Page 17 of How to Charm a Coven (How to Flirt with a Witch #2)

Cue “Eye of the Tiger”

T he golden net glints in the dim light of the Alchemy lab as I throw it at the book Natalie lobbed at me. I only manage to swat the book out of the air, and it lands on my toes with a heavy thwap.

“Ow!” I hop on one foot as pain shoots up my leg.

Natalie winces. “Sorry! Try to anticipate where it’s going, not where it is.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rub my tired shoulder.

She summons the book back. It’s dense and leather-bound, one of several we borrowed from the coven’s library. It probably holds something important, but it’s hard to care when my freedom is on the line.

Natalie catches the book and shakes out her arms. All the throwing and catching has left the veins in her forearms standing out beneath her rolled-up sleeves. The purplish-green bruises from yesterday’s fight are stark against her pale skin.

“Chimeras are always a step ahead, I know,” I say, dragging my attention away from her fingers and arms. “Your dad made that very clear. ”

After breakfast, Troy told us about the chimeras he trapped while abroad—a sea serpent in Norway being his favorite.

The stories were meant to inspire me, but they only made me more nervous about how impossible this is going to be.

His techniques for throwing the net are all easier said than done, and I’m convinced he was pulling my leg when he said it’ll come back like a boomerang if I throw it right.

I ready myself for another try, the weightless golden threads tickling my fingers. Is this my training montage? Swinging a net around in an abandoned Alchemy lab while my girlfriend gently tosses books my way? Ugh, how sad.

We’ve pushed the wooden tables and chairs up against one side of the rectangular room, leaving space to practice. The whirring fan beneath the skylight does little to dispel the stuffy air, and my arms are tired from swinging this thing all afternoon.

Natalie sends the book in a slow arc, and I chuck the net, this time with too much force. It sails past the book and crashes into a shelf of empty vials, sending them to the floor with a cacophony of shattering glass.

“Shit!” I rush over and drop to my knees, trying to gather the broken pieces.

Pain stabs my index finger, and I hiss, watching a fat droplet of blood ooze out.

Natalie kneels beside me, brushing her fingers over the back of my neck. “Katie, stop. It’s okay.”

Her touch derails my brain for a second, making me want to turn around and feel every contour of her strong arms—but I shake my head fiercely. “It’s not okay! None of this is!”

She tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “We should take a break. We skipped lunch.”

Frustration twists in my gut. I snatch up the net where it’s tangled over the broken glass. “I need to get better. Your dad caught his first chimera when it was an eagle, and that’s way harder than catching books you’re throwing really slowly.”

“Katie.” She guides me to my feet. Heat spreads from her fingertips, easing some of the tension in my muscles. “You’re overthinking it.”

“Of course I’m overthinking it!” I gesture wildly with the net, the golden threads trailing behind my hand like a comet’s tail. “How am I supposed to catch fifty-six of these things when I can’t even catch a flying book?”

She studies me closely. Her face is still cut up from yesterday, each one painful to look at. “I feel like…like you might be holding back. I see it in your face when we talk about them.”

Hot shame wells inside me. “I’m not…”

But I am. Every time I think about catching those creatures, the memory of that warning hisses in the back of my mind: We remember the cages. And that cheetah flashes across my vision, beautiful and strong, with intelligent eyes that really looked at me.

Her hands linger on mine, anchoring me in place when everything else is spiraling. The way she’s looking at me, with such concern and focus, makes my breath hitch. We stare at each other for a moment, surrounded by broken glass and rays of sun peeking through the skylight.

“Is it the voices?” Natalie asks.

I nod, my throat tight.

She runs her fingers along my jaw. “Tell me if you hear it next time we’re out there, okay? We can try to figure out what’s going on. Where it’s coming from.”

I furrow my brow. Either she’s in denial or I’m clinging too hard to my theory. “And if it is the chimeras talking to me? If we discover I’m trapping sentient creatures like some dirtbag trophy hunter?”

Natalie shakes her head, loose locks of hair falling across her face. “They’re dangerous forces, not animals. Think of them like a hurricane or an earthquake. ”

“Natural disasters don’t usually talk,” I point out.

She sighs, her shoulders dropping. “Katie, they level cities. They hurt people.”

“And if they are somehow conscious?”

“Then we still have to contain them.”

I chew my lip, trying to find a solution. “Is there another way to banish the chimeras without trapping them?”

She scans the ivy-covered walls as if searching for answers. “Maybe. But for now, this is the only way to keep you safe—to keep everyone safe.”

I nod, though the knot in my stomach stays tightly wound. She clearly doesn’t think there could be another way, but she doesn’t want to say it outright.

“Katie, we’re talking about bio magic, and we need to consider that they could be manipulating your mind.”

I open my mouth to argue, then close it. I hadn’t thought about it that way. If bio magic is the ability to manipulate cells in living bodies, including mind control, then that could be exactly what’s going on.

The net is still in my hand, the weightless golden threads dangling off the chair and pooling on the floor. I need to make a decision: I can either master this net and secure my freedom, or I can listen to the voices and risk everything. What choice do I have?

I growl and rub my face. “Of course this is happening to me.”

Natalie’s brow pinches. “What do you mean?”

I wave my hands. “I’m already a total weirdo, so let’s add disembodied voices to the mix, shall we?”

Her mouth opens in surprise. “That’s not true!”

“It is! The coven treats me like an outsider, and why shouldn’t they? I can sense magic but can’t use it. I’m not a witch, but I’m not normal either. And now these voices…” I break off, struggling to hide my fear. “What if there’s something even weirder about me that none of us understand? ”

Natalie takes my hand and raises it to her lips, pressing a kiss to my palm. The sensation shoots up my arm, pleasant and warm. “The fact you can sense magic is remarkable. It’s exactly what we need to trap it.”

I huff. “I just… I wish I were a witch. Then the coven would accept me.”

Her brow furrows. “Do you know what would happen if I gave you magic? The coven would never forgive either of us. There’d be no coming back from it.”

“Better than being dead or imprisoned for five years. I could actually protect myself—and I could be your equal instead of your burden.”

“Katie!” she exclaims.

I shake my head. “It’s true. Every time we run into trouble or go after a chimera, you’re the one doing all the work.

You’re fighting the Madsens, manipulating the earth, protecting me…

and what am I doing? Fumbling with a net I can barely throw.

” I look down at my inadequate hands. “Sometimes I wonder if you’d be better off with another witch.

Someone who understands your world completely, and who could fight alongside you instead of needing to be rescued all the time. ”

The words spill out with more emotion than I meant to show. But it’s hard to tamp it down right now as everything piles up.

Natalie steps closer, her face clouding over. “I hope you don’t believe that.”

“How can I not?” My voice comes out sharp, and I drop my gaze, heat creeping up my neck. “Look at us. You’re throwing books for me to catch with a net because I can’t do anything more useful. Meanwhile, you could be with another Guardian or whatever—someone who wouldn’t be holding you back.”

“That’s not fair,” she says tightly. “To either of us.”

I shrug. “The coven has made it clear where I stand. ”

Natalie runs a hand through her hair, frustration evident in the tense line of her shoulders. “Katie, I’ve never seen you as less than me. Not once.”

“I know you don’t… But that doesn’t change the reality.” I gesture between us. “There’s an imbalance here that we can’t ignore forever.”

Her eyes flash with something—hurt, maybe, or recognition of a truth she’s been avoiding.

My phone buzzes, and I step back to fish it out. A text from Mom asking how I’m settling in.

“Shit.” I drop onto a chair, overwhelmed. “I haven’t even bought my textbooks yet. Or called my family. Or—”

“Breathe.” Natalie closes her fingers around my wrists. “One thing at a time.”

“But there isn’t time,” I say, my voice rising. “I have two months to catch all these chimeras while somehow going to class and keeping my family from worrying and protecting this net from Sophia and—”

The words die on my tongue as Natalie drifts closer, her legs pressing against my knees. She looks down at me, her gaze steady and intense.

“Katie,” she whispers, cupping my face with both hands.

The room suddenly feels too warm. Neither of us moves, time seeming suspended between us. Slowly, she leans down, bringing her lips to mine with a gentleness that makes my heart so full it could burst.

I open my lips and pull her in, responding with all the frustrated energy that’s been building inside me—the fear of failing, the exhaustion, the longing for her during our time apart.

All the tension melts from my shoulders as she brushes her thumbs over my cheeks.

Her lips are soft and comforting, everything I missed so badly it hurt since I fled the city in February.

When she deepens the kiss and puts her arms on either side of my head to grip the back of the chair, my brain short-circuits .