The Council Read online

  “No, but it is uncommon to earn powers when both of your parents are Unequipped. It’s even more unlikely for those to be different from your friends,” I say, grimacing at the feeling of the slime that’s leaked onto the outside of the package before cramming it into the pocket of my robes. “If they were going to change, wouldn’t they have done so by now?”

  “Your parents are understanding people,” Fern says, wiping the green slime off my arm.

  Her tone is comforting, but somehow, I’m not convinced. I focus on my blank skin instead, glad to see the absence of the white line as much as I’m glad for her optimism. Some of the salve is left over which also brings me a bit of joy. If I accidentally hurt myself again, it’ll save a trip to Ambrossi’s.

  “That’s one problem solved,” I say, twirling my arm to observe it from all angles. “Thanks, Fern.”

  She smiles and dips her head as she flies to the ground.

  “Is there any way you could help me?” I ask, watching her pick up a small stone to skip it across the oasis. “Any way at all you could change my powers to pyrokinetic?”

  “Lilith, I’m here to offer wisdom, not magic. Remember, if it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be.”

  I sigh. “I know that, I just thought if anyone had an idea of what I should do, it’d be you.”

  Fern looks up at me through clear eyes. “Just relax. Everything will be okay.”

  “Aww, is little Lily developing powers?” a voice calls from the shadows, causing us both to jump.

  Fern glances toward the sound before she looks at me with a sympathetic glance. “I’ll leave you to attend your matters.” Without waiting for a response, she opens her wings and disappears into the hole in the tree, shutting a curtain behind her.

  She’s nervous around other witches beside me. She’s never confirmed it one way or the other, but I assume she finds comfort in me because of my handicap. After my accident—before I met Helena—Fern had been the only friend I had. She comforted me when no one else had a clue of what to say.

  Her friendship means more to me than I can ever put into words.

  I stare at the small opening before turning my gaze toward Clio. His glaring green eyes are his most prominent feature as he detaches from the shadows. He’s slim and tall, the billow of his black cloak and robe make it hard to tell where he ends and the shadows begin. I wonder how long he had been listening.

  “I’ve asked you not to call me that,” I mutter, tucking a lock of black hair behind my ear as I lift my chin. “And yes, I have.”

  “Look at you!” he says with a laugh, holding his hands out in a dramatic gesture. “Maybe you’re not so lame after all.”

  “I’d like to believe so, Mister Adept.” I curl my lips into a smirk.

  “Since you’ve already got a nice attitude going, care to have a little duel?” he offers with a confident smile on his sculpted face.

  A training session with the Adept is a high honor to any of the members of our class, but I don’t feel as if it has the same effect on me. The relationship between Clio and me is different than theirs and for that reason, I’m not sure if it will hurt or help. After the day I’ve had, I can almost guarantee something bad is bound to come from it.

  “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” I glance down at the blank spot on my arm. Ambrossi had already warned me away from a second accident, and I know not to take it lightly.

  “Scared, are we?” Clio asks. “Maybe you don’t have powers after all. You know, I never took you for a liar before.”

  I stare at him for a long moment, observing the way he looks at me through haughty eyes. He’s trying to egg me on with the oldest psychological trick in the book, and I hate that it works. He knows what he’s capable of, and I hate him for that fact too. I would give anything to have his confidence.

  Of all the people I had ever known, he is the only one to treat me as an equal…in his own strange way, and I owe him for it. Thanks to my accident, everyone else in our Coven looks at me with pity—besides Fern of course. In a weird way, I appreciate the fact that of the other witches, Clio—our Adept—had chosen me as his rival.

  It’s an honor…even for someone as mixed up as I am.

  “You’re on,” I say, pacing backwards.

  “Standard rules?” he calls, assuming his stance a few feet away.

  “You bet,” I reply, balling my hands into fists at my side. Once again, it’s hard to see him in the dark, but I don’t let the thought overwhelm me. I breathe in deep, just as I had done while studying the vase, and let an eerie sense of calm wash over me.

  We stare each other down before he lifts a hand, sending a blast of fire my way. The spark of orange shines dazzlingly bright, but I’m ready for it. I copy his gesture and create an invisible shield around me before I use the other hand to send him flying, ending the battle as soon as it had begun.

  His eyes grow wide as soon as his feet leave the ground, and his expression of terror will be forever etched into my mind. I smile when I hear him gasp in surprise upon landing and fight the urge to ask if he’s okay.

  I don’t want him to know how out of control my powers are.

  After a minute, he sits up, kneeling as he peers at me through confused and pained eyes.

  “Does this mean I win?” I tip my head to side and send him my best innocent look.

  “You didn’t say you were telekinetic,” he breathes, dusting himself off as he stands to his feet.

  “You didn’t ask,” I point out. “Besides, I thought you heard everything from your eavesdropping.”

  “Not enough apparently. You must be nervous as Hell for the Arcane Ceremony tomorrow,” he says. “And here I was thinking I had it the worst.”

  I shrug. “Not really.”

  “I sense a lie in your tone.”

  “My situation…it isn’t common,” I remind him. “I don’t know how The Council will react…how anyone will react.”

  “If they’re normal, they’ll handle it like me. Do you see me freaking out over it?” he asks, waving a hand in front of his emotionless face.

  “No, but you know me. They don’t. All they know is I’m a cripple from Unequipped parents.”

  “Yeah? So what. You can’t care about what people you’ll never see again think of you. Be happy you’re Equipped like I am. Even if it means switching Covens. One day this will all just be a memory for you. All this anxiety and fretting will be completely forgotten.”

  “So what would you do if you were in my shoes? Just pack up everything and go without so much as a goodbye?”

  “If that’s what it came to, yeah.”

  I purse my lips. “Well, I don’t plan on leaving.”

  “Is that your way of saying you’re in denial, or are you just strange enough to think it’d be better to have a life without powers?” he asks, cocking an eyebrow.

  “I’m not saying that but a life without powers isn’t as bad as you think. My parents make it okay. I’m trying not to think too much about tomorrow because I don’t even have plans for today worked out completely. I’ve been lying to my parents for a few days now, but Helena thinks I should tell them before they see for themselves.”

  “Well, as much as I hate to admit it—I’m rooting for you. You’re a formidable opponent,” he says, casting me a smile. “I think Helena has a point.”

  “Thanks.” I take a deep breath. “If only we could switch bodies for the night, things would work out a lot better…for me at least.”

  “How’s that?”

  “You’re cool under pressure, you’d know what to say to my parents…maybe even figure out how to control my powers so when I got my body back it wouldn’t be in such awful shape,” I say with a short laugh.

  “It’d give you a good chance to see what pyro powers are really like,” he agrees.

  “Helena would want that experience more than I do.” I sigh and stick my hands into my pockets. The image of her crestfallen face a few hours before fills
my mind, and I hate the guilt that accompanies it.

  “Still nothing for her?”

  I shake my head as we walk around the edge of the oasis. “No, and she’s studied like crazy too. I tried to help her earlier, but nothing happened.”

  “Is that how you got hurt?”

  I tense at his question. “How’d you know about that?”

  “Eavesdropping, remember?”

  “That’s right. That and the simple fact I don’t have good control over my ability yet. D-did you have difficulties with yours at first?”

  “If we’re being completely honest with each other, then yes, I did. I practiced every chance I got, and our teacher was more than willing to coach me.”

  I scoff. No one had been willing to do the same for me.

  “Can’t find anyone to help?” he guesses.

  “Is there anything you don’t find out by snooping?” I ask with a playful shove.

  He smiles and shoves me back but it’s harder than he intends. My foot slides in the muck, and I scream as I fall into the water. The liquid’s cold as it rushes around my face, up my nose, and into my ears. Instantly, Clio’s hand grips mine to pull me back to the surface and onto the ground beside the oasis. As I sit there, dripping water from my hair down to my feet, he begins to laugh. I swat a soaked lock of hair from my eyes and look at him through unamused eyes as he bends over to exaggerate his laughter.

  “That was terrible, Li!” he says, gasping for air. “You were so scared as if you’d drown—it’s less than a foot deep!”

  “Yeah, well, thanks for your help,” I remark and stand to my feet, ripping off my soaked cloak to wipe desperately at the water that’s soaked into my corset. I already feel as if I’m freezing to death and less than a minute’s passed.

  “It’s not that bad,” he says, finally gaining a hold on himself.

  “We’ll just see about that.”

  “Li, don’t-don’t!” he begs.

  Before he can finish his protest, I use my telekinesis to spray a wave of water over him, and I laugh as hard as I can, making sure to exaggerate it just as he had done. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

  He smirks and runs a hand through his soaked black hair. “Alright, I deserve that.”

  “Damn right,” I say with another uncomfortable glance at my wet clothes.

  “Heading home now?”

  “I need a change of clothes if you hadn’t noticed.” I wring out my hair, sure to spray as much of the water onto him as possible.

  “You and me both. Want me to walk you?”

  I nod feeling oddly cold with the laughter gone. He glances toward me as we begin to walk, and I know he’s observing my awkward gait. Despite his tough exterior, he has a gentleman trait in him, and that’s the part searching me over desperately for some way to help.

  “You don’t have to do that.” I purse my lips to try to hold in my anger. I would love for one day to go by without someone fussing over me, but that’s asking for too much.

  “Do what?”

  “Look at me like that. I’m not helpless.”

  “I never said you were.”

  “No, but your eyes say more than your words do. Despite that little mishap a few moments ago, never forget that I won our duel.”

  “Hard to forget a beating like that,” he says with another crooked smile.

  “Thank you.”

  We fall silent as we walk across the hardened soil. I start to shiver in the chilly night, and I fold my arms over my chest, hoping to stay just warm enough to keep my teeth from chattering. A few times I hear Clio let out a heavy breath of air, and I have the feeling he’s doing the same.

  Finally, I catch sight of the lights from my parents’ house up ahead.

  Clio stops walking and takes a deep breath as he looks at me. “Good luck tomorrow. The Ceremony will be hard on all of us.”

  “Thanks for the encouragement. We’ve never seen eye-to-eye, but I can always count on you for support.”

  “You know it,” he says before he disappears into the woods.

  It’s odd how his antagonism only makes me stronger. I hesitate outside, but the chill of my clothes drives me to head inside. Nerves steeled, I walk through the door. My mother, Regina, hums to herself gently as she sits at the kitchen table, sewing a red jewel to a dress.

  “Hi, honey, how was your day?” she inquires as soon as I walk into the room.

  “It was good,” I say, hobbling a few steps to the nearest chair. I ignore her looks of concern and ask, “What are you working on?”

  “Your outfit for tomorrow,” she replies, holding it up with a smile. I raise my eyebrows—that’s an expression I’m not used to seeing on her. Her shoulder-length black hair is pulled into a tight ponytail that exaggerates her frown when the smile disappears. “Do you like it?”

  “It’s beautiful, Mom, thanks,” I say with a sigh as I prop my head on my hand.

  The frown deepens when she catches sight of the expression on my face. “You don’t like it, do you?”

  “Mom, it’s beautiful—it’s just tomorrow…I—I…”

  “Nervous?” she guesses.

  “It’s more than that. Is Dad home?”

  Mother shakes her head. “No, he’s out helping to prep for tomorrow.”

  “Oh,” I breathe, looking down at my hands. I can already feel my nerve draining away. The approach I had in my mind has already been forgotten.

  “What’s the matter?” She sets the dress aside and studies me with a fresh expression of concern.

  “There’s something I have to tell you,” I utter, letting out the breath I had been holding. Now or never, I can almost hear Clio’s voice in the back of my mind as I imagine him handling this situation for me.

  If only.

  “Something happen between you and Clio?” she asks, picking up the dress to resume her sewing once again.

  I scrunch my face at the question. “What? No, Mom. I’m Equipped.”

  Instantly, she freezes and drops the dress, eyes wide as she looks at me. “Lilith, that’s great!”

  “R-really?” I’m too surprised to think of a coherent thing to say that’s longer than two syllables.

  “How long have you known?”

  “There’s more to it,” I add. When I see the confusion on her face, I continue, “I’m telekinetic.”

  Her jaw drops open, and she stares at me as if she’s looking through me. I swallow heavily, feeling my heart beat in my chest. I can almost imagine what thoughts run through her mind, and if I’m right—they’re not kind. It seems as if eternity has passed before she breathes through her teeth and glances down at the red jewel on my new dress once again.

  “You should get to bed. Tomorrow’s a big day.”

  My heart sinks as I think about Helena’s joke. What if they do disown me over my powers? I would have no choice but to move to Mentis.

  “Are you mad at me?” I stutter.

  “I have a lot of work to do still if I’m going to get this done tonight.”

  I recognize the dismissal in her tone—it’s not up for debate. I dip my head, unable to speak as I go to my room. I want to believe she’s upset over the possibility of losing me if The Council was to decide I’d be better off in a different Coven, but she had something else in her eyes—a foreign emotion I can’t identity.

  The second I enter my room, I go for a fresh change of clothes then make a beeline for my bookshelf. I pull the massive Runes book off the shelf and struggle under the weight of it before I drop it to the floor. With a sigh, I sit beside it, giving up on carrying it to my bed thanks to the strain in my leg.

  I go past the pages dealing with restraint as I look for any hint of information that may be able to help me channel my powers in a different manner. All my problems would vanish if only I could acquire pyrokinetic powers.

  What if it’s not possible? I think, feeling sick to my stomach. What if I’m stuck, just the way I am?

  Frowning, I use my telekinesis to pull t
he book discussing the different Covens free from the shelf. I flip it open to information dealing with Mentis. Forcing myself to read the words doesn’t work so I content myself to skimming the pictures. Even that seems to be too much. After a minute of browsing, I slam the book shut, holding my palm to my forehead as I try to let the wave of anxiety pass on its own.

  The thought of everything I had known changing in the blink of an eye leaves me in despair. I stand to my feet slowly, cursing at the weakness of my injured leg before using my newfound powers to aid me. I pull every book off the shelf to join the other two already littered on the floor, remembering Helena’s determination to gain powers.

  If she can hold her head high at her lowest, I should be able to do the same.

  Hours pass as I search for any hint of a solution before my eyes start to grow heavy. I fall asleep on my pile of books as unresolved as when I had started.

  Chapter Four

  The Arcane Ceremony

  WHEN MOTHER COMES into my room the next day, I’m still asleep on my pile of books. She rouses me, and I look up at her through eyes clouded with sleep. I wince at the pain in my neck as she helps me to my feet, and we move to the bathroom. I clutch the edge of the counter while she brushes my hair, pausing when it gets caught in tangles, but I hardly notice the pain.

  Tension’s the only thing I feel between us, made more obvious by the lack of conversation. The morning should be filled with excitement. I feel anything but.

  I look at my reflection. Does she notice the way my eyes focus on her? Her hair is once again pulled back into its usual tight ponytail, and she wears a dress as nice as mine—her outfit for escorting me to the Ceremony—but I can’t tell if it’s a sign of good will or not.

  “Do you need help getting dressed?” she asks, setting the brush down beside my hand.

  I ignore her question. “Did you tell Dad yet?” I inquire, turning to look at her.

  She breathes in deep and meets my gaze. “I did.”