Altered Souls (10 page)

“I’m not that innocent,” I mumbled.

“You’re pure. This proved it. I’m telling you they could’ve taken you or destroyed you if they were allowed. Even the underworld has rules, and the righteous and pure of heart can’t be touched. That’s why you survived this. That’s why you’ve survived everything. The meeting in the floral shop, the one at the cottage…”

The wetness spilled down my cheek.

“It was a test,” he said softly. “The others I made excuses for, but this one I can’t ignore. Those creatures were too powerful.”

“Why would my father do this?”

“Think about all of the pawns he’s collecting to do who knows what,” he paused, taking in a breath. “Imagine if he had one who was untouchable.”

Logan’s words spread through me with a harshness I didn’t want to believe. I couldn’t shake the power behind his words. I snuggled into him as his embrace tightened around me.

“Whatever he’s planning is big, isn’t it?” I asked, letting the uncertainty about both of our mothers’ fates slowly settle in.

“I doubt it only resides in the confines of our world,” he replied, anger bouncing off each syllable.

“Before the Golem came, I had a nightmare.”

“What was it about?” he asked softly.

I took a deep breath in and was unable to let it out.

“Your mom.”

He stiffened.

“It was a horrible dream. A short dream, maybe ten seconds, but I still can’t shake it.”

He let out his breath slowly before he asked.

“What was the dream?”

“My father had your mom shackled. They spoke about your father’s death. It was horrifying.”

“What was said about my father’s death?” Logan asked in a low voice.

“That my father killed him,” I felt my throat begin constricting as the words escaped. “Your mom begged for your life.”

My body began trembling as the silence filled the air. It was only a dream, but speaking the words created a sickness deep within my soul. The more minutes of silence that passed between us told me something I didn’t want to believe.

“You want something to eat?” I asked, jumping off the couch and out of Logan’s arms.

This couldn’t be happening. There was no way.

“What you saw was real,” Logan started.

“Nope. Impossible,” I shot back, busying myself as I looked in all the kitchen cabinets for an escape.

“Babe, it’s not impossible. It’s what can happen with that spell you two shared,” his words were filled with a pain that I didn’t want to acknowledge.

“It can’t be,” I said, turning around to face him, holding an unopened box of crackers.

“You’re still sharing memories with him, only in real-time now,” he continued. “It can only happen if—”

“Don’t say it,” I yelled. “I hate him. Truly hate him. How’s that for pure?”

I threw the box of crackers against the wall letting my body slide down the cupboard.

Logan was by my side instantly, scooping me into his arms.

“It can’t be.” The tears wouldn’t stop and neither would the nausea. “I’m not connected to him. I’m not.”

“This can work to our advantage,” Logan replied, once I’d managed to calm myself down. “If we can figure out what triggers these images, we might be able to know what to expect along the way.”

I scowled at him and moved back against the wall.

“I know I’ve never had feelings for him.”

I looked into Logan’s eyes, which darkened about ten shades as he acknowledged what this connection might mean for our future together.

“We’ll deal with things as they come,” Logan replied flatly.

“You believe me, don’t you?” My voice broke before I could finish.

Logan reached for my arm, avoiding my gaze, and pulled me closer to him.

“Listen,” he said softly. “I’ve waited a long time for you. I’m not letting go that easily.”

His gaze finally met mine, and I saw love mixed with the desperation of our circumstance. I would not let him down. I would fight for our love no matter what I had to do.

Chapter 11

“I thought you said this was a cottage?” I asked, attempting to see the house in the dark. The air was different here, warm and moist, with a hint of woodsy goodness.

“I had to get what I could,” he said, taking my hand and leading me up the stairs. His eyes were full of mischief.

Logan opened the screen door, allowing me in first. I knew he was excited to show me where in the Adirondacks we’d be calling home. Rather than bunk at a hotel, like I had suggested, he had quickly come up with this weekly rental. He said it was cheaper this way, but after driving up to this place, I doubted it.

“Thought we should stay in Lake Placid. It’s far enough away from where your father seems to be
,
but close enough for us to get the job done. Whatever that might be.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I didn’t think we’d want to run the risk of bumping into him.”

“No doubt,” I said, dumping my bag off in the foyer.

He flipped on the lights, and I
stopped
in my tracks
to
take in our new surroundings. The antler chandelier dangling in the entry hall
was
the size of a kitchen table, and there were two staircases leading out of the foyer.

Logan eyed me closely.

“This is beautiful,” I whispered, “but I don’t think I can afford this, splitting it or not.”

“Ooh, hmm. I guess I can tell the rental agency we won’t be needing the place then.”

Logan smiled and raised his eyebrows at me.

“Well…” I said unable to hide my grin. “Maybe just for a few nights.”

“Since I’ve got an uphill battle against a spell, I thought I’d better pull out all the stops.”

I smacked him harder than I intended, but his words held far too much weight.

“Not funny,” I replied quietly.

“Let’s check out the place and go to town. Maybe pretend that our world’s not caving in on us.” His
words
shook me to the core, knowing what seemed to be on both of our minds no matter how hard we tried to push it away.

“That would be a nice change,” I said, wandering into the great room.

A stone fireplace was the centerpiece, with overstuffed, green cushions on the floor, and a beautiful bouquet of daisies placed on the coffee table.

I spun around to see Logan facing me, smiling, His eyes danced as he looked at me with wonder. And love. I wasn’t going to let anything or anyone take that away.

“Daisies?”

He nodded.

‘This is a pretty special place,” I said, motioning around the room. “But do you know what I love the most?”

Not saying anything at all, he came closer to me, and I held out my hand.

“You,” I whispered, taking his hand as I forced all of the fear and sadness out of my mind. “I wouldn’t care if we were staying in a tent, I just want to be with you.”

“That might be next. You better be careful,” he murmured, bringing me
close to
him.

“Really? That could be kind of fun,” I giggled, leaning my head on his chest.

“Wanna go grab some food?” he asked.

“Probably should before everything closes up
.
”

Going to town felt like the most normal thing we’d done in months; like something most couples took for granted. For so long, everything had been about dealing with the grief from my mom or mentally trying to reconcile what my mom’s disappearance meant to us all. I was getting used to the feeling of expectations being blown to pieces when it came to the thought of my mother. Now having Logan’s mom dragged into everything, and the possibility of Trevor being more involved in my life than I’d like, I needed just one night to play along
as if
everything was going to be all right. Something told me that this could be the last moment of reprieve for quite some time.

We were only minutes from town and my stomach was calling. We parked our car at the end of town. I looked forward to spending a little time walking around.

“Do you think there’ll ever be a
future
when we can be normal
all
of the time?” I asked, squeezing his hand.

It was a balmy night and the heart of the small Adirondack town was beautifully nestled along Mirror Lake,
offering
many places for couples to stop and admire the view.

“Normal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Logan said with a half-smile. “But it would be nice to have the option.”

The warm glow from the many shops lining the street bounced onto the sidewalk, but one in particular stood out.

“Oooh, there’s a chocolate shop,” I said pointing. “We’ve got to check there first.”

The window display was filled with glorious mounds of dark chocolate blocks, peanut brittle, and caramel apples. As soon as Logan opened the door, the wave of deliciousness hit me.

“I think
I‘ve entered
heaven,” I whispered, as I walked under Logan’s arm while he held the door open for me. What a gentlemen.

The sweetness in the air reminded me of a more innocent time. I scolded myself for letting anything slip into my mind to disrupt the happiness spreading through me.

“Chocolate covered strawberries!” I pointed at the back counter. “Must get those.”

Logan stood back beaming, with his arms folded. This is what it could be like— our future— wandering through shops, indulging on chocolate
and
each other.

Someday
.

I spotted marshmallow bars, and my heart instantly plummeted. Those were one of my mom’s specialties. Would I ever get to have her back in my life or was it over, truly over?

Logan came behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, guiding me to an area of the store I had missed. It’s like he knew where my brain went.

“I’m going to do my best to keep your mind occupied,” he whispered.

I let my hands rest on his as I felt his body direct me.

“How about some of that?” I followed his finger to see buckets of homemade ice cream hiding behind the glass calling to me.

“I’m going to gain like ten pounds in one night. I’m sure of it.”

The bells dangling on the door, jingled as a wave of new customers entered.

“I better get a move on it,” I whispered.

Going up to the counter, I ordered about half as much as I wanted, which was still triple what I could probably manage to consume. The shop was getting packed as the confectioner handed me bag after bag of my order.

“A movie must’ve let out,” Logan said, nodding toward the theater across the street. “Do you realize we’ve never even gone to a movie together?”

“I’m telling you this normal thing might not be so bad,” I said grinning, holding my bags of candy up.

We walked back outside, and the warmth from being out of the air-conditioned store was nice. I reached in for the caramel apple with walnuts, and Logan took the rest of the bags from me to hold as we walked along the sidewalk.

“Do you think my mom’s too far gone?” I asked, surprised at myself when it popped out.

“All we can do is run on hope. I don’t think she ever intended to have this happen. I know she loves you,” Logan said, pulling me into him.

“I don’t know what I’ll do if she’s not able to return to
her old self
.”

“Don’t think of the worst. Enjoy your caramel apple and let’s try our hardest to make this evening as ordinary as possible,” he
said
and quickly kissed the top of my head, sending warm sensations through me.

“You know what I’m really impressed with?” I asked.

“What’s that?”

“That we made it across the entire country on a road trip without killing one another
.
” I smiled. “And we still want to hang out. I think this thing might actually work between us.”

Logan’s laughter echoed through the evening air, inviting me to think of the
afters
of life; the fairytale endings that I’
d
been shutting out of my mind since that fateful summer evening when my mother was stolen from me. He allowed me to imagine the possibilities that life had to offer, and I wanted them all to involve him.

He followed my gaze and pulled me to the crosswalk.

The view of the lake was incredible, and there was no one around this lookout point
in the park
. Logan climbed onto a larg
e
boulder
and pulled me up, wrapping
his arm around me.

“This is nice,” I whispered.

I looked at the
barely rippling water in front of us
, but I could feel Logan’s eyes on me, and I started to fidget. Scanning the
small boats that were bobbing along
, I began feeling flushed and avoided his gaze at all costs.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure I
still
had that effect on you,” Logan said,
bringing me closer
.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shot back smiling
. I turned my attention to him.

“Oh, I think you do,” he grinned.

Doing my best to ignore him, I closed my
eyes
and stared out
at the lake once more.
The smile that was threatening to give me away felt nice, natural. I could sense he enjoyed every minute of it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he began looking
toward the lake too
, so I turned to look at him. It was my turn.

“Two can play that game you know
,
and I’ll win,” I chided, feeling like my old self again.

He looked
at
me
in
a penetrating gaze filled with roguish desire. How could any one guy be allowed to exude that much power with one glance? Totally not fair.

“But would you want to?” His voice was low.

I
quivered,
and
I was sure
he felt it
as h
is smile turned into a full-blown grin.
This
wa
s what things were supposed to be like — innocent flirting turning into not so innocent thoughts — brought on by a spectacular smile or
quiet
glance. This is what I wanted my life to be one day very soon.

His dark hair was looking especially disheveled, and his grin was unbearably wonderful. Oh, how I wanted this to last.

“That caramel apple kind of filled me up,” I teased. “Maybe we should just go back to the house?”

“Hmm.” He
pressed
his lips together.

A noise behind us
caught my attention, and I
carefully turned
to see a woman standing on top of a Land Rover with her friends gathered around cheering her on. Her arms were splayed out like she was gesturing for a flight somewhere.

Logan followed my gaze. “That’s weird.”

“Hope that’s her own car she’s denting up,” I replied. “She’s definitely had one too many.”

Logan
squinted
his eyes as he took in the scene. His body tensed slightly and his jaw tightened as he leaned
in to take a closer look
. I quickly turned my attention back to the woman on top of the car, when she jumped. She attempted to land on her feet, but unfortunately she fell to her knees. The group gathered around her praising her flying ability before they all took off flapping their arms down the sidewalk.

“Creepy.” I smiled at Logan who turned his attention back to me. His eyes were soft, but they held concern.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Something seemed off,” he replied.

“Drunk people generally are,” I giggled.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket without thinking.

“Oh no.” I
showed
the phone to Logan. “I can’t believe this.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, grabbing the phone.

“It’s from Jenny in Colorado.”

“Oh, Triss,” his voice was heavy.

“People are talking about a movement my father’s
leading
. He’s everywhere, isn’t he?”

He stared at
me
not saying a word.

“I’ve got to text her back.”

“What are you even going to say?”

“Under no circumstance let anyone know we’re friends.” I let out a sigh. “I just don’t know what to make of this. All I want is to get my mom back — your mom back
too
. Now it seems like there’s so much more to learn. I’ve got to keep her safe.”