Life's a Witch

by Brittany Geragotelis

  He still liked me! I just about melted hearing him say that, but knew that I couldn’t let my guard down—otherwise we were both going to be in a lot of trouble. No, he had to leave so I could take care of this myself. No one else I cared about was going to end up in the hospital again. And as gallant as he was, Asher couldn’t help me.

  “Do you trust me?” I asked him.

  He paused. “I do.”

  That was all I needed to hear. Facing him, I fell into his arms and kissed him long and hard. There was a fever to our connection, the kind of heat that’s ignited when you think it might be your last kiss. Something weird happened when we kissed this time, though. I began to feel the magic I was still directing toward the barricade at the door grow stronger, and it became less difficult to hold in place. In fact, it almost felt easy. Like I’d just gotten a power boost.

  Whoa, talk about creating sparks.

  I reluctantly pulled myself away but noticed that I was still all tingly from our kiss. I’d never felt this alive before. And if I was going to get us out, it was going to have to be while I was still feeling strong.

  To do that, I really needed Asher to leave.

  I looked at Asher and put as much conviction into my words as I could. “Go. Get. Help,” I pleaded. I felt a little bad about using my powers on the guy I liked, but this wasn’t the time to be worrying about ethics. It was time to stay alive. “Now!”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Instead, he just nodded and began to step away. But something in his eyes told me he was trying to fight it. In the end, my powers won out and I watched him grip the doorknob tightly before walking out the door.

  As soon as he was gone, my abilities took a nosedive and my body began to shake with exertion. It was like the natural boost I’d gotten from our kiss had left with Asher and I suddenly didn’t have the same will to fight that I’d had before. The feeling of his lips on mine started to fade and instead, all I felt was fatigue.

  This was bad. I’d never felt so depleted of my powers in my whole life. The Parrishables seemed to be growing stronger now and the force of their magic was pushing me backward. My feet slid across the floor until I hit the couch and fell back over the arm and onto the cushions.

  And then they were making their way through the door, coming at me faster than I could’ve thought possible, only now I couldn’t seem to move. I’d run out of juice, and holding them back while Asher escaped would be the last thing I did.

  At least I hadn’t let everyone down.

  Just then, there was a huge crash, but with all the noise going on around me, I couldn’t tell which direction it came from. And being that I still felt paralyzed, I couldn’t move my head to see what was going on.

  Please don’t be back, Asher.

  “Leave her alone, you crazy magicians!” Asher yelled out. He sounded far away and my heart leapt when I realized he was shouting from his place just outside my front door. My persuasion had succeeded in making him leave, but I hadn’t been clear enough apparently. If I could just make him go farther away, I could finally let go. I was so tired.

  “Asher, go home!” I tried to say it out loud, but I could no longer speak. I couldn’t cry, either, although I wanted to. Without me to defend him, Asher wouldn’t stand a chance.

  “What the hell is he talking about?” I could hear someone else talking now—and they were much closer to where I was lying. They were in the same room as me, for sure.

  “No clue. Magicians? Is that the new slang term for witches? Are we magicians now?” another person asked.

  “Guys, cut the chitchat and help Hadley!” This voice I recognized. But it was still highly possible that I was hallucinating, so I tried not to get my hopes up. Instead, I focused on the noises around me. It was clear the fight was not over, but for some reason, none of the flying spells were hitting me.

  Time ticked by excruciatingly slowly until suddenly Sascha was at my side, leaning over me and hurling spells at people as they advanced on us. I tried to smile at her to show her how happy I was to see her, but I’m not sure my mouth moved. I wanted to tell her how much I’d missed her.

  All of them.

  As my eyes adjusted to focus on the beautiful face of my friend and savior, she was suddenly yanked away from me. As she struggled in and out of my sight line, I was able to make out a guy standing behind her holding her in a headlock. She scratched at his wrists and forearms and strangled sounds escaped her lips. Then, just as quickly as he’d come up behind her, he disappeared and Sascha was gasping for air.

  “Is she okay?”

  Emory.

  When I knew it was her, a wave of calm washed over me. There was something about knowing she was there that made me feel closer to my mom. And right now, I was scared about what was going to happen next. It was times like these when I just really needed my mom. And now that she was gone, Emory was the closest thing I had to that comfort.

  “I’m not sure. She looks fine, but something’s going on with her,” Sascha said, leaning back over me as something exploded overhead and debris rained down around us.

  “Leave her alone!” Asher was still yelling at everyone. He had no idea that those who’d just come in were members of my coven.

  “We’re not trying to hurt her,” another person said. “We’re here to help her.”

  Sascha started moving in and out of my line of vision and I could hear her throwing spells in the direction of our enemies. The explosions drowned out most of my thoughts except for one. I didn’t want them thinking that Asher was one of them and hurt him by mistake.

  I opened my mouth to tell them as much, but nothing came out. Another wave of exhaustion washed over me and my eyelids started to flutter closed. After that, I had to rely on my hearing to find out what was going on around me.

  Was this it? Was this what dying felt like? If it was, I didn’t get what everyone was so scared of. I mostly felt like I was about to drift off to sleep. And I was so tired, I almost welcomed it. Not that I wanted to die or anything, but I wouldn’t have minded the chance to rest. The shouting was still going on around me. Things were breaking and I felt something wet hit my cheek.

  As I began to float away, someone took my hand. And then the oddest thing happened. My hand began to grow warm, like I was holding a heating blanket. After a few seconds, the warmth became a tingling that spread from my hand up my arm and to my neck. By the time I felt it on my face and around my head, I realized what was happening.

  Someone was giving me a jump start.

  My energy started to come back little by little. The power I was feeling traveled down my body and into my legs, my muscles twitching with—I wasn’t exactly sure what. Excitement? Energy? Whatever it was, I wasn’t sleepy anymore. In fact, I was feeling totally rejuvenated.

  My eyes sprang open and I sat straight up on the couch, scaring Emory and making her jump about three feet away. I was still holding Sascha’s hand and looked down at our entwined fingers and then up at her.

  I had no idea what she’d done, but I was incredibly grateful. As I tried to tell her this, her hand slid from mine and she hunched over, placing her hand up to her forehead. I took a moment to study her face and saw that she was pale and looked a little sick. At first I worried that she’d been hit by a stray spell, but I quickly realized it was something else.

  “What just happened?” I asked. “Are you okay, Sascha?”

  “Yeah. I’m just . . . light-headed. It happens sometimes when I do this,” she answered quietly, still staring at the ground.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  A body sailed over our heads and crashed into the entertainment center in the corner of the room. Sparks flew and shorted out a nearby lamp. Still, given the magic that was being cast around the place, there was plenty of light.

  “Let’s talk about this later,” she said quietly. I was just now noticing how loud and chaotic it was in the house and tried to shield her from things that were flying around
us. “You need to help the others.”

  She was right. I didn’t want to leave her there, especially when she was looking so frail, but the others seemed to need my help. There might have been more of us at the moment, but the Parrishables had more experience with fighting dirty. And they were pulling out all the stops.

  “Hadley! You’re okay!”

  Oh, God. Asher.

  I swung around to see him inside the house again, being held back by Fallon, Peter, and a girl named June. My persuasion must have faded when I’d almost passed out before, allowing Asher the free will to do what he wanted. Now he was trying to escape, but they had a tight grip on all his limbs. If he hadn’t looked so worried, I would have commended them on a job well done.

  “Let him go, guys. It’s cool,” I shouted, putting as much influence into it as I could. “He’s on our side.”

  Those seemed to be the magic words, because as soon as I spoke, they let go and Asher stumbled forward. He was by my side within seconds and right there, with everyone watching, he pulled me into a hug. I clung to him, just happy to be back in his arms.

  Over Asher’s shoulder, I could see Emory rush toward the door where more of the Parrishables were coming in. With a cry befitting a battle, she disappeared into the kitchen. I moved to go after her, afraid of her being back there alone, but Asher held me tighter.

  “I know you’re strong and fully capable of kicking anyone’s ass and I totally believe that you can take care of yourself. I even respect you for taking charge in messed-up situations,” he said, a little bit breathless from the struggle. “But don’t you ever tell me to leave you behind again. You know I’ll say yes to just about anything you ask, because, well, I like you, but when I thought you might be hurt back there . . . So from here on out, we’re in this together. You’re stuck with me, so you better get used to it. And don’t even try to talk me out of it, because I’m the one making this decision.”

  I fought the smile that was threatening to break out. He’d just admitted he liked me. Sure, it was under the guise of telling me what to do, but in this case, I thought it was kind of sweet. Because, did I mention that he liked me?

  I moved in to kiss him again, but something flew through the door and landed on an armchair in the corner with a thud. It was Emory, back from the kitchen, hurt but still alive. Thank God. She began to yell something at me, but before she could, a pillow raised up from its place on the floor and pressed itself up against the redhead’s face. Emory began to struggle against the invisible force, but it was too much for her. After a few moments, she went still.

  “No!” I shouted and started off in her direction.

  But before I could make it even a few steps, I was being pulled backward like a rubber band snapping into place and was thrown against the ceiling like a fly caught on sticky paper. I fought to move my head, my arms, even my fingers, but something held me there. As I stared down at the battle that was going on beneath me, I could see that there were about a dozen people packed into our tiny living room going head to head, fighting for their lives.

  And then I caught sight of my adversary, the reason I was currently pinned to the ceiling.

  He was dressed in black pants, a matching shirt, and a floor-length, worn-looking brown leather jacket. It was old, but not in the distressed kind of way that you’d find in a trendy store. It looked more like it had been lived in.

  Moving up to his face, I wasn’t surprised to see the blackness of his eyes. We’d learned early on in magic class that when witches practiced dark spells, the caster’s soul turned dark as well. And since the eyes were the window to the soul . . . well, you get the idea. Only the darkest witches’ eyes ever turned black, and now that they were staring back at me, the effect was chilling.

  A shiver ran down my body. Still frozen in place, I could do nothing to stop it. I was powerless.

  He gave me a crooked smile as if he were reading my mind. But he couldn’t . . . could he? I knew it was something my mother could do, but I’d always thought it was because the gift ran in families. The thought that a stranger—someone who wanted me dead no less—could know what I was thinking was beyond upsetting. I felt violated. But as soon as I realized what he was doing, I built up the wall in my mind to at least try to block him out. Given the fact that I couldn’t move my body, it was all I could seem to do to fight against him.

  In response, the man chuckled and winked at me.

  “Well, you’re certainly not a disappointment, are you?” he said. And then with a flick of his wrist, he lifted his spell and left me to drop to the floor below.

  Chapter Twenty

  I watched as I got closer and closer to the ground in what seemed like slow motion and wondered what would happen when I hit. Would my bones crack instantly? I’d never broken anything before, although I’d always wondered how I’d managed to escape that rite of passage.

  But if I was seriously hurt in this fall I might not be able to get myself—let alone everyone else—out of there alive. Maybe I’d be able to convince enough of the others to get out, so it wouldn’t turn into a total slaughter. This thought nearly made me sick to my stomach. Or maybe it was the fact that I was falling so quickly now that my insides felt like I was on a roller coaster. Either way, I wasn’t feeling too hot.

  I was seconds away from going splat all over my living room floor when I clenched my eyes shut. Right as I was expecting to feel the floor come up to bite me in the ass, the strangest thing happened.

  My body began to slow down, resisting gravity as if I were attached to an invisible bungee cord. And then I was being pulled sideways, arms and legs flailing as I tried to somehow navigate the flight. I had to open my eyes because I had no idea what had just happened. And what I saw didn’t make any sense.

  The guy in the trench coat was still there, only now his eyes were following me as I flew across the room. He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around us. Peter and June were taking turns shielding each other and knocking bad guys down, and Asher was in the middle of pounding on another guy near the front door. Sascha was still recovering from reviving me earlier, but Fallon had moved to her side, deflecting spells as they were thrown his way. The Cleri were too busy fighting others to go after the guy who currently had his black eyes trained on me. So he just stood there, smiling that eerie grin of his like he was actually having fun.

  “Shifagin momentus!” someone yelled out, barely audible over the noise in the room. A few moments later, my body hit the soft cushions of the couch with an “oomph.” The landing may have been better than hitting the floor, but I still ended up having the wind knocked out of me and had to take a moment to get air back into my lungs. When I could breathe again, I jumped up from the couch and stood in a defensive stance. I knew I had someone to thank for making the couch move four feet backward to soften my fall, but there was no time. Trench-coat guy was steadily walking toward me, still smiling, which made me totally uneasy.

  Just as he was raising his hand to cast yet another spell, I muttered the words to a bubble spell that trapped its caster in the safety of an impenetrable, circular force field. I felt the strength of the guy’s spell hit my bubble, but—thank God—it held.

  This time, trench-coat guy’s mouth twitched even though the smile was still plastered across his face.

  “I knew you’d be a worthy adversary,” he said, as if we were the only two there.

  I watched with horror as Fallon knocked out a man who’d jumped over the couch to get to him and Sascha. Then he ran straight toward trench-coat guy. Just as Fallon was opening his mouth to let out a spell, Trench Coat flicked his wrist, tossing Fallon into the air like he was a rag doll. I screamed his name, but that was all I could do. Luckily, Asher turned around just in time to see Fallon coming toward him and reached out to help cushion his fall. The bad guy was still talking, as if he’d just swatted at an annoying fly.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you,” he said with an almost animalistic sna
rl. “Everyone else was just too easy to defeat. Or too damaged. Or too . . . predictable. I needed a challenge. And that’s where you come in.”

  “Like you’re the first person to tell me that I’m challenging,” I said, sounding a lot more like myself than I had in days. The only problem was that it was taking all my concentration just to keep the bubble around me intact, and I needed to try and pull the others into it with me.

  “Pretty and funny. That’s a powerful combination,” he said with an evil chuckle that would’ve sounded totally normal in a horror film. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. I’m Samuel, leader of this coven. And you’re Hadley.”

  I was so surprised to hear him say my name that I nearly dropped the spell. “How do you know who I am?” I asked before I could stop myself. I immediately wished I could take it back. The last thing I wanted was for him to know he’d rattled me.

  “Oh, dear girl, I make it my business to know who’s out there in our world. I’ve been watching you for quite some time now. You see, every magically inclined person lets off a sort of footprint—an enchanted calling card, if you will,” Samuel said, gesturing around the room. “Your kind of power screams across state lines. I’ve been following your work for years.”

  “Some people would call that stalking,” I answered.

  The fight was still going on around us, but we continued to focus only on each other. This wasn’t easy considering that I could see the others struggling to stay standing. And here I was, with my protective bubble keeping me safe. I began to step back so I could bring the others into it. By this time, Emory had woken up and was fighting her way over to Sascha.

  “There’s that wit again,” old black eyes said. “You know, I could use someone with similar talents in my group. Join my team and we could be unstoppable.”

  “I’m a cheerleader. I’m already a part of a team, thank you very much. And to be honest, you’re not exactly my type. You know, being evil and all.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me and took a few steps in my direction. I involuntarily took a few steps backward, feeling the desperate need to get as far away from him as possible. When Samuel saw me move, he stopped in his tracks. He reached up to rub his jaw as he thought about his next move.