Page 79 of The Unbound Witch

“Oh, yes, you did, all mighty wraith. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with that salt circle I just poured on the ground. Which, by the way, I wouldn’t recommend crossing unless you want to be stuck in there with her. Lavender, salt and wraiths don’t play nicely together.”

“I hate you,” I scowled, peering down at the grains on the dark alleyway.

“You do not. We’re best friends now, Ghosty. Partners in crime.”

A deep and hollowed voice cut in. “Why have you captured me, Kirsi Moondance?”

I drew back. “You know my name?”

The wraith moved to the edge of the circle, an eerie smile crossing her features as she twisted her head. “The vines of stories and secrets wrap around this world through the whispers and curiosities of wraiths. We hear much and speak little.”

“Yeah, I heard you were nosy. Anyway, I need to know what you might have heard about the Harrowing. And also, could you stop doing the twisty head thing? Because it’s creepy as fuck.”

She whisked around the circle, her arms outstretched as she let out a moan. Atlas rolled his eyes and sighed as we waited for her. Had my growl earlier actually come out as a moan?

“Creepy…” she sang, circling once more.

“Any day now.” I crossed my arms.

“It is not the nature of wraiths to care enough to save the witches. Day, week, year … I have all the time in this world and the next.”

I whipped around the outside of the salt barrier to hover next to the wolf. “If you weren’t dead, I’d kill you for sport.”

“Certainly, you would,witch.”

31

KIRSI

Being referred to as a witch felt like a slap in the face. Either because I wished I was one, or because she’d spat it like a curse word. I wasn’t sure. Either way, I was not fucking impressed.

“I know it might be hard to connect the pieces here, but I’m not a witch.”

The wraith with sunken eyes and a smile too wide for her face laughed. The sound wasn’t of this world, but something far more dark and sinister. I’d experienced death, but she seemed to have experienced hell. Or came from it. Maybe she wasn’t wrong because we weren’t the same.

“Why have you trapped me, Kirsi, not-a-witch?”

“Again. What do you know of the Harrowing? Is there anything you’ve heard, or do you know of anyone we can ask to learn more about it?”

“The witches aren’t inclined to listen to the wraiths.” She moaned, circling the bottom of her prison, trying and failing to blow away the salt that held her. “Had the witches listened to the wraiths… had even one of you asked… you would have known the secrets of your precious coven leaders; the truths of your handsome Dark King.”

“I mean… handsome is debatable, really. Have you seen his cousin?”

“Yes,” she whispered, a corner of her mouth lifting. “It’s too bad the king is dead.”

“It’s all so sad. Anyway, the Harrowing?”

She giggled, a tiny light in her eyes as she looked at me, and I knew without asking that she was already aware that Bash was not actually dead. She did hold secrets, dark and dangerous ones.

“The witches consider no one, and don’t fool yourself, they do not consider you, either. They will grow old and die, and you’ll watch and then continue on, anchored to haunt this land for all eternity. There is nothing but time. I will gather information, out of respect for a ‘not witch’, but in return, you must release me from this existence.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand. How am I supposed to do that?”

“Gather a fireseed, a whispering pearl, an agate stone stolen from the swamp witches falls and everything else you’d use for a purging circle. Create a seance of three behind the veil atop the world, and I will be there to report what I have found.”

“But if you can leave this world and want to, why wouldn’t you have done it yourself?”

She swirled around the circle, taking her sweet time to answer my simple question. “You haven’t been listening, not a common trait found amongst us. Do better. The witches will not help the wraiths. I require a seance to leave. And besides, how would I hold the stones?”