by Sarra Cannon
A need to feel like I was part of something good. Something real.
She dipped her hand into the water and came up with a sphere of ocean-water cupped in her palm. The water swirled around in her hand, as if it belonged to her.
As if it were a part of her.
“Watch this,” she said.
She glanced up at the sun, and with the tips of her fingers, seemed to catch a single ray of its light and place it inside the sphere of water so that it glowed from within.
My body froze as I stared at the light. I wanted to stop her. To cry out against it.
I wanted it to not be true.
Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it was a rare and powerful thing to be able to manipulate light in this way. I had only met one other person who could control it the way she had.
Anna was Elisha’s daughter.
There was no doubt about it now, just as there was no doubt in my mind that the woman standing in front of me had no idea how truly powerful she was.
Or how her own father would destroy everything beautiful about her.
I hated myself in that moment. I hated the task I’d been given, and the fact that I would be the one responsible for the sorrow and pain she would soon know.
But what choice did I have?
It was her or my family, and I couldn’t watch my sisters die the way my mother had died. It was my responsibility to protect them, and I could not fail.
“What?” she asked. “Why do you look so scared? It’s just magic.”
I cleared my throat and faked excitement.
“I’m sorry. I just haven’t met many people who could do things like I can do,” I said. “You surprised me.”
“This town is full of special people,” she said. “Maybe you were drawn here for a reason, Slade.”
I swallowed. I wanted to tell her that reason was her.
I wanted to tell her I was sorry.
I wanted to walk away and leave her far behind so that no one could ever hurt her or change her in any way.
Instead, I did what I could to close off my heart and move forward with the next step in my plan.
“I have some time off tomorrow night,” I said, moving closer to her. “Can I take you out?”
She breathed in, her cheeks an instant red. “Like, on a date?”
I smiled. “Yes,” I said. “If you want.”
Her lips parted, and my eyes followed them, desire surging inside me like the waves at our feet. I pushed it back, but I wasn't sure how much longer I’d be able to deny it.
I’d never had a hard time controlling myself before, but Anna was different. She was more special than she realized, and it nearly broke me to think of what I had to do.
“I’d like that,” she said, smiling as she let go of the sphere of water and light, letting it fall back into the water.
I took her hand, and as we walked along the beach together, I felt my heart mimic the push and pull of the waves as they crashed along the shore.
I was torn between duty and desire, no longer in control of the outcome.
Eight
Anna
“Where’s Nik?” I asked as I burst through the door of Drifter’s. “Is Eva here?”
Drifter, the old man who ran the place, hooked his thumb toward the kitchen, never once raising his eyes. He was studying some kind of book spread out on the counter.
“Thank you.” I flew past him and barged into the kitchen.
Nik stood at the grill, flipping burgers.
“Hey,” he said. “What are you doing here? Wait, did you run here? Are you okay?”
“I’m freaking out,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, tearing off his apron.
“No, it’s nothing like that,” I said, out of breath. “And yes, I ran all the way here from the public beach.”
“What on earth is going on?” he asked.
“I have a date,” I said, still hardly able to believe it myself.
And why was I so ridiculously excited about it? I almost never went out with anyone, even though I’d had my fair share of invitations from some of the guys I grew up with here in town.
No one had ever seemed right, as crazy as that sounds.
But Slade? He was different.
Nik raised an eyebrow and reached for his apron, shaking his head. “You had me scared to death,” he said. “I thought you were in some kind of trouble.”
“I am,” I said, wide-eyed. “I’ve seriously only been on three dates my entire life, and they were all massive disasters. I really like this guy, Nik. I need help figuring out what to wear and how to keep from embarrassing the crap out of myself.”
“And you sought me out because of my good fashion sense?”
I laughed. “Not you, silly. Eva. Is she around? I tried to call her, but she wasn't picking up.”
“She’s out searching for an apartment today,” he said, a sly smile spreading across his lips.
My mouth fell open. “An apartment for both of you?” I asked. “Why didn’t you tell me you guys were finally moving in together?”
“We are finally taking the plunge,” he said.
I couldn’t help but giggle at his obvious use of a swimming term for getting into an even deeper relationship with Eva. As a triton—the male form of a mermaid—Nik was splitting his life now between land and water since his family had accepted him back into their lives.
He’d still been living here at Drifter’s apartment upstairs, though, while Eva had moved into a room at my Aunt Rachel’s place, just a few yards away from the house where I lived with Gran.
Since Eva was the last witch of her family line, the Tillman family had all adopted her as one of our own, and it would be sad to see her move away from the farm.
On the other hand, though, I was ridiculously thrilled she was finally moving in with Nik. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before they were announcing their engagement.
Talk about a complicated wedding, though. Would they get married on the beach? Or at Nik’s father’s castle at the bottom of the ocean?
“What’s with the moony look on your face?” Nik asked as he went back to cooking for tonight’s dinner crowd.
“Nothing,” I said, trying to hide my dreamy smile. Weddings were always so much fun. Especially when the couple getting married were so perfect for each other.
“If you want to catch up with her, you can probably find her downtown,” Nik said. “The realtor was taking her by an open apartment on the square, and if that didn’t work out, she was going to take Eva to see a house just a few blocks away from the beach. It shouldn’t be too hard to find her.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking his arm and rising up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “See you later.”
“Wait,” he shouted, following me out into the main part of the bar. “You didn’t tell me who you were going on a date with. If it’s one of those wolves, I’m not going to be happy about it.”
I shook my head. “It’s not one of the wolves,” I said. “I’ve known most of those boys my whole life, and I have no interest, believe me.”
“Some of the vampires are okay, but it’s never a good idea for a witch and a vampire—”
“Stop worrying about me,” I said. “Besides, you don’t know him.”
I turned to walk toward the door, but Nik grabbed my arm.
“You’re going out with a stranger?” he asked. “I need to know more about this guy. I’ll walk with you to find Anna, and you can tell me all about him on the way over. Just give me a minute to finish up in the kitchen.”
I put a hand on his and met his eyes. “You know, I never had a big brother, but over the years, you’ve become like family to me,” I said. “I know you just want to make sure I’m safe, but you’ll just have to trust my good judgment. You don’t have to worry about me, you know. I can take care of myself.”
He took a deep breath. “I know you can,” he said. “It’s just that I don’t kn
ow what I’d do if anyone broke your heart or hurt you in any way, and in a town like this, you can’t be too careful. Maybe we should make it a double date, so I can check this guy out. Make sure he seems cool.”
“So you can spend the whole night drilling him with questions? No, thank you,” I said. “I told you I was trying to avoid a disaster on this date. But I promise you that I’ll tell you everything about him later. He’s really great, Nik. I think you’ll like him.”
“At least tell me his name,” he said.
“His name is Slade,” I said. “Now, I’m going to find Eva so she can help me pick out something to wear. I’m so excited. I actually have a date, Nik.”
I kissed his cheek and ran out the door before he had a chance to stop me again. I practically ran all the way down the Boardwalk toward town, and when I finally did find Eva, she was standing near the entrance to the apartments just above the shops on Main.
She’d been talking to Lena, a dark-haired girl who mostly kept to herself. I’d been hoping to get to know her better since she was one of the few people in town that still remained a mystery to me, but when she glanced over and saw me approaching, she quickly whispered something to Eva and headed back inside to her apartment.
I wondered for a brief moment what her story was, but I was too excited to give it that much thought.
“Hey,” Eva said. “What are you doing here? I thought you had deliveries on Thursdays?”
“I got my cousin to take over for the afternoon,” I said. “I have more pressing matters at hand, and I need your help. Do you have some time?”
She shrugged. “I just have to finish signing our new lease, and I should be good to go.”
She tried to act very nonchalant about the whole thing, but I could tell she was every bit as excited about their new place as I was about finding a guy I actually wanted to spend time with.
“Oh my God, you found something?” I asked. “The apartment here?”
I glanced up at the building, but Eva shook her head. “The apartments here are nice, but I they’re too small for us,” she said. “But there’s this house just a couple blocks from here that’s an easy walk to the beach. It’s perfect. You want to walk over and see it? I’m meeting the realtor over there in half an hour to sign the lease and grab the keys.”
“I would love to,” I said. “Do you mind if we stop at Urban Grind and get some coffee? I’m dying for an iced latte this afternoon.”
We walked in afternoon sun, laughing and talking about our hopes for the future as I told her all about Slade and our date tomorrow night.
Nine
Slade
I paced the floor of my small room at the inn, arguing with myself.
I had done jobs like this for years, searching for women and girls Elisha, the leader of the Disciples of Light, wanted to bring into his cult. Of course, he would kill me if he heard me calling it a cult, but that’s what it was.
He brought people in, promising them a life of light and ease. Of freedom. But the truth was that anyone who joined the Disciples of Light—especially the women—were doomed to a life of servitude and abuse.
But as someone who’d been born into the Disciples, any choice in the matter had been taken away from me the moment I’d been conceived. And the fact that my father was one of the esteemed Elders of the group hadn’t done me any favors.
Many considered it an honor that I was trusted enough to leave the sanctity of our compound, but most of them had no idea the kind of pressure I’d been under.
Or the horrible things I’d been ordered to do.
I’d learned a long time ago how to shut off my emotions and just get the job done. Elisha sought out news of witches around the world who either didn’t have a place to call home or who had great power that Elisha wanted to use in some way.
Hedgewitches were Elisha’s most sought-after possessions, because of their abilities to manipulate nature. The more self-contained the compound could be, the better, which meant he needed witches like Anna who had extreme power with nature and herbs.
Which is where I came in.
My job had been to seek out these witches and convince them to come to the compound to meet Elisha. I told them he was a spiritual leader who could teach them how to use their powers in a new way. I made them believe he was a good man who wanted nothing more than to show them the truth of their own light.
The witches who joined me went believing their lives were about to change for the better. They saw it as a great adventure, but I knew the truth.
I knew the moment they were taken in to see Elisha, they were marked with the symbol of the Disciples of Light—a mark that declared Elisha’s ownership of them. They were forbidden to ever leave the compound without permission, and if they were of age, they were quickly married off to one of the Elders.
Their powers were tightly controlled, and they were forced to perform only the spells Elisha wanted them to perform.
If they attempted to escape, they were sacrificed in a ritual meant to bring power and strength to the Elders. It didn’t matter if these women had children or had been obedient for most of their lives. The slightest indication of betrayal, and they were murdered on the spot.
And I’d been a part of that, no matter how much I’d tried to separate myself from the evil deeds of the Elders and Elisha himself.
I’d always believed I had no choice, because like those witches, Elisha owned me. He owned every witch or warlock born into the cult.
He held my life in his hands, and what was worse, he held the lives of my seven sisters in his hands.
Over the years, my father had been given four wives. Those four wives had given him nine children. Seven daughters and two sons. My older brother, Michael, had been born with a heart defect and had died at the age of ten, despite all the spells and rituals performed on him as a child.
He’d needed a real doctor, but Elisha didn’t believe in modern medicine. He said that if an ailment was something our magic couldn’t cure, then fate had already made the best decision for that person.
So, he’d let my brother die, despite the fact that a simple operation could have saved his life.
Michael’s death had nearly destroyed my mother, so I had stepped up as the obedient son, determined to do everything right. To make Elisha happy so that he would bless our family.
But in the end, my mother had died with great sorrow in her heart, anyway.
She had died right in front of me, trying to protect me from the things Elisha wanted to force me to do. A lifetime of obedience had meant nothing the moment she spoke out against Elisha’s plan to seek out innocent witches.
My mother’s death had destroyed me.
I’d locked my heart away that night and done my job. Anything to keep him from hurting anyone else.
But now that I’d finally found the key to my family’s freedom, I didn’t want to follow through with it.
Every time I closed my eyes, I could see the sun shining through Anna’s blonde curls and the joy sparkling in her eyes as I touched my hand to the water.
I had never met such a pure soul in my life. She was truly an innocent who didn’t deserve to be captured by Elisha.
I turned and brought a hand to my forehead. Dammit.
I barely knew this girl. I’d talked to her, what? Twice? Why did I care what happened to her? What made her any different from the dozen or so others I’d brought in to the cult?
I needed to stay focused and keep my conscience out of it.
But part of my brain was already trying to figure out another way. I should have never told my father I’d found Anna, but maybe it wasn't too late.
Maybe I could tell him I was wrong. That it wasn't her and that this woman had a strong family bond that would be difficult to break. Elisha preferred to recruit outcasts and loners who had no one left who cared about them. Witches whose families and friends had turned their backs on them because of their powers.
A woman with strong famil
y ties from a town like this where everyone looked out for each other wouldn’t be worth it to Elisha if he believed she was anyone other than his own daughter.
If I could convince my father that I’d been wrong, maybe I could get the hell out of here and never look back. Leave Anna here to live out the rest of her days in happiness and peace with her family.
I picked up the phone, my mind made up. As much as I hated to leave and never see her again, I simply couldn’t go through with this.
I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly about Anna had made me want to protect her, but I just knew that she didn’t deserve the life Elisha had planned for her. I refused to be a part of it.
Dad picked up immediately.
“You better have good news for me,” he said. “Things are getting bad here, Slade.”
“What happened?” I asked, swallowing a lump of nerves in my throat. “Are the girls okay?”
My sisters were between the ages of four and eighteen, and it would destroy me if anything happened to any of them.
“Amber spoke back to her mother in front of Elisha,” Dad said, and I groaned.
“What did he do to her?”
“Right now, he’s got her locked in the basement. He’s taken away her ability to speak for now and has bound her hands, but that’s nothing compared to what he could have done to her,” he said.
I closed my eyes, my heart heavy.
Amber was only six-years-old, and she had a fire inside her. She had a personality all her own, and she was a rebel from the moment she came into this world.
I adored her, and the thought of her alone in a dark basement with her lips sealed shut and her arms bound behind her back made me so angry, I could feel the spark of power boiling in my veins.
“How long is he planning to keep her down there?” I asked.
“He didn’t say, but if it’s anything like last time, I don’t think we’ll see her for at least a few days,” he said. “You have to bring this girl home, Slade. She’s our only hope.”
I cleared my throat.