The phone rang three times, and then Henley answered, “Hey.”
“Henley!” And then I froze. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure what to say. “Hi, so, um—"
“I’m okay, Em,” she said with a sad chuckle. “Please tell me you’re calling with a wonderful distraction from my brother’s coddling.”
I sighed and smiled. Henley was one of my favorite people, and the toughest person I knew. No one else could’ve survived what she had and come out of it with a smile.
“So, we’ve picked the location for the school—”
“Ohmygodohmygod, it’s on me!” Cheryl cried and ran by me. “I’m out!”
“Ohhhhhh, yes! That sounds like a distraction indeed,” Henley said with a chipper voice. “What’s on her?”
“A fuzzy blue cat-like-creature with”—I gasped as a fat one waddled across my feet—“wings.”
“Send me a pic.”
I pulled my phone away and snapped a handful of pictures of our fuzzy friends, then sent them to her. “Okay, sent. Although I just realized you might not be able to see what I do since they’re from the Old Lands and you haven’t—”
“Awww, they’re so cute!” Henley giggled. “Such a pretty blue! And actually, I have been into the Old Lands, but let’s keep that little secret between us, m’kay?”
I rolled my eyes and grinned. “So devious. No wonder Tegan liked you right away.”
“Kindred spirits,” she said with a sigh. “But really, Chutney had two of these as pets when we were younger—long story. They’re super friendly, and honestly, if it were me, I’d let them stay.”
“Wait, what?” I shook my head. “Let them stay? Like free reign? But…but everyone else is going to think we have rats.”
“There’s a spell that will remove the glamour on campus. It’s actually something you should do anyway.” There was some rustling of paper. “Okay, I’m texting Claudia that spell and two others: one to protect them from being harmed by students, and another so that you can guide them around—as in, move them to whatever area you need when you need it.”
I glanced over and caught Sebastien with no less than six blue fuzzy cats on his lap. He gave me a thumbs-up and a goofy grin—and he looked exactly like Deacon. It made me smile.
“Thank you, Henley. You’re a lifesaver.”
Chapter Six
Deacon
I leaned back on my heels and crossed my arms. “Okay, remind me what all those spells were just now? I lost track after twenty.”
Claudia rolled her eyes and continued to stretch her arms. We’d been out here all morning putting up charms and spells, and I was exhausted. We were all exhausted. Claudia may have been Lead Page, but she’d called in about a dozen other pages for the job. I’d completely lost track of what we were doing. My role here was to lend my level of magic and power in order to perform higher level spells. After that, it was gibberish.
I glanced up at the stone walls of the building and frowned. “No, but really.”
“Well, we started with border protection. No demons will be getting in the school. That required multiple spells.” Claudia sighed and turned to face me. “Then we used your gifts to cast charms to urge the Sapiens to stay away. We don’t need them stumbling inside.”
“Right, right. And all those spells at the end?”
Claudia chuckled. “Oh, those were sent to me from your cousin Henley—”
“Henley? What? Why?”
“Apparently Emersyn and your parents discovered an entire colony of creatures—”
“Creatures?”
“— living inside the buildings.” She shrugged and held out her phone to show me the texts. “Blue fuzzy cat-like creatures with wings. She had us do a spell to remove the glamour of the Old Lands so incoming students can see them and not as giant rats.”
Oh. Huh. I hadn’t realized any of the Old Lands animals had ventured out from Central Park. I wanted to see these blue fuzzy flying cats.
But then her words registered. “Wait, we didn’t scare them away?”
Claudia shrugged. “Henley said they’re friendly and that we should encourage them to stay. I’m not in the business of saying no to The Coven. Are you?”
“I do what I want.” I grinned. “Unless Tennessee says no. He scares me a little, but that’s between you and me.”
She chuckled. “Only him? Not Tegan as well?”
I pursed my lips. “Oh, she’s terrifying. But in a fun kind of way, like ‘how much trouble can we make today’ kind of way. Which plays into my Card rather nicely, I must say.”
“You’re incorrigible, Deacon.” But she grinned. “Anyway, the job has only just begun. Now we get to the fun part of fixing up the inside.”
I opened my mouth to ask what our task list was when my cell phone ringtone blared from my pocket. With a curse, I pulled it out—and scowled. It was Headmaster Daniel.
A cold chill slid down my spine. “Headmaster—”
“I’m calling him now!” Daniel screamed into the phone, though he clearly wasn’t talking to me.
My heart stopped. “Headmaster? Hello? What’s going on?”
There was screaming in the background and then silence. “Hello, Deacon? You there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. What’s happening?” By now, my pulse was downright flying.
“We’re under attack… It’s Joseph.” His voice was sharp and panicked. “You two need to get back here now. We need you.”
I cursed and ran my hand through my hair. “Of course, but we’re at least two hours away—”
“We’ll try to hold them. The school is on lockdown…” He sighed and it was laced with too much stress. “For now.”
“Hold on as long as you can. We’re on our way.” I ended the call and threw my hands out in front of me. My magic poured out of me in thick red waves and shot into the building. “Emersyn, get out here now.”
Ten seconds later, my soulmate came flying out the front doors. Her long platinum blonde hair flew behind her like a cape. She looked around the street with glowing golden eyes, and I knew she was ready to fight anything that looked out of place. She was a warrior at heart, even if she refused to accept it.
Thanks to my magic, she found me without a beat of hesitation. “What’s wrong?”
“Eden is under attack. We have to leave.”
Exactly two hours and twenty-four minutes later, my parents’ plane was landing in Eden. The second we stopped rolling, Emersyn and I were on our feet and racing for the door. We didn’t even wait for the little staircase—we just jumped. The bottoms of my feet stung, but I barely felt it. After two hours of panicked thoughts of not making it, we couldn’t sit any longer. We sprinted as fast as we could. The plane had landed on the side of campus, and the fighting was out front—at least that was what Headmaster Daniel had said.
As we ran, there was no one around. But in the distance, lights flashed and wind howled. There were screams and curses. It was dark outside, which made my fear shoot up to near unbearable heights.
We rounded the corner and found a lone, pale figure standing in the darkness.
Henley.
I cursed and ran up to her, but her eyes were distant and broken. Her skin was cold and white. She trembled from head to toe. Her lips moved like she was speaking, but no sound came out.
“Oh, Goddess,” Emersyn cried. “Henley!”
Bright orange light flashed up ahead and people screamed.
I cursed and grabbed Henley’s shoulders, then pushed my magic into her. “Henley, go inside the school and hide.”
When I let go, she turned and sprinted toward the main building. She’d be safe enough in there for now. I took Emersyn’s hand and pulled her into a run. The front of the school was just through the brick archway up ahead. Neither Emersyn or I spoke as we raced into combat.
It felt like running in a dream, where no matter how hard you pumped your arms and legs you just didn’t move. It seemed like it took us an hour to run through the
archway and into the front courtyard. But when we did, the sight before me forced me to stop and stare.
There was thick black smoke everywhere. But it didn’t move like smoke—it moved like a human. Joseph. And he wasn’t alone. I couldn’t tell where one smoke monster ended and the other one began. But I did see all the Swords students slicing their glistening blades through smoke. There were a few dozen teenagers with wands shooting balls of magic into our enemy.
Bright beams of golden light shot into the attacking darkness. The smoke hissed and dodged Lily’s sunshine, except I couldn’t see Lily. I frowned and looked to the front lines of the fight…and found my Coven-mates thick in battle. Everyone was covered in metal body armor, and I sighed with sweet relief. There would be no bone spears tonight.
But this fight wasn’t ending any time soon.
“Okay, Em. What’s our plan?”
“I’m gonna burn this place to the ground,” she growled and took off toward the fight.
“Wait, what?”
But she was already gone. I cursed and chased after her. She didn’t wait to get all the way up there. She summoned balls of fire to her palms then chucked them right into the smoke.
I lifted my hands and shot my red lightning into the smoke. Red mist poured out of me and flew through the air toward my Coven-mates.
“PULL BACK!” I screamed.
At once, they all spun and spotted us coming. At first they smiled…and then they saw Emersyn. I couldn’t see her face from behind her, but it must’ve been deadly because I didn’t even need to use my magic to make my friends move. They dashed out of the way, ducking and hiding behind bigger objects.
Emersyn raced ahead until all of our Coven-mates were behind her, and then she stopped. She planted her feet in the grass and held her hands out to the sides. The pull of her magic trembled through the ground. Her hands glowed bright white like a supernova. She threw them up in the air, and liquid fire poured out of her.
“Deacon!”
I jumped and looked to the right toward the sound of my name and spotted her parents crouched behind a boulder. They waved for me to join them. I turned back to my soulmate, and my heart stopped. Her pale blonde hair whipped around in the wind, with little flames climbing up the strands. She stood tall, drenching everything in fire. I cursed and sprinted over to her parents.
Hunter grabbed my arm and pulled me under the rock. He squeezed my shoulder. “Thanks for coming.”
I sighed and peeked over the rock at Emersyn standing between walls of flames. “Yeah, no problem.”
Devon cursed. “She’s not going to be able to do this forever.”
“Holy hell.” Kessler cursed and crouched down behind us. “She’s scary to watch like this.”
“Yeah, exactly.” I wiped the sweat off my forehead. “So what’s our plan? Is fire even going to hurt them?”
Hunter narrowed his eyes and wiggled his fingers. Golden mist poured out of him. Then he nodded. “It’s working for now. They don’t like fire, so it must hurt them somehow.”
“Again, she’s not going to last—”
“Devon’s right. We can’t let her keep going for long.” Kessler shook his head. “But everything else we’ve tried hasn’t kept them out.”
“Who is that?” Hunter pursed his lips and pointed. “There with the blue hair.”
We all frowned and followed his point just as Lennox ran through a patch of Lily’s sunshine. She held a thick book clutched to her chest as she sprinted toward us. The flickering light from the flames on her indigo hair made her look dark and devious. None of us spoke as Lennox sprinted toward us. I glanced back and forth between her and Emersyn.
“Guys!” Lennox dropped down behind the rock with us and tapped on her book. “I have an idea of a spell we can use. It’s a little…unorthodox…but I think it’ll work.”
“Show us,” Devon said in a rush.
Lennox handed over her book without hesitation. Devon, Hunter, and Kessler read in silence for a long moment.
Devon nodded. “It’s not a bad idea, at all.”
Lennox leaned forward. “I can do this kind of spell, but I’d need the power of a Card to do this specific one.”
“Well…” Hunter pursed his lips and frowned. “It’s tricky magic. I’m not a spellcaster like this.”
“No, but Henley is.” Kessler cursed and shook his head. “She’s the only one I’d trust.”
Lennox bit her bottom lip. “Is she up for it? I don’t want to cause her any more stress.”
None of us do. But the truth was, without Tegan here, Henley was our reigning spell-master. She’d been playing with spells since she was little, since as long as I could remember. She knew the ins and outs of magic, which was exactly why that damn demon chose her. Everyone else was afraid to rustle her feathers right now, not with her PTSD kicking in and taking hold. But the thing was…even while she was possessed, Henley found ways to get through to us. She was tough, and she deserved the chance to make her own decisions.
I glanced up over the boulder we crouched behind to where Emersyn stood raining fire at our enemy. They were too busy fighting off her flames to notice what we were doing. This was our chance, and I wasn’t going to lose it.
“Come on. Let’s go talk to her.” I jumped up then sprinted toward the main building where Henley had been, with the others hot on my heels. Then I slid to a stop. “Devon, find her.”
Devon nodded—and then there were two dozen of her running up and down the halls. The real Devon didn’t move from my side, and it was super creepy. She closed her eyes, and I felt her magic rush over me. A few seconds later, her eyes flew open, and she pointed to the right. Without speaking, we all followed her down the hall and into a classroom tucked in the back.
Henley sat in a ball in the corner with her arms wrapped around her knees. She rocked back and forth, and it hurt my heart to see. Hunter stepped out in front of us and raised his hands, but I grabbed his shirt and yanked him back. He frowned down at me. I held up my hand. Then I turned my focus to Henley and let my magic slide over to her. Like Hunter, I expected to feel her pain and need to hide.
Instead, I found a fury so bold and strong it sent electric bolts into my fingers. I grinned. Yes, she was struggling…and it pissed her off. She wasn’t weak and scared. I looked up to Hunter and tapped on my temple. He narrowed his eyes at her—and then he gasped. He pursed his lips and nodded in approval.
I crept closer to her with careful steps so I didn’t frighten her. Tough spirit or not, demon possession tended to break a witch.
When I got over to her, I crouched down but didn’t touch her. “Henley?”
Her head snapped up in an instant. Her gaze was fuzzy and distant, like she wasn’t seeing anything in front of her.
“Henley, we need you.”
Those sapphire eyes locked right on me. A second later, she blinked, and then that sharp stare I recognized landed on me. “With what? I can’t…I can’t face those…too similar… I can’t—”
“I know.” I held Lennox’s spell book out in front of me. “We don’t need you to face them, but we do need your help for this spell.”
She stared at the book for a second like it was a cockroach…and then she took it. Her eyes darted over the page and her jaw dropped. “Whose idea was this?”
“Lennox.”
“This is risky magic, not easy to pull off.” She licked her lips, and her cheeks flushed. “But if it were, it should keep them out for a bit. Buy us some time for the others to come home.”
I cringed. “When you say risky—”
“Dangerous. It’s just a touch of dark magic, but”—she chuckled and shook her head—“it’s exactly the kind of crazy idea Tegan would do.”
“Tegan’s not here.” I glanced behind me to the others then back to Henley. “You’re the only person we have we can trust to do this.”
There was a beat of silence, long enough where I wondered if she’d zoned out.
But then sh
e slammed the book closed. “I got this.”
Chapter Seven
Emersyn
I hated leaving Eden in times like this.
But I had a job to do.
At least, that was what my parents, Constance, and Kessler told me. They told me that was part of being in The Coven. Sometimes we had to make hard decisions. Tennessee wanted the School of Magical Arts open, and he wanted it now. I knew why. Hell, it’d been my idea to begin with. There just weren’t enough Cards to protect everyone everywhere at all times. They needed a chance at keeping themselves safe.
As Deacon and I climbed out of the car at the front of the school, I reminded myself what we lost last week in this city because they weren’t trained. It wasn’t just Liam and Scarlet. There had been others—people I never met. This school was important. I sighed and looked up at the building, and my gaze landed on the plaque on the wall.
I frowned and pointed. “The plaque says School of Magical Arts on it.”
Deacon looked down at me and arched one eyebrow. “That’s what it’s called.”
“No, I know, but what about the humans?”
“Oh.” He waved his hand. Red magic brushed over the plaque, and new words appeared. “The Sapiens will all see that, SOMA Private School.”
My cheeks warmed. “Right. Magic. Duh.”
He chuckled and wrapped his arm around my hips. “Come on. Mom says the school is ready—”
“What?” I stumbled on the steps. “Ready? How? It’s only been two days.”
Deacon’s grin widened and he winked. “Magic. Duh,” he said, impersonating my voice.
I sighed. “I’m never gonna get used to this.”
“In the meantime, I’m enjoying the show.” He pinched my side playfully then reached out and opened the door.
I slipped inside the front wooden doors—then froze. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. Two days ago when we left to return to Eden, this foyer had been a vacant mess. The hardwood had been old and battered-looking, the glass in the windows were foggy and caked with dust, and the air had a general musty scent. But now it was breathtaking.
The City Witch Page 3