Winter Fire (Witchling Series) (34 page)

The tracks were at risk of being buried in snow. Beck went as fast as he could, his face soon numb. The forest on either side of the narrow road was silent. Though he couldn’t see it, the lake was beyond the trees to his right. He’d know when he was close to civilization again: the road was cleared around the southern side of the lake.

Finally, the tracks disappeared under the snow. Beck’s step quickened. There were a few houses tucked away on the east side of the lake. The vehicle he was following hadn’t left the road. He continued down it, assuming it wouldn’t without understanding where else Dawn had been going.

His phone vibrated, and he yanked it out with clumsy hands without stopping his jog. Decker had texted.

No Biji. Any luck?

Beck’s heart fell at the thought of his friend in danger somewhere.

…
you can’t save the world or prevent everything bad from happening. You can only really pick which battles you choose to fight.

Morgan’s wisdom returned to him, along with a vision of her pretty features. They tortured him, even if she were right.

He had no way of knowing this would happen this week. This was one battle he wasn’t going to back down from. Her life, Summer’s and Biji’s were too important to him. He couldn’t stand aside and wait for the elements or trial or rite to finish. He had to act, even without the guidance of his magick and friends. He had to trust himself.

He texted Decker quickly.
No. Nothing here. Where could they be going?
He hit send and concentrated on moving fast along the slick road. Sooner than he expected, he reached the cleared road lining the southern rim of the lake and launched onto the road, grateful for the salt and gravel crunching beneath his snow boots instead of the ice and snow.

Beck ran. His thoughts were troubled and heavy, his heart racing out of fear for his friends. Fear that he wouldn’t be able to do what he was supposed to as the Protector of Light. Fear that he might make another mistake, one that would cost him the life of the girl he was starting to think he loved.

It drove him to run faster, until his lungs burned and he was out of breath. He stopped, then bent over, chest heaving. The sky was lightening. He was able to see the salt stains on his jeans. Beck glanced up at the clouds. He checked his phone next and saw it was almost five thirty. Decker had texted and tried to call while he ran.

Beck called his brother. “Hey,” he said breathlessly.

“Where are you?”

“Uh, not sure. South of the lake.” Beck looked around him. The snow had lessened, and he tried to orient himself. “Maybe two miles from the bay.”

“We’re at the bay. Connor’s out of it. The trip across the lake wiped him out.”

“I’ll be there in a few,” Beck said. “Did you learn anything from the lake?”

“No,” Decker’s voice was hushed.

“They left the lake. I don’t get it,” Beck muttered.

“Hurry up. We need food and a plan.”

“On my way.” Beck hung up and paused in the middle of the road, listening. His instincts had given him some guidance this evening. All he needed was a direction.

Dawn wanted Morgan out of the way. Beck no longer believed Dawn was incapable of killing. Why she didn’t do it at the resort, he didn’t know. She had a hefty head start, yet she’d left the resort sometime in the middle of the night and taken Summer and Morgan somewhere else.

Beck thought hard. Dawn was hurting, even if it were the result of a delusion. She thought there was a chance with him or at least, to prevent him from moving on. Morgan had drawn the girl’s ire in the worst way possible, first by calling her out, then by beating up Alexa.

I trust you, Beck.

Morgan’s whisper was soft in his mind. She’d said the words, but when?

A wave of heat washed over him. He closed his eyes, trying to recall whatever it was he’d forgotten that resulted in him waking up at home in bed.

I’m scared.

Beck squeezed his temples. He dropped his hands to his sides with a sigh then dug out his phone. His fingers brushed the small notebook he kept with him to record the visions the earth showed him. His instincts tingled again. He opened it and flipped through it, using his phone as a light source to see the pages.

He stopped at the last entry.

Fire. Soul stone.

Sam’s lesson about the line of witchlings charged with safeguarding the soul stone returned to him.

I trust you, Beck.

Morgan. His breath stuck in his throat.

The memory emerged slowly. It was hazy, filled with heat and cold and the sense of falling. He saw the eerie black stone on Morgan’s dresser and remembered reaching for it. Blackness followed.

Beck lowered the notebook, eyes closing as he focused on his thoughts and memory. The look on Morgan’s face haunted him. Guilt, horror, despair. She knew what it was or at least, what it would do. Capable of eating away at Light, the soul stone had spent three weeks weakening his foundation of magick.

His chest grew tight enough to hurt. He sought some reason why she had the stone at the school in the first place. Was her intention to hurt him? How could it be, when she was the sweetest person he’d ever known?

Beck pulled himself from his emotions. They weren’t going to help him find Morgan. He focused on what he had ascertained about what happened.

Dawn, Alexa and the others left in a hurry and took the three girls with them.

What would make Dawn’s plans change? The discovery of the soul stone, the ultimate tool against Beck. She could destroy the Light with it and therefore, him. She wanted him to suffer, and watching the Light waste away and die was the type of revenge she’d seek out.

Morgan must’ve told her where it was. Dawn was going after it.

Beck searched his thoughts. Was Morgan the latest in a string of bad judgment?

He recalled kissing her, how soft and warm her lips and body were, how passionate she was. Her unruly curls and beautiful eyes, the temper that warmed his blood and the smile that lit up his world.

No. He wasn’t wrong about her. He just didn’t know what she was doing with something so evil.

Beck opened his eyes. If Dawn found the stone, she’d have no further use for Morgan. He pulled out his phone to tell Decker he was headed back to the school. He had placed protective spells around the school; if Dawn didn’t want to trip them, she’d need a Light witchling to retrieve the stone. He wondered if it was Sonya or one of Dawn’s other spies.

There was a text waiting. He didn’t recognize the number and almost skipped it.

Almost.

Beck opened the text and froze. It contained a message and a picture.

How to snuff a fire.

The picture was of Morgan and Summer, lying in a narrow stone crypt. Summer’s head was bloodied. Their eyes were closed, their faces pale and their limbs at awkward angles, as if they were lifeless dolls tossed into a box. The heavy stone lid to the crypt was at the side. It would take three or four guys to lift it. Once sealed, there was no way the two girls could escape without help.

Beck couldn’t think or move. He simply stared, unable to believe what was in front of him. His shock wore off as fast as it came, leaving him reeling with urgency.

He broke into a sprint, heart tumbling with horror. He dialed his brother.

“Cemetery!” he said into the phone then hung up.

Decker was closer to the tiny cemetery. Beck slipped on ice and smashed to his knees. With a curse, he shoved himself up and ran again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The black SUV passed her. It got stuck twice in the deep snow, buying her some time. Biji quickened her pace. The closer it got to the cemetery, the more afraid she became. It stopped, its red taillights glowing through the fog of exhaust. The sound of car doors closing were loud to her heightened senses.

Biji strained to see what happened. She tripped on a tree root buried beneath the snow and cursed it. God help her, she’d never set foot outside in winter again after this.

She struggled free of the forest. The sounds of voices reached her, and she stopped to catch her breath before hurrying into the cemetery. Her heart sank when she saw Noah standing with Alexa and Jason, talking to them. The two Dark teens from the SUV had stopped in front of a large mausoleum whose door gaped open.

Biji’s eyes watered, and a sense of betrayal slid through her. Why Noah didn’t turn her in, she didn’t know, but it was clear he was still working for his sister.

Fury filled her. Biji’s gaze fell to the open door of the mausoleum. Ducking behind a statue, she summoned her air magick and sat, shivering. She ordered it to tell her what had happened.

The memories were fuzzy. The air magick recalled Summer, because she, too, shared the element. Biji watched the images only she could see. The arrival of a phantom SUV that looked like a blob floated to the point where the SUV sat now. Shadows pulled a white cloud she took to represent Summer and a gray one she assumed was Morgan from the blob of an SUV.

They all disappeared into the mausoleum. Several shadows emerged – without the white and gray clouds.

Biji dismissed the air memories and debated what to do. She couldn’t take three Dark witchlings. If what Noah said was true, her friends were buried alive in the mausoleum. Which meant, she didn’t have time to hesitate.

She stood and started forward, determined to make it into the mausoleum, no matter what the Dark teens did to her. Just as she had given up hope on Noah, she saw Jason retreat to the SUV. He turned off the ignition and grabbed something long and dark. She tried to make it out. While Alexa stood talking to Noah, Jason was returning around the backside of the SUV, approaching Noah from behind.

Crowbar. The Dark teen raised it to smash it into Noah’s head.

“Noah!” Biji shouted. She propelled her magick forward. It shielded Noah, and the crowbar bounced back.

Dawn’s brother spun, surprised. Alexa grabbed him from behind, a knife in one of her hands while Jason took a second swing. Biji struggled to follow the rapid movements. She blocked Jason again, but missed Alexa’s strike.

But Noah wasn’t caught off-guard twice. Snow exploded around them, leaping from the ground. It turned to water then ice, slamming into both Dark teens. Alexa’s knife froze and snapped in two while Jason was flung away.

Biji halted. The mini-snowstorm overtook the SUV and mausoleum, wiping out her ability to see what happened next. Unable to help Noah, she waited with baited breath. After a moment, the snow dropped back to the ground in neat piles.

Noah stood over Jason’s body, crowbar in one hand. Alexa lied still in a pile of snow.

Biji stared at the blood dripping off the end of the crowbar. Red splattered the snow around the Dark teen. Noah tossed the crowbar and straightened. He turned and met her gaze.

Suddenly, she wanted to run. The same boy who built her a fire and kissed her appeared menacing in the low light.

“You okay?” he asked.

“My god. You killed him,” she responded before she could stop the words.

Noah glanced down. A disturbed look crossed his features. He shook his head and stepped away.

“Thanks for your help,” he said. He held out his hand again.

Biji looked from Jason to Noah, balking at the thought of being anywhere near a murderer.

“Biji, don’t do this,” Noah said quietly. “Let’s get your friends and get out of here. We can talk about what happened later.”

Summer and Morgan. The mention of her friends jarred her from her shock. Biji moved forward again. She didn’t take his hand, but went with him into the mausoleum. It was too dark to see, and she hesitated.

“Jason had a flashlight,” Noah said. “I’ll grab it.”

She said nothing. Biji stepped carefully into the mausoleum. She held her breath, listening, but could hear nothing that indicated her friends were inside. As her eyes adjusted to the pitch blackness, she spotted a soft glow. Like an ember dying.

Biji started towards it, smashed into a tomb, and mumbled a curse. She patted the length of it, following it to its tip then stretched out her hands to ensure she didn’t run into anything else.

A beam of light penetrated the dark. Six stone tombs with heavy lids were in the crypt. The one that glowed was at the far end.

“Biji?” Noah called. “What is it?”

“I think they’re in that one,” she said, weaving through the tombs. “It was glowing.”

“Fire magick?”

“Maybe.” She reached it and touched the top of the lid. She snatched her hand back from the heat of the stone. “It’s gotta be this one. The lid’s hot.”

Noah joined her, standing too close for her comfort. He set the flashlight down on the lid and felt it.

Biji pushed at the stone lid. It didn’t budge.

“I can use air magick, I think,” she murmured. “Step back.”

Noah did so. Biji moved away to give her room to work then summoned her air magick. It swept into the mausoleum and through her, chilling her quickly. The impact of using her magick in such a confined space combined with the cold made her already weakened body stagger.

“It’s okay, Biji,” Noah said. He steadied her and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her into his body. “I got you. You get them.”

His warmth at her back took away the frozen feeling she hadn’t been able to shake. She couldn’t think about the fact that he just killed someone, not when she needed to focus on saving her friends.

Biji closed her eyes and drew a steady breath. She was so tired … but she dug deep to summon her magick and control it this time. It whipped through the mausoleum again. This time, Noah kept it from knocking her over. His grip around her tightened.

She needed every bit of strength she could muster to lift something as heavy as the stone lid of the coffin in the small space of the mausoleum, where her magick was largely cut off. Biji relaxed and let the magick take her. The air’s movement built to a gale that roared through the tiny space, whipping snow and her hair around her body. Noah hugged her closer without moving or speaking.