The Coven Awakens (Hollow Hill Academy #1)

15. Audrey

Chapter 15

Audrey

T he crash course in witchcraft was surprisingly interesting. Between the history of Scions, learning to shapeshift, and the information dump on the different seasons, I had a lot to think about. To let the information settle, I was spending the afternoon with Soren, trying to better handle my healing magic. Of everything I learned so far, this proved to be the most difficult. I wasn’t sure if it was the way people explained it to me, or if I was just bad at the application. Healer Torin insisted I had a natural ability greater even than his, but I just couldn’t manage to draw the magic forward.

Soren was taking a beginning healing class, so he volunteered to help me. We laid a dummy figure between us, with various cuts and grazes which oozed a remarkably blood-like liquid. I was supposed to reach out with my magic and close them, but I wasn’t sure what exactly I was reaching for, or how to get it to come out.

I’d experienced this difficulty with shapeshifting as well, but Ewan helped me access this ability. It was different, depending on which animal I wanted to shift into, then I needed to find the part of the animal I most identified with and let it wash over me. That approach wasn’t working with healing.

Soren glanced at me over the body as he worked on one of the shallow cuts. I could see the dummy slowly healing, and it increased my frustration.

“If you can do this, then why do I need to learn? I know you all keep saying my Showing revealed I have healing magic, but what if you’re wrong? Maybe I can just make plants grow?” My voice was a whine. Worse, I knew I was whining, but I couldn’t stop myself. If I didn’t vent my frustration somehow, I was going to scream. I really thought they had it wrong, though. The grass and flowers in the quad which had grown during my Showing were still there, even though the ground was now blanketed with a thin covering of snow. The few moments I got to myself every day, I enjoyed going out and spending time there. It was one of the few ways I could relax without the boys bothering me about something.

Soren said nothing, only tilted his head at me with one eyebrow raised. It was a look which clearly said he didn’t buy anything I was saying. His silence was almost as frustrating as the lesson. I was tempted to walk away, but I could already imagine the talk Henri would give me about how they were all just trying to help me, but that could only happen if I let them.

It didn’t help my thoughts were only half focused on the lesson. They’d invited me to join their coven, and the ritual was to take place at midnight tonight. Henri kept reassuring me I had nothing to worry about, it was a simple ritual and then things would be easier, as we could all share power. But none of the rituals I’d been involved in so far had been simple, despite what I was told beforehand. So I spent the last week imagining all the ways tonight could go wrong. What if, when they tried to induct me into their coven, I instead shattered their bonds apart?

I had voiced none of my concerns to them, as I didn’t want them to tell me I was being stupid. They all knew more about magic than I did, after all. Caius wasn’t likely to take a risk if he didn’t think it was safe. He was more likely to return to telling me how I wouldn’t be a part of their coven every time he saw me. I wouldn’t say he’d warmed up to me exactly, but he was now less cold. It felt strange, and while I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to it, I wasn’t mad about it.

“What’s the problem you’re having?” Soren’s voice cut through my musing and dragged me back to the reality where I was failing to heal the dummy. In the time I’d daydreamed, he’d healed another few cuts. I should be glad he was getting the hang of it, but it only drove the knife of failure deeper.

“I don’t understand what I am supposed to be doing. Why would I heal a dummy? It’s not even really hurt.” I had done first aid courses in the past, and this was a part I’d always struggled with, while I understood the point of training dummies, they never felt like the real thing. Everything about them was too cold, sterile, and the situation was too calm. Even if I thought I grasped what I needed to do, how was I going to know I could do it again when the time came? I didn’t want to be in an emergency, but I also didn’t want to freeze up.

Soren didn’t answer me, he just nodded. He always did that, just nodding or shaking his head. Sometimes he grunted. I had no idea what the different grunts meant, but Caius and Ewan acted like they understood them, and Soren never argued with their interpretation. Then again, he could have simply been happy to go along with whatever they said. I wanted to reach out and shake him; to make him talk to me. It would make me feel less stupid, less like I was drowning alone in all of this.

I was so focused on being annoyed with Soren, I didn’t notice the knife in his hand until the light glinted off the metal blade. Before I could open my mouth, and without a single word from him, he plunged it into his side. The blade slipped between his ribs. Blood welled around the handle, dripping down his hand to his wrist. Shock filled me, and my mouth fell open.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Who stabs themselves with a knife? Was he insane? He still hadn’t spoken. He stumbled backward until he hit the wall. His body slid down, coming to rest with him seated, his hands still clasped around the hilt of the blade. The dummy was long forgotten as I rounded the table quickly, sliding across the floor toward him.

“What the hell did you do, you idiot?” Words tumbled out of me. He didn’t explain, letting his actions speak for him. I knew enough not to pull the knife out, instead I pressed around it trying to stop the blood flow. All that got was a grunt of pain and a fresh wave of blood covering my hands. This was a nightmare.

His other hand grabbed my shoulder, and I drew my eyes from the knife to his own. “You can do this, lilla gudinnan. Heal the wound, or I am going to die. Don’t let me die.” There wasn’t any question, no doubt in his tone—only confidence that I would save him. It was more confidence than I had in myself. I didn’t know the meaning of the words he had used, but if I wanted to know, he needed to be alive for me to ask him.

So many words flashed through my mind; everything the healing teacher and Healer Torin taught me. Pull the magic from within myself and push it into Soren. It sounded so simple, but when I couldn’t complete even the first step, it was like an insurmountable climb.

Soren’s hand slid down my arm, took my hand in his, and brought it to the knife. He let go of the hilt, guiding my hand around it and squeezing it there. “You can do it, lilla gudinnan. Don’t think, just act.”

He was right, all I was doing was thinking.

About the lessons I had taken. Soren bleeding out. What the rest of the coven would say when I told them what had happened, how I had let Soren die because I couldn’t tap into my magic. Tears stung my eyes, and I wiped them away with my sleeve, so they didn’t blur my vision.

Don’t think, just act.

Don’t think, just act.

Don’t think, just act.

The words repeated in my mind over and over. So loudly I could no longer think about anything else. Not the future, not the blade, nothing. I closed my eyes and focused on the words. Don’t think, just act. I could feel the metal of the knife hilt in my hand. I could feel the warmth of the blood as it pulsed on my hand. The pulse was the next thing I focused on—I needed the pulse to stop. I didn’t think about the cause, the only thought in my head, other than the mantra, was the word stop.

Unlike previous times, I felt the wave of magic as it came from my chest. My eyes snapped open, and I saw the white light radiating from my body, enveloping Soren. It pulsed gently, growing brighter, throbbing in time with each pulse of blood from the wound. The knife pushed against my hand and I let it go, then watched as it fell to the floor. The blood slowed until the wound sealed. Pink skin gave way to white, and then there was no sign Soren was ever hurt, not even a faint scar.

The light didn’t stop, though. It continued to stream out of me, washing against his skin like waves against the shore. Without the pulse of blood, I had nothing to tie it to. The light spread out further, the waves no longer encompassing only the two of us. First it reached the table, then the door, then further. I closed my eyes and thought of it stopping, of drawing it back into my body, but nothing I did made any difference.

A warm hand shook my shoulder, forcing me to open my eyes. Soren was no longer sitting with his back against the wall. The color had returned to his face, his eyes now bright.

“You can stop now, lilla gudinnan. Everything is fine. Bring it back.” His voice was far too calm, given what was happening. The light reflected off his hair and eyes, but the distraction wasn’t enough to stop it.

A sob racked my chest, I could feel more energy slipping from me with each wave. It felt as though I was cut open, but I was losing more than blood. Each pulse of light spilled some part of me, I was unsure I could get back. Soren still spoke to me, but I couldn’t hear what he said. I couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears. It was racing, the pulses of light getting quicker, but fainter, shorter each time.

I wavered, having trouble holding myself up. My grip on Soren’s hands was the first thing to go, my arms too heavy to hold them up. Then, my hands fell limp by my side. My vision was next to fade, the world slowly turning white.

Just as I lost sight of Soren, I felt warm hands cup my face. A moment later, lips were pressed against mine in a kiss. It was firm, warm, the sort of kiss you gave someone you hadn’t seen in a long time. A kiss which conveyed how much you had missed someone; how happy you were to see them. A kiss which conveyed you never wanted them to leave again.

I’d never been kissed like this.

Everything in the world faded, but it differed from the way my vision had been dwindling before. Sensations, warmth, touch—all of that was in sharp focus. Panic, pain, worry, they all faded away, like they’d been contained in the last pulse, and were now out in the world. No longer a part of me.

Soren’s hands slid from my cheeks to my hair. The movement brushed against the skin behind my hair, drawing my attention to the tingling there. I couldn’t pull back, I didn’t want to. My fingers clung to the front of his shirt like it was the only thing holding me to this earth. Without it, I would float right out of his grip, away from this kiss, and end up in the stars. With his hands in my hair, Soren pulled me closer—off balance—sending me tumbling into his lap. The kiss didn’t stop, though. He took the chance to deepen it, his tongue swept against mine as I gasped. I couldn’t draw in enough air, trying to pull in small gasps as his lips moved against mine, but it was never enough. When he finally released me, it felt like we had always been kissing. Like nothing else had happened before, and it was how we had come into this existence. He pressed his forehead to mine, our panting breaths matched, drawing in the same air.

“See now, lilla gudinnan? All you needed to do was stop thinking and act.” The smug tone of his voice may have been the catalyst for my anger. Or maybe it was the reminder that he’d stabbed himself between the ribs and almost bled out in front of me. Either way, fury burned through my veins.

“Who the FUCK stabs themselves?! What if you had died?! What if I hadn’t been able to heal you!?” With each shout, my fists slammed against his chest. I was still balanced precariously on his lap, and so couldn’t build up the momentum or weight for a good swing, but it didn’t matter. The blows were to emphasize my point. A way of venting the anger still boiling inside me.

For all that, Soren just laughed, tucking my hair behind my ear and pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose. “That is no way to talk to another of your fated mates, lilla gudinnan. I did what I needed to. And now you know you can heal people, no matter how grave the injury.”

His fingers lingered behind my ear, against the tingling skin. Each time he brushed a line lightly against me, it was like my whole body trembled. Like I could feel the air between us, and it was too much.

Sitting up, I pulled away from him as his words sunk in. He turned his head, tucking his hair behind his own ear with his other hand. There, in my handwriting, was my name, with an apple beneath it.

“Fuck me running … we need to tell Henri.” The words were out of my mouth before I thought them. I hoped he wouldn’t be mad. A quick look down my shirt proved his name was still on me, too. Could people have more than one fated mate? What did this mean? All of this left me with more questions than before we started the day’s lesson.

The mood was now cooled, so I got to my feet and offered Soren a hand to help him up. He looked disappointed but got to his feet without complaint. His grip on my hand didn’t loosen as he led me from the room to seek Henri, and I couldn’t bring myself to pull my hand free. Now was not the time to think too much about it. There would be plenty of time to berate myself when I couldn’t sleep tonight.