Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
FRANKIE
“This Leyka dude is a character.” Mei-Ling giggled. “I wanna meet him. Have you?”
I slouched in the wooden chair I’d been sitting in for an hour and pulled my knees up to my chest. “Yeah, but only for a few minutes. He gives off that chill vibe, but if you really pay attention, there’s a whole lot more to him. Like deeper, serious shit.”
She leaned forward and whispered, “ Is he really an angel? ”
“The angel of storms, apparently.” I frowned. “Actually . . . yeah, that tracks.”
“Dammit,” Tai cursed so loud we jumped, as did a few people at tables nearby.
I arched one eyebrow at him. We were in the Edenburg library. Constance had asked my bestie and her brother to help us out by doing some research, and they were happy to help. I had joined them about half an hour after my puzzle pig arrived. I’d needed fresh air, or at least, not the air inside that house.
Tai sighed and leaned back in his seat, sitting the wooden pig on the table between us. “Dude makes a mean puzzle pig.”
I groaned. “He did wish me luck.”
“Wanna try again?” Tai pushed the pig toward his sister.
She scoffed. “I did not tap out impulsively.”
“And I’ve never been patient enough with puzzles like this. I get so frustrated and full of rage I end up breaking whatever it is.” I cracked my knuckles, glaring at the stupid pig. “It’s why I suck at math too.”
“Math makes a lot of people mad.” Tai laughed.
Mei-Ling scowled. “Why don’t you just break it then?”
“It’s an angel’s puzzle box.” I pulled it toward me and pressed my fingertip to the top, then pushed my neon-blue flames into it. White and gold flames flickered around it, swallowing mine whole. “See. I don’t know . . . smashing it to pieces feels like hella dangerous.”
“Rather impertinent.” Tai shook his head. “I would have to agree with Frankie.”
Mei-Ling rolled her eyes. “This note talks all about breaking rules, so just throwing that out there.”
I pulled my hood up over my head, then pulled the strings so it tightened around my face until only my mouth was visible for breathing. “I’ll think about it.”
“Hey, Frankie—oh shit, you’re not Frankie. Sorry, Mei-Ling.”
“Hi, Birdie. That thing in her hoodie cocoon is Frankie.”
Birdie snorted. “Come on out, butterfly.”
“Fine.” I yanked my hood off and sighed. “Heya, Birds. What’s up?”
“You okay?” She glanced around the table full of open books and one puzzle pig that had to look weird out of context. “Y’all seem tense as fuck.”
Tai smirked. “We feel tense as fuck. I’ve gotta get out of this library before I break something.”
Mei-Ling nodded. “I feel an insurmountable rage building inside of me.”
“That’s probably me.” I groaned and scrubbed my face. “My aura is probably rubbing off on you.”
Tai scowled. “Is that possible or are you being dramatic?”
“Both.” Birdie chuckled. “So, leave the library then?”
Mei-Ling’s face fell. “The Coven is super chill about two humans lingering around, but we’ve basically only been allowed to leave headquarters if we were going to the library.”
“Not that we’re not grateful to be here,” Tai added quickly. “It’s just difficult to adjust to.”
Birdie cocked her head to the side. “Well, it’s Saturday, so most of the staff hide from students, hence why people are talking in the library right now.” The three of us frowned and glanced around. “So, because of everything going on and how Tenn turned our entire focus at school into surviving a war and battle skills . . . all four training sites are open on the weekend during daylight hours for monitored practice.” Birdie gestured to us and smirked. “Perhaps you’d like to join us for a little sparing?”
I grinned. “Really? Who’s all there?”
“Oh, dozens of students and not all Swords. In fact, most of them are not Swords and that’s kind of the whole point. We all want to be ready to defend ourselves if we’re attacked.” Birdie stood and wagged her eyebrows. “At the very least, come punch the punching bags and get some of the tension out.”
Mei-Ling and Tai both looked to me with pleading eyes.
“I’m sure with Coven supervision you can be in the training room.” I winked, then stood and shoved my puzzle pig in the pocket of my hoodie. “Let’s go punch some shit.”
Mei-Ling squealed and leapt out of her seat. She grabbed Tai’s arm and all but dragged him across the library after Birdie. I chuckled and quickly closed the books we’d been reading, then stacked them neatly. Someone with a wand would undoubtedly just flick them back to their spot with ease.
“Ashley, girl, are you still sleeping? It’s like three o’clock in the afternoon.” Some girl walked by me carrying a handful of books, then stopped short and looked up at me, her cellphone still tucked between her shoulder and her ear. “Hey, you still reading these?”
I smiled. “Nope, have at ‘em.”
“Score. Thanks.” She turned back to the stack of books and sat hers down. “Look I don’t care whose bed you slept in last night since I know you’re not in yours . . . just tell him you’ll call him later. It’s sloppy Saturday at the library so hurry your ass up. We’re in the back, in our usual spot. Get here.”
I laughed as I hurried out the front door to where Mei-Ling and Tai had just turned to come back inside. “I put the books back—until they were poached. Hey, what’s Sloppy Saturday? Just heard a girl talking about it.”
Birdie pointed to the library doors behind me. “Once a month the librarians let the library be an extrovert’s oasis. The quiet rule is tossed out for the day. People usually have quite a party there.”
“And why aren’t y’all there?”
Birdie arched one pale-brown eyebrow at me. “Because we’ve seen demons. C’mon, let’s go hit shit.”
“Ya know, I was thinking,” Mei-Ling began as we fell in step with Birdie, “maybe I should change my hair color. Pink is your thing and I did it for solidarity, but kinda feeling I need my own look now.”
“This mean you’re not going straight back to black hair?”
She grinned. “I was thinking orange. I saw this girl on Pinterest with neon-orange and it was epic.”
“Ava can hook you up with that.” Birdie walked up to a set of double doors and raised her hand. That gold pentacle dangled from her gold bracelet. The doors swung open so she led the way inside. “So, Mei-Ling, are you a trained martial artist like Frankie?”
“I don’t know about like Frankie, but yes.” She giggled at her own joke. “I’m the one with more control and trained skill?—”
“Yeah, yeah, and I go Hulk smash .” I winked.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
We all froze at the sound of a deep voice. But when we looked behind us, we found it was only Timothy, and he did not look dressed for combat training in his jeans and flannel shirt. Yet he marched into the training center like he was on a mission.
“Hey, Tim,” I said with a smile and gestured behind me. “I hope it’s okay I kidnapped them from the library. They needed some fresh air.”
He was, after all, temporary Coven Leader.
Tim sniffed the air, then grimaced. “The air in here is far from fresh, kiddo. Stale sweat and rubber is never a nice combo. So long as Mei-Ling and Tai are with a Coven member, I don’t see why they can’t go places.”
Tai whistled under his breath. “Now this is a gym.”
“C’mon, Tai. Come meet Frankie’s witch friends.” Mei-Ling dragged her brother away from us, giving me a knowing look. “Birdie, we need the tea for everyone else in here.”
“Girl, even I don’t know everyone here.”
Once they were out of earshot, I turned to Tim. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have put you on the spot with them being right there?—”
“No, no. Don’t worry about that. I was Coven Leader for twelve years. I got really good at saying no to anyone.” He chuckled and scratched the back of his salt-and-pepper head. “But I do appreciate the apology anyway.”
“I’m really surprised they’re allowed to stay?—”
“They’re not safe out in the world right now,” he said softly. “Sweyn loathes you. Whatever you did in Avolire you really got under her skin. She would do horrible things to your friends just to get to you. We’re not a Coven who leaves people in danger like that.”
“Fair. But they’re not stuck in the house?”
“I meant what I said, they just need Coven supervision.” He pursed his lips. “Look, Tegan and Haven are phenomenal leaders. They’re really going to do some incredible things for our people . . . but they’re not exactly good at what you’d call people skills. The two of them are raw power and magic. Between the stress and pressure inflicted on them, and then Tegan’s knowledge of everything , there’s just not a whole lot of conversation happening.”
I chuckled. “But The Coven speaks their language, so they don’t need to?”
“Yes . . . and no. If you remember, Constance and I were put in charge this morning.”
“Temporarily, right?”
His cheeks flushed. “I have no interest in taking my old job back from my nephew, but they are just kids still figuring the world out. Tegan creeps people out, they’re afraid to ask her things, but with Haven, they don’t want to let him down. They just want to do whatever he needs them to.”
“I was noticing this morning just how much everyone loves him, like genuinely.” I smiled. “He’s this terrifying, barely human warrior and everyone wants to coddle him like he’s made of glass.”
“And he secretly loves it, even if he doesn’t know that himself.” Tim laughed and gestured for me to walk between some bleachers toward the rubber mats up ahead. “Ya know, his grandfather Michael once told us that Haven was the best that Heaven could create . . . The older he gets the more I think that isn’t just restricted to his ability to fight.”
“There’s just something about him.” I smiled and glanced around at all the dozens of students dressed in black moving around the bleachers. “When he was Archie, I found myself wanting to coddle him. It just feels funny now that he’s . . . ya know . . . massive— whoa. This is a setup indeed.”
“Yeah, we don’t mess around with combat.”
The second Tim stepped out from the walkway between the bleachers everyone in the gym froze. All their eyes widened and locked on him. I was blown away by their gym. The right wall had punching bags lined up and hanging for people to kick, punch, or hug—like that kid about twenty feet back. The rest of the room was lined with rubber mats like at any martial arts gym, but this was just bigger. There had to be fifty yards or more, and the back wall was completely open to the outside, where I saw even more mats.
Tim sighed and waved. “No stress, keep doing what you’re doing. This here is Frankie. She’s The Tower. Y’all are gonna leave her be to train while you focus on your own stuff. Try to resist the urge to pester her. She’s new here. As you were. Go ‘head.”
As they turned away from him, I chuckled. “Thanks, I think?”
“Oh, you’re welcome. For sure.” He gave me a smirk but then his smile faltered. “Actually, I need you to do me a huge favor.”
“Sure. What is it?”
“I just need you to do something, nothing huge, let me go get it. In the meantime, spar with some of the other kids— Jackson? ”
I followed his scowl and spotted fellow Coven-mate Jackson Lancaster standing in the middle of a mat staring at the ground while a few middle school-aged kids wrestled around him. Those aquamarine eyes of his were normally bright and pretty, but today they were stormy like the murky waters during a hurricane.
Jackson looked up to us and nodded once, but that was it, no other reaction.
Tim cursed and led the way over to him. He reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Jackson, what are you doing here?”
Jackson scrubbed his face with his hands. “I don’t know. I feel like she’d be upset with me if I just sat by her bed the whole time when . . . when . . .” He slammed his mouth shut like he was about to lose control of his emotions.
My heart sank. Bettina had been injured severely in the Land of the Lore. That ice capsule visual would haunt the rest of my days, but the memory of Tennessee struggling to hold her down when Thorne tried to heal her was like a living, breathing wound in my mind.
“Franks, be right back.” Tim wrapped his arm around Jackson’s shoulder “Come with me, son.”
“FRANKIE! LOOK!”
I glanced up, then did a double take. Mei-Ling stood ten feet away with neon-orange hair. My jaw dropped. “Already?”
“I’m an achiever, Frankie,” Ava said with a grin. She pointed her wand at me. “Not an over- achiever though, because that’s just crazy.”
“Ava!” I hurried over and gave her a hug. “Where’s Float?”
“In our dorm with Rootbeer.” She tucked her wand behind her ear. “Seamus wants to practice combat without her . . . and she was not having it, so we had to lock her in our dorm.”
“Do you and Seamus share a dorm?”
“Yep.” She pursed her lips. “Was it special treatment because of his hearing impairment and my being used to it? Maybe. But between us? I think it was more that they wouldn’t dare separate Rootbeer and Float.”
“And how could they?” I giggled. “Where’s Seamus?”
She pointed to a mat where her boyfriend was sparring some teenager I’d never seen. “He’s the most eager to train. Something about what happened at the fountain that night with you really spooked him.”
“ Him? ” I snorted. Then I turned and spotted the rest of my friends from Tampa. I gave them all hugs. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks, but that’s probably not true, is it?”
“ C’est la vie, mon amie, ” Jo said with a wink, then she said a bunch of words in French so fast I didn’t differentiate one from another.
Madge shook her head. “My soulmate is trying to say the life of The Coven works like that, but most of that was phlegm.”
Jo’s eyes widened. She grabbed some boxing gloves off the bench and backed toward the mat. “ Ah bon? Tu veux te battre. Allons-y. Battons-nous.”
“Thought you’d never ask.” Madge giggled and bounced after her soulmate.
“So, what do you think?”
I turned and ran my hands over my bestie’s new orange hair. “Epic.”
“We’re cohesive without being the same color.”
“Bestie problems.” I nodded. “Perhaps you should return the favor for Ava and show her some moves?”
Ava’s yellow eyes brightened. “Really? You know martial arts? Because I’ve got two left feet and hands like a windmill.”
Mei-Ling giggled. “C’mon, let me help you.”
Tomás rubbed his hands together and grinned. “All right, let’s see those fight moves, Frankie.”
I grinned and skipped onto the mat. Sparring was my favorite, and I really, really needed to use all this physical energy in my body before I snapped. “Let’s see what you’ve learned.”
Tomás was still grinning from ear to ear when I charged for him. He squealed and tried to jump out of my way, but I was a trained fighter, so I just slid under him and threw him over my shoulder—Tomás screamed like a banshee. I gasped and looked up just as he slammed into three hanging punching bags, ripping them right out of the ceiling. My eyes widened. I looked down at my hands and cursed. Pink and blue flames coiled around my fingers.
“Fuck. I’m sorry! Are you okay?”
A couple of kids I didn’t know helped him back to his feet. His smile was a little lopsided and he was definitely limping, but he waved at me. “I’m fine. You know, maybe I need to warm up. Hey, Tai, wanna spar?”
“Dammit. I need therapy.”
I turned to find Brody walking onto the mat behind me. “What’s that?”
He chuckled and pulled out two gnarly-looking daggers. “I just watched you throw him like a pillow and yet . . . I wanna go next? I mean, I’ve gotta try out these daggers I just made anyway . . .”
“When in Rome, right?” I reached down to the holsters strapped around my thighs that I never left Headquarters without anymore, then I pulled my sais out and held them up. “Did you see my talismans?”
“Sais. That’s sick, dudette.” He got into a fighting stance and held his daggers up. “Three . . . two . . . one . . . this is Sparta!”
I cackled as he charged for me, which was probably the idea. We went back and forth pushing each other up and down the mat. It was great. My muscles were starting to sing with joy at being used. I grinned as he leapt up in the air, swinging his daggers straight down for me. I crossed my sais and pushed them out in front of me to block his hit when a ball of neon-pink magic flew out of my hands and slammed into his chest. He flipped backwards head over feet twice before he crashed with a thud on his stomach. His daggers hit the lights in the ceiling, causing glass to rain down on us.
“Sorry . . .” I grimaced, then slid my sais back into their holsters and brushed glass off me. “Maybe no weapons today.”
“ That was epic ,” Brody whispered, bringing my attention back to him. His shirt had been sliced to pieces and his bare chest had a few scratches. “I’ve never been alligator-rolled.”
Birdie rushed over to check his body for injuries. Her cheeks were flushed. I knew she liked him. She cleared her throat. “Maybe we should sit out a round and clean up your mess?”
“Okay.” Madge snapped her fingers. Jo was right behind her. Madge grinned and tucked her black hair behind her ears. “Fight us. Two on one.”
“ Trois. Deux. Un —GO!” Jo let out a growl as she charged for me.
I leapt forward, then ducked, throwing her head-first over my shoulder. Madge was hot on her heels, so I dropped down and swung my leg to sweep her feet out from under her. One second they were charging for me again, the next Jo soared into a group of about a dozen teens standing by the water fountain, taking them down like bowling pins. The water fountain broke off the wall, causing the pipe to burst and water to rush into the gym. Someone pulled a wand out and sealed it shut, but I noticed there was less interest in sparring with me after that.
Twenty minutes later, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or in my case, wanting to punch a wall or throwing in the towel all together. No one wanted to fight me because my magic kept exploding out of me, out of my control. I’d forced a handful of big guys to waddle to the infirmary with minor injuries. At least half the punching bags were either on the ground or turned into pinatas—or both. Half of the metal bleachers had melted into puddles on the ground. Tai definitely had a broken nose from my foot. Mei-Ling’s now orange hair was still smoking, though I had no idea why. Ava’s elbow was suspiciously swollen. The mats had blood and them, and I didn’t want to ask who it belonged to.
As my magic blasted Seamus in the face and sent him rolling across the floor like it was a hill, I decided maybe I needed to ask my Coven-mates for advice on this. I needed to spar, to fight, to get this energy out, but not at the expense of innocent people.
Seamus rolled like a tumbleweed right in front of Timothy, who just stopped and watched him go by with a frown. Then he looked up and his eyes widened. He was no doubt seeing the mess I made.
I grimaced. “I shouldn’t be here. I don’t know why I can’t control this today.”
Tim chuckled and walked over to me. “Actually, that’s perfect. Ready for that favor?”
My stomach tightened into knots. “Yeah? What is it? Please give me something to do that I can’t break.”
Tim grinned and looked to his left a split second before I felt a wave of raw energy sharper than electricity. Tennessee prowled into the gym dressed in his trademark all-black from hair to combat boots. The gold bands on his arm glowed like spotlights. Everyone in the gym gasped and just stared.
“Haven, over here!” Tim nodded to me. “That’s the favor I need.”
“I am confusion.”
Tenn frowned but nodded and marched right toward his uncle. With every step he took the hardwood floor trembled. Green and blue magic coiled around his arms.
“No one else ever volunteers to spar with this one, not even on a day when he’s calm and in control of himself. But like this? No way.” Tim grinned down at me. “I figure one Proctor against another Proctor is a fair spar.”
My heart stopped. “You want me to spar Tennessee?”
Tenn finally stopped in front of us. His mismatched eyes were dark and tense. “What am I doing here?” he all but growled.
Tim clapped him on the shoulder. “I found you a sparring partner.”
Tenn scowled, then looked down to me. I watched as his gaze slid down to where my magic was flickering around my arms and hands. Then he glanced at the state of the gym, and I knew by the way his eyebrows rose that he was seeing just how much of a mess I’d made. He whistled. “Man, we really are related, aren’t we?”
That made me laugh. Tim’s idea had been crazy to me at first, but he had a point. I was in desperate need to fight something for real and the only person who wouldn’t be afraid of that would be my cousin. So, I pulled my sais free and held them up. “Yeah, but don’t let that make you go easy on me.”
In the back of my mind, I wondered if I had a death wish. And by the way everyone else moved to watch, I bet they thought so too. But I blocked them out and charged for Tenn without warning. I was about two feet from him when he spun and swept my legs out from under me in a blur. My back slammed into the mat with a crunch.
Tenn leaned over me and made a tsk tsk sound. He reached down and grabbed my ankle with one hand and yanked—I flew into the air and spun, crashing back into the mat in a somersault. I rolled to the balls of my feet and charged him again. This time I swung my sais, and the long blade of his black sword clashed against both my weapons. My magic flickered all around us, but Tenn didn’t even seem to notice. We moved up and down the mat, block for block, hit for hit. I was flipped, kicked, spun, and thrown quite a few times, yet each time I landed back on my feet. Or got back up quickly.
He was holding back and I knew it. I was a good fighter, but not Tennessee good. He was kicking my ass and in complete control of himself. I was panting already, and he was still smiling like this was a casual stroll through a garden. I wanted him to really get into the zone. I wanted a fight.
“COME ON! GIVE ME THAT NON-HUMAN SHIT!” I yelled across the mat. “I CAN TAKE IT!”
His eyebrows rose. He nodded. “Okay.”
Then he charged for me. I almost shit myself. He was moving so damn fast. One second he was twenty feet away, the next he was right in front of me with a dagger and a sword. I cursed and threw my magic out, pushing as hard as I could. A ball of neon-blue and pink swirling flames flew from my palms and slammed into his chest. There was a hiss and flash of light. My magic wrapped around his entire body. His feet lifted off the ground as he flew backwards. Those white angel wings popped out and wrapped around him right before he slammed into the wall about thirty feet away. That seal on the water fountain burst again, sending a river of water shooting onto the floor.
He landed on his feet and then looked down at himself and shook my magic off of him like they were drops of water. His wings vanished. And then Tenn laughed.
He laughed.
“See . . . I said I could take it, ” I said between deep breaths.
Tenn slapped the wall beside him and the fountain fixed itself. “That was fun.”
I stared at him for a second, then burst into laughter, which he joined in on.
“Feel better, you two?” Tim asked from behind me.
“Actually, yeah,” Tenn and I said at the exact same time.
“Proctors. Right, well, beat each other up until one of you gets hungry. Then make sure he follows you home.” Tim shook his head and headed for the door. “Everyone else, y’all can stay and watch but be indoors for dusk curfew.”