When strong arms wrapped around her, a familiar waft of lilac and lavender told her it was Gloria long before she saw the woman's face. Her shirt was dusty and blood-streaked, but Lila buried her face against it anyway, sobbing until she had no strength left and no energy to fight or even move her own limbs. Only then did the tears stop, leaving her feeling dehydrated and empty.
Gloria hauled her to her feet despite her protests and attempts to stay with her boyfriend, and she wouldn't move until Troy and Noah had lifted Liam. Given that he was considerably more muscular than they were, he had to weigh a ton as dead weight, and the scene would have been utterly comedic under any other circumstances. She was ushered away to one of the trucks which was still upright, placed in the cab while Liam was laid in the back.
If only she could bring herself to help, the focus might do her good, but Lila had been through a lot and wasn't superwoman. She wasn't a heroine, merely a girl with some incredibly good friends, whose gifts combined added up to a combo which was, at present count, unstoppable.
Her earlier assumption about it taking days turned out to be flawed, as Gloria proved yet again why she was an asset. Lila could practically see the threads of spirit spreading out, touching each body in turn, figuring out if they were alive or dead. Gloria would then shout out one of the two, and those who were able bodied would carry them either to the bed of a truck or lay them out in a row down the centre of the street. It was a macabre sight, and made Lila shudder, especially when each body was covered by a long piece of fabric, each a different colour, no doubt scavenged from the surrounding shops. With how prepared to die the hunters had been, she was vaguely surprised they hadn't brought their own body bags.
She saw Troy and Noah carrying another, smaller person between them and realised that it was Rose. The sight of her slight frame brought a wave of nausea – she was badly injured. The angle that her left leg lay at was unnatural, and would be a miracle of both modern medicine and the magick of the fire coven to recover from. Lila was snapped out of her bubble of self pity and fought her way out of the cab, which she realised Gloria had locked and had to pull up the locking mechanism on the door. Tumbling out, she ran straight into someone, a quick glance up showing her a bloody, but still beautiful face.
“Grace!” she cried, and the taller girl pulled her into a tight hug. Lila felt herself welling up with tears again, clutching her best friend tightly until there was a wheeze and she realised she was cutting off her air supply. “Sorry.” she apologised, sniffing as she fought off the tears.
“Thank God you're alive.” Grace was shaking, and Lila just nodded, then looked around at everything they were facing. It was hard to believe that such little traps had contained spirits who had the strength to do this. She made the mistake of looking at the uncovered bodies, only to see Evan, and let out a little horrified noise. Grace grabbed a blanket and covered him as gently as if she were a mother tucking in a child at night, and Lila was grateful for it. She hadn't gotten to know the boy well, but he had grown on her.
Afraid of who else might be out there, hurt or worse, Lila resisted Grace's suggestions that she return to the truck, trusting Liam would be safe and instead walking the opposite route from Gloria. She gathered a small entourage, who carried water and blankets, while she searched for survivors. A cough to her left caught her attention, and she found Adam, dazed but alive, blood coating his shirt liberally. He was weak, but awake and reasonably alert. One of the hunters dipped down to offer him water, and another covered him in a blanket.
“Rose? Sadie?” he asked, his voice gravelly and desperate.
“Rose is alive. She's going to need surgery, though. As soon as we've found everyone, we're going to a hospital. Apparently the official story is going to be a gas leak...” she trailed off. When she'd overheard the cover up, she had scoffed, then realised that the fact it was so over used was probably exactly why it was going to work. Adam's eyes showed his reactions as he worked through the same process, then he gave a small nod and allowed himself to be led to the truck, where he could keep an eye on his little sister.
Over the next hour, they slowly found almost all of their friends, alive though not entirely unscathed. Medics amongst the witch hunters had performed on-site triage on Sadie, whose lung would have entirely collapsed without it; they'd rushed her past them towards the nearest hospital, and they had followed suit, with Grace driving at a speed which barely allowed even Lila time to fret about their friends. Out of the original group they'd driven with, two were dead, one was dangerously injured, three were seriously injured, and perhaps most perplexingly of all, nine of them had sustained only superficial injuries.
Funerals would come for Michael and Evan, who had been caught in a blast together when one of the Keres witches had brought down a store front on top of them, and both the witches and hunters would be in attendance – it didn't matter whether it was a witch or a hunter being laid to rest; they'd fought together, and they would do this together, even if it was for the last moments of their truce.
For now, though, they were adding to the civilian casualties who had been caught up, flooding into the hospital. Luckily, most were too in shock to be sure of what they'd seen, which mostly consisted of the actual explosions and some kind of riot. Hunters who weren't injured were quick to dismiss any talk of terrorism, explaining that there had been a training program for the local police and military in tackling riots, and there had been a gas explosion after a projectile had gone astray. It might not hold up for some, but Lila knew that it was the only explanation they were going to get. They would stage an investigation, and provide proof which would quiet all but the most staunch believers in what they'd seen. She wondered if those people would be invited to join the ranks of the hunters, to make up for their drastically diminished numbers.
Their friends were rushed off into various different surgery and triage rooms, leaving Lila and the others who could stand bewildered and trying to decide where to go. Lila, who was having trouble walking again, sank into a wheelchair, and to her surprise, it was Finn who stepped up behind her. His face was grim, but he spared a small smile for her. Adam was torn on who to go to until Noah and Troy assured him that they would wait for Rose, whose surgery was less life threatening than Sadie's, and would probably take longer while they tried to repair the damage to fragile tissue. Grace went with Adam, and Libby, Aria and Cameron went to wait for Jesse, who was at risk of losing a hand after it had been crushed by a huge, flying rock.
Once they'd left, Finn wheeled her to where Liam was being treated and assessed for any kind of concussion. It was at this point, left practically alone with someone who didn't want to talk and distract her, that Lila allowed her mind to wander, and came to a startling realisation that someone was missing, and she hadn't even thought about it.
Where was Elsie?
Chapter Thirty
Two weeks passed before the bodies were released, three before the final day of funerals took place, in which all of their friends were released from hospital. Sadie was taking it easy and on pain medication for her chest, Jesse's hand had been amputated just above the wrist and was currently healing, released to the care of the hunter's personal hospital for his rehabilitation when the time came, Liam had made a full recovery, though was sporting some rather gruesome staples in the back of his head, and Rose was wheelchair-bound for the foreseeable future; even the fire coven's magick could do nothing to heal her when there was the possibility of bone fragments in the damaged tissue. This left it entirely in the hands of civilian doctors, and she was not happy. They were nearing the end of March, which meant, as she reminded them often, that her fourteenth birthday was less than two months away. Apparently, dresses didn't look great with a huge cast from ankle to hip. Her complaints were met with vaguely relieved laughter and assurances that they'd throw her another party when the cast came off.
Oh, to be a young teenager again, where life could be measured on the basis of looking good in a dress. Lil
a felt just a spark of jealousy as she listened, but quickly dismissed it – Rose had been in the thick of it through the whole journey, and had earned her stripes regardless of her age. Lila had a feeling that cast or no cast, Rose was going to be utterly fabulous at her party, and would put every one of them to shame. Already, she had streaked her hair with colour, proclaiming that to be seen as an invalid was insulting to her, and since fashion was no longer accessible to her, she would have to make her mark on the world through the brightness and creative colouring in her hair.
Whatever made her happy definitely made Adam happy, and Lila was happy for them both in turn.
No one had seen Elsie, and everyone was concerned. There was no way she would have missed such a huge battle when they could desperately have used her help. Despite their best efforts, no one had been able to find her. If the situation they'd been dealing with hadn't been so dire and painful, her absence alone would have driven them half to insanity. As it was, however, there was always an excuse, always a distraction, and Elsie had fallen by the wayside. Which probably made Lila a terrible girlfriend, considering it was her boyfriend's sister, but she was too worn out and upset to really think about it at that precise moment.
Standing on top of an almost deceptively green hill, Lila wore black as bodies were laid on pyres, then lit on fire. There was something primal about this method of cremation, something which noted their lost loved ones as warriors. The final count had been tallied as fifty eight dead from their own number, but fifty nine bodies had been burnt over the last few days. Lila had made sure that their lost ones were burnt side by side on the last day, three pyres sending their souls on to the next turn of their wheel. It was fitting, having the coven leaders gathered around while those who had been closest to them were put to rest – everyone had been important to the battle, but they had been lucky in losing so few. None of them could be convinced of that at this precise moment, however.
Michael and Evan were to the left and the right, but the centre pyre held almost all of Lila's attention, and she let Liam hold her as she cried. Just two days before, when everyone had been certain the worst was over, fate reminded her that it didn't take holidays. Gloria, who had seemed perfectly fine since the attack, had simply dropped to the ground in the middle of a sentence, the result of an undiagnosed heart defect causing a heart attack. It had been decided that she would be burned with the others, since it was what she would have wanted. The battle had taken her life, even if she'd lived beyond it. There were others who had died later in hospital, and they too were here. Some still lingered on in uncertainty, but they chose not to think about that.
Lila stayed, along with everyone else in her group, until the pyres had burned down to their very last. They were so far from civilisation here that they would need to drive home in the dark, but no one cared, just like no one cared when the heat from the fires died down and they were left shivering in the early Spring night. They stayed, remaining until the last ember flickered out, then stepped away. The wind would blow the ashes where they should be, and this hill would forever remain a place they could visit to remember. There would be no sign, no monument to mark the battle they'd won or the people they lost, but witches had ways of remembering, passed down through word of mouth or their family spell books. Gloria would not be forgotten.
Finally, when the chill air became too much, Liam guided her back to his truck, opening the door for her and allowing her to remain silent and dazed as he drove her back towards civilisation. He glanced over repeatedly, worry etched into every line of his face. He knew that she'd lost so much in the last year, and now she was like him: alone, especially given that Elsie was missing. There was still so much to do, though. The spirits of the Keres witches had been watched under guard while Lila recovered from the exhaustion which had plagued her ever since she'd gone up with the witch who had turned out to be the coven leader, her magick more powerful than the other possessed witches. They had gotten in touch with the witches original covens, prior to possession, and they had been all too willing to claim the bodies, which were protected by the device Noah had rigged up to prevent possession until they could be taken care of. They had promised to cremate them, which meant that the bodies didn't need to be accompanied, a great relief to everyone who didn't want to meet the coven of the witches they had killed, even if they were mostly dead by the time they removed the spirits.
Most of the coven (and witch hunters) were stunned by the fact that Lila had been able to wrench Mairi's spirit from the woman, as it had taken several of their own Spirit witches to tackle the others. Indeed, since her brush with death, Lila's power had seemed to be growing exponentially, to the point where she had no problem simply brushing the veil aside to go through. She hadn't actually stepped through, erring on the side of caution given how much she had drained herself recently.
After two weeks of rest, however, she couldn't put it off much longer; the spirits were strong, and the containment wasn't foolproof. The sooner they were put back where they belonged and imprisoned, the better. Bringing it up with Lila after the loss she'd just suffered, however, was far beyond difficult and into the realm of impossible. She cycled between reckless anger and numb emptiness, and Liam had no idea how to help her.
On Lila's side, she was lashing out at the world which had taken away her parents and her aunt, and the tinge of spirit magick insanity was becoming hard to both ignore and hide. She'd put off receiving help, and she was paying for it. Soon, she would have to retreat into her coven and let them help to even out her mind. She wasn't ready to explain all of this to Liam yet, however. He might know some of the challenges Spirit witches faced, but they were incredibly secretive regarding the problems using their powers could bring about. They could do standard spells in a group problem free, but the Spirit realm was a disconnect between the physical and the mental, and getting the two to play nicely together afterwards was more difficult than some would think.
It was made particularly difficult by emotional trauma like she'd experienced recently. Gloria had been her rock after the death of her parents, and now it felt like she had no one in the world despite the fact she'd been surrounded by others since it happened. She wasn't lacking for friends, but it was a lonely world when you realised you were the senior generation now. There were no more people to run to when you'd had a bad day, everyone had the same level of experience, and you were expected to play mentor to those younger than you.
Of course, Lila had an entire coven back home, but home felt so far away when you were the only one who could attend your aunts funeral. They had sent their condolences, but they had been warned not to attend in case tensions with the witch hunters spilled over as soon as they were done – it would mark the end of their official truce.
Thankfully, they hadn't seemed to want things to end, and Lila knew that she would soon have to address the issue of a truce. The witch hunters former commander, the formidable Cassandra Maehler, had passed away in the battle, fighting alongside her people. Despite the fact that Lila had found her inherently unlikeable, she couldn't help but respect someone who fought with even the lowest rank of people in her army. It didn't occur to her that it was exactly what she herself had done; she had never seen her friends and family as an army, despite the fact they were organising as one more frequently than they had done in over a decade.
The absence of a leader meant that their vote for a new one was now a far bigger deal than it had been previously, when it was rare for a leader to be ousted. Normally, the same person would stay in charge until they retired or simply stepped down. Now, the candidates were a pool of every single person in the group, and the younger generation and a large portion of older members were clamouring for someone who would work with the witches rather than go against them. One way or another, they should know about it by the following afternoon, and then Lila would have to push her own melancholy aside to put the coven's politics first.
It wasn't long before they were pulling up at the c
ompound, where they were still staying. The other coven leaders came to stand by the truck as she got out, and Lila knew that they were worried about her, not that they would say anything openly. Everyone was walking on broken glass around her, and she knew it hurt them that she was shutting them out, but she couldn't bring herself to engage in idle chit-chat. Slipping down from her seat, she heard the door shut behind her as if it were miles away, looking up at the others and forcing a weak smile before moving past them. There was an audible sigh as she did, her friends lamenting another missed chance to say the right thing.
Lila made her way to where Gloria's room had been, sitting on her bed and pulling a pillow to her face. Her intention had been to scream into it, but it smelled so much like her aunt that she was diffused, instead lapsing into more tears, sinking down on to the sheets and curling herself around the pillow. It was as though Gloria were here with her, petting her hair as she had done so often growing up, and Lila fell asleep with the overpowering feeling that she wasn't alone.
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