Awakening: The Last Coven Series

by KT Webb

  “How do you know my name?”

  “Look, we really don’t have a lot of time. My name is Sutton, this is Dee. I’m a witch, so are you. We need to go.”

  Lucy looked back and forth between Mallory and the girls standing in their living room. She didn’t entirely know what to say.

  “I’m a witch?”

  “Yeah, give it a bit, it’ll sink it. Sadly, you don’t get as much time to process as I did. I’m going to guess you had a birthday recently?”

  “Last week. On Monday.”

  Dee looked at her notebook. “The Spring Equinox? Interesting. Sutton’s birthday is the Winter Solstice.”

  “Not that I’m not intrigued, but can you girls explain what’s going on?” Mallory insisted as she closed the door behind their guests.

  “We really don’t have time to do that. Have you been having strange dreams?” Sutton demanded.

  Lucy nodded her head and added, “There’s a girl. Grace. I have to help her.”

  “Lucy, you and your mom better go pack your bags. You won’t be coming home for a while.”

  “She’s not my mom.”

  “Whatever, we don’t have time for this. Are you listening? There are three dudes after us and they don’t care who they kill if it means we die.”

  Lucy knew she was telling the truth. She’d seen the men in her dreams. She saw them killing Grace. She saw them with Odessa. The memory of the woman who claimed to be her long-lost-aunt jarred her into reality. Were these the “others” the woman wanted to protect her from? In her dream, Odessa hadn’t necessarily been the bad guy, but she was with them. If all this was true, who could Lucy trust?

  “You’re glowing,” Mallory breathed.

  Lucy looked down at her hands. Sure enough, they were emitting a purple light. It crackled and pulsed. She lifted her hands to get a better look and everything in the room levitated.

  “What the. . .?”

  “I’m gonna need you to relax. If you don’t, things tend to explode. Trust me.”

  Lucy looked at Sutton. Her deep emerald eyes were begging for Lucy to listen. She took a deep steadying breath. With every breath, the items that floated around her lowered, slowly. The light finally dissipated and everything returned to normal.

  “How did that happen? I mean, I did that right?”

  “Yeah, let’s stop talking and start packing okay?” Mallory suggested as she guided Lucy to the stairs.

  Lucy stuffed multiple articles of clothing into a large duffel bag. Dee helped her gather her toiletries and offered suggestions for clothes based on their experiences thus far.

  “Are you a witch?” Lucy asked.

  “Me? No. I’m just along for the ride. We were at my house when the creepy guys showed up to kill Sutton. I told her there was no way I was sitting this one out.”

  They finished packing and met Sutton and Mallory back in the living room.

  “Mallory, is there somewhere safe you can stay? The larger our group gets, the more likely they are to find us. If we keep picking up extra people, there’s no telling how long we’ll make it out there.” Sutton seemed to have everything under control.

  Mallory looked conflicted, “I could stay with one of my friends from work. Will Lucy stay with me?”

  Sutton looked sad, maybe a little apologetic. “No. Lucy and I have to find Grace. Based on our birthdays, I’m guessing Grace will turn sixteen at the Summer Solstice. And there must be another girl out there, born on the Fall Equinox.”

  It pained Lucy to see Mallory so worried. Before she could say anything to offer her some comfort, the front door shook with an angry boom.

  “They’re here,” Sutton whispered.

  Lucy

  Chapter Eight

  Time to Run

  The door shook again as it was battered from the other side. The silence that followed was only interrupted by sporadic breaths taken by the women around Lucy.

  The girl she’d just met had been trying to warn her that this would happen, that someone was coming for her. Why hadn’t she listened? It was a ridiculous question to ask herself; she hadn’t listened because people who believe things they see in dreams, or warnings given by disembodied voices are generally labeled as “crazy.

  Another blow to the door caused the wood to splinter and curve inward. Did they have a battering ram? Lucy glanced at Sutton. The blonde beauty seemed to be concentrating hard; beads of sweat formed on her forehead and she shook violently every time the door was struck.

  Splinters of wood broke free and flew at the girls. Lucy felt herself drawn closer to the others, Mallory’s arms wrapped around them. The door shattered and Dee caught Sutton as she sagged in exhaustion.

  “Where are they?”

  Lucy and Dee looked at each other in alarm. They were huddled directly in front of the three men standing on the porch. Mallory still had them in a protective embrace.

  “Get out of the way,” a woman’s voice ordered from behind the menacing trio.

  They moved aside to let her through. Lucy’s mouth dropped open as she recognized the fishtail braided hair and gleaming jade eyes. Odessa. What was she doing there? The woman looked around, as though she wasn’t standing inches from the very person she was searching for.

  “They were here only a moment ago. They can’t have gotten far. I don’t feel their magic here at all,” she threw at the men standing stupidly in the doorway.

  None of the girls moved and Mallory kept them wrapped protectively in her arms. Lucy didn’t dare breathe for fear of alerting the crazy people who knocked down her front door. Odessa took one final look around before waving her hand and whisking the three men away with her in a puff of smoke.

  “What just happened?” Dee said as she heaved a sigh of relief.

  Lucy shrugged and looked to Sutton for an answer. No one seemed to be able to answer the question. She turned to see Mallory looking at her arms; her hands were shaking violently.

  “Mal? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  “I did that. All I could think when I heard the door breaking was that I needed to find a way to protect you. I wanted to hide you from the threat.”

  Lucy was confused. She knew her aunt didn’t have any magic; she was a wiccan not a witch.

  “But, how did you. . .” Lucy trailed off, searching her mind for an explanation.

  “Do you remember how I told you we sometimes borrow power from other places? I think I just borrowed power from you girls. It didn’t feel familiar to me at all.”

  “Huh. So, you bought us some time to get away,” Sutton mused.

  Mallory shrugged. “I guess so. What now?”

  Sutton explained that they would have to go on the run. The mysterious men knew where Lucy lived now and they would be back; not to mention the odd presence of Odessa at her school. Mallory went into the basement and created a care package for the girls, leaving Lucy alone with the two teens she’d just met.

  “Where do we go next?” Dee asked.

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” Sutton replied.

  “Excuse me? I am most definitely going with you. I’m not just going to hang out here in an unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar state with people I don’t know.”

  Lucy shifted uncomfortably, trying to shrink away from the argument that was brewing.

  “And what exactly am I supposed to do if they show up again? I can’t create portals or hope there’s someone who desperately wants to save me, and is in touch with the universe.”

  Dee folded her arms across her chest just as Mallory reappeared. Lucy thought both girls made fair points; she had no idea how to use the magic she was supposed to possess, but at least she had some.

  “Mallory, can my friend stay with you?”

  She was shaking her head before Dee could object. “No way. You girls are ‘missing persons.’ I looked you up online. How did you get here from California?”

  They exchanged a look but Lucy had already heard the answer. Sutton had mentioned creati
ng portals, they must have transported themselves here. But, how did they know where to find her? Her dreams had never been specific enough to show her where she could find Grace.

  “Portals and mind control.”

  “Mind control?” Lucy was still struggling to wrap her mind around how Sutton had figured out how to use her magic.

  “Well, only a few times to borrow a car. I had to convince people their car was still in the garage, to give us a head start.”

  Great. Lucy stood in her living room considering her options; take off with two runaways and car thieves or stay home and be murdered.

  “How did you know where to find me?”

  “Once I started using my powers more my dreams changed. I wasn’t dreaming about you anymore, I was seeing things through your eyes. It was weird, but I managed to catch a glimpse of a few business names and did some searching.”

  A surge of hope flooded Lucy. If she could figure out how to use her magic on purpose, maybe she would start having dreams that would tell her where to find Grace. Maybe they could save that girl the way Mallory had saved them.

  “So, back to my original question; why can’t Dee stay with you?”

  “If she stays with me and someone sees her and recognizes her as a missing person, how am I supposed to explain where she came from? Pretty sure I’d end up in prison.”

  “Fair point. Looks like you’re stuck with me,” Dee stuck her tongue out.

  Lucy couldn’t help but chuckle at that; but she wasn’t sure how she felt about running away with these girls.

  “Can I have a few minutes to talk to my aunt, alone?”

  She didn’t give them time to object. Lucy dragged Mallory into the kitchen and whirled around to face her.

  “Are you seriously going to let me go with them? What if they’re serial killers or something? What if they’re the bad guys and Odessa is the good guy?”

  Mallory considered that for a moment. “Most good guys don’t break doors down without good reason.”

  “What if the reason was that they saw us let Sutton and Dee in? What if they’re not after me at all? Odessa did say she wanted to help me.”

  “Lucy, I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I can feel it in my gut. You’re supposed to go with these girls. You and Sutton are linked. Your souls are entwined. I feel it.”

  Lucy felt a tear roll down her cheek. How could she say goodbye to another mother?

  “Hey, honey. I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t goodbye. We will see each other again. You have your cellphone, right?”

  Lucy nodded.

  “Then you will always have a link to me. Never tell me where you are, only tell me that you’re okay. If you need help, use our code.”

  “The teddy bear one?”

  Mallory smiled at the memory. After Lucy lost her parents, she’d had issues with separation anxiety. She couldn’t be with the parents she’d lost, so she latched on to Mallory and didn’t want to let go. Her aunt had created a secret code that would tell her if Lucy needed her so the seven-year-old wasn’t embarrassed at school.

  “Do you have a moment please, to give this bear just one small squeeze?” Lucy remembered.

  “Cuz teddy bears need hugs to live. So, don’t you have just one to give?” Mallory finished her line.

  It was cheesy, but it told Mallory that Lucy needed her, and it told Lucy that Mallory would always be there for her. The poem had been written on the tag of a brown fuzzy bear her aunt had given her in the hospital after her parents died. Lucy teared up at the memory; she’d slept with that bear every night since then.

  “You need to go with them and find out why you’re being chased by homicidal maniacs. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she pulled her aunt close. “I love you Mallory.”

  “I love you too, kid.”

  Grace

  Chapter Nine

  Summer Solstice

  Summer break was just getting started. Grace Trudeau woke up on her birthday with a whole list of things to do. Her parents were making a big deal out of her sweet sixteen by throwing a party at their sprawling estate.

  The Trudeau’s had spared no expense in hiring a party planner to bring their daughter’s dreams to life. Grace couldn’t hide her excitement as she sprang from her bed and hopped in the shower. She would get dressed and head down to the gardens to make sure the party planner didn’t screw up her plans.

  Her thick, curly black hair fell to her shoulders. The untamable mess had been the envy of other girls for years. All her friends asked her how she kept the tight ringlets so perfectly twisted. She could only shrug and tell them she hit the genetic lottery.

  Grace’s parents were the most beautifully matched mixed race couple she had ever seen. Her mother’s chestnut hair and vibrant blue eyes had combined perfectly with her father’s milk chocolate skin and deep brown eyes to create their gorgeous daughter. Grace had ended up with a perpetual tan and bouncy, raven-colored curls.

  When she finished getting ready, Grace made her way across her labyrinth-like house. Years ago, the mansion had been a plantation, complete with cotton and tobacco fields. She often wondered what the original owners of the plantation would think of the mixed-race family living there now.

  “Morning, sweet pea!” Her father said before kissing the top of her head.

  “Morning, daddy.”

  “Ready for your big day?”

  Grace nodded. “Where’s mom?”

  “Out there pestering the poor party planner. I expect you’d like to join her,” he smiled at her as he gestured towards the rear lawn.

  She gave her dad a sly grin before hopping off the stool she’d been perched on. By the time she found her mom she’d already seen most of the party preparations. Grace heard Lily Trudeau before she saw her; leave it to her mother to be shouting orders at the staff brought on to help the party planner.

  “Mom! How’s it going out here?”

  Lily rolled her eyes and heaved an enormous sigh. “That woman is going to be the death of me! How hard is it to follow the instructions we gave?”

  Grace looked around at the half-finished dance floor. Her best guess was that it was difficult considering the pace at which the workers were rushing around trying to fix the mistakes they’d apparently made. She didn’t say anything because she knew her mom wanted everything to be perfect for her big party. If Grace was being honest, she didn’t care where the dance floor was or if the punch was pink or purple. All she really cared about was whether or not her friends would have fun.

  “Maybe we should leave them alone for now. It’s starting to get humid, we should go in and have some lemonade. I’m sure they’ll get this all figured out before we return.”

  Grace couldn’t help but laugh at the inner struggle her mom appeared to be experiencing. She had a hard time relinquishing control, even to a professional. Grace looped her arm through her mom’s and gently guided her towards the house.

  “Are you excited for tonight?”

  “Duh! I can’t wait to see the looks on my friends’ faces when they get here.”

  “Oh, honey! I can’t believe you’re already sixteen. I feel ancient.”

  Grace laughed and nudged her mom as they walked. Her dad met them on the back deck, and handed both his girls a tall glass of icy lemonade.

  “Did you keep her from killing the help?” Lawrence Trudeau asked.

  “I barely got there in time.”

  “Oh, please. I just want everything to be perfect for our little princess,” Lily replied, and took her place under her husband’s arm.

  Grace loved watching her parents together. They were the perfect example of true love. Her doting father made sure all his wife’s dreams came true; her loyal mother did everything she could to show her husband unconditional love. She watched them and wondered if one day, she would find a love like that.

  Hours later, it was time for Grace to get ready for the party. She put on her pale blue, lacy dress and wove a flower into
the pieces of hair she’d pinned back. She never bothered wearing make-up; her picture-perfect complexion and flawless skin didn’t need to be covered up.

  By the time she made it to the main foyer, guests had begun to arrive. She took a deep breath and opened the French doors that lead to the gardens. The music was already thumping as she descended the path that led to the party.

  “Grace! This is amazing,” she heard one of her friends call out.

  Grace smiled politely and continued on her way. She was the most popular girl in school and tried not to exclude anyone, but that didn’t mean she knew all their names. As she made her rounds, she realized she only actually knew a handful of her guests by name. It troubled her to know that all these people knew her, but she didn’t know them.