Pledge (Witches of Coventry House Book 1) Read online

  Pledge

  Book One in The Witches of Coventry House

  Christina Garner

  Contents

  Pledge

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Thanks for reading Pledge

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Christina Garner

  Copyright © 2017 by Christina Garner

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

  Pledge

  Three new witches. Two deadly secrets. One demon on the prowl.

  Haunted by her past, Eden sees college as her chance at a fresh start. With a new school, new friends, and the discovery she's a witch, life should be getting easier, right?

  Instead she's tormented by nightmares and lighting fires in her sleep.

  When things turn deadly, it looks like the monster stalking Eden's dreams might just be real after all. Will she face the truth in time, or will her sisters pay with their lives?

  For my mother and grandmother, each magical in her own way.

  “Search the dark until you find the light of truth. Only then will you know your strength.”

  ~ Alex

  Prologue

  Mael waited in the shadows.

  He’d forgotten how bright this world could be, even at sunset. Much had changed, but not that.

  His quarry shifted, and he readied to strike. But when she stayed with the pack, he stood down. Even at full capacity, he’d never taken so many at once. Weakened as he was, he had to choose wisely. He sensed her strength, even at this distance. She was worth the wait.

  The shadows lengthened, and soon they were splitting off in groups of twos and threes. All but his. She ambled off alone.

  Mael slipped from his hiding place and trailed after. He waited until the others were out of sight before closing the distance between them. Then he pursed his lips and made a sound akin to a whistle.

  Curls bouncing, the little girl turned. Her eyes went wide as she caught sight of him, but soon enough she was flashing a dimpled grin.

  Mael crooked a long, slender finger. Once they smiled, they were his.

  Chapter 1

  Eden woke, tangled in her sheets, and pushed back against the nightmare.

  Not real, she told herself. Not real and not today.

  She grabbed the small notebook on her bedside table that served as a schedule. Borderline, she wrote under last night’s entry.

  Borderline meant that very soon she’d need to switch things up. Although, she reminded herself with a smile, she was leaving for college that day. She was about to switch everything up.

  New school, new life, new Eden. Soon she wouldn’t need her schedule at all.

  Excitement erased the last traces of grogginess as she bounded from bed. A quick check in the mirror told her it was definitely a ponytail kind of day. She pulled back her long, dark hair then checked her carryon bag for the tenth time.

  Of everything she wanted to take with her to college, there was only one thing she absolutely needed to bring. The small, zippered bag peeked out at her from the same place she’d tucked it the night before. With both of her medications now labeled borderline, she’d need to restock as soon as possible. Even she didn’t expect to become a new person overnight. She’d stick with the schedule as long as she had to.

  She took a long look around her room. The next time she’d see it would be over Christmas break. Her gaze landed on the photos on her dresser, all of friends who had already left for school. She’d gone to each of their going away parties, but with everyone gone, she hadn’t bothered to throw one of her own.

  It was just as well. She wasn’t sure if the person she’d become would even want to hang out with the people she’d known in high school.

  Eden thought for a moment and then grabbed all of the photos—except the one with her parents at graduation—and crammed them into a box that she then stuffed into her closet. Out with the old.

  Downstairs her parents greeted her with smiles that were a little too broad. Her mother’s eyes—blue like Eden’s own—were rimmed with red.

  “Big day, kiddo,” her father said, handing her a cup of coffee.

  “Huge day.” Her mother winked and stacked two pancakes onto Eden’s plate.

  They tried to mask their disappointment that she’d chosen a school on the other side of the country, but she saw the tightness in their expressions.

  She’d tried talking up Whitland, with its impressive alumni of congresspersons and CEOs, but it had little effect. In truth, her arguments were half-hearted. As good a school as Whitland was, that wasn’t why she’d chosen it. She’d chosen it because it was on the other side of the country. But that truth would have crushed them so she kept it to herself.

  “You excited?” Her father poured his syrup. “Nervous?”

  “Can I be both?” Eden asked, adding some sugar to her coffee. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m both.”

  Her mother twisted a dishrag in her hands. “Are you absolutely certain you don’t want one of us to come with you? You’ve never been on a flight that long before, and I’ve already checked; there are tickets still available—”

  “Honey.” Eden’s father squeezed her mother’s hand. “We talked about this.”

  “I know; I know.” She dabbed the corners of her eyes with the towel. “I’m just going to miss you.”

  “It’s okay, Mom. I’m going to miss you guys too.” Needing to leave didn’t mean Eden wouldn’t miss them. “I can’t believe that by tonight I’ll be in a totally different place surrounded by totally different people.”

  “You’re going to love it,” her father said. “I mean it. Leaving for college—being out on your own for the first time—is one of the most thrilling and terrifying things you’ll ever do. Enjoy it.”

  “Enjoy being terrified?” Eden said. “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “You keep breathing,” he said. “Fear is just excitement without the breath.”

  For the rest of the day Eden tried her best to take her father’s advice. When all three of them broke down at the airport, through her blubbers, she breathed. On the flight as she watched Washington disappear from view, she breathed.

  When she landed in Massachusetts and realized she’d forgotten to charge her phone and now had no way to call the shuttle that was meant to pick her up, she cursed.

  “That was...colorful,” a girl Ede
n’s age said. She was petite with delicate features, her sandy blond hair in a pixie cut.

  Eden felt her cheeks grow warm and mumbled, “Sorry.”

  “I’m just messing with you,” the girl said with a smile. “What’s up? Maybe I can help.”

  “My phone.” Eden held up the useless item. “It’s dead, and I need to make a call.”

  “Hmm... That would be curse-worthy,” the girl said, fishing through her purse, “if I didn’t happen to have one right here.”

  She held out her phone, which Eden accepted with a sheepish grin.

  “Thanks. I didn’t even think of asking someone.”

  “The independent type,” the girl said. “I can relate. I’m Sarah.”

  “Eden. Nice to meet you. And thanks for this. It’ll just take a second.”

  “No problem,” Sarah said. “I’ve got to wait for my bags anyway.”

  Eden pulled out the piece of paper where she’d scribbled the number of the shuttle service and dialed.

  “Hi,” she said when the other party picked up. “This is Eden Montgomery. I have a two p.m. pick up scheduled. I was told to call when I was at baggage claim to arrange where to meet my driver.” She paused. “Yes, that’s right—going to Coventry House near Whitland College. Party of one.”

  “Make that two.” Sarah leaned close to the mouthpiece. “Sarah Collins is here too.”

  Eden’s eyes widened in surprise, but she answered the woman on the other end. “Yes, that’s right. Sarah Collins is with me. My mistake.”

  A minute later Eden had confirmed where they would meet the driver and handed the phone back to Sarah.

  “Small world,” she said.

  “Small airport,” Sarah replied with a grin.

  Hannah brushed her long, blond hair in the warped mirror of the airport restroom.

  Her phone chimed, and she checked the incoming text, her heart dropping. Why had she even let herself hope?

  She dropped her brush back into her bag. Meeting her father’s exacting standards didn’t matter if he wasn’t showing up.

  Outside the restroom her mother waited, travelers dashing in all directions.

  “He’s not coming,” Hannah said.

  “Oh, honey, I’m sorry,” her mother said, but even through her sympathetic expression, it was clear she wasn’t surprised.

  “So is he.” Hannah hoisted her backpack. She might as well head through security.

  “It doesn’t mean he doesn’t—”

  “I know, Mom.”

  “Was it work?” she asked.

  “Does it matter?” Hannah replied. If it wasn’t work, it was his new wife, Jeanne, and if it wasn’t her, it was her spoiled brat of a daughter.

  “I know it seems like he’s choosing his new family over you,” she said. “But you are a beautiful young woman, inside and out. Nothing changes that.”

  Ever since the divorce, her mother had been trying to assure her that none of this was her fault, as if she didn’t already know that. It was her mother’s for kicking him out and her stepmother’s for always driving a wedge.

  “I should go,” Hannah said.

  They said their goodbyes, and Hannah took her place in line. Nerves fluttered in her belly.

  Her father had been so pleased when she’d applied to his alma mater. When she’d switched her major from Creative Writing to pre-law, he’d been over the moon. He’d looked at her with such pride. It was a look she didn’t get often anymore.

  Being waitlisted had been crushing. When Carolyn—the woman in charge at Coventry House—had contacted her with a way to fast track her acceptance, she’d jumped at the chance.

  Hannah handed her ID to the TSA agent and glanced over her shoulder, glimpsing what she expected—her mother, standing in the corner, not willing to leave until Hannah had passed out of view. She waved, and Hannah returned the gesture before stepping through the metal detector. No turning back now.

  The shuttle driver lent Eden his phone charger, and soon she was texting her mother that she’d made it safe and would call later. She could sense the relief in her mother’s reply without even hearing her voice.

  Ever since what had happened when Eden was six—and that’s how they all referred to it, as what happened—her parents had been overprotective. Between her mother’s fear and her father’s guilt, she was lucky they hadn’t tied her to a chair. Not that she could blame them; Eden bore her own scars from what happened.

  Eden and Sarah were the only two on the shuttle, giving them forty-five minutes to get to know each other on the ride. Sarah was from Tennessee, which was a little surprising because she didn’t have a whiff of an accent. Less surprising, her parents were very religious. Sarah burst out laughing when she went into one of her suitcases for a sweater.

  “Check these out.” She pulled out three books and read their titles. “The Chaste Freshman Girl, 1001 Ways to Say No to Premarital Sex, and Desire: Doorway to the Devil. My mom must have snuck these in when I wasn’t looking.”

  “Wow,” Eden said. “She’s really worried about you hooking up with guys.”

  “It’s not the hooking up. It’s the possibility I might do it before marriage.”

  “Ah.” Eden wondered if Sarah was a virgin.

  Sarah glanced at the driver, who paid them no attention. “Maybe the next girl will need them.” She shoved the books under her seat. “You’d think if my mother was that concerned about my virtue she wouldn’t be forcing me to join a stupid sorority.” Her eyes went wide, and she added, “Oh, crap, sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you or anything.”

  Eden guffawed. “Trust me; I wasn’t insulted. I’m only joining for the scholarship. You too?”

  “Actually, no.” Sarah looked embarrassed. “Your reason at least makes sense. I wasn’t offered a scholarship. I’m just doing it to get my mom off my back.”

  “So you’re a legacy?” Eden asked.

  “Not with Coventry House,” she said. “My mother was a member of Sigma-Kappa-whatever. But they don’t have a chapter at Whitland, and she said the only way she’d pay for school was if I joined a sorority. Coventry House seemed the least obnoxious, so here I am.”

  “Is it normal for sororities to let us move in before we’ve even officially pledged? Or offer scholarships, for that matter?”

  Not that Eden was complaining. She’d applied to Whitland on a lark, knowing she could never afford a private college without going into debt so deep it would take the rest of her life to pay off. The non-profit sector wasn’t exactly lucrative.

  “Beats me,” Sarah said. “I’m just glad I don’t have to go to a bunch of rush nights. You must be extra smart for them to have given you a scholarship already.”

  “Not particularly,” Eden said. “I wasn’t the top of my class or anything. Carolyn said that it was my extracurriculars that put me over the top. I do a lot of volunteer work.”

  Eden gave a small shrug and hoped she didn’t sound pompous.

  “That’s cool,” Sarah said. “Volunteer work is something I would totally do if I were just a little bit better of a person.”

  Eden laughed, appreciating her honesty. “Well, you helped me out with the phone, so you’ve got some do-gooder in you.”

  “Oh, nice.” She pretended to check an item off her to-do list. “Be a better person—done.”

  The only snag in Eden’s new life plan had been having to join a sorority, but as they laughed and talked, she found herself thinking that if the other members of Coventry House were as cool as Sarah, it might be all right after all.

  Forty minutes later the van slowed, and Eden noticed they were climbing a steep hill.

  “That is some house.” Eden peered out the window.

  The closer they got, the more impressive it became—a four-story gothic mansion with stone walls and vines snaking up the sides.

  “I’m not sure what I was expecting,” Sarah said. “But I’m pretty sure this wasn’t it.”

  “Same,” Eden said. “Th
e brochure does not do it justice.”

  The house was over two hundred years old and boasted a rich history. For generations it had belonged to the same family, but they’d lost it during the Great Depression. After that it had become a home for wayward girls—a definition that had included pretty much any woman who thought for herself. In the 1950s the sorority had taken it over.

  The shuttle van came to a stop, and the driver began unloading bags.

  “Here we go.” Eden tried to keep the nerves from her voice. It was early evening, and the fading light cast eerie shadows on her new home.

  “Onward Christian soldiers,” Sarah said with a wink.

  The interior of Coventry House was no less intimidating than the exterior. The common room was paneled from floor to ceiling with dark mahogany. Built-in bookshelves lined an entire wall, filled with volumes that looked as old as the house itself. Young women lounged—reading, talking, watching TV. Wall sconces alight with candles glowed throughout the room. Eden’s belly tightened.

  Candles mean matches, and matches mean—

  “Newbies are that way,” a girl said. She pointed without looking up from her book. “Leave your bags here.”

  Eden and Sarah exchanged glances. Sarah shrugged and led the way.

  Past the common room lay a formal dining room large enough to house a table—more mahogany—that could seat sixteen. All the chairs were taken, the remaining girls standing behind those seated. An ornate chandelier cast a warm glow across the table and the faces that surrounded it.

  “You’re late,” barked a girl with shoulder-length blond hair and eyes like cut emeralds.

  “We got stuck in a little traffic,” Eden said, uncomfortable with the attention. “Sorry, I guess we should have called.”

  The girl’s eyes landed on Sarah, who seemed not at all abashed. “We’re here now,” she said with a smile that may or may not have been fake. She leaned against the wall, and Eden stood beside her, wishing she felt as nonchalant as Sarah looked.