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“What did Sister Sophie tell you?” she asks, tensing up.
“That they plan to kill us both. That when Samhain comes, they will fully take over Brom using the horseman, and they’ll drug me, and they’ll force him to impregnate me. And after that, Brom will be killed, and the same will happen to me once I’ve given birth.”
She frowns, sitting up straighter, the bloody water spilling over. “No,” she says. “That’s not right. That’s not true at all. Sister Sophie is lying to you.”
“I don’t think she is. She’s on my side, she says.”
“And I am on your side too, Katrina!” my mother exclaims.
I laugh bitterly, not sure who to believe anymore. “I can’t trust anyone,” I tell her. “The only ones I can trust are Crane and Brom. And we’re going to get out of here as soon as we can, as soon as we can get rid of the horseman from Brom. Then we’ll leave and we’re never coming back.”
My mother opens her mouth to say something, but then goes still, as if she senses something.
“Who goes there?” Leona’s powerful voice comes from the other room where I hear her enter.
My mother looks to me in horror and mouths the word: hide.
There’s only one place to hide, only one thing I can do.
I quickly move along the wall until I’m in the shadows of the bathroom and I close my eyes, conjuring shadow magic through my veins, until I’ve blended in with the dark, until I’m sure that no one can see me.
Oh heavens, I hope no one can see me.
I watch my mother in the tub, but she’s not looking in my direction. Instead, she’s watching the doorway as Leona’s cloaked silhouette appears, with Ana right behind her.
“Sarah,” Leona says, her voice chastising. “What are you doing here?”
I hold my breath, terrified that my mother will purposely give me away, or perhaps do it by accident.
“You know why I’m here,” my mother says, her tone firm and cold. “Did you think I would forget it was a full moon? Not when I’m barely hanging on, not when I’m losing fingernails.”
“But we have strengthened the wards,” Leona says, lowering her hood.
I nearly cry out but manage to smother the noise.
Leona’s face is devoid of skin and fat, comprised of slimy greyish brown muscle and sinew, her eyeballs nearly hanging out of black sockets.
This is what they look like underneath the magic.
Monsters.
“How did you get in?” Ana asks her, mercifully keeping her hood on, her face in shadow.
“You always underestimate me, don’t you?” my mother says snidely. “Think my power amounts to nothing just because I’m no longer part of the coven.”
“We are on lockdown,” Leona says. “The students and staff are getting restless. We’ve managed to make them think the Hessian is behind all of it, so they understand that the extra wards are up for their own safety.”
“And so, what is your plan?” my mother asks pointedly. “In all these years I’ve never seen such sloppy, careless work. People are losing their heads every other day it seems, not to mention the rumors have even slipped into town. Normal folk discussing what’s happening up here, talking about missing teachers, and students committing suicide in front of an audience.”
“That’s your daughter’s fault!” Leona snaps. “Your daughter and that damn Professor!”
“And then there’s Brom, whom you’ve had no problem manipulating for your own gains,” my mother counters.
“You’re using him too!” Leona says. “Our gains are your gains. Our goals are one and the same.”
“Then why did Katrina tell me that you are planning to kill Brom after he impregnates her? And that you plan to kill her once the child is born? Did you think I would idly sit by and let you kill my only daughter?”
Oh no. No. No. Why is she telling them this?
“Who told Katrina that?” Leona sneers with her lipless mouth. “When did she tell you that?”
My mother lifts her chin. “When she and Brom were over for supper last weekend. She knows the truth. I don’t know how she knows, but she does.”
“Sophie,” Ana mutters and Leona looks to her and nods.
“Yes,” Leona muses. “Yes, Sophie. As I’ve always suspected she might. She cares too much for her son.”
“As I care for my daughter,” my mother says. “Why is this a shock to you? Are you not used to mothers caring for their children?”
Leona lets out a sour laugh. “Oh yes, Sarah, you are the portrait of a perfect mother. Look at you, bathing in blood so that you can carve out your meager existence for another month. You know, had you not chosen Baltus and married Liam instead, we would have never expelled you from the coven. You could be feasting on the magic-filled parts of these witches, instead of bathing in their leftover blood. But you seem to love scraps. That’s all you deserve, after all.”
