Page 78 of This Coven Won't Break
“Sit down, asshole.” Alice squeezes her hands into fists, and she must have taken a sample of Benton’s blood, because he winces as his body bends awkwardly back into a seated position.
“I wasn’t going to hurt anyone,” Benton says, the fear more pronounced now. Power like Alice is using is the epitome of everything he was taught to hate, yet he doesn’t hurl insults at her. “What’s happening? What are you going to do to me?”
The tremor in his voice does strange things to my heart.He tried to kill you, I remind myself, but another voice says,He saved you, too. He’s lost.
Suddenly, I wish I hadn’t agreed to this.
Before I can back out, Cal comes into the room carrying the potion in one hand and a gas mask in the other. He passes the mask to Archer, who accepts it with a tight nod.
“What’s that for?” I ask.
Hopelessness carves across Archer’s expression, there only a second before he hides it away. “It’s like we discussed. Anyone without Clan magic will be affected.” He slips the mask over his head, but he must see my regret, because he tips it back so it isn’t covering his face yet. “This was still a smart plan, Hannah. It’ll buy us the time we need to translate David’s work and create an antidote. The Elders were impressed.”
“That we were.” Elder Keating steps into the room. “Let’s hope our enthusiasm was well placed. Agents.” She nods to Archer and Cal in turn. “Let’s begin.”
“Begin what?” Benton tries to get up again, but he grimaces when Alice’s magic keeps him in place. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Hall, this won’t hurt.” Archer turns to me. “Once Cal removes the stopper, I need you to vaporize the potion and ensure he inhales it. You shouldn’t need to use much.”
I nod and reach for the hum of magic in my chest. It still feels like a miracle that it’s working again. The air responds to my call, swirling between us and tossing my hair. “Ready.”
“Here goes nothing,” Cal whispers and pulls the cork loose.
Inside the vial, the potion’s energy is unlike anything I’ve felt before. I worry my power will separate the water base from 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 outof 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 wouldneverhurt 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—”
