Salem Falls

When Harry and Alexa ran up to Zayn, he had just finished casting a spell on one of his father’s old friends that sent the man crashing to the ground. He never – not in a million years – thought that he would be casting a spell like that on a man he’d grown up knowing, but nothing was the way he thought it was anymore.

Chaos was pouring all around them, but the news Harry and Alexa had for Zayn was too important not to pull himself away from the battle for just a moment.

“It’s a grimoire,” Harry breathed out, pushing the large book into Zayn’s open hands. “That’s how he’s getting his power.”

Zayn looked down at the tattered leather and hexagonal symbol on the cover of the book and recognized it almost immediately, though he’d never actually seen it in person until that moment. His father had told him countless stories about that very book that had been the source of power for their ancestors all those years ago, but it was supposed to be a lost artifact of his people, not something one of the coven members kept hidden.

A cackle came from overhead and Zayn recognized the sound of his uncle’s overpowering voice.

“Dear sweet nephew,” Naveed said, catching Zayn off guard. The two met eyes as their nostrils flared, a look of hatred in both of their eyes. “How are you doing this fine evening?”

“Fuck off, Naveed,” Zayn spat, taking a step forward so he was standing between Naveed and his friends. He could feel the muscles in his body tightening as the adrenaline began to pump within him.

“Oh, come now, is that anyway to treat your uncle?”

“You’re no uncle of mine,” Zayn said, piercing his eyes at Naveed “You betrayed my father. You betrayed the entire coven. Rot in hell.”

“Oh, Zayn, you need to learn to respect your elders,” Naveed replied, his tone both snarky and condescending. “I’ll have to make you pay for that one.” Naveed raised his hand in the air, waving forward a few other coven members. “Bring me the girl.”

With that, the coven members took another step forward, revealing Maggie’s unconscious body into view. Zayn nearly collapsed when he saw her and he was stuck some place between being unable to breathe and wanting so badly to run forward and attack anyone who got in his way.

“Don’t hurt her,” Zayn breathed out, his chest heaving up and down. “Please, just let her go.”

“That’s not for you to decide anymore,” Naveed said, glancing out at the young boy. “Look around you, Zayn. The coven is mine now.”

Zayn’s heart was thudding in his chest, and all he could do was look at Maddi. Her chest was moving up and down as she took in shallow breaths, but the rest of her was unmoving. One of the coven members had her cradled in his arms, and Zayn had to fight himself from just running up and snatching her from his arms.

It was obvious that Naveed was much more powerful than Zayn or anyone else in the woods that night. He had dark magic on his side and that was more powerful than any good magic that Zayn knew of, and with the grimoire in Naveed’s power, Zayn felt helpless.

The coven member who held Maggie in his hands took a few steps closer to Naveed until they were standing by his side. Naveed reached a hand over and patted it against the top of Maggie’s head, smiling down at the girl.

Zayn cringed as he watched his uncle touch Maggie, the fire running through his body even hotter than he had felt it before.

When Naveed’s eyes closed and a wind began blowing around him, Zayn knew he was about to perform a spell, and though he had no idea what it was, he knew he had to stop him. He clasped his hands more tightly around the grimoire Harry had given him and shut his own eyes, trying to hear his father’s voice chanting inside his head.

The spell to take Naveed’s power away was in his head – he just knew it was – if only he could focus hard enough to get it out.

As if it had come by magic, the spell was suddenly falling from Zayn’s lips as he said it silently, a wind blowing around him as he spoke. Zayn’s eyes were shut too tightly for him to see, but he could hear Naveed shouting in pain as the power was ripped from him slowly.

When Zayn had finished the spell, he opened his eyes to find Naveed on his hands and knees, as if the breath had been taken straight out of his lungs. His chest was heaving up and down as though he was trying to pull himself together, but the Lunar Circle members were surrounding him before he had a chance too.

Zayn didn’t want to know what the coven members were going to do his uncle now that his power was gone. All he wanted to do was make sure Maggie was safe.

His eyes locked with the man who held Maggie in his arms, and before the man even knew what was coming, Zayn had done an immobilization spell on him, leaving him standing frozen.

Zayn darted forward and pulled Maggie from the man’s arms, holding her in his own. The moment he had his arms around her, Maggie’s eyes began to flutter open slowly, groggy breaths falling from her lips.

Once her eyes had opened enough to see him, a smile fell to her lips, and all of Zayn’s worry vanished.

He didn’t know what the coven would do to Naveed or how they would handle his treason, but he knew that he wasn’t alone in figuring it out.