50. Cori
Cori
T he streets of Salem were dusted with a thin layer of fresh snow that reflected the muted morning sun like starlight as Cori followed Seth and Adrian to the coffeehouse. The Gray witches had been using it as a meeting place since their arrival, but Cori had stayed behind until now, tucked away in the motel room, biding her time.
She felt exposed out in the open, and it made her stomach turn over.
The Huxley brothers were conspicuous as they walked down the street, tall and broad and handsome. Two of them, walking side by side, took up the full breadth of the sidewalk. The corner of her lip curved up despite her unease as she noticed more than one passing woman do a double take as they passed.
She with her black down coat, gray winter cap covering her distinctive golden-brown hair, and a black wool scarf wrapped up to her nose, could have passed as any cold New Englander in a rush to run holiday errands.
A hum of magic bounced around them like electric heat through the cold bitter air. Would the feeling of that energy fade in a few days when the stars finally converged on the solstice? She shivered as an icy wind ripped through her down coat.
She could sense the magic emanating from the Huxley brothers as they walked a few feet ahead of her. The snow dusting the ground and the flurries swirling through the sky seemed to swirl around them like a halo. Not one flake stuck to their jackets. It was probably killing them they could not simply clear the path ahead of them as they walked, but she knew they were trying not to attract any kind of unwanted attention.
It wasn’t clear how much the witches in Calvin’s coven knew about her life. If they had any intelligence about her spending time with a bunch of Elementals, now was not the time for the brothers to magically clear a path in the snow.
They entered the coffee shop through a side entrance and walked up a stained, musty cement staircase that led to a set of dimly lit rooms. At the end of a hallway, Seth approached the heavy metal door, his confident knock echoing through the corridor.
An unfamiliar witch opened the door for them as Cori took off her hat. The witch smiled at her from behind the door before diverting her attention to Seth.
She placed her hand on her hip. “Password?” she asked expectantly.
“Borealis,” Seth replied quickly, winking.
The witch narrowed her eyes at him, a teasing smile playing at her features. “Sorry, we changed the password this morning. You’ll have to come back later.”
Seth crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. “Chloe, do you really want us sitting out here in the cold hallway?” he asked smoothly.
Cori bit her lip as his aura turned smoky red. He was flirting with her.
“You realize I brought precious cargo with me this time, right?” He gestured to Cori who gave a shy wave.
Despite Seth’s cool, calm manner, Adrian narrowed his eyes with calculating appraisal. He glanced over at Cori, an unspoken question in his eyes. Even though Cori couldn’t read his mind, she could sense his suspicion. She opened her Eye to the witch before her, and all she could read was curiosity and the girlish flirtation bouncing between her and Seth.
She raised her eyebrows at Adrian and subtly nodded her head, his suspicion melting away to relief as the tension in his posture relaxed.
They entered a room that was comfortable and warmly furnished despite the bare hallway that they had walked through to get there. The local Gray coven used this location as their regular meeting place.
The room had several worn yet cozy-looking couches where people casually sat, filling the room with chatter.
Fern stood in the corner, her arms folded around her torso as she silently appraised the other witches in the room with narrowed eyes. Cori considered standing with her for a moment before another young witch caught her attention. He was sitting on a chair not too far away from Fern, bouncing his leg and picking at his cuticles.
He appeared to be young, no older than seventeen or eighteen. His clothes were dirty and worn, and his platinum blond hair was mussed and tousled. She opened her Eye to him, and her heart clenched with the realization that this young man had been through a recent trauma.
“Ahem,” Prudence cleared her throat. “I think everyone is here, so we can get started. Is that OK, Chloe?”
Chloe nodded, a steaming cup of coffee balanced in her hands, as she took a seat near Prudence. “Absolutely,” Chloe said as she pulled out a clipboard. “I want to call to order this meeting of the Salem Gray Coven,” she started with a murmur of assent from the crowd. She hastily took attendance before getting to business. “We welcome our guests from the San Francisco and London Gray Covens today and thank them for their continued help in curbing the rise in dark activity in town. Over the past two days alone, we have disabled several dangerous charms and removed several dark artifacts from the parks and historic sites around town. ”
Cori shivered as applause rang out around her. How many of those spells were cast directly because of me? she wondered.
Chloe continued to the next order of business. “I would also, of course, like to welcome our guest of honor, Cordelia Manganelli.” Chloe smiled at her, extending her hand.
The room broke out into more applause, making Cori blush with embarrassment.
Cori smiled and nodded at Chloe as she continued, “We’re here today to come up with a plan to keep her safe while we rescue her mother from the LARC. But before we start, I think we can all agree that there is another matter we are most relieved about. With the help of Fern, we’ve successfully rescued Fintan.” She gestured at the young, disheveled witch who waved sheepishly at them amid another yet round of applause.
“To bring some of you up to speed,” Pru said toward Cori. “Fintan was recently captured by the LARC and was able to break out just this morning. He’s a Fire Elemental who the LARC had been exploiting for his power against his will.”
Cori saw Adrian and Seth exchange a shocked look before their mouths fell open in disbelief.
Adrian stood up suddenly. “You…” He pointed at the young man who turned white with fear as he also stood.
“Hold on. I wasn’t working for them,” he blurted, his hand outstretched. Cori thought she detected a subtle fire in his eyes. “I was forced?—”
“You sent the Byzantine fire,” Adrian growled at him. The air in the room started to crackle and thicken as water fell from the ceiling. Cori looked up and gasped as a wispy cloud accumulated in the room. He was summoning a storm— inside .
“Adrian, calm down.” Seth was standing now, too.
“You almost killed us,” Adrian hissed. “And your fire hurt our sister.”
“They forced me. I didn’t even know what I was doing…” the scared young man pleaded with Adrian as he backed slowly away, steam billowing from the growing moisture around him.
The room rumbled, the floor beneath their feet vibrating. Cori looked up into Adrian’s face where rage was replaced with shock. This magic was not coming from him. Fern, standing up from her chair in the corner, released a glowing orb of silvery light.
She walked over to the young man and spread her arms, expanding the protective orb to surround him. She didn’t say a word, but if looks could kill, her glance to Adrian would be lethal.
Adrian stumbled back, letting go of his anger. Seth cleared the clouds from the ceiling as Cori slowly got to her feet. She walked across the room to the silvery orb that Fern had summoned.
“Fern, it’s OK.”
Fern nodded, and the orb dissipated into embers of floating silver that fell to the floor like snow.
“I’m sorry,” the Fire Elemental said. “If that fire was meant for you, or if it hurt you.” His head hung down between his shoulders as he slumped into the chair. “I didn’t even know I could do it—it was like they—” He stumbled on his words, choked with the trauma of his recent captivity.
Cori reached out her hand to him. “I’m a Celestial witch, which means I can sense people’s emotions and experiences. If I touch you, you can show me what happened to you with your memories. Can you show me what happened when you were there, Fintan?”
“It’s Fin.”
“Fin, if you take my hand and allow me to connect to you, you can show me anything you wish, but you will relive it, too. Is that OK? I think it will help me understand what has been going on.”
Fin nodded at her, extending his hand. As his aura softened, she was struck by the firm set of his jaw and his platinum white hair. Nausea washed over her when she saw ligature marks around his wrists.
“I’m ready,” he said, clenching his jaw.
Cori opened her Eye as she connected with Fin’s magic. His aura was a hot, powerful flame. As she was thrust into the memory, she was surrounded by the sweet smell of burning hickory wood as his magic crackled around her.
Fin sat in a small room, appointed in vintage Victorian style—lace curtains and delicate doilies on the furniture. He stared longingly at a fire crackling in the fireplace, his face stricken with frustration. Silvery thread was bound around his arms, connected to an ancient-looking bolt embedded on the wall, glowing ominously like a hot ember. A bed on the opposite end of the room was vacant.
The door cracked open, and a tall man in a neat suit leaned on the frame.
Calvin Hanson smiled smugly down at Fin. “Are you enjoying your new accommodations, Mr. Sullivan?” he asked coolly.
“Why am I here?” Fin snarled up at Calvin with a subtle Irish lilt in his voice. Fire crackled from the bolt on the wall.
Calvin released a soft chuckle. “It’s a simple spell, really. Old magic. That’s an iron bolt. Has been used in this house in this way for centuries. An ancient relic for sure, but it's nothing complicated. Just spellbinding.”
Fin’s magic was cut off and tethered to the iron bolt in the wall. He narrowed his eyes at his warden. “That’s dark magic.”
Calvin stood taller, his jaw hardening. “It’s powerful magic ,” he spat back with disgust. “You’ve been force-fed all the false information about so-called dark magic, too.” He crossed his arms. “Your reputation led me to believe that you might actually understand what we are trying to accomplish here, Mr. Sullivan.” Fin winced at this. “But here we are. We had to capture you. I thought for sure you of all people would come willingly.”
Fin shook head. “I’ve admittedly done some fucked-up shit, but I’ve never ? —”
Calvin narrowed his eyes. “Such a pity. A Fire Elemental. Think of what you could accomplish if you could harness magic to your full potential.” He frowned. “Luckily there’s more than one way to get what I need from you.” He lurched forward, gripping Fin’s shirt with his hand, twisting the fabric. “Give me what I need, or I will be forced to take it from you.”
Fin reeled and spat squarely into Calvin’s face.
Calvin wiped the saliva off his brow and flung it back in Fin’s face before releasing him. “Have it your way, then,” Calvin said, smoothing the lines of his suit jacket as he left the room.
Several witches entered the room at once, moving as though they were shadows. The tether connecting him to the bolt tightened as a witch whispered an incantation in his ear.
His eyes became opaquely black as his lips moved in tandem under the influence of their magic, his voice vibrating independently of his mind. Words escaped his lips, foreign and wrong, repetitive and rhythmic. He didn’t know what the words meant, but he felt their intention— destroy .
He memorized every syllable before he drifted off to sleep.
Fin woke up some time later to the sound of hushed voices.
“Enzo…” a woman pleaded in a whisper. “Let me talk to him.”
A man’s voice sighed in the darkness. “Fine, but make it quick. We don’t have a lot of time.”
The face of an older woman with platinum hair swam into his vision. “My name is Astrid. I’m going to help you get out of here,” she said with a slow and calming voice. “This is my son, Enzo. He has a key in his left pocket. You’re going to steal the key out of his pocket, and then the two of you are going to beat each other up…loudly.”
Enzo released a scoffing sound. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you win,”
Astrid rolled her eyes but continued in a slow, calming tone. “You are not to use fire. You will run into the basement. The door is at the end of the hall, slightly ajar. There’s a witch in the hall named Fern who will cause a diversion. You are not to harm her, either. There is a cellar door. You will run to the highway, where a car is waiting for you. Fin, you need to give this key to my daughter, Cordelia. It will unbind you from the bolt, but until she comes back for me, I will remain bound. Do you understand? There is only one key.”
Fin nodded. Enzo pulled a key from his pocket and detached the bolt. Fin’s wrists burned as the fire in his magic returned to him like a wave of volcanic ash. He stood as Enzo noisily knocked over a table. Reeling back, Fin punched Enzo in the nose. A trickle of blood ran over his lip. Enzo shoved Fin hard into the wall, knocking over a portrait from the wallpapered plaster.
“Help!” Astrid yelled convincingly from the other side of the room.
“Go!” Enzo grit out as he shoved him again, knocking down a ceramic bowl from the bedside table as he pushed the key into his hand.
Fin ran down the hall toward a stern-looking witch standing near the basement steps. She fired off an incantation down the hall in the opposite direction. She cocked her head toward the door as shouts and footsteps grew near, as he escaped into the basement where a rush of cool night air hit his cheeks from the open cellar door.