White Witch

by Trish Milburn

  Time seems to slow as I consider tapping that power. It might take me too far over the edge, but I have no choice. I have to win this fight.

  My senses tingle with something more, power even farther down in the earth. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt. Immensely powerful, yes, but also light. Before I can think about it too much, Keller cries out in agony again. I have to save him. I have to be able to control whatever I’m about to open up inside myself.

  I press my hands against the cold surface of the rock and pull the power into me. I suck in a breath as the overwhelming surge flows up through my hands, my arms, and fills my entire body. My lungs feel like they are going to explode. How can my body contain this much power without burning to ash? I’m going to die. We all are.

  No, I’m not.

  The words are a whisper in my brain, as if they come from the earth itself. The power inside me, my true potential roils to the surface. I feel my eyes going black as I rise to my feet, accepting the power as my due. Without realizing why, I reach out toward the three spirits and channel the energy of this place toward them. “Be gone!”

  I jerk when the three evaporate in front of my eyes. Energy continues to flow into me like water filling an empty well—and it feels right. I open myself up more and accept it fully.

  I turn to face my father, feel the power begin to stir the air around me, lift my hair, become my very breath.

  “I know your lies,” I say and hurl a tremendous wave of energy toward him.

  The night erupts into a war of witchcraft. Blasts, screams, curses and massive amounts of energy make the earth shake. I lift my arms higher and command the wind to funnel around my relatives. I note the shocked looks on their faces as they’re blindsided by mine and then Egan’s power. Bark explodes from the sides of trees. Fires light in the fallen leaves. Dirt flies through the air, stinging my eyes.

  I stop when I hear Keller scream. In the confusion, my father has shifted his concentration away from me. Instead, he’s turned his incredible power back to killing Keller.

  “No!” My scream echoes over the din.

  “Whyever not? It’s so much fun.”

  I catch Keller’s eyes, and even through his pain I see the truth shining back at me. “Because I love him.” As soon as I realize I’ve said the words aloud, I know I’ve made a deadly mistake.

  “Child, you shouldn’t have told me that. It will make ending him that much sweeter.” My father’s eyes go coal black as he stabs his hands forward and Keller bows backward in pain.

  The power from below surges upward like a geyser to fill me, so much so it lifts me into the air, causes my hair to lift away from me in all directions.

  Come on, come on, I need more power.

  It comes, and the clearing explodes in bright white light. Power shoots out from my fingertips like a shock wave, knocking my father away from Keller and the rest of the coven off their feet. My body vibrates with the intense magic pulsing inside me.

  When the coven members look up from where they lay, their expressions reflect fear. Why? How?

  That’s when I notice the light illuminating the clearing is coming from me.

  As one, the coven members halt in their motions and stare at me. Not knowing how long this power inside me will last, I attack, blasting in all directions. The members of my family look to my father for direction. He looks like he wants to engage me further, but then he makes a motion of retreat. As the coven members start running into the surrounding forest, I force my body to lower back to the ground.

  I catch the look of hatred and promised retribution on my father’s face before he whirls and follows the others. I race to the edge of the clearing but stop there, not willing to continue this battle until my friends are safe. And I don’t want to push my luck. Right now, what matters is that I live to fight another day, a day when I hopefully understand what just happened to me. I shiver as I stare into the darkness, knowing this war is far from over.

  It takes a couple of minutes for the coven’s energy signatures to fade enough for me to stop staring into the night. I exhale and race toward Keller. I break the circle of stones, robbing it of any power, then drag Keller out of the circle just to be on the safe side.

  “Keller, come on. Talk to me.” I hold him in my arms and cup his beautiful jaw with my hand. “Please.”

  “Do you really love me?”

  I suck in a breath and lift my head to look into his eyes. I know I should deny it, but I can’t. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He smiles. “And remind me never to tick you off.”

  An anguished cry comes from the edge of the clearing. I turn, ready to fight again. But all I see is Toni rocking back and forth, Egan in her arms. I’ve never heard such cries of sorrow.

  God, no. Egan can’t be dead. He can’t.

  I run to Toni’s side, gasp when I see the burn marks on Egan’s body, the rips in his T-shirt. I drop to my knees and check the pulse in his neck. He’s alive, barely.

  Keller half walks, half crawls to us. I catch his gaze. “I’ve got to get him to the hospital. You and Toni need to get away from here. I think they’re gone, but I don’t want to chance it.”

  “I want to go with him,” Toni cries, not releasing her grip on Egan.

  “I can’t take you both. His bike is a couple of miles from here. I can run with him that far, then we’ll take the bike. You two start walking.” I hand Keller my cell phone. “Call your dad to come get you. He’s at Toni’s house. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  I pull on my power and heave Egan onto my shoulder. Even with my power helping bear some of the weight, I grunt against the pain in my own wound as I run into the night.

  Chapter Eighteen

  From my perch on a fallen log, the quiet clearing is unremarkable. Except for some debarked trees and the scattered stones used to make the Siphoning Circle, nothing remains of the supernatural battle that raged here the night before. I still can’t believe I faced down my family and lived to walk away.

  Footsteps in the fallen leaves tell me Keller has made his way up the mountainside from where I heard him park his truck.

  “I thought I’d find you here.” He sits beside me and props his arms on his knees. “You okay?”

  “You mean other than being shot and almost getting my friends killed? Yeah, just peachy.”

  Keller reaches over and takes my hand. “Stop being so hard on yourself. You saved us all.”

  “But if I’d never come here, I wouldn’t have had to.”

  “You know your family would have probably found you wherever you went. And this battle would have still happened, just somewhere else and with different people potentially in the mix.”

  I sigh. “I know. I can’t help how I feel though. You can’t know how terrified, how angry I was when I saw my father attack you, when he threw Toni. And Egan . . .”

  Keller rubs his thumb across the back of my hand. “He’ll be okay. You have to believe that. He’s strong, like you.”

  I stare ahead, all the sights and sounds of the battle replaying in my memory. Keller’s screams of pain, Toni’s cry when she found Egan after the retreat of the coven, Egan’s injuries.

  But will he recover before the covens make their next move? It won’t just be my coven next time. And what am I going to do about the police and child services, both of whom I’ve had to dodge since Egan was admitted to the hospital?

  “You think your family will try again after what you did?” Keller asks, evidently reading some of the concern on my face. “They know you’re more powerful than they are.”

  “Am I? Or was it a one-time thing, some freak of witch nature? Was it simply because I was standing on the Shiprock?”

  “Do you still feel powerful?”

  I do, and it scares me.

  “That doesn’t matter. Whatever it was that happened, I have no doubt they’re already researching how to deal with it. They do not like losing or being made to feel powerless. And you didn’t see the look
on my father’s face right before he left.”

  “All the more reason for you to stay here,” he says. “It’ll be like you have home field advantage.”

  I don’t acknowledge his attempt to get me to change my mind about leaving. I stand and wander a few steps away to look down the mountain in the direction of Baker Gap. “How’s Toni?”

  “Okay. A little sore, but nothing serious.”

  “She still at the hospital?”

  “Yeah. She won’t leave. Her mom tried to get her to, but Toni refused.

  “How much does her mom know about what happened?”

  “Everything. My dad told her.”

  “Does she hate us, Egan and me?”

  “No. She worries about Toni and the twins, hates that the supernatural is real. But she’s thankful to you and Egan for saving us, even if she doesn’t say so. It might take her a while.”

  It won’t matter. We won’t be here.

  I look down at the fallen leaves stirring in the breeze. “Have the police talked to them?”

  “Yeah. Aunt Carol didn’t have much to tell them, and Toni is good at being evasive without appearing like that’s what she’s doing. If she feels trapped, she starts to cry and they back off.”

  I suspect Toni’s tears aren’t just a diversionary tactic.

  Keller rises on his long legs, but I turn to leave before he can approach me. “I need to go to the hospital.”

  “Jax.” There’s a plea in his voice, so I smile at him.

  “I’ll call you later.” I head down the hill toward my car before I give in to the temptation to walk into his arms. If I do that, I know I’ll never leave.

  I walk down the hospital corridor after waiting for half an hour for the police to leave and the nurse to return to the nurses’ station around the corner.

  “Jax?”

  I stop, glancing behind me before realizing my name came from the room to my left. “Stacy?”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  I edge into the room, noticing the cast on Stacy’s leg and a half-packed duffle at the end of the bed. “I didn’t know you were still here.”

  “Yeah. There was some problem with bleeding when they operated. They kept me another day to be safe. They’re getting the paperwork ready to dismiss me.”

  “Are you okay now?”

  She nodded. “Still sore, but alive thanks to you.”

  “Keller’s the one who pulled you from the car.”

  “I know. I already thanked him.”

  I can’t prevent the shot of jealousy that zings through me.

  “I also know you’re the one who drove me to the hospital. Like a bat out of hell, from what I hear.”

  I smile, a first when in Stacy’s presence. “I may have broken a few speed limits.”

  “I’m glad.” Stacy looks down at her hands clasped atop the blanket covering her legs. “I’m sorry I was so horrible to you.”

  A woman in a stylish tan pantsuit rushes into the room. “You’re not dressed yet? Stacy, you know I have to get back to work. I don’t have all day.”

  Red surges into Stacy’s face, whether embarrassment or anger or a mixture, I can’t tell.

  The woman, evidently Stacy’s less-than-doting mother, notices me then. “Oh, hello. I didn’t realize anyone was in here.”

  “Obviously.”

  Stacy’s mom’s mouth opens in surprise. “And you are?”

  “The person who saved my life, not that you care.” Stacy slides from the bed and heads for the clothes draped across the end of the bed.

  “Stacy,” her mother scolds.

  The severe dislike I’ve harbored for Stacy dissipates. “You know, if you’re too busy, I can take Stacy home.”

  Mrs. Parker stiffens. “That won’t be necessary. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

  I don’t budge, not until Stacy catches my eye and nods, then smiles. She’s so much prettier with a real smile.

  When I’m about to pull the door closed behind me, Stacy catches the edge of it. “Thanks again. Keller said you might be moving, but for what it’s worth, I hope you don’t. He really cares about you. And . . . well, maybe we could try being friends.”

  I’m not prepared for the surge of emotion that wells up inside me. People want me to stay, want to be close to me. Me, the girl who grew up amid such unfriendly circumstances.

  “Thanks.” I close the door and continue down the corridor, swallowing past the lump that has taken up residence in my throat.

  I ease the door to Egan’s room open. Toni looks up from her post beside his bed. The dark circles under her eyes are evidence that she hasn’t slept in days. I hate that my running away from home has caused such pain for my friend. I wouldn’t blame Toni if she orders me from the room.

  “Hey,” I say.

  “Hi.” Toni sounds as tired as she looks. But I’m not about to add to the chorus of voices telling her to go home. If Keller was the one in the bed hooked up to a frightening array of tubes and monitors, there isn’t a force strong enough that could make me leave his side.

  “How’s he doing?”

  “Hanging in there.” Toni’s voice betrays her fear. She must know that because she lowers her head. “No change.”

  “What are the doctors saying?”

  “That sometimes the body puts itself in a coma so it can heal from injuries.”

  “Can I get you anything?”

  Toni shakes her head.

  I round the end of the bed and sit in the chair on the opposite side. “Egan is strong. He’ll come out of this.”

  “I know.” Toni’s voice has regained some of its strength, its conviction. She looks me in the eye. “You’re not here to try to make me go home, are you?”

  “No. I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Thank you.”

  I shrug away the thanks. “I’d do the same thing.”

  “I’m not leaving until he wakes up.”

  “You love him, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Does that sound crazy? We haven’t even kissed.”

  “No, I don’t think it sounds crazy at all. Then again, I fell for your cousin the first time I saw him.”

  Toni manages a small smile. “Maybe these mountains aren’t just pumping out evil energy. Hey, Cupid’s no crazier than real live witches and spirit covens.”

  “I can’t argue with that.”

  “Do you think it’s possible you’re a white witch?” Toni asks. “Like that woman in the painting. Could that be what’s missing from the Beginning Book?”

  I shake my head slowly. “I don’t know.” There’s so much I don’t know.

  We sit in silence for a few minutes, both watching Egan’s chest move up and down. I hadn’t realized how much his friendship means to me until he backed me up, until he fell helping me hold off my family. I clasp his left hand, matching Toni’s stance on his right side. I might love Keller, but Egan is the closest thing I have to family now. The two of us, we’re our own coven.

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  Toni looks over at me. “For what?”

  “For everything. Your mom getting attacked, you and Keller being kidnapped and hurt by my family, for Egan being here like this. For bringing all of this on you.”

  “Jax, bad things happen in life. It doesn’t matter who or what you are.”

  “I know, but . . .” I shake my head again.

  “And if you’re still thinking of leaving, just forget it. You’ll do more harm by going than staying.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Well, I am.” Toni holds up one finger. “You’ll break Keller’s heart.” A second finger goes up. “You’ll break your own heart.” A third finger. “Egan needs you here until he wakes up.” Fourth finger. I’m sensing a lot of enumerating fingers are going to be involved by the look on Toni’s face. “And when he wakes up, he’d want to follow you for good witch solidarity and all that, and I’m not about to let that happen. Plus, Keller could use two
more good hunters. Not to mention, no one else appreciates my T-shirt collection and Whedon mania like you do.”

  I grin and look down at Egan’s hand in my own.

  “Really,” Toni says, more seriously. “I can’t imagine it here without you now. I get sad just thinking about you leaving.”

  So do I, but that doesn’t change what must happen as soon as Egan can travel.

  A few more moments tick by, ones filled only with the faint sound of Egan’s breathing amongst the beeps of monitors. A slight shift in the energy coming off Egan draws my attention to his face. Nothing looks different now, but I can tell he’s with us now. He’s just not showing it, and I’m pretty sure I know why.

  Toni stands, stretches and pops the bones in her back.

  “Why don’t you go to the cafeteria, get a snack, something to drink,” I suggest.

  Toni looks at Egan like she actually fears leaving his side, like if she gives up her vigil he’ll lose the will to live.

  “I’ll stay with him. Take a break, just for a few minutes.”

  She glances at Egan again, unsure.

  I stand and round the bed. “Come on. You won’t do him any good if you keel over from exhaustion.” I guide her toward the door then watch to make sure she heads down the hallway.

  As I watch her, I start counting the beeps on Egan’s heart monitor, realize they aren’t as slow as they were moments ago.

  “Is she gone?” he asks.

  I turn and see Egan sitting on the side of his bed, already removing the IV needle.

  “How long have you been awake?”

  “Since before you got here.”

  Anger wells up in me. “And you let her sit here and worry herself sick?”

  His eyes meet mine, and I see how much the decision has cost him. After everything, I’m still surprised by his feelings for Toni.

  “It’s easier this way.” He points toward the closet. “Get my clothes.”

  I head for the closet, my feet feeling like they’re encased in lead. The time has come. Even though I’ve expected it, this seems too soon. Leaving without a goodbye seems harsh, wrong, selfish.