The women went limp in Steig and Turner’s arms and they proceeded to lay them down with care on the floor. She noticed that focusing on both at once with hervisanisfelt difficult, and her magic seemed strained. So instead, one by one, she gave them the same command as she had to the woman in the kitchen. She watched as the witches’ eyes slowly closed and their breathing evened out. Within seconds, they appeared to be in the deepest kind of sleep, their bodies calm and their faces peaceful.
She knew in the back of her mind that her job was done, but she didn’t know how to loosen her grip on her Gift. It burned through her still, and she loved the feeling of power it gave her. She felt drunk on it, and a part of her never wanted to let it go, wanted to live in the ordered chaos of it forever.
He must’ve recognized her struggle, because Ty stepped into her line of vision. Gently, he grasped her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You can let go now, Ena,” he said. “It’s over.”
Seeing those familiar green eyes and the calm they held somehow broke her hold on hervisanis. She felt her magic start to fade slowly from her body, retreating to where it dwelled deep inside her. Her breathing slowed and her mind cleared. She dimly started to become aware of the horror of what she’d just been able to do to the three witches. So quickly. Soeasily.
Before she could feel anything more, Ty grabbed her hand, gently stroking his thumb over the back. “Nicely done,” he said, giving her a small, cautious smile. “Turner and Steig, you start searching upstairs.” He gestured for them to return to the hallway. “Ena, you stay close to me and we’ll search down here.”
Steig and Turner exchanged a look, seeming to notice how Ty had gravitated back towards her the moment they’d entered the danger of the enemy village. Neither of them called him out on it, though, they simply nodded and left to go find the stairwell.
Ena followed Ty out of the sitting room and down the dark hallway towards the front door of the house. Holding a candle in one hand that he’d grabbed along the way, Ty opened and closed a few the doors that lined the hallway, clearly looking for one room in particular.
Eventually, he opened a door that led into a large altar room. He obviously believed this was the most important room to search first, and he wasn’t wrong. This was the most likely place for a witch to keep ceremonial objects.
Ena stood hesitantly in the doorway as Ty entered the room and immediately started looking over the bookshelves. In the low light, she could see that there were several of them all around the room, adorned not only with books, but various trinkets used for potions and ceremonies—ceremonial chalices, animal skulls, ornately carved wooden boxes, and various glass bowls sat packed three rows deep on the shelves. There were several low tables covered in decorative cloths, as well, the remnants of potion ingredients laid out in bowls and mortars, and spellbooks opened to the last pages referenced. Several large trunks lay around the room, too, and Ty began throwing them open at random, digging around inside cursorily before moving on to the next.
Then she saw it.
There, tucked into an obscure corner of the room, lay the large leather-bound trunk Ena had seen in her vision. Glancing over at Ty, she found him distracted, digging through a trunk on the other side of the room, opening and dumping out every possible receptacle that could hold an amulet.
This was her chance.
Ena walked cautiously to the trunk, hoping he’d think she was simply helping him in his search. The lid was unlocked, so she lifted it. Inside, it was filled with folded lace tablecloths—high-quality ones—and the same style of handfasting ropes her Coven used. There was also a trove of candles of every shape and size. None of the contents seemed particularly special or unique. She wondered why they would keep the amulet here, of all places.
Rifling through the contents, Ena felt around for the large wooden box she’d seen in her vision, but she found nothing of the sort. Was she mistaken? None of the other trunks in the room looked at all similar to the one she’d seen. It had to be this one.
Stepping back to assess it again, she glanced over her shoulder to see that Ty was blessedly focused on pulling out all the drawers in the writing desk at the other end of the room, and that made her think.
Feeling around on the bottom of the trunk again, her finger found a small notch in the wood, just big enough for a finger to slip in. Doing just that, and tugging lightly, she felt the bottom of the trunk move.
It had a false bottom.
She quickly threw the contents of the trunk out onto the floor and removed the bottom altogether. There, underneath, was the wooden box from her vision. She quickly went to open it, but found it was locked. Quietly, feeling for the metal components she Knew were inside, she whispered her spellword.
{Clavis}
The box opened in her hands, and there, laid in the center, was the amulet.
The description of it provided to her by Ty did not do it justice, nor what she’d seen of it in her vision. It was beautiful. The uncut amethyst in its center was a deep purple, so dark it was almost black. Looking into the stone, it felt endless. Like shecould fall into its void and keep sinking, sinking, sinking forever. The color drained from the stone as it reached the edges, leaving it a pale white-purple where it met the circular silver setting that surrounded it. The setting shone as if it had been recently buffed, and was etched with those four confusing symbols, just as she’d seen in her vision. The braided silver chain it hung on was long and intricately made, and if she were to touch it, she Knew it would feel as delicate as hair.
Ena was so enthralled by its beauty and power, she did not notice that the sounds of Ty frantically searching the room had stopped. As she moved to touch it, his voice jolted her out of her trance.
“Ena,” he said quietly behind her. “You found it.”
She turned around to face him, still holding the box. She stared at him, and he at her. Some unspoken communication transpired between them, and his brow furrowed. He looked down at the box in her hands and extended his hand towards her.
“Give it to me, Ena,” he said, his voice low with warning. Then, after a beat, he added gently, “Please.”
Fear and vulnerability shone in his eyes. His beautiful eyes. Ena stared at him for a moment, frozen. Part of her wanted to give him the amulet, despite everything, if only to see him happy. If only to wipe away that deep look of concern and desperation that had settled on his face.
But she knew she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t stray that far from Gaia, not after everything she’d already done. This was the end of the road for them. She couldn’t let him and his people take the amulet. She had to protect her Coven, and everyone else, from them.
So she picked up the amulet, and slipped it around her neck.
She couldn’t exactly say why she did it. She figured Ty could overpower her and take it if he really wanted to, but somewherein the back of her mind, she also knew that amulets were made by witches, for witches, and that they held enormous power. And something about this amulet seemed to recognize her as one of its own. It called her to use it, wear it, own it. Putting it on felt as easy as breathing.
The instant the stone fell upon her chest, Ena’s vision went white.
