“Tsk. Tsk.” Eben shook his head. He scanned the field that was now overrun with our witches. I spotted Trevor and shook my head. His eyes searched in front of me, landing on Logan’s still body.
“Electricity is a marvelous thing,” Eben laughed. “It has so many uses.”
I watched as the sparks bounced off the clear capsule surrounding us all.
“Unfortunately, I never did trust your motives. I’m afraid I didn’t think you ever had any intention of joining me,” Eben surmised, whipping his hands through the air forming a bubble around him as well.
Eben caught me glancing at Logan. “Aah, but I think I know what might make you make decide quickly.”
I turned my attention to the clear wall that surrounded us as the witches pounded on it with any and every sharp object they could find. Cracks would form but would quickly fill up.
I completely turned my back on Eben, hoping that would infuriate him, and looked at Trevor. I touched my fingertips together and Trevor blinked once. He understood what I was going to do.
Trevor held up his fist and took a step backward, commanding the rest of the witches to retreat.
“Whatever you think you’re going to do, don’t bother,” Eben snarled.
I turned so quickly that droplets of silver splashed along the clear wall on my way to shoot the metal toward my grandfather. As the silver released from my fingertips, I watched the streams penetrate through the colorless veil surrounding Eben. I pushed through his safety net with an endless supply of silver fury.
My breath rushed out as I continued pulsing the silver through my fingertips watching Eben avoid every motion. Instinctively my bow snaked around my wrist, allowing me to quickly aim and shoot. The arrow sliced through the air but smashed into the shield.
Barely a second had passed and Eben collapsed to the ground vanishing into the air. I turned quickly to look behind me to grab Logan, but he was gone. I ran to where I last saw him— the shields were lowered —but there was no sign of him.
Trevor signaled for the witches to leave. He knew what he’d be dealing with in a matter of seconds. I had to hold it together. I couldn’t let anyone see me fall apart. My hands were trembling as I slowly circled where Logan fell. I knew he was alive. Our nectunts never stopped radiating warmth, but he was badly wounded.
The breeze tossed my hair like a veil in front of my face, shielding my tears from the crowd that was slowly dispersing. How did I let him slip through my fingers?
I fell to my knees, holding my head in my hands. This was not how it was going to end. Victory was the only option. I slowly brought my stare up to the scattering witches. I didn’t want them to leave. I needed them. I was no longer going to hold myself back.
“Trevor!” I stood up quickly and waved him over. “We need to pounce now. Eben won’t expect it. I know he tapped into my emotions a few minutes ago and he saw my devastation, welcomed it really.”
I threw an evil grin to Trevor. “Well, that’s changed.”
“Triss, Logan made me promise that under no circumstance would I allow you to risk your life for his.”
“I’m going in with or without your help.” My eyes were blazing. “But it would be a lot easier with your help and theirs.” I pointed to the witches making their way through the field.
Trevor nodded and sighed. “I’ll get everyone together. Logan’s going to kill me.”
“Well, let’s give him that opportunity, shall we?” I stated. “Eben took him to The Witch Avenue Covenstead. I need you to get everyone over there. I’m going in, and I need one more favor.”
***
“You do understand your choices my dear granddaughter,” Eben replied, clasping his hands together and displaying a vicious smile.
“Completely.” I glanced at Logan who was tied to a large wooden bishop chair. There was a green cast boxing him in. I wasn’t sure what spell he threw around him to keep him inside of the box, but I’d have to figure it out. I could tell I had surprised my grandfather by getting here so quickly.
I looked over at Logan. His head was hanging to the right side. His shirt was tattered and had rust-colored spots splattered down the front. I lied to myself that it wasn’t blood, but my brain wasn’t falling for what my heart wouldn’t believe. I swallowed, hoping to stop the gasp that wanted to escape seeing Logan in this condition. All it did was add fuel to the fire burning inside of me. I wasn’t going to allow this evil to exist anymore.
Eben uncurled his fingers and motioned for me. “Come here.”
“Don’t think so,” I replied, looking around the room. He had taken Logan to the Elders’ Den. The walls were covered in red, velvet curtains that hung from floor to ceiling, and the wooden pews were pushed to the sides of the room. Candles surrounding Logan dripped wax endlessly.
“Your talents are far too valuable to waste. You can lead this world where it needs to be.” Eben began pacing, dropping his stare to the wooden floor.
“What makes you think that I’d want to?”
Eben turned toward Logan and then looked back at me, smiling wickedly.
“I think we both know what will help you choose correctly,” Eben’s voice went an octave lower, his eyes a shade darker. “For decades I was in pursuit of something to make me everlasting – immortal, if you will. I’m almost there. We’re almost there,” Eben said. “My people are so close to perfecting an engineered formula.”
I forced myself to stay focused on the figure in front of me. Whatever potion he took to be stronger in the field had worn off. He looked fragile.
“You’d have followers, and I guarantee there is nothing better than having followers,” Eben’s voice was sharp. “You hold the power to change our world beyond anything I’ve accomplished, if you’d only allow me to teach you… That’s all I ask, and I’ll let him go free.”
“I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t spend a lifetime chasing immortality only to give it up. There’s something else driving you.”
Eben nodded, still not looking at me. “You’re also wise.”
“Stop with the niceties and get on with it,” I snapped.
A sardonic smile spread along his thin, wrinkled lips.
“Do you understand that you’re the first in our line of witches to reject black magic?” He turned to face me, fixing his cold stare on me.
“Do you think I care?”
“We’ve worked centuries building an underground society that controlled the non-believers. Once I came into power, the expansion happened at record speed across the globe. Everything our ancestors worked toward for centuries, I completed in a matter of decades. You can understand my dismay when my own children couldn’t cut it and then my granddaughter rejected it.” He shook his head. “But when I heard you killed Lara, I realized you didn’t reject it. You just haven’t experienced it yet. The power. Anyone who can kill blood with such ease is something that can’t be taught.”
I said a silent thank you to Logan once more for stepping in with Lara.
“I’ve heard you’ve been looking for the Circulus Desideriis?” I asked, throwing him off track.
He stopped pacing and looked at me. “What do you know of them?”
“I know I have them with me.”
“Give them to me now,” he commanded.
“I’ll give them to you if you drop the spell around Logan.”
“Willing to bargain, huh? I think you’re closer to claiming our side than you want to admit.” He turned around and chanted a spell in a low hum that I wasn’t able to catch.
The green cast dissipated around Logan.
“Your end of the bargain?” he bowed slightly.
I reached inside of my jacket and pulled the silver out, tossing it to Eben. His eyes widened as he caught it between his index finger and thumb.
“Now back to your knack for taking life… It wasn’t your first time taking life, was it? Now let me guess. They’ve all told you that because you’ve killed in self-defense it makes it okay?” h
e questioned, his eyes dancing with delight. “Did you believe it or did you just enjoy the excuse to act on the unthinkable? Let’s see. The first kill was in the field by your mom’s cottage, and then of course, there was Lara—”
“Enough,” I snarled.
“You’re right. I digress,” he sighed. “So you’ve really put a crinkle in things. I’m dying of old age. You’ve killed Lara and incapacitated your father.”
So he doesn’t know I awoke my father.
“You’re the only one left to continue the traditions of the family. We’ve acquired more wealth than you could ever imagine, and it can all be yours and his.” He looked over at Logan.
“You’re glossing over all of the lives you’ve taken. It’s blood money,” I growled. The anger was running so rampant through me that I felt like I was on the verge of madness.
“Maybe so.” He laughed. “But if it wasn’t us buying the politicians and world leaders, it would be someone else. This is the first time in history that we’ve had any say in anything, and you want us to toss it away? The ground we’ve broken with corporations is incredible. They are selling products based on our age-old recipes that do nothing but create addicts out of consumers. They’ll always come back for more. It’s really quite genius. And the fairies, pointing us where to harvest next… our good old allies and the key to immortality always —”
“Do you ever shut up?” I asked, feeling the heat begin to spread through my body. Now was not the moment. I had to maintain control.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a twitch of movement from Logan, but I continued to stay focused on Eben. The fury I was feeling began to be replaced with tiny seeds of hope.
“It’s not gonna happen. Sorry.” I flashed him a grin. “I like my vision for the covenhood better.”
“And what is that?”
“Allowing the covens to thrive the way they were meant to. Our community has a purpose, which is to help the world, not destroy it.”
“You’re so naïve.” He shrugged. “Immortality shouldn’t be wasted on such a fool as yourself. And now you have gotten me one step closer.” He held the silver button up. My gaze fell to the floor as I realized he thought the Circulus Desideriis had something to do with immortality.
I watched as several dark sorcerers stepped from behind the red velvet curtains, completely surrounding us.
I could hear the chanting beginning from outside. I flashed a dubious smile at my grandfather.
“Do you hear that?” I asked. “I think they’re chanting for our victory.”
Eben roared to life with laughter echoing off the walls as he heard the chanting become more aggressive.
“Like I care,” he snickered. The Praedivinus order is —”
“Missing a Divinus witch I’d say.” Within two large steps, I was hovering over the old man. His eyes were wide with a mixture of horror and admiration.
“That’s impossible,” he stuttered.
“Apparently not,” I hissed closely to his ear. “You’re right. It seems only fitting that I become the leader of an organization that shares my abilities. It’s time I start repairing all the shattered souls my family has created.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’m not asking you to, but I do want you to understand that on your way out of this world when you’re attempting to find your way to that light, I’m going to ensure you never reach it.” I narrowed my eyes on him and grinned widely. “When I end you, I’ll make sure you’re trapped between this world and the next.”
An unfamiliar laughter began rumbling from my belly as I felt my palms warming. Logan slowly brought his head up as my laughter overpowered everyone in the room.
My father’s voice boomed from the back of the covenstead. The doors flew off the hinges and crashed across the room.
“No more,” my father shouted. “I won’t let you turn to that side of life, Triss.
I turned around to see him standing in the entry, glaring at his father.
“You don’t have the guts to end me,” Eben snarled, and he turned his attention back to me. “She’s the very one you abandoned. You don’t care about her, but I do.”
With one quick movement of my fist, I shot a line of flames to my left, engulfing the black sorcerers that were ready to pounce on my father. The louder their screams, the more obedient my flames became. I watched their robes ignite, as they called to my grandfather for help. He offered none, turning to the other side of the room, nodding at the untouched sorcerers to come at my father and me.
I ran past Eben, pushing the, now seemingly decrepit, old man to the floor and jumped over the steps, landing next to Logan. The adrenaline was pulsing through my veins, and I understood the power I held to be very dangerous but useful in moments like these. Flipping my palms out, I created a ring of fire around Logan and me as I untied him.
“I’m gonna get you out of here.” The sorcerers’ shadows surrounded us, and I gave one last pull on the rope, releasing Logan.
“I told Trevor not to—” his voice was weak.
“Shh. We’ve got this.”
The flames were getting taller. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to imagine exactly what we needed next. My skin immediately became dewy as I controlled the pipes up above. The water began spraying in every direction.
Logan immediately jumped from the chair, over the dying flames. The sorcerer nearest to me, lunged at me, and I dropped to the ground, shouting “Non Impetus,” freezing him in place. My fingers began to pool in all the right places, and I reached up, touching the frozen sorcerer. I watched as the silver began traveling up his leg.
“Who’s next?” I asked, watching the remaining sorcerers fall back slowly.
My father was towering over Eben, when suddenly the building began to violently shake. I looked down at Eben’s eyes and they were glowing red, as his lips moved slightly.
“I’ve already summoned Praedivinus members around the globe. If you think killing me will stop what’s already begun, you’re gravely mistaken,” Eben yelled.
“I’m on the verge of immortality,” Eben now sounded hysterical, popping anything off to stop what was about to take place.
The building began shaking again, and I watched as the remaining sorcerers ran outside. Unfortunately for them, they’d run right into Trevor’s territory.
The floor cracked next to Logan and me. My father whispered something in Latin, and Logan flashed me a look.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Logan yelled at me.
“I’m not leaving here until I’m sure Eben is destroyed.”
“Your father’s taking care of that, Triss,” Logan whispered. “We need to leave.”
“Triss,” my father’s voice boomed. “I love you, and I’m sorry I wasn’t who I should’ve been for you or your mother. I heard your wishes before I entered here. I’ll make sure he never finds that place of peace in the afterlife. Logan, get her out of here now and take care of her.”
I couldn’t move. My father had redeemed himself. I couldn’t let him do this. I couldn’t let his soul be trapped in the forever after with his own father’s.
Logan grabbed me, but I struggled free from his grasp, running to my father’s side.
“Get her out of here,” my father shouted.
I looked down at my grandfather and grabbed the Circulus Desideriis from his fingers.
“I love you,” I whispered to my father, but he had already begun the process.
Everything was in slow motion as the floor continued to shake, and the spirits began to be released. My father glanced at me one last time, his eyes bright silver before turning away to face Eben. I began screaming as I watched my father commit his own soul to an unforgiving destiny to ensure that Eben would be stopped. Logan wrapped his arm around my waist and hauled me outside, my attempts to struggle from his grasp finally stopping once we reached the outdoors. There was a huge crowd of witches. I saw that Trevor had already taken care of the black sorcerers
who’d tried to escape.
“Immortality?” Logan questioned as he set me on the ground. “Is that really what Eben was after?”
I avoided his gaze.
“That could be our answer to keep you alive,” he continued, excitement in his voice.
“It’s not that simple,” I finally answered.
“It is that simple,” he countered, following my stare to the Witch Avenue Covenstead.
The building began to crumble in the corner where my father was. Tears filled my eyes as I watched the devastation continue. The walls of the covenstead began to fall, collapsing the roof in that area. The only part of the building affected was the Elder’s Den. The rest of the building stood strong as the earth below my father and Eben opened up to swallow them whole as my father finished his call to the underworld. Eben’s soul would never migrate from this world to the next. It would always be stalled between the worlds. And so would my father’s.
“We can’t let my father’s sacrifice go to waste. We have to stop the Praedivinus from growing. We’ve taken out their top leaders. Now’s our chance to finish it off,” I told Logan, leaning my head on his chest.
I couldn’t believe my father had given his life to save mine. I can still hear him saying he loves my mom and me. It just keeps replaying over and over in my mind. In order to see Eben into the underworld, he sacrificed his own soul to an eternity of turmoil.
“Please…” Logan’s voice was solemn, interrupting my thoughts.
“I can’t do it. The consequences are far too dire. I just can’t,” I whispered, touching Logan’s hand.
“Do you even know what the consequences are?” he challenged.
“I know some of them.”
“But this would ensure you’d be okay after your twentieth birthday,” he begged.
I felt the crowd closing in around us and shook my head at Logan.
“Not now,” I whispered.
“There are very few people who would turn down immortality,” he said in a hushed voice. “Especially in your circumstance.”
“You don’t need to remind me of what I have to look forward to on my twentieth birthday. I think about it every minute of every day. But what we are up against isn’t just about me.” I lolled my head on his shoulder, whispering in his ear.
Witch Avenue Series (The Complete Set) Page 65
