Reawakened (Chronicles of Cas Book 1) (6 page)

Jake shook his head. It was obvious he didn't trust him, and I really shouldn't either. For some reason I couldn't explain, though, I did.

Chapter Eight

After my morning shift at the library, Jake and I suited up for some rounds around the wharf. Seeing as how Salem was a port city, we got some interesting magical creatures that came from the Atlantic. Selkies. Mer-men with the pointiest piranha teeth I'd ever seen in my life. Even sirens with their wicked, tantalizing call.

There was nothing better to do than pass the time with a hunt for magical beings acting crazy. This time, we'd subdue the creature before it got out of hand. Hopefully, Green Eyes would come back to give us information we didn't have.

"Oh my god. I don't know why I didn't think of it before." I hit Jake in the arm as we walked down the wharf. "Maybe there's something in the old books about the ley line's energy making the supernatural creatures go ape shit."

Jake looked out at the waves and shook his head. "Damen and I have been through those books a gazillion times. I don't remember anything about the ley line making the monsters go crazy, just that it gave them more powers. Maybe you don't know Eddie like you think you do."

Maybe I
didn't
know Eddie like I thought I did. Because there was no Eddie anymore. He went poof.

"There's something weird happening. It's more than just the ley line. I haven't seen any new creatures, creatures that are beckoned by the influx of power and energy. It's just that the creatures we already had are going nuts."

Jake seemed to mull that over, but I could still tell he wasn't one-hundred percent on board with my revelation.

"Listen, I know you think I'm going nuts, too. I know you've seen a lot more things to make you think the worst of all these beings, but the ones we have in Salem right now are pretty cool. We don't get disturbances. If we do, it's from someone on the outside and then Damen or I dispatch them. But this was our own run-of-the-mill Salem magical beings. We've all been living alongside each other nicely for a long time. I just don't get it."

"Granted you know more about Salem than I do now, but it just seems like a case of an awakening ley line to me."

"Well, we'll have to wait until Sunday for the witches to see if they can repair it. In the meantime, I'll be interested to hear what Green Eyes has to say."

"If he comes back at all."

I shrugged. "Got a point there. Not saying he will be back, but if he does, I'll be interested in what he has to say. Can't blame me for that, right? I want to get to the bottom of this."

"You and me both, kid."

I sneered at him. "No. Just no. We're not doing the kid thing. That may have worked when I actually was a kid, but trust me, I am no longer a kid."

"I noticed."

I whipped toward him. He wouldn't look at me. The tips of his ears were red again. Well, what I could see of them in the darkening evening anyway. I doubted it was the pink blush that now spread out across the sky above the Atlantic.

I think maybe that was a compliment? Did I want it to be a compliment?

Ugh god. This is why I never bothered with things like boys since I was in high school. Too much damn work.

"I just wish we could do something about it now. I hate waiting. I feel like the longer we wait, the more Damen is lost to us and the more we won't be able to figure out the stupid ley line stuff. I just can't believe this is all happening at once. I'm antsy. I want to figure it out now. I don't want to wait for the stupid full moon."

"Did you talk to Gigi? Maybe if she feels that the ley line's powers have increased, we'll be able to move it up."

I shook my head. "Checked in with her a little earlier today. She didn't mention anything about the ley line and I didn't want to nag. It's too bad there isn't some unknown magical solstice tonight that would help."

"Or anything that boosted magic powers for that matter."

I gasped and then stopped in my tracks. Boosted magical powers? "I know what we could use."

A couple steps ahead of me, Jake turned, his face etched in concern. "What?"

"The amber stone."

His eyes filled with excitement for oh, about half a second before he started shaking his head. "Not a good idea."

"Would it work?"

He ran his hands through his hair. "Not a good idea, Cas."

"Would it work though?" I turned in a circle racking my brain at the different scenarios. "Why am I even asking you? I know it will work. That's what the amber stone does." I pulled my phone from my pocket and scrolled through my contacts to find Gigi.

Jake tore the phone from my hand. "I think this is a terrible idea. That stone is powerful."

"Which is exactly why we should use it for this. Jake, they'll be able to perform the healing ritual tonight. Everything will go back to normal in Salem and then we can concentrate on finding my brother. All I see are wins in this scenario. The faster we can concentrate on Damen, the quicker he'll be back here where he should be."

"I think--"

Anger flared inside me. Rightfully, I was the only opinion that mattered right now. I was the acting Ley Line Guardian. "But you know, it doesn't really matter what you think. With Damen gone, I am the only Guardian of Salem and the amber stone is in the possession of Salem's Ley Line Guardians. We're using the damn stone."

I snatched my cell phone back and pushed Gi's name. "Girl, we got a plan. Meet us at Gallows Hill and bring your coven."

Chapter Nine

Jake was quiet as we jogged back to the SUV. He didn't say much in the ride back to my house, and he didn't say anything as he got out of the car. But when a wolf jumped off my front porch and tried to bite my head off, he screamed. Not screamed like a little girl, but bellowed and howled like Mel Gibson in that Scottish war movie.

The wolf's ears flattened against his head right before Jake's massive body took him down. The wolf shifted underneath him, revealing a teenage boy with a nose piercing. Oddly enough, he reminded me of Damen and Jake at that age. They never had nose piercings, though. Not their style.

He was a typical Salem resident. His pack had come from a few states away so that they could live with other magical beings who thought the same as they did. Salem's magical side lived in complete cohesion with the human side. The magical beings certainly had no desire for the humans to know anything about them. They preferred to live in anonymity.

I knew him. I knew his alpha. "Liam, is that you?"

Liam's eyes came into focus as he stared at me. "Yes. What's going on?"

"You tried to take me out. What's wrong with you?"

He shook his head and squirmed underneath Jake's weight. "I would never do that. I was here just to ask you a question. Why is this big alpha dude on top of me?"

I tugged on Jake's collar, but he stayed put. "You attacked her."

Liam looked from Jake to me. I nodded.

Liam shook his head vehemently. "That can't be. I would never do anything like that."

I touched Jake's back. There was something seriously wrong around here. Like Eddie, Liam would never do anything like that. He spoke the truth. I was on the god damned committee that got to tell the paranormal creatures whether they could live within the city limits or not. These people were good people. If they weren't, they would've never been approved. Liam's pack had been here for at least five years without any problems. They were probably the coolest pack in the freaking city.

"Get off him, Jake."

The muscles in Jake's back tensed. I could tell that was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment, but he listened. He stood, but still kept one hand on Liam's shoulder and one on his forearm. I could tell Liam wasn't going to be let go of anytime soon.

"We'll call his pack leader and hand him off to him."

The muscles in Jake's arm bulged. "Not a chance in hell. We're going to subdue him and then try him for attacking a Ley Line Guardian."

Furious, I pulled at Jake's arms. "We're going to do no such thing."

He cursed under his breath. It must have been a doozy because even Liam shied away from him after that. "Let's take him into the house where we can talk and it doesn't look like I'm absconding some teenager."

The door opened in front of me without me even having to touch it. Another cool aspect of the family ring I wore on my right hand. Jake walked Liam toward the dining room table and sat him down in a chair. Before I could stop him, he pressed on a pressure point and Liam fell asleep, his head conking off the wood table next to him.

"What the hell did you do that for?"

"So I could talk some sense into you without prying ears. You're damn lucky he didn't hurt you."

I clenched my jaw tight. There was some good points in what he said. Dammit. "Thank you for saving me from him, but you've got to see now that there's just too many weird things going on here. We're using the amber stone to fix this tonight."

Jake gripped the side of the counter. "I see the opposite. We obviously don't know what we're dealing with and since we don't know, we definitely shouldn't bring the most powerful stone to fight something we don't know anything about."

I tugged at the ends of my hair. This was another reason why the only guy I liked to hang out with was my brother. They were all fucking stupid. "The stone will help. I've already made up my mind. You have no say in the matter as I told you before. Now wake the kid up."

His eyes were big, round, and scary. For a second, I thought they took on a golden hue, but that would be stupid. He took a few deep breaths with his back to me and then slowly turned around. "Since there are weird things going on around here, I don't think sending Liam back to his pack is a good idea. We should just keep him...incapacitated until we fix the problem. Does that sound reasonable?"

"Yes. Fine." I heaved Liam over my shoulder and carried him to the basement steps. Another cool feature of the Marston house was a magical jail cell just on the other side of the wall of the training facility. It kept paranormal creatures inside. No harm, just solitude. I laid him carefully down in the northwest corner where I knew the wards would keep him there.

I felt bad just leaving him. He was just a kid. What if he woke up and wondered where he was? What if he was scared?

I blew out a breath, took one last look, and then turned around to head back to the attic to grab the damn stone that would make this right again. Hopefully.

Chapter Ten

The amber stone felt warm in my pocket as I drove up to Gallows Hill Park where we would leave the SUV and walk the trails to the actual place where the witches were hung back in 1692. It was crazy how much magic was in Salem...how far back in history it went. If those witches hadn't tried to take over Salem Town way back then, there would've never been a SPAWN, there would've never been Ley Line Guardians. Well, at least how they originated would've been different.

Back in the seventeenth century, humans didn't understand things like ley lines. They only saw the witches, the paranormal, who of course were called to this area because it lit up like a light bulb. Regardless of what everyone thinks now, witches were the root of all evil in Salem, and for the entire world, too. They are the mother of all magical beings. They created shifters, werewolves, vampires, you name it, they did it.

Why do we trust witches now? Well, there are two types of witches. There are witches that are born with power and there are witches like Gigi and her coven who practice Wicca and manipulate nature to conjure "magic". We like the Wiccans. We don't like the witch bitches. It's as easy as that.

When Jake and I trekked up the hill, we saw the flickering lights first, then the clearing. I'd been up here many times before with Damen and Jake, but most recently just with Damen. It always gave me the creeps. When a bunch of supernatural people die in one place, it gives off an eerie feeling forever. It can never be cleansed no matter what.

Jake was even more acquainted with the hill than I. A little ways off into the trees to our right was the headquarters of SPAWN. I looked up at him and noticed his gaze was angled in that direction. It was probably hard for him to be here after so much time had passed. I wondered what he thought about it. When this was all over and he stopped being an ass about every little thing, maybe I'd ask him. Well, that was if he'd stick around for a little while and I actually had the chance to talk to him about it.

Gigi met us at the edge of the circle. Again, she had eyes only for Jake. Even though it was dark, I could tell she'd put on more makeup than she usually did. She was a natural beauty anyway, but the way she was now, she was a knockout. A weird feeling twinged in my chest.

That was odd. I rubbed the spot with my hand and then shook the feeling away. I had way more important things to deal with right now.

"So what's this plan?" Gigi asked.

I looked over her shoulder at Zion. She eyed me skeptically, probably wondering why they even bothered to show up. Little did they know I had the answer to their problems on me.

"I've got something that will boost your powers. If your powers are boosted, you'll be able to heal the ley line tonight, right?"

Zion cleared her throat and then walked up to our group. "It would have to be something immensely powerful, young guardian. I am not sure you have something like that in your possession."

"Oh, never you mind about that."

I reached into my pocket and brought out the stone. It glowed a beautiful amber as if it were lit from within. Zion's eyes practically bulged right out of her head. "The Amber Stone."