The Darkness Within (33 page)

He took my hand. “You know I love you, right?”

“Of course.” I leaned forward and kissed his forehead. I let some of my healing magic spread through my lips and to his head. “Feel any better?”

He smiled and pulled me closer to him. “Much.” He kissed me, softly and passionately, like only Ethan could. Not that I’d dated much before him, but no other guy had ever kissed me like that, with so much love. He pulled back and sighed. “You really don’t trust her?”

“I don’t trust anyone with your life. I need to make sure she’s not hurting you with this spell.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay, do the spell. Try to get my mind to reveal what Mirabella said during the spell.”

I really could’ve used Shannon and Dylan’s help with this. I’d never tried to access someone’s memory before, but they weren’t exactly on my side with this issue. “Can you lean back and close your eyes?”

Ethan rested against the back of the couch, but as soon as he closed his eyes, he opened one again. “Is this some plan to catch me off-guard so you can have your way with me?” His mouth curved into a sly grin.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, but no. Now, close your eyes.” I held my hands above his head and closed my eyes, too. I focused on seeing what Ethan had seen, but it didn’t work. “Think about the spell. Anything you can remember would help.”

“I’ll try, but I don’t remember much at all.”

I concentrated again, and little images flickered in Ethan’s mind’s eye. Green energy snaking through him. Still, I didn’t hear anything. I moved one hand above Ethan’s right ear. Sound began to filter through, but it was muffled. I was about to give up when I heard the phrase, “Settle into me.” That was enough for me. I opened my eyes and lowered my hands.

“Done already?” Ethan sat up. “That was fast.”

“I heard all I needed to. She’s definitely taking your dark magic. She told it to settle into her. But why? Why would she want it?”

“You should have waited for us,” Dylan said.

Shannon stood next to him on the bottom stair, her hands on her hips. “You know I love spells that have to do with accessing people’s minds. I can’t believe you’d keep me out of it.”

No sense denying it. They’d heard me. They knew what I’d done. “We have to get that book away from her. I need a better look at it. If we know what spell she’s doing, we’ll be able to fix this.” I hoped.

Ethan stood up. “I don’t think she’s trying to hurt me, Sam. She’s been really nice.”

I stood up and took his hand. “Maybe she isn’t trying to hurt you, but she isn’t doing what she says, either. I know it, Ethan. Please, trust me.”

He brought my hand to his lips, kissing each fingertip. “You know I trust you.”

“Thank you.” I could always count on Ethan.

“So, she’s really taking the dark magic,” Shannon said. “Do you think it gives her a power boost? Lets her do all of this?” She motioned to the room around us. Everything in it had been magically conjured.

“Maybe. I kind of think she figured out what her mom did wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Dylan waved his hand, and I recognized the protective bubble he’d put around us to keep Mirabella from overhearing our conversation.

“She said her mom was mixed up in dark magic and died because of it. I think that spell book belonged to her mother. I think she’s trying to master the spells and figure out what her mom did wrong.”

“Makes sense,” Ethan said. “But then, I might be right. She might not mean me any harm.”

“I don’t think she does,” Dylan said. “She could’ve killed us all already. She’s old and wickedly strong. She wouldn’t keep helping Ethan if she wanted to hurt us.”

“Why not?” I asked. “What if she’s only keeping us around until she gets what she wants from Ethan? She said the spell is almost finished. If she doesn’t have any use for us anymore, what’s to stop her from using that dark magic on us?”

“Oh, come on.” Shannon’s shoulders slumped. “We finally find a cool old witch who knows just about every spell. Why does she have to be up to something? I wanted her to teach me all this stuff.”

“We have to get that book,” I said, ignoring Shannon’s whining. “Tonight. I think we should plan to meet up while she’s asleep.”

Shannon stroked her hair. “I need my beauty sleep, you know.”

Dylan shot her a look. “You’ll live.” He turned to me. “I’m not crazy about the idea of snooping through Mirabella’s stuff.”

“Look, I get that you feel a debt to her for saving you, but I don’t think she did it with good intentions. She got something out of it. Just like she’s getting something out of helping Ethan. We need to figure out what her endgame is before she turns on us.”

“
If
she turns on us,” Shannon said.

“Anyone down there?” Mirabella called from the top of the stairs.

I glared at Dylan. “Lower the spell before she senses it and questions why we put it up.”

Dylan ended the spell with a swirl of his hand. “Yeah, we’re down here checking on Ethan.”

“Well, come upstairs. I made some tea.”

None of us moved. We were fixed to the floor, questioning everything we’d come to learn about Mirabella. How much like her mother
was
she?

“We’ll be right up,” I yelled. “All right, get ready to act normal. We can’t go through with our plan until nighttime.”

Ethan held my hand as we walked upstairs and met Mirabella in the living room. I was scared of this woman. She had so much power, and it was a power I knew nothing about.

She sipped her tea. “I was wondering where you’d all run off to. I couldn’t find you anywhere. It was like you’d disappeared.”

I managed a smile and a nervous laugh. “I think that invisible spell we did earlier to throw off the other coven might have worked too well. I had trouble finding Shannon earlier.”

“That’s funny. It shouldn’t have worked that way on us.” Mirabella cocked her head to the side. “I hope you all did the spell correctly.”

“Now that you mention it, I’m not sure I did.” Okay, it wasn’t a real confession, but it would do. “I was afraid to say anything earlier because I hate that I’m still so new to all this, and I guess I was embarrassed.”

“I see.” Mirabella nodded and smiled at me. “Well, we can redo the spell if need be. I wouldn’t want anyone getting lost from our little group’s sight.” She laughed like she’d made a joke.

“We were hoping you could teach us a few spells,” Shannon said, sitting on the couch. “You know, before we go back home. Sam and Ethan said you’re almost finished getting the dark magic out of Ethan, so I’m guessing that means we’ll be leaving soon.”

“I have a lot I could teach you, but before we get to that, I’d like to know more about all of you.” She motioned for Dylan, Ethan, and me to sit. We all chose the couch, keeping the coffee table between us and Mirabella—as if that would offer any protection from a witch
laced with dark magic. “Please.” She pointed to the cups of tea, which were already poured.

“You sure like tea, don’t you?” I asked.

“What’s not to like? It warms you and makes you more open to good conversation.” Mirabella paused, waiting for us all to drink. I started to bring the cup to my lips, so that Mirabella wouldn’t be suspicious, but then stopped, realizing this was the perfect time to test her, to see if she’d known about the dark magic. “Something wrong, Sam?”

“Yeah, we forgot to tell you something.”

“Oh?” She sat forward in her chair.

“The tea we were drinking earlier…it tasted different. Was it a different kind?”

“Actually, it was. It was a variety of green tea with passion fruit and jasmine. It’s a personal favorite of mine. I only bring it out for special company.”

“Is this the same?” I held up my cup.

“Yes, it is. If you look closely, you can see hints of green.”

I bet I could. Green, swirling dark magic. “You know, my mom used to drink green tea, except it was a light green color. This is much darker.”

“The benefit of conjuring your own tea leaves is they come out darker. Richer too.”

Darker as in full of dark magic. “You know, I’m kind of tired. I feel like this has been a really long day. I think I’ll take my tea up to my room and rest.”

“But it’s almost dinnertime,” Mirabella protested. “I thought we could conjure another meal together. As you said, our time together is running out.”

“I’m not sure I’m up to a big meal,” Ethan said. “I’m wiped out from that spell. I’ll grab something from the fridge and head to my room, if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll go with you.” I stood up, with Ethan following my lead. “I can’t help it. I like to make sure he’s okay after his sessions.”

Mirabella’s mouth formed a tight grin. She wasn’t happy about this. I looked to Shannon and Dylan, hoping they’d come up with excuses of their own. I could practically see Shannon’s brain smoking.
She was out of ideas, so I bailed her out. “Oh, you guys, I totally forgot to tell you that the spell we did last night to try to alter the memories of the other coven must not have worked right. It did something to my memories instead. I think we should try it again, and I’d rather not wait. We have no idea when they’re going to try to attack us again.”

Mirabella’s eyes narrowed at me. “You’re doing magic on the other coven? That’s extremely dangerous. We did the invisibility spell. You don’t need to go casting other spells that the coven could trace back to you—back to me.”

“We were really careful. We covered our tracks.” I didn’t even know if that was possible, but Mirabella didn’t seem to want us having any contact with the other coven.

She jumped up, knocking her tea onto the floor. Swirls of green magic glistened in the spilled tea. She was drinking the same dark magic. “Promise me you won’t try that spell again. I’m not letting you out of my sight until you do. You’ll be leading them right to us, and I’ve worked too hard to let you destroy this life for me.” Her hands clutched my wrist, squeezing tighter by the second. She was scared. And if she was scared of the other coven, what did that mean for us? I’d been so preoccupied with Mirabella, I’d almost forgotten she wasn’t the only danger we had to worry about.

35

“O
KAY
, relax.” I pulled my arm from her grasp, and Ethan immediately checked it for signs of bruising.

“You could’ve hurt her.” I’d never heard him say an unfriendly thing to Mirabella, but he was protective of me.

“I’m sorry.” She looked away. “It’s just that I can’t get involved with people like that again. People like Nora.”

I didn’t know if she was trying to throw us off with the Nora comment, or if she was legitimately scared and desperate to make us understand. I already knew she wasn’t afraid of dark magic, and part of me wanted to confront her about it now. But if I did, she might not help Ethan anymore. That was the only thing stopping me.

“We won’t let them find us,” I said, rubbing my wrist. “But I do think we should all call it a night. I don’t have an appetite at all anymore. I think we could use the extra rest. Get our heads on straight for tomorrow.”

Mirabella didn’t protest. She sat down in her chair without looking at us. I looked at Dylan and Shannon and nodded toward the stairs. They followed. I waited until we were in my room with the door locked before I said anything. “We have to move on this tonight. There’s no way we can put it off.”

“She’s seriously freaked out about that other coven,” Shannon said, sitting cross-legged in the desk chair.

Dylan paced the room. “She must think they want dark magic.”

“And she has enough of it,” I finished for him. If Ethan hadn’t been holding my hand, I probably would’ve gone to Dylan, tried to make him feel somewhat better about being the one who’d given Mirabella dark magic in the first place. Maybe she hadn’t asked for this. Maybe she hadn’t known the spell she’d cast on Dylan would do this to her. It was possible the magic had turned her into what she was now—a black-magic-crazed witch. Dylan felt responsible. I got that. My eyes found his as he walked the length of the room. “No one blames you.”

He stopped pacing and glared at me. “I bet Mirabella wouldn’t agree.” He gestured toward the door. “She’s probably sitting down there right now cursing me for causing this mess.”

“Don’t say that.” Shannon had never been one to defend Dylan, but even she was sympathizing with what he must have been feeling. “You didn’t know what it would do to her.”

“Oh, no? I knew what that crap did to
me
.” He pounded his chest with his palms. “What more proof did I need?”

I broke free from Ethan and stepped closer to Dylan. “Okay, but you didn’t know it would go into her when she cast the spell. You all thought she knew what she was doing, but she was in over her head, a lot like her mother had been.” I reached for his shoulder, thinking it was the safest place to touch him without bringing out that weird crush of his that surfaced at all the wrong times—not that there was a
right
time for it. “Are you going to sit in this room and feel sorry for yourself, or are you going to do something about what’s going on? Because last time I checked, you’re a major part of this coven, and we need you to help us. Mirabella is up to something that might mean the end of all of us. I’ll be damned if I allow you to sit around and let it happen.”