The Promise (The Coven Series) (26 page)

“You
don’t remember?” Billy sounded shocked.
 
“You did this to her, Kay.”

“I
did not!” she denied.
 
“I would never do
anything to hurt CJ!”

“Stop,”
I muttered hoarsely.
 
“She
doesn’t…remember.”

“What?”
Jeff looked at me in confusion.
 

“The
spell…it…made her…forget.”
 
I reached for
the glass of water.
 
My throat was on
fire.
 

“CJ,
where did you learn that kind of spell?” Billy asked.
 
“They don’t teach us that until years after we
graduate from the Junior Coven.”

I
shrugged.
 
No way was I telling them Dad
had cast it on me.
 
My stomach cramped up
something fierce just at the thought of it.
 
My instincts didn’t think it was a good idea to mention that little fact
and neither did I.
 
“Don’t know.
 
It just sorta came to me.”

He
frowned.
 
I could see the wheels turning
in his head.
 
I wished I knew what Coven
Boy was thinking.
 

“CJ,
what did you make me forget?” Kay frowned at me.
 

“Your dream.
 
You’ve
dreamed of being burnt at the stake since you were five.
 
Tonight, it was really bad.
 
Something was wrong.
 
I don’t know, but I was really afraid.
 
I knew if you didn’t wake up in that minute,
you might never wake up.”

“Dammit,
CJ, do you know how dangerous that was?” Jeff glared down at me with furious
eyes.
 
“You didn’t just make her
forget.
 
You took it into yourself.
 
You could have died!”

“I’m
fine,” I tried to soothe him.
 
He was
right, though.
 
Kay almost had died.
 
If I hadn’t taken it from her, she probably
would have.
 
I don’t think the dream was
ever her burden to bear.
 
That’s why it
was so hard for her.
 
It was my burden
and my dad had taken it from me.
 
Kay and
I were connected.
 
We always had
been.
 
The dream must have somehow transferred
to her when its path to me was blocked.
 
I knew I was right, the same way I’d known something would happen to her
if I didn’t wake her up.
 
I just didn’t
know how I knew.
 

“You’re
not fine,” Jeff snarled.
 
“You can barely
talk, you’re shaking, and you look like you’re ready to pass out.”

Out
of the corner of my eye I saw Kay and Billy exchange a look and then glance
back at us.
 
If they didn’t know how Jeff
felt before, they did now.
 
Great.
 

“Really,
Jeff, I’m fine.
 
Just let me up.”
 
I pushed away from him and tried to
stand.
 
My head started to spin.
 
Okay, so maybe I wasn’t up to standing just
yet.
 

“Sit!”
he shouted and caught me before I pitched forward.
 
“I swear, CJ, sometimes I think you’re the
most stubborn person I know.”

“CJ,
Jeff’s right,” Kay threw her raven hair over her shoulder.
 
“Just sit still for a minute.”

“Fine,”
I agreed, “but I want some answers.”

“Answers?”
Billy’s voice became stilted, guarded.

 
“I want to know about the curse.”

Kay’s
mouth dropped open.
 
“How do you know
about that?”

Billy’s
eyes skimmed to Jeff.
 
I couldn’t let
them think Neighbor Boy gave away trade secrets.
 
“The dream.”

“The dream?”
 
Jeff
frowned.

“I
saw everything, heard everything.”
 
I
felt it all, from the first piece of rotten food to the heat of the fire as it
burned and blackened my skin.
 
Stop it,
CJ, I told myself.
 
Focus
now, panic later.

“CJ,
I can’t tell you about that,” Kay told me and took my hand.
 
“I would tell you everything if I could.”

“Why not?”

“Do
you know what a binding spell is?”
 
I
nodded for her to continue.
 
“We can’t
say a word.
 
Literally.
 
The spell prevents us from discussing it with
anyone outside the Coven.”

 
“Doesn’t matter, I guess,” I sighed.

“Why
doesn’t it matter?” Billy all but snarled.
 
Yup, Coven Boy was starting to realize I knew more than I was supposed
to.

“I
was there, remember?
 
I heard the curse,
Billy.
 
It’s a little muddled right now,
but eventually I will remember it all.”

“The
dream, it was more than a nightmare wasn’t it?” Jeff pulled me closer.

“It’s
a memory,” I agreed.
 

“Memory?”
Kay asked, puzzled.
 
“CJ, what’s going on?”

“Yeah,
CJ, what’s going on?” Billy glowered at me.

“You
tell me, Billy.”

Kay
looked from me to Billy.
 
Her face went
from puzzled to
concerned
.
 
“Billy?”

“She
knows things she’s not supposed to,” he snapped.
 
“How did you learn about transference spells,
CJ?
 
They don’t even begin to teach us
that until we’ve been a full member of the Coven for at least five years.”

“I
told you, I don’t know.
 
It just came to
me.”

“Bullshit,”
he growled.
 
“Who’s teaching you?”

He
took a step toward me, anger written in every movement of his body.
 
The panic I’d been trying to keep at bay
leapt to life.
 
He looked angry enough to
do me some real harm to get the answers he wanted.
 
My stomach knotted.
 
A strong wind surrounded me and spread
outward, catching Billy and throwing him backwards into the wall.
 
He struck his head and didn’t move.

Kay
jumped up and ran over to him.
 
What had
I done?
 

“Is
he okay?” Jeff asked.
 
I gazed in
horror.
 

“He’s
breathing.
 
I think she just knocked him
out,” Kay sighed in relief.
 
“CJ?”

What
was I supposed to tell her?
 
I didn’t
have any of the answers.
 

“Look,
CJ, it’s just you, me, and Jeff,” Kay said softly and rejoined us.
 
“You can tell us.”
 

“She’s
been able to invoke the Elements since she was six,” Jeff blurted.

I
glared up at him.
 
I’d told him that in
confidence.

“CJ,
is that true?” Kay demanded.
 
“And how
does Jeff know and not me?”

“I’ve
been helping her,” he confessed.
 
“I
might not be able to tell her anything, but the rules don’t say I can’t teach
her the basics.”

Kay’s
expression became worried.
 
“Jeff, if
anyone finds out…”

“They
won’t,” I said.
 
“Unless
you tell them.”

She
sighed.
 
“You know I’m not going to say
anything.”

“The
reason I told you is because I was thinking.
 
Do you remember what they told us about people born to be true Coven
leaders?”

Kay
frowned.
 
“Yeah, but I don’t see what
that has to do with anything, Jeff.”

“It
has to do with everything,” he argued.
 
“She’s…”

“Wait,”
I interrupted.
 
“What are you talking
about?”

“A
true Coven leader is born with certain gifts and affinities,” Jeff
explained.
 
“Being able to manipulate the
Elements at an early age is a sign of it.
 
They have an inborn spelling ability too.
 
CJ, you wrote that truth spell when the
combined efforts of the Coven couldn’t.”

“Shit,”
Kay whispered.
 
“You could be right.”

“I
don’t understand,” I said.
 
What were
they going on about?

“CJ,
you were born to be a Coven leader,” Jeff smiled.
 

“But
I don’t
wanna
be a Coven leader.”

“Doesn’t
matter,” Jeff grinned.
 
“It’s who you
are, what you are.”

“That
won’t protect her from the curse,” Kay said grimly.
 

“But
it might give her a fighting chance,” he replied, still grinning.
 

“Maybe,”
Kay conceded.
 

“So
the curse does have something to do with me.”

Kay
opened her mouth to say something and like Jeff, she nearly choked.

“It’s
okay,” I told her.
 
“I know you can’t say
anything specific about it.
 
Don’t
try.
 
You’ll hurt yourself.”

“CJ,
I’m sorry,” she said in frustration.
 
“I
wish I could tell you everything.”

“I
know.”
 
She sounded so helpless, like she
really wanted to tell me everything.
 
Was
I wrong?
 
Should I tell her everything?
 
She might be able to help me make sense of
the diary.

The
pain hit swift and hard.
 
I nearly
screamed at the intensity of the agony that tore through my stomach.
 
Okay, so telling Kay wasn’t such a good
idea.
 

“CJ,
what it is, what’s wrong?” Jeff fretted.

“Stomach
cramp,” I muttered.
 
“Can we just go
home?”

“Sure,
hon.
 
We’ll drop the Chance’s anchor and
come back for it tomorrow.”
 
He hauled
Billy up and dragged him out of the cabin and up the stairs.

“Hon?”
Kay’s eyes were wide and smiling.
 
Leave it to her to forget the whole dream
issue and plow ahead into what she considered the more important topic—boys.

I
rolled my eyes.
 
“Kay.”

“Okay,”
she laughed.
 
“He’d be good for you,
though, CJ.
 
He’s been in love with you
forever.”

“I
know.”

“You
know?”

“He
told me.”

“And?”
Kay demanded.
        

“And nothing.
 
I have
a boyfriend,
Kay, that
I love.
 
Which I still can’t believe.
 
Sometimes I wonder if what I’m feeling isn’t
just some kind of infatuation.
 
I’ve only
known him for a short while, but…”

“But
you love him,” Kay finished.
 
“Love is
not something you can control, CJ.
 
It
can creep up on you, build out of friendship, or hit you the moment you meet
someone.
 
Don’t question yourself so
much.
 
Trust your instincts.
 
They’ll never lead you in the wrong
direction.”

If
only she knew what my instincts were saying about her.

“We’re
ready!” Jeff hollered from up top.

“Finally,”
I sighed.
 
My stomach was killing
me.
 
Just being near Kay right now was
causing me all sorts of pain.
 

Billy
regained consciousness on the ride home.
 
He glared at me the whole way.
 
Kay was quiet.
 
I was glad to drop
them both off.
 

“Are
you okay?” Jeff asked when he pulled up in front of my house.
 

“Yeah.”
 
Maybe I could
get Dad to tell me why he took the dream away.
 
“Can I ask you something, Jeff?”

When
he nodded I continued.
 
“What’s the
difference between a binding spell and a blood oath?”

“The
binding spell is the kinder of the two.”

“Why?”

“A
binding spell keeps a person from talking or doing something.
 
It can even bind your ability to use
magic.
 
A blood oath is different.
 
You take an oath to protect whatever secret you’re
keeping.
 
By invoking a blood bond, you
swear on your life to never betray that oath.
 
A person who does and reveals the truth will die before the light of the
next day.”

Dad
would die?
 
No way could I let that
happen.
 
I vowed never to ask him another
question.
 
I refused to lose someone
else.

“Hey.”
 
Jeff took my hand.
 
“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,”
I lied.
 
“I’m just tired.
 
I need sleep.
 
It’s after three in the morning.”