Page 26 of How to Charm a Coven (How to Flirt with a Witch #2)

Witches and Chimeras

T he steam clock billows into the chilly air, its whistles chiming a haunting midnight song as I sprint toward it. My legs burn and my hand is sweaty as I clutch my ringing phone. So close…

Natalie materializes out of the cobblestones like smoke taking form, walking toward me with her phone pressed to her ear and a frown on her lips. When she sees me, relief flashes across her face before hardening into something colder.

She ends the call, and my phone falls silent.

I stop in front of her, clutching a stitch in my side. “I—I’m here,” I say, as if that’ll somehow excuse my absence.

She closes the last stride between us and grabs my arm, her fingers digging through my sleeve. “Where were you?” she asks through her teeth.

My stomach lurches as she brings me right back down through the steam clock. We land in the brick hallway under the warm glow of a Victorian street lamp, and I suck in a breath. “Lighthouse Park. The chimeras were there. Tons—maybe all of them.”

Natalie stares at me, frozen, before pulling me down the hall by the elbow. “You went into the woods alone at night?”

“That’s beside the point.” My voice bounces as I pick up a jog to keep pace, my muddy runners slipping on the cobblestones. “I had a chance to learn more about the chimeras, and I took it. And I learned we’ve got it all wrong.”

Natalie glances around the lounge as we cross through it. It’s late enough that the booths and tables have emptied. “Why didn’t you bring me with you?” she growls.

Beneath the anger, her voice trembles, and her eyes are wide. She keeps a tight hold on my arm, like she’s afraid I might slip away again.

“Because they wanted to talk to me,” I say gently. “Just me.”

“Talk?” she snaps. “Bio magic doesn’t talk.”

“Lucy spoke to me.”

Natalie drags her hand down her face. “Katie…”

I wrench out of her grasp and stop walking, my fists clenched. “You believed me when I told you I’m an empath, and you believed me when I told you I could sense curses and magic. What’s so different about this?”

She waves her arms. “Because this time you’re telling me you’re having conversations with magic . It doesn’t make sense.”

“I know.” My voice softens as Natalie’s expression turns distraught. I guess I am throwing everything she knows into question. “Natalie, there’s more to the chimeras than the coven understands. They’re sentient, conscious—”

“And dangerous!” She steps closer, dropping her voice. “Bio magic is what witches have used to perform mind control. If these chimeras were inside your head, we need to be careful. You’re being influenced by dark forces.”

I shake my head, frustration building in my chest. “It wasn’t like that!

They wanted to show me—” I swallow hard.

I could tell her about finding Millie, but that might reinforce her belief that bio magic is dangerous.

Besides, Millie and Sebastian didn’t want me to tell anyone.

“The chimeras want to be left alone and free. Natalie, I don’t think this magic should be caged.

I don’t think chimeras are dangerous unless—”

“Unless witches dedicate our whole lives to keeping them out of the wrong hands?” She looks around again, maybe afraid someone will overhear. Her face is pale in the dim light. “Do you understand what bio magic has done in the past? What the Madsens could do with it?”

“Of course I do.” I grit my teeth, trying to keep my voice level. “I get that their power needs to be kept safe. But is trapping and caging them the answer? There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t,” Natalie snaps. Something flickers across her expression—a flash of uncertainty before she shakes her head. “The coven has studied these entities for centuries. We wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t the only way.”

“But what if—”

“I thought you wanted to avoid getting sent to prison.” She spins and strides toward her room, her cloak billowing. The plants on the walls lean away as she passes.

“I do!” I cry, racing after her.

“Then why are we arguing about whether we should trap these things?” she says over her shoulder.

I open my mouth, but any arguments die in my throat. Am I getting distracted from the more important issue of my freedom? My trial gave me one path forward: catch every chimera or spend five years in a cell.

“Maybe the chimeras spoke to you, Katie, but that doesn’t mean they can be trusted.”

The words hit hard, and my heart stumbles. Was I tricked? Did Lucy read into my deepest desires and use that to manipulate me?

I’ve been so desperate to belong in the coven, twisting myself into knots to try and prove my worth, and it’s possible she reached into my mind and pulled that shameful fact right out of me. Used it against me. Made me feel validated, knowing how readily I would believe I was special.

I clench my fists, my palms sweating. The certainty I felt at the cove suddenly seems fragile.

But then there’s my intuition, which has never led me astray. Thinking back to the cove, the way Lucy’s words resonated in my bones…I felt something real. And what about Troy telling me to trust my gut? I can’t ignore that.

The silence stretches out, the air between us thick and murky.

“Everything’s a fucking mess,” Natalie growls, running a hand through her hair. “Has Hazel at least told you where Oaklyn lives?”

“No,” I say, bristling.

Natalie shoots me a glare, her dark eyes piercing me. “She’s staying at Oaklyn’s place, isn’t she?”

I glare back. “We’re asking her to share information that will destroy any future she has with a woman she’s infatuated with. Give her time.”

“Where the Madsens are involved, we don’t have time.” We reach Natalie’s door, and she faces me with her jaw set. “Are we going back to Lighthouse Park to trap these things?”

I splutter, Lucy’s warning fresh in my mind. “If you want to get us killed.”

“This nest you found is exactly what we need to win your freedom.”

I stare at her, my heart pounding. I could argue that the chimeras might not be there anymore, but Lucy did say that Sebastian and Millie would be there for a few more days as they tried to separate her from the magic she absorbed.

Natalie drops her voice. “Katie, you’ve just told me you visited an entire pack of chimeras, and your best friend, who has an algorithm to track where these things are located, is currently bunking up with Oaklyn Madsen.

We need to go back and trap them as soon as possible before someone else gets there first. We’ll bring Sky and whoever agrees to help. ”

I open my mouth, strangled by several arguments at once. First, how dare she imply that Hazel can’t be trusted. Second, will Sky be up for it after having her leg bitten? Third, the image of Lucy trapped beneath a net, thrashing in pain, sends a shudder through me.

Your ancestors knew better, one of the chimeras said as I approached.

“Natalie, we can’t just trap them without understanding—”

“You have a choice.” Natalie’s sharp words cut through my weak argument.

“Do you want your freedom, or do you want to waste time trying to change the entire coven’s mind about bio magic?

You think Fiona will listen when you tell her you want to be buddies with the chimeras instead of trapping them? ”

Heat rises in my face as she speaks the blunt truth. The stubborn part of me wants to argue back. I want to demand that she considers that I might be right. I know she’s protecting me, but she’s not listening.

But she’s fighting so hard for me—she’s defied her coven, risked her position, and fought against friends she’s had her whole life. And I’m here entertaining the idea that everything she believes is wrong.

Away from the chimeras, the certainty I felt fades fast, like I dreamed all that nonsense about being descended from witches.

Am I so desperate to be a witch that I’ll believe anything? There is zero proof that there are witches in my lineage. I’m no more descended from ancient chimera guardians than I am from Cleopatra.

“You think the magic wormed into my mind and manipulated me into not wanting to catch it?” I ask, barely a whisper.

Natalie softens. “I do.”

I swallow hard, unsure what to believe. But looking into Natalie’s eyes—this woman I love with every cell in my body—I know whose side I’m on.

“When do you want to go?” I ask, the words burning my throat.

The relief on Natalie’s face sends a pang of guilt through me. She pulls me into her arms, holding me tight against her chest. I can feel her heart racing.

“I’ll talk to Sky first thing,” she says into my hair. “She’ll assemble the Shadows for this. I think even Fiona will be on board, given the magnitude of what you’ve found. We’ll plan an ambush late tomorrow night when the park is empty.”

I nod against her shoulder, a strange numbness spreading through my limbs. The thought of returning to Lighthouse Park with nets and witches makes me nauseous. Lucy trusted me and brought me to the place where she and the other chimeras have gathered…and I’m about to lead hunters to them.

But what choice do I have? The coven won’t change their minds about bio magic after centuries spent containing it. And the Madsens have proven why that protection is necessary.

This is my life we’re talking about, and I’m the only one who can save it. I can’t get distracted from dreams of being special—of being a witch.

As we break apart, I curl my hands into fists, my nails biting into my palms. I’m angry at the coven for putting me in this impossible position, and at the Madsens for proving why bio magic is dangerous, and at myself for ending up in this predicament.

Even if I secure my freedom, will I spend the rest of my life haunted by what I’ve done?

Natalie’s hand finds mine, and I exhale slowly, letting my fist loosen so our fingers can entwine.

As angry as I am, and as much as it scares me, I know what I need to do. Even if I have to ignore the voice in my head—not Lucy’s, but my own—whispering that I’m about to make a mistake.