Page 98 of Bad Witch

Before I retreated to my life of solitude, I wanted to be with Fender. I wanted him, all of him, but I got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about sex. He wanted answers as well. “Okay,” I whispered.

“Okay,” he said.

Then I turned and walked into the cave.

Darkness immediately engulfed me, heavy and unnatural. Brigid was definitely still here. Her magic flowed against me, over me, and the deeper I tried to walk, the denser it grew until it was like walking through pea soup.

“Brigid,” I called. “It’s me, Matilda.”

The heaviness surrounding me began to withdraw then, like a wave of molasses pulling away, dragging me deeper into the cave, until the dense feeling had dropped so it only surrounded my ankles. I tried to wade through it but was hit again, another wave of thick magic slamming into me, knocking me onto the floor this time. Struggling against the heaviness, I tried to get up.

A scream echoed through the caves, bringing the wind with it. I froze in my prone position. The tormented sound was distant at first but was steadily growing in volume, like an incoming storm. I squeezed my eyes closed against the dust and debris blasting against my bare skin and covered my ears.

Everything stopped as fast as it came, and I opened my eyes—and came face to face with Brigid.

She was a glowing apparition, hovering over me. Her face was contorted, her hair swimming around her head like she was floating in water. Her eyes were wild with rage, but also with confusion.

Brigid was different this time, and not just in appearance. When we’d removed her remains, we’d taken the thing that had kept her grounded to this place. Without it, the revenge she’d held in her heart was dissipating, she was forgetting. A ghost with this much rage and nowhere to direct it would soon burn themselves up.

Her eyes narrowed and she moved suddenly, rushing at me, trying to enter my body to possess me—and came up short when she met the barrier coating my skin.

“Brigid,” I rushed out. “It’s me, Matilda. We met before. Do you remember?”

Her head jerked to the side before she jerked forward again so her face was hovering only an inch above mine. She bared her teeth. “Maaaatildaaaaaa,” she hissed out.

“Yes, that’s right.” If I mentioned removing her remains, she might become even more confused. She may not even realize she was dead anymore. “Will you allow me and my friends to pass through your cave? We mean you no harm. We seek the god Pan and are told this is the way to reach his realm.”

“Paaan,” she said in her eerie voice. “The god stole from me.” Her head moved from side to side in an odd way. “Bring back the god killers and you may pass.”

Her words came out rapid-fire now, so fast I had to listen very carefully. “The weapons? Pan took them from you?”

“Promise to return them to me, female of coven Matilda, and you may pass.”

My only choice was to agree. That would ensure we could get there, but I’d have to worry about returning afterward. With my luck, she’d forget we’d had this conversation and I’d have to do this all over again. “I will return a god killer to you,” I said. If I gave her one, that wouldn’t be breaking our deal.

“The deal is made,” she said, then turned and pointed to a small cave on the opposite side of the one where we’d found her the last time we were here. “Beware the wild and hedonistic god.” She spun back to me, her hair floating like Medusa’s snakes around her head. “Darkness lurks…it sits in wait.”

Then she was gone, and the ward that was still thick around me flowed away with her, like the tide rolling out and vanishing. I scrambled to my feet and ran out of the cave. Fender was standing there with a blanket, and he wrapped it around me. “We need to go quickly. She’s given us permission to pass and has dropped the ward, but I don’t know how long it’ll last.” Or how long she’d remember why she’d dropped it in the first place.

Fender nodded and helped me dress. I didn’t try to wipe off the oil, just in case, and pulled on my clothes over my sticky and dirt-smeared skin. Fender whistled when I was done, and Roman, Kurgan, and Zari strode out of the forest. Blood smeared Kurgan’s bare monster chest where someone, most likely Roman, had carved the rune into the front of the huge hound’s shoulder. Blood darkened Zari’s T-shirt, and I assumed hers was in roughly the same place.

“Stay behind me so I can ensure the ward’s still down.”

They all nodded and followed me into the darkness. This time nothing but silence greeted us, silence and that oppressive darkness. There was a low tingle of Brigid’s magic, telling us we were in her territory, but nothing stopping us from passing.

Taking out my phone, I turned on the flashlight and headed to the cave Brigid had pointed to. The hounds stayed behind me, but Fender was right there, so close the front of one bicep brushed the back of my shoulder as we walked. He was silent, though, and so were the others. They moved in a way that made it clear they were predators, warning anything that might get in their way to look out should they decide it were prey.

When we reached the passageway, the buzz of Brigid’s magic finally slipped away. “We’re out of Brigid’s territory,” I said. “We can talk again.”

“Any idea how far away this gateway is?” Roman asked.

“No idea, and I have no experience with gateways like this. You’ll know better than me if we’re near it what it looks like,” I said.

“So do we know where these weapons are, when we get into Pan’s realm?” Zari asked.

“In Garan’s words, we’ll find the weapons inside a rock that looks like a hard cock thrusting up from the earth,” Fender said.

Zari turned to him, blinked several times, then shook her head, choosing not to comment.