AllFreeNovel
Share Us
In answer, Victoriya began tapping at her phone, her sharp black nails scratching the touchscreen with every word.
SEVEN
JOY
“I’ve brought you some water,” a sweet voice murmured an hour or so after Gabi had left. Joy lifted her head from the musty mattress in her cell to see a tall, blonde woman in her thirties push a bottle of water through the bars with her lacquered red fingernail.
“Thanks,” Joy rasped, wary. This was Katrina, Paulina’s assistant, the woman who’d sat on the front desk and watched as Paulina hauled Joy in. She was as bad as Paulina.
Or … maybe she couldn’t do anything to question Paulina. Maybe all she could do was this: little kindnesses when the Head Witch’s back was turned.
Katrina smiled, her eyes a clear crystal blue that brimmed with sympathy. She was beautiful, but Joy didn’t feel any reaction. Her heart still hadn’t mended since her and Gabi’s conversation. The only thing that kept her upright and not flopped back on the mattress, blocking out the world, was the water dripping down the back wall. Joy’s fae nature tied her to water and allowed her to connect with it at any time, even if she wasn’t fae enough to harness it. It was a talent leftover from the days when fae used to command huge, extravagant armadas, when even pirates were helpless to fight them when the fae set their sights on their ships.
The fae who lived on the cliffs of Agedale—in vast houses and lavish mansions, with private cliff paths and secret cave systems that let them access the water—could raise storms and thrash the seas whenever they wished, but Joy had only ever been able to do small magics: purify water, get rainwater on her coat to dry, help her kettle boil quicker. Her magic was diluted thanks to her human blood. Still, being near the sea could soothe her quicker than any hug or spoken reassurance, and even rainwater, soaked up from the sea as it was, had an effect.
The slow stream of water dripping down from some crack high above washed strength into her, kept her eyes dry and open, kept her from collapsing. It wasn’t a big magic—it was the smallest kind, merely the natural power of the water—but here in this cold, merciless cell, it felt like the biggest bit of magic in the world. She had her hand behind her to prop her up, but also so every drop from the wall splashed her knuckles and soaked into her skin.
“Are you alright?” Katrina asked, leaning closer to the bars. “The way Paulina brought you in … that was unnecessary.”
Joy bet she hadn’t said that to her boss. But she appreciated Katrina saying it, nonetheless. “She thinks I killed that girl,” Joy replied, not knowing why she was defending Paulina’s treatment of her.
“Still.” Katrina’s smile fell. “You must be traumatised. I know I would be; stuck in here.”
Joy dipped her chin but said nothing. Another raindrop splashed onto the back of her hand, imbuing her with strength.
“I might be able to help,” Katrina went on, her voice hushed as she came closer to the bars, so out of place in her crisp jacket and pencil skirt. So out of place with her compassion and care. How had this woman ended up as Paulina’s assistant? They were as different as could be. “I’m a healer—that’s what I specialise in. My bond is earth.”
Joy nodded; her witch sister Salma was aligned with the same element. Joy, it went without saying, was aligned with water, and preferred to cast her spells with potions and—a newer method—with sea glass and crystals.
Witches could use countless methods to cast witchcraft, whether that was brewing a potion, speaking an incantation, writing sigils on paper, or even sketching them in the air with a wand like her friend Gus did. Joy cast most of her spells with her coven, her crystal wand gripped in hand. Without that wand, witch magic was impossible. And more importantly, without something to anchor her to her element, Joy would be put in danger of using raw witchcraft. And that could kill her in seconds. She needed crystals, needed that protective wall between the sheer power of magic and her vulnerable body.
But it was strange, witchcraft. Some witches went their whole lives working spells with their wands in one hand and a potion in the other, only to find out in their twilight years that their power was stronger when they looked into a flame or sat out in the moonlight. Joy’s mum used to say that magic had a mind of its own and would reveal its secrets when it saw fit and not a moment sooner.
“You don’t have to help,” Joy murmured even as she climbed to her feet, her legs aching from being cramped in a too-small position all night. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
Katrina’s smile turned soft; something about the woman gave Joy an older sister vibe, not quite motherly but halfway there. “Don’t worry. What Paulina doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” Katrina got out her wand, made of spindly ash wood and carved all over with scenes too intricate for Joy to make out, and reached her hand through the bars, past the enchantment Paulina had set to keep Joy locked in. Eager to be rid of all her aches, Joy held out her hand, reminded of the times Salma had taken her hand and woven a spell to ease a migraine or period pain. But the moment Katrina’s hand touched Joy’s, the woman flinched.
“What isthat?” she hissed, her eyes flying wide to Joy’s complete confusion. “What’s that on your hand?”
“Oh.” Joy realised her hand was still dripping water and shook it together off some of the droplets. “It’s just rainwater. It’s coming down the back wall there…” She trailed off at the look on Katrina’s face; she looked like she’d been stung. “Sorry. I didn’t know it’d be a problem, I forgot I even had water there.”
Katrina recovered, waving a hand with a self-deprecating laugh, her smile still a bit wobbly. “Looks like my witchcraft doesn’t like water. It felt strange, like an electric shock.”
“Oh.” Joy let her hand fall back to her side. There would be no easing of the aches in her legs or the crick in her neck, no gentle soothing of the pain in her chest. “Sorry, I didn’t know it would…”
“It’s fine.” Katrina’s next smile was as sunny as the ones before, her eyes sparkling like aquamarine. “I’ll have to keep my magic away from yours. No problem. I should go before Paulina notices I’m not at my desk. I’ll bring you another drink later, see if I can get Paulina to give you some food.”
At the reminder, Joy’s stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten anything for twenty-four hours. Paulina’s treatment of prisoners was nowhere near legal, but she’d never be brought up on charges for it. Who would Joy even report it to? Gabi, who answered to Paulina and believed Joy killed that girl on the beach? No.
At the reminder, the pain in her chest became enough to engulf her whole body. Gabi thought she’d killed someone, and she hated her. As soon as Katrina was gone, Joy’s face crumpled.
She folded herself back onto the mattress and pressed her face to her knees, tears breaking free of her eyes before she could stop them. Would she ever get out of here? Would Paulina ever bother to throw her scraps to eat, or would Joy starve to death? How long could a person go without eating? Joy didn’t even know. She wished she’d asked Gabi to bring her food when she came back tomorrow morning.
Ifshe ever came back.
ShehatedJoy. Truly, honestly hated her.
More tears ran down Joy’s cheeks, her breathing a broken mess of gasps and hitches. For a long time, she sat there, reliving their break up, staring at nothing as the pain in her chest stabbed deeper. The worst thing was that she knew it washerfault, had known she’d messed up since thesecondshe heard that Gabi had left town. But she’d still been buried deep in the grave of her loss, and she couldn’t drag herself out of it long enough to apologise. If Joy was being honest with herself, even now she was never further than a few steps from that grave.
