“Right, and he’ll be thrilled with your solution.” She laughed again. “We all heard your cell phone alarm, except for you. Come on. It’s time.”
With a heavy sigh, I dragged myself out of the Jeep and stumbled a few times until my legs got the wake-up memo. The asphalt burned my bare feet, but it helped get my brain into action. I lifted each arm one at a time and sniffed my pits. Yeah, maybe I should’ve stayed home.
Cassandra whistled. “Dude, you look like hell.”
“Thanks, I found the look on Pinterest.” I smiled and yanked my dirty shirt off, then threw it inside the Jeep. I’d pick it up later. Eventually. I plucked a shirt off the floor, smelled it, and threw it to join the other. It took three more tries before I found a shirt clean enough to wear in public.
When I looked up, I found Cassandra shaking her head and laughing. “C’mon, pretty boy. Here, I have a feeling you’ll need these.” My black sunglasses dangled from her red-freckled fingers.
Twenty-two seconds later, my toes sank into the powdery sand. I paused and frowned down at my bare feet. Did I need to put shoes back on? My brain seemed to be in a bit of a fog, and I wasn’t sure how to shake it. I looked up to search for my Coven and hissed when the sun pierced through my black sunglasses and stung my eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was becoming a vampire. I needed to talk to Kessler and Cassandra about why I struggled with fatigue and sensory sensitivity all of a sudden. Normally I recharged fairly quickly. Not to mention the recurring dreams, although I was in no hurry to bring those up. They’d want to know how these dreams made me feel and ask a string of personally introspective questions. The mere idea made me cringe with horror.
I took a deep breath of hot, sticky air and groaned. Even the breeze blowing through my hair was warm. Sadly, Florida’s summer heat had only just begun. In a matter of days, I’d be seeing triple digits and puddles of sweat in my clothes. I reached up and brushed my long black hair out of my face, pulling it back and tying it into a knot on top of my head. It was probably, definitely, far past time for a trim, but I’d lost the desire to combat the speed at which the wavy strands grew. Until then, man bun for the win.
“Wow, with six seconds to spare. I’m impressed, Tennessee.”
I glanced up ahead to where my adoptive father’s voice had come from and found him eyeing me with an amused grin. Kessler was an intimidating sight, standing six foot five with the widest shoulders I’d ever seen on a person. I was a pretty big guy for my age, two inches over six foot and a solid two hundred pounds, but my father still had at least fifty pounds on me. He had a short blond buzz cut and eyes the color of liquid gold. So basically, we looked exactly alike. Heavy sarcasm.
“Eight seconds,” I corrected him. My voice sounded like gravel to my own ears, so it was probably even worse to everyone else.
“Does it count if he’s not alive?” Cooper shouted from somewhere in the group.
“Hey, I’ve got a clean shirt on.”
“Yeah, it took him four tries to find it though.” Cassandra elbowed me gently in the side then walked over to a lavish purple blanket behind Kessler and sat. “And by clean he means it smelled better than the others.”
She wasn’t wrong. I shrugged. “I’m here.”
“Apparently you’ve been here a while. We’ll discuss this at great length later.” Kessler shook his head and laughed. He gestured toward the rest of the group who sat on blankets in a semicircle around him. “Take a seat, son. We have things to discuss.”
I nodded and glanced to my right where the rest of my crew waited patiently. Fourteen pairs of eyes looked up to me expectantly. I didn’t know what they were expecting me to do though. Or maybe I do. These people were my extended family, specifically chosen out of our entire race of witches by the Goddess herself to lead our society. The Cards, as we were commonly referred. Twenty-two Cards made up the Coven which ruled our kind, and fifteen of us lived in Florida. And they want me to lead.
I sighed. Don’t think about it right now. I strolled over to where my brother Cooper sat and plopped down beside him. I may not have looked a damn thing like my adoptive father, but Cooper was practically a carbon copy, just younger and with light green eyes. “Did I miss anything?”
“Yeah, it’s called summer,” Easton said with a wide grin. His bright blue eyes were the same color as the sky above us. Similar to Kessler and Cooper, Easton had naturally platinum blond hair, except he wore his a little longer on the top to give the ladies something to hold on to. His words, not mine. His arm was draped around a pretty, raven-haired Lily. “Maybe you should try wearing a color other than black.”
“Be happy I have clothes on.”
Libby raised her hand from behind Easton like they were sitting in class. “Do we have to be happy about that?”
Everyone laughed and tossed handfuls of sand in Libby’s direction, moaning a variety of discouraging remarks. Like a switch had been flipped, the group spiraled into theatrics, and sand soared through the air in every direction.
“I still say blue,” Libby said under her breath while sand blasted her face.
Blue what?
“Enough,” Kessler snapped and the sand froze in the air. “Coven meeting first, sand fight second. Deal?”
He waited until everyone nodded and collected themselves before beginning. “As you know, we had an encounter with a special kind of creature last night. This demon overheard Cassandra and I talking and learned some information we couldn’t risk getting to the other realms. This is why it was imperative you killed it.”
“Is that why we’re here? To discuss why we have to kill demons?” Libby asked, part sarcasm, part genuine curiosity.
“We actually have a more pressing issue about last night.” Kessler exchanged a quick glance with Cassandra. Hesitation from him was never a good sign. Especially when he turned his pointed gaze directly at me. “Tennessee? Royce and Libby filled us in on everything, except they claim the demon said something to you.”
Ah, crap. I had every intention of bringing it up, but not in front of everyone. The last thing we needed was talk about Salem’s prophecy and closing the Gap. However, everyone was staring at me. Waiting. It would be wrong to lie to them. Wouldn’t it? Yes. Yes, it would.
I shook the idea away and cleared my throat. Here goes nothing. “It said, ‘you’ll never close the Gap without the tool.’”
Questions fired at rapid pace. “Did it say what the tool was?” “Did it have the tool?” “Like a literal tool?” “A tool like an amulet?” I sorted through them silently, trying to decide how to answer. Giving these guys all the information would be bad news. I needed to talk it out in private with Kessler and Cassandra.
“Easton is a tool,” Braison joked, speaking up for the first time all day.
“Tennessee?” Kessler pointed his finger at Easton to stop him from tackling Braison.
“No, it didn’t say what the tool was.” Not technically a lie. I slid my sunglasses on top of my head and pinched the bridge of my nose. When I looked up, I caught Kessler’s eye, moved my gaze to Cassandra, then returned it back to Kessler. Then I lied and hoped he’d understand why. “No, it didn’t have the tool. I don’t know much more than any of you.”
Silence.
“Well, I might.” Cassandra smiled but it looked more like a deranged serial killer than cheerful. Her emerald green eyes were way too wide and bloodshot to have any good news. She stood and brushed the white powdery sand off her red-freckled legs. “The Goddess paid me a little visit last night and left us a present.”
My stomach turned. Cassandra was the Hierophant. Of all the Cards, she was the one most connected to the Goddess and served as our spiritual advisor. Our Priest, practically holy herself. The Goddess communicated with Cassandra frequently for a multitude of reasons, but when She left a present, it only meant one thing. A quest. Her presents were the lines of prophecy to aid in our mission.
I already knew where this quest would lead. At leas
t now I knew why Cassandra wore a long-sleeved shirt at noon in the summer. She wanted to hide the prophecy until we were ready.
Cassandra stepped forward so everyone could see then slid her left sleeve up to her elbow. A giant letter V in black ink marked her pale forearm in the exact place we all had our Marks. The Hierophant, tarot card number five. But we’d all seen it before. What we focused on today were the four lines of words written on her skin in an elegant black scroll.
She read it out loud without looking. “Seek the tool from thieving hands. First ally with those between the lands. To mend the bond between them all, listen for the vengeful Fallen’s call.”
I stared at her arm. Thieving hands. She knew. The Goddess knew the little fairy had grabbed the item before it disappeared through the Gap. Although I didn’t know why this surprised me. I had no idea what any of the rest of it meant, but I was right to keep some details to myself. I sat there in silence, ignoring all the noise and commotion around me, and tried to recount my steps from the night before. I needed to remember every detail from when the demon spoke to when the supposed tool vanished from my sight.
“Tennessee?” A large, warm hand landed on my right shoulder, and I about jumped out of my skin. “Easy, son.”
I hung my head between my knees and counted to three to calm my racing heart. Kessler’s hand gripped my shoulder tighter, and it helped a little. When I picked my head back up, I found we were alone on the beach except for Cassandra and Cooper.
What the hell? “Where did everyone else go?”
Cassandra, Cooper, and Kessler all exchanged anxious glances.
“What?”
Kessler frowned. “Son, I sent everyone home about ten minutes ago. You’ve been staring at nothing since. Why don’t you tell us what really happened?”
My shoulders dropped with relief. He’d gotten my subtle hint and wasn’t mad I’d withheld from him. At least not yet. I took a deep breath then went into a detailed description of what happened. I paid extra attention to the item the demon threw. “I still don’t know what the item is, but I’m assuming it was the tool.”
Cooper’s blond eyebrows dropped low over his light green eyes. He scratched the back of his head. “We have to find this fairy.”
“Last thing we need is for everyone to go hunting for her.” I looked to Kessler.
He nodded. “You’re right. The panic will make everyone restless and reckless. This could lead to accidents. The four of us will have to try and find it ourselves, although Tennessee is the only one who has seen it.”
“I didn’t get much of a look.”
“Cooper and I will go to the park now,” Cassandra volunteered. “We will start the search. Kessler, now more than ever, we need to get them trained and ready.”
“Agreed. Come by before open house tonight so we can regroup.” Kessler started to ramble off a bunch of things, but Cassandra held her palms up to stop him. I’d never seen someone with freckles on their palms before I met her.
She smiled and nodded her head toward me. Her emerald eyes were sharper now than they’d been a few minutes ago. “You need to take this one home. Give him some real food and the tea I gave you the other day, then put him to bed. He’s so drained he can barely withstand sunlight.”
I sighed. I didn’t even need to ask her or voice my concerns out loud. She knew.
Kessler took a long look at me, then nodded. “C’mon, son. Let’s get you home.”
I climbed to my feet. My whole body ached and cracked with every movement. Sleep sounded blissful. So did food. Before I followed my father to the car, I turned toward Cassandra to tell her something about the fairy but found her eyeing me oddly.
I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
She frowned and cocked her head to the side. “I had an interesting dream about you last night.”
My heart sank faster than the Titanic. The Hierophant dreaming about you rarely meant something good. “Do tell.”
“It was strange.” She shook her head, and her red curls bounced over her shoulders. “You were chasing something down a river, and you just kept screaming for hope.”
Chapter Three
“You don’t look any more rested than you did seven hours ago, brother.”
I sighed and leaned against the student services counter next to an obnoxious sign saying Welcome back to Gulf Shores High! I didn’t bother glaring at Cooper. From anyone else, yes, I would glare. Coop meant it from a place of concern, even if he sucked at putting the words together. “You say the sweetest things to me, brother.”
Cooper ignored this and crossed the hallway to where I leaned. He glanced over both shoulders to make sure no one in the empty sitting area was listening. “Didn’t Kessler give you anything?”
“He gave me lots of things.” Including a lecture on taking better care of myself. Normally I kept myself and my room crisp and clean, but lately I simply lacked the energy. And now I had a matter of days until my junior year of high school started. Not to mention the quest, which only held the fate of the world in its hands. No pressure.
Something in my gut told me to brace myself. The other shoe was about to drop. To quote the great Tom Petty, “the waiting is the hardest part.”
“Tennessee,” Cooper said with that low voice he made when he wanted to hide his emotions. “Give yourself a break. You’re not in charge here.”
I sighed and met his pale green eyes. “Tell that to everyone else.”
Cooper nodded but dropped the subject. If there was anyone less comfortable talking about their emotions than me, it was my adoptive brother. I used to wonder the nature versus nurture aspect of our similar personalities before I decided I didn’t really care about the whys. Cooper was my best friend by choice, not because we grew up in the same house.
We were silent a few minutes, both lost in our own stress, until the doors off to our left opened and a group of rosy-cheeked girls entered the building. The sun shining through the open doorway made me cringe. Still, I would’ve preferred to be out there with the chirping birds and fresh air than in here with lemon-scented cleaner stinging my sinuses.
The girls giggled and walked in front of us to the guidance counselor’s sign-in sheet. Their laughter echoed down the empty hallway. Kessler would’ve chastised me for being rude and not saying hello, but I preferred the incoming freshmen females to be too afraid to talk to me. It was easier that way. Less questions.
“Maybe you should…ya know…” Cooper nodded his blond head in the girls’ direction. They were only fifteen feet away, so I was glad he’d dropped the volume of his voice.
I arched one eyebrow at him. “Why don’t you?”
He sighed. “Fair enough.”
The guidance counselor’s door opened next to where the girls stood, still giggling in my direction. Kessler stepped into the doorway, waved back at our counselor, then crossed the hallway to join us.
“Sorry, boys.” Kessler’s deep voice was a welcome reprieve from myself, Cooper’s concern, and my group of admirers. “Took a little longer than planned.”
I opened my mouth to ask a question when I spotted two class schedules in his hand. They were bright pink and had the school’s dragon logo printed on the top. Every student had gotten one tonight. Wait a second… My schedule was in my back pocket. Cooper was currently using his as a fan.
I frowned. Did he get new ones for us? “Whose schedules are those?”
“Come on, I’ve told everyone to meet us at the lunch tables outside before open house starts.” Kessler completely ignored my question. He turned and waved us along.
With every step I took, my sense of dread enlarged. By the time we got to the outside lunch tables, my palms were sweaty and my heart beat like I’d run a marathon. It was only seven o’clock, so the Florida sun sat bright and shiny in a cloudless blue sky. The temperature in my car had said ninety-nine when we arrived thirty minutes ago, so it was probably only ninety-seven degrees out now. Sweat broke out over my forehead and on t
he back of my neck. I reached up and pulled my long hair into a knot on top of my head to let that refreshing warm breeze cool me off. Maybe Easton had a point. I wear a lot of black for a Floridian in the summer.
Our Coven sat in various positions, some like normal humans at the tables while some lounged on the massive oak tree branches like leopards. To the outside world, they looked relaxed and a little weird. But I saw the tension in their bodies and the way their dark eyes anxiously bounced from shadow to shadow. Their hands idled near whatever weapon they chose to stash on their bodies. I looked to Cassandra for some kind of clue, except her gaze was locked on the prophecy written on her arm.
Kessler cleared his throat. “Hey, everyone, thanks for meeting me here early. Since our chat this afternoon, some news has been made official, and so I need to share it with you.”
The knots in my gut tightened and twisted. Cooper chose to sit on one of the table’s benches beside Kessler. I barely managed to stand still next to him. It took everything in me not to pace like a caged lion. My normally raucous crew sat in perfect silence…waiting.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat this… We’re here to discuss the twins.”
There was a collective gasp, a chorus of audible shock. Someone fell out of the tree behind Kessler, but I didn’t look to see who it was. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw everyone turn to their neighbor with incredulous faces, like they hoped they’d heard wrong. There were whispers and wild hand gestures.
I swallowed down my own unease and stepped closer to Kessler. “The twins… As in the original pair?” Please say yes. Please, please say yes. Please.
Kessler paused a beat and then shook his head. He held his golden stare level. “I mean the new pair.”
The twins. Salem’s prophecy is finally here.
Cooper cursed under his breath and ran a hand over his buzzed, blond head. “What about them?”
I reached over and squeezed my adoptive brother’s shoulder. He stood pin straight with his arms locked at his sides and his hands in fists. The muscles in his biceps flexed. His lips were pressed into a hard line. Kessler was Cooper’s uncle and had technically adopted Cooper sixteen years ago after his real parents delivered a set of twin baby girls. Cooper still felt responsible for the outcome of his younger sisters’ prophecy, and every day his attitude darkened a little more.
The Chosen Witch Page 3
