Page 3 of This Coven Won't Break
Missing Dad is too heavy. It hurts too much. I can’t let myself think about it. About him.
Yet as Gemma and I move past our classmates, and whispered conversations pick up in fits and starts, some small part of me wants to knowexactlywhat kind of rumors are circulating.
Everyone loved Benton. He was easily the most crushed-on senior last year. I saw at least three people cry when he signed their yearbooks back in June. No one wanted him to leave for college. But now that he’s accused of attempted murder, have they turned on him? Or have they found a way to forgive the charismatic boy they used to know?
I reach for my magic, shoving past the strange barrier that’s been there ever since Benton drugged me to suppress my power. My magic resists my call, and I push harder, asking the air to bring their conspiracy theories close enough to hear.
Pain lances up my spine, sharp and fast, when I reach too hard. I stumble on the steps and grab the handrail to steady myself. Tears burn, and I shut my eyes against the shame as my magic crumbles inside me. It shouldn’t be this hard. Such a tiny, simple piece of magic shouldn’t hurt like this. It’s so small it isn’t even against Council laws, since no one would ever notice.
“Hannah?”
This time, it isn’t Gemma who’s calling for me. It’s Morgan. My girlfriend’s Blood Magic vibrates deep in my bones, soothing away the sharpest parts of the pain, and then she’s there, reaching for my hand. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say, but I let her thread her fingers through mine as I climb the rest of the stairs. “Between the two of you, I should get that tattooed on my forehead.”
Morgan shoots me a look, one that says she’s acutely aware that things arenotas fine as I’d like to pretend they are. Oncewe’re inside, she leads us into a still-empty classroom. “You don’t have to pretend with us, Hannah. I know this summer has been hard on you.”
Under the fluorescent lights, I fight to keep my eyes from shimmering with tears. I shove the grief down, down,downuntil it’s so deep I can’t find it. “I’m fine,” I repeat, keeping my voice steady.
“No, you’re not. Your heart rate shot through the roof.” Morgan casts a worried look at Gem, and I get the distinct impression my best friend and my girlfriend are about to gang up on me.
This is one of the few downsides to dating a Blood Witch, besides the strange looks my fellow Elementals give me: it’s impossible to hide my feelings when she can sense the literal rhythm of my heart. Morgan can’t sense that for everyone, just people whose blood she’s touched, and if my coven knew that I’d voluntarily given her access to mine? Well, the weird looks would be the least of my problems.
The worry on Gemma’s and Morgan’s faces lingers, and I shift nervously. “Really, I’m good. I tripped on the stairs. It’s not a big deal.” I nudge Morgan with my shoulder, aiming to distract her with flirtation. “Not all of us have impeccable grace.”
Morgan flushes a satisfying shade of pink as the first warning bell clangs through the halls, effectively ending their interrogation.
We melt into the flow of student traffic and head deeper into the school. The press of shifting bodies sends a tremor of unease through me, but I do my best to keep it hidden. To bury it deep enough that Morgan won’t notice. I see Benton in every tall, dark-haired figure that passes the edge of my vision and have to remind myself to breathe. The Benton I knew in thesehalls, the friend I joked with and confided in, is gone. The Witch Hunter he became, the boy who tried to kill me—whose parents murdered my dad—is rotting in a jail cell while he waits for his trial.
Fresh nerves turn my stomach. Jury selection begins in less than a month. Twelve strangers who will determine his fate.
And mine.
Gemma heads for her locker on the other side of the school, and I look for a distraction. “Are you nervous?” Since it’s Morgan’s first day at Salem High, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like she swallowed a migration of butterflies this morning.
Morgan shrugs, a movement so graceful that walking beside her makes me feel like a robot, all stiff limbs and mechanical expressions. “I miss my friends,” she says as we turn a corner. “But it could be worse. I have Gemma and Kate and the other people from dance.” Morgan tucks a red curl behind her ear. “You’re not half-bad, either.”
“That’s the goal. A half-decent girlfriend and a not-terrible friend.”
She laughs and watches the locker numbers tick up and up until we reach hers. It takes her two tries to spin the combination correctly, but soon the door pulls free with a violent shudder. “You know you’re great.”
“If you say so.” I lean against the locker beside hers and reach for my necklace. I’m still not used to the way she tosses out compliments like she has an infinite supply. I run the bit of black tourmaline crystal along its thin silver chain. The crystal was a gift from my boss, Lauren, and Mom empowered the stone to increase its calming and protective qualities.
Before she can reply, two boys turn the corner and walkdown the hall toward us. “Did you seriously spend the whole summer doing community service? Thatsucks, dude.”
Nolan Abbott, soccer star and all-around asshole, has the audacity to soak up his friend’s sympathy. “It was shit. I tried to do my hours at the animal shelter, but that stupid cop wouldn’t go for it. He made me pick up trash and scrub graffiti like a delinquent.”
I barely suppress a laugh, and it comes out as an undignified snort. Detective Ryan Archer is not only the “stupid cop” who busted Nolan for smashing a rock through my front window, he’s also the Caster Witch who helped rescue me from a fiery death. Archer denied Nolan’s shelter pick on my request. Nolan didn’t deserve to spend a summer walking puppies.
Unfortunately, my moment of petty satisfaction attracts Nolan’s attention. He glances up, and when he spots me for the first time, his expression goes stormy. “Something funny?”
“Besides your face?”
Nolan scowls. “Sickburn. Did Benton teach you that when he tied you to a stake and set you on fire?”
His words drain the blood from my face and leave my knees weak.
Morgan slams the locker and props the books on her hip, pressing her free hand against the small of my back. Blood Magic floods my system, invisible to them but numbing the rising pain and panic that’s threatening to swallow me whole. It blots out the memories before they can fully form, leaving nothing but wisps of smoke in their wake. “Come on, Hannah. He’s not worth it.”
