This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,68
Morgan’s family and Alice. I’m not sure which of the NYC Casters are coming—all of them? Just Lexie?—but they’re expected sometime today, and I still haven’t warned Alice. I keep typing out texts and deleting them. How do you tell someone the people who tried to hurt them are coming to visit?
“Hannah?” Mom prompts when I haven’t moved.
“Sorry, yes. I’m good. I’m coming.” I set the book on my pillow and climb off the bed. It still feels too lumpy, but I’m starting to get used to it. Mom says the contractors are hoping to finish rebuilding the home we lost around the new year, but I haven’t had the courage to visit and see the progress for myself.
Mom stops me before I slip out of the room, catching me in a hug. “You can stay home if you have more work to do. I can pass along whatever Ryan has to say.” She kisses the top of my head, and my heart squeezes tight. I close my eyes and wish for a vision of Dad, who always dropped a kiss there.
But when I open my eyes, there’s nothing.
“It’s fine, Mom. I’m sure it won’t take long.” I breathe deep and square my shoulders. “Besides . . . I have to stop avoiding Sarah.”
“She doesn’t blame you, sweetie.” Mom brushes my hair out of my face. “I promise.”
I shrug and slip past her, staring up at the ceiling to stop the sting in my eyes. I am sick of crying all the damn time.
Mom drives us to Archer’s house, and she tells me about her new batch of students at the university. She teaches a lot of first-year classes, and she swears each group has their own collective personality. Apparently, the new one is especially active on campus, which she says is fun to see.
Most of the coven is already at Archer’s when we arrive. Mom leaves me to chat with Margaret Lesko, and I scan the yard, looking for Lexie and the other Manhattan Casters. I don’t see them among the crowd, but I do spot Sarah. She’s standing at the edge of the crowd with her arms crossed tightly around her. Ellen Watson—who’s a few years older than I am—stands beside her, and I get the impression Ellen’s trying to get her to mingle with the rest of the coven.
Sarah isn’t having it, and it feels so much like my fault.
Finally, Ellen gives up and sulks back toward the main part of the yard. She notices me and adjusts her course. “This is bullshit,” she says, her words hushed but no less fierce. “I fucking hate them.”
I’m not sure what startles me more, her profanity or her willingness to say what everyone else is thinking. “The Hunters?” I clarify, just in case.
She nods. “Why aren’t we storming their headquarters and dropping every last one of them to their knees?” She glares at me when I try to respond. “That’s a rhetorical question, Han. I know why, but it’s bullshit. Look how freaked out everyone is, always glancing over their shoulder to make sure we’re not under attack. I still can’t believe the Council put you in danger like that. You’re a kid!”
“We’re only three years apart.”
Ellen waves my words away. “I’m just glad they’re not making you take part in the raid on Monday.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How do you know about that?”
With a snap of her fingers, flames burst into existence between us. “I volunteered to be the fire power.”
The heat of the flames licks across my skin, and I flinch away. “But it’s dangerous.” I thought Archer would recruit a Council agent, not another one of my covenmates. “You could lose your magic!”
At that, we both glance over at Sarah, who’s still standing on the edge of the yard, watching the rest of the coven. “It’ll be worth it,” Ellen says, a stubborn fierceness creeping into her voice. “Archer is confident we’ll succeed, and I’ll do whatever I can to protect our coven.”
Ellen nudges me with her shoulder and slips back into the crowd. I watch her leave, and I have to admit that she isn’t wrong about the coven. There’s a tension to the gathering that isn’t usually here. Even the children are quiet and still. The younger kids should be running around the yard, tossing balls of air at each other, enjoying one of the few spaces where they’re allowed to remove their binding charms and let their magic roam free.