The door still stood there, taunting her, unbothered by her assault. Her arms fell to her sides, her breath coming out in broken heaves. Just a few seconds of rest, and then she’d get back at it, she told herself. And yet minutes went by, and she couldn’t make herself lift the post again.
She choked back the tears that threatened to fall, focusing instead on everything she needed to protect. Aestas. Herself.
She raised the bedpost again, aiming it and slamming it into the door with all she had.
And the door opened.
Okay, she thought,that definitely should not have worked.
Fiona grinned at her from the doorway. “Ta-da!”
It had not worked. Katherine let her makeshift battering ram clatterto the ground as she rushed out of the room and threw her arms around Fiona’s neck, her relief so acute that her legs almost went out.
“You’re okay,” Fiona said, running a hand through Katherine’s hair. “You’re okay.”
Katherine let herself stay in the hug until she believed it. Until the loneliness that had threatened to drown her over the last couple days finally ebbed away.
She pulled away, wiping away some of her tears with the back of her hand. She saw Tess standing behind Fiona, with Byron slumped against the wall next to her—they must have used him to unlock the wards and open the door, although it didn’t seem like he had been entirely conscious for it. His breathing was shallow, his eyes barely managing to stay open.
“Did you actually find a way to shut Byron up?” Katherine asked. Her voice was shaky, her attempt at a joke barely landing.
“Yep.” Fiona held up a vial of what looked like brown sludge. “A little sleep potion I’ve been working on slipped into one of his coffees. He had himself warded to the gills against rune magic, but he didn’t even think to check for old magic.”
Byron groaned. Katherine walked over to him, nudging his crumpled body with her foot. His head fell to the side, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
“Inspired work,” she said.
“That’s the kind of thing that can happen when you work as a team,” Fiona said. “Instead of, you know, pushing everyone away and doing it all yourself.”
Katherine flinched. “Listen, Fi, I’m really sorry for everything I said. I was mean, and bitter, and—”
Fiona waved a hand. “I know, I know. And I was the bitch who questioned you when you finally did get the stones to come to me for help. We were both in the wrong. Let’s split some Porto’s potato balls when this is all over and call ourselves even.”
“Deal.”
With that weight off her chest, Katherine stepped back, taking her friends in in full. They were all, thankfully, in one piece, although thebags under their eyes suggested they had been as restless as she had over the past couple of days. Fiona’s braids were thrown into a haphazard bun, and Tess’ usually perfect graphic eyeliner was missing.
“Sorry we couldn’t get you out earlier,” Tess said. “Sylvia hasn’t left Sunspot at all.”
Fiona clenched her jaw. “As soon as her ass was out the door, we were here.” She took in Katherine’s red cheeks and bloody hands. “And not a moment too soon, it’d seem.”
“I owe you a lot of potato balls.”
“Damn right.” Fiona started off down the hallway at a fast clip. “Now come on. We should get you out of here before she gets back. You can hide out at my parents’ house in Phoenix until we figure out something more permanent.”
Fiona paused as she finished speaking, then turned back when she realized that Katherine wasn’t following her. “Come on,” she repeated.
“I can’t,” Katherine said. “Sylvia… whatever she just did, it wasn’t good. I need to—”
“No,” Fiona said. “You don’t need to do anything, okay? If anything’s being done,weare doing it. Teamwork, remember? Porto’s potato balls? The lesson we learned but moments ago? You’re not going to one-woman-army your way through this.”
Katherine slipped her hands into her pockets, pressing her nails back into the cuts there. Warm blood ran over her fingers, fresh bursts of pain on her battered body. She felt bits of her magic coming back to her, fighting against the remnants of the wards. It would be hours before she got her magic back in full, but there wasn’t anything she could do. She needed it now. Fiona and Tess had rescued her, but she wasn’t going to let them put themselves in more danger for her.
“I can’t let you do that,” she said. “It’s not—”
“It’s not what, Katherine? It’s not safe?” Fiona said, her tone rising as her cheeks turned red. “It’s not safe for you either! But that’s okay, because you’re a bad person, right? You have to take hit after hit to make up for how much of a piece of shit you are.
“Well, news flash, that’s not true. All those other unsettled witches you’ve helped? They’ve let themselves have normal lives. Moved on.Forgiven themselves. Gone to fucking therapy! Why don’t you deserve what you’ve given them?”
