Tennessee wouldn’t allow Tegan to portal everyone out, and after a few minutes of fighting him, she finally agreed. So we had to find other methods of getting people out as fast as possible. Now that we knew we had a mole, we knew no one was safe. Trey knew too much. It was time to get the people to safety.
Walter’s first flight was everyone in the infirmary—and Katherine. They were shipped off to Crone Island. Tenn and Constance called the Majors of nearby cities, and they all opened up their doors for evacuees. This fifth flight was going to Las Vegas and definitely had the most people.
Deacon’s parents sent four massive private planes. Three were loaded with students who needed safe places to go, and then they were sent to the new School of Magical Arts in Manhattan. The fourth took all the New England residents, and left about ten minutes ago.
I couldn’t portal or fly a plane, but I did have an important job.
Remove ice from the planes when they landed.
It took half a second for me each time, but it was nice to have something to do. To feel productive in some manner. I just wished I could do more. With every minute that passed, I grew more and more anxious. Would Joseph choose to strike now, knowing we’d be shaken? Or would he think we were too onto him right now so he’d wait until we calmed down then attack? I didn’t know, but I was looping, and it was slowly driving me insane.
Tegan stood silently beside me. For the first time in our entire lives, neither of us had much to say to each other. I knew we were both feeling the same dread. The same fear.
Tenn gave Walter a thumbs-up, and then they were off, taking off into the sunset.
One step closer.
R2D2 squealed from Tegan’s phone in her hand. She frowned and looked down at it—then sighed. “Thank you, Dean,” she mumbled to herself as she typed back.
Then she snapped her fingers, and a white portal box opened up in the parking lot. I blinked and then a massive yellow school bus rolled into the spot Walter’s plane had just been. Dean hopped out of the driver’s seat then pulled the crank, and the door opened. Tenn went over and the two talked, then Tenn waved his arm.
“All right, send the Charleston bunch out.”
I frowned and looked over only to find Tegan on the phone. “There’s a Charleston bunch?”
She nodded then hung up. “Well, the bunch that are going there to stay with the Hoovers at the Major’s house. They’re not necessarily from there, although some are from nearby and have plans to be picked up by parents and such.”
“Oh. That’s…cool.” I glanced over my shoulder toward the courtyard where several hundred people were still lined up and waiting. “And them?”
Tegan grimaced. “Waiting for Tenn’s approval to portal them out.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Tenn’s approval?”
She chuckled softly. “He is my Coven Leader. And after the heart attack I gave him earlier, I’m trying to be gentle with his anxiety. Goddess knows I’d be crazy if he did this shit to me.”
I smiled. “Karma coming for you?”
A car pulled up in front of us and parked. Deacon, Willow, and Chutney climbed out then jogged over.
Deacon spoke first. “Willow and I have convinced the humans of a wildfire in the Smokies. All of the neighboring towns are being evacuated. It’s the best we can do.”
Willow shuddered. “Let’s just hope they’ll focus on us again.”
“I warned the animals, just in case,” Chutney whispered. Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying. “Lonan is going to keep an eye out for us.”
“And I’ve just spoken to every Major east of the Mississippi,” Constance said with a sigh from behind us. “They’ve all called their civilians to their homes, or put them on lockdown. It’s the best we can do there as well.”
Tegan nodded. “Can you guys do one more sweep of the school? Let’s make sure no one is hiding out.”
The four of them nodded then sprinted for the buildings.
“Of all the times to be Marked for The Coven…”
“Hey, you got it better than I did.” Tegan chuckled but then she sobered. “How are we looking, babe?”
I turned and found Tenn stomping up the steps toward us. His eyes were sharp and his face tight. He shook his head. “We’re down to your last few portals. So let’s get that done.”
Tegan snapped her fingers, and then we were in the courtyard with the remaining students and civilians. They were sectioned off into four groups like an army. As I looked over their faces, I wondered what they were thinking…feeling. Did they hate us for failing so badly so many times? Were they going to trust us ever again? I honestly didn’t know. And with Hunter’s magic keeping them calm, I couldn’t judge by how they were acting right now.
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the rest of my Coven-mates behind us.
Tennessee stepped forward, and everyone snapped to attention. They jumped to their feet and looked to him. He cleared his throat. “Thank you all for being so patient. Tegan is going to portal you by groups to safety. I believe you’ve already been briefed on where you’re going and what to do when you get there?”
Everyone nodded.
“Good. We’re sending someone with each group. Think of them as an ambassador. You need anything, you talk to them and they’ll talk to me.” He exhaled and rubbed his hands together. “Tegan, you’re up.”
Tegan walked forward so she was at the opening of the courtyard. She snapped her fingers, and a white portal box opened up on the left-hand side, in front of Harlan. “Let’s start with the Memphis group. Harlan, please lead your group through the portal.”
To my surprise, it only took a minute or two for Harlan and his group to go through.
“All right, my Dallas group, you’re with Warner.” Tegan moved the portal box to right in front of them. “You’re free to flee.”
The second group moved even faster than the first.
Tegan moved the portal again. “Next are Gen and the Atlanta group.”
This group hurried through, though that might’ve been because Gen had.
“Saved the best for last, eh?” Lennox grinned and shifted her weight around.
Tegan chuckled and moved the portal over to the last group. “And last but not least, the New Orleans group—”
They ran. Without Lennox.
Lennox threw her hands up as the last of her group went through the portal. She looked over to Tegan and shrugged. “NOLA. What can I say?”
My chest tightened. I hadn’t realized Lennox wasn’t staying with us. I should have. Tenn wanted only The Coven in Eden, but I just hadn’t thought about it. “Be careful, Lenny. Try to lay low.”
She winked at me. “Right back at ya’, weirdos. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
“Yeah, under a pile of beignets!” I shouted as she hopped through the portal with a grin.
As Tegan’s portal closed, silence crashed in all around us.
I turned and looked around. Only my Coven-mates were with us. I pushed my magic out but found nothing else. We were alone. My Coven-mates walked toward us until we were all standing in a circle.
For a few moments, no one said a thing.
Then Chutney sighed. “What now?”
Tenn looked down at her, then out toward the Old Lands. “We wait. Joseph will come back. And when he does…no mercy.”
Chapter Forty
Tennessee
“Now run, and remember, Hope is not lost.” My mother’s voice cracked. “I love you to the moon…”
“And back,” I whispered.
“Now run.”
I spun around and ran in the direction she pointed, toward the Tennessee wilds. I ran, like Momma told me to. I ran until the ground slanted upward and trees covered the sky. I ran until the silence was so loud it buzzed in my ears like bumblebees.
My foot caught on something, and I crashed to the ground. I got to my knees and coughed until I could breathe normally. I crawled over and leaned back a
gainst a tree to hide for a little while. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around myself. I wanted Momma. I wanted Daddy. I wanted to go home. But it was all gone now. I was alone.
I sat in the dark, under the trees, saying the words Momma said to me over and over so I wouldn’t forget. Tennessee wilds will protect me, go to Eden, the Goddess will send guidance, and Hope was not lost.
The sky around me had just turned a yellow color when something bit my arm. I screamed in pain and looked down. Halfway between my wrist and my elbow, a trail of fire burned into my skin. The pain got stronger and stronger until I couldn’t stop screaming.
“Hey! What’s wrong?”
I wanted to look up at the sound of a man’s voice, but the pain was too strong. The man kept talking to me, but I couldn’t hear the words.
It took me a few tries before I finally yelled, “My arm!”
Large, warm hands grabbed ahold of the arm I clutched. “Okay, let me see.”
“It hurts!”
“I know.” His voice was soft and friendly, but firm. It reminded me of Daddy’s, and it helped calm me down. “Let me see.”
I coughed and let the man pull my arm away from my body to look. “Please, make it stop,” I cried.
“I’ll see what I can do.” The man gasped. “Goddess, almighty.”
Goddess? Momma said the Goddess would send help. I looked up. The man had yellow eyes and yellow hair the same color as Momma’s. That made me a little warm inside. “Can you make it stop?”
The man smiled like I was his favorite person. Momma used to look at me like that. He wrapped both hands around my arm. The pain got a little better. “Just breathe through it. It’s almost over.”
“It still hurts,” I cried.
“I know it does. Count to ten with me, okay?” He squeezed my arm tighter, and it made it hurt a little less. “One…”
“Two…”
“Three…”
We counted together up to ten. By the time we were done, the pain had completely vanished. The man pulled his hands back. I took a deep breath then peeked down at my arm and gasped. The letters I and V were written on my skin in black and took up my whole arm.
“What…what is that?” I looked up to the man with yellow eyes. “What is it?”
The man smiled so wide it crinkled his eyes. “It means the Goddess has chosen you.”
“Chosen…me? For what?”
“To be an important and powerful witch.” The man held his left arm out and pushed up his long sleeve to reveal the letters V and III. “Look. I have one too.”
I felt my eyes go wide. I glanced back and forth between our arms. “The Goddess chose you too?”
“Yes. She chooses a group of us who are special to her. This means you and I are a team. We’re family now.”
“We’re family now?” I looked at him. He had huge shoulders, bigger than Daddy’s, and his arms had lots of muscles. He might’ve been scary, but he smiled so much it made me feel safe. If he was my family, he’d be able to protect me.
“We sure are,” he said with a big smile. “What is your name, son?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
The man frowned but then he shrugged and smiled again. I liked when he smiled. It made me want to do it too. “Well, what would you like it to be?”
How do I pick a name? Then I remembered Momma’s words. Tennessee wilds will protect you. “Tennessee Wilds.”
“Well, hello, Tennessee. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kessler Bishop.” Kessler smiled real wide. “Do you know how old you are?”
I frowned and thought real hard. I couldn’t remember much, but for a second I pictured a cake with five candles on it. “I think I’m five.”
“Five? Well, Tennessee, you are very brave.”
I didn’t feel brave. What did brave feel like? “I’m scared and all alone.”
Kessler’s smile widened until his cheeks were pink. He put his big hand on my shoulder and squeezed. It felt nice, like Momma’s hugs. “You’re not alone anymore, son.”
I gasped and sat up straight. My heart was racing like a runaway freight train. My chest was tight, and there was a hot lump in my throat. My eyes stung. I hung my head and tried to just breathe. It’d been a long time since I’d dreamt that part of the dream. Somehow it was harder than the rest of it.
“Again?” Tegan whispered and rubbed my back.
I nodded.
She rested her chin on my shoulder and sighed. “That’s ten days in a row.”
I looked up, ready to argue that it hadn’t been…then realized it had. This was a first for me. I’d dreamt of that night so many times since that day, but never every night for ten days in a row. I shuddered. I didn’t like that. Was the Goddess trying to tell me something? Or was I so stressed out that the anxiety was digging up my worst memories?
The bed dipped as Tegan climbed out. She walked across my room to my dresser barefoot, wearing only my T-shirt. Part of me wanted to pull her back in bed and distract myself, but I knew there was no putting this dream off. It would wait for me to sleep, whenever it finally happened.
“You’re going to want to fight me on this, but I’m going to ask you not to,” she said softly. When she turned, she had a black vial in her hand. She carried it back to the bed, then climbed in beside me. “I know this dream shakes you up, and I know you want to figure out why you’re having it every night…but I don’t think now is the time to question it.”
I sighed.
She pressed one finger under my chin and turned my face toward her. “I love you. I promise I will help you figure your past out. But right now, we need you rested. We cannot beat Joseph without you. So please…take this potion and get some sleep.”
I opened my mouth then closed it. She was right. She usually was. It was probably just a product of my anxiety anyways. And I hadn’t slept well in weeks, so pretty soon I was going to crash, and we really couldn’t afford that. I took the vial from her and opened it up, then put it to my lips and drank. If it had a taste, I didn’t notice it.
Tegan smiled and lay back down. She patted the pillow beside her.
I nodded and my movements were already feeling sluggish. Good. Knock me out for a bit. I gave her a small smile, as much as I could muster, then lay back down next to her. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and started running her fingers through my hair. My eyes burned so I stopped fighting to keep them open.
My whole body warmed. Each of my muscles eased, and my pulse slowed to a steady rhythm. That potion worked fast. I hadn’t even asked what it was or who made it. Not that it mattered. I trusted Tegan.
As sleep finally grabbed ahold of me and sucked me down into its darkness, I thought about this war with Joseph and how we were supposed to win. We didn’t even have a full Coven. Kenneth was still out of commission. Bentley was a little kid who didn’t fight. Saffie was in Salem, and we had no idea when Keltie would return her to us—or if she would at all. But we were also missing our Tower. I couldn’t help but think he or she would be an important role in this.
But who was he or she? And where? Why hadn’t they shown up yet?
We needed answers…and we needed them soon.
Chapter Forty-One
Bettina
“I wasn’t a fan of Ouija boards before, and I’m really not a fan of them now.”
I sighed and glanced over my shoulder to where Tegan was leaning against the wall, surrounded by stacks of books. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
She looked up over a massive book, and her eyes sparkled. “When you’ve seen what I have, you’ll understand not wanting to play with this stuff.”
“Ouija boards are actually safer for humans.” Henley walked into the room, carrying yet another stack of books for us to search through. She dropped them on the hardwood floor in front of us, then sank to her knees. “When we do it, there’s a bigger risk factor.”
I frowned. That was unsettling. “But aren
’t we on Holy Land in this room? Shouldn’t we be safe?”
“In theory, yes.” Henley shuddered then opened a book. “But…I don’t know… Lately, things have been off. I wouldn’t trust it.”
Tegan groaned and tossed the book in her hand off to the side. Then she cracked open another. “The problem is—and this is classified information—the only spirits who are actually helpful with information are the devious ones. The ones who want something in return, or made too much trouble in life and can’t pass on.”
A cold chill slithered down my spine. “That’s really creepy, Tegan.”
She smirked. “I know, and this is why I do all my scheming in secrecy. Because sometimes someone has to make the tough call and get things done. And sometimes that means dabbling in the dark. I’m comfortable with myself and my power. I know who I am and where my allegiance lies, so I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect my world.”
“I know you, Tegan. I know you’d never go dark. But now that you know about real magic, I’d think you’d be willing to try—”
“She can’t.” Henley grimaced. “The Aether Witch is dangerous power, the kind of thing that attracts the biggest and baddest in the realms. That’s why the demon who possessed me wanted her. It’s too risky, even by her standards.”
Well, shit. I couldn’t argue with that.
The floor creaked outside the door, and then Emersyn came stumbling in, carrying a big black cauldron in her arms. She stopped just inside and huffed. “What does it say about me that I turned down help from all the guys and insisted on carrying this myself?”
“Feisty. I like it.” Tegan threw her head back and laughed. “Twin, I adore you. Thanks for bringing it.”
Emersyn smiled and nodded, then hobbled over to the corner and set the cauldron down. She shook her arms out. “Now, you sure I won’t burn down the house? I mean, why not do this in the fireplace?”
“I put a flame protection spell there, so yeah, you won’t burn down the house.” She frowned. “And there’s too many people in the living room. Too much anxious energy. We need calmness and focus. That’s why I kicked Tennessee out of the room.”
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