“What can I do?” Asher asked, trying again to stand up. This time he succeeded.
“Nothing,” I said, magically sending a pair of chairs and the nearly destroyed coffee table flying at the open kitchen doorway to try to block anyone else from coming in. I held my focus on the spell and watched as people began to pile up against the barrier.
“This is insane. Are you… Hadley, are you in a gang?” There was hesitation and the slightest sound of fear in his voice. Oh, great. The guy I liked, or thought I liked, was scared of me. Guys didn’t want to date girls they were scared of. Unless that was their thing, I guess, but as far as I knew, Asher wasn’t that guy. As all of this ran through my head, I watched Asher look from me to the door and back again, like he was just now realizing that the furniture couldn’t be holding up itself.
I had to get him out of here before he started asking more questions and got himself killed in the process.
“I am definitely not in a gang,” I said, trying to split my concentration between the spell and Asher. The spell was getting weaker and so was I. We’d been fighting for close to ten minutes already and I was beginning to run low on energy. Whoever was on the other side of my barricade was throwing their own magic at the problem and so it was becoming a major struggle of wits and spells. I had a feeling I was stronger than them, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to keep it up. “Asher, get out of here. Go get help.”
He didn’t respond and I began to think—well, really, hope—that he was already gone. But then I felt him come up behind me and touch me softly on the shoulder. “I’m not going to leave you here alone.”
He still liked me! I just about melted hearing him say that, but knew that I couldn’t let my guard down—otherwise we were both going to be in a lot of trouble. No, he had to leave so I could take care of this myself. No one else I cared about was going to end up in the hospital again. And as gallant as he was, Asher couldn’t help me.
“Do you trust me?” I asked him.
He paused. “I do.”
That was all I needed to hear. Facing him, I fell into his arms and kissed him long and hard. There was a fever to our connection, the kind of heat that’s ignited when you think it might be your last kiss. Something weird happened when we kissed this time, though. I began to feel the magic I was still directing toward the barricade at the door grow stronger, and it became less difficult to hold in place. In fact, it almost felt easy. Like I’d just gotten a power boost.
Whoa, talk about creating sparks.
I reluctantly pulled myself away but noticed that I was still all tingly from our kiss. I’d never felt this alive before. And if I was going to get us out, it was going to have to be while I was still feeling strong.
To do that, I really needed Asher to leave.
I looked at Asher and put as much conviction into my words as I could. “Go. Get. Help,” I pleaded. I felt a little bad about using my powers on the guy I liked, but this wasn’t the time to be worrying about ethics. It was time to stay alive. “Now!”
He opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Instead, he just nodded and began to step away. But something in his eyes told me he was trying to fight it. In the end, my powers won out and I watched him grip the doorknob tightly before walking out the door.
As soon as he was gone, my abilities took a nosedive and my body began to shake with exertion. It was like the natural boost I’d gotten from our kiss had left with Asher and I suddenly didn’t have the same will to fight that I’d had before. The feeling of his lips on mine started to fade and instead, all I felt was fatigue.
This was bad. I’d never felt so depleted of my powers in my whole life. The Parrishables seemed to be growing stronger now and the force of their magic was pushing me backward. My feet slid across the floor until I hit the couch and fell back over the arm and onto the cushions.
And then they were making their way through the door, coming at me faster than I could’ve thought possible, only now I couldn’t seem to move. I’d run out of juice, and holding them back while Asher escaped would be the last thing I did.
At least I hadn’t let everyone down.
Just then, there was a huge crash, but with all the noise going on around me, I couldn’t tell which direction it came from. And being that I still felt paralyzed, I couldn’t move my head to see what was going on.
Please don’t be back, Asher.
“Leave her alone, you crazy magicians!” Asher yelled out. He sounded far away and my heart leapt when I realized he was shouting from his place just outside my front door. My persuasion had succeeded in making him leave, but I hadn’t been clear enough apparently. If I could just make him go farther away, I could finally let go. I was so tired.
“Asher, go home!” I tried to say it out loud, but I could no longer speak. I couldn’t cry, either, although I wanted to. Without me to defend him, Asher wouldn’t stand a chance.
“What the hell is he talking about?” I could hear someone else talking now—and they were much closer to where I was lying. They were in the same room as me, for sure.
“No clue. Magicians? Is that the new slang term for witches? Are we magicians now?” another person asked.
“Guys, cut the chitchat and help Hadley!” This voice I recognized. But it was still highly possible that I was hallucinating, so I tried not to get my hopes up. Instead, I focused on the noises around me. It was clear the fight was not over, but for some reason, none of the flying spells were hitting me.
Time ticked by excruciatingly slowly until suddenly Sascha was at my side, leaning over me and hurling spells at people as they advanced on us. I tried to smile at her to show her how happy I was to see her, but I’m not sure my mouth moved. I wanted to tell her how much I’d missed her.
All of them.
As my eyes adjusted to focus on the beautiful face of my friend and savior, she was suddenly yanked away from me. As she struggled in and out of my sight line, I was able to make out a guy standing behind her holding her in a headlock. She scratched at his wrists and forearms and strangled sounds escaped her lips. Then, just as quickly as he’d come up behind her, he disappeared and Sascha was gasping for air.
“Is she okay?”
Emory.
When I knew it was her, a wave of calm washed over me. There was something about knowing she was there that made me feel closer to my mom. And right now, I was scared about what was going to happen next. It was times like these when I just really needed my mom. And now that she was gone, Emory was the closest thing I had to that comfort.
“I’m not sure. She looks fine, but something’s going on with her,” Sascha said, leaning back over me as something exploded overhead and debris rained down around us.
“Leave her alone!” Asher was still yelling at everyone. He had no idea that those who’d just come in were members of my coven.
“We’re not trying to hurt her,” another person said. “We’re here to help her.”
Sascha started moving in and out of my line of vision and I could hear her throwing spells in the direction of our enemies. The explosions drowned out most of my thoughts except for one. I didn’t want them thinking that Asher was one of them and hurt him by mistake.
I opened my mouth to tell them as much, but nothing came out. Another wave of exhaustion washed over me and my eyelids started to flutter closed. After that, I had to rely on my hearing to find out what was going on around me.
Was this it? Was this what dying felt like? If it was, I didn’t get what everyone was so scared of. I mostly felt like I was about to drift off to sleep. And I was so tired, I almost welcomed it. Not that I wanted to die or anything, but I wouldn’t have minded the chance to rest. The shouting was still going on around me. Things were breaking and I felt something wet hit my cheek.