Spring Rain (12 page)

“I don’t like this. At all,” Beck said and
watched Noah roar away on his motorcycle with Morgan clinging to
him.

“He’s the best chance she has right now,”
Decker replied. “And the last speed bump in case Dawn finds her
again.”

“Did you learn anything about the
stone?”

Decker was quiet for a moment. Summer took
his hand, and Beck waited for a response. “I don’t know for
certain. It’s very powerful. I had thought maybe I could take it,
but …” He stopped.

Beck understood what Decker wasn’t yet
willing to talk about: how far he’d fallen into the Dark when he
thought he lost Summer. Like a recovering addict, Decker would
remain susceptible to the effects of Darkness for the rest of his
life with only Summer standing between him and complete
surrender.

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Beck replied
firmly. “We’re going to find a way where no one I care about ends
up suffering because of this. I think you’re onto something when
you said her family was special like ours. Sam might know why or
what trait Morgan possesses that enables her to tolerate the
Darkness without falling into it.”

“Worth a shot,” Decker agreed. “You find the
fur ball. I want to … research something.”

By Summer’s uncertain look, she liked
Decker’s claim as much as Beck did.

“See you tonight at dinner?” Decker
asked.

“Eh. I’ll be at the cabin,” Beck replied.
“Keep him out of trouble, Summer.”

“Always.”

Distracted by his concern, Beck smiled and
strode away, out of the hospital and to a garden area beside the
hospital so he could unleash his magick without being seen. His fog
swept him away seconds later and left him in northern Idaho, near
the tree where he’d been staying.

Sam,
he called mentally to the forest creature.

While he waited, he bent to the ground to
communicate directly with the Light source beneath the school. Its
power and strength reassured him of the progress he had made, and
he moved to sit on a tree stump while waiting.

Sam, the yeti charged with helping to
managing the balance between Light and Dark, soon approached, his
auburn hair clashing with the forest.

“Hey, Sam,” Becks said.

Good morning, Beck. Did
you bring your rent?
The yeti’s question
was accompanied by a chortling laugh.

Beck grinned. “You’re getting chubby. Do you
really need more chocolate?”

Winter fat. Will melt in
spring like the ice.
Sam patted his lower
belly. He perched on a fallen log.
You are
better, but not yet you.

“Yeah. Lots going on,” Beck said, thoughts
drifting to Morgan. If he let his mind stay on her, he’d end up
confused again and desperate to convince her she was safer with
him. “We need to know everything there is to know about the soul
stone.”

I have told you all I knew. It is solid
Darkness and can hold a soul.

“Okay, then what can you tell me about
Morgan’s family. Why they were chosen. If they’re special like
mine.”

Sam cocked his head to the
side. His ugly face scrunched as he thought.
I am asking the others.

Beck waited anxiously. Sam’s connection to
the other yetis was telepathic, and if he sought their council, it
meant two things. One, there was knowledge and two, it was closely
held enough that it wasn’t to be given to the Master of Light
without permission from the community. Unlike his twin, Beck was
patient with Sam, aware of the creature’s role as a balancer.

Her family was chosen by
the Masters in a distant era,
Sam
confirmed.
They are special. Their fire
magick is unusually strong. It offers them a defense against the
soul stone.

“So it’s not just fire keeping the soul
stone from freezing them. It’s more.”

Yes. They do not fall prey to its evil and
are not corrupted by the Dark the way Dawn has been by
Bartholomew.

Beck’s heart and hope began to sink. “So
only she can do it,” he murmured. “The others in her family who are
Dark, it is natural Darkness stemming from their trials and not the
soul stone pulling them in?”

Natural Darkness, correct.

“Sam …” Beck rubbed his goatee and leaned
forward, elbows on knees. “This means we can’t be together.”

Unless she is a Light witchling. But she
would be the first fire witchling to go Light in five hundred years
and the most powerful since your ancestor, Tranin-the-Restorer.

“If she chooses Light in her trial, then
what?”

Fire is a purifier. A Light fire witchling
is the most powerful of all purifiers. She can cage the stone.

“Cage. Explain.”

Light can become a weapon
and fire has the potential burn away Darkness.
Sam motioned to the ground, where the Light source
was.

“I used Light magick against Decker when he
was stuck in the Darkness. I’ve been having trouble yielding it
that way again, though,” he said in frustration. “So if she goes
Light, she can bind the stone? Its Darkness?”

Sam nodded.
Yes.
With fire that
burns hotter than anything known to man. This ability has a name
from a long passed era: Whitefire. Whitefire purifies the Dark and
can hide the stone from the Dark and Dark witchlings, including
your brother. It cannot be near the Light source still as a
precaution, but there is less of a chance it will corrupt the Light
if she can bind it.

“Interesting.” But … not as useful as he had
hoped. Morgan had to turn Light first then learn to use Whitefire.
He knew better than to question Sam about Morgan’s trial; it was
forbidden for anyone, even a Master, to interfere with the trial of
a witchling. That no fire witchling in five hundred years had
chosen Light was a bad omen. His gaze went to the ground and he
traced the line separating the Light from the rest of the forest
with his eyes. “Dawn wants me, and the Light, gone.”

Dawn is under the influence of Bartholomew.
He can only be fully freed if there is no Light.

“If Morgan chooses Dark, we can’t be
together. If she passes, she helps me with the Light.”

Correct.

The chances weren’t good. The reality hurt
as much as losing her. Beck stood, agitated. “My hands are tied
until Morgan finishes her trial. What if it takes too long or Dawn
captures the stone? How do I protect the Light?”

The Light can defend itself as well. You can
build a shield around the Light source. It is risky and will
require my help.

Beck looked up, startled by the creature
volunteering to help. “If you’re willing to do that, then this is
worse than we think, isn’t it?”

It is. And … you need the help. My community
does not like us to be involved with human struggles, but I feel it
is sometimes necessary to interfere.

“Like you did with Summer the night she
jumped into Miner’s Drop.”

Yes. You all are so young
for such trials.
Sam’s voice was
sad.
Decker is stabilized by Summer, but
even he can be knocked off balance if he possesses the stone. Its
ability to corrupt will trump the Light in anyone except for you
and a fire witchling born into Morgan’s family.

“That’s really bad. And Bartholomew is
loose. Decker needs to rein him in, and I need to keep the stone
and Light safe.”

Yes.

“Decker … I don’t think he can tolerate
Bartholomew again.”

I have begun to suspect such as well. I’m
seeking out alternatives. Morgan is the key. Bartholomew will know
she has the potential to become a threat. She needs to be
safeguarded until she completes her trial.

Beck’s heart sped up as he considered how
powerful Morgan could potentially become, strong enough to help him
expand the Light, drive away Bartholomew and purify Darkness. While
he didn’t fully understand Whitefire or how it worked, the concept
amazed him. The girl who thought she was flawed and alone was the
most incredible witchling born in at least five hundred years.

And she’s mine.
His earth magick stirred at the resolve in his
thoughts.

The balance between Light and Dark had been
off for more than the twenty years where there was no Master or
Mistress of Dark. It had been off almost since the beginning, when
Bartholomew unleashed such evil as had never been known before,
only to be slayed by his son, a Master of Light who happened to be
a fire witchling. The pool of Light had failed to grow in a
thousand years and then, with no one to safeguard it for a quarter
of a century, began to shrink.

“I want her to choose Light so badly,” he
whispered, stricken by the bleak fate Sam painted of their future,
should any of them fail. But it wasn’t just his duty that made him
want her by his side. It was the instinct of belonging, the sense
she was destined to be beside him and together, they were meant to
right the shortage of Light in the world. “More than anything,
Sam.”

I know, young Master. But it is her
choice.

Desolation crept through him. There was no
timetable for her trial, either. She could spend years running from
Dawn and then face her trial or happen upon it tomorrow. The trial
for every witchling was different and for Morgan, unusual in every
way. Like Summer standing between Decker and the Darkness, Morgan
was going to effect the fate of every witchling in existence.

If Beck had learned anything from watching
Summer’s trials, Morgan’s relative importance likely meant her
trial was going to test her ability to help him. If she weren’t
strong enough in any aspect – mentally, physically, spiritually –
to help him save the Light, she was going to fail. It pained him to
admit that he really didn’t know if she’d pass, given everything
they’d been through to date.

“Okay. Help me shield the Light,” he
decided, aware of how determined Dawn was.

If we do, you realize only Light witchlings
will be able to cross the barrier.

“Good.”

There will be no refuge for the Dark
witchlings or those caught in-between. No refuge for Decker and if
Morgan chooses Dark, none for her either.

Beck met the yeti’s gaze, understanding
crossing his thoughts. “So if Dawn gets the stone and awakens
Darkness, then only the Light students who are on campus will be
spared.”

Potentially.

“The alternative is she or Bartholomew
destroys it trying to get to me.” He swallowed hard, unable to
fathom a world without Dark witchlings. “I don’t have a choice,
Sam. If I don’t protect what’s left of the Light in the world,
there will be nothing left to salvage if she succeeds.”

Then let us begin.

Not entirely convinced what he planned to do
was the right thing, Beck didn’t think there was any other option.
This was his fault. He had pissed off a woman who went above and
beyond the norm when it came to plotting her revenge. Dawn wasn’t
content with upsetting him; she wanted him destroyed and was
putting everything else at risk to see it come true.

I did this,
he thought. Shaking his head to rid it of such
thoughts, he knelt beside Sam, whose earth magick was more powerful
than that of ten earth witchlings combined.
I have to fix this.

Noah was hiding something. The instinct had
been tugging at Morgan since they left the hospital. Not yet
recovered from her ordeal, she sat on one of the two beds in the
hotel room, watching him stand at the window and stare out at the
night sky. He’d been withdrawn and quiet, his thoughts
elsewhere.

I don’t trust him.
Not all the way. He wasn’t going to hurt her, but
she had an idea of what secret he kept from how he ducked his head
every time someone mentioned his sister at the hospital. Morgan
understood wanting to take care of a sibling. Her brother was a
year younger than she was, and she had always protected
him.

But Dawn … Dawn was a monster.

You’re Beck’s
counterbalance, like it or not. Why aren’t you trying to help us
with the Light?
As hard as she tried, she
couldn’t get Decker’s insistence she was supposed to do more out of
her thoughts.

What more was there? She was staying away
from Beck and the Light and using her fire magick to prevent the
soul stone from hurting anyone around her. What was she missing?
What else could she do?

From her few weeks at the witchlings’
boarding school, she had learned that fire was a purifier. But it
had no affect on the Dark contained in the soul stone, which made
her think her magick wasn’t strong enough to purify anything.

Still … there had to be something she could
do to help Beck. Seeing him made her yearn to be with him, to
figure out some way of balancing her duty safeguarding the stone
with what he deserved: a Light witchling who could protect him and
the Light.

Morgan clutched the phone in her hand. Beck
had texted her the number for his new phone. If she messaged or
called, he’d come to her in seconds.

Whatever Noah was
planning, she was banking on him not being stupid enough to bring
Dawn
here
, but
she wasn’t certain he wasn’t going to give them away, even if by
accident.

“Noah, is something wrong?” she asked
him.

He blinked and shifted away from the window.
“No.”

He crossed the room to his bed and sat
heavily on a corner. “I need to go out.”

“Where?”

He glanced at her and put on his shoes
without answering.

“I think I know where,” she said. “Don’t,
Noah. You can’t reason with what she’s become.”