For those who are ready, I’ve been working hard and this morning felt compelled to share a piece of Bound by Spells with you. It is unedited and subject to change. Enjoy!
— our first scene from Amelia’s perspective —
I stayed true to the promise I had made myself and once Micah drove us away, I hadn’t cried another tear. But as his SUV drove me away, the madness within me spread — burrowing into every crevice and threatening to push me over the edge. I heard voices, many of them, but couldn’t make out the words. It was all emotion and sound and color, but nothing I could make out. It was a feral agony and it consumed me.
I didn’t understand what made today different, but with every mile we drove it got worse. I was in no physical danger. There were no threats. Yet still, my small violet light was reduced to a tiny flame as the dark blot of power the Keeper magic represented took over. After Uncle Derreck had explained that my power came from five female Elders, I had taken to personifying my Keeper as a girl instead of just a thing. And right now that girl was pushing me past anything we’d experienced to date. My head throbbed, sweat built on my forehead and it sounded like a horde of bees had taken up space between my ears. My blood raced in my veins and the violet smoke I’d grown to love turned on me, swirling around my fingers and building in my palms even when I willed her back down. She raged in my mind, wailing and screaming in a multitude of tones and pitches, making me want to bash my head against the glass of the window just to let it out and make it stop. Micah kept glancing my way, never turning fully to look at me, but watching me as the situation grew worse. Finally he stopped the car and turned to me. “Amelia.” He said softly as he reached a hand in my direction. My head snapped toward him and I could only stare, panicked, at his outstretched hand.
“Don’t touch me,” I gritted out between clenched teeth. I hoped he could see the fear. I was teetering on the edge of losing myself to her and even given everything we’d been through, I didn’t want to hurt him.
He slowly retracted his hand and nodded. “OK. I won’t touch you. But, Amelia, you have to control this. Or at least, just make it back to Esmerelda’s. The room will quiet the pain.” He threw the car into drive and punched the gas as he continued to watch me out of the corner of his eye.
The room. I sighed audibly. For the first time I was looking forward to the enchanted bedroom that quelled my power. I could feel my mother’s bracelet in my pocket but there was no way I’d put it back on. It had given me my power back and right now, all I wanted was for it to go away. If only Micah understood that this wasn’t pain. Pain I could shove into a little box and file away in the back of my mind. This was agony. This was the very fabric of my soul being shredded into jagged pieces that sliced and split me open as they dropped to the ground beside my broken heart.
My head fell back against the seat and I fought it with everything I had. I had lost Aidan, I couldn’t lose myself.