Wilde Abandon (Ashcroft Academy Book 3)

by K. M. /Kelly Charron

  Fear wrapped itself around Ainsley’s heart and stuck in her throat as she watched Saskia’s form flicker again. Ainsley had to find her voice, find a way to make Saskia understand. Fists clenched, she forced the words. “I was there too. I insisted on opening the door. I am responsible for letting it out.”

  Justin cleared his throat. “Máthair Saskia, it has already attacked two witches and an innocent middling, a non-magical person. We need your help to lock it back up.”

  A furious scowl transformed Saskia’s face from angel to demon. “You did what?!” Ainsley watched as the witches cowered at the rumble that Saskia’s voice created in the air. Her voice ripped through the cold night, shaking branches and whipping leaves around in a frenzied wind. Snow fell around them. “How long have I been from the Earth?” Saskia bellowed. Her beautiful face contorted with rage. “How long?”

  Langston stepped in front of Sydney, who looked like she was going to collapse with fear. “Nearly four-hundred years,” he shouted over the whirling chaos.

  The wind stilled. Saskia remained suspended, blinking slowly as she took in the information. “I see.” She disappeared, only to reappear directly in front of Langston. She placed a hand on top of his head, and he blanched. “The entity, what has it done to you?” She seemed to be considering him and then closed her eyes. “You had magic once, but now you do not. How is this?” Her glassy eyes sprung back open.

  Langston jolted back to the present. He swallowed hard before answering. “The shapeshifter attacked another witch and me. It tried to murder us, but before it could, it drained us of our magic. It would’ve killed me if the Elders and two apprentices hadn’t rescued me. We believe it’s hunting witches in retribution for being locked away.” He looked directly into her eyes. “Locked away by you.”

  Saskia’s face seemed to soften, the glow from the candlelight flickering through her having an eerie effect. “Do I detect blame? It could not have attacked anyone had you left well enough alone. I bound, sealed, and marked that room.” Her voice rose with indignation. “How stupid this generation must be to see the ropes and remove them, to witness the warding on the door and yet open it.”

  “No one blames you,” Sydney pleaded. “It was our mistake and ours alone. But please, we need your help before it attacks other witches—maybe kills them.”

  “And it will kill,” Saskia declared. “How long has it been free?”

  Ainsley’s heart hit the bottom of her gut. “Since the middle of October,” she admitted. “Almost two months. We didn’t know anything had gotten out for a while. Not until…”

  Saskia’s dark gray eyes, void of irises, narrowed. “Until you found animal corpses? Their bodies missing all organs?”

  Ainsley met Ava’s eyes and then Justin’s, but she said nothing, casting her eyes to the ground. On the one hand, it was a relief that Saskia knew what they were dealing with, but on the other, it made her even more terrified.

  “Yes, quite a few,” Sydney said in a steadier voice. "We found a freshly killed deer nearby only an hour ago.”

  “It has been feeding, building up its strength after so long. It stuns the animal, drains its life force, and eats the flesh to fortify itself. It does not feast on food the way humans do. When it lived in my village—in human form—I never saw it eat.”

  She turned her focus back to Langston. “You said it attacked you and took your magic?” Her tone was curious but quickly moved to alarmed. “It eats animals. I hadn’t known it to eat people or take their life forces,” she continued. “I only saw it attack once. There is much I do not know.”

  Ainsley shuddered, imagining what it might feel like to have her soul sucked from her or her flesh gnawed.

  Sydney stepped out from behind Langston’s protection.

  Saskia seemed to gather her thoughts. “We found bodies of eviscerated animals and believed it to be the work of some depraved being. We searched our village for anything that seemed wrong. All the villagers were accounted for until the night I watched the shifter kill my friend and take his place. I did not know it was capable of taking a witch’s power.” She reeled back and, for the first time, appeared nervous. “It had remarkable strength all those years ago, and now it possesses the magic of two witches. Have there been others, could it have more now?”

  “No, not from our coven. We would know about it,” Khourtney said.

  Ainsley had nearly forgotten she was there.

  “There must be a way to kill it,” Ainsley insisted. “We know you couldn’t back then, but maybe now—”

  Saskia’s eyes changed from dull gray to charcoal to glowing orange. Her head swiveled unnaturally as she regarded Ainsley. “You think that if there were a way, I would have failed to find it, child? We tried to slay it many times when we captured it but were unsuccessful. That is why I trapped and bound it. The form it takes—that fog—it is pure energy. I’m not aware of any way to destroy energy. Capturing and trapping it again is possible, but it will prove difficult,” Saskia said, sounding nearly amiable now.

  “There’s got to be a way,” Justin said. “You did it before with the help of your coven. There are five of us with powers. Maybe that’s enough.”

  “How do you know what I did all those years ago?” Her mouth formed a rigid line.

  Ainsley tensed, the muscles in her back and stomach ached from the tension, but she couldn’t relax.

  “A coven historian told me about your legend and deeds,” Sydney explained. “Please, we’ll do whatever you say.”

  Saskia rested her chin atop her fingers.

  Ainsley still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that she could see through this witch-spirit. She only saw a faint glimmer of snow-capped trees, but they were was there nonetheless.

  “Please,” Sydney repeated.

  “I will help you, but you must do exactly as I say. My coven sisters and I had prepared a room—a room constructed to bind and trap malevolent beings—months before. When something began slaughtering our animals, we worried a demon had risen. I knew it was not a demon when it murdered my friend and dropped its flesh, revealing the fog.”

  “Mathias,” Sydney said, thinking of the man from the lore.

  Saskia’s eyes focused intently on Sydney. “It appears much of what your historian knows is true. Yes, my friend Mathias. When I confronted the shifter the next day in front of the villagers, I was without my good sense. Overcome with grief, I acted foolishly, nearly putting my coven and myself in peril. Luckily for us, the villagers were willing to overlook my magic if it meant stopping the entity, but that was only after I exposed it for what it was. I will help you to recreate the binding runes, but you will have to find the entity and get it to the room that held it before or somewhere new that is impenetrable and hidden. You cannot repeat my mistake —it must never be released again.

  “You will have to capture it in human form,” Saskia continued. “If it reverts to the mist, it is too unpredictable—it could drain more of your magic and kill any of you, maybe all of you. If you can trap it and bind it with runes, you may be able to cast weakening spells on it and lock it away.”

  Ainsley might as well have been punched in the stomach. “How are we supposed to lure it back there, especially now that it knows we’re hunting it? How are we going to know who it is? It can look like anyone. We need to make sure we’re not trapping a real person.” Her panic at the enormity of the task was growing exponentially.

  “We’ll figure out a way,” Sydney snapped before rotating back to Saskia. “Once we weaken it and trap it, will Langston and the other witch get their magic back?”

  There was so much hope in Syd’s voice that Ainsley almost couldn’t bear it. Langston appeared suspended, unblinking and barely breathing, waiting for the answer that would define his future.

  Saskia stopped to look at Langston. “I suspect the shifter trapped your magic within its own energy field.” Her eyes softened, and her form seemed to dull slightly. “The only way I can see to re
gain your powers is if the shifter dies. Only then would the magic be set free. If you only bind it, the magic will remain tethered to the entity.” She seemed to sigh. “And seeing that it cannot die, I am afraid your stolen magic will not return.”

  Langston buckled, a sob escaping his throat. Jax and Sydney each grabbed an arm and held him upright, his body quaking. Justin rushed over to help support him.

  Sydney released him to Justin and sent a blast of fire flying from her fingertips into the trees behind her. “No! There has to be another way.”

  Saskia must’ve felt threatened because she flickered wildly and transported directly in front of Sydney, who gasped and tried to retreat. “You need to control yourself, young witch. This will be the biggest undertaking of your life, even if you live to be two-hundred. You are impulsive and careless. Don’t be stupid as well. If you attempt to separate the magic from the entity, you will place everyone around you in mortal peril! I cannot imagine any of you would be so selfish. If you are so, you deserve the outcome of your actions, and I will not help you again.”

  Sydney dropped to the ground, her head and hands resting on her knees. Ainsley had never seen her so defeated. She didn’t know it was possible. “But there has to be another way,” Sydney said. “Please, Máthair, he can’t live without magic. You’re a witch, you must understand—”

  Saskia raised a transparent arm, silencing her. “Better to live without magic than not to live at all. I understand your grief, my child, but I’m afraid there is nothing more I can do. What is done, is done.”

  Sydney’s face crumpled as did her body. She shook as she sobbed, banging her fists into the hard earth.

  Ainsley watched, her stomach sick with guilt. Tears welled up, and she used the back of her hand to wipe them before they slid down her cheeks. This was it then? They had to lure the shifter and imprison it. And along with it, they would trap Langston and Jake’s magic forever.

  “It’s fine,” Langston announced, wiping his cheeks with the heels of his hands. Hard determination replaced the anguish on his face. “Give us the runes, and we’ll find a way to capture the entity for eternity."

  Sydney lifted her head from her hands, shocked at his sudden turn.

  “The binding spells used were unique,” Saskia began. “The invocations and symbols work only when executed in a specific order. I will explain everything, but first, you must all vow to do everything as I command—to honor the ancestors and me—if you want to succeed.”

  Ainsley could only bring herself to nod as Saskia looked at each of them for recognition of some kind. Khourtney, Jax, Justin, and Ava nodded, wide-eyed. Langston closed his eyes briefly in acceptance. Sydney straightened, her cheeks still streaked with tears. “We promise.”

  “You must understand one thing. The shifter’s entrapment is not guaranteed. It did not possess additional magic all those years ago, and yet it was nearly impossible for us to render it powerless. I do not know how strong it is or what it will take to subdue it now, but I suggest you harness the power of a celestial event.”

  “When is that?” Ainsley said more defiantly than she probably should have. “Waiting puts everyone in greater danger.” She was losing patience with this ghost who promised nothing while demanding obedience.

  “If you act before you’re ready and without the extra energy, you will all likely die.” Saskia floated in the center of them, her face cold and inanimate.

  If an ancient witch had this much doubt, Ainsley considered, how were they ever going to defeat the entity? And God, what was she doing here? This wasn’t her problem. She wasn’t a witch. The shifter wasn’t after her. She came here to Ashcroft to get answers about her dad, not risk her life for people who could barely stand her. She had a vision of her mom at Ainsley’s funeral. She thought of herself in a casket. If she died, her mom would be alone. Without magic, what could she do except get herself killed?

  Langston sat on a fallen tree, staring ahead in disbelief.

  She took in each one of his friends, and her throat tightened with grief. The truth was, they’d become her friends in a way as well, as unlikely as that seemed. How could she abandon them, especially since she’d insisted on opening that damn door?

  Ainsley stepped forward. “We’ll find out the next celestial event and capture the shifter.” She locked eyes with Saskia. “Tell us what to do.”

  Chapter 13

  Sydney

  Saskia explained every symbol, rune, and incantation, with Sydney and Langston taking turns writing and drawing her directions onto the empty pages at the back of the grimoire. It seemed only fitting to incorporate the knowledge that might save all their lives.

  It was just after three in the morning when Saskia finally left them. The conjuring spell shouldn’t have lasted that long, and Sydney understood that Saskia had used her own energy to stay until they had what they needed.

  Khourtney had her long black hair tied back and hidden under a wool hat, a heavy hunter-green scarf wrapped around her neck. The dark hue made the circles under Khourt’s eyes more pronounced and her skin appear sallow. Sydney wondered what she looked like right now. Not that her appearance mattered. Langston hadn’t looked at her—really looked at her, the way he used to—since the entity had attacked him.

  She didn’t blame him. Romance and attraction were probably the last things on his mind these days. Part of her was relieved. She didn’t want to face her feelings at the moment either—how they conflicted with her better judgment and rational thoughts from moment to moment. She wondered if kissing Langston, touching him, would be different since he was no longer a witch. Would she feel different to him too? Would they connect the way they used to?

  “I’m exhausted. There’s no way I can function today. How are we going to explain all of us missing classes?” Khourtney asked no one in particular through a lengthy yawn. “They’ll think it’s weird if we all claim to have the flu.”

  “That’s easy,” Syd said as she began collecting the items from the ground and replacing them in the large canvas bags Jax and Ava had brought, “we’re not missing.”

  Khourtney’s eyes widened, and she was about to argue when Ava beat her to it. “Yeah, funny. There’s no way I can sit in classes all day and be functional for coven lessons tonight on zero sleep.” She scanned the group for someone to back her up.

  Justin busied himself by collecting the candles. Wasn’t he going to jump on the complaint bandwagon? Sydney wondered. He hadn’t missed any opportunity to rail against her lately.

  Once again, Sydney had to step up. “We can’t all miss. Two of you can, but not any more than that. Otherwise, we’ll raise suspicion. Assuming Ashcroft isn’t already aware of our absence from the dorms. If Ainsley’s freak of a roommate has gone and put out a missing person’s report because she’s wasn’t tucked up nice and tight in bed by curfew, we’re fucked.”

  Since Sydney’s mother hadn’t contacted her, she was confident the apprentices were still in the clear. Chambers wouldn’t hesitate to run to her mother if she knew Sydney was breaking the rules. She’d love it. That woman would use anything, even Sydney’s disappointments, to have a little one-on-one time with her mother.

  “I told Harper,” Ainsley slung back, “that I was pulling an all-nighter with a friend from History. I’m good to go. I’ll just drink six or seven lattes.”

  Sydney saw how shaky Ainsley was when she stood, but if the middling wanted to play the hero, she wouldn’t stop her.

  “I volunteer to stay in today,” Ava said in a clipped voice and then proceeded to flop back on the snowy ground. “Actually, you can just leave me here. I’m totally okay with that too.”

  Langston finished loading the last of the materials into the bags and started wiping the pentagram away with his bare hand. “No one stays in. We all need to be in classes and on campus to look for the shifter. It could be masquerading as anyone. We can’t leave our coven members vulnerable.”

  Our coven, Sydney repeated in her head.
No one offered a rebuttal to that, not with Langston staring at them as a breathing reminder. There’d been a glimpse of the old him just then. Stepping up and assertive. Sydney felt a glimmer of hope rise in her. Maybe he’d fight to get back to himself after all. She’d fight right alongside him, no matter what. She’d heard what Saskia had said, but Saskia was going on old magic and the way things were four centuries ago. The world was different now. Magic was different. She wouldn’t give up finding a way to get Langston’s back.

  Sydney stifled a yawn. “He’s right. It’s 3:21. That gives us enough time to walk back, sneak into the dorms, and get a couple of hours of sleep before the bell for first class. I don’t care how much caffeine you need to consume. Everyone is on high alert. We need to figure out a way to keep the peace until the next full moon. Which is when, Khourt?”

  Khourtney didn’t even blink before answering. “Three days, December 12th. There's a combination of elements—a full moon and a meteor shower. It’s our best bet unless you want to wait for the Winter Solstice on the twenty-first.”

  “How do you know that?” Ainsley asked.

  Khourtney shrugged. “I’m a White witch, so I follow the lunar cycle.” She turned back to Sydney. “I can also tell you that it’ll be strongest at 12:39 a.m. The supernatural energy in the air and the energy that comes off the ley lines will be four times stronger and more condensed than when it’s just a full moon. Of course, a full moon during the winter solstice would be ideal, but we have to make do with what the gods provide. If we want the best chance that we defeat this thing, Syd, we should wait for the solstice’s extra power.” It was obvious she was proud to contribute in a way no one else could.

  Syd shook her head. “No, we can’t wait two weeks for the solstice. It’s too dangerous. Too much could happen before then.”