“So I’ll return here at the end of the month, during this witching moon, and you’ll be able to tell if I have magic?”
That doesn’t sound so bad…
Ara chuckles darkly, and Soraya’s face creases with feigned sympathy.
Only Delaney’s expression remains impassive, her blue eyes sweeping over me once.
“No, Isabella. You’re not leaving here until after we’ve tested your capability.” She steeples her fingers together and places them on the table. “Until then, you will attend classes designed to train you on the art of all things witchcraft.”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Panic thunders inside of me.
She can’t be serious, can she? I need to get back to the shifters and tell them what I discovered about Kain and the vampires. I need to ensure with my own two eyes that my mates are okay. I need to talk to Kyle and Silas. I need to find Christian and help free him from the hold of his wolf. I need to?—
“We have excellent teachers who will be willing to work with you,” Delaney continues, oblivious—or choosing to ignore—my growing unease.
“I have school. A family. A life—” I begin, but the Crone waves off my worries.
“You can continue your schooling here, at least for the time being. And aren’t you a foster child?” She snorts. “You don’t have a family, child. You have people paid by the state to look after you.”
Anger like I’ve never felt before blasts through me, tinting my vision red. How dare she negate everything Hale and Gerry have done for me? How dare she suggest that blood is the only thing that equals family? How fucking dare she?
But I keep my mouth shut like a good girl.
“We will inform your foster parents where you are,” Delaney says, as if that somehow is a consolation.
“I need my phone,” I grit out. “And supplies. And?—”
“You won’t have access to your phone while you’re in training,” Delaney says. “And as for supplies, we will provide them for you.”
Panic pulsates inside of me.
No. No. No.
This can’t be happening.
“If that’s all, then the meeting’s adjourned.” Delaney takes a delicate sip of tea. “And you, Isabella, will start classes straight away.”
“But—”
My protest cuts off when the world beneath me disappears.
Literally.
One second, I’m sitting on a wooden chair in a dining room. The next, I’m falling through an abyss of darkness, interspersed here and there with purple and pink streaks. I’m falling, falling, falling, falling…
A scream lodges in my throat as I land on the ground, hard, the movement jarring my knees.
I’m back in the dorm room I woke up in.
Alone.
And this time, I truly am a prisoner of the witches.
Five
ETHAN
The scent disappears at the edge of the forest.
