But it would save the others, and if she didn’t do this, then what kind of life would all of them have? Regan would start killing more of them, and he would go after those he felt were the most expendable—Tina, Karen, and Lila. After that, if she still hadn’t agreed to join him, he would start carving away their grandparents and parents.
How many deaths would she allow to happen before she cast this spell? She’d never be able to live with one death on her hands; she’d rather be dead. She’d just prefer not to be dead at seventeen.
You can resist it. You have to and you will. Avery tried to convince herself of this, but her body was already thrumming at the prospect of more power.
There was a way to stop her should she get out of control, and Avery would make sure it happened. She hoped she didn’t harm anyone before then. She briefly contemplated getting the coven but ruled it out. Whoever had the skull wouldn’t let her cast this spell.
She mulled Tlachtga’s last words and tried to piece them together. The person had a connection to her, and she’d also said the coven. As her cousin, Sandra was the only person in the coven she was connected to in another way.
Sandra’s wild, emerald eyes flashed through her mind. But it couldn’t be Sandra, who she’d come to consider a friend, who had never turned on her after the maze and encouraged her to keep fighting even when Avery wanted to quit.
It couldn’t be Sandra, but she couldn’t think of any other connection between her and someone else in the coven. And what connection could be stronger than a blood one? Blood is thicker than water after all.
She hadn’t believed Sandra could do it, or would, but it was the only logical explanation. Sandra had rained down so much misery on them and was the reason Talia was dead. The fact she would be the cause of Avery’s demise made her see red. At that moment, she hated Sandra more than she ever hated Regan.
If she was going down, then so was Sandra.
Avery turned away from the Book and grabbed a pen and paper. When she snatched up her crystal, it sparked in her hand, and she clung to its reassuring warmth. Quickly, she wrote the instructions on how to destroy the person who invoked the spell.
She slipped the note into her pocket to give to Landon later. Landon would have the strength to make sure the coven remained safe.
Avery wrote another note to Reid to tell him she would always love him and she was sorry for what she was about to do before writing one to each of her parents, Tina, Karen, and Lila. Avery placed the notes on her bureau and blinked back the tears in her eyes. She hoped no one would ever read those last notes.
CHAPTER 36
The air sizzled and cracked with electricity. Through her now open windows, the waves crashed against the shore while wind whipped around the room. Heavy with anticipation and impending doom, the air was thick around her.
Two more lines, just two more lines.
Avery’s throat clogged as she stared at the last two lines. Seeking the courage to finish it, her hand clutched her crystal. Once she said those last lines, most of her essence would transfer into the crystal, and she would open herself up to something else. Once she said those lines, her life would most likely be over.
Her mind flashed over all the people she loved so much. She saw her father teaching her how to ride a bike, and Lila beating up Guy Chance in the second grade and becoming Avery’s best friend. She recalled Karen and Tina’s unwavering love, loyalty, and trust. The coven’s beauty and power. Lastly, she thought of Reid; he would be devastated by this, but he would live to be crushed.
A surge of protectiveness washed over her as her courage returned. She would protect them against Sandra and Regan, no matter what the cost. Her life was nothing compared to all of theirs. She took a deep breath, and the last two sentences rushed out of her.
“I invoke the spirits of the past to leave your plane and break free. I invoke the spirits of the past to bind and join with me!”
A crack resonated the air as bolts of white and blue shot through the room. The light bounced off the walls and rebounded around the room as Avery slipped the crystal around her neck. She let it fall free to rest against her chest.
One of the windows banged shut, and glass shattered across her floor. A gale force wind whipped into the room as the roar of the ocean became unnaturally loud. She had ripped the veil between this plane and the witch one open, releasing the spirits. They crammed her room as they filled it with their power, rage, and love.
The mini bolts of lightning surrounded her, and her heart pounded as they zipped across her. Little electric shocks burst over her skin until all her hair stood on end. Avery opened her mouth, and when she did, the light entered her.
She tried to scream, but the sound was choked by the spirits funneling in until they pushed her back against the floor while they pounded into her. An unending scream echoed inside her head as uncontrollable spasms racked her.
It took all her strength to grip her crystal as she lay helplessly on the ground while she endured the endless beating. Agony coursed throughout her as the spirits ripped into her veins, tore into her heart, and shoved her soul out of her body to make room for theirs.
She wanted it to stop so she could take it all back, but it was too late. She could only lay there and let them take over. A hitching sob escaped when she felt herself slipping away and her essence filling her crystal until the crystal held more of her than she did.
Then it stopped. The wind vanished, and the roar of the ocean dulled to its normal, steady rhythm. Avery lay on the floor while she stared at the ceiling with tears streaking her face as the spirits churned within her. As of now, she still had tremulous control over herself; it wouldn’t last long.
Her whole body coursed with a power unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It reminded her of the way she felt after her initiation, except this was more intense. The air around her was more vibrant and alive, and she could smell the particles in it as well as hear the hum of their energy.
The wood floor pulsed beneath her fingers and vibrated with energy. She scented the pine it was cut from and received a vivid image of those trees swaying in the breeze. Squirrels raced through them as they jumped from branch to branch. Then she felt the blade of the saw slicing into the bark and the suffering of the dying tree.
She sobbed as the pain of the tree engulfed her, and she ripped her hands away from the floor. She had to get herself together. The spell was cast, and now it would serve its purpose. It was only a matter of time before she lost control, and she had to get everything done before then.
Avery struggled to her feet and stood on her wobbly legs. A burning sensation on her wrist and hip drew her attention to the birthmark on her inner left wrist. Golden light illuminated the mark as it glowed like someone was branding it onto her skin. When she pulled her jeans down, she saw the other mark was glowing too. And then the light faded away from them, and they returned to normal.
Avery stared at them for a minute more, but they didn’t do anything unusual again. Taking a deep breath, she stumbled over to her bureau and snatched up her map. She removed her crystal, and it glowed so brightly she feared it would shatter in her grasp. Inside the stone, her essence was a ball of vibrant light swirling within its brilliant blue depths.
When uneasiness filled her, she tore her gaze away from the crystal and unfolded the map. She didn’t have time to be distracted by the fact most of her soul was inside the crystal; she had to find where Sandra hid the skull.
She smoothed the edges of the map down, and the crystal jumped toward it. She had enough power to break through whatever barriers Regan and Sandra had installed to protect the skull. She would be able to scry for and locate it now. She was sure of it.
Avery held her breath as the crystal spun above Cape Cod. The map was of Massachusetts. Sandra could have hidden the skull anywhere, but Avery figured she would start with local before moving onto a larger map of New England.
If this worked, then this was when everything would
be revealed, and they would finally stop Regan. That knowledge made everything she’d done worthwhile.
She bit her bottom lip when the crystal only continued to spin. Avery shoved the map out of the way and laid out the New England one. Her crystal continued to spin before stopping suddenly and going completely still.
Avery restrained herself from screaming at it. What was it doing? Then it started swaying back and forth, and Avery allowed it to draw her hand in the direction it wanted to go.
Then it dropped.
Gotcha, Avery thought with a sick sort of glee.
She leaned over the map and peered at the place where the crystal landed. At first, she could do no more than blink stupidly at the map. Maybe if she blinked at it a few dozen more times, it would start to make sense, but then she realized that nothing would make sense again.
Yet, oddly, it all made sense. There was a connection. It just wasn’t a connection to Sandra but to someone else, someone she never would have suspected.
Her astonishment faded to an all-consuming rage. The air crackled with tension, and the power oozing off her caused her hair to dance around her face. Everything made sense now, and that knowledge was close to driving her mad.
When Avery turned away from the map, her hand smacked off her dresser, and she jerked it back. Her eyes landed on the mirror over her bureau, and she froze as she took in her reflection. The face looking back at her was hers, but the eyes were utterly inhuman, and they sent a shiver of disgust through her.
No longer a clear blue, they’d become a piercing violet. But the color wasn’t contained to her irises; it had spread throughout her eyeballs, so all the white was also that strange color. Her breath rattled out as she stared at herself in disbelief.
Worse than the strange color were the things shifting and moving behind the purple orbs, and she dimly realized it was the spirits inhabiting her now. Avery held back the vomit rolling through her stomach.
Snatching her sunglasses from the top of her bureau, she slid them on and felt a little better when she couldn’t see her eyes. There was also no reason for the coven to know what she’d done yet. Plus, those shifting, inhuman eyes would probably terrify them.
With a few whispered words, Avery ran her hand down the front of her and cast a cloaking spell that would keep the strength of her powers hidden from everyone, including Regan. She didn’t know how long the spell would last, but she hoped it held up until she was ready for it to fall.
Straightening her shoulders, she inhaled a steadying breath as she prepared herself for what was to come. She found her phone and hit Landon’s name in her contacts. She waited as the phone rang three times before Landon answered.
“Hey, Avery, everything okay?”
Avery realized it had been a while since she called Landon; she usually called Reid, but she couldn’t talk to him while knowing what she’d done.
“Fine,” she said, and her voice sounded oddly hollow to her. “Can you do something for me?”
“Sure.”
“Can you get the coven together and meet me at your house in an hour?”
“Ah… yeah,” Landon said. “Are you sure you’re okay? You sound a little strange.”
“I’m fine; must be a bad connection. I’ll see you soon.”
Avery hung up before Landon could question her further, then grabbed her coat and duffel bag before slipping out of the house. Her father had gone out to meet his coven earlier; she suspected they were trying to figure out a way to fight Regan, but they wouldn’t get that chance. She wanted to tell him goodbye, but she was glad he wasn’t home; the second he saw her, he would know something was wrong.
Though it was nighttime, she didn’t take the glasses off as she slipped through the shadows to the beach. She hurried across the sand with her head bowed against the elements. The earth beneath her feet, the air caressing her cheeks, and the spray of the water from the sea fueled the immense power housed within her.
Avery finally arrived at the cave where Regan and Celia were buried. She slipped inside and strode as fast as she could to their burial spots. When she reached the center of the cave, Avery allowed some of the power to ooze out of her and light sprang to life at the tips of her fingers. When she released the light, it rose like fireflies to hover over her head.
Their glow illuminated the rubble scattered over the cave floor, but unlike before, when this site made her feel overwhelmed, she only smiled. She walked over to the spot where they’d retrieved Regan’s skull and held her hands over the pile of rocks covering them. Drawing on the power of the earth, she imagined the rubble lifting off the floor. The stones rattled as they clicked together before rising to float over her head. Beneath the rocks lay two sets of bones.
Avery moved the rocks aside and let them fall before stepping closer to the bones. She studied them for a minute, her eyes resting on Celia’s skull before she held her hands over the grave. “Bring me Regan’s bones,” she commanded.
The bones closest to her started to rattle before rising from the hole to float before her. Avery lifted her duffel bag, and her lip curled in distaste when she plucked the bones from the air and shoved them into the bag before zipping it closed. She felt nothing as she hefted the bag onto her shoulder and left the cave.
CHAPTER 37
The coven was already gathered in Landon and Reid’s living room when she arrived. They stopped speaking when she entered the room.
“I know where the skull is,” she said as she set Regan’s bones on the floor.
“So do we,” Isla said. “How could you?”
“How could I what?” Avery asked.
“We know you have the skull,” Isla accused.
“No, we don’t,” Reid said, and the rest of the coven exchanged uneasy looks.
Disbelief ran through Avery before she started laughing. It was a harsh laugh that didn’t belong to her, and the coven turned to look at her as Isla’s eyes narrowed.
“Do you think this is funny?” Sandra asked, and Avery detected the barely leashed anger in her voice.
“No, it’s not funny, but I don’t have the skull.” She would have it soon though.
“Of course you would say that,” Shawn said.
Avery realized more than just Isla suspected she had the skull. “We don’t have time for this.”
“You’ve had the skull all along,” Isla accused. “You’re the only one we never suspected and the only one with the power to keep it hidden from us. You and Regan had this planned. You led us to him time and again and let him feed off our powers. It all makes sense now!”
“It would be easier to get us to join him if we believed there was no way to stop him. If you had joined him outright, we wouldn’t have followed you. But, if the two of you battered us down, we would be more likely to break and go willingly,” Shawn said.
Avery stared at them with her arms crossed firmly over her chest. Oddly enough, none of this bothered her. She knew where the skull was, and she would get them to go with her if she had to make them do it. She had only one mission: destroy Regan.
“We trusted you!” Isla spat.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Sandra asked.
“Are you done yet?” she asked calmly.
Sandra blinked at her, Shawn’s eyes widened, and Isla sputtered in indignation. “I’m going to kill you!”
“That’s enough,” Landon commanded. “Enough!”
“Avery, please.” Avery turned to look at Rosie sitting on the love seat with tears brimming in her blue eyes. “Please say it isn’t true.”
The pleading tone in Rosie’s voice cracked through the shell encasing her. For a second, her humanity rushed back, and she felt her essence among the swirl of others. She turned away from Rosie before she cracked and lost it.
“Do you all believe I have the skull?” she asked.
When they glanced at one another, she felt the hopelessness filling the room. “Yes,” Isla said.
“No,” Reid interjecte
d. “Avery does not have the skull!”
“I’m with Reid,” Landon asserted, but Avery detected the doubt in her voice.
“It doesn’t matter,” Avery said. The crack in her shell had healed, and she was calm, collected, and utterly unemotional again.
“Of course it matters,” Sandra said. “I don’t want to believe it, but you are the only one we never suspected.”
“No, it doesn’t matter. I’m taking you to the skull, and you’ll learn the truth. Mario, get your mother’s van.”
“Huh?” he asked.
Trying to keep a rein on her powers, Avery fisted her hands until her nails bit into her palms. Anger wouldn’t help this situation, but she was close to losing control. She had to get them to the skull before her time ran out.
“Get the van,” she grated through her teeth. “We need something that can hold all of us.”
“Avery—” Reid started.
“I can’t explain right now. There isn’t time. Mario, please get the van.”
“For what?” Shawn demanded.
“I’m taking you to the skull.”
• • •
Avery sat beside Reid as she strained to keep her powers leashed. The road rolled by in a flash of trees and blurring yellow lines as her wrath solidified her shell. Her hands tingled with power, but for now, she retained control over herself.
“Where are we going?” Mario inquired from the driver’s seat.
“She’s probably going to kill us,” Shawn muttered.
“Nobody wanted to listen to me!” Isla snapped. “Oh, no, let’s all get in the van with the person who is trying to turn us or kill us.”
“Enough, Isla,” Sandra said, but the others all exchanged furtive looks that slowly turned to Avery.
“Avery, where are we going?” Reid asked.
She didn’t trust herself enough to speak. Avery wanted to tell him she loved him, would always love him, but she was scared she would lose the thin thread of control she had over herself if she did. These were her last moments with him, and she couldn’t bring herself to speak to him.
Dream Walker (The Coven, Book 3) Page 18