With an ecstatic shout, Chloé rose even higher above the ground. Her arms floated up, as if in zero-gravity, then her hair and her coat followed suit. Laughing the whole time, a massive smile on her face, she looked up at the ceiling. Without warning, she began flying around the room, completely unrestrained by the forces of nature, her laughter occasionally cutting off as she effortlessly passed through the nearby walls and ceiling.

“I was able to do this over there, too! I was able to phase through—” She disappeared into the ceiling, then reappeared from the wall behind Amara. “— but I didn’t even think that I might still be able to do that! LOOK AT HOW FAS—”

Amara started laughing, beaming with joy as she watched Chloé race all over the basement. After another few passes, Chloé even phased through everyone present, an incredibly strange feeling that sent chills through Amara, but the strange sensation only made her more excited to have Chloé back. Not only had she defied death itself, but somehow, she’d found something new in the process.

A minute later, after the initial excitement had passed, Chloé paused a few feet away from the magic circle and wobbled slightly. “Whoa, guys, I feel a little dizzy…”

“Maybe you’re pushing yourself too hard? Come on down, take a seat, relax a little,” Vee suggested.

As Chloé nodded, she began floating closer to the group. As she moved, her hair began to lose its color and her body grew transparent. However, that translucency faded as soon as Chloé moved inside the circle, at which point she sighed with relief.

“Ugh, sitting sounds like so much work…” she complained.

“I’m sorry, work?” Nick asked. “It takes effort to sit?”

“Yeah, it’s like… wait. Huh.” Chloé paused, inspecting the ground underneath her. She briefly touched down, her clothes and hair falling limp, then a moment later everything began floating again. “Okay, I’m obviously not 100% my old self, the flying and the phasing is proof of that, but remember what I said before? That all of my senses came and went? I think that’s still happening.”

“But you said sitting takes effort,” Vee said. “Sitting isn’t exactly a sense.”

Repeating her earlier maneuver, Chloé’s hair and clothing briefly fell limp before floating back up again. “I think gravity is a muscle now. It takes real, tangible effort to make my body obey it. That’s probably why I can phase through things; my sense of touch is optional now. I wonder if I can—”

Chloé suddenly vanished. Everyone else in the group flinched in surprise, but before anyone could move or say anything, they heard her voice again. “I knew it! Staying visible is the same way! Ugh, this is so much better. It’s like coming home after a long day of classes and collapsing on a bed. Shoot, my bed! Am I not going to be able to use my bed anymore?”

“So, if you’re able to pick and choose all your senses now, does that mean you can still touch things even if you’re invisible?” Amara asked, speaking to the air where she assumed Chloé was. A second later, something grabbed her hair and lifted it up.

“Ha! You’re totally right!” Chloé said from above Amara.

Following the sound of Chloé’s voice, and the movement of her own hair, Amara assumed her friend was floating behind her. “It’s not disorienting at all? Being upside down or invisible?”

“Not really, it’s like I’m completely detached from… oof, actually, I changed my mind. I’m not feeling too great right now.” Chloé dropped Amara’s hair, though she stayed invisible. “Wait, am I…? Yeah, I just left the circle, that’s why.”

“The circle?” Tessa asked. “What has the circle got to do with this?” Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel_fіre.net

Chloé spoke up again, her voice moving back to the center of the magic circle. “I don’t know! For some reason, whenever I’m inside this circle, everything feels easier. It’s not as tiring to see or hear or feel or whatever. Is there something special about it?”

“Right, we never told you that part,” Tessa muttered. “This circle is connected to Purgatory, initially to hold it at bay, but I reconfigured the runes to instead create a bridge there. It’s how we got Amara and Vee back just before Brandon invaded. If you technically exist in a permanent state of suspension between the two planes, that would explain why everything feels easier here!”

Tessa was clearly excited to explore the magic behind this new theory of hers, and she even pulled out her notebook to start jotting down more ideas.

“That’s so cool!” Chloé said, reappearing a few inches above the circle. “I’ll definitely need to be careful about overdoing it outside of the circle, but even if I’m just staying invisible and listening to things, that’s still a huge help. I can’t wait to help you guys take down the Coven!”

“Wait, what?” Tessa froze. “What do you mean, ‘take down the Coven?’”

“You guys don’t know? That’s right, Davenport was being real hush hush about it…”

“About what? Chloé, what do you know?” Tessa asked again, much more concerned now.

“Well, I spent some time following Davenport around, and I learned that she’s not actually here to close the Gate. She wants to alter them to act as siphons, which is only possible if they leave the Gate a little bit open. The bigger the opening, the more magic they get.

Stiff, uncomfortable silence hung in the air as everyone processed what Chloé had just told them.

“They’re… not actually here to help?” Amara asked, her breath quickening.

“No, but… but Miss Bishop, she’s always—” Tessa said, starting to panic.

“They’re just here to exploit us? To throw us to the wolves in a desperate grab for power?” Thick, billowing waves of heat began to swirl around Amara.

Vee stepped closer, holding Amara’s arm. “We can’t say that for sure, maybe Chloé misheard—”

“Just like Wellington? Just like Brandon?!” Amara’s hair burst into flames, causing everyone except Vee to jump back in fear.

“We can talk this over!” Vee said, radiant energy gathering around her to keep her safe from the fire. “We need to do this together!”

“That’s what we tried last time!” Amara shouted. Looking around, she saw everyone’s shadows flickering on the walls and clawed her hellfire back inside of her. With the fire now under control, she forced herself to take a deep breath; in for two, out for four.

“Amara, I get it. This sucks, but it affects all of us equally.” Vee turned to look at Tessa, still holding Amara tight. “Tess, this is your Coven, what can we do to stop them?”

Tessa clutched her notebook to her chest, practically hyperventilating as she returned Vee’s look. “I… I don’t…”

“Hey, you’re not alone, Tess,” Nick said, taking her hand. “We’re in this together.”

She looked at him, nodded, then tried to calm herself down. “Davenport’s in charge, but technically she holds the same title as everyone else. We should talk to Miss Bishop, she’ll want to know about this, and she can help us put together a plan.”

“You want to trust them?” Amara hissed. “Even if Bishop’s better, she's still more than happy to let Davenport assault you in public!”

“T-this is different,” Tessa muttered, shrinking into herself. “It’s not about me anymore, this is a fundamental betrayal of everything a Coven is supposed to stand for. She can help us.”

“Um…” Chloé muttered. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. There’s a good chance that everyone already knows the plan. Some of them tried to talk Davenport down, but she’s got dirt on all of them and she’s using it to keep them in check.”

“What?!” Tessa said, tears threatening to fall again.

“All the more reason to act now!” Amara said. “Every second we wait puts us at greater risk! Chloé, have they started changing the circles yet?”

“I-I don’t know,” Chloé admitted.

Amara pointed to Chloé, as if her admission proved her point. “If we wait too long, we lose our chance to fight them on even footing. Would you rather confront them now? Or after they’ve got all the magic of the planes behind them?”

“It’s not… I just think…” Tessa stammered.

“We’ve spent months lettering everyone walking all over us! The cult, Wellington, Brandon.” Amara raised a fist in front of her, hellfire swirling bright around it. “I had a chance to end him, Tessa, and I let him go. Everything Chloé went through? I could have prevented all of it if I hadn’t been scared of taking initiative!”

“It’s not that simple, Amara,” Vee said quietly. “Even if the siphons aren’t active yet, we have no idea how strong they are!”

Amara looked to Vee, then around to the rest of her friends. Their silence spoke volumes as to which plan they favored.

“Tch,” Amara scoffed. “Be that way. I’ll take care of this myself.”

Vee briefly tried to hold Amara back, and she pulled her arm free before walking over to Nick. She grabbed his arm tightly before turning to walk towards the exit.

“Wait, what?” Nick winced, planting his feet and trying to pull away. “Amara, stop! You’re hurting me!”

Amara spun to face him, flames leaping from her gaze. “What?!”

“Too much energy and you won’t be able to think straight, Amara,” Nick said, holding his ground. “We need to talk this over as a group. Put together a plan as a group.”

Releasing her hold on Nick, she cast her eyes to Tessa.

“He’s right, Amara.” the witch said.

Vee nodded in agreement as well, then Amara finally cast her gaze to Chloé. Getting her back was a miracle, and now the Coven was trying to throw their campus into disarray again. They had nearly lost Chloé because they didn’t strike while the iron was hot, and Amara refused to throw that lesson away now.

“I see how it is. Fine,” Amara hissed. Stepping backwards, her tail appeared in a burst of hellfire and forced the basement door open. “You’ll thank me when I’m finished.”

“Amara, wait!!” Vee shouted.

Turning into the staircase, Amara leapt up the stairs while a wall of hellfire sprang forth in the doorway, stopping anyone from following her. Once she’d exited the building, she manifested her true form and leapt into the air, engaging her flight mirage to keep herself hidden.

Thoughts of her fight with Wellington lingered in her mind, as well as bitter recollections of their failed attack on Brandon. She was done hesitating. She was done second guessing herself. She was done hiding.

I won’t lose anyone again.

I’ll show them what happens when they mess with me.