Blackbirch: The Collector

By K.M. Allan

The monster Josh Taylor feared is free-and it's all his fault.

Not only have Josh's actions put his family and friends in danger, they've thrown Blackbirch into elemental chaos, forcing the town to evacuate.

Fleeing with his friends to his former home in the city, they follow clues left by his mom and aunt to uncover long-held secret

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.M. Allan
• Release date: Nov 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9780648773078

K.M. Allan

K.M. Allan is an identical twin, but not the evil one. She started her career penning beauty articles for a hairstyling website and now powers herself with chocolate and green tea while she writes novels and blogs about writing. When she's not creating YA stories full of hidden secrets, nightmares, and powerful magic, she likes to read, binge-watch too much TV, spend time with family, and take more photos than she will ever humanly need. Visit her website, www.kmallan.com, to discover the mysteries of the universe. Or at the very least, some good writing tips.

Book preview

ONE

Josh Taylor opened his eyes and blinked away the white glare. Momentarily blinded, he tilted his head in a bid to make his ears pick up any sound. When his focus made the silence deepen, his clarity returned. I’m in the dead place.

Forcing his stiff muscles to sit up, his sweaty palms slid along his jean legs and he winced at the pain it shot through his fingers. The tips were red and raw, burns seared into his skin. Not from fire, but from something deeper, darker, more powerful.

Magick.

Ripped from his fingertips, the power had destroyed his skin on its way out and into the clearing. The entry trees stood before him, tall and thick. He was on the wrong side, thrown free by the decrepit claws of dead tree branches that engraved scratches on his skin. They’d banished him for trying to keep his magick for himself, for trying to stop his mistake of setting the Collector free. He’d done it, but not alone. Kallie. His girlfriend was still inside.

Stumbling back into the clearing, he slipped from the live forest to the dead one with surprising ease. Tugging on his ear, he waited for the familiar pop of pressure, but his re-entry was granted without a parting of energy. It was no longer needed. Everyone could visit the clearing, gifted or not. All because they’d set it free.

Josh.

The pitiful cry came from his right.

Lucy.

She lay at the base of a tree, her yellow sundress ripped and marred with remnants of rotted bark, scattered from the hole her lithe body crushed into the trunk. He scanned her for injuries, checking her head for bleeding wounds, her arms for broken bones. How was she conscious?

Are you hurt?

I can’t get hurt, remember?

Her hands lifted to show him. No burnt fingertips, even though power had been ripped from her too.

Can you stand?

Lucy used his arms to pull herself up. Clear from the tree, the damage she’d done slamming into it was fully revealed. Anyone else would have been killed.

Your face is all cut up. Lucy’s blue eyes widened at the close-up sight of him.

Yeah, the tree branches got me. He wiped his skin, drawing blood. Have you seen anyone else? Kallie?

I think she’s still by the stump. Lucy pointed behind him to the middle of the clearing.

Residue from the energy they’d unleashed hung in the air, thick as fog and equally hard to see through. He squinted as he pushed through it.

Is that her straight ahead? Lucy directed him to a crumpled mess on the ground, right where the Collector drained them of their power.

Oh no. He sprinted.

Kallie Jacobs sat up at the sound of his footsteps, and the beating of his heart kicked back in. She’s alive. Her chocolate brown waves swung as she looked for him.

Are you okay? He reached for her. Kallie’s hands were so burnt they were already blistered. Summoning his healing ability, his skin stayed magick-less. What? Power. I need power. He willed his energy to surface. The Collector can’t have stolen it all.

Lucy’s palm wrapped around his shoulder. Take what you need. The heat of her power fed into his muscles.

With his skin humming under the buzz, his body instinctively absorbed the energy, mixing it with his healing ability and shifting it to Kallie until the skin on her hands faded from blood red to its usual olive tone.

Thank you. Kallie leaned into him, gently cupping his chin as her soft fingers tracked the wounds on his forehead. You’re bleeding.

He used Lucy’s magick to heal his own wounds. Your energy?

It hasn’t recharged yet. Kallie’s attention flicked to Lucy. You still have power?

Yes. It didn’t take all of mine. I guess it didn’t need to after draining everything from you two. Lucy’s hands wrung together. Where do you think it went?

Locking eyes with Kallie, Josh swallowed thickly. They’d both been blindsided by the Collector, believing it had been destroyed when they put a stop to Eve Thomas’ attempt to raise it from its earthy prison. Now, all they knew for sure was that it was free.

We should find the sheriff and get out of here. Josh rose to his feet, pulling Kallie up with him. He got dragged into the trees.

Lucy’s eyes darted around the clearing, her hands cupping around her mouth. Stevens!

Her shout startled Josh, not just the loudness of it in the surrounding silence, but the depth of it rumbling from her small body. A tone slipped into her voice, too, as if she was a mother shouting after a child who’d run off. It reminded him that despite her youthful looks, Lucy’s true age of one hundred couldn’t be ignored.

I’m here. Sheriff Stevens tumbled from the tree line, showing off deep scratches as he raised his arms to signal them. I’m fine, he said, as Lucy sprinted to check on him. Josh jogged over too, igniting the last ounce of Lucy’s power and using it to heal the sheriff’s injuries.

Thank you. Stevens straightened, giving Josh a nod before retrieving his cell phone from the ground and scowling at its broken screen. Anyone have a working phone?

Neither Kallie nor Lucy carried a cell. Josh pulled his from his jeans pocket and swiped at the screen before it briefly flashed and turned dark, a drained battery icon popping up. Damn.

Doesn’t matter anyway, it must be broken, Stevens said. The date said it’s tomorrow.

No, that’s right, Josh said, impressed Stevens saw that detail.

What do you mean?

Time moves differently in this place. Minutes can be hours, and we’ve been in here for a while now.

Then we need to leave, Stevens said. My deputy will be beside himself, and we don’t know what that thing did when it left. It could be anarchy in Blackbirch.

Not from the Collector. Lucy shivered. Wherever it went, it’s lying low. Her hands shook as she placed them on her temples. There’s something else going on… a buzzing?

Our failed barrier spell released a lot of energy, Kallie said, giving Lucy’s arm a comforting pat. It'll take time to settle and that buzz to die down.

Josh tried to sense the Collector too, but with his power still spent, and Lucy’s help now gone, there was nothing. We should regroup. Make a plan for when our power is recharged.

I’ll grab the book. Kallie headed back to the stump, where Melinda’s spell book still sat in the dirt.

Don’t forget this. Sheriff Stevens handed him Eve’s satchel.

The book had been inside, but it wasn’t the only thing they’d returned to the clearing to find. He dipped his hand in, carefully feeling around until his fingertips struck the cool metal. He pulled Eve’s knife—Arden Flynn’s knife—and held the handle out to Stevens. You might want to test this against the blade Eve used.

Sheriff Stevens gave him a quizzical look.

On her parents, Josh said, referring to the people she’d murdered to make her sacrifice to the Collector. Not that it mattered in the end. It abandoned Eve when they stopped her from casting the resurrecting elemental spell. The same spell they’d inadvertently completed when creating their barrier.

Sheriff Stevens took the knife, a sorrow-filled expression on his face as he tucked it into his inner jacket pocket. Eve’s parents weren’t stabbed.

What? They weren’t?

No. The coroner is still working out what happened. I have a meeting with him later today, which will come around quicker the longer we stand here, yes?

Josh nodded, his head still spinning. If Eve didn’t stab her parents, how did they die? Catching up with Kallie, she had Melinda’s book tucked tightly under her arm.

Any spells in that book about sacrifices? he asked.

Not that I’ve seen. Why?

Eve didn’t stab her parents. They don’t know how she killed them yet.

We’ll find out, Kallie assured him, her accompanying nod broken mid movement as something ahead caught her attention. What’s that noise? She tilted her ear toward the clearing entry trees.

Josh crossed through them first, his skin hit by something wet. Drawing his eyes up, the sky peeking through the branches of the live trees was made of rolling gray clouds and pelting rain.

It wasn’t storming like this ten minutes ago, he told the others as they joined him in Blackbirch’s forest, shielding their faces from the raindrops that made it through the thick canopy of leaves above.

That ten minutes was in clearing time. This water has been falling for hours. Kallie’s boots made squishing sounds in the mud.

This is what I felt. Lucy’s hand shook as she held out an open palm and collected drops. The water buzzes. It’s not natural.

Josh caught his own raindrops, rubbing them into his skin, the seeping coolness chilling him to the bone. There was something more to the water, just like there was always something more to the magick. But what did it mean?

We need to get back into town, he said, hoping that whatever was happening was something they could stop.

blackbirch-book3-scene-separator

Sarah Randall scanned the side of the road through the car window, trying to sort the shapes through the curtain of rain. The trees all looked the same now. Lumps of dark brown trunks and branches weighed heavy with green, water-soaked leaves.

Maybe we need to try looking on foot?

From the driver’s seat next to her, Max Ryan snorted. I hope you’re not serious.

The car zoomed through a puddle of water, the liquid splashing so far up the sides that the automatic wiper blades clicked to a faster setting.

I just want to find them.

Me too, but we’re not going to do it by drowning.

Max was right. About this anyway. He’d been wrong about Josh and Kallie being at her motel room. They’d already checked it. Cleared it out, actually. The motel manager was more than happy to let them in the room to make sure their friends weren’t inside, and he didn’t bat an eye when Sarah took the only item, Kallie’s black bag.

Half the motel rooms were already boarded up, and the manager’s own car was packed and ready to leave town. Judging by the traffic in the streets afterward, most of Blackbirch’s residents were doing the same, and why wouldn’t they after a night of constant rain? Now, as Max’s green hatchback skirted the sloppy dirt roads, the only car even near the woods, she wondered how much longer they could stay out there looking. Forever. It would have to be. That’s what Josh would do for them.

Maybe there’s something in Kallie’s bag that can help us? She looked in the rear-view mirror, adjusting it until she saw the bag sitting in the middle of the back seat.

What, like a spell? Max snorted again. We can’t do that.

You can’t, she mumbled, pulling her phone from her skirt pocket and tapping the screen. Should I try Josh again? Or is it pointless? The earthquake came from the woods, where we know there’s no reception.

That’s where he said he was yesterday afternoon. It’s been a whole night since then. I’m still betting him and Kallie are holed up together somewhere, you know, losing track of time. Max wiggled his left eyebrow.

Really? That’s what you think they were doing when every window in town was shattering?

Max shrugged, grinning. They could have caused it. They’re both full of power, perhaps when—

"Do not finish that sentence!" she scolded, not needing to picture the scenario that was already running through her mind.

You’re thinking about other things now, though, right?

No. I’m still worried about them. Besides, it wasn’t just Kallie who Josh was meeting in the woods. He was going to see the sheriff and meet the person he lives with who orders books from the store. The bookstore. Her poor mom was there now, sandbagging the doors and waiting for the fire brigade to help get the trapped van out of the rear courtyard.

Well, if they’re with Sheriff Stevens, don’t worry. I’m sure he’s helping them.

Yeah. Her gaze went to the roadside, the rain still distorting the shapes. We should try home again. They might be back there now.

Okay. I’ll turn around up ahead.

As the hatchback rattled along, Sarah tapped her phone screen again. No notifications.

No news is good news, right? she muttered. Yesterday’s earthquake could have been a freak occurrence, more aftereffects from the sink hole at the town’s entrance.

I guess, Max said, but it was without enthusiasm, his usual upbeat tone missing.

She checked the volume of her ringer, then called Josh’s number. As usual, it went straight to voice-mail. They’re probably still looking for Eve’s bag, all the while thinking it’s yesterday afternoon. Her thumb hovered over the call button again.

Are you calling but not calling? Max asked.

No. She tucked the phone away.

Sar.

Maaxx. She drew out his name, making him snort for the third time.

The teasing exchange made her smile too and reminded her of the last time they were alone in the car. Love you, Sar. Max's words replayed sweetly in her ear. She hadn’t said it back yet, even though she’d wanted to when she saw him the next day in homeroom, ready to devour a banana muffin, which he put down to say hey in his usual Max way.

He was no longer the annoying friend who used to convince her to watch scary movies and then grab her shoulder during the jump scares. Or the neighbor who hung out with her when Josh moved away, and Eve deemed her not worthy enough. They’d eaten countless meals together, met for movie night every week for years, and shared a million laughs. She thought her life would never be without her closest friend, but now it was. They were beyond friends, and she honestly wondered why they didn’t get together sooner.

I’m going to have to use the old factories to turn around, Max said, pulling her from her thoughts.

Are we at the old factories?

We are now. Could they be? We’ve found Kallie and Josh at the warehouses before.

No. They wouldn’t come here again.

What if there wasn’t a choice? Isn’t the magical energy all funky at the Olsen Factory? It could be the reason for all this ridiculous rain.

She hadn’t thought of that. Okay, let’s drive past and check.

Grabbing the armrest when Max took the turn too sharply, she heard Kallie’s bag slide onto the floor, knocking into the bag she’d packed for Josh. Unsure of what he might need, besides clothes, she’d also thrown in every magickal object she could find in his room.

Careful. She reached back and pulled the two bags apart. When she lifted Kallie’s, a strange light peaked through the gap.

Ah, what’s that? Max asked.

The bag I put Josh’s stuff in. Sarah bent her arm awkwardly to lift it, pulling the bag onto her lap as Max parked on the side of the road. When she cracked open the zipper, white light bathed the front seats. Digging into the bag, she found the source.

Pulling the square object free, she studied the black cloth-bound hardcover book that once belonged to Josh’s mom. The cover, decorated in a hand etched witches’ pentacle, kept pages of scribbled sentences inside, the words only visible to Josh when he filtered his power into the pages. Apparently, it was written in a strange language, and he was convinced the pages contained answers. To what questions? She lifted the cover, releasing more light.

Should you be doing that?

Ignoring Max’s concern, she focused on the first inner page and the light racing across it. What the?

Out of the corner of her eye, Max shifted. Didn’t you once say this book was blank? He reached for it, before appearing to change his mind and pulling away before he touched the edge.

Sarah shook her head. Not blank. Josh said there were words in it, but he didn’t recognize the language.

Max’s forehead wrinkled. I can see the words.

Focusing through the light, she rubbed her eyes. I can too. The misshapen scrawls were transforming, bending into letters she knew, sentences that flowed, paragraphs that made sense.

Well? Max asked after she turned the first page. What does it say?

TWO

Opening the trunk of the police cruiser parked under the trees, Josh took the blanket Lucy offered, her hands shaking as she wound another around her shoulders and leaned next to him against the car’s hood.

Stevens was sitting in the front seat, patching into the police radio to find out what had happened in Blackbirch during his absence. After a few seconds, the voice of Deputy Jackson spluttered onto the line, his panicked words coming out so fast that Josh missed every second one.

That doesn’t sound good, Kallie said over the drumming of the falling rain.

Don’t worry. Lucy shrugged. That’s Jackson. He could report that his toast burnt this morning and it would come off like it’s the end of the world.

Josh wasn’t a fan of her choice of words, or the pallor that crept into Sheriff Stevens’ skin as he listened to the voice on the other end of his radio. It reminded him of the time they found out Eve’s parents were dead.

It could be the end of the world. He jutted his chin toward the relentless rain, and swallowed to erase the bitter singe that coated the inside of his mouth. The dirt from the clearing had found its way in and tasted like ash. Perhaps they should have tried burning it to the ground instead of sealing it. Maybe then the Collector wouldn’t have escaped.

The Collector breaking free caused an earthquake. Sheriff Stevens’ head popped out of the open driver’s door.

Shit. Was anyone hurt? Sarah, Max, and Grace. If they’d gotten injured because of his actions...

Thankfully no, but practically every window in town is broken.

I remember when windows first came to Blackbirch, Lucy murmured. They added them to the post office first.

Reaching for his phone to check on Sarah, Josh had it in his grip before remembering that it was dead.

Kallie patted his hand. I’m sure they’re fine.

Not long after the quake, this storm started, Stevens said. It’s the rain now causing the problems.

How long has it been raining? In real world time, not clearing time. He estimated it’d been an hour since he’d regained consciousness outside of the clearing, when everything had been bone dry.

Long enough for Deputy Jackson to declare an E.W.P.

Lucy scoffed. Did that idiot really call for a town evacuation?

Yes. Sheriff Stevens nodded. And given what I witnessed in that clearing, it’s not a bad idea.

An evacuation? Josh’s anxiety doubled. I’ve got to get home.

I can drop you there on my way to the station. Lucy, will you leave town with Josh and Kallie?

Can’t you take me home? Lucy asked. I need to change my clothes. Her dress was hanging on by a thread.

I would feel better if the three of you stayed together.

I would feel better in clothes that stay on, Lucy argued. We can meet up again later, right? She nodded at Josh and Kallie, her wide eyes begging them to agree.

Before Josh could say anything, light hit them, from headlights over a small rise in the road up ahead. As the car behind the beams traveled closer, he recognized it.

That’s Max’s car. He signaled to them with his arms.

Sheriff Stevens went to climb out of the cruiser but was blocked in by Lucy. They have a ride now from someone who I’m sure doesn’t want to see me half dressed.

Take her, Josh said. We’ll meet you outside of town.

Okay. Stevens motioned for Lucy to come around to his passenger seat. There’s a diner in Caisson. We’ll get there as soon as we can.

Stay safe, Kallie said.

You too. Lucy waved as the police cruiser pulled away from them and up onto the road.

Max tooted his horn as he pulled over, Josh barely grasping the rear door handle when Sarah came flying out of the front passenger door and almost bowled him over.

Where the hell have you two been? She pulled him in for a hug, pushed him back to scowl at him face to face, and then pulled him into another hug so tight his ribs protested. Just as his breath ran out, Sarah let go of him and smothered Kallie.

You wouldn’t believe the night we had, Kallie said, as they all climbed into the car.

Was it window shattering? Max half turned from the driver’s seat, a stupid grin on his face. You both look tired, like you didn’t get any sleep. And your clothes are all wrinkly like… wait, is that dirt and blood? Max’s eyes widened at Josh’s T-shirt. Are you two okay?

No, we’re not, Josh said. Are you guys fine? Did you get hurt in the earthquake? What about Grace? He looked at Sarah as she settled herself in the front seat, wiping raindrops from her long blond strands.

Mom’s fine, we’re fine. She’s at the store, it’s a mess there too. What happened in the clearing? Is it why all the windows in town shattered? Did Eve leave some booby-trap spell behind? Did Sheriff Stevens meet you there? Who was with him?

That’s a lot of questions, Sarah. He glanced at Kallie. Where to start? It was Lucy. He decided.

What was Lucy?

The person who came to the clearing with Stevens.

Wait, Lucy, the new employee at the bookstore?

She has magick, Kallie said. A lot of magick. We helped her unleash it, trying to put a barrier around the clearing, only to find out that what we were doing was completing Eve’s elemental ritual.

Oh, no. Sarah’s hand shot to her mouth.

It gets crazier. Josh shook his head. How old do you think Lucy is?

I know from her employee paperwork that she’s fifteen.

Add eighty-five to that number.

Huh?

Lucy is one hundred, and she’s immortal.

What? Max and Sarah said in unison.

She can’t get hurt or die. That’s her ability, Kallie said.

Okay. I’m going to need you to go back to the beginning, please, Sarah begged.

Josh recalled the tale of finding Stevens in the clearing because Lucy could enter it. That the dilapidated house was hers, arriving with her from a time and place she couldn’t remember, and that the Stevens family kept her secret safe and her in their family for generations. He let them know it was Lucy who’d been ordering the occult books from the store, and that she’d been drawn to the bookstore by power, taking the job there to find the source, never knowing that she herself had magick and was gifted.

With her power, we thought we could close off access to the clearing for good. He glanced at Kallie, the forlorn expression on her face likely mirroring his own. We discovered there is a grave under the dead stump. That it’s a resting place for someone who did so many bad things, they were punished even in death.

Whoa. Max’s mouth dropped open.

When we unleashed our power, Eve’s elemental spell was still in play, and we completed it, setting the energy of the Collector loose, and apparently causing an earthquake.

Wait a minute. Max shook his head. "That’s what you two were doing last night? That is not what we thought you were doing."

"What some of us thought you were doing, Sarah corrected Max. I don’t get it. If Lucy has power too, why didn’t Eve go after her?"

Our theory is that the Collector hid the power in her but didn’t know where she was to get it back.

And now it has some of hers and ours. Josh hated repeating the part of the story where they were used, when he hadn’t noticed they were playing into danger until it was too late. He’d almost gotten them all killed. He’d almost lost Kallie again. An ache throbbed in his chest as he looked at her and the dirt streaked through her skin, clothes, and hair. All because he wanted to get rid of a place he didn’t understand.

So, you have no idea where the Collector is now? Sarah asked.

No. Kallie pulled Melinda’s book from Eve’s satchel. Placing Eve’s bag, minus the knife Stevens took, on the floor of the car. I’m hoping this will help us find it.

In our search for you guys, we got your bag from your motel. Sarah pointed to it, now squished between Josh and the left passenger door.

Thank you. Kallie gestured for him to pass it to her.

There’s a bag packed for you too, Josh, Sarah said.

Because Blackbirch is being evacuated? He pawed through the open zip, pulling free a photo of himself and his parents in front of the glass greenhouse in the backyard of his old house. Normally, it was in a frame. He looked up at Sarah