Snow Witching White, page 2
I watched as he stumbled and blushed. Did he believe he needed to keep me safe or did he want to be with me? He took his commitments seriously, to me and the king and princess. I didn’t want him to go if the reason he was coming was his duty to protect me. “Do you want to go to the coven?”
His lips flattened into a firm line. “Doesn’t matter what I want, I’m coming.”
The answer didn’t make me happy. No thrills shot down my spine. I didn’t want him to come with me because I was an obligation or he thought he needed to protect me. I wanted him to come because he wanted to be with me, because he didn’t want to be separated. We’d spent so much time apart.
My group of friends stared, watching the exchange. I couldn’t display doubt or any rancor between us. We were a team.
“The portal won’t last much longer.” Cassia quivered with nerves. She was ready to leave.
The portal shimmered about to fade.
“Why won’t the portal last longer?” I wasn’t ready to leave. “I thought the witch leader was all powerful?”
“If you leave a portal open too long someone unwanted might sneak through.” Cassia held out her hand in front of the shimmering image. “We should hold hands when we walk through so we don’t get lost.”
My jitters jangled. It was a portal to a specific place. How could we get lost?
“Lost?” Stone asked the question I’d thought.
Cassia shook her hand, urging someone to take hold. “The portal is mostly a straight line, but there are refractions and magical telekinetic waves.”
Stone gripped my hand. “I’m definitely going now.”
Disappointment seeped into my veins. His statement meant he wasn’t positive about going with me before. I hated that he felt the need to watch me like a child.
“If you don’t want to come, then don’t come.” I couldn’t stop my peevishness.
“Coming.” He nodded at Cassia.
“Okay everyone,” She took Lukas’ hand and Stone’s other hand.
Lukas held Helartha’s hand, who held Pith’s, who held Gnit’s, who held Trolgar’s.
My chest filled and overwhelmed with emotion. My friends were coming with me, they wanted to stay by my side and help me on my journey. I squeezed Stone’s hand. He returned the squeeze understanding my thoughts.
With Cassia leading the way, we stepped into the shimmering substance of the portal as one. The sucking sensation intensified. My skin puckered and tugged, wanting to pull away from my bones. It didn’t hurt, yet the power of the portal made its presence known.
A scream shattered the strange silence.
Stone’s distorted face showed pain. His mouth was sealed shut. His body appeared misshapen. Fear shot up my spine, paralyzing my thoughts. Had this been some type of trick? Cassia had seemed so sure.
Peering down the line at her, I noted she was relaxed and normal. No stress or strain in her expression. Lukas resembled a werewolf more than usual. His fangs flashed and his brown hair had gone shaggy. Helartha’s red hair streamed behind her as if the strands were being yanked. Her head bobbed back and forth. Pith and Gnit shrunk to half their normal size. Trolgar opened his mouth to a gigantic shape and screamed.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
I wanted to cover my ears, but my hand was gripped by Stone. Cassia leaned forward and pulled the line of us with her. I’m glad she knew what she was doing. The sucking sensation tugged me back. She angled forward again and the rest of us whipped through with a final high-pitched sucking noise.
Stepping out of the portal, I was surprised to find nothing stuck to my skin. My entire body relaxed, glad to be free.
Stone’s grip loosened and he fell to the ground. My other friends fell, too. Their mouths gaped open. Only Cassia stood beside me.
Panic bulleted through me and I dropped to my knees. “What’s wrong, Stone?”
“Can’t…breathe…” He gasped and his eyes rounded with the loss of oxygen. He knelt on his knees and clutched his chest.
My own chest constricted as if I couldn’t breathe. I surveyed around, helpless. I didn’t know what to do or how to help him or anyone else. My friends lay on the ground gasping. “Cassia. What’s happening to them?”
“I thought since you were invited and they were our friends it would be okay.” Her gaze darted around and she dropped to her knees between Lukas and Pith. “I’m guessing it’s a protection curse. In non-witches it manifests in suffocation.”
My pulse skyrocketed. They weren’t intruders. They were my friends. And because of me they were going to die.
Chapter two
“What can we do? They’re going to die!” I begged Cassia for an answer. Terror raked across my lungs.
She cradled Lukas in her arms. “We have to find Mistress Lita.”
Stone’s body went limp. My other friends struggled to take in oxygen. Desperation clawed my throat. “We don’t have time.”
“You can fix this, Destiny.” A woman appeared on the plateau where my friends might die. She had long, straight black hair. Prominent apple cheeks, a long-sculpted nose, and grayish-purple eyes. Familiarity ticked my brain. A billowy dress covered her tall frame. Magic crackled off her. She must’ve apparated like Cassia had done once before.
I shook my head with lightning speed trying to communicate that I hadn’t a clue how to fix this. I didn’t even fully understand what had gone wrong. “I don’t know how to help.”
Cassia appeared as confused and desperate as me.
“You’re a witch, a powerful witch.” The woman, clearly more powerful than me, didn’t lift a finger, didn’t seem concerned, didn’t care.
“I don’t know how to use my powers.” I screeched as frustration and fear slammed me. “That’s the reason I came. Do something.”
Another woman apparated. “Don’t ever talk to Mistress Lita that way again.” A red dress hung on her skeletal frame. Her short, cropped hair stuck out against her copper colored skin. Her expression darkened and her brows drew together like thunder.
A shiver crossed my skin at her fierceness.
The first woman, Mistress Lita, relaxed the muscles in her face and slowly smiled as if forcing herself. “Because she is new to the coven, the child will be forgiven.”
“I don’t care about forgiveness. I want to save my friends.” Agony scraped in my voice. My friends were here because of me. “Please.”
Mistress Lita focused on the other woman. They consulted by glances. The communication wasn’t clear to me.
“Well?” My nerves twisted and I felt slightly sick.
Mistress Lita stared deep into my eyes. If what was in my gaze was going to make the decision, I’d plead with her. I raised my brow and put my hands together.
She raised her arms and waved them in a smooth motion. “For you, I would do anything. Remember.”
Something in her tone raised the hairs on my arm. It was either that or the electricity zapping from her person. Did she expect a favor from me in return?
Her lips whispered a chant, a song, maybe an incantation. Energy whipped around her and I sensed the static charges zip and zing along my spine.
This must be magic. Powerful magic. Magic I was here to learn.
Amazement glittered a prize begging me to take it.
But perusing my suffering friends, I didn’t know if I could stay.
Swirls of purple and orange lit the area around us. The swirls circled Stone and my other friends. Small zaps caused their bodies to spasm. Stone shuddered in my arms. Color returned to his strong cheeks.
“Stone!” Studying him, I raised his torso so he could take in air. Relief lightened my load. “Are you okay?”
Others started to cough and move. Lukas shifted in Cassia’s arms to face her. Everyone else breathed. I breathed easier too.
Once everyone was back on their feet, we hugged. I checked on each one of them making sure they were really okay.
“Thank you.” I veered toward Mistress Lita and the mean red-haired witch. Wishing I could learn to do magic, I knew I couldn’t stay. Not if Stone and my other friends weren’t allowed. We were a team and a team stuck together. “We should leave now.”
“Leave?” The second woman pitched the word into a question. Or was it a wish?
“I can’t stay if it hurts my friends.” My heart contracted remembering their predicament seconds ago. I never should’ve come. When I was back at the palace, Professor Nilsen could again help me learn how to use my magic and then I wouldn’t put anyone else in danger. Although he’d thought I was a full banshee and had never mentioned witch knowledge.
It didn’t matter. My friends mattered.
“Please open the portal so we can leave.” I spoke to both women, unsure who was the one in charge.
Cassia held her arms out and crossed her wrists one on top of the other. “Mistress Lita, we meant no harm by bringing friends with us. They’ve helped us escape Regent Theobald’s prison and rescue Destiny and I from the Skjult Banshee Clan. You can trust them.”
“What is the hideous mark on your forehead, Cassia?” The second woman arched a red brow.
Cassia bowed her head. “Provost Morgane, it’s…it’s a tattoo forced upon me,” my friend glanced at me with a sorry expression, “by the banshees.”
“Those awful creatures.” Provost Morgane peered at each one of my friends, assessing the non-witches in the group.
My body tensed waiting for her judgment. Except I was tired of being judged. Did the witches believe they were superior to other majiks? I pulled back my shoulders. “No need to trust my friends. We’re leaving with or without your magical portal.”
We’d fought our way out of the dungeon and escaped banshees. We could leave this place too.
For the first time I scanned the area where we’d landed. The ground we stood on was made of shifting sand and gray rocks. A harsh wind lifted the sand and tossed it up, pelting small particles against my skin. A tree stood here and there sprouting from the scorched soil. The roar of the wind competed with the roar of water. There must be a river close by.
Whitish-brown cliffs surrounded us. The cliffs came to sharp points as though sand had been drizzled on the top and dried into a hard cone. On the sides of the sheer cliffs, deep gouges had been carved out by Mother Nature over time.
The harshness of the land contrasted with the distant green mountains in the Kingdom of Alandaska. Mountains I was more familiar with. Mountains where the palace and the capital city of Lindenhamn were located. Mountains that felt like home.
“Wait.” Mistress Lita held up her hand with long purple fingernails. “If they are your guests, Destiny, of course they are welcome.” She snapped her fingers and a man dressed in black apparated carrying a tray of drinks. “This potion will let non-witches breathe in our atmosphere.”
I looked at Cassia. How didn’t she know this? She shrugged and mouthed, must be new.
“Where are we, the moon?” Lukas received a glare for his murmured sarcasm.
The location did have an out of this world impression.
“This is Alandaska. Why can’t other majiks breathe?” None of this made sense to me. The small island kingdom was located under a temperature-controlled dome. There were no changes in atmosphere.
“Our coven is situated near an opening to earth’s core. Rare particles charge into our air.”
“Especially right now,” the other woman said.
Mistress Lita held her palm up. “The particles are impossible to see.”
The man wearing black passed out the drinks to everyone except me and Cassia.
“Wait.” I remembered Stone’s comment about not accepting food from strangers. “What if it’s poison?”
Mistress Lita gave a rusty chuckle. “Why would we poison them? They are your friends and rescued you. I’m grateful.”
My cheeks heated and I didn’t enjoy the way she made me the center of attention. I wasn’t the only one captured by the banshees. “Cassia and Pith were rescued too.”
“Cassia and Pith.” Provost Morgane sneered at my smaller friend and ignored him. “Destiny, you are among friends and family.”
My pulse leapt. “Family?”
“Cassia’s family has missed her terribly.” Mistress Lita bestowed a quirk of the lips on the young witch, ignoring my question. So much for being the center of attention. “You poor child. Why did the banshees mark you?”
My friend ducked her head. “They tried to pass me off as one of them.”
“You’re a witch. The mark will have to go.” Provost Morgane tutted and her gaze switched between the two of us. “The witch doctor will take care of it.”
I understood why Cassia would hate the banshee mark. She wasn’t a banshee.
“Your sister Jinx missed you.” Mistress Lita waved her hand in the direction of a small village with a tall building in the far distance resembling a church. The structure had four tall spires topped with round golden pentagons. The wind quieted with the dawn and it became steamy and stifling.
“And my parents?” Cassia sounded hopeful.
“Of course.” The mistress held out her hands and the drinks floated from the tray toward each of my friends. “Drink up and we can get settled.”
My friends squinted at the glasses in their hands. Lukas sniffed the potion and scrunched his nose. Helartha lifted the glass high and examined the liquid from every side. Pith could barely hold the glass. Stone’s skeptical expression cut through me.
I raised my hand. “Don’t drink it for me. You can all go home or wherever you’re needed.”
“Are you staying?” Stone paused in his motion to drink.
Studying Cassia’s anxious expression, I knew she wanted to stay and see her family. My lungs hitched. I wanted to meet whatever family I might have and learn how to use my magic. I needed to master my powers to not cause any more accidents. This time, I wouldn’t be tricked into staying. It was my decision. “Yes.”
“Then I’m staying too.” He drank the liquid in one swallow.
A knot in my throat formed as if I’d drunk the potion. He didn’t really want to stay.
The others followed, each of them reacting with disgust from the taste.
Mistress Lita spread her hands wide encompassing me and my friends. “Welcome to Inferis Coven. Cassia and Destiny, I’m glad you both have finally returned.”
I stiffened, not understanding what the woman meant. All my memories had come back on the precipice, even those I’d had as a small child. I don’t remember ever being here.
Flashes from my dream visions came back to me. Mom holding a glowing ball in her hand. Her forehead had been clear when I’d been little. A banshee mark had been added later. Because she wanted to identify as banshee or to hide?
“Thank you, Mistress Lita.” Cassia made the same crossed wrist motion. “It’s good to finally be home.”
The mistress clapped her hands and other men dressed in black apparated. “These are my acolytes. They will take you to your rooms. This way.”
Grabbing hold of Stone’s hand, I followed Mistress Lita and Provost Morgane. Cassia skipped beside us, excited to see her family. The rest of my friends dragged behind. They acted unsure and a bit sluggish. We must be tired. It had been a long night with no sleep.
We walked through the town and passed large, elegant homes and a small main street housing shops with interesting names: Witch’s Brew and Warlock’s Brew, Affinity Enchantments, Crystals and Runes, Hellfire Weapons for Witches Only, and Familiar Menagerie.
As we walked through an empty field between the town and the academy, a familiar girl ran toward our group. Her long, green hair streamed behind her. She wore a form-fitting orange dress and tall black boots. “Little sister!”
That explained the similarities in their faces. However, the older sister emanated maturity and flamboyance while Cassia would never wear that outfit based on the cloak she’d used to cover herself the entire time at the banshee encampment.
Cassia’s expression lit up and she ran toward her sister with her arms wide open. “Stop it. I’m taller than you.”
My shoulders relaxed. Our original arrival had been a mix up. A mistake. The coven hadn’t meant to curse my friends and have them almost choke to death. Cassia had said others could sneak through the portals. The witches must’ve been worried we were intruders with so many showing up at once.
Cassia and her sister hugged. They whispered and Cassia laughed.
My other friends and I watched the happy reunion. Tears burned. I wished I had a sister who loved me the way Cassia’s sister obviously did. Any family. Maybe I’d find someone at the coven who at least remembered my mom.
“Destiny, I want you to meet my sister, Jinx.” Cassia tugged her sister toward me. “I’ve told her all about you.”
I glanced at the ground, not sure what she’d said. “In five seconds?”
“My little sister and I communicated after she was freed from the dungeon until she was taken by the banshees.” Jinx wrapped an arm around her sister and pulled her in close as if she would never let go. “I was happy she helped find you.”
My earlier thought about having a sister, or anyone, morphed to yearning envy in my veins.
“And these are my other friends.” Cassia pulled on her sister to introduce her to the others.
“There will be time for introductions at the welcome dinner tonight.” Mistress Lita glided forward, her skirt flowing behind her. “I’ll show you where you’ll be staying, Destiny and Cassia.”
“What about my friends?” Concern eddied in my gut and settled like a rock. I wondered if I should’ve RSVP’d for eight. “You said the acolytes would take all of us to our rooms.”
“Of course, we can always make room for unexpected guests.” Provost Morgane sounded stiff and unbending.
“May Cassia stay with me, Mistress Lita?” Hope edged Jinx’s question. “And our parents, of course.”
Mistress Lita considered the request. No emotion expressed on her face.
“I’d love to stay with my family.” Cassia clung to her sister’s hand.
