by Jayla Kane
“I see no indication she wouldn’t,” Tristan said, which was his polite way of saying she was such a piece of shit he wouldn’t put anything past her. “Raven told me she knew a couple of the other signers.” Jake slumped on the couch. “I would like them to come here, to meet with us, so we can tell them… Some of what we know.”
“Why only some?” I wasn’t interested in keeping people in the dark.
“We don’t know yet how many of them may be working with the Guild, or other dynasties altogether,” Tristan explained, and I whistled low, my stomach sinking. “After the Ashwood Coven was banned, the members were given the option of marrying into other dynasties—effectively realigning their powers with anyone other than the members of the Coven—or working in service to another coven or group until they died. Some of them resisted and were killed off.” He sighed. “Some of them appeared to obey and managed to become even more powerful.”
“Appeared to obey?” I tilted my head, and Tristan gave me a wan smile.
“The Warfields have married into virtually every magical dynasty in North America,” he said, “and prior to the founding of the Ashwood Coven, they were related to half of Europe and Northern Africa. They married exclusively for power.” He gave his brother a quick glance. “It’s likely related to the variety of power Jake has, and the potency we both possess. It’s unusual.”
“Nice,” Jake said, and Raven rolled her eyes for the millionth time, but I knew he was just trying to lighten her mood. It made me hate him a little less.
“The Kellers bred with humans, although half of them staged a rebellion that ended in slavery and death,” Tristan continued, and I grimaced. “The Blacks are a mystery—they aren’t marked on the founder’s stone, which is the usual reference for members of the original coven. There are several other—”
“The Hatchetts?” Raven asked; Jake scowled again, and she elbowed him.
“I’m not sure,” Tristan said, shaking his head. “My knowledge of the Ashwood Coven, believe it or not, is somewhat limited.”
“Huh,” Raven said, and when Jake was still making that grumpy face I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit.
“Which brings me to the point of asking them to join us,” Tristan said, and waved his hand, the map disappearing. “We need training. All of us—all of the descendants, everyone who is in danger. We all need to know how to fight, and how to use our magic to defend ourselves and one another.”
“Like a fucking comic book superhero team?” Zelle snorted. “Get real.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I told her, and she glared at me, her nostrils flaring. “I’m a sitting duck,” I reminded her, and she turned towards me, all five feet ready to object. I could practically read her damn mind, not that it took any special skill. “You can’t save me every time, Zelle,” I snapped, losing my patience. “I don’t give a shit that you can light a fire from a mile away. I don’t want to be stuck to your side like a barnacle just because you didn’t let me learn how to protect myself!” I was getting more emotional than I meant to, but at least it was having its effect. Raven walked over and reached out for me, but I shook off her gesture and stood up from the couch. “Let’s get real, then,” I said, staring at all of them in turn. “My power is almost completely useless, as far as I can tell, unless someone happens to already be dead. And given that Tristan has used the word ‘breeding’ on several occasions I’m not fucking interested in getting picked up by the magic police, okay?” I’m grateful I’m not a crier. I was getting more pissed by the second. “My whole life has been—” Not ruined. I couldn’t regret what happened with Hunter. I didn’t, no matter how fucked up that might be. When my eyes met his, though, I could see the pain in him. “Changed,” I finished, hoping he could read in my gaze that I wasn’t sorry about he and I, about the thing we became when we were alone; then I shoved all that away, because the stark reality around the rest of what happened was still there, glaring and painful, sharp and hard in my throat. “I want to learn how to do this crap. This magic junk, whatever it is.”
“Do we have any other options?” Jake had the same look on his face when he looked at Raven that Hunter did when he looked at me. I was glad I couldn’t read his mind. I didn’t want to feel sorry for him.
“We could choose to join another faction, rather than creating one of our own,” Tristan said, shrugging again. “Some of us could, anyway. As I said, there are several of us who—”
“Right,” Zelle said, cutting him off, her eyes shuttered. Raven bit her lip.
“Then we should start,” she said, standing up. “We need to learn how to do things like… I don’t know, like calling up some kind of map out of nowhere. And warding.”
“Easily done,” Tristan said, nodding at her, grateful Raven was taking a proactive stance.
“And ass-kicking,” I said, still standing. I crossed my arms over my chest, and to my surprise, Molly shot up beside me. “I don’t want to be caught off-guard again. Ever.”
“You won’t be,” Zelle started, but I just shook my head and ignored her. Right or wrong, she had no idea what these people were really capable of.
“Yeah. I know. If I get some help,” I told her, and she frowned, then moved to stand next to me.
“So how do we do that?” Jake was the only one still sitting down. Typical.
“We should start with basic things,” Tristan told him, then glanced around at the rest of us. “Leo will help.”
“Really?” Raven crossed her arms and cocked out her hip, her face clearly skeptical. “Because he’s such a huge fan of us?”
“Leo’s not a bad man,” Tristan said, his voice smooth. “He’s a member of the Guild, and he’s a believer, but he’s not a bad man. He won’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“Doesn’t he think we’re incapable of that? Not hurting people?” Raven seemed to trust Leo about as much as he trusted us. I wondered if she’d seen something in Tristan’s mind, then doubted it; he told her once that it wouldn’t work on him. He was immune somehow. Lucky guy. But she might have seen something in Leo’s.
“You’ll show him what you’re like, who you are,” Tristan said, shrugging as if this were the easiest thing in the world. As if we were really great people that no one should be afraid of. I smirked at the floor, hoping Raven wasn’t reading my mind then.
“Sure,” Zelle spat, and Tristan just hunched his shoulders a little harder, not looking her way.
“Well maybe you won’t,” Jake said, and she shot him a dark look which immediately made him smile widely in triumph. He was still sprawled on the couch, legs kicked out, the picture of ease. “But you’re such a cupcake, Zelle—”
“Jake,” Raven said, and he shut up.
“We can start tomorrow,” Tristan told us, continuing as if nothing had happened. “I’ll go talk to Leo now.” He started moving towards the door, then stopped and looked around at everyone. “That is, if everyone is finished. Are there more questions?”
“Duh,” Zelle snapped, but Raven just rolled her eyes at her.
“I think we’re all on the same page,” Rae told him. “I’m going to contact the people I know are on the same hit list for the Guild, and see if I can rustle up some records to find everyone at the Institute the Rose might have tried to recruit. And then we’ll…” She quirked her mouth, thinking. “We’ll do what now?”
“We’ll start training,” Tristan said, the faintest hint of a smile on his face as he watched her thinking. Jake stood up and looped his arm around her shoulders in an easy embrace as she nodded, her mouth firming into a hard line.
Tristan left the room, and Zelle apparently decided to stay long enough to tell me she thought the whole thing was stupid, that I should be home with her and Charlie, and then she and Raven started to get into it; I tuned them out when I realized Hunter was walking over. He stopped and let Molly hug him as she rushed off of the couch again, her arms out-stretched, and then I watched them talk quietly for a moment until sh
e nodded and left the room. She was going to go to school for the rest of the day, catching a ride with some friends, but I had no interest. I was taking a sick day, although Zelle said I was playing hookie.
I just didn’t want to go any more. I didn’t care about cheer, I didn’t give a damn about my classes. What the hell was I going to school for? Like I had a future, a world that involved anything other than magic and monsters? No. All that was dust.
Then I realized Hunter was standing right in front of me and all of those thoughts disappeared.
My sisters were a couple of feet away; I could see that Zelle wanted to tell him to fuck off. He took me to the place where I was hurt, and I knew she would never forgive him for it; Raven was more understanding. She seemed to have sensed enough about our relationship to leave it alone, and silently tugged on our big sister’s arm, dragging her further away so we could speak in relative privacy. I looked up at him for a second, then gestured to the couch so we could sit down together. The thought of rubbing knees with him made my cheeks heat again.
“Miss,” he murmured, his face unreadable. “I don’t think I can stay long.”
I stood up straighter, crossing my arms over my chest; his eyes were boring into mine, and I wished I could be a mind reader like Raven. Just for a second. “Okay. So… How are you?”
“Fine,” he said, as if he would ever say anything different. Hunter Black is a man of few words and even less sentiment. At least, he was with everyone else. I realized I was staring at him and took a deep breath, making myself blink. It’d been forever, it felt like, since I was able to read him with one look; we were getting so close and then--
“Hunter, I…” What the hell should I talk about? My orange hair? How stupid everything was? What?
“Would you…” He took a deep breath, and I held mine, gazing up at him from under my lashes. “Would you like to come see where I’m staying?” A few feet away, my sisters froze, both of them riveted to the spot, and I could tell they’d been eavesdropping. “I could take you—”
“Yes,” I said, grinning up at him, and it only took a second for him to grin back. “I want to. We could go right now—”
“No she can’t,” Zelle barked, marching over. “No she absolutely cannot—”
“Zella—” Raven gave me a worried look as she rushed up beside us, but she wasn’t coming to my defense, I could tell. “Can we just—”
“No, he’s going to take me where-ever the hell it is that’s not here, and it’s going to be awesome,” I said, but Hunter was staring at my sisters now, his eyes narrowing.
“Maybe—”
“Don’t you fucking dare, Hunter,” I snapped, and he wisely raised his hands and took a step back, letting the three of us hammer it out. “I’m going,” I snarled, whirling towards them again, and even Zelle looked slightly cowed. “I’m getting the fuck out of here and I’m going—”
“You have school,” she countered, and I felt my face get hot.
“Who gives a shit! Didn’t we just talk about how we’re all on some magical hit list? Maybe I shouldn’t even be going to school—”
“If that were true Tristan would’ve said so,” Raven told me, but before I could say a word Zella spun towards her, the air sizzling in her wake.
“Because fucking Tristan said so? Tristan? That’s who we’re referring to now when our family needs to make decisions?” She smelled like smoke again, but Raven just glared at her, thin lipped and narrow eyed.
“Just because you have a vendetta against him—”
“And you don’t?” Zelle was emanating heat, but both Raven and I refused to back off. “Isn’t he the reason you and your precious Jake were so—”
“Well, he and you,” Raven growled, and then I shoved my way between them, ignoring the flash of pain as my hand made contact with Zelle’s forearm. The burn faded as quickly as it took me snap my fingers in front of their faces.
“Fight about this bullshit on your own time,” I told them, and they both whirled back to me with scandalized expressions. “I’m going. I’m leaving right now—”
“I don’t think that’s a great idea, miss,” a deep, quiet voice came from behind me. This time all three of us whirled towards Hunter, who, of all of us, remained unmoved, face steady and still.
“Oh?”
“I’d like to get the cabin ready first,” he explained, his hands now carefully tucked into his pockets, countenance neutral. “Firewood, that kind of thing. Something for you to eat.”
“Well what are you eating, then,” I started, but Zelle put her hand out; I could tell from her expression that she was trying to be patient.
“Listen, I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing, but you have no right—“
“Get me out of here,” I snapped, spinning towards him again. “Now.”
“No, Baby—” Raven grabbed my shoulder and then linked her arm through Zelle’s, giving her a dark look. “Baby, listen. I know you’re… You’re going through a lot. But you shouldn’t miss school. And we don’t know where he would be taking you, or if it would be safe—”
“But I know,” I said, jerking out from under her protective touch and crossing my arms. Raven stopped short. “I know it will be safe.”
“That’s what you’re worried about, ma’am?” Hunter’s politeness took them both off-guard, and Zelle cocked her head like a dog that heard a weird noise. “That’s what you’re really worried about?”
“I’m worried because the last time you took her somewhere—”
“Jesus Zelle, shut the hell up!” I was so angry that she was right it made me absolutely furious. Raven put her hand on my shoulder, trying to soothe me, and Zelle looked defiant but thankfully stopped talking.
“I understand,” Hunter said quietly. “I—”
“I don’t have to ask you,” I said, my voice deadly as I turned on my sisters one last time. I meant every word. “I am eighteen years old. I am an adult. And I want to go.”
“Baby—”
“If I don’t go with Hunter, maybe I’ll go somewhere else,” I said, a slight undercurrent of hysteria in my voice. I was trapped in my own head, mostly, these days; Raven knew it. I was trapped in a way that I couldn’t express—wouldn’t express, most of the time, and certainly not where it would hurt my sisters. That wasn’t my job, damn it, and didn’t I resent them for it. I turned and gazed into Hunter’s eyes, imploring him. “I just… I don’t want to be here any more,” I whispered, and recognized the growing black in the center of each of his eyes. It wasn’t entirely true; it didn’t really matter where I was. I didn’t want to be me any more. That was the problem.
Raven looked stricken. She probably heard more of that than I intended.
“Look, you—”
“You can go,” Raven said quickly, talking over Zelle. My oldest sister started to speak, then shut her mouth when Raven gave her a dark look that clearly communicated something telepathically that finally got through. “You can go. But maybe we can figure out how to get ready—all of us—so that it’s not so… Sudden.”
“Two weeks?” Hunter was thinking out loud. “I’ll get the cabin ready, and that’ll give you time to—”
“Then I’m staying the weekend with him,” I said, turning back to my sisters. “I’m going on Friday, and I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon.”
“You are a high school senior,” Zelle hissed, but I just lowered my head so we were face to face, ignoring the heatwave that rippled off of her.
“Take it or leave it,” I whispered. “I’m getting the fuck out of here.”
“It’s fine,” Raven interjected. Hunter stayed perfectly still, as if he might spook us. “It’s fine. You’re right, you’re eighteen years old. Just… Just text us, okay? And Hunter, can we know where she’s going?”
“I’m sorry, but Tristan—”
He was interrupted by a loud groan from Zella, and I elbowed her. Hunter’s eyes widened for the briefest second while Raven wrestled t
he two of us apart, then waved her burned palm in the air with another glare at Zelle. “Seriously! Is that why? Because the place he’s staying belongs to Tristan?”
Zelle’s face turned pink under her freckles, and I could practically feel the air turning in to steam around her. “No, goddamnit! It’s because—”
“Enough! She’s going,” Raven snapped, and both of us were struck with a mild head-ache.
“No fair,” I mumbled, rubbing my temples. Zelle’s eyes closed as she scowled and did the same.
“Hunter can’t tell us where the cabin is in case we get picked up by the Guild and they mind meld us or some shit and find out where it is. Because Tristan basically declared war on them when Leo said they would… They would hurt you,” Raven reminded my older sister, giving us all a recap of things we already knew but Zelle chose to ignore. “So. Our precious little sister, who is now eighteen goddamn years old and a legal adult, is going to spend the weekend there with Hunter two weeks from today and will text us constantly to let us know she’s okay.”
“I’ll be fine,” I snapped. “And I’ll probably text you twice. That’s it.”
“Constantly,” Zelle growled, her eyes still closed, but I just shrugged. Raven must have hit her with more a whammy than she did me.
“Twice.”
“In the meantime, Hunter will make sure it’s safe for our precious little sister to be there. Right?” It was the tentative tone of Raven’s voice that made me look up at him again, and I knew, in that moment, that she wasn’t able to read his mind. No one could if she couldn’t.
But I could read his face, and I saw his reluctance to get between me and my sisters.
“Hunter, please,” I said, and even Zelle looked taken aback by the pleading in my voice.
“I’ll protect her,” he said, his eyes meeting my older sister’s. He dropped the ma’am, correctly deeming her too immature to warrant the respect; not that he would ever say so, and not that I would tolerate such an observation from anyone else. “No one will ever hurt her.” I heard the ‘again’ at the end of his sentence even though he didn’t say it. His eyes were cloudy, the twisting colors darkened by the severity of his mood when he thought about protecting me—and what happened when he hadn’t.
