Ancient Mystic's War of the Realms Saga - Lady Adellandra Dratianos (best detective novels of all time TXT) 📗

such a thing?” Ariana asked her.
“I’ve heard the story many times. I know because I listen.” Kelly said. “Please, Derrick. Don’t blame her for still loving him. She loves you in the way of the soul, and that’s all that matters, right? Let it be for now, please? You’re scaring the twins and Melody, and I’m pretty sure Theo feels it, too.”
Ariana perked up. “He does? He’s just a baby!”
“If you’d pay attention to him, you’d see he’s one amazing baby.” Kelly replied. “Juliet and I have noticed he’s more empathic than telepathic. He sends us pictures in our heads of what he wants instead of words.”
“Really? That sounds almost like...”
“Unicorn Magic.” Kelly confirmed. “For now, will you kiss and make up? I’m tired of feeling like I have to walk on eggshells around here.”
Ariana and Derrick looked at each other. What Kelly said was true, but it didn’t change what was bothering them both.
When Kelly left the kitchen, Ariana refused to look at him. Closing her eyes tight, she began to cry.
Don’t let her tears get to you. Say something! Let her know who’s boss.
“I’m not falling for the innocent act this time, Ariana Moon Reading.” Derrick supplied. “You can shut off the waterworks right now.”
Her tears may have stopped, but not the numbing empathic pain she was feeling from him. “I meant to tell you sooner, but...”
“No excuses. I mean it this time.” Derrick announced. “You’ve done this to me before, remember? Mark Grey? At least Panther finally found Marie.”
Ariana collapsed at the kitchen table, silenced. She shook her head. “Please, you don’t understand.”
“I never understand, do I? And why not? Because my wife, who I happen to love, never tells me the truth of things anymore. Instead, she decides to hide it inside herself until she can deal with it on her own.” Derrick replied. “What’s an Earthly Protector for, anyway? Good looks and companionship?”
“Derrick...”
“Don’t take that tone with me.”
“Derrick!” It wasn’t Ariana’s voice alone that called his name.
He turned to see his brother-in-law, Shane Morehouse.
“Stay out of this, Shadow.”
“I won’t.” Shane supplied. “Freeze him.”
“What?”
“Do it!” Shadow startled them both.
Ariana obeyed and froze her husband with a simple movement of her arm and a word. “Freeze!”
Derrick noticed he couldn’t move from the neck down, and growled. “Unfreeze me!”
Ariana moved to touch him, but Shane took her hand.
“Unhand her, Shadow!”
“‘Unhand her’?” Shane smiled. “Is that the best you can do?”
“What are you doing?” Ariana questioned.
“I’ll explain later.” Shane supplied softly in her ear. He looked to his brother-in-law before taking Ariana to another room. “We’ll be back. Promise.”
This only made Derrick growl louder, struggling to unfreeze himself by trying to move his body.
Once they were out of Derrick’s earshot, Shane asked. “What’s going on here?”
“He picked a fight with me.” Ariana supplied. “I was doing dishes and he brought up Aaron, which led to a short discussion on Mark.”
“And how you love each of them?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“I had to listen to butt in, if you know what I mean.”
Ariana groaned, sitting herself on the couch in the study. Shane sat beside her.
“What’s wrong with him?” Ariana wondered.
“Do you remember anything from last night?”
“Only Omri’s spell.” Her eyes flashed in realization. “That’s it!”
“Didn’t it effect you?”
“Not really.” Ariana replied. “I blocked him before he could call the spell. What about you?”
“Not a chance.” Shane remarked, showing her the Pendant-Locket. “I’m too powerful with this thing. I knew how to block myself with it. I only wished Luna and the others knew.”
“Me, too.” Ariana said. “I do have a couple of concerns, though.”
“The twins next door?”
“Shane...” She started with a smile.
Shane shrugged. “Tell me about it.”
“They refuse to talk to me, thanks to what happened after your story the other day. They think I’ve betrayed them somehow.”
“You did, but you didn’t.”
“Huh?”
“Listen, instead of asking incredulous questions.” Shane teased her. “You betrayed them, or at least they think you did, because you didn’t tell them about the Djinn haunting Kelly.”
“Yeah, go on.”
“You didn’t betray them because it wasn’t your tale to tell. Get it?”
Ariana nodded. “What am I going to do about them? They’re like my brother and sister, not to mention my closest friends. I don’t like seeing them like this, or even being away from them. It’s not like them to act like this.”
“Remember, Omri got to them, too.”
Ariana groaned. “Shane.”
Shane ignored her groan and stood up, outstretching his hand to her. “Let’s see how Derrick is, shall we?”
“Do you think I should Un-Freeze him?” She took it and stood with him.
“Certainly, once I give my okay, that is.” Shane supplied. “Come on, let’s go.”
They headed back to the kitchen, where Derrick still stood, staring at them.
“Go, talk to Aimee.” Shane supplied.
“What about Derrick?”
“After you unfreeze him, I’ll take care of him; okay?”
She nodded, unfreezing her husband with a kiss on his cold lips. She winked at Shane before leaving next door.

II

Shane smiled at his brother.
“What did you do with my wife? What did you say to her?”
“Relax, Derrick. It’s going to be okay.”
“I won’t relax, and no, it’s not going to be okay.” Derrick cried. “I want to know what you said to Ariana.”
“At least you’re somewhat back to normal.” Shane replied. “You’re acting like the Protector again.”
“Did a Djinn get you, because you’re not making any sense!’
“Not me, brother. You, Luna, and the Schmidt twins.” Shane replied. “Heard any extra voices inside your head today?”
Derrick calmed. “Come to think of it, yes, I did.”
“Ignore it.” Shane said. “It’s a part of Omri’s spell, only it didn’t effect me and Ariana.”
“Why’s that?”
“We don’t have any secrets to hide from anyone.”
“What about her love affairs with Aaron and Mark?”
“She told you about them, didn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
“Then they weren’t unearthed secrets. They’re secrets she herself has told you about.”
“Oh.”
“Oh’s right.” Shane remarked. “If you continue to listen to that extra voice in your head, it’ll take over. Not only that, brother boy, but your true self, your Protector self, will no longer exist.”
Derrick was struck with the knowledge.
“It’s what Omri wants.” Shane said softly. “To split the Crusaders apart from the minds out.”
“Just like Sabrina did in the Crusades.”
“And Orthos did in the Wars for Power.” Shane replied. “Now do you get my drift? Are you going to listen to me?”
“On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“Tell me what you said to Ariana.”
“Fine.” Shane replied. “All I told her was to talk to the twins, and that I’d talk to you.”
“Wonderful.” Derrick groaned, feeling more like himself now Shane explained it all to him.
III

Kelly Reading couldn’t concentrate on her school project, and her best friends were worried. Her mind drifted to the past Saturday, where she overheard my parents fighting. Again.
She was in the school library with stepbrother Bradley, best friend Cara, and Brad’s best friend Josh, working on their project for English class. They were supposed to look through and use newspapers from the past to see how they influenced writers and journalism in the present.
Only Bradley noticed her silence. She felt him looking over her shoulder to her notebook, where she’d written only “Past to Present: Themes in Society”. Underneath, she’d drawn a picture of an eye. She wasn’t paying attention to the teacher in the front of the group or Cara’s gossip about her family.
“Kelly, snap out of it.” Bradley tried, nudging her.
Kelly shook her head and turned to face him. “I’m sorry, Brad. I’m a little spaced out lately.”
“That’s an understatement.” Josh joked.
“It’s not funny.” Kelly spat. “My parents are fighting again, and I hate it.”
“They never fight!” Cara cried in a whisper just short of her normal voice.
“Aunt Aimee and Mrs. Reading are fighting, too.” Bradley put in.
“They’re fighting over Daddy.” Kelly pointed out. “Aimee, Momma and Derrick have never fought like this before.”
“Do you know what caused it?” Cara asked.
“I only know what’s wrong with Derrick.” Kelly supplied knowingly. “It’s a Djinn.”
“What’s a Djinn?” Josh asked, confused.
“A magical being that attacks mortal minds, making them go crazy.” She told him.
“Yeah, right.” Josh said, skeptic. “Let’s just get on with this project. Mrs. Matthews is looking this way.”
“We can talk more about this at lunch, anyway.” Cara supplied.
Kelly picked up a newspaper and skimmed through it.
Cara asked after a few minutes. “Have you found anything, yet?”
Her attention was diverted again. This time, by a vision.
Cara saw her friend’s face. Kelly’s eyes were closed and a hand was on a picture of a man the caption called “The Hill View Bomber”.
“Hey, what is it?” Bradley tapped her out of the vision. “What do you see?”
Kelly’s attention went directly to the paper again. “They never found him. He’s still in Hill View.”
“How can you tell?” Cara asked. Josh stared, unsure of what to make of it. “I read that article, too. It doesn’t say either way.”
“I just had a clairvoyant vision.” She told them. Cara and Bradley shared a look.
“What’s a clairvoyant vision?” They heard a voice above them. It belonged to Kelly’s guy-best-friend, Steve Edwards.
“She sees visions of the past.” Bradley supplied as Steve sat down.
“Where have you been?” Josh asked.
“Principal’s office.” Steve remarked. “Seems someone put a dung bomb in the bathrooms again.”
Cara giggled. “I bet that someone is you?”
“They can’t prove it.” Steve smiled. “This time, it wasn’t only me.”
“Who else would put dung bombs in the bathroom toilets?” Josh asked with a grin.
“Krysti Farthay.”
“You’re kidding!” Cara supplied with a giggle. “Way to go, Krysti.”
“She almost got caught.” Steve remarked. He turned back to Kelly, who was patiently listening. “So, what did you see?”
“The Hill View Bomber, and what he did.”
“The article says they couldn’t find him after five years.” Cara replied.
Steve looked to the newspaper, taking it out of her hands. “Kel, this is from five years ago. That would mean...”
“Ten years ago, he bombed the Pell Corp building. The police on the case were warned, but not able to get to the scene in time.” Kelly rattled, not knowing how she knew. “I know differently. Something went wrong at the Pell Corp building. I can feel it.”
“Here we go.” Bradley groaned. He hated when she “felt” things. It usually meant he was going to be in trouble soon.
Kelly, on the other hand, was excited. She had what her parents playfully called the “Sleuthing Bug.”
Innocent, she asked her brother. “What?”
“Whenever you say you can feel something, that means Empathy, right?”
“Usually, but not in this case.” She pointed out. “I want to find out what happened, and catch him before he strikes again.”
“I bet the police already caught him.” Steve remarked.
“He’s probably rotting behind bars by now.” Josh supplied.
Kelly shook her head, adamant. “I saw him in my vision. He was never caught.”
“Let the police handle it after you tell them your vision.” Cara remarked. “That’s their job.”
“How is she going to tell them? It’s not like she can tell them her vision.” Bradley said.
“They’d never believe me anyway.” Kelly replied. “I’d go to Uncle Shane and Derrick on this, but they have too many troubles of their own dealing with Djinn.”
“You can try telling them.” Bradley supplied. “I’m sure they’ll listen.”
“No, I want to do this on my own.” Kelly said.