The Witch of Wicked Words stood beside him on tiptoe, in a worn, green cotton dress, matted red waves knotted around owl feathers concealing her face. But I saw her cracked lips, the ever-present red hand, her particular war paint, painted over them. She was Whispering into his ear.
Chapter 5
The urge to Wish for the school day to skip right to lunch was tempting. That was the next time I might catch a glimpse of the Witch of Wicked Words. I could Wish the time to pass and it would, but what would I do then? I couldn’t even think of what Vera’s voice sounded like, except that it was a thing that shouldn’t exist. It had erased itself from my memory. I’d only spoken to her when the Elementals needed us together on our shared birthday, Halloween. I had no other reason to talk to her. Or at least, that’s what I told myself. I told myself it wasn’t because I was afraid of her. The way she wandered school, looking for someone to inflict herself upon in that silent, Japanese horror way. Like she’d rather be anywhere else, but didn’t know where to go.
I slumped over in my seat. What in the hell had I been thinking when I told my mom I could do this on my own? I’d spent nearly four years avoiding the Poisons, judging them. I wasn’t above it. Suddenly I was supposed to be head coach. This was the ultimate in doing a major project the night before it was due.
The clock ticked away over Mr. Collins’s head, counting down the minutes until all of my inadequacies would turn against me in a stunning display of not knowing what to do, ever. All the talk between Cymbeline, Una and I, and the only conclusion we’d come to about how to handle Vera was that I, the supposed leader of this coven, should do it. Even if I could bring together a group of girls that wouldn’t mind if I was dead, I was no leader. Leaders don’t just wish for things, they do things.
I didn’t have the courage to wish for things because my Wishes would come true.
Link flitted in my pocket, making me smile sadly. My little link of chain, my constant reminder of how wonderfully important I was, and how much was at stake. The Poisons should at least fear me, even if they hated me. We had to hate each other, it was written in the stars long before we were born, and it was so much more than just our feelings we had to worry about. The fate of the world was ours to hold close. Before the Poisons, our mothers held the responsibility alone, and the power of it was enough to make them nearly destroy each other throughout their entire immortal lives.
And yet, our families depended on each other to keep The Chains in place. The world was a clock, ticking down until the day that it all exploded, and one of our families would take things too far.
“Celeste, do I need to take away your little toy?”
“What? Oh.” Mr. Collins stood over my desk, angry eyes on Link, which I’d taken out of my pocket and was even still banging nervously on my desk. Smooth. “No, no, of course not. Sorry, really.”
The bell rang and I bolted from my seat and out the door.
“Wait for me.”
Cymbeline was a pale scarecrow at the side of the door, unnerving me again and as usual. I couldn’t even unnerve the other Poisons. How dull was that?
I let out a long breath. “Hi.”
“Hello. Lunchtime.”
“Okay,” I said, slowing down. “You—you want me to sit with you?”
She didn’t nod, only glanced out the side of her enormous eyes at me. A lunch not spent putting out the pissing contest between Una and Delcine in exchange for Cymbeline’s ethereal weirdness was a little comforting.
Cymbeline sat at her usual corner table and took out an apple that shined like an orb of blood in her hand. She bit into it, staring straight ahead. I got into the lunch line, head on a swivel like I was searching out a Russian spy or something. Between Vera and the demon, what I was looking for was way more threatening.
Vera may or may not have the same lunch period as Cymbeline and I did. She showed up sometimes. I don’t think she even went to classes—she did whatever she wanted in that forever-searching way of hers that was so goddamn scary, nobody would dream of telling her what to do. I had no idea what the demon boy was doing, where he was, why. Why, why, why. Why had he come, except to show us that demons could breach The Chains?
To destroy us. Tear us to shreds, take our world for the magicless monsters of The Gone.
But that boy didn’t seem like much of a monster. The Elementals told us stories of them. Soulless beings banished to The Gone, a place the Elementals created just for them. The Elementals had amazing powers of creation—a demon realm. Daughters.
I’d feared demons, but never expected to see one. I was in way over my head.
It was a miracle I didn’t trip on my way to the table, intent as I was on finding the demon or Vera. Sitting across from Cymbeline, I realized that if I was all that intent, I wouldn’t be on my ass, shoveling in lunch. I drank my milk and waited, annoying the hell out of myself with my lack of action.
“There,” the Witch of Empty Things said, eyes fixed over my shoulder. I turned to see my other problem, Delcine, stride into the cafeteria in full red regalia, a ripe persimmon for the plucking. Luscious lips curved into a confident smile. She twisted her arms in a subtle dance, trailing plumes of crimson smoke behind her. As far away as I was, I could smell the cinnamon and ripe apples of her, and knew the spell was being cast.
She was ready to make something happen, even if I wasn’t.
Her desert island dark waves curled up with the heat radiating from her. Stretching her bare arms out to the sides, she held open her hands and enormous, glistening strawberries filled them. She bared her teeth with pleasure. A thick coating of dark chocolate melted over the berries like tiny blankets, and only another witch could see the miniscule pinpricks of ruptured and crushed chains buried within.
The cafeteria breathed an audible sigh. Cymbeline and I watched as boys at every table stood as one, unable to get to her side fast enough. She looked down at them as they surrounded her feet, crouching beneath their goddess, every one stunned with lust for her, every one willing to do anything to take a bite.
But none of them were the one she was looking for. Maybe the one she wanted couldn’t be tempted by sinful magic sweets. Maybe the boy she was looking for knew enough of sin that it came looking for him first.
With an aggravated glance around, Delcine leaned down to Chris Newman, a freshman. I could almost hear the smack of her lip gloss when I read her lips:
Find the demon, and I’m yours.
Chris ran off, stumbling out the doors and down the hall.
Una sauntered in through the still-swinging doors and smacked Delcine on the back of the head. “You didn’t think a demon that’s strong enough to escape The Gone would fall for your stupid trick or treat spells, did you?”
Delcine growled at her, but the Witch of Shades was unfazed. She opened her hand, revealing a small cube of dull red. It pulsed, like living flesh. Nauseating. The second Delcine laid eyes on it, she dropped her hands at her sides, and all of her magic disappeared. She grinned at the thing, entranced, and took it from Una as if it was the best toy under the Christmas tree. The boys all shook their heads and blinked rapidly, went back to their tables and ate their tasteless lunches, wishing for something sweeter.
“Let’s go,” I said, and Cymbeline followed me to Delcine and Una; one mesmerized by a magic brick, the other smiling smugly at her.
“Hey, Stars. Your Emptiness,” Una said, still watching Delcine in her trance.
“What is that, Una?” I asked.
“Red.”
“I know it’s red. What is it?” Now that we were closer, I could feel it buzzing like Link did in my pocket, with an energy all its own, meant for only one person.
“It’s all the temptations she creates and all the things she wants, contained,” Una said.
The Witch of Shades was supposedly the weakest of us all, but that was no weak spell. If she was that strong, to trap something so perfect and so vast and take the Witch of Sweets out of commission, what else co
uld she do?
How much more powerful was I than I gave myself credit for?
I shook off the thought. “We can’t afford to shut Delcine out, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. She’ll turn to Vera in a heartbeat if she thinks it will get her what she wants.”
“She wants the demon,” Cymbeline said, having been silent all this time.
I pursed my lips and let my irritation speak for me. “Delcine is a loose cannon, and I won’t babysit her and her red Lego or whatever to keep her from getting the demon first. She needs to work with us, and we have to let her. We’ll go to Vera together. I want to know what the hell she Whispered to him.”
Una turned cold eyes on me. “Stop pushing us around. We don’t have to do a damn thing.”
I stepped up to her, nose to nose, knowing she could kick my ass. “Don’t turn your teen rebellion on me because your mother—”
She howled like a wild animal, setting off shocked yelps throughout the cafeteria. A savage rush of red and yellow and puke green mixed in the air around her head, and I swear I could see tiny faces screeching in its clouds. “Don’t talk to me about her,” Una spat, the bruise around her eye speaking louder than any magic.
I tried not to let my skin prickle at the madness her cloud made me feel. It was the color of every horror the world had ever seen, a plague that she held inside her. “Speaking of things we’ll have to do, get yourself in check, Shades. Good thing The Chains are stronger than we are or we’d have an entire cafeteria to convince this never happened.”
I was close enough to see the tears dangle on her lashes for a second, then fizzle off as the fog sucked back inside of her. “Don’t mention my mother,” she said, and turned away from me.
“Some of them see. I will fix it,” Cymbeline said. She fixed her eyes on a tipped over milk carton on the closest table. Just a regular milk carton, drained by a thirsty student. The long table it was on shook, sending the students who had already been staring at us into a panic. Then just as quickly, the shaking stopped, and everyone was eating and laughing again. The milk carton bulged, then returned to shape.
“Wow,” I said quietly, leaning close to her, looking around the far too normal cafeteria. “That was cool. What did you put in that milk carton?”
She wasn’t smiling when she turned her head to me. “Time.”
“What?”
“The piece of time when you argued. It’s in the carton.”
Una said, “You put time in the carton? So what happened to the place where the time was before?”
“I don’t think it works like that,” I said, just wanting to move away from the magic show and on to the demon. I felt like I was in a talent show with no talent. The Poisons embodied their powers so much more than I did, I grew angry at my own normalcy.
“It does work like that. The Chains don’t always work, though,” Cymbeline answered. “Now there’s another empty place where that time was.” Cymbeline stared into the air, as though she could see the missing piece of time. She probably could. The possibility of what—or who—she could put into that space made my heart quicken. She was magnificent.
“I think I picked the right witch to be my friend,” I said into her ear and she giggled so slightly I wasn’t sure I’d heard it at all.
“Screw this. I have to get to class,” Una said, rolling her eyes as the bell rang. “Mom will have my pretty head on a fucking platter if I miss this test.” Green sparks flitted around her fingertips as she snapped them at Delcine, jolting her back from her trance. The Witch of Sweets jumped to her feet, furious.
“You broke my temptation spell! What the hell was that thing?!” She swallowed hard. Her lip quivered. “Why did you take it from me?”
Una sneered, and even if it was meant for Delcine, I felt like it was for me. “You’re not supposed to get everything you want, and if you do you’re sure as hell not supposed to keep it.”
I didn’t want my mind to race to the demon when she said it, but that’s where it went.
Chapter 6
The Poisons had blown it. I’d blown it. The only thing we’d managed was for Una to cause trouble, Delcine to send a boy on a wild demon chase, and Cymbeline—well, I had to admit what she did was pretty killer.
But heading into the class where I’d first seen him, I’d be facing him alone. Unless he didn’t show up at all. What if he was off planning something with Vera?
Without me.
“Holy crap,” I said out loud at my own jealousy.
“What?” Sasha Williams said, putting down her bag.
“Oh, uh, nothing? This class only has room for one person who talks to themselves out loud.” I laughed at my own joke.
“What?” Sasha repeated.
I looked at her big, brown eyes for a second, and realized she didn’t remember seeing the boy yesterday. And if she didn’t, nobody probably did. The Chains at work.
“Nothing, sorry. Just got a lot on my mind.” Like being jealous that the absolute freak that was Vera could be spending time with a demon that I wanted. Sick.
She shifted in her seat, angled towards me. “Need to talk?” she asked.
I couldn’t hide my surprise. Conversations between me and my classmates usually had the tone of ‘pass the butter’ at awkward family dinners, or at least the ones I’d seen on TV. That’s what happens after turning down every invite to the movies, parties, sleepovers, bowling, dates…. Too risky. I was such a sucker, so quick to say yes to everyone, that I was terrified to get to know anyone; I’d make their wishes come true on a whim. I’d imagined too many times sitting up late with a friend in our sweats, watching bad movies until we were half asleep and rambling, telling all our secrets. What would prevent me from granting every wish my friends had? Why not?
One reason: Use my magic, drain my mother of her own. Of the magic that created me.
What was the worse abuse of power, using it to help one and hurt another, or not to use it at all? Wasn’t I storing my magic for battling demons, just like the one that had appeared? We serve the power and the power serves us was drilled into my head. But I served it more than it served me.
“I’d like to talk,” I said to Sasha, and she smiled easily. “But no, no, I’m okay. Thanks.”
Her laugh was sweet and kind. I wanted very much to ask her to come over and split a bag of Doritos after school, like I’d been able to do before coming to Rocky Nook. Before I was the Witch of Stars. “Well, whenever you want, here I am,” she said. “What hair color do you use? I always meant to ask.”
Una would have answered, It’s natural, she’s got a horrible disease. I stifled a giggle. “My mom does it,” I lied.
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen your mom at Stop and Shop! She’s so gorgeous. I thought my dad’s eyes might fall out.”
“The salad bar would be closed down immediately. The possibility of eyeballs in the olives.” We both laughed and it felt so normal. I could still see the demon boy’s empty seat out of the corner of my eye, but I was really looking at Sasha.
“Well, I won’t be visiting the salad bar anytime soon,” she said, faking a gag.
“Ha, right. Sorry. I guess I don’t really talk a lot because I say some lunatic-material stuff and I have a tendency to go on and on about it when someone actually listens to my ridiculous crap, which barely ever makes sense and is always weird.” I had to stop myself from saying, like what if we all had a pocket-sized reporter who interviewed us whenever we felt extremely interesting and offered terrible advice to get good headlines on their tiny newspaper and then you took that advice all the time and your entire life was a disaster for these tiny readers to enjoy?
If I said it with the just the wrong amount of want in my voice, it would actually happen.
“No way are you ridiculous. You’re so serious all the time, I thought you might be a drone created to listen to Albrecht professionally.”
I laughed way too loud, and heads all around me turned. But not his. He wasn’t there.
The demon boy never showed up to class. I was pissed that I was so preoccupied with him when I should have been thinking of asking Sasha to hang out after school.
“You okay?” Sasha mouthed to me over the ringing bell.
“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later,” I said with a tight smile. She nodded, and I realized that I probably looked like a mental patient, laughing with her one minute, then fiddling with a frigging chain link and tapping my feet all through class. And if she asked again what was bothering me, what could I say?
Thanks for the memories, but this is as far as this friendship goes may as well have been written on my forehead.
Being angry made me angry. After Albrecht’s class I stormed into the hallway behind the science labs where all the derelicts went to smoke. I was shocked Delcine wasn’t there.
I sat down hard on the steps and pulled Link out of my pocket again. I was pissed that I turned to a piece of metal when I was upset instead of talking to a nice, normal girl like Sasha. I was pissed that I was jealous of the other witches for using their powers whenever they felt like it. And I was pissed that the demon boy wasn’t in class.
Because I wanted him there.
“The weakest of men can overshadow a woman’s power, Celeste. Don’t let it happen to you.” My mother had said that to me more than once about why there were no men in our lives. Feeling myself lose control to a boy with the power to escape The Gone, I saw what she meant.
I tossed Link up in the air and caught it over and over while I thought, sulking against the wall. It sparked every time it touched my hands. Silver strands of hair swam around my head and the air pulsed violently in my vision, alive with the magic that needed release.
The Wind Between Worlds Page 4
