The Lost Witch

by Chandelle LaVaun

  I nodded and slipped the locket between our clasped hands. “Right here.”

  She sighed. “I knew you would. Cassandra always said we could count on you.”

  There was something off in her voice, in her word choices. They were too calm, too sweet. Libby was our firecracker. The one who said things most people only thought. Distantly, I recognized the approach of our friends, but I kept my focus on her.

  I cleared my throat. “Where are you hurt? What happened?”

  She raised the hand I wasn’t holding and pushed her hair off her neck. Then I saw it. My stomach rolled. How did I miss that? The wound was an inch wide and ran from one ear to the other collarbone. It wasn’t a clean line, either, but was ragged on the edges. There wasn’t any blood; perhaps that was how I missed it. The gash itself was dark purple, but her skin around it was a sickly green. Her veins were navy blue and throbbed hard enough for me to count the time between each beat. Too long. Her pulse was too slow.

  “How did this happen? When?”

  Henley moved forward and sat next to her head. She took a damp cloth out of a bowl of liquid and pressed it to Libby’s forehead. “We’re not sure. She only remembers the sudden pain, not what caused it.”

  Emersyn leaned over the bench opposite me. Her face was grim. She placed a bunch of crystals on Libby’s chest. “We’ve been trying for hours to heal her, but nothing is making a difference.”

  “We haven’t tried a healing circle yet,” Cooper said from beside me. He sat on the wooden coffee table with his elbows on his knees. “We need yours and Tegan’s power for it to be worth a damn.”

  “Let’s do it now, then,” Tegan said.

  I nodded. We were going to do it, and we’d give it everything we had. I couldn’t lose another person, not so soon. “Yeah, right now.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tegan

  Libby and I hadn’t had the chance to get close. I barely knew her at all. In the time since I’d arrived at the beach party and now, Libby hadn’t been overtly friendly toward me. She’d been brave, though. And an asset on the quest. We wouldn’t have succeeded without her. Maybe there was something between her and Tennessee… Maybe she noticed there was something between him and me. There hadn’t been any clear signs. But none of that mattered.

  There wasn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do to fix the shattered expression in Tennessee’s eyes. It didn’t matter who she was to me; it only mattered who she was to him. I knew he hadn’t even begun dealing with his grief over Cassandra’s death. I knew it tortured him still. I also knew him well enough to know he’d blame himself for Libby getting hurt on this quest. So, I’d push all of my magic and power into a healing circle, if it would help.

  “Tegan?”

  I blinked and looked toward Henley’s voice. “Where do you need me?”

  She took my hand and led me to the top of a circle she’d drawn in salt on the deck. “Stand here.”

  I nodded but she’d already sped off. Libby lay in the middle of the closed circle, on a bed of red rose petals. Her legs were straight out, her hands across her stomach. My heart sank. What did this to her? Where was I? Oh God. What if I did it when I pushed the water?

  “Okay, let’s start,” Henley announced from on my left. “Everyone hold your hands out, palms touching the person’s beside you. I’ll do the incantations. I just need you all to hold still until I say otherwise.”

  I raised my palms like she instructed. Henley was on my left, and Royce was on my right. The last circle I’d been a part of had been dangerous and frightening. Part of me worried this would be a repeat. Henley’s voice was calm and warm. I didn’t recognize the language she used, but it definitely sounded like a spell.

  After a few seconds, a golden yellow glow erupted from between our palms. Unfamiliar energy tingled up one arm and down the other. We’re sharing magic. My pulse quickened. I glanced up and watched Tennessee. His eyes were dark and troubled, like he was one step from falling apart. I pushed my energy a little bit harder. I knew the moment my energy reached him because his eyes snapped up to mine. I gave him an encouraging smile. His lips curved up on one side into his trademark smirk. It wasn’t much, but I took it as a small victory.

  “Now, everyone move your hands in front of you,” Henley said. “Point them toward Libby.”

  In amazing unison, we all turned our palms toward our injured friend in the center of the circle. Baseball-sized orbs looked like giant clear Christmas lights floating in the air. They hovered a few inches above Libby’s body for a moment, then dropped down and soaked into her skin. Her body shimmered and lifted off her rose petal bed. I gasped and stared in awe. It was like that “light as a feather, stiff as a board” trick from childhood slumber parties…except better.

  “Okay, now step away from the circle.”

  I did as Henley said and stepped back from the circle, but a cold chill washed over me. I stumbled a few feet, unable to catch my balance. Royce jumped over and steadied me with his arm around my shoulder. I shivered despite the heat from his skin.

  Royce led me over to the bench. “Whoa, are you okay?”

  I shook my head and frowned. My teeth clattered together like I was sitting in the snow. “I…I…d-don’t…kn-kn-know?”

  “She used too much with the hippocampus,” Tennessee said with his velvety voice. It was rougher than usual, though. He cursed and knelt down in front of me. He took my icy hands in his. “She needed a healing circle of her own. My fault. I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. I was worried about Libby.”

  “Sh-she needed it m-more,” I said through my shivering.

  There was a bang then thumping of feet on wood. Emersyn emerged from the cabin staircase holding a fleece blanket. “Here, this should help.” She ran over and wrapped it around my shoulders.

  Cooper squatted down and looked into my eyes like he was a doctor, though I wasn’t sure what he searched for. “Can we do a healing circle for her, too?”

  “Not now.” Henley sighed and shook her head. “I pulled too much from all of us for Libby. The others will have to do it when we get home.”

  Tennessee scowled. “And until then?”

  Henley pursed her lips and eyed me. “Tegan is strong, Tenn. She’s not in danger, just weakened. She can hang on. Right, T?”

  I nodded. “Y-yes.”

  Emersyn wrapped her arms around me. “But we can give her something to help, right? Like we did for Libby?”

  “Ask and you shall receive,” Royce said with a grin.

  I hadn’t realized he’d walked away, but he’d come back with a big bowl. When my stomach growled he grimaced.

  He handed the bowl to Emersyn. “Don’t eat these. That’ll hurt. Although I’m starving too. I’ll go see if we’ve got any food on the boat.” He disappeared down the stairs.

  Cooper shook his head. “I better go help him.”

  “Here.” Tennessee let go of my hands and took the bowl from Emersyn. He sat it in my lap, atop the blanket. “Hold the bowl in your lap.”

  I looked down at the bowl in confusion. What do I do with this? It was full to the brim of clear quartz, rose quartz, citrine, amethyst, tiger eye, and a stone I didn’t know the name of but my father always called fool’s gold. I really wished it was food.

  “Put your hands in it and hold them there,” Henley said, demonstrating with her own hands. “Let their magic work through you.”

  “Oh.” My cheeks warmed. Duh. I slipped my hands inside the stones and sighed. They were cool to the touch, but somehow refreshing despite the chill inside me.

  Henley smiled. “I’m going to go sit by Libby’s circle and keep an eye on her. I need everyone to stay away so the circle’s energy isn’t altered.” She waited for us all to nod then walked away.

  “Emersyn, why don’t you go help the guys search for food,” Tennessee suggested. “Neither of them can be trusted in that department.”

  “Will you be okay here?” she asked me.

  I looked to Ten
nessee who still knelt in front of me, then back to my stepsister. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

  She nodded then took off down the stairs.

  I waited until she was out of sight to turn back to Tennessee. “Hi.” I expected him to smile.

  He didn’t. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, it clicked. “It’s okay, Tennessee. Libby needed it. I’ll rest until we get back.”

  He sighed and rubbed his face with his palms. “I need to go call Kessler.”

  With that, he walked away. Oh, okay. Good talk. I sighed then chastised myself. He was going through a lot. I needed to give him a break.

  Four hundred ninety-eight. Four hundred ninety-nine. Five hundred.

  Okay. That’s it.

  Five hundred seconds ago, he’d walked up to the front of the sailboat to call his father. I assumed he hadn’t gotten through because he only spoke into his phone for a matter of seconds then hung up. I thought he might come back over and keep me company while awaiting his return call, but I was wrong. Somehow I’d started counting. I wasn’t sure why, other than it killed time and gave my brain something to think about.

  He just looked so stressed and tense. He leaned against the rail at the front, his muscles all tight and flexed. He tapped his fingers and rolled his neck.

  I bit my lip. There’s no reason I can’t go talk to him. Assuming I can stand. I sat the bowl of crystals on the bench next to me and took a deep breath. One…two…three…stand! I pushed to my feet, and despite a wobble at first, I managed to stay upright. It took me a good minute or so to walk to the other end of the boat. Apparently there wasn’t much strength to move my legs left.

  Finally, I stood behind him. I gripped my blanket with one hand, and reached out with my other. When my hand touched his back, he jumped and spun around to face me with wide eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I said in a rush. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  He cursed and hung his head. “It’s okay. I’m just a little jumpy.”

  I nodded and stepped up close to him. “Understandable.” I pressed my hand to his chest and sighed at the intense heat radiating off his skin.

  He reached up and wrapped his hand around mine. His eyes held mine for a long, quiet moment. My heart pounded. Some of the chill chipped away. The salty ocean breeze swept by and carried his fresh rain scent across my face. I sighed and leaned into him.

  “Tegan, we can’t.” He removed his hand from mine and stepped away from me, putting at least a foot between us.

  I blinked and shook my head. “What do you mean? We can’t what?”

  He ran his hand through his long hair. “I’m saying we can’t be together…like that.”

  Any warmth left in my body vanished. Goose bumps spread across my skin. “I don’t understand.”

  “You and I, we can’t be together.”

  “Why the hell not?” I snapped. He opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. “And don’t try to tell me you don’t feel anything for me.”

  “Tegan…”

  “Don’t lie to me, Tennessee.” I stepped up close again and pointed my finger at him. “I know you feel something here. I can feel it when you kiss me.”

  He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I can’t… What I may or may not feel is irrelevant.”

  “How?” I said through clenched teeth. Raising my voice or my temper wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

  When he reopened his eyes and met mine, I felt my world shatter a little bit. There was a finality in his eyes that told me there wasn’t room for discussion. “Tegan…”

  “I know my name. I need to know why you’re pushing me away!”

  “Because you’re forbidden!” he snapped back. He looked over my shoulder like he wanted to make sure no one else was listening.

  “What do you mean I’m forbidden?”

  He paced the deck in front of me a few times before turning back to face me. “You are not allowed to date, to be romantic…with anyone.”

  “I’m not allowed to date? Says who?” Did my father have something to do with this? So help me God, I will have words with him.

  “The Coven did.”

  Rage fired inside of me. The Coven? How could a group of people I’d never met make a rule about my dating life? I narrowed my eyes at him. “WHY?”

  “Because…”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  He winced. “The High Priestess, Empress, and Emperor are not allowed to have romantic entanglements until we hit middle age, when our magic settles into a calmer demeanor.”

  My heart sank and turned to ice. “What? W-why?”

  He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Among all twenty-two Cards, the three of us are the strongest, without question. They claim there have been problems in centuries past, and therefore forbid it for the safety of the world.”

  “Are you lying to me?” I whispered.

  He stared at me, then finally shook his head. “No.”

  I blinked through the tears pooling in my eyes. “So, we can’t…”

  “No,” he whispered.

  I opened my mouth to say something when his cell phone rang from his back pocket. He cursed and pulled it out. I knew by the way his shoulders dropped who it was.

  “Hey… Yes, we have the locket. But listen, it’s Libby. She’s hurt…”

  Tennessee kept talking to his father, but I stopped listening. It wasn’t that I didn’t care; I just didn’t have it in me in the moment. I barely knew Tennessee, but it didn’t feel that way. From the second I met him, there was a connection, deep and intense. I didn’t have words to explain it. I’d never experienced something so…so overwhelming and instant. Whenever people talked about love at first sight, I never understood how it could even be possible.

  Then I met Tennessee. I didn’t know if I was in love with him. Hell, I wasn’t sure what love was supposed to feel like. But if this…this…organic, living thing inside me wasn’t love, then what was it? When he kissed me, the whole world melted away. When he looked me in the eyes, he calmed the chaos of my mind. If that wasn’t love, then what were these suffocating emotions inside me? Maybe I was still falling. Maybe this was just the preliminary lust which led to love. I didn’t know. Now I might never know, since it’s forbidden.

  “OH.” Tennessee’s voice raised. His eyes widened. “I didn’t think of that. Okay, yeah, I’ll go tell Henley.”

  I frowned. What’s happening?

  Tennessee turned to me. He held the locket out in front of me. “Hold this for a minute?”

  “Okay.” I reached out and grabbed it.

  The second it left his hand, he sprinted toward the circle, calling out for Henley. I glanced over my shoulder and saw them discussing something with serious yet excited expressions on their faces. Part of me wanted to chase after him to see what they’d figured out for Libby. After all, I was just as big a member of The Coven as them. I sank to the deck and leaned against a pole. Up at the front of the boat, the wind kicked a little harder. I shivered and wrapped the blanket tighter around me.

  There were so many questions I needed to ask about this no-dating policy. They’d have to wait though. It would be disrespectful to go demanding answers while a friend was clinging to life. When she healed, then I’d start asking. Actually, maybe I needed to reach out to The Coven leaders themselves?

  My dad’s face flashed in my mind. I hadn’t thought about him since we left on this quest, but he was probably freaking out. I wondered how much he knew. Was he a witch? Was he a Card? If so, why was I only finding out about it now? And what about his soon-to-be wife, Devon? Was she a witch? Emersyn was. Oh, what about Bentley? Those were the questions safe to ask upon returning home. The ones about Tennessee were not.

  I sighed and looked down at the locket in my hand. It was beautiful. I held it up closer to my face…and gasped. There were words written on the back. I jumped to my feet.

  “GUYS!” I yelled. “Guys, there�
��s a prophecy written on this locket!”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Tegan

  “Show me.”

  I placed the locket in Tennessee’s outstretched hand, with the back facing up. Thanks to my yelling, everyone had gathered in the sitting area—well, except Libby. “On the back. It’s written in a fancy little scroll around the edge.”

  Tennessee brought the locket up to his face and squinted. After a second, he made his hands light up. His eyes widened. “She’s right. How did I miss that before?”

  “Let me see,” Cooper said and leaned over his shoulder. “Wow.”

  “What’s it say?” Royce and Henley asked at the same time.

  Emersyn raised her hand. “Why is there a prophecy on the locket? I thought prophecies were only for quests. We finished the quest.”

  I opened my mouth then shut it. “Actually, that’s a good question. Guys?”

  “It’s a two-step process,” Cooper said. “First, we find the locket before it’s lost forever. Second, we have three attempts to present this locket to the new Hierophant. Otherwise, we lose access to its contents.”

  “It’s a security measure,” Royce added.

  “Finding the locket is the most important part. Presenting it to the correct witch, well, we technically can get two chances.” Henley held her hand up and pulled the moon lower to give us more light. “Kessler told me the other day after Salem that The Coven failed to guess right. The Goddess gave them a second chance, but it was basically the worst, most dangerous quest ever known to the race. Several Coven members died on it.”

  “So, She gives us this prophecy to help us guess correctly the first time. Got it.” Emersyn leaned forward and tried to read it. “What are our clues, then?”

  Tennessee cleared his throat. “Present this thrice, it won’t play nice. For power in blood comes with a price. To keep the secrets within our core, Seek within generations before.”