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The woods are dark and eerie as we pick our way through the trees toward our destination. The Brimmwise coven has proven itself to be deceptive and prone to double-crossing, so we’re on high alert as we approach the area where we’re supposed to meet them.
Bernadette doesn’t complain when I reach out to grip her elbow, stabilizing her as we walk over the slippery, dry pine needles. Jesse and the Vikings are somewhere in the forest behind us, and even though I can’t hear or see them thanks to intricately woven spells, I know the covens are circling in, surrounding the entire area.
This is going to work. It has to.
We’ll get Steph back, and Windmere and Sabledown will stop Brimmwise from stealing my power. We’ll all go home, and this whole ordeal will be nothing but a memory in no time.
My steps falter, my spine stiffening when I see a flicker of flames in the distance. Bernadette continues the course without pause, pulling her elbow free of my grip and straightening to her full height as we move closer. Bodies materialize in the darkness, a half-circle of robed witches holding old-fashioned torches.
My dead heart seems to give a single, heavy thud against my breastbone when I spot Steph in the center of the group. She looks pissed, yet unharmed, and I’m relieved the dark witches haven’t seemed to abuse their hostage.
I’m relieved for Steph, but also relieved I won’t have to kill each and every one of them for harming one dark hair on her beautiful head.
“Eden Walsh. Step forward, now,” one of the witches calls out.
“Release Steph, first,” I call back as Steph tries, unsuccessfully, to yank her arm free of the grip holding her in place.
I take a single step forward as I speak, putting a little separation between Bernadette and me. The witch releases Steph, and she mutters something under her breath before moving toward me at a slow, measured pace. I match her movements, and we meet somewhere in the middle between Brimmwise and Bernadette.
“Are you okay?” I whisper.
“I’m fine,” she hisses back. “What are you doing? You can’t give them your power, Eden.”
“I’ll be okay. I promise,” I say as we pass each other.
I hear a rustling behind me as Steph and Bernie embrace. I keep moving, and I can tell the Brimmwise witches are surprised. Like they expected us to double-cross them and had some sort of contingency plan in place.
As I move closer, the coven seems to float across the forest floor, circling around me completely within seconds. I stop and band my knees slightly, ready to strike. The witches start to chant, voices high and low joining together in a beautiful symphony of unfamiliar words. My hand slaps to my chest as a tugging sensation erupts there.
Like I can physically feel the magic being pulled from my body.
The chanting grows louder, and my palms slap over my ears as pain streaks through my head.
“Fuck,” I groan. This fucking hurts.
The Brimmwise witches falter when new voices ring out around their circle, and the pain in my head lessens as one by one, they stop chanting and swivel around, peering through the darkness.
“Sabledown!” someone shouts.
“Windmere!” another screams, then all hell breaks loose as the Brimmwise witches scatter.
At least, they appear to scatter, but it quickly becomes apparent they’re moving to predetermined spots that offer coverage and protection. Behind trees. In narrow ditches that definitely weren’t here the last time I was in the area. They must’ve dug them earlier today.
A battle cry rings out from somewhere to my left, echoed back by many mouths as the sound of feet tramping through the woods surrounds me on all sides. Someone grabs my wrist, and I jerk away. Spinning to strike back, I manage to stop myself before my fist connects with Steph’s throat.
“Come on,” she yells, grabbing my wrist again and pulling me toward the wide trunk of a pine tree.
Screams scratch against my eardrums as witches of the three covens fire spells at each other. I send up a silent prayer that someone from either Sabledown or Windmere doesn’t accidentally strike a member of the other, causing conflict between my two unsteady allies.
Leaning my back against the rough bark of the tree, I twist my body to peek around the edge. Peering through the melee, I see Bernadette throwing spells toward a group of Brimmwise witches nestled behind a large boulder. I move to help, then freeze when I spy Leif sneaking up behind the group. He takes care of them in short order, knocking each witch unconscious with quick blows to the head.
When I look back at Bernadette, she’s turned her attention to a single witch across the clearing. Steph hisses something under her breath that sounds like “leader” then disappears around the other side of the tree.
“Steph,” I hiss, going after her, but a blast of magic hits the bark of the tree next to my head, making me instinctively duck back behind the barrier.
Moving to the opposite side of the trunk, I peek around, my eyes searching the chaos for my best friend. I see her casting rapid-fire spells toward the enemy as she slowly makes her way toward her aunt, and some of my worry fades.
She’ll be fine. She can hold her own.
