Page 13

That was as far as he got before a dozen witches fell on him, but it was enough.He’d bought me a moment to fight through my shock and given me the information to save at least one of us.Along with our party up top, if he could reach them.

“Get off him,” I said, standing up.

“Or else what?”Zara hissed as the witches fought to take down Pritkin’s shields.But demon magic didn’t seem to be something they understood, and they were struggling with it.They’d manage eventually, but not quickly enough.

Not if I redirected their hate at me.

“Or else prove him right,” I said, projecting my voice the old-fashioned way by yelling my head off.“That your laws meannothing, your customs meannothing, that being the Mother of a coven—”

“You have no right to that title!”Someone yelled, to shouts of agreement on all sides.The fight seemed to have brought the witches back to life, with the former eerie stillness being replaced by what looked and sounded a lot like a torch-wielding mob.

And Zara agreed.“Your coven is dead!”she spat.

“But yours isn’t,” I said, meeting those dark, glittering eyes as steadily as Pritkin had.“And I challenge you for it.”

Once again, the room went deathly silent, as abruptly as if someone had thrown a switch.Once again, a pin drop would have echoed loudly, or in this case, my harsh breathing.And the blood rushing in my veins, which was all I could hear as I’d just signed my death warrant.

“What?”Zara said, in a more normal tone of voice, as if shock had jolted her back into her old self for a moment.

“You claim to be Mother of this coven,” I said harshly.“Then prove it.Or prove yourself unworthy to lead the last remaining witches on Earth.They deserve a leader who will fight for them, as I will.

“Willyou?”

Chapter Five

There was silence for a moment longer, then Zara laughed, her voice echoing loudly in the stillness.“Do you take us for vampires, witch?We don’t decide our leadership in such ways!”

“No, you decide it by the Gauntlet,” I said, “which I passed if you recall, toclaim my coven.”I said that last a little louder than necessary because these bitches didn’t get to take that away from me; none of them did!“Something I assume was true for you?”

“Of course—

“But not for this one.No Gauntlet has been run for this...hodge-podge.”Shouts broke out at the term, but I doubled down.“Yes, hodge-podge!No wonder you haven’t been able to stand against your enemies!You aren’t a coven with a leader who fights for you; you’re a bunch of traumatized women cowering in holes—

“I fought!”Zara hissed.“What do you think the last fifty years have been if not the gauntlet of all gauntlets?”

“You didn’t fight,” I repeated loudly.“You hid.Maybe you felt there was no other choice, but now you have a challenger, and I say you faced no Gauntlet!”

“It’s true!”Someone yelled from the peripheries, only to get shouted down immediately by others.“You know she’s right!”

“It is,” someone else said, closer in.“And she’s right about the other, as well.Cowering is not what we do—”

“And what would you have us do?”Zara demanded, turning on the voice that had come from behind her.“This woman is reckless—always was!She’ll get you killed!I kept you safe—”

“Safe for what?”Someone else called.“To die in the dark?”

A massive argument, which I got the impression was of old standing, broke out, with everybody trying to yell over everyone else.Some things never change, I thought, remembering how much witches liked a verbal smackdown.And wondering what the odds were of Pritkin and me slipping away in the chaos.

Not very good, judging by the women who I assumed were loyalists crowding me thickly, like a hedge.

Guessed they’d had the same idea.

“Be silent!”Zara’s voice rang out, magically enhanced to echo off the walls and come back in waves, almost forcefully enough to knock me down.“She’s an agent of chaos here to destroy us!”

“Looks like you’ve done that well enough on your own!”I said, wishing I had the power to enhance my voice right now, but settling for screaming because the din hadn’t much abated.“This isn’t your coven, Zara; it’s up for grabs!And I’m grabbing it!”

Zara started to speak again, but an old woman I didn’t know with a massive bun of salt and pepper hair precariously perched on top of her head stopped her with a gesture.“You’re saying you’ll run the Gauntlet, then, for the right to lead us?”she asked me.

“That’s what I’m saying.”