Stripped (Order of Akasha Book 0) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Stripped

  Prequel

  Order of Akasha Series

  E. M. Moore

  Mixi J Applebottom

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by E. M. Moore. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact E. M. Moore.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition February 2017

  Chapter One

  So easy…

  There was something so wrong about picking up girls in the library, but something so right, too. Maybe it was the dim lighting, the hushed whispers, the secret alcoves. Whatever it was though, studying always put me in the mood.

  I placed my Lit textbook in front of me and smoothed it down. I sat at a small study table in the back next to the big windows that overlooked the rest of campus. The moon was high in the dark sky surrounded by stars that glittered one-by-one like strobe lights across the universe. The moon was so close to being full, just a small sliver away. Kind of a big deal if you were like me. There was something about the anticipation of the full moon that made my blood hum in my veins as if I were more alive than ever. The magic just under the surface of my skin brimmed with fullness, anticipating its release.

  The girl I’d been eyeing all evening sighed. She had a cute sigh. One that wasn’t too dramatic. Something like that would make me run away. I had enough drama in my life. I didn’t need to add to it.

  I closed my eyes and envisioned the small study lamp next to her blinking until it blew out. When I opened my eyes, I concentrated on the mint green lamp shade across from me, willing it to slowly burn out.

  It complied.

  The bulb faded and the pretty Angelina Jolie lookalike eyed it. It brightened again just before it blew. She jumped back. I, of course, was right there to save the day.

  I chuckled and the pretty girl blushed. She bent her head to look up at the bulb. Her eyebrows furrowed. She reached out to touch the bulb. I closed my eyes, chuckling again when a small squeal escaped her lips.

  I opened my eyes just in time for her to stare at me. A small smile crept over her face. “I think this bulb hates me,” she whispered. She looked around the alcove and started stacking her textbooks together.

  Her moving wasn’t part of my plan. In fact, it was the exact opposite of my plan. How was I supposed to be her savior if she moved? Jumping up, I came around the other side of the study corral. “Let me take a look,” I whispered.

  I twisted the study light toward us, making a big show of checking out the bulb. She smelled like caramel and honey mixed together. Underlying it all though was the smell of cinnamon. That was me. Like everything in nature, my magic had a smell.

  Her whisper interrupted my long inhale. “That’s weird. The filament still looks connected.”

  “That is weird,” I said, shaking my head. Of course the chick in the library would notice that the bulb hadn’t really blown. I glanced at her open textbook. Physics. I should’ve known she was a Science geek or something. I unscrewed the light bulb and stepped over to the corral next to hers.

  “I’ll move,” she said. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Then how will I get to look at your pretty face while pretending to study?”

  A deep flush reddened her cheeks. She bit her lip and looked down at all the study materials on her desk. “Okay… I’ll stay. Here.”

  “I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” I whispered, leaning in closer than I needed while I screwed the new bulb into her lamp. “I have a tendency to say exactly what I’m thinking.”

  Her big, brown eyes looked up at me. “It must be nice to be that confident.”

  I chuckled, gave the bulb one last twist as it flashed to life, and then leaned against her desk, facing her as her hero who saved her study session. I should take a bow for mission accomplished. “You’re just being nice. Most people think I’m too much.” I moved in closer and whispered, “Let me know if you need anything else.”

  With that, I kicked away from her corral and seated myself back on the other side. It took everything I had not to check to see if she was watching me. For about the thousandth time, I wished I could spell myself a secret third eye. It would come in handy, and not just for picking up girls.

  I flinched when the familiar stomach-punch of bad magic being used somewhere hit me.

  “Are you okay?” the girl asked.

  I nodded, trying to ignore it. Maybe someone else would handle it tonight. The Shakespeare line taunted me from the page. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes, indeed. But why was it always when I was in the middle of something?

  I peered up from my book in time to see the girl across from me look away. I so had her, too.

  The phone in my pocket vibrated. Seeing it was Jax, I sighed in disappointment. Guessed this was a job for our coven after all.

  “Hey,” I whispered.

  “We got something,” he said. His voice was strung tight with excitement. More so than usual, but that wasn’t uncommon with the coming of the full moon.

  “I’m right there with you,” I said, glancing up. The girl didn’t even bother to hide the fact that she was staring at me now. I smiled at her and she smiled back.

  “I’m going to take Jennie home. Meet you there.”

  Mention of my sister pulled me right out of it. I’d known Jennie had a crush on my best friend for the longest time, but it was even weirder when he seemed to like her back. Not even like her back, the two were serious. I was still trying to figure out how I felt about their relationship other than a little betrayed. Sure, there were worse guys than my sister to fall for. Much worse. Just the whole idea of them… Nope. Too much. The thought of them together turned my stomach. If I didn’t stop my train of thought there, I’d have to spell myself a thought-eraser.

  I pushed the End button on my phone and dropped it on the desk so I could pack up my stuff. The pull had already started. After my coven and I got the initial warning of the feeling, then we started to get the pull. It wasn’t something you could ignore. It would lead us right to the spot we needed to be.

  Dark magic. As with many things in the world, magic had a dual nature. There was both good and bad, dark and light. And there was more than one way to work it.

  My coven and I were Naturals. We had the power of magic born within us. It came as easy as breathing with the need to consume like nourishment for our bodies. It took years to harness it, to learn to control wishes and thoughts so not everything came true. That would be a disaster. Could you imagine a toddler with powers having a temper tantrum?

  Wiccans were different from Naturals in that their power came from outside themselves. Their power came from the elements, their beliefs, the nature in everything. With Naturals, power came from within. One was inherent, one was learned. Neither was necessarily more powerful than the other. I’d met powerful Naturals, but I’d also met some freaking amazing Wiccans. The main advantage Naturals had over Wiccans was time and practice. Because they’d been born with the magic inside them, they learned how to harness and direct the power early.

  As long as any magic user didn’t use it for evil, we were good. If they did, that’s where my coven stepped in. As
Enforcers, it was our job to make sure that magic was used for positivity and light. When things started to go down the negative path, it was a slippery slope. Without meaning to, a witch could not only harm herself, but others. It was my job to police magic users. And I loved every second of it, even if that meant saving a magic user from themselves.

  I stuffed the last of everything in my bag and looked up. “Nice to almost meet you,” I said to the girl across the table.

  “Done so soon?” she asked, a cute little frown forming on her face.

  “Afraid so. I’ve got to get to work.”

  Even though this gig messed up my game sometimes, it was well worth it. Because of the akasha powers, I had purpose.

  As soon as I stepped outside, the fresh air invigorated me. The cool night air was like Red Bull to my lungs. I pointed at my bike and the engine roared to life. I straddled the seat, revved the engine, and howled in delight as I took off down the road. I let my gut steer me.

  Soon, I was in Historic Salem, parked down the street from an unassuming white house. To the naked eye, it looked like every other house in this suburban neighborhood; neat and tidy, a new minivan in the driveway, and warm yellow light streaming from the windows. But, with the powers of The Order of the Akasha running through me, I saw an angry red light pulsing out and away from the house, fading into the night like an echo. So far, the negative magic inside wasn’t anything horrible. It may not have even registered to us if it wasn’t so close to the full moon, but here we were.

  Headlights from down the road flashed on and off. Jax had parked his black Jeep in a shadowed spot between the streetlights. I hadn’t seen him until he flashed the lights, signaling me. Damn, and I’d thought I beat them here, too.

  I parked my bike and walked toward Jax’s Jeep. He’d brought Randy with him. Being in the same vicinity as more of my coven was like lighting a blow torch in my veins. The magic was hot and fierce, tingling the tips of my fingers.

  “What took you so long?” Jax asked as soon as I opened the door. Jennie’s perfume wafted toward me in the car, and I tried not to think about it.

  I slid into the backseat, closing the door behind me. “I was across town studying. Something you wouldn’t know anything about.”

  As soon as I said it, I knew I’d left myself wide open.

  Jax twisted around to leer over the seatback. “Oh, I was studying. Anatomy. Biology. Chemistry.”

  I backhanded his shoulder. “Not funny, dude. If I could, I’d make you limp for a week for just saying that shit.” Jax was my best friend, and he looked like the All-American boy. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be a dick sometimes.

  Randy howled and slammed his fist down on the dash in front of him. “Now that would be some funny ass shit.”

  The back door on the other side of the Jeep opened and Connor got in, rubbing his hands together.

  “About time,” Jax grumbled.

  Connor ignored him, as he usually did. Quiet and studious, thin and dark to Jax’s bulky blondness, Conner wasn’t a huge fan of Jax’s, but they worked together well. Besides, Connor was the best at visibility spells and right now, we needed a glimpse of what we were working with before storming inside the suburban house.

  “S’up?” I said, fist bumping Connor.

  He returned the gesture. “Let you know in about three, two, one…”

  We all peered out the left side of the vehicle. The walls facing the street disintegrated into tiny pixels, allowing us to see inside. I searched the interior, my gaze falling on a group of women having coffee around a table and four young girls in pajamas in a second floor bedroom.

  “My money’s on the girls,” Jax said.

  “Damn. Why can’t we ever see some older chicks having a sleepover?” Randy asked.

  “You know they don’t really have pillow fights, right, mate?” Gabe, our resident British Natural asked. The pulling of the Order had dragged him all the way from London. He was a great witch and an even more kickass soccer player.

  With a younger sister, I could confirm this for Randy. All a sleepover ever meant in my house was giggling coming through the walls all night and being tired as fuck the next day. “Sometimes they even wear flannel pajamas,” I said. It was Salem, Massachusetts after all and our winters near the coast weren’t fun.

  “Don’t ruin this for me,” Randy said.

  Connor stayed quiet, his usual demeanor. His thumb passed back and forth over his lip as he stared at the interior of the house.

  “You see anything?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Not a thing.”

  I sighed. We’d seen this a lot. “They probably tried to play with a Ouija board, got scared, and put it away before we got here.”

  Ouija boards were known to call dark, demonic forces. Its use would clearly signal us and lead us here. False alarm, then. Maybe I’d be able to make it back to the library in time before it closed to seal the deal there.

  “I don’t like it,” Jax said. “I bet there’s more going on than we know. You never know what people are doing behind closed doors.”

  “Actually, we do,” Gabe said, gesturing at the wide open interior of the house.

  “Stuff it. Mate. Let’s put a tracking spell on the girls and be done with it,” Jax said, his voice a mix of anger and disappointment. He cracked his knuckles and then gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. “We’ll follow them for a few days, see what kind of crap they’re up to.”

  Connor and I stepped out of the Jeep. I eyed Jax’s angry, hard grip and the clenching of his jaw. He really needed to release some of that full moon energy. I’d have to come up with something for the guys to get them to relax. “I’ll put the spell on them. See you guys tomorrow.”

  As soon as I shut the door, the Jeep’s tires squealed against the pavement. Happy laugher erupted from the interior as they flew down the street.

  Someone in the house screamed and I whipped my head around. All the girls were laughing hysterically on the bed. The mothers had hands over their chests, necks craned upward. Jax’s loud exit startled them.

  I closed my eyes, focused on the girls, and placed the tracking spell on them. It would be easier for us to find them this way, but we would also be more in tune with them. We’d be able to tell any negative spell not only earlier, but identify it too. The tracker spell was an Enforcer’s go-to. It made our lives so much easier.

  When I opened my eyes, the house’s exterior walls had started to reform as our magic wore off. An Enforcer’s job was mostly wait and see punctuated with moments of terror. Bloody brilliant, Gabe would say.

  Hell, I was okay with boring. It meant everybody was behaving.

  Chapter Two

  The guys and I had arranged our schedules so that only one of us had to stay attuned to things like tracking spells at any given moment. That way, Gabe wouldn’t get called when he was trying to make the game-winning goal, or I wouldn’t always have to heed the warning pulling in my stomach when I was in class.

  So, when I first felt the tightening in my stomach in between American History 101 and Algebra, I ignored it. It was two-thirty, Jax was scheduled for this time slot. Unfortunately, the pull continued, and halfway through class, the call was like a vice to my insides. It could only mean one thing. The problem was bigger than I’d thought.

  I swept my things into my book bag and walked out of class, ignoring the protests of my professor. I’d make up some excuse later. No big deal. My duties in the Order of the Akasha were more important than school. The magic chose us. We had no say in it. We couldn’t just ignore it.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and answered. Randy immediately spoke. “Jesus. I feel like I’m fucking PMS’ing. Are you on your way?”

  “Just walking out of the school now.” I pulled my backpack around my shoulders and started my bike while I was still across the parking lot. Though it was broad daylight, I could still feel the moon getting closer to full with every minute. Why c
ouldn’t people just do the right thing? What was so hard about it?

  “Who’s on duty?” Randy asked.

  “Jax.”

  Randy’s voice fell flat. “Oh. Right. This could be interesting.”

  I wondered what that was about, and made a mental note to talk to Randy about it later. If members of the coven were having problems working together, we needed to get it out in the open.

  I ended the call, jumped on my bike, and sped off. I took familiar turns and ended up parking in the same spot I had last night. Jax’s Jeep was parked on the opposite side of the road this time, closer to the white house.

  It looked even more innocuous during the day. A quiet home where girls had slumber parties while their moms bonded over coffee and cupcakes.

  Randy wasn’t here yet as I walked up the sidewalk. I was just about to knock, not wanting to interrupt anything Jax had going on inside, when a girl screamed.

  I pushed the door open and walked into complete and utter confusion. The smell of lilacs overpowered me. Jennie? What the hell was she doing here?

  A young girl in jeans and a t-shirt, who couldn’t have been more than thirteen, sat sobbing on the couch as if her heart would break. Jax and Jennie stood in front her. Jax’s face was hard, as if he were judge, jury, and executioner wrapped into one and the girl had already been found guilty.

  Jennie’s eyes widened. “Travis? What are you doing here?”

  “My job. What the hell are doing here?” I turned to Jax. “Why is my sister here? What the hell is going on?”

  The young girl looked at me, tears streaming down her face and yelled, “Please,” She held her hands out, pleading. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I promise. Don’t let them hurt my mom. Tell them to let her go.” She turned toward an empty spot in the corner, face twisted in pain at something only she could see.

  The blood drained from my face. Jennie’s lilacs. Jennie could make people see things that weren’t real. I was putting together a puzzle I didn’t want to know the full picture.