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

  Apparently she’s stuck on talking to every single spirit she finds today.

  “She says that book is in the back,” Tegan said with a voice that was far too scratchy for my liking. “Let’s look.”

  “She, as in, the spirit,” I grumbled.

  “I don’t see how we’re going to find what we’re looking for in here.” Deacon leaned close to me and whispered.

  “Maybe it’s like a treasure hunt,” Emersyn whispered back.

  I shrugged and followed after my soulmate. Treasure hunt or not, this was all we had. Tegan walked to the far left corner to where a small nook was separate from the rest of the store. There weren’t any other people in the store, and still there was something about the small space. There was an energy in the air that moved around, like a current in the ocean. I felt gusts of warm then cold. The hairs on my arms stood tall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shimmering gold light, but when I looked, it was gone.

  Just then, a thick, weathered book flew off the bookshelf and soared across the nook.

  “You saw that, right?” Deacon took a step back.

  We’re not alone, Tegan whispered into our minds.

  “Really. I hadn’t noticed,” Emersyn said in a flat voice. “Let’s not play, Tegan.”

  Tegan stepped farther into the area then turned to face us. But I don’t feel threatened.

  Deacon scoffed. “I’m startin’ to worry about you, Bishop.”

  “Bishop?” A guy’s voice rang out from behind us. When I looked back, I saw a tall, super-skinny dude with thick-rimmed glasses leaning into the nook. The fluorescent lighting made the blue tint of his ghostly-form look almost purple. “Sorry, I heard the name Bishop. You lookin’ for that book?”

  Tegan pushed to the front of the group and smiled up at the spirit. “Hi. Do you mean the book in the window? What does Bishop have to do with it?”

  The spirit pushed his glasses up and grinned. “Come on, I’ll show you the original. ‘Tis the season and all.”

  My pulse quickened. I knew by the way everyone’s eyes lit up that we were all thinking the same thing. Please let this be our clue.

  We followed the guy out of the nook then around a corner to where a cash register sat on top of a big glass case. The spirit waved us forward as he walked around the case. He bent down and unlocked it, then reached inside and pulled out a book that looked like it was going to fall apart. It wasn’t until he went to sit the book on the counter that I realized he wasn’t holding it at all. Tegan was, with her magic, like she didn’t want the guy to realize he was dead. Focus, Tenn. Today is the day. I looked down at the book. The brown hardcover was torn and ratted at the corners. The binding was scratched to hell and missing a chunk on the bottom. If there was a title or inscription on the front, it had long since faded.

  The spirit pressed his translucent fingers to the cover. “Okay, clearly we don’t show this to a lot of people, but it’s super cool and I’m obsessed with showing it.”

  We all moved closer to crowd around. It was kind of weird to be communicating with someone who’d passed on.

  “What is it exactly?” Deacon asked as he looked over Emersyn’s shoulder.

  “So you know how Bridget Bishop was the first victim of the Witch Trials in 1692?” When we all nodded, he smiled and opened the book – which of course meant Tegan opened the book. “Well, look at what was found.”

  Tegan gasped and leaned in close. On the back of the cover, on the left-hand side, words were written in an elegant script in black ink. I couldn’t read the words over her head, but just under them was a small symbol drawn on the page. My heart fluttered with hope. It was the symbol. The one from the window. The one from both the Book of Shadows and the New Book.

  “Oh my God,” Tegan whispered then cleared her throat. “Listen to this note, guys. It’s addressed to a T. Bishop…”

  Emersyn gasped. “What?”

  Holy hell. That’s her. It’s literally addressed to Tegan. It has to be, right?

  Tegan shook her head, then continued, “I pray you find my clues. I am sorry I couldn’t give you more, but we must go, before this witch hunt finds us. From one Bishop to another Bishop, when you find this—use the locket. Until we meet on the other side, E. Bishop. It’s dated July 20, 1692.” She stared down at the page in silence.

  “Where—” Deacon cleared his throat. “Where did you find this?”

  “Cool, right?” The spirit grinned. “So a while back, they found some tunnels hidden under the store here. They found this book there. And I mean, obviously everyone freaked out because it’s dated during the Witch Trials and signed by a Bishop. Though no one knows who he or she was, or who it’s written to.”

  I do, Tegan breathed into our minds. Holy shit.

  “You found this in a hidden tunnel, under this store?” I asked.

  “Yeah, wanna check it out?”

  “Definitely not,” Deacon said before I could respond. He shook his head. “But thanks.”

  Evaline leaned in and stared at the book. “How have I never heard of this?”

  The spirit shrugged. “It’s our dirty little secret, I guess? You know what I mean?”

  Guys. Tegan’s voice was strong in our minds. This is THE symbol. Written by Elizabeth. She’s telling us what to do here. We have to use the locket. She pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of the page without the guy even noticing. Deacon, get this ghost gone.

  “Hey, man, thanks for showing us. We’ll have to come back and check out those tunnels.” Deacon smiled, a soft red mist slipped out and coiled around them. “This conversation ended naturally. Find peaceful happenings today.”

  The spirit’s eyes glazed over then he took off toward the front of the store.

  Tegan spun around. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled with excitement. “We have to get back to Bentley. Now.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  DEACON

  It was weird realizing that portaling from one place to another, regardless of how far away, had become entirely normal to me. It was even weirder to realize the last time I’d gone through one, I literally died.

  The second we landed in the living room of Headquarters, I realized we’d messed up. We hadn’t told the rest of The Coven of our plans because we thought they needed to rest. Which they did. Tonight was the big night. Today was Halloween. Samhain. In a few hours, the sun would set and all hell would break loose. But judging by the nasty glares and scowls on their faces, they probably weren’t going to see it our way.

  Devon stomped up to Tegan and pressed her hands to her forehead, then neck. “Where the hell have you been? What a thing to wake up to, Tegan! And then you’re not even here?”

  “Where is your drink? Did you finish?” Hunter scolded her. “Katherine said you had to drink three, and you took your second with you. So, did you finish?”

  Tegan cleared her throat. “So, um…funny thing happened…” She then proceeded to replay the event at the Joshua Ward House in vivid detail, from her perspective, which made it even worse.

  None of them thought it was funny.

  “He doesn’t usually leave the house,” Paulina said softly. “Did he call you a witch?”

  Tegan nodded.

  Tennessee’s face paled. “He did?”

  A million questions fired at us at once. Some curious, others furious. I understood their point of view; I wouldn’t have wanted to be left behind. But it was done now, and we needed to focus on the next part of the story. That creepy-ass letter. I raised my hands to use my gift to quiet them when Emersyn stomped her foot and growled.

  “STOP!” She glared at everyone with her hands balled in fists at her sides. “We’re sorry we left you. We thought we were being nice. Tegan almost died, so I think we’re even. NOW, we have some serious shit to tell you, so how ‘bout y’all just stop talking and let us tell you?”

  Drop. Dead. Silence.

  See what I’m sayin’, D? Tegan said into my mind and glanced ov
er her shoulder at me.

  I nodded and took my soulmate by the hand. “To summarize for the moment, this morning, Tegan and Tenn found a strange symbol drawn into both books. We all thought we’d seen it on a building back in 1692—”

  Tegan gasped. “I bet you saw it on her house!”

  Emersyn’s eyes widened, and her mouth made a little o shape.

  “That would make sense.” I glanced over to Tegan. “How about you finish this?”

  “So, right, like he said, we found this symbol.” She licked her lips and pushed her hair back. “It looks like the Hierophant’s symbol which is two old keys crossed, right? But this one, they’re not keys. One is an ankh staff, and the other is a triskele scepter.”

  She then went on to detail the rest of our outing, while they all listened in riveted silence. When she pulled out her phone and showed everyone the letter written by Elizabeth, everyone went a little nuts. Katherine strolled in and handed Tegan another cup then disappeared back into the kitchen.

  Bentley frowned and raised his hand. “But it doesn’t say how to use the locket?”

  “What do you mean?” Emersyn looked down at the artifact hanging from her brother’s neck. “Can’t you use it like you did to find the New Book?”

  Bentley shook his head. “Wording is important. Elizabeth was the Hierophant, so if all I had to do was look in it, then she would’ve said look in the locket. Not USE. So, how do I use it?”

  “You first saw the symbol in both the books, right?” Kenneth moved to sit on the edge of the brown sofa. “Why don’t we have a look?”

  Tegan dropped to her knees in front of the coffee table, then pulled the necklace out from under her black shirt. Except now there were two crystals hanging from it, one white and one red. She palmed a stone in each hand. A light flashed between her fingers, then the Book of Shadows and the New Book appeared. She placed them on the table and opened them up. The pages flipped to where the symbol was drawn.

  “Okay, do we see any other similarities here? Anything else common in both books on the pages the symbol is drawn?” Kenneth leaned forward then sank to his knees beside her. His silvery gaze swept over both books then back again. He tapped his finger to each symbol. “They seem to be drawn in the same ink, by the same hand. I’m going to assume that was Elizabeth Bishop, as on first glance, the picture on your phone matched these two.”

  I eyed both books sitting open in front of them. The Coven circled, all of their eyes locked on the pages. The two books definitely weren’t the same size, nor did they have the same amount of pages.

  I frowned. “Is it me, or do they appear to be at about the same place in each book, relatively of course.”

  Tennessee crossed his arms and nodded. “We noticed that earlier. I just can’t think of a reason to do that.”

  Royce looked at the books then up at us, then back again. “Both pages are mostly blank, right? Or are you seeing something I’m not?”

  “Wait a second. Hold on.” Tegan tapped her hands on both pages. “This can’t be coincidence. I think it’s a message in itself. The Book of Shadows was confiscated shortly after the Gap was opened, right? Which means no one would’ve been able to write more inside.”

  Tennessee’s eyebrows rose. “But in the New Book, she went out of her way to intentionally mark it in the same relation.”

  “And the cloak to conceal the Gap location was probably one of the last spells written in the Book of Shadows before it was taken.” Henley nodded and snapped her fingers. “But once the Book was taken, she would’ve wanted to write it in the New Book in case you never got the old one back. So she marked it the same.”

  “But there’s nothing written on either page,” Chutney cried. “Where’s the spell?”

  “Use the locket,” Evaline whispered. “That’s what Elizabeth said.”

  “OH.” Kessler’s face flushed with excitement. “I heard back in school that Covens of millennia past used to hide their most precious spells, and someone would need a tool to decode it, so to speak.”

  “The locket is the tool,” Hunter said.

  “From one Bishop to another Bishop,” Devon whispered. “That might mean from Tegan to Bentley, since you said Elizabeth knows our Hierophant is also a Bishop.”

  Bentley hopped off his chair and hurried over to the coffee table. He dropped down between Tegan and Kenneth then held the locket above the pages of the New Book like it was a pendulum. His little face scrunched up, and his magic pushed into it, but nothing happened.

  “Put it on the page,” Emersyn suggested. When Bentley looked at her with a frown, she shrugged. “Whenever Tegan is trying to see hidden things inside the Book of Shadows, she has to press her hand to the page. Maybe the locket is the same.”

  Bentley stared at her for a beat of a second then dropped his locket onto the blank page inside the Book of Shadows, yet still nothing happened. “I can feel the locket trying to do something, but it’s like we’re listening to a radio station on the wrong channel.”

  Royce frowned. “How old are you?”

  “Henley, don’t those two symbols look familiar?” I crouched down across from Tegan and stared at the symbol in front of me. “Aren’t they used in regular tarot cards?”

  “Yeah, usually. The High Priestess is usually shown holding an ankh staff and the Empress a—”

  “A triskele,” Tenn whispered and nodded. “You’re right. And in this symbol, the two are crossed over each other.”

  Emersyn leapt over and sank to her knees. She placed her hand on top of the locket, pushing it down onto the page. Tegan put her hand on top of her twin’s. At first nothing happened, but then I felt something pull at my magic.

  “Wait,” I yelled when they started to move back. “Just wait.”

  That pull grew stronger and warmer. Rainbow mist swirled around the locket in tight circles. Bright golden light pierced through and shined straight above, going right through both of their hands. It swayed and moved like a laser light show. The light faded from gold to yellow, then slowly into a rich green before shifting to a bright royal blue that glowed like a Las Vegas sign. A shadow moved from within the light, and then bright white lights burned into it.

  The line started in the bottom corner then shot up to the center then slid back down to the bottom but on the other corner. I gasped. The line made a triangle, but instead of a straight line across to connect it all, it shot up and over to the side.

  “It’s a pentagram,” I whispered.

  “The five Elemental Stones!” Tegan hissed and smacked herself in the forehead with her free hand. “Of course!”

  As if it listened to her, the blue mist pulsed with energy, then five glowing blue circles floated up to land at each of the five tips in a pentagram. She was right. That was why we had to collect the Stones. I didn’t understand why we needed them to reveal the Gap, but they hadn’t needed them to hide it. Then again, I didn’t understand a lot about magic.

  Words appeared within the blue mist. They etched into the air in a circle around the pentagram. I was looking at it backwards so I couldn’t make out what it was saying, but it looked exactly like the writing that appeared on Bentley’s arm.

  “Someone writing this down?” I asked, not wanting to take my eyes off it.

  “I’m getting it,” Kenneth whispered back.

  Royce leaned in front of Tennessee with his cell phone and snapped a picture. Willow held her hands up and mimicked what the locket was showing. Tegan and Tennessee stared at it like they were burning it into their memories, though knowing the two of them, they were.

  And then it was gone.

  No warning or fading away, it was just gone.

  Bentley jumped up and ran out of the room. The rest of us sat in silence. I knew we were all wondering the same thing—we still didn’t know where the location was, and it was only a few hours until sunset. When Bentley jogged back into the room carrying some sort of black box, Tegan held her hand up without even looking, like maybe
she’d told him to go get it.

  “Okay, here they are,” Bentley said as he reclaimed his place by the coffee table and set the box down between the books. “We can look for a minute, but then I want to lock them back up until sunset.”

  Tegan pulled a little red tab on the side of the box, and a tray slid out. As she pulled, I spotted crystals. One was blood-red and radiated heat. Smoke billowed around it, like it was burning the tray it sat on. Next to it was a Stone I hadn’t seen before. It was as turquoise as the Caribbean ocean. The tray slid open a little farther, revealing a gorgeous blue that glowed with light. Then there was the Earth Stone, which I recognized immediately. It was emerald green and glistened with light and strength. I’d held it myself back in time.

  The air rippled around Tegan’s hand and I shivered. She pulled the tray all the way out, revealing the final Spirit Stone. I gasped and gripped the edge of the coffee table. It was bigger than the others and shined bright blue like the sky outside. It shimmered and swirled from within. Its energy screamed. The air pulsed in waves, almost like the wailing of an alarm system.

  Before I realized what I was doing, I reached out and took the Spirit Stone in my hand.

  “Deacon, what’s wrong?” Emersyn asked and squeezed my shoulder.

  “The Stone,” I answered without taking my eyes off of it. I shook my head and raised the Stone higher. There was a whisper in the air around it, like it was trying to talk to me but in a language I didn’t speak. The energy rolling off of it was tense and tinged with a panicked kind of yearning. “It…feels.”

  “I’m sorry, say what?” Easton said from somewhere out of my sight.