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She glanced over her shoulder at Gus, looking as if he’d swallowed something noxious.
“Did you bring your athame?” If anyone would’ve, it’d be him or Victoriya. Victoriya because the metal channelled her fire, and Gus because he could use the narrow blade to etch sigils in the air.
With an even darker expression, he handed over the thin dagger.
“I’m not sure about this, Joy,” Eilidh said tightly. “What if she’s working with Katrina?”
“Working with that madwoman?” Paulina demanded. “Are you insane, girl?”
No one wasted breath answering that question.
Joy sawed the ropes, cutting Paulina free. Not because she was feeling merciful but because Paulina was head witch, and if anyone could break the spells on the exits, it would be her.
Paulina said nothing as she flexed her bruising wrists and stood, towering over Joy. But the head witch wasn’t looking at her; she was scowling at the ripped strip of her own cloak, rubbing it between her fingers. Blood leaked from a gash on her leg and stained the dress beneath her cloak, which explained the scent of blood in the records room. Paulina must have caught Katrina before she could cut Victoriya.
“I suppose,” she said sourly in Joy’s direction, “you were not the killer after all.”
Joy waited for an apology. After a moment, it appeared thatwasthe apology. She just shrugged. She wouldn’t forgive Paulina, even though the head witch had truly believed she was protecting her town and coven. Joy could understand the motivation, but her methods had left a scar deep in Joy’s psyche. So, she merely nodded and waited for Paulina to start bossing them around.Someoneneeded to take charge of the situation and provide a safe exit.
But the witch’s head whipped to the door when that ripping, creaking groan split the air, coming from the records room. Joy watched the blood drain from Paulina’s face.
This time the ground beneath them rocked. Eilidh and Joy grabbed each other for stability. Gus flopped into a desk with a dark curse. Joy frantically searched for Victoriya, but she was safely propped in a desk chair.
Her coven was okay, they were safe. But what about Salma?
“Paulina,” Joy began. “Could you—”
Paulina didn’t look at them; she snatched her wand out of the Givenchy handbag on her desk, flicked on the desk fan beside her, and she was gone.
“No!” Joy jerked forward but she already knew what she’d find. Sand on the floor where Paulina had stood. Sand she must have kept in the bottom of the fan for escapes just like this one.
“Godsdammit,” Gus spat. “Fucking coward.”
Joy’s heart crashed. She realised much too late that she’d given herself false hope, believing Paulina would save them.
But they weren’t part of the main coven, they weren’t Paulina’schosenwitches. They were castoffs, unwanted.
Joy’s eyes burned as she looked at her friends, all of them jumping when that wooden groaning drowned out the fan’s whirring. Whatever was happening out there, it was too strong for comfort now.
“Gus,” Joy said slowly. “Is there a sigil that can—”
“Get us out of here?” he preempted. “Probably, but I don’t know it. I have about fifty memorised, but most are for doing the washing up and taking the bins out.”
“Eilidh?” Joy breathed, trying to be positive despite her heavy heart.
“If there was a window, we could get to…” Eilidh shook her head. “But I don’t know where Theo is.” Joy glanced automatically above for the seagull usually perched high, but he was absent. “Do you think… Victoriya’s pack has to know something is wrong, right?”
Joy shrugged, hopeless and heavy.
With Victoriya unconscious, she couldn’t call her canine familiars. And with Theodore missing too, they really were alone down here. Alone except for Salma, Gabi, Bo, and Peregrine. Who they’dleft behind.
Joy took a tight breath and met the eyes of her best friends in all the world.
“Stay with Victoriya. I’m going back out there.”
It wasn’t bravery or heroics; it was Gabi and Salma trapped in a room with a murderer, and Joy not being able to stand it. It was selfishness.
She shoved her hand into the army of pockets sewn into her coat lining, ripping open sachet after sachet and stacking them upright, within easy reach. She checked the two potions she’d been given—a freezing spell and a flash charm—and gripped the bulbous base of her wand. Gus immediately objected, and Eilidh reached for Joy’s arm, but before she could chicken out, Joy raced out of the door, across the hall and into the records room again.
