Everyone’s expression was conflicted. This was a risk. Ethanmighthave a chance… but the onemaybewe had to save him could just as well kill us all. I didn’t know anything about witches, but from what I’d been told at Arcanea University, they wouldn’t hesitate to murder a fae on sight.
So why did this witch want to help us?
“Tell me more about the witch,” I said quickly. The leshane gave a groan, but I kicked him in the face— hard. His head slumped to the side, and he stilled.
“Her name is Hattie. She’s good friends with my mother. They’ve worked on spells together,” Kiara said. “She’s wise, and has knowledge. I sent her a letter asking if anything can be done, and she told me to come immediately. We must leave now.”
The others still seemed hesitant, but I didn’t care. Witch, warlock, or fucking llama, if Hattie had the ability to save Ethan, I was bringing him to her.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“In America,” Kiara said. “Emma, can you make a portal that’ll get us to Connecticut, tonight?”
“That’s across the Atlantic Ocean! She could kill herself!” Stefan argued.
“She took us all to Edinmyre and back. If Emma can transport us to a new dimension, across the world should be nothing,” Kiara shot at him.
“I can do it.” I could do anything, if it saved Ethan. “I need to know the exact location.”
“Octavia Falls.” Kiara shakily handed me a postcard that was attached to the letter. I looked down. On the postcard was a photograph of a small Gothic town, the buildings surrounded by maple trees. A sign advertising apple cider and a ghost tour was beside a stack of hay bales. A Jack-O-Lantern stared back at me with a huge grin.
A photograph was all I needed. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, summoning the portal to my aide. It manifested immediately, spinning out before us and creating a window to the other side. An orange autumn forest spanned before me, sunset spreading across the sky. It looked to be around 5 p.m. there… twilight.
“I hope you guys are right about this,” Stefan mumbled. He’d grabbed the leshane and threw him over one shoulder, to carry him through the portal.
“We have to be.” I wasted no time and stepped on through the portal, toward our one salvation.
The only hope we had to save Ethan was to trust a witch. Either we’d find Hattie, and come back with him alive…
Or the coven would realize we were there, and none of us would come back at all.
Chapter Fifteen
Ethan
Iwas floating outside of myself. My spirit was still attached to my body, but I couldn’t take back control. I was no longer present within my own mind.
The demon had won. All I had the power to do now was watch as my friends carried my body through the portal and to another country, where Kiara claimed there might be a witch that could bring me back.
I wanted my friends to give up. For them to travel to the Miriamic Coven would put them in great danger, and I wasn’t worth their lives.
But I had no say in the matter. So I observed from above like a ghost as my friends stepped out of the portal and into the twilight forest.
“Emma, are you all right?” Alexei knelt beside Emma, who was kneeling on the ground. He put a hand on her shoulder as she recovered her breath.
“I’m fine. Transporting you guys across the world is harder than Edinmyre,” Emma said. “I think I draw power from there. When I’m traveling across borders, I’m just relying on myself.”
“Take a moment to breathe. We have to figure out where we are.” Kiara turned in place. The woods all looked the same— every tree was identical to the other. Had Emma even gotten close to Octavia Falls?
Theo snapped his fingers twice and grimaced. “My magic doesn’t work here.”
Stefan flung a hand out to cast a spell, and nothing happened. “Mine either. Bastard warlocks must’ve thrown up a ward to take away our powers, too. I can’t shift or anything.”
Emma rose to her feet, and experimented. A few blue sparks flickered from her fingertips. “My powers still work, but they’re weak.”
“It must be because you’re the Worldweaver,” Kiara suggested. “Our magic might get stronger the farther we get from Octavia Falls.”
“But we have to go into it,” Delmare argued. “So if we get caught, we can’t rely on our magic to save us.”
