Cauldron of Ash

by Dorothy Dreyer

  We each kept one of the shells in our hands so we could identify the bush. Thunder rumbled again when we breached the heavy assemblage of trees. The terrain became uneven under our feet. Mrs. Wellward instructed us how far apart we should be walking during our search. It was too far to have a conversation, which disappointed me because I really felt like asking Killian about his conversation with Laurel.

  My mind wandered as I scanned the forest. I didn’t see anything that resembled the shell in my hand on any of the bushes, and thoughts and questions and memories started playing in my head. I thought about my cousin and how annoyed and aggravated I’d been with her, and how it didn’t matter how awful she was being, she hadn’t deserved to die. And I thought about Christine and how she had been angry with me, even though we’d made up. And then I thought about my parents. Would they ever forgive me? Of course, Principal Grayson said they would have to be contacted about the incident with Christine. I wondered if they would know I was to blame.

  My stomach churned with a feeling of dread. I felt as if I were in an endless loop of bad luck.

  Something crunched beneath my feet. I stopped and looked around, realizing I had wandered a bit farther away from the rest of the group than I was supposed to. Scrutinizing the forest floor, I backed up a couple of steps and spotted the shells from the limodangious plant Mrs. Wellward had shown us. I bent down to make sure I was identifying them correctly, scooping up a few in my hand. The shells were soft, so that wasn’t what had made the crunching sound. It was the nut on the inside of one of them. This one must have fallen off the bush.

  I lifted my chin to look at the bush in front of me. A dark figure loomed over me, blocking out any light. I gasped, reeling backward and stumbling. I landed hard on my backside, keeping my eyes on the tall figure who glared at me with a menacing fury. I tried to call out, but I couldn’t even catch my breath. My fingers dug into the soil beside me as I tried to get to my feet. I felt as if all the energy in me was being drained. My eyes began to droop, and I felt myself falling backward.

  Faintly, I heard my name being called from somewhere around me, but my head swam so much, I couldn’t even tell who it was.

  Just before my head hit the ground, my eyes caught sight of two razor-sharp fangs as the figure slowly inched toward me. Before I could even think to scream for help, the world went black around me.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Someone called out my name from somewhere in the distance, but it sounded too far away. My ears suddenly popped, and that was when I heard him screaming my name. Killian. My eyes tried to peel open, but my head felt too groggy. Something touched my cheek—his fingers gently rubbed against my face.

  “Please wake up, Reagan, please,” he begged, his voice laced with regret.

  What’s happening? The last thing I remembered was falling to the ground, then seeing two razor-sharp fangs. My eyes flittered open. Meeting Killian’s gaze, it took me a minute to gain strength to push myself up. Killian helped me to a seated position. I looked up at him and gasped at what I saw. Killian’s eye was bruised, and bloody cuts traveled down both his arms. I reached out, touching his arm, and he recoiled, shaking his head.

  “What the hell happened, Killian? Did you… lose control and try to attack me?” My voice came out at a low whisper.

  He flinched back, his eyes wide.

  “No way, Reagan. I would never hurt you.” His words rang true, and I believed him.

  “Do you remember anything?”

  “Last thing I remember was falling to the ground and seeing two sharp fangs.”

  “What about before that?”

  I leaned back on my heels, trying to recall what had occurred before I’d fallen. Then it hit me. My hand fell from my chest to the dirt for support.

  “I-I remember finding the bush we were looking for, and then a dark figure loomed over me. I couldn’t see him properly,” I said, looking off into the forest, afraid that he might still be lurking around.

  Killian swore under his breath. He stood up and started pacing.

  “What happened to your arms, Killian? Did that person get you?”

  “No. I, uh, I tripped and fell into a bush,” he muttered quickly. But I knew straight away something wasn’t adding up. Those injuries couldn’t come from tripping into a bush. He didn’t sound too convincing; he was hiding something from me, and I would get to the bottom of it.

  Something wet dripped onto my leg, bright red blood. I quickly looked up to Killian, who was standing over me. I reached up, grabbing his arm and pulling him down to the ground. It was bleeding; deep cuts running the whole length of his arm. Poor thing. I rubbed over one of his cuts with my fingertip, and he flinched, trying to pull back, but I pulled harder, causing him to fall farther into me. My eyes dared to look up to find him only inches from my face. He leaned his forehead against mine and breathed in deeply.

  “I’m so sorry, Reagan,” he said between breaths, his eyes darted downward.

  I leaned in, my lips brushing against his. He kissed me back lightly. One second our lips were tightly locked together in a hungry embrace, the next, he was gone. I looked around, trying to find him. He was leaned up against the tree with his hands folded.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, barely audible, but I heard him. Why did he keep apologizing? Nothing that had happened was at all his fault, was it?

  Just then Laurel appeared from within the forest, looking as white as a ghost. She ran the last few steps and kept nervously looking around her.

  “What the hell happened before? I heard you screaming, then I turned around and saw a black figure flying away.” She shifted from one foot to the other.

  “You saw him?”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly get to see who it was, but I saw someone in a black cloak fly off through the air. Is that who we were looking for?”

  “I think so,” I admitted, but I couldn’t be sure. It made sense that it was who had been breaking in. Who else could it be?

  “Let’s keep this to ourselves until we figure it out,” Killian said, his voice laced with concern. He kept looking around as if waiting for the figure to pop out again.

  “There you lot are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Mrs. Wellward said, coming up behind us. Laurel jumped, sliding in next to me. Mrs. Wellward stared at Killian, looking closely at his injuries. She shook her head.

  “What happened to you?”

  “I tripped and fell over.” Killian was quick to answer.

  “Ok, did you find anything?” she asked.

  Each of us looked to one another, trying to figure out what to say. We didn’t exactly have time to work that out. Killian rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Reagan found the bush and called us over here,” he said, sounding not one bit suspicious.

  I needed to get some pointers from him. Me, I was a hopeless liar. That was why Killian stepped up to spin the lie to Mrs. Wellward. She stayed silent for an awkward minute. My chest tightened, thinking that she saw right through the bullshit.

  But then, all of a sudden, she nodded her head. “Good job, Reagan. Lead the way.”

  Killian walked off ahead and we followed silently behind him. Killian stopped in front of the bush and showed it to Mrs. Wellward. We stood back, Laurel kept looking around her brows drawn together.

  “That’s it. It must have either been overlooked during the removal project, or it grew from roots over the last few years.” Mrs. Wellward waved her wand. A green glow covered the area around us. “We’ll have someone look into this area and remove all traces of the bush. We can’t have this happen again. Unfortunately, locator spells don’t work on this stubborn plant.” Her watch beeped. She looked down at it and furrowed her brow. “We need to get back to the school urgently; something’s come up. You can report back to Principal Grayson later.”

  She promptly began marching back to the school. We followed her in silence. What happened at the school? I wondered
to myself. Killian was on my right, and Laurel to my left, but we didn’t say a word the whole walk back. The school came into view, but it was dead quiet. I glanced down at my wrist, checking the time. It was already noon. Time had flown by while we’d been out in the woods. But at least we had accomplished our mission early.

  Just as we reached the back entrance, Killian slid his arm around my shoulders and gave it a tight squeeze. I looked up at him, my brows drawn together.

  He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Everything will be okay, Reagan. You just have to trust me, no matter what.”

  I wanted to ask what he meant, but suddenly the doors opened. My attention was drawn there just in time to see the last two people I’d ever expect.

  My parents.

  “Mom? Dad?”

  Killian dropped his arm from my shoulder and took a step back. My heart started pounding. They were glaring straight at Killian. If looks could kill, I thought.

  Killian and Laurel said a quick goodbye and left me standing there.

  My parents stood there watching them leave. I closed the distance between us, forcing a small smile and pulling my father in for a tight hug. He smelt of home, lavender and sage. I sighed. He pulled back and kissed me on my forehead. My mother looked at me, shaking her head in disgust. She spun around and walked back inside the school. Oh, no.

  We followed her inside and into a spare classroom that was unoccupied. As soon as my father shut the door, my mother turned around, her cheeks a flaming red.

  “What were you thinking, Reagan? Getting close to a vampire? It’s forbidden! You know we don’t dare mix with them—especially him. Not to mention you killed another innocent person. Who are you?” She crossed her arms over her chest in disgust.

  My heart sank at her words. I hadn’t meant for things with Killian to progress so quickly. I knew the rules better than anyone, but when the pull was so strong, it was hard not to get drawn in—and what did she mean especially him? She was right about Christine, I had killed another innocent person.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, ashamed.

  I looked to my father, who had stayed silent. He opened his mouth to speak just as the door flew open. Principal Grayson walked in.

  “You are all required in my office,” she said, walking off. We followed her out.

  “This isn’t over, Reagan,” my mother said. “This is a serious offense to not only us, but your family and our whole coven. You won’t be staying here a second longer, mark my words.”

  Her words caused me to stop my advance toward the door. I turned around and there wasn’t an ounce of regret in her eyes. She’d meant every single word.

  My days here at Wildwood were coming to an end.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I waited in my room while my parents spoke privately with Principal Grayson. I’d been in her office at the beginning of the talk, but at one point my father had asked me to wait in my room so the ‘adults’ could work this out. I didn’t know what that meant. I couldn’t even imagine how he thought he could get me out of this punishment. I mean, it was either this or prison, right?

  Rascal sat on the windowsill, staring at the woods. He found something out there very interesting, but I wasn’t in the right mindset to figure out what it was.

  When the door opened, I jumped. But it wasn’t my parents. It was Killian.

  I stood up from my bed, wide-eyed, and hurried to meet him. “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to see you.”

  “My parents will flip out if they catch you in here. You should go.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  My brow creased. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you want me to go away?” His gaze dropped to the floor. “Reagan, I know there’s been some turbulence between us, but I think you know how… how much I like you.”

  My breath caught in my throat. I didn’t know what to say. “I… uh…”

  “When I heard your mother say she was going to take you out of the school, it was like someone had removed my heart. You can’t imagine the sadness I felt envisioning you gone.”

  He reached out and took my hands in his.

  “But… how did you hear her say that? We were in a classroom by ourselves.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “Super hearing.”

  “Oh.” I bit back a laugh. His mention about super hearing made me think about his other super powers. “Hey, your injuries.”

  “I’m fine now.”

  “But… you’re a vampire. How were you hurt so badly?”

  It was then I noticed the tear in his shirt. It was a black shirt, so I hadn’t taken note of the blood until now. I pushed the material aside to find a healing wound on his chest.

  “Killian, you’re hurt.”

  “No. It’s okay. I’m healing.”

  “How did this happen? And why is it taking longer than usual for you to heal?”

  He shook his head. “I wish we had time to talk about it all, but to cut it short, when a vampire is staked, he’s weakened. His powers are almost nullified in that moment, and we suffer like humans do. Well, almost like humans. We do heal eventually.”

  “You were staked?” My head spun, trying to grasp what he’d told me.

  “There’s no time. That’s not what I came here to talk to you about. I need to tell you how I feel about you. Before you go.”

  All other thoughts left my mind. We locked gazes, and all I saw—all I wanted to see—was him.

  His thumb grazed over my hand in a circle. “I’ve grown to care about you, Reagan. I know that seems a bit crazy because we haven’t known each other that long, but there’s something about you—maybe it’s just the chemistry between us. It makes me feel like I’ve known you for decades.”

  I let out a small, nervous laugh, my eyes trained on the floor. The next thing I knew, his finger was on my chin, lifting it gently. And then his lips were on mine, softly at first, but then almost hungrily pressing against my mouth. A part of me anticipated the feel of his teeth—his fangs. I didn’t back away. His arms enveloped me, and his hand stroked the small of my back. I felt lightheaded, like I was floating. When I dared to peek, I actually was floating. Killian had somehow lifted us off the ground. Or was this my magic?

  I gasped, breaking the kiss, and fought not to lose balance.

  “Was that you?” I asked.

  His mouth opened, like he was about to answer, but then my dorm room door opened again.

  Laurel stood there, her brows raised. For a second, she didn’t say anything, but then she hurried into the room. “I don’t know what you two are up to, but your parents are headed up the stairs.”

  I backed quickly away from Killian. “You better go.”

  “Please don’t leave without saying goodbye,” he said. “Promise me.”

  “I don’t even know if Grayson agreed to let me leave.” I shook my head in disbelief. “Why would she?”

  “There’s no time for discussion,” Laurel said, grabbing Killian and pushing him out of the room. “You’ll figure it out later.”

  She slammed the door behind him and turned to me.

  “You okay?” I asked her.

  “No.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “My parents are almost here, so believe me when I say this is a nightmare for both of us.”

  The door opened once more, and this time my parents stood there, staring at me. My mother was wringing her hands together, and my father kept breathing heavily through his nose. I could only stand and wait, wondering what fate I was being handed.

  “We’ve cleared it all up,” my father said. “You can start packing your things.”

  It took a moment for me to be able to breathe, let alone answer him. “What do you mean? Am I… Am I going home?”

  “Yes, immediately,” my father said, linking his hands behind his back.

  “But what about my sentence?” I asked.


  “Principal Grayson has agreed—with the help of a generous donation to her school—to allow you to return home under the terms that you will be on house arrest. You must remain within the confines of our house with all your privileges taken away until you’ve served your sentence.”

  I blinked, letting the words make their way into my brain. I was having a hard time believing them.

  My father clapped his hands together twice. “Come on now. Pack your things.”

  “But… but what generous donation? I didn’t think we had enough money for that sort of thing.”

  “We’ve borrowed from my sister’s husband,” my mother said, looking flushed. “I didn’t want to—and your father is way too proud to have asked—but this was an emergency situation. And seeing how close you were with that… that student… it was obviously the right decision.”

  “Yes, the sooner we get you out of here,” my father said, “the sooner we can stop this chaos from exploding around you. Classmates dying, forbidden connections with vampires, and goodness knows what else you’ve gotten yourself mixed up with. It all ends now.”

  “What about Rascal?” I asked.

  “Who?” my mother asked back.

  “My familiar. My pet.”

  “I’m sorry, Reagan,” my father said. “You’ll have to leave it.”

  His words stung, and I pressed on my chest to stop my heart from hurting.

  My mother made a gesture for me to hurry up and pack, so I turned away from them to get my suitcase. I caught Laurel peeking at me from behind her curtain of hair. I couldn’t imagine what she must have thought of this. I wanted so much to apologize to her once again, to assure her it was not her fault Christine had died. But I was being watched like a hawk by my parents, so all I could do was pack my things.

  My father opened the door and waited impatiently for me to finish. Once I got the last of my things in my suitcase, I rushed to Rascal and pet his head. He looked up at me curiously, sniffing the air. I turned to Laurel.