Page 38

“They’re some sort of demonic portals!” Grant cried.

“No,” Chloe said hollowly. “They’re black holes.”

As soon as she said it, I felt the air suck out of my lungs. A third black hole opened only two buildings down, and the shop it appeared in front of blinked out of existence. Nadine and I were closest to the black hole, and the table we hid beneath began to screech across the sidewalk as it was sucked toward the deadly void.

Nadine screamed as her feet were swept out from under her. My heart lurched in terror, and I grabbed her hand before she could be yanked away, but the black hole sucked us both closer. I pulled on Nadine as hard as I could, rearing away from the empty blackness until I was flat on my back. I tried to find a foothold on the sidewalk, but I was merely dragged along. The skin on my back skidded and tore against the concrete. Behind us, I heard our cats shrieking and our friends screaming in fear for our lives.

“Lucas!” Nadine cried.

I kept hold of her wrist with one hand, then flung my other arm out to catch a lamp post. Nadine’s feet lifted into the air as she was sucked toward the black hole. Her terrified gaze landed on mine. She didn’t have to tell me what she was thinking, because I felt the same terror grip me from the inside out. We both feared this was the end, and that we’d already seen our son for the last time.

“I won’t let go!” I promised.

“Grab my hand!” Grant called from behind me.

I craned my neck to see the four of our friends had created a human chain. Miles clung to a tree on the other end. Straining, I pulled as hard as I could to yank Nadine and myself away from the black hole. I hooked my foot around the lamp post, then flung my arm toward Grant’s outstretched hand. He held tight to my wrist and pulled us backward.

Nadine and I landed on the sidewalk outside of the black hole’s powerful pull. I clung tight to her as we scurried back. Something flickered within the black hole. I couldn’t quite make it out, but I thought I saw buildings. They seemed similar to Octavia Falls, but they were wrong, too… almost like we were peering into an alternate dimension where everything was a mirror image. It was there and gone so fast I couldn’t be sure of what I saw.

Nadine noticed the same thing, and her tone wavered. “These aren’t black holes.”

“Whatever they are, we have to get far away from them!” Miles cried.

We turned and ran for the closest cover we could find, which was an alcove of a nearby shop entrance. We tried the door, but it was locked. Miles grabbed a brick off the ground and tried smashing the shop windows, but they were made with security glass that didn’t break.

We all heaved for breath, and I had to steady myself against the building to regain my strength. There was no guarantee another one of those holes wouldn’t open up right where we stood, but the square was still in complete chaos with nowhere to go.

“If these aren’t black holes, what are they?” Chloe demanded.

Nadine forced her tone to steady. “They’re tears in the fabric of our realm.”

“Even with all of witch magic at her command, Nicole shouldn’t be that strong,” Talia insisted.

“I don’t think she’s doing it on purpose,” Nadine said. “We said bringing her back to life could have dire consequences and threaten our magic for good, and we’re witnessing what that looks like now.”

“Spirits cross realms all the time,” Grant pointed out. “Hell, the Scelus demon crossed realms and has been here for years. Nothing like this has ever happened.”

“The demon must’ve never left after Verla summoned it, and that fits within the rules of magic,” Nadine suggested. “But Nicole’s presence defies all magical laws. By being here, she’s draining Alora’s power. Witches can’t bring people back to life after they’ve crossed over, and the very fabric of our realm is tearing apart to keep her here.”

Miles tossed his brick aside and wiped sweat from his brow. “How do we stop it?”

“We need to claim our power back and send Nicole back to where she came from,” Nadine said.

“We’ve tried everything!” Grant protested.

Nadine stared wistfully across the town square. The screams of terrified townsfolk filled the air, and fires blazed across the city. Rivers of blood ran down the streets. I didn’t know how she still managed to hold on to any hope, because it appeared the coven was already done for.

She dropped her gaze to the Curse Breaker Wand still clutched tightly in her hand. “We haven’t tried everything . There’s one last thing. The Law of Love.”

“The Law of Love?” Miles asked.

“It’s one of the three laws of witch magic,” Nadine said. “It’s taught in our Magical Theory classes. Our afterlife was born out of the love that Mother Miriam and Santos shared, which means our magic resonates at the same frequency as love.”

“What are you suggesting?” Chloe asked sarcastically. “We love hard enough and overpower the demon?”

“Love isn’t just a feeling, but an action,” Nadine replied. “Alongside love is compassion. We can’t stop this demon, but Verla can. Nicole stole her power because the two of them share a soul, which stands to reason that Verla can claim it back.”

Talia shook her head. “She’s not going to fight her sister.”

“We have to give her a chance, because the choice is hers now,” Nadine said simply.

I knew Nadine always saw the best in people, but it was hard to believe that even now she still thought Verla could change. “Headmistress Verla always had a choice and could do anything with her power, and she chose to go in the wrong direction,” I countered. “She’s clinging to the past, but when people try to make things how they were, they can’t progress. Believe me, I know. Verla had the chance to help the coven with all the magic she had, and her talents could’ve been put to good use, but instead, she tried to restore something that’s gone and keep things as they were. She’s been nothing but selfish and chose to divide us by keeping power for herself instead of sharing it. When you’re in a position of power, you should be willing to share that power, and Verla didn’t. What makes you think she’ll choose differently now?”

“Because we will choose differently now.” Nadine sounded wholly convinced. “The coven has never been there for Verla before. She thought she had to do this all alone, and that’s what drove her down this road. The coven keeps repeating this mistake over and over again. We don’t take care of our people, so they put their own self-interests first and hurt others for it. We saw it with Professor Carlisle and the Gingerbread Witches, and again with Professor Daymond and Magnus Knight brewing nightshade. The priestesses did horrible things to get what they wanted. It’s a common theme that’s plagued our coven for years. If we want to change it, then we need to take responsibility for the role we played and commit to changing it.”

“You’re saying this is all the coven’s fault?” Grant demanded. “Nadine, you can’t reason with people who do horrible things.”

“I’m not saying the coven’s at fault for individuals’ choices,” Nadine replied. “I’m saying that this problem goes deeper than individuals. Their choices are a symptom of our society. Just because Verla was wrong doesn’t mean we were right.”

“We can’t just forgive Verla!” I protested.

“I’m not talking about forgiveness, and I’m not excusing anything she’s done,” Nadine pressed. “I’m only saying that we can find an explanation for it and understand that Verla’s leaving behind clues to the state of the coven. There’s more to this than her wrongdoings, because her choices are a symptom of a deeper issue—a reflection of where our society stands. She’s showing us where we went wrong, even if she doesn’t realize it. There’s a part of the coven that’s broken, but we can still make it right. I know what it’s like to want to tear down the world for the people you love. Her decisions are a plea for help, and if we can recognize that, then we can do something about it.”

“We need to save these innocent people, not Verla,” I demanded.

“We’re all one ,” Nadine insisted. “I said once that we need to care for individuals, because there’s no community without them, but I wasn’t living up to that myself, because I wasn’t caring for my own well-being. I thought it was them or us, and that we were being selfish by taking care of ourselves, but I was wrong the whole time. It’s not one or the other. It’s both . Community doesn’t begin or end with just one person, nor does it exist solely as a collective, because both individuals alone and everyone together are all parts of a whole.”

Nadine continued. “We’ve seen what single people can do when they aren’t cared for. The priestesses were just a few people who did a lot of damage because no one could help them at their most vulnerable time. They cared until the Waning made them desperate, and we saw how fast they could change. The answer isn’t to silence people when we don’t like what they’re saying, but to listen to why they’re screaming in the first place, because people lash out when they’re hurting. We don’t need to control Verla or take her power right now. We need to listen, so she can heal, because when our individual members heal, we all do.”

“What she did was wrong,” I argued. “There’s no making it right again.”

“We’ve struggled so long with right versus wrong, but life is more complex and nuanced than that,” Nadine pressed. “Two opposing sides can be right at the same time, and they can be wrong, too. I was wrong to think I needed to heal so I could give my all to the coven and fix this for everyone. I’ve learned we can’t save everyone. At the same time, we don’t have to work alone. It’s like how Talia and Chloe helped me find the Curse Breaker Wand. I thought I had to go about it alone, but with them beside me, I was able to accomplish what I couldn’t do on my own. We need both community and individualism, because they aren’t exclusive. I know now what it really means to heal. As individuals, we heal ourselves so that we can show other people how to heal themselves . We aren’t here to fix everyone’s problems, but to help people help themselves. That’s what a community is about—supporting others.”

The thought of supporting Verla in any way, shape, or form after she’d royally fucked us over didn’t make a damn bit of sense to me. I didn’t comprehend how Nadine could think this way after Verla had killed her parents, killed Helena… killed Dean.

But I trusted my wife with everything. And if this was the only way to make things right, I needed to put my complete faith in Nadine to turn this around. There was no greater sacrifice for Nadine to make than for her to forgive Verla now, and convince her to fight for the good of the coven that had betrayed her. As the chosen one, it was the most painful—and most powerful—move she could make to reach out to Verla after everything she did. It was the reason Mother Miriam trusted Nadine with this task… because she was the only one who had the capability to do such a selfless thing. We needed to follow her.

Talia seemed half-convinced. “What can we do?”

“We can give Verla a chance to make this right, because if we don’t, then this lesson is bound to repeat itself,” Nadine said. “We said we’d finish this together, that the coven had to unite. To do that, we need all of us—every single one. If we can come together now, we can prevent this from happening again.”

“The coven has proven it can’t work together because no one can agree on anything,” Grant contested.

“That’s not what working together means,” Nadine replied. “We aren’t all going to agree on everything all the time, but when we care for each other, and consider each other, we can compromise and grow in many different ways. People are stubborn and want things their way to avoid the pain of being wrong, but healing is about learning that it’s okay to be wrong sometimes, and to correct your wrongdoings when they’ve caused harm. We don’t have to be right all the time and make the best choices every time, but we learn and do better, and that’s what community helps us do. The coven needs healing right now, and we can’t do that if this ends the same way it started. We can’t keep repeating this cycle.”

“You’re not wrong about that,” Miles muttered.

“When I moved here, Talia told me the Miriamic Coven believes in second chances, but I haven’t actually seen this play out,” Nadine continued. “If we’re to be witches, then we need to be witches and give Verla the second chance we believe in. There is nothing that can excuse what Verla’s done, but there is also no solution that begins with abandoning her. The only way to help is to help her help herself. She’ll be held accountable, but this needs to happen first.”

“Nadine’s right,” Chloe agreed. “Nadine and I were enemies who broke our generational curse together. Neither one of us could’ve done it alone. Now it’s the coven’s chance to break a cycle, and just like I couldn’t leave Nadine to break our families’ curse alone, we can’t leave Verla.”

Nadine looked around at the rest of us pleadingly. “The priestesses weren’t effective leaders when all they did was take, but we weren’t effective leaders when we gave everything we had, either. We’ve been saying for years that this could all be resolved if we just work together, but we’re expecting people to rise up and work with us when we aren’t working with them. If it takes both an individual and a community, then we need to find the balance between where the community takes responsibility and where the individual does. Right now, this demon isn’t ours to slay. This is Verla’s fight, but we have to step up and be there for her. If I’ve learned anything about healing, it’s that healing happens through community, but only when the individual is ready. We need Verla, and she needs us, because the coven is nothing without its people, but the people are nothing without the coven.”

Talia stepped forward. “I can’t forgive Verla for what she’s done, but I can show her compassion. I’m with you.”

“We’ve tried everything else, and fighting her didn’t work,” Grant added. “So whatever you think we can do now to help, I’ll do it.”

Nadine turned toward me. “In the crystal cave, we tried to take Verla’s power, but that’s a mistake we’ve made before. This time, we have to give her the power to correct this herself.”

I didn’t think Verla could be saved, but I realized that wasn’t what Nadine was asking for. I’d learned through my own journey that healing wasn’t as simple as it seemed. I thought we could show people how good things could be, and they’d jump on board and work together. I figured that if we fixed everything for them, people would step up and do their part, so we could accomplish this together, but that never was the answer.

Like Nadine had said, healing wasn’t about being able to fix things for everyone else. It was a complex, ongoing journey that left ripples behind. Some people would choose to be a part of that, and others wouldn’t, and whichever way they went was never up to you to decide.

Either way, you did your greatest work being true to yourself, so that other people could do the same. It was a hard truth to realize that not everyone’s healing journey looked the same. You had to do what was right for you and make your own decisions, because while everyone else can be there for you, only you can do the healing. It was a choice to do so.

We couldn’t fix what Verla started, and we couldn’t force her to make the choices we desired. But we could make our own decisions that left ripples of inspiration behind. The rest was up to her.

I straightened my spine. “You’re right, Nadine. We can’t save everyone. I couldn’t save Ryan. He chose to save himself. We didn’t save the coven from the priestesses. They saved themselves. And we can’t save Verla. She has to be the one to do this.”

I twisted the Mortana Wand around in my hands. “True compassion doesn’t hold any expectations. If we give Verla a choice, we have to be okay with the possibility that she makes a decision we don’t agree with. Nicole has access to all witch power, and if Verla can’t stop her, then the coven will end tonight. So let’s make a decision we can stand behind no matter the outcome.”

“I’m choosing love and compassion,” Nadine said. “Even if it ends us.”

I chuckled at the irony. It was so like the Shield Squad’s motto. To hell and back, even if it kills us. Only this time, we weren’t walking into hell. We were simply choosing to show love, in a situation where it didn’t look like love would fix anything.

And somehow, that was even more terrifying.

Nadine approached Verla across the square, and the rest of us followed. Screams echoed through the night, and fires raged around us. In the distance, I could hear the crumble of buildings as the demon crunched them beneath his feet.

Verla noticed our approach, though she didn’t lift her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered in a broken tone.

Nadine knelt at her side. “We still have a chance to stop this.”

“My sister is a curse I brought upon the coven, and you can’t stop her anymore,” Verla said hopelessly.

Nadine placed the Curse Breaker Wand in Verla’s hands. “You’re right. I can’t. I’m a Curse Breaker, and I broke my generational curse, but this one is yours to break.”

Verla’s gaze locked on Nadine, though she appeared wholly confused. “This Wand doesn’t hold any power.”

“No, but you do,” Nadine said. “We don’t have any power, and we can’t do the work for you, but we can support you.”

“I don’t have any power, either,” Verla countered. “Nicole stole it from me.”

“Nicole said this magic flowed through your soul,” Nadine pointed out. “If she can overpower you, you can overpower her.”

Verla reeled back. “You want me to destroy her. She’s all I ever had.”

“I know the pain of grief,” Nadine said gently. “We want so badly to hold on because we’re afraid if we let go, it means we didn’t love hard enough. But you don’t have to let go, only loosen your grip. And that in itself can be one of the greatest acts of love. Your sister didn’t hurt you now, because she doesn't want to see you suffer. You have to love yourself like your sister loves you.”

Tears sparkled in Verla’s eyes. “Without her, I don’t know who I am. I’m nothing.”

Talia stepped forward. “That may have been true in the past, but you have a chance to change that. I know what it’s like to hold on to people who are bad for you because you don’t know things can be any different. You’ve clung to your sister because you think she’s a part of who you are, but there’s more to you than her. You and your sister share a soul and a special bond, but you’re not the same person. You get to decide who you’re going to be moving forward, and you can be whoever you want with or without her.”

Talia placed the Seer Wand into Verla’s hands, then stepped back.

“I can’t ask this of you,” Verla replied.

“It’s okay to ask for help,” Grant said. “We’re all taught to be so independent, but that doesn’t mean you can’t accept support. I tried so long to brew my own potions to keep myself alive, because I didn’t trust anyone else to support me in the way I needed. But when I couldn’t do it anymore, I crashed, and I was forced to accept the doctors’ help. It’s not a bad thing to learn and grow on your own, but eventually, you’ll find there are things you just can’t do without the help of others. You’re beyond your breaking point, Verla, and you can’t do this alone anymore. Let us help you.”

Grant placed the Alchemy Wand in her hand.

Verla shook her head hopelessly. “The coven took everything from me, so I felt justified in taking anything from them to save myself. But now that I accomplished what I set out to do, it didn’t make me happy like I thought it would. I took everything from you people, and I still didn’t get what I wanted. How can you still have any faith in me?”

“Because people get to change their minds, and that’s okay,” Chloe said. “I’ve made a lot of horrible mistakes. I’ve said and done things I don’t deserve to ever be forgiven for. I wish that I could go back to the past and erase the girl I once was, but we don’t get to change what’s already been done. All we can do is make better choices in the future. I always thought I knew what my future would look like, because of how I’d been raised. But this life I’m living now is nothing like I ever imagined, and even in the midst of the Miriamic Conflict, I’m happier than I ever thought I could be—not because of what my life looks like, but because of who I chose to become in the process. You brought Nicole back because you wanted things to be different, but sometimes changing the world requires us to change first.”

Verla stared down at the Mentalist Wand as Chloe handed it over. “She’s not going to listen to me.”

I stepped forward. “All Nicole wants is for you to listen to her. I thought working together meant that we all agreed on everything. We tried so long to get everyone to listen to us, but we didn’t need everyone to. We needed to make compromises, and sometimes we needed to change our minds. Working together is really important, but people still get to choose.”

I held out the Mortana Wand. “This Wand is bound to my soul, but I’m giving it to you willingly, because I want you to know that the choice is still yours, Clarice. It’s up to you to take your power back and finish this. You’ve been stealing magic from our people for years because you didn’t think you had any power of your own, but you’ve had the power to change this all along. You said you couldn’t control the magic, but I think you knew how to. You were only afraid of what would happen if you did.”

Verla gazed across the chasm that had split the square in two, staring at the burning buildings shamefully—anything not to look us in the eyes.

Then slowly, Isa padded forward with her head down. She nudged Verla’s knee with her nose, then gave a soft meow as she placed a paw on her leg. Verla turned her gaze to Isa, and regret filled her eyes.

“I wish I could take back everything I did. I didn’t want to lose my sister,” she admitted dolefully. Then she lifted her chin to look at me. “But perhaps you understand better than I do that I wasn’t afraid of losing her, but scared of becoming my own person without her.”

I placed the Mortana Wand with the others in her hand. “The power’s in your hands now. The only question is, what are you going to do with it?”

Verla pushed herself to her feet, clutching the Oaken Wands tightly. “I know I don’t deserve any of this, and after what I’ve done, I won’t ask for your forgiveness. But I never intended to destroy the coven, and I can’t let you all pay for my sins. My sister was wrong. The coven doesn’t deserve to be destroyed. If all of you can show me compassion like this, then the coven she knew when she died has already changed. You’re the coven’s future, so let’s save whatever future you have left.”

Verla rolled her shoulders back, and mesmerizing beams of white light began to glow all over her skin. Her body levitated from the ground, and her chin tilted toward the sky as magic poured into her. The earth began to shake, but it was unlike the evil earthquake the demon had caused. Instead, the chasm that had ripped through the square closed as Verla’s power pulsed throughout the town.

Wind whipped around us like a cyclone, and building material rose into the air to circle our headmistress, as if creating a protective shield around her. The raging fires blazing through the town died down, and the townspeople’s screams turned to gasps of wonder as they marveled at the brilliant magical light pouring out of Verla. She appeared like a star shining over us.

The demon’s angry growl echoed over the rooftops. From blocks away, I witnessed the demon whirl in our direction. The deep red of his eye sockets blazed as his gaze locked on Verla.

“You can’t do this!” Nicole shouted, her voice booming over us, projected by the power of her spellwork.

Slowly, Verla lowered herself to the ground, and the cyclone swirling around us calmed. The light emanating from her form dimmed, but there was still a slight magical glow shimmering around her. She appeared wholly confident as she faced her sister.

“I can’t let you hold me back anymore, Nicole.” Verla’s tone was soft, but her voice carried over the town. “We keep hurting each other, and it’s time we put an end to it. I never wanted all this power. All I wanted was you . But if having you means hurting everyone else, then I need to say goodbye.”

“You wouldn’t dare steal this power from me!” Nicole raged.

“I can’t steal what was never yours in the first place,” Verla said. “I’m reclaiming this power, but it’s not ours to fight over.”

Nicole chuckled, like her sister’s attempt at contesting her was merely comical. “You always thought you were better than me. You were Dad’s favorite, and that’s why he gave you the house. No matter what I did, you always had to one-up me. You were the better student, the better lawyer… always more accomplished.”

“That’s not true,” Verla argued. “Those dreams were ours together.”

“ Be serious, ” Nicole mocked. “ Stop goofing around. That’s all you ever said to me. You couldn’t stand it when I was happy. I’ll show you how serious I can be. You can try to take this power from me, but I’ll take everything you love from you.”

I expected the demon to approach us, but instead, he turned to lead Nicole toward the edge of town.

“Where are they going?” Nadine asked.

“To the only place I love,” Verla replied in a shaky tone. “Miriam College of Witchcraft.”

As I watched the demon retreat, his form disappeared behind an inky black streak that appeared in the middle of Octavia Falls. Homes continued to topple beneath his feet, and his rampage echoed over the city, but the danger threatening our realm was only getting worse. With each inky black streak that appeared, pieces of our town vanished from existence.

“Our realm is still tearing apart!” I cried.

“Here.” Verla placed the Oaken Wands back into our hands. “I can’t overpower Nicole completely, but I have enough access to the coven’s magic to return power to your hands. I can feel the pieces of our soul fighting for control. I can’t do this alone… so will you help me?”

Nadine glanced around at the crowd of townspeople gathered in the square. “Yes. All of us, together.”

Our friends readied their Wands.

“ Through unity and these wands of oak, we pray to the Goddess to restore what’s broke ?” Grant asked, reminding us of the incantation we’d come up with for restoring the coven’s magic.

I recalled something then, something Nadine had said to me long ago.

“ I’m broken ,” I’d said to her.

“ Not broken ,” she’d replied. “ Just growing .”

If I wasn't broken, maybe I didn't need to be fixed , I recalled thinking. If I was growing, then maybe the wounds would heal. Maybe it wasn't about putting the shattered bits back together and hoping the glue would stick. Maybe it was about growing new branches.

The coven wasn’t merely a broken town that needed its shattered bits of rubble fitted back together. We were an ever-evolving community, and to truly heal, we couldn’t simply restore the broken pieces and go back to the way things were. We had to grow into something new.

I shook my head at Grant. “No. I’ve got something better. We hold firm to our roots and honor our truth, to claim our power and start anew. ”

Nadine lifted the Curse Breaker Wand. “To a new beginning.”

“To staying true to ourselves and embracing authentic transformation,” Talia added as she pointed the Seer Wand to the sky.

“To learning how to be better people,” Chloe said as she raised the Mentalist Wand.

“And working together.” Grant aimed the Alchemy Wand upward.

I raised the Mortana Wand. “To the growth and healing of all our people.”

We spoke in unison, our voices overlaying one another in a perfect chorus. “ We hold firm to our roots and honor our truth, to claim our power and start anew. ”

Power surged through us, swelling up through the earth and filling every cell of our bodies with a glorious, transformative energy. All colors of the rainbow swirled around us, then twisted up our arms and together through the ends of the Oaken Wands. The Wands overpowered the Waning, drawing the magic Verla had stolen from the people back into our hands. By working together with her, the magic flowed so smoothly that there was no struggle to control it.

Every particle of my being seemed to connect to one another, until I didn’t just perceive myself, but I saw and felt every molecule that made up my friends’ mind, bodies, and spirits. Everything they loved and desired, along with all their pain and grief, became mine for just a brief moment… and mine became theirs.

As the spell grew in intensity, my perception expanded outward, until I wasn’t just connected to my friends, but I became the entire coven all at once. I didn’t know where I ended and others began, nor could I separate myself from the town, our history, and the hope that remained in the heart of the people. We were all one as the power that connected our coven seemed to merge us together, before restoring us to our individual parts.

The Oaken Wands glowed so bright that I had to shield my eyes. Then the most incredible spell I’d ever seen blasted upward toward the sky. A beautiful explosion of colors burst above us like a supernova. Power rained down on the people, and their forms began to glow with the color of their individual magic. On our own, we were monochromatic, but together we were a vibrant, multicolor blaze that left each one of us marveling in complete awe. It was a perfect visualization for the power the Miriamic Coven possessed. Individually, we were each one piece of a whole, but it was our individual strengths that made our community stronger.

“The Oaken Wands have restored the coven’s power,” Nadine stated. “Now, our people can choose for themselves.”

We’d learned a lot since being elected to the Imperium Council just a few short months ago. Among our greatest lessons, we learned that building a community wasn’t about convincing everyone to think the way you did. Community wasn’t something you could force people to participate in, and your community didn’t have to be the one you were born into.

Community was a choice, and not everyone had to be a part of that decision if they didn’t want to. That didn’t make them wrong—only a part of something different than you. Community was about choosing a path, and then finding the people who wanted to be a part of it. That didn’t mean we had to agree on everything, but it did mean that all were welcome.

I raised my voice toward the coven. “We have one last chance to defend this town. You can either join us in the fight or take your families and flee. We hold no judgement in which decision you make, but we will be facing this demon to defend you. Those who wish to join us may follow.”

We turned toward the demon, and thousands of coven members rallied forward to join us. Those holding the Oaken Wands led the march, with Miles and Verla flanking at our sides.

Nadine gripped the Curse Breaker Wand tighter in her hand. “Let’s finish this.”