I meant to rip that tape off her mouth and ask her what the hell happened.
I meant to hold myself together a little more. But I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. I could barely even breathe. I gasped for air but found no relief. My chest burned like I’d swallowed battery acid. Every muscle in my body was tight and locking me in place. I felt like ice, like I’d been frozen alive. My vision was blurred by the pool of tears I was somehow holding in.
This can’t be happening.
Please just let this be a nightmare.
But it wasn’t. Timothy was dead…gone. Forever. My mentor. My friend. The guy who was more like a father to me than my actual father. Just…gone. Pain like I’d never known exploded inside me, making my body tremble where I stood. I was about to fall apart, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I didn’t know how.
A decade worth of memories slammed into my mind. I cringed and squeezed my eyes shut. This can’t be happening. Something cold brushed over my fingers, and then metal crashed and clanked against the ground. I opened my eyes and looked down to where the sound came from…and my breath left me in a rush.
Bettina’s sword was on the ground next to my boots.
I’d dropped it.
In the setting sun of the afternoon, the fire opal blade should’ve sparkled with every color of the rainbow…but it was covered in dark red blood, its light drowned out by Timothy’s blood. My stomach turned, and a strangled kind of groan escaped my lips.
“This can’t be happening,” Genevieve said from suddenly right beside me. Her voice was soft and broken-sounding.
I glanced up just as the Knights turned the corner. Bettina’s blonde head stood out like the North Star against the black gear of the Knights. They held their swords aimed at her, ready and waiting for her to make a move. Trey and Harlan carried her by the arms, their fingers digging into her skin. She would probably have bruises. They thought she’d murdered our Coven Leader, so they weren’t going to be easy on her.
“Jackson?” Gen whispered. “Where are they taking her?”
“The dungeon,” I heard myself say, but I didn’t recognize my own voice.
Gen groaned and I knew exactly how she felt. This was a bloody nightmare.
“Is there—” She cleared her throat. “Is there any way we didn’t see what we thought we saw?”
What we saw.
What we saw was Bettina crouched over Timothy’s lifeless body holding her blood-soaked sword over the gaping hole in his chest. There was blood all over her. I knew what Gen was asking. I knew what she wanted to hear—that this was all a misunderstanding. That there was no way Bettina could’ve done this. It didn’t make sense. But I didn’t know what to tell Gen. I was still trying to process it myself. I kept replaying it in my head, but every time I saw the same thing.
I needed to respond to Gen. She was waiting. But I couldn’t get my mouth to move. I didn’t even know what to say. I knew what I saw. It just didn’t make sense. She’d spent the entire night before in my bed, holding me together as I worried about my best friend. How could she do this? Was I that blinded by her? Was she that much of a distraction that I didn’t really see her? Was she a beautiful, blonde Trojan horse?
I stared down at her sword on the ground by my feet…at the scarlet river splattered on the pavement. The world spun around me. None of this made any bloody sense. There had to have been something we missed. She’d been crying. That had to mean something. I didn’t imagine murderers cried as they committed their crimes…right?
“I can’t wrap my head around this, Jackson.” Gen’s voice reflected the shattered pain I felt inside me. “We must’ve seen something wrong.”
I closed my eyes and tried to catch a breath. “I need to see Constance.”
Chapter Two
Bettina
I stared through the iron bars of my cell at the closed dungeon door, waiting and willing it to open again. It hadn’t been that long since they’d slammed the wooden door shut in my face, but it seemed like forever. I swallowed through the hot lump in my throat and sank down on my knees in the middle of my cell.
Despite the sun still shining in the sky, the dungeon was dark and dingy. It smelled like my parents’ garage, and the cobblestoned floor and walls did nothing to hold back the chill of the air. I shivered and a broken sob ripped up my throat. I wanted to scream. I wanted to beg them to let me explain. I didn’t do this. Why won’t they let me explain?
Tears poured down my face like rivers. My eyes burned. Everything had happened so fast. Timothy had been fine. He’d been standing right there texting on his phone…and then—
I sobbed and sank down a little farther. I just needed to explain. I’m not guilty. But they hadn’t taken the magical tape off my mouth, or untied my hands. They hadn’t given me a chance, not even a second. I pulled at my restraints then hissed as something dug into my skin.
The dungeon door flew open and slammed against the wall. Constance and Daniel marched inside with someone else right behind them. I craned my neck around to look, praying it was Jackson. After everything we’d been through, he had to know I was innocent. But as my Coven Leader and Headmaster stopped outside my iron-barred cell, the third person stepped around them, and my heart sank.
It wasn’t Jackson; it was Harlan. His shaggy, dirty blond hair was tied back behind his head, and his clothes were more wrinkled than they had been when we’d left. He didn’t look up at me—no, he wouldn’t look up at me. His eyebrows were furrowed low and his mouth set in a firm line.
My stomach rolled. He thinks I’m guilty. He actually thinks I did this.
Oh God. Do they?
Headmaster Daniel sighed and pressed his palm to the iron bars in front of me, then pushed the gated door open and slipped into my cell. His five-o’clock shadow was a full-on beard now, and his tortoiseshell glasses were crooked on his nose. He took only a few steps inside then stopped and stared at me. His pale blue eyes were bloodshot, his face ashy.
He stared at me for a long moment then closed his eyes and sighed. “Harlan, remove her restraints. Then take her jacket and see if we can use his…his…his blood to track his body down. Unless Bettina would like to tell us where he was taken?”
My heart turned to ice in my chest. WHAT? I shook my head violently and tried to scream my innocence, but the tape wouldn’t budge. I didn’t do this!
Harlan slipped behind me, and I felt a cool rush of energy over my hands. Then I was free. But before I could stretch my arms or rub my sore wrists, he pulled my jacket off of me. Cold air prickled the bare skin of my arms, sending a wave of goose bumps over me. I shivered, my eyes locked on Constance.
She stood just outside my cell, leaning against the bars. She, too, refused to look anywhere near me. Her eyes were red and puffy. Tears tracked down her pretty face, smearing her black eyeliner and rosy blush. Her skin was pink and blotchy. She sniffled and shoved her hair off her face.
Harlan took my jacket and practically sprinted out of the cell, pausing only a moment to whisper something in the old language to Constance. She groaned and nodded, then waved him off.
“Bettina?” Headmaster Daniel said in that calm, warm tone of his. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Can you tell us what happened to his body?”
Fresh tears spilled over my eyelashes. I shook my head and tugged at the magical tape over my mouth. I couldn’t tell them exactly where his body went or who took it, but it was the same people who killed him.
Daniel shook his head sadly, then spun and walked out of my cell. As those iron bars closed in front of me again, I cried out as loud as I could with the tape.
The two soulmates exchanged a look, then Daniel stormed out of the dungeon.
Constance turned and walked into my cell, then crouched down in front of me. Fresh tears poured down her cheeks. She reached up and gently pulled the magical tape off of my mouth.
“I didn’t do it!” I screamed the second I was free.
Constance cringed
and got back to her feet. She backed away from me so fast she hit the iron bars. “Oh, Bettina…”
“Constance, I swear I didn’t hurt him—”
“I want to believe you. But he was my best friend…and — they caught you with your sword covered in his blood, Bettina. Can’t you see why you’re here?” She gestured at the iron bars around us. “Your sword, Bettina.”
I shook my head. “No, no. I mean, yes. But I didn’t kill him. Let me explain! I was trying to save him—”
Constance sobbed and spun away from me with her hands pressed to her face. Her shoulders trembled. Her broken cries shattered something inside me. Timothy was her Coven-mate, but he was also her co-Leader. They’d spent a lot of time together. They were very close friends. I knew this, and it only made it worse.
“Constance, please.” I begged through my own rush of tears. “I was using my sword to get the…the thing out of him—”
“Stop!” she screamed and spun back toward me. Her skin was porcelain white. “Just… My Coven-mates will be here soon. I can’t make this call, Bettina. My judgement is too clouded, I want to believe you more than I want to see the evidence. When my Coven-mate get here…you’ll tell us your side of the story then. We’ll listen and decide what to do with you then.”
Chapter Three
Bettina
It felt like an eternity since they’d left me alone in my dungeon cell. Though I knew it’d only been a matter of hours. On the far wall, there was a small, glassless window with iron bars blocking the opening. I couldn’t see anything out of it, but the sunlight pouring in had faded into darkness and hadn’t come back. Any sliver of warmth from daylight had gone with it, leaving me alone in the dark with only autumn’s bitter chill and my thoughts for company. And I wasn’t sure which was worse.
I’d given up watching the door hours ago. Instead, I collapsed onto the cold, cobblestone floor and stared at the ceiling while the events of the day replayed in my head over and over. Each time, I hated myself a little bit more. If I hadn’t been so distracted by his story, maybe I would’ve seen the attack coming. Maybe I would’ve had time to call for Jackson. Maybe I could’ve saved him. Why didn’t I pull the bone out sooner?
Why didn’t that thing kill me, too?
I had too many questions and no one to ask. No one else had been there but Timothy and me…and now he was gone. And it was my fault. If I hadn’t been lost in my head, I would’ve been right behind Jackson and inside the Old Lands. Timothy would’ve been right behind me. If I hadn’t pestered him for more details in his story, he might’ve taken the time then to text our location to Constance. But I had asked, and I’d pushed. I’d made him think about his dead sister, niece, and nephew. It was my fault he hadn’t been paying attention.
First Warner…now Timothy.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to live with myself.
A violent sob ripped through my body, rattling my bones. I gasped through my tears, but no air got in. I rolled to my side and curled into a ball. I lay there shivering through the pain, cold, and far too many regrets. My fingers were numb. My arms burned from the chill in the cell. My teeth clattered together uncontrollably. At that point, I just prayed I’d freeze to death quickly, but I’d never had that kind of luck.
Everything I wanted had been right there in front of me. Magic, strength, friends…Jackson. It had all finally started to go my way. The only thing I’d been missing was my best friend, though now I wondered if I’d ever see Tegan again. What would they tell her? Would they lie and cover it up by saying I died in some car accident or something?
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had the idea of escaping, of breaking out of my cell. I was a witch, so it wasn’t unthinkable. But I was a shitty witch, especially with actual magic. There was no way the magic keeping me in here was weaker than my own. So instead, I lay there in a fetal position weeping and praying for a miracle I wouldn’t receive.
The dungeon door creaked open. I slammed my eyes shut and held my breath. My pulse thundered in my chest, echoing through my ears.
“Bettina?”
I gasped and sat up at the sound of Lennox’s voice. It was hushed, but I recognized it easily. Except I couldn’t see her. Did I imagine it? The cell was too dark to see anything.
I squinted into the darkness. “L-L-Lennox?”
A ball of light appeared on the far side of the dungeon. It swirled in a circle, and then the entire dungeon was lit up like daylight. Lennox stood just outside my cell, gripping the iron bars with one hand and holding her glowing wand in her other.
Fresh tears stung my eyes. I tried to get up, but I was shaking too hard.
“Oh my Goddess,” Lennox whispered. She stepped back, reached under her large black sweater, and pulled something out. Then she slipped it through the bars and tossed whatever it was toward me. “Catch!”
Somehow, I managed to get my arms up before it hit me in the face. When I caught it, I found it was soft and warm. I frowned and looked down at it, but it was just a dark blob. I didn’t understand.
“It’s a blanket charmed to camouflage to its surroundings,” Lennox said and wrapped her arms around her body. “Trust me. Wrap it around your shoulders.”
With shaking hands, I managed to unfold the mysterious blob and wrap it around myself like she’d said. Warmth seeped into me. I sighed and held it tighter. I felt like I’d just walked into a sauna. Another round of tears poured onto my cheeks. I couldn’t help it.
I looked up at those yellow-green eyes and tried to smile. “Th-tha-thank you.” The stupid shivering and teeth clattering hadn’t gone away just yet.
Lennox cursed and leaned against the bars. “I’ve been trying to sneak my way in here for hours. I had a feeling you’d be cold, but I didn’t know they’d taken your jacket from you.”
“It was your jacket.” My heart sank. “Lennox, I’m so sorry. They took—”
“Hey, hey, no.” She waved her hands in front of her. “It was just a jacket, okay? I’ll get another one. But why did they take it? Just to freeze you?”
I shook my head, and tears dripped to the stone floor. “Headmaster Daniel made Harlan take it. They’re gonna try and track Timothy’s…Timothy’s body with his blood.”
“Jesus.” Lennox gazed over her shoulder and stared at the door. After a second, she turned back to me with sad eyes. “I can’t stay. If they catch me in here, I won’t be able to come back. Listen, I just wanted you to know I know you didn’t do this. I don’t care if they found a bloody sword in your hand—”
“Does everyone know that?” I groaned and wrapped my mystery blanket around me tighter.
“No…maybe? I don’t know about anyone else. Genevieve told me.”
“She must hate me,” I whispered.
Lennox sighed. “Gen doesn’t hate you. She’s just confused and hurt. But she came to me. She told me the whole story as she saw it. She was hoping I’d have some spell or something to help decipher the truth of what happened.”
My jaw dropped. “She thinks I’m innocent?”
Her face scrunched. “She wants to believe you’re innocent. She doesn’t think you could’ve done this. But she’s having a hard time coming to terms with what she saw.”
So am I. I closed my eyes and hung my head. “What are they going to do with me?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I know criminals get their magic stripped, but…murderers? I don’t know, Tina. Just…just tell them everything that happened. Don’t leave out any details, okay? Something that may seem insignificant to you may mean the world to us.”
I sighed and wrapped the blanket around me tighter. “Constance says they’re waiting for the rest of The Coven to arrive, then they’ll let me tell my side of the story. But I’m worried that won’t happen.”
“It will.” Lennox gave me a small smile. “The Coven is scary as hell and crazy powerful, but they’ve always been known to be pretty fair. And Constance likes you, I heard her telling Headmaster D
aniel that she wants you to be innocent—"
Heavy footsteps thundered from outside the dungeon. Someone probably saw the light coming from my cell. Our time was almost up. I snuggled closer to the blanket for a second, soaking in its warmth, then started to pull it off.
“No, you keep that. If you lay down, anyone who walks in will just see you laying on the floor.” She scurried over to the door and peeked out, then glanced back to me. “Stay strong, B.”
Then she was gone. I smiled and lay down, pulling the blanket over me.
B. That was what Tegan called me. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep just as the door opened again.
Chapter Four
Bettina
The only thing holding me together was Lennox’s magical blanket. It was impossible to tell time in the dungeon without counting seconds, and I refused to succumb to that just yet. The air was colder, sharper. The dungeon was darker.
I’d gotten so cold that my body couldn’t even shiver anymore. My teeth didn’t rattle. I just lay there curled in a ball against the wall, staring into nothingness. My thoughts were darker, but they hadn’t slowed down. I just kept spinning in circles, except none of the details changed. I kept telling myself to remember everything, like Lennox had said. Pay attention to all the little things.
My stomach growled like a tiger then flipped and turned. I was so starving I was going to throw up if I didn’t eat something soon. Not that they were going to feed me. As far as they knew, I was in here freezing to death.
Moments after Lennox left, the Knights came in to check on me, but not because they were worried about me. Only to see what that light was. I’d closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep just so I wouldn’t see the hate in their eyes when they looked at me. I’d gotten enough of that. Since then, I’d been checked on once—and that was even quicker than before.
A deep male voice yelled from outside the dungeon, and the hairs on my neck stood tall. Someone else shouted from farther away.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 26
