Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter 20

GRAND HALL

Erika disappeared into the wilderness on the north end of town, the quickest way back to Shadow Bend on foot. It wouldn’t be quick enough for her. I follow Reid through the trees. Branches break across my face, but I don’t flinch. I’m too numb to care.

“Concentrate, Willa.” Reid glances back at me. “Concentrate and listen. We need to find which way she went.”

I block out the chill and the sting of the air as it gushes through my lungs. My adrenaline causes my blood to pump too loudly in my ears. There is a sound in the distance, but it’s faint. I can’t tell which direction it’s coming from yet.

“Willa, come up here,” Reid yells back, holding his hand out for me to catch up.

As soon as I grab hold of it, every noise around us vanishes. It’s like the world goes mute. The power of the sun and moon combined, I guess. The noise in the distance intensifies. It’s headed due east. Reid hears it too, because he suddenly veers us in that direction. I jump in front of him. I want to be the first one Erika meets. I want to be the last person she ever lays eyes on.

Sweetie…

I glance back. Reid heard me. I hadn’t even realized I’d sent him those thoughts. It must be the adrenaline or the complete lack of control of my emotions.

Erika is mine.

“We need the book,” he says. “Without it, we can’t—”

“He’s dead, Reid. The book isn’t going to bring Julien back.”

He catches my elbows and jerks me to a stop. “Maybe not, but it will save the rest of them. If Julien is dead, then Lyric has transformed. He’s back there with Abby.” His jaw clenches. “You and I both know Abby will be his target now.”

Something brushes up the leaves behind us. A guard grabs Reid’s shoulder, but I’m too quick. Too hyper-focused on every minute detail around me. No one is sneaking up on me today. The air in the guard’s throat cuts off without even a flick of my wrist. The leaves on the ground start to rustle. The guard slides across the rough dirt toward me. “Where is she? Where is my book?”

The guard tries to speak, but I don’t allow any air to get to him. It’s pointless anyway. I’ll hunt down Erika whether he answers my question or not. When he starts to lose consciousness, I discard him over my shoulder. Dead weight.

I take off toward the east. Reid is right behind me. Her footsteps are close. “Willa, we’re about to break across the border to Shadow Bend.”

“Good.”

“Not good. She probably has more guards there, waiting for us.”

“Good,” I repeat.

Reid is right. As we get closer, I start to pick up their heavy breathing, their slow, sluggish footsteps as they pace the border. Erika has already crossed it, and they know we’re coming for them. My hands dart out in front of me. Their figures can be seen in the trees right in front me. My anger takes physical form in flames. The trees they hide behind light up like fireworks. Their screams only make me send the flames higher, to make them hotter until it scorches every last one of them.

“Willa.”

I don’t turn around to look at Reid. I don’t want him to see my face, to witness the lack of emotions on it. Suddenly, I’m that little girl again. The crazy one no one wanted. All that anger and resentment that built up for all those years has surfaced, and right now, it’s not aimed at my father who stole me away only to abandon me. It’s not directed at all those who killed my mother, and set the events in motion that took the life of my friend.

It’s all for Erika.

The evil queen pissed off the wrong witch.

The fires subside behind me. Surely, it’s Reid doing, because I would have burned Shadow Bend to the ground. The forest suddenly breaks open to reveal a wide clearing, and in it, the only thing you can possibly see is a beautiful Parthenon type building that stretches into the mountainside. Erika stands on the steps.

I run through the brown grass in the clearing, jumping the steps of what I can only assume is the Prescotts’ grand hall. The double doors at the top are heavy, but I whip them open without a single ounce of effort. The hall is long, the ceilings high and open, revealing large stone columns down the center. “You can run,” I say through my teeth. “But I promise, it won’t save your life. Not today.”

The fires that burn on the torches attached to the columns grow brighter. Erika’s foot catches on something and she falls to the ground. It’s me. Sure, I could end her life with one simple tweak of her neck, but the Haunted don’t deserve easy. Erika doesn’t deserve freedom from the pain. She kicks and tosses, but I drag her down the long hallway back to me.

Her wrists pin themselves beside her head. “Where is your smile now, huh?”

“He’s dead.” Her eyes are wide and frantic as she screams it at me. Even now, on the brink of death, she only cares about causing me more pain. “I killed Julien Cote.”

My hands clasp around her throat. All my magic releases. I will kill her with my own bare hands. My fingers grip tighter, my fingernails sinking in deeper. Then I hear Reid behind me. “You don’t have to kill her, Willa.”

“I need to kill her. I want to kill her.”

“Look—she killed Julien. I get that, all right? I have the same hatred and resentment in me too. I wanted to snap Julien’s head off when I saw him in our driveway. He killed my best friend and he almost killed you. I didn’t, though. With the book, we can save them from this curse.”

“You said it yourself that Erika was evil even before she transformed.”

“And Julien was an asshole. Neither of them committed murder. They deserve a chance, Willa. They deserve forgiveness for the crime they commit in this state.”

I scream as I hold her tighter. I don’t want to forgive her.

It’s too hard. What she took…what they’ve all taken is too much. Erika loses consciousness.

My anger fades back to pain, and the tears weaken my hold. “It’s not fair. I shouldn’t have to lose him twice.”

Reid touches my shoulder. “I know, sweetie.”

My grips falls as grief takes me. Julien is gone. Killing Erika won’t bring him back. Nothing will.

Reid pulls me away from her. A chair grates against the floor behind him, and I jerk toward it. “What is it?”

I grip his arm. “Don’t move.”

He looks down at me, his brow raised in question. I point toward the throne. “I hear something,” I whisper.

He turns around, and the chair next to the throne moves again. This time the screech across the floor is louder as something pushes it out of the way. “Reid!” I point at the throne, my voice suddenly lost.

It’s the Mountain Lion. It slinks around the chair and down the steps toward us. Reid grabs Erika’s limp body and pulls her back with us, heaving her up on his shoulder. It stops in front of us and then peers down one of the long, dark hallways leading off the throne room. Eyes light up the darkness.

I inch closer to Reid. The Red Wolf eases out of the shadows toward us, taking the spot next to the Mountain Lion. I glance over at him. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

A raven calls above us and I reflexively duck down as it flies over our heads. It lands on top of the throne. It flaps its wings and hops back and forth along the back of the chair. The Mountain Lion and Wolf don’t move. “Do you think they want us to bring them into human form?”

Reid eases Erika down to the floor and takes my hand. “There’s only one way to find out.”

The power bursts freely between our hands, and it takes only a moment for us to spread the orange glow to the rest of the room. Just like in the cavern, our power causes the animal forms of the Haunted to transform, their bodies fading into a dark gray smoke that twirls and twists into the air, creating human forms.

Estelle Cote sits on the throne in her brilliant red dress and silky black hair that hangs to her waist. George Bessette and Luther Prescott stand closest to us. I squeeze Reid’s hand tighter. Luther is the spitting image of Zeke. I imagine it’s what he would have looked like as a grown man, as the years began to age his youthful face.

Estelle taps her fingers along the arm of the chair. “And to think…I never thought you two would finally come around.”

George glares over his shoulder at her, but then turns back to me. “Why didn’t you kill her?”

I look back at Erika’s body on the floor. She’s breathing, but only barely. I shrug. “I guess even with all the hate inside of me, I just didn’t have it in me to do it.”

Estelle stands up. She walks down the steps and takes the place on the other side of George. “I told you they wouldn’t harm them.”

Luther Prescott takes a deep breath. “Your family loved Ezekiel more than I ever thought possible. Even then, I doubted you. Then you go and spare her life.” He shakes his head at the girl on the floor. “The one who deserves your charity least of all.” Luther bows down. “Forgive me.”

I look at Reid, and he nods. It’s time. “Yes,” we say in unison.

Erika’s body starts to jerk and writhe on the floor, her hand grabbing at her heart. I turn to go to her, but Luther holds up his hand. “There is nothing you can do for her now. The Changing has started.”

I turn back around and watch George. He stares at the ground, his chin set tight. Estelle rolls her eyes. “Oh, come off it, George. You’re ready. You’ve been ready. You wouldn’t have tried to intervene with Grady and Talbot’s plan to snatch that girl if you weren’t tired of watching them all suffer.”

“Wait.” I step forward. “You didn’t help Grady take Abby? Those claw marks on his face…you were trying to stop him?”

George groans. “Those boys have always been rash in their decisions.”

“We’re growing old here, George,” Estelle says, followed by an impatient sigh.

He looks up, his arms crossed over his chest. “You had every right to kill them, but you didn’t. Thank you.”

Reid takes in a short breath. “Grady was one of my best friends. It might not have been real to him, but it was to me.”

George runs a hand through his hair and wrinkles his nose up like what he’s about to say causes him physical harm. “Forgive me.”

“Yes.”

The light around them bursts to a vivid yellow. It causes Estelle to smile. “Do you feel that?”

Luther nods. “Peace.”

George’s face remains stern. “We go on, but the fight isn’t over for you yet.”

Estelle takes in a deep calming breath, like it’s the first breath of fresh air she’s ever had. “Once the Changing completes in all three members of the Haunted, you must perform the Iniquity spell to release Grady, Erika, and Julien from the curse. If you don’t, the darkness will return and claim them, along with every other Haunted in line for the curse.”

“Lyric and Talbot will die too.”

“You’ll have until the Winter Solstice. It’s all in your book.”

I instantly take a step forward. “Where is my book?”

Luther points down the dark hallway. Lanterns outlining the wall instantly spring to life. “In the treasure room, of course.”

The light around them continues to get brighter, and with it, their images fade. Estelle’s smile brightens. “Go, Innocents. Go save us all. Let the light shine in Sanctuary again.”

Their outlines fade and so does our power. It shrinks back toward us until in vanishes completely. My eyes immediately go to Erika. She starts to scream, switching between her cursed state. “No. She’s mine! You can’t have her.”

She throws herself back and forth on the floor, and for once, I feel sorry for her. Reid touches my shoulder. “I’ll stay with her. Go get the book, and then we’ll take her to the circle with Grady before we go back to town.”

I take off down the tunnel. The Book of the Moon waits for me. It’s time we end this curse for good. I’ll end it for Zeke.

I’ll end it for
my
Julien.

Chapter 21

THE BOOK OF THE MOON

Smoke billows out of the top of two buildings at the end of Main Street. All of Erika’s guards have left it to its ruin. People stand on the sidewalk. Some pick up bits and pieces of destroyed merchandise while others sweep up glass. I hold the Book of the Moon tight to my chest as I run back to the spot where I left Julien.

He’s gone. His blood remains on the pavement, bright red streaks. It covers my hands too. The dried proof of the indescribable pain. “Where did they take him?”

Reid comes up behind me, pointing down the street. “Look, there’s Abby coming out of the door of Rooster’s.”

We make our way down there, and I hand the book over to Reid before catching Abby by the hand. “What’s going on?”

Abby’s eyes are red and swollen. “Lyric carried Julien in there. But, Willa…he was gone.”

“No. He can’t be. Lyric would have transformed.”

Abby takes my hand. “Would he? The Changing had completed in Julien. Lyric couldn’t even let his alter ego possess him during the fight.”

Julien died and Lyric didn’t transform.

A scuffle breaks out inside, and Sadie starts screaming. “Can someone help me out, here?”

I burst inside to find Sadie and Lyric attempting and failing to hold back Julien, who tries desperately to get up from the table. “I hear her out there. Let me go! I have to see Willa.”

My hearts stops beating. “Julien?”

Julien sits up on the table and pushes Lyric’s shoulder to the side. “Willa…”

“You’re alive?”

Julien struggles to rise again, and finally Sadie gives up. “Let him go,” she says before she releases her hold on him. “We’re never going to get him to lay still now.”

I run to him. “I can’t believe you’re alive. I watched you die.” I touch his face to make sure he is real. “You died out there.”

“No. You saved me.” Julien kisses me. His lips part mine. Eager and urgent. His hand grips my neck, pulling me closer to him.

This is my Julien, and he’s alive.

“Umm…excuse me.”

Julien’s lips rip away from mine.

I stand there, my hands out to my sides in utter shock.

Reid holds Julien by the back of his shirt, glaring at him. “I’m sorry,” Julien says, holding his hands up in surrender. “I kind of owed you one, and, well…I did just die and come back to life. I’m pretty sure that warrants a kiss from the girl you love.”

“You didn’t die,” Sadie says, her arms crossed over her chest. “Willa’s magic was still inside of you. Your heart still beat, though I have to admit, it was pretty faint at the end.”

“What happened?” I’m finally able to make my arms and mouth work again.

“This,” she says, holding up a tiny vial. The purple liquid inside emits a sparkling steam from the top. “It’s the new potion I’ve been honing. I tried to tell you about it that night at your Declaration party. I call it
Magnify
.”

Julien looks down at his shirt that has been ripped in half and runs his hand down his chest to the point where the knife entered his heart. “Is that what you poured all over me?”

“Yes.” Sadie smiles. “And you need more of it. You’re not completely healed yet. The potion takes all the healing qualities that Willa sent into you and magnifies them.”

Reid shoves Julien back to Sadie. “Go get healed.”

Julien glares at him, and so do I. Reid shrugs, unrepentant. “What? He kissed you. He’s lucky I don’t finish him off.”

I give Reid a quick kiss before shoving Julien back toward Sadie myself. “Let her finish. I’ve already lost you twice, and I can’t handle a third time.”

Julien scoots up on the table, and Sadie positions him. He glances over at me and smiles. “You love me. I heard you say it out there.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course I do. You’re my best friend. I told you that.”

“The reason doesn’t matter.” He grins as he takes in a deep breath.

Sadie pours the remaining potion over his wound, and Julien grips the edge of the table. “Do you know how bad this stings?”

“I told you it’s a potion I’m working on. I didn’t say I’d perfected it yet.”

Lyric snorts beside her. “Be happy she had some, dear brother, or I’d be taking you back to the Ridge in a box.”

“You still might,” Reid grumbles behind me.

I shoot him a small smile, and he returns it. “Speaking of not losing you for a third time, we have the Book of the Moon. We just have to go get Delphine and figure out how to do this Iniquity spell.”

Sadie nods. “Julien only needs a couple more minutes and we’ll be good to go.”

He rubs his chest, fighting back the urge to scream. “Speaking of the Iniquity spell. Who has the Prescotts’ curse now that Erika is dead?”

I glance back at Reid, and he comes over to the table to join us. “Erika isn’t dead.”

Sadie’s mouth drops open in shock. “You didn’t kill her?”

I sigh. “Trust me, I wanted to kill her.”

Reid places his hand on my shoulder. “You’re the only person I know with a heart kind enough to let her go.” I lean into his side. “Erika is in the circle with Grady. They’re going through the Changing right now.”

Julien sits up on his elbow as the wound in his chest closes and heals. “Then let’s go get this over with. I’m ready to be normal for once.”

***

I stop by my house to clean up. I have to get Julien’s blood off my hands. Julien takes a shower down the hall, but Reid doesn’t leave my side. He still holds the Book of the Moon like it might jump out of his hands and run off. Once everyone is ready, we go meet Delphine, Sera, and Jade at the circle. Grady and Erika are gone. I run up to the circle, but Sera raises her hand. “Don’t worry, they haven’t escaped. We moved them to the circle behind my house. I want to be able to check on them to make sure the Changing completes.”

“Plus,” Delphine says, grinning, “I needed to use this one tonight.”

“For what?”

Delphine holds her hand out toward Reid. “Get your Moon and join me in the circle.”

Reid gives my book to Sera and takes my hand. “What is this about?”

“Just follow me,” Delphine says.

Once we step inside the circle, the flames rise up, turning white. Two figures appear behind us. It’s Contessa and Elizabeth. Contessa glances at Reid and then winks at me. I know that look. They’re going to declare Reid.

His brows are knotted together. He doesn’t have any idea. Delphine takes his hand. “I’m old,” she says simply, “and as of late, this war with the Haunted has gotten too complicated for this old bird to keep up. I’ve been the leader of the Sun for long enough.”

Reid still doesn’t get it. “You’re going to pass the book on to my mom?”

Delphine sighs. “Not your mother. Sera and I both agree it should go to you.”

Reid takes a step back. “Me?”

Elizabeth smiles at him. “I told you Wilhelmina needs her Sun. Now more than ever.”

Reid looks warily at me. “So, does that mean I have to get one of those fancy marks?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth says, laughing a little. “Any requests on where I should put it?”

He looks at me, and I smile. “Chippendales it?”

Reid smirks. “My mother is watching, Wilhelmina.”

I roll my eyes. “Fine. Your wrist then.”

Reid turns his wrist over, and Elizabeth touches it. “Congratulations.”

Reid drops like a dead fish to the ground. “Holy crap, this hurts.”

He falls onto his hand as if trying to put out the flame. It takes a good five minutes before Reid is able to stand back up, and even then he clutches his wrist to chest. “I told you it hurt,” I say, smirking.

He absently rubs the spot. “That does more than just hurt.”

Delphine smiles up at him. “It’s time.” She walks out of the circle and gets both books and brings them back to us. “Only together can leaders of both lines read the Iniquity spell.”

I take the Book of the Moon. My fingers press down on the soft leather. Reid nudges my elbow. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

We open the books together, and the fire around the circle flares higher. Everyone stands around the edge, waiting. I flip to the back, to the empty pages where the spell should be. The pages are still blank. Reid looks up at me and smiles. I purse my lips. “There’s nothing in here, still.”

He moves to me, still grinning. “Look closer.”

At the top of the page, scribbling itself out in perfect, beautiful cursive, is writing. Word by word it appears across the page. Reid holds his book up, showcasing the writing as well. I start to read it out loud for everyone to hear as it scribbles along the page.

The Demise of Iniquity

A cloudless day when both the Moon and the Sun can be seen in the sky. The Innocent of the Sun will take the black fruit from the Raven’s tree and combine it with water from the Elder’s spring. The Innocent of the Moon will pour it in the chalice of Franz E’tour.

Each member of the three Haunted families must drink from the chalice in the order of their original downfall.

Bessette. Prescott. Cote.

At dusk when the Sun and Moon exchange, their fate will be chosen.

The book snaps shut and the fire around the circle disappears. Abby steps over the stones toward me. “What does that mean…their fate will be chosen?”

“I don’t know.”

“And what is all that stuff we need in order to complete the spell?”

Julien steps up. “Well, the Raven’s tree is on the Ridge. It’s next to the Tower. Everyone says it was the first tree planted by a Cote when they settled on the Ridge. It’s a green apple tree.”

“And what is the Elder’s spring?”

“A waterfall,” a voice from the back of the crowd says. It’s Talbot, small and hiding. “It’s on our land. The caves beneath it lead to a small, cold spring.”

“Okay,” I say, nodding. “These are all things we can get. What about the chalice of Franz E’tour?”

Sadie raises her hand. “It belongs to the Prescotts. Zeke said once that he thought that was the main reason they built the grand hall. To display it in all its glory. It’s supposed to be carved from the rock there.”

“All right, then. We have a plan. Once Erika and Grady finish the Changing, we go get these relics and perform the spell. It’ll be easy.” I shake my head to make myself believe it. “Totally simple.”

Julien laughs. “When does anything we do turn out to be simple?”

I eye him warily. “I can hope.”

He smiles at me. It’s his Cote smile.

Reid’s arm wraps around my shoulder. Who am I kidding? A Haunted treasure hunt with Reid
and
Julien. There would never be anything simple, or uncomplicated, about that.

I look between them. “Is there any chance you two might put all this behind you and…I don’t know…become friends?”

Reid stares Julien down, and he returns it. Julien crosses his arms over his chest. “Any chance of you breaking up with Willa?”

“No,” Reid says through his clenched teeth. “Any chance of you getting over it and moving on?”

Julien purses his lips. “Nope.”

Reid looks over at me. “I still hate him.”

Julien nods. “I still hate him too.”

I let out a sigh. “Great.”

I shove the Book of the Moon under my arm and go grab Sadie and Abby. “Where are you going?” Julien yells after me.

“It’s been a rough month. I officially proclaim this a girls’ night out. No boys allowed.” I point my finger at Lyric and Talbot. “That means you guys too.”

Reid steps up beside Julien. “Yeah, but where are you going?”

“Somewhere with lots of wine.” Carolyn was probably still as Rooster’s trying to clean up the mess. We would go help. Help and drink.

I hand my book off to Sera and link my arm between Abby and Sadie. We need this time together. Time to heal, to process, and to figure out what the heck we’re going to do.

How do I balance my boyfriend and best friend? Is there a balance?

There’s always a balance. We’re proof of that.

I glance over my shoulder at Reid.
I didn’t mean for you to hear that.

I want to hear it. I want to know what you’re thinking…that you’re still thinking of me.

I’m always thinking of you.

Reid smiles.
Good.

An image flashes in my mind. I’ve seen it before. The scene he altered of us sitting on the couch, except this time he
really
altered it.

I smirk at him.
Tease.