The Council, A Witch's Memory Read online

  “Fine,” I winced. “He’s taking me to Mick’s tomorrow.”

  “I am king of all manly knowledge, I knew it!”

  “Shut up.” I covered my smile with a paper napkin.

  “Venna, just give in to it. You guys are like peanut butter and jelly, senators and sex scandals. Where would Kirk be without Spock?”

  “I get your point. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a question of my own.”

  “Shoot, I’m all ears.”

  “What do you want to go to the library for?” this morning before I went to work Zane asked me to take him to the library. He was perfectly capable of going alone.

  He coughed, looking guilty. “Uh, well, I’m looking for a book.”

  “Zane.”

  “Summer reading?”

  I crossed my arms. “You’re up to something. You’ve got that look about you, like you’ve pulled a prank, or maybe you’re planning one. I’m not helping.”

  “I am seriously offended.” His face soured comically. “When have I ever done anything remotely wrong?”

  I grabbed a Coke from the fridge. “You’ve pulled more pranks to terrorize this town than anyone in the history of Capeside.”

  Henry and I had bailed Zane out of quite a few sticky situations over the years.

  “Name one.” He challenged.

  “Andrew Cole’s farm. You toilet papered the barn and stables. Dumped his tractor two counties away. It took him a month to find it.”

  “You can’t prove that.” For a second he looked worried I might.

  “You’re the only one smart enough to pull it off without getting caught, or shot.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It wasn’t a complement.” I leaned against the counter, waiting. He looked reluctant to talk, so I added, “must have been difficult getting all those geese in the gym.”

  “Oh, that’s low.”

  “I never said I fight fair.”

  “I need a diversion.” He groaned, hating his confession. “I want you to distract the librarian.”

  My jaw dropped. Zane, the town’s resident prankster and self-proclaimed crazy man, was now involving me in his antics. “No.”

  “It’s not what you think, let me explain.” He looked at me seriously, which was hard for him on most occasions, “I left an important object of mine there and I need help getting it back. It’s in the lost and found.”

  “Let’s start at the beginning. Why were you at the library yesterday?”

  “I was helping a friend look for a book.” He raised his chin, “more than one, actually.”

  Oh, boy. “You were trying to pick up girls at the library!” he had no shame. “Did you ever think the girls went there to get away from you?”

  “Hey, brainy chicks are hot. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”

  I made a face. “No thanks, I’ll take your word on that. What did you leave?”

  He hesitated, taking a swig of his coke before trusting his voice. “A journal.”

  “You keep a diary? Is there anything else you’d like to confess before I call a doctor?” I felt his forehead, he didn’t look sick.

  “No, it’s not a diary. I don’t write feelings in it.”

  Cleaning up the pizza, I humored him. “Fine, I’ll distract the librarian, and you better be telling the truth.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Out of curiosity…how did you get all those geese into the gym?”

  He winked. “A good prankster never shares his secrets.”

  I decided it was best I didn’t know. I grabbed the empty pizza box to throw away and closed the lid and stared down at the logo.

  Normally we ordered pizza from Toni’s. The box said, Angelo’s. The words, New York’s Finest, were printed along the side with an address.

  Angelo’s was in New York?

  That was some pretty good pizza too, nothing like Toni’s soggy mess of cheese and grease. “Uh, Zane, where did this pizza come from?”

  He faltered, only a little, but I noticed it. “Toni got his boxes switched with someone else’s.”

  “He still used them?”

  “Yep.” He grabbed the box from me and emptied the trash, “I’ll clean up.”

  He shuffled past, not meeting my eyes.

  Zane had to be telling me the truth. How could he get to New York and back in an afternoon? It simply wasn’t done. He didn’t have a car or a huge amount of money from working at the grocery store part-time.

  I went to the bathroom to take care of my feet, cleaning them up and sticking Band-Aids over the bad cuts. After that I downed two aspirin and headed for my room trying not to think of all the ways my fourteen-year-old brother could get from Virginia to New York. Bus, plane, boat, hitchhiking or riding his dirt bike, nothing was inexpensive and fast enough.

  I was in bed trying to read when Zane knocked on the door and poked his head in. “Hey, feel like going out?”

  “Where?”

  “Camp out at the lake.”

  “Nah, I think I’m in for the night. Have fun.” I listened as he headed down the hall for the living room. The front door opened and closed, and I suddenly was too wound up to read.

  It was silly of me to be so freaked out, but I’d nearly drowned and ended up somewhere else in a dream or something.

  So I wasn’t on the verge of panicking, but I didn’t want to be alone. Mara and Jackson weren’t home yet…and even if they were I wouldn’t tell them what happened this afternoon. Talking to Pepper on the phone wouldn’t help, because when I hung up I’d still be alone.

  I looked out my bedroom window at the woods.

  Okay, I was going to take Henry up on his offer to stay, but instead of him staying with me, I’d stay with him.

  I’m coming over :)

  I sent the text and traded my pj’s for worn jeans, sneakers and a comfy tee. I went out the backdoor on the porch and took a deep breath, savoring the night air.

  Streaks of gray and white filled the sky, a kaleidoscope of serene colors fanned across the backyard as complex as the emotions in me.

  The moon was high in the sky. I walked to the garden gate, listening to pure silence emanating from the woods. Leaving the gate open, I took a dirt trail, one I was very familiar with, and focused on my breathing.

  In a few minutes I would be with Henry. I wouldn’t be scared or feeling like I was about to panic. What happened to me earlier today was a freak thing. It wouldn’t happen again.

  As I walked I knew there was something else I had to do when I saw Henry.

  I had to tell him how I felt.

  I hadn’t thought about doing it when I was talking to Pepper in the diner. I’d been too scared. But I couldn’t keep my feelings to myself anymore for fear of ruining our friendship, because what if I had drowned? Then Henry would have never known how I felt. Or what if he met another girl and she was bold enough to tell him her feelings? I would then loose the chance I to tell him that I loved him.

  I loved him.

  My heart wasn’t my own. It hadn’t belonged to me since the fifth grade when an overconfident boy told me we were going to be friends, weather we liked it or not.

  He lived just a mile away, past the abandoned mill behind my house.

  I was too shy to do anything more than give a small smile as I saw a boy emerge from the side yard of my foster parents house. He hopped the gate as if he did this everyday.

  I later found out he cut through the woods, and our side yard, to get to the bus stop on my street.

  The boy had a head full of sandy brown hair. It stuck out every which way. His skin was tan as if he spent a lot of time outside, and his striking green eyes made me gulp as his gaze locked with mine.

  It was my first day of school. I felt nervous. I didn’t know any of the kids in town and hoped he was nice. That he wasn’t the kind of boy to tease the newbie.

  “You’re the new girl,” he said in a different accent. He didn’t appear surprised to find me waiting for the b
us.

  I blinked. “Yeah, where did you come from?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You talk different.” I smiled. “It’s interesting.”

  “I’m English. My family moved here from London about a month ago.”

  “Neat,” I toed the dirt with my sneaker, relieved he was kind of new too. “Um, what grade are you in?”

  “Fifth. How about you?”

  “Same.”

  “Do you know you look like Strawberry Shortcake?” He smiled a goofy lopsided grin.

  “Who?” I’d never heard of her before. Casting him a sideways glance, I bit my lip. “Isn’t that a dessert?”

  “I thought so too when I came here. But all the girls at school love her. They have the folders and pencils and stuff. The guys at school like superheroes, except I think they’re stupid.” He laughed. “My father could beat up all the superheroes.”

  I shook my head, “If superheroes were real no one would be able to beat them up.”

  “My father could. He has better powers,” the boy argued.

  “Your father can’t have powers, there’s no such thing.”

  “Don’t you believe in magic?” his tone rang out incredulously, like I’d told him Santa wasn’t real.

  “No,” I snipped. This kid had problems, mental problems.

  “You should.” He grinned, “I do.”

  I noticed he had a soccer ball under one arm. “Do you play sports?”

  Tossing the ball into the air, he bounced it from one knee to the next. He was pretty good, except I wasn’t about to compliment a potentially crazy kid. No telling how he’d react.

  “Yep, I’m the keeper…I guess you’d call me a goalie.”

  “How many times have you been hit in the head?”

  He frowned, catching the ball and sticking it back under his arm. “Why?”

  “Only someone who is brain damaged would believe in magic.”

  “It’s real.” He glared at me. I decided that if a fire ever burned bright green, it would look exactly like his eyes.

  “It’s not real.”

  “Yes, it is,” he countered in a hard tone, making my heart hammer.

  I decided he needed to be put in his place and shouted, “Fine, be crazy!”

  “Fine, I will!” The boy looked me up and down, his face red and cocky, “I don’t see what’s so special about you.”

  “Huh, I don’t see what’s special about you, either.” I was having fun, despite the subject we were disagreeing over.

  “I guess that makes us even.”

  “Guess so.”

  He stuck out his hand, “I’m Henry.”

  I shook it. “Venna.”

  “Want to sit next to me on the bus?” he asked, as it pulled up to the curb.

  It got darker suddenly. The moon was out of sight, swallowed up by a thick cloud. My eyes began to strain. The trees were so dense and clouds so abundant the moonlight was useless to me. I should have brought a flashlight.

  I’d walked far enough to reach the halfway point between our houses. There was a gate hidden by ivy at the back of Henry’s property. In a few minutes I could be at his backdoor. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d shown up, or the last. I felt certain of that, because I would always be drawn to him, strangely so. Being with him felt magical.

  One smile from Henry and I could easily be reduced to putty.

  Except I wasn’t walking to his house as a friend, my intentions were completely different. I wanted comfort. His warm gaze I loved so much, for him to hold me. I felt so safe and content when I was with him. I needed him. But did he need me?

  It was time I found out, time to get my stupid feet to move.

  Squaring my shoulders, I prepared myself to make the confession of a lifetime.

  I’d not budged an inch when a twig snapped behind me.

  Chapter 9

  Where are you?

  I texted Venna and passed through the ivy gate at the back of my property. I never heard my phone because I was in the shower. It was hard staying away from her, even harder knowing she needed me and wouldn’t admit it. But I had to try.

  Her text had blown my good intentions though.

  I took the trail, scanning the darkness for her. It was so quiet. Too quiet.

  I started west, and was just turning to her house when I felt something out of place.

  Venna wasn’t powerful enough for me to sense yet, and Zane’s energy was very distinct. It had a newness, probably because of his young age. So I should be the only magical being in the woods.

  But I wasn’t.

  The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Energy radiated from behind me, shifting the atmosphere and alerting me to an unseen presence. I forgot about heading to Venna’s house and swept my gaze around to hone in on the magical being close by.

  North, around fifty yards, were two warlocks.

  I ran head long for them.

  They hadn’t reached her yet, but she was their target. I had no way of telling what their intentions were, so I wasn’t going to take any changes.

  “Venna,” I called.

  Her head snapped up. She squinted in the darkness for me. Her sight would improve once she started using magic.

  “Henry?” she shouted, “Where are you?”

  I pumped my legs, shooting past the warlocks, and put myself between them and her. “Are you alright?”

  She peered past me, puzzled. “Who are they?”

  I didn’t answer, keeping an eye on them. They were even closer now. The men sat on a fallen tree, waiting. One of them nodded in my direction. When I looked back down at Venna she was rubbing her arms as if she were cold. It was pleasant outside. I noticed the goose bumps on her skin and realized she sensed the warlocks too. She just didn’t know what was happening to her.

  This was why she needed me.

  If her father had sent them…no, I wouldn’t allow myself to think on it.

  “Venna stay here, please.” I gripped her shoulders and spun her around, giving her a little nudge. She walked exactly where I wanted. I put her on the opposite side of a large oak. “Do me one small favor.”

  “Fine, you don’t have to be so pushy.” She huffed, confused.

  Could this be it?

  I turned back and cracked my knuckles one at a time.

  I cleared my head.

  I was ready for anything.

  Ready to defend.

  To fight.

  To die.

  All for her.

  I approached the fallen tree, keeping a good distance from the men. I probably had nothing to fear. But I wasn’t going to take any chances with Venna. These men would not hide who they were from us. She shouldn’t have to find out her identity from strangers.

  She can’t find out until tomorrow morning, or I would lose her.

  “We’re not going to steal your witch.” The man who had nodded at me smiled, “I’m Fin, this is my friend Roger. You have nothing to worry over.”

  “I’ll err on the side of caution, if you don’t mind. What can I do for you?” I placed myself at an angle in which I could see the top of Venna’s head, red curls bouncing in the distance as she paced by the tree.

  The other, Roger, a portly man with a ruddy red nose, spread his hands. “We’d like the news. We’re between covens at the moment.”

  “There haven’t been many new developments in the last month. Nothing of any concern, I assure you.” I said.

  “We’ve heard people talking of war.” Fin cleared his throat, lowering his voice. “We weren’t sure how much information you were privy to, or if you even knew of the rumor.”

  “There is no war.” I did not need two eccentrics ruining my night, but I also needed to dispel any outrageous claims. I didn’t want my people jumping to conclusions or acting irrationally out of fear.

  “You’re wrong.” Roger pounded a meaty fist on the tree trunk, splintering the wood. “Black of black. They bring death.”

 
Fin nodded. “We’re looking for a quiet place to go. When the fighting breaks out we’d like to be as far from the action as possible.”

  Cowards. “Try Alaska.”

  “That’s what I thought. Um, where is the nearest coven located?”

  “Richmond and Norfolk are the only covens in Virginia.” It wasn’t a hotspot for magical activity, unlike New Orleans or San Francisco.

  “Which one do you belong to?” Roger leaned forward, too curious for my taste.

  “Neither.” My voice rumbled in a low snarl. I wanted to end this conversation and leave.

  “The Council requires all beings to register with a coven. We should turn you in to the authorities.” Roger pushed to his feet, reaching for me. Fin stopped him, babbling about how my doing anything illegal was none of their business.

  “Listen to your friend, Roger.” Crack, crack, crack, went my knuckles behind my back.

  Roger’s eyes fixed on mine, boring into me. I felt pressure on my temples as he tried his hardest to work his way into my head, fishing for information as only a mind reader could.

  This was exactly the kind of person I could not allow near Venna. Her memories may be blocked, preventing her from accessing them, but they were not blocked from others until she learned to guard her thoughts.

  I allowed Roger a small peek, letting him see only what I wanted. I needed to establish control. Although I hated tossing titles around, I saw no other way to go about things quietly.

  He saw what I intended and his forehead wrinkled in disbelief. “You’re a Langley?”

  Fin’s head snapped up, eyes wide, glowing a subtle blue. “What?”

  “Not just any Langley, he’s the heir!” Roger was nowhere near as powerful as I. The realization registered on his greasy face. He’d probably been up for a fight before and appeared to be thinking twice now.

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness.” Fin bowed his head.

  Shrugging, I crossed my arms. “Is there anything else I can help you with, gentlemen?”

  Both men leapt up in a hurry and backed away from me. Not wanting to piss me off to the point of having them arrested, I presumed. I started to think I’d be able to relax.