Page 71 of Zero Happily Ever Afters

Enchanter Evergreen had made quick work of several inmates, dropping them before the daze of freedom had worn off. Milo recalculated his plans, his objectives, every necessary step to keep Theodore Whitlock detained.

Lazarus leapt between inmates, slicing those in his path down with his hands that he wielded like blades. Watching the memory unfold, I wanted to shout a warning to Milo, but I couldn’t. And I hadn’t in the memory, so I watched the collision of my mind from two split pieces, hoping it’d reveal everything was okay. But Lazarus had dropped Enchanter Wadsworth and his reinforcements. Milo was surrounded. Alone. Theodore had escaped the MDC and arrived at Gemini Academy.

In the seconds that ticked as this memory unraveled, I feared the worst. Milo… No. I’d have sensed it the instant something fatal struck. What happened to Finn would never happen to someone I loved again. Not ever.

Milo dodged Lazarus’ open-handed strike, assessing the precision of telekinesis at play. While Enchanter Evergreen didn’t have a strategy for all the mysterious members of the Celestial Coven and had no insight into their magics, he possessed a mastery in combat and analyzing a situation. It’d taken a few evaded blows for Milo to gain an understanding of his enemy’s techniques, branch, the sharp cut of telekinesis woven like surgical blades along Lazarus’ fingertips.

With a plan in his mind, Milo grabbed Lazarus under the bicep, moving his foot between Lazarus’ legs and preparing to shift the direction of this fight before it turned into something deadly.

A crystalized blue light sparkled, the floor beneath Milo and Lazarus rippled, and both of them fell through a portal that sealed shut as quickly as it’d appeared.

With the sudden snap of Milo’s mind vanishing, hurled far away, my magic panicked. It wanted to run and search for Milo. I wanted to run and search. But dread held me still in this underground facility.

“What was that?” Amara scowled at Theodore.

“We don’t wanna face off against The Inevitable Future. Not yet at least.” Theodore grinned. “E was simply being resourceful as always.”

Theodore turned his head to meet the inmate who slinked behind him. A pale, scrawny man who swam in his orange jumpsuit, carefully stepping over blood and bits on the floor. His hands shimmered with trace amounts of magical residue. I knew that warlock.

He was one of the warlocks from Theodore’s crew, those who helped him attack my students last year. This one fought against Kenzo’s coven.

“Return Lazarus.” Amara pointed her bone staff at Ernesto, who swallowed his trepidation, pretending to be brave when in the company of Theodore.

“No,” he said, forcing the word from his mouth so it didn’t slip out sheepish and silent.

Milo’s thoughts whispered from afar, perhaps outside the MDC building. Wherever he’d landed, he’d done so safely. Ernesto hadn’t sent Milo far and couldn’t until his magic returned in full swing. Part of me wanted to follow the tiny thread of Milo’s voice, but I needed to know what would happen between The True Witch and Theodore Whitlock.

“Now.” Amara clenched her jaw, biting back visible annoyance.

“Couldn’t if I wanted,” Ernesto said. “Not with him fighting with Evergreen. The two are practically entangled. Bring one, we bring both.”

“Leave the clairvoyant to me,” Amara said, tilting her staff lower and moving it underneath Ernesto’s chin.

“Or we don’t listen to you because we don’t know you,” the girlish giggle that followed Darla’s voice had a harrowing effect.

I froze, searching everywhere for her silent footsteps. Even intangible and invisible as I was, even as I merely observed my own memory, the idea of her slicing me apart with shallow cuts again left a sinking horror in my gut.

The foul way she pounced from out of nowhere when stalking her prey. Truly haunting. She’d fought Tara’s coven last year when attacking the academy. It’d taken everything Tara had to defeat the warlock. And fortunately, Gael and King Clucks helped, too.

Darla appeared beside The True Witch, menacing smile on her face and twisted fantasies of bubblegum pink insides that she wanted to pluck from this strange woman she’d never met.

“Who even are you?” Darla’s eyes darted from the bone staff to the vital spots every witch harnessed their root magics from, calculating which she’d break, severe, or counter.

But how?

Darla possessed a deadly branch but required support tools to access it. Last time, she wielded two daggers etched with enchantments that helped connect and store her hex magic. Those enchantments also helped her store her counter hex into the blades her warlock comrades wielded, much like the one Theodore struck me with that nearly killed me. But with no weapon in Darla’s grip, I wondered how she planned to strike.Hopefully, the Celestial Coven and Theodore’s crew would slaughter each other, and Milo’s fears of the worst wouldn’t come to pass. My fears of the worst.

“We are the coven that infiltrated the most secure facility in your city.” Amara stood tall, boasting. “We are the witches who broke the system in minutes, we are the ones who face the most capable organization, and—”

“Who the fuck asked you to do all of that?” Theodore stretched tall, savoring a deep inhale of the bloody mess that poured into the room.

“You.” Amara trained her eyes on Theodore. “You demanded—”

“Demanded?” He cackled at the absurdity. “No, no, no. I merely warned your coven of their choices. My early release or execution.”

Theodore believed with no uncertainty that his father, Tara’s father, Tobias Whitlock, would have the thorn that was his son extracted soon enough.

Theories of his demise danced along the edges of outstretched branches, conspiracies behind the plots his father had organized, and a gnawing belief he’d end up dead before his trial began. Where the proof of these paranoid thoughts lurked, I dared not search, for they dwelled further inside Theodore’s open mind.

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