BREAKING SHADOWS (Shadows Book 1)

Chapter 5

"Which coven are you from?" Arden asked as I led him out of Pagnall towards our coven headquarters.

"Your mother didn't give you the name of that too?" I felt a pang when he didn't reply, keeping his head down.

"Obsidian Star. What about you?"

"Silver Lake."

We continued through the open fields of the English countryside padding the border between the town of Pagnall and the village of Valestone. For once, the weather behaved itself. Autumn in England was temperamental. Blustery winds, gentle days full of beaming sun, and an onslaught of rain that tore the leaves from their trees. Some days brought all the seasons in quick succession.

"How long have you been here?"

"I arrived in Liverpool about a week ago and made my way into Yorkshire by walking or hitchhiking. At night I would find an isolated corner of a field or the bottom of someone's huge garden to hitch my tent and then in the morning I'd start all over again. Luckily for me there are a lot of fields around here."

"You shouldn't hitchhike, haven't you seen horror films?"

"I'm American. We made those horror films."

I led the way to Croft Heath - an ancient circle of stones sat within a meadow of overgrown grass and wild ranging flowers. One step into the circle and the outside world vanished, replaced by an arc of magic darkness with constellations mapped out like diamonds. The floor itself was not the unkept meadow carpet it appeared from outside but high-gloss black marble, which reflected the stars above. Steps made from the same cold, harsh surface descended downwards beneath the earth.

The Obsidian Star Catacombs were a network of sleek tunnels and rooms running under the village all the way to Pagnall in the west and the peaking hills and farmer's fields in the other three directions. Black marble ran throughout with white veins snaking through as though lightning had struck it. The ceiling itself was an intricate patchwork of magically manipulated, curved lead-lined windows that followed the weather and time patterns of the outside world. Dozens of doors lined either side, shooting off beneath Valestone into a series of interconnecting high-end tunnels. Any textiles and soft furnishings, tapestries hanging from the wall, the backs and seats of decorative chairs, cloths draped over console tables were all in the same design, panther-black and patterned with stars.

Despite the name, no-one was buried there. There were dozens of bedrooms all furnished alike in the darkest black and silver colours of the coven for members to use as and when they wished. Typical rooms such as a kitchen, a sitting room and bathrooms too had been carved from the earth. All the best comforts beneath the ground.

I took a deep breath as I headed down, Arden close behind.

I felt like I was balancing on a knife blade. My invitations to the Catacombs were few and far between. Gran always said she wanted me to finish my studies before immersing myself in witch duties. The rest of the coven were inducted as fully fledged members from midnight of their thirteenth birthday, every witch in the world was. But not me, and because of it I felt like I shouldn't be here.

A door clicked, and Toby Horton emerged from a room sprouting off the main hall. He raised a copper eyebrow at the sight of me, but I held his interest momentarily as his eyes went over the top of my head and landed on Arden.

"Where is the High Witch?"

Toby remained transfixed. He was looking at Arden in a way I couldn't describe, but then I had just allowed a witch from a different coven access to the most important space belonging to the Coven of the Obsidian Star. Toby was probably horrified.