Bitter Demons

29. Consequences

Caroline was put in a room three doors down from my own, all the way at the far end of the hall. Her mother and sister sat with her for the rest of the afternoon, but Caroline still hadn't opened her eyes. Mrs. King had at least gotten her to a state where she could breathe without pain, but now it was just a waiting game.

I took my time getting ready for the questioning session downstairs. I knew Priestess Winter wanted to go through every detail of what happened, but I wasn't even completely sure what had happened to me in that circle. Something inside felt strange and new. I felt unusually awake and strong. My arm still ached from the pain of the circle, but the injury was only skin-deep. I was far more interested in what I felt stirring underneath the surface.

Zara knocked on the door, then came in without waiting for me to answer. "Mom's ready for us downstairs," she said.

"Is she angry, do you think?" I asked. "I mean, at me?"

Zara gave me a small smile. "No," she said. "She just wants to get to the bottom of this and figure out who hurt Caroline."

"Fair enough," I said.

We made our way downstairs to the sitting room. Everything about this room felt stuffy and dusty. Even the couch was as uncomfortable to sit on as it looked. The priestess sat across from me in a mahogany high-backed chair with a red cushion.

"Tell me what happened," she said simply.

I cleared my throat. I desperately wanted a tall glass of cool water at that moment. I started by telling her about how Zara and I decided to go outside to practice magic instead of sitting in my room being bored.

I told her about Zara shifting into the butterfly and leading us toward the clearing. The priestess leaned forward in her seat when I got to the part about finding Caroline's body in the circle of black roses. I had a feeling she'd already heard the first part of the story from her daughter, and now was waiting to hear what I had to say about what happened once Zara left to get help.

"I know Zara told me not to do anything, but I couldn't just sit there and watch Caroline die," I said, already feeling defensive. I was sure they would find some way to punish me for disobeying Zara's instructions. Even if it did ultimately save Caroline's life.

"And you are both quite sure they were black roses?" she asked.

I nodded and she pulled out a leather-bound book. She opened it to a page near the middle and held it out for me to see. "Like this?"

"Yes," I said, looking at a drawing of a circle of roses exactly like the ones we'd seen that afternoon.

Priestess Winter swallowed and closed the book, her eyes wide. "What exactly did you do when Zara left?"

I told her how I'd tried the limb first, but that the wood couldn't survive the magical barrier around Caroline. "That's when I noticed the stone," I said.

The priestess nodded. "Yes, the soul stone."

"Is that what it's called?" I looked to Zara and she nodded. "I had never seen anything like it before, but I could tell the stone was hurting her. I figured the flowers were just there to keep people out, but the stone was the real source of pain for Caroline."

"You were right to think that," Priestess Winter said. "Soul stones haven't been used by the Order of Shadows for a very long time. It's an ancient dark magic, used to trap the soul of one witch's power and feed it to another."

"After the stick burned, I decided to just reach my hand inside the circle and grab the stone," I said. "I'd already touched the barrier once and it hurt, but it didn't seem like it was going to kill me. But as soon as my hand clasped the stone, I felt the circle begin to pull me in. I thought I was going to die for sure." I rubbed my hands along my pants legs. They were sweating like crazy from nerves. "That's when Jackson ran up and pulled me out."