by Sierra Cross
Through the cascade of fire I was deflecting I saw Bethany, tears streaming down her face. She was half-turned so none of her fellow witches could see her hands. Her arms wound up and stretched forward, but she released no firebolts. She was just going through the motions. The red fire she called was tinged with gold, and the base of her fingertips a hint of blue.
Oh my god, was she a Mal? A guardian-witch mixture, like Matt. And the harder she cried, the bluer her magic got.
I barely heard Matt’s yelled order. “Retreat!”
“No!” I said, feeling Tenebris’s eyes raking across me. “We’ll never get this chance again!”
“I know you want this,” Liv said. “But it’s gonna have to wait for another day.”
They were right, damn it.
“Cover me,” Asher called as he spun to face the door. His gloves long since burned to ash, he focused the power of his swirling tattoos at the door. One flick of his fingers and it exploded, splintering to sawdust.
The receptionist shrieked.
Next to her, two middle-aged warlocks—campus security, I assumed—stood puffed up, ready to attack.
Asher threw firebolts at their feet, and both warlocks scrambled back.
Liv, Matt, and I kept up our barrage of deflection blasts as we backed out the door. The Splinter cocked her head and gave us a goofy so-long wave, green glint twinkling in her eye.
One word kept repeating in my head: failure.
The motel’s thirty-foot tall neon sign was shaped like a giant tomahawk and looked like it was straight out of 1962. Below the illuminated script that read “The Timberlands Motel” the word “vacancy” blinked on and off. There wasn’t another hotel or motel for twenty-five miles, but why would there be? In the ten-mile trip from the college, we hadn’t seen another car on the road.
A thought nagged at me. Tenebris was here in the Upper Peninsula…with its arctic temperatures.
“Pack for freezing temperatures,” Bonaventura had said.
“Holy shit,” I blurted out. “The vampires.”
“Damn it.” Asher blew out a long breath. “They have to be on their way.”
“We could launch a stronger attack if we waited to coordinate with them,” Matt said.
I admired his optimism but had my doubts that Bonaventura would be willing to see it from our point of view.
“Well, they’re not here yet,” Liv said. “And we have work to do before they barge in and mess things up.”
“Liv’s right,” I said. “Bonaventura is not going to give a rip about Callie. They’re just as likely to let her escape as they are to give her a brutal, awful death.” I shuddered, thinking of what vampires were capable of. “We need to get to her before they arrive.”
If Matt objected, he didn’t let it show. “Okay, let’s get our rooms and come up with a plan.”
The motel parking lot was empty. I pulled into a space near the office. Other than needing updates to be brought into the twenty-first century, the place looked clean enough. This would be home sweet home…until we set Callie free. The thought burned at the center of my heart. But the image of Callie’s fingers drawing circles on Tenebris’s shoulder steeled my resolve. My sister had to be screaming inside that hijacked body. I’d had a taste of the hell she was enduring. We couldn’t let her suffer any longer.
Wellspring security let us leave the grounds without pursuing. How had Tenebris arranged that? His office was destroyed. I’m sure they were in need of the fire department. Had he turned the whole school? That was impossible, right? I could feel way too much light magic all around me for that to be the case.
The empty motel office was small, just two rickety tables with equally suspect chairs off to the side. Funny, I thought, why do they need chairs and tables at check in?
The counter was an “L” shape. Directly in front of us, a sign read, “Check in.” Around the corner a handwritten sign read, “Homemade chili.” And a short list of other foods. Ham sandwiches. Egg salad. Chicken noodle soup. The menu also offered hot cocoa and freshly brewed coffee. It was appealing in a quirky way. At least I wouldn’t die of caffeine withdrawal.
Matt rang the bell on the counter in front of us, and I perused the racks and racks of vacation brochures. Under “The Yupper Top Twenty” were listed Lumberjack shows, sweet rolls the size of your head, beer festivals, ice sculpture contests, and winter carnival. The list went on. Who knew? Under different circumstances, I’d like to see these things. My stomach growled. Maybe we could check out the giant sweet rolls now?
An ancient man shuffled out of the back room, his warm smile revealing crooked, yellow teeth. “Day to ya. What can I do you folks for?” He looped his thumb under his leather suspenders that he wore over a tucked in red flannel. His thinning grey hair neatly combed.
“Hi there,” Liv said brightly. “We’d like…three…rooms.” She looked at Matt and me to confirm. We nodded, and a little thrill ran up my spine. No matter how rough today had been, being alone with Matt would make it better.
“Yup, okay, then.” Motel dude continued to smile. “Can’t do that. I got one room left.”
“Wait? What?” I said. “The parking lot is completely empty.”
“Yup. Yup.” He smiled more and bobbed his head. “Got a big group coming in.”
“Of course you do,” Asher said like it was a foregone conclusion.
Our coven did seem to have rotten luck with hotel rooms.
Matt, as usual, was the first to come to acceptance. He looked at the rest of us and shrugged. “We’ll take the one room.”
“All righty, here ya go.” Motel dude reached into his desk drawer. “The Wi-Fi password is cheese curds,” he said, handing Matt a key card.
“What else would it be?” Asher muttered.
“So, any ideas of how we can get Callie alone?” I asked and plopped down on the edge of the bed farthest from the door. “Without Tenebris and his crew of baby witchlets protecting her?”
Matt sat beside me, his body pressed close to mine. A tiny shiver ran through me at his nearness. He was even more quiet than usual. Had he seen what Bethany was? No one had said it out loud, perhaps because the subject was still so raw.
“Oooh, no.” Liv grabbed Matt by the hand and tugged him to his feet. “No way I am sleeping next to him.” She hooked a thumb at Asher. “Alix, you and I are bunking together.”
I tried not to let the disappointment show on my face.
“What’s the matter, luv,” Asher said as he ran his hand down his torso suggestively. “Don’t trust yourself being next to all this?”
I winced. I knew our warlock was joking around, trying to get back to the way things used to be before he and Liv…had their falling out. But Liv’s feelings for Asher had been deep. Was she over him enough for that joke not to sting?
I patted the mattress next to me. “Come on, Liv. We can take turns zapping them when they start to snore.” I pooled a pinprick of golden light to my fingertip and shot it at Asher, like a tiny magic dart.
“Ouch.” Asher slapped at his neck where a red welt was forming, but said nothing else. Wise man.
“Okay, kids, can we get back to coming up with a plan?” Matt sat on the faux wood desk, back up against the picture frame mirror.
Asher stretched out on the guys’ bed, head propped up against the headboard. “They must all live on campus. Night attack? Take them by surprise?”
“Just one problem,” Matt said. “To stop the other students from sniffing out her sig, I’m betting Callie sleeps in a corner suite surrounded by Team Baby Dark Witch.”
“And you saw the way they moved.” Liv frowned. “They may be young, but those girls are well-trained.”
“Yes, like a pack of Dobermans,” Asher muttered. “Good point, there’s no surprising that lot.”
We bounced idea after idea off each other, only to see each one unravel. As much as I hated seeing us continue to hit a brick wall, I loved how we worked as a team. When it came down to it
, we honored each other’s ideas, saw the strength in our combined power, and compensated for any weaknesses as a group. Our coven rocked. And when we accomplished this task, we would need that bond to survive it.
“Can someone explain to me,” I said, “how the hell Tenebris got hired at a light witch school in the first place?”
Asher shrugged. “Wouldn’t be all that challenging, really. Dean is a prestigious job, but it comes with a rather dull lifestyle. These little schools in the middle of nowhere are chronically understaffed.”
“I did wonder why there were so many photos of past deans on the wall,” Liv said.
“So he has his people scan the magicborn papers for a job opening,” Matt mused, running through the scenario aloud. “Gets a fake ID. Masks his sig with the amulet. Turns on that Caedis charisma to wow them at the interview. Boom. The perfect hideout for a demon on the run.”
“I guess it is a clever cover identity.” I hated to admit that Tenebris was smart. “So…who at the school is in on it?”
“I’d guess no one, other than his little protégées and Callie,” Liv said. “Those warlock security guards had light magic signatures, and the receptionist was a Wont.”
“The real question is, how did he turn a dozen novices?” Asher asked. “They were completely loyal to him. Jumping at his every command.”
“All of them except Bethany,” I said. I turned to Matt. “Is she…?”
“Yes, she’s a Mal,” Matt confirmed. I was so relieved he was the one to say it out loud. “And the poor girl is terrified.” A shadow of emotion crossed his face. The images in Masumi’s video assailed my mind. I scrubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand to try and stop the memory feed. My coven held the weight of so many injustices, the need to right them. But the most urgent of them all was freeing Callie’s soul.
And then killing that monster, Tenebris.
“Do they even know, though?” Asher asked. “Seemed like she was trying to hide it. Which seems odd given that a crew of dark witches and a Caedis would welcome the boost from her dirty, evil power.” He glanced at Matt. “You know what I mean. In their eyes.”
“It’s not about what they think of her, it’s how she feels about herself.” Matt spoke with the authority of experience. “Bethany was raised as a light witch. All these girls probably were. She would have been taught, or learned on her own, to hide her Mal identity at any cost. It’s a hard habit to break.” He didn’t say it, but the pain of his personal experience shone in his eyes.
I remembered how the other girls bullied her outside, and wondered if Matt had felt as much of an outsider growing up. “She doesn’t fit in with them.” Bethany hadn’t played along with giving us wrong directions. “She doesn’t trust them. I’m guessing she’s only on their side because she has no other choice.”
“That’s it!” Liv snapped her fingers. “Bethany is our ticket in.”
Chapter Four
Fifteen minutes later, the four of us huddled together at the edge of the snowy, wooded property bordering Wellspring’s campus. An icy mist fell from the sky, propelled sideways by a brisk wind. The wool sweater I wore under my leather jacket did little to keep out the frigid air, but it was better than my leather alone.
“I’m still not convinced of this plan.” Matt ran his hand through his short hair.
“Hold still,” Asher scolded. He’d pulled us into a tight circle. Bare-handed, tattoos swirling, he walked around the outside of us, tamping down our magical signatures.
“I’m serious.” Matt turned to Liv, the plan’s mastermind. “I want to get Bethany to safety, but this borders on insane.”
“It’s the only way,” Liv said flatly.
“Is it?” Matt challenged. “Admit it. You’re don’t give a rip about Bethany. You’re doing this for Callie.”
“I care about what happens to Bethany,” Liv said without much conviction.
“Hmm...clearly it’s your driving motivation.” Asher swept his arms over her as he worked the spell. “But not likely we’re going to talk you out of it now.” He finished his spell with a flourish, then stepped back and looked at her seriously for a moment. “You’re a talented witch and a brave woman.” In totally un-Asher fashion, his words were sincere without a trace of snark. “But our watchdog has a point. Should we indulge your obsession—and risk those qualities—on this rather thin plan?” He turned and looked at me.
So did Liv. So did Matt.
Because—holy crap—it was my call. In the end, I was the coven leader. Was there anything good about being leader? So far it was all downside.
I looked into the eyes of my coven mates. Asher’s face looked conflicted. Matt was waiting calmly for me to speak, but Liv’s gaze implored me. Callie’s fate had weighed heavily on her. Just as I needed to be the one to take Tenebris down, she needed this.
“This” being the completely reckless, beyond dangerous, crazy plan we’d cooked up in the middle of the night.
Liv was going to use a glamour to take Bethany’s place, corner Callie, and then spellbead them both to our motel. None of us wanted to talk about the details of what must follow—it was one thing to discuss freeing Callie’s soul and another to imagine killing the body she shared with the evil Splinter. So we’d left that part vague.
Actually, a lot of things were vague. Liv had no training in dark magic, of course. If Tenebris called for another drill her only options were to hide, spellbead out of there, or improvise. Worse, Asher would have to tamp down her signature, meaning she couldn’t stand too close to anyone—light or dark—or they’d wonder why Bethany suddenly had no sig.
What could possibly go wrong?
“I’m sorry, I don’t see another solution.” The words were heavy on my tongue.
Matt exhaled. “You’re sure Bethany will be in the winter garden?” He didn’t like my decision, but he, more than any of us, respected chain of command.
“Well, no. Not a hundred percent sure,” Liv admitted. “But that’s where she was earlier. I’m guessing they all have roommates. And that young witch is desperate for alone time. It’s a good bet.”
“I’m not a betting man,” Matt said.
“Yeah…me either. But on this one, we’re going with the odds,” I said with more conviction than I felt.
After a short walk through the woods, the gardens came into view. Sure enough, there was a figure hunched against the weather under an arch alongside what I guessed was a magically heated koi pond next to a dormant flower bed. The hood of her long black coat was up, and a long scarf was wound around her face, but the tiny frame was unmistakable. It was Bethany. And by the way her shoulders shook, she was crying hard.
Matt spoke softly through the wrought iron fence. “Hey.”
Bethany yelped, then froze.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re not here to hurt you. I swear.”
Her mind seemed to process what was happening, and her body snapped into action. Sliding off her mittens, she flung her hands down, and magic rose to her fingertips. A swirling mass of red and gold and blue. A larger display than we saw from her earlier. The colors flowed next to each other but didn’t mingle, forming an odd and beautiful twist of light and color.
“Bethany.” The tone of Matt’s voice was one you’d use to calm a feral cat, slow and sure. “We’re here to help.”
The young witch’s eyes were wide, and her hands shook. If she heard Matt, she certainly didn’t believe him. As she sucked in a breath, her hand twitched, as if she was making a decision. Then she loosed a firebolt from her fingertips. It hit the warded fence and shattered into a million sparks, a tiny Fourth of July landing on the ice-topped snow. She winced as the residue of her magic bounced back at her.
“Look.” Asher’s hands were raised. “We haven’t called our magic.”
“We’re your friends,” Liv added, desperation in her voice.
Bethany turned to run.
“Wait!” Matt’s voice was a plea and a command. She half-tur
ned. He raised his hands and willed his magic to the surface in a swift, smooth motion. Blue light enveloped his limbs and golden magic danced on his fingertips.
Bethany sucked in a breath, the magic on her hands fading.
“I’m a Mal too,” he said, chin up, jaw strong.
Bethany tilted her head and took a curious step toward him, hand outstretched like she wanted to touch him, but instead called her magic again. This time it glowed blue and gold, with only the tiniest trace of red.
“You’re not alone, Bethany,” Matt said, emotion so close to the surface I was afraid he might crack. “And you’re not evil. You don’t have to choose the dark.”
Bethany fell to her knees. Blue light engulfing her, golden aura on her hands, a veil of tears streaming down her face. No red anywhere to be seen.
“All right, we’re going to get you out of here,” I said.
She shook her head sadly. “They won’t let me go. They caught me trying to call my mom last night. Dean Weller and Callista, they said they’d kill my parents.”
As the rest of her words were lost to sobs, anger balled my hands into fists. I knew Tenebris was a monster. Why was I surprised that he and his Splinter were terrorizing children?
“We’ve got a plan.” Liv made a small grunt of effort, and her magic visibly began to churn around her, kicking a sparkling golden haze that washed over her from head to toe. The haze cleared, revealing an exact duplicate of Bethany, down to her hooded black coat and yellow scarf.
Bethany gaped at her sudden Doppelganger. “How did she—”
“A twinning glamour,” Asher said smugly. “Stay in school, kid.”
“But not that school,” I added. “Our friend is going to take your place so you can get out. They’ll never know you’re gone until we get your family someplace safe.”
“Will you let us help you?” Matt asked.
Bethany nodded but looked worried. “But how do I get out? I can’t walk through the front gate.”
“Climb the fence,” I said.
