The Darkness Within (23 page)

“What is it? What happened?”

“Her body is healing itself.” The sound of Dylan’s voice made me relax a little. At least he was okay. We were all alive. I was the worst one, but after my spine was back to normal, I’d be okay, too. “I’m guessing her spine took a beating.” He could say that again.

Ethan hugged me tighter, which brought on another scream. My body was already pushing and pulling on itself. I couldn’t handle him doing it, too.

“Leave her alone,” Dylan said. “Try not to move her. This has to be painful enough for her. We have to wait until it’s over.”

“Don’t do anything? Can’t you and Shannon do a spell to stop her from feeling the pain?”

“No. Pain is the way the body senses what’s wrong. If she can’t feel it, her body can’t heal itself.” Dylan was right. As much as I wanted to beg for a spell to ease this torture, I had to let my magic and body work together until I was back to normal again. My nose tingled for a split second, and I knew what was coming. It was broken and my magic was about to set it back in place. I squeezed my fists and clenched my teeth, but still the sickening crunch of bone and cartilage churned my stomach. I resisted the urge to throw up. I couldn’t
even roll onto my side. If I threw up while lying on my broken back like this, I’d probably choke to death on my own vomit.

“I can’t sit here and watch her go through this!” Ethan yelled. “There has to be something we can do. I did this. I have to fix it.” His words tore my heart to shreds. I hated that he felt responsible. It wasn’t his fault. It was Nora’s. All of this was her fault. I hated her even more for making Ethan feel this way. I wanted to tell him that, but the pain was blinding. I couldn’t form words.

“I’m going to knock her out,” Dylan said.

“What?” Ethan tightened his grip on me, and my back screamed in protest. “I’m not letting you touch her.”

“Not like that. Her body started healing itself while she was unconscious. It’s ten times more painful now that she’s awake. If I knock her out again, she’ll continue to heal, but she won’t feel the pain as strongly.” That made sense. That feeling of the pain being days old. Yes, that had been so much better than this.

“Do it,” I managed to say.

Ethan’s tears dripped onto my cheek. He nodded. Dylan knelt down next to me, holding his hands above my head. He muttered something, but I couldn’t focus on the words because my head was only registering pain. Dylan’s hands lowered to my eyes, which shut in response.

I drifted back to that state of in-between. Not conscious, not really unconscious, either. Dull. Everything felt dull. I could handle dull. I don’t know how long I was like that, but I felt almost every vertebra in my back being repaired. After the final one clicked into place, I felt well enough to pull myself out of this state.

I opened my eyes. Ethan was still cradling my head in his lap. “Hey.” My voice was hoarse. I sounded exhausted, probably because my body
was
exhausted. I’d spent all my energy healing myself.

“Hey.” Ethan had that look again. Like he didn’t want to be touching me. Like he wanted to put the distance of the Earth between us. Now that he knew I was okay, he was dying to get away from me for my own good. Only I didn’t see it that way.

Dylan stood up and looked around. “We need to get her somewhere where she can lie down and get some rest.”

“How?” Shannon asked. “We don’t exactly have a car anymore, and we’re in the middle of the woods.”

“Is the spell still on the car?” I propped myself up on my elbows, testing out my newly healed back. So far so good. “The spell I used was only supposed to stop the car, not end the spell.”

“Then it should still be working, but that doesn’t really matter. The car is totaled. It has a tree sticking out of it. Or into it.” Shannon shook her head. “Either way, it’s not going anywhere.”

I sat up, still moving slowly. “Come on. Shannon Queen of Spells doesn’t think we can use a little magic to lift the tree and free the car?”

She thought about it and looked at Dylan. “What do you think?”

He walked over to the hood of the car. “Most of the damage is to the roof and trunk. The hood looks okay. I’m guessing the engine is okay, too.”

“I guess it’s worth a try, then.” Shannon held her hand out to me. I took it and let her pull me to my feet. I still felt a little woozy from all the magic I’d used. I was really hoping I could sit this one out. Now that Dylan was conscious, I didn’t see why I couldn’t.

Dylan waved Shannon to the car. “I’ll raise the tree. You get the spell on the car working again. Everyone be ready to jump in.”

Jump? I wasn’t sure I could walk. I reached for Ethan for support. He looked scared of my hand, like he thought he’d melt me with his touch. “I’m still kind of shaky. I really need your help.” Maybe playing the injured card wasn’t the best idea considering how guilty he felt, but I didn’t really have another option. I needed rest. Big time. I wasn’t going to get it without his help.

He nodded and supported my weight. He half-carried me to the car and opened the door. We waited while Dylan worked the spell to lift the tree. I practically crawled into the back seat. Shannon jumped in the driver’s seat and began working her spell. The passenger-side door was still open, so Dylan continued his spell as he walked toward it and got in the car. The car didn’t sound great at all, but considering it looked like it had been through the compactor at the dump, it was doing just fine. Shannon helped the spell by steering to the left around the tree Dylan was still supporting. As soon as we were clear of the tree, Dylan let it fall. The ground shook, making the car shake and rattle, but we were on our way again.

Once we were out of danger, I fell asleep immediately. My body was too tired to keep going any longer. My head rested on Ethan’s shoulder. I didn’t even dream. I was completely dead to the world. When I woke up, the sun was coming up. The car was parked in the woods, but I could see a cottage up ahead. In so many ways, it reminded me of our cottage. It stood alone, with peeling paint, and rotting wood on the front steps. The windows were either broken or boarded up. I couldn’t believe anyone would actually live here.

Ethan stirred and opened his eyes. “Hey, you okay?”

“Much better. When did we stop?”

“We found the cottage about twenty minutes after you passed out. We were all beat and wanted to rest up before we faced whatever’s waiting for us, so we got some sleep.”

“What if whoever’s inside sees us?”

“Invisibility spell. No one will see us.”

Shannon and Dylan stretched and turned around in their seats. Their eyes fell on me. I raised my hand. “Don’t even ask. I’m fine. But where are we? This isn’t the place we saw in the image at the merry-go-round.”

“I know,” Shannon said, lowering her eyes. “I think the spell messed up somehow.”

“Great. What do we do now? Another locator spell?”

Dylan sighed. “I think we should go inside. We can call a cab or something.”

“We’re in a car.” I wondered how bad his head injury had been, even if Shannon had healed it for him. “Besides, I don’t think cabs come out into the woods like this.”

“We’re almost out of gas. We’d never make it out of here.”

Of course. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse. Silly me. “Maybe there’s a gas tank around here somewhere. It doesn’t look like anyone lives here, so it can’t hurt to check.”

Everyone nodded and got out of the car. Seeing it in daylight made it so much worse. Ethan’s gorgeous red Mazda 6 looked like a crushed tin can. It broke my heart. So many good memories had happened in this car. All the long drives with Ethan holding my hand. Those were the highlight of my last few months before the cancer had taken over. I’d felt free driving in this car. And now it was gone.

We headed to the small shed first. No gas can. Really there was nothing but a dead raccoon and a couple of rusty gardening tools. We moved on to the house. We were here, so we might as well check everything. I swore the front steps were going to crumble under our feet, but they were surprisingly strong. I did a double take when I stepped on a hole and didn’t fall through.

“Hey, check this out.” Everyone watched while I did it again. “How is that possible?”

The front door opened. A beautiful woman with long auburn hair, a lot like Shannon’s, stood before us. “It’s possible because there’s a spell on this house.”

Dylan and Shannon’s eyes bulged. “Mirabella?”

24

T
HIS
was Mirabella? This forty-year-old woman who looked like she was a former supermodel? I’d been expecting a hideous witch, complete with warts. She stared at us, her eyes passing from Dylan to Shannon to me and, finally, resting on Ethan. “Well, isn’t that interesting?”

“What?” I grabbed Ethan’s arm, feeling very protective of him.

“The magic in this one is at odds with itself.” She shook her head and
tsk
ed. “You all better come inside.”

Dylan held his hand up. “Wait a minute. Why aren’t you unhappy to see us?”

“Yeah,” Shannon said. “We were kind of expecting you to curse at us or at the very least tell us to leave you alone. We never thought you’d invite us into your…” Shannon looked around at the peeling paint, broken windows, and rotting front door.

Mirabella smiled. “Like I said, it’s under a spell. I don’t want people to know I’m out here.” She stepped aside, motioning for us to go inside. “Come in and you’ll see what my home really looks like.”

I looked at Shannon and Dylan. This was their call. They knew Mirabella better than I did. All I knew was she had taken the dark magic from Dylan. That had to make her somewhat evil, didn’t it? I mean, look what it was doing to Ethan. Or had she learned how to manage it? How to suppress it?

Shannon shrugged. Dylan silently communicated a “keep your eyes open and be ready” before he stepped into the house first.

“How nice,” Mirabella said. “You’re all so in tune with each other. That’s important for a coven.” Of course she knew that was what we were. Ms. Matthews had said witches should be able to recognize other witches. Mirabella had seen the darkness in Ethan right away. It only made sense she’d pick up on the link that made us all a coven.

I followed Dylan inside, still holding on to Ethan. I wasn’t letting go of him. Shannon walked in behind us. We were sticking together… just in case. The inside of the house was nothing like the outside. The furniture looked more expensive than Ethan’s Mazda—before it got totaled by the tree. Even the carpet looked too expensive to walk on. I wondered if we should take off our shoes. I bet the plush silver carpeting would feel amazing on my feet, but it would also be harder to make a run for it with bare feet, so I let it go. Candles lit up the room. It must have been a witch thing because the lighting in here was incredible. Elaborate lamps and crystal light fixtures hung everywhere. This fit the image of the house we saw at the merry-go-round much better. The spell must have made us see the real house, not the dilapidated-cottage facade Mirabella was casting with her magic to keep out intruders.

“Whoa!” Shannon was in heaven. “Did you do all this with magic?”

“Not all of it, though it does take a lot of upkeep to make the outside of a house this grand look so—”

“Awful?” Shannon smiled at Mirabella. “Can you teach me how to cast spells like this? My room could totally use a makeover.”

Dylan glared at her before turning to Mirabella. “What happened to you? Why are you being so nice to us? Last time we saw you, you said you never wanted to see us again. You practically spit in our faces after your spell backfired.”

Mirabella laced her fingers in front of her and nodded. “Yes, I was angry. The darkness I took from you made me feel dirty. Like I was losing myself. I didn’t know how to handle it at first.” She started pacing the room. “But then I came here. I studied magic, specifically how to overcome dark magic. It was difficult, but over time, I
managed to find myself again. And I found a way to put that darkness to use—turn it into something good.”

Was that possible? How did you make something so evil become good? “Mirabella, you recognized the dark magic in Ethan as soon as you saw him, so I’m guessing you know why we’re here.”

“Of course she knows. She sensed our locator spell and attacked us.” Dylan obviously wasn’t giving in to the new-and-improved Mirabella.

She cocked her head to the side. “Attacked you? Why do you think I attacked you?”

“Don’t play dumb. We were in the park, and you blasted us with dark magic. We saw your cottage.”

“No, we didn’t,” Shannon said. “The cottage we saw didn’t look anything like this one. It wasn’t falling apart. The spell must have gone wrong.”

“But then how did the spell you put on the car lead us here?” I asked.

Mirabella stepped toward us. “It sounds like someone is messing with the four of you. Another witch. The spell found me, but it was also tampered with.” She narrowed her eyes, focusing on me. “Is there anyone who means you harm?”

I shook my head, but inside all I could think was Ms. Matthews. She knew we ran out of school. She knew we were trying to help Ethan. She and her coven had been following the traces of our spells for over a month. It had to be them. I looked at Ethan and the others. They were thinking the same thing. But did we tell Mirabella? We barely knew her.