He pressed a finger to his lips and Eden managed a tight smile while grinding her teeth.
It wasn’t that she cared what a man running a booth thought of her, but sometimes Eden felt as though she got crap coming and going. After burning the borahn to death, some of the girls had begun calling her Firestarter, but at least they said it with smiles. Other sisters at Coventry House constantly gave her side-eye, as if trying to decide what was wrong with her and why the same demon who had come for her as a child had managed to find her as an adult. It was a question that haunted her too. Eden had asked Carolyn, and even she seemed frustrated not to have a satisfying answer. “I’ve asked the Council,” was her most recent response.
The next task seemed silly, and Eden couldn’t figure out why it was a part of a magical scavenger hunt.
“What does bobbing for apples have to do with anything?” she asked right before it was her turn.
“Maybe that.” Sarah pointed.
Rebecca was with Paige and Alex at a nearby bobbing station. Alex had just finished and was dripping wet, her eye makeup running in streaks down her face.
Rebecca shook her head and backed up. “So not worth it.” She pulled off the garland of sunburst orange leaves she’d draped over her shoulders and dropped it in a trash can. “One of these bars doesn’t card, and I’m going to find it.” She took two steps and turned back, addressing Paige. “Are you coming or do you want to look like a drowned rat too?”
Paige hesitated, clearly torn for a moment but turned to Alex. “Sorry.” She pulled the crown of leaves from her hair and tossed it in the same trash can, scurrying after Rebecca.
“I guess it does weed out the undedicated.” Eden stared into the black depths of the barrel in front of her where bright, red apples floating on the surface. “Here we go.”
As she missed an apple and her face plunged into the icy water, she wasn’t sure which she regretted more…her heavy eyeliner or turning down that shot of vodka.
Chapter 2
Sarah did her best not to laugh as Eden bobbed unsuccessfully for apples.
“Holy crap that’s cold,” she said between attempts. “This is so much harder than it looks.”
She lowered her face in again.
How does she do it?
Not the bobbing, the being normal so quickly. How had Eden already bounced back after what had happened with the borahn? Even the thought of him—the knowledge something so evil existed—made Sarah shudder. He’d been able to appear as what a person wanted most…right up until he touched his victim. To Sarah, he’d been a beautiful angel.
But Eden hadn’t been under his thrall. That spell had been broken when she was six years old, right after he’d kidnapped her. So when Eden saw Sarah going to him willingly, she’d known exactly what she was up against when she’d burst into the house to save her and the others.
Sarah wanted to believe she would have done the same thing, but how could she be sure? She still had nightmares about his veiny face, his glowing, yellow eyes. She kept them from Eden, because compared to what she’d been through, Sarah just didn’t feel right complaining.
And here Eden was—just a few weeks later—about to win the Samhain scavenger hunt. It didn’t take Sarah’s gift of prophecy to see that future.
Eden was the only sister to know she possessed second sight. She’d told Carolyn after she’d almost been killed by the borahn, and she’d suggested Sarah keep it a secret, which was just fine with her. The last thing Sarah needed was a line of girls asking her to look into the future and see if they’d ace a test or whom they would marry.
Her gift didn’t work like that anyway. She had no power over what she saw, and the visions were never on demand. In fact, she hadn’t been shown anything since the night of the final test when she’d known something deadly was on its way.
Of all the talents, Carolyn said prophecy was one of the hardest to manage—knowing when to speak and when to keep quiet about what she saw. She’d also busted Sarah’s belief that if she saw it, it would happen.
“But it always has before,” she’d protested.
Sarah hadn’t been offered private sessions like Eden’s, but Carolyn was always available for questions. She was nothing if not dedicated to her girls and considered it her mission to keep them safe and ensure magic lived on in the world.
“The future is always changing. There may be some things—certain destinies—that must be fulfilled, but even then, the details may change. The future is not fixed.”
Carolyn’s words had made sense, but they left Sarah even more unsure how to handle her gift. If the future could be changed, she might be able to warn someone if something bad was about to happen. But what if she did, and it was her warning that ended up getting them hurt?
‘Hard to manage’ is right.
“Your turn.”
Jules’s voice brought Sarah back to the festival. Eden seemed triumphant—if soaked—holding her apple high above her head.
Sarah handed the man running the booth her ticket and prepared to get wet.
Jules was still cold from bobbing for apples.
No wonder that station was almost empty.
She’d tied her hair back but still managed to get wet enough to shiver. She suspected Sarah was right about it being a litmus test. Half the girls had bailed once they saw the barrels.
It was their loss. The winner would receive a precious artifact. Any witch unwilling to work for such a valuable prize wasn’t worth their blessed salt in Jules’s opinion.
Besides, who wouldn’t laugh at the absurdity of bobbing for apples in forty-degree weather?
Rebecca, apparently.
Yeah, well, she’s no barrel of monkeys.
But Jules always had fun with Eden and Sarah, and getting to know Haley was good too.
Those three had gone off in search of a bathroom to wipe off streaking makeup, but Jules hadn’t been wearing any and preferred to wander among the booths. Just because only one of them was run by an actual witch didn’t mean some of the others didn’t have some cool stuff to look at.
She meandered down rows of art and handmade jewelry, stopping at those that interested her but moving on when the proprietor started the sales talk. Jules enjoyed browsing, but she couldn’t afford to buy and always felt guilty for taking up their time then walking away empty-handed.
How long until I can turn lead into gold?
She smiled inside, knowing the answer was never.
“Alchemy is best used as a metaphor,” Carolyn had said during a lecture. “Transformation is always possible, but converting matter into other matter is costly, draining, and often irresponsible.”
That bit of knowledge had dashed Jules’s hope of using witchcraft to become rich, but the point was well taken. Jules was in this for the long haul. Lots of the other sisters seemed to view Coventry House as a fun pit stop between major life goals of graduating college and getting married. But for Jules, witchcraft—and Coventry House—was the goal. She’d finally found a home.
Out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention. An altar, set in the West and covered with pumpkins, pomegranates, and photographs. A single large, black candle burned in the center.
She went to the display and gazed at the pictures of smiling faces.
“Prayer for the dead?” An old woman approached and held out a votive.
Jules swallowed around a lump in her throat. “Yes, thank you.”
She accepted the candle, and touched it to the one in the center, sparking it alight. From her purse, she pulled out the only photo she had of her old roommate, Hannah. It was a shot of the two of them on their first night at Coventry House, right before they’d snuck out to go to Jules’s first ever party.
Samhain might be about a game to the other girls, but Jules had done her research. It wasn’t just a time to celebrate the passing of the harvest, but a time to honor the passing of loved ones, too.
Jules nestled the picture in a grouping o
f red pomegranates that had been placed next to a bowl of what she suspected was graveyard dirt. She placed the candle in front of it then bowed her head.
“Thank you for being my friend,” she murmured. “For never making me feel like a loser. For buying a new coat just so you could give me your old one.” She wiped a tear. “You thought I didn’t catch on, but I did.” A smile crept across her face, remembering how Hannah had coaxed Jules to go shopping because she required a second opinion, and that was what roommates were for. When the clerk had begun bagging her purchase, Hannah said she’d prefer to wear it out of the store, and did Jules want her old coat because it really matched her outfit. The memory wrapped around Jules’s heart and it was all she could do not to sob as she finished. “Thank you for being my sister. May the peace of the Seven Lights, the peace of the Seven Joys, and the peace of the Seven Loves be upon you, Hannah.”
A gentle breeze blew, and it felt to Jules as though it passed straight through her, washing away some small part of her grief.
Eden spied Jules at the altar for the dead but left her alone to grieve. When Hannah was killed, Jules had preferred to mourn alone, however much she and Sarah had tried to comfort her. Eden didn’t want to intrude while Jules honored her friend.
Personally, Eden did her best not to think about Hannah. When she did, it wasn’t her smiling face or the perpetual sparkle in her eye she saw, but the memory of finding her with her neck snapped—the light gone from those eyes forever.
She shuddered and pushed down her guilt. If she hadn’t been so afraid to tell Carolyn about her nightmares, Hannah might still be alive. Carolyn had tried to convince her otherwise. Hannah was the one who had performed the forbidden spell that had gotten her kicked out, after all. But Eden knew better than anyone how one decision could change everything. She couldn’t help but wonder if Hannah would be alive if Eden had made different choices.
“Ready to get back to the hunt?”
Sarah stepped beside Eden, Haley in tow, both as fresh-faced as Eden was now.
“Let’s wait for—“
“All set?” Jules had finished at the altar and returned to the group.
“Yeah. Anyone have any thoughts about what this is? ” Sarah read from the clue they’d received at the apple bobbing station. “What turns everything around but does not move?”
They debated for a few minutes. Was it something magical, a theory they’d learned or what?
Finally, Jules smacked her forehead as though struck by inspiration. “Follow me.”
She led them past a row of booths to a tent at one end of the town square. When Eden saw the sign, she shook her head.
“We were so overthinking that.”
The four of them entered the Hall of Mirrors.
Inside lay a maze, their reflections distorted in rows of mirrors. Eden started in one direction, Jules in the other. Both stopped and turned.
“I was thinking this way,” Jules said, sounding unsure of herself.
“We can go that way if you want.” Eden had picked at random; she didn’t have a strong opinion either way.
“Do you think maybe it’s time we split up?” Sarah asked, taking in all the different pathways. “For all we know, the next clue is the last.”
“Good point.” Eden studied their options. There were several directions they could choose.
“Works for me.” Haley shrugged, which Eden found curious given that she was the least likely to fare very well on her own.
“Good luck.” Jules smiled, and Eden hoped if she didn’t win that Jules did. Sarah was her best friend, but Jules wanted it more and could use a boost of confidence.
“You too,” Sarah called after her.
Haley waved and set off, her misshapen reflection following her.
She rounded a corner and was gone.
Eden turned back the way she’d originally intended. She hadn’t gone far when she came across a man who handed her another clue.
No light but your own to guide you deep. No fear in your heart for secrets you keep.
Something told her the answer to this riddle wasn’t going to be as obvious as the last one had turned out to be.
After a few minutes of walking, the distorted images crowding Eden on both sides had taken a toll, and she found herself vaguely dizzy. She stopped for a minute and closed her eyes, but behind her eyelids, her reflection flickered and danced.
Well, that’s not helping.
She opened her eyes and continued forward, surprised to find her old mentor, Courtney, around the next bend.
“Hey, I thought you’d crapped—I mean, Alex said…”
Courtney smiled and ran a hand through her tawny hair. “It’s okay. Alex told the truth. I did it on purpose, actually. The scavenger hunt was really lame last year, and I didn’t hear about this special artifact until after I’d dropped out. Are you still in it?”
Eden nodded and instantly regretted it, her head swimming.
“Well, good luck. If anyone from Coventry House should win, it’s you.” Courtney was the only sister who’d gone out of her way to be nice to her as a pledge. Even after being covered in deer entrails and put in a magical coma by the borahn, that hadn’t changed. “You haven’t seen Brianne, have you? I only came in here because she asked, and now I’ve lost her.”
“Sorry. The only person I’ve seen is you. I have no idea where I’m going.”
“Then we should both keep moving, I guess.”
When Courtney left, Eden glanced around, realizing she was at a crossroads with no idea which way she’d come from or which direction she’d been moving.
Perfect.
She pulled out the clue and read it again. No light but your own to guide you deep. No fear in your heart for secrets you keep.
As if on cue, the bulbs lighting the mirrors winked out, plunging her into darkness. Her heartbeat quickened, but she didn’t let herself freak out. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she wasn’t locked in the trunk of a car. She was an adult in a hall of mirrors with plenty of air and no monsters stalking her.
She pulled out her phone and was about to turn on the flashlight when she stopped.
No light but your own.
She tucked the phone away and held out her palm. An orb of light blossomed above it, illuminating the darkened row of mirrors. Multiple reflections of the floating sphere intensified the dizzying effect as Eden made her way deeper into the maze.
Soon she stepped under an archway and found herself in a small circular alcove lined with mirrors. In the center lay a round pool.
Please do not tell me that bobbing for apples was the warm-up for an even bigger dunk.
But when she approached, she realized it was merely a reflecting pool—only a few inches deep. She checked around, hoping someone would hand her another envelope so she’d know what to do next, but no one stepped out from the shadows. Even so, she felt certain she was being watched. How else would they have caught someone who used the light on their phone to make it here?
Black cushions had been placed around the pool, and Eden knelt.
Now wh—
Her heart seized at the terrifying visage staring back at her from the surface of the pool. It was her, but not. It was what she would look like…
If she were a borahn demon.
Chapter 3
Eden’s heart pounded, and she tried to look away but was trapped in her own reflection. In the pool, her eyes glowed yellow, and her mouth pulled into a hideous snarl.
This isn’t real. I’m not a—
But she was. It wasn’t just her reflection—staring down at her arms she watched in horror as her skin grew pale and then translucent, spidering veins popping out and pulsing to the beat of her frantic heart. Her nails became razored claws, and when she touched her face, she could feel that it too had transformed.
I’m not a demon. I’m not evil!
It was the same thing she told herself in the middle of the night as she huddled under the covers, rememberin
g how she’d jumped willingly into the borahn’s waiting arms. Carolyn had said that because he’d touched her as a child, he had no power over her as an adult, but Carolyn only knew half of the truth. Even when Eden was just six years old—before he’d ever laid a hand on her—he’d held no power. Not the power of a glamour, at least. She had seen his true face and had gone to him anyway.
No fear in your heart for secrets you keep.
But she was very much afraid of this secret. She was terrified of what was so wrong with her that she’d been drawn to such evil. This was the reality that haunted her—she was a monster and could no longer hide it. Everyone would see; everyone would know.
Eden crab-legged backward, away from the pool and its terrible reflection, but her limbs felt awkward, her movements disjointed. Her body was no longer her own.
She had to fix this. She had to be good. She stared at the small sphere of light, so perfect and beautiful as it hovered above the pool.
Focus.
Eden pulled the orb toward her, feeding it more and more energy. By the time it reached her, the sphere was so large it engulfed her.
I will not be a monster!
She squeezed her eyes shut as the light seared away her ruined flesh, dissolving the horror she had become.
Sparks flashed behind her eyes as loud pops filled her ears.
Eden’s eyes flew open, and the room was black, but she was herself again. She knew it even without touching her skin, but did so anyway, relieved at the softness of her hands, the gentle taper of her fingernails.
“What the hell was that?” she yelled into the darkness—at whatever sadist had designed this thing. There was no reply. “I said, what the hell—”
“Congratulations!”
A dozen orbs of light blossomed in the room, revealing two women and a man, each dressed in rich, black robes. Shattered glass littered the floor.
Why did the mirrors explode?
“Well done, child.” The older woman, with white hair and weathered skin, spoke. “You were the first to pass the test of the Chamber of Truth.”
Initiate Page 2