The Coven Awakens (Hollow Hill Academy #1)

13. Audrey

Chapter 13

Audrey

M y body ached from my toes to my hair. It was like I stood in one place and held that position for days, until all my muscles locked up, and even the thought of moving made them protest. I couldn’t even open my eyes without wanting to scream in pain. Sound came from all around me. At first it was just a dull buzz, but the more I tried to focus, the clearer it became. The buzzing became a muttering. Then the muttering became conversation. It was a soft conversation, but conversation, none the less.

“I don’t want to get into a blame game, you all know what you did wrong. What matters now is how you act. You need her, and she is going to need all of you.” That was Henri’s voice. I would know his accent anywhere, even when I was in pain.

“We already agreed with all of this, between you and Soren, how could we not? Just because the two of you are fated mates, it changes nothing, she is still going to need to learn how to contribute to the group, and fast. We aren’t babysitters, Henri. The coven games are in a month and if she doesn’t catch up, I will leave her behind. We can’t afford not to.” Caius’s haughty tone was just as identifiable. He didn’t like me, but I wasn’t fond of him either.

“We all need to help her, Cai. You said it yourself; we still don’t know who tried to kill her. And that’s what they tried to do. If I hadn’t found her, if you and Torin hadn’t been able to heal her, she would be dead. You don’t want that on your conscience. She’s Henri’s fated mate. He’s destined to help her, and for her to help him. And he is one of us, so that means we all need to support them. We can get her caught up on everything.” Those Irish tones were Ewan.

I needed to open my eyes to tell them what had happened. But to do that, I needed to remember. It was no good pushing through the pain if I didn’t have the words. Everything was still murky, like the mist that blanketed the woods. I remembered meeting with the High Witch, and everything that had happened the night before with Henri. I even remembered that I caught all the boys in my room. But what happened after leaving the Head Witch’s office was a blur, and the more I tried to catch it, the further away it felt.

The conversation faded back to a buzz as exhaustion gripped my bones, trying to pull me down into its murky depths. I didn’t want to go, but the pain grew the longer I tried to stay. Whatever had happened to me almost killed me. That’s what Ewan said. My body was telling me I needed to rest, and the more I fought it, the worse it got. Finally, I let go, and sank into the darkness.

The next time I felt myself surface out of the miasma, it was darker than before. There was no buzzing this time, no conversation which had drawn me to the surface. I wasn’t sure what had woken me. The pain was duller, but still there. More like the ache after a hard day at the gym. My face throbbed, but was bearable, as long as I didn’t open my mouth.

My eyes were heavy, and it took me an embarrassing number of tries to crack them open. There was a darkness above me, and I wasn’t sure I’d actually opened my eyes until I heard my name spoken on both sides. A light tug on my hand drew my attention to the right first. Henri sat beside the bed, with my hand clasped in his. He looked relieved to see me awake.

Before he could say anything else, I turned my head to the left, where Ewan was sitting on the bed beside me. His expression held more worry than relief. Both took a breath and battered me with questions, the words overwhelmed me—too many too quick—and like a waterfall, they threatened to push me back under the surface. My eyes fell closed again, and I took as deep a breath as I could, my chest straining with the effort.

“Both of you stop crowding her. She’s been unconscious for three days.” Caius’s brusque, icy tone cut through all their questions and forced everyone into silence. I never thought I would be grateful to hear his voice, but the silence was much less overwhelming. Although then what he had said sunk into my brain. Three days? How had I been out for three days? Wasn’t this a school with magical healers?

“Help me sit her up. She needs to drink these.” His voice was closer now, beside my head. He must have moved around Henri’s chair, or I couldn’t trust my hearing. But before I could open my eyes again to see if I was right, there were hands on my torso and arms. I flinched away from them, sinking deeper into the mattress, but it was no use. They hoisted me upwards, and I clamped my mouth closed, trying to contain the sounds of pain. I wanted to scream, but that wouldn’t help, so instead, I exhaled sharply through my nose. My hands clenched into fists until I was finally leaning back against the headboard. Now that I was sitting, I forced my eyes to open again. It felt silly, sitting up with my eyes closed.

There were three faces around me, Henri and Caius on my right, and Ewan on my left. Ewan and Henri still looked worried. And in contrast, the annoyance coming from Caius was more than welcome. He wasn’t acting weird. He waved his hands at the others till they moved back to where they had been sitting before, and I could now lean my shoulder against Ewan’s, which helped a little to keep me from slumping over onto my side.

The last figure in the room was seated at the end of the bed. Soren was looking at me but remained silent. He fiddled with something in his hand, walking it across the back of his fingers, then went back to rubbing it, repeating the cycle over and over. I couldn’t see exactly what he held, but the motion was easy to focus on as I tried to gain my bearings.

Caius gave me little time to compose myself, stepping in front of Henri and holding out an array of bottles to me. “You need to drink these. All of them.” There was no arguing with his tone, so I took the three bottles from him, one at a time, draining each. The first one didn’t have a taste. The second one was nasty, and I gagged on it, but the glare he gave me had me chugging the rest. Luckily, the last one had a sweet taste, and it helped to clear the taste from my mouth. He held out his hand for the empty bottles, and I felt a little better as I handed them back.

I was glad the questioning didn’t immediately start again, and shifting around, I found a more comfortable sitting position. Caius still hovered over me, and I looked up at him, unsure if I had missed an instruction.

“I need to check you over. Then I am sure you can understand there are a lot of questions. But do not panic, you’re safe here.” His words said don’t panic, but his tone told me he was going to give me something to panic about. He hadn’t moved, and he looked at me expectantly. I didn’t want him touching me, but I also didn’t want him to think I was ungrateful. If I really had been out for three days, something must have gone really wrong. Ewan said Caius saved my life, so I nodded and waited to see what he would do next.

Once I agreed, Caius took his gloves off. I’d paid little attention to his hands, but now I thought about it, he had been wearing gloves every time I saw him. His hands were as black as the leather which covered them, like he’d dipped them directly into darkness. The black wasn’t contained to his skin, though. It seemed to leech into the surrounding air, almost like black smoke.

His hands were icy as they touched my face, but not uncomfortably so. The temperature certainly didn’t explain the sound of panic which came from me as I flinched violently back. In my mind, it wasn’t him standing over me, but a shadowy figure, and all I could think of was I needed to run. I tried to shuffle away, but I backed into Ewan, who wrapped his arms around me.

“Hey! Calm down, lass. It’s only Caius. He needs to look you over.” His voice was right by my ear, but I shook my head, desperate to get away from the source of my terror. We struggled across the bed, and the tighter he held onto me, the more I fought him to escape.

“Audrey. Stop.” Henri’s voice broke through the fear thundering through my veins. My eyes met his bright green orbs, and the room surrounding me changed. We were back in his office. I was sitting in my armchair, the fire warm against my skin. He was sitting in the chair opposite me, like he had every other time I had been there. He called me by my first name, and it sounded different, coming from his mouth.

Confused, I looked around, and then again at him. I didn’t need to ask where we were, as he could see the confusion on my face. He leaned forward, and since the chairs were closer than they normally would be, his hand rested on my knee. “I need you to calm down. We are still in Caius’s room. He is trying to check you over and make sure the wounds you sustained are healed, but he can’t do it if you are thrashing around. So I need you to take a couple of deep breaths with me.”

His voice soothed me and as he breathed in deeply, I inhaled with him, letting the air fill my lungs. It felt real. All of this felt real. But how could we be in both his office and in Caius’s room? And why had I been in Caius’s room at all? I didn’t get to ask my questions as he guided me through another breath, and then another, until I felt in control of myself again.

“We are going back now.” As soon as he said it, the office dissolved; I was in the bed again, with Ewan’s arms wrapped tightly around me. He loosened his grip slowly, and when I didn’t struggle, he let go of me completely before helping me sit up.

“Sorry about that, lass.” His lip was split, and a pang of guilt lanced my chest at the thought I’d hurt him. My hands clenched, and I pushed them into my lap, as my shoulders hunched. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Caius or Ewan. Instead, I focused on Soren. Not on his face, but on the object he distractedly fiddled with.

“Now the dramatics are over, I will finish my examination. Then everyone can ask their questions. One at a time is probably best, but don’t let me tell you what to do.” Caius’s tone was droll, and it only made me feel worse. Again, I flinched when he touched me, but I forced myself to stay in place, my body rigid. He turned my jaw left and right while I fought back a whimper. The shadows from his hand brushed against my skin, and it made me want to sob. It felt like he held me for hours, before finally, his hand pulled back. I slumped forward and gulped for air, trying to fill my lungs enough to rid myself of the sickness that filled my stomach. Caius and I didn’t get along, but his presence had never gripped me with that sort of dread. The confusion made me feel worse, and I didn’t know what to do to reassure either him or myself.

Henri leaned forward in his chair and took my hand. He said nothing, just squeezed it tightly. His warmth made me feel like I was thawing slowly, and I squeezed back, drawing strength.

“When you are ready, Audrey, we need you to tell us as much as you can about what happened.” There was so much patience in his voice it made me want to cry. Closing my eyes, I tried to remember, but like earlier, the more I thought about it, the harder it became to focus. It was like trying to catch smoke.

“I don’t remember. I left the office with you, and then after that, there’s nothing.” As I opened my eyes, I risked a glance at him. Though he didn’t show any anger, he couldn’t hide his disappointment. It felt like a blunt knife in my chest; like I had let him down somehow.

“I found you in the woods, you weren’t far inside the tree line. Did you go for a walk maybe, lass?” Ewan drew my attention, and I was glad to escape my stare off with Henri. My hand pulled back into my lap, and already the warmth was fading, replaced by a cold that wasn’t normal.

“Maybe … There were shadows, perhaps? I don’t know. Something grabbed my face?” I had brief flashes, but they were like water running through a sieve. As quickly as they appeared, they were gone.

Soren leaned forward, the movement acting like a beacon drawing my attention. “Whatever it was, they didn’t expect you to be found, or they would have pulled you in deeper. We were lucky and we can’t risk this happening again. You need to move back into your room, and from now on, we will accompany you to your classes.”

It was the most I’d ever heard him speak, and I was surprised. He was firm, but there was a kindness in his eyes. Staring into them, it finally clicked they were different colors. One blue and one gray. It wasn’t an obvious difference, and I hadn’t spent long looking into his eyes, so it had been easily missed.

“I don’t need babysitters.” The need to establish my independence burned within me.

Henri took my hand again and shook his head as he shifted forward to the edge of his chair. “Remember what I told you about fated mates? This is my responsibility. Something is coming for you, and it is my duty to help you make it through. And covens stick together, it’s part of why we form. You need to let us do this for you.”

I looked at all of them. Only a few days ago, we had barely been able to sit in the same room together, yet now they all looked determined. Even Caius gave me a slight nod, his gloves covering his hands again. I didn’t have the energy to fight all of them at once.

“Fine. We do this together.”