Timespell (21 page)

“Crap!” Julia exclaimed. “I can’t do it.”

“You can’t bring Ethan over?” Angie asked.

“No! I’m too weak or something. Every time I try, nothing happens. I can see him, and hear him, but I can’t bring him over.”

“Chill out,” Kaitlyn said. “He’s in Paris, not a torture chamber.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Julia let out a sigh. “Now what do we do?”

“We find Indira,” Angie said.

“No, we find a bathroom,” Kaitlyn countered. They could ignore her all they wanted, but they couldn’t ignore her bladder. “Are we far from the Santa Monica beach house?”

“Yeah, I think we’re on Venice Beach. There’s a bathroom in that hut.”

A
public beach restroom. Kaitlyn wafted the air in front of her. “That was truly a bonding moment with you two. Really.”

“How’s it been, slumming with us?” Julia asked, leaving on
her plain white shift and abandoning the rest of her French clothes near a sleeping homeless person.

“Worse than I thought,” Kaitlyn answered, taking off most of her clothes too. She left on the corset, though. It gave her chest some serious lift. “Good luck finding Indira,” she said. “I’m over this.” She dumped the rest of her clothes on the floor by the shower. Not that she didn’t want the bag lady to have them, but the woman smelled worse than the bathroom.

“What? You’re leaving?” Julia asked. “What about finding Indira?”

“What about it?” Kaitlyn shot back. “My mom said I had to be back from prom before her ten o’clock with the trainer. I’m not getting chewed out so you can figure out how to bring your precious Ethan over.”

“How do you think you’re getting home without a phone, a car ... money?” Julia asked.

Kaitlyn’s lips parted.

“I could always Journey you home,” Julia said, a cocky smile on her lips.
“After
we find Indira.”

“It’s probably not even six in the morning,” Angie said, her big blue eyes meeting Kaitlyn’s. “Let’s walk down the boardwalk. Indira shouldn’t be far.”

Kaitlyn eyed the trashy boardwalk. She didn’t normally hang out on Venice Beach. The winos and weirdos made this place look like a commercial for Feed the Homeless. That was so not her style.

“Fine,” she muttered. “They should tear this whole strip down and build real stores. I mean, this boardwalk is right on the beach. It would rock.”

“It would suck,” Julia said. “If you want homogenized brand name stores, go to Third Street Promenade.”

“Oh, wow, you’re so ‘in touch’ shopping three miles away from The Promenade,” Kaitlyn said.

“At least I don’t spend enough on a pair of sunglasses to sustain a family in a developing nation for a year.”

Kaitlyn shook her head. What could she expect from someone who lived in an apartment? “So,
Angie
,” she said, ignoring Julia’s glare. “What makes you think we’re going to find Indira?”

Angie slowed her steps. “We’ve always found her when we needed her.”

“Gee, that’s super,” Kaitlyn said. “I’ve only met her once, but she seemed a little demented about sealing us with the magic. How well do you know her?”

Angie scanned the boardwalk ahead, a frown forming on her lips.

“Crap, Angie,” Julia said. “Kaitlyn’s making sense.”

“She’s here. We just haven’t walked far enough,” Angie said, but her words sounded hollow.

Julia held Angie back. “Why would Indira be here? Don’t you remember?” Julia’s face broke into a villainous grin and she rubbed her hands together, imitating Indira’s voice, “I’m free! I’m free! Bwahahaha!”

“Stop,” Angie said, her white face going paler.

A voice came from behind them, slow and croaking with age. “You will not find Indira here, Daughters. Not anymore.”

Kaitlyn spun around.

An old lady sat at a booth that had not been there a minute ago. A sign by her table said she read palms and tarot cards. Kaitlyn looked up and down the boardwalk. It was empty. No one else had set up their booths yet.

“A psychic,” Angie whispered.

The old woman cracked a gap-toothed smile. “You allowed yourself to be chained by Fate,” she said.

Her laugh made Kaitlyn stand up straighter. “You think this is a joke?”

“Don’t,” Julia said. “She might be able to help us.”

“Help
us?”
Kaitlyn asked. “You mean, help
you
get Ethan back.”

“Forget you,” Julia said, taking a seat at the fortune teller’s
booth. Angie glanced at Kaitlyn over her shoulder. She joined her friend.

The old lady shook her head, grinning again. “Not without the three. You are as one now, and as one you must come.”

“No thanks,” Kaitlyn said. “You two tell me how it works out.”

“Just give her ten minutes,” Angie said. “Please?”

Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes. “Five.”

Angie smiled and patted the chair beside her.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and sat down hard, crossing her arms in front of her.

“I’m Angie. This is Julia, and that’s Kaitlyn,” Angie said, sounding like an intro for a kids’ TV show.

The lady laughed to herself as she shuffled some smooth, white rocks on a board in front of her. “Yes, you are.” She scooped up the stones and dumped them into a black bag. “And I am Nevine. You are here because you were hoping to find Indira. Hoping for revenge, eh?”

“No!” Angie and Julia said together.

Julia rushed ahead, saying, “We came looking for help. I think I’ve lost my power.”

“Lost?” She cackled again, as if to herself. “The power cannot be lost.”

“But, there’s a guy, and I can’t bring him back.”

Nevine shook the bag of white stones in her hand. “Your guardian has been brought back through time. That is enough.”

“What do you mean? He’s not here with us. He’s in Paris!”

“That is not the concern of the Fates,” Nevine said. “The power you wield over the Guardian of Time is yours alone. He has been brought to his own time. The location is not important. Now that he is here, your power over him is no more, and you can no longer summon him to you. Not unless you return to your task.”

“I—I didn’t know that,” Julia said, sounding choked.

Nevine struck a match. “You have much to learn.”

“What did you mean, ‘chained by fate’?” Kaitlyn asked. “Are we slaves now?”

The lady paused in her lighting of three white candles. “You are not free,” she said sharply. “You bound yourselves to the magic, and now you must obey the Fates.”

Kaitlyn’s lips parted as the pieces fell into place. “Indira traded our freedom for hers.”

“The Fates wanted her to,” Angie said. “They used her so that we could be found. It’s the price we must pay for keeping our magic.”

“You’re kidding, right? She tricked us,” Kaitlyn said, her voice rising. “She wanted out of her curse and conned us into being Fate slaves.”

“You were warned about the tasks,” Nevine said. “Her curse wouldn’t have been lifted if she hadn’t told you that you would be bound to the task the Fates set out for you.”

“Cursed,” Angie whispered.

“Why was she cursed?” Julia asked.

“She betrayed the Fates, working in secret with the cult of the Sorceress. She believes, as the Sorceress does, that those born without magic should serve as our slaves.”

Angie shook her head and frowned, looking like a little kid trying to still believe in Santa. “Why would the Fates have sent us to be trained by someone they cursed?”

“It was the bargain they struck. She had the Jewels of Time, you see.”

Angie stared at her for a long time. “The artifacts. They are jewels?”

“They have been called artifacts. Talismans. Their power is vast.” Nevine smiled, shaking her head. “Crafty one, that Indira. She lost the jewels but still gained her freedom in the end.”

“Because of us,” Angie said softly. She looked up at Nevine, her eyes pleading. “We were right to accept the seal, weren’t we?”

“You pleased the Fates,” Nevine said, pulling out a deck of cards. “If that is right.”

“But if not for us,” Angie insisted, “the creatures of Mythos will continue to destroy the world.”

“This is true.” Nevine began shuffling her cards, her eyes unfocused. “But if left unchecked, Indira will soon command the creatures of Mythos. She will do all in her power to regain the jewels and free the Sorceress. If that happens, the world will be doomed regardless.”

Kaitlyn pushed her chair back. “The Fates suck. I want to go home.”

“So soon?” Nevine asked. Her hands went still on the black velvet bag. “We must still consult with the bones of Fate.”

“Bones.” Kaitlyn crossed her arms. Her gaze dropped to the black bag. “As in chicken bones?”

“They’re bones,” Nevine said, “but not of a chicken.”

A shudder raced along Kaitlyn’s spine.

“You must find the Jewels of Time,” Nevine continued. “The bones will lead you. It is the only way to hex Indira.”

“I don’t care about Indira. I want to go home!” Kaitlyn exclaimed. “Julia, you promised.”

Julia looked to Angie, her face blank. “I’m lost. Is Indira bad now or what?”

“The jewels,” Angie said. “Where do we find them? What do they do?”

“There are three,” Nevine said. “They are hidden in the task. Find all three before Indira does.”

Kaitlyn was done. “This is stupid. We’ll never find three jewels in the middle of France. Indira’s a witch or whatever. She’s probably found them already.”

“No, she hasn’t,” Nevine said. “But
you
have.”

Kaitlyn clutched the front of her corset. Freakin’ A, that was probably a dead giveaway. She sneered, lacing her voice with venom. “What are you talking about?”

“The first jewel,” she said.

She and the old lady stared each other down.

“Shall I describe the moment when you took it?” Nevine asked.

The vanity table. There had been so many jewels in that box. She didn’t think it would matter.

Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes. “Fine, I took something.” She plunged a hand between her breasts and pulled out a gorgeous pearl necklace with a dangling emerald pendant. “Are you happy now?”

Julia
stared at the dark green jewel sparkling in the morning sun. What the heck was going on?

Nevine’s face twisted in a scowl. “Put it away, Daughter! Indira has spies. They will be watching you.”

Kaitlyn shoved the gem back into her corset. Even with it out of sight, Julia saw it in her mind. She knew why Kaitlyn had taken it. The jewel possessed more than beauty; it looked like a thing of power.

“What do we do with the jewels?” Angie asked. “Once we find them all?”

“You find Indira,” Nevine said. “Or, more likely, she will find you.”

A chill crept into Julia’s chest at the thought of facing an angry Indira. For that matter, how much should they trust Nevine? They knew nothing about this lady. Julia turned to Angie, trying to read her friend’s expression.

Angie’s jaw was tight. The fingers on her right hand tapped along her knee like she was playing an invisible piano.

Great. If Angie was nervous, they may as well give up now.

“What kinds of spies, Nevine?” Angie asked. She turned to Kaitlyn, who seemed to be inspecting her split ends again. “Kaitlyn said she saw a sea creature.”

“I
told
you!” Kaitlyn cried.

“But the creatures of Mythos can’t cross into the present! Unless ... could Indira have sent them?”

Nevine cackled again, a sound that was starting to get on Julia’s nerves. “You think Indira is the cause of the creatures that follow you now? Without the jewels, she has no more power over them than you do. Less, in fact.”

“Then—”

“You
are the reason the creatures of Mythos seek to reclaim you, Daughters. You have not fulfilled your promise to the Fates. Your task remains unfinished, yet you returned to your own time.”

Julia’s head hurt. “Always with the stupid task,” she muttered.

“By breaking the covenant with the Fates to complete your task, you allowed the Sorceress to grow in power. The creatures can create rifts in the threads of time to follow you. They are drawn to you as iron to a lodestone, wherever and whenever you are. Return to your task. Seal the portal,” Nevine said, her head lowering darkly as her voice dropped, “or the creatures of the deep will seem as nothing compared to what else will come to find you.”

Julia didn’t know what to make of the psychic. Why was she helping them in the first place? She bit her lip as Nevine revealed her semi-toothless grin.

“The bones?” Nevine prompted, rattling her black pouch again.

Julia swallowed. She wasn’t so sure about touching bones, especially the non-chicken kind.

Angie’s hand dove into the pouch with no hesitation. Julia almost rolled her eyes. Knowing Angie, the girl had been handling weird bones since she was old enough to hold a rattle.

“Daughter,” Nevine said to Julia. “You are next.”

“Oh. Right.”

Nevine cackled again.
Does she have to do that every five seconds?

“It’s okay,” Angie said. “We can trust her. And the jewels sound important. They might be the artifacts of power.”

“The ones we’re forbidden from using or we’ll be corrupted?”

Angie exhaled forcefully. “We won’t use them. We’ll only keep them so Indira can’t get at them.”

“Okay,” she murmured. If Angie wanted to trust the hag from
Snow White,
Julia wasn’t about to stop her. She reached for the bones. They were cool to the touch and rougher than she expected. What kinds of bones were these?

“Daughter of Future,” Nevine said.

Kaitlyn pulled a face, but Julia wasn’t having it. “I did it. You’re doing it.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t,” she spat, grabbing her share of bones. “Now what?”

“Now, throw them onto the board,” Nevine said, her jack-o-lantern smile dimming as her eyes became serious. “We shall see.”

Julia’s gaze fell onto the board. Etchings covered it; a figure eight, a pyramid, three interlocking rings. “Should we count to three or something?” she asked.

“Okay,” Angie said, tossing back her hair.

Julia concentrated on the board. “One ... two ... three.”