This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,98
everything that went into it, like the paint that stained my old bedroom carpet this summer, but the Caster potion hums in tune with my magic and answers my call. I pull a small portion of the liquid out of the glass vial, and it’s like an amorphous, floating pearl. My hands shake, but I bend the air to my will, blending and mixing the elements until it becomes fine mist.
Benton squirms as the airborne potion closes in on him. “Please don’t. Hannah, please.” His voice shakes, but he has nowhere to run. For once, he’s the one being hunted. He tries to hold his breath to escape the spell, but he can’t hold it forever. Eventually, he’s forced to inhale, and I plunge the potion deep into his lungs.
His whole body goes slack, and his eyelids slide shut.
Cal stoppers the vial. “You can let go of his blood. That should be all he needs.”
Alice steps back, and as her control leaves Benton’s body, his closed eyes shift from side to side. His body trembles like he’s plagued by nightmares.
When he finally falls still, I cautiously step forward and kneel in front of the couch. “Benton? Are you awake?” I poke him in the shoulder.
“Don’t touch him,” Mom says, like I’m playing with a poisonous snake.
“We need to know if it worked.” I shake his knee. “Benton.”
His eyes flutter open, and he startles away from me. He looks around the room, pupils blown wide. “Where am I? What’s happening?” He searches the room, and when his gaze finally settles on me, for a second, I see him. The old him. The Benton from art class. The boy whose laugh always made me smile.
The boy I ran into a burning building to save.
His betrayal breaks my heart all over again.
“Hannah? What’s happening. Where am I?” He reaches for my hand, but I flinch away. “What’s wrong?”
Tears slip past my lashes, and I step away from him. “What do you remember?”
Benton’s forehead creases, but then horror whitens his face. He looks up, his hazel eyes glittering with tears. “Oh my god, Hannah, I’m so sorry. I don’t understand what happened. I would never hurt you, but I . . . I—” He buries his misery behind his hands.
Something heavy and sad presses hard on my chest, but I don’t know what to do with that feeling. I don’t know how to handle any of this. Behind me, I hear Archer praising Cal on his hard work, telling him we’ll need as much of the potion as he can make. As quickly as possible.
I watch Benton fall apart. My heart breaks again and again.
But this isn’t over for me. This is about more than how this broken boy hurt me. “Please, Benton,” I say, forcing myself to speak his name. “You have to tell the police what you know. You have to tell them what happened to my dad.”
“Your dad?” Benton looks up, and confusion creases his face. Another breath and his eyes go wide. “Oh my god, my parents . . . They—”
“I know, Benton. I know.” But then he’s crying, and I can’t breathe. I can’t even look at him. I didn’t think it’d be like this. I didn’t think winning would feel so hollow. Behind me everyone is celebrating. Morgan reaches for me, her fingers brushing along my back.
And I. Just. Can’t.
So I run.
* * *
When Morgan finds me at the edge of Archer’s property, where the neatly trimmed lawn gives way to wild grasses and the beginnings of a patch of woods, I’m clinging to a low branch for support. I grasp at every element I can touch, begging for their solace, their support. The sky above us is stormy and gray, the air heavy with the promise of rain.
“Hannah?” Morgan approaches cautiously, like she’s worried I might take off again. It wouldn’t matter if I did. With her speed, she’d catch up in an instant.
I stare into the quiet woods, hating myself. It’s stupid to be this miserable. We finally have a way to eliminate the Hunters, a plan that doesn’t lower us to their level of violence. I should be glad. Instead, I’m hiding outside, wiping tears from my face.
Morgan places a gentle hand on the small of my back. “What’s wrong?”
“Besides everything?” I laugh, and it’s a bitter, broken sound. Goddess, I hate this so much. I don’t want to snap at her. She’s done nothing but love me.