I opened them and met his gaze.
He pointed to his sword. “Freeze just the hilt.”
My eyes widened and my pulse quickened.
“If you can’t control your magic for something this small, then you won’t be able to control it for something bigger.” He moved closer to me. “Focus on your target. Take your time.”
I nodded. C’mon, Bettina. You can do this. Just the hilt. No big deal. I took a few deep breaths to try and slow my pulse, but when I lifted my hand, my fingers still trembled slightly. Take your time. Focus. Don’t think about your hand, think about the sword. I narrowed my eyes on the sword hilt.
A wave of cold energy rolled through my body and down my arms. It tingled and pulsed, but it felt good. I felt strong and dangerous. I felt invincible. I summoned it into my hands then pushed it out. Pink mist billowed out of my hand.
Ice wrapped around the sword in a silvery tornado—and then froze into a giant block.
With the sword inside.
I cursed.
Tegan chuckled.
“That’s better than Tegan’s first attempt at control.” Tennessee grinned and shook his head. “She dropped the ocean on us and tried to drown us.”
“Hey! That was not my fault! You kissed me!”
Tennessee laughed without remorse. He walked up to his sword buried under a block of solid ice then slammed his fist on the top. The ice broke in half and fell to the ground. Then he pointed to his sword again. “Okay, Bettina. Take two.”
I nodded and rubbed my hands together. I can do this. I CAN do this. I held my hand up and really zoned in on the black crystal sword hilt. It really was a gorgeous weapon— Bettina, FOCUS. I shook my head and re-centered myself. My gaze locked in. My magic pulsed in my hand.
Okay, my little ice-ling, just the hilt.
Then I pushed.
There was a flash of pink, and then shimmering white ice coiled around the black hilt—and only the hilt. The ice covered it like a glove. I squealed and jumped up and down.
“Excellent!” Tenn clapped. “Now take it off.”
I flicked my hand, and the ice vanished in an instant. I grinned. “Removing is easier.”
“Babe, come on. Up the ante a bit.” Tegan grinned and wagged her eyebrows. “She can handle it.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. I liked starting slow.
“Okay.” Tenn grabbed the sword by the blade and yanked it out of the ground. He flipped it up in the air then caught it by the hilt. Then he began swinging the blade in front of me, back and forth. “Freeze the blade.”
I gasped. “What? While it’s in motion?”
“Yep.” He swung it harder, and it whistled through the air. “Imagine I’m Joseph. I’m coming for you. For Tegan. For everything you love. All you have to do is take out my sword.”
I blinked and shook my head. “I-I don’t know— I could hurt you. Tenn…no, wait—”
He charged at me, swinging his menacing black blade right in front of me. I stumbled back a few steps, but he kept coming. He wasn’t slowing down. My magic rushed through me and my pulse skipped. He swung it so fast I could barely even see it against the night sky.
How am I supposed to—
“BETTINA, NOW!” he screamed and swung the sword right at my face.
I gasped and threw my hand up. I shot my magic out in a panic.
Tennessee stopped, the sword blade inches from my face.
And it was frozen solid.
He grinned. “You’ve got to trust yourself a bit more, Elsa.”
I exhaled in a rush. “Damn it, Tenn.”
Tegan threw her head back and laughed. She clapped her hands. “Yasssss.”
“That was messed up.”
Tenn shrugged. “Please, I was barely moving. I wasn’t going to touch you.”
Barely moving? Sweet Jebus, dude. If that was barely moving, then I was damn glad he was on my team.
“All right, let’s try something bigger, shall we?”
I groaned. “Please don’t fake attack me again. I’m still recovering.”
“No more attacking.” He stood next to me and pointed in front of us, toward the edge of the Old Lands. “I want you to make a wall of ice between us and the trees.”
My face fell. “Like…just a wall of ice? That’s it?”
He shrugged. “For now.”
Right. Okay. Wall of ice. No big deal.
I glanced over at Tegan, and she gave me two thumbs-up. Tennessee stood there calmly, without a care in the world. They were so used to elemental magic that this didn’t faze them in the slightest. He wanted me to make a wall of ice out of nothing. Yeah. Right. No big deal. I raised both hands up and pushed my magic out of me. It shimmered in the air then rained down on the ground.
“Dig deeper,” Tenn whispered. “You’re almost there.”
Deep down in my gut, I felt the pulse of something new. Something I hadn’t explored before, or even noticed. It was energy inside me for the taking. I just had to grab it. I tightened my muscles and summoned it. I felt it flicker then rise up inside me. It was electric and radiating through my veins.
“Yes, that’s it,” Tenn whispered. “Take it. It’s yours.”
It was mine. The Goddess gave it to me. She chose me for this Card, this power. Which meant I could handle it. I just had to take it.
I visualized it in my head. I saw it shimmering a bright pink, rushing inside me like blood. I summoned it to my hands. My palms glowed white.
The building next to us exploded, and bright orange flames shot into the sky.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bettina
The ground rumbled so hard I fell to my knees just as another explosion ripped through the building.
I gasped. “That’s the Swords dorm!”
Tegan cursed and a white portal box opened right in front of us. There was a flash of light, and then we were outside the Swords dormitory. Fire towered into the sky, flickering and scorching everything in sight. There were screams everywhere. Glass shattered into the sky and fell like rain. There was debris everywhere. Burned up pieces of paper and chunks of wood soared like missiles all around us.
We charged for the building just as a third explosion burst from the ground. Every window and door on the first floor exploded. Students came sprinting through the doors, screaming and gasping for air. Smoke billowed up from the ground and into the air around us like fog on a summer night. We ran by them like salmon swimming upstream. I looked left and right in search of my friends but I didn’t see their faces. All I saw was blood, tears, and the shimmer of sword blades in the moonlight.
The ground rumbled and we wobbled.
“DOWN!” Tenn screamed.
Everyone dropped to their knees and then the building next to us burst into flame and ash.
I coughed and tried to suck in air but the smoke was thick and choking me. The heat from the fire burned my eyes and I felt them watering.
There was so much screaming. I couldn’t even tell where it was coming from anymore, it was all around me. What the hell is happening? Tennessee jumped to his feet and threw his arms wide open. Smoke swept away from us and I sucked in fresh air.
“MOVE!” Tenn ordered. “TO THE COURTYARD!”
One of the older Swords students leapt up and grabbed Tenn’s arm. His eyes were wide and panicked. His face streaked with ash. “There’s students trapped upstairs!”
My stomach turned and my heart stopped. Oh, God.
“We’ll get them, now GO!”
Tenn and Tegan didn’t wait, they spun on their toes and sprinted toward the dormitory. I scrambled to hurry after them and then we slid to a stop. The building was in shambles. The first few floors were drenched in flames.
The fire roared like it registered our presence and the flames shot to the stars.
“Oh my God! LOOK!” Tegan pointed up at the building and my heart stopped.
Inside the building there were students banging on windows and balcony
doors in desperation. But those things were impact windows. I’d learned that when I first got here. They wanted to protect the students from outside and now they’d only trapped them inside.
Tenn cursed and slammed his fist into the dirt.
Every window shattered. OH MY GOD.
People spilled out of them like ants, jumping over the ledges and dropping to the ground.
Tegan cursed. “I’ll get the fire, you get them out!” And then she was gone.
I turned to look at Tenn for direction, but he wasn’t there. When I turned, I spotted his glowing body shooting across the sky like Superman. My heart fluttered. My arms and legs trembled. I needed to do something. I needed to help these people. But how?
Tennessee flicked his wrists, and gusts of wind caught the jumping students and lowered them to the ground. He moved down the building and back so fast I could only see him by his glowing form. He was trying to float everyone down, but there were too many people inside. I glanced over my shoulder just as bright orange flames shot out like arms of a giant. Tegan stood there shooting magic into the inferno but it didn’t seem to be working.
It was burning too hot.
I gasped. Hot… Ice. I have ice. I HAVE ICE. An idea formed in my mind and I didn’t stop to think it through. I threw my hands up and summoned my new magic. Come on, my icelings. Don’t fail me now. Cold energy exploded inside of me then spread up my spine and down my arms. My hands shimmered a sparkly white as my magic shot out of me.
I narrowed my eyes on the window of the fifth floor where I saw about a dozen faces panicking to get out. I saw what I wanted to do, so I pictured it in my mind then threw my magic at the wall and then flicked my wrists toward the ground. A slide made of solid ice stretched from the base of the window down to the dirt.
One of the Cups girls who was dating a Sword gasped and dove out the window. She slid down my ice on her stomach all the way to the ground, then scrambled to her feet. The other students’ jaws dropped and then they were following her lead. One after another, linking arms and sliding down together.
YES!! Adrenaline rushed through me. I’d saved them! Tenn was flying around but he couldn’t catch all of them at once, there were too many. I charged forward and made ice-slides at every window I still saw people.
“TENN! GET THE OTHER SIDE!” I screamed up at him.
He spun toward me with a frown then spotted what I’d done. His eyes lit up. “YESSS!” Then he shot around the building.
There was a high-pitched squeal and then the entire side of the building in front of me crumbled. I heard myself scream as I threw my hands up and pushed my magic out. The wall froze in huge chunks but it was still coming down. The world slipped into slow motion. I saw it happening but I couldn’t do anything about it. Students were thrown into the air.
And then I felt them. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I felt their magic, their energy brush over my body as if they were touching me.
My Coven.
Kessler sprinted by me then slammed his shoulder into the falling wall, holding it in place. Thick brown roots burst up from the ground and connected to the wall above him. The students seemed to recognize immediately what to do, they scrambled for the roots then climbed down them. I spun back to the building just as a dozen students hit the dirt – but they were covered in glistening metal body armor.
I staggered back and my legs felt like mush. My Coven-mates rushed by me. I caught a glimpse of Emersyn’s long platinum hair as she flew by me but by the time I spun she was already at Tegan’s side.
And then I remembered earlier, during dinner, hearing Jackson say he was going over to the Swords dorm – my heart stopped. My breath left me in a rush. Jackson. I hadn’t seen him yet. I hadn’t felt him. Oh, GODDESS! Is he in there? All of my other thoughts vanished. All I could think about was Jackson. I had to find him. I had to see if he was trapped inside. It would be so like him to sacrifice himself to save everyone else.
No, no, no, no, no! I charged toward the building, dodging the screaming students like I was playing Frogger. My thoughts slipped into tunnel vision. I couldn’t think of anything else. Fire flicked toward me, like it was trying to reach out and grab me as I ran. It hissed and crackled. I shot ice toward it with every step.
I heard people shouting my name, but I couldn’t stop. I had to see if Jackson was inside.
The Swords dormitory was split wide open, right down the middle. Walls had crumbled. Wooden burned to pieces on the ground. With every step my heart pounded harder and harder. Jackson, Jackson, Jackson. My brain just kept screaming his name over and over. I leapt over the charred threshold and inside the bones of what used to be a building. I spun around in circles, glancing left, right, up, and down. He wasn’t there. All I saw were flames and smoke.
Neon blue flames shot over my head and slammed into a wooden beam still standing.
I gasped and spun around.
And the world spun.
Jackson.
He was a few feet behind me, running toward me with wide eyes. “Bettina!”
“You were in here,” I heard myself whispered. “I thought you were in—”
“I’M HERE!” He leapt toward me, closing the distance between us in one fluid motion. His arms wrapped around me and hugged me tight to his body. “I left an hour ago. I’m okay.”
Relief shook me so hard I actually stumbled. My legs gave out. I buried my face in his chest and fisted his shirt in my hands. “I’m not oka—”
The world exploded around us. The ground erupted under our feet and suddenly we were flying through the air. Jackson cursed in my ear and it was the most beautiful sound. I’d been convinced I was going to find his lifeless body charred to a crisp. Cold air rushed over my face – and reality snapped back into place. Gravity grabbed ahold of us and yanked us down to the ground. I gasped and threw my hands out straight behind Jackson’s back. We hit my slide of ice then slid all the way down until we rolled people over like we were a bowling ball.
Red mist moved over the ground like running water, rushing through the chaos of fleeing people. I suddenly had the urge to run, to get out, to flee as fast as I could to safety. I frowned and followed its path until I spotted Deacon fifty feet away. His violet eyes flashed. He’s doing that.
Jackson’s Chrismassy scent washed over me and then his warm hands gripped my arms and lifted me back to my feet. And then before I could stop myself, I gripped the front of his shirt and yanked his mouth down to mine. I kissed him hard then pushed him away. Our eyes met and his sparkled. His cheeks flushed. The entire school was in shambles and chaos around us, but it melted away.
The ground trembled and sent electricity shooting up my legs. I wobbled and tried to catch my balance. And then a roar like a tornado ripped through the fire and smoke. Chutney screamed and it echoed around us. Jackson cursed and his face paled. I spun around just as Chutney shot over the field like a rocket. Tennessee appeared out of nowhere and plucked her out of the air.
“Come on,” Jackson said as he took my hand in his and dragged me forward.
We ran together, hand-in-hand, over to where our Coven-mates stood staring up at the sky. Jackson and I slid to a stop. But none of them moved. I spun around to see what they were seeing – and froze. My jaw dropped. For a moment, all I could do was stare.
It was a picture out of a nightmare.
The red and orange flames towered over us, standing at least ten stories tall. Except this wasn’t normal fire. This was a monster made of fire. It had thick arms and legs made of swirling flames. Two massive horns sat on top of its head, over big, glowing yellow eyes. It looked like something straight out of the underworld. Like Satan incarnate. It looked like that hell demon from Lord of the Rings that took Gandalf.
I took a step back and slammed into Jackson’s chest. He placed his hands on my shoulders then squeezed. And held.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered, my heart caught in my throat.
“Joseph.”
<
br /> I gasped and spun to look at Henley. “WHAT? HOW?”
“Dark magic.” Her sapphire eyes hardened, her skin turned more pale. “He’s using dark magic to create this—”
“Wait, that’s Joseph inside there—
“No. Joseph is controlling it.” Henley cleared her throat and rubbed her palms together. “It’s called a —”
I frowned. I had no idea what she’d just said. “A what?”
Henley sighed. “Lilim.”
“Lilith’s children,” Deacon said under his breath.
Lilith. The mother of demons. A chill slithered down my spine and I shuddered.
“How do we defeat it?” Jackson asked softly.
“With everything we’ve got.”
The flame monster bellowed and swatted at the ground. Two glowing objects dove out of the way—
“Emersyn!” Deacon gasped then charged toward her and half of our Coven chased after him.
Our Empress stood at the monster’s feet, trying to control the flames. Tegan barreled magic into him without pause, just shot after shot. Tennessee flew around its horns, firing green and blue magic into its horns. The monster reached up and tried to grab him but Tenn was too fast.
My Coven-mates shot their magic into the belly of the beast as they ran, screaming and shouting. Bright orange flames flickered from the monster’s hands and then a long sword appeared in his grip. My eyes widened. I leapt forward and started to scream for them to watch out when the monster swung his arm and slammed his fiery blade into my Coven-mates. They crashed to the ground with a sickening thud.
The others shrieked and charged for the monster with their magic blasting and their weapons raised. Tennessee landed a few feet in front of me. He reached down and touched the golden bands on his left arm—and Michael’s sword appeared out of thin air.
I gasped. How the hell did he do that?
His golden wings fluttered behind his back and then he was flying straight for the monster. It swung its fiery blade at him but Tenn threw Michael’s sword up in the air and blocked the shot. The monster snarled and swung at him again. Then again. Each time, the monster’s sword hit Michael’s sword it sent sparks into the air.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 90