Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  I nearly jumped at the sound of him raising his voice.

  “Father, stop!” he said, walking close to me and brushing his father aside. “This isn’t helping.”

  “You said you have my sister,” I said looking at his father. “You said I better not step out of line. I know you’re holding her here for more reasons than her body still being poisoned by vixra blood and I want to know why. And what exactly qualifies as me stepping out of line?”

  I was standing in the home of an old and powerful vixra family. One of the oldest and most respected. And I had just made a demand I was in no position or standing to make. I didn’t know if they would punish me, lock me up, or use my sister against me. I only knew that I was being held accountable for not knowing things while deliberately being left in the dark. Not anymore.

  “What’s so dangerous that I can’t know? Why can’t anyone just tell me the truth?” I asked.

  Eli took a deep breath and slowly let it out, considering what he should say or do next. What he could say around his father. What he could say to me. “Perhaps it is time,” he said.

  “No,” said his father. “There’s no need for this.”

  “There’s no reason for her not to know anymore, father.”

  “Know what? What are you talking about?” I interrupted his train of thought.

  “If you do this, I will hold you personally responsible for anything she does in the future. Regardless of how grave. The kruxa cannot be trusted with such knowledge. We made that mistake with Georgeanna and I won’t see it happen again.”

  “It won’t,” he said.

  “You cannot possibly tell me that when we’re standing in the same room with her.”

  “She might be different.”

  His father shook his head in disbelief. “What has gotten into you?”

  “I could ask you the same question. Don’t act as though our family hasn’t meddled in any of this.”

  Witnessing two vixra arguing felt like something I shouldn’t witness. I wanted to fade away. To disappear into the background. To go run through the halls until I found Madison. Because clearly, they weren’t going to give me what I wanted. They weren’t going to tell me anything.

  “What exactly are you implying?” His father nearly started screaming but kept his voice civilized through his seething anger.

  “I know grandfather has been giving Tobias vixra blood. He’s been doing it for decades. He’s been prepared for this long before Harper was even born. So don’t like it’s a surprise that she’s here at all. You knew the war was coming. As does he. Things will happen as planned. At least this time.”

  His father stood there in silence. This one statement made my entire venture of brewing the potion worthwhile. If they let me leave, I was going with more knowledge than when I came. Eli’s grandfather was the one providing Tobias with blood. Not Eli.

  “How do you know that?” his father demanded.

  Eli let his shoulders fall, as though he was disappointed. “Because unlike you, he trusts me not to lose my temper.”

  His father’s forehead creased. He stiffened and stood up even straighter, which I didn’t even know was possible. Then he walked right up to me where his face was only mere inches away from mine.

  “You want your sister back?” he snarled at me.

  I didn’t know whether to speak or simply nod. I chose the sheepish way out and didn’t say anything.

  “You can have her back once you’ve marked Tobias Vallas.”

  My eyes widened. I was right. Tobias did want me to mark him. And not only that. The vixra wanted it as well.

  “What?” I whispered. “I… I can’t do that.”

  “The only way for Nathaniel Stapleton to become the new leader of the Catach-Brayin as we have intended for nearly a century is for Tobias to become mortal. For him to be incapable of leading them forward and to eventually die. I won’t see our plans fall apart because this stupid curse that Georgeanna made even worse came back to haunt us once more.”

  Before I had the chance to even consider his words the air was sucked out of my lungs and I was being pulled backward. A flash of light erupted behind me and I reached up to cover my eyes. I didn’t need to look behind me. I already knew what was coming. Eli had opened up a vixra tunnel right behind me. Apparently, opening them indoors wasn’t an issue when you have powerful vixra blood in your veins.

  I went flying through the tunnel so fast that I didn’t even have the chance to open my eyes before I crashed back inside the small room where I was writing to Eli. The ground that had once disappeared beneath me came rushing back so quickly that I stumbled right into the table. I waited for the nausea that always followed but it never came. Maybe I was actually starting to get used to using the tunnels. Or maybe Eli was just very experienced in using them.

  I reached for the notebook to see what Eli had written to me before it evaporated into black vapor.

  Harper,

  Your sister won’t be coming home. Not for a while. My father insists on keeping her here until we can better understand the situation and the complications that have arisen since your existence was made known to us.

  Madison is in good hands.

  Eli

  Just as the words started to drift off the page, more appeared below.

  You’ve stepped out of line twice now. Do so again, and I will have no choice but to take complete control of your life. If you value what little freedom you have left, don’t cross me again.

  Chapter 9

  I sometimes don’t give much thought to why I do certain things. In my own defense, I can only say that my ideas seem good at the time. Like the only way I’m going to see through to the end of a bad situation.

  I stood over the notebook for a solid thirty seconds or so long after Eli’s words disappeared. Long after the initial shock of being sent through a vixra tunnel indoors and not coming out the other end to a disaster area or instant nausea wore off. Then I left the hidden room, grabbed Caleb’s backpack, changed out of the blue dress into a shirt, jeans, and a leather jacket, stuffed in a few items of clothing from the closet, and quietly went down the long hallways and large grand staircase to the garage. Most of the keys were locked away inside a cabinet. I only knew the code to the lock because I had watched Christophe unlock it every time he took me out. I guess he never dared to think that I would go so far as to steal one of the vehicles. Or in my mind, borrow one.

  There were many to choose from. I honestly didn’t care which one. It didn’t have to be fancy. It didn’t even have to be large. It just had to help me get away. It had to help me break free.

  I wasn’t going to mark Tobias. And if I wasn’t going to mark him, I would never get my sister back. The only thing I could think of at that moment was freeing myself. I couldn’t cross Eli if I stayed away and out of the media spotlight.

  I grabbed one of the keys from the cabinet and pressed the button. A silver Land Rover beeped in the long line of expensive cars. I went directly over to it, opened the door, thrust the backpack in the passenger seat, and clicked the large garage door opener hanging over the dashboard.

  I knew Tobias would probably hear it open. He would probably come after me. He would probably be able to track me with the brand on my side. None of it mattered. I had to get away from that house. It was all I could think about. If Tobias wanted me that badly, he would have to find me and convince me it was a good idea to come back. Because quite frankly, I couldn’t think of one.

  I started the engine and drove out of the garage, doing my best to breathe slowly. I didn’t like cars. I only drove Caleb’s old truck because I had to help Emily. I could force myself into doing it when I was motivated and that was about it.

  The drive down the long driveway weaved through the woods and I eventually found my way to the highway where I started breaking a few traffic laws as I put more pressure on the gas pedal.

  Only ten minutes into driving I started noticing that a heavy fog was starting
to form over the highway along with a light rain that was getting heavier and heavier. I turned on the bright lights on the vehicle and headed west. I didn’t care where. Just away. As far away as possible.

  I shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s seat. The scratches on my back didn’t like the direct pressure of the chair. They were starting to burn. Actually, my whole body was starting to burn. My vision was slowly blurring. The air grew more and more difficult to breathe.

  ‘No! Not right now! Damn it!’

  I slowed the car down a bit and started to pull over. If I was going to have a vision right now, I didn’t want to be driving.

  No. This wasn’t a vision. My insides were starting to burn. Like someone had made me swallow hot coals that were scorching a hole right down the middle of my stomach and sending waves of smoke up into my lungs. I grabbed my chest and tried harder and harder to breathe. It only got more difficult with each passing second.

  The rain must have made the road slick because before I knew it, the car was swerving back and forth. The back end was out of control. My shoulder hit the door and then was thrown back the to the other side. I couldn’t control the wheel anymore. The car was spinning into chaos. Another car from the opposite struck the passenger side, sending my head into the window.

  ‘No! Not like this! Not like Caleb!’

  “You let this happen,” Emily’s voice whispered in my ear, haunting my every thought and surfacing every fear I had since the moment she died. “You let this happen to me. You didn’t save me. I should never have helped you.”

  Before I even had the chance to say anything back, the car hit the side rail. I was on a bridge. I didn’t even realize I had driven onto one in the fog. The vehicle flipped over the side of the railing and went flying through the air. Then the sudden stop as it crashed into the water and started flooding inside the demolished windshield.

  I took a deep breath as the water kept tumbling inside and the car quickly disappeared below the surface. It was pitch black. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.

  ‘It doesn’t end like this. It can’t end like this.’

  “All kruxa end like this,” Emily whispered to me.

  Images flashed before my mind. Images I had never seen before and I certainly didn’t put there. Images of other kruxa being accused of witchcraft throughout the centuries. How their arms and legs were bound with rope. How their legs were attached to stones. How they were thrown into rivers and lakes to see if their bodies would float or sink, proving or disproving their guilt of witchcraft. So many kruxa had been drowned throughout the years. Thousands. Along with humans who were falsely accused because kruxa couldn’t control their abilities.

  I would meet the same end. At least if I didn’t get the seatbelt off and pry myself free.

  The burning in my chest only got worse and I longed for a single breath. A single gulp of air to fill my desperate lungs.

  I summoned my magic, channeling all the anger I possibly could like Tobias told me to. To my shock, it worked. A golden light erupted from my hand and I was able to see. I reached for the seatbelt with my magic still coursing through my fingers and severed the material. I was finally loose. But I was still sinking. I could feel the unrelenting pressure inside my ears from the depth of the water getting deeper and deeper.

  Something jolted me away from the seat and pulled me upward. When I looked out the broken window, I saw a hand. A hand that reached into the depths of the water and was pulling me up. Followed by another light. A golden light that was glowing in someone else’s palm.

  My hand. Only it wasn’t me. Anyone else might have thought it was a reflection. An illusion. Something they hallucinated from the adrenaline of coming so close to death.

  I saw someone identical to me in the water, with long red hair wafting behind her as she took me by the collar of my leather jacket and yanked me out of the car. She rushed me to the surface, which seemed like it took forever to reach as we pumped our arms and legs and tried to get away from the suction of the vehicle pulling us down.

  Once we reached the surface I opened my mouth wide, gasping for air. The woman beside me did the same. Then she grabbed me from under the shoulder and started swimming us both over to the grassy shore. I could hear cars above us stopping on the bridge to see what had happened. I even heard someone calling 9-1-1 on their cell phone. They didn’t notice the woman bringing me to shore and dragging me from under my shoulders as the rain kept falling in heavy droplets, smacking my face without mercy.

  We both collapsed from exhaustion, watching as people above started to panic, not realizing I had been saved by the most unlikely of rescuers.

  I was weak. Utterly defenseless and my chest was still on fire. The woman knelt over me and let her magic pierce through her palm once more. She whispered a few words I didn’t recognize as she shut her eyes. Then she made a familiar L shape with her hands and pointed them directly at me. The burning started to calm down. The scratches no longer ached. And I could see clearly.

  I didn’t know how. I didn’t know why. I didn’t know anything so it seemed. But somehow, Georgeanna Carson was standing directly over me, forcing Emily’s spirit to abandon my body. I felt Emily’s essence lift from my limbs. Her spirit sat up as though she had been lying right on top of me. Or inside me. Lurking like a virus that wanted to take complete control of every single cell in my body. Then Emily got up, turned into a pillar of black smoke, and wafted away. Her form was rotted. Corrupted. And deformed. It wasn’t the Emily I knew. Her spirit had become a croxa. An unsettled ghost who haunted this realm. Who haunted me. And refused to let go of what happened to her when she was alive. And maybe she never would.

  Once she was gone, Georgeanna opened her eyes and sat down beside me.

  “Running away was never going to work, you know,” she said with a hint of a Scottish accent. One she had obviously tried to abandon. I could still hear it in certain syllables. “I should know. I tried for many years.”

  A light flashed behind me and I had the same feeling of free falling then being sucked away that I was ashamed to think had become familiar to me. I didn’t care where she was taking me. Only that the pain in my chest was gone. Along with the knowledge that I wasn’t going to drown. Clearly, death had something much more interesting in store for me.

  Half an hour later I was sitting in a rocking chair facing an electric fireplace with a red flannel blanket wrapped around me. The fire burned in the corner as I nervously rocked the chair back and forth, unable to tear my eyes away from the woman pacing to and fro across the tiny apartment. The woman who looked exactly like me.

  “No, don’t come around just yet,” Georgeanna spoke on the phone. “Give us time to talk.” She rolled her eyes and interrupted the voice on the other end of the line. “I will decide what to tell her. She’s in my hands now. And if you show up here before she’s ready to come back, you know exactly who I’m going to tell and what they are capable of doing. Don’t you?”

  She sounded so firm. So confident. So like me only when I got really angry.

  I could hear Tobias fuming on the other end of the line. Georgeanna started talking to him as if they were old friends. As if they had been in contact several times before. Then the conversation slowly descended into talking in code and various levels of irritation. I was left with nothing but a myriad of questions running through my mind. Along with pent-up anger. Tobias seemed to know everything. Even that Georgeanna was alive. He kept it from me. Everyone wanted to keep things from me. It was a never-ending cycle. Would Georgeanna be the same way? Would she explain things through a filter that would only allow me to understand half the puzzle?

  Once she ended the call, she disappeared into the small kitchen and returned with two steaming cups of tea. The smell was one I instantly recognized. It was the smell of the tea leaf Nathaniel had given to me to help calm my nerves. The same one Tobias slipped into my morning coffee to tame my nervous knots about the trial. She placed it before m
e. I hesitated to take it but eventually gave in. She watched as my hand shook, wrapping my fingers around the mug handle with caution. As if I was being handed something by a ghost. Which for all I knew, she very well could be.

  I was still a bit chilled even though she had the heater going full blast along with the fire. It wasn’t entirely from the cold though. Or even from seeing Georgeanna. I had nearly met my death for the third time in the span of a few months. It was becoming a regular occurrence. One I wanted to stop and I knew wasn’t going away any time soon. As long as the Catach-Brayin were involved with my life, the danger would be constant. And even when I tried to get away from them apparently. Now that I had a croxa haunting me.

  Georgeanna didn’t seem at all phased by me staring at her. Not with fascination for how we looked exactly alike. Nor how she managed to save me from the water or even how she knew I was in danger. But because I had the strangest sense of deja vu that I ever experienced. It was nothing like having a vision or feeling my magic course through my veins, begging me to let it out and finally getting impatient with me. I had seen her before. And not just in a mirror. Her aura, her essence, the emotions radiating from her body. They were familiar to me. Had she been in my life before and I just didn’t know it? Had she watched me like Nathaniel did for my family over the centuries?

  She sat down on a footrest near my feet with a towel draped over it. We were both still dripping wet. She offered me fresh clothes but I refused. All I wanted was to sit down. To watch her. Allow the shock to slowly wear off even though I knew that could take days.

  I opened my mouth to speak. She waited expectantly. I shut it and finally decided to break the awkward silence between us. “How are you alive? Does Nathaniel know?”

  “No, he doesn’t,” she said solemnly, taking a sip of the tea and placing it daintily on her knees between her hands.

  “But Tobias does?”