The Brave Witch

by Chandelle LaVaun

  Emersyn froze and looked up from her cell phone. Her eyes widened. “Tennessee? Why are you here? Is something wrong?”

  “I’m still waiting for that answer myself,” Tegan growled. “Among other things.”

  “Last night, the same shadow monster showed up at Hidden Kingdom. It’s a long story for another setting, but Henley, Easton, and Braison had an interesting interaction with it. Then it went for Tegan.” I sank down into the seat leaning back against the wall. “Kessler made a new rule, effective immediately. No witch is to be alone. So, I’m in this class now.”

  Emersyn whistled. “So…a witch buddy system. Got it.”

  Tegan cocked her head to the side. “Why is Cooper making us go to the aquarium?”

  “Something about a dream he had a few nights in a row.”

  “Could be worse,” Cooper said from out of nowhere. “You could be stuck with Easton.”

  I glanced to my right and found my adoptive brother strolling up to us. Behind him the rest of the class piled into the empty rows in the front, leaving us to ourselves. They usually did.

  I chuckled. “I hope the honor was given to his beloved.”

  “Lily promises to keep him in line.” Cooper shook his head and took the bench across from his sisters. “I hope she breaks him a little.”

  “I volunteer as tribute!”

  “Royce!” Emersyn cheered and clapped her hands. The two of them had gotten pretty close, which I was glad for. Royce was good at bringing out people’s strengths. “Are you joining our class, too?”

  “Just for today, Kessler wanted extra backup since Coop isn’t sure what we’ll find.” Royce sauntered up to our rows. “But give me time to work my magic.”

  I frowned and looked behind him. “I thought he sent Henley?”

  Royce shrugged. “He did. But my sister is being weird today. Losing Libby…” He shook his head, his grin nowhere in sight.

  Yeah, me too. Libby’s death was a pain I couldn’t handle processing. It was too hard.

  “Mr. Redd, take a seat so we can leave,” Mrs. Day shouted from up front.

  “Yes, Drill Sergeant!” Royce yelled back with a salute then jumped onto my lap.

  “Dude!” I laughed and pushed him off of me.

  He spun around and grinned at the twins still laughing behind us. “I’m an opportunist.”

  I knew being around Tegan with Cooper watching would be torture. But I was wrong. It was much, much worse. Since we weren’t sure what we were looking for or where we’d find it, we followed our teacher around the aquarium. For two hours, I avoided Tegan at all costs, only allowing myself to be in the same general vicinity for her safety. I didn’t trust myself to not kiss her. I didn’t trust myself to not admit I’d lied to her. Again.

  The string of lies must come undone. I frowned and glared at the red fish in front of me as the line from the prophecy sang in my head. What does it mean? I wanted to believe it meant I needed to tell Tegan the truth…but that had to be wishful thinking.

  I stood in front of the aquarium glass wall watching her reflection. She reached up and twisted her hair into a messy bun on top of her head. Then she took it down and redid it. She cocked her head to the side, and the bun wobbled. She groaned and tugged it back down. After fluffing her long strands, she twisted it back atop her head for a third time. I frowned. I knew this pattern. It always took her four attempts to get it just right whenever she was anxious or nervous.

  Sure enough, she pulled it down and redid it a fourth time. I narrowed my eyes and looked around the aquarium. What did she have to be anxious about? We were in the Glass Bowl, as the aquarium called it, where the room sat near the bottom of a massive tank, with the water surrounding us on all sides except for the narrow hallway on the one wall. Fish, sharks, and various marine life swam over, around, and below us. But Tegan could manipulate water; she could breathe in it. Why was she nervous?

  Unable to stop myself, I strolled over to her as casually as possible. “What’s wrong?”

  She arched one eyebrow and turned her laser-hot eyes on me. A wave of ice-cold energy slammed into my face. “Seriously?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest to stop myself from pulling her in and holding her. “Tegan, I know something else is bothering you. Tell me.”

  What makes you so sure?

  I leaned closer and answered her silent question. “Four buns.”

  She stared at the aquarium wall behind me for a long, silent minute before she sighed and scrubbed her face with her hands. “I’m just being paranoid after last night. I keep feeling someone watching me, like that thing was.”

  “It’s not here.”

  “I know.”

  Cooper walked up from behind her, frowning. “What’s not here?”

  “The love of my life,” Royce said with a dramatic sigh. “Unless Thomas Sinclair over there decides to jump ship.”

  Tegan grinned. “There’s potential with that one.”

  “Girl, don’t tease me.” Royce pouted. “I’m fragile.”

  “No, but really. What’s not here?” Cooper scowled and looked around for the answer.

  Royce rolled his sapphire eyes. “Your sense of adventure and humor.”

  “Excuse me.” Emersyn’s normally soft voice was surprisingly firm as she forced her way through a small crowd of humans to get to us. When she finally joined us, her aura pulsed with concern. Her golden eyes were wider than usual and wouldn’t stay on one thing for long. “Guys. Something is alive in here.”

  Alive? Interesting word choice. Where was she going with this?

  “I certainly hope we’re alive right now.” Royce narrowed his eyes and glanced at the rest of us before returning to her. “You drink some of Henley’s Kool-Aid this morning?”

  She shook her head, ignoring his jokes—which was not normal for Emersyn. “No, no, no. I mean something is alive in here.”

  “Yeah, we heard you the first time, pumpkin.”

  “You feel it, too?” Tegan whispered.

  I keep feeling someone watching me. That was what Tegan had said to me moments ago after her nervous hair ritual. I knew for certain that shadow monster was not in the aquarium, but I also knew if the Empress and High Priestess felt something, it wasn’t to be taken lightly.

  Why didn’t I feel it? I frowned and pushed my magic out… There. In a room surrounded by cold water and happy human energy was tingling heat. I gasped. Had my inner turmoil over Tegan overpowered my other senses? That was unnerving.

  Emersyn gripped Tegan’s arm. “You feel it, right? I’m not crazy? Tell them. Tell them something is alive in here.”

  “You’re not crazy. I thought I was being paranoid.” Tegan shivered and glanced around.

  “Alive?” Royce scratched his head. “Not following you.”

  “This must be connected to my dream. Whatever it is, it has something to do with our prophecy.” Cooper turned to me. “Do you feel it?”

  “I do now.”

  “Now?” He cocked his head to the side. “Why now?”

  I glanced at Tegan then away. “My mind was somewhere else.”

  “What is it?” Emersyn whispered and stepped in closer to us.

  “Everything is alive in here, guys.” Royce sighed. “Humans, witches, fish…”

  “No,” Tegan said under her breath. She pushed past us and stalked up to the aquarium glass. In the reflection, her green eyes were wide. “Humans and witches don’t have the same aura. The same goes for regular marine life and mystical ones.”

  Emersyn joined her up at the glass. “Like the hippocampus?”

  “Yes, but not only a hippocampus.” Tegan reached out and placed her left palm on the glass. She walked to her right, dragging her fingers along the aquarium wall. “There’s something other than fish in here. Cooper, what did you see in your dream?”

  Cooper scratched the back of his head. “It wasn’t a normal dream vision for me, so I don’t have much to go on. But I saw Leyka and this aquarium fu
ll of people, then I saw the prophecy on Bentley’s arm.”

  I narrowed my eyes. I couldn’t shake the twinge in my gut. It wasn’t like me to not notice the presence of something magical or non-human. And with my strongest element surrounding me? I should’ve been at the top of my game. And what could connect all that to the prophecy?

  Tegan spun around. Her eyes met mine. “It’s a siren.”

  “What? No.” Royce shook his head violently. “No way. You weren’t down there with us. Tennessee and I would’ve recognized the feeling.”

  Tegan bit her bottom lip and looked at the others, then back at me. Beware the song within your heart. Her words entered my mind.

  My jaw dropped. That was it. That was why I’d missed its presence. It made me think about Tegan in an obsessive manner to the point where it was the only thing on my mind.

  I frowned and looked around the Glass Bowl. There were probably three or four dozen humans in here, with hundreds of aquatic lifeforms inside the tank. But all the animals were alive and well, and none of the humans were lying lifeless at the bottom of the tank.

  “She’s right,” I said. “It’s got to be a siren. But where is it?”

  “She’s in here.” Tegan followed the glass wall off to the left, dragging her hand along the surface. She walked to the far end of the Glass Bowl and froze. She narrowed her eyes then pointed into the tank at a black flower sitting atop pink coral reef. “Look. Lotus flower.”

  “Leyka,” Cooper said, nodding his head. “It’s a sign.”

  Tegan pressed both hands against the glass, her black fingernails a stark contrast to the turquoise water in front of her. She leaned closer to the wall and stared. After a long, silent moment, she pulled back. “She won’t speak with us like this. We need to get the humans out.”

  “We need…” Libby. I slammed my mouth shut. We needed Libby. This was her territory, her specialty. My throat burned and my chest grew tight. It wasn’t fair that she was gone. I wasn’t used to it, wasn’t sure I ever would be. I kept looking for her in the group, waiting for her mischievous words.

  When we were kids, we’d go to the arcade, and she’d use her magic of persuasion to make the other kids not use the good games. The Devil never plays fair, she would say. I swallowed through the lump in my throat. Was this how it was going to be from now on?

  “It’s not working.” Emersyn groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. Her palms were stretched out in front of her. Smoke slithered around her hands and arms, but faded away once it left her skin. “I can’t create it, only manipulate. Does anyone have a lighter? Maybe I could manifest it?”

  “A lighter?” Royce cursed. “Girl, you scare me sometimes. We can’t light anything in the Glass Bowl on fire, pumpkin. That’s hella dangerous.”

  “I got an idea,” Tegan said with a grin that made my inner alarm system go off. It was crooked and wild, and in Royce’s words, hella dangerous. She narrowed her eyes and wiggled her fingers.

  There was a pop from the middle of the room, then another off to my right. Humans frowned and glanced around, searching for the source. Bubbles billowed from people’s water bottles and floated into the air, then shot up to the ceiling.

  Cooper turned to me, but I shook my head. This was all Tegan, and I had no idea where she was going with it. She raised the water all the way up to the glass ceiling then released it. Water dropped like rain onto us. The humans flinched as it hit them one by one. With each drop, they looked above them.

  Oh my God! The glass is broken!

  I jumped at Tegan’s voice screaming inside my head.

  It’s going to bust! We have to get out of here!

  The few dozen humans in the room gasped and spun in circles with wide eyes filled with terror. They scrambled to get to the narrow hallway, the only exit out of the room. Parents scooped up their kids and bolted. Within a minute, Tegan’s telepathic words left us alone. Cooper’s face turned pale and sickish, and I knew why he was concerned. Emersyn’s eyes twinkled, and she covered her mouth with her hand. I looked over my shoulder to where Tegan stood, grinning like Cruella de Vil.

  “Girl,” Royce drawled. He laughed. “You’re wicked. I might have to switch teams for the weekend.”

  Tegan had turned back to the aquarium glass. For a moment, nothing happened. Sharks and fish swam by, oblivious to our presence. But then the sand on the tank floor swirled into a cloud and crept toward us. A flash of bright red slithered out of the mist.

  My eyes widened. I moved forward, wanting to get a better look. There was something different about this siren than the ones I’d faced in the Caribbean. The energy was radiant and electric, pulling me in like a moth to a flame, yet it didn’t try to lure me to my death.

  A mermaid with vibrant turquoise skin and even darker scales swam up to the glass. She had long, fiery red hair that almost reached the tip of her tail. Her lavender eyes inspected Tegan as they stood face-to-face. The siren smiled wide, revealing perfect white teeth that looked entirely human. She tucked her crimson hair behind her pointed ears— Wait. Pointed ears? Then it dawned on me. This siren was a half-breed of some kind. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see a resemblance to Saffie, but I’d have to hold those questions for now.

  The siren held her turquoise hands up to the glass and Tegan copied. The siren’s lips moved, but I couldn’t hear a word she said. Tegan nodded and her body glowed like a full moon. The siren smiled. Golden glitter shimmered out of her turquoise hands and over the glass. Tegan stepped forward…through the glass.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Tegan

  “Come, High Priestess,” the siren said with a thick accent I couldn’t place. “Let us talk.”

  I followed her deeper into the tank, but with every step farther from Tennessee, my anxiety increased. If something went wrong, would he be able to get to me fast enough? Don’t think like that.

  I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the four sharks swimming circles around me. “You know who I am?”

  “Of course, Tegan Bishop.” She swam ahead of me to a little cove between corals. Her red hair followed behind her like a cape. She spun around and met my stare. “There is more to both of us than meets the eye.”

  “You mean you’re a half-breed?”

  She smiled and her teeth looked like pearls. “I am, but do not worry yourself over the details just yet. My name is Keltie. You’re probably wondering why I’m here.”

  “I’m wondering a lot of things.” I cocked my head to the side as a thought popped into my mind. “Did you call me here?”

  Keltie grinned and nodded. “I hope I did not alarm you or your Coven-mates, but it is not safe for me to communicate with you openly. I had to drop hints to the Dreamwalker and wait for you to show. This aquarium is the only place for us to meet in safety.”

  I frowned. “Because you aren’t trapped here.”

  “I am not.”

  “And you only wanted to speak with me? Not my friends too?”

  Her purple eyes glanced behind me. “For now, I can only entrust this with you.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why me? Why now? What do you know about the prophecy? About Leyka?”

  “Do not worry yourself over my connection to Leyka. He and I are on your side.”

  “Why would a half-breed and an angel be on my side?”

  “Because, The Coven has always kept this world safe and thriving.”

  I wanted to look back at my group, except I wanted to look strong and tough in front of her too. “I don’t want to sound rude, but what is it you want? You called me here for a reason, I assume.”

  “There is a spell for which I seek.” Her voice was soft and smooth like a song. I imagined her siren’s gift was more powerful than I realized. “In return, I’ll share my knowledge of your prophecy and how you can solve it.”

  My pulse quickened. None of us had any idea where to start with this new prophecy, so attaining any information would be a huge help. “You know the prophecy we hav
e right now?”

  “Your crucial quest for the book must wait, because your charms were a step too late. To save the soul of not just one, the string of lies must come undone.” She flicked her dark turquoise tail, and a stingray scurried out from under her. “I know more than you realize.”

  “Oh yeah? What else do you know?” I had no idea why I was challenging her, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “Do you know why I’d want to help you?”

  She shrugged one turquoise shoulder. “For the same reason your lover struck a deal with Leyka.”

  I flushed. Lover. I wish. “I… He’s not…”

  “Of course not.” Keltie winked. “That’s why he’s desperately pounding on the glass wall to get to you. Use your telepathy and tell him I mean you no harm.”

  “And how do I know that to be true?” I whispered.

  “The Aether Witch is not a force I wish to make mine enemy…and I need your help.”

  “You know about the Aether Witch?”

  “Your crucial quest for the book must wait. You’ll find what you seek within the book.” She pursed her lips and eyed me warily. “However, to show my good faith in our potential friendship, I will tell you that your magic does not follow the same rules as your fellow elementals.”

  The book. What was this book we needed and why? Hearing the answers to my questions were inside of it only drove my need to find it.

  “You mean I can control all the elements?” I asked.

  “Yes, and no.” Keltie cocked her head to the side. “Control is…limiting. You can create. That is all I can say on the matter.”

  My eyes widened and I nodded. I took that information and stored it in my mind to access later. There was something worth learning in her words, but I needed to focus on the greater picture for now.

  Tennessee, relax. She’s not going to hurt me.

  “Thank you.” Keltie smiled. “Now, you must know, everything we speak of in this tank cannot be spoken to anyone else. That is imperative. Do you agree to this?”

  Part of me worried I’d regret this deal. Except she’d said Tennessee had struck a deal with Leyka, so I hoped I wasn’t wrong. “I agree to keeping our conversation secret. Thank you for the information on the book. Now, you said there is a spell you need?”