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“River!” Sadie called, looking down at the shadows, not catching wind of his scent. But he didn’t answer or spell out any words into the dirt for her. “River, can you hear me?” she shouted louder.
Even though she was closed in along the edges of the woods, the path inside was still open. Sadie glanced one more time at the stitched trees and took off through the foliage, booking it toward where she’d seen River last. Within the quiet, a chill crawled up her spine when she noticed not a single animal laying across the ground. This wasn’t a good sign at all. Unless they were farther out, it meant they were all gone.
“River!” Sadie screamed, her voice echoing. When she came to the now-hidden entrance, she slapped her hands against the dirt. “River, answer me!”
Nothing. No words. No shadow. No smell. A terrifying thought crossed her mind. What if the spirits had managed to break through the wards and get to him? “No, he’s safe,” she whispered. “He has to be.”
She wanted to believe if something had happened to him that she would feel it. But she hadn’t felt him the day he’d died, the day he’d hung himself to protect her. If one person was ever meant for the other, he was meant for her. Born of dark and light, selfishness and kindness, enemy and savior.
It would be hours until midnight arrived, and Sadie couldn’t waste time standing there waiting for him to answer. Her fists tightened at her sides, knowing she needed to have this spell broken, and to do that, she needed to find out if Charlie and Skyler were truly Ada and Eben. If they weren’t, she wasn’t certain what would come after. One step at a time, though.
Placing her hands together as if in prayer, Sadie recited a long-forgotten incantation, to see if maybe she could cast a spell now that she was awake. Magic hummed within her as she chanted, but the trees caging her in wouldn’t part. Biting the pad of her thumb, she broke the skin and let a drop of blood fall to the ground, yet the woods remained untouched. She screamed in frustration, wishing the sound could make the earth quake beneath her feet.
Sadie trekked back through the woods to retrieve her phone from inside the cabin, and the shadows followed her to the porch, where they remained. A thought struck her. Something she needed to try, something that could bring this full circle. Maybe having Charlie and Skyler here with her at midnight would be the key to unlocking everything. She would have to tread lightly and not alarm them if she wanted to ensure they remained with her until the veil dropped, though.
She called Charlie first to see about coming over for a late movie, but it wouldn’t go through. There wasn’t a signal… This can’t be happening. She tightened her grip on the phone and sank down on the futon, staring at the screen as if she could cast a spell to make it work.
Nothing.
Throughout the day, Sadie couldn’t concentrate on anything besides trying to make the phone get a signal. She paced back and forth, her feet loud against the wooden floor, then she went outside to see if she could break out through the trees, the same thing as before happened, and she couldn’t reach them.
Sadie would just have to wait for Charlie and Skyler to come to her if her phone didn’t start working. And by then, she hoped it wasn’t too late.
Her body shook, her chest swarming with an overly tightening sensation, and to keep from breaking down, Sadie grabbed her notebook and sat in the swing outside to use words as a distraction. But she was too angry, too melancholic, too antsy, and couldn’t stop looking at her phone or wondering about River. However, she now realized that the screenplay she’d been working on was one of the truest things she’d ever written, and if she did finish it, no one would know that it was except for her and River. And possibly Charlie and Skyler.
As the sun set, the wind crawled from its daily hibernation, blowing a cool breeze across her skin. Only there were no insect or animal sounds, and a pit formed in her stomach at that.
Gathering her things, Sadie went back inside until the veil dropped. Even though she hadn’t been worried about wildlife before, she didn’t know how safe it would be to keep her body outside now that there were spirits that could possibly escape the trees. She couldn’t cast wards to keep them out of the cabin, so, for now, she lit sage, knowing it most likely wouldn’t do anything without a spell. She just needed her damn phone to work.
As she burned the sage, memories clawed their way through her. Her child dying and dying. And dying. River’s coven and their tortures, her father’s cruelty, her own cruelty, the Salem Witch Trials. In a way, she’d become her father, only instead of being cruel to the ones she loved, she was heartless to everyone else. But perhaps she was worse because she’d threatened Eben, who’d stood by her side for years, who might be Skyler…
A thought crossed her mind—what if she’d never been a witch? Hadn’t ever held magic? What would’ve happened when her father denied her marriage? Would she have run off with Jasper, or would she have still buried a blade in her father? Perhaps someone would’ve even accused her of being a witch if she’d remained in her home.
She peered one more time at her phone. No signal. With a frustrated sigh, she slammed it down again.
It was one minute until midnight, and Sadie watched like a hawk until the numbers changed to twelve o’clock. She hadn’t gotten to talk to Charlie or Skyler, but relief rolled through her as the alluring music outside rolled in, the deep melody calling to her, begging her to wake River once more. The way it had been commanding her to do all along.
But this time, a new sound barreled through the song, and Sadie froze—screeches and screams wailing in the distance. The spirits were no longer locked inside the trees.
No weapon could slice through their form, only spells that she couldn’t use. Wishing herself luck, she slipped out the front door and fled in the direction of the lanterns. A few of the trees inside the barrier were drooped to their sides as if they were melting. The music and wailing accompanied one another, sending chills through her. She glanced up and shielded her eyes when several silvery forms floated beneath the moonlight, so she trained her gaze on the ground.
If she looked directly into their bleeding orbs, her body would crack, and her eyes would match theirs, just as the moths’ had.
Heart pounding, Sadie ran faster, wincing as twigs snapped below her feet. The spirits’ screams echoed, and she wouldn’t hold any fear if she could wield her spells. Chants silently left her lips anyway, but their raging screeches continued to roar. She hadn’t spotted a fiend yet, and she hoped they remained hidden.
Behind Sadie, the screeches grew ravenous, thirsting to unleash their anger on someone, anyone. She tore through the trees, skirted around their trunks. The trees shifted, sliding across the ground, and she held back a scream. She wasn’t certain if the spirits were in those trees or if it might be the hex again.
Sadie needed to get to River, confirm he was truly there. Not once had he come to her that day. If she could, she would get him the hell away from these woods, but that wasn’t possible. A silvery form weaved between the branches, and a pig-skulled fiend stepped out from a trunk.
She was about to shout no, but it was too late—the spirit severed the fiend’s skull from its spine, the cracking sound reverberating through the night. As the spirit gnashed at the rest of its body, another fiend crept out to distract it.
“Stop it,” she pleaded, but it was too late. There wasn’t a damn thing she could do, so feeling heartless, she fled toward the underground stairs, flying down the steps, praying River was there to sort this out. But when she entered the main area, he wasn’t standing there.
Sadie’s breaths were uneven as she threw the door to their bedroom wide, only to find it empty. She opened door after door after door. The supper room, the malevolent spirit room, the room of hearts that were now dried up as she’d suspected, and then finally, the conjuring room with the glass coffins.
Her chest heaved, her shoulders relaxing when her gaze fixed on the crystal box she’d been in the night before. River rested inside, the dagger in his hand. The lid hummed beneath her fingertips as she lifted it, the hinges quiet.
Sadie didn’t know if he would wake this time, but as soon as her fingers brushed his face, River’s eyes flew open, his gray irises meeting hers as he inhaled sharply.
