“You are no witch,” she spat, but even in her condemnation there was something like doubt. The statement almost became a question.
“You’re right. I’m not,” Jess said, “and every moment I spend in this town makes me more grateful for that.”
Sarah didn’t seem to register anything but the first few words. She peered at Jess more intently now, as though trying to read her, like a book in a strange language, or tea leaves in the bottom of a cup.
“No, not a witch, and yet… and yet there is something about you.”
“I get that a lot,” Jess said with a smirk.
“What are you?” Sarah hissed.
“I’m the one who’s here to crash your party and ruin your fun,” Jess said, rising from her circle and tucking her chalk back in the velvet pouch at her waist. “Now tell me what you’ve been doing to this Geatgrima.”
Sarah’s eyes widen. “What is this word you use? I do not know it.”
“Yeah, and that’s only the first in a long list of things you don’t know, which is why you shouldn’t be messing with it.”
“You… you speak its name. You…” She drifted up against the edge of the circle, coming as close to Jess as she could. “You are… connected, somehow. I feel it. The essence of the Source—there are traces of it in you.” She pointed an accusatory finger at Jess’ face. “Explain yourself!”
“You first. I asked you what you’re trying to do to the Geatgrima.”
But Sarah wasn’t listening. She was looking at the Vesper grimoire again.
“How did you come by this book? You are no Vesper. No witch,” she hissed. “You have no idea of the forces you are meddling with, mortal. Undo this magic. Give it to me.”
“No, Sarah. You will never use that book again,” Jess said firmly. “It was never yours to begin with, and you have done more than enough damage with it.”
Sarah’s face spasmed with emotion. “You cannot stop me. This is my destiny.”
“There’s no such thing as destiny,” Jess declared. “There are only the choices we make and the natural consequences of those choices. Now, you still haven’t answered my question, and I’m running out of patience with you. This Geatgrima is damaged—unstable. The damage is recent, and I know that you caused it. What have you done to it?”
Sarah’s face twisted with anger. “I do not seek to damage it. But it resists me.”
“Of course it does,” Jess replied. “Would you let someone tear you to shreds without fighting back? If you’re not trying to destroy it, then what are you trying to do?”
“It is none of your concern.”
“Oh, I think you’ll find it is,” Jess said, dropping the light conversational tone. “You said it yourself. There’s something that connects me to this place, and I am sworn to protect it.”
“It does not belong to you,” Sarah hissed. “It belongs to him, and I am the key. I am the only one who can unlock its power for him.”
“Him?” Jess asked, and for the first time, her calmly confident tone faltered. I saw her eyes dart over to the corner where we were hiding.
I nodded my head. “The Darkness,” I mouthed to her, and watched her go pale.
Sarah continued to rave, oblivious to our aside. “It calls to me. Me and me alone. I am the pentamaleficus. I am the only one who?—”
Jess shakes her head. “Again, you misunderstand. It calls to you because it calls to every spirit. Even before your spirit leaves your body, it can feel that pull. It’s not because you’re special. It’s not because you alone can master its power. It is universal and unmasterable. I say again, you do not understand what you are messing with.”
“Do not presume to understand the Source!” Sarah shrieked, her face twisted with a mad rage. “Only he… only I can…”
“Sarah.”
I didn’t remember making a conscious decision, but suddenly I had spoken aloud. Not only that, but I stepped out from the hiding place we’d been concealed in. I felt Persi’s fingers claw at the back of my shirt to pull me back, but I was already out of her reach. Suddenly, I was there, fully visible, and Sarah’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She went as still as a statue, looking, for a moment, like a flickering hologram in a film.
“You.”
The one word sent a shiver of sheer terror up my spine. Never had I heard a single syllable infused with so much pure hatred.
