The Witches of the Dark Power

by Gabriella Lepore

  ‘Yes,’ Colt insisted.

  ‘The book is missing, too. The one with the spell to steal the Arx. Do you think Jonathan has it?’

  ‘I have it.’

  Mia’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Siren brought it to you?’ She felt a tiny swell of relief—despite knowing that her reaction may not have been entirely prudent.

  ‘Yes. After you left.’

  ‘So Jonathan doesn’t have the Tome of Black Magic,’ she mused.

  She hesitated for a moment as the information sank in. Then maybe Jonathan’s not the one who wants to kill me, she contemplated, stopping herself short of considering what that option meant for Colt. Or else Jonathan is the one who wants to kill me—and he’ll have to go through Colt to do it.

  ‘When I got back to the castle last night, Jonathan said some . . . things. About you. What if he’s planning to come after you?’

  Colt took another step back, bringing even more distance between them. ‘You saw him last night?’

  ‘At the castle. He was waiting at the entrance.’

  ‘I told you to stay away from him!’

  ‘He was there when I walked in,’ Mia argued. ‘What do you expect me to do? Walk through him?’

  ‘Yes, if that’s what it takes. Although, since you refuse to stay away from him, there’s the very real possibility that you might be walking through him after all. Since you’ll be a ghost. A dead one.’

  ‘Gee, thanks for the clarification,’ said Mia irritably. ‘Look, it might not be Jonathan. Maybe something else has happened to him—something bad.’

  Colt rolled his eyes. ‘So naïve.’

  Mia groaned. ‘Just promise me that if you come across Jonathan, you’ll get proof before you do anything reckless. Promise me you’ll let Wendolyn and Amos deal with this. Okay?’

  Colt’s expression was indifferent. ‘That’s a lot to ask.’

  ‘Just promise me. Please.’

  Colt sighed. ‘Fine,’ he relented. ‘I won’t kill him. Is that what you want me to say?’

  ‘Yes,’ Mia breathed.

  ‘I won’t kill him, but I will prove he’s guilty. And then I’ll request that Wendolyn and Amos permit me to kill him. Happy?’

  ‘Of course I’m not happy,’ Mia grumbled. ‘I’m rarely happy when the word kill is being used in a conversation.’

  Colt smirked. ‘I’ll stop saying kill if you stop saying Jonathan.’

  ‘Deal,’ Mia agreed emphatically. ‘But if Jonathan is the person behind this, how can you prove it?’

  He frowned. ‘Well, that deal lasted long. All of one second, by my count.’

  Mia placed her hands on her hips.

  Colt drew in a long breath. ‘I’ll figure it out,’ he answered at last. ‘I need more time, though.’

  ‘There is no more time!’ Mia cried. ‘Everyone already thinks you . . .’ she trailed off.

  He gave her the smallest of smiles. ‘Killed him?’

  ‘Everyone thinks so.’

  ‘Everyone thinks so?’ he echoed. ‘And are you included in this everyone?’

  Mia swallowed a lump in her throat. ‘No.’

  He smiled easily now. ‘Then what does it matter?’

  Mia moved closer to him and linked her fingers through his. ‘It matters,’ she said gently. ‘They’ll come looking for you. They probably already are.’

  ‘I’m not worried.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No one will find me here. And even if they do, the mist is charmed to stop unwanted visitors.’

  Mia raised her eyebrows. ‘What will happen to them if they breathe in the mist?’

  ‘Let’s just say they’ll have a nightmare of a time.’ He chuckled at his pun.

  Mia shivered as the velvet sky above them seemed to hang even more heavily with the dark promise of Colt’s words.

  Dino and Blue hovered at the entrance to the mist maze. They had seen Mia cross the courtyard from the castle and had set off in pursuit, following her trail past the Glass Castle borders and into the dark forest.

  ‘Now what?’ Dino uttered, pushing back strands of rain soaked hair from his brow.

  ‘Do you think she went in here?’ Blue asked, motioning towards the corridor tunnelling through the dense fog.

  The boys swapped an uneasy look as they hesitated at the entrance of the silvery labyrinth.

  Dino groaned. ‘How did we lose her? She didn’t have that much of a head start.’

  ‘That’ll be her Tempestus p-power working for her,’ Blue guessed. ‘She’s faster than us when it comes to travelling in a storm.’

  ‘Great,’ Dino grumbled. ‘And what useful powers have we got? My radio tuned permanently into Emotions FM and a couple of lousy buttons. No offence.’

  ‘Offence taken,’ Blue remarked, then let the jibe pass. ‘So, what do we do now? Should we go in?’

  They returned their attention to the grey mist rising from the damp grass.

  ‘You got a better idea?’ Dino asked.

  Blue wrung out his hands. ‘Go back to the castle and get help?’ he suggested. ‘We could find Amos and—’

  Dino rolled his eyes. ‘And in the meantime, Colt gets a free shot at my sister in his . . . his . . . whatever this is!’

  Blue raised his hand to the mist. ‘You think this is C-c-c-c-c—’

  ‘Who else could it possibly be?’ Dino glowered into the depths of the tunnel ahead of them. ‘This has got Colt written all over it.’

  Blue slowly nodded his head, but no words passed his lips.

  ‘Let’s do this,’ Dino decided, taking a step forward.

  ‘Wait!’ Blue cried, grabbing his friend’s arm and pulling him back. ‘A Hunter mist usually has s-some sort of s-spell on it.’

  Dino pondered it for a moment. ‘Then maybe you should stay out here,’ he suggested. ‘That way, if I don’t come out, you’ll be able to . . . I don’t know, notify my mother or something.’

  Blue glanced around the shadowy forest. His golden eyes widened in fear.

  ‘Or you could come in with me,’ Dino offered, sensing his friend’s disinclination to the proposed plan. ‘Safety in numbers and all that.’

  Blue nodded quickly. ‘Yes. Yes. That sounds better. Safety in n-n-numbers.’

  ‘Cool,’ said Dino, patting him on the back. ‘Let’s do this.’ He squared his shoulders and crossed the ethereal boundary into the maze. He could feel Blue following just inches behind him.

  As the boys walked deeper into Colt’s lair, the vapour walls moved and bent, ever-changing, manipulating their path with each step.

  ‘I wonder how far this goes,’ Dino murmured, straining his eyes in the moonlight to see the misted path that stretched out ahead of them.

  ‘And if we’ll ever be able to find our way back out again,’ Blue added.

  Dino looked over his shoulder. He could barely even make out Blue, let alone the path from which they’d come. ‘Where’s a trail of breadcrumbs when you need one,’ he joked.

  Blue pursed his lips into a frown.

  ‘I’ve got it!’ said Dino abruptly. ‘Get that stuff out!’

  Blue’s frown lines deepened. ‘What stuff?’

  ‘You know . . .’ Dino snapped his fingers, trying to summon the word he was searching for. ‘The stuff that makes buttons.’

  ‘Ciron thistle,’ Blue supplied for him. ‘It’s conjuring dust.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ Dino hurried him along. ‘That. Whip us up a couple of buttons.’

  Blue dug through his jeans pocket and produced a small vial packed with a substance that resembled grit and dried mud. He emptied a few grains into the palm of his hand and made a fist around them, then squeezed his eyes shut.

  ‘Button,’ he murmured to himself. He opened one eye and gave Dino an ironic smile. ‘I’ve never actually tried to conjure a button before.’

  Dino grinned. ‘Did it work?’

  Blue opened his fingers. ‘It worked!’ he cheered. ‘I made a button—on purpose!’

&n
bsp; ‘There you go!’ Dino celebrated with him. ‘I’m proud of you, buddy. Keep ’em coming.’

  Blue dropped the little brown button onto the boggy ground and began the conjuring process again. Ciron thistle, conjure, button, ciron thistle, conjure, button. Soon, a trail began to form through the maze.

  As they trooped gallantly on, they were unaware that the mist had slowly begun to trickle into their mouths and noses. It was imperceptible to them as they breathed it in and out like oxygen, ignorant to the fact that it would soon alter their unsuspecting minds with illusions.

  Dino was the first to feel its effects. His vision started to twist and speckle, and bright shapes began to float before his eyes. He rubbed his eyelids, blinking hard in an attempt to restore his sight.

  ‘I can’t see,’ he griped. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyelids.

  ‘I think the mist is doing something to us,’ Blue mumbled. ‘I feel dizzy.’ Another button dropped to the ground.

  Dino turned towards Blue, but as he did, a sphere of fog came between them like a swinging pendulum bringing a wall of mist in its wake.

  ‘Blue!’ Dino called. He broke through the foggy barrier with his hands, grasping at air. The enchanted wall forced him back. ‘Blue!’ he shouted again. Only a thick silver wall stared back at him now.

  And then he heard his friend’s voice from the other side.

  ‘There are too many,’ Blue was muttering. ‘Too many. Stop, stop . . .’

  ‘Too many what?’ Dino yelled into the mist. ‘What are there too many of, Blue?’

  ‘Too many b-b-b-b-b . . .’

  Dino tried again. ‘What’s going on, Blue?’

  ‘B-b-buttons!’ Blue wailed. ‘Help me, Dino! Please! They’re everywhere. They’re b-b-b-burying me!’

  Dino charged at the wall of mist between them, but it pushed him back, knocking him to the damp ground.

  He staggered to his feet. ‘Blue!’

  This time there was no response.

  ‘Blue!’

  The sound from behind the wall faded, then vanished. Dino could hear nothing except his own ragged breathing.

  He gripped the sides of his head and frantically scanned the pathway. Which way should he go? He had to find Blue!

  Suddenly, a new sound ruptured the silence. A scream.

  Mia’s scream.

  Dino whirled around, trying to trace the cry.

  ‘Mia!’ he shouted.

  ‘Dino!’ her voice came back to him. ‘Save me!’

  ‘Where are you?’ he shouted, looking helplessly from left to right.

  ‘Follow the path!’

  The mist bent and formed a new pathway before Dino. In the distance, a shadow took shape. It was Mia—it had to be.

  Dino broke into a run, sprinting along the narrow tunnel towards his sister. Finally she came into view.

  ‘Mia!’ Dino called to her, breathlessly. ‘Are you okay?’ He didn’t wait for her to answer. ‘Come on. We have to get out of here. Blue’s missing. We have to find him and—’

  Mia took an agitated step away from him. ‘How do I know I can trust you?’ she demanded.

  ‘What?’ Dino stammered, taken aback. ‘I’m your brother. Of course you can trust me!’

  Mia gazed straight through him. ‘Then why is he here?’ she asked, pointing at something behind Dino.

  Dino spun around. He didn’t know what to expect: Blue, Colt, perhaps even Demetrius. But when his eyes landed on the object of Mia’s attention, his heart nearly stopped in his chest.

  Tol.

  All of a sudden, Dino was short of breath.

  ‘My son,’ Tol hissed. His lips pulled back into a warped smile, exposing a crooked set of rotting teeth and a snakelike tongue. His skin was sallow around his sunken black eyes. ‘I knew you would return to me. This is your destiny. Or have you forgotten?’

  Dino shook his head feverishly. ‘No. This can’t be. You’re dead.’

  ‘I came back for you, my son,’ Tol sneered. ‘You resurrected me. You called for me, and I came back.’

  ‘I didn’t call you,’ Dino rasped. ‘I would never call you.’

  Tol lunged forward and gripped Dino’s face in his cold, bony hand. His gnarled and yellowed fingernails dug into the skin on Dino’s jaw. ‘You may not have called me with your voice,’ he murmured, ‘but you called me with your soul. Your soul is dark, my son, and it longs for me to take it.’

  ‘No,’ Dino choked, frozen to the spot in fear. ‘I’m not evil. I’ve changed. I’m good.’

  He felt a hot trickle of blood spill down his throat as Tol’s fingernails penetrated the skin.

  Tol laughed menacingly. ‘Impossible. You will never change.’ He dragged his fingernails along Dino’s neck, tearing the skin as they went. ‘Evil is in your blood. I am in your blood.’

  Dino winced as he felt the collar of his T-shirt become saturated with his own blood—the blood he shared with Tol. ‘I can fight it,’ he seethed. ‘I can resist. I am not evil.’

  And then he felt something cold and heavy in his grasp.

  ‘Do it,’ Tol urged, his tongue slithering over his jagged teeth. ‘You want to. I can feel it. I can see it in your eyes. Do it.’

  Dino stared down at the object in his hand and exhaled sharply. He was holding a dagger.

  All of a sudden, he heard Mia’s voice again. She was behind him now.

  ‘Don’t do it, Dino,’ she begged. She edged closer, reaching out to him. ‘You don’t have to be evil. It doesn’t have to be this way. You have a choice.’

  Tol laughed again. ‘There is no choice! The boy’s path is foreseen. He is merciless, just like his father. Now do it and join me forever.’

  Trembling, Dino brought the blade up. His limbs began to move of their own accord, no longer obeying him. He slowly turned to face Mia, then moved quickly, plunging the dagger into her stomach. The sound of his own cries echoed in his ears as he felt the blade sink into her flesh.

  She fell forward into his arms.

  He let out a breath.

  He had done it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nobody’s Dogsbody

  Dino held Mia’s lifeless body in his arms as he wept. He had killed her.

  ‘I’m evil,’ he choked. ‘I’m evil.’

  Then, as quickly as Mia had appeared before him in the maze, she disappeared, evaporating into a cloud of mist.

  There was a sudden cracking sound, immediately followed by a stinging sensation spreading across Dino’s cheekbone.

  He blinked.

  Tol was gone. Mia was gone. Now only Siren stood before him, smirking ever so slightly.

  ‘Hello,’ Siren said before striking Dino across the face for a second time.

  Dumbstruck, Dino looked down at his trembling hands. ‘Where’s Mia?’ he managed.

  Siren shrugged.

  ‘Tol’s here,’ Dino rasped. ‘We have to get—’

  Siren threw back his head and laughed. ‘To give credit where credit is due, Colt wears insanity well. Who knew he could be so creative?’ He fixed Dino with a crocodile smile. ‘As for you, tortured soul, I think you’ve had enough for one evening.’

  He gripped Dino by the scruff of the neck and dragged him through the channels of the maze, then launched him out into the untainted night air of the forest.

  Dino fell to the ground next to where Blue was sitting, anxiously rocking back and forth.

  ‘Buttons,’ Blue muttered, staring into space. ‘Buttons.’

  Siren chuckled. ‘My, my. You two are in a sorry state, aren’t you?’ He stood over them with a menacing glint in his raven-black eyes.

  ‘Where’s my sister?’ Dino’s voice came out hoarse and weak, ragged from the disturbing illusion.

  Siren sneered down at him. ‘I’m afraid I don’t understand the question.’

  Dino staggered to his feet. ‘Where’s Mia?’ he shouted again, squaring up to the Hunter. ‘Where’s Colt?’

  Siren’s eyes narrowed
and his sneer turned into a scowl. ‘Arcana,’ he muttered to himself. He pushed past Dino and headed back in the direction of the castle.

  Dino set off after him. ‘You know they’re out for your blood, too,’ Dino warned him. ‘If Colt’s guilty, then so are you.’

  Siren stopped walking, but he kept his back to Dino. ‘Is that so?’ he replied calmly, standing perfectly still amongst the pines.

  ‘If you’re an accomplice, they’ll—’

  ‘Please,’ Siren scoffed at the implication.

  ‘What, you think they’ll give you a free pass?’ Dino challenged. ‘Colt’s already been exiled, and it’s just a matter of time before they banish you, too. Or worse, once I tell them what you’ve done.’

  Now Siren turned slowly, meeting Dino’s eyes. ‘And what is it that I have allegedly done?’

  If Siren was rattled, he certainly masked it well.

  ‘You’re hiding Colt out here,’ Dino shot back. ‘You’re meeting with him in secret, helping him—’

  ‘It seems to me that I was helping you,’ Siren argued. ‘Though why I chose to do so is beyond me.’

  ‘Why were you out here in the first place?’ Dino retorted. ‘Colt’s already been found guilty. What further business do you have with him?’

  Silence.

  Sensing a weakness, Dino carried on. ‘Nothing to say, Hunter? Look, the way I see it, you’ve got two options.’

  Siren raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, really?’

  ‘Either you do as I say, and I’ll keep my mouth shut about seeing you out here—’

  Siren scoffed again. ‘Or?’

  ‘Or you’ll have to kill me.’

  ‘I must say, I prefer the latter,’ Siren replied.

  ‘From one Sententia to another, I’m willing to take my chances,’ Dino assured, matching Siren’s steely gaze.

  The Hunter glowered.

  ‘Believe me,’ Dino said slowly. ‘I’m not bluffing. Can you hear that?’

  Siren’s gaze intensified as he listened to Dino’s innermost resolve.

  ‘What is it that you want?’ Siren snapped at last.

  ‘Tell me where my sister is.’

  Siren let out a sigh. ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Where is she?’ Dino pressed.