Page 11 of Voyage of Magic and Malice (The Vampires of Charleston #3)

ELEVEN

a world beyond

Once the jet is safely in the air, Phyllis asks the question I imagine everyone wants to know. “What the hell was wrong with Terri?”

“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “Amelia didn’t want us to stay in New Orleans and insisted we get Fran and Brayden out quickly.”

“Did she say what’s going on?” Cam asks, sliding forward in his seat.

I look at the lycanthrope whose entire family is in the city. “She said that some of the vampires had come under some sort of trance.”

“A trance? What does that mean?” Phyllis asks.

“It’s not just the vampires. Some of the lycan have too.” I turn toward Cam. “Topher’s fine. Amelia didn’t mention anything about the rest of your brothers.”

Nyssa and Cam share a look. “Why only some of them?” she asks.

“Amelia said the vampires who don’t drink human blood were not affected and that only the lycan who had eaten raw meat in the past few weeks were under the ‘trance.’” I use finger quotes.

“You think Terri was affected?” Phyllis asks.

“Amelia told me to look for a moon-shaped mole behind her right ear. Terri had the mark.”

“Holy shit,” Fran says for the first time. “Oh, I’m sorry, Brayden. Excuse my language.”

“I’ve heard bad words before.” Brayden reassures his nanny. He looks at the rest of us. “It’s not a trance.”

“Brayden? Do you know something about what’s going on?”

He looks at the two witches. “It’s a spell, and it’s not just in New Orleans.”

The realization of his words hits me in the gut. “Serafina,” I whisper. “Is it possible?”

“I think it’s more than possible,” Nyssa answers.

“Can someone fill me in on what’s going on?” Fran asks, sliding forward. “Who is Serafina, and what does she have to do with the trance?”

The four of us spend the next few minutes recalling every detail of what’s happened in Charleston, starting with our first encounter with Serafina and her illusion magic and ending with her and Thorne leaving together.

“Thorne left with this woman, willingly?” Fran asks.

I fight the tears welling in my eyes. “Aye.”

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” She moves to my side, wrapping her arms around me.

For the first time since watching him walk away, I allow the emotions that have filled me to flow. Tears slide down my cheeks as I bury my head into Fran’s petite shoulder. The old Elsie would never have allowed herself to feel this much emotion. The old Elsie would’ve never allowed anyone to see her weakness.

Fran pulls away only after the tears stop. “Elsie. I feel like I know both you and Thorne pretty well. We fought together, nearly died together, and survived together.” She puts her hands on my shoulders. “Thorne spent two hundred years searching for you. Hell, he had himself turned into a vampire so he could find you.” Deep brown eyes look into mine. “He would never willingly leave you.”

“He was under the spell.” Brayden fills in the blank.

“There’s only one flaw with that theory.” I interrupt. “He doesn’t drink human blood. The spell wouldn’t have bound him.”

“Except he did.” Nyssa stands, moving to our side. “He drank my blood at the ritual.”

I step away from Fran. Oh, my God. She’s right. He drank human blood right before he started acting strange. “He’s under her control.” The weight of a thousand elephants lifts off my shoulders. “We have to get to him. We have to save him.”

“We will,” Cam answers. “But we’re going to need all the help we can get before we go in there, guns blazing. If Thorne’s under her control, he’s not going to be on our side.” He nods to Brayden’s seat. “If all the kids are like him, we need them. Their abilities, combined with Nyssa’s magic, are the only chance we have.”

“The hot lycanthrope is right. We can’t do this alone.” Phyllis joins the conversation. “We need the kids. I say we stick to the original plan.”

“We never had a plan.” I remind everyone.

“It’s about damn time to get one.” Phyllis moves to Brayden’s side. “You are an amazing young man.”

“Thank you.” He smiles wide, revealing a large gap in his front teeth where, before becoming a vampire, his baby teeth had fallen out. Seeing his toothless grin reminds me of his stolen childhood, along with the three waiting to be rescued.

“Where are the children?” Nyssa asks no one in particular.

“They’re on Eudora’s island,” Brayden answers as if it’s common knowledge.

Everyone on the plane turns toward the immortal child. “Her island?” I ask. “Where is Eudora’s island?”

He shrugs. “It changes every day.”

“That makes no sense,” Fran answers.

“Sure, it does. Eudora is the Goddess of the Sea. She can make it go anywhere she wants. Most of the time, it’s hidden in other dimensions.”

“Other dimensions?” I repeat Brayden’s words, not sure I heard him correctly.

“She mostly keeps the island hidden between the dimensions or realms,” he continues.

Cam sighs. “How are we supposed to find something that hides in a place we don’t know how to get to?”

Brayden slides forward on the leather seat, his feet lowering to the floor in front of him. “It appears every day during high tide.”

“Brayden, how do you know all of this?” Fran asks.

He sighs. “I don’t know. I just think about it, and the answers are there.”

“When it appears during high tide, does it appear in the same location every day?” Phyllis asks.

The immortal child sits silent for a few minutes. “I think so. It’s like a short time when she can’t hide.” He turns toward the elderly witch. “I know I’m only a child, but I’m not lying to you. What would be the purpose of that? I have nothing to gain from lying. Thorne is my friend. So is Alex. I want to help them.”

“How?” Phyllis whispers.

“He can read our thoughts. Sorry, I probably should’ve mentioned that before now,” I answer.

Brayden turns toward Nyssa. “It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?”

“What’s he talking about?” Cam asks Nyssa.

She shakes her head. “Nothing. I was just wondering what the boy’s heritage is.”

Brayden pulls a piece of paper from the bag he’s carrying. “The island will appear at these coordinates during high tide.” He scribbles down a line of numbers before handing the paper to me.

I stare at the sequence of numbers in front of me. There is no doubt that Brayden is a genius and holds more power than anyone I know, but trusting something like this to him seems—dangerous. What if he’s wrong? Am I willing to stake Thorne’s life on what an eight-year-old says to be true? There’s more than Thorne’s life in the balance.

“Trust me, Elsie,” Brayden says with a smile. “I don’t know how I know it’s true, but I do.”

I close my eyes, willing the answers to come. “I don’t want to make this decision alone.” I turn toward my new friends. “What do you all think?”

The three of them stand awkwardly quiet. “I don’t think anyone feels comfortable making this decision,” Cam answers several seconds later.

“We’re out of time,” I remind them. “This is the only lead we have to go on. Since Eudora took the children, I’ve been unable to find any information on where she possibly took them.”

“A glimmer of hope is better than nothing,” Phyllis says. “If this is our only option, then we take it. I’ve only known the boy for half an hour, but I trust him.” She turns, facing the toothless immortal child. “Goddess, forgive me, I trust him.”

“Agreed,” Cam says.

“Nyssa?”

“Me, too.” Her voice is barely audible. “I trust him.”

I turn, heading into the cockpit with the coordinates in hand. “Ms. Abernathy,” the pilot greets me. “Do we have a location?”

I hand him the paper. “How far away is this?”

He feeds the numbers into a computer, pulling up what looks like a flight path. “Not too far.” He points to an area in the middle of the water. “This is where the coordinates are taking us. Are you sure this is where you want to go?”

“Yes. Can you get us there?”

He sighs. “I will have enough fuel to get you there, but obviously, there will be no place to land.” He turns toward me, looking me in the eyes. “Are you expecting something to be there?”

“Aye. An island.”

“If you want to go onto the island, you’re going to have to jump.”

“Okay,” I whisper. “We can do that.”

I watch as he pushes a few buttons on the computer before turning the plane hard to the right. “Looks like a three-hour flight.”

“Thank you.” I turn, leaving him alone, returning to the cabin to find five pairs of curious eyes. “We’ll be there in three hours.”

“What if we don’t arrive during high tide?” Fran asks.

“Then we make it high tide,” Brayden answers. “Right, Nyssa?”

She closes her eyes. “Right,” she whispers.

“Nyssa, I need to know that you’re all in. We can’t do this without you. If you’re not 100 percent with us, we need to know now.”

She shakes her head. “I’m in. Brayden is right. I can control the lunar phase, which will make the tide rise, and theoretically, the island will become visible.”

“Three hours is close to high tide.” Cam pulls his phone away from his face. “The natural high tide will be close to being in effect by the time we arrive. That, combined with Nyssa’s ability, should make the island visible.”

“Get some rest.” I suggest to my new friends. “I have a feeling we’re going to need as much strength as possible.”

“This is sounding more adventurous by the minute.” Phyllis’s words make me laugh. She’s right. This is going to be rough, and it’s only the first battle of our war. I sit on the other side of Brayden, relishing his warm energy. I don’t know if he’s covering me with warmth somehow or if it’s his natural energy I’m feeling. Whatever the case, I’m enjoying it.

“You should drink two bottles of blood,” Brayden says, handing me a bottle from his backpack.

“What about you?”

“I’m full.” He pats his stomach dramatically.

I glance at Fran, hoping for reassurance. “He ate before we got on the plane.”

I down the bottle in one gulp. Brayden was right. I was hungry. We sit in silence while the lycan and witch rest. In the quiet of the moment, I can’t help but think how different my life is from where it started.

As a child, I never went further than a mile from the spot where I was born. As a vampire, I’ve been all over the world many times, lived a life of horror and luxury, and seen so much history that I could write several books. Now, I’m on the way to an island that moves between dimensions, where a goddess is holding three immortal children captive and being led to the island by an immortal child with unmeasurable power. In our lives, we have moments that define who and what we truly are. This is mine.

Brayden is busy drawing in a sketchbook he pulled out of his bag. “What are you working on?” I ask the immortal child.

“A map.”

I take longer to study the details. “Is that a map of the island?”

“Yeah. I can see it in my mind. Kind of like looking down from the air.”

“You’re using the power of air,” Nyssa says, moving to the seat across from him. “You have the ability to draw upon all the powers of earth, Brayden—like me.”

It takes a minute for her words to sink in. “You think he’s a druid?”

“I do.” Nyssa nods at the child. “So does he.”

“Is that true, Brayden?”

He shrugs. “It makes sense.”

“Did your parents have your abilities?”

Brayden stares at the paper in front of him. “I don’t think so. I never noticed if they did.” He looks up, making eye contact with Nyssa. “They died.”

“I’m sorry,” she answers.

“I know.” Brayden turns toward me. “Elsie, I’m okay with being a vampire. My life wasn’t stolen from me. I’ve seen what’s going to happen in my future.” He smiles, not offering any more information.

“You’re pretty awesome,” I whisper, ruffling his perfectly styled blonde hair.

“I know.” He hands me a map that looks like it came from a master cartographer. “The island isn’t very big. These are the furthest points, and this is where the castle is.”

“Of course, it’s a castle.”

“What are these?” I point at his drawing of long reed-looking items. “It looks like seaweed.”

“I think that’s what it is. It hides the island from view. They kind of alter perception.”

“Brayden, is this possible?”

He sits in silence for a few minutes before nodding. “Yes.”

“Ladies and gentlemen. We will be above the coordinates in five minutes. I can get the plane low enough to depressurize but will only be able to maintain that speed for thirty seconds.” Anxiety fills the pilot’s voice. “Time will not be on our side.”

“Can you hide us?” I ask the immortal child. He nods in response. “I’ve been doing it the entire trip. It’s easy now.”

I stand, facing the rest of our makeshift crew. “Cam, Nyssa, you’re with me. Phyllis, you will stay on the plane with Fran and Brayden.”

“Like hell, I will,” Phyllis argues. “I didn’t come all this way to be coddled like an old fart. I’m a witch, for goddess’s sake. Let me do something amazing before I die. If I die here, then I will have died bravely.”

“You won’t be able to fight her.”

“I deserve a chance to try,” she retorts.

“Two minutes.” The captain’s voice rings over the speaker.

“Elsie?” Brayden calls across the jet. “I feel Alex. They’re here.”

“I’m coming,” Phyllis whispers. “I’m responsible for myself. I won’t be a burden.”

“Okay.” I instantly regret my words. A beep emanating from the cockpit echoes through the cabin of the jet. One glance out the window tells me we are flying dangerously low.

“Nyssa?”

The hybrid closes her eyes, and the sky turns black. Her arms raise to her sides and begin moving smoothly in the air. Watching her reminds me of a conductor in charge of a full symphony, molding and shaping the notes to their will.

Cam pushes the door open, filling the cabin with wind. As Nyssa continues conducting, the water below follows. “There’s nothing out there,” Phyllis says.

“It’s there,” Brayden says from my side. “Look.” He points through the murky sea. For a brief moment, I catch a glimpse of something that looks like land. “You have to trust,” he whispers.

I close my eyes and leap.