If I had gone to one of those magical boarding schools, I would’ve done this years ago. I guess this is the bad side of what it is to be a witch. No one ever said this would be easy or always kind. Power is rarely kind. I clung to Brendan’s hand and I started the chant along with him. My palm quickly became a sweaty, sticky mess against his. I had failed at so many things I wasn’t going to fail at being a witch too.
As soon as I spoke the words and filled my head with images of the mouse’s death I wished I could take it back. Its little body shook and terror filled its eyes. My heart ripped in two as I watched it struggle for its life. Every muscle in my body trembled and all I wanted to do was look away. But I couldn’t shift my eyes from the poor little mouse. The moment of fear was brief before the life drained from its little black eyes. After only two rounds of chants the little furball’s body hung lifeless still suspended from its own tail held firmly in Brendan’s hand. He dropped the lifeless corpse of the creature back into the box and didn’t even bother to put the lid on it before he tossed it in the nearby trashcan. Tears rimmed my eyes and I wiped them away with the back of my hand.
“That was amazing! I’ve never seen it happen that fast. It has to be because we are both from First Families.” He took the open book that still sat in my hand and placed it back in its hiding space in the wall.
“Does your family know mine? Or like were they friends at some point?”
“Know each other yeah. At some point all First Families knew each other. But my family tends to keep to themselves as much as possible,” he answered. “Now, where were we?” His eyes ran down my body, but I was no longer in the mood.
“We were at the part where you tell me why you were sent to Spellbound in the first place. Does it have anything to do with this death magic?” I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall, trying to hide the fact that my entire body was still shaking.
“Wrong place, wrong time. Don’t you worry about me, Newbie. I won’t be here long. My family and my coven won’t allow it.”
“Are all witches in covens?” I asked. His hearty laugh filled the room. Uneasiness washed over me and the entire room charged with static electricity.
“I forget how little you know about your own kind. No, not all witches or warlocks are in covens. But most of the elite are.” His hand caressed my cheek before grabbing me firmly by the back of my neck and pulling my mouth to his. My heart wasn’t in it, but I kissed him back, unsure of what else to do. The stern booming of a male voice filled the air just as Brendan’s other hand inched its way up my shirt. I had never been so thankful to be caught doing something wrong in my life.
“Farrington. McGregor. What is the meaning of this? You are not mated and therefore not entitled to engage in this type of behavior.” Warden Nicholas Blu stood in the doorway with a guard right behind him. He waved the guard forward as he stepped to the side. “Take McGregor to his cell and see that he stays there without yard time for the next forty-eight hours.”
Brendan complied with the guard’s instructions, placing his hands behind his back and allowing himself to be cuffed. He winked at me as he was led away. I bowed my head, avoiding his gaze until he was gone. Warden Blu entered the library. His large frame towered over me. I looked up, meeting his stern stare with one of my own. He shook his head and looked at the floor. He let out a long sigh before he looked at me again.
“Do you want to tell me what you were doing in here?” His tone was so reminiscent of my dad’s it startled me.
“I think that was obvious, don’t you?” I tried to shrug off the dad comparison, but it stuck like glue in my mind. They looked nothing alike but something was similar about them. I couldn’t place my finger on it.
“I mean prior to you being a whore.” His eyes narrowed and his face flushed red with rage.
“You can’t call me that!” I screamed.
Warden Blu closed the distance between us so quickly I didn’t even realize what was happening until he had me pinned against the book stacks. His jaw was tight. His hands were in tight fists at his side. He held a closed fist up in front of me and then spread open his fingers while raising his arm into the air. I felt a rush of rage filled magic wrap around my body in an anaconda style squeeze. Terror rose up in my chest as the air was forced from my lungs. Suddenly my body was sliding against the books, knocking them from their home on the shelf as my feet lifted off the ground. Once my head was uncomfortably pressed against the ceiling, he closed his hand and lowered it back at his side. I felt his magic pull back and then I fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, gasping for air. He grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet, giving me no time to recover as he dragged me behind him down the stone halls.
“Let’s see if we can change your attitude with a day full of reliving your worst memories. The ones that are the most painful experiences of your life.” His words barely registered in my mind as I struggled to catch my breath. He stopped in front of a black wooden door and yanked it open. A chill snaked down my spine.
He tossed me through the doorway into a tiny, bare room. A guard walked over and handed Blu a vial filled with a deep purple liquid. I was still struggling to catch my breath when he forced the acidic fluid down my throat. He held his hands above me and spoke. The room began to spin and I couldn’t understand what he was saying. My hearing was muffled and nothing sounded right. I wanted to run but, I froze, unable to respond to my commands. He lifted my limp body into the air and pain jolted through me. Then the world around me disappeared.
I opened my eyes to a star-studded night sky. The grass beneath me was slightly damp as if the morning dew had already come and gone. The crackling of a fire emitted a soft glow to my right. A woman’s shriek broke through the quietness of the night. Nothing about this was familiar. I had no control over my actions. My body simply moved on its own as if it had done this a thousand times before.
I ran toward the screams, but I was too late. A woman lay on the ground near the fire, her face twisted in pain, and blood leaked from her ears. Her body was contorted into an unnatural position with white shards of bone breaking through her flesh. A hooded figure stood on the other side of the fire, chanting. Every instinct in me told me it was a Blood Coven member. The figure raised its arms to the sky as thunder sounded overhead. I rushed to the dying woman on the ground but slammed into an invisible barrier. Her outstretched arms reached for me, begging me for help.
“Nicholas,” she whispered, her voice faint and weak.
This wasn’t my memory, it was the warden’s. Before I had a chance to comprehend what was happening, my arms rose in front of me and magic unlike that I had ever felt pulsed through my body. It was a spell. One that words didn’t even exist for. A spell to break all spells. It was powerful and ancient. I knew I shouldn’t be using such a spell, but I did it anyway. The magic charged from my body and crashed into the invisible wall. The moment I felt it shatter, I ran to the woman and wrapped her in my arms, but it was too late. She was gone and so was the hooded figure. As my mind pulled back from the memory I felt the warden’s heart break into so many pieces it would be impossible to ever put back together again. I felt his loss and his pain. I knew the woman lying broken and dead in his arms was his sister, Colita.
Air rushed past me as I was sucked from that memory and dropped into the next. My dad sat across from me, but he was younger than I’d ever seen him. He shook his head as I yelled and threw things at him. He never once tried to defend himself.
“Nicholas, I’m sorry. I have to do this.”
“Why? This wasn’t the plan. Why would you do this to me?”
“I’m not doing this to you, but I’m doing this for me.”
“I don’t understand why.”
“And I can’t tell you. All I can say is I’m sorry. You are the best friend I’ve ever had and this is not what I ever thought would happen. But I don’t want this life anymore. Some things are more important than magic.”
“We are warlocks, Jose
ph. We are magic! You are turning your back on me and your entire community. It was supposed to be us against the world. You’re throwing your life away, but won’t even tell me why!”
“I don’t expect you to understand. But you must respect my decision. It is final.” My dad stood and left the room. Tears moistened my cheek and the feeling of betrayal filled me. I caught a glimpse of my flushed face, the warden’s face, in the window glass as I watched my dad climb into a car and drive away. My dad and the warden had been friends.
Time had no meaning as I remained sprawled out on the floor in that room, reliving Warden Blu’s worst memories over and over and over again. They never changed, but the agony I felt as they went on intensified with each redo. I could never change the outcome, or my response. I could only feel his pain. My brain tried to sort out what went wrong and why I was reliving his memories and not my own. I honestly didn’t know which would have been worse. I felt compassion for a man who had only shown me disdain. Not to mention he called me a whore, which put him on my shit list for sure.
The memory ended abruptly as if the movie had been paused and I felt a rush of air around me as I was sucked from this nightmare world back to reality. A chill had set in deep in my bones and my joints were stiff. A soft voice called my name. My eyes ached to stay closed. My body and soul needed rest. Every muscle felt as if I had fallen off a cliff and lain at the bottom of a jagged ravine for a week before anyone found me. I parted my lips and gooey, sticky strings tried to hold them together.
The voice calling my name intensified in volume, growing more frantic each second. I forced my eyes to open and a halo of golden hair hung over my face. As my eyes readjusted to the light that seemed far too bright in the room I realized the halo belonged to my own personal angel, Miss Kemp. She pressed a bottle to my lips and poured water into my mouth. I gulped it down and my raw throat burned with each swallow.
“Can you stand, sweetie?” she asked.
When I tried to speak only a hoarse squeak came out. I simply nodded.
“The warden said to keep her here until she breaks,” a deep voice boomed.
“I will not stand by and watch something so egregious occur to one of my charges. If you prevent me from saving this girl, I will make sure The High Council investigates you along with the damn warden!” She exuded a sense of control and power. Her expression contorted in anger at the guard.
He ran over and grabbed me by the arm while Miss Kemp held the other and they lifted me from the floor. They supported my weight and walked me from the room and down the hall, but I wasn’t sure how far. Within a matter of minutes, I was in Miss Kemp’s office, curled up in a chair and wrapped in a fluffy blanket with a bottle of water in my hand. I downed the liquid greedily and she handed me another before taking a seat at her desk.
“Thank you,” my voice cracked.
“It’s the least I could do. After what you just went through you deserve a medal. No one has lasted that long before. It’s inhumane. Being forced to relive the worst moments of your life, unable to change anything. It’s one of the harshest punishments we have.”
A knot twisted in my throat as I debated telling her that it wasn’t my memories I relived. But the silver starfish at my neck vibrated and warmed my skin. The hair on the back of my arms prickled up like a porcupine. A sense of danger crept in under my skin, and I knew I should keep this a secret. At least until I knew what it meant and why it happened. Maybe Evan was right and nobody at Spellbound should be trusted.
Miss Kemp smiled the kind of smile you give people when you pity them. I turned away because the last thing I wanted was more pity. Everyone gave me that look since Mom died. I knew that look well and I hated it. Miss Kemp reached across the desk and took my hand. She caressed it gently with her well-manicured nails and it sent tingles up my arm.
“I promise you, Jewels, I will make sure your lawyer knows about this. This should not have happened. When Brendan told me what happened and that you were missing I knew where the warden had taken you. The punishment outweighed the crime. I promise your trial will be fair unlike the treatment you have received here.” She pulled away and turned her attention to the notes on her desk.
“How long was I in there?”
“Three days. I’ve never seen anyone last over thirty-six hours before.”
“What happened to the others after thirty-six hours?”
“They went mad. Temporarily anyway. It is designed to break people.”
“Then why didn’t I go mad?”
“That is a good question that I don’t have the answer to. But my guess is that the warden will want to find out. He doesn’t like failing and you being able to withstand his punishment without the intended result, he will see as failure.” Her brow furrowed as she scribbled in the notebook on her desk. She chewed on the end of her pen, a few wisps of blond hair falling around her face as she studied the page.
“Brendan was really worried about me?”
“Oh my, yes. Poor dear was totally distraught when he got out of solitary and found you were missing.” She closed the file in front of her and with a flick of her wrist it floated to her filing cabinet and slid into its spot. A new file withdrew from the cabinet, floated in the air, and landed on her desk.
“Can I go back to my cell now? I’m sure my cellmate is worried about me.”
“Yes, of course. A guard should be waiting for you outside the door and he will escort you to your cell.”
I finished my second bottle of water and tossed it into the little metal trash can by the door. I stood up on shaky legs, but at least I could stand on my own now. I leaned on the desk until my legs stopped shaking. The warmth from my necklace was spreading. It was no longer just on my chest, but running down my torso and my arms. Slowly drifting through my body. I walked to the door and by the time I reached for the handle the heat was pulsating through my body. I was alert, steady, strong, not at all like I had been lying on a stone floor for three days. My body felt like it had been treated to a spa weekend.
“Oh and, Jewels.”
I turned back toward Miss Kemp with my hand still on the door.
“Brendan told me that you both did a little more than kiss. He’s a powerful warlock from a prestigious family. He’s a good ally to have.” She held a finger to her lips before picking up a pen and turning her focus to the file in front of her.
On the walk back to my cell I thought about her words. Brendan scared and excited me in ways I didn’t know how to explain to even myself. He cared enough about me to worry when I was missing. Which was apparently more than my new friends had done. Miss Kemp obviously trusted him and I trusted her. But the incident with the mouse had shaken me to my core and Brendan wasn’t even fazed by it. When I closed my eyes, I could still see the look of terror on its tiny face when it knew there was no escape. If being a witch meant killing defenseless creatures and being tortured to the brink of madness with spells, then I wasn’t cut out for this witch thing.
As the guard led me to my cell I tried to ignore the stares and whispers from the other inmates I passed. My cheeks flushed and I hung my head down low, desperate to avoid their gazes. I felt energized, not at all like the beaten down inmate I should have felt like. I tried my best to look hurt, weak, and exhausted. I dragged my feet and slumped my shoulders enough so that the guard gave me a hard shove to force me to move faster.
I ran over the conversation I was going to have with Lorelei in my head. She really had me convinced I could trust her, but the last three days proved that she didn’t truly care for me. If she was acting as my friend out of some weird sense of Guardsmen Siren duty shit, she could lay off. I didn’t want a friend who felt obligated to me. Lorelei was pacing in our cell when I arrived.
“Jewels!” Lorelei’s voice quivered. Worry lines creased her face and her eyes were red and puffy.
The guard removed my cuffs and shoved me forward then the door to the cell dropped from above, locking into place in the floor. Lorelei e
mbraced me and I found myself relaxing into her arms. I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder. The heat from my necklace continued to radiate throughout my body, coursing its way to the surface of my skin at every spot that our bodies touched. Something within me reached out and attached itself to her. A wave of energy flowed from my body into hers. Parts of my being that once held that energy became void. For a split-second utter despair wrapped around my heart, and I truly thought I was going to die. Then something from her rushed in and filled in the newly empty spots. Lorelei inhaled sharply and before I could ask what was happening a sharp pain pierced my chest and I lost my breath too. She squeezed me tighter and after a moment the pain in my chest faded away and I felt her relax in my arms. We stayed intertwined together for a few more minutes before she pulled away. She sat on the bottom bunk and yanked me down next to her.
“We just bonded. I’ve never had that happen before.” Lorelei’s face radiated excitement.
“What does that mean? Are we mates or something?” I asked. Lorelei smirked and shook her head.
“No, nothing like that. Well, I mean mates can be bonded as well. But you don’t have to be mated to bond. A bond is just that. A magical tether for life. It’s not entirely understood, but it is highly respected.”
“I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Me neither. It’s not something we have any control over. We are literally part of each other now. I’ve heard stories of friends and lovers who spent years together trying to force a bond without success. No one can make it happen. It’s chaotic like the sea.”
Magically attached to someone who didn’t even look for me when I was missing for three days. In one week, my life had completely changed and not for the better. Discovering I had uncontrollable magic, a lying father, and that my birth mom was mermaid royalty, which came with some major downsides. Now to top it all off I had basically created an unbreakable bond with someone I wasn’t sure gave any fucks about me. Great.
The Siren Jewel: Spellbound Prison Saga Page 9