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“Reinforcements are on their way,” I said as I conjured my scythe to swing at an incoming attacker. The blade sliced through his middle like warm butter. I winced as my shoulder screamed in pain.

I wasn’t equipped to fight with a heavy weapon in hand. Instead, I funneled my Death magic into the scythe, charging up the Death enchantment I’d put on it months ago. The weapon glowed with purple magic, and it remained floating mid-air when I released my hold on it.

“Protect us!” I ordered my scythe.

As if it had a mind of its own, the blade went spinning through the air, following my command to keep the golems at bay. My scythe took out three golems in a single swing, then sliced through six more within seconds. The enchanted weapon continued slashing through the horde of golems to take them out in quick succession.

Still, it wasn’t enough. Golems continued to pour out of the trees, and my friends and I blasted off battle spells to slow the army down.

Just then, the army of zombies I’d summoned reached the forest. Their grim moans filled the mountainside, which could be heard over the storm. Golems turned their heads to follow the sound, only to come face-to-face with an army of the undead that wanted to rip them limb from limb.

Golems attacked with battle spells that tore the zombies apart. Body parts went flying everywhere. But the golems couldn’t kill them, because the zombies were already dead. Dismembered hands crawled up the golems’ legs, taking them by surprise. Fingers dug into the golems’ eye sockets, and the mud puppets screamed. Blinded, they ran straight into trees so hard that they killed themselves instantly.

Decapitated zombies picked up their own heads and threw them at the golems, then used their teeth to bite off their ears or fingers. Various zombies reconstructed themselves with other corpses’ body parts, in order to take the golems in hand-to-hand combat.

The zombies who hadn’t been blasted apart charged the golems. Skeletons detached their own arms and used them as clubs or swords. They swung their bones at the golems’ heads to knock them out, or shoved them straight into the creatures’ guts to kill them. In the blink of an eye, my army of the undead took out hordes of golems.

Talia waved the Seer Wand through the air. Moments later, white wisps of magic rose from the town, gathering together in a foggy cloud that sped toward our battle on the mountainside within moments. The cloud dispersed in all directions, and that’s when I realized it wasn’t a cloud at all. It was ghosts —all the souls of coven members who hadn’t moved on. They’d heard Talia’s magical cry for help and came running. There must’ve been hundreds of them.

Ghosts swept through the golems’ bodies, using their ethereal energy to knock the creatures to the ground, where the zombies stomped the golems to mud beneath their shoes. Golems tried to fight back with spells, but their magic merely soared through the ghosts, never once slowing them down.

Our army had distracted the golems long enough that I was able to pop my shoulder back into socket. Hurt like a son of a bitch, though.

We barely had a second to catch our breath before another group came marching in our direction. They were mere silhouettes through the rain, but they moved forward with such confidence that I realized it couldn’t be golems. One of the figures lifted a hand, and magic whizzed from their palm.

The spell spun straight at my head. “Duck!” I shouted to the others.

We crouched down the same time I cast a shield. The spell smashed into my shield so hard that my arms trembled as I struggled to hold it. The attack was far more powerful than any singular golem could cast. I figured it had to be the priestesses.

Then lightning streaked across the sky, and I caught a glimpse of their faces. A woman led the pack, her red curls flying wildly around her face as she stared us down with a look of vengeance in her eyes. It was Judge Calloway.

Hers wasn’t the only face I recognized. She was flanked closely by Professor Clarke and Professor Lewis. I recalled seeing them both at the Festival of Santos a year ago. They’d been handing out fliers trying to convert people to Miriam’s Chosen. They obviously still fell in line with the priestesses—nothing had changed there.

Behind them, Gwen, Camille, and Valerie stood with their hands on their hips, tossing battle orbs into the air and then catching them in a threatening way. Even Clay and Carl, the Wicked Warlocks’ ex-band members, had joined the troops.

I didn’t understand how they had any magic. Even if the Waning hadn’t taken it away, we should be able to control their magic with the Oaken Wands.

“You’re making the wrong choice,” I told Judge Calloway. “The priestesses will kill you?—”

Calloway waved her hand, cutting me off. She had the power to silence people, which worked great in managing the courtroom. Wasn’t so great out here on the battlefield, though.

The judge’s voice boomed across the clearing. “I tried to give you a chance, but you never were meant to lead this coven. I pride myself in being an impartial judge, but I’ve seen enough to determine your sentencing. I should’ve condemned you to the noose while I had the chance. You promised us you’d fix the coven, but you’ve done nothing of the sort.”

Now wasn’t the time for arguments. I could beg her to try to understand that we couldn’t fix the coven overnight, and that we’d made progress but needed more time, but it’d do us no good. Judge Calloway had always leaned toward the priestesses’ side, but now, she’d committed to it. There was no changing her mind now.

She may be able to silence me, but she couldn’t stop my magic.

I readied myself for a powerful spell, and a powerful explosion rocked the mountainside. Only it hadn’t come from me. Something swept through the trees so fast that I couldn’t tell what it was, but it sure as hell packed a punch. Golems fell in a straight line, following the trajectory of the mysterious projectile. A moment later, a passionate battle cry rang through the storm. Judge Calloway and the others whirled in the direction of the attack.

A large group of people charged out of the trees, swinging all kinds of medieval weapons at the golems—crossbows, longswords, spears, halberds, and axes. At the front of the group, Miles swung a mace at a nearby golem, spattering him into a thousand bits of dirt.

“Ready the cannon!” someone yelled. That solved the mystery of the strange projectile. They’d brought a literal cannon.

Another boom sounded, and the priestesses’ supporters went scattering in all directions. A cannonball shot through the trees right where they’d been standing, reducing multiple trees to splinters.

The golems continued closing in, and my friends and I whipped out spells in all directions to hold them off. It didn’t seem to matter how many we took out, because there were so many, we couldn’t keep up.

“Cover me!” Talia ordered. “I’m going to use the Seer Wand to predict their attacks.”

The four of us surrounded her at all angles, our backs turned toward one another. I cast a portal across the forest floor that sucked multiple golems into its depths at once, where I sent them tumbling straight into an active volcano on the other side of the world. As I forced the portal larger, my magic shuddered. Sending one person through a portal at a time was hard enough. I was already pushing the limits of what witch magic could do, and I couldn’t keep the portal open. I slammed it shut, but not before catching several other golems in its edges and slicing them in half when it closed.

Miles raced past us, his sheriff’s badge glistening against a streak of lightning.

“Miles!?” I shouted. “I said we’d handle this. What are you doing here?”

He gave a maniacal laugh. “Joining you, of course. You didn’t think this was your fight alone, did you? We’ve got beef with them, too.”

“On our right!” Talia shouted as the end of the Seer Wand glowed bright.

A swarm of golems closed in on us, but Chloe levitated a fallen log and used it to knock them all to the side. They fell like dominoes. She’d slowed them down long enough for Nadine to finish them off with a spell so large it boomed louder than the thunder.

Chloe whirled toward her husband. “You don’t have the magic to defend yourself!”

Miles twisted the mace around in his hand. “That’s why we’ve got these. We raided the torture devices archives. It’s the same stuff they used at Nadine and Lucas’s trial, and boy, is she a beauty.”

I spun to the side to deflect another attack. Beside me, Grant waved the Alchemy Wand at a charging squadron. He must’ve used his magic to alchemize the mud they were made of, because the golems stumbled forward as their legs began to crumble beneath them. The skin on their faces sagged, and their eyes popped out of their sockets. It appeared their faces were melting in the rain. They fell to the ground in human-shaped clumps of mud.

“You’re supposed to be getting these people to safety!” I demanded of Miles. “Not bringing them into battle.”

“I couldn’t convince them to leave, so we came to help,” Miles said.

I quickly assessed the newcomers, and I realized I recognized so many faces. Our friend Alex was among those wielding a sword. It seemed he’d bulked up a lot while training on the police force, because he swung the weapon with ease, slicing through the guts of multiple golems at once.

I spotted Lincoln, the guard we’d suspected of letting the Executors out before we learned the truth of Professor Blackbird’s betrayal. He’d been honest in choosing our side, and that was evident by the way he used a dagger to gut three golems in quick succession. The guy was well trained, and the golems didn’t even see him coming before they were mud.

Beside him, Jude Bennett from the city’s accounting department swung an ax that decapitated every golem that got too close. I was surprised he was here. Jude was a family man who’d already been through so much, back when we thought the Gingerbread Witches were going to kidnap his kid, Travis. I expected him to evacuate with his wife and child, but he’d come to fight.

“That’s for trying to come near my family!” Jude growled at the muddy masses he’d already slaughtered.

Professor Anthony Richards marched up the mountain, holding a large vial in his hand. Beside him, Professor Nina Loren poured various substances into his glass. Richards tossed the mixture at the golems, and they disintegrated at the smallest drop. Richards was an Alchemist, and they were using what little alchemy supplies they had left—and the remnants of magic within them—to create potions. It was badass for a couple of elderly professors who spent most of their time poring over textbooks in their offices.

Behind them, Darcy and Samantha used all their strength to wheel a cannon through the forest. Tyler Murphy stood on the backend of it, one foot propped up on the barrel.

“FIRE!” he screamed as he lit the fuse. The cannon exploded, sending a cannonball careening through a swarm of golems. The golems were powerful, but they were also stupid. There were so many attacks coming from different angles that they didn’t know who to fight first.

A mere second passed as I took it all in.

Miles waved his hand at us. “These guys can hold their own. Besides, Verla and Warren have the town covered.”

Just then, an explosion like dynamite shook the ground. It was louder than the thunder, and the flash of light that came from near Miriam College was nearly blinding.

“And they’re doing a pretty good job of holding off any golems that slip past us!” Miles exclaimed proudly. “They’re putting their potions to good use.”

Two more people emerged from the forest. They charged forward with spears aimed at the golems’ middles. In an instant, they stabbed four of our enemies at once. The golems became a muddy mess at their feet, which cleared a path from them to continue charging forward, piercing through one abdomen after another. The men’s features became clear through the rain, and I realized it was Gregory and Brayden.

“Gregory?” I balked as they passed close to us.

They saw us, then ran to our side. I was pretty sure they thought we’d protect them, because despite their courage to shish-kabob the priestesses’ army, they both trembled in fear.

“Lucas, good to see ya,” Gregory said as he crouched down, aiming the spear out in front of himself. He pointed it one way, then the other, like he was on high alert hunting a lion. Brayden stood bravely beside his boyfriend, spear at the ready.

A powerful spell shot out of the end of my wand and reduced golems to mud, before I turned back to the couple. “I thought you were leaving town.”

“We were, but we couldn’t do it,” Gregory admitted.

“You guys needed us!” Brayden agreed.

“I’ve been running all my life, always scared of what the next shitty day will bring, but I figured I’m going to be scared either way. Might as well make myself useful,” Gregory said. “And Brayden wouldn’t leave without me, so here we are.”

I applauded their bravery, but these two were going to get slaughtered out here if they weren’t careful. Couldn’t exactly tell them to turn back now, though. I quickly cast a shield around the couple, leaving the point of their spears poking out of the simmering dome.

“Good work, both of you,” I said. “This shield will follow and protect you. Just stick together and don’t get hit by any powerful spells.”

Gregory stood upright, throwing his shoulders back confidently. “You heard the boss, Brayden. Let’s whoop some golem ass.”

Brayden gripped his spear tighter. “Let’s show them what we’re made of.”

The two charged back into the army line, taking down golem after golem.

I spun around, looking for the priestesses’ allies, but they’d fled somewhere into the forest.

“What the fuck is going on?” Grant demanded. “How’d Judge Calloway get her magic back?”

“The priestesses have to be feeding them magic from the Master Wand,” Nadine said as she landed a spell to twenty golems at once. “I tried siphoning their powers, and they resisted me.”

“If they can give their supporters magic, then so can we!” I lifted the Mortana Wand. All the Death magic of the coven pulsed through me. I directed it toward my allies and felt my power fill them up.

Gregory stopped in his tracks, and Samantha gave a cry of relief. The two Mortana cast battle spells at the same time, and their magic exploded against the golems.

“I’m back, baby!” Gregory shouted with glee.

My friends followed my lead, and our allies cheered in a collective chorus as they felt their magic return.

“Go!” Miles shouted, shoving my shoulder—which really hurt, damn it. “You’ve done enough here. We’ll slow these chucklefucks down. Find the priestesses, and finish this!”

“Tal, can you use the Seer Wand to see where they went?” Grant asked.

She shook her head. “The Master Wand is blocking me from seeing them.”

“I saw the priestesses up the mountain. They can’t be far,” I said as I lifted my hand and ordered my scythe to fly back in my direction. My scythe sliced through a few more golems before coming to a stop in my palm. I subconjured the weapon and turned to start moving up the mountain.

“Wait!” Chloe cried. She ran forward, then grabbed Miles by the side of the face and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

Nadine grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her sideways. “There’s no time! Get us into the air!”

“I love you,” Chloe told Miles desperately.

Then she whirled toward us and lifted her arms. Her power levitated us upward. Her magic was strong, and I felt as stable as if I were standing on solid ground.

Chloe guided us up the mountain, close to the treetops so we couldn’t be easily spotted. Abruptly, she let out an agonizing scream and fell out of the air, spiraling into the trees below. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened until I felt an ungodly pain cinch my guts. Grant, Talia, and Nadine must’ve felt it, too, because all five of us shared a collective scream of torture. Chloe’s spell failed, and we fell out of the sky. Tree branches scraped my face and tore my reaper robe as I tumbled to the forest floor.

My friends landed with heavy thuds beside me. The Mortana Wand fell from my hand, and the other Wands scattered across the forest floor. Grant tried to crawl for the Alchemy Wand, but he couldn’t reach it. Nadine clutched her stomach and curled in on herself. I wanted to go to her, but the pain in my body intensified, rooting me in place. I managed to push myself to my knees, but even that was too much.

My body felt as if I’d just been dunked into a vat of acid. Every muscle seemed to be separating from my bones, and my skin felt as if it were melting, even though every part of me remained perfectly intact. I could do nothing but scream.

It was a gruesome but familiar pain. I’d felt it once before—the night I’d questioned James about nightshade and he used his Mentalist powers to trick my mind into thinking I was dying. I knew it wasn’t real, and I still couldn’t convince myself otherwise.

“James,” I rasped out to warn the others.

Three shadowed figures emerged from the trees. I didn’t have to see their faces to recognize the sound of their gloating laughter. James led the pack, flanked by Leroy and Cody. These three had been nothing but bullies during our time at Miriam College of Witchcraft, and they’d been the primary perpetrators of our torture during our trial.

James paced back and forth, wearing a twisted smile. “Look at what we have here. The priestesses will reward us well for our capture!”

“Perhaps they’ll make us priests,” Leroy suggested. “The Mortana position’s about to open up for me.”

If my jaw wasn’t clenched in ungodly pain, I’d have scoffed. Leroy was the furthest thing from a leader. He’d sooner exercise his Death magic and kill citizens at the touch of his hand than help them.

I tried to lift my palm to call the Mortana Wand back to me, but the pain was so unbearable I couldn’t unclench my fists.

“The only reason I haven’t killed you yet is because you’ve got our buddy prisoner,” James said. “Where’s Ryan?”

Their performance was comical. All this for Ryan? He didn’t give a shit about any one of these three. Ryan had mourned the loss of his closest pals, and not one of these guys made the cut.

I sucked a pained breath between my teeth. “Ryan doesn’t… care about you.”

“Shut up!” Leroy spat.

“You’re the ones who… asked the question,” I gasped between shallow breaths.

Leroy broke into boisterous laughter so loud it echoed through the storm. He knelt to my level, laughing in my face as he watched me writhe. “You think you’re a priest who can just walk in here and stand in their place. Look who’s laughing now!”

What a fucking loser. These three clearly weren’t on the same page, because James was worried about Ryan while Leroy just wanted to mock me. Nobody even tried to take our Wands. They were more concerned with toying with us than ending this.

“How’s it feel?” Cody growled. He walked straight up to Talia and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back to force her to look at him.

Her eyes glistened, and it wasn’t from the rain. It was obvious Talia had hoped to never see his face again, because it was the face that haunted her dreams. Cody had caused her more pain than I could ever imagine while they’d been dating. He’d been a senior her freshman year of college and knew how to target and manipulate younger girls. She’d given him all of herself, only for him to treat her like trash. He was covert about it, always framing his insults as jokes—or worse, as compliments . He’d broken down her spirit until he could coerce her into things she didn’t want to do. He’d been very calculated about it. Talia hadn’t been able to report him because he didn’t physically force her, but it still made him a predator.

“You thought you could just walk away from me, like you were better than me?” Cody spat. “You hurt me, Talia.”

Ha! As if he wasn’t the cheating bastard.

Beside her, Grant tried to stand, but he couldn’t move under James’s spell. He gritted his teeth and spat out, “Leave. Her. Alone.”

Cody scoffed as he eyed Grant up and down. “I don’t know what she sees in you. But I guess you losers are better off together. She was a lousy lay anyway.”

Talia let out a pained groan. “Hard to practice… when it lasts less than a minute.”

“Fuck you!” Cody spat. “I faked it because you were so boring I just wanted it to end.”

“Is that why you… stayed with me for so long?” Talia winced. Her eyes darted in our direction for a second, and though our enemies missed it, her message was clear. She was distracting them.

“Please,” Cody scoffed. “We barely dated.”

Beside me, Nadine reached out for me, and I pushed past the pain to stretch my fingers in her direction. She took Chloe’s hand on her other side, and I reached for Grant. James’s spell was merely a mind game, and even without magic, we should be able to break through it. We just had to convince ourselves the pain wasn’t real. With my friends’ hands in mine, I reminded myself that they were what was real—not this silly charade.

Grant’s fingers trembled as he reached out for Talia, but her attention was laser-focused on Cody.

“You thought… you owned me,” Talia gasped. Her arms spasmed under the weight of James’s spell.

“Tal,” Chloe urged past gritted teeth. “Castrate… him.”

I didn’t know what she was referring to, but it must’ve meant something to Talia, because she began to sob. It wasn’t from the pain, though. It was more like relief… or perhaps an unleashing of courage.

Her sobs turned to screams. Talia’s chin turned toward the sky as she let out a grueling cry of pain. “Fuck. You!” she cried. “You were never the one… in charge. I was the one who… gave myself to you… and you abused me. You never deserved me. I will not… remain silent any longer.”

An invisible force blasted outward from Talia, so strong the rain around us paused for the briefest of moments. At the same time, Talia lunged for the Seer Wand several feet away from her. She caught Cody off guard, and he dove for it, too, but she was faster than him. Talia grabbed the Wand and scrambled to her feet.