The Eternal Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 5) Read online

  THE ETERNAL WITCH

  THE COVEN: ELEMENTAL MAGIC BOOK FIVE

  Chandelle Lavaun

  WANDERLOST PUBLISHING

  For Michelle and Linsey.

  I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. This simple dedication is insufficient, perhaps one day I’ll find a way to show you both my appreciation appropriately. You’ve changed my life into something I never thought would actually happen.

  So I say THANK YOU a million times, and then a little bit more.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter Ten

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Chapter Twelve

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  TENNESSEE

  Tegan turned and looked at us with a big, devious smile. “Welcome to Salem.”

  A gust of ice-cold wind swept through the cemetery and brushed over me. I shivered and goose bumps spread across my body. My teeth chattered together. The long black strands of my hair whipped across my face. I pushed it back, and my balance faltered. The world around me spun. One second, I was upright, and the next I was a few feet over on my knees. My body didn’t seem to know how to function without my magic. I looked up at Tegan, and my breath left me in a rush. I sank down on my heels. She was beautiful and terrifying.

  The girl who owned my heart stood before us looking like an avenging angel. She looked eerily similar to Gabriel. Why? I had no idea, and it made my stomach tighten into knots. Her entire body glowed a soft, shimmering white. It reminded me of that cavern we dove into back on our very first quest together. Her soulmate glyph was on full display in her thin-strapped tank top, standing out in stark contrast to the glow. That pink heart-shaped crystal pulsed like it had a heartbeat. It was probably mine since she’d sucked it right out of my chest.

  Why? I tried to say, but my mouth failed me. I didn’t have the energy. She’d hollowed me out. Why did she bother bringing all of us? What are we doing here?

  No one else spoke. I had a feeling they were as lost as I was.

  Emersyn coughed from off to my right, though I couldn’t see her. “So, this is Salem,” she whispered.

  “This is Salem.” Tegan nodded and bounced the white glistening ball of magic in her left hand. Her II High Priestess Mark was a slap in the face. She stepped closer until the gold of her irises were visible. Her gaze swept over the group. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Okay?” Easton snapped. “You stole our magic!”

  “If I stole it, then it wouldn’t be sitting in my hand like this.” She rolled her gold and white Angel eyes. “I merely borrowed it.”

  I frowned. What does that mean? There was a bunch of grumbling and cursing, but no one responded to her. I suspected they were afraid to, or just didn’t know how.

  Tegan moved even closer. Her long black hair whipped around her head like a cape in the dark. “Now, is anyone hurt? I can’t just give your magic back if you’re injured. There’s a process for that.”

  Wait...what? She’s giving it back? Just like that? I couldn’t figure out what her play was. She had us in the palm of her hands, literally and figuratively. Why give her biggest bargaining chip back? Surely I’d misheard. Or maybe this was another trick?

  A chorus of mumbles echoed around me as everyone admitted they weren’t injured. I scowled and glanced over my shoulder at my Coven-mates. They looked mad and confused...and a little rough around the edges. But no one appeared to be injured.

  “Excellent,” Tegan said, pulling my eyes back to her. She waved her right hand over the ball of magic then flicked her fingers toward us.

  Light flashed by my face, and gasps sounded all around me. I frowned and looked around. Little red flowers popped up in the grass under Royce’s hand. Streetlights reflected off the metal armor covering Easton’s body. Rays of sunshine spilled from Lily’s palms. Willow created an illusion of palm trees through the cemetery. All around me, lightning flashed in my friends’ faces, revealing grins and sighs of relief as my Coven-mates’ magic returned.

  I frowned and glanced down at my body...but I felt nothing. Studded black combat boots popped into view. I looked up and found Tegan standing right in front of me. White magic swirled around her fingers. My magic. She’d given everyone else their magic back except mine.

  Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink. She smiled, not the villainous kind I’d been seeing for two weeks but the one I saw the night she’d crashed into me at The Gathering. She licked her bright red lips. “Are you okay? Are you...injured? I didn’t... I wasn’t...prepared for how much taking your magic would hurt you. I knew it would be worse for you, but that...” She shuddered. Her voice was soft. “That was awful. I’m sorry.”

  My eyes widened. “You’re sorry?” I heard myself whisper. I... Why... What is happening right now?

  “Of course,” she whispered back, though she wouldn’t look at me for more than a second. “Give me your hands, please. This shouldn’t hurt.”

  I had no idea what was going on, but I did know my magic was in her palm and I desperately wanted it back. I raised my hands and ignored the way my fingers trembled. My pulse skipped. I clenched my teeth and tried to brace myself for excruciating pain again. She lowered her hands and gently placed my magic into my outstretched, open palms.

  The second my magic hit my skin, my body illuminated into that glow I knew so well. First in my fingers, then up my arms and throughout my body. As my magic spread, the chill in the air lessened. The goose bumps vanished. My fingers didn’t shake. Warmth spread through my muscles and down my back. The weight pressing my body to the ground crumbled away, and I felt lighter than a feather. Wild, raw energy radiated through the air around me, brushing over my body. Earth’s magic pulsed in the ground under my knees. Every nerve ending in my body tingled with awareness. My magic sang with power. I felt alive. I felt amazing.

  I looked down at my hands and sighed with relief at the sight of the little green lightning bolts coiling around my fingers. My magic was back. Thank Goddess. I looked back up to Tegan with only about a million questions on the tip of my tongue. I opened my mouth, then shut it again.

  She was biting her lip and watching me with anxious green eyes.

  Wait. Her eyes are green again.

  “Are you okay now?”

  “What have you done?” I asked, ignoring her question. I was fine physically. My magic was back. But I needed to know what she was up to.

  She smiled and tucked my hair behind my ear. “That’s a loaded question.” Then she turned and walked away from me.

  “Tegan,” I said to her back. “What are you doing here?”

  “Samhain is ten days away.” She glanced over her shoulder at me but kept walk
ing. “What do you think we’re doing here?”

  “I know what we’re doing here,” I growled through clenched teeth and jumped to my feet. My magic surged to the surface, anxious for me to call on it. “I asked what you’re doing here.”

  She crouched in front of Royce and ran her fingers through Henley’s ink-black hair. The golden wave ring Keltie gave her glistened under the moon and streetlights. “Larissa, I need that potion now.”

  Larissa’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t make you a potion.”

  “It’s the one I asked you to make a few days ago.” Bentley climbed to his feet and brushed dirt off his jeans before moving to stand beside his sister. “Tegan is the one who requested it.”

  “What?” Larissa’s eyes widened. She looked back and forth between the siblings. “Seriously? That potion was weird. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised our new Black Magic Queen requested it. I’m not giving it to you unless you tell me what it’s for.”

  Tegan sighed and shook her head. “A demon has been living in Henley’s body. I forced it out, but she won’t wake without that potion. It’s complicated. I know you have it. Bentley told you to carry it on you. Give it to me, or I’ll take it from you.”

  Larissa’s face paled. She dug in the pocket of her denim jacket and pulled out a little purple vial.

  “GIVE IT TO HER,” Royce yelled. He held his hand out toward her and snapped his fingers. “Now, please!”

  “This better not be another trick.” Larissa crawled over and placed the vial in Royce’s hand.

  Royce handed the vial to Tegan without hesitation. He licked his lips. “It’s gone? For good? Will she wake up right away?”

  Tegan unscrewed the top and sniffed the opening. She nodded in approval, then held Henley’s mouth open with her other hand and poured the potion in. The liquid looked like oil, black as night with shimmering purple and blue tones. My pulse quickened. My hand landed on the hilt of my sword, and it broke my heart that that was my new reaction to her. But I had to be ready in case this was, in fact, another trick. Henley coughed several times. I moved closer, wanting to see for myself if her eyes were blue when they opened.

  Bright light swept over us. I looked up, ready to fight, but it was just headlights from a car. No, wait. Three black SUVs pulled up along the curb and stopped. The driver’s door of the first car opened, and I gripped my sword. Under the door, a pair of lace-up brown boots landed on the sidewalk. A pale, thin hand gripped the edge of the door and pushed it shut.

  My eyes widened. I knew that face. Hadn’t seen it in a while, but it hadn’t changed. She looked the same as the day I met her when I was five. She still had the same hunter-green eyes and chocolate-brown hair tied up high on her head. Evaline. Our World Card. The one Coven member who was designated to stay in Salem at all times. How did she know we were here so quickly?

  Evaline’s gaze moved over the group as she walked closer. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what she said until she was only a few feet away. “...nineteen, twenty, twenty-one. All here.” A wide grin spread across her face. “Oh my Goddess. You did it, Tegan.”

  My heart stopped. WHAT?

  Evaline ran over and pulled Tegan into a hug. She stepped back, still grinning. “You actually did it!”

  Tegan smiled. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

  I made this weird strangled cry-like noise in my throat. But...it didn’t make sense. Tegan and Evaline had never even met. How had they worked together? Why would Evaline help her destroy us? What possibly could’ve happened to sway her? My jaw dropped and my stomach turned. Evaline. Helped. How? Why?

  “I doubt that’s accurate, but thank you.” Evaline chuckled. She looked down at Henley still lying unconscious in Royce’s arms and frowned. “And Henley? Did you give her the potion?”

  Tegan nodded and held up the empty vial. “Yes. She should wake soon.”

  “Wait.” Timothy stomped his foot. “Wait, you were in on this, too?”

  Evaline narrowed her eyes. “Tegan, why do they all look like you’re still the enemy?”

  I narrowed my eyes and glanced at Tegan. She is our enemy. Isn’t she? Hasn’t she proved that? I meant to voice all of these thoughts out loud, but the message wasn’t getting to my mouth.

  Bentley laughed and shook his head. “Because Tegan played her part a little too well.”

  My eyes widened. My heart fluttered. Her part. Her. Part. What does that mean?

  Chapter Two

  TENNESSEE

  Ten minutes later, we were all crammed in the living room of Coven Headquarters in Salem. Every major city had one of these safe houses for any witch in need. They were open to any and all witches, run by witches. This particular haven had served as home to Evaline for decades.

  When Evaline ordered everyone to load into the SUVs, I’d been too frozen in shock to move. As a result, the one with Tegan in it had been full. No one in my car spoke on our drive to the house. For that matter, no one had spoken since we’d arrived.

  The room was fairly large in size, with a massive fireplace on the back wall. Everyone crammed in, taking seats wherever they could find. Henley was back in Royce’s arms, still unconscious. Deacon sat beside him, biting his thumbnail.

  I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t stand still. I paced the back wall in front of the roaring fireplace. The heat of the flames did nothing to ease the tension inside me. A bubble of hope threatened to break loose in my heart, but I pushed it down. Was this all an act? How could it be? It seemed so natural, so real. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to think she wasn’t the monster she’d turned into the last two weeks, but too much had happened. I couldn’t let myself hope for it. If it weren’t true, I wouldn’t survive that fall twice. It would break me.

  “Tennessee, please sit down,” Evaline begged in a soft, kind voice. “You need to let your magic rest and settle.”

  “I need answers,” I snapped without stopping my pace.

  “You’re going to get them—”

  “Then start talking!” The old hardwood floors creaked under each of my heavy steps.

  “Tennessee, Tegan has to explain,” Emersyn said from under a red flannel blanket. She was curled up next to Deacon, practically in his lap.

  “Then where is she?” I yelled. My patience was fading with every breath. My sanity was dangling from the edge, clinging on for dear life.

  “She went upstairs.” Evaline poked her head through a doorway then turned back to us. “Just give her a moment.”

  “A moment?” Timothy all but shrieked.

  “We gave her two weeks of hell!” Paulina snapped.

  The door on the side of the room swung open, and a trolley full of bowls rolled into the living room. Behind it was a petite little blonde girl with big pink glasses. She looked about our age. It was so unexpected that I stopped pacing and stared.

  “Thank you, Lee. Please give everyone a bowl.” Evaline rubbed her hands together. “I made special soup to help your magic settle back in and to give you strength.”

  I walked over to the trolley and stared. There were twenty bowls. I counted. There were twenty-two Cards in The Coven. There were only two of us who hadn’t had their magic stolen. Evaline and Tegan.

  My heart fluttered and sent my pulse into a near panic. That bubble of hope flared with life. “You knew.”

  “What’s that?” Evaline asked from behind me.

  “Twenty bowls. Twenty of us with stolen magic. This isn’t coincidence. You were prepared. Which means...” I ran my hand through my hair. “Which means you knew what she was going to do. You knew.”

  “Of course she knew,” said a soft voice I hadn’t heard in far too long.

  I gasped and spun around.

  Royce’s eyes were wide and full of unshed tears. “HENLEY?”

  “Hello, baby brother.” She was still lying across her brother’s lap, but her lips were curved into a little smile and her eyes were open. They were a beautiful sapphire blue that perfectly matched Royce’s.
She coughed and sat up.

  Everyone moved toward her at the same time with wide eyes and outstretched hands, whispering her name. For a moment, happiness surged inside of my heart.

  “Whoa, whoa, back off, paparazzi!” Royce yelled and swatted everyone away. “Let her breathe freedom before you choke her with it. Damn.”

  Henley chuckled and it eased some of my pain. It was the same laugh, the same smile. After losing two of my closest friends…I feared I’d lose her too. I licked my lips and told my feet to move closer, but my body was locked in place.

  “I missed you guys. I thought I’d never get me back– Wait, where’s Tegan?” She jumped to her feet and turned in a circle, her gaze scanning the room. Her face paled. “Where’s Tegan?”

  “Upstairs.” Emersyn pointed to the staircase.

  “Apparently she’s on our side,” Braison mumbled and drank his soup like it was tea.

  “Of course she’s on our side!” Henley snapped. She sprinted toward the staircase. “TEGAN?!”

  “Henley?!” Tegan shouted from somewhere upstairs. Hurried footsteps thundered above us, and then her studded black combat boots popped into view. She was a blur of black as she descended the wooden stairs, her hair flying behind her. “HENLEY!”

  My pulse quickened. I wanted to see her. I needed to see her. But I didn’t at the same time. I was a mess inside, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to face it.

  Henley squealed and pounced on Tegan the second she stepped off the stairs. She wrapped her arms around my soulmate’s neck and pulled her into a tight hug. Her blue eyes glistened. “Goddess, Tegan. I can’t believe you did it. You silly, reckless, stubborn—”