Chapter 21
Livvie
I sought out Sammy when I left Wes. She was easier to get a hold of than I’d expected.
Anthony had always made it seem like it was some mysterious, magical method of communication, when in fact, I just texted her, she responded, and now we were in the woods near Anthony’s house practicing my magic.
I’d already filled her in on what my grandmother had done and Wes almost tried to do.
Groaning in frustration, I shot another round of sparkles out of my hands. They moved up toward the heavens and dissipated like they were supposed to. “I’m so mad.”
“And I don’t blame you,” Sammy said. “But I think Wes did the right thing in the end, so maybe give him a hard time, but you should forgive him sooner rather than later.”
I rolled my shoulders before nodding. “Yeah, probably. But I’m going to make him sweat a little bit.”
Without warning, the air around us suddenly felt warm and sickly, and Sammy’s face contorted with worry. “Run,” Sammy gasped. “Hurry!”
I turned to take off, not even sure what direction to run in or where to run to, but slammed into what felt like a wall, though there wasn’t actually anything there. “I can’t!”
“Shit,” Sammy muttered. She shot something out of her palm and the sky around us took on a deep red tint.
We tried to use our magic, even me with my stupid sparkles, but it hit the wall the same way I had. After a few seconds, even going up didn’t work. The barrier was all around us.
Sammy growled. Nothing like the dragons did, just a deep rumble in her chest, and she looked around in the forest. “Only one other witch could block me in.”
And seconds later, a woman appeared through the trees. She was slight, tiny, and looked like a good gust of wind would knock her right over.
But Sammy stiffened as the woman regarded us.
“I always told you to use your head more,” the older woman said with a shake of her head.
“You have more power than you know what to do with.” She pursed her wrinkled lips and moved closer.
“What a waste to gift such power to a stubborn little witch. It’s clear that casting you out didn’t teach you any lessons.
Maybe I should’ve given you to Leonard long ago. ”
Sammy moved forward, blocking me from the old woman. “Joan. Maybe you should’ve been Leonard’s witch yourself. Oh, but never mind.” Sammy cackled. “He didn’t want some old, washed-up high priestess who wasn’t really so high after all, did he?”
The woman sneered at Sammy as movement behind her drew my attention. Leonard stepped out from the trees. Shit.
He didn’t look good. Not at all.
Sammy agreed. “You look like shit,” she said with a laugh. “Did you forget what happens to a wolf when he’s cast out of his pack? And especially with you being an alpha. An alpha without his pack is nothing, and eventually he turns to nothing.”
Leonard growled, and then sort of shifted.
His upper body was mostly human, but his nose had elongated and when he spoke, it was a little difficult to understand what he was trying to say.
“I’m going to return to my glory. Don’t you worry.
The two of you are going to help me. You’re going to give me back the power of the alpha so I can start a new pack, and then one of you will be my witch. ”
Sammy snorted. “Don’t get your hopes up.”
Leonard roared his rage. The sound of his half-man, half-wolf voice was so wrong it made me shake. “My magic feels sick,” I whispered to Sammy’s back.
She nodded. “I understand,” she muttered under her breath.
Scooting back, she nodded toward Leonard.
“It’s because in that form, he’s poison to magic.
His magic makes ours react. It’s how some witches go so dark.
They get consumed by the sick feeling and it alters their own magic.
” She grabbed my hand. “No matter what, don’t give in to it.
” I knew this would be hard. The sick feeling felt like it could consume me if I let my guard down for just a second. But I did not want to go dark.
Leonard chuckled through his gross teeth. “Ignore her. Let your magic feel whatever it wants to feel.” More tingles of his magic hit me, and it felt like poison in my veins, yet I couldn’t escape it.
“Remember, you’re good. You’re light. Your magic is good. Remember all the good things in your life and cling to them. They’ll keep you from losing yourself,” Sammy said, trying to reassure me and keep me in the good headspace.
“She’s wrong,” Leonard whispered. “Remember, her coven shunned her. There’s a reason for that. She’s not right; her magic is the real poison. Don’t let her corrupt you.”
Sammy began to shake under my hand on her shoulder. The earth underneath my feet began to shake with her, until my very skin felt like it was vibrating.
“Maintain control,” Sammy said sharply.
Sucking in a deep breath, I realized I was the one making the ground shake. I cleared my mind and fought my fear, bringing my magic back under control.
Leonard smirked at me. “Your priestess was the one who allowed me onto your coven’s lands. She was the one to tell me where to find Livvie. And she allowed the slaughter of the coven as they tried in vain to protect the little witch.”
All of the air in the forest sucked out.
Sammy’s hair billowed out and my skin pulsated as anger, grief, and rage surrounded us.
My memories of my parents flashed back into my mind, like an explosion of self within.
I gasped and closed my eyes, my arms drifting out as scene after scene flashed through my mind.
My fury grew as the love my parents had given me filled me, the memory of their devotion and what we could’ve had if it wasn’t for the high priestess and Leonard. Tears poured down my cheeks and lifted into the air, turning to little balls of fire that floated into the sky.
The screams of my parents dying filled my mind. The pain. So much pain.
Without warning, deep brown light shot toward us.
I’d never seen brown light and I didn’t like it coming for me. Sammy and I both tried to avoid it. I dropped to the ground, hoping it would go over my head, and she dove to the right.
But it was like the light had a homing beacon just for us. It blasted into us, but instead of feeling like I’d been hit with something, it felt like I was being pulled.
Jumping to my feet, I looked at Joan, the high priestess, and realized the brown light was connected to her. And it was draining something from me. Something powerful. “Sammy,” I gasped as I clutched my stomach.
Sammy surged to her feet and yelled, blasting Joan with magic the color of her eyes, almost silver.
Her jolt of power disconnected the flow of brown magic from us.
Staggering backward, as soon as it was over, the pain of my memories flooded me.
I had just enough time to notice that Joan looked much younger than she had before and stood straighter.
Screwing my eyes shut, I tried to hold off the flood of emotions, but it was no good.
I opened my eyes to find the high priestess backing away, trying to slip away into the forest.
“I will find you!” Sammy called to her. “You will pay for the slaughter of my clan. You’ll pay for shunning me, and you will especially pay for helping this bastard. There is nowhere you can hide that I won’t find you.”
The old woman looked genuinely terrified as she tried to posture to Sammy. “I look forward to meeting you again.” Her words fell flat. She didn’t mean a word of it. She knew what would happen when Sammy found her again.
More and more memories crowded in and the emotions inside me begged for release, so I let them go, erupting out into the night.