“Because he stole the everoot?” I ask, holding firmly to Sybil and Rowyn’s hands. The room is starting to spin and the force is pulling me backward, away from my friends. With a quick glance around, I notice everyone is sitting still, watching the interaction, but they aren’t swaying like I am.
My magic is coming to an end. Fast.
“He brought that back for the coven…” I slowly insist, my head starting to lull. “For Cassia.”
“Add liar to the list,” Barrett spits. “He knew she passed on when he came back. It was to cover his infidelity.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand.” Swallowing down the rising bile as I push my magic too far, I beg, “Plea–please tell us what happened. How can we stop this?”
“There is no cure, youstupidgirl,” Barrett shouts. “Because of Nestor’s selfishness, you are destined to this life, just like Petra and I are now destined to an eternity of separation.”
He looks around the circle once again before saying, “The death of a Vexley witch will do nothing. There will be another Gray Witch with the same tragic fate as you, Cordelia, and Gemma.” His voice grows with each word. “They will go mad. In another century, I suppose there will be more doppelgängers who are brought back to the inn and forced together, to torture Nestor. We will all be punished for the sins of acoward.”
Nestor is growing upset, hitting against the salt barrier. He can’t get through in either of his ghost forms. I open my mouth, trying to tell him to calm down. Maybe even banish him from the den. If only I could open my eyes.
There has to be one last drop of magic somewhere… I need more answers…
Barrett blinks as the wind picks up speed, creating a funnel effect in the confines of the invisible walls. He takes a deep breath, but his exhaustion is fraying our connection.
Suddenly, Whisper comes running into the room. He goes straight for the barrier, snarling and scratching at it when he can’t reach his Bonded. Sparing a glance, I catch all of the animals round the counter into the den. Hexate and Whisper were agitated when we were setting up, so we thought it was best. Nimble most likely let them out.
“You should have taken the few years she would’ve granted you and your Chosen,” he says in a tight voice.
He moves a hand up to his throat and I realize it wasn’t exhaustion.
It was death.
The wind stops a second before Archer’s body hits the hard floor. He lies there limply as Nestor throws himself at the barrier, going right above all of us and breaking the mirror above the fireplace.
“No,” I gasp and fall to my knees.
Whisper’s howls mix with mine and Sybil’s screams, creating a cacophony of sorrow.
I crawl over the salt and lift his head into my hands. My breath comes out in gasps and my hands flutter over his face, his neck, unsure of what to do. The other witches move closer, but I can barely hear the guttural sobbing coming from Sybil.
Leaning over him, I hold his cheeks and press my lips to his, desperate to feel his warmth or breath. Anything.
“No, no, no,” I mutter and begin looking around. I’ve never resurrected a person—only insects and small animals—and it’s been years since I looked at a ritual for it. It’s a level of my magic I never planned to try.
That’s changing now.
I can hear Rowyn behind me, talking rapidly and worried about something falling—breaking, maybe. It’s all gibberish swirling around me until I see it.
The small pocket knife Archer always keeps in his leather jacket. It’s just peeking out like it’s waiting for me.
When I turn back to Archer, now with Sybil holding his hand and her head back, sobbing so violently it’s silent. Clover is trying to comfort her sister and Sybil while Rowyn chases that traitorous ghost around. Esme is kneeled next to me, speaking rapidly, but I don’t hear her.
No one sees what I do. No one else is watching Archer’s spirit slowly coil out of his mouth in little wisps of smoke.
“Nooo!” I scream in a blood curdling pitch.
Panics sears through me. I don’t care what we said—what we thought. We werewrong. The curse, the debt,all of it.
It doesn’t matter. Nothing else does.
Only Archer.
Chapter 49
