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

  Tegan’s eyes snapped up with a wild twinkle. “What do you mean? We did the spell. We landed in the house that becomes Coven Headquarters, then we headed here. That’s where we found the demons. That’s it.”

  Saffie’s eyebrows rose. “You did that spell yesterday. Today is July 20.”

  “That means it’s the twenty-sixth at home.” Cooper cursed. “Samhain is five days away.”

  Henley groaned. “We have to try something crazier. Something out of the box. Something not normal. Something—”

  “Fae,” Tegan whispered. She was answering Henley, but her eyes were locked on Tennessee. “Fae magic sent us here, so maybe we need Fae magic to send us back.”

  Tenn nodded but his face was grim. “The only way to get an audience with the Fae is through those tunnels…or by summoning one.”

  “We are not risking those damn tunnels again,” Henley said with a growl that for a moment reminded me of that shadow demon. “We can’t lose anyone else.”

  Cooper walked over to the window and stared out. “Agreed. So, we summon a fairy.”

  Tegan nodded. “And we ask for a favor.”

  “Umm…” Saffie bit her bottom lip and shifted her weight around. When all of us stared at her, she shrugged one shoulder. “The Fae always require a sacrifice. Always. And it’s usually heavy. I understand you must take risks to get back to the future, for Deacon and for the sake of the world…but I also understand the Fae. If they come—which they may not, and they are not bound by any rules that say they must—but if they come, you must be prepared to accept whatever awful offer they give you.”

  Cooper turned away from the windows. “What kind of sacrifice do they usually require?”

  Saffie sighed. For the first time, her lavender eyes were void of any sparkle. “Memories.”

  Chapter Four

  TENNESSEE

  I knew you were going to say that.

  I hated being right. Knowing the answer before someone said it didn’t make it suck any less. Memories. Saffie wasn’t wrong. In any story I’d ever heard of someone summoning the Fae, they always lost memories, and usually something else as well. I never understood how or why a person would take that offer, to sacrifice some of their life in exchange for something else. I wished I still didn’t understand.

  We didn’t really have a choice here. It wasn’t just about getting back to our lives in the future. It was Deacon. We might have lost Larissa and her potions, but Katherine at the infirmary was gifted. I knew she’d have him healed up in no time. If we didn’t get back, Deacon was going to die, and we were going to have to watch helplessly while it happened. And then we would have to watch it destroy Emersyn.

  I glanced over at my own soulmate and tried to imagine that kind of pain, but I couldn’t grasp it. It would hurt too much. I’d never survive that. Judging by the ghost-like appearance of our Empress now…I didn’t think she would either.

  That led to our other problem. The Gap. Salem’s Prophecy. This was it. Our one chance to save the world from demon annihilation. If Tegan and Emersyn didn’t get back to modern day Salem before the end of Samhain, the world would swiftly fall. Forget the zombie apocalypse—we’d have a demon apocalypse, and it’d make zombies look like sock puppets.

  So we had to get back. Which meant we had to try any option we found. Our first attempt had already failed. Summoning the Fae was our next best alternative. They might not answer our call—Saffie was also right about that—but if they did, they’d demand payment simply for answering. That was usually when memories came into play.

  The thing was…I knew what it was like to live without memories. To know there were details about my own life that were hidden from me. Things I’d done, things I’d seen and heard. People I knew and loved. My own name. It’d been twelve years, and not a day went by that I didn’t think about what I was missing.

  It was like standing in front of a T. rex.

  I tried to scroll through my life since Kessler had found me to see if there was anything I could spare. Some painful or embarrassing experience I would be happy to be rid of. Except…I didn’t want those to go away either. I didn’t even know my own name, or who my parents were, or what happened to them—to us—so regardless of how painful my memories were, I was thankful just to have them.

  “We don’t get to choose.”

  I jumped at the sound of Tegan’s voice.

  “What do you mean?” Royce asked with a frown.

  “The memory.” Saffie twirled her fiery hair around her fingers. “When the Fae take a memory from you, it is not one you choose to give. They use their magic to reach into your mind to take one. And it will be a significant one, be it happy or sad. The one they take will mean something to you.”

  “But we won’t know we’re missing it, right?” Royce turned to look at Saffie. “I mean, if they take it then it’s gone, and we won’t know it’s gone.”

  “Trust me…you know,” I said softly. “It will haunt you, and yet you won’t know why.”

  For a few long moments, no one spoke. The only sounds came from Myrtle and Leyka tending to Deacon’s wound. Everyone else watched, but I knew their thoughts were far away. Their faces all wore masks of horror and sadness. I wondered which memories they were seeing right then, which ones they feared the most of losing. I looked over at Tegan and replayed all of my memories of her, from the moment she crashed into me at The Gathering to right now as she held her blood-soaked hands over Deacon’s chest.

  The idea of losing a single memory made me want to curl up in a ball and cry.

  Royce cleared his throat. “So, you’re saying we shouldn’t do this?”

  I wished I could say that. “I’m saying brace yourselves, because we have to do this.”

  “Actually, I may have a way around the memory thing.” Tegan pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. Then she looked over to Myrtle. “Do you need me still?”

  Myrtle waved her hands over Deacon’s chest. “No, I’ve stopped the bleeding.”

  Saffie bounced on the balls of her feet. “Um, Tegan? How do you have a way around the memory thing? The Fae are tricksters.”

  Tegan grinned and it made the hairs on my arms stand tall. I’d seen that look on her face before…for two weeks while she played Queen of Darkness. She climbed off the bed then sat on her knees on the wooden floor in the middle of the room. I pushed off the wall and moved to stand beside her. Cooper, Henley, and Royce did the same. Tegan unbuttoned the top of her coat then pulled the crystal necklace out. She wrapped her fingers around it, and her rainbow magic spilled out from around her hand. The air shimmered, then a big brown leather book sat in her open hands.

  The Book of Shadows.

  She was up to something.

  Tegan flipped it open then pressed her palm to the ancient pages. “Althea Putnam.”

  My heart fluttered in my chest.

  “Whoa, what?” Henley’s eyes widened.

  “Isn’t that…” Royce scowled. “No, no.”

  Cooper crouched next to her. “Tegan, what are you doing?”

  “Have some faith in me, y’all.” Tegan rolled her eyes. “Althea wrote a spell in here—”

  “And maybe it should stay in there.” Royce shook his head and yanked on his hair again. “I don’t like anything that starts with Althea if we’re supposed to be following it.”

  I frowned. He had a point. Althea Putnam was one half of the original twins, but more importantly, she was the dark twin who’d started the whole mess we were dealing with. Salem’s Prophecy was because of what Althea did. So the idea of using any spell she’d created made my skin crawl. But Tegan was smart…and creative.

  I sighed. “Tegan, maybe you can explain to us what you’re thinking so that we might feel less freaked out?”

  Tegan looked around the group once then nodded. “Althea Putnam was what she was, and she did what she did. But before all that went down, she was an extremely powerful High Priestess. This may make y’all uncomfortable, but so
metimes the coolest spells are thought up by witches who are a little dark. Now, I won’t tell you all the other ideas she had for this spell, but the important one is for memories.”

  “Nope, I don’t like this,” Royce grumbled.

  “Althea was doing some shady shit, and part of that involved her summoning the Fae to do her a favor.” Tegan grinned again and pointed to the page. “This spell will duplicate your memories. Its purpose is like a flash drive or external hard drive. We store our memories in there, then if and when the Fae—or anyone else—requires we give up our memories, we can do so while knowing we’ve got the backup.”

  Royce cocked his head to the side. “Like backing up our iPhones to iCloud?”

  Tegan nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Wicked.” Royce giggled. “I like it.”

  Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Did Althea try it?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Henley said with a sigh. She leaned over the Book of Shadows and read. “We have to summon the Fae to try and get home or Deacon dies, and then the whole world dies. There’s no not trying this. Althea’s spell… Well, if it works, then great, but if it doesn’t, then no harm no foul because we were doing it anyway.”

  “She’s right.” I rolled my shoulders to try and shake the uneasy feeling. “So, how do we do this spell?”

  “Because this is storing our memories, we all have to do it individually. Otherwise, we could wind up mixing memories—”

  “Unless you have a soulmate,” Myrtle interrupted from by the bed.

  Tegan frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Myrtle shrugged. She didn’t take her eyes off Deacon’s wound and whatever she was putting on it. “I don’t know the exact spell you’re doing, nor do I understand the metaphors you used, but I do know spells. And that kind of spell requires soulmates to do them together.”

  “But why?” Cooper asked as he glanced back and forth between Tegan and me.

  Myrtle peeked over her shoulder and smirked. “Because their souls are one, bound and fused together for all eternity.”

  I looked down to Tegan to say something, but the blush in her cheeks took my breath away.

  “How do we do it, T?”

  Tegan glanced up from the book. “Saffie, do you have paper?”

  Saffie nodded and ran out of the room.

  “Okay, so I’ll write down the spell for you. Then each of you will go to a private space, but it must be in your magic’s element. So, Henley find the moon. Cooper the stars. Royce plants. Emersyn…” Tegan leaned to the side and stared at the unlit fireplace. Bright orange flames reflected in her green eyes. “Em, you and Deacon can stay right here. Then Tenn and I—”

  “The water.” I smiled wide as her cheeks flushed darker pink.

  Saffie came back with a small stack of parchment paper and handed it to Tegan. Then she turned to Emersyn. “Mom, Leyka and I will wait in the other room while you do it.”

  Tegan ran her fingers over the words in the Book of Shadows then ran her fingers over the blank paper. Words in black ink appeared on the new pages. She repeated this three more times then handed out the little flyers. “Okay, y’all. Divide and conquer.”

  “Time to howl at the moon,” Henley said with a chuckle as she ran for the door.

  Royce followed after her, threatening to go play in someone’s garden.

  “Hey, Tenn?”

  I glanced over to my adoptive brother. “Yeah?”

  Cooper narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips, like he was questioning his own thoughts. Finally, he smirked and said, “Can you fly me to the roof?”

  I opened my mouth to make a sarcastic joke when I realized I wasn’t sure if I could, at least not in 1692. My magic had been unnervingly off since we’d gotten here, and even worse since we used the Earth Stone for that spell. I shifted my weight around. “Actually, I’m not so sure I can right now.”

  He frowned. “Tegan?”

  Tegan made a weird face that was half grimace, half baring her teeth. “I’d rather not accidently kill you.”

  “I can fly you up there, Cooper.”

  We jumped and spun to face Saffie. She sat perched up on the windowsill with her legs crossed. Her fiery red hair floated in the incoming breeze. She smiled and it made her big lavender eyes twinkle.

  “Really?” Cooper rubbed the back of his head and smirked. “That would help me a lot.”

  “Great. Then let’s go!” Saffie grinned and jumped off the windowsill. She grabbed Cooper by the elbow and dragged him toward the side door. “I’ll wait on the ground for you to say when you’re ready to come down.”

  “Thanks, Saffie,” Cooper said as they disappeared from sight.

  “What about us?” Emersyn whispered.

  Tegan flicked her wrist toward the fireplace, and the logs went up in bright orange flames. Her light green eyes glistened. “Use that, Em. You’re soulmates. Your magic is all you’ll need.”

  Emersyn stared at the flames and nodded. “Okay, thanks. Be careful out there.”

  Right, because we’re going to the water. I looked down at my soulmate and found her staring at the ground. I shifted my weight, and the wooden floors beneath me creaked.

  Tegan peeked up at me under thick black eyelashes. Her cheeks flushed a soft pink, and it made my heart do weird things in my chest.

  I cleared my throat then held my hand out. “Ready, Kitten?”

  The walk to the shore sadly only took us a few minutes. I could’ve used an excuse to walk beside her, just holding her hand and pretending everything was okay. But everything wasn’t okay; it was awful. I knew I hadn’t been a big fan of Deacon when he first arrived, but I also knew I’d been holding a nasty grudge for far too long.

  Now…I couldn’t imagine The Coven without him. He was my friend. He was my family.

  And I’d already lost enough of those.

  I walked through the crashing tide and into the ocean. The water was refreshingly cold after hours and hours of endless summer heat. Tegan’s fingers were interlocked with mine and holding on tight. Her skin was warm against mine, and it was about the only thing keeping my sanity in line. We moved through the water like gliding across a dance floor. The currents and waves didn’t affect us.

  When we got about twenty feet in and the water was up to our hips I pulled her to a stop, then turned to face her. I summoned my magic and felt that familiar tug in my gut as it responded. After what had happened earlier, I wasn’t sure if it would. I willed the water to raise Tegan up until our eyes were level, and I wouldn’t need to lean down to kiss her.

  She giggled and her eyes sparkled. The sun shined down on her beautiful face. “I’m not entirely sure what this will do for soulmates, or if we’re supposed to do something special… It didn’t say.”

  I nodded and stepped closer to her. Our noses were mere millimeters apart. Electricity sparkled between us. Butterflies bounced around in my stomach like a pinball machine. It made no sense to be nervous. Sharing a memory spell was no more intimate than we’d already been, but then again, maybe it was. She stared at me with her mouth open and a little flush in her cheeks.

  “I think…maybe…” I licked my lips. “Maybe…”

  “Hmm?” Tegan moved closer, and her skirt wrapped around my legs.

  I reached up to the button at the top of her waistcoat. My fingers trembled as I gently slid the button out of its hole. Tegan inhaled roughly, her chest rising and falling rapidly. I swallowed and unbuttoned the next button. Her hands pressed flat to my stomach then slid a scorching path up to my chest. Even through my wool coat, her touch was fire against my skin. Her soft fingertips brushed over my collarbone and the base of my throat. My fingers slipped on her third button. Electric energy shot through my chest and tingled down my limbs.

  I gasped and looked down. She’d unbuttoned the top four buttons on my coat and pulled the lapels apart. The pink crystal of my soulmate glyph glistened in the sunlight.

  “This reminds me of that day you tried to train
me on the beach,” she whispered and dragged her fingers back down my chest.

  “Yeah, except… We didn’t quite have these to hide then.” I ran my finger down the center of her chest over the pink crystal on her skin.

  She shivered. “That’s not distracting at all, babe.”

  I chuckled and pressed my forehead to hers. “Do the spell so I can kiss you.”

  “I’ll say it for us.” She brushed her nose against mine like we were Eskimos. Her hands gripped my biceps then slid all the way down and tangled her fingers with mine. “Just hang on to me.”

  I stepped closer so our bodies were flush against each other. Her pale green eyes were so close I saw the specks of blue and red in them. “My pleasure.”

  “By word of magic, strength in deed, see my life, all memories I need.” Tegan’s voice was soft yet strong, and it pulled me in like the Siren’s song. “Plant a clone in your garden divine, both good and bad, forever mine.”

  Heat pooled between our hands. The ocean coiled around our legs like we were standing inside a tornado. I squeezed her hands as tight as I could, not wanting anything to separate us. The warmth coming off her body was the bonfire I wanted to curl up next to and sleep. I closed my eyes and let myself soak in the untapped power rolling through Tegan.

  At first my mind was dark, but then lights flashed behind my closed eyes. Images flipped like a slideshow on hyper speed. My pulse quickened. I saw my childhood playing in fast-forward. Picture after picture was training and the ocean. My father and Cooper. My Coven-mates, too. Heat flared between our foreheads, and then I saw myself standing among towering bonfires dressed in all black and glaring at everyone around me. I saw myself suddenly up close, then felt the world dissolve under my feet only to find myself catching me from a freefall.

  I saw myself swinging my glowing sword in a battle.

  I saw myself staring at me with wide, dilated eyes and my lips parted. My heart pounded in my chest and my stomach flipped around. The image vanished, and in its place I saw myself on the beach, then on a boat…then on Crone Island after that crazy spell. The images changed from one to another so fast all I could see were two mismatched eyes and a glowing pink crystal.