Chapter 15
Connor
Callie is quiet, absorbing the information before she speaks, while the rest of the party continues around us. More people spill out from the back door and head past the pool to the yard behind us. They’re carrying blankets, beer, and logs of wood, bumping into each other and laughing as they walk. Not their first beers of the night.
I watch Callie carefully, unsure why I told her about the pack when she already sees too much. It’s obvious in the way she looks at me sometimes, then again, she sees it because she knows what to look for.
Gritting my teeth, I fight back my wolf who’s been rising closer to the surface since meeting Callie. Every time her eyes go blank. Every time she wears a smile, but her knuckles are white. Every shuddered breath she releases when getting anywhere near her past. My wolf wants out. The need to protect, to defend, desperate to break free.
I don’t know what it is about Callie that brings this out of me, only that it started the moment I caught her scent. She smells different than any other witch I’ve met, but what I haven’t told anyone and the real reason I had to get closer that day, was that difference drew my wolf. He knows whatever that difference is makes her important to us.
“I guess I can understand the desire for loyalty,” Callie offers with pursed lips and a pinched expression that shows that she doesn’t agree, “but why can’t you be loyal to your pack and have friends with those outside of the pack? One doesn’t exclude the other.”
Because the Alpha is a piece of shit coward who can’t inspire loyalty so rules with fear.
Kaleb gives a prettier answer. “It’s not just witches that keep to themselves. Most supernatural communities stick to their own kind and only interact with others if they have to. Nephilim are usually busy with their own duties, and vampires and shifters have a long standing dislike for each other.”
She looks at me, clearly confused because of how close Nolan and I are. What she hasn’t fully grasped is Nolan is a stubborn son of a bitch, and always has been, even when we were little kids. No one was going to tell him who he could or couldn’t be friends with.
“So all of you guys being friends is a…” she trails off, her eyes growing large and her skin becoming deathly pale. The scent of terror pours off of her.
“Callie?” Kaleb cries, gently shaking her shoulder and getting no response.
Felix panics, shouting her name, because it’s all he can do.
My wolf immediately climbs to the surface, ready to destroy what’s hurting her, but all I can see are the idiots from earlier surrounding a small fire. I don’t think she knows them, at least not enough for a response like this.
“Not the fire again,” she whispers so quietly, I’m the only one that hears. “Please…” Then she screams, a heart stopping cry of agonizing pain, and what was a small fire explodes into a bonfire, setting clothes and blankets ablaze.
Without thought, I scoop her up and head towards the front, fighting against the endless stream of people pouring out to see what happened, Kaleb and Felix right behind me. She’s rigid in my arms, her breaths coming out in choking little gasps that sound like drowning, and I don’t know what to do. I have to get her away. I have to protect her.
I run for the car, my long strides eating up the pavement, and pissed off at myself for parking so damn far away; Callie’s so small and light that her weight barely registers. When we get to the car, clutching her close with one arm, I dig in my pocket for my keys. Throwing them at Kaleb, I growl, “Drive.”
Kaleb nods, moving to open the back door for me.
“I’ll tell the others,” Felix announces, hands curled into tight fists. “Where are you going? The hospital?”
“No. Her place,” I bite out before Kaleb can answer, because I know something they don’t. Callie’s aunt is a witch, and she has the potential to be better than any doctor. “Hospital won’t help.”
Kaleb frowns at me, but doesn’t argue. Good. Waste of time.
Felix nods once then disappears.
I climb into the backseat with her still in my arms, unable to let her go. My gums ache with the need to shift-- to protect with teeth and claws, but I can’t hold her if I’m wolf. Instead, I curl around her, as if using my body to fend off the outside will help her fight the monsters inside. Breathing her in, I piece out the pomegranate and white orchids of her scent from the terror. More magic pours from her, like water bursting from a crack in a dam. I’ve grown used to the tingling sensation and it no longer itches, instead smelling like deep untouched forests and the air right before a storm.
The Tahoe shakes with the force of Kaleb slamming the driver’s side door. He has to slide the seat forward several inches before he can reach the pedals, since I’m a half a foot taller than his 5’11”. The engine roars to life under Kaleb’s desperation, and he peels away from the curb.
“How is she?” He asks, glancing into the rearview mirror.
I glare back at his reflection as an answer, because it’s obvious she isn’t any better, before pressing my lips to her forehead.
I beg in a soft whisper, “Regresa a mí. Estás a salvo, mi tesoro precioso. Estoy aquí y yo te protegeré. Por favor. Por favor, regresa a mí.”
My mother’s language flows from my mouth, her voice a gentle murmur inside my head. It’s been nearly ten years since she left, but it’s always her voice, her words, that come to me when I feel helpless.
Callie doesn’t hear me, lost in whatever nightmare she’s living. She barely blinks, her eyes darting to unseen things, and her breaths are so rapid and shallow, I’m afraid she’s going to hyperventilate until she passes out.
“Tu respiras, Callie. Necesito que respires,” I plead, then try again in English. “Breathe, Callie. I need you to breathe.”
“What?” Kaleb shouts, trying to look over his shoulder and not crash at the same time. “She’s stopped breathing? We’re taking her to the hospital.”
“No,” I roar. “She’s breathing… just shallow. Keep going!”
“Faex,” he grunts, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “You better be right about this.”
I ignore him, my focus solely on the frightened girl in my arms. Using one hand to cup her face, I murmur over and over again, “Estás a salvo. Por favor, regresa a mí,” until the words bleed together and slowly lose meaning.
It’s the longest twenty minutes of my life until we finally reach Callie’s home, each ticking minute making the weight pressing against my chest heavier and the air thinner, until I feel like we’re sharing each gasp for air. I barely wait for the car to stop, before I’m out and racing for the door. Felix is standing outside, looking as helpless and terrified as I feel.
Shifting Callie so I can hold her with one arm, I try the front door and finding it locked, I bang against it so hard that the surrounding window panes rattle.
“Nolan and Donovan should be here any minute,” Felix tells Kaleb over the harsh crack of my knuckles meeting wood. “They left right behind you guys.”
I can hear Mildred’s frenzied rush as she descends the stairs, followed by a muttered, “What the bloody hell?” There’s a sharp click as the door unlocks, and then there’s the liar in the flesh.
“Fix her,” I snarl, my wolf’s growl heavy in my voice. “I know you can.”
“My god,” she cries in shock, looking at her niece, rigid and unresponsive in my arms. “What happened?”
Kaleb flashes me a startled look before answering, “We were talking outside and she was fine, until she suddenly wasn’t. She saw something--”
“Fire,” Felix chokes out. “She saw the fire.”
“There was a lit fire pit,” Kaleb continues smoothly, Felix’s interruption barely noticeable. “We think that might have something to do with it.”
“Oh, darling,” she whispers, tears building in her eyes. “What did that bastard do to you?”
All of us stiffen, the hushed words our first real clue into Callie’s past. My wolf howls inside of me, pulled in two with the desire for justice battling the need to protect. I adjust Callie so that I’m once again holding her with both arms, burying my face into her hair and breathing her in, focusing my wolf on what’s important. This tiny girl with shadows in her eyes and steel in her spine, who fights for hope and laughter against the demons that constantly come for her.
“Can you help her?” Kaleb asks, uncertainty in his voice.
“I don’t know,” she replies, ushering us inside. “Go sit on the couch. Wrap her up in the afghan and don’t let go. She needs to feel safe. I might be able to ease her some, but I don’t know if I can bring her out of this.”
“I don’t understand. What are you going to do?” Kaleb demands, while I head for the couch.
I sit in the corner of the L, settling Callie more comfortably on my lap, before pulling the blanket off the back of the couch. She’s shivering now, her muscles straining under the tremors, and I do my best to tuck the blanket snugly around her. I hold her tight against me, her head resting over my heart, as if by holding her close, I can pull her nightmares away and into me.
“Can’t hide a bloody thing from a wolf,” Mildred mutters, before answering Kaleb. “I’m a witch, as Connor seems to have already gathered. I’m strong in both fire and air, but not water, so I’m no healer. However, I may be able to use air to persuade Callie to relax, and perhaps make her more open to hearing us.”
“You’re a witch, and you didn’t tell Callie?” Kaleb challenges, filled with righteous fury. “She’s been struggling with what she is, how she’s been kept in the dark her whole life, and you knew and said nothing?”
“She knows?” She gasps, then cuts me an annoyed look. “Of course, you’ve told her. Don’t dare to judge me, child. You know nothing about Callie or me, and because of you, instead of having an informed conversation with me, you’ve blurted it out, and she’s been fumbling in the dark.”
“Even if we hadn’t told her,” Kaleb grounds out, “Seeing ghosts, the freak rainstorm, gale force winds, exploding trees, shattered furniture and oh, the giant bonfire would’ve given away something was different. Thanks to us, she at least knows she’s not insane and not alone.”
“Rainstorms? Fires?” she utters, like the world is caving in on her. “Oh no. It’s worse than I thought.” Then her eyes grow round. “Ghosts? What ghosts?”
Any other time, I’d be impressed Kaleb found a reason to grow a backbone, but right now is not the time to deal with this.
“Fix her,” I growl, rubbing a hand up and down her arm, trying to chafe heat into her cold, shivering body.
“Maybe we can try splashing her with water?” Felix offers to deaf ears, pacing back and forth, his hands clenching and unclenching with each round.
There’s a loud screech of tires announcing Nolan and Donovan’s arrival. Within moments they’re both slamming through the door and racing towards us. When they see Callie catatonic in my arms, Nolan drops to his knees in front of us, while Donovan demands to know what the fuck is going on.
Nolan gently pets her hair, softly murmuring, “Callie, love, you have to come back to us. Whatever you’re seeing isn’t real.” His voice grows thick. “You’re safe, Callie. Please… please wake up.” His eyes meet mine, wide and lost, before turning to look at the others. “What happened? Why isn’t she waking up?”
“Last time, she was only out for a few minutes,” Donovan states, looking around the room. “How long has she been like this?”
“Does it matter?” Felix interjects, stopping near the arm of the couch, arms crossed and tapping his fingers against his bicep. “A minute? An hour? Point is, we can’t get her to snap out of it!”
I tip Callie’s head back to try and catch her eyes, find some part of her that knows we’re here, but she’s still unresponsive-- seeing only the nightmares in her head. Her breaths are fighting through locked teeth, and the wheeze is getting louder. I don’t know if I should be more worried or impressed that she hasn’t passed out yet. She can’t be getting enough air into her lungs.
Kaleb looks at Nolan and answers quickly, “There was a fire out in the backyard, and it triggered her somehow.” Then he turns to Donovan, “Mildred has alluded that Callie suffered some type of abuse that might relate to fire, and I’m imagining mentally reliving the trauma is what is keeping her in this state. She’s been like this for over twenty minutes.” Then he narrows his eyes at Callie’s aunt. “Mildred was about to cast a spell that might help Callie be more open to waking up.”
Nolan and Donovan both grow still as their gazes slowly fall upon Mildred, their eyes filled with a cold judgement and a harsh protectiveness. From that first day, Callie became one of us and there’s little leeway for those that harm or betray one of ours. As a wolf, I’m forced to be part of my father’s pack, but the friends in this room, they’re my family.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she snaps back. “As much as I appreciate how much you clearly care about Callie, I’m not the bad guy, and I had every intention of telling her who and what she is. Her life is far more complicated than you can begin to understand…”
“Then make us understand!” Donovan barks back.
“Why use a spell at all?” Nolan questions harshly. “Why the hell aren’t we at a hospital? Not everything has to be solved with magic.”
“No time,” I grunt back, indecision a freezing splinter in my heart. “The hospital…”
“Fucking stop!” Felix shouts, kicking an end table. The crystal based lamp on top of it crashes to the floor, shattering against the hardwood floor.
Everyone freezes, we look at Felix while Mildred looks at Callie, not knowing she isn’t the cause.
Felix is visibly shaking and looking even more panicked. “We need to focus on Callie.” He swallows heavily. “Once she’s better, then we can argue. We’re here so what can we do right now to help?”
“You’re right, Felix,” Kaleb apologizes, eyes wide and voice careful. “Mildred, please do what you can, I…” he hesitates for a moment. “Depending on how the spell goes, I might have an idea.”
Nolan presses his lips into a white line, unhappy to be out voted.
I understand why he’s reluctant to use any type of magic, but with Callie’s heart sounding like hummingbird wings in my ears, I’m not going to turn away help. Especially help that surpasses anything humans can do.
Callie’s aunt looks to the empty space where we’re all staring. Cautiously, she asks, “When you said Callie was seeing ghosts, there’s one here now? And you all can see it?”
“Him,” Nolan remarks, annoyance creeping into his voice. He begins untying Callie’s boots, slipping them off so that he can start rubbing her feet. “His name is Felix, and he was the one to introduce us to Callie.”
“How long has he been dead?” she questions, looking around at the rest of us.
“Since July,” Kaleb answers, crossing his arms.
Her mouth falls open. “Of this year?”
“I swear to god, do I have to go full poltergeist on your asses until you all focus?” Felix screams, echoing my own thoughts. “Cast the fucking spell!”
A low growl begins to reverberate from my chest, and it’s hard to speak, my wolf’s teeth starting to break through. “Felix is right. Do something!”
“Mildred, what do you need? What can we do to help?” Kaleb asks quickly, finally their attention on what’s important.
“Right,” she replies, taking a deep breath. “Like I said, I should be able to get her calm enough so that she’ll at least be open to hearing us. Then it’s simply the matter of breaking through to her. We need to make her feel safe. Calm words. Familiar scents…” Her voice hitches. “It’s good that you’re here. Callie hasn’t had… well, let’s just say there isn’t a lot that has made her feel safe.”
With a point of her finger at the coffee table, she commands, “Up” and the table shoots into the air. “Gently, please,” she adds then points her finger towards a far wall. “Over there.” Then the table gracefully falls back down. She pulls the sleeves of her blouse to her elbows and finishes briskly, “There. We have slightly more room to work in. After I finish the spell, gather round and… simply be there for her. I know it isn’t much, but it’s all about grounding her in the here and now.”
There’s an all-encompassing silence, as we take in that bit of magic. It’s not that we haven’t seen magic performed before, though witches are as secretive about showing it as everything else, but usually there’s more to it. Like a warped prayer circle with chanting and hand holding. Not like someone directing movers on delivery day.
I trade glances with Nolan, just starting to grasp the caliber of witch we’re dealing with. The coven leader might as well be a magician for kids’ birthday parties in comparison. Part of me feels validated for coming to Mildred. A witch as powerful as her must be able to help. But another side wonders, if she’s this powerful, what does that make Callie? And why would they move to Twin Cedar Pass?
Nolan returns his gaze to Callie, his shoulders stiff, and there’s a subtle tremble to his hands.
Mildred kneels before Callie, her knees cracking as they meet the floor. She runs her hand along Callie’s hair. “Oh, my darling girl,” she whispers. “I love you so much.”
Her voice shifts to one of power and quiet command, “With soft sorrow, I beseech the wind. Take the air from my lips and carry words of peace to her trouble ears. Let them reach and calm her frightened heart, and make her open to the love that surrounds her. Hear our words and call her back to us.”
There’s a gentle swirl of wind that flutters around Callie, pulling at the curled tendrils of hair spilling over my arm. Her breath evens out, the tremors in her body subside, and her eyes drift closed.
Cupping Callie’s face, I run a thumb along her cheek. Her breaths are slow and steady, her body lax in my arms. I feel like I can finally get enough air into my lungs-- only able to fully breathe now that she can.
The continued hint of trouble she fights lies in the knitting of her brows and the rapid movement of her eyes under her closed lids. Her heart rate is still too fast, but at least now it doesn’t sound like it’s about to burst from her chest.
“Callie, you’re safe. Wake up,” I murmur against the top of her head, shaking her gingerly, but no response.
I feel spent, my insides hollow, making room for indecision to worm its way through. Inside my wolf whines, as lost as I am. She looks calmer, so the spell helped, right? Or did I trap her in a prettier prison?
Mildred releases a weighty breath then sits back on her heels, jarring me from my thoughts. “Now, we hope she hears us or comes back to us in her own time.”
“That spell,” Kaleb comments into the waiting silence. “It sounded more like a prayer.”
She rises carefully, her gaze focused on her niece. “Magic answers in different ways to each witch. How you ask matters.”
“What do you mean ‘in her own time’?” Donovan demands. “What did you do? Is she asleep?”
“Yes and no,” Mildred answers, cryptic as ever. Witches. “She’s no longer suffering the physical effects of her flashback, but she is still likely reliving the trauma. Like a nightmare she can’t wake from.”
“How do we help her wake up?” Nolan asks bluntly.
Kaleb sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I have an idea.”
“Great. Going to keep us in suspense or share with the class?” Donovan bites out.
“It’s not that simple,” Kaleb replies, his face pulled with indecision. “I wouldn’t recommend something like this if it wasn’t dire, but with how long Callie’s been…” He swallows heavily, trailing off. “Now that Callie is in a dream like state, I think Felix can help lead her out of her nightmare…” He pauses, his lips pressed tight before he admits, “by entering the dream with her.”
“What?” Donovan and Felix both shout, but in very different tones.
“You can’t be serious,” Donovan bellows. “You’re essentially telling Felix to possess her.”
“Why am I only now finding out about this?” Felix yells, then shakes his head. “Forget it. How do I do it?”
“Possession?” Mildred cries, her eyes going steely. “If you think I’m going to…”
“Enough!” I roar the room to silence, then focus my gaze on Kaleb. “Explain.”
Kaleb nods, rolling his shoulders like he’s bracing himself for an onslaught. “When a person is asleep their minds are unguarded, which allows ghosts the ability to enter their dreams. Within the person’s mind, the spirit has the facsimile of a corporeal form and the potential to control and change the narrative of their dreams. For our purposes, this can be an invaluable tool, because Felix will be aware and able to help Callie realize what she’s seeing isn't real.”
He shifts his gaze to Felix, his expression one of warning and foreboding. “The reason I’m only now telling you, beside entering another person’s mind without permission being a huge invasion of privacy, the spirit can just as easily get lost in the person’s thoughts, losing their sense of self and touch with reality. There have been cases where people have fallen into comas, because a spirit has entered their mind and refused to leave.”
Felix, looking properly chastised, nods his head in acknowledgement.
Kaleb scrubs at his face. “I only know about this, because my parents told me about it as something to watch out for. In these cases… I’m supposed to forcibly move the spirit on to the afterlife and hope that the innocent doesn’t end up going with it.”
“And you suggest that this Felix should enter the mind of my… of Callie?” Mildred asks carefully. “You trust him this much? You trust him with her life?”
Nolan gets up, exchanging looks with Kaleb and Felix, before taking Mildred’s hands in his. Her face is pinched, as she looks up into his eyes.
In a low soothing voice, he says, “I know you don’t know us outside what Callie has told you, but we care about Callie. We would never intentionally hurt her. All we want to do is help, and yes, we trust Felix that much. You can’t see or hear him, but I assure you, he cares just as much as we all do.”
She gives him a calculating stare. “You’re the vampire, aren’t you?”
Nolan, bewildered, blinks at her, while like a popped bubble, there’s a muted rumbling of wet laughter.
He clears his throat. “Yes. I’m Nolan.”
“Nice try, but your charming needs some work,” she snorts, slipping her hands away. She sighs, “But I know Callie trusts you, and well… that matters more than you realize.”
He has a confused look on his face, like he was just shown proof that the sky is green not blue. Nolan shakes himself out of his stupor. “I, uh… yes. We care about Callie, so please, let us help.”
“Where’s this Felix?” Mildred asks, looking lost around the room. Nolan points Felix out next to the broken lamp.
“I’m just going to comment now,” Felix mutters, crossing his arms, “talking about me like this is weird. Makes me feel like…”
“A ghost?” I supply evenly.
“Yes, oh-so-sensitive-one,” he replies, squinting at me.
“Bloody hell, I’m talking to thin air,” she mutters under her breath. Her gaze is slightly off center from where Felix is standing. “You listen to me, young man. If you can help Callie, I’m grateful, but if you harm her, I’ll make hell seem like a vacation spot to you.”
Felix visibly swallows and rubs at the back of his neck. “I know she can’t see me, but damn, Callie’s aunt is scary as hell.”
“He says not to worry,” Nolan supplies, lying out his ass. “He’ll take good care of our girl.”
Donovan snorts.
“What he said,” Felix adds, before taking a deep breath. He bounces on his toes and looks at Kaleb. “Okay, so what do I do? How do I become one with Callie’s mind? Is it like Vulcan mind melds, because I don’t think I watched enough Star Trek for that?”
Kaleb groans, again pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Why is he groaning?” Mildred chirps, her gaze flitting between all of us. “He should not be groaning right now.”
“It’s fine,” Nolan soothes. “Just a bad joke. He does that when he’s nervous.”
“Bad joke?” Felix gasps. “I’ll have you know all my jokes are hilarious and amazing.”
Debating about Felix entering Callie’s mind, I shake her again. Desperation starting to creep back in, and I murmur against her hair, “Por favor, te despiertas, mi tesoro precioso. Te necesitamos… Te necesito.”
I need you to explain to me why… what is it about you? Why do I feel this way about you? My wolf is indifferent to my confusion. He doesn’t care why we must protect this girl, only that we do, but that’s not enough for me. She appeared in my life, and now it feels like her wellbeing is twisted into my own. I don’t just care that she’s okay. I need her to be.
“As far as I understand it,” Kaleb explains to Felix, cutting into my thoughts, “It should feel intuitive to you… similar to how you know how to jump between anchors.”
Felix furrows his brow. “You’re all just there. I feel for you and bam I’m there.”
“Well, try feeling for Callie,” Kaleb supplies.
Donovan flashes a look of disbelief at Kaleb. “That’s real helpful of you there.” He rolls his eyes. “Feel for her.”
Kaleb returns an exasperated expression. “I’ve never been a ghost, so I can’t very well walk him through it.”
“I got it, alright,” Felix interrupts. “Just give me a chance.”
He kneels down in front of Callie, his hand hovering just over her shoulder. “Okay, pretty girl,” he whispers. “Help me out here.” He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath with no sound, and reaches into her. Within moments, he’s gone.