Shattered (Tempest Coven Novels)

by Wendolyn Baird

  "Followed her where? Why didn't you mention any of this before?" Fury rushes up my throat, turning my words into snarls, and with each ending syllable, I'm caught on the edge of agony that embraces my torso.

  Andromeda only shakes her head in response, tears streaming down her face as she works to control her own vocal cords. "A yard, with a ring of toadstools. She was delusional, ranting about a woman with a ripped face-"

  No. No way. Goosebumps race down my arms, as they begin to shake uncontrollably.

  "- I think she was trying to conduct a seance, but everything started shattering. Shards of crystal and glass hit me in the face, and I only turned away for a second. All I did was throw my arms up for a second, Sugar, I swear! But when I looked up again, she was gone."

  She was gone. Three words that sum up my entire past year. She was gone. Three words that drive a stake through my heart.

  Sasha, my Sasha, has been gone for months. There's been nothing but a crazed woman teetering between this world and the next, and from the sounds of it... Andromeda and I may be headed for the same fate.

  Just as the scrying mirror is my birthright, those stone figures were dedicated to each of us when we chose our familiars. Those guides are- were- a representation of our energy in any attempt to scry. I had assumed it was this mess of a town and the mirror's deadline that broke mine... but there's more than coincidence here.

  "So, what do we do?" I whisper, positive that I won't like the answer.

  "I'm not sure. I saw something about a card draw, and a lightning storm. The only thing I'm certain of is a candle on your mirror, and a room covered in daisies. Does that mean anything to you?"

  My lips are trembling too much for me to form any words, so instead, I nod numbly. Atlas is barely beginning to wake, and I dread demanding even more from him than he's already given.

  Atlas is the one with the cards, and there's only one place I know of with daisies. We're going back to the witch's house.

  Chapter 24: Atlas

  LOVE. DEATH. STORM. Hidden.

  Storm. Death. Hidden love?

  Hidden death? Storm love?

  Hidden storm, love death?

  "These stupid cards make no sense!" I groan out loud. Tania is insisting I make some sort of meaning out of them, but every turn of my head sends the world spinning. Even as I slap them onto the table, acid threatens to travel up my throat, and my stomach does a flip.

  "Well you're the one who drew them, they've got to mean something," Tania snaps at me, her dark lipstick twisting her scowl into a threatening line.

  "Then go show them to the fortune teller and let me go lay down! I feel like my head was hit by a truck." Leaning forward, I rest my forehead in my palms and try to shut out the throbbing in my temples.

  "Well, a marble countertop is close enough, but at least we're still alive. I, for one, would like to stay that way."

  She's right, she's right. My effort made little impact on the beast, but gave Andy's serval a second chance to attack, and Andy a moment to compose herself and actually be useful. I'm still unclear on the details, the fuzziness of pretty much everything makes it hard to focus on conversation, but it seems that a second attack with my knives did the trick. The demon is still out there but injured enough to give us some respite.

  "So, remind me again, how these cards help with that?" I peer through my fingers to scrutinize their symbols once again. Storm, and death... I had thought that meant the thunderstorm a week ago.

  "I'm not a seer, you tell me," Tania sighs. "Or ask Andromeda, for that matter." She's chewing distractedly on her thumbnail and perusing yet another book on burial traditions. "I swear, I saw something in here about a white spotted cat. Why didn't I highlight it?"

  "Because you'd never desecrate any book with highlighter," Andy grumbles, edging around the room with the energy of a startled bird. Kamali trails behind her, as much of a shadow as Elara, who's winding her way back and forth beneath the table.

  Both women are pale and trembling, yet I've never seen anything fiercer. Heaven help anything that tries to take them on, including whatever curse is trying to push them down Sasha's fate. Anything that messes with these women will have a hell of a time. Especially since we haven't given up on Sasha yet. At least, Tania and I haven't. Jason just wants to survive, and I have no clue what Andy's stance is on all of this. For all I know, she could still be waiting to screw us over. Something in her demeanor changed the moment she saw that demon; I just wish I knew what that change means.

  "Atlas, your brother is a pain in the ass," Jason calls from the doorway. Out of all of us, he's now the least scathed. Such a big difference from yesterday. Now his apartment is in smithereens, and we're hiding out in Andromeda's cramped hotel room.

  "And?"

  "And he and Nova will be staying over at your mom's place until this blows over. He said they can excuse it as helping clear out the house, and he doubts she'll question it much."

  "Thanks, Stone." With everything else, I couldn't imagine having to have that talk with my brother. He wouldn't have listened to me anyway. As soon as I called into work that first day, he told me not to call again. Nova's show of welcoming Tania had proven just to be a show, and it was one Elliot decided was too tiring to continue. "Any word from The Council?"

  "Thomas Ursa called them. I was hoping to pass the wreckage off as a gas explosion, but no luck. Bowens has been calling non-stop and I'm running out of reasons to not answer. I've got about an hour before I go in front of them, and then you'll need a plausible excuse to not make it to the meeting you know they're going to call."

  "Flu, I have the flu." I nod at him, cringing when I realize what a bad idea moving is. The world sways to the side and back again as I struggle to stay upright.

  "El and my mom too," I continue. "We've all got the flu and that's why I haven't been into work. They won't care about Nova, she's just a mortal." I hate saying those words, but it's true. The Council cares about mages, and hates witches, but mortals barely make their list of residents to pay attention to.

  Leaning against the wall, Jason nods ruefully back at me. Straight up lying to The Council about being the only one present for the attack is a huge risk, but diversion is the only way we'll have time to find Sasha and get down to that house.

  Andy is pacing around the space between the beds with Tania's tablecloth map in her arms, oblivious to all but Kamali's paws that step quickly along her feet. Tania on the other hand, glances up from her book and stares at Jason with a sick expression.

  She knows what the truth could mean for him... and me. Hell, maybe even for Elliot and Mom too. I've screwed up everything. All our lives, potentially all of our powers, just to help this woman in front of me. I should be angry at her, but watching heartbreak and guilt cover her face... I can't find the energy to even be resentful.

  No matter what the cost, I would go back and make that same decision again. Even if it costs me my life, I will keep making the decision to protect her. She's worth it.

  This time, looking at the cards makes a little more sense. Ill-fated love, and death.

  I'm willing to make that sacrifice, but is it right to decide for my family?

  "That will work," Andy murmurs in between paces. "But don't forget to check up on those names I gave you. The second from the top will test you, don't lash out at him, it's just going to be bait to get you condemned."

  "Could you be any clearer? I could really use all the help I could get here." Jason responds, turning his hands outward in desperation, and I turn my eyes away from Tania to watch their exchange.

  With snarled hair falling over her forehead, Andy's widened eyes give her a crazed look, and I edge my chair closer to Tania's.

  "No. If I could, I would. I saw a glimpse of an argument, and a dark aura; but I also see that six months from now, you'll be using magic in the operating room. That tells me someone's going to try to trick you today, but you still keep your powers. All's well that ends well for you, Handsome."


  "Well, what about us, Andromeda? What about Sasha?" Tania softly asks, staring morosely at the bracelets on her wrists.

  "I think I've almost got the map deciphered. It's confusing because there's three locations, but I don't know which one we need to go to first." Her eyebrows are pulled into a troubled frown, and Kamali's ears point forward attentively.

  "I got it to light up at a coffee house. Maybe that was the first one?" Tania suggests, lowering her book.

  "That makes sense. Show me where?" They spread the map onto one of the twin mattresses and lean over it thoughtfully, moving evenly.

  I abandon my cards to walk over to Jason, nausea giving me slight vertigo with every step. "So that's good news," I murmur. "You're going to pull this off. You're going to be okay."

  It's difficult to speak this way, dancing around the fact that the rest of us could very well be on our way to our deaths. But he's my best friend, that's got to count for something. He deserves my relief at his fate, even if I can't separate it from the uncertainty of my own.

  "So, will you. You heard the drama queen, man. She's only betting on us because she knows we've got a winning team. She's relying on future favors."

  He's wrong though, Andy is only betting on Tania. My job from the very beginning was to help Tania find her sister and get out of here. Nowhere in that promise was my safety guaranteed.

  "We got it!" Tania's triumphant voice splits through our conversation, and she beckons us forward.

  Andy rapidly points at different spots on the spiraling lines, finding discrepancies my eyes are blind to. "Here's the coffee shop, which got Tania started."

  "The only good thing to come out of that place," Tania scoffs.

  "That leads us across to here- what y'all described as the house with a ghost?"

  "Okay, that's two places down, where do we go next?" Jason cuts in.

  "You don't go anywhere, Handsome. Your meeting with that council is the perfect diversion. Then, while everybody's busy, we'll go to this place over here." She's pointing at seemingly nothing, and Tania catches the look of confusion on both mine and Jason's faces.

  "Here." She places a thin sheet of tracing paper over the cloth, and I recognize the map I'd painstakingly been tracing just yesterday morning.

  The spot on the map is familiar enough, even though it's a place I try to avoid. Abel Englebert's house. It looks like I'll be breaking and entering for the second time this month. At least this time, I know how to get in.

  Chapter 25: Tania

  WAITING ANOTHER HOUR is pure agony.

  I've spent so long searching for Sasha, now that I'm finally closer to her... I don't know what to expect. Even worse, I'm terrified of who I might find. What's left of my sister to recover?

  We prepare what we can. Atlas cleans and organizes his weapons, Andromeda tends to the familiars and hums meditations under her breath, and I survey the meager supplies I'd grabbed from my RV on our way over here. My crystal water case, a small collection of plant clippings, travel sage sticks... along with two items Andromeda forced me to bring.

  One, small succulent, carefully nestled in a pot adorned with jasper and obsidian, and a dented box, locked, rusted, and unfortunately, unforgotten.

  There's no point in staring at them, and watching the others brings me no joy either. Andromeda is frenzied, focused, and short on words. Atlas is battered and distressed, and his right eye is swollen shut but every time he sees me, he nods encouragingly. As though I haven't caused enough damage as it is, as though I'm the one who deserves comfort. Every time he nods, guilt courses through me, and I know that if he or Jason suffers, it's all on me.

  Sasha was my responsibility. But I wasn't strong enough, so maybe I've damned us all.

  Resentment rushes through me, coloring my cheeks with silent anger, and for a split second I can see Sasha scoffing at me from the corner of my eye.

  Blinking, my mouth drops open, and she remains. She's nothing but skin and bones, and the gold of her hair is nothing more than a trick of light, as she rolls her eyes at me, seemingly unaware that her entire body is transparent.

  "Haven't you figured it out yet? They'll never be safe with the sidhe on the loose. And you'll be trapped away with me. We'll never be apart, ever." Her lips curve into a wicked smirk, and a maniacal expression covers her face as she lilts out her words with a mocking whisper. "It's just like you promised."

  I flinch backwards in horror and confusion, jolting my bruised ribs against my seat. As a hiss of pain slips through my teeth, my eyes shut tight reflexively, and the apparition fades as suddenly as it came on. There's nothing left to stare at but a sad hotel room and two other desperate people.

  Atlas swings around at the noise, and starts to ask if I'm okay, but I can't tear my eyes away from where she stood.

  The throbbing in my ribs is subsiding, but my heart races on, shoving adrenaline through my veins as if to replace any trace of anger. The shadow in the mirrors, the feeling of being watched, of course it felt wrong. I knew Sasha was half in this world and half in the next, what I failed to realize was just far into the next one she'd delved. My sister was never so cruel.

  "Andromeda, is there any way a spirit could get through the wards? Any at all?" My words come out in a strangled lump, as I turn frantically to the book I'd abandoned half an hour prior. What was that word she used?"

  Her eyes dart quickly to my face, and a guarded expression comes over her expression as she busies herself once again with the animals.

  "I doubt it," she shrugs at me, pointedly looking away. Erratic movements are all I've seen from her since I woke up in the wreckage of Jason's home, but this is something more. Slowly, I lower the book, and twist around to stare at her.

  Atlas sees it too. Beyond her frayed nerves is a forced indifference, and his face darkens in response.

  "Bullshit. You're hiding something, and I'm not putting up with it," he growls, accusations dripping from every syllable. His anger is fierce and threatening, and Andromeda meets our eyes pleadingly.

  "Can't we just wait to have this conversation until later?" She deflects. "It would be... easier. Promise, I'm not trying to hurt anyone here."

  "Who said anything about hurting anyone," I demand, because it's obvious, whether she's trying to or not, something is about to hurt worse than seeing my sister as an apparition.

  "Tania," she drawls out, with uncertainty. "Sugar, please, you aren't ready to know."

  "Cut the crap, seer," Atlas snarls. "Tania's been pushing for answers since before she got to Hildrun, now if you've got them, you're sharing them. Did you know my brother's not talking to me right now because of the company I'm keeping? That I had to have Jason call him up to convince them to hide? Or the hell I'm going through after having to send my best friend off to lie to cover something I dragged him into?"

  My eyes fly to Atlas, and my jaw drops in disbelief as another wave of guilt floods over me. He'd never mentioned family troubles, and I never imagined that Elliot would let his prejudice fall so deeply.

  "But none of that matters, because our lives are on the line, Andy. Not just Sasha's, us, here, in this room! Now, I haven't known your cousin very long, but that doesn't matter either; because I know her well, and she deserves to have something good come out of all this. So, I refuse to let anyone else cause her anymore pain in her life. And that includes you, you arrogant little sneak!"

  Despite Andromeda's towering stature, Atlas looms above her, with veins throbbing in his neck as fury overtakes him.

  "Don't you get it? It's too late, it was too late as soon as Sasha threw herself across the Veil!" Black lined eyes widen with tears, and her voice cracks as she utters her next words.

  "Yes. Yes, a spirit can get through, but only one. Because Tania," she stammers while grabbing my hand and knocking the book into my lap. "Tania, you and Sasha are too close. You wrapped more than blood together in that protection spell all those years ago."

  Pointing at the pachyveria glauca
that lies undisturbed on the bed, she pulls me close, unwilling to speak the words any louder than a whisper. "You swore under a full moon to protect her even after your own death. If you don't break that oath, you'll both end up dead!"

  Atlas is demanding more answers, and Andromeda has finally broken down into tears, but my ears are ringing, and I can't hear anymore over my heartbreak.

  I should want to argue, but Sasha just told me the same thing, didn't she? Nobody else has been seeing ghosts in their dreams or shadows behind their reflections. Nobody else made a childish vow that has haunted them throughout their entire adult life.

  Maybe I didn't know what I was doing at twelve, but I've felt the effects ever since. No matter how angry or resentful I've felt towards Sasha, I've always bailed her out. Even when I knew it bordered on enabling her bad habits, I couldn't stop myself. But was that so wrong?

  I love my sister. I love her more than life itself, but I can't see that as a bad thing. If I didn't love her like that, who would have? Dad left and never looked back, and when he did, he took Mom with him. In her place was our mother, a woman so single-mindedly focused on never hurting again, that even her children weren't worthy of caring for. If Sasha and I didn't stick together, nobody would have.

  At the same time, I've already given so much of my life to her, for her. All she's done over the past couple of years is take, and I'm so damn tired of it. I have nothing more to give! Nothing else I want to give. My life should be my own. Free to dream about a future where I only have to care for myself, or maybe a family in a couple of years. Right now, more than anything, I just want to walk out of this hotel room with Atlas and run away. Run anywhere, and just forget the mess my family has always been.

  There's no changing the future though, and Andromeda warned me from the beginning she was here to try to stop my death. That means she's already seen it, and if I can't stop my fate, I might as well save the others along the way.