by Freya Black
Several texts came in around the same time from Declan, Sloane, and Celeste, wishing me a happy birthday. I laughed at Declan’s text, smiled at Sloane’s, and practically cried at Celeste’s. After I responded, I sauntered over to the wall calendar next to my desk and crossed off the date.
For the past year, I’d counted off the days until the Coven Initiation. September 19th was not just my birthday. Today was a day I’d prepared for my entire life. It was the day I would become an official member of the Coven and gain full use of my powers. I was also one step closer to assuming my birthright as Coven Leader.
After I showered and slipped into jeans and a purple V-neck shirt, I slapped on enough makeup to hide the dark circles under my eyes. I attempted to curl the ends of my hair the way Kate had shown me but with little success.
By the time I looked decent, Declan and Sloane were on barstools at the breakfast bar. They were chatting about football, too preoccupied to notice me.
I bypassed the boys and strolled over to the stove, throwing my arms around Kate. She attempted to spin around, but I rested my chin on her shoulder.
“Good morning,” I said, cheerful.
Kate looked at me with a broad grin. “Happy birthday, sweetie!”
Serving dishes and plates covered the black-and-white marble countertops. I walked around the kitchen, eyeing up cinnamon buns slathered with cream-cheese icing. On the breakfast bar were assorted bakery bagels, scrambled eggs, pancakes in the shape of crescent moons, and bacon. The pancakes had been my father’s specialty, so they took me by surprise.
I reached over Kate’s shoulder and popped a slice of crispy bacon into my mouth. Its sugary maple goodness burst across my tongue, awakening my senses. She poured me a cup of coffee and set the carafe on the bar.
“Thank you,” I said, overcome with emotion. “I can’t believe you did all of this. It looks amazing.”
She waved her hand at the food with a glazed look in her eyes. “This is nothing. Your dad would’ve had this place packed with every breakfast food and pastry known to man. Besides, this is your special day.”
Sloane jumped from the barstool and planted a kiss on my cheek. “I didn’t hear you come down. Happy birthday, baby.”
Before I could get in a word, Declan pulled me from Sloane and squeezed the life out of me. “Happy birthday, beautiful.”
By the time I finished one pancake, Declan had polished off most of the bacon. I pretended to stab his hand with my fork, and when he moved it, I pushed the plate away from him. With an impish grin, he snuck a few more slices and stuffed them in his mouth.
“Try leaving some for the rest of us,” I said.
Kate chuckled and lifted a slice from the plate. “He’s a growing boy.”
I looked at her sideways. “Oh, is that so?”
With a mouthful of food, Declan said, “Yeah, now, give it back. I wouldn’t want to stunt my growth.”
So far, my birthday was perfect, but I missed my parents. The pain of their deaths and the fact that they were not there to guide me through the most important day of my life hurt. I smiled, never letting on to the increasing sadness I felt on the inside. After we finished eating breakfast, we moved into the living room.
Vases of yellow and purple flowers and a small gift-wrapped box were waiting for me on the coffee table.
“I told you guys not to get me anything,” I said even though I was touched.
Sloane handed me purple orchids set in a white vase. “It’s not that big of a deal, babe. They’re just flowers. That hardly counts as a present.”
“Nope. It counts.” I opened the card attached to the purple ribbon.
It read, Happy birthday, baby! XOXO, Sloane.
His message was short, sweet, and, in my opinion, perfect.
I stood on my tippy-toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you!”
Sloane took the flowers from my hands and set them on the coffee table.
My eyes drifted to the yellow bulbous flowers in front of me. It took me a second to recall the last time I had seen them. They were the same ones my dad would pick for me every time he had gone to Dakota Pointe.
“Buttercups!” I stared at Declan, surprised he’d hiked through the woods to pick them.
He lifted the vase off the table and handed them to me. “I found a patch two days ago. I was trying to stick to the no-present rule, but when I saw these, I couldn’t resist.”
I propelled myself into his arms. His muscles tightened around me as a steady stream of tears ran down my face.
“You have no idea how much this means to me.”
He ran his fingers through my hair. “I know.”
I looked up at him, wiping a tear from my cheek. “How did you find them?”
“I’ve been looking for the past month. I thought they were out of season, but I lucked out. I grabbed as many as I could fit in my hands.”
I settled on the couch between Sloane and Declan and finished my coffee.
Declan extracted a white envelope from his Adidas hoodie. “One more thing.”
Inside was a greeting card. It had a picture of a little boy and girl, jumping on a trampoline.
The front read, Happy Birthday to the Girl Who Knows How to “Push” the Limits!
I laughed so hard that a fresh set of tears escaped the corners of my eyes. “Did you make this?”
Declan nodded, proud of his work. “I found a website that makes custom cards.”
Kate took the card from my hand and chuckled. “I remember this day. Did you ever tell Sloane how you became friends with Declan?”
Sloane looked at Declan and me with curiosity. “No, but it sounds like it’s a good story.”
Declan slid his arm across the couch cushion and looked at Sloane. “This one here,” he said, pulling me into his chest, “pushed me off the trampoline and broke my arm the first time we met.”
“You started it,” I said as I nudged him in the side. “He thought he was tough, and he challenged me to a competition to see how high we could jump. I was at least five inches taller, so it wasn’t likely he was going to win.”
Declan smirked. “Please…you cheated.”
Kate shook her head with a smile. “Some things never change.” She lifted a square jewelry box wrapped in silver paper from the coffee table. “Are you ready for your last gift?”
I pulled the bow loose and opened the lid. A beautiful silver necklace with a huge amethyst at least thirty carats in size was fused into its center. Four crescent moons surrounded the stone on the top, bottom, and sides.
I sank into the couch cushion, allowing it to envelop around me, as I held the box in my hand. “Oh my God! The Crescent Amulet. It’s beautiful. I love it. Thank you!”
“Here, let me put it on you.” Kate helped me to my feet and lowered the heavy necklace over my head.
I glanced down at the purple stone, confused. “Why are you giving it to me now instead of at the Divine Succession Ceremony?”
I had visions—or maybe more accurately, nightmares—of my mother as she’d passed down the Crescent Amulet and the title of Coven Leader to me. I’d expected Kate to give this to me in a few months at my actual ceremony. When it was time for one generation to hand over the reigns, the next Coven Leader would inherit the Amulet. The magical object was a relic and the only real piece of our history, other than the Luna Crescent Grimoire and a few texts.
“I know this breaks tradition, but we’re in a state of emergency.” Kate seemed frazzled by my question. “Every Crescent Witch in our family, from Katherine Cleary to your mother, has worn this Amulet for over three hundred years. It’s charged with a little bit of their powers, so it should help keep you safe until we figure out where the Hexenjagers are hiding.”
Given the history of those before me, I wasn’t so sure it could protect me from anything, let alone Fey.
I turned to the boys and modeled my new gift. “How do I look?”
Sloane and Declan smiled and said almost in u
nison, “Beautiful.”
“The Amulet was created through fire,” Kate said. “It’s rumored to date back to Celtic times, and it’s supposed to protect the leader from malevolence.”
If that were true, we wouldn’t have a curse, I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. With the Amulet in my hands, its energy pulsed through me, churning my stomach. The room began to spin, and then everything faded to black.
Lightning shot down from the dark sky. The violent bolts struck the pavement so hard that they cracked the asphalt. Thunder shook the ground beneath me, causing me to fall into the side mirror of an old Chevy. I flattened my back against the car window and watched as men, women, and children ran in parallel to one another. They moved at such a rapid pace that they looked like participants in a marathon. In three-second intervals, balls of fire attacked the ground, forcing the already severed tar to shift into two separate slabs.
I inched a few feet back from the car and hunched down into a sprinting position. Then, I leaped over the massive crater and landed safely on the other side.
Once I maneuvered my way through the crowd, I ducked behind a row of bushes and observed the creatures with pointed ears and dark gray skin. Crimson-colored tattoos stuck out from the dark armor they sported. Metal Viking helmets covered most of their faces like masks. They charged forward on black horses with shields and long swords in their hands.
In one fell swoop, the warriors severed the heads from the bodies of anyone who had crossed their paths. Forced to endure the wrath of the Druden, I ran through the streets. On hands and knees, I crawled behind bushes and crouched behind trees until I reached Hallow Drive.
Several houses from the corner, I found masses of Druden formed in a circle. I climbed up the fire escape on the side of Mel’s Barbershop to get a better vantage point. When I reached the second-floor platform, the apartment was vacant.
I sank to the ground and peeked through the wooden slots. I was shocked to see my mother in the center of the Druden circle with a bright gold box glowing in her hands. She held it open, speaking an incantation but not in Latin. My father and Declan’s dad joined hands with my mom, chanting a spell. They stood inside a circle of incandescent black salt that glowed blood red as they continued.
It was Red Energy.
My parents had made me swear that I would never practice Malum, yet I was staring right at them as they performed dark magic that could have only come from one place—The Black Book, a spell book that had been created from pure evil by a wicked sorcerer named Cyprian.
Chapter 17
Kate’s voice sounded miles away over the thumping of my heart. It took a second for me to adjust to my surroundings—stone fireplace, box-beam ceiling, soft light filtering through a bay window, and steel-blue eyes. Sloane was hovered over me, my head cradled on his lap. At first, I thought I was at Enchanted Books & Beans because our living room had so many similarities.
I sat up, using Sloane and the couch for support. The second he clutched my hand, my anxiety dissipated.
“Honey, are you okay? What happened?” Kate placed a cold rag on my forehead and sat next to me on the floor.
“When I touched the Crescent Amulet, I had a vision, but it was of the past.”
“Oh my God!” Kate’s eyes widened with curiosity. “What did you see?”
“I saw how our parents stopped the Glamour War,” I said, nodding at Declan, who sat on the floor next to Kate. I struggled to speak the words lingering on the edge of my tongue, “They were standing inside a circle of Red Energy.”
“Your mom was right.” Kate shook her head and mumbled, “She was always right.” She wasn’t the slightest bit fazed by our parents using Malum to defeat the Druden. She continued, as if I hadn’t even mentioned my vision, “Only your great-great-great-grandmother, Katherine Cleary, could see the past. You’re just like her.”
“How could they?” Declan choked out. “Was it a Veneficum spell?”
“It’s possible,” I said. “The energy looked the same. It could have been any spell from The Black Book.”
A Veneficum spell was the darkest form of Malum, which could blacken the caster’s soul.
“I don’t remember my parents acting any differently before the accident. If they were practicing Malum, we would have noticed.” I looked to Kate for confirmation, somewhat hopeful. “Right?”
Kate clutched the sapphire amulet around her neck. She was hiding something; that much was evident. “The only way to fight dark magic is with dark magic.”
I looked her square in the eye, hoping she wouldn’t lie to me. “What kind of spell did they use?”
“Your parents did what they had to do to save Arcadia. It was the only way to survive the Glamour War.”
“What kind of spell did they use?” I demanded an answer.
Kate looked away and continued to twist the amulet around her finger. “It was a Veneficum spell.”
Declan’s face was beyond pale, inhuman.
After an awkward long pause, he rested his elbows on the table, suspiciously eyeing me. “Think about it. My dad had a heart attack, and a month later, a tractor-trailer hit your parents. And all of it happened within a year after the Glamour War. They must have traded their lives.”
“Technically, they traded their souls,” Kate said. “Veneficum spells require something in return, and unless you can find a way to destroy the darkness, it will consume you.”
I stared at Kate, expressionless. “What was my mom doing with the gold box in her hands?”
She propped her elbows on her thighs and leaned into them. “It’s called a Galdrar. Your parents used it to capture the Druden warriors.”
“So, it’s like a magical prison,” Declan said.
Kate nodded. “Yes, but with the correct spell, they can be released.”
Declan perked up, the color returning to his cheeks. “Do you still have it?”
“No. Before the portals sealed off, Fiona’s parents tethered to the realm of Castra to give it back to the Imperium Council. It’s a Sacred Token the Council stores in the Arcanus.”
Declan leaned closer. “What’s the Arcanus?”
“A special vault guarded by the Praetorian Guard. It’s where the Imperium Council keeps Sacred Tokens.”
The Praetorians guarded the gateway portals, policed the realms, and tended to the prisoners in the Gallows, the dungeons in Castra. Declan and I always joked that I would end up in an adamantine cell, impenetrable by magic, for my use of magic around Norms.
Declan and I exchanged puzzled looks.
She noted our confusion and continued, “You were going to learn all of this after Initiation, but I guess there’s no point in waiting. Sacred Tokens are magical objects the Council can use to control or even kill witches and supernaturals. The Arcanus is also where they keep all of their potions and curses, like the Antebellum Curse they used after the Glamour War.”
The doorbell rang, and Kate went to answer the door. I had been so preoccupied with other matters that it wasn’t until Celeste strolled into my living room that I remembered she was coming.
With Kate, Celeste stood in the entryway, a wide smile on her face. “Happy birthday!” She stretched her arms out at her sides. “And happy Initiation day!”
“Thank you.” I looked at the grandfather clock against the wall, surprised that three hours had passed since breakfast.
Declan tugged at Celeste’s pant leg on her way into the living room.
“Delaney, knock it off,” she said, messing up his shaggy brown hair. She made room for herself on the couch between Sloane and me and shrugged off a cardigan. The plum color blended well with her matching eye shadow and gold jewelry.
“Look at you, all decked out in Coven colors,” I said.
“Yeah, well, I figured, you only get initiated once,” she said, nonchalant, as she flipped her caramel strands over her shoulder.
I looked down at my dark purple T-shirt, wondering if I should change, and Celeste noticed.
She pressed her face against mine. “You look fine, birthday girl.”
I glanced at Sloane, wanting nothing more than to reach behind her back and clutch his hand to sense his powers because they were the glue that held me together.
Instead, I smirked. “That’s code for, I need to change.”
“No, seriously, you don’t.” She shoved a black gift box in my hand. “Here, I have something for you.”
I popped open the lid and laughed. “A dream catcher.”
She nodded and lifted the hoop from the box. It looked like a tan spiderweb with turquoise beads and white feathers. “My dad gave it to me when I was little. Dream catchers are supposed to filter bad dreams so that only good thoughts can enter your mind. I thought you could use it.”
I hooked my arm around Celeste. “Thank you.” I took it from her hand and studied it. “I’ll hang it over my bed.”
“I don’t know if it will help, but it’s worth a shot.”
“It definitely can’t hurt,” I said, half-laughing.
Celeste jumped off the couch to help Kate with a tray of coffee and pastries. She poured a cup and sat on the floor next to Declan. Sloane grabbed a cinnamon roll, licking the icing off his finger, before offering it to me. I took a bite and nestled into the nook between his arm and chest. Even though I was in danger, I felt safe, and I wanted to savor the moment.
After dinner, Declan drove Kate and I to the Coven House with the convertible top down, the wind blowing through our hair as we navigated the Arcadian forest. Buried deep in the woods was the Luna Crescent Coven’s sacred ritual grounds. Cloaked by our magic and strengthened by a Protection spell, the force field made of our energy was undetectable by the untrained eye.
Declan yanked the wheel hard into a row of oak trees. I gasped even though I had known it was coming, and Kate muttered the incantation. An invisible layer of film shimmered as we passed through. We drove for a few minutes, dodging fallen tree trunks. Declan pulled up outside the massive wrought iron gates and parked next to Celeste’s Honda Civic.