Witch's Bell Book One

can't be here,' he said quickly, gaze flickering for a second. 'The closer you come to the Grimshores, the more you act-out against them – the more you feed the spell.'
    Ebony's lips gave a little tremble. She hadn't thought of that.
    'You have to get away from here, I'll see to the Grimshores.'
    She took a moment and then shook her head. 'No. I'm not leaving.'
    'Ebony, plea-'
    'No. This is my story, Nate, mine. I need to finish it. Or I need to die trying. That's why Harry sent me here,' she took a rattling breath, 'to give me the opportunity to finish this how I want to.'
    'This is madness. Let me-'
    'I don't think so. I'm done playing. I'm done running. I'm done thinking. It's my turn to act,' as she spoke her skin became hot. She felt as if she were amassing some great energy within her, as if someone had just kindled a fire deep inside her heart.
    Nate licked his lips and just stared at her for a second. Then he gave a quiet laugh. 'Now you get involved? Now you become brave. Now you get forthright? You've been running confused for several weeks now-'
    'And now I'm turning around to face the devil, as it were,' she put her hands on her hips. She was strangely aware of herself, she realized, strangely aware of how it felt to be Ebony Bell.
    She could feel her skin, feel her hands, feel her feet, feel her heart. She was aware of her thoughts, of the determination rising in her like steam off boiling water.
    Ebony felt like Ebony Bell. Witch, woman, human.
    She sniffed.
    Nate looked at her, slightly awed. 'You look... strangely determined.'
    'That's because I am determined. No,' she suddenly corrected herself with a sharp smile, 'I'm not determined. My destiny, my life, is no longer going to be determined by anyone else – not the Grimshores, not my mother, not the Coven, not even you.'
    Nate's gaze flickered, but he didn't say anything.
    'I'm not determined by anything,' she repeated, 'I am determination instead.'
    Then Nate laughed. 'That sounds like Will Magic, Ebony. You sure you've never heard of Knights.'
    'No, this is my magic. And it's time for me to use it.'
    Just as Ebony finished her sentence, something happened.
    There were two soft, barely-audible thuds as two bracelets hit the carpet.
    Ebony slowly brought her wrists up and stared at them. The bracelets were gone.
    Then there was a click, and her choker fell from her neck, like a dead petal from the rose.
    'Ebony,' Nate moved forward, clearly surprised, 'your bracelets-'
    A smile started to grow on her lips. She slowly ran her hands over her wrists. She felt the flesh, felt the warmth, and she felt the magic. In fact, she realized that she had never stopped feeling the magic. It had always been there, Harry had been right. Her only mistake had been in believing that someone could take it away from her.
    Nate leaned down and picked up one of the bracelets and then he looked at Ebony. His gaze was thoroughly different though. For the very first time, Nathan Wall looked impressed by Ebony Bell. It wasn't her looks, her personality, her humor – it wasn't anything about her. It wasn't a feature, a facet, a face. It was the whole gem that had caught his eye.
    People can become impressed by an aspect of something, but very rarely do they allow themselves to be impressed upon by something in its whole.
    She smiled. 'Shocked? Because I am,' she kept the smile on her lips and then started to laugh easily. 'I really didn't think it would be this easy.'
    Nate shared her smile, though he still kept an eye on the door. 'What are you talking about? What about this entire situation is easy?'
    'All you have to do,' she said mostly for her own benefit, 'is decide what you want. And then all you have to is go after it. Direct yourself towards it; heading set, course locked in.'
    'Ebony,' Nate began.
    It was just so simple, it really was! Ebony kept the smile on her face, and felt the electric-warmth of the realization flood through her, like hot water through cracks in the ice. All she'd ever needed was to decide what she wanted.
    Her whole life. That's all she'd needed.
    She'd looked this way and that, for distraction, for entertainment, for meaning. But she hadn't realized that the true reality had always resided within. She, her wants, her desires – she was what gave her life meaning. Not the other way round.
    Don't look outside for what lies within. Ebony closed her eyes for a brief moment. All these years she'd failed to realize that. You don't wait for life