“Sorry, Monica, we won’t take up too much of your time,” Uncle Kessler said.
“The Coven may take as much time as it needs.” Monica smiled but her silver eyes grew sharper with every second we all stood there in her garden. “What can I do for The Coven?”
I looked down at her left arm, hoping to see a black V on her skin, but of course she had a cardigan covering her. I wasn’t even sure if we’d be able to see the Mark yet if it was there. Hell, mine had been on my skin the day I was born apparently, and we only just saw it a few days ago.
“Monica, we need to…ask you a question.” Tennessee looked over his shoulder and waved me forward. His eyes burned with fire when our eyes met. A faint pink flush covered his neck and cheeks. Everyone else probably assumed it was stress, but I liked to think it was me. He cleared his throat. “High Priestess, please show her.”
I nodded and stepped up beside him. Heat radiated off of him in waves, and it took everything in me to ignore it. In my peripheral vision, I saw my father and Uncle Kessler move backward to stand with the rest of the group. I wasn’t sure why or what told me to do it this way, but I dropped to my knees at Monica’s feet and raised my hands into the air. The Hierophant’s locket glistened in the sunlight.
“Monica Tarbell,” Tennessee said with a firm voice and a smile. Just like the last time, he used his magic to lift the locket into the air. It hovered in front of Monica’s face. “The Coven presents to you the Hierophant’s locket in hopes that it’s magic and power has selected you.”
I held my breath…waiting. Please be right. Please be right.
Monica’s eyes widened in shock. Her face paled a few shades.
We’re wrong. But it was too late to take the words back, and I wasn’t fast enough to stop her from reaching out and taking the locket into her palm.
When the ancient necklace touched her skin, vibrant red and purple sparks shot out of the locket like lightning. The air around it shimmered and swirled like a mirage in the desert. But that would’ve meant the locket was hot.
Fire! I gasped and scrambled to get to my feet just as flames burst from within the locket. I threw my hands out to swat it out of Monica’s hands, except Tennessee was faster. A black blur leapt in front of me and smacked the necklace out of her hands. The ancient golden jewelry slammed into the bricks on the ground a few feet away.
But it was too late.
The flames had already touched Monica’s skin and raced up her arm. Within the flash of a second, faster than I could blink, Monica’s entire body was engulfed in a raging fire. My Coven-mates screamed and rushed forward in a panic to try and save her, but the flames seemed to have a mind of their own. They attacked each new person who got close.
Tennessee cursed. A hurricane-level wind ripped through the garden, knocking over several people and plants—except Monica’s fire raged on.
NO! I reached down inside me and called on my magic, summoning it to the surface. Raw, wild energy filled my veins like electricity. I threw my hands out to the pool and pulled the water toward us. A miniature tsunami of my making crashed down on the garden, yet somehow the flames grew brighter and taller.
I cried out, “MONICA!”
If she were screaming, we couldn’t hear her.
A bright golden light blew by me and tackled Monica to the ground. The flames simmered enough for me to see a wild mane of blonde hair flying in the breeze from within the fire.
Emersyn. My stepsister straddled Monica and threw her hands into the air. The flames jumped off of Monica and raced toward Emersyn. Fire wrapped around her French-manicured fingernails and danced along her fair skin. She took a deep breath, and the flames flew to her open mouth. Emersyn inhaled the fire like it was oxygen, leaving nothing but white smoke in its wake.
I sank to my knees and stared. Emersyn glanced over her shoulder at me. White smoke billowed from her mouth and nostrils, like a fire-breathing dragon. Her champagne eyes shined brighter than the sun for a moment then simmered back down to their normal color. Though there was a golden sparkle in them I wasn’t sure would ever leave now. For a second, I caught a glimpse of the power inside our Empress, but then it was gone, leaving only my terrified stepsister.
I grinned and held my hand out for her. She took it and sank to the ground beside me.
Our Coven rushed to Monica, pulling her up off the ground. Somehow, in a miraculous moment, the fire hadn’t scorched her to ashes. Her skin was red like she’d gotten a sunburn, but there wasn’t a single burn.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Monica said between coughs. Her silver eyes were wild and her blonde hair was frizzed out of control. Someone reached down and took her hand, but she winced and snapped it back. “My hand…”
I jumped back to my feet and ran to her. “Let me see?” I wasn’t sure what compelled me, but I had to see her hand.
Monica nodded and uncurled her fingers. I gasped and leaned in closer. There, burned into her palm like she’d been branded, were the black lines of a pentagram. It was the exact size and shape as the one on the locket. The necklace had burned its mark into her skin. I dropped her hand and stepped back.
This is our fault. We did this to her. We’d been so optimistic about our selection too. It made sense. Power in blood comes with a price. Kenneth had to be right. It had to mean family. But Monica wasn’t the right one. We failed. Again. We only had one more try.
The rest of The Coven tended to Monica, except me and Emersyn. We stood side by side watching what we’d done.
Hasn’t this woman been through enough?
Tennessee stepped away from the crowd and walked a few feet over. His face was paler than I’d ever seen, and his eyes swam with emotion I knew he didn’t want anyone to see. But it wasn’t his eyes that worried me. No, it was the tremble in his fingers. A shaken Tennessee was a sight that unhinged something inside me. I wanted to run over to him and make sure he was okay, but the air around him crackled with warning power. I had no idea what he was doing until he bent over, and my gaze followed his outstretched hand. The locket glistened in the sunlight, looking unharmed and untouched. He plucked it off the brick with his fingers and hissed a violent curse. The locket dropped back to the ground. Tennessee shook his hand. The fingers that touched the necklace were red and puffy.
Emersyn pushed by me to join him beside the locket. She hesitated for a moment, then bent over…and picked it up. She clutched it tight in her fingers, then switched it to her other hand. She frowned and walked back over to me, holding the locket out for me to take it. “Here, High Priestess. This is yours to hold.”
“Emersyn, no, I…” I eyed the locket. It looked completely normal, and obviously wasn’t harming my stepsister, even though it had definitely burned Tennessee.
Emersyn grabbed my hand and pressed the locket into my palm. “You’re the Aether Witch.” She smiled and shrugged, like that was all the explanation we needed.
It probably was. I simply wasn’t sure how to process it.
The locket was actually cool to the touch. “Weird.” I gripped it in my palm for a moment, then shoved it back into my front pocket.
“Monica, we’re so sorry.” Uncle Kessler’s voice boomed over everyone else’s.
“Sorry?” Monica laughed and it sounded like little birds chirping. “I am honored The Coven thought I was worthy. This scar on my hand will always remind me of that and fill me with happiness.”
No one responded. I didn’t think we knew how in that moment. What was there even to say in a time like this?
“Listen, you all should know the rest of us are so proud of you guys and what you’ve accomplished.” Monica pulled off what remained of her scorched cardigan and tossed it aside. “You found the Hierophant’s locket.”
“But Libby…” Tennessee’s voice broke off.
“Libby is proud of you. She can’t speak much, but she asked me to make sure you all knew—especially those of you who went with her on the quest—she doesn’t blame you.” Monica too
k a deep breath. Her eyes filled with tears, but she held herself together. “No one blames you.”
But they will when we fail this quest. We only had one more chance to guess correctly. If we didn’t, and we failed, how could the entire witch race not blame us? The choice was ours, and we chose wrong. What would they think of us when the locket’s contents were lost forever? Would we even be able to close the gaps? Would we be able to find the original gap in Salem? My gut told me no, and so far my gut hadn’t ever been wrong.
The fact was we could not fail. We had one more attempt, and only two days to do it. Well, just over two days. So we had that much time to think through every single witch in Tampa. It was going to take hours and hours to come up with a pros-and-cons list for each witch, but it was our only option.
I sighed and looked down at my arm. My eyes widened and my pulse kicked into overdrive. “Oh my God. OH MY GOD.” Everyone’s eyes snapped toward me, but I didn’t look up. “The timer changed. It said fifty hours when we got here! Now it says eighteen!”
Chapter Fourteen
Tennessee
I stood outside the door of Libby’s room in the infirmary, bracing myself to go in. The anxiety and fear running free inside me had no place inside a sick room. She needed peace and tranquility so her body could focus on healing. Why, then, was I there? Because in the six hours since we failed our second attempt, no one was any closer to suggesting our final guess. We argued and debated, went round and round over every person in the Tampa witch community, but no one was willing to place a bet. No one wanted to be the one to make the call, in fear they’d make it incorrectly.
Someone had suggested the choice would rest on Constance and Timothy, since they were Coven Leaders. But it didn’t sit right with me. How could they guess? How could they know? They didn’t even live in the same state as these people, most of whom they’d never met. They weren’t the right people for the decision. They were only chosen as Coven Leaders because most of the Coven had just been killed.
Just go in. I took a deep breath and stepped inside the room.
Libby’s hazel eyes met mine in an instant. A smile spread across her face. “Tennessee!”
My jaw dropped. I rushed forward and sat on the bed, facing her. “Libby! You’re…you’re…sitting up?” I couldn’t believe it. Sure, her neck was still a gruesome mess and her skin held a certain sickly shade of gray, but her eyes were bright.
“I am feeling…alive for right now,” she said with a small chuckle. Her voice was raspy and weak, yet a relief to hear all the same. “My parents just ran out to get me my favorite Chinese food, and Aspen is out back picking me new flowers. I heard you presented Cassandra’s locket to my mother. I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t her. She would’ve made an amazing Hierophant.”
“We thought so too,” I whispered. Cassandra’s locket. It killed me every time someone said that, like a knife to the heart. But now wasn’t the time to grieve over my fallen friend. Not when Libby was looking better than she had since we’d returned home. “You’re healing, then?”
“I’m not so sure.” Libby sighed and leaned back against her fluffy white pillows. But before I could ask what she meant, she shook her head. “But…hope is not lost.”
Hope is not lost. An image popped into my mind without warning or permission. It was dark and a little hazy, but I saw it all the same. There was a woman knelt down in front of me with wavy blonde hair to her shoulders. She had bright green eyes that shined like diamonds in the dark. She reached up and pulled a necklace off of herself, then placed it around my head. It was an old key on a leather cord. I ran my fingers along the cold metal, which now rested between my collarbones instead of down to my stomach like it did then. In my mind, I heard her say, You are so strong, so brave. Hope is not lost…
“Tennessee?” Libby’s voice pulled me out of my own head.
“Sorry, sorry.” I rubbed my face with my hands, then stuffed my key necklace back under my shirt. “What were we saying?”
Libby narrowed her eyes and stared at me for a moment. She patted the bed beside her. “Move forward a little?”
I frowned and did as she asked, though I had no idea why she wanted me to. “Are you all right?”
Without answering me, she reached up and pulled the collar of my shirt down. I gasped and jumped backward, covering my exposed chest with my hand. But Libby chuckled and shook her head. She rested her head back against the pillows and smiled at me. Oh no. Oh, no. She knows. She’d seen it. My soulmate glyph. She’d yanked my shirt down in order to see it…which meant she’d known it was there. My pulse quickened. Beads of sweat dripped down my spine. I tried to swallow down the panic boiling inside me, but it was a volcanic eruption I couldn’t stop.
“Tegan was here, trying to help the healers.” She smiled and gave me the smallest of shrugs. “I recognized it immediately. I don’t think she knows what it is, though. But when I saw it…I just knew you’d have one too.”
My stomach rolled. “H-h-h-how?”
“Because I have eyes, Tenn. And I am the Devil. It’s in my nature to see a person’s carnal desires.” She took a deep breath then winked at me. “The second I saw the glyph, I knew she was yours. I saw the way you looked at her that night on the beach. When she was attacked, you reacted faster than I’d ever seen you move before. And that’s saying something.”
“Libby…” I wasn’t sure what I was trying to say, but I just needed her to stop talking about it. Because it only twisted the knife in my heart even harder.
However, Libby didn’t stop. “Then on our quest… Man, I don’t know how the others missed it. Maybe it was the stress? But I saw it. The way you looked at each other. The way you both rub at your chests when the other comes near. Does it really burn like the books say?”
I sighed. “Worse,” I whispered.
Libby shook her head. “I’m happy for you. I may not have shown it, but I like Tegan. I can see why she is your soulmate. You two are perfect for each other.”
I closed my eyes and cringed through the pain.
“You deserve to be happy, Tennessee. You deserve that kind of permanent love.”
“I can’t be with her, Libby.” I groaned and hung my head in defeat. There was no use playing dumb, not with the only person in the world who knew what Tegan meant to me.
“Listen, don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. But you need to stop pushing her away.”
“I’m—”
“You are, and you know it,” she interrupted. “Tegan doesn’t know the relevance of her birth, or her role in destiny. She doesn’t even know what the glyph on her chest means. All she knows is how she feels about you. I don’t have to ask how either of you feel for the other because it’s marked on your skin. If you push her away too much, what do you think will happen?”
I flinched and looked up to meet her hazel eyes. “You think…that…”
“The world has already seen what happens when a twin has her heart smashed into a million pieces, and we’ve suffered centuries for it.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “That’s exactly why she’s forbidden from dating.”
“You’re not dating her, Tenn. You’re not going to test the waters and see if maybe the two of you like each other, and then try to make it work.” She raised her hand and tapped on her own chest. “You’re not going to break her heart because it would break yours too. She’s your soulmate. She’s your forever, your eternity. She’s the other half of your soul. That is not the same as dating.”
“You really are the Queen of Temptation,” I whispered.
“I’m not tempting you, Emperor,” she whispered back. “I’m warning you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Tennessee
“Momma?” I shouted. “Momma!”
With one hand on the raft and the other raised up to the moon, she called out to the Goddess and prayed. After a few seconds, she pushed the raft into the water…and let go.
“NO! Hope!” I screamed
and ran into the river.
The ice-cold water splashed all the way up to my knees. Momma caught me and wrapped her arms around my body, holding me in place while I screamed.
My nose burned, and tears filled my eyes so much I couldn’t see. I opened my mouth and strained to breathe. I cried and wiggled, trying to get free. “Momma! Hope! Hurry!”
Momma picked me up and carried me back to the dirt. She dropped to her knees so my feet touched and our green eyes were at the same level. Hers were full of tears and kept spilling onto her cheeks like rivers. She slid her hands down to squeeze my fingers. Her hands were warm and soft. “Baby, look at me.”
“Momma, I don’t understand.”
“I’m not tempting you, Emperor,” she whispered back. “I’m warning you.”
I gasped and shot straight up. I was in my bed, and sweat dripped down my chest. It was that dream. Again. It’d been torturing me more and more with every passing day. I sighed and fell back against my bed. My heart pounded in my chest. I ran my hand over my face then pushed my long, sweat-drenched hair back. Normally I got through the whole dream, up to the point where my Mark showed up and Kessler arrived. But tonight, it was different.
Something had awoken me. Whatever it was yanked me out of the only memory I had of my life before becoming Emperor…but what was it? I sent my magic out, and like little worker bees, it traveled through the house checking for danger or duress. Yet, it found nothing.
Wait. The last line of my dream had changed. It ended with Libby’s warning about not pushing Tegan away. What if she was in trouble?
I jumped up and slammed the button to turn my lamp on. With trembling fingers I yanked the collar of my shirt down to inspect my glyph. But it looked like it had before I went to bed. I grabbed my phone and started to dial her number, needing to hear her voice to know she was okay, but then I stopped myself.
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