by Freya Black
She turned her head, one eyebrow raised. Then, her jaw set, making her face appear more rigid. “Very well. I will speak to Queen Moira, and we will investigate the matter. Stay put, Mr. Blackwell. You might be called upon to provide testimony in Divine Court.”
As quickly as she’d appeared, her image evaporated into the motley-colored fog that billowed in the glass.
I walked over to the mirror and stared in awe. “That was so cool. I always wanted to see how Astral Glass worked.” It was the only way to communicate between the realms, like FaceTime for the supernatural.
“Fiona!” Kate scolded me like a child. “This is very serious. The Imperium Council doesn’t reach out just to say hi. Someone opened the portal, and if it wasn’t the Council, then we’re in danger.”
“I agree,” Quinn said. “I think it was left open intentionally, and whoever tethered into Arcadia is still here.”
My stomach twisted in knots when the gravity of the situation finally sank in. I’d acted like an idiot, not the future leader of our Coven. I felt my cheeks flush, but I couldn’t hide my embarrassment. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Kate hooked her arm around my neck, pulling me into her chest. “Part of it is my fault. If I had informed you of this sooner, you would’ve understood the danger. I was trying to protect you for as long as possible, but it’s clear that we need to accelerate your training.”
My mouth opened, about to ask one of the many questions rolling through my mind like a pinball. Then, I realized the Councilwoman knew Quinn, which struck me as odd, considering the Council had told Kate the Blackwell family was dead.
“Why did the Imperium Council tell you that Sloane and Quinn were dead? Councilwoman Stone didn’t even seem surprised to see him. If anything, she looked annoyed.”
“That’s a good question. I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Quinn said. “Queen Moira informed them of our situation right after the war. All these years, I thought you knew we were in Krona, and it was just a matter of time until the curse was broken. That’s why I jumped through the portal—well, that, and Sloane went missing.”
“No”—Kate moved her head, shaking her blonde hair in her face—“I haven’t heard from Queen Moira since before the war. I don’t understand why the Council didn’t mention it.”
We stared at each other, confused by the Council’s decision.
I pressed my cheek to Kate’s and whispered, “Thank you.”
She held on to me until the door chime reverberated through the carriage house. It shot through the floor, loud and obnoxious, causing me to jump. Kate was willing to make an exception to the Coven Charter, allowing us access to a restricted room before Initiation, but the rest of the Inner Circle would not.
“The Inner Circle is here,” she said, leading Sloane and me down the back stairwell. “Quinn is still a member. He can stay, but you must go. Hurry.”
We crept out the side door, which faced the right side of the Cleary Estate. The sky was a deep blue with coral undertones dancing across the horizon, resting above the elevated peaks. At that moment, I was scared because, without a vision, some prediction of my future, I was powerless. The fate of Arcadia depended on my abilities, which seemed worthless.
“Thank you,” I said.
Sloane lifted my chin with his finger, holding it there until our eyes met. “For what?”
“Saving my life.”
The corners of his mouth turned up into a tiny smile. “Back then, I knew I couldn’t live without you, and that was before I spent ten years finding out what it felt like to live without you. I missed you, Nona.”
I wanted to respond with something sweet in return, but I still had very few memories of Sloane. And I couldn’t wait to get to know him all over again.
Chapter 12
On our way to what we jokingly called Witching Hour, I strolled through the halls of Arcadia College with Celeste as we discussed our newest member. Declan and Sloane walked together like long-lost friends, rounding the corner to open the library door for us.
The south side of the school was a ghost town. Instead of going to class, we would meet in the Catacombs as a requirement for admittance into the Coven. Our lineage was enough to gain us access, but we had to complete the specified magical classes listed in our Coven Charter. The Inner Circle, Coven members from my mother’s and Kate’s generations, would take turns teaching us to hone our skills.
Each member had a specific power or background. Some were Aeromancers, born with the ability to manipulate air. Others were Hydromancers, like Celeste and her mother. They could create and control water. Declan was our only Pyromancer. At the tip of his fingers, he had fire, a very deadly weapon. And after my father’s death, we were fresh out of Telepaths until Sloane and Quinn strolled back into town. Born with Divination, I had the rare gift of seeing the future, which also left a target on my back.
We’d spend a lot of time practicing the application of magic. The Coven would feed us information in small chunks with the understanding we would learn the rest of our history after Initiation. There were only a few of us—Declan, Celeste, Sloane, and myself—so the Dean of Students and friend to our Coven, Jonathan Dorn, had created a fake program to disguise our real whereabouts. Even if other students wanted to apply, the school only admitted members of the Luna Crescent Coven into our magical program. He employed people in his own circle, so our secret was safe from the Norms.
Jonathan Dorn was the leader of the Rubedo Coven, a group of alchemists who mixed chemistry and magic. The Luna Crescent Coven had a long-standing alliance with the mad scientists. They weren’t born with divine powers, but they were smart and had gifts of their own.
We walked through the center of the stacks to the back of the library. When I spotted Kate behind a mahogany desk, her mouth twisted in anger. Despite the lingering scent of lemon furniture polish and dust, the Inner Circle considered the library a sacred place. And Celeste and Declan had just disrespected their sanctuary.
Kate dangled a silver skeleton key curved into a crescent moon from her fingertips. She led us through an unmarked door, candelabras flickering as we passed through a narrow channel. Several minutes lapsed before we landed in an oval room with gold tiled floors. It looked like a Roman Catholic church with stained glass windows recessed from the apse and a white marble altar stretched atop a small staircase. We followed Kate underneath a set of stairs, leading to our personal archives, and through a dark entryway.
The sandstone wall, to the untrained eye, was a dead end although it was far from ordinary. A pale blue shimmered in the darkness as Kate held the key against the wall. She spoke an incantation under her breath, and the stone turned copper, illuminating squares engraved with intricate Celtic symbols. Once the Uncloaking spell was complete, she inserted the key into the lock. When she extracted it, the slab slid into the wall. It opened to stairs tunneled underground.
We walked side by side as Kate guided us through the Catacombs for Witching Hour.
I chuckled inwardly as Sloane marveled at the magic of the golden tiles above his head. He ran his hand down the wall, producing a pale blue shimmer.
I tucked my arms in to avoid the curved walls and strolled through the narrow channel, thrilled to be next to Sloane. “Pretty cool, huh?”
His gaze shifted from the ceiling to me. “Yeah. It reminds me of the castle in Krona. A lot of the rooms are like this, except they have an electric-green glow.”
“We learned about Glamour magic last year. What does Green Energy look like?” My voice sounded way too excited.
Of all the realms, I was the most curious about Krona, mostly because I was born in the castle where Sloane and Quinn had lived for the past ten years.
Witches weren’t capable of using Glamour magic. Our magic shone pale blue, just like the light that radiated from my birthmark. Only light or dark Fey could cast a Glamour spell. Our Coven referred to them as Glamours, which were simple tricks of the mind. Hexenjagers would use the
m to mask their appearance, where light Fey—such as fairies—would use them to trick people. The light Fey was a cunning group, but they were harmless. The electric-green shimmer their magic produced was called Green Energy. And, of course, Malum, the darkest form of magic, had its own crimson glow, known as Red Energy. The colors made it easier to differentiate between light and dark magic.
“Just like this.” Sloane pointed at the shimmering walls. “The only difference is, their magic is not what it seems. The Fey use Glamour spells that make it hard to tell when things are real.”
A row of lanterns ignited as Kate waved her hand. She maneuvered the passageways like a pro, something only the Coven Leader could do. The Catacombs were a labyrinth, a series of impossible twists and turns, and if the rumors were true, they were shaped into two crescent moons facing one another. I could tell we were close when her pace slowed to normal.
Kate glanced over her shoulder. “Are you kids ready for Initiation?” Her voice bounced off the concave walls.
“Yeah, only three more weeks,” Declan said, beyond enthusiastic.
“This is our first complete circle since…” Her voice trailed off before referring to my parents’ accident. After a short pause, she continued, “Wait until you’re bound to the Inner Circle. Fiona’s powers are invaluable to our Coven. The moon’s energy lives inside her. A Crescent Witch will make your individual powers stronger.”
“How much stronger?” Declan brimmed with childlike enthusiasm.
“It’s incredible,” Kate said, tilting her head, as if recalling a memory. “Unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. I don’t even have a divine power, and I could sense Amelia’s energy at the Binding Ceremony. Fiona is stronger than her mother, so I can only imagine…”
Shocked by her words, I muttered, “What do you mean, I’m stronger?”
Kate stopped in front of a wooden door rounded at the top. The doors in each passage were identical, each with a silver crescent moon. She walked into the room, waiting for Declan to use his powers to ignite the floor candelabras. “Your blood is pure. The pairing of the Mandrake and Cleary bloodlines is very special.”
I shot her a quizzical look, but she was too busy preparing our lesson to notice.
We followed Kate into a room that contained six laboratory tables, two in each row. At their center, cast-iron cauldrons sat on metal stands. An alcove of vintage books and apothecary jars lined the back walls.
“I’d like to hear about Krona sometime,” I said to Sloane, taking a seat at a laboratory table in the back of the classroom.
“I’m all yours.” Sloane slid onto the barstool next to me. “Maybe you could show me around in exchange. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Dakota Pointe.”
A mixture of anxiety and excitement bubbled up inside me. I flashed a quick smile, somehow managing to keep myself from jumping off the chair. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
Declan didn’t seem to mind that Sloane had stolen his seat, and he sat with Celeste at the table across from us.
The nervous tension between us was palpable. At one point, Sloane moved his hand across the granite, and for a second, I felt his energy.
I slid my hand next to his and glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. His top lip curled upward. He knew what I wanted, and I knew he wanted it just as much as I did. We kept our eyes on the front of the room and allowed our fingers to drift until our hands touched. His power was so intense that I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. It was like floating on a cloud, and I let it envelop around me until class ended.
After school, I drove straight to Enchanted Books & Beans for my shift. Celeste was waiting tables when I strolled through the door. She gave me a quick nod, the life already drained from her face. I started working on drinks she had written down in her messy handwriting, humming a tune to myself. The usual after-school crowd congregated in the café. They were loud and obnoxious, but I didn’t even care. Their voices just blended into the background. I was too consumed with Sloane and the amazing day we’d shared to notice.
“I’m beat.” Celeste sat on the edge of the stool and pointed to the girls from our high school. “They’re killing me.”
A group of students from Arcadia High School spread their textbooks across the table, a row of coffee and iced berry drinks between them. Not only did we hate making those stupid blended drinks, but what annoyed me most was also their complete lack of respect with their sneakers on the table and pastries on the couch. To me, it was more than a bookstore. It was home.
I rolled my eyes. “I think Sadie just spilled mocha on the couch.”
“Seriously? I just cleaned up the last drink they knocked over.”
I held up my hands in defense. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”
She shot a sly grin in my direction and leaned on the counter. “So, what’s up with you and Sloane?”
I clicked buttons on the espresso machine, trying to act nonchalant. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, right.” Celeste oozed sarcasm. “What were you and Sloane doing during Witching Hour? And don’t lie. We all saw it.”
My jaw just about hit the counter as I set a mug on top of it. “What do you mean? Who saw what?”
Celeste smirked. “Don’t give me that crap. You looked like you were about to have an orgasm.”
I felt my cheeks flush. It wasn’t the fact that Celeste had noticed that bothered me. It was that everyone in the room had noticed, too.
“You have to feel it to understand. And, for your information, I was not having an orgasm.”
Celeste laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah, well, if what I saw in the Catacombs earlier is any indication of what his aura feels like, can you imagine what sex with him would feel like?”
The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, but once the seed was planted, I felt uneasy. “Your drinks are ready,” I said, pushing them at Celeste.
Chapter 13
On our way through the Catacombs the next day, Sloane laced his fingers between mine. The surge of his energy took me by surprise, wrapping around me like a warm blanket. I smiled, delighted by his aura mixing with mine. Something was off though, and before I knew it, a vision forced its way into my mind. I held on to Sloane and waited for the ground to rip out from under me as I leaned against the cold wall.
Bright light shone over the monstrous orchard. A woman raced down the path in front of me with no shoes, the soles of her feet bloody scabs. Matted blonde hair bounced off her white sundress caked in dirt. A mountainous stone staircase at the end of the orchard ascended into the clouds and appeared to be her destination. I darted through endless rows of apple trees at an impressive speed, closing the distance between us.
“Wait! Stop!” I bent over to catch my breath and rested my hands on my knees.
Before her foot touched the first stair, she turned around. An ethereal glow surrounded her. I stretched my hand to my forehead to shield the light, and as she moved closer, my eyes grew wide.
“Mom?” I said, bewildered.
She ran toward me, wincing in pain as her feet hit the ground. I raced in her direction, overjoyed at the thought of squeezing my arms around her. Separated by less than two feet, we crashed headfirst into something translucent, a wall of some sort. The force of the collision sent me flying on my back. I lifted my head from the ground and screamed out in pain. Rays of light refracted and changed shape when I poked the transparent film with my finger.
My mom put her hand on the wall, and I held mine against hers. I could sense her energy even though I couldn’t feel her skin. My chest ached when I saw the sadness in her eyes. Up close, she looked worse. Her neck and arms were covered in scratches, as if she’d run through a field of thorn bushes. Her face, which had once been beautiful, was unrecognizable.
“What happened to you?” I trembled at the sight of her.
Her mouth opened wide in disbelief, and she pointed her index finger toward me. Supporting the weight of her body against the wal
l, she pulled herself to her feet. “They’re coming! Fiona, they’re coming!” She banged on the wall. Tears flowed from her eyes and streamed down her face as the wall shimmered crimson from Red Energy.
I leaned forward to meet her gaze. “Who’s coming?”
Blood seeped from her left nostril and then her right, dripping onto her dress. As she wiped away the bloody tears, I slammed my fists, trying to break through the film. But it was as hard as stone.
“Mom…Mom…Mom!” My legs grew weak, and my knees hit the ground as her lifeless body rolled onto the dirt.
“Fiona,” she mumbled, choking on her own blood, “you can save us all.”
“The key, Fiona. You are the key.” Then, her eyes closed.
“Mom!” I lost her all over again. “Mom,” I whimpered.
When I opened my eyes, my heart clawed its way out of my chest, beating like a drum.
Kate let out a long sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.” She pushed the hair off my forehead as I looked up from the laboratory table. “Are you okay?”
I glanced around the room, still unaware of my surroundings, until I realized it was Witching Hour.
“No.” I shook my head. “I just saw Mom die right in front of me. I’m not okay.” The words escaped my lips with a venomous sting.
Kate clamped her hand over her mouth and stared at me, wide-eyed. “You saw the accident?”
“No, it was worse. I watched her bleed to death in some orchard. She was trying to warn me that they were coming.”
“Who’s coming?” Kate sat on her stool, gripping the edge of my table.
“There was a wall between us…it was Red Energy.”
“So, it is them,” Kate said, her voice trembling. “Dark Fey opened the portals. It’s beginning.” She jumped to her feet, pacing back in forth in front of the alcove at the back of the room. “My mother had predicted this,” she said, mumbling to herself, not even aware that everyone was listening to her every word.