Ascended (War of the Covens 3)

Marion shook her head in denial. “How on earth could he think that? How can you?”

“Because he was proven right.”

Marion stared at her blankly.

Her sister smiled. “Jaeden. She has telekinetic abilities, has had ever since her time with Ethan.”

“He tortured her! Do you intend to do the same to these children?”

The look of outrage she was hoping to see appear on Marita’s face at the mere suggestion did not, and in that moment, it felt as if her entire world was shattering into a million pieces.

“I am hoping it will not come to that. But if it does … so be it. We need an army of Caias to win, and if we can’t have that, then the next best thing is an army of Jaedens.”

“This is madness. We were winning. With Caia on our side, we were winning!”

“No! That filthy Midnight bitch was never on our side! She went to the Council to have me killed so she could be Head of the Coven! Head of both covens, Marion … do you have any idea how powerful that would have made her?”

Marion felt the tears running down her cheeks. “She went to the Council because of what she found down here. She would have saved us, Marita. It was prophesied—”

“It was not! It was prophesied that her birth would bring an end to the war … it didn’t say how.”

Marion shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She would have saved us. Now we’ll be lucky if she doesn’t turn to the Midnights for what you’ve done. Let them go. Let the Council go. We’ll plead your case. It’ll be alright. I promise.”

Marita’s pinched expression gave way to disgust. She glared at Marion with such rage that Marion knew … for Marita, there was no going back.

“You are either with me, or against me.”

Marion straightened, her steel spine finding itself again. “Then I’m against you.”

For a moment an utter sadness flitted across her sister’s face. And then it was replaced with anger. “Then I’m afrai—”

Marion didn’t give her time to finish. She gathered all her strength and pushed her energy force out at her sister, knocking the witch off her feet and out the door, only to smash her against the opposite corridor wall. With a sweep of her arm, she created a high wall of fire across the doorway and turned to the children, melting each lock on the seven cages.

The children were frightened by the height and heat of the flames at her back, and she found herself hurriedly coaxing them out of their cages. What she was about to do, no one had ever survived … but the children … the children would be alright. There wasn’t any other way.

“Marion!” her sister shrieked.

“Hold tight to me,” she urged the children, grasping them roughly to her, making sure each little hand clasped her arms.

The pain was excruciating. A communication spell should never be used to transport more than two beings; the kind of power needed to do so could rip a person apart, and that, coupled with the fear of hurting the children, only made the agonizing burn that much more intense.

At the sudden silence, she opened her eyes and gasped in relief. They had made it. Saffron blinked back at her from her perch on the sofa. They were in Saffron’s home, a place she knew Marita could never find in her trace. And Saffron was incredibly choosy about who was invited.

One of the children brought her attention back to them as he threw up on her boot.

“What?” Saffron yelped and moved toward them. She blurred across Marion’s vision, and the room turned itself upside down. She burned like ice all over. The pain. It was just too much.

“Marion!”

Her body fell apart, her mind with it, and she descended into the darkest of peace.

Caia almost jumped back in shock as Jaeden rushed at her but was pleasantly surprised as her friend’s arms pulled her into a suffocating hug.

“Oh gods, am I ever glad to see you!”

Caia smiled and gently pried her back to arm’s length. “Blame Reuben for my sudden disappearance. He’s the one who kidnapped me.”

Jaeden hissed at the revelation and turned to stab Reuben with her ferocious glare. “What exactly does that mean?”

Caia momentarily ignored her to smile at Laila and Vil, quietly watching them all. “You guys okay?”

They nodded.

“Caia?” Jae demanded.

“Sit down. Please. This needs to be quick.”

It took longer than she’d hoped to explain everything, especially with Reuben jumping in to fill in the parts she’d missed. She finally got through the tale when his cell rang and he went off into the other room to speak with Nikolai. When he returned, he hadn’t looked concerned, so Caia continued on.

While Vil and Laila looked on with growing fascination, she could see Jaeden turn a shade darker with rage as the tale unfolded. When Reuben explained how he had masked Vil’s trace so Marita couldn’t find them, Caia almost rolled her eyes at the hero-worship in their gazes.