by Penn Cassidy
No fucking way…
“Cal?” I asked in disbelief, and his answering chuckle let me know it was in fact that little liar under the heavy cloak. “Why didn’t you just tell me?!” I punched him in the shoulder. “God, I feel like an idiot!”
“That's enough of that! We didn’t come here to make friends!” an all too familiar voice said with a sneer. She stepped out of the circle and closer to me, a-cat-that-ate-the-canary grin spreading across her red, painted lips that I could just barely make out under the hood.
“Seriously, Payton? I can’t say I’m surprised, actually. Were your parents super powerful clowns or something? Did they tell extra funny jokes?” I was pushing it, but she was a huge bitch and needed to be put in her place.
“Aren’t your parents rotting underground?”
I stilled, hands curling into my palms painfully. I suddenly pictured a million ways I could kill this bitch and hide the body. She swirled her sickening green hair around her finger, playing the same game as I was, and I really wanted to punch her in the boob until she looked like a crying clown instead.
“Shut the fuck up, Payton. She belongs here just as much as we do and you know it, so pull that red booted foot out of your bony ass,” Cal said with a dark glare at Payton.
I raised a brow. There was a different side of the mayor’s son that I didn't think he showed very often. Something dark and a little dangerous. I’d have to warn Mads about that side of him, but I was pretty sure she’d only clamour to get his attention even more.
“As if, Cal. She doesn’t belong here! She didn’t work her whole damn life to join the Society. It was just handed to her because her parents were legacy. She’s a stupid fucking mortal!” Payton fumed, her breathing growing erratic as she pointed a gloved finger in my face.
“Hey! Said ex-mortal is standing right in front of you! You got something to say, say it to my face, you coward!” I made a bring it on motion with both hands.
The rest of the hooded figures stepped back and slowly blended in with the shadows. I didn’t care how dumb we looked right now, I was ready to tie my hair back and duke it out if she provoked me.
“You want me to say it to your face?” She was spitting mad, her white powdered cheeks turning red, and it probably didn’t help matters when I stepped close enough to touch my shoes with hers.
“Why do you hate me so much? What the hell did I ever do to you?” I stared into the purple of her eyes and felt the hate pour off her in thick waves.
“You fucking exist in the first place, bitch,” she sneered. “You think you’re hot shit just because your daddy was a necromancer? You’re nothing and will always be nothing, just like your mommy. She took everything away from my mother. And like mother like daughter, you're trying to take the title I’ve actually earned!”
Cal stepped between us. “Stop being a bitch, Payton. You’re just butt hurt because your crazy ass mother didn’t get my dad to fall in love with her when he loved someone else. He won’t ever love her, so stop trying to please your mommy. Grow up,” he added through his teeth.
Cal glared at her, confusing me for a second before it clicked. The picture in the library, the love struck look her mom was throwing at the mayor as he stared at my mom. Icahbod had a thing for my mom! And now Payton seemed to be up my ass about wanting to take shit from her? I wanted nothing to do with it or her creepy Elite. In fact, I didn’t even know what I was still doing here. We were standing around arguing like little children. And there I’d been, shaking in my boots over a bit of chanting and hooded robes…
“Well, it’s been a pleasure and I’m sure it would have been fun, but I’m going to bounce and call it a day. I deny entry into the Society.” I saluted them all and stepped back into the arched entrance, but froze when Cal and Payton both glanced my way.
“You don’t want to know anything about the Society? Your parents were in it after all.” Cal pointed out, his expression confused as I continued backing up. “They practically ran the Elites.”
“From what I was told, it sounds like a group of friends who were like family until they weren’t. I don’t need to join this little club to connect to my parents. I have a feeling this isn’t a family but a cult.” I waved my hand around, gesturing to the silent members, watching our little standoff. They were still sort of humming under their breaths.
“You stupid mortal,” Payton hissed. “You’ll join and follow my leadership. I’ll take my rightful place, and you’ll be the one submitting to me. It’s my destiny, not yours.” She then whipped out a small knife from her cloak pocket and grabbed my forearm in a tight grip. “‘I pledge my loyalty, my life, and my so called legacy to the Society. I will concede under your rule.’ Repeat it!”
Payton tried to slice and dice my arm like a psychopath, but I punched her in the boob with my other fist. She released me with an astonished glare. I suddenly knew her tatas had to be fake, because that should have hurt like a son of a bitch. Cal was standing next to her, watching warily as he rubbed the back of his neck, not looking me in the eye. He didn’t even try to stop her.
“Fine, bitch! You're just a pathetic mortal anyways. You don’t deserve to be an Elite. I don’t care if your parents were the leaders back in the day or that Cal thinks it’s your rightful place. He’s wrong. I don’t even know why I allowed you to come. I’ve earned this, not you!” Payton was spitting nonsense as she screamed in my face, snapping her fingers to one of the other members. “But you don’t get to walk away like you’re better than us.”
Her smile was suddenly sinister. I needed to get out of crazy town because this chick was off her rocker. I didn’t even want to be here, and I didn’t give a shit about any legacy anymore. It wasn’t going to give me any of the answers I was looking for, apparently.
“Listen, I don’t want to join. It’s yours, Payton. My parents were happily married, and my mom loved my dad, not Ichabod. Your mother can totally go after him if she wants, I’m sure they would make a lovely couple.” I was rambling, backing away and ignoring Cal’s grimace at the thought of them becoming siblings.
I felt that, I really did. A hooded member stepped forward, her yellow skin peaking out through her cloak as she handed something small to Payton. The crazy bitch turned back to me with a creepy smile edging around her lips. She opened her palms for me to see what was inside.
My breath caught in my throat, and my heart dropped to my stomach. Tucked in a small ball in the center of Payton’s palm was my familiar, her eight little beady eyes half lidded as she stared up at me, trying in vain to get up, but her legs collapsed under her.
“Did you drug Jessica?!” I cried out, stepping forward to grab her, but Payton held her out of reach.
“Why, yes I did. It’s been a trip watching her for the past few days, listening to her cry out for you. Necromancer’s love dead things, right?” She grinned as she held the small knife over my Jessica’s body. Her little legs were trembling as she reached for me helplessly.
“October…” Jessica whispered softly, her voice weak from the drugs or whatever potion she’d been given. I couldn’t help but whimper because I felt her fear as if it were my own. I was about to lose my familiar. She was part of me, and I didn’t think I could handle losing her too.
“Payton, what the fuck are you doing?! You can’t harm a familiar, it goes against our laws! Give her back to October right now!” Cal ordered, his hands fisted at his side until at the last moment, he reached forward to grab Jessica.
He was too late… I was too late.
“Maybe Jessica can say hi to your parents.” With a unhinged chuckle, Payton brought her knife down, piercing through Jessica’s fur, exoskeleton, and straight to the heart.
“No!” My legs buckled as agony rippled through my body, endless pain that I felt the moment the blade sank in.
“That’s what you get when you try to take what’s rightfully mine,” Payton sneered down at me but I was hardly listening as she dropped Jessica in my lap.
I frantically cradled her close as blood coated my fingers, and I didn’t even realize someone was trying to get me to stand by pulling on my elbow until I looked up through my tears to see Cal’s worried face.
“We need to get out of here. Let’s get her to the manor!” He helped me to my feet as I frantically checked on Jessica, finding a weak pulse under her neck.
“It’s gonna be okay… I’ll fix you… You’re m-mine, damnit. I’m gonna take care of you.” I kept muttering to her gently, praying I had time.
By some miracle, we made it back to the broom closet with the sound of Payton laughing behind us. But nobody seemed to be laughing with her. I had a feeling she’d crossed a line, even for the Society. Maddie gasped the moment she saw us, dropping the broom she had between her legs.
“Oh god! What happened? Cal, what are you doing here?” Her gaze swung back and forth between us before landing on Jessica in my palm. “Oh no!” Maddie rushed over, pushing a pacing Cal away to hover over Jessica as tears gathered in her eyes, too.
“I’m going to get a message to my father and have this handled. Maddie, fly her back, and I’ll meet you there,” Cal shot off, not seeing the hurt look Maddie threw his way, the betrayal deep in her eyes.
Maddie wrapped an arm over my shoulder and led me to the broom she was playing with seconds ago. We heard a muttering voice and looked behind us to see Cal talking down at something in the shadowed corner.
“Tell my father that a sacred law was broken tonight, and tell him the whole story. Make it quick…” I watched in shock as the dummy in the trench coat stepped out of the dark with his little porcelain hands shoved in the deep pockets of his coat. He looked at me with genuine pity.
“I hope that spider gal will make a quick recovery. I quite like her.” I watched his lips move, the small square of his mouth coming unhinged as he turned just his head in our direction before running away with his porcelain heels clicking on the ground at a fast pace up the stairs.
“Oh my god, he’s real. Jessica kept trying to tell us, but we didn’t listen…” Maddie said sadly, voice laced with guilt, and narrowed her eyes at Cal before scooting forward on the broom so I could climb on back.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know she had her,” Cal said with a look of genuine remorse in his amber eyes.
He then pulled a vile from his pocket and threw it on the ground with a puff of smoke that swallowed him whole in seconds. I didn’t bother to watch him fully disappear because he should have told us about the Society earlier, and someone should have seen Payton for what she was before Jessica got hurt.
I tucked Jessica to my chest, applying a small amount of pressure to her wound, and prayed we made it back in one piece.
“I got you. Just hold on a little longer,” I whispered to her and gripped Maddie’s shoulder as she cursed under breath, then she pushed off the stone ground.
“Idcirco praecipio tibi ut avolare!” She cast the spell with complete authority, and I gasped as the broom shot forward.
The breath was knocked out of my lungs and we both screamed when the broom dodged the corners of the university halls. Once we made it up the stairs, we shot through an arched doorway and into the night sky. The town was lit up by soft, twinkling lights between each building as they got ready for the festival tomorrow night, and we hovered over Main Street for a heartbeat before the broom shot forward with Maddie crouched over the wood handle. We passed in a blur over the town, and the only thing I could see were the beautiful fall colors of the trees and the twin moons just before we hit my aunties’ street.
“I don’t know how to land this thing, so hold on!” Maddie shouted over her shoulder and narrowly missed the peak of the manor as we started to descend towards the ground at a fast pace.
The greenhouse came into view, the midnight jasmine petals open for the moons, and in the middle of the yard were my aunties, running onto the grass barefoot with Cal on their heels as they directed their palms upwards, facing Maddie and I.
“Idcirco praecipio tibi ut terra!” They chanted a spell together, and the broom slowed its fast speed, slowly descending towards the ground, and then jerked to a stop.
Micheal came running out of the house with wild eyes and my tracker panties in his grip, but he relaxed the moment he saw me as the guys slammed into his back with shouts of panic.
“Where did you go?” Freddy growled as he prowled towards me before stopping and dropping to his knees next to me. The moment we landed, I’d slipped off the broom and crumpled to the ground.
“Jessica is—she’s not doing so well,” Maddie explained through her tears and moved out of the way as the aunties came charging through with their arms full of plants and potion bottles.
“Oh, luv, what happened to her?” Damon asked, reaching down to stroke Jessica’s fuzzy spine, his brows lowered over yellow eyes. I could see the concern in those eyes that momentarily flickered back to grey.
“Payton had her! That crazy ass clown did this! I’ve failed Jessica. I didn’t know, but I should have!” I sobbed, watching the aunties grind up herbs in a bowl as they silently worked together. I choked as I added, “She was gone for three days, and I should have known something was wrong!”
“Oh dear… The clown girl will see consequences, I promise you that. We’ll try everything we can to save Jessica,” Auntie Fe muttered and exchanged a quick glance with her sister before applying a mushy substance to Jessica’s wound.
I felt her pulse flutter under my palm, and I snuggled my face against hers as we waited with our breath held. I already knew I was too late. Jessica’s eyes blinked open, her gaze unfocused as she lay her head down into the palm of my hand, staring up at me.
“It’ll be okay, Toby. It’s still me, yo girl, Jessica… I love you…” She said the words so softly, it was nearly a whisper.
Her squeaky voice was broken, and I could feel the numbness in every word. Her eyes slid shut just as her pulse stopped thudding on my palm.
“No, no, no, Jessica!” I cried out, sobbing so hard, my shoulders shook and my tears soaked into her fur as I cradled her close to my chest.
My tears just kept falling, and I could hear Maddie crying off to the side. Jessica’s body was limp, her legs uncurling against my skin.
Norman’s cold fingers caressed my neck as he pulled me close and let me cry into his collarbone. “I’m going to kill that clown and drain her dry,” Norman hissed, his voice low and deadly. He stood, as if to carry out that promise.
“I’m sorry child,” Fe said sadly. “We’ll give her a proper burial.” Auntie Pip tried to grab Jessica but my heart was too raw and broken. I couldn’t let go.
“No! She’s my familiar, and she’s coming back no matter what!” I shouted, pulling her closer to my chest. “No more pain…no more loss…” I stared down at her lifeless body, feeling my throat close up, and tried to concentrate with everything I had inside me.
“Toby, she’s gone. Let her rest.” Maddie knelt down, grabbed my shoulders, and placed her forehead against mine as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“She’s not completely gone yet…” I said desperately. “I need to try first because it’s all I have to give. I have to try.”
She nodded and hovered her hand over mine as it rested on Jessica. The guys gathered around me, each of them touching me, surrounding our crouched position to offer support, while the aunties started swaying in place with their eyes closed and their heads tilted back to the moons. I closed my own eyes, praying I knew what the hell I was doing so I could bring my girl back.
“Love you too, Jessica,” I whispered softly.
I thought about my parents, what I’d lost and what more I could lose. I thought about the love I’d gained in return after I thought I’d lose the guys too. I could do this. I did it before without knowing what I was doing. It was in my blood…
“Please just come back!” I shouted, feeling something sharp and static pump through my veins, like a defibrillator just shocked
my nervous system.
“Something’s happening, October, keep going,” Michael said in excitement, his hands sliding through my hair, and I could feel him like his soul was somehow completely attached to mine.
A feeling built inside me, and it was like I could feel each of their individual energies as they laid their palms on my body. My four men who I brought back from the grave funneled something into me, a power I’d never felt before and it made me hopeful. In that moment, I could feel her.
“Idcirco praecipio tibi ut vivere! Pertinent es ad me, et ego dominus mortis!” The words flowed from my lips before I knew what I was saying, but somehow, I knew they were the right words. I could feel it in my bones, my connection to the earth…my connection to life and death itself. It was working.
Thunder crashed and lightning swirled. The black sky flashed green, and the moons disappeared behind the clouds. It felt as if the earth was shaking with every one of my tears that dripped into the soil next to my little spider.
Then suddenly, a shock rippled through me, and I felt the faint pulse of her heart beating into the palm of my hands, so I squeezed my eyes tighter. I pulled power from the guys, my soul absorbing straight to the heart. I suddenly knew Jessica would come back, because I demanded it.
Thump, thump, thump…
“October…” came a broken voice from below. “That you?” Jessica rasped, and I felt my whole body slump in relief as soon I opened my eyes to see her staring up at me.
I couldn’t begin to describe the pure joy that bloomed in my chest at the sight of all those beady little eyes. Tears streamed down my face as the lightning and thunder began to dissipate around us.
“That’s my girl!” Jason smacked a pleased kiss on my temple as the guys shouted, whooped, and knocked knuckles.