He sighed and kissed her forehead as he ran his fingers through her hair. “That’s great. I have something for you.”
When he pulled away from her, she missed the warmth of his arms as he sat up and lifted something from her nightstand. When he turned back, he handed her the two pieces of her crystal. She hesitated before reaching for it.
Avery didn’t know what she expected to happen when she claimed the pieces; if she would find the crystal weaker now that it was broken or if a part of her would remain inside, but she only felt the calming swell of power she’d always experienced with it.
“Landon cleansed them for you,” Reid said.
Avery closed her eyes as she pressed the pieces against her cheek. “I was so sure I was going to die.”
He wiped the tears away from her cheeks as he bent to kiss her. “It’s over,” he said. “We won.”
“We won,” she whispered and smiled. “It’s over.”
• • •
Two weeks later, Avery stood outside the door to Lila’s room, gazing in at the small figure sitting in the wheelchair by the window. “Go on in,” the nurse encouraged.
Avery glanced back at the nurse before looking up at Reid who smiled at her. He’d been against her coming here, but she had to see Lila one last time. She had to close this chapter of her life.
“I’ll be back,” Avery said to Reid before gathering her courage to walk across the room to Lila.
From what Lila’s mom told her when she called to ask about visiting Lila, she’d been moved into this long-term medical care and rehabilitation center last week. Mrs. Colston said they wanted her home but believed this was best for Lila until they rebuilt their house.
“Come to gloat?” Lila asked when Avery stopped a few feet away.
Avery glanced at the window and saw herself reflected there; Lila had seen her coming. “No,” she said honestly. “I came to say goodbye so I can move on with my life.”
“So quick to abandon your friends then?”
“You’re not my friend, Lila. You never were.”
Lila chuckled, and Avery bit back a gasp when she turned to face her. Always so lively and upbeat, Lila looked like a completely different person. Her once shiny, chocolate-colored hair hung lankly around her shoulders. No sparkle shone in her shadowed, doe brown eyes, and her cheeks were so hollow she looked more like seventy than seventeen. The pinched look around her mouth didn’t help the image of an old, bitter woman.
“You mean you don’t want to save me?” Lila asked.
“Nothing can save you.”
“How do you know you can’t save me, Avery? I mean, isn’t that what you do? Aren’t you the little miracle worker? Or do you save those miracles for everyone else while leaving your best friend to rot?”
After getting a glimpse inside Lila’s putrid mind, Avery knew she was just trying to manipulate her, but knowing it didn’t help ease the sorrow Lila’s words evoked. Lila had never loved her and was incapable of the emotion, but Avery had loved her and probably always would.
But she couldn’t deny that she also hated her now.
They’d once shared everything, and Avery had pictured their kids playing together while they grew older, but that was all over now. However, even with knowing what Lila was, it was still difficult for her to give up those dreams.
“I wish none of this had ever happened,” she said honestly.
Lila snorted with laughter and turned to look out the window again. “You’re happy to see me here.”
“No, I’m not, but it’s what you deserve.”
“Get out.”
“I won’t be coming back.”
“I don’t care.”
Avery realized she meant that. “Goodbye, Lila.”
She didn’t turn to look back as she walked out of the room and clasped the hand Reid extended to her.
“Are you okay?” Reid asked.
“Yes,” she said and smiled at him. “I’m looking forward to the future.”
Reid smiled as he kissed her temple. “Me too.”
EPILOGUE
With her books tucked against her chest, Avery strode across the college campus to where the coven gathered near the fountain in the center of the property. Although so much had changed since last September when Regan sucked them into his maze, some things remained the same. Most of them were in college now, but the coven met for lunch every day.
When she spotted Reid sitting with Sandra and Landon on the edge of the fountain, she waved to them as she weaved her way through the crowd. Sandra didn’t attend their school, but she was living in Boston while working as a model. Rosie was living with her while she took a year off from school and waitressed at a bar near Fenway.
Mario, Karen, and Eric also didn’t attend their school, but they went to a university only a few blocks away and walked over to join them every day. Shawn had decided not to attend college, but with his construction background from working at his dad’s company, he’d gotten a well-paying job on a construction site in the city.
Before Avery could join them, Alex and Isla emerged from the crowd of students and settled on the fountain. Alex draped his arm around Landon’s shoulders and kissed her temple. Landon smiled as she leaned against his side and rested her head on his chest.
When she was almost to them, Reid rose and held his arms out to her; she went eagerly into them. They may be at the same college, but between classes and the fact their dorms were on opposite ends of the campus, they didn’t see each other as often as she would have liked. That would change next year as they all planned to get an apartment together, or at least move into the same building. This year though, they’d all wanted to experience dorm life.
Mario, Karen, and Eric joined them next. Eric broke away to play frisbee with some of the kids throwing it across the lawn while Mario settled on the fountain and pulled Karen onto his lap. Avery couldn’t help smiling at the two of them when they kissed.
Shawn and Tina emerged from the crowd next with their hands entwined. Avery never would have pegged them as a couple, but when they started dating over the summer, they’d hit it off and were happy together.
But then they were all a lot happier now that Regan was gone and they no longer had the threat of him hanging over their heads. True to her word, she’d never returned to see Lila, but she kept tabs on her and knew she was still in the facility.
“The fall equinox is tomorrow; are we still going home to celebrate it?” Sandra asked as she bit into a banana.
Which also meant tomorrow was the one-year anniversary of when Regan took them into his maze.
“I think we should,” Landon said. “And it should be a big celebration. What do you all think?”
When Mario, the youngest member of the coven, turned eighteen, they’d decided not to vote on a coven leader and agreed to run it together. Landon was still mostly in charge of the rituals and keeping things together, but they decided everything together.
“I think it should be the biggest party we’ve ever thrown,” Mario said.
“So do I,” Avery agreed and slid her hand into Reid’s.
“Good,” Sandra said.
Resting her hand against the scar on her chest, Avery felt the swell of her power as the water at her back and the breeze tickling her cheeks filled her with energy. When Reid slid his hand into hers, she felt the raised ridges of the matching scar on his palm.
The sun caught on the small diamond on her ring finger, and she smiled as she recalled Reid going to his knee a week after they graduated. She’d been so shocked as he knelt before her on the beach with the box in hand and a smile on his face while he asked her to marry him. She’d been so excited that she could barely get the yes out, but she finally did.
She’d thrown her arms around him while he lifted her and spun her around the sand. Though she was excited about the engagement and knew there was no one else for her, she wanted to wait until after college before they were married.
Avery smile
d as she stared at the students milling about the grounds and laughing. The sound and sight of it was all so normal, but the coven was far from normal. However, unlike when she first learned about the coven and the change they represented to her life, she felt no fear over this abnormality anymore.
Back then, she hadn’t believed in witches and was determined to avoid the life they were offering her. Now, she couldn’t picture her life any other way. Avery loved the life she’d forged with the coven and her friends, and even after everything they’d all been through, she would never change it.
They’d all gone through Hell together and come out stronger because of it, and now they had only the brightness of their futures ahead of them.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Stevens is the author of the Captive Series, Coven Series, Kindred Series, Fire & Ice Series, Ravening Series, and the Survivor Chronicles. She enjoys writing young adult and new adult romance, horror, and science fiction. She also writes adult paranormal romance and historical romance under the pen name, Brenda K. Davies. When not out with friends and family, she is at home with her husband, son, dog, cat, and horse.
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