The Witches of the Dark Power

by Gabriella Lepore

  ‘What if we keep him captive until we find the Arcana spell to remove the Arx?’ Siren offered from his point on the triangle.

  ‘It would require Amos to say the Extraction spell,’ Wendolyn reminded them. ‘I would not entrust him to do such a thing—no matter what you offer in exchange. Anyway, I’m beginning to fear that the spell is lost forever.’ She cast a remorseful glance to Mia, whose face fell.

  Colt swallowed hard. ‘Then we’ll keep him locked up until his Arx wears of completely,’ he suggested.

  ‘Colt,’ said Wendolyn in a gentle voice, ‘don’t underestimate Amos’s powers of hypnosis. You cannot risk him escaping. If he gets to the dark spell, he will kill Mia.’

  The group fell silent as they weighed what Wendolyn was telling them.

  ‘We cannot do what you’re asking of us, Wendolyn,’ said Siren at last. ‘You are too important to us. We cannot—we will not—lose you for this . . .’

  ‘I am weak,’ Wendolyn told them. ‘I am dying—’

  ‘No!’ Colt shouted. ‘You’re not. The poison is just making you feel that way. Amos has an antidote—I know he does. We’ll get it from him and cure you.’

  ‘Don’t you see, Colt?’ said Wendolyn gently. ‘Amos will not reveal the antidote. He never would have.’

  Mia’s chest tightened as she processed the older woman’s words.

  ‘Trust in me,’ said Wendolyn into the quiet night. ‘Have faith in my decision. This is my purpose in life—to protect the Glass Castle. I do it for William, and for you, my children. It is my destiny. And no one can stop destiny. Now, I ask of you, end this.’

  As Mia watched the heart-breaking exchange, she felt a presence behind her. She turned and saw a movement in the shadows. She narrowed her eyes and stared into the dark web of trees to where a broad figure was standing, motionless, watching the entire scene.

  Demetrius, she realised in alarm.

  He stepped out from the darkness and emerged before the group.

  Colt stiffened. ‘Stay back,’ he growled.

  Demetrius lifted his hands in peace. ‘I’m not here to fight. I can help you.’

  ‘Why should we trust you?’ Dino exclaimed. ‘You’re Amos’s henchman.’

  ‘We can’t trust him,’ Colt decided flatly. ‘He must die, just like his master.’

  ‘Wait,’ Wendolyn commanded. ‘Hear him out.’

  Standing rigidly before them, Demetrius gave her a reverential nod. ‘You were right, Wendolyn. You’ll never be able to find the Extraction ritual,’ he told them. ‘All of your searching was for nothing. Amos destroyed the spell to break the Arx years ago, he craves the power too deeply to ever allow it to be taken from him. The spell exists only in his mind now. So if you want it,’—he looked pointedly at Mia—‘then the time to get it is now, while you have something to bargain with.’

  Dino flinched at the statement. ‘You actually think we should bring Amos back?’

  ‘No,’ Colt rejected the idea immediately. ‘The Astral Switch spell can be done only once—meaning that someone would have to go to Wendolyn’s body now, while we hold the spell here,’ he said, addressing Dino and Siren.

  Mia straightened her shoulders. ‘I’ll go.’

  ‘But what if it’s not safe?’ Dino asked hoarsely. ‘What if it’s a trap?’

  ‘She can’t go alone,’ Colt agreed.

  ‘She won’t be alone,’ Demetrius said coolly. ‘I will be with her.’

  Colt choked at the proclamation, and Mia froze.

  ‘Okay,’ she managed in a weak voice that was unconvincing to even her own ears.

  ‘No!’ Colt shouted. ‘It’s out of the question!’

  ‘I could go with them,’ Blue stepped up, meekly.

  Colt snorted. ‘Oh, this just keeps getting better and better,’ he scoffed. ‘Enough with the comedy, my sides are splitting.’

  ‘I’m serious,’ said Blue with a frown. ‘We are a C-C-Conjurer and a T-T-Tempestus. And the others will be at the castle. Kizzy, Cassandra, Madeline, Isaac, Roland . . .’

  Siren’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at Demetrius. ‘Assuming he hasn’t killed them all by now.’

  Wendolyn raised Amos’s arm. ‘Please,’ she quietened them through Amos’s voice. ‘Go,’ she advised Mia and Blue. ‘You will be safe. I am certain of it. Demetrius will accompany you.’

  ‘No!’ Colt yelled again. ‘Demetrius stays with us. Where we can see him.’

  The outsider Hunter laughed menacingly. ‘I do not take orders from you.’

  ‘Demetrius will accompany you to the castle,’ Wendolyn repeated firmly, addressing Mia and Blue once more. ‘Have faith.’

  Mia’s stomach knotted at the thought. Could they really trust Demetrius? What other choice do we have? she realised bleakly.

  She took a deep breath. ‘Okay,’ she said, her voice stronger this time. She turned to Blue. ‘Let’s do this.’

  Colt bristled. ‘But—’

  ‘Trust me,’ Wendolyn urged the group. She turned Amos’s face towards Mia. ‘Now go,’ she said gently. ‘Get the spell to break the Arx, and bring it back to us. Then you, and Amos, can be free of this once and for all.’

  With a curt nod, Demetrius turned and strode back into the forest, heading in the direction of the castle. With one last glance to the others, Mia and Blue followed him, ghosting his steps as they ventured into the dark shadows.

  As she walked, Mia tried her hardest to block out the looks of dismay on Dino’s and Colt’s faces at her departure. She had an awful feeling that their expressions may very well haunt her forever.

  Mia and Blue had to run to keep up with Demetrius’s loping strides. By the time they reached the courtyard, they were breathless.

  Demetrius, on the other hand, wasn’t even flushed as he paced across the paving stones and flung open the door to the castle, almost tearing it from its hinges as he did so.

  The mist that had obscured the castle earlier had dissolved, and Mia had a clear view down the corridor as she entered. Kizzy was cowering on the staircase, her arms linked through the banister. When she caught sight of Mia and Blue, she let out a gasp. She sprung to her feet and sprinted towards them.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Kizzy cried, grabbing Mia’s arm. ‘Your mum and aunt are freaking out! They’ve gone looking for you guys!’ She paused just long enough to glance at Demetrius, who was stalking ahead of them in the direction of Wendolyn’s chamber. ‘Who’s that guy?’

  ‘That’s Demetrius.’

  ‘Demetrius?’ Kizzy’s brow furrowed. ‘But I thought Demetrius was the old dude . . .’ The misunderstanding suddenly sunk in. ‘Uh oh,’ she muttered.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Blue assured her. ‘It’s all figured out.’

  Mia swallowed. ‘We got the wrong guy. But we’ve got the right guy now.’ She quickly filled Kizzy in on the rest of the details as the trio hurried in the direction of Wendolyn’s bedchamber.

  When they got there, the door was ajar. Demetrius was already standing over Wendolyn, who looked tiny lying in the huge four-poster bed. In the low glow of the fireplace embers, they caught sight of a dagger glinting in the Hunter’s grasp.

  The girls and Blue let out a collective cry.

  ‘Stay back!’ Demetrius commanded them. ‘Don’t look him in the eye.’ He held the dagger over Wendolyn’s chest. ‘Now tell us the spell to break the Arx and we will let you live,’ he bartered in a low mutter.

  ‘Demetrius, my boy,’ Amos breathed in Wendolyn’s weak voice. ‘Surely you would not betray me this way. We are a team.’

  Demetrius laughed without humour. He lowered the blade closer to Wendolyn’s body, making sure not to meet Amos’s eyes.

  ‘Wait, wait,’ Amos yelped weakly. ‘We can come to an arrangement, I’m sure. Let’s not act irrationally.’

  ‘The spell to break the Arx is all they want,’ Demetrius rumbled. ‘Give them the Extraction ritual and you shall live.’

  ‘Demetrius,’ Amos pleaded. ‘My boy. My lo
yal heir. Surely you will not betray me for them?’

  ‘I am free of you,’ Demetrius hissed. ‘I will no longer be your silent puppet.’

  ‘I’ll share everything with you,’ Amos bartered. ‘My secrets, my power, my wealth. Everything I shall have, you shall have too. This castle will be yours, my dear boy. Don’t you want that?’

  Demetrius was silent for a moment. ‘Yes,’ he admitted at last. Wendolyn’s lips curled into a relieved smile. ‘But I want this more.’ Demetrius pushed the tip of the blade closer to Wendolyn’s chest. ‘I will say this one more time, give them the spell they seek and I will let you live.’

  Immobile in Wendolyn’s bed, with a poison of his own making creeping through the veins of the body he now inhabited, Amos swallowed laboriously. His crumpled expression showed that he had been beaten.

  ‘Have it your way,’ Wendolyn’s frail voice choked. ‘But you’re all fools.’ He glanced to the doorway, where Mia was standing with Blue and Kizzy. ‘The Arx is the most incredible power imaginable,’ he told her. ‘Why would you discard something like that—something that people would kill for? That people would die for?’

  Mia’s mouth went dry. ‘Because it’s almost destroyed my family,’ she told him honestly. ‘It ruined my father, and it nearly cost me my brother. So no, the Arx is not power—it’s destruction. And I don’t want any part of that.’

  ‘Stupid girl,’ Amos wheezed.

  ‘Stupid man,’ Mia replied.

  ‘The spell,’ Demetrius snarled.

  Amos sighed heavily. ‘It would have been wasted on her anyway,’ he consoled himself. ‘Say these words and the force-field will leave you.’ He let out a guttural cough, then began reciting from memory.

  ‘Shields and swords,

  Binds and chains,

  Unleash thine vessel from unbreakable reins.

  Release what is guarded,

  Release unto me,

  Break down thine walls,

  So shall it be.’

  By the time Mia, Kizzy, and Blue returned to the forest, Demetrius was long gone. He’d fled the castle. Mia presumed he’d wanted to get as far away from Amos as possible. After all, he was Amos’s right hand man, and he’d betrayed him—fortunately for them.

  In the small clear beneath the moonlight, Colt, Dino, and Siren continued to steadily hold Amos in the triangle, with Wendolyn speaking through him.

  ‘Did you get the spell to break the Arx?’ Wendolyn asked in Amos’s voice as Mia, Kizzy, and Blue raced through the trees to join them.

  They nodded in response, breathless from their sprint.

  Amos’s eyes closed, while Wendolyn listened soundlessly to the thoughts of the new arrivals. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she began reciting the words aloud.

  ‘Shields and swords,

  Binds and chains,

  Unleash thine vessel from unbreakable reins.

  Release what is guarded,

  Release unto me,

  Break down thine walls,

  So shall it be.’

  The ground beneath their feet began to tremble. Mia clung to a nearby tree trunk for support. The rough bark dug into her palms as the earth juddered.

  All of a sudden, the Hunters and Dino were thrown backwards from their points on the triangle. In the centre of the triangle, Amos flung his arms wide. His lips parted as he gulped for breath, and a stream of white light gushed from his open mouth.

  Mia shielded her eyes against the beam of bright light spearing from Amos. She cowered away from it, noticing the others doing the same.

  There was a blinding flash, like a bolt of lightning illuminating the sky, before the world plunged into darkness once more.

  After a few bated seconds, Mia peeled her fingers from her eyes and cautiously returned her gaze to Amos. Her trembling hands coiled around the tree bark once more.

  Amos stood hunched and panting in the centre of the triangle. The Astral Switch spell had been broken. Wendolyn was gone from his body.

  ‘You monsters,’ Amos choked tearfully. ‘You’ve taken it from me! You’ve destroyed me!’ He let out an anguished sob.

  Mia glanced at the others, who were spread out around the clearing. They staggered slowly to their feet and stepped out from behind trees.

  Now what? Mia wondered with a knot of fear in her stomach. Would they keep Amos prisoner? Would they set him free? Without the Arx protecting him, he wasn’t nearly as dangerous as he had been before. But he was a threat, nonetheless. Although once she’d used the Extraction spell to remove her own Arx, would Amos still want to kill her? Vendetta, the word flashed through her mind, making her blood run cold.

  She swallowed.

  Colt was the first to speak. ‘What’s the antidote, Amos?’ he said. His voice was low and husky, and his words made the air prickle.

  Amos gave an angry guffaw. ‘You think I will be rewarding you for this?’ he wailed. ‘You will never get your antidote!’

  Mia choked out an angry breath. ‘How could you do this to Wendolyn?’ she cried. ‘Give us the antidote, please!’

  ‘Never! I would rather die.’

  ‘Then die you shall,’ Colt spat furiously.

  Amos’s sobs dissolved into a sinister rumble of laughter. ‘Is that so, Hunter? If I die, then Wendolyn dies too. I am the only one who can cure her, remember?’ He managed a cruel smile. ‘I suggest you curb your attitude, boy. You’re mine now.’

  Mia watched in dismay as a look of defeat crossed Colt’s face.

  No, she thought desperately. Amos can’t manipulate us like this. He can’t.

  ‘Seize him, Siren,’ Colt snarled. ‘Take him to the dungeon until we figure out what to do with him.’

  However, before Siren could descend upon Amos, the older man’s knees buckled and he fell forward onto the ground with a heavy smack. He lay on the earth, facedown and motionless.

  A small gasp escaped from Mia’s lips as she caught sight of a dagger embedded into the back of Amos’s tweed jacket, glinting in the low moonlight. Where Amos had once stood, Demetrius now stood tall, his presence overwhelming in the quiet night.

  A deathly hush fell over the clearing.

  For a split second, Demetrius’s eyes locked with Mia’s. ‘There’s your antidote,’ he murmured. ‘Kill the poisoner, kill the poison.’ And without another word, he turned and loped into the dark depths of the forest.

  Demetrius was gone. And just like that, Amos was too.

  Epilogue

  A New Age

  Mia sat beside Colt in the graveyard. She rested her head on his shoulder as they leaned back against a headstone. Above them, the sky was brilliant blue and a light dusting of frost tipped the long blades of grass. December had come and gone, and the dawn of a new year was upon them.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Mia asked tentatively as she toyed with the distant wind chimes, making them sway gently in the breeze.

  ‘Yes,’ Colt replied after a pensive moment. ‘I think so. Are you?’

  Mia nodded. She entwined her fingers through his.

  In return he planted a kiss on her forehead.

  ‘I’ll miss you,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’ll miss you, too,’ he replied. ‘But I imagine that goes without saying.’

  ‘I wish I didn’t have to leave,’ she murmured. She lifted her head and found his gaze.

  ‘You’ll come back, though, won’t you?’ he asked. Rays of sunlight flecked cool yellow tones in his deep green eyes.

  ‘Of course,’ she promised. ‘As soon as school is over.’

  ‘Good,’ he said. ‘You’re safest here. Especially now that you don’t have the Arx protecting you.’

  She laughed softly, and then paused for a moment. ‘Do you think I did the right thing? By breaking the Arx, I mean?’

  ‘Debatable.’

  She groaned. ‘I had a feeling you’d say that.’ She inhaled the pine scented air around them, savouring it to store in her memory. ‘I think I did,’ she answered her own questio
n.

  ‘Then you probably did.’

  Colt gave her one final kiss, and in an unspoken understanding they rose to their feet and began towards the gardens. The castle towered ahead of them, its turrets soaring towards the azure sky.

  They walked in silence—there was nothing more that needed to be said. Amos was gone. And, true to Demetrius’s word, Wendolyn’s strength had gradually returned.

  After that night, Demetrius had vanished. There’d been no word of whether or not he had returned to the Lighthouse—or if a school of enchantment even existed anymore within its ramshackle structure. Kizzy had left shortly after, and now only Wendolyn, the Hunters and a few Arcana remained at the castle.

  In the courtyard, Cassandra, Madeline, and Dino were waiting at the station wagon for Mia and Colt to arrive. As the pair crossed through the hedge archway, Mia noticed that Madeline was sniffling into a tissue.

  ‘See? Even Aunt Maddie’s sad to say goodbye to you,’ Mia joked.

  Colt snorted.

  As they closed in on the courtyard, Mia’s fingers slid from Colt’s and she gave him a parting look. ‘Bye,’ she said softly. ‘I’ll see you soon.’

  ‘I have no doubt,’ Colt said with a wink. He kissed her lovingly on the lips, then headed towards the forest. She was certain that he’d be watching her long after he was gone from her view.

  As Mia approached her family, she began to glean the real source of Madeline’s anguish. ‘Is it me?’ Madeline was asking Dino tearfully.

  ‘No,’ Dino assured her. ‘This has nothing to do with you, Aunt Maddie. I swear.’

  Mia frowned. ‘What are you guys talking about?’

  Dino glanced at their mother and aunt, as if waiting for their approval before he spoke. The two women permitted him with a nod.

  He turned to Mia. ‘I have to tell you something,’ he began. He took her elbow and steered her to a quiet spot in the courtyard. ‘I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and . . .’

  ‘What?’ Mia urged.

  They came to a stop beside a tall stone pillar.

  ‘Dino, what is it?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m staying,’ he blurted out at last.