by Freya Black
The fact that you are reading this also means you have chosen to take your rightful place within the Coven. I wish I could have been there with you to guide you through this transitional period in your life.
I know you have your doubts and fears now that your powers have surfaced. I felt the same way when I took over for my mother. It’s normal to be afraid of the unknown. I, too, was not ready when it was my time to take over, but you will be when the time comes.
You need to be strong for the Coven. They will look to you for your wisdom and guidance. If you have doubts, don’t be afraid to ask the Inner Circle for help. They were my friends, my allies, as they will be yours, and you need to put your faith and trust in them. Kate is family, and she can help you find your way. Don’t hesitate to ask her for help.
There is one other thing you must know, a secret I kept to protect you from the Imperium Council. During the Glamour War, we used a Veneficum spell to defeat the Druden, trapping them inside a magical prison called a Galdrar. I kept it hidden from the Coven to ensure your safety.
One day, someone will find a way to break the Antebellum Curse, and the dark Fey will come to unleash their evil on the human realm. You will find everything you need at the Coven House. Your abilities will guide you.
One thing you must never forget, my darling, is that you are the key, the key to everything. You can do this. I believe in you.
Love always,
Mom
The letter slipped from my hands as a tear splashed against the wooden table.
Kate gripped my wrist. “What did she say?”
I lowered my head toward the letter, and she scooped the parchment paper in her hands. She read the letter several times, her mouth falling open in shock.
“How could she?” Kate glanced over her shoulder at the Astral Glass hanging above the fireplace.
To the untrained eye, it was an ordinary mirror framed in silver crescent moons. But the spectrum of colors that shimmered at the edges was unmistakable.
“I need to contact the Imperium Council,” she said. “The Council gave the Galdrar to your mother when Queen Moira predicted the Glamour War. Your mother was supposed to trap the Druden inside and give it back. The Inner Circle thought your parents tethered to Castra to return it before we sealed the gateway portals off with the Antebellum Curse. It’s against Divine Law to withhold a Sacred Token from the Council.” Kate paced back and forth, biting down on her nail and mumbled, “What was she thinking?”
I jumped to my feet and latched on to her arm before she could wave her hand in front of the mirror. “No! You can’t. Don’t you think it’s strange that Mom never turned it over, and the Council hasn’t even mentioned it? If there’s only one in existence and Mom had deadly supernatural warriors hidden somewhere in Arcadia, don’t you think they would want them back? They have to know by now that it didn’t go missing.”
Kate spun around, shaking me off. “You don’t understand, Fiona. This is serious. The Galdrar belongs in the Arcanus with the rest of the Sacred Tokens. Possession of one could mean death—for all of us.”
I stood in front of the fireplace with my arms outstretched, as if directing traffic. “You can’t trust them! Mom wouldn’t have risked her life for nothing, and you know it.”
My insides knotted at the pain behind her eyes. It was my mother’s betrayal.
Kate folded her arms across her chest and tapped her boot on the floor. Pale blue reflected off the gold tiles. She clutched the sapphire amulet around her neck and turned to face the entry wall decorated with picture frames of past Coven Leaders.
I followed her gaze to the picture of my mother, taken after her Divine Succession Ceremony. She was the same age as me at the time, dressed in the purple ceremonial robe with her long strands of hair curled over her shoulder.
“Amelia, what have you done?” Kate asked.
Fear shook me to the core. My mother had made a choice to defy the Imperium Council just as she’d made the same choice to endanger our Coven. She had been smart and brave, a hero to her people. I knew, deep down inside, she had done what she thought was the right thing, that maybe a vision had prompted her actions, because my mother hadn’t been a traitor even if her decision proved otherwise.
I thought of her famous words and repeated them aloud because I knew Kate needed to hear them, “Take risks. It’s better to die, risking it all, than to stand by and watch your world blow up in smoke.”
Kate’s grimace twisted into a half-smile. She pulled me closer and pressed her lips to my forehead. “Tomorrow, I’ll let the Inner Circle decide.”
Chapter 19
After dinner, I walked with Declan to Enchanted Books & Beans for the emergency meeting. Leaves stirred along the concrete, brushing against my leg. I zipped my hoodie and slid my hands into the pockets as a crisp winter chill seeped into my bones.
With the first week of October approaching, a few houses started showing the first signs of Halloween. Carved pumpkins lined Mrs. Carter’s steps. Strings of orange lights lit the Taylors’ old Colonial. An elaborate display of tombstones adorned the lawn across from the bookstore.
I stopped at the edge of the carriage house and pulled Declan to the side.
His brows furrowed in confusion when I extracted the purple envelope from my pocket. His mouth flung open as he read the letter. He read the last paragraph a second time. “Your mom knew she was going to die.”
I frowned because my power, whether I wanted to admit it or not, would also be the death of me. “That’s the worst part of being a Crescent Witch.”
“The Imperium Council would’ve killed her for stealing a Sacred Token.”
“She knew she was committing treason. Maybe it’s better—” I shook my head, lost inside my own mind. “There had to be a reason. My mom wouldn’t have put us all at risk if it wasn’t important.”
“Do you know where she hid the Galdrar?”
I shrugged and started walking toward the door. “I don’t know, but we need to find it and give it back to the Council.”
Declan held the door for me with a devious grin. “First, we need to figure out where your mom hid it.”
The store was empty, and Kate was perched on the arm of a couch, coffee cup in hand. She glanced down at her watch and frowned. “You’re late.”
I held my cell phone in front of me. “It’s seven. We’re right on time.”
She jumped to her feet and locked the door, flipping the sign in the window to read, Closed. “We live down the street. You, too, Declan. No excuses. By Inner Circle standards, you’re late.”
“Won’t happen again,” Declan said.
I chimed in with a quick apology.
We followed Kate upstairs and into the gathering room. The overwhelming round of applause my Coven greeted me with took me by surprise. I smiled politely and thanked each person as I made my way around the table. I lingered between Sloane’s and Quinn’s chairs, waiting for instructions on where to sit.
“Fiona”—Kate slid the throne-like chair from the table—“take a seat.”
Seated in the Crescent chair with the smooth velvet pressed against my skin, I understood, for the first time, what it meant to be a leader. I looked into the eyes of my people. They were just as much my family as Kate, and as usual, my mother was right. We lived by a code—a set of core values that, as witches, we’d sworn an oath to uphold. My mother had sacrificed her life to protect us, and I couldn’t let her death be in vain. Her selflessness had preserved our legacy and shielded me from the Cleary Curse for the past ten years.
Kate leaned forward, her hands folded on the table. “First, I would like to start by congratulating Fiona on her victory last night. I think we can all agree that Amelia and Preston would have been very proud of her. Based on the outcome, I would like to suggest, as our first order of business, that we invoke rule twenty-three of the Charter.”
We’d learned three rules the night of Initiation, and without thinking, I blurted out, “Wha
t’s rule twenty-three?”
“It allows the Inner Circle to expedite your Initiation and move forward with your Divine Succession,” Kate said.
“Oh,” was all I managed to get out.
A sickness rose up from my stomach. It was unprecedented for a Crescent Witch to become part of the Inner Circle and Coven Leader at the same time. I wondered if the Coven had written the rule after Thomas Sorensen had challenged Pearl Cleary’s Divine Succession.
Kate’s arm shot straight in the air. “All those in favor.”
The entire Inner Circle raised their hands.
Kate continued, “The vote passes with full support. We will hold the Divine Succession on Samhain at the Coven House.”
Her expression hardened, and the sadness behind her blue eyes was unmistakable. “Last night, Fiona found a note inside Amelia’s personal grimoire. It appears Amelia hid the Galdrar from the Imperium Council.”
“But I thought Amelia and Preston gave it back to the Imperium Council after the Glamour War,” Quinn said, dumbfounded.
“What was Amelia’s reason for keeping it?” Dr. Callahan chimed in, her catlike eyes burning a hole through Kate.
“Maybe she wanted insurance,” Quinn interjected, “a way to keep both the Imperium Council and the Fey from coming after us. If the Galdrar is here in Arcadia, then the Council wouldn’t risk doing anything that would prevent them from getting it back.”
Kate came to my mother’s defense even though we both knew she’d buried the truth along with the magical prison. “Maybe there wasn’t enough time to tether to Castra before the portals closed.”
“No, there must be another reason,” Dr. Callahan said. “Amelia and Preston had enough time to tether to Castra and back.”
My parents were not traitors, that much I knew without having all the facts. Fear settled into my bones, a feeling I had become accustomed to over the past two weeks. “If the Imperium Council wanted the Galdrar, then why didn’t they come get it?”
Kate shrugged against the wooden chair. “I don’t know. That’s what we need to find out.”
“Maybe we should reach out to the Council,” Dr. Callahan said.
“No, I think we should wait.” The authority in Kate’s voice alarmed me. “Something is not right about this situation.”
“I agree.” Quinn’s expression turned grim. “Amelia wouldn’t have committed treason unless it was her only option.”
Kate waved her hand to silence the whispers. “Okay, everyone, settle down. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to figure out where Amelia hid it first. Her letter mentioned the Coven House, so I suggest we start there tomorrow night.”
As the meeting adjourned, I rushed toward Sloane. His fingers twisting between mine made my skin tingle.
Chloe reached the door first and tugged on the handle. She had on the navy sweater dress I’d thought of purchasing when I was in her boutique. “It won’t open.” She pulled so hard that she fell back on the tiled floor.
Kate helped Chloe to her feet. She spoke an incantation to open the door, but it had no effect. The wall candelabras blew out as a burst of cold air sailed through the room, trapped inside with no exits.
Sloane’s energy was useless against the power that consumed me. Something gnawed at the base of my skull, attacking my divine powers, as blurred images tore into my mind. I attempted to fight it, but as I fought more, it paralyzed me.
A gargantuan man stepped out from the darkness with a rock in his hand, the Lorelei Talisman Lorcan held in my vision. His skin was pale and flawless, the same as his four companions. Two identical women, who looked as though they could be his sisters, stood at his sides. They had pointed ears, dark brown hair, and striking violet eyes. The sanguine glow emanating from his hand illuminated their faces.
Another man with blond hair pulled into a neat ponytail towered over his sidekick, a stocky man with trimmed black hair.
When my eyes adjusted to the luminescence, my surroundings surprised me. We were standing in the center of the Luna Crescent Cemetery.
My body trembled from the ferocity of my aura. It pulsated through my veins, shaking the gold instrument clutched between my fingers. It was the Talisman of Grimnir, the only device powerful enough to control Hexenjagers. One at a time, I turned the four freezing cold dials of the Talisman.
I muttered an incantation, not in Latin. The language was so foreign yet somehow familiar. An excruciating pain spread up my back, making it impossible to focus. Panicked, I fumbled with the instrument, my fingers slipping as blood dripped from my nose, making it harder to turn the gold dials.
I looked up at the man with dark hair who held the glowing rock, and he had a devilish grin on his face. The maniacal laughter echoing from the pit of his stomach was so disconcerting that chills ran down my arms.
My body convulsed from the pain infiltrating the thick shell of my aura, and the device slipped from my fingers. As it hit the ground, I sank to the dirt floor, feeling my way through clumps of grass. Blood trickled onto my forearm and rolled down my hand. They moved closer as their talisman drained my divine powers.
When the trance broke, I sensed Sloane’s emotional transference before I looked down and saw his fingers fused with mine. The fear of my vision clung to me, but his power kept me level, clearheaded.
Declan produced a ball of fire in the palm of his hand, its soft glow casting shadows in the darkness. In one swift motion, he threw the sphere, simultaneously lighting the candelabras.
Sloane ran his thumb along my jaw, a horrific expression on his face. “What happened?” He held his finger in front of me, revealing a thick layer of blood.
I gasped at the sight of my own blood and pushed myself up on my elbows. “Oh my God.”
Kate hovered over me with the look of death in her eyes. “Hexenjagers did this to you.” Her voice sounded on the verge of a panic attack.
“Yes. There were five Hexenjagers. One was holding the Lorelei Talisman,” Sloane said.
Quinn held out his palm. “Can you show me?”
I latched on to Quinn’s hand, allowing the power of my aura to wrap around me. Then, I pushed the images into his mind.
When the vision faded, Quinn stared at me in disbelief. “That was Bastian. He created the Lorelei Talisman. The Hexenjagers with him are the most dangerous of their kind.” Quinn paused, the look on his face matching the irritation in his voice. “I should have known Lorcan would send them.”
Declan shifted in his chair. “How will we know when they’re coming?”
“You won’t, not unless they stay in their true form,” Quinn said matter-of-factly. “I never dealt with them personally, but Queen Moira showed them to me in her Scrying Crystal.”
Declan gripped the edge of the table, his fiery energy making his knuckles turn white. “And they’re coming for Fiona?”
Quinn nodded. “It looks that way. But what worries me is, the vision was at the Luna Crescent Cemetery.”
Kate walked toward the fireplace. She stared into the Astral Glass that shimmered with each flicker of light. I could tell she was struggling with doing the right thing, which was contacting the Imperium Council. Whatever my mother had done, no matter how reckless, it had to have been worth the risk.
My vision confirmed what I had known for months—that Hexenjagers were following me. It wasn’t a coincidence we were trapped inside our gathering room while the image of Bastian stealing my powers forced its way into my mind. Whatever magic Hexenjagers had used to lock us inside disappeared along with my vision. It was a warning, maybe even an actual prediction of the future, but my divine powers were so unreliable that I didn’t know what to trust.
Chapter 20
After the invasion at Enchanted Books & Beans, Quinn insisted he spend the night at our house, which meant Sloane stayed, too. Of course, I didn’t mind. And Kate seemed somewhat thrilled about a sleepover, especially after all the time she was spending alone with Quinn on nights I hung out with my friends
.
I awoke to Sloane snuggled against my back. His electric touch sparked something inside me as he pressed his lips to my neck. I rolled over to face him, and with a smile, I twisted my fingers through his hair. He slid his hand down my bare arm and kissed his way from my neck to my mouth. Numb from the power of my aura, I could barely feel my fingertips as we kissed. His hand slipped up the back of my pajama top, leaving a trail of fire on my skin.
My heart thumped out of my chest when he lifted me on top of him. His kisses washed away the fear, and I wanted nothing more than to be close to him. I was able to push Bastian and the Hexenjagers from my mind, allowing myself to succumb to my desires.
But the knock on my bedroom door put an end to that. With lightning speed, I rolled off Sloane and onto my side of the bed. I propped my arm on the pillow and attempted to straighten my hair as Kate walked into my room.
“Good morning.” Her radiant glow matched the cheerfulness in her tone.
I stared at Kate with a ridiculous grin. Sloane had the same stupid smile plastered on his face. She gave me a curious mom look, which made me want to bury my face in the pillow to keep myself from laughing.
Quinn popped his head in the doorway. “It’s moving day. Time to get up, and start packing.”
“Okay, okay…we’re up.” I covered my legs with a sheet, surprised to see him standing in my bedroom. “What time are we leaving?”
“We’re meeting at the Coven House at ten o’clock,” Quinn said.
Sloane sat up. He was shirtless and practically naked, as far as I was concerned, except for the boxer briefs he covered with the duvet. “I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes, Dad.”
After Kate closed the door behind them, I started laughing. Sloane kissed me on the cheek and jumped out of bed. I folded my hands behind my head and took a mental snapshot as he dressed. He was perfection in every way. With all the stress I was under, I wanted to savor the moment for as long as possible.