by Amy Star
“You are not failing.” Holly tightened her grip on him. “You’ve been the voice of reason in all of this from the beginning. If I didn’t have you, I truly think I would’ve gone insane by now.”
“Do you mean that?” Keller turned his head to look at her. “Or are you just using some maiden magic to make me feel better?” A flicker of humor alighted in his eyes.
“No maiden magic here.” Holly laughed. “I’m telling you things as I see them. You’re our linchpin.”
Keller furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re what keeps all of us from falling apart,” Holly explained. “If I took you out of the equation, nothing would happen. You keep us focused and centered. You remind us of our long-term goal.”
“Wow.” Keller couldn’t help but smile. “You flatter me.”
“It’s not flattery, it’s honesty.” Holly leaned her head on his shoulder. “I just wish I could make it easier for you.”
“It’s my job to make things easier for you, not the other way around.”
“All of you keep telling me different variations of the same thing,” Holly mused. “I’m going to tell you what I told Johnny. As much as it is your job to protect me, it’s my job to protect you, too. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of my future child and for the bear clans as a whole.”
“I keep forgetting about the child,” Keller mumbled. “The thought of bringing a child into our world as it is now is unthinkable.”
“That’s why we’re going to change the world first,” she said. “And you’ll play no small part in that.”
“Something witchy this way comes!” Johnny shouted from the living room, shattering the moment.
“Will you help us?” Holly asked. “I’d feel better having you there.”
“Of course.” Keller placed his hand over Holly’s and kissed her forehead. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me so soon.” Holly chuckled. “We might be slaughtered by witches yet.”
Holly and Keller walked hand in hand into the living room.
Somehow, the witches managed to arrange themselves in their usual positions in the house. Hattie perched by the fireplace. Edwina commandeered the couch. Susanna sat in the wooden chair.
“Good evening.” Edwina smiled.
“Thank you for coming,” Holly said.
“I wish he was the one who had shown up last night,” Hattie said, jerking her chin at Keller. “The crystals would’ve loved him.”
“What is she talking about?” Keller murmured to Holly.
“Don’t worry about it,” Holly murmured back.
“Right.” Johnny clapped his hands together. “How do we make a witch trap? Is it a DIY kind of thing? Do we have to light candles and chant?”
“It would be wise not to patronize us.” Edwina sighed.
“Patronizing people is a core pillar of his personality,” Loch said. “Good luck getting him to stop.”
“He speaks the truth.” Johnny shrugged.
“We’ve brought everything we’re going to need,” Hattie said. “Can you clear the coffee table, please?”
Johnny and Garret cleared the table.
“What did you bring?” Loch asked. “None of you came in with anything.”
“You’ll see,” Susanna said with a wink. The way her gaze lingered on Loch made Holly uneasy.
The witches approached the cleared coffee table. Each extended a hand over the table, palm down.
“Videtur,” they murmured in unison.
The air above the table began to shimmer and warp. Candles, crystals, and plant clippings appeared on the surface. White lines drew themselves across the lacquered wood, forming an intricate pattern surrounded by symbols. Each symbol appeared before an object on the table, connecting the objects by a lattice of intricate lines.
“That’s a witch trap?” Holly furrowed her brow.
“What were you expecting?” Edwina asked. “A jaw of iron and steel like one might use to trap a bear?”
“I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
“What’s the next step?” Keller asked.
“Sit quietly and stay out of our way,” Edwina said. “We don’t know how powerful this witch is. She might fight us.”
“What if it’s not Elise?” Loch asked. “What if all we’re doing is bringing a pissed-off witch into the house, against her will, who is loyal to Trevor and the dark shifters.”
“Then we kill her,” Edwina said through a snarl.
“No!” Holly snapped. “You will not take anyone’s life in my grandmother’s house. If someone other than Elise shows up, we keep them trapped and get information out of them.”
“That’s…brilliant, actually.” Keller nodded.
“That should help with your battle plans.” Holy grinned.
“It would. I’d rather summon a witch eager to help us, given a choice.”
“Are we going to stand around theorizing, or are we actually going to do this?” Susanna groaned. “I woke up in the late afternoon to prepare for this, and I do not appreciate being awake before sundown.”
“She’s not a daylight person, like at all,” Hattie teased. “I, myself, am usually up by sunset.”
“You’re always asleep before daybreak, though,” Edwina pointed out. “The best things always happen in those pre-dawn hours.”
“I just hope this witch doesn’t sleep on your schedule,” Holly spoke up. “This will go smoother if everyone in the silver mines is asleep, including her.”
“Only one way to find out. Stay back.” Edwina extended her hands over the coffee table. Her coven sisters followed suit.
As they began to chant, a terrible chill seeped into the house. Holly shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, but it did no good. It almost felt like the chill was spreading from the inside out.
Keller stepped over to her and wrapped her in his arms. It was enough to provide relief from the cold at first, but soon, even his teeth were chattering.
“What the hell is this?” Loch shivered, moving as far away from the witches as he could. “No one told me this spell involved frostbite.”
Holly looked at her skin. Tiny ice crystals formed on the backs of her hands.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s the magic,” Johnny explained through gritted teeth as he moved closer to her. “It’s sucking all of the energy from the room to power the spell, including the heat.”
“I would’ve worn a sweater if I had known this was going to happen.”
“Will it pull the energy from inside of us?” Keller asked.
“If Edwina and her coven sisters can’t power the spell with the energy around us, they’ll have no choice but to harvest the energy inside us,” Johnny said.
“And you didn’t think to give us a heads up?” Garret muttered from the opposite corner of the room.
“If I knew a witch trap used this strain of magic, I sure as hell would have,” he replied.
“This is why we plan.” Keller sighed.
Holly was too cold to speak. She buried her face in Keller’s neck, desperate to leech any warmth she could manage.
“I have her,” Edwina rasped.
Holly peeked at the witches from the corner of her eye. They all looked drawn and haggard, like the spell aged them fifty years.
“She’s stronger than I anticipated,” Susanna groaned. “Hattie, get it together before we lose her.”
“I’m trying!” Hattie cried.
The space above the coffee table began to glow. The harsh white light grew brighter and brighter until Holly had to look away again.
A burst of energy rippled through the room hard enough to knock everyone off their feet.
Keller turned his body to protect Holly from slamming into a wall.
The couch fell onto its back.
The fire in the fireplace blew out as if it were nothing more substantial than a candle flame.
Pictures fell from the walls.
&
nbsp; The windows trembled as if they were about to shatter.
“Is everyone all right?” Keller asked.
“Define ‘all right,’” Loch groaned from the other side of the room where he laid flat on his back.
“If you can talk, you’re fine,” Keller replied.
“Ah. Yup, I’m good. I’m just going to lay here indefinitely.”
“Did it work?” Holly asked, trying to focus her vision. She saw double of everything.
Keller held her against him to steady her.
When her vision cleared, Edwina’s smiling face came into view.
“Congratulations. You have yourself a trapped witch.”
Holly moved closer to the coven sisters. The coffee table was nothing more than a pile of splinters. Laying on the pile, bound by chains of shining, silver light, was Elise.
“At least we got that part right.” Johnny sighed.
Elise thrashed against her restraints.
Before anyone could stop her, Holly knelt beside Elise. “Elise, can you hear me?” Holly called. “You need to open your eyes.”
When Elise did finally open her eyes, she looked pissed. “What the fuck just happened to me?”
CHAPTER TWENTY—Holly
Elise sat at the kitchen island with a blanket around her shoulders and a cup of hot tea in her hands, looking furious.
“I’m really sorry for trapping you.” Holly winced. “If you let me explain, you’ll understand why.”
Edwina, Hattie, and Susanna took their leave shortly after completing the witch trap spell. It drained them. They needed to return to their cavern to recuperate.
Holly wasn’t sad to see them go.
Johnny, Keller, and Garret were busy cleaning up the mess caused by the trap.
Holly thought that was for the best. She wanted a chance to talk to Elise alone. She didn’t want it to feel like an interrogation.
“My body was stretched and pulled in every which way,” Elise snapped. “Do you have any idea how physically challenging it is to teleport when you’re doing it consciously? Having it be done to you without your knowledge or consent is awful.”
“Again, I’m sorry but if you would just—”
“What the hell did you do that for, anyway?”
“I’m trying to explain.” Holly closed her eyes and willed away her frustration.
Elise had every right to be angry but still.
“Last night, I went to the witches for a few spells. When they crafted the first one, they somehow sensed your presence. I had an inkling it was you, and I’d meant to repay you since you helped me escape the mines.”
“This is your idea of repaying me?” Elise asked, wide-eyed.
“I didn’t realize a witch trap was this…inhumane. I thought it was the only way I could get you away from Trevor and his followers without putting everyone in danger.”
“Why do you think I wanted to get away?” Elise glared.
“Why else would you let me escape if you’re working against them?”
“I am working against them, but I can’t very well do that from here, now can I?”
“We’re working against them, too. You can help us.”
“Oh, please,” she scoffed. “You’ve been about as effective as a pebble against a rockslide.”
“I’m doing my best, but—” Holly paused and barked out a laugh. “I don’t actually have to justify anything to you.”
“Damn right, you do!” Elise snapped.
“Keep mouthing off, and you’ll end up cuffed again. Do you want that?” A sense of control and power Holly had never felt before seeped into her blood. She was the one in charge, not Elise. She was done sitting passively while everyone around her told her what to do and who to be.
Now, it was her turn to call the shots. “We can do this one of two ways.” Holly clasped her hands together in front of her mouth. “I’m grateful to you, Elise. That means something. If you want that to continue to mean something, you’ll tell me what I want to know. In exchange for your help, we offer protection.”
“And if I refuse?”
“We’ll hold you captive, for insurance.” Holly nodded. “Or maybe we’ll throw you into the wild and let you take your chances. Do you think your brother would welcome you back?”
Elise’s face darkened.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why aren’t you in any of the family records?”
Elise looked away. “Ask another question.”
“This isn’t an interview,” Holly scoffed.
When Elise said nothing, she decided to try a different approach.
“I want to be friends,” she said. “Truly. I think you have the power to save a lot of lives and I think you know exactly how to do it. Why stand against your brother alone if you don’t have to?”
“I don’t have friends,” Elise spat the word as if it were a curse. “They only get in the way.”
“Whoever told you that is a damn liar.” Holly shook her head. “We’re gathering an army. Wouldn’t you rather be part of it than fight alone?”
“I never expected to fight.” Elise sighed. “I don’t want to fight my brother if I don’t have to. I just want to help him.”
He’s lost. The words of the Maiden echoed in Holly’s mind.
“Why does he need help?” She took a seat on the stool beside Elise. “Trevor is a firstborn son of Silver Spruce. That means something to me. That means something to the Maiden. Whether he knows it or not, he’s under my protection.”
Elise looked up from her untouched tea. Her pale eyes searched Holly’s face. “You believe that, don’t you?”
“The Maiden told me that Trevor is lost. Would you agree?”
Tears filled Elise’s eyes. She looked away. “Yes,” she said in a barely audible whisper.
“Then let’s start from the beginning. I want to know about you.” Holly placed her hand on Elise’s arm. “Why aren’t you on the family tree?”
“My family, the Charmains, have an archaic view of the world,” Elise said. “They believe only the males of the family should be able to shift. When I came of age and started to show signs of being a shifter, they were furious. They treated me as if it were my fault.”
“That’s terrible,” Holly murmured.
“They restrained me,” Elise continued. “They paid a powerful witch to take my shifting ability from me.”
“I didn’t know that was possible,” Holly gasped.
“It violates every shifter law we have, but they didn’t care. They removed themselves from shifter society. We lived in this old house far out in the mountains on the edge of Silver Spruce territory. Not far from the silver mines, actually.”
“What did they do when they stole your power?” Holly asked.
“They gave it to Trevor. They wanted to make him stronger. Everyone knew he was a firstborn. Should a Maiden arise in our lifetime, they wanted him to have the best chance at becoming the King. I never thought it would actually happen, yet here we are.”
“Don’t they know the Maiden has the final choice?” Holly said.
“The Maiden is a female presence. Even she doesn’t have the right to choose in their eyes.”
Anger sparked in Holly’s chest. “How delusional,” she muttered.
“After my powers were stolen, I was struck from the family record. It’s like I never existed.”
“Does your family still live near the mines?” Holly asked.
“No. The witch who performed the spell on me must’ve bragged or told the wrong person because the town leaders of Silver Spruce found out. They banished my family, though Trevor was given the option to remain due to his status. He refused.”
“Where did your family go?”
“They went to Golden Oak,” Elise said. “I never made it across the border. I saw a chance to escape my family, and I took it. My only regret is leaving Trevor behind with them. He didn’t want my power. He hated our family for forcing him to take it.”
“But he went with them anyway?”
“He didn’t feel like he had a choice.” Elise shook her head. “He returned to Silver Spruce a month ago. He found me immediately, but he was…changed.”
“How so?”
Elise frowned as she tried to find the right words. “I don’t know. He started going on and on about how he knew how to save Silver Spruce. Even now, I don’t quite understand what he means. He’s never told me what he’s trying to save Silver Spruce from.”
“Interesting,” Holly murmured. Interesting, and certainly a cause for concern. “Is that why he didn’t kill me when he had the chance?”
“I think so. He wants to be the King. He wants to father the Maiden’s child, but what he calls peace might be anything but.”
“And your magic,” Holly pressed. “How did you come by that?”
“I traveled to Gallant Green. There was a coven there. Their matriarch took pity on me. She taught me enough to protect myself. Once I left her, I continued my studies alone.”
“Did you ever meet the witches here?”
Elise’s eyes went wide. “No way.” She shook her head. “Those bitches are crazy. I can’t believe you let them into your house.”
“They’re the ones who made the protection spell that lies upon it.” Holly shrugged. “If they wanted to do any harm, they’ve had plenty of chances.”
“Maybe so.” Elise dipped her chin. “Just don’t turn your back on them.”
“Noted.” Holly pressed her lips together before speaking again.
She wanted to choose her words carefully. Elise had been through so much. Holly didn’t want to make things even more unnecessarily painful than they already were.
“How do you think we can help him?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know,” Elise whispered. “I still don’t understand what’s going on in his head. I hear him at night, though, muttering to himself. He scribbles in all these notebooks. I peeked in one once. It’s completely illegible. If it is written in a proper language, it’s one I don’t know.”
Holly pursed her lips.
“I’ve told you everything I know,” Elise said, mistaking Holly’s silence for doubt. “If there is anyone on this earth I would lay down my life for, it’s my brother.”