This was different. Oh, heck was this different. This was people waiting for me to make the next all-important, critical decision.
I took a breath, but it felt like the hardest thing I’d ever done as my throat constricted and my mouth dried to the consistency of sand.
Though Bridgette and Sarah Anne looked pressured, stressed, even terrified – Max held my gaze evenly, his eyes like two little ropes offering me support in a storm.
I let out a tense breath that rattled through my chest. “Okay… I think Bridgette’s right. We don’t… we don’t seem to have any other option. Either we go after Dimitri… or he comes after me.”
For several seconds there was nothing but silence, then both Sarah Anne and Bridgette let out rattling sighs.
“You’re right,” Bridgette encouraged, “it’s the only way.” She flashed her gaze towards Max, obviously giving him one more chance to change his mind.
He didn’t.
Though I locked all my attention on him, trying to figure out what he was thinking, his expression was blank, his body revealing nothing as it took up his usual defensive pose.
Sarah Anne whirled on her heels, darted from the room, and appeared to call for someone down the hall.
I waited, nerves tying loops around my stomach. It felt like every second was another link in the chain I’d just used to strangle myself. Because, hello, this was a terrible plan. Sure, it was the only plan we had – but I just knew it would end in tears.
Oh, and blood.
I didn’t have any chance to back down, though.
No chance….
Chapter 9
Sarah Anne acted quickly. Within minutes, she was back with several books hooked under her arms.
She ushered me over to a chair, dumped the books on a coffee table, then dragged it forward until it practically pinned me against the chair.
I looked up at her as she bent down and opened the books, arranging them before me. She took a tight breath. “These are all the cemeteries in Bane City. I’ve narrowed them down to cemeteries where our sisters have been buried recently. Look through them – we don’t have much time. Try to figure out if you recognize where Dimitri was.”
“Can’t you… can’t you narrow it down by figuring out where the latest murder victims were buried?” I hazarded. “The grave looked fresh,” I added.
“He’s not necessarily going after one of the murder victims. All he needs is a witch who has recently died and who had a connection to this coven when she was alive.”
I nodded.
She stood above me, watching me intently, her features all screwed up with concern and stress.
Me? I’d given up on wondering how awful I looked. I imagined I was a seriously awful sight, not just from the dirt and stress, but from the pressure. It was starting to push against me like a wall, dragging me backward to the awful fate that awaited me….
I plucked up the first book with a trembling hand and rested it on my lap. Sarah Anne had already folded down the corner of various pages, and I leafed to them quickly, a frown eating harder and harder across my chin.
I didn’t recognize any of the cemeteries. It was a hard ask, anyway. I’d seen the crypt Dimitri had exited from, several rows of graves, and then the grave he’d started digging up. Most of these photos were aerial shots or tasteful architectural pictures of walls and angels and whatnot.
As the seconds ticked past, the pressure started to build until it felt like I was in a pressure cooker about to hit boil. My hands were now trembling so hard, I practically tore through each page as I clutched it and leafed to another.
No.
No.
No.
I couldn’t find the right cemetery, and we only had 25 minutes left.
Just as I came to the last book, just as I prepared myself to give up completely, I finally saw something I recognized.
Though the memory was now hazy, there had been a tree next to the crypt – an old, twisted pine tree with a large canopy that had cast long shadows over the gravestones beneath it.
And here in my lap was a photo of that same tree.
I froze.
Max was the first one to notice. He threw himself from across the room, skidded to a stop beside me, plucked the book out of my lap, and stared at the photo.
“No time to waste,” Bridgette snapped from beside him.
I was trembling all over now. Leafing through a book was one thing – what would come next would be completely different.
“We can’t just go in there without a plan,” Max warned, his brogue shaking through the room. “Or weapons,” he added.
“Of course not,” Sarah agreed. If she was affronted by Max’s suddenly icy mood towards her or his harsh words, she wasn’t showing it. Because she was a professional, wasn’t she? All of them were.
Well, except me. I was the lying loser who’d been dragged into this world and was very much not up to this task.
Before my heart could sink or just stop beating altogether and give up, Bridgette stalked over to the door and thrust it open. It revealed several witches all lugging in boxes.
Though Max still looked unquestionably stressed, his eyebrows did tick down as he saw the boxes.
“We’ve already gathered together all the weapons we have. And we’ve got plenty of witches too.” Bridgette grabbed one of the heavy boxes off the closest witch and hauled it into the room, chucking it on one of the couches with a thump. She yanked the lid open and pulled out something that looked suspiciously like an ordinary horse whip.
Now, I wasn’t any expert, but I doubted a whip could do much against a magical gun, or a pissed off fairy, for that matter.
I couldn’t deny that Max looked interested, though. He walked over and accepted the whip from Bridgette, checking it with a thorough eye. “This is good, but we’ll need more. We need to overpower him immediately. Get in, get out. It’ll be the only way.”
They started to discuss tactics quickly amongst themselves, leaving me to just sit there, growing sweatier by the second.
I couldn’t stop watching the clock. I became obsessed with the second hands as they ticked down relentlessly.
They didn’t have the time for this. It wouldn’t work. There was no—
Max shifted on his foot and walked over, looming above me.
I ticked my head back.
There’d been a time when all I’d wanted to do was get away from this brute. There’d been a time when I’d regretted ever meeting him. And hey, in many ways, I still wholeheartedly regretted being dragged into this world. But the look he shot me promised me one thing: he’d see this through to the end.
“We’re going now, Chi,” he said.
I blinked. “Wait, what? Aren’t I coming along too?”
“It’s much safer for you to stay here.”
“Safer?” My voice twisted uncontrollably high. “How is it safer?”
“You’ll just be in the way if you came. Plus, your Dimitri’s target,” Max pointed out slowly.
My blood boiled and yet my skin instantaneously felt as if I’d wandered into an ice cave. I shook my head as hard as I could. “No, Max. You can’t leave me.” If my voice had been twisted before, it was nothing compared to how wretched it sounded now. I would have seemed like a pathetic child unwilling to let their parent go.
Though Max made steady eye contact, it wasn’t enough.
I pushed shakily to my feet, swiveling my attention to Sarah and Bridgette, hoping they at least would see reason. But as they both shot me pressed-lipped looks, I realized I’d get no help there.
My thoughts started to spiral once more. My mother’s tiger energy was far from my mind right now. There was no way I could challenge this situation head on, but I could take Max on.
I clenched my teeth as I faced him. “You’re not going to leave me here alone.”
“You won’t be alone,” Bridgette said as she took a sharp step towards me, her heels clicking against the polished concrete. “
We’re going to keep our strongest witches here. You’ll be surrounded. You’ll be safe.”
I jerked my head from side-to-side, hair trailing across my cheeks as my eyes pulsed wide. “Safe? Don’t you mean contained? You’re the ones who pointed out that Fagan has friends in the highest places. How do you know what he’s capable of? Plus, Dimitri,” I brought my hands up and jerked them around, now so nervous I couldn’t hold them still, “had all these transport keys. What’s stopping him,” I snapped my hand to the left and pointed a stiff, sweat-slicked finger at the door, “from using one and transporting here?”
Sarah shook her head in a strong move. “He won’t be able to access that door – or any door in this building – because they’re all magically locked.”
My thoughts kept spinning. I kept shaking my head, too. “How can you be so sure?”
“We are running out of valuable time, Chi. We’ve only got,” Bridgette ticked her eyes up and stared at the clock on the wall, “15 minutes to interrupt Dimitri.”
15 minutes. 15 minutes until I was lying face-first on that blood-covered-plastic floor. 15 minutes until Fagan smiled, strode over to that upturned milk crate, and plucked off that glinting sword. 15 minutes until he cut my heart from my chest.
Though all I wanted to do was succumb to the fear, somewhere deep inside my mind, the last reserve of my determination took hold. The bolshiness and anger that had once been the cornerstone of my personality.
“This is not negotiable. I’m coming. And that’s final,” I snapped.
I honestly expected them to keep fighting me. But as Bridgette switched her attention to Sarah, I watched them give up.
“Fine,” Sarah said. “If this is what you want to do, fine. But we have to leave now.”
Max looked as if he wanted to object, but I didn’t give him that opportunity. I took one step towards him then another. “You’re not meant to leave my side, and maybe I’m not meant to leave yours. Whether I like to admit it or not, we’re stronger together. Got that?” Though my words were strong, my tone still shook, and yet I didn’t back down.
So, amazingly, Max conceded with a shrug. He tipped his head to the side. He was still holding that whip, his knuckles white as he gripped it with his full strength. “Come on, then. No time,” he summarized in a breathy hiss.
No time.
If I ever made it through this, that refrain would be imprinted in my mind forevermore.
But the operative word was if. For the odds were stacked against me, and time? She was running out.
Chapter 10
We wasted no more time in gathering our small army and heading to the back of the shop. Once more we faced the back door. Though I could tell Sarah wanted to hesitate, she shoved a hand down her top and pulled out a key on a gold chain.
Though instantly I could tell it was a transport key, it was unlike any I had ever seen.
It was more ornate and looked far more expensive.
She yanked it off the chain and jammed it in the lock.
Instantly, magic spread out from the door, hissing and crackling into the air. It discharged along the wood, up the cracked plaster of the walls, along the chipped, polished concrete of the floor.
I didn’t jerk back in time, and as I stood there, waves of magic washed over my feet, climbing my legs with unpleasant prickles.
I just clenched my teeth and forced my mind past the sensation, concentrating on the fight ahead instead.
The magic took half a minute to discharge. When it did, Sarah bared her teeth, reached forward, locked a hand over the door handle, and yanked the door open.
Instantly a strong breeze rushed through it, catching the ends of Sarah’s hair and plastering my jacket against my chest.
We were a ragtag army, some of us in jeans and T-shirts, some of us in dresses and boots. But we all had weapons. Before we’d left the room, Max had handed me a small whip of my own. I very much doubted I could use it without inadvertently whipping myself in the head, but I wasn’t here to help them with the fight. I just knew I couldn’t be left alone in that room. Being on the run was far safer.
I tried to ignore the sense of inevitability that kept forming in my mind as we filed through the door one-by-one.
The door, which should have led to the alleyway at the back of the shop, emptied out into the graveyard, instead. Out here, the wind was faster, moaning and groaning through the trees and gravestones as it chased its way through the graveyard. It had a nasty chill to it, and instantly my exposed cheeks and hands started to smart.
The other witches began to file out around me, weapons at the ready.
Though I could tell Max was itching to plunge through the graveyard and head to the freshly dug grave, he stuck by my side.
“No matter what happens,” he began.
“I do not leave your side,” I finished for him.
We continued to head through the graveyard, our entire unit moving as one. I’d never been much for groups – I had stuck things out on my own.
Now I realized the benefit of moving with others. Though a part of me was still scared – okay most of me was still scared – I felt that we could manage this.
It didn’t take long to navigate between the twisting, winding rows of graveyards to the freshly dug grave. The closer we got, the more my stomach bottomed out until it felt like it would drop right through the center of the Earth.
The wind got louder, too. It started to moan through the trees that lined the rows of graves. It was so loud, it felt as if the wind was somehow rushing right between my ears.
My brow was covered in sweat, and my hands were clutched around the whip so tightly I’m sure Max would have needed several crowbars to get me free. I was still walking, though, and that was something.
My golden enamel necklace that had been a gift from my mother was proudly on display, the tiger rearing, ready to face anything.
I had no idea how much time I had left. In my mind, it was seconds until the clock struck 7:07. In reality, I probably had about 10 minutes left.
… Which meant I was okay, right? Because it would take more than 10 minutes for Dimitri to overcome this entire army and take me back to that warehouse.
I clenched my teeth, pushing on faster now.
We reached the right grave, and the witches all spanned out, taking up defensive positions.
My heart bottomed out as I realized something. Dimitri wasn’t here, was he? We’d come all this way to find him, and he’d gone.
… Which was a good thing, I realized. Because he would have gone to find me at the café, and I wasn’t there. So this had been the right thing to do – coming with Max had been a good plan.
Just before I could ease into that thought, just before I could smile at my own genius, I heard something. A creak. And by god was it one of the most awful things I had ever heard in my life. It sounded like a crypt door slowly being pushed open by a dead, bony hand.
I jerked my head to the side, trying to figure out which crypt the noise was coming from. So did everyone around me. There was a middle-aged witch just by my side, and her grey-black curls flicked over her shoulder as a frown pressed hard across her lips.
The creak sounded again, and this time – this time, I figured out where it was coming from.
From the hole beneath me – from the freshly dug grave.
Clods of dirt were scattered all over the grass, some even piled up against nearby headstones – proving how crazed Dimitri had been in his task.
I was standing probably a good 10 meters away from the freshly dug grave. I had no intention of walking up to the edge and seeing the open coffin beneath.
But the creaking? It was coming from the grave.
Bridgette was the first to act. She sprung forward, heels squelching through the earth-covered grass. She had a magical crossbow in one hand, a whip in the other. She also had the meanest frown plastered across her face – one that told me she was ready to deal with anything.
She reached t
he edge of the grave and peered forward. Abruptly, she jerked back.
She flattened herself against the grass just in time.
Something rose out of the grave.
I expected it to be Dimitri, jumping forward with all his might. Except it wasn’t him; it was a cloud.
It looked exactly like a cloud from the sky – just up close, like we’d climbed some massively tall mountain and the clouds were playing at our feet.
Except, it didn’t move like a cloud.
It was fast, directed, and was headed straight for me.
Before it could reach me, Max knocked hard into my side, rounding his shoulder and flattening me to the grass. Though I smacked into the earth and instantly breathed in a lungful of dirt, the cloud thankfully shot overhead.
Max rolled to his feet, sprang up, and started wielding the whip – slashing it from side-to-side, the sound of it cracking like thunder blasting through the graveyard.
The other witches started to attack, too. But I had no idea what they were attacking. It was clear the cloud was no mere ordinary fact of meteorological pressure and water droplets, so what the hell was it?
I found the strength to push up, and as soon as I did, the cloud headed for me once more, and once more Max barreled into me, pinning me to the ground. This time, he remained on top of me long enough that I could feel his bulging muscles, feel his stiff fingers as they pushed into my shoulders. “Stay down,” he bellowed.
My heart hammered in my chest, reverberating so hard it could have shaken through my rib cage and shattered Max.
I tried to clutch hold of my magic. Or maybe it tried to clutch hold of me. It was in times of true stress that I could access it the best, and yet, though I’d never been more frightened in my life, those sparking fireflies remained elusive. I simply couldn’t clutch hold of them as the witches continued to scream and attack the cloud.
I didn’t have time to question what it was. Max dug a hand hard into my shoulder and yanked me to my feet. The move was so rough, he almost sent me flying headfirst into the nearest headstone.
This time, I finally caught a proper glimpse of the cloud.
A Lying Witch Book Two Page 12