Evie awoke to a gentle tapping on her shoulder. Bright green eyes and flaming red hair filled her vision. The face before her was quickly replaced by a considerably more masculine, more concerned one. Bren held Evie's shoulders tightly, checking her body for damage. Familiar arms, those same warm brown eyes, eyes that had always held love and affection, now contained pain and worry. Slowly Evie assessed the situation around her. The ground was scorched and dry. Huddles of the other teens were spotted around the clearing, Evie's eyes searched manically for her sister. Bren took note of Evie's frantic search, and gently tapped her shoulder and pointed towards one of the huddles. She made to stand up. Bren and Flora took an arm each to help her stand. The trio staggered towards a second, considerably larger huddle. As they drew nearer, Evie fell to her knees. In the middle of a growing pool of blood, lay her twin.
Freya's skin was as pale and cold as ice. A gash on her forehead was the only evidence of trauma, but the blood pouring from it was obviously the reason for her unconscious state. Around her, Cara and Avery were chanting, Lilah was gripping her hand tightly, crying silently. Evie watched as Cas washed the blood from Freya's face, watched as the group worked to help her sister. It felt surreal, Evie realised as she watched that magick, so far had only served to hurt the coven. The bus crash and now this. She was ashamed, devastated that their "gifts" had caused so much harm and pain. Evie pushed her way to her sister. Fighting tears and guilt. She was going to help her sister.
"She's breathing, but she won't wake up. What are we going to do?" Cara asked, forced calm evident in her voice. Her short, sharp intakes of breath gave her away though. As did the tears running down her face. Cas, stood determinedly, "She's okay, right? Moving her won't cause any more damage, right?" He waited for affirmation from Avery, she gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "We take her to the hospital. Tell them we were messing around in the woods, just out of town. She tripped and hit her head." Evie listened, nodding along; seeing the sense in Caspian's plan, she pushed everyone into action. The group cleared away the candles and hid the grimoires in the sanctum. Flora dug her hands into the earth, murmured a short spell and watched as the burnt and scorched ground was turned over, swallowed and replaced by new topsoil. Bren and Cas lifted Frey between them, and the group began their journey towards Hedgerton. Lainey led the way, using her magick to make little balls of light float around the group like they were being led to their destination by a swarm of fireflies.
Around them, the skies cleared and a deep and heavy chill fell over the small valley. A frost began to settle in the woods, lightly layering everything in a thin sheet of white, giving the forest an ethereal glimmer in the moonlight. Cobwebs that hung between the bare branches of the trees shone like spun silver threads. A haunting breeze came down from the hills, pushing with it a dense fog that covered the ground, making it difficult for the coven to know where to put their feet. Shivering in their jumpers and cardigans the group continued their march towards the town hospital. Steely determination pushing them forward as the cold threatened to push them away.
Evie stumbled over a root that had been concealed by the mist on the floor, Robin shot out an arm to catch her before she hit the floor. As his hand touched her skin, it recoiled immediately.
"Goddess, you're freezing!" He made to give Evie his jumper. She declined with a shake of her head.
"It's okay Rob, keep yourself warm." Bren heard the exchange and looked back, from where he and Caspian were leading the group, he had missed the shivering of his friends behind him and had ignored his own cold because of the task he had at hand.
"One minute, I'll see what I can do." Bren carefully passed Frey's limp body over to his cousin. Concentrating heavily, he focused on a branch he had collected from the floor and envisioned it in flames. Nothing. Not a single spark. No warmth. No flames. He tried again. Centred himself. Tried again. Still nothing. There was no link to his magick. He couldn't find it. Bren fell to the floor. He was lost. Confused. Abandoned. Useless. The group looked around at each other, worried for their friend. Seb rushed to Bren, pulled him from the frozen, icy floor.
"Come on mate, let's get somewhere warm shall we?" He pulled Bren forward and Zee took Frey's legs from Cas. The coven continued into the moonlight.
An hour later they found themselves at Hedgerton's very small General Hospital. The hospital was notoriously understaffed and was kept up and running mostly from generous donations from its patrons. Thankfully, Hedgerton had a decently wealthy population and when this was their only option within a three-hour drive, the population fought hard to keep the hospital open. Upon seeing Freya's prone form in the teens' arms, the weary staff lept into action. Evie excused herself to call her parents and the rest of the group followed the doctors as they rushed Freya, now in a wheeled hospital bed, into a room. The phone call to her parents was awful, there were tears and raised voices, ultimately it ended exactly how Evie had expected it to her parents were on their way. Evie sank to the floor after hanging up the phone. She cried for her sister. She cried for Bren. She cried for herself. And she cried for Eira.
"Evelynn Blair? Evie Blair? Miss Blair?" A hand was shaking her shoulder, a feminine voice called her name. "Miss Blair, your sister is in a room upstairs, we've gotten her settled, you can come and see her if you want. Come on, let's get you up. Don't you want to be there when your sister wakes up?" The voice cajoled. This got Evie's attention. Her sister would not wake up without her. She pushed herself to her feet and was grateful for the supporting arm around her waist as she was led towards the ward. Evie knew immediately when she neared her sister's room.
Perched on every available surface were the other eleven members of her coven. Flora and Robin were squeezed into an armchair, while Zee and Lilah filled another. Mica hovered anxiously by Avery and Cara, the three were the furthest away from the door; the door was marked by Cas, stood against it, looking despaired. Bren and Seb had claimed a bench opposite the door, Lainey sat on the floor at Seb's feet.
"Can I go in?" Evie asked, her body shaking with nerves. The last time the girls had been in hospital, they had just escaped death. Evie prayed to whoever would listen that the situation this time around wasn't nearly so dire. The lady which Evie assumed was a doctor opened the door to the room and led her inside. Evie made her way to the bed where her twin lay. Hooked up to a dozen or so machines, Freya lay as if she were dead. A steady, slow beeping the only indication that she wasn't.
The doctor took the seat opposite Evie, who had perched herself on the edge of the bed. Outside, a commotion was making its way towards them. Evie recognised the usually dulcet timbre of her mother's voice raised in worry and stress. Her father's shouts, demanding to see his children, booming and echoing down the mostly empty corridors of the hospital. The pair ran right up to the door of the room. Hastily dressed and obviously stressed, Evie's parents rushed the bed in which one of their daughters lay. The other stepped back to give them some space. Once they realised Freya was, once again, unconscious and unresponsive, they turned to face the doctor and their daughter. They spoke simultaneously, urgently.
"What happened?" Her father's voice was marred with fury and confusion. "Will she be okay?" Her mother's tone was full of worry. Evie's guilt only deepened as tears began to stream down Louisa's face. Jackson Blair took one exasperated look at his wife, handed her a handkerchief and turned back to face the doctor.
"Mr and Mrs Blair, Evie, I'm Doctor Alexa Cuddy. I'm a senior neurologist in this trust, I've been assigned your daughter's care. It would seem that your daughter has suffered some blunt trauma to her forehead, as you can see from the cut on her forehead, there's been some bleeding and we do believe there is a possibility of some swelling on the brain. We're waiting on the scans to confirm this though, but we should have the results within the hour. Otherwise, despite some minor blood loss, your daughter is absolutely fine. Her vitals are all reading well and she should be waking up anytime now." Dr Cuddy explained in her gentle, bedside voice. It worked. The three Blairs calmed immediately. Evie's mother and father shared a hug, it was disrupted by a new beeping coming from the doctor's belt.
"I'm sorry, I have to go - pager - hopefully it's your daughter's scans. Just tell reception if you need anything, or if there are any changes in Miss Blair. I'll be back as soon as I can." Dr Cuddy made her way to the door, exited the room and moved briskly to the end of the corridor, her coattails flapping behind her. Then she was out of sight and there were no distractions.
Jackson Blair eyed his conscious daughter, folded his arms and drew himself to his full height. "Evelynn Jayde Blair." He addressed her. "How did this happen?" He stressed every syllable, every letter.
Evie's face dropped. She hated lying. She hated that she couldn't tell her father why his daughter was in a hospital bed for the second time in two months. "We were messing around in the woods. Celebrating our birthday. Just having a bit of fun-"
"Was there alcohol involved? Drugs? Obviously, there were boys involved. Who was she with when it happened? Was it one of the Kelly boys? That Zephyr boy? I've never liked him." Jackson Blair rambled angrily, telling Evie how much he hated her friends. She tuned him out. "-- and one other thing, you get your freedom and then you go and ruin it by pulling this stunt."
Evie's bottom lip trembled, everything her father was saying was digging the guilt just a little further in like he was pushing a knife into her gut with every word he spoke. Thankfully, a nurse popped her head around the door.
"Mr and Mrs Blair, visiting hours are over. Because Miss Blair is under eighteen, one adult may stay with her. But I'm afraid one of you, Miss Blair and all her friends will have to go home." The nurse, a short, stout lady of about fifty had a kindly face and a happy smile. She beckoned the family out of the room after a quick discussion where they agreed Louisa would stay with Freya and would give the others a call should Freya wake up. Jackson Blair stormed out, muttering that Evie could tell her friends the news and then she better hurry herself to the car or he would leave without her.
"Well?" Lilah asked, "We tried to ask the doctor when she came out, but she said she had somewhere she needed to be. Also, your dad is a dick. Just saying." Evie raised a judgemental eyebrow at this, "But so is mine, so we've got that in common, I suppose." Lilah tried to appease the blonde in front of her. She shrugged and moved back to sit on Zee.
Evie addressed the group, "Frey should be okay, her vitals are good and they're just checking to see if there is any swelling on the brain." There was a sigh of relief from by the window. Evie placed a comforting hand on Cas. "She's going to be fine. My mum is going to give us a call when Frey wakes up, but for now, we have to go home. All of us. I'll let you know as soon as I have news, see you guys later." As she turned to walk out, she caught sight of Bren, he still looked lost and troubled. He matched her stare and offered to walk her out, slipping a gentle arm around her shoulders. Evie knew by allowing it she was sending mixed signals, but she needed the comfort and from the look in Bren's eyes - he did too.
Once out of earshot of the group, Bren turned to his ex-girlfriend and pulled her into a tight hug. He knew Evie and he knew that right now, what she needed was to have a quick cry before she had to hide her emotions away from her father. Evie welcomed the hug. Out of the group she couldn't deny that Bren knew her best. He always knew exactly what she needed. He muttered quiet promises that everything was going to get better and stroked her hair. His other arm remained steadfast around her waist, planting the two of them. Evie's arms were resting on his shoulders as she cried silently into his chest. After a minute or two, she took a deep breath and stepped back. Bren wiped away the last of the tears. Placed a hand on either side of Evie's face and gently kissed her forehead. "I'll call you. I promise." He turned back to walk home with the others.
As Bren met the others in the hallway, they all began to stir, moving towards the exit.
"I suppose we should head home, I'm sure Mr Blair has rung all our parents and told them we aren't in bed." He rolled his eyes at the twins' overprotective father. The group left the hospital, the chill which had impeded their travel to the hospital was still evident in the frost forming on the windshields of the overnight staff's cars.
"I was thinking about it before, but it's a tad early for a frost, it's only the" Mica checked his digital watch, "1st of November. We generally don't get frost until like, December."
Seb shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Global warming, mate. Can't see it being anything else."
"I just hope it doesn't snow, I've still got all of my fall outfits planned and there's this killer pair of boots I haven't worn yet." Cara moaned. And just like that, the group had the distraction they needed. They joked all the way home, laughing about Cara's narcissism and trying to ignore the potential grounding they were all about to receive.
Freya opened her eyes to a blurry scene. A girl in front of her, blonde hair, head bowed. Evie? A woman asleep in an armchair in the corner of the room- unmistakably her mother. The girl was holding her hand lightly, rubbing comforting circles into the back of it with her thumb. Frey tried to clear her throat.
"Evie?" The girls head shot up. Not the blue eyes Freya was expecting. Violet. Amethyst. And hair that wasn't blonde. Silver. Glittering in the moonlight. Freya shot up in bed. "Eira?" The girl smiled lightly. She was just like the girl that the coven had seen in the vision and the one who had called to the twins in their subconsciousness. This was Eira, the girl who had been trapped by hunters all those years ago.
Eira raised a pale hand and put a slender finger to her lips, her purple eyes flicked over to Louisa, snoring softly in the chair. Frey nodded in understanding. Then her eyes widened.
"We brought you back. The ritual worked. Holy crap. They're not going to believe it." Frey stammered, in awe of magick once more. Eira smiled again, a wider smile, a grateful smile.
"Shush..." Eira's voice was spoken magick. Soft and almost musical. It wove an air of calm instantaneously. "Yes. It worked. I cannot thank you enough. As a thank you, I have healed your head, and should you have any other favours to ask, please come to me. I cannot repay the kindness you have shown me. But I will try." Freya listened to the old world cadence of Eira's voice, it was soothing and she could feel her eyes droop. "Sleep, I'll be at the house in the woods. Call on me when you have fully recovered."
A freezing breeze swept through the room from the open window, stirring her mother, Freya's eyes shot in the direction of the armchair. Meeting Louisa's as they opened. Freya quickly scanned the room. No Eira. Gone. Just like the breeze.
"Mum?" Louisa sprang to her feet. Shouting a cry to the nurses, telling them that Freya had awoken. Her mother grabbed her now cold hand and started sobbing.
"This is the last time you're going to be in the hospital this year - do you understand?" Louisa's words were heavy with sleep and sorrow. "Do you promise me?"
"Yes, mum. I promise." Freya pulled her mum into a tight hug. "Can't breathe mum." Louisa let go and explained that she was going to go make a call and tell Jackson and Evie the news.
"Mum, can I have my phone? I want to text my friends and tell them the news."
"Top drawer of your nightstand honey." Louisa placed a gentle kiss on Freya's bandaged forehead and left out the door.
Freya fished around in the drawer, eventually pulling out her phone. She quickly unlocked the phone and sent a message to the group chat. 'I'm awake. And so is Eira. Come by before school. I'll tell you everything.' As the nurses ran into the room to do some tests, her phone started vibrating incessantly. She put it on silent and hid it back in the drawer. Lying back as a nurse took some blood, she smiled. They had done it.