Witches of Bourbon Street (24 page)

Where are you
?

My question went unanswered. Damn it! I had the odd notion I was circling his pain even though I’d stopped moving in this strange world.

Kane
? I tried again.

Nothing. I knew he was here. Why couldn’t I find him? We’d communicated like this once before. I’d been in another dimension, and Kane had found me while dreamwalking. Was that it? Had he been dreaming?

I pressed harder, searching for him. The harder I tried, the farther away he became. Soon, all his pain vanished. The only thing left was a weak, almost undetectable, thread of our connection. Was he unconscious?

With a start, I woke back in Kane’s kitchen. The light stung my eyes and I blinked.

“Where is he?” Pyper demanded.

My mouth opened, but I shut it. I’d been forming a theory. If only I could remember it.

“You found him, right?” she tried again.

I held my hand up to stop her interrogation. “Give me a minute.” I’d been in a pseudo-dream state. Had Kane? Is that why I’d almost been able to talk to him? Had he awakened when he’d felt my probe? Or maybe he’d passed out from all the agony. There was no way to tell. There was one thing I was sure of, though.

“He’s in another dimension,” I blurted.

No one said anything. I looked up to find each of them staring at me with a puzzled expression. “What?”

“We heard him,” Pyper said.

“Huh?”

“We heard Kane say your name.”

I turned to her, full of hope. “Did he say anything else?”

She shook her head. “What did you hear?”

I shifted and tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate. I slid back down on the floor and rested my head against a drawer. “I called to him and he called back. But after that, I lost him.”

Footsteps shuffled over the tile. Ian stopped in front of me and offered me a hand.

“I don’t think I can walk.” I glanced at Bea. “Is this normal?”

She frowned. “The spell uses a lot of energy, but it shouldn’t wipe you out that much.”

My aunt’s harsh voice came from across the room. “She performed two advanced spells. Didn’t you think it would drain her? It’s not like she has a tolerance for magic.”

“Gwen?” I shifted in her direction and caught a glimpse of her angry expression before she turned away.

“I’m worried, is all,” she said to the wall. “You haven’t been schooled. You don’t know what’s dangerous and what isn’t.”

“I’m right here.” Bea sounded offended. “Do you really think I’d put her in harm’s way?”

Gwen jumped up. “How do I know? I barely know you. And so far, you’ve used my niece to heal yourself. Twice, I might add. And now you have her working spells that are conjuring evil.”

Bea stood and matched Gwen toe to toe. “I haven’t forced Jade to do anything. I’m here to help her, just as I was when she got herself trapped by an evil ghost. She’s a grown woman. If you hadn’t coddled her, she likely wouldn’t be in the position she is now.”

“Hey,” I interjected from the floor. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Bea took a step back and shot me an apologetic glance. “Sorry. I only meant if you’d been better prepared, we could fight this together instead of me just instructing. My frustration got the better of me. Forgive me.”

Gwen looked ready to pounce, but she, too, took a step back.

“Gwen,” I said. When she finally met my eyes, I sent her a twisted smile. “I’ll be fine. I think I just need to rest.”

She gave me a short nod before retreating out of the room.

I stifled a sigh and looked up. “Ian, can you help me to the bedroom?”

His lips quirked into a teasing smile. “Now there’s a request I can hardly refuse.”

Pyper shot him a derisive look.

“What?” Ian asked once he had me supported in his arms. He was surprisingly strong, despite his thin build. Through his touch, I sensed a blossom of something close to love tingling through him, and it wasn’t aimed at me.

“You’re lucky Kane isn’t here and that I can’t reach you,” Pyper said from the floor.

Ian’s expression sobered. Either he felt guilty for flirting with me right in front of Pyper, or he was thinking about what Kane would do if he found me in Ian’s arms. Either one was enough to wipe the smile from his face.

“Ian? The bedroom’s through there.” I pointed to the short hallway off the kitchen.

“Right.”

There was something odd and a little bit unsettling about having him carry me to Kane’s bedroom. Especially since Kane had carried me there more times than I could count. It was even weirder when Ian laid me on the bed and lost his balance. He slipped and fell right on top of me.

“Cozy,” Pyper said from the doorway.

Ian scrambled to his feet and hastily made his way back to the door.

I rolled my eyes. I had zero interest in Ian, and I knew he had zero interest in me. Times change. Pyper was now the object of his affection.

I called her over.

She took a seat on the bed. “What can I do?”

“Stay with me. I have a hunch that once I go to sleep, Kane might find me. The spell state was very much like his dreamwalking. I’d like you to witness if anything unusual happens.”

“You got it.” She stood, supporting herself with her crutch. “Do you want me to help you get ready for bed?”

I glanced down at my jeans and boots, nodding. “Please.”

Ian hovered by the door.

Pyper shot him a look that would have had me scrambling out of the room, but he shifted his feet and said, “Jade, you said you wanted me to measure any paranormal activity. Should I set up some equipment in here, just in case?”

“Fine. Come back in fifteen minutes.”

“Sure thing.” He disappeared so fast, I wondered if he wasn’t the one with supernatural abilities.

Pyper chuckled. “Boys.”

“I actually think it’s a good idea.”

“You’re not irritated?” Pyper looked unconvinced.

“No. Any information is good information at this point. I’ll take all the help we can get.”

She squeezed my hand and pulled me up. My right thigh throbbed. I clutched it and swallowed a groan.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. The locator spell left me a gift. I’ll be fine.”

Twenty minutes later, I was tucked into Kane’s bed in a T-shirt and sleeping shorts. Ian returned, toting more gear than I’d ever seen. “What’s all that for?”

He sent me a slightly guilty smile. “I want to measure each room tonight, if that’s okay with you.”

I really couldn’t have cared less. “Do whatever you think is necessary.”

“Thank you.” He spent ten minutes preparing his electrical devices and said good night before he left again.

“I’ll be right back,” Pyper said from the door.

“Take your time.” It wasn’t like I was going to fall asleep instantly. With everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, I doubted I’d get much sleep at all. Gwen showing up unexpectedly, finding Kane with Lailah, being abducted, Lailah attacking Bea and abducting Kane, Dan being controlled by a demon. It was all too much.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block the day from running like a movie reel in my mind.

Instead, I focused on the thread of love I’d felt from Kane. My body filled with warmth again. Before I knew it, my mind had stilled, and I was floating in that place halfway between consciousness and sleep.

I knew he was there before I saw him. His distinctive emotional signature touched me from behind. I turned in his direction and gasped.

There he was with a stake poking out of his right thigh. His wrists were wrapped in thin metal strips, but he didn’t appear to be bound to anything. Beside him, propped up against his other leg, sat Lailah.

Her weak voice broke the silence. “Help us.”

Chapter 18

I gaped, and stupidly spoke the first thought that came to mind. “Lailah’s in your dreamwalk? Again?”

Kane’s pained expression turned wary. “She showed up on her own. I didn’t bring her here.”

What was wrong with me? I didn’t have time to play the jealous girlfriend. I waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind. It’s not important. Where are we? Do you know?” I took a moment to glance around what appeared to be a study. Or was it a library? There wasn’t any furniture. The pair sat near a blackened stone hearth on a thick, vintage-style oriental rug. Candlelight flickered, illuminating leather-bound books lining the walls. If there’d been enough light, I was sure I’d see a thick layer of dust covering the bookshelves.

“It’s a ruin,” Lailah said.

“What is?” I moved to Kane’s side, inspecting his angry, swollen leg.

“This place.” She waved a hand, indicating the room. “But it doesn’t exist in our world. It probably did at some point, but doesn’t now.”

Kane tried to grab my hand, but his slid right through mine. He tried again as I stared in disbelief. “You did pull me into a dreamwalk, right? I didn’t manifest some new skill?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“It’s because we’re in some other astral plane. That’s what I was trying to tell you about the ruin,” Lailah said in a frustrated tone. “Or weren’t you listening?”

I glared down at her. “I wasn’t talking to you. But now that you have my attention, you can explain how and why you’re both here.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered and turned away, burying her face in her hands.

I raised my eyebrows at Kane.

“She says she doesn’t remember anything after the fight you two had outside Bea’s house. She doesn’t remember going in or attacking Bea,” he explained.

A muffled sob came from Lailah’s prone form.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I asked in disbelief. “Again with the lost memory?”

Kane shook his head and closed his eyes. “You weren’t here when I interrogated her. I don’t know for sure, but I’m inclined to believe she really doesn’t remember.”

“Really?” Lailah squeaked through her sniffles.

I crinkled my nose in disgust. “It hardly matters if she remembers or not. The fact is she did attack Bea and then pulled you here. Wherever here is.”

“She thinks it’s Purgatory.” Kane reached out once more, but dropped his hand before it could slide through my shimmery form.

“B…but, you’re not dead. It can’t be Purgatory.” Oh my God. He couldn’t be dead, could he? He was dreamwalking me. Crap, ghosts visit people in their dreams. I had firsthand experience.

Lailah straightened. “No, we’re not dead. But if I don’t get my powers back, we’ll never get out of here.”

“What happened to your powers?” I asked. She’d gotten them there; she should damn well be able to get them out.

“Bea took them. Remember? You were there.”

I stared at her, wanting to beat my translucent head against the wall. “Yes, but you also seemed to get them back. It was your power that brought you two here, and your power that took Kane’s memory earlier today. It’s there. You just have to find it.”

Lailah slumped and stared at the floor.

I stifled a groan, turning back to Kane. “What happened to your leg?”

His frustration rivaled mine as he gritted his teeth. “I have no idea. It was there when I regained consciousness, along with these.” He raised his wrists to show me the thin metal wires.

“Someone put them on you.” I eyed Lailah, but she looked too helpless and scared.

“Who would that be? No one has been here, and we can’t seem to leave the room.” His feet twitched, and I knew he wanted to get up and pace.

“I don’t know, but—”

Lailah suddenly went rigid. “She’s coming.”

“Who?” Kane and I asked in unison.

Her body went limp.

Beside her, an image with thick, black hair, tied back in a high ponytail, slowly materialized. The severe style highlighted her thin nose. Her wild black eyes stared right at me. “Come to rescue your loved ones, have you?”

Despite the agony I knew Kane suffered, he managed to stand and move in front of me. “Leave her out of this,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Shut up, minion.” She jerked her hand through the air and Kane crumbled into a heap at my feet.

I gasped and kneeled, wanting to inspect him for damage, but in the dream state, there wasn’t anything I could do. I stood and turned my outrage on the demon. “What do you want, Meri?” I clenched my translucent fists. “What could you possibly get out of this?”

Her black eyes dilated the size of quarters. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting.”

“For what?” Panic finally started to filter through my anger. Was she going to take me too? She must have had some control over me, since Kane was knocked out and I was still there.

Her lips turned up in a chilling smile. “The angel. I’ve been waiting twelve long years to escape my prison. Ingenious, really, what those coven witches did, trapping my spirit in an object. They forgot an angel could free me, though.” Meri gazed at Kane. “And she had a connection to a dreamwalker. Such a lowly angel, but combined with your lover, it was enough to rekindle my strength.”