“You cannot protect them forever, Deryn. As soon as your precious tree turns to ash, so will you.”
I gasped—my gaze flying to the tree. Flames had traveled up the bark, onto the branches. Leaves shriveled in the heat as smoke billowed.
“With you gone, your precious bubble will pop, and then you’ll all be exposed. I can wait you out. I’m a patient woman.” She sent another ball of flames toward the Elder tree. Branches cracked, fell.
She sent more bolts at the bubble. The smaller fires were growing quickly, spreading in the field of wildflowers. The strangest thing was, I couldn’t smell the smoke. Couldn’t feel the heat.
I opened my palm and looked at the stone in my hand. The gold flecks were glowing in the darkness.
“I wish it would rain,” Vince said.
I looked at him, saw flames reflected in his glasses. “Wish I may, wish I might …” I cast the spell.
Inside the bubble, my mother’s head snapped upward, and she looked all around.
A moment later, it began to rain.
Dorothy looked upward, then laughed. “Surely you’re joking.” She waved a hand, and the raindrops turned into sparks. “Your magic is no match for mine!”
Vince said, “Okay, I wish it would stop raining.” He lurched forward into the meadow as I was casting the wish, before I could stop him.
The falling sparks stopped as he hurdled flames. “Mother, stop!” He planted himself between Dorothy and the bubble. “Stop it.”
“Well, well, well. Look who’s here.”
More branches fell from the Elder tree, breaking apart as soon as they hit the ground.
“You want me to stop? Whose side are you on, son?” Dorothy asked him, her eyes glowing. “You need to decide right now.”
“There doesn’t need to be sides,” he said, his voice firm. “Don’t you see? We can all work together. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“No,” she said, using that calm, terrifying tone. “You’re either with me or against me.”
Hildie’s voice floated through my head.
In weakness, there is strength. From the ashes, there is rebirth.
There was no give in Dorothy’s voice, no weakness. Only strength.
Hildie had warned me of this moment. Of Dorothy going from weak to strong, of the ashes of the Elder tree being Dorothy’s rebirth as the new Elder. A dark Elder.
Dear lord, I didn’t know how to stop her. She was too powerful.
“Are you with me?” Dorothy asked, stepping closer to Vince. “Or against me?”
When he didn’t answer right away, she lifted a hand and sent a bolt his way. It hit him in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. He let out a scream as he sat up, clutching a blackened wound.
The bubble, I noticed, was inching forward, creeping up on Vince.
“Are you with me, son?” she asked. “Or are you against me?”
He tried to stand up but groaned in pain. “I am not with you. I’ll never be with you.”
She raised her hand and said, “You disappoint me, Vince.”
The bubble movement picked up its pace, but it was still too far away.
Do you have enough faith in yourself and your abilities to keep on leaping?
I hopped out of the shadows and raced toward him just as she fired off another lightning bolt. I leapt in front of Vince. “No!”
The bolt bounced harmlessly off me and dissipated into a cloud of glitter. I grabbed hold of Vince’s hand, wishing with all my might that the stone’s power would protect us both if we were connected by touch.
Weakly, he said, “Darcy, no.”
His hand went limp and he collapsed backward, his eyes rolling upward. I put my free hand to his neck and felt a faint pulse. His shoulder was bleeding profusely. I fought a wave of nausea and dizziness at the sight of the blood and wiggled out of my cape. I balled it up as best I could with one hand and pushed it against his wound.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the bubble coming closer and closer.
“Don’t waste your time trying to save him, Darcy. You’ll all be gone soon.” Dorothy sent a barrage of bolts toward Vince and me. They all burst into glitter.
Fury and confusion contorted Dorothy’s face, twisting her features into that of a monster as she threw bolt after bolt at us. She glanced at her hands as though wondering what was going wrong, and then her eyes flared wide when she suddenly noticed the bubble’s approach. She threw her hands downward, palms open, and the earth began to rumble and split.
The ground cracked, opening behind me. I scrabbled forward, tugging on Vince, but I realized the crack was going away from us, around the bubble. I glanced downward at the flickering flames at the bottom of a deep chasm.
The bubble was now isolated, an island in the middle of a ring of hell.
Dorothy shot her hands toward Vince and me, and the earth all around us peeled back and fell into the abyss. I kept tight hold on Vince’s hand, and we didn’t budge.
Dorothy tried again to shove us over the edge, failed, and let out a cry of frustration. “You will not win!” she shouted, sending more flames at the Elder tree.
The tree split in half, part of it falling behind her, the other half remaining standing, listing toward us.
Dorothy was growing wilder with each passing moment, losing the control she’d once had. The entire meadow was engulfed in flames, except for the bubble and the area around Vince, me, and Dorothy.
Dorothy approached slowly, that glow in her eyes evil and menacing. She tried to open the earth beneath Vince and me, but it held firm.
I looked up at her and said, “You will not win. Evil never wins.”
She threw a look at the Elder tree. “But I will win, Darcy. I will. Deryn won’t be here much longer to protect all of you.”
I glanced back at my mother and gasped. She still held Harper’s and Ve’s hands, but she was growing transparent. Fading away. It suddenly seemed like the brighter the Elder tree burned, the less I was able to see of her. I didn’t understand what was going on—if anything, she should be turning into a mourning dove. Not … vanishing altogether.
A loud cracking sound split the air as the rest of the Elder tree fell forward as if in slow motion. Dorothy’s mouth dropped open and she dove out of its way, landing next to me on the scraped earth.
The tree landed with a crash, breaking apart. Sparks flew.
“Darcy?” Vince said, blinking.
“You’re okay,” I said. “You’re going to be fine.”
Vince and I were untouched by the shower of sparks, but the hem of Dorothy’s dress had caught fire. She slapped at the flames, extinguishing them, but as she went to stand up again, the broken earth gave way. Her eyes went wide as she started flailing, trying to catch her balance.
I let go of Vince’s shoulder and reached a bloody hand toward her. “Quick! Grab hold!”
Rage burned in her eyes as she ignored my hand and said, “I win.” The earth fell away beneath her feet, and she tumbled backward into the fiery chasm.
I screamed and reached for her, but Vince grabbed my hand and pulled me back. I burst into tears. Not for the loss of Dorothy, because she had truly only caused me pain. But for Vince and Glinda and Zoey. Because I had hoped that Dorothy would find her way to the light, that she would atone for her mistakes and realize what gifts she had in her children and treasure them as such. Above all, I had hoped that she would finally fix what she had broken and give them all a sense of peace.
“I’m so sorry,” I said to Vince as the fires immediately died out. The earth closed. Wildflowers bloomed again, and lanterns floated. Everything was as it had been before Dorothy lashed out.
Everything except the Elder tree. Where it once stood, only a pile of gray ash remained.
“Me too,” Vince said softly.
Cherise nudged me aside. “I’ll take over caring for Vince, Darcy. Go to your mother.”
I looked over my shoulder, saw my mother as barely a glimmer, half of her bo
dy already one with the earth. I stumbled to my feet and ran to her.
“Why is this happening? Mom!” I didn’t understand. The worst outcome of tonight was supposed to have been that she turned into her familiar form. Not … this. A sob stuck in my throat.
Someone knelt next to me. “It’s the tree, Darcy.” It was Ve. Tears sparkled in her eyes. “The tree is the keeper of all the Elder’s power. Deryn used what was left of her power to create the protection sphere. With no tree, she cannot renew her powers, and there’s not enough magic remaining for her to morph into a familiar. Her spirit is being called back to the earth.”
Harper was on her knees, sobbing. “Don’t go! Please don’t go!”
Mom reached her hands out to us. “I’ll always be with you, my darlings. Always.”
“No! No, no, no!” I yelled, reaching to take hold of her hand, but there was nothing to hold on to. The blue stone dropped from my palm and landed on the ground where my mother disappeared into the dirt.
My tears fell freely as I tried to understand how this had happened. How evil had taken her away. Harper sat next to me, her small body shaking with silent sobs.
I could feel people standing around us, heard crying, but they let us be. To grieve our mother all over again. I could feel anger rising inside me, felt it starting to beat in tandem with my heart.
Rage and hatred.
I forced myself not to think of all Harper and I—and this whole village—had just lost and tried to focus on all we had gained by having known my mother.
I pictured my mother’s smile. Heard her laughter. She’d brought me so much happiness. Had given me so much love. I had been grateful for each and every day I’d had with her. I hadn’t taken any of that time for granted.
The budding anger within me died down, but sadness remained, making my chest hurt, my throat burn, and my eyes sting with unshed tears.
My palm ached where the stone had been pressed against it, sandwiched between my hand and Vince’s, seeing us through Dorothy’s fury. With blurry eyes, I looked at the skin, expecting to see a blister, but instead saw only the smallest red mark, barely even a mark at all, and yet it was warm to the touch.
It reminded me of another time recently when my palm had heated up. Could it be? Hildie had said I’d know when the time was right … I sat up, suddenly filled with hope. I clapped my hands twice, and the velvet pouch appeared.
I shook it, and the silvery-green seed Hildie had given me landed in my palm, matching the red mark on my skin perfectly.
Letting out a cry of joy, I tugged on Harper. “Come on! I know how we can get Mom back.” I jumped to my feet and started running.
I sprinted to what remained of the Elder tree and dropped to my knees. I made a gulley in the ash, set the seed inside, and smiled as a seedling sprouted immediately. I said, “From the ashes, rebirth.”
Harper knelt beside me and took hold of my hand, squeezing it tight. Tears shimmered in her eyes as we watched and waited.
Hildie’s speech about ashes and rebirth hadn’t been talking about Dorothy at all. She’d been talking about my mother, this tree, the Craft.
“Where did you get that seed?” Harper asked.
“Someone magical gave it to me.”
“That’s not vague at all.”
I smiled at her as the seedling turned to a sapling, and we jumped backward as the tree continued to grow. Branches sprouted, silvery-green leaves unfurled. Soon enough, a mourning dove emerged from the treetop. The bird circled once, twice, before swooping low, where it morphed from mourning dove to woman.
Mom smiled wide and held open her arms, and Harper and I ran to her. As we clung to our mother, Harper glanced at me, her eyes shining. It might have been her birthday, but she gave me the best gift in the world when she said, “I believe in magic. I believe.”
Mom held us for a long time before pulling back. “Girls, tonight has been a nightmare, but we must set aside our emotions for a few moments to tend to Craft business. We don’t have much time left until Midsummer. We must act quickly. Harper, my darling, are you sure you want to take the Elder’s oath?”
I spoke before she could, saying, “Harper won’t be taking the oath after all.”
“I won’t?” she said. “Why not?”
“You don’t want the Eldership. You want to be one of the Coven, and since there’s an open position at the moment, I think this is a good time to lobby for the job. Someone else is going to take the Elder’s oath instead.”
“Who?” Mom asked, her voice high.
I smiled at her. “You are.”
And then I told them both why.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It could have been my imagination, but the air smelled fresher, clearer the next day. Pure. The sea breeze whirled around the village green, bringing with it a sense of summertime and fresh starts.
“I don’t know how to feel,” Glinda said, her gaze on Clarence, her golden retriever, as he sniffed a boxwood hedge. “I’m sad. I’m mad. I’m relieved. I’m upset that I’m relieved. I’m sad. Yes, she was my mother, and I loved her, but I also know she was a deeply troubled person who hurt a lot of people.”
It was a little past noon, and the reality of what had happened last night was still setting in. Higgins pulled at his lead, wanting to sniff the same bushes as Clarence. “I don’t think there’s any right way to feel. Especially now, when the emotions are so raw.”
Sometime during the night, Glinda and Vince had received news from the psych ward that the previously missing Dorothy had been found dead in her bed by a night nurse. There had been no signs of foul play, and heart failure was noted as the preliminary cause of death.
It was—and would forever be—the mortal version of events.
The truth of what had happened to Dorothy would be known only within the witch world, shared openly among witches in the name of transparency, which the Coven—at the urging of its brand-new seventh member—had agreed was best.
How Mom and the Coven had unearthed, transformed, and transferred Dorothy’s remains, I didn’t want to know, but I was glad it had been done. A proper burial and a sense of closure could only be beneficial to all who’d ever cared for her.
And selfishly, I didn’t want Dorothy interred beneath the Elder’s meadow, tainting it somehow with her hatred. It was time to start healing.
“You know what Liam said after I finally got home from Vince’s last night and told him what happened?” Glinda asked, and then said sharply, “Clarence, do not eat the dandelions. No!”
He looked up at her, his big brown eyes not showing the least bit of guilt as he wagged his tail.
“What did Liam say?” I asked, picking up the conversation. She had gone to Vince’s after her trip to the hospital with Sylar. He’d been admitted for second-degree burns but would be okay in time.
“He said he couldn’t believe that after all you went through with Dorothy, not only last night but always, you’d still try to save her.”
I flashed back to the rage in Dorothy’s eyes as I had reached out my hand to her. If she could have killed me, she would have. And yet, I still wished she had taken my hand. “What did you say to that?”
“I told him that obviously he didn’t know you well enough yet. We need to fix that.”
We walked among the Firelight mystics who were dismantling their tents and booths. They’d be gone by the end of the day. “There’s time. Oh, I know of this big shindig going on next weekend. You two should totally be there.”
She laughed. “I already RSVP’d for the wedding and reception. Liam will unfortunately miss the ceremony due to a conflict with work, but he’ll be at the reception.”
“I’m sorry he’ll miss the wedding, but I’m glad you RSVP’d, because otherwise Harper would be tracking you down soon, pen in hand.”
She laughed. “No one wants to be on Harper’s bad side.”
I threw a look at the bookshop and recalled the look on her face last night as we hugged our
mother.
I believe. She’d finally embraced her heritage and the magic in her life. The Craft would only be better for it.
“How are you doing?” Glinda asked.
“Physically, I’m fine, thanks to that stone Vince gave me. Mentally, I’m mostly sad. Sad for everyone who cared for her. Sad she couldn’t be saved. And extremely grateful the village didn’t burn to the ground.”
“Dorothy was her own worst enemy,” Glinda said on a sigh. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for everything she put you through.”
I faced her. “Look behind you, Glinda.”
Her cool blue eyes sparkled in the sunshine as she glanced over her shoulder. “What am I looking at? Did Clarence eat something he wasn’t supposed to?”
I laughed. “No. I mean, well maybe. He does eat the strangest things. What do you see?”
Clarence wagged his tail like he knew we had been talking about him. I rubbed his head. Higgins was busy eyeing a squirrel, and I tightened his leash so he wouldn’t try to go up the tree after it.
Glinda said, “This is all very Lion King. Why do I expect Archie to pop out of nowhere to start singing ‘Circle of Life’?”
“Don’t say that too loudly, or you might give him ideas.” I couldn’t help smiling. “I guess I’ve been watching too many Disney movies—it’s your shadow I wanted you to see.”
“My shadow?” she asked. “Why?
“Because I wanted you to really understand that you walk in your light. You don’t have to live in Dorothy’s shadow. Not ever. But especially not now, because she’s gone. You don’t need to make her apologies.”
“I know. I know.” Her flip-flops flapped against the pavement as we walked. “It’s just that I feel this weight on my chest from all the horrible things she’s done. I don’t know how to make it go away. It will go away eventually, right?”
I mulled over what she’d said. As much as I could say she didn’t have to atone for Dorothy’s sins, I recognized it was easier said than done. Glinda would find her way. It was going to take time, however. “It will,” I assured her. “And I’ll do whatever I can to help you figure out how.”
Nodding, she said, “Thanks, Darcy.”
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