The Witches of the Dark Power

by Gabriella Lepore

‘With Colt, one would imagine.’

  Dino rolled his eyes. ‘Where’s Colt?’

  ‘With your sister, one would imagine.’

  Dino ground his teeth. ‘Where?’

  Siren nodded towards the misted maze. ‘Logic would suggest they’re in there.’

  Blue approached from behind them, his footsteps crunching across the forest floor. He cleared his throat. ‘May I suggest something?’ he ventured tentatively.

  Siren raised an eyebrow and Blue forged on.

  ‘S-s-since we can’t go in there,’ Blue began, ‘maybe you could go in for us?’

  Dino folded his arms and nodded. ‘Good idea, Blue.’ He turned to Siren. ‘You heard the man. Bring Mia out here to us.’

  ‘I don’t take orders from Arcana,’ Siren spat. ‘Especially not from two pitiful novices such as yourselves.’

  ‘We’re not ordering you,’ Dino negotiated. ‘We’re simply asking you for a favour. A favour that we’ll repay. Or else we might just have to mention that we bumped into you out here in the middle of the night, hunkered down with Colt.’

  Siren grimaced. He turned away from them while he contemplated their request. After several bated seconds, he exhaled indignantly, then strode back into the forest, shoving past Dino and Blue as he went.

  Seething, Siren charged into the maze. He batted away the clouds of mist in angry swipes. He had to admit it—those Arcana had guts. Stupid, sure, but ballsy too. Siren had sensed something there—a courage akin to what he usually sensed only from his coven members. And he didn’t like it.

  ‘Colt!’ he bellowed.

  The mist parted to reveal Colt sitting high up on a sturdy tree branch, lounging against the trunk. In his lap, he cradled the Tome of Black Magic. He looked down when Siren approached.

  ‘Hello,’ he greeted his fellow Hunter.

  ‘Don’t hello me!’ Siren raged. ‘It’s your fault that I’ve been drawn into this infernal mess.’

  Colt cocked an eyebrow.

  ‘Arcana,’ Siren elaborated, spitting out the word with distain. ‘They think they can use me as their dogsbody. Sending me on their errands like some sort of . . . of . . .’

  ‘Dogsbody?’ Colt offered.

  ‘How dare they,’ Siren ranted. ‘Nobody blackmails me.’

  ‘And yet here you are,’ Colt remarked.

  ‘Yes, I am! For it seems that I am to suffer for your wrongdoings! It’s unjust.’

  ‘Ha!’ Colt scoffed. ‘Their accusations are not my wrongdoings.’ He closed the book and nestled it into a hollow slot in the tree. ‘What do they want this time?’

  ‘They want their girl back. They’re waiting out there for me to bring her.’ Siren gestured vaguely in the direction from which he’d come.

  Colt jumped down from the branch, deftly landing on the ground beside Siren. ‘I don’t have her,’ he answered simply.

  Siren cracked his knuckles. ‘Then where is she?’

  ‘How should I know?’

  ‘You were with her!’

  ‘Yes,’ Colt agreed, ‘but as you can see, brother, I’m no longer with her. I’m here,’ he clarified, ‘and she is not.’

  Siren gritted his teeth. ‘Perhaps, brother,’ he began with forced composure, ‘you will shed some light on her whereabouts so that I may find her and hand her over, thereby removing myself from this unfortunate misunderstanding. The Arcana are threatening to implicate me if I do not return their girl immediately.’

  Colt gave an amiable smile. ‘Sadly, I don’t know her whereabouts, so I cannot help you. All I know is that she doesn’t seem to be here.’

  ‘You’re insufferable.’

  ‘Anyway,’ Colt went on, ‘would it really be so terrible if you’re exiled also? It could work in our favour.’

  ‘But I’ve done nothing to warrant banishment!’ Siren exclaimed.

  ‘You did bring me the book,’ Colt disputed. ‘And while we’re on the subject, let’s not forget that I have done nothing wrong, either. Although there’s been so much blame placed upon me that even I am beginning to question my innocence.’

  ‘Maybe all your mist is going to your head,’ Siren suggested humourlessly.

  ‘And while we’re on the subject,’ Colt repeated, ‘perhaps you’d best go out there and tell them that Mia is not here.’ He gestured towards the mist maze.

  ‘You go out there!’ Siren barked. ‘I’m not your dogsbody, either. You be the one to tell them that she’s not here.’

  ‘Hmm . . .’ Colt pondered it. ‘In fact, Siren, I think I will do just that.’ He turned on his heel and strode into the mist, parting it with a modest wave of his hand. ‘You coming?’ he called over his shoulder.

  With a huff, Siren followed.

  Together, they stalked through the trees and emerged in a clearing, where Dino and Blue were awaiting Siren’s return.

  The boys froze at the sight of Colt.

  Dino was the first to recover. ‘Where is she?’ he said tautly. ‘If you’ve hurt her—’

  Colt paced swiftly towards him and cut him off. ‘If you want to protect your sister, then I suggest you go back to the castle, since that’s where she is.’ His tone was low and threatening. ‘I am clearly not there, but the real culprit is. Jonathan.’

  Dino raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Shadow him if you know what’s good for you.’

  ‘Jonathan’s missing,’ Dino shot back. ‘And I’m betting you’re involved somehow.’

  ‘Just find him,’ Colt warned. ‘Find him before he finds her.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Past, Present, and Future

  ‘I bring news of Jonathan,’ Demetrius announced in the drawing room late that night.

  Amos, Cassandra, and Madeline rose from their seats. The other Arcana had retired to their sleeping quarters, but the three adults had stayed awake, awaiting the Hunters’ return.

  ‘I’m afraid it’s as we feared,’ Demetrius went on. ‘Jonathan is dead.’

  Amos staggered backwards in disbelief. ‘You’ve seen him?’

  Demetrius bowed his head. ‘Yes. His body was found at the Glass Castle border.’

  The colour drained from Amos’s face. Cassandra helped him to the sofa, where he collapsed into the cushions.

  ‘Oh, Amos,’ Cassandra murmured. ‘I’m so sorry.’ She took a seat beside him and grabbed hold of his frail hand.

  Amos squeezed her hand, but his eyes stayed on Demetrius. ‘You must be mistaken,’ he began, his lips quivering. ‘It couldn’t have been Jonathan. There has been a mistake.’

  Demetrius remained stoic. ‘There’s been no mistake. I identified him myself.’

  Madeline ran her fingers through her thick red hair. ‘And you’re sure he’s dead?’ she asked quietly.

  The Hunter nodded once. ‘Yes.’

  A mournful wail escaped from Amos’s lips. ‘No, please no,’ he sobbed. ‘Please, Demetrius, tell me you are mistaken?’

  ‘I am not mistaken,’ Demetrius replied stiffly.

  Cassandra wrapped her arms around Amos. She met Madeline’s gaze and they shared a private look.

  Demetrius hovered in the shadow of the ornate door, not daring to step fully into the room.

  ‘Any indication as to what happened?’ Madeline asked him.

  ‘It appears to have been an attack.’

  Madeline swallowed. ‘Colt and Siren?’ she guessed, glancing at Cassandra.

  ‘It seems so,’ Demetrius confirmed darkly. ‘The rogue Hunters are still unaccounted for.’

  Abruptly, Amos rose to his feet. ‘I must go to him,’ he said, flustered. He took off his glasses and wiped feverishly at his bloodshot eyes. ‘I must see Jonathan at once. I must make sure that . . . that it is him. Take me to him, Demetrius.’

  Cassandra stood up too. ‘Amos, are you sure that’s a good idea? You’ve had a terrible shock, and we can’t risk you falling ill as well. It’s enough that Wendolyn’s . . .’ she let the sentence drift off.

  ‘I must,’
he whispered in earnest. ‘I must go to him.’ He shook his head. ‘I must.’

  The two women swapped another uncertain look.

  ‘Then I’ll go with you, Amos,’ Madeline offered. ‘Cassandra can stay here to keep an eye on everything.’ She paused for a moment. ‘And when we return, perhaps it would be best if we gather that Arcana kid Isaac and perform the exile ritual on Siren.’

  Cassandra nodded sadly in agreement.

  Madeline took Amos’s arm, and together they followed Demetrius out into the dimly lit corridor.

  Alone now, Cassandra cast a glance to the lead-framed windows. In the courtyard, shadows were being bent into dark shapes in the night. Her stomach fluttered with nerves.

  ‘Catch this monster,’ she murmured to the distant moon.

  She retrieved her shawl from the sofa and wrapped it around her shoulders before pacing into the corridor. Ahead, the staircase loomed in front of her. As she raced up the steps, her thoughts wandered back to a time she had long since forgotten.

  She hadn’t been much older than Mia when she’d first met Tol. It was during her first year at the Glass Castle. She had arrived full of spark and eagerness to excel. At seventeen years old, she was determined to be the greatest witch the castle had ever known.

  But life hadn’t worked out that way for her. Her powers had been weak. She was a Reader, but an average one at best—especially when held in comparison to exceptional Readers like Wendolyn. Cassandra’s hopeless strive for excellence had left her restless, frustrated, and feeling like an utter failure in spite of Wendolyn’s constant assurances. It was during that time when she’d begun to seek out Tol.

  In the early days, she had loved him—feverishly, passionately, destructively. He had been possessive of her, demanding and envious too, and she’d basked in his attention, finally gleaning what it felt like to be number one. They had begun as an obsessive fling—a way to boost each other’s egos while they’d wasted the long hot summer feeling inferior in the castle.

  They’d shared a closeness, each struggling with their own sense of failure. Both had been living in the shadow of the other Hunters and Arcana. In Cassandra’s case, even her little sister Madeline’s Seer visions were more noteworthy than Cassandra’s substandard psychic powers. Back then, it had destroyed her to think that her fifteen-year-old sister was outshining her.

  But Tol had always been there to make her feel desired and wanted—not to mention a talking point amongst the others. Indeed, her unlikely connection with a Hunter had succeeded in bringing her to the forefront of everyone’s attention. She had loved that their attraction was wrong, and so had he. They had wanted to get caught. They had wanted to raise eyebrows. They had shamelessly used each other to satisfy their mutual need to be noticed.

  Over the intervening years since then, Cassandra had often wondered if there had ever been any real love between them, or if it had simply been their misguided kinship that had kept their fire burning.

  But now, as she ascended the stairs two at a time to the Glass Castle’s upper corridor, her mind was taken back to when she’d been seventeen—to when she’d been clamouring up this same staircase in girlish anticipation of seeing Tol once again. There was true love, she suddenly remembered, wistfully. The realisation both pleased and saddened her.

  For Cassandra, that love had only grown when she’d discovered, a few summers later, that she was expecting a baby. In the first few months of carrying the child, she’d been the same selfish teenager who couldn’t be happy unless she was outdoing others. But as the baby inside of her began to grow and stir, something new and abstract overtook her.

  Perhaps it had been her love for the unborn child that had changed her. Whatever it was, it had been all-consuming and more powerful than any magic. She knew she would sacrifice anything and everything for this baby. All of her rebellion, petulance, and self-involvement had disappeared. She was going to have a child, and that meant more to her than all the magic in the world.

  However, an Arcana bearing the child of a Hunter was unthinkable to most, and her baby had come at a great personal cost. Cassandra’s parents had turned their backs on her. Thankfully, her sister Madeline and her brothers Phillip and Anton had stood by her. The four siblings had made a strong coven, even as novice teenagers, and they had remained at the castle together with Wendolyn and Tol. For a while, as they’d waited for Dino to be born, life had been wonderful.

  Then one day, towards the end of her pregnancy, something happened that had thrown Cassandra’s blissful state into irrevocable turmoil. Madeline had foreseen power; she’d had a vision of a child glowing with strength, and had excitedly shared the news with Cassandra and Tol. Naturally, Cassandra had been proud that an heir of hers would achieve the renown that she herself had once so desperately sought. Little had she known that Tol still strove for that goal—and would sacrifice everything to get it.

  Tol would occasionally return to the chamber where they, as a little family, had slept. He would often stare at Dino with a faraway look in his eye. Cassandra would tell herself that he was looking at their son with the same all-consuming love that she, too, had felt for Dino—but still, she would lift him from his crib and nurse him to break Tol’s stare.

  A little over a year later, her second child had been born. With baby Mia’s arrival, Cassandra’s world was complete. What more could she have wished for? She had two beautiful children and she’d become part of a powerful circle of magic alongside her brothers and sister. Her place in the coven had accelerated her personal powers, too. But she hadn’t cared about that anymore—not now that she had Dino and Mia.

  As Cassandra’s attention and love were increasingly consumed by her children, she’d no longer been able to give Tol the validation he’d craved. His obsession for power had thus been reignited, and he’d become even more fixated on Dino, convinced that his would be the power to flourish. He had never considered that Mia, the humble infant Arcana, would possess such strength—strength that, Cassandra now knew, was destined to emerge as the Arx force-field.

  Over time, Tol’s plans for uprising had begun to form, and clandestinely he had persuaded Anton and Phillip to join him, converting them to dark magic and promising them a share in the power that he would one day steal from his very own flesh and blood. The hunger for Dino’s future had warped Tol’s every cell, and when his plan had finally been exposed through another one of Madeline’s visions, Cassandra had been left with no option but to ask Wendolyn to exile all three young men from the castle—and from Cassandra’s life—forever.

  Heartbroken, frightened, and ashamed that her own power had not picked up on the scheming, Cassandra had moved to civilisation with her two children to live out her days as a mere mortal. Madeline had given up her own promising future at the Glass Castle to follow, and together they had built a life in the urban world of the powerless. Cassandra’s only tie to her former life had been the three enchanted words she’d scrawled on the basement wall with a nail when they’d first moved into their new un-enchanted house: addo vis vires. To give power—not to let it be taken, no matter what the personal cost.

  The toddlers had become children, then teens. They’d had no memory of the magical life they’d once led. But Cassandra had always known that one day their powers would emerge and they would return to the castle that had been their very first home. Sure, she’d wished and prayed that their powers would somehow lay dormant and never come to fruition.

  But could she have stopped it?

  No.

  No one can stop destiny.

  And so now, as she raced up the castle stairs all these years later, frantic to check that her children had come to no harm at the hands of yet another malevolent Hunter who wished to steal power for their own gain, she asked herself one question: Is history doomed to repeat itself?

  Cassandra stopped in front of the door to Dino and Mia’s bedchamber—the very same chamber they had all shared as a family once upon a time. As she slowly turned the
brass door handle, she smiled at Wendolyn’s long memory. For all her advanced years, the woman forgot nothing.

  Cassandra eased the door open. The lights were out and the bed curtains were drawn around both beds. Wrinkling her nose, Cassandra took note of the pile of crumpled T-shirts strewn around the closest bed. That one must be Dino’s, she decided. Gingerly stepping over the dirty laundry so as not to wake him, she crept to the second bed and slowly eased the drapes apart. In the darkness she saw the unmoving lump of a slumbering body buried deep within a pile of blankets.

  I won’t wake her, Cassandra decided. What would be the point? Let her have one more peaceful sleep before she finds out that the boy she loves is a murderous monster.

  Cassandra let the curtains fall shut around the grand four-poster bed, then tiptoed across the room and slipped out into the corridor to go check on Wendolyn.

  As the heavy oak door clicked shut behind Cassandra, the motionless form in Mia’s bed stirred, peering out from beneath the covers before going back into hiding to wait for Mia’s return.

  Dino, find me, Mia willed.

  She was huddled in one of the hedge archways in the garden. Demetrius, Talon, and Finn had passed her a while ago, heading back to the castle. She had heard them talking. Jonathan was dead.

  She still couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible. The castle was supposed to be safe. And she’d seen him just the night before!

  How could he be dead?

  She leaned into the shrubbery, her mind spinning.

  Dino, she called silently. Please, find me.

  She knew it was a long shot, but she was banking on the fact that Dino would sense her desperation across the distance. After all, he’d once told her that his Sententia powers were most pronounced with her. And while she used to hate the fact that he was privy to her innermost feelings, now she prayed that he would hear her fear.

  And he did.

  ‘Where are you?’ Dino said out loud as he and Blue paced towards the embankment after their encounter with Colt and Siren.