“Most witches don’t know they have powers,” William said. “The few who do know about them, don’t use them. Gamma only deals with the troublemakers.”
“Is that how you validate murdering Megan Lackey?”
Victor opened his eyes. “Megan was out of control. We warned her, but she wouldn’t stop. She was evil and she openly admitted to her craft.”
“Megan Lackey was just a girl,” I said.
Victor didn’t reply.
Megan seemed to be his sore spot. In the nightmare, I remembered one of the men had dress pants and fancy Italian shoes. I should’ve known from the dream that Victor was involved. The nightmare was warning me all along.
William peeked into Ethan’s grave. “It is what it is. You shouldn’t be so worried about Megan. She’s dead. You should be worried about yourself. Not only are you a troublemaker, but your entire existence is an abomination. There is an unspoken rule: No mixing of covens. It’s a simple rule, but your mother and father couldn’t follow it.”
I flinched when he mentioned my parents.
“Now we have two members of the most powerful covens in New England, falling in love with each other. And, of course, Emma gets pregnant,” William said. “You have the blood of a Ross and a Longfellow flowing through you.”
“Not to mention you were born on Halloween,” Victor added.
“Gamma couldn’t just stand around. We had a meeting the day you were born. We asked ourselves—could you imagine the power and capabilities this child would have? A full-blooded child! It has happened before and the results were catastrophic. Of course, there was a slight chance it would skip you. It has, at times, skipped generations. Emma is not active, you know? But it runs in her veins and she passed it to you.”
I gave my wrists one last tug and pulled my hands free. I kept them hidden behind me so William wouldn’t notice. I scooted closer to the tree, inching my hand into my back pocket.
William was so engrossed in his story that he didn’t notice.
“We couldn’t take a chance with you,” William said. “Of course, we couldn’t kill a pregnant woman or a baby. That’s not Gamma’s way. But we needed to be close to you. Ethan was worried because he knew he broke the rules by conceiving you. He started snooping around, so our father took care of him. Once Ethan was out of the picture, we sent in Victor ‘Ramsey’ and the rest is history.”
Gamma’s master plan had worked. All William had to do now was kill me.
I edged the cell phone out of my pocket. I didn’t need to see to dial. I knew the keypad like the back of my hand. Star button and the number one. I ended the call before Peter could answer so they wouldn’t hear his voice. My number would flash across Peter’s cell phone screen. Hopefully, it would be enough. I dialed and hung up again, praying he’d realized I was in trouble.
I leaned my head against the tree. Everything was so messed up. Poor Ethan and Emma. Gamma had ruined my family’s life.
William’s face split into an evil grin. “Don’t be sad. You’ll be out of your misery soon enough.”
James looked disgusted by his father’s story. How could he betray me like this?
I had to fight back. Somehow. I could dial 911, but I wouldn’t be able to say anything, Gamma would kill me before I had the chance to tell the operator my location. Besides, Gamma could have someone on the police force. I couldn’t trust anyone but Peter. So I played the only card I had.
“If what you say is true, then I have no reason to fear you,” I said.
Victor opened his eyes.
“Is that so?” William said.
“You told me yourself,” I said. “I’m way too powerful, especially for your weak little fraternity.”
William’s face relaxed. “Theoretically. However, you are forgetting one important detail. You don’t know how to use your powers yet. Nor do you know the extent of your powers. Everything is merely speculation. Yes, we know you’re capable of a few parlor tricks, but that’s all we know for sure. More importantly, these powers don’t completely develop until you’re eighteen. Unfortunately for you, you’re months away. And you will never live to see tomorrow.”
Simon hopped out of the grave hole. “It’s done.”
Using my weight as leverage against the rough bark, I scooted up. I kept my hands behind me, pretending they were bound. The rope around the tree was tight, but I managed to stand upright.
William stopped pacing.
The crisp night air blew against my face. I closed my eyes. I breathed in through my nose and out my mouth. Deep long breaths. I felt light-headed.
“What is she doing?” Simon asked James.
I thought of Victor and James’s betrayal. Of my mother’s pain seventeen years ago and her lifelong struggle to cope with the loss of the love of her life. Of Megan Lackey dying alone in the cold woods. Of Bradley’s incomprehensible murder and the morbid display of his body. And then of Ethan.
Gamma murdered my father. Ruined my mother. And now they were trying to kill me.
I opened my eyes. The first person I saw was Simon. He was still holding the shovel. My attention zeroed in on my target. I didn’t blink. All my anger and rage and fear were directed at him.
Simon nervously looked around at the others.
The tips of my fingers went numb. My eyelids fluttered.
Simon’s right hand flew to his head. The shovel clattered to the ground when his left hand shot upward. He crushed his temples with the palms of his hands. His mouth hung open in a silent agonizing scream.
Simon twirled in maddening circles. He squeezed his eyes shut. The vein in his forehead pulsated. “Make her stop!”
“Stop it,” William said.
I wiggled out of the rope, never losing focus on Simon. I displayed my free hands. “One move, William, and you’re next.”
Simon collapsed to the ground. He huddled into the fetal position. His hands still crushed against his skull. “AHHHH! Make it stop! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! PLEASE!”
The blood drained out of Victor’s face.
“Alex.” James cautiously stepped forward. “Please tell me you’re not doing that.”
I kept my eyes on the withering Simon. “Stop where you are, James. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you come any closer.”
James put his hands in the air.
My head pounded. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up. “I’m not kidding, William, this is over. Now.”
I didn’t know what to do next. I’d only planned this far. I didn’t want to kill Simon. Actually, I wasn’t even sure how I was hurting him or if I’d be able to do the same to anyone else.
“Stop it right this second,” William said. “Or Gammas will be at your house in five minutes. Emma is home alone. Then they’ll make the trip down to Salem.”
I immediately lost focus when I heard William’s threat. Simon stopped screaming the instant I looked away. Blood trickled from his nostrils and ears.
William wiped the blood from Simon’s face with the hem of his robe. “You want to play dirty? We can play dirty.”
“Dad,” James said. “Please.”
“Shut up, James!” William said.
James flinched.
“Don’t you see what she’s capable of?” William waved his hand at Simon’s bleeding face. “She’s dangerous.”
William pointed to Ethan’s grave. “Simon, open it.”
Simon staggered to his feet and lowered himself into the hole.
“There are many ways to kill a witch,” William said. “But Gamma prefers a certain way. String her up.”
Victor pulled another coil of braided rope from the gym bag at his feet.
“Hey, William?” Simon called from the hole.
I turned to run, but William lunged and grabbed me by the hair. “Don’t move!”
“What are you going to do to her?” James asked.
William pointed to the tree. “We’re going to hang her. Then throw her body into the coff
in with her father’s corpse.”
Victor swung the rope over the limb of the tree.
“You can stop this,” I said to Victor. “Please. Help me.”
Victor looped the rope around my neck. The rough bristles scratched my skin.
“William!” Simon jumped out of the hole. His face glistened with sweat. “William!”
“What, Simon?” William flung around to face him. “What is it?”
“The coffin,” Simon said. “It’s empty.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
William stared into Ethan’s empty coffin.
“Maybe your father put the body someplace else,” Simon said to William.
Victor tugged the rope. “Why would he do that? What’s the point of the tombstone?”
“I don’t know,” William said. “I’m not Jonah! Am I?”
“It doesn’t feel right,” Victor said. “If we had Dad’s journal—”
“This doesn’t change a thing,” William said. “She’s still going in the coffin. She’ll just have more space now.”
Victor pulled the rope, but I was too shocked to care. Where was Ethan? James told me his family moved to Hazel Cove because his Grandpa Jonah Van Curen died. William and James moved here for a new start (i.e., they came here to kill me). But if Jonah died and he killed Ethan, how would we ever know what happened to my father’s body?
The tightening of rope around my neck catapulted me back to reality. I had to do something quickly or I was going into that empty coffin.
“Victor, please,” I said.
“Shut up,” Simon snarled. The dried blood from his nose and ears stained his face.
I smiled at Simon. “How’s your head?”
“You’re more dangerous than you realize,” Victor said.
“What about Mom? After all these years, do you not care about us at all? Are you really going to let them kill me?”
“Emma doesn’t love me,” Victor said. “You know that better than anyone. And I’m sorry, Alexandria, but you’re not my daughter.”
My heart sank.
“William is right, you know,” Victor continued. “You are evil. You just haven’t realized it yet. You would hurt everyone close to you. Emma. Peter. Sadie. Mya. Everyone. It’s too dangerous.”
“Enough talking,” William said.
“Dad, please,” James said. “We don’t have to do this.”
William ignored him.
James was the poster boy for the confused and distraught. It was obvious he wasn’t completely on the Alex-killing bandwagon yet. He might be the only chance I had of getting out of here alive. I swallowed my pride. “James, please help me!”
James threw his hands in the air. “What am I supposed to do? He’s my dad!”
“He’s going to kill me!”
“William, your boy is getting a little antsy,” Simon said.
William calmly walked over to James and placed his hands on his son’s shoulders. James immediately bowed his head. I had a sick feeling. What had William put James through? William grabbed James’s chin and lifted his face until father and son were eye to eye. He didn’t say anything. William’s hand balled into a fist and swiftly punched James in the jaw.
James stumbled back from the blow.
“I don’t want to hear another word out of you,” William said.
I waited for James to get angry. To do something. Fight back, yell back, anything to finally stand up to his psycho dad.
But he didn’t.
James wiped the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. He took a step back, and retreated into himself. His chocolate eyes averted to the nearest tombstone. Whatever small fire of resistance that had been burning inside of James was extinguished by William’s punch.
I was now completely on my own.
William seized a handful of my hair. He pushed me forward and my head hung down to the ground. “Do you want to see it, James? Before we hang her? Will that make you feel better?” William shoved my hair away from my neck and slapped my birthmark. “There. It starts as a small dot like this, but it will grow to the size of a quarter by her eighteenth birthday. It’s the fingerprint of the Devil.”
Victor tugged the rope and I slowly lifted off the grass.
My feet dangled in the air. The pressure increased as the rope constricted around my neck. I clawed at my throat, but it was useless. The rope crushed my esophagus. I was already losing consciousness from the lack of oxygen. I willed my eyes to stay open, but I was seconds from blacking out.
CRACK.
I crashed to the ground in a heap at the base of the hickory tree. Air flooded my lungs and I hungrily sucked in as much as I could. When my head stopped spinning, I yanked the rope from my neck. Victor lay face down on the grass beside me.
On the other side of Victor, Peter held his hockey stick.
“Peter!”
Peter reached over Victor and pulled me to my feet. I ran behind him as he drew the stick back, waiting for Victor to charge him.
Simon inched toward us.
James didn’t move. He didn’t try to help. He didn’t do anything. And I couldn’t have hated him more than I did at that moment. James Van Curen was spineless.
“If it isn’t the boyfriend,” William said. “You know, Alexandria, such a codependent relationship really isn’t healthy.”
Victor moaned on the ground.
“Lex, go,” Peter said. “The truck is at the gate.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I took a careful step away from the enormous hole in front of Ethan’s tombstone.
Peter wore a new button-down collared shirt and khakis. He was dressed for our date. But now, because of me, we probably wouldn’t survive the night. Simon took another step forward, his arms outstretched like a wrestler.
“I’m ready if you’re ready,” Peter said to Simon. “Just like old times.”
Victor staggered to his knees and rubbed the back of his head. “Peter, you’ve been such a pain in my ass for all these years that I think I’m really going to enjoy this.”
Simon and Victor ran at Peter.
William turned and, with blinding speed, lunged at me. The weight of his body knocked me to the ground next to Ethan’s open grave. “You wretched little witch!”
William pinned me. He lifted my head and smashed it against the ground. He smashed it again. And again. My mind clouded. Pain seared up my neck and through the back of my head. A few more blows and I’d be dead. I needed a weapon, but there was nothing. Nothing but Ethan’s tombstone.
It was exactly like my nightmare. I was fighting to my death next to my father’s tombstone.
William used his legs to hold my arms down. He wrapped his hands around my already raw neck and, with renewed energy, he squeezed. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth. His face, contorted in anger, was only inches from mine. Hatred radiated out of him.
William’s face would not be the last thing I saw before I died.
I searched for Peter.
He was fighting Victor and Simon. The hockey stick was discarded near a crumbling tombstone. The three men rolled on the ground in a tangled fury of punches and kicks. A glint of metal in Simon’s hand caught my eye. He was wielding his pocket knife.
“Peter!” I said in a raspy whisper. I couldn’t project my voice. William was gripping my throat too hard. I could feel myself slipping away. He squeezed tighter.
William smiled at me, knowing he’d won. William and James shared the same chocolate-colored eyes. But now those beautiful doe eyes were gone, replaced by coal black slits.
I tried to shove William off of me, but he was too heavy and I was too weak. I gasped for air, trying to prolong the inevitable, but it was pointless. I knew how this fight ended. I’d seen it too many times in my dreams.
A sense of calm flooded over me. I closed my eyes. I saw Peter and me playing in the snow when we were children. We were making snow angels and it was so cold that I couldn’t feel my extremities. My arms and l
egs relaxed and went limp. I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. I felt weightless. And happy.
A loud grunt sounded from somewhere in the distance. A jolt rocked my entire body and the pressure around my neck released. The weight on my body was gone. I heard a sickening smash, like the sound the watermelon made when I’d dropped it on the patio last Fourth of July.
I opened my eyes.
William’s legs were sprawled across my chest. His brown velvet robe covered my face. With a loud grunt, I heaved William off. His limp body slumped to the ground beside me, dangerously close to tumbling into the open pit.
Blood oozed from William’s cracked skull. The sleek marble tombstone was stained red over the etched name of Ethan Longfellow. Exactly how I’d hit my head in the nightmare.
James towered over us, breathing heavily, and I realized what happened. He shoved William off me before his father choked me to death. The momentum projected William headfirst into Ethan’s marble headstone. James killed William. And saved me.
I crawled away from the Gamma fraternity’s dead leader. Just in case.
Victor untangled himself from Peter. “William?”
Simon was face down in the grass. He didn’t move.
Victor ran to William and flipped his brother’s body over. William’s salt-and-pepper hair was stained pink from the blood.
Victor frantically searched for some sign of life in his brother. He felt for a pulse and then listened to his heart. After a moment, Victor’s head snapped up. “You killed him,” he said to James.
“I didn’t mean to.” James ran his hand over his face. “I was trying to get him off her. He was killing her.”
Hands slid underneath my arms. I panicked until I saw it was Peter. He lifted me to my feet. As though we were retreating from a wounded beast, we slowly backed away from the Van Curens.
Peter’s face was bloodied and his bottom lip was swollen. His new shirt was ripped and covered in blood. I gasped at the sight, but he shook his head. “It’s not mine.” He pointed to Simon lying motionless on the grass.
He was dead.
So was William.
I didn’t know what to do or say.
“Oh, God.” James paced back and forth. “Oh, God.”