The Book of Lost Souls Read online

  She couldn’t blame him, really.

  Raven was in her face, shoving her. “How much longer, Ivy? How much longer before that book gets someone hurt? Before YOU bring back something as bad as Vlad or the Blood Countess? You want to mistreat Devlin like that, well, that’s bad enough. I never would have thought you’d ever harm him. But Bane isn’t your dog. Touch him again with another spell like that and I’m off my diet, so help me.”

  She shoved Ivy once more and Ivy landed on the ground with a thud.

  Raven turned and walked away. She glanced over her shoulder. “Get rid of it. Soon.”

  After a few more creaks and groans, the tree returned to normal. Ivy shoved the book into her book bag. “I’m sorry,” she barely managed to say.

  Raven glared at her again as she checked on Bane.

  Ivy sat, stunned, horrified, and ashamed that she’d actually used a spell from the book on anyone she cared about. But, it was as though she couldn’t help herself. “I know. I have to get rid of it. As soon as I find a safe spot for it. Someplace no one will find it.”

  Devlin belly-crawled over to Ivy, ears down, tail down in submission. He licked Ivy’s hand.

  The first tears were unexpected. Ivy rolled over on the ground to kiss him. That was twice she’d let Devlin down. “Never again, buddy. I promise. I won’t open it again.” She swiped at her cheeks. “I really didn’t mean to hurt any of you. Please, believe me.”

  Raven came to stand above Ivy and extended her hand. “Burn it if you have to,” she said as she helped Ivy to her feet. “Rant over. Let’s go lizard hunting.”

  Somehow, Ivy didn’t think the book would burn. Ivy believed that The Rise of the Dark Curse had a built-in defense mechanism. It was dangerous enough that it would prevent anyone from destroying it. And, if the The Book of Lost Souls was even worse, then she might almost feel sorry for the person who had it.

  Shadows from an abundance of trees and shrubs dotted The Prescotts’ lawn.

  Raven, Bane, and Devlin wasted no time hurrying away from anything else that might grab hold of them and waited for Ivy by a sundial in an open area twenty feet away.

  Ivy dusted herself off. “Maybe we could bury—”

  “Shhh!” Raven said. She pointed to Bane and Devlin, who’s attention had become heavily focused on something around the corner of the house.

  They had picked up a trail and were trotting off across the massive lawn. Ivy and Raven followed, temporarily losing them in the topiary garden. It was difficult to tell which was a manicured bush and which was just a shape in the darkness. The moon had clouded over and wasn’t any help.

  Raven paused, listening again. “There,” she whispered.

  Two sets of gold eyes glittered ahead of them. Ivy retrieved the pair of hexed sunglasses from her book bag, leaving the top unzipped. The landscape took on an eerie black and green appearance. It was much easier to see everything now.

  Raven motioned for Ivy to follow. This was why Raven was the better choice to bring. Raven’s night vision wasn’t as good as Shayde’s but she could hear just as well, and, more importantly, Raven was the risk taker.

  They hadn’t gone far, maybe another couple hundred yards, when even Ivy’s ears picked up on the faint voices. Bane and Devlin crouched low, slinking into the shadows. Raven and Ivy darted the short distance from the wide open to the shadows along the house. The voices were getting closer. Too close.

  Raven dropped to the ground, camouflaging herself in a small section of shadow and Ivy followed suit.

  Ivy didn’t need the night-vision sunglasses to see who was there. Tara and Spike rounded the corner, laughing. Their hands were entwined, and they were spinning each other around in circles like children. They crashed to the ground not twenty feet from where Raven and Ivy lay. Neither of the girls dared to move a muscle. Bane and Devlin were thankfully hidden in the bushes farther away.

  “That was fun!” Spike said breathlessly as he lay on the ground next to Tara. “Let’s do it again!”

  Tara curled up next to him, resting her head against his chest. “Can’t we just lie here?” She gave him an affectionate squeeze.

  Spike’s eyes diverted to a low flying moth. He snagged it, shoved it into his mouth, and chewed slowly. He looked at Tara guiltily, but she hadn’t seen.

  “Uh, okay. But can we play on the trampoline again later?” he asked cheerfully.

  “Do I need to give you another Maturity potion?” Tara asked, snuggling into him. “You’re much more fun that way.”

  So that’s why he was acting so human! It’s wasn’t entirely the Intelligence spell, although that had been bad enough. Tara was doping Spike up with a Maturity spell. She couldn’t believe it. Tara? A Maturity spell? Well, Tara had to be going through it like Kool-Aid in order to get Spike past her own maturity level.

  Ivy moved slowly, trying to reach her book bag without making noise or drawing attention, but Tara and Spike were too close. She had to be careful.

  Tara leaned across Spike and kissed him. He held her in his arms and they continued to make out noisily. Ivy thought about the moth and felt her stomach lurch. Raven made soft gagging noises beside her.

  Ivy sought out the bushes Bane and Devlin had ducked into. Gold eyes flickered from the dark and Bane took a tentative step out. His gaze swept between Ivy and the large gates in front of the wide and extensive drive.

  Go back! she wanted to tell him. They’ll see you! Finally, Ivy understood he wanted her to see something important. Bane shifted nervously, his gaze darting between where she and Raven were hiding to the direction of the gates and the street beyond them. Ivy peered through the gates and saw a car—Dean’s car.

  “Dean’s here,” Ivy whispered into Raven’s ear.

  “Hmm. This could be fun,” Raven whispered back.

  Hardly.

  When it came to capturing Spike, if it weren’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at all. It was bad enough Tara had snuck out to see her boyfriend in training, but now Dean was here, too.

  This wasn’t going to go down easily.

  With Tara so close to Spike, Ivy didn’t dare recite the incantation. If she went with plan B and captured Spike as is, they’d never make it over the stone wall before Tara could cause enough commotion to wake the entire household, much less bring Dean running.

  The good thing was that Dean was spying on Tara, which meant he still had an interest in his ex-girlfriend. Still, they couldn’t lie here the whole night. Ivy knew she had to do something. With Dean watching, Bane and Devlin couldn’t venture too far from the safety of the bushes. Well, Bane at least.

  Devlin poked his head out. Luckily, with his earthy colors, he still blended in with the autumn colored shrubbery. He yawned and looked around, indicating he was bored. It was only a matter of time before Devlin would find something else to do.

  There weren’t many things Beezlepups enjoyed more than getting into mischief. She had to come up with something soon before Devlin blew their cover.

  CHAPTER 21

  Devlin blinked, his adorable little face making her smile. He was nothing if not lovable and the very definition of cute. It was why she spoiled him with toys the way she did. She felt around inside the book bag and retrieved the hexed toy squirrel.

  In between Tara’s squeals and groans and all the disgustingly loud kissing, Ivy surveyed the situation. If Devlin saw the toy, he’d charge from the bushes at full throttle. Devlin never could resist anything that squeaked. But, maybe she could use his fetish to distract Spike and Tara.

  Ivy decided the best course would be to hover the toy high enough off the ground so that it wouldn’t immediately attract his attention. She also needed to keep it along the backside of the row of trees they’d come from where the toy would be concealed in shadow most of the time. For a second or two, the toy would be in plain sight to Tara and Spike, should they break from their marathon kiss and look up. There was also the chance Dean might see it. If he saw the toy, he’d also know I
vy was there. No one else carried dog toys with them. She also had to consider that the toy would be out of her sight for a few seconds. If the toy hit a tree then, she’d lose control of it and her only chance.

  Slowly, she levitated Devlin’s toy. It sailed along, hovering about ten feet in the air and moved slowly toward the trees, keeping to the shadows until the last possible second. It went flawlessly. Tara and Spike were still too involved with each other to see the squeaky toy drift behind the trees.

  Raven tapped her urgently.

  “Not now,” Ivy hissed. Almost there, almost there. The toy should be popping out from behind the trees and toward the bush Bane and Devlin were hiding in just a second or two.

  Raven was not to be ignored. “Dean’s not in the car anymore. I don’t know where he is, but…”

  At that precise moment, Dean stepped away from where he’d been standing—the trees. He scanned the yard and Ivy watched his hand tighten around Devlin’s toy squirrel. Devlin pelted from the bushes like his tail was on fire. Tara and Spike broke from their embrace, startled.

  Upon seeing Devlin charging toward him, Dean tapped the squirrel, reversing Ivy’s Silent spell. He squeezed the toy again, and it let out an audible squeak.

  “Plan C,” Raven said, getting to her feet.

  “But, we don’t have a Plan C!” Ivy replied.

  “It’s called improvise!” Raven said, running for Spike.

  Dean shot out a spell that knocked Raven off course, sending her into a tree.

  “What the hell did you do that for?” Raven shouted.

  “Lizard breath is mine!” Dean growled. “I’m going to rip him apart.”

  Devlin was a blur as he raced toward Dean, with Bane right on his heels. Dean was so focused on Spike and Tara, he didn’t see it coming.

  But Ivy knew it was going to hurt. Big time.

  Devlin and Bane slammed into Dean at the same exact moment. Dean hit the ground with a hard, “Ooompf!”

  “This is your fault, Ivy!” Dean shouted. “That kiss was supposed to be between just us.”

  Ivy shook her head. “Spare me the break-up speech, Dean. It never would have worked anyway.”

  Tara was frantically smoothing her clothes and her hair. “It was a Kissing spell, Dean. I swear. I didn’t want to be with him.” She pointed to Spike. “Ivy showed up and hexed me,” she blubbered.

  “What a little liar!” Raven scoffed. “You were unbuttoning his shirt, and that wasn’t part of any Kissing spell!

  Tara fell to the ground and hugged Dean.

  “It’s okay, Tara. She tricked us both. But, I’m still going to kill that lizard.” Dean’s next spell missed Spike entirely and hit the ground instead. A dirt clod exploded, showering Spike. Spike cowered, raising his hands to shield his face.

  Ivy grabbed the power cord from her book bag, and with a quick wave of her hand, the cord changed into the vine, spreading out in Spike’s direction.

  The vines raced up Spike’s body, binding his arms and legs at his sides. He yelled for Tara, but Tara ignored him.

  Devlin wrestled the squeaky toy from Dean and took off with it across the lawn, squeaking loudly.

  Great. Now the whole house would wake up.

  Please let the grandmother be deaf.

  “Devlin!” Ivy called after him. But, Devlin had already vanished around the corner of the house and out of sight.

  “Bane!” Ivy called. “Go get him and make him be quiet.”

  Bane darted off after Devlin.

  The vines pulled the frantic Spike toward her. He cried out again for Tara’s help. The cacophony of barks, squeaks, voices, and screams was enough to wake the whole house. Ivy expected Tara’s parents to come running outside any minute.

  This mission was about as stealthy as Godzilla at a petting zoo.

  “Nooooo!” Spike wailed as Ivy started her incantation. “Not the terrarium! I know stuff. I have a note for you. It’s very important.”

  This had to be some sort of lizard trick. “A note? From who?”

  “A man gave it to me while I was in the woods hunting for bugs,” Spike explained.

  Ivy gave Spike a suspicious glare. “Who gave it to you? What does it say?”

  Spike tried to shrug. “I’ve never seen him before. And I don’t know what it says. I can’t read. Tara said she’d teach me.”

  “Give it to me, then,” Ivy demanded.

  Spike rolled his eyes. “Duh! I can’t. You’ve got me tied up.”

  Ivy stared at him for a moment. “You’re lying.”

  “No I’m not. Look!” He eyed the vines binding him.

  “I mean about the note!” Ivy snapped.

  “Oh. Yeah. It’s about the books,” Spike said.

  After a moment’s standoff, Ivy undid the vine spell, all except for a section around Spike’s left wrist.

  Another clump of dirt exploded near Spike.

  “Run!” Raven shouted. She nearly slammed into Ivy and Spike, grabbing them both by the arm and dragging them with her. “Unless you can out duel Dean and Tara.”

  She could, maybe. But not while keeping control of Spike. Besides, all the racket would bring out half the neighborhood at this rate.

  “Bring back that lizard!” Dean demanded. “I’m gonna skin him for moving in on my girlfriend.”

  Raven laughed. Ivy hardly found any of this amusing.

  “Well, if nothing else, your plan to put the two of them back together worked, but I wouldn’t advise matchmaking as a living,” Raven said as a sprinkler head went flying past them.

  Ivy didn’t release her hold on the vine as she ran. Great. Now the mission to change Spike had become a rescue mission to keep him from becoming boots. What next?

  Unless there was some other way off the property, Devlin and Bane couldn’t be far. Ivy and Raven ran, dragging Spike with them, finally coming to a wooden gardening shed the size of a small barn. Bane and Devlin were involved in a tug of war match with the squeaky toy.

  Raven pulled Ivy around the corner of the shed just as Dean blew off a piece of siding with another spell. Bane let go of the toy and he and Devlin scrambled to take cover with them.

  “Geez, Bane. If you really want, I’ll get you a squeaky toy for Christmas,” Raven quipped.

  It earned her a raised lip and a growl from Bane.

  Ivy poked around the corner and fired off a Repelling spell. “We’ve got to get off the property.”

  “You take left, I’ll go right,” Ivy heard Tara say to Dean.

  “Behind the Cypress,” Spike said. “There’s a gate.”

  “There’s a gate?” Raven said. “You should of thought of that before you used that stupid book.”

  Ivy shrugged. “Yeah, well, I didn’t think I needed blueprints for this, you know?”

  Tara rounded the corner, taking aim at Ivy. “Gotcha!” she said.

  Ivy ducked, letting the spell completely miss her.

  “Dean’s coming,” Raven warned.

  “Run,” Ivy said. She took off for the gates, Spike in tow, although he didn’t seem to need any coaxing. Lizard or human, Spike understood he was in serious trouble with Dean.

  Bane and Devlin made it to the gate first, both whirling about to defend Ivy and Raven if they needed to. The gate was locked.

  Ivy raised a hand to the gate. “Unlock!” She handed the vine holding Spike to Raven. “Go, I’ll hold them off. Get to the woods.”

  Raven snatched the vine and dragged Spike through the gates. Bane and Devlin whirled around after Raven just as a tree limb crashed to the ground. Ivy raced out of the gate behind them, turning to fuse the latch shut with a hex.

  Secure in the knowledge that the spell would give them time to escape, Ivy ran, following her friends into the woods and the relative safety of darkness.

  CHAPTER 22

  They didn’t stop running until they were well into the woods and Ivy could no longer keep the same pace as the others.

  “Slow down, guys. I don’t thi
nk they’re behind us anymore.” She stopped, rubbing at the stitch that had developed in her side. “Bane, are they following?”

  Bane looked about carefully, nose in the air, sniffing. Puffs of his breath hung in the cool air like ghosts. After a second or two, he relaxed and blinked, signaling that he thought they hadn’t been followed. He turned and walked onward, nearly disappearing into the darkness.

  Raven shrugged. “I don’t hear them, either.”

  “We got lucky. I can’t believe no one in the house heard all that racket,” Ivy said.

  Spike snorted. “That’s because Tara cast a Quieting spell so no one would hear her sneak out.” He frowned deeply. “Dean was really mad, wasn’t he?”

  A Quieting spell? Tara put a Quieting spell around the perimeter of her own house? Ivy was almost impressed. “Yeah, Spike. He was.”

  “Guess I can’t go back to hiding in the gardening shed or down by the river,” Spike said with a mournful shake of his head.

  Somewhere in the woods, an owl hooted, followed by the fateful scream of a small animal. Walking in the woods may have been routine for Bane, but not Ivy. Sounds carried out here, and Ivy was aware of every noise around them. Much of the forest was nocturnal, as evidenced by the hooting owl. Thin threads of moonlight weaved around barren hardwood trees and fragrant Evergreens, finally pooling here and there on the forest floor in patches of faded silver.

  Raven laughed, filling the air with human sounds for which Ivy was grateful. “She kept you in the gardening shed? The one Dean took a chunk out of? Wait until the Prescotts see all the damage.”

  Ivy shrugged. “They probably won’t know. If Tara and Dean hurry, they can fix most of it and blame the rest on moles or something. The one thing I’m betting on is that Tara won’t tell anyone we were there. That would be admitting she was out with Spike and her parents think she’s perfect. Spike isn’t exactly the type of dating material the Prescotts would approve of, much less have the town know about.”

  “Hey!” Spike protested. “I resent that!”