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In my panic, I lose my grip on the spell, and the connection with Erik slips. I try to snatch it back, but it’s too late. Althea calls time on the spell. She shoots us a smug look.
“The High Priestess is the winner of this round. The challenger failed to maintain her spell.”
My heart sinks and panic of a different kind flashes through me. Erik shoots me an unreadable look, and his posture stiffens, closing off from me. Compared to what we just shared, it feels like being left out on a dark and cold night.
What the fuck have I done?
“We’ll move on now to the final round of the challenge,” Althea calls. “As requested by the challenger, we’ll let the Freyja, goddess of witches, decide the winner.” She pauses a moment, her eyes sweeping the crowd. They rest longest on me, and her look makes it clear what she believes the outcome will be.
“The entire coven will participate in this last step,” Althea calls. “I call upon each witch to summon the goddess in whatever way you usually speak to her. Ask her to come, now, and judge the fate of our coven. Ask her to show us our future leader.”
A hush falls over the cavern, followed by a hum of magic as dozens of witches call their power. Some bend their heads, hands over their heart, others look up toward the ceiling, arms stretched wide. Some glow with a colorful aura, others murmur softly, their lips moving slowly, eyes closed. Light sparks across the cavern like a million fireflies. It is beautiful and it is deadly, because it seals my fate, too.
It starts as a whisper of wind coming down the tunnel. Then it grows in strength, swirling around the coven, lifting my hair, sending the glowing lights spinning in mini cyclones. The wind begins to move inward, tightening around me and Erik, and my mother and her moon maiden. A maelstrom forms around us, pressing in, whipping faster and faster. Erik steps closer and grabs my hand, then pulls me against him as if shielding me.
The cyclone spinning around us begins to wobble, and then it shifts and tightens around me and Erik. It’s hard to see through the glowing lights clustered around us, but I realize that it’s not moving around my mother anymore. It’s centered on me and Erik.
It slows then, rotating quietly, just a column of bright lights around us. My eyes widen in disbelief. I hadn’t really believed this would work. But I had to try, I had to do what I could to save my daughter.
Silence falls thick and heavy over the cavern as the coven stares at me, stunned. Then, slowly and haltingly, Althea speaks.
“The goddess has spoken. Astrid Olsen is the new High Priestess of Norway.”
