“D?” He answered.
“Oh, hi, it’s Em. Um…Koth is here—”
“Where? I’d like to speak to him.”
I chuckled. “That is mutual, evidently. We’re up in the front right corner—”
Chutney grabbed the phone. “Tenn? Hey, we’ll meet you over by the mini cheeseburger table.” Then she hung up and handed the phone back.
“All right, you better go talk to him before someone else snags him.”
Koth smiled. “Thank you. We’ll catch up later tonight?”
“Definitely,” Deacon and I said at the same time.
Chutney winked then dragged the horde of dragons off to meet up with Tenn.
I sighed. “I know Koth and Silas are cool, but those other guys still kinda make me nervous. Which is weird because I control fire…so like…why fear them?”
Deacon chuckled and shook his head. He threw his arm around my shoulders then led me through the crowd. “Let’s check this place out —see how people are doing, shall we?”
We walked in silence, holding on to each other while the music played and teenagers danced all around us. Everywhere I looked I saw nothing but smiles and laughter and it was overwhelmingly relieving.
“Is that Timothy?” Deacon pulled me to a stop and pointed to our right. “Holy shit he’s not wearing flannel.”
I snorted. He wasn’t wrong. That was Timothy, in a fancy black suit and not a flannel. But that wasn’t what caught my eye. “I’m more curious about what’s happening between him and Katherine…since they’re all cuddled up at a table alone together.”
Deacon frowned. “Oh, I’m not curious about that at all. I know what’s going on there.”
My eyes widened. He sensed people’s desires. “DO TELL.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, he’s earned some privacy. But I’m sure your imagination could fill in the blanks.”
I grinned and watched them as we walked away. Timothy really had been through hell and back. He deserved the world and I was ecstatic to see that maybe Katherine was giving that to him. Katherine was one of the most gifted healers our species had, and she was a bad ass, too. She’d be good for him. He deserved to be happy.
Suddenly Deacon broke into hysterical laughter.
I scowled and looked up at him. “What just happened?”
He shook his head and pointed to the stage. “Your parents’ idea of teenage fun.”
I scanned the stage until I spotted them…sitting on the edge off to the left. They sat there overlooking the whole party looking every bit the mischievous teenager. Actually, they reminded me of Tegan.
“Well, I’m just glad they don’t have to be apart anymore because of me.” I sighed. “I couldn’t imagine being forced to be away from you for a few days, and they had to do it for fourteen years—”
“HEY!” Deacon shouted and smacked my ass.
I jumped. “What?”
“We had a truce.”
I snorted. “Oh. Shit. Right. You’re ugly. Get away from me. That better?”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
I bumped his arm with my shoulder, then spotted Henley across the way. “Hey look, there’s Henley – why is she with Caroline?”
Deacon shrugged. “Caroline was my best friend before I got Marked. So whenever Henley and Royce visited, they hung out with my friends.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” I watched his fiery cousin for a second. “She doesn’t need saving, right?”
Deacon’s grin turned wicked. “Henley? Nah. But we might have other damage control to do.”
I followed his gaze…and then rolled my eyes. Easton was twirling Lily around the dance floor in a highly inappropriate sexy tango. Constance and Daniel were slow dancing next to them but laughing along. A few feet over Paulina was teaching Braison how to salsa…along with a small crowd following along.
“Who would’ve thought it’d be Kessler and Mona making out in the middle of the dance and not Easton and Lily….or your sister and Tenn.”
“You know what?” I shook my head and turned away from his gaze. “I don’t wanna see. I’ve had enough PDA witnessing in the last two days.”
“BETTINA?!” My sister shouted.
Oh, she’s here! I turned just in time to watch Bettina tackle my twin in a hug. I chuckled and grabbed Deacon’s sleeve, then dragged him along with me.
“I missed you!”
“I missed you, too!” Tegan stepped back then looked her up and down. “Damn, girl. You look hot!”
It was true, she did look hot. Hell, her whole leg was sticking out of that dress. She was actually giving Tegan a run for sexiest dress here. Poor Tenn.
Deacon whistled behind me, then he grinned and shook his head. He walked up to Jackson and shook his hand. “Lancaster, man…you, me, and Tenn are gonna need to start a support group.”
Jackson threw his head back and laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “Right, like you aren’t enjoying these dresses more than we are.”
“Emersyn, bloody hell, I love those boots.” Jackson grinned and pointed at my feet.
I smiled.
Then he tugged on Bettina’s hand. “Love, show them yours.”
Bettina gasped. OH! She giggled and pointed her left leg out in front of her to show off glittery hi-top converse. “Look at these! Jackson got them for me!”
“I’m gonna pretend I can’t see your entire leg sticking out of that dress and just focus on the sparkly sneakers.”
Bettina’s face lit up. She spun toward the sound of Tenn’s deep voice and squealed. And then she tackled him in a big bear hug. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. I squeezed Deacon’s arm. They were so freaking adorable.
After a minute, she pushed back and grinned up at him. “Hello, brother.”
“Hello, sister.” He shook his head and smiled. “Nice…is that technically a dress?”
Tegan smacked his arm. “It’s no less of a dress than mine.”
Tenn sighed and turned to Jackson, then shook his hand. “You see what I’m talking about, right?”
“Really? That’s it?” Cooper groaned and walked up to us with Lennox hanging on to his arm. “A handshake and a mutual understanding?”
“Guess you’ve got that Bishop temper after all, Stargazer.” Lennox patted Coop’s chest. She looked to Bettina and winked. “Ladies, looking fierce as usual.”
Bettina seemed to be thinking what I was as she frowned and eyed Lennox’s hand holding on to Cooper. Then she arched one eyebrow at her. Lennox shrugged and winked. I tugged on D’s hand. He glanced down at me and winked. Dammit. That is NOT an answer. I thought Lennox and Warner were a thing…why is she here with Cooper? And where is Warner?
“Bishop temper? What the hell does that mean?” Cooper growled.
I looked to my twin.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re like the Hulk, bro.”
“I am not.”
“Yeah, you are.” I laughed. “Or should we revisit the way you reacted to Tegan’s dress a few minutes ago?”
Tegan cackled. “I mean, there’s a long list of examples. Where would you like to begin?”
“I do not have anger management problems!”
Tegan scoffed. “Says the guy getting angry right now.”
“Yeah, what about the breakfast incident before we left Eden?” Deacon wagged his eyebrows. “And let’s not forget the Tegan incident back in Tampa…”
“That was different.”
Lennox stared at him blankly. “We had to buy you new shoes this morning because you hulk smashed the sole right off.”
I glanced over to Bettina but my gaze landed on something else. I gasped. “Deacon. Who is that? With Royce?”
Everyone frowned and looked to where I was staring…where Royce just strolled inside with a date. A date I’d never seen before. He was very handsome, but unfamiliar.
“Uhhh…” Deacon chuckled. “I have no idea.”
Just then, Royce spotted us s
taring. He did a little wiggle dance then sauntered over to us like he was on a runway show. His date followed suit without hesitation.
“Is Royce’s suit made of silk?”
“Tegan, this is me.” Royce stopped in front of us and wagged his eyebrows. “Of course it’s silk.”
“Silk that perfectly matches his eyes, as a matter of fact,” Royce’s date said with a sexy wink. “Though, sadly, I can’t say the same about mine.”
Royce grinned and hooked his arm around his date’s elbow. “Y’all. This dark-skinned beauty is Leo. He’s a witch from Connecticut, but that’s a long story for another world.”
“I quite like that intro, so sassy and mysterious.” Leo grinned and pushed his thick-rimmed black glasses up his nose. He had light brown eyes that were actually the same color as his skin and the combination was alluring. He was quite pretty. “Nice to meet you all.”
Deacon reached out and touched his blazer. He grinned. “Dolce and Gabbana?”
Leo’s eyes flashed with excitement. “Beauty and brains. You must be Deacon.”
Royce rolled his sapphire eyes. “Yeah, but he likes girls. Specifically that one.”
“Pity, what a sandwich that would’ve made.” Leo winked to Deacon, then turned to me and waved his hand up and down. “But I get it, you’re as pretty as they are. Hey, where’s this Tennessee – OH, that must be you—”
“LEO, we talked about this. His girl will bite it off if you touch him.” Royce winked to Tegan as he dragged Leo away. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I promised Leo I’d introduce him to some dragons.”
Once they were gone, Lennox frowned. “I thought he had a thing for one of the dragons?”
“Yeah, hence Leo.” Deacon grinned like the Cheshire cat. “And no, I had nothing to do with this.”
Cooper cursed. “Do we need to be concerned?”
“Do I need to have my camera ready?” Tegan laughed.
Tenn sighed. “No, Chutney is over there. She brought Koth as her date tonight. She’s been with them all night.”
“Are they…dating?”
“No, they’re just friends. But they thought a Coven member escorting the King of the shifters would be a good idea for our first joint event.”
Ahhhh, that makes sense. I didn’t get a romance vibe from them earlier.
“ERIN!” Bettina shouted then ran toward a red-haired girl. She hugged her tight. “Oh, my God! I thought we lost you!”
Erin pulled back and narrowed her light brown eyes. Then frowned. “Wait…Bettina?!”
“Bloody hell, it is you!” Jackson cursed then pulled her in for a hug. “When did you get better?”
“This morning,” Dean Hoover said as he strolled up to the group. He took Erin’s hand in his and held tight. “Though I may have snuck her out.”
Erin beamed up at him with flushed cheeks, their hands still gripped tight. “Dean’s been healing me. I’m supposed to still be in the infirmary, so I have to lay low tonight.”
Lennox squealed then tackled her, her eyes watering. “Ginger Spice, you scared us.”
The door behind them opened. Warner and Gen came in, arm-in-arm, both looking ravishing in their black suits. Bettina and I both looked to Lennox…who was watching their linked arms. WEIRD. And then Harlan walked in…carrying a giggling Willow on his back. Her turquoise dress perfectly matched his tie. This is getting weirder. I have so many questions. What the hell has happened in seven days?
Dean cleared his throat. “Lennox, you know what I think we need right now?”
Lennox grinned. She pulled her wand out from inside her thigh-high boot and pointed it towards the DJ booth. The song playing cut off, and then we heard, “Yo, I’ll tell you what I want. What I really, really want!”
Dean threw up two peace signs and yelled. “GIRL POWER!” Then he charged into the middle of the dance floor.
To my surprise, we all ran out there after him, giggling and singing along. It was like we’d flipped a switch and all our stress vanished. We were just teenagers again, goofing off at a dance with our friends. The SOMA students looked genuinely confused, but all of the Edenburg students were freaking loving it. Bettina told us the story of the Halloween dance and how they’d dressed as the Spice Girls – more specifically, how Dean dressed as a Spice Girl. I wished I could have seen that…but this was pretty damn great, too.
By the time we all got to the middle of the dance floor, the entire ball was out there with us. Everyone was laughing and goofing off. Tennessee and Tegan lip-synched the words to each other, rather aggressively but in a cute way. Jackson wrapped his arms around Bettina as they danced.
I turned and looked up at my own soulmate…and all my worries just sort of faded away. There was still a whole lot to do with this school, and The Coven had a whole other list of problems to attend to…but for right now, in this moment at a dance surrounded by all of my favorite people…I let myself not care about anything else.
Tomorrow, I would worry.
Tonight, I would dance.
Chapter Thirty
Emersyn
I was leaning against Deacon, using his shoulder as a pillow when the screen on his apple watch lit up in front of me…and then I saw the time.
Midnight.
We’d been here for hours already.
I was ready to go home. I was ready to pull a Cinderella and flee before anyone noticed. It’d been a long, stressful week after months of stress. This ball had been a ton of fun, but all I wanted right now was to put on my sweatpants and one of Deacon’s soft sweaters and climb in bed. With lots of snuggling. And mindless television. It was all within my reach, we just needed to sneak out. Actually, with the slow songs playing at the moment it made sense to run now.
Deacon wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “We can go. Just let me gather her…”
He lifted his free hand in the air and wiggled his fingers. Red mist pooled out and spread into the unsuspecting, still dancing crowd.
Tegan appeared right in front of us in an instant. She had her hair tied up in her trademark messy bun and was wearing Tennessee’s jacket. “You rang?”
I smiled even though my eyelids were feeling heavier by the second. “Hiiii. Look, we’re twinzies.”
She looked at me then at Deacon, then arched one eyebrow. “She okay?”
He shrugged. “I think she’s just tired.”
I groaned. “I meant samzies,” I said while tugging on both of our jackets – our boyfriend’s jackets.
“Ohhhh.” Tegan chuckled. “Very nice, Em. Now, you rang…you bouncing?”
“Yeah…” I yawned and my eyes closed for a second. When I tried to open them my eyelashes didn’t want to let go.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll bring you home. Damn.” Tegan laughed. “Can you make it through a portal or does Deacon need to carry you?”
I frowned and then everything went dark.
“Emersyn.”
I gasped and jumped away from D. “I’m fine.”
He smiled and shook his head. “Come here.”
I stumbled forward then let him scoop me up in his arms. Tegan snapped her fingers and a white portal box opened up in front of us. There was a gust of wind and then we were in the foyer of Deacon’s apartment, with him still cradling me in his arms. He gently sat my feet on the ground then eased me back into standing. I stumbled and crashed against his chest. I tried to grab ahold of him but his jacket sleeves were several inches too long and my hands were buried.
“Maybe I should carry you upstairs.” Deacon caught me from falling.
“Maybe you should kiss me.”
He grinned then pressed his lips to mine. His phone rang, ruining the moment. He groaned and reached into his back pocket to grab his phone.
“Who is texting you at this hour?”
“I have no ide—Amelia?” His frowned deepened. “I thought she was having a sleepover with her friends at school?”
“Yeah, she was.”
He tappe
d a few times on his phone and then a blast of ice-cold energy exploded out of him and slammed into my face. His eyes widened and his face turned sheet white.
“What? What’s wrong?”
But he just stared at his phone in his hand.
“Deacon.” I hurried over to him, yet still he didn’t move. “Deacon. Deacon. Talk to me, what’s wrong?”
He blinked and shook his head, then handed me his iPhone.
I grabbed it and spun it around to find a text from Amelia that said, Deacon, don’t freak out but I left. Landy was acting weird then disappeared so I went to her dorm – and found a note saying she ran away and was heading back to Issale. She’ll never make it on her own, so I already left. I have to find her before she freezes to death out there or gets killed. Please don’t be mad. I’ll check in a I bit.
“SHIT.” I fumbled with my hands lost in Deacon’s jacket, but finally managed to get my fingers out and dialed Tegan. With each ring my heart climbed up my throat.
“Oh, Goddess, how long ago did she send that?” Deacon groaned and tugged on his hair. “Why didn’t I check on her? We have to find them. Amelia can’t survive on her own out there!”
On the third ring, Tegan answered. “Hey—”
“GET BACK HERE NOW!” I screamed into the phone.
Tegan appeared in the foyer instantly, all joking gone. “What’s wrong?”
I shoved Deacon’s phone at her. “Look!”
She read the text and then her eyes widened. A portal opened up beside her. “Let’s go, we have to tell Koth now.”
The Empire Witch
School of Magical Arts Novella 3
Chapter One
Amelia
I should not be out here.
This is a terrible idea.
Deacon and Aunt Heather are going to kill me.
If someone else doesn’t first.
My heart was pounding and the thumping sound drowned out everything else around me. Not that there was much going on around me. At this point, I didn’t even know what street I was on. I’d never been further south than the World Trade Center memorial, and that was only the one time – and we’d driven there. I was way south of there now.
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