The Aether Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 6) Read online

  My chest burned at the reminder. “Don’t do that again,” I grumbled.

  “I won’t. I promise.” She looked around the rest of the gang. “Thanks, guys. Y’all were badass just now.”

  “That was just like at The Gathering,” Cooper said all of a sudden, staring in the distance. “Same exact thing.”

  I frowned and opened my mouth to ask what he was talking about when it hit me. Some demon had picked Tegan up off the ground and tried to fly away with her, and then I killed it. Just like at The Gathering. I blinked and replayed both in my mind.

  “It has to mean something,” I heard myself whisper.

  “That’s what we were supposed to see in the dream,” my father said as he climbed back to his towering height. “That was the moment we were supposed to see.”

  “Oh, so it wasn’t just to embarrass us? Cool, cool, cool.” Tegan pursed her lips and nodded.

  “Actually, I think that part was just for Cooper,” Easton said in a serious voice. We all must’ve made a weird face because he frowned. “What? Maybe the Goddess wanted him to see so he could understand you two more. After all, he did flip a shit on you, bruh.”

  Cooper looked to me, and I felt my cheeks heat up. I glanced away, not wanting to have that discussion, and my gaze landed on Henley. She’d been quiet since the fight ended, but I hadn’t thought anything of it. Now, my stomach turned just looking at her. Her sapphire gaze was locked on something in the distance. Her porcelain skin was so pale it was almost ashy. She looked shaken and disturbed.

  “Henley? What’s wrong?”

  Silence.

  Royce leaned over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Hen?”

  “That was not a normal demon. That was a minion for a greater demon. I saw them when—” She closed her eyes and shook her head. She leaned into her baby brother.

  We were all silent a moment, filling in the hole that Henley didn’t want to say out loud.

  But then Henley’s eyes flew open. “Last, summon thy magic to Power’s hand. Unleash Spirit’s Stone upon command. Tenn, that means you.”

  My jaw dropped.

  “Power was capitalized, like it meant a person.” Tegan looked down at me. “And you summon your weapons to your hands. You threw the same black dagger at the demon in The Gathering.”

  “Oh my God.” Idiot. My memory of the night replayed in my head. I raised my left hand and summoned my black dagger to my palm. It slammed into my skin. I held the black hematite blade in my right hand. This whole time it was right here? I shook my head and stared down at the stone sparkling from the hilt of my dagger. “I assumed I’d failed that quest. I saw this that night but didn’t think anything of it, then I was so distracted by Tegan I forgot all about it.”

  “Aww. That’s cute.”

  “Easton,” Lily hissed under her breath.

  I held my dagger up for everyone to see. The stone in the hilt was a dark blue with hints of a warm pink, like the sky during a sunset.

  “Well, pull it out,” Cooper suggested, eyeing the stone with wide green eyes.

  Easton chuckled. “That’s what she said.”

  “I love him, I love him, I love him,” Lily whispered and covered her boyfriend’s mouth with her hand. “Please ignore him. I will be.”

  My father knelt down beside me. “Go ahead, son. Try to remove the stone.”

  I concentrated on the stone and pushed with my magic. But nothing happened.

  “Unleash Spirit’s Stone upon command… Maybe you have to command it?” Timothy asked, but didn’t look impressed by his suggestion.

  “Command.” Tegan dropped to her knees in front of me. “Babe, what was the rest of that prophecy? The one that sent you to The Gathering?”

  “Oh, um…” I blinked and thought back a few months ago to when that prophecy was made. I pictured it etched into Cassandra’s pale skin. “Seek the tool from thieving hands, First ally with those between the lands…”

  “To mend the bond between them all, Listen for the vengeful Fallen’s call,” my father finished for me. He frowned and scratched his jaw. “Cassandra did say that prophecy would make the difference in closing the Gap.”

  Tegan frowned. “Seek the tool...the tool… What was the tool you sought?”

  I gasped as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “George— Oh my God. It’s George!”

  I dug into my front right pocket to where I always stashed my favorite pendulum. When I pulled it out, I immediately dangled it over the stone in my dagger. George, please remove the Spirit Stone from my dagger.

  The blue crystal whispered in delight. Purple mist swirled around the pendulum then shot down to my dagger. It wrapped around the hilt then coiled around the Stone. There was a soft pop, then the stone floated into the air in front of my face. It was bigger than I realized. In my dagger, it looked an inch or two long, but now it was at least three inches.

  Tegan snatched it in her palm and grinned. “Hello there, Spirit Stone.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  TEGAN

  “It’s gonna be a long walk back with that thing.” Easton scratched the back of his blond head. “Should I get us an Uber?”

  “I’ll just portal us back.” When everyone turned to look at me with questions in their eyes, I frowned. “What?”

  Tennessee made a weird face then sighed. “I think we assumed you couldn’t portal. Otherwise, you would have gotten away from those fairies.”

  “Oh. Oh no, I tried to portal away, but those rat bastards have some kind of fancy fairy magic and kept closing them on me.” I held my hands up and twirled my fingers. A portal opened up right beside me, shimmering with soft white light. “See. Let’s get back and give this Stone to Bentley before the demons realize we have it.”

  My magic grabbed ahold of them and swept us all through the portal back to Coven Headquarters. A heartbeat later, we stood in the middle of the living room. In an instant, I knew everything was wrong. The fireplace was unlit. The lights in the house were off. A winter-cold breeze swept through the room. My pulse went nuts.

  Tennessee grabbed my hand and held on. Uncle Kessler stepped forward, and glowing blue spirits shimmered in front of him. They snarled and pointed translucent weapons at us.

  He jumped back. “Whoa. Who are you?”

  The air around the room sparkled royal blue, and then everything looked normal. We were surrounded by golden lights and cozy furniture. A fire roared with life in the fireplace. No wait, not normal. My magic was tingling out of control like there was a fight happening in front of me. Except the only thing in front of me were spirits, and judging by the Roman numeral Marks on their arms, I knew they weren’t going to hurt us.

  Then that cold breeze swept through again.

  Willow popped up from behind the couch with wide eyes. “Thank Goddess you’re back!”

  Timothy glanced around in a panic. “Willow, what’s going on? What was all that?”

  Uncle Kessler frowned and turned to look out the windows. “Where is everyone?”

  A shadow dropped in front of the house and slammed into the ground in front of the bay window. Bright orange flames shot up into the night sky. Lightning flashed across the yard. Something loud hissed and shrieked. Demons.

  “We’re under attack.” Tennessee cursed and sprinted out the front door with his weapons drawn.

  “Easton, get your armor out there! Lily, blind anything you can,” Uncle Kessler instructed. “Royce, do your thing.”

  “Timothy, you better get out there,” a small voice said.

  I spun around with wide eyes and found Bentley standing just behind Willow. “Bentley! Are you in here alone?”

  Bentley shrugged. “They needed Kenneth.”

  Willow wiggled her fingers. “I’ve been hiding us. Well, hiding the Stones.”

  I gasped. “We have it!”

  I raised my hand to show the Stone in my hand. It glistened like stars twinkling in the black sky. My jaw dropped. That wasn’t what i
t looked like when we took it out of the dagger. I held it out for my brother. He ran over and took it from my hands with a wide smile.

  “You did it. I knew you would. I’m going to put this with the other ones.” He tucked it close to his chest then looked up at us with sharp eyes. “Get out there. This has been going for a while now.”

  Timothy cursed and took off out the door.

  Uncle Kessler paused. He looked back and forth between the door and my brother. “I’ll stay near the door, so yell if you need help.” Then he was gone.

  “Henley?” I whispered then waited for her to look at me. She was still rather shaky-looking which made my heart heavy. “Stay in here with them? You know demons better than anyone. Keep them safe.”

  Her eyes sharpened. She nodded and straightened her spine. “Got it. Now go!”

  I took one last look at the three of them huddled together then turned and charged out the front door. To my surprise, night had fallen. I spotted Tennessee in an instant. He was a shadow sweeping through the dark. His sword glistened under the moon’s light. Everywhere I looked, my Coven-mates were thick in battle. Magic shot through the yard like fireworks.

  The sky was littered with demons. They dropped one after another, crawling and slithering around like oversized bugs. Cooper hobbled by me, half carrying Braison toward the house. The strong scent of maple syrup stung my nose as a shadow moved toward me. I unsheathed my daggers from my thigh holsters and braced myself. But then a bright orange light shot out of the sky and slammed into the demon in front of me. It erupted into flames.

  I frowned and looked up— I exhaled in a rush. Emersyn stood on the roof looking taller and more terrible than I’d ever seen her. She looked like a phoenix rising from its ashes. Flames covered her entire arms. Her eyes were liquid, molten gold. Her long blonde hair whipped around her hips, the tips sizzling and smoking. Even from two stories up, I saw the black demon blood coating her pink shirt and blue jeans. Her face was a mask of rage and terror.

  Something moved behind her.

  “Emersyn! Behind—” I choked on a gasp.

  Standing right behind her, looking every bit a snake in the grass…was Deacon. My heart fluttered, and tears stung my eyes. DEACON! Oh my Goddess, he’s alive! He was a silent beacon of power, radiating with wildly wicked energy. His blond hair glistened in the moonlight. Those purple eyes glowed as strong as his aura. He was back, and he was ready to fight.

  He whispered something to my twin, but I couldn’t hear it. Red mist swirled around her feet, then coiled up her legs. Her eyes flickered with fire and she grinned. She threw her hands out and roared. Fire shot out in every direction. Demons went up in flames. The sky was an orange and red ocean. My Coven-mates dove out of the way as Emersyn drenched the property with her fire.

  For a moment, it was like we’d stepped inside Hell itself.

  Then the night went still.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  TENNESSEE

  After Emersyn ended the fight with her reign of fire, the demons didn’t come back. Unfortunately, however, none of us felt confident in that, so no one had gone to sleep. Especially after we told them about our run-in with the Unseelie warrior Fae. We were on edge. We didn’t trust them to not come back until the sun had risen…which was about half an hour away.

  In the meantime, Royce and Henley fussed over their cousin’s well-being. Emersyn had changed out of her demon-blood-covered clothes to clean ones, but she’d clung to Deacon’s arm ever since. Tegan was curled up in my lap, resting her head on my leg. She was exhausted. I felt her magic simmering below the surface, but it definitely needed to rest. She’d been overworking herself. I ran my fingers through her silky black hair.

  Larissa and Katherine took turns forcing us to drink potions and eat food to get everyone’s strength back up. We were all wiped out. The fight with the Unseelies had rocked my nerves, because they weren’t supposed to be here. I hadn’t seen an Unseelie in ages. The fact that we saw a small army right near Samhain was not a coincidence. I’d already been tired from that, but the demon battle we’d come back to was intense. It only lasted a matter of minutes for me, but I knew by the fatigue in my friends’ eyes and auras they’d been struggling.

  How are we supposed to do this without a break? During the day, we had to go out and try to solve the prophecy, to find where the original Gap was. And then at night, we fought for our lives, for everyone’s lives.

  There isn’t enough of us.

  My father sat up straight and frowned. “What’s that, son?”

  I blinked. Oh, said that out loud. Right. I cleared my throat. “I said there isn’t enough of us. We need backup.”

  Easton groaned. “But who? Everyone is here already.”

  He had a point. Aside from Constance, all of the Cards were here. But there were plenty more capable witches in our world. I pursed my lips and looked at my father. “Let’s call in Atley, Peabo, Monica…anyone else old enough to fight who’s willing.”

  My father's eyebrows raised. He nodded. “That’s a good idea. The Gap in Hidden Kingdom is closed, and regardless, I think the demons are all focusing their efforts here.”

  Katherine, who’d been tending to one of Braison’s minor wounds, got up off her knees and brushed her pants off. She cleared her throat. “With your permission, I’d like to call in more healers. I want to focus on you, but the Sapiens here… They need help. We can provide that.”

  Timothy nodded. “Yes, and we need to erase any damaging memories. For our own good, and theirs. But I don’t want to empty Eden of healers either.”

  Katherine shook her head. “Of course not. I was speaking of my crew in Tampa.”

  “Oh. Perfect. You have my permission for that, Katherine. Call whom you desire.” Timothy pulled his cell phone out and began texting. “I’ll tell Walter right now to head on down there.”

  “Thank you, Timothy. I’ll tell them.” Katherine smiled and looked to my father. “Shall I tell them there will be others?”

  My father nodded. “Yes. I’ll make some phone calls now and get them to the airport.”

  “Perfect.” Katherine nodded then disappeared into the kitchen.

  I chewed on my lip. This was great, but it wasn’t enough. Atley and Peabo were trained warriors who should’ve been top of the Swords Suit in Edenburg if they hadn’t lived in Tampa to help us. Monica was a talented witch, so she would be helpful in a big battle. But there weren’t many others to call upon in Tampa. The rest were small children or parents of small children who hadn’t fought a demon a day in their life. Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration.

  “We need Constance,” Tegan said softly. “The entire Coven has to be here.”

  Timothy groaned. “I called her a little while ago, and she doesn’t want to leave. She says the demons are attacking the border with everything they’ve got.”

  “My dream,” Cooper said and tapped his knuckles on his leg. “Damn it, why didn’t I say something? I saw in a dream the campus buried in flames.”

  Willow sat up straight. “Whoa, Edenburg is destroyed?”

  Timothy shook his head and waved Cooper off. “No, they haven’t gotten in. Yet. I think Cooper just saw Constance having a nightmare.”

  “Too bad we can’t get Lonan’s help,” Chutney said from where she was cuddled up on a couch half asleep. She yawned. “Unless Tegan can call him with her turbo-charged brain talk.”

  Tegan chuckled and it shook my leg. “My telepathy only works inside the Old Lands if I’m inside the Old Lands, despite the fact that Lonan isn’t that deep inside. It won’t work.”

  I frowned. Lonan was the black dragon who’d been banished from shifter home country. We had no idea why or what happened, or how long he’d been guarding the Old Lands as punishment…and it wasn’t our place to get involved in that. But there was no reason we couldn’t ask him for help, especially since Eden was right there bordering the Old Lands.

  “What are you thinking over there, boss?” R
oyce yelled out. “You look in pain.”

  I ignored his teasing. “We need to send someone in to get Lonan.”

  My father shook his head. “Like whom? Everyone is here, and none of us can leave.”

  “Agreed. But there’s an entire school of witches we’re training.” I sat forward, careful not to knock Tegan off my lap. “I met a few of them at The Gathering. They were great. They helped me a lot.”

  Timothy’s eyes widened. A wicked little glint touched the corners. “Warner. You met Warner. I remember. He told me. This actually could work.”

  “Right? I saw them fighting demons, and they have skill.” I looked to each Coven member who’d gone into the Old Lands with me. “Besides, we’ve already been there. Lonan is not far inside at all. They could handle it.”

  Timothy jumped to his feet, already dialing on his phone. “I’ll have the top Swords Suit students go in. Warner is one of them, but we’ll need the top Sword, Jackson. He’ll be the one to get this done.”

  Kenneth set a book aside. “Then get Constance here. Tegan is right. We’ll need everyone.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  TEGAN

  It took everything inside me not to smash my cell phone to pieces. The sun had only risen a little while ago, and I’d barely gotten any sleep. But that nagging buzz from the vibration against the wood nightstand was like nails on a chalkboard. I opened my eyes and glared at the stupid electronic device. It rattled and slid across the nightstand until it banged into my glass of water. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the buzzing and clinking of glass, but it just wouldn’t stop. And of course Tennessee slept soundly beside me, completely oblivious to my torture.

  With a growl, I reached out and yanked my still ringing phone off the nightstand. The vibrations sent tingles into my hand. I frowned and held the stupid thing up to see who was calling—