by A. J. Macey
“Stay behind me, Aris. I don’t know what’s going on inside,” he warned, helping me off and tossing his broom aside.
“Then we face it side by side,” I countered, my magic already tingling under my fingertips. He nodded sharply, and a loud wail reached our ears as we flung open the doors. The inside was utter chaos, and the sound of pounding footsteps got louder as someone headed our way.
Whatever is going on... it isn’t good.
December 7th
Saturday Evening
Caspian
Twenty Minutes Earlier
I was stuffed full, and my face ached with how much I’d been laughing. Tor and I had spent the last few hours, talking about anything and everything, and it felt good, almost freeing, to truly enjoy our time together. We’d spent years distant and angry at each other... okay, if I was being honest, it might have been years of me resenting him, even though I wasn’t truly sure why anymore. All I knew for sure was I was grateful to have a relationship with him again. Xan’s and Kye’s parents had stuck around, even Xan’s dad, to chat with us, though Aris and Drayce had left a while ago. At the thought of the two of them, I felt my smile widen. I couldn’t wait to hear Aris tell me all about what it was like to fly.
“What the—” Kye murmured when there was a loud rumble and boom that seemed to shake the entire museum. In a single moment, our peaceful night came crashing down as chaos erupted around us.
The doors blew off their hinges, the windows shattering in a concussive blast of power. Launching off my chair, I rolled away from the raining glass, making sure to clutch Coral tightly. My heart galloped in my chest as I took in the space around us. Five unknown witches in black had infiltrated the room, two leaving almost as quickly as they’d entered.
“Tor!” I shouted, pointing to the door the witches left through. Nodding, he jumped up, and we raced after them. We reached the hall just as they turned down another, each of us pushing faster to reach them.
Coral jumped from my arms, racing next to us with Ruby and Mr. Stripes, dew growing on her fur as she called on our power. After skidding around the corner, we finally were able to fling magic toward them. Torryn stopped them from going further by creating a stone wall as I flung sharp icicles at the intruders.
I could barely seem to catch my breath as adrenaline pulsed through me, but I didn’t stop throwing as much magic as I could. Ice and water mixed with stone and dirt, my brother and I mixing our magics to put them down as soon as possible. Ruby, Mr. Stripes, and Coral raced around the two witches as we went back and forth, trying to keep them off-kilter to no avail. One was a Spell Caster, so his reaction time was slower as he needed to actually complete his incantations before his magic would loosen, while the other was a fire elemental.
Despite the Spell Caster’s slight disadvantage, he was only slowed by a second or so, just enough time to turn their attacks and ours into a constant volley of magic back and forth in defensive and offensive strikes. As the Spell Caster took a breath, the elemental yanked a potion from his belt.
“Look out!” I yelled, launching myself at Torryn before the blackened potion could ignite. Although I was fast enough to protect my brother, I wasn’t fast enough to save myself. A searing pain hit my back, spreading over my skin as I collided with Tor. I heard screaming through my dazed stated. Who is that? What happened? It wasn’t until a few moments later, I realized it was coming from me, my body and mind slowly piecing back together after taking the hit.
When I finally could see through the wall of tears, Torryn lifted his arms sharply before dropping to the ground. The building shook, and a portion of the stone ceiling caved in on top of the witches, but he wasn’t done. The stones sank into the ground before solidifying into an eternal grave. I knew I should have been shocked at his gruesome display, but I couldn’t seem to feel anything but pain. Coral seemed to know, coming to stand on her back legs and holding her little paws up. The cooling sensation of the water that washed over the burned skin of my back both hurt like hellsticks and soothed the sting from the injury.
“Holy... Cas, let me see,” Tor exclaimed frantically, crouching down behind me from where I laid on my side. “That’s... it’s bad.”
“Hey, I was told chicks dig scars,” I joked, the chuckle that escaped jarring my body enough to make me gasp in pain. “Hopefully, Aris fits in that category. Drayce, too, though he’s not a chick.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Tor sputtered, his voice thick as tears streamed down his face. Hells bells, it’s been... I don’t even know how long since I’ve seen Tor lose it like this. “You’re never allowed to jump in front of a flaming potion ever again. You’re going to give me gray hairs or a hexing heart attack that way.”
“You’re welcome, jerk,” I joked, smiling. Reaching out, I grabbed his hand and squeezed, trying to convey everything I felt but couldn’t seem to form into words with that gesture. “We’ll try to bandage it up later. We need to find Drayce and Aris, as well as the others.”
“Are you alright to move?”
“Not much else I can do.” I nearly screamed again as I struggled to sit. “Come on, brother, let’s go get our family.” The glint of pride in his eyes helped dull the pain, a reminder of everything we had to fight for.
“Love you, Cas.”
“I know,” I smarted with a smirk when I finally got to my feet.
I loved my brother, too.
Xanthius
Sweat beaded across my forehead as I pushed my power further, making sure no one other than the witch I was fighting would be burned. After one final push, my opponent was finally defeated. My father using a binding spell, and Gabriel and Lyra scribbled runes on the floor as quickly as possible to hold the three remaining witches’ powers within the circle.
“We have to go,” Kye commanded when the witches were restrained or knocked out.
“Where’s Torryn and Caspian?” I asked, glancing around the room frantically.
“They chased two of the others, so we’ll look for them as well as Drayce and Aris on our way out of here,” Kye explained, jogging to the door.
“I’ll call our bags,” I told him, “be ready to catch.” When Kye nodded, I murmured the incantation for summoning, the bags and any belongings zooming down the hall toward us from the apartment area of the museum. As we caught what we could, the rest falling to the ground, my father did the same for his, my mother’s, and Kye’s parents. Stuffing any loose items into whatever bag was closest, we all took a bag and started once more down the hall.
“Kye! Xan!”
“Tor! Cas!”
The sound of our names being shouted filtered from the entrance of the building only a little way down the hall. Aris and Drayce ran into view a moment later. Closing the distance between us, we sprinted the rest of the way.
“What the hellsticks is going on?” Aris exclaimed, her eyes wide. Somehow, her gaze became even more panicked when she realized we weren’t all together. “Where are Tor and Cas?!”
“We were attacked; two of the witches took off with Torryn and Caspian on their heels, and we haven’t found them yet. We just took care of the witches we had in the dining room and summoned our stuff, but we have to leave as soon as possible. The more distance we have between us and here, the better,” Kye rattled off, glancing up and down the hall. “I don’t want us to split up to search for them, but it’d be the fastest—”
“Caspian!” Aris’ fear-filled scream cut Kye off. Before any of us realized what was going on, Aris was halfway down the hall to where Caspian was limping, only his desperate grasp on Torryn’s shoulder keeping him upright. The rest of us joined once we’d processed what was happening. “Oh my god, are you okay? What happened? Do you need help?” Aris fired off question after question, her words wobbling more and more when she saw Caspian.
Once I got a good look at the brothers, I realized what she was worried about. Hells bells. I nearly retched at the sickening scent of burned flesh and magic that wa
fted off Caspian. The majority of his back had been badly mangled by something.
“Fire-ignited Acidum potion,” he explained in a small voice, the pain in his words thick.
“The dummy decided to tackle me, taking the brunt of it,” Torryn explained, his words thick with frustrated gratitude that could only come from him, tear tracks streaking through the coat of soot and dust covering his face.
“As much as I would love to catch up,” I cut in, knowing while Aris and Drayce needed to ensure Caspian’s health and safety, we still had unconscious witches to worry about, “we need to move. Will you be able to walk, Caspian? We can rig up a mobile cot if we need to.”
“Before we go, let me put a temporary cover over it to prevent any infection,” my father offered, casting the spell before anyone could protest. Caspian sighed, the sound filled with relief, but as soon as he shifted, another pain-filled grimace creased his face.
“I’ll be fi—” he tried to say, but his words were cut off with a startled gasp as he started to float.
“Let’s go,” Aris commanded, taking hold of Caspian’s hand. “I’ll make sure you don’t hit anything.”
“I would appreciate that, Cupcake.” Caspian’s laugh was strangled, but he didn’t argue about the fact she was using her telekinesis to keep him suspended in the air. Moving to the door and out into the warm night, we left the museum and Volcanic Forest for what might possibly be the last time.
December 8th
Sunday Very Early Morning
Aris
“So tired,” I mumbled, stumbling over a small branch. We had been moving at nearly a jog for the last several hours, and after using my powers to keep Cas stabilized, my stamina and energy were draining quickly.
“Agreed, we need time to rest and get Caspian’s back healed. There haven’t been any glass watch birds and no other enforcers,” Torryn stated. “We just need to find somewhere, and soon. Preferably somewhere out of the middle of the open in the woods.”
“Like a barn?” Drayce asked from the other side of Caspian. When I looked over, he was pointing through a thicket of trees to a worn barn standing on the other side. “A pair of us can go and see if there is anyone nearby or if we can use it.”
Torryn agreed before taking Kye and Xan with him as scouts, and after a few minutes, thankfully, we got the all-clear. When I stepped into the large barn, I was nearly smacked in the face with the smell of dirt, manure, and hay, but at that point, I could have laid on the ground and passed out, regardless of where we were.
“Lie down, Angel, we can take care of Sprinkles,” Drayce instructed lightly, guiding me to a bundle of clean hay in the corner where I practically collapsed, releasing Cas when Torryn signaled me to bring him to the ground.
“We need to let Olive know,” I mumbled, sleep quickly pulling me down, but I fought through it. I’ll sleep when I know we’re okay and get word to Olive. I sat up straight in an attempt to keep my energy flowing for just a moment longer.
“I got it,” Kye stated, digging out his Witches Glass. “Uh... we already have a message from her.”
“About what?” Lyra asked tiredly, looking over her son’s shoulder. “Oh, Gods and Goddesses...”
The grave tone she used chased away any sleepiness coursing through me, and I jumped up. Kye held out the Witches Glass for me to read, the frown curling his lips, setting me on edge. Scanning quickly, I read the short message.
School’s been raided by enforcers. The team is safe for now in the hiding place. We were working on getting set up when the raid and lockdown happened. Don’t know how long we have until they find us, but we’ll be ready for streaming by the end of the day. Hurry, please.
Bile raced up my throat, and I couldn’t stop it. Falling to my knees, I lost what was left of dinner I had in my stomach on the barn floor. Xan and Kye held my hair out of the way and rubbed my back as I rode out the last of the retching.
“Aether was raided at the same time the museum was,” I bit out when I finally stopped throwing up. “Olive and the others are in the crystal cave, working to get everything ready, but they don’t know how long they have until they’re found.”
“How’d they know it was Aether?” Lyra questioned, “or the museum for that matter? Do you think they were tracking us?”
“Possibly,” Torryn told her, his tone hard as he rubbed his jaw. “We had disguises on our walk back, but with the proper runed or spelled equipment they could see through that. Or maybe they had tracked our magical signature after we left the capital the first time, who knows other than they found us.”
“How long until the Prime Minister is in the capital?” I directed my question at Edmund, steering us back on track.
“He said he’d be back by the morning of the eleventh at the latest and midday of the tenth at the earliest,” he said.
“So, we get there as soon as possible and hope to the Gods and Goddesses, he gets there in time,” I summarized. “Send a message to him, and tell him we’ll be there by the tenth, morning to midday more than likely, and we can’t wait any longer than that. Kye, message Olive, give her a summary of what happened, and that we’ll be moving as fast as possible.”
“What about you, dear?” Josephina asked as I stumbled to standing.
“I’m going to help get Cas’ back slathered up and bandaged, then we rest for a little while,” I directed, sitting next to Tor, Drayce, and Cas, the former holding out the jar of salve from Seamus. No one questioned me further, going about their tasks as I worked on my sweet, loveable boyfriend.
Edmund’s spelled covering faded away, my stomach revolting again at the sight of his mangled back, but thankfully, I was able to keep whatever was left in my stomach down. It would no doubt take a long time to heal, even with the help of magic and salves. Caspian didn’t cry out, but I could see and feel him trembling under my fingers every time I coated a new section of injury.
Grinding my teeth, I held back the urge to make a snarky comment about what exactly I wanted to do to the witches who hurt my Cas, even knowing Tor had taken care of them. I hated to see him in so much pain, especially knowing what was coming in the next couple of days. Here’s to hoping he’ll be healed enough to focus when we go against the council. I grimaced, not wanting to imagine what could possibly happen if he wasn’t able to defend himself. Sighing, I finished covering the last portion of the burn and recovered the jar. Looking around, I realized everything was done, and we were able to get situated for sleep.
“What’s the plan when we get up?” Caspian asked softly when we were all in our makeshift beds.
“Get to the capital as fast as possible, using the lanterns until we’re ready to draw the council out. Only issue is we can’t lug all of our things with us, so we need to find a place to drop it all,” I rattled off.
“Bernadette and Seamus’,” Lyra offered. “I think they’d be willing to watch our stuff for us.”
“And we wouldn’t bring any heat to them since we’ll be using the lanterns,” I murmured, nodding in agreement, even though I knew no one could see me. “Alright, then the plan’s settled.”
“Let’s get some rest,” Josephina said softly. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
I laid awake, unable to relax for a long while, the sounds of everyone’s deep breathing filtering around me. It wasn’t until I whispered the quietest ‘thank you’ for them, I was able to fall into a dreamless sleep.
December 9th
Monday Morning
Aris
The familiars were racing ahead of us through the trees, playing what looked like a version of hide and seek as Mr. Stripes searched through the foliage for his friends. Coral was the only exception, currently burrowed in Cas’ zipped coat with her furry face poking out just under his chin. We laughed when Mr. Stripes sprung on Raptor, who gave an indignant cluck and ruffle of feathers.
“I’m glad they’re enjoying themselves,” Lyra said softly beside me. I nodded in agreement, giving her a small smile. We�
��d only been walking for about twenty minutes after our second night of camping, getting up at first light and heading onward. We were on the last leg of our journey and would be at the capital by mid-morning.
“Anyone check messages lately?” I asked, knowing damn well it had only been an hour since the last. Edmund sighed but obliged.
“I’ll check now,” he said, his steps pausing as he pulled out his Witches Glass and turned it on. We waited in tense silence as he flipped through things on the device for what felt like a comically long time before he grinned. “Ah, looks like the Prime Minister was anxious to see what was going on and is arriving today. He’s hoping to be there by early afternoon.”
“That’s great news! Kye, can you send a note to Olive?” I asked as I hurried ahead and scooped up Mr. Stripes, the others scurrying back to their witches. “Olive’s last transmission said they were still safe. I sent one saying the Prime Minister would arrive today, and so would we,” Kye explained before the glass chimed. He glanced back down and grinned. “She’s getting everyone ready for our signal.”
“It’s all coming together,” Caspian said, his strained smile worrying me. The more I saw him struggle, the more I wanted to ask him to sit this one out, but I knew it would be pointless. Hopefully, Seamus would have more salve since I’d used most of mine up on my wrists, and his back had taken up all that was left that first night.
“It is… a little too smoothly,” Torryn said, a frown on his face.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Kye asked, shrugging.
