Winter Fire (Witchling Series)

by Ford, Lizzy

  The memory emerged slowly. It was hazy, filled with heat and cold and the sense of falling. He saw the eerie black stone on Morgan’s dresser and remembered reaching for it. Blackness followed.

  Beck lowered the notebook, eyes closing as he focused on his thoughts and memory. The look on Morgan’s face haunted him. Guilt, horror, despair. She knew what it was or at least, what it would do. Capable of eating away at Light, the soul stone had spent three weeks weakening his foundation of magick.

  His chest grew tight enough to hurt. He sought some reason why she had the stone at the school in the first place. Was her intention to hurt him? How could it be, when she was the sweetest person he’d ever known?

  Beck pulled himself from his emotions. They weren’t going to help him find Morgan. He focused on what he had ascertained about what happened.

  Dawn, Alexa and the others left in a hurry and took the three girls with them.

  What would make Dawn’s plans change? The discovery of the soul stone, the ultimate tool against Beck. She could destroy the Light with it and therefore, him. She wanted him to suffer, and watching the Light waste away and die was the type of revenge she’d seek out.

  Morgan must’ve told her where it was. Dawn was going after it.

  Beck searched his thoughts. Was Morgan the latest in a string of bad judgment?

  He recalled kissing her, how soft and warm her lips and body were, how passionate she was. Her unruly curls and beautiful eyes, the temper that warmed his blood and the smile that lit up his world.

  No. He wasn’t wrong about her. He just didn’t know what she was doing with something so evil.

  Beck opened his eyes. If Dawn found the stone, she’d have no further use for Morgan. He pulled out his phone to tell Decker he was headed back to the school. He had placed protective spells around the school; if Dawn didn’t want to trip them, she’d need a Light witchling to retrieve the stone. He wondered if it was Sonya or one of Dawn’s other spies.

  There was a text waiting. He didn’t recognize the number and almost skipped it.

  Almost.

  Beck opened the text and froze. It contained a message and a picture.

  How to snuff a fire.

  The picture was of Morgan and Summer, lying in a narrow stone crypt. Summer’s head was bloodied. Their eyes were closed, their faces pale and their limbs at awkward angles, as if they were lifeless dolls tossed into a box. The heavy stone lid to the crypt was at the side. It would take three or four guys to lift it. Once sealed, there was no way the two girls could escape without help.

  Beck couldn’t think or move. He simply stared, unable to believe what was in front of him. His shock wore off as fast as it came, leaving him reeling with urgency.

  He broke into a sprint, heart tumbling with horror. He dialed his brother.

  “Cemetery!” he said into the phone then hung up.

  Decker was closer to the tiny cemetery. Beck slipped on ice and smashed to his knees. With a curse, he shoved himself up and ran again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The black SUV passed her. It got stuck twice in the deep snow, buying her some time. Biji quickened her pace. The closer it got to the cemetery, the more afraid she became. It stopped, its red taillights glowing through the fog of exhaust. The sound of car doors closing were loud to her heightened senses.

  Biji strained to see what happened. She tripped on a tree root buried beneath the snow and cursed it. God help her, she’d never set foot outside in winter again after this.

  She struggled free of the forest. The sounds of voices reached her, and she stopped to catch her breath before hurrying into the cemetery. Her heart sank when she saw Noah standing with Alexa and Jason, talking to them. The two Dark teens from the SUV had stopped in front of a large mausoleum whose door gaped open.

  Biji’s eyes watered, and a sense of betrayal slid through her. Why Noah didn’t turn her in, she didn’t know, but it was clear he was still working for his sister.

  Fury filled her. Biji’s gaze fell to the open door of the mausoleum. Ducking behind a statue, she summoned her air magick and sat, shivering. She ordered it to tell her what had happened.

  The memories were fuzzy. The air magick recalled Summer, because she, too, shared the element. Biji watched the images only she could see. The arrival of a phantom SUV that looked like a blob floated to the point where the SUV sat now. Shadows pulled a white cloud she took to represent Summer and a gray one she assumed was Morgan from the blob of an SUV.

  They all disappeared into the mausoleum. Several shadows emerged – without the white and gray clouds.

  Biji dismissed the air memories and debated what to do. She couldn’t take three Dark witchlings. If what Noah said was true, her friends were buried alive in the mausoleum. Which meant, she didn’t have time to hesitate.

  She stood and started forward, determined to make it into the mausoleum, no matter what the Dark teens did to her. Just as she had given up hope on Noah, she saw Jason retreat to the SUV. He turned off the ignition and grabbed something long and dark. She tried to make it out. While Alexa stood talking to Noah, Jason was returning around the backside of the SUV, approaching Noah from behind.

  Crowbar. The Dark teen raised it to smash it into Noah’s head.

  “Noah!” Biji shouted. She propelled her magick forward. It shielded Noah, and the crowbar bounced back.

  Dawn’s brother spun, surprised. Alexa grabbed him from behind, a knife in one of her hands while Jason took a second swing. Biji struggled to follow the rapid movements. She blocked Jason again, but missed Alexa’s strike.

  But Noah wasn’t caught off-guard twice. Snow exploded around them, leaping from the ground. It turned to water then ice, slamming into both Dark teens. Alexa’s knife froze and snapped in two while Jason was flung away.

  Biji halted. The mini-snowstorm overtook the SUV and mausoleum, wiping out her ability to see what happened next. Unable to help Noah, she waited with baited breath. After a moment, the snow dropped back to the ground in neat piles.

  Noah stood over Jason’s body, crowbar in one hand. Alexa lied still in a pile of snow.

  Biji stared at the blood dripping off the end of the crowbar. Red splattered the snow around the Dark teen. Noah tossed the crowbar and straightened. He turned and met her gaze.

  Suddenly, she wanted to run. The same boy who built her a fire and kissed her appeared menacing in the low light.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “My god. You killed him,” she responded before she could stop the words.

  Noah glanced down. A disturbed look crossed his features. He shook his head and stepped away.

  “Thanks for your help,” he said. He held out his hand again.

  Biji looked from Jason to Noah, balking at the thought of being anywhere near a murderer.

  “Biji, don’t do this,” Noah said quietly. “Let’s get your friends and get out of here. We can talk about what happened later.”

  Summer and Morgan. The mention of her friends jarred her from her shock. Biji moved forward again. She didn’t take his hand, but went with him into the mausoleum. It was too dark to see, and she hesitated.

  “Jason had a flashlight,” Noah said. “I’ll grab it.”

  She said nothing. Biji stepped carefully into the mausoleum. She held her breath, listening, but could hear nothing that indicated her friends were inside. As her eyes adjusted to the pitch blackness, she spotted a soft glow. Like an ember dying.

  Biji started towards it, smashed into a tomb, and mumbled a curse. She patted the length of it, following it to its tip then stretched out her hands to ensure she didn’t run into anything else.

  A beam of light penetrated the dark. Six stone tombs with heavy lids were in the crypt. The one that glowed was at the far end.

  “Biji?” Noah called. “What is it?”

  “I think they’re in that one,” she said, weaving through the tombs. “It was glowing.”

  “Fire magick?”

&nb
sp; “Maybe.” She reached it and touched the top of the lid. She snatched her hand back from the heat of the stone. “It’s gotta be this one. The lid’s hot.”

  Noah joined her, standing too close for her comfort. He set the flashlight down on the lid and felt it.

  Biji pushed at the stone lid. It didn’t budge.

  “I can use air magick, I think,” she murmured. “Step back.”

  Noah did so. Biji moved away to give her room to work then summoned her air magick. It swept into the mausoleum and through her, chilling her quickly. The impact of using her magick in such a confined space combined with the cold made her already weakened body stagger.

  “It’s okay, Biji,” Noah said. He steadied her and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her into his body. “I got you. You get them.”

  His warmth at her back took away the frozen feeling she hadn’t been able to shake. She couldn’t think about the fact that he just killed someone, not when she needed to focus on saving her friends.

  Biji closed her eyes and drew a steady breath. She was so tired … but she dug deep to summon her magick and control it this time. It whipped through the mausoleum again. This time, Noah kept it from knocking her over. His grip around her tightened.

  She needed every bit of strength she could muster to lift something as heavy as the stone lid of the coffin in the small space of the mausoleum, where her magick was largely cut off. Biji relaxed and let the magick take her. The air’s movement built to a gale that roared through the tiny space, whipping snow and her hair around her body. Noah hugged her closer without moving or speaking.

  Biji envisioned the air lifting the stone lid from the coffin. The gale built. Wind slammed into walls, and the ricochet nearly cost her what control she had on the wind. Gritting her teeth, Biji focused hard.

  “You’re doing it!” Noah’s voice was almost lost in the wind. “A little more!”

  Encouraged, she concentrated harder, ordering the wind to move the lid. The low sound of stone scraping stone reached her beneath the high-pitched wail of the air.

  “Hold it there!” Noah said.

  Biji shook from effort and exhaustion. Accessing her magick wasn’t the problem; channeling and controlling it quickly depleted what energy she had.

  “Ok, stop!”

  She hesitated, uncertain about trusting Noah.

  “I braced it with ice,” Noah said.

  Biji risked her concentration to open her eyes. Amidst the snow and wobbling light of the flashlight, she saw Noah’s water magick had jammed a foot of ice between the coffin and its lid. The ice barrier made up three sides, with the fourth side open.

  She carefully sent her magick away, afraid the ice wouldn’t hold. It did, and she released her hold on the air, gasping. It swirled out of the mausoleum, and silence fell.

  “We’re a good team,” Noah said.

  Except you killed someone. She said nothing out loud, but tugged free of his grip.

  Biji took the flashlight from him and went to the crypt, peering into its depths. What she saw made her shriek in excitement.

  “Summer! Morgan!”

  The two girls appeared dazed and pale, but they were alive. Summer’s hair was matted with blood from a gash across her head while Morgan’s eyes glowed unnaturally from fever.

  “Hi Biji.” Summer smiled.

  Biji’s heart swelled. She started crying, unable to help the tears of relief.

  “C’mon, girls,” Noah said. “The ice is strong, but I’m not taking any chances tonight.”

  “Take Summer,” Morgan murmured. “I almost fried her.”

  Noah stretched an arm into the crypt. Trembling too hard to help, Biji stepped aside. It took some maneuvering, but Summer was soon free. Biji helped balance her. The Light witchling was glassy-eyed and wobbly.

  Biji peeled off Noah’s coat and wrapped it around Summer. Summer hugged her hard.

  Morgan gave a strangled cry.

  “I’m so sorry,” Noah said hastily. “I need to get you out of there.”

  “Her leg is broken,” Summer murmured to Biji.

  Morgan was sobbing by the time Noah pried her out of the crypt. He lifted her awkwardly and carefully set her down. Biji and Summer sat with her, the three of them hugging. The fire witchling’s magick spread through all of them to keep them warm, and she calmed.

  “Water magick,” Morgan said. “Like Connor.”

  “Noah is,” Biji replied. “I’m air.”

  The fire witchling glanced up at Noah, who lingered far enough away to give them some privacy. Biji didn’t feel ready to look at him. She didn’t know what to think about what he did to save her friends. Without him, Summer and Morgan would’ve been lost this night.

  But he beat someone to death. Normal, healthy, stable people didn’t do that!

  “Thank you, Biji,” Summer said.

  “We have to leave before they come back,” Morgan said, struggling to stand. She whimpered.

  Noah moved forward to help her.

  “They already did. Noah took care of them,” Biji said.

  “I have to leave,” Morgan repeated.

  “She’s out of it, Biji,” Summer whispered. “She needs a doctor fast.”

  “So do you,” Biji replied, eyes caught by the blood trickling down Summer’s head.

  “I need air.” Morgan hopped on one foot.

  “I’ll take her to the car,” Noah said. He caught her around the waist and carefully moved her outside.

  With her fire magick gone, Biji pulled the jacket around both her and Summer. The sound of the SUV started reached her. The other air witchling’s eyes closed.

  “No, Summer. Stay awake,” Biji urged. “We have a car. We’ll take you and Morgan to the hospital.”

  Summer’s eyes opened. She sighed.

  Biji waited for Noah to return. Five minutes passed, then ten. Noah didn’t return, but neither did the SUV leave. She wondered what was wrong, if Morgan fell or something. Another few minutes passed.

  To her surprise, it wasn’t Noah who entered, but Decker.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Decker tucked the phone away. Standing outside of the mausoleum, he already knew what Beck had just uncovered.

  Let them go.

  He glanced towards the wood line, where Sam stood in the shadows of several pine trees. While he loved and respected Sam, Decker had not yet forgiven the forest creature for his role in keeping Summer away from him for three months. By Morgan’s look towards the trees, she heard Sam, too.

  Decker turned his attention to the two before him, but lowered the knife in his hand. Beyond enraged, he was thirty seconds from carving up the Dark kid and Morgan.

  “Summer is okay,” Morgan repeated.

  The girl was in bad shape. Noah was supporting her, and one leg was bent back. Her eyes were glazed and her face pale, clammy. She was in shock, and her fire magick was erratic.

  Darkness clung to her, but she wasn’t Dark. He didn’t understand it. If she hurt Beck, she should be. If she wasn’t Dark, she shouldn’t be surrounded by Darkness.

  He shivered, drenched. Connor had dropped them into the lake before they reached the bay where Beck was going to meet them. The exhausted water witchling had used up all his magick, mainly because he didn’t yet have the control to understand how to use it efficiently. Decker had dragged them both out of the frigid water. Without his own magick to wring out the water, he was wet and cold to the point of numb.

  The only decent part of his night: Connor had turned from in-between to Light, the moment before his heart stopped from exertion. Decker made sure the witchling was alive and breathing before leaving him by the lake.

  Decker looked around, unable to determine exactly what happened. A black SUV was parked in front of the mausoleum at the edge of the cemetery. It was empty and running. One of the occupants, a Dark witchling named Jason, lay dead on the ground nearby. His head was busted open; there was no way he survived the beating he took. Alexa was hand
cuffed in the snow pile near the mausoleum. She was alive and squirming.

  Noah was bloodied as if he got into a fight while Morgan was a train wreck.

  “Someone tell me what’s going on,” Decker growled.

  “I have to leave,” Morgan said.

  “Not unless I say so.”

  Tears filled her eyes. She pushed at Noah, who released his grip on her. Morgan balanced on one leg and reached into her pocket. She withdrew something and held it out in her shaking hand.

  “D…Dawn is coming for this,” she said and swallowed hard. “It’s Darkness.”

  Decker stared at her, unaware of what she might have that could house the Dark. He approached but stopped, suddenly feeling the Darkness. It was intense, coiled, powerful.

  What he sensed was situated in her hand; it glowed with flames to keep the Darkness from freezing her.

  He didn’t dare touch it, not with his fire magick outside his reach.

  “I have to take it away,” she said.

  Morgan’s green eyes were blurry from tears, her body shaking. He saw the depth of her despair and recalled feeling it before, when he thought he lost Summer. Her hand closed around the black stone.

  Decker shifted, torn between trying to figure out exactly what was going on with her and needing his Summer. For the sake of his brother, he stayed where he was.

  “You don’t have to leave,” he said.

  “I do. I’m hurting the Light and almost killed Beck,” she whispered. “I can’t come back.”

  “So you’re going with him?” His eyes slid to Noah, Dawn’s brother, the last person Decker suspected she should go with.

  “I didn’t stop my sister when I should have,” Noah said in a hushed voice. “I’m trying to fix things now.”

  “You took out Jason and Alexa,” Decker assessed.

  Noah nodded. “Biji and I freed Morgan and Summer.”

  “I’m going somewhere where Dawn and … my family can’t find me,” Morgan said.

  Decker paced for a moment, feeling like a caged animal. He had seen Morgan’s memories. He knew what she was running from.

  Let them go, Sam said again.

  “What about Beck?” Decker demanded of both Morgan and Sam. “You’re just going to leave him?”