Night Witch (Book 1) ✔️

13 - The Catalyst

The next morning Kit won't look at me as I help her shuttle and smash all our bags into the back of my car and then bundle her into the passenger seat instead of letting her walk like normal. I had locked the house and set all the wards to high alert after shutting everything off. I plan on calling the power company and having service suspended after Kit has an incident, knowing she needs me to show her a little faith, that watching me seal our fate before anything happens would crush her.

I'm so certain I've got her figured out that I jump when her hand reaches over to tug one of mine off the steering wheel. I let her, with a frown, until I realize she's gripping my hand so hard I might lose feeling in my fingers. I squeezed back. Hard.

We pull up to the drop off lane too quickly but I park, pulling the hand break. We sit there, ignoring all the loud horns and cars slipping past us. We sit there as her eyes cloud over and I feel a pulse of anxiety waft off her and expand until the car is drowning in it. Pulling in a hard breath, I run a soft hand down her cheek.

"Hey, kid, it's going to be alright."

The fear is suddenly gone as are the clouds in her eyes. Instead when she turns back to me there's a glint of anger. "I'll see you after school."

I snort.

But, I don't say anything as she steps out of the vehicle and strides into school like a woman on a mission. I grin, knowing that stride. The grin slips as I realize that that strength of will is probably about to be crushed and there's nothing good about watching a girl I love get crushed for what won't be the first and definitely not the lasttime.

Gripping the wheel I leave only to park illegally just across the street. Not that anyone gives a crap with all the other stuff the Downwind is plagued with. Biding my time, I pull out my phone and scroll through the map trying to find the best route up to Mystica but it doesn't distract me.

I toss my phone of the passenger seat, bite my nails and just stare at the front of the school. That doesn't distract me either. A few hours pass and I have to admit I'm impressed but bored out of my mind. I've just about given in to banging my head against the steering wheel when it happens.

It's near lunch and students begin milling around outside and gathering at tables set in the sun off to the right near a large grassy field. There's a moment of absolute silence and it seems like time freezes, then a piercing scream and students rush forward. In my gut I know that scream and I'm out of the car sprinting towards it before it stops reverberating.

There's a waist high chain link fence and I jump it without the aid of magic which even I didn't know I could do until my feet hit the ground on the other side. But that doesn't phase me and the ground blurs under my feet. I'm moving as fast as I can when a second scream sounds, this one of anger,  I know I'm not quite fast enough.

I give up on reaching Kit and focus on containment. Skidding to a halt I pull a thin piece of leather from an interior pocket of my leather jacket and lay it flat on my palm. Rattling off an incantation I scratch my finger on one of the myriad of buckles hard enough to draw blood and then draw a perfect circle on the leather.

"Blood of blood, I give thee this sacrament such that no harm may cross this line."

Not exactly a normal use for the spell which is generally cast to protect someone from a blood relative trying to kill them. It was also a bit archaic but it was good enough to stop an untrained witch from leveling her school building on accident.

After I feel the enchantment take hold, a light buzzing against my palm, I throw the leather on the ground. Pointing two fingers at it, I flick my wrist and let magic carry it to land at Kit's feet. I can't see her, not through the crowd, but I let the bond that pulses between us guide the scrap.