Witch's Pyre

by Josephine Angelini

  Lily glanced up and saw that her coven was looking back at her with wide, worried eyes.

  “The dead shaman,” Breakfast said, as if to clarify.

  Her coven thought that the shaman had been long dead when she was put in the oubliette.

  “Do you get it? The worldfoam is the bridge to other universes, but the overworld—or the Mist, or whatever you want to call it—is the bridge across one world. It’s how Lillian and I were able to meet face to face on the raft,” Lily announced.

  “Raft?” Una asked dubiously. “You met Lillian on a raft?”

  Lily gave a frustrated growl. “It makes sense! The shaman hid the overworld from me so I’d have no choice but to leave his world or die. If I could just use the overworld to teleport myself out of the oubliette, he wouldn’t have gotten rid of me like he wanted.”

  “I think Lily’s had enough,” Rowan said. “Let’s deal with getting back to Salem after some rest.”

  “You think I’m crazy,” she said to her coven. “I’m telling you. The shaman was there in the oubliette with me.”

  “Okay, Lily,” Una said, placating her. “I believe you. But right now you need to rest.”

  The coven settled down in a far-flung circle. They all needed a moment to grieve for Juliet, and this was one of those times when the deep bond between them only intensified their emotions rather than helped alleviate them. Lily wished she could hole up behind the thick walls of a citadel so she wouldn’t feel what the others were feeling. She wandered among the trees until she couldn’t take another step and sat down inside the living cathedral, staring up at dawn’s paint on the ceiling.

  She reached out to Juliet, hoping some part of her was still in the overworld. She stretched and strained, pressing her will into a tight ball that she sent up and out of her like a prayer. There was no answer. Just silence and mist.

  Finally, Lily let herself cry. She cried until she choked and her stomach was sour from swallowing tears. She cried until her sides ached no matter how tightly she squeezed them. Rowan lay down on the ground behind her and put his arms around her. It felt like her ribs were cracking and she’d come apart if he didn’t hold her together. He didn’t say a word. She didn’t push him away.

  Lily dreamed about the Queen. She was drowning in honey, reaching out to Lily in a wordless plea. Her insect head had Juliet’s eyes. Lily woke with a start. Rowan was asleep next to her. He was still thin and bronzed from the trail. His grown-out hair fell over his sharp features, giving him a lean and wild look that made her ache. Rowan felt her staring at him and opened his eyes, his head pillowed on his bicep.

  I left Juliet’s body behind, she said in mindspeak.

  You had to. It was that, or we all would have died with her, he replied.

  What do you think the Hive will do with it?

  Don’t think about that. Please, Lily. Don’t try to picture it.

  I left Tristan’s body behind, too. I can’t even bury the people who die for me.

  Lily could feel how deeply he wanted to reach out and pull her down onto his chest, and for a moment, Lily didn’t know what she was going to do. The most natural thing in the world would be to kiss him and love him, but she couldn’t. Not with an image of her Tristan’s rotting body in her thoughts. Rowan caught a glimpse of what she was thinking and he let his eyes drift away from hers. The moment passed. Lily hauled herself up to standing.

  She found the rest of the coven already regrouping a few hundred yards away. Tristan watched Lily as she came out from between the trees. His gaze lingered on her puffy face and her red eyes.

  “Where’s Rowan?” he asked.

  Lily shrugged. “Back there,” she said, her indifference making it clear that the rift between them had not been repaired. Tristan looked troubled by this, so she changed the subject. “Anyone have any food?”

  “We were just discussing that,” Caleb said. He looked hassled. “Is anyone familiar with this Monterey area?”

  “I’ve never been, but I’ve seen pictures,” Lily offered lamely.

  “Anyone who’s seen a car commercial has seen pictures of Monterey,” Una said. Tristan and Caleb had matching expressions of confusion. She shook her head. “Wow. That’s right. Neither of you have been to this world.”

  “Do we need papers to get into the city?” Caleb asked.

  Rowan emerged from the brush and joined them. “No. And you can relax, Caleb. There are no Woven in these woods.”

  Lily noticed Caleb’s shoulders drop and realized that he had been on alert. “There might be a mountain lion or a bear here or there, but it’s safe,” Lily added. “And we can walk into town without having to show any identification.”

  Caleb and Tristan shared a look and possibly some mindspeak. They both seemed uneasy with how easy things were here.

  “But we do need money,” Breakfast said. He stood up and brushed the redwood needles off his legs. He studied his clothes, which were from Bower City. “This kit either makes me look like the coolest guy ever, or a giant tool. I can’t decide which.”

  Una chuckled. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

  “We’re in California,” Lily said before they could start their back-and-forth teasing. “I think they havea broad definition of normal here. We should blend in just fine.”

  “California,” Rowan said under his breath, a bittersweet smile on his lips. He looked up at the redwood canopy and took a deep breath, letting the dappled light play on his face. “Feel that?”

  “What?” Tristan asked.

  “Nothing to fear.”

  As they set out, Lily could feel Lillian brushing against her mind, asking where they were going. Lily blocked her out. She had to start thinking strategically again, and not run to Lillian for comfort every time she lost her nerve.

  Lily still hadn’t decided how to get Lillian and Alaric to work together, but she knew that she had to do it face-to-face and not give Lillian the chance to come up with a counterplan. Lily’s only shot at uniting all of the armies was to confront them and force them to work together somehow, although she still had no idea how she was going to do that. Until she came up with a plan, she needed to keep Lillian in the dark about what she hoped to do or she ran the risk of being outmaneuvered by her other self. And Lily had the uneasy feeling that being outmaneuvered could mean the deaths of many innocent people. Lillian wouldn’t hesitate to lose every last one of her claimed if it meant killing Grace.

  They walked for hours before reaching anything close to a road. They didn’t go completely hungry, though. Every few steps Rowan or Caleb would spot something edible and pick it or dig it up for the group to share.

  “It’s like a market day,” Caleb said, his face grim.

  “Pretty much everything grows out here,” Breakfast said. “Farming is one of the main industries of California.”

  That only made Caleb angrier. “And Grace kept it all for herself,” he said, fuming.

  Breakfast and Una shared a worried look with Lily. The more time Caleb had to digest just how deeply wronged his people had been by Grace, the deeper his resentment went. She looked at Rowan, expecting some of that anger to be in him, too, but all she saw in him was a wistful sadness. He took in the majesty of the redwood forest as if it was the first time he’d ever been able to enjoy the woods, rather than just survive them.

  The coastal road was no less stunning. A strip of concrete wound along cliffs that hung, green and misty, over the edge of dark blue water that was churned into pearly foam around the rocks.

  “Surfers,” Rowan said, pointing down at the bobbing figures in slick-black wetsuits. Big surf had come in with the setting sun, and they rode the frigid water with the mellow golden light behind them.

  Caleb and Tristan stared down at the surfers like they’d never seen anything so outrageous.

  “Those rocks,” Tristan said, grimacing. “That guy is going to get himself killed.”

  “No. They don’t let amateurs surf this break. He
knows what he’s doing,” Rowan mumbled, focused on watching one of them paddle out and drop into a set. The wave broke sloppy, and the surfer wiped out. “Ah!” Rowan exclaimed, wincing. He turned to the group, pointing, and realized that they weren’t as engrossed as he was.

  “You know, it kind of fits,” Breakfast said, studying Rowan.

  “Yeah. Rowan the surfer dude,” Una agreed.

  Rowan blushed and looked down. “Hardly,” he said, his enjoyment vanishing. “I would have liked to have tried it, though.”

  They followed the road into town, but didn’t have to walk the entire way. One of the surfers leaving the break let them pile into the back of his pickup truck and he took them the rest of the way into town.

  “Are you guys going to be okay?” the surfer asked as they got out.

  “We’re meeting friends,” Breakfast lied.

  “Well, if your friends bail on you, there’s a party,” he said. “I’m Miller.”

  “Hey, Miller. I’m Breakfast. This is my lady, Una. Tristan, Caleb, Rowan, Lily. Rowan wants to surf.”

  “Yeah? Nice,” Miller said, smiling broadly.

  And just like that, Breakfast had made another friend. Miller took them to the party where there were tons of salty chips and guacamole for Lily, enough for her to refuel the rest of them. The coven took turns washing up in the bathroom as discreetly as they could. Not that it mattered. Half the people at the party had spent the day in the ocean and were just as disheveled and windblown as they were.

  “Is everyone in this world so generous?” Caleb asked disbelievingly.

  “Not everyone,” Breakfast answered. “But I guess that’s surfers for you.”

  Tristan looked around. Several cute girls looked back. “I like California,” he decided.

  Lily and Rowan shared a knowing grin and then caught themselves. It was easy to forget that they didn’t belong among these carefree people—that they didn’t belong together anymore.

  “So I asked my friend, and he said you can all crash here tonight,” Miller told them as he rejoined the group.

  “We really appreciate that,” Breakfast said. “I’ve got to hit an ATM at some point, though, and pitch in for the drinks.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just tell me where you all got those necklaces.” Miller couldn’t take his eyes off Lily’s willstones. “What kind of crystals are those?”

  “I grow them,” Rowan said. He’s got talent, he added in mindspeak for the coven. He’s drawn to Lily.

  That’s probably why he stopped to pick us up, Una added.

  “You grow crystals? No way,” Miller said, looking admiringly at Rowan. “You know, we should go surfing in the morning. I’ll take you to our break.”

  Rowan looked pained. “I’d love to, but I don’t have a board,” he said.

  Miller shrugged. “You can use one of mine. I have extra wetsuits, too. You can’t go in the water up here without one.”

  “Miller, do you have a landline?” Lily asked, saving Rowan from having to decline. “I need to check in with my sister back in Massachusetts. Let her know I got in okay. I’ll call collect.”

  “No you won’t,” Miller said, shaking his head. He put down his beer and gestured for Lily to follow him. “The guy who owns this place is a trust fund baby. He won’t even notice.”

  Miller took Lily into the kitchen. There were a bunch of people attacking a fondue set on the center island, laughing, making a mess. They looked so happy. So free. Lily watched them with a smile, imagining Juliet’s bright laugh chiming out of the mix. Miller got the landline receiver out of a drawer and pulled open a sliding glass door that led to a wraparound patio.

  “It’s quieter out here,” he told her, handing her the phone.

  “Thanks, Miller. I won’t be long.”

  He stayed with one hand on the open door. “So, you and Rowan—” he began leadingly. “Are you two, like, together?”

  “Yes,” Lily answered, just to make things easier. It didn’t even feel like a lie, and she had to remind herself that it was.

  “Cool,” Miller said, backing off. He stumbled a little, his feet suddenly awkward.

  Lily closed the glass door behind her and saw Miller lingering on the other side of it for a moment, reluctant to leave her. He finally stalked off, frowning to himself like he wished he could go back and do that whole conversation over again.

  Lily’s hands shook while she dialed her home phone number. As usual, Juliet sensed that Lily was going to call and picked up before the end of the first ring.

  “Lily?” Juliet said.

  “Jules—” Lily’s voice broke and more tears came.

  “Are you hurt? What happened?” Juliet asked, her voice high and breathy with worry. Lily tried to say something and failed. “You shouldn’t have called—”

  “Juliet. I need money. A lot of it,” Lily managed to choke out. “I’ll wire it,” Juliet said. “Can you just think where really hard and not say it?”

  Months had passed since Lily and her coven had left Scot’s body in the snow, but she should have guessed that no amount of time would make the FBI agent assigned to her case back off.

  “Simms,” Lily said, naming the Rottweiler of a special agent.

  Lily looked through the glass and watched Miller pacing back and forth on the edge of the kitchen like a caged cat, and it clicked in her head. Simms would never let Lily’s case go. She probably didn’t even understand why she chased after Lily the way she did, but Lily understood. Simms was either a latent mechanic or a crucible.

  “It’s far, Jules.” Lily pictured what she’d seen that day. She spent a long time concentrating on the different images and all the associations that she could make for this place. Several minutes passed before Juliet responded.

  “Got it,” she said. “Aw, I always wanted to go there.”

  Lily laughed and sniffled at the same time. “I really miss you.”

  “I miss you, too, but you need to go. The cash will be at the Walmart,” Juliet said. “Be safe.”

  Lily hung up and stared out at the varying shades of darkness that still couldn’t quite smother the beauty of the view. The house was built on the edge of the bluff, and the surf brushed and sucked at the rough rocks below, filling the air with a muffled shushing. Midnight water winked back at the moon. Lily could smell the redwoods seasoned with salt from the ocean. She didn’t know what to do.

  The sliding glass door opened behind her. Lily turned, expecting to see Miller there, but it was Tristan. She smiled at him. “Shouldn’t you be in there breaking hearts?” she teased.

  Tristan smiled back at her joke, but looked away. “I think I’ve gotten tired of all that,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the deck next to Lily. “It’s one thing to know that you run around with a lot of girls, and another thing to actually meet yourself and see you doing it.”

  Lily nodded. “When I first met Lillian, and I’m talking about that first second I laid eyes on her, I hated her. Probably because I saw in her all the things that I disliked in myself. I’ve never hated anyone that much.”

  Tristan looked at her sharply. “You’ve never talked with me about meeting her.”

  “I’ve never talked with anyone about it,” Lily said. “It’s almost embarrassing to see yourself so clearly. To know—not just think—but to know that you aren’t as great as you thought or maybe just hoped you were.”

  “That’s it,” Tristan said, nodding. “I always hoped I’d be a better person than I am, but after meeting the other Tristan, and sharing his memories . . . well. I know how flawed I am. More flawed than anyone knows. Even you.”

  Tristan took a breath as if he was about to tell Lily something, but a sharp sound from around the corner of the wraparound deck made Tristan jump. As he stared into the dark, trying to find the source of the sound, the sliding door behind them opened.

  “Did you talk to her?” Una asked. Caleb was right behind her, and they stepped outside to join Lily and Tristan
.

  “Yeah,” Lily said, her mind back on Juliet. “Money’s on its way. Someone’s waiting for us back there, though.” Lily sent them all an image of Simms.

  “We can’t fly, then,” Una said. “She’ll be all over us as soon as we try to board a plane.”

  “We can take a bus. Or rent a car under a fake name,” Lily suggested.

  “I like the rental car idea better. It’s more private,” Una replied.

  “See what Breakfast can get out of Miller. Maybe say one of us needs a fake ID to buy alcohol or something,” Lily said.

  “That’s shouldn’t be too hard,” Una said, a wry smile dimpling her cheek. “He’s practically got Miller asking him to marry him.” Her eyes unfocused as she passed Lily’s request to Breakfast in mindspeak.

  “I think Miller’s more interested in Lily,” Caleb said.

  Lily nodded pensively, recognizing too much of Scot in Miller. “We should leave as soon as we can.”

  “How long will it take us to get back to the East Coast?” Caleb asked.

  “If we drive in shifts? I’ve heard of people doing it in three days,” Lily replied.

  “Unbelievable,” Tristan said under his breath. “How long did it take us just to get across the mountains, Caleb?”

  “Weeks,” Caleb replied, not in the mood to reminisce. He frowned deeply. “Three days to get back. Worldjump. Then we still have to find Alaric . . .”

  “Who said we’re going to Alaric?” Lily asked.

  Caleb looked shocked. “You don’t mean to join Lillian, do you?” he asked.

  She met his eyes. When she claimed him, she promised him that she was going to fight Lillian—not the Woven, not some unknown witch three thousand miles away, not evil incarnate. Lillian. His eyes wouldn’t give her an inch. She should have known he would hold her to it someday.

  Lily sighed and looked out at the night. Little lights sparkled here and there up the coast. She could stand up right now and walk all the way to those lights and not one bad thing would happen to her. No monsters would loom up and tear her apart. No sadistic witches would kill her loved ones if she left them behind. She could climb down to the ocean, throw off her clothes, and swim in the cold, briny water until dawn if she chose. But she couldn’t choose that. The time when she could have stayed in her own world had passed. Lillian had won, and whether she went back and joined Lillian’s army or not didn’t matter. Ultimately, they were fighting for the same thing.