The Aether Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 6)
Page 5
P.S. Gabriel the Angel is coming to take the Book of Shadows back. I saw it in a vision today. I cannot stop him. When you get home, ask your brother for notes from me in the locket.
Good luck, daughter of mine.
Elizabeth Bishop.
“Tegan?”
I gasped and jumped so hard I fell back. My heart pounded in my chest like a stampede of elephants.
Henley stood in front of me. She frowned and gestured to something behind her. “Where do you want Deacon? Are you okay?”
Am I okay? No. No, I definitely was not okay. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
“Tegan? Hello?”
I blinked and shook myself. You have a fairy to summon. I licked my lips and looked behind her to where Emersyn, Tennessee, Royce, Cooper, and Leyka were carrying a very pale Deacon. “Bring him over here next to me. Emersyn, sit down so you can hold him up.”
Emersyn nodded and ran over to where I sat. She dropped to the ground and waved her hands. “Okay, give him to me. Please.”
The guys carefully carried him over to her then slowly lowered him to the ground. His back rested on Emersyn’s chest. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. He was pale. Too pale. That short walk over had cost him a lot of energy. We needed this to work.
Leyka cleared his throat. “Be careful with the Fae. They mean you every harm. I hope this works. Good luck.” He gave us one last smile then turned and sprinted out of sight.
“All right, that makes me feel worse.” Royce ran his hands through his hair. “What do we do now?”
“Okay, so I’m going to be doing all the work on this. Our magic is wonky here, because we’re not supposed to be here. We don’t know what is coming our way, so I want all of you to save your strength.” I sighed and looked at all of their faces. “We need to hurry. I can explain later, but for now, I need all of you to not speak until I say so.”
Royce plopped down beside Emersyn and Deacon. He pretended to zip his mouth shut then winked. Cooper walked over and sat beside him, directly in front of me. I felt Tennessee’s raw power radiating on my left side. I felt his eyes on me. I felt the burn in my chest because of his nearness.
I cleared my throat. “Um, Henley, can you cast a circle around us?”
“You got it.” She pushed up her sleeves and moved out of my sight.
“Perfect. Okay, let’s get this over with,” I mumbled and knelt back in front of the Book on my knees.
Althea’s warning echoed through my brain. I read over the two spells I needed to make sure I got them right, then I held my hand over the Book and transformed it back into the crystal necklace.
Henley carved a circle into the dirt with her dagger.
“Are you all right?” Tennessee whispered.
I didn’t look over to him. I didn’t want him to see anything in my eyes. It was bad enough he was feeling it in my aura. He knew something was off. He knew something had happened while he’d gone to get Deacon. I just wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. I needed to get my emotions in check.
“I cast this Circle round and round, to follow me as I walk this ground,” Henley chanted. She walked while dropping leaves onto the circle she’d drawn. “Come with us where we go today, protect us while we move through the fray.”
“Tegan?” Tennessee whispered again.
I took a deep breath then looked up into his eyes. He sat right next to me, close enough to touch without trying too hard, but far enough to not make my brother freak out. His brow was furrowed low over his eyes. His gaze was sharp.
I sighed and shook my head. “I’m okay. Just feeling anxious.”
He arched one eyebrow in question.
I found something in the Book of Shadows just now I hadn’t expected to find, I said into his mind. The others didn’t need to know this yet. Hell, neither did he, but I just couldn’t keep it from him. I’d done enough hiding and lying with him. I’ll show you later.
As Henley took the open spot between him and Cooper, Tennessee nodded.
“Everyone ready?” I asked.
They all nodded in silence.
Okay, here goes nothing.
I dug down deep into my magic and called on only my powers of Earth and Fire. I concentrated on the heat of flames and the smell of burning wood. The dirt grew warmer under my knees. Energy pulsed through the ground and into my bones. I let it grow and grow, until it filled my veins and covered my skin. Once I felt my magic vibrating in my fingertips, I pushed it out into the center of our circle. The spell danced in my mind like flickering flames of a bonfire.
“For what I seek is deep and dire, I see my words burned in fire. Smoke and ember, cinder and ash, my spell in flames from magic’s cache.”
The dirt shimmered with golden light. All of the fallen leaves on the ground hovered in the air then flew to the center of the circle. Smoke billowed from the pile.
Now, the tricky part. I took a deep breath then exhaled.
“Hear me now this sacred hour, I call upon Earth’s ancient power,” I chanted loud.
This was it. The summoning spell. Too late to turn back now. The pile of leaves dropped to the dirt. Thick, white smoke poured into the air and blocked my view of Cooper. Then the air popped like wood cracking in a fireplace. The words I’d just spoken, the spell, appeared within the smoke made up entirely of little flames.
I see my words burned in fire.
Tennessee looked to me and nodded.
“By grace and beauty, cunning and wise, a Seelie I summon before my eyes.”
For a moment, everything went eerily silent. Nothing made a sound. The words I’d spoken hovered in the air, frozen in place. Something near the ground flickered bright orange light. My heart skipped a beat. I leaned forward, staring at the ground. Victoria’s note said if the ground turned to cinder, the Fae were coming.
Come on, come on, come ON. Answer us.
Emersyn inhaled sharply.
I looked up in time to see hundreds of little orange specks floating down from the sky. The fiery words had vanished. In a flash, embers rained down on us like a summer monsoon in Florida. My Coven-mates’ eyes turned to me.
“Strike two.” I cursed and shook my head. “It means they’re not coming.”
Chapter Seven
TENNESSEE
Deacon was dying. And we had no idea how to help.
It had apparently been later in the day than we realized when we first landed in the Coven Headquarters house because the sun set while we were carrying Deacon back to Leyka’s house. Myrtle, Saffie, and Leyka tended to Deacon’s wounds. I had to hand it to them—they were trying anything and everything they could think of to save him. It wasn’t working, but it was nice that they were trying.
In the meantime, we’d eaten our first real, actual meal since…since… Well, I wasn’t sure about that. Which meant it’d been too long.
Emersyn was propped up against the wall with her legs lying over Deacon’s. She held his hand in her lap, cradled with both of her hands. She hadn’t spoken since we got back and had barely looked at anyone. The only reason she ate was because Deacon had gotten upset.
The rest of us looked through books and brainstormed new ideas for getting home. None of which were worthy of trying. It seemed like hours had passed, but the moon was still in the same spot in the sky. It’d been maybe an hour, tops. Yet we were still running out of time.
Tegan was quiet, even by her standards. Every few minutes, I caught her staring off into space. Whatever she’d read in the Book of Shadows earlier had shaken her. I wanted to ask again, to make her tell me what it was, but I had to respect and trust her. She said she’d tell me later, so I had to have faith in that.
“That’s it, I’m trying it.” Tegan jumped up from the table and stormed into the back room.
“What is she trying?” Royce grumbled, half asleep.
I frowned and scurried to follow after her. When I got in the room, she was on her knees next to Deacon’s bed. I stopped a
few feet away. “Tegan? What are you doing?”
“I’m going to give him some of my magic, just like I did for you back in the Old Lands,” she said with a soft but stern voice. “I know it’s dangerous. Katherine told me. But he’s got nothing to lose here.”
I opened my mouth to say no, absolutely not, but then I stopped. Maybe she was right. If Katherine told her the dangers of it, then I had to figure Tegan had good justification to ignore the warning. And…she did. With every hour that passed, Deacon got closer and closer to death. And we were no closer to a solution for getting home. He needed time. We needed to stall the demon venom. Her magic was the only hope we had.
I sighed. “Okay.”
Tegan nodded then turned her attention to Deacon. She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, and his eyes opened. “Hi, D. Listen, I have an idea for how we might be able to stall…this. But I want to tell you first.”
“You said it was dangerous?” Emersyn asked, her voice scratchy like sandpaper. “How so?”
“Well, I can give him some of my magic. It will be too much for his body to handle. Normally, I wouldn’t risk it on anyone because it could be fatal.” She turned to look Deacon in the eyes. “You don’t have anything to lose now. But it may give us a little more time. If you’re okay with this, blink twice. If no, look at the ceiling.”
Deacon stared at Tegan for a long second…then he blinked. Twice.
“Okay. Emersyn, I need you to make sure you’re not touching him at all.”
Emersyn’s eyes were filled with tears I wasn’t sure how she was holding in. She pulled her legs up and shimmied away from her soulmate’s body. I remembered back when I first met Tegan, when she’d gotten Witch’s Shock, and I thought I was going to lose her. I’d been inconsolable. And this was so much worse.
I crossed the room to Emersyn. When I got there, she looked up at me with big golden eyes. I reached down and took her hand in mine then squeezed. She gave me a small, tiny little smile then looked back to Deacon. She didn’t pull her hand away.
Tegan closed her eyes and rubbed her hands together. Rainbow mist filled the air. The others all rushed over to stand around the bed. We watched in riveted, terrified silence as Tegan pressed both her palms to Deacon’s chest. His body shimmered a soft red glow. Tegan pushed her magic. I felt it ripple and pulse around her. The rainbow mist coiled around his body. She held her hands there, unmoving. The red glow grew brighter and thicker. That sick, pale gray tone in his skin faded away. His purple eyes sparkled.
When she pulled her hands off, Deacon sighed like he’d had his first glass of water after being lost in the desert. His breathing evened into long, steady breaths. His pulse slowed to a normal beat. The corner of his mouth twitched, then he closed his eyes.
“I know a way to get you home,” Saffie whispered.
I gasped and turned to face her. “What?”
Saffie squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She wrapped her arms around her waist. “It is dangerous, more so than anything you’ve ever done. And it will come with a heavy price.”
“Wait, hold up.” Royce yanked on his black hair. “You know this will work? You know it will get us home?”
Saffie nodded.
My stomach turned. I did not like the look on her face.
Royce groaned. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us until now?”
“Because the consequences will be steep,” she said softly. “I was praying it would never come to this. I don’t want to do it.”
Henley frowned. “Then why are you telling us?”
“Deacon is dying. Tegan’s magic will only help him for a matter of hours, then it will start to kill him, too.” Saffie walked over to the window and stared out at the darkness. “In your time Samhain is a few days away. If you don’t get home, the whole world will perish.”
“What is your idea?” Cooper leaned against the wall beside her. “Why is it so bad?”
Myrtle sat in the chair in the corner. “Saraphina, just tell them.”
“They have exhausted all of the magic our kind is capable of,” Leyka whispered from over by the fireplace. “They are out of options. They need your magic now. The world needs it.”
I really, really didn’t like the sound of this.
Emersyn craned her neck to look up at Saffie. “What is it, Saffie? Why can only you do it?”
“Because I am half Seelie, and only someone not entirely of this realm can do this.” Saffie turned and leaned her back against the wall. She looked to each of us, like she wanted to make sure we were paying attention. “I can summon the Time Demon, Cronos.”
Royce’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I can summon the Time Demon. Cronos. You will then have to bargain and trade for your safe return home. It will cost you, and we’re not talking about your memories anymore.” She sighed. “I can’t predict what you’ll be forced to sacrifice, but if you agree, you will be sent home to your time October 27, 2018.”
“There is really no other option at this point.” Leyka turned and pointed to Deacon. “He will die, probably within twenty-four hours if you don’t do this.”
“If you don’t do this, the demons will win anyway, and we’ll all die.” Myrtle stared at the wooden floor. “Which apparently consists of the three of us as well.”
Tegan laid her head on the bed. We have to do this. You know that, right? she said into my mind.
I did know that. I knew all of what they’d just described. Deacon’s swift death. The demon’s victory. Our lack of options. I’d never heard of a Time Demon, and I certainly hadn’t heard of anyone summoning it to ask favors, so I had no concept of what our price would be…but I knew Saffie was right. It would be steep. I just wondered who would end up paying the price.
Cooper cleared his throat. “Well…what do you say, boss?”
Everyone in the room turned to look at me with wide, expectant eyes. I couldn’t tell them it wasn’t my call. Not anymore. Timothy had already fallen. My Coven had spoken up enough times to know I was going to be made Leader of The Coven. But it was this part of the job, the part that required the hard calls that made me not want it. I didn’t want to be the one who decided the fate of my friends’ lives, or the fate of the world.
I hated the pressure.
But now it was all mine to deal with.
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s summon the Time Demon.”
Chapter Eight
TEGAN
“I don’t understand,” Royce said after several minutes of walking in silence. “Why don’t we need Deacon here with us?”
“Because powerful demons want to torture us, to draw out our pain as long as possible,” I answered. “And the price will be steep.”
“This is only going to be the discussion, where the demon tells us the price we’ll pay. Then he’ll want us to go home and stew over it all day. It will be the cherry on top of his sundae of misery.” Henley looked up at the night sky peeking through the trees. “He’ll relish the fact we’ll have to stew over it for a while.”
Cooper, who was walking in front of us by Saffie, looked over his shoulder with a frown. “And how do you know this?”
Memories flashed through my mind in rapid speed. Flames of red that smelled of flesh and blood. Black smoke that slithered through my hair and whispered in my ears. The screaming and crying of lost souls trapped within the darkness, calling out for my help. Hands I couldn’t always see but felt like ice caressing my body, like I was a pet…or a toy.
A cold chill slid down my spine. I shivered and my teeth rattled against each other. It was the height of summer with temperatures in the high eighties even with the sun still beneath the horizon, but my body was frozen cold. I reached out for Tennessee, to feel the warmth and strength in his touch. Then I glanced over to Henley. She had her arms wrapped around her waist. I slid my arm around hers, pulling her close to me.
“Because we know demons,” I whispered and prayed they didn’t ask any more.
My heart beat slowed and my anxiety cooled. I took a deep breath to calm myself. We were about to summon a demon, and a pretty powerful one at that. The truth was...I was terrified. Only Henley understood the fear shaking deep down inside of me. I didn’t have to ask her either. I saw it in the paleness of her skin and tension in her shoulders. The moon dropped lower and lower the farther we got into the forest, though I doubted she was doing that intentionally.
After what seemed like forever, Saffie stopped walking. We were deep into the woods, far from the village of Salem and other Sapiens. Out here it was wild and primitive. We were cloaked in darkness. The air was warm and thick. The ground uneven under our feet. Trees towered over us, swaying in the breeze. Energy radiated out of them in little pulses. Except not all at once. It bounced around us like they were talking to each other...and it didn’t sound inviting.
I couldn’t see any animals, but I felt them. Their auras were curious...and frightened. They stalked us, watching us from just outside our visibility.
Something flashed in front of me, and I jumped, ready to fight back whatever it was. But it was just Saffie’s pink wings. They fluttered behind her back. She held her arms out to the side and pressed her palms to the trees. Soft golden light like pure sunshine poured out of her hands and into the trees. Instantly, the energy around us shifted. It was like the whole forest sighed in relief. The animals’ auras lightened and then grew farther and farther away. The trees hummed.