Magick (Book 3 in the Coven Series) Page 11

  With a sigh, I step out of his arms. “Well, here goes everything.”

  Sarah and the rest of the Bane congregate outside the room. Toni and Egan follow a moment later, though I notice Egan is partially distracted by whatever is on the tablet screen in his hands. I nudge Keller out of the room to join the others.

  “Remember, all of you stay out here, ready to slam the doors and run if you have to.” I’m overly aware of the squeak of my sneakers on the floor as I turn and walk to the center of the room. I shake my arms to alleviate some of the anxiety pulsing in me like another heartbeat.

  “Don’t focus on fear,” Sarah says as she approaches me. “Keep your mind on the light. Think of the darkness as a road you have to travel to reach it.”

  I laugh a little when AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” pops into my head. When Sarah looks at me with a question in her expression, I wave it away. “Sorry.” When I glance at Keller, he winks at me. Just when I thought he couldn’t make me melt any more inside.

  After Sarah removes one of the bracelets, I stop her before she can remove the second. “Let me try it like this first.”

  She nods then joins the others.

  “Okay, here we go.” I fling my hands out palms up, and energy forms effortlessly at my fingertips. I let everything inside me rush to the surface, and suddenly it’s like a tornado in the room with swirling wind and crackling lightning. I sense the lightness deep inside me and reach for it. But each time I try to grasp it, it slides farther away. I force more power down my arms and out into the room. I sense all the expectant gazes on me, the mentally crossed fingers. But no matter how many times I reach for the white magic, it refuses to be caught.

  Anger replaces my determination, and my vision begins to darken. Sarah’s words come back to me. Travel it like a road. My feet lift off the floor as I envision that road and imagine myself floating down it.

  That’s it, let go.

  I cry out and drop to the floor. I stalk across the room and barely keep myself from punching the wall. A broken hand isn’t exactly what I need right now.

  Keller starts to enter the room. “Jax.”

  I hold up a hand. “Nope. I’ve got this.” As soon as he retreats, I immediately call upon my magic again and force it as far as it will go. But each time I feel like I’m about to tap into something greater, I feel like I bounce off an invisible wall. When I finally stop trying, I’m sweating like I’ve run a marathon through Miami in July. When I raise a hand to wipe the sweat away from my forehead, I catch sight of the bracelet on my arm.

  “Damn it,” I say under my breath, cursing the fact that Sarah and the others were likely right. I look out at the curious faces watching me. “The bracelet’s got to go.”

  “But that’s the only thing keeping you from going totally dark witch,” Amanda says.

  “Exactly.” I meet Sarah’s eyes, and she gives me a nod.

  Keller does come into the room this time. He walks straight toward me and takes my hands.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to be your anchor, so you remember who you really are,” he says.

  “You’re a crazy fool, Keller Dawes. But I think that’s why I love you so much.”

  His smile makes me want to forget magic and drag him off somewhere private.

  Sarah steps up beside us. “You’re going to need every bit of focus you have.”

  I nod my understanding.

  She places her hands on my wrist, and in the space of a breath the bracelet slips off and a well of darkness floods my body.

  “Look at me, Jax,” Keller says as he gently squeezes my hands. “Focus on the good inside you.”

  I fight the demands of the dark magic swirling inside me like a bubbling cauldron. I begin to shake with the effort of not giving in, but Keller squeezes my hands more firmly. I focus on where our hands are joined and imagine a white light there. Once I see it and it steadies, I force it from my hands to my wrists then up my forearms.

  The darkness lashes out at me, causing the light to recede. I almost give up, but Keller’s hands are still there giving me strength. I can’t let him down when he believes in me enough to put his life at risk.

  It feels like I’m at war as I beat back the darkness inch by inch, replacing it with light. With each advance I make, it grows a bit easier to hold it steady. That is until I’m about halfway through. Then the demon darkness inside of me roars and starts clawing at me like an angry lion, telling me that I will need it someday. My knees go weak, but Keller shifts his hands to my forearms and keeps me upright. And at the edge of my awareness, I feel Egan, too. He’s focusing all his energy on the light inside me as Toni holds his hands.

  I smile, and my heart suddenly feels as light as a balloon. The darkness takes another swipe, but I ride the wave of its anger closer to the light. It’s getting brighter, stronger. I’m not going to listen to the dark part of myself. I choose light.

  “Step away,” I whisper to Keller.

  “Never.”

  “No, I need you to. It’s good.”

  He hesitates, but he must sense I’m okay and gradually slips his hands from my arms. The darkness laughs with pure evil, robbing me of some of the light. I wait until Keller is out of the room before I close my eyes and tunnel all of my energy toward the center of the darkness and fire light straight at its heart. As I keep up the barrage, my hair lifts in all directions and my feet drift from the floor. I stretch my arms out to my sides, feeling like I’m floating on a cloud.

  My eyes pop open as I explode in bright white light. Only this time, I don’t let the lingering darkness frighten me or keep me from reaching even farther. I let myself burn bright as a star as the darkness begins to fade little by little. The demon’s screams grow fainter, the dark’s hold on me weaker. Everything suddenly seems more beautiful than I could ever imagine. The dark makes a last-ditch effort to assert control, but it’s too late. With one last surge, the dark disappears.

  The storm swirling around me calms, and I drift slowly down until my feet touch the floor. My hair settles back into place, and the crackling energy recedes from the edges of the room and back into me. The quiet in the room is absolute. Everyone is looking at me as if they can’t believe their eyes.

  “That was . . . amazing,” Piper says, her voice filled with awe.

  “Beautiful,” Caren says.

  “You did it, didn’t you?” Keller asks.

  For a moment I simply look at him, as much in awe of him as he is of me. “I did. It’s gone.”

  “Gone?” Sarah asks.

  I meet her gaze. “The darkness. It’s all gone, like I burned it into nonexistence.”

  Keller walks slowly forward and takes my hand. We don’t need any more than that simple touch at this point, not after we shared so much intense emotion only moments ago. Toni rushes forward and hugs me. Even Egan comes forward and kisses me loudly on the forehead.

  “Damn girl, that was something else,” Egan says. Everyone laughs at his thick Texas twang coming out stronger than usual.

  I squeeze Keller’s hand in one of mine and Egan’s in the other, beyond thankful to have them both backing me up. When Toni grasps the guys’ other hands, Egan and I both gasp and tense as a strange vibration runs through the four of us. It’s followed by what feels like the pop of a large rubber band. I drop Keller’s and Egan’s hands, but the feeling is still there.

  “What was that?” Toni asks.

  “You felt it?” I ask.

  “Yeah, and I still feel tingly all over.”

  Keller looks first at the top of his hands then his palms. “I think we all did.” Curiosity laced with a layer of concern flows through him.

  Wait, how do I know that? I look up at Egan. “Do you feel that, too?”

  He’s staring at Toni. “Yeah.”

  “Feel what?” Toni asks, her eyebrows scrunched.

  I take a moment to wander through my senses to make sure I’m really feeling what I think I am. But
it’s all there, crazy as it seems. “I can sense your emotions, your presence.” I look from Toni to Keller. “Both of you, the same as I can Egan.”

  “Me, too,” Egan says.

  “That’s impossible,” Hope says as she comes close to us. “They’re not witches.”

  “Seems like impossible is falling by the wayside a lot lately,” Sarah says.

  I direct my attention to the head of the Bane. “Care to share what’s going on here? Have I done some freaky white witch thing without knowing it?”

  “You’ve extended your coven bond to Keller and Toni.”

  I hear what she’s saying, but it doesn’t compute. “Coven bonds only extend to witches.”

  “I wonder.” Sarah places her hands on her hips and takes a few steps, appearing deep in thought. When she stops, she points back at the four of us. “Did you know that’s how the first generation of dark covens sealed their families’ coven bonds, by holding hands while the head of the coven had his power fully engaged?”

  I shake my head.

  “They chose who to bond with.”

  “But they were all already witches,” Egan says. “Like Rule’s family.”

  “Yes, but I’ve got to wonder if it would have been possible to bond with non-witches even then.”

  “You’re saying we’re witches now?” Toni asks, her eyes wide.

  “No,” Sarah says. “You’re either born a witch or not. But family bonds are different. It just so happens that the covens formed along family lines.”

  “But only Toni and I are related,” Keller says.

  Sarah motions to me. “Everything we’ve known for centuries is changing thanks to Jax.”

  “So you’re saying this could be a family of choice versus family of genetics situation?” A buzz of excitement builds within me. These three people next to me are more of a family to me than my blood relations. I find I wish Rule were already here so he could be a part of this, too.

  Sarah nods. “It makes sense when you think about it.”

  A sudden thought sends a shot of concern through me. “Will this replace the coven bond with my family?”

  “I don’t know. We won’t know until you’re near enough to one of them to test it.”

  “What if I can’t sense them anymore? I won’t know when we’re in danger.”

  Keller takes my hand. “Don’t worry about that yet. We’re safe here.”

  “We’re rewriting the laws of how everything witch-related works,” Sarah says. “But if I were to guess, I’d say your original bond is still intact. That’s three centuries of family bond strength.”

  “I burned away the darkness. Maybe I did the same thing to that Pherson coven bond.”

  Sarah shrugs. “Unfortunately, we won’t know until faced with that situation.”

  Great, just what I want. To possibly find out I can’t sense my family anymore when at any moment they could have me surrounded.

  Chapter Nine

  “You don’t feel any darkness anymore?” Egan asks later from where he sits with his arm around Toni on the couch opposite Keller and me.

  I look deep within myself, still marveling at the absence of dark magic. The demon’s voice, which wasn’t really a demon but just the darkest aspects of myself, is gone as well. I feel freer than I ever have. I shake my head. “I keep fearing it’s a trick, that it will come roaring back when I least expect it. But for now, it’s simply not there.”

  Egan picks at a seam on the couch arm, and I sense the frustration in him. I wish there were a way for him to experience the same type of freedom.

  Keller and Toni didn’t receive any extra-sensory abilities when our new coven bond snapped into place, but Toni is intuitive enough to know what Egan’s thinking. “You don’t have to be a white witch to be a good person,” she says. “You’ve been by Jax’s side backing her up every step of the way, and that tells me all I need to know about what kind of person you are.”

  He smiles and pulls her close, but beyond the smile I can still sense how unsettled and unsure of himself he is.

  “She’s right,” I say.

  The approaching sound of voices draws our attention toward the door, and I detect relief in Egan. He wants to work through this on his own. I respect that.

  Piper walks through the doorway followed by Rule and Adele. I jump off the couch and head straight for them. I give Adele a quick hug, then pull Rule more fully into my arms.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks.

  I blink against unexpected tears. I hadn’t let myself think about how much I was worried about them. “I’m just glad you’re here.” I step back but clasp his hand. “Safe.”

  “I get the feeling we’re safe from nuclear war down here,” he says.

  I feel a stirring of jealousy in Keller, so I look toward him and smile. The twinge of jealousy recedes, replaced by relief. I get the feeling it’s more a relief that I won’t have to go out and put myself in danger to get Rule and Adele than anything else. When I see Piper staring at where I’m holding Rule’s hand, I let go to stand behind Keller, my hands on his shoulders. He reaches up and entwines the fingers of one hand with mine.

  Sarah joins the group, followed by Hope, Caren and Amanda. “I see our newest guests have arrived,” Sarah says. “Welcome back.”

  “I still can’t believe this place, that all of you have been here all this time and we never knew,” Adele says.

  “Absolute secrecy was essential for our survival.”

  “We’ve always lived by the same code,” Adele says. “And yet I understand you knew about us.”

  Sarah indicates for Adele to take a seat. “It’s time you heard the story of how our families are connected.”

  I watch Adele and Rule’s faces as Sarah recounts the story of Penelope Davenport and Benjamin Latimer. I can tell by the changes in their expressions—the widening of eyes, the slight opening of mouths, shifts in position—that they’ve never heard this story before. It must be a shock for a family whose purpose has been to record the history of witches in Salem to find out that there is a big chunk of that history they don’t know, a piece that involved their own family.

  I glance at Piper. She’s watching Rule, too, but I don’t think it’s to judge his reaction to a story from the past. I wonder if now, three hundred years later, love might blossom between Penelope’s and Benjamin’s descendants. I smile at that possibility. It makes me really happy to think I maybe had a part in that happening. I watch as Rule glances toward Piper and catches her watching him. She blushes but doesn’t shift her gaze away.

  Quiet settles in the wake of Sarah’s revelations. Adele is the first one to speak. “Mom would have loved knowing all of this.”

  Sorrow stabs me in the heart, and I think back to how Fiona had insisted she believed I’d find a way to become the white witch I’d glimpsed at Shiprock. Her daughter and grandson deserve to know she was right. “If your brains aren’t about to explode, I have something else to tell you.”

  Rule pulls his gaze from Piper, but I notice he eases over on the couch. She casually sits beside him. They don’t touch, but I don’t have to have a coven bond with them to know there’s a lot of nervous attraction building between them.

  Instead of launching into a long story, I step away from the couches toward an emptier part of the room. I lift my hands and call upon my magic. Where it used to explode out of me, now it comes easily. I go from normal-looking me to bright white in the blink of an eye.

  Adele gasps and brings her hand to her mouth. Rule jumps to his feet. “You did it.”

  I pull the magic back in, returning to normal. “I couldn’t have done it without you, both of you.” I swallow. “And Fiona. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.” I look around the room at my friends. “And she wasn’t the only one. I have no doubt I couldn’t have done this without the help I got from my friends.” I look down at the floor for a moment before lifting my gaze back to the people watching me. “I can’t tell yo
u how odd that still feels to say, that I have friends. Real friends.” I shift my gaze to Toni, Egan and then Keller. “More than friends. A family.”

  I wish I could capture this moment so I can pull it out in the tough days ahead to remind me that whatever I have to go through will be worth it.

  Sarah stands and rounds her desk. “It’s getting late. And I don’t know about anyone else, but I could use some rest.”

  Hope steps toward the door. “Adele, I’ll show you to your room. Rule, yours is next to Keller and Egan’s.”

  “Hey, why does he get his own room?” Egan teases as he ruffles Rule’s hair.

  Rule retaliates by fake punching Egan in the gut. After some good-natured wrestling between the two of them, we all head for the hallway. Only I notice Sarah doesn’t follow us. Instead, she shuts the doors to her office quietly. I stop and stare at those doors and consider going back inside. She’s hiding something, and I doubt it could be anything that doesn’t involve me in some way.

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” Keller says as he drapes his arm around my shoulders and guides me down the hallway.

  Soon enough turns out to be the next morning at breakfast. Sarah walks in after everyone is seated but doesn’t sit herself.

  “In the past weeks, information has been held back until the holder of that information felt it was the right time to reveal it,” she says. “There has been one thing I’ve had to keep to myself until now. It’s a secret known only to the head of the Bane, and none of my predecessors ever had a reason to share it.” She looks straight at me. “I know the location of the missing page to the Beginning Book.”

  A collective inhale of surprise goes through the room. Once the initial shock passes, I scoot forward on my chair. “Where?”

  “Inside Penelope Davenport’s crypt.”

  “That doesn’t do us much good when we can’t get inside it,” Rule says.