Witch's Bell Book One

crypt was now alight with activity, bodies, and movement. The bodies were alive, thankfully, and very much police.
    Someone had set up a light, or something, Ebony realized with fatigue-heavy blinks of her eyes. It was all the better to see the shocked expressions on everyone's faces as Ebony simply erupted from the ground, as if she was simply too unpalatable for the earth to swallow.
    'Ebony!' Ben raced over to her. 'I just got the call from the Coven,' he had his phone in his hands.
    Two hands grabbed at Ebony's shoulders, pulling her gently to her feet. But they weren't Ben's hands, Ebony realized, her mind slowing down with every second. Ben had a mobile in his hands and he was standing... over there.
    With her blinks getting slower, and her mind almost grinding to a stop, Ebony realized who had pulled her up. It was Detective Nate. He wore an expression Ebony hadn't ever seen. It was... different. It reminded Ebony of the time her father had gotten home to find Ebony's mother at the center of a rather messy magical explosion. It was pressed, tight, wild, but....
    'Ebony,' someone said. 'Hey, get a hold of yourself, you're bleeding everywhere. Use your magic to heal yourself-'
    Ebony replied by lurching forward and throwing up, all over the flattened tie of a certain Detective Nate.
    But she didn't have the time to track his expression, humorous though it would have been; she simply fell forward and into the arms of unconsciousness.

Chapter Nine
    E bony woke up slowly. It appeared to her that she was slowly climbing back up into consciousness, like a person scrambling out of a deep well. She started to notice the light on her face, then the feel of the soft sheets underneath her, and then, finally, the strange, vague fog that set about her body like mist in a bottle.
    'You're awake,' she heard Ben's voice from somewhere by her feet.
    What was Ben doing in her bedroom, she wondered sleepily.
    'Finally,' Detective Nate chuckled through a short cough, 'we don't have to listen to you snoring anymore.'
    What was Nate doing in her bedroom, she thought with rising alarm. But it wasn't until Ebony finally managed to blink through the awful daze that surrounded her, that she realized she wasn't even in her room.
    Ebony was in hospital.
    She tried to sit up, so she could get a better look at her surroundings, before leaving quickly. Witches, as a rule, didn't like hospitals. They also never needed to visit them. There was nothing magic, herbs, tinctures, candles, and a few blessings couldn't cure. And if the magic didn't work, then you could be darn sure that ordinary human medicine wouldn't either.
    Her arm would hardly move. So she just tried harder, until a dull, overpowering ache erupted through it. 'Owww,' she blinked quickly, trying to summon enough magic to damp down the hurt. But the magic wouldn't come.
    'Hey,' Nate put a hand on her arm, 'you just got stabbed. You might want to take the time to lie down. I've had enough experience with heavy blood loss to know that it's never a good idea to do the marathon afterwards. You're in hospital for a reason, Ebony.'
    Ebony tried again, more desperate now. She tried to push the magic into her wound, tried to encompass it, tried to seal it off – but the magic wouldn't come. It was useless, like pumping at a bone-dry well.
    Ebony Bell didn't have any magic.
    'What the,' her voice wobbled like a thin sheet of unsupported metal, 'wh-at am I doing here?'
    Ben gave a barely reassuring smile. 'You don't remember? You went Rambo on that criminal in the crypt, dealt with Death, and then....'
    Got sucked into the earth to meet the Coven, Ebony finished in her mind. Then she jammed her eyes tightly shut. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. And if she couldn't hide from them, well at least she could hide behind the thin wall of her eyelids.
    'You got, um,' Ben's voice was more uncomfortable than usual, his usual brash joy gone, 'punished.'
    Ebony remembered, alright, and blimey it hurt. She could feel the bracelets around her wrists too, and the choker about her neck. These things were going to be with her for the next twenty-eight days, come rain, shine, or magical storm. No matter what happened to Ebony, they would ensure she couldn't fall back on her magic. Ebony would have to, as the Coven had told her, spend the next lunar month just like a non-magical human.
    Oh no, she thought to herself bitterly, how do they do it? How do humans-
    'Don't you go beating yourself