Released Souls (20 page)

We were back at the house with Bakula still in the glass box. I placed her on our kitchen table while we tried to figure out what spell would be best. We tried the first two on our list and nothing happened. Trevor had contacted Dace so he’d probably be here any second. Dace tried acting as if he was less impressed with bringing her home and more upset with me being involved with her rescue, but nobody bought his tough guy act.

Bakula
looked so weak, both mentally and physically. Her cheeks were concave, and her chin looked even pointier than usual. Her skin was ashy, and she looked very sickly. I was hoping she wouldn’t smile because I wasn’t sure I would handle it in the state she was in. The pointy teeth would probably do me in.

She’d stand up, walk over to the glass wall and stare. She’d look at the floor, the ceiling, and finally collapse back down.
She could speak, but none of us could hear her. Her little lips would move and then the only thing that would happen was the glass would fog up slightly. It was horrible.

I tried talking to her, but I think as we couldn’t
hear her, she couldn’t hear us because she’d simply stare at me and shrug, with her little arms flopping around.

“Should we wait until Dace gets here? Do you think he knows something we don’t?” Trevor asked.

“Possibly. But we might as well keep trying until he gets here,” I replied.

Logan wa
s onto the third spell that might break Bakula out of the box. I felt helpless. I grabbed a pen and wrote that Dace was on his way and held it up to the glass. I saw a faint glow in her eyes and a slight smile, sans teeth. It was heart-wrenching to see such a tiny creature struggling for no fault of her own.

“I just thought of something,” I began. “The glass box wasn’t visible
in that office. I only saw it through a mirror, but once I managed to grab onto it, the box became visible. Are those characteristics to any spell you’ve heard of?”

Trevor let out a big sigh and started laughing. “I can’t believe it.”

“What?” I asked.

“They used the
impollutus
spell, which is a good spell. It makes whatever is cast invisible, unless someone with a pure heart touches it.”

Logan stopped the spell he was attempting and walked over to where Trevor and I were standing.

“He’s right. I didn’t even think about it. It’s one of the easiest invisible spells to cast and there’s never anyone around that’s pure enough to bust through it. I’m sure Eben or Lara or whoever cast Bakula didn’t expect that anyone with a pure heart would show up. I’ve actually used the spell myself,” Logan said.

“On what?” My brows arched together
, and I tried to undo my grumpy face, but it wouldn’t budge. My word! What didn’t Logan dabble in?

“Nothing living,” he insisted, drawing his finger across my brow
. “I hid my mom’s keys a few times and her wallet.”

Logan
stationed himself back in front of the glass that housed poor Bakula and began speaking softly.

“Awes
ome! So you know how to undo it,” I half-shouted, hopping up and down.

“It
might take a little longer since it’s on a living creature,” Trevor cautioned.

“At least we know what needs to be done.” I smiled at Trevor and his hand rest
ed on my shoulder.

It caught me off guard
and my body stiffened. It shouldn’t have made me react like that. He’s a friend, and friends are allowed to make contact. I double tapped his hand that was still resting on my shoulder as if to say thanks but enough. He didn’t get the hint. In fact, he stepped closer to me.

I continued to watch Logan and chose to ignore Trevor, hoping I chose
correctly. I didn’t want to distract Logan and have him come flying off the handle at Trevor, leaving poor Bakula in the box to witness it.

A piercing noise rang through the kitchen as Logan continued his chant
. I glanced at Trevor, and he nodded that this was part of the spell. I turned my attention back just in time to watch the glass walls turn to liquid, and Bakula collapse. I ran toward her, leaving Trevor in the dust, and bent down to look at her. Her senses were probably all muddled from being in a silent world for days, so I was careful to not speak too loudly.

“What can we get for you?” I whispered, brin
ging my palm down to her.

She slowly got up and trudged through the liquid
, finding my palm to sit down on.

H
er mouth moved in tiny ovals but still no words would come out. Her lips stretched in aggravation, and her dull eyes looked into mine. I hoped we got to her in time.

She began moistening her lips and her mouth
started moving once more. This time, fractured words made their way off her tongue.

“Dace. Knows.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked.

She shook her head slowly.

“He should be here soon.”

Her head moved to the left, and she cocked it, looking at Logan.

“Thank you.” She told him.

She placed her hands behind her and began leaning on them, finally lying down on my palm. She kept her eyes open as if she were afraid closing them might mean the end.

At long last, the front door opened and Dace zipped right in.

“Where is she?” he asked, flitting all over the place.

“Over here,” I told him, pointing at my other hand.

“She’s not sleeping is she?” he asked, startled.

“No.” I shook my head. “Her eyes are open and blinking.”

He had a pouch strapped to him, and his hand
quickly reached in to grab a small, blue bottle.

“I’m here, my darling,” he whispered, and I suddenly felt like I was spying on something I shouldn’t be. But she was in my palm so I couldn’t leave.

He took the cork out of the bottle, tossing it on the floor, and he landed on my palm. He helped Bakula sit up, and kneeled beside her, feeding her the contents of the bottle. We all looked on as she gulped the liquid, hoping that with each swallow a visible transformation would begin.

“Who’s the one who figured out what spell she was under?” Dace asked, glancing up at me.

“Trevor figured it out and Logan executed it.” I looked over at Trevor who was beaming.

“Nice teamwork,” Dace replied. He placed the empty bottle back in his pouch and pulled out another bottle — this time green. It didn’t look like one bottle ought to fit in his pouch let alone two.
This bottle had a metal snap lid, instead of a cork, and he popped it with a quick flick of his thumb and began letting Bakula drink once more.

Her cheeks slowly began to fill out. Her skin became vibrant, and her eyes began to cast the gentle glow I was so accustomed to.

“Is she going to be okay?” I finally asked, now that I was more certain the answer would be yes.

“She is indeed. Another few hours, and I’m not so sure.” Dace looked at me with a shimmer in his eyes as he spoke the words.
“Thank you for going in there.”

“You’re welcome.” I smiled at Dace, relieved that I wasn’t going to get scolded by a fairy in front of Trevor and Logan.

“But you really shouldn’t have put yourself in harm’s way. It was very irresponsible. Do you think we’d go to all of this trouble, if we wanted to risk having you get caught by Lara,” he ranted, leaving his wife to sit up by herself.

“And furthermore—”

“Dear?” Bakula spoke. “Just be happy I’m back.”

She smiled her glorious smile, teeth and all, and for once I wasn’t horrified by the visu
al. I was relieved.

A glimpse of embarrassment spread across Dace’s face, and I had to look away so I didn’t chuckle. A little man like that didn’t like to be laughed at.

“How quickly we forget,” Bakula chimed in and began laughing on my behalf.

Logan stood next to me, and slinked his hand
in mine.

“Nice work, babe,” he murmured in my ear.

An immediate sense of pride ran through me as I realized what I had accomplished. It was pretty cool.

“Who would’ve known?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders. “I didn’t actually think I was going to be able to
pull it off.”

I winked at him as his mouth fell open.

“Seriously?” he asked.

“I had my doubts, but I figured now was the best time to experiment.”

“Wow. You’re something else,” he whispered
, his eyes dazzling, full of admiration.

“I’m gonna go back and let the guys know that Bakula’s doing okay. If you need me, just holler.” Trevor began walking to the basement.

“Thanks, Trev. For everything.” I threw him a grateful smile and he smiled back. But I could tell something was bothering him, and I only hoped it had nothing to do with Logan and me or the
Praedivinus
order.

Distracting me from my Trevor worries was Bakula dashing around the kitchen at
a record pace.

“Just stretching out my limbs, working out my lungs,” she told us, flying up, down, and around us all. “The lungs need to get used to working
hard again.”

Dace watched her lovingly as she performed her acrobatics
, while Logan and I watched in amazement. She was quite the perky character.

“
I’m glad you guys are both here, even though circumstances certainly could’ve been better,” I paused. “But it has to do with Bakula’s capture.”

Bakula stopped suddenly and fluttered over to me, hovering about a foot away.

“What about it, dear? You did a wonderful job of getting me back.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said. “I only could do it because I knew I had a
team on the outside waiting.” My eyes strayed from Bakula’s, connecting with Logan’s.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled sharply.

“What’s bothering you?” she asked.

“We
have complete faith in you all but seeing that Bakula was captured…” I bit my lip and turned to Logan for support. I didn’t want the fairies to think I doubted their capabilities, but that’s what it was about to sound like.

“
It occurred to us that if anything had also happened to Dace, we wouldn’t ever be able to find our moms,” Logan finished for me, and I tossed him a grateful smile.

“I see,” Dace replied, looking at Bakula.

“They do have a point,” Bakula agreed, steadying her eyes on her husband.

“We aren’t asking to bring them out of hiding
, but to at least know where they’re at.” I waited for Bakula to turn her attention back to me.

She nodded and flew over to me, standing on my shoulder.

“We will give you their location. Your point was well received. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have agreed. Obviously, things have changed. Dear, would you like to tell them or should I?”

Dace looked over at me and then at Logan. “They
’re back at the camp in the Adirondacks.”

My body froze. This wasn’t the location I was expecting.
Plopping them on top of a mountain in Montana or in the middle of an ocean were the locations I expected to hear.

“Are you serious? You put them back where this all started? That’s not hiding. That’s a hotbed of activity.”

“Actually, the
Praedivinus
order is treating that place like it was the site of a plague or something. Only ruins are left, so we quickly constructed a place for your families. There’s no way the
Praedivinus
members would go back there. It’s actually an ideal spot. And I wouldn’t say that’s where it all started, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is where it all ends,” Bakula said, and she flew to the counter next to Dace.