Crescent Legacy Nicole Taylor (top young adult novels .TXT) 📖

She was wearing a school uniform—a green tartan skirt, gray jumper, matching tie, and a forest-green blazer—with a heavy-looking backpack slung sloppily over her shoulder. Her wild blonde curls were pulled back into a ponytail, fixed in place with a black ribbon.

I watched her as she passed, really starting to feel like a creepy pervert. This was what they warned kids about at school. Stranger danger. If it weren’t for the fact I could sense what she was, I would’ve checked myself and turned around before the police knocked on the window.

I snorted. The Nightshade Witches didn’t just perform blood rituals, they were into wagging school as well!

The girl—Lucy’s sister—walked up to the front door of the house and let herself inside, then the street was empty again.

Now or never.

I got out of the car and strode along the footpath toward the little cottage. Pushing open the gate, I ignored the quaint little garden with its daisies and roses interlaced with nightshade plants and knocked on the door. Footsteps echoed inside, and I tensed, my heart galloping in my chest. That, and I felt like rushing to the loo.

When the door opened, I was surprised to see a woman in her fifties standing on the other side. Curly strawberry-blonde hair, freckled nose, green eyes… It was Lucy’s mother.

When she saw me, her expression fell, and she tried to slam the door in my face. I shoved back with my magic, forcing the woman to stumble, and stepped inside the cottage.

“Christine!” she shrieked as I advanced.

The moment I crossed the threshold, I could feel traces of Nightshade magic, and I knew… Lucy’s family was never kidnapped. They’d never left home at all. It was hard to say if Lucy knew or if she actually believed Carman was holding them. I wanted to say the latter, but it made no difference now. What was done, was done.

The girl rushed out of a room to the side with her hands in the air. Her magic had the bitter taste that Lucy’s had the night of the ritual. I threw up my own palms to counter her, and she fell to her knees the moment my power came to life.

An old woman appeared at the end of the hall, her mouth falling open when she saw me standing in the hallway.

“You know who I am,” I said. “So you know what I can do.”

“Crescent bitch,” the old woman snarled.

Her words sliced through me, bringing forth the vision the hawthorn had shown me of the burning in the forest. Nightshade Witches had murdered my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my aunt. I’d heard her say those words before.

“That’s right,” I said, not liking how this situation was unfolding. “I’m the biggest Crescent bitch of all.”

“Lucy… I know what you did to her.”

“It didn’t have to be this way,” I murmured, looking down on what was left of the Nightshade Witches. “You could’ve joined me in fighting Carman. I don’t want to…”

“All this is your fault,” the grandmother said. “All our sufferin’ started the moment you severed our connection with the other realm.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but it wasn’t worth it. I could tell them all about what Carman planned to do. I could tell them the doorways were closed to save them from even more suffering, but I knew they wouldn’t listen. They’d made up their minds a long time ago, long before they chose to burn my family at the stake.

“I want to make things right,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “But you took my family away from me. You conspired with the enemy. You were prepared to sacrifice the birthright of all the witches of Ireland in the name of petty revenge. You’ll never understand true sacrifice.” Sometimes, we had to do terrible things for the greater good to prevail.

“Who do you think you are?” the mother cried.

“The only witch who’s prepared to fight for magic, no matter what,” I replied. “Aileen gave you a chance to go on after you murdered our entire family, a chance you didn’t deserve. Lucy made her choice when she joined Carman. You gave up. You gave your coven to evil. You took the coward’s way out. Now I’m here to take your magic away for good. The greater good.”

“No!” the girl exclaimed. “Please! You can’t take our Legacy!”

“I’m sorry it had to come to this.” I raised my hands and called on my magic. “This is where the Nightshade Witches end. For good this time.”

Chapter 3

My eyes snapped open, and I sat up, my heart thumping.

The images my dream had conjured up began to fade, and I shoved them away roughly, not wanting to relive them. For once, I was glad I couldn’t remember what my brain hallucinated during the night.

Rubbing the grit from my eyes, I sighed. My legs were tangled in the quilt, and I was damp. The sweaty kind of damp, thank you very much. My underboob area was particularly moist.

Glancing at the clock, I saw it was five minutes to nine a.m.

“Shoot!” I exclaimed, leaping from the bed. My legs caught in the sheets, and I hurtled toward the floor. Landing on my side, I rolled and sprang to my feet. Holding out my hands, I let out a whoop. “An epic save, and no one was around to see it!”

I showered and applied my makeup in a daze, my mind playing over yesterday’s confrontation in Galway. It didn’t feel good being that person. I wanted people to like me, I wanted to be accepted, and I wanted to belong, but my birthright was an automatic ticket to prejudice.

Yesterday, I’d been the bad guy, and it had sucked big-time.

Whatever happened next, one thing was certain. Carman had to go. I couldn’t banish her, and I couldn’t imprison her, so I had to kill her. Gone, finito, kaput. For all time. I couldn’t allow anything to get in my way because I would only