by Lily Luchesi
“What … did you make?” Draven asked between coughs.
“Steak and shrimp scampi… Oh shit, you’re allergic!” Caelum cried, cursing himself. He had tasted some of the sauce after he added the shrimp, and it must have lingered on his lips.
Draven nodded quickly, still coughing. “Potion … cure. Nightstand.”
Caelum, using his lynx strength, picked Draven up in both his arms and quickly carried him upstairs, back to his bedroom. He placed Draven on the bed and opened the nightstand. A couple of comic books, school notes, and a phial of a cloudy substance that looked like apple juice with the apple pulp still in it, like the kind you could buy during the Harvest Moon Festival.
“Is this it?”
Draven nodded and Caelum climbed onto the bed at his side, holding his head back so he could drink it. Draven downed all of it, and Caelum laid him back down onto his pillows, watching him with fear-filled eyes.
He was breathing roughly, after having his throat so constricted, and his eyes were squeezed shut.
“Are you okay? Do you need anything? A Medic?” Caelum asked worriedly. He touched Draven’s neck to feel his pulse, and felt that he was cold as ice.
Draven shook his head. “Just rest. I’ll see a Medic in the morning,” he mumbled. “Please stay?”
“Of course.”
“But wash your hands and mouth first,” Draven mumbled.
Caelum nodded, and ran to the loo before settling himself down next to Draven, arm loosely tossed around his waist. “I’m sorry I almost killed you.”
“Yeah? Bloody lucky I love you.” Draven turned toward him and smiled, looking far too pale, and his eyes were still red.
Caelum leaned over and kissed him, this time not exposing him to death by shellfish. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 14
Salem sat in the King’s offices, feeling numb and in pain at the same time. He was face to face with a scenario he had never planned, one that took away so much of his joy.
“I am so sorry, my boy,” Edelstone said sadly. “If there is anything I can do?”
Salem shook his head. “Just tell me what happened.”
Edelstone sighed. “Your mother was asked to join another agent in the hunt for a rogue werewolf. They needed a witch, and she was the only one available, albeit an apprentice.
“The pair were overtaken by three shifters, not just one. Neither survived, though before they passed, they made sure that the wolves had been executed. I, um … was told that the funeral will have to be a closed casket.”
Salem felt gorge rise in his throat at the thought and shook his head.
“We will assist you with the funeral,” Edelstone continued. “As you are still just a student with no other family to help.”
Salem didn’t want to admit it, but he was glad for the assistance. There was no way they could afford a funeral. Everything his mother made at the PID went into keeping up their cottage in Lambeth. Which left them with pretty much nothing.
“The PID is sending her remains. Did she wish for burial or cremation?”
Salem gave a sharp glare. “I never asked her how she wanted to be kept after death.”
Edelstone backed off a little. “I understand. You need time to grieve. Meanwhile, I will have the elves prepare a plot in the cemetery. Would you like for the Medic to give you a calming draught?”
Salem shook his head. He wasn’t sure it was wise to become any more impaired than he was right then. Barely eighteen years old and an orphan.
He said goodbye to the King and left the office on legs that felt like lead. Since the waiter had told him to get to the King’s office post-haste, everything had been hazy.
“It’s your mother. She was found dead in London.”
Those two sentences would be stuck in his head forever.
As he exited the castle, Daphne accosted him. “Sal, oh my gosh.” She wrapped her arms around him and he hugged her tightly, burying his face in her sweet smelling hair.
He let out a harsh sob, his first since hearing the terrible news.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, kissing his face. “Tell me what I can do. Anything. Please.”
“Just stay with me.” His arms tightened around her. “Just stay.”
Evelyn Sinclair was laid to rest on a rainy Sunday morning. Salem didn’t even bother with an umbrella, simply stood under the spray, letting it mimic the tears he refused to let show. Not many people attended the funeral, though he was surprised to see Caelum and Draven in the cemetery that morning. They looked acutely sad, and Salem wondered if it was some sort of ruse to use against him later.
Evelyn had taught Salem much more than his rat of a father ever did. With the exception of controlling the energy he could manipulate as a Munro, Salem had learnt everything at her knee, even the basics of Brewing. He would help her in the kitchen, pretending food was potion ingredients. Until his father whacked him with a belt, because “only women were allowed in the kitchen”.
She had taught him the history of apprentices in the Coven, how to perform many useful everyday spells and household charms. But most of all, she had taught him compassion and empathy. She taught him how to feel.
Of course, there was a downside to that, especially when he’d cry as his father hit him. That only made the “punishment” worse, and Salem found himself hating to feel at an early age. By the time he had entered the Coven, he was already excellent at hiding how he really felt. Which proved to come in handy, since he had never been able to escape the torment even at school.
His mother had been his refuge at home, though his father had abused her as well, and were she to leave, Clan Munro as a whole would have applauded Mr. Sinclair’s decision to murder her should he have so desired. So she stayed, and tried to protect her son from the worst of the violence.
When Salem thought of a hero, he thought of his mother. The woman who held them together even when his father tried his hardest to tear them apart.
Salem felt as though he was in a bubble the entire day, as if he wasn’t really there. As Edelstone had told him, the casket was closed, and he was strongly advised against opening it to say a proper goodbye to Evelyn.
There was a small gathering that the Quigleys hosted to honour Evelyn and allow for people to give Salem their condolences. Not that any of them mattered to him. Even Daphne’s presence in his life was somewhat muted that day. Though she was at his side constantly, except for when she went aside to talk to Draven a little.
Salem appreciated that they all came, especially the Quigleys, who went above and beyond for him. But he was far too withdrawn into himself from grief to show even a fraction of gratitude.
Daphne held his hand as they sat in the kitchen. She knew he needed some modicum of privacy, away from the mourners and well-wishers. Aside from the two of them, no one but Martha Quigley went in there, and she had the common sense to leave them alone.
“Thank you for being here,” Salem whispered to Daphne.
“We said forever, right?” she replied with a small comforting smile. Her hand tightened in his.
A throat cleared and they looked up to see Robert in the threshold. He was holding two bottles of something red.
“Thought that you both might want something a little stronger than tea,” he said, popping the caps on both bottles. “Here. I whipped this up at home. Got a bit of a kick for when you’re feeling down.” He smirked knowingly and held the bottles out to them.
“Thanks,” Daphne said, taking one.
Salem took the other, but didn’t drink. He simply stared at it morosely.
“A toast,” Robert suggested. “To the memory of Evelyn Sinclair.” He grabbed a glass and poured some of Salem’s bottle’s contents into it.
Daphne nodded. “To the woman who raised the man I love.”
And then they drank.
Chapter 15
“Fraser! Oi, Fraser, wait up!”
Daphne turned to see that Michael was calling to her and
she stopped to wait. It might have been the first time she had ever actually acknowledged that he was speaking to her, aside from the planning sessions they had all had about the Darkness.
There certainly was a first for everything.
“Can I help you?” she asked, tucking hair behind her ear.
“I passed my exam! The one you helped tutor me for,” he said, smiling genuinely. There was no malice under that grin, like there usually was when he was about to play a prank on her or Salem or some unsuspecting underclassman.
“I’m glad,” she replied. “What did Donahue say?” It wasn’t her class, but as Deputy Coven Mistress, it was her job to assign classwork assistance to students who needed it.
“Said that I’m off the hook for now, but if I start screwing up again, you’ll have to come back around. Not that I’d mind.” He winked.
“Ew,” Daphne replied automatically. Not that Michael was bad looking. On the contrary, he was handsome and had a new date every weekend. He was simply obnoxious and cruel.
“Oh, come on, Fraser,” he cajoled. “One date. I’ll take you for pastries at Cristal’s Cafe.”
“I’m dating Salem,” she reminded him.
He smirked. “You are, but you didn’t say no, did you?”
“No to what?” Robert asked, coming up behind them.
“A date,” Michael said mischievously.
“No,” Daphne said. “There, are you happy? No, and you can go sit on a broomstick and spin if you ask me again.”
Robert burst into laughter. “Do I have to tell Salem that his girlfriend is straying?”
“Say a word and I’ll hex your lips off so you’ll have to talk through your arsehole.” Daphne glared at Robert and Michael, as if daring them to see if she was serious. And she was. She was many things, but a cheater she was not.
Robert held his hands up in mock surrender. “Peace, Fraser.”
“Take a joke,” Michael added. He ran a hand through his tousled hair. “I told you before, you act like a grandmother sometimes. Smile a little.”
“I do smile,” Daphne replied. “Just not when I’m commanded to by a walking skin tag with hair.” She turned away, wishing she hadn’t stopped for him at all, let alone thought that he was good looking. Being hot didn’t make you a good person.
Just as she turned her back, there was a shout in the distance followed by a scream.
“Did you just come from that way?” she asked Robert.
He nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t see anything. Do we go see?”
“Yes,” Daphne and Michael said at once. They began to jog down the stone hall, Robert right behind them. After turning a corner, they came across a small crowd around the Creatures classroom. It was time for the apprentice class.
“What happened?” Michael called over the general din.
Daphne was unable to say anything as she was accosted by a wave of Dark magic and coughed, feeling her chest constrict. Her head was beginning to hurt.
A hand came on her shoulder and she turned to see Draven.
“What happened?” he asked, echoing Michael.
“Dunno,” Robert replied.
There was startled murmuring until Edelstone and Donahue came up to the crowd. “Disperse, all of you,” Donahue barked. “Including you, Mr. Lynx.” She prodded at Caelum, who had been at the forefront of the crowd.
He spotted Daphne and the others and said, “Bloody Hell, this is bad.” His eyes were wide and unblinking. Daphne pushed past him, the other three boys on her heels, to see what had happened inside the classroom.
She gasped at the sight. The apprentice class hadn’t even started when the assailant struck. A dozen apprentices had been at their desks when they had been hit with two combined spells. One was a stasis charm, which kept them immobile. It was powerful, to hold so many people for so long. The Dark part was cast right before the stasis charm, which was what was making Daphne feel so sick. It was a venom spell, Ostium. It was green shot through with red veins, and each spell was centimetres from the apprentices. Were someone to disable the stasis charm, each apprentice would be poisoned in a split second.
A message written in magical smoke hung above their heads: “We will reign.” It stood to reason that the mysterious “we” referred to Clan Munro.
“What can we do?” Caelum asked.
“Wait for Edelstone and Donahue to get back with a curse breaker?” Robert suggested half-heartedly.
Daphne rolled her eyes. “We need two people to cast spells. One to remove the stasis charm, and one to purify the air to banish the venom.”
“And someone else to keep the Coven Elders away?” Michael suggested.
“Draven, you and I can do that,” Robert suggested.
Draven nodded and the two of them went back out into the hall. Daphne looked at the trapped apprentices, then at Michael and Caelum.
“Let me dismantle the venom,” Caelum suggested. “I have Munro blood, it will listen to me better than the two of you. Besides, we’ll need two magicians to make sure the charm comes down over all the room.”
Daphne nodded, and Michael ruffled his hair nervously.
“What if I do it wrong?”
Daphne gave him a reassuring smile. She had never heard or seen Michael uncertain before, and it was sort of endearing. He did care about helping these people and keeping them alive.
“You won’t. We just have to be on the same page.”
He scoffed. “When have you and I ever been on the same page, Fraser?”
“Right now. Knowing we have to help save these people,” Daphne replied. “So come on. You take the west corner, I’ll take the east. On my mark.”
They walked across the room and faced each other. The problem was, they had to time their counterspell at the exact same moment, or else half the room would wind up dead.
Daphne maintained eye contact with Michael and took a breath. She knew Caelum would cast his banishing spell at the proper moment: he had lynx reflexes. But the two of them were merely hoping they could be on the same wavelength. Which was harder than it might sound, considering they had never been on the same page since they met at age ten.
“On my mark,” she said, holding her hand out. Michael did the same. “One … two … three… Obstupescas!”
Michael cast the incantation at the same moment and Daphne watched as their magic attacked the spell weaved on the apprentices, overpowering and destroying it.
The second that they cast that spell, Caelum cast, “Vanesco!” His golden magic shot out, looking as though it was eating the venom mid-air.
Daphne let out the breath she had been holding as everyone began to move, looking about them confusedly.
“We did it!” Michael cried. He, Daphne, and Caelum met in the middle of the room and Caelum pulled them both in close.
In the doorway, they heard clapping. Draven was beaming brightly, while Robert had a little proud smile on his face.
“Yes, you did it,” he agreed. “Together.”
Mrs. Donahue was furious. Edelstone was amused. It did not make for a good combination.
“You … you children are positively mad!” Donahue cried. “You could have killed not only yourselves, but the apprentices as well!”
“But we didn’t,” Caelum said.
“I am surprised Mr. Sinclair wasn’t in on this. Perhaps he is the only one with sense,” she huffed.
That made Daphne wonder why Salem hadn’t shown up at the commotion. He was usually curious and had great solutions to things that seemed overwhelming.
“While what you children did was by far the most reckless, ridiculous thing, I still cannot commend you enough,” Edelstone said. Donahue looked up at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion etched on her features.
“They could have caused a mass murder!” she protested.
“But they did not. That is the important thing,” he said. “Teamwork. Bravery. And quite impressive spellwork. Those things are to be praised, not scolded. How
ever, Frieda is correct. You did ignore a very clear command, and that cannot be cast aside. I will require all of you to pen apology letters to Mrs. Donahue, due tomorrow, end of day.”
Everyone glanced at each other. Daphne was shocked that that was all the punishment they were getting, but even she knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Thank you, sir,” she said happily, tugging on Michael’s sleeve. “Come on, we missed Household Charms and need to get someone’s notes.”
As soon as they got away from the King and Deputy, Caelum and Michael began to laugh.
“Did you see the look on old Donahue’s face while Edelstone was talking?” Caelum cackled.
“Yeah, mate,” Michael replied. “She looked like someone was pissing in her teapot!”
Daphne couldn’t help a smile at their mirth. It really was amusing.
“Hey,” Robert said, “has anyone seen Salem?”
Daphne shook her head. “I want to tell him about what happened. I’m surprised he’s not around.”
“Yeah, lately he’s been glued to your side like an octopus,” Michael sneered. “Wonder why?”
Daphne was a little confused. “Because we’re dating?”
“Or because he wanted to distract you from something else he was doing. Like trying to murder a room full of apprentices,” Michael corrected.
She was about to open her mouth and defend Salem when Caelum spoke up.
“Even you, Daph, have to admit that this is a little suspicious.”
She turned up her nose at them and said, “I don’t believe or think that for a second. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find my boyfriend.” She began to walk away when Robert called after her in a singsong voice.
“Oh, but I think you do.”
Clan Munro was just as under attack as the apprentices were. At least, that was how Robert saw it. And Salem was inclined to agree.
Salem had stayed late in Advanced Botany in order to butter up the teacher and get some fresh ingredients off of her. He wanted to try improving the Shifting Solution, and he needed some things he couldn’t get at Piper’s. When he got out of the classroom, he ran right into Robert, who told him of the horrific scene they all had found in the Creatures classroom.
