The Torn World: The Harvesting Series Book 5 Read online

  “Thank you, Kelly.”

  “Of course. Night, Layla.”

  “Goodnight,” I replied then closed my eyes and leaned back into the leather chair.

  Hold on, Jamie. I’m coming for you.

  Just then, someone sighed heavily. I opened my eyes, thinking for a moment that Kellimore had returned, but was surprised to see my grandmother sitting in the chair where Kellimore had just been.

  “Grandma?”

  “I learned much from the dead. They used to tell me many things,” she said. She rose and walked over to me then leaned in and brushed an otherworldly kiss on my forehead. The kiss was cold and incorporeal. “But there are some things the dead cannot do,” she said then disappeared.

  CHAPTER 7: CRICKET

  “SO, YOU GONNA TELL ME HOW we traveled halfway across the country by stepping into a cave?” I asked Tristan as I slipped into bed beside him.

  Tristan pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me, and kissed me on the shoulder. “Magic.”

  “Uh-huh. And just how does that magic work?”

  “My people, our world, exists just beyond the perception of yours. It is a bit like bending space. There are magical places in your world, places where the old energy is strongest, where your world and ours touch closely. These places become doorways.”

  “And they are just all over the place?”

  “Yes and no. They are usually found in natural places.”

  “So I couldn’t just hop into a weird phone booth or something?”

  Tristan chuckled. “No. That is a manmade thing. And besides, when was the last time anyone used a phone booth?”

  “And this Madame Knightly? Who is she to you?”

  “She is one of our elders. She’s the mother of our queen.”

  “Your queen? Okay. And that boy?”

  “He is just that. A young, but talented, man among our people. He was sent here to keep watch over someone.”

  “Over that girl? Amelia?”

  “Madame Knightly had a special eye on her. He was keeping tabs on Beatrice.”

  “Why?”

  “That isn’t exactly clear. But, if she does have a mind for science…”

  “Then maybe she could figure out what the doc was up to.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’re going back.”

  “Yes, I will return with Layla.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “We? We are not going anywhere. I want you here.”

  “Oh no. No more kids’ table for me. If you’re going to be my man…or faerie…or dog…or whatever you are…then you need to know we’re equal in all things. I might love you, but my daddy always told me to never let a man tell me to mind my place.”

  Tristan chuckled.

  “What? Don’t laugh,” I replied, feeling my fury stir in my chest.

  “It’s not that, my love,” Tristan said. “You and Vella need to stay here. Vella will be able to guide us on the next steps, and she’ll need you at her side.”

  I sighed heavily.

  Tristan laughed. “I know my tilt girl isn’t afraid of anything. But still. Stay here with Vella.”

  “You trying to protect me again?” I asked then rolled over and gazed into his honey-brown eyes.

  “Protect you? Cricket, I would die for you.”

  “Now, don’t get so dramatic,” I said then smiled at him. “Your cat lady doesn’t seem so crazy to see that you and I are knocking boots.”

  “It’s not permitted, but as I explained to her, it cannot be helped.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I love you.”

  “Do you now?”

  “You know I do.”

  “Then show me.”

  “How?”

  I reached under the covers and slowly slipped my hands under his shirt, feeling his warm, soft flesh. “Oh, I can think of a few ways.”

  “Well,” Tristan said as he drizzled kisses down my neck, “if that’s what you have in mind, I’ll probably be able to show you a few times tonight.”

  “I’ll prepare myself to be educated.”

  Tristan laughed then pressed his lips against mine.

  CHAPTER 8: LAYLA

  I WOKE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT still sitting in the chair in the library, my grandmother’s words fresh in my mind. The weight of them tied my stomach into knots. Groggy, I rose, grabbed my sword, and then headed toward the stairs. As I passed through the front parlor, I spotted Amelia asleep on a chaise. I stopped to cover her then went upstairs.

  The second floor of the mansion was quiet. Only one door was open. I could hear Chase snoring inside. I followed the stairs to the third floor. The doors were closed, but Tom was sitting in the hallway.

  “Layla?”

  “Hey.”

  “Kellimore said you were in the library. We saved you that room down there,” he said, pointing to a bedroom at the end of the hallway.

  “Thanks. What are you doing out here?”

  “Will and me…we thought we might keep watch tonight. Just in case. Frenchie and the girls are sleeping,” he said, pointing to the door behind him.

  “They okay?”

  He nodded. “I checked a little bit ago. This place is quiet, seems safe. But it always seems. Learned that lesson real good.”

  “Yeah, haven’t we?” I said. “I can keep watch for a bit. I’ll get Will up when I’m too tired. Where is he?”

  Tom pointed down the hall. “I asked them to keep all the Hamletville people together…what’s left of us.” Tom’s eyes teared up. “I’m so sorry about Jamie. He was a good friend.”

  I nodded, fighting back my own tears.

  “Did you really hear Jamie? Like you did with that zombie woman?”

  “Yes. I…I think so.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he’s not lost. That’s why I need to return.”

  Tom nodded. “I understand.”

  “Goodnight, Tom. Please, get some sleep.”

  He rose. “Goodnight, Layla.”

  Tom entered the room across the hall. Moving quietly, I cracked open the door to Frenchie’s room. Inside, the orange glow of a candle lit the entire room. She and the girls slept together in a large bed in a luxurious room decorated in Victorian furniture and trappings. How peaceful they looked.

  I closed the door gently then sat down, my back against the wall, and pulled my shashka out of its scabbard. Cutting a corner of my shirt off, I sat cleaning goo from the blade. Hopefully, somewhere in this old house, I could find a whetstone.

  A door down the hallway opened and a very sleepy-looking Elle came out.

  “Jesus,” she said, jumping. “You scared me half to death.”

  “Sorry. Just keeping watch.”

  “Suppose the old lady would have a heart attack if I smoke inside the house?”

  “Um, yeah. Definitely.”

  “You know what they say, don’t piss off the faeries…that’s what she said they were at dinner. Faeries. Like legit faeries. This world is so fucked up, I don’t know what to say. But I do know I need a cigarette.”

  I smiled at Elle. At the very least, she and Kellimore had survived Claddagh-Basel.

  “You suppose if I go outside alone the boogeyman will get me?” Elle asked with a laugh.

  “You want me to wake someone up to come with you?”

  “Nah, I’ll be all right,” she said then headed down the hallway.

  I started thinking about Claddagh-Basel once more. We’d need to return first thing in the morning, right after sunup. Maybe there was another way onto the property other than through the cave. If the kitsune were still there, that’s where they would be waiting. But surely they wouldn’t expect us to return. They would move on, look for us in other places. Could they find Witch Wood? Madame Knightly said she’d used some kind of magic to protect the place.

  I slowly cleaned my blade. Not only were the kitsune out there, but so were the vampires. With R
umor gone and only her underlings left scouting for food, they would be easy to pick off. And not only that, I knew how to destroy them. The undead blood would end their lives. I needed to make sure I got samples, vials, something we could carry any time we left Witch Wood.

  I sighed again and set down my sword. It was too much. It was too much for one person. I wrapped my arms around my knees and pulled them to my chest, resting my head on my arms. Too much. I tried to shut down my mind. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. But every time I tried to clear my thoughts, Jamie reentered them once more.

  “Layla?” he’d called.

  “Layla?”

  Jamie.

  “Weird outside,” a voice said, startling me from my dark thoughts. Elle had returned, smelling of the wind and tobacco smoke.

  “Weird how?”

  “Misty. There was a blue sheen to everything, blue lights sparkling everywhere. I felt like if I got a foot more away from the house the mist might have swallowed me up.”

  “The enchantment.”

  “Freaky.”

  “Worth it?”

  “Totally. Now I can sleep,” she said. “Night, Layla. Hey, make sure you get some rest. I mean, thanks for keeping watch, but I think we’re safe here.”

  That’s what they always say. “Goodnight.”

  After she closed the door, I looked down the hallway. There was a window at the end of the hall. She was right. The glowing rays of the moon and the glimmering stars were now occluded by heavy mist.

  Safe.

  Safe.

  Where is safe anymore?

  CHAPTER 9: AMELIA

  “AMELIA?” SOMEONE SAID AS THEY gently shook my shoulder.

  I opened my eyes to find Madame Knightly peering down at me. “Good morning,” I whispered.

  “Why didn’t you take one of the rooms upstairs? We turned on the heat.”

  I was lying on the chaise in the ladies’ parlor where I’d spent the entire winter. I’d kept to my old spot close to Madame Knightly’s room on the first floor in case she needed anything.

  “Habit, I guess,” I said, sitting up. “I wasn’t sure if you might still need my help.”

  “Oh, Amelia,” she said, sitting down on the chaise beside me. “It was never my intention to deceive you. I am an old woman either way around it, and I did need your help.”

  “I was always happy to do it.” Madame Knightly had become as dear to me as a family member. Even after everything had gone bad, after Witch Wood had saved us, I’d gone on looking after her as I always had. Because the truth was, I loved her.

  Madame Knightly took my hand in hers. “You’re a good girl, a special girl. My people, they saw signs the end was coming. And it just happened that a very special girl lived in the town where I also happened to reside. I am old, and it’s been a very long time since I concerned myself with things from either world—yours or mine. I’ve been living a quiet life here at Witch Wood. But Witch Wood is special. My people built this house, a place in your world, where my kind can be safe. There are several such places. My king asked me to sort out the signs, to discover what the kitsune were doing, and to keep my eye on that very special young girl.”

  “Tristan called you ‘highness.’ Why?”

  “My daughter is now our queen.”

  “Were you once—”

  Madame Knightly shook her head. “No. My daughter takes the role through her handfasting to her husband. I am a simple scholar. I saw the end was coming. The dark fae, once before they sought to kill mankind—”

  “The Bubonic plague? I remember now…you were reading a book about it.”

  “Yes. They failed then. They succeeded this time.”

  “Layla said they aren’t all dead. Something has happened to some of them,” I said, relaying what Logan had told me.

  “A complication no one expected. And something only a human, with her human magic, could see. My people are a little black and white at times. We chose to intervene and protect you, to save some of you. But what everyone has failed to see is that you are capable of saving yourselves.”

  “How?”

  “Through the very thing that makes you human. The magic beneath your skin. The heart that beats inside you. The science of your minds.”

  “We are safe here though. Here at Witch Wood, the enchantment has—”

  “Has prevented the kitsune and the night walkers from discovering you, has prevented the undead from finding this place. But it is a small place. Yet, there is still a chance for your people.”

  “The cure Layla spoke of.”

  “Yes. If they can recover it.”

  “If they can recover it. If it works. So many ifs,” I said with a sigh.

  “The world is always full of ifs. Now, let’s go ahead and get our coats on.”

  “Why?”

  “We’re going outside, of course. It’s time to start your training.”

  “What training?”

  “It’s time for you to learn how to find, and hide, Witch Wood,” she said then extended her hand to me.

  My body tingled from head to toe, the aura around me springing to life. After all these months, she was finally going to teach me.

  CHAPTER 10: LAYLA

  THE NEXT MORNING, I SAT QUIETLY at the table as the others ate their breakfast. In the end, we were lucky. Hamletville had given my people shelter, Claddagh-Basel had protected Cricket’s group, and Witch Wood had remained unscathed. But what about those who’d walked the hollow world without a home, without shelter, among the undead? I’d briefly seen what the human world had devolved into. How many innocent people had fallen to the grotesque brutalities of mankind? Were there other survivors still roaming the dead earth looking for food, water, warmth? And what of the undead who were…awakening…to their new form?

  “Layla?” I heard someone call, and I realized then it wasn’t the first time someone had said my name. I looked up to see Tristan looking at me.

  “Sorry?”

  “Claddagh-Basel. We were thinking it would be best to provision today, rest, then return tomorrow morning at sunup,” Tristan said.

  I looked around at the group. Tom, Will, and Frenchie were looking at me questioningly.

  “We don’t have to go back, do we, Mommy?” Kira asked.

  “No,” I told her with a smile, looking from Kira to Susan and then at the others. “I need to go back. I believe Doctor Gustav developed a cure. I need to go back to the lab and try to find it,” I said, casting a glance around the room.

  “Beatrice,” Logan said. “It might be helpful if you go with them.”

  “Me? Go out there?” A look of panic crossed her face. “But aren’t they still out there? The zombies, and worse, from what you’ve been saying.”

  “They are,” I said. “In and out. We’ll come right back.”

  “How will you even get there?” she asked.

  “The maze,” Tristan replied.

  “If we pop out at the cave, won’t there be someone waiting? I mean, if they are smart, they left someone to keep watch,” Chase said.

  Tristan nodded. “There is another way into Ulster.”

  “Where?” Kellimore asked.

  “Red Branch Grove. Do you remember a standing stone there, the one marked with Celtic knots?”

  “Near the lodge? Yeah. I remember it.”

  Tristan nodded. “The stone was brought there many years ago. It is a doorway.”

  Kellimore nodded. “I know the place. And the best path to get you back to the college. I’ll lead you.”

  “Thank you, Kellimore,” Tristan said.

  “I’ll go,” Chase offered. “You’re going to need help if things get tight.”

  “No,” Vella said. I noticed that she had her tarot cards lying in front of her.

  “No?” Chase asked her.

  She looked up at him, her dark eyes speaking volumes. “No. You will stay.”

  The room went silent.

  “Kellimore, Logan, Beatrice,
Layla, and I will go,” Tristan said.

  “Me too,” Will added.

  “Please,” I said, looking at Will. “No. Please stay here. I need you here.”

  “Layla, you sure?” Will asked.

  I nodded. “Please stay,” I replied, shooting a glance at the girls.

  Frenchie smiled softly at me.

  “All right,” Will replied, understanding.

  “Are you sure you need me?” Beatrice asked.

  Tristan nodded. “We won’t know what to look for without you.”

  She took a deep breath like she was steeling her nerves.

  “We need to get ready. You got ammo here?” Kellimore asked Logan.

  “No.”

  “Great,” Kellimore said with a frustrated huff.

  “But there is a whetstone in the storage shed,” Logan told me.

  “Well, that helps. But we need something else,” I added then. “Have any syringes?”

  “Like medical syringes?” Zoey asked.

  I nodded.

  Zoey looked at Beatrice who shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

  “We should have them ready, just in case.”

  “The zombie blood?” Will asked.

  I nodded.

  “Zombie blood? What for?” Zoey asked.

  “Apparently it is lethal to vampires.”

  “Maybe I can write down what to look for,” Beatrice said then with a shaking voice. “I…I don’t know if I can do it. Vampires?”

  “We’ll be back before dark. This is just a precaution,” I told her. “In case things don’t go as planned.”

  “When has that ever happened?” Will muttered under his breath.

  “We need to go into town,” Logan said, turning to Zoey. “Where can we go to get ammo and syringes?”

  “I have an idea for the ammo,” Zoey offered, “assuming no one else figured it out already. Syringes? We’ll ask Amelia.”

  “Where is Amelia, anyway?” Beatrice asked then.

  “Outside,” Logan answered.