Tempest: The Teen Witch Chronicles, #3

Prologue

It was still dark. It was that moment just before sunrise when the world held its breath for the new day and the horizon was already tinged silver, but it was just a promise, a whisper. I sat on the cold sand at Pebble Beach, one of the few spots that had a thick patch of sand on it. A lot of the beach was strewn with pebbles, earning the beach its name, but some patches were comfortable to sit on, making the beach still a beach rather than just a cove or a bay .

I’d had to get out of the house. My magic had woken me up, humming through my body, making my skin burn so hot I thought I would set my sheets on fire.

It wouldn’t have been the first time. Being out here in the open made me feel better. And it wasn’t so hot out here. The air was thick with the taste of the ocean, almost wet on my skin, and it was what I needed.

I sat with my fingers in the sand, my mind somewhere else. So much had happened since I arrived in Safety Beach, and I wasn’t the girl who left California anymore.

I could argue that I was more myself now that the coven had taken me under their wing and were teaching me how to be the witch I was meant to be.

But sometimes, I still wondered how this had all happened. One day I had been a normal teenager, trying my best to fit in. And the next, I was working hard to stand out.

Weird much?

The wind picked up, and I shivered a little. I had pulled on a hoody, but sitting on the cold sand had already cooled me down so much. The fire in my veins, the magic that was locked inside of me, obviously had only created an illusion of heat. I rubbed my arms and stood.

When I turned to leave, the abandoned house loomed over me, dark and sinister in the night. I shivered. I always felt like someone was watching me from around here. Maybe not in the house, but from the trees around it. I wasn’t sure if it was a friend or an enemy, either.

The witches had once told me they were watching me.

I turned down against the wind that had picked up again and started walking toward the path that led through the trees back to the main road, the only way for me to access Pebble Beach. But just before I stepped into the thick of the trees, I saw movement in the windows of the abandoned house.

I frowned, stopping in my tracks. That couldn’t be, could it? No one had been in the abandoned house for years, it seemed. The house was squat, sinking in on itself with neglect, the wood weathered by the sea spray and salty air. It was nothing more than a memory of a time gone by.

But I couldn’t help myself. I had to be sure. I stepped back out of the trees, staying close to them for coverage, and studied the house. The movement had been in one of the bottom windows.

For a moment, I couldn’t see anything, and I was just about to turn away and go home, when I saw it again. It was barely a movement, something so quick it was just like a blur. A dark shadow, moving from one room to the next.

It was so fast, in fact, that I probably imagined it.

But something in me was on high alert. My magic reacted. It danced on my skin and grew around me in the air. It was responding to something in that house. And I had to know what it was. I started toward the house, slowly moving in the thick shadows of the trees, keeping almost right against the dune that separated the beach from the rest of the world.

Was it a good idea to go to an abandoned house in the dark? No. Logic told me this was how people went missing. And my instincts were shouting at me, too.

But something about that shadow drew me, and the closer I got to the house, the more magic was in the air. Not just my magic anymore, but something else, too. It was thick, and it pressed against me like a giant hand.

An icy hand.

I knew I had to get out of there. But I was still being drawn closer. Curiosity? Yes, but it was something more than that.

When I reached the front door, it was ajar. I knew that this door was usually closed; I had inspected the house close enough to know this. I had made it this far before running away.

But this time, I didn’t turn around and leave like every other time I had dared to come this close. This time, I stepped onto the porch. It creaked under my weight, and I felt the magic around me shift, recognizing me, but not as an intruder.

I pushed gently against the door, and it swung open. It didn’t make a sound, as I expected it would. The dark mouth of the house gaped at me, ominous, a warning. I had to get out of there.

But instead, I put one foot in front of the other and walked into the house, letting it swallow me.

Inside, I looked around. The place must have been amazing once. A staircase led up to the first floor, starting a few steps in front of me. To the left and right were large rooms, and I turned left, walking into a place that looked like it could have been a living room.

Here and there I could still see patches of carpets and the wallpaper on the wall flaked in strips. I walked through the rest of the room, my curiosity in control now. I had wanted to get in here forever, but I had always been too scared. I could be trespassing. The house could come down on me.

It still could. The house groaned around me in the wind, as if it was working hard to stay upright.

I looked around one more time. The magic pulsed around me like a heartbeat, something alive. I followed it deeper into the house, into a room that looked like it had been a kitchen once. It was stripped bare, but the walls were tiled, and what looked like a breakfast nook, or the remnants of one, looked out over a beautiful view of the ocean.

But darkness called out to me, and I turned my head, looking for it.

In the corner, I saw movement. The darkness hung thin there, but the shadows were moving, and something was wrong. I frowned and stepped closer. Every instinct I had screamed at me to get away, that this was dangerous. But it also drew me, and it made me feel… like prey.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to what I was seeing. But suddenly, I knew.

A woman had her head tipped to the side, her eyes glazed over. And a large shadow loomed over her, body convulsing a little, holding her down. But she didn’t look like she was going to fight it. She looked drugged, somehow.

Suddenly, I recognized the magic.

Vampire.

I took a step back, fear clutching at my throat. A vampire was taking blood from this woman. And she was too dazed to cry out. I knew vampires had some kind of mind control. Maybe she didn’t even know what was happening. But it could kill her.

And I was going to witness it.

My mind was suddenly in overdrive. I ran through all the possibilities I had to help her, save her. I had to stop him.

But I couldn’t. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to break the spell with what little magic I knew at this point. And I wasn’t strong enough. In fact, I was nothing more than prey right now.

The only option was to run.

I turned around, but the darkness reached out to me, tugging at my clothes, trying to pull me back. And I yelped.

The sound of my voice sliced through the magic in the room like a knife, and it was as if time stood still. I was frozen in place, and a low guttural sound, almost like a growl, made me turn around.

He was looking at me, now. Long black hair, an angular face. The eyes of the devil himself, if I had to guess.

You’re not allowed to feed on people here, I said in a small voice. As if I could tell this monster what to do in this town.

As if the woman snapped out of her daze, she started screaming.

The vampire let out a hiss, like a cat, and it took one big step toward her. She screamed more, getting louder and more hysterical. I wanted to cover my ears. The sound cut me to the bone.

The vampire grabbed her chin, forcing her face toward his. Her eyes were squeezed shut.

Look at me, the vampire growled. It seemed wrong that a monster could speak words.

The woman opened her eyes as if she couldn’t help herself. The vampire mumbled something, the sound throaty and too soft for me to hear the words. A moment later, she slumped a little, her face blank.

What did you do? I asked.

But the vampire only let out another hiss before it shot past me toward the door and out into the night.

I think he’s gone, I said in a breathy voice. My body felt numb, the aftermath of adrenaline. I shouldn’t have come here, but the magic had called me. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I knew that this monster’s magic had brought me here. He hadn’t meant to, obviously. But magic was new to me, and I was an idiot who still followed it.

The woman looked around as if she had only seen the room for the first time now.

Are you okay? I asked.

Of course, I’m okay, she said.

I pointed to her neck. You’re bleeding.

Blood ran down into her collar, staining the material.

I’m sure it’s nothing, she said.

You were just attacked; you need help, I said.

She frowned at me. Attacked? Don’t be ridiculous. I was just… She frowned. She couldn’t remember what she had been doing because he had taken the experience from her. He had made her forget. It was the only thing I could think of.

I have to go, she said.

Where?

Home, she said as if it was obvious.

She walked past me, head held high, elegant. Her hair was matted with her own blood on her neck, but she walked as if she was important, beautiful, elegant. And maybe, in her mind, she was.

When she disappeared, I turned around and ran.

I had to get the hell out of here. The spell had broken, the magic that kept me here was gone. All that was left was a lot of fear, and I was terrified that that monster would come back. I had to tell someone about it; I had to warn the coven.

The moment I stepped outside, the vampire was in front of me, and it was like running into a wall. I screamed.

Don’t, he said, and I stopped as if my voice had been cut off. He reached out for me to grab my chin, but I stepped back. No way was he going to touch me.

Come to me, child, he said in a voice that was creepy. Creepy, but magnetic. And warm. And suddenly it sounded like the friendliest voice in the world. He touched my chin, and I shivered, his eyes boring into mine.

I looked around. The night had a silver quality to it, the first fingers of light reaching over the horizon and coloring Pebble Beach. I stood on the porch of the abandoned house. What was I doing here? I had to get home.

My mom would wake up soon and wonder where I was.

1

Much better," I said, hands on my hips, looking around my room .

Yeah, very Zen, Chloe said, sarcastically. I smiled.

We had spent the better half the day pushing the furniture in my room around, looking for a different way to arrange it all. I was getting bored, but my mom said I wasn’t allowed to move into the guest bedroom. So this was the next best thing,