“Brace yourselves,” Cooper said in a deep, low voice.
The others all frowned and looked to him in confusion.
But I knew what came next. I knew what had ripped me from Tennessee’s arms. I bit my lip and waited. I remembered this next moment vividly. It still haunted my dreams on a regular basis. This night had shaken the entire foundation of my life. Everything changed after this. And it all started with—
A glass-shattering, eardrum-piercing scream rang through the clearing.
That.
My Coven-mates jumped into fighting stances. They reached for weapons they didn’t have, because this was only a vision. A replay. There was nothing they could do but watch.
Dream-me covered her ears and closed her eyes until silence filled the clearing again. Then dream-me spun around in circles. I remembered that, searching for where the scream came from.
Everyone visiting the dream froze. No one spoke. It didn’t matter that this was a vision and we weren’t really here. The silence was eerie and heavy.
“What was that?” Willow asked in a high-pitched voice.
“The spirits,” I whispered.
“They’re coming,” Chutney said in a rush. “The animals… They see them.”
“They can’t hurt you. You’re not really here,” Cooper assured her.
Bright light flashed from the corner of my eye. Dream- me turned toward it and froze. Three bolts of lightning struck the perimeter and trapped everyone in. The fog blocked out the trees. I remembered the panic and fear of not knowing which way to go, or where we’d come in from. The wall of fog rose from the ground all the way up to the sky, connecting with the clouds. The bonfires blazed and expanded so wide that dream-me stumbled backward.
I looked to my left, not because I wanted to see, but because I was helpless to stop myself. I spotted the man with the long black robe on fire scrambling to get it off.
“Noooooo!” dream-me screamed.
If only I’d known I had magic. If only I’d known I could’ve done something. I turned to my right in time to watch a girl run between the bonfires, scrambling to dodge the flames as they stretched out to touch each other. She screamed as she ran toward the edge of the clearing.
“Hey! Stop!” Dream-me moved toward the woman like she could catch her in time.
A bolt of lightning ripped through the woman. She jerked and dropped to the ground with a thud.
“Oh my Goddess,” Lily cried and looked away. “This is awful.”
Another person sprinted by dream-me, and I heard myself scream, “No! Stop!”
Dream-me covered her face and turned away because she didn’t want to watch. But real me was frozen. To my surprise, dream-Tennessee threw his palms straight out. I felt his magic soar through the air. His gust of wind slammed into the woman’s back and pushed her onto the ground a split-second before lightning struck where she’d just been.
My jaw dropped. “You saved her. I didn’t see…”
“I tried to save as many as I could,” he whispered back.
Goose bumps spread over my body. The temperature in the clearing plummeted. White puffs of smoke escaped through everyone’s mouths. Dream-me wrapped her arms around her waist.
I looked over to dream-Tenn who was wearing only a thin T-shirt, but not a single goose bump, nor fog-breath. I knew why. His power radiated so strong and hot that it protected him from cold. He held his hands out to the side and swirled his fingers. Little embers were plucked out from the fires, and they floated through the air.
Oh my God. He did that? I remembered seeing that, but I hadn’t stopped to wonder why.
“Bettina! Where are you?” dream-me screamed.
“Tegan,” Bettina cried. “What’s happening?”
“I…I…I don’t know!”
If only I knew then what I know now.
A loud noise like a freight train rumbled across the sky. Wind ripped through the clearing. The pillars of fire stood indestructible. Heavy sustained winds swept people off of their feet and threw them fifteen feet away. A blast of wind caught dream-me off-balance and tossed me aside like I weighed no more than a feather.
But not Tenn. Dream-Tenn gripped his sword and leaned into the wind. He was a menacing sight.
Real Tennessee cursed. “I should’ve done more for them.”
“No, son,” Uncle Kessler said softly. “I know you did everything you could. Nothing that happened here was your fault.”
Is that true though? I sat there looking into Elizabeth Bishop’s eyes knowing where she was going next and what was going to happen, and yet I kept my mouth shut.
“You can’t ever play with time.” Bentley’s words were so soft I barely heard them. “You did the right thing by holding your tongue.”
I was going to have to remind myself of that every day for a long, long time.
Dream-Tennessee sprinted toward a man crawling on the ground, but he was thrown into one of the bonfires. My stomach turned. I hadn’t seen that the first time.
Then I felt a rush of magic brush over my skin, and the sky roared and cracked open. Buckets of rain poured onto us like a waterfall. I shivered, remembering it feeling like pieces of shattered glass embedding into my skin. The bonfires still snarled scorching heat despite the downpour.
“Come on! Show yourselves!” Dream-Tenn screamed into the madness.
So he knew. I’d always wondered just how much of that night he’d known was coming.
Partygoers latched on to each other to try and anchor themselves against the storm while others fled toward the forest like a wild stampede. The wind held strong, lifting people off the ground and soaring them through the air.
Dream-Tenn raised his hands and pushed his magic at each fleeing person. My heart soared with pride and love for him. He’d tried. He’d tried so hard to save them from a horrible fate.
“We have to help her,” dream-me whispered. “Bettina, come on!”
Dream-me didn’t wait for a response. She pumped her arms and sprinted across the grass to where Emersyn stood frozen. Oh Goddess. Emersyn. I wonder if we were making the flames worse? It was an unnerving thought. Dream-Emersyn flew into the air. The gust threw her right toward the pillar of fire. Somehow, amazingly, dream-me made it to her in time and tackled her to the ground. We rolled away just before the flames scorched the spot we’d been in.
“DAMN!” Easton cheered and clapped. “Girl, you’re on my team when we play football.”
My parents’ heads snapped to me.
Mom’s eyes filled with tears. “You saved her…even though you didn’t know her.”
My cheeks warmed. I shrugged. “I did, though,” I whispered. Because it was true. Even then I’d known her.
A bolt of lightning thicker than a tree trunk struck the dirt. White light flashed, and the earth exploded under impact. People were thrown into the air like volcanic ash after an explosive eruption. Dream-Tenn ducked and dove out of the way, rolling into a somersault before landing back on his feet a few feet away. Shrills of terror rang out from within the clearing. A surge of wind stronger than any of the others whipped through the crowd …and wiped the fires out. Like the snap of a finger, every bonfire extinguished simultaneously. There wasn’t even smoke. They just went out as if they’d never been lit.
Eerie silence filled the meadow.
The wind died. The rain disappeared. The fog lifted. The storm…vanished. Everything was absolutely calm. Complete and utter silence. No one made a sound. With the fires gone, there was no source of light other than the tease of moonlight from a distance.
Dream-Tenn stood straight and gripped his sword. A yellowish mist crept across the ground and swept over my feet like waves on the beach. The glowing fog crawled up my legs before blasting straight up into the sky. The sound of drums erupted from all around us. It sounded tribal. The beats were steady and grew faster, like a death march.
Bright white light flashed from within the forest all around us. The light swarmed us then sh
immered and took form until the clearing was surrounded by the slaughtered tribe. Their translucent ghostly bodies glowed a soft white and almost looked like real, living humans once again.
I remembered feeling like the spirits had been looking at me. Watching it back…I wasn’t wrong. They were staring right at me and Emersyn. Except for one. The one in ceremonial feathers and war paints. He glared at something else. I followed his gaze and found dream-Tenn grinning like an evil maniac and glaring right back at him.
“Come and get me,” dream-Tenn taunted the spirit.
A loud chirping noise ripped through the circle, and the spirits took off. People screamed and dove to the ground. But the Fallen soared over their heads toward the center of the clearing. Dream-Tenn lit up, his entire body glowing the way I’d become so used to seeing. How did I miss that? He threw his sword through the air, slicing spirits in half one after another. Then he dropped one knee to the ground and pressed his palm to the dirt. Oh my God. That was him too?
I watched in amazement as six teenagers ran up to dream-Tenn and asked if they could help him. They called him Emperor. There were other witches there? Dream-Tenn gave them tasks and sent them on their way. I had no idea how I’d missed that whole interaction as well, but then again, I’d been so out of my mind with fear that I’d put on horse blinders.
Fog dropped from the sky like a blanket. Maniacal laughter crooned within the mist, and the chanting returned with growing insistence.
Wait. Wait, I remember this next part. I turned toward dream-me just in time to see Emersyn trembling as we raced through the crowd.
“Don’t let go of me,” dream-Em shouted.
A whole squadron of spirits jumped out in front of dream-me, Em, and Bettina. At the time, I hadn’t even noticed it. I’d been too busy watching the tree line. But now I saw. Dream-Tenn swung his sword like a baseball bat. It curved around the innocent humans then sliced right through the spirits who’d been about to attack dream-me.
I gasped and looked up at the real Tennessee. His eyes met mine. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to his arm. You saved me, even then, I whispered into his mind. His other hand squeezed my arm.
“Dude, that was slick,” Easton said with a chuckle. “Teach me that?”
Royce laughed in a short burst. “He can’t. You’re human. He’s not.”
“NO!” Tennessee screamed.
I gasped and looked up, but it was only dream-Tenn screaming. He pulled his black dagger out of his boot and threw it. I frowned and followed his blade—and then I saw. Dream-me was hanging from a spirit’s talons. Dream-Em and Bettina jumped up and grabbed my legs, but they, too, dangled above the ground.
“We’ve got you,” dream-Bettina cried.
“Let her go!” dream- Emersyn screamed.
“That’s when it said it!” I shouted.
Everyone turned to me with raised eyebrows.
“That spirit said to me, ‘We need. Must take both to the hidden kingdom.’”
“It said that to you?” Tennessee hissed.
“YES! That’s why Em and I broke into the park that first night, the night I saw you!”
“Yeah, you still have some explaining to do on that one,” my father growled.
“That’s not a spirit, by the way. It’s a demon,” Henley said softly.
I turned my attention back to dream-me just in time to see dream-Tenn sprinting toward me in that non-human speed we all loved so much. His black dagger slammed into the demon’s back, and it exploded into a ball of light. Dream-me plummeted toward the ground. Somehow he’d made it all the way over to me. Even though I knew he’d caught me, and I knew his speed, it still took my breath away that he’d managed to run half across the clearing in time to catch me in the cradle of his arms.
Dream-me stared up into his eyes…then reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Look at me.”
I gasped. I’d said that in my head. “You heard me.”
At that, Tennessee chuckled. “Yes, you can be quite demanding.”
“I just can’t with this cuteness, you two.” Royce sighed and dramatically threw his hand to his forehead. “It’s film-worthy.”
Easton glanced over his shoulder at us and wagged his eyebrows. “Hear that? He wants to videotape you.”
“Easton!” my father, Uncle Kessler, and Lily all yelled at the same time.
“Guys, over here!” Dream-Bettina pulled all of our attention back to the vision.
“Let’s go!” dream-Emersyn screamed and yanked me out of dream-Tenn’s arms.
Dream-me, Em, and Bettina sprinted to the edge of the clearing then slipped out of sight. Dream-Tenn moved like he was going to chase after me, and my heart fluttered. He was looking for me. I knew I wasn’t crazy! But before he could go, someone grabbed his arm from behind. Dream-Tenn raised his left hand, and his black dagger flew into his open palm.
The guy in front of dream-Tenn paled, dropped his hand, and jumped backward. “Whoa, hello. Sorry, Emperor. Sorry, just me. Don’t kill me.”
“Those bitches.” Willow hissed and threw her arms up. “That was a beautiful moment! Who drags a girl away from her knight in shining armor?”
I giggled. “It’s okay, Willow. I found him a second time.”
“If I remember correctly, she dragged you away from me that time, too.” Tenn chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
Dream-Tenn sighed and lowered his weapon. “I’m sorry. It’s dangerous to sneak up on me.”
Cooper turned for the first time and looked to us, and then we were back in the living room of Headquarters. He narrowed his eyes on Tenn. “It appears that sneaking up on you when you’re thinking about my sister can be dangerous for our health. I do believe Katherine and I can attest.”
Tennessee shrugged. “Sorry not sorry?”
“Wait, wait, where did it go?” Easton spun in circles. “Let’s watch more.”
“That’s it.” Cooper sighed and sat down on the bench. “That’s all I saw.”
Timothy, who hadn’t said a word during most of the dream, stood then paced in front of the fireplace. “Does anyone have any ideas on what we were supposed to see there?”
“Aside from the start of a forbidden love story worthy of a Taylor Swift song?” Royce pursed his lips and leaned back against the wall. “Nope.”
Timothy narrowed his eyes. “Anyone else?”
Everyone shook their heads.
Myself included. “It could be anything. Something small, something huge. But I have no idea what that could’ve been, and I was there.”
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to see it.” My mother pointed to her chest. “Meeting your soulmate is…blinding. And given what else was going on, I don’t know how you’d be able to see it all clearly. I say this from personal experience.”
My father nodded, his eyes locked on the ground. “She’s right. The day we met, man, I don’t remember a single other detail.”
“That’s why Cooper showing the rest of us was a brilliant idea.” Bentley got up and walked over to the table covered in books. “Now we’ve all seen it, perhaps more clearly than they did. We may not think of it just yet, but it may come to us later.”
Uncle Kessler nodded. “He’s right. Everyone needs to keep that dream in the back of your mind. Let us know if anything clicks.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
TENNESSEE
“I don’t like being here.”
I froze and glanced over my shoulder at Royce. “We’re not hurting anything. We’re just looking around.”
Royce shifted his weight and fidgeted with the buttons on his double-breasted wool coat. His gaze darted around, not setting on anything for too long. “This is Leyka’s house, boss. Leyka. The guy we sacrificed to a demon. We shouldn’t be in his house.”
Tegan strolled over from the kitchen and squeezed his shoulder. “He isn’t with the demon now, though, remember? He’s an angel now.”
Royce groaned. “D
oesn’t that mean he died?”
Henley, who’d been kneeling on the ground looking at something, stood up straight. She wiped the dust off her black leather pants. “That’s not how that happens. However Leyka became an angel, it was not through his own death.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be in here. But I kept that thought to myself.
After Cooper took us on that little trip down memory lane, we decided to divide and conquer. We didn’t know where to find the last Elemental Stone, nor did we know where the location of the original Gap was. Everyone else looked to us who’d been sent back in time to come up with the second question. No pressure or anything. What they failed to accept was that the Gap had already been closed and cloaked until the new twins could be born.
And we’d had to hide the whole time we were there.
Paulina had taken a few people with her to go searching for spirits to talk to, and I was secretly hoping she’d be the one to find that answer. Willow, Chutney, Bentley, and Kenneth were investigating Jonathan Corwin’s house, now known as the Witch House, and some other museum Bentley insisted they go in. Tegan’s parents stayed at Headquarters with Deacon, Emersyn, and Katherine. My father and Timothy took Easton and Lily to check out a few other locations.
That left the five of us. The ones who’d actually been in 1692, if only for a few days. I was grateful for it, and I knew without a doubt Tegan had done it intentionally. She was sneaky like that. But I was glad. The five of us had been there, so we’d seen the same things. Everyone else would’ve been asking us a million questions about what we saw, what we did… For us, it was easy, companionable silence.
Cooper strolled into the hallway where we stood. “You know what I don’t understand? Why does this place look and feel untouched? I mean, like three hundred years have gone by. Minus the dust, this place still feels like Leyka. And why have we always been told that Jonathan Corwin’s house is the only house from 1692 still standing when this is here.”
Royce groaned. “It’s been forgotten, which is why we shouldn’t be inside.”
The Aether Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 6) Page 15