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  I shake my head. “Not brave.” I take his hand in mine, holding on tightly. “But I don’t want another war to start. I don’t want anyone to go through that again. What we’ve been reading about in the history books and the notebooks. The horrible things that have happened. I don’t want that to happen again. If preventing another war means that I need to do some fairly harmless experiments with some of my blood... That’s nothing. Nothing in comparison to the blood spilled if we don’t manage to stop all this.” If I need my lovers to become strong beyond their natural abilities to stop the war, then that’s worth it, I think... I swallow hard and Finn and Phoenix take me in their arms. It feels good here, with them, it feels right. I always feel best when I’m surrounded by the ones I love.

  Rune comes over, giving me a quick kiss on my cheek. “I’m going to shift again and then go on a little run with Bane and Kit. The moon is full. It’s pulling on Bane, and a little on me too. I think we need to blow off some steam. We won’t be far.” He winks and gives me another quick kiss.

  I nod, wanting to say something, but not sure what to tell him. To stay safe? In the forms they’re in now? Who could even hurt them?

  I watch as Rune shifts into his dragon form, his strong dragon body, big and powerful, and then the three of them bounce off towards the forest, disappearing over the fence, into the darkness.

  “Let’s go inside,” Finn whispers in my ear. “I think I’m hearing a whole stack of magic books calling for us.”

  I groan. “I think I’m done doing research for the night.”

  “Not those.” He laughs, his breath tickling the hairs on my neck. “I was thinking more along the lines of something more fun. Maybe a summoning spell or something? I don’t know. I feel like finding the weirdest spell we can find here and try to see if we can do it. Test our abilities, while having fun.”

  That sounds a little better, though I’m still not sure what he’s thinking of. Summoning spells? Something else I have no idea how to do.

  I can barely control the powers I already have, why should I try to find new ones already?

  * * *

  “We’ve got almost all the ingredients.” Phoenix stares at the stash of bottles and plants and other things in front of us. We’re trying to recreate the elixir that the last witch queen helped make and it turns out that this house is a great source of ingredients for it. “The last ones we can’t get here, though. They’re... They’re usually stored somewhere safe.” She sighs, frowning.

  “I know they’ve got them at the academy.” Finn plays with a bottle filled with some dark fluid, looking bored.

  Rune’s eyes flash as he snatches it from Finn’s hands, putting it out of his reach. “You know this how?”

  “Exploration?” Finn shrugs, moving his hands over the table like he’s trying to find something else to play with.

  “Right.” Rune sighs. “How are we going to get it here from there?” He leans back. “We can’t just walk onto the campus and expect them to hand us the stuff. There’s a reason we don’t get to play with it, a good reason...”

  “We can ask for it,” Bane pipes up.

  “And then?” Rune raises an eyebrow at him, not sounding convinced. “You think they will just ignore all safety procedures and give it to us, no questions asked?”

  Bane looks away from Rune as he shakes his head. “No, of course not. But it’s better than stealing it.”

  “We could ask your parents?” Kit pokes Bane in his side. “Maybe they’ll help us out?”

  “Fat chance. They’re not going to hand us some dangerous stuff just because we ask for it. Especially not Dad... He’s all about me following the rules and not getting special treatment.” Bane sighs. For a moment I wonder how much of that is his parents trying to convince themselves that they’re not giving him special treatment and how much they’re actually making him stick to the rules. But then Bane’s eyes shoot to me, a new spark in them. Uh-oh. “But I don’t have to ask them. We can ask Litha’s parents.”

  “What?” I blink. Not where I was expecting this conversation to go.

  He shrugs. “Think about it, it makes sense. They get to go just about anywhere on campus and I bet they know what it is that we need, where it’s stored.”

  I sigh. “I’m not going to ask them to do something dangerous, or something that would get them in trouble with the people who kept us safe my whole life, like your dad.” I level a look at him.

  “Anyone else got a good idea?” Phoenix drones. “I actually like the idea of asking Bane’s parents, or more specifically, his mum. She’s the one who offered this place for us to stay at and prepare for the upcoming war. She seems to be aware of more about all of this than any of our parents. It’s definitely worth a try. Plus, she can use the same door to come here as we used, without having to get anyone else involved. She’d be the fastest way to get the stuff.” She meets Bane’s eyes, her gaze steady, giving me butterflies in my stomach at her determination, her leadership. “If we give her a good enough reason, she’ll give it to us, as long as she can give other people a viable excuse as to why we needed something so dangerous.”

  Bane groans, but grabs his phone. “I guess you’re right. Just... She can be...”

  “Strict?” Phoenix laughs. “Pretty sure you tend to deserve it when that happens.”

  “Not true.” He grumbles, looking around the table, trying to get the others to agree with him. “Right?”

  All the guys just stare at him, smirking.

  Finn even goes so far as to raise his eyebrow to him. “In what world do you not deserve it?” Then he looks to Phoenix. “You’re right. All the things we need are on campus. If we want to get our hands on it as soon as possible, we’re going to have to use whatever advantage we have.”

  “I give in. So, how are we going to do it? Which things specifically are we going to ask for, how much of it and what’s going to be our excuse?” Bane pulls the list of ingredients closer to him. “We’ll have to contact my mum in a secure way and then find a way to transport it here safely.”

  “Actually...” Something keeps niggling in my mind, something Rune said before. Is it my blood that has the special properties, or is it something that runs in the family? “I don’t know how many people know about my parents being in this world now. But if Bane’s mum gets us the ingredients, maybe my mum can bring them here? If my blood is the way to undo the anti-shifting elixir for dragons, maybe my blood, or maybe even my mum’s blood, works on this elixir too?” I shrug, feeling a little awkward. “And my dad was known for his magic and offensive skills, and my mum was pretty good back in the day too. The elixir may give us some advantage, if we can find a way to use it, but secretly being trained by two people who know how to fight and who know how to use magic in fights, that’s an even better advantage, right? And if people don’t know that they were at the campus, then nobody would miss them and nobody would guess that they’d be with us now.” I watch as they all look at each other, a couple of uncomfortable looks being exchanged between them and I sigh. “Stop thinking about sex. Honestly. It’s not like this house doesn’t have doors, and some of us have magic which would hide anything indecent.” I smirk. “And we can just put them in one of the rooms furthest away from us, just to be safe.”

  “Litha is right.” Phoenix nods. “We can’t ask any of our parents to come help us. So Litha’s parents are our best bet, as they don’t have any responsibility to report to anyone and they probably won’t be missed.”

  “Right.” Bane lets out a long breath. “So, how are we doing this? Email? Text? Video call?”

  “Video call sounds the safest.” Phoenix already opens her laptop, turning it to him. “Can you connect to your account?”

  “What are we going to tell them? Why do we need these ingredients?” Finn stands up, frowning, walking from one side of the room to the other. “It’s not like we can say ‘hey, we’d like these because they’re for some dangerous ancient elixir we’re trying to recreate�
��. What’s our story?”

  I shrug. “Stick to the truth, most of it. We need it for an elixir that we found in one of the books, and we think will be useful to us. They don’t need to know what elixir it is exactly, and it’s not like these ingredients don’t have hundreds of uses. Right?”

  “Ehhh...” Finn pulls a face. “They do have very specific uses. Like blocking powers or even knocking someone out cold... Remember, they store them on campus for research purposes, but very few students ever get their hands on them in the years they’re at the academy, that’s how dangerous they are.”

  Right. I keep forgetting that part. We’ve been talking and reading about the elixir for so long that I kind of forgot that it’s probably one of the most dangerous things any of us have ever made or will ever make. It feels so... normal to talk about it, but the uses of the elixir are scary and potentially fatal, which is why nobody seems to know about its existence.

  Chapter 5 - Bane

  Mum wasn’t so keen on getting us the ingredients we asked for, but after explaining to her that we found something important but that we couldn’t tell her exactly what it was without getting her in trouble, she finally agreed. Though, only after we all promised, on screen, that we’d stay safe, follow the safety procedures when we used them and that we weren’t going to make something that would kill us. Which we all did, even awkwardly, and that seemed good enough for her.

  Throughout the call, she seemed exhausted, but every time I asked about it, she would deflect the questions. Which is never a good sign. But, since we were hiding this from her, I couldn’t really push her on whatever was going on on her side, it didn’t seem right. We’ll find out from Litha’s parents soon enough anyway, hopefully.

  They’ll be arriving any moment now, through the portal door, and that has jolted everyone into action, getting properly dressed and cleaning the house a little. Though, if our parents spent time here in their late teens and early twenties, they probably know what a house full of eighteen-year-olds looks like after a week or two without supervision, or much daily structure.

  I’m waiting at the door to the locked room. I promised Mum that I wouldn’t open it until Litha’s parents had closed the portal to the academy and had opened the protection circle on this side to come through the door.

  So many layers of protection, it almost feels ridiculous, but I guess that everything has gotten more dangerous since we left, or they’re just trying to keep us safe. Either way, the waiting is annoying...

  Litha appears next to me and I slide my arm around her waist, pulling her close. She’s wearing one of her own tops today, and even a bra, which is kind of obvious as the straps stick out from the wide neck of her shirt.

  I grin, kissing her bare shoulder. “Decided to actually get dressed for them? You’re almost dressed up like this. I think this is the most I’ve seen you wear in a long time.”

  She smiles, shrugging a little, her cheeks pinking. “Seemed appropriate. And don’t want my parents to think we live in total anarchy here.”

  I chuckle. “But, we do.”

  She sticks out her tongue. “They don’t need to know that. I don’t want to spoil their idea of their ‘little girl’ just yet.” Then she puts her head on my shoulder. “Are they here?”

  I nod slowly, using my wolf hearing to hear what’s going on. “They opened the door on this side. They’re getting things from the campus to here. I’m hearing bags and boxes or something.”

  “More food?” She stands up straight, her eyes brightening. “That would be nice. I’m kind of done with beans and veggies right now.” Her eyes glitter with excitement and I can’t help my smile as my fingers linger on her back, her body so nice and warm.

  “Let’s hope.” We kind of need to go shopping again, but we’ve been so distracted by the research that nobody has taken the time to go to town for more food. And I’m not sure the others would really appreciate it if Rune and I caught some rabbits or deer, or something else with a little meat on it. We wouldn’t mind doing it, I’m sure, but I know that some are a little squicky about where their food comes from, or who kills it...

  I can hear Litha’s dad close the portal door, and then he opens the protection circle on the other side of the door.

  Finally.

  The wait is over. Let’s hope they’ve got what we need, and some extra food...

  * * *

  Litha’s mum looks around the room where we collected all the information from the notebooks I found. We’ve been able to figure out most of the family lines that were being tracked until fairly recently, fairly recently being eighteen years ago. Sadly enough, most of the family lines have been wiped out, killed off, disappeared, simply no longer here. Which almost makes it feel like a miracle that our families even got this far, that we survived all of that. Especially since I’ve seen some of the things that were supposed to happen to some of our ancestors, but luckily didn’t happen... Scary shit.

  “How far back does it go?” Litha’s mum slides her finger along a couple of prophecies from a single family.

  “The last war.” I feel a little strange, being in here on my own with Litha’s mum, but the others are doing other things, like preparing a room to make the elixir in, and it seemed important that she saw this.

  She slowly nods, her eyes sad. “Right.” Then she looks at me. “You had a question?”

  I nod, picking up one of the notebooks. “We have no idea who wrote these. But Litha recognised the symbols in the back, she said you taught her those?”

  She looks at the page. “Yeah. I taught her, but Litha’s dad actually taught them to me, I think.” She shrugs. “I picked them up during high school. I don’t have an exact memory of when I first encountered them. If that’s what you’re curious about.”

  Litha’s dad? “Is her dad related to someone close to the highest priestess?”

  That makes her think for a moment. “Depends on what you call ‘close’. His father was part of the previous highest priestess’ coven. Not the high coven, but her local coven. But then, all our parents were. It’s how things work, as you know.”

  I nod. Witches tend to live within other communities, just as Phoenix’ family lives within the werewolf community, and they have local covens from witch families who live nearby and then also things like the high coven. And since witch families tend to live in the same area for generations, lots of generations of families grow up together.

  For a moment, I wonder how different everything would have been if Litha had grown up with all of us, with Phoenix at her side. Would she still have been this same girl? Would she still have been this much of a fighter, even if she doesn’t know how to use her magic? Or would she have been a kick-ass witch who can control her powers already? A witch to be feared because of her strength...

  Litha’s mum puts the book down. “Was that what you wanted to know, where the symbols come from? Or is there more?”

  I glance at the door and take the chance, better ask now than constantly worry about it. “What’s going on at the academy? Mum wouldn’t say anything. Phoenix’ mum seemed very busy too, and she also wouldn’t tell us anything.” I take a deep breath. “Will there be another war? Are they planning for one?” I need to know. I just... I need to know.

  Her face falls and she sits down in a chair, her arms on the table. After a few moments, she nods slowly. “They’re not planning on being the first one to attack, they’re waiting for the fae king to make another move. But yeah, they’re preparing for another war.”

  “Is the Academy in danger? Will we be safe here?”

  She only looks up at me, her eyes sad, eyes so similar to Litha’s that I can read them easily. No. We won’t be safe here.

  I sit down too, trying to sort my thoughts. We’ve known for years, basically all our lives, that a war could be coming soon, everything was pointing in that direction. But to have it confirmed, that’s something else entirely. My heart is heavy, my stomach churning. “Is there anything we can d
o?”

  “What’s your plan?” Litha’s mum looks at me not like an adult looks at a kid, but how you look at someone who is your equal. “You didn’t ask for those ingredients for nothing. And you showed me this room with a reason. What’s your plan?”

  I let out a short laugh, though it’s not filled with joy. “If we had one, we’d be working towards it. We have no idea what to do. We’re running in circles, lost in the research and data from the past, but we’ve got no plan for the future.”

  Litha’s mum is quiet for a while, so quiet I feel like I need to ask her something, something specific. Something I feel I’ve never had, and may never get.

  “What’s it like to have a future? What’s it like to have dreams of a future you get to choose for yourself?” The words rush out of me, and I worry she may not even understand them.

  But when she smiles at me, her eyes are warm. She taps on the notebook between us, the notebook with prophecies about our families. “I have no idea. Let me know what it’s like when you get to that place. We are never free to choose our own future, not fully, there are always expectations from your family, from your friends, from your teachers. You never have full control of your future. But you’ve got a chance to change everyone’s future, right now, by making sure we have one.” She stands up, going over to one of the family lines. “This family. I used to know them. They lived near me when I was young, they were in the same local coven as my parents were. The whole family disappeared overnight one summer. I remember everyone looking for them, but never finding them. Is this true? This prophecy?”

  I get up, not sure which family she’s talking about, but then nod. “Yeah. At least, as far as the notebooks tell us. And we were able to confirm it with newspaper articles from the human world.” The family fled because they were scared of something, it wasn’t fully described in the pages of the notebook of what exactly, only that they die in a freak accident. In the end, all six were found dead at a crash site in the human world.