Believe: The Complete Channie Series Read online

  “Fine …” Josh’s voice broke. He swallowed three times before continuing and when he did, it sounded as if he’d swallowed broken glass. “If that’s how it has to be …I guess...I’ll just have to deal with it. But the minute you’re done, I want you out of her bed and I don’t ever want you to touch her again.”

  Hunter folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. “That’s not how it works. Once our heart-of-hearts are bound together, we’ll have to do it at least once a month. Since Channie’s lost her powers, she’s going to be a drain on mine. We’ll probably have to do it more often. Maybe even once a week.”

  By now Josh was trembling with rage. Channie said, “Hunter! A little help, please?”

  He smirked at her then cast a be-calm spell at Josh. His trembling stopped, but Channie could tell he was still angry.

  Hunter leaned forward and said, “Look, I know this is hard for you. It’s hard for all of us. Channie doesn’t want to marry me, and I don’t really want to marry her either. But if we don’t work this out, Channie could die. And I know you don’t want that.”

  “No.” Josh went limp, his hand slid from Channie’s waist to her hip. “I don’t.”

  Hunter said, “Look, if it will make it any easier, after the wedding, I’ll leave as soon as I’m done, like you suggested. You can take over and do all that cuddly stuff women seem to need after sex. And if you don’t mind sloppy seconds—”

  Josh stood up so fast he nearly dumped Channie on the floor. He took one step towards Hunter but then seemed to change his mind. For a second, Channie was afraid he might try to draw the gun and shoot him. He didn’t. He spun around and punched the wall, leaving behind a smear of blood on the curved surface of the log.

  Channie’s eyes filled with tears. “Josh, don’t.”

  He hit the log again and screamed, “I hate this! I hate magic! And I hate that goddamned book!”

  The front door burst open and Aunt Wisdom flew across the room. She cast a be-calm spell on Josh that knocked him out cold then magically lowered him to the floor.

  Hunter whistled, low and long. “Wow. I’d heard you could levitate people, but I never believed it until now.”

  Aunt Wisdom swayed on her feet then collapsed onto the pine bench under the window. A spell like that would have drained even the strongest mage. It was a wonder she was still conscious.

  She nodded at Josh’s limp body and said, “Who is that and what’s he doing here?”

  Channie knelt beside Josh and brushed the curls off his forehead. He smiled, but did not open his eyes. She sat cross-legged on the floor and cradled his head in her lap then looked up at Aunt Wisdom. “His name’s Josh Abrim and he’s my …” boyfriend didn’t even begin to describe what Josh meant to her. “He’s the love of my life.”

  Aunt Wisdom arched her eyebrows and said, “Why was he so angry?”

  Channie told her an abbreviated version of the story.

  Aunt Wisdom shook her head and sighed. “I swear, this family is cursed when it comes to love.” She stood up and said, “I need to go lie down for a bit. Hunter, do you think you can carry Josh up to the loft and put him in Channie’s bed? It’s going to be a while before that spell wears off.”

  Channie followed Hunter up the ladder and tucked Josh into her bed. She knew Hunter was watching, but she didn’t care. She leaned over and kissed Josh’s forehead then brushed her lips across his softly parted mouth. He sighed and kissed her back. It was sweet, but without passion. He was still asleep.

  She smoothed his brow with her fingers.

  Hunter squatted beside Channie and cleared his throat. “Look, I know right now, you don’t want me in your bed, but this won’t be my first time. I know what I’m doing. If you just relax a little, I can open your eyes to a whole world of pleasure.”

  He tried to tuck a strand of Channie’s hair behind her ear, but as soon as she felt his fingers brush her cheek, she recoiled as if he’d slapped her.

  Hunter shrugged his shoulders and stood up. “I thought I was doing you a favor...marrying you to break the curse, but I ain’t gonna take you by force.”

  Channie bowed her head, then stood up and squeezed Hunter’s shoulder. “You are doing me a huge favor. And you won’t have to take me by force. Just don’t expect me to enjoy it.”

  “You really love him, don’t you.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “It will be a serious blow to my ego, but I’m willing to cast a come-hither spell on you after the wedding, so you can enjoy it.”

  “I don’t want to enjoy it.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it if you just lay there like a cold fish.”

  Maybe boys weren’t all that different from girls after all. “I’ll do my best, Hunter. Just...be patient.”

  His grin returned. “That’s all I’m asking.”

  Channie forced herself to reach up and touch Hunter’s cheek. “I’d like to spend the next few days with Josh. If you don’t mind.”

  “Sure. I have some things I need to take care of anyway.”

  Probably had to cancel a couple of dates. Channie didn’t care. In fact, she hoped Hunter didn’t burn any bridges. The more he tomcatted around, the less time he’d spend in her bed.

  Channie waited until she heard Hunter leave, then crawled into bed with Josh. She stroked his cheek with her fingers and bit back a sob. It was so unfair. They could finally touch without pain, but it was too late. She kissed him again then got out of bed and went into Momma and Daddy’s room, where Aunt Wisdom was resting. The bed was unmade, but she was lying on top of the covers. Hunter’s clothes were scattered across the floor. It was obvious, this was his room now.

  Aunt Wisdom sat up. “Tell me everything that’s happened since Abby ran away.”

  Channie’s heart skipped a beat. “Is she here?”

  “She was, but she’s in Mexico now.”

  “What in the world is she doing in Mexico?”

  “Diego thought it would be safer to get her out of the country until things settle down.”

  “He knows about magic?”

  “He does now.”

  “What about the trips?” Even though Abby had deserted them once already, it was hard to believe she’d leave the country without them.

  “I convinced her they’d be safer wherever they are for the time being. I assume they’re with your parents?” Aunt Wisdom held her hand up, palm out. “Don’t tell me. The less we know about each other’s whereabouts, the better. I move around a lot and suggest you do the same.”

  Channie felt guilty for deserting the trips. She wasn’t any better than Abby. If she survived this mage war, she’d go back to Colorado and get them. She didn’t care if Hunter agreed or not, she’d raise the boys as her own.

  Aunt Wisdom said, “Tell me more about the anti-tracking spell your parents cast. Neither of them have the ability or intelligence to create such a perfect and subtle spell.”

  She listened without saying a word as Channie told how Momma had retrieved the Book of the Dead. She decided not to mention the horrible curse Momma triggered when she took the book since she wasn’t in any immediate danger. One disaster at a time.

  Aunt Wisdom said, “I knew that grave had been disturbed but never, in my wildest dreams, would I have imagined that Prudence had the gumption to retrieve a Book of the Dead. I was scared to death it had fallen into the hands of our enemies.”

  “Momma and Daddy used the book to change my power name to Chastity.”

  “They did what!”

  “They were afraid I was going to get knocked up like Abby.”

  “So...instead of using an infertility spell...they cursed you?”

  Channie nodded.

  Aunt Wisdom scooted over and patted the mattress. “What happened?”

  Channie crawled onto the bed and laid her head on Aunt Wisdom’s shoulder. “I kept repeating, ‘my name is Enchantment’ during the spell and a small part of it escaped into my heart-of-
hearts when Chastity took over my power-well.”

  “I’ll work with you and teach you to use heart magic to strengthen Enchantment. It won’t be the same, but—”

  “I can’t. I …” Channie refused to cry, but she couldn’t hide her distress from Aunt Wisdom.

  She smoothed Channie’s hair then kissed the top of her head, just like Josh did whenever she was upset. It took all of Channie’s self-control to keep from sobbing. A wave of calm washed over her, followed by a ripple of guilt. Aunt Wisdom was still too weak from levitating Josh. She shouldn’t be casting be-calm spells, even though it helped Channie continue. She felt disconnected from the story, as if it had happened to someone else.

  Tears flowed down Aunt Wisdom’s cheeks when Channie described how she’d sacrificed Enchantment’s magic to kill Harvey. By the time Channie finished, Aunt Wisdom looked as if she’d aged twenty years. She said, “You’ve lost all magical abilities?”

  “I can’t even find my power-well, much less my heart-of-hearts.”

  Aunt Wisdom scanned Channie then said, “Everything is still there, but your power-well is so scarred it’s sealed shut and your heart-of-hearts is barely beating. Perhaps, in time, you’ll be able to cast a few simple spells, but without a power name, it won’t be the same.”

  Channie sat up straighter, lifting her head off Aunt Wisdom’s shoulder. “Then give me another power name.”

  Aunt Wisdom shook her head slowly then sighed and said, “It’s a miracle you survived the first name change. I’m afraid another will drive you insane or even kill you. Besides, there’s no place for it to dwell.” She gripped Channie’s cheeks with both hands and lifted her face, piercing her eyes with her gaze. “There’s no reason you can’t live a full and happy life without magic. You might have lost your abilities, but your connection to Josh survived. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t trade magic for true love.”

  “I wouldn’t trade true love for magic either, but I would trade my life to protect Josh. I’m going to marry Hunter.”

  “Don’t make any final decisions until the full moon. The book instructed you to bind your heart to Josh, with no regrets, but later demanded you marry a royal mage?”

  Channie nodded. “It’s a cruel book.”

  Aunt Wisdom frowned. “I’m not even going to ask how you two got your hands on a Book of the Dead, but do you still have it?”

  It was illegal for an underage mage to touch any magical book, much less use one to cast spells. Not only had they used the Book of the Dead, Channie had stolen it. “It’s in my backpack.”

  “Well, at least it’s not with Prudence and that idiot she married. We can be grateful for that.” Aunt Wisdom got out of bed and said, “Go get it and meet me in the kitchen.”

  Channie set her backpack on the pine bench and pulled out the book. She unwrapped it and set it on the kitchen table.

  Aunt Wisdom traced the blackened letters that spelled out ‘Enchantment,’ with her finger tips then gripped the corner of the cracked leather cover.

  Channie grabbed her hand and said, “Don’t open it. It’ll curse you too.”

  “I need to read the exact words of the spell.”

  “The words have already disappeared. Josh took pictures with his phone and I copied it into my journal.”

  Aunt Wisdom smiled and said, “That was very creative. Do you have your journal?”

  Channie retrieved it from her pack, turned to the page where she’d recorded the first spell then handed it to Aunt Wisdom.

  After what seemed like an hour but was probably only five minutes, Aunt Wisdom closed Channie’s journal and said, “This doesn’t make a bit of sense. The book promised you and Josh a love pure and true if you manage to break the curse with a chaste kiss, which you did—congratulations on that by the way. It even demands you bind your hearts with no regrets—which means marriage. But then it contradicts itself and tells you to marry a royal mage? It even seems to have provided one upon your arrival. I’m obviously missing something.”

  A rustling sound in the loft drew Channie’s attention. Josh was awake. He leaned over the rail, introduced himself and shared his adultery theory with Aunt Wisdom. He’d obviously been spying on them.

  To Channie’s amazement, Aunt Wisdom agreed with him. “It didn’t say you and Josh have to bind your hearts to each other, it just says you have to bind your hearts.”

  Josh said, “I’m going to need someone to zap me with a...what’s it called—”

  “… be-calm spell?” Aunt Wisdom nodded. “I can do that. So can Hunter.”

  “Yeah, a be-calm spell. But you better be the one to do it. I still want to beat the crap out of Hunter, but at least I don’t want to kill him anymore. That’s progress, right?”

  Aunt Wisdom smiled at Josh and said, “Yes, that’s progress. Has the book given you any clues about the person you’re supposed to marry?”

  Channie’s joints turned to water. She slumped into a chair and covered her face with her hands.

  Aunt Wisdom seemed to read her mind. She turned towards Channie and said, “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. The book provided Hunter for you, I’m sure it will find the right girl for Josh.” So much for mind reading abilities.

  Josh climbed down the ladder and said, “I’m not going to marry anyone.”

  “Didn’t the book demand you bind your heart as well?”

  “Yeah, but it also told me to not let any other girls lead me astray.” Josh skipped the last three rungs and hopped off the ladder. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and read from the screen…

  Son of darkness, heed this advice,

  Forsake all others that might entice

  And lead astray with a wanton smile

  The foolish boy they wish to beguile.

  Burn the image in your heart and mind

  Of true love’s kiss, and surely you’ll find

  The strength and the will and the power to keep

  The promise you made so your love would not weep.

  “I promised Channie that I would do everything in my power to make her happy. And I don’t think she’d be very happy if I married someone else.”

  Channie said, “I can’t stand the thought of you with another woman. It’s ten times worse than thinking about what I have to do with Hunter.”

  Josh said, “I really wish you wouldn’t have shared that with me.”

  “The thought of Hunter touching me makes me want to puke, but all I have to do to satisfy the book’s demands is lay there and endure it. You wouldn’t be able to do what you need to do unless you wanted to do it. I can’t stand the thought of you enjoying another woman.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about it, because there will never be any other woman for me.” Josh clapped his hands and rubbed them together, signaling the end of the conversation. “Something smells good. I’m starving.”

  Aunt Wisdom lifted the lid off the pot and said, “I hope you like possum stew.”

  A rim of green circled Josh’s mouth and darkened the skin under his eyes.

  Channie lifted the tea towel off the water pitcher on the table and poured him a glass. “She’s kidding. Aunt Wisdom buys her groceries at WalMart in Whistler’s Gulch.”

  Aunt Wisdom said, “I haven’t been able to get into town lately, but that’s a long story.” A long story she obviously didn’t want to tell in front of Josh. “And I didn’t make the stew, Hunter did, so I can’t say for sure what’s in it, but it smells like rabbit.”

  After gulping down three helpings of rabbit stew and half a pan of cornbread, Josh volunteered to do the dishes. He was down right fascinated with the hand pump next to the sink—Daddy’s idea of indoor plumbing—and the mason jar full of dish-and-laundry flakes shaved off a bar of homemade lye soap.

  Aunt Wisdom told them to “be good” then disappeared into Momma and Daddy’s room with an armful of fresh linens.

  Josh bumped Channie’s hip with his and said, “Do you remember the first time we washe
d dishes together?”

  “Of course. Supper at my house, when you finally believed I was telling the truth about magic.”

  “It’s hard to believe that was only two and a half months ago.” He handed her the cornbread pan.

  She handed it back. “You missed a spot.”

  “I feel as if I’ve known you my whole life.”

  Channie swallowed around the lump in her throat and nodded.

  Josh stared past his reflection in the kitchen window and said, “I can’t imagine life without you.”

  Agony knifed through Channie’s heart. She gripped the edge of the countertop, but a soft gasp escaped her throat. Had he changed his mind...about sharing her?

  He unstopped the sink and dried his hands on a dish rag. Even with the window closed, Channie heard the water splashing into the frozen garden outside. It was a very short pipe.

  Josh pried her hands off the counter then kissed the ring on her finger. “If the book makes it clear that I’m supposed to marry someone else, I have to do it. The only thing more important than your happiness is your safety. So...if I break my promise, will you still be able to keep yours?”

  A sense of dread pressed down on Channie’s body, as if Heaven itself were determined to grind her into the ground. Josh had already sacrificed so much for her, how could she deny him anything? “Yes, I’ll keep my promise.”

  Josh wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “We still don’t know what the Book of the Dead intends to do with either of us. Try to get some sleep. Maybe a solution will present itself before the full moon.”

  “I don’t want to sleep with Aunt Wisdom.”

  “I don’t want you to sleep with her, either.”

  Channie and Josh waited until Aunt Wisdom fell asleep, then crawled into the loft and cuddled up together. He spooned his trembling body around hers and silently cried himself to sleep.

  Channie was too distraught to sleep, too numb to cry. Her brain was on an endless loop replaying the words of the spell without offering a single solution. True love’s kiss will set you free...bind your hearts...a royal mage you must wed...the things you lose are forever lost...Heed the warnings, but be not discouraged.