A History of Hexing

by Evie Wilde

  The guys started forward, but I shook my head. “Still Kyler’s call.”

  Kyler shifted and approached Sonny. “I’m sorry, bro, I couldn’t let you hurt her. You know what I have to do.”

  “I know.” Sonny looked at me. “You take care of him.”

  I nodded and moved away as Kyler knelt next to Sonny and held him in his arms. I glanced at Sonny’s burnt legs and noticed the burns were slowly working toward his thighs.

  Braeden approached Sonny, and I stopped him. “Let them be. They need some time”

  I walked away and then noticed Sonny’s bags, one open and stuff pouring out. “I’m sure there’ll be something helpful in here. You check that one.”

  Braeden knelt by the other bag. “Surely something between the two.”

  I picked a shirt up off the ground and beneath the shirt I found what I was looking for. Ren was one of the most eccentric people I'd ever met, so the ornate key lying on the ground left no question it was the key to Ren’s front door. I had seen him use the exact same key. “It’s Ren’s,” I said to Braeden and showed him.

  “We need to get the guys and go find Ren.” Braeden stood, and the two of us stared at Kyler.

  “No,” I said. “Needs to be you and I. The others can stay here and guard the campus in case Ren or Edius show up.”

  We moved next to Kyler and Sonny, Dash and Oliver joining us. Braeden lowered my hands as my light magic began to grow. Even after all Sonny had done, I still wanted to help him. I raised my hands, and Dash shook his head.

  “He’s too far gone,” Dash whispered in my ear. “Let him go.”

  Sonny coughed and a stream of blood emerged from the corner of his mouth. “I shouldn’t have gone with Ren’s plan, but I didn’t want to live in seclusion anymore. He promised to take me in, mentor me, and bring me into the guild after he recruited more members since Edius killed everyone.” A tear dripped from the corner of his eye. “I’m sorry, Kyler.”

  I glanced back at his legs, the burning continuing up his waist. Dash was right, there was nothing we could do. Whatever came out of the dragon’s mouth was more than just fire. It appeared to be some sort of flesh-eating disease.

  “It’s okay,” Kyler said. “I forgive you. I just wish things could have been different.”

  And then Sonny was gone, dropping into a pile of ashes.

  We stood there for a moment, looking at the pile of ash and watching Kyler. When he burst into tears, we gathered around him. For the first time in our relationships together, we hugged as one, letting Kyler cry in our arms. We held him tightly, knowing of everything from his past that had been weighing on him.

  “You did everything you could,” I finally said. “I think he knew you forgave him.”

  Kyler took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, not looking up at us, staring at the ashes. He blew out a long breath. “This is on Ren and Edius. They knew he was vulnerable, and they took advantage of him. It’s time to settle the score.”

  “We know where Ren lives.” Braeden looked at me. “Show them the key.”

  I pulled the key from my waistband. “It’s to his front door. I’m sure his ego has convinced him we’d never come to his house.”

  Kyler grabbed the key. “Let’s go.”

  As soon as we turned, we saw an angry Ren racing toward us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Braeden

  As Ren came toward us, I suddenly realized what Kyler must have been going through while he fought Sonny. Having someone you care about turn their back on you and even try to kill you was devastating. But knowing all of what Ren had done for me, I still needed to make things right even if that meant ending his life. Sometimes the student needed to master the master.

  “Time to die,” Ren said and cackled like some old cartoon witch. He really needed to work on his diabolical laughter. “I think I’ve toyed with you enough.”

  I looked around for Edius, but once again he’d sent one of his minions to do his dirty work. We’d defeated Challis, and so would we defeat Ren. “And I think you’ve lived long enough.”

  Ren’s hands glowed, a fireball spinning in each palm. He was one of the best guildmasters in the world, his magic so far unmatched by any guildmaster I'd met. He would not be defeated head-on. We had to fight smart. He tossed the fireballs at the same time, but I managed to bat them away with a blocking spell, sending the fireballs crashing into the walls surrounding the academy, setting them temporarily ablaze. “I thought you were better than that,” I said. “Losing your touch in your old age?”

  “Get Cassandra back!” Dash yelled and leapt in front of us. He positioned one foot in front of the other and threw up a protective shield as another series of fireballs shot from Ren’s hands. He obviously didn’t like being taunted. Too bad. It was time to take him down. Though the protective shield worked, the force of the fireballs knocked us backward, making us vulnerable to another attack.

  I remembered what it was like to fight Challis and how she let her ego control her powers, making herself susceptible to spells. I called forward two wind spells, creating large tornadoes that made a direct path to Ren. But the problem with fighting a mentor was that the mentor knew all your skills and how to combat those very skills. Ren opened his mouth extraordinarily wide and sucked down the two whirlwinds. He cackled again, and that was when I really knew we were in for the fight of our lives. I scanned the area around us, looking for something that would give us the upper hand.

  “You’ll never be a mentor with skills like that.” Ren laughed at us and darted away. He cast a spell into the air, and it began to rain locusts, the creatures much larger than normal; their mandibles chomped, creating a chorus of loud shrieking.

  Kyler lowered his hands to the ground and then quickly brought them upward, covering the locusts in a muddy mess. Ren’s spell had been a simple annoyance. In his eyes, we were just a bunch of pesky kids.

  “He’s fucking with us,” Dash said.

  “Yeah.” I pointed at the others. “Remember, one team. We need to use our powers in unison.”

  Ren hung in the air for several minutes, watching us, taunting us. So much had changed in the two years since we’d left the guild. The man who had once been like a father to us had become an enemy. Cassandra and I had grown as people, but he had been consumed with power and greed, no longer the man we knew. No longer the man who’d given me a beer when I was eighteen and told me it would put hair on my chest.

  “He’s using you,” I said to Ren. “I don’t know what he’s promised you, but he’ll never deliver.”

  Ren swooped to the left and then to the right, his ornate cloak flapping in the wind. “He’s given me so much more than the guild ever gave me,” he said. “You will bow down to me as you will to him!”

  “That ain’t happening, douche bag.” Dash motioned at Cassandra and I. “They know you, we don’t. I couldn't give two shits about killing you.”

  “William Dashell Bancroft.” Ren smirked. “The troublesome youth. You may not know me, but I certainly know about you. And about your parents.”

  Out of anger, Dash fired two fireballs toward Ren. Ren dodged them, though the bottom corner of his cloak caught fire. He quickly brought down a handful of water from the clouds and put the flames out. His smirk grew before he whisked away into the woods.

  “What now?” Oliver asked. “You think he’s gone?”

  Kyler pointed toward the trees. “No, he brought friends.”

  Dozens of Sarchi leapt from branches barreling toward us, and Ren stood at the tree line, watching.

  “We stay around Cassandra. Do not let Ren hit her with a spell.” I waved my wand at the ground and created a circle in the dirt. “Stay in the circle.” I threw up another protective shield, and the Sarchi surrounded us, pounding the shield, draining my energy as I struggled to keep it in place.

  Dash raised his hands and coated the shield with another layer of protection, Oliver following our lead.

  “Now wha
t?” Kyler asked.

  “I have an idea.” Cassandra moved to the center of the dome. She placed her hands against the underside of the apex of the dome. “Can you guys lower your left hands and keep the shield intact with your right?” We all nodded. “Place your left hands on my shoulders.”

  We did as Casandra asked and felt the weight of the Sarchi begin to press down on the dome. The apex began to crack.

  Cassandra closed her eyes, and her hands glowed brightly before turning into fire. Then the heat spread across the dome. She bent at the knees, and I thought for sure the dome was collapsing upon us. Then she shot upward, shattering the dome into fiery pieces and toasting every Sarchi. The creatures wailed and tried to run back to the forest, but the flames stopped them in their tracks. They writhed along the ground and the burst into ashes.

  Ren approached laughing. “At least you didn’t destroy an entire city that time,” Ren said Cassandra. “Or a bunch of innocent people.”

  I glanced at Cassandra. Ren was trying to get under her skin. “Ignore him.”

  Cassandra looked at me and then back at Ren. “I think you probably had something to do with that, didn’t you?” She took a step forward. “Am I the shitty student, or are you the shitty mentor.”

  Ren’s face turned to a frown. He glared at Cassandra and then at me. I was the guy always looking after her. If Ren did have something to do with Cassandra’s magic issues, I was always the guy there to make things not as bad as he probably would have liked.

  I blocked another spell, and my body began to give way. Like it did several years ago while Cassandra and I were taking a break from training at the guild. The two of us had traipsed into the forest, blasting trees and rocks, when a small group of young Sarchi surrounded us. Because they were young, they were also fast and managed to avoid most of our spells. We fought for hours but luckily, they wore down before we did. It took me a week to recover from the energy I expelled. After that battle, Ren taught us how to conserve our energy during similar fights. “Let your legs take most of the defensive brunt of a fight since most of your offense comes from your hands,” Ren often taught.

  “He knows too much about us,” Cassandra said. “He’s fighting off every spell.”

  “Look at his eyes,” I said. “He’s changed. There’s hate in his eyes that wasn’t there while we were at the guild.”

  “It’s Edius.” Cassandra moved next to me as Ren studied us. “He’s got the upper hand.”

  I shook my head. “We need to let him think that. Let him think we’re the two foolish kids he once trained. Let his hate make him make the wrong move. He’ll let his guard down, and that’s when we’ll take advantage. We just need to hold him off a bit longer.”

  Cassandra cast a spell at Ren’s feet, and he jumped the fireballs as if jumping rope. He laughed, and then the smile washed from his face. Oliver and Dash moved next to us. Ren came at us again, spreading a shield around himself when he stopped a few feet in front of us. “One last chance, Cassandra. Give yourself over, and I’ll spare your boyfriends. Fight me, you die.” He glanced over at Sonny’s ashes. “He was a good kid. Someone has to pay for that. That someone will be you if you do not surrender.”

  I glanced at Cassandra, who seemed to be considering Ren’s offer. “Cassandra?” I nudged her shoulder, and she looked at me. “He’s not who he used to be. Don’t give yourself up.”

  ‘We’re gonna kick your ass,” Dash said to Ren. Ren ignored him.

  Cassandra turned to Ren. “Why are you doing this? All the students you taught. All the advice you gave to people leaving and going off into the world. Just bullshit. They all trusted you. Braeden and I trusted you.” She laughed and then glared at Ren. “The only way you get me is if I’m dead.”

  “That can be arranged,” Ren said. He whipped away and then turned, the aura around him dark and gloomy. He raised his hands and cast two dark streams at us, the inky blackness so deep, so thick it almost blocked out the sky.

  Oliver and Dash joined in, creating another heavy-duty protective shield around Cassandra, though there was no way we were winning the battle using shields. We had to be offensive in order to win. Ren’s spell hit the shield and knocked us to the ground, the black smudge encompassing the small dome. We tossed the dome away and glared at Ren.

  Oliver jumped to his feet and slammed his hands against the ground, sending a shockwave toward Ren, temporarily knocking him off his feet. The ground suddenly liquified and bubbled. Ren knew Cassandra and I, but not the others. He had no clue what their magic was capable of.

  Ren looked at his feet as they began to sink. He glared at Cassandra and I, and then darkness opened above his head. He reached both hands into the darkness, closing his eyes, chanting something none of us could understand. He cast the spell toward us, a spell drawn from the deepest abyss. I glanced back at Cassandra, waiting on her light magic. Just as the spell got to us, I felt her hands slam into my back, placing a light shield around us.

  To my right I saw Kyler shooting forward, and he shifted into a dragon: large wings, sharp talons, and fire jutting from his mouth.

  Ren rebuked Kyler’s stream of fire and then hit his scaled body with a strong bolt of lightning, sending him sprawling to the ground. Ren called out a spell in a language he never taught anyone at the guild. The skies above him opened, and the clouds swarmed, swirled with gray and blackness. And then down from the sky nearly a hundred snowball-sized fireballs descended toward us.

  Dash yelled for us to move, but it was too late. He managed to get off a spell, but the spell made the fireballs larger. We took the brunt of the fireballs’ force and were all knocked backwards, dazing each of us.

  “He’s gaining strength,” I said. “We need to be one again.”

  Kyler regained his composure and shifted again, his hands wielding another spell, sending trees and rocks at Ren’s head. Again, Ren repelled the spell, the expression on his face one of pride. When he tried to lift from the quicksand Oliver had created, his face turned grim.

  “He’s stuck,” I whispered. “Kyler, the trees. Use a spell he can’t see.”

  Kyler’s face went blank for a moment and then he looked at Ren. A smile replaced the blank look, and he turned to the trees, casting an earth spell, the effort draining most of Kyler’s energy.

  The ground shook as tree roots burrowed beneath the ground, heading toward Ren. Ren suddenly screamed and began casting spells at the quicksand. The roots had him by the feet, tugging, pulling him toward the underworld.

  “The fucker won’t die,” Dash said. “We need to conjure as one team!”

  Cassandra stepped forward, her hands aglow. “We keep fighting.” She brought her hands together, and a bolt of lightning shot toward Ren. Ren caught the bolt and threw it back, nearly hitting Dash.

  We moved in front of Cassandra again, creating a barrier between her and Ren. For the next thirty minutes we fought Ren, trading barbs, using every spell in our arsenals. And then, our energy began to wane.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Cassandra

  Ren turned his attention back to us, but still struggled against being pulled downward. He slammed his hands together and roared a hex I was unfamiliar with. A stream of molten fire shot toward Dash, and we all froze, throwing our arms up to block the attack. When nothing fazed us, I looked back toward Ren but couldn’t see him for the concrete barrier in front of him. Ruby stood atop the structure.

  “Thought you might need a little help,” Ruby said and jumped down from the barrier before it disappeared. “A little extra girl power.”

  “Showoff,” Kyler quipped. “We still have a problem, though.”

  Not wanting to give Ren the opportunity to rest or call down more dark magic, I darted toward him, casting spell after spell until every last ounce of energy in my body had been drained.

  “Cassandra, stop!!!” They all shouted, but I ignored the shouts and my own advice about staying together and working as a team.

  Seeing
me charging forward, Ren created a protective shield and glared at us, I think knowing defeat was in his very near future. The group of us stopped in front of him.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Cassandra. If he’d cast a spell, none of us would have been close enough to protect you.” Oliver crossed his arms and awaited my acknowledgment that I had indeed done something wrong.

  “I know. I let my anger get the better of me. It won’t happen again.” I studied the stuck Ren, the hate in my soul slowly subsiding. I needed to make a decision based on fact and not on hate; though, it bothered my soul that I could hate a man I once loved.

  “Wait, a minute,” he said. “You can’t kill me. You need me as much as I need you.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” I looked at Oliver. “You know what to do.” I pointed at Ren’s knees which were almost beneath the ground. “Make sure he remembers you in the afterlife of whatever hell he ends up in.”

  “My pleasure,” Oliver said. He reached toward the clouds and brought down an ice storm around Ren, freezing him in place. “He should have worn mittens to this party.” Oliver cracked a smile and winked at me.

  “You’ll never find Edius without me,” Ren pleaded. “If you kill me his reign of terror will continue, and there won’t be anything you can do about it! He will find you, and when he does I won’t be there to save you!”

  I raised my hands, the fire dim and weak. I’d expended too much energy and needed help from the guys. All the death and destruction he’d caused was finally coming back to haunt him. “I hope wherever it is you end up, you experience every death you caused. I hope it was all worth it to you.”

  “He’s right,” Braeden said. “Only he knows where Edius is located.” Braeden studied Ren for a moment. “You’ll turn on the man who gave you all this power?”