Witch of Warwick (Dark Coven Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Once she was done telling her side, we exited the attic together, walked down the stairs, and made our way out the back door into the yard. From down there, the mark was less obvious. When we’d been up in the attic, it’d been like a beacon calling out to me.

  I didn’t wait for her before I jogged over to the scorch mark on the grass. I touched the ground and closed my eyes. This feeling of white-hot pain shot through me. I gasped as my arms began to vibrate. The next thing I knew, Miranda’s feet were quickly beating the grass between us.

  “Wait,” I grunted out, holding one hand up to stop her.

  “Did you see something? What happened?” she asked. “Because I didn’t see anything that night. My windows face out the front of the house. And that’s where I was.”

  “Tell me exactly what happened,” I demanded.

  “It was just… a typical night. Grandma would walk the garden late in the evening. Said she liked the night air, but I heard… I don’t know. Yelling maybe.” She blinked four times rapidly. These memories were new to her so I’d be gentle. But at least she didn’t doubt that they were real. “She said something… a word I didn’t understand.

  “A spell,” I mumbled.

  “Then there was a flash. I thought it was heat lightning. Didn’t think to check on my grandmother.” She took a deep breath and swallowed hard like she was trying to keep tears from falling. “Maybe if I’d gone to her sooner…”

  “You might be dead too.” I shook his head. “You have no idea what happened. This scorch mark… it’s from evil. Dark magic. Serena tried to save herself, but there was nothing she could do. Which means there was nothing you could have done.” Now I took a deep breath. Thinking of her in that situation wasn’t something I enjoyed. “I can feel that there’s so much more to it, but I can’t see it all. I don’t even see others. Just her. In the circle.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Luken

  No wonder the council had wanted me to stay at bay rather than become embroiled in all this. The look in Miranda’s eyes as she spoke of what she’d seen brought feelings out of me that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. But it also convinced me more and more that there was something sinister at work here. They’d told me they didn’t want me to influence the outcome, but now that it was clear there was more to this and the fact that I was completely tangled up in Miranda, I wasn’t going to shy away now.

  And we didn’t have much time to figure it out.

  Miranda and I were making our way back to the house, my arm around her shoulders, when I heard the car pull into the driveway. Miller got here quicker than I’d hoped. We rounded the outside instead of going in and caught him right as he was getting out of his red Mustang. The car was old but Miller loved it.

  “Hey,” he called out as soon as he saw us.

  People had told me that Miller and I could’ve been brothers. I didn’t think that was the case given that his parents were still together, still happy. Miller was an inch shorter than me but nobody could really tell the difference. He had brown hair a shade lighter than me but our eyes were both the shitty shade of brown. Other people didn’t to say our eyes were shit brown but whatever.

  “Hey,” I said once we got closer. “This is Miranda.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” she said as if we hadn’t had the night we’d just had.

  “Yeah, you too,” he said back. “Thanks for letting me stay here.”

  “Not a problem,” she told him. “I have more room than I knew I did.”

  Miller cocked his head to the side in confusion. “What?”

  Miranda sighed and shook her head. “He’s a witch, right?” she asked again. As if she needed the reassurance.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her and for the first time in hours, my chest felt lighter. We’d still have to deal with what we discovered in the backyard but it didn’t have to be tonight.

  “Yeah,” I told her. “But if he wasn’t he’d be really confused right now.”

  “Hell,” Miller jumped in. “To be fair, I’m really confused most of the time.”

  The sound of Miranda’s laugh reminded me that I didn’t hear it often enough at all. And fuck did I hate that Miller was the one to cause her to make the sound.

  “Well,” she continued with answering his question. Miranda swept her arm out to show the house as if she was a model on a gameshow highlighting the prize. “Turns out this amazing gothic house has more than meets the eye to it.”

  His eyebrows slammed down in confusion. “Huh?”

  With one arm around Miranda’s shoulders, I clasped the other hand on Miller’s shoulder and directed him toward the house. “We don’t know why yet but Serena cast a spell or something on the house and there’s an entire part that you can’t see.”

  “Seriously?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she told him.

  He shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t all of her spells have been broken when she died.”

  “You’d think,” I agreed with him. “But this one didn’t. We just discovered it so haven’t had time to try to figure out why.”

  “Interesting,” was all he said.

  “I think I want to sleep in the secret house tonight,” she said as we got back inside the house. She flipped the living room light on as we entered.

  I watched Miller’s reaction to the house carefully. I’d made some missteps that I regretted immediately when I’d arrived and I really didn’t want him to do the same. But Miller was a better person than me and I didn’t think he’d even react.

  He didn’t.

  “Why’s that?” I asked her.

  “I’ve never stayed somewhere so nice. Plus, you said it’s mine now.”

  I nodded. “It is.”

  “If she preferred it there, why shouldn’t I at least try it?” Her voice betrayed the sadness she’d been trying to hide this entire time.

  I’d never thought she was over her grandmother’s death. Not at all. But we’d been busy enough to keep it in the background.

  “I’m hungry,” Miller said first. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

  Miranda giggled and this was the second time she laughed at him. Probably shouldn’t have noticed that. “This town has nothing open past like eight. You’d have to go out of town.”

  “Sandwiches?” I offered. We’d gotten the stuff for that at the grocery store and Miranda and I should’ve eaten before bed anyway.

  “Yeah,” she told me. “I could eat.”

  The three of us headed for the kitchen and Miller dropped his bag just inside by the table.

  Miranda and I pulled out the deli meat, bread, and condiments then she went back for lettuce and cheese. She also pulled out a jar of pickles and a bag of chips. I hadn’t thought of those.

  “So how do you like Warwick?” Miller asked but didn’t specify which of us he was asking.

  Predictably, Miranda groaned.

  “I love it here,” I offered. Miller raised his brow and fought a grin.

  “I bet. What about you Miranda? You grew up here, right?”

  “Sort of,” she told him but offered nothing more. “And I don’t find Warwick to be… welcoming.” She took her plate and went to the table, leaving the both of us to finish.

  “What’s that about?” he whispered as if she wasn’t right there.

  “The town has been shit to her. The minister’s daughters are fucking awful.” I’d leave it at that for the time being. I’d think by now, Miller had gotten the details on why I’d been sent here and he’d know who I meant by minister. If he didn’t, that’d be a conversation for a later time.

  When the two of us got to the table, I dropped into the chair beside Miranda while Miller chose to sit across from us.

  I’d just taken a big bite when Miranda asked, “So, Miller, how’s your grandma?”

  His loud laughter filled the previously quiet room. The food lodged into my throat and I thought this was it. This was the way I was g
oing to die. “Fuck,” I grunted out once I got the food cleared.

  “What?” A smile played on her lips.

  Miller held onto his side as if the laughing was causing him physical pain. “You told her about that?”

  “Didn’t have a choice.”

  “Why not?

  Miranda, still smiling, said, “I told him something really embarrassing about myself so he returned the favor.”

  “For him to tell you that,” Miller leaned in on his elbows, “You’d have to have told him something really good.”

  “Or really bad,” she countered and looked him right in the eye.

  The more I got to know Miranda, the more I was coming to realize that the girl might’ve acted timid but she was fearless.

  “I’m kind of tired,” Miranda said as we put everything away. The plates were paper so those went in the trash which meant there was only a knife to wash. I did that quickly and set it in the strainer for morning.

  I pushed a piece of her blonde hair away from her face. “Let’s go to bed then.”

  Miller grabbed his bag as we went back out front. I made sure the door was locked and the lights were off then we climbed the stairs. I honestly couldn’t imagine the few nights Miranda had stayed here alone. How dark and lonely it must’ve been.

  “You can stay in Luken’s room, if you want to,” Miranda told him when she stopped at her bedroom door. “Or you can go into the nice house and pick a room for yourself.”

  “Thanks, Miranda.”

  She disappeared into her room while he and I kept going until we were in my room and the door was closed.

  “And where will you be sleeping?” Miller asked me once we were alone.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “With Miranda.”

  “Already?” he asked. “You work quick and I can’t fucking believe you told her about my grandma.”

  “I had to.” Then I sighed. “She told me about something—”

  “Personal. Yeah. I know. But the more you both say that the more I want to know what it was.”

  “Want all you like. You’re never going to know.”

  “Listen.” Miller leaned back against the dresser on the right side of the room. “Michael didn’t actually send me here, I volunteered.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on but I overheard some things and words like dangerous, etc. My gut told me that I should be here with you. Just in case.”

  First thing Miller told me about being a warlock was to always, always trust your gut. Being grounded with the elements gave us an intuition of sorts. We had to listen to it. I wasn’t sure I’d fully grounded myself but I’d listened to my gut every single time where Miranda was concerned. That intuition had me falling for her, which I never did, in a matter of days.

  “If that’s the case,” I told him, “Thanks.”

  He nodded once. “So do you want me to stay here in your room or in this secret house?” he asked. “I’ll do whatever you want but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly curious about this hidden house.”

  I chuckled. Of course he would be. I’m still curious about what secrets it might hold. “You’ll want to go to that house. It’s fucking plush.”

  “Sweet. Let’s get changed.”

  Since I’d only brought a small bag with me, I slid into my pajama pants then considered a T-shirt. At home, I slept in boxers, no shirt. Miranda had already seen me naked so I skipped the shirt. Miller on the other hand wore both. Said he didn’t want to distract Miranda.

  I wasn’t worried.

  When we returned to the secret mansion, I almost thought Miranda would want to stay in her grandmother’s room, but instead, she walked right through the room and into the hall. As the three of us roamed down the hall, she opened one room after another, glanced quickly inside then kept moving. Until she finally stopped and put her hands on her hips.

  “I think it’s this one,” she said, pushing through the door.

  I followed more out of curiosity than anything else. Why had she picked this one was what I wanted to know.

  “Which room do you want me in?” I asked her once I checked out her room. It was going to be right next door because as I’d come to know, I didn’t want to be far from her.

  “Oh…” She turned around to face me, but for whatever reason, her eyes didn’t meet mine. She adjusted her weight from one foot to the next, then back and stretched the hem of her pajama shirt between each thumb and forefinger.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. Clearly, she was nervous, but why, I didn’t understand.

  “I was kind of hoping you’d sleep in here,” she said. Finally, her big blue eyes met mine. Fuck. She could’ve asked me for anything right about then. Especially looking at me like that. “I just…” She glanced away. “Don’t want to be alone.” The way she said it was almost like a confession. Admitting to something she’d rather not.

  “Yeah. Of course. I didn’t want to overstep.”

  A small smile crossed her lips. “Haven’t we already gone too far to be able to overstep?”

  A chuckle rumbled through my chest as Miller snorted. I hadn’t mentioned us having sex to him but he knew now.

  Her eyes widened as she remembered that Miller was standing right there beside us.

  “I—I…”

  “Don’t worry about it Miranda,” he said, trying to put her at ease. “Luken and I are basically family. There’s no such thing as TMI.”

  “Uh… yeah there is,” I told him. There were definitely areas that would be too much information but I gave him a grateful, thinned lipped smile for taking the awkward out of this for her.

  Miranda nudged my arm with her shoulder. “You can, uh, take any room you want. Except the one we came through. That was my grandma’s.”

  “Will do,” he said then went right for the room on the left of us and shut the door behind him.

  I went over and climbed on the most comfortable mattress that ever existed. Than I’d ever dreamed existed. Holy hell, I could get used to this. When Miranda crawled in next to me and tucked herself under my arm, I knew I never wanted to sleep another way. Shit. I shouldn’t have been thinking that way but again… my gut wasn’t usually wrong.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Miranda

  The next morning, I nibbled on a bagel as Miller and Luken had several bowls of cereal for breakfast. I’d gone from boys not wanting to speak to me to having two men living with me.

  If only Grandma could see me now.

  “So what are we doing today?” I asked the two of them as they each sucked down a cup of coffee in record time. Maybe neither of them had slept well last night. I didn’t know.

  “I was thinking we should do something fun,” Miller answered. “Doesn’t seem like you’ve had a lot of fun lately. With everything going on.”

  “We went to a fair that I always wanted to go to,” I told him. “And the farmer’s market.”

  He sat back and held up his hands. “I stand corrected.”

  “What were you thinking, Miller?” Luken asked, giving him a side eye.

  “I was thinking about some magical fun,” he told us. “Have you started training her yet?”

  Luken shook his head. “Not really. We’ve been… settling in.”

  Miller snorted and said, “I bet.” Luken raised a middle finger and shoved it right into his best friend’s face. “No really. We could start with some small things. A few easy spells. Maybe grounding to the elements. It’d be a fun way to spend the day.”

  I sat up straighter. “I’m in. If I’m a witch, I want to learn all of the witchy things.”

  “Yeah, Luken,” Miller scooted toward me. “Let’s learn some witchy things.”

  He sighed and nodded his head. “Fine but we should start with grounding. We haven’t found Serena’s spell book yet and none of them would work if Miranda doesn’t know how to ground in the first place.”

  “Yes!” Miller pumped his fist in the air.
“I’m going to go get dressed.” He ran out of the room after dropping his dishes in the sink.

  “My grandma had a spell book?”

  “Yeah.” He slid out of his chair and took his dishes to the sink like Miller had. “Every witch has one. Mostly it’s one per family that’s passed down from generation to generation. It’s got to be in the attic but I didn’t see it when we were up there before.”

  I tucked my hair behind my ears. I couldn’t imagine what it looked like this morning other than a pile of blonde mess. “We were distracted.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Is that what it’s called? Book of spells?”

  “Most refer to it as a grimoire. But yeah. It’s a book of spells.” He came over to me and took my plate and glass from the table and dropped them in the sink with the others. Then he was back and pulling me from the table. “We should get dressed. Miller is like a kid in a candy store with this stuff.”

  “I’m excited,” I told him. The flutter of anticipation filled my chest just to prove it.

  Luken didn’t release my hand until we were outside our rooms. Then he told me to wear something comfortable and meet them in the backyard. No one would be able to see us back there. Probably why my grandma always took her nighttime walks out there.

  I pulled out my most comfortable pair of shorts and an older tank top for what we had planned. I wouldn’t care if something happened to these clothes or if they got dirty. Once I pulled my hair back into a bun, I skipped down the stairs and out of the house to find the guys in the back yard like they’d said.

  “OK.” I slapped my hands together. “What do we do first.”

  “As an elemental witch, you’re connected to the elements,” Luken explained. “You’ll used them or invoke them with every spell you ever do. But they won’t work for you if you don’t ground yourself.”

  “How do I do that?” I asked him.

  He nodded to Miller who stepped forward. “May as well have him teach you since he taught me,” Luken told me then moved away.