The Oath (19 page)

“Yes, my entire family is,” I told her, keeping direct eye contact. “My dad’s on the Witches’ Council.”

“There’s a council?” Sebastian asked. He walked over to the couch sitting along one wall and plopped down. “What do they do?”

“They’re like the police, only they deal with witches who’ve gone rogue.”

“Rogue?” he asked, more curious.

“Witches who use magic to harm people,” I clarified for them all.

“Well, we don’t do that,” Sebastian said. “We use it for fun mostly.”

“Servus tenebras, clamávi ad te,

et audi vocem meam audiunt.

Veni ad me, mihi dicto obedire.”

Sebastian’s head drooped for a minute, but when he looked back up, his eyes were a solid black. He stood and went to stand next to his friends, leaving me staring into black eyes. So not good. So very, very not good. I recognized the spell. It was old, ancient. They shouldn’t even know it. Where did they get their hands on a spell like that?

“Servant of darkness, I call upon thee,

listen and do as I say.

Come to me, heed my words, and obey.”

It wasn’t the best translation, but it was pretty close. Mandy had used it on Sebastian, to control him. He wasn’t a part of this. He really had told me the truth.

“What’s going on?” I asked softly.

“We need your help,” Brandon told me, his eyes as crystal clear as the first day I met him. “We’d prefer you willingly do it, but if necessary, we’ll make you help us.”

“Help you do what, exactly?”

“Need to know, Melinda,” Wes grinned. His smile made my skin crawl. His arm was draped around Lori, who looked extremely bored. At least Madison looked worried. She remembered what I did in the cafeteria.

“If you want my help, you will tell me what you want me to do.” I stared directly at Mandy. “I’m not human. I’m a witch. It’s harder to force me to do something against my will.”

“It was easy to manipulate your sister,” Mandy smiled. “She had no real willpower.”

Brandon laughed when he saw my eyes widen. “Did you think we wouldn’t figure out who you were? You look very different from your photos, but once we figured it out, I can’t tell you how excited we all were.”

My eyes darted to Sebastian. “He had no idea,” Brandon said. “He loved her and would never have allowed us to hurt her, so we had to come up with a way to control him. He has no idea he helped to kill her.”

“Was your plan to come here and make us all pay for your pathetic sister’s death?” Mandy asked. “Sorry, Melinda. Our whole point in killing her was to get
you
here.”

What the hell? “Me?” I asked. “Why?”

“She told Sebastian her sister was a witch, a real witch,” Brandon replied. “We needed that in our Coven. There are things we can’t do, things we need your power to do. Killing Jenny was a sure way to get you here. She told us how much you meant to each other, and we knew that if you figured out her death was caused by magic, you’d come.”

“And here you are.”

I glanced over to see the Chemistry teacher, Mr. Simon, come through the door. My jaw dropped. He was their leader? I knew it instinctively. He’d caused all this. He corrupted these kids and murdered my sister, but why? What was his end game?

“What do you need me to do?” I gave Mr. Simon my best death glare, but he only smiled in response. That set my hackles to rising.

“We need your magic to help us open a doorway,” Mr. Simon explained. “We’ve tried numerous times ourselves, but it’s impossible.”

“Doorway?” What were they trying to do?

“It’s been a long process to find all the necessary items needed to open this particular doorway.” Mr. Simon walked over to where the table was. He bent down, and when he stood back up, he held a book. Its binding was gray and frayed with age. Ancient. This was where they were getting their spells. It wasn’t a huge book, though. “It opens up the prison of an ancient force. It’s a force that has been searching for eons to get out. Those who help free him will be rewarded.”

“Do you realize how cheesy that sounds?” I scoffed. “It’s like a bad plot line to a B rated sci-fi flick.” It really did.

“Cheesy or not, it’s still true.” Mr. Simon shrugged. He flipped the book open and started to turn through its pages. “Do you know what this is?”

“Uh, no?” How could I know what it was if I’d never seen it before? Well, I knew it was a spell book, I just didn’t know what kind exactly.

“It’s a very old book,” he said, walking toward me. “Its pages are full of ancient magic, magic we cannot touch. It requires the blood of a Pagan to work. That is why we need you, my dear. The choice of how we obtain your cooperation is up to you.”

“Not a chance,” I told him. “You just admitted you murdered my sister, and you think I’m going to willingly help you? You’re insane if that’s what you think.”

“Hopeful,” Mr. Simon corrected me. “I’ve seen the darkness in you, Melinda. I’d hoped the lure of so much power would entice you.”

“Sorry, but the only thing I plan on doing is making sure you all pay for my sister’s death.”

“I really wish you hadn’t said that.” Mr. Simon sighed. “I liked you, Melinda, I truly did. You have so much potential and could have made a wonderful teacher for them.”

Wes’s arms wrapped around me, and I did exactly what my dad taught me to do. I went limp, and he dropped me, not expecting it. I rolled over, and my foot met his crotch. He let out a strangled moan, but before I could do much else, Sebastian grabbed me. His legs wrapped around mine, effectively trapping me, and no matter what I did, his grip never loosened. Mr. Simon simply shook his head.

“It’ll be easier for you if you don’t fight it,” he said. “We’re just going to borrow your magic for a bit.”

“Borrow my magic?” I asked. “How exactly do you expect to do that?”

“The same way we borrowed Sebastian’s cooperation.” Mr. Simon smiled before placing his hand on my forehead. I felt his fingertips start to heat up. “Sebastian gave you coffee on the way over. There was a potion in it to weaken your resistance to our efforts. You were right in the fact witches have a stronger will than humans. I took no chances. That is how important you are to me, Melinda. Now,
somnus
…sleep.”

My eyes drifted shut despite my efforts to stay awake, and I was out.

Chapter Twenty-Two

~ Jenny ~

May 5, 2013

Just thinking about what I have to do makes me want to curl up and cry. I get dizzy and have to lay down. Knowing what I should do is causing me to stress so much and I just want it to end. Mandy said I should just do it. The others agreed. I don’t know about Sebastian, though. I’m terrified to ask him. What if he says yes, that I should do it? What if he doesn’t love me as much as I love him? I think he does, but I don’t know if I can handle hearing him say he doesn’t love me. It would make this so much easier if he didn’t love me, though.

Even my writing sounds confused. I’m confused. I don’t want to do it, but everything inside of me screams that I have to, that it’s the only way to give Sebastian everything he needs. He needs this sacrifice from me even if he won’t ask for it himself. Mandy told he would never ask that of me because he loves me, but she lies so much.

I wish I had more time to tell everyone how much I love them, especially Melinda, but this needs to happen tonight. It’s the only way. Sebastian needs this. He’s hinted that he needs something from me, so I know it’s true. I just hesitate to give this. It’s wrong. I know it’s wrong. I was taught to believe it will damn my soul, but there is this other force inside of me that’s making me push that little voice aside. It’s overriding everything else.

I already bought the pills from a guy in the park. All I have to do is take them and then go to sleep. I’ll do it tonight when I go to bed so Daddy won’t be worried. If I take them before bed, Dad might find me and rush me to the hospital. I can’t let that happen. I have to die tonight. I have to sacrifice myself. It’s the only way.

My sister is what’s causing me to hurt the most. I only just found Melinda again. We were getting so close, like real sisters. What is this going to do to her? I wanted to talk to her about everything, tell her about the crazy dreams I’ve been having about them all chanting something I can’t understand. Sometimes I think they put a spell on me. Mel might know, but every time I think about talking to her, I get that crazy dizzy feeling and I almost pass out. I just can’t bring myself to do it.

I’m not sure how much more I can take anyway. I love Sebastian, but he’s mean to me. He’s never physically hurt me, but he makes me feel worthless and unworthy of him. I cry all the time anymore because of the things he says to me. He’s as bad as his friends sometimes, but then just like that, he’s a sweetheart again. It’s like there’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde version of him. I just want all this to stop. I don’t want to feel anything anymore.

I wrote the note earlier. It’s just a formality, but Wes said it was necessary for my family to feel some kind of closure. I guess he’s right. At least they’ll know I just can’t take all the stress anymore and that it’s not their fault. It’s all me. I don’t want them to hurt any more than they have to and I hope my note conveys how much I love them all.

Chapter Twenty-Three

~ Suicide ~

White. Everywhere I looked, all I saw was white. Snow, I realized. Snow fell all around me, blanketing the ground, hiding the imperfections of the Earth. Beautiful, really. I’d forgotten how enchanting the snow was. Xavier had shown me yesterday how fun it could be. Now, I recognized the beauty and simplicity of the white flakes falling all around me. Did I really hate all of this just hours ago? Seemed impossible.

I stopped at the edge of the lake, the water lapping gently at my toes. I wiggled them and realized I had no shoes on. When did I take them off, and why weren’t my feet cold? Didn’t matter. All that mattered was the beauty around me. I’d never felt closer to the Earth than I did in this moment. The power of Earth flowed through me, and I was a part of it. The frozen ground beneath my feet felt better than the softest carpet. The trees whispered to me. The snow cooled off my hot skin. I
was
Earth in this moment.

Wind whipped all around me, whistling in the trees. I called Air to me, but it resisted. My eyes narrowed. How dare it? I was master here, and it would obey. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on pulling the struggling Element to me. When it snapped into place around me, I shuddered. It was now mine to control.

The water beckoned. I took several steps until I was knee deep in the lake. Cold. I only knew I was cold because my teeth started to chatter. I rubbed my arms and realized they were bare. I looked down and saw I was wearing a sleeveless black dress. I hadn’t worn that this morning. I’d had on jeans and a sweatshirt. When did I change my clothes?

Did it really matter, though? No. All that mattered was the feel of the magic coursing through me. It felt glorious. I’d never had this much magic running through my veins before. It was dangerous. I knew that, but didn’t care. I could do anything right now. I could cause an earthquake. I could force rain from the clouds above me. Anything I wanted, I could do right now. It was the most awesome feeling. I wanted it, craved it,
needed
it. This was who I was.

I sank further into the water. It lapped at my chin. If I plunged under the surface of the lake, then I’d be one with the Water Element as well as the Earth and Wind Elements. I could call up a hurricane if I wanted. The possibilities were endless.

An image of Jenny lying cold and dead on a morgue gurney invaded my vision, and my fury roared back. I remembered why I’d come to Falls Church. I’d come to make that little hoard of wannabe witches pay for killing her. So why was I letting myself sink into the water? Why wasn’t I out there making them suffer for what they did to my sister? I only had a little time left since Dad was coming today. I should be dealing with that instead of swimming in the lake.

Instead of getting out, I drifted further out into the lake. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the water. I wanted to, but the water called to me. I had the urge to sink under its surface and just revel in the feel of the energy from the Water Element. I let myself sink further down, the icy depths covering my face completely. I sank to the bottom, not even trying to swim up for air. It felt wonderful. I’d never felt so free, so weightless. Nothing mattered but the power raging through me.

An image of Dad and Gran came to mind. They were standing alone at a cemetery, heartbroken. I frowned. Why were they crying? My eyes wandered to the headstone they were staring at. My frown deepened. My own name stared back at me. Why were they staring at a headstone with my name on it? It made no sense. I took a deep breath and choked a bit. I was drowning. Water filled my lungs, and I couldn’t find the urge to swim to the surface to save myself. This was why they were staring at my tombstone. I drowned. Why didn’t I want to fight? Why couldn’t I find the will to save myself?

Arms wrapped around me, and within seconds, we’d burst upward and into the sky. Xavier. He’d found me and pulled me out. My lungs hurt as I coughed, water spewing out of my mouth. When we landed on the embankment, Xavier bent me over and rubbed my back while I coughed up the water. I shifted, turning back toward the water once I could stand. He caught me, refusing to let me go. I heard him whispering things in my ear, but I paid them no heed. I needed to go back to the lake, to feel the power of the Water. I
needed
it.