The sun set quickly this time of year, and soon it was pitch black and cold where Ena leaned against the tree. She watched enviously as the three men sat huddled around the fire, their voices low as they discussed something intently. Were they going to leave her over here all night? She would freeze. She was only wearing her woolen Samhain dress since none of the men clearly had had the decency or forethought to grab her a goddamn cloak before they kidnapped her.
After a few minutes of staring murderously at them, they seemed to come to an understanding in their conversation, and Ty stood up to approach her. Reaching towards her, he held out his hand as if to pull her up.
“Come by the fire. It’s warmer there, and we need to talk.”
Ena eyed his outstretched hand suspiciously, like it was likely to bite her.
“Don’t be stubborn,” he said. “If you cooperate, you’ll be free of us all the more quickly.”
Ena really didn’t want to do anything he asked of her, even though she was freezing. She was exhausted and sore and so sick of being dragged around by these daemons. Daemons! She still could not believe, after all these years of hearing storiesabout them, that they were here in front of her and they held her captive. Her anger rose again, and she strongly considered remaining where she was, making them drag her to the fire if need be. But she also really, really wanted to go home. And if cooperating with them got her out of here, she’d do it. Grudgingly.
She lifted her tied hands up to his as he grabbed one and pulled up. She winced as the ropes chafed her wrists again. They were nearly raw in two spots where they’d rubbed all day, anytime she’d shifted positions on the horse. The handfasting ropes were of a high quality, but were decorative, and only meant to be used in ceremony. They were certainly not meant to be worn continuously or used to restrain someone.
Noticing her reaction, Ty paused. “Here,” he said, reaching for her joined hands and gently untying the rope from her wrists.
She clasped her raw wrists to her chest, relieved to finally have her freedom of movement back. She looked up suspiciously at him. “I’d say thank you, but you’re the ones who put them on in the first place, so I thinkfuck youis more appropriate,” she said bitterly.
She expected her words to be cutting and maybe provoke his ire, but Ty just stared at her as a reluctant smile lit up his face and he huffed a small laugh. For a split second, she was transported back to those warm summer days nine years ago. Her eyes widened slightly in shock as Ty’s face lit up with the motion, softening the harshness of his features.
“You got me there,” he said wryly. But just as quickly, that vision of the old Ty was gone. His smile died as quickly as it had come and his eyes turned dark and aloof again as he turned back toward the fire, gesturing for Ena to follow.
She joined Ty and the other daemons around the roaring fire. Sitting next to its crackling warmth and light centered her. She stared at it and Knew its intensity, its desire to burn andconsume until nothing was left. It soothed her somehow. Fire was always a necessary part of Gaia’s plan, clearing dead trees to make space for new life, the ashes of the old feeding the soil. Only when fires were amplified by daemons to become more destructive than they should did they upset the balance. Right now, this fire felt like a kindred spirit; its destructive desire mirrored her own as she sat with these daemons, waiting for them to tell her what the fuck they wanted with her.
She realized she’d become lost in her thoughts when the younger-looking daemon—Turner, she’d heard the other two call him when they’d stopped to make camp—handed her some dried meat, a hunk of old cheese, and the same waterskin she’d had before. She took it, again grudgingly, and started eating in silence. When she’d finished, she found the three men looking at her expectantly.
“We want to make you a deal,” Ty said with authority.
“What kind of deal?” Ena replied, brushing the cheese crumbs nonchalantly off her dress, as if her life and well-being were not in the balance here. Not for the first time, she wished she could read their signs better and understand their intentions, but she had no choice but to keep her own cards close to her chest. And right now, letting them know how scared she was, how much she wanted to go home, would not be in her best interest.
“The kind where you help us, and we let you go,” he said.
“Help you with what?” she replied, her tone cool and even.
Ty looked briefly at both his companions, then explained. “We’re looking for something. A magical object. We’d like you to help us find it.”
“You’d ‘like’ me to?” Ena scoffed, some of her anger slipping out despite her efforts. “You dragged me away from my home and burned the matriarch’s house to the ground. Why would I ever help you?”
“If you help us find it, we’ll let you go. Unharmed,” Ty replied, unfazed by her anger.
“And if I don’t?” she asked in challenge.
“Well, then we’ll have no choice but to keep you. In the Underworld.”
Ena’s spine went stiff. He couldn’t be serious. The Underworld was an almost mythical place of dark depravity where daemons dwelled, or so she’d heard. She only knew what she’d been told about it, mostly through stories meant to scare young witches. But it was said that all manner of atrocities occurred there, that it was a place where daemons delighted in violence and inhumane behavior against one another and the mortals and witches that were unfortunate enough to be captured and taken there, never to return. The entrance to the Underworld was a heavily guarded secret among the daemons—no witch or mortal alive knew where it was. If Ty was serious… Fear gripped her at the thought.
She forced herself to think practically. She had to assume, for now, that his threat was serious. But even so, Ena assumed it would take them a while to travel there, so she considered her options. She could refuse to help them and keep looking for opportunities to escape while they traveled to the Underworld. Ena had no doubt that once she figured out her whereabouts, that she’d be able to make a plan and get away from them. They clearly underestimated her and what her magic could do if they’d taken off the ropes and gag.
On the other hand, if she did help them, she had the opportunity to find out more about what they wanted. She was not a fool. She knew that they could easily be lying to her and would not let her go after she helped them. They’d likely kill her, or bring her to the Underworld anyway, just out of spite. What nefarious purposes they’d have for a witch in the Underworld she did not want to know. If she could find out what they werelooking for and why, she could escape with useful information, and then maybe her and her Coven could foil their undoubtedly sinister machinations. Going along with them was a risk, but at this point, Ena was filled with such hatred and loathing for these men and what they had done to her, that she wanted revenge. She knew what she had to do.
“Fine. I’ll help you,” she said, meeting Ty’s gaze unerringly. “I can do a locator spell to help you find the object.” There was no point in hiding this ability—they clearly suspected she could do something of the sort, or they wouldn’t have asked for her help. She’d have to appear to be helping them in good faith while she gathered information. “But,” she continued, “I need to know more about it to complete the spell. And I’ll need some supplies.”
Ty exchanged looks with his companions again. “What supplies?”
“Potion ingredients—specific herbs, an apple. Some blood…and fresh bones. Leg bones, specifically.”
“What kind of blood?” Ty asked cautiously.
“Any kind.”
