by Kat Adams
Once my eyes adjusted, I spotted the ashes where the fire had once been burning hot and bright. The benches surrounding the firepit were gone as well. It was as if the coven had never been here.
“How’d she do that?”
Bryan took my hand. “She’s a witch. They have powers way beyond ours. Come on, let’s teleport back to the academy.”
“Okay.” I gripped his hand tight and closed my eyes. The teleport pulled my insides through my bellybutton and had them battling with my outsides. We landed seconds later.
“Uh, Katy?”
I opened my eyes and dropped the mother of all curse words.
Virgil Graves, along with several other members of the Council, were waiting for us.
7
“Ms. Reed.” Virgil Graves stepped forward. “May I ask where you’ve been?”
I spotted Stacey Layden within the mix of the Council members dressed in fancy black suits. She had her head down, her expression hidden. Good thing. If our eyes met at that point, I would have stabbed her with the daggers shooting from my glare.
How could she betray me like this? Betray Renee? Just whose side was she on?
“I was off to see my grandmother. You know, over the river and through the woods and all that. Looks like the big bad wolf found me.”
“Now is not the time for jokes.”
No one appreciated my witty sense of humor. Sure, my timing sucked, but my jokes were spot-on, man.
“Perhaps Mr. Gunderson would like to tell us so we won’t assume his entire family has given in to the dark side we all know is lurking within them. It could save those closest to him.”
Bryan tensed and clenched his fists. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Your mother is a Gunderson, is she not? If one Gunderson is dark, well then, the rest must be.” He adjusted his tie as he nailed him with a piercing and icy glare. “I wonder how long your mother would last in Carcerem.”
“You leave her out of this.” He took a step forward in challenge.
“And Syd Franklin,” Graves went on, oh so brave with an entire army of Council members behind him. “Anyone associating with a Gunderson must be dark as well.”
This time, I stepped forward to defend my employer. “The hell you say.”
“Then tell me what I want to know.” He clasped his hands behind him and paced back and forth. “Were you with the coven of witches living just outside these grounds?”
Bryan and I exchanged glances. How’d he know about them and where they lived? Again, I glared at Stace. Did she give them up to save her own ass?
“As you know, witchcraft has been outlawed. Therefore, meeting with witches is also illegal. Anyone caught associating with those considered enemies of our world will be labeled enemies themselves.” He stopped pacing long enough to study us. “Tell us where they are, and we’ll let it go this time. Refuse to do the right thing, and you’ll wind up like Stacey Layden, ex-headmistress of Clearwater Academy.”
I jerked my gaze to her, my assumptions shattered. When she lifted her head and rested bloodshot swollen eyes on me, I spotted the elemutus around her neck. They’d muted her powers. She brought up her hands to show off the cuffs binding her wrists. My heart imploded as tears burned behind my eyes.
This was the Council business she’d had to tend to? They’d arrested her for fraternizing with the so-called enemy? The only enemy I saw in our midst was the icy-eyed devil smirking triumphantly as he wielded his power like a weapon.
Until the true devil emerged from the crowd. Alec von Freakin’ Leer, in all his grand poohbah glory. He’d cleaned up, replacing the raggedy leather duster for a fancy black suit. He’d even cut his hair and taken a shower. The scar bisecting the right side of his face still made him look ominous, untrustworthy. Then again, that was probably just him and had nothing to do with the scar.
“Hello, qu—uh, Katy.” Saying my name looked as if it caused him physical pain. He regarded Bryan. “I understand you’re an alchemist.”
“I’m an intern,” he corrected. “Merle is the alchemist.”
“Not anymore. Alchemy has been declared a form of witchcraft. He wisely stopped practicing. If you continue to practice, you will be arrested. Alchemy is hereby banned in our world.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Can’t I? Challenging me challenges the Council. You wouldn’t want to do that and risk prison for you and those who stand with you, now would you?” Alec’s gravelly voice scraped across my senses like nails on a chalkboard. Uncomfortable chills ripped up my spine and raced across my skin, lifting my arm hairs. Something was wrong. I tuned in to my insight, opening my eyes and listening for the signs.
My instincts screamed at me to look to the left, so I did. There, erupting from the shadows, marched one Spencer Dalton onto the scene. Behind him were a flurry of men and women I didn’t recognize. There had to be at least fifty of them. None of them belonged at this school. I didn’t sense a single element among them.
“Leechers.” I shook my head in disappointment and swept my gaze across the crowd of Council members as betrayal hit the back of my throat like burning bile. “This is how you plan to merge the two sides? You had a leecher take over 3C. Now you allow him to bring his kind onto campus. What’s next? Having a leecher take over Clearwater?”
“No,” Alec responded and grinned wide. “That would be my job.”
Was he shitting me right now? How in the blankity blank did Alec go from public enemy number one and constantly trying to kill the one destined to save our world, to the head of the very academy that’d trained the one he’d been trying to defeat? None of this made any sense.
“Leechers have no loyalty,” Bryan pointed out. “Their only side is the one with the power so they can suck it dry. Thinking they’re on your side is the wrong move. As soon as the power shifts, so will they.”
“Perhaps you should allow us leechers to speak for ourselves, my dear earth elemental.” Spencer, in all his haughty British glory, spoke up. “We’ve come at the request of the Council. Like it or not, we’re members of this world. Now that we are no longer considered criminals for simply having powers beyond the rest of your comprehension, we’ll happily come out of hiding to fight for our right to exist.”
This just went from bad to worse. Leechers had been banned from our world, hunted down and terminated. They’d been considered extinct until Spencer had shown up. Now they were invited to the party?
“Tell us where the coven is hiding.” Graves brought us back to the conversation.
“No.” I’d never betray Renee’s trust like that, even though she’d refused to join our side. That wasn’t reason enough to turn her over to the Council.
“Tell us, or suffer the same consequence as Stacey Layden.”
I glanced her way, caught her chanting something that sounded vaguely familiar, and decided to buy her time to finish whatever spell she was in the middle of casting. “How would that look if the Council arrested the prophecy? You decreed me the one standing in the way of supremacy. Maybe this is what I was destined to do, to stop you. Ever think of that?”
He paused, clearly contemplating my comment.
Stace hadn’t finished her incantation, so I kept going. “I’m the prophecy, the one destined to save our world. I’m taking a stand, Graves. I’m taking a stand against you and everything you’re doing to destroy this world.”
“Very well. Perhaps the two of you can be cellmates up at Carcerem. Take her, but leave Mr. Gunderson. I have a feeling he’ll break as soon as I bring in his mother.”
“No! You leave her out of this.” Bryan charged forward, bringing up his hands as he’d done at DB. If he used a forbidden call on the head of the Council and in front of everyone, he’d be deemed dark for sure.
I jumped in front of him and forced him to look into my eyes. Whatever Stace had planned involved him, I was sure of it. “You can’t protect her if you’re in prison. No, Bryan. You keep your focus on
me. Right here.”
“But…” He abruptly stood up rigid and stared straight ahead, the expression gone from his face, no movement in his muscles. It was as if his mind had suddenly taken a vacay and left his body.
Oh shit. Oh holy mother of all shits. That was exactly what she’d done. Stace had sent Bryan back to the void. He couldn’t answer their questions if he couldn’t make a sound. It wasn’t what I would have done, but it was effective. Muting her elemental powers with the elemutus didn’t weaken her powers as a witch. Good to know.
“Why is he like that?” Graves asked.
“The void,” Alec answered before swinging his sharklike glare Stace’s way. “What did you do?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” She held her head high, her chin out proudly.
“You sent him back to the void.”
“Back? You mean he’s been there before? How would you know something like that?” Her innocent act was very convincing.
“I—” He stopped before implicating himself. Admitting that he’d sent Bryan to the void wouldn’t earn him any brownie points with the Council. Then again, with the way Graves had gone blind to all things dark, maybe it didn’t matter anymore. “I’ve only heard rumors, from Samantha, mostly.”
The mention of my mother’s name sent my heart into painful palpitations. No one had dared speak her name since she’d come back from the dead just to kill me. Mom of the Fucking Year, everyone. Then again, Alec had been one of her boy toys. I was sure there’d been some level of pillow talk involved for him to know as much about me as he did. And for her to know the details of the plethora of battles I’d had with Alec.
“It seems to me he might need a little help finding his way out. If only there were some way to sense where he is.” Stace stole a glance my way and lifted her eyebrows. I nodded, covering the gesture by looking away before the Council caught on.
“Witch!” Graves practically spat as he pointed at her. “You cast a spell, didn’t you? How? How did you do it? Someone check her elemutus. Do it. Now!” His eyes nearly bugged out of his head as a vein in his temple throbbed. I’d never seen someone turn purple so fast.
With the snap of her fingers, the metal contraption around her neck shattered into splinters and floated away, hovering inches from her throat before dropping to the ground. “An elemutus only works on elementals, Virgil. If you had half a brain, you’d already know that.”
“Someone get her!” he screamed. Several Council members sprang forward.
Stace had them all frozen in an instant with nothing more than a flick of her wrist, including the head of the Council. Casually, she waltzed up to Virgil Graves. “This is where I bid you adieu. Virgil, good luck. Although, I don’t think you’ll need any luck running the Council into the darkness. From what I can see, you’re well on the way.”
She took several steps back and raised her hands. The cuffs snapped and fell to the ground. With a clap above her head, she created a sonic boom that sent several of us reeling back. When we recovered, she was gone.
That had to be the coolest exit I’d ever seen.
Not to be outdone, I grasped Bryan’s wrist with one hand and waved at Graves with my free hand. “I guess now is as good a time as any to tender my resignation. Find someone else to do your dirty work. I quit the prophecy. Save the world without me.”
With that, I teleported us out.
No more Council.
And no more Clearwater Academy.
8
I hated this. I freaking hated this with every fiber of my being.
To save Bryan, one of us had to go into the void to pull him back out. I didn’t want to volunteer myself as the sacrificial lamb, but since I had the strongest connection to him, I drew the short straw.
Go me.
How the hell was I going to do this? I didn’t know how to break out of a teleport. I barely had any confidence in sticking the landings. No way could I teleport halfway and drop into the void that still terrified me and haunted my dreams.
But I had to do it. For Bryan. If I could just find Stace, I’d have her bring him back, but she’d disappeared and now wasn’t even answering my texts. I couldn’t wait around for her to reach out to me. It was up to me to bring my boyfriend back from the void.
I could do this. I’d just have to put on my big-girl panties and element up. Trust my instincts. Open my eyes. No other phrases came to mind as my mental pep talk fell flat.
“He’s not looking so good. Is he even breathing?” Clay placed his hand under Bryan’s nose.
Rob slapped it away. “Try something like that again and I’ll set you on fire.”
“Oh, whatever. You’re not the only one worried here.”
“You could show it by being a little more serious about this.”
Clay rolled his eyes. “Why should I when you’re serious enough for all of us?”
Rob shot him with a fireball. Clay caught it and tossed it from hand to hand before breaking it into three balls and proceeding to juggle.
“Can we please focus here? Whatever we decide to do, we need to do it now. The invisibility spell Leo and I put around us won’t last forever.” I squeezed Bryan’s hand, trying with everything I had in me to connect with him. “We’re coming for you. Please hang on.”
“I still don’t understand why we wouldn’t send Clay,” Leo pointed out. “He’s the strongest teleporter.”
“I already told you, I’m the only one who’s been there. Well, sort of.”
“Dreams don’t count, babe.”
“I agree with Leo.” Rob took a seat next to me on the couch. “Dreaming about the void is not the same thing as being in the void. But, I don’t think Clay has a strong enough connection to Bryan to find him and teleport back out. I do. It should be me.”
“No.” I wiped my hands on my jeans to dry my palms before standing and stepping away from the group crowding around Bryan, who sat on the couch and stared straight ahead. “I’m the one closest to him. If anyone can find him, I can. It has to be me.”
The guys’ protests were weak at best. They all knew I was right. It had to be me. When they fell silent, when there were no other words to say, we all simply stared at each other. This was it. There was a chance I wouldn’t find Bryan and get back out, a chance I wouldn’t even find my own way back out. This could be the last time I’d ever see any of them again. I could get stuck in the void, slip into a catatonic state like all the others I’d seen in there, and never come back out. I’d be lost forever.
But if I didn’t go in and do my damnedest to rescue Bryan, he’d be lost forever. I had to save him. He didn’t have any woulds or coulds in his choice. That was already his reality. “I guess this is it.”
“Hold up.” Clay nodded for Rob to join him, and they both approached me, leaving Leo standing next to Bryan. “Remember what Renee said? About us being the one?”
“Now is not the time, bro.” Rob furrowed his brooding brow.
“Leo?” Clay called out while regarding Rob and me.
“Yeah?”
“Keep the invisibility spell up until we get back.”
We?
He grabbed my wrist with one hand, Rob’s with the other, and teleported us out. A split second later, we hit some sort of invisible wall that broke our contact and separated us. We flew in different directions. I landed with a grunt and jumped to my feet, squinting into the darkness. When that did nothing, I widened my eyes until they hurt, and still I could barely see past my hand in front of my face.
A hand on my shoulder scared the bejebus out of me, and I whipped around. It was Clay. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He tried again and frowned. It was like someone had hit the mute button. Rob walked up, rubbing his elbow. He tried to explain why and scowled, thinning his lips as he glared at Clay.
He shrugged in response, tapped his temple, and gave a thumbs-up. At least he had a plan. I’d be mad at him hijacking my teleport later. Right now, we needed t
o find Bryan and fast, before the void sucked us in permanently.
He held both our hands and brought them up, nodded. He then let go of Rob’s and shook his head before grabbing it again and nodding. Rob and I both nodded. Don’t let go.
We began to walk through the darkness, Clay holding my left hand, Rob holding my right. People shuffled around, staring straight ahead, just as they had in my dream. No one seemed to be in a hurry. No one seemed to notice the others shuffling around in their catatonic state. They never bumped into each other. Then again, the void was endless, so there was plenty of space for them to travel untouched.
Which meant Bryan could be anywhere in the void. Fucking awesome.
Clay squeezed my hand, drawing my attention. With his free hand, he tapped his throat and motioned outward, like my old high school choir teacher used to do when she wanted us to project more. I didn’t understand. Did he want me to sing? In a void where our voices wouldn’t work?
He tapped his finger to his temple and worked his mouth. I wasn’t much of a lip reader, but it looked as if he recited the lyrics to Frosty the Snowman. He tapped his temple again. Ah, okay. I got it. He wanted us to recite song lyrics in our mind, probably to keep it active so we wouldn’t turn comatose.
I sure hoped it worked.
Now singing Pocket Full of Sunshine in my head—an annoyingly catchy tune—I nodded for us to keep going. Rob took the lead and directed us to the left.
This wasn’t right. It felt off. I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew without a doubt that we were heading in the wrong direction. I stopped us and shook my head before nodding to the right. He frowned, studying me.
My hand began to glow, surprising us all. I broke our contact, holding it up, palm facing me. The ward glowed a stark and vivid white. Rob checked his ward. It too glowed, but not as brightly as mine. Clay’s barely shimmered.
The wards drew from our own connection to Bryan. I had the strongest connection. Therefore, mine glowed the strongest. With a nod, Rob relinquished the lead position to me, but took my left hand from Clay. It didn’t take a lip reader to know the name he called Rob in response before taking up the rear of our chain.
