Coven

~ Awakened ~

Evie awoke to a gentle tapping on her shoulder. Bright green eyes and flaming red hair filled her vision. The face before her was quickly replaced by a considerably more masculine, more concerned one. Bren held Evie's shoulders tightly, checking her body for damage. Familiar arms, those same warm brown eyes, eyes that had always held love and affection, now contained pain and worry. Slowly Evie assessed the situation around her. The ground was scorched and dry. Huddles of the other teens were spotted around the clearing, Evie's eyes searched manically for her sister. Bren took note of Evie's frantic search, and gently tapped her shoulder and pointed towards one of the huddles. She made to stand up. Bren and Flora took an arm each to help her stand. The trio staggered towards a second, considerably larger huddle. As they drew nearer, Evie fell to her knees. In the middle of a growing pool of blood, lay her twin.

Freya's skin was as pale and cold as ice. A gash on her forehead was the only evidence of trauma, but the blood pouring from it was obviously the reason for her unconscious state. Around her, Cara and Avery were chanting, Lilah was gripping her hand tightly, crying silently. Evie watched as Cas washed the blood from Freya's face, watched as the group worked to help her sister. It felt surreal, Evie realised as she watched that magick, so far had only served to hurt the coven. The bus crash and now this. She was ashamed, devastated that their "gifts" had caused so much harm and pain. Evie pushed her way to her sister. Fighting tears and guilt. She was going to help her sister.

"She's breathing, but she won't wake up. What are we going to do?" Cara asked, forced calm evident in her voice. Her short, sharp intakes of breath gave her away though. As did the tears running down her face. Cas, stood determinedly, "She's okay, right? Moving her won't cause any more damage, right?" He waited for affirmation from Avery, she gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "We take her to the hospital. Tell them we were messing around in the woods, just out of town. She tripped and hit her head." Evie listened, nodding along; seeing the sense in Caspian's plan, she pushed everyone into action. The group cleared away the candles and hid the grimoires in the sanctum. Flora dug her hands into the earth, murmured a short spell and watched as the burnt and scorched ground was turned over, swallowed and replaced by new topsoil. Bren and Cas lifted Frey between them, and the group began their journey towards Hedgerton. Lainey led the way, using her magick to make little balls of light float around the group like they were being led to their destination by a swarm of fireflies.

Around them, the skies cleared and a deep and heavy chill fell over the small valley. A frost began to settle in the woods, lightly layering everything in a thin sheet of white, giving the forest an ethereal glimmer in the moonlight. Cobwebs that hung between the bare branches of the trees shone like spun silver threads. A haunting breeze came down from the hills, pushing with it a dense fog that covered the ground, making it difficult for the coven to know where to put their feet. Shivering in their jumpers and cardigans the group continued their march towards the town hospital. Steely determination pushing them forward as the cold threatened to push them away.

Evie stumbled over a root that had been concealed by the mist on the floor, Robin shot out an arm to catch her before she hit the floor. As his hand touched her skin, it recoiled immediately.

"Goddess, you're freezing!" He made to give Evie his jumper. She declined with a shake of her head.

"It's okay Rob, keep yourself warm." Bren heard the exchange and looked back, from where he and Caspian were leading the group, he had missed the shivering of his friends behind him and had ignored his own cold because of the task he had at hand.

"One minute, I'll see what I can do." Bren carefully passed Frey's limp body over to his cousin. Concentrating heavily, he focused on a branch he had collected from the floor and envisioned it in flames. Nothing. Not a single spark. No warmth. No flames. He tried again. Centred himself. Tried again. Still nothing. There was no link to his magick. He couldn't find it. Bren fell to the floor. He was lost. Confused. Abandoned. Useless. The group looked around at each other, worried for their friend. Seb rushed to Bren, pulled him from the frozen, icy floor.