Life's A Witch

Chapter Thirty

It took Sascha over twenty minutes to pump magical energy back into Asher after he'd been depleted of it by Samuel's spell. Luckily, it turned out that the magic had only grazed Asher's shoulder, and he hadn't received the full force of the hex. We guessed this was the only reason he wasn't dead right now. Once I'd seen that the Parrishables were leaving as quickly as they could, I knelt down next to Asher and found that he wasn't breathing and performed CPR on him until the others could reach us.

Jasmine said that I was yelling the whole time, screaming for Asher to "wake the hell up," her words, not mine. I can't actually remember what I said out loud, but I know that in my head, I was pleading for the universe to give me more time with him. The thought of losing another person I cared about was too much to bear and I knew that with the fight over, I'd have more time than I wanted to process all the loss I'd been through lately.

But as I watched, Sascha brought Asher back. I couldn't see anything physically happening, of course, since the magic was all internal, but his cheeks started to gain a little color and finally he opened his eyes and stared straight into mine.

"Did I ever tell you that you're drop-dead gorgeous?" were the first words out of his mouth. Then he flashed me that sideways smile of his and I nearly jumped him with joy.

But I restrained myself and rolled my eyes instead. "Boy, do you know how to sweet-talk a girl," I said sarcastically, but took his hand in mine. We both knew what the other had done. That we'd chosen to help our families over each other, but we also knew it was the right thing to do. Now the plan was to make him a part of that family by welcoming him and his sister into the Cleri as official members.

Not that this news went over well with everyone in the coven. True to form, Fallon complained for hours about it, threatening to leave if we invited traitors into the group. But then Asher showed Fallon a few spells in private, ones that they refused divulge to me, and suddenly Fallon was Asher's biggest fan. He began to follow Asher around like his minions did him, and I realized how much he was probably missing his dad. Not that his dad was unusually powerful, but he and Fallon had had a really great relationship. Now that Asher was the oldest male witch in our coven, Fallon seemed to need someone to look up to. And Asher was happy to oblige now that the immediate threat against his sister was gone.

Speaking of, we'd found Asher's sister, Abby, wandering around in the woods behind the cabin after having been abandoned by one of the Parrishables in his haste to flee. She'd barely said ten words to me. In all fairness, she hadn't said much to Asher either, but according to him, she was always on the quiet side. I could only imagine how being kidnapped and held by a magical lunatic who killed your parents would cause you to retreat even further into yourself. In fact, I admired her for even being able to function after all she'd been through.

Still, I hoped Abby would eventually let down her guard and take the time to get to know me. From what Asher said about her, I think we'd really get along. Things were likely to get better once there was a little distance between us and what had happened with the Parrishables.

There was no concrete evidence to show that Samuel and his coven were gone for good, of course, but we all believed that he was gone for now. The threat of war was over and we could go back to our regularly scheduled lives. Whatever that meant.

Most likely, the bulk of us would be sent to live with relatives—aunts, grandparents, family friends, not all of which were magically inclined—who would all happily take us in. I was nearly eighteen and figured I could probably duck the authorities until I was able to take care of myself. And with Asher and his sister right down the block, it wasn't like I was going to be alone. I could finish up my last year of high school, maybe apply for colleges, cheer. All my plans from before were sort of up in the air considering what I'd been through. The way I looked at the world was different now. I was going to need to do some serious soul searching now that I didn't have to look over my shoulder anymore.