The Coven (Coven of Bones, #1)(11)

“What was he?” Ash asked as I tugged him forward more quickly. Once we reached the cave, we would have to run through the woods. We’d have to hope that the Vessel couldn’t scent us.

“Something called a Vessel,” I explained, contemplating how much I should tell him. He was so young, so impressionable. I still remembered my first nightmare of the creatures who survived off witch’s blood when I’d been too young to know the horrors of them. “They work with the Coven of witches and live together. We want to avoid going there altogether,” I said instead of giving him the truth.

That they were bodies crafted by the Hecate line, designed to live forever and house the things inside them. Without those Vessels, they burned through human bodies within a year.

What had once been allies serving the same higher power had become tentative enemies trapped together—an animosity that grew over generations.

Light shone faintly in the distance, the sun setting not quickly enough for my taste. The cover of darkness would have helped us blend in even slightly against the Vessel’s strong senses.

I stopped as we emerged from the tunnel, climbing up toward the cave entrance in the woods. I knew if we continued away from the house, we would eventually reach the bus station. We were blissfully close, given how far apart things tended to be in our town, particularly after our traipse under the yard and beginning of the woods.

In the distance, I could see the faint movement of people around our home. Of those who would seek to chase us out of the place where we’d lived for as long as I could remember. I kept us tucked safely within the mouth of the cave, squatting down in front of Ash and taking his hands in mine as I tossed the flashlight back into the tunnel.

“No matter what happens, no matter what you see, you keep going,” I said, ignoring the way his eyes widened. “You run as fast as you can, and if you keep going straight, you’ll end up at the bus stop. Your dad is meeting us there. You just have to get there, okay? Promise me you’ll get there, Bug.”

Ash nodded, blinking rapidly. “What about you, Low?”

I cupped his cheek in my hand, forcing myself to smile as I pressed my forehead to his. So many lies in so few hours. “I’ll be right behind you,” I said, nodding as I stood and patted him on the back. I moved him behind me, positioning myself between his body and the Vessels. I pointed him in the direction he needed to go.

“Go!” I whispered harshly, giving him the little shove he needed to stumble into the woods. He was short enough that he blended in with the brush of the unkempt forest, the green clothing he and Mom favored helping him blend in. He’d worn her favorite color for her funeral, and I suppressed the quiver to my lip as I knelt and touched the surface of the dirt.

Pressing my fingers into the earth itself, I didn’t wince when the grains wedged themselves beneath my nails. It was packed on the surface, leaving me to claw my way through until I reached the soft, fresh soil beneath.

I waited, sending my magic out in a wave through the earth of the forest. I felt each tree, every root, where it connected to the very dirt that surrounded my fingers. Planting myself as if I was one of them, I closed my eyes and drew in a deep, fortifying breath. When I flung them open, I knew that my eyes pulsed with a thread of green lacing its way through them at the center.

I waited still, giving Ash time to put a healthy distance between us before I created a distraction. Time passed as if it had slowed, the call of the Vessels striking me in the chest as they tried to call to Ash. To convince him to just open the door for them, that they could offer him a new life away from this place. I hoped he was far enough that he couldn’t feel the press of it, that it wouldn’t tempt him to return.

Only when one of the Vessels turned his attention toward me did I send my power out in a ripple through the forest. The words left my mouth as I called to the trees that surrounded me, to the ones closest to the house. The Vessel closest caught sight of me as my lips formed them, his head snapping to the side as he tried to warn the others.

“Adiuva me,” I said, asking the forest for help.

A thick branch from the tree closest to the Vessel snapped out, creaking as it struck him in the chest and sent him flinging back. He screamed as he flew through the air, colliding with the side of the house and bouncing off it to fall in a heap.

The other male, the one from the porch, spun to look at his fallen friend. His attention snapped to me as I stood, raising my chin as I met his gaze. He took the first step toward me, cracking his head to the side. When I didn’t move, I smiled, knowing that even with his heightened senses, he would hear me.

“You wanted me to come outside. What now, Headmaster? Do you need an invitation?”

He took another step forward, his second foot poised to move. I knew it would come more quickly, that he would cross the distance between us with speed I didn’t have a hope of keeping up with.

I dropped to my knees suddenly, slamming my palms down on the ground. The earth rose in a wave, a ripple shuddering through the forest as it moved toward the house and the yard. The Vessel, Headmaster Thorne, must have cursed as he surged forward. The forest met his advance, trees crossing their branches to block his path as the ground lifted and knocked him off his feet.

I watched the first tree roots rise from the ground, grasping him by the ankles and wrapping around his arms. They pinned him to the earth as I turned back to the forest.