“I'll explain later.” she assured Grace, who looked like her hair could turn white from shock at any moment. Guilt sparked in Lila, and she momentarily regretted bringing the other girl into this. It was painfully clear that Grace could easily have gone the rest of her life without being let in on this little secret.“It's okay, she's, uh, a friendly ghost.” As if that made anything even remotely better.
“Casper the friendly ghost.” Liam piped up, sparing a moment to hug his sister, who had taken on corporeal form. It was obvious that the two had spent a lot of time together in the last few months, and their sibling bond was strong. Given their complicated history, it was a great sight to witness. Things could have gone in entirely the opposite direction, leaving them with absolutely no relationship at all, or even worse, Elsie could have been unable to return and she never would have gotten to know her brother at all.
Taking a breath to steady her ongoing nerves, Lila stepped into the role she'd been officially elected to last month, the supreme leader of the covens. It was a nerve-wracking job considering she was so young, but they obviously felt she was up to the task. Standing next to the water, she cast the circle, Grace standing off to the side and watching.
Troy and Noah worked seamlessly together, pulling an orb of water from the lake beside them, holding it in mid-air with their magick. Lila pulled from the spirit world to aid them with their scrying, and Liam stood at the ready with his fire. They all focused on the orb, trying to pull the image of first Adam, then Sadie, but it wasn't working. Something was blocking their vision, and they needed more power. Liam released his magick, aided by Elsie's raw elemental strength. The orb of water turned to steam, travelling upwards. It was through this method that they finally saw something, and their stomachs dropped as though they were riding a roller coaster together.
Two figures hunched, their heads bowed, a third figure yanking at the hair of the male, pulling his head up and revealing painful looking injuries, obviously obtained through torture. The captor's face came into view and -
Liam jerked suddenly, pulling the focus and causing the vision to end. He had gone pale, which was a rare sight for someone so stoic and sarcastic at the best of times.
“Witch hunters.” he gasped.
Chapter Three
The world was a haze of red, and Adam suspected that he had blood in his eyes. His eyebrow was sporting a gaping wound which seemed like it would never stop bleeding. Beside him, Sadie was unconscious, her head lolling on to her chest, blonde hair matted with blood and dirt. Quiet rage burned through his veins, aching to escape and create hell for the witch hunters who had kidnapped them and tortured them for information, names of their coven members and details of the events of the months before. He was especially angry at finding out they weren't the first coven members who had been taken, though he had no idea what their fate had been ultimately. Given that these were hunters, he didn't like the odds.
Try as he might, however, he couldn't muster the energy to break the wards which had been placed upon them. Begrudgingly, he had to admit that their captors knew what they were doing, and obviously had more than one witch on their payroll, which he found hypocritical at best and definitely traitorous on the parts of the witches. How anyone could turn on their own kind eluded him entirely.
He could deal with being here, but he worried for Sadie, who had been to hell and back over the last year, and didn't deserve to be here. It was all his fault. He'd asked Sadie to have dinner with him at a civilian restaurant the evening before, and it had been there they'd been ambushed and thrown in the back of a car which resembled a police cruiser, complete with cage. It was perhaps intended to hold dogs, and this was something which added insult to injury. It was almost implied that they were no better than animals, which must surely be the hunters opinions, since they spent their entire lives finding rogue witches and killing them.
It was exceptionally difficult to explain that what had happened was not their fault, especially since Sadie had been the one possessed, which was probably why they had brought her here – and beaten her far worse than he himself had endured. They seemed convinced that Beth, the spirit, was still possessing her, and had tried everything they had to draw her out – hot iron, salt in the mouth and other cruelties which were unnecessary. The one thing Adam couldn't figure out was why they were still alive; it wasn't like their information was especially revealing or helpful in a situation which was considered long resolved.
One of the hunters crossed the room and yanked his head up by his hair, making him wince; this had been their favourite form of making them pay attention through the night, and his scalp was more sensitive than he'd assumed was possible. Well, at least you learnt something new before you died, interjected his less-than-helpful mind.
“Tell us who else was there.” the hunter demanded, giving his hair a tug for good measure. Adam winced.
“I've already told you everything I'm gonna tell you.” he responded stubbornly, already expecting the blow which struck his jaw, hard enough for him to feel his tooth displace. He prodded at it with his tongue curiously before spitting blood. A tooth was nothing compared to losing your life, so he barely gave it and the pain it brought with it a second thought.
“Look, you can punch me all you want, it's not gonna help.” Adam promised, a feigned look of disinterest plastered over his face as a mask. He wasn't going to show them how intimidated he really felt; it would do no good – better that they think he was hard to break than allow them to see where his weaknesses lay. He'd be easier to break, then. All through this encounter, something had just felt... off. It felt less like an interrogation and more like they were trying to break their spirit and make them believe that they had no choice but to give up all their secrets and would then have nowhere left to turn. Why they would do that, however, completely eluded him. What would a witch hunter care if they had to return to their covens as traitors? There was definitely more to the story than he was being told – not a surprising situation for a captive to be in, that was for sure.
Still, he wasn't going to make life easy for them. Maybe he could irritate them into giving up some vital information, a hint about where they were or how to get out of here perhaps. Something told him that this was unlikely; their guards all seemed to be trained in how not to say anything, never mind managing to give away anything vital. In fact, Adam was beginning to suspect foul play, like their tongues being cut out. He'd definitely been watching too many movies lately.
“So, what do they pay you to do this kind of work? Ten bucks a tooth? Five for a bruise?”
The hunter glared at him, then stood, nodding at the door. The hunter guarding that side of the room, a bulky man who looked out of shape but was really just a hulking mass of muscle, opened the door wide.
At first, Adam thought the blood in his eyes had blinded him. It couldn't be. There was no way that what he was seeing was the truth. She would never betray them like this.
“Gloria?”
Chapter Four
Lila paced anxiously along the water's edge, biting her nails and putting her all into this self-destructive habit, too worried about her friends to care what she looked like to the others. She regretted bringing Grace along, but her friend seemed to be taking it all in her stride, chatting casually with Noah, who must feel equally out of place. Neither of them had been present for the last round, though it was likely Noah had been present at the final battle – most were, even children, who had been protected all together, huddled beneath powerful wards.
It was easy to feel alone, but the others wouldn't allow her to wallow. She looked up, noticing that her pacing had goal posts – Troy was on one side, and Liam the other. They knew she was blaming herself for this. As supreme, she was supposed to look after every member of the covens, and she hadn't even been able to keep the ones she was closest to safe from this threat. Maybe she wasn't the right choice.
She kept walking, surprising Liam by wrapping her arms around him. After
a moment, he responded, his arms tight around her smaller form. Troy joined them, wrapping his arms around them both. A quick squeeze later, they parted, a sense of resolution blanketing them. There was nothing they could do but to prepare for another battle.
“Should we tell Rose?” Lila asked, softly.
“Not yet. Let her enjoy her trip, we can tell her when she gets back. She'll only want to help, and she's far too young to get involved in this.” Liam answered, voicing Lila's own opinion succinctly. There was no point in telling Rose and ruining her trip with her grandparents. Adam had been the one who had arranged it, in an attempt to help her recover from the traumas she'd experienced. To pull her out of that blissful ignorance and tell her that her brother might die was cruel and unnecessary. It wasn't as though informing her would allow her extra time with her brother if it should turn out for the worst. Lila couldn't even think about that; they had already lost one coven leader, even if it was only partially. Elsie wasn't the same person she had been when she was alive, and connecting with her was rather difficult at times.
There was one more order of business, and it was the reason she had hugged Liam first. Looking up at the older male, she pulled a sympathetic face and opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her before she could even speak.
“I know what you're about to ask me and no, I don't know where they're being kept. They have some kind of base around here, but I was never extended an invitation. I was more of a field agent. They don't really trust witches, on account of them being witch hunters, of course.” Liam's voice was almost disinterested, which Lila doubted he was.
It posed a new problem for them; if they couldn't scry reliably, how were they going to find them? As witches, they were afforded powers civilians could never attain, but they weren't Gods. There were limitations and penalties for using their magick. Lila hadn't ventured into the spirit world since the attacks, wary of the world which had nearly killed them all. It was why she made no attempt to astral project herself to Adam.
“Hey, just a thought guys, but do either of their phones have the 'Find my Phone' app?” Grace asked. Noah jumped in on the suggestion immediately.
“I could crack their passwords and check the site.” he added, seeming pleased to be useful after all. Lila had always said she would avoid cliques like the plague, but she realised that's exactly what she had just been doing, shutting out the newcomers in favour of those she'd already suffered with.
She mentally scolded herself; she'd been relying on the others to come up with a magickal solution when in reality there was more hope in the more mundane methods. In some ways, it showed her the arrogance in believing that the witch way was the best way in all things. Lila smiled at Grace and Noah, relief evident in her face. At least it was some kind of plan, better than they'd had in the twenty minutes which had passed after the vision.
Immediately, everyone began to move, almost as though their actions had been choreographed earlier. It really was a marvel, Lila thought, how well they worked together when there was a crisis. If only getting the covens to work together in general was this easy. A few short months weren't reasonably long enough to deal with such a large merger, but it was frustrating that a coven full of grown people were acting like children who didn't want to share their toys. Perhaps this was the real reason that they had been separated; the conflicting personalities and world views were difficult to reconcile.
Noah pulled a laptop from the trunk of his car, a slightly battered forest green Volvo which was nearly invisible in front of the blanket of tree cover. Perching on the edge of the trunk, he opened the laptop and signed in, opening the find my phone app. Lila provided the emails, and Noah showed a surprising and slightly terrifying prowess in bypassing passwords. It took a while, nerve-fraying minutes passing slowly. Thirty five minutes felt more like three hours, and the early winter sunset was beginning to fade into darkness by the time Noah erupted with a triumphant 'Aha!' and turned the computer around so that everyone could see a tiny little blip over an Italian restaurant in London.
“Well, I guess we're eating Italian tonight.” Troy quipped, earning a weak smile from his companions. Somehow, they knew they were walking into something bad – it was like a sixth sense, by this point, and not even Troy's often ill-placed humour could cheer them up.
Chapter Five
“Gloria?”
Adam's voice was full of shock as Lila's aunt walked into the room, clearly avoiding looking at him. It may have been wishful thinking but he thought he saw a look of remorse in the woman's eyes every time her gaze flickered across his face and saw the injuries. The sheer scale of the betrayal he was witnessing made his heart ache for Lila, who had lost enough already. Truth be told, they all had, and he wouldn't wish any more loss on any of them. It was the only reason he cared about his own well-being – his friends would be heartbroken, and his sister would never recover. Who knew what she'd do if she was left alone and raised by one of the other families in the covens? She may have been almost fourteen, but the teen years were questionable at best if his own early teens were anything to go by. Rose had so much potential, trying to keep her focused on her strengths was hard enough after her trauma and losses; adding more could only break her.
“Gloria, how could you?” His voice was insistent, demanding that she answer him. He simply couldn't reconcile the image of the kindly middle aged witch he'd gotten to know – albeit briefly – with the sight of her walking into a room full of witch hunters, on the wrong side. It felt sick, perverse, even, and he couldn't help but imagine this was how the witch hunters felt about Liam's switch to the side of the witches, his kin. Maybe that was why they were doing this – they knew what a powerful asset they'd lost, so it'd make sense that they would try to recruit from within the covens Liam had become part of.
Gloria's eyes flicked to the witch hunters lining the room nervously, then stepped closer to Adam. “I'm sorry.” she mouthed, sure that the words couldn't be seen. The words fell flat, but it became obvious that the woman had given in to her own torture and joined the opposite side just to survive. He resented her choice, was wary of her to his core, but just because he was stubborn and uncaring about his own mortality didn't mean that everyone else was. Some had a strong urge to survive, and perhaps Gloria had expected to be able to return to her coven and just trade in favours occasionally. Unfortunately, that wasn't the way the witch hunters worked.
Still, he hadn't expected what came next. Gloria's hands raised to rest either side of his head, her eyes drifting shut. He had a second of confusion before it began – pain, intense, blistering pain which threatened to obscure all else. Next came a feeling of suffocation, of words trapped in his throat, unable to escape or to be swallowed back down. Despite the overwhelming feeling that he was about to pass out, he did not. Instead, it was like someone had changed the channel on his mind, so that all of his external focus turned inward. There was a moment of pure white light like the glare from a spotlight, and then his landscape changed dramatically.
Adam blinked, his vision obscured by bright light which began to fade as he looked down. He was outside on a hot summer's day, and he'd been staring at the sun, which was why he still had spots swimming around the inside of his eyelids. Glancing around, he took in his new surroundings. He was standing barefoot on plush green grass, slightly damp from the pool nearby, which looked like an S with rounded edges. The water was a surreal blue, the grass was unrealistically green, and it was this more than anything which made him realise that this was not the waking world, and that he was losing his memory of what was going on with his body. He spent a moment trying to chase it, brows furrowing as it slipped away, his mind preferring what it could see over what it didn't want to experience.
It felt like he spent forever trying to work out what he was doing here, but in reality it was mere seconds before he caught sight of a figure sunbathing on a lounger. On high alert, Adam walked around the wooden structure to see who it was. It was Gloria, of cour
se, and he momentarily tensed. There was something he was supposed to remember here, and she knew it too – it was written all over her face in lines of guilt. For some reason, this was a horribly important assertion, but he couldn't work out why. He'd always liked Gloria, so what reason could she have for feeling guilty, and why would he want her to? His head hurt, a persistent niggle just above his temple which threatened to undo the hard work put into creating this space.
Gloria swung her legs over the side of the lounger, then stood in a motion far more graceful than the woman could have pulled off in reality, facing Adam in a singular focus. The edges of their surroundings became blurry so that he could only pay attention to her.
“I know this is disorientating for you. You're still in captivity, and I'm torturing you right now.” She began, and Adam's eyes widened, his hands splaying out, palms turned towards the ground. “That won't work in here, or out in the real world, they've bound your powers. The reason you're here is because I'm keeping you away from the torture, and it's the only chance we're going to get to talk. They watch me closely.” Gloria frowned, clearly unhappy with her life at the present moment. “I'm working as a double agent right now. Not by choice, but they were torturing me, and I realised that if I gave in, I could do this; infiltrate them, protect the people I have to torture and gain information which could crush them.” she admitted.
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