The Rebel Witch

by Chandelle LaVaun

  My father, Cooper, and I had spent the last few hours choosing the right words. Leyka may have been cool when we saw him, but there was no guarantee we’d get the same hospitality. I’d written the note on special parchment treated with privacy charms. The note itself was written in blood. My blood. It was short and concise.

  I knelt down on one knee and pulled my dagger from my boot. With the tip of the blade, I sliced a circle in the sand around me. I placed the folded up parchment right in front of me then buried it. I sliced my left palm open and let my blood pour onto the sand over the note. Blue energy swirled around my hand. I pushed it down and whispered in the ancient language. The sand rippled and pulsed. I willed the grains to wrap around my note and lift into the water. It looked like a snowball, hovering in front of my face.

  “I call upon Water’s power, carry mine gift to Leyka this midnight hour.”

  Chapter Eight

  Tegan

  Apparently, the initiation for each Card was different. Emersyn and I had to have help from the Crones because of the blocking spells placed on us as babies. For our ritual, the Crones had drawn a massive black pentagram into the dirt and had Royce cover the lines with his flowers. The process was wild and full of raw magic, mixed with the power of the elements. But during Bentley’s initiation, the pentagram was made up of candles in varying sizes and colors. It was calm and serene, done right at sunrise.

  Deacon was the Devil though. Something told me this wasn’t going to be like Bentley’s.

  “All right, y’all.” Dad pulled the truck into the parking lot and grabbed a spot up near the front. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Let’s do this.”

  Mom opened her door and then jumped out. She leaned her head back into the truck and focused on my little brother. “Bentley, stay close to me, okay?”

  “There aren’t going to be any demon attacks on us tonight, Mom.”

  “You don’t know that,” she snapped back.

  “Yes, I do. I’m psychic.” Bentley grinned.

  “Bentley.”

  “Okay, Mother. I’ll stay close.” He sighed and climbed over the console to go out Mom’s door.

  As soon as we were alone in the truck, Emersyn groaned. “We don’t have to stay here after, do we?”

  I frowned and looked over at her in the seat across from me. “I know you’re not the night owl I am, but what’s your problem?”

  Her blonde eyebrows were scrunched down low over her eyes, and her lips were pursed. “Nothing. I just don’t want to be here.” She threw her door open and slid out, then slammed it shut behind her.

  “Yeah, that much is clear,” I mumbled to myself and got out of the car.

  I followed my family toward the beach, but my mind was elsewhere. Something was bothering my twin. I just couldn’t fathom what that would be. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Normally she had a bounce to her step and a clean aura around her. Tonight, she stomped through the sand with her hands in fists at her sides and a cloud of smoke under her feet. Her long platinum blonde hair was uncharacteristically tangled. The hem of her ceremonial white gown was wrinkled, also completely not like her. What is up with her?

  “Hey, guys!”

  I jumped and spun toward the male voice with my hands raised. My magic responded to the rush of adrenaline and slipped out. Water splashed onto Deacon’s face like from a fireman’s hose.

  I gasped and pulled my power back. “Crap, Deacon, I’m sorry!”

  He laughed and wiped the droplets off his skin. “Nah, it’s okay.”

  “How is sneaking up on your own Coven-mate okay, Deacon?” Emersyn snapped from a foot away from me. Waves of heat rolled out of her as her golden eyes aimed lasers at him. “She could’ve hurt you, or are you that reckless? Or maybe it’s careless?”

  Deacon opened his mouth then shut it again. He shook his head. “Emersyn…I…”

  But she just rolled her eyes and stormed off toward the shoreline where the rest of our Coven sat around a bonfire.

  “Tegan, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Deacon said in a rush. His violet eyes were wide and his face a little pale. He raised both hands in the air. Water dripped down his face in little rivers. “Honest. I just got here and saw you, so I called out.”

  “I have absolutely no idea what that was about.” I pointed toward my twin’s back. I smiled and waved my hand, drying the wetness I’d made. “But you don’t need to apologize. I need to not space out quite so deep.”

  He chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. His cheeks flushed a light pink, or at least it seemed so. There weren’t any lights on at this part of the beach, or the parking lot. All we had was the moon…and apparently the glow of my skin. I hadn’t even realized I’d lit up. I rolled my eyes at my own overreaction and reined my magic in until I was no longer luminescent. When I looked back up to Deacon, I found him watching my sister with a strained look in his eyes.

  Deacon seemed to annoy her, despite the fact we’d just met him a few hours ago and that he’d been nothing but friendly. I’d get to the bottom of it eventually. My twin loved people. She was the epitome of an extravert—she needed to be around others. Emersyn only disliked a person if they were mean to her. Innocent until proven guilty was her motto.

  But with Deacon? She never smiled. She straight up glared at him. Her words were short and clipped. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d think they knew each other. Except Deacon told me they didn’t while he was asking me a million questions about her. He seemed rather engrossed by her. He had a thing for her—that was painfully obvious. And he was nice to her, so it didn’t make any sense at all.

  In fact, I didn’t see the guy Tennessee said he was at all.

  Who did I trust? My intuition had never led me astray, not in my entire life. Tennessee was my soulmate, but he’d blatantly lied to my face. But then Emersyn’s reaction to Deacon confused everything. When the person who loved everyone hated someone… Well, it gave cause for concern. Guess I’ll have to do some digging of my own.

  A gust of wind blew off the ocean and swept over me. My hair flew back and coiled around my bicep. The salty air broke through my thoughts, bringing me back to the present. We were at the beach to initiate Deacon into The Coven. That was all. And they appeared to be waiting for us.

  I glanced over at my new friend again. He sure looked damn good in white. Just like the other guys in The Coven, wearing a dress didn’t seem to make him uncomfortable. His arms were bare and cut with lean muscle, not quite like Tennessee’s—well, no one looked like him.

  I cleared my throat. Don’t think about him right now.

  I wrapped my arm around Deacon’s elbow and urged him forward. “C’mon, Devil, let’s get you initiated.”

  “I just don’t understand what I did to her,” he whispered as we walked.

  I shrugged, suddenly aware of how much of our skin touched. Would Tennessee be pissed if he saw? He’d certainly seemed the jealous type earlier at the park. I took a deep breath and braced myself for the pain in my chest, but it didn’t come. Is he not here? The glyph always burned when my soulmate was near. I tried to keep my face neutral while I scanned the group, but it was too dark to see everyone clearly.

  “…tell her for me?”

  I blinked back to Deacon who apparently had still been talking to me. Oops. “Listen, Deacon. Although I have no idea what crawled up her ass and died today, I do know that we’ve been through hell in the last couple weeks. My sister puts a lot of unnecessary blame on herself for what happened with Henley, and you’re Henley’s cousin. I suggest you just back off a bit and let her collect herself.”

  Deacon frowned, but he nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Good.” I squeezed his arm then pulled mine out of his as we joined the group. “All right, how we doing this?”

  “We’re not all here yet.” Uncle Kessler glanced down at his watch then glared at the ocean. He turned and walked to where my parents stood a few feet back, talking to Bentle
y.

  “Who’s not here?” Emersyn crossed her arms over her chest and looked around.

  Cooper rolled his eyes, and he looked just like Emersyn when he did. “Who do you think?” He shook his head and smirked, his stare locked on the ocean too.

  Tennessee.

  “Emperors are never late. That’s the saying, right?” Easton stood and brushed sand off his ceremonial white.

  “No, it’s ‘a queen is never late.’” Royce walked up to his cousin and fist bumped him. “And trust me, that boy is no queen.”

  “Thank the Goddess for that.” Larissa threw something into the bonfire. Her white dress was a stark contrast to her mocha skin, especially with only firelight. “Y’all gotta leave some of the pretty ones for us, too.”

  For us. My stomach turned. That was my soulmate they were talking about. Not us. Me. For me. Only me. I wanted so badly to claim my territory. He was mine, and I couldn’t tell anyone.

  “All right, let’s get in position so we’re ready as soon as he gets here.” Uncle Kessler rejoined us, with my parents and Bentley hot on his heels. “Willow?”

  She jumped up from the sand and skipped away from the bonfire, toward the shoreline. Her strawberry-blonde hair looked carrot orange. About halfway between us and the water, she stopped and spun around to face us. She wiggled her fingers until sparks of pink and orange flickered, then she raised her hands into the air. Shadows shot out from her feet and spread across the sand. I frowned and moved closer…and then I saw it.

  A pentagram. “Just like on Crone Island…”

  “Great, that went well,” Emersyn mumbled behind me.

  “Seriously.” Royce whistled low. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

  I opened my mouth to agree with them when my body filled with warmth. It was comfortable and relaxing, like being cuddled under fuzzy blankets. I smiled and sighed.

  My father stepped into my line of view. Golden, glittery mist shimmered around his hands. He smiled at us. “This is not going to be like Tegan and Emersyn’s initiation, so everyone just breathe. If anything goes haywire, well, there’s a whole hell of a lot of us here.”

  My dad has magic. That was something I may never get used to. In hindsight, his gift was stupid obvious. He could control people’s emotions, and it clarified a lot of my youth.

  I smiled. “Thanks, Dad. Now, Uncle Kessler, where do you want us?”

  “Tegan, stand at the top point. Emersyn and Tennessee—whenever he decides to join us—will take the bottom two points.” He walked over and stood on the circle line around the pentagram, directly between the bottom two points. “Bentley, please stand right behind Tegan. Everyone else, spread out around the circle.”

  Everyone jumped into action, moving to their designated spots. I only had to take a few steps to get to my point. The sand was cool and soft under my bare feet. Straight ahead of me, behind my Coven, the Gulf of Mexico was flat and calm. The moon was a tiny sliver of a crescent moon, hanging low and bright in the black sky. Behind me, to my right, was Bentley. He hummed something and seemed overall happy to be there. To my left, standing just outside the circle, was Deacon. He shifted his weight back and forth between his legs. His energy was nervous and buzzing.

  “You okay?”

  He nodded. “I’m not wondering what happened in your initiation at all.”

  I chuckled and opened my mouth to reassure him when red-hot heat seared through my chest. The pain filled my lungs and shot down my right arm. I gasped and held a hand to my chest, unable to stop myself. I clenched my teeth together and breathed through my nose. It would only be unbearable for a few seconds, then it would simmer. I knew this pain well. Tennessee. I scanned the parking lot in the distance, looking for a fresh set of headlights, but everything was dark.

  “Have demons ever attacked you guys here?” Deacon asked with a clipped tone.

  “Yes, but they won’t tonight,” Bentley answered in a calm voice.

  “Then what is that?”

  I spun back around and followed Deacon’s gaze. Despite my brother’s confidence, my own flickered. My magic swirled around my fingers, ready to defend us. The ocean rippled off in the distance, then it cracked. The water split open at the horizon, parting like the Red Sea in a straight line toward the shore. The pain and heat in my chest intensified with every inch closer the crack got.

  “Tennessee,” I breathed.

  “What?”

  Oops. I gotta stop doing that.

  Before I recomposed myself enough to answer, Tennessee’s tall, dark form emerged from the parted water. His black hair was windblown and wild. His ceremonial white gown was wrinkled like it’d been balled up on his bedroom floor since the last time he wore it. Even still, he looked beautiful. He stepped onto the shore with bare feet and a nasty grimace.

  “Oh my Goddess,” Deacon whispered. “That’s him.”

  I frowned and stole a glance back at Deacon, only to find him grinning like a madman. “You okay back there?” Had I missed something? Was Deacon playing for the same team Royce was? I thought he was crushing on Emersyn.

  Deacon nodded and covered his mouth with his hands. “I’m cool. I’m cool. It’s just…he’s the Emperor. The only time I met him, we were little kids, like it didn’t mean anything to me back then. But now?” He whistled, just like his cousin always did.

  I raised my eyebrows and watched the way his eyes lit up. “And now?”

  “Seriously? Oh right, you’re new to our world.” He threw his hands in the air. He kept his voice at a whisper, like maybe he didn’t want anyone else to hear us. “He’s easily the most famous person in our entire society. Everyone knows who he is. He’s definitely going to be leader one day. Everyone knows it. I mean, did you see the way he walked out of the ocean like that?”

  I chuckled. “Are you fangirling over Tennessee right now, or crushing?”

  “What? No. No, no. I like girls.” His eyes flicked over to Emersyn then jumped back to Tennessee. It was subtle, but I saw it. He shook his head. “He’s just… I can’t believe I’m actually meeting him again. My friends back home will die when I tell them. You don’t understand.”

  Oh, I do. Though, perhaps for entirely different reasons. I found his reaction comical considering the way Tennessee reacted to seeing him at the park. Whatever happened when they were kids was definitely not still in Deacon’s memory. I turned back to face the group and tried not to look at Tennessee.

  Uncle Kessler raised his eyebrows. “Well?”

  Tennessee nodded, but his expression was unreadable. “Done.”

  “What’s done?” I asked before I could stop myself.

  “Nothing to worry about,” Cooper answered.

  “Not yet anyway, right? You prefer to wait sixteen years.”

  “Tegan.” Cooper sighed.

  “Okay, we have to start now,” Uncle Kessler shouted from the other side of the circle. “Tennessee, take the point beside Emersyn. Deacon, please stand in the middle.”

  “Cool. Cool. Cool,” Deacon mumbled under his breath. When he got to the center, he spun and faced me. “Ready to initiate, boss.”

  Uncle Kessler nodded. “Devon, fill in the blanks, please?”

  “On it.” My mother nodded. A wall of shimmery silver mist covered her then shot out around the circle.

  The mist swirled and moved until it took the form of my mother, like a clone. In the flash of a second, there had to be a dozen of my mother standing around the circle. They were exact copies. I couldn’t even tell which was the real person and which was magic. Whoa. Cooper had told us our mother’s gift was astral projection, but apparently I hadn’t realized what he meant.

  “Thanks, Devon. Now…” Uncle Kessler smiled and turned toward me, but his eyes were aimed lower. “Hierophant, would you like to get us started?”

  “Yep.” He grinned and looked up at me. The golden, ancient locket hung around his neck. “High Priestess, please draw our pentagram with flames. Use Willow’s illusion lines a
s guides.”

  I smiled. Every time I thought of my little brother as a normal kid, or even as a normal witch, he went and did something to remind me of who he really was. Our Hierophant. He had the gift of psychic ability. So even though I hadn’t told anyone I’d learned to manipulate fire…he knew.

  “Yes, sir.” I took a deep breath and reached out to the bonfire with my magic. I knew I could create it on my own, but I was still practicing that part. I raised my hand and grabbed ahold of the hot energy, then pulled it toward me. Flames danced around my hand without touching my skin. I narrowed my eyes on Willow’s black lines then shot the fire into the sand.

  A chorus of gasps and shouts of surprise echoed around our circle, but I ignored them. My gaze latched on to Tennessee’s across the sand. The flames stood two feet tall, swaying and flickering in the wind. Tennessee’s eyes bored into me with more heat than the fire.

  Bentley shouted in our ancient language. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered when and how he’d learned it so fast, but it was a fleeting thought. With Tennessee’s eyes on me, my brain was sluggish. I licked my lips and tried to concentrate on breathing. His black hair glistened like oil. His skin was deliciously tan. The flames shot up over our heads, and it took everything in me not to take a step backward.

  These were my flames. I could control them. Stop them, if I had to. I couldn’t see anyone on the other side of the circle, or next to me for that matter. I heard Bentley’s voice chanting in our ancient language, but I couldn’t see him. His aura was calm and serene. In front of me, in the dead center, Deacon dropped to the sand on his knees. His hands were balled at his sides. His eyes squeezed shut. His sandy blond hair looked neon orange.

  I raised my hands and pulled my magic back just a tad. The sky above us rumbled like a stampede, then lightning the color of blood shot out of the darkness and struck the ground at Deacon’s knees. His back arched. The same red lightning erupted from his chest.