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  EVERSPELL

  SPELLBOUND BOOK TWO

  by Samantha Combs

  Published by Astraea Press

  www.astraeapress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  EVERSPELL

  Copyright © 2012 SAMANTHA COMBS

  ISBN 978-1-936852-91-8

  Cover Art Designed by Elaina Lee

  Edited by Kay Springsteen

  To my mother, Paulina, the most brilliant woman I know. I write her strength of character and sense of self into every one of my heroines. This book of love, family and strength against all odds, I dedicate to you.

  Part One

  Chapter One

  LOGAN

  I shoved my end of the sofa up the porch steps as hard as I could.

  “Hey!” protested Sully. “I’m not at the top yet, Logan.” I peeked out from behind my end of the sofa and started laughing. Now I knew why the sofa had seemed so lopsided. Sully sat on one of the steps, mopping his brow with the end of his T-shirt. My dog Charlie sat nearby.

  “What’s going on up there? You guys are clogging up the stairs!” I heard Skylar complain. He’d come up fast behind me, juggling another load of books and dishes my girlfriend Serena, and my sister, Jade, had spent days packing meticulously with tissue and newspaper. My mom and Serena’s Aunt Elizabeth had bought out half the thrift stores in town helping us outfit our first place. A lot had happened since we had all been together last at Dave and Tamera’s wedding.

  First, Sully, Skylar and I all decided to move out on our own. My mom cried when I told her about it, but in the end she agreed that it was time. I might be barely eighteen, but fighting Christophe and his demon followers from the Council had helped me grow up in a hurry. And Sully and I had always wanted to get a place of our own after we graduated.

  Inviting Skylar to move in with us was almost a no-brainer. It seemed only natural that I would grow to love Serena’s twin brother. After all we had been through to rescue him from the demons, we had become very close. Plus, we had to save him from woman-town. If he stayed with Serena, Elizabeth and Tabitha, he would be stuck in a house filled with women. Witchy women, at that. Not that living there was a bad thing, per se, but when we asked him, he didn’t think twice about it. He had lived a pretty sheltered life with the Council and he was anxious to come live with us and learn all he could about our world.

  Besides, Serena had lately been haunted, there was really no other word for it, by visions of Christophe, the demon we had successfully defeated last spring. When I tried to get her to talk to me about it, she would play it off, as though it were no big deal. But I could see her mood darken in solemn moments and the telling glances she exchanged with her Aunt Elizabeth. I felt so much concern for what she might be foreseeing, I began revisiting that terrible night.

  Not a day went by that I didn’t remember what my beautiful witch-girlfriend looked like hanging limp in that demon’s arms as he headed toward that flesh wound in the air, trying to take her to some underworld realm where I would never see her again. I had never been able to communicate to her or anyone how empty I’d felt in that moment. She was, simply, the love of my life and everything I did came back to her. I remained crazy-mad in love with her. She existed as my sun and my moon.

  “Can’t we take a break, or something?” Sully broke into my thoughts, begging for a rest.

  “Sully, seriously, you can’t rest on the porch with a couch crushing my larynx. I am on the losing end of that proposition, dude!”

  “Okay, okay.” I couldn’t see him, but all of a sudden the huge weight of the sofa lifted and began sliding forward and I could hear him grunting above me.

  “All right! Here we go now!” Skylar called out encouragement as the sofa miraculously made it the last few feet and slid onto the level surface of the huge front entryway. I followed it up the steps and helped Sully shove it into the open door of our new place.

  Serena had helped us when I told her of our plans and of course, she had found the perfect place. She discovered a great little three-bedroom house on a hill with a couple of bathrooms, a good-sized living room, and a tiny kitchen; not that any of us would cook that much. Sully and I could afford the rent on our own and we figured Skylar could start pitching in when he found some permanent employment. In the meantime, we were letting him work part-time in the store with us. He became freakishly good with computers, and we were considering hiring him to build us a website, which the store had never had.

  “Wow, you guys finally made it! What took you so long?” Jade called out from the kitchen where she and Serena were busy unwrapping a million cooking utensils, which I had told my mom we wouldn’t need, but she bought anyway. I poked my head around the corner and winked at Serena.

  “Hey, Serena. You keeping busy?”

  She looked up at me from where she sat on the floor, surrounded by balled-up pieces of newspapers and stacks of dishes, bowls and coffee mugs. Of course, Zena, her guardian dog given to her by one of her coven sisters, lay next to her.

  “Logan. Did your mother buy every piece of mis-matched day china the Stop-and-Shop had?” She waved her hand at the array surrounding her, eyes shrouding her true mood. She was as closed-off and pensive as she had been for the past few weeks, since the visions had begun. For the millionth time, I tried to think of the right thing to say to break through her wall, and for the millionth time I failed. I let my sister Jade chatter on and slunk into the background, defeated.

  “Logan,” Jade was saying, “I tried to warn her about Mom. She hasn’t shopped with The Hurricane yet. I have to tell you; shopping with Lily Daniels is not for the weak.” She made a serious face and I laughed, a little too sharply. It sounded hollow, and I attempted to cover it up.

  “All right, that’s enough. Mom’s not even here to defend herself.” I leaned over and kissed my witchy girlfriend on the top of her head. “I’m going back for more loot. Skylar, too. We’ll be back in a while and bring some pizza.” Serena barely looked up.

  ****

  Skylar and I took Charlie and drove back to my house for some more of the secondhand furniture that my mom and Elizabeth had found for us. I wasn’t kidding about them buying out all the thrift stores. Besides the sofa, they found a couple of easy chairs, some end tables, a kitchen table with four chairs, and even some lamps. All great because the only furniture Sully and I had before we moved were our childhood beds. Both were only full-sized. Small for me, tiny as all-get-out for Sully, but still beds. And I remembered thinking at the time, full-size was still room for two. I’d hoped Serena didn’t mindjump me in the middle of thinking that little gem. She’d think I was some kind of fiend. I wasn’t. Just an all-American red-blooded male. Okay, maybe not all-American, maybe half warlock, I had recently learned, thanks to Serena. But still male, anyway. Enough to be thinking that a full-sized bed still left room enough for two. If the two wanted, that is. Oh man, I needed to think of something else or I might drive off this road. Thank the stars for Skylar.

  “How much more furniture do we have, Logan?” He sounded amused. Did he overhear my thoughts? I answered him, keeping my voice even. He didn’t need to know what I had just been thinking about. Plus, I didn’t want him to know about Serena’s visions.

 
; “Knowing my mom? No telling. But I think we got the bulk of it already.”

  “You and Sully sure about this?”

  “What? Moving out?” I turned the car down the streets, headed back to my Mom’s house.

  Next to me in the car, Skylar fidgeted with the window. “Me moving in with you guys. Serena says you’ve been talking about it since you were kids. Feels maybe like I’m intruding on a childhood thing.”

  “Not even, Skylar. We’d have never asked you if you were.”

  “So, it’s not just because of Serena?” I could hear the apprehension in his voice. I tried to reassure him.

  “Nope. She’d be a good reason, but she’s not it. You are.” I glanced over at Skylar and gave him a brief chin nod.

  Skylar looked down as though not sure how to respond.

  I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I tried to explain further. “I could do it because you’re her brother. That’d be an easy reason. But Sully and I, we think you’re okay. We like you. And seriously, we can’t just leave you in a house full of women. Trust me. I did it with only two women, my mom and Jade, and I couldn’t wait to get out.” I laughed, remembering fighting for bathroom time. “Three? Or more? With all those coven sisters dropping by or ‘flying in’? You’d go crazy, man.” I reached over and clapped Skylar on the shoulder. “You’re in, man. Don’t sweat it.”

  Now he seemed to be smirking. All of a sudden I knew why.

  “Oh, great. You can mindjump too, right?” I asked, referring to the witch trick we all had of listening in to people’s thoughts. I was suddenly sure he had picked up all my inner ramblings about full-sized beds and the uses of them. He nodded, still leering.

  “And you know exactly what I was thinking? About…” I could hardly repeat it. “…about the beds?” More nodding. I couldn’t look. “Please. Do. Not. Tell. Serena.” I enunciated every word carefully so as to fully emphasize the magnitude of their importance. Only then did I look at Skylar. He could barely keep in the laughter.

  “Seriously, dude. I will kill you. I think I could do it, too.”

  Skylar let loose. Even Charlie barked happily. I just shook my head. There is seriously no privacy in being a supernatural.

  Chapter Two

  SERENA

  “Tabitha! Hurry up! I don’t want to be late for school again!” I yelled up the stairs for what seemed like the tenth time for my little sister. Lately, she had been making Jade and me later and later for school. She always practiced her tricks late into the night and it made her impossible to wake up the next morning.

  “Tabby? Are you even ready yet?” I was ready to stomp up the stairs and drag her down them when she finally appeared at the top. At least I thought it was Tabby. Her clothing appeared wrinkled and mismatched, her hair was matted on one side like she hadn’t brushed it and it looked like she hadn’t even washed her face. She started down the stairs like she was ready to leave.

  “Oh, no you don’t. You look awful. What’s happened?”

  “What?” Tabitha gave me an innocent look and my radar immediately went up. I tried a quick mindjump but she blocked me. Now, that was interesting. Wonder when she perfected that. I made a note to myself to check on that later.

  “Tabby, you can’t go to school looking like that.”

  She looked down at herself and I realized she hadn’t known what she looked like. She quickly waved her hand over herself from her head to her knees and I watched with astonishment as she transformed before my eyes. As her hand passed over her body, her hair changed from matted and tangled to freshly combed with a barrette in the front. Her clothes changed from mussed and messy to pressed, matched and pretty, and she even managed a cute new pair of wedge sandals. Wow, I thought. She really had been practicing some magic up in her bedroom.

  “How’s this?” Tabitha twirled around at the bottom of the stairs, clearly pleased with her trickery.

  “You do look pretty now. But what happened before? Why were you so disheveled? And why block me from mindjumping you?”

  “Well, I haven’t been sleeping so well. So, I thought practicing my magic would make me sleepy. Only it just makes me jumpy and I can’t sleep. And I blocked you so I wouldn’t have to have this exact conversation we are having right now. Can we please just go to school? We are going to be sooooo late!”

  “Shoot! Ok, you’re off the hook for now.” I grabbed my keys and the two of us whirled out the big front door. “Let’s go. Jade will be wondering where we are.”

  We ran out the door and down the driveway to the car. Elizabeth had procured a great little car for us, which we’d really needed since she had opened the new flower shop in town and had to use our other one.

  Elizabeth and Lily really surprised us with that one. Since the massacre at the St. Patrick’s Day party, we were all reexamining our priorities. Elizabeth said she just wanted to do something that didn’t require her to think so hard for a little while. She said working with the flowers made her feel so close to nature, so organic and pure. Lily told Logan that she and Elizabeth had become close and had bonded over the ordeal with Jade’s kidnapping and the emotional rescue. They had spent so much time together and during many long talks, they realized they shared the common dream of wanting to open their own business, so when the flower shop opportunity opened up in town, it seemed a perfect fit for both of them.

  I looked impatiently across the street for Jade, but she seemed to be running a little late too. She had been just headed across to meet us. Her guardian dog, River, ran halfway across the street with her, then turned and ran back home when Jade shooed her back to the house. Even after everything we had been through, it reminded me how protective our dogs still were of us.

  “Good morning,” she sang out. Jade had dressed in her eclectic style as usual; bright colored tights, grey T-shirt, plaid mini, black high-top sneakers. I admired Jade’s unique color combinations. You could never lose her in a crowd, that was for sure. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “You’re not late, we are,” said Tabitha. “I had another one of my bad nights.” Jade nodded in understanding. Apparently, Tabitha had been confiding in at least one person. She and Jade bowed their heads conspiratorially. It was clear I had been left out of this loop.

  On the way to school, Jade and Tabitha sat in the back and chattered together while I drove, feeling like a chauffeur. I felt a little pang remembering when Logan and I would be in the front seat, holding hands, and the girls would be in the back giggling over us. Now, the girls were still in the back snickering, but Logan wasn’t next to me. It left me nostalgic for those early days of our relationship, when everything had seemed new and uncomplicated, before the stark reality of the Council and Christophe and the challenges that soon faced us darkened our lives together.

  I still marveled over how he had rescued me that day in the barn. He’d literally saved my life. Talking about everything that happened afterward, he’d been was so casual about it, but his eyes betrayed what his words would not admit. It had been life-changing, as much for him as for me. I didn’t know exactly how he felt for certain, but I knew what I felt. I would spend the rest of my life with Logan, however short, or however long my life may be. He was my destiny and I could not imagine any part of my life without him. It was as simple as that for me.

  Having Skylar back in my life only completed my happiness. He equated such a natural extension of me. Easy enough to see that we were twins, and by so much more than just our physical sameness. We had many mannerisms alike, the tone of our voices was similar, even our laughter closely resembled one another’s. Logan liked to joke that the reason he found it so easy to like Skylar was because he was so much like me. We were so close, in fact, that I was concerned he would soon learn about my visions. I had tried to keep them from everyone, including Logan, until Prudence and I figured out what they meant. All I knew was they scared me. They foretold of the return of Christophe and he was the one thing that stood in the way of my happiness and my very existence. I had
ample reason to fear him. Nevertheless, I tried to continue to live my life.

  Like I had a hundred times before with Logan, we pulled the car into the school lot and parked in the back. The girls and I got out, and instead of disappearing into the library, I walked up to our old hangout spot. Patty stood there talking with a couple girls I didn’t know. I took a deep breath and went to join them.

  “Hi, Patty. How are you?”

  Patty squealed with delight.

  “Serena!” She whirled around and caught me in a desperate hug. “Holy stars! I’ve been looking for you all week. I saw Tabitha and Jade but I never saw you. Where have you been hiding?”

  “I had a pretty hectic first few days back. It’s great to see you.” I gently peeled Patty off of me.

  “Oh! It’s great to see you too. You look so good. How’s Logan? Have you seen Dave and Tamera lately? I don’t hear from her as often as before. I guess things are different when you’re married, huh?”

  Poor thing. She’d probably thought things would be exactly the same following her best friend’s marriage. It must have been a rude awakening to find out they weren’t. Tamera was in the blush of her new marriage and the honeymoon period undoubtedly had no room for a needy friend like Patty.

  “I’m sure they’re just busy setting up house, Patty. She’ll call you soon.”

  “You think?” She sounded hopeful.

  “I’m sure of it.” I made a mental note to plant a subtle suggestion with Logan to call Dave. Regardless, Patty liked my answer. She turned, happier than before, and said, “Let me introduce you Serena. You may not have met my friends.”

  I said hello to Patty’s friends and we chatted for a few more minutes. I started looking for Tabitha when the morning bell sounded. Even that silly bell made me lonesome for Logan. I wondered how his morning had gone. Even though it would barely be seven hours until I saw him again, I still missed him. It made me happy I had met some new friends today, and I would pursue these new friendships, but Logan was my best friend, not these girls. I said goodbye to Patty and the girls and headed to my first class.