Here goes nothing.
I slid the key in and turned it. The click of the lock echoed through the living room as everyone watched in tense silence. I felt each of their eyes on me. Haven gently pulled the chains off, and then with shaky hands, I reached up and opened the box. That little twinkling melody hit my ears, and it took my breath away. My gaze landed immediately on the little dancing ballerina, and I realized that it actually looked like me. The real me.
And then I saw it.
The locket.
My mother’s locket.
A perfect visual representation of my childhood sitting right at my fingertips. Memories from a lifetime ago flashed through my mind. As a small child, I didn’t understand the significance of this locket. All I knew was that my mother never, ever, took it off. She used to even shower with it on. And she always wore the key on a separate necklace. I glanced up at Haven’s chest and saw the very key hanging there.
My heart fluttered.
I reached up with trembling fingers and picked it up. The locket dangled on a thin silver chain that bounced along with me. My breath left me in a rush. I held my other palm up and gently placed the locket face up. It was round, about the size of a quarter, and a gorgeous antique silver. The front had intricate swirls and floral patterns that reminded me of the rose windows at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Haven exhaled and swayed on his feet.
I looked up at him and found his eyes glistening with unshed tears, and I just bloody lost it. My emotions broke free of my restraints. I gasped and tears poured down my face. Haven’s face was flushed, and I knew it was taking everything inside of him not to fall apart in front of everyone.
Jackson stepped closer until the side of my body was pressed against his chest. He rubbed circles between my shoulder blades. “Why don’t the two of you go outside, get some fresh air?” he whispered.
Kessler cleared his throat. “All right, let’s get some patrol rotations set up—”
Light flashed…and then Haven and I were outside. I frowned and looked up to find Tegan and Jackson standing there with us, but no one else. Their voices carried through the open windows and the silent pre-dawn night. The sky was brightening as sunrise approached, and the current combo of royal blue and pink was almost beautiful enough to distract me.
Tegan reached up and put her hand on our shoulders. “There’s no rush on this moment. We’ll be right inside if you need us.”
I looked up to thank her, but they were already gone. Then I looked to my brother. “Are you ready to open this?”
He sighed and closed his eyes. “Not really.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Bettina
“Can I ask you something?”
I looked up from the locket that I’d been staring at into the profile of Haven’s face. “Of course.”
He didn’t look at me.
“Haven?”
He closed his eyes. “Tell me about when he died.”
My chest tightened and my pulse skyrocketed. He was Timothy. Uncle Timothy. We were walking side by side through campus, avoiding everything other than our raw emotions. I squeezed my eyes shut. We’d started at his funeral pyre until that had gotten too much to handle. “I don’t know. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about that right now.”
“Maybe now is exactly the right time to talk about it,” he whispered.
I opened my eyes and glanced at him. “It was horrible, Haven.”
“Tell me…” He looked down at me. “What was he like right before? And since you got here?”
“You know, when I first got here, I went straight into the sorting ceremony, and I specifically remember seeing him up on the stage.” I smiled as the memory replayed in my mind. “I didn’t remember who he was and hadn’t met him, but at the time, I thought for sure he was looking for someone in the crowd. Now I know it was me.”
He shook his head. “I can’t fathom doing what he did for all those years. Pretending.”
“I know. I couldn’t have done it. He was so nice to me, too. Took the time to give me one-on-one training and stuff.” My eyes burned with another round of tears. “That last day, I think he sensed that I was upset, and it seems so silly now, but in a weird way, I’m glad I was upset because otherwise we might not have gotten those last few moments of his life together.”
He stopped in the middle of the hallway and stared at a closed door. “I just keep going over it all. Twelve years of knowing him, seeing him, talking to him…and all that time, he knew I was his nephew. He knew…and he didn’t tell me.”
“He couldn’t.”
“I know. I heard your mother, and I don’t doubt its truth. It’s just…” He shook his head. “It’s just I wish I’d been able to…I don’t know, share some good memories with him. These last few months were awful. Things were real bad, especially when Tegan pretended to go dark.”
I followed his gaze to the door and frowned. “What room is this?”
“My office.” He sighed. “His office.”
“Oh.” We stared at it for a few minutes in silence, and then I pushed the door open. “Let’s go inside.”
His face scrunched up like I’d just stabbed him, which I understood, but it wasn’t going to get any easier standing outside. Of all the things we’d learned today, somehow the truth about our uncle rocked us the hardest. Maybe it was because he’d just died a few weeks ago. Weeks. My stomach turned. We’d missed him by a matter of weeks. If he’d only survived to now, we’d be sitting here in his office together, crying and laughing together. It wasn’t fair that we were all robbed of the reunion we deserved. That he waited so long for.
I strolled inside and looked around. As Leader, this was technically Haven’s office now, but I knew by the smell in the room that he’d barely been in here. Hell, the office looked frozen in time. I’d been in here to meet with Timothy before he died, and this was exactly what it looked like then. I doubted Haven had touched a single thing…and that was before he knew Tim was his uncle.
My heart broke for my brother and my uncle. They both got the rotten end of the deal.
“I just wish—”
I turned as he choked on his words. He was staring at the coatrack by the door that held only a red and black flannel shirt.
He cursed. “I just wish— I wish—”
“I know.”
He pulled the flannel off the rack and slid it on over his black T-shirt…and then he lost it. He crumbled to the floor. I raced over and sank down to the ground beside him, then pulled him into my arms. Together, we sat on the floor of his office crying and holding each other. I didn’t know how we were supposed to handle all of this and not fall apart. I couldn’t have said how long we sat there with him in Uncle Tim’s favorite shirt surrounded by all of the work he’d never get to finish.
After some time, when our tears had dried up, Haven let out a heavy sigh.
“Tell me the truth.” His voice cracked. “Were you okay?”
My lips curved into a small smile, and I leaned my head against his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, I was okay. I had Tegan, and she’s pretty awesome.”
“Yeah, she is.”
“But really…I had my parents, who I thought were my actual parents, and they loved me. Took good care of me. I had Hunter, too. I always felt like something was off, that something was missing, but it wasn’t enough to hurt me.”
“I’m glad only one of us had to suffer.”
I cringed. “I’m sorry it was you.”
Silence.
He reached up and put his hand over mine.
I was the lucky one of the three of us. I was the one who had the luck of not remembering anything. I got to live in ignorant bliss. My uncle and my brother had to suffer. There was nothing I could do for Uncle Timothy anymore, but I was going to spend the rest of my life making sure nothing ever hurt Haven again. As our grandfather told our mother, Haven was the very best that Heaven could create, and I knew he meant that from his skills as a fighter all the wa
y down to his kind soul.
It was probably tacky timing to make jokes, but it eased some of my pain to see even the slightest glimpse of happiness in him. So, I heard myself say, “You know what really bothers me about this?”
“What?”
“I called you hot.”
Haven threw his head back and laughed.
I shuddered and gagged for show. “Granted, I only said it out loud because that’s how Tegan referred to you, and I was just so juiced that she was there, but damn it, I had acknowledged you were hot. Although I must’ve known deep down because— Oh god, what if— No, I can’t even say that out loud.”
Haven shook his head, still laughing. “If it makes you feel any better, every other member of our Coven has said it, too.”
I frowned. “They’re not biologically related to you! We share the same DNA.”
He grinned. “True, but it was comical to watch Cooper get the words out.”
I laughed so hard I snorted. He giggled. For a few minutes…everything was okay.
But then reality crash-landed, and I knew we needed to get moving. We had a job to do, and a shadow army to destroy. I looked down at our mother’s locket in my palm and sighed.
“Well…” Haven sighed. “I guess we should put the key in it and see what’s in there.”
“Let’s hope there’s answers like she said there would be.”
He pulled the necklace off his neck and held the key out in front of him. I held the locket up as he moved in with the key…and then the world exploded.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Bettina
“OH SHIT!”
We jumped to our feet just as the awakening sky outside flashed with greens and reds.
PORTAL NOW! Tegan screamed into our minds.
Her portal opened up in front of us, and this time we didn’t hesitate. We lunged through…and right into chaos.
Joseph’s shadows were everywhere.
Like maggots in a dumpster.
My Coven-mates were scattered across the front lawn of Edenburg, each surrounded and outnumbered. My heart leapt into my throat. Jackson. Where’s Jackson? I knew I needed to get into the fight, I needed to help, but until I laid eyes on my soulmate, I wasn’t going to function. In my peripheral vision, I saw Haven summon our grandfather’s sword, his golden wings sparkling in the rising sunlight. But my gaze was laser-focused, scanning every moving object for a familiar head of golden bronze hair and eyes like the Caribbean Sea.
C’mon, Lancelot, where are you?
Just show your head for a second.
B! Tegan shouted in my mind. TWO O’CLOCK!
I spun in the direction she said— JACKSON! Relief hit me like a Mack Truck. He had a sword in each hand and was making quick work of the creepers near him. He spun and our eyes met. I nodded. He nodded. Then I turned just as a dozen shadows swarmed Haven. My magic rushed into my palms. I screamed and pushed it out.
A white cloud billowed out of me like a nuclear bomb. It sparkled a pale pink as it turned smoke to ice. The shadows surrounding Haven changed into frozen statues all at once. He spun in a tight circle so fast I couldn’t even track his movements. All I saw was the flash of his glowing sword and pieces of ice crumble to the ground.
Thick, dark green vines shot out of the dirt, shooting across the yard in a beat of a second. The thorny tip impaled shadows like shish kebabs. Tiny vines like weeds slithered across the grass, and the second they touched anything, the victims dropped to the ground.
“WOO! POISON ROYCY! HELL YEAH!”
I looked back to Haven. He was moving forward but barely. Every step he took, another five shadows appeared. He was incredible, but I didn’t know if he was that good.
And then I heard my mother’s story in my mind, and the words echoed.
He is the best that Heaven can create.
It was true, he was.
And I was his little sister.
Since I’d found out I was a witch, I’d been struggling and reserved. I couldn’t use my magic at first. I used to hold back, afraid I’d let my power loose and hurt someone. I’d been afraid. But that was naïve Bettina. That was human Bettina.
I might be keeping the name, but I was Hope.
I was the granddaughter of the archangel of war.
My mother could create anything she wanted, and it was a gift she gave to me. This was my wheelhouse. It was time I embraced it. Time to stop fighting it. My brother had power, but so did I.
I jumped over Poison Roycy’s vines then sprinted forward while pushing my ice out around me. As I approached Haven, I dropped to my knees and slid under the blade of his sword. My magic sang in my veins. With every shadow I froze solid, my power grew stronger.
“We gotta get to Joseph!” I yelled back to my brother.
He cursed and sliced a frozen shadow into four pieces. “I need a clearer path!”
“FINE.” I spun around then threw icicles into the chests of shadows. “FOLLOW ME!”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Jackson
It was almost impossible not to keep looking for Bettina. But these shadows were everywhere. They’d infested our territory, and we had to eliminate them. I chopped a head off a shadow then glanced over to where I’d last seen her.
But she and Tenn were moving fast.
They were incredible together.
If only I could just stand and watch.
I spun back to my targets, and there were even more than a second ago. This battle was everyone for themselves. They were just too hard to fight when they vanished into smoke. For all I knew, I was only fighting two or three of them and they just kept vanishing on me.
A bright golden beam of pure sunlight shot over my shoulder and blinded the two shadows in front of me. They hissed and shielded their eyes. I dropped and swung my sword right through their abdomens.
When I looked back up, my gaze landed right on Trey. Rage exploded inside me, and fire filled my veins. My blood boiled with just one look at his traitorous face. I’d had the chance to kill him earlier in Charleston, but I’d let my emotions get the best of me.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
And I was determined to make up for where I’d failed before. I tightened my grip on my swords then charged toward my nemesis. He stood half a football field away, tucked in close to his father like the demon spawn he was. All of my focus latched onto this target. I just had to get there first.
White lightning stretched across my path then vanished, then reappeared off to my left. A person ran by covered in silver body armor. I sliced my way through the battlefield without pause or hesitation. This needed to end, and it needed to happen now.
Two shadows jumped up out of nowhere gunning right for me. I slid like this was the World Series then leapt to my feet. The air around me glistened a pale blue, and it moved—a handful of shadows actually froze in place. Whatever Willow showed them was big enough.
Red lightning filled the sky and shot out as far as I could see. A line of bright orange flames shot between my legs. I had to leap over them to avoid being charred. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Em’s fire blazing through the shadow-army. I couldn’t keep up with who was where, or which magic belonged to whom.
Rainbow magic was everywhere, yet I didn’t bother watching what Tegan was doing.
TENN, THROW NOW! Tegan screamed into our minds.
I glanced over just as Tenn grabbed Bettina by the arm and threw her into the air. She flew up high above the ground with her arms out to the sides. Her mismatched eyes flashed. She roared and the air pulsed. Her palms turned to ice. White glittery snow rained down on the field below, and it spread inch by inch. Shadows screamed and fled back toward Joseph.
And then Bettina sank in the sky.
I gasped and lunged to catch her just as Tenn plucked her out of the air and set her back down on her feet. I slid to a stop, and then my jaw dropped.
Joseph shrieked out orders and flung his arms around. Six sha
dows appeared in front of him, blocking him from sight. I frowned and eyed these men. There was something off about them. They were human, but not really. Not even in the way Joseph was. I raised my sword but didn’t move. I couldn’t go charging for him, especially not when he was surrounded by a protective wall.
Ellis jumped forward with two long, nasty-looking katana swords raised. His front foot hit the ground, and he pushed off and twisted back around. He sliced his blades right into the shadows protecting Joseph. They crumbled to dust at his feet. Trey gasped and pulled his daggers out. Joseph screamed and his face was bloodied. His body turned to smoke then back again.
All of the shadow-men stiffened and glanced over to Joseph.
“RUNES, GO!” a male voice yelled out into the battle.
I frowned. I knew that voice from somewhere.
“SABERS, ENGAGE!”
Golden light flashed all around the battle in the shape of runes—ones meant for peace. They sparkled from the foreheads of shadow-men. In the blink of an eye, half the army was glowing. The others cursed and started for Joseph. But those marked shadows roared and pulled out long sabers, then sliced them through the other shadows.
One by one, the non-marked shadows melted into cloudy puddles.
My Coven-mates froze in place like we were all as equally confused. The shadows were fleeing, running full speed toward Joseph.
“LEFT, FLANK!” That familiar male voice shouted from somewhere. “RIGHT, REGROUP!”
The marked shadows moved into smaller formations. The ones on the left rushed back toward the edge of the Old Lands. The ones on the right huddled together. Up ahead, just off to the left, the trees rustled and swayed. Someone was in there shouting orders. The ground rumbled, and then the trees rocked left to right.
A man emerged from within the Old Lands with a sword in one hand and magic flashing from his palm. He charged into the fight. There was something about his gait that I recognized, but I couldn’t place it.
The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series Page 127