Dark Spirits (15 page)

His name was Roeick–a newborn to the dark world and obsessed with Aosoth. I wondered if he was the same guy Paige and I saw in the grocery store parking lot on the day before her mom died. But regardless, this was helpful information. According to Carrie, Aosoth had to get her “fix” every other day, and Roeick was the one who obliged her. They would rendezvous at a small cabin, deep in the woods, and beneath the floor boards in the living room, was a hidden chamber where they’d perform most of their acts. I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the directions.

After Carrie told us what she knew–skipping the things she was scared of, like the negative areas the dark spirits were bound to until they could inhabit a human–she went on into witchcraft. The “old one” didn’t show her how to perform it, but he did tell her some interesting things like nature was superior to human beings and humans were just part of nature. And then Carrie went on about a spell being executed at a certain time such as a constructive one had to be conducted during the waxing of the moon. The “old one” also told her about the many things used in the craft as aids, like certain herbs and leaves because they had magical properties in them. Everything she was telling us I already knew. But what had me puzzled was the “old one” seemed to be schooling Carrie in the mechanics of witchcraft. He wanted her to know about it, but why?

A while later, I noticed it was almost 10:12, and we still haven’t filled Carrie and Tree in on everything. I had to cut Carrie off, asking her if there was anything else she knew besides the rudimentary healing and cleansing spells she was telling us about. I didn’t want to offend her, but Paige and I had to get going soon. But then Carrie added the “old one” told her the ancient magic of the world–excluding the simple spells, like the ones she mentioned–was dormant because humans lost their communal connection to the earth. Therefore, the ancient magic was hidden in the elements in suspended animation. I had to speak up, because the “old one” wasn’t exactly telling her the truth.

“Ancient magic does still exist,” I told them. “It’s true. Most of it is dormant and lost to this day and age, but I can assure you some of it is still available. All one has to do is know the magical properties of a plant, how to use it, and evoke the mystical energies around by speaking its language.”

“You sound like you speak from experience,” Tree said, eyeing me with curious suspicion.

“He is,” Paige answered before I could. “The incantations he created and uses on the dark spirits are a powerful form of magic.”

“For real?” Carrie said, staring at me in wonder.

Tree grinned. “So frickin’ cool. Can you teach us?”

Carrie’s face lit up, and she started clapping. “Yeah. Teach us!”

I groaned and looked at Paige. I didn’t know what she saw in my face, but she came to my rescue.

“You two already know he can’t, so why ask?” She glared at them, and they stared at her with a blank expression on their faces. “It’s not like the rules have changed since we last told you that you have to be immortal in order for the incantations to work.” There was a hard edge to her voice, and I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling.

Carrie held her hands up. “
Okay.
Jeesh. Don’t get your panties in a wad. We’re sorry.”

“Look,” I said when Tree opened his mouth to speak, “in case you’re wondering, I’m not a witch, and excluding my incantations, I haven’t dabbled much into witchcraft. The reason is I’m a tracker and no other magic I know of can effectively help me do my job, except for creating those incantations, of course.”

“I still would like to know how you created them, though,” Tree said.

“Maybe some other time.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “Paige and I need to leave soon, and we still have to fill you in on some things.”

 Tree sat up. “This is what I’ve been waiting for.” He leaned forward and jabbed his finger in the air. “Because I knew you and Paige have been holding out on us.” He must have seen the wariness on my face because he paused and lifted his hands, palms facing me. “And don’t worry. Carrie and I won’t tell a soul,” He leveled his eyes with mine, serious and trustworthy. “Even Brayden,” he added.

Carrie nodded in agreement and made a zipping gesture over her lips to emphasize her commitment to their promise.

And then I went straight for the jugular, telling them Paige’s grandmother had transferred the power of Solomon’s ring into Paige. Paige fidgeted next to me, still uncomfortable with this power locked inside her. And when Carrie and Tree both made shocked sounds, I kept talking, pretending like I hadn’t noticed their reactions. I told them why Paige could communicate with Odell and about Anwar, Zeruel, and Ameerah. And finally, after I explained to them about Ameerah not being a wicked dark spirit, I informed them about the rite of consciousness Paige had done, what she’d seen and of course Volac.”

“Wait a minute.” Tree scooted to the edge of the couch, his forehead wrinkling. “Volac is an ancient spirit too?”

Paige and I nodded.

“But the ‘old one’ is older than all of them, right?”

“Right,” I said.

“So obviously,” Tree said, “Volac doesn’t want the ‘old one’ to have the power of the ring because whomever has it can control the dark spirits?” He looked at me for a reply.

 “Correct,” I confirmed.

“I just thought of something,” Carrie said. When we looked at her, she continued. “I was just thinking about the magic we were talking about earlier. If the ‘old one’ did obtain Solomon’s power, can he bring all the magic back into this world?”

Paige blanched. “What do you mean?”

Carrie nervously chewed on her fingernail. “Well, he wants to change the world to the way it used to be. If he were to do it, he might be able to reawaken the magic and snatch it for himself. Then he would be an all powerful god in our world.”

I stopped breathing, and my pulse raced. I could hear it drumming in my ears as Carrie’s words kept parading through my mind. I knew Carrie could be insightful, but this was the first time she had actually nailed something down. Something I’d never thought of. Something which chilled me to the bone.

Paige clutched her stomach and moaned. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

I rubbed her shoulder and handed her the Dr Pepper. “Sip this. It’ll help.” She took it from me. “I think you’re right, Carrie,” I said, noticing how pale she and Tree both were. “The dark spirits feel entitled to this earth, and the ‘old one’ used to command an army.”

“Now I know why Ayperos said he was once the ‘old one’s’ commander,” Tree said, with surprised revelation. “But what happened? Why did his army break up?” Tree was fascinated with war, especially the Civil War. In fact, when I told him after I had become immortal, my brothers were in it, Tree kept pestering me to tell him what it was like and what role I had played.

“His army dispersed”–I glanced at the clock again. It was almost eleven. We had to get moving soon– “because more and more soulless humans were being born. You see, the dark spirits are hedonistic, so they chose the desires of the flesh and having their own freedom to do what they want, instead of serving the ‘old one.’ So they disbanded and went their separate ways and the ‘old one’ lost his foothold in this world.”

“So there are other dark spirits like Volac who doesn’t want to be under the ‘old one’s’ dictatorship or controlled by him?” Carrie asked.

“Right,” I said.

Paige ran her fingers through her hair, and I got a whiff of a peach scent. “To be honest, you guys,” she said, sounding guilty. “I don’t blame them for feeling that way. But then again, we can’t have them walking among humans as one of their own, wreaking havoc on humanity like they’ve been doing for thousands or maybe millions of years. We also can’t allow the ‘old one’ rule this world.”

“I agree with you, Paige,” Carrie said, chewing on her fingernail again.

Tree nodded, looking quite disturbed.

And then Paige finished telling them about us encountering Volac in the child and her casting Drude out when she was with Brayden. Inwardly, I cringed when she spoke about Brayden, and I couldn’t help but notice how her face glowed when she mentioned him and how he handled the situation. I could feel my face hardening and my hands clinching into fists when the image of his filthy paws on her popped into my mind. He had made a promise Paige would be in his arms instead of mine–a threat I didn’t take lightly–and I’d be damned if I was going to sit back and allow it to happen. I had no doubt Paige was in love with me, but I also knew she loved Brayden, and if we had never met, she and Brayden would probably have made a life together.

“Nathan, are you listening to me?” Paige asked, interrupting my mental chatter.

I shook my head. “What?”

 “We need to get going.”

“Oh. Right.” I rose to my feet.

Carrie and Paige gathered the food containers and glasses and went into the kitchen. I followed Tree to the front door. He had his hands in his pockets, his shoulders slouched forward.

“Are you okay?”

He didn’t look okay.

And then he said something I’d never thought about, and my stomach dropped out from under me.

“I was just wondering,” he said, his expression deeply troubled. “Since Carrie has some of Aosoth’s memories, does Aosoth have some of hers too?”

Chapter Fifteen

Paige

I could easily tell when something was bothering the two most important guys in my life. I didn’t count Brayden because technically he wasn’t in my life, but I had to secretly admit he was equally important to me. I knew them so well and could read their faces and body language with no problem. Like now, both Nathan and Tree were standing by the front door, waiting for Carrie and me. Nathan had his arms tight across his chest, looking like he was trying to solve a mathematical equation. Tree had his hands shoved in his pockets, his head down. He slowly nodded when Nathan told him not to worry.

Not to worry about what? I wondered.

I knew Carrie couldn’t hear their low voices, but she did sense the tension in the air because she arched a questioning eyebrow at me. I shrugged, giving her a your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine look.

“What’s going on?” Carrie asked them.

Tree reached his hand out, and she took it. He looked kind of green, which worried me. I went to Nathan, having the sudden need to be as close to him as possible. His arms surrounded me, lightly pressing me to him. I locked my hands around his waist, telling myself whatever it was, we would get through it together.

“Tree just asked me if Aosoth might have some of Carrie’s memories,” Nathan said.

“Omigod!” Carrie gasped. “I never thought about that.”

“Neither did I,” Nathan confessed. “But after I gave it some thought, I came to the conclusion it’s unlikely because then the dark spirits would be carrying memories from everybody they’d inhabited.”

“That sounds right,” I said, trying to sound confident so it would ease their worries. “But I’ll ask Ameerah just to be sure.”

“Would you like to stay here tonight?” Nathan thoughtfully asked.

“Yeah. Stay the night. It’ll be fun.” I gave them an encouraging smile, hoping they’d accept the invitation.

Carrie slipped her black purse over her shoulder. The skull and crossbones design on it, made out of red and white rhinestones, sparkled when she turned. “We would,” she said, “but Mom called me earlier and said they’ll be home late tonight. Dad is sick.”

I shifted my weight and frowned. Her mom and dad were the closest I came to having parents, and I wouldn’t want something bad happen to them. “I hope he’s okay.”

Carrie waved it off, unconcerned. “He’s fine. Mom thinks he just ate too much greasy food, or he’s playing her so he can go fishing with his buddies tomorrow.” She rolled her eyes and elbowed Tree in the ribs when he snickered.

“Do you two still carry your pepper spray?” Nathan asked.

 Tree patted his pocket. “Yeah, we do.”

“Good. Keep it with you at all times and only go to public places.” Nathan dropped his arms around me, and I stepped aside when he started gesturing with his hands, intent on Carrie and Tree to listen to what he had to say. “Here’s the plan for now. Do what I said, and don’t breathe a word to anybody about what you kn--”

“We already
promised
you we wouldn’t tell anybody.” Carrie glared at him, her voice sharp and intolerable. “You should already
know
we’d never betray Paige or you.”

The room fell in silence. I caught Tree’s eyes, and we both looked down, shifting our feet from the sudden awkwardness looming between us. That was the thing about Carrie. She spoke her mind. I admired her for it, but sometimes people didn’t appreciate her bluntness. I wondered then how Nathan would react. But I didn’t have to wonder too long because he answered her with a graceful apology, easing the tension in the air.

“You’re right, Carrie,” Nathan said. “Sorry . . . but anyway, we’ll call you tomorrow and meet up somewhere where it’s safe.”

“Do you have any plans tomorrow?” I asked, taking into account they both had jobs and families to answer to.

“We have to work,” Tree answered.

“My mom will be there to run her store, but she wants me to start doing inventory.” Carrie made a face. She detested tedious work, which I couldn’t blame her for.

“Well, then call me when you’re done, and we’ll go from there,” I told them.

***

Gnat Creek was located eighteen miles east of Astoria, just off highway 30. Nathan texted Ameerah before we entered the forest. She said she’d wait for us on the trail.

A multi-color of crimson, amber and gold leaves blazed across the trees. They glowed beneath the waning moon’s pale light like a beacon under the starry night. But when we stepped into the dense woods of hemlocks, spruces, and red cedars, we were shut into complete darkness, making me thankful we could see in the dark. The air was a bit chilly and filled with the sounds of crickets and tree frogs. It had been three years since I’d been here with Brayden. One of our favorite things to do together was hiking in the forest. Of course, I’d never tell Nathan that. Some things were better left unsaid. Or how it seemed kind of odd for me to be holding his hand instead of Brayden’s. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to be with Nathan. But I couldn’t help the part of me pining for a simpler life where all I had to worry about was keeping my premonitions a secret.

I remembered walking this winding pathway and Brayden pulling me behind a tree, kissing me. I could still feel the bark through the back of my thin shirt and Brayden’s body pressed against mine. I had shoved him away, even though I enjoyed it, because he was leaving me. But despite his confusion, he profusely apologized and swore he’d never do it again. Shortly after, I ended our relationship on the grounds it would be much better to do it now than later. But then two days later, in the middle of the night, Brayden was throwing pebbles at my window. When I opened it to tell him to go away, he sang, “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins.

Shaking my head, I closed the window and flopped across my bed, trying to hang onto my conviction. But when he raised his voice, singing off key, I couldn’t help but laugh. I snuck him in and slept in his arms that night. A month later, he moved to California.

Nathan lifted my hand to his face. His lips skimmed across my knuckles and then kissed my hand. My stomach tightened at the guilt I felt for thinking about Brayden. I suddenly had the urge to throw my arms around Nathan and let him know I only wanted him.

But then we heard a twig snap.

We stopped, stiff and alert.

On the way here, we’d made an agreement not to talk until we met up with Ameerah. Nathan had suggested it so we would be hyper aware of our surroundings and not miss out on anything like what we just heard.

Snap, snap.

As I stood there listening, my senses sharpened. I could smell the molding damp leaves, the mushrooms near the base of a tree, and the black rich earth. I narrowed my eyes in the direction of the noise, to my left. Nathan picked up a rock and tossed it. It bounced off a log, and the bushes rustled. Two black beady eyes emerged from the underbrush. A raccoon. When he saw us, he turned around and scurried away, crunching leaves in his haste. I wondered if I were able to touch him, what he would tell me. It was a pleasant thought that brought a smile to my face.

“Cute little guy,” Nathan whispered.

I nodded and held his hand, threading my fingers through his. We resumed our walk in silence, occasionally stepping over puddles and broken branches. Shafts of moonlight filtered through the canopy of trees ahead of us. I glanced over my shoulder. Darkness. In the distance an owl hooted. I swallowed hard, thinking about what Nathan had said earlier about the portals. He must have sensed my hesitation to move forward because he squeezed my hand in short spurts:
R-U-O-K-?
I lifted my eyes to his, forced a smile, and pulled him forward, leading the way. I wasn’t about to chicken out, especially since I’d been bugging him to take me along and to be a team. My grip was tight on his hand, though, while I continued to hurry forward, towing him behind. But then I stumbled over a tree root. Luckily Nathan caught me before I smacked the ground. He yanked me upright, and as I steadied myself, my ears rang.

A ray of light moved erratically ahead of us, and I could hear heavy footsteps slapping the ground. Nathan stepped in front of me, and I wondered if Ameerah wasn’t really afraid somebody would follow her like she had told Nathan. Maybe the real reason she chose this location was to trick us.

“If you have to, jump into the trees,” Nathan whispered, apparently thinking the same thing as I. “Oh. Wait. It’s Ameerah.” He stepped back, next to my side.

I shielded my eyes when Ameerah directed her flashlight onto us, but then the ray shown on the ground, creating a round circle of orange light on the scattered leaves and branches. Ameerah stopped jogging when she reached us.

“Sorry about shining this in your faces,” she said, flipping the flashlight up, so the beam reached skywards. But then she stepped back and gasped when she took a good look at me, right when I thought how pretty she was with her long dark hair and violet eyes. “It’s true,” she said, sounding excited for some weird reason.

I didn’t like the way she looked at me, like one would a freak.

“Ameerah?” Nathan said when she kept staring at me, obviously awestruck.

“You can’t see it from far away, but up close . . . ,” she whispered.

A beam of light flashed across her eyes, and although she made me feel uncomfortable, she also made me feel something else . . . the hairs on my arms lifted, and a tugging sensation developed at the center of my chest, urging me toward her.

What the hell?

 “The light inside her is very powerful,” she told Nathan.

A strong impulse to touch her consumed me, and when she extended her hand, I automatically raised my own.

Nathan snatched her wrist before our fingers touched. “Not a good idea.” His voice was deep with a warning behind his words.

“It’s okay, Nathan.” My hand was still stretched out toward Ameerah. “I want to.”

“You feel it too then?” Ameerah asked, her wide eyes on mine.

 I couldn’t help but smile.

Nathan released her wrist and stepped between us. “Feel what?”

“A pulling toward her.” I dropped my hand and turned to him. “It felt like a rope was tied to my chest with the other end anchored to her, tugging me forward. But now I don’t feel it.”

“He’s blocking the energy between us,” Ameerah said from the other side of Nathan.

I suddenly became horrified my energy would be drawn to a dark spirit. “But you’re a dark spirit.”

“Omigod! Really?” Ameerah sarcastically replied.

“Sorry,” I said and meant it, knowing I had hurt her feelings because I could hear it in her voice. I remembered what Nathan had told me before: not all dark spirits were bad.

“What’s going on, Ameerah?” Nathan asked, not moving from his position.

“Wait.” She leaned around Nathan and smiled at me. “I accept your apology, Paige.”

Nathan sighed and moved out of the way, but he kept a close eye on Ameerah. “We need to get on with this,” he told her.

As soon as Nathan stepped aside, I felt drawn toward Ameerah again. I could tell she felt it too by the way she looked at me–curious and intimate.

“When I was human, I was psychic,” Ameerah began, her eyes fixed on mine. “I had visions. Everybody, including my parents, thought I was mad, so they threw me into an insane asylum where horrible and unspeakable things were done to me.” She stared past me, and I could see tears in her eyes. “They not only broke my body but my spirit as well.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, totally empathizing with her. I mean, that could have easily happened to me if people had known about my premonitions and the circumstances were right.

Her gaze slowly drifted to mine. “When my human body expired, so did my psychic ability. But as soon as I entered your presence, I could feel that familiar energy swelling inside. I think it’s because you have extrasensory abilities as well.”

A disturbing thought popped in my head, and I was glad Nathan had stopped us from touching, even though I still had the strong impulse to do so. What if I did and she could get inside my head and discover the secrets I’ve been hiding? I then remembered the question I told Tree I’d ask her.

“Ameerah, when you inhabit a human like this one, do you get a glimpse of her memories?”

She shook her head. “Only the trivial ones like what’s the person’s name, who he knows, where she lives. Why?”

“Aosoth was inside my best friend, so I was wondering if she has some of her memories.”

“No.” Ameerah shook her head again. “Most human memories are off limits to us. When we possess a human, it’s like entering a room. There’s stuff in there, but we don’t know the history or stories of it. We only know the names and what it is.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Speaking of Aosoth,” Nathan said, “what have you found out?”

“If you let me touch Paige, I think I might be able to show you, but we all have to be holding hands.” She flashed him an enigmatic smile.

“I don’t want you inside my head,” I said, scuffing my feet on the ground.

She let out a humorless laugh. “I can’t get inside your head, Paige.”