Witch Song (Witch Song #1)

Chapter 13

But how could she cross the sea Espen was very much in control of? Pogg seemed to have no problems navigating the raging storms, but he'd said the shipping had all but ceased. She froze. She'd read of a complicated potion few Witches had attempted.

Ioa.

Pulling her shawl over her hair, she ducked back into the onslaught. The cold and wet was even more miserable now. At the library, she threw her soggy shawl on the floor and flipped through the ancient potion books with as much care as she could.

She found the concoction in an emerald book with black writing. Her eyes widened at the complex instructions. She startled when thunder rang so loud she was afraid the lightning might peel apart the library like a knife through a raw egg. Bruke scrambled under the table, shivering and cowering. The rain sheeted down harder.

She imagined the chaos at sea. "She's not giving me much time, is she?"

***

Senna was dreaming. It was night. But not dark. The light from the moon cast everything in blue-black and silver. Senna stepped forward, her slippers silent on the soft grass. She paused at the edge of the clearing. The shadows were her companions. Her friends. If she stepped into the light, she could hide no more.

The wind tugged at her dark green cloak as if begging her to run. But in the dream there was no choice. Her feet automatically carried her into the circular clearing, toward the center. Almost immediately, she saw her—the Dark Witch, striding out to meet her. "I've waited many years, Brusenna."

Instead of replying, Senna studied the trees behind Espen. Hundreds of them. All heavy with fruit. There was something ... unnatural about them.

"Do you like my little grove?"

Senna fixed her attention back to the Dark Witch. She'd traded the traditional dark green cloak and lighter green dress for a black cloak and red dress—life and growth for blood and death. "I've come to end it. One way or another."

A slow smile spread across Espen's face as she reached inside her black seed belt that held her dueling seeds.

Senna mirrored Espen's movements, removing a handful of seeds. Seeds her life depended on. They threw them to the ground. And then both sang, their Witch songs as deadly as the plants snaking toward each other.

As Espen's vines crushed Senna's and snaked around her ankles, she knew. She wasn't strong enough. Just as all those before her had not been.

Senna gasped and sat bolt upright. Bruke's head jerked up beside her. "I had the dream again." She ran her fingers through her damp hair. Clasping them behind her neck, she leaned against her bent knees. "It always ends the same. With her defeating me."

As she'd immersed herself in her studies, she'd become more attuned to Espen's interference. She concentrated on that interference now, feeling the air pressing on her as the wind whipped through the valley. Thunder shook her tree house. The rain sheeted down even harder and for a moment, lightning bleached the night. Espen was at work again—changing the rules of nature, unbinding the barriers that held the world in order. When it was this bad, the dreams came ... dreams of failure.

Bruke rested his head on her thigh. She scratched behind his ears. Usually, he was one of her few comforts, but right now, she wanted to be alone. "Stay."

His eyes followed her as she swung her bare legs over the side of her bed and wrapped her cloak around her shoulders. Easing open her door, she glanced back to make sure he was obeying her before hurrying outside.

She took a deep breath before plunging into the storm. She was free. Her feet flew across the waving grasses of Haven. As it always did, the cold and wet seeped deep inside her. She raced on, her heart pounding warmth through her. At the center of the Circle, she paused, her breasts rising and falling with her every breath. "How very much like my dream," she whispered. She thought of Espen, of her dark songs. "Somehow, we are connected, you and I. Opposite ends of the same rope."