by Wendy Knight
Destiny considered her sister’s question. “Well, yeah. I think so, I mean, they have to run from birds. That’s exciting.”
“And snakes.”
“Snakes are fast, too.”
“I wonder if they have little spider get-togethers. Like ‘everyone come over Friday night and we’ll play cards with all eight feet.’”
Destiny giggled. “Don’t two of their feet actually have to be used as feet? So they’d only play with six feet.”
“That’s true. Because you can’t hold cards with your spider toes. That would just be gross.” Fate wrinkled her nose and Destiny laughed.
“How do you pick which ones are your feet? Like, is it the back legs or the middle legs, for balance? And then you just have hands in front of you and behind you?” Destiny asked between her fit of giggles.
“Oooh that would be so handy! I want hands in front of me and behind me!” Fate exclaimed.
“To catch the leaves I’m about to dump on your head?” Destiny raised one hand, bringing the leaves with her, and spun them in a little cyclone. Fate squealed and dropped her rake, sprinting across the lawn.
“Mom!”
“It’s just a leaf, Fate. You’ll live,” Alina called without looking up.
“She has eyes in the back of her head,” Destiny laughed, twisting her hand and letting the leaves fall. Fate dodged out of the way, only a few landing on her head, getting stuck in the snow-white hair.
Growling under her breath, she brought up both hands, catching most of the pile, and hurled them at Destiny. Destiny screeched and flung herself to the side, leaves billowing past her face.
“Missed!” Destiny smirked. She sat up, dusted herself up and turned toward Fate.
The rest of the pile flew up and plastered her in the face.
Destiny gathered up a big armful and threw it, but Fate danced out of the way, twisting her hand so the air caught them, carried by magic, straight back at Destiny. Destiny ducked, and Fate lost control. The leaves shot across the lawn and landed in the garden.
And on Alina.
She turned, raising one perfect eyebrow. Hiding giggles, Fate and Destiny grabbed the rakes and ran across the lawn to the garden.
“Don’t make eye contact. Maybe she won’t kill us if we don’t see her.” Fate kept her head down, peeking at Destiny out of the corner of her eye.
“Right. That worked so well last time.”
“I can hear you, you know.”
Fate jumped, throwing her arms up dramatically. “Oh Mom! I totally did not see you there in that pile of leaves!”
Alina rolled her eyes and turned back to her gardening while Fate and Destiny spent the next half hour picking up by hand every leaf they’d thrown into the garden. Then they bagged the leaves and dusted off their hands.
“Nice work.”
“Thanks.”
Alina stretched, kneading her back. “You don’t think you’re done, do you? We still have all this row to collect and cover.” She motioned to the fifty foot long row of peas waiting to be picked.
Fate’s face fell. “You had to choose yard work, didn’t you?”
“I failed us. I’m sorry.”
****
DESTINY ROLLED INTO THE school parking lot as everyone else was leaving. She put the truck in park and rested her head briefly on the steering wheel, praying for strength because she was exhausted, both mentally and physically.
So they’d done yard work, endless hours of misery — at least to Destiny. Her hands hurt, her back hurt, but they had enough herbs now to last them all winter. That would be great except they had an herb garden inside that grew year-round, so they didn’t exactly need to harvest all the herbs at once.
But it had helped. Alina had recovered by the time they were done. At least to Destiny’s eyes. She knew Alina hid a lot from them, though. They’d hung the herbs to dry and Destiny had changed into shorts and a tank top and took off for cross country.
She could see her team warming up, led by the two captains, Shad and Elyse. But she couldn’t talk herself into getting out of the dang truck. “Stupid Winnie,” she muttered. She closed her eyes again and sent all her negative thoughts Winnie’s way.
The door next to her elbow opened. “Destiny, I’m going to ask you straight out. Are you a wit—”
She squealed and swung her fist out before her mind had a chance to comprehend what was happening.
And hit Quin right in the face.
He swore, stumbling backward as he grabbed his face. Destiny stared in horror, unsure what to do. There was blood. Lots of blood.
She hated blood.
The world around her started to spin and she covered her mouth, fighting not to throw up.
“Dammit, Destiny!” Quin bellowed behind his hands.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know — wait. Hang on.” She whirled in her seat and dug through her bag, looking for the potion she’d used after Krav Maga. “Here. Drink this.”
“Now’s not the time, Destiny,” he growled.
She reached across the truck and flipped open the glove compartment, digging for napkins. She grabbed a handful and sat up, thrusting them at Quin’s general area while trying not to look at him as much as possible. “Here. Then drink this.” She handed him the potion again, saw the blood, and everything went black.
CHAPTER SIX
“DESTINY! SOMEONE GET SOME WATER. DESTINY!”
She groaned, swatting Quin’s hands away, and started to sit up.
Water splashed into her face.
She coughed and sputtered, gasping against the shock.
“She’s alive. It’s okay, she’s alive,” she heard Emmry, a girl from her cross country team, telling everyone else.
“I think she was awake before you threw the water,” Sienna, another girl from the team, pointed out. Was her entire cross country team here to witness her humiliation?
She rubbed the water off her face and shoved her soggy hair back, rising up to lean on her elbows.
Her truck seat was all wet now.
And yes. The whole team was there.
Awesome.
Quin watched her, brown eyes worried. “You okay?”
“I don’t like blood.” Destiny gagged again. The word did icky things to her stomach.
Quin nodded. “I gathered. Maybe you shouldn’t go around punching people in the face.”
She slid out of the seat, pushing her way through her team. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Guys! Get back to work!” Coach Heather was yelling, whistle in her hand. Coach Hyrum didn't look happy that they'd all stopped running, either.
“He's going to make us do extra burpees,” Brookell whispered. Sienna grabbed Destiny’s hand and Farrah grabbed her elbow, and they hurried her across the field to Coach Heather. “I hate burpees.”
Brookell was right. Burpees were the devil.
She made it through warmups with no issues, thankfully; although, the boys, especially Jackson and Aldridge, were never going to let her live it down. Every time she passed them for the rest of practice, they made gagging noises and there was some kind of joke about ninety percent that she didn’t get, but they thought it was hilarious.
“Let’s play a game,” Coach Heather said as they gathered around after their two mile run, all panting and guzzling water because it was unseasonably hot for Montana. “Cat and mouse. Split into teams.”
“Girls against boys,” Oriah said, grabbing Rylee, Charlie and Jessica and pulling them to her side.
“That won’t work. There are, like, twice as many boys on our team,” Bella said.
It was true. The girls were hugely outnumbered. “For now,” Farrah said. “Just wait until next year.”
The boys snickered. Like it was even possible. They barely had enough girls to make a team now.
Destiny peered across the field toward the football team, wondering how Quin was faring. She didn’t even know if he’d used the potion. He was running for his life from someone muc
h bigger than he was, and he was fast. Which was a good thing, because that other guy would slaughter him.
“Destiny, you’re a two.” Heather tapped her on the head and Destiny turned in confusion.
“Twos are over here,” Shad said. He must have realized that she had no clue what was going on. But hopefully he didn’t realize it was because she’d been watching Quin.
Because awkward.
“Distracted, Destiny?” Kyle asked, snickering.
Crap.
“Hey. Coach says if we beat our PR next week, we get cake,” Matthew said.
Kyle’s whole face lit up. “Cake?”
Mmm, cake. Cake would definitely make Destiny run faster. Especially if it had pink frosting. She lined up with her team, hiding toward the back and hoping it wouldn’t get to her turn. And she watched Quin.
She wasn’t sure why. She didn’t like him. He was a jerk.
A fast jerk, though. He was still out-maneuvering those big guys.
Maybe it had been the kindness in his eyes even after she’d punched him.
“Destiny! Run!” Hyrum yelled as he came bolting across the finish line.
“Go, Destiny!” Coleman pushed her forward.
It was her turn.
Crap again.
She took off, sprinting for all she was worth, wondering why on earth she was sprinting when she’d joined the cross country team to run long distances. But it didn’t matter. Branson was right behind her, and he was one of their fastest. She squealed and lengthened her stride, going up on her toes like their sprinting coach had taught them.
She crossed into the other team’s territory and jumped back in line, breathing hard but proud of herself. She’d survived. For now, at least, but the line was moving quickly and soon it would be her turn again. “Good grief,” she muttered, still trying to breath.
“Hey. Good job.” Kalel gave her a high five and adjusted his glasses. “Ready to go again?”
She shook her head, but Kalel was cheering Carson on as he and Rees came running hard around the corner.
“What’s that?” Andrew asked from behind her. The whole line turned, stretching their necks to see past the hill in the distance.
“It looks like…” Julian squinted his eyes, “I don’t know. Guys in capes? Maybe cosplay?”
“They have weird eyes,” Lucas said.
Destiny’s heart dropped. Warlocks had red eyes and wore capes. They were misshapen, but she couldn’t see that from here.
“Coach? Are we supposed to keep running?” John yelled to Coach Heather. But Heather was watching the group of men in the distance, too. They were foreboding, to say the least.
Spencer came flying across the line, nearly running them over, but no one else took off and he skidded to a halt to watch with the rest of them.
The smell hit then. Like rotting flesh and rotten onions. Several of them started gagging.
Quin suddenly ran into their field. “Destiny, get out of here. Everyone, go. Go now!” He was gesturing wildly, motioning everyone toward the school. Aaron and Zeke and a few other of his friends were with him, and the coaches for both teams started herding their kids toward the safety of the school, as well. With the rest of her team, Destiny started running. Good thing she wasn’t already tired and struggling to breathe.
Oh wait.
Quin stood by the gate, watching for her. He grabbed her elbow and they bolted for the double doors. “I just hope they can protect us,” she heard Quin say under his breath. She sent him a frightened glance.
She shouldn’t have done that. The ground shifted from grass to asphalt there, and she hit the edge and went down hard. Her knees and hands slid across the ground, tearing the skin, but there was no time to acknowledge the pain. Quin grabbed her by the elbow and physically hauled her to her feet. “Come on!”
The blood rolled down both her shins and pooled in her clenched hands, but it didn’t matter. A dark cloud had descended on the school grounds, and there was no mistaking it now.
There were warlocks at their school.
She made potions. In her kitchen with her mom and sister. She’d never even met another witch besides Winnie. She’d never seen a warlock in real life. They stayed near the coven, twelve hours from here, where they would get the most witch attention when they attacked the public. There were no witches this far away, as far as they knew.
And yet, here they were, and Quin was shoving her down the hall with the rest of her cross country team and the football team, but he was watching the windows like the fate of the world depended on it.
She didn’t know what to do. She felt completely helpless, and she hated feeling helpless. For the first time in her life, she would have traded every potion she’d ever made for a chance to be warrior.
For a chance to fight the evil outside.
“Go to the gym. Stay away from the windows,” Quin yelled, but he wasn’t staying away from the windows.
Destiny allowed herself to be herded away from him, through the thick metal doors, and as they swung shut behind her, she caught one last glimpse of him, staring wide-eyed and pale-faced out the window. “Mom?”
Mom?
****
QUIN WATCHED DESTINY DISAPPEAR through the gym doors and into safety. As soon as the doors locked, he turned back toward the window, searching, searching.
Mom, where are you?
He’d tried her cell several times, hoping she would answer and tell him she was home safe. Not on her way here to a cloud full of demonic warlocks with not enough witches to make a dent.
She hadn’t answered.
He bounced on his toes, praying and hoping, scanning the dark, dark cloud.
Destiny burst out of the gym, running to his side. “We need to do something. Call somebody.”
Quin didn’t look at her. “911 won’t help us here.”
“Not 911. Isn’t there somebody else warriors call? Like, back up or something?”
This time he did look at her, eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”
She sighed, shoving her hair out of her face. “You already know how I know, Quin. How do we stop this?”
Quin shook his head. “Aren’t you a warrior?”
She swung her hands around. “Do I look like I know what to do in this situation? I could sprinkle them all with a love potion. That’ll solve it all.”
“You’re a potions witch?”
“Did you not use the potion I gave you?” she yelled, exasperated. “What do we do here?”
Quin ran a hand through his hair, nearly ripping out chunks in his haste. “I don’t know. I’m a guy. I don’t fight.”
“My aunt fights. But I don’t know how to get a hold of her. I’ll call my mom.” She reached for her pockets, and her face paled. “I don’t have my phone. It’s in my truck.”
Outside, pelting the black cloud, there was a rain of sparks and fire.
“Is your mom there?” she asked quietly, eyes darting from through the sparks that surely meant the warriors were here.
“I don’t see her. Your aunt?”
She shook her head.
He kept thinking he had to do something. Had to help protect his school. Had to defend this territory. Warlocks had never attacked so close to home before. His mother was here as a first line of defense in the outer rims of warlock territory, but she’d never been called so close before. Usually it was at least several hours away.
And then he saw her, flying in too fast, her broomstick making her a blur in the sky, one most people would take for a bird or something caught in the wind. The government knew what she was and did their best to hide her and the other witches and warlocks alike. But an average student or a teacher in a small town high school? Not a chance.
“That’s her?” Destiny asked, her voice barely above a whisper in the empty halls.
In the distance, sirens blared, but there was nothing the police or fire department could do here but keep innocent people out of the way.
Quin nodded
.
“I’ve never seen a battle before.”
He glanced at her. “I thought you were a witch.”
She shrugged, and he almost took pity on her. Her face was white, her eyes huge in her pale face as she stared at the oncoming warlocks. Instead of answering, she asked, “Why are they here?”
So far, they hadn’t done anything but walk toward the school, approaching like a thunderstorm rolls in. “They attack places the witches will defend. They attack to bring the witches out. So they can—”
“Kill them and steal their power. That I know. How do we stop them?”
He looked at her incredulously. “You’re the witch. Shouldn’t you know?”
Again, she shrugged, but she was inching away from him and refused to meet his eyes.
He didn’t care. His mother was out there, standing alone facing a horde of warlocks. He couldn’t take his eyes from her, afraid that if he did, they would attack and she would die.
That’s why he didn’t see Destiny until she was nearly next to his mother. His mother, wearing all black, head to toe battle gear that would repel most of the warlock’s attacks. And Destiny, in a tank top and shorts, black hair tied up on her head.
“What the—” He swore and bolted after her.
He got outside at the tail end of their conversation. “Tell me what to do!” Destiny spoke quickly, keeping her voice low.
His mother stared at her, completely dumbfounded.
“Mom, we have to get out of here. You can’t fight them all alone. There’s too many. We’ll run, wait for backup—”
“But I’m not alone.” His mother motioned with her head toward Destiny.
“She’s never even seen a warlock before! She’s not trained!”
“I’m not a warrior, either. Right now, I don’t think that matters.” Destiny raised her chin, watching the warlocks advance.
“Do you have a wand?” his mother asked, not taking her eyes from the warlocks, either.
Destiny shook her head. “No.”
His mother’s shoulders sagged, imperceptibly. The first warlock raised his wand, a black and rotting bone, and pointed it at his mother’s heart.
