The Coven (Coven of Bones, #1)(15)

“Gray,” the female Vessel warned.

The breath rushed out of my lungs, my body swaying forward as my shocked relief made me stare at Thorne with wide eyes.

Gray, she’d called him.

I pressed my lips together, nodding and looking at Ash. He couldn’t stop his oscillating stare, looking back and forth between the two of us in shock.

“I love you, Bug,” I said, giving him the only goodbye we would get. I didn’t dare to cross the distance between us, didn’t want to risk doing anything to make Thorne change his mind.

“Low,” he said, shaking his head as his little face twisted with tears.

“Go,” I said, nodding and encouraging him on.

“But what about you?” he asked, his voice breaking as the reality set in. That I wouldn’t be going with him.

That I never had been.

He shook his head, planting his feet as if he planned to stay with me.

Thorne took that chance away from him. “Look at me, boy,” he commanded, the magic of his compulsion rolling over my skin. My amulet warmed against my chest in response, but Ash followed the order. His eyes widened as they connected with Thorne’s, the gold at the center of his iris brightening as he held my brother captive with his stare. “Run. Get on the bus, and do not ever look for Willow again.”

Ash didn’t hesitate to leave me. He couldn’t, not with the Vessel’s compulsion controlling him. He spun on his heel, racing forward across the parking lot. He rushed into his father’s embrace, the other man watching us briefly before he turned and led Ash into the vehicle.

I collapsed to my knees on the concrete, an ugly sob tearing out of my throat. I hung my head forward as I listened to the sound of the bus, of the tires rolling across pavement as it left the parking lot.

As the last sight of my brother’s face haunted me.

The side of a bent finger hooked beneath my chin, raising my gaze until I looked up into the stare of Thorne. “Why?” I asked, even though I was grateful for what he’d done. I couldn’t understand it, couldn’t make it make sense.

“One day, you will owe me a favor for this. You will give me anything I ask of you,” he said softly.

A chill spread from where his finger touched me, and I reeled back to claw at my throat. Tendrils of darkness spread over my skin, moving down the front of my throat and chest. They curved, dancing over my flesh as they burned a sigil of black into my skin just below my collarbone. It was a pattern of crossed lines, impossible to make sense of while I looked at it upside down. The dark tendrils vanished once they’d marked me with the physical manifestation of my worst fear.

A deal with a demon.

“What of the Coven? They’ll be furious to hear you sent a male witch away,” the other male Vessel muttered, interrupting my horror as I knelt on the pavement.

“What the Coven doesn’t know won’t hurt them. Neither of you are to speak a word of this to anyone. As far as the Coven is concerned, Willow is the last of the Madizza line,” Thorne answered, and there was no hesitation as they nodded their assent. He held out a hand for me, and I swallowed as I studied it. As if it were a snake that might reach out and bite me.

He already had.

“Come, Witchling,” he said as the female Vessel disappeared in a burst of speed. “There are things we must discuss.” I ignored his proffered hand, pushing myself to my feet as he sighed in irritation. “Are you going to make this difficult every step of the way?”

“Most likely,” I said, trying not to think of how weak my voice sounded. I couldn’t muster the energy to give him the snark he deserved, not when everything within me felt raw.

The Coven had taken everything from me. I would make them regret it.

“Hollow’s Grove thrives on structure and order. It is very important that we find a way to maintain those things at all times, even with your rather unwilling addition to our school,” he explained.

A car sped into the parking lot, going far too fast as it skidded to a halt just in front of where we stood. Neither Vessel so much as flinched as Thorne moved toward the rear driver’s side door, grasping the handle and pulling it open.

“Are you going to be a problem for me, Miss Madizza?”

I moved toward the car, stepping close to him as I mustered all that remained of my energy and glared at him. “If it is order that you value, then I will bring you nothing but chaos.”

I smiled, then rolled my eyes at the grin he gave me in return.

I got in the car.





9





WILLOW





The woman driving turned off the main road that led into the town of Salem, Massachusetts, according to the signs. I’d never been there, obviously, having needed to stay as far away from Crystal Hollow as possible. My mom had told me the stories of what had become of the town that had once been the home to our ancestors, how the stories of the witches hanged there had become what the town was known for, and the way tourists flocked there during the entirety of October.

Somehow it felt like the perfect karma to me that the town was known for the people it had tried to rid itself of, the persecutors fading into history. It felt like something that would have brought me peace from beyond the grave.

The Headmaster of Hollow’s Grove sat beside me, typing frantically on his cell phone. His thumbs flew over the screen with speed that should have been impossible, a blur as I swallowed down the surge of unease in my gut.