“BETTINA!” Tennessee screamed with wide eyes.
I heard my name being shouted. I heard thundering footsteps and felt the rumble in the ground. I knew they were coming for me, but I was lost to the fire. I closed my eyes, and my eyeballs burned.
“BETTINA!”
“Oh my God! What happened to her?”
“TEGAN!”
“BETTINA!”
“Is it Witch’s Shock?”
Their panicked screams made the fire rage brighter and hotter. I opened my eyes and found my Coven circled around me.
“Did the demon get her?”
“I saw Trey attack her!”
Tennessee dropped down to his knees in front of me. His face was a mask of fear. I saw him look me over like he was trying to figure it out and coming up blank. Behind them all, my pink magic swirled around. Ice towered into the sky.
But I was burning at the stake like Joan of Arc.
“TINA!” Tegan shouted and sank to her knees in front of me. She reached forward and flicked her hands over my mouth.
I tried to scream, but it came out as a choked gasp.
The burning was spreading.
Tegan flicked her wrists, and my wrists and ankles were free. I clutched my throat and my chest, searching for flames or fire or something. Everyone was shouting and trying to figure out what was wrong, but I couldn’t tell them. My insides were melting.
Tegan’s eyes widened. She dove for my chest, swatting my hands away. She gripped the collar of my sweater and ripped it open. Yes. Cold. Give me cold. She yanked my shirt down.
Everyone gasped.
“WHAT?” Chutney yelled. “HOW?”
I frowned. What? What’s wrong? “What is it?” I heard myself finally scream.
Tennessee’s face softened, but then he gripped my hand and squeezed. “Breathe.”
Tegan pressed her palms to my chest and chanted in the ancient language. I heard a few words, but they were too fast and too quiet to understand. Plus, my brain was melting from the fire inside my chest. Tegan closed her eyes like she was concentrating.
“That’s it,” Tenn said in a soothing voice. “Few more seconds. Breathe.”
I growled. Like a caged tiger.
And then it faded away until I almost couldn’t feel it at all. My breath left me in a rush, and I collapsed forward. Tenn caught me. I closed my eyes and just focused on breathing. The fire was gone. I pictured my insides looking like those black scorched houses after a fire. My pulse raced faster than I’d ever felt it. The pounding sounded like thunder in my ears.
I thought my Mark had been bad, but that was nothing.
“Bettina?”
I opened my eyes and found my face buried in Tenn’s chest. I coughed and that fresh rain smell invaded my nostrils. “You smell like rain.”
I felt his chest rumble as he laughed.
“Fresh rain, to be exact,” Tegan said with a grin.
“Right.” I pushed off of him then grimaced. “God, sorry, Tenn.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been there.” He chuckled.
I frowned and shook my head, which made the pounding worse. I groaned. “What the bloody hell was that?”
Everyone chuckled and shook their heads.
“What?”
Tegan grinned and pointed at me. “B, look at your chest.”
“My chest? Why, how bad are the burns—”
I choked on a gasp.
OH MY GOD.
I clawed at my sweater, yanking it farther apart to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. My jaw dropped. I fell back and landed on my ass. I just stared.
There on the center of my chest, directly over my pounding heart, was a glowing, sparkling heart-shaped lavender crystal. It looked almost three-dimensional, like I could reach down and lift it off of my skin. I blinked and ran my fingers over it, but it was smooth and flat. Black lines that looked like vines shot out from the side of it and spread all the way across to my shoulder.
“Congratulations, B,” Tegan said softly. “You’ve got a soulmate.”
I looked up at her and just…stared. How?
Everyone gasped. But they all wore big smiles.
“Uh…question…” Easton frowned and raised his hand. “But…WHO?”
Chaos exploded within the group. I only heard fragments of sentences.
“—no, man. She’d already met Trey!”
“You can soulmate to a freaking shadow!”
“It’s not me—”
Deacon whistled and we all cringed. He grinned and leaned down to meet my eyes. “Congrats, B. Mine is lavender, too.”
Em leaned into his side then pulled her sweater down to show me. “Yup, see, lavender. Such a pretty color.”
“Yeah, but what does it mean?” Lily asked. “What do any of these colors mean?”
“GUYS,” Tenn yelled. “Chill for a sec. Damn.”
Everyone went silent.
I blinked and looked around. “I have a soulmate?”
Tegan nodded. “That’s right. Welcome to the club.”
“I don’t understand…” I looked down at my chest then back up at her. “Who is it?”
Tegan grinned like the Cheshire cat. “Jackson.”
My face fell. My heart stopped. I just…froze. Afraid to believe I’d heard her right.
“Wait, what?” Royce ran a hand through his hair. “Lancaster? How?”
“Yeah, he already had one,” Chutney said softly with her face all scrunched up.
I glanced over at Tenn, but he seemed just as shocked. Everyone did. Except for Tegan. She just sat there grinning at me. “Tegan…”
She sighed. “I tried to tell you tonight…after he left, but then Tenn came in—”
“Tegan,” I said with a growl, my emotions hanging on by a fraying, thin thread.
I wanted to believe what she was saying. I’d been dreaming of hearing those words since his got his glyph and I didn’t. I wanted to believe so bad. But I was afraid to let myself. I was terrified to hope.
“H-how…” I shook my head and tried to think this through logically. “H-how would it be h-him? I was there when he got his glyph and I didn’t.”
Tegan nodded, her eyes sparkling. “Yes, you were there.”
I shook my head. “No. No, Bentley found the girl—his soulmate. He sent Jackson to find her. That’s why he’s not here.”
Bentley chuckled from behind me, then strolled over to stand behind Tegan. He shrugged. “Nah, that girl is just a witch whose magic awakened as a result of all of yours hitting her off Crone Island. She needed to be found, so I sent him to her.”
My breath left me in a rush. “B-but sh-she s-said…you did a…did a…a tracking spell.”
“Wait a second. I was there for that discussion.” Tenn scowled. “He checked you with his magic to make sure you were telling the truth. I felt him do that.”
Bentley grinned and he looked exactly like Tegan. “I did find his soulmate, but I never said I was sending him to her.”
Tegan shrugged. “That’s the trick with lying. Less is more.”
“I did do the tracking spell to find his soulmate, as Jackson asked me to…” Bentley smiled and met my eyes. “And it led me directly to you.”
I gasped and threw my hand over my mouth. I shook my head. “But how?”
Tegan sighed. “See, your magic was still locked away. Remember, that’s why it took so long for Timothy’s Mark to appear on you. I told you this when I got to London. You’ve had it since he passed away, but that spell—whatever it is inside you—was blocking it. I could still feel that spell inside of you, blocking your magic in…and it was blocking your soulmate glyph. When you used so much magic just now, you forced it out.”
I stared at her. Tears spilled over and poured rivers down my face. My body trembled. Emotions surged inside me. I was about to blow. I was going to fall apart.
I whispered, “Jackson’s my soulmate?”
Tegan leaned forward and grinned. “Jackson Lancaster
is your soulmate.”
“Then I guess you better portal down to wherever the hell you sent the poor guy and get his ass back here,” Cooper yelled. He looked to me and smiled, then winked. “I think they’ve been waiting long enough.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Jackson
My clock hit midnight, and I was about halfway back to Eden. Tennessee hadn’t returned my call, and no one had responded to my text message. I’d checked. Several times. I wasn’t offended; I was scared.
It wasn’t like any of them to not respond.
And this was big news.
That meant something was happening in Eden. And I wasn’t there for it. I was anxious as hell. My legs were bouncing. There was no one on the road, so I was driving far too fast. I needed to get back.
This solitude was destroying me.
All I could think about was Bettina…and Sam. Both torturous thoughts that only broke my heart more with every passing mile. Bettina had my heart, and I’d finally told her so in the note I left on her bed. She deserved to know that I hated this situation as much as she did. I cursed and slammed my fist into the seat. I’d really thought Sam was going to be the answer. I’d really gotten my hopes up.
I felt empty.
I felt robbed.
I was really going to have to leave now. Bettina was in The Coven, too. There was zero chance she’d volunteer to leave Tegan and the Bishops. And I was more than willing to step away for a bit. For the last hour, I’d been rehearsing my plea to Tennessee. I was going to ask him to send me to London. There were a ton of Lancasters whose magic had just awakened, and that could’ve had a ripple effect. There could be more hidden witches living in England. Someone had to train them. Tenn had sent Em and Deacon to New York to set up a school there…so my plan was to ask Tennessee to let me set up a school in England. It was logical. It made perfect sense. I just prayed he understood.
Bright white light flashed in front of me and I sighed. Tegan. Finally.
And then my chest exploded. I gasped and the truck swerved. My eyes watered. Air burned a path down my throat. I yanked the steering wheel and pulled off to the shoulder then threw my truck in park just as the fire inside me intensified.
It felt like a volcano had erupted in my chest and liquid hot magma rushed through my veins. I curled over until I was hugging the steering wheel like it was a life preserver. The heat shot across my chest, scorching a fiery path to my shoulder. I clenched my teeth and tried to breathe, but I was about to be spitting fire like a dragon.
I groaned and looked down at my chest, searching for the weapon that’d hit me.
My breath left me in a rush.
The glyph on the center of my chest was lavender. Lavender. As in, a soft purple color. The same color as Deacon and Emersyn’s. I cursed and pushed off the steering wheel despite the fire raging inside me. As the second passed, the pain just moved. It tightened around my collarbone and I hissed. I reached up and yanked my shirt away— My jaw dropped.
It spread. Black vines covered my chest and were wiggling their way over my shoulder right under my eyes. It burned like hell, but it was the sweetest sight I’d seen in a while. My soulmate glyph was spreading, like it was a real thing. Now it looked like the others’. It didn’t make sense. Sam wasn’t my soulmate, and that was the first time I’d seen Frankie—or anyone else—in that hospital.
What the bloody hell is going on?
My phone lit up from the cupholder, and Tegan’s face filled the screen. I groaned and answered the call on speakerphone. “Yeah?”
“Jackson! Are you okay?”
I made a strangled kind of laughing noise. “Technically.”
“Good. Because your soulmate just showed up.”
“WHAT?” I screamed.
“You heard me, Lancaster. She’s here finally. So, come home and see her.”
The Secret Witch
ACADEMY MAGIC BOOK FIVE
Chapter One
Jackson
“Good. Because your soulmate just showed up.”
“WHAT?” I screamed.
“You heard me, Lancaster. She’s here finally. So, come home and see her.”
I opened my mouth then shut it. My mind raced. My pulse hammered through my veins. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe.
“Lancaster? You okay over there?” Tegan said softly. “Breathe for me. Make a noise.”
Some kind of strangled sound came out of me without my approval.
Tegan chuckled. “All right, that’s sufficient, I suppose.”
“Did you just— Did you— Did…say…” I groaned and slammed my mouth shut. Come on, brain. Pull it together, lad. “Did you say my soulmate? Is there?”
“Yep. You heard me correctly. She’s here, right in front of me—”
“Your brother—”
“Lied, I know.” Tegan laughed. “I wasn’t sure he had it in him, either. So proud.”
“PROUD? Why the hell did he send me away to some random girl?”
Tegan sighed. “I’m not entirely sure, but I promise you it was important. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done that.”
I growled and slammed my forehead into the steering wheel, then just stayed there. “You’re sure this time? You’re not lying to me, too? I can’t handle that again—”
“I swear I’m not lying to you. She’s here. I’m looking at her glyph right now. It’s a pretty lavender color. Yours is lavender now, too, right?”
My breath left me in a rush. I looked down at my chest, at the sparkling lavender crystal of my glyph. A million different emotions rushed through me. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s lavender.”
“WHOA! INCOMING!” Easton yelled in the background.
I gasped and sat up straight. “What’s going on?”
“What is that? Another morpher?” Braison said in a rush.
Deacon cursed. “How many demons does Joseph have in his pocket?”
All of this I heard through the phone. My pulse skipped, then rushed into hyper speed. “Tegan, what’s happening?”
“WAIT!” Chutney screamed. “It’s Lonan!”
I heard my Coven-mates curse with relief, and it made my anxiety go nuts. Something had happened, just as I’d expected.
I gripped my phone tighter. “Tegan.”
She sighed, and then there was tense silence.
“Tegan—”
“We had a small, teeny-tiny, kinda scary incident with Joseph—”
“WHAT?” Adrenaline rushed through me. “Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt—”
“We’re fine, we’re fine, just—” She sighed. “Shit, Jackson. I can’t leave right now, okay? We scared him off but—but he might come back. I can feel something coming. I don’t want to leave for even a second. He’s got demons now. How far are you?”
I cursed. “Two hours and change.”
“Oh, that’s close. Good. Okay, listen, I’m sorry— What? Tell Lonan I’m coming,” she yelled to someone on her side of the call. “Jackson?”
“Yeah, it’s okay. Take care of Eden. I’m not far. It’s all right. I’ll just drive back.”
She sighed. “Thanks. Be careful. Bettina pissed Joseph off something fierce tonight. If anything looks wrong, you call me back immediately, okay?”
“Right. Lovely. Will do.”
“See you soon.” Then she hung up and the call ended.
My stomach tightened into knots. I took a deep breath and let it out shakily. Something bad had gone down at home while I was away. It must’ve been really terrifying if Tegan wasn’t willing to leave at all. I wished she would, but I wanted my Coven-mates safe more than anything.
Bettina pissed Joseph off something fierce. My heart swelled with conflicting emotions that crashed against each other like tidal waves, and I was drowning in the middle. I had no idea what she’d done, but I was both proud of her and terrified for her.
I need to get back. I looked down at my GPS and cursed. Two and a half hours. If I went the speed limit. Which I wasn�
��t planning on. Not anymore. Not now that Joseph had made another move. Not now that my soulmate had suddenly arrived in Eden. And that really blew my mind. All this time and now she showed up? I didn’t understand. Where had she been? What triggered her to come now? I had so many questions.
I threw my truck in drive and sped off down the highway with my thoughts on the one thing they shouldn’t have been.
Bettina.
Chapter Two
Bettina
“See you soon,” Tegan said softly into the phone then hung up. She shoved the phone in her leather jacket pocket then looked up at me and grimaced. “I’m sorry, B. I can’t risk leaving yet. If Joseph attacks, even in those few seconds—”
“I know,” I whispered and smiled up at my best friend. “Just keep your phone on loud in case he gets in trouble, okay?”
“I’m listening, I promise.” Her gaze snapped to something behind me. She stood then glanced down at me. “I gotta go talk to Lonan.”
I nodded and started to get up to follow her when a large hand landed on my shoulder and pushed me back down. I frowned and looked up. “Let me up—”
“Sorry, no.” Tennessee dropped his hand, then crouched down. He narrowed his mismatched eyes on me. His voice was low and stern. “I want you to sit here and not move until I say otherwise.”
My pulse skipped. I licked my lips nervously. “Am…am I in trouble?”
Tenn frowned and cocked his head to the side. “Goddess, no. You saved our asses tonight, in more ways than one.”
My cheeks warmed. “Oh…I did?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Bettina, have you not seen what you did? Without getting up, turn around and look.”
I frowned and glanced over my shoulder—and my breath left me in a rush. My jaw dropped. All I could do was stare. There was a wall of ice blocking Eden from the edge of the Old Lands…and between us and it were about two dozen ice sculptures. Of people.
My stomach dropped. Oh my Goddess, I did that.
Tenn laughed. “Yeah, you sure did. Freakin’ epic. You froze shadows. I don’t even know how.”
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 105