The White Witch (18 page)

“What the hell?” I say as we emerge around a corner and find a large table spanning the entire wall. On it are beakers, herbs of all sorts, measuring spoons and cups. Along the walls are shelves with old books and various bottled herbs.

As we make our way over to the table, my eye is drawn to a book at the far end. As I approach, I see that it is more of a journal than a book. “Um, guys?” They rush over to my side as I pick it up. I begin to thumb through it and find entries dating back to the 1800’s. William Blackbourne writes about rituals he has created and deals he has made. A chill runs up my spine when I realize who he must have made the deals with.

I continue thumbing through until I see the words “The One.” And read outloud;

If the ritual is completed during the full moon and The One is sacrificed, her powers will be transferred to the Blackbourne completing it. The Blackbournes powers will increase tenfold and the curse will be broken for the Langleys, leaving no witch or wizard powerful enough to ever stop a Blackbourne again.

The book begins to slip out of my hand, but Gamaliel takes it and continues thumbing through. I feel the rage start to boil up inside me and though Logan tries to calm me, I do not react to it.

“He doesn’t just want to kill me. He wants to take my powers.” I rub my face with my hands as I pace the basement. “Is this guy for real? Does he really think my powers will go to him after all the sacrifice my ancestors made?” The beakers and glass on a shelf near me take on a blue glow and I realize it’s coming from my eyes.

“Babe, he isn’t going to do this. We won’t let him.” Logan reaches out and takes my shaky hand in his. “I promise.”

Gamaliel puts the book back as it was and turns to me. “I never thought for a moment, they would have gone this far.” He rubs the short beard he’s begun growing.

As we all stand there stupefied by this discovery, we hear the front door open.

All our eyes widen and the blue glow is gone.

“We have to get out of here.”  Logan whispers to Gamaliel.

I need a doorway or at least two parallel objects as tall as us. We look around but there is no doorway, no window, nothing.

“Does it have to be empty behind it?” Logan whispers as he surveys the area beneath the stairs.

“What?”  Gamaliel turns to him.

“Empty, does it have to be empty?” Logan asks again with urgency as Gamaliel grabs me by the hand and drags me over.

“I have never tried it like this, but it may work.”

Logan and I stand back as Gamaliel stands between two wooden beams that help hold up the stairs, though behind them are several boxes. He whispers his words and waves his hand.

“I hope this works.” He whispers as we hear the door at the top of the stairs open.

I look at Logan wide eyed as light from upstairs begins to filter in. Erebos’s steps are almost as hard as my heart pounding against my chest.

As soon as Gamaliel is through, Logan takes me and shoves me in behind him. I brace myself onto the Keeper, waiting for Logan, but he doesn’t come through. I want to call to him, but I am afraid that Erebos will hear me. The seconds that pass seem like hours as I stand beside the trees waiting for him. After another sixty seconds or so, Logan lunges himself through and Gamaliel closes the portal.

Logan lies on the floor with his chest heaving.

“What happened?” Gamaliel extends his hand, helping Logan up.

“He stopped at the middle of the steps and looked around. I had to duck behind some boxes.” He braces himself on his knees. “I thought for sure he was going to come all the way downstairs.”

As I brush all the debris off Logan, he grabs my hands and studies my face. “Are you ok?” His eyebrows are pinched, but not hard and there is a hint of a frown.

I stand there staring at him and see Gamaliel waiting for my response as well out of the corner of my eye. I have no words. I just found out that Erebos intends on sacrificing me in some ritual and I can only imagine what he will do to get me there. I shake my head slowly because it’s all I can do. Logan steps up and envelops me in his arms.

“Do you want some calm?” He whispers in my ear, but I shake my head again.

No, I want to deal with these insane emotions in my mind and my heart. My biggest consolation at the moment is that my parents are far away and nobody but Logan and myself know where they are.

Gamaliel reaches out and touches my arm as Logan releases me. “I will do whatever I can and whatever you need to help you.” He looks at me and then at Logan. “You will have to keep a close eye on your parents.” The full moon will be here by the end of the week.

“They are safe. They went away for a few days.” I don’t bother telling the Keeper where they are because the less he knows about them the safer he might be.

He nods and we all begin walking back to our vehicles.

The ride home is terribly quiet, with Logan reaching over periodically and touching my cheek. He pulls in behind my jeep and we sit in the car in silence for a moment.

“You know, it’s not the fighting that bothers me.” I start, my eyes welling up with tears. “It’s the fact that I know he isn’t above hurting you or dad or Liz to get to me.” I let them fall as I stare out the window, knowing that I can’t look at him, or I would start to sob. “I can’t let anything happen to you guys.”

“Angel?”

I wipe my eyes and finally turn to him, reading the tone of his voice. “I’m not thinking of doing anything crazy, don’t worry. The thought of that hurts more than someone wanting to kill me.”

Logan takes my hand and leans over the console. “I told you. He isn’t going to hurt you or your dad, or Liz, or even me. I promise you.” He kisses me on the hand and then presses his lips to mine.

“Stay with me?” I ask against his lips.

He presses his forehead to mine. “Are you sure, baby? If you’re not, I understand, I can just hang until you want to go to sleep, and then-”

I lift a finger to his soft lips. “I’m sure.”

We make our way into the house and I immediately head to the kitchen to brew up some coffee while Logan finds something on TV for us to watch and hopefully distract us. I return with two large mugs of coffee and stand at the entrance of the living room, watching him. He’s got dark circles under his gorgeous eyes and his hair has gone from stylishly messy to messy from him dragging his hands through it all night. But he couldn’t look more attractive to me. Though the TV is blaring, he’s not watching it, his gaze is on the floor and he appears intensely focused. He could be anywhere with anyone and instead, he’s here, with me.

He looks up and catches me staring.

“See something you like?” He raises his eyebrow and smirks.

I pucker my lips and nod slowly. “I certainly do.”

He smiles and holds his arms out. I walk up, hand him his coffee and pull my legs beneath me as I snuggle up to him.

We manage to get through one TV show before the day’s events start wearing on me. I feel my eyes closing and try to stop them, but despite my best efforts, sleep overtakes me. It’s not until I am being carried up the stairs that I wake.

“Logan?”

“Ssh, Angel, go back to sleep, I’m just taking you to bed.”

“I’m sorry I fell asleep.”

“It’s ok.”

He gets to my bedroom and puts me down gently at the door, though I am still leaning against him.

“I have to change. I can’t sleep in these jeans.” I stumble over to my dresser and open a drawer, pulling out a cami and some boxer shorts. I open another drawer and pull out a pair of men’s pajama pants.

“I don’t know what’s more disturbing, that I have those exact pants, or that you do.” Logan folds his arms across his chest.

“I like guys pajama pants better, they’re just more comfy.” I explain as I toss the pants to him and walk by him, nudging his shoulder with mine.

By the time I emerge from the bathroom, Logan is standing in front of my dresser, folding his clothes into a neat little pile. He turns to look at me and I am stunned. He looks even better than I had pictured this morning, the pants hang low on his waist showing six of his eight pack, his chest and arms bulge tight with the muscles beneath them, it can’t be more obvious that he loves his sports and working out. Geez, he could be Henry Cavill’s double. I feel my knees get a little weak but I hold my own and saunter toward him.

“Wow.” Is all he needs to say for the blush to consume my body and suddenly I’m wishing I’d put the air conditioner at a lower temperature. He walks up to me slowly sliding his hands on my hips. “Are you sure you want me here? I can sleep on the sofa.”

Is he kidding? You couldn’t pay me to kick him out of my room right now, I don’t care if the butterflies in my stomach are eating me alive!

“I’m sure.”

He crawls into bed and slides over so that I can crawl right up against him. The warmth of his body against mine manages to take me away if only for moments at a time from the madness in my life. He slides his hand around my waist and laces his fingers with mine.

“This could be dangerous.” He whispers into my ear and suddenly I wonder if I am leading him on. “I could get used to holding you like this and want this every night.”

The weight lifts and I exhale. “You’re not the only one.”

For the first night in a week I sleep through the night with no nightmares at all. I turn over slowly only to find that Logan is gone. I look at the dresser and find that his clothes are still there, but when I look at the bathroom, it’s wide open with no one inside. I get up wondering where he could be, open the door and as soon as I do, the scent of coffee and eggs makes its way up the stairs.

I lean against the entrance to the kitchen. “And you cook too?”

Logan turns around with the wooden spoon in his hand, still shirtless and Adonis-like. “Oh, good morning, Angel. I was actually going to take this up to you.” He says as he turns and continues fluffing the eggs.

I smile and walk up behind him, placing a kiss on his toned back. “You know, that’s the first night in a week I haven’t had nightmares.”

He turns off the stove and moves the pan before turning to hug me. “Guess that means we’ll have to do it again.” He leans down and gives me a kiss, before lightly patting my ass and telling me to sit.

“Yes, dear!” I say as sarcastic as possible as I giggle. He brings me my coffee and a plate with perfectly scrambled eggs and toast. “I could get used to this you know.”

“You’re not the only one.” He says so low that I almost miss it, but he glances at me to see if I did and if I caught the reference to last night.

I just smile at him and watch him eat his delicious eggs for a few moments before biting into my own.

Halfway through breakfast Logan looks up. “I have to go in a bit. I have to see my mom and take care of some things.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t planned on what we would do today, but I took for granted that I thought he’d be here all day with me. “Alright, that’s cool. Make sure you tell your mom I said hi.”

“She’ll like that. You going to be ok here by yourself?”

“I’ve stayed home alone before, Polo, and the house is still standing.”

“Very funny. You know what I mean.” He laughs as he fills his mouth with his last forkful of eggs.

“I do know, and yes I will be fine because I have no plans to go anywhere. I’ll just hang here and practice my magic.”

He kisses my head before he takes his stuff to the sink.

“Don’t worry about the dishes. I’ve got it.” I get up from the table, drinking my last sip of coffee.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” I walk up and give him a kiss. “Go check on your mom.”

Logan walks out of the kitchen and about twenty minutes later, emerges again to say goodbye.

I look out the window periodically throughout the day to ensure that the gunmetal grey SUV is nowhere to be seen and sure enough, it’s not, which is comforting and disturbing at the same time because then I wonder if it’s following Logan or trying to find my dad and Liz.

The day passes by pretty quickly since I kept myself distracted with the magic, but by the evening cabin fever sets in and as soon as Logan gets here, I beg him to take me to the rink. As if on cue, the SUV follows us there and then makes an appearance at the coffee shop afterwards.

“You alright there, babe?” The bags under Logan’s eyes are worse and I wonder if he got any sleep last night. I take a sip of my chai latte and lean back on our favorite velvet couch.

He gulps down most of his chai and runs his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, just haven’t been sleeping well is all and last night’s discovery didn’t help that situation at all.”

“Well, aren’t I just the thoughtful girlfriend gloating about my first full night’s sleep in a week. I’m sorry.” I reach over and grab his hand in mine and find that it’s cold.

“Well, in your defense, it had been a week and I had a couple of good nights’ sleep before then so I guess we’re even.” He laughs as he pulls his hand away, wrapping them both around the steaming mug.

I reach forward and put my hand to his face. “Are you alright babe? Your hands are freezing.”

“I’m fine.” He sighs. “Just worn, you know.”

I bring my gaze down to my hands on my lap, guilt reminding me that I am part of what is wearing him out. “I’m so sorry.”

His head shoots up quick. “No, no, babe. Don’t. It’s not you. I think it’s just that finding out about my mom was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“But if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have all these other things going on either.”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have these amazing feelings here,” He takes my hand and puts it over his heart.

“I’ll be honest, the skating helped. I can see why you feel the pull to go skating when you’re stressed.”

I smile, glad that I am able to bring him a quarter of the calm that he brings to me. I shift my feet, crossing one ankle over the other and bite my lip. “So, are you staying tonight too?”

“If you want me to.” He smiles over his mug at me.

Later that night, I ease into sleep with Logan’s warmth enveloping me and immediately realize that I will miss this once my parents return.

“No.” Logan mumbles as he tosses and turns, his chest and brow glistening with sweat as his eyes are squinted shut. “Kate...Sorry… I’m so sorry…No… don’t!”

“Logan.” I whisper, trying not to frighten him awake as I gently shake him. “Babe, you’re having a nightmare. Wake up, Logan.” I call to him softly.

Without warning, Logan bolts upright in the bed gasping for air and touching his chest.

“Logan.” I call, but he is still reacting from the nightmare and doesn’t hear me. “Polo!” He turns to look at me his brow pinched and his chest heaving, still not saying a word. He looks down slowly at himself and presses his hand to his chest and exhaling hard.

“Babe.” I cup his face with one hand. “It was a nightmare.” I give him a minute before continuing. “You’re ok.”

I see his eyes water but no tears fall as he reaches out and grabs me, pulling me toward him so that I am straddling his lap. “I’m sorry.” He whispers as he presses his forehead to mine.

“You didn’t do anything, Polo. It was just a nightmare. Everything is ok.” I pull back and look at his face as I push back the hair that is stuck to his forehead.

He presses his lips to mine with a passion he has never shown. I’m taken off guard for a moment, but quickly reciprocate, pushing hard onto his lips and opening mine to let him in. He presses me to him with an urgency that starts to worry me, but I realize that it must be the trauma of the dream and allow myself to fall into him and embrace him with the same urgency. He slowly lowers us to the bed again and neither of us is willing to let go as we envelop each other completely.

When I wake this time, Logan is still in bed and I am entangled with his legs and his arm is around me, with my head on his chest. I stay awake, listening to him breathe for more time than I can count since I didn’t want to move to check my phone for the time. He starts to stir slowly and instinctively I think, pulls me closer, so I nestle my nose into his neck.

I want so bad for this to be my life, for this happiness that fills me right now to be the only thing I have to worry about. But it’s not. It’s nowhere close to that. I have one more day until the full moon makes its appearance and I am deathly afraid. My heart drops into my stomach and I want some of Logan’s calm so bad it hurts.

“Babe?”

“Mhm?” Is all I can manage.

“What’s wrong?” He moves his head so that he can look in my eyes. “You’re shaking.”

I shake my head because I know if I open my mouth, I will cry. I think back to the last time I ever cried this much and it was when my powers first emerged and Sam labeled me a freak. I try to close myself off to it all, like I had back then, but realize that this is who I am and now I just have to face it.

“You can do this. I have faith in you, Angel, you are stronger than you know.”

“But if he gets to you, or dad, or Liz….”

“He won’t. I’ll make sure of it.” He smiles but his voice shakes.

I keep us in bed for most of the morning because I am trying to avoid confronting the day. Gamaliel and Evangeline both call and let me know that they are at the ready for whatever I need, reminding me how real this all is. I am surprised when Logan doesn’t offer to calm me once, but then figure it’s because he knows that my powers might be stronger if I am emotional.

I ask him to take me to the beach to try and enjoy some of today before having to face the unknown tomorrow and he agrees. We pull into his driveway and make our way inside to get his bathing trunks. As Mr. Blackwell opens the door, I say hello and ask about Sabina. His face drops and says that she has decided to spend the day with a friend to take her mind off recent events.

As we are heading up the stairs, the doorbell rings again and it’s Erebos. He flashes a vicious grin at us as he walks in.

“Well, if it isn’t the lovebirds.”

Logan’s grip on my hand tightens.

Erebos looks at his nails as if he is already bored with us all. “Logan,” He calls without looking up. “I need to speak with you, so be sure not to go very far.”

“Sure thing Erebos.” Logan responds with a lack of emotion that prompts a quick glance from his father. He nudges me and we continue up the stairs toward his room.

“What was that about?”

“Who knows. My dad may have told him that I was showing interest in the companies now, which by the way, I found out that Erebos is forty-nine percent owner of, so unless I start my own business, I will find myself working with Erebos as well as my father.” Logan shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, that was the other information I got from my father the other morning, so unless he sells his shares or dies, he will continue controlling my father and the businesses.”

I turn him to face me as we stand in the hallway. “I’m sorry Logan. Not to be mean, but maybe the latter will happen sooner than we know.”

Logan gives a shadow of a smirk that quickly fades as Erebos emerges at the top of the stairs and stands there, waiting for us to acknowledge his presence.

“I’ll go talk to him. Who knows, maybe I can find out some of his plans for tomorrow.” Logan whispers to me as he opens the door to his room. “Wait here for me.”

He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and makes his way down the hall.

As soon as I get into the room, I begin to wonder where they could have gone since I heard them descending the stairs. My attention is quickly turned to the bookshelf that leads downstairs. I make my way over and pull out The Secret Garden just as Logan had done the other day, push it down and then back in again. The locks give way and the door springs open. I make my way quietly down the stairs, using my phone to light the way. When I reach the bottom, I am tempted to open the latch and go into the den to find them, but I hear voices and wait, with my hand on the latch.

“What do you want, Erebos?” Logan sounds very firm, much steadier than he had earlier this morning.

“I must say that I was very surprised to receive your call yesterday.” Erebos’s voice is sly and low, but there was no mistaking what he said.

Why would Logan call him?

“Did you consider my proposal?” Logan responds coldly.

“Are you sure you can do it?” I hear Erebos walking around the room. “You seem very attached to her.”

“If it will help my mother. I will do it.” Logan responds firmly.

What the hell are they talking about?

“You realize what that will entail, correct?” Erebos stops pacing. “You will have to be the one to lure her in, you will have to be the one to sacrifice her so that your healing powers become stronger and you can try to help your mother, and save our family name of course.”

“Of course.” Logan agrees.

No
. My eyes fill with silent tears that fall almost immediately.

“She trusts me,” He continues, “And I know where her parents are, it will be easy to bring her to us.”

“Again, you are sure?” Erebos walks around some more and I wonder if he has walked over to Logan. “Love does things to people Logan, it tests their loyalty.”

“But Blood comes before love.” He finishes firmly.

I put my hand to my mouth to keep from sobbing and hold on tight to the latch to keep my knees from buckling beneath me.

He can’t… why would he… his mom…

Incoherent thoughts drift in and out of my head at the speed of a train and I can’t wrap my head around what I have just heard.

“Babe?” I hear Logan’s voice drifting down from his room. “Shit!” I hear him step into the secret passage and I lunge myself to the door that leads outside. “Katelyn!”

I run across his yard, jumping over small hedges and tripping over the brick edging of a flower bed, scraping my knee.  I slam into the black iron gates hard and my hands burn as I grab onto it, trying to shake it free.

I look back to find Logan gaining ground on me, and see the button to open the gate. I quickly run over and press it wishing the enormous gates would open faster. I start squeezing through them just as Logan approaches and grabs my hand.