Witch in Exile (A Mackenzie Coven Mystery Book 7)

by Sonia Parin

  “Surprised?” Morgause asked.

  Lexie managed to swallow the hard lump that had lodged in her throat.

  “Yikes,” Luna mentally yelped. “I can see her now.”

  Smiling, Morgause swung away from Lexie and strode around the ballroom, darkness sweeping around her like a cape. “I believe I can help you.”

  “I doubt it. I have all the help I need.” Lexie felt Luna clamber up to her head and squabble with Rebel for space.

  “You are not happy with your lot in life,” Morgause continued. “Your powers and position are a burden to you. You feel trapped by your responsibilities and by the curious nature of your destiny. You are becoming someone you never wanted to be. That’s why you turned your back on it all.”

  Lexie wished she could remember the truth. As far as she knew, she’d simply wanted to attend a regular school. Hang out at the mall. Stay out late with her friends.

  Lexie’s gaze dropped. Were those real memories or fake ones? “I saw you.” She frowned at her statement.

  Morgause sighed.

  “I saw you,” Lexie said louder. Her hand itched. Warmth poured through her, shot down her arm and surged through her fingers to form a fireball. “You killed him.”

  Morgause swung around and faced her. “I see. It’s coming back to you. All these years, you managed to suppress the memory. Or did you? How can you be sure what you remember is real? They did this to you. They took everything from you and now they want everything from you.”

  She had to be talking about the Coven.

  “I’m offering you the life you always wanted. This is your chance to step away. From one moment to the next, it could all be yours and all this will fade to nothing.” Morgause stretched her hands out. “It’s all too much for you, Alexandra Elizabeth Mackenzie. It was never meant to be yours to begin with.”

  Her powers. Morgause wanted her powers.

  Lexie stood firm, the fireball hovering just above the palm of her hand. She looked at it as if surprised to see it there.

  “It’s all too much for you,” Morgause insisted. Her voice filled the ballroom. “I can see you’re surprised. It’s more powerful than you and you cannot control it. If you don’t stop it now, it will control you. It will take over your life. The most powerful witches in the history of the Mackenzie Coven have bestowed it upon you. Will you let the curse enslave you? Once it takes a hold of you, there will be no walking away from it. Ever.”

  Lexie closed her eyes and grappled with uncertainty. She had to remember. The truth had weaved its way into her mind. She’d spoken it a moment ago. What had she said?

  When she opened her eyes, she saw the remaining blanket of darkness around her waft toward Morgause and settle at her feet.

  “Is that absolutely necessary?” Morgause asked, her eyes dropping to the fireball hovering above Lexie’s hand.

  Lexie looked at it with curiosity. She hadn’t willed it. What if she didn’t have any control over it? What if someone else controlled it?

  “You want my powers?” Lexie asked.

  Morgause strode toward her. Her eyes softened. “You will thank me. It’s what you want. What you’ve always wanted. Think about it. You will be released from everything that is holding you back. You can be free.”

  Free to do what she wanted? To lead a normal life. Lexie experienced a flashback to those ten years she’d spent doing exactly what she wanted. She’d been happy. Carefree. If she could pick up where she’d left off…

  Luna wouldn’t be there.

  Nor would Rebel.

  “If you don’t act now, it will only get worse for you,” Morgause said. “Soon, there will be nothing left of the person you wanted to become. The person you were during those carefree years.”

  “I can have that again if I relinquish my powers?” Lexie asked.

  Morgause gave her a warm smile. “None of it ceases to exist. It needs to pass on to someone else.” She stretched her hands out. “To me. I’ll keep it safe.”

  “And what will you do with it all?” Lexie’s voice remained conversational while she delved into her mind and tried to scour her way through the memories she had. Those ten years she’d spent away from the Coven filled her with joy. Smiling, she pushed past it. Beyond it all, she could sense the life she’d now embraced. “What will you do with all that power?” Lexie asked again.

  “I will use it to take my rightful place.”

  Lexie frowned and again tried to remember what she’d said a moment ago. What had it been?

  “If you don’t act now it will end badly for you,” Morgause warned.

  If she’d been able to take her power, she would have done it by now. “How exactly does it work?”

  “You said it yourself.” Morgause shrugged. “You relinquish it.”

  “How can I give up something I don’t quite understand?”

  “It’s already taking a hold of you.” Morgause stared at Lexie’s hand. “Look. You didn’t will that fireball into being.”

  “I think we’ve heard enough,” Luna purred.

  Morgause’s gaze lifted. Her eyes narrowed. Her eyebrows lowered.

  Lexie fought the urge to step back. “The two of you, disperse now,” she whispered. She felt Luna leap off her head. From the corner of her eye she saw Rebel hover away.

  “I see. You have come ready for battle.” Morgause appeared to grow taller.

  Something had happened years before, something so dreadful she’d wanted nothing more to do with magic and she’d walked away from it all.

  Morgause roared, “Decide now.” Even as her words echoed throughout the ballroom, her hands lifted and rays of darkness shot out of her.

  “Duck,” Luna yelled.

  Lexie drew her arm back but before she could fling the fireball, the darkness that had shot out of Morgause enveloped her fireball and tore it from her hand. Morgause laughed. She tossed the fireball in her hand and flung it at Lexie at the same time that Luna took a giant leap.

  Lexie screamed. “No.” Time seemed to slow down. She watched the fireball hurl toward her. “Luna,” Lexie screamed, but it was too late. The fireball made contact with Luna, throwing her little body across the room. In that split second, Lexie had to decide. It almost became too much for her. Torn between wanting and needing to rush to Luna’s side and the need to deal with Morgause… Another roar loosened inside her and gathered momentum. She wavered for a second.

  She saw Rebel fly past her and throw herself at Luna’s limp body.

  Straightening, Lexie stretched her hands out and released the roar that surged from deep within her. Whatever shot out of her hands enveloped Morgause and dove right inside her.

  Lexie clenched her hand. She felt the power that continued to shoot out of her grab hold of something deep within Morgause.

  Morgause’s essence.

  Gritting her teeth, Lexie tightened her hold and pulled, wrenching Morgause’s essence out of her. She couldn’t think of Luna now, and she couldn’t stop thinking about her. Lexie used the rage she felt to secure her hold. Focusing on nothing else now, she released herself to the elements.

  In an instant, Morgause’s legs wobbled and she collapsed.

  A pitch-dark sphere hovered in front of Lexie, held in place by the force still emanating from her.

  “Slacker,” Lexie whispered.

  He instantly appeared by her side. “I’ve got it.”

  Releasing her hold, Lexie stumbled back and somehow scrambled toward Luna.

  Rebel shook her. “Wake up you mangy cat. Wake up.”

  Luna’s lifeless body didn’t respond.

  Rebel pulled her whiskers. “She’s supposed to have nine lives. Why isn’t she waking up?”

  Lexie saw the flesh wound and knew there’d be little to no chance of Luna walking away from that.

  “Do something,” Lexie whispered. “You’re a fairy. You’ve got magic.”

  “I’ve already tried everything I know.” She held a little pouch and tipped it upsi
de down. “It’s all gone. I’ve used it all.”

  “Slacker,” Lexie yelled even as she heard him call on the O’Rourke Group. A hundred of them descended upon them like a tsunami. There but not really there. They surrounded the dark sphere that had once been Morgause and carried her off.

  Slacker turned to Lexie, his eyes downcast. “There’s nothing I can do.”

  Lexie couldn’t breath. She lifted Luna’s limp little head.

  “Try pulling her tail,” Rebel suggested, her voice quivering. “She doesn’t like that.”

  Lexie shook her head. Luna had said it would take a powerful witch to kill all nine lives and she’d been hit by Lexie’s fireball and also by whatever Morgause had thrown at her.

  The elements. She could call on the elements. Surely they could combine to heal her. She set Luna down gently but then she heard a moan.

  Lexie leaned closer. It sounded like Luna. “Luna?”

  “Yes? Oh, dear… What’s happened to me?”

  Luna’s little body didn’t stir.

  “Um… Lexie,” Slacker said and, drawing her to her feet, pointed at the lifeless body that had once been Morgause.

  She was stirring.

  Lexie ground her back teeth. “That can’t be.”

  Morgause got up. “Whoa. I feel dizzy.” She turned to look at her back. “Yikes. Where’s my tail? Where’s my tail?”

  “Luna?”

  Morgause blinked at her and then patted herself. “I’ve lost my tail.”

  “Luna?” Lexie looked at Slacker. “Is that possible?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve no idea.”

  “Luna,” Lexie snapped. “Get back into your body right this minute.”

  “Pardon?” Morgause… or rather, Luna patted herself. “Oh… Oh my goodness. What am I doing here?”

  “You were hit by the crossfire.”

  “Hang on. Are you saying I’m dead?”

  “No. You’re in Morgause’s body.”

  Luna screeched and launched into one of her frenzied sprints around the ballroom. “I can’t be in this body.”

  When she stopped, Lexie said, “Get back into your body right this minute, missy, or so help me I will wring your neck.”

  Luna blinked and held up a finger. “I sense something in here. It’s really strange. Give me a minute.”

  “You don’t have a minute to waste. What if you can’t get back into your body?”

  “I’m not… I’m not alone here.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lexie bellowed. She heard Luna yelp.

  “I think she’s coming back,” Rebel said and pulled Luna’s whiskers.

  Luna yelped again, her lifeless body sprung alive. She got up and swirled around. “My tail. My tail. Is it there? Oh, thank goodness. I have it back.”

  Lexie scooped her up and hugged her. “What happened to you?”

  Luna’s breath came hard and fast. “I think the shock wrenched me out of my body. I felt myself flying across the room and next thing I knew I was inside her body. How do you walk around in those things? And without a tail?”

  Lexie smiled and wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye. “I manage.”

  “Um, Lexie.” Slacker nudged her.

  Lexie looked over at Morgause’s body. She was still standing. “Luna. You said you felt something inside her. Was it Morgause?”

  Rebel reached for her bow and loaded an arrow. “I’ve got her.”

  “No. It’s not her. But there’s definitely someone else in there.”

  They all stared at Morgause’s body. Whoever was in there was just as mystified as Luna had been a moment before.

  They all watched her patting herself as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

  “Identify yourself,” Lexie demanded.

  “Lexie?”

  Lexie gasped. Her legs gave way and she fell on her butt. The voice, so familiar… She hadn’t heard it in so long. Ten years to be exact.

  Lexie gestured with her hand. “Put the bow down, Rebel.”

  “Lexie,” the familiar voice said.

  “Dad?”

  Epilogue

  “You live in a closet?” Rebel asked.

  Out of habit, Lexie rubbed her butt. For the first time since she’d learned to travel she hadn’t landed with a hard thud or if she had, her chain mail dress had broken the fall.

  Luna laughed. “She’s a country bumpkin. This is the city. We live in an apartment.”

  Rebel hovered toward the closet door. “I thought all witches were supposed to live in forests close to nature.”

  “We have parks and Lexie sometimes buys flowers and displays them in vases.”

  Rebel sneezed.

  “Oh, and she doesn’t care much for cleaning so the place tends to get a bit dusty. We all have to pull our weight. Your chore will be to clean.”

  Lexie stretched her foot and kicked the closet door open.

  “Are we going to talk about what happened?” Luna asked. “Personally, I think we should wait until we have a session with Dr. Mercedes Shrink. Everything you experienced could leave you scarred for life and you might take it all out on me.”

  Lexie chuckled. “I’m fine. It’s just another day at the office for me.” Lexie sighed. Cat had been right after all. She had experienced something so traumatic, she’d blocked everything out of her mind. Then again, she couldn’t be sure. For all she knew, the Coven had been responsible for wiping her memory and, from experience, she knew they would never own up to it.

  Luna strutted out into the sitting room. “Your evil aunt killed your dad and hid his essence within her. Now she’s been taken into custody again and he’s been left inhabiting her body, which just happens to resemble your mom. Does that mean you have two moms now and how will your dad adjust to living inside the body of the woman who killed him? I have a sudden hankering for popcorn. This is better than a soap opera.”

  Rebel hovered around the small apartment. “I’ve heard of those. Where’s the TV?”

  “And where is he going to live? Not here,” Luna declared. “There’s barely enough room for the two of us and now you’ve taken in a fairy.” She shook her head. “The kitchen cupboards are full of my food. There is no spare room here. I’m going to check to make sure my Game Indulgence is still all accounted for.”

  “Relax. It’ll be ages before the Coven figures out what to do with my dad.”

  “And we already have enough to contend with.” Luna chased Rebel away from her little chaise lounge. “Rule number one. This is my couch and I’m the only one allowed on it.”

  “Where am I going to sleep?” Rebel asked.

  “There’s a soap dish in the bathroom. That should be small enough for you,” Luna suggested.

  The front door opened. Jonathan and Octavia strode in. “Oh, you beat us back.” Octavia set down a large grocery bag. “I have fresh blueberries for Rebel.”

  Jonathan held up a pizza and a six-pack. “After what you’ve been through, we thought you’d enjoy some pampering.”

  “Thank you.” Lexie shook her head and peered inside the grocery bag. “Is everyone else where they’re supposed to be?”

  Octavia nodded. “Mirabelle sends her apologies. She would have loved to catch up with you but she has a mess to clean up at Mackenzie Hall. Slacker had to return too. Whip said he’d try to catch up with you but he’s sure you need some space.”

  “Space? How about a month without a word from anyone? I like the sound that. Present company is, of course, excluded or is it exempted? You know what I mean. You’re welcome to come here so long as you don’t bring me anything to do with the Coven.”

  Octavia bit her lip and exchanged a look with Jonathan. “A month? Okay. I suppose it can all wait until then.”

  Lexie raked her fingers through her hair. “Hang on. What about Morgana? My mom… Is she okay?”

  Again, Octavia exchanged a look with Jonathan. Then, she nodded. “She’s fine and… She’s trying to figure out ho
w to explain her absence.”

  Lexie sighed. “She knew. All this time, she knew about my dad.” Lexie put her hands up. “Fine. Whatever. Hang on.” Lexie frowned. “When you said the old Oak tree had filled me with the wisdom of the ages, what exactly did you mean?”

  Octavia shifted and blushed. “Sorry. I knew I had to say something to you. You were about to walk into a dangerous situation and it was all I could think of saying.”

  “You made it up?”

  Octavia gave her a nervous grin. “You’re wise. I mean… You always sort of know what to do.”

  “Fine. Whatever. The embargo on official business kicks in right now. Where’s that pizza?”

  * * * * *

  I hope you enjoyed reading Witch in Exile

  If you really enjoyed the story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon!

  Lexie, Luna and their new companion, Rebel, will next appear in Witch Fairy Tale

  If you’d like to receive news about the next Mackenzie Coven Mystery, please subscribe to my newsletter or to check out new releases, visit soniaparin.com or drop in on Facebook or Twitter.

  A Mackenzie Coven Mystery (Paranormal Cozy Mysteries)

  Witch Inheritance

  Witch Indeed

  Witch Cast

  Witch Charm

  Witch Trials

  A Mackenzie Coven Mystery Collection: Witch Namaste, Good Witch Hunting & ‘Tis the Season to be Creepy

  Witch in Exile

  A Deadline Cozy Mystery (Contemporary Cozy Mysteries)

  Sunny Side Up

  Snuffed Out

  All Tied Up

  The Last Bite

  Final Cut

  Sleeping With the Fishes

  A Dear Abby Cozy Mystery (Contemporary Cozy Mysteries)

  End of the Lane

  Be Still My Heart