"I will kill all of you," Astra warned.
Hands took Jen's and Kelsea's and Eloise's and Ursula's. Bess crouched over Margaret, laying a hand on her and a hand on Tilly.
"I will enjoy this," Astra said with a wicked smile.
What does she feel?
Tilly frowned at the question in her head. The source of the voice was unclear, but still it asked again, prodding at her mind.
She reached out from her mind to where Astra stood, the power of the dark sky in her hand, and searched.
Power. Drunken love for the strength darkness was giving her. She could feel it thick in the woman's veins, but something was off. That darkness was slower than their magic, which slipped through their bodies like water.
This was viscous, sludge. She could feel her heart trying to pump it out, to fill Astra's body but it was slow and weighing her down.
It was power, yes, but it was heavy and she realized Astra couldn't get it out quickly.
She wasn't waiting, she was gathering.
Tilly looked behind her and saw her coven, a link of women holding onto each other.
"I need more!" she yelled.
Freida stepped up, dropping her sign to the ground, and grabbed Carol's hand in a firm grasp as she held out her other for someone else to take.
Tilly could feel a sudden rush, smooth and quick fill her. She looked to Bess.
"I need you to try and pull on Margaret's power, use me. Try to awaken it."
"I don't know how," she said in a small voice. The teen rarely looked or sounded small, unsure. And Tilly understood that feeling all too well.
"Do not feed that voice. Any doubt, push it aside. I need you to know that you can do this, link your hand with mine. Jen, take hold of Bess," she called over her shoulder.
"Shut the fuck up!" Astra growled. She was strung tight, trying to siphon the darkness into her.
Bess and Jen did not hesitate and that rush of power overwhelmed Tilly until she gasped,.Crystal's eyes flashed open as her hands raised and something white sparked from both hands.
A scream drew all of their attention as they watched Astra fall to her knees. She quickly rallied and raised both hands to the sky, that darkness swirling then falling into her.
Tilly could feel Astra's power finally fill, the sludge of darkness had gathered enough that she knew they didn't have much time.
She could feel Astra's anger and power drunkenness, but something else was there, and Tilly knew it well. An old friend of hers that she sometimes forgot made friends with others.
Fear.
Anxiety.
It tasted the same in Astra as it did inside of herself.
It smelled the same.
It felt like being hidden and wanting something but not being allowed to have it.
It felt like an overstimulation of impossibility.
It felt like loneliness underneath the guise of company.
It was imagination being projected on the walls of her heart, the shadowed images taking over truth and reality until it was all that she could feel.
