your trip to Charleston.”

  Reid glances away from me. “You could call it that, I guess.”

  “Reid—”

  “He talked about you, Wilhelmina. What was I supposed to do? Ignore it and pretend I didn’t hear him defending you to some imaginary person in his head?”

  I stand because I’m finished with the conversation for now. This never-ending feud between them is too much to take, especially when there is so much on the line. I need to focus on our task. There will be time for Julien and Reid later. First, I have to make sure there is still a Julien to be around. The dull ache in my heart starts to silently reverberate.

  Maybe…just maybe, Julien is right. When I free him of the shadow, I will also free him of the burden he carries with him. Maybe that will be all it takes to make this whole situation work out…free Sanctuary from this shadow that has been haunting it.

  My feet move me through the stacks of books. My finger rakes across dust-covered shelves. Reid waits back at the table, giving me my space. He knows me too well. I slow down, eyeing the books, but not really reading the titles. Hopelessness starts to set in, and the ache transforms into a burning flame inside my heart.

  Tears leak down my cheeks, and as I clench the shelf in front me, I allow them to flow freely. The sob that escapes me is loud enough to bring Reid to his feet, but something echoes behind him. We both turn to the door, and I quickly swipe my tears away with the edge of my sleeve. Julien is in the doorway, both hands spread apart against the opposing frame. His eyes are wild. “Lyric found something.”