by Patti Larsen
Divided Heart
Book Nine of the Hayle Coven Novels
Patti Larsen
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 by Patti Larsen
Purely Paranormal Press
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Cover art (copyright) by Stephanie Mooney. All rights reserved.
Edited by Annetta Ribken, freelance Goddess. You can find her at http://www.wordwebbing.com/
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Chapter One
I grunted from the weight of the suitcase as I heaved it out of the back of the van. What had I packed again? I didn’t remember it being this heavy when I loaded it into the car only seven hours ago.
Seven long and painful hours. I forced a smile as Esther and Estelle stepped up onto the curb, matching prim skirts and twin sets as much their uniform as their very comfortable looking shoes.
They didn’t smile back, but through my connection to them from the family magic, I was sure their flat expressions had nothing to do with how they felt about me.
Well. Pretty sure.
Charlotte didn’t say a word as she popped out the handle at the top of the suitcase before standing just behind me, waiting. The weregirl’s insistence on joining me as my bodyguard hadn’t ended with me leaving for college. Quite the opposite. Here I was, first year at Harvard, and I had extra baggage outside my clothes and personal items.
Story of my life.
I kind of felt bad for Charlotte. She’d left all of her own people back in Wilding Springs, even given up looking for her father, Raoul, just to protect me. Out of some misguided honor thing I really didn’t understand. Or appreciate, to be honest. This year was going to be new and hopefully all kinds of awesome. I wasn’t sure how having a cold, blonde shadow following me everywhere was going to be conducive to fitting in with the rest of the student body.
I focused on the twins, keeping my smile in place as I spoke. “Thank you so much for the drive.” The painful, slow, well-below-the-speed-limit drive with two hard-core witches who didn’t spend much time in the real world. Why Mom chose them to bring me to school I had no idea. It would have been a whole lot easier if she’d just let me ride the veil. Faster, too. My connection to the demon plane made moving from place to place across the slippery barrier between Demonicon and here super simple.
But I guess using magic for that kind of thing on campus was frowned upon. Stupid rule.
“It was our pleasure.” I still couldn’t tell them apart with any accuracy, but I guessed it was Esther who spoke. “Considering Miriam was unavailable at the last minute.”
Ah, yes. Mom. Nothing like thinking about her to put a damper on my pre-college mix of nerves and excitement. Once the leader of my coven, now the grand pooh-bah of the North American Witches Council. Things had changed a lot since Mom left Wilding Springs and the coven to the co-leadership of Gram and me so she could rule the world. Stuff like reliability. Availability. She’d broken so many promises in the few short months since she’d taken over as Council Leader after almost being burned at the stake by that same Council, I didn’t bother asking her for anything anymore.
The trip to school by car had been her idea, though, in my defense. It’ll be fun, she sent in a three-way conversation with me and my sister, Meira. We’ll come get you, make a day of the drive.
I hadn’t said anything, though Meira seemed excited. I wondered how my little sister was doing here at Harvard all by herself, a summer spent attending private witch camp and now school, also housed on campus. Well, I guess she had Sassafras. And Dad, when he was able to visit. I found I missed my family even though I stood there just outside Johnson Gate, only steps from seeing them all again.
As much as I was annoyed with my mother? I was at college.
Wicked.
“The Council comes first.” I impressed myself. No bitterness. Good for me.
Estelle—yeah, okay, guessing again—glanced at her sister. “I’m certain the situation which kept her from you was important.”
There wasn’t any judgment in her voice, so at least neither of them thought I was being a whiny baby. Not like I really cared, but I was their leader, after all. Mostly. Half. Fine, Gram was really leader. But I’d learned a lot from her this past summer, things I’d never considered to be important. The subtle way she manipulated people was a work of art to behold and left me a little breathless at times, especially when she, without the use of magic outside her own personality and experience, managed to convince whoever it was she talked to it was their idea to give her what she wanted.
Awesome. And a little scary. I’d caught myself doing it on occasion and sucked at it. Didn’t help my weak attempts always made Gram laugh.
I missed her all of a sudden, with an emptiness in my heart I wished I could fill by hugging her one more time. Yes, she was always with me, in the back of my mind. But physically she was still home, holding down the fort so I could go to college.
Mind you, she’d want me to continue to act like a coven leader. Which meant even though I wasn’t the real hands at the helm of the Hayle family, I still had to put up a good appearance.
Esther hesitated before bobbing a little curtsy, her sister mimicking her perfectly. Before I could do or say anything, they both approached and took one of my hands in each of theirs.
We’ll miss you. Their doubled voice echoed in my head, the power behind their connection fed by the dual nature of their abilities. While I was accustomed to them, the feeling of them, I wasn’t used to their kindness.
Only a second before I’d been wishing they would just leave already so I could get on with finding out what college was all about, but their joint touch washed my eagerness away. Impulse took over as I leaned forward and hugged them both together, throat tightening when I did, tears springing unexpectedly to my eyes. Silly? Yeah, maybe. But they just reminded me I wasn’t in Wilding Springs anymore.
We, too, know what it’s like to be away from our coven. I felt their power slide down the connection between us. The coven, your family, is with you always.
I sent my own surge of magic, grateful it was the two of them standing there with me at that moment.
“Drive safe.” I backed away, almost tripping over the backpack and second suitcase I’d already unloaded. The twins waved and climbed into their mint green minivan as though they were some perfectly synchronized team. Moving in perfect unison, they slid on their seat belts before Estelle—had to be Estelle—fired up the engine and drove off.
I was not going to cry. Not. I wasn’t ten any more, being shipped off to wretched witch camp for the summer. With a start, I realized that was the last and only time I’d been away from home for longer than a weekend, and even that I’d only done once with my best friend Alison.
Alison. I couldn’t think about her. As I bent to heft my backpack over my shoulder and trudge past the ornate gate onto the property, sadness took over what was left of the excitement I’d felt. The ghostly echo of my friend had popped up now and then over the summer, but only for an instant and never long enough for me
to convince her to pass over.
At the time, I didn’t need Gram’s disapproving glares to tell me what I already knew—Alison had to be dealt with. Would she follow me to school? I felt the tingle of magic as I passed onto the main property of the college and wondered. The oldest part of the school protected with magic was known as Harvard Yard, and had been since John Harvard, himself a member of the now-disbanded Harvard coven, used his power and that of his family to ensure witches would always be safe here. It meant no foreign magic was permitted to pass. And though I’d mentioned the fact to Mom, worrying about being a witch/demon/Sidhe princess carrying a vampire virus in a gem around my neck, she assured me she’d cleared me to enter.
It wasn’t until Charlotte and I passed over the wards I realized Mom could just as easily have let it slip her mind.
Good thing she hadn’t forgotten everything.
My sense of homesickness faded as I entered the grassy Yard, taken over by a fluttering of very active butterflies in the pit of my stomach, a smile pulling my lips back as the extra bounce I’d been experiencing returned to my step. College! The place was stunning and I found myself rubber-necking as I passed under the huge trees towering over the freshmen dorms, red brick mingling with green and the blue of the sky. I dodged a pack of eager new students weighted down with their own belongings as I reminded myself not only was I starting fresh, the chance to let loose a little and meet some other witches at last, I didn’t have to worry about being lonely here. I had Mom, or at least, Mom was around. And Meira. Sassafras. Dad even. Mom had moved his statue to Harvard with her when she’d taken over her duties as Council Leader. And there was always my wereshadow.
Suddenly my life was feeling pretty crowded all over again.
But it was the idea of making friends who were witches that made me the most happy. Finally, I’d be in a position where I could interact with peers, with those who had power too and weren’t creeped out by the feeling of it. The only person with magic I really considered a friend was Liam. Thinking of him, the handsome O’Dane Gatekeeper, made me sad all over again. I had to shake myself free of the funk.
If I was going to be waffling around emotionally like this for the entire semester I’d be needing sedation.
Still, it didn’t seem fair. He was my only friend who understood me, who knew everything about me. And though I’d only said a tearful, huggy goodbye to him and the black hound Galleytrot that morning, it felt like I’d never see him again.
Jeeze, Syd. Get a grip. You’re at college.
There was only one person who could distract me from thinking about Liam. And I hadn’t seen that certain someone in months. Quaid left shortly after Mom’s trial ended, accepting Pender Tremere’s offer to attend the apprentice Enforcer program. It made me nervous, him going off like that, even though I knew more than ever how much Quaid loved me. And it wasn’t like the program was the be all and end all—lots of witches went, partly to train to join the Enforcers, and partly to gain skills they would need to defend their covens. In fact, if I wasn’t in the position I was in, half-leader of my family, it’s likely I would have ended up there, too.
I’m pretty sure Charlotte knew where my head was, because it wasn’t long before she circled and herded me toward a large brick building. Hollis Hall was my new home for the year, freshmen residence to normal and witch students alike. I’d already sent some things on to Mom earlier in the week—hopefully she’d had them delivered to my room. I reached out with my magic, felt the pull of my stuff and knew she had.
Helpful. Unlike the normal frosh, I was able to latch onto the feeling of my things and follow them, now that I’d shaken myself out of my rollercoaster emotional state and back into tingling excitement, toward the big dorm.
Magic open, I could now also feel Mom, just a few brick buildings down. I didn’t want to see her just yet, though I missed Meira and Sassafras with a sudden ache that almost made me change my mind. But the front doors of Hollis welcomed me inside and I chose to be a normal student and settle myself first instead.
Another tingle of magic made me turn just before I passed the threshold. Right across the Yard from me was the statue of John Harvard. I’d have to visit later, to touch his left shoe for luck. Behind him was the source of the power drawing my attention. The long, white building housed the university offices, as well as the High Council. Hopefully, outside of my hello to John, I wouldn’t have a need to spend any time there.
Staying out of trouble this year, making friends, being a typical college student. Yup, that was me.
With Quaid’s last promise he’d see me at school hugged to me, I turned my back on the High Council and entered my new life.
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Chapter Two
The fourth and fifth floors of Hollis Hall were home to witches alone, warded against normal students. Not that they weren’t aware the floors were there, but instead felt no desire to visit. The entire campus was like that, places where the ordinary and the magical existed side-by-side, but never met, at least for the normals.
I peeked inside the room calling my name and found myself pleasantly surprised. Yes, it held two beds. Mom insisted I have a roommate my first year. Something about making connections with other witches. But I was pretty sure she really just didn’t want it to look like I was getting special treatment. In all honesty, I should have been housed at Gray Hall, the home of the elite. Not all covens were as wealthy as mine, and not all as powerful. Some had more money, some stronger witches, but it was a rare few that had a combination of the two. And though the thought of being segregated with the rich witches no matter their abilities was kind of horrible, I’d taken a look online at the dorms and amenities and had to suppress a sigh of regret I wouldn’t be living there.
But this room wasn’t so bad. I looked around as I entered, at the wide common space, the bed next to the door already covered with a homey quilt. The one across from it under a large window almost groaned, piled with my stuff. To the right was an open door, the bathroom, I assumed. On the left was a wardrobe next to my bed. I eyed it with some trepidation, wondering if I’d be able to cram all my clothes inside. Not that I was much of a prissy princess, but a girl had to have variety.
Charlotte rolled my two suitcases to the side of my bed and pushed the handles back inside before dumping the second backpack next to the stack of sheets, comforter and pillows, box of personal items and one smaller suitcase full of clothes already waiting for me.
I turned to the weregirl, feeling suddenly awkward. What was she planning, to sleep at the foot of my bed?
Her hint of a smile told me she knew exactly what I was thinking. “I’m in the single across the hall,” she said. “Miriam insisted you have a witch roommate.” I could tell from the tone of her voice she disagreed with my mother. Charlotte had no problem sharing her disapproval.
It was one thing I really liked about her. If she said something, she meant it and didn’t care who heard her.
“Okay then.” I looked around, not sure what to tackle first, eyes drifting to the neatly made bed across from me. “Wonder what she’s like.”
Charlotte’s shrug was so subtle if I didn’t know her so well I would have missed it. “A witch,” she said.
Helpful. Seriously, I’d heard some horror stories from well-meaning coven members who stopped by over tea during the summer to share with me how terrible their roommate experiences were.
Those conversations always ended with a hand pat, a weak smile and a, “I’m sure it will be different for you, Sydlynn.”
Now that I stood here in my new room, the one I’d be calling home for the next nine months, those stories came rushing back.
“What if she’s, you know. Weird?” I hugged myself a little while Charlotte watched me with her ice blue eyes. Why did I always get the impression she could see right through me?
“Then you’ll get along, I suppose.” Charlotte just made a joke. Amazing.
“Thanks a lot.” I dropped my arms, did
my best to relax. There wasn’t much I could do about it now, anyway. Not when the sounds at the door told me my new roommate just arrived.
I turned slowly, forcing a smile, praying silently she was reasonably stable. Only to find my tension disappearing in a rush as two familiar faces smiled back at me.
Tallah Hensley stepped forward immediately, the young leader of the Hensley coven hugging me with great enthusiasm. Her sister, Sashenka, hung back while Tallah and I embraced.
“I’m so happy to see you, Syd.” Tallah leaned away, though her hands still gripped my upper arms, white teeth flashing against her glowing dark skin. “It’s been fun talking over the last few months, but I was hoping to run into you here, face-to-face.”
We’d done our best to keep connected after Mom’s trial was over. I genuinely liked the Hensley sisters, though Tallah was the most open and forward of the pair. I always got the impression Sashenka felt like her sister overshadowed her and hoped her time at college would help her to feel more independent.
I exchanged a quick hug with Sashenka, very happy to see her. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am you’re my roommate.”
Her smile was a little nervous, but Sashenka nodded with enthusiasm. “Tallah requested we be together,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind?”
“Not even a little.” I suddenly felt a whole lot better. This year might end up fantastic after all. I had my first witch friend at college already and I’d only been here a half hour.
“I have to run off to talk to Miriam then hurry back home.” Tallah kissed Sashenka’s temple as though she was her mother and not her sister. I felt how close they were and then a pang of need to see Meira. “I wish I could stay longer, but please make sure you Skype me, Syd.” She waved as she headed for the door. “Have a great first semester, you two.”
