fingers. Electric bolts of magic escape my hands and dance around my entire body. Again, the air begins to stir. I let it build slowly until I feel first my hair lift away from my neck then my feet easing off the floor.
Yes, that’s it. Release me.
I gasp and fist my hands, closing off the magic. I drop to the floor, my breath ragged. Keller is instantly beside me, his arm wrapped around my back.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. I take comfort from his strength next to me.
“The darkness.” I press my palm to my forehead. It’s hot to the touch, as if I have a fever. “It’s there, and it wants out.”
I meet Keller’s eyes so close to mine. He kisses my temple, and I glance up to see Egan and Toni in front of me, effectively shielding me from the Bane without looking like it’s deliberate. They all know I don’t mean just my dark power but whatever I pulled out of the earth at Shiprock.
“You have to show it that it can’t win,” Sarah says. She steps up beside Egan and looks down at me. “If you keep backing away because you’re scared, you’ll never defeat it.”
“It’s too dangerous,” I say.
“What’s too dangerous is the covens amassing their forces and us with no way to fight back. You know yours won’t stop until they kill you, and they won’t think twice about killing whomever they have to in order to find you. I won’t stand by and let that happen.”
The darkness snaps inside me, making a mockery of the bracelet on my wrist. It wants to lash out at Sarah, but I yank back on it and focus on the goodness I feel in Keller. Sarah’s right. I have to keep working until I am in complete control.
For the next couple of days, we spend nearly every waking moment practicing. My progress is achingly slow, but at least it’s progress. The longer I work, however, the more I feel like a caged animal. Trying to ignore the feeling, I push myself too hard and take another sizeable chunk out of the wall.
“I’ve got to get outside, see some daylight,” I tell Keller, Toni and Egan one night after another long day.
“Maybe Sarah will let you out for a day,” Keller says. “And I think it’s time we told her about the Beginning and Ending books, that we have them. Maybe there’s something in there that we’re missing and they’ll see.”
I know that’s highly unlikely, but I don’t say so. But on the off chance that Keller is right, I’m willing to follow that road and see where it leads.
“We don’t have the Ending Book,” Egan says.
“But we can get it.” I stop pacing and place my hands on my hips. “We’ll go tomorrow.”
After the guys head to their room for the night, I close the door and lean back against it.
“What were you hiding from them?” Toni asks me.
“You sure you’re not an observer witch?” I ask.
“Nope. Just your average teenager, if by average you mean runaway, truant and friend of witches.”
I cross to my bed and sit down facing her. “I’m going to ask if Piper will go with us.”
“Why? Don’t you think they’ll want to send one of the adults with us?”
“I’ll make the argument that we’ll just look like a group of friends out spending a Saturday together if it’s Piper.” I tell her about my conversation with Piper that night in the study.
Toni’s eyes widen. “You’re totally going to set her up with Rule.”
“At least let them meet each other, see if there are any sparks. When she was talking about her life, it seemed so lonely. That’s when I remembered Rule saying something similar, that he’d never met anyone he could share his real self with until he met me.”
Toni claps. “It will be so awesome if they get together.”
“They’ve got to like each other first. There are no guarantees.”
“It’ll be a shame if they don’t. I mean, she’s drop-dead gorgeous. And Rule’s not exactly hard to look at either.”
I think about Rule and Piper together, but then my thoughts drift to Keller as they so often
Yes, that’s it. Release me.
I gasp and fist my hands, closing off the magic. I drop to the floor, my breath ragged. Keller is instantly beside me, his arm wrapped around my back.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. I take comfort from his strength next to me.
“The darkness.” I press my palm to my forehead. It’s hot to the touch, as if I have a fever. “It’s there, and it wants out.”
I meet Keller’s eyes so close to mine. He kisses my temple, and I glance up to see Egan and Toni in front of me, effectively shielding me from the Bane without looking like it’s deliberate. They all know I don’t mean just my dark power but whatever I pulled out of the earth at Shiprock.
“You have to show it that it can’t win,” Sarah says. She steps up beside Egan and looks down at me. “If you keep backing away because you’re scared, you’ll never defeat it.”
“It’s too dangerous,” I say.
“What’s too dangerous is the covens amassing their forces and us with no way to fight back. You know yours won’t stop until they kill you, and they won’t think twice about killing whomever they have to in order to find you. I won’t stand by and let that happen.”
The darkness snaps inside me, making a mockery of the bracelet on my wrist. It wants to lash out at Sarah, but I yank back on it and focus on the goodness I feel in Keller. Sarah’s right. I have to keep working until I am in complete control.
For the next couple of days, we spend nearly every waking moment practicing. My progress is achingly slow, but at least it’s progress. The longer I work, however, the more I feel like a caged animal. Trying to ignore the feeling, I push myself too hard and take another sizeable chunk out of the wall.
“I’ve got to get outside, see some daylight,” I tell Keller, Toni and Egan one night after another long day.
“Maybe Sarah will let you out for a day,” Keller says. “And I think it’s time we told her about the Beginning and Ending books, that we have them. Maybe there’s something in there that we’re missing and they’ll see.”
I know that’s highly unlikely, but I don’t say so. But on the off chance that Keller is right, I’m willing to follow that road and see where it leads.
“We don’t have the Ending Book,” Egan says.
“But we can get it.” I stop pacing and place my hands on my hips. “We’ll go tomorrow.”
After the guys head to their room for the night, I close the door and lean back against it.
“What were you hiding from them?” Toni asks me.
“You sure you’re not an observer witch?” I ask.
“Nope. Just your average teenager, if by average you mean runaway, truant and friend of witches.”
I cross to my bed and sit down facing her. “I’m going to ask if Piper will go with us.”
“Why? Don’t you think they’ll want to send one of the adults with us?”
“I’ll make the argument that we’ll just look like a group of friends out spending a Saturday together if it’s Piper.” I tell her about my conversation with Piper that night in the study.
Toni’s eyes widen. “You’re totally going to set her up with Rule.”
“At least let them meet each other, see if there are any sparks. When she was talking about her life, it seemed so lonely. That’s when I remembered Rule saying something similar, that he’d never met anyone he could share his real self with until he met me.”
Toni claps. “It will be so awesome if they get together.”
“They’ve got to like each other first. There are no guarantees.”
“It’ll be a shame if they don’t. I mean, she’s drop-dead gorgeous. And Rule’s not exactly hard to look at either.”
I think about Rule and Piper together, but then my thoughts drift to Keller as they so often
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