“But she was the Spellmaster,” I whispered.
“Yes, she was. She was powerful.” He looked at me and smiled a sad smile. “But she didn’t have the magic of the elements. Only the Cards of The Coven have that. But she wouldn’t listen to me. I told her it wasn’t worth the risk. She had two young children to care for.”
My eyes widened, and a chill shot down my spine. “She had kids?”
“A son and a daughter.” He sighed. “As I predicted, the spell went horribly wrong… Lots of people died. Sapiens and witches. Our race was outraged. They wanted Ruth and Micah to pay for their crimes.”
“But it was an accident.”
“Yes…and no. I told them not to do it. I warned them. I tried to stop them the day it went down, but I was too late.”
“Were they arrested?”
“I wish.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Julian’s little sister was one of the witches killed. She was all he had left. The rest of his family had died, and then he lost her too. The Coven had been in a meeting about what to do when he found out… He just snapped. His power blew up the building. A few Cards were injured. By the time we all came to again, we’d gotten calls saying there was a huge fight at Ruth and Micah’s house. Lots of screaming. They said the Emperor was there, and he sounded crazed. By the time we got there…the house was in shambles. No one…no one survived.”
I gasped. Goose bumps broke out over my skin. “Julian killed him?”
“Yeah.” His voice was low and rough. “Julian was a good man, but his power consumed him in the end.”
“But what happened to Julian?”
“No one knows exactly. He was never seen again either.” Timothy smirked. “The Mark of the Emperor reappeared on our current Emperor soon after.”
I gasped. “Oh my God. So he died, too.”
“No one knows where our current Emperor came from, not even him. He has amnesia. But Kessler adopted him and raised him as his own. He’s a good kid, and if he continues this way, he’ll be a great man. I’m hard on him to make sure he always has that reality check Julian never got. You understand what I’m saying?”
“You care about him.”
He smiled and nodded. “I do. You will, too. Everyone does. And for good reason.”
The truck turned down a dirt road tucked away between trees. I knew our chat was about over. So I turned and asked, “So why not tell him—or anyone—that? Aren’t you afraid of regret?”
“I have many regrets, Bettina, but doing my best to make him the man he was destined to be is not one of them.”
The truck slowed down, so I knew our time was running out. I cleared my throat. “What were the kids names?” It felt wrong to not know the names of such innocent young lives lost.
“The boy was named Haven, the girl was Hope,” Timothy said softly as Jackson parked the truck under the cover of trees. He pulled himself up and climbed out of the truck.
I now understood why everyone thought he hated the Emperor, and why Timothy let them think it. But what I didn’t understand was the pain he felt over it. He might not have said it, but I saw it in his eyes. The energy around him was cold and bitter.
The truck doors opened, and I heard the voices of my friends from inside. The window to our conversation was closing by the second, and something told me I wouldn’t get Timothy to talk about it again. I even wondered if he regretted starting it.
“Timothy?” I crawled after him. When he stopped and looked up at me, I asked, “Were you and Ruth close friends?”
Timothy’s cheeks flushed a soft pink. He stared off in the distance and smiled, but it was the saddest kind of smile I’d ever seen. He took a deep breath, then said softly, “Ruth was my sister.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
BETTINA
I was following everyone as we made our way through the forest, but my head was in a different place. Timothy’s story just kept repeating in my mind over and over. I didn’t know why he’d told me, either.
Focus, Bettina. This was a dangerous quest to save our friend. I’d already seen how quick things could change in the Old Lands, and if I didn’t concentrate, I could lose myself. I took a deep breath and glanced around.
We were walking through the forest on a path that was flattened but only a few feet wide. Jackson was way up at the front, probably a good twenty feet ahead of me or more. Gen was right behind him with a sword in one hand and Lonan’s map in the other. Harlan wasn’t far behind them.
“Hey, Tina, you all right back there?”
I frowned and looked up to find Trey stopped about halfway between myself and Jackson. I cleared my throat and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
He nodded then turned back around to continue following Jackson. Great. Keep up, Bettina. The last thing I needed was for them to start coddling me again. I was handling the hike just fine. It was my head that wasn’t on right. Timothy glanced over his shoulder and gave me an encouraging smile.
A sharp, bitter coldness seeped down into my bones. Ruth was his sister. My heart twisted and turned. Ruth was his sister. His own friend and Coven-mate had murdered his sister and her children. I stared at the trees without seeing them.
I watched him. He had his head up and his shoulders back like this was no big deal. That was how he always looked. Timothy was always the picture of calm confidence. He was kind and helpful, and quick to laugh. I didn’t know how he did it, how he carried on so well after losing so much. I’d already learned in my two months at Edenburg that Timothy’s parents had died years and years ago. That meant he’d lost his entire family, and yet you would never have known just by looking at him.
Finally, after quite some time, the trees opened up, and we walked into a small clearing. It was somewhat circular in shape and probably about forty feet across. I stepped inside and felt a hot wave of energy land on me. I peeked up and caught Jackson watching me from the other side of the clearing. Next to him was a black iron gate just like the one on campus. Just the gate, no fence.
Jackson pulled his sword free from the holster strapped on his back. “Let’s go find Warner.” He nodded, then turned and walked through the gate.
Genevieve tucked the map in her back pocket then palmed her second sword. With both drawn, she charged in after Jackson. Harlan leapt through the gate’s opening.
“Hey, Timothy, I think Bettina’s getting cold feet in the back there!” Trey grinned and winked at me, then bounced through the gate.
I stopped in the middle of the clearing and looked to where Timothy stood, texting on his phone. I frowned. “Everything okay?”
He nodded without looking up. “Yeah, just sending Constance the exact coordinates of this gate. Just in case.”
Something moved in my peripheral vision. I spun to the left just as a white object soared through the air right at my face. I cursed and leapt back. The object flew past my face and slammed into the tree behind me.
“MOVE!” Timothy screamed.
I dove forward then rolled, just like I’d been trained. Something dark flew over me, whistling through the air. I rolled a few times then scrambled to my feet with my sword raised in the air. I was now on the opposite side of the clearing as Timothy, and not close enough to the gate to the Old Lands.
The ground rumbled. An ice-cold breeze rushed over me. My hair whipped around my face, wrapping around my neck like it wanted to strangle me. There was a whistle and a chant, and when I yanked my hair out of my face, I found us surrounded by people in dark clothes. Black smoke billowed out of the ground and rose into the air. Within seconds, the clearing was drenched in darkness like it was nighttime.
I squinted and tried to see, but it was too dark. I needed a flashlight. My sword! I threw my blade up and pushed my magic out with everything I had. “For what I seek is cloaked in darkness, I see my stone in your likeness!”
My sword lit up like a lightbulb. Except everything around me was still dark. Our attackers had the upper hand.
I raised
my sword and got into fighting stance. “What’s happening?”
“The gate— Now!”
I sprinted to the gate. Timothy shot walls of ice up as he charged for the gate, and they reflected the light of my sword like glass. Something huge and dark shot out from the trees and tackled us to the ground. We scrambled to our feet only to find we were farther from the gate than before. Timothy raised his hands and shot ice right out of his palms.
Our attackers hissed and moved…and that was when my heart stopped. These people didn’t move like people. They were more like shadows— Oh my god! It was the creature from the Old Lands that had tried to take Erin, twice. These shadow-people swirled around us, shooting white objects at us.
But Timothy was faster. He sent out sheets of ice in each spot they landed, blocking them from taking a shot. One of the shadows reached for me, so I dove to the ground and rolled closer to Timothy.
“What are these, Timothy?”
“I have no ide—”
A huge shadow jumped to the edge of the clearing and roared. The trees swayed and trembled. The ground shook under my feet. I gripped the grass and held on as everything around me rocked and spun. The world slowed down. Everything was moving in slow motion. The shadow-person held something out that shimmered in the light off my sword, and then it spoke. My blood ran cold. This thing had just said something in our ancient language.
Timothy gasped. His face was sheet-white. “No. No, it can’t be. You can’t—”
The shadow creature roared again. It pulled its arm back then threw something. There was a flash of white, and then it sank right into Timothy’s chest.
Chapter Fifty-Three
BETTINA
Timothy’s eyes widened as crimson-red blood exploded from his chest.
“NO!” I screamed and scrambled to my feet. “TIMOTHY!”
His body lifted off the ground and flew backward. A river of blood spilled into the air. I screamed and sprinted to him, but he slammed into the ground right before I got there. I dropped to my knees and slid like I was playing baseball. Bright golden sunlight shined down onto the clearing. I pressed my hands to his wound, and blood poured over my fingers.
“Timothy!” I cried. “HELP!”
He gasped and gripped my arm, pulling me closer. “Get…it out… No…chance.”
A violent sob ripped through my chest. No, no, this isn’t happening! I looked down at the thing sticking out of the center of his chest and cried. Tears poured down my cheeks. I gasped through the hot lump in my throat. Without thinking about it, I reached out and grabbed the white object. It was smooth and hollow, and looked completely familiar. My stomach turned. It was a bone. A human bone, and it wasn’t Timothy’s.
“Just hang on! JACKSON!” I screamed.
“Bettina…” Timothy gasped and squeezed my arm.
No, no, no. I looked down at him and shook my head. I tried to pull the bone out, but it was lodged. “Don’t die. Please, don’t leave us.”
Timothy coughed and blood spilled out of his mouth. He gasped for air and pulled me even closer. “…Joseph…Locke—” He gasped and his fingers dug into my arm. “Forgive me.”
“TIMOTHY!” I screamed. “NO! Stay with me!”
His brown eyes widened as he took a big breath, then his eyes closed and he collapsed on the ground.
NOOOOO! My throat burned as I screamed. I put my fingers to his throat and searched for a pulse, but there wasn’t one. His heart wasn’t beating. The air around him turned cold, and there was no more energy. His left arm was out to his side…and the black XX Mark of the Judgement Card began to fade away.
“No, no, no, no!” I grabbed the bone and yanked as hard as I could, but it wouldn’t budge. My whole body rattled from the force of my sobs and my fingers trembled, but I had to get it out of him. He’d asked me to. It was the least I could do. “No, no, Timothy, no. Stay with me!”
The bone wouldn’t budge. If I could just dislodge it a little—
My sword. I sniffled and plucked my sword off the ground. The crystal blade barely shimmered, but that was fine. I didn’t need the light anymore. I gripped the hilt and slid the blade into the wound, and with my other hand, I held the bone. I jostled my sword and pulled the bone with every ounce of strength I had. It popped free. I held it up to my face to try and see it through my tears, but it disintegrated in my hand.
“Bettina…?”
I gasped and spun to find Jackson, Trey, Gen, and Harlan standing at the edge of the clearing with horrified expressions. Jackson dropped his swords and stumbled back a step. His face was sickly pale and his eyes glassy. He stared down at Timothy’s body, and the pain in his eyes broke me.
“WHY?” Gen screamed as tears pooled in her eyes. “Why did you… WHY?”
That was when I realized they weren’t looking at Timothy. They were staring at something else. I frowned and looked down—and then I saw it. My blood-drenched crystal blade gripped tightly in my blood-soaked hand…and a gaping hole in Timothy’s chest.
My heart stopped. OH GOD. No, no. They thought I had done this. They thought I’d stabbed him. Because the bone was gone. Fresh tears spilled out of my eyes, and I shook my head.
I turned back to them with wide eyes. I dropped my sword and raised both palms up to them, but my arms were covered in blood all the way up to my elbows. “I didn’t—"
The ground rumbled, and then a dark shadow shot across the clearing. It snatched Timothy’s body and dragged him into the Old Lands.
NO! I dove forward, trying to get back to my feet, but Harlan jumped out in front of me. He flicked his wand in the air, and my arms flew behind my back. Something tight coiled around my wrists, tying them together. I tried to pull them apart, but an electric shock shot up my arm.
“Don’t. Move,” Harlan growled, pointing his wand right at my face.
Jackson walked over and picked my sword up off the ground. He held it between two fingers, and a stream of blood poured down to the ground. He cringed…and my heart broke. His whole body trembled. He looked absolutely destroyed.
I opened my mouth to scream that I didn’t do this, but Harlan flicked his wrist and my mouth was taped shut. NO. NO. NO. PLEASE! I DIDN’T DO THIS!
Gen’s face was a sickly shade of green. She wouldn’t even look at me.
Trey looked at me with broken eyes. “You killed Timothy…”
Chapter Fifty-Four
BETTINA
I couldn’t have said how I got from the clearing back to Edenburg. My mind had shut down. Everything around me had gone dark and cold. The bones in my body rattled. I sobbed and shook my head, but I knew no one would listen to me. Because standing at the front of the school was an entire army of Knights with their swords drawn.
But I didn’t do it! I tried to yell, but Harlan’s magical tape was too strong to break.
Trey and Harlan gripped my arms and hauled me out of the truck. As my feet became airborne, I glanced over my shoulder in search of Jackson. But when I spotted him, I wished I hadn’t looked at all. The look of utter devastation on his beautiful face shattered something inside me. I sobbed and my throat burned. Jackson held my sword out in front of him like it was poisonous. He followed Harlan and Trey as they dragged me toward the school, but he refused to look at me. He looked as dead on the outside as I felt on the inside.
Pain flared in my arms, and then my knees slammed into the cement.
When I looked up, I found a dozen or more silver blade tips pointed right in my face. Constance stood just beyond them, staring down at me like I was an alien. Tears poured down her face. When our eyes met, she closed hers and shook her head.
No! Please! I yelled against my bindings. IT WASN’T ME!
Constance turned and gestured for us to follow. No one else spoke. Trey and Harlan hoisted me in the air just enough to drag my shins across the pavement. The army of Knights around us lowered their blades and escorted us across campus.
I didn’t know what day of the week it was, o
r if the events that had just happened had really only been a matter of minutes. The Old Lands ran on different time. I just didn’t know if we’d been close enough for that. Not that it mattered. As they dragged me across the courtyard, I spotted dozens and dozens of students watching from around a pillar.
Constance and her army of Knights marched to a building in the back of campus. Inside, the air was cold and thick. The bricks were painted dark gray. My pulse quickened. I squirmed and tried to look over my shoulder for Jackson, but he’d stopped a few feet back. He watched me with unshed tears in his eyes and years of pain.
“Bettina Blair.” Constance’s voice was hard and sharp. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Timothy Roth. You’ll remain in the dungeon until we’re ready to deal with you.”
NO! No, no, no! I sobbed and it rattled my whole body. I didn’t kill him!
I heard the creak of a wooden door, and then I was flying through the air. My shoulder hit the dark bricks with a thud. I bounced off and rolled until I slammed into another hard surface. I coughed and a cloud of dirt shot into my face. I cringed, tried to breathe through the pain. My face tingled, and then cold air brushed over my mouth. I licked my lips and grimaced at the bitter flavor.
I looked up, expecting to see Constance standing there, but instead, the dungeon door slammed shut in my face.
The Fallen Witch
ACADEMY MAGIC BOOK TWO
Chapter One
Jackson
I meant to follow the Knights escorting Bettina away.
I meant to ask what they were going to do with her.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 25