“Buzzing,” Romy said.
“My toes are cold,” Kai added. “Like ‘almost falling off’ kind of cold.”
Arwyn didn’t answer me. He simply locked eyes with me and mouthed, ‘stay close’.
“We each must connect with our essence, and call upon our birth element. Once the circle we’ve made has gathered the power, I will begin the chant. It’s simple. You just follow after me, each in turn, until all four of us are speaking at the same time.”
This was all details I’d gone over before we left the tavern, but I felt better just making sure each detail was engrained in their minds.
No one resisted. No one asked for pause.
“Okay, time to capital F fuck off a goat-demon,” I said, teeth gritting together as I gave pause. “Ready?”
They each replied in resounding agreement.
One by one, we opened ourselves up to our magic. I took the air that rushed around us, letting it pass like spears through my flesh until I was made up of pure power. Romy drew heat from our bodies, gathering it until a bundle of flame danced amongst my torrents of wind. Kai opened himself up next. Water rose in pillars from the distant ocean, twisting like ribbon as it joined us. And then Arwyn, the spirit-witch, connected with the element of earth until the buzzing beneath my feet turned into a demanding rumbling of thunder and drum.
“Hekate,” I began, my voice amplified by the magic that cocooned us. “Goddess of witchcraft, Queen of magic. I call upon thee to join us. I honour your guidance, seek your protection and ask that you show us back on the path of thy wondrous leading.”
The breath was torn from my lungs, and yet I still could breathe. It was odd, the sensation, but I knew it was right. Hekate reminding me that, even here, she held dominion over my soul, just as it should’ve always been.
Romy followed next, speaking the invocation aloud. Tension rose higher as Kai joined in. By the time Arwyn started to shoutout with all the strength he could muster, I felt completely alive. Alive in a way that I’d never experienced.
Lightning flashed. Dark clouds rumbled in threat. Bahmet seized his realm in the hold of a storm, attempting to drown out our calls.
The demon’s attempts would not work.
I wouldn’t allow it.
We could’ve been screaming out the spell for hours. The words lost all meaning. Twenty times, maybe more. We did not stop. Not once, not even to catch our breath.
Bahmet waged his battle against our will, the desperation licking over my skin. It only encouraged me to grow louder, more demanding. Thunder rolled, and lightning flashed. The ground even shook beneath our feet, chalk crumbling from the cliff face we stood beside and falling into the frothing, angry ocean.
Then it all stopped.
Through the dark clouds, a single beam of silver light shone down upon our coven. Proud and strong, it carried the hearty bark of a dog, even though no such animal was around us.
I closed my eyes, soul alight with joy, and lifted my face to the guiding light of?—
Romy screamed. The circle was broken. No, the ground shattered from beneath us. Bahmet opened his endless maw, swallowing us whole. Before I fell, Arwyn attempted to throw himself over the chasm and reach for me, but his fingers all but grazed my outstretched hand before the darkness claimed him.
But as I fell into the endless abyss, I smiled.
I didn’t smile because Hekate shone upon us. I didn’t smile because I knew we’d been on the cusp of success. Nor did I smile because I felt, if anything, more powerful than ever before.
I smiled because it had worked. We had invoked Hekate, pissed off a demon, and got exactly what we wanted.
The beginning of the third, penultimate trial.
37
ARWYN
The oppressive fog cleared, and with it my sensations returned. Whether I was damned in the darkness, I thought of Hector. My mind never swayed from him. So, when my vision returned, before I cared that I couldn’t move my arms or legs, I was shouting out his name.
“I’m okay,” Hector’s distinctive voice replied from my right.
I turned to find him sat in a high-backed chair. It was a heavy contraption which Hector was bound to. Thick leather straps held down his forearms, and locked his legs against the legs of the chair. I attempted to move my muscles and reach for him, but I too was locked in place.
