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I bit the inside of my cheek. They were really ready to place all the blame on us. As if we could give any more than we already had.
“Today can never happen again—”
“But it will,” Uncle Axel interrupted her as he stepped forward, and I could see the patch of green grass under him as he approached, his hand behind his back. Standing between the elders and us, he took a deep breath before turning back and looking to the coven. “Today should never have happened, but it happened not because the nine failed or we failed. The defenses worked. Two Wiccans lost their lives, but in the past, it would have been dozens, all at the hands and teeth of one vampire. We lost two of our own, and we may lose more. Why? Because we are at war with the eternally damned. War comes with pain and loss. No one Wiccan knows or understands that better than the nine of nine. Or did we all forget their parents gave their lives in this war too?”
None of them said anything as they glanced either down or at each other.
“It is scary when it is this close to home. I know,” Uncle Axel went on. “However, we should never forget that our true enemies are the vampires, not each other. I told you of my premonition, the vision the goddess had shown me. There will come a day when we do not need mirrors to convene. A day when we are free to practice our magic freely, to be who we are. A day when neither vampires nor humans are a threat to us.”
“When?” someone called out from the crowd.
“You’ve been saying this for years!” another yelled out.
“Good question.” My uncle smiled, pacing back and forth slowly. “And I have avoided it because I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure about this vision. How far into the future had I seen? I had my doubts, too, because it was only once. One moment, one prophecy that changed my life. What if I had seen it wrong? What if it were but a dream and not a vision? What if? What if? What if? It hung on me heavily, especially I as held on to my friend Allen Allsbrook’s hand, and he looked me in the eye with a smile on his face, even as he was dying, tellin
g me he saw it…he saw her, the one blessed to bring our peace. And he put it to paper.”
My uncle brought his hands forward, and it was then I saw the paper he unfolded and straightened.
“Born of magic beyond all magic, she is the end and the beginning. When the era of weeping and darkness is upon us, she will uplift the sun in one hand and crush the night with the other. She shall bring about the end of this world and usher in another. A new dawn to banish the eternal night. This is the birthright of the daughter of Circe, the birthright of the wise goddess, the birthright of Dru-Ella.”
My head whipped to the side so fast I nearly hurt myself. But I was sure I had heard that last part wrong because it sounded like my name, and it could not be my name. However, when I looked at my uncle, he held up the paper, and there was a sketched image of me under the words he’d read aloud.
Did he just make me into a freaking goddess?
I did not want to be a freaking goddess!
“There must be some mistake…” I finally managed to speak, but even still, my voice was trembling.
“I knew from the first day I held you, Druella, that you and your magic were different,” my uncle replied as he handed the letter to the rest of the elders while I just stared and was stared at.
No! I wanted to yell at them.
I was a part-time vampire hunter, a witch, and an art restorationist. I did not have time to be a goddess!
“No,” I said sternly.
I didn’t like this. I felt as if I could barely breathe as it was. All of their eyes were on me, the hope growing with every second that passed. I could feel my throat beginning to close, and the urge to jump off that cliff, to run away, shook in me like an earthquake.
“Druella, this is—”
“Stop!” I snapped, and when I said it, they stopped. Every last one of them was like mannequins, frozen in their spots, and I exhaled deeply. Turning around, I looked to my circle, my friends, the only real family I knew, and yet all of their faces looked just like the rest of the coven.
Hopeful. Excited. Amazed.
Before I even realized it, I was walking away from them all, and when I did realize, I began to run. I ran out of the mirror. I ran out of my house, but everything was still frozen in time. I just knew I wanted to get away from the pounding in my chest, the cluttered thoughts in my mind. I just wanted it all to go away, the responsibilities, the duties. It was a lot, and now this? It was a lot, and for the first time in my life, I was walking away just for a little while.
Just until I could breathe.
But the longer I walked, the more tired I became, and soon, everything turned black.
When I awoke, the sun was setting over the treetops. I had no memory of how I had gotten to the forest or where the blanket on top of me had come from. My head was throbbing, which was slightly better than the pain in my stomach, only slightly.
“Ugh.” I groaned, wrapping the blanket around myself tighter and trying to get comfortable against the tree. Part of me figured this was a dream, so I’d just stay still until I was better. But a larger part of me felt this was real, and I didn’t feel well enough to be freaked out yet.
A witch taking a nap in the forest? I mean, there were weirder things.
Only when I felt his eyes on me did I sit up, forcing my eyes to open as I scanned the trees around me. But again, I didn’t see him.
