Chapter Twenty-Five
~ Sebastian’s Truth ~
Xavier grabbed me before I took two steps. His eyes were wild. “Remember what we talked about, Rose. Remember the choice you have to make. Don’t do this. Don’t make the wrong choice.”
“They did this to me, Xavier.
To me.
They cast the same spell they used on Jenny. I almost died!”
“I didn’t let that happen, did I?” he asked. “What they did to you is beside the point, Melinda Rose. Do you know what you did while you were under their spell? That’s the big picture.”
“You understood what I said?” I asked.
He nodded. “I told you there were events you couldn’t stop, that would happen even if you tried to stop them. One of those events occurred tonight
with
your help.”
“What?” What the hell did they make me do?
“You opened a doorway, Melinda, a doorway to a very dark evil that has been sealed off for eons. It’s out now, and it’s going to hunt you all down one by one, until you’re dead. If you make the wrong decision tonight, you’ll never be able to fix what they made you do. Innocent people will die, people who need to be a part of your circle to stop all this.”
“I started it?” I whispered and sank back down on the bed. “I started everything?”
“It wasn’t your fault, Rose.” He sank down in front of me. “That spell was ancient, one that only the Angels know. No one could have fought that spell off, not even your new Coven Mistress. You might have stood a chance together, but not alone. The circle the two of you have to build is going to be made up of the strongest witches ever born. You were all created for this purpose. If you kill those kids, then all the hope we have for stopping this war dies with that choice.
Please
, Rose, don’t do this.”
“I won’t kill them,” I said, a plan forming in my mind, “but I won’t let them hurt anyone else either, Xavier.”
“I can live with that, can let
you
live with that. You just can’t take their lives.”
“You were wrong about Sebastian,” I told him softly. “They put him under a spell before they did me. They made him do this, Xavier. He’s as innocent as Jenny was. They admitted he had no idea he helped to kill her. He loved my sister, and he deserves to know the truth, what they did, how they used him to do it.”
“Call him,” Gran said, her face a mask of fury. “I’ll prepare another potion.”
“I don’t have his number,” I said. “I don’t even know where my phone or my clothes are.”
“No need,” Xavier said, his head cocked. “I hear him walking up the steps.”
When I tried to get up, Xavier pushed me back down and made me get under the covers. “You’re still shaking from cold, Melinda. Stay warm. I’ll bring him up here.”
When Xavier left, I tried to get my anger under control. He was right. I started this, and I had to be there to finish it. If I killed them, then I wouldn’t be able to stop the things I’d put into motion. I can’t believe how easily that little group of wannabes put me down. That burned worse than anything. I was a damned good witch. No one had ever gotten the drop on me before. Dad taught me well, training me to be a Dark Hunter like him. He’d be so embarrassed right now. I had to take care of this before he got here. Gran had mentioned on the way out of my room that his flight had been delayed in Chicago because of a storm. At least I had a little more time than I thought, maybe until tomorrow morning to deal with the wannabes.
I heard them before I saw them. Sebastian sounded panicked. His eyes were wide and dilated when he came in. His whole body relaxed when he saw me. He was also covered in blood. Not a lot, but enough to notice. It was on his face, his hands, and his clothes.
“Oh, thank God,” he breathed. “I woke up a few minutes ago and thought…”
“What?” I asked. “What did you think?”
“Your clothes are in my car. They have blood all over them. I thought…God, I didn’t know what to think. I rushed right over here.”
“They were cleaning up loose ends,” Xavier said.
“I don’t understand,” Sebastian frowned. “Who’s cleaning up…?” His voice trailed off when his eyes landed on the picture of Jenny on my nightstand. He walked over and picked it up, his fingers tracing the outline of her face. “What’s going on? Why do you have a picture of Jenny?”
“She’s my sister,” I told him softly.
His eyes flashed to mine, confused. “Your sister? You never said anything…”
“No, I didn’t,” I agreed. “I came here to get revenge on the people who killed her.”
“Killed her? Jenny killed herself, Melinda.”
“Yeah, she did, Sebastian, but she had some help.” I stood, went over to my desk and picked up Jenny’s diary before walking back over to Sebastian. “Here, you need to read this. Then you’ll understand.”
Sebastian took the small journal from my hands, his own shaking, before sitting down on my bed. I didn’t even wince at the blood on the white comforter. Gran had a miracle solution for getting blood out of things. Xavier grabbed a throw off my chair and wrapped me in it before pulling me into his arms. His familiar scent surrounded me and calmed me down more than anything else. We both watched as Sebastian turned page after page, the expressions on his face ranging from laughter to disbelief to fear. When he was done, he looked up, and his eyes were pools of confusion.
“I swear to you, I never treated her like this! I loved her more than anyone else in this entire world, Melinda. I don’t know why she wrote this. I couldn’t have done the things she said I did. I wouldn’t.”
“Sebastian, do you have gaps in your memories? Blank spots?”
He frowned. “Sometimes, I’ll wake up and not remember things, can’t figure out how I woke up in bed when the last thing I remember was being someplace else.”
“You
did
do those things, Sebastian,” I told him gently, “you just don’t remember it. Your friends cast several spells on you, one of which is a memory spell. They used you to make you do things, make Jenny feel like that.”
“But why?”
“Because the spell they cast required a sacrifice,” Xavier said. “It needed an innocent to take her own life to bless the knife they used tonight. Jenny just happened to be the easiest target, I’m guessing. They knew how you felt about her, and they used it to their advantage.”
“They’re my friends, they wouldn’t do that to Jenny, to me.”
“Sebastian, you just woke up and found my bloody clothes in your car. I’m willing to bet you’re covered in my blood too. Do you think they’re there by accident? You’re their scapegoat. They were going to pin my murder on you.”
“You’re not dead, though.” Sebastian shook his head, trying to comprehend what I was telling him. I felt sorry for the guy. They were his friends, people he trusted.
“Xavier found me at the bottom of the lake. I almost drowned, Sebastian. I had no will to get out and save myself, only the need to go back under the water. If it weren’t for him bringing me here, we wouldn’t have broken the spell. They almost killed me and were going to let you take the fall for it.”
“They really caused Jenny to commit suicide?” Sebastian asked, a single, lonely tear slipping down his cheek.
“Yeah, they did, but they aren’t going to get away with it,” I said.
“What do you want me to do?” He looked up, and his eyes were hard, colder than I’d ever seen anyone’s besides my own.
“Call Mandy. Sound just as panicked as you did when you came here. Tell her you woke up and found my bloody clothes in your car. Get her to have all of them meet you at the school.”
Sebastian nodded and pulled out his phone. “Mandy, I…I don’t know what happened, what to do…”
“I don’t know!” he shouted into the phone. “There’s blood everywhere!”
He listened and then said, “Melinda’s clothes are in my car. They’re covered in blood. There’s blood on me. I don’t know what happened, what to do.”
Another pause. “No, I haven’t called the police. I called you! We need to figure this out. Can everyone meet me at the school? There’s got to be something we can do to fix this.”
He listened intently. “I’ll be there in half an hour.”
That was quick, but I expected it. My bet was since he didn’t call the police, they were going to try to do the same thing to him they’d done to me and Jenny. Force him to kill himself, but only after leaving a note saying he’d murdered me.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Now we make sure they can’t control us again,” I told him. “Jeff!”
“What?” he returned the shout.
“Come here!”
After a second he poked his head in. “Who is that, and what the hell happened to him?”
I just shook my head. “My Gran’s in the attic. Can you tell her we need immunity potions instead of what she’s working on?”
Jeff’s eyes widened. “That some serious mojo, Mel. What are you doing?”
“Need to know, Jeff, need to know.”
He nodded and disappeared.
Twenty minutes later, Gran walked back downstairs with two small vials of clear liquid. “If they released something as powerful as Xavier says, Melinda, I’m not sure if these will work.”
I took the vials. “They will when I’m done.” I walked next door to CJ’s room, everyone following me. She was still out cold. Ethan glanced up when we came in. “How is she?”
“The doctor said she’s fine, that she just needs to rest,” Ethan fretted. “I’m still trying to understand how she even knew to do that. Cassie is new at magic. That spell is beyond her limited knowledge.”
“She’s a true Coven Mistress,” I told him. “She has a knowledge base built into her DNA that she can use when she needs to. The Elements chose her, Ethan, and when they did, they gave her all their knowledge. She just needs to know how to access it.”
“Those your immunity potions?” Jeff asked from the other side of the bed.
I nodded. “Yeah, I need a few drops of CJ’s blood.”
Ethan stood, his look menacing. “What for?”
“I let something out tonight, Ethan,” I told him. “It’s controlling the people who killed my sister, who tried to kill me, and then they were going to blame it on Sebastian. It’s an old, ancient force. I can’t stop it by myself. I’m not going to even try, but I am going to stop those little wannabes. If that thing is still with them, there’s no guarantee these potions will work as is. So I am going to bind CJ’s blood to it with a spell. Since she and I are part of the same Coven, I can tap into her magic just like she can mine.”
“I don’t know,” Ethan frowned. “She’s been through a lot, and if you pull more from her…”
“I’m not going to do that,” I interrupted him. “I’m just going to fuse her magic into these potions. It won’t hurt her. I promise.”
Ethan nodded after a moment, and I hurried over to her. “Anyone have a pocket knife?” Ethan passed me his, and I pierced the end of one of her fingers. Unstopping both vials, I let a few drops of her blood mix with the solution in both. Once that was done, I replaced the stopper and shook them. “Thank you.”
“Is that all?” Jeff asked. “I thought you’d need a spell or something.”
“I do need a spell, but I don’t want to invoke it until we drink these, and we’re not doing that until we get to where we’re going.”
“You’re sure this won’t hurt her?” Ethan frowned again.
I nodded. “I swear by The Fates,
this
won’t hurt her.”
“Okay. Do you need us to do anything?”
“No, we’ve got it covered. Just stay with her. If I die, it’ll sever the connection we forged when I accepted her as my Coven Mistress. It’ll hurt. A lot. She’ll need you both to get through it.”
Jeff and Ethan nodded before I led the boys and Gran back to my room. I looked at Jenny’s photo on my bed and felt my determination renew itself. They weren’t getting away with this.
“Let me get dressed, and then we’re going hunting.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
~ Confrontation ~
Xavier and I arrived at the school via Xavier’s awesome wingspan. I only hid my face for most of the trip. Sebastian showed up in his car. I wanted to ride with Sebastian, but I’m glad I listened to Xavier, because Wes and Mandy met Sebastian at his car. Wes did a quick look inside and nodded. They were looking for me, I’d bet. They had no idea Xavier was a Gargoyle. It was our only element of surprise. Xavier and I went in through the Biology room window. The lock was broken, and the school hadn’t fixed it yet since it was on the third floor and not accessible even by a ladder.
The voices were muted, but grew louder as we got closer to their little hangout in the basement of the school. There were no lookouts posted, as they assumed I was dead. First mistake. Always post a lookout. You never know who might show up.
“You don’t know if you killed her or not, Bas,” Lori said.
“Why else would I have her bloody clothes in the car?” Sebastian demanded. “I can’t remember anything! The last thing I remember is telling her all we did was use magic for fun. Everything blanks after that.”
“Maybe you should turn yourself in,” Madison said. “If you didn’t do it, the cops will figure it out.”
“No,” Mandy shouted before Sebastian could answer. “If he did kill her, then he hasn’t got any chance. No, we have to fix this. We’ll burn her clothes and yours. Scrub your car down with bleach. Wes has watched enough CSI to know how to clean the car. We’re not going to let you go to jail for this, Bas. You’re one of us. We’ll fix this.”
“But her grandmother knows she was with me,” Sebastian sighed. “How do you fix that?”
“Did anyone besides her grandmother see you this morning?” Mandy asked.