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Just as I was about to reject the offer, the mist shifted again, showing more images. First, it was a burning building with blue flames, then it was a young woman with light-blonde hair blowing behind her. I couldn’t see her face, but the energy she was shooting around was dark and ravaging everything in its path.
The third was of three small children, all younger than the age of ten. Two boys and one girl with tattered clothes and dirtied, bruised faces. Their lifeless bodies were tangled around each other inside a metal box, eyes thankfully all closed.
The image changed to a video. The witch was holding a little girl in her grasp, one with rosy cheeks and dark hair just like my little sister had.
My jaw cracked, and every inch of me burned with fury as I blinked, reminding myself that the girl in the video wasn’t my Addie, but she was still someone’s daughter and maybe sister. An innocent soul that hadn’t deserved to have energy sucked from her as I watched the witch do.
As the color faded from the young girl’s face, the witch carelessly dropped her to the ground. Just before she turned around, the scene faded away.
“These are just a few examples of the disasters we’ve stumbled upon,” Johnathon spoke darkly, his tone matching my decreasing mood.
I sat up from the couch, my shoulders stiffening, and my feet dropped back to the carpeted floor. I didn’t know these children. They were nothing to me. But that didn’t matter, not after what happened to my sister. Anyone who would harm children deserved to die. Mercilessly.
“Where do I find her?” I demanded.
The glee in the disguised voice wasn’t to be missed. “She’s hidden in a coven. Her story is that she has hardly any magic, but do not believe her lies. No truths pass between her lips.”
After seeing all those children, that wasn’t going to be a problem. My hands squeezed shut so tightly that my knuckles popped.
“Send me the coven information and I’ll leave straight away,” I said, my voice gravelly.
“Very well, Mr. Barrett.” Another image began to appear. “One last thing. This is the witch you will be looking for.”
Within the mist was a portrait of a woman in her late twenties—maybe early thirties—with long hair that wasn’t as blonde as I’d thought before. It was more of a platinum-white, ending just above her hips.
Her red lips were full and cheekbones sharp, giving her an exotic look when combined with her glowing, beige skin. Lastly, her eyes captured my attention. A light blue with a darker outer ring framed by long, thick lashes.
I wouldn’t deny she was stunning to the eye, but I also knew her image could have been concocted. False beauty to further help the witch’s search for power that didn’t belong to her.
The mist began to retreat, and the edges of the parchment started to burn.
Whoever had sent this request had gone through a lot of effort to keep their identity hidden. That was normally a hard pass for me, but seeing those children had flipped a switch inside me.
This witch had to pay.
“That is all we have for you,” the voice said. “The coordinates, along with any pertinent details, will replace this message. We’ll be in touch once you’ve returned home.”
As soon as he’d stopped speaking, ashes fell onto the floor between my legs, then a piece of paper floated down on top of the pile. I stared at it for several moments.
As much as I’d wanted to leave this alone, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep after seeing what I had. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on.
Not for me, but for the memory of Addie.
I’d find the witch who had killed those kids, and I’d deliver the suffering that was rightly deserved.
Chapter2
KINSLEY
Isat at the edge of my coven within the House of Earth and Emerald, staring up at the bright moon. The surrounding trees hid me from the view of the coven, and I closed my eyes, trying to soak up the energy I could feel moving around me.
After all these years, one would think I’d have accepted my lot in life, but I hadn’t been able to. Well, not entirely.
There were pieces I’d grown used to, like accepting how people had first seen me as nothing more than the orphan witch to be pitied. When I’d grown older, their view of me had changed to the weak…brokenone to be kept at a distance.
Nobody wanted to be friends with a witch whose parents had abandoned her and who couldn’t fully access her magic. After being kept at arm’s length from my fellow coven members, I’d finally learned to stop caring what they thought and focus on what I believed.
Hiding in the woods, staying home by myself, training in the gym, talking to the moon as if it was my only friend… I had to discover what else was out in the world.
