My broom shifted lower without me steering it.
The pendant at my throat pulsed warm against my skin, and for one horrible second, I wondered if it recognized my daughter’s fear.
Below us, the northern side of the compound looked older than the rest, the stone darker and uneven, as if pieces of it had been repaired over centuries rather than decades. Iron lanterns hung dead along portions of the walls, and black vines wrapped tightly around the windows, thick enough that parts of the structure looked strangled beneath them.
The broom drifted toward one of the upper balconies, directly toward the shadows.
“Maeve,” Twobble whispered.
“I know.”
A movement flickered behind one of the lower windows beneath us, and another.
Faces.
Pale and frightened behind darkened glass.
Prisoners crowded together beneath the compound.
The Priestess hadn’t just built a fortress here.
She’d built a cage.
Magic burst through the courtyard below as one of the shadow creatures lunged toward a cluster of witches near the eastern stairs. Bella met it head-on in fox form, copper fur flashing beneath the blue firelight before she shifted mid-motion again and drove a blade through the creature’s chest.
The thing dissolved instantly into black smoke.
Another creature crawled over the upper walls near the western ridge, dragging itself unnaturally across the stone until Stella lifted one hand from her broomstick and sent a sharp blast of magic straight through it.
The creature exploded outward into dark ash, scattering across the courtyard below.
The vampires moved together with eerie precision through the skies, cloaks snapping behind them as they circled the upper towers and drove the creatures back from the walls.
Nova flew higher above the compound than the rest of us, silver magic spreading outward from her hands in shimmering waves that pressed against the shadow magic curling through the hillsides.
Everywhere her magic touched, the darkness recoiled slightly.
Not enough…but enough to hold the line.
The wind shifted again, carrying the scent of smoke, damp stone, and something metallic beneath it, making my stomach tighten.
Blood.
The battle below had grown closer.
Closer to the center.
My eyes scanned every movement across the grounds desperately.
Every stairwell.
Every doorway.
Every flicker of motion near the windows.
Celeste.
The pendant burned suddenly hotter against my skin as the broom jerked sharply toward the northern tower.
