Chapter Twelve
It took me a few days to recover from my conversation with Emory. The more I thought about the possibility of a traitor living under the same roof as us, the more freaked out I got. And of course, Fallon had gone back to being his regular annoying self, which made me wonder if he really was evil. Twice, I found him going through the stuff in my parents’ room. He said he was looking for extra blankets, but I didn’t buy it. He was under my bed, for God’s sake. And then when I’d found him showing a bunch of the other boys embarrassing photos of me as a kid, I thought about using magic to knock him out so I wouldn’t have to worry about him causing any more trouble.
It wasn’t just Fallon I was suspicious of, though. In fact, I found myself starting to question the motives of everyone around me to the point where it was difficult to be around anyone without my mind running wild with conspiracy theories. But I couldn’t exactly barricade myself in my parents’ bedroom and stay there for the rest of my life. Not only was it unrealistic, but being around the others was the only way I was going to find out who wasn’t really who they claimed to be. And if I didn’t figure that out, we’d most likely lose this battle.
And “loser” was not in my vocabulary.
So instead I forced myself to leave the safety of my room and wandered through the house, looking for something that might be able to distract me from our impending doom. I thought about making lunch for everyone, but when I got to the kitchen I saw that people had taken my instructions at face value; they’d been helping themselves to any food they could find. I picked up an empty can of Chef Boyardee and tossed it into the trash behind me. There were two half-eaten bags of chips on the counter and a turned-over box of cream-filled cakes lying across the table.
We had food with us when we arrived, but it would last us only so long—especially with a group as large as this—and eventually we’d have to go into town for more. The spread in front of me was proof that maybe the younger twitches shouldn’t be the ones picking out the meals. Where were the vegetables? The fruit? Did they think that Skittles counted as a food group? Unwrapping a little cake, I popped half of it into my mouth and chewed thoughtfully.
“There you are,” Sascha said, appearing behind me. Jasmine and Jinx were in tow. Sascha walked over to the counter and pulled herself up until she was sitting on top, her legs swinging through the air in front of her. Jasmine plopped down at the table, bringing one knee up to her chest and pulling at a loose string on her black jeans, while Jinx snatched a cake of her own and began to unwrap it.
“What’s up, guys?” I asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.
“We’re bored,” Sascha said.
“And some of the others are getting on my nerves,” Jasmine added.
I looked over at Jinx, waiting for her to complain about something too.
“I’m just hungry,” she said, shrugging before sticking her finger into the middle of the spongy cake to retrieve the frosting.
“Well, I think I can help you out with most of those,” I said to them. “We’re going to start training tomorrow, so you better be ready to work hard.”
I leaned back in my seat and placed my feet on the kitchen table. If my mom were here, she would’ve lectured me about appropriate etiquette or said something along the lines of, “When you grow up and get a place of your own, you can put your feet up on the furniture all you want. But until then, feet on the floor.” Thinking of my mom out of the blue like this made me sad and I slowly brought my feet down off the table out of respect for her memory.
“Finally. That’s the most sane thing I’ve heard you say since this whole thing started. I’ve been itching to cast something,” said Jasmine, wiggling her fingers excitedly.
“Good. Make sure you get some sleep tonight,” I warned. “And tell the others to do the same, because tomorrow’s going to be a long day. Everyone’s going to need their energy for what we’ll be doing.”
As they left, I thought about how much I wished I could take my own advice and rest up. Instead, I turned back to the now deserted kitchen and placed my forehead on top of the table. The surface was cool against my face and I knew that if I closed my eyes now, I’d be out within seconds.
But there was still too much to do and I’d be lucky if I got any sleep at all that night. Sitting back up, I picked up the notepad I’d been doodling on earlier and began to make a list of all the spells we’d be going over the following day. Two hours and three pages (front and back) later, I had what I thought was a good beginning. And although there were enough spells to keep us busy for months, I had a sinking feeling that it still wasn’t going to be enough time to prepare for whatever was coming.
“Okay, everyone, let’s do it again,” I said, looking around at the exhausted faces around me. We’d been at it for hours now. Going over spell after spell, every last one Jackson had taught us since I’d started attending magic classes. They ranged from basic everyday stuff like protection from harm to deflection spells. Most knew them already, but there were a few the younger members hadn’t learned yet.
Jackson had always insisted there should be an order to our learning process and that some of the spells were too intense for the younger witches, but seeing as how we were now faced with a potential danger beyond anything we’d thought was possible, I figured people were going to have to grow up a little bit faster. Besides, if the Parrishables came looking for us, I wasn’t going to be able to hold anyone’s hand; chances were that the rest of the twitches were going to have to fend for themselves.
So, one by one, we attempted to perfect everything we’d been taught. This proved to be excessively time-consuming, though, as not everyone was catching on as quickly as I’d hoped.
“Everyone get ready!” I yelled out. I watched as each group of two slowly faced each other, standing a few feet apart. As I paced across the backyard, I noticed Fallon mocking me when he thought I couldn’t see. Ignoring him for the time being, I went back to the matter at hand. “People on the defensive, relax your body and get ready for the attack. Spell casters, quiet your mind and focus on what you’re about to do. Remember, if there’s no power behind your words, the magic itself won’t be powerful.”
I counted down and watched them go.
“Aeromus une cyclenae!”
Immediately, groups all around me gave the spell their best shot. A few came close to having the desired result. Jasmine was the first to perfect it, sending the wind-whipping spell to Sascha. Before Sascha could react, she was immediately caught up in a twister of air, making it impossible for her to see. Once the wind died down again, the look on her face was priceless. To say Sascha was unhappy to be a magical guinea pig was an understatement.
“Do you have any idea how long it took me to get my hair to lie flat this morning?” she screeched through clenched teeth.
“You’re kidding, right?” Jasmine asked, a smirk on her face.
“Hadley?” Sascha asked, looking to me to back her up. And to be honest, under normal circumstances I would have. You don’t mess with a girl’s hair. But this might’ve been the only time and place where fashion couldn’t be our first priority.
“Sorry, Sascha,” I said. “Jazzy’s right.”
“It’s Jasmine,” the dark-haired girl chimed in.
“You knew we were training, Sascha. Best to ponytail it up in the future.”
Sascha’s mouth closed into a tight line and she turned away from me angrily. My pulse raced slightly as I wondered if I was making an enemy out of her. I still wasn’t used to people not just blindly following me. At school everyone liked me. Even Trish, who I knew secretly wanted to take my throne, would’ve done anything I asked her to and would respect me for it. Here, with the rest of the Cleri, I was still proving myself to them. And right now it felt like I was failing.
I took a deep breath and continued. “Okay, so Jasmine was the only one to execute her spell properly that time, which means the rest of you need more practice,” I said, growing frustrated. It had never been very difficult for me to pick up on our lessons. Maybe it was because I’d grown up creating my own spells or maybe it just came naturally to me, but the others paled in comparison. Ordinarily, I would’ve tried to be more understanding, but we didn’t have the luxury of time right now. Somebody needed to push them to their limits.
“Switch partners and try it again,” I yelled, not giving them time to recover.
They did as they were told and I called for them to begin. A few seconds later, I was enveloped in a rush of air. I tried to cry out, but it was difficult to breathe with the wind forcing its way down my throat and up my nose. It lasted only about ten seconds but it was long enough.
When I was able to see again, I looked around for the culprit. I heard snickers, which led me to Fallon, who was facing my way and looking smug. There was no doubt he’d done it. And the thing was, he wasn’t even trying to hide it.
“Whoops,” he said, shrugging innocently. “Guess my aim is off.”
“Or not,” I said, my body beginning to buzz with anger. I closed my eyes and let the fire that was building inside slowly fizzle out. It would be pointless to waste my energy on Fallon and it wouldn’t set a very good example for the others. When I’d calmed down, I opened my eyes and stared straight at Fallon. “Let’s try it again!” I shouted.
“Had, we’re all tired,” Jinx said lightly, arms hanging limply by her sides. Sweat had matted down her usually pristine bangs, and her chest was heaving. “Can we take a break? Maybe get water and something to eat?”
“Yeah. I think some of the little ones might need a chance to catch their breath,” Emory said, motioning to a few twelve-year-olds who were sprawled across the ground.
“Come on, you guys! We’ve barely gotten through the first few charms and there are still people who don’t have it down perfectly yet,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. I tapped my black sequined booties on the ground impatiently. I was running this training session the way I would run cheer practice—and I wasn’t even making them do flips or stunts. If you asked me, they were getting off easy.
“Look, I really need you guys to rally so that you’ll be armed and ready for whatever’s coming next. Because the fact is, they’re coming. Whether we’re ready or not.”
We all knew I was talking about the Parrishables, but none of us wanted to say it out loud. That would make it all too real.
That prompted a few people to sigh as they stood back up to get into place. The others groaned and followed suit. Then they all stood there silently, waiting for me to tell them what to do next. I called for them to go back to the disarming spell, which was meant to take away an object from our enemies. I watched as Jasmine knocked a book out of Sascha’s hands. It flew with such force that it fell apart at the binding as it hit the side of the house.
“Great job, Jazzy—sorry, Jasmine. Now if you could just rein in your power a little you won’t have to worry about knocking anyone else out at the same time. Unless of course you want to, in which case, let it fly,” I said, nodding.
As I turned away, something else flew past my head, narrowly missing the tip of my nose. “What the hell!” I yelled, jerking my head back in Jasmine’s direction. But she was just as clueless as me and shrugged in response.
“I must be off today,” Fallon said, a hint of a smile on his face. “Or maybe I’m just too powerful for my own good.”
My face grew hot with anger. I should’ve known. After all, our little truce couldn’t have lasted forever. “I don’t remember mentioning that I wanted a nose job,” I said to him nastily.
“Really? With a schnoz like that? My bad.” He said it as if he hadn’t just tried to take my head off.
“How about you try to control yourself a bit, huh? I’d hate for your magic to fizzle out prematurely,” I said. “I mean, imagine how embarrassing that would be for you.”
The smile remained on his face, but I saw his lip twitch just a tiny bit, letting me know that what I’d said had gotten to him. I smiled back. In the end, Fallon was still just a little boy trying to show off in front of his friends. Go ahead and give me your worst, I challenged him silently. There’s nothing he could throw at me that I couldn’t handle.
“Do it again,” I dared.
He studied me and then looked around at the others, who were all waiting to see what was going to happen next. I knew I’d backed him into a corner and wondered if it had been a wise decision.
“Screw this.”
And with one last look, he thrust his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” I asked, my eyes boring into his back. The rest of the coven had begun to look at each other questioningly.
“I’m done,” he said. “You’re not the only one here that can cast, you know. So why are you the only one standing around?”
“Because somebody has to lead this group.”
“And that automatically means it should be you?” he challenged.
“Right now, yeah,” I bit back. I was through being Ms. Nice Witch.
“Well, I didn’t sign up for that,” he answered.
All activity in the yard had stopped, and the rest of the coven had become so quiet that I’d almost forgotten they were even there. Now they were looking back and forth between the two of us like they were witnessing a shootout in an old Wild West movie. And in a way they were. Only, both of us were waiting for the other to back down or draw our guns.
In the end I won.
Fallon rolled his eyes before walking inside the house. “Whatever,” he muttered before disappearing completely. I knew he was pissed and things had certainly gone too far, but there was too much to deal with right now without adding Fallon’s overactive ego to the list.
“Why don’t we all take a fifteen-minute break and then we’ll get started on counterspells?” I asked, forcing a smile. The vibe in the group was still uneasy and I needed a chance to cool down before trying to work any more spells. Wouldn’t want a bewitching incantation to go awry because my emotions were all jumbled.
Unless of course it ended up hitting Fallon, in which case, a little anger behind my spells might do him a bit of good.