Forever Valentine Read online

  Now that she mentioned it, I did remember seeing clovers down there.

  “It’s night. How would we possibly find one?” I asked.

  “It’s impossible,” Liam said.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said.

  Chapter 3

  We made it out of the kitchen and back to the parlor where the party was supposed to be in full swing. This was anything but a party. If I put an octagon ring in the middle of the room it would be like one of those MMA fights. Okay, they weren’t actually wrestling each other into head locks, but the tension was thick. I guess some people hadn’t eaten the cookies because they were looking around in shock. Some of the couples were headed for the door. I’d prefer to keep everyone here until I found the antidote. There was nothing I could do to stop them. Or was there?

  What if I cast a quick spell to make everyone stay here? Just to give me enough time to figure this other spell out. It was the only way, right? I raised my arms and recited the words, concentrating on what I wanted to accomplish. “Element of Earth, I call to you. Place the action on hold.” I turned to face the other section of the room. “Element of Air, ease everyone’s tension until I return.” Looking at the other side of the room, I said, “Element of Fire, I call to you to protect this group from any more harm.” Now that I thought I’d covered everyone in the room, I finished, “Element of Water, I call to you for patience and time for me to figure out how to reverse the negative.”

  Within a few seconds, everyone had stopped. They weren’t exactly frozen in one spot, but they couldn’t really move far and they’d quit bickering for the moment.

  “There, that should do the trick for now,” I said.

  Liam and Lucy were waiting for me by the massive mahogany front door.

  “Hey, we could just leave them like this,” Liam said.

  I shook my head. “Don’t tempt me.”

  “I just feel so bad about this.” Lucy followed me out the door.

  “It’s not your fault. Somebody did something to the cookies and I intend to find out who and why.”

  “Still it’s my fault.” Lucy trailed behind me as I hurried around the side of the house.

  LaVeau Manor was three stories of brick and stone. It had a huge veranda on the front. Peaks and spikes embellished the roofline. A stone fence separated the property from the main road and surrounding properties. The manor stood near the river with a creepy old family cemetery nearby. Trees surrounded the place and added that creepy feeling.

  The smell of damp earth drifted in from the nearby water. The moon peeked out from the edge of the cloud, giving us just a hint of a silvery glow. I stopped when we reached the spot in the backyard. Clovers were all around, but I had no clue how we were going to actually find a four-leaf clover. Maybe this was impossible just like Liam had said. It wasn’t like me to give up so I got down on the ground.

  I motioned for them to follow me. “I can’t do this alone.”

  Liam groaned as he got down on his hands and knees. Lucy was next. We scurried around, probably looking like idiots out there. Thank goodness no one saw us. I was just glad Liam hadn’t pulled out his iPhone to record. If he put this on any social media site he’d be in big trouble.

  “Find anything yet?” I asked.

  They both shook their heads.

  “Nothing,” Liam said.

  This made it easy to become discouraged. I pushed to my feet and blew the hair out of my eyes. “I guess we could maybe try to buy one somewhere.”

  “Do you know of a shop that sales four-leaf clovers?” Liam asked in a mocking tone.

  “What about the Internet?” Lucy suggested.

  I smiled and said, “They do sell everything on the Internet.”

  “Even with overnight shipping it'll take a week,” Liam said.

  I started to wipe the dirt from my hands onto my dress and then stopped myself. “That’s true… one day shipping usually turns into five days.”

  I moved forward to go back to the house, but stopped abruptly. Lucy smacked into my back.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  As if something had led me to this specific spot, I looked down.

  “There’s a four-leaf clover.” I reached down and picked it up. “I found it,” I yelled out.

  Liam shook his head. “I can’t believe it.”

  Lucy clapped her hands together. “This is fantastic. Now we can reverse the spell and everything will be fine.”

  I loved that Lucy was confident, but it rarely worked that way. I headed back toward the house with Liam and Lucy beside me. The four-leaf clover was clutched securely in my hand so that I wouldn’t lose it. I just hoped that this worked. I’d never used a four-leaf clover for a spell before.

  I took one more step and then froze. Literally I couldn’t move my feet. My legs or my arms wouldn’t budge either… nothing. The wind filled the trees with a roaring growl, as if they knew they needed to protect me.

  “What’s going on?” Lucy asked with panic in her voice.

  “Someone’s doing a spell stopping us. I feel it,” I said.

  “Who would do this,” Lucy whispered.

  Liam stepped forward, standing in front of me like a bodyguard. He puffed his chest out a little too.

  Apparently, someone didn’t want me to find a four-leaf clover or reverse the spell.

  “Okay, come out wherever you are,” I yelled.

  Lucy called out to the hidden person. “You can’t do this. It won’t work.”

  I liked what she had to say, but unfortunately, it seemed to be working pretty nicely right now considering I couldn’t move.

  “Don’t be a coward,” I snapped.

  Whoever was doing this listened to my command because the figure appeared from around the side of the house. He was dressed in black with a mask on his face.

  “There you are,” I said. “You coward. Come out here and face me. Show yourself instead of hiding behind a mask.”

  I was being awfully bold for someone who couldn’t move. Regardless, I wouldn’t let this person get the upper hand. Sure, he already had the upper hand, but I wouldn’t let him keep the upper hand. In order for that to happen I had to figure out why I couldn’t move. What spell had he placed on us?

  “Any ideas on how to get out of this?” I asked.

  “Not a clue,” Liam said.

  “You’re not helping,” I said.

  Okay, I had to remain calm. I’d gotten out of other situations like this. But would this be the end for me? Finally this was how it was going to end. Someone who couldn’t even show their face to me had total control.

  I threw the worst parties ever. I thought I would’ve learned my lesson by now. Apparently not because I kept having parties. It was like I needed an excuse to make more cupcakes or something.

  “Now what do we do?” Lucy asked.

  “Do you recognize anything about this person?” I tried to move my arms, but still nothing happened.

  “It looks like the person I saw at my house,” she said.

  I had to act quickly because the figure was coming closer.

  “Don’t come any closer,” I ordered. “I’m the leader of the Underworld.”

  My title had little input on this person obviously. I wondered with my limited movement if I could cast a spell to get out of this. I suppose it couldn’t make things any worse to try. Quickly I thought of the words for the spell. I’d only done this a couple of times. So I hoped I got it right. I focused my attention on the person and recited the words.

  “Element of Earth, I call to you to banish this hold on us.” I tried to move my arms, but nothing happened. Next, I recited the words, “Element of Air, I call to you to unbind the evil power on us.” I had to keep reciting the words. It was the only way to break the spell. “Element of Fire, I call to you for power to break free. Help me move again.” I pushed forward with my legs. They moved a little. I was almost sure it was working. “Element of Water, I call to you for force t
o stop the bad spell. Give me the force to banish the evil.”

  Lucy and Liam followed along once they knew what I was doing. Now that this person knew what I was doing, he lunged toward us. It was still three against one, so I thought we could handle him.

  Lucy released a whimper and I thought she might run and hide. I hoped she didn’t jump into the water and try to swim away. To my complete astonishment, she did the exact opposite.

  Chapter 4

  Lucy lunged toward the mystery man, hiding behind that dark mask.

  “Lucy, what are you doing?” I yelled.

  At least now I knew the spell had worked. I couldn’t let Lucy fight this person alone so I ran for him too. I’d completely forgotten about Liam until he joined in the fight. I was screaming as we rolled around with the masked man on the ground. At least I’d hidden the four-leaf clover in my bra. No way would I let that thing go.

  The man squirmed around, trying to get away from us. Lucy was attempting to get him in a headlock. Somehow he managed to break free from us and took off around the side of the house. Lucy jumped up like a ninja and took off after him.

  “Lucy certainly has a lot of energy,” Liam said as he scrambled up from the ground.

  Finally, I got on my feet and ran toward Lucy and the guy. Liam was somewhere right behind me. Lucy didn’t need to worry about anyone breaking into her home because I was pretty sure she could take care of herself. Where did she learn to fight like that?

  Lucy had grabbed the guy’s coat. She pulled him to the ground. He raised his hand back and was ready to punch her when Nicolas appeared out of nowhere. He had a way of doing that. It wasn’t the first time. Nicolas grabbed the guy’s hand and yanked him to the ground. Liam ran over and they were able to subdue the guy. The trees rustled again, as if laughing at the guy and the fact that he’d been caught. Lucy raced over and yanked the mask from his face.

  “Noah, what are you doing?” Lucy asked.

  “You know this guy?” I asked.

  “He’s my ex-boyfriend.” Lucy placed her hands on her hips.

  “Why did you do something to the spell?” I demanded.

  Noah narrowed his eyes and glared at Lucy. “I didn’t want her to date any other guys.”

  “So you messed up a love spell for everyone else?” Liam asked.

  Noah shrugged. “She was just doing a love spell to hook up with some other dude.”

  “Newsflash, that’s her business,” I said. “You had no right.”

  “It didn’t really cause any harm,” Noah said.

  “I don’t know if it did or not. There are people in there just waiting to fight with each other. The only thing that stopped them is the spell I cast.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Noah added.

  “You’re in a lot of trouble for this,” I said.

  Just then a lot crash rang out. We exchanged a look and all ran for the front door. Liam and Nicolas rushed in ahead of us. Once we stepped inside the manor, we found the couples were tossing things at each other.

  “We have to stop them,” I yelled over the noise.

  Nicolas shook his head. “I have to step outside. This just makes me too angry. I think it’s the spell.”

  Obviously it was since Nicolas never acted this way. Nicolas walked out the door. I just wanted to reverse this spell so that things would be back to normal.

  I grabbed Noah by the shirt. “You’re coming with us to reverse the spell.”

  He didn’t try to fight it as he rushed with us through the party-goers. We dodged plates, glasses, and vases. The decorations littered the floor. The hearts had been torn into pieces. The banners had been ripped down from the walls.

  Once we reached the kitchen it was a little quieter, but the sound of the fighting still carried from the other room. My nerves were on edge just knowing that I had to fix this huge problem.

  I motioned for everyone to get close to the cauldron. “Come over here, everyone.”

  Lucy dragged Noah by his arm over to the cauldron.

  “Okay, Noah. What did you do to the spell?”

  He shrugged. “I just added a spell that I found in an old book. It called for a chopped up four-leaf clover. It took me forever to find one. It was supposed to get rid of the good luck.”

  That explained why I had to spend my time outside sifting through the grass. Amazingly, I still had the clover.

  “Excuse me.” I turned my back to them and then pulled the clover from my bra. I tossed the clover into the water. “Recite after me. “Element of Earth, I call to you to stop the bad love spell.” I motioned for Noah to speak the words. “Element of Air, I call to you to bind the negative in the spell.” Pushing forward with the words, I said, “Element of Fire, I call to you for an end to the fighting.” Everyone was looking at me as I finished. “Element of Water, I call to you to restore the love.”

  The water bubbled instantly. I held my breath, hoping that this would actually work. The sound of dishes breaking and yelling stopped. The next thing I knew, someone grabbed me from behind. When I spun around, Nicolas pulled me into his arms. He planted a kiss on my lips.

  After our heated and passionate kiss, he said, “I guess the spell’s broken.”

  About the Author

  Rose Pressey is a USA Today bestselling author. She enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. The paranormal has always captured her interest. The thought of finding answers to the unexplained fascinates her.

  When she’s not writing about werewolves, vampires and every other supernatural creature, she loves eating cupcakes with sprinkles, reading, spending time with family, and listening to oldies from the fifties.

  Rose suffers from Psoriatic Arthritis and has knee replacements. She might just set the world record for joint replacements. She’s soon having her hips replaced, elbows, and at least one shoulder.

  Rose lives in the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky with her husband, son, and two sassy Chihuahuas.

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