The Promise (The Coven Series)

by Baker, Apryl

  The book heaved and groaned. It twisted and grew, doubling, tripling in size and length. The pages continued to swell in number. I gasped at the weight of it. After a moment it gave a final shudder and lay still upon my lap.

  “You see, girlie, it does belong to you,” Mr. Warren told me gently and helped me put the book on the table in front of me. “I seen what happened to it that day you touched it and fetched your Daddy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so scared in his life. He gave you over to me and soon as you was out of the room it shrank down to its normal size. We both understood who you were that day or rather who you would be.”

  “And just who am I?” I asked, never taking my eyes off the Book. My Book. A quiet peace settled over me. It was safe.

  “Open it and find out.”

  I looked at him. He gave me an encouraging nod. What could happen?

  Everyone who’s ever opened Pandora’s Box probably asked that same question.

  My fingers lightly stoked the velvety softness of the book. It looked to be bound in leather, but felt like the soft fur on the underbelly of a bunny. It shivered under my touch, alive and breathing. A book couldn’t be alive. Could it?

  I opened it and stared at writing in a language I didn’t know. I turned the pages and stared in amazement at the intricate drawings. Little notes were scribbled here and there. As the pages flew by, the writing changed and soon the entries were written in English. It must have been around the time Christianity was trying to stomp out Paganism. I remembered that from our history class. Ms. Ferguson had just started going over the rise of Christianity. The English language had started to become more dominant in that era.

  The spells and potions listed were fantastic and terrifying, everything from soothing a headache to causing one’s enemy to rot from the inside out. This was by far the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my entire life. Everything I could ever want to know was in here…except the curse. Emily had said she’d removed it. Then I remembered Mr. Martin saying something about checking it to make sure all the details were straight. Did they not know she’d destroyed the pages? I was betting no. He’d probably never even thought to check, seeing as how the entire town had been just as crazy as he was about the curse.

  But there was something that might be in here.

  “Show me Sara Bishop’s last spell the night I watched her burn.”

  I heard Mr. Warren’s shocked gasp, but paid him no heed. The book’s pages fluttered and turned, coming to rest at last upon an empty page. Words inked themselves in as I watched.

  Our Sara died last night. She could not stop George from cursing us all, but she did what she could to hinder him. Here lies her last words as shown to me in a vision.

  “Daughter of Shadow, Daughter of Light

  Born not as one, but as two, you will seek your path

  Upon maturity

  United, the curse fulfilled,

  Divided, the curse shall fail.

  Earth, Air, Fire, and Water I summon thee to do my bidding,

  Spirit, rend her asunder so that what shall pass will

  Forever be undone.”

  She could not stop the horror, but she tried to help the child we would betray for our own revenge. The goddess Agrona desired a blood sacrifice for her aide. She demanded payment from one of our own, the 13th bearer of life, born on the day of shadows and light. The girl must burn to relive the horror of that night so those who died may find a way back to seek their vengeance. The flames and her pain will be their beacon and her blood shall bind the returned souls together to form the evil that will soar into the night and seek those who are of the same blood as our betrayers. Perhaps Sara’s efforts will work. Only the passage of time will tell.

  Our people are angry and hurt. Their need for vengeance is a powerful thing. I understand it, but I cannot share in it. What was done to our families and friends was a terrible thing, but if we do this, hold this curse in our hearts, than we are no better than our betrayers. We will do to a child of our own flesh and blood what was done unto us. We Bishops will do what we can to stop this. I have sealed this book to all Coven members until a true Coven leader is borne unto us again. The others will only be able to use the good in the book. The darker magic is bound from eyes that wish to use it for ill, except for the curse. Mayhap it will be enough. I do not know.

  We leave in the morning for a place called North Carolina. We are hopeful we will be able to establish a village where we can be free to practice our magic. But I am afeard. The only ones going with us are the families of the betrayed and those who were horrified at what the Coven had done to us. Anger breeds hate. I am afeard their hatred will harbor for centuries and breed a legacy of death and vengeance. They will destroy their own because of their hatred.

  We will do what we can to stop this, but it shall not be enough. Sara may have torn their souls asunder, but only one of them will have the strength of will needed to stop this madness. I have seen it in my dreams. I must warn the child. I have cast my own spell. She shall relive the burning in her dreams. It will serve as a warning to her. I pray someone understands it and aides her.

  The Fates are cruel at times, but perhaps they shall decide to smile upon the girl. I pray so.

  Madeline Bishop

  I closed the Book and sat back. I had my answers.

  At least now I understood the curse and what Sara Bishop had done to try and stop it. Mostly. That night in 1692, George Howe decided he wasn’t going to take his fate lying down. He cursed the members of his Coven who had betrayed them to keep themselves from being named as witches. He called upon the god Arwan and the goddess Agrona to help him cast a curse. The thirteenth daughter, or the thirteenth bearer of life as they put it back in the day, born on Samhain, Halloween, signified the thirteen who had burned. Her blood would invoke the curse and give their ancestors a way to come back and seek their vengeance. Since the original betrayers were dead, their descendants would suffer and die because of the curse. Sins of the father and all that.

  Sara did what she could to stop it.

  Born not as one, but as two.

  The thirteenth daughter wasn’t me or Kay. It was both of us. We’d always been connected on some strange level. Now I understood why. We were the same, our soul torn in half when we were born to try and stop the curse from being invoked. Even if they killed one of us, the curse would still fail as long as the other lived.

  Madeline’s vision showed her that only one of us would be able to stop the curse and she’d given a warning to that child. She’d given it to me. It had always been mine. When my dad took it from me, it found the other half of my soul—Kay. That’s why she had started to have the dream. She was never supposed to see it. Maybe that’s why it was so hard for her, why it almost killed her. It all made so much sense now. Except for one thing.

  How did Matthew fit into all this? I really needed to talk to Ethan.

  “Mr. Warren, thank you for giving me my Book.”

  He smiled, his gray eyes almost silver with the warmth that glowed within them. They looked so much like Ethan’s. “You’re welcome, Mistress.”

  Mistress? Uh, no. Not going there.

  “No, Mr. Warren, that’s a title I don’t want.”

  He laughed. “Doesn’t matter what any of us want, girlie. The Fates decide our lot and yours is Mistress.”

  I frowned. At least I understood where Ethan got his penchant for saying outrageous things. “I really came to see your grandson…”

  “My what?” he asked sharply.

  “Ethan…you’re grandson.”

  “I don’t have a grandson, Mistress. I never married when things didn’t work out with my Suzie.”

  “But Ethan said you were his grandfather. You have his eyes…”

  “What did you say his name was?”

  “Ethan Matthew Warren.”

  He paled and grabbed the book, throwing it behind the couch. Then he yanked me up and pulled me into the hallway towards the fro
nt door. I was surprised the old man could move so fast at his age.

  “Wait,” I pleaded. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  He stopped and turned to face me. “You need to run, child. Run as far and as fast as you can.”

  “Cassie Jayne won’t be going anywhere,” Ethan laughed from the now open doorway. “Except with us.”

  Chapter Twenty Six

  I stared at them in shock. Kay, Billy, and…Jeff all stood flanked around Ethan. Fear twisted through me at their expressions. Gone was the warmth and concern from their eyes. They all looked ready to pounce.

  It was Ethan’s eyes that caught and held my attention. Those beautiful gray eyes that had gazed down at me last night with such love and passion were now cold and hard. Their icy depths burned through me worse than the remembered heat of the fire from my dream. He watched me like a predator, ready to pounce and eat me alive the moment I moved. Eyes the color of a gathering storm shattered my heart. There was no love there. Only my death.

  “Ethan?” I whispered, desperate to find some hint of his former self in those eyes.

  He smiled and crushed any hope I harbored. Pain lanced me, a physical hurt that caused the air to leave my lungs. I wanted to throw up. I knew he was lying about something, but not this. Damn you, I wanted to scream. I couldn’t get it out past the knot of agony that had lodged in my throat. How could I have been so wrong?

  “Why can you just never stay put, Cassie?” he sighed. “I told you’d I’d come fetch you when it was time. Now you’ve gone and made this more difficult.”

  “You don’t have to do this, boy,” Mr. Warren spoke up. “She don’t deserve it.”

  “You’re wrong, old man,” he said softly. “I do have to do this.” Before I could blink, he’d moved and grabbed hold of my arm. Fingers that had caressed my skin with such gentleness the night before now bit into it with bruising force. “Come along, Cassie Jayne.”

  I hurt. Everywhere. Even with my mind reeling from shock and pain, I knew I couldn’t leave with them. I had to find a way to escape, but how? I needed time to think and to do that I had to stall.

  “Was it all lies then?” I asked him. I forced the panic aside. “Do I mean nothing to you?”

  “You said it yourself, Cassie. You were never more than a means to an end.” He smiled that beautiful smile I loved, but it twisted with a cruel curve. “It was so easy to fool you. Such a gullible girl. A few kisses, some sweet words and you fell right into my lap. I had no idea you’d be so easy.”

  I hit him as hard as I could. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and he wiped it away. “Still have a bit of a temper, don’t you?” he laughed. “I always did like that about you.”

  Bit of a temper? I’d show him just how much of a temper I had. “Air…”

  “Oh no you don’t.” He grinned and slapped a hand over my mouth. “No spells this time, Cassie. Do you think we’re stupid enough to come here without the proverbial ace in the hole?”

  Ace in the hole?

  “Your parents,” he explained. “Jonas collected them earlier. Either you come with us now, or they die. It’s that simple.”

  My eyes widened in horror. They wouldn’t hurt my parents. Mom and Dad were Coven members. But the Coven had killed Emily, I reminded myself, just to keep their precious little secret safe. Mr. Martin would murder my parents in an instant if he needed to.

  “Are you going to behave, love?” Ethan asked.

  I nodded. What else could I do? They had my parents.

  “Good girl.” His hand came away from my mouth and he tweaked my nose.

  I hated him in that moment. The blind fury must have shown on my face because he smiled at me with the smile of a fox. Cagey and wicked. I wanted to hit him again.

  Mr. Warren put a restraining hand on Ethan. “No boy, I won’t let you do this.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows shot up and he laughed. He shoved the old man. He fell, his head hitting the hallway table. When he didn’t move, I cried out. He was so old. The fall might have broken bones if it hadn’t killed him. He could have a head injury…

  “Let’s go,” Ethan shoved me at Billy. “Don’t touch the dress,” he warned.

  “Why?” Billy asked and latched onto my arm. Jeff grabbed the other. I looked up at him, my eyes full of hurt and betrayal. He stared back with cold, indifferent eyes and pushed me out the door.

  “No one can touch it except Cassie,” Kay told him as we walked. “It’ll burn you.”

  “Why?” I demanded and twisted my head so I could look her in the eyes. “Why are you doing this, Kay? You’re my best friend. No, you’re more than that, you’re like my sister. How can you do this to me?”

  “Because you’re the thirteenth daughter, CJ,” she told me, her voice as cold as her father’s. “You will do what you were born to do.”

  “How do you know it’s not you?” I asked. Surely her father had told her about not knowing which of us it was.

  “My father tested my blood on the ashes this morning. There was no reaction. That’s how we know it’s you.”

  “Did they tell you I have to die, Makayla?” I asked her softly. “Did they?”

  Her steps faltered. “Die? No, CJ, you’re wrong. We just need the blood of the thirteenth daughter to invoke the curse.”

  “No, I’m not wrong. I have to die. It’s part of the payment for the assistance of the gods.”

  She stopped walking. “You have to be wrong, CJ. Dad would have told me. He tested my blood this morning. He wouldn’t let them…”

  “I don’t just have to die, Kay,” I interrupted her. “I have to burn just as our ancestors did. They’re going to bleed me to invoke the curse and then burn me alive to serve as a beacon to our ancestors’ spirits so they can find their way back. They’re going to burn me alive, MJ. Please…”

  “Shut up!” Billy snarled and twisted my arm.

  “You knew?” Kay whispered. “You knew they were going to kill her?”

  “Better her than you,” he said.

  “No, Billy, not better her than me. I didn’t know they were going to kill her!”

  “Makayla Joyce Martin,” he bit the words out. “This is what we have worked for centuries to achieve. It is our duty to see justice done. You know that. We have to do what must be done.”

  She closed her eyes and I watched a single tear escape, but she nodded.

  “Kay, please…”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, straightened her shoulders, and started walking.

  “I could have left days ago,” I told her softly. “Do you know why I didn’t, Kay?”

  She didn’t say anything.

  “I didn’t leave because of you. I was afraid that you might be the thirteenth daughter. I was trying to find a way to save one or the other of us. I wasn’t about to let you die.”

  She flinched. “We have to do what must be done. It is our duty.”

  “You really are your father’s daughter, aren’t you?”

  “I’m nothing like him!”

  “No? You’re willing to let them kill me, aren’t you?”

  “You don’t understand, CJ. You’re not a part of the Coven. We don’t have a choice!”

  “There’s always a choice, Makayla. Your choice is simple. Become your father and kill me or be my best friend, the girl I love like a sister, and help me.”

  “I said shut up!” Billy yanked me so hard, I pitched forward. Jeff yanked me back before I hit the ground. Billy’s arm connected with my dress and the distinct smell of charred skin mingled with the sound of his curse. He hissed.

  “Enough!” Ethan barked. “Pleading with us isn’t going to help, Cassie. Makayla is right. None of us have a choice in this. You, me, Kay, we’re all stuck in the role we have to play tonight. I wish it could be different, but it is what it is. So, let’s just get this done.”

  My shoulders sagged as we started moving again. For just a moment, I let myself feel the defeat pressing in on me. Pain raged through me a
nd my stomach rolled unpleasantly. It had been queasy all day, but now it was in full out puke mode. I took deep, shallow breaths to try and get it under control. I didn’t have time for this.

  “How did you know I was at your gra…Mr. Warren’s?” Just breathe, Cassie, I told myself. You’ll get through this.

  “You can thank Billy and Jeff for that. They saw you go over to his house and called me.”

  “Jeff?” I turned startled eyes to him. Jeff had ratted me out? “Were you lying to me too?”

  He shrugged. “Not really. I just made sure you were kept out of everyone’s hair while they made plans.”

  “You…”

  “Now, now, love,” Ethan cut in. “He was only doing as he was told. Just as you will.”

  “The hell I will!” I shouted in his general direction. He was walking behind me and I couldn’t see him.

  “Parents, Cassie Jayne. Are you forgetting them?”

  Dammit!

  We bypassed the meeting hall and went into the park. The clearing. Of course they’d perform their ritual in the clearing. Couldn’t burn a person alive inside, now could you?

  This time when we entered the circle, the Elements were more subdued in their greeting, but I felt them each in turn. The heat of a summer’s day was driven away by fall’s cool breeze. The smell of freshly mown grass tickled my nose and dew coated my fingertips. A gentle calm settled over me. At least I might have some help.

  The entire town was gathered. The robes I’d always imagined were out in full force. Midnight blue and made of some kind of heavy wool adorned the men. Dresses that looked more like lingerie draped the women. They all looked to be freezing their asses off, however. I took a simple pleasure from that fact.

  At least until I saw the pyre. A long pole had been driven into the ground and kindling built up around it. A fire blazed a few feet away. I stared at the faces around me, they were excited, insane. My friends and family. They were all waiting for me to die.

  Shit. They really were going to burn me.