Chapter 44.1

Tessa woke to the sound of frantic, heavy pounding. It sounded like someone was trying to break down her front door, and she immediately leapt out of bed while her magic reached for her switchblades. They began swirling around her head, ready to strike at whoever, or whatever, would dare to try to invade her home.

As she raced to the front of her apartment, she heard two feminine voices arguing out in the hallway.

“—you didn’t even give her time to respond! It’s been, what, half an hour?”

“We can’t risk waiting any longer, she needs our help!”

Rolling her eyes, she opened the front door with a scowl. “For fuck’s sake, Amara, this had better be important,” Tessa snapped.

“Tessa, we need to—” Amara froze mid-sentence when Tessa pointed a knife at her throat, just as she was doing to Vee.

“Wait. What’s for dinner?” Tessa asked.

“Hand-seared chicken. Fuck, what’s your problem?” Amara asked, batting the knife away and walking into the apartment. Tessa looked over to Vee, whose answer was considerably more apologetic.

“Spaghetti carbonara,” Vee said softly.

“Okay, now we can talk.” Tessa closed the door with her magic, then set her switchblades down on the kitchen counter before turning to face Amara again. “What’s so important you had to nearly break down my front door at six in the morning?”

“It’s Chloé! I think she survived!” Amara was now pacing back and forth, sparks of hellfire occasionally drifting off her hair.

“Wait, wait?!” Tessa looked to Vee, hoping for a better explanation.

Vee sighed. “Amara was exploring the Dreamscape last night, and when she returned to her body, she thinks she saw Chloé briefly appear in front of her. She was screaming and clutching her head, like she was in some kind of pain.”

Tessa balled her fists as she glared at Amara. “That’s what this is about?! You had a bad fucking dream and decide to spin some fantasy about Chloé still being alive?”

“It wasn’t a dream!!” Amara shouted back. She spun to face Tessa, hellfire framing her eyes.

“How can you know that?” Tessa asked. “The last few times you fucked around with dreams, you were always stuck inside Derek’s nightmares! What proof do you have that this wasn’t one of your own?”

“I’m sorry, who’s the succubus here?” Amara hissed, jabbing a finger into Tessa’s chest. At its tip, a small trail of smoke appeared. “I don’t tell you how to do magic, Tessa, so stay in your lane and let me worry about the dreamwalking, okay? I know what I saw!”

Vee walked closer, gently placing a hand on Amara’s shoulder to try and calm her down. Their natures briefly collided, and a flurry of angelic sparks leapt into the air as Amara jumped in surprise. “Amara, please. Let’s take a deep breath and let Tessa explain her side of things. She’s not saying she knows your abilities better than you do, it’s just… we were all there. We know what we saw.”

Strangely, despite the hostile spark from Vee’s magic, Amara didn’t get the least bit upset. Instead, she did exactly what Vee asked; she took a deep breath and stepped back from Tessa. She even reached up and briefly grabbed Vee’s hand, which Tessa found strange.

Looking down, Tessa sighed in relief. Despite the earlier smoke, Amara hadn’t actually burned a hole in her shirt. “Okay, look. Let’s say I believe you, alright? Let’s say that Chloé didn’t die when the portal closed on her. Maybe she’s trapped between planes, or her consciousness got scattered, something along those lines. Even then, I still wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

“How can you say that?” Amara asked. “How can you say it’s not even worth trying?”

“This is different than when you two were stuck in Purgatory. It’s not like Chloé’s trapped in another plane and we need to get her back; she’s gone, Amara. We all saw what happened, and there’s no coming back from that.” Tessa paused, briefly wondering if she should bite her tongue, when she decided that Amara didn’t deserve to be coddled. “And don’t you dare insinuate that I’m not desperate to see her again. She was my friend too.”

Amara went quiet, her eyes glued to the floor. Tessa looked back to Vee, whose tender eyes still seemed to be apologizing for everything.

“How about we let Tessa get back to bed, Amara,” Vee said softly. She grabbed Amara’s arm and started leading her towards the door. After a half-hearted attempt to stay put, Amara nodded slowly and let Vee lead her away.

“…Sorry for waking you, Tess,” Amara whispered.

Tessa didn’t bother responding. She vaguely waved towards Amara and Vee as they left, then sighed in relief as the door shut behind them. Now alone again, Tessa collapsed onto her couch with an angry huff. She closed her eyes, hoping she might be able to claw back a few more minutes of sleep, but it wasn’t to be.

Too angry to keep pretending she was trying to sleep, Tessa reluctantly crawled off the couch and walked to her room. She grabbed a change of clothes, reshaved the side of her head, and bundled up in her winter gear so she could walk to the nearest coffee joint.

With the campus coffee place closed for the Winter Break, Tessa had to walk much farther than usual to get her morning fix. If nothing else, it wasn’t snowing anymore, and the clouds even parted occasionally to let through bits of sunlight. While her initial goal had only been the coffee, it was hard to argue that getting away from campus for a bit was a welcome change of pace.

Pushing into the coffee shop, Tessa was greeted by a small chime and a burst of warm air. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and succulent breakfast confections washed over her, spurring her to pause before approaching the counter. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the aroma as she took a deep breath, then sighed once she managed to find the moment of peace she was looking for. The sound of a coffee grinder echoed out from the kitchen, forcing Tessa back to the present, and she opened her eyes before approaching the barista.

Several minutes later, with a piping hot cup nestled between her hands, Tessa took a seat by the front window. She was a few blocks away from campus, which meant the streets were bustling with people rushing to work. She watched them race back and forth, chuckling to herself as she thought about how different their lives were.

Tessa paused, taking a sip of her coffee. She stared at the lid as she set it down, thinking back to this morning.

Another chime echoed through the shop, accompanied by a burst of chill, winter air. Tessa grimaced as the outside world dared to invade her bitter sanctuary, and pulled her jacket closed again.

“Tessa? Oh my gosh! What are the odds?”

Shaken from her thoughts, Tessa looked up to see Imani walking over from the entrance. She was wearing a puffy, white winter coat with thick gloves to match, and an equally plush headband covered her ears. Tessa briefly wondered if her hair would even fit in a hat, but bottled those thoughts in favor of saying something more appropriate.

“Oh, um, morning Imani,” Tessa muttered, kicking out the chair opposite herself to invite Imani in. “Pretty good I'd say, this is the closest coffee place to campus.”

Imani sat down, shivering as she pulled her gloves off. “I guess that makes sense. Though, honestly, I'm more surprised you're up this early at all; you don't strike me as an early bird.”

“Oh, I'm absolutely not,” Tessa said with a smirk. “Amara didn't give me a choice in the matter, unfortunately.”

“Ah, so you're partners? That explains a lot, actually.”

“What? No! I mean, we fuck occasionally, but we're not dating or anything. That's not what happened this morning. She decided to nearly break down my door in a panic, that's all.”

Imani leaned closer, a soft look of concern on her face. “Is everything alright?”

Tessa rolled her eyes before slumping into her chair. “Ugh. She had a bad dream, and now she's convinced Chloé is still alive.”

“She's not taking it well, from what I gathered. I tried to offer my condolences yesterday, but I barely got two words in before she snapped at me and stormed out. I still haven't had the chance to properly talk with her about everything.”

“Yeah, sounds like her.” Tessa took another sip of her drink, then realized that Imani didn't have any coffee of her own. “You gonna order anything?”

“Oh, I ordered on the app,” Imani said, holding up her phone. “Just waiting for them to call my name.”

“Ah.”

Tessa wasn't sure what else to say. She knew nothing about Imani other than the fact they were in the same coven. Imani's name was called a second later, and by the time she returned with her drink, Tessa still hadn't thought of any good small talk.

“So, we kinda glossed over this in your initial briefing, but how exactly did Amara help out with the cult? Or against Brandon?” Imani asked.

Tessa was in the middle of another sip and nearly choked on her coffee. After a small fit of coughing, she finally caught her breath and responded. “W-well, she's… stronger than she looks. She, um… studied jiu-jitsu when she was younger.”

“Oh, wow! I meant to ask her myself, but with her temperament the way it is… I'm sure you know what I mean.”

Tessa nodded slowly, trying to hide her expression behind her coffee. “Yup. Even apart from her, uh, martial arts training, we also had that knife I enchanted for the incursion.”

“That's right!” Imani leaned forward, grabbing Tessa's free hand. “You wouldn't happen to have that here, would you?”

Eager for a change of topic, Tessa pulled out her switchblade and handed it over. “Knock yourself out. It was a bit of a rush job, so don't get your hopes up.” She flinched as Imani reached for the knife quicker than anticipated. She began turning it over in her hands, and Tessa had to intervene to stop her from hurting herself when she tried to open it.

Imani’s eyes went wide as she saw the full extent of Tessa’s handiwork. “This is fascinating! You said you had to incorporate some of the sigils the cult used, right?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t know what they were doing. I had to patchwork together their shitty ideas with something a bit more legible.”

“That’s what’s so impressive about this!” Imani said, talking faster and faster. “You clearly had to incorporate that language in, since those were the sigils that allowed Brandon to take command of Purgatory, but the way you integrated it with our more refined techniques… And here, you clearly take influence from the language of the circles on campus, but you did so while preserving the clarity we’ve gained in the centuries since! Not to mention you were working with such a small canvas; I mean, look at the size of this knife! Without incredibly fine penmanship, this whole thing could have fallen apart, but you were also applying it over dried blood! I can’t imagine how that must have changed the application process! Though, on the other hand, you probably could have cut out this rune on the hilt; it’s a bit redundant given what you applied here, under the finger groove. Redundancy can be a great safety feature, but in more complex patterns it can generate unwanted magical feedba—WAIT, did you do that on purpose? Trap his magic in a feedback loop to block out the sources he was gathering energy from?”

Tessa had completely forgotten about her coffee and instead watched in awe as Imani ranted about the knife. “Uh, yeah, that was the goal. It’s nothing special, really.”

“Nothing special?! Tessa, this knife is immaculately well-designed! If I’d made this, I would be bragging about it to every witch in the country! And to think, Miss Gautier said that—” Imani froze, seemingly stopping herself before the sentence could continue.

“Wait, what?” Tessa asked, leaning forward. “What about Miss Gautier?”

“It’s nothing, really. She’s just not your biggest fan, but you know that,” Imani muttered, looking at the table. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? That you’ve learned so much in spite of how they’ve treated you? It’s almost like breaking away from them was… No, I shouldn’t say any more.”

Although it was frustrating that Imani wouldn’t spill the beans, Tessa knew all too well how risky it was to gossip about the Coven Heads. “Hey, how about we head back to campus?”

Imani perked up again. “That sounds great!”

The two girls donned their winter gear once more, then pushed out into the crisp air as they started towards the University. They spent the first half of their trip in silence, but after a few minutes, Imani spoke up again.

“You know, it’s funny what you said about Amara.”

“Yeah?”

“About her being a trained martial artist. She doesn’t exactly move like she knows how to fight. Plus, I talked to quite a few students yesterday, and none of them mentioned anything like that.” Imani paused for another sip of coffee. “Honestly, there was quite a bit of conflicting information overall. There are a bunch of accounts that both her and Vee were instrumental to stopping Brandon, but the stories diverge heavily when pushed for details.”

“W-well, a lot was happening, and with the trees blocking the view from the cafeteria…” Tessa muttered.

Imani kept talking, and it wasn’t entirely clear if she was listening to Tessa simply spinning her thoughts aloud. “Not to mention those pictures she posted a few months ago. You’ve seen them, right? Who am I kidding, there’s no way you haven’t.”

Tessa swallowed nervously. “What about them?”

“She didn’t leave much to the imagination, did she? Yet, for a martial artist, she doesn’t appear to have much muscle mass. Plus, I doubt I need to tell you this, but she’s y hot. Like, hot.” Imani paused to look at Tessa, who swore she saw the faintest hint of a smile.

“She edited the pictures!” Tessa blurted out. “I-I mean, she obviously doesn’t have a tail, right?”

“Oh, I noticed the editing. I’m studying to be a Scribe, don’t forget; fine details are everything. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the editing was a smokescreen. Still, I’ve met Amara myself, I know she doesn’t have a tail. I’m just saying it’s odd, that’s all.” Imani stepped closer, her voice growing softer and more intense. “You don’t think she’s hiding anything, do you?”

Tessa stopped walking and stared into Imani’s eyes. “I’ve told the Coven everything I know, Imani.”

“Everything? That’s impressive, even I don’t tell them everything.” Imani reached for Tessa’s shoulder, her fingers lightly dancing as they traced the curves of Tessa’s jacket. “After all, some secrets are better kept to ourselves, don’t you think?”

With no idea how to respond, Tessa stayed quiet. She held her ground as Imani stared back, her eyes framed with brilliant, immaculately detailed white eyeliner. After a second, Imani’s stoic face gave way to a knowing smirk, and she slowly stepped back as she winked at Tessa. She playfully tapped Tessa’s shoulder one last time before slipping her hands into her coat pockets, then softly laughed.

“I’ll see you around, Tess,” Imani said. She turned and walked away, leaving Tessa frozen in place behind her.

Another minute passed before Tessa released the breath she’d been holding, and a burst of warm vapor appeared in front of her. She began racing back to her apartment, not quite running, but not quite walking, as she replayed their conversation over and over in her head.