Reign of Night (The Thorne Hill Series Book 7)

by Emily Goodwin

  We talk about Christmas and the Yule celebration the rest of the way to the Covenstead. The coven gathers for a big celebration on Samhain, but the Yuletide celebrations are much lower key, as most members of the coven prefer to spend the solstice at home with their family. I loved it growing up, once I moved in with the Greystones, that is. Tabatha wasn’t the High Priestess yet, but the headmaster of Grim Gate Academy, and Evander and I got to help decorate the halls every December fifth, both for the upcoming holidays and to keep Krampus warded away. Most nonmagical people don’t realize how what they consider traditional Christmas decor was actually used as protective charms. People still hang mistletoe today because our ancestors strung it up every December as a safeguard against evil. It’s helpful in keeping the spirits of the Yule Lads away, which might have been summoned a time or two during my stay at Grim Gate. And it wasn’t me who summoned them, shocking, I know.

  But I did help get rid of them after Ruby blamed me for the mischief they caused. My Defensive Magic professor said the banishment of the Yule Lads counted as extra credit, and Ruby hated me even more for it. We were neck and neck for the highest grade in the class, and those extra twenty-five points made it impossible for her to catch up.

  Thinking of that reminds me just how much things have changed and how much I’ve grown up in the last year. From making amends and forgiving Abby, to becoming friends with Ruby, I’ve realized how much I’d rather have good relationships with people than to hold grudges. I never knew just how important it was to let go and forgive people, either. Holding onto all that anger exhausted me in a way I wasn’t even aware of.

  “I definitely think you need those horses,” Kristy says, zipping her coat up all the way and burying her face under her scarf. “Or some sort of heated shuttle service.”

  “Don’t suggest that to Lucas or he’d probably do it.”

  “What would you do with the horses when you go through the door?” Nicole asks. “Tie them up and hope nothing eats them?”

  “Wouldn’t they just like go back to the barn?” I ask, and Naomi laughs.

  “Perhaps, but you’d have to take their tack off so they don’t get caught on anything. You know nothing about horses, do you?”

  “I’m clueless.”

  Naomi smiles. “The years of riding lessons Gran insisted we take will pay off then. Are you really thinking about getting a horse?”

  “It sounds nice, but let’s be real. I hardly have time to read anymore, let alone take care of a horse. And I’m kind of afraid it would become demon chow. It’s not like I can bring it inside and keep it safe the next time demons attack.”

  “Horses attract spirits, too,” Nicole reminds me. “Not always dark ones, though.”

  “I’ll hold off for a while. Four-wheelers would get the job done with a lot less maintenance.” We reach the door, and I pull a small pocketknife from my pocket. In order to open the door, you have to say a spell and offer a small blood sacrifice. The magic used to conceal it only reveals itself for certain people, and the blood of a coven member is like the key that unlocks it.

  “Maybe I should do it,” Kristy says quickly, holding out her hand for the knife.

  “It’s fine. I got it.” I start to push up my sleeve.

  “No, let me.” She thrusts her hand forward.

  I raise an eyebrow. “Why?”

  Pursing her lips, she looks away and shakes her head. “No reason. You, uh, bleed a lot more than the rest of us on a daily basis.”

  “Not so much daily anymore, and I also heal faster.”

  “I have healing balm,” she quickly counters.

  Narrowing my eyes, I shift my gaze from her to the twins, who suddenly are very interested in the footprints of other coven members who came through the door as well.

  “What’s really going on?” I ask, holding out the knife.

  “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to spill your blood on the ground,” Kristy admits. “Even a small bit. I don’t want to accidentally summon something or alert anyone of your presence.”

  “Oh, right. Yeah, that makes sense.” And now I’m back to feeling awkward around my friends, which is a fucking great feeling. Naomi takes a broach from her jacket and uses the pin to prick her finger. She passes the pin to her sister, who does the same. I hang by while they say the incantation all at the same time.

  “Invoco elementum terrae. Invoco elemuntum aeris. Invoco elemuntum aqua. Invoco elemuntum ignis.”

  The door starts to appear in the large, old tree, glowing a faint blue. Kristy steps through first, followed by the twins. I take one last lingering look around the forest, being extra vigilant like I promised Michael, and step through as well, emerging into the enclosed courtyard of the Covenstead.

  The large brick and stone buildings are right ahead, and we enter the building that houses the Gathering Hall. It’s connected to the Academy, along with the professor and student housing. The buildings have been around since the 1800s and have been modernized as minimally as possible. There’s heat, air conditioning, and electricity, of course, as well as modern plumbing. It always feels like coming home when I step through the door, and the Academy is safe and familiar, and though it’s just a building, it feels like an old friend.

  A fire is roaring in the large fireplace, and the doors to the Gathering Hall are open. We walk past it, going down a dim hallway with stone walls and a cobblestone floor, making it much colder in here. Every lantern is lit on the wall, offering a tiny amount of heat as we pass them by.

  The sound of happy chatter echoes through the hall, as it’s lunchtime for the students at the Academy. Grim Gate is a boarding school, and most students stay for the weekends. Those local to Thorne Hill often go home, but those who have come from out of town stay until a holiday break. The professors rotate who eats with the students, overseeing them and making sure everyone stays in line. We’re meeting Tabatha and Evander for lunch in the staff lounge, and walk past the large archway that leads into the Great Hall.

  There’s another fireplace in there that’s just as big and grand as the one in the foyer, and several students are gathered around it to stay warm. I slow and look in, feeling nostalgic as always, and a student named April, who helped me research demons back in the spring, looks up. She smiles and waves and then elbows her friend, who looks up just as stunned.

  I wave back but keep walking, not wanting to get stopped and bombarded with questions again. Another time, perhaps. It takes another few minutes of walking through the long corridor before we get to the staff lounge. Evander, Ruby, and two other professors are sitting around a large round, wooden table. There’s a pentagram etched into the surface, and the stained-glass window behind them pictures a triple moon, representing our coven.

  “Ah, sister!” Evander looks up, smile on his face. “It’s about time you’ve all arrived. I was about to start lunch without you.”

  “Hey,” I say back, and the four of us join everyone at the table. Lunch is served soon after that, and we talk as we eat homemade potato soup with fresh cheesy biscuits. It’s a nice distraction, and I forget about all the shit going on for a brief moment.

  “Evander has some exciting news,” Ruby says, smiling at him. She had a massive crush on him when we were teenagers, and I can’t help but wonder if she still does now. They’d make a cute couple, that’s for sure, but I’m still holding out hope for Kristy and Evander to realize they’ve loved each other for years and they can’t live apart any longer. I’ve read too many romance novels, I know.

  “What is it?” Nicole asks excitedly.

  “Headmaster Ainsley has announced his retirement, and I will be taking over.”

  “Evander! That’s amazing!” I exclaim. He’s been a professor here at the Academy for a while and became the assistant headmaster several years ago. “Congrats!”

  He waves his hand in the air, dismissing the round of congrats and well-wishes. “Thank you. I have the rest of the school year to find and hire a new professo
r now. Any takers?” He eyes the twins.

  “I don’t like kids,” Naomi replies right away.

  Nicole tips her head, thinking. “I do. Would it be for your class?”

  “No,” Evander tells her. “Ruby is going to take over my class, so it would be for hers.”

  Ruby teaches Magic 101, with a fancier sounding name, of course, and works primarily with the younger students.

  “If you’re serious, I will get you an application,” Evander tells her. “We prefer to hire from our own coven, you know. The students have not been informed yet, so don’t tell anyone. We will make an announcement at the next gathering.”

  I’m still smiling at Evander, so proud of him. “You’re going to love that big, fancy office.”

  “I will, though I think you might be more familiar with it than I am,” he teases. “I recall you spending a lot of time in there.”

  “Oh, I did,” I laugh. “And these three were with me.”

  “Not always by choice,” Naomi quips. “We were guilty by association more often than not.”

  “You were the one who suggested I marry that poltergeist,” I remind her.

  “I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it.”

  We all laugh, reminiscing about the good old days like the old people we’ve become. Dessert comes, along with a pot of warm tea, and another few professors join us for tea and cake. I get up to use the bathroom while everyone else is still talking and eating and run into Tabatha on my way back.

  “My darling girl,” she says, throwing her arms open for a hug. She smells like sage and lavender and looks as gorgeous as ever with her hair swept back into a French twist, and a long, plum-purple dress with a light gray cloak over top. She’s always so elegant, and I wanted to look just like her when I grew up. “What the hell were you thinking?” Letting me go, she steps back and looks at me sternly. “Queen of Hell? Of all the shit you’ve pulled over the years, this one tops it.”

  Tabatha has always been more of a I’m disappointed in you rather than a I’m mad at you kind of person, and knowing I let her down kills me every time. Right now, I know I disappointed her and she’s mad at me, which hasn’t happened often.

  “I didn’t mean it,” I rush out. “I was scared and it just…I don’t even know. The idea just popped into my head, and I knew if I took that power, I’d be able to kill Bael and save Kristy and Lucas.” I inhale, all shaky now, and tears fill my eyes. “I’m really scared,” I admit for the first time. “I don’t want to be Queen of Hell. I don’t want to be damned to live down there forever, and I don’t want demons fighting to kill me more than normal.”

  I blink, and a rogue tear rolls down my cheek.

  “Oh, honey.” Tabatha pulls me in for another hug. She saved me and has been more of a mother to me than Nancy Martin ever was. She’s loved me as a mother should: unconditionally and without fault. “It will be okay.”

  “How?” I sniffle and straighten up, wiping my eyes. “Hell needs a ruler or things will crumble into chaos. Michael made it sound simple, and I suppose it is. Put Lucifer back in shackles and he’ll be forced to rule again. But finding him?” I stop, needing a moment to compose myself so I don’t start crying again. “How do you find the devil when he doesn’t want to be found?”

  “I don’t know,” she says softly. “I won’t lie to you and say I have the answers or that this is going to be easy, because it won’t be. Kristy said Michael told you Lucifer has done this before?”

  “Yeah. Like twenty-five years ago, and supposedly he went back on his own. Before Michael got a chance to tell me why or how we can get him to do it again, he had to leave.” I let out a sigh and carefully wipe away another tear. I actually put on makeup today and don’t want to smear it all over my face. Tabatha puts her arm around me, and we slowly walk toward the staff lounge.

  “It’s so frustrating,” I sigh. “And I’m trying to be understanding of everything. It’s a risk that he comes here and talks to me. I get it. But I have so many questions, and it’s like he dangles the carrot in front of me, saying he’ll tell me about my mother, only to fly off, not even leaving a crumb behind. Though this time I did find out just a little bit more about her.”

  “You did?” Tabatha rushes out. I stop walking and look at her, seeing the slight panic on her face. It’s not the first time I thought she knew something about her and wasn’t telling me, and for the life of me, I don’t know why.

  “She liked cheese and cranberry juice, and her familiar took the form of a cat. That’s all.”

  “Oh,” Tabatha says, sounding all too relieved. She smiles but can’t keep the fear out of her eyes.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I swallow hard and look at her. “You know who she was, don’t you?” My heart skips a beat and my throat tightens as I breathe in, staring at Tabatha. “Please don’t lie to me,” I add softly, voice threatening to break. “With everything else going on, I can’t handle any more lies.”

  Tabatha’s eyes flutter shut, lips parting as she lets out a breath. “I didn’t know her personally, and I was hoping it wasn’t true.”

  “What wasn’t true?”

  “Callista isn’t a very common name. When you said you were named after your mother, I knew it could be possible, but I didn’t want to even let myself think it. But then you showed me her photo and I know there’s no mistaking it now.” Tabatha’s brown eyes gaze upon my face, brows pinching together in sorrow. “I’ve never met your mother, but I’ve heard of her. Callista Lancaster belonged to one of the founding covens in the New England area, hailing from a strong family line. It’s particularly what made her well-known.”

  “Why wouldn’t you want her to be my mother?”

  “Because Callista was excommunicated from her coven for practicing dark magic.”

  My blood goes cold. “What kind of dark magic?”

  “Satanism.”

  Chapter 7

  Satanism.

  No way. My mother? No fucking way.

  “Are you sure?” I ask, staring at Tabatha in disbelief.

  “I am, and I didn’t want to tell you and have it change the way you think of your mother.”

  “Well, it does.” I let out a deep sigh and go to the window. The glass is old, and everything looks wavy through it. “I don’t understand. If she was excommunicated for practicing Satanism, how the heck did she meet my father, who’s a blood archangel?” I throw my head back. “I know you don’t know. The more I find out, the more questions I have, and it’s so frustrating.”

  “I know, and I’m so sorry, my darling.” She adjusts her robe and looks down the hall. A few staff members from the Academy are coming this way. I recognize one as Professor Banks, who was a professor at the Academy when I was here. I really don’t feel like making small talk with anyone, and I’m tempted to throw up a shield to deflect any attention from myself. I must look as distraught as I feel, because they walk by with only a quick hello.

  “Is that all you know about her?” I ask.

  “Yes, the Lancaster coven was set on cutting her out of their lives in all ways. There are no records of her anymore. I did look.”

  I turn and perch on the window ledge, back cold from being this close to the thick, old glass. “They’re…they’re my grandparents. My aunts and uncles. I guess that answers my question of whether or not they knew about me. Fuck.”

  “Language, Callie. We’re in an academic setting.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Forgiven and understood in these circumstances. Those people are related to you by blood, but they aren’t your family.” I meet her gaze and realize she has tears in her eyes. “We are your family, my darling.”

  And now I’m crying because these damn hormones make me a blubbering mess. “I know, and you are. You and Evander have been the best family I could ask for. This school…it still feels like home.”

  “It will always be home.”

  I shiver and move away from the window. “I don’t k
now why I want to know about my mother so much. I want to know where she came from. What she was like. Is there any pressing family medical history I should know about?” I shake my head. “I’m not ungrateful for everything you gave me.”

  “I know, Callie. I know. I suppose it’s not any different than an adoptive child wanting information on their birth family. It doesn’t mean you’re not grateful or you don’t love the family you have.”

  “I don’t know why I thought finding out who my mother is would give me some sort of closure. All it does is raise more questions.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tabatha says, and I know she means it. “I’m not sure what the right thing to do here is. It’s one thing to be sold like an animal by the people you thought were your family, but a whole other to then discover you aren’t even human at all. I thought I was protecting you by keeping the truth from you. Maybe if I’d told you from the start—”

  “No,” I interrupt. “You did protect me. You gave me such a good life, and I can only hope I can be at least half the mother you were to me to my own daughter.”

  Tabatha’s eyes light up and she smiles. “So it’s true, you are having a girl?”

  “That’s what Michael told me. I guess he’s able to sense it or something. It’s kinda weird when I think about it.”

  “It is.” Tabatha comes over and looks me up and down. “You’re still just as slim as ever.”

  I pull my sweater tight across my abdomen. “I have the tiniest bump.”

  “Not quite yet,” Tabatha says with a laugh. “I wouldn’t expect you to actually look pregnant for another few months. You’re tall and lean and in what we always thought was impossibly good shape,” she adds with a wink.

  “I can’t take credit for my great workout skills anymore, being half archangel.”

  “I suppose not. Are you all right? Do you want to go to my office and talk?”

  “I’m good,” I say, trying to force myself to believe it. “I still have half a piece of chocolate cake on my plate that I really want to finish.”