by Theresa Kay
Connor raises an eyebrow. “Where did you hear about talismans?”
Because that’s the important question here. I scoff. “The shifter girl at the party. When whatever happened started happening, she asked me about a talisman. I figure that’s what the necklace there is.”
“It is,” says Connor. “It was given to us in the event something like this were to happen.”
“In the event . . . So this was always a possibility? And none of you thought to warn me?”
Mom swipes a finger under her eyes. “We didn’t mean for it to happen this way. We were supposed to have more time.” She sighs and glances at Dad. “When she came to us with you, this helpless little child, I couldn’t say no, not after all she’d done for us. Helen—”
And rage rears its head again. “Wait a second. Do you mean my birth mother? You know who she is?”
“Who she was,” says Connor softly. “Her name was Helen. She was a friend of the pack.”
Friend of the pack . . . a special designation for an outsider who’s been granted protection by an alpha. In this case, it must’ve been Connor.
“What? How?” I rub a hand over my forehead and blink back tears. My throat tightens, and I rise to my feet to pace to the opposite side of the room, the sense of betrayal digging deeper into my stomach. They always told me I was abandoned on the doorstep, that they had no idea who my family might be. “And my birth father? Have you been keeping his identity from me too?”
Connor slowly shakes his head. “We don’t know who he is. Helen never told us.”
Can I even trust that’s the truth? Probably. Since it seems everything else is coming out tonight, why would they bother keeping that information from me now? I lean against the wall as far from the three of them as I can get and choke out one more word. “Why?”
“It was for your protection,” Mom whispers. “I hated lying to you, hated that I could never tell you . . . She wanted you far, far away from the witch world, even if it meant you had to hate her in order to stay away from them.”
The lump in my throat is practically choking me, and I’m drowning in questions I don’t know how to ask because to voice them feels like a betrayal to the people who raised me. What was she like? Did she love me? Why did she leave me? I fight back tears—and curiosity—and try to focus on what’s going on right now. There will be time for those kinds of questions later, but there are other things I need to ask right now. “How?” I ask. “If I’m a witch, how is it that I’m only accessing my powers now? I mean, I know witches don’t fully manifest until at least seventeen, but there’s always . . . something.”
“Your powers were bound when you were an infant. They were never supposed to manifest at all,” says Connor. “Helen didn’t fully explain the circumstances, but she said your magic was different, that it was powerful . . . and dangerous.” He looks away. “And that it would be better for everyone if you lived your life as a Blank.” His tone is so matter of fact, so bland, that I simply don’t know what to do with this information.
Better for everyone? What the hell is that supposed to mean? And what gave my birth mother the right to make that decision? She left me. She . . . she . . . I give my head a hard shake and walk back to the couch, sit down, think for a second, then stand up and pace to the other side of the room. Back to the couch again, my temper ramping up and coiling in a knot in my chest. No. Not nerves. Magic.
It’s happening again. Heat flares in my chest, and the pressure builds. Not quite as bad as last time, but still . . .
Dad slips the pendant over my head, and the feeling vanishes. He places a hand on my cheek. “The talisman will help for now. It has some sort of containment spell on it so you won’t lose control.” He pauses and waits for me to meet his dark eyes. “I’m sorry we kept this from you. I’m sorry we didn’t prepare you. We failed you, but we’ll get through this. No matter who gave birth to you, you’re still our daughter, and you always will be.”
I nod woodenly, my mind still spinning with all the new revelations. I’m not a Blank. I’m an actual witch. The other shifters will never understand. I was already an outsider. Now, I’ll be an outcast. My stomach twists, and I sit back down on the couch.
“What happens to me now?” I ask in a small voice, the force of my anger deflating to make room for the scared teenager I am.
Connor glances at my parents. “There’s a contingency plan, one I’ve already put into motion.”
“What are you talking about, Connor?” asks Dad, leaning forward and grabbing Mom’s hand.
“I couldn’t risk the safety of the entire pack on a single binding spell, no matter how strong it was,” Conner replies. He holds my dad’s gaze for a moment before glancing away. “And I couldn’t risk Aileen’s safety on one talisman and the slim chance that tonight’s events would stay secret.” He reaches across the space between us and wraps one of his big, scarred hands around mine. “You’ll be going to an OSA training academy. There are people there Helen trusted. One of them is on his way to pick you up. You’ll be safe there, and you can learn to use your magic.”
“You mean I have to leave?” Of all the things I expected to come of this craziness, that’s one outcome I hadn’t anticipated.
“I’m sorry, but now that your powers have manifested, now that you’re a fully-fledged witch, you can’t stay on pack lands.” Connor pins me with his gaze. “Even if I were to issue a formal invitation for you to stay, our laws can’t protect you anymore. I can’t protect you, but the school can.”
“I can go with Reid to New York. We—”
“No,” says Connor. “The Coven Council is going to hear of all this very soon. They’ll be breathing down our necks, and they’ll also get OSA involved, so we need to be proactive. We hid you for as long as we could, but that’s over now. Shifter laws and protections don’t apply; the sanctuary of pack lands doesn’t apply. The only place you’ll be safe is the school.”
I sputter, trying to think up another option, an excuse, something. “But I don’t know anything about how to be a witch!”
“You’ll learn,” says Connor in his alpha voice. “You don’t have a choice here, Selene. You’re not the only one who might suffer consequences.”
My entire body goes cold, and my gaze moves from Mom to Dad and then back to Connor. “The witches . . . They’ll come after you, won’t they?”
They nod in unison.
Connor speaks first. “The Coven Council will call it kidnapping. At best. They’ll go after your mom and dad first. Probably won’t take a shot at me for a while. They will have a hard time getting through the protections of shifter laws even with the pending legislation.” He rubs a hand over his head. “But if you’re still here, the Coven Council has every right to come on to my pack lands and take you. Now that you’re a witch, you’re considered under their authority. Not mine. If they get their hands on you, I don’t know what they might do. They can go against me, against pack laws, but they can’t go against OSA.”
“But I don’t want any of this.” My hands curl into fists, and my cheeks heat. “Let me take the Bite. None if this will matter then because I won’t be able to use magic anymore.”
Mom’s eyes are wracked with pain. “He can’t,” she says. “The punishment for biting a witch and stripping them of their magic—”
“I’m asking him to.”
“It doesn’t matter,” says Connor, shaking his head. “The pack’s actions in regard to you are already going to be viewed as interference in witch business.”
There’s a knock at the door. Connor walks over to open it before returning with an elderly man whose presence tingles against my senses. A witch.
“This is Basil Kostis,” says Connor. “He’s with the OSA academy.”
The man has on wrinkled pants and scuffed shoes, and his white hair floats around his head like a cloud. He looks more like someone’s eccentric grandpa than what I’d expect in an OSA employee.
“Nice to meet you?”
I say, hesitantly.
Basil’s mouth spreads into a warm smile, and he rushes over with his hand out. “Hello, hello,” he says, shaking my hand rather vigorously as he continues to beam at me. “I’m so pleased to meet you. I’m the Head of Admissions at your new school, Ravencrest.”
My eyes widen. Ravencrest? It’s nice to know I’m not being forced across the country. Ravencrest is in the Shenandoah Valley, only an hour or so away, but it’s the most elite of all the OSA training academies. Only the best, the brightest, and the richest end up there. It’s where all the old money and high-society type witches end up. Who was my birth mother that she was able to arrange my admittance to Ravencrest as a contingency plan?
“Ah, I see you’ve heard of it,” says Basil with another too-perky grin. He moves toward me, studying the pendant hanging around my neck. “May I?”
The niceness he exudes on top of everything else is unnerving to the point of stupefying me, and all I can do is nod.
He lifts the pendant away from my chest, brushes a finger over the stone, and whispers something I can’t hear. “There now. The talisman will hold until we get you to school.”
“What exactly is a talisman?” I blurt out. It’s probably a dumb question, one with a stupidly obvious answer, but if Basil is put off by my ignorance, he doesn’t show it. In fact, he actually smiles.
“A talisman is a spelled object, generally something that can be worn.” His eyes twinkle as he examines the pendant again. “This one helps the wearer contain or hide their magic, and it was some of my best work. I’m surprised the spell didn’t hold up better. Oh well, nothing to be done for it now.”
My head spins with all the new information clamoring for attention in my brain, but the first words to make it out of my mouth are, “Your best work?”
“Oh, yes,” says Basil. “I prepared that talisman for Helen when she decided to leave OSA, though I was under the impression she was the one who was going to use it.”
“You knew my birth mother too?” The question is barely a whisper.
He nods, and a hint of sadness creeps into his words. “I knew her quite well. She was one of my best students when I was still teaching at Ravencrest.” He claps, back to the jolly old man again. “But all that is a story for a later date. We must be going. There’s so much to do, paperwork to fill out, books to gather, a schedule to be arranged . . .” His brows lift when I don’t move. “Well, go get your stuff together. We need to get within the boundaries of the school wards before the refreshed spell on the talisman wears off, lest your magic draw any unwanted attention.”
My head is a mess of confusion, anger, and hurt, so packing is more like shoving the first few pieces of clothing I lay hands on, my running shoes, and a pair of flip-flops into a bag. I don’t have the brain power to think too hard about what I need or what I should bring. Nor do I really care. Once I manage to wrestle the zipper closed, I sit on my bed and stare down at my shaking hands.
When I woke up this morning, I had no idea my entire life was going to change. And right now, I’d give almost anything to get back that blissful ignorance. I wish I’d never found out about my powers and lived the rest of my life as a Blank. My life wasn’t overly exciting, but it was happy and it was mine. Now . . . I don’t even know who I am anymore.
My mind is an endless string of what if questions. What if I hadn’t gone to that party? What if I’d just stayed with Reid? What if I hadn’t stepped into that fight? What if . . .
The door to my room opens, and Mom comes in. She sits down beside me on the bed and grabs my hand.
“I know this isn’t what you wanted. It’s not what I wanted for you either, but you can do this.” She places a hand on my cheek. “You’re my strong, smart, beautiful girl.”
I crack a weak smile.
“It won’t be easy, but I know you’ll find your place. You might even enjoy it,” she says. Her voice grows softer. “All of this was a shock to you and you’re angry, but I hope you know your dad and I love you and that everything we did, every secret we kept, was to protect you.”
Tears flow freely down my face, Mom’s too. She pulls me into a tight hug and holds me there as my shoulders shake and my tears dampen her shirt.
Dad appears in the doorway and knocks his knuckles against the frame. “Can I come in?”
“Of course.” I sniffle and wipe at my eyes.
He sits on my other side, drops an arm over my shoulder, then presses a kiss to the top of my head. “We’ll miss you, sweetheart. Every moment of every day.”
I nod. “But we can still talk, right?” When neither of them respond, I lean back and glance from one to the other. “I can call you, right? This isn’t . . .”
Dad shakes his head. “Ravencrest doesn’t allow students to have cell phones on campus, and Connor . . . He thinks it’s best if we cut all communication for now. At least until you get settled and some of this blows over.”
“No.” I jump to my feet. “That isn’t fair. You can’t just upend my entire life and then expect me to be okay with that. I’ll be all alone. I’ll have no one. I can’t . . . I can’t . . .”
Dad gets up and places his hands on my shoulders. “You can. It won’t be forever.”
“You don’t know that. What if . . .” I can’t even finish the question, and I don’t want to start crying again, so I focus on my anger instead. I pull away from Dad and grab my bag. “I’m going to take this outside.”
The two of them follow behind me but wait just inside the front door as I walk to Basil’s car to shove my bag in the trunk. The old man is sitting in the driver’s seat, giving me a sympathetic look—no, a pitying look. And I hate it.
I walk back into the house to finish my goodbyes. Mom hugs me tightly, and Dad wraps both of us in his arms as he presses a kiss to my hair. I stand there stiff and awkward, willing my arms to move, my mouth to say goodbye and tell them I love them, but I’m frozen in place. There’s so much I want to say, so many questions I still have, but Connor tells me it’s time to go and steers me out the door.
In the driveway, he places his hands on my shoulders and waits for me to look at him. “Don’t blame your parents for this. It’s—”
“They’re not really my parents anyway,” I snap, glad to finally have someone I can yell at. “I’m just some stupid charity case you all took on.”
He waits, his head tilted to the side, as I process my own words. Connor Donovan is good at that, the silent look that tells someone to think things through.
I wipe at my eyes with the heel of my palm and look away.
“You know that’s not true,” says Connor in a low voice. “Your mom and dad love you.”
“I know,” I say quietly. “But all this . . .”
“Sucks, I know.” He waits until I meet his eyes again. “I’m sorry it all had to turn out like this, but . . . things will be okay. You know, I love you too, kiddo.” He wraps his big arms around me. “Take care of yourself. You can do this. I believe in you.”
“Okay.” The desire to fight, to argue, drains away, and I get into the passenger seat without another word. I don’t know quite what to think about any of this. I’m equally angry, terrified, and devastated. Going to an OSA academy and probably being forced to join OSA was never part of my life plan. And doing it like this, because there’s no other option? I feel like an animal caught in a trap, like my life and my choices aren’t my own anymore.
I stare out the window at the passing trees as I travel farther and farther away from the only home I’ve ever known and the only people who’ve ever loved me. I’m about to be alone in a school filled with a bunch of uptight witches who probably won’t look too kindly on my upbringing. The thought makes my stomach roil.
The late hour and everything else is starting to catch up to me and weigh my eyelids down, but every time I close my eyes, I feel like the air is closing in around me and squeezing the breath from my lungs. I want to scream. I want to cry. I want to do anything at all besid
es be in this car. But I can’t.
Basil chatters on about something, but I’m too spent to really listen. From the overly upbeat sound of his voice, whatever he’s discussing probably isn’t horribly important anyway. I’d love it if he’d just shut up so I can take some of this downtime to be alone with my thoughts. But he barely stops for breath, and I’m not going to be rude, not after he’s been so insufferably nice.
The next thing I know, the car is parked in a small lot next to a stone wall and a large iron gate. I must’ve managed to drift off at some point.
“End of the line, I’m afraid,” says Basil. “We have to go the rest of the way on foot because of the wards.”
“Wards?” I’ve heard the word before, but I don’t actually know what they are except they have something to do with magic.
“They’re woven into the gates and the walls to protect the school, keep out intruders, and to ensure the no cell phone rule is followed. All staff vehicles are kept here outside the main gate. There’s a garage for student vehicles near the back gate.” He gestures for me to get out of the car and then strolls around to the trunk to grab my bag.
I stand slowly, my muscles sore and overexerted. From the magic maybe? Can using magic do that?
Basil pushes my bag at me and urges me forward with a hand on my lower back. “Now, just remember what I told you, and you’ll be fine.”
What he told me? In the car? I’m opening my mouth to ask him what it was when the gate swings open and he gives me a little push. As I pass through the gate, there’s a sharp jab, uncomfortable but not quite painful, at the place deep in my chest where my magic exploded from.
The air shimmers to reveal a long, meandering drive lined with recessed lights and bordered by perfectly manicured grass that leads up to a group of buildings at the top of the hill. Walking up the entire drive takes ages, and the buildings that looked normal-sized from the gate keep growing larger and larger until the full scope of them becomes clear. There are three buildings, at least ten stories each, making the shape of a ‘u’ with a sizeable, grassy square in the middle and a few smaller buildings scattered around behind them. The bigger buildings are all gray stone with ivy curling up the sides, and the windows are all dark—probably because it’s at least 3:00 a.m. if not later.