Covet (Clann)

ran away screaming like a little girl. A reluctant half smile loosened the muscles in my jaw. Now that would be fun to see. Unfortunately, in real life Dylan would never run away. He’d just stand there and hit her with a magically produced fireball or something.
    I handed the catalog back to her, my attempt at a smile fading. “Listen, Anne, you really should be careful. I know you think you’re tough enough to handle anything Dylan might throw at you. But the Clann…they’re way more powerful than you realize. Even Dylan’s got a few tricks up his sleeve that a compound bow probably wouldn’t be much use against.”
    “Pfft. Bring it on. I’d like to see him try. He’d never even see or hear me before it was too late.”
    She pretended to hold a bow in her left hand and pull back an imaginary arrow with her right. She made a short whooshing sound, apparently to simulate releasing the arrow, followed by a soft whistle and a grin.
    I shook my head and sighed. Anne already knew the Clann could do magic. She’d heard the rumors right along with everyone else in Jacksonville. And she’d even seen some of their spells’ smaller effects when she helped Tristan hide charms in my duffel bag and locker to block my gaze daze victims’ stalking attempts last year. But what she hadn’t seen was just how quickly descendants could throw power at people to knock them off their feet and even almost kill them.
    If she’d been there the night Tristan and Dylan had gotten into a magic fight, she wouldn’t be so quick to wave off my warning now.
    Michelle and Carrie pulled up beside us a few minutes later with their dates. The driver’s side window was down, and I heard them saying my name then something about Tristan and Emily and a car wreck. Hot news spread fast in Jacksonville, and no topic was hotter than Tristan.
    Carrie glanced up at me, grabbed Michelle’s hand, and they both turned pink.
    “Um, what do you guys want to eat?” Carrie said to everyone in the car.
    While they placed their order, I checked my phone for missed calls or messages. Nothing yet. Just to be sure, I double-checked the signal. Maybe Emily hadn’t had a chance to go somewhere private and call me?
    When the food arrived for Carrie and Michelle’s car, Anne got out to bug them through the passenger windows while they tried to eat. But I was rooted to the seat with worry.
    Emily should have sent an update by now. What was happening at the hospital with Tristan? Was he going to be okay? Maybe no news meant he was still undergoing X-rays or something. Unless…
    No, I refused to think like that. He was going to be all right. He had to. Emily had done enough to keep him alive until he could get to the hospital and the Clann could take over. And there was no way they would allow their future leader to die.
    But that didn’t mean a few descendants might not still want Tristan out of their way. And if anyone had a motive for wanting to hurt Tristan, it was Dylan. What had he said the night he’d caught Tristan and me kissing after Charmers practice? Something about how the pictures he was taking of us would ensure the Clann would remove Tristan’s dad as Clann leader.
    Sounded like a motive to me.
    Part of me agreed with Anne. Dylan seemed way too stupid to manage something as complicated as messing with someone’s brake lines. Then again, maybe he’d finally discovered how to use the internet or read a book. Miracles could happen, especially for someone as driven as Dylan. He was dedicated to getting Tristan’s family ousted as the Clann leaders, enough to get into a spell fight with Tristan on school grounds and nearly kill him in the process. How much further would he have really had to go to tamper with Tristan’s truck tonight?
    And if he was capable of messing with Tristan’s truck, then he was also more than capable of going after someone else. Someone outside of the Clann without any power. Someone like Anne, whose working parents had few if any political connections around here.
    What if his idle threat had really been a promise to try to hurt her next year?
    I had to find a way to protect both Tristan and Anne.
    If I’d only grown up learning how to use magic like the rest of the descendants, I could make protection charms for them. I could also help heal Tristan, if only from a distance.
    But I couldn’t protect or help anyone, because my mother and grandmother had promised the Clann that they would never teach me to do