Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) (19 page)

I pulled my eyes away from the colorful ball fluttering in
the palm of my hand to look at her. She held a glowing orb of bright red fire
in the center of her hand. My eyes met with hers, and I noticed a glimmer of
excitement flash within them. She held out her other hand, and the fire jumped
from one palm to the other, before splitting into two and becoming gloves of
fire that flickered across the dark skin of her hands.

At the snap of a finger, the fire was gone and her hands
were normal again.

Shifting my eyes back to my little ball of ribbons, I
focused on warming it exactly as she’d said. In mere seconds, I had a tiny ball
of flames burning in the center of my palm. The heat of it was manageable, just
like when I’d been engulfed in flames, but there was something different about
the feel of it this time. It was almost as though it was waiting on me to tell
it what to do, to mold it, to wield it in some way.

“Good,” Kyra praised me. “Now make it grow.”

I bit my bottom lip as I concentrated on what she wanted me
to do next. The ball of fire in my palm grew oblong, as though it picked up on
my hesitation, fear, and indecision of what I wanted it to do. I swallowed hard
as my scalp prickled with unease. I liked the ball being small; it was easy to
control. If I made it larger, I wasn’t so sure I could handle it as well.

Watching it carefully, I attempted to force it to grow in
size. It did, but along with increasing in size, it also became wobbly and
unpredictable in the palm of my hand. It was like a lump of pottery clay, fighting
against me as I struggled to center it on the wheel.

“Control it…it’s a part of you…own it,” Kyra insisted.

I attempted to steady my breathing, praying doing so would
gain me more authority over the ball of fire in my hand, but it didn’t.
Instead, the ball became as shaky as my breath, until suddenly flying free from
my palm and scorching the ground at Theo’s feet.

“Shit,” he shouted as he lifted his feet and dodged the
burning sphere just in time.

“Sorry,” I managed.

Kyra laughed, which caused me to laugh. Theo, however,
didn’t appear to see the humor in the situation. Our laughter was interrupted
by the shrill sound of a phone ringing from inside the house somewhere. Kyra
hurried to grab it, leaving Theo and me outside alone.

“Did I burn you?” I asked him, while still struggling to
gain control over my nervous laughter.

He shook his head. “No.”

An awkward silence built between us, and I dropped my eyes
to the chipped white metal chair he sat in. A gentle breeze blew, ruffling my
hair, and I wondered if Theo had created it. Would I always think of him every
time the damn wind blew? I hoped not.

Kyra came back then, the phone conversation having been an
apparent short one.

“That was Grandma… We have a problem,” she said. Her eyes
flickered between Theo and me.

“What sort of problem?” Theo grumbled.

“It appears Addison’s lover boy and his entire little crew
have been searching for her all morning,” Kyra said, her hands becoming
animated as she spoke. “In fact, Kace just left Fisherman’s Brew with a Locator
spell in hand.”

Theo’s hands came up to rub his face. “Damn it.”

“What’s a Locator spell?” I asked, even though I was
positive I already knew what the answer would be.

So, Kace and the others were searching for me? I would have
been surprised if they hadn’t been. I didn’t like the idea of them finding me
here, at Conjurer freaking Manor, but I wasn’t going to freak out about it.
Maybe this was a good thing, because it would save me from having to wonder if
I should tell Kace where I’d been when I made it back to my house. If he
located me here with that spell, then he would already know, and there would be
less to explain.

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Kyra said. “I don’t think
I’ve ever met the others, but I’m sure I won’t have to wait long with that
spell. They’ll be on our doorstep in less than thirty minutes.”

“Seriously?” I was shocked at how quickly these Hoodoo
spells worked. They were practically instantaneous.

Theo stood. “You can’t let them know about your new
ability.”

The desperation hanging in his voice was crushing, and the
sudden surge of anxiety from him was overwhelming. Why was Theo, of all people,
so freaked out about them learning of my new ability?

“Why not? I don’t see why it matters to you anyway,” I said
with a little more venom dripping from my voice than I had expected.

“I agree with him and I’m not sure you should even be here
right now,” Kyra said, before Theo could do more than shift a murderous glare
my way. “I think Gran was right when she said you’d better head to the docks
and say you drove around sightseeing or something to clear your head after the
initiation.”

“Why?” I asked, and then added, “And why is your grandmother
willing to help me all of a sudden? I thought she wasn’t supposed to interfere
or whatever.”

Kyra locked eyes with me. “Because the Spirits told her to;
they warned her.”

What the hell? Could these Spirits not make up their damn
mind about whether or not they wanted Twila Van Rooyen to interfere with things
in my life? And when was I supposed to get a say in all of this? A dull ache
began to throb between my eyes, and I drew a hand up to press there in the
hopes that the pain would subside.

“Does she do everything they tell her to?” I snapped.

“If she didn’t, then the balance would run the risk of being
destroyed,” Kyra informed me.

“What balance? And shouldn’t all of her little Hoodoo spells
destroy that balance on a daily basis?” I asked, feeling my irritation and
confusion over the situation lick away at my insides. “Why does
the balance
seem to rest solely on her shoulders anyway?”

Kyra shook her head. “Her Hoodoo spells actually keep the
balance in order. People come to her for a reason. If the Spirits okay the
spell, then she goes through with it. If they don’t, then she sells them a
botched spell that will do nothing. She never intentionally messes with the
balance of things without consulting the Spirits first, and she doesn’t have
the balance resting solely on her shoulders either. She just happens to be a
little more gifted than other Conjurers in the sense that she can speak with
the Spirits directly. Most can only conjure up spells, but there are others
like her.”

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation right now,” I
muttered. My fingers massaged my temples with more vigor as the tension
headache I’d felt beginning moments ago progressed.

Calm down.

Theo’s voice echoed through my mind. I shifted my gaze to
him. His face appeared to be solemn, but I could feel the intense vibes of
calming energy he was sending my way.

“I am calm!” I snapped at him.

Kyra glared at me with her head cocked to the side. “Are you
two doing that mind thingy?”

“No, we’re not,” I insisted. “I don’t see what the big deal
is with Kace and the others knowing that I’m here. Actually, it saves me from
harboring loads of guilt. I can tell them I came to make sure the tether was
broken. No harm, no foul,” I said.

“And when they ask if it was, what is it you plan on saying
then?” Theo asked.

“The truth—that it’s not.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Kyra said. She crossed her arms
over her chest and sat down in the metal chair beside Theo. “Have a seat, and
let’s wait for the fun to begin, then.”

She motioned to the peeling, slightly rusted chair beside
her. I waited a few breaths before I walked over to sit. My stomach twisted as
I wondered if staying was the best option. Maybe I should listen to Twila and
leave. The docks weren’t that far from here. If I went over the speed limit
just a little, I could probably make it there before Kace and the others
completed that spell.

“I can’t believe you’re staying. I can’t believe you’re
going to tell them either,” Theo muttered under his breath. “You know Kace
won’t like you being here. Not after what you told him about us.”

“Oh, listen to you—
about us
.” Kyra smiled. “You two
are starting to sound like a regular soap opera.”

There was a teasing tone to her words, but upon glancing at
her, I noticed it didn’t reflect in her eyes. Either she knew Theo’s
personality well enough to know that he wasn’t the type you teased, or else she
was attempting to withhold a slight amount of jealousy toward the two of us.

I dropped my hands to my lap and glared across the glass
table at Theo. “It will be fine,” I said. “Kace will understand my reason for
being here.”

I wasn’t sure who I said this for more—him or me. The muscle
in my right eye began to twitch as the headache I was praying would go away
worsened. Silence fell between the three of us; it was awkward and thick. A
cool breeze picked up from nowhere, and I knew all at once that it was Theo’s doing.
I could feel his annoyance with me as well as his budding anger due to the
situation.

Funny how he told me that I was the one who needed to learn
how to control my magick; looks like this was a prime example of the pot
calling the kettle black. There was no way I was pointing that out to him right
now though.

Picking at what remained of my fingernail polish, I waited
for someone to speak. When the silence had suffocated me beyond my comfort
zone, I finally opened my mouth.

“When do you think they’ll get here?” I asked.

“It’s hard to say, but you really should leave now,
Addison,” Theo said. His voice was low and full of authority. “Kace should have
already finished the Locator spell by now. You need to head to a dock or
someplace close by like my grandmother suggested.”

“No,” I said firmly while looking directly into his eyes.
“Stop telling me what to do.”

Kyra let out a loud sigh and propped her feet up on the
remaining empty chair beside her as though she were over all of the melodrama
as well.

“You shouldn’t be here. If my grandmother says to leave,
then you need to obey her. She’s only telling you what the Spirits want her
to,” Theo insisted. His jaw grew visibly tense, and I watched as he clenched
his hand into a fist and beat it lightly on the table to emphasize his words
more as he spoke.

“No,” I repeated, this time with more force. “I’m not
leaving. Let them find me here. I’m sick of all the lies. Keeping track of them
all is exhausting. I won’t say anything
yet
about my new ability, but
that’s the only secret I’m keeping.”

I had to be straight with Kace if I wanted things between us
to work. Besides, after how well he handled the first kiss Theo and I shared,
he deserved to know where I was and why. I knew I wouldn’t be keeping the
knowledge of my wacky ability from him forever either. How could I when I
didn’t even think it was possible to control it?

Kyra chuckled at me. “I like your style.”