Page 17 of Unshaken

30 Mins.

(Attention students: you’ve been given your thirty-minute warning. If you don’t want to participate in tonight’s activities, please return to your dorms posthaste.)

I stare at the screen watching the clock on the tablet countdown. I watch it for two minutes almost in disbelief. I mean, can they really get away with hurting students? Killing them? How can the parents condone this? Do they even know? I stop then, thinking of my own parents and how I basically packed up my things and left without even a goodbye. I make myself a promise to call home as soon as I can. My gut twists at the thought of something happening to me and they wouldn’t know.

I look at the clock again, and the time is twenty minutes until sundown. I stand, pacing, I feel like a caged animal as I walk the length of my house. Eventually I peek out the window as the last of the sun’s light casts pink and blue streaks across the sky. The world outside seems quiet, the silence is loaded, there’s tension building, waiting to explode, like the fall of barometric pressure in the atmosphere before a thunderstorm. I walk back into my room and sit down on the edge of the bed when finally, with a subtle sigh, Rook graces me with his presence.

“Witches don’t normally have what Wolves, Vampires, and Demons have in regard to Soul Tethers or bond mates. That is why, for example, your coven chooses to arrange marriages to strengthen bloodlines. A lot of powerful covens use their children, pair them up as means to power grab, climbing the social ladder so to speak. Some even marry for love like your average human, marrying outside of their covens. But there is an exception. Soul Tethers. They are extremely rare, and some Witches don’t even believe that type of pairing exists. It’s almost taboo,”Rook says, as if he is reading from a book. It doesn’t get lost on me, his lack of expressiveness on the subject. When I open my mouth to ask him why he continues.

“Soul Tethers are granted to very powerful Witches, Micah, and it is even rarer for you to have more than two, and you are saying that there is a possibility of two or more. Your Soul Tethers are bound to you for life. A powerful Witch needs a way to channel all the power they possess. In turn, your Tethers become stronger magically, while they also ground and boost the Witch they are Tethered to. It’s an infinite cycle of give and take. In order to solidify the Tethering, it begins with you being marked or branded. In your case, the bow on your Anchor key seems to be your brand, and that’s why it heated up the way it did.”

I immediately stand, crossing over to the mirror on the door of the closet and yank my tank down. I stumble back in shock, grateful that I was able to pull my key away from my skin in time. I step away from the mirror, feeling overwhelmed, as if all of this has been forced on me. I could have branded myself without even realizing it if I had kept my key in place.

My magic feels jittery, as if it’s running through my veins high on caffeine since the moment I stepped through that door. I feel out of sorts, and with the added stress of not one, but four potential people being bound to me, I feel a bit nauseous.

“I didn’t ask for any of this, Rook. I haven’t even had my first day of class yet. If this is day one what the hell else am I expected to endure?” I ask him as I begin to pace in a circle around my room. There is no way I can leave. Would they even let me? I don’t think I would really be welcomed home if I did. Then, what about these Tethers of mine? Would they follow me? Fuck! I’m so fucked!

“We will figure it all out together, Micah. As long as you don’t brand yourself with their marks and begin the Tethering process, it should give us time to research a way out,”he says reassuringly.

“Is there a way out of this, Rook? Dare I ask what the second part consists of?” I question, stopping in the middle of the room, holding my breath eager for him to give me some good news. Not only for me but poor Esme. She looked just as shocked as I felt, and considering the nature of her coven, who was I to latch on to her like a leech? Was she even into women?

“As far as my knowledge stretches, I really don’t think there is a way to reject them. The pull will always be there until they relent. Sex is the final step in completing the Tether. A meeting of souls, intermingling like the infinity symbols sketched into your key,”Rook replies, again in a robotic way, as if he is trying to mask his own emotions on the subject. Maybe his knowledge of the subject is rudimentary, offering me basic knowledge because this is beyond his expertise. I shrug and let it go. He’s right, as soon as I can get to a library, I am going to immerse myself in all things Soul Tether related and find my ass a loophole.

An alert on my tablet has me rushing over to my bed and picking up the device. I watched as the clock counts down from ten.

Happy Hunting

A claxon sound rings out loud and long, dying after a few seconds with a hint of finality. Like it is your last chance to run for cover before it all turns to shit. What in the purge-fuckery is this? I think to myself as a scream rends the air, causing me to jump it was so sudden. As soon as the scream started it was cut off abruptly, sending a sickening chill right through me.

“Rook?” All I manage is his name before all hell breaks loose outside.

“And so it begins, Micah,”Rook whispers, actually sounding excited about it.

* * *

I stand for I don’t know how long, listening to the chaos erupting outside. The screams, snarls, and the pounding of feet on the pavement at the front and back of my house.

“How am I supposed to stay inside with all of this is going on around me?” I say to myself, my hands itch with the need to go outside and check the perimeter of my house. My heart rate spikes, adrenaline floods my body, making me bounce on the balls of my feet. My senses are heightened as I hear growls and howls from the Wolf Shifters not too far away. I ache to scope out the area, I wasn’t taught to stay put. It’s ingrained in me to protect, and with each scream, I find myself inching closer and closer to the door.

“Micah, maybe you should try to calm down. This is not your fight. It will all be over soon.”I purse my lips at how callous he sounds.“You’re not a Light Guardian, this is not the ultimate evil. You can’t run out there throwing knives and saving lives. This is not what HellNight is about.”Well, fuck him, that stung. I don’t need to be reminded of what I am not, what I lost or walked away from.

How do students close their eyes at night? I couldn’t sleep through this if I tried. I stop beyond the doorway of my room, then rush over to my bed, flipping up the mattress, I grab my two thigh holsters and two of my favorite throwing knives.

“Watch me,” I reply. I won’t have my Anchor key telling me what I can or cannot do.“You’re an inanimate object, Rook. A soul trapped inside a key,”I bite out, speaking to him telepathically as I strap my holsters around my bare thighs. What I am wearing is not ideal, but it will work for now.

When Rook doesn’t reply, I almost feel bad about what I said, it was hurtful, but I wanted to make a point. I’m not even sure if he can even feel anymore? Fuck, this entire ordeal is messy. Tugging on my trusty boots, I grab a smaller knife called Justin, and shove it down inside my shoe, just in case I need him, and march over to the door, catching my reflection on the way. I look ridiculous in my tank top and pajama shorts with two thigh holsters buckled tight around my thighs, and black combat boots. My father would lose his shit.

“Your gear is your protection. The difference between life and death.”His words float to the surface of my mind, but I fight against the need to go back to my room and change. Turning the porch light on I grab the doorknob and yank the door open. I step out onto the porch, passing the swing and step down slowly, my mouth drops open as I quickly take in the scene playing out in front of me.

“Help me!” someone shouts from somewhere nearby, causing my head to turn in the direction of the sound. Something roars in the distance and my eyes are trained on the sky as a large black shadow swoops down and picks up a student with its massive talons and flies away with him. I watch in horror as the guy screams, his feet kick, trying to get free, but the beast’s massive head moves as fast as lightning. It opens its mouth and bites the head off the student. Blood and gore splatters from its mouth as the head pops like a bright red juicy cherry, his cries are eternally cut off as his headless body becomes limp, blood still pumping in a gush, like a macabre waterfall. The bat-like creature climbs higher and higher into the night, almost disappearing from sight. Another creature speeds across the sky, I have no doubt its eyes are zeroed in on its prey. More screams, growls, snarls, and fighting can be heard as I turn in a circle in my front yard. This is madness. It’s almost like a hallucination; my mind can’t quite figure out if this is real or not.

“What the f—”

“Create a shield at least, Micah!”Rook says in exasperation, cutting me off as loud chanting, followed by the sound of running comes from down the path towards my house.“Micah! Shield yourself!”Rook shouts, shaking me from the shock of what I’m witnessing as a group of students comes into view.

“The only shields I know are Enochian. Will they even work here?”I ask him in a rush.

“Micah, cast them! Now! For fuck’s sake, woman!”Rook shouts at me again, as a huge fireball comes flying toward me.

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