CHAPTER 26
Zara
A nd it looks like our luck’s run out.
“What do we do with it?” Tasia asked, staring down at the branch that was laid on the table.
I looked around, my eyes huge as the other members of the coven shrugged.
“I have no idea,” Tabitha said, looking at me with expectation.
I peeked over my shoulder, because she could not be asking me. “How the hell would I know?” I gasped, when I realized that no one was behind me. “I just got the wood!”
“Well children’s wands aren’t the same as what you’ll need here,” Floria said, tapping her index finger against her lip. “You’re going to need something stronger and more powerful. The wood itself is going to do the bulk of the work, but we’ll need to reinforce it somehow and none of us have ever done anything like that before,” she added with another shrug.
“He didn’t give you any instructions?” Hanna asked, poking at the branch. I swatted her hand away before shaking my head.
“No, he pretty much just gave it to me and then said that whenever the bad guys show up, he’ll help protect anyone who needs it.”
“Good plan,” Floria said with a firm nod before frowning down at the wood. “But yeah, I have no idea what the hell to do with this.”
My palm smacked against my forehead in frustration. “Well, shit.”
“Pretty much sums it up,” Tasia murmured, peeking into Gabbi’s bedroom to make sure she was still asleep before hurrying back to us. “Let me go check out some of the books that I have on wand making.”
All eyes turned to her and she shrugged with a small smile. “I wanted to start working on Gabbi’s, so I did some digging in the library.”
She hurried into the main apartment—that we’d designated as a shared space. We only gathered into this smaller one when Gabbi was taking a nap and we had to keep our eyes on her.
“You know what happens when we finish the wand, don’t you?” Tabitha asked me, distracting me from alternative plans in case she couldn’t find anything on making a wand for an adult who should be able to control their powers.
“What happens?” I ask, my palms getting sweaty at the idea of having to face Veron and his warlocks head-on with these wonderful witches behind me.
I need to protect them, but I don’t know if I can.
“We’re going to have to unbind your powers,” she said in a gentle voice, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “And you’re going to have to unleash them through your wand.”
I swallowed hard, not having realized that I would be expected to perform a fully-empowered spell so soon. Anxiety ran through me and I swore that I could feel sweat on my feet as well now.
“Oh, yeah,” I forced out a fake laugh. “Of course I knew that,” I continued in a voice that was much higher pitched than I was used to. I cleared my throat.
Calm down, Zara.
“I figured as much,” I said, but my voice was so low now that it was almost gravelly. I stretched my cheeks into a fake grin instead, aiming for a nonchalant pose with my hands on my hips.
I was pretty certain I looked like a psychotic superhero instead.
Tabitha, Hanna, and Floria were staring at me with eyebrows almost meeting their foreheads when Tasia ran back in with a stack of five books in her arms.
“We can look through these,” she said, putting them on the coffee table. Heaving out a sigh of relief, I hurried over to her and pulled the top one off the pile, taking it to an armchair.
“I’m sure we’re going to find something,” I told them, and one by one the other females moved over to take a book to review.
“Don’t think I didn’t miss what just happened,” Tabitha told me as she passed, running a palm over my unruly hair.
I sent her a pleading look and she nodded, continuing onto the sofa to sit next to Floria. She would give me some reprieve, but it wouldn’t be forever.
“How about this?” Tasia asked, lifting the book from where she had Gabbi in her arms.
The little girl had woken up and was now moving between the five of us as we searched for an answer in the books we were reading. She was currently braiding her mother’s hair—which meant snagging it into a tangle that Tasia would probably have to use a spell to fix later.
“This is how we would cast a protection spell on the wand wood that would keep it from becoming overwhelmed with magick,” she said, staying still and wincing as Gabbi gave a hard yank on her hair. “They use it for particularly gifted children, but if we did it as a coven…” she trailed off with a shrug and another wince.
“Yes,” Floria exclaimed with a nod. “That’s exactly what we need. We just need to prepare the wood before it’s crafted. Once it’s done, then it’s all up to Savla and Zara.”
She grinned over at me, and I felt the expectation of the entire coven weighing on my shoulders.
Me. The fuck up.
“Sounds perfect,” I tried to enthuse, but Tabitha moved over to me right away, leaning close.
“You don’t have to do this, little star,” she said in a low voice, taking my hand off of the book in front of me and into hers. “We can keep the protections up and—”
“What freedom would we have then?” I asked in a rushed whisper, cutting her off. “If we keep running and hiding from them, they’re just going to keep getting stronger and stronger. He’s going to gather his forces and then come at us. And if we aren’t prepared. If I’m not prepared—” I felt my breaths becoming more erratic, and Tabitha took my face between her palms.
The movement was so reminiscent of my mother—something she would do all the time—that I froze.
“Listen to me,” she said, kneeling in front of me so we were eye to eye. “There is nothing more important to this coven than you, do you understand?”
The other women came behind me, placing their hands on my shoulder. Even Gabbi reached down from Tasia’s arm to cup her little fingers around my neck.
“You’re our High Priestess and we’re going to follow you no matter what. If you need more time, we’ll never rush you. If you want us to go to another plane to hide, we will. We’re a family, and we’re going to stick together no matter what,” Tabitha said with a sweet smile. “If you’re feeling any pressure from us—”
“I’m not,” I insisted, shaking my head as I held onto their hands with mine. “I’m just worried that he’s going to find us. That he’ll find a way to hurt you guys and—”
“We’re safe,” Floria said, leaning down to hug me, and the other women joined in, surrounding me with their arms and their love. Gabbi squeezed in, pressing a smacking kiss to my cheek and I laughed. “Thanks to you, Zara, we’re finally safe. We can breathe because of you and your mate.”
The words were like a balm to the yawning wound inside me that I hadn’t even known was gaping open. It wasn’t sealed yet—and it probably never would be until I could find a way to protect them the way I’d hoped. The way I wished I could have protected my mother instead of forcing her to use her powers to protect me.
“If Mom was here—” I gasped, and Tabitha shook her head, still keeping me in the hug as she cut me off.
“Your mother was a strong witch, Zara. A kind and wonderful woman, but she didn’t have half of the power you do. From the first day I met her, she knew that she needed to keep you from them, and trust me when I say, she wouldn’t change a single thing,” she said. “You were her everything. The only thing that mattered to her. And she’s watching you with the Goddess Mother, keeping an eye on her daughter.”
Those words hit me in the chest. Words that seemed to come from my mother instead of Tabitha. I remember her saying that to me. She’d always said that no matter what, she would never change her life, because everything she’d been through had led her to me.
I hadn’t understood it, couldn’t understand what she meant. Those warlocks had taken her, had tortured her and forced her to have me. How could she not regret that?
I didn’t know if I had the same amount of strength as her. I definitely didn’t have her same level of skill, but somehow I was going to find a way to follow in her footsteps.
I was going to protect our coven, protect our legacy. I’d figure out how to channel my power through the wand I was being gifted even if it killed me—well maybe not quite killed me.
Then I was going to vanquish the warlocks that had taken her and then taken me . I was going to make sure that my children and their children’s children never had to worry about them again.
None of them are going to escape my wrath.
And if my mother was really looking down on me, I was going to make her proud.