“I don’t know how to explain it.” I fuss with the hotel comforter, wishing I’d had more time to actually sleep in this bed last night. My brain is not cooperating right now. At all.
“Did she try to pressure you into something?”
“No. Nothing like that.” Except . . . she kind of did. I never even wanted to leave the hotel. I didn’t want anything to do with the Casters—mostly Tori. “It’s just . . . Lately it feels like Veronica doesn’t care about my opinion, like she doesn’t even hear me. She knows I hate getting in trouble, but she keeps insisting we sneak off and . . . I don’t know. I like when we’re together, and I want to spend time with her, but . . . Not like this. You know?”
I don’t think I’m making any kind of sense, but Gemma nods. “Did you tell her that?” She leans against the headboard and brushes my hair out of my face. “You know I love you and V as a couple, but . . .”
“But what?” I prompt when she doesn’t finish.
“You’re not going to like it,” Gem warns, but I nod for her to continue anyway. “This is giving me flashbacks to when I was dating Jake.”
“Veronica is nothing like him.”
“No, I know.” Gemma offers this sympathetic smile that makes my stomach twist. “You and Veronica have always been so good together, and I know she loves you. But some of it? The being afraid to tell her how you really feel? It was like that with Jake, and I don’t want you getting trapped in that kind of pattern. It sucks.”
“Gemma . . .”
She raises her hands. “I know. Just promise you’ll speak up if you don’t want to do something, okay?”
The thought of telling Veronica no makes my stomach hurt, but I nod. “Okay.”
* * *
• • •
Central Park is the first place in Manhattan where I feel like myself.
Sure, there are still entirely too many people and the air is super congested, but at least here I can feel the steadying pulse of the earth. I’m stretched out on a small hill by a man-made lake, and the glittering water and solid earth soothe my frazzled nerve. I soak up the elemental energy to make up for some of the sleep I lost.
Though part of me wants to nap, like Gemma’s doing beside me, I focus on the charcoal in my hand and study my current subject. If the brochure is correct, this should be the Bethesda Fountain. The sculptor did an amazing job creating movement in the angel’s fluttering robes and powerful step forward. I take care to recreate the same sense of motion. And with any luck, the trio of tiny birds currently resting on the angel’s wings will still be there when I’m ready to draw them. It’s a perfect distraction from the conversation with Gem. From the conversation I hope I’ll never need to have with Veronica.
As I finish the statue’s legs and continue up the torso, sketching out the wings and the angel’s really unfortunate hairstyle, I sense rather than see Veronica come near. Her magic is bright and happy in this place, like its grateful for the reprieve from the oppressive city that surrounds us.
I lose focus on the statue and scan the park for Veronica. Finally, I spot her on the terrace above me with one of her friends from cheerleading. I don’t know her name, but I’ve seen her at the basketball games I attended in the spirit of being a supportive girlfriend. She has warm brown skin and dark curls that fall to her shoulders. She’s tall, taller than Gemma even, which she accentuates with a pair of heels.
Why she wore heels to walk in a park, however, is beyond me.
Veronica and her friend laugh and continue toward the bridge that crosses the lake. I track them as they move. I know it shouldn’t, but seeing them together, seeing V so carefree after everything that happened last night, sits heavy in my stomach. V hasn’t texted me all morning. If she’s upset with me, I don’t know how to fix it.
Which is bullshit, anyway. I’m the one who deserves to be upset, not her. She’s the one who dragged us into this turf war. She’s the one who offered our help without considering whether we could even do anything. If she’s embarrassed or upset with how things ended, that’s on her. Not me.
As if she can hear the bitter thoughts in my head, Veronica stops short on the bridge. She says something to her friend, who nods and continues across alone. After her friend is out of earshot, Veronica answers her phone and scans the park. Scans for me.
When our eyes lock, she waves for me to come quick.
I scramble up, flip my sketchbook closed over my half-finished drawing, and shove everything back in my bag. My sudden flurry of movement startles Gemma. “Could you hold this?” I hand her the bag without waiting for a response, but when she blinks up at me, confused, I add, “I’m taking your advice. I need to talk to Veronica.” It’s not the whole truth, but I don’t have time to feel guilty. I have to do this.
“Of course.” Gemma takes my bag and wraps one arm through the strap before lying back in the grass. “Wake me before I burn to a crisp, okay?”
“I’ll do my best,” I promise and hurry after Veronica.
She’s still waiting on the bridge when I catch up. V nods when she sees me, which I take as a sign that it’s okay to eavesdrop. Even though it’s not technically allowed, using air magic like this is subtle enough that no Regs would ever notice, so it’s not expressly forbidden, either. Plus, it’s safer than putting a fellow witch on speaker phone.
I tug at the air and draw Tori’s voice to my ear.
“—the most brilliant friends. Seriously, if she had any interest, Lexie could lead the Council one day. She’s that good.”
“So, you have a plan?” Veronica prompts as she leads me across the bridge and down one of the paths through the park.
“We’re almost there. The more permanent solution is still in the works, but we have a way to capture and hold the Blood Witch while we finish up a few tests.” Tori pauses and says something muffled on her end of the line. “Coral and Lexie are going to meet you in the park. We want to try scrying one more time before you leave.”
“Of course. Anything.” Veronica doesn’t ask if I’m okay with this plan. She doesn’t even look at me before she agrees. “How will you contain the you-know-what when you find them?”
There’s this weighted silence on the other end, and then finally, Tori responds. “We’ve created a binding cord.”
Chapter Nine
A binding cord.
This is bad. This is so much worse than bad. The Casters didn’t mention anything about binding cords last night. At least, not in a way that I understood. I bite the inside of my lip. We can’t let them do this. We can’t let them bind another witch’s magic. We can’t—
But Veronica gives Tori our location like it’s nothing. She promises to wait for Coral and Lexie. Promises to help. Veronica hangs up and I can’t do anything but stare at her as she leads us into the thicket of trees to meet the Casters.
A binding cord.
This is my line. The one I will not cross.
“We can’t do this.”
Veronica looks up from her phone. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows rise up her forehead like she’s genuinely confused. Almost like she forgot I was even here. “Why not? I’m sure we can find a place where I can scry without getting caught.”
Even though we’re alone, hidden from the main path that’s dotted with joggers and tourists, I step behind a tree to further block us from prying eyes. “Only the Council has the authority to bind a witch’s power. And that’s only under extreme circumstances.” Bile burns at the back of my throat as Veronica’s stare turns hostile. “We can’t let this happen.”
“What are they supposed to do? Lie down and wait for the Blood Witch to kill them?” Veronica glances behind her shoulder, a habit to check for eavesdropping Regs. “Tori already lost both her parents to this fight. She has to do something.”
“But not this,” I insist, holding on to Gemma’s voice, telling me to stand my gr
ound. To stand up for myself. Yet another voice—a small, trembling one—wants me to be quiet. To follow Veronica’s lead. To leave the pot unstirred. I push that voice down. “I won’t be part of this.”
“Then don’t. No one asked for you.” Her words land with the force of a blow, but she’s just getting started. “You don’t get it, do you? This is real life, Hannah. Shit happens and you just have to figure it out. You can’t wait for someone else to fix things.”
“This isn’t our fight! It isn’t Lexie’s or Coral’s either. Tori has all of you wrapped up in some overblown vendetta. Someone needs to call the Council and put an end to this.”
“We don’t need to go running to Mommy and Daddy, Han. I’m an adult now. I can handle this.”
“Veronica—”
“Don’t pretend you understand. You don’t. You can’t! I’m going to college in three months, and then I’ll be alone and everything will be different.”
A new fear climbs my spine. It digs behind my eyes. “You’ll still have me. You can call and—”
“It won’t be the same, Hannah, and you know it.”
My worries leak into the earth, and it trembles softly beneath my feet. “What are you saying?”
“Nothing.” Veronica shakes her head, but she can’t dispel this new energy between us. She can’t just plaster over the cracks in our relationship and pretend they were never there. “It’s fine. We just have to wait for Coral and Lexie to get here. I’ll scry for the Blood Witch and then we can finish the trip and go home.”
I hate that her reassurances aren’t enough, but this is bigger than us now. “V, we have to call the Council. What they’re doing is against our laws. You know we have to report them.”
No matter how I feel about Tori or Coral or Lexie, we can’t walk away and let this continue. If the Casters succeed, it could spark a new inter-Clan war. And a Clan war means exposure to the Regs, who do not have a great record when it comes to dealing with witches. Our hometown is proof enough of that.
“We have to report them,” I repeat. “Unless we want to share blame in whatever war they start.” I grab my phone and dial my dad.
Veronica pushes off from the tree. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?”
She reaches for my phone. “Give me that. You’re not calling anyone.”
It rings once. Twice.
“I should have called home the second Tori tried to shove that potion down my throat.” I back away, but Veronica advances on me. “This whole thing is getting out of control.”
She’s desperate now, reaching. “Give me the phone, Hannah.”
“No.”
“Give it!” Veronica lunges and catches me around the waist, pinning me to her as she grasps for my phone. Dad’s voicemail picks up as her fingers wrap around mine, and she presses the screen until the call is lost. She yanks the phone toward herself, and the sudden release in tension when it slips from my grasp slams her fist against my chest.
I collapse to the ground, winded and gasping for breath. Tears pool in my eyes, and I search for the air’s energy, trying to force it back into my lungs. Everything hurts, but nothing more than my heart. It feels like shattered glass inside me, and I still can’t breathe.
Veronica kneels beside me on the ground. “Hannah? I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Go away.”
“Hannah, I—”
“I said go!” My voice echoes around us. The ground rumbles as my pain seizes hold of its power, drawing it toward me like a blanket. I grab my phone back from V and stumble to my feet.
Veronica rises slowly. “I know you’re upset, but you can’t tell anyone. They’ll punish us, too. Please, Han.” She reaches for my hands.
“Don’t touch me.” My voice catches, and the tears spill past my lashes.
“Please, Hannah.” She doesn’t try to grab me but she’s not leaving, either.
I need her gone. I can’t let her see me fall apart. Not until I know what this means. Not until I figure out if I can put my heart back together.
“Please. Promise you won’t call anyone.”
“Is that all you care about?” What about me? What about us? But I can’t ask those questions. I’m not ready for the answers. “You want my phone? Fine.” I throw it as hard as I can. It doesn’t go very far, but it hits one of the trees and falls to the grass. I’ve probably smashed the screen, which is just perfect. “Take the damn phone. Just go.”
Veronica doesn’t move, and for a moment, I think she’ll apologize. That she’ll realize I’m right. I have time to hope she’ll abandon this terrible quest to end another witch’s power.
But then she turns and walks back to the main trail. I think for a second, for a painfully hopeful second, that she’ll leave the phone behind with me.
She doesn’t.
I sink to the ground and pour my heartbreak into the earth.
Chapter Ten
I don’t know how much time passes, how long I lie on the ground and grieve, but eventually I manage to sit up.
The earth beneath me is heavy with my tears, and its energy pulses steady in time with my heart. The press of power calms me, and even the air tries to weave reassurances into my lungs.
It was one fight.
Lots of couples have arguments.
This doesn’t have to mean anything.
I wipe my sleeve across my cheeks and dab the last of the tears out of my eyes. This will be fine once we leave New York. Everything will go back to normal once we’re home, once we’ve slept in our own beds and forgotten about Caster potions and blood runes.
It’s going to be fine. At least until V goes to college . . .
I push that thought down and force myself to my feet. Uh-oh. I spin around twice, but nothing looks familiar. I have no idea how to get to the Bethesda Fountain, where Gemma is waiting with my bag. On reflex, I reach for my phone, but that’s gone, too. Just like V.
Which way did she go?
A phantom pain stabs my chest, but I push it down. It’s fine. It doesn’t mean anything. We’ll be okay.
A rustling to my left catches my attention, and I turn to find a hiker heading my way. She looks a few years older than me, maybe nineteen or twenty, and has her blonde hair up in a tight bun. There’s something familiar about her, but I can’t place it.
“Excuse me!” I cringe as I wave. I’ve never felt more like a tourist in my entire life. I wish I could disappear into the earth, but it’s too late to take it back now. “I’m sorry, but I think I’m lost.”
The girl removes her earbuds and smiles as she approaches. “What was that?” Her voice is sunshine and honey in the warm spring air.
“I got separated from my group.” I gesture at the trees around me, my only companions. “Could you point me back toward the lake area?”
“Sure.” She stands close and points behind me. I turn to follow her direction. “It’s right over—” In a sudden burst of speed, she bends her arm and clamps her hand around my throat. A second later, I’m slammed against a tree.
I try to scream, but her grip chokes away my voice. Chokes away my breath.
“It’s over, Caster bitch.” Her grip tightens, and my tired, heartsick brain finally pieces together the deadly puzzle before me. The sudden speed. The strength as she shifts me higher up the tree, my toes barely skimming the ground.
She’s the Blood Witch.
She must recognize me from the roof, must think I want to hurt her, like Tori does. Which means I’m so screwed.
“I’m not a—” My words come out choked and thin, but the girl squeezes harder.
“Quiet, potion princess. I know your magic is all tongues and tonics. I’m not letting you hurt me. Not again.” She steps closer, piercing blue eyes training on mine. Searching. “I should kill you now and end this whol
e thing. I’m tired of running.”
Running? I thought Tori and the others were running from her. But then the rest of her words register, and I struggle against her hold. I am not going to die alone in the middle of a public park on a high school field trip. This is not where my story ends. I try again to explain that I’m not a Caster, that I don’t want to hurt her, but I can’t get any sound past my lips. I panic, my magic jumbled and directionless, as my vision goes spotty and I shiver with cold.
“What the hell?” Her words come out in white puffs as frost crackles along her skin. Her grip weakens from the cold and the surprise, and for once I’m grateful for the reflexive magic.
As fresh air floods my lungs, the fog clears from my brain. My magic settles white hot in my veins, and even though it’s against Council laws, I reach for the elements, desperate to get out of here alive. The air is the first to respond, already half under my control, and it tears at the other witch’s hair and clothes, shoving her away from me.
She finally lets go completely, and I gasp, sucking in a huge lungful of air. The wind batters her away, widening the gap between us, and I reach for the steady thrum of the earth beneath my feet.
I’m not sure what to do with the element now that I have it, but the ground trembles between us. The Blood Witch stumbles away. I find a partially exposed root and tug. My magic rips the bit of tree from the ground, and I hook it around the girl’s ankle. She tumbles and twists, landing hard on her back. Before she can stand, I shake the earth loose around her and bury her limbs, holding her in place.
For a moment, she lies there, staring at the sky. Unmoving. “But you’re . . . You were there. With the Casters.” The girl almost sounds afraid, which is ridiculous. A Blood Witch afraid of an Elemental? Not likely. “I saw you,” she says again.
“I never wanted any part of this,” I say between ragged breaths. My muscles shake with fatigue as I pin the earth in place. “I’m not even from here. I just want to go home in one piece.”
“But I saw you.” She struggles against the earth. “You were there last night. You chased me onto the roof.”
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