Page 74 of The Unbound Witch

“I’ve lived ten years of your lies. So did Kirsi. I’ve bent to your will for longer than I ever knew. You needed me to make that elixir for you, didn’t you? You needed my grandmother until she died, and then you realized you weren’t powerful enough to make it yourself. Then, when you thought I was gone, you broke into Crescent Cottage and ransacked the place. Tell me you manipulated her with magic!” She screamed. “Tell me you cast your filth on my grandmother!”

She didn’t give him a moment to answer before crossing the room and planting a closed fist across his face. She used her magic to throw him into the opposite wall, and then bring him back. “You’ve always played the victim,” she seethed. “Let me show you what being a victim fucking looks like.”

He shook his head frantically, for the first time ever, finally seeing Raven for the witch she was. She’d always been kind, but the fire within her had also always been there. I’d never been so proud.

“Look at my face,” she demanded.When he would not, she shrieked, “Look at me!”

His head turned slowly, showcasing his defeat. “Is she still beautiful? My daughter?”

She didn’t acknowledge his words. “You will forget everything. Every face in this room, every person you’ve ever known. Every single discovery of your entire life will be gone after I cast this spell. A real victim is someone that is innocent. Let me show you what that fucking feels like.”

She waved her hand through the air, the fear on Nikos’ face fading into confusion and then nothing. His mind was blank as he rediscovered himself bleeding and pinned to the wall, a furious witch staring him down, a storm brewing within the cottage and outside of it. I didn’t miss the look Torryn and Bastian exchanged as Raven continued.

She flicked her wrist once more and fire ignited below him. We all stood silent as it licked up his legs. Another cast and lightning struck him in the chest. Bastian stepped forward, placing a careful hand on Raven’s shoulder. Tears streamed down her face as she dropped her arms, and Nikos sank to the floor.

“Holy shit,” Atlas murmured, returning to his human form.

“Definitely,” Torryn added.

Clariss pointed to Nikos. “Look.”

His skin began to peel. Flaying first from around his mouth and ears. His eyes jerked open, a new expression of dread on his face until he died, melting onto the floor, the skin severed from his bones.

Raven raced out the door and vomited. The entire group followed.

“What was that?” Atlas asked, staring at Raven.

She wiped her mouth, shaking her head. “It wasn’t me. I swear.”

“Plurgis Anun,” Clariss said, handing Raven a handkerchief from her pocket. “The coven leaders must have cast on him. They couldn’t stop him from speaking, but they could detect it with the right spell. When he gave away their location, it activated the spell and killed him. Though he wasn’t much longer for this world anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” Raven muttered.

“Sorry?” Atlas said, hanging his arm around her shoulder. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Remind me not to get on your bad side, Little Witch.”

“It could have been so much worse,” she whispered.

30

KIRSI

“Where are we?” Standing before a wall of windows, I stared down over a stretch of mountains capped with snow sparkling like glitter in the fresh sunlight.

“The Forest Coven,” Raven whispered, a blush of pink creeping over her skin. “At Bastian’s secret cabin.”

We’d just split ways with Atlas and Clariss. They’d gone back to the Fire Coven, and we’d taken a different door. I’d expected the same familiar walls of Crescent Cottage. Clearly, so had Torryn as he huffed a breath of air into his palms, trying to warm them while looking around the mountaintop cabin. I’d nearly forgotten what it felt like to be cold. Or warm. Or tired. Or hungry. I just was. And each day that passed, I forgot a little more.

“Why are we here?” I asked, shaking off the realization of my existence, convinced that if I didn’t think about it, it wouldn’t matter.

Bastian slipped behind a long counter in the open space near what looked to be a small kitchen. He leaned over the slab of stone, holding his hands in a fist as he took time staring each of us in the eyes before speaking. “Eden Mossbrook is Nikos’ daughter, and we need to decide what to do with that information.”

Raven gasped. “How do you know?”

“How many times in your life have you heard anyone speak of Endora’s husband or lover?”

The world stopped. “Literally never.”

He nodded. “Did anyone else notice he was aging? As the magic stripped away from him? He wasn’t lying about that. I could see it in his first dream before I manipulated it. But Nikos worked in the record hall for the Moon Coven, and Eden told us her father did as well in Moss. More than that… the words he spoke were verbatim to hers. ‘The Harrowing would be our salvation. Sacrifice a few seedlings for the good of the forest’.”