Her laugh this time was too close to a cackle.
‘Strong but not observant,’ she said on a sigh. ‘If only you had opened your eyes to the world beyond your grief, beyond yourself. If only you had seen me first.’
Astrid had been watching me all this time. She’d been watching me since my first night in Savannah and I hadn’t even noticed. With one delicate finger, she began to paint swirls on my face with the green paste, each swipe bringing fresh tears to my eyes.
‘Your grandmother was no better. Self-centred. Impressive,’ she admitted with reluctance. ‘But ultimately arrogant, like you. Imagine if the three of us could’ve worked together. What might that have been like?’
‘If you were watching, where were you when Catherine tried to drain my magic?’ I asked, as defiant as I could be when the thought of this monster lurking in the shadows of Savannah soaked through my skin and into my bones, chilling me to the marrow.
‘I was in the Stovell woman’s beach house making sure Cole did not die!’ Astrid screamed, slapping me so hard my ears rang. ‘Because you, always you, have to make things complicated. I had to take the shop to get the supplies I needed toheal him. I could’ve let the owners live, but once you decided to pay the island a visit, we needed a new place to hide. More death on your hands, Emily, that can’t feel good.’
Nothing felt good. The pain that raged around my body came with an unwelcome dose of existential agony and as my vision began to darken and narrow, I felt sure there would never be anything good in the world, ever again.
‘Thank you for this.’ Astrid recovered herself as she uncorked the glass vial and held it up to my temple, squeezing the broken skin to encourage the trickle of blood. ‘My former mentor’s blood helped me so much and she did not have half the power you hold. I had not planned to kill her so quickly but perhaps she always knew I would. You could have taught me many things, I think, we could’ve learned together.’
I laid on my back, staring up at the sky. My magic felt so far away and the pain that sliced through my skin wherever her spell touched was so intense I could hardly think straight. On one side of me, the river rushed onwards, on the other, the city of Savannah lay still. I should’ve been able to draw power from both, but until I could wash away her spell, I was as good as dead.
‘Put the witches together,’ Astrid instructed, carefully placing the vial filled with my blood in her suitcase and taking out another. ‘We’re running out of time before you phase.’
‘You said we would do them one at a time,’ Cole protested. ‘I want the Bell bitch to go last.’
His complaint stood for less than a second. Astrid glared in his direction and immediately Cole grabbed me under my arms, dragging me to where Lydia lay, right between both cages. The post that dug into me didn’t fully register until he pulled us up, back to back, and I felt it pressing between both our shoulder blades. He bound us together with thin, plastic-coated wire that cut into the skin at my wrists, my ankles,around my waist and finally, around my throat. Once we were upright, resting against each other, he began to pile up branches of live oak at our feet, concentrating wholly on his task, as if we weren’t there. Because we weren’t tied to a post, we were tied to a stake. Astrid and Cole were going to burn us at the stake.
I reached into my closest pocket and fumbled with the hidden zipper that held my silver pin. Tucking it away in the palm of my hand, I squeezed until it cut my skin, clenching my jaw as the new, sharp pain sliced through Astrid’s spell. Only for a split second, but long enough for me to see a chance.
‘Lyds?’ I pushed backwards into her and felt her head turn towards me. ‘Can you still feel your magic?’
‘Only just,’ she replied weakly. ‘It’s not clear but it’s there.’
‘Good enough,’ I said. ‘Stay with me.’
The cord around me pulled tight as she brought up her arms in a shrug.
‘Where am I going to go?’
‘Good point,’ I whispered. ‘On my cue, you know what to do.’
‘Get the bloodstone,’ Astrid barked at Cole. ‘I need it to spark the flame. Quickly, before the phase begins.’
‘You can’t control his phase,’ I said, Lydia writhing against her ropes behind me.
‘Astrid can force my phase but she can’t stop it on the full moon, no one could, not even you. I’m too strong,’ Cole crowed. ‘Which means any minute now, I’m going to tear your head clean off your shoulders.’
‘Was it you?’ I asked him, my chin jutting out with defiance. I just needed a few more seconds. ‘Who attacked me at the DeSoto?’
‘And last night,’ he confirmed. ‘Astrid at the beach, though. I wasn’t fully healed or I’d have eviscerated you.’
‘Stop telling her things she doesn’t need to know!’ Astrid yelled. ‘Just watch them.’
‘Good boy,’ Lydia cooed when Cole backed away, his top lip twitching into a snarl. ‘Do you know any other tricks? Sit? Fetch? Fuck off?’
The look he gave her made my blood run cold.
‘I can’t wait to see what your insides look like.’
When he growled this time, it was more animalistic than before. His phase was coming, even without my magic I could see it. But Cole wasn’t my only concern. If Wyn and the other wolf phased while locked in their silver cages, Jackson and Alex were as good as dead.
‘Cool that you managed to find each other though,’ Lydia went on, somehow forcing out a bored yawn. ‘The dating pool has to be pretty small when it comes to cry-baby wolf boys and psychotic Eurotrash witch wannabes.’
