I gave up on the stick and dropped my head into my hands, rubbing my face hard, like I could massage away my worries.
All the times I’d imagined becoming a witch, and this was definitely not how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to happen with…
With her.
Oaklyn.
A tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it, followed by another. I angrily wiped them away. My loud sniffle gave away that I was crying, but I couldn’t help it.
I was naive to think I’d found something real with her. That we could both fall so hard so fast.
And yet…
The way she looked at me when I attacked her… The way she didn’t use her dagger against me… I swear there was hurt in her eyes, as if I was the one who’d used her and lied from the start.
Was I imagining it? Hoping to find out that she regretted whatshe did?
Pathetic. After all that, part of me still wanted to run back to the woman who was willing to sacrifice me.
I know it’s not normal or good for two people in a relationship to be afraid that the other might kill them. But nothing about our relationship was normal, anyway.
Tiny pebbles shuddered near my feet, responding to the storm inside me. My magic. The thing I’d wanted for so long, and that Oaklyn and I were supposed to explore together.
Now I had it, and she was gone. I’d finally crossed the threshold into the magical world she promised, only for her to reveal herself to be someone I never really knew. What bullshit.
“You’ll need to be processed as a new witch and swear our oath,” Fiona said, jolting me back to the present.
I quickly wiped away my tears. A pause stretched out between us, filled with distant cawing as the crows worked on draining Sophia.
I nodded. “Okay.”
More silence. I wondered if Fiona could see right through me to how broken and lost I was. But she was breathing hard, drenched in sweat, maybe in too much pain to notice.
She hesitated, then reached over with her good hand and gently molded my fingers like clay. “Like this. Hold your hands out firmly, and summon it from in here—like singing.” She patted her belly. “You want it to come from deep down, not up high so there’s no power behind it. Breathe, and let it rise through your core and out to your palms.”
I did as she instructed, feeling for that strange new current inside me. It was there, a warm pulse that flowed upward when I called to it. I directed it toward the stick I’d been practicing with.
It lifted into the air gracefully, twirling like a ballerina. For a moment, the wonder of it pushed aside all the betrayal andshame. This power was mine, and no one could take it away from me. I smiled despite myself, wiping the last tears that leaked out without my permission.
Fiona offered a half smile. “Good.”
Something in her approval made me feel a little less adrift. Maybe this new focus, this new skill to hone and study, could help me survive this mess. I continued practicing, lifting leaves, stones, and pinecones, making them dance in increasingly complex patterns. Each success made the next attempt easier and more intuitive.
I kept my dancers moving for a long time, letting myself sink into a trance, until Sophia’s screams finally stopped and the witches took her away. The chimeras retreated, melting into the woods and the sea like they’d been part of it all along. Fiona stood to leave, and Katie called me over.
Time to return to the city.
As I let my dancers fall and stood up, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I almost didn’t check it. Almost left whatever mundane notification from my old life unread.
But I did check. And it wasn’t mundane at all.
One text. Four words that made my heart stop.
‘I still love you.’
Chapter 28
