Page 2 of The Unbound Witch

He pushed his hands into his pockets. “Are we all friends again now?”

Before I looked into her face, before I could witness myself shattering that hope she would have, I said, “No,” and floated toward that line of trees.

“I guess we're moving,” Grey said in response.

Footsteps followed me deep into the forest until sand became dirt and dirt became rock and somewhere on the other side, a whole new world awaited. But it would take forever to discover because Raven’s progress was slow, lagging behind Grey. She wasn’t bleeding, but if the tears in her pants and the dried blood on her legs weren’t enough to know she was suffering, beyond her mental state, the limp was. Something that must have happened in the final Trial before Nikos compelled her to kill the Dark King.

“What will we do?” Raven asked, her voice a whisper, though it could have been a shout after the aching silence we'd let settle among us.

“Well,” Grey said as we pushed forward, “Everything’s broken now. Willow is the Moon Coven leader. The Trials are over. We could stay here together or go our separate ways.”

“We can't split up,” Raven protested. “You can be pissed at me all you want, but we have to stay together until we have a plan. We can’t assume it's safe for us here, and we have nothing to survive on.”

“As it turns out,” I fired back, “I need nothing. I simply exist now.”

She didn't reply as Grey quickened the pace. “We'll find the first town and figure it out from there.”

“Fine,” I huffed, floating forward.

“Fine,” she echoed.

Hours passed as we continued. I'd heard the rumble in Raven's stomach and wished it were mine. Wished with all my being that I could long for anything but the peace I'd felt before.

“You look different without your markings,” I said to fill the silence.

“More handsome or less?” Grey asked, plucking a stone from the ground and throwing it into the barren land before us, full of nothing but billowing clouds above and long blades of grass over rolling hills.

“Less. I prefer the sign of a witch.”

Peeking down to my own translucent arms, I scowled. My markings were gone as well. Another robbery.

“You're going to be such a joy on this journey,” he said.

“I've been a joy my whole fucking life. I don't see a need to change now.”

“Where are we going?” Raven asked, ignoring the banter.

Grey stopped, pivoting as he placed his hands in his pockets. “I've got a friend here that might help us. But the problem is, I only know the name of the town where she lives. No idea how to find it.”

“How do you know anyone in the human lands?” she asked, shifting from one foot to the other, as if trying to ease the pain without drawing too much attention to her wounds.

“We've never formally met, but we've been in contact. I'm hoping that's enough to find a way back.”

“Sounds less than promising,” I mumbled, floating back and forth between them.

Grey ran his fingers through his cropped blond hair. “Well, let's just say she owes my family a favor.”

“I guess it's better than no plan at all,” Raven answered, still very much a shadow of who I'd known her to be.

I was far nosier. “So, who is it?”

He lifted an eyebrow, testing the tension between us before answering, “Eden Mossbrook.”

2

RAVEN

Iwanted to react. To feel anything but the loss of Bastian, the loss of my friendship with Kirsi, the loss of my entire world, but I couldn’t push past the gaping void in my chest that longed for lingering shadows and his beautiful face inches from mine.