“I can’t Liam, not now, not yet. You’re right, I need more practice. And I will. Please don’t hurt them. Bring them inside. Please. I’ll learn anything you want me to.”
“You’re strong for not being eighteen yet and I think that under the circumstances you could probably levitate one of them right now. You could bring one of them safely inside. However, I don’t think you can do both. Not right now and not when they’re so far apart. But maybe you can. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.”
“Please don’t,” I begged.
“Let’s try, shall we? It will be a great lesson - you need more practice. Much more. See how important magic is?”
“Alex, please help me!” Anne Marie extended her arms. Her eyes flickered to the ground below. She was at least six feet away from the wall. The distance was too far. I couldn’t reach her.
“Let’s see if you can save them,” Liam said. “Or at least one of them. Are you ready? It’s a big decision, so I’ll give you some time. You have ten seconds to decide which one you’re going to save and which one is going to be scraped off the pavement. Peter? Or the sister? One.”
“No, no, please,” I begged.
“Two.”
Anne Marie sobbed. Tears flooded her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
I extended my arms just as Liam’s were.
“Three.”
The energy vibrated inside of me and I tried to project it out of my hands. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I could do this. I just had to concentrate. I was still weak from trying to hurt Liam, but I couldn’t think of that right now. I had to do this. I had to save them.
“You’re not strong enough to save both, Alexandria. You know that and I know that,” Liam said. “Pick one. Four.”
“Lex.”
Oh, God.
“Lex, save her,” Peter pleaded. “Put everything you have into it. Use both of your hands on her. You can do it, I know you can.” He flashed that enormous Peter smile, encouraging me even when his life hung in the balance. “Please save Anne Marie.”
“Five.”
“We’re going to die,” Anne Marie whimpered.
“No, we’re not,” Peter said. “Alex is going to save you. She can bring you back inside. Come on Alex, do it.”
Oh, God. Oh, God. I could do this. Concentrate. Energy radiated out of both hands. I felt the mass and weight of both of their bodies. I could also feel Liam’s hold on them. As Liam counted down, the strength of his levitation was weakening. He was slowly letting go.
“Six.”
“Lex, you have to save her. Please. For me.”
I blocked out Peter’s voice. I could do this. I could save both of them.
“Seven.”
Liam’s hold weakened and I buckled under the increasing weight of Anne Marie and Peter. My arms shook like I was carrying two hundred pound weights in each hand. It was already too heavy for me and Liam was doing the majority of the lifting.
It hit me then. I wasn’t strong enough.
“I told you, darling, you can’t save them both.” Liam’s voice was firm, but slightly sympathetic. “Not yet. You have to choose, Alexandria, or they’ll both die. Saving one will be hard enough. Eight.”
I dropped my arms.
Anne Marie screamed.
“Lex.”
I turned to Peter. My vision was blurred and I couldn’t see clearly. “I’m sorry.”
“Lex.”
I wiped away the tears that flooded my eyes. “Liam’s right. I can’t save you both.”
“It’s okay,” Peter said. “Please, if you love me. Then save her. Please. I’m begging you. I can’t lose Anne Marie, too.”
Peter had lost his father. It almost killed him when John died. He was telling me that he couldn’t stand to lose Anne Marie, too. It would be too much.
“Nine.”
But I’d lost my father, too.
And Grandma Claudia. And Bradley. And Peter was the only person in the world that meant anything to me. He was all I ever had. Life without him wouldn’t be worth living.
It was selfish, I know. But I couldn’t lose him, too. Even if Liam killed me on Halloween, nine months from now, it didn’t matter. My life didn’t matter. Only Peter’s did.
Tears fell down Peter’s cheeks. “Save her.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Lex!”
“I can’t lose you.”
“Lex! No!”
“Ten.” Liam dropped his arms.
CHAPTER 28
Peter and Anne Marie plummeted in the air. I lunged to the half-brick wall with both hands extended towards Peter. He was reaching, but only grasping air. His hands and arms flailed wildly in the snowy wind.
The power radiated out of my body, painfully convulsing my insides. But the fear of losing Peter was too much. Watching him free fall to his death was enough raw emotion to generate sufficient power to hold him. His plunge abruptly halted mid-air. He stopped falling. It was like he landed on an invisible pillow. He hovered for a second and slowly rose back up to the Bell Tower. I pulled Peter inside.
All I could hear was the drowning sound of Anne Marie’s screams as she fell to the icy ground below.
And then silence.
Peter’s feet barely touched the ground before we dashed to the other side of the Tower. He clamped his hands down on the half-brick wall and hesitated. Steeling himself for what he was about to see.
He sucked in a mouthful of air and then looked down.
I did the same.
Anne Marie was sprawled out at an awkward angle on the hedges four stories below. Snow was already covering her exposed arms and legs. Her bright yellow hair starkly contrasted against the white of her skin, dress and all the snow.
She wasn’t moving.
Peter screamed violently, punched the brick wall hard enough to break his own hand, turned on his heel and - without looking at me - ran to the stairs. I started to follow, but froze.
Liam.
I’d completely forgotten about Liam. I twirled around, half expecting to see him leaning against the wall with a grin on his face. But he wasn’t there. I walked around the iron bell. Nothing.
He was gone.
Of course he was. Liam accomplished his task. He witnessed that I was alive and well and pureblooded and a direct ancestor. He proved his point. Liam was too powerful for any of us to stop him. I had to do what he wanted. Play by his rules.
I’d deal with Liam later. More important things needed my attention.
I ran to the half-wall in time to see Peter reach Anne Marie. His cell phone was crushed against his ear. He was furiously screaming at someone on the other line. 911.
I had to get down there. I took the stairs at a full sprint. By the time I hit the bottom, commotion was erupting from the gymnasium. They must have heard Anne Marie’s screams.
The hallway was dark and empty, but I could hear students racing down the adjoining hall. I turned the corner and was engulfed by a sea of people. Everyone dressed in tuxedos and formal dresses. Everyone desperately running to get a glimpse of what happened.
I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd. I was moving pretty well and vaguely noticed that I was barefoot. I’d lost my heels somewhere during my mad dash.
The emergency exit was at the end of the hallway. I threw all of my weight against the metal bar and the alarm sounded. I pounded through the snow. I didn’t feel the cold or the crunchy snow beneath my bare feet. All I could think about was Anne Marie.
A small group of students were already forming around the hedges. I pushed my way through, gasping for breath from the cold and exertion.
Anne Marie was lying on top of the hedges. She wasn’t moving. She looked like a frozen porcelain doll. Her legs and arms, from this point of view, were deeply entangled in the branches. Peter was standing over her. His head bent to her chest.
“Peter!”
He didn’t turn at the sound of my voice.
&
nbsp; I ran to him tripping through the high snowdrifts.
“She’s breathing,” Peter said, without looking up. He shrugged off his tuxedo jacket and laid it over Anne Marie. “Just barely. But I can hear it.”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
Sirens wailed from Pennington Drive.
I placed my hand on Peter’s back. “The ambulance is coming. I’m so sorry, Peter. I’m sorry. I couldn’t save you both.”
He still hadn’t looked at me. “You weren’t supposed to save us both, Lex. You were supposed to save her.”
My heart dropped. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose you, too.”
Peter turned slightly. His cheeks were stained with tears and his face was flushed red. He gave me a lopsided smile, but his eyes weren’t behind the gesture. “I shouldn’t have let her follow me up there. I should’ve known it was going to be dangerous.”
“Anne Marie? Anne Marie!” Logan’s voice echoed from the crowd. He bulldozed his way through the pack of students. “What happened? Peter, what happened?”
“Be careful, I don’t want to move her. I don’t know what’s broken.” Peter shifted so Logan could be near her.
“Is she alive?”
“For now.”
The ambulance roared into the parking lot and slammed on its brakes at the edge of the lawn. A pair of paramedics hopped out of the van running with a mobile stretcher.
“What happened?” Logan asked.
Peter’s eyes met mine and fell away.
The paramedics jogged through the knee-high snow. “Clear the area!” The man reached us in seconds. They placed a foam brace around her tiny neck. The two men carefully lowered Anne Marie out of the hedges and onto the plastic stretcher.
Peter, Logan and I followed closely behind. Students parted as we ran towards the ambulance. Red siren lights pulsated off the white snow.
I didn’t see any faces in the crowd. I didn’t hear any noises. Please let Anne Marie be okay. Please don’t let her die.
The paramedics maneuvered Anne Marie into the back of the ambulance. Peter hopped in behind them. I climbed in after him, but the EMT threw out his hand to stop me.
“Are you family?”
I swallowed. Of course I was family. I glanced at Peter.
I waited for Peter to tell the EMT that I was family. Or for Peter to yell at me to hurry up and get inside. But he didn’t. He looked up at me and then quickly away.
My breath caught in my throat. I scrambled out of the van. The ambulance’s back doors slammed in my face. The look Peter gave me wasn’t angry or accusatory. It was nothing. Just a glance. But he’d never looked at me like that before. Something was different about it. He was completely indifferent. Like I was no one important. A stranger.
I stood barefoot on the snow covered parking lot as the ambulance sped away. Numbness that started at my toes and feet reached my stomach and my heart. This entire night was my fault. If it weren’t for me, Peter and Anne Marie would be inside the warm gym throwing softballs at milk bottles and dancing to bad music. It was because of me that his sister’s life hung in the balance.
Warmness spread across my back and shoulders and then enveloped the top half of my body. I looked down. A dark tuxedo jacket was wrapped around me.
“I’ll drive you to the hospital.” James’ arm went around me. “We have to get you out of the cold.”
I numbly allowed James to guide me away from the ambulance’s tire tracks. The siren faded in the distance. Please let Anne Marie be okay.
James pulled me into his chest, shielding me from the fierce wind. We lowered our heads to protect ourselves from the whipping snow.
He stopped. “Alex, where are your shoes?”
I blinked. “I don’t know.”
He bent down and his arm slipped under my frozen legs. I was numb from the knees down. He picked me up and carried me through the parking lot. I was so cold and in shock that I didn’t protest.
A deep line formed in between his eyebrows. “Something happened tonight, didn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Something supernatural?”
I nodded again.
“Was it Gamma?”
“No.”
“Another witch hunter?”
“No.”
What was the point of keeping it from James? I was tired of all the secrets and lies. They never helped the situation. They never protected you from what you feared. The truth always came out. One way or another.
I glanced up at him. “It was another witch.”
“Did you kill-?”
“No. He got away.”
“And this witch is after you?”
I smiled weakly. “Of course he is.”
“It’s not going to stop is it?” James pulled me closer as the wind angrily blew in our faces. “All of this. The danger. The people after you.”
“No. It’s not.”
There would be no end to it. Not until I was dead. It’s who I was. What my whole life had become. And people outside of that world were going to get hurt and possibly die as long as they were near me. There was no stopping it.
Peter knew that. Before tonight, I could’ve ordered him away a dozen times, but he wouldn’t have left. He would’ve risked his life to be with me. But now….
He couldn’t gamble away his family’s life.
James opened the passenger door of the Range Rover and placed me in the seat. He closed the door and ran around the front, hopping inside. He turned the heat on high. I tried to fasten the seatbelt, but my hands were too cold to function. James took the belt from my frigid fingers and snapped the seatbelt into the lock.
“If it’s never going to end, then you need help.”
I pulled his coat to my chin. I couldn’t get warm. Even inside the car. “Who on Earth can help me?”
“I can.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Alex, I’m a hunter. I don’t know anything about it yet, but it’s in my blood. It’s been in my family for hundreds of years. I’m not some jock or some random guy around town. And if there’s a witch after you, then you need a hunter on your side. We live in the same world.”
“You’re my enemy in that world. Remember?”
James’ dimples appeared. “I chose what side I was on that night in the cemetery.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but Victor’s right. You know he came by my house tonight to beg me to stay away from you? And he’s absolutely right. I’m too dangerous. You need to be as far away from me as possible.”
“No.”
“Did you see what happened to Anne Marie? She’s just a girl. She didn’t do anything wrong. Her only mistake was being around me.”
“I’m a big boy, Alex. I can take care of myself.”
“That’s what Peter said, too. And look what happened to his sister. This witch, Liam, he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants. He made me choose between Peter and Anne Marie. He hurled them off the Bell Tower and made me choose which one to save.” My voice broke and I started sobbing.
James pushed a curl out of my face. “I don’t have anyone else, Alex. No family. No real friends. Nothing. My aunt’s leaving as soon as I turn eighteen. It’s just me. And I’ll be the first to admit, my life may not be as dysfunctional as yours, but it’s not that far behind.”
I wiped the tears away. James was right. His life was ruined, too. Witches and hunters and Gamma and everything supernatural. We were linked together by this horrible new life.
We pulled out of Hawthorne Prep. James handed me a tissue from the glove box. “A witch was after you tonight?”
“A very powerful one.”
“What does he want?”
“To sacrifice me on Halloween.”
“Okay.” James hesitated for a second. “Any particular reason why he wants to sacrifice you?”
“To extend his life. I’ll explain it all later.”
“Alright, so we have to stop this witch before Halloween.”
>
“I don’t know how. He’s too strong. I couldn’t even put a scratch on him.”
“We’ll find a way,” James said. “Think about it, Alex. My family’s been hunting witches for hundreds of years. We can find something that’ll stop him. There has to be information about this witch, right? We’ll find it. And then we’ll stop him.”
Could I stop Liam?
If I had nine months to prepare would it be possible? I’d have to find out everything I could about him. And who would have better access to information about the world’s most powerful witch than a descendant of the Gamma Omicron Delta witch hunting fraternity?
I’d been a victim since I discovered I was a witch. Gamma and William kidnapped me. Liam tricked me. I was always on the defensive. Always waiting for the next threat to come after me.
But what if I went on the offensive? What if I decided the rules we played by? Could I defeat Liam? Probably not. But it was worth a shot, right?
“Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
“I do,” James said.
“And you’re not afraid of what could happen to you?”
“No, but I’m afraid of what could happen to you. You can’t do this alone.”
I nodded. “You’re right. I can’t do it alone. Help me kill Liam.”
CHAPTER 29
I squeezed the bridge of my nose as hard as I could to try to erase the sounds and images of last week’s Winter Ball. Liam’s countdown. The blizzard. Anne Marie’s screams. The sickening thud. Silence. I squeezed harder, trying to erase all memory of that horrible night. I’d never get it out of my mind. I’d have to add it to my growing collection of terrible images stored in my brain for the rest of my life.
“Should I come back?” Neil asked at the doorway.
I sat up. “Oh, no, come in. Sorry. I have a headache.”
Neil pushed the cart beside Ethan’s bed. I sat back in the chair and watched Neil fidget with the tubes and machines.
“You know,” Neil said, with a frown. “This place is really depressing. Where did you say you were from? Hazel Cove?”
“Yeah.”
“You should bring someone with you when you come down here. You’ve been here every day this week. Trust me, this place can get to you. Where’s that friend of yours? The one that came with you the first time? The blonde guy.”