“You foolish girl, what have you done?!” Veli boomed, jaw gaping.
She reached into the bag and removed the book from it. Power surged in the air, radiating from its pages, even while closed.
“Tinaebris Malifisc,” Azenna spoke softly in disbelief, her eyes shining with pure menacing anticipation. “It appears I was wrong, for you do have something worth bargaining for.”
Wicked whispers echoed through the space from the coven that worked to surround us once more.
“You will not lay a single taloned finger on this until we come to an agreement of what the use of this entails, and how you will fight in the war,” Avery spoke sternly.
“Avery, give me the book. Right.Now,” Veli demanded.
“Do as she says, Avery,” I ordered as I took a step closer.
The air was charged with a fiery intensity that felt as if it would shatter into chaos at any moment.
“Avery!” Zaela shrieked after a few seconds of silence. “Listen to them!” she pleaded.
“Avery is your name,” Azenna said. “Well, Avery, it appears the decision is in your hands, not theirs. Your terms are that we fight in this war? May we use the magic of the book you hold to aid its end?”
My sister swallowed and turned to me as I shook my head rapidly, mouthing the wordno.
“Do not let your crownless, clueless ruler choose the fate of your war!” Azenna screeched, whipping Avery’s attention back to her.
“Don’t speak of her that way!” Avery yelled at the witch, but her confidence quickly crumbled, replaced by a surgeof nerves that visibly coursed through her body. “I—” she started.
Azenna tsked. “I am afraid I have run out of patience for your lack of assurance, little red one.”
“Oh gods,” Veli murmured, and my eyes darted back and forth between her and my sister.
I took a few hurried steps toward her, my heart pounding in my chest. Veli matched my urgency, and then we raced to reach Avery, where she stood across the ruins.
Veli reached out her hand as we sprinted to my sister, and her grip on the book loosened as magic began to slowly tug her towards us.
“Let it go, Avery!” Veli shrieked, and she did as commanded.
The book was soaring toward us in the air when, suddenly, it whipped to the left and shot out to Azenna instead.
“No!” Avery screamed, and both of our steps ceased.
Veli vanished from beside me and wisped herself before her High Witch, trying to intercept the book, but she was too late.
Azenna caught the ancient bound pages in her clutches and let out a wicked laugh that rattled the ruins we all stood in. Dark magic swirled and surged in all directions, and a deafening crack of thunder erupted above, the laughter of the coven echoing behind it.
I snapped out of my trance and continued my desperate stride to Avery, throwing my arms around her to protect her in case the witch tried to attack.
One by one, the three other witches shot out into the sky under the cover of their shadowy shields.
“Thank you ever so much, my dear red one. I promise you, we shall hold our end of your precious barter and use our power to end the war,” Azenna announced, her voice booming with crackling power as her shadows swirled around her feet.
Veli’s eyes glowed with fury-forged intensity as she lunged at the High Witch, conjuring a massive explosion of shadows from her palm.
The blast of hazy-darkness slammed into the fountain right behind Azenna as she disappeared before our very eyes, withTinaebris Malifiscin her grasp.
The ruins fell into a bone-chilling silence. I inhaled, my breath shaking, as I turned to my sister, who had just inadvertently handed a book filled with the realm’s most sinister magic to a coven of malevolent witches.
Tears welled in her honey eyes as her lip trembled vigorously.
“Avery.” My jaw locked.
