Page 24 of How to Charm a Coven (How to Flirt with a Witch #2)

The Truth in the Cove

I pull on black jeans and a hoodie, getting ready for what might be the most dangerous decision of my life. My gaze keeps snagging on my phone on Natalie’s bed, where my text to Hazel sits unanswered.

Katie

You ok? Send me your location.

My stomach churns with worry. First Lucy soars back into my life as a griffin and speaks to me inside my head, then Hazel literally throws herself into the Madsens’ arms, and now I’m about to sneak out to meet a chimera in the dark.

After taking Sky to the infirmary, Natalie left to neutralize a curse at a thrift store—which feels absurdly normal after recent events. Her absence gives me the window I need to get to Lighthouse Park.

Imagining how angry and hurt she’ll be when she finds out makes me hesitate with one shoe on. We just said “I love you,” and is this how I show it? By sneaking out behind her back ?

But if she knew, she’d either stop me or insist on coming along. And something tells me Lucy won’t show if I bring a witch with me—especially one who’s determined to trap her.

I put on my other shoe with a sigh. The chimeras’ pleas have been haunting me since I first heard that voice in White Rock. Why can I hear them when no one else can, and what are they trying to tell me? I can’t keep hunting them knowing I might be ignoring something crucial.

The coven has made it clear from day one that they’re not about to answer any of my questions about magic. But if Lucy is offering answers—possibly beyond anything these witches understand about chimeras—I have to go.

When the moon meets the sea… I look at my moon-phases tee crumpled on the bed.

Waxing crescent tonight, which means the moon should set at about 9 P.M. I need to leave now if I want to make it in time.

I’ve left a buffer in case it takes me a while to convince a witch to escort me out through the steam clock with them.

Ethel watches me from the pillows, judgment plain on her furry face, like she disapproves of me listening to a disembodied voice.

“It’s not like that,” I tell her, aware that defending myself to a cat is not helping my case. “It was the chimera, which happens to be my old cat, telepathically speaking to me.”

Yeah, it sounds even worse when I say it out loud.

But before Natalie, before the coven, before I knew witches existed, there was Lucy. And despite everything that happened afterward, I can’t shake the feeling that I was meant to find her.

I pull on the gauntlet and zip up my backpack, which I’ve loaded with supplies I usually bring hiking: flashlight, water bottle, pepper spray, snacks, tiny First Aid kit, emergency blanket if I get lost.

Ethel wanders over to her scratching post and gets to work on her nails, as if to tell me she doesn’t care what I do.

My phone chirps, and I lunge for it.

Hazel

Staying at Oaklyn’s tonight. Will call you tomorrow when I’m in the office. Don’t text me again in case she sees.

My stomach clenches. After learning the truth about Oaklyn, she’s still going to…?

Ugh, I can’t think about that. Hazel’s a grown-ass woman who can make her own decisions.

Anyway, I’m just glad she’s in one piece.

I slip on my running shoes and shoulder my backpack, my heart pounding. I don’t know how deep into the forest I’ll have to walk—Lighthouse Park is a hiking area, after all—but I’m prepared for anything.

“I have to do this,” I tell Ethel as she watches me lay a hand on the doorknob. “I might be the first person who can communicate with chimeras. Either that, or…”

I don’t want to think about what else could be putting a voice in my head. But every day, I get closer to having to spend the next five years in a dungeon, and I’m desperate enough to follow that voice if it might lead to a way out.

As the bus pulls away behind me, I click on my flashlight, illuminating the Lighthouse Park sign I saw in the vision. The beam cuts a weak path through the blackness, revealing a paved road leading into the park.

Ugh, what if this is a trap? Could the Madsens be behind it? How angry will Natalie be when she finds out what I’m doing ?

I push down my doubts and start walking, the cold night air seeping through my hoodie. My footsteps are too loud, and the feeling of being watched makes me quicken my pace, my flashlight beam bouncing wildly.

At the end of the road, a yellow gate indicates the park is closed after dusk. I duck under it, following a dirt path bounded by enormous Douglas firs and red cedars that must be hundreds of years old. A sign warns me about bears, but I suspect ordinary bears are the least of my worries tonight.

The deeper I go, the thicker the air grows with the scent of damp earth and ocean salt. Branches creak, their shadows twisting in my flashlight beam like grasping hands.

Then, my skin prickles, and the hairs on my arms stand up. That familiar sensation pulls me forward like a magnet. I take the left fork in the trail, then the right, the feeling intensifying until it’s humming through my body. Hisses fill my mind like a jumble of whispers.

“A human comes our way…”

A twig snaps behind me, and I whirl around—but there’s only darkness between the massive tree trunks.

The magic tugs harder, leading me down a steep trail toward the crash of waves. My foot slips on wet rocks, and I catch myself with my hands, wincing at the sting in my palms.

Natalie is going to kill me if I survive this.

Something huge passes overhead, momentarily blocking out what little moonlight filters through the canopy. My heart leaps as I recognize the shape—wings, eagle head, lion body.

Lucy. I found her.

I’m not sure whether to feel relieved or scared.

She circles back, staying overhead like a vulture stalking dying prey. Ignoring every survival instinct, I follow her, stumbling over roots and ducking under branches until the trees thin out .

I arrive at a cove, where jagged rocks form a natural amphitheater and frothy waves crash against the shore. I’m on time—the waxing crescent moon hangs low on the horizon, its light painting a silver path across the water.

And on the shore…

My feet root in place as terror slams into me. Prowling among mossy boulders and driftwood, silver-gray in the moonlight, are dozens of chimeras.

They crawl across the ground, spill into the water, and soar into the air, their forms shifting and changing—a deer becomes a crow, a bear becomes a seal. Purple eyes glow in the darkness like beacons, all turning toward me at once.

I step back, my legs trembling, my flashlight beam wavering.

They stalk nearer. Hisses and snarls rise, bleeding into my mind.

“Your nets cannot hold our storm, witch pet.”

“Remember the wisdom of your ancestors, who knew to let us roam.”

“We remember every cage and enchantment, every witch who tore our essence apart.”

My breaths grow shallow as the voices overlap, getting louder.

Something moves in my periphery, much too close. I whirl around, a gasp escaping. Are they flanking me like raptors?

The shadow closes in, spilling onto a log beside me. My legs feel like jelly as I step back.

Run! my inner voice yells. This was a mistake!

A tiny meow meets my ears.

I shine the flashlight at it. “Lucy?”

A fluffy white kitten with beige-tipped ears is sitting on the log, delicately licking her paw. She looks up at me with glowing purple eyes.

“You have arrived, little hunter,” she says in my head, her voice cold and powerful, completely at odds with the adorable ball of fluff in front of me. “Lower your light. ”

I click the light off, blinking to try and adjust my sight to the darkness. “Sorry.”

She becomes a small silhouette in the moonlight, turning toward the chimeras on the shore. “Look at what is before you. This is what you are hunting.”

I follow her gaze to where they’re all still watching me. And in their midst…

My stomach flips, and I drop my flashlight with a clatter. A person is sprawled on the rocks. Chimeras surround her like hungry lions, looking down at her limp form.

“Oh my God.” I break into a run, moving as fast as the darkness and terrain allow, my steps clumsy on the uneven ground. “Get back! All of you!”

My first thought is that it’s Hazel, and the Madsens found out and… But no. It’s not her. This person is very pale with short blonde hair.

As I barge into the swarm of chimeras, wildcats hiss and wolves snarl at me, their teeth glinting in the moonlight. A bear stands on its hind legs.

My heart skips a beat, and I freeze. Am I next?

“No. Let her see,” Lucy says, her voice carrying.

A gust of wind lifts my hair, and there’s a noise like talons scraping against rock. I whirl around—only to see the fluffy kitten trotting over.

The other chimeras back up, glowering at me.

“See what becomes of those who try to consume our power,” Lucy says, filling my head.

I edge closer to the victim on the rocks, acutely aware of my audience. What’ll happen if I make a wrong move?

The person is small and frail beneath a long green cloak, a white T-shirt, and jeans.

I crouch and push the locks back from her face, a zap of magic stinging my fingers like a static shock.

She’s cold and damp—but her chest rises and falls rapidly, and her eyelids are fluttering.

Purple light pulses in her veins like lightning in a storm cloud.

Tremors pass through her body like she’s having a nightmare.

Recognition dawns as I take in her features. “Millie!”

Footsteps pound closer. I jump to my feet, adrenaline surging.

“Katie?” Sebastian’s voice cuts through the hum of the chimeras in my head. He races over from the trees, breathless, his face gaunt and exhausted.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“It’s the bio magic. It didn’t happen like it was supposed to.” His voice quavers as he drops to his knees beside Millie.

“What didn’t? Embodying it?” The image of the chimera dissolving into shimmering particles flashes through my memory—and the way she screamed in pain as it fused with her.