Vigil's Echo

Chapter 5

A blanket of darkness cloaked the horizon for as far as I could see. I guess sunrises didn't exist here because the black of the sky simple dissipated into a gray mist over a span of five minutes before the sun beamed through lumpy white and gray clouds. I was still standing in front of the hospital, but everything seemed so crisp.

My magic, my mind hissed and I quickly tried to think up a spell to attempt. I furrowed my eyebrows and willed a spell to flash to my thoughts, but my mind remained blank. "Just do a fucking spell, Brenna. Just one spell," I grumbled at myself. I looked around for something to throw; motus would be simple enough, but there was nothing. I couldn't exactly uproot a tree and toss it casually into the building behind me...well, maybe I could, but there was no way I'd be strong enough to do so this quickly.

I shook my head, trying to focus again. A steady pulse of frustration flowed through my veins alongside my blood, boiling into anger. Revenge? Only one strong and smart enough could seek out revenge and there I was unable to even muster a single spell. I scoffed at myself, my anger growing into rage and my hands clenched into fists, my nails digging deeply into the skin of my palms. Why couldn't I just do it? What was holding me back? I screamed out, thoroughly pissed off and stumbled back as a sapling tree erupted from the ground right in front of me. "What the hell?" the question spilled from my lips before I could rightly think it. Was that me? But witch magic couldn't do that...had I somehow accessed my druid magic? "That's impossible," I whispered, cautiously stepping toward the tree that towered over me by three feet. Little leaves budded from the bare branches jutting out around its crown. The leaves raised and swayed, following the movements of my fingers when I hovered my hands over them.

"Three questions," Kai's voice struck a level of fear through me, my heart stopped beating for five full seconds.

I now stood with my back against the tree as the branches thickened and curled around me, creating a protective barrier of sorts. I let out a shaky sigh and huffed, upset that I hadn't heard him approaching me. "Kai," I grumbled, stepping forward as the branches slowly curled outward, releasing me from my little wooden cocoon and I stopped a cautious two feet in front of him.

"Answer three questions and I won't hold your little love spell attempt against you," he said, his narrowed gaze darting from my lips back to my eyes as he stood with his arms folded across his chest.

"Love spell?" I scoffed. "I'm not sure which point I should be more offended by, the fact that you could possible think I'd ever want a monster like you in love with me or that you think I'm stupid enough to try a spell like that on a sociopath," I shook my head and chuckled darkly.

He tilted his eyes, studying my eyes as I shifted on my feet and mirrored his actions. "Question number one, what was the lie you told?" he asked, keeping his deliberations about my comment to himself.

"You can't attack me when I tell you," I demanded.

"I can't attack you...but I'm concerned you don't already know that. Don't you know anything about your own magic?" he asked sarcastically, shaking his head with a grin. "Alright, sure, I swear on my dead coven's grave I won't attack you. Scouts honor...well, whatever, you get it," he said, mocking a scout's solute before waving his hand at me.

I nodded, taking deep breath, and swallowed. "Okay...you were right, my last name isn't St. John, it's Bennett and yes, Bonnie is my cousin--"

"I knew it!" he said excitedly.

"But," I hissed, "everything else I've told you about me is true. I've never been part of that family. No one even knew I existed until two years ago when I escaped the Armory and Alex St. John."