16. Andrea
16
Andrea
I blink my eyes rapidly to clear the blurry shadows that appear all around me. Muffled voices become clear. A beautiful painting of a night sky, which I soon recognize as the ceiling of the library, comes into view seconds before the pounding in my head starts.
“Where is she?” I hear a familiar deep accented frantic voice. His footsteps vibrate the floor I’m lying on. I rise on my elbows first, my head feeling a few pounds heavier as I sit up.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Brielle’s soft brown eyes come into view, red and puffy with tear-stained cheeks. Her soft hand brushes my cheek. “Are you hurt?”
I don’t feel anything other than this raging headache. Though, I don’t remember how I ended up on the ground. The last thing I can recall is Salem speaking in Latin and then it was black.
“What happened? What did you do?” That deep voice rings in my ears again, pulling my attention away from my friend.
“What is going on?” I glance around once more. Everyone’s face looks as if they just lost their family pet.
“What did I do? That’s good coming from you!” Brielle’s hand drops from my face, her own turning a shade of red as she turns to Ash standing over us. His wings are tight behind him, his face one of concern and… worry.
“What does she have to do?” Azra’s low voice almost sounds defeated as he breaks the tension building between Brielle and Ash. Following his line of sight, I find Salem’s fearful eyes stuck on me.
“She will have to break it on her own.” Her brown eyes, much darker than my best friend’s, finally flick away from mine.
“Rituals like that take years to learn! Years Brielle might not have with how rapidly it’s draining more than just her power reserve.” Azra’s once low voice is now rising with each word. Brielle is still standing before Ash, who has not taken his eyes off me. His tattooed hands clench so tight that his knuckles are paper white underneath the black markings.
“I’ve heard rumblings in my years working for that bastard bloodsucker. It can be done. Especially with such powers, a witch can accomplish just about anything if trained properly.” Salem noticeably shivers as she glances at me quickly, and then back to Azra. “We will need to find the person Brielle is linked to and convince them to participate. Which is always fun,” Salem exclaims sarcastically.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Getting to my feet, I press my temples to ease some of the pounding pressure in them. Brielle turns to me. The anger that was simmering toward Ash is now replaced with anguish.
“The night you had your dream about your parents, we found out someone, something, linked me to them. A bonding of sorts and they are draining me of my powers and it’s becoming a danger to my life. Salem is here to find a way to break it.” She stops, her lip quivering before she bites down on it to halt the twitch.
“Did she find a way?” My brows pinch, Brielle’s eyes close as tears stream down her face again. Everyone’s head is down in the room, avoiding my question that is lingering in the air.
“She deserves to know, baby.” Azra steps next to her, almost as if he is bracing her for what she is about to say.
“Know what?” Still, nothing as a few moments pass. “Know what, Brielle?” My heart is now racing. My chest squeezes in panic.
“You are the key to breaking it.” Salem’s solemn voice breaks the smothering silence. When I meet her with my pinched expression she continues, “The bond tied to Brielle is an ancient spell. I didn’t even think was possible to carry out, and only witches in the bloodline that created it can undo it.”
“I—I don’t understand what that has to do with me.” Ash turns away, muttering a curse. More tears stream down Brielle’s face as Azra’s jaw tightens. He stares over Brielle’s head toward the wall. Torin only leans against the wall, biting his cheek.
“You are in that bloodline.” Salem’s hesitant voice bounces around in my head. A rising sound forces its way out, and my laughter fills the library as I look around at everyone in the room. Placing my hand over my shaking chest, Brielle’s eyes finally open, still filled with tears.
“Okay, real funny.” My laughing tapers as I realize no one’s expression changes, especially Ash’s, who seems pained by the realization. “Wait, are you—serious?” There’s no way. It’s not possible. Suddenly, that pound in my head is dulled by the vomit lurching in my throat.
“You are from the most powerful witch bloodline to have ever existed. You are a Morveaux witch.” Salem’s voice is now like daggers in my ears. I’m positive I have never heard that name before, but it feels so familiar. Like someone calling you a nickname they haven’t called you in years. I want to answer to it but it’s not quite my name to answer too.
“I’m sorry,” Brielle whispers to me.
“How do you know?” I straighten my back, bracing myself for whatever she’s about to say.
I don’t have to believe it, but I need to be strong for Brielle right now. It’s the least I can do after all she has been through. I know this is why she is thinning and dulling with each passing day.
Salem’s eyes widen, not entirely out of fear but also intrigue as she tries to remember things.
“I saw it as soon as I touched your hands at Kai’s. Common witches are taught they have been extinct for many centuries because their power was too much for this world. I saw every ancestor of yours in a flash. The power vibrating in you is unlike any power I have ever felt before, but I still didn’t know for sure.”
“After you left, I had to do more research. Nothing I found for certain, but the way the air shifts when you walk into the room is telling enough. Then when I performed the bond-breaking spell on Brielle, all I saw was the ironclad chain linking her to someone else drenched in the same magic I saw in you. Bonds are an extremely personal spell, as the witch has to weave it herself. This type of bond is a myth. I only know of it because of the research Kai has me constantly reading. He says it’s better I know everything for when he needs it.” She rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
“How are they extinct if you’re saying I’m one?” I gulp down my breakfast, which continues to threaten to reappear. She shrugs her shoulders, concentration pinching her brows.
“It’s said they served the most powerful of kings throughout time, using their magic to make these men invincible. The Morveaux women began hiding when they were forcefully pregnant by these vile men. Giving the baby away to anyone who would take them far enough so they didn’t have to use their powers for evil anymore. So they could be free.”
Salem swallows, her brows pinching so tight she looks physically in pain before she continues. “Until one day, they were eradicated, hunted down by winged beings.” Her eyes roam over Azra, Ash, and Torin. “Villagers did the same when their holy angels whispered in their ears the danger witches bring. They killed anyone that gave them the slightest inkling they were different.”
“The witch trials…” I whisper. She only nods.
“Most real witches were too smart to get caught in Salem. All those girls were just free thinkers in a time when women were everything but free. You are the tale that is told to young witches around the world. A Morveaux witch hasn’t been spotted in centuries, so we all believed you all have died off. I guess some slipped through the cracks that were given away in time.”
Releasing a deep breath, I think of all the times I felt different. All the times I wondered why I could feel things more intensely, could sense a shift in energy in a room. It made making friends hard but also made making friends with Brielle so easy. We connected over the same lonely feeling.
She was always such a bright light. Even surrounded by dark clouds after her mom’s death, rays of her light would still peek through during that time.
Then, a single name pops into my head: Caroline. Brielle had told me she was a witch. Could this mean…
I glance toward Ash. Tendrils of dark mist swirl from his back. A weight settles in my chest as his eyes soften slightly and his jaw ticks before dropping his gaze toward the ground.
This all sounds crazy, but what if I was drawn to Brielle for this very reason? My religious family has always told me about fate, about how things are planned for us before we even touch the earth. What if this is my plan? The purpose I have searched for through people pleasing and insecurities for twenty-four years.
Then there is only one thing to do because Brielle would do the same for me.
“What do I have to do?” My voice comes out strong with confidence I rarely feel. Brielle steps forward to object, but Azra gently grabs her bicep. Salem looks at me and nods with a hint of surprise on her sharp features.
“Andrea,” Brielle starts, but I raise my hand to halt her, nodding for Salem to speak.
“You’ll need to perform a spell to break the bond and unlink Brielle from whoever she’s linked to. We can try a locator spell to try and find the other end of this bond.” Salem begins searching for books the same way she did when she arrived. Her hand waves slowly in the air as books start stacking on the desk. “I will have to do some digging on these kinds of bonds, though. I’ve never encountered magic like this, so I am unsure of what will be needed to perform this spell or how to train you for it exactly.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I assure Salem.
“No, you are not doing this. We can find another way.” Brielle breaks out of Azra’s hold and rushes to me. “We can find another way,” she whispers as she grips my biceps.
“There is no other way.” My gentle voice makes her eyes well again. “Azra has been searching for months. All of them have been searching for months and this is the only thing they have found. I’m not a fragile little girl for you to protect, Brielle. I am a grown woman that can make my own decisions and I have decided that I’m doing this for you. You deserve to live a long, happy life. How could I live with myself if I knew you didn’t get to and I could have done something about it?”
My best friend only shakes her head and pulls me in tight for a hug.
“When did you get so ballsy?” she mutters softly through her sniffles. I giggle and my eyes shoot over to Ash, who is leaning against the wall with his strong arms crossed over his broad chest. His lips slightly pull to the side for a split second. Anyone who wasn’t already staring at him would have completely missed it. His shadows almost look as if they are dancing around him as he kicks off the wall and walks out of the library.
“I learned from the best,” I mutter, wondering where Ash is going and if I will see him again soon. I have so many questions.
Brielle pulls me away with a smile, “We will get through this together. I will be with you every step of the way.” I don’t miss the subtle swallow.
“You don’t have to—” I begin.
“I am,” she cuts me off with a tone I know all too well that her mind is made up. I look over to Azra, whose features are as hard as stone to hide the worry I know is creeping in. That same stone mask slides over his face anytime he is around more people than Brielle.
Observing is the survival skill I learned when everyone thought they would burn if they became my friend. So, I notice every little emotion that slips through his hard facade when he thinks no one is paying attention to him but Brielle. They both deserve this fighting chance.
“Do y’all possibly have a world map?” Salem asks, looking around the room. Azra waves his hand and a large map appears on the desk in front of Salem.
She smiles and waves her hand at Brielle to go to her. My friend hesitantly approaches Salem and places her hand in Salem’s, who pricks her finger again and allows the blood to drop on the map.
Salem shakes her hands and shuts her eyes. The candles around the desk ignite and she releases a controlled breath. She begins whispering. My arms tingle again. Just as they did before I must have passed out.
A loud pop disrupts the silence in the room and Salem opens her eyes.
“What. The. Fuck,” she slowly utters. I step forward and look down at the map. The small drops of blood that were once there have splattered across the entire map. Like spaghetti sauce dropping to the floor. “I have never seen anything like this before. We are dredging in dangerous waters.”