Nothing.
Ashley frowned. “Max? Max, are you here?”
Still nothing.
I sighed and my breath came out in a white cloud. The windows frosted over until they were solid ice. The hardwood floor vibrated. Salt rose in the air, hovering around our bodies. My whole body trembled.
“Max, are you okay?” I whispered, my voice shaky.
W-E-A-R-E-N-O-T-A-L-O-N-E.
I gasped. My teeth chattered together. Adam stared at the board with wide eyes, his body trembling. Jon shook his head over and over while mumbling something that sounded like a bible quote. Ashley sat frozen, not moving except for the tears pouring down her face.
“Max?” I said in a low voice. “Max, talk to us.”
M-A-X-L-E-F-T.
Max left. Max left. Then who the hell is this?
The air in the room pulsed with electricity. Ice-cold wind slammed into my face then whipped around the room like a tornado. Where is that coming from? None of the windows were open; they were frozen shut. The door to the stairs was closed. The lantern hanging over our heads didn’t even sway, yet the wind kept blowing.
“What do you want?” Jon screamed.
B-E-T-T-I-N-A.
My heart stopped.
“Oh, hell no! Ghost, you’ve got to go!” Ashley yelled.
NO.
Light flashed in the corner of my eyes. When I looked, a strangled cry left my lips. Each and every single candle had been lit. Bright orange flames flickered from the wicks, standing at least an inch tall. Every part of me wanted to run, to flee from this place, but my body was locked in fear. I opened my mouth to tell them we should stop, and the candle flames grew taller.
My stomach dropped. “What do you want from me?”
T-H-E-Y-A-R-E-N-O-T-D-E-A-D.
All at once, the candle flames turned a bright, vivid blue. The walls rattled and groaned, like someone was pounding on them from the outside. My pulse jackhammered. My breaths grew shorter and shorter. Ice shot out from under the board, spreading across the hardwood floor and up my legs. It was so cold it burned my skin under my tights. My Converse sneakers had icicles hanging off the soles.
Adam shrieked and scrambled away from the board, letting go of the planchette. Jon cursed and jumped to his feet, abandoning Ashley and me to the game. He ran over and grabbed his boyfriend by the collar, yanking him to his feet.
“Guys, you can’t leave!” I cried, but it was too late. They’d already let go. “Come back!”
They ignored my begging and sprinted to the door. Adam grabbed the handle and yanked the door open…then it slammed shut. Ashley screamed. Jon dove for the handle and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Both guys tried and tried to pull the door open while screaming the Lord’s name.
The planchette moved under my fingers. I almost didn’t want to look.
T-H-E-Y-A-R-E-C-O-M-I-N-G.
“No, no, no. Please no. Stop!” Ashley cried.
“OPEN THE DOOR!” Adam screamed.
“Let us go!” Jon shouted, still pulling on the door handle.
But the spirit wasn’t going to let us go until it relayed the message it had. I just didn’t want to hear it.
“Wh-wh-who is coming?” I shouted through my teeth as I shivered uncontrollably.
The blue flames turned black as night.
J-O-S-E-P-H.
The walls creaked and swayed like a palm tree in a hurricane…and then the windows exploded. Glass shattered all around us, raining sharp-edged particles onto us. Ashley screamed and dove away from the board, leaving me alone. Alone with a spirit.
Ashley dashed over to the guys at the door and gave it one pull. When it didn’t open, she stepped to the side and jumped through the empty window frame.
“ASHLEY!”
I gasped. She’d just jumped out a window. We had to at least be on the second, if not third floor. A variety of horrific images of her falling to her death flooded my brain, but I couldn’t think about that. I had to get rid of this spirit before it hurt me, or anyone else.
“Who is Joseph? What are you telling me? What do I do with this? What do you want me to do?” I knew I was only supposed to ask one question at a time, but I was too scared to think straight.
S-E-E-K-M-Y-R-T-L-E.
“Who are these people?” Joseph? Myrtle? I’d never known anyone with these names. How did this spirit know who I was? What did it want with me?
Thunder rumbled from the stairwell. There was a loud bang, and the wooden door broke off its hinges with a shriek and flew inside the room, knocking Jon and Adam to the ground. They scrambled to their feet and all but dove down the stairs.
Jackson stood in the doorway. He scowled and looked around the shattered room. He took a few steps closer to me and shouted in his perfect British accent, “Close that Ouija board!”
The planchette moved under my fingers. H-E-L-L-O-J-A-C-K-S-O-N.
I gasped.
Jackson froze.
M-I-C-H-A-E-L-I-S-C-O-M-I-N-G.
Jackson paled, his face turning white as snow. He stared down at the board with wide eyes that screamed his horror. Something fell from his hand and crashed to the hardwood floor.
The planchette moved under my trembling fingers. It shot down to the bottom of the board and hovered over the word GOODBYE.
The candle flames went out in an instant without any smoke. Like they’d never been lit at all. The wind vanished. The temperature shot back up to its normal warm summer temperature. The ice covering the floor and my legs vanished in the blink of an eye. The broken glass no longer looked like solid chunks of ice. The sharp edges now glistened under the moon’s glow.
Everything went eerie silent.
I’ve seen this before. At the Gathering. Right before the spirits attacked the clearing, everything had gone calm and quiet.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs, then that handsome boy with all the tattoos and hazel eyes stood just inside the room. “Jackson?” He looked down at the Ouija board, and my hands still clinging to the planchette, then he muttered something in a language I’d never heard.
That other pretty boy with the chocolate hair and matching eyes flew in the room behind him. But I wasn’t sticking around to talk. If there was a part two, I wasn’t going to be here for it. The game was over. The spirit had said goodbye. I was free to let go. Without hesitating another second, I released the triangular planchette and sprinted out of the room and down the stairs.
There was no way in hell I was hanging around this party another minute longer. I ran as fast as my legs would let me. The party downstairs was in utter chaos. Windows were shattered. Furniture flipped over and broken in half. It was a stampede toward the door. Everyone for themselves.
I ran over to the closest window and jumped out like I was a track-and-field world champion. I didn’t stop moving until I got to my car.
The last thing I saw as I pulled away was Jackson’s pretty face from where he stood on the sidewalk…with an unconscious Ashley in his arms.
Chapter Four
BETTINA
“Bettina Blair, are you listening to me?”
I sighed and looked at my mother. “Yes, of course.”
“You better be.” She huffed and shook her head. “If you sneak out of this house again, I will ground you until summer. Do you hear me? That means no car. No phone. No computer. No visiting Tegan—”
“Yes, Mom,” I snapped and leaned back in my seat. “I heard you. I hear you. I’m not going to sneak out again.”
I wasn’t going to be doing that ever again, actually. The last two times I had, something terrifying happened. I’d have to find a different way to make new friends. Well, once I wasn’t grounded anymore. Which was going to be a month. My parents were pissed. It just made me thankful they hadn’t learned about my road trip into the Smoky Mountains for Tegan’s birthday.
“You better not,” my mother grumbled as she started up the stairs, the hardwood floors creaking under her feet.
“Good night, daughter.”
I sighed. “Good night, Mother.”
My phone vibrated in my hand. I looked down and found a text from Dean saying, Ashley is fine. She jumped down to the second floor balcony from the roof, but then got tackled by one of the football players on his way out. Minor concussion. She’s fine.
That’s good to know, I sent back. Adam and Jon?
A little shook up, but otherwise uninjured, he said, followed by, So you see? No harm, no foul. Why don’t you come out with us tonight? We’re just gonna grab some dinner.
I can’t. I’m grounded for a month. I added a few crying emojis then typed, I’ll see you at school Monday.
I threw my phone onto the coffee table and turned on Netflix. A good binge-watching marathon would do me good. I settled on a Harry Potter marathon and got comfy.
I was halfway through Chamber of Secrets when there was a knock on my front door. I glanced down at my phone as I got up. It was a few minutes before ten, so it wasn’t late. My parents had been asleep for hours—they worked every Sunday at four in the morning, so they crashed right when the sun went down on Saturdays.
It was probably Dean. He seemed pretty determined to hang out with me, which I was grateful for now that my best friend had moved. With a shrug, I made my way over to the front door, my fuzzy socks sliding over the hardwood floors. I threw the front door open, and the golden light from my foyer spilled out onto the small group of people outside.
I frowned and took a step back, ready to slam the door shut. Dammit, Bettina! You’re supposed to look before opening the door! Where is your head?! I scanned the small army of people in front of me, and then I saw the person at the front of the group.
My eyes widened, and a grin spread across my face. My heart fluttered with excitement. “TEGAN!”
I pounced on her before I’d even registered what was happening. Tegan. My best friend. She was here, at my house. I wrapped my arms around her neck and hugged her tight. In the back of my mind, I knew I was squeezing her too hard, but I couldn’t stop myself. My throat burned, and I knew I was crying. She was the only person I wanted to see after last night, and now she was here, like I’d conjured her up myself. I didn’t care if I fell apart a little bit. This was Tegan. My very best friend in the whole world.
“Surprise?” Tegan said in my ear with a soft voice.
I pulled back and wiped a tear off my cheek. “Oh, man. I missed you so much.”
Tegan grinned and her cheeks flushed a soft pink. “I missed you, too.”
“Why didn’t you let yourself in? Don’t you still have a key? Never mind. Just come in.” I jumped back and gestured for her to enter. But then my brain caught up to the moment. Tegan was here. Why? Her father said she was on a school field trip. “What are you even doing here?”
I moved past her small army of friends to join her.
“Um, it’s kind of a long story, but we need a place to crash tonight.” Tegan gave me a nervous smile.
“Obviously, long story isn’t sufficient for… Wait… Emersyn?” My eyes widened.
I looked back and forth between Tegan and the random blonde girl we’d met at The Gathering. Emersyn. Same platinum Rapunzel-like blonde hair. Same champagne-colored eyes. I remembered her vividly because I’d been envious of how effortlessly gorgeous she was. Even her blonde hair was styled perfect. The girl in the sparkly cowgirl boots, the girl whose friends were awful and ditched her the second times got bad. The girl who helped me save Tegan from that evil spirit and then helped us get back to our cars.
“Hi, Bettina.” Emersyn waved but her gaze turned to Tegan with uncertainty, which meant she probably hadn’t expected this to be my house either.
I wasn’t sure what came over me in that moment, but the next thing I knew, I had Emersyn gripped in a tight bear hug. I couldn’t believe she was in my house. I thought I’d never see this girl again.
Then I pulled back and frowned. “Wait, what? How? We got separated, and now you’re here together? Am I dreaming?”
“Do you dream about Emersyn often?” Tegan chuckled, but there was a weird twinkle in her eye. I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t telling me something. She cleared her throat and gestured toward her crew. “These are my friends, Cooper, Royce, Deacon, Willow, Chutney, and—”
“Oh my God, you’re the hot guy!” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
I just couldn’t believe it’d taken me that long to recognize him. That night at The Gathering, Tegan had literally stumbled into a gorgeous guy, and then later he’d saved her life when Emersyn and I had failed to. He looked exactly the way I remembered him. Several inches taller than me, with broad shoulders and lean muscles. His long black hair fell in waves almost down to his shoulders. And those eyes… No one could forget meeting those eyes. One blue, one green, both beautiful. He wasn’t my type; he screamed bad boy. That wild sparkle in his eyes made him look like the kind of guy who’d get you in trouble. But still, I couldn’t deny his hotness.
“Bettina!” Tegan whisper-yelled.
How in the hell? I turned to the guy in question and pointed. I just couldn’t believe it. It was one thing to think I’d never see Emersyn again, but him? This was nuts. Totally insane. “It’s him! The hot guy from The Gathering!”
“Bettina…”
“The hot guy?” The blond buzz-cut guy all but growled. “You met them?”
Oh no. Word vomit strikes again. Bettina, stop talking! What if one of these guys is her boyfriend or something? Just keep talking, say something else to distract them.
“I’m sure he doesn’t remember me. He only paid attention to Tegan. Right, Emersyn?”
Oh God. Not that. Dammit. What is wrong with me?
Tegan’s face turned bright red. Her pale green eyes widened.
Emersyn covered her mouth to hide her chuckle and failed. “Um, I mean, considering what was happening and all…”
“Yeah, being all knight in shining armor and all.” I clapped my hands and laughed. This was just wild. “Tegan! The hot guy is in my living room?”
“Stop calling him that,” she mumbled and buried her face in her hands.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was embarrassing the hell out of my best friend, but something happened during that Ouija board game and my mind was mush. My emotions were a hot mess…and my best friend was suddenly standing in front of me just when I needed her. Part of me suspected this was all a dream, that my brain was manifesting my memories and trying to make me feel better.
Tegan peeked up at the hot guy standing beside her. His black eyebrows were raised, and his jaw hung open. His cheeks were flushed.
“I can’t believe what’s happening right now. I’m Bettina, best friend extraordinaire.” I stuck my hand out in front of him and did this little curtsy I’d never, ever done before in my life. There was definitely a screw loose in my brain tonight. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Your Royal Hotness.”
Oh god, why did I say that? Who am I right now?
“Oh my God, who are you right now?” Tegan groaned.
I understood her shock. I was a shy, quiet girl who never approached guys. Ever. And I most certainly never embarrassed her in front of one. I just couldn’t seem to stop my mouth from moving.
The hot guy made this nervous little laugh, and it was entirely adorable. “I’m Tennessee…”
I giggled and shook his hand. I looked to Tegan and nodded my head in his direction. “You were right. Even his voice is hot.” Dear God. Doesn’t word vomit have a limit?
“Umm…” Tennessee shifted his weight around and rubbed his face. His cheeks were definitely a solid pink now. “What?”
“Bettina! He can hear you!” Tegan whispered. Somehow, her face was even redder.
“Yeah, we all can.” A pretty blond guy with high cheekbones and bright violet eyes laughed behind them. “Please do continue.”
“She has a point,” another guy said with a chuckle. This guy looked a lot lik
e the blond who’d just spoken. Except he had black hair and sapphire eyes, but equally as pretty. “What else did Tegan say about him back then?”
“Oh my God,” Tegan whispered and stared at her feet.
Okay, earth to Bettina. Stop embarrassing her.
“So you left The Gathering and talked about how hot he was?” Emersyn asked with a wild kind of grin on her face. “Like, of all the things to discuss from that night, and you chose that? Did you even know his name?”
Tegan hissed like a cat. “Emersyn. Seriously?”
“No, she didn’t!” I answered for her. “Maybe that’s why the spells didn’t work.”
“SPELLS?” everyone behind me repeated in unison.
OOPS. I did it again.
“BETTINA,” Tegan yelled through clenched teeth.
Tennessee cleared his throat. “Um, I’m sorry…what? You did…spells?”
Tegan shook her head. “No…”
“YES.” I rolled my eyes. “We tried to find you using these spells we found online, and a few from Tegan’s witchcraft books. Silly stuff. None of it worked—oh my God, is that how you found him? Did you keep doing spells? You always loved that stuff.”
“Bettina, stop talking!”
Trust me, I’m trying! I needed a spell to glue my lips together. It had to be a product of Tegan’s presence. I was just too excited to contain myself.
“It’s okay, Tegan. You’re not the only one who thinks he’s hot,” a girl said in a soft voice. She was a few inches shorter than Tegan, with strawberry blonde hair and eyes like chocolate.
“Yeah, Cooper, you should be used to it by now,” a girl with brown ringlets and light blue eyes added. “You know he’s hot.”
“Not helping,” Tegan whispered. Her gaze turned to Tennessee, who was blushing a deep scarlet red and staring at the ground.
Ah-ha. There’s something going on here.
And I just put them on blast. SHIT. Okay, damage control time. How can I make this better?
The other blond guy with a buzz cut said something in a language that sounded a lot like the one the hot tattoo guy from the party had used. Jackson’s friend.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 3