Mason’s jaw squares as he swallows. “I wanted to put it out of my mind, but the hunters didn’t allow me that luxury.”
I let out a soft chuckle. My heart opens like a flower toward him. Unspoken agreement passes between us, and after throwing a quick glance at our friends and the charmers around the table, Mason pushes me behind a wall of lockers that seems to have been moved here to create a little corridor.
His lips find mine as soon as we’re out of sight of the others. I drink him in, still not fully comprehending that he’s here, hands tangling up in my hair, body pressed to mine. Mason is a head taller than me, so I let my hands roam up to his shoulders, then link around his neck, pulling him down to me.
We find a rhythm after the first urgent kisses, our lips moving slower, letting us sink into the moment. When my heart begins to quiet, my senses return to me—hearing first. I catch the monotone electric sizzle of the air conditioner. Over it, our friends and hosts provide a steady stream of chatter. Their excitement makes me smile.
Mason, with his lips on mine, senses it and pulls us an inch apart. “What’s so funny?”
His husky, playful voice sends an electrifying current through me. “Doing this within earshot of the others.”
He lets out a chuckle as well. “Of course. How could I forget? I guess this isn’t the most romantic reunion?”
“It could be worse.” I shrug, but my smile fades as I sense the weight of a premonition in my words. “At least everyone is all right.” My mood sours as I think of the two words I won’t say. For now.
As if in tune with the sharp turn in my train of thought, Mason cups my cheek, running his thumb over it, then leads me to the others. The charmers and the members of my circle are clustered around a relatively small coffee table.
Charity sits next to her father, each on a fold-up chair which can’t be too comfortable. I don’t need my banshee intuition to sense the tangled web of awkwardness between them. Stubbornly, Charity faces away from Eddie.
Awan, Vanessa, and Jean sit squished together on a two-person leather couch. From Vanessa’s disinterested, blank expression, I gather she’s present in body only, her mind still stuck on the painful memory. I won’t draw attention to her. She can take the time she needs to recover from what happened.
Awan offers her some water. His easygoing presence is a wonderful distraction, whether he’s aware of that or not.
Mason pulls up a chair and invites me to sit, but I opt for the couch’s armrest on Awan’s side. “Are you guys all right?”
The question may be directed to the members of my circle, but the way Vanessa straightens her back and forces some life into her expression makes me believe she knew my concern was mainly for her.
“Fine,” she sighs. “You two were done quickly.”
I take that sassy remark as proof that her defense mechanism—sarcasm—is still active. I only incline my head in response, a quizzical look in my eyes. Instead, I turn to Charity’s father, who looks so much like the image of him in Mom’s portrait despite the white starting to show up in his thick, black hair.
“Thank you for having us.”
I don’t miss the very distracting way Charity rolls her eyes at my words.
“We’re here to help.”
My heart swells at the warmth in Eddie’s words. After everything that has befallen his family, I’m sure Mom would be happy to see him as he is now.
“About that...” I blow out a breath as my stomach tightens a little. “We’ll need to free the banshees the hunters have captured.”
“Captured?” a woman on Eddie’s other side asks as she sets her glass on the table. “Where?”
“Mason and Zach should know where.” I spot Zach across the table from me and then turn to Mason on my right, eyebrows raised in question.
“We do,” Zach says. “Unless they’ve been moved from The Hunters’ Den.”
“Not that this isn’t an admirable mission in and of its own, but from what Mason and Zach told me, you—” he looks pointedly at me, then at Charity, “have bigger problems. Your circle won’t be sustainable for much longer. Trust me, I would know.”
I blow past the tension and heat I sense radiating from Charity. “We have a theory that freeing a hidden legacy and binding them into the circle might stabilize it. We found clues hidden at Elmwick Academy, which describe the role each of the five legacies plays in undoing the joint spell, but...” I can’t say it with so many faces staring at me.
“But if we do the spell, we’ll all die.” Charity’s blunt interjection is like a punch to my throat, stopping my breath.
“That’s why we need to find the banshees,” I croak. “There was a clue missing from the banshee training room, and they might have it. They might know how to survive undoing the joint spell.”
“What about using a charm instead.” Eddie strains to keep his tone level as if this discussion is simply a day-to-day problem that needs a good brainstorming session before it can get fixed.
“A charm?” Vanessa’s loud scoff is enough to prove she’s back in action. “There’s no way that would work.”
“It sounds like a dangerously simple solution,” Jean admits.
“Forget simplicity,” Awan says. “Charms can’t prevent death. If they could, charmers would be immortal.”
Eddie turns his palms to us, signaling us to calm down. “That’s all true, a charm can’t cheat death. But it can provide the protected person with an extra resource they need in a dire situation.” When we all stew in the breathless silence for too long, he adds, “Go on, Cami, tell me what visions you’ve had. They will reveal what each of you needs to contribute to undo the spell.”
My throat is dry, either from the air conditioning down here or the unease inside me. “They’re all different. The ways I see them...dying.” The last word is a whisper I’m not positive their regular hearing can pick up.
“Give me one example.”
I don’t mean to distress Vanessa further, but the vision of hers replays in my head first. “I saw Vanessa perform her part to undo the joint spell, spilling her blood onto the salts we found in the viper room.”
Mason reaches a hand to hold mine. I squeeze back. He’s missed much of the terrors that plague me now. What have I missed?
“I suppose that means I’ll bleed out,” Vanessa says evenly.
Eddie clears his throat, attempting to return to his problem-solver role. “In that case, a charm protecting you might allow you clarity as you lose blood, so you can treat your wounds. Or it might keep you strong despite the severe blood loss until you find help. It might even slow down the effects of the blood loss on your body so that you can wait for the joint spell to be completed and then rely on the lion to heal you.”
The cynical look Vanessa throws at me is anything but optimistic. “It won’t work.” Her voice is so low, it sounds more like a hiss than ever. “Don’t you get it? It’s not my blood that the joint spell wants me to ssacrifice, but my viper essence. The joint spell is testing the circle to see if they’re ready to pay for what the original circle did. I’ll have to ssacrifice the very legacy of the viper, flowing through my veins, until there’s none of it left in me to give me life.”
We all deflate, but Vanessa goes on, spurred on by the darkness I sense flooding through my link to her. Even though we removed the measures to keep everyone in line, some of their darkness still flows into me.
“Charmer tricks won’t fool the sspell into foregoing the ssacrifice it demands.” She squeals at the last word, her voice shaking.
“Vanessa!” Charity jumps to her feet, horror-stricken. “I know you’re upset about that viper, but don’t disregard a perfectly viable solution because of it.”
“That’s what you think this is about?” Vanessa yells, making everyone around the table stiffen—posture and expression both. “This is not a viable ssolution.”
Eddie tries to say something, but Vanessa cuts him off. “You can’t be the almighty heroes
this time. You can’t ssave us.”
“Or do you just not trust us to try!” Charity raises her voice right back.
Bitter tears fill both their eyes as a dark storm swirls in my chest—a twister of their intertwined dreary emotions.
“You’re still mad at me, after all these years.” Charity spits out the accusation with venom in her tone.
“Why shouldn’t I be mad? Because we were kids?” A tear leaks out of the corner of Vanessa’s eye, leaving a glossy trail behind. “I trusted you. I thought we defied all odds. We were inseparable... The b-best of friends. You were like a ssister to me...” She takes in a sharp breath to control her tone. “Until you thought it beneath you to associate with a viper.”
I stare, completely numb, at this exchange. How had I never sensed it, even with the links?
Charity’s mouth wrinkles like she’s biting back a heavy comeback. “I know vipers hold grudges, but this is ridiculous! Do you seriously not understand why I put distance between us?” Her gaze flicks to her father a second before she explodes in tears. “I lost my mom!” she shouts at Vanessa, but then whirls on her father. “And then I lost my dad.”
Awan is at her side in three quick steps. Charity shivers at his touch and pushes away from him, facing Vanessa with a tear-streaked, trembling face. “I wasn’t shutting you out. I was shutting everything out.”
Awan reaches for her again, but Charity stomps away, then breaks into a run. With a heavy thud, the door slams shut after her.
Chapter 22. Mason
Eddie goes after Charity, though he allows her a couple of minutes in private first. When they don’t return for a while, we follow Bex and the artificial strawberry smell of her gum down two flights of stairs to a place she calls the Bunk.
“Those of us staying here long-term have our own rooms upstairs,” Bex explains. “The Bunk is where we stash the strays.” She blows a small bubble and pops it with her teeth. “Like you.”
Zach makes a face at me when she isn’t looking, almost making me burst out laughing. But Bex isn’t wrong. We are strays at this point.
The room she lets us into is long and only wide enough to allow a bunk bed and a small path to get to the next bunk. There are at least a dozen beds here, though none seem occupied when we arrive.
“The bathroom is all the way at the bottom,” Bex says. “And, yes, there’s only one shower. Sorry.” She doesn’t exactly look it. “Double sinks, though.”
“Sweet.” Awan smiles politely at her.
Zach puts his backpack on the nearest top bunk, so I take the bottom one, though the pain from crouching down makes me grunt.
Awan clicks his tongue at me. “How bad is it?”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “Not that bad. You should see the other guy.”
Awan snorts in laughter and produces his protector faster than ever. The bronze mountain lion jumps inside me, bringing instantaneous relief to my aching torso.
By the time I’m healed, the others have all picked a bunk. Vanessa and Cami take the one next to ours.
Cami’s eyes scan the ceiling—from the naked bulbs that hang every few feet to the ventilation shafts. Judging by the line deepening on her forehead, they’re far from quiet.
Bex claps her hands a little nervously. “Got everything you need? Did anyone forget their toothbrush?”
Having deposited her bag on a bed further down, Jean walks back to us, passing Bex with a scowl. “You don’t need to babysit us.” She proceeds to take a seat next to Cami on the bottom bunk.
Unfazed, Bex shrugs. “I get it. What you need is a solution, but you’re too stubborn to accept the one you’re being offered.” Her gaze travels up to Vanessa, who sits on the top bunk above Cami and Jean, one leg over the other.
“Typical charmer.” Vanessa pouts. “Always so certain you know best.”
“Typical viper.” Bex grins as if to spite her. “Always so determined to see other people as opposition, not allies. Your kind is the most stubborn of the six legacies.”
Vanessa sneers at her. “Oh, I’m still holding out hope that he’ll be worse.” She supports her chin on her knuckles, glaring at me in expectation.
All of them balk, suddenly seeing me with new eyes.
“Yeah, dream on,” I say, despite the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach—a reminder that I don’t know my own legacy very well.
My cheeks feel warmer when Cami asks, “What exactly is your legacy?”
That’s when Zach jumps in. “We call ourselves the fire drakes. And when we’re granted our powers back, we...breathe fire. My mother’s circle managed to free her, so she has her powers.”
At their incredulous faces, I feel the need to add, “I’ve seen her create fire in her breath and from her hands.”
Jean’s already bone-white face pales further. “Your mother’s circle? Is that how you found out that all the five legacies that bound the spell die?”
Zach gulps in a big breath before nodding. “Yes. This isn’t a myth or an ancient story. You need to be absolutely sure you have a solution in place before attempting to undo the joint spell. Otherwise, you’ll lose everything, just like my mom and Zoe.”
“Zoe?” Cami drops her stainless steel water bottle to the floor where it lands softly on the worn-out carpet.
“Yes, the banshee in my mom’s circle.” Zach furrows an eyebrow at her.
“Zoe Haynes?”
Cami’s question provokes a gasp from the others. The name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve heard it.
Cami’s lips tremble. “She’s my aunt—my mom’s twin.”
Such a short, simple sentence, but it changes everything between them. Zach looks at Cami differently now—with the kind of reverence I never would have expected of him.
“She was very important to my mother,” he tells Cami.
“Do you know where she is? Mom went looking for Aunt Zoe and her daughter, but then the hunters...found her.” Cami looks down to the water bottle at her feet but doesn’t bother to pick it up.
Zach winces. It must pain him to deliver the bad news. “As far as my mother knows, Zoe and her daughter were captured by the hunters.”
“Look,” Jean says quietly. “I really hope we can find your aunt one day, but we need to figure out a way to survive undoing the joint spell first, otherwise everything else loses meaning.”
Something seems to click in Cami’s mind because she steps closer to Zach, eyes wide and unblinking. “The clue from the banshee room! Aunt Zoe must have found it. No one but her and Mom used that training room for decades. What did she know about undoing the joint spell?”
“Obviously not enough if five people in her circle died,” Awan murmurs under his breath, but Cami continues staring at Zach in expectation.
“She did find a note in Elmwick Academy,” he says. “Apparently it was a message passed down from generation to generation, all the way to the banshee that made the original circle of six. That original banshee wrote that there was a way to undo the joint spell for all fire drakes at once, but Zoe said that recipe wouldn’t work for their circle. Her visions were showing her another path, so she followed it.”
“But what did the note say exactly?” Cami blinks at him. “Do you have it?”
“No, I don’t have it. Zoe told my mother she’s keeping it someplace safe until it’s time to share it with a new circle.” Zach frowns, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “Are you thinking that...”
“That there are two ways to undo the joint spell!” Cami exclaims. “This is it! Zoe’s visions must have sent her searching for the five clues. She undid the spell that way, not knowing everyone would die. And then she kept the message from the banshee room...to give to us. I bet my grandma has it!”
“But Zoe didn’t find the five clues at Elmwick Academy,” Zach interjects. “Their circle formed when she was older, and my mother says they were on a mission to verify every rumor about the joint spell. That’s how they figured they needed the di
fferent ingredients—the salts, the powder, the flowers. They didn’t find much on the role of the lion and the cold one, but from what I know, the cold one improvised and undid all compulsions placed on my mother.”
Awan rubs his jaw with one hand, trying to sound nonchalant. “And what did their lion do?”
“He healed her from the wolf’s venom, the transformation into a legacy, and the mental stress of remembering her powers after the compulsion was removed. Without the lion, she wouldn’t have been able to survive it all.”
My gaze fixes on Awan, whose complexion is turning ashen. A life for a life. That’s what Zach is describing. And I’m not about to let my best friend even consider it. I’m not going to let any of my friends consider this.
I approach Cami, taking her hands in mine. “If there’s a chance your grandma has the clue from the banshee room, if she can offer us an alternative to what happened to Zach’s mother’s circle, then we need to get that clue right away.”
Peachy blush returns to Cami’s previously very pale cheeks as she lets out a genuine smile. “This was always the way it was meant to be. It all fits. My aunt, my grandma, the banshee you met. They have the answer.”
“Let’s get some sleep, then.” I expel a deep breath. “We’ll organize a plan of attack to free the banshees in the morning.”
Bex mumbles, “Guess you’re giving up on the idea of the charms,” before she’s out the door. “Good luck.”
Energized by the new ray of hope, none of us feel like arguing our case to her again. We take turns going to the only bathroom and settle in for the night.
I try not to get distracted by Cami, tucked into bed only two feet away from me. She pulls the covers up to her chin and turns to face me across the small path between our bunks. I doze off with the image of her peacefully closed eyes.
But before dawn, her screams of terror jerk me awake.
Chapter 23. Cami
I drift off easily. I can’t be sure if Vanessa’s and Charity’s warring emotions overwhelm me, both of them quite dark, or if Mason’s presence and the hope of our new plan bring me peace. Either way, I don’t fight the lulling embrace of sleep.
Heritage: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Elmwick Academy Book 3) Page 16
