Her eyes were closed. Her throat purple. She didn’t move.
I held my breath and Tegan’s arm. She wrapped her other hand around me and squeezed.
“Paulina,” Braison whispered and brushed her hair off her face. “Baby, please. Open your eyes.”
Nothing.
“PAULINA,” Braison cried, and it broke something inside of me.
I pulled Tegan closer. I needed to feel her.
“MONA!” Lennox dropped down next to Braison and put her tattooed hand on Paulina’s throat. “HURRY!”
A split-second later, Mona pushed through the group and sank to her knees across from Braison. She reached up and opened Paulina’s mouth, then dumped a potion into her mouth from a dark brown vial.
Lennox and Mona each put a hand on Paulina’s throat and whispered words in the ancient language. It was a spell, an old healing spell. I recognized it even though my brain was too foggy to comprehend the words. My heart pounded against my ribs. None of us spoke. We all just stood there, holding on to each other and watching.
Paulina gasped and her eyes flew open.
Relief slammed through me so hard I actually stumbled back a step.
“Paulina…” Braison cried then shook his head. Tears dropped onto her cheek.
She gave a small smile and looked up at him with warmth in her brown eyes. “My love. Don’t cry, I am all right.” Her voice was rough and scratchy.
“What happened?” Henley asked from where she clung to her brother, her face stricken and pale. “How did you—”
“Survive?” Paulina smirked. “Being Death has its perks. It allowed me to hold on longer…but…”
“But what?” Braison asked while still holding her in his arms.
She wiggled then stuck her left arm out. “Pull my sleeve up.”
My heart stopped. Oh no.
Braison pulled her sleeve up then cursed and hung his head.
Her Mark was faded. The letters XIII looked like ghosts on her deep tanned skin, like a henna tattoo that was fading.
Willow cried and sank down beside her. “How did this happen?”
“I was dying. No one was going to make it in time. The spirits… They told me…” Paulina coughed, then licked her lips. “They told me to sacrifice my Mark and I could live.”
Holy shit.
There was a bunch of cursing and eye rubbing.
But Paulina just smiled up at Braison. She had tears in her eyes. “I am sad to not be a Card anymore, but I was not ready to die.”
Chapter Four
Tennessee
“How the hell did Joseph get back in anyway?” Cooper sighed and scratched his head. “I mean, what happened here while we were gone?”
I opened my mouth then shut it. I didn’t have a good answer for him. Instead, I stared at the gate for the Old Lands and went through the events that took place since they left for Jackson’s quest. Joseph kept trying shit. A few altercations, but it wasn’t anything huge and it wasn’t on campus. Nothing like what happened this morning.
This morning. It was already late at night. Somehow an entire day had gone by in the blink of an eye. We’d spent the day on guard, expecting Joseph to come back at any moment. We also had damage control with the school, not the physical structures but with morale. Because the last thing we needed was wide spread panic. I rolled my left shoulder and the pain was gone. The healing potion Mona had given me at lunch had finally finished its job.
Tegan was crouched down with her hands in the dirt, her rainbow magic billowing around her fingers. She sighed and stood up, then turned away from the border and brushed her hands off on her black jeans. Lennox hopped up from behind her and skipped along.
Easton cleared his throat and raised his hand like he was in class. “Um, Miss Queen of Darkness, this wasn’t by any chance one of your schemes? Like when you pretended to create a border spell then let Joseph capture Lennox and waltz on in here.”
“Hey, I was fine.” Lennox chuckled and held two thumbs up. “We had it under control.”
Easton threw his hands up in the air. “That’s not even the point.”
“Easton’s just mad he wasn’t in on it,” Lily mumbled. She winked at him.
Henley shuddered. “Being in on it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Tegan frowned and wrapped her arm around Henley’s shoulders. “No, this was not one of my schemes. I had hoped that last one would work.”
“What do you think happened?” Hunter asked as he walked up beside Henley, which I knew wasn’t a coincidence. “Or more importantly, do you have any ideas on what we can do now?”
Tegan sighed. “Spells can only do so much against something that isn’t tangible. If I knew what these people were, then I’d be able to conjure something foolproof. But also, I’m wondering if me being away weakened it.”
“Or if what’s happening to you is affecting it.” Devon arched one eyebrow at her daughter and put her hands on her hips. “We can’t rule that out.”
“I know, Mom. I’m not.” Tegan reached up and tied her long black and purple hair up into a messy bun. It fell immediately, so she did it again. “I had no choice before. I had to go with Jackson. But I’m here now. I’ll buckle down and see if we can find some answers.”
I frowned. “Babe, no one blames you for having to go or for Joseph getting through. There’s clearly more at play here than we realize.”
“You look worried. What are you thinking?” Chutney pointed to Tegan, then to her own face. “That’s making me nervous. I don’t like when you look like that.”
“Yeah, she has a point.” Royce grimaced. “What’s going on in your head?”
“Guys,” I growled. “Give her a break.”
Tegan shook her head, and her bun fell again. She groaned and retied it. “I’m thinking that we left Bettina and Jackson twelve hours ago and haven’t heard from them, and his time is about up.”
There were gasps and curses.
“Well, it’s only like midnight—”
“Which is only like six in the morning in England, dear baby brother.” Henley shook her head. Then she looked to Cooper. “You’ve been on your phone all day, both of you. I thought maybe you were talking to them.”
Cooper pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, then cursed. “No. I haven’t heard from them since we left. I’ve tried calling and texting, but nothing is going through.”
“I don’t think it’s going to. Not until after third dawn,” Tegan said softly.
Easton frowned and looked back and forth between my soulmate and her brother. “Why not Tina’s phone, though? Yours worked before. That’s how we called you. And I mean, this isn’t Tina’s quest—”
“Oh, on the contrary.” Tegan scrubbed her hands together. “Somehow, Bettina is directly tied to this quest. For whatever reason, she’s part of his task. Not me or Cooper, just her. It’s why she, a non-Card, was chosen. I do believe they’re in the endgame.”
Emersyn sighed and leaned into Deacon. “All we can do is wait.”
He nodded. “And pray Jackson succeeds. I like that dude.”
“Yeah, we could’ve used him today,” Easton grumbled and rolled his shoulder.
Today. Today was not one of our better days. That fight had surprised us, and we hadn’t been winning. I shuddered at the thought of what might’ve happened if Tegan hadn’t arrived when she did. I wondered if we would’ve lost anyone else.
“All right, well, we’ve done what we can out here for tonight.” I cleared my throat. “We better go check on Paulina, see how she’s doing.”
No one spoke as we climbed the stairs up to the second floor of Coven Headquarters. Not even Easton or Royce made a sound. None of us were really in the talking mood, and definitely not the laughing.
I paused outside her door and knocked softly.
The door popped open, and my father filled the doorway. He smiled sadly at us, then opened the door all the way. “Come on in.”
I led
the way inside, then leaned against the far wall to make room for everyone. Paulina was in her own bed, propped up on a few pillows and curled on her side. Her left arm was lying on the bed…her faded Mark staring back at us.
Braison sat on the bed with her, all cuddled up. He glanced around at us and nodded. “Secure now?”
Tegan smiled. “I think so. For now anyways.”
An awkward, heavy silence fell over the room. We didn’t really all fit in here, but I wasn’t about to ask anyone to wait outside. It hurt to lose Paulina. I knew she was alive. I was staring right at her…but we’d still lost her. She’d been in The Coven for a long time now. She was family. We grew up together. It was going to be weird to not have her around.
Paulina groaned and sat up. She leaned against the wall next to Braison and smiled. “Guys, I’m not dead. I’m alive.”
“I know, but—”
“No, Easton. No but.” Paulina chuckled and shook her head. “I have loved being in this Coven with you, and I am going to miss it, but I’m alive. After losing Cassandra, Libby, Larissa, Timothy, and maybe even Kenneth… Shit, guys, I think of myself as the luckiest girl in the world.”
“You are okay, right?” Willow asked in a small voice. She pointed to her throat. “I mean…I don’t have to worry about falling asleep and—”
“Nope,” Mona said with a wink. She carried over a tray of potions. “Lennox and I have stabilized her. Katherine is on her way here to help heal her for good. But there’s nothing to be worried about. Paulina here is in the clear.”
I sighed and nodded.
Paulina looked to me. “I can move to the infirmary, or the dorms, if you’d like…?”
I frowned. “No. Absolutely not. You’re staying here. I don’t care if your Mark is gone. You’re family. You live here.”
Tears filled her eyes. She nodded. “Thank you, Tenn.”
An alarm ripped through the sad silence. Everyone jumped.
Cooper cursed and pulled his phone out. His face paled. He looked up at us. “It’s six thirty, England time.”
Braison shook his head. “What does that mean?”
“Third dawn,” Tegan and Cooper said at the same time.
Cooper set his phone down on Paulina’s coffee table and stared at it, like he was willing for them to call. Tegan chewed on her fingernails and paced. Everyone else just stared.
Just then Tegan’s cell phone rang from her pocket. She jumped and dove into her inside leather jacket pockets then pulled out her phone. She fumbled with the buttons then finally hit it, and yelled, “Hello? Jackson? You there?”
“I’m here…” Jackson’s voice was rough through the speakerphone.
We all leaned toward her.
“We found Michael’s sword,” Jackson said. “We did it.”
The room erupted into cheers and high fives.
“I knew you would.” Tegan sighed and fist-pumped the air. “Where’s Bettina? Is she okay?”
“Um…” Jackson mumbled something, like he’d pulled his mouth away from the phone.
Tegan’s face paled. “Jackson, is she okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. She’s fine,” he said in a rush that wasn’t convincing at all. “Bettina, just breathe through it. It’s almost over.”
“What’s almost over?” Tegan shouted through the phone.
Jackson chuckled softly. “Well…she’s been Marked.”
Everyone gasped and turned to Paulina.
Paulina smiled sadly and rested her head on Braison’s shoulder.
Tegan picked up her phone and put it to her ear. “Don’t move. I’m coming.”
Chapter Five
Bettina
“I’m here…” Jackson said into the phone, though I could barely hear him through my pain. “We found Michael’s sword. We did it.”
I groaned and my vision went blurry. The pain kept getting worse and worse. I couldn’t breathe. He met my eyes and squeezed my forearm tighter. His large hand was wrapped around me, covering the Mark. For some reason that helped, but not enough. I clenched my teeth and made all kinds of weird noises I’d never heard before.
“Um…” Jackson held his phone between his ear and his shoulder since his right arm was still paralyzed. He looked to me. “It’s Tegan,” he whispered.
Part of me was relieved. Tegan would come get us. She’d bring us home. If I made it that long. My chest was burning, and a black tunnel was creeping in. I knew this wouldn’t last. I’d seen Jackson get his Mark. It only took a minute or two to be complete, but this pain was unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
“Yeah, yeah. She’s fine,” he said in a rush. His eyes widened. “Bettina, just breathe through it. It’s almost over.”
Breathe. Right. I gasped and my chest lightened. I’d forgotten to breathe. The pain was short-circuiting my brain.
“What’s almost over?” Tegan shouted through the phone so loud I heard her.
Jackson chuckled softly. He pulled his hand off of me and smiled. “Well…she’s been Marked.”
“Don’t move. I’m coming!” Tegan yelled through the phone.
He let his phone drop to the floor and ducked down to meet my eyes. “Few more seconds, Moonshine.”
Few more sec— OH. The pain vanished. Just as fast as it came on, it left. I let out a huge sigh and crashed against his chest, my face landing in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arm around me and held me tight. I laughed and then he joined in. For a few minutes, we just held on to each other and laughed. It wasn’t funny…but the relief just made me laugh.
His phone rang from the floor. But he didn’t move to answer it. I was too happy in his arms to pull away, so I just reached down and fumbled around until my fingers found it. I held it up and spotted Tegan’s name.
I grinned and hit the speakerphone button. “Hey—”
“Where are y’all?” she said over me. “I can’t tap in to your location.”
Jackson cursed and pulled away from me. King Henry’s crown sat lopsided on his head. He took the phone out of my hand and sighed. His gaze bounced around us. “Um, we’re…underground.”
“Underground? Where at?”
“We started in Rouen, France, but Goddess only knows where we —"
“Get above ground, then send me a picture of your location,” she said in a rush. Her tone was sharp and tense. “I’ll be waiting.”
Then she hung up.
Jackson shook his head and chuckled. He shoved his phone in his back pocket then adjusted the crown on his head.
I scrubbed my face with my hands then pushed my hair back. Reality came crashing back. We were in a small, empty room that was made entirely of dark stone. In the center was the pedestal that held— I gasped. Michael’s sword.
“OH MY GOD.” I turned back to Jackson, and my jaw dropped. “You did it!”
He chuckled nervously. “Bloody hell, we did it.”
We both turned to look at the pedestal…at where Michael’s sword sat haphazardly after I’d dropped it. The blade itself had to be over four feet long, and it glowed the prettiest color I’d ever seen—one I’d never seen before.
“Oh my God.” Jackson laughed in a short burst. He pushed the crown up and tugged his hair with his left hand. “Holy shit. I can’t believe it. We did it. We found Michael’s sword. I can’t believe it.”
His eyes shined bright and his cheeks flushed. I cupped his face and pulled his lips to mine. My heart fluttered. Heat exploded inside me. I sank into his kiss. His hand tangled in my hair and tipped my head back. Our tongues brushed, and my whole body lit up. For a sweet, wonderful moment, I gave in to his kiss.
I pulled back and licked my lips. Then I grinned. “Happy birthday, Lancelot. You’re officially a free man.”
He exhaled and sank back on his heels. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen him smile as wide as he was right then. It dimpled his cheeks and made his ocean-eyes twinkle. He looked so…free.
“I can’t believe it.” He shook his head. “I c
an’t believe it. I’m free.”
Well, not yet.
His eyes snapped to me. He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Oh, shit. I cleared my throat and gestured around us. “Well, we’re not free of this room yet. We have to find our way back out.”
His jaw dropped. He cursed and jumped to his feet. “Right, Benjamin Gates. Okay. All right. Well. Shit, I don’t see an obvious answer. Okay, you take that wall, and I’ll start here.”
I nodded and climbed to my feet. We got right to work in our hunt to get the hell out. I’d had enough time underground and under attack. I didn’t want to think for a few days. With that in mind, I skipped over to the wall opposite him. It was floor-to-ceiling dark stone. Even the floor and ceiling were the same stone. My excitement bubble popped.
Don’t give up yet. There has to be an exit here somewhere.
I ran my fingers along the walls as I scanned every inch for something. I was so caught up in my hunt that I hadn’t realized how far I’d gone until I slammed right into Jackson. My balance faltered, and I stumbled backwards. His eyes widened, and he lunged for me.
He caught my elbow and steadied me. “You okay?”
“Yep. All good.” I chuckled.
He winked then turned back to the wall.
I sighed and tied my hair up in a Tegan-inspired messy bun. There was something we were missing. Some clue. The pathway back up wasn’t going to be easily visible as soon as we walked in— Oh. I stood up straight. Maybe… I spun around and faced the sword. Part of me was afraid to pick it up again, but I knew Jackson couldn’t touch it—and we had to get it out of here.
I took a deep breath then reached down and gripped the hilt. Warm energy buzzed through my hand and up my arm. It didn’t hurt; it just felt like a soft vibration. It wasn’t comfortable, but manageable. I tried to pick it up, but it was heavy. I only got it two inches off the pedestal.
Come on, Bettina. You can handle this. I shook my hands out and stretched my arms…then gripped the hilt again. With a deep breath, I pulled as hard as I could.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 81
