“You named your car?” I said, a smile twitching my lips despite the dire circumstances.
He paused with the door open to throw me a confused look. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied, hurrying over to the passenger side.
Before I could get in though, a voice from across the garage rang loud and clear. “Stop!”
I jerked my head around to find Clarice framed in the stairwell entrance. Behind her were two more figures. A sour taste filled my mouth when I saw who they were. Mei and Jordan.
“Noah Andrews,” the headmistress said with authority. “Stop right now or you will be excommunicated. No coven will ever take you in.”
“Kenna, get in!” Noah shouted from the driver’s seat. Frozen with indecision, I continued to stare at Headmistress Mayweather. She flicked her wrist and Nautilus launched off her shoulder into the air. He flew like a bullet, directly at me.
One moment I was gawking at the beady-eyed crow, and the next, yanked into the car. We were off like a shot before I could recover, tires squealing against the concrete. Gathering my wits, I scrambled to close the door, almost tumbling out of the car in the process.
“Are you crazy?” I screeched at Noah, my voice several octaves higher than normal.
“Always,” he yelled back, punching the gas as we cleared a corner. Up and up we went, hugging the winding inner wall as we looped up the parking ramp. The car’s engine roared angrily but Noah didn’t slow, even for a second.
“You’re worse than Lochlan,” I shrieked, desperately trying to buckle my seatbelt.
“What?” he said loudly, leaning to the side as he expertly skidded around another corner.
When the car straightened, any further words died on my lips. Because there, directly ahead, was a sealed garage door.
“Noah,” I whimpered. Then, “Noah!” as the door loomed closer and closer and he didn’t slow.
“Take the wheel,” he said, and before I was ready, he let go.
Gasping, I lunged over the console and grabbed the wheel. As I struggled to keep the car from glancing off the concrete walls, Noah raised his hands encased in crackling blue.
“C’mon, you hulking piece of rust,” he grunted, flexing his fingers.
“We’re going to crash, Noah. Noah? Noah!”
A scream lodged in my throat as the unforgiving door filled my vision. I braced for impact, stark terror locking my limbs in place. Inches away from getting squished like a pancake, the door exploded outward in a loud display of flaming sparks and shrieking metal.
“Woooo!” Noah hollered as we shot through the gaping hole into the starry night. He grabbed my face and planted a sound kiss on my cheek, nearly making me lose my hold on the wheel. He whooped again, taking control of the wheel to my utter relief. “Lord almighty, that felt good! I’ve been wanting to do that for ages.”
It took me a moment to realize he meant breaking out of the institute, not clobbering me with a wet one. With my heart still in my throat, I managed to stammer, “Now what? Noah, I know what will happen if you leave here. The elders are arriving in the morning. When they find out you’re gone, they’ll search for you and bind your magic.”
He looked at me sharply. “The elders are coming to the institute?” At my nod, he swore colorfully. “Why?”
“Clarice said they’ll help us know what to do next about the vampires. She wants to make a deal with the vampire king and break the curse.”
“She what?” he shouted, smacking the wheel. “More reason why we should hightail it out of here. The elders will use you, Kenna. And if they don’t get what they want, they’ll lock you up, or worse. It’s too late for me, but I’d rather be an outcast on the run if it means saving my baby sister. She’s been cheated out of too much already.”
“What do you mean?” I grabbed onto the door as he swerved sharply around a row of hedges.
“You can’t tell her I told you this, okay? It would destroy her.” Noah glanced at me, and when I nodded, he continued. “Our mom didn’t die of cancer. She was killed by the elders.”
Shock sparked through me. “What? But how is that possible? Isla said—”
“My dad used a spell to alter her memories. The elders wouldn’t allow her to know the truth.”
“B-but . . . why? Why did they kill your mom?”
“I wasn’t privy to the specifics. Only that she was sentenced to death for what they deemed the ultimate crime against our kind. When they gave me no further explanation, I spiraled into what you could call a supernatural depression. I got into all sorts of trouble, hoping to get their attention. Well, I got it all right. Not that it gave me any more answers.”
My stomach churned miserably. The more I discovered about witches, the more I wanted nothing to do with them. “I’m so sorry, Noah. I never would have agreed to a meeting with them had I known.”
“It’s—” His eyes suddenly widened and he grabbed the rearview mirror. “Kenna, hold—!”
The ground erupted beneath us before he could finish, violently pitching the car sideways. I screamed as the Charger rose up on two wheels, threatening to tip over. Noah jerked hard on the wheel, throwing himself against the driver’s door, and the car bounced back onto all fours with a jarring thud.
“Malcolm’s awake,” he yelled, punching the gas again. “He’s drawing on his crystals to liquify the earth beneath us like lava. We’re in for a bumpy ride.”
I whipped my head around, just able to make out a figure standing in front of the institute with an aura of flaming orange about him. “And what are you drawing on?”
“Mainly the moon right now, but it’s not full, so I’m not at full strength. I don’t think I can manage another portal.”
I turned to him. “What can I do? I still have magic inside me. Tell me how I can help.”
The gravel road beneath us pitched again and Noah swore, swerving sharply. Narrowly missing a tree, the car bounced onto the lawn at a reckless clip.
“What can I do, Noah?” I cried, bracing a hand against the roof as my teeth threatened to chatter out of my head.
“I don’t know!” he shouted, fear leaking into his voice. “Using magic is like learning how to ride a bike. You just have to do it. Once you do, muscle memory kicks in. But if you’re afraid, you’ll never learn.”
“I’m not afraid!”
“Then prove it,” he said forcefully. “Knock Malcolm off his feet. No complicated spells or incantations needed for that. Just brute strength.”
“Fine, I will,” I replied with equal force. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I scrambled into the cramped back seat, nearly busting my nose on the cushion when the car lurched sideways to avoid another tree. I thrust my hand out toward the orange-glowing speck that was Malcolm and barked, “Freeze!”
“What are you doing?” Noah shouted.
“I don’t know!” I bellowed back.
“Even First Years can knock down an opponent with little to no training. Get your head in the game, K-Bug!”
“I’m trying,” I screamed, letting go of the seat to raise both arms. They trembled violently as I put every last ounce of concentration into forcing magic from them. I tried so hard that tears blurred my vision, blinding me to the impending danger until it was too late to warn Noah.
The monstrous tree root struck the right side of the car, shattering the windows upon impact.
Then everything was chaos.
Shrieking metal. Flying glass. The world flipped upside down, over and over. Too fast. Too violent.
The pain was everywhere, my body battered and bruised as the car became a death trap of destructive metal. And then I was free. Flying. Soaring.
Falling. Crashing.
Darkness yanked me into oblivion.
12
KENNA
Time and space held no meaning.
I swam in a sea of pain, not knowing up from down. I grasped at everything and found nothing.
Fighting against the dark pull,
I struggled to the surface of consciousness. My eyes cracked open first. To a world of flames and metal carnage.
Ruby’s on fire, was my first thought. Poor Noah.
My eyes widened. The car was on fire. Noah. Where was he?
“Kenna!” someone yelled, yet the sound was muted, as if I was underwater. I tried to respond but couldn’t. Movement caught my attention and I watched as someone rushed toward me. “Kenna, are you okay?” Noah’s face swam before me, a nasty gash on his forehead dripping blood.
“You’re . . . you’re hurt,” I managed.
He waved my concern away. “I’ve been in worse crashes. I’m more worried about you. I tried to soften your landing when you went through the window, but you look pretty banged up. Can you stand? We need to get out of here before—”
He was suddenly yanked backwards. As he crashed to the ground, several roots sprang up and tightly wrapped around him. I immediately rolled over with a groan to help him. Woozy from the crash, I could only manage a pathetic crawl, doing my best to avoid the broken glass scattered throughout the grass.
When I neared, Noah ceased his struggles to grunt, “Go, Kenna. We’re almost to the wards. I’ll distract them while you find someplace to hide in the woods.”
“But what if you can’t—”
“Focus on Isla,” he cut in, straining against the roots to drop his phone in the grass. “Take this. Call my dad if I don’t show, but no one else. Don’t go into that nightclub alone, baby witch. Promise me. Those vampires won’t hesitate to—” He cried out as the roots squeezed him unmercifully.
Hearing him in pain, I pried at the roots to no avail. When I caught movement several yards away and discovered who was behind Noah’s misery, my helplessness quickly morphed into fierce protectiveness.
“You,” I hissed. She slowly approached with a victorious smirk on her face, green magic encasing her raised hands.
“Give up, Syphon,” Jordan called. “You know I’m the superior witch. You don’t even know how to use magic.”
At the bald taunt, determination gushed through me. I didn’t think. Only reacted. Like my body finally awoke and knew just what to do. So when I staggered to my feet and faced off with Jordan Holt, instinct told me that I was taking this witch down.
Thrusting my arm out, I shouted, “Enough!” A red glow encircled my hand a second before energy shot through my fingertips. Too enraged to be scared, I let it burst forth in an invisible wave. It struck Jordan square in the chest and she flew back with a shriek, flipping head over heels.
“Yeah, baby!” Noah crowed, struggling in earnest to free himself.
As he wrestled the roots off him, I touched my faintly red fingers, still warm with magic. “Cool.”
“Incoming!” Noah suddenly bellowed. “Get your butt out of here, K-Bug.”
I looked up to see Headmistress Mayweather and Malcolm appear in a flash of dark violet light. “Stand down, Noah,” the headmistress immediately commanded, stepping from the fading portal. “This is a fight you can’t win.”
Tossing aside the last root, he stood, angling his body in front of me. “Oh, you know me better than that, Clarice. I never back down from a challenge.”
Her nostrils flared and I blinked as a deep purple billowed around her clenched fists. “So be it. Nautilus?” she said, flicking a glance at me. “Detain the girl.”
For a single moment, time slowed to a crawl. And in that moment, several shocking things occurred. The huge crow launched himself toward me with a mighty caw, his beady eyes flashing wickedly. The headmistress raised her darkly glowing hands, slicing them downward in a punishing sweep. Noah threw up his arms encased in crackling blue, thwarting the blow in the nick of time.
Then things began to speed up, faster and faster, as Malcolm added his brand of magic to the equation. The ground rumbled menacingly and I knew that my window of escape was quickly dwindling. Casting a regretful glance at Noah, I scooped up his phone and bolted for the trees.
I made it several yards before a seductive whisper filled my mind. Stand still, naughty witch. It’s time to admit. You’ve fallen from favor. A fact I will savor.
My legs grew heavy and I stumbled to a halt, clutching my fuzzy head. “Get out,” I groaned, knowing from my brief time here that I was under a witch’s mental attack.
Stand still, naughty witch. It’s time to admit, the voice began again, and I recognized it this time.
Turning in a circle, I frantically searched for her. Explosions of blue, orange, and dark violet made it hard to see, but a faint trail of cerulean sparkles—the same hue as her hair—gave her away.
“Get out of my head!” I roared, whipping a hand out toward Mei as if to physically strike her. A powerful blast of magic swallowed up the distance between us and punched her in the gut.
“Mei!” Jordan cried, scrambling to her feet as her friend staggered back, then fell to her knees.
When I turned to run again, a sharp caw from above drew my attention. Without hesitation, Nautilus dove, his claws outstretched to scratch my face. I ducked, wincing when he managed to snag and rip out several strands of my hair. I tried shooing him away, but he was too fast—and clearly on a mission to detain me. Ignoring him as best I could, I picked up speed, the trees looming closer and closer.
Seconds away from reaching their protection, a tree branch came out of nowhere and sidelined me. The impact knocked me clean off my feet and I went rolling across the grass.
Until I wasn’t.
I sucked in a startled breath as snow smacked my cheeks and filled my mouth. The volume of it quickly slowed my tumble. I scrambled to my feet, slipping as I went. Wind and snow buffeted me from all directions, making it nearly impossible to see.
Great. I was in a freaking snowstorm with nothing on my legs but tights.
Despite how useless my shoes were, I plowed through the snowy drifts, determined to get as far away from here as possible. I had no idea which direction I was going—if I was traveling closer to my best friend or farther away—but I’d figure that out later. Right now, I had a creepy bird to evade, along with a witch who had a vendetta against me.
“Kenna,” Jordan shouted over the wind, her voice echoing faintly through the woods. “I won’t let you best me. Do you realize what I am and where we are? The trees are my weapons. You’re not going anywhere, you poor excuse for a witch!”
Another branch shot toward me and I ducked. With a whoosh, it swept past my head. Before I could straighten, several more branches shot toward me all at once from different directions. I cried out as one pierced my arm, forcing me to stop. I protected my face with my hands as best I could so none would stab my eyes. A moment later, I was completely surrounded, dozens of jagged sticks facing me like spears. They dug into my skin with every ragged breath I inhaled.
Jordan barked a low and wicked laugh, and I watched through the snowy gale as she slowly approached. “I knew you were nothing but trouble,” she said with a sneer. “Now the headmistress does too. And when I bring you back, she’ll sing my praises, not yours. Maybe she’ll lock you up in solitary where you belong. Then we can all go back to—”
A sharp whoosh startled her into silence. Despite the falling snow and darkness, I saw the whites of her eyes grow as she whipped around, hands still lit a bright, glowing green. Another whoosh had her turning toward me with a stifled yelp.
Only one thing could move that fast without being seen.
Vampire.
Hope and trepidation rose within me, grappling for my attention. It could be Lochlan. Or Kade. But if it was them, how would I get to Isla? If it was them, could I trust that they’d listen to me?
And if it wasn’t them . . .
Mei’s creepy foretelling suddenly niggled at my brain.
Three shall go out, but only one will return.
“Jordan,” I said quietly, so as not to further spook her. “Get back inside the wards.”
“Shut up,” she hissed, whirling with a gasp as something
dark blurred past her. She clenched her hands and the branches tightened painfully around me.
“Jordan, let me go,” I said, trying not to move or even breathe as I felt a branch press into my neck. “You’re hurting—”
In an explosion of movement, a dark form wrapped around her, yanking her head back. Twin flashes of white descended, sinking deep into her neck. Her terrified scream rang through the night. All I could do was helplessly watch as the vampire ravenously fed on her.
The branches surrounding me suddenly fell away as she lifted her hands. Snow sprayed into the air, along with a network of roots. They whipped around the vampire, prying him away. As soon as she was free, she clenched her fist and the roots squeezed and squeezed. The vampire bellowed in fury and pain.
I was just about to move toward her when it happened. The unthinkable. Another vampire barrelled into her, and, without the slightest pause, snapped her neck. I heard the chilling sound, a sound I’d hoped to never hear again. I saw her lifeless expression. The magic died on her fingertips—snuffed out, just like her life. The vampire threw her body to the ground like discarded trash.
“NO!” a high-pitched voice screamed, startling us all. For a moment, I thought it was me, but the sound came again from several yards away.
I spotted Mei, completely frozen, her mouth open in horror as she stared at her friend’s lifeless body. My thoughts flashed back to another time. To another shocked girl witnessing a brutal murder. She could have died as well. Isla could have died if I hadn’t intervened. And she needed me again. She needed me, and so did Mei. And, fates help me, I knew what I had to do.
Ignoring the warmth seeping through my coat sleeve, ignoring the fiery pain, I lifted my arms and pushed. I pushed whatever energy, whatever magic still lingered within me, toward the petrified girl. My hands burst into undulating waves of red, and magic shot from me. She was still staring at her dead friend when the blast shoved her backward. Back, back, back. Until she abruptly disappeared.
Curse Touched: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (A Touch of Vampire Book 2) Page 11
