by KT Webb
“No, Grace. We need to end this once and for all. We can’t just do the same thing all over again. Don’t you know the definition of insanity?” Harper stood with her hands on her hips.
“Well we have to do something and I don’t see anyone else willing to jump in.” Grace threw a dirty look towards the Druids.
“What did you expect? They’re not exactly fit for battle,” Dee whispered.
Brennus cleared his throat. “If I may interject, we think it would be best if you did do things exactly the same way we instructed the first coven to do them. It worked before.”
“Seriously? Just so thousands of years from now our granddaughters can find themselves in the exact same situation? No thank you. That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sutton growled.
“Do not forget that you are only here because of what we created. It is your job to follow orders and it’s time you start doing that,” Caderyn spat.
“How can I say this in a way you’ll understand?” Harper paused, trying to think of something smart, but the only thing that came to mind seemed to sum it all up. “Bite me.”
Grace created a portal behind the Druids. Sutton and Harper waved their hands and magically shoved them through. They weren’t finished dealing with them, but they would have to wait. One problem at a time.
“I’ll take that stone now.”
The girls whipped around to find the sons of Carman holding Dee, and Carman holding a knife to her throat. Harper glanced at Sutton, relieved to see that she hadn’t immediately removed the ring and offered it in trade for her friend.
“Don’t give it to her. You have no idea what she could do with that kind of power,” Dee insisted.
As Dee struggled to free herself from their grip, Harper saw her opportunity. She pulled magic from her core and pushed it towards the trio of brothers. Carman let out a yowl of rage as her sons released the sprite.
“Enough!” Carman yelled. “You little witches think the only thing I have up my sleeve is trapping your stupid friend in the Shade? Have any of you spoken to your parents lately?”
Her stomach dropped as Harper thought of the last time she spoke with her mom. It had been the night before the Awakening. Sutton and Grace hadn’t spoken to their parents since they left home. And Lucy . . . well, Lucy hadn’t spoken to anyone in almost two weeks.
“You think my sons and Odessa have just been sitting around waiting for the transfer to be complete? No, they were gathering my insurance policy.”
“What did you do to them?” Grace demanded.
Carman only offered a wicked grin. “Now, do you recall me telling you that you will let me do whatever I please? Here’s why. Your precious Lucy isn’t the only one in the Shade who doesn’t belong there.”
Harper felt nauseated. This was not good. They had two choices; they could fight Carman and her sons and risk losing their families, or they could give Carman what she wanted and focus on rescue efforts. Her rage grew to a crescendo as Harper fought to maintain control of her magic. She could tell the other girls were in various stages of reacting to the news. Sutton looked horrified and Grace had tears running down her cheeks.
“You have until midnight to make your decision.”
Sutton raised her head and glared at the sorceress. Carman continued to glance at the ring on her finger.
“You just have to give me the ring and I’ll give you your parents.”
“No.” Sutton didn’t have to pause to think.
“Have it your way then. We’ll be back.” Carman waved at them as she and her sons disappeared with the black smoke that grew around them.
Sutton
Chapter Thirty-Three
The Only Choice
After their enemies departed, Sutton let the air escape her lungs in a whoosh. Her heart was heavy with thoughts of their families, and Lucy. She didn’t know much about the Shade, but she did know it wasn’t the kind of place innocent people belonged.
“What are we supposed to do? We can’t just let them rot there,” Grace insisted.
“She’s right. It’s bad enough to have Lucy stuck there, but now they have our parents?” It was clear Harper was getting angry.
Sutton agreed with them, but it wasn’t something she was ready to admit. Choosing their families over Ireland was like signing a death warrant for the people who lived there. But, if they didn’t at least free Lucy, there was no way they would be able to stop Carman. Dee slipped an arm around Sutton’s shoulders and squeezed.
“I know you face a difficult choice, but you must know that we will stand behind you. We will help you find them,” Dee told them.
“What happened last time, Dee?”
“We went into hiding. We all retreated to the Otherworld. It was awful, but it was the only way to keep her from snuffing out good magic.”
“What happens if she gets the ring?” Grace asked.
Dee turned to look her in the eye. “If she gets her hands on the Stone of Destiny, there’s no telling what she will do.”
In that moment, Sutton knew there was only one choice to be made. Despite the high stakes, they could not surrender the ring to Carman.
“So we fight,” Harper said firmly.
“We fight.” It appeared they were all in agreeance.
“We need a game plan; how are we going to fight her without a complete coven?”
“Not everything is about magic, some things are about making the right choices. I think this is one of those instances,” Harper said softly.
Sutton knew what she meant, but she wasn’t convinced that Carman would feel the same. She wanted the stone and if they refused to give it to her, she would take it by force. Sutton paced as she thought about what they could do to overpower an ancient sorceress and her dedicated sons. There had to be something.
“We’re not going to die today.” Grace’s voice was soft and soothing.
Sutton stopped and looked at her friend. “No, we’re not. But we’re also going to have to keep Carman from taking this ring from me.”
“Wait; she can’t take it from you. It’s amazing that you can wear it at all. I’m sure you know the legend; the stone only calls to the true king of Ireland. Well, it isn’t that simple. The stone is enchanted to recognize its partner, the only person worthy of wielding its magic.” Dee’s eyes sparkled as she danced back and forth on the balls of her feet.
“Okay. . . could you dumb it down a bit for the stressed out and sleep-deprived?” Harper asked with her arms crossed.
Dee rolled her eyes. “For whatever reason, you are the only person in all the world worthy of wielding the magic of the stone. No one can take it from you. The only way to break your connection with it is to willingly part with it.”
“So, now Sutton is like the Arthur of Ireland?” Harper questioned.
“Wicked,” Grace said appreciatively.
Sutton was confused. She thought back to the night she’d slid the ring on her finger. It wasn’t just to keep it safe, it was because it felt right. She hadn’t wanted to tell Lucy that night because the last thing she needed was for them to think she was trying to assert herself as the leader of the coven. Or worse, that she fancied herself the rightful king of Ireland.
“How does it work?” Sutton watched the stone reflect the setting sun.
Dee shrugged. “It’s one of the four treasures of the Tuatha De Dannan. It’s imbued with their magic. I’m old, but I wasn’t around when this was forged. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how it works. It’s not a cell phone. It’s an enchanted rock.”
Laughter erupted from the girls. Something was clawing at the back of Sutton’s mind. Dee had said the stone was one of the four treasures of the Tuatha De Dannan. Was it possible that the other three girls were meant to wield the other three treasures? She didn’t have time to think about that any further as Carman rematerialized in the field.
“It’s far from midnight,” Grace pointed out.
“Well, no one said I had to play fai
r. Are you ready to hand over the ring?”
Sutton squared her shoulders and held her head high. “No. You can’t have it, it doesn’t belong to you.”
Carman tapped her toes impatiently. “You do know that I will get that ring one way or another. I’m a very patient woman.”
“Yeah, okay.” Harper’s retort was barely audible.
“You won’t get this ring because we will find a way to defeat you. You may be free now, but one day we’ll lock you back in your cage like the monster you are.”
She could practically see the heat rippling around Carman as she seethed. Sutton had struck a chord. The girls joined hands and prepared for whatever was about to be thrown at them. Sutton smiled as she felt Dee slip her hand into the one that wasn’t gripping tightly to Grace.
“Fine. Keep it. But, don’t come crying to me when you can’t figure out how to use it.”
Carman turned as though she was going to leave, but whipped back around for one final threat. “In fact, I’d like to see you try to use it.”
Sutton braced herself for an attack, but she couldn’t have been ready for what Carman did next. A blast of frigid air sent the girls flying. The air was knocked from her lungs as Sutton landed with a thud. Desperate to suck in a tiny bit of oxygen, she fought against the searing pain in her abdomen. Dee’s face appeared above her; of course, the sprite had wings, she hadn’t hit the ground the way the witches had.
“You have to get up, Sutton. She’s coming.”
Another burst of air washed over her, and Dee was gone. Sutton sat up against the pain, searching for Dee. There was no evidence the sprite had even been there.
“What. . . did. . . you. . . do?” She grit her teeth as she tried to breathe and address Carman at the same time.
“There’s no point in struggling to get up, you won’t have a chance to do anything to me anyway.”
Groans sounded from a short distance away. She knew the other girls were probably feeling the same pain she was. Sutton pushed herself again, trying to sit up. What felt like a cold hand slammed into her chest.
“I told you not to move.”
Sutton could see Carman’s face through the haze of oxygen deprivation. The sorceress looked like a rabid animal. She leaned closer until she was just inches from the teen witch. The sorceress whispered something in her ear in a language Sutton didn’t understand.
“Good luck, little witch.” Her voice didn’t hold any kindness and she certainly didn’t sound like she meant to wish her luck.
A smell assaulted her nostrils like a jab to the face. The pungent odor of unwashed bodies and animal waste clung to the air. Sutton sat up without pain and to her surprise, she no longer felt short of breath. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She had no way of knowing where she was, but she knew she wasn’t in the field anymore.
“Sutton? Is that you?”
She knew that voice; her heart rate accelerated, and she looked around her erratically. “Lucy? Where are you? I can’t see anything.”
“I’m over here, to your left. Where are the others?”
Sutton scooted closer to where the voice was coming from. She found Lucy leaning against a cold stone wall. Her friend smelled terrible, she could only imagine how the girl looked.
“How did you get here?” Lucy whispered.
“Carman.”
“I haven’t seen Grace or Harper. Are they here?”
Sutton shook her head. “I have no idea. Wait, are we in the Shade?”
Lucy looped her arm through Sutton’s and leaned her head on the other girl’s shoulder. Sutton leaned into her friend and closed her eyes. She fought the tears that threatened to fall. On one hand, she was with Lucy and in the same place as her parents. On the other hand, she had no idea what happened to Dee, Grace or Harper.
“How long have I been here?”
A pain shot across Sutton’s chest. Lucy must have been feeling so alone without her friends. “You’ve been here for a few weeks. We’ve tried everything. Is Odessa still here?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s like this place is always moving, always changing. I was with her to begin with, but I haven’t seen anyone for a long time. Portals don’t work here. Magic doesn’t work here.”
Sutton had no idea what they were going to do or how they were going to find their friends. She still hadn’t broken it to Lucy that their parents were in the Shade too. Without warning, the walls began to move. The stones shifted until the surface they were leaning against became an opening. The rumbling sound of stone rearranging gave Sutton chills.
“What’s going on?” She asked as they fell backwards.
“I told you, this place changes,” Lucy grunted, rolling over to get up on her hands and knees.
“Well, let’s take advantage of this change and get out of this room!”
They left the cell and wandered down a narrow, unlit hallway. Sutton used one hand to feel the wall in front of them and the other to hold onto Lucy. There was no way she was going to lose her again. Her hand ran along the coarse stone, until she stopped abruptly at the feel of a human hand. Sutton paused, preparing for a fight. The other hand gripped the Stone of Destiny greedily.
“Hey! Back off!” Sutton hissed, launching herself across the hallway.
“Sutton?”
“Grace!”
“Lucy?”
“Harper!”
The four girls collided in a hug. While their reunion wasn’t exactly how she’d pictured it, Sutton felt an immense happiness swelling inside her. They held onto each other for what seemed like forever before the sound of a throat clearing interrupted them.
“Got room for one more?”
“Dee!” They all shouted together and absorbed her into their group hug.
The sound of stone moving echoed against the walls. Lucy looked panicked. Before she could offer any soothing words, Sutton noticed her friend looking around desperately.
“We have to find a room. We have to go. We can’t be in here when it shifts again.”
“Okay, what happens if we are?” Harper asked.
“These hallways are only here during shifts in the Shade. If we don’t get into a room, we’ll be crushed alive,” Dee whispered.
From the haunted look in her eyes, Sutton knew Dee had witnessed that very thing firsthand. There was an opening the wall ahead. Sutton pressed forward only to be yanked back by Lucy.
“What the—”
“Sutton, you can’t just pick a room and hope for the best. You don’t know what’s in there!”
She rolled her eyes. “Then what do you suggest?”
“That was our room,” Grace insisted.
“But something else could be in there now. You have no idea what’s in the Shade.”
Sutton sighed and pressed forward, the walls were beginning to close in on them, they had no choice but to take a chance. The other girls stayed close to her until they were through the opening. With a final groaning shift, the wall closed behind them until the only opening was the hole in the outside wall.
Their heavy breathing seemed to be the only sound in the room. Maybe they were safe. None of them had moved from the now solid wall. The room was empty, save for a pile of rags in the corner. She shuddered to think what they would find under that pile. Had someone died and rotted away there? No, she would not let her imagination run away with her. She turned to the other girls, relieved that they were still together.
As she sank down to the ground, Sutton couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be before they were free. How much damage could Carman do without the coven there to stop her? She twisted the ring on her finger, wondering if they’d made the right decision. It was then that she realized the outcome may have been the same.
There had only been one choice to make.
About the Author:
Photo Courtesy of:
Alissa Toering at Precious Memories Photography
KT Webb is a big city girl l
iving in small town South Dakota with her husband and two children. She believes in the power of words and enjoys writing stories that make the impossible seem possible.
