Chapter 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

FRANKIE

Everest was all I could think about.

My mind was a whirlpool just circling the drain. I had more questions than ever and now he was gone. The only answers I'd gotten were the ones that questioned if he had feelings for me, too. After last night in the tower, I knew he did. Yet somehow that just made it so much worse. Both for the pain and the confusion. In the infirmary and even on our date at the dance, he'd been a certain amount of detached. Even in our passionate moments alone I'd only been confident in the fact that he wanted me physically. But he was different last night. From the moment he called me instead of texting to when he teased me and chuckled to the softness in his eyes and his entire demeanor. It was like he was a different person all together.

That different person felt like home.

And that made absolutely no sense.

I knew that. I knew if my aunt and uncle heard the thoughts swirling in my mind, they'd send me straight to therapy. They'd blame themselves for giving me space to try and heal my trauma by being as normal of a teenager as possible, given the whole witch revelation. A therapist would have a field day with my infatuation with Everest. I refused to call it love, that was far too dangerous, but no matter which label I used, it had the same outcome. They'd probably blame the trauma and the coma. I'd probably end up on a grippy sock vacation to a padded cell or back in a hospital bed with IVs and machines attached to me.

Granted, right now even I would've been curious to see what my brain scans looked like. I wondered if psychologists used MRIs and CAT scans to determine mental health. Seemed like they would but I had no idea. I pulled out my phone and felt a sharp, intense pain through my chest at not finding a single notification from Everest. There was one from Elizabeth, but I'd had an epiphany this morning and realized I was avoiding my best friend. I'd basically ghosted her since I met Everest, and deep down in my subconscious mind, I'd done it intentionally . . . because I didn't want her to see the mess I had become.

Over a boy.

Gross.

But it was the truth. No one knew me like she did. No one would see through the mask like her. She would've called me on my bullshit. She would've pointed out all the glaring red flags over this boy and scolded me for being stupid. She would've recognized the fragile cracks in my sanity and launched an intervention from China. There would've been a therapist, psychiatrist, and psychologist at my doorstep the next day. I wasn't even sure the difference between those three professions, but they would've all been there.

If only I had let her see the mess I had become.

I wouldn't hurt so much right now.

I can't fix the Everest issue, but I CAN fix Elizabeth.

I went looking for our text thread, the one we'd never deleted and was definitely hogging most of the memory on my phone and MacBook. I wanted to cry at how far I had to scroll to find it. My heart sank. The last thing I'd texted her was that I'd call her when I got home from Esther's house—and then I hadn't. Actually, as I scrolled through our conversations since I'd arrived in Tampa, all we'd talked about were my new friends. Dammit.

My pride had to take this hit. ‘ I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. '

Those three bubbles popped up immediately, which made me feel worse. ‘ Ignoring or avoiding? '

I cursed myself out at that one. I'd just proved myself right. She knew. She'd known. She wasn't even looking at me and she knew. It didn't make me feel better. ‘ Does it help if I didn't consciously realize I was doing it until just now? '

‘. . . that's a good question, ' she sent back with a GIF of a person thinking hard, then a laughing emoji.

My stomach rolled. ‘ Don't joke right now. I'm being serious. '

‘Frankie, it's been like a week. You were in a coma. You moved to a new city. Give yourself a break because I know I did. '

I exhaled. ‘ Why does that make me feel worse? '

Those bubbles appeared. ‘ LOL .'

‘Elizabeth! ' I sent with a frown face emoji.

‘So . . . ' she sent, followed immediately by, ‘ What's his name? '

‘Everest, ' I said, and suddenly I wanted to tell her everything right then and there.

‘Like the mountain? '

I rolled my eyes. ‘ Yes, like the mountain. And yes, those jokes were made though not to his face. '

‘That's too bad. You should change that. '

‘I wish I could. '

‘Ah, there it is. The disturbance in the Force that I felt. ' Before I could respond to that, she sent another text. ‘ Why does your location show you in a lake? '

I smiled and held my phone up to snap a picture of the lake in front of me. We were still a good twenty feet from where the celebration was happening, but right after I hit send, I realized how strange the image looked. Everyone here was wearing all-white, myself included. And there were little bonfires surrounding the lakeshore.

‘I have A LOT of questions about that pic, dude. ' She sent with laughing emojis. ‘ But it looks like you're at some kind of an event. You should go enjoy it. '

‘Can I call you when I get home tonight? It should still be before dinner for you. '

‘Of course, but can you do me a favor first? '

I frowned. ‘ Of course? '

Those bubbles hovered on my screen for an eternity while I held my breath. ‘ Send me a selfie with you, Archie, and Esther. I need a visual. OH and I wanna see the dog and bunny best friends—you know what, just photo dump me. '

I chuckled. ‘ Okay, I will send pics as I can take them. But I'll call when I get home. '

‘I'll be here. '

"Who are you talking to?" a male voice asked.

I glanced down at Archie and Esther and smiled. "My best friend. I've been neglecting her a bit. She wants pics of tonight —I didn't tell her what it was or anything."

"Don't worry about that. The magic in the air handles that for us. And don't ask me to explain the how of that." Esther laughed. She took my phone and stopped walking, then held it up to take a selfie of the three of us as she was on the far left. We smiled for the picture, then she handed my phone back. "There you go. That one was so cute."

"Thanks." I sent that one over, then went into my photo album and started sending pictures of my new friends that were taken before tonight. The less photos I took of this cult-looking event, the better.

Esther cleared her throat. "I thought you were texting him. "

I groaned. "I wish."

"He left this morning. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours." Esther bumped my shoulder with hers as we walked toward our friends. "If he's even at his destination, because we don't know where we went, then he's probably just getting settled in. Give him time."

I nodded. Esther had quickly become one of my favorite people, but it was too soon to show her my crazy. "Yeah, I know."

"Right, well, unless you want the rest of the gang to dissect your emotions, you might wanna take a second and reel ‘em back in." She smiled softly. "I say that with love, not judgement. Just take a few deep breaths and push all that out of your mind for the next hour. Maybe turn your phone off."

I nodded. "Good idea."

"I'll go get them rolling on another topic before you come over." And then she bounced over to our friend group that was standing with her parents, Archie's mom, and my aunt and uncle.

"Wait." I frowned. "Do they all know something?"

Archie blushed. "Well . . . you did stay in Lookout Tower all night and never met up with us after Everest showed up."

My jaw dropped.

"Meh, don't stress it. Actually . . ." He scowled and pursed his lips, then he laughed. "Your cousin, Tennessee, has spent an entire evening on that couch with his girlfriend. Maybe it's a family thing?"

I buried my face in my hands and groaned. A chuckle slipped out. "How do you even know about that?"

He shrugged. "Haven't you noticed how much they talk about him? And The Coven?"

"Touché." I shook my head and laughed more. "So, me and my cousin have hooked up on that couch. I don't know what that says about us."

"Well, if you word it like that, other people will have things to say about it."

I snorted and smacked his arm. "Thanks, I needed that laugh."

"I know." He looked over at me with eyes that saw way too much. "You have doubts. About him ."

I nodded. "It's just a gut feeling."

"Well, where do your doubts lie?"

"He didn't even tell me where he was going. Is that not suspicious? Or at the very least a red flag?" I scrubbed my face with my hands. "And I didn't even ask. "

"Why didn't you?"

"Because . . . because . . . I don't know what happens to me when I'm around him." I rubbed my chest that was tight and burning. "It's stupid, I know?—"

"No." he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop in the shadow of an oak tree. "It's not stupid. Tell me."

"I can't even verbally explain it sufficiently. I just . . . get consumed by him. It's like nothing else exists. It's like . . . hypnotic."

"Well, maybe tonight you can focus your intentions on getting some clarity there." He gestured to the lake. "This is the night we plant the seeds to grow for tomorrow."

"You are the most interesting person I've ever met."

He smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should."

"HEY!!" Ava yelled from up ahead. "GET OVER HERE!"

We cursed and hurried over to the group.

Ava held out a bowl full of big leaves and in her other hand a Sharpie. "Here, take your leaf?—"

"I've got mine." Archie held his up, all three of his. "What? There was no limit."

I grinned as I took both a leaf and the Sharpie. "Thanks, Ava."

She winked, then turned around.

"I can't think of one thing to write, and you wrote three." I shook my head. "This feels like a pop quiz on the first day of school."

Archie snort-laughed. "There's no wrong answer. Just write one thing that you want this year, but not a material thing. Doesn't even have to be a full sentence."

I took a deep breath, then exhaled. Write one thing. I tried to think about what my hopes and dreams were for the year, but the truth was I had no idea. All the plans I had died on Halloween. Witch or not, I didn't come out of that incident the same person, and while I hadn't done a proper job of healing from that trauma, I knew I would always be somewhat changed from it. Eventually I'd have to start working on my own healing adventure. I just wasn't sure how to start that while also entering the whole new world of arcana, of magic and war and demons.

In the end, there was only one word that came to mind. So, I uncapped the Sharpie and wrote mental & emotional peace on the leaf. Then I handed the marker back to Ava. When I looked up, I found most of the community had already walked to the bonfires with their leaves and were waiting for the signal. Esther led our little group to the closest one and the rest of the people lingering finally got into gear.

Monica, Libby's mother, walked over to our bonfire with tears glistening in her eyes. She looked to Archie. " Thank you," she choked up.

Aspen held her leaf to the fire. When she pulled it back, it had a little flame on it. Archie had filled me in that Monica had done some spells on the leaves to protect everyone from getting burned. Monica and her husband Edward lit their leaves next. Then, at the same time, the three of them walked to the edge of the lake and sat the leaves on the surface of the water.

That was our cue to start. They were going first, then the rest could follow. Archie was hot on their heels. He didn't even know Libby, from what I understood, yet he was just as connected to this moment. It made me wonder who he'd lost that he was grieving in place of Libby. I followed after him with our friends behind me. One after another we sat our leaves on the water and then backed away.

It was such a sweet gesture.

Once everyone's leaves were floating at the edge of the lake, the moon that was nearly full sank lower in the sky and morphed into a glowing golden crescent. My jaw dropped. There were gasps all around us.

" The Goddess's moon, " Archie whispered. " She's listening. "

And then all at once, a gentle wave carried the leaves toward the center of the lake. White smoke billowed into the sky from all the little miniature flames. The air smelled sweet like a bakery.

Monica cried out, then covered her mouth with her hand. Edward wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder then pulled Aspen into him with his other hand. All three of them just stood there holding on to each other with tears in their eyes.

"Warm vanilla sugar from Bath and Body Works." Aspen sniffled. "Libby's favorite."

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut.

I'd never met the girl we were honoring, but it made me want to protect this community from all harm. The love and support they had for The Coven was profound and heartwarming. I wanted to be a part of a community that cared for each other like this.

The smoke billowing off the leaves turned bright red.

Everyone gasped.

"What's that mean?" Aspen hissed.

Archie shook his head. "I don't know."

All of the red smoke swirled together until it was one plume shooting into the sky . . . and then it swirled and moved, then formed into an arrow pointing toward the pier to our right. The red smoke arrow was flashing .

" Move ," Archie whispered. Then he cleared his throat and yelled out, " Get away from the pier! Move! Everyone, move!"

Without hesitation, each and every one of us lunged to the left at a dead sprint. We had no idea why, but none of us wanted to be near the pier. A few seconds later, red mist billowed from beneath it. Within the red mist a black hole grew bigger and bigger.

There was a moment where the world seemed to stand still.

And then a sea of black poured onto the dark soil of the lakeshore.

"DEMONS!" Archie screamed.

The demons charged for us, trampling the benches and picnic tables into shreds without slowing. Some of them ran through the bonfire but kept going. I heard screaming all around me. We were trapped. The park opening was now blocked by the demons. I felt everyone's panic as if it were my own. My stomach rolled. If that red arrow hadn't pointed to the pier, a few dozen people would've been standing right next to it. The demons would've barreled right into them like a tsunami. They wouldn't have had time to fight. That arrow saved their lives.

Libby. That was Libby. I knew it with every fiber of my soul. Aspen said she knew Libby was watching after that incident with the Ouija Board last month, and now Libby had just saved lives from beyond the grave.

And then chaos descended upon us. The demons looked like big wolves with glowing red eyes and yellow venom oozing from their mouths. I pulled my phone out and pressed my thumb to my sticker. I had my bat full-sized and changed into the dagger in the beat of a second. I hadn't had any demon-fighting training but instincts took over. I sliced my blade through the air left and right, cutting anything within reach.

" Aspen! " Archie sprinted away from us and ran toward Aspen who was surrounded by demons. " Down! "

Except they weren't attacking her. It was like they wanted to take her with them, which was so much worse. Archie tripped over something and crashed into a couple of the wolf demons. He staggered to his feet and tried to fight them off, but his arms and legs were sluggish and not connected with enough power to do damage. It looked more like a pillow fight. With a curse, I dug my heels into the ground and ran for them.

"Atley! To the left!" Agnes yelled out orders from behind me. "Peabo, push ‘em to the lake!"

The ground in front of me erupted like a bomb went off. I flew into the air and rolled, then crashed to the ground. Dirt and fallen leaves flew into the air like fireworks. Bright neon-yellow light pierced through the ground and shot into the sky. Everything happened in the flash of a second. I didn't have a chance to react. Three men dressed in all-white jumped straight up and out of the valley and into the air. They seemed to hover before landing in a perfect crouch. They were not human. No human moved like they did. Nor did they have glowing red eyes. I crawled across the dirt on my forearms because the demons zoomed right by me. I wasn't trying to be a coward, I was trying to get to Esther. She had to have a plan or info about these demons. Someone had to.

"ARCHIE!" Agnes yelled.

The ground rumbled, and a loud war cry ripped through the park. Three dozen figures jumped out from the crack in the ground. They all had pointed ears, long hair with tiny little braids, and a bow and arrow strapped to their backs. They wore silver armor that was barely visible against their nearly silver skin that shimmered like abalone shells in the ocean.

And then I saw their eyes.

Their black eyes. From eyelid to eyelid, they were solid black.

Agnes choked on a gasp. " Unseelie . . . Unseelie . . . HOW . . . Unseelie?"

I crouched beside her. "Unseelie? What does that mean?"

Her face was snow-white. She peeled her eyes off these Unseelie people and screamed, " ARCHIE!"

His face snapped toward us, then paled. He swayed on his feet.

"UNSEELIE!" Agnes screamed again and her voice cracked. She spun to me and dragged me down behind a bush and practically lay on top of me. " Hide. "

My friends dove forward and huddled around us. Agnes had me pinned down on my knees, but I had to find my aunt and uncle. I craned my neck around until I spotted them standing shoulder-deep in the lake Why are they in the lake? Panic gripped me like cold hands around my throat. There was no way for me to get to them. The demons were a stampede and I'd seen Lion King. The roar echoing off the demons sounded like a freight train or a tornado. It was so loud I couldn't hear myself think. All around the park our community was thick in battle with them, and my heart was lodged in my throat.

"ARCHIE!"

"What is he doing?" Tomás shook his head, his eyes full of fear. He held his hands up and pumped them. "Slow down!"

I turned to follow their wide stares to see Archie in his little scrawny frame sprinting right for us. He pumped his arms and legs. His face was straining like this took a lot of effort. His hazel eyes shot to the sky and blazed with rage. He was going to get himself killed.

"He's gonna hurt himself— get behind a tree! " Ava pointed to a huge oak tree.

Someone shrieked to my right. I jumped and looked over as one of those Unseelie plucked a woman off the ground and flew away with her. Screams ripped through the roar of the demons. I looked left and right and wanted to scream, cry, and vomit all together. The Unseelie were grabbing people one after another. Just snatching them without slowing down.

"Grab him!" Birdie yelled.

I turned back and rolled to the balls of my feet, ready to jump to catch him when Archie leapt into the air like Michael Jordan going for a dunk. The world seemed to slide into slow motion. Warm golden light like sunshine flashed all around him. My heart stopped. My friends screamed in panic. I couldn't take my eyes off of him even as I heard the desperate, panicked cries all around us. That golden light softened, and I watched as Archie's little body stretched until his legs were almost as long as his whole body had been. White linen pants turned into black ripped jeans tucked into beat-up combat boots. His arms flew out wide and quadrupled in size as chiseled muscle stretched tan skin. His entire right arm was covered in a black swirling tattoo.

On his left forearm was the Roman numeral IV between two glowing gold bands.

Archie landed ten feet in front of us in a perfect crouch with long black hair flapping in the breeze. Blue and green magic fired from his palms, shooting right into the chests of every Unseelie carrying a person. They bellowed and dropped their prey, who plummeted into the lake.

The Unseelies all froze mid-air. I couldn't even see their wings they were so dark. They stared at him with wide, black eyes.

"TENN!" Atley screamed so loud his voice broke. I looked over and found literal tears in his eyes, even as he held two daggers and sliced demons' heads off without missing a beat. "TENN!"

Peabo swayed into a tree and had to brace himself. "TENN?!"

"TENN!" The whole park seemed to be screaming his name at once. "TENN!"

" Tenn? " My breath left me in a rush. " That's Tennessee?"

"Oh my GOD!" Esther had her hands on her head in shock. She sank to her knees. "Archie was Tennessee."

I turned back to look at Tenn just as he spun to face the shore and held his right hand out in the air to the side. The air pulsed and then a long black sword slammed into his palm. The second it touched his skin, he threw it into the air like a boomerang into the night. Demons burst into ashes as his sword ripped through them.

That must have triggered the Unseelies, because all at once they charged for him with blinding speed. But Tenn just threw his hands up and pushed hurricane-force winds at them, pushing them back so fast they flipped backwards.

"Agnes!" Seamus shrieked.

I glanced back, then did a double take as rainbow mist slid over Agnes's body. Her long, dark-red hair was now straight white-blonde cut into a sharp angle like the edge of a dagger. The freckles vanished. She looked to us with purple eyes and earrings wrapped around both her ears. She pulled a dagger from the combat boot she suddenly wore, and I realized she had a similar tattoo sleeve on her right arm.

" Agnes? " Seamus squeaked.

A demon lunged over the bush in front of me, but Agnes jumped up and slammed her dagger into the demon's stomach and flicked it to the side. Black demon blood splashed down the side of her body, but she didn't seem to notice. She stood and my jaw dropped. Gone was the teeny, barely five-foot-tall woman. Now she had to be at least five-foot-nine with muscles sharpened like a fighter's. "I'm Mona. Stay down, stay together. Stay here."

Without another word, she charged into battle just as more demons rushed in through that black hole beneath the pier. Mona cursed. "TENN!"

"HOLD ON!" He pressed one hand to the ground and the whole world shook like an earthquake.

We gripped the ground and tried to hold on. I felt hands on my arms as my friends crashed to the dirt. Demons couldn't stay on their feet. They rolled like tumbleweeds.

Tenn's mismatched eyes blazed with power and fury as he forced the demons to fall over. "NOW!"

He released his hand, then fired blue and green lightning over our heads. Mona, Peabo, and Atley lunged back into battle. The scent of maple syrup filled the air. But those winds faded a second later, and the Unseelies swooped down—except they didn't go for Tenn.

They went for people.

Tenn cursed a string of obscenities that almost made me giggle. Almost. But then he tapped those gold bands on his left arm and a six-foot-long sword landed in his open palm. Massive white angel wings popped out of Tenn's back, and I choked on a gasp. He shot straight up into the sky, spinning in circles as he fired magic and wind in every direction with rapid speed. A gold breastplate covered his chest, and now his shins and forearms were strapped with golden armor. I had no idea what that was about, but I remembered someone telling me he was the grandson of the Archangel Michael, and it made perfect sense. That sword was glowing a white so pure it was almost purple. White magic flickered and coiled all around it as if it had electricity running through it.

I was frozen in place, not from fear but in awe. Tennessee darted across the park faster than my eyes could track. The Unseelies were scrambling and growing desperate. They kept grabbing new victims only to have Tenn light their asses up with that white fire.

"What's he doing? Kill them!"

"He can't!" I yelled back. "He's focusing on saving everyone they grab!"

"He's just one person!" Esther hissed—then she gasped and pointed to our right. "The portal thing is closing!"

I looked over to where that black hole was and found that rainbow mist filling the entire hole and sparkling.

Esther screamed and lifted into the air in the hands of an Unseelie.

"Fuck that." I charged after her.

The Unseelie was heading for that golden crevice in the ground, and over my dead body was it taking my friend with it. Esther's gold and navy-blue glitter kept hitting the Unseelie in the face. Each hit made him drop lower in the sky. I dug my toes into the ground and pushed as hard as I could, then I dove . . . and tackled both of them to the ground. Dirt flew up all around us. But I didn't hesitate. I flipped the Unseelie onto its back and slammed my dagger into his throat.

Purple blood splashed in my face.

Esther's magic shot over my head, but when I looked up, four men in white suits surrounded me. They snarled and long, pearly fangs dropped from their other teeth. Fangs. I yanked my dagger out of the Unseelie's throat and jumped into fighting stance, ready to pounce, when Esther hit two of the vampires with magic. I swung my dagger through the air and sliced a gnarly gash across the one's face. He screamed and red blood splattered into the fourth vampire's eyes, which gave me the chance to embed my dagger into his gut. I yanked it out and jumped back, grabbing Esther to run back to our friends.

The vampire with the face-gash leapt into our path, but he just vanished into that golden crevice.

The other two vampires charged for us. Black smoke shot up from the ground and threw them backwards, but our path was still blocked. They jumped back up and charged again—then suddenly they were convulsing . Their bodies were locked tight, every muscle spasming and twitching. Blood poured from their eyes, nose, mouths, and ears. Their creepy red eyes were trembling.

I looked over for help and spotted Tennessee with one hand stretched in our direction, his fingers flexed. He turned his wrist and the vampires shrieked and dropped to their knees. Blood burst through the pores in their skin. I grabbed Esther and scurried backward just as all three vampires exploded like bloody glitter bombs.

My breath left me in a rush. Tennessee narrowed his eyes on the puddles of vampire in front of us, but with his other hand that glowing six-foot-long sword was sending lightning across the lakeshore, blocking the Unseelie from swooping in.

People screamed, but I couldn't see from where.

Tenn cursed violently. The rage in his eyes grew brighter. He threw his hands up and water shot up from the lake to entomb each Unseelie. They all gripped their throats and banged their fists against the water holding them, but they didn't pop. He was drowning them.

My eyes widened.

Tenn wasn't even facing them. His mismatched eyes were on his own people. His power was so intense and strong that he didn't need to watch. Nothing was going to get around those massive white angel wings either. He glanced left and right, up and down, like he was checking every angle for victims. The muscles in his arms strained as he dragged all three dozen Unseelie to the lakeshore. Dirt shot up and coiled around their legs, pinning them in place as he slowly drowned them.

Tenn wasn't even breathing hard as one by one the Unseelie suffocated in the water bubbles of his making.

They were all dead.

He lowered his arms, nodded his head to the side, and those glowing crevices closed right up. We were alone in the park again.

Silence echoed around us as we all just openly gawked at him.

" Fuck me ." A girl with black and purple hair suddenly appeared right beside me. "You're so hot."