“So…if you didn’t call me because I’m rich, then why me?”
I opened my mouth then shut it. He’d asked a good question. I stared at his profile as he drove, admiring the sharp edge of his jaw and the curve of his cheekbones. He turned and met my gaze. Warmth filled my cheeks, and I forced myself to look away. Again. He was waiting for an answer.
I shrugged and prayed it came off as nonchalant. “They said I only got one call, and…well…I couldn’t call Tegan since I no longer know if she’ll even answer. I mean, it’s been three days since she took off.”
“Right…”
“I guess I knew you wouldn’t judge me,” I whispered over the soft roar of his car.
“Well, you were right. I’m not going to judge you. And…I’m really glad you called me for help.” He glanced over at me and smiled. Not the wide, mischievous one, but the sweet kind he tried to hide most of the time. He nodded and looked back at the road in front of us. “But I am dying to know what happened.”
“I got arrested.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” He shook his head and laughed. “C’mon, what went down tonight?”
I groaned and leaned my head back against the seat. Then I told him everything. I told him about my suspicions on something happening at school and how I went looking for a clue. How I didn’t find anything remotely close to a clue. Then I told him about my showdown with the Tampa police department. It was silent for a few moments after I finished, so I looked over to gauge his reaction.
He was laughing.
“Hey!” I smacked him on the arm playfully. “You aren’t supposed to judge me!”
“Oh, I’m not judging. I swear.” He laughed some more. “But from now on, maybe take someone else with you on these little adventures.”
I frowned. “Because I failed so bad?”
“Because two witches are better than one.”
“Tennessee goes by himself all the time.”
He barked a laugh. “Tennessee is not human, Buttercup. No one should compare themselves to him. Ever. But more importantly, you have to give yourself a break. You’re new to this life. The rest of us were casting spells before we could speak full sentences. If you had brought someone with you, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t have gotten caught.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought about it that way. My cheeks burned so hot they could’ve melted ice. “Thanks, Deacon.”
“For example, I didn’t bail you out tonight,” he said. I must’ve made a face because he held one finger up to stop me. “My parents’ entire job is to cover up any sticky situation witches get into. We can’t risk the Sapiens finding out about us. My entire life I’ve watched and helped them do this. Although, it’s significantly easier now that I have the power of persuasion. I covered it up and erased any memory of you and your magic they might’ve seen tonight.”
Wow. I really hadn’t thought about that possibility before. I opened my mouth to speak, but then the car rolled to a stop. I sighed and took my seatbelt off, except then I realized we weren’t at my house.
I gasped and sat up straight. “What are we doing here, Deacon?”
“He has to know about this,” he said with a shrug, then climbed out of the car.
My jaw dropped. I hadn’t called my uncle for a reason. He was going to be pissed. He was going to yell at me.
Fire filled my gut. I got out of the car and stormed up the walkway after him. I couldn’t believe he’d do this to me. Every time I wanted to trust him, he gave me a reason not to. By the time I caught up to him, he was already at the front door. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to prepare myself for the lecture. Oh man, he’s gonna call mom and dad. And Cooper. Ugh. I’ll never hear the end of this.
The door flew open. Tennessee stood in the entrance with his sword gripped tightly in his right arm and green lightning flickering off his left hand. His hair was a disheveled, hot mess, sticking out in every direction. He was shirtless, wearing only black jeans that looked like they were going to fall at any second. I’d never seen him so undressed. Then again, the glowing pink crystalized glyph on his chest was the reason for that.
He narrowed his mismatched eyes and looked back and forth between us. “What’s wrong?”
Here we go. I cleared my throat. It was better to be the one to say it myself, instead of Deacon. “Well…see…what had happened was…”
“Emersyn, I texted Tennessee to meet us out front privately so you could relay your suspicions to him. He can decide what to do about it, and you can stop sneaking around by yourself.”
I looked up at him with my jaw dropped. He hadn’t tattled on me. My pulse fluttered in my chest. He’d covered for me. Again. “Oh.”
“Is it Tegan?” Tennessee asked. If I thought Deacon’s voice was low and rough, it had nothing on our Emperor’s.
“Yes, I think something went down at school.”
Tennessee stepped outside and shut the door behind him. “I’m listening.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tennessee
It was a good thing I developed insomnia problems before puberty, or otherwise I never would’ve survived the last few months. With Tegan missing, I didn’t even want to fall asleep—the nightmares were going to give me PTSD. The night before had been nothing different. I scoured the city for my soulmate for hours before finally forcing myself to lie down and close my eyes. Not that it mattered since I woke every twenty minutes or so. When Emersyn and Deacon showed up at two in the morning to discuss the animals with red demon eyes, I knew sleep would not come.
But even considering all of that…I was still pissed we’d been summoned to the beach just after sunrise. It wasn’t even eight in the morning yet.
Quit stalling. They won’t start without you. I grumbled to myself and climbed out of my Jeep. The early morning sun stung my eyes. I hissed and turned to grab my sunglasses, but my reflection in my window told me I already had them on. I cursed. I was in rough shape.
“Hey, Tennessee?”
I turned and found Emersyn standing a few feet back. “Yeah?”
Her cheeks flushed a soft pink as she tucked her long blonde hair behind her ears. “Did you think any more about what I said?”
Did I ever. Try all night. Unfortunately, I was one step ahead of her. I’d already searched every inch of school for a clue and found nothing. But I had texted Bentley to see if I was looking for the wrong kind of clues.
“I’m going to talk to my father about it today.” I rolled my shoulder and braced myself for the burn of Tegan’s arrival…then I remembered it wasn’t going to happen. I never would’ve imagined missing that pain—I’d been anxiously awaiting that phase to end—but now I just felt robbed. I glanced over her shoulder out of habit, except I only saw Cooper.
He walked around the back of his truck looking half asleep. When his gaze spotted me, his eyes narrowed into little slits. He snarled and stomped past me. “Emersyn, let’s go. They’re waiting on us. Unless you don’t care?”
He’d said that for me. I clenched my teeth to stop myself from snapping back. Unbelievable. Twelve years of friendship and basically being siblings thrown out the window for something I had no control over. I shook my head and followed after them.
The sand was warm and powdery under my toes. Normally it would’ve helped calm me down, but I feared nothing would do that with Tegan not around.
Wait. I frowned and looked down to my feet. I was barefoot. I hesitated for a moment, considering going back to my Jeep to grab my boots before I shrugged off the thought. It wouldn’t be the first or last time I arrived at the beach shoeless. By the time I reached the group, the only people missing were Tegan, Henley, and myself. Everyone else looked as exhausted and beat up as I felt.
My father looked me up and down. He shook his head. “Son, you missing something?”
Easton chuckled from somewhere nearby. “Feels like old times again.”
“You know, in hindsight,” Royce started, then paused to laugh.
“We really should’ve known something was up when he started wearing shirts.”
I frowned and looked down at myself. Well, shit. I was shirtless. It was a damn good thing I’d formed the habit of sleeping in my jeans, or otherwise there was a real good chance I would’ve shown up in boxers. Or worse.
I cleared my throat and ran my hand through my long hair. “Well…guess it’s a good thing you already knew about this.”
This being my soulmate glyph. Which was apparently on display for everyone.
“Yeah, we should’ve known.” Larissa laughed.
“SO obvious,” Willow said with a chuckle from the back of the group.
“Son?” my father whispered from suddenly right beside me. He ducked his head down to meet my eyes. “Are you all right?”
I sighed. “Do I look all right, Dad?” I whispered back. The answer is no.
When he didn’t say anything, I shrugged and strolled over to sit beside Bentley, and far from Cooper. The sun beamed down on us in all its awful, bright glory. I braced my elbows on my knees and stared at the ground.
“Hey, Tennessee,” Bentley said, bringing my gaze back up. “I got your text. I think you did what you can, but I called Kenneth to make sure.”
“Yeah, he was my next step. Did he have anything to say?”
He pursed his lips and shook his head. His shaggy brown hair flopped around his face. On the outside, he looked every bit the average nine-year-old, but even before I knew he was the Hierophant, I knew he was so much more than average. The Bishop family was one of the founding bloodlines of our race. Their magic was always powerful. Every single living Bishop was a Card. I’d known Bentley would matter to The Coven at some point.
“I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for that yet,” Bentley said with a sigh. The more he talked to Kenneth, the more he started to speak like Kenneth.
Royce stood and moved to sit beside me. “An answer for what?”
“Tennessee keeping things from the rest of us? Shocking.” Cooper glared at me.
I rolled my eyes, though he probably couldn’t see it under my black sunglasses. “Hypocrisy isn’t a flattering look on you, my brother.”
Cooper opened his mouth, and I knew by the look on his face it was going to be nasty.
“Enough, Cooper,” Hunter snapped. “We talked about this.”
“Yeah, and Tennessee was just the messenger for us.” Deacon gestured between himself and Emersyn, who sat several feet away from him.
“Why?”
“Because that’s protocol, for Goddess’s sake, Coop,” I snapped, unable to stop myself. “Unless you’ve forgotten now that you moved out.”
“Stop.” My father shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, Bentley called us here this morning, so I’m turning the floor over to him. Nephew?”
Bentley nodded and stood up, though he barely reached my father’s elbow. He had on a black hoodie zipped up halfway, and it made me think of Tegan. He took a deep breath, then unzipped his hoodie.
My stomach dropped. I knew what was about to happen, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t want another one. I wanted to focus on figuring Tegan’s deal out. We needed her back on our side in order to close the Gap in Salem. But Bentley pulled his hoodie off anyway, then held his left arm out for us all to see.
There was a chorus of cursing among the group. I groaned. Just as I expected, a new prophecy was etched into our Hierophant’s skin in elegant black scroll. My heart sank. It reminded me of the last prophecy Cassandra had given us. It seemed like both days and years ago when she called us one early morning for an emergency Coven meeting. In the same exact spot we were in now. It wasn’t a coincidence, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. I knew Bentley used Cassandra’s favorite spot intentionally, both to honor her and to help us grieve.
“By the First Quarter Moon’s last striking hour, Mend the pieces to reclaim the power,” Devon read out loud. “But only the souls with Heaven’s core, May seek the shells of familiar shores.”
The silence was deafening. No one wanted this.
“It doesn’t sound too bad.” Paulina looked around at the rest of us. “Right?”
“That’s what I thought last time,” Chutney grumbled and flopped down on the sand.
“Yeah, and then the Old Lands sucked us in for five weeks.” Willow shivered and shook her head. “Dancing runes my ass.”
“Yeah…” Deacon stared at Bentley’s arm with his eyebrows raised. He scratched his jaw. “I concur with the ladies. I do not like the sound of the souls with Heaven’s core at all.”
“Well, Tennessee, what do you think?” Cooper grumbled.
“Oh, now you’re talking to me? How convenient.” I arched one eyebrow and looked over…but then I noticed everyone was looking at me. My father, Bentley, and hell, even Tegan’s parents. I licked my lips and shook my head. “I don’t know. I just…don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” Royce slid his sunglasses on top of his head and stared at me with wide sapphire blue eyes. “You just don’t want to say it.”
I closed my eyes and hung my head. He was right. I did have an idea, and I didn’t want to say it. Because I didn’t want it to be true. I looked back up and shrugged.
“By the First Quarter Moon’s last striking hour… Well, that’s obvious, I think.” Devon winked at me. “We have to complete this prophecy by midnight on the First Quarter Moon.”
“Which is October 17.” Hunter held his phone out for us to see the little picture. “Since today is the eleventh, that gives us seven days.”
“Not great, but not awful,” my father said with a nod.
“But what does the rest mean?” Easton asked.
“Tenn?” Royce arched one black manicured eyebrow at me.
“I think…” I sighed. My chest burned. It was like phantom pain. Whenever I thought of her, it hurt. “I think souls with Heaven’s core refers to myself…and Tegan.”
“Of course you think that,” Cooper mumbled.
“There’s no crying in baseball, Cooper.” Emersyn rolled her eyes.
Deacon threw his head back and laughed, which made Emersyn blush a deep red.
She shook her head. “It was only Tegan and Tennessee who were allowed to enter the Garden of Eden, so he’s gotta be right.”
Bentley nodded. “Cool. So we know two lines. I brought us here because it says shells of familiar shores, and this is our most familiar shore. I thought we could look.”
“We can, but there are no shells here that I’ve ever seen.” I rubbed at my chest.
“I wish Tegan was here. She always knows what these things mean,” Chutney whined.
Me too.
“And here I thought this would be awkward,” Tegan said from behind us.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Deacon
I gasped and spun around.
“TEGAN!” Emersyn shouted.
Tegan stood just a few feet behind us with her thumbs hooked in the belt loops of her black skinny jeans. They were a little more ripped up than the last time I’d seen them, and I was afraid to ask why. She had on a crop top tank with teeny little straps over her shoulders. I hadn’t seen her stomach before, and I definitely wasn’t expecting ab muscles. All of her training must’ve been paying off. The pink crystalized heart of her soulmate glyph pulsed with energy. A white-hilted dagger was holstered and strapped around her thigh. Her studded combat boots sank into the sand as she stood there looking tall and terrible. She looked good—no, she looked fantastic.
I glanced over my shoulder at Tennessee to gauge his reaction. His eyes were wide and his jaw slack. He looked a little pale. His glyph shimmered in the sunlight, and it pulsed the same beat as hers.
“Tegan, you’re here!” Chutney smiled and clapped her hands.
“Are you really here?” Devon asked from behind me.
“Of course I’m really here, Mother. I don’t have your gift.” But then she frowned and cocked her head to the side. “Actuall
y, maybe I could. I’ll have to try it. Thanks for the idea.”
“How did you get here without any of us seeing you?” Cooper narrowed his eyes.
I frowned and looked to Tennessee again. Shouldn’t he have felt her presence already?
“I didn’t feel you arrive,” Tennessee said with a low voice, answering my question.
“I have my ways.” Tegan smiled, and it made the hair on my arms stand tall. “Though I was pleasantly surprised to find you haven’t taken me off the group chat.”
I gasped and turned to look at Kessler. Everyone else did, too.
Tegan chuckled, and it sent a chill down my spine. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”
Kessler blanched. He shook his head. “I wasn’t aware you were our enemy now.”
Tegan’s blood-red lips curved into a wicked grin. She strolled forward, walking along the outside of our little circle. “You don’t have to be. You can still join us. We have wonderful plans.”
Tennessee was on his feet faster than the blink of an eye. “Us? We? We are supposed to be your we, Tegan.”
The ground rumbled under us, and wind slammed into our faces. Tegan’s long black hair whipped around her face. She turned to the side and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She hadn’t gotten too close to anyone yet, like she was afraid we’d reach out and grab her. The look in Tennessee’s eyes suggested she had reason for concern.
“The Coven has done nothing but lie to me for sixteen years. Pray tell me why my allegiance should lie with it?” She cocked her head to the side and eyed her soulmate up and down. “I mean, doesn’t it feel good not having to worry about covering your chest? You sure look good.”
“Tegan.” Royce stood on shaky legs and stared her down. “What about Henley?”
Tegan’s eyes lingered on Tennessee’s bare chest. “Henley is perfectly fine. Join us and you’ll see that.”
The Broken Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 4) Page 12