“Now,” Cassie says, “the real fun of being a Witch can begin.”
THE REST OF THE WEEK and on into the fourth week moves rather quickly. I can feel myself growing stronger, better, faster. My chicken legs fill out a little more. My mind has more control over my magic and my emotions. By the end of the fifth week, I manage to put Jaxen far from my thoughts. He left for a reason, and a large part of me doesn’t believe it’s because Mack wanted him to. If he’s looking to end whatever was blooming between us, distance is the best remedy.
But even with knowing this, it still doesn’t make it any easier to swallow, and that bothers me the most. Why him? Out of all the men in the world to be drawn to, why am I drawn to the one I can never be with? Maybe because nothing I ever do is done the easy way, at least, that’s what Katie would say if we were still on speaking terms, but that’s a whole other batch of issues I don’t feel like dealing with.
The jog I take every morning gets easier with every day that passes. I welcome the run, losing myself in my counted footsteps and the rising sun. Gavin keeps me focused on fight training, since that’s my most needed ability when I’m out in the real world.
Yesterday, I managed to make him cry uncle.
It’s the only part of the week I actually enjoyed.
Jezi keeps her distance from me during my time in the Witches Quarters. Cassie walks me through the basics of summoning elements, writing basic spells, and tapping into the gift of sight to predict pieces of the future. The gift of sight came in handy when live fighting Gavin.
He calls it cheating. I call it being sensible and resourceful.
The three of them think it’s best that I remain in my room the remainder of my time during the day to keep me out of the public eye, and out of trouble. I can’t say it bothers me. It gives me time to focus on reading the books Gavin gave me and my Grimoire.
But even reading that has its limitations. There’s a whole section written in by my mother about the benefits of using herb magic versus elemental magic. Although it’s interesting to read about that side of her, to see her passion written in full force, it still hurts to look at. It hurts to think about her being stuck somewhere, held by God knows what.
I shut my mother’s Grimoire and set it back on the desk in my room. Tomorrow, Gavin wants me to watch the other novices while they practice for their quarter trials. I tried to get out of it. I don’t want to see Katie, but he told me to stop whining and suck it up. So sucking it up, I am.
I get back into bed and snuggle back against the pillow, staring over at my acceptance letter. You control your own destiny.
I shut my eyes when a loud bang goes off outside the Elder’s wing. I sit straight up, looking toward the window where the sound came from. Pushing my covers aside, I walk over and peek out the side of the curtains. I barely have time to take it all in before my door bursts open.
“Faye!”
I look up. It’s Gavin. Sweat drips down his paled face and fear etches lines into his forehead. “Come on. We’re under attack.”
“Attack? By who?”
“I…I don’t know. I think it’s Darkyn Rebels. Somehow they’ve broken through our security.” He shoves a hand through his hair.
“Gavin...”
His eyes flash with lightning right before his head snaps past my door down the hall. He puts his hand up to shush me. “Someone’s here,” he whispers, his body tensing all over. “Wait here.”
A chill runs down my spine. I sense dark magic in the air, sparking like tiny bits of electricity as he walks away. The hairs on my body rise from the static. This can’t be happening. The Darkyn Coven was put down right along with Mourdyn.
I suck in a brave breath, grab my father’s flux, and tip-toe to the window. I almost jump back. Darkyn Rebels swarm the grounds below, forming armed lines outside of every building as far as I can see. They wear the ouroboros patch, the snake eating its tail, on their black robes. Mourdyn’s Coven symbol.
How in the hell is there that many of them?
Gavin comes back in and meets me at the window. Volation sparks down his forearms and on into his flux. “There were two Darkyn Rebel Witches at the end of the hallway.” He peeks out the window. “Shit! How are there so freaking many of them?”
“I wondered the same thing,” I say, gripping the handle of my flux tighter. “Why are they here?” I can barely get the question out. I can barely hear the next words that come out of his mouth. I can barely keep my legs from buckling beneath me.
His face drops, and fear lingers around his pupils. “I think they’re here for you, Faye.” He reaches for the phone in his back pocket. “Cass and Jezi better get their asses here.” He types something into the phone and puts it back in his pocket. He starts for the door, but before he makes it one step he shouts, “Get down!”
He throws me to the floor, dropping his body over top of mine as the windows across from us shatter, blowing inward. Shards of glass crash to the floor and skid in our direction, slicing and biting at our skin. I barely catch my breath as I scramble to my feet, grabbing the flux that has fallen out of my hand in front of me.
Two men, hanging from nylon ropes and dressed in all black, swing through the open windows. Gavin has me by the back of my shirt, lifting me to my feet the moment the glass settles, and pushes me ahead of him for the door. I turn back just as they climb over the windowsill.
A dagger flies past me, barely missing Gavin’s ear. “Shit!” he yells as we slide across the shards of glass that dig into the bottom of my bare feet. He shoves me off to the side and whirls around, swinging the flux out in front of him. One of the black suited Witches lunges for Gavin, dark magic encircling his arms. Gavin ducks and clips the Witch’s legs out from under him.
In a sweeping motion, Gavin’s flux plunges through the Witch’s back with deadly precision. Lightning courses from Gavin’s body and into the first Witch as the other one stalks toward me with a dangerous gleam in his eye. Magic builds around his hands, charged with an evil I can smell. The door slams shut behind us. Everything is happening so fast. Too fast.
I falter back against the wall, my heart slamming again and again against my chest. Think, I tell myself, trying to steady my thoughts enough to keep me out of trouble. As if I’ve done it a million times, I force all of my power into the flux that so greedily accepts it.
The Witch freezes inches in front of me. Every light in my room goes out as I continue to pull on the electricity around me. It’s an urge I can’t resist. I want it all, all the power around me, filling me.
Though the Witch’s wide eyes are hidden behind a ski mask, his fear is prevalent. Slowly, he puts his hands in the air. In a flash, Gavin is behind him with his palm wrapped around the Witch’s forehead, exposing his pale throat. Gavin’s eyes lock on mine as the Witch struggles against his solid frame. The storm in Gavin’s eyes rages as he methodically slits the man’s throat. Sparks of lightning enter through the slit, rushing toward the Witch’s heart.
Gavin drops him without a second thought and reaches for my hand, pulling me over to him. His rough hands cup my face, forcing me to look up at him. “We’re going to be fine,” he says calmly, his blue eyes anchoring me. He grins at me, full of confidence and excitement, like he’s made for this moment, like it’s an ordinary thing to be attacked by Darkyn Witches, and like he didn’t just kill someone.
He pulls my door open. Another Witch appears on the other side, blocking our escape. Before Gavin can react, the man’s fist shoots out, encompassed in dark magic, and catches Gavin square on the jaw. Black waves of magic ripple through the air from the impact. Gavin stumbles back into my arms.
“Gavin!” I shout as the Witch lifts his hand full of magic up for another round. Gavin shakes the hit off and retaliates with a spark-filled punch that slams the Witch into the wall, leaving a huge hole. He murderously stalks over to the Witch, forcefully yanking him out of the wall by the ears. He uses the momentum to knee the Witch in the face, and then toss
es him down to the ground. The Witch collapses into an unconscious heap on the floor.
“Go!” He points to the cleared doorway. I don’t hesitate.
I run for it, my heart racing a mile a minute, with Gavin right on my heels. Heads of Elders peek out through cracks of open doors, but none of them offer us help. None of them try. I shove the front door open, only to stumble back. Two more men shove their way through. Long strips of dark magic shoot from one of the Witch’s hands and strikes Gavin in the face.
With a primitive growl, he charges them like a crazy man and hoists them up into the air. Rushing forward, he slams them through the wall and into another room. It’s an incredulous and frightening sight. I rush through the hole after him. He’s stabbing one of the Witches. The other is about to throw a spell at him. Without thinking, I aim and throw my flux, and it hits dead center of his heart. The Witch falls back and Gavin looks up. I rush over to Gavin and yank my flux from the Witch’s chest, trying not to think about the fact that I just killed someone.
Slowly, Gavin turns around and falls into a heap at my feet. He’s clutching his temples and groaning, rolling back and forth. I drop down to him, trying to steady him so I can see what’s wrong. The prospect of getting away is slipping through my fingers.
“Damn it!” he shouts through tight lips. “Bastards hit me with a curse,” he growls out. He shoves me off and pulls himself up using the wall, his arms flexing with strength. He tumbles back through the hole, nearly falling past me. I try to help him up but he says, “Keep going,” his voice constrained. Boils begin to appear on his cheeks and forehead, his face distorting from the dark magic.
“Gavin,” I say, trying to keep up with him as we make our way back to the front door. He doesn’t stop. I don’t even think he breathes.
He shoves the door open. A swarm of brightly colored magic strikes the air around us, and then a line of Darkyn Witches appear in front of us, all wearing black suits and horned masks.
“Give us the girl and we’ll relinquish the curse,” one of the Witches says with a sneer.
Gavin doesn’t even flinch. “Keep going,” he instructs, pulling me back around the side of the building. I don’t even notice the chill of the midnight air biting my skin. The screams coming from the novices caught outside barely register. Katie pops into my head, and I pray that she’s in her room.
Witches run at our heels, dark magic flying past us. A spell clips me in my thigh and I scream out, the magic searing through the material of my pants and on into my skin. I’m too late to help Gavin by the time another rush of dark magic surges through the air.
“Ahhhh!” he shouts, dropping to his knees just outside the gymnasium.
“Gavin!” I cry out, dread releasing my pent up adrenaline. I stop and run back to him, feeling my own magic building within, and drag him the rest of the way through the gymnasium door. I pull him through the weight room and prop him up against the door. I touch the doorknob and spell it to only unlock under my command.
I call upon my Grimoire for something, anything that will help me heal him. A second later, the answer forms inside my mind. “Give me your hand,” I say confidently, reaching for him. I’m running on pure instinct, allowing it to get me through this. It’s all I have left.
He grabs a hold of my hand. His grip is weak. I have to hurry. My power connects to him the second we touch, merging our minds as one. The dark magic is spreading through him like a virus. Terror scratches at my resolve. He has but seconds until it reaches his heart. I can’t let that happen.
I focus on the curse, using the words from the spell the Grimoire gave me. “Curse of death, undo your bind, tether yourself to my light, and break from his mind.” The sparking tingle of magic grows within me until it explodes out of my hands, cleansing Gavin of the curse.
I yank him back to his feet. “You good?” I ask, searching his face. He nods. It’s enough to convince me. I quickly heal my leg, and then undo the lock on the door and peer down the hallway of the gymnasium. I don’t see anyone. “What now?” I ask him.
“We have to make it to the back of the building. There’s a hidden doorway to an underground safe house where we can stay until reinforcements get here and take them down. How does it look?”
“Clear.” I don’t sense anything either.
“This way then,” Gavin says. He takes my hand in his and pulls me down the hallway. We make it to the back, and he pauses and sticks his head out the door. “Clear.” We make our way around the corner and toward a hidden door kept behind a line of bushes. We’re so close to getting away. I can almost taste it.
But then a pair of red eyes appears in front of us. A Demon. A knife plunges into Gavin’s stomach.
“No!” I shout, blasting the Demon away from us with volation. Lightning crackles through the air, alerting anyone close of our whereabouts. The Demon crashes against the wall of the gymnasium and slides to the ground. I don’t wait around to find out if I’ve killed him. I lift Gavin to his feet, heat pressing behind my eyes. He tries to pull the knife out, but it won’t budge.
“It’s a cursed blade,” he strains to say. He coughs and blood shoots out from behind his lips. My breath constricts as fear and horror paralyze my mind and limbs. He topples forward onto his knees, still coughing, staining the snow with his life force. “Poisoned,” he manages to say through a moan.
I’m by his side, rubbing his back and asking him what I should do, when four more Darkyn Witches come around the corner of the building. Dark fog swirls up around them. My heart stops as panic works its way into my power, weakening the pull I have on the energy around me. What the hell am I doing? Doubt streaks through my mind, crippling my confidence.
Gavin rolls to his side, his blood blending in with the murky slush of snow. No, I think to myself, get a grip. I slowly stand and step forward, focusing on the group of Witches. I’m the only one who can protect us now.
“Join us,” the light, malicious voice of one of the Witches says.
I don’t respond. I don’t want them to hear my fear, though I’m sure they can smell it. The power within me grows as I count the seconds, praying we will make it through.
“If you don’t join us, Gavin will die. He’s without his Witch,” the man continues as they both stalk toward us without fear. “You can’t counter poison with magic, and I’m sure you don’t have the antidote handy.”
“Faye,” Gavin groans, grabbing onto my leg. His hand is covered in blood, soaking through my pant leg. “Run.” The plea in his voice tears at my heart. I can’t leave him.
“No,” I say firmly, ignoring the pleading in his steely blue eyes. I won’t play the coward any longer. I look back to the Witches who are steadily growing closer, and see red. My hands shoot out to my sides. Lightning streaks down my arms, and white light fills my palms.
All of the Witches laugh, but I tune them out, not allowing it to affect me any longer. As the laughter dies off, the leader of the four clicks his teeth in mocking. “That’s a dumb choice,” he says behind a black mask. “The Demon I work for asked us to keep you alive, but never said anything about unharmed. Let me show you how the Darkyn Coven deals with pesky little girls.”
He lifts his hands, and dark magic shoots past me, connecting with Gavin’s chest. He cries out in pain as he rolls over into the snow. Rage unlike anything I have ever felt stirs within the very depths of me, just waiting for my command to lash out. I let everything unleash on them, but they’ve strung some form of dark shield around them that sucks away every bit of my magic, leaving me swaying and dizzy.
I drop to the floor next to Gavin, feeling like I have just been through a marathon.
“I’ll only ask one last time,” one of them says while the other Witch keeps on with torturing Gavin. He stops inches away from us.
“You’re wasting your breath,” a stranger’s rough voice says from behind me. I roll to my side, trying to see through the hazy blur. Whoever he is, he’s standing beneath a shadow. Golden eyes
flash in my direction. “They’re both coming with me.”
Both of the Witches behind me laugh again, but their laughter ends abruptly when the mysterious man disappears and reappears behind them. His hands plunge through their chests and rips out their hearts. He drops them, and then turns around just as the other two try to respond with dark magic. He tackles them to the ground with a demonic growl, plunging his hands through their chests. His face is hidden by darkness when he turns back to me. Blood rolls down his arms, their hearts still beating in his hands.
I lose the battle with nausea and quickly move from Gavin’s eerily still body to empty the contents of my stomach. Dry heaves rack my body as my vision waivers. “I’m not...I’m not going...anywhere…with you,” I manage to say, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Gavin will die if you don’t. That part, these two,” he says, dropping the black hearts, “were right about. He won’t make it without an antidote. You can trust me. I’m a friend of Jaxen’s.” He smears the black blood across the front of his button down shirt. A strong arm reaches down to me, offering me aid, but darkness has woven itself around my mind.
The last thing I remember is seeing a black cat appear from out of the shadows as I collapse on Gavin’s chest.
“FAYE?” IT’S MY MOTHER’S SOFT voice I hear, calling me to awareness.
“Mom?” I sit up and look for her, but all I see is darkness. There’s a chill in the air that makes its way to my bones, sucking the heat from my fingers and toes. I shiver against it and pull my arms around myself to save my diminishing warmth. A coppery scent trickles through the air, turning my stomach sour.
“Mom,” I say a little louder.
Nothing. I hear nothing and I see nothing. I’m in a black void, smelling the vile stench of blood and reliving the last moments of my life before it was robbed from me behind the gymnasium.
“Mom…please, don’t leave me. Don’t leave me here. Please.”
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