“That felt kinda good,” Tiegen remarked, smiling wide. “You know, telling the truth about everything. After so many years, it felt as if the burden of truth was crushing me at every waking moment. It’s nice to finally have that weight off my shoulders. Now, it’s up to you.”
“...Up to me?” Thea managed out, voice raspy and low.
“Of course. I’ve been needing a suitable successor to take up the job of protecting Ardensville for a while now. Why else do you think I’ve been so adamant about your magical lessons and improving your skills? It wasn’t for nothing, that’s for sure.”
Blaine glanced at Thea. Worry plagued his features, but he wasn’t going to interject their conversation. He didn’t have the heart to.
“So what do you say, Thea? Are you up to the task?” Tiegen asked, hopeful that her niece would accept her proposition.
However, the rage fanning the white hot flames of Thea’s soul was getting too potent to ignore.
Chapter 27
“How could you have done that...” Thea whispered out, unable to stop the steady stream of tears from falling down her face. “To your own brother, no less?”
The grin that was originally on Tiegen’s face slowly began to fade as Thea became more distraught by the second.
“How could you say that your method didn’t cause any problems?” Thea pointed a finger into her chest, right over the spot near her heart. “I grew up without parents! Did you ever consider how that was going to affect me? I was only a child. I needed them.”
Tiegen swallowed thickly. “Thea, you turned out fine. You didn’t actually need–”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” she interjected sharply, daggers almost shooting out of her eyes towards her aunt for even insinuating that. “I’m not going to accept your offer. How am I supposed to protect the town all while trapping its own citizens? You’re only hurting the people that matter to me under the guise of making me a ‘powerful’ witch. You even took Granny from me. How could you do that?”
After each sentence, Tiegen’s face only grew more somber. Eventually, she let out a heavy exhale as she moved back to the crystal planted upon her desk.
Blaine tensed, shifting to the side in an attempt to flank Tiegen. She eyed him cautiously, but didn’t act immediately. Her gaze was flooded with disappointment, which was mainly directed towards Thea.
“I had so much hope,” her aunt mumbled out, shaking her head. “You had so much potential, Thea. It hurts to see you throw it all away.”
Thea’s lip curled upwards. “You’re a horrible person.”
For a brief moment, Tiegen’s eyes widened. Those words stung, considering everything they went through together. After all, Tiegen helped raise her.
In Thea’s eyes, all of that went out the window. There was no coming back from a betrayal like this.
“I was so proud of you. Seeing how quickly you progressed through your lessons. And how you managed to deal with the problems within this town so effortlessly. I truly thought I had found my successor. Hell–” Tiegen motioned towards the office around them. “You even figured out who I truly was. How I was The Sorcerer all along. You’re good at this detective stuff.”
Suddenly, her gaze shifted towards the crystal. It was an action Thea noticed instantly.
Tiegen frowned. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
With one swift motion, Tiegen shot a bolt of energy towards Blaine. Thea’s reflexes acted faster than her mind did. Her arms shot up, creating a shield that protected him.
Gasping, she felt her limbs contract and freeze completely once Tiegen’s magic made contact with her own. Thea’s breathing quickened dramatically, realizing that Blaine was going to have to fend for himself.
Although he was able to shift into his bear form, a witch with Tiegen’s expertise was clever with her actions and strategies. Without a moment’s hesitance, she was able to mumble a spell that froze Blaine into the floor before he was able to swipe at her with an outstretched limb.
“This is disgraceful,” Tiegen spat out, reaching beneath her desk to retrieve a rolled up rug.
Thea’s eyes widened. She recognized it. The visuals flashed within her mind once more.
“That was your one fatal weakness, you know,” Tiegen commented, glancing at Thea in her frozen state. “You were too easily distracted by your friends and family... and your fiancé.”
Tiegen managed out that final word with a noticeable bitterness in her voice. Unrolling the rug, it revealed an intricate ritual circle.
“I figured that if this would come down to a fight, it would be a little more challenging. I’m just getting trampled by a mountain of disappointment today, aren’t I?”
She placed the crystal on top of the circle, ready to begin the same ritual that would have caused Thea and Blaine’s disappearance. With a thunderous growl, Blaine managed to barrel Tiegen over before she got the chance. At the same time, Thea was freed from her constraints and scrambled to shield Blaine before Tiegen retaliated.
Her aunt appeared on the other side of the room, gripping onto a cupboard and panting hard. “H-How did you...?”
Thea wondered the same thing. The light flickered off a charm hanging around Blaine’s neck. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was the same one that Rhianna Stewart used to ward off magic. She let out a breathless laugh.
With a frustrated grunt, Tiegen shot another lightning bolt of energy towards Blaine, only for it to be thwarted by another one of Thea’s shields. The magic was strong enough to make Blaine wince, but his charm managed to absorb the energy completely.
“Family should never let family down!” Thea yelled across the room, blocking another one of Tiegen’s attacks. “We’re stronger together! Why couldn’t you–” Thea shot her own burst of magic towards her, “–realize that?!”
Using a brief window of opportunity, Thea attempted to bind Tiegen’s limbs but the witch waved her off easily. Scowling, she almost didn’t notice Blaine preparing himself to sprint towards Tiegen.
Of course, she managed to teleport out of the way before they collided. She reappeared behind her desk, using it as a barrier between herself and the couple.
“I only did it to protect the city!” Tiegen shot back in a vain attempt to defend her actions. “I wanted to protect you from the chaos introducing magic would bring into Ardensville!”
Slinging another spell, Thea clenched her jaw. “You’re the only one bringing chaos and fear into this city! You’re the main cause of it all!”
The crystal. Thea and Tiegen turned towards it simultaneously. Before Thea could act, Tiegen was already on the move. The witch teleported to the spot near the rug, the crystal now within an arm’s reach.
“Running away?” Thea retorted, her stomach recoiling in disgust at the way her aunt shamelessly responded with a quick smile.
“For now,” she said, followed by a dry laugh.
With the crystal in her grasp, Tiegen raised her hand up to teleport away. Thea didn’t have an idea where she wanted to head off to. She could only assume that it was somewhere distant.
Wordlessly, Tiegen waved two fingers in a slight goodbye. In a final act of mockery, she managed to reignite the fire behind Thea’s gaze.
Chapter 28
“Tiegen!”
Blaine’s voice boomed across the room, loud enough to make Thea’s ears start ringing. Time seemed to go more slowly than before. A small part of her was ready to throw in the white towel. To stand there complacently and allow Tiegen to get away without putting up a fight.
Something came over her in that moment. Something propelled her forward, prompting her to grab Tiegen’s arm and haul it down. Tiegen groaned, her mumbles coming to an abrupt halt.
The magic for the teleportation spell was surging. Energy coursed vehemently underneath Thea’s fingers. For a second, she thought that all hope was lost. The spell was close to completion.
However, she was reminded of her confrontation with Annie and how sh
e was able to stop a similar manifestation of magical energy. Using her final remnants of strength, Thea focused on redirecting the energy’s course. Tiegen’s eyes widened, recognizing what Thea was doing but being too preoccupied to stop it.
The dynamic between the two witches shifted. With the advantage resting with Thea, she managed to interrupt the teleportation and turn it into a binding spell that locked Tiegen into place. A wispy breath soon escaped Thea, realizing that her last ditch effort to foil her aunt’s plan had worked.
At the same time, an excess burst of energy exploded outwards. Thea didn’t have enough time to create a ward. She let out a stunned gasp as she watched the flash of magic propel itself towards her, hitting her square in the chest and sending her into the wall behind her.
“Thea!” Blaine yelled, scrambling across the room to reach her.
She felt a heaviness in her chest, making it difficult to breathe. Wheezing out a few shallow breaths, Thea raised a trembling finger and pointed towards the charm that still dangled around Blaine’s neck.
“T-The crystal...” she rasped out. “You have to get... the charm... on the crystal...”
With a firm nod, Blaine pulled himself up to his feet and made his way to the stunned Tiegen. Even in her frozen state, she managed to communicate her emotions with her eyes. However, Blaine still couldn’t pinpoint what she was feeling. He couldn’t imagine the thoughts running through her mind.
Lifting the necklace up and off of himself, Blaine then placed it directly upon the crystal. A muffled sound came from Tiegen, which he disregarded completely as the crystal’s magic was slowly absorbed into the charm.
Thea pushed herself into a sitting position against the wall, focusing on the crystal from afar. The orange glow dimmed significantly as the seconds passed. The protections surrounding the stone crumbled, broken by the charm Professor Potter had made to assist his now-deceased student. Despite everything that happened, his efforts wouldn’t be in vain.
“Is it done?” Blaine asked, tossing a look over his shoulder towards Thea. “Can I grab it now?”
Thea nodded, wincing at the jolt of pain that soon erupted across her chest. She watched in anticipation as Blaine took the crystal from her aunt’s hands, holding it precariously in his own grasp.
“I-I won’t be able to hold Tiegen down with this spell for much longer... I...” Thea raised a hand, touching her temple gently. The beginnings of a migraine were kicking in. “You have to smash the crystal. Destroy it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked reluctantly.
With a groan, Thea gripped onto the nearest bookshelf and pulled herself to her feet. Her rib cage burned with each slight movement.
“You have to,” Thea replied, pressing a hand into her side. “It’s the only way to stop all of this.”
With Thea’s confirmation, Blaine knew what he had to do. As he slammed the crystal into Tiegen’s desk, the force he used was enough to cause his side of the room to lurch suddenly. Although the crystal’s glow had diminished as a result of the charm, there was still some energy enclosed within the stone.
And since Blaine had just broken it open, the magic was ready to escape violently.
“Drop it!” Thea yelled at him, limping her way across the room and towards the exit. “And grab Tiegen! That thing’s about to explode!”
Scrambling forward, Blaine grabbed Tiegen and threw her over his shoulder. They stumbled into the hallway, with Thea gripping onto the wall in order to keep from falling. The energy pulsating from the crystal was extraordinary. Thea had never seen anything like it.
“We’re not going to make it out,” Thea whispered, hissing as the pain in her side only worsened.
Blaine stiffened. “So what are we going to do now?”
“I... Here! In here!” Thea opened the door to a side room and motioned for him to enter quickly. She followed in after him, shutting the door and bracing herself.
“Thea, what are you–”
Creating the most powerful ward she could muster in her injured state, Thea was able to protect them from the sudden blast that shook the building to its foundation. She shut her eyes tightly, focusing on maintaining the ward as the ground beneath them quaked aggressively. They flinched, glass shattering and shards from the windows clattering onto the floor.
With her consciousness barely clinging by a thread, Thea’s knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Somewhere to her left, she heard Tiegen’s voice. She was frantic, but Thea was hardly there anymore. The exhaustion coupled with the pain was overwhelming her.
From a distance, she heard the sound of another burst. A stronger wave of raw magic was heading their way. Fear encapsulated her, but she didn’t have anything left to give. An intense feeling of hopelessness materialized in her heart, realizing that this must be the end.
She would have called out to Blaine, but the words were stuck in her throat. There was no way to manage them out, not in that state. Tears formed quickly, the pit in her stomach only widening.
In her final moments, Thea reached out aimlessly. She was searching for Blaine’s hand. When she eventually found it, she gripped onto it tightly and squeezed. She felt him reciprocate the action, which comforted her greatly as her body gave in.
Chapter 29
Lifting a hand to her forehead, Thea felt as if her ears were full of cotton. A restless flurry of voices surrounded her, but she couldn’t make out anyone in particular. As she opened her eyes, she noticed various blurred figures in her surroundings. Sunlight pierced down at her and heated her cold skin.
That felt wrong somehow, but she remembered the explosion. The visuals came back to her of the windows being blown out and the roof of the town hall caving in. Gradually, things were beginning to make sense again.
In the distance, her eyebrows furrowed as she spotted a man who seemed out of place. He fashioned a dark purple cloak, one that draped over his entire figure. When his gaze met Thea’s, he vanished suddenly.
That was... strange. However, with everything that happened to her that day, Thea figured that the man was the least of her worries.
“Look! There they are!”
A woman staggered her way over, followed by a tall man who almost tripped on the rubble. She almost disregarded them, but she stopped herself once she recognized their faces. Something about them made Thea perk up, despite the sting in her body telling her to stay still.
Of course she had seen them before. Those were her parents.
“Oh, man...” she whispered out, heaving out a few quick breaths as she rubbed at her eyes. “I’m dead, aren’t I? I died...”
Coughing into his fist, Blaine appeared in her line of vision. As he managed to sit upright, he dusted the debris off his body. They were all coated with a thin layer of gray, tiny fragments of the building clinging onto their clothing.
“Get off of me!” Tiegen exclaimed, struggling like a fish out of water as Blaine’s legs rested over her body. He almost dug the heels of his shoes further into her back out of spite.
Everything came back to her in an instant. Using her arms, she tried pushing herself up to sit. Immediately, she regretted her decision. Her rib-cage screamed out and she was close to doing the same thing.
“Sheesh, Thea...” Blaine breathed out, observing their mangled surroundings. “You were able to protect us from the blast just in time. Without you, who knows what would have happened to us.”
“I have a few ideas,” Granny remarked playfully, pushing her way through the jagged bits and pieces of debris to kneel by Thea’s side. “Look at you.... Look at this!” Gently, Granny pulled Thea into an embrace. “You managed to save us and yourself with your powers. I’m so proud of you.”
Glancing down at her wrist, Thea noticed that the charm necklace was wrapped around her wrist and Blaine’s. She wanted to comment on how sweet that was, but the sound of excited voices interjected her.
A group of around twenty people emerged from the town hall’s remains and made their way in
to the street to mingle with the shifters. Both parties carried stunned expressions.
With an air of excitement, a redhead girl in her twenties sprinted past them all and threw herself into Shannon’s arms. The sight made Thea smile weakly.
She wanted to keep talking with Granny, she really did. Thea wanted to understand everything and there were too many questions running rampant throughout her hazy mind.
However, she realized that the conversation was going to be delayed for another time. When her gaze returned to Granny’s, the familiar dizziness hit her like a freight train. A quiet laugh fell from Thea’s lips as the heaviness in her eyelids won yet again.
“BE CAREFUL! SHE’S WAKING up!”
“She’s not going to die on us, is she?”
A slap on the arm followed.
“Ow, Pippa! It was a genuine question!”
“Stop putting those negative thoughts into the universe, Jesse.”
“Hush, you two,” Granny said, running a tender hand across Thea’s cheek. “She’s coming back to us. Thea?”
Her eyes fluttered open. She wasn’t expecting to see so many people surrounding her bedside. How she managed to get into her bedroom, she didn’t know. The last thing she remembered was town hall and seeing how destroyed it was. She also remembered seeing Tiegen, Blaine, and Granny. And...
Selena sent her a small wave as Alistair smiled from ear-to-ear.
“Hi, Thea,” she said, ducking her head sheepishly. “I’m Selena.”
“And I’m Alistair,” the man added. “I’d, uh... shake your hand or something, but you’re in pretty bad shape right now.”
Selena shot him a look and he shrugged.
“W-What happened to Tiegen?” Thea asked.
Granny sighed. “She’s being held by Shannon’s group right now. They’re figuring out how to handle things.”
“Everyone is going crazy right now,” Pippa piped up. “They’re trying to figure out what happened at town hall. Anything and everything is on the table right now, from terrorist attacks to gas leaks to aliens.”
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