spellbound | book #1 | completed

X V I

[edited: 11/07/2017]

Remy woke up to chaos. There were people dressed in bright colours all around her, people with luminous hair and lurid eyes. Not people at all, she thought. Warlocks and witches.

She searched desperately for Maksim in the crowd, but he was nowhere to be seen. After a moment of bewilderment, she realised that a witch with silver hair and purple eyes was trying to talk to her, and she, having just woken up to a room filled with noise and unfamiliar faces, had not been listening.

She sat up with a frown, her heart racing. "What?" she questioned, her voice heavy with sleep. "What's going on?"

The witch sighed and spoke again. "I said that you must get out of bed immediately so that we can escort you to the Central Hall."

Remy hauled herself up, glad that she had fallen asleep in her jeans—though they had loosened around her legs due to having worn them one too many times—and straightened down her shirt. She noticed that the others were staring at her open-mouthed and supposed that they hadn't seen many 'mortal girls,' as Maksim so politely called her, before. Now she was awake enough to count, she thought there must have been at least seven or eight of them. She didn't think they looked very friendly.

It took her a moment to realise why. She did not belong in this world, and they knew that. But how had they known she was here?

Before she could ask, the silver-haired witch spoke again. "A trial will be held for you tomorrow. Until then, you will be detained." Purple sparks shot suddenly from her hands and formed a perfectly symmetrical ring around Remy's wrists so that they felt bound together by rope. It burnt her skin when she tried to move them, and she winced before letting them hang in front of her.

"I don't understand," was all that Remy could respond with. "You're arresting me?"

The witch pursed her lips impatiently and cast Remy a stony glare. "Mortal girls," she said, venom lacing her words, "are not permitted to stay in Refilyn. You and your warlock friend have broken the law, so yes, I am arresting you." She spoke patronisingly, as though she was speaking to a confused child. Remy did not appreciate it, especially not while she was stood in front of so many others, and gave her an equally hostile scowl.

"Are the magical handcuffs necessary?" she sighed and raised an eyebrow.

A blue-haired warlock answered her this time. "They are simply a precaution, one that must always be taken. We will not be giving out special treatment just because you are not one of us."

"Now," the harsh witch from before said calmly, and with a snap of her fingers, a purple, glistening chain tethered Remy's wrists to the witch's hand, "let's not keep the Principle Warlock waiting." She led her out into the hallway with warlocks and witches surrounding her on all sides. She wondered what it was that they thought she would do. It wasn't as if she had magic like the rest of them.

"Where is Maksim?" she asked, searching the narrow corridors in the hopes of finding a familiar face. When she was brought out into the living room, she was relieved to find him, though her panic didn't disappear for long. He was being escorted out of the house, too, though his manacles were an eerie yellow colour and he had far less people surrounding him despite the fact that he was taller than most of them where Remy was smaller.

"He has also broken the law, therefore he must also face the consequences," someone muttered from behind her, and Remy couldn't help but scoff.

"But surely his mother has something to say about this?" she questioned desperately, her anxiety only worsening as she stepped outside, nearly stumbling down the steps in the process. The metallic stench that she had noticed since arriving in Astracia almost choked her. "She works for the Council, doesn't she?"