“But not in Eden?” I guessed.
She nodded. “I should point out that the entire Coven attended Edenburg at this time. Tennessee, Cooper, Royce, Henley…all of them.”
My eyes widened. “Oh, right. I always forget that.”
“To make matters worse, my only friend in the whole world, Deacon, wasn’t giving me his sole attention anymore.” She rolled her eyes. “That boy has always been charming. People are drawn to him. And his two cousins were Coven-members. So I got my roommate kicked out of my room. I told an awful lie to Headmaster Daniel, and the poor girl had to have her own room. Then I called my parents and cried, saying how much I hated it. I was home the next day. In my mind, this was going to make things better with them. But nothing changed.”
“That must’ve been hard,” I heard myself whisper.
“Anyway, over the next six years, Deacon found us other friends: Olivia, Oliver, Liam, Noah, and Scarlet. Things got a little better…but even then, Deacon was the only person who understood me. We used to prefer hanging out just the two of us because even the others weren’t like us.” She fiddled with a diamond ring on her pointer finger. “In my head, Deacon and I were exactly the same. Two witches born to powerful and important parents that wanted nothing to do with that life. I never wanted to be important. I just wanted to live my normal, gloriously rich life. And I always thought Deacon wanted that, too.”
I frowned, but she didn’t see it.
“I assumed he and I would eventually be together. It just made sense. We were exactly the same, so it was perfect.” She sighed. “He was busy trying to piss his parents off every second of the day, but I assumed he didn’t want me to be a part of that. I thought I was waiting patiently for his rebellion to run its course, then we’d run off together.”
I must’ve made a face because she chuckled and shook her head.
“I know, I know.” She looked me straight in the eye. “When he showed up with you, we all just assumed you were another form of his rebellion. And then…then I saw it. I saw the change in him. Then I realized it wasn’t a change at all, but a veil I hadn’t realized I’d had on him. It all came crashing down. Granted, far too late. I’d been so blinded by my own plans to see him for who he was. In hindsight, it was so obvious. He’s always wanted to be something more than a civilian. I have no idea how I didn’t see it.”
I opened my mouth then shut it. This was a lot of information to process.
She leaned closer to me. “He never liked me, Emersyn, not the way I thought he did. But more importantly, I realized I didn’t like him like that. At that Gala, when I saw you two and your soulmate glyph…it didn’t even bother me. I should’ve been devastated, but instead, I was pissed that my plan was ruined.”
“That sounds like something Tegan would do,” I said with a chuckle, because it was true.
She smiled, then sobered. “I really am sorry, Emersyn. It may be a little too late, and I understand that. But I thought you should at least know the truth, regardless.”
I took a deep breath. “Thank you. I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but…that does actually help.”
She sighed and I felt the tension chip off her shoulders like a broken glacier.
The door to the café opened, and a familiar guy walked in. “Hey, there’s Noah.”
She gasped and froze in place.
I frowned. “Caroline?”
Noah walked up to the counter, and the owner lady handed him what looked like a milkshake. He turned to leave then spotted us. He smiled and waved, then strolled over.
“Oh Goddess, is he coming over?” Caroline hissed.
I nodded and she cursed. What is happening? I thought they were friends. Had I missed something?
“Hello, ladies!” Noah said with a crooked grin. “How are we doin’ this afternoon?”
Caroline smiled then looked away as her face turned bright red.
“Um, I’m all right. Just had my first beignet—”
“Oh, shit.” Noah shook his head and pointed his milkshake at me. “Your life has changed, right?”
I chuckled. “Yep, pretty much. How are the milkshakes here?”
As if to demonstrate, he took a big sip through his straw then moaned. “So, so good. Get yourself an Oreo one. You’re welcome.”
I smiled. He and Deacon being friends made sense. I peeked over at Caroline and found her studiously typing on her phone. It was fake texting, I knew that like I knew my own name. What is going on here?
“So, Noah, I’m going to get something to eat here. Any suggestions?” I asked, mostly so he wouldn’t notice the way Caroline was ignoring him.
He picked up the menu and flipped through the pages without looking. Then he set it down in front of me. “First two things on this page are my favorites.”
“Oh, thanks.” I smiled and looked to Caroline, hoping to get some input, but she wouldn’t look up. “So, uh, what are you up to, Noah?”
“I’m heading to get my tux for the Yule Ball.” He leaned down and whispered, “Gotta get those now before all the good tailors are booked up.”
I grinned. What does that even mean? “Great tip. Thanks.”
“All right, ladies, I can’t be late, but I’ll see you around school.” He winked then turned and walked out of the café.
Caroline sighed and dropped her phone.
And then it all clicked. I gasped. “Oh my Goddess, you like him. Don’t you?”
“Goddess, make it stop.” She grimaced. “I don’t know what to do with this.”
I frowned and shook my head. “You run with it, Caroline. Have some fun. Noah seems like a great guy.”
“He is a great guy, but…”
“But what?”
She threw her hands up. “I doubt he likes me. He hasn’t asked me to the dance even though he knows no one else has because I dropped like a million hints already.”
“Isn’t it early to be asking people to the Yule Ball?”
She rolled her emerald eyes. “Not in Manhattan. It’s too small. Everyone gets snatched up.”
“Oh.”
“Exactly. And he hasn’t asked me, which means he doesn’t like me.”
I licked my lips and considered this a moment. “Caroline, you’re intimidating AF. If you like the guy, then you ask him to the ball. Trust me, life is too short not to.”
Caroline paled. She turned and looked out the window just as Noah strolled up to the driver of his black sedan. She groaned. “Damn it. You’re absolutely right.”
Chapter Sixteen
Caroline
I pushed through the door to the café and flew down the steps. “Noah!”
He paused with his hand on the edge of the open car door. “You all right?”
Goddess, no. What’s happening right now? Am I really about to do this?
Noah frowned and stepped toward me. “Caroline? You okay? You look kinda pale.”
“I was just— I was thinking…” I licked my lips and breathed through my nose. “See, I was wondering— Because things have been weird and crazy and sad and— So I thought maybe—"
“Caroline Davenport, are you stuttering?” Noah smirked and closed the distance between us. “A sight I never thought I’d see. Hold on, let me get my video camera.”
My cheeks warmed, and I knew I was blushing. I mashed my lips together to stop myself from smiling up at him. I couldn’t let him make me laugh right now, or otherwise I’d never be able to get this out. Use your words, Caroline. But it was hard to think of them with my heart pounding so hard it ricocheted throughout my entire body. I just needed to rip it off like a Band-Aid.
“Caroline, what is i—”
“Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?” I inhaled and leaned back on my heels.
Noah’s eyes widened for a moment as he stared at me…and then a sly smile slid halfway up his face. “Christmas is a few weeks away still. You should still have time to find someone. You don’t have to settle for me—”
“
I want you,” I practically yelled then slammed my mouth shut. My cheeks were on fire. I shook my head. “I meant—I want to go with you.”
A wide grin spread across his handsome face. “I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to ask you out for ages.”
I gasped. “Really?”
He nodded, then leaned forward and whispered, “I might’ve even followed you here…but then I saw Emersyn and just couldn’t bring myself to ask.”
My jaw dropped. I swayed and reached out to steady myself on the car, but instead landed on Noah’s arm—which sent a whole new rush of heat and electricity up my arm.
I looked up into his green eyes. “You’ll go to the dance with me?”
“I would be honored to attend with you, but—”
“But what?” This was it. This was how the blow was delivered.
“Can I take you on a date first?” Noah reached out and tucked a loose red strand of hair behind my ear. “Like maybe tomorrow night?”
I grinned. “How about tonight?”
Chapter Seventeen
Emersyn
A damp chill slid down my spine. I blinked then opened my eyes wide… Still, I saw nothing but darkness. I spun in a slow circle, but no matter which way I looked, I only found a wall of black pressing in on me. My pulse thundered through my body like a jackhammer. My palms grew sweaty as my fingers trembled.
“Hello!” I screamed into the nothingness.
The silence that followed was eerie and haunting. I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten. But when I opened them, I saw the same thing—me, alone in a sea of darkness. My stomach turned. I had to get out of here, so I did the only thing that felt natural—I ran.
I couldn’t have said how long or far I ran, but as I pumped my arms, the air around me thickened. My lungs screamed in protest. My magic tingled in my fingertips with nothing to fight.
And then something moved in front of me. Bad instincts or not, I charged right for it. Except when I got to it, it passed over me like smoke. Wait. I frowned and slid to a stop then lifted my hands up in front of me.
It was smoke.
Now that I stood still, I saw that I was completely surrounded by thick gray smoke. It wrapped around me, slithering and coiling. I spun in circles, searching for the source that wasn’t there.
And then I heard something.
Something that sounded like screaming.
I turned toward the noise just as light flashed— I gasped. It was Cooper. My brother was running up to me, shouting something I couldn’t hear.
“COOPER! What’s wrong?”
But he didn’t stop when he got up to me. He didn’t even pause or look over at me. He just kept running. Except he kept glancing over his shoulder and looking at something above us. I frowned and followed his stare but saw only darkness. When I turned back, my brother was getting too far away. I cursed and chased after him.
“Cooper, what’s happening?” I screamed. “Coop, talk to me! I’m here!”
He shouted back, but his words were all mumbled and garbled together—like I was underwater trying to hear him. It wasn’t easy to keep up with him. My legs burned. Just then, he dove to the ground and threw his sword above him. Orange magic flashed from his fingers around the hilt.
I jumped out in front of him. “Cooper!”
He flinched and looked up with wide green eyes…but he didn’t see me. I reached out to grab his shoulder, and my fingers passed right through him. I stumbled back a step. This wasn’t real. I wasn’t really with him. He was in the Old Lands, and I was in New York.
This was a dream.
I gasped. This is a dream!
Dreams were Cooper’s gift. He had to be sending this to me. But why? What’s happening in there? I stepped closer and really examined everything I saw. My brother’s face was pale and stretched tight. Sweat and dirt marred his handsome face…and blood. There was an unmistakable patch of blood staining the white of his shirt. My stomach sank.
He screamed something again, but I couldn’t hear what he said. Nor could I see who he was talking to. That gray smoke surrounded him, wrapping around his body. He leapt to his feet and sprinted forward again, this time slicing his sword through the air.
Oh Goddess. Oh no.
I see you, Cooper.
I hear you.
Red lightning flashed across the blackness above me. The smoke turned a rich scarlet shade, and then Cooper was gone. NO, come back! I jumped to the spot he’d just been in and slammed into something hard and warm. My breath left me in a rush. Heat filled my bones. Something tightened around my biceps and I flinched.
“Emersyn!” Deacon’s voice echoed through my mind.
I looked up and found his beautiful face looking down at me…and I instantly relaxed. It was just Deacon. I was okay. Nothing could hurt me with him around. Warmth spread through my body, and my eyes fluttered.
Deacon shook my shoulders, and red lightning flashed around us. “WAKE UP!”
I gasped and shot upright. “Cooper!”
“No, I’m Deacon,” he said softly and pushed my hair off my forehead.
I frowned and looked up into his violet eyes. “No…no, I just had a dream about—”
“Cooper. I know.” He sighed and dropped his hand. “I did, too. I think he’s in trouble, but I don’t know what to do. They could be anywhere in the Old Lands. We might not be able to find them. We don’t know how to navigate through there, not without losing ourselves in the process.”
He was right. We couldn’t navigate it. But I had an idea of who could. “Follow me.”
Chapter Eighteen
Deacon
Neither of us said a word as we threw shoes and coats on then hightailed it out of the apartment, pausing only to grab our daggers off my dresser by the door. We didn’t wake my parents as we left either. This was Coven business, but more importantly, this was Old Lands business and my parents knew nothing of it.
I had no idea where Emersyn was leading us or what she was planning, but as she sprinted into Central Park, all of my confusion died. She was headed to the entrance into the Old Lands, or at least where we thought it was. That was her brother we saw in our dream, and it was her twin in there with him. I knew my soulmate was protective of her family, but I had to pray she wasn’t about to go in there after them.
I’d meant what I said when we first woke. We had no way of navigating our way through the Old Lands even from the gate right inside Edenburg. This was a different entrance altogether, one that wasn’t used. Ever. We had no way of knowing what would await us on the other side. But assuming we could navigate it…we had no idea where they were. That dream was nothing but smoke and darkness. It literally could’ve been anywhere.
Cooper had without a doubt sent us that dream, but the question was why?
Central Park was dark and gloomy, with only a sliver of moonlight shining down on us. The air was chillier tonight then it had been this week, and something in my gut told me that had less to do with the season and more to do with the fear oozing out of Emersyn.
We raced through the park with only our ragged breathing to fill the silence. When we finally reached the little lake, we both slid to an ungraceful stop. Emersyn bent over and put her hands on her knees as she gasped for air. I was only doing a little better.
“Em…we can’t…go in…there,” I said between breaths. My side pinched . The ice-cold air stole any condition I’d been in athletically. “We can’t…go in blind.”
She stood up straight and grimaced. “I know. But…they can.”
I frowned and followed her stare…and my gaze landed on a gorgeous white Pegasus about ten feet away. It was drinking from the lake, its tail swishing around and the feathers on its wings fluttering in the breeze. I blinked and looked down at Em.
I must’ve made a face, because she held up both palms. “Hear me out. These animals are from the Old Lands. They know how to get around. It’s their home.”
“So…you want to ride one in?” I
shook my head. Her desire to help our friends was so strong it choked me. “We can’t communicate with them—”
“But Chutney can! She’s told us countless times that animals can understand us, but we just can’t speak back.” She pointed to the beautiful winged horse. “These animals know you, D. They’ve been seeing you here for years. Ask them to go in and check on them for us. You could use your magic if you have to, but my gut tells me you won’t need to.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. Damn, I hadn’t thought of that.
Never in my life had I attempted to talk to an animal, nor had I ever tried to approach a Pegasus. But as I slowly approached the creature, it flapped its wings and stomped its front feet. My heart climbed up my throat. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my breathing. Animals sensed that kind of stuff.
I held my palms up in the air and said in a soft, calm voice, “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you for a second. Is that okay?”
The Pegasus snorted and shook its head. The air around it sparkled with golden glitter, and then an entire heard of Pegasi stood behind it. Bushes to my left rustled. Tree branches swayed. In the blink of an eye, a swarm of animals surrounded us. Some were normal, Earth-looking creatures like squirrels and rabbits. But there were dozens of other kinds, ones that didn’t technically belong here.
I licked my lips and looked around at my furry audience. “Hello, everyone…”
The animals all cocked their heads and watched me. Some of them sat down.
“Sorry to bother you this evening, but we were hoping you could help us.” I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Our friends went into the Old Lands a couple weeks ago. They went in to save our other friend from the balefire. We think they are in trouble right now. In danger. We do not know our way around in there and may get lost, so we were wondering if you would do us a huge favor and go look for them for us?”
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