by Sarra Cannon
I was glad she'd finally gotten burned.
An awkward silence filled the room. The only sound was my heart beating wildly in my ears and the drip, drip, drip of blood on the floor below.
"I knew you'd come for her," Lydia said again. She adjusted her position and leaned back against the far side of her jail. She lifted one knee and rested her elbow against it. She gave me a sad smile and shook her head. "I was the one who picked Angela to be the cheer team trainer, if you can believe that. How stupid, right? I trusted her. She was such a rising star in the Order. Turns out she was a traitor this whole time. I had no idea she was a half-demon. Much less that she was our Prima Futura's sister."
My eyes widened and I leaned forward. "You knew? About our father? About me?"
"Yes," she said. "Well, not until recently. I could tell there was something special about you. You caught on to the magic so fast. Still, that could have just been talent or dumb luck. But after you escaped to the shadow world and had been gone a while, I knew there had to be something more to it. I've seen what Priestess Winter does to gates who defy her. I expected her to kill us all and move on. When she didn't, I figured it had to do with you somehow. You were still valuable to her somehow."
I shook my head. "That still doesn't tell me how you knew about my father."
"One of the Winter sisters told me," she said. "Honora, I think. She comes in here sometimes to bring a new prisoner or take someone away for questioning. I asked her why her mother hadn't destroyed the Peachville gate, and she told me you were a demon princess. I honestly thought she was kidding."
I looked around. "Why are you the only one awake in here?"
"I'm not a threat to them," she said, hanging her head. "They've already stripped my magic away. I'm a hollow shell at this point until they decide to make it official."
"Make what official?" I asked.
She lifted her head and stared straight into my eyes. "You don't know?" she asked. "They're going to turn me into a hunter."
A cold shiver ran up my arms and I pulled them closer to my chest.
"You probably think I deserve all this, and maybe I do," she said. "But if I do, so does Priestess Winter herself."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you understand? The ceremony to transfer the prima line is dark magic," she said. "It's everything the Order says they stand against, yet it's exactly what they tried to do to you. Priestess Winter acts like she's such a saint. She pretends to follow the law of the Order, but she openly defied her own rules just to transfer the line to a new family. I mean, think about it Harper. She arrested me and threw me in this place for basically trying to perform the same dark magic she was casting. For me, it's illegal and blasphemous, but for her, it's fine."
I sat back. I hadn't considered that before now.
"You were worth the blasphemy for her, though," Lydia said. "Of course, after you were gone, she probably would have just altered everyone's memory to forget you ever existed. Then she could have gone back to her fake perfect life without a mark on her pristine record. People are much more likely to join an organization that seems pure and good than one that openly practices evil and kills its own members on a whim."
"You said you know what she does to a town that defies her," I said. "That's dark magic too."
Lydia sighed. "I know what she does to those towns. That doesn't mean the rest of the Order's witches know that. They see Priestess Winter as this blameless example of perfection. They practically worship her, never realizing she would kill them in an instant if it served her purpose."
Bitterness dripped from her words.
"Are you really so different?" I asked, my heart aching for my mother.
Lydia Ashworth laughed and raised her eyebrows. "No, I guess not," she said. "I've lived my life stepping over people to get what I want. Killing them if I had to. Hell, even being in this cage didn't stop me. Why do you think your sister's here in the first place?"
I looked down at my sister. She was still dreaming, her expression locked in fear.
I swallowed. "What are you talking about?"
"The Halloween Ball," she said. "When you accidentally unlocked my memories of your mother, I remembered who she'd been having an affair with. We were, after all, best friends. She'd told me everything. And since I knew who her lover was, or at least who he was pretending to be, I knew he had another daughter with his human wife. That made you sisters and it made Angela King a half-demon."
"And you thought knowing that could somehow save you?"
"When they took me away that day," she said. "They brought me here to rot. Of course, I had no idea the ceremony had failed. Shocking really, when you think about it. A young girl like you surviving despite all odds? Then apparently you kept surviving, even against the hunters. Priestess Winter came tearing in here about a week ago, so angry she couldn't find a way to capture you. Yelling something about you killing her favorite cat. That's when I realized she had no idea about the valuable bait she had right there in Peachville."
My heart stopped. "You told her about my sister to try to save yourself."
"Yes. I told her," she said. She gestured at her cell. "She promised she'd let me go. I shouldn't have been surprised she was lying."
Rage boiled up inside of me. "First, you kill my mother," I said through clenched teeth. "And then you have my sister imprisoned?"
"Don't take it personally," she said. "I've been in too deep since I was a young girl. It's been nothing but bargaining and struggling to stay alive and to stay on top ever since. All I ever wanted was to be Prima. Is that really so much to ask?"
"It was your choice to get mixed up with the crows," I said. My fists were clenched so tight I'd lost all feeling in them. "Whatever fate they've got in store for you, I'm sure you deserve much worse."
"Is there a fate worse than becoming a hunter?" She looked at me, the fear in her eyes raw and real.
If I didn't hate her so much, I might have pitied her.
"Do you expect me to feel sorry for you?" My fingernails dug into my palms. "You deserve everything that's coming to you. It's really Drake and Lori I feel bad for. You might not have been the best mother in the world, but at least they had a mother."
A hysterical laugh escaped from her then. She banged the back of her head against the iron bars. "You're just too sweet for your own good, my dear," she said. "Always thinking of other people even when you're in danger. Well, I have news for you. Drake lost his real mother a long time ago."
My blood ran cold. "What do you mean his real mother?"
"Use your head, Harper. Do the math. Your mom and I were in the same class in school, right? So how did I have two children who are both older than you? I would have to have had them when I was what? Thirteen or younger?"
I lifted my hand to my forehead. She was right. How did I not realize this earlier? How come no one had ever mentioned that she wasn't Drake's real mom? "I had no idea," I said.
"No one does," she said. "That's the kicker. Not even Drake realizes it. He and Lori are my sister's kids, but now no one remembers I ever even had a sister. Memory altering spells can be very powerful, especially when they're mixed with the darker magics."
"Darker magic?" I asked the question, but was I really prepared for the answer? She'd already told me so much, I wasn't sure how much more I could handle. I wrapped my arms around my sister's trembling body.
"Priestess Winter may have acted like she was surprised by your announcement that I was working hand-in-hand with the crows, but that was all an act," she said. "She's known about that since the day your mother died. When it didn't work, I was terrified someone would come after me, but no one came. I actually thought I got away with it for a while. I was terrified when Priestess Winter came to me a few years later, well after my initiation ceremony, and told me she knew what I had done. Only she hadn't come to hurt me. She'd come to ask me for a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"She wanted the crow's spellb
ook," she said. "She wanted access to its dark magic. It was magic that had been lost to the Order for some time. Priestess Winter was eager to get it back."
A shiver ran down my spine. "So you stole the book from the crows?"
"Priestess Winter made a copy and I returned it before anyone had even noticed it was gone."
I knew the question I had to ask now, but the answer scared me. "What did you get in exchange?"
She smiled and ran a hand over her shaved head. "Two things. I wanted to be acting Prima in your absence," she said. "And second, I wanted my sister's life."
I shivered, a cold chill deep in my bones.
"Mariah. She was everything I wasn't. Beautiful, smart. Everyone loved her." Lydia beat her palm against her head with force. "She was nearly ten years older than me and I was so incredibly jealous of her. Our parents were always asking me why I couldn't be more like Mariah. So when I got the chance to have anything I wanted, I chose to have her life. I just didn't realize Priestess Winter would take it so literally."
I swallowed thick disgust. "What did she do?"
She cradled an imaginary child in her arms and a river of tears flowed down her cheeks. "I remember when Drake was just a tiny newborn. I was still in high school back then, and my sister lived in this beautiful house with her perfect husband and her perfect kids. I remember visiting them when Mariah brought Drake back from the hospital. He was so little and so fragile. I loved him instantly, but Mariah, she took it all for granted. She complained that he cried too much and that she wasn't getting enough sleep. She adored Lori, but she said she never wanted a boy. What good was a boy to the Order? She didn't understand what a gift she'd been given. She didn't understand how beautiful her life really was. I never would have taken it for granted the way she did."
"You stole her life," I said, my voice shaky.
Lydia sniffed and ran her hand under her nose. "I didn't mean to. I know you won't believe me, but it's true," she said. "I just meant that I wanted a life like hers, but Priestess Winter told me that the only way to cast such a powerful and permanent spell was to sacrifice something valuable. I didn't realize she meant my sister until it was too late."
Horror filled my veins and I looked away from her. Oh god, she had killed her own sister. The room began to spin. I wanted to throw up.
"The funny thing is that after everything I did for the Order and for the Winter family, this is still where I ended up," she said. "I guess in the end, she realized I knew too much. At least she didn't put me into a nightmare sleep like the others. The only way to break it is to drink a potion. One no one knows the recipe for except the Winters."
I swallowed and looked down at my sister. "Do you know where they keep it?"
"It's no use," she said. "You'll never win against them, Harper. You know why? Because you aren't willing to use dark magic against them. Dark magic is the most powerful thing on earth. Priestess Winter will win every time."
The spells. Dark magic. "You said these spells are permanent?" I asked. "That you took over your sister's life forever, and no one even remembers her? I didn't know that was possible. I thought all magic used power over time."
"There is so much you still have to learn about the Order and about the way magic works." She crawled to the front of her cage and leaned her head against the bars. "All magic has a cost, Harper. The greater the magic, the greater the cost. And dark magic? It costs the most of all. Don't let Priestess Winter fool you. She pretends to be a champion of rules and honor, but she's the most evil of us all."
She looked me straight in the eye and the sadness and despair I saw reflected there rocked me to the core. If there had ever been good in her, it was gone now.
"You were right about one thing, though."
"What's that?" I asked.
"I do deserve this," she said. "And Harper?"
"Yes?"
Her face softened and tears filled her eyes. "If you see my sweet Drake, will you tell him I love him?"
With that, Lydia Ashworth turned away, hiding her human face from me forever.
Anyone Could Be Anyone
I brought a shaky hand to my forehead.
The Order had ruined so many lives. I knew Priestess Winter was evil, but the true extent of her power and influence hadn't really hit me until now. If she was capable of wiping out the memory of a person's entire existence, what else was she capable of?
People who had grown up with Lydia Ashworth had completely missed the fact that she was too young to have ever given birth to Lori and Drake. Her own husband didn't even remember that he had once loved another woman.
Who else in Peachville had made a similar sacrifice? How could I be sure anyone was really who they said they were?
Anyone could be anyone.
My chest tightened and my breath hitched. The room spun around me, and I leaned back against the cold iron bars, desperate to get my bearings. Was she right? Had I gotten too deep into something I didn't even know the first thing about? Every time I pulled a thread in the tapestry that was the truth about the Order, it led to something completely unexpected. Just when I thought I had a hold on the truth, another thread came loose and everything changed again.
How do you fight an enemy you don't even understand?
I sat there, paralyzed, staring at the shivering body of my sister. Panic seeped into my bones. Jackson and I had just declared war against something much more dangerous than I realized. This went so much further than just the slavery of demons. The deceit and lies involved went deeper than I could have ever imagined.
I rubbed my face and forced myself back into the moment. I had to get control of myself. This was just another example of the great evil Priestess Winter was capable of. I'd already seen the horror of her actions that day Lea showed me what happened in Aldeen. Was this really so much worse?
I had to get it together and get the hell out of here.
Still, my hands shook and my breath caught in my throat. How was I going to find the potion we needed to wake her up? I prayed Jackson would be able to find a recipe in the library upstairs.
I grasped her hand tight and took a deep breath.
Here goes nothing.
I connected to my demon power, my heart racing. I visualized the path I'd taken to get here. I would have to retrace my steps with lightning speed in order to get back to the Hall of Doorways before anyone could stop us.
I closed my eyes and let the fiery essence of my demon half burn within my soul. I shifted, taking Angela with me as I flew away from the cage and back through the hallway.
Adrenaline shot through me. For a few brief moments, I believed I could really do it. I could get her out of there without anyone seeing us. But before I reached the end of the long basement hallway, I smacked against an invisible barrier. The blow forced me back into my human form as I fell to the ground.
I heard a crack as Angela's head hit the cement beside me. I rushed over to her, my entire body aching and sore. Warm blood gushed from my nose.
Angela groaned and rolled to her side, still dreaming despite the pain.
I was only footsteps away from the stairs that led back up to the main house, but some kind of barrier had come up since I'd first come through here. This was the trap I'd been waiting for. When I lifted my eyes to the top of the stairs, my heart stopped cold.
Blue silk slippers descended the stairway, followed by a beautiful girl in jeans and a white ruffled shirt. American as apple pie with her pale skin, white-blonde hair and rosy cheeks. She smiled at me with her lips, but her eyes were cold and filled with contempt.
Honora.
I'd only met her briefly a couple of times, but I recognized her immediately. She was Zara's middle sister. A second.
Had she been watching me this whole time? Fear twisted in my gut, and I knew.
She'd been waiting for me.
The Butterfly
"I suppose it's pointless to ask you to let me go," I said.
Honora cocked her head to
the side, her blue eyes wide. "This can't be much of a surprise to a smart young woman like you," she said, her voice sugary as cotton candy. "You had every chance to be a good prima, but it's your own choices that have brought you here. This isn't what anyone wanted for you."
"Of course not," I said. I searched my sister's head for the source of a new bleed, finally feeling a gash just behind her left ear from where she hit the floor. I needed to stall Honora. Distract her so I could stop the bleeding. "You all wanted me to bow down and be the Order's puppet. If you knew me at all, you would have known I could never be that person."
She lifted an eyebrow. "I don't know. You seemed to really enjoy compromising yourself in order to make the cheerleading team," she said. "After all, you knew Agnes wanted it more than anything. You didn't even hesitate, though. You squashed her dreams without a second thought."
My mouth fell open. "You do realize Agnes was a murderer, right?" I said. "That spot on the cheer team would have never been open if she hadn't killed Tori and tried to frame me for the murder. Am I really supposed to feel guilty about foiling her evil plan?"
Honora's smile lost some of its glow. "You didn't know that at the time. As far as you knew, she was one of your only friends. An innocent orphan girl who just wanted to be a cheerleader."
I applied pressure to Angela's wound, doing my best to stay focused on what was really important here. I wasn't about to apologize for betraying Agnes. What she did to me was way worse. Besides, we all knew the Order wasn't ever going to let Agnes onto the team anyway. Even if I hadn't decided to try out.
Honora straightened her pearl bracelet and tugged at her sweater. "We all thought you had potential. You could have been such a great prima. A real leader in Peachville. Imagine the power that could have been yours at such a young age.," she said. Her eyes glittered at the mention of power. It turned my stomach. "It's not too late, you know. It can still be yours if you want it."
