by J. L. Weil
A whizzing of water drew my gaze to the ocean, and I watched in horror as a hurricane was swirling out of control. My heartbeat pounded in my chest, threating to burst free. I’d traded one threat for another. No Morgana, but what was I going to do about that?
I had failed.
Chapter 28
Lying on the beach, I was resigned my fate over to the hurricane that would surely sweep me away. Not an ounce of stamina remained in my body. Even my magic was drained. I couldn’t muster a flicker.
“Bri.” Gavin’s voice flittered from somewhere behind, distance and muffled. He called my name again.
How appropriate that his voice would be the last I heard.
When his dark features appeared in my vision, I thought I was hallucinating.
“Stay with me,” he said as if I had a choice.
I didn’t want to die, and I sure as hell didn’t want him dying with me. “You need to leave,” I muttered, using the last strength I had, my voice gravelly.
The sapphire of his eyes radiated with magic as he muttered a few hushed words. Silence erupted, dissolving the hiss of spinning water. The eye of the storm, and I thought this is it. All I needed was the bright light and a white angel.
He lifted me up into his arms.
“I love you,” I murmured against his neck and inhaled one last sniff of the wild and reckless energy that could only be him.
“Keeping you alive is becoming more than I bargained for,” he said, carrying me in his arms.
A moment later I blacked out again for the second time that night.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, I awoke to bits and pieces of conversation around me. The voices all belonged to one Mason or another. It seemed the whole family was in attendance. I could safely assume I was in their home.
“Is she going to be all right?” I heard Sophie ask.
A cool damp cloth was placed over my forehead, and I became aware of the burning inside me. A fire blazed in my veins.
“She has a good-sized bump on her head and is banged up some, but I think she will be fine. Her body and magic need time to recuperate. She needs rest, lots of it,” Lily said. Her hand brushed back my hair where beads of perspiration gathered at the hairline.
“What are we going to tell her aunt?” Sophie asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s just see when she wakes up. Hopefully, it will be soon,” Lily replied.
The rest of the conversation was lost to me as I floated back into a deep sleep. A dreamless sleep. I didn’t want to go back under, but my body had other plans and didn’t care for my fears.
There was no concept of time in my fitful sleep. I repeatedly woke, but didn’t actually wake up. I was more or less stuck in an in-between time warp of slumber. It was a journey I would like to take again.
“Is he okay?” Lily asked in one of my lucid semi-conscious moments.
“He will be. You know Gavin. He is beating himself up about not being able to pull her through sooner, and thinks he should have done something to prevent this,” John replied, sounding strained.
Just like Gavin to blame himself, when there was no one to blame but the woman who cast the spell. If anyone was a fault for my current condition, it was her.
I was determined to stay awake this time. The seesawing between dream and reality was screwing with my mind. I needed to get home, before my aunt realized I was gone and panicked. I wasn’t ready to explain what was going on with me.
I turned restlessly, trying to keep the blackness at bay when I heard Gavin’s voice. “She can dreamscape.”
“Are you sure?” John asked his son.
“Yes. It’s how I knew where she was tonight. She’s done it one other time before that I know of. The night we met.”
Dreamscape? What did that mean? What had I done? It had something to do with my dreams, but that was all I gathered.
“Tell us what happened,” Gavin’s father demanded.
He willingly obliged. “I was sleeping when I heard her call my name. The next thing I knew, I was outside in a storm of magic, and Bri was standing on the shore in the middle of it all. I yelled her name and that was when I noticed Morgana.”
“Morgana le Fey was there? You are sure?” Lily asked. There was disbelief and bewilderment in her voice.
“Yes, it was her, and she did not want me there.”
“I don’t doubt that. It would have messed up her plans, I’d imagine,” John said.
“What does she want with Bri?” Gavin asked.
“Whatever she wants from Brianna, it can’t be good. Nothing good can come from having the most powerful witch the world has ever known seeking you out in your dreams,” Lily said.
Morgana the most powerful witch, echoed in my mind. Her power had been unparalleled, and yet I was certain that my magic felt so close to hers, like a twin. That couldn’t be though, none of this made sense.
“How were you able to wake up, break the spell?” John asked.
“Bri was the one who broke the spell. I just guided her a bit, but not before Morgana threw a spell. I’d been her target, but Bri stepped in its path.” He sounded tired, and my heart ached. “When I got to her after the spell hit, she wasn’t moving, but she was awake. She found the strength to get us out of there.” He struggled to keep the aguish out of his voice.
I moaned. My head felt as if it was splitting in half, the pain excruciating. Forcing my eyelids open, I blinked, the light hurting my eyes. I tried to lift my head, and instantly grimaced. Bad idea. Spears of pain radiated from the sides of my skull. My hand flew to my temple as I lay back on the pillow. Lily and Gavin were at my side instantly.
“Bri,” Gavin breathed out a sigh of relief.
I groaned. “Sorry.” My own voice sounded scratchy and hoarse.
There was soft concern in Lily’s expression as she looked into my face. “Don’t try and move too much. You need to gain your strength.”
I wasn’t sure how much I could move, even if I wanted to. Everything felt bruised, battered, and sore. “What happened?”
“How about you concentration on resting, and we talk after you get better? I don’t think you are in much shape to have the kind of conversation this requires,” Lily suggested. “I’ll you two a few minutes.” She touched my cheek, before walking out of the room.
“That complex, huh?” Like everything in my life lately. Gavin smirked down at me, a strand of his dark hair falling over the eye with the silver bar. “What fun would it be without a little excitement and a dead witch haunting your dreams?” He sat down on the bed beside me and took my hand. “How are you feeling?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. “I’ve been better.”
His expression flickered with a flash of anger.
“Don’t,” I croaked, my throat so dry.
He handed me a glass of water and Lily came back into the room. She held a potion that I was sure was going to taste like bitter vinegar or worse. I scrunched my nose.
She laughed. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I promise, and it will speed your healing. That kind of trumps the taste.”
She had me there. At this point, I’d give up all my powers to relieve the pain and discomfort. Gavin helped me sit up as Lily propped a mound of fluffy pillows behind my back. I wrinkling my nose again, giving the seaweed-green mixture a look of repugnance. My stomached turned at the sight; forget about what it must taste like.
I took sniff, and was surprised the scent wasn’t what I expected, but a cross between citrus limes and clover herbs. Not altogether bad, but I wouldn’t drink it voluntarily if it wasn’t a matter of easing my aches.
“Here goes nothing,” I mumbled, taking a deep breath. I sucked it down in one giant gulp, but getting it down my throat was another matter entirely. I’ve always had a sensitive gag reflex, and if I hadn’t been in someone else’s home, I would have pinched my nose. I’d embarrassed myself enough for one do, so I forced it down and was pleased when it went smoothly.
“Th
ere you go, dear,” Lily coaxed. “Lie back down for a little bit longer and you’ll start to feel the effects.” She smoothed the hair that stuck to my face unflatteringly.
“What time is it? Will I be able to get home soon?” I asked, my mind on my aunt. If she thought I was missing, it was only a matter of time before she sent out an Amber Alert, the very last thing I needed. The police at my house. My face on the side of milk carton.
“It’s a little past one in the morning. I think we’ll be able to sneak you home before morning,” she said winking.
I smiled as best as I could in return and relaxed more deeply on the pillows.
Sophie replaced her at my bedside. “Hey, there,” she said.
“Hey, yourself,” I managed.
A tear slipped from the side of her eye, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying… You really scared me tonight. When Gavin brought you inside—” Her voice caught on a sob.
“Sophie, I’m fine.” I grabbed her hand. “Better after the stuff your mom gave. My mind is still a bit fuzzy, but I’m okay.”
“I know. You’re the only real friend I have here,” she said squeezing my hand. “I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t. I’m glad we’re friends.” And it was true. I might not be the most popular or the friendliest, but I was close to the friends I had and was lucky to have Sophie as one of them.
True to Lily’s words, I started feeling better. Magic could certainly hurt, but it could also heal—quickly. Sophie lent me a change of clothes. The warm sweats made me feel like me again, or as close as I could come to feeling normal.
She gave me a long hug as I got ready to leave. “Be safe, little witch.”
Gavin drove me home in his mom’s car sometime in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun crested over the horizon. I was better. Not a hundred percent, but alive. What a long night this turned out to be.
I studied Gavin at the wheel. What would I have done tonight without him? I felt more connected to him than ever. “About what happened—”
He cut me off, shifting his body toward me. “Don’t say anything. This wasn’t your fault.”
“But it is,” I insisted.
“Bri, you’re different. I’ve never met a witch like you. There is something about your energy, something that Morgana recognizes.”
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know…yet. What I do know is that you need to rest. I swear, I will do whatever I can to help you find out what it is she wants,” he vowed.
The sun was barely beginning to rise behind the house, framing the yard in a halo. “I know you will. I’m not going to let her use me,” I huffed.
He raised a brow, knowing very well this wasn’t the last he’d hear of this conversation. “I never thought you would.”
“How are we getting in?” I asked, yawning.
He smirked. “I got this.”
I never doubted him, not when it came to breaking the rules. I didn’t ask what spell he was weaving; all I could think about was my bed.
We made it upstairs without making a sound. Walking into my bedroom was therapeutic in ways I never thought possible. I collapsed on the bed. Gavin came over beside me, tucking me in. He brushed the hair from my face and pressed a light kiss on my forehead. “See you tomorrow,” he whispered, and a sparkling tingle of magic spread over my body.
Chapter 29
I stayed home from school the next day. My aunt was hovering, and beside herself over the fact that I was sick again. It wasn’t like me. I’d been a healthy child. These last few weeks, with everything going on, put me on her radar, not a place I liked to be. But there was no way I could tell her what really happened, or that Gavin was a witch, much less that I was a witch. I was afraid.
Her opinion mattered most to me.
Gavin was at my door the moment my aunt left for the shop. We hadn’t said a word about what happened, which was a blessing in disguise, because the more I had the chance to think over what happened, the clearer I remembered professing my love to him. He hadn’t brought it up, and I wasn’t about to. In my heart, I loved him, but I wasn’t yet ready to vocalize that love (except of course unless I was threatened with death). So making the mature decision, I decided to ignore whatever I said or thought I said. The events were still fuzzy.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. Fireflies frolicked at the sight of him, an indicator I was on the mend.
“Checking up on you.” He looked at me from head-to-toe, and it had anything but an unhealthy effect on me. I’d say my body was pretty much healed.
My cheeks flushed, and I cleared my throat. “Aren’t you supposed to be in first period?”
“You’re more important.”
Flattered as I was, he needed to go to school. It didn’t stop me from smiling. “That’s crap. Go to school. I can’t have you failing.”
He smirked, toying with his hoop. “I won’t, nothing a little magic can’t fix.”
I gave him a stern look.
“It’s only one day, Bri. I promise not to miss another day this…” he paused, reconsidering what timeframe he was going to commit to. “Until winter break. Satisfied?”
“I guess.” There was a meow from under his jacket. “Why are you meowing?”
He grinned and pulled out a fluffy black kitten. “Every witch needs a cat.” He held a wriggling bundle of fur in his arms.
I couldn’t help the cooing and ahhing. This was, after all, the cutest kitten on the planet. I took the kitten from Gavin and holding him over my head, I looked into his sweet baby eyes. “You are absolutely adorable.” My heart tumbled for this itty-bitty little guy. I never owned a pet. “You’re giving me a kitty?”
“I talked to your aunt first, and she said it was okay. I have a trunk full of stuff for him.” He watched me with amusement.
I snuggled him into my arms, burying my face in his dark fur. “He’s purrrfect, but why the gift?”
Sapphire eyes sparkled. “I told you, every witch needs one. Now comes the important part of being a pet owner. What are we going to name him? I was thinking Merlin,” he suggested.
I scrunched me nose. “To obvious.”
“You might be right, Gandalf?”
“That was a great movie,” I said smiling “But, I’m thinking something original.” I stroked his tiny head, and noticed a small white crescent shape on the back of his neck, the only white spot on him. “Lunar.”
“Lunar,” he said, testing it out. Lunar let out the tiniest meow. “I guess he likes it.” He scratched the top of Lunar’s furry head, and the kitten purred on contact, the sound vibrating through his little body. “Oh, I forgot. Your aunt asked me to pick up your homework assignments for you.”
“And how did you manage that if you didn’t go to school?”
He smirked. “Do you really want to know?”
I shook my head. “No, but I wished you’d spell it all finished.”
“Already did.”
“Gavin…” I groaned, giving him a look of steel.
“What? Your aunt just said to pick it up. She didn’t say anything about you actually having to do it. Look, I was worried about you and your recovery. I didn’t want you stressing and laboring over school work. You can’t fault me for that.”
I groaned. “You’re impossible.”
“So my parents tell me,” he said, but not like he really was offended by it. “How are you feeling?” There was a mood shift in his eyes, concern replacing the light banter.
I walked to the couch, placing Lunar in my lap. “I’m fine. Stop asking.” I stroked Lunar’s back as he tried to attack my fingers with his baby paws.
Gavin sat down next to me, the couch sinking with his weight. “You look much better.”
“I am,” I insisted. “In fact, I’m going back to school tomorrow. Oh, tell your mom I said thank you again. What she did for me saved me a lot of trouble.”
“She was g
lad to do it, but you know, Bri, you’re going to have to tell your aunt sometime,” he stressed.
Another topic I wasn’t comfortable yet dealing with. At the rate my list of uncomfortable topics was growing, I was going to be swimming over my head in problems.
I shifted my eyes back down to a wiggling Lunar. “I know,” I admitted softly.
“When you’re ready…I’ll be there to help you.”
Lifting my eyes back to his, I replied, “Thanks, it means a lot having you here.”
“You mean a lot to me.”
My heart swelled, thumping wildly.
We hung the rest of the day on the couch, watching TV and just relaxing. He left right around the time school was got out, and I walked him to the door.
He trailed a finger along my cheek, lifting my chin with his thumb. His touch was soft and electric. I leaned into his caress, my eyes sparkling with out-of-control awareness. I was afraid to think about kissing him, in case I accidentally spelled him, but it didn’t stop my body from moving closer to his. My mind or magic had little control over that. He bit on his silver hoop as his head lowered fraction by fraction to mine. I held my breath as I waited impatiently for his lips.
Lunar meowed between the two of us, ruining the moment. I internally moaned at the lost opportunity. He was smashed between us, looking up at me with those baby blue eyes.
“I’m picking you up tomorrow morning for school,” he said in a gruff voice.
I hoped he would suffer as much as I would without those few minutes of bliss that I would inevitably be thinking about. I bit my lip, contemplating if I should grab ahold of him and lay one right on him.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded. “Bye.”
Closing the door wistfully behind, I plopped myself down on the couch. Everyone was worried about my health, but I was going stir crazy. I needed to get out of the house, and a quick trip to the Riverfront Farmers Market for dinner tonight would be nice. My aunt wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, still plenty of time left in the day to get there, shop around, and make it back to start dinner before my aunt got home.
