Also, I’m slightly terrified for real. So many things could go wrong, from the demon refusing to leave Evander, making us go back to attempting another exorcism. It’ll be pissed then, and who knows what kind of damage it will purposely wreak on Evander’s body. And if it does leave Evander’s body and we—I need to stop.
Or else I really will freak the fuck out.
“You won’t regret this,” the demon tells me. “You and I together.” The same sick smile plays on Evander’s face and the demon’s murky eyes glow in the candlelight. “With you behind me, I shall rule the underworld.”
Evander’s body starts to tremble, and his head painfully flops back. Gray smoke pours from his mouth and eyes. I hold out my hands, bracing myself. I have to sell it until the last second or else we’re all at risk.
The smoke billows toward me, moving faster and faster. If I were really standing here, wind would blow my hair around my face and my skin would prickle from the pure demonic energy that’s bounding near.
But the demon passes right through me. I whirl around, conjuring a small string of magic at my fingertips. It’s just enough to throw down at the box, triggering the spells that have been laid out.
“I stand behind no one,” I sneer.
Ruth breaks the invisibility spell and everyone steps forward, chanting. Not wanting to risk my body being a host for the demon, I pull myself out of the office and back into the gathering room.
With a gasp, my eyes fly open. Binx stands and nuzzles his head against me, needing to check and double-check nothing came back along with me.
“I’m okay,” I tell him, feeling all out of breath like I’d just ran from Tabatha’s office and into the gathering hall. He moves off my chest and I slowly sit up, moving with caution so I don’t get hit with a case of the dizzies that can sometimes happen after astral projecting.
“Did it work?” Nicole gives her candle to Naomi and reaches down, helping me to my feet.
“I think so,” I tell her, looking around at the students. “Things were playing out as we hoped when I left. I should go there to make sure.” I rub my thumb over my fingers, conjuring another string of magic. This one glows bright blue, sizzling and sparking around my hand.
“Holy shit,” one of the students mumbles. “You just astral projected and can still conjure raw magic?”
“She’s pretty impressive, isn’t she?” Naomi winks at me. “Quite handy to have around in times like this. Play nice if you want to keep her on your good side.”
I give Naomi a look, smiling as I shake my head. “Everyone’s okay here?”
“I feel a little weak,” one of the other students confesses.
“That’s normal,” Nicole tells her. “That kind of magic can take a lot out of you, and you were a little jittery before things started. The adrenaline is wearing off.”
“It wears off fast,” I warn them, raking my hands through my hair. “You might want to stay here—and near the circle—until we give you the all clear. I’ll send Binx back after we check things out.”
“And you’re okay to go?” Naomi arches her brows. “Like your fan over there just said, you did just astral project.”
I nod. “I’m fine. Well, not fine. But I’ve done more while feeling a lot shittier.”
“She has a point,” Nicole says, helping the girl who was dizzy sit down on the steps of the altar. “I’ll bring you water once it’s safe to leave. Put your head in your hands and lean forward. Focus on your breathing.”
“The first time I cast a strong circle like this I almost passed out,” I tell the girl after hearing two of the male students behind her snickering. I leave out that I was only twelve and had no idea what the hell I was doing. The Academy fosters what’s considered “healthy competition” between the students to encourage them to be the best witches and wizards they can be. I’ll be the first to admit a bit of competition can be a great motivator to do well on tests and study your ass off, but I hate the sense of needing to be the best in order to have self-worth.
“Thank you,” I tell Naomi. “For coming here.”
Her eyes meet mine and she gives me a small nod, saying more with that little gesture than she does with her words: we are friends. Sister witches brought together for a reason, and no matter what, through thick and thin, we have each other’s backs.
“Be careful, Callie. We all know how reckless you can be.” She winks, helping to ease the other students’ nerves.
“I can’t make any promises. But I’ll send Binx back if I need you to come save me again.”
I step out of the circle and rush through the gathering hall, closing the door behind me as soon as I’m through.
“Spatiumque hanc iniuriam,” I whisper, waving my hand over the doors. It’s a simple warding, but one that would give Nicole and Naomi enough of a warning that something malicious is trying to get in. The circle hasn’t been closed yet, and with their collective powers, nothing would be able to break through.
Well…not nothing.
But I’m not even going to think about that right now.
Binx runs along next to me, and my footsteps echo through the empty halls. My heart is already beating a million miles an hour as I race up the steps leading to Tabatha’s office. I work out for this reason. You never know when you have to run away from—or in this case, run toward—a demon.
My fear is getting to me, though, making me so anxious it’s hard to think about anything else. My body is going into flight-or-fight mode already and I need to snap the fuck out of it or I’ll be exhausted by the time I get to Evander.
Who’s going to be okay.
He has to be.
This plan was solid…well, maybe more than slightly opaque. The demon left Evander’s body. There are powerful witches in that room and hidden protective circles, plus the whole room has been outlined in salt and warded. The demon can’t escape it.
Binx shadows ahead of me, slipping in through the crack under the office doors. I telekinetically throw them open, needing to see Tabatha undoing Evander’s restraints. Kristy will be holding the hex-box and even asshole Ruth will be smiling triumphantly, looking smug and already planning on how she’s going to take credit for this.
But that’s not what I see. Not at all.
Evander is still tied to the chair, but it’s been tipped over. There’s a cut on his forehead, and blood pools around his head on the floor. The hex box is in pieces on the ground before him, and Kristy and Sister Ross are in a corner of the room, huddled together inside a protective circle.
My heart stops beating and falls to the floor. It’s my worst fear come to life, and I duck out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by a ball of energy, thrown by Tabatha at the gray smoke that’s billowing around the room.
“Callie!” she screams, making a move to run forward. Ruby grabs her arm, pulling her back and into the protective circle. Ruth is in the other circle between Kristy and Tabatha.
I turn, eyes wide, and my breath leaves me. A cold wind sweeps through the room, putting out the candles. The office goes dark and I hold my hands up, conjuring bright blue energy.
Oh
shit.
I opened the door and moved the salt line. The demon can smoke right past me and possess anyone in the entire Covenstead. Binx, who’s already one step ahead of me, shadows along the doorway, keeping the demon confined to the room.
I hold up my hands, lighting up the room. Where is the demon?
I spin around again, trying to get a read.
“Callie!” Kristy shouts in warning. But it’s too late. The demon hurls itself at me, and I jump out of the way. My foot goes down on a broken piece of the hex-box, and I slip, landing hard against the stone floor. The magic I was holding onto is released into the air, and everything goes dark.
I can conjure more magic. It will only take a second. But that second is all the demon needs, because the next thing I know, dark smoke is swirling around me, suffocating me as it forces itself inside and possessing me.
Chapter 5
Everything inside me burns, like my body is covered in tiny cuts and I’m being dipped into boiling hot lemon juice. It stings and aches and pinches and stabs. My body starts to go into shock, knowing something is wrong.
I’m being poisoned. Something that’s not supposed to be here is here, and it’s threatening to take over.
Trick me, half-breed…I think not! You will stand behind me. You will do my bidding and with you, I shall rule!
The demon’s voice echoes in my head. I fall back, head whacking the floor with a sickening thud. Pain radiates through me, mixing with the very real feeling that I’m dying. I fight against it, though I know it’s useless. The demon is in me, and soon I’ll lose my free will.
It will take over. Make me use my powers. Kill my friends.
“No,” I say through gritted teeth. I push myself up and tendrils of yellow light rise up around my fingers. The only other time I’ve ever conjured yellow light was when I healed the vampire bite on my neck, and that was according to Lucas. I’ve never seen it before, but this…this is so much more than yellow.
It’s gold and sparkling and mesmerizingly beautiful. I hold my hands up and the light brightens. The demon screams inside of me, and it’s like a thousand dark voices yelling all at once. It hurts my head and makes me pitch forward. Fighting through the pain, I turn my head up and let out a breath. Tears pool in my eyes and I clench my jaw and bring one hand to my chest.