Witches in Training (#2 in the Witches Trilogy) [rewrites ongoing]

Chapter Thirteen: Escape Plan

VINNI

Russell is still flushed and sweaty from his near death encounter.

Sarah still looks like she's not quite in this world, eyes grim but unfocused.

Kieran and Eliz continue to finish up each healing job, silent.

Me? I'm shocked. That makes two deaths in less than a month and both were thirteen year old girls. First Charlotte, stabbed by a bone blade at the peak of vulnerability. Now Paige, disintegrated like her life meant nothing. It scares me. Sarah says Paige's death was instant, though. No suffering. We, however, can only hope.

"It was powerful magic," said Sarah, "phoenix or dragon fire."

A hand closed around my heart when she said that. "Phoenix fire?"

"Not Alix," Sarah rushed to assure me, "it was a flame infected by dark magic. Powerful, effective, and instant."

Apparently, being able to talk to ghosts (real ones, not in living bodies like Jess) is part of the Addonexus' job description, since Addonexus loosely translates into 'bringer of death' in Latin. Most people find it synonymous with a death omen, but really it just means she's a bridge between the dead and the living.

The dead. How has it gotten to a point where deaths of people I know don't destroy me, don't eat me up from the inside? Have I really become so accustomed to the brutality of magic, the ugly side of it, that it means nothing to me anymore? I try to convince myself it's because I never really knew Charlotte and Paige. If it were Mel or Van or Sri or any of them, I would be broken... wouldn't I?

But deep down, I know I've changed, even if it's just a little.

"Vera..." Kieran murmurs quietly, gazing at the spot where Paige had lain. "This is going to tear her apart."

Tear her apart. But apparently, he's as collected as I am, staring at death like he sees it every day. Kieran intrigues me. There's a lot more to this boy and his past.

He's right, though. Vera will be dealt a serious blow with Paige's death. It seems that the weaker, younger, more vulnerable ones are being attacked, but then again they were going for Kieran, who is neither weak nor vulnerable, if they've done their research. Kieran can handle himself... but can Vera? The thought chills me. What if they decide to go after Vera? And who, really, is 'they'? Lynette clearly isn't working alone. She's got backup. That tattoo on her hand. The X. What does it mean? What are they trying to achieve?

A million and one questions race through my head. Is Vera okay? Of course she is. She was-is-with the others. Jess. De. Mel. Wein. Even Louis. People I would trust with my life.

"Let's get back to the others," Russell says wearily, "there's no point staying here any more."

No, there isn't. The sky has cleared, and our flight is fairly pleasant. Or it would have been, if I wasn't weighed down by all the problems in light of the recent event. I had just gotten the confirmation I needed-at a price-that breaking out, and yes, destroying this place, was the only option I had left.

Someone nudges me. It's Kieran, who's controlling the water in the clouds to ride on them. He bobs along on the wind current with a sombre expression, looking, again, too old for his age. "You okay?" I ask. "It looked like you hit your head pretty hard."

Kieran doesn't even allow that question a verbal response-he waves my concern away uninterestedly. "You don't think this was a random ambush, do you?"

I hesitate about sharing my thoughts with a twelve year old, but realise Kieran may know more about some things than I do. "No, I don't... it was too prepared. They seemed absolutely sure about what and who they were up against."