The Lost Witch
The Coven: Elemental Magic Book One
Chandelle LaVaun
Wanderlost Publishing
To the person who started me on this journey, without you I never would’ve believed I could do this…
Candace, this one is for you.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
THE BRAVE WITCH: Chapter One
About the Author
Chapter One
Tegan
“Please tell me this is not the spot. Please tell me right now.”
I looked up from the paper in my hand. “According to your map, this is the spot.” I threw my hand over my mouth and turned my head, hoping to hide the giggle slipping past my lips. In reality, nothing going on around us was comical.
The air was damp and thick. The night’s black sky looked almost gray. Every few seconds, a cold chill trickled down my spine like I was being watched. But when I glanced back, I only saw fog reaching out for me like fingers in the air. Behind me was suffocating blindness. I couldn’t even see our car in the parking lot.
“Seriously, you’re laughing?” Bettina’s voice trembled. “We can’t even see our feet right now, and you think this is funny?”
“I don’t have five-foot long legs like you. I can’t even see my knees.” I turned back and grinned at my best friend, trying to lighten the mood. I didn’t want any rain on my parade.
She shook her head, and her short blonde bob swayed wildly around her face. The whites of her eyes all but swallowed her baby blues. “I’m worried about you, Bishop.”
I’m worried about me too. But it was five minutes into my sixteenth birthday, so I was allowed to be slightly out of my mind. Right? Right.
In front of us, across the dirt road, the path was barely visible between the overgrown trees. The entrance looked like a black hole ready to suck me in. I took a shaky breath and tried to prepare myself to go forward. Now that I was here, my courage flickered, but Bettina didn’t need to know. I was going no matter how freaked out I felt.
I zipped my favorite black hoodie up all the way to my neck. It might’ve been a tad warm, but I needed the comfort it gave me.
“It’s never this creepy in July,” Bettina whined and wrapped her arms around her body.
I grinned. “You think this is creepy, wait till we get there.” I’d heard stories about The Gathering since I was a little girl. I’d spent months planning this night… Nothing was going to stop me now. Not even the little voice in my head saying this was a bad idea.
“But I would’ve thought other people would be here too…” Bettina glanced over her shoulder. “It’s only five minutes past midnight. How is there no one else?”
I frowned. No one else? That didn’t seem right. Although there wasn’t anyone standing around us. I frowned and glanced over my shoulder to the parking lot drenched in fog. I hadn’t noticed before. I’d been too excited. I do now, though. The night was completely silent. No animal sounds, no car horns in the distance, no echoing voices through the woods.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, Bettina, where’d you say you got this map?”
“My friend who works at the animal shelter with me.”
Your friend. A lot of random people worked in the shelter. I should’ve asked this question before we got here. This map might be a fake, or worse, a trap. No, stop. This is Bettina you’re talking about. My best friend was the most cautious person I’d ever met. She wouldn’t have gotten the map from someone she didn’t trust. Paranoia doesn’t help anyone.
“There’s got to be more people here, right?” Bettina shuffled from one foot to another.
I took a deep breath to calm my momentary lapse of courage. Adrenaline pumped through my veins like electricity in a power cord. I wasn’t used to the rush, but I needed it to make my feet step beyond the road. My ears buzzed. The hair on my arms stood straight up. I felt…alive.
“Let’s go find out.” I clicked the button on my flashlight, and the beam skittered over the trees in front of me.
Easy, tiger. I was amped and anxious, thriving on this unfamiliar sense of energy running through my body. Every inch of my skin tingled with anticipation. Goose bumps spread like wildfire down my arms. I giggled, earning a concerned glare from Bettina who was a six-foot-tall trembling shadow beside me. I winked at my nervous bestie and stepped through the black hole within the designated trees.
I yelled over my shoulder, “Let’s roll.”
No more stalling. No more overanalyzing. I spun back around…and froze. My breath left me in a rush. Oh, um, okay. This was to be expected. I didn’t sneak out my bedroom window to back out now. If I just didn’t focus on the blackness in front of me, I’d be all right. I loved the night. This was my wheelhouse. Dad had taken me hiking my entire life, including this area of the Smoky Mountains. I had this. My senses were just on overdrive. One step at a time.
I shined my flashlight at the ground right at my combat boot-clad feet, then moved it outward to check our path ahead. I glanced over my shoulder and paused. The fog from the road seeped between the trees behind us. Ignore it.
I refocused my eyes on Bettina. “Keep an eye out. We’ve got a horizontal forest out here.”
I charged forward, trying to put enough distance between us and the car so Bettina wouldn’t want to turn back around. I knew she was terrified. My normally chatty best friend was quiet as a mouse. Even I was having a hard time differentiating the fear from the excitement.
The fog seemed to be getting worse the deeper into the woods we got. If I hadn’t brought the flashlights, I wouldn’t have been able to see the trees five feet in front of me. Leaves rustled on my left, and I jumped, shining my flashlight toward the noise. Nothing, just darkness. Probably just a squirrel, Bishop. The trees had gotten so thick and dense we couldn’t walk in a straight line.
What was that? Branches cracked off to my right, like something huge and hefty was nearby. I snapped my flashlight over. I see nothing. I cursed. The pounding of my heart in my chest thrummed in my ears. You’re in the middle of the woods. Could be anything. Wait, is that supposed to comfort me?
“Is that a cliff?” Bettina whispered in my ear.
I flinched. God, I hope Bettina didn’t notice. But why was she whispering? If there was an animal out here, it would’ve already seen us. Was she trying to freak me out? One of us had to stay strong.
I took a deep breath and shined my light on the object in question. “No, it’s just a massive fallen tree we have to climb over. Give me a push?”
Even in the pitch black of the woods, I saw Bettina’s face go white. “What! No, you can’t leave me!”
“Bettina, you’re six feet tall,” I said with the calmest voice I had. “You don’t need a push. Just help me get up on this, and I’ll wait for you.”
“Oh,” Bettina sighed. Her flashlight wobbled as she shoved it into her waistband. She crouched down and held her palms out for me to step on. “One, two, three…”
I flew into the air like a bottle rocket. My heartrate froze as I completely missed the top of the fallen tree and swan dove right over
it. “Whoaaaa!”
“Tegan!”
All of my suppressed fear poured out of me like a broken dam as I dropped face-first into nothingness, screaming like a banshee. I threw my hands out in front of me only a split second before impact. My breath left me in a rush. I grunted and grumbled as my body rolled head over feet and tumbled down a hill. I slammed full speed into a tree.
A deep masculine voice shouted in surprise, followed immediately by several high-pitched screams of terror. Somehow I was airborne again. I flipped and rolled a few more times until I landed face-first on the ground. I spit out grassy hair and mud from my mouth then rolled onto my back. A string of coughs ripped through me while I tried to breathe.
Well, that was unexpected.
“Ow!” the male voice yelled again, this time a little farther away from me.
“My bad.” I coughed again and pulled more of my own hair out of my mouth. It appeared I’d collided with a living person, or two, and not a tree. “My bad.”
“Your bad?” A shrill female voice came from nearby. “You could’ve killed us!”
“I didn’t succeed? Shit.” I rolled over to my side and groaned. “My plan was flawless.”
There were lots of unfriendly comments after that, from several voices sounding nothing like Bettina and uncomfortably close by. Bettina! My heart skipped a beat.
I scrambled to get to my knees to search for my flashlight. “Bettina!”
No answer.
I cursed. “Bettina?” I shouted loud enough to give me a sore throat.
“Tegan?” she yelled back. Her voice sounded way too far away. “I’m up here, on the tree!”
I chuckled, despite the pain shooting through my body as I stood. “You were right. It’s a cliff!”
Bettina mumbled something snarky. This time, she was right.
“Go to your right,” an unknown girl’s voice yelled out from right beside me. “There’s a path you can slide down easily on your butt.”
“Yeah, listen to the stranger’s voice,” I shouted. “I repeat, do not go my route!”
The girl beside me laughed. I could barely make out the outline of her face. “Yes, please do not go her route. That one hurt all of us.”
“Oh okay, I’m going around,” Bettina said. “Who’s down there?”
Excellent question. I shrugged in the darkness. “I don’t know, but I think I broke some of them.”
“Some of us?” another girl snapped.
“I think they’re mad, dude,” I yelled to my friend.
“You think?” a different unknown girl barked.
I whirled around. “Jeez, how many of you are there?”
“Why, you wanna tally your score?”
“Ow,” the guy repeated.
“Oh, feisty. I like it,” I said with a grin. Leave it to me to make enemies in a dark forest. “Let me find my flashlight, and I’ll apologize appropriately.”
“Well, what do you know, someone thought to bring a flashlight,” the helpful girl closest to me grumbled.
“You guys didn’t bring flashlights?” I asked. When no one answered, I whistled. Aggressive? Perhaps, but I hated when people got mad at me for obvious accidents. “Guess we’re even on stupid, avoidable mistakes, then, eh?”
The girl beside me giggled. I narrowed my eyes to try and see her face, but it was no use.
Just then, Bettina’s quiet curses rolled into the area. She pointed the flashlight up at her own face and grimaced. “‘Hike through the woods at midnight,’ they said. ‘It’ll be fun,’ they said.”
“Listen, Frodo, you’re not the one who just swan dove into a mosh pit of angry humans.” I hoisted my friend to her feet. “Now shine your light and help me find mine.”
Bettina pointed her flashlight to the ground. I spun in circles until I spotted mine a few feet away. I bounced over and snagged it, clicking it to life as I stood. The group of people I’d collided with froze like deer in headlights.
I arched my eyebrows. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
Five people stood in front of me. A tall guy with big biceps and what looked like a nasty gash on his forehead. God, I hope I didn’t do that. A girl clung to his arm with a snarl on her face and messy brown hair. Okay, I probably did that. A taller girl with short black hair and a petite little redhead both had wide eyes and white faces, like they were over the collision and refocused on the dark forest around them. I definitely understand that. Then there was a platinum blonde in brown cowgirl boots and a white sweater whose tresses reached her hips. Interesting hiking attire. She waved with a nervous smile. Ah-ha, the friendly one.
Time to make nice with my bowling pins. I stepped up to the group and shined my light on all of them. “So you guys going to The Gathering?”
“Yeah, we are.” The nice one sagged with relief.
“Speak for yourself. I sure as hell didn’t sign up for this,” the brunette clinging to the guy said. “I’m outtie. Let’s go, babe.”
“Yeah, we’ll just wait for you in the car,” he added. “Don’t die.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m responsible for that, aren’t I?”
“They only came to make out.” The nice girl sighed. “You gave them an excuse.”
“Okay,” I said while trying not to laugh. I shined my light on my best friend. “So…this girl here behind me chewing her fingers off is Bettina.”
“Hi,” Bettina said quietly.
I turned my light to my own face and smiled what I hoped was a completely normal, sane-person smile. “I’m Tegan.”
“Megan?”
“No, Tegan. With a T,” I said, still grinning from ear to ear. I couldn’t help it.
“I’m Emersyn,” the blonde said with a smile and a nervous wave. “This is Tiffany and Mia.”
Each of her friends waved when she said their name.
“Well, I hope you’re as excited as I am for this.” Thunder rolled above us. “We’ve got a map and flashlights if you’d like to follow us?”
“Thank you. That would be awesome,” Emersyn said with a relieved smile.
After twenty minutes of tripping and fumbling in the dark, I finally saw the hint of an orange glow flickering up ahead. I took a deep breath and inhaled the smell of burning wood. If I concentrated hard enough, there was a low rumble of voices nearby. We had to be getting close. I bit my lip and tried to stay calm. After months of planning and waiting, it was finally within my reach. My whole body tingled and buzzed with wild, anxious energy. After a few more steps, I couldn’t take it any longer. I tightened my grip on my flashlight and charged forward in a sprint.
I gracefully glided over broken branches and around bushes until I rounded a huge tree and spotted the actual opening. I slid to a halt. My heart did somersaults in my chest. I leaned against a tree, gasping for air. “I found it.”
A few seconds later, Emersyn appeared in my peripheral vision. She exhaled. “Whoa, you found it.”
About three feet in front of us was a huge clearing in the woods. From a bird’s eye view, it would look like those markings in cornfields people claimed were done by aliens.
“Isn’t it incredible?” I asked without looking away.
“Wow,” Emersyn whispered. “How did we not hear this from the parking lot?”
“I know, right?”
There had to be at least a hundred people, probably more. Several bonfires burned all at once, flickering across people’s faces as they laughed and danced. There were no artificial lights, only the fires and moon above. It was primitive and natural, like stepping into a time machine.
“It’s probably late to ask this,” Emersyn said with a chuckle. “But what’s the story behind this Gathering party?”
“Urban legend says on this night, some unknown tribe was slaughtered in a battle against the witches fleeing the Salem witch trials in 1692. Since then, this land has been cursed.” I shrugged. “Most people use it as an excuse to party and tell ghost stories.”
“
Oh…” Emersyn mumbled.
“I know. Let’s get in there,” I whispered. I glanced over my shoulder to grin at Emersyn. Just behind her, Bettina and the other girls stepped into the clearing with their jaws dropped.
I took a step forward. Then another, and another. I knew I needed to stop and talk to Bettina to make a plan. To see if she’d calmed down and what she wanted to do…but I couldn’t stop my feet from carrying me forward. I was compelled, by what I had no idea. There was some kind of force pulling me in, like an invisible hand reaching out and yanking me in. My body moved on its own volition.
The fog surrounded the clearing like some force field hovering on the edges, waiting for a sacrifice. Lightning cracked across the night sky. Directly above us, the sky twinkled with little diamonds, but over the trees were thick, thunderous clouds. It looked like the fog was seeping upwards and pouring into the sky.
It was creepy as hell, and I absolutely loved it. My attention snapped left to right, right to left as I tried to soak in every detail at once. I felt my lips curl into an involuntary smile. I reached out to my sides and tugged on Bettina’s and Emersyn’s sleeves. A group of strangers shouted as they passed drinks around and danced in circles.
“Amazing,” I mumbled, mesmerized by the firelight.
We’d walked to the center of the clearing in the middle of all the bonfires. A few feet in front of us were large cauldrons that people ran up to and dipped their cups inside. There were people in long robes, cloaks, girls barefoot in maxi dresses with flowers wrapped around their foreheads like vines, and a whole lot of folks dressed in all black. The whole thing felt so…so…fantastical. Is that even a word?
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