And why should it stop there? I just wanted to go find my new bed and collapse in it, then not get out until the next night. But no. I now stood in Eden’s infirmary, with all of my Coven-mates standing around me as we stared in horror at the unconscious witch.
Kenneth.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that he’d sacrificed himself to save Bentley, even though it was only a couple days ago. Technically he was still alive, but barely. I didn’t want to believe it, but somehow I just knew we were going to lose him, too. No one else spoke. We all just stood there staring.
The door flew open, and a familiar face appeared in the doorway. Her auburn hair was tied up on top of her head, and her brown eyes looked exactly like I felt: exhausted and emotionally drained.
I sighed and waved. “Katherine…”
She smiled but it held no happiness. “Hello, my favorite Coven. I wish I had better news to give you.”
Lily tucked her hair behind her ears. “Just tell us like it is.”
We all nodded in agreement.
Katherine shrugged and threw her hands up. “He has Witch’s Shock, and I think you all suspected that already. The truth is, we simply don’t have any hope of healing him here. We must go to the Crones.”
Royce nodded then crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, so let’s go right now.”
“He cannot portal. And he’s not yet strong enough to survive the travel.” Katherine pressed her fingers to his forehead. “That’s our focus now. Getting him strong enough to travel.”
I cursed. This was not good news. I cleared my throat. “Okay, but the second he’s ready to make the trip, you let me know and we’ll take him.”
“I promise.” She walked away from Kenneth and paused to squeeze my arm. “You have my word.”
The door flew open again and a girl about my age poked her head in, long blonde curls fell over her shoulder. “Katherine? Sorry to interrupt, but three more just came in.”
Katherine sighed long and hard. She nodded. “Thanks, Abby. Get them started in the back room and I’ll be right there.”
Abby nodded then ducked back out the door.
I frowned. “Three more came in? What does that mean?”
Katherine turned her eyes to me. “These past few days we’ve had a rush of witch’s flu come in.”
Constance cursed. “I thought it was lightening up.”
“I thought so, too.” Katherine shook her head. “I feel this might be a product of the demon activity. Mona and I are devising a report to send to you later tonight. Or morning, whichever it is now.”
I did not like the sound of that at all. “Alright, let us know when you do.”
“Will do. You all need to get out of here, don’t need you catching anything.” She smiled and moved toward the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to mix some new potions for him.”
“Thank you, Katherine,” Tegan whispered as our Lead Healer from back home left us alone in the room.
A heavy, tense silence filled the room around us. I knew where all of their thoughts were. We’d already seen what Witch’s Shock could do to Tegan, and she was the Aether Witch, the most powerful witch in the world in centuries, or longer. Kenneth was strong, but he wasn’t that strong. None of us were. And we’d already lost too many people this year. Cassandra. Libby. Larissa. Timothy.
I cursed. “All right, guys, we’re not helping him heal being in here like this.”
“What do you want us to do, boss?” Royce asked softly as he stared at Kenneth.
“Go to Coven Headquarters. Find a bed, get in it, then sleep.” I took a deep breath then exhaled. “I’ll have new plans for us in the morning.”
Constance smiled and squeezed my arm supportively, then she moved toward the door. “Come on, I’ll show you to your rooms.”
My Coven-mates followed her out in a quiet, single-file line. My father and Tegan didn’t budge. Then again, neither had I.
The door swung open silently, and a woman came rushing in carrying a tray of crystals and powders. She set the tray on the nightstand then turned toward us. Her blonde hair hung straight down past her shoulders, and her brown eyes had huge slices of purple in them. She wore ripped-up blue jeans and a worn-out-looking Queen graphic T-shirt.
She was on my side of the bed, so when she turned, she gave me a big warm smile and held out her left hand. “Hello, Emperor. I’m Mona White.”
“Please, call me Tennessee.” I shook her hand and nodded toward my soulmate. “This is Tegan—”
“High Priestess, so nice to meet you,” Mona said with a blush. “When you have a chance, I would love to talk to you about some potions.”
Tegan grinned and shook her hand. “I’d love to.”
I chuckled and gestured to my right. “Mona, this is my father, Kessler Bishop.”
She smiled and turned toward him—and her eyes widened. She gasped and her cheeks flushed a deep pink. I glanced up at my father only to find his face a little pale and his amber eyes wide and shocked. I frowned and glanced back and forth between him and Mona. Do they know each other? I was sorting through my memories of important people in our race when my father reached up and rubbed his chest.
My jaw dropped. I looked over my shoulder to see if Tegan saw what I did. Her mouth hung open, but as I watched, it morphed into a big shit-eating grin. Her pale eyes sparkled. She threw her hand over her mouth.
BABE. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?
I nodded.
She giggled in my head. Okay, but is it weird for us to be here?
I nodded. It was. Quite weird. I opened my mouth to say something—anything—to break up the awkwardness in the room, when Mona seemed to have caught herself.
She cleared her throat and tucked her blonde strands behind her ears. “It was nice meeting you.” Then she bowed and scurried for the door. She paused halfway out and stared at my father. She bit her lip and disappeared from sight.
I must’ve made some kind of crazy face because my father cleared his throat. “You all right, son?”
Changing the subject that quick? Yeah, you don’t want to talk about it. I looked over to him and shrugged. All right was a complicated question. “I guess so? Honestly, it’s weird for me to be in charge and not you.”
He rubbed his chest and gave me a smile. “No one expects you to be perfect or to know all the answers, son. I’m right here. If you want to order everyone to listen to me, then do it, but you’re so damn good at this already. I’m proud of you.”
My cheeks warmed and I knew I was blushing, but it was only him and Tegan in here so I didn’t care. “Thanks, Dad. I’m going to need your help. I know that much. Both of you, actually. And I had an idea, don’t know if it’s good, but I think it is.”
“Tell us,” they both said at the same time.
“I know we let in a sickening amount of demons, and we should be out hunting them down…but…” I glanced around to make sure we were alone and out of earshot. “I’m overwhelmed by the panic here in Eden.”
Tegan sighed. “I feel it, too.”
My father nodded and pursed his lips while still rubbing at his chest. “I was thinking the same. What’s your gut telling you?”
I rolled my neck. “Everyone here is freaked out. First the demons, and now Timothy? We know a little more than they do, but it’s more unsettling. I think The Coven needs to stick here for a bit.”
“Strengthen home base. I think that’s a great idea, son.”
Pressure instantly lifted off my shoulders. “Yeah? I want everyone to know we’re here for them. We’re a team. I think they need that, so we need to stay in Eden.”
Tegan’s eyes flashed with excitement, and I felt her pulse quicken through my glyph. “I think The Coven needs to attend Edenburg…and I’m going to all the classes.”
I chuckled and pulled her into my chest, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “I think that’s a brilliant idea, my love.”
My phone rang. It was a text message�
��I knew by the ringtone. But when I pulled my phone out of my pocket and eyed the notification, I found it was a number I didn’t know.
“Oh, by the way…” Tegan giggled. “I bought Saffie a cell phone and showed her how to text. Soooo, I’m sorry?”
Chapter Fifteen
Bettina
“So, what is this assembly for exactly?” Lennox asked as we slipped inside the auditorium doors. “Like, it’s just to clear your name?”
I shrugged and pulled my black cloak tighter around my body. “Tennessee said he needed to talk to the students anyway.”
“That boy is all kinds of fine.” Lennox fanned herself. Then she nudged my arm. Her turquoise cloak made her eyes look a little greener today. “Even if he’s not your type.”
I groaned. “Please, I can’t talk about my type right now—” I choked on a gasp and froze in place. Heat rushed through my entire body. “Jackson.”
Jackson stood right in front of us. I’d been so lost in my own head I hadn’t seen him step in front of us. But I saw him now. I sighed. The sight of him made my heart hurt. He was too pretty for his own good. Those golden bronze locks were looking distractingly tousled, and he had the lightest layer of scruff on his jaw. Those aquamarine eyes were bright and intense. My heart fluttered. I licked my lips, and he looked down to my mouth.
His gaze lingered on my lips.
“Jackson, hi,” Lennox said in a cheerful voice. “We were just talking about you.”
My cheeks lit on fire, and I elbowed her. He narrowed his eyes at her, then moved his attention back to me. Each time his eyes were on me, I felt beams of energy brushing over my face.
He stared at my mouth for a moment longer then shook himself and looked away. “Get seated,” he grumbled then practically ran away from me.
I groaned and hung my head. “I can’t handle this.”
Lennox wrapped her arm around mine then led me around the corner. “I have no appropriate, PG-13-level answer for you.”
Someone in a black Swords cloak was leaning against the wall, and when we approached, they pushed off and moved toward us. When they reached up and slid their hood down, I recognized a familiar buzz cut on a petite face. Genevieve wrung her hands together. Her eyes were bloodshot and had dark bags under them.
She cringed. “Bettina, I’m sorry. Apologizing like this doesn’t feel sufficient, but I don’t know how else to do it. I believed you. I tried to defend you, but I don’t think I did enough and—”
“Gen,” I whispered and reached out to grab her hands. “Thank you. The thought means more to me than you know.”
She sighed and her shoulders dropped, then she smiled and squeezed my hands. “You’re a much better friend than I am, not sure I would’ve forgiven me so easily.”
“I’m not sure I would’ve reacted any differently than you did if our roles were reversed. Besides, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to get themselves in trouble for me.” I shrugged and dropped her hands. “And you’re a good friend, I’m sure Erin would agree — oh, Goddess, how is Erin?”
All of the happiness in Gen’s face vanished. “The same.”
My stomach turned. The same wasn’t good. “I’ll talk to Tegan, see if they can help her at all.”
“Oh, right. You’re besties with the High Priestess. Trey told me.” She chuckled and shook her head. “That’s cool. But maybe we better get inside before the Emperor starts.”
Lennox wagged her eyebrows. “Let’s go drool over Tennessee.”
I rolled my eyes and let her lead us to the main doors. “I am not going to drool over my best friend’s boyfriend. No, scratch that, her soulmate.” I knew what their matching glyphs meant. I’d seen them on Constance and Daniel. Besides, Tegan had told me so herself. In hindsight, she’d been telling me more than I realized.
“Fine. I’ll look at Tennessee. You can ogle—”
“Lennox!” I hissed under my breath. I didn’t need everyone on campus to know.
Gen hooked her arm around my other one. “Best to stick together.”
My stomach dropped and turned.
This is a bad idea. But there was no stopping it now.
Gen yanked the doors open, and they crashed against the wall with a bang. Every single Edenburg student in the auditorium turned toward us and gasped. Several hundred pairs of eyes glared at me.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to hold out a huge sign that said I’m innocent so they’d stop looking at me like that. But shouldn’t they have known by now? Everyone saw me at the funeral, standing beside The Coven. I wasn’t in the dungeon anymore. That should’ve been a sign in itself. The Coven wouldn’t have let me out if I was guilty.
Sharp, tense silence closed in around us. It weighed down on me, suffocating me until I felt like I was drowning. I cleared my throat and shifted my weight around, yet they still stared at me. I looked down at my hands, and though I’d scrubbed them several times, I still saw Timothy’s blood.
“Well, this is awkward,” Lennox grumbled. “Let’s just find a seat.”
Gen pointed to the right, at a section of seats halfway down the auditorium and on the side. “Over there.”
Without another word, my two friends dragged me forward…and right down the center aisle. I tried to keep my chin up and my eyes forward, but the crowd’s angry gazes felt like ice on my spine. This was one of those precise moments where I wished I was shorter. Both Gen and Lennox were average height, so if I was just a few inches shorter, I could’ve hid between them. But at five foot ten, I’d always been taller than any other girl I’d met. So as they practically carried me up the center aisle, there was nothing to block the crowd’s view.
They all watched me like I was a ticking time bomb.
“Just breathe,” Tegan said.
I jumped at the sound of my best friend’s voice and looked up. I glanced over my shoulders and around me, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Her voice had sounded so close, like she was standing beside me.
“Relax, I’m not in there,” she said, like she was watching me search for her.
What in the actual hell. I frowned and scanned the rows of students closest to me. “Did you hear that?”
“Did I hear what?” Lennox asked in a chipper voice like nothing about this was weird.
“Just keep moving,” Gen whispered.
But I’d just heard Tegan’s voice. Twice. I refused to think I was losing my mind.
“Oh, and by the way, I’m telepathic,” Tegan said, still invisible from sight.
I felt the blood leave my face as my jaw dropped. WHAT?
In case I forgot to mention that. Tegan giggled and the sound bounced around my head.
Yeah, she’d forgotten to mention that little detail.
So no one else can hear me speaking to you, just so you know. Her voice was soft in my head. Sorry, I probably should’ve warned you.
I shook my head and bit my cheek to stop myself from smiling. Apparently my best friend had more secrets than I even realized. She and I needed to have a conversation soon.
And no, I can’t hear your thoughts. Which just pisses me off, because wouldn’t that be just TOO convenient, Tegan grumbled in my head, and it sounded exactly like she was standing next to me. Anyhoooo…not to be creepy, but I’m watching you. And you should see how funny it looks to see two short girls drag your giant ass.
I closed my eyes to stop myself from rolling them.
Tennessee is going to clear your name in a few minutes, so just sit down and try to stay calm. Her mental voice was as strong as her regular one. I’m right here, okay? If anyone so much as sneezes too close to you, I will straight up fry their asses.
At that, I smiled. Despite all this weird craziness, she still sounded like my best friend. Like the person I’d grown up with my entire life. A huge part of me was worried about that. She was this big badass witch, the High Priestess of The Coven. The Aether Witch. The Emperor and Coven Leader’s soulmate. She was uber important…and I was no one.
/> Actually, I was worse than no one. I was the murderer. Sure, she’d said Tennessee was going to clear my name, but I worried the looks I was seeing in their eyes were never going to leave. I’d fallen from grace. I was the fallen witch…and I feared I always would be.
We finally turned off the center aisle and slipped into the first row of the side section. But even after we were seated, the crowd kept staring. Watching. They didn’t trust me. The worst part was I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t think I’d trust me if the roles were reversed.
Oh, one more thing. When this is over, I’m gonna have some Coven shit to do. So just go to class like normal. When I’m done, I’ll come find you.
I nodded and chuckled. That was weird.
Constance and Headmaster Daniel walked onto the stage. They both wore their school cloaks that were currently white. I frowned and looked down. My own cloak was white. Damn, I missed it. Our cloaks had some kind of enchantment on them so whenever we entered a ceremonial situation, they automatically turned white. I liked to watch that part happen.
“Hello, everyone,” Constance said, cutting into the bitter silence. Her voice carried over the room without her needing to yell, which I assumed was another spell. “Thank you for being here. As you know, we crowned our new Coven Leader yesterday. Today, he’d like to speak with you all. So, I’d like to formally introduce you all to your Emperor and Coven Leader, Tennessee Wildes.”
The air in the auditorium pulsed with electricity, and then a wave of raw energy rolled over us. Constance stepped to the side just as a dark shadow moved onto the stage. I knew who it was. I’d met him several times now. Yet when he walked under the lights, it took everything in me not to duck and hide. Tennessee prowled to the edge of the stage, and I heard an echo of girls sighing. I couldn’t blame them—he was stupid gorgeous. His black hair fell in waves to his shoulders, and with his tanned skin, his mismatched eyes really popped. He’d ditched the ceremonial white sheath and gone back to the same outfit I’d seen him in at the Gathering and at my house—black V-neck T-shirt, ripped-up black jeans, beaten black combat boots. The pink crystal heart in the center of his chest was on full display.
The Fallen Witch (The Coven: Academy Magic Book 2) Page 7