Chapter Twenty-Eight
Before I had a chance to recover from the shock that half the wall was gone, a pair of boots appeared through the debris. I’d been tossed to the ground when the explosion rocked the shed, and there wasn’t really anywhere for me to go, since one of the remaining walls was right behind me. And I couldn’t exactly leave Asher behind, helpless with his arms bound. If what he’d said was true, Samuel was his enemy too.
I lay there, too stunned at first to move. Eventually the dust cleared and gave way to the outline of an enormous man. He was raggedy-looking and had two girls with him; they all looked rather pissed and were coming straight for me.
“Hadley, let me out,” Asher hissed at me. “I can’t help you with these things on my wrists.”
I didn’t even have a chance to decide to let him go or not before the first girl lunged at me. Rolling a few feet away, I pushed myself up onto my feet and took a defensive stance.
“I was thinking about remodeling, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” I said, looking at the structure they’d destroyed.
The girl gave me an annoyed look. Guess Sammy’s pack weren’t the joking types. No matter. I could be serious, too.
“What are you waiting for? Come and get me,” I said, beckoning her forward with my finger.
That was all the encouragement she needed. Without waiting for another invite, she ran at me, raising her leg to strike me in the side. I might’ve been more worried if she hadn’t been wearing metallic stretch pants and out-of-date orange tennis shoes. An outfit that tacky didn’t give me much confidence in her abilities. If your look has expired, chances are, so have your fighting skills.
Just like I’d thought, she was totally predictable, and I reached for her leg and used her own momentum to toss her right past me and into the far wall. She landed with a thud and then remained on the ground.
Satisfied that she was down for the moment, I turned back to the other two. Neither of them had bothered to move from their spots. The girl looked a little less sure of herself now that I’d done away with her friend. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as if she was trying to decide whether she should stay or run. Finally, she looked over to the guy for direction.
Her buddy wasn’t as hesitant and gave me a nasty smile. His leer made me uncomfortable, though I didn’t want to show it.
“Who’s next?” I asked, already knowing the answer but hoping to move things along, and away from Asher, who was still cuffed behind me.
The brute in front of me only grunted in response and then lifted up his arms to prepare for a spell.
“Tiamus perplexigun!” he shouted, pointing in my direction.
I attempted to get out of the way in time, but I felt the buzz of the charm hit me on the back of the leg as I sprinted to the right. It felt like the electric shock from one of those joke hand buzzers—only this one moved through my body, up my legs, past my stomach, and then down my arms toward my fingertips. I figured it would just pass through my hands and out the other side like a lightning bolt. In fact, I was starting to wonder why he’d bothered to send such a weak spell my way when my hands connected tightly at the wrists and stuck that way.
Looking down at them, I was horrified to see they were bound together. Not with handcuffs like I’d placed on Asher but instead with what seemed to be an invisible force. It felt like little magnets had been implanted into my wrists. I tried to pull them apart, but they wouldn’t budge.
The skeezy guy laughed. He was enjoying seeing me struggle. It was all I could do to force myself to stop and think, racking my brain for any spell I’d ever been taught that could get me out of his hold. But then I was being pulled across the floor, as if led by a rope attached to the ties that bound me. Fighting against it the whole way, I dug my heels into the floor and listened to them scrape across the surface as he willed me closer and closer to him. I didn’t want to know what he planned to do once he got his hands on me.
Finally, something Jackson had said in one of our classes popped into my mind. I stopped fighting and moved forward willingly. A smile broke out on my adversary’s face. He thought I’d given up.
Just as I was nearly close enough for him to reach out and touch me, I pulled on the magic rope and flung myself at him as hard as I could. This was the last thing he’d expected me to do, so when I hit him, he lost his balance and fell backward, landing hard on the ground.
As soon as he was down, my wrists sprang free, exactly as I’d suspected they might. Many years before, we’d been taught that a spell like this is useful only as long as the caster is concentrating on his powers. Oftentimes if you’re able to distract the spell caster enough, their mind will wander, letting go of the spell and allowing you time to get away.
Stunned at what had just happened, the hulk of a man looked up at me. I waved and threw him my own devilish smile. Then, before he could recover, I sent a piece of the roof falling down on top of him, ensuring that it would take the Parrishable quite a while to climb his way out from beneath the rubble.
“Hadley!”
“I’m kind of busy right now, Asher,” I warned, my gaze now fixed on the only other girl left standing in the room.
The girl looked over at her friend, who was lying on the ground, and then over at the unconscious guy just a few feet away. It was as if I could see her thought process: “Do I run and risk the wrath of my coven leader or stay and most likely get my ass kicked by this girl?”
Apparently, it wasn’t a very difficult decision. A few seconds later the girl took off, running back through the hole that used to be the door to the shed.
“Good choice,” I said, watching her disappear. I started to follow but heard some shuffling and then a throat clearing behind me.
“Had! Let me out of these so I can help you,” Asher said, lifting his arms to show the cuffs that were still locked in place around his wrists.
I paused and considered what he was asking me to do. I fully believed the story he’d told me earlier. And it was hard to deny that there was something strong between us. I even thought that he was telling me the truth that he’d never intended to hurt me. If Samuel hadn’t forced Asher to deceive me, I don’t think he would have.
But there was the pesky matter of his sister being held captive by our mutual enemy. If Asher was given the choice between saving her and fighting alongside me to defeat Samuel, I couldn’t be sure what he’d do. And under the circumstances, could I really blame him for choosing her? She was his family, and we’d only known each other for a week.
Sister trumps potential girlfriend. At least in this case.
I also had to remind myself that the Cleri was my family and their safety had to be my first priority. Still, it was hard for me to completely ignore the fact that I’d finally found my perfect match. But if Asher was never given the ultimatum, maybe I could save all of us. Asher and his sister included. So I ran back to Asher, threw my arms around his neck, and gave him a long kiss that, had we not been in the middle of a war, would have definitely been the start of something hot.
When I pulled away, his eyes stayed closed for a few beats before he opened them and studied my face dreamily. I ran my hand down his cheek, noting the perfect softness of his skin. Kissing him once more, I pulled back and looked at him.
“I love you too, Asher,” I said, hoping he knew it was true.
He smiled at me in that lopsided, love-struck kind of way. It almost made me feel bad. Slowly, I stood up and took a step away from him, watching as his smile dropped in confusion.
“I love you, but it’s safer for us both if I don’t let you go,” I said apologetically. “I hope you understand, Asher, and if we get out of this thing alive and you still feel the same way, I hope we can both find a way to make it up to each other.”
Then, before I could change my mind, I jumped through the hole in the shed and out into the darkness of the night.
I’d been too preoccupied with what had been going on in the shed to realize what had been going on just outside. Once I’d stepped out, though, I was taken aback by what I saw.
People were running around in states of panic. Some of my friends were being chased by our enemies, while others were doing the chasing. Sparks were flying. So were fists. For a moment I just stood there, unable to believe what I was seeing.
I’d known that things would get ugly when we finally came face-to-face with Samuel and his coven, but I wasn’t ready for the chaos that surrounded me. People were crying out in anger and pain and fear—it was hard to tell the difference.
A zap of magic narrowly missed my face as it zinged past me and hit the wall to my left. Pulled back into the moment, I found myself running for the middle of the fight before I knew what I was doing. I didn’t have time to think about whether it was smart or the right thing to do, I just ran, feeling strongly that I had to get in there.
I pushed my way through the crowd as I tried to get a handle on what was going on. It was hard to tell who needed help and who was holding their own, but I tried to assess the danger levels as I ran by.
I passed Jasmine first, recognizing right away that she had things under control. The girl who was trying to hit her with a spell was beginning to waver as Jazzy dodged every one of her commands with ease. There was a grin on my friend’s face that I recognized—she knew what she was doing and the girl was no match for her. A few seconds later, Jasmine yelled out the words to the spell that she’d shown the rest of us, letting out a satisfied whoop as a hanging plant exploded and the pieces fell down on the Parrishable in front of her.
Our eyes locked for a moment, but then we were both moving again, ready to take on the next Parrishable to cross our paths. Spying a lone shovel lying on the lawn, I stepped onto the flat part and the handle found its way into my hand. I tossed it lightly in the air, feeling its sturdiness.
A guy began to rush at me, arms raised menacingly. I didn’t flinch as I swung the shovel around and knocked him out. Two more guys followed him and I didn’t slow my step as I stopped them, too. Walking through a gazebo my parents had built many years before, I lifted the shovel up and over my head until it rested between the beams and created a bar. Swinging off the ground, my body picked up speed and I kicked a wild-haired woman square in the stomach as she attempted to block my way. I flipped off the bar, landing with ease lightly on my feet, and then followed the woman as she stumbled backward and onto the ground.
I guess my time as a cheerleader had taught me more than just how to boost school spirit.
The woman was older than me, probably around my parents’ age, and it didn’t seem right to hit her like the others. So as she began to raise her hand to cast a spell, I shouted out a sleeping spell that left her snoring on the ground.
Stepping over her body, I kept on toward the back of the house. The noise around me was deafening, between the crashes, explosions, and shouts. Thank God I’d insisted the Cleri be briefed on hand-to-hand, because no way could we have handled another trip to the hospital.
My eyes found Peter as soon as I rounded the corner. He was the smallest person in the fight by far, but I no longer saw him as the most fragile. Peter had taken his time at the cabin seriously, and to my growing admiration I could see that he had a mean-looking muscle head cornered.
Just as Roid Rage was about to lunge, Pete hit him with a stunning spell. The force of it made the guy’s body stiffen, and his eyes went wide with surprise. He hadn’t been expecting the move from Pete, who at first glance might have seemed unimpressive. Fallon, who had been on his way over to help Pete, slowed down as he saw the spell go flying. I shook my head at him to let him know to back off. He did, and we both stood there to watch what the youngest member of our coven would do next.
Unable to move now, the Parrishable watched as Peter walked calmly over to him, stopping only when he was close enough to stare at him nose to nose. Then, without hesitating, Peter pulled back his arm and punched the kid in the mouth.
“Small guys have power, too,” Peter said as a trickle of blood ran down the guy’s face and dripped onto his shoes.
Having done what he’d intended, Pete turned around, noticing me and Fallon for the first time. Within seconds, he was back to his old self, and waved excitedly before giving us a lopsided grin. When all was said and done, he was still the same Peter.
The three of us hurried over to each other and surveyed the damage being done around us.
“We have to round everyone up. It’s not good that we’re all separated,” I said, looking for as many of our coven members as I could. A quick glance showed that although many of us had been managing to stay on top of the fight, a few had clearly not been ready for battle. Rushing to Penelope, who was lying unconscious on the ground just feet from me, I picked her up and hoisted her over my shoulder, then slowly made my way to the porch.
Peter and Fallon were doing the same, picking up the fallen and dragging them back to what we’d deemed home base.
“Cleri! Fall back!” I screamed, hoping everyone would hear me above the clamor. There were already more of the Parrishables on the property than I’d anticipated, and we hadn’t managed to disarm as many as we’d planned, leading up to our pièce de résistance. There were still over two dozen men and women running around, attacking my people with magic and by physical brute force. We may still have been standing, but I knew that would change the longer we let them pick us off one by one.
It was time to band together and use the power of the coven to end this once and for all.
I threw spells into the crowd as our enemies attempted to follow us onto the back porch. When we were practicing with the spell book earlier, we’d managed to recharm the house so the Parrishables wouldn’t be able to get inside, so we were able to leave our wounded in the kitchen and stand our ground in front of its doors.
As my coven gathered on the porch behind me, I began to see exactly what we were up against. The Parrishables were coming in waves now. Some were wounded and clearly angry about it, while others looked like they had several rounds still left in them. But the hate and fury was obvious and I wondered how it had gotten to that point. Why did a group of people dislike us so much that they’d want us dead? Was the promise of power really so enticing that people would be willing to do anything to get it?
That’s when I realized just how much damage Samuel Parris had done over the years, not only to our coven but to his own members. It was the worst kind of brainwashing, and it had to stop. And the only way that would happen was if he was taken out.
“Is everyone here?” I asked loudly without looking behind me. For the time being, the Parrishables were standing their ground in front of us, not daring to move into our territory. I knew the spell we’d done on the house wouldn’t last much longer, since it took all our concentration to keep it up and what we planned to do next would require our total attention. And not just from some of us. From all of us.
“Yeah,” Fallon said, as I felt his presence suddenly at my side. Oddly, this was comforting.
Before I could give this more thought, a booming voice seemed to come out of nowhere and echo through the night.
“And so we meet at the end, finally ready to start a new beginning.” Samuel Parris’s words reverberated across the yard, and I watched as his eerie form appeared at the back of the crowd. His coven parted in the middle as he made his way slowly toward us, his black eyes boring into mine. My insides started to turn to Jell-O, but I continued to stand tall, placing my hands firmly on my hips, planting my feet slightly apart. No way was he ever going to know the kind of effect he had on me.
“What are you gibbering about?” Jasmine asked him, suddenly appearing on my other side, forming the third tip of a triangle with our bodies.
I silently willed her to keep quiet. Samuel’s power was radiating from him and sending waves of aftershock our way. Pissing him off now wouldn’t be a good idea. Not before we put our plan into action at least.
“You let your underlings speak on your behalf like that?” he responded, with the slightest hint of a challenge in his voice.
I had no choice but to answer, now that he was addressing me directly. “She doesn’t really take kindly to being told what to do,” I said without sarcasm.
“Yet you are her leader. You are the one that runs this coven. Letting your subordinates step out of line and forgetting that you are in charge is what will be your downfall.”
“Really? In my world, I don’t control anyone. It’s called free will and I recognize that we all have it. If I were you, I’d worry about your own coven. I bet they’re a bit sick of following you around by now. Better be careful or you may just get a spell in the back.”
“They wouldn’t dare turn against me,” he said, brushing my comment off like it was ludicrous. “And if they did, I would put them in their graves.”
As he said this, a few among him began to look around at the others uncomfortably.
“At least I know how to dispense with those who choose to disobey me,” he said, lifting his finger warningly. We all turned to watch a figure float up from the side of the yard, arms overhead and legs dangling oddly as if broken. As the body moved into view, I nearly gasped.
There, being pulled through the air unconscious, was Asher. He was pale except for the welts and bruises that were all over his face and arms. I immediately wished I’d undone his cuffs and urged him to leave this place.
“It seems that poor Asher here made the wrong decision,” he said.
And with that, he let Asher’s body drop more than ten feet to the ground in front of him.