BREAKING SHADOWS (Shadows Book 1)

Chapter 27

Open your eyes.

They didn't obey.

Open your eyes.

They flickered in response, until at last, the lids slid open.

My vision cleared enough for me to make out the patchy living room ceiling of the cottage. It was dark out. Inside, only candles provided any light, the dim glow struggling to reach the corners of the room.

I floated about a metre off the ground.

I tried to move my hand up to touch where the pain throbbed under the crown, but invisible straps restrained my arms. Frantic, I struggled against them, my head pounding more with each toss and turn.

"Good morning, High Witch. At least I think it's morning. You've been out a good few hours."

Her voice sent lightning bolts zig-zagging through my head.

"Don't try to move," Miss Langin said. "I killed an air witch just yesterday and Mike here," she tapped the shoulder of the short barrel of a man. "Is still getting used to his new powers. He's not even near to tiring yet."

Callan hadn't hit him hard enough.

"So, you've been killing witches and stealing their powers." My words came out slurred and as thick as syrup.

Mike grinned, a gold tooth glinting in the candlelight.

Miss Langin gave a harsh laugh. "And why shouldn't I? My entire family had their powers taken, bound for all eternity with no hope of return."

I rolled my eyes as much as the pain would allow, swallowing the vomit back down. "And all of this is a big revenge plot to get back at William Darkmore for binding your powers."

Miss Langin flung herself at where she levitated, sinking dirty, chipped nails into the flesh on my cheeks. Her breath was hot on my face. "Not just my powers," she said, spraying spit. "That one action stripped all of us of our magical heritage. Our birth right. Our family had to wait nine generations for revenge and now it's here."

The nails retracted, and her hand moved to sweep hair from her face. "This has been a long time coming, and you proved difficult."

"What do you mean?"

"All the other descendants were easy to find, exactly where they should have been but you, I could not find. I went to Northumberland where the Coven of the Obsidian Star should be and couldn't find a trace of you."

"Then how did you find me?"

"Witchcraft is in your blood and I know on the night of the festival you cut your hand when the demons showed. I used scrying to find you. It's a simple spell really, though I assume your grandmother didn't have time to teach you much." She flipped my hand over, tracing the faint jagged line on my palm.

"Who are all the witches fighting with you? Your family can't be that big."

"Witches disillusioned with how things are. We showed them a better way, then they flocked to us in droves."

"You've been recruiting witches. What now?"

"Now I'm going to kill you all and hand your powers out to my extended family."

"You can't," I gasped.

"Why not? Because a sacrifice from the families who bound the demons beneath ground would shatter every pentagram in existence? I've already thought of that. The demons will rise and the world of out of practice witches will have to deal with them. It serves them right for what William Darkmore did to me and mine."