Urban Mystic Academy: Fourth Project (A Supernatural Academy Series Book 4)

by Jennifer Rose McMahon

  With a steady tone, she commanded. "Reveal yourself."

  Courtney scrambled to her feet in response to Millicent's command. She pushed on my shoulder to keep me in place and pressed her finger across her lips to shush me.

  Millicent continued to stare into the darkness where we hid, waiting for her spy to show themselves.

  "Reveal yourself, coward,” she called again. "It is forbidden to gaze upon such a ritual. You must enter the circle now and seek forgiveness." She pulled her nightdress back up over her shoulders.

  With short erratic breaths, Courtney stepped forward clumsily, staggering toward the fire circle.

  "Do not fear, Millie. For it is I," she whispered through a constricted throat.

  Millicent's eyes locked onto Courtney as she moved into the light of the flames.

  With a whoosh of breath, Millicent gasped, and her hand smacked over her mouth.

  "Courtenay?" she murmured in a disbelieving tone as if she saw a ghost.

  "Yes, Millie, it is I." She moved closer to her sister.

  Millicent continued to stare, blinking through the wisps of smoke that burned her eyes.

  "You've returned?" she whispered. "Has my summoning brought you back to us?"

  Courtney shook her head. "I don't know. I was lost, but I've found my way back."

  Millicent closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around her.

  "It's like you've returned to us from the dead," she wept. "Our beautiful Courtenay."

  After several moments of their embrace, Millicent stepped back slightly and looked down at her belly.

  "I need help," she said, moving a hand over her bump. "The Magistrate will come for my bastard child once word of my pregnancy makes it to the village."

  My mind went wild with the information. It was the explanation I had been seeking. The reason behind Millicent’s turning to darkness. She needed help, greater than what was available.

  "No, Millie,” Courtney cried. “There are other ways. You don't need to make deals with the darkness. What of the father?"

  "The father?” Millicent shook her head. “He knows not. It is my secret to keep. And it's too late for any of that now anyway. I already feel the beast within me. His force has laid seed in me, growing within my unborn child. She will be safe now."

  Courtney ran her hands through her hair in desperation. "Millie, how could you?" she gasped. "You've cursed our family now for all eternity!"

  Millicent's face grew dark and rigid. "Don't you judge me, sister. It wasn't my plan to become pregnant. And I would die before allowing the villagers to take my child from me."

  Courtney paced within the circle of flames. "There must be something we can do. Something to stop the curse on your baby."

  "It's not a curse," Millicent spat. "It is a blessing. An honor bestowed upon us. He of Darkness has looked upon our family with pity. He has chosen us as worthy of his guardianship."

  Courtney stumbled away from the worship circle and moved out of the cemetery. Groping through the darkness, she made her way toward the overgrowth where I remained hidden.

  Millicent called to her, "You are lost, my dear Courtenay. You may think you have found your way home, but it is clear to me, you are still lost."

  Courtney fell into the shrubs and grabbed hold of me. "We're too late. She's conjured the demon," she panted. "I don't know how to stop it."

  I had no idea how to stop it either.

  We'd just witnessed the inception of the curse of the Dark Witch, and it involved dark forces that I wanted nothing to do with. I cringed at the thought of having dabbled with such powers with Laney and held new respect now for its strength.

  "We need to get back to the house to find Gertie," I said. "She'll help us."

  Courtney nodded and jumped to her feet. She pulled on my shoulders to lift me as well.

  As we glanced back at the fire circle, Millicent continued her whirling dance within the flames.

  Just as we turned to head toward the house, the sound of a distant voice echoed through the woods.

  "Brynn! Courtney!" his voice called out.

  Our eyes widened in terror as Dom searched for us.

  Millicent stopped her dance instantly and stood frozen, listening for the sound of his voice.

  My heart beat out of my chest as my mind raced for an explanation of who he was, and who I was. We were both about to be exposed to Millicent, and in her current state of possession, I didn't want to face her shocked reaction to us.

  She'd see us as strangers, as threats.

  Courtney pulled me in the direction of Dom's voice. Looking back, I watched Millicent as she remained in the center of the worship circle, staring into the darkness. With her eyes wide and a hand on her belly, she listened intently for another call.

  And then it came.

  "Brynn! Courtney!" His voice grew louder as he closed the distance between us.

  He must have heard Courtney's scream when she cried out to stop Millicent's ritual.

  Without hesitation, I pulled in a full breath of air, preparing to call back to him.

  But just as I set to shout his name, it blasted through the woods from behind me.

  Millicent let out a blood-curdling cry as his name shot out from her desperate lips.

  "Dominick?" she cried.

  The crack in her voice exposed the level of emotion that charged it. As she called his name, I froze in terror.

  How could Millicent know Dom's name? The way she said it sounded different, with more emphasis on the end of the name, but it was clear, she knew his voice. She knew who he was.

  I gripped onto Courtney's arm. "What's happening?" I gasped.

  "I don't know," she squeaked.

  Staring through the darkness, we listened as the sound of snapping twigs and pounding feet grew nearer.

  "Brynn!" he called again.

  "We're here!" I shouted in his direction.

  A few seconds later, his shadow appeared through the trees, and he barreled toward us. Laney's form staggered behind him, struggling to keep up.

  As his eyes locked on us, he blasted, "Are you alright? I heard you scream." He panted in a mix of exertion and panic.

  Before we could answer, Millicent's voice shot at us from behind.

  "Dominick?" she cried.

  He turned his attention to her as she stood in the circle of the flames. Like a majestic dark angel, she glowed in the illumination, causing us all to gape.

  A gasp escaped his lips as his chest heaved.

  "Millicent?" he whispered.

  She held one hand to her belly and reached toward him with the other.

  "You've returned to us," she sobbed. "I prayed you would." She gazed at him with love-filled emotion, but in that same instant, the light in her eyes shadowed to darkness. "But now you are too late."

  Dom turned to me with confusion carved across his brow. He rubbed his hand across his eyes as if processing an overload of information. And then he dropped his face into his hands.

  "It's my child," he whispered. "I loved Millicent at some point in the past. There's black fog. I just can't remember the details, but somehow, I've always known."

  Laney pulled out from behind him, revealing herself to Millicent.

  "He's here now, Millicent," Laney blasted. "You can marry and have your baby in private. They'll not notice the fact that she was conceived out of wedlock. You can protect her then."

  Millicent's face twisted into a steely glare.

  "And along with my love comes the prophet?" she asked. "You've not revealed yourself in some time, soothsayer."

  My mind scrambled through the layers of connection, and with each new detail, my panic rose higher.

  Dom was the father to Millicent's unborn child.

  And Laney was known to Millicent as a local fortune-teller, rather than a descendent.

  Millicent's voice cried out again to Laney. "It is too late now. I've conjured the beast for his protection." Her face gnarled into a fright
ening grimace. "And I will call him forth again to latch onto each of your souls as my own coven."

  She turned back to her fire and threw four more sage bundles into it. As the plumes of smoke lifted, she raised her arms along with them. Her voice filled the darkness as she began chanting and swaying.

  "We need to get out of here," I cried out. "Run!"

  Courtney and Dom turned with me, and we bolted toward the farmhouse. Looking back, I saw Millicent continuing her ritual as Laney crossed into the cemetery toward her.

  "Laney, no!" I called.

  But Dom gripped my arm, keeping me moving away with them.

  We pushed through the branches and trees, leaving the sounds of unsettling worship behind us. Subtle moonlight led the way toward the clearing of the farm.

  As the shadows of the barn and house came into view, my heart rate accelerated to near exploding.

  Could Shane be inside?

  It was impossible for me to make sense of the timeline we'd stumbled upon. Maybe it was before he was shot. Maybe after. I couldn't process the events of the pregnancy and Dom's involvement quickly enough to know where we were in history.

  And I couldn't even be sure if time was even linear. So many details indicated numerous events and timelines occurring at once, so there was just no way of knowing which one we were on.

  I shook my head to clear it of my dizzying thoughts.

  The only thing that mattered now was finding Shane and getting the hell out of there.

  We burst out of the woods and ran toward the porch. Knowing that Millicent and Laney were still in the cemetery, conjuring evil to descend upon us, we flew up the stairs and crashed through the door.

  With a clanging smash, Gertie dropped a cast iron pot onto the floor as she spun around toward us. Her eyes bugged out of her head from the unexpected ambush, and she gasped in terror.

  "Gertie," Courtney soothed. "It's okay. It is I."

  Gertie stared as if seeing a ghost. Her face blanched sheet-white, and in a single step forward, she fell to the ground in a heap of her skirts.

  Courtney lept to her and pulled her onto her lap. Fanning her face, she spoke gently. "Gertie, it's okay. It is me, Courtenay. I'm home now to help."

  After a few more seconds, Gertie's eyes fluttered open. As she focused on Courtney's face, she gasped and pulled away. Struggling through the layers of her skirts, she finally pushed herself to her knees, panting.

  She stared into our faces, trying to understand what she was seeing.

  "Gertie," I whispered.

  She flinched with a nervous twitch, then cleared her throat. Her face loosened from the shock as she gathered her wits. It appeared as if she accepted our presence then without question.

  "She's gone to the woods to seek assistance from the darkness," she gasped as a wave of recognition moved across her face.

  She knew us.

  She trusted, almost immediately, that we were there to help.

  After absorbing every feature of Courtney's face, Gertie turned her attention to Dom.

  "She waited for you, Dominick," she whispered. "She thought you'd not return."

  Dom's air whooshed out of him as the weight of the situation bore down.

  "I never meant to go," he choked.

  Gertie nodded, "I know." She glanced at me, then back at him. "You are with the traveler. It is something we don't fully understand. But we know it is a force greater than us."

  Dom looked at me as understanding moved across his face.

  We were travelers.

  Gertie understood that. And she also realized that we were connected through the events of time, through a force greater than us.

  She continued, "But it is too late now. Millicent has turned to evil forces. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen. Calling me simpleton and child." She looked down to hide her hurt feelings.

  But then her eyes lifted again, this time with a more powerful glare. "But I feel the darkness coming now. All around us. She's conjured the beast, and he will find you. You must run." She leaned closer. "Run!"

  Chapter 17

  "I won't leave you, Gertie!" Courtney blasted. "I know of too much sadness that will come."

  Gertie covered her ears with her hands. "Do not tell, sister. It is not for my ears."

  "But you will die!" Courtney cried.

  Gertie squeezed her eyes shut and paced. "No. We are good people. We mind our business. We say our prayers. All will turn out well."

  Her resistance to Courtney’s warning was clear. She clung to the hope that good would outweigh evil. But Courtney knew better. She’d seen the power of evil too many times.

  "No, Gertie," Courtney said. "It does not turn out well." She moved to the fire and jabbed at it with an iron poker.

  Gertie dropped onto the high-backed bench and stared into the new flames.

  I moved closer to her, as my mind raced with ideas on how we could help her.

  "Gertie?" I whispered. "Where's Shane?"

  She looked at me with puzzlement in her eyes. After a moment of concentration, she shook her head. "Master Shane? My memory is vague. I can’t quite place him. I know not where he is."

  My air fell out of me, leaving me breathless.

  Shane wasn't here.

  I hadn't prepared myself for that answer. It didn't seem to be an option I had even considered.

  How could he not be here?

  "Are you sure," I pressed. "He would have appeared as a traveler, maybe from another village. Tall, kind, and handsome."

  She squeezed her eyes shut in thought, then opened them again.

  "I know who you speak of," she said. "I just don't know what became of him. It's as if he vanished like a dream."

  A shudder ran through me, and I dropped onto the bench next to her. My hands trembled as I stared at them with a lost gaze.

  Shane was gone.

  He'd faded away from existence, leaving only small shreds of memory behind him.

  My heart squeezed tight in my chest.

  I wasn't ready to say goodbye to him.

  The finality of goodbye would make it real.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I forced myself to believe there was still hope.

  But the hope had been in this visit.

  This moment.

  And now there was none.

  Howling wind blew the door open with a smash, and Dom jumped to it, slamming it shut again. Sounds of a brewing storm whipped across the windows, causing the shutters to shake.

  "It's happening," Gertie whimpered. "She's turning."

  I jolted to my feet.

  "We can still stop her," Courtney said. "The spellbook, Gertie. Where is it?"

  Gertie's eyes widened to saucers, and she searched around the room in a panic. "It's not here," she said. "We left it in the root cellar in the barn."

  Wind whistled through the cracks of the house as the storm grew in intensity.

  "You must use it, Gertie. To save yourselves. Do you understand?" Courtney grabbed onto her shoulders.

  Gertie pulled back from her with a whimper. "But I don't know how. Millie won't allow..."

  Courtney shook her. "You must! There are spells in the book that will protect you both, and the unborn child."

  Tears fell from Gertie's eyes as the door rattled on its hinges from the heavy gusts.

  I moved in front of Gertie and lowered to my knees to her level at the bench. "Gertie, there are two spells that you must practice. They will shield you all from the attacks of the villagers."

  She lifted her curious eyes to mine.

  I continued, "The Cloaking Spell and the Spell of Confusion."

  I thought of how Laney and I had used the spells to our advantage during the fire alarm at school and knew they would be perfect for Gertie and Millie.

  "How will they help us?" she murmured.

  "The Cloaking Spell will hide the child from their knowledge until you are ready to reveal her," I said. "The Spell of Confusion can be used any time they become
suspicious or too curious. You'll confuse them with whatever ideas will benefit you and then send them on their way."

  She nodded with lifted brows.

  "If it's not too late," she muttered in defeat. "Millicent has started something now that can't be stopped."

  As she spoke the words, the front door blew open again, allowing thick black fog to enter in a whoosh. It whirled through the room as if searching for its unsuspecting victims.

  "Run," Gertie blasted. "It's her black magic. Don't let it surround you!"

  "I can't leave you again!" Courtney cried.

  "But you must," Gertie choked. "It’s meant to be. You've given me what I need to help make things right. Go now! But promise me, Courtenay. Promise me you will return to us."

  Courtney stared with wide eyes of terror. Leaving her sisters again was unfathomable and was going to be nearly impossible for her.

  "She's right, Courtney," I blasted. "Saving yourself now is the only way you can return later."

  Courtney's head shook in resistance.

  "Go!" Gertie blasted. "Promise me!"

  Courtney’s face grimaced as if in pain. "I promise," she cried, wrapping her arms around her.

  Sobbing, she released her sister and jumped away from the searching black mist.

  Dom and I swiftly embraced Gertie, promising to see her again.

  "Go!" she cried once more. "Protect us."

  As the black fog searched the room with laps of whirling smoke, we huddled by the hearth, preparing our escape.

  "We need to run straight through it," I gasped.

  "It will absorb into you," Gertie cried. "You must avoid it."

  "What about you?" Courtney held Gertie close to her.

  "It won't hurt me," she assured her. "It knows I will always serve my sister, no matter her course. She knows I’m hers already."

  My heart broke for Gertie as images of her battered remains in the barrel flashed across my eyes. Her violent death was at such odds with how innocent and sweet she was. The thought of our failure was enough to destroy me and enough to drive me to save her.

  "But now, with the proper use of the spells, you can influence your destinies," I said. “Change the course of events as you need.”

  Gertie nodded. "I will. I promise."