Before I lost control of my emotions again, I walked up beside her and placed my bundle of flowers beside hers. I took her hand and led her back to the circle so the others could follow. One by one, they went forward to lay theirs down.
Once we were all back standing barefoot in the dirt, Henley said a few last words. Tegan wiggled her fingers, and a wave rippled under the ice block, carrying it away from shore. We stood there watching it float away in silence.
Once the flames floated far enough away that I couldn’t see their light, I sighed and turned to my friends. “Come on. Let’s get back to Leyka’s. We need to be ready if Myrtle comes back with an idea.”
Saffie smiled and led the way back through the forest. The second she stepped between those two trees, all the fairyflies vanished. The golden, shimmering light disappeared, and the ground stopped glittering under her feet. We were drenched in darkness again, with only Emersyn’s gift giving us light. I glanced down at Tegan and tugged on her hand.
She shook her head. I don’t want to diminish their magic just because I can do it too.
I smiled. She always seemed to know what I was thinking, but more than that, she always seemed to understand other people. She was the first High Priestess I’d ever met, so I didn’t know if that was part of her magic or if it was just Tegan.
“Witch!” A man jumped out from behind a big tree. The candle in his hand wobbled on its holder as he trembled. He pointed one grimy finger at us and yelled, “WITCH!”
I glanced around, but I didn’t see anyone. Wait. He means us.
Deacon leapt out in front of him and raised his hands. His magic pulsed through the air. “You will not accuse anyone of witchcraft. Go home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
EMERSYN
The sky above me was the most beautiful shade of blue I’d ever seen. I heard the roar of waves crashing onto a shore from somewhere nearby. Up ahead in the distance, mountain peaks towered over me, reaching way up into the clouds. A cool, refreshing breeze swept over me. I smiled and took a deep breath full of clean air. I squeezed my toes against the cold, soft dirt.
I stood in a valley in a field of wildflowers, letting nature wash away some of the tension in my bones. There was no way to not feel peace here, not with so much life thriving in all its brilliant vibrancy. Roses, sunflowers, daisies, tulips – every type of flower I could imagine, and then countless ones I couldn’t. Every color of the rainbow and in between waved in the golden sunlight. It didn’t seem fair for all this beauty to exist.
“Emersyn,” Deacon’s voice echoed through my ears.
I smiled and spun in circles until I spotted him standing a little ways behind me. “Yes?”
He arched one eyebrow and smirked. His violet eyes sparkled and made my cheeks warm. He looked devastatingly handsome standing there in his white shirt and jeans. His sandy blond hair glistened in the sunlight and swayed in the breeze. The crystal heart of his soulmate glyph shimmered from sky-blue to red. It flashed a few times before it stayed red.
I frowned. That wasn’t normal. “What’s wrong?”
“Emersyn?” he said again with a smile.
“I’m right here,” I said back.
He tilted his head to the side and watched me. His glyph flashed red like a cop car, and then red mist billowed out from him. His shirt turned crimson, then his pants. The sunflowers swaying beside him changed to a bright scarlet. Then the white daisies. A scarlet fog crept over the wildflowers, transforming their colors one by one until it reached me. I should’ve been frightened, but it was Deacon. He wouldn’t hurt me.
I looked down and watched the red mist hit my long white dress then sweep upward.
“Emersyn?”
I gasped and looked up. Deacon stood right in front of me now, staring down at me with that smile that made my heart flutter. He reached out and tipped my chin up with one finger. Butterflies filled my stomach. Was he going to kiss me? I hoped so. I wanted him to.
He leaned forward and whispered, “Wake up.”
I woke with a gasp. My arms and legs flailed around me. My pulse pounded in my veins.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Deacon whispered and caught my arm before I wacked him in the head. He chuckled and held my wrists. “It’s just me.”
“Deacon,” I said with a sigh. Then I remembered my dream. “Did you wake me up with magic?”
He grinned. “Yes, I did.” He wasn’t even ashamed of it.
I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
“Because I’m sneaking into the village to look for answers.” He leaned closer. “And I thought you might want to come with.”
My eyes widened. A smile pulled at my lips. “You thought right.”
I jumped out of bed and grabbed my waistcoat Myrtle had given me. It only took me a minute to button it all up and slip my shoes on. Deacon stood by the door, leaning against the wooden frame. His gaze was locked on something I couldn’t see. I skipped over to him then followed his stare. When I spotted it, a big smile spread across my face.
Tegan and Tennessee were cuddled up on the twin-sized bed in the corner of the room. There definitely shouldn’t have been enough room for two grown people in that bed, especially not when one of them was six foot two inches tall and a solid two hundred pounds—or more. Tennessee was a big dude. Hell, my sister and I were tall for the average girl at five foot eight. But the two of them slept soundly in their little tangled ball of limbs and a whole lot of black hair. It was nice to see them happy for a change.
“Your poor brother,” Deacon whispered in my ear. He chuckled and tugged on my dress sleeve. “Come on.”
I paused in the doorway and stared at my sister. Whereas I was thankful neither she nor Tennessee was awake to stop Deacon and me from going into town, I didn’t want them to worry when they woke. I ran over to the desk next to her bed to where a piece of parchment and a quill sat, then scribbled her a note: D and I went into village to look for clues. Have T call us if you need us – Em. I grabbed the paper and set it next to Tegan’s head on the bed.
When I finally made it out the front door, I found Deacon leaning against a tree. He looked absolutely dashing in his coat and breeches. The other guys looked out of place, blatantly. They were all very handsome, but they looked like they were dressed up for a Halloween party with a costume they bought online. Deacon, on the other hand, could’ve been born in seventeenth-century clothing. He could’ve been royalty.
He arched an eyebrow as I caught up. “I was starting to worry, Buttercup.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Westley,” I said with a grin and a little curtsey.
“I still can’t believe you know that movie.” He chuckled and started walking up the path.
My cheeks warmed, and I knew I was blushing. We didn’t speak for a while, mostly because there were a lot of hills and the heat was suffocating in this dress. But when we finally emerged into the village, I realized I hadn’t a single clue what we were looking for.
“Hey, D, what are we doing out here exactly?”
He smiled at a couple of passing villagers then shrugged. “Well, honestly, I really wanted to take a look around. I mean, we went back in time. This isn’t some movie set or something. This is real. I wanted to check it out. But also…assuming we do actually make it back home, and assuming we have all the Elemental Stones, we still won’t have any idea where the original Gap was. So, as I was lying there trying to sleep this morning, I figured maybe there will be some clues out here since it just happened.”
I glanced up at him, but the sun blasted me in the eyes so I looked at the ground. “That’s a good idea. We can just cruise around and see if something sticks out to us.”
Without warning, he grabbed my hand and wrapped it around his elbow. “People are looking at us weird. I’m not good at history, but maybe this will help us blend in?”
I peeked up as subtly as I could. He wasn’t wrong; we were getting stared at. Some people even pointed. I wasn’t sure if women were allowed
to walk around without a male escorting them. Sadly, I hadn’t paid that much attention to detail in history class. But at the very least, this was witch-hunting territory, and most of the victims were women. Not that I would let them hurt me…but still.
I slid my hand down his forearm and laced my fingers with his. Hot, electric tingles shot up my arm. My heart fluttered, and butterflies bounced in my stomach. My face felt like it was on fire. Deacon’s hand was soft and warm against mine. I felt some of the tension in my body slip away. Holding his hand was like cuddling up with your favorite blanket. Why have I been preventing this for so long?
“Just in case,” I said softly, though I had no intention of letting go anytime soon.
When I looked up, his cheeks were flushed a soft pink, and he had a little smile. His eyes met mine, and they had a new sparkle I hadn’t seen before. He chuckled and shook his head. “Smooth.”
I opened my mouth to say something when a woman’s scream broke through the silent road. When I looked, the woman was being half carried, half dragged by a man down the hill. She wailed and screamed. She was trying to speak to the man, but her hysterical crying drowned out all the words.
There was a cracking noise then the sound of carriage wheels. The woman’s screams pierced my ears.
“Come on. We can’t help,” Deacon said and tugged on my hand.
I hadn’t even realized I’d stopped moving. I shook my head and let him pull me up the hill. I tried to shake her cries from my memory, but with every step, it seemed to grow louder. I’d been so caught up in Deacon that I’d forgotten where we were. “Deacon, maybe we shouldn’t be out here. I don’t know if I can handle this.”
“But we had a petition!” a man bellowed from in front of us.
Two other men with graying hair and dirt-stained clothing wrapped their arms around him and dragged him toward us. The man they held kept screaming and yelling about a petition. It sounded eerily familiar, but I couldn’t place it. What do I know about a petition in Salem? A handful of younger women who looked about my age came running after the men. They all had tears pouring down their faces and hysterical-looking eyes.
“Yeah, let’s get off this path,” Deacon grumbled under his breath. He led me up and around a group of trees then slid to a stop so fast that I slammed into his shoulder. He made this half whimper, half growl noise. “No, no, no.”
I frowned and looked up. That loud roaring noise I’d heard hadn’t been my brain replaying that woman’s screams. It’d been from the group of people gathered in front of me. Women shrieked and cried. Children covered their faces and wept. People up at the front screamed and yelled in protest. Some of them had to be restrained. I may have been tall for a girl, but there were so many people I couldn’t see through to the front. I couldn’t see what they were seeing.
“Deacon, what is it? What do you see?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
EMERSYN
A woman pushed through the crowd. Her face was red and smudged with dirt. Her bonnet was falling off her head. Tears rained down her face. She gasped and choked on her cries as she tried to get free of the crowd.
“But we had a petition,” she cried over and over.
“Deacon, what aren’t I seeing?”
When he didn’t answer, I glanced up at him. His eyes were wide with horror. His face was pale as he stared ahead. But he wasn’t looking at the crowd—he was looking above them. I spun around and choked on my own scream. I covered my mouth with my hands and stumbled back into Deacon. My body made noises I’d never heard it make.
There in front of the group, five women hanged from a large tree branch.
My breath left me in a rush. I gasped for air, but none came. I wanted to look away, but my body froze in place. No, no, no. Goddess, why? Their feet swayed. Their bodies hung lifelessly. My stomach turned. My body burned like I’d been set on fire. I couldn’t breathe. I had to get away. I couldn’t look at them any longer. Their faces… My stomach rolled. I’d never get that out of my brain for as long as I lived.
I peeled my eyes off and sprinted away from the crowd. Tears poured down my face. My mind went blank. All I saw were those women. I gasped and choked. My stomach dropped, and I tasted bile in my throat. I wasn’t even sure where I was running to; I just had to get away. Deacon ran behind me, shouting my name, but I couldn’t stop.
I should’ve known. Those women crying. The angry men. The petition. It all clicked far too late. Rebecca Nurse. The people of Salem had signed a petition to free her and yet they still— Oh Goddess, why?
“Emersyn, wait!” Deacon grabbed my wrist and pulled me to a stop.
“Why did they do this?” I screamed and slammed my fists against his chest. It wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t done it, but my emotions had snapped. Rage I’d never felt before erupted from inside me like a volcano. “They’re monsters! Those awful children… How could they do this!”
“I don’t know, Em—”
“I hope they all suffer for the rest of their lives,” I growled as hot tears tracked down my face. “And when they die, I hope they pay for what they’ve done!”
Deacon flinched. “Emersyn.”
I gasped for air and wiped my nose with my dress sleeve. “I’d torment them in their sleep with a terror so real they’d piss themselves. I’d set their clothes on fire and laugh as they failed to put them out. They deserve it. They deserve to feel what they’ve done. I’d enjoy every second of it if it wouldn’t cause them to accuse more innocents.”
“Em, I know—”
A man came running down the hill behind Deacon. He flew by us then dropped to his knees at the foot of the river and puked his guts out. I knew I needed to keep my mouth shut. I knew I shouldn’t even have been seen, let alone heard. But something inside of me had broken, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever make it right again.
“They had a petiton, Deacon!” I screamed. I yanked the bonnet off my head and threw it on the ground, but it didn’t make me feel better. I dropped my arms and cried. “They had a petition for her innocence, and they hanged her anyway. What hope do any of them have?”
“None,” the puking man cried. He sank back on his heels and looked up to the sky with tears staining his face. “We have no hope. My mother’s petition did nothing. We are damned.”
“Oh Goddess,” Deacon groaned.
“We can’t even bury her with honor in the eyes of God,” the man cried.
Rebecca Nurse’s son. There was something about him, something I’d read about him in historical articles, but I couldn’t recall what it was. I wished I could give him some kind of peace.
Deacon cursed. He stepped around me then walked down to where the man sat. He crouched down and squeezed his shoulder. “You are Rebecca Nurse’s son, Benjamin, right?”
He nodded and buried his face in his hands.
“You see this river right here?” Deacon waited until Benjamin pulled his hands away and looked. “Sneak up the river tonight and get your mother. Take her home and bury her with every honor and respect a remarkable woman as her deserved.”
I gasped. That was it. That was the something I’d heard about Benjamin Nurse. It was never proven, or disproven. But it was rumored that he went up the river by rowboat and stole his mother’s body, then buried her somewhere on the family’s property.
Deacon.
Deacon glanced up at me then back at Benjamin. His magic rippled through the air as he squeezed the poor man’s shoulder. “Know that your mother is at peace now, with God, in a place where none can harm her anymore. See the happiness in life until the day you find her again.”
Benjamin sniffled and wiped his face on his coat. He nodded. “Thank you.” Without another word, he got up and walked away, following the path of the river.
I stared at Deacon with my jaw dropped.
He stood and brushed the dirt off his knees. He looked up at me and frowned. “What?”
There were no words for what I’d just witnessed. I pointed toward Benjamin�
��s fleeing back and shook my head.
Deacon shrugged. “I’d heard as a child that Benjamin Nurse rode up the river and stole her body back…so…I figured it couldn’t hurt for me to tell him. I mean, we already know how that works out.”
Yeah, because YOU told him. I blinked and tried to get my mouth to form the words.
“I don’t think that will change anything.” He sighed. “I probably shouldn’t have.”
I marched up to him and fisted his shirt in my hand. You.
His violet gaze traveled over my face before landing on my mouth. He licked his lips and leaned forward like he was going to kiss me. My heart skipped a beat. Adrenaline rushed through my body. I wanted him to kiss me.
Emersyn? Deacon? Tegan’s voice yelled into my mind. By the way Deacon flinched and jumped back, I knew he’d heard her, too. Get back to Leyka’s as soon as you can. We might have a lead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
TEGAN
“Are you sure this a good idea?”
I paused with my hand on the doorknob. No, I don’t. But I didn’t say that. I forced a small smile then turned to face my soulmate. “I don’t have much choice.”
Tennessee scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not supposed to be going anywhere without me, remember?”
“Babe,” I groaned and moved to stand right in front of him. “If I’m not back in half an hour, then come looking for me. Besides, I’m telepathic, remember?”
“I don’t have a watch, remember?”
“So have Cooper watch the stars.”
He smashed his lips into a firm line and growled. I fisted his shirt in my hand and pulled his lips down to mine. He sighed and relaxed into my kiss. I could’ve stayed right there with him forever, but when Cooper cleared his throat, I pulled away. Over Tenn’s shoulder, I saw my brother’s scowl. Despite everything going on…I smiled. This was new for us, being able to be open about our relationship.
The Eternal Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 5) Page 18
