The Ravens

by Danielle Paige

  “You wicked little witch,” Scarlett said, but she couldn’t help laughing as they joined hands and whispered the incantation.

  For a moment, nothing happened. Then Gwen let out a bloodcurdling scream and started hopping around the balcony, swatting at the air. No one else could see anything, but to Gwen, spiders were everywhere, climbing all over her, skittering across every surface. The entire party turned to watch her. “Get them off me!” she shouted.

  “What the hell?” Dahlia said as some of the boys burst out into laughter. One pulled out his phone and began filming as Gwen writhed and twisted.

  Tiffany laughed long and loudly, cutting through the crowd. Gwen’s gaze locked on her and Scarlett. Her eyes narrowed in understanding and she started moving her lips rapidly, fists clenched, beginning a spell of her own. But Scarlett and Tiffany were ready for her. As soon as they felt Gwen’s magic rebound on them, Scarlett shoved back, hard, almost knocking Gwen off her feet.

  Gwen fixed Scarlett with a look that stopped Scarlett in her tracks, a glare of pure loathing, then she clenched her fists harder, tapping into her power once more. Tiffany and Scarlett joined hands and sent another wave of power at Gwen to counteract her next spell. That was when Harper stepped out onto the balcony and touched Gwen’s shoulder, no doubt to calm her. Harper cared about Gwen, and above all, she cared about her sisters’ public image.

  Scarlett didn’t even know how to describe what happened next. Gwen must have lost concentration mid-spell and her magic flooded out of her in a tidal wave and collided head-on with Tiffany and Scarlett’s new spell. The magic slammed together and exploded, blowing everyone and everything in the immediate orbit away.

  Before anyone could move, before Scarlett even had the chance to take a breath, the sound of metal bowing rent the air, and the balcony cleaved right off the side of the house; it crashed to the ground with a thunderous clang. Gwen and Harper were thrown to the ground like rag dolls.

  Harper died instantly, crushed on impact. Scarlett could still see the blood pooling around her on the concrete patio. Scarlett had raised a shaky hand to stanch the blood, but Tiffany pushed it down.

  “Someone will see,” Tiffany hissed, eyes wide and wild.

  “We have to help them,” Scarlett said, not caring about appearances, not caring about anything but her injured sisters. She raised her hand once more and began to chant a spell under her breath, but Tiffany pushed it away once more.

  “They’re gone,” Tiffany whispered, hugging her friend.

  At that moment, a boy checking Gwen’s pulse let out a shout. “She’s still breathing,” he exclaimed.

  Gwen was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

  Scarlett was stricken and frantic with guilt. She only kept it together for Tiffany; she’d never seen her friend look so shaken. Later that night, before the all-hands house meeting, Tiffany had made a confession of her own. “Scarlett, do you know what Gwen and I were fighting about?” she said. “I found a deer heart and a wicked grimoire in her bedroom. She didn’t want me to tell Sadie, and as much as I don’t like her, I didn’t want to rat out a sister. But she was using evil magic. If Harper hadn’t interrupted her, who knows what Gwen would have done?” Tiffany broke down in tears.

  Scarlett felt sick to her stomach and she began to cry too. Her mind was swimming with if-onlys. If only Tiffany had told her about the heart. If only they hadn’t pulled that stupid prank . . . but it was done. They were the most powerful witches in the country, but they couldn’t bring Harper back.

  “We screwed up, Scar. We didn’t start this, but we have to stop it. We have to stop Gwen,” Tiffany said.

  “Gwen can’t hurt anyone anymore,” Scarlett said, thinking of the unconscious girl getting wheeled away by the paramedics.

  “She’s a witch. She’s stronger than me. What do you think she’ll do to us?” Tiffany said.

  Scarlett opened her mouth to protest, but Tiffany was trembling, the air around them in the room picking up speed with her emotion. “We can’t tell. And we can’t let her hurt anyone else!”

  The window of the room blew shut from the force of her feelings.

  Scarlett relented. “We won’t tell. We won’t let her hurt anyone else,” she repeated.

  Immediately the wind died down and Tiffany collapsed on her bed, spent.

  After the meeting, they’d told Sadie and Dahlia what Tiffany had seen in Gwen’s room, and everything that happened after that went exactly according to plan. The sisters bound Gwen’s powers that very night. The administration had blamed the balcony collapse on faulty construction and spent the summer reinforcing all the balconies on campus. And no one was any the wiser about why Gwen had freaked out and done that spell in the first place.

  For two years Scarlett had told herself that it wasn’t her fault. Not really. Gwen was the one who’d lost control. Gwen was the bad witch, the one going down a dangerous path. She and Tiffany had been right to stop her. But deep down, she’d always known what they’d done.

  Now she recounted the incident to Vivi in a wooden tone. When she finished, she looked up at her Little. “Don’t you see? We blamed it on Gwen, but it was us. We’re the reason Harper is dead. If we hadn’t played that stupid prank on her . . .”

  “Oh, Scarlett.” Vivi looked stricken. “That’s awful. Really awful. But you didn’t kill Harper. You said it yourself—it was supposed to be a harmless prank.”

  “But it wasn’t. We told ourselves back then that we were protecting the Ravens from Gwen. But we created this,” Scarlett argued.“If we hadn’t done it, Harper would still be alive. And Gwen . . .”

  “And Gwen would still have her powers,” Vivi finished, realization dawning in her eyes. “Do you think she wants them back?”

  “Wouldn’t you?” Scarlett said.

  “And now she’s on campus again.” Vivi sat back in her chair for a moment, as if to let the news settle.

  “And now Tiffany’s been kidnapped,” Scarlett said. “By someone who wants a powerful magical talisman.” She shot Vivi a pointed look. “The kind of item that could probably break an old binding spell . . .”

  Vivi let out a low whistle. “Scarlett, I think you need to tell Dahlia the truth. All of it.”

  Scarlett shook her head vigorously. She’d thought of that, of the sweet relief of unburdening herself finally. But she couldn’t yet. Not to protect herself, but to protect Tiffany. “She’d kick me out. Strip me of my powers—and I need them more than ever right now.” Scarlett’s breath came faster. “I have to find Tiffany. I have to. She’s my best friend; I can’t just walk away from witchcraft right when she needs me most. It’s my fault. Don’t you get it? Gwen did this to get revenge, and it’s my fault for letting it happen. You have to promise me you won’t tell, Vivi.”

  “Hey.” Vivi put a hand on Scarlett’s forearm. “Deep breaths.” She waited for Scarlett to inhale a couple of slow breaths before she spoke again. “Nobody’s taking your magic away, okay? I promise I won’t tell a soul.” She pursed her lips. “What about the Henosis talisman? If we find it, we’ll get Tiffany back.”

  Scarlett let out a faint, humorless laugh, struck by the irony that someone to whom she had been so cruel was being so kind to her now. If she was the bad witch of this story, surely Vivi was the good one.

  “What is it, Scarlett?”

  “The talisman is hopeless. Nobody’s seen it since it vanished from the house decades ago. If it ever existed in the first place.”

  “There are all kinds of spells to find lost objects,” Vivi pointed out.

  “Spells our foremothers tried, no doubt.” It was at times like this that she longed for Minnie. Minnie knew every bit of witch history, forgotten spells and things that weren’t forgotten but weren’t written down in hopes that they would be forgotten. She wanted Minnie here for another more selfish reason, though. She wanted to talk to her. She wanted her hugs, her cups of mystery tea, and her words—the words that weren’t spells yet did the
trick of making her feel better all the same. But Minnie wasn’t here; Vivi was. And they somehow had to figure this out on their own.

  Vivi shrugged. “Maybe there’s something they overlooked. We can check the archives, not to mention all the older tomes in the rare-books collection at the library. Didn’t you say the talisman initially belonged to the school?” Vivi caught Scarlett’s gaze and held it. “We’ll find her, Scarlett. Whatever it takes. We’ll find that talisman, and then we’ll use it to bring Tiffany home.”

  Scarlett nodded. She appreciated Vivi’s fire, but a new idea was blooming in her mind. Maybe they didn’t need to find the talisman.

  Maybe they just had to find the person who wanted it.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Vivi

  “This is ridiculous,” Ariana said as she, Vivi, and Sonali completed their third circuit around the oddities and curiosities museum on the first floor of the Hewitt Library. “Of course the talisman isn’t here. Why would it be? Don’t you think someone would’ve noticed if one of the most powerful magical objects in the world was being displayed on campus?”

  “I doubt many Ravens spend much time here,” Sonali said, wrin­kling her nose at a shriveled, shrunken head in a glass case. “It’s kind of creepy, isn’t it?”

  Vivi had to agree. While the collection had appeared mysterious and romantic when she saw it with Mason in the middle of a sunny afternoon, the macabre items seemed very different in the evening light as she, Sonali, and Ariana searched desperately for a clue that’d save their sorority sister’s life.

  “Have you not seen the dried frog’s toes in the supply closet at Kappa House?” Ariana asked.

  “That’s different. Those have a practical purpose. They’re not so-called curiosities.”

  “Whatever,” Ariana said. “We’re wasting our time here. Why would it be on campus at all?”

  “Scarlett said it was rumored to have some connection with Westerly,” Vivi said. “Let’s check the archives. You’re right, if the talisman were in plain sight, Tiffany’s kidnapper wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.” She was about to mention what Mason had said about how only 10 percent of the collection was on display for the public, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to explain how she’d ended up on a non-date with Scarlett’s boyfriend.

  It’d been about twelve hours since the scrying ritual and it didn’t seem like they were any closer to finding Tiffany . . . and now they had two days to locate the talisman before her kidnapper made good on that grim threat. They’d tried three house-wide spells to locate the talisman and had come up empty each time. After that, Jess, Juliet, and Mei had spent all day examining the inventory records of libraries and museums around the world, while Dahlia, Hazel, and Etta had contacted trusted witch friends to put out feelers, although they had to be careful. If word got out that Kappa was trying to find the Henosis talisman, it could be interpreted as an act of aggression by others in the magical community. It was clear that freshmen had been assigned the least important task—searching for the talisman in person in the incredibly unlikely event that it was somewhere on campus.

  Yet, although it was a long shot, it’d be foolish for them to leave without examining every inch of the building, including the archives. Vivi turned to cast a wary glance at the librarian behind the front desk who’d pretended to ignore them while watching them carefully the whole time. It was the same woman who’d been here when she visited with Mason, the one he’d called Miss Irma.

  Vivi approached the desk with a warm smile, channeling her inner Mason. “Excuse me, ma’am,” she said. Just a few weeks in Savannah had made it clear to her how much manners mattered here. “I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re doing research for a class and we were wondering if it’d be possible to check out the archives.”

  The librarian raised an eyebrow as she looked pointedly at the brass clock on the wall. “We close in fifteen minutes. Last entry to the archives is an hour before closing.”

  Vivi opened her mouth to protest, but Sonali put a hand on her arm. She muttered something under her breath, and a moment later, the librarian’s icy smile softened into something more genuine, and her eyes turned glassy.

  “Will you please show us the archives?” Sonali said sweetly.

  “Yes, of course,” the librarian murmured. “Follow me, please.”

  “Shoot,” Sonali whispered as she looked down at her phone. It was the first time Vivi had ever heard her curse. “Reagan needs help charming the archivist in the rare-manuscripts collection. I have to go. Meet you back at the house?”

  Vivi nodded while Ariana grabbed her hand to pull her after the librarian, who’d picked up speed despite her dazed expression.

  As useful as Swords magic was, Vivi didn’t know how she felt about it. Now that she was a full sister, she could tap into that suit’s power, but she hadn’t tried it yet. There was a fine line between influence and mind control, but if it helped them find Tiffany’s kidnapper, then it was worth venturing into an ethically gray area.

  Vivi was still processing everything Scarlett had told her. What had happened to Gwen and Harper was horrible, and Vivi wasn’t sure how she’d live with herself if she’d caused someone’s death. At the same time, no one could’ve predicted how those spells would interact. Scarlett had never meant to hurt anyone; ​she wasn’t a killer. But Vivi knew without a doubt that Gwen was.

  They followed Miss Irma down a hallway and into an elevator. “So how are the archives divided?” Vivi asked.

  “It’s a bit of a hodgepodge, I’m afraid,” Miss Irma said. “Which class is this for?”

  There was a long pause. “Religion and Mysticism Through the Ages,” Ariana said finally. “It’s, um, it’s a sort of independent study.”

  Vivi winced, but luckily, Miss Irma didn’t seem bothered by the vagueness. “A fascinating subject. Prayers and spells provide a very interesting peek into the minds of the penitents. We can use them to deduce what people wanted, their major drives in life, the big disasters or societal changes they faced at the time.”

  The elevator dinged and the doors parted to reveal what was tantamount to a vault, windowless and sealed off from the world above. Dim lights cast shadows across the room, and in the center stood a series of metal shelving units with wheels on each end so they could be moved around. Along the walls were display cases filled with a wide variety of objects, including bronze statues, ceramic plates, and a number of dusty-looking books.

  It would take hours to go through it all.

  “Have you ever come across an item called the Henosis talisman?” Vivi asked.

  Miss Irma’s brow furrowed. “No, but you’re not the first person to ask me about it. Someone came by a few weeks ago looking for the same object.”

  All the air seemed to rush out of the room as Ariana and Vivi exchanged glances. “What a funny coincidence,” Vivi said, doing her best to keep her tone light. “Do you remember their name?”

  “Or what they looked like?” Ariana asked quickly.

  “I’m not sure . . . I think . . .” Miss Irma’s head jerked to the side.

  “Are you okay, Miss—” Vivi gasped as Miss Irma twisted around to face them. Her eyes had turned solid black.

  “No one,” she murmured. “I see no one.”

  “What the hell?” Vivi whispered, looking from Miss Irma to Ariana.

  “I think whoever asked about the talisman tried to erase her memory,” Ariana said, staring at Miss Irma with wide, frightened eyes. “We need to tell someone about this. I’ll call Dahlia.”

  Vivi nodded. “Let’s take her upstairs so we can keep an eye on her until Dahlia tells us what to do.”

  “I’ll do it. You stay here and hunt for the talisman. We can’t waste any more time.” Ariana looked at Miss Irma uneasily, clearly not keen to be alone with the bewitched librarian with creepy dilated eyes. Gingerly, she touched Miss Irma’s elbow and guided her back into the elevator. “Come with me,” she said to her. “We’re go
ing to find you help.”

  As the elevator doors closed, Vivi turned and headed to the first row of shelves. She didn’t even know what they were searching for. None of the Ravens had any idea what the talisman looked like.

  Luckily, most of the items in the glass cases were labeled: BURIAL JAR (301 BCE); CURSE POPPET (75 BCE).The latter, a clay doll with metal nails driven through its neck and heart, made her shudder as an icy numbness spread through her limbs. It felt like the reverse of harnessing her power, a deadening instead of an awakening. She was reminded of what she’d felt when they’d cast the spell to look for Tiffany—the unmistakable sense of wicked magic. Vivi wondered how much further Gwen would be willing to go to get her hands on the talisman and how many Ravens she’d willingly harm in the process.

  The fact that Tiffany’s kidnapper had already come here looking made the idea of finding the Henosis talisman on campus seem slightly more probable, though Vivi still had no clue where to start. Scarlett had taught her a spell to reveal traces of magic, but that would help only if the talisman was in the building. Still, it was worth a try.

  “I call to the Queen of Wands,” she whispered. “Reveal the signs of magical bonds.”

  At first, it seemed like nothing was happening. But then Vivi spotted a faint gleam on the handle of a nearby dagger. She stepped to the case for a closer peek and saw what looked like glowing fingerprints, as if her magic had revealed the grip of the last person to wield it. “‘Dagger, fifteenth century,’” Vivi read from the card. “‘Believed to be a murder weapon.’” Did that mean a witch had used this to kill someone?

  Vivi continued to scan the items but didn’t see anything else until she turned into the next row and came face to face with a bowl that was glowing so brightly, it looked like someone had placed a light bulb inside. “‘Ceremonial bowl, third century BCE. Discovered in the Temple of Apollo,’” Vivi read aloud.