The Carver's Magic (24 page)

I don't answer to the Magic Council. The words wanted to come out but I didn’t want to discuss it with him. Not with two-day-old breath.

Dar grimaces slightly then recovers. "Yep. Just like a Carver. You care only for yourself. After your tantrum the other day, all the Carvers will know you’re here, or at least, they will know you were here. Which leaves the citizens and magical creatures in this area in danger. But of course, you don't care."

"I care about Cory."

"Everyone else be damned then?" His voice was condescending yet again.

I pushed at his rock hard chest and shut the door. I let the water warm and I stepped in, letting the warm water rush over me. I had to figure out how to take back my heart. It’s obviously not something he wants, and to be honest it was time I did what was necessary. If Cory could fix a binding potion with limited power and resources, I could figure out a way around that spell.

I try picturing the hospital where I gave Dar my heart unintentionally. I reach out to the memory and take his hand… "BETH STOP IT!" Dar bangs on the door.

I step back against the shower wall and cover myself afraid he’ll walk in, "You don't even want it!"

The door smashes open and I close my eyes attempting to stop myself from blushing from head to toe. He flings the shower curtain open and looks me in the eyes. His eyes are glowing bright amber. Then I watch his eyes look down. Damn it. I turn my head and feel the blush cascade down my cheeks to my toes. He leans into the shower putting one hand on the side of my face. In my periphery I can see him coming closer, "If you take your heart back now, you will kill me."

The words hang in the air and I wish them not to be true.

He continues talking in my ear ever so closely that I can feel each word he says, and I can’t move back any further to give myself the desperately needed space. "Is that what you want? Do you want to kill me Beth? Not only did you force your bond on me, but now you are forcing my death. How perfect. I guess fate had it right all along." His words kill me.

I can't believe this accident between Dar and I keeps getting worse. He talks to me like I am not even a person. Like I am his curse. I need to do something. I need air, lots of it.

He growls as I feel hands pushing against my arms to keep me in place but I close my eyes and focus on being alone. I use my magic to push free of him and without thinking of where, I teleport.

When I open my eyes, I am still naked, surrounded by trees, gnarly, bare-naked grey trees. Everything looks dead. Wherever I am, it's winter before the snow. The ground looks unforgiving, haunted and decaying. To my right I see something dark. It’s a large brown bear.

The bear looks me over and sniffs. I see something dangling from its neck. It looks like a silver charm. A bear wearing a necklace? I flash back to a conversation Dar and I had in the hospital. He had said the bear wore a necklace around its neck.

So this is the bear that attacked Dar.

Feeling more confident by the second, I pick up a twig and turn it into dark blue jeans. I pull them on noting that the bear is still watching me with vague interest. I pick up a rock and turn it into a grey-blue baseball t-shirt.

Then I pick up another rock and bounce it in my hand contemplating how best to get the beast’s attentions. I have never done this before but right now I am not afraid of getting mauled. I am not afraid of anything – Dar, Carvers, death.

"Hey!" I yell out as I throw the rock in the bear’s direction, careful not to kill it.

The bear yawns at me as if it knows exactly what I am doing. I point in its direction, "You and I have some unfinished business." The bear transforms quickly into an old lady with stringy, grey-white hair. Her fingers are skinny and long. They wiggle in a circle causing a blue fire to encircle us.

A bear shifter? I read that some powerful witches could shift. I didn’t expect the bear that attacked Dar to be an old lady though. I roll my eyes, "Your magic can't contain me, witch."

The witch rolls her eyes at me and says mockingly, "Carvers are so ignorant when it comes to practical magic." My jaw drops a little with her cocky attitude. "You’re all unrefined potential. Always running into situations without a plan."

I shrug, "Yep that's us. But then again, we’re left to human parents to raise us instead of getting real training."

"Top of the power pyramid and still whining?" She purses her lips. "Tell me what you want."

She was right. I didn't have a plan so I blurted out, "You stabbed a young wolf boy when he was young, nearly killed him." I was unsure if I was here to lecture her or hurt her.

The witch looked me over with a new appreciative smile, "Bethany." The way she says my name sounds like she knows me, "What took you so long?"

A little confused at her comment, I shrug. It would make sense for me to go after the witch that hurt Dar. If he died I definitely would have gone looking for her. "If Dar died I would have killed you," I say, sincerely. "But since he lived I didn't think about it."

The old witch seemed to contemplate what I said, "Hmm. So why are you here now?"

"I needed some air," I answer honestly. Knowing she wouldn't get it.

She smirks, "Mmmh." She nods and asks carefully, "So this is a chance meeting?" Her eyes narrow at me, "Or are you running from someone with glowing amber eyes?"

She was just guessing. I knew she didn’t know anything.

Her bright, white teeth gleamed in her grin. "Ah. I see. Well, why don't you tell me what's going on. I am a witch after all. I have plenty of experience."

I can feel my fire tightening. She can't help with anything. "You're a witch. Your power is useless."

The witch stiffens and I can tell my comment bothers her, "I have more knowledge than you in every way. Your power does not define you." She says with cold disapproval. "Now, what happened with Dar?" She asks carefully.

"That's none of your business," I drop my chin, daring her to push me.

Her fingers touch her lips, then start tapping, thoughtfully. "You should be thanking me," she mumbles, while looking around me absently, "without me, you would be miserably ignorant of who your true mate is."

My jaw tightens, "You have no idea, witch. I am beyond miserable." I can see that my words have caused her jaw to drop some, "Ignorance would be preferred to this."

The witch chucks a blue felt bag at me. I grab it with my right hand and use my fire to burn it, except it isn’t turning to ash like it should have. Curiously I look at the bag that is immune to my fire. I open it up to see several small bones inside. I drop it and back up. The witch rushes to me and moves me out of the way.

Crap! She's a seer.
The Seer?

"No!" I try to push her away but she turns and smiles at me as if she is satisfied.

"Everything is as it should be," she says, wiping off her dress with a smile.

What?
"Everything is ruined!" I try and grab her but she backs up quickly, way too quickly for an old woman. Then I hear her laughing. A big, long, relieved laugh. I want to scream, but instead I yell, "So Dar is supposed to hate me? He’s supposed to be ashamed of me? Is that your brilliant plan?" I slap my thigh.

She was still smiling when she answered, "He does not hate you. If he hated you, he wouldn't still have your heart."

I point at her then in the direction I assume Dar lives, "That's because if I take it back he dies."

She snickers, "That's ridiculous. He doesn't die if you take back your heart." She watches me and smiles as if I’m a child. It's starting to get annoying. "Is that what you think will happen? Who told you that?"

"He did," I can feel my nose flare out.

She tilts her head like a sweet old lady. "No, sweet Bethany,” Then she grabs my hand and pats it. “You will die if you take back your heart against his will. Once you make a promise with your blood language you bind yourself to it. If you break your promise you die. He has made no promise or claimed you as his mate so, he will live no matter what."

I pull my hand back, "Then why did he say that?" I ask myself out loud.

The old witch softens, "Because he doesn't hate you."

I scoff. She has no idea. She stands there looking hopeful, "You don't know him."

Her eyes glinted, "I do. I know you, too. I am the one who knew you two had to be together or the Carver’s war was going to destroy this planet."

The planet?
That sounds a bit brash.

Doubting her, I say, "The humans are pretty resourceful. If it weren’t for them trying to eradicate the supernatural powerhouse, the potion master wouldn’t have been forced to make the first Carver.”

Everyone knew the humans had kidnapped and tortured the poor fairy until he made a creature that would overpower the supernatural. What the humans stupidly overlooked was that if Carvers were more powerful than the supernatural, we were too powerful for them as well. My mouth twisted a bit before adding, “Plus, if you’re the seer then you’re the one who told my parents about Shane being my match."

The witch looks me over and shakes her head like a mom would at a kid that didn't know better. "The Carvers misinterpreted my prophecy. And I had no reason to clarify it because their actions would set you and Shane on the right course, being that you would bond with your high school crush, making you stronger because Dar is a good anchor. He’s smart, responsible and is easily the most powerful Alpha living today, and yet he keeps his dominance low so no one can tell.”

I kind of already figured out the misinterpretation of match so I didn’t dwell on that. “I don’t think he hides it like you think. I can feel his power.” Or maybe it was because I gave him my heart and had to obey him now.

"Want to know something? Carvers don’t ever mate with other Carvers. So every first, second, third and forth generation Carver were born by two people who didn’t have any affection for each other, they did it to breed a stronger bloodline.”

My nose crinkled. The rebels that did that repulsed me. They hated the supernaturals on principle. It’s supernatural racism. And it’s disturbing to even think about it.

She continued, “As you’ve noticed, Carvers are not too keen on humans. Most Carvers hate them as much as the supernaturals, even though they are pretty defensive, unless you count their ingenuity. Except you,” the old lady smiled in pride, “because of Cory, you have a soft spot for them."

This was not what I wanted when I thought of getting some air. "Yes except she’s not all human." I should have teleported to her and not to… wherever I am. "I need to get back to her."

The witch shakes her head condescendingly, "She is not your responsibility anymore."

The hell she says! "She is MY sister!"

The witch picked up her blue bag, "She’s Shane's now, and you know it."

That pissed me off to no end. How did she know this? "Is this a fun game? Playing matchmaker? He only gave her his heart because he felt guilty for what she did to unbind them."

The old lady witch sucked in a haggard breath, looking to the sky before answering. "Cory would have fallen in love with Shane already if it wasn't for your meddling parents that put a love spell on that stupid necklace."

I laugh haughtily, "What are you trying to say? That I messed things up for Cory and Shane? Because of that damn necklace?"

"No." The old lady folded her arms. "Shane is a Carver, he would have felt the pull towards his mate, which is Cory. The reason he didn’t go after her was because his adopted family hurt him in every way they could. And his real father wasn’t any better. He doesn’t trust, and he doesn’t open up, and he is practically friendless. The necklace was made for you and Shane, so when Cory put it on the spell mutated. I think that’s why Cory started showing more of her fae power. The modicum of magic inside her began working non-stop against the spell. With her magic in over drive, it would also strengthen it, making her magical traits show themselves.”

“What traits?” I heard myself ask, dumbfounded at how much this woman knew.

“Potions,” The witch made it sound as if I should have known.

I should have.

She continued, "Carvers are special creatures.” It was the first time I have ever heard someone say that word affectionately. To be honest, it was almost uncomfortable. Even I didn’t talk too positively about my kind. “They have all four blood lines. Three of the four all have special bonds to the perfect match. Werewolves and fairies have mates and vampires have husband and brides. Witches have soul mates, and those are hard to find because we are more like humans, we don’t feel a magical pull, we have the human pull which could be intrigue or attraction, and most of the time both at the same time. So when I say that you are Dar’s mate you should believe it because deep down you know it’s true.”

I was beginning to doubt my doubts.

“You had a pull to Dar like no other boy you’ve ever seen, right? Carvers have the strongest pull to their mates because they have so many magical powers inside them. Dar wouldn’t have figured it out immediately because he was young and was undergoing a very stressful time.” The witch looked at her necklace with a dagger on it and frowned. I wondered if she felt sorry for attacking him. “But, his wolf would have known if you weren’t his mate. His wolf wouldn’t have allowed you to give him your heart.”

Really?

She nodded at me as if she knew what I was asking but I know I didn’t ask that out loud. “But Dar tries to control everything, because his life has been chaotic since he was a pup. You mated with him without his consent. That would be a big blow to his control issues.” She smiled at me, reassuringly, “He knows that you can take back your heart. I know this because he came to me a long time ago to get the facts on Carvers and their mating formalities. So the fact that he still keeps you close is his only way of showing you how he feels. He is going to need you more so now, and in the near future, than ever before. I just hope that this time you don’t abandon him."

With a strong annoyance I asked, "Are you blaming me for leaving after high school? I didn’t know I was mated!” This is so unfair.