A Witch's Storm Read online

  “Place it over here.” Roma pointed to a metal box with all kinds of runes etched into its side.

  I did as she asked, ignoring the guilt scraping at my insides, and closed the lid firmly. My mom’s spell would protect the real blood just as well as what we were doing here.

  “It’s time.” Roma took hold of my hand and pulled me away to the center of the room while Owen dropped a match into whatever he had boiling. Red smoke billowed upward, and the smell made me gag. It was the aroma of a refrigerator that had been unplugged for way too long.

  Roma handed me a slip of paper. “You’re going to repeat these words until I say done. Owen, grab her other hand. No matter what happens, we can’t stop. Supernaturals looking for the Abydos have probably already begun to track it.”

  If only she knew the truth. The Abydos was already locked safely away in my mother’s vault. She’d been preparing it for months with all kinds of magical layers. What we were about to do paled in comparison to what my mother had already done.

  “Let’s begin.” Roma tilted her head back and began to chant.

  I did the same. Roma’s hand was warm, near burning, in mine. Owen’s was cold as ice.

  For the next few hours, we chanted and used Owen’s magical concoctions to perform different spells on the box in front of us. My muscles ached and lungs burned as magic transferred from me to the box and the fake Abydos.

  I was so tired and just wanted to collapse. All this wasted energy for nothing.

  In that moment, I hated my mother. I used that hate to strengthen my magic. I didn’t look over at Owen whose grip had weakened in my hand. Roma’s remained strong. I felt bad for Owen. He was older than Roma, more frail.

  Any pain he was feeling right now from expelling his magic was my fault.

  I couldn’t think about it. Couldn’t think about all the people I’d hurt because of my lies.

  With flames burning low on the candles around us, some already burned out, the box began to lift into the air. We continued the spell, one that felt older than time with the power of the sun, moon, and stars behind it. The magic hummed through my bones, vibrated my insides, and rattled my teeth. I wondered where Roma had found it. She’d told me she came from a long line of witches. Her book of shadows could have spells centuries old if preserved correctly. Maybe one day I’d ask her to see it.

  The box continued to rise to the high stone ceilings. Roma’s voice grew louder. I matched her tone and intensity, as did Owen. He dropped to his knees from exhaustion, but I maintained our tight grip, fighting off my own exhaustion.

  A heavy fog crept into the room and swirled at our feet. With our rising voices, it also flowed higher, cooling my skin. A chill rocked my frame and my words stuttered. The box, high above our heads, sucked the fog to it as if it were inhaling deeply. The sudden wind whipped my hair all around my face.

  My pulse raced until I thought my heart would burst. Roma’s hand grew so hot I swore my flesh burned beneath our grip. I didn’t dare look down to see. I wanted to be as strong as her, to show her I could be just as powerful.

  I stared up at the box, magic pouring from me to it. The tail end of the fog got sucked in to the box. When it was all gone, a loud pop filled the room, and the box disappeared.

  Roma lowered her head and cleared her throat to find her voice. “It’s done.”

  She collapsed to the ground as did Owen. I dropped to my knees, weak and with a pounding headache.

  I turned to Owen first who looked unconscious. I pressed my fingers to his wrist. His pulse raced frighteningly fast.

  “I’m okay,” he breathed, startling me. His eyes were still closed. “Just need to rest.”

  I turned to Roma and checked her pulse, too. Hers was deathly slow. She stared upward, her hazel eyes empty, expression blank. I shook her gently. “Roma?”

  No answer.

  I smoothed back her frizzy red hair. Her forehead was covered in tiny beads of sweat. “Come on, Roma. Snap out of it.”

  She blinked and lowered her gaze to meet mine. A slow smile twisted her lips upward. “We did it.”

  I returned her smile. “We sure did. Finally, the Abydos is truly safe.”

  Another lie. When would it end?

  She turned her head to look at Owen. “How are you doing, old man?”

  He groaned and lifted onto his elbows. “I need a stiff drink.”

  “The best idea you’ve had yet.” She looked at me. “Help me up?”

  I scooped my arm behind her shoulders and assisted her into a sitting position. She wobbled briefly, touching her forehead and gasping for air.

  “Can I get you something?” I asked.

  “There’s a bottle of strong wine on the table.”

  I pulled myself to my feet. My legs shook, but I managed to keep them beneath me as I stumbled to the table. Before I grabbed the bottle, I removed my phone from my pocket and texted Briar and Samira:

  It’s done. The Abydos is safe.

  One day they would know the truth.

  When that day came, they would no longer call me their friend.

  Chapter 2

  “Come on, Lynx,” Briar said to me as she adjusted her ponytail. “Butterfly wings hit harder than that.”

  “Can’t we be done?” I groaned. My chest heaved as I dropped my arms to my side. We’d been training in the backyard for almost an hour. My muscles burned from exhaustion, a different kind of burn from using magic. I didn’t like it.

  “No. You have to learn to fight with your fists. What if you lost your magic?”

  “I won’t. I don’t know why you keep saying that.”

  “Look, we don’t know what Ivona is going to throw at us next. We need every advantage possible, like you knowing how to protect yourself without magic.”

  “Fine.” I lowered back into a defensive position like she’d taught me. Feet shoulder-width apart, weight settled into my hips. I raised my tight fists in front of my face.

  When she came at me, I ducked as her hand darted toward my face. I undercut my fist to her ribs, ignoring the pain on my knuckles as they connected. It felt like punching steel.

  But I didn’t stop.

  I focused on my breathing and my steps as we sparred, punching and ducking in small circles. After the first hit, it was about impossible to land anything on her. She spun and dodged too fast, completely in tune to my movements.

  Inhaling deeply, I decided to try something unexpected. She hadn’t taught me to kick yet, but I’d seen others do it enough that I could probably attempt it with some success.

  Just as she ducked to miss my punch, I swiveled around with a backward roundhouse. My foot connected to her face with a thud. Pain lanced through my foot.

  She stumbled back, her eyes wide. She rubbed at her jaw, then smiled. “Holy shit. You got me.”

  Applause had us whirling around. Aris stepped out of the shadows, a grin tugging one side of his mouth, exposing a deep dimple in his cheek.

  “How long have you been standing there?” I gasped.

  “Long enough to see Briar get her ass kicked.”

  Briar snorted and rolled her eyes. “Hardly, creeper.”

  He ignored her and came to stand in front of me. “How’s training going?”

  I quickly smoothed my hair back. “Getting better.”

  Briar’s phone buzzed on the back porch. To Aris, she said, “Take over for me, will you, stalker? I have to get this.”

  “I wasn’t stalking!” he called after her, but she had already answered her phone and darted inside the house. He looked back at me. “What were you working on?”

  “Upper body movements mostly. Dodging, punching, uppercuts.”

  “So offensive moves.”

  “I guess.”

  “That’s great, but for someone like you who isn’t used to fighting physically, you’ll probably need to learn more defensive moves. Jujitsu would be perfect.”

  “How does that work?”

  “I’ll show you.” He stepped behind me, paused, then wrapped his arm around my chest tightly. His chest warmed my back and a chill skittered up my spine, making me shiver.

  “Are you cold? We could do this another time.” His breath feathered past my ear.

  I did my best to hold back another tingle threatening to break across my flesh. “I’m good. So what do I do next?”

  “First, I want you to grip my wrist with one hand, and my forearm with the other.”

  I did as he asked.

  “Good. Next, I want you to shift your hips to the right and place your left foot behind mine.”

  I followed his directions and waited.

  “Now you’re going to jerk your left leg forward, hooking my ankle so we both fall backward. I’ll land on my back, you on your bum, but just quickly turn and mount me.”

  Before I could think too long on that word “mount,” I did as he said.

  Jerking my leg, I swiveled as he fell backwards. I spun to keep my balance, but I couldn’t quite get my foot out from under him and tumbled with him to the ground. I collapsed on his chest, laughing. He chuckled with me, his hands on the small of my back.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, grinning, but then our eyes met, our faces inches apart. I could feel his chest thundering beneath my breasts. I swallowed around the fullness in my throat, telling myself to look away, but his ocean eyes pulled me under.

  “Are you okay?” he breathed, his eyes darting to my lips, and I ran my tongue across the inner part of my bottom lip, wondering what it would feel like to kiss him.

  “What are you doing, creeper?” Briar called out the open door from the kitchen table. “Kiss her or teach her to fight, but do something. She’s getting old.”

  I laughed and scrambled off him. Briar could always make me laugh. Just before I stood, I flipped her off. She winked at me, then continued talking into the phone.

  I extended a hand to Aris to help him up. “Ignore her. She talks way too much.”

  He accepted my hand. I pulled him to his feet as he said, “I’m aware of that.”

  “I heard that!” Briar called.

  “Again, ignore her,” I said with more force directed in her direction.

  “Let’s try that move again, but this time, you put your arms around me. It might be easier for you to learn that way.”

  I pretended I felt nothing as I wrapped my arms just below his wide chest. He was too tall for me to do anything else. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, breathing in his manly smell. I pretended that it was his arms wrapped around me, his solid body a shield against all my lies. It was… calming.

  At the sound of his voice, I opened my eyes and focused on his instructions.

  One day I might get to do and say exactly what I wanted.

  We kept practicing as it grew dark. We were in the middle of attempting the move for the gazillioneth time when Samira’s car pulled into the driveway. The lights shut off, and she exited the car with a phone to her ear, talking to someone.

  Briar stepped onto the porch, shutting off her phone. Samira did the same.

  “If you were already on your way over,” Briar said to her, “why bother calling me?”

  “I like to be efficient with my time.” Her eyes darted to me. She looked from me to Aris in a scrutinizing manner. So very Samira. “How’s training going?”

  “She’s doing great,” Aris said.

  “She’s too slow,” Briar said at the same time.

  “It will get better.” Samira nodded to the house. “We need to talk.”

  Aris and I shared a glance, then followed her and Briar inside. Samira had changed since becoming President of the Ames de la Terra. She’d grown more serious, if that was even possible, weighed down by the responsibilities of taking care of so many supernaturals.

  But she hadn’t entirely lost herself. The day after Briar and Angel had returned, just us three girls partied at the house. We’d had plenty of alcohol. Plenty of laughter. It was like old times again. I might’ve really enjoyed it if I hadn’t been burdened by my betrayal, trying really hard not to appear guilty for lying about the Abydos. At one point, I swore Samira saw the lies in my eyes, but I’d quickly covered it up with a big smile and a joke about Briar. I think it had worked.

  “What’s this about?” Aris asked when we entered the living room.

  I dropped into my favorite high-back chair. It had been handed down to me from my grandmother. That and my house were the only things I’d been given when she passed. The rest had been given to my triplet cousins.

  Briar sprawled on a loveseat across from me. Samira and Aris remained standing.

  “Detrand called,” Samira said. “As you all know, he’s been tasked with researching everything he can about Korin’s dealings. He’s uncovered a connection between the Anglades and Korin.”

  I straightened in my seat. The Anglades were a powerful witch family closely tied to mine. In fact, my adopted father and Magnus Anglade were best friends growing up. When I was younger, it was rumored they wanted me to marry his oldest son, Robert, but I hadn’t seen him since I was a young teenager.

  “What kind of connection?” I asked.

  “Before we killed Korin, he transferred over a million dollars to Magnus Anglade’s account.”

  “That’s a shit-ton of money,” Briar said. “Any idea what it was for?”

  “We don’t know.” Samira’s gaze lowered to me. “But we want you to find out.”

  My blood chilled. Even though I’d grown up playing with the Anglades, I hadn’t seen them in years, nor did I want to. “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “We recently learned the Anglades have returned to Rouen and are hosting a huge party to celebrate. All witch families and some other supernaturals have been invited, including the Morgans. Your mother is attending. We want you to go, too.”

  “Is it safe?” Aris asked, his voice hard. I noticed he had inched his way toward my chair so slowly I hadn’t noticed.

  “We think so, but just in case we’re not sending her alone.”

  “I’ll go,” Aris said.

  Samira shook her head. “No. Too many supernaturals know you. Besides, this isn’t a place for Ministry members. We still don’t know what side of the fence the Anglades are on and don’t want to scare them away should they be against what Korin and Ivona were trying to do.”

  Briar draped her arm over the side of the love seat. “I think it’s pretty obvious. Korin gave him a million bucks.”

  “But he could’ve been paying him to stay away from Rouen or any other number of things.”

  “Who’s going with Lynx?” Aris asked.

  Samira’s gaze returned to his. “Loxley and Shade.”

  I cringed. Shade had returned with Angel and Briar along with Ireland, the vampire hunter. I didn’t mind Ireland, even though she was sassy as hell. She reminded me of Briar. But Shade? That supernatural freaked me out every time I was around him. It was like he bled darkness. Not the evil kind, necessarily, but the kind that lurked in your closet or beneath your bed at night. There was no rational reason to fear it and yet you did. That was Shade.

  “Why them?” Aris asked.

  “First, because no one knows Loxley, and she’s a strong shifter. Plus, she’s gotten good at using magic, thanks to Adelade’s training. I feel confident she could help Lynx if she needs it.”

  “And Shade?” he pressed.

  “Lynx needs a date, someone no one knows and who exudes power.”

  “I exude power,” Aris grumbled.

  “You exude broodiness and angst,” Briar countered.

  Aris’s right eye twitched. Before he could argue with her, I asked, “When is this party?”

  “Tomorrow night. It’s at the penthouse suite at the Ballario hotel. Wear something formal.”

  “And what exactly do you want me to do?” I asked.

  “Get close to one of the Anglades. Magnus’s two oldest sons will be there. Between the three of you, you should be able to learn something. Just pretend you’re one of them.”

  I brought my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Anything to feel smaller. If only I could disappear altogether. I didn’t want to do it. Pretend one more thing. My sanity couldn’t take it.

  As if he could sense my apprehension, Aris lowered a hand to my shoulder. “There must be another way. I can break into their residence and search their things. They’ll never know I was there.”

  “No,” Samira said. “We can’t risk it.”

  “You good with this?” Briar asked me.

  I inhaled a full breath and dug deep. What’s one more persona for me to fake? They needed me. It was the least I could do for them, and a way to atone for all my lies.

  Schooling my face, I lowered my legs and lifted my chin with a strength I didn’t feel. “Of course. I’ll get you what you need.”

  But the words felt hollow in my mouth and tasted bitter. Just like my heart.

  Chapter 3

  “I still don’t like this,” Aris said from the doorway of my bedroom. He’d arrived moments earlier, and after letting himself into my house, knocked on my bedroom door.

  “You don’t have to like it. It’s what needs to be done.” I reached behind my back to zip up my green dress but couldn’t quite get it all of the way. I glanced at Aris in my full-length mirror. “Could you zip me up the rest of the way?”

  He crossed the room and stopped just behind me. His knuckles brushed across my skin as they slid up my back, scattering goosebumps across it and making my stomach lurch. He reached up, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror as he took a strand of my hair in his fingers. “Your hair looks nice.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, my eyes going to his hand touching my hair. “Thank you.”

  I turned around and looked into his eyes. Only a breath lingered between us. “I wish you were coming with me.”

  “Me too, but don’t worry.” A smile teased the corners of his mouth. “I won’t be far away.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I rented a room just beneath the penthouse. I’ll be able to hear everything, so if you get into trouble just say my name, and I’ll be there.”