Term One

by K M Charron

  When Sydney and Khourtney finished the incantations, the orb descended gently back into Ainsley’s palms, becoming clear once again.

  “It’s ready,” Sydney said soberly before shutting her eyes.

  Ainsley could see the fatigue weighing on her, on all of them. She felt it too, but she wasn’t the one who had to be strong enough to wield magic in a battle. “You’re all so tired. Maybe we should do this another night.”

  Sydney opened her eyes and glared at her with disdain. “There is no other night. You heard Saskia. We need celestial energy. We can’t wait weeks for the solstice. It’s not worth the gamble; witches’ lives are at stake. It has to be tonight when the full moon is at its most powerful.”

  Jax cleared his throat. “Guys…” Jax was reading something on his phone, and by the look on his face, it was serious.

  Ainsley’s stomach dropped.

  “It’s from Vanessa.” His sister was one year behind Jax in the coven training and a freshman at Ashcroft. “Jasmine Singh and Corey Brighton are dead. A groom found their bodies at the stables about an hour ago.”

  Ainsley was glad she was already sitting. She hadn’t known Jasmine, but Corey had been in one of her classes. Her chest tightened, and she fought to take in a few slow, deep breaths, so she didn’t hyperventilate. The panic in her wanted to escape—to burst out through screams and tears.

  Sydney was right. They had to do this, and they had to do this now.

  She swallowed hard to clear the lump in her throat and find her voice. “They were both witches?” She moved her gaze up and registered the shock, anger, fear, and grief on everyone’s faces.

  Finally, Justin said, “Yes. Jasmine was a Lord in the Wildes, meaning she’d already advanced past her apprenticeship. She didn’t go to Ashcroft anymore, and I think you knew Corey. He was an apprentice like us.”

  All Ainsley could do was nod at the gravity of what this meant.

  It wasn’t lost on the others either. Langston was blunt about it, “The shifter has their power now. It has the magic of four witches. What are we going to do?” He looked stricken.

  Sydney bounded up, her face ripe with determination. “There are still five of us, plus Saskia’s magic and the power of the full moon.”

  Khourt practically jumped out of her skin, “Oh, and don’t forget that there’s a meteor shower happening tonight too. We could still be okay, so long as we don’t make any mistakes.” She nodded at Ava, who still had a shovel in her hand.

  Nodding, Ava and Jax got back to work.

  “We need to go quicker, Sydney said in a low, controlled but unmistakably nervous voice. “The shifter could be anywhere. The binding spell is strongest a half-hour after midnight when the moon is at its highest peak. We should do it then. What time is it now?”

  Ainsley yanked her phone out of her pocket. “11:18, we have just over an hour.” She prayed she wouldn’t collapse from heart failure, considering the amount of adrenaline coursing through her.

  “I’ve reached something,” Ava shouted from deep inside the grave.

  Ainsley and the others rushed over. She couldn’t believe the depth already; it had to be at least five feet down. Impressive.

  Ava crouched on hands and knees and began wiping the excess dirt away from what she’d found. “Ew,” she said in a revolted voice as she reeled back.

  Ainsley and the others perched on the edge, holding their collective breaths.

  Sydney jumped into the hole and shone the light from her cell on the find. Sure enough, the beam illuminated a partially exposed skull.

  “Oh my God, that’s so gross,” Ava said, covering her mouth with the back of her arm.

  Despite Ava’s obsession with perfect lipstick application and a runway-worthy wardrobe, Ainsley had never taken her for the dainty type, especially since she’d insisted on digging up the grave in the first place. What did she think she’d find in there?

  Jax didn’t appear phased. “We need bone. I’m guessing that will do.” He reached into the hole and gently lifted the skull out, placing it on a white cloth.”

  “What is that for?” Ainsley asked.

  “Saskia is our ancestor. Her bones are sacred; we must treat them with respect.” He wrapped the cloth around it as if swaddling a newborn.

  Ainsley didn’t understand witch life and norms, but digging up an ancestor’s bones seemed like the opposite of respect.

  Ava lowered her head and closed her eyes as Jax passed Saskia’s skull over to Sydney, who said something in Latin.

  A burst of freezing air whirled through the woods, threatening to knock Ainsley and the rest of the observers clean into the grave. She gripped the ground, flattening her body to steady herself, but the wind kept rising. “I think Saskia’s angry,” she called out. “Did any of you check to see if this was okay with her?”

  Before anyone could answer, a raucous vibrating thunder echoed above them. The trees shook violently, the branches swaying low and threateningly. Lightning flashed so closely it illuminated them well below the tree cover.

  Sydney managed to crawl out of the hole and held the skull tightly in her grasp. She looked up to the sky, and cried out, “Please understand Saskia, we need this to defeat the monster. We don’t wish to dishonor you. This is the only way we can make sure no one else is hurt!”

  Ainsley looked around for a sign that Sydney’s words had been heard and accepted by the long-dead witch. The air stilled, but no one relaxed. They all stood upright slowly, at attention, waiting for the next warning that might come their way. The intense drumming of Ainsley’s heart filled her ears and pulsated behind her eyes like the precursor to a migraine. A single, massive bang shook the sky, releasing pebble-sized hail through the branches of the barren trees.

  “I think she’s still upset,” Ainsley called out, hands uselessly thrust over her head for protective. Even through her cold-weather gear and multiple layers, her body stung from the chunks of ice pelting her. She crouched into a ball, unsure of what to do. She cried out in pain as a piece ricocheted off her forehead. She saw a whirl of stars, and her hand moved reflexively to the spot. Her white glove came back with a red smear on it.

  Sydney and Justin flew into action, grabbing supplies from the bags while Khourtney drew a large symbol on the ground, but not the pentagram they’d used before.

  “What's that?” Ainsley called out. It resembled the Star of David, but not quite.

  “Double Seal of Solomon,” Khourtney shouted back, trying to get her voice above the storm’s cacophony. It was hard to hear through the aggressive wind and hail. “Used to control spirits. Two triangles, the one down stands for ‘below’ and the other for ‘above’.”

  “What’s the circle surrounding it for?”

  “The witch’s control of both planes—earthy and spiritual.”

  Ava and Jax crawled out of the grave and began setting the candles up at each of the star’s six points. Sydney and Langston flipped through the back of the grimoire, where they’d written the symbols and spells Saskia had given them.

  “What if Saskia blocks everything from working?” Ainsley asked. “Clearly, she’s pissed.”

  Khourtney looked up from her work and met Ainsley’s gaze. “We do what we can. It’s better not to think too much about it. Keeps me calmer, anyway.” She gave Ainsley a thumbs up.

  The gesture, although pitiful, made her smile despite herself. She appreciated Khourtney’s approach.

  Langston must’ve overheard because he said, “Saskia’s magic is tied to her bones. We have the spells and runes already, so it should be powerful enough to override Saskia—if it comes to that—since her magic is coming from the Skeletal Plane. That’s the side where the dead reside. We can still do this.” He added a light-colored power to a marble mortar and began mixing it with whatever else he’d placed inside.

  Ainsley checked the time, praying the witch apprentices knew what they were doing and could manage to do it fast enough.

  “It’s onl
y 11:47. We’re too early! What if it doesn’t work?” She called out to no one, feeling panic take control of her mouth.

  The wind reared up again, blasting them again. Ainsley balled up on the ground as best she could, icy air cutting through all the layers of her clothes. She shuddered, goose flesh running across her entire body as her teeth began to chatter painfully.

  Sydney shook her head, her hair whipping in the wind. She set the last of the candles in a circle inside the Double Seal of Soloman and screamed, “We have to do it now! We can't wait. Saskia might get the other ancestors to help her stop us!”

  Hail continued to pelt them, but everyone kept working. Ainsley watched in helpless fear. “Tell me what to do.”

  “Be on the lookout while we do the spell,” Khourtney shouted through the chaos. “Keep watch for anyone. We have no idea whose form it will take.”

  Ainsley nodded and began scanning the trees around them.

  Everything was nearly set up, and the wind had calmed slightly. Maybe Saskia was relenting. Sydney lit the last of the candles with her magic, and the flames flickered.

  Sydney moved to the top of the Seal, raised her arms, and held the skull up into the air. She closed her eyes, and her lips moved silently. She appeared deep in meditation. The way she held the skull up to the sky looked like a gesture of sacrifice. One by one, the others began sitting crossed-legged on the remaining points.

  “Ainsley!” Justin’s voice disrupted her train of mish-mashed thoughts. She glanced around and saw him staring intently at her, motioning to the far end of the upside-down star. “We need you at the last point.”

  Her chest squeezed. “But I’m not a witch.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We can still channel your life force. We need all the help we can get. Take off your gloves.”

  Nodding, she scurried into place and did as she was told, shedding the blood-stained gloves. Her skin stung immediately from the icy air. Justin sat on one side of her and Ava on the other, grabbing her hands as she sat. A tingling warmth flowed into her fingers and palms, her wrists, up her arms, and throughout her entire body. Her body hummed with electricity.

  Justin must have understood what she was experiencing because he squeezed her hand. “That’s our magic flowing through you. It’s okay, it won’t hurt you.”

  How was this working, she wondered, when so many other magical interactions hadn’t?

  The hail slowed. Either Saskia was easing up on them, or their magic was counteracting her assault.

  A heavy bolt of lightning illuminated the space, and Ainsley saw the dozens of runes and symbols Langston had been busy carving into the snowy ground all around them, including the Evil Eye.

  Sydney began chanting the spell to summon the shapeshifter, the skull still high above her head. The candle flames whooshed before tripling in size.

  Everyone, even Langston, began reciting some other incantation. A protection spell? Something to gather their strength? She wasn’t sure, but the air around them began to still.

  Ainsley’s palms were sweating, not only from the heat of the magic but from her massing anxiety. The thrumming in her ears intensified, and she fought to listen past it for any sign of movement. She did her best to keep watch from her position at the Seal’s base, checking the trees and bushes around them for any movement. How long would it take before the shifter appeared?

  Her question didn’t remain unanswered for long.

  Ainsley clasped Justin and Ava’s hands for dear life and shouted, “Something’s coming,” and watched in horror as a figure stepped forward through the darkness of the snow-covered Hemlock trees. She fought the urge to close her eyes, to stand up and run, to scream.

  Keeping her eyes trained on the movement, she gasped as Harper stood before them, a frightened look on her face.

  “Harper!” Ainsley yanked her hands away and bolted up.

  Harper ogled the scene as if attempting to register what was going on. Shadows of candlelight flickered across her confused face, fear clear in her wide dark eyes. “What’s going on here?”

  Ainsley’s stomach dropped. No, Harper couldn’t be here. She could get hurt, or worse. How did she find them?

  Unless… How could she know if it was Harper or the shifter?

  Justin and Khourt urged Ainsley to sit back down, while Sydney kept on chanting.

  Harper pointed accusingly at the circle, the candles, the chanting Sydney, and Ainsley, her mouth twisting into a horrified grimace. “What are you doing? I came to find you because I was worried. Two people are dead! Did you know that?” Her face changed before Ainsley’s eyes, rolling from concern to terror. “What?” She took a step back and pointed as if finally seeing the scene clearly. “What is she holding? Is that a skull?” Harper’s mouth gaped as she stumbled and lost her footing. She steadied herself. “Was it you? Did you kill those people?”

  “No!” Ainsley felt the wind leave her like a punch to the gut. It really was her friend. “I get this looks bad, but let me explain.”

  “It’s not Harper,” Ava yelled across the circle, still holding onto Jax’s hand and reaching for Ainsley’s. “We summoned the shifter. That’s the shifter. Back away now!”

  A pang rattled through Ainsley’s chest. She took a step back, observing her friend. It was her roommate. Surely, she’d be able to tell. Wouldn’t she?

  Harper shook her head. “What’s she talking about? Two people are dead, so I came looking for you. A couple of people said they saw all of you walk into the woods. What are you doing here, Ainsley? Come back to campus with me.” She reached a hand out at Ainsley, whose heart twisted in place.

  “Don’t listen to it,” Khourtney said in a strangely calm voice. “Think about it, Ainsley. How would the real Harper find you all the way out here?” She continued in the same sing-song voice Ainsley’s mom used when teaching her to swim in the ocean. “No one saw us leave, Ainsley. We made sure of that, remember? Look, it’s wearing gloves. It’s lying to you.”

  Ainsley heard Khourney’s warning, but she couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her harmless roommate was standing, frightened beyond belief, in front of her. “But I was wearing gloves too, she said meekly. It’s freezing.” Her instincts screamed that she should listen to Khourtney, so taking a step away, she shouted, “Prove that’s it’s you, Harper.”

  Ainsley registered that the chanting had stopped. Sydney advanced with her arms outstretched in front of her. A blast of violet light shot out of Sydney’s fingertips, striking Harper dead in the chest.

  “No!” Ainsley cried out. Harper’s body buckled in half and started to convulse under the purple glow. “Stop it, you’re killing her,” Ainsley called. She was about to tackle Sydney when the witch dropped her arms.

  Holding her breath, Ainsley saw Harper still standing, seemingly unharmed. Ainsley’s chest tightened as the wind left her. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  Harper’s brown eyes swiftly morphed into reptilian slits, glowing a sick yellow-brown. Panic flooded Ainsley.

  “It’s the shifter!” Khourtney screamed.

  Sydney and the others launched simultaneous streams of magic. Ainsley watched in shock as concentrated electric blasts of violent, blue, silver, and red struck her friend, eliciting a roar that filled the air. The entity writhed under the intensity, and Harper’s face contorted as though melting. Her body glowed with a pulsating red fluorescence.

  Ainsley was mesmerized. She had to keep telling herself that it wasn’t Harper, but the shifter.

  Langston’s voice called out to Ainsley, and she turned to see that he had the globe in his hands. “If anything happens to me, you need to take this because they need to keep their power focused on the shifter the entire time.”

  She nodded, watching as he approached the chaos, still clutching the globe.

  The shifter appeared to be gaining its strength back. Saskia was right. They couldn’t kill it. Ainsley observed the stalemate unfolding before her. Five witches were sending magi
c blasts into the entity, and the entity was sending a rolling wave of magic back. Magic siphoned from their own people was now used against them.

  Heat emanated from the untethered magic in the air, melting the snow in a ring around them. Beads of sweat trickled down everyone’s faces.

  Ava faltered, her legs wobbling as she worked to keep her balance under the pressure. Her arms lowered, and Ainsley saw red trickling down her nose and the sides of her eyes, as though crying blood. Ainsley couldn’t tell if her magic stores were depleting or if the shifter was somehow siphoning Ava’s magic from her as well.

  She wanted to rush in and help, but what could she do? She was useless.

  A body stumbled, catching her attention out her periphery vision. Jax had collapsed, blood streaming from his ears and dripping down his jawline. His eyes were closed, and she prayed he was okay. She saw the slight rise and fall of his chest, and she exhaled with relief.

  “We need to get them out of here,” she called out to Langston, who stood by, mouth gaping in helpless fear. After everything he’d gone through during his own attack, he seemed in a state of shock.

  The shrill crack of electricity flying through the air made Ainsley shrink back and duck. It sounded so close, and her mind flashed to her mother. She had to survive.

  All the apprentices had blood dripping down their faces from the strain; they were growing weaker by the second. Ainsley had to do something to help.

  A deep crimson light emanated from the shifter’s palms, counteracting her friends’ magic. Their faces distorted from the pain of trying to hold on.

  Langston still managed to clutch the globe, even as he watched his friends’ pain in utter horror. “It needs to change into its mist form, or we’re all dead,” he muttered out loud.

  If it stayed in human form, they couldn’t bind it inside the globe, and they didn’t have a whole room to put him in the way Saskia had. It was as though the entity knew it. Acid burned Ainsley’s throat, and tears blurred her eyes. Had it been there the whole time, watching them get ready? Had it somehow known their plan?