by K. J. Emrick
The Essence churned in her, and she wanted to always be one with the power.
Inside of her, the spark of Addie Kilorian flared, and lit the corners of a mind that had once been human. There were things to do. For one, she had to close up the Well of Essence again. She also had to decide what to do with Belladonna.
She could leave and reset the traps and the spells behind her. Belladonna would die trying to get out.
The thought was very, very tempting.
She could simply stop Belladonna’s heart. Quick. Painless. More than she deserved.
Not that long ago, Addie had promised herself that she would leave Belladonna behind in these tunnels to die if she had the chance. Here was that chance. The Essence was giving her that chance.
Except, she wasn’t like that. She was Addie Kilorian, and that was not how she lived her life. What she said to Belladonna was true. The two of them were nothing alike. Addie wasn’t a killer.
No. She would bring Belladonna out of the caverns. She would face justice, just like Cavallo and Purity Abbott would. That was the right thing to do.
That was who she was.
With a whisper and a snap of her fingers, she caused Belladonna’s unconscious form to rise up from the floor. She would float on a cushion of magic all the way out. That way, Addie wouldn’t have to carry her or drag her. Being a witch meant you got to do things the easy way, sometimes.
She turned to leave the chamber of the Well of Essence, Belladonna in front of her, on her back, her arms dangling and her hair flowing down in lustrous curls. Just as she was about to leave, Addie turned back. Biting her lip, she went over to the edge of the Well, and sat down.
There was one last thing she had to do here.
Chapter 12
“I can’t believe you gave all that up.”
They were sitting around the kitchen table at Stonecrest again, just like they had done yesterday morning before all of this craziness started. It was Willow who said that to Addie. Kiera raised an eyebrow at her over the rim of her teacup.
“What?” Willow asked her in return. “I’m just saying I’m surprised. My sister falls into the Well of Essence, has all of that power soaked up into her pores, and then she just gives it all back again? Hmph. If that was me I would’ve held onto it and been the strongest witch in history.”
“I’m sure,” Doyle said and flicked his ear in Willow’s direction. “Mayhaps that’s why it was Addie fell in the pool, and not you.”
He was sitting on one of the stools, his head barely up above the surface of the kitchen island, where bowls of Pringles and soda crackers and goodie bread had been laid out. It had been a long night, and the snacks had helped them through.
“Shush, Old Man,” Willow teased, tossing a caramelized peanut at him. “You know what I mean. Addie, I’m impressed at your bravery, that’s all.”
Addie felt herself blushing. “I don’t know if I was brave. It was all I could think of at the moment. Truth be told, I thought I was going to die when I fell in.”
Kiera smiled at her and lifted her cup in a toast. “We’re glad you didn’t die, Sister Addie. Here’s to family.”
The three of them clinked their cups, the red tea inside swirling and steaming.
“Here’s to taking chances,” Addie said, “and having them pay off.”
Their cups clinked again.
“And,” Willow said, toasting a third time, “here’s to the end of the Big Bad witch.”
They laughed at that, even Doyle. He’d been quiet since they’d gotten out of Shadow Lake Caverns, with the exception of the occasional snarky comment here and there. He was more upset about Domovyk than the rest of them. Cats could be like that, sometimes.
On the ride back to Stonecrest, after leaving the caverns with not one, not two, but three prisoners in tow, the snow had stopped falling. More than that, it had started to melt away from the roads. It was like the month of January was hosting a Spring thaw.
That was when they had realized Belladonna Nightshade had been controlling the weather within Shadow Lake. It was something she never could have managed before, but with Addie’s blood and the right spellwork, she could exert her magical influence inside the town itself. They were all three of them lucky that the evil witch had wanted something from them. If she hadn’t needed them to get to the Well of Essence, she may very well have shown up unannounced and unexpected on the steps of Stonecrest and blasted them all to ashes before they could even mount a defense.
The Well of Essence had saved Addie’s life in more ways than one.
Down there in the chamber of the Well of Essence, with Belladonna Nightshade lying on the magical cushion of air that would float her out, Addie had been faced with a choice. Keep what she had gained from the Well for herself, or give it back. If she kept it for herself she truly would have been the strongest witch on the planet. She would have been stronger than Belladonna Nightshade, as she’d already shown. She would have power at her fingertips to rival the likes of Morgan la Fey, the witch from the legends of King Arthur.
At the same time, it would have meant taking all that power away from everyone else.
The Essence in the Well helped power the magic of the world. Just as people needed air to breathe, they needed magic to live. Both were invisible, but people still felt the effects of both whether they realized it or not. Magic infused the entire planet.
Places like Shadow Lake existed everywhere, with reservoirs of Essence that were protected and kept safe by covens of witches just like the Kilorians. It was an important task, and one that Addie and her sisters took seriously. If she took the source of magical energy away, the results could be disastrous. Plants would start to die. People would start to fall sick with illnesses like cancer and malaria and dracunculiasis. Animals would turn cannibalistic. Soon enough, nothing would be able to live in an area like that.
Addie had heard of it happening once before. Now the Kalahari was a desert.
For her to be that selfish would mean turning her back on everything she had ever believed in, but…
She had never felt more alive than she had down there in that chamber.
As much as it had hurt her to do it, Addie had extended her pointer finger, and touched the surface of the lifeless, still liquid.
Through that point of contact the Essence flowed and she felt like she was a being hollowed out all over again. The Essence funneled out of her and returned to its reservoir, spinning, spinning, spinning. It took forever, or so it seemed, and Addie was sure that when it was over she would find a hundred years had passed.
Instead, it was only a few seconds.
She was herself when it was over. She was just a witch again.
Except, in the pit of her being, she felt a strength she had never felt before. A newfound something that she couldn’t name. Magic came easier to her now than it had before. It took less effort to do things she had done for years. She supposed that would fade away in time.
That was a worry for another day. For now, she was back, and she and her three sisters could enjoy a victory over an evil Big Bad witch that wanted to rule the world.
“Room for one more?” a voice said from the doorway from dining room to the kitchen.
Well. Addie and her sisters, and Kiera’s son Alan. They would enjoy it as a family.
He smiled at everyone, still in his pajamas and scratching at his curly auburn hair. Addie was glad to see his pajamas were blue this morning, instead of red. She was still embarrassed about how quickly she’d jumped to accuse him, even if it was only in her mind.
He hadn’t slept in, the rest of the family had just gotten up super early because there had been so much to do. The events in Shadow Lake Caverns might have put an end to the story arc with Belladonna, but they would not be over quickly. There was paperwork to fill out, police investigations to help guide toward answers that would be publicly acceptable, insurance agents to satisfy, and excuses to give. There would also be a feature article writ
ten by Maria Martin to contend with, but the reporter probably wouldn’t remember most of what she had seen, anyway, and the explanations Kiera had given her would make sense even if they weren’t exactly the truth.
Addie pushed aside some of the snack bowls and the decorative snow globe and the piles of paperwork that had been covering this end of the kitchen island. “There’s always room for you,” she told Alan. “Come on over and sit with us. We were just discussing the past couple of days, and what’s supposed to happen next.”
“Weren’t you three up most of the night doing that?”
He sat down on a stool between Kiera and Willow. His mother and his aunt both leaned over to give him a hug. It was Willow who answered him. “Yeah, we were up in the tower, working magic to strengthen the walls of the caverns. That explosion really did a number, but we’ve got everything solid again now. Next year we can do the tour all over again.”
Addie looked at her sister in surprise. “I thought you were against us giving guided tours of the caverns?”
Willow shrugged. “I was. Now I think I’m into it. I mean, you have to admit, that was seriously exciting.”
Kiera frowned. “I suppose it depends on what your definition of ‘exciting’ is.”
“I know what mine is,” Doyle muttered. He used his claws to hook a soda cracker and pull it near enough to nibble on. “In case you’re wondering, my definition has less dying involved with it.”
“Hey, maybe next time Alan can come with us,” Willow suggested. “It’s time we start bringing him into everything our family does, I think.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Addie said. Then she took a deep breath and laid her hand over Alan’s. “I’m sorry, by the way.”
He looked confused. “Sorry? For what?”
“For…” For thinking you were a traitor. “For not completely accepting you before. No, I’m serious. You came to us under some pretty suspicious circumstances, and even if that witch Belladonna was involved, you’re Kiera’s son. You’re part of the family. You belong here in Stonecrest. I’m glad you’re here.”
Alan caught her hand in his, then flipped it up in the air, and knuckle bumped her. “I’m glad I’m here too, Aunt Addie. Glad to be part of the Kilorian brood.”
“It’s clan,” Willow told him, pushing her shoulder into his. “Don’t worry. We’ll teach you everything you need to know.”
“Okay. How about starting with this.” He reached across the table and picked up the big snow globe. Giving it a shake, he sent all the sparkling pieces of fake snow swirling in the water. “Since when did we start collecting knick-knacks like… whoa…”
His voice trailed off as he got a good look at the scene inside. A ceramic tower with a single narrow window at the top, and no door at the bottom. No way in. No way out. A tower like Rapunzel might have been held captive in.
Inside the window, when Alan peered very closely, he could just see Belladonna Nightshade. She was caught in the tower’s only room, huddled in a corner, trapped forever in a prison made from magic and Addie’s imagination.
He set the globe down carefully on its heavy base and pulled his hand away.
“I think it’s very poetic,” Addie said. “Besides, we had to put her somewhere until we decided what to do with her. It was either that, or put her in witch’s prison.”
Willow raised her hand. “I still vote for witch’s prison.”
Kiera sipped at her tea again. “You may still get your chance to see that happen. She’s dangerous. Too dangerous to be allowed to roam free. The places we could safely put her, where she would do no more harm, are limited.”
“We could always kill her,” Alan said.
The three sisters all turned to look at him, their expressions showing mixed emotions.
Kiera cleared her throat. “We don’t kill people whenever we can avoid it, Alan. No matter how evil they are, no matter how easy it might be. Addie proved that yesterday. That road leads to… well, it leads to becoming exactly like Belladonna Nightshade.”
He frowned, but nodded his head. “I understand. I guess I have a lot to learn. So. What’s for breakfast?”
Addie joined in with the conversation and good humor for a little while, but she wasn’t really in the mood to eat. Her body wasn’t tired. It just wasn’t hungry. She’d eaten hardly anything since the events in the caverns.
For now, she was chalking it up to the adrenaline rush.
Offering to put their new snow globe away, she got up from her stool and told everyone she’d be back later. There were still more errands for her to run today. Most of them were of a very personal nature. She was actually looking forward to those.
She was already dressed for the day in her favorite pair of jeans and a cute purple sweater. Even if the weather had turned warmer and the snows had started to thaw, it was still winter out there. No way was she going out in anything less than a sweater and her puffy winter coat. That was hanging up by the front door. She’d get that on her way out.
For now, she turned left down the hallway, to a section of rooms they hardly ever used.
At the very end was a room that had a door with no handle. It was opened only with a magic spell, which Addie whispered, adding a flick of her finger on the last syllable. It wasn’t a very big room. She thought at one time it was maybe used as a butler’s closet, back when the Kilorian family had been rich landowners with a household full of servants, including butlers and maids and stewards.
But that was a story for another time.
The door creaked as it swung open. The lights were already on inside. It was a bare room, except for a single shelf on one wall, and a plush pile of cushions in the middle of the floor. Two small ceramic bowls were next to the pillows. One for food, one for water.
Domovyk picked up his head as soon as he heard the door open. His eyes were flat and wary as he watched Addie walk over to that one shelf and place the snow globe down.
“Don’t worry, Dom,” she said. “I’m just returning our prisoner to her cell.”
“Two prisoners in here,” he grumbled. “I have to make up for my crimes too, tak?”
“Yes, you do.” She faced him, arms crossed, not even a little bit sorry for the sentence they’d decided to impose on him. “You will stay here, and watch over Belladonna, and make sure she doesn’t try to escape somehow. You get to come out for bathroom breaks. You get half a day off on Sunday, when one of us will watch her instead. You get to stay here, with us, and you don’t get your furry behind booted out into the cold. Sounds like a fair deal to me, considering you helped Cavallo set off an explosion that nearly killed me and Kiera.”
He regarded her for a long moment, never blinking. Then he looked away and settled his head down on his paws. “Also sounds fair to me.”
Actually, it was probably less than he deserved, but he had been caught up in the web of lies Belladonna had spun without really knowing how to get himself out. Just like Cavallo, in his own way. Belladonna had made fools of them, turned them into pawns in a game where the consequences were life and death. Addie could find it in her heart to forgive Domovyk for it, she just couldn’t forget about it.
“I tried to give help where I could.”
She was surprised to hear him say anything else. He’d been less talkative than Doyle had. At the door already, she stopped, and listened to him.
“I pushed Cavallo off balance when he set off bomb. Took him extra second to pull trigger. It would have killed you otherwise.”
“You let Cavallo into the caverns, too,” she reminded him. “Don’t think I didn’t figure that one out. You disappeared right at the start of our walk, and that was when you went back and let him in. Him, and Belladonna. We showed you how to undo the spells protecting the caverns. We did it right in front of you and you passed that information on to Belladonna. If you hadn’t let those two in, none of that would have happened yesterday.”
Which was mostly true. There was no doubt in Addie’s mind that once B
elladonna was able to get to the caverns through the blood magic, she would have been able to force her way through the protective spells. She was strong enough. It would have taken her a long time to do it, however, and she would have been too late to set her plan in motion if Domovyk hadn’t literally opened the door for her.
He sniffed. “I tried to help. Other times, too. I didn’t tell Belladonna what you and others were doing. Not all the time. Lied to her, lied to you… it was too many lies. So hard to keep lying when all I wanted to do was… I did what I could for Kilorians. You took me in, you made me family, and I wanted… very much wanted… to be family.”
Addie had to smile at the sincerity in that little confession. “Everyone deserves a second chance, Domovyk. This is your third. Don’t screw this one up.”
He blinked his eyes as his tail twitched. It was a cat’s way of saying thank you, without having to say the words.
Epilogue
Her other errands had taken just a little bit longer than she’d hoped. It was nearly dinner time when she pulled her Jeep Cherokee into the parking lot of the Birch Hollow Police Department. Thankfully she’d sent Lucian a text message ahead of time. He was there and waiting for her on the front steps.
This close to him she could feel his presence. Even if she wasn’t looking at his beautiful face she would have been able to close her eyes and point right to where he was standing. This connection between them was beyond magic, beyond love, and the feeling that they were going to do something important, together, had never been more certain for her.
She didn’t even have time to shut off the engine before he was climbing up into the passenger seat. Leaning across, he gave her a kiss on her cheek, and then settled back with a goofy smile. “Hey there. Man am I glad to see you. Ready to go eat? I’m starving. I can’t tell you how happy I was to get your text after working on this mess all night and then all day today, too. Wow. This one was exciting. I really needed a diversion and I can’t think of a better one than this… why are you looking at me like that?”