Page 42 of The Unbound Witch

“Nikos,” Kirsi and Bastian said in unison.

I nodded. “Probably. He's got a key.”

“I'm going to need the full story,” Torryn said, taking a heavy pot from Eden and setting it on my stone counter.

“Nikos has a spell that allows him to control another person. He's the one that forced Raven to cast the death spell on me.”

“He's the one that's been controlling the witches, then?” Torryn asked.

Eden snorted. “If he's anything at all, it's just a pawn in my mother's game.”

Gathering the small glass vials still intact from the floor, I simply agreed. “Nikos used to be close friends with Kir and me. Then we tried taking things to a different level and little did I know, he was the literal root of all evil. We have no idea how long he’s been controlling things, but that power is dangerous. We know his family went through the bloodletting to leave Moss and join Moon. I don't think Tasa would have agreed to that on her own. I think she was coerced. As far as I'm concerned, Nikos is enemy number one right now, regardless of Endora’s plans.”

I wanted my sage so badly. Just speaking his name in this place felt wrong. Felt as if we were calling him. My eyes flashed to a smoke stick discarded on the floor.

“Don't even think about it.” Kirsi groaned from beside me.

Atlas plucked it from the ground and shoved it in his pocket as he flashed a full-mouthed smile to Kirsi. She rolled her eyes and moved toward the back door of the shop, looking out over the garden.

“Okay, girlie, what's your first magic going to be?” Crow asked, a swagger in his step as he moved toward Eden.

“Do you mind?” she asked me, looking down at the markings on her arms.

“Be my guest,” I answered.

The semi-circle on her neck lit green, followed by a double slash on her wrist and then something from below her shirt. She ceremoniously swept her arms through the air as everything scattered about, every broken pot and pile of dirt took on a mind of its own. Her magic raced through Crescent Cottage, returning it to the beauty it had once been. Not a shard of glass was out of place when she was done.

Crow slowly clapped his gloved hands, jaw slackened, as he studied the witch he so clearly adored. “Magnificent.”

She whipped around, facing Bastian and me with a gleam in her eye I'd never seen and a smile so radiant, I think we all felt it. Even Kirsi from the back door.

“Another?” she asked, clasping her hands before her as if in prayer.

“You're not a child, Eden. You're a witch. Use your magic as often as you'd like.”

Pricking her finger, she let seven drops of blood fall on the ground below her. She spun back to Crow, taking his hand in hers as she flourished an arm in an arch above them, the green glow filling the cottage until the remnants of her barrier slipped over the outside of the shop like a second skin.

“It can't be crossed, and we cannot be heard or seen except by you, whom I’ve granted exception. It's a very powerful spell.”

“A barrier?” Kirsi asked, darting out of the shop directly through the wall and then back inside. “I'm sure it's strong, but I think the scary Dark King should put up his.”

I shook my head. “He can't. It’s made of shadow, and they think he's dead. That's a lie we should let them believe.”

“They've seen Grey cast that spell,” Kirsi argued. “At the Trials opening ceremony on Gravana Lake. You said the one over the Grimoire room wasn’t visible.”

“True,” Bastian said, stroking his palm over the stubble on his chin. “But the Grimoire spell only works in the heart of the kingdom, central to all covens. And they think Grey is gone with Raven. As soon as they know we are back from wherever we went, it'll be a witch hunt all over again. So, while I appreciate the vote of confidence, Moondance, I'm sure Eden's barrier is just as powerful.”

Eden dipped her chin, her light and dark hair falling over her shoulders. “Thank you, Your Grace.”

“We'll stay here for the night,” Bastian announced, clasping his hands behind his back as he circled the group of us. “Tomorrow, we'll leave Eden and Crow locked in here and head to the castle.”

“Maybe you should test the barrier first,” Eden said, sheepishly. “It's been a while. Just in case.”

The feeling of something heavy returned to me in that moment. As if there was a presence I wasn't aware of, or something I'd been forgetting sitting right on the tip of my tongue. It wasn't until Eden pulled the Grimoire from her satchel and set it on the counter that I realized the feeling. It was the book, drawing me to it, as if it whispered my name in a foreign language only I could hear.

Bastian eyed the book warily, and I realized he must have felt it, too. A near sentient being finally back to a place of power. Not entirely, but in some ways, reunited with its brethren, the other six Grimoires.

“Best put that away,” Torryn said, slipping his hands into his pockets, eyes flashing to me as if he could read my mind. “No good can come from having it out on display.”