Life's A Witch

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Before I knew it, it was nightfall and the others started to filter in from outside, but the five of us remained in the room, memorizing spell after spell. There wasn't enough time to practice, and besides, most of the ones we'd deemed useful for our impending battle weren't exactly the kind of spells we wanted to try on each other. No one was volunteering themselves as guinea pigs, anyway. I'd have tested a few out on Asher, but I wasn't ready to see him yet—besides, I had much worse things in store for him.

At one point in the evening, one of the younger girls brought up some sandwiches for us to eat. We didn't bother stopping, just shoved the peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches into our mouths as we worked. There was a sort of rhythm to our flow of learning. One of us took the book, read the spell, wrote it down, and then passed it on. Then we'd commit it to memory during the time that it took for the volume to make its way back around again, when we'd choose yet another spell to master.

By 3 a.m., every one of us was falling asleep sitting up and it was clear that anything we were trying to memorize wasn't going to stick. And if we were going to be fighting the Parrishables in the next twenty-four hours, we needed some rest. So we slept right there in our spots, giving way to all the wicked dreams our minds could come up with.

By now I knew mine weren't just products of my imagination. It was a fact I'd started getting used to of late. Tonight, I almost welcomed it, because I felt there was something I was still missing, some piece of information that Bridget or Christian could give me that would pull everything together. I couldn't imagine that the universe would bring me this far only to let us lose. No, there had to be something that I was missing.

So when my eyes itched with sleep and my lids grew heavy and threatened to drop, I lay down, snuggling into my covers next to Jazzy, and allowed my mind to be opened up to whatever wisdom the past had for me.

Before long, I was no longer in the cabin. I was standing on uneven ground and my feet were warm, as if they were wrapped in a heating blanket. The smell in the air was acrid, a mixture of smoke, ash, and the slightest bit of something foul. Like burning hair. Or flesh. The combination almost made me retch.

Fighting back the bile that threatened to come up, I realized exactly where I was. And then I saw it: I was standing on the site where the Parrishables had massacred the Cleri. My parents. My friends' parents. All cut down because of an immortal man who was insane with power. A man who saw us as a threat too and would stop at nothing to ensure that he stayed in control of the magic world.

As I took a step across the rubble, and then another, ash began to cling to my shoes and coat them like mud. But I couldn't worry about my clothes right now, because I was brought here for a reason—though I still had no idea what it was.

Why was I here? To pick something up, perhaps? To learn something? No answers came to me, so I continued to walk across the still-burning ground.

I was alone in the makeshift graveyard, with only my thoughts to keep me company. This was a dark place to be. Especially when all I had on my mind was revenge. I wanted the ones who were responsible for this destruction to suffer. Horribly.

"You realize this couldn't have been avoided."

The voice came from behind me, in a space that had been deserted only a few seconds ago. The sound both startled and comforted me. I realized quickly that I'd been expecting it all along. I whipped around to find myself staring at someone I knew well. However, up until then, I'd never actually had a conversation with her. I'd only ever been a witness to her life, never an active participant.