Page 110 of Fighting for Her Heart

Ryker pulls me up from my crouch, and into his arms. I watch as my mother’s body changes, aging decades within seconds. Her hair turns white, her skin wrinkles and thins, and her muscles deteriorate until she’s more like a skeleton housed inside her clothes.

Turning away from the sight, I press my face against Ryker’s hard chest.

“It’s okay, little dove.” He holds my head in his palm. “You had no choice.”

“And your act was not intentional.” Zuben strokes my back. “But I agree with the pirate, it was necessary.”

“Good riddance,” Axe mutters.

“Sisters. We are free!” A voice comes from behind us and we all turn.

The three witches, still locked inside the cage, are hugging each other, pure joy evident in their expressions.

“Free?” Zuben strides toward their cage. “Whatever can you mean? You are clearly still contained within that silver enclosure. Are you now witnessing a magical illusion?”

“This cage is nothing.” The blond-haired one says. “She had me trapped for forty-three years—completely unable to act of my own volition.”

“Is she really dead?” The African American witch tentatively steps toward the bars of the cage, staring toward Nora’s body, and Ryker moves us away to give her a better view.

“Should…should we let them out of the cage?” I ask Zuben, because he seems like the best authority on all these things.

“No,” Axe says firmly. “I recognize that one.” He points to the smallest of the witches. She has jet-black hair and is the least vocal of the three. She ducks in behind the buxom blonde one. “That bitch was one of the witches who trapped me and my family. She caught us so that Octavia could do her dirty work.”

Still holding the arm of the other witch, she peeks around. “What the bear says is true.”

“Were you under her control all that time?” Zuben asks her.

Shaking her head, she looks up toward the ceiling. “Not at first,” she says softly. “I too was excited with the prospect of finding the Illuminant. I know what we did was wrong.”

Axe lunges forward.

“I’m so sorry.” The small witch steps toward the cage, facing Axe. “I did so many terrible things, before and after I was under Evanora’s control, but going along with Octavia’s crazy theory about creating hybrid shifters, and hurting your family.” She drops to her knees. “I was one of the ones who trapped you all in those cages. I understand if you want to tear out my throat.”

“Let’s just fucking kill them—all of them,” Ryker says.

“No.” Axe shakes his head. “It is not up to us to decide their fate.”

“Thank you for your compassion,” says the African American one as her fingers slide through the bars of the cage. “We should all face the consequences of our crimes. The council will be fair. I can tell you how to contact them.”

“No bloody chance,” Ryker steps forward. “She’ll just send us to her allies.”

“Your assistance in contacting the Council of Magic Keepers will not be necessary.” Zuben nods toward the witch. “You must understand that we would prefer to report what has occurred here through our own channels of communication.”

She steps back from the bars, nodding. “Of course. Of course.”

“I say we get out of here.” Wrapping his arm around me from behind, Ryker squeezes me against him. “This place gives me the creeps.”

The witches hand Axe his clothes, still in the cage from before he shifted, and one of them points me to a wardrobe where I can replace my now bloody t-shirt, and then I put the hoodie back on over top. Once we’re all dressed, Ryker opens a door that appeared at some point during all the shifting illusions. It reveals stairs, leading upward.

Did I really come down these same steps? Was I standing in the small space at their base while I navigated the illusion of that endless maze?

I shake my head. I still can’t do that kind of magic, nor am I sure that I want to.

I head through the door.

“Wait.” Axe grabs my hand. “What if it’s daylight? You’ll burn.”

Turning toward him, I smile, my body flooding with joy. “Zuben and I have a surprise for you and Ryker.”