Chasing Promises: (Capturing Magic, Book 3) Read online

  Then I realize that the bed is shaking from my powers, which are jittering inside me, about to go over the edge—

  A vase tumbles from off the dresser and shatters across the floor, making my heartrate spike and the room quiver even more.

  “Shit,” I curse, knowing I need to calm down.

  I take a few inhales and exhales, trying to do just that, but it’s not working. I keep seeing images of that dream—more like nightmare. It felt so real, like I was about to disintegrate that planet because Asher’s father had told me to.

  What if my powers are evil?

  As I peer around the shaking room, I wonder if maybe I’m correct. After all, the worlds patrol does have a bounty out for me, which means I’m considered a dangerous creature.

  An uneven breath fumbles from my lips, and the shaking increases, causing pictures to fall off the walls and the lights to flicker on and off. If I don’t calm the hell down, the worlds traveling vehicle might crack apart.

  Calm down, Harlynn. Just calm down—

  The door to my bedroom suddenly flies open, and Ash is standing on the other side, wearing jeans, boots and, strangely, a shirt.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks, sweeping his gaze around the room then landing on me.

  My first instinct is to lie—it’s what I do—but considering the walls are actually starting to crack now, maybe I should just tell the truth.

  “I had a nightmare, and I think it set my powers off,” I tell him in an unsteady tone that makes me cringe.

  I hate seeming weak, vulnerable, or needy. And right now, I sound like all three.

  His eyes soften a bit. “Can I come in?”

  “You’re seriously asking for my permission?” I question. “Every other time, you just barge in.”

  “Well, right now doesn’t seem like the best time to piss you off,” he quips, gesturing at all the broken glass on the floor.

  “Right.” I sweep strands of my hair out of my eyes. “Yeah, you can come in.”

  If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he looks a bit anxious as he steps in. But an anxious genie? Yeah, there’s no way that could exist. Then again, I have seen him look worried, empathetic, and remorseful, and I never thought genies could possess any of those traits, so maybe he can be anxious, too. The question is: what is he anxious about?

  He remains quiet until he reaches the bed. Then he hesitates before sitting down. Again, he looks unlike himself.

  “What was your nightmare about?” he asks, his expression guarded.

  I shake my head and shrug, staring down at my hands. “Nothing really.” I don’t want to admit what it was about, how his father told me to use my powers to disintegrate a planet. And how, for a moment, I’m pretty sure I was going to.

  He hooks a finger under my chin. “I know you’re lying.”

  “Yeah, so?” I angle my head to the side, moving it away from his finger. “I don’t have to tell you everything, genie dude.”

  Usually, the corners of his lips quirk at my snarkiness. This time, though, he looks completely serious.

  “I used to have nightmares about how I got these scars.” He gestures at his chest, and I think he might be about to tell me how he got them. “For years, it’s all I could dream about when I closed my eyes. I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. The first handful of times it happened, it scared the shit out of East and Arrow. It got so bad that I started taking sleeping poppy every night so I could pass the hell out and not dream at all. It worked fantastically, too, but then I built up a tolerance and had to start doing different kinds of drugs until that became its own problem.” He lets out a quiet breath. “East and Arrow finally gave me an intervention; told me they were going to quit the band if I didn’t clean up my act. When I told them I was doing the drugs to avoid nightmares, East suggested I go talk to a magic healer. I’m not sure if you know what those are, but I think they’re called, like, therapist or something in the human world.”

  “I know what they are,” I inform him, glancing at his scars for a moment. Whatever happened to him had to have been painful. I want to ask, but if I do, that will be an opening for him to ask me questions. Questions I don’t want to answer. “I’m a little surprised, though, that East made you go to one. It seems like such a rational thing to do.”

  His lips quirk. “East has his moments, especially when it comes to the wellbeing of his friends. It happens rarely and only when things get really bad, which is how I knew I needed help.”

  I nod like I understand, but I don’t. Jason may have been my friend, but I can’t remember him ever trying to help me work through any of my issues. Not that I ever showed my vulnerable side. No, that side has only manifested with Asher, East, and Arrow. Especially with Ash. Like the time right after the incident with Yellow and I started to cry. I had never cried in front of anyone before, and to deal with it, I tried to do things I know I would’ve regretted once the flood of emotions left me. Luckily, Ash stopped things before I made that mistake.

  I pick at a thread sticking up from off the comforter. “So, are you saying I need to go talk to a magic healer?”

  When he hesitates, I glance up at him, only to find him staring at me with uncertainty.

  “You could always talk to me?” he suggests, that anxiousness creeping up on his features again.

  “You want me to talk to you about my problems?” I question with an arch of a brow. “For reals?”

  He shrugs. “Maybe I can help.”

  Doubtful.

  Plus …“I’m not very good at talking about stuff.”

  “Me either,” he agrees with a frown.

  We grow quiet. I’m not sure what else to say. I do notice the room has stopped quivering, which means that this conversation has at least helped calm my powers down.

  “I had a nightmare about your dad,” I finally admit. “He was telling me I should use my powers to disintegrate a planet.” I leave out the part about how, for a moment, I kind of wanted to, not ready to speak about the heavy stuff aloud. “It just freaked me out a little bit.”

  He presses his lips together, uncertainty written on his face. “You know we’re not going to let him get ahold of you. We’ve been working for a long time to bring him down, so there’s no way in hell we’re going to let that get ruined.”

  Right. Because, if he gets ahold of me, he gets ahold of my power. And while we’re still not sure about all my magic abilities, the fact that Asher’s dad wants me has to mean I’m dangerous, which is why they’re protecting me.

  As stupid as it’s going to make me seem, part of me is hurt about that fact—that they’re not protecting me because they like me.

  Gods, I’m so pathetic.

  I really am sometimes.

  Asher unexpectedly scoots across the bed, closer to me. He parts his lips then shuts them. Parts then shuts. Then, muttering underneath his breath, he reaches out and cups my face between his hands.

  For a moment, I consider leaning back. For some reason, though, I don’t.

  Back in the day, before I met Ash, East, and Arrow, I thought all paranormals were awful, partly because a genie killed my parents and partly because they ran the world I lived in and forced humans to obey them. After spending time with Asher, East, and Arrow, I’ve realized that not all paranormals are bad. Maybe that’s why I’m letting him touch me. Or maybe it’s because, for most of my life, I’ve been deprived of touch.

  I shouldn’t let him touch me, though.

  I should be more cautious of the curse.

  Lean away, Harlynn.

  But I can’t seem to bring myself to do that.

  “I’m—we’re also protecting you because I—we don’t want anything to happen to you.” A smug smirk pulls at his lips. “Like East says, you belong to us now.”

  I roll my eyes. “I belong to no one, dude.”

  His smirk grows. “You know, you used to sound more pissed off when you protested that. Now you just sound like you’re working on autop
ilot.”

  “It’s because I’m tired,” I lie. The truth is that it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. Still, it’s unsettling, knowing that my feelings for him—them—are deepening. “I should go back to sleep,” I say, even though I know I probably won’t be able to doze off.

  Asher skims the pad of his thumb along my cheekbone. “Do you …? Do you want me to help you go to sleep?”

  “How?” I question. “Using your magic?”

  He gives a nod, anxiety radiating from him. “Lie down.”

  I’m not much for obeying, but he has helped me relax with his magic before, and it felt amazing. So, I lie down on the bed, and he leans over me, resting his palm against my chest.

  “Mihi ad somnum proficisci pulcherrimus fur,” he whispers, staring into my eyes.

  “What does that mean?” I whisper, my eyelids already lowering.

  Usually, when he speaks in another language, he won’t tell me what he says. However, I feel his lips brush against mine so softly while he whispers, “It means, go to sleep, my beautiful thief.”

  I’m not sure if I heard him correctly, since I drift off into a blissful, nightmare-free sleep less than a second later.

  Asher

  After East and I returned from seeing Maxton, we headed back to our worlds traveling vehicle, both of us quiet. I’m sure he was probably thinking the same things as I was. Or, well, almost the same thing.

  The only way to break the curse is to share Harlynn.

  Share her.

  I’ve shared lovers before, but this … it feels different. Then again, Harlynn is different from the creatures I’ve been with. She’s feisty, smart, broken, beyond gorgeous, and I can’t stop thinking about her. I’ve never felt this way before, and it’s fucking terrifying, considering I’ve only known Harlynn for a couple of weeks. If things continue this way, I’m concerned how fast this curse is going to click into play.

  Just how quickly will my feelings deepen for her?

  The question makes me unsettled. So does the idea of falling for someone.

  For all my life, love hasn’t been something I’ve experienced. Even at a young age, I was introduced to cruelty and pain first, and by the creature who was supposed to care for me. My father was an abusive bastard, and my mother, while she tried to stop him, never succeed. Pain and anger is all I ever knew. And I learned to accept that. Learned to shut off everything so I didn’t have to feel anything. For the most part, it’s worked just fine.

  Then Harlynn came along, my doomed destiny right in front of me. I couldn’t have her. I knew that the moment I became aware of what she is. But now Maxton is telling me I can. A part of her, anyway.

  “Maybe,” I mutter, sitting down on the sofa, the taste Harlynn’s lips still lingering on mine. “But maybe so.”

  Arrow’s gaze snaps wide as he gapes at me. “You’re seriously considering this?”

  I glance at East, who’s sitting across me, looking at me with his brow arched, like are we?

  I shrug, directing my attention back to Arrow. “I don’t know … Maybe. Everyone would have to be fine with it, though.”

  “Including Harlynn,” East mutters, sweeping his hair out of his eyes as he leans forward. “Honestly, I’m still a little hesitant about this. I mean, what Maxton told us is pretty vague. And what happens if we all start to fall in love with her but at different times? Then what? Does it not work?” He blows out an exhale as he sinks back in the sofa. “We need to learn more about Maxton’s theory and from someone who can actually speak freely about it.”

  “You might be right,” I agree. “But who? It’s risky going around and just asking creatures about this. Not to mention we’d draw attention to ourselves, which is the last thing we need. Plus, unless we’re sure we even want to do this, we probably shouldn’t throw any effort into it when we’ve already got such a full plate. So, how do we decide?” I ask, though I’m not really asking him directly. I’m just stating the question aloud.

  East shrugs, looking at me then at Arrow, who’s been extremely quiet since we told him what we learned from Maxton. Out of the three of us, he’ll probably be the least likely to want to do this, considering how reserved he is. Not to mention he’s very cautious about his emotions.

  His gaze shifts between East and me. “What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

  I trade a look with East before looking back at Arrow. “We want to know what you think about this.”

  “About … sharing Harlynn?” Tension ripples through his mechanical body.

  I nod. “You’ve been very quiet since we told you.”

  He rubs his bronzed lips together then swallows hard, staring down at his hands. “I want to do it,” he admits, surprising the hell out of both me and East. “I just don’t know if I can. Honestly, I really doubt Harlynn would want to either. At least, not with me.” His low self-esteem stems from years of being abused by humans.

  While most cyborgs don’t struggle with that, Arrow is different. His beating heart connects him to his emotions more, which makes dealing with all the abuse and pain he endured much more complicated.

  “Maybe you should let her decide that,” East tells him. “Honestly, we should probably let her be part of this decision since it vastly involves her.”

  He’s right, but … “I think we need to look into it more first.”

  Silence stretches between us as I try to conjure up an idea of the best way to do just that. Maxton won’t tell us anything more, even if he could, since I basically tricked him into tell us what he did already. And, while I don’t feel bad for not killing him, I feel bad for tricking him, because it’s something our father would’ve done. And the instant the lockdown gets turned off, Maxton will turn into our father—not literally, but as his puppet. Then he’ll come after Harlynn, just like he did at the arch the other day. So did Maple …

  “Fuck, I think I might have an idea,” I announce. Why the hell didn’t I think of this sooner?

  East’s eyes sparkle in surprise. “Really?”

  I nod. “There’s one more creature on this world who knows about Harlynn, the curse, and why my father wants her. If we can lure her out and capture her, we might be able to torture some very useful information out of her”

  East’s brows dip, but then spring upward. “Maple. Shit. How the hell did we not think of this sooner?”

  “We’ve had a lot of things going on,” I remind him, thrumming my fingers against the armrest as I attempt to come up with a plan on how we can lure Maple out of wherever she’s hiding.

  “We have,” East agrees with a nod. “How are we going to get ahold of her, though? I know she’s on this planet, but it’s a big fucking planet.”

  “I know,” I mutter.

  Shit. What’s the best way to get ahold of a creature that’s in hiding?

  “We could always have a party,” Arrow suddenly says. “We can make sure word spreads that we’ll be there, which means Harlynn will be there.”

  “You mean, use Harlynn as bait?” East questions, glancing at him.

  Guilt flashes across Arrow’s face. “Well, I wasn’t really thinking of it like that, but I guess that’s what we’d be doing.” He shakes his head. “You know what? Never mind. Forget I mentioned it.” He gets up and leaves the room, probably to go lock himself in his room and stew in his own self-pity.

  “He might be on to something,” East says, looking at me. “I know it’s not ideal, but it might be our only chance to get ahold of her.”

  “Maybe,” I mumble. But deep down, I know he’s right.

  The old Asher would’ve done it in the snap of a finger, but this new, struggling-with-his-emotions Asher feels extremely unsettled about the idea of using Harlynn as bait.

  “She also might know what Harlynn is,” East adds enticingly. “And if we can torture that out of her, it’d save us from having to steal the steel books.”

  Shit, he’s right. But, can I do it?

  Can I make myself t
he old, uncaring Asher again, turn off my emotions, and use Harlynn as bait?

  Harlynn

  Okay, so being on lockdown sucks pixie balls. Ew, that sounded gross. Still, it kind of helps the point I’m trying to make, which is: being on lockdown sucks! Especially when you’re stuck on a world traveling vehicle with a moody genie, an obnoxious faerie, and a way too quiet cyborg.

  Okay, fine, maybe those descriptions of the guys aren’t accurate. Sure, Asher is moody, but he also has his nice moments. And East, while he can drive me batshit crazy sometimes, also makes me smile, even when I don’t want to. And Arrow may be quiet, but he is probably the sweetest creature I’ve ever met.

  The problem is that I’ve been stuck on this vehicle with them for forty-eight hours straight, thanks to the lockdown and curfew, something I caused when I accidentally collapsed the arch. So, I guess maybe I do deserve being stuck in the vehicle.

  But I’m starting to go stir-crazy. Part of me wants to sneak away, but since I haven’t gotten the right opportunity to make my escape, or any idea of where I’d go since I’m not familiar with this world, I’m left being bored out of my mind.

  I’ve spent the last hour lying on the sofa in the living room. I’m rocking a pair of cut-off shorts, a tank top, and no shoes. My hair a mess, but it’s not like it matters since I’m not going anywhere. I have Arrow’s drumstick in my hand and am twirling it around while I listen to the three of them argue about what to do with Maxton, Asher’s brother and a wishing shadow that’s bound to Asher’s father, an evil genie who killed my parents and wants to capture me because of my powers. Although, the reasons remain a mystery. Just like what I am does.

  “I don’t want to say this,” East says to Asher in a cautious tone, “but it might be best if we send him back to your father right now before the lockdown is lifted and his connection to your father and his powers return.”

  “I can’t do that to him,” Asher says. “I just … I can’t, okay? There has to be another way to help him.”

  “You mean, other than kill him?” East says almost absentmindedly.