Backing away, the man cursed as he turned. He clicked his fingers at his wife, indicating that she get back into the car, which she did.
“Why did you do that?” Alex said. “I fancied a fight tonight.”
Alex had a short temper. It wasn’t surprising considering his element was fire. He had literally just finished his training as a firefighter which was a fitting modern career for a fire elemental witch.
Spinning, I pushed past my idiot brothers and marched back to the van. “Just get me home!”
“How do women calm men like that?” Theo whinged as Lee started the engine and pulled off again.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just hate the fact that men even exist,” I muttered, trying not to smile when they shook their heads.
“You’re too nice to say things like that.” Lee slapped my thigh as he parked up and turned the engine off.
Wrapping my fingers around his arm, I squeezed. “I may be nice but don’t push me.”
My new life had been ripped away from me. A lump came to my throat, almost choking me as I remembered the joy of leaving home only two weeks before. I wasn’t ready to go back. Living with four men and three women, all the last of the elemental witches, had almost incited a civil war between ourselves. We already had a fight against the warlocks, we didn’t need any more enemies.
“You know you haven’t got a choice, don’t you?” Lee reached out to gently tug my hair, pulling back when I shot him my ‘don’t you dare touch me’ look.
“Bloody hell, Penny, let those walls down once in a while, will you?” Theo said.
“You can bloody talk.” Alex pushed his friend as they got out.
Walking behind the three men, I glared at the back of their heads. Lee’s dark blond spiky hair was perfectly groomed. Alex’s dark brown hair was cropped short, disguising his curls, and Theo’s was non-existent. He had a habit of shaving it off.
I loved the men like they were my brothers. We considered each other siblings. We had lived in the same house for years, waiting to start our mission, but goodness, I needed my own space.
“I can’t face the others,” I said, cutting across the road. “Not just yet.”
It was late. The small townhouse community in the stylish part of London was the safest central place we could live. Everyone kept to themselves and never asked questions.
“Where are you going?” Lee called.
He had one foot in the road and the other on the pavement. I ignored his question, waving a hand in dismissal. He knew me well enough to know when to leave me alone.
My world had been invaded, once again. I needed to get my head together. I needed some time on my own, and I was going to get it.
Chapter Two
“Do you know how easy it is to get lost in your eyes?”
His question startled me. It was the middle of the night and the man who had spoken slid into the seat opposite me. Erm, who did he think he was?
The hiss of the coffee machine behind the counter was the only sound in the cafe. I had been deep in a daydream, staring into space, not paying attention to anything.
“Do you know how bad that chat up line is?”
Meeting his gaze was impossible. His directness had thrown me. I had never been any good at small talk. He was handsome with striking blue eyes, which made it hard to notice anything else about him.
Picking up my mug of hot chocolate, I closed my eyes and drank the last mouthful before getting to my feet.
“Don’t go yet, we’ve only just met.” He waved at the waitress, pointing at the empty mug when she looked over. I went to refuse him, but he put up his hand. “I insist.”
I wanted to run. I wanted to pick up my bag and leave, but where would I go? The house was my only option. The thought of everyone questioning why I was home overpowered my unease. I wasn’t ready to go back.
“I’m Antony, what’s your name?”
Glancing around the café, I noticed that we were the only people there. It wasn’t a surprise, considering it was stupid o’clock in the morning.
A chill ran through me as I became aware that I was alone with a stranger. And still, I sat back down.
“Penny.” I glanced down at my bracelet.
When I looked up, his gaze rested on the silver charm that dangled from my wrist.
“Nice bracelet.”
My eyebrows rose as he leant back in his seat. He went quiet as the waitress came over and placed two cups of hot chocolate in front of us.
“Thanks.”
“And what are you doing out so late? Dressed in your pyjamas, no less?”
A smile tugged at my lips when I looked down at myself. I wasn’t usually the type to pop out in my nightclothes. In my anger, I had completely forgotten that I wasn’t even dressed.
“I’m not as mad as I look.” I laughed as he grinned at me.
His smile was sweet. Dimples appeared in his cheeks, giving him the appearance of a cheeky chap. One who put me at ease.
A warm glow started to surround me as I dipped my gaze to the table. It was nice to be chatted up. It happened so rarely.
“Well, I am as mad as I look,” he said, taking a sip of hot chocolate and cursing when it burnt his tongue.
“You don’t look mad.”
“Exactly,” he said, winking.
“Hhmm, that’s a shame.”
“What is?” he asked, leaning forward to reach out.
When his fingers touched my arm, I gently pulled away. Who did he think he was? Did he go around talking to women in the night, touching them whenever he felt like it?
“Well, you have to be a bit mad to talk to me, otherwise we’d never get on,” I joked, trying to ease the tension that had developed between us.
Chuckling, he sat back, taking his cold fingers with him. I was torn. I didn’t want to keep talking, but I wasn’t a rude person. Not only that, I had to admit that a part of me enjoyed the attention.
“Okay. Well, I’m also up in the middle of the night, so you could say I’m a little weird.”
I sighed as my escape plan backfired. “I don’t do small talk very well,” I confessed.
He didn’t flinch like I assumed he would, he just laughed instead.
Smiling briefly, I stood to go. The man made me uneasy. In my world, I had to keep on guard at all times. The warlocks were clever, always had a trick up their sleeve according to Mother. It was best that I avoided talking to anyone, even if it made it harder for me to find my soul-match.
“Oh, come on, I was just having fun,” Antony said, sitting up in his seat.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but it’s been a long day. I need to get home.”
Scuttling out of there, I shuddered as I felt his gaze burning into my back. When the café door shut behind me, I started to run, just in case he followed me. My instincts told me that I was safe, even though it had been a strange encounter. However, I had been taught to be on high alert at all times. If the Last Coven failed their mission, there was a risk that the race would become extinct.
Slowing as I got to the end of the road, I glanced back. I had no idea what I expected to see. Would Antony be in the doorway, gazing longingly after me? Or maybe he would be running to abduct me? Either way, he wasn’t there, so I sighed and carried on walking towards the house.
What would I have done if he had wanted more from me? My number or a date? Would I have given him a chance to get close? Probably not.
“Where have you been?”
The hissed words made me jump. Spinning, I put my hand to my chest and took a deep breath. “Don’t do that to me, Clarie, you know how on edge I am!”
My sister knew that my senses were heightened, why would she make me jump just outside our house? What was she doing hanging out by the front door anyway?
All of the water elementals were intuitive, but I was extra sensitive for some reason. When I heard loud noises for long periods of time, or watched continually flashing lights, my senses would go into
overload. I knew when it was time to cocoon myself and so did the others.
“Sorry.” Clarie grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house. “The boys said that you went off on your own. I was worried that you might have run away again.”
“I didn’t run away.”
Taking her hand, I squeezed, forcing her to release the grip she had on me. She almost dragged me through the quiet house to the bedroom that we shared.
Swallowing a sigh as the four walls enclosed around me, I ran my gaze over her unicorn bedspread. The mythical creatures were in fashion with the human world. It had been a long time since unicorns had existed. Although, they would never have survived in a world full of modern technology.
Slumping on the bed, I stuck out my lip as my sister sat next to me. Clarie and I had shared a bedroom since we were children, and I was sick of it. I was eighteen years old. I could do without sharing a room with another woman.
However, I would be happy to share a room with my soulmate. If I ever met him.
“Penny, I missed you!”
Clarie hugged me, the closeness making me stiffen. Despite us being good friends, I still wasn’t a fan of physical contact.
“No offence—” I started.
“Don’t say it, I know,” she said, backing off.
Her raised wrist caught my eye. The bracelet she wore was a different hue of blue to mine. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to take them off?”
The bracelet made me feel like I was branded. We were trapped in a house of weirdness and had been our whole lives.
Clarie glanced down at hers. Her blonde hair fell forward and covered her face as she looked at her own water elemental charm. Whenever any of us had tried to take the bracelet off, we found that we couldn’t. They wouldn’t budge, even though they weren’t fastened tight.
“I don’t want to get mine off,” she said, moving over to the window.
Her slim frame was curvy in all the right places. Although we had similar figures, I was taller. We often shared clothes, even though I was more reserved than her. Our parents had taught us that vanity of witches was a thing of the past. Not that there were many witches left, of course. The modern world had been cruel to our kind, almost obliterating who we once were.
“It seems you’ve lost faith in our mission.”
The words were said quietly, almost whispered, and yet, they shot straight into my heart. They were true, even though I hadn’t acknowledged it. Sighing loudly, I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes, fighting against the lump that rose in my throat.
“I think I have,” I replied, not able to lie to her.
She came over to the bed, looking down at me, no doubt with a frown on her face. I kept my eyes closed, avoiding the heat of her gaze.
“Go away,” I muttered, my energy draining from me.
“You will meet your soul-match.” Grabbing my hand, she shook it.
Being told by someone else was in no way the same as experiencing it yourself. I couldn’t remember my life before I was five. How was I supposed to know what had happened before I was born? Mother always chastised me for being impatient. I wanted more answers. Apparently it would all become clear as we got older.
“Do you really believe that? Eight of us are literally here to find a soulmate and live happily ever after? Mating with a human means that our offspring won’t be pure witches anyway.”
Letting go of me, Clarie retreated, her footsteps heavy. As I opened my eyes, I caught the shake of her head as she went to her own bed.
“It’s not just any old human soulmate though, is it? They all have a strand of inactive Salem blood that gets activated and turns them into a witch. And no… I don’t believe that’s all we’re here to do and neither do you.”
Swallowing as I shifted onto my side, I stared at her. The bed under me felt familiar. I was bored with familiar. I needed something new and exciting. I had been trapped in the same house my whole life. I had to find a way to breathe… I had to get out somehow.
“You don’t know what I believe,” I whispered.
Her laugh was typical. She assumed that I was having one of my emotional sulks. She might be right, but it still irritated me. I hated that I had lost confidence in our mission.
“You’ll find him, Penny, just keep the faith.”
Chapter Three
“When are you going to bed?” Alex called.
He sat on the sofa with the boys the next evening, playing one of their game consoles.
“Not yet. Why? Do you want to play one of the dancing games?” I laughed.
Spinning in his seat to look at me, he growled. I was at the kitchen table with my laptop, researching Salem history. The combined kitchen and living area was big enough for eight people to gather. Four men and four women living under the same roof made it hard to compromise sometimes.
“No, we were thinking of inviting some friends over,” he said.
I glared at the back of his head as he turned away. His definition of friends actually meant girls. As much as I hoped the boys would mature with age, it really was wishful thinking.
All four boys turned to stare at me, their intense gazes willing me to leave.
“Are you serious? Can’t you just go out and meet them at the pub? How old are you?”
The men turned back to their game, mumbling between themselves. I had to bite my lip as I watched them. They were far too arrogant to be classed as good strong witch men.
The three who had come to fetch me were wearing nothing but jeans. The heating was high. They were getting worked up as they played a fighting game. The other one, Guy, had more clothes on, but was no less handsome.
Swallowing a mouthful of water, I wondered whether to give in and go to bed. It didn’t look like the boys would leave me alone anytime soon.
Closing the lid of my laptop, I went still as the phone rang. Everyone in the room froze. The only person that called us was our mother. She had moved out two years ago in an attempt to give us some freedom.
“Hello,” I answered after a mad dash to grab the phone.
“Penny, it’s me,” our mother said hurriedly. “He’s back!”
The phone cut off as I swallowed hard.
“He’s back,” I announced, turning to the boys.
They swore and jumped up from their seats, getting ready for a fight that hadn’t even started yet.
“Did she say anything else?” Alex said.
I shook my head and came away from the phone. Father couldn’t find us; Mother had made sure of it, but the risk was still high all the same. I had never believed Mother when she said that he would harm us. The men on the other hand, they were afraid of our father.
When their relationship started to breakdown, our father had gone, leaving bad blood between our parents. After his departure, her obsession in keeping us away from the rest of the world resulted in her installing cameras in every room. She claimed it was because the fate of the witch race rested upon us. She was the last surviving female witch elder, destined to be reborn with us until we succeeded. Our father was the same.
When Mother had eventually left two years ago, we tried to get rid of the cameras, but she claimed that she was protecting us. We felt liberated after she’d gone but being watched 24/7 was a constant strain. We all hated it.
“It’s been five years. Why is he back?” Lee came over to me.
I shrugged as he grabbed me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. The hug was reassuring. I hadn’t even been aware that I needed one.
Father was married to Mother when they had collected us from our birth parents and brought us to live together in the townhouse. As we grew older, Father had tried to persuade Mother to give us space so we could get on with our lives and live more independently. Mother would have none of it; it was one of the reasons their relationship fractured.
We’d begged her to let us lead a more liberated lifestyle, but she constantly told us that she had been entrusted with our care by the witch elder who
had cursed us. The earth needed witches to balance the good with the evil. She felt that it was her duty to safeguard us.
She was also protecting us from the warlocks, who were out to destroy any goodness our mission enforced. The warlocks enjoyed tricking and killing humans, using them for their gain. Their aim was to create hatred and fear; ours was to bring back pure magic, build the witch race and save the humans from a terrible future.
When I had questioned Mother about pure magic, she avoided the answer, which made me even more curious.
We had all rebelled in our early teenage years, and still, she wouldn’t grant us freedom. I would cry at night, wishing I could go out and meet new friends. She tried to get us to see that our lives were bigger than ourselves. We were not on Earth to be free. We were home schooled and never allowed out on our own.
Of course, when we had reached sixteen, we had been granted limited time out of the house. We were allowed to go to libraries and parks but most other places were banned. Until we kicked off and Mother decided to leave.
Because the elemental witches had not survived well in a city where nature had been consumed, Mother had become paranoid that we would die out for good. When she left, the men found the pub… and the women…
“Do you think he’ll try to destroy us?” Alex stepped forward and picked up the phone.
“That’s only what Mother said. I don’t think he would. Not in a million years. She’s harboured a grudge against Father since he left. What are you doing?” Snatching the phone from him, I looked up into his eyes.
Alex’s face darkened. “Things have got to change,” he said, holding out his hand.
I looked between the men as they stepped forward. Something felt different somehow. I had always followed the rules, in spite of yearning to be free. We all had. It looked like the boys were about to go against the grain.
“Penny, we need to take charge of our own destiny. We’re the witches who can bring back our kind. In order to do that, we need to stick together.”
Even though my heart thumped hard in my chest, I gave him the phone and took a step back. I couldn’t stop them. He was right. I had been dreaming of the day that I could leave the house and be on my own for good. Maybe that time had come.
Chasing Magic: The Last Witch Coven Book 1 Page 2
