“They’re coming.” Kessler raised both hands in the air to ward off questions. “As you know, the spells we placed on them as newborns will only last until their sixteenth birthday…next month.”
A chorus of violent curses rippled through the crew.
I frowned and cleared my throat. To everyone else in our Coven, my father had dropped a bomb, destroying whatever plans they had for the rest of summer and the foreseeable future. For me? If I had to name the emotion running through me, I’d call it relief. Living with biological family members of the twins meant I heard about them practically every week for the last twelve years.
I only needed to know a little more. “How does the process work? Will their powers just come out full force or slowly?”
“What kind of powers are we expecting them to have, anyway?” Easton asked, his light blue eyes narrowed. His platinum blond hair was wild and sticking out in several directions like he’d been tugging at it.
Cooper groaned and put his head in his tan hands. I understood why. There was a tiny detail the Coven leaders kept secret from the rest of the race, including the other Cards. For everyone’s sake. The lid was about to be blown off. I gritted my teeth and braced myself.
“Well, they’ve got to have some power,” Henley said, “Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to close the Gap in Salem. Right, Cassandra?”
Everyone turned to look at Cassandra, who’d been quietly leaning against the base of the tree. Her bright red hair was tied up in a messy bun on top of her head and her shirt definitely had a mustard stain on the left shoulder. She gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment before turning her glance up to Kessler. “It’s time.”
Kessler sighed and nodded. “The twins were born with Marks.”
Deafening silence.
“WHAT?” Royce shouted. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet so far.
“Are you saying they’re Cards?” Henley asked. No one would’ve been surprised to hear she was Royce’s older sister since they had the same sapphire eyes and jet-black hair. Both had lean bodies, high cheekbones, and impeccable style. Although Henley had the whole goth vibe going, and Royce dressed like a supermodel. Still…
On the outside, Kessler looked like we were making weekend plans. He was calm and quiet. His voice didn’t waver or rise louder. He gave absolutely nothing away, and no one would know if he was silently freaking out inside. Unless you were me, then you’d know his arms were held behind his back to hide the slight tremor in his fingers when he got nervous. Or the way his jaw popped when he wasn’t speaking because he was grinding his teeth.
“Yes,” he said. “They’re Cards, which means they are one of us. The Coven must embrace them as we would any other new Card.”
“Wait, hold up, Kess.” Easton raised his hand. “Which Cards are they?”
“I thought all the Cards were taken,” Henley said from the back.
“I do not have a good feeling about this,” Royce mumbled.
“Two of our twenty-two Coven members had fallen during an attack at exactly the right time, or should I say the wrong time. Not surprisingly, the Goddess chose the twins to fill these roles.”
“Kessler...which roles did they fill?” Henley asked. Something about the sharp expression in her sapphire eyes and the pointed look she exchanged with her brother told me she’d already figured it out and was hoping he’d prove her wrong. “Kessler?”
Kessler ran a hand through his cropped blond hair, a nervous tick his nephew Cooper had picked up. “My nieces have been Marked Empress and High Priestess.”
The group erupted into absolute chaos. Wild exclamations of horror, violent curses, and variations of “how the hell are we supposed to contain them?” echoed around me. I understood their reaction. Hell, I’d had a similar one when I found out. The entire race of witches depended on the twenty-two Cards who made up the Coven to protect everyone. Of those twenty-two, three Cards had more power than the others…
The High Priestess.
The Empress.
…and The Emperor.
I sighed and avoided the stares of my friends as they realized I was their answer. Instead, I glanced down at my left arm to where the Roman numeral four stained my skin. The Mark of The Emperor. I remembered the moment it appeared…the pain, the fear, the confusion… Kessler. I looked up at the only father I remembered and hoped he saw the rising panic in my eyes.
“All right, all right, all right,” Kessler yelled over the noise. “This responsibility does not lie only on Tennessee’s shoulders. Each and every one of us has an equal part to play.”
“What’s the plan?” Cooper asked, his voice low and strained.
“They’re moving here after their birthday to start school with you. We’ll have a better plan when it gets closer. For now, it’s my job to get the rest of you ready.”
“Can you be a little less cryptic?” Royce mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Let’s not stress with details yet. We’re going to switch up your training a little bit…” He turned his gaze to me.
I clenched my teeth. I already don’t like this.
“You’re all going to be training with Tennessee this summer.”
More groans and curses, including my own, although I kept mine silent. I probably should’ve been offended by their reaction, but I was too busy agreeing with them. I had the most power, the best fighting skills, the most abilities out of the group… It made perfect, logical sense. And I hated that I had to admit it, even to myself.
“Practice is over. In order to be your best, you must be trained by the best.” Kessler held up his palms to ward off questions. Again. “Cassandra and I assessed your weaknesses for Tennessee to work on. I’ve emailed everyone the schedule already. Some of you start tomorrow.”
“Excuse me one second,” Cooper interrupted. “If he’s training everyone, when does he get a break?”
“Why does he need a break?” Royce whined. “Only humans need rest.”
“He’ll be kicking our asses without breaking a sweat all summer,” Easton groaned and threw himself back against the table.
I cursed and all of the oxygen in my body left me in a rush. It didn’t matter what the details were. They were going to suck. “Can we start right now? Because I can hardly contain my excitement. Do you see it in my face?”
Kessler rolled his golden eyes. “I’d like to take this opportunity to remind all of you that these two girls are strictly off-limits for dating.” He took the time to glare at each and every one of the guys.
“Don’t glare at me.” Easton held his palms up. “I’m taken.”
“I know you all know why we have this rule…” Kessler all but growled.
Yeah, we knew. Everyone knew. Salem’s prophecy was Witchcraft 101. At our school, Edenburg, there was an entire course on what went down in Salem and the subsequent witch trials. It’d been over three hundred years, yet we treated it like last week’s news. Our race was created after the fall of Eden, and there had never been a set of twins born within us until 1674. Until then, the demons had to struggle to get into our world. Since then, they walked through the Gaps. The original twins, as they were called now, had created the initial Gap. Long story short…hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Sadly, no one remembered the men who broke their hearts…only the ramifications.
When Kessler’s twin nieces were born sixteen years ago, the Coven leaders laid down a race-wide law forbidding any and all romantic entanglements. No exceptions.
“Okay, that’s enough for one day. Get going.” Kessler dismissed everyone then turned to Cassandra and whispered.
I had questions. Lots of questions. But I needed to rein in the chaos inside me first. I turned and headed back toward the building to my first class of open house.
“Hey, Tennessee!”
I stopped and spun toward my name. The girl skipping toward me was one of my human friends I’d had most of my high school classes with. She had pale blonde h
air she wore in wild waves from spending her mornings at the beach, and eyes that looked like Hershey’s kisses. Her smile was friendly, although it’d gotten a little friendlier in the last few months.
“Hey, Ally.”
Her smile widened, and she stopped a foot in front of me. “Hi, Tennessee. I’ve been looking for you all night.”
The night just started. Stop it. Be nice. “Here I am.”
“I texted you a few times… Maybe you didn’t get them?”
Crap. I got them. I ignored them. Why? Who knew? “Sorry, it’s been a crazy few days.”
“It’s okay!” She beamed and bounced up on her tippy toes. “Listen, my friends and I are going to Hidden Kingdom tomorrow, and I wanted to invite you to join us.”
“Yes, he will,” Easton said from out of nowhere. I hadn’t seen or heard him walk up behind me, which wasn’t like me at all. “He’d love to.”
“You would?” Her brown eyes danced with excitement and her cheeks flushed.
Fantastic. If I said no now, I’d look like a real jerk. “Sure, I’d love to.”
“Awesome! I’ll text you in the morning, so you better answer.” She winked and sauntered away. She completely ignored Easton’s presence.
“You’re welcome, my friend.” Easton clapped me on the back.
“I didn’t need you to step in,” I snapped.
“Yes. You did. You’re a walking ball of tension. You need some female attention.” Easton mimicked her wink and swished his hips the way only an overly confident man could.
I cursed. I may have been tense, but women were not my answer. Especially not one I had no interest in romantically. But Easton won that round. I’d go, and I’d try my hardest to enjoy my free time. Because it might be my last chance to actually be a teenager for a while.
And—if I was completely honest with myself—I’d search every corner of the theme park until I found that little fairy.
Seek the tool from thieving hands…
Chapter Four
Note to self: When it’s time to train Easton, make sure you leave a few marks. And if you can make him puke at least once, you get bonus points.
Go to the theme park with some human girls, he said. It would be fun, he said. Yeah, well, he lied. Kessler had even allowed me to postpone my first training session when he found out I had plans with friends. What did that say about me? I should’ve told Ally no and went ahead with training.
Instead, I stood outside a store holding three purses while the girls took a shopping break. I could’ve gone inside with them. Ally practically begged me to, but I refused. There were so many people crammed into the store you couldn’t take a step without running into a shelf, loose toddler, or a sweaty human. Sure, it was crowded outside, too, but at least the crying babies and screaming mothers weren’t a foot away from me. They were like eight feet away. This part of the park was the quaint little French village, with cobblestone streets and fancy iron gates. Any minute now, Ally would find me, and the tedious conversation would commence.
I simply didn’t have anything in common with them, so I didn’t know how to interact. Maybe I didn’t have anything in common with humans at all anymore. Wondering if Tyga was actually the secret father of Kylie Jenner’s baby didn’t make it onto my to-do list. I hated that I even knew their names. The Kardashians, that is, not my human friends. I sighed and leaned against the brick wall outside the shop, careful not to drop the three purses draped over my arms.
“The Emperor holds handbags now?” Cassandra’s soft voice interrupted my inner anguish. “I’ll have to update my tarot cards with this image.”
Despite my foul mood, I laughed and turned to smile at my friend. “Save me?”
She cocked her head to the side, and her long red curls bounced. There was a wicked gleam in her emerald eyes, and I knew some serious sass was about to follow. She stepped around some tourists eyeing their park map and closed the distance between us. “Shall I break my ankle and fall over so you have to carry me home?”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. “So you heard.”
“Did I ever.” She giggled. “Did you know there’s a debate going on about you?”
I stared out at the crowds passing by and the people trying to swim upstream in the traffic. The smell of French fries wafted by my face, and my stomach growled. Maybe I can sneak over and get food while they’re shopping? “About what? This doesn’t have to do with Royce calling me inhuman, does it?”
“No... I shouldn’t tell you this, but family has to stick together, right?” She bit her bottom lip. When I just stared at her, she continued. “They’re debating which of your eyes is hotter…the green one or the blue one.”
My jaw dropped. Royce and Libby’s comments from the last few days popped into memory with new light. “Seriously? That’s weird, right?”
She chuckled and shrugged her pale, freckled shoulders. “I don’t know, girls will be girls. I’m sure you’ll hear the results of the vote once it’s officially tallied.”
“Lucky me.” I knew by her smirk and the twitch of her eyebrow she wanted to harass me for it, so I took away her chance by changing the subject. “What brings you here today?”
“I hoped I’d have better luck with our thieving friend if I was alone.” She leaned against the brick wall beside me. “You were right not to tell the others. Little pink wings is skittish. I followed her to the castle then lost her.”
“Maybe she won’t notice me if she’s busy looking for you?”
“Possibly.” She nodded. “Try charming her. You’ll have to ditch these girls, though.”
The door to my left swung open, and the four girls skipped back to my side like they’d been summoned. Not that I compared them to demons. They each had a new shopping bag in one hand and a bright colored drink in the other.
I sighed and glanced back over to Cassandra. “Gladly.”
She laughed, gave me a fist bump, and backed away. “See ya later, Tenn,” she yelled over her shoulder.
“What’s her name again?” Ally asked from way, way too close to me. Her fruity perfume burned my nose.
“Cassandra.”
“Isn’t she too old to hang out with high school boys?” Ally’s blonde friend asked. “As in, isn’t it illegal?”
Illegal? How could being friends be…oh. OH. I scowled. “She’s only thirty, and no. She’s like my sister. She helped raise Cooper and me when we were little.” Cassandra was one of my closest, dearest friends. Next in line of importance after Kessler and Cooper. Not having her in my life would be devastating. The idea of dating her actually made my stomach turn.
Ally’s smile brightened. “Good to know. So, we’re gonna get lunch next. Hungry?”
Well there goes my escape plan. Wait…lunch? How is it only lunch time? Yeah, Easton was definitely going to pay. It was time for me to make my break. I had a tool to steal back from an elusive fairy.
With a feigned smile, I handed the girls back their handbags and stretched my arms. “Actually, no. You go ahead. I have to run an errand for Kessler. Maybe I’ll catch back up with you later.”
“Oh…” Ally’s expression sank. “Okay. I’ll text you after lunch.”
Guilt tugged at me, but I pushed it down. I’d spent five hours with her already. I knew what she wanted from me… I just didn’t feel anything for her. I’m supposed to feel something, aren’t I?
“Enjoy lunch,” I said.
If they had more to say, I didn’t hear it. Now that I had my getaway, I wouldn’t risk losing it because I was a nice guy. I turned and beelined past the fountain. Without slowing my pace, I headed up the cobblestone pathway to the castle in the back of the park. Witches had been guarding it for almost five hundred years, both from humans and for humans. Adding it to the Hidden Kingdom theme park was part of the cover-up of The Great Loss.
I walked around the staggering line of little girls waiting to be dolled up like princesses at the boutique, and slid through the horde of tourists watching
the show on the main stage. The wait for the Royal Table lunch had to be two hours long based on the human chain down the pathway. None of these were of interest to me. No, I needed the back side of the castle where the hidden staircase winded up the tower and provided an excellent vantage point for finding fairies.
I was halfway up when I spotted her tucked away in a castle window and brushing her fiery hair. I froze mid step to avoid spooking her. If I hadn’t known what she looked like, I might’ve missed her. She couldn’t have been more than two feet tall, and her little transparent pink wings were definitely larger than her body. Truth was, I’d never actually seen a real, living fairy before. Apparently they rarely ventured out of their realm anymore, except for this one who wouldn’t leave ours.
Okay, little miss, here I come. I took three steps, and her head snapped to me. Her big eyes widened. We stared at each other for a long moment, neither of us moving an inch until a pigeon landed on the windowsill and she took off like a bat out of hell. I raced down the steps, running parallel to her path. She looked over her shoulder and then took a sharp right and flew toward the forested area behind the castle. Without slowing my pace, I leapt over the rail and slid down the pitched roof that covered the pedestrian pathway. The shingles rattled under my weight, but I glided over them like it was a Slip ‘N Slide. Part of me wondered what the humans below me heard, but I pushed the thought away.
Just before I reached the edge, I jumped up, caught the thick branch of an oak tree, and swung myself around it like a gymnast on uneven bars to keep my momentum going. When my feet hit the dirt, I rolled into a somersault and pushed off the ground into a sprint. My little fairy friend had the upper hand with her wings, but I had magical powers on my side. I summoned gusts of wind and slammed them into her head-on. Her wings fluttered and struggled to fly against the wind, slowing her pace significantly. I pushed my powers full throttle, thankful for the cloak of trees to hide my glowing skin.
The Chosen Witch Page 4